January 13, 2018

Yesteryear
One year ago today: January 13, 2017, got me a shed to build.
Five years ago today: January 13, 2013, on dry-dating.
Nine years ago today: January 13, 2009, on legal blackmail.
Random years ago today: January 13, 2004, I used to hate it.

           There’s that far too photogenic gent that shows up when I’m taking pictures. This is the local post office, showing how the town is kind of a 1960s setting. I don’t mean just the post office. You should meet some of the people. I commenced work on the flooring and was tuckered out by 11:00AM. My plan to now do the room in sections looks like it will work out just fine. Now if I could just find a supply of gumption and get going in the mornings. The cold spell is over and the lure of a relaxing extra day becomes, what’s the word, ‘paramount’. There, I finally used it in a sentence.

           I was on the phone with Seattle for over an hour, an old west coast buddy I have not talked to in years. She’s still single and I was surprised how her voice has not changed a bit over the years. We used to chum around in the 90s, but once I moved it was over. When did we last visit, let me think. Something like 1998.

           I remember that visit well. We decided to go dancing and found this country line-dance Karaoke place just southeast of Bellingham. We were only there an hour when we both wanted to leave. She felt the place was full of women and I felt the same place was full of men. That may also be the last time I was out dancing. I don’t think I’ve met any women since who could even do the foxtrot. Um, for those unfamiliar with ballroom, that is the simplest dance that looks right, you know, real dancing 101.
          The library was closed. Since when did MLFK Day become a three-day weekend? The signage on the door was a little unclear, so dozens besides me showed up for the disappointment. This year the observance coincides with some local celebration at the community center, so most of us had to walk nearly a block from the nearest parking to find the locked doors.

           So, another round of closures and layoffs. This is going to bring on another dead cat bounce in the economy. No way I’m the only one wondering how many times this silly game can continue.

Picture of the day.
Mull of Kintyre.
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           This is the type of bolt planned to reinforce the front of my place, where the termite damaged joists pair up with the new planks, now mostly bolted in place. The termite wood is also brittle with age, so I’m planning on fixing them twice. Once with a bolt that uses 3” square metal plates to pull the old studs against the new joist work, and by screwing in place new blocks on the inside of the older lumber. Four screws per block will hold this place firmer than new. I opted not to use adhesives, but to increase the number of bolts (by 50%).

           The logic is glue makes it too difficult to correct any mistakes or shifting that may occur once the flooring is in place. Here’s a great view to explain what is happening. This is just the first (galvanized) carriage bolt in place, there will be up to six bolts in each member, the cost of the hardware exceeding the lumber itself.

           I’m also going reroute the electrical to string down the center of the floor. This is to keep it away from the outside walls, and make it somewhat easier to get through the planned hatch in the front hallway floor. While I’ve got you here, this next photo shows roughly the length of bolt I’ll need to cinch the studs to the joists. This is only a 6”, but I’ll need mostly the 8”. These cost $2.50 per bolt, it’s out of control. These companies are pricing themselves out of the market. I mean, America, if you can’t produce bolts like this for fifty-cents each, don’t act so damn surprised when somebody comes along who can.

           By mid-afternoon, another cold front moved in. That got me up to Dunkins for coffee and the free WiFi. The place was half full of the homeless getting out of the cold. That Dunkin lets them stay inside for hours with one coffee. It’s weird for me because these are mostly men my own age ( the old there but for the grace of God thing). Well, not really, if I had not concentrated earlier in life with foregoing the easy ways out way out and getting my infrastructure together, there are any number of unprovoked external events that could have landed me right there myself. The system itself is flawed when the ordinary person has to devote a measurable chunk of his time and income to protecting himself against outdated laws, bureaucrats and other assholes.

           For sure, there will be any number of people who will contend what I just said is wrong. They also say many other things about how fine the system is and how we all have to pull together. All you have to do to hear them say it is stick around past midnight at the grocery store and listen to all the 67-plus year olds claim they kept on working after retirement because they “like “ work.
           One more thing that makes that Dunkin strange. The people that go in there seem to develop an unnatural interest in what I’m doing. True, I may be the only old guy in there who writes letters, works the crossword, and who can work a computer with any observable skill. It’s that so many people in there watch me, in particular looking over my shoulder to watch what I do on-line, that sometimes I have to change tables. No, it’s not imagination, they don’t watch others with computers when they are present. Ha, for that matter, when I look up suddenly, I often catch other users staring at me as well. It’s likely nothing but it makes me wonder. I might get a video for anyone who thinks it’s my imagination.

ADDENDUM
           Hooray to Uber for their deployment and use of “Ripley”. This is software that can remotely shut down, block, encrypt, or otherwise make computer data unavailable to “authorities”. The system can lock out anybody from computer files. Why would I support this? Because the Constitution makes two things clear. One, that a person’s personal papers cannot be searched without a warrant, and that there is a presumption of innocence. Couple that with the premise that a person cannot be compelled to testify against himself and you have a complete justification for systems like Ripley.
           It is the police who raid offices on “fact-finding” missions that need to clean up their acts. No way should they ever have been allowed the leeway to develop a system based on infringements. The argument that they are just doing their job is bull. That argument has simply let the police to evolve into an entity that regularly breaks the law to get convictions. They require incentives to evolve back into a respectable force, and software like Ripley is a fine example of what works. Uber does not keep records for the purpose of incriminating themselves and those who disagree don’t belong in a democracy.
           I further believe that, in non-violent situations, far from being a crime, fleeing from the police and destroying evidence against oneself is a legitimate right to self-defense. I think this because you can hardly pick up a newspaper anymore without a story of some innocent man, always a man, wrongly convicted. I wonder whatever happened to that guy who refused to give the police his password. If that isn’t being blackmailed into self-incrimination, what is? (That’s the guy who had a legal right not to divulge the password, so they had a Judge order him to provide a copy, making him guilty of a different crime when he refused.)

           [Author’s note: this harks back to my old specs for a piece of software I would love to write—if I knew how. I can program, but I don’t know how to program that kind of code. The way it works is your hard drive has two passwords. One is legit, the other wipes out the drive if anybody tries to crack it or copy it. Thus, you could sit right in front of some asshole Judge who orders you to give up your right to remain silent and delete the contents right in front of him.]


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