January 14, 2021

Yesteryear
One year ago today: January 14, 2020, holograms or nothing.
Five years ago today: January 14, 2016, on “layered music”.
Nine years ago today: January 14, 2012, consistent good performance?
Random years ago today: January 14, 2014, a haircut, that’s it.

           Internet Rule #1: if you have a privacy policy, you are an asshole. Because only assholes need a “policy” on privacy. Only people who seek to deceive hide behind such words. I don’t have a privacy policy because I don’t need one. I do have a one-word privacy rule, it says, “Nothing.” So there, now we can move on. Good morning and it is a cold one. Do we play music or work on the house? Let the thermometer decide. I’m allowed to buy a toy when I get free money—it is no accident that I am totally unaffected financially by the lockdowns, but those who never listen to good advice are wiped out.

           The toy is likely to be a pocket screw jig. As much for the device as to learn the technology. Does Harbor Freight sell a model?. I’ve had good results with their tools, as long as you do not mistake anything for heavy duty. (I do not care for HF as a company, they have lost touch with a lot of reality by buying into the whole on-line mess of things.) My most recent tool from that source, a hand planer, has been a joy to use. Later, the HF model has too many bad reviews for lacking precision
.

           It did warm up, you can’t beat the Florida sun for making a nice day out of chilly morning. By 11:00AM, we had Matilda sleeping in the shadow of the new Town & Country. Doesn’t take her long to adapt to luxury. She never slept in the shade of the station wagon, is all I’m sayin’. And one of her favorite breakfasts is pancake batter or the pancakes, either works for this lady.
           Here’s one of the seats that is coming out. The second row passenger side, which mostly serves to block people or things getting in or out of that side door. It will not swivel or tilt out of the way as stated in the user manual. For now, I’m leaving the driver’s side companion in place, since it does swivel and there are cup-holders and a 110V power outlet on that side. I’ve never camped in such luxury, so I’m leaving a few options. I mean, what if the van turns out to make perfect popcorn?

Picture of the day.
Brush selection.
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           There are more fun things to do in the afternoon, but I got the seats out of the van. It’s been a while since I worked to a sweat outside in the cold. I consumed all the hot cocoa in the house, plus two pots of tea. Referring to the picture above, what I resorted to was cutting away all that plastic trim to expose the mountings. They were 15mm machine bolts.
           It struck me the frames were so well bolted down while much of the seat structure itself was plastic. This seat and the third row in the back are taken out. Only when they were dismantled to the degree shown here was it able to interpret the manual. For example, the “latch” to which they refer was no such thing, but rather a small plastic retainer ring like seen on exposed brake cables.

           This work was heavily supervised by Matilda. My guess is there were evidence of kids all over the van meaning lots of goodies from cracker crumbs to what I’m pretty sure were once cheezies, if you remember those. The job took everything from power tools to a hand sledge and it was getting dark and cold again before the last pieces came out to reveal a van floor that is anything but smooth. It is carpeted, but no large spot of the deck is smooth. Dents, holes, and all the seat anchors jut out enough to trip over.
           Where are the motors that run the seats? I suspect they are still there due to the construction. It would be too labor-intensive to remove them. While it’s been years since I had any serious time for my robotics hobby, I know that you do not throw out any 12V motors, and that goes triple for any powerful enough to move a van seat. The view from the back shows much of the progress by the time I knocked off. Visible are the seat anchors, the swivel seat, and the now exposed cargo bin which I will panel ov
er.

           The van bed is to be 70” long and 28” wide, along the right side as shown here. That allows room to get in and out of the vehicle easily and leaves the other side for storage. There is a bracket on the floor for a van table, but it is dead center and I may rig something smaller up. The bed may be foldable later. For now, something that works is fine, since I will also need the van to move items like lumber. It is slightly over 48” between the wheel wells, a convenience that seems to be forgotten by the latest generation whose concept of “delivery” seems more dimensionally fixated to pizza.
           Aw, some say that was mean. No, I point out the fallacy in the claims that my generation left only crap jobs for the current crop. If you look closely, that could be said of every American generation, with the difference that all of them up until now invented and innovated their way out of it. My generation built or put together the jobs, they were not handed to us the way it is expected today. You want a job better than bicycle courier, get off you butt and make something. And as for real jobs, smart people don’t vote in jokers who export them to China. You can tell I was listening to Boss Hogg.

ADDENDUM
           Music. Well, almost. Each change in equipment brings new logistics that have to be tested. The Beat Buddy has a pass-through plug. It’s an ordinary phono jack that puts the input signal, usually a guitar, straight through so you don’t need a second jack to connect the pedal. Figure it out. The problem is, you probably want some effects on your guitar, such as reverb, that you may not want on the drum, or more likely, want at a different setting.
           The Fishman Solo, my PA system, has three possible inputs. Channels One and Two on the front plate, taken up by the vocals and guitar, that’s how it was designed. Any setting for the guitar also affects the drums, which I found had more echo than I like. The other option is to run the drums dry through the AUX to see if I can work with that. I’m not hopeful. The unit has send and receive effects jacks, but I frown on more complication and on using yet another external device which also has to be lugged around.

           Last on today’s agenda is gold. There is yet another round of predictions that it will hit $10,000 per ounce. This time, let’s give it a whirl. Two ounces. While speculation does not work that way, one ounce “to get your money back” and the other ounce to play with, see what happens. Whaddaya mean it doesn’t work that way? Because, to anyone who will listen, you do not “invest” in gold and silver, which kind of sit there and do nothing. It is not money, but a store of money. What they don’t tell you is why that is—a store against government misuse of paper money, or as it is known in economics, fiat currency. Printed paper money.
           And what exactly has the government been finding all this stimulus check money? People are out of work and corporations don’t pay, so it is not from taxes. We are so far in debt even desperate nations won’t lend us any more money. Causing inflation, this tactic is gross mismanagement, but also has a long enough lag time that it is the next administration that has to contend with it. Precious metals are therefore also a hedge against stupidity and the something-for-nothing party has just managed another fast one.

           My silver is still buried in Colorado and on paper I lost money, since I still could not sell it for what I paid. Ah, but it was always there if things had gone south—which provides a stabilizing influence on other decisions, such as buying this cabin. This dynamic is overlooked by fools. When I say I was down to my last $193(?), I meant cash, not my reserves. I learned that hard lesson a long time ago. The trick with gold is if it goes up fast, other prices take time to adjust. Then move fast and sell the gold and buy something that does make money (which also means risk, but that is another issue.). Two ounces of gold today would cost nearly $3700 USD. That’s a serious decision around here, more than what I paid to get my minivan on the road.

Last Laugh