One year ago today: January 31, 2015, I never did like Lego.
Five years ago today: January 31, 2011, beware of slimy club owners.
Nine years ago today: January 31, 2007, Trump billboard, no less.
Random years ago today: January 31, 2013, brunch with Estelle.
MORNING
Here’s a photo so I won’t leave you without a picture for the day. What you see is not what you get. Here is my completely upgraded camera blind. On the outside, it appears to be a transistor radio, the kind an old coot would still own. To listen to old coot ballgames. Except, he’s actually listening to you in digital clarity from 65 feet away, and in discernable talk at twice that. All the knobs and buttons on this old radio still operate, but they don’t do anything. Just like mom always said, it’s what’s inside that counts.
Not visible here is a surplus MP3 player that loops terrible jazz music whenever the Arduino senses anybody near enough to hear anything. The camera faces sideways, the sound cone faces forward, so it is not the ideal design, but the choice of the radio over the lunchbox is because aiming the camera looks like you are just repositioning the radio for better reception.
That, and it plain looks funny when you plug a set of Sony noise cancelling headphones into a lunch pail. This unit is not yet Internet compatible, but that is merely a matter of adding another Arduino card. Although this camera will take excellent stills, when installed in this box it takes only movies.
There is a tradeoff with the movies, as well. They are in Quicktime (Apple) format, the dreaded MOV files that requires software that often will just not do what you want done. Also, the newest version has something built into the format that nullifies all my existing conversion software. Sadly, I recorded some irreplaceable music videos before finding out Apple did that.
So you are forewarned, what happens is the Apple format does not work well with Windows Media player and other Millennial crappy-but-standard players. If you try to reformat (convert) the files to wmv or something more widespread (like with Power Director), the audio disappears completely. And you may not get it back. One cannot help but suspect Apple does this on purpose.
Also, this camcorder comes with only a fisheye lens, so all photos look like you looking through an apartment doorway peephole. In all, do not spend any more than the $20 I did on this particular camera. The still photos are also fisheye, but you know, I’ve never looked for software that can reverse that condition. There’s a project for me this evening.
Paris, 2013
NOON
Today, I’m going to get lazy and publish a CL (Craigslist) posting from Macon, Georgia. It could be from anywhere, but that’s the one that appeared on my feed. Note, this posting is for information only, the original has been modified, spellchecked, formatted for this blog, etc. It has a definite “Trump-like” ring to it long before his name is mentioned. Note from the math, this was originally composed in 2009, I just saw it now.
1. Americans spend $36,000,000 at Wal-Mart, every hour of every day.
2. This works out to $20,928 profit per minute.
3. Wal-Mart will sell more from January 1 to March 17 than Target sells all year.
4. Wal-Mart is bigger than Home Depot + Kroger + Target +Sears + Costco K-Mart combined.
5. Wal-Mart employs 1.6 million people, is the world's largest private employer.
6. Wal-Mart is the largest company in the history of the world.
7. Wal-Mart now sells more food than Kroger and Safeway combined, and keep in mind they did this in only fifteen years.
8. During this same period, 31 big supermarket chains sought bankruptcy.
9. Wal-Mart now sells more food than any other store in the world.
10. Wal-Mart has approx 3,900 stores in the USA of which 1,906 are Super Centers; this is 1,000 more than it had five years ago.
11. This year 7.2 billion different purchasing experiences will occur at Wal-Mart stores. (Earth's population is approximately 6.5 Billion.)
12. 90% of all Americans live within fifteen miles of a Wal-Mart.
To President Obama and all 535 voting members of the Legislature, it is now official that the majority of you are corrupt morons:
a. The U.S. Postal Service was established in 1775. You have had 234 years to get it right and it is broke.
b. Social Security was established in 1935. You have had 74 years to get it right and it is broke.
c. Fannie Mae was established in 1938. You have had 71 years to get it right and it is broke.
d. War on Poverty started in 1964. You have had 45 years to get it right; $1 trillion of our money is confiscated each year and transferred to "the poor" and they only want more.
e. Medicare and Medicaid were established in 1965. You have had 44 years to get it right and they are broke.
f. Freddie Mac was established in 1970. You have had 39 years to get it right and it is broke.
g. The Department of Energy was created in 1977 to lessen our dependence on foreign oil. It has ballooned to 16,000 employees with a budget of $24 billion a year and we import more oil than ever before. You had 32 years to get it right and it is an abysmal failure.
AND YOU WANT AMERICANS TO BELIEVE YOU CAN BE TRUSTED WITH A GOVERNMENT-RUN HEALTH CARE SYSTEM??
We have lost our minds to "Political Correctness"
Someone please tell me what is wrong with all the people that run this country!!!!!!
We're "broke" and can't help our own Seniors, Veterans, Orphans, Homeless etc. and the last months we have provided aid to Haiti, Chile, and Turkey and now Pakistan ( the previous home of bin Laden). Literally, BILLIONS of DOLLARS!!!
Our retired seniors living on a 'fixed income' receive no aid nor do they get any breaks.
AMERICA: a country where we have homeless without shelter, children going to bed hungry, elderly going without needed medicines, and mentally ill without treatment, etc.
Imagine if the GOVERNMENT gave U. S. the same support they give to other countries. Sad isn't it?
I like the list of 13 things that I as a citizen want. This is why Trump zooming ahead. He is at least talking about issues that most Americans are concerned about.
HERE IS WHAT WE WANT:
1. Hillary: in prison!
2. Put "GOD" back in America!!!
3. Borders: Closed!
4. Congress: On the same retirement & healthcare plans as everybody else .
5. Congress: Obey its own laws NOW!
6. Language: English only!
7. Culture: Constitution and the Bill of Rights!
8. Drug Free: Mandatory Drug Screening before & during Welfare!
9. Freebies: NONE to Non-Citizens!
10. Budget: Balance the damn thing!
11. Foreign Countries: Stop giving them our money, charge them for our help.
12. Fix the tax code.
13. Respect the military and flag.
Last Laugh
It seemed apt:
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