January 11, 2024

Yesteryear
One year ago today: January 11, 2023, 90% empty.
Five years ago today: January 11, 2019, six hours on empty.
Nine years ago today: January 11, 2015, my gear period.
Random years ago today: January 11, 2007, arrived via Djakarta.

           How about that guy who tried to rob a bank after paying a wizard $500 to make him invisible. Another quiet day for me and the coffee maker. It was a yawning attack since dawn and I read a chapter on how to write data files. You don’t want to know, it is a complicated process. Strange, because it seems to me the people who first designed these things would have made it one of the easier things to do. What a rat’s nest, you have to stop things that aren’t running, use imaginary commands, and generate dozens of lines of code just to stop the computer from doing the wrong thing. I would have done the opposite, let the computer write the file first, then use that behavior as the default.

           If I don’t perk up, I could spend the day reading and searching for websites of my hobbies. Why not, I’ve overspent my budget already this month. Mind you all bills are paid, the utilities are two months ahead, the gas tank is full, I have enough lumber for two weeks and a CD maturing in 13 days. What I don’t have is a 2024 calendar, one of the big ones I can see from across the room. Typically Florida, a week after New Year’s, they have nothing left but tiny desk calendars and kid’s stuff. This is Power Rangers month, I take it. Today I just type editorial that catches my eye. I'm tired.
           Here’s some already. Fat boy Christie dropped out of the race, disappointing all ten of his followers. I posted that if he had literally dropped, the earthquake would have crossed three time zones. The Pentagon says Taylor many be a pigeon, a front for some sort of political agenda. I’m saying I can help if she needs a place to hole up. What’s so funny about that?

           It was a warm enough day, just nothing got done. I mailed some letters and stopped at the Thrift, the gasl are not there. One went in for a routine treatment on her back and wound up with a bone infection. It’s getting so people will not check into diversity hire hospitals. One of the [Thrift] relatives runs the shop while they are away, he’s around 60 and utterly hates the Democrats. Then again, he has good reason to though that is a different ball of wax. The lady that does the crosswords has something going wrong with the arteries in her neck. Be prepared.

           We were discussing the ease of getting Social Security numbers from sources that print the last four digits. If you know what state the person is from, you can guess the area number (first three digits) and the 11 digits that rarely appear in combination for the next two, the group number. (They say these are random, but they really aren't.) You now have a one chance in 66 of hacking their number if issued before 2011. There is no checksum, as with Canadian Social Security Numbers.

           I’m ready for a siesta, to heck with nice weather and work days. I listened to more of the next audiobook and it might turn out okay after all. Lots of lawyers everywhere, funny how they rarely write anything about lawyers who don’t strike it rich, but plod away their lives in divorce courts and such. I get a laugh how lawyers post their hourly rates, but there is no control over the number of hours. By noon, I’m still not underway. I checked my e-mail, still nothing from Taylor. What’s she waiting for? The rope-making video I linked to (but can’t find now) is now big on-line, so here it is again.
           Regular Trump interviews and town halls are giving the media headaches galore. He’s not even scheduling them at comperting slots (which I think he should do to bankrupt the media) and the ratings are through the roof.

Picture of the day.
Meet the Honda 0.
Remember to use BACK ARROW to return to blog.

           Hours later, I can’t get underway. It’s not the work schedule, I just was not motivated. A lot of people don’t know there is an obscure provision that allows extra nap time for people who write more than 50 words off-line every day. Come to think of it, I know people who have not written 50 words since high school. No, Tyler, texting does not count.For the heck of it, let’s go on-line and get some writing statistics. Here we go, most of the famous and rich writers average 1,000 words per day. But that is not, apparently, related to their success. Rather, they have a mental overview of the writing process. For example, they know a story should not have more than 200,000 words. Because after that, it is too complex to go back and edit with the same frame of mind.
           I shy away from the label of “successful” writers, but not their advice and observations. Here are some quotations that I truly agree with, since to me writers are either known or unknown, but never unsuccessful. No, I would not whistle differently if this blog made me millions. Here we go:

“You can’t wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.” ~London
“There are three rules for writing. Unfortunately, nobody knows what they are.” ~Maughham
“The freelance writer is paid per piece, per word, or perhaps.” ~Various
“Writer’s block is God’s way of telling you to shut up.” ~Faulks
“You can’t write well unless you can read well.” ~Me, I said that.

Last Laugh