One year ago today: September 3, 2023, first gig, new band.
Five years ago today: September 3, 2019, 20 things wrong.
Nine years ago today: September 3, 2015, shoulder-launched “Prophet”.
Random years ago today: September 3, 2011, now gold is counterfeit.
A late night hot chocolate did me good for seven hours, so here I am up earlier than usual and I’ve got 34 acoustic tunes picked out, plus a list of the guitar chords I must learn. Now, Pat-B plus others have told me I’m good enough to play out but I’ can’t fool myself. These tunes are what we definitely can play, picked from a list of 69 songs (pardon me 70, I forgot “Kansas City”, that we have played on stage at some point in the past, some not arranged yet, some just jams, but all following the formula. We should need only one or two rehearsals. The list includes all of our specialty numbers.
You know what I wish? The Filipinos would drill a 1/8” hole through the center of their one-peso coin. Think of the service they would be doing to supply the world with a washer that is worth a tenth of the prices they want at Ace Hardware. This blurry photo shows that my camera has no macro capability. Up yours, Panasonic.
Slated for this week are some larger boxes to store my electric blankets and such, a Florida necessity since you don’t want to have to heat an entire uninsulated room in your typical older structure, like this place. Solid wood boxes turned out to be a good solution to the vermin problem. I have seem them gnaw right through Samsonite. Good blogs mention food regularly and I have something to report. Remember that meat cleaver under the seat of the Hyundai? Turns out to be top quality and I’ve been using it regular. Makes short work of things I used to dice. If I can find the brand name, I’ll tell, but it is definitely made in Asia. Later, I found a long-horn steer icon and looked up the brand “Ijiacheng”. Got me on that one.
Another change in America is shelf-stocking. When a season is half over, they remove all that stock, and already the Halloween junk is out. For people like me, who intentionally shop off-season, this sucks. With cooler evenings now, I did not want to spring $250 for a kitchen air conditioner. There is not one fan available in the area, except the toy Lasko models. Every industrial or shop fan has been warehoused now that I want one. It’s another departure from the American Way and another step toward a third world existence. People who don’t learn from history deserve that they get.
How goes it with the Chinese ships, circa 1421? Columbus logged how one of his hunters in Hispanola chanced upon some “copper-skinned” natives wearing long white robes. His theory is that the Chinese expected a high loss rate on their voyages, and as ships were damaged beyond repair, there was no room for all the survivors aboard the others. The vessels carried concubines (prostitutes) and were often crewed by prisoners released as a pardon. His theory is that these men and such prostitutes as became pregnant were often left at various ports and island. They had limited resources and those who survived must have mingled with the local tribes.
More interesting is the book on the soldiers perceptions of Rommel’s African war. He was quick to spot and weakness and completely understood the nature of armored warfare. Against the right enemy, it was better to drive into his supply system even if it risked running out of his own fuel and ammo. Amusingly, he was shipped Soviet equipment captured in huge numbers on the Russian front, in particular the 76.2mm anti-tank cannon. While it was vastly superior to the “door-knocker” 30mm standard German weapon, there were no instructions. The untrained gun crews had a hell of a time figuring out the firing mechanism. The loudest complaint was that the entire gun plowed backwards several feet when fired. While easy to move, this was offset by the massive effort required to dig the thing in to keep it in place.
Even the most modern videos of Vietnam will portray the Americans as defeated by the Communists. In reality, they mowed down swaths of the enemy whenever they met then in fixed battle, ignoring the fact many North Vietnamese farm boys were forced into the war at gunpoint and with threats to their families. The few northern victories were the result of surprise attack which always works and always will. But communists are the same in war as in peace, claiming they won when the other side finally says to hell with this and clears out.
I’ve now officially lived in this cabin 8 years, 7 of them mostly commuting to Tennessee. I owned this place some months before I moved in. September 2016 marks the biggest change and ultimately best venture I’ve made since arriving in Florida. My attitude is that it pulled me out of the stupor that I was never going to recover my health, when in fact I’ve surpassed most of my expectations. I’ve leveled floors, shingled roofs, framed a laundry deck, three sheds, built fences, and except for the ravages of age, which are primarily old injuries that complain and fatigue that sets in all too easily, I don’t really even think of my health any more. Certainly not on a daily or hourly basis like before.
Tutoyaktuk, I think.
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First a mystery. These screws fell out of one of the tube boxes and I noted they were non-magnetic. So I gave them the mercury test and they are not aluminum. It will have to remain unsolved for a while. That rod in the picture is my magnetic pick-up tool. I’d guess they are some specialty item, so I threw them in the junk drawer that exists in every hobbyists life, like it or not. I also took three hours this morning to sort more tubes.
The initial batches I did not know how to properly sort and store, so I’m going back over to organize them. I will contact the tube guy about wholesaling the lot. What a pity in all these years, eBay has not designed a better system to sell items like this. I would be surprised, therefore, if they are even aware that some potential exists.
It seems all the software is sold separately, I knew that was coming. When you can’t earn real money, you have to steal somebody else’s. I learned that you cannot get this software unless you have an Apple account, and that the software won’t work if you close the account – I think. Once more, nobody knew the answer. Another question that stumped them was if I pay for the software, can I have somebody with an account install it. Again, a blank stare, but I gather if they do that, the person can then access the other’s private account. So you cannot even use the software without Apple knowing about it.
These GenZers, zero suspicion or hesitation about handing over their personal data to strangers, a total “nothing has happened to me yet” attitude. I guess they’ve never heard of January 6 or wondered how the authorities ID’d all those people. Or how every person arrested had talked about being in the Capitol on their cell phones. Or why the 1,200+ people still on the wanted list can’t be found because they did not use their Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram accounts at the time—the Feds are now sifting through all emails to nab them.
When I priced out the computer and the software, it came to $344 for an item advertised at $224 and I know a rip-off when I see on. I asked the staff if the computer has no basic office apps, what is it used for? More blank stares. I’m certain if I leave the Dell in the shop, it is not going to cost me half that much to get those hard drives working. I’m taking the evening off to read more about voltage dividers. Tomorrow, we drive to the nearest Rural King looking for that big fan and has anybody seen my spade drill bits. Dang, I can never find those damn things even though I though they are with my Forstner bits.
The audio-book “Last Word” is on the last disk. The tale is based too much on this crazy guy who keeps getting hypnotized but can’t remember if he killed the girl, though by disk 4 we know he didn’t. The parts of the recording with Ridley Barnes’ voice get annoying after a big. Rural King, help me finish this recording.
Again, we near my fiscal year-end and my food budget has gone up 36%. Phooey on those CPI claims that inflation is only 8%. Few things destroyed public confidence more than wild lies from those sources. Employment up, job creation up, confidence up, all exposed as old-style lies that used to work on some people before Trump came along. It’s scary to think what they would have done if Hillary had stolen the 2016. That’s the point at which even I began paying attention to what those people were up to.
I spent a while at the library going over the election situation again. We are 60 days from what is going to be a Democrat disaster unless they do something blatant and because they’ve been exposed, something probably pretty horrible. They had planned a stealthy takeover and had no plan for the solid resistance of people who knew what was going on but had nothing to rally around until Trump arrived. The radical Left hit Trump with everything they had, media, slander, hoaxes, indictments, scandals, audits, and even assassination. None of it worked, it merely showed America what Trump was up against and how willing and capable the regime was to turn that power on any opposition.
This Kamela freak they are parading around has cost them plenty. She’s now an embarrassment they can’t back away from. Not after spending hundreds of millions plugging her as the greatest. They watched her botch a staged debate, fake a ghetto accent, and openly contradict herself by parroting Trump’s campaign talking points. I believe the true election results will show Democrat support at the 16% level I’ve always said it was. One person in six is what experience shows are the dumb asses in life, same as at the high school and college levels.
Trump confirms the choice of Elon Musk to cut the fat out of government and he responds looking forward to the job. That alone gives Trump a commanding lead, since that fat is mostly in Democrat cities and departments that would not vote for him anyway, and every American knows the government is wasteful.
ADDENDUM
One hour of research tells me don’t buy the acoustic bass. The model I was seeking is claimed to be the loudest acoustic bass made. The videos on-line showed no significant differences, keeping in mind some of these units carry $600 and $1,200 price tags. They simply do not move the volume of air needed to give the bass a voice over almost any other stringed instrument. This returns me to my plan for a “stealth” electric bass in an acoustic body.
Several times I’ve seen old photographs and other devices seem to amplify sound via the trumpet shaped horn. I would like to investigate this. A few of the videos said the reason for the weak bass sound was the body did not move enough “air” to resonate at the low frequencies. Why has nobody invented a device that fits over the sound-hole that can create that bigger air flow? Can it be done mechanically, as with the trumpet, or must it be electrical? So far, of the at least five people I’ve asked for help, not one has lifted a finger. To think this problem with bass volume has existed for over 50 years and the greatest generation has not even tried.
I think I know the answer. These brats went to college with a credit card. Thus, they never existed for a few years on Ramen noodles and their natural curiosity has thusforth been severely stunted. What? Okay, then let’s hear a better explanation. The problem has gotten worse, because now they are building them with expensive guitar bodies, a technology that is known not to work. You can’t fix stupid.
In Caracas, I saw a mariachi band with the big bass, it was a monster that had to be played funny. It had the volume, which is proof it is the size or shape of the body that is wrong. I’ll look into it, but I’m no engineer. Can the sound be concentrated? Directed? Is there something that can be placed over the strings or beside them?
