August 10, 2018

Yesteryear
One year ago today: August 10, 2017, a shift toward stage presence, again.
Five years ago today: August 10, 2013, vocalists, not musicians . . .
Nine years ago today: August 10, 2009, hiring agencies suck.
Random years ago today: August 10, 2008, the Canadian misconception.

           What a nothing day. It has a lot to do with me sleeping through most of it. Here’s my toy computer at the laundromat this morning. Whenever I try to log on there, my protection software has a fit. I open it and see there are five or six tracking switches which have turned appeared. I use anti-Beacon. I disable them but then it won’t let me log on. Don’t reset the router because then it won’t work at all. You’d have to be a totally complacent fool to believe in such things as conspiracy theorists. Ain’t no such thing.

           But, the laundromat doesn’t serve coffee. Well, it depends on who you are. Most places I go know I like coffee, so they give it to me free. This was the case today. The lady even has a special mug for me. Isn’t that sweet? I had to wash my work clothes and took the red scooter to the laundromat. My big plans to go purchase the replacement burners were cancelled by a four hour rainstorm.

           This left me craving for vanilla yogurt. It’s because at JZ’s you only get plain yogurt and I’ve developed a preference for the sweetened varieties. JZ can’t stand them, which makes sense to me because I can’t figure out how anybody would put syrup or sugar on grits. Alas, these tablet computers are a pain to get any work done with, so I decided to hit the library. I got home to get my flash drives and the rain commenced again. I can’t get anything underway. I hope you are doing better because I don’t handle disappointment so well, including my own. I threw on the old John Wayne movie, “Horse Soldiers”. Yep, I’ve seen it before but only remember the scene of the Rebel soldiers charging down a street at barricades.
           But that would make sense to the northerners because they know the bad guys lost because they were dumb enough to attack through a killing zone. Yep, our enemies are all dumb, despite the fact they’ve defeated us in some way in every war since the big one. No matter what the textbooks and Internet tell you, we’ve never had a complete victory after 1945. Could it be we are really building the combat robots because relying on our citizen soldiers hasn’t worked out for us? I’m finishing up “Battle Hymn”, which is plodding but heading for some surprise ending. Just like before, the willingness of southerners to die to get rid of northerners continues to shock the Union commanders at every turn.

           The DVD is more realistic than “Battle Hymn”, likely because John Wayne really did have to learn to buy a horse. He got hisself a sweetie this time, a natural blonde, a little southern honey who will quickly enough become a housewife who knows when to shut up. Attention libtards, the US did not steal Nevada, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico from the Indians. It was the Mexicans who stole the land. (Liberals cannot grasp sixth grade history.) Then, the white man was nice enough to take it away from the Mexicans, who like everything else they have, weren’t using it. Then, we gave it back to the Indians, who also weren’t using it. So they could operate casinos and overcharge tourists for Korean blankets. Man, do I have to teach you everything?

Picture of the day.
$100 million.
(It’s a pearl.)
Remember to use BACK ARROW to return to blog.

           The crummy news for today is that neat little Bluetooth™ turntable is probably unsalvageable. It’s brand new but the turntable motor will not function. Here it is, apart with the power supply connected directly to the motor. It’s a stepper motor with three pre-wired speeds, although I have not seen a 78rpm platter in twenty years even in the Thrifts. This picture is accurate but difficult to interpret. I found there is no internal battery, rather a large blue capacitor. The stepper is the most expensive component, so replacing it is not worthwhile. And like modern TVs, there are no salvageable parts.

           I downloaded Clapton’s “Promises” with the lyrics and tabs. He’s easy to get the music sheets on since there exists an unlimited supply of small-minded guitar players who worship his one-note riffs. Clapton will never get a fair hearing from me, since in my opinion he missed the boat. Rock music was meant for teens and he was pushing 30 before he started playing it. That made him the opposite of my heroes, The Beatles. They were teens writing for teens, and I always considered people like Clapton, B.J. Thomas, Gary Puckett, and all “big voice” singers to be old men who were blocking the way for youthful newcomers. Like myself, maybe. Worse, these old men wrote songs in the style of the 40s and 50s, with their gloomy lyrics. Nobody in my group identified with all that sadness and misery, we were all about fun. Then along comes these 30-somethings on about bad relationships, prostitutes, and unrequited love. Give me a break.
           I devised a simplistic bass line that matches the odd beat of this tune. In the process, I quickly noticed the guitar riff is just some harmony notes that match the melody. So I played the harmony and sang the melody at the same time. Hmmmm, what a unique sound. Then, I inverted and played the melody and sang the harmony. This is neat, considering I cannot sing harmony. I may pursue this. Funny, all my life, I had the lyrics wrong. Now, they make a little bit of sense, but that’s sense as far as Clapton music goes.

           Next, I started cleaning up the supply wagon. It’s ready to tow, but has been out in the weather a lot of months now. The runny part you see in this photo is melted caulk. The original cabin was sealed with paintable silicon, but it could not take the heat of the Mojave. It won’t spray wash off and I’ve never gotten around to sprucing it up. That wiring is a holdover from the days it was a camper. Most of it will be sliced away.
           I removed the temporary insulation and will replace it with higher rated but thinner material. This is destined to haul the frozen and chilled supplies for the new business. It is still great for general haulage and it is likely heading for Miami next week, just for the day. I regret that I removed the canvas baffles that once allowed the lid shown here to be propped upward another foot. I only used that configuration once and it proved impossible to make waterproof with what I had at hand.

ADDENDUM
           You know what grinds my gears? Those lame warnings on DVD videos that piracy is not a victimless crime. The concept is that you are stealing from the artists who made the movies. Isn’t that bull? Are they trying to tell us that the people never got paid at the time the movie was made? That the stars didn’t already make their millions? That there was no profit in these hundred million dollar opening weeks?
           If they are referring to royalties, they can go. Those are after-market instruments bought and owned by people who had no hand in the movies as artists. They are the ones responsible for all the nonsense going on with the Digital Millennial thing. They are out to maximize their cut by criminalizing the small guy who would not watch the old movie if it wasn’t free. Yes, there are some major violators. And that is who they should be prosecuting. Not wasting millions with guilt campaigns against ordinary Joe.
           I have a take on these pages on-line that try to corner things like song lyrics. They never clued in that the Internet was designed for a million users to publish a few song lyrics each, not some brainiac who thinks he can open a big website and charge for them. I will never pay for things that should be free. I mean, it is not like these small fry wrote the lyrics.

Last Laugh

++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Return Home
++++++++++++++++++++++++++