One year ago today: April 26, 2022, a 40 year supply.
Five years ago today: April 26, 2018, in 1972, she says.
Nine years ago today: April 26, 2014, reasonably okay.
Random years ago today: April 26, 2012, remember Trumpet Jerry?
This morning I issued the “Hippie challenge” to my pal Ray-B. I detect his music may have gone dormant because the same thing happens to me during musical drought times. The dare is NOT, as many people would confound the issue, a musical contest. Off course these guys can play any song I can, but that is not the issue. The challenge is, now pay attention Glenn, can they play it better on the guitar than I can play it on the bass?
How about another million-dollar idea that is right under the noses of the Genxyzers, yet none have invented it? A soldering flux that acts like temporary glue. Dip your lead into the goop and it glues the part solidly in place until the solder grabs. Not the crappy “solder paste” advertised today, or the “leaded glue” which only works on pieces already firmly attached. But like a crazy glue that firmly keeps the components in place until the solder comes along. This picture shows the difficulty of working with small pieces than can’t be held by clamps.
American style advertisers are bleating over European laws that come into effect today. All ads must indicate who is behind them. Users can demand to know who and how they are being profiled by. Worst for the US, all contracts must now end with a plain language easy-to-understand summary. Google and MicroSoft are going to hate that.
The morning got eaten up by my hobby. I wasn’t good for much else, but I’m again building the test circuit that I think is the best teaching aid. And once again, I’ve encountered that strange situation where a dead LED still conducts. It’s from the same batch without saying that is the cause. Also, I have a strip of steel that will not conduct. It’s from a broken bandsaw blade, which I used for keys because it springs so well. I’ll get you a picture later, as part of the incentive is to have the parts look DIY.
Overpassing, the millennial enjoyment of throwing rocks off bridges onto cars, has killed again. America really needs the return of the death penalty. Food banks have become a significant factor in daily Canadian life, with hundreds of charities in some cities like Toronto. A country that was once the world’s breadbasket now has 40% of its population living on handouts. Food bank directors say the situation if beyond critical and is unsustainable.
So I ran through their checklist and you know, I qualify as poor in their books. Let me check what I spend on food per month. Just out of curiosity, I mean. Hmmmm, only $214 per month average, including the larger bills in Tennessee. That’s less than last year, reflecting my switch away from most meat except chicken. That’s down from last year but that is due to cooking more from scratch and quitting most meat other than chicken. It’s the influence of the Reb and rumors that Gates is going to lace processed food with vaccines. That’s your incentive to prepare you own where possible. Tired or not, it’s muffins for breakfast tomorrow.
Trivia, did you know why muffins stick to the paper cup but cupcakes don’t? It’s because muffins are often eaten while still warm. They will contract slightly on cooling, or you can use my trick of spraying the paper with no-stick coconut oil.
Lomography.
(the art of bad photography)
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As far as personal budgets go, mine is pretty well-known and inflation has finally impacted months after the fact. I took the afternoon off going over the categories. Everything, including my precious Caltier fund, has to cool down for a while. For the things I buy, prices have doubled. It is nauseating to get bombarded by advertising claiming that Biden is confronting these things when the mood is that he’s the cause. My quest for investments remains, but the possibility of another Depression puts on the brakes. People forget how quickly it happens when it does. What good’s a rental car if nobody has the money to rent it?
The good news is at least we’re semi-ready around here in that inflation hurts others even worse. I gave Bradford a call, he at least knows by now that music is a part-time job. I’m not spry enough for much else. Stopping for a haircut, the harsh light of the barber shop I patronized is unforgiving for smile lines and showing one’s age. It’s been a busy week for me and it’s going to catch up. Face it, I’m past the age when rock around the clock has to become walk around the block. I made that up on the spur, by the way. Or, in case Billie-Bill reads this, I don’t recall every having heard it before, so while I may not have invented it, the phrase was independently derived.
Later, getting back from town, yep, I overdid it. I got a lot done this week and now I need some recovery time. It’s the same weariness you get from hard work, except twice as bad even if the work is no longer that hard. The tired feeling that sends you to bed after work Friday thinking just a nap and when you just get rested, it’s Monday morning. They call that working for a living.
Why fight it, I figured, and took the late afternoon off. Ran some numbers for TURO and did a major food shop. You’re invited for corn on the cob tomorrow but cancel the tennis match and we are not climbing any mountains. Let me comment on some of the news items and call it a day. NASA reports a new resistant metal, based on non-iron and infused with yttrium, a word I always wanted to use in this blog. In reality, there is not much new about alloys, what got my attention is the metal can be worked by a 3D printer.
Brazil news has been tagged as far-right, so I read some translations. It’s a smear campaign, there is nothing ideologically extreme. But the attempts to make it seem so are emanating from Europe. Odd, what does Europe care what happens in Brazil? One example is the headlines that say school violence is increasing. But reading the fine print shows they are referring to a rise in light-skinned students defending themselves from attacks by dark-skinned gangs. In America, we know that defending oneself is often a road to prison if you are White.
My internal clock is saying take the rest of the day off. The Internet is saying people who nap like this have increased odds of high blood pressure. That’s fine, in another week they will be saying the opposite. Whatever sells. I watched the documentary on making padlocks in India. How dozens of workers toil away in sweatshops in dangerous conditions for little pay. You know, like America a hundred years ago. It’s called an industrial revolution.
It’s a mild pursuit, but yes I would like to monetize this blog, but in a fashion that does not detract from the intent. The obvious answer is a parallel blog that picks out only the topics of interest to a broad public. I know what they are on this journal from years of stats on my readership. Curious what the top three topics are in this blog, based totally on click count? They are, in order
I’ve looked at all kinds of options, none are suitable. That’s confined to the options I understand. You get outfits like Mediavine that I cannot figure out what it is they do. I read the testimonials but they will not answer in plain English what it is they actually do. And I’m not signing up with any shape-shifters.types. But then, never before have my expenses doubled in such a short time. *Note above that food and music here have a matching click pattern, so it could be either. Let’s assume it’s the food, since more people are interested in that.- food*
- observations on dating
- then-and-now comparisons
This blog is a hobby, and thus you should return tomorrow for some comments. Trust me, I get all kinds of advice on going pro. I’d be more interested in just finding a way to make $10 or $15 per day with it. Those who think writing for money is easy have never tried it. I get to this blog when it pleases me—right there a huge barrier to commercialization.
ADDENDUM
A curious aspect of aging is people’s attitudes. One of my clocks did not get set forward for daylight savings. That means I’ve lived most of my days an hour late since then and nobody has said a thing. I can only suppose they figure the mind ages at the same rate. My neighbor came over while I was working in the shed and said come over for coffee at 8:00PM and I arrived promptly at 9:00PM. So we sat around trying to get his Siri to work—I’m the first and proudest person to say I don’t have a clue how that shit operates except on your privacy.
His TV system automatically tapes Gunsmoke, which reminds me of JPs cowboy channel. It takes, I think, a special knack to watch old B&W reruns, but if one must, Gunsmoke is not that bad a choice. We found one with Burt Reynolds playing a Commanche. The producer, some new unknown guy called Spielberg, made a decent effort at the costumes and sets, but that dialogue would outrage all the poofs and wankers today.
Gunsmoke was no longer on TV except reruns when I was a kid. I remember, because this is where I got some mental blocks about singing. I’ve explained how my family were not just non-musicians, they were anti-musician. (But they would never say you could not play music, they are smarter than to do that.) By age six or seven, I had the idea that singing was an extremely rare thing called “talent” and the few people who could do it were rich and famous on the radio. Sure, we had people in the church choir, but they were poor because they could not sing radio music. This is also where I got the crazy idea that people who could sing were so lucky I never understood why they did not do it all day long. A good question might be why didn’t I ask anybody? You see, I did not explain what “anti-musiician” meant.
They were all for it in strangers and other people. But if they heard you were even asking questions, about singing, let’s put it this way. If you got time to go around asking about singing, then you got time to get the hell out in the field and pick some rocks, but at the same time, if you want to go singing, nobody is stopping you. They would never stop you, but there were things in store for you if you did. Sure it was long ago, but here’s a question for you. Who was that Rorschach guy and why did he paint so many pictures of my parents fighting. Anyway, that’s the connection between Gunsmoke and why I never sang until around 2008.
