One year ago today: July 26, 2024, fixing a Tennessee door.
Five years ago today: July 26, 2020, aha, free workbench lumber.
Nine years ago today: July 26, 2016, in 1992, I was first.
Random years ago today: July 26, 2014, iconostasis.
Crap! Millennialized first thing in the morning. I have 18 excellent movie clips from our intitial rehearsal with the Prez. However, Steve, like many in the image field, makes two “errors” that I did way back when I started. One is to use a proprietory format. Sony MP4 is not the same as real MP4. I cannot edit it and Microsoft has fixed it so the latest Movie Maker, which can open those files, can only save in that format. So I’m stuck. The other mistake is leaving all graphics in the highest possible resolution. One 4-minute clip he sent was 321GB. My system, intended for display on computer monitors, maxes out at 25GB and on average you can’t see any difference. Anything over 96dpi is overkill.
I have nothing else this morning, so how about mild history lesson? Today marks a bit of a blog highlight from 1993, during a period when there was no blog. But it marked a change that would re-emerge a decade later to form what you are reading today. (That is, social and political critique on specific topics.) Initially, this blog as a story-like commentary on local people and events, that’s another tale from the trailer court. You’ll find lots of untied loose ends and referrals to long-forgotten incidents. There was naturally no “yesteryear” feature. So what happened in 1993? United Way.
That was the year the usual annual beggars from United Way began to insist and shame at the workplace. I’ve told how they would approach your work station dressed like a supervisor on payday, but it was a letter asking how much you would donate. There was no checkbox for $0. I told them not only was the answer no, I didn’t want to be asked any more. They would return next payday and audibly ask why you had made a mistake, to the delight of company gossips. I just shrugged it off.
Until now. United Way had always posted in the lunch room who gave how much, but this year, they included a category of who gave $0 with my name on it. That does it! I counter-retaliated by posting a list of who they were wasting money on. United Way was giving millions to dancing schools, Jewish summer camps, and exclusive riding academies. That’s where things begin to relate with this blog.
You see, at the time I did not know (or care) that this information was not common knowledge to the bigger community. Nor that United Way held an annual meeting where professional supplicants carved up the pie. Who knew that this meeting was not open to the public? That United Way intentionally shifted focus enough that I had a terrible time finding out the facts. In 1993, the Internet had no such capability.
I’ll cut the story short, but I do like to imagine that I set things in motion that must have cost United Way a terrible loss of donations to this day. They changed tack and never spoke to me again, which is what they should have done in the first place when asked. For any historians who get picky, the payday was the previous Thursday (July 22, 1993) but events took off on the Monday. I cannot stand those people and I do not believe their claims to have straightened out. Such people never admit being wrong, they just go dormant.
Feral pig infestation, Brazil.
Remember to use BACK ARROW to return to blog.
A couple hours in the yard, the main chore was getting the bevel saw to bevel. Can you see it? That sucker is now beveled. The solution was to get out the “Persuader”. See photo. This tool is one everybody should have even if you only use it once. Don’t use a hammer, you’ll crack your tool housing. The spindle was seized and is still moveable only with undue force. I’ll attempt to grease it. The saw is shown at near the correct angle I want, but now I can’t find my 30/60/90. It’s around but kind of knows I want it. I’m still dealing with the box bottoms that shrink. Around 12% of the boxes are affected. It’s simple to put a sheet of heavy paper to line the bottom.
That just hides the finish. I’ve separated to worse boxes for either rework or my own use. In a way these problems are good, they make me find solutions. And they make it just that much harder to copycat. I’ve received yet another letter from my healthcare provider of yet another data breach. It’s amusing because once again they are blaming a “cybercriminal” rather than a crooked staffer. They give themselves away saying the information was between March 25, and April 8, but who was in their office all that time? Cybercriminals are in and out.
They go on to say they hired a special team to enhance security. That means the boss’ pimple-faced soi-boi installed McAfee for him. Funniest was the list of what was stolen. Not really medical records, but tons of patient personal and contact information. All of it, no doubt in plain text and not passworded. I do have such lists, but all mine are binary for the past 30 years. You need two databases to reconstruct a file, they are currently on different computers, and neither of them has ever been connected to the Internet.
There’s another research item I cannot find on-line. Why is it I can so easily ask questions that the Internet can’t answer? Idiots, that’s the answer. An idiot is one who thinks he has all the information ever needed. The topic was a special sniper rifle. Not meant for human targets, but an extremely powerful weapon designed to take out expensive enemy equipment. There are plenty of videos of how it “kicks like a mule”, but I was seeking information and reports of the targets and the damage inflicted. Not one video.
While I supposed such targets might include radar stations and parked aircraft, but I sought deep information on what else is on the list. What about water towers, cell towers, telephone exchanges, and electric substations? No results. The rifles are not accurate enough for humans, but if a 50 caliber bullet cracked through both walls of the building I was working in, I’d quickly find another job. There is a military site that defines joint targeting and GlobalSecurity mentions pipelines, power generators, and structures with a lot of antennas sticking out. Add recently arrived gear on pallets and older items covered by lots of dust.
However, you’ll find no easy data about the type of damage inflicted on these targets, which was my goal. I learned while wounded casualties are Geneva-protected, not so the medical facilities. A few sites appear but you know, I don’t think I want to give my contact information to such operators when requesting this sort of information, nomsayn?
ADDENDUM
For those who just got here, I am not a Google patron and I did not begin this blog anywhere near them. Blogspot was initially a small happy outfit that got absorbed by the corporation. And it’s been trouble since. TOR is the way to go for anything private. Today Google thinks I am in Atlanta, Georgia. Let’s see who else is screwed up. California grudgingly purged 3.1 million illegals from their voter lists (Kamala won by only 3.2 million).
There is an American Orania settlement beginning in Arkansas and the liberals are furious. Why? Because is structured as a private club which can legally restrict membership. And they don’t allow non-Whites, Jews, or queers. Democrats love to ignore that 100% of the political movement is one-way. These groups want away from their own kind toward White communities and that says more than any lawyer can explain.
Did you know 85% of the world’s refugees are Muslims? None of them seek refuge in any of the 56 Muslim countries. The Democrats are cheering that the immunity that protects Trump also means it protects Obama. They forget the immunity does not apply to treason. Is there anything to the rumor Epstein owned a picture of Bush throwing paper airplanes at two downed Jenga towers a year before 9/11?
Blackrock is now buying 3 out of 4 new homes, outbidding first-time buyers. In pre-Internet times, boycotts were rarely more than a few percentage of consumers, but recent polls show up to 30% now change buying habits due to DEI and woke agendas. Porche profits plunge 91% after failed queer ad campaign. And most of the boycotters are White.
