One year ago today: October 7, 2019, water distribution model.
Five years ago today: October 7, 2015, I fed the finches.
Nine years ago today: October 7, 2011, everyone has the flu.
Random years ago today: October 7, 2006, I didn’t stay.
We’re off to a grouchy start. I listened to NPR making breakfast. That’s harder for me to stomach than black coffee. Well, it set the mood so here goes. How about that Omar turban lady? She’s trying to explain away the vote harvesting. I don’t know those details but she’s failing to grasp even if she really has good reasons, people no longer want to hear it. Not from her anyway. And she’s got more backlash from other Democrats, how I love watching when the liberals have to eat one of their own. In another demonstration they are an intellectual powerhouse, NPR says after the upcoming election, Americans will be facing some grim realities.
Another glitch in the system is most big box stores don’t stock small parts—unless they sell by the crateload. There was a time when the USA was overall leader in the world for being able to get stuff. When ordinary items were hard to find, that was indication of backwardness. See this photo? Behind this towel bar is a standard hidden wall bracket. The longer a store was in business, the more you could expect them to have at least a few of these things on the shelf. That was then.
From the above, progress could in one sense be defined as not being like the rest of the world. So, is it progress when things are becoming unavailable? These brackets, a simple piece of metal, are probably available, but if not locally that’s third world. The store would likely claim they don’t stock it because they don’t sell fast enough—but that is also third world, mentally speaking. Most places only sell these if you buy the whole new fixture, which defeats the purpose.
This is all new to me though I’ve been testing the water with a few drum tracks I have recorded for other times. There is emerging yet another class of music that’s lending itself to this adaptation. I treat every song on stage as precious, so I will need time to work with this new group of tunes. Let’s put it this way, if I play bass like I play piano, then I’m playing the drum box like I play bass. Voicings come back into the picture. Where I had acoustic and bass sounding like a third instrument, I may have a similar situation where the drum and guitar can “suggest” the bass. Whereas I cannot get sidetracked, I would thoroughly test this before going live.
So far, the best material for this variation are swing-style bass tunes with distinct piano parts. I’ve just begun to explore this for presenting new country material. It sure aces some of the classics. Think “Save The Last Dance” and “Rose Garden”, those easy triad bass lines. I’m intending to update it as that bass pattern is a new country standard. And I’ve long ago learned to play electronic bass patterns better than the robots. (I see that will eventually end as A.I. moves into music, but hopefully not in my lifetime.)
Scene in Ecuador.
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It’s not winter yet so energy is still at a premium. I managed some electrical in the shed, I can’t keep calling it the new shed. Somebody come up with a distinctive name. I’ve learned to prefab much of the box wiring but still have trouble stuffing all the wires afterward. There’s a trick to it that not of the books mention. I want it wired soon in case I’m called away to Tennessee, things are a bit haywire up there just now, it might help if I can take care of a few things. I’m wiring in 12 duplex receptacles, all 20A with a GFCI in every box. These are the units I got on sale, so be prepared if I have to replace them. Again, people who “donate” broken things to the charities should be knee-capped.
Back from therapy, I report the same as ever. I can now much more flexibly get to my pain threshold. I picked up some hardware and junction boxes arriving home just blah. The therapy has reached a stage where each improvement is offset by returning old conditions. Fun indeed. I’ve taken to stopping for coffee before even the short drive home and today picked up a September copy of the Mulberry Press. Remember that publication. Most amateur you’ve ever seen, they can’t even slice the paper neatly. Maybe it’s for local charm. Anyway, this is one media that has zero concessions to intellectual content. It is dry repetition and so boring, a measurable portion of its revenue seem to come from outdated laws that require divorces and fictitious names to be published.
I had thought of writing a column for them but until today I was not sure they were even still in business. It was the first location that sold coffee and had indoor seating, when I spotted the vending box by the side entrance. I’ll recap what went before. I’d thought of writing them a crossword with local themes. Believe me, the slightest departure from their existing format would be a renaissance for them. While I would avoid politics and most local themes, I wonder if I should not establish something just to say it had been done. My first instinct would be some theme that adds a little cerebral content, like computer trivia or Internet pointers. Leave it with me.
The Press does have a segment or two that is political in a descriptive sense. For example, just a while back I explained how the electoral college was designed to prevent “mob rule”. There are 538 districts, so seeking the required 270 wins for a majority forces even the biggest mobs to cater to some of the smallest districts—exactly as should be. That was the limit of my understanding, as I’ve never taken a political science course. The Press went further. Those 538 districts are made up of counties, mainly.
Hillary was squawking that although Trump had a majority in the electoral college, she had a few million more of what is called “the popular vote”. That is the vote the college was designed to block, but she argued the point anyway. Here’s more information redacted from the Mulberry Press because it tells the story better. Clinton won in only a few counties in New York state, but she won them by huge margins. Like many Americans, I view New York as the least popular state in the union, a festering sore of corrupt politicians, bad laws, and confiscatory taxes. A Democrat dreamland.
The Mulberry Press counted the counties, which never occurred to me. There are 3,141 of them. In 2016, Trump won most of them. That’s 3,084 to be exact. Even in New York with 62 counties, Trump won 46 of them. How would you call that one? Myself, Trump won and the concentration of Hilllary voter’s just reinforces my unfounded belief that New York City is nothing but a bunch of welfare bums voting themselves a free ride. I welcome any other explanation as long as you don’t hand me some claptrap that New York City is an enlightened elite with two million more culturally woke people than the rest of the nation put together.
Hence, the electoral college is one of the institutions the Democrats are trying to get rid of, which makes sense to me since they are the biggest of the big mobs. They also seek to pack the court, a topic for another time, and admit two new totally pro-welfare states into the Union. (DC and Puerto Rico.) And why they want to change the Constitution. They cannot get in unless they tinker with the system. Honorable mention is Trump’s 1776 plan to require schools to teach history without the spin. That is probably what the leftists have to fear the most. Their propaganda cannot survive a four year gap in the indoctrination of young people.
ADDENDUM
NPR should be defunded until it knocks it off with the pro-liberalism. It’s been overboard on that issue since day one. It gives the weak-minded a concept of America that is not consistent with life here. People show up thinking there’s a free ride, that making twice as much money as they did back home will somehow be good enough. Too many quickly resort to cheating the system in some way—and get away with it because American society was never geared to contend with. For example NPR never says a word about the Australian deportation of illegal New Zealanders who fled the lack of opportunity on that island. But look at them headline Biden’s plot to freeze deportation for 100 days after the election, presumably after they have voted for him.
Or the rounding up of Somalis illegally in Minnesota. NPR screams it is breaking up families (actually it is reuniting them), and saying it is cruel to deport those exposed to COVID-19. Nope, that community has shown it does not appreciate living here. Back they go, where they can apply for legal admission. Meanwhile NPR continues to rail for special treatment of illegals. It is just not right that they are underwritten by tax dollars. Watch them scream brutality as they are raided, watch of sob-stories of individuals who have been here most of their lives. Yeah, illegally. Let’s see how they twist this into racism and Islamophobia. It’s their agenda.
This is not racism, but a cultural thing. Some might say in America we deport Somalis, but in Somalia, they shoot Americans. Like most societies, there are groups that the majority does not like. As Louis Grizzard says, “[We don’t] . . . like fat women in shorts, men in Beruda shorts with black socks and sandals, people with dandruff, people who smack when they eat, people with crying babies, anybody with a tattoo, loud New Yorkers, and especially anybody who never heard of Ernest Tubb.”
And if people who do those things are black or Somali, that does not make us racist. Here’s a curious American situation, whereas cities have to invite in extra forces to quell their violence, such permission is not needed to raid illegal immigrant sanctuaries. Which, by pure coincidence I’m certain, happen to be many of the same cities causing the Democrat-funded unrest lately. The World Socialist Website says it is part of Trump’s plan to establish a “presidential dictatorship”, whatever that it. They ought to know, because that’s what they’ve been after worldwide since day one.
This immigrant issue is one huge consequence of this election that will determine the future of America, much less its border policies. I’ve heard the criminals who enter illegally callee ‘Bad Hombres”. Is this the latest term? The border wall does not have to be airtight, just seal off the major arteries. There are 341 miles completed, 250 more under construction, and another 150 miles staked out. The major improvement will be the stretch between the western reaches of the Rio Grand (near Juarez) and the San Diego oceanfront. For the record, I am not against Mexicans (I am against Cubans), rather against all immigration until “every American that wants a job has one”. I’m not against welfare, I’m against tax-payer funded welfare, so you can imagine my stance on illegals receiving any benefits. But that’s not racist, because the basis of my belief is that I’m against income tax. Not taxes, just income tax.
This is why the blog carries that warning that it is unfriendly to the weak-minded. There are no shallow motives around me. Well, except for my taste in movies and the variety of non-breakfast foods I like in the morning, I mean. Anyway, calling things people don’t like as racist isn’t as popular as it used to be under Obama, who if he ran today, would incite a return of tar and feathers.
[Author’s note: the [border]wall is not sea to sea. It does not have to be. The Rio Grande is a great natural obstacle and the wall only needs to be extended there at known crossing points.]
