July 12, 2021

Yesteryear
One year ago today: July 12, 2020, the money’s still there.
Five years ago today: July 12, 2016, video unavailable, or course.
Nine years ago today: July 12, 2012, sounds like fun.
Random years ago today: July 12, 2015, it didn’t cost anything.

           It seems a goodly number of Millennials never did figure out their so-called Dark Web was an FBI sting operation. Told ya, I said it in 1984, the year the phone company “went computer”. I was the only programmer they had ever met, yet six months later you could not swing a dead cat without hitting whiz kids and power users. Some reports say Americans lost record money (in 2020) to scams because of the pandemic. Folks, don’t blame the pandemic. Stupid is buying things from strangers over the telephone, plain and simple. You can’t get any more frolicking stupid than that.

           But you can get close. Sundar is issuing warnings about Internet freedom, like nobody noticed it was right after he was slapped with a class action suit. Members of the RNC who failed in their duties to support Trump are being named. Musk, having learned nothing about German tank design 80 years ago, made the Tesla wiring insulation out of materials edible to mice. And a Ukrainian bit-mining operation using Playstations was raided for stealing state electricity. Somebody noticed Chernobyl was no longer glowing in the dark. Or how about those people who think they will go door-to-door and stick a needle in your arm? Have they been eating the lab-grown meat?
           Here’s a view of the inside of the new chain saw crate, with the pieces being fitted to interior partitions. There will be a layer of padding over the bottom, but for the rest, the softness of the wood will be the only ding protection. The lid pieces are not fitted yet, they also will be pallet wood, which for it’s rough appearance, has never let me down for strength. Over time, I intend to outfit the attic crawl space with this type of lumber. It is 7/8ths inch thick.

           And get a load of the left-wingers bitching about Musk and Bezos launching rockets with money and resources that “belong to the people”. What a bunch of schmucks. You want money, you go get your own, you envious bastards. In fact, when Trump gets in, I hope he moves to curtail all handouts. You must work at something directly productive to society for any state money at all, and no Tra’Shyla, raising suckers on food stamps is no more “work” than doing the celebrity word-find is “thinking”.
           Mr. Trump, when you return to power, there are three things you can do that cost nothing and make you a hero all over again. First, ban all telemarketing and unsolicited telephone calls. Some may hurt for it, but they are a minority who has been given every chance to change and behave and did not listen. Next, a moratorium on welfare, and no more cash benefits. Food and rent stamps only along with workfare. Third, restrictions on the word “free” in advertising. A youTube video with an ad every five minutes is not free. Fifty cents off a gallon of gas by giving strangers your bank account info is not free.

Picture of the day.
Lower Teton River crosswalk.
Remember to use BACK ARROW to return to blog.
           I had a trailer court afternoon. Not much getting done but you’d swear I was busy-busy. I drove to the east end to find my motorcycle mechanic is no longer in business. Thanks, Joe, you will be remembered for a lot of things. Back home I got the chain saw box mostly done. This involves a lot of routered joints, clamps, and glue. Even using featherweight pallet lumber, the box will be too heavy to carry much, so I opted to make it super strong. This allowed space for tools, oil, gas, and a sharpening gadget, see photo above. I was genuinely tired by dark, at which point I remembered I had some ice-cold Yeung-Ling in the fridge.

           This is all time taken at the expense of the publishing “lessons”, but I warned there would be gaps. One of the aspects of the foreign exchange business was I did not like how it had to be checked every day to make money. I want something I can do once and sit back until I’m in the mood again. Drat, I just accidentally deleted the picture of myself covered with sawdust. It was rather dramatic, the kind of shot “we” working men like to thing portrays motivation. Here’s a pict of my dust-covered arm instead. I wonder, will the heavy use of hyphenated words one day become the trademark of this blog? The picture shows I worked until well after dark.

           It’s one of those days where what I observed was the best part, blog-wise. Here is a closeup of the joint that I revert to when seeking strength. I know there are prettier options and this is not the prettiest job of it. The router joint beats out all others I’ve done for speed and eash of assembly. Unlike mitered joinery, this arrangement tends to help with clamping and assembly. The joint is glued and reinforced with exterior screws. My proximity to the used paint recycler means many of these boxes get a good but unsanded and unfinished coating of good quality wood stain. It was meant as preservative but regularly turns out some great-looking pieces.
           And I heard for certain on Tampa radio that there are people all over Cuba who are protesting climate change. Marching in the streets, waving US flags, and demanding “climate change”, looking like they mean it. Tampa radio wouldn’t lie, would they? NPR added that there may be further protests over the shortages of COVID masks and gender inequality. Biden has called for healing and cooperation, advising us the best way to do that is to go home, stay home, and not pay attention to what they are up to. They know what is best for us.

           I tuned the radio to a country music station, man that stuff can get pretty terrible. It’s like disco-rap meets old BeeGees. Ah, that Yeung-Ling goes down smooth. The complete chain saw box will probably tip in a 60 pounds, but it’s a complete portable rig. I thought about wheels long before, we shall see. It is still light enough to lift into the truck bed. Best chain saw box in town. Back inside, I looked at my messy kitchen and opted to watch a DVD and listen to some Morse Code. It’s a pity most governments restrict the type of info that can be sent by code. There are societies that transmit practice sessions, but they are ham radio with their penchant to only go on air at appointed times.
           Not radio [itself], but the behavior of people once they “learn” radio has always puzzled me. For example, radio silence. If you wanted to know where the enemy fleet was, listen for radio silence. I wonder what the reason was that both sides did not engage in extensive spoofing attacks. It was done on land, but as far as I know never really used in the navies. Send a submarine to blast out, “I’m the Enterprise”, just to see how the enemy reacts. Cry wolf like never before. They knew Japan was short on oil, so any wild goose chase stood to save American lives. You tell me. It just seems to me the advantages of doing things another way overtakes the concept of radio silence. Possibly the overriding consideration is to keep the airwaves open, but that’s a skimpy theory. It’s a bit like people who use Google—they all start acting and thinking similar and find safety in numbers.

           Latest complaint from women who have closed the wage gap? According to Fresh & Fit, (no link as it appears in so many morphed forms), high paid women whine that they cannot find men to date who make more than they do. Isn’t that fine? If you make more than her, you’re a sexist pig, if you make less, you are a loser. Could be that to get ahead, more men view the path as doing a good job rather than sleeping with the right person—even when surrounded by higher paid women. It’s ironic how these feminists socially displace the men in the higher paying jobs and then bitch there are none to be found.
           This, ladies, is why men think women who go on about the wage gap are gold-digging witches—real work smudges your makeup. Men who make more than you are down at the club chasing 22 year-olds, and you are alone in your apartment with the cats. I don’t have a solution but I know that delusions of “equality” are all bogus. There is no equality in social situations, only people who have not learned their stations yet. Equal pay for equal work? Maybe in the coal mines.

ADDENDUM
           That biscuit joiner. I would not have given it much of a chance. It seemed tricky to use but you quickly learn where the tolerances are. One is that the joint does not have to be exactly in the middle. For turning pallet lumber into planks, it works like a charm. I haven’t built anything nice or fancy but the price of lumber could change that. People talk about prices going back down but that isn’t how the inflation ratchet works.

           Here’s the biscuit saw, in the background you’ll see the characteristic shavings caused by the unique blade. All biscuits seen the same thickness, the depth is set by a simple handy dial just below dead center in this view. I also found other dimensions don’t have to be exact as long as you keep the biscuits near the strongest center of each piece. Oh, and keep track of where you are. It’s far to easy too cut things the mirror opposite of what you were thinking.
           This box would be unaffordable, in that it would cost more than the tools to build it, if not for scrap lumber. Think like a lumber company executive who just found out people will pay $10 for a 2x4”. Same profit, lower costs, less wear on the equipment, all that’s required is a “conference” with the other companies and you’ve got yourself a Hewlett-Packard rip-off sweet deal. As for any start-up competition, let the lobbyists and EPA take care of that. Monopolies, it’s what’s for dinner.

Last Laugh