January 27, 2022

Yesteryear
One year ago today: January 27, 2021, Texus Brekfuss
Five years ago today: January 27, 2017, I’m having fun.
Nine years ago today: January 27, 2013, a decent tip.
Random years ago today: January 27, 2016, they do get winter.

           Today’s non-event is the SpaceX rocket casing that will impact the Moon in early March. Widespread destruction is predicted near the Moon’s equator, but we really know the plan is to obliterate the evidence that the 1969 landing was faked. That was so faked, they did it with CGI software not even invented until 1986. It’s 5:30AM, French toast and coffee, then in to the mechanic for 8:00PM repairs—providing the parts arrived. I’ve burned $40 worth of gas driving less than 80 miles.

           Here’s my biggest cactus showing this week’s frost damage. These are transplants from below the frost line, so I have no knowledge of how this works, but the small plants show the same yellow stripes. And I know this is not some new variegated strain. Just don’t tell Biden or he’ll say it’s COVID. Today is Holocaust Remembrance Day, don’t forget, or you are a you-know-what.

           By 9:30AM, I a have the bad news. The van motor is about to crater. The repairs are too expensive for the chance it will not last another thousand miles. So, I took two hours and went shopping at the auto mall, looking at around 15 units. These prices are all fixed and the most any of them will budge is $200 on a $5,000 vehicle. And the oldest trick of tacking on a $200 “dealer fee” hasn’t changed in my lifetime. I found a VW, which is much the same as Chrysler, except you never see a VW at roadside with the hood up.
           It’s the nicest unit in my price range, the sticker says $5495, and with the fees it’s $5995. They gave me the same old sales pitching, how inventory is down and these prices are so low everything on the lot will be gone in a few days. This is a 2011 with 118,500 on the clock. Slightly smaller than the Town & Country but has the 3.6L motor, which I like. I showed the saleslady $5,295 in cash, and walked out saying if they want it off the lot today, give me a shout. It’s 10:30AM, so he’s got time to think over if he wants to pay the month end bills or not.

           The latest artificial shortage, computer chips, is now set to be an even bigger scam. We are supposed to believe there is a “skyrocketing demand” that absolutely nobody saw coming. As always, it is an excuse to raises prices in a market where any excess demand could have been foreseen years ahead of time. Just you watch, we will soon be hit with a domestic semi-conductor tax while all the zoomers are busy protesting climate change. Have you seen what is in store for their latest “connected TV” system? That’s where the TV watches you.
           Under test are ads that get downright creepy once the television memorizes you watching pattern, on-line purchases, and interfaces with social media. When you click to watch a program, ads begin to pop up which grey out your show as a series of ads pop up targeting you by name. Each must be closed. The ads follow the Google pattern, where any search ignores your criteria and finds what it thinks is the closest advertisement to your query. Ask for the capital of Wyoming, and you see a dozen ads for Wyoming newspaper subscriptions. Oddly, I know of millennials so shallow-minded, they enjoy this sort of distraction.

           I put $20 gas in the van to go pick up the scooter tomorrow, but that’s about it. The mechanic says any repair at this stage is a waste of money, so that’s it. The dealership didn’t call back, but we are within $600 - $700 so he may yet see the light. These bozos have competition they can’t handle without a constant cash flow. I joined Gab to watch the progress of the Canadian truck convoy. This could have dire consequences, as the Trudeau clan has spend 30 years militarizing the state police force.

Picture of the day.
Phone booth graveyard.
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           The old van. These motors don’t like being overheated and it has done that many a time. A radiator test shows there is another gas leak, so I’m giving up on it. My loss on this van in 14 months will be around $3600, though that includes $1,200 in tires and a new windshield and $1,000 trying to fix the A/C, which could have been avoided. You can’t win them all, my policy of used vehicles has saved me five times the money others spend without realizing it. It’s an easy formula, I don’t have $15,000 for a newer vehicle, but I have $200 a month to keep something on the road.

           I talked to JZ, who likewise considers the unit overpriced by a thousand bucks, but I doubt there are any truly independent dealers left in this Internet era. I’ll give Parson a call for a lift to the gig in case I have no wheels by Saturday, they are aware I’m having trouble with the van. Meanwhile, I hope I don’t get banned from trivia. They want to make a rule that I have to wait until the question is finished being asked, which I think is unfair. I should be allowed to speak as soon as I know the answer. Sample question: ”Which South American country has the longest—Answer: CHILE!”.
           The new rule is I have to wait until the whole question is read, which I feel sends an unfair message to the stupid people in the room. It’s not like they give any quarter in their respective fields, I say they don’t have to play, but won’t press the issue. I put up my hand like in grade school that let’s them know I have the answer leap years ahead of them, academically speaking.

           Needing time to ponder the expense of a second vehicle in 13 months, I went out to the shed and puttered. Got stuff done I didn’t really need to, like hanging lumber storage hooks. And I finally installed the light switch above the chop saw, see photo of new switch and new light. It worked out to be a dark corner that the other seven lights in the shed cast a shadow on the exact wrong spot. It’s now got a 300 Watt bulb on a separate circuit, making that corner it’s own work station. Funny thing, I now recall I was interrupted years ago tapping that circuit off an outlet, and forgot about it. The wires, insulated, just kind of hung there all these years. They were hot the whole time. (But inside a box, so don’t nobody panic.)

           Having an hour of light still, I knocked apart more pallets and got nearly two feet of the east wall done on the north shed. I’ve thought of a better name for it, as it is tall and narrow. I’ve dubbed it the “silo”, let’s see if that sticks. Next, I laminated an 8 foot fencepost for the corner of the yard that will block prying eyes from the street. Good, I didn’t want to spend $12 just to extend tiny bit of fence. It was warm by mid-afternoon, let’s hope for a repeat tomorrow. The other picture seen here is the start of the side wall, this fits the shorter pieces of pallet lumber. What makes this meet blog standards is this was done after dark. I have no tradition of working outdoors after the sun has set, so it’s, cabin-wise, a first.

           Back inside for a late evening coffee, Tampa radio is going bonkers with some survey that “proves” 70% of Americans don’t want Trump to run in 2024. Must be the same poll that gave Hillary 98% odds of winning 2016. Now you see, I told you the left is organized, but mentally sluggish. They cannot innovate and keep returning to what worked before, even when the Internet makes them look like dumbasses.

ADDENDUM
           Three pages. That’s how far I got reading the Darwin book today. I’m around half-way through and if you thought the reading was intense before, that was just a setup. It’s not a big book, but a thin paperback of 160 pages, nor is it about evolution. It’s concerned with the process by which Darwin arrived at his conclusions. Anyone who doubts the theory has a solid basis should read this book. At least they would then understand why no shallow intellect is going to arrive with half-baked religious notions and overturn the science. I’m reading the passage on natural selection, a most misunderstood part of Darwin. In particular, the competition for survival.

           Prior to Darwin, this concept was well known. Malthus wrote about population and food supply. The popular view was that, for example, wolves and foxes competed with each other for the rabbits. They said the competition was between species for a limited food supply. Darwin noticed that rather than a war between species, there was more often a balance that stayed steady for long periods with neither species gaining an upper hand.
           Before continuing with evolution, here is a first-rate example of how advertising follows a similar pattern. This is, in my opinion, an excellent name for a battery that is so cheap they give them away free at Harbor Freight, inside those trouble lights. Except, I mark the lights with dates and keep them going with fresh batteries, which I did today while given all rotary tools a daub of oil. Back now to live evolution patterns.

           Darwin correctly pointed out the struggle was therefore not between species, but between individuals. The fox competed with other foxes, the wolf with other wolves. This is where genetics came into play. The fight was not against other species, but for the food supply. And this can take place without the presence of any religion. That’s the part that sets off the idiot chain-reaction. For some reason, while people easily grasp this concept, they don’t like admitting it. Humans, instead of allowing competition, often try to equalize the distribution of resources. And then wonder why that never works well.
           I had to read some of the passages many times, resulting in a change of interpretation of the word “natural” in the phrase “natural selection”. I took it to mean the way nature did things, but Darwin meant something else. It had been known for thousands of years that man could succeed in making better plants and animals by skillful breeding, which is artificial in that it doesn’t happen in nature. See the shift? Man’s purpose is to make the organisms useful to himself, and Darwin got to thinking if the same happened in nature toward some other goal. He concluded it does happen in the wild with competition for food and reproductive success.
           Years ago I misread the role that mutations play in evolution. Mutations are now a separate study for me. It seems there are two types of natural selection. One is an individuals genetic attributes, some of which are favored. The other is sexual selection, where males can best their rivals, or because females find certain traits more desireable. This is not fun reading.

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