One year ago today: May 21, 2014, Patagonia movies.
Five years ago today: May 21, 2010, meandering.
Six years ago today: May 21, 2009, on “housewife” blogs.
MORNING
The Taft Café staff are no dummies, they know they are located across from the blood clinic. So they can spot you standing on the median waiting for a traffic lull, they have that first cup of coffee slam-dunked on the table as you walk in the door. Three mugs, I had. Did I ever say how the nurse at the clinic always comes on duty with a cup of coffee? So the whole room can enjoy the aroma. Do you think she does this on purpose? I hope her grandchildren hate her. Ooooh, did I just say that?
Guess what else I overheard? The two “least favorite” tunes at the upcoming auditions will be “Son of a Son” and “Cheeseburger In Paradise”. However, that constitutes a sneak preview and you are not supposed to know that yet. Or that they are watching for “Come Monday”. That’s also a secret. What’s with the picture of the stairwell?
I can explain that. That’s where I may wind up if my old band gets in with the resort. You see, I shot myself kind of in the foot. I sort of had to promise that if they get hired, I am bound to go ask for my old job back. I have never done such a thing in my born days, but I did say it as a joke, the joke was taken seriously, and I may be held to task. The alternative would be to disappoint someone I would hugely rather not disappoint.
Author's note: that is a real stairwell in a house of a lady friend of mine I've known for 31 years. At least it is a user-friendly stairwell. Teak handrail and all.
NOON
“Take your dog to obedience school. You’ll be surprised how much you both learn.” --Anon.
Hmmm, these fancy nylon stockings are even coded left and right. Does this mean, oh, never mind. I’m listening NPR reruns. They’ve been assuring us for some time now that the global monetary system is intact. Nobody is pressuring for a global currency to “restructure” the debt system. How strange that there are so many books on how to “profit” from a collapse which all focus on making money.
Silver. My checklist says talk about silver. Okay, it is the most volatile metal out there, still. I agree with the school that says if the Feds try a 1933 style forced buyout of precious metal, this time they would have a fight on their hands. To say people no longer trust the government is an understatement. Admittedly, economics is difficult and boring, but the way people behave is no mystery at all. But always remember what happened to Charles Vernon Meyers before you buy internationally.
It is peculiar that silver has stayed at a steady price level for years in a market that has run dozens of crises in the same time, with price collapses in oil, real estate, and the Euro. What causes price runs is demand. We are being asked to believe the demand for silver has remained constant for years? And yes, you can buy and store gold offshore, in places like Singapore, Switzerland, and London, provided you have faith in any of those governments. The vaults with the best reputations (today) are owned by The Real Asset Co.
However, they only accept money in the form of bank transfers, an activity of intense interest and surveillance by Uncle Sam. They can’t chance another 1933, but they have not forgotten it either. Do you have any idea how much the Kennedy’s made on that one by cheating? None of them ever went to jail, but don’t you be trying the same thing.
Here’s some radio trivia. Hawaii does not have NPR, they have HPR. The quality of programming, which includes the choice of topics, is superior to the pro-fem, pro-welfare, pro-queer, pro-AIDS, pro-everything-wrong-with-America IQ-free diet you get on FM here. There’s a darn good reason they call it the “Lower 48”, you know.
Author’s note: my stance on silver is that the investors are right, it is the market that is wrong. I invested for the right reasons and I know it. There is no valid, legal, economic reason why silver should not be trading for as much as $1,000 per ounce right now (although $300 is more realistic). When this happens [the market being manipulated], the focus is on liquidity. The reason people have lost money on silver recently is because they could NOT stay liquid long enough for the market to get right again. The rich know this. I do not have that (any liquidity) problem.
AFTERNOON
Gosh, look at the blip in my ratings when I mention silver. My earlier comment about portfolios does not mean you should not have one. It means you are unwise to have one whose value is completely measured in paper dollars. The moment anybody that we can’t bomb off the face of the planet establishes a gold-backed currency, you will have all the oodles of dollars you ever dreamed of, along with everybody else.
It would be preferable to have land to live on and food, or something you can trade for it. That is not likely to be the US dollar. So, you know, it boils down to where you are standing when the music stops. Back in the 1930s, the majority of people were not dependent on government handouts for food and shelter. And the country was not $18 trillion in debt, with obligations to pay ten times that in the immediate future.
national debt
Did you know my first brush with entitle-ism was during the Yuppie generation? It is false to believe the publicity that those hippie-types were non-materialistic, at least before they hit the realities of the job market. The fact was they did not necessarily think their entitlement came from direct government freebies. They were more inclined toward blind faith that the system existed to provide them with a job, a house, a car, a spouse, and they had to do was work just hard enough to borrow the money.
But I think what you would and should find most hypocritical about Hippies is that they did not work and they had money. Crash pads, VW vans, rock concerts in New York, surfing, these things cost one hell of a lot of money. Most hippies were basically the issue of the idle rich. Every one I ever met was. Yes, Glen, that includes you. What? Well, who bought you that car?
EVENING
Have you seen this new TV show, “500 Questions”? It was on the overhead at the Russian market, but I immediately didn’t care for it. The questions and categories are too small to read off the screen from only fifteen feet away, the emcee is a repetitious boor, and the rules of the game are too confusing for the casual passerby.
Since I’m not yet used to these fancy stockings, I stayed put and read books. But I did take time to post a seething reply to some punk who said musicians were all old men with tattoos and who wear bandanas to hide their bald spots. So I told him what I thought of unoriginal punk close wannabes who didn’t shave, considered themselves indie performers, and drank beer out of green bottles. Posted that to see what it stirs up, most who post against me wind up making fools of themselves. With a little help--I'm a writer and most of them are not.
Have you seen those videos of the EDL and GDL (English Defense League and German Defense League)? Boy, are they dumb. Attacking Muslim parades and shops? That is not how you go about stopping immigration, it is plain stupid to wait until your enemy is already in your midst. If you are against immigration, you get names and addresses—of the government people allowing the bad people into the country. That’s where you direct your energies, until there is nobody left who will do such a job for a living. At any level. End of problem. Know your enemy before he gets his troops lined up and his trenches dug.
ADDENDUM
I was about to say here is more than you wanted to know about robot motors, but upon thinking for a moment, I should show a little more respect. This is precisely what you wanted to know. Beware of chronological errors today, I’m all over the place. And I cannot eat until late afternoon, at which time I intend to really tie on the feedbag.
Another morning sitting in the waiting room, which I used to bone up on stepper motors. For the tenth time. You see, these motors are the ones that require a coded sequence of pulses to operate. The logic source of those pulses is a microcontroller. One thing I can tell you for sure is if you meet someone who says this is easy, ask for a demonstration.
In one category, they are a snap—when you buy the controller, driver, and motor as a matching set. Then you don’t need to understand a thing. Actually, you do need to know one thing and that is we do not do business here on such a basis. Ignoring voltages, the operation is actually quite binary. Sending binary code to the motor coils will turn the motor shaft to precise positions in increments of usually 1.8°.
That’s where I’m working hard, the precise control of these motors by microcontrol. It seems to me that a sensor real greenhorns. These motors have a low clicking or grinding sound, not to be confused with the servo motors in the movies, which emit a high-pitched whine. In other electronics, I was up late last evening and completely failed to get a batch of old digital cameras to work off a transformer power supply. Now I know what does not work.
So that you know another difference between steppers and servos, normally servos don’t turn in full circles (although they can be modified to do so). Servos turn just far enough to move model airplane parts and rudders. They also require a coded pulse, but it is the duty cycle of the pulse, not the sequence of the arriving pulses. Both entail study and programming that most people would shy back from.
Last Laugh
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