One year ago today: November 25, 2023, gaining stage time.
Five years ago today: November 25, 2019, every day costs something.
Nine years ago today: November 25, 2015, searching near Bartow.
Random years ago today: November 25, 2002, Project 21, toothpicks.
Now did I warn against building inspectors getting too much power? Not the codes, people who build for sale should be regulated, but those who build for themselves should not be forced to the same standard. Remember how the Amish built small houses for the flood victims. Around 100 of the homes were constructed and now the North Carolina government is evicted the families into the cold, saying the temporary shelters did not meet code requirements for new permanent homes. Now pay attention today because I'm pissed off for most of it. Start by looking at these next two photos. First is the trash piled up so high on the porch it's hard to tell what is going on. Then, a picture of the trash filling up my truck so high you can barely see Chook's silhouette in the background.
A combination of factors led by the icy cold weather means this time around we stayed put. I've seen the Reb maybe a half day due to her time at the recording studio and don't care for too much company a home. I'm the sort that in usual times likes to get paid when strangers benefit from my goings-on. That's definitely the case here if only from the regimentation of my mornings. Some things can't be helped, such as the pets prefering my walks and feedings, but like most they don't pull their own weight. And I miss access to my hobbies. Let's make coffee and check the news, just you watch it will be mostly Trump again.
Just the usual, but there is little behind-the-scenes coverage of the InfoWars situation. You can get most of the story anywhere, but what is it that makes the potential purchase by Musk so threatening to the State Media? It's a little known fact that the "free press" is in fact a very controlled entity because news still has to be distributed, and that distribution is in the hands of very few people. And you know who they are. Well, InfoWars has all the required paperwork, licensing, and broadcasting contracts in place. Musk now has a critical mass of viewers who often post news hours and days before the State Media can apply their twists. The InforWars viewership isn't that high (I find Jones dwells overlong on too many weak points), that would change instantly if he was suddenly a Musk employee and had access to all that X data and audience. There's a good chance if this goes through, InfoWars could eclipse every last one of the already-failing mainstream Left-wing news broadcasts. It would also throw most of Jones' critics out of work.
Now, this applies to the big picture as well. Take the mailboxes, you read about this here at least a year ago. Some thing hit them, I dunno, a tree, a car, whatever, and bent them all backwards. Now, if you don't empty them every day, the rainwater will ruin your mail. The subdivision and post office both say it is the other's responsibility so nothing has been done. If you check the mail every day, you will find you have to park so close to the bent over boxes that you cannot open your vehicle door. Now because the boxes are so tilted, you still have to crack the door and lean out as far as you can. Today, this caused my cell phone to fall on the ground in the dark. Can't see it, and the door will not open far enough to turn on the cabin lights, and the overhead lights cast too much of a shadow. You have to back the car forward or back, guessing which way the phone fell. I guessed wrong and cracked the gorilla glass.
Take a closer look. Anybody who is really worth anything knows you cannot conduct everything on-line. You must, if you are anybody, at some point get real mail. I'm fully aware nincompoops and losers don't believe it. So, there are 80 mailboxes, probably serving around 300 people in this subdivision. Either they are such write-offs, they never get mail, or they check it like I said. Let's split it down the middle, say 150 of them check the boxes roughly three times a week, roound it off to 500. That means every year, they pull up 26,000 times and not one of them will lift a finger to get the things fixed. Now, if it were possible, I would figure a way to fix just our box, or put up a private box, but the mailman will only deliver to the big arrays to which he has a key, so that bastard is no help. Let me figure out how to at least waterproof our box. That would indeed benefit all the lazy AOLs who've been around here a year already and done nothing.
It is not just a matter of applying waterproof sealant to the interior of the box, as the box is not leaking. It is the way the box is tilted back that's the problem. As rainwater runs down the exterior, it seeps through the box door. I'll examine the box in the daylight tomorrow, the front panel probably swings open, so it may be possible to glue in a small rib around the inside of the door that stops the water. But it will have to be small enough that that mailman won't bitch. I figure he likely cannot open the doors, just the whole lid. The potential problem there is all the keys have been replaced recently and none of them are done right. The door has to be wiggled and tugged to get it open. Any type of seal around the door may make that impossible. The nearest mailbox service is a twelve mile round trip and many agencies that require hardcopy will not mail to a P.O. Box. The solution, of course, is to find out who is responsible and fixs the mail boxes. But like I said, every bastard rat in this area is waiting for somebody else to do it.
These boxes are mounted in banks of twenty on a metal pole sunk into the ground. It is these poles that are bent. One possibility is I might use a car jack to straighten the pole under my box, but the possibility of damage means only my box. I'll look, but my decision is since I got the letter I needed, I'll leave it and see if it is still bent when I return in the future. Let's see just how lazy these pricks can be. This is not the situation to play goody two-shoes. Peasants learn nothing except the hard way and you are doing them an injustice to make their lot easier. When you help lazy people, the result is more lazy people.
Carrots grown from natural seeds.
Remember to use BACK ARROW to return to blog.
Other than dealing with the proles, it was not a bad day. After dropping off the recyling, the road was empty so Chooks and I carried on to Clarksville, taking the scenic route. It's a nicer drive and we arrived at the electronics shop around noon. The result was disappointing, but I picked up some gear. You can tell by the inventory, they once stocked serious parts. But like the computer industry, it died when the market was flooded with cheap imports. When we closed the repair shop, when was that, 2013 or so, we had something like 90 computers people never came back for.
The scenic route back was not so easy. GPS is no help in many downtown situations. Twice it said turn at the next intersection and sent me down a side road because the real intersection was only another 100 feet. So much for the claimed accuracy of 10 feet. And always the millennial screw job, the thing cannot adapt to the direction you are travelling. I learned long ago not to trust GPS in strange towns but you may have to at times. I've got one of those screwy Garmins that you cannot easily scroll the screen off center to see what lies ahead. The damn thing will change resolution or try adding way-points. I decided to take a different route back and the GPS sent me on two wild goose chases. It cannot be set to ignore instructions to turn around. Once is enough, Garmin, after that you are taking a different route, dammit. The best way to get the thing to quit telling you to backtrack is to mute the damn thing. I did get to see some rugged country but I know better than to ever again live in a town with one road in and one road out.
The worse place I got lost was Joelton. The de Lorme maps are not good for fine detail. As you know the advent of GPS means towns are not replacing road signs, also known as passing the cost on to others. Why should they care if they lose thousands in business when they can save hundreds on road signs. This all set me back 45 minutes and caught me in a drizzling rain storm. I had to drive the last 18 miles in pitch dark, and Tennessee does not like to keep up with the painting of lane stripes. And often enough, the lanes across the intersection don't line up with what you just drove along.
ADDENDUM
This is probably the fastest homebuilt piston engined aircraft ever built. Why do I say probably, when it is? The maximum speed of a propellor driven aircraft is when the tips of the blades reach the sound barrier. This airplane did that, notice the unusual design of the carbon-fiber blades. There are a ton of rules over weight and engine size, but nothing on speed. The absolute record is usually awarded to one-of-a-kind types like this one, with two engines in tandem. Why is it not the record holder? Because after the builder had spent tons of his own monety, some last-minute change in the rules meant the airplane did not qualify.
The combined engines crank out 5,000 horsepower in a design very similar to the 1930s Hughes' Racer. In any case, this would not have won because it is a one-off and not from a kit. I read a few spots that say this plane reached an unofficial 630 mph.
