October 7, 2015

Yesteryear
One year ago today: October 7, 2014, the lighthouse map.
Five years ago today: October 7, 2010, on writing novels.
Six years ago today: October 7, 2009, looked good on paper.

MORNING
           Chocolate. I had two squares this morning in celebration. Just one of those impromptu little events that you learn to appreciate at my age. Dark 72% cocoa, like semi-sweet bakers chocolate. Except the real thing, made in Spain. No additives. Gluten free. Though I never could understand what the big deal is with gluten. That’s another allergy that was unheard of in my day. As I like to say, I don’t each GMO food, so I’m not allergic to anything. But I am on a diet.

           A diet that matches my exercise level. I can eat all the healthy food that I want. And I have noticed that most “gluten-free” food is not very nutritious. Just for those 290 calories of chocolate, I won’t eat again until evening, but I have some smoked turkey stew in the slow cooker. With potatoes, celery, and carrots. Yes, I fed the finches, which remind me of Memphis, the budgie bird who knew Mozart. I will never keep a bird in a cage again. Unless the cage is open. Memphis lived a comfy 13 years, but I was always away at work.
           I see the Miami bunch is spreading rumors that Trump will be sending in troopers to snag the illegals and send them back. The funny part is a large contingent of the legal immigrants are siding against the illegals. But the Miami Herald, of course will have nothing to do with printing that news. Anyway, the bad talk is all about the posse coming round for the bad guys.
           What is with those people? I mean, that is how it is done. Since it doesn’t look like many of the illegals intend to leave on their own accord, what exactly do they expect? I’m curious what route Trump will take, as the best workable solution is to fine and jail the employers. No jobs, no illegals, simple formula. I’ve never believed that nonsense that my food is any cheaper because of illegals. What they save me at the grocery, they cost many times over in welfare and crime. Yes, crime, they come to America with zero job skills and they are hardly going to work their way up the system, are they now? Geraldo?

NOON
           Here’s my alternative to the clamping system. I was real put off by videos showing carpenters with a wall full of clamps that cost more than my entire setup put together. This is as exciting as it gets until around December unless there is some kind of windfall. I suspect I was not meant to see the Smithsonian. JZ can’t come up with his half of the money and I’m not leaving on the batbike until California sends me that wheel for my spare tire.

           You see, the last time was only a near flat, but because I was in Wichita Falls, I knew where to get the parts. But I had to drive to Oklahoma for the labor. Still, I was familiar with the area. But I have never been anywhere near DC except at the airports. It’s a chance I hesitate to take. In fact, so hesitant I have not even taken the batbike in to get that rear brake fixed yet.
           Another heat wave and I kept inside after morning coffee. This morning was productive, however, as I have some keen instructions on how to melt silver, although I have no desire to destroy any of my bullion to do that. As mentioned last day, I have the equipment, but I will invest in three sets to be on the safe side. Total outlay will be around $45 for the heating equipment and $18 for bricks, clay, and ceramics. No pictures, but silver is starting to simmer despite the bank scandal cover-up in effect.

           There you have it, the Hunt brothers buy a little silver, it is front page news. The banks manipulate the entire global market and nary a peep. While I was doing this, and trying to duplicate my battery holder in a smaller size, I pulled up the wierdest movie I’ve seen in ages. Titled “Cipolla Colt”, it appears to be about an onion farmer who takes on some Texas oilfield tough guys and falls in love with a newspaper man’s daughter, surname of Pulitzer.
           His horse is named Archibald and the bad guy has a robot hand. Strange movie. Because it isn’t funny enough to be a real spoof.
           The small battery holder was a failure. I don’t have the correct type of drill bit and I tried to fake it by drilling a pilot hole bigger than the speed bit. The result is it seems to shred the wood rather than drill it. I need a bit called a Forstner, but I can only find them in expensive sets. Don’t lecture me on eBay, as PayPal is verboten around here. PayPal, biggest scam of the last century. It got big by promising to be anonymous, as “good as cash”. Bullshit.

           Paypal was only anonymous until the competition folded. Those were companies like c2it, YouBid, and Checkout. These were designed to be money transfer operations between electronic devices, they were never supposed to become a partner in each transaction and keep records of the activity. But, as foreshadowed by the murky operations over at Google, the temptation to snoop always wins out.
           As usual, the changeover (from anonymous to requiring a bank account) is disguised by some unrelated announcement. In this case, it was the takeover by eBay. Just like the phony “new dollar bills” were hailed as difficult to counterfeit, when in fact the real damage was the change from “will pay to the bearer on demand” to “this note is legal tender”. The Millennial world is filled to the brim with this sort of skullduggery.

NIGHT

           After a lot of joking how I was not destined to see the Smithsonian, this evening full resources were called forward to look better at that situation. The roadblock has been money and that is all it has ever been. Does that seem fair? You know how others get to that museum as a matter of course. My plan tonight is to carve the money for the trip out of nowhere, and let other’s deal with it after I get back. Tell you what, watch silver. If it goes over $20, off I go to DC by train, probably. But silver is wavering already, so don’t start packing yet.
           Meanwhile, I found a nice piece of property that I rejected for a simple reason. Electrical wires over the building and utility poles on the property. This may be no big deal to a lot of folks, but you do not want the city and emergency crews to have a right of way to tromp onto your land. Or how about the latest term for time-share rip-off: “interval ownership”. Or, how to take your vacation in the same spot every year.
           And so you know it isn’t all fun and games and eating chocolate over here, have you seen the new Leica DCM8? It uses a type of laser scanner to produce 3D images, and that is some microscope. As normal with Leica, the price is a state secret. I’ve heard rumors it is in the $6,300 range. I can’t think of a single use for it, but it is there if you need it. Budda-bing.

ADDENDUM
           Your trivia for today is that 70% of Japan is covered by forest. Do you know what sashimono is? Japanese woodworking. If you don’t have time to watch the video (about a half hour), an interesting feature is how they recycle. The furniture is solid wood, with no nails. So to make it new again, simply plane off the top layer.

           I find this fascinating. I wonder if I could do such a thing. Here is something I did by accident. While testing the glue brands, I noticed the grain of this pine. That’s the prettiest thing I’ve ever glued. The wood is naturally white, it is stained with an admixture of castor bean oil and dried out brown shoe polish.
           Your treat for reading this far is that today, I go on yet another quest to find a decent camera. It is not so easy when your needs are specific. Like instant on, rugged, 640x480 setting, no weird formats, ordinary batteries, macro capability, viewfinder, removable SD (means “secure disk” not “SanDisk”), and doesn’t eat those batteries. I would also like an adjustable shutter delay and at least some video capability. For less than $150.
           There is no good reason why there is not a flood of these cameras on the market. I know what you’re thinking, but that is not a good reason. And the first thing you have to know before teaching a dog, Ken, is more than the dog.


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