One year ago today: March 25, 2015, Becky goes babe . . .
Five years ago today: March 25, 2011, grating, raspy, whiskey voice.
Nine years ago today: March 25, 2007, the county fair.
Random years ago today: March 25, 2001, The Tax Act.
MORNING
No motorcycle, so a home day scheduled for logistics. Here’s a video of a wheelwright, about a half-hour showing the construction of a wooden wagon wheel. This fascinated me, kept me up well past my bedtime. This craftsman is works in England, where most quality video comes from these days. No nonsense video, I mean, without “monetizing” overlays and popups. It kept me glued to the screen.
The blacksmith became a welding shop when I was 15, so even that supply was gone. However, I always like the word “spokeshave” even though nobody ever saw them in action. If you have time, watch the video of a skilled craftsman in action. I see the final assembly, the seating of the metal rim hoop, is most certainly a two-man operation. I never saw the rims welded like this video, but how it was done,well, it was so long ago, I can’t remember.
The video does not explain where the guy got the beautiful piece of wood he used to make the hub.
I know I’m weak on navigation in the Pacific, but calculating the Geographic Position (GP) of the sun is easy because there is no east-west, only west. The nearest place to today’s exercise was the Admiralty Islands. Have I not landed near here before? Maybe, but I don’t know dick about this place. So let’s take a peek. A population of 45,000 means a pretty tiny dating pool. The place is so remote I can’t find any images and even Tony Wheeler seems to have bypassed the place.
The local populace has since voted or something to become part of New Guinea and unless oil is discovered there, that is the end of any significance for the Admiralty Islands.
Now what about this episode with the Trump and Cruz wives? Ha, good old Lyin’ Ted tries to act tough, an obvious appeal to the redneck “stick up fer yer kin” vote. Ted, Ted, the Donald could whup you with his small hands tied behind his back. My ruling? Easy, when the other guy’s wife looks like a store-bought movie star, yes, the women are part of the game. Geez, Ted, do I have to fecking teach you everything?
The I watched this instructional video of how to cut glass bottles with a band saw. Notice it has a water jet directly onto the sawblade. It works pretty fast, but the most I can say is I had better not catch anybody trying this with my band saw. I just bought $40 worth of blades and I intend to make them last. So don’t even think about cutting glass.
Horseshoe Bend.
NOON
“Never trust anyone who has not brought a book with them.” ~ Lemony Snicket.
There are two things at my place by noon today. The clutch cable from New Jersey and the worst rainstorm this month. It started as I pulled up with the goods and it is still at it hours later. It’s uncanny. So I stayed inside and baked tomato herb chicken and improved the cardinal whirlagig design. The original showed only one each of the propeller and hub, casting doubt upon the aptitude of the first author. Not that the reader didn’t know you needed two, but how to lay it out on a block of wood.
Here is the proper template, with reversed propeller blanks and both hubs, laid out economically on a block of 1x6” The weird dimensions on the original are all close enough to plain 1x6” that there is no need to worry about exact dimensions. It is not like you are building duck lures.
I had to get over to Harbor Freight for batteries before my 25% coupon expired, so I got the usual freebie. One of those items I’d likely never own but as a gift. Here is a magnetic parts holder, a little chromed tray. It’s undoubtedly handy, but before my interest in robotics, I never repaired much in my life except computers. And one thing you don’t want around computer parts is magnetism. It is actually kind of fancy, so I’ll stick it beside my drill press and band saw. While not emphasized here due to the blog-worthy nature of fancier work, I do a considerable amount of unreported household and motorcycle repairs with my tool set.
Now speaking of computers, there is a repair shop opening up in the old shoe store across the way and he is advertising for software help. Hmmmm. I learned about this from the weird drone guy, you know the one who never works and rides a skateboard at 52. He was out with his quadcopter at noon in the storm, whence I suggested he should tie a thin wire from the frame down to his big toe to see if he could do a Ben Franklin. He’s still thinking that one over and besides, I’m only presuming he was, you know, born with toes.
Trivia. The German Panther, the best medium tank of the Second World War, was never used in North Africa. The heavier Tiger, which used the same motor and was twenty tons heavier, made enough of an appearance that 70% of some American units shit their pants without firing a shot. But the Panther was never sent there. In its early versions, it had a tendency to run hot and even started a rumor that it could set the Zimmerit paste on fire. By the time it was corrected, the North African campaign was over.
This Zimmerit paste is the subject of all kinds of misunderstanding. It is that rumpled finish seen on early German tanks and was intended to defeat magnetic mines. The ridges helped stand the magnets away from the armor better without adding the weight of a smooth layer. There was also a rumor shell strikes could ignite the paste, but none of those stories are factual. In reality, the factories quit applying it because it took several days to dry at a time when the tanks were needed immediately.
If you want to make some, the formula is 40 gallons of barium sulfate (the same stuff you drink before a stomach X-ray), 25 gallons of polyvinyl acetate (but if you are fresh out, wood glue is nearly identical), plus 15 gallons of ochre (a pigment that is found naturally all over Europe), then add 10 gallons of zinc sulfide (another cheap coloring agent found in German pickle juice) and finally ten gallons of sawdust. Mix well. Then go have some schnapps and try to forget how Zimmerit smells.
EVENING
This picture is just another of the batbike under the tarp during that Florida rainshower that appears only on those days you want to get some work done. The new cable seems to be of incredible good quality, but ask me that again after I see if it really does fit as advertised. By quality, I mean compared to the part that was removed, the new one is in a fancier casing, has chromed fittings, the plug ends have small strain-relief sleeves, and the cable itself is both thicker and plain looks tougher. But my gosh, the price!
It seems to work by adding a “blocking cookie” to your own browser. This, of course, means that Google is punishing anyone who has cookies disabled. Well, MicroSoft is on the way out and I hope to see Google get replaced in my lifetime. Shithead empires have always ruled in the C+ world. The bottom line is always Google trying to get all your on-line activity into one big account where they can identify everything you do.
I had time to rag on Google, since once more I didn’t go out on Friday. Of course, the deluge stopped right after it was too dark to work on the Honda. I watched some documentaries on the “island-hopping” campaign of the Americans in the Pacific during WWII. It seems nobody has ever officially questioned the wisdom of this strategy, or at least nobody who disagreed with it has ever had much of a voice. The Japanese had self-isolated themselves in far-flung islands known to singularly lack any natural resources for conducting war. Just cut off their shipping and sit back.
Yet somebody had the idea that America has to “re-take” these islands. For what? For whom? The propaganda promotes the fantasy that the Filipinos like the Americans any more than the Spanish before them, a misconception kept alive mainly by people who have never been in the Philippines. All America had to do to win was position a picket line of ships off the Japanese coast to stop the supply convoys and sti back and wait. But where is the glory in that?
Looking further into whirlagigs, I see for sure there have been no changes or improved designs in a hundred years. Hmmm, like jazz music. I sketched up some ideas, such as a jalopy with turning wheels and a set of “dancing” smaller propellers. I have not yet had an “aha!” moment but there must be a reason my mind keeps coming back to the issue. And also, you should see me expertly cut the pieces out now. Some I barely have to sand. Did you know there are six, not just two, ways you can cut the propellers wrong. Even after the blades are roughed out, it is too easy to “fan” the shapes backward. The prop still works, but looks funny when the final device is operating. None of this is stated in the book.
ADDENDUM
No link, but this is a referral to [the news article about] the man arrested for failing to return a VHS tape in 2001 to a company that went out of business. Now let’s not get into the bleep-bleep that the man should have returned the tape. This is not about the tape. It is about those who think only criminals have something to hide. This is the kind of crap in their future. In 2001, the crime was a civil offense. It was since turned into a criminal offense. And that, you anti-privacy creeps, is the real threat to being scrutinized and videotaped all the time. There is nothing to stop the authorities from declaring almost any otherwise innocent or tort activity as a criminal act at some point in the future.
I personally object to paying taxes for police to go around enforcing what is basically debt collection. It is an activity made possible only by invasion of privacy. Not paying debts is not and should not be a criminal act unless there was fraud involved. The whole affair just stinks of bad law and the smell comes from the direction of the police. Note, he was arrested during the most corrupt of all police practices. The arbitrary license search during a pullover. That is, they searched his background without either reasonable or probably grounds and without a warrant. All the sheeple in America have been brainwashed to accept the police roadside check as legal (it isn’t) and a back ground search as a condition for the “right” to operate a vehicle. That attitude is sheer stupidity.
What you did in the past has no bearing on your driving skills. Period. The police have no inherent right to look into your former life over a traffic infraction. You do not have to answer any questions without a lawyer present and the police are experts at telling you they will get suspicious if you insist on one. They must either arrest you or let you go, there is no such thing as “detained for questioning”. But America is now full of wimps who don’t stand up for themselves any more.
And a warrant for one’s arrest is not the same as a search warrant. I’m waiting for the day some sharpie successfully argues that point in court. Traffic stops should be restricted to traffic offenses under most circumstances. Give the guy a ticket and let him go. And I feel the entire concept of the police “impounding” vehicles is a corrupt practice that needs some looking into.
Last Laugh
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