One year ago today: November 13, 2024, Steve has not yet left.
Five years ago today: November 13, 2020, all about empires.
Nine years ago today: November 13, 2016, one lousy bag.
Random years ago today: November 13, 2011, Arduino, Vivatar, Option 22.
A direct comparison to the 8/3 cable bough yesterday shows a marked decline in quality from the 1940s length still left in the wall. An e-mail to Bryne in Texas advises using a 50A boat (dock) cable. I’ll head over to West Marine for a look. Another freezing morning. Pancakes helped. There is a solution, which consists mainly of crawling back under the covers until noon. Let’s begin with some news. What’s this, food stamps are back but 21 states are withhold the data of who gets it. Guess which 21 states.
I’m the definition of lethargy this AM, but I’m at least walking out to the shed. Here’a pic from later in the day, but that’s what I got for you this morning. So be nice, the way I’m feeling it might be picture of the day. Yep, a box and once again the change is pretty hard to spot. See those hinges? Those were installed in less than 15 minutes as opposed to an hour. It’s crude and crooked, but it’s fast and that’s what I need for these sort of boxes. I’ll tell you more about this in the afternoon, but there was no chisel work on this item.
It seems the $2,000 tariff payout may be more than just talk this time. Of course, I am against any of it going to non-wage earners, illegals, welfare cases, and politicians, but that’s just my 2ȼ. I’m already planning on how to invest it while others plan on a big party. Make this a monthly payout and then I’ll reconsider, even if the answer would still be no. Silver hit an encouraging high of $52.55.
Unable to get started, I looked for novel box designs on-line. Nothing found. Too many sites just show boxes painted differently. Then I tried for some novel bass lines and it was all material I can’t use. A surprising number of hit tunes since 1990 lack interesting lines. They are all over the place but miss the point of the bass as a unique instrument. The web is full of advice that I would not consider gospel, such as always playing in the money-zone. (That’s between the fifth fret and the nut on all four.) I also play fills that disobey the first commandment to always start on the root.
What I was seeking and did not find was a site that covered what I thing is the most important part of bass playing. That is, the variation individual notes by touch. I can show you, but not tell you, so I figured by now there would be somebody on-line that would go over this rather advanced technique. No luck. The quick explanation is to just say the scale, do-re-me-fa, etc. If you listen very closely, the way you say each syllable has a slight rise and fall. The first note, “do”, starts neutral, rises a bit, then falls a bit, the next note is spoken just a tad louder.
All of these nuances can be played but it kind of takes a really long time. I go a step further to make the notes match the “feel” of the music and the melody. It is also a big part of how I get away with so many walkdowns from the upper frets—the listener knows where this is going, otherwise it can seem like needless noodling, Pastorius style. Mind you, this is why it takes me four to five hours to capture each new song and why I want the other guy’s song list before we begin. The Hippie never did figure out why it sounds better when I play a repetitious root note.
Moon jet.
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Oh boy, more box talk. Here’s the hinges half-installed. That means two screws each, it’s a trick you learn in case something needs adjusting afterward. It’s a rough bit of work but it is fully functional and you get to learn it along with me. I have a spare ioscillating saw which lackes a speed control. It was a speedy process to line these parts together and eyeball the hinge depths. Where a bit deep, just shore it up it with a business card. Now we shimmy up the learning curve.
These blades are expensive, up to $10 bucks each. I have seen them 1/4” inch, but just you watch. They will be a specialty item. The saw is not cooperative for these small cuts. As we learn, I’m finding that so many things done are backwards to when I started. Many of the better box features are best done in the reverse order I started with boxes.
I played bass another hour, so strange that I chose an instrument that guitarists do not want to shine, except in that it feeds their own egos. “Oh look, folks, I got a bassist good at following.” You quit blaming yourself after the 50th bass player tells you they feel the same. I know it is too late, if I find the greatest strummer now, there are not enough years left to become something.
At least I have a place to become nothing, National Mortgage (News) says evictions and foreclosures have been quietly climbing for eight months. I don’t follow the politics, but I follow the laws and it seems that “the Two James” are trying to get their cases dismissed saying the prosecution does not have the authority to charge them. It’s a lame last-ditch stunt worth watching. The Grand Jury has nearly a 95% conviction rate.
The paradox that amuses me most it that both have been snared by the same methods they were using to attack Trump. During his first term in office, they were part of the gang that filed 91 charges against him, all plainly aimed at stopping him from running in 2020. As the saying goes, none of them were the least interested in Trump’s tax return until he ran for office.
It’s almost comedy watching the Demtard party try anything to stop their own implosion. In the aftermath of their failed shutdown tactic they tried to reawaken the demand for the Epstein files by issuing a fake e-mail from the island. Problem, millions of people saw Trump at home on that day.. Then hundreds of simultaneous announcements that MAGA was dead, but somebody published the sources. Now news out of California that their most famous mall, the Westfield Emporium, just auctioned off for $133 million, around 10 cents on the dollar. All due to looting and homelessness.
ADDENDUM
This video is stored here for posterity.
