June 28, 2025

Yesteryear
One year ago today: June 28, 2024, Sammy is 106.
Five years ago today: June 28, 2020, even ex-employees, now.
Nine years ago today: June 28, 2016, the Miami cesspool.
Random years ago today: June 28, 1982, yep, 1982.

           Two orders of pancakes, made them myself. Ate ‘em, too. I made my first mistake of the day soon as I got up, so do I use that as an excuse to take the whole day off? Only coffee will tell. Tonio, from Valdosta, is the idea man. Other people don’t take my boxes seriously and don’t give me constructive feedback. So, I’m putting the KIA back on the road July 1, and making plans shortly after to visit. He’s pointed out a situation that’s same as here—soil that will not grow small domestic plants. His idea is planter, small enough to keep on a balcony. Maybe I could do that today, I think I have just enough spare lumber.

           Tonio has not seen the boxes, but has seen photos of the “beehive” stacks. That’s where the idea of the double-length-same-width idea arrived. Caution, once again I see I am getting whammied by my age-old tendency to be satisfied with the “paperwork”. That is, once I know I could plan out a working model, I tend to move on rather than make the mode, why that’s the engineer’s job. I’m hoping that I enjoy making the boxes enough to fight this very real temptation in my life.

           My gawd, have you see the shit-hole that Coney Island has turned into? The beaches are covered in filthy garbage. I’ve never been there, but I remember when I had my paper route and lots of comics, there were coupons to visit the park. Now, you don’t go near the place. There are daily knife fights and people shitting on the sand. You mention it to New Yorkers and they all say the problem will be solved by electric cars.

                      What the? We are used to flash rains here, how about this one. I was in the Hyundai rigging up a power supply for the CD player. Watching usage, I noticed I don’t need the Yeti when the motor is running, the only time I use the disk player. So I wired up an old 400W Chicago Electric invertor, tested perfect on the bench. Crap, it won’t power the CD. A red fault light blinks on and guess what all the on-line literature never mentions. A storm blew in and I stepped out of the van door. Fifteen degree drop in temperature, this is impossible in Florida Cold rain, Seattle rain. Here is a mockup of the planter undergoing flower-box testing.

           Already labeled the T-box after Tonio, this rectangular model can easily be changed to fancy-pants angle cuts. I have just the saw that can do it, but it’s in Tennessee at the moment. You might say this box is “design-free” because besides using existing jigs, its dimensions are dictated by my existing cutting equipment, assembly, and storage space.
           I found some trapezoidal plans on-line which offered no new ideas. Tonio mention the need for a base and a light bulb came on. Any wooden frame will be “tip-over-able”, right? What can be done to prevent that? It’s only a concept right now, but think of a recessed base, just an inch deep. Okay, now imagine that space is just enough to fit over a standard size concrete building block. See how easy thinking gets when you’re up early?
           I already thought of a model that could fit down across the top of a concrete block wall to discover somebody beat me to it. Yes, but what if you don’t want a solid concrete wall? It’s refill time.

           Later, nothing in the news about that freeze and it’s back up to 80°F. Totally unheard of weather, that is. I cut some pieces for the planter, 32” long and leaving the width the same as the box jig, 9” seems wide enough to fit clay pots. I stopped at the Treasure Barn as I’ve lost the number of my contact, she was not in. The plan is to lower the price until the boxes sell themselves or $4.00, whichever comes first.
           Scientific American reports a group of extinct people in Columbia that is barely related to other tribes in the area. From around 6,000 years to 4,000 years ago they lived almost two miles above sea level, barely mingling with other inhabitants. I suspect the tests need repeating and note that the article specifically avoids saying they might have been Europeans. What’s truly astonishing is Scientific American did not mention climate change.
           The Supreme Court is again sticking its nose where it does not belong. I am neither for or against pornography. That is the responsibility of the parents, but it raises questions. They want age verification, but that conflicts with people’s right to privacy. The Internet shows how narrow the gap is between ID and recording what people do. Odd that somebody has not yet invented some way to tell age without paperwork.

Picture of the day.
Ace of Clubs house, Texarkana.
Remember to use BACK ARROW to return to blog.

           A missing afternoon and my computer sound system just quit working. That’s my beauty of a Kenwood KR-A46. It lasted only nine years and I’ll test it as often the radio keeps working, which is why my sheds have great sound systems. I see and upsurge of complaints when I check Gab for memes, focused on men who don’t trust women and feel they’ve been pre-judged failures in the dating game. While I agree, I say tough luck, as fifty years ago I learned women will go for the guy who hands them the biggest line of plausible bullshit.

           The problem these boys is their bullshit isn’t up to par, it’s garden variety. I won’t get into it except to say both my brothers fell into that trap, never got past first base. Mind you, the younger brother did put the rod to Tammy Roberts back when she was a babe, but her father put a quick stop to that. Her brother, by the way, was the character who once in a while did get higher exam marks that I did, but I discount that because he had space and time at home to study. I either learned it in the classroom or it was gone.

           Shown here is my plan for the base plate in the rejuvenated wagon. Treated planks. The reasoning is I have used that wagon so little that if the planks ever need replacing, I could do that when I’m 80. It’s treated lumber that could last longer than me. I also fitted a tube down the middle of the peanut feeder and learned several concepts. One is that the tube will not stay down the middle by itself, the peanuts shove it over. But until I find time, it stays lopsided. The birds are very spoiled eaters and they will bind a way.
           Still having sleep disruptions, I read more of “Critical Judgment”, the condensed book. There are parts that seem familiar, so who knows, it’s wasting time on the doc breaking up with her old boyfriend. The plot is mostly Erin Brokovich but with a doctor who figures out there is cadmium poisoning being covered up by the hospital, with the usual car chases and bizarre behaviors. Before I knew it, I was still wide awake at 2:00AM, rare for me.

           Because I so much want the injections to work and am so leery of surgery, I spent an hour thoroughly documenting every side effect, with diagrams. The gout-like foot pain is worst yet it is only casually mentioned as a side-effect. It’s not as bad a real gout, but I have, over the years, grown fond of walking a lot.

           Tell you where I could use some help, it’s this growing pile of leftover wood slats. They are created by the newer box designs and are just slightly too narrow or too short. Think of something, let me know, get mentioned (anonymously) is this, the granddaddy of all personal advertisement-free big blogs.
           Before you start, some criteria. The slats are too thick to be cut by laser and unwieldy to cut with a full-size chop saw. If your design works, they can all be trim sawn to the same width. There is progress setting up my old table saw that will not cut long pieces, but will be set up to do nothing but slice wood and cut notches 1/4" to 3/8” inch wide using a temporary fence template. This takes care of 4/5ths of the cutting I now do on the neighbor’s saw.

           In a surprise but logical move, Trump has banned immigrants from sending money back to their home countries. That removes the largest incentive for most of the illegals and they had it coming. They are illegal and that makes the money illegal. Countries like Mexico are pretty much propped up by this cash called “Envio” after a big company that wires the funds. This could make a real difference and I hope it does.
           One of Germany’s WWII weapons was the “Amerika Bomber” and I sought a balanced documentary, as it was ahead of its time. No other aircraft could cross the Atlantic. Instead I got that inane “Britannica” take that Germany was full of crackpots. It was true, the Germans needed a knockout blow, but the correct take is that they almost succeeded. They had no monopoly on failed systems. It’s wearisome to hear, 80 years after the war, comments that the plane was not just a weapon, but a “nazi attempt to impose power on a global scale”.
           Still not steady on my feet, I looked over some on-line movies, all youTube offerings. I chose one I’ve not seen in years, “Empire of the Sun”, great cinematography with accurate weapons, uniforms, and scenery.

ADDENDUM
           Big Media is having a fit that anti-scale barriers are going up around the White House. But only if Trump does it, they forget that Biden did that every few weeks for years. It’s probably nothing more than to keep out paid professional agitators on July 4th, but here are some of my favorite comments from speculators:

√ Netanyahu is now officially your President.

√ Dollar devalued and back on the gold standard.
√ Nothing but Jews now allowed in the White House.
√ All queers to be rounded up and sterilized.
√ Black welfare queens must name the fathers.

           PS: One good thing about back pain is this month I came in $300 under budget.

Last Laugh