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Yesteryear

Friday, December 27, 2024

December 27, 2024

Yesteryear
One year ago today: December 27, 2023, the smart one.
Five years ago today: December 27, 2019, Xmas without Miami.
Nine years ago today: December 27, 2015, areas looked at today.
Random years ago today: December 27, 2003, on poverty.

           Yes, I did mention boiled bananas last day. I like banana bread and find it a task to keep the ingredients on hand. So I used the dollar store mix, which I okay for ingredients. But what about adding mashed ripe banana? That’s also something I don’t keep around. I found that boiling banana slices is a workaround, plus boil one extra and they are great with sugar and cream. Good morning, it was toast biscuits and fog. A chilly fog as I went outside to move supplies in from the van. I have the fence posts ready, but my back isn’t. So meet me back inside for biscuits and gravy, plus all the coffee you want until noon.
           Closer examination of the deer camera shows it took 624 five-second videos, and ceased only when it ate $2.50 worth of batteries. This makes operating that camera a category of it’s own. That entails planning when and where to use it and checking in regularly. I don’t know if I’m up to that just now. Remember, I’ve been officially old for two years now. I take breaks.
           Musk is really getting flak for his support of East Indian immigrants. I was replaced by three of them, but they were in India, not here. All three were hired for half the rate I was earning in May of 2004. All were claimed to have accounting degrees, but no way. If that were true, they would not have needed three.
           A bit later, here’s the friskiest squirrel taking a drink. I decided I had time after all, just no time for titles or extras. I found it is the raccoons bending my wire mesh and generally being a nuisance around here. The best “forest” around here is where the three yards meet in my back corner. And we have new neighbors over at the hilllbilly’s old place, with more barking dogs. I’ve learned that means the raccoons spend a lot more time at home.

           Speaking of money, the J6 prisoners have filed the largest civil suit in history, $50 billion, against the Department of Justice. While hailed a milestone, I would note the DOJ doesn’t have any money. They are really suing the hapless American taxpayer, the wrong-doers will get away scott-free. Unable to get going this morning, I went over the CDs from the funeral account. There is more money there than really needed and yet a chance I cannot take might run short. I should make arrangements locally, but don’t really know how, a lack of experience you might say. Anyway, back to the CDs.
           They prove difficult to manage like regular investments. When it rolls over, the bank themselves often do not know the renewal interest rate until they hear back. This is plainly designed to keep the investor in the dark and prey on the fact most people will not question a bank because they might need them some day, dumb as that is in practice. I don’t have time to set up the separate tracking that’s needed. The next renewal date is in late February, giving me some breathing room.
           It is clear how each CD will require at least two letters, which must be properly composed and mailed within correct window, and two phone calls. I estimate 55 minutes hours of work not including driving to the post office for each CD. Hence, the average return of $5.50 during those 90 days is hardly worth it and the bank must know this.

           Yet another influencer who calls down anti-vaxxers has died early. Has anyone ever made up a list of how many so far? The country is up in arms about the H-1B visa abuses. That’s what, 13 years after I reported them here? There’s a pattern to this. Now a potential for poison pork as a pig vaccine comes under investigation. This is a result of pressure from drug companies to vax pigs again avian flu and the term “self-assembling nanoparticlesa’ appears again. Here’s a statistic, 1,428 of the 1,463 nasty political jokes on MSM talk shows leading up to the last election were anti-Trump. The leading cause of airline deaths in non-English-speaking countries is not ground-to-air missiles. And the “Eagle S”, a ship boarded by Finnish authorities for undersea cable damage, turns out to be owned by a United Arab Emirates outfit called Caravelle, and it is the only asset that company owns.

Picture of the day.
Moon’s shadow during eclipse.
Remember to use BACK ARROW to return to blog.

           By 2:00PM the weather was perfect on the sunny side. I got one of the fence posts sunk and it winded me so much, the other will have to wait. They are really landscape timber but hat just makes them recyclable around here. I don’t have to stop work, just not anything that can tax me. So I was in the shed doing some work on boxes. I’m at the stage where I can have a few in progress at a time and I did some testing with the staples. I had to remove one and I see they are meant to be permanent. Those suckers are strong.
           Other people get footage of nice furry animals, well, that’s unfair because rats are definitely furry. And here’s the latest one that drops by for a sip in the night. I read up on those sonic repellents and the word is the rodents get used to it and ignore them. At least this once keeps out of sight but I’m setting traps if he thinks he can move into the house. Did this blog just dare to feature a rat? Hey, it's his Xmas, too. Be nice.

           I put the bottom plate on my 30-ton jack box and added the rope handles so if needed one or two men can carry it. I cut the lid on the fast box, the one built in 40 minutes. Where did I put my hinges? You can never have enough hinges around here and hardware is now much too expensive to misplace. I got some finished touches done on other boxes, puttering until well past dark because it is just too cold for the skeeters, but warm enough as the shed stays warm by radiant heat for around two hours after sunset. Only in the winter, I mean.
           Back inside for a quiet evening, I see Musk’s idiotic digs at American workers have sent droves of people off X and over to Gab, so I checked for memes. Lot’s of bitching, but not so many memes. Gab.com really gutted their best draw when they cut off anonymous posting last year. The platform has never recovered, but I see some of the old tars are back. Mutant, for example. “Some immigrants are bad. We don’t want them here. Some immigrants are good. We don’t want them, either.”

           The Morrison Hotel, a Doors album cover icon, has burned down. It means little to me, I only like eight or so Doors tunes and even the mostly just the fancy parts. Many say the end of these landmarks and bands are regrettable not out of nostalgia, but because the WYZ generations most failed to replace them with anything near as iconic. They have a point. I have an ear for distinctive music riffs and you don’t get them on Tampa radio. Even the repetitious new country has bits that catch my attention, but not what they call pop today.
           Once in a while, I’ll listen to the clips on Viberate. Nothing has ever prompted me to listen to an entire tune there yet. There is no “fun music”, the themes are dark matter. Most Sabrina tunes are musically identical and Elish is reduced to singing about the color of underwear. If it was humor, okay, but these people are serious. It might be better if they all didn’t have the same backup band playing the same instruments, type of thing.

ADDENDUM
           Seems I’m not the only one by far that hates intrusive ads. I just didn’t know so many of them were concentrated on youTube. There is a booming business creating ad blockers. I found the simplest method that works is to never update a version that works. I’ll say again, advertising belongs in a catalog so the user decides when he wants to see it. If you can’t make money without bothering people, you’re a bastard and that is that. The world requires a certain number of bastards to operate effectively, but none of them post on youTube. I learned today that coders who work for youTube to defeat ad blockers are the low-lives of the trade.
           I happily read a few articles lambasting people who place these ads and that extends to those who try to defeat them--you are defending your private property. I don’t know how the software works, but figure it is some code built into the header that enables or disables ads. The blockers mush strip away or modify that code. I see this sometimes when it takes a bit for the ad blocker to kick in and even then it is necessary to click the “skip ad” icon. It also tips us off that youTube cannot defeat this function or they would have done it millions of dollars ago. It’s one of my regrets I did not stick with programming because I would today be advertising’s worse enemy. Advertising is the American Blight.

Last Laugh