One year ago today: February 7, 2017, more puttering.
Five years ago today: February 7, 2013, beyond a doubt.
Nine years ago today: February 7, 2009, I actually sang.
Random years ago today: February 7, 2014, Zombies - how original.
I had wanted to go over to the county courthouse today to watch some proceedings, get a measure of some of the local lawyers, the basics. Agt. R is due there over his dog not being inoculated, but upon examination, the dog turns out to belong to his adult son. The pound was going to put the dog down unless he released it for adoption, which is blackmail. Now, they want to fine him no shots, make him pay for the shots, and send him a bill for the adoption. My advice was to plead not guilty, saying that it was not his dog and he only signed the release paper to save the dog's life. And if they ask whose dog it is, plead the fifth. I wish he’d told me all this months ago so I could have trained him how to use that plea aggressively. (Later, after deciding the pound would argue he was the custodian of the animal, we opted for no contest and a $150 fine.)
The drawings are ready, man were those expensive. But there is a basic diagram of the house now and it won’t be as expensive to add on more. One disappointment was I asked them to draw a porch, and all they did was draw the deck. But I need to get the project finished so I’ll carry on. I submit the drawings in a day or two, after I’ve examined the application form. I prefer to do this by mail if possible.
It was already late afternoon by the time I got out of there. Being just nine miles from the Thrift west of Mulberry, I drove out to get more videos. And to chat with the lady owner, who I fancy. This is gossip, a rare find here, so enjoy it if you can. You see, she told me she was divorced, but I know a sexy dame like that was not unattached. Yoy, was I right. She not only remains attached to the ex, she is shacked up. Sigh, oh well. I was one of the first customers in the store, but if you recall, I spotted the place had tremendous potential. Open a coffee shop, she has the space. Well, next thing you know, U-Haul is renting part of her lot for their fleet. I do not know what is involved with that.
No girl-watching at the art show this year. I mistimed my next appointment and the show ends two days before I can get there. JZ was on the phone and somehow I’m managing to miss both that exhibit and the county fair. These go back far enough to be traditions. Unless I want to make an extra trip, maybe, but we’ve missed years before. The art show is expensive anyway, though we just park at his brother’s condo across the road and walk in free out the front door. I’m no patron of most art, I’m there to meet women, though that has not happened yet. Truly single women don’t exist after age 32. Well, not anything you’d want to be seen with, anyhow. Did I just say that?
Private property.
Remember to use BACK ARROW to return to blog.
Lady Nik called to cancel rehearsal and rebook it for Friday. That will have given her ten days to get moving on the material. I believe we will eventually play out, just not as soon as I would have expected with a person who has done it before. And, since she is trying so hard, even if I move on to other things, she’s still the best thing I’d have to a fall back plan. She disappoints me one week and impresses me the next so I find it impossible to say when we’ll finally play out. If I’m worried, it is because the disappointments are more frequent. She knows we always rehearse on Wednesdays and ought to have taken steps to preserve that time slot. The future is unknown so establish a routine to meet it.
I couldn’t find a more relevant photo of this afternoon, so here is another shot of the porch work. This is looking down at a corner. You can see the pylon with the metal anti-termite guard, the end of the girder, and a couple of the joists. The double joist shown here is to support one of the pillars planned for the roof support. It’s a confusing photo, but I know what it is and it shows the quality of the workmanship. Think what you want, but this is heavy duty work for me and I felt it today. That’s why I took a noon break at the library, where I investigated a number of options to put skirts around this porch.
A touch of insomnia, so the time was used to look into a topic that I think is vastly underreported by the mainstream types. Money laundering. I’m reading the articles now. First thing I see is the stats that money is bulky. From How Stuff Works, it says a million dollars in cocaine weights just 44 pounds, but the million dollars (in ones) weighs 256 pounds. The first noticeable feature is the way enforcement agencies hate cash. If they had it their way, all cash movement would be documented. Again, the problem there is two-fold. It would just force the bad guys to move to other methods, and the system would then turn the apparatus against innocent people who have a right to privacy.
The list of preferred methods include making smaller deposits (smurfing), shell companies, overseas accounts, and cash businesses. That explains why the mob likes car washes, strip clubs, and that working class favorite, the check-cashing store. The same article reports “Crazy Eddie” was skimming cash off his business and depositing it in Israel. That tweaked my interest because that is the only time I’ve ever heard of Israel extraditing a Jewish criminal. Eddie got eight years. I think most people would, given the chance, spend eight years in a minimum security facility if they got $8 million out of the deal. In today’s money, that’s closer to $15 million. Do the math. Heck, I’ll do it for you. That works out to $937.50 per hour for sitting in the prison library watching free cable TV.
In the second example, a Columbian got caught because his neighbor in Luxembourg complained about the noise of his money-counting machine going all night. That’s a pretty close neighbor for a rich guy, so that is probably a cover story. He did spend time in a Luxembourg prison (Luxembourg has prisons? How much does it cost to stay in one? What time is the polo match? May I see the presidential suite?) and got $36 million for seven and a half years in a US jail, value of this deal: $2,400 per hour. The current focus is on drug money and terrorists, which makes sense. The bad guys pointedly do not use credit cards to purchase weapons, plane tickets, or vehicles. That tips us off what the good guys are watching the most.
This led to a secondary look at white-collar crime, the non-violent ways of stealing money. It would seem the most universal element is an occupation that involves money handling. Things that you probably didn’t know were classified as white-collar crimes include toxic waste dumping (to avoid a cost), bankruptcy fraud, and counterfeiting. To those paying attention, the link here is the same Michael Milken junk bond trader mentioned last week. Although he broke no laws, he was deemed to have broken them simply because he “made money too fast”.
This caught my eye. Most white-collar criminals are first-time offenders. To me that just means they learned how not to get caught.
ADDENDUM
Factoid. Why are avocados so expensive? Two main reasons. First, they take a full year to grow. Next, by government regulation they must be hand-picked. Something to do with them being a fruit and not a vegetable. If they touch the ground, they cannot be sold as food. And in Mexico, most avocado farming is gang-controlled, said the article. Duh, is there anything in Mexico that isn’t?
Last Laugh
Return Home
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
