One year ago today: July 19, 2021, my box-making progress.
Five years ago today: July 19, 2017, quiche, love, foreign aid.
Nine years ago today: July 19, 2013, then finding nothing worthwhile . . .
Random years ago today: July 19, 2007, I fire Cowboy Mike.
Good morning as our government commences buying cell phone data on an “unprecedented scale” and you can earn $2 million by cracking Apple’s latest “Lockdown Mode”. It reputedly stops outsiders from activating the camera and phone and from extracting data from messages and e-mails, and stops phone calls from being recorded. Strange how the average millennial would not believe you if you told him all that was going on. It’s just past 10:00AM and the heat is oppressive.
This found me doing a little research on the canvas sails that Hornblower uses. The big ones weighed a ton each, and that’s when they were dry. I’m only learning basics, picking out what I find okay. Hornblowers ships are all three-masted, the larger four-masted ones turns out were usually cargo ships. Like clippers which died out when the west coast yards quit making them. I take it the three-masted brand were significantly handier. A few old pictures of Hamburg show that cargo sailing ships were still operating in the 1920s. Maybe I’ll try looking there.
It would appear the command, “All hands on deck,” means they will be hauling sails. Most other functions did not require every available hand. Some of it is interesting, the ships carry most of their own repair supplies, as going into any harbor is risky. The lifeboats were fairly useless as they could only be launched in calm seas. The crews trained one day a week in wrestling in case of pirates. In heavy fog, the ships sounded a hand-cranked fog horn. The person tasked to operate it was chosen as the stupidest man aboard.
A transformer has exploded at the Hoover Dam. I doubt this is linked to any sabotage, but I’d bet it is due to mlllennials in the control room. A hands-on Boomer would regularly inspect the gear, but these new people put their faith in computer apps. They want to sit in comfort, watching monitors, and the strangest part is those displays are not endorsed by engineers, electricians, technicians, or anybody knowledgeable of the transformers. They were designed by graphics artists who were told to make the displays look right.
Chewing gum thieves (England).
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Later in the day, it clouded over and cooled enough that I was out there another hour and twenty. The humidity was 84% but I tolerate that better than heat. I replaced the chain saw carburetor and it still will not start. It is beyond my training. Somehow it is not getting gas, although I’m only 99% sure that new spark plug is firing. I saw the piston move past the port, so the gas mixture is probably getting that far.
Mystified, I took a break and walked around
It will work if I can find the attachment that puts a small saw on the end of my extension pole. Otherwise I can rig up some kind of clamp as the end of the extension pole is threaded for ordinary paint roller handles. They don’t seem to make other garden tools that attach that way. I can reach nearly 22 feet up. The remainder I can just get from standing on the roof. This could save me $3,000 or it could smash my cabin. So, we’ll give it a whirl.
While waiting on a load of laundry, notice how I slipped that in, I finished cleaning the latest batch of pallet boards. It felt like being in a sauna but I got that done and managed to get the motor on the weed whacker to turn over. Ah, now that I know what to check for, that appears to be mostly a problem of bad gasoline. I hope the bad gas has not wrecked the carb. I plan to mix a batch of 93 octane soon and see if that inspires these engines. Walking back, I looked at that pallet wood. Hard to believe that is selling at a premium on-line. It’s too much work for me but not for some people I can think of.
ADDENDUM
Yep, the guitar player is a rookie. Like many, he thinks he knows the ropes of forming a band, but in reality is a mini-dictator. He’s polite about it and sent me a lengthy explanation of what I am doing wrong. For example, he uses DropBox which I will not touch. I have an old account, but it demands I turn off my adblocker to use it. He saw my spec for a duo, but he is “looking for a bass player” and also, he took my demo exactly the wrong way. This is typical of those with guitaritis. Any hint of bass runs is competition. Other than his picky hostilities as such, he is striving to handle the issues. He doesn’t realize he’s only maybe halfway along.
So, I replied saying he should consider me a reluctant ally with whom compromise is best. That’s because he will tire of these local liars and lazy-boys, especially now that I gave him a couple pointers on what to watch out for. Amusingly, he’s run into a few of the yahoos I went through. He thinks my demo was “playing lead on the bass” and he hates that. I informed him I was not riffing off on the upper frets, but playing a recognizable bass run that showed my capabilities. He reminds of Elliott, the Englishman, who can find fault with the positive of things.
Elliott had one band for a couple weeks in his teens. Since then, every attempt at organizing anything quickly fell apart in squabbles over song lists, egos, and similar kindergarten spats. I told Frets how much time he was going to waste (about another year) and to contact me back when he wants to team with pros. I may as bad as he says about not conforming to his ideal band but call me when he wants somebody who can get the job done right and on time.
