Five years ago today: June 1, 2012, robot club survival tips.
Nine years ago today: June 1, 2008, I hate slot screwheads.
Random years ago today: June 1, 2007, on private records & public profits.
For a quiet day, a lot of ground got covered. I see that the e-mail people have now made it a major requirement to get your phone number. They used a lot of tricks before, like locking you out of your own account and demanding they send you an SMS (phone text) reply, and several years ago in Colorado Google got my last unlisted phone number. Now, you can’t set up a new e-mail without a callback number on Yahoo, G-mail, etc, all the big ones. And, you can’t use the same phone number twice back to back. Thus, the new Civil War sales department has no e-mail unless I sign up overseas, which I just might do while it is still possible.
No go, Agt. R reports there are already plenty of people selling them, and they have pieces that look like muskets and six-guns. So my 1911 Colt is nixed. However, he has not seen the log rocket stoves, saying most people use a type of wood-coal stove. I’ll get more information. Meanwhile, the candle lanterns are on hold while I paint and drywall. If you got any ideas, send them over. Just don’t make me work outside, the place is parched dry and desert hot every day now.
Which found me at the library, where I watched some very disheartening video of Trump appointing people to posts that will work against his stated aims. That’s not a good sign, and now even Ann Coulter is beginning to question his choices. I always found his popular support to be the same crowd that Ann appeals to, so it would be a pity if he looses that. And that is how things are going. What’s he doing overseas when he’s got unfinished business right here? For all the good these official visits have ever done, send another Shirley Temple.
Oregon coast.
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It was off to Wal*mart to get another gallon of the primer, but since I’m partial to light green, I thought I’d get this one tinted. Wrong. Paint guy gave me the lowdown. The mixing machine will not tint Zinnser paint, even though it is sold as a tintable product. So I got to asking questions. I ran smack into the Department of Homeland Paint Mixing Security. That’s right. To mix the paint, the brand name, can serial number, and other information must be entered into the mix machine.
Didn’t I warn you that rock polishing might be the high point? Why, here’s shot of the log on the wall, tracking the process. (Is this some sneaky way to put up another picture of my work shed, of which I am very proud?) This is run 02, using the same rocks as 01 which did not smooth well. Checking this morning, I can confirm that rocks of more than one color don’t polish well. The exception might be rocks with inclusions, but I’ve not been lucky enough to find anything like that. The only time in my life I ever found any crystals in a rock, the older kid talked me into giving it to him for free. I was like five years old and we were standing around a gravel pit just breaking rocks. What a fun childhood I must have had.
I dug through my boxes to find my master music drive, which had the tunes the guitarist can sing. However, he keeps choosing Merle tunes, which contain very advanced guitar picking technique. I realize he has not yet developed a critical ear over which tunes don’t adapt well, so I’ll work with the music. “Working Man Blues” is, guitar-wise, one massive lead break start to finish, if you know what to listen for. The other tune he chose was “On The Road Again”, which was for me a five minute learn, including the lead break. Um, the bass line on that tune is more complicated than it first sounds.
“The world can’t end today because it
is already tomorrow in Australia.”
~ Charles M. Shultz
Things were so lively around here, I almost decided to go do a load of laundry. Then came the rain, the long awaited deep storm. So I was inside, made a roast, made some tea, and took apart the DVD player. Hmmm, Agt. R says an older lady gave it to him because the tray would not eject. I see that, because the DVD she left in the unit must have been a reminder of her younger days, y’know.
For my big evening at home, I decided to take another look at “On The Road Again”, the definitive Willie song. I like the tune, but at the same time realized I was playing it “like a guitar player”. You know, play through it, throw it at the crowd, see if anybody likes it because there’s always one. I can do better than that. So I went back and wrote a bass line that grabs that catchy rhythm guitar, if you listen you’ll hear the one I mean. Then I kind of chopped it in half so the bass would not steal the guitar part, that is,I play the hammer-on only every second phrase.
Next, I have a way to fake a tuba sound by picking right ahead of my forward pickup, and I added that to the chorus, eliminated the walk-ups in the original. Too trite and expected, they are. Then I noticed the instrumental break again [like many] plays “between the bass notes”. So I added them and now play both. The melody notes, but with the bass notes interspersed, so it has that old Chet Atkins sound of two instruments playing. Last, and you know how I am a stickler about doing it right, I got a customized bass line that mimics the outro perfectly—provided I can move fast enough on stage. Remember, I usually learn my music sitting down, and yes, it makes a difference.
In fact, the guitar player, who is a few years my junior asked if I could play all this standing up on stage. Yes, but I admitted to him I know the day is coming when I’ll have to grab a chair. Before any guitar players out there notice and say something, yes, the instrumental break notes and bass notes are “backwards”. I already know about that, but they can still be played in short passages. The guy will just think momentarily he’s dancing on the wrong foot. I know this, because I was a ballroom dance instructor. That means I know where I can get away with this trick. But thank you anyway for pointing it out so quickly.
ADDENDUM
What is with my hesitation to give out a phone number? Well, it’s my background in security at the phone company. You can skip this if you already know it, but if not, let this be an eye opener. When I started at the company, except for long distance calls, there was no tracking of calls. The switches were mechanical blades and wipers, called Strowger [switches]. When a local call ended, the contacts dropped off [for the next call]. The only way to trace a call was have somebody dash over and count the contacts, which meant keeping the caller on the line, as you’ve seen in the movies. So often.
Around 1985, however, the phone company began collecting massive amounts of demographic information on new subscribers. Their point of view was that installing a phone in your house was them extending you unlimited credit, so they had a right to your vital statistics. The point is, once they got that information, it was re-used for other purposes. It was the beginning of the end of your privacy. You might think that cell phones would stop this practice, but it is a much worse situation for privacy. The cell phone towers can triangulate your position and they not only log every call, they record it.
Time to time, I hear the theory that you can just change phones. Such persons saying that are living under a rock. They are unaware of meta-information. The system tracks every phone, but it also tracks your calling pattern. If you change your phone, I just wait a couple of weeks. I would take me a matter of seconds to match up all new numbers that came on with any three of the numbers you used to call most often. It’s a pattern and I can smell patterns. Or, if I spot a call is to anybody with a license, like a doctor or dentist, I just strong-arm them into giving me the number you called from. That is why the big shots will do anything to get your phone number. It is all they need to keep tabs on you.
And that is why the bad guys carry a box of cell phones. One call, then they ditch the phone. I was suspicious about that whole system the day Google got involved. The CIA has more than once said how much they envy Google’s database. There is another way to defeat the system, but I’m not saying because it is the one I use. But I have ceased giving my phone number to any medical personnel. That includes my doctor, even my medical insurer. If they need to contact me, they can send me a letter.
Be aware that the police no longer use warrants to tap phone lines. Your calls are all recorded, so they go to the phone service provider and don't need permission for that. The warrant is only if they intend to introduce the recorded conversation as evidence. That is very rare these days. Instead, they use a warrantless wire tap to listen in until they get enough information to set you up. After that they play the odds the court will prefer their version of the story.
The same pattern works with the return addresses on your envelopes. However, people so rarely mail any more, that is a slow and cumbersome trace. But it still works fine. Mind you, it is an easy system to spoof. I do it all the time as a matter of policy. It’s not like they tell people they are tracking your letters. Even if they were up front [about it], I still would not like it. The Constitution says your private correspondence is immune from searches, and that would easily include tracking who you write to. I mean, it is not that difficult to guess why someone suddenly starts writing letters to a divorce attorney, and by extension . . .
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