April 21, 2020

Yesteryear
One year ago today: April 21, 2019, a few I remember.
Five years ago today: April 21, 2015, Remember the Muppet’s coke hooker?
Nine years ago today: April 21, 2011, I still have that Canon.
Random years ago today: April 21, 2012, ISP immunity day.

           This is one of the dragon plants, which JZ informs me is an agave. “The plant they make tequila from.” I planted three cuttings and two are doing really fine. Shown here, except for the outer lowest blades, this is all healthy new growth. The third plant does not get quite as much sunlight and is taking at a far slower rate. In a long-overdue ruling, the Federal Court finally admitted that chalking tires for parking enforcement violates the Constitution. It is a search that requires a warrant because at the time the mark is placed on the car before the driver is suspected of having done anything wrong.. This is as it should be, but comes at a time when there are all manner of alternatives. The coincidence is duly noted.

           Another wasted hour on a webinar advertised as training but a thinly-disguised recruitment scam. Yet another weak-minded doofus who’s convinced he’s discovered a new business model. Buzzword Bozos. MLM is not some novel idea that is catching on. It’s more like the Internet has given even the scummiest lowlifes an avenue to broadcast their crap to the entire planet. And California, too. Truth by majority rule, I call it, and shudder to think these are the klutzes lining up to buy driverless cars.
           One of the most evil aspects of the digital, or computer era, is how it has allowed the mediocre to propel themselves into realms that normally required tons of experience. Numbskulls barely qualified as janitors now running software companies and dispensing psychiatric advice. You get half-wits with an algorithm that barely worked in the real world now plugging the digital version as if they are next Zuckerberg, only without the thievery, deniable criminal intent, and rich Jewish parents. OMG, is that an anti-S comment? No way, I’m just saying there is not a person alive who would dare deny that Mark made it on his own.

           In fact, I’m not even going to mention how certain memorial events have been Zoom-bombed. Are they deniers? Or just sick and tired of hearing about it for the last 75 years? I’m not taking sides on that one. There is something I consider totally fake, and it is 7X. This is the secret Coca-Cola formula and I say it is a fake. A company-supported urban legend that has proven itself another of history’s greatest publicity stunts. If it was anything like as secret as they say, the CIA would be over there taking lessons.
           As Facebook moves ever closer to Big Brother status, they have begun censoring posts that organize protests against the shutdown. Despite the latest liberal tack of saying the protesters “have ties to the Trump administration”, it is pretty obvious the government did not orchestrate the shutdown. It was for the most part the civil service cronies. In danger of being exposed for it, they are now re-wording (lying) that the business closures, church raids, and stay home orders were not mandates, but “guidance”. Guidance enforced by fines and arrests.
           And get a load of that twerp from Jacksonville who bought up all the domain names the virus protesters were using to organize. Like “reopenFL.com” or “liberateNM.com”. He didn’t get them all. Some have been purchased for resale. The guy has been the target of hate-mail and spearphishing from, guess who? Liberals. They should be applauding him but in their peculiar mindset, they presumed he bought the names to organize protests instead of prevent them. There’s an old saying, “Once a liberal, always an idiot.”

           I mentioned the obscene scale of advertisement infestation on youTube. The secondary effect is these are shunting the quality free posts off the search results. The new crap is mass produced by half-educated millennials who don’t review their work. The war documentaries approach the honest-to-goodness stupidity that shows the path this country is heading. They pronounce POWs as “paws” and I’ve never before heard of the Messerschmitt jet being called the “Two Hundred and Sixty-Two”. Or the Tiger I pronounced “Tiger Eye”. The commentators are devoid of any sense of shame, humor, or self-respect. Then again, they did grow up in a climate of political correctness that ensured they never attached themselves to anything unless they could deny responsibility. Such people never take criticism to heart, so why bother with substance when image is everything?
           The worst of all are the commentators who pronounce decades like the 1990s as “the 1990 ess”. I know, can they possibly be that stupid? No, these are not robot readers, but native English speakers. What a sorry lot. Can’t read, can’t write, can’t spell, can’t speak, but want $15 an hour guaranteed.

Picture of the day.
Pandan chiffon cake.
Remember to use BACK ARROW to return to blog.

           I just bought gas for $1.75 per gallon. Adjusted for inflation, the last time gas was so cheap was when I was 14 and used to tank up my Honda 90 for 28¢. Most of the time, I tanked up by driving around after the stations closed and draining the gas left in the hoses by careless motorists. Here’s a before, during, and after panel shot of an old mirror I restored getting an application of Danish oil. The first panel shows the wood, dried and cracking with age. Then half an application, then the finished dark wood. There are many theories about Danish oil, I prefer to drench the wood and let it soak in.

           This mirror is going on the exterior bathroom door. From the design of the pieces and joinery, I guess this was built in the 1950s and hand assembled. A shortcoming of Danish oil is that is has pretty much zero protection rating. It makes the wood look nice. In fact, there should be another picture nearby of how it even makes the pine on my container boxes look nice. This color is called dark walnut, but that means when you apply it to wood that is already dark.

           I put in another three hours on the lean-to, there is a spot that is going to show from the road if I don’t disguise it. The tradeoff is having the doorway too low for anybody over 5-foot-8. So, if the pub was open, I’d go down there with a pencil and paper (now that I’ve got this town used to seeing that some men can actually think and drink) and figure out how to create a blind. I could move a tree in the way, I have one but the other tree it came from has suddenly dropped all its leaves. That won’t do, and I’ve already thought of putting up solar panels, but they would necessarily be facing the wrong way. What can I put on the existing shed roof to make it inconspicuously one foot higher? Fingers on your buzzers.

           Looking at various options, camouflage, lattices, and vines are a bit obvious. This is where a drone would come in handy. So, I’ve decided to come up with some ideas on my own. I thought about building a novelty windmill, but would that attract or divert attention? I have some ideas about hiding the roof with mirrors but I’d really have to experiment.

           There it is, the nice finish on my saber saw box. I’m gradually making containers for all my nice tools. It is amazing how long they last when you never lend them out or even let other people use them. My helpers hand me the lumber, I do the cutting. And speaking of that, I found a use for that massive 4x6” in the back yard. It becomes the new lintel for my new shed side door.
           Back inside by dark, I have nothing slated for the time I would normally work the Forex software. So I took a look at the musician’s room on Craigslist. There are some good posts, but they all live so far from here. I’ve driven through Bushnell and New Port Ritchie and they are so far from any cities that driving would suck the fun out of the best gig scenarios. Some of these places aren’t even near a freeway, so how bands survive out there beats me.

ADDENDUM
           The shutdown has put the economy on hold. Twenty million people out of work, they are about to discover what poverty, prison, debt, and trying to catch up all have in common. The event has had no effect on my immediate crowd since none of us carry any debt, um, Ken, that is by our choice. As predicted, there is now a massive slowdown in the amount of cash circulating. That’s because nobody has any left. I’m concerned how this will change the monetary system or even the way cash is viewed by society. I would be most concerned with changes that are irreversible. I know that everyone who does not have a credit card is already on somebody’s watch list, but that has been a fact of American live for nearly ten years running. That’s correct, if you pay for everything in cash, you are a suspect.
           My guitar pal, Ray-B, has finally gotten out of quarantine and has no work. He himself said all his eggs were in the cruise ship basket. Now there isn’t even a shore gig available. Other than taking a gronk job around here, he’s out of luck. The only available positions are through the hiring agencies that are mostly talk. The only people I know who ever got jobs through agencies are delivery drivers and custodians. They just can’t seem to place anybody over 40, but they have driven classic job-hunting out of business. The once I went through an agency, they determined I didn’t know anything about spreadsheets.
           And forget programming, the field has become so watered-down that “software engineers” only make $45,000 per year. If I had to go back to work, I’d probably take something easy on my condition, so I’d be looking for benefits more than hourly. I don’t shop at ALDI’s here much, but I do in Tennessee. That’s one slack job but I only looked at it because it is the limit of what I can physically do. I can’t get it out of my head how Cowboy Mike had to go work as a mall cop. I figure at $9 per hour, you are losing money on such jobs if you need a car to get there.

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