One year ago today: April 12, 2023, a psychic twist.
Five years ago today: April 12, 2019, the right company helps.
Nine years ago today: April 12, 2015, yes, I’ve built gears.
Random years ago today: April 12, 2007, Delta with a “duh”.
I haven’t had time to tour the whole yard but the near hurricane gusts did plenty of damage in the neighborhood. The IRS, which I believe is in its death throes with the American public, is certain to turn A.I. on taxpayers. The most likely are the rich at first (who are able to shield income) so there will be no public outcry. But soon enough, they will get a turn. A hearty breakfast has me hopeful I’ve beat this flu or whatever. Today I search until I find that missing microphone case. It also contains a trove of cable adapters I’d hate to pay for again.
Now be fair, how many blogs are going to deliver such goodies? Navigation, band management, and now tube testing in the same location. There are dull moments around here, same as your place. But rarely an entirely dull day like some people I know. How this ties together is that y’day JZ mantioned again he hates putting weight. I think we all hate it but I say get used to it. (I am 61 pounds over my ideal weight where I once considered 15 pounds over to be my max.) This testing box weighs 40 pounds—and I know people that have not lifted that much in twenty years except by accident.
This would not apply to JZ, who is very active, so we were discussing diet. This is off the record, but the moment he’s weight-conscious, mark my words, he’s met a gal. Be patient, he cannot keep it a secret. I got ten bucks says he’s too chicken to just ask her out. How can some dudes be afraid of rejection their whole lives? Anyway, no amount of extra exercise is going to help. Myself, however, I’m gaining hopes my latest MRI tests will reveal something. I’d love to be able to walk full speed again.
For the permanent record, my weight gain since 2003 is NOT accributable to:
A) over-eatingIf anything I have always been a light eater, rarely going back for seconds, and I cut out deserts and sweets forty years ago. As for processed foods, I consume maybe 5% as much as others. I’ve done my own cooking for decades and have not touched many known fat-foods. I eat beef and ham maybe twice a year. While I don’t run marathons, nor do I sit idle on a sofa with a remote. I rarely stay completely still all day for more than a few moments at a time. Playing bass and testing tubes may not be aerobic, but those crates and boxes don’t move themselves. Can you spot the clay turtle in the above photo?
B) processed foods
C) lack of mobility
It says here it will test all TV, radio, hi-fi, car radio, and industrial equipment. Okay. It also specifices a test for tube life expectancy. I like this already. The manual states it will detect “even the slightest problem” and again the similarity to phone line testing is remarkable. The unit further says the meter is so accurate that a screen and a lot of extra controls are not required. I also learned the short test is done first, since it precludes any more tests. I learned a 12AU7 is the easiest tube to test and considered a “workhorse”. More as I read it.
Near Norman Wells, Canada.
(I’ve been there.)
Remember to use BACK ARROW to return to blog.
Colorado got a free show today as a Democrat with the name “Faith Winter”, if you want to believe that, arrived late to a meeting to argue for the opening of a sex offender rehab next to an elementary school while she was drunk. Typically, when exposed, she made a big speech about going to alcohol counselling and headed right back to the saloon. I’m going out to the shed to find lumber to build a nice new house for my favortie box turtle. Without him, who is there to talk to around here?
While I’m not telling the location, here are some facts from a kid who was there so long ago. The hall is six miles out of town, in the middle of nowhere. There had once been a station for wagons to buy hay for the horses, but the railway put that out of business. The building has a new coat of paint, it was forever a dusty brown before. Because of water problems, the inside of the hall is raised a few feet, as you enter those doors you see a flight of stairs. The hall itself is small that it seems fom here, as the first third of the building is offices and storage.
There was formerly a covered porch around those entance doors, but it’s been built up and walled in to what you see here. There was no running water but the toilets were indoor and had to be emptied regularly. This is also the hall you’ve heard me tell had only one light on the stage. A single pull-chain bulb hanging from the ceiling. I had to screw in an adapter and plug in the whole band into that single socket. Two amplifiers, my keyboard, the PA system, and one flashing set of lights. Back then, you could not play the whole band through the PA system.
See that chimney in the back? Also the shed behind? The stage is at the far back of the main building and there was a pot-belly stove. We had to get there and chop firewood to heat the hall up before anybody showed up two hours later. This is not the 1930s, rather more like the 1970s. Of course, there were new halls with central heating that rented for $100. But only rich kid bands could rent those, This hall rented for $15 and the committee, knowing I got no help from family, would let us hold the “dance” first and hope we made enough to pay them. We always did, but I remember times the band made $3 at a time when the downtown groups made $200 easy.
We were all under 14, so had to beg local dropouts like Mike’s brother to help us move our Sears brand gear, hoping they would still be sober enough to help us get it back. We called them “dances” or the town would not allow it and it was these times that taught me how appallingly poor I was compared to other kids. I’d always known my parents never spent a penny on infrastructure but it was these $15 dances that made the lesson just bitter enough that I can’t look at these old pictures with much fond memories.
Later, I read the manual for the tube tester, it will quickly become routine. The box is heavy, not really portable. One same-brand tester was for sale for $310 and this is not a fast test device. Each tube is fitted into the socket and you must wait for it to warm up. I perform only those tests for which there are setting in the guidebook. Then, you just wait for the tube to cool down. I already wrecked one tube. You leave the old tube to cool, thinking you’ll start the next tube, turning all the knobs to the initial test position (looking for any shorts). This lets you forget the first tube and switch on the unit. In this case, I zapped 35 volts through a 6 volt tube. I told you this was fun. And now I know how to make a tube shine really bright.
Silver poked past $29 today but because of the 10% bar charge, I still think $40 is where I’ll get interested. After smoldering for over 10 years, silver is back on board. Let’s hope that curious behavior continues, where each dollar mark brings on a flurry that shoots it past the next one. My latest new venture, the commodity transaction, finally cleared this afternoon. Good thing I keep my own books, since the listing blocked the detail page for Caltier. It shows only the totals and I know exactly the brand of dumb-think that causes web people to make that error. My books are accurate, and now we wait.
Only by luck do commodity funds show any income in the short run. I’ve made the decision to transfer in my stimulus checks, yes, I still have that money put away. Doesn’t everyone? My records show I got $2,400 but somehow that doesn’t seem all of it. Well, no matter, that is the amount I’ll plow into the Caltier Reggae fund. Things are volatile enough out there that who knows what the big money will look to for safekeeping. Let’s hope it is silver. Weird, still no reaction from the big banks.
ADDENDUM
A review of the potential night spots we could perform shows a wasteland in the north part of town. The traffic is always so bad I don’t really know the area and the Internet is not a lot of help. Why? Because their listings are based on ad revenue, not popularity. I think people, especially single men, who go to a pickup joint, fail, and then review the food are sick bastards. I don’t care if the staff is cheerful, I want t know if any good-looking women show up there. Who cares about decor unless it has to do with receptive babes?
As a reward for reading this far, here’s some trivia for your next academic house party. If I had time, I would write a booklet on “why” trivia. Beyond the part the rank and file know, to the reaon for the trivia. Example. Today, many people know that the MicroSoft default font is Calibri 11, double spaced. Yay, good for you, Josh & Tyler. But WHY is that?
The answer is a dork over in Redmond. They know more about what you want than you do, and arbitrarily decided documents after Win 7 would be “consumed” on-line rather than ever printed out. So Calibir was to maximize computer displays. Ah, some say, but the default is now Aptos. That’s easy, once MicroSoft realized Calibri made printouts look amateur, they opted for a more “humanistic” font, proving they never learn from their own mistakes. The correct default is, of course to let the user decide for himself. One can already hear MicroSoft poo-poo that idea.
