One year ago today: February 25, 2023, using birdhouse tech . . .
Five years ago today: February 25, 2019, remembering Cheyenne.
Nine years ago today: February 25, 2015, the obvious mouthpiece runs.
Random years ago today: February 25, 2004, considering Belize.
Knowing you can’t get enough train pictures, here’s a photo showing a parade held in 1938. The occasion was the arrival of the first passenger train that year connecting Tampa direct to New York. Why, New York? Nobody knows, except their rival, Flagler, was making a killing on his East Coast line. You’ve heard of the Orange Blossom Special. This is the original photo of the copy featured in Wikipedia, donated to the museum by the owner. The train actually ran all the say to Miami using other tracks which split off in Wildwood, which we drove through once on the way to Tennessee. There’s nothing there. The last locomotive was relocated to the museum in Parrish. It’s a fake, a similar train painted to resemble the original.
In reality, the Orange Blossom was an outdated clunker that pulled mainly the old 1890 design Pullman cars. With an interruption for WWII, the line ran until 1953, to be superceded by the government-subsidized Amtrak. That’s the Silver Meteor train I rode to Winter Haven just about ten years ago. I did not know two years later to the month, I’d be living near there. And the pepole in the parade did not know they were living in America at its peak.
Yep, the books are caught up and thanks to the gig, we have a budget of $40 free dollars toward anything you want to do today. There’s the catfish restaurant, or a drive to Ybor City, or stay right here and build another box, drinking coffee, and “basking in the warm after-glow of a job well done.” From last day’s list, I find I’ve already played “Rocking Chair” with the Dave Parson’s Band. I just took it for some hit from the 60s, it was actually a 1992 hit. I started the day with French toast and a banana muffin, which fulfils my blog chore of mentioning food. Did I mention last evening one guy was impressed enough he ordered pizza for the whole bar.
I appropriated the $40 as a finder’s fee. Instead, I took the morning to write letters and slurp coffee. My primary music contacts are Trent & Bryne, at near opposite ends of the band spectrum. Trent is completely open to new ideas and gear, Bryne is a hard-bitten tradionalist, espectiall when it comes to guitar playing. They both get nearly identical reports on the gig situation and yes, I pay close attention. Today, I’ve decided to build a special box. You know the timer inside the back bedroom that controls the bird mister and bath dripper? It justs out of the wall with exposed piping. Charming and rustic, I’m still going to try a hinged covering, now that I have some idea how this is accomplished.
Y’day I reported another blog coincidence. This is where something identical or nearly so turns up on the same day as a former year. Since the Yesteryear feature has been implemented some nine years ago, I’m amazed how often this happens. The links are the last things posted each day, so I don’t even see the earlier posts until I scroll past, a full day after the post is written. And sure enough, exactly one year ago on the 24th, I failed to find an electronics warehouse in Winter Haven. It is not something deep-rooted, as nothing daily here is done in reference to what’s been posted already. And even if it was, something that subtle would be an amazing phenomenon all on it’s own.
For any doubters out ther about the warning issued in this blog, the latest news might still wake you up. Laptops now on sale will not operate unless you create a MicroSoft account. That gives them access to your files. All of them. What’s changed? A.I. it is capable of massive code and password cracking. MicroSoft anticipated this decades ago and everything they’ve put out since Windows 95 has settings that can be altered remotely.
Near Deming, New Mexico.
Remember to use BACK ARROW to return to blog.
Here’s a picture of an object at the train museum that I can’t figure. Labeled as a flasher, there are no bulbs inside. It looks like contacts around the top, and those could be batteries, but why the elaborate casing? You know the little booklet I’m writing about how to start from scratch? Wouldn’t you know it, an outfit called Wealthbuilder has begun an e-mail campaign with virtually identical topics. It’s just one of those things that happens in life whenever you embark on something you consider unique. However, I will continue because once again, what I’ve read shows they tell you what the pitfalls are. They don’t provide a simple plan for how Joe Six-Pack can dig himself out and get somewhere. But they do go over one item I felt I had first dibs on. It is the point at which, if you leave things alone, your investment will begin to fund itself.
This “self-generating” investment is seemingly news to everyone I’ve talked research with. They’ve encountered it in theory only and many have done the calculations. What’s needed is a formula they can follow to achieve it. I held a mini-seminar before the gig y’day about where to start, at it is with managing a bank account. It seems nobody has ever seen or heard of a guidebook that spells out how properly operate an account—or that part of the plan is to defeat the bank’s intentions.
The bank is the “useful idiot” part of the investment formula, the place to keep your momey where it’s relatively safe. But when you hear about inflation, keep in mind it ONLY affects cash. That’s correct, inflation does not affect food, clothing, gas, or anything. Once you buy something, it does not change in cost, it’s the money that’s gving the headaches. The pundits don’t like to tell you that “six months reserve” cash almost nobody can achieve also goes up in price 10% per year, even more after taxes. You may also spot that investment advices tends to be politically correct, not, for instance, calling the bank “the enemy”.
Later in th eday, I got some flak from the guitar player. Seems he feels he knows more about band management that I thought he did. Particulary when it comes to the song list (where have we seen this before). He seems to have focused on the single complaint last weekend rather than the 17 weeks we’ve had of successful gigs. He’s learned very little from exposure to my management skills, not at all uncommon with the guitar players.
He would be unimpressed to learn I had invited the entire staff off the local medical centers to drop by next weekend on the condition we don’t play any “new country”, type of thing. I won’t answer that e-mail on the basis that if he can put a better situation together, let him prove it.I’ve endured this type of band issue so many times, it is useless to argue with them, so I will wait and see. He has few options, one of which is to start his own band to do his bidding. I’m not sure how to read the guy, he’s flexing his musicles like he’s learned enough from me to strike out on his own. The reality is, like all my ex bands, he’ll play a few gigs, flop, and stay there.
ADDENDUM
I toyed with an idea of automating the sundial, just an excercise for the old brain. None of the light-dependent resistors (LDRL I own is sensitive enough, but I thought you might like a peek into the inner operations of my brain in robot mode. First, I tried the compass direction of the sun, but that involved pointing the compass at the sun, so I evolved a small gadget to make that easier. It’s a tray with two upright boards a few inches apart. They have matching vertical slits that allow a thin sliver of sunlight through, and you alight the compass with the ray, not the actual sun. This worked but it was not a solution.
Taking the slit concept further, an array of LDR in a semi-circle that detected the ray during the course of the day, but that’s a lot of pieces. How about a tray that turns itself into the sunlight, seeking the brightest or hottest spot? If you like any of these ideas, remember, I sure could use some help around here. I’ll even build the boxes for you to keep things in. One step further, remember that ingenious clock that used the Etch-a-Sketch and servo motors to display the time? Could my solar sundial supply the time instead of a computer chip? If you are the artistic type, have the Etch-a-Sketch draw the position of the sun by co-ordinates every five minutes. Take the morning off to ponder such things and I will do the same.
