January 9, 2020

Yesteryear
One year ago today: January 9, January 9, 2019, on overdue destiny.
Five years ago today: January 9, 2015, programming is 7 commands.
Nine years ago today: January 9, 2011, turtle-training, a preview.
Random years ago today: January 9, 2004, on early dating ad pics.

           Just when I got to leave town, things get nice. It’s a conspiracy, I tell you. We took the doggies on an extended walk down at the boat landing, and ideal outing for the boys and a fitting goodbye to Tennessee this trip. I must get away soon ahead of the forecasted storm. And why do I mention the weather so often when I’m in Tennessee? Okay, here is a riddle that may answer that. This is an exploding glass. You set the glass out on the porch and the next morning it has exploded. What’s the answer? I know this one is too easy. If you don’t get it, is this really the right blog for you, Ken?
          

The Reb & I may pursue our tune, “You Must Be From Tennessee” and it is already revealing our personalities. We’ve got a ton of experience balancing these differing musical influences. I’ll jot them down here so you can see what we are dealing with, and hopefully, how we do. I want the lyrics to be light and somewhat comical, she likes them to bear a message. I want dance-ability, she likes syncopation. I say keep it simple, she uses a lot of chord substitution. I prefer a tune “the working man can whistle”, she has a three octave vocal range. I’m not the recording studio type, she can spend all day in one session
           Importantly, I say after five or six passes, finalize a passage and move on, she likes the whole tune to evolve over time. There you have it, I’m Lennon, she’s McCartney. Neither of us is keen on starting up again, but this is not any incompatibility. The fact is, a successful musical endeavor is a supremely demanding task. We are both past the point that everything we do detracts from something else. Probably the best either of could afford is to collaborate on a single piece of music such as this one. On the other hand, I could not begin to count the number of times we got just so far and canceled out. It’s the nature of the trade. One factor nobody much talks about is once you are past your teens, you can never be 100% certain what you are doing is original. I expect argument on that one, but the proof is subliminal.

                      On the way back, I finally snapped this photo. Somebody got tired of people taking a wrong turn into his driveway. It’s on a hill, so I can’t blame the guy. If anybody drives up there, they cannot turn around until the get up to his yard, then he can’t turn around. I’d like to hear his side of the story, but that would be like asking him for directions to the horse ranch. I’ve said how I’d like to put a bench in from of my Florida cabin. My yard is the only really place on the street to stop in the shade. Since the whole yard is in plain view, I thought to put a courtesy bench. Then I went on-line and saw some prices. That’s a bit too much courtesy for me.Walking the path this morning, the dogs sniffed out an abandoned bench. The fabric was shot but the aluminum frame was in perfect condition. I could easily pick it up, but it was too big to fit in her car. Together we hauled it up the slope to a spot near the guard rail. Yes, I know some guys take their ladies to France, but with me, gals, you get to salvage furniture from the ravine. Can’t get much more quality time than that. Back home, I took the station wagon back and shoe-horned it through the hatch. It’s beauty.

           My news feed says old farm tractors are selling for top dollar and the reason is they are repairable. Prior to 1985-ish, farm machinery was taken for granted to be fixable. I remember thinking the computer would only be used to make self-adjusting components work together to keep the engine running. Not so, the software went far beyond that and locked the buyers into the authorized dealership scam. Worse, the machines were made so that they would not even operate without the computer. I was one of the few who said that was so wrong. I maintained if something “computer” went wrong, you should be able to disconnect it and run things manually. I’m not against the computer diagnostics, just what (in those days) I collectively called the “Sony Service Contract Scam”.
           That’s where the outlet that sold you the article disobeys federal consumer protection laws that say you can return it there. Hidden in the sales receipt is your waiver of that right, which you can’t really do, but causes a flury if you point that out. You were told to return it to Sony, who were then incentivized to make that process as difficult and expensive as possible.

Picture of the day.
Do you deliver?
Remember to use BACK ARROW to return to blog.

           How about the drone sightings in Colorado? What do they share with UFO sightings? No photographs, for one. I wonder if drones, like UFOs in that area, will only be visible to people who lack credibility? And how about that Ukrainian airplane shot down in Iran. Like many, I’m wondering what in hell a Ukrainian plane was doing out there. And what were “63 Canadians” doing on that flight? Most Canadians can’t find Iran on a map. It’s not like these countries are big Iranian trade partners. My first impression is that this is more of a warning to the West than a sign of the times.

           From our “There’s nothing funny going on” department, how about the Hong Kong police confiscating those 4,000 smart phones. Whoever heard of police returning such property? Well, they said the owners can come and get them. Would you use a phone that had been in the possession of the police for 48 hours or more? It reminds me of the Obamaphones. A free phone from the government?

           Twenty million idiots took the bait. The liberal press was quick to point out Obama “did not create a service to give free cell phones to welfare recipients”. That’s only marginally true. The Lifeline Program was in place since 1984. What Obabma createdwas to use the program as vehicle to grab a bunch of votes before the 2012 election. Cell phone companies used the opportunity to bill the government for millions of subscribers who never signed up. People got the free phone, which included a subsidy of $9.95 per month for basic usage, but they had to pay anything above that depending on what plan they chose. Being what they are, they could not keep up the extra monthly payments. When the accounts went dead, the cell phone providers continued billing the government the $9.95 subsidy for the lines. If they were ever punished for that, I never heard a word of it.
           Trump canceled the subsidy, and of course the leftist press screamed he was taking away cell phones from poor people. Nonsense. Not only were the phones full of mysterious functions, they are regularly “updated” and thanks to blogs like this, we know what that means. But as far as malware on the phones, you want to know something interesting? The political parties make telemarket calls, of course, they don’t call them that. Obamaphones are fixed not to receive Republican (Trump) messages.
           USA Today, for example, bleats that under Trump, millions will lose cell phone access. Well, access is not the same as losing the phone. What’s happening is Trump is canceling the subsidy to phone companies that cannot prove the subscribers are active and paying their bills.

           Something strange and funny. We walked the dogs out to the lake and as we neared the old pier we saw what looked like, from a distance, a flock of geese in the water with their necks sticking up. Two clues, first they don’t fly away and the dogs don’t act up. Here’s the scene from a few hundred yards away, bobbing away like duck necks. I’ll scan my video to see if I can get you a closeup. They are plastic tubes anchored in concrete blocks.
           My speculations include that they are some sort of fishing lure, an artificial reef for some strange purpose, or located near a lake inlet to break up silt or something. Expectedly, if there is any information on-line about this, it does not appear under any search terms people are likely to use, such. Whatever they are, they don’t add anything to the scenery.

ADDENDUM
           The exploding glass, here’s the answer. If you look at the photo, the only thing protecting if from the outside is a screen. Tennessee rainstorms usually are windy, so water gets through the mesh, sometimes filling the glass. Then the water freezes and the glass cracks. The temperature usually drops that low only overnight, when you are sound asleep, and the water has evaporated by morning. All you see is the shattered glass. QED.

Last Laugh
(When you see it.)