One year ago today: January 7, 2023, Caltier – the beginning.
Five years ago today: January 7, 2019, find-the-date game.
Nine years ago today: January 7, 2015, I’m 11/64ths happy.
Random years ago today: January 7, 2007, I’m not that skinny.
It was not supposed to rain today, just isolated showers. They lied. It is 9:30AM and here is the framework of the saw lean-to. I’ll explain this cluttered picture. The roof is missing, the panels are lying over the saw to keep off the rain. From left to right, you see the ladder leaning on the relocated west side post, a second post leaning at an angle, and a third post that markes the east end. The red saw will be moved from its quincunxial position to the northwest corner. The 2x4 across the top is temporary, it will become one of two ledgers. Stacked in front are some pies of siding and visible through the boards are the two light bulbs on the side of the shed for a shadow-free work space.
The position switch on my bedroom heater gave out. It’s got a stupid cheap 3-position setting, which is odd because the unit also has a thermostat. I have three of these heaters, so I will cannibalize the worst one, which I now notice has the same part worn out. I’m replacing it with a simple off-on toggle switch and we’ll take it from there. The whole time since y’day Tampa radio reflects the growing panic of the regime. They are trying every tactic in their playbook, but now thanks to Trump, everybody sees it for what it is. The mainstream media a furious and CD accusations, hoaxes, mandates, and shamelessly hypocritical speeches have soared to grotesque proportions. They’ve made themselves and the country a laughing stock.
By noon it’s still soggy out there. I made rice & ribs, they turned out fine. Don’t give up, I hear the neighbor getting his tools out. Yep, Phineas married Poon and never heard of again. I decided to wait another hour and watch the latest Timeline (video series) on tanks. It was disappointingly like all its predecessors, parroting the same old and sometimes inaccurate history. I should make a video but I have no real way set up to cash in and it’s too much work for free. But new facts are easy, so don’t let them fool you. Want some new tank facts? Okay, how come the original tanks had the tracks all around the outside? How come the guns were in sponsons on the sides? Why only machine guns? None of the on-line videos come close to this level of information.
Answers. The tank tracks were meant to emulate the botton secion of a wheel sixty feet in diameter, the side of wheel calculated to be able to roll over the German trenches. The guns were on the sides so the tank could stop and fire into the trenches being crossed. Since WWI artillery was largely immobile, machine guns were considered sufficient to do the job.
What does not do the job is MircoSoft, I’m still loading this machine with software and Win 8 does not like to take some older programs directly. You know this is deliberate because all Windows after 2005 has the same XP kernel. They’ve just gone ahead and made it purposely difficult to access. Office ran fine on a Pentium chip (500 Mhz I t hink) with 1GB of Ram. The same program on this using with 2.1Ghz and 8GB of RAM slogs along at half speed. Go on line, and the process is constantly choked at around 90% usage. Don’t tell me there is nothing funny going on.
German pawn shop.
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Practically a full day, good news. I sunk the fourth fencepost, which I using as corners. I squared them off and proped them in place to settle Two burn barrels of yard cuttings and a lot of old rock music. The best station is Bartow, but it is an unmanned station that feeds news and advertising from Tampa, a city of mostly law firms if you judge by the ad traffic. It was gloomy but warmer so by moving half-speed, I didn’t even require a coffee break. I also replaced the switch on the heater to find it does not work. Some weird configfuration, and I found the broken jack on my old DVD player, but have no time to fix it.
It was the first territory in what was to become Switzerland in around the next 200 years to gain independence from the Holy Roman Empire. It’s tiny, but also on the main trade route between Italy and Germany. This special status was attractive to neighboring states, called cantons. Various trade wars, off-on alliances with the Hapsburgs, and emporers dying without heirs caused a gradual expansion of ever more cantons until they were able to field a sizable army. Every army that tried to quell their independence met with woe in the mountain passes. This is where the Swiss pikemen exceled and legendary.
So, that’ Uri, the first of many breakaway states from the Empire, usually over petty wars between the now too-numerous nobles of the dying feudal system. Looking at their military victories, all I can say is they are also very lucky. I believe they still have military callup an obligation to every man between 16 and 60, and rumor is the invasion paths into the country are nuclear mined. It’s your classic example of a rich prize that is not worth taking. And my curiosity of Uri became a two-hour lesson. For me, this is very emblematic of how I learn new things.
One passtime I miss a lot is regular tinkering with small electric circuits. Every since I bought this cabin, it’s a fight to find even a few minutes, and I’ve kept with it these years because I have books on the matter, an easy option if I’ve only got ten minutes spare time. I’m hamstrung with the formulas because I cannot do integral calculus, but that’s mostly AC and circuits are DC. Anyway, the two lean-tos dominate my days, that’s the compressor shed and the saw shed from today. This cold spell has sped me up by smoothing my shoulder movements. The old injuries are always there, but in this weather, I throw on my old therapy wrap when I’m on the computer, and the new electric blanket heats more than my old model. Also, the curative power of fresh muffins is under-sung, here's six. Oops, you blinked.
There is an invisible connection here. Once I got past ninth grade, to continue I had to go to the nearest school that had those grades, the Catholic school. That’s why I have no shop skills, Catholic schools did not teach shop, but also why I knew little of Swiss history. Uri, by becoming independent, was akin to various German kingdoms becoming “free cities”, which meant to cast off rule by the Holy Roman Emperor, and that was not a very Catholic thing to be teaching the students of my day.
Um, there is another question gone begging that older women might want to answer for themselves. Why were so many European monarchs dying without an heir? Certainly royalty could have most women for the asking. It’s folly to think so many wealthy men did not think about finding the right woman, so if it is true women age like fine wine, what gives? I’m no prince, but could it be their chances were no better than mine? As in, my kingdom for the right woman. Now you know too much.
ADDENDUM
After the latest stage mutiny, I’ve revamped my Guitar Stereotype List to reflect not the most common types I’ve met in my life, but the most common type I’ve encountered in Florida
Type A: they will lie and tell you anything to join a band, then try to take over.Category D still happens often enough to remain. The most prevalent type is a combination of A & C, that would be the Prez now that the truth emerges, but you must not think this is in any way a denigration. It is an observation because I have NEVER met a guitarist who did not fit into one of these slots. I accept bad behavior as normal, and the development here is the jam session guitarist wants to rehearse at his place. Well, he does sing and play guitar and they may not understand that if I am not the leader, I am only a follower. But the best follower they ever met, and now when they screw up (and they always do) I just move on.
Type B1: has extreme difficulty learning your material, but can ace anything he likes
Type B2: will play your list soon as you can play his “good enough”
Type C: hidden agenda, thinks once you put in enough time, you won’t quit
Type D: the Jesus-freak recruiter & others.
