One year ago today: May 19, 2022, the wrong bolt.
Five years ago today: May 19, 2018, that all-girl band .
Nine years ago today: May 19, 2014, robots are expensive.
Random years ago today: May 19, 2013, yes, I get fan mail.
The phone. It’s some guy from Lakeland I called weeks ago and forgot. He plays guitar. Let’s tag him Gary. Most Lakeland guitar players are named Gary. Sounds old, but I’ll join any band these days. When Bandmix starts printing articles about when the scene will return after COVID, you know times are tough. He’s not a singer, but they all say that. He also said he does not strum but that he can play entire songs by picking. This I don’t mind, as long as it does make every song an instrumental. We have a meet-up slated for tomorrow morning.
Here’s the new solder caddy, not quite finished. The timer is how at the front and the hot iron holder at the far upper right. There are spots for the flux and cleaner and I will reuse the carry handle from the older model out of nostalgia.
A week in advance is barely enough [notice] any more. I watched a documentary on El Salvadore’s massive gang prison. Built for 40,000 some say, others say 10,000 but there are 40,000 in there. The place is for suspected gangsters, usually determined by being covered with tattoos, it would seem. Of course the human rights people are screaming. Their president has a neat solution to violence, particularly when a policeman is harmed. He surrounds the area with 5,000 troops, then sends in 500 investigators to systematically root out the gang members. It seems to be working just fine, with a 50% drop in murder. And the remaining 50% are other gangs killing each other.
This Durham report is all over the news. The part I like is the revelation the COVID was all faked. Apparently worldwide vaccinations, mostly children, are down 44%. However, I say the stats that “most” people were vaxxed is an outright lie. I personally know of only two people who did, and both of them regret it. And it the ultimate admission of corruption, the government has said they can’t release some 10,000 hours of Jan 6 video because it expose too many of the hundreds of agents they had in the crowds that day. German reports say anti-semetic crime is at its highest levels, taken by some to be ironically accurate. Hunter Biden has disappeared. The demands for “reparations” is becoming a bit of a joke. It will only happen if welfare checks are stopped so they are not thinking. The mood in America is that if nothing is done about the revelations in the Durham report, there will be some severe reaction this time. Have the Democrats succeeded in Balkanizing the population so that no one faction is strong enough to take on central authority?
Victorian tree surround bench
(replica)
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Blog rules, the big parts of the day. It was puttering, something I wished I was doing half a lifetime ago. This is how future studies will rate me, that I quit carousing and the most screwing I do is not in my workshed. My primary task was to batten things down, I know this stretch of good weather is but a teaser. The biggest chore was the new shelter, which has no shingles at this time. Followed by the compressor shed. It’s chainsaw time, so I ran the unit for ten minutes, getting all the cuts done I had lined up. That includes taking down the jungle behind the silo. That’s the worst part of the yard for tangled undergrowth.
This is my salt lick for the critters. Salt won’t keep in Florida as they sell it in paper containers. When it clumps, I set it out like this. By the size and shape of the nibbles, it is not tha well-used but I think the birds may peck at it. Most sources say wild birds get all they need from eating insects, but I leave a bit out when I have extra. For me, what you see here is a six-month supply, so I usually have this much go bad at a time.
Later, I did some soldering and two things I’ll never understand. Why they bother making those cheap-ass 30W irons and why I have so many of them. They only heat the side of the tip, the point that you need for fine work never quite gets hot enough. I measured 215°C on the barrel but 188°C at the tip. The guidebook says that will melt solder, which is true, but the moment you touch that piece to your work, 188°C is not enough. It just sits there. The diameter of the tip is a factor, but I’m using a standard medium size. And quit calling it flux paste. If it was paste, it would hold the wire in place until you were done.
For the heck of it, I built a small one-transistor amp out of the most expensive components I had. What an amazingly clear sound, although over a very limited range.
ADDENDUM
The debt ceiling looms. This is a blessing in disguise because if there is a default, no way can the Bidenistas pin this one on Trump. Trump may inadvertently peel the lid off the bureaucratic corruption the way he did with political corruption. They cannot function without grift, so even delaying things a few weeks will be most revealing.
S
