One year ago today: May 3, 2014, at Nova U.
Five years ago today: May 3, 2010, sample bass tab.
Six years ago today: May 3, 2009, travel memories.
MORNING
The way things go sometimes. The club meeting this morning was mainly about castle construction. One of the church students has an assignment to build a model castle and the challenge came if the club could win a game. Could they, on the back of a placemat, design a castle that I could not breach. Nope. How were they to know I’ve studied castle construction for thirty years?
The contest was also held in reverse, I could defend a castle against any assault they came up with? Got 'em, I studied castle warfare as well as castle design. I know the only thing the French ever conquered and held on to was Britain because they brought with them castle technology. Anyway, I suggested we help the church student get the highest mark.
The real lesson is that castles are a test of resources. Which side is willing to invest enough to be the winner? I say while there are castles that have never been successfully taken, that there is no castle I cannot plan how to take without using modern weapons. The challenge is on.
We further went over the pedal pub photos. Of course, those who build these things are not going to publish the blueprints. Close inspection shows there are six seats per side, but only five pedals. Whoever scoops the seat above the rear tire gets a free ride. A popular idea is my concept of parking a guitar player on the rear bench.
This means making it the correct dimensions for a musician and small amplifier. Yes, I’d have a small PA system built in from parts I’ve got here already. But I know how guitar players are about using their own twiddle-tone amps. The appeal was how the live music is an innovative idea that gives the crowd a unique experience and it difficult to copy by anyone who has a store-bought unit.
NOON
“If you keep doing what you’ve always done, you’ll keep getting what you always got. –Farm wisdom
The band saw blades are re-welded. We got lucky the first time, plus I was the one who did the cutting. The broken blade has to be cut precisely between two teeth, which a few people presumed happened by accident. The topic while all this carries on is my insistence on building a working model of the pedal pub. Some say it is a waste of resources, I say without it, what is to stop somebody from inadvertently cutting a saw blade too short?
While this is happening, I’m listening to Prairie Home Companion. A Mennonite choir was the feature. Next show was a teenage fiddle player, first name “Maggie”, who is playing in Davie tonight, around ten miles from here. But the damn NPR announcer was a total jerk. He would not say where or when and kept eliding over her surname. It could be Bond, Bon, Pond, Paws, Pause, Paw, Pawn, or Baw. None of these combinations came up on any search engines. The radio announcer Dunning-Kruger syndrome.
Oddly, they do have a policy of allowing women in under 21 for a reduced cover charge. I’ve never been there to check this out, but I’d like that. Just to see young babes in cowboy jeans is a treat these days. I noticed on my tour of Stetson campus that there were relatively few good-looking women compared to my day when every second hippie chick was a work of art. It simply has to be the diet. Too many fat-bottomed girls on the market. And more funny-looking ones. You can’t fool me.
Author’s note: the gal’s name is Maggie Baugh and no wonder she sounded so vibrant and energetic and unlike any other woman I ever met it Florida. She’s talented (but repetitious and only marginally original) but she’s jammed with Charlie Daniels. And she is just fifteen years old.
When I read that, I went over several of her live interviews. Although she’s been coached and the media goes easy on her, she gets away with saying stuff that in my time I would have been slapped around for. Her snide remarks about the system being the result of older people who are largely a bunch of screw-ups are more music to my ears. Hmmm, so once again, I was two or three generations ahead of my contemporaries. Where I said the same things at 15 I was immature, Maggie is called very mature. Interesting. This gal can play.
What elbowed me was when asked why she didn’t have a band, she flat out said because the expected to be paid, would not play what she wanted, and wouldn’t do what they were told. They wanted money for rehearsals and even the gasoline to drive there because you, but not they, are successful. Duh. Thank you, Maggie. My band suggested since I had a job and they didn't, I should throw my paycheck into the pot and divide it up! Or I wasn't a "true" musician. You must have some kind of incredibly supportive parents to know all this at age 15. Don't trade them for anything.
AFTERNOON
More documentaries as I map out the pedal pub model. I’ve identified the parts I cannot do and am not likely to trust to anyone but an expert. We may have to relocate Agt. M’s car to create a work area. I think if we build the wheeled chassis first and hang everything else from that, we’ll save by being able to tow the whole assembly to wherever parts or welding needs to be done. Until then, all is held in place by bolts and cotter pins.
These are those old tin advertising plates. Mostly for products I never heard of even as a lad, this is the scene as you exit the facilities. Keep in mind, Deland is only around a half-mile long and maybe six blocks wide, if you exclude the university which dominates the north end of town. I’m saying do not get the impression you could go there and have this kind of fun every day.
The documentary (mentioned above) was on Australian immigration. How the British Empire was against the “whites only” policy. You get that in America. People who live miles away from the issue get all noble about your lifestyle. It was hilarious to see the letters to the London newspapers of the day, complaining that Australia was not allowing east Indian immigration. “I mean,” says one lady, “India is so full of poverty and famine and disease”, she says, that she cannot imagine why Australia refuses to let them in by the millions. And millions. And millions.
She goes on to say Britain can’t take them because they are an island with scarce jobs, limited welfare budgets, and unable to absorb so many refugees without causing undesirable changes in the social system.
EVENING
As a matter of fact, I do have a photo of the winter tire with the nail in it from last day. There, see it? Isn’t that exciting. My friend called from Deland to say she’d gone to a Kentucky Derby party. I’ve never been, that would have been considered associated with gambling. It was a costume ball in a posh tree-house, so I missed something great. I see she has pretty much the same estimation of Facebook as I do.
It was entirely work this evening, until late. The privilege of working when you feel like it. I dismantled a dead fire extinguisher. It was one of the dry powder types that had a gauge reading zero. It was full of bicarbonate of soda, which I dumped out. This was a disposable model in a red metal bottle with a plastic screw-in cap. The thread pattern seems unique to the bottle so no standard nozzle will fit in the throat. We shall see. On-line says these bottles will hold up to 200 psi whereas my compressor maxes out at 100 psi. I’m curious to see if I can make a portable canister.
Next, I made a small clamp to hold the band saw blades steady for welding. Both newly welded blades broke this time before I could even put them on the saw. Being more familiar with the blades now, I put one of the metal cutting blades in place. The instructions say not to cut metal, they do not say to avoid metal cutting blades. The blade is deeper, around a half-inch, so cutting fine corners is not possible, but the blade zips completely through any wood I have in the bin.
Tell you what. I want some real homemade soup, so I’m off to the Russian market. Check in tomorrow, I’m famished.
ADDENDUM
When is a laptop not a laptop? When you cannot install your own software on it, and the programs that come with the unit expire win one year if you don’t pay for reactivation with a credit card. It is only a matter of time before this nonsense becomes universal. After all, the major market are Millenials, who have no concept of privacy or freedom. Your identity is so valuable to these people, that getting you hooked on this brand of software is causing them to sell laptops at below cost.
When does a blog become a super-blog? It has been some years since I quoted any readership stats and it is observed no more facial close-ups since Facebook went evil. But some time during the next three months, probably before August, this blog reaches a milestone. One thing I never thought was that I’d actually reach even 50,000 views, I’m well beyond that. While it is impossible to tell which are repeats, that still represents more contacts that most people would dream of in a lifetime.
Let’s just say if I had charged by the view, I’d be rich today.
Last Laugh
Proof that dinosaurs existed.
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