One year ago today: August 4, 2022, 8.3 million over the limit.
Five years ago today: August 4, 2018, 71 clubs, 58 bands.
Nine years ago today: August 4, 2014, remember the trailer?
Random years ago today: August 4, 2008, remember paper files.
I stuck around Friday morning specifically so we could tour the museum downtown. It is also in the complex where there is a big library, but like all of Miami, it is not designed to be user friendly. Also, the neighborhood has changed. Alaine and I walked through there a decade ago, today you would not do that except in broad daylight. And don’t do it alone. Those of you who thought Miami could not be made even a worse shit-hole than by the boat people were wrong. As usual, these are not special people who need help, these are ordinary garden-variety lazy bastards who know darn well they are bothering people.
The museum now features an entire gallery of Indian artifacts. It looks more like they raided some abandoned footlockers. The irony is these are not Florida Indians and they migrated here hundreds of years later than the White settlers. According to the museum, they were “attracted by the warm winters”. In that case, they were also lured by the thick clouds of mosquitoes you get in every swamp in the territory. The streetcar was still there and the Spanish cannon. Same with the lighthouse Fresnel lens. Only the smaller displays have evolved. After a half-hour, this theme that the Indians build the place becomes annoying.
The event was made quite tolerable, however, as a tour group of around twenty gals from the local fancy college showed up. Not too shabby, and they had learned to weave away from the chaperones. What a sight, you just do not see that many drop-dead gorgeous females in Miami just any given year. Their tour took over an hour and as luck would have it, ours did, too.
The only interesting displays were some weapons and tools, mostly salvaged from galleons. They had a special gallery setup with models of mythical creatures. As you enter, you see Pegasus and a unicorn. But then things drop off to a ton of devils and dragons from cultures who have no real influence here. I was expecting vampires and the odd Sasquatch, but the closest I got was Suzie Boddlenecker. Instead, tons of creatures from Asian cultures and a lot of dragons. Actually, dragons I can understand. Did you know as late as 1600, dragons were routinely featured in encyclopedias?
The reality is most Western cultures know that dragons are mythical. The concept is worn out by movies and it was laughable how the dragons consistently demanded tribute from the villagers in the form of virgins and valuables. Unlikely as it may be, they never appear to run short on fossil fuels. I examined the exhibits anyway, since dragons have had a couple thousand years head start scaring the pants off imbeciles, movie addicts, and the Chinese.
Cluster bomb launch.
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After less of this walking around than usual, I wanted a sit-down coffee. Tearing JZ’s eye’s off the skinny brunette with the light brown eyes, the one in the slinky summer dress, I explained that years ago his sister and I had found an excellent coffee stand across the street from the museum. First, he wanted to see this continuous loop in the little theater beside the tram display. It’s got real theater seats, comfy as it gets, so we both promptly fell asleep for an hour. Nobody complained, though that could be because once the gal group moved on, the museum was empty. By this time, I needed the coffee for sheer survival.
And that’s where I left him. That was the plan, he had an appointment in a couple hours and I left from Miami instead of his place. I’ll check my e-mail to see if there is any progress when I’m not around. Here’s a picture of an unexplained device at the museum. The one items that might have my attention and it had no placard. I think it may have been a hand-powered pump for those early divers that wore helmets.
Hence, I slowed down and took side roads, arriving just before 7:00PM. The escarpment also means slightly cooler climate and I’m reminded I have a very sensitive skin layer. And it is underneath, so no lotions or icepacks help at all. The best thing is administering anesthetic and they usually have live entertainment on Fridays, so I went downtown. Here’s the customary picture with the biggest Spanish cannon in the museum. Shown here is JZ checking if I was right that pounding on the breech emits a Bb note.
ADDENDUM
The extra hour’s drive gave me time to think. And I’ve come up with an idea. Notice all the “motors” on-line that utilize a solenoid include a flywheel to keep the thing running. Can I not come up with something that runs without a flywheel? Possibly. I had trouble freeing my mind from the mechanisms already built, most of which use a spring to return the solenoid core. This movement required some kind of latch to release the core by cutting the power. Lots of times, it was a cam on the flywheel shaft.
No picture yet because I need you to use your imagination. The core movement is rapid enough to move a lever, so I thought about that. Why not make that lever a pendulum? The ignition drives the core through the coil, which then swings backward and upward. Gravity alone should be strong enough to swing back. Thus, if I attach some mechanism to cut the power when the pendulum returns, the inertia alone should be enough to push the “piston” back through the coil. When it reaches the starting position, it switches on the power and the motion begins again.
