September 30, 2026

Yesteryear
One year ago today: September 30, 2025, a busy enough day.
Five years ago today: September 30, 2021, thieves, amplifiers, pipes.
Nine years ago today: September 30, 2017, the thrift near Parrish;
Random years ago today: September 30, 2007, there was a pub.

           Y’day was cancelled (which is not to say I did nothing the whole time), but this morning was the payoff. Other than and easy sore throat and hourly dry cough, I’m back to my 40% level. Big French toast and coffee meal to get me going, I know to pace it. I was up at 5:30AM and worked with my filament tester, making you this video. This is not patentable or that inventive, but it is remarkable for my skill level in April of 2016. I recall the devil of a time I had with this gadget, and how until now how I forgot it.

           It’s a device to test the individual filaments. Outside, you can click on the signal light and go check. The brake light is a bit tricker. This gizmo is designed for one-man operation, but I overlooked that to get at the bulb, enough work has to be done that you would just replace it anyway. This typifies the type of small project that I like right down to this day.

           I burned nine laser labels using the disks from the biscuit joiner. I won’t use them unless a new project asks for them. The joints are nice but they are not strong enough on pieces big enough to warrant joining in the first place. And again pondering what I could have with the laser that isn’t competing with the dollar store. I lack imagination. But I did have a go at the part of this device which will not work, the pilot light. It is connected in parallel with the of/on switch and it tests okay with the bench supply. Y’know, I read somewhere that LEDs won’t work if they are “overpowered.”
           But, where did I read that. Anyway my bench supply is limited to a an amp, but the transformer here (leftmost in the picture) is tapped of 120V. I need to find that formula. But later, it’s finally the end of September and I need a nap. By pure coincidence, the mileage on both my vehicles has passed the 2/3rds mark of my projections. The KIA is at 197,000. Comparatively it is in much better condition overall. Tampa reposts a big jump in used are prices based on three-year-old units. But if people will spend $32k on a used car, there is no talking sense to them.

           Tel Aviv claims a high-jacking was avoided on a flight from Dubai, but most American are wary of any such reports. To many false flags and inside jobs. My electric bill is $85 more than last month, but I’ve also been home more to run the A/C, so it’s a bargain. The successful Starlink launch is the first of 26 more to place what is basically a whole new duplicate Internet it place. All banks, media, retail, and government will shortly move on to it. Overnight.
           Government-issued digital ID will be required to access this new system. That is why Trump’s announcement of amalgamating today’s 29,000 government websites and databases into one big central system is so timely. Content and participation will be 100% government controlled. The old Internet will not survive for long.

           Then again, there is an aspect to the one-big-database concept that would please me. It’s the ability to bill people directly for their political views. That’s a direct replacement for the current unfair tax system. The only people who support it are living off it. I would love to see it replaced by a system that bills people for their “causes”. You like single mothers on welfare, you pay your share along with the other like-minded.
           This is something new that has never been tried before. It could not have been done in the pre-computer era. But if fully implemented, I believe it would cut wastage in half. Like they say, a staunch Republican is a Democrat who just won the lottery. “Yes, but now it is MY money.”

Picture of the day.
Pop’s 66, Oklahoma.
Remember to use BACK ARROW to return to blog.

           Further analysis of my utilities show the increase is totally electric. $112.89. I may install a timer in the shed, as twice I forgot the compressor on overnight, though generally, billing rates are 18% higher over just the past two years. Remind me to drop in to see my real estate lady soon as this flu is over. This month also coincided with a meter-reading that carried a $53.37 correction. There goes the October mini-travel budget. That, and still no reliable guitarist. Not a peep from either, like Florida, mostly talk.
           Mind you, the holdup with Steve is his job. I have a solution for lack of practice time. Book himself as an open mic and see who shows up. Most of the low-musis budget clubs are clustered in his area. Hang on, let me look at his list. I’m back, yes, we have more than enough material to pretend I’m an itinerant bass player who walked in. What we lack in musical finesse is easily clobbered by the presentation once we get into the music. I’ll send him a note. Everything musical in Florida is a long shot.

           Here’s something, in 2025 Seattle passed a minimum wage bill for restaurant workers, and attached it to adjustment for inflation. That means in 2027, busboys and dishwashers will be making $22.14 per hour. Already, 450 restaurants have closed. But I see the other side of the coin. These outfits underpaid their staff for so long it became standard operating procedure.Many more will close and it serves them right.
           It is seven weeks to election and politics is mingled with everything. This is no ordinary mid-term, so I’ve been watching. It is astounding that the Democrats are still making the same promises they have never kept. They are all for lower gas prices, sure, until they win, and it shoots up to $12 a gallon as they try to force people to buy electric. The impression I get it is they think it is working, just listen to their timed press releases. Due to the Internet, it is not working. Every time, for instance, they post gas is $4.50 under Trump, some smart aleck posts those $7.50 prices under Biden they hope you had forgotten.

           That was JZ on the phone for 42 minutes. Mail from five days ago is just arriving, and that’s the first-class stuff. I’m glad he called, even though he dropped out, the guy has far more medical knowledge than you’d guess. Confirmed it was a sinus infection, but baterial, not viral. He always heads for emergency where I see it as a last resort. He says I’ll be okay by Friday and to not worry about spreading it, I’m past incubation. This got us to talking about the changes in the past two years. One thing we both remember is how Alaine, his sister, never introduced us to her young single, slim, attractive, career girlfriends. Bless her heart, but she will only set up meetings with the very worst of women. No skills, no schooling, no spirit, boring, unattractive, you name it, not one redeeming quality.
           She means well, we would be upgrades (to say the least) for any men those gals would ever meet, but Alaine does not see that it is a massive step down for JZ or I. The worst ever was that time she thought a good match for me was a lady at the supermarket. A 56-year-old grandmother bagging groceries who had just got out of a mental hospital. But, I can’t blame Alaine because this has happened to me a number of times. And it makes you question what your friend must think of you to think such baggage is a good match.

           Remember my hatred of Greyhound? They are still up to no good. The company is tightly held by anonymous owners whose attitude is that only losers still ride the bus. And get a load of Lamonica, the black lady who got 17 years for blocking and ICE agent. She gets pregnant thinking it will keep her out of a prison cell. Wrong Some smart aleck wrote they should just “keep the niglet in jail, it will save time.” Hey, I call ‘em as I see ‘em.

ADDENDUM
           I’ve was millennialized today. One thing about power supplies, AC to DC, is that they can’t easily be tested with a probe. The emit a fierce amount of AC waves that don’t let you get near the DC leads. So, one relies on the datasheets, and it was millennial time. My quests in an E190248 submodel HF48209. Easy, until you meet the goof squad. They all write that the transformer is 120VAC to “240”. 240 what? It doesn’t register volts, but it probably is. That is not the point. These days when you ask for a datasheet, you get some ass-clown’s company that’s trying to upsell you to a thousand. Up yours, millie, I searched for a datasheet, not your stupid order form.

Last Laugh

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April 12, 2024

Yesteryear
One year ago today: April 12, 2023, a psychic twist.
Five years ago today: April 12, 2019, the right company helps.
Nine years ago today: April 12, 2015, yes, I’ve built gears.
Random years ago today: April 12, 2007, Delta with a “duh”.

           I haven’t had time to tour the whole yard but the near hurricane gusts did plenty of damage in the neighborhood. The IRS, which I believe is in its death throes with the American public, is certain to turn A.I. on taxpayers. The most likely are the rich at first (who are able to shield income) so there will be no public outcry. But soon enough, they will get a turn. A hearty breakfast has me hopeful I’ve beat this flu or whatever. Today I search until I find that missing microphone case. It also contains a trove of cable adapters I’d hate to pay for again.

           The Babylon Bee congratulates Disney getting a government contract for producing more bombs than Lockheed Martin. Here’s something you don’t see every day, a portable tube tester. I don’t know how to operate it, but the original instruction manual is inside the lid. Give me a few days to master it, the panel reminds of the old telephone testing equipment I was fully trained on in my early career. I did not understand how it worked, a necessary component to get maximum productivity out of an employee like me, but this time I will not skip any lessons.

           Now be fair, how many blogs are going to deliver such goodies? Navigation, band management, and now tube testing in the same location. There are dull moments around here, same as your place. But rarely an entirely dull day like some people I know. How this ties together is that y’day JZ mantioned again he hates putting weight. I think we all hate it but I say get used to it. (I am 61 pounds over my ideal weight where I once considered 15 pounds over to be my max.) This testing box weighs 40 pounds—and I know people that have not lifted that much in twenty years except by accident.
           This would not apply to JZ, who is very active, so we were discussing diet. This is off the record, but the moment he’s weight-conscious, mark my words, he’s met a gal. Be patient, he cannot keep it a secret. I got ten bucks says he’s too chicken to just ask her out. How can some dudes be afraid of rejection their whole lives? Anyway, no amount of extra exercise is going to help. Myself, however, I’m gaining hopes my latest MRI tests will reveal something. I’d love to be able to walk full speed again.
           For the permanent record, my weight gain since 2003 is NOT accributable to:

A) over-eating
B) processed foods
C) lack of mobility

           If anything I have always been a light eater, rarely going back for seconds, and I cut out deserts and sweets forty years ago. As for processed foods, I consume maybe 5% as much as others. I’ve done my own cooking for decades and have not touched many known fat-foods. I eat beef and ham maybe twice a year. While I don’t run marathons, nor do I sit idle on a sofa with a remote. I rarely stay completely still all day for more than a few moments at a time. Playing bass and testing tubes may not be aerobic, but those crates and boxes don’t move themselves. Can you spot the clay turtle in the above photo?

           And here is our lucky first tube. A GE 6DB6, fairly common model from what I gather. There appear to be three basic tests. FIL A (probably means filament), emission, and mutual conductance. We quickly found the operator’s manual on-line, which saves the $36 copy found on eBay. What have we learned so far? This testing unit sells for $810. We learned that stem on top of some tubes is called a cap, and the wire thing that clamps on it is a cap lead. This unit will test 3,000 different tubes, including “laboratory” tubes. Nik Tesla tubes, I suppose, although I can find no evidence that dude ever invented a thing, he only discovered.
           It says here it will test all TV, radio, hi-fi, car radio, and industrial equipment. Okay. It also specifices a test for tube life expectancy. I like this already. The manual states it will detect “even the slightest problem” and again the similarity to phone line testing is remarkable. The unit further says the meter is so accurate that a screen and a lot of extra controls are not required. I also learned the short test is done first, since it precludes any more tests. I learned a 12AU7 is the easiest tube to test and considered a “workhorse”. More as I read it.

Picture of the day.
Near Norman Wells, Canada.
(I’ve been there.)
Remember to use BACK ARROW to return to blog.

           Colorado got a free show today as a Democrat with the name “Faith Winter”, if you want to believe that, arrived late to a meeting to argue for the opening of a sex offender rehab next to an elementary school while she was drunk. Typically, when exposed, she made a big speech about going to alcohol counselling and headed right back to the saloon. I’m going out to the shed to find lumber to build a nice new house for my favortie box turtle. Without him, who is there to talk to around here?

           Viewing a 2019 video of the nearest town where I mostly grew up, I saw a vacant lot where the old Legion Hall used to be. So they finally tore it down, it was ancient when I was a kid. This prompted me to look at other buildings and to my surprise, the even older country hall is still standing. It was built around 1928 and looks in remarkable shape.

           While I’m not telling the location, here are some facts from a kid who was there so long ago. The hall is six miles out of town, in the middle of nowhere. There had once been a station for wagons to buy hay for the horses, but the railway put that out of business. The building has a new coat of paint, it was forever a dusty brown before. Because of water problems, the inside of the hall is raised a few feet, as you enter those doors you see a flight of stairs. The hall itself is small that it seems fom here, as the first third of the building is offices and storage.
           There was formerly a covered porch around those entance doors, but it’s been built up and walled in to what you see here. There was no running water but the toilets were indoor and had to be emptied regularly. This is also the hall you’ve heard me tell had only one light on the stage. A single pull-chain bulb hanging from the ceiling. I had to screw in an adapter and plug in the whole band into that single socket. Two amplifiers, my keyboard, the PA system, and one flashing set of lights. Back then, you could not play the whole band through the PA system.

           See that chimney in the back? Also the shed behind? The stage is at the far back of the main building and there was a pot-belly stove. We had to get there and chop firewood to heat the hall up before anybody showed up two hours later. This is not the 1930s, rather more like the 1970s. Of course, there were new halls with central heating that rented for $100. But only rich kid bands could rent those, This hall rented for $15 and the committee, knowing I got no help from family, would let us hold the “dance” first and hope we made enough to pay them. We always did, but I remember times the band made $3 at a time when the downtown groups made $200 easy.
           We were all under 14, so had to beg local dropouts like Mike’s brother to help us move our Sears brand gear, hoping they would still be sober enough to help us get it back. We called them “dances” or the town would not allow it and it was these times that taught me how appallingly poor I was compared to other kids. I’d always known my parents never spent a penny on infrastructure but it was these $15 dances that made the lesson just bitter enough that I can’t look at these old pictures with much fond memories.

           Later, I read the manual for the tube tester, it will quickly become routine. The box is heavy, not really portable. One same-brand tester was for sale for $310 and this is not a fast test device. Each tube is fitted into the socket and you must wait for it to warm up. I perform only those tests for which there are setting in the guidebook. Then, you just wait for the tube to cool down. I already wrecked one tube. You leave the old tube to cool, thinking you’ll start the next tube, turning all the knobs to the initial test position (looking for any shorts). This lets you forget the first tube and switch on the unit. In this case, I zapped 35 volts through a 6 volt tube. I told you this was fun. And now I know how to make a tube shine really bright.
           Silver poked past $29 today but because of the 10% bar charge, I still think $40 is where I’ll get interested. After smoldering for over 10 years, silver is back on board. Let’s hope that curious behavior continues, where each dollar mark brings on a flurry that shoots it past the next one. My latest new venture, the commodity transaction, finally cleared this afternoon. Good thing I keep my own books, since the listing blocked the detail page for Caltier. It shows only the totals and I know exactly the brand of dumb-think that causes web people to make that error. My books are accurate, and now we wait.
           Only by luck do commodity funds show any income in the short run. I’ve made the decision to transfer in my stimulus checks, yes, I still have that money put away. Doesn’t everyone? My records show I got $2,400 but somehow that doesn’t seem all of it. Well, no matter, that is the amount I’ll plow into the Caltier Reggae fund. Things are volatile enough out there that who knows what the big money will look to for safekeeping. Let’s hope it is silver. Weird, still no reaction from the big banks.

ADDENDUM
           A review of the potential night spots we could perform shows a wasteland in the north part of town. The traffic is always so bad I don’t really know the area and the Internet is not a lot of help. Why? Because their listings are based on ad revenue, not popularity. I think people, especially single men, who go to a pickup joint, fail, and then review the food are sick bastards. I don’t care if the staff is cheerful, I want t know if any good-looking women show up there. Who cares about decor unless it has to do with receptive babes?
           As a reward for reading this far, here’s some trivia for your next academic house party. If I had time, I would write a booklet on “why” trivia. Beyond the part the rank and file know, to the reaon for the trivia. Example. Today, many people know that the MicroSoft default font is Calibri 11, double spaced. Yay, good for you, Josh & Tyler. But WHY is that?
           The answer is a dork over in Redmond. They know more about what you want than you do, and arbitrarily decided documents after Win 7 would be “consumed” on-line rather than ever printed out. So Calibir was to maximize computer displays. Ah, some say, but the default is now Aptos. That’s easy, once MicroSoft realized Calibri made printouts look amateur, they opted for a more “humanistic” font, proving they never learn from their own mistakes. The correct default is, of course to let the user decide for himself. One can already hear MicroSoft poo-poo that idea.

Last Laugh

September 29, 2026

Yesteryear
One year ago today: September 29, 2025, early A.I. comment.
Five years ago today: September 29, 2021, the finest omelet.
Nine years ago today: September 29, 2017, three years before teletype.
Random years ago today: September 29, 2004, arguing with Cubans.

              I awoke with just a headache and sore teeth. Weird, but I’ll tell you what is the real headache. I used my oldest and most trusted version of Excel, the spreadsheet MicroSoft pretty much forced on us. Well, today I went to update my old records to restart January 2026. I was kind of out of commission an just got to it. This is one single account that did nothing but sit there and collect interest. The difference is this time the software is installed on a Win 11 computer. What a friggen nightmare.

              Excel has gone drastically downhill by doing the opposite of what it should. No, your workforce is not more skilled. The software is designed to let the unskilled become even more mindless. Of course I want old and new sheets open at the same time. That is what the hell I’m doing. Updating and closing the old books. No way.
              Strange invisible links, formulas that would not copy, bad instructions. All so some dumbass secretary who knows nothing can make the numbers look right without knowing how that happened. And links that re-established themselves even after you close and reopen the sheets. Where do they even find such imbeciles?
              Today, you get some battery lore. I seem to have rotten luck with them. They work until the first time I don’t use them for a while, be it a week or a month. This illness has me stopped dead so I’ll use the time to delve. It also reminds us the blog means the best parts of my day, not the other guy. This time I had the brand new rechargeable game camera battery start giving out on me in after only 60 hours drawing 2ma. Possibly, when it comes to battery polite society, I’m the outcast.

              The lawyer movie was called “The Verdict”. Very good portrayal, but at the ending they ran out of money and had to clip it at the point where the sleaze phones and he lets it ring. Now I pause here because of pain, it’s damn weird. It is a pressure pain inside my frontal cheek sinus cavities and any motion aggravates it. Even leaning over to take a knife out of the drawer, anything and it becomes a stabbing pain back to my eardrums. Cancel this morning, except the news, which is kind of disjointed.
              You see, it’s a worn-out tactic but the Democrat control over the media lets them push a demoralization campaign. It must work, or they would not persist. But this time they have a problem. They have spend a fortune spreading the word that Trump has lost popularity and rates and has fallen behind. They have spend millions this time and it is a flop. The independent polls, the only ones that mean anything, show Trump support in the MAGA bloc is running at 98%, the surprise is that it isn’t 100%. It was 99% in 2024, so the Democrats are wasting what little money they have left. The good news is the lady baby-killer (Clancey) is going back to trial. Hormones, my eye.

Picture of the day.
Abilene, Kansas.
Remember to use BACK ARROW to return to blog.

              Only a mild decline in symptoms kept me at home by now. My plan is to eat soup, I will not be moving my mandibles, no sirree. And I found some old Uma Thurman movies where she wore no camouflage. Trump says no deal on student loans for worthless degrees, but dang, he did not say which those were. I imagine gender studies tops the list. I dozed off and awoke at 8:00PM feeling much better. No joy, however, this was one of the weirdest of attacks on my already-weakened system ever. Pretty damn unusual, I think this is a warning.

              Let me put it another way. If I had continued deteriorating at the same rate today as y’day, I would probably be very near death. Instead, I’m hunting around for my misplace navigation text and noticing another decline in my touch-typing. By late evening, the sinus pain down to 1/10 but it will not be forgotten. This required around two hours of hold cold against the sites, so the morning could still bring another attack. That’s what kept me up last night for hourse. The pain is also moving to the sides so my teeth aren’t aching, though don’t chew too much.
              I’ve had bouts before, but this flu I will remember. I don’t remember how to play Fur Elise, the best piano piece ever. And I have not played it in 20 years all the way through. But 40 years ago I played it every day. Probably 800 times in my life. The time I recall most was the day RofR and I were over at Dr. Hunters, as his wife wanted to hear it. I never did play it all the way through without a mistake, but that day I made only one. I hesitated one note. I could not play it today, don’t remember the notes except the easy part.

              In a way, this forced convalescence works gives me time to work at my desk. I keep finding gadgets I built as much as ten years ago, then forgot. Here, for example, is a signal light bulb tester. It plugs into 110, but rectifies it to 12VDC. Plug an 1157 (most popular signal and brake light) and hit one switch to test the brake filament, another to test the signal (and much brighter) filament. Complete with pilot light, I may even spruce this up with some laser lettering. I did not study transformers until years later so this device surprised me. It’s a bulky affair, but beats walking back and forth to test it on the vehicle. The robot club quality is evident.
              What’s this? Dynamic pricing comes to McDonalds. Prices vary depending on time, location, your credit score, and what you spent last time. Because people don’t hate them enough already. I’m so glad Tampa radio has somebody standing by 24 hours a day that will pray with you if you call. And how about the ongoing praise of the 12-year-old on her annual diaper drive? Nothing spells Third World like teaching your kids to beg early.

ADDENDUM
              I stayed in pain all day, giving me time to elaborate on the Win 11 spreadsheet nuisance. The application has become oriented toward the dumb and stupid user—parallel to what happened to word processing twenty years ago. They put in so many gimp features that the package became impossible for educated users. I mean, what manner of moron composes a sentence without knowing the first letter is capitalized? MicroSoft, that’s who. Ah, you might think, just disable all the gimp features. Wrong, you can’t, and over time most of them come back without being asked.
              So how have spreadsheets degenerated? Redmond would have noticed long ago that ignoramuses use mostly single-layer spreadsheets. It makes the sheets large, cluttered, and inconsistent. The answer is links—but those require planning and education to do right. I have encounterd offices with staff so unskilled to transfer data, they print out the entire spreadsheet and key it in a second time. Here's another battery picture, and why not?

              My spreadsheets are almost entirely links—but I put them there myself and know how they work. So I know when they don’t, and I know when the other guy has screwed up. My accounting software (the budget) is not a page of cells where you plug in the numbers—which is roughly where MicroSoft starts buggering around. For example, I do not comb through my bank statement and separate the deposits from the interest from the withdrawals. I key each figure into one of three columns, and those contents update all my reports instantly.
              You’ve seem me post bits of these boring sheets over time—but how many of you know to the penny what your CD is worth today, or even care. I suppose some folks like being poor. But now the formulas no longer cut and paste. They will not even paste as text, including when you first paste them into word processor, then copy it back. Worse, many times it comes back with an identical looking formula and says it is a “corrected” version. It isn’t.
              Nor do I appreciate Excel analyzing my formulas, which average 72 characters long, and thus above their pay grade. I cancelled Festus Tuesday, whatever I have is some opportunistic bug. I don’t have any cold compresses, but I have many cans of ice cold ginger ale, which helps. And to really clear up, I have my firey hot Carolina reaper sauce. If you don’t know what that is, I suggest you approach the peppers at an angle.

              I’m inside, no fever, but not feeling right. Here is a small bettery that just quit working on m. These are sealed unit and rechargeable, so I will check for the obvious before putting it on the exchange rack. The new unit bought last week is on the charger, it lasted only a few days when operating the 5V Arduino. The on-line goofs all say the same, that the batteries can be restored wit baking soda, Epsom salts, and topping the cells. They lie. None of those things work reliably enough to be worthwhile and all take far longer than they say.

Last Laugh

April 17, 2016

Yesteryear
One year ago today: April 17, 2015, real estate one year ago.
Five years ago today: April 17, 2011, learning transistors.
Nine years ago today: April 17, 2007, where is Mactown?
Random years ago today: April 17, 2013, downtown Macon, GA

MORNING
           My bulb tester works fine except for the pilot light. I’m telling you, there is more to that than just connecting a bulb in parallel. It checks fine on paper, the electricity should see the circuit with a lower resistance and the bulb with a 660,000Ω resistor. Using the voltage divider theory, the majority of the electricity should take the path of least resistance and head for the circuit, but a trickle should go through the resistor, enough to activate the pilot light. Nosirree. In fact, when I do that, it creates either a short circuit or the action of the light changes, that is, it comes on when I kill the circuit power.

           That’s what you see in this picture. The pilot light is the tiny blue LED just to the right of my thumb. The other bulb is the 1157 dual filament unit being tested. I know the problem is not the switch because you can see the “known good” big switch lying in the background. It is used to eliminate any potential problems with the smaller switches, which have a tendency to loosen their leads when soldered, because the leads are these days embedded in plastic.

           Yes, I know, they are meant to be used with spade connectors, which are soldered separately. But the price of switches and spade ends has become so intense that for incidental learning projects like this, I’ll sidestep the rules. As the error is so constant, I’ll build a spare pilot light and touch it to each set of leads until I find the combination that works. Phooey on the textbooks if they don’t wanna say.
           Also evident is the long-term influence of the decision years ago to work with wood instead of more standard robot materials. That was more economical than it appears. Consider this, the majority of the robots you see are built from kits. We decided to avoid kits because they are expensive and don’t teach you anything about design and certainly don’t encourage independent thinking. One alternative is to buy building parts, like Meccano pieces. That’s a quick road to the poorhouse. That’s leaves a single choice: fabricate your own parts.
           If you work with any product except wood, it is more expensive. Even scraps cost. The real deterrent is the price tag of the tools. One hand operated milling machine costs more than all of my tools combined. There is little advantage to building a prototype that lasts forever. We rejected any plan to build parts by hand the first day. All meaningful progress involves power tools and there is the added advantage that most power wood tools have other functions around the workshop.

           That fancy power supply I bought in North Palm Beach is quirky. It works perfectly when you power individual components. But when connected to a completed circuit it fails to operate the circuit roughly a third of the time. You can connect another power supply and the circuit will work. But once the fancy power supply fails, it cannot be made to operate that same circuit no matter what.
All to the sounds of Garrison Keilor’s “Prairie Home Companion”. Right after that, NPR started up with their normal Sunday fare—slavery guilt. I propose a moratorium on songs about plantation slavery, for say, the next 150 years. Please, folk singers, no more, we’ve had enough already.
           This morning was a classic example of how to spend a retirement day. All one has to do is plan it several decades in advance. Sure, I’d like to uptown chasing women, but there aren’t any to chase. The young ones are taken and the old ones aren’t worth it. At least that is the facts of life in this part of the world. If one is the least picky, it likely isn’t much different elsewhere. For that matter, after age 40, even traveling doesn’t work like it used to. If you can’t find a decent babe near home, you are not going to find one half-way across the Pacific. Sad but true.

Wiki picture of the day.
Grapefruit.
NOON
           Here’s a set of novelty drum sticks. They have small speakers in the bottom of the handles and snappy blue lights in the clear silicon tips. Each has a couple of buttons to change the sound to cymbals, hi-hat, and toms. Ten buck at Big Lots, I think I’ll incorporate them into my show. Fun to play with, they cannot be loud enough to hear the mistakes. That’s a plus.

           Since house prices are indeed falling (not a peep in the media) still at $4,480 average per month, the pressure is off to make that trip to the interior. The place with the bare studs is still the best bargain out there. The flippers don’t like it because it involves work. They just want to paint the place, mow the lawn, and double the price.
           I’m aware the bargains were in 2012, but did not know if I would still be around by now. Send me over some gumption and I’ll go to the lumber yard and price out how much to drywall a place. Materials only, the labor is free. And it is not like I have to drywall anything, or even more than one room at a time.

           From that, I’ve scheduled an extra meeting concerning the place near Mulberry with no drywall. Turns out, we don’t know the trade. But after all, how difficult can it be, I mean, construction workers do it. Besides after the first room, I’ll have ten years’ experience. I’ve got something they don’t—a first class learning ability.
           Did you get that Wallace, that’s “years’” with a trailing apostrophe, I didn’t neglect my grammar along the way. Wallace, the deficiency expert. You want to know why he made so few mistakes? Easy, he never did anything. He’d sit and watch the ceiling fall down rather than have his workmanship criticized right back.

           It was over to the Senor for breakfast early today, funny thing, it takes me ten minutes more than it used to getting ready. You know, shave, shower, put on a tie. On Sunday mornings, I wear a tie if I go out. It improves restaurant service by 50%.
           This time, I overdid it. The big omelet. So you’ll find me here the rest of the day building small control panels. My earlier electric work lacked decent panels and often had no off-on switch. I’ve decided on a pilot light strategy of my own, using a parallel wiring system and a very large resistor. In my inventory I found a small baggie of “non-polar capacitors”. This construct makes no immediate sense, so return later to see if I can find anything. A capacitor that discharges in both directions, maybe?

           Meanwhile, I watched a series of short documentaries on the victories of Alexander the Great. I’d say that is conclusive proof that history is re-written by the victors. The Persian army of 250,000 could just as well have been 25, 250, 2500, or 25000. There was no zero in the Greek numbering system, and, well, you know how these Greeks love to exaggerate.

           Let’s see, how would one write the number 250,000 in Greek numerals. It would be MMD with a line or score above each letter—but that system did not exist in the time of Alexander. At that time, the largest number that could be accurately written by the Greek system was 3,999.
Following the strict rules, 250,000 would be written like so:

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

           Imagine carving that on the temple wall. It was not exactly easy either to format it for correct display on Android glass. Two hundred fifty M’s. That is, two hundred and fifty one thousand marks.

EVENING
           I’m missing a few small items from my music kit, such as my XLR to phono converter. Expensive things that will turn up the day after I replace them. Not being tired, I ran another scan of the properties up north, some 538 are on the market near Lakeland. Take away 200 fake-outs, mobile homes without the land advertised as real estate. Remove another 200 auction hours with sucker prices to waste your time. Auction, my eye. Of the remaining 138, reject 100 which are flippers in bad neighborhoods. Unfortunately, there are no convenient list filters to block these annoying ads. They have to be painstakingly sifted through.

           I’ll tell you who else Trump should have investigated when he’s in is this entire “medical records” sham. Not the medical part, Americans are already fleeing overseas for their operations. But the day to day way they do business. They are plainly past the point where they are interfering with people’s lives and imposing arbitrary rules and decisions. This morning I get a call from yet another doctor’s office welcoming me to their “family”. What? I was never asked or even informed of any such event.
           That new office had my entire file in their possession and even called my unlisted phone number. Ah, but this time, I know who gave it to them and I’ve repeated warned them to quit doing that. I don’t need phone calls from people I don’t know. Send me a letter. In January, I randomly changed all my passwords and phone codes, which by the way you should be doing, and so next week, it is time for a new telephone number again. This time nobody gets it. One of my exes worked for Visa collections department and anyone who thinks medical records are secret or private is a dismal cretin of the first magnitude.

           Sure, I’ll tell you what else is annoying. This trend among Millennials to make up sales words. I already think broadcast advertising (ads aimed at nobody in particular like billboards, spam, and telemarketing). They are a disgusting byproduct of the most sordid factors of American industrialization. Mr. Trump, ban this horrible practice by making a law that only those who request advertising can be inconvenienced by it. Don’t worry about consequences for the ad business, turning on the television constitutes a request. What set me off this time? The word “Eventstacular”. Enough is enough.

ADDENDUM
           I’ve singled out six tunes from my list for the upcoming Thursday in Ft. Lauderdale. It is one winner of a presentation, particularly if the same group of ladies shows up again. The women will always sing along first, possibly because they are better natural singers. I’m still reviewing whether to take my regular guitar or the mini. And like it or not, I have to contend with the chance-maybe-likelihood that guitarist who was on just before me is going to show up again, as in payback time.
           It could happen for you hardly could know the guitar mentality like I do. Just be prepared, is what I’m saying. Besides, guitarists are inured from birth to treat bassists like marginally dim second cousins and can’t imagine anything different. So you can visualize what happens when I show up. I’ve jammed with him but can’t say where, we are not adversaries but I my natural basic presentation did steal his thunder, that is, if I had not arrived, he would have had it all his own way. You are correct if you see I find this a very touchy subject. Allow me to explain when I say these guitar players can’t relate to a crowd, I don’t mean they are stooges.
           Rather, the most common shortcoming is having a contrived manner, sort of like how some guys memorize pickup lines. They have an awkward time with anything but a pre-cast situation. My act is the other extreme, so ad-libbed that it is impossible to rehearse a thing. And guess who is the expert at appearing to be the rube who just jumped off the potato wagon? Hey, that has always been part of my show.
           The other deficiency with guitar acts is they tend either play the exact same material for twenty years (you know who you are) or have to over-concentrate on musicianship. This kills spontaneity. And those who try to compete with me on that count soon learn a new definition of nimble.


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(Duh, would you repeat the question?)


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January 24, 2025

Yesteryear
One year ago today: January 24, 2024, Delta goes woke.
Five years ago today: January 24, 2020, that dryer circuit.
Nine years ago today: January 24, 2016, the January ad floods.
Random years ago today: January 24, 2014, “drones are leading edge.”

           What’s this? Trump orders government workers back to the office. I have two opinions on that. When I worked, it took nearly a quarter of my take-home pay to operate the vehicle required to commute to work. So work-at-home would have been great, not even counting the 7-1/2 hours a week it took me to drive to work. On the other hand, the government scheme had no method to ensure the workers were even at home, and most of them were not. Some were working second jobs. Watch for mass firings. This, folks, is why there is an air of optimism when Trump is around.

           Mississippi is proposing the $1,000 bounty per successful deportation, a concept first proposed in this blog years ago. I’m liking this morning already, even if it is 37°F out there. A no-gig Friday is a day off. Everything important is stocked up, what should we do for a break? I’m due a big payout from the vacuum tubes, but I’m still ahead on my austere budget since last summer. I considered the Lake Wales museum, but the blurb says many of the exhibits are rail cars parked outside. Leave that for a day when it’s safe to be near frozen metal.

           I finally finished watching, “Oh, Brother”. I now know why it never held my interest. I opted to stay put in my nice warm office and look at more Assembler. In the link given last day, do NOT use the simulator. It is not free as advertised. Even the trail version wants your credit card number. The regime in power in England refuses to recognize the Gulf of America. Deportation flights have begun, New York City reports the first five days in 30 years there have been no shooting deaths or injuries.
           Do you know what a Taylor column is? When an ocean current passes an underwater obstacle, it starts to curl around it. The spinning of the Earth can cause this to form a vortex that persists for years. Back in the early 2000s, a huge iceberg called A23a was caught in one for the past twenty years. Around 45 miles wide and 35 miles across, about the size of Oahu, it broke free and is floating toward “a British territory”. That would be South Georgia Island , bleak and uninhabited but for fish and seals. A23a calved off an ice shelf in 1986. If it does ground, it is too big for any trapped birds or seals to reach the ocean.
           CNN is in trouble again, false information and defamation. They may become the first TV station in history to have more staff than viewers. Trump visited North Carolina and handed his microphone to victims to name the insurance companies that stiffed them. I braved the arctic and went over to look at the neighbor’s porch. This is actually quite an easy fix, but it is going to cost him dearly in lumber if he wants the 2x12” planks replaced. It’s a simple deck and the columns are mostly decoration.

           My plan is to prop the columns up with a temp scaffold and replace the whole assembly with pre-cut pieces. Part of the damage is because the porch was built with untreated lumber and then heavily painted. If he hires a carpenter, that job is going to cost him a thousand dollars.
           He’s running into the same situation I did many years back. The City won’t issue any handyman licenses and the contractors turn up their noses as such small jobs. I don’t think he’ll find anybody. Cold weather tomorrow will give me a chance to price out an offer. He’s partially lucky it is a simple repair because that lumber is going to cost him.

Picture of the day.
Putting the “duh”
In Florida.
Remember to use BACK ARROW to return to blog.

           By staying on the sunny side of the buildings, an old Montana trick, I have work I can report on. First the damage, one of my precious few remaining 200W filament bulbs is gone. But I heard a rumor Trump will allow them to be sold again, turns out most Americans still prefer them. Next, the leg of the circuit past the new security light quit working. How odd that my circuit tester is giving false readings. I’ll swap the batteries because it is now registering a current in dead wood and old paint cans.

           This photo is not of my best work. It is scrap lumber being made into a rack for my spare pieces. Everybody who cuts wood sooner or later gets a great big backlog of short pieces. Knowing it would turn frigid soon as the Sun went behind the trees, I prepped a bunch of boards [for future boxes] and applied a second layer of stain to anything that looked like it needed it. The cool means drying time can be up to a day. During this process I found two piece of wood that I wrecked a few years ago. Here I am cutting panel channels wearing gloves.
           This wood is something superfine and it smells like perfume when cut or drilled. Back then a board was a board and these got thrown into the same pile as the pallet slats. They are short end pieces and the will now get used up without ever knowing what happened to the sides. For all I know they got used for the chicken coop.

           An evening at home had me watching Bruce Willis in “RED” and studying some Assemble commands. Early computers could only run one program at a time because code like Assembler had to ensure memory locations did not overlap. If you’ve ever had to increase your virtual memory, that’s the reason. Virtual memory is when the computer is multitasking, each program does not have to worry about others running, the memory is allocated to prevent any conflicts. Um, for anyone who has ever wondered what page files are, it’s what is used to keep track of all these memory locations—but don’t quote me on that. It’s complicated.

           Last evening I spreadsheeted the estimate for the neighbor’s porch replacement. It really isn’t that bad, but scabbing over the bad spots would work out to around the same amount in labor. Whoever built it made it to be cut out of standard size planks of lumber, so overall the cost won’t hit him all that badly. Except the final coat of paint which the customer chooses himself, I got him a quote of $146 for lumber and deck screws. Seriously not bad pricing if you look at the photos from this morning. Just don’t wait up for results, it is going to stay arctic all weekend.

ADDENDUM
           Here’s a fine example of how Democrats do business. Trump has told all government departments the DEI is no longer acceptable and positions will be filled only on the basis of merit. Instead of obeying as they are supposed to, these slimeballs resort to this sort of donkey. Fortunately, Trump is on to their tricks and this will do them no good. Because Trump will also fire the people who helped them pull this sort of stunt.

           The word is if you are White, do not eat in any Mexican restaurants or really any spic food in general. Myself, I don’t eat much foreign food unless I can watch it being prepared. Learned that in India way back in ’86.

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