February 14, 2019

Yesteryear
One year ago today: February 14, 2018, Jarte still sucks.
Five years ago today: February 14, 2014, lots of opinions.
Nine years ago today: February 14, 2010, my evolving bingo show.
Random years ago today: February 14, 2007, that shoe polisher.

           Here’s today’s skill test for you. Using the new saws as a complimentary pair, here are the nearly completed window stoops. Your challenge is to guess which is the original and which are the two copies. These were made with proper jigs, it is so nice to work with good tools. One stoop is over sixty years old, the other two are brand new. That is very high quality primer drying on the rack. Note the angle cuts and beveled end pieces. Don’t conclude I had an easy go of it. It cost me half a day to get the jigs right, despite the fact chop saws are intended to make identical cuts. The longer cuts had to be made on my table saw, which sorely needs replacing.

           Then again, I dunno. Maybe my new radial arm has one of those hinges that let it spin 90° and I can use it to rip long strips. I have to make space for it in the white shed, so add more days to the project. It’s approaching mosquito season so time to get a move on. Agt. R called to check in, he didn’t know I was back in town. Tomorrow or Saturday we’ve made plans to get the majority of the tree branches cut which overhang my roof. At least two of the larger branches have grown nearly a yard (small meter) since I took over.

           In homeowner news, there has been a general increase in utilities expense over the past two years. I budgeted for $140, but lately that is shaving it close. While $160 would cover it, I still like to have a reserve, so $180 it is. I still come out so far ahead I would not sell this place for $100,000. I’d consider it, then say no. I have a tenant, a little black mouse that has moved in behind my heaviest dresser. I can’t get him, but I hear him, and alas, the traps have been set.
Viewing on line trying to find out what all the knobs are for on the radial arm saw, I found a site with the most interesting jig for a table saw. It’s a notched piece of wood that makes it easy to cut a single box tooth. It got me thinking, can I have such a jig with several notches and use it make an entire box tooth edge? I am still determined to learn how to make wooden boxes.

           The next photo is the place we went for breakfast in Nashville the day of the car museum. If I didn’t say, it is Nadeen’s up on Lebanon Pike. This must be an accidental snap because who am I to take a picture of a television. Anyway, TMOR, this is the ubiquitous overhead television in most American pubs and restaurants. There is nothing on TV, but you’ve got several generations of hopelessly addicted no-minds who have to be entertained every waking hour. There’s a recent study that shows a strong correlation to people who smoke weed as teens and develop depression later in life. I’ve got ten bucks says there is also a link to watching television.

           You know, Robynette and I were the only people in the place who probably never noticed that television up there. I missed a photo op this morning as I finally went shopping for curry powder. No luck, place after place was sold out of the spice, and only that spice. It would have made a nice panel shot, which I’ll get back to in a moment. Even Wal*Mart, with three spice racks of different brands were sold out of only the curry. Is this national curry month or something. Finally, on the seventh try, I scored a jar of the cheapest brand, Badia.

           Panel shots, these are created using the Photoscape “combine” command. What I’ve done is make a video, then use VLC to take snapshots. By arranging the best of those into consecutive frames, I can tell a story without the effort and inconvenience of editing a video. I tried this as a systematic policy starting a few months ago and am getting great feedback from e-mails. I’ve often suspected if you send someone a video, they won’t watch it unless they have time. But an 8-panel (2x4) combination not only tells the tale, it takes almost none of the reader’s time to glance at. I don’t have any samples that pass muster for blog publication, but there have been some recent examples here. My first attempt was this series of signs driving toward Nashville last November. It was a series of e-mail snaps chronicling my trip into town. It planted the idea.
           More recently you saw the “this bear’s repeating” portrait. That shows the rapid evolvement of the concept in a short time. I’m not so sure they are blog-friendly, but you may get them time to time. Remember to leave a comment if you like what you see, or better yet, publish this blog url on your local craigslist with a comment. I’m still too cheap to do much of my own advertising.

Picture of the day.
Chinese cave grafitti.
Remember to use BACK ARROW to return to blog.

           This here is my first attempt at window trim. The old trim was almost half again as wide, so to me this new trim looks a little, well, maybe too modern. I’ll continue with this one window to see the final effect and decide how to proceed. The trim piece I cut is along the top, as all the guidebooks I read say install the stoop, then work from the top down. The stoop is still waiting for the paint to dry. Just to the right side is the wall cut-out for the air conditioner. I cloned the stoops because they had been damaged from window mount air conditioners what were not properly drained. I have no pattern to follow for the wall cut-out, so I’m going to have a try designing something that matches the window pattern. This is ambitious for me.

           While painting this afternoon I threw on this terrible Stallone DVD “Expendables 3”. Terrible except for all the glamour action scenes. The title is descriptive indeed. They even got Arnold in there, who should be able to afford all the cosmetic surgery he wants before he appears in these movies. The leading lady role was also a disappointment because I think they did not intend for her to be categorized as over the hill, but, well, how about I don’t say anything this time. Except if the role can be done by a fresh new babe, it should be.

           And while I’m griping, I saw something else new to me that I didn’t like. It was a lightbulb that carried a warning to only mount it with the base down. What kind of millennial crap is that? I had to look twice and the package indeed carried a diagram with the red circle bar saying to not hang the bulb by the base. There you go, zero improvement and one more thing you have to watch out for.
           And the news this morning that that chain of restaurants where you paid what you thought the meal was worth is closing. It was an excellent idea, but doomed when the entitled generation came along. The concept was based on long-standing American tradition, the sense of value received. But millennials? They’ve been indoctrinated by the school system to the point the only tradition they recognize is a free lunch, and I have another prophesy. Such people won’t distinguish whether the free lunch comes from food stamps or in prison. Most Americans are aware that we have a different prison system for white-collar criminals. Some of them are virtual country clubs, like where they sent Martha Stewart and where they would have, had justice been served, sent Hillary Clinton. Anyway, I predict an upswing in millennial white-collar crime as a career choice.
           I personally feel Clinton should do hard time in maximum. Because her real crime was those dreadful pantsuits.

           How about some trivia? Next time you look at a an oil lamp, notice the wick. If it is good quality, you will notice that it is woven, not twisted. This is a recent discovery, considering the number of centuries lamps have been used. The braid gives off a more even light. With candles, a woven wick is trickier, but there is something at work there as well. Modern candles don’t use tallow, which smells when burned, or spermaceti, a derivative of whale oil. Today’s candles are mostly paraffin. Again, look at the wick.
           Notice how it does not stand straight upward as it burns. It bends over a full 90° to one side, burning away only at the edge of the zone where the blue core of the flame touches the yellow layer that gives off the usable light. This is not coincidence, but the application of a chemical to the material in the wick. You see, the candle only stays lit via a complex interaction of several physical principles, including the conversion of the solid “wax” to a liquid which will rise up the wick by capillary action. I don’t know the exact reason for the angle, but the wax has to vaporize before burning and without the bend in the wick, any slight breeze would puff the candle out.

ADDENDUM
           Yep, the leftards have shot themselves in the foot this time. Trump just trounced their best efforts to destroy him, and the Donald should be a shoe-in for the 2020 term. His approval ratings are through the roof and the Democrats have turned themselves into a freak show. Remember, I do not support Trump as a politician, only as a businessman. Both entities are corrupt, but at least business supports capitalism, which is the American way. The polls show Trumps speech had the approval of 97% of Republicans, a whopping 82% of independents, and an astonishing 30% of Democrats. He’s in.
           TMOR (to my overseas readers) here is a recap of the situation. That border wall has to be built and I believe it will be. The Democrat (socialist) party has gone ballistic, since they rely on undocumented voters and the votes of people already on government assistance. Essentially, the Democrats rely on the votes of people after these government “freebies”. The Democrats are fielding jokers like Pelosi, Ocasio-Cortez, and Warren and weakening their cause. They drumbeat that the wall won’t work, but never give any reasons. Also, they traditionally banked on labeling any opposition to their social programs as “redneck”, “nazi”, and “hate speech”, but are at a complete loss when it doesn’t work on Trump.

           The goof of the day has to be that Elizabeth Warren to claimed to be American Indian to get into law school and government jobs on the affirmative action program. She’s going down in flames. A close second is that moron Bernie Sanders who wants tax rates as high as 77%. The true colors of the Democrat party are emerging over the tax issue. People on welfare always vote for the welfare party, but this time, the party went too far. They’ve handed Trump his next victory and I hope he gets the bit in his teeth. Trounce these do-gooders out of town once and forever, or at least quash them back to where they belong—which is paying their own bills. We’ll see how nice they are when it’s their own moneyl
           Last, they tried their old tactic of burying time bombs in obscure language deep in house bills. They must have been shocked half to death when Trump announced he is going to actually read the text before signing. Up to now, the Democrats counted on pushing through buried clauses by giving the bill some flowery & patriotic title. It’s a sick agenda, but it carried the seeds of its own demise. You see, it worked so well only when the opponent was a political creature easily backed into corners by the left’s insistence on political correctness. It was in place so long that they cannot adapt their way out of it. Trump has no problem offending them and they don’t have any retorts except what they used to condemn in others. Ha, what a circus.
           The Democrats have just unwittingly elected Trump.

Last Laugh