August 22, 2026

Yesteryear
One year ago today: August 22, 2025, yep, they went under.
Five years ago today: August 22, 2021, just the down payment.
Nine years ago today: August 22, 2017, “sensitive”.P
Random years ago today: August 22, 2012, not quite a month,

           Means little to others, but over at the Dade condo, I noticed JZ was no longer using an older box, being that his place has lots of newer ones, fancy that. Examination showed it to be one of the four originals. The unit was ID’d instantly by the rough—but not sloppy—workmanship and the gaps where the bottom panel had shrunk. What a find, I retrieved it for my posthumous box museum, to be established once society advances enough to recognize what resources had to be created to make that first batch. It got some use, as the cracks have the bits and pieces. Walnut shell, rice grains, insulation scraps, shreds of steel wool, and a small button.

           I’m biking over to the hermit’s place to see if he’ll remove that brake caliper. I stress that it has never worked properly, and that has made no difference in the tens of thousands of miles I have operated that van. Just disconnect it, the more because the days of its long-distance hauls are over. It was worn out by PPP. It still works fine and I’m seeing about rewiring the starter once the noon shade covers the hood.

           I did get outside, and yes, more boxes. Two important prototypes. First the K-box to the full length of the Z-box, but it proved unwieldy. Still a good box, the one I am pointing to here, these “mistakes” are quite handy for storing bucked electric cords. Bucked? Yes, when an old appliance is trashed, save the cord until you have around 15 assorted. Then throw out after that, or, replace what you got with better styles. By noon, it clouded over, so I took a chance I can wait for it to cool a bit and get that starter switch happening. Who is with me?
           Think of boxes as my barometer of health. If I can drink coffee and build boxes, there is no immediate danger of anyone named Shaniqua beating me to death in an old folk’s home. Bring on the boxes. Here’s the antique, the J-box, that is same dimensions as the quasi-popular Z-box, but with the thinner picket lumber. It’s hard to perceive but, the lumber has moved and shifted and there is now a gab between the slats.

           I’m pointing to a spacer I used to custom saw to fill the bottom which was just under two slats wide. This ties in with the box made this morning. This design is centered on ease of manufacture in the small shop space and tools available. I think I’ll attempt a box that is two panels wide. It won’t be Golden Ratio, but these boxes need only be close enough. Look for yourself, if you were selling tomatoes or onions, these make great decoration.

           A look at the records from 2004 reveal a mess of pictures and blog items. There was no blog, really, but I have list of daily notes that reflect the goings on of the time. And lots of photos. But MicroSoft buggered the filing system. You can no longer open several file pages side by side and watch the files move. The way my system was set up was to have the photos separated into weeks and months. As a picture became used, drag and drop it into the used folder of each file. Can’t do that. The photos must now be handled one-by-one and the window closes after each selection.
           There is a way, but it will involve one operator and two computers. Trust MiicroSoft to screw with something like that. I need that 486, or even a 386, where I can pre-sort the photos before each blog post. With Win 11, posting each photo from an earlier date, then flagging it as used, is an 11-step process. Each photo.

Picture of the day.
Scotland fringe festival.
Remember to use BACK ARROW to return to blog.

           Move quick and get the job done, though I’m still going to moan it took two hours. The electric is easy for an old robot hand, but feeding them wires and making automotive connections, you can have. Or find a backyarder and let him fly a it. Shown here is the top-quality spool of yellow 18AWG robot wire being fed through the dash port drilled last week. This is an unsung advantage of robot experience, a lot of the work is done on automotive wiring. Agt. M knew exactly where to drill that port and kept it accessible from both in the cab and under the hood. I would be afraid of drilling into something
.

           Double interesting, as Agt. M’s neighbor comes over because he sees us working on cars. Takes one look that we are fixing wiring and decides he has to go turn over his compost. I’m not going to ask what is it with mechanics hating electrical, because I know exactly why some would rather see a dentist. And this is not complicated. It is a simple DC tap off the battery that grounds the starter with a momentary switch. What’s that? It is a switch that is on only when you activate it. As soon as you release it, the switch returns by itself to the normal “off” position. Yet so many people have never given this a second thought.
           Momentaries are usually a toggle, like this one, but you’ve used them as buttons (an elevator) and guitar foot pedals. Wwitches are not that simple once you get past turning on the overhead. This switch has to be a momentary to disengage the starter motor once running. In electronics, there are around a dozen types, a common one often confuses with a momentary is called an “alternate”. When you push it, some of them release like a momentary, but you have to push it a second time to turn it off.

           Here is the finished project. The starter switch is now located in a blank accessory bay. You can see this as a black object exactly in the middle of this picture. Actually, the work is not finished, as part of robot home-schooling (yes, we got the jump on that, too) is built-in “upgrade-ability”. The plastic housing behind the switch had to be modified, to you may spot two black bands above and below the toggle. Zip ties, in case anything has to be moved.
           The connections to the old [starter ] system are temporary, if they prove reliable, they’ll get a shot of solder and shrink-tubed. There is also an extra 18” [of wire] coiled inside just in case. Y’know, of all the zip-ties around this place, I could not find the ones I needed. It’s like they planned that.

           The benefits of health are slowly returning, I was able to complete this task [the starter switch] with one break for a soda. Laugh if you will but without realizing it, I put on my work cutoffs without grabbing on to anything. I suffered and shamed greatly over this since January. You cannot maintain balance putting on a pair of trousers. The vertigo mechanism will not obey. Until today, it was over before I knew. Hey, this is the blog where I can brag about putting my pants on. What’s more, that’s the usual sequence now, you discover you just did something you used to. See, maybe I should go out for a brew later.
           Later. Taking stock, I have $55 left because JZ and I did not go out last weekend. We stopped for one beer and I chatted up Amanda because she had a perfect 1970s figure. But something like that is private stock. And I take it back, my records show a few instances, with intervals measured in years, JZ has indeed paid for a round or two. Then, I never specifically said he never did, what’s never happened is we went out on a $100 scrunt-hunt and he picked up the tab.
           As for buying women drinks, I don’t really find I have to. Part of my style is to not be that obvious and it works fine. If she is interested enough to stay, and I never stop them from leaving, usually they’ll buy their own unless I insist. Hey, when you got it, you got it.

           How to say I told you so without saying I told you so. I went over to Kooters, noting they had 60 people , nearly a full house. But no music so I backtracked to the old club. Just in time, they are closing forever in a month. This is one of the most third-party documented failures ever. I was there to witness the whole decline and made accurate predictions of every mistake they made. I watched the place topple from great neighborhood country music bar, downward. Smaller bands, then solos, then Karaoke, then DJs, and now out of business. In Florida, the liquor license is the real commodity.
           But, whoever buys it will sink so much into it the place will (same as Hollywood) become another shigga-boogah sleaze joint. There’s a slim chance of becoming a micro-brew but prices will be astronomic. I would have good reason to say this once-iconic bar failed because they did not take my advice, but that would be mean, so I won’t.

ADDENDUM
           Politics is fun if you don’t believe a word of it. Some smart aleck posted that he could not believe his grandfather, a Republican, was now voting Democrat. He says that would never have happened if his grandfather was alive.

Last Laugh