One year ago today: January 3, 2015, tinkering with the Tascam.
Five years ago today: January 3, 2011, first names Henry & Edward . . .
Nine years ago today: January 3, 2007, pre-Trump trade balance views.
Random years ago today: January 3, 2009, God’s database.
MORNING
Today I broke with tradition. I can justify that. Back in my company days, by the way today is the 20th anniversary of the rumor that there would be a buyout, I got in the habit of Sunday breakfast. And I wore a shirt and tie. When I arrived in Florida, that changed to a short-sleeve shirt and tie. Well, beginning 2016, no tie. I used to have a fancy lady companion along, that has not happened in Florida, where the ladies tend to be the wrong kind of fancy. Today, I wore a striped polo shirt. As for not even trying by neglecting to put on a tie? Nobody noticed. I gotta get out of this two-bit town.
a) it seems to work like a sideways staple gun
b) does not accept staples or brads or any familiar cartridges.
c) the cross piece at the tail end is made of a soft wood.
d) bears the inscription “Fletcher DPI”. (DP-1?)
Ha, if the camera work is done right, I can produce a two-minute video in twenty minutes. That’s with titles, background audio, fades, wipes, transistions, and credits at the end. Orange you proud of me? But I still cannot crack the codes for embedding the videos here. The places that give so-called directions all refer to a link or button “on the right side of the video” that is not there on my equipment. I’ll get it, but as usual, you have to wade through the BS first. And so much so that once you do, you hesitate to tell anyone about it for free due to the work involved.
How goes my investigation of the solar panel problem? Well, I see that the controllers have been blowing my fuses. How does a fractional milliwatt panel pop a 30 amp fuse? It’s not like I got hit by lightning. Anyway, I’m working on it, just don’t hold your breath. Wintertime is high productivity around here and fuses are not a priority. I want the equipment to work so I can make the new camera system transportable. An old motorcycle battery, through the converter, through the transformer, to the camera. Sure, it’s rigged up. But it don’t cost any cash either.
NOON
I tackled the backyard. I still cannot figure out how the office says my back yard is messy. It is concrete, a small glass table, and some pieces of 1/2” plywood and such stacked against the back of the building where it cannot be seen unless you walk around to the back yard and face north. And I’ve repeatedly told them I don’t want anyone in my back yard. Private property. (Oh boy, you get a picture of my back yard. Um, it's here to document that my yard is not messy.)
It would not matter if you build in the deep woods or mountaintops, some stupid, uninvited, jerkface is going to come along and get in your way or claim you are getting in his. Never fails. Those who say that is not true, I say they have never tried to make anything. The longer your project takes, the more likely one of those depraved sorts will show up and say he needs the space, tools, time, like whatever or he can’t sleep at noon because your paintbrush is too loud.
[Author's note: Later, there should be a picture of the area to which they refer. It is the private walkway between my unit and my storage shed. It is fenced off at the far end so nobody has any business back there for any reason (except myself). You can see my ladder of many colors (it looks gray) to the left and some neatley stacked materials to the right, emphasizing that you cannot see these from anywhere but where you are not supposed to be. Now you know why I want to live on the outer edge of town. Where trespassers are known to be shot.]
AFTERNOON
What I have I said for years now—that it costs so much to obey the law that often the penalty is cheaper. MSN finally ran an article on that topic. Ho-hum MSN, at least this blog is NEVER wrong on such major points in the long run. Um, you folks have noticed that, haven’t you? Not bad for a bass player, wouldn’t you say? I’m not a senator’s son or born in an steaming tenement, I have never practiced speaking to the cows and chickens in the barn nor worked my way through law school as a janitor at the Jockey Club. The one owned by Uncle Horace. I have never asked for seconds of chicken and peas just to please the locals and I never did keep a portrait of Robert E. Lee in my office wall, faithfully dusted daily and always facing south.
Nor have I ever been a member or advocate of any political entity of any stripe, my total interest in the matter is the effect of that politics has on business and my notice of Trump began entirely on how he disrupts their cozy little games. Nor have I ever been “carefully respectful of any group identifiable by its religion, race, ethnicity, national origin, patriotic endeavor, or any enterprise known and/or said to be devoted to civic, charitable or educational enterprise of any description, however absurd.”
But I do know that such things as automobile registration were useless laws enacted by bored representatives solely to be able to claim on their record they had "done something while in office". (That was S. Rayburn, Democrat, Bonham, Texas.) It was well-known by 1912 that doing such things was a sure-fire way for incumbents to defeat 90% of all challengers.
As a follow on to last day’s editorial over the change in band structure that brought on the change in music (and not the other way around), here is a photo of the band that played as the Titanic went down. I think that was symbolic in a number of ways. It was another thirty years before all the liners were gone and another forty years until the big band era finally sank.
EVENING
Give up on the new tool? I have not confirmed anything yet, but I think it is for shooting in those little diamond shaped metal pieces you see around old window panes. That would explain the wooden piece, so it won’t scratch the glass. Maybe it is for picture frames on the same principle. What clued me in was the tailpiece that you remove to place the ammo into the chamber is a round piece, but the part where it fits was not round. Can you see it? Right where my fingertip points.
It just might come in handy if I buy a crappy enough old house up in Winter Haven. I might add there is nothing on the market even worth looking at. Everything that seems like a bargain is smack in the middle of the part of town you can’t mention. I mean, what kind of nonsense is that? And as for places in the country, my real goal, not a single property worth even following up.
Tradition says the market will experience a quick flash of sales before May. My plan is to tour the area before then, and look more intensively at what parts of town are safe enough. The three big on-line sources, Zillow, Realtor, and Trulia are each difficult to use in their own ways. Realtor is updated rapidly, but lists houses by town, not by area. So you cannot scan an entire county easily. Trulia has the crime map, but it can take forever to load, and as we found with Arcadia, can be dangerously outdated. Zillow keeps bugging you for an account.
All three sites have that annoying MicroSoft grade shit-head hipster put a undeletable placemarker right on top of the exact spot of the map you want to see. Where do they even find these people? The same jerkoffs who designed the Android color scheme that has no readable map contrasts in Windows. What do all those old people want maps for anyway. Haven’t they heard of GPS? So what if GPS doesn’t work at their desk while they are searching for properties inside their house. They should be paying a Millennial top dollar to do that kind of thing for them on his iPad. And sit and wait while he does that little clown “finger dance” on his gorilla glass.
You know what I enjoy most about recent Trump rallies? The way he scolds the press, and they deserve it. The media has lost tract of their responsibility to provide accurate coverage. Instead, they embark on a policy of using the system to promote their own personal political biases. They have also become far too cute and predictable on every issue concerning race, nationality, or sex. From their viewpoint, we, the people, are all nasty and need Liberals to remind us how evil we are and reform us in almost every way. And every day.
But I still cannot figure out why, with the Internet so available, Trump still relies on the conventional newspeople to cover his rallies. Who cares if the cameras won’t pan, why not get his own cameras and release the views onto the Internet? (I just found out he’d joked about planting friendly protesters in the crowd to swing the camras.) I’d at least take a look and I’m not even a fan of politics.
You know, the Donald is honing his attacks and he’s getting the desired feedback. He used to say “incompetent” and now he calls them “stupid”. He’s finally naming names of the bad people, not just alluding to the deals that went sour. And what’s this other candidates are now saying the will “build a wall”. Yes, gang, Trump has shifted the political planets out of orbit.
ADDENDUM
Today, I fashion a finger splint. I examined what was for sale y’day and those were designed by pragmatic over-achievers. Have you seen those things? They certainly do the job, ten times over. I just want something to restrict the movement on the big knuckle, not something that will withstand playing baseball or prevents me from typing. Next thing you know, wow, I had no idea finger splinting was a huge and profitable industrial concern. Just check Wal*Mart.
As for my splint, I believe I’ll trace the natural curve of my finger on wood and cut a piece that holds it in that position. From underneath or something, because the design of the other splints seems to embrace the philosphy that the entire world is supposed to know you are wearing it.
Splint design is related in a roundabout way to other items I’ve been building. I accent “building” as different than merely “designing” because I’m finding I have a real deficit in design experience. Not like I’m saying go to engineering school, but I find I often can’t outline an accurate diagram. Do you go to art school for that? If so, forget it. I’ve learned to build something that does not work, then draw it, then rebuild it on the experience.
That is partially due to the lack of decent textbooks or source material. The moment I look for a formula, I’m barraged by volumes of technical matter which I can confirm is just not necessary. I just want to know the easy way to build a driving rod that moves a piston 2-1/8” through the cylinder, not a discussion of sine wave variations. Give me the rule of thumb. But, it’s the same old tale from the trailer court: the easy stuff is too easy and the hard stuff is too hard.
Last Laugh
Beethoven vs. Beiber
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