One year ago today: June 23, 2016, just too convenient . . .
Five years ago today: June 23, 2012, the end of Wally’s Folly.
Nine years ago today: June 23, 2008, I love Caribbean food.
Random years ago today: June 23, 2004, please, please, find life.
That settles the transponder issue. The locksmith’s machine is hooped. This is an ignition key transponder next to a grain of rice. I examined this closely under bright lights with a magnifying glass and conclude it is a Basmati enriched long grain. Gotcha! My point is there is no transponder in that 1986 key unless Honda knew something the rest of the world didn’t. The good news is, any key of the same shape will start operate that year’s mechanism, thusforth I sifted through my vast collection of old keys. I found one simply marked “W”. It will require some careful machining, so that is why I’m having it done in-house.
Who’s the best at liberal-baiting? C’mon, admit it, and I’m damn good at goading New Agers as well, though in that department I stick to insulting how they are covering up for their lack of brainpower to understand the subject matter. So there I am this morning waiting on an Arduino site to download charge controller schematics. I click on the forum and bedamned we got us a real live liberal. On a robotics programming site, for crying out loud. She’s antsy over Bill Gates’ research into the anti-malarial laser that targets the anopheles mosquito, calling it an “assassination prototype” for a robot to stop black African border-jumping.
From what I gather, she thinks the laser works by programming in skeeter DNA, where it actually homes in on the distinctive frequency of the wing hum. So I had fun with this one, getting her to admit she thought the laser was “big and forty feet long” and housed atop a tall building. Inside was a scientist (American) who had a DNA dial. It had two settings. It was currently set on “Mosquitoes”, but the scientist’s evil Anglo-Caucasian white hand was reaching to turn it to “Blacks”. That much she was sure of.
Next, I ran more tests to find out why the scooter signal lights had quit flashing. It didn’t take long to isolate a short inside the chassis and I don’t want to conduct surgery. I probed all the available wiring and found one that allows the signals to work if I slightly pull the brake handle. So, I Ieft it as an anti-theft feature. If the thief gets pulled over for not signaling, then it’s doing the job. I’m too old and so is the scooter to be opening up body panels. That, plus anybody stupid enough to steal a prehistoric scooter deserves a little jail time.
Personally, I think stupid people should be put in jail, but when you think about it, they already are. Now don’t go concluding I don’t like millennials just because I think they are stupid. You should instead ask why I think they are stupid. Take my cell phone, a millennial necessity. Normally, you would press ten keys to make a phone call. My phone has a “contact” list. To call any of those numbers, I have to press eleven keys. Multiply that scenario by 10,000 and that is why I think millennials are stupid. My generation did the same, but 1,000, not 10,000. We would never have gotten away with 10,000. Our parents were not as stupid.
German landing strip.
Remember to use BACK ARROW to return to blog.
The chop saw, as I tend to call the miter saw, is in the shed and the larger park bench is finished and gone. No pics, but it wasn’t near as pretty as my bird bench anyway. The first broiler summer day was here so it looks like I finished the outdoor work on the shed and front yard just in time. The majority of the summer work will be indoors. The yard is overgrowing with every imaginable weed and everybody is talking about how their fruit trees are blooming.
I have one ailing wild lemon tree. But then, I’m being super conservative about big ticket items for a bit. The reasoning is straightforward—nothing has gone wrong in six months. Time to bolster the defenses. Meanwhile, Agt. R says, yep, I got myself a real work-shed here. I accept the compliment because this is where the work gets done. To my schedule, I mean, so let’s not go nuts about that one.
That was JZ on the blower and l may have to visit Miami for a special refrigerated prescription. I’m put off when people tell me they are bored. I’m the guy that warned everybody to get a productive hobby. I figured that much out myself, my own family is constantly in dutch for they didn’t listen. What I’m saying is it is not my doing if you find it boring to have to spend an evening at home watching cable TV reruns. I’m the last guy who cares if you decide to upgrade to the movie channel. Real life is actually cheaper. No, I’m not picking on JZ.
We discussed our outrageously expensive day at the Frost Science Museum. The main point of agreement is we did not like being told the real scientific exhibits were off limits while witnessing tour groups exiting those facilities. I state now that the museum had nothing that would encourage an adult, and therefore as entertainment, I’d rate it worth maybe $12 admission. Maybe. As far as open-minded inspiration to follow on with controlled and systematic inquiry, you are better off reading this blog.
“If women did not exist, all the money in the world
would have no meaning.”
~ Aristotle Onassis.
Friday or not, I drove to the old club. Another entertainment disaster [it was], but technically a show that beats me musically. If your idea of a great band is hearing a three piece performing old guitar hero songs duh, okay. It was fantastic, but not the sort of fantastic to associate with a Friday night crowd. I’ve said before, if people want a concert, they go to the arena. You bet I was super attentive to what this band was doing wrong. I could not imaginably put on such a grand show but that is my very point. Too much music is as bad as not enough.
Boy, was I wrong about the shark’s teeth. You know what I did? I got on my hands and knees with a spyglass and found most of the larger pieces in the grass. For those who don’t know what that’s all about, well, same here. It turns out many a central Florida kid grew up disappointed that he never could find a shark’s tooth. Then some rookie shavehead like me comes along forty years later and finds two batches without hardly trying.
That was May 19, but not giving these tiny fossils a second thought, I left them outside. They got washed into the weeds by a rainstorm. It was a week later when the picture appeared in the trip report before I learned anybody might want to keep them.
Another “war” movie except it isn’t a war movie, called “Brothers”. While I support the troops, I do not support the concept of sending married men, particularly married men with children, into combat. There are enough single volunteers to fill that need. I do not like the military’s presentation that being a soldier is just a job. These are political wars and if not for American political interference, the Afghan’s concept of America would be cigarettes and cowboy movies.
Do I read MSN? Well, if you still have ancient emails set up before ID was required (psst, your phone number is ID these days), you’ll know when you log out, it doesn’t log out. It directs you to MSN, which is basically a third-rate comedy site masquerading as news. Sometimes, I’ll browse and saw the article on the twenty top big chains edging on bankruptcy. The only one I recognized was Sears. The majority were fashion outlets that I’ve never heard of, and in most cases, never seen. So much for the impact of advertising.
It’s a shame that the advertising business was the biggest overall American invention of the 20th century. It’s everywhere it should not be, past the bounds of decency and respect for privacy. It was whipped to a fever pitch in the seventies and eighties. The Internet simply gave it more opportunities to annoy people, but it has not invented a new thing in fifty years. Other businesses that don’t innovate would be dead by now, but advertising can’t be measured easily enough to make anyone realize that in all but its most passive forms, it turns people off. I actually boycott places that over-advertise.
What is Variable X? I don’t know, but I’ve been mulling that over for a long time now. It is a factor used by the authorities to target certain types of people via their bank accounts. Bad guys show an increased level of Variable X, so naturally, they don’t want you to know what it is. But it is apparently forbidden to look for Variable X in Sweden, the European state with the largest proportion of Islamic citizens. I’m going to try to figure out Variable X.
Trivia. People who win the Nobel Prize live longer than the ones who were merely nominated. I’ll have to remember that next time I’m in Sweden, ducking scimitars. That’s from Superfreakonomics again, which I was reading to discover why terrorists should buy life insurance, which never pays out to suicides. The answer is because the government monitors all bank activity and bank life insurance is bought by preauthorized debit. The government is looking for terrorist-like banking activity which includes:
No typical monthly pattern of withdrawals consistent with normal living expenses.
High ratio of cash withdrawals compared to checks (untraceable).
Avoidance of savings accounts and safe deposit boxes (why have assets?).
One large cash deposit to open the account, then steady drawdown.
No life insurance.
There are other factors being watched, so don’t panic if you have the above. Mind you, get a little uneasier if you are male student between 26 and 35, have a Muslim name on the account, and never make ATM withdrawals on a Friday (prayer service day). If you are like me, you know that if the authorities are doing this, you just know they are using other algorithms to dredge through banking data for other activities. Making one large deposit, then drawing it down without regular replenishment is another giveaway—but careful how you make the deposits because you are in greater danger of being snagged by the IRS for unreported income. Also, getting money from foreign countries is a tip-off, and don’t you forget Canada is a foreign country.
Here is an actual and factual copy of the spreadsheet that monitors the robot club account. Since there are no economic pressures on that balance, it follows my own banking advice to a tee. It shows regular deposits and withdrawals that are consistent with monthly expenses, but tells you nothing but assumptions. Like the regular $500 withdrawal could be rent, but no way to confirm that. But I can tell you that amount comes out no matter what, even if it is redeposited later. I don’t remember where I learned this behavior, but I remember it is a good idea.
So be careful. I’ve said for decades it is better to use cash withdrawals to prevent profiling, and wiser to show a consistent pattern of withdrawals. But that is because I despise credit. I never write checks and know that safe deposit boxes are regularly opened without warrants, so I simply avoid them. Does that make me a suspect? Of course not, but here is something for you to ponder. You could have all of the above and still not come under suspicion if, are you ready, if you live in a trailer court where you own the mobile home. Fancy that.
Last Laugh
Return Home
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
