June 8, 2022

Yesteryear
One year ago today: June 8, 2021, questioning audiobooks.
Five years ago today: June 8, 2017, around the yard.
Nine years ago today: June 8 ,2013, they wound up paying me.
Random years ago today: June 8 , 2008, at the triple-wide.

           I get to work in the hot, hot sun all day. First, toast and coffee and let’s watch another of the interminable announcements of new airship blimp designs. The people who did that study on language diversity should examine the history of these publications, you know, what causes them ad nauseum. As for the languages, I can explain why the west coast American Indians had 27 different tongues and could not talk to each other. Got my morning radio back, did you know 20% of Americans have never bought a lottery ticket and only 1% play every day. Can’t say I know an example of either group.

           Raise up a danger signal, a group has succeeded in convincing the US Dept. of Agriculture that gene editing is not genetic modification. The argument is that the same process is involved in selective breeding which has been going on since man domesticated animals. Except they leave out the part that out of every 48 gene-edited organisms, 47 of them die. My beef (ha-ha) is that the legal arguments were not about the safety of the resulting food (mostly soybeans for now) but to get around having to specify the mutation on the labe.

           Nancy Sinatra was on the radio just now, “These Boots”, one of the permanent tunes on my list. She made the recording at age 26 and has never worked a day since, the media describes her as “unrecognizable”, see photo, and she does not help her image a bit for being an anti-Trumper, about what you’d expect from someone who’s never had a job and then says she cannot believe America has “sunk so low”. She turned 82 a couple days ago, her mother also named Nancy live to be 101. She never forgave Trump for using her music and she’s was one of that bunch who threatened to move to another country if he won. Insert snarky comment here.

           Oddly, Fast Frets send another message. He’s the guy with the backing tracks, so he will never be in a band in this part of the world. Backing tracks are so last century. So I offered him the same deal in different words. Give us one hour to check our sound, I just know he’s never had a bassist with 5th grade classical piano and 8th grade theory, and thus doesn’t have a clue what a difference it makes. I get this all the time. Meanwhild, I ran through the bass solo set (just one set of four needed) and I could get away with it at the right clubs. But much depends on that first “guitar” set getting the audience attention, for I’ll need that if any newcomers waltz in while I’m the middle of a bass set.

           Why my look at airships? Amazon, that’s what. Have you heard of “Airborne Fulfillment Centers”. They are blimps filled with cargo. They overfly your place and dispense quadcopter drones to winch down your delivery. The blimps use helium and the newest models have finally begun to use advanced nano-materials. The propellors are solar-powered with cells on to of the balloon. Predictably, these airships are almost zero maintenance and require very little ground crew—to me a direct consequence of the $15-per-hour demands from the entitlement class. As far as I know, the only scheduled zeppelin flights are in Germany and remain highly dependent on weather conditions.
           Helium and hydrogen still have weight and must also lift themselves, hence vacuums are on the leading edge because nano-materials are strong enough and lighter than the air they displace. Think about that, the material would otherwise be crushed like a deflated balloon. It’s been ten years since graphene was available (graphene still does not pass the MS spellchecker, but “antifia” does). I’ve heard nothing of carbon fiber. But I would not “hold my breath” for any of this technology to happen until the current crop of unimaginative Americans passes 40 in bulk, nomsayn?

Picture of the day.
Airplane flat.
Remember to use BACK ARROW to return to blog.

           Two and a half hours was my limit. I cut 300 feet of kudzu vine, which has to be untwirled by hand. The birdseed container got damp so I dumped out 4 gallons of seed. The dryer is moved into position so I could clear the deck for the washer, which I think I’ll wait until I get a hand truck. After watering and pinching off all the plants that survived, I trimmed all the pistachio trees with limbs less than six feet up. I did a bit of mowing but the hand starter proved troublesome again, though it is quite easy to get running. The small fridge is moved into the white shed and sprayed down with ammonia. Some lumber had to be moved out of the way and I dug out the weed whacker that would not start. This time, I’ll get it or know the reason why.

           Inventory shows I need a few tools, which I’ve scheduled for 2:00PM and I may run out of money until I head over to Winter Haven. The scooter was on the battery charger overnight and starts fine but there is a part missing on the bracket for that air filter. I brought several armloads of Tennessee gear in from the van, and those, dear readers, were the high points of my day.

           Later, I drove back down 60 and stopped at the old club in Bartow. A few familiar faces and I stayed late, as in 7:30PM. I miss Tennessee already. I presented Kahren (the server) with her souvenir, I guessed right she collects tea towels. I used the spare time to list out my potential bass solos. How many people have heard a bass-only version of anything? This show will have to be kept fresh and interesting. But the time required is comparative to finding a guitar player so nothing is lost.
           Meanwhile we are expected to believe Trump is guilty of all manner of crimes he never heard of before he was accused. In preparation for the upcoming Democrat massacre, Biden is issuing statements that the election would be “illegitimate” if the left loses ground. He has to try something like that, there is no disguising they are 100% responsible for all the chaos in the country.

           Raking the back yard and what do I find, a wee bloom just showing through. These were scheduled for ten weeks, which is next Tuesday. May this early arrival be a signal I’ve found something that will grow around here. They are a low bush-like growth that seems to choke off other rivals, so it would also be a welcome ground cover. I’m tempted to invest in a tiny roto-tiller, as my days of chopping weeds are over. I stopped to price out parts and they do not sell just the air filter cover for my weed-whacker. I’ll have to invent something. Pure heat and humidity says the summer is upon us. I left the small fridge to air out overnight, but tomorrow it will be ready for libations. I had to bury the birdseed as some of it was rotting. I didn’t get it deep enough so the back yard will be odorific for a spell.
           Pricing out the hand trucks at $70 for a cheapo, I think I’ll see if the neighbors can lend me one. Expect some slow days while I catch up from the trip, including a set of shelves in the silo and such. This could get boring, so just look at the pictures if you want. I’m going to Winter Haven tomorrow for supplies, otherwise, no activity planned—it’s a feature of retirement I don’t get enough of. Tonight, coffee and a DVD movie. As I brought up the player, I saw a clip from that yahoo, Hoagland(?). He’s the one with the UFOs and face on Mars, who teams up with the flat Earth, hollow Earth, cities on the Moon bunch. Hey, he’s making money at it or he’d quit.

ADDENDUM
           Lem & I chatted about investment capital, my views tend to be more statistical. So I examined some contemporary American savings patterns. Use your own sources since this is very dry reading. Plus, a few super-performers skew the averages. I do not believe your average working class American saves (or can save) 8.5% of his income, which works out after deductions to over 10% of his takehome.

           Thus, I believe my rule of thumb from 1980 still holds, that the average worker can save $1.00 per hour worked. This means it takes a year for him to save $2,000, giving that amount a far greater importance than such a small figure would mean toward retirement. Would you invest that much money if it meant a loss would take you a year to break back even? It is the investment climate in America that I blame more than for lack of savings.

           But that is another story. The US government allows tons of scams to operate under the guise of business and provides no protection to those who get stung. In unrelated news, from all the food plants that have been burning down across America, the authorities have not arrested a single suspect. FDA fact-checkers say there is “no evidence” the fires are connected. They’ve quit publishing the totals but I hear around 52 plants have suffered some sort of arson-like damage. There are 36,000 food processing plants in America.
           The photo is a Wal*Mart distribution center going up a few weeks ago. Later, I updated my algorithm to reflect increased taxes and inflation. Sure enough, it still takes an hour’s pay to save one dollar. That means it takes five years to save $10,000 which is the minimum for a quality REIT. People who have the discipline to save for five years without an emergency are probably not living in the civilized parts of America.

Last Laugh