May 1, 2015

Yesteryear
One year ago today: May 1, 2014, Hotel Ariston.
Five years ago today: May 1, 2010, on Barbados.
Six years ago today: May 1, 2009, the mysterious MegaBite.

MORNING
           Here’s the last instant picture of Deland, Florida. The post office. Why do I take pictures of post offices? I can answer that. I’m an amateur video-maker and these make excellent title shots. I prefer these to on-screen lettering. These buildings are often the only local landmark and in ideal circumstances, there would be a unique motorcycle parked in front. And since this is going to be a quiet day chasing around, you get everything in the order it arrived.

           Let me say the people who put a scooter horn on a scooter or “people don’t know what they are hearing” are dunces. One of the smartest moves I made was to wire up a big car horn to my unit. That’s what you need to wake them up at red lights. Give me a horn with balls, if I ever want that anemic oink-oink sound, I’ll attend some town hall meetings.
           Babes in the bakery this morning. They got their horoscopes read like never before. Some ask if I do not believe in horoscopes, why do I read them. I can answer that. Every woman I ever fell in love with believed in horoscopes, so go figure. Anyway, two tall, good-looking Hungarian women, but the minute I saw the gargantuan SUV, I knew they were taken. Single women drive putt-putts.
           So I stop at Winn/Dixie for basics and hear these two women talking about the high price of food. What a laugh, you could see they were the type that spent a lifetime calling down rednecks who wanted to kick blacks off welfare and deport the illegals. Now they complain that the money is worthless? Well gals, somebody has to pay for your feel-good nonsense. What would the world care if all you Liberals died tomorrow? Would anybody care?
           Today I’ll have commentary on the news. Ah, some point out, my zero political IQ leaves me unqualified to critique. Not so, as that would only be true if I had no sense of what is right and wrong. I’ll have you know this blog gets high comment ratings for my views for that very reason. I represent the non-complacent view. It has been pointed out often enough that my “uninformed” view was the one eventually shown to be the representative majority.
           For instance, the Herald today reports the US Navy is escorting ships in the Hormuz because of the seizure of a container ship. This, folks, is the reason the world hates us. Sticking our noses into their business. Remember, I draw a clear distinction between the US government and the US people. They are not, by any definition, the same thing. The government has become able to crush all domestic opposition via excessive tax, patriot, police, and social pressure, and does so right down to the individual level. People who oppose US interference have about as much hope as the few Germans who once opposed Hitler.
           So it does not matter who is in power if the policy on this remains the same. Hence, I don’t need to be a Democrat or Republican, or any political stripe to know that US foreign policy is wrong. The same policies were wrong for every empire in history. And that is why we have lost and will continue to lose every war since World War II. That’s when the militarists and bankers took over the unsuspecting US of A. And I’m no conspiracy theorist. I likely would have done the same given the opportunity.

NOON

           “Was there no Englishman to build it for them?” --an unknown voice from the back of the British Parliament when Zionists, defending military expansion, were pointing out that Israel had an electrical system and the Palestinians did not.

           You see, the US has corrupted capitalism. They’ve aligned it with credit, greed, favoritism, and monopoly power. It was different in my own day, I saw the corruption creeping in slowly, but everybody scoffed at my opposition. Now look at the results. In my day, one could open a small shop and work it for a comfortable living. Now, that shop must continually expand or franchise or sell stocks or buy off city hall to even stay alive.

           If capitalism was real, then progressive efficiency would cause prices to go down. The use of credit would dwindle because it could not compete with a stable cash economy. Got that? Everybody who bought anything on credit would fall behind those who avoided interest by paying cash. Boom and bust cycles would be less severe because almost every business operation would be necessary or it would not get people to part with their dollars.
           There are now at least six motorcyles in town with Ural sidecars. Most are recent manufactures, which sell for $13,000 to $15,000 a pop. And don’t look as classic as mine. They also have a different style and paint jobs right out of the Cold War era’s perception of what American’s like. But I have to be careful, as I’ve called uncountable times on a quirk in people’s minds. They do not understand when I did not say what I do is original, I only said I was first around here.
           But I'm no revolutionary. I saw most of it coming so I have not suffered as much in the end as all the sheeple. Here's something more to my liking. It is a chrome motorcycle license plate holder that clamps on to the axle. Neat idea as long as you never plan on rolling the bike or clipping any shrubbery. It cost me another $35 to remove a broken engine bolt, the type of expense you must accept at least monthly with an aged scooter.
           This is still a bargain. I calculated in 2010 that a car sitting unused in your driveway costs $261 per month even if you never drive it. If you do, it is that amount plus gas and oil. So overall, my scooter has one-tenth the cost of a car even if I never use it.

EVENING
           Here’s an only slightly better shot of the airplane design. I’m not a model builder, I am studying the methods of construction to gain a better understanding than from reading the technical material. So no laughing. I’m satisfied with what has already learned with this model. There was never intentions to cover it with a skin but yes, the temptation is there.

           I returned to look at propellers and it looks like I’m on my own there. Carving something is not attractive to me, I’m going to give it a whirl with the scroll saw. While I agree there is a certain charm about hand-carving, I never bought that nonsense that it was the basis of machining. My production did not balloon until I got electric equipment.
           Furthermore, I would form a very unpleasant opinion of parents to tell their children that hand-carving lie just because they are too cheap to buy the kid the right tools. I happen to know more about that kind of thing than 99% of anyone who will ever read this. And as far as telling me I was too young, that's about as equally smart as telling me I'm too old to learn it. My money says those who say you get too old to learn never learned much at any point in their puny lives.
           The propeller technology cannot be faked, you have to knuckle down and make one. Not a perfect example, but enough to know how to balance it and to know what is wrong with another by look and feel. This thing is going to spin fast, so even learning to drill the center hole is not to be taken lightly.


Last Laugh

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