One year ago today: July 27, 2015, Trump vs. the media.
Five years ago today: July 27, 2011, scooters, Italians, ants.
Nine years ago today: July 27, 2007, Jay-Jay, “Sports Doctor”.
Random years ago today: July 27, 2006, a day at the shop.
MORNING
Dear reader, the Ig Nobel Prize feature draws to a close at the end of this month. It was always an experimental feature and there is not enough source material. I’ll search for a replacement since the feature never was worth the extra effort to include it. Same with the Wiki picture. Yes, to research and format everything in this blog has to compete with my time for other projects. It would be silly to think the only thing I do every day is blog.
This is similar to how the US turns a blind eye on the millions in South American drug money that pours into Dade and Broward every year. The locals who make places like Miami and Vancouver into desirable places to live are never consulted. Result, the Chinese have all but ghettoized Vancouver and refuse to assimilate.
Ottawa has since begun to stipulate (or so I’ve heard) that the immigrants must now settle in Quebec. Hmmm, doesn’t that sound so much like the theory proposed by this blog so long ago, that immigrants must settle in small towns? But when I said it, there was backlash. Yeah, well just you remember my more radical theory of immigration is still considered outrageous, but nobody has ever shown that it would not work. That’s my “Young Females Only” immigration policy. It requires so much deep thought that everyone rejects it until they think it through.
I’m saying, think of an immigration problem. Give me five minutes and I can explain how my policy solves the problem—but only if you have the capacity to follow along. Try me. Drugs? Crime? These things disappear in societies with a surplus of single women. See, I told you everybody who hasn’t thought it through will hate the concept until they do.
One laugh has got to be how many Canadian sites ask if Chinese women are easy. What a dork question. They’re all easy, all women are easy. The fact that certain strains of men even have to ask is what is difficult. Have you heard the old joke that on Chinese women, it’s on there sideways? Pause for a visual, then say, “That’s how I learned to play harmonica.”
Portugal.
NOON
It looks like the old camera is still in service. The nice one I got from the club, well, the first thing I did was lose or mis-pack the proprietary charger. And the replacement is half the price of the camera, so it kind of goes on the back burner a while. I went up to Best Buy but as usual, they and Target will not stock a good Argus-grade camera in the $40 range. I had the honor of showing the male staff that my old Argus takes perfectly adequate pictures, as this photo demonstrates. The female staff think my camera makes the subjects look too skinny.
Xfinity is on a blitz to convince people they are honest, but anyone who has ever signed up for one of their intro packages is not about to listen to fat kids loitering around the TV aisles with a clipboard. I was up in Aventura to do some grocery shopping, since I’m living with a fridge and microwave these days. The nice touch is the market has free coffee and a dining area so you can buy lunch in the store and chow down right there. This, of course, would not be a good idea in places like Miami, you cn figure that out for yourself.
I was there two hours and I don’t think there will be much agreement with JZ and I over the floor. I doubt enough of the original oak hardwood will be recyclable to finish a single room and even then, I would have to invest in a planer. JZ does not think the floor is worth insulating where I consider it vital to the job. And why doesn’t somebody design a better looking fire extinguisher if they want people to actually put one in each room of the house?
We also talked about annuities because he is leaning toward having one established. However, over the past year I’ve been reading some disturbing news about the annuity market, in particular that it has been taken over by life insurance companies. And we know who owns those. My point being that if annuities have been infiltrated by insurance people, you had better get a lawyer to read the fine print. Insurance companies don’t make any money being clean and honest.
I advise anyone to never put more than maybe a third of your nestegg in an annuity and even then consider it to be a defensive posture. And it will always disqualify you from ever getting any social benefits from the government should the entire economy do another 2006. In fact, I personally don’t think JZ is ever really going to see any meaningful Social Security benefits.
Wait, I have some trivia. I saw a video of a lady scrubbing a shower curtain liner clean. Duh. You can throw those things in the wash, you know, gentle cycle. They come out like new. The odd one may tear, but they are so cheap I’m astonished anyone would clean one by hand. fun part was speculating about the shed in the new back yard. There is no way I can finish the interior to a housing standard. I grew up in a house that had bare good-one-side plywood on the walls and pull-chain lights. That I can afford but the real discussion was whether the place could potentially be adequate for long-term living, should rental income become necessary. I say certainly, and if the finishing was minimal, it would be very price-competitive indeed.
I have company. The mice have found out I’m moving and one of them, their leader, is getting really nervy. Right in my trash can and found the bread I left on top of the stove last night. Chewed right through the package and hollowed out a little cave. Alas, he is doomed by this evening. He also got into my wild bird seed.
You can’t buy a mousetrap any more. You have to buy the package of usually four. Hint, if you only need one, and like me you always wind up misplacing the other three, try this. Remove the latch and bait hook. Then the spring loaded wire can easily be slightly bent into a handy clip for blueprints, spray painting small articles, and an ingenious trip-wire system to let you know someone has walked in the room while you are wearing noise muffs.
Joseph Keller: Physics, 1999. For inventing a tea pot spout that does not drip. “This has implications,” says Joe.
NIGHT
What’s with my craving for a tuna melt? I don’t eat tuna. I don’t like the way they catch it and it doesn’t, to me, taste like fish. Do they even still sell a tuna melt? And if so, why hasn’t McD’s picked up on that one? That’s tonight’s top story unless I can dig you up some trivia. I’m still living in the empty shell of the old trailer. Did I ever tell you my second least favorite fish? Herring. I don’t care for herring unless it is smoked, and like oysters, they only smoke the product that is just on the verge of going bad.
I had occasion to watch the police in action against a variety of “sovereign citizens”. It is clear the authorities have extended police power to bust heads over the issue. What got me, however, is that 100% of the instances involved the police initially pulling over a vehicle first, and that is something I most certainly have an opinion about. The single biggest thing America could do to restore the natural rights of citizens is to prevent the police from using traffic stops to overstep the Constitution. For instance, the Constitution says you have a right to travel. It is the police that say you need a driver’s license to do so in a car.
The entire motor vehicle system accomplishes little but to strip citizens of the presumption of innocence. Think about it. Whether or not you have insurance should never have been a concern of the police. It is there mainly because the police want access to the information which would otherwise compel them to get a search warrant. Nor should it be the police’s business when you were born or where you live. In a strict interpretation, you should never tell strangers that information.
Alas, the system is not going to change from the bottom up. Mr. Trump, make history and cancel the DMV except as a service that tells whether or not a person has passed a driving test, nothing more. No ID, no background info, no such thing as an expiration date. Pass that test once and the license is good for life. If they want ID, that is a separate matter.
Last Laugh
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