January 6, 2024

Yesteryear
One year ago today: January 6, 2023, at the Frost Museum.
Five years ago today: January 6, 2019, finally, some yard privacy.
Nine years ago today: January 6, 2015, I predicted kindergarten drag shows.
Random years ago today: January 6, 1980, the plague of poverty.

           Winter’s here. It’s been raining since 5:00AM, but that also means it has warmed up. The big thermometer shows 70F and I have an exposed sheet of chipboard getting soaked. Phineas is now on a train nearing Denver with Detective Fix in tow. And don’t forget the Hindoo princess. Turns out her rich relative from Hong Kong retired and moved to Holland. Verne doesn’t mention stuff like that by accident. News this morning is the social site Gab has its own A.I. chat bot, and it is revealing the censorship built into other products. The test is to run the criteria on both systems and compare the results.

           Soon as the rain let up, I had three barrel-loads go up in smoke and moved two posts for the saw lean-to into position. This is equivalent to sinking four post-holes, so it was a healthy work-out. Rain can be very localized in this climate and my back yard received 3-1/2 inches in six hours. I stirred the ashes enough to get some tinder going, things were pretty sodden, so the smoke was heavy. Hours later, after a hot shower, my hair still has it. But, I got the work done, or that is, half the work. This photo shows the cocumentary type photo I would send JZ showing the process, labels are because I realize they are hard to see sometimes.
>           The first design was off, so I had to tear it down. I’ve opted for a shorter shed of better quality. If I’d had an axe today, I would have chopped some firewood. Here I am pointing at a perfectly good fire. Just load it up and it will take care of itself. Have not done that in half a century, but doing it for exercise makes all the difference. Most of the burnings came from the doggie pen, which is going to take a couple of days. This blog mention is partially because I worked along for four hours without a break, did not even think of needing a rest. Rare and good news.            Just get out there, get some air, some exercise, and some work done. Yea, team.

Hours later, sitting down I discovered a cut on my right arm. Painless, it must have happened hours earlier with a significant amount of dried blood. Never felt a thing. A good cleaning reveals a ¼ inch laceration, shaped like a tiny hourglass. Figure that one out. If you want to hear about pain, look at the finances of the Washington Post. It’s losing $100 million per year. The funny part is they have not connected that loss with their libtard agenda. That’s gotta hurt even Bezos (the owner) and there is suspicion he’s being funded by the D-party.

           One surprising offshoot of crowdfunding is the array of products that appear which never have passed the corporate boardroom. I had a small inflatable tent in my teens, but had to leave it in Montana because it was too heavy to carry. Now appears the air-cruiser, same principle but this is more eleborate structure meant to inflate on the roof of your van. I pulled up this video and it is definitely the same company as fifty years ago. What’s changed is America. This rooftop camper is highly conspicuous and you would have a terrible time finding parking spaces to set it up. The material offers no protection and the price tag of $3,000 means it costs as much as my van. I’d prefer something now that looks like a cargo box on top, even when it is folded up.

           This led me to more camping inventions. A lot of it is old ideas using new matrials, I hesitate to really be out in the woods. I find little difference between a camp ground five miles into the bush, and a hundred miles. I still stay at the Wal*Mart Arms, but if there is a CrackerBarrel nearby, that’s preferred. The place I’ve camped this way most often is three times in Macon, GA. There is something inherently unsafe about having just canvas or plastic agains what’s out there. Nor do I have any desire to camp in the snow. This next picture shows the results of 7 minutes takeing a pallet apart, all those slats stacked up. I really should invest in a planer.

           The commercials were at the same time amusing and annoying. I will read while camping, but it is because I pull over at a library. No bugs, wind, and dust for me. I’ll make coffee on the road, but it is far easier to find a Burger King most places I’d travel. But annoying if you think camping is convenient. In fact, it is labor intensive and there is very little lying around on hammocks and watching the sunsets. I’ve never stayed anywhere on the road except overnight. If I set up a campsite each time, I’d be doing nothing but logistics. I also don’t care for millennial-accented pitches designed to say nothing. Instead of “all terrain”, they go on that you can pitch this tent in the sand, the snow, the forest, the desert, on and on like that.
           The gear advertised included a portable spa and plenty of devices to charge you phone. For those who want to go camping without really going camping, I suppose. I’m tempted to have a go at splitting some wood, with an axe I mean, not a maul. You want a splitting axe, it doesn’t really cut the wood, it splits the fibers. I don’t chop down trees, but you can with a splitting axe. Trivia, the correct axe-handle is the one the length of your own arm. I checked prices, and if axes are now $100, I’ll wait for a sale.

Picture of the day.
Yellowknife scenery.
Remember to use BACK ARROW to return to blog.

           Phineas makes it back to London, but having studied celestial navigation, I had figured out by the time he left New York. That was a classic, burning half the boat. On the other had, it could be stated the book only proves anything is possible with money. The radios in all three sheds and the house are on the same station, the closest we have to rock-n-roll, but you have to put up with plenty of woketardism in the commercials and commentary. The Epstein list is partially released, with the MSM saying it is all old and meaningless accusations that have only political and historical value. Ha, that’s smooth, but it fools nobody.

           The media is off the deep end with euphemisms. The tank shell doesn’t miss the target, it “narrowly avoids missing” and the Blacks losing their university positions over plagiarism are victims of politically-motivated investigations. Who remembers Tang, the orange drink? It is not a common item in the south, so I was surprised to learn it is still around. Says here Target sells it, so it must just be packaged funny and I don’t recognize it without the glass jar. I remember it because we used to make it as a hot drink in cold weather. Then I found it, and realize I’ve seen it in these unfamiliar plastic containers. If it’s still chilly tomorrow, let’s hook up with some.

           Reddit posts a list of snow plows at work in Wichita. They have names and these are my favorites of what they show:

A) Edward Blizzard Hands
B) Plower Ranger
C) Sand & Deliver
D) Peppy La Plow
E) The Big LePlowski
F) William Scrape-speare
G) Point of Snow Return
H) Darth Blader

           Here’s one, NASA thought it would be a good idea to inter the cremated remains of some space pioneers on the Moon. Back in ‘99, one of the Moon prospector craft that crashed to the surface carried the remains of some obscure astronaut. Anyway, you’d think that an okay touch, but along come (get this) Indian land claims. The Moon is sacred, they say, and human remains defile it. Note, they rarely speak up until hundreds of millions have been spent already. (In this instance, $108 million.) Anyway, it’s the usual, they don’t want it stopped as much as the authority to “okay” it. Bullshit, I say, it comes down to their culture versus ours and we’ve had enough of their noble savage first nations crap—they are NOT the original inhabitants of this continent.
           Further, private industry points out that nobody owns the Moon. They insist religious beliefs should not “dictate humanities space efforts”. Good point, I agree as I said the same about the South Pole and Mars, keep all churches out of there. I’m fully aware those were scientific missions, not commercial cargo. Another thing I don’t like is the way these Indians modify their claims depending on the response. They don’t state a clear or defined cause. When informed they waited too long to object, they switched war bonnets and now they want the Moon protected as a type of natural wonder, like the Grand Canyon. Put the remains on the other side of the Moon and tell them to shut up. Just for once, shut up, is that asking too much?

ADDENDUM
           Not many people are aware of the reasons why around a quarter of gifted children wind up unsuccessful. The reality is very few children are gifted in more than one or two areas, and those are defined as six “abilities”:

1. Academic
2. Performing
3. Leadership
4. Psychomotor
5. Intellectual
6. Creative

           Nothing in the above causes achievement, which is where the difficulty arises. For example, nobody is considered really gifted unless they have an IQ in the top ten percent, that is, above 130. My IQ is exactly 100, measured three times. Once in the sixth grade, once upon university entrance, and last time upon hiring at the corporation age 26. Folks, 100 on the button. Did you know there is a gifted child Bill of Rights. It varies a bit, so I only know the ones which can be stifled by deprivation. These include:

1. Know and be told they are gifted.
2. The option to not be good at everything.
3. Freedom to choose which areas to pursue.
4. The right to make mistakes without apologising.
5. Liberty to get independent guidance.

           There are other items on that list, but I find them to be general social rights, such as choosing your own friends. However, one strong issue missing is the right of the gifted child to apply that gift where and when he chooses. It’s similar to my writings that children have a right to private property gained by their own initiatives, and not to be lectured about sharing. I do not recall if those writings ever made it to this blog. Briefly, I believe a child can own private property, including the right to share it as a reward, or to withhold it as punishment. Of course, this is all within the guidelines of safety and parental guidance, but you know what I mean.            The focus is how 25% of gifted children wind up on the skids. The many studies do not specify what they mean saying the children become underachievers. Do they mean in comparison with averages? Or by comparison to the accomplisments of their own peer group? Those are two completely different animals. I’ll leave you to decide, but consider this.
           Compared to my upbringing, I’m astoundingly accomplished, but compared to what would have been if allowed to pursue my goals, I barely make the grade. So what was the biggest hindrance for me? Why did I not excel between the ages of 18 and 36? It’s called food, clothing, shelter, finishing school, and staying alive. And that’s just for starters.

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