One year ago today: July 21, 2024, they really said that?
Five years ago today: July 21, 2020, the price of staples.
Nine years ago today: July 21, 2016, still selling the trailer . . .
Random years ago today: July 21, 2002, about 5,000 toothpicks.
America has begun taxing remittances, so Mexico is issuing debit cards linked directly to American bank accounts. Foolish, as electronic payments are the easiest to control. But let’s look at the fact the Mexican government even tried this slime-ball tactic. Cut them off until they cut off the drugs. Let’s cheer up over a refill and admire this latest pic of the Robot Club progress.
Unexpectedly, good tidings are pouring in [by email] over the adventure with the laser printer. This gadget would have happened sooner, but I have no credit cards here. Bryne writes I’ve gone from cottage industry to corporate. And we have a tube sale, making this already a great Florida morning. It’s not a big sale, but enough to take half the morning off—and the money goes directly into investment. I cannot emphasize enough the psychological importance of this. No because it is inherently good, but because the parties that be have shaped the World this way.
This causes me to recall the countless times I’ve met people who just wanted something they could do on the side that paid a few extra bucks a day. Kind of the old version of side hustle. There’s a difference with my system, in that I foresaw the need for coordinated infrastructure. Most of them wanted one thing to do, but I had studied how Rommel defeated the entire British 8th Army until he ran out of supplies. It was his “all-arms’ system which I copied—and I probably could not have implements this process without this cabin. I have five departments, you might say, and today I’m using storage and shipping.
Beware the learning curve. The laser works best on perfectly flat surfaces. The boxes are not, which sets off a compound problem. The burn can be indistinct at spots. Since we are emulation a brand, that’s no big deal. The issue is the torque of the stepper motors is enough to rock the whole assembly and we cannot have the unit falling off a table when nobody is watching. Another downside I should have foreseen but missed it. The laser logo is not that compatible with the yagasuki burnt finish. Oops.
Fine, if it comes to that, we’ll burn some small logos on plain wood and fasten them in place. You’ll probably see all kinds of laser photos for a few days, it is really dominating my time. How do you like that, “Bartow Boxworks”, kind of catchy—but run these things by the Reb first. It is readable, just, and you are looking at about the maximum burn size.
Lest we forget I’ve got a budget around here, I’m afraid to look at what a trip to Nashville costs. Of course, those who put in on a credit card get to worry about it later in spades, so they won’t get this—my [latest] entertainment budget went from $82 per month to $291 and the month ain’t over. Let’s see what other things cost me in contemporary America. Gas this month has been $300 including the trip. Groceries run me around $220 are not bad, at $300 so far including dog food. Add it up and I am almost $400 over budget already. Don’t anybody go thinking there is a convenient pool of money I dip into, every dollar in that budget is gleaned from my investments. And I was born twice as poor as anybody likely to be reading this. So there.
London phone booth coffee shop.
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Nor are we out of the weeds on the construction. This is one of the boxes that was leaft outside for a month to test weathering. And you can see how the once-tight panels have shrunk to open this gap. Normally this box would be a reject, except the Golden Ratio construction means a small laser printer fits exactly inside it for now. I may do a run of the smaller boxes this week as promo items. I gave on to my barber today and checked in at the Treasure Barn. Maybe news tomorrow as today there was only staff on duty.
It’s $150 and as you see, there is a negative in the feeder. Zero information about this. Since the slide tray is for sale, we can presume that negative scanner is what may be included. There is no feed mechanism, the pictures are fed and positioned by had. It apparently does some basic editing but has no feature to timestamp or ID the photos. Meanwhile, I tested the 600 DPI scanner to see the results. Ha, it is a picture that would have been taken 70 years ago and could not be taken today.
You see, I recognize that house. When I first saw it in 1990, There was a swimming pool and shed to the left, behind a nine-foot fence, and the view from here was nothing but a 15 foot hedgerow, almost as high as the utility pole to the left. There are now two windows on both sides of the nearest corner and the deck along the back is much larger. The trees in the background are not yet the forest I knew and there is a new wing added and the far back right which would be just visible by 1970. I lived there four years, a time when my life changed. I know I was not destined to be a househusband slaving my life away in a cubicle. But those were the only jobs left open unless you knew somebody.
Religious quote of the day: “The end is always near and always quite handy. Now pay your taxes and your interest and shut up.”
ADDENDUM
I’m setting an appointment with the eye doc, but I don’t know what can be done. Today I could not see a half-roll of paper towels on a shelf four feet ahead. What could it be, this difficulty seeing nearby objects when they are on end? I’ve learned to look to the side, then I can see them, but does not answer the question. Is this something rare? I’ve never heard of it. I’ve been completely checked for cataracts, glaucoma, the lot, it is nothing like that. It is the opposite of visual agnosia, where the patient can see the object, but not process it.
I cannot see the object until I look askance, but when I do see it, it’s clear. So it’s my eye, not my brain. Hey, I’m very aware of the rate things are going wrong. Here’s another phenomenon I never mentioned. Other people don’t seem to adequately think ahead, which is different than planning ahead. I don’t mean their job or chores, but ask them what they will be doing in three hours or tomorrow and “it depends”. Yet they will claim that is a relaxing and stressless existence—until something goes wrong.
My think-ahead window seems to be around 20 minutes. Planning is 40 years ahead, but I subconsciously know what I’ll be doing 1,200 seconds from now, which is reading a good book and opting for a late siesta. What is the relevance? Well, when my back was pinching, it often took me longer than twenty minutes, which I found disruptful. Now that I can move around easier, the problem disappeared. All I’m saying is I notice this sort of thing and it has often saved my bacon.
You know who didn’t think ahead? The people now complaining that when they rent a parking space in Los Angeles, they are no longer allowed to live in the parked vehicle.
How was your Monday?
