June 21, 2019

Yesteryear
One year ago today: June 21, 2018, I didn’t even know.
Five years ago today: June 21, 2014, MS Vista, nothing but trouble.
Nine years ago today: June 21, 2010, looks like a U-boat.
Random years ago today: June 21,1984, trip to California.

           How’s about some more museum pictures in a moment? Say yes, because most of today was centered around the funeral home up in Goodlettesville. It’s northeast of Nashville. This was a service for the neighbor’s brother. We got lost thanks to a phone version of GPS that sent us 30 miles the wrong direction. Reb used to run an artist review show at a local restaurant, but had always taken the freeway. I toured the town and it is a bedroom community full of antique shops. Maybe one day we’ll shop.

           First, take a gander at the relaxed couple strolling toward the main entrance. This visit [to Hermitage] is drawing to a close and finding quality time has not gotten any easier. The generally more expensive prices in Tennessee also put a damper on things. Once more, I make the distinction, I’m not complaining of the price, but the value. Around here, add up to 30% in price for zero increase in quality.

           My affiliation with recording music is much less than expected for a dude like me, but I have used a lot of the equipment from time to time. Yet, such equipment was on a home-studio scale and it was well into the electronic era by then. So I had never seen gear like this “record cutting” machine being inspected by the Reb. The data says it cuts vinyl records, but unless this machine was lightning fast, I can’t see it. Aren’t vinyl records stamped from a master die? There were several such exhibits where the labels didn’t match up. One major blooper for you military buffs was the tag on the “Norden” bombsite.

           That’s a piece of mystery history to me. The secrecy and security of that hardware is legendary. But why? The damn thing never worked right, the Germans already had superior optics, thousands of Allied airmen knew that precision bombing was a joke, and both sides knew the Germans did not have and could not build a large bomber force. To me, no other theory holds up except that maybe the Nordsen was an embarrassingly expensive propaganda mistake. You do not need pickle-barrel accuracy to drop an atomic bomb, either.

           There is another possibility. Probably the greatest lie in the last century is that 1933 Germany was out to conquer the world. Somebody out there even today has an ongoing obsession with demonizing Germany over something that has no basis in fact. Germany’s entire armed forces at the time were geared to short-range, rapid campaigns. By 1941, they had seen how most countries quickly surrendered when their border forces were overrun. They tried to use their tanks for deep penetrations when the Soviets traded space for time. And Germany lost the war. However, quite a lot of propaganda had by then been invented by the western newspapers that would now have to be perpetuated, forever if necessary.
           Another twist in the plot is that by 1933, England had effectively conquered the world and it would seem the powers that be were content with all that. They would have opposed anyone, not just Germany, who brought any threat to the status quo. Russia’s grand design was to wait out the looming Second World War until the west exhausted itself, and then swoop over Europe in the vacuum. Germany was in the way, and quite aware the Russians were industrializing for war, not agricultural production. I say the answer lies in figuring out who stood to gain the most by making Germany the bad guy in all of this and why they are still doing so all these years later.

Picture of the day.
Rostov on Don.
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           Here we have one of the original studio tape deck recorders. By this time of the tour I was too pooped to really study it, so here’s your picture. These recorders often had two (stereo) tracks only. Does anybody know if they could bounce more tracks? If so, it was analog and each pass would degrade the signal. Heck, for that smudge it often enough and become the next Sex Pistols. I found this gallery of the museum ashamedly sparse on recording history considering this was one of maybe five interesting displays in a room that should have held five hundred. Then again, the other thing missing was patrons.

           Nor did we spend a lot of time at the quilt exhibit. It was not the quilts but the knitted and patch-sewn cover pieces. It’s fine but you won’t see any real quilts. It’s one of those crafts that few can appreciated the care and effort put in. It only makes sense to me in that back in the pioneer days, sewing bees passed for entertainment out on the prairies not to mention the only way for these gals to meet single men.

           [Author's note: that's one thing I can guarantee you. Back on the farm, absolutely any place you find women doing anything, you'll find some hick farm-boy within spitting distance waiting for you to make the first move. If you win the lottery out there, you can hide the ticket in a dictionary until you get to town.]

           The majority of the museum is bright and clean and predictable. I rather prefer oddities and things not seen before. They were meager, one gem was this shaft drive bicycle. It mostly got walked by since there was nothing to draw the onlookers attention to the missing chain. The drive shaft fit down the center of the wheel brace, as shown here. Note the double bevel on the drive gear of what I take to be an obvious one-speed. What, so when one edge gets worn, you flip the sprocket over? Like I said, no documentation.
           If you like to keep up with similar technology without the hype, I’ll make the rare recommendation you visit New Atlas, no link here. It’s a European influenced site so there is a match between the title of the article and the contents to a degree unknown on the American continent. Not to mention a lack of annoying ads that actually drive people away from a given product.

           Modern versions of this shaft, or direct drive mechanism have large diameter sprocket against which the dive gear moves forward of back to change gears, the gear teeth replaced by bearings. In another plug for New Atlas, that is my primary source for info on what’s new and I’ve been following the all-electric Mustang and a new guitar neck that eliminates the foibles you get between frets and strings on regular instruments. I’ve become a whiz at where to play fretted or open notes due to this quirk, but the new design eliminates the differences. It works by instead of the frets being sunk into the wood, the wood is actually inserted between the frets which are milled from a solid piece of aircraft aluminum.

ADDENDUM
           The Human Genome Project found amazingnumber of duplicate DNA sequences. Now they’ve identified some Neanderthal DNA in the centromere zone (the segment of the XY chromozone that more or less never changes). That means, depending on certain control triggers, some humans alive today really are part cave-man. So, I was right about the passport office after all.

Last Laugh