One year ago today: October 12, 2017, older singers, ugh.
Five years ago today: October 12, 2013, crime labs = hostile witness.
Nine years ago today: October 12, 2009, reading my own writing.
Random years ago today: October 12, 2008, Karoke, ciphers, dust storms.
Back to work. During my recent autumn holiday, which consisted mainly of looking upward from a prone position toward the undersides of my flooring material, I spotted the big problem. The worst termite damage was under the bathroom floor and you’ve seen the photos of that. But I’ve removed the floor nearest the door and placed a temp panel so I’d have access to the central part of the hallway. It was still up this morning when I noticed it was damp. Aha, in the two years I’ve been using that hatchway I’ve not caught this before. In fact, even during the worst of storms, that lumber was bone dry.
It will be getting light in an hour, so I worked on the place. It’s nice to have A/C throughout but I’ve discovered the A/C outlets themselves don’t have to be expensive GFCIs. You know that fancy plug that comes with the A/C, the one with the test buttons? That’s already a GFCI. That means I’ll reserve the actuals for the bathroom counter and the kitchen. While only the initial receptacle (of each circuit) has to be ground faulted, I exceed code by making every one a matching unit. The best thing about the sub-panel so far is the ability to crank all A/C units to the lowest setting without any brown-out. That wasn’t a problem in itself before, but it slowly ruins your power tools.
Taking advantage of the cool morning, here is the first third of the buried cable trench dug up. I got ahead of myself and made it 18” to the top of the pipe, where only 16” is required. As par for this work, I ran into old pipes, buried bricks and plenty of tree roots. See how I said this “work”, not this “undertaking”. Get it? Undertaking. At precisely 9:21AM the sun peeked over the shed roof and on came the skeeters, so it is morning coffee downtown on Friday, my traditional day off. I did not play the gig last night, as I was feeling unappreciated.
I also moved the woodpile and began clearing the space behind the white shed, planning just a shelter, maybe extend the existing roof slope another twelve feet. It would create a wonderful spot to work at maximum distance from all my neighbors, not that I have any tools that make much noise. I’ll be at coffee at least an hour, but there is yet another burn from the lousy local newspaper, the Tampa Bay Times. They’ve not only increased the price, they’ve eliminated one of the crosswords. And it is too early to confirm, but I think they use the same crosswords in both Saturday and Sunday editions.
This Saturday is not a go with the food cart. I don’t know the delay, but it is at the other end. The 20th is penciled in for a flea market and antique show, I’ll believe it when I see it. Agt. R says he gave me the contact number of the lady in charge, but like I said, it isn’t scanned. He has no control over that, but unless it gets scanned, it is likely lost. I tried several recipes for a “breakfast hotdog” along the lines of a burrito, but nothing seems right yet. I know this has all been tried by the big chains, but these flea markets are early and the feeling is we’ll need something for breakfast. Is there such a thing as a propane coffee maker? I guess we’ll find out.
Florida Keys music festival.
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This is a dramatic telephoto shot of a dead tree completely overtaken by vines. That’s your reminder that Florida is a sub-tropical climate. Two weeks ago this tree was dead and bare, so that is probably kudzu, the vine that should be the symbol of the Democrat party, the mob rule party. You know, how they take crawl all over everything the minute your back is turned. Having said that, I think this is an excellently composed little picture.
And it will only get worse unless something replaces the Internet. How about a company that builds computers that resist code invasion? Computers that have hardware built in to prevent tracking and automatically encrypt everything. Have you seen the 5G antennas? They look like electrical transformers, the ones on the poles that step-down the line power to your household level. They are wireless and to work right there has to be roughly one on every square block. With that density, it will make cell-phone tracking look like recess. Hmmm, it would seen there are also two types of people with nothing to hide. Those who foolishly think that way and those who want them to keep on thinking like that. I can tell you which group is going to take over. Having nothing to hide is fine, but only up to the point where they insist others must feel the same.
Have you seen the scary developments on compelled decryption? This is where the courts are ruling it a crime to exercise the Fifth Amendment if they want your encryption password. This is a serious and foul piece of law. The way it works is the Fifth is designed that you do not have to testify against yourself, and one aspect of that is to remain silent. The other side is saying that your computer files are a type of record that can be searched if they obtain a warrant to do so. Thus, not providing the password is similar to refusing to remove a lock on a door they wish to open. That would be obstructing justice, although justice in such a case is a rather strong term for what is going on here.
This is scary legislation. If your computer files are deemed “private papers”, erasing them would sure-as-shootin’ be interpreted as destroying evidence. The defense up to this point is people say they have forgotten the password, but the authorities are attempting to make that an illegal claim. They would make it a punishable offense to not keep the password in an accessible form should you actually forget it. The problem is, if you can access it, so can somebody else, which defeats the purpose of a password. Yes folks, all enemies, foreign and domestic.
ADDENDUM
Here’s your human interest portion, a shaving soap not tested on animals. This is what I’ve used for years in preference to gels and foams. One brick lasts a year and it is probably one of the best made products that you can buy at Wal*Mart. Like all soaps these days, it has an unpronounceable list of ingredients, but the ones you need to know are that it contains Cocoa and Mango butter and lots of glycerin. It does not foam up when applied, but only a very thin layer is needed. The product is well-scented and I use an ordinary shaving brush.
The package says it is excellent bath soap, but if you are like me, I get fussy about that. I use Alberto VO5 gel on what little hair I have left and prefer off the shelf Axe to any of the so-called manly colognes on the market. And, in case I ever get invited to a ball at the palace, I keep an small supply of Old Spice original in the supply cabinet. There’s also a squirt bottle of bubble gum flavored shampoo under the sink in case Taylor ever shows up. Like she’s supposed to. By now.
Trivia. In Japan, Matsutake mushrooms are so rare and valuable, they are grown under armed guard. There is apparently no truth to the rumor that every August 6, a dwindling cadre of Japanese Nanking veterans crouch under a bridge in Hiroshima and chant, "Hold on to your matsutakes!"
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