One year ago today: May 31, 2014, 4,660 geniuses.
Five years ago today: May 31, 2010.
Six years ago today: May 31, 2009.
MORNING
6:00AM. Today I feel like working. So if we can’t have fun and adventure, we can always learn something or build something. How’s that for positive attitude? I hope you like it because I don’t want to see my power bill next month. I fell asleep last evening with the front window open and the air conditioner on full blast. Fun on a budget, that’s me. Today, our budget is $20. Ready. Set. Go.
I believe everyone should have that opportunity in life after the age of 21. A clean break and a fresh start. They would have to screw up a second time before the world condemns them. But North American governments would rather croak than relinquish access to a citizen’s files.
Last evening’s post mentioned a man named Langan. I did not draw a fraction of the parallels I could have, but I encourage you to look at that man’s story. It might sound somewhat familiar. How a man with an IQ approaching 200 was condemned by lack of resources to working as a farm hand and a cowboy. He got a perfect SAT score “despite taking a nap during the test”.
I got fifty bucks says he grew up in an environment of people constantly saying, “If you’re so smart, how come you are not rich?” I wonder if the guy ever had to drive a taxi. You know a man has rotten parents when he is reduced to driving a taxi.
NPR, that unbiased source of news, was on this morning about how important it was for Congress to “prevent” the Freedom Act from “lapsing” at midnight. NPR presented the activity as a wide-spread grassroots support from millions of Americans who want their phones to be tapped without a warrant in the fight against whatever we are fighting against these days. The evil Satan bent on preventing the renewal of these laws for another four years is none other than that commie, Ron Paul’s son.
Ah, the question: how long do I listen to NPR on a daily basis? Either fifteen minutes or until I hear the first mention of the topic “slavery”. That means some days less than one split second. Then I switch to ordinary static. Today, a broadcast that started on about black-eyed peas boiling in a blackened pot was enough for me.
NOON
“Don’t buy expensive wine, luggage, or watches.” --Farm wisdom
Working with steel. It’s not as intimidating now that I have some carpentry experience. Working in the back yard, I have several options to make the new iPod camper deck. No, I didn’t know you get the metal work done first, then fill in the wood. On the other hand, with metal you cannot afford mistakes, so cut me some slack until that is done. Rather than the interior “drawer glides” I had formerly considered, I see that exterior steel slides are a better option. Now I wish we had invested in that acetylene torch.
It’s hard to see, but that’s my vice grips at the center of this photo, holding down a rail intended to support the rear of the sleeping compartment—but not very much more. The black flat metal plate is the fender. The priority on this build is saving weight and the wagon should only be moved when “buttoned up”. When in the extended sleeping configuration, it will hold barely 400 pounds. So don’t rest anything on the “tailgate”. No, the bracket cannot be made larger to hold more without redesigning the whole trailer.
That was six hours of fun puttering. Cutting metal with a grinder takes time, but I only need two more cuts. The entire electrical is rewired with 18 gauge wire and you may have noticed the exterior is completely repainted. How I miss never having a shop of my own to work in. The cottage [we are looking at] says it has a work shed, but what does that mean? JZ wants to leave later this week for a closer look.
NIGHT
Feeling hungry? In Paris, there is the Jules Verne. It’s on the second floor if the Eiffel Tower and will set you back an average of $108 each for lunch, twice that for dinner. Here’s the menu in Euros. Did you know the tower is painted in three different colors to give it the illusion of being taller? That’s your trivia for today. You must make Internet reservations (so they can do a background on you) and they don’t take checks. There is a dress code and it is non-smoking. Sounds a lot like this place.
The documentary on-line this afternoon was Mars. Some of the latest data contradicts that sent back by Viking in 1976. That always struck me as bad planning. They spend millions and later find out the data is not just inaccurate or insufficient, but outright wrong.
Next, I watched Apocalypse, a series on the opening of World War II. It shows the Germans “invading” France but forgets to mention that France had declared war on German eight months earlier. Ah, because France was an ally of Poland. Ah, but France had broken a treaty with Germany to become an ally of Poland. Round she goes, but it dismays me that so long after the war, these fallacies and propaganda are still the mainstay of the English media.
As for the bombing of Rotterdam, it was a mistake. The bombers never got the recall message that the Dutch had surrendered at the last moment. Paris was declared an open city, which means they gave up without a fight. The French, however, got their revenge. It’s called the menu at the Jules Verne.
ADDENDUM
So, what did I learn about anemia? Lots. It is a symptom, not a disease. I now think I dated a Chinese girl in college who had all the outward signs, especially intolerance to cold. I learned that your body must produce two million red blood cells per second to keep up. And since I changed the tarp over the toothpicks y’day, I know better than anyone in history exactly what two million would look like.
I was further reminded of that man RofR worked with who almost died before somebody hit on the idea to check his ability to absorb vitamin B12 . Turns out this is due to a stomach fluid called the innocent-sounding intrinsic factor. And all along I thought that was what they called the reason most women get boring after sex. Ha, little joke there.
Seriously, the guy was dying and the vitamin deficiency was not checked because, like many power plant employees who had worked in the tropics, he’s once had malaria. What makes it the more difficult to diagnose is that such victims can take all the B12 they want, the snag being that they can’t digest it.
Ah, that reminds me of something I forgot to report that’s on the blog list. Stents, like the group I have, possess a shelf life and often have to be maintained. Mind don’t, according to the most recent tests. For some reason, I had the impression they get replaced, but no, the artery grows around them. My condition was not collapsed arteries, but sharp bends in the routing. Too sharp. And I don’t think much of those who say heart conditions treatable by stents are not all that serious.
And unless you consciously take steps to eliminate it from your diet, the average American now consumes 85 pounds of corn sweetener every year. That slow poison is in everything from ketchup to fake maple syrup.
Last Laugh
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