One year ago today: September 19, 2022, roast & toast.
Five years ago today: September 19, 2018, that’s their problem.
Nine years ago today: September 19, 2014, an entertaining failure.
Random years ago today: September 19, 2007, 2,850 light bulbs average.
Four hours is enough, that’s how long we were in the shed. I modified an old set of small shelves to hold small boxes. I mean really small, not the small one I build This ate up the morning for no good reason. Around noon, Howie came by to mention he had fixed the problem with his weed eater, and it is the same model as mine. It’s the carb, he says he can easily replace it and it should work fine. It’s over in his shed and what a boon that will be around here. It’s a gas-powered Craftsman and the problem is the carburetor.
Today is yard work is also a substitute for pretending anything else exciting happens these days in Florida. I mentioned the intense paperwork that the bureaucracy will put you through because when you were younger, you had this fantasy that if you ignored them, they’d return the favor. Based on Tampa radio, Trump reigns supreme. They would not ceaselessly attack him otherwise. He has wisely chosen to ignore the formulaic “debates” and this time visit the autoworkers union. This is symbolic, as the auto people were staunch Democrats until it dawned on them it was a set-up. We just hope Trump goes after their votes, shows America what they did wrong, and never forgets that he owes these former enemies nothing.
America is also bad for taking the wrong kind of pity on those who show no gumption. That explains the color TVs in the ghettos. You show me a “poor” American and I will show you a lazy person with a bad attitude. The list of people who get themselves off welfare in America is very short indeed. My topic this morning is financial planning. Oddly, it exists in this country mostly for people who already have money. Huh? You heard me.
The tax structure is rotten. Supporting 100 million people on welfare is an expensive undertaking and the money comes mainly from the taxpayer. It’s a crazy “wealth redistribution” scheme that has never worked well, though some would say the color TVs say it does. Welfare is institutionalized, it creates a permanent sub-class of intergenerational dependents in our society. The tax structure means that the true definition of poor are those not on welfare but working dead-end jobs. Tax is not based on income, but on taxable income, meaning the wealthy are incentivized to create loop-holes. Loop-holes that are regularly shut down once they get “too popular”. Hence, the creating of financial advisors for the rich, not the poor.
Such a system plays favorites. Those who have been with me over the years know that most of how I managed well was to go over the loop-holes and pick the ones I could use. It’s not so easy. If the rich worked for a paycheck like most, they would get stuck paying the same outrageous taxes (blended tax now runs around 40% of your pay). This is the barrier I ran against—you cannot retain the methods and attitudes of the working class to take advantage of loop-holes. You must change what you do to align with the laws, which is the “selling out” part. I just did it in a very quiet and subtle manner. People who have known me for years have no idea I would cut every able-bodied person off welfare tomorrow, but that is a different tale from the trailer court.
Indonesia paints slums.
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Most of the day was taken by going over the finances and watching what the system is up to. They hired 87,000 agents but we all know there are not that many smart people to be hired. Thus, the target must be the working class who are operating under the table. Arranging your affairs to qualify for loop-holes is not a crime, but most cash-flow operations are. We’ve talked about this twenty-years ago, the underground economy in America is massive, probably a third of the nation’s wealth. That must be what they are going after.
Which brings up the story of the guy in California who won the $2 billion powerball. He’s a dumb ass if there ever was one, but that kind of money becomes its own loop-hole. (Yes, we know loop-hole is not a hyphenated word, blame autocorrect.) He’s making every mistake in the book and financial planners are going ballistic. There are radio programs blasting the guy, some Mexican who is buying $25 million mansions next to DiCaprio. They are incensed that he is not using any advisors. Ah, but I can listen much closer than that.
The reality I hear from all his big-shot critics is they don’t care about Edwin, they care that he is setting a bad example for their stock-in-trade. If he does NOT wind up on the skids, that’s a big torpedo hole in their broadsides. After all the tax deductions (which I would make illegal because that means the lottery was false advertising the prize amounts), Edwin has around a billion and is showing no signs of slowing down. He is proving that there exists a need for change, which upper echelon America does not like on the table.
We watched Gunsmoke with a combination of okay and this is boring. The episode is call “Blood Money” but is overlong with the soap opera scenes and the crime-doesn’t-pay message. But winning the powerball certainly does. I hope Edwin thumbs his nose daily at Di Caprio just because nobody cares what Di Caprio thinks. And here is a better view of the 13-foot siding boards I picked up for $31. Good thing I bought them all.
ADDENDUM
Voltage doubler, or voltage multiplier, the topic I’m reading on. I was aware of the circuit but never any use for building one. It takes an A/C input, which I normally do not touch. Since I’m still reading on that, here’s a related subject [a diode OR gate] that I do not understand, but I will explain. Ah, but should that not be impossible? Not at all, I realize I went through most of grade school with teachers in that same situation [teaching what they themselves do not understand]. Here’s an explanation of an OR gate, one of the most popular computer logic setups that exists by the billions, but few know how it works. If you keep reading, I’ll presume you are as curious as I.
The “logic” part of the circuit is at the far right side, labeled “Y”, this is the output. This point is digital on or off, that is 1 or 0. For most components that means 5V or 0V with exceptions (like 12V in old Radio Shack circuits). Next to it is a power supply labels Vs(=V(0)). What the hell is that? This is where the term negative logic moves in. The resistor R is there as a safety measure, ignore it for now, but V(0) doe NOT mean 0V, it means the circuit is energized to a known voltage, in this case it is 5V. For clarity, V(0) is a reference voltage that is present with the circuit is in operation.
Now look to the left, you will see another V(0) and a V(1), again this does not mean voltage. It means the presence or absence of a voltage level. The diodes, D1, D2, and Dn with their related resistors are there to remind you many configurations are possible. The inputs are A, B, and N. If you don’t know how an OR gate works, now is the time to look it up on your own. As long as inputs A, B, to N are energized, no electricity flows. Don’t continue until this is clear—the diodes will not allow voltage through as long as there is an equal and opposite voltage “pushing” back from the right.
However, if any one or more of the inputs A, B, to N drops to a “more negative voltage”, electricity will flow through the corresponding diodes through to the ground (Vn), thus switching the state of Y. That is the definition of “negative logic”. The voltage V(0) must drop to V(1) at a level that enables the diode to allow a current to flow. V(1) is “more negative” than V(0). There, quite easy, but you are not done. You should learn why all this fuss when they could just make a single stage on-off circuit.
These voltages have to be carefully matched because the diodes are in parallel. They must be able to allow sufficient electricity to flow even if all the inputs drop to the more negative voltage. Can you see now why R is very much larger than any of the diode resistors? If not, keep going, it isn’t important. Ah, you remember that diode formula now, how they add up in a weird fashion. Since by comparison, you are now an expert, there’s one more element you’ll want to know to qualify as a smartass.
Up to now, the assumption was that the components all work at full voltage or zero voltage AND that the electricity shuts on and off instantly. This does not happen, all the parts have internal characteristics that limit performance. All diodes have a “cut-in” voltage that turns them on, usually 70% of the full voltage, but that is a separate subject. The important one is the “cut-out” voltage. That’s the point where the diode shuts off, and it is usual fixed at around 0.6 volts for all diodes.
Here’s where you graduate from smart to genius. That 0.6 volts is for silicon components. There is a better but far more expensive material called germanium. Its cut-off voltage is way down at 0.2 volts. I’ll leave it up to you to figure out why this results in a better operation. Since you enjoyed that tidbit, here’s one more. What is the reason for all this complication? Because any other configuration would result in an “internal load” on the inputs A, B, to N that would drain your power supply in record time.
I don’t get that, but my sources all say that’s how it goes. This design is sometimes called a “buffer” circuit for the same reason, the presence of a voltage at any input has little effect on the other points and this allows several inputs to be attached to each node, but that is beyond my grasp. And if you return tomorrow, I’ll give the quick explanation of the old modem maxim, “9600 baud, 8 bits, no parity.”
