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DOES NOT represent any average American life-style.
Tales From The Trailer Court™
Friday, November 28, 2025
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VIDEO HAS LOUD SOUND.
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DOES NOT represent any average American life-style.
November 28, 2025
One year ago today: November 28, 2024, a sampling of replies.
Five years ago today: November 28, 2020, by a vast majority.
Nine years ago today: November 28, 2016, parking at the front door.
Random years ago today: November 28, 2009, my 7th most popular post.
It’s Chicken Sandwich war time, with Burger Kind and Popeye’s vying for top slot. At $11 each., I won’t be conducting any taste tests. Both chains are owned by the same corporation. It’s a bitterly cold morning which reminds me the vehicles are both in tip-top condition for Tennessee winter driving, so I’m inclined to take a small trip, maybe the book store in Davenport. Toasty warm in the cab, before that I have a treat for you. Recall last day when I was inappropriately touched by the burrs of the bush? This dazzling epic does not end there.
This is one of the burrs after doing it’s job. It is pretty much saturated with my chest hairs and blanket fiber. As the superlative burr I have ever met up so close, I may go back into that yard to find one that is not used. Moments later, I found this second burr which clearly shows all the wee little hooks that gave me such a hard time. Yes, that is the laser etched grid behind this photo. There should be a nearby video of the back yard, showing it is now at least walkable. That would also describe the building up the road, where it seems the work crews have finally completely replaced the floor under the building. What a massive task that must have been.
Sadly, one of the DC victims has died, it’s tragic, but watch for a far more USA-positive change in the way the National Guard deals with these potential threats. To a lot of Americans, probably the majority, this incident is regarded as the first actually open killing by the Democrat party, who have been provoking such violence. When will they go too far? The irony was listening to the people who flew them in expressing condolences to the families.
Unable to resist watching this video of the guy who build a cardboard airplane, I was impressed by his thinking as he talks you through. He knows his stuff and almost flew. What really held my interest is I now know the theory and some of the practice behind his story of how things worked. Even the way he programmed the instruments and built the wing spars.
At mid-morning it is still in the mid 50s. I’ve got another plan for a small box, this time long and narrow, just wider than a spice jar. For things that size that need to be stored in a row instead of in a box. I glance along my desk and see I have plenty of such articles that I don’t want to throw in a drawer. Two nasal sprays, a bingo marker, a salt shaker, envelope moistener, a coin tube, and bottle of glue. Nice day for a drive, but too cold and I don’t want to listen to that Algerian narrator who fancies himself clever. Silver over $55 per ounce makes it feel a little warmer.
If you really want to get steamed up, there is a video series online (no link) where these feminists are asked to solve 66 + 34. The horror story is not that none of them got the answer, but the variety of tactics they used to avoid answering. It takes years of practice at entrenched stupidity to get that good at ducking. They possessed an ease and conviction at blocking the question, even accusing the questioners. One did demand a pencil, although she motioned because she could not think if the word “pencil”. It’s been so long since she’s used one. And folks, these are today’s top-rated marriage material.
Something else I noticed was some women referring to shared info on dating sites about “bad” men, expecting the usual accusations. Instead. there were an uncomfortable number of references on how much money to expect the guy to spend on that pivotal first date. Guys, there are two types of people who keep tabs on you. The ones you know about, like your doctor, and the ones you don’t, like the police. All I can say is when somebody keeps records of what you do without your knowledge, they have already decided you are the enemy.
Alabama wildlife.
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A new term is cropping up up, “ozempic face”. This is the hollow-cheek look of dramatic weight-loss. Prime example, Mike Obama, and the recent big attempt to look glamorous. I’ll reserve judgment on that one. I used the early afternoon to learn about a type of microtome I’ve never seen until y’day. This is the tool that produced the very thin section you see in microscope slides. I’ve only seen the expensive type that look like a miniature sausage slicer and cost a fortune. Now I see a unit that costs $60 and makes sense, at least for small or wet pieces.
When the cutting plate, the flat round disk is in place, you take a razor and slice it flat. Turn the dial on the base to raise the carrot 500 microns and make your second slice, known as your section. Peel this slice off with tweezers into a shallow dish of water and the carrot expands away, leaving your specimen [probably floating] there. This is so economical, I need one just to say I tried it.
There is some authorities stating that 92% of Biden’s executive orders were via illegal use of the autopen. Trump has rescinded all such orders, but the Senate and Congress are against him, meaning the orders will be back the instant there is another Democrat in power. A group was selling the orders for $250,000 each, including old Hunter’s pardon. There appear to be some minor police and ICE raids in Minnesota, but sending 8 or 10 agents to arrest each Somalian is probably just political theater.
ADDENDUM
It’s not all work and no play, I like the odd puzzle game, and here is my score on Puzzmo, which I don’t like due to its membership policy. Here is something seen on a regular basis around here--besting all 40 GenX "champions". Why 40? Because they can't count any higher. That's a joke, son. But it is no joke that I am up against uber-gamers, supposedly their generation’s best, who spend all day on such puzzles and know how to cheat.
Some news-slash-trivia. The trimmings on a new vehicle now add an average of $11,200 to the purchase price, with 20% of new buyers locked in to monthly payments over $1,000.
And here is a great article from Cypher if you have time to read the comments. They are excellent and lay bare the myth that mail-order houses are cheaper. Best point made—these kits are just the exterior shell and interior partitions, the cheapest part of the house.
Thursday, November 27, 2025
November 27, 2025
One year ago today: November 27, 2024, flush the roach.
Five years ago today: November 27, 2020, an un-camera person.
Nine years ago today: November 27, 2016, east, like it or not.
Random years ago today: November 27, 2002, 750,000 by tomorrow.
Up late with the microscope idea, it was easy to print a grid. What is not so easy is printing the grid to an exact scale, or numbering that grid. It was fun and I have a pattern that will work, but failed to find a suitable vector file for free. Because I won’t pay for lines. Since I only need one for now, I set the laser to the 1 hour task of burning the jpeg file. This laser does not excel at cutting such patterns and I see now why the overscan setting is important. I further learned except for extreme cases, the actual grid size isn’t that important. You mostly need a reference.
Now here is a Thanksgiving post worth reading, the adventures of Chester. Two guardsmen have been shot in DC and FoxNews is already on about possible CIA and Afghan connections, it’s almost formulaic. I’m not hungry today of all days. Except for apple pie. It’s okay, I remembered to set my scale back ten pounds. Pie with nutmeg instead of cinnamon, I’m easy to please, pie-wise.
Later, it’s pie that takes the cake as it were, this morning was another dense fog, this one unusually cold. No mention of rain in the forecast, but all that humidity has to go somewhere and it isn’t up. I double-checked everything was under cover and it wasn’t long. Flood conditions. The directions said to let the pie cool for 20 minutes. I wonder which Boomer came up with that one. There is also a good wind so let it freeze up there, I have the coffee to survive whatever they throw this way. I’m not the only one who takes cold weather personal.
They were once called probe hooks, but not the mini-grabbers which are meant for connecting wires. Those are too flimsy. There are probe hooks, but only with useless banana plugs on the other end plus they want $12 a pair for them. I need a trip to SkyCraft.
What’s this, 525 extra views last day? Must have been my tale about the semaphore message. There is one more canned message left, let me get it for you. Ready? CHANGE COURSE THIRTY DEGREES NORTH. That wasn’t worth the effort. The chosen exercise allows the message to be sent backwards, maybe that is the correct next challenge.
The chainsaw massacre station,
Today, Bastrop, TX
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This is the most something Thanksgiving in a while, because I build my first real scientific instrument. It was a incredible, and I mean that, departure from the box skills I was just started to get proud of. Other than the bulk cuts of the wooden frame pieces, here was a project that got me hauling out some of the most specialized tools in my shed, some of which have been used once. I must say this was an unexpected adventure; I’ll record the short version. Shown here is the first photo taken by the assembly, some #8 copper wire.
The design needed a flat table cut to fit where the lens was positioned, which in turn meant measuring the diameter of the instrument in several places. None were consistent, so three concentric holes had to be exactly spaced for the curving diameter of the microscope barrel. This was accomplished by a complicated series of tacking together wood blocks, using the tiny 1/8th inch brads I just knew I kept in that old tray for the past five years. By carefully drilling matching pilot holes and some back and forth, I got the barrel to fit, then pried away the sacrificial blocks.
Bottom line, this work required a lot of specialized tools and skills. The adjusting assembly, the t-nut screw, does not stay level, plainly wood is not the ideal material. These metal parts are what I have the least experience with, so we are not giving up. It doesn’t work well, but it does work, shown here by this instant photo of a penny. It’s tricky to adjust but the precision is astonishing compared to before.
I’m turning a screw to get this focus, meaning with a proper knob, super fine clarity of most surfaces should become routine. Like myself, you may have noticed the sparkle in the metal today and y’day is not gold, but am effect of the LEDs built into the camera. Best of all, these photos were taken in a few seconds on the first try. My guess is this [microscope] is finally useful and a good demo of prototyping skill.
ADDENDUM
My secondary plan today was to plant some avocado seeds. Over the years I’ve tried the seed in water until it sprouts, but none have succeeded. That is, they get a foot tall, the size recommended for transplanting to soil. Then they slowly expire. I didn’t get to this due to a drop in temperature into the 50s. The back room has the overhead to keep toasty and the bath room is on a timer, that’s how predictable my patterns are. It was again so dead silent I could hear the kitchen clock ticking. Not even the distant rumble of family arguments. Later, the radio says she’s dropping to 42°F, time for research. Since I don't do the Black Friday thing, I've never missed it. They shop, I play bass. They spend, I cook. They're broke, I'm not. There's a pattern here but I just can't quite connect the dots. How was your Thanksgiving?
Wednesday, November 26, 2025
November 26, 2025
One year ago today: November 26, 2024, can’t recommend it.
Five years ago today: November 26, 2020, five times the turkey.
Nine years ago today: November 26, 2016, broke and happy.
Random years ago today: November 26, 2008, Look - poor people.
What, if any, news interests me this morning? Well, the 2020 Census, claimed to be the most accurate in history, has been show to contain hundreds of errors. All of them in favor of the Democrat party. Which, as Trump finally said, is one fair election away from extinction. The Christians being slaughtered in Nigeria are the ones producing 4/5ths of the nation’s food supply. Another 250 ICE agents head for New Orleans. Campbell’s soup says their chicken meat is made on a 3D printer. Hawaii tries to pull a fast one by banning “No Guns Allowed” signs, instead requiring other stores to post “Guns Allowed”, which no store wants to do.
First step is a correctly sized pilot hole. Do we know any pilot hole experts around here? I like these pieces already, just handling them. I would have tapped the nut into place, but with large pieces, I saw this guy insert the bolt around back and use a wrench to pull the prongs into the wood. It seemed to do a smoother job. I already have a plan for a cradle to hold that hand-held microscope that was too heavy for the gear it came with. When you turned the knob, it took so much force the whole table moved. Let’s see if I even get started.
We enter a sixth consecutive Thanksgiving without any massive die-off of the unvaxxed. For that matter, I don’t think I’ve heard of a single COVID casualty amongst the purebloods (such as myself) in years. It is Deadsville in central Florida again, looks like unless I create some animation, nothing is going to happen today. But gosh, it warmed up and I crawled back in the sack.
Then I watched a documentary on abandoned roads in the Mojave desert. I’ve only crossed that desert directly, by which I mean east from Barstow, twice. Once by station wagon (2018) once by sidecar (2013), the adventure of a lifetime. Was that already so very long ago?
Yes, and it seems even longer ago because of my lifestyle. Put another way, so much has happened since then (and certainly since 2018) that without this blog to the rescue, it would mostly seem a blank. Hey, the blog went on-line partially to prevent that. I knew from experience there was no safe or permanent way to keep such records with me. But on-line adds permanence, whether you want it or not.
Reed Pass/NoPass medical school.
(Portland, Oregon)
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A bit of progress. The pilot hole does not contribute to how the nut is fastened, that is, all the pressure is across the piece of wood. So make the pilot hole exact, right? Except, the “metric calipers” give that annoying digital readout. What is 25.8 millimeters? To the rescue is that odd metal gaggue that has weird sizes like 10.5/64ths. I never did find out what that was for, but shown here is the correct size of 19/64ths. And I have a complete set of drill bits in that range. I may get something done today yet.
What do you know, my 19/64ths was the bit gone missing, how restored to its proper spot. And here is the gizmo I slapped together to test my skill and my patience. This is a rudimentary scope holder. It’s just a proof it can be done, a bite at so many on-line videos that of course tell you how easy it is. All this does is use that screw to adjust the microscope focus instead of that knob on the device which has never worked right. To move it, you have to pick it up and use both hands. At anything above 50x, just you try to put it down on the exact same spot.
Did I learn anything? Yes, I have a greater appreciation of instrument makers. Try something like this and you will learn why there are so many pins, knobs, and guide rods on all but the simplest instruments. If you look, you can see some of the wooden blocks I used to keep the parts aligned and while they work, it is not good enough.
It was just a small tube around an inch long. As I twirl the bolt shown here, the wood does not like to stay flat. So emulating my drill press, I will put one of these tubes through the wood with a rod. The piece of wood I’m holding can move up and down over a range just enough to focus the average view through the microscope lens, which must be attached to a computer—once you disable Edge. For now, the parts are mostly temporary to eyeball the various dimensions, like that focal length.
What’s shown here is a pencil mark on an ordinary flash card I normally use for receiving code. I prefer pencil, that’s when I noticed something. The pencil is the one I first saw a laser inscribe “sweet tooth” on at the Maker Faire back on March 8 this year. But on blue paper, the effect was a brownish color rather than pencil-grey. That’s what prompted me throw it under the lens.
If you can see them, there are lots of tiny gold-colored flecks in the mark. The lighting used doesn’t let you see them sparkle but it is very evident to the eye. I’ll try to zoom in but this is about the maximum possible unless I use the lab microscope, for which I have no way at this time of viewing opaque objects. I’ll also try to use the laser to etch a grid onto the viewing surface, as any greater magnification even on the hand-held I used for this photo quickly loses size perspective.
Tuesday, November 25, 2025
November 25, 2025
One year ago today: November 25, 2024, me, the pooch, & the highway.
Five years ago today: November 25, 2020, Sparkie is gone.
Nine years ago today: November 25, 2016, it’s salvageable.
Random years ago today: November 25, 2020, . . . that don’t cost money.
I keep an eye out for new Arduino publications and there is a myth that can wreck your microcontroller that I warn against. It is the use of PWM (pulse width modulation) as a power source. Folks, it is not for power, it is a signal. Folks, get your info from the Arduino site on this one. The PWM signal is barely powerful enough to blink and LED and should never be used to power a device, such as a motor. You would use the PWM to control a transistor, which in turn could power the motor, but PWM is not a power source.
Aha, a light cloud cover and I was in that back yard, hacking back the jungle. A fire in the barrel for three hours and I got most of the hard part finished. This photo shows the new work bench taking form ever so slowly in the scooter lean-to. Past noon, it got too warm for steady yard work, so I cleared up the shelf area of the scooter shed. I’ll need some more lighting in there. I put in a good day but my back is not cooperating.
I kind of left it, so it must be attacked in two stages. I did this, and it got me back, a sneak move by Mother Nature. First stage, use pruning shears so you can get close to the stems. The large clippers to trim down near the stump. That’s where I met grief. The plant grows high and overhead, and I trimmed the lower twigs. Thus I was under the higher branches when I cut the stems. This caused a shower of burrs, and I was working in the heat without hat or shirt. A cloud of burrs descended on me. Around 60 of these got into my hair. Chest, arms, legs, head, beard. Nasty little buggers.
They would not rinse or shampoo off, I spent an hour picking them one by one and most caused hairs to be ripped out by the root. The sneaky plant, I had seen the burrs but they were in little clusters like small blackberries. I’m happy enough to be able to walk back there, this photo shows the old target shelter. It will become an integral part of the fence back there, a fence that has never stayed perpendicular on its own.
Texas dove hunting.
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Including the time with the burrs, I was busy six hours and read for Gunsmoke. It’s true, we’ve seen all the good ones. All that’s left are soapy dramas, this week about a Marshall that turns into an old drunk and warns Matt he’s in for the same. As the neighbor operates his TV, we get glimpses of news. It is so strange to know a die-hard Democrat. The propaganda works, because he firmly believes the 20 million illegals were let in by Trump as Biden valiantly tried to block them with all his might, but Trump was just such a dictator.
India did not text to confirm the jam session. This confirms she is unreliable, so I will move on by myself. If she sells anything now, there is no free inventory. I get it, she is going through a lot, but she is also doing Wilford, which is fine except she will get dumped for a younger version with no kids. Like I said, her use to me is whether she can sell boxes, but I do kind of like her as a person. A person who has brought immense personal struggles upon herself.
Myself, time to get ready for the big day. Nope, not Thanksgiving. I don’t usually give a lot of thanks to things that I had to work my ass off for. I mean the first bird in the oven of the new stove. Here’s four pounds of spuds getting ready for the big boil. The chicken is going into the fridge to thaw even though I have the microwave. Because the micro will begin to cook the outer layers and that is a no-no for the Reb, and Taylor, if she ever shows.
No, she is probably unaware of this extra step. She does not habitually read this blog, and when I’m in Tennessee, she already knows everything that’s going on. They got winter there and down here in the tropics that translates to medium cool. That means rest up because if it is below 70°F tomorrow, I’m in that back yard again. Get ready for a quiet winter in my own back sheds, doing stuff, like it was meant to be.
And remind me to get coffee again. Same as back Seattle-way, this kind of weather takes my consumption up to 8 or 10 cups per day. That’s why I’m preparing for a cold winter, spend more time at home, spend less money, and wait. The real climate that needs to change is the economy. Will it be an AI bubble? The stock exchange again? Real estate?
I ran enough numbers to know that I cannot ever invest enough to gain through interest alone—and interest is the primary method to survive on after say age 70. Unless you want to try living on social security. Not one box has been sold, though having such a hobby has taken things like my travel and entertainment budgets down to manageable levels. And who knows, I may stumble across something. This has background, because I’ve read many tales from the trailer court about people who’s hobby paid off. I just did not realize how few people had a productive pastime. Factoring that in, the success rate is significantly higher.
ADDENDUM
Since I won’t have time later, here’s a quick review of some budget items to date this year. These are a few major items that are tracked, relatively fixed expenses like insurance, property tax, and utilities are not usually included.
Groceries: $2,396Any observations? Yep, the biggest expense is groceries, but still less than any of the previous five years because I’m not spending as much time in Tennessee. Entertainment is lower from playing out, where mostly the drinks are free and I’m not taking the Reb to the movies as much at $60 a pop. Gasoline usage is also down correspondingly. A surge in office expenses is totally from increased costs of telecom/WiFi which has almost doubled since February.
Entertainment: $1,256
Gasoline: $1,770
Household:$1,165
Office/Phone: $1,298
Vehicles: $476
Books/Hobby: $742
The vehicle figure does not include regular or large repairs. But notice I spend much more on hobbies than vehicle maintenance. Entertainment is more interpreted than any other category because it is also a measure of life quality. In the past ten years, my most expensive annual cost for this was $4,800 back in 2018.
Other factors? Since 2018, I tend to not go out unless the Reb is present. From that time onward, there is a real decline because neither of us need to spend money to enjoy. Another shrinkage was after COVID, then the “Las Vegas” era after 2023 that killed the last local club around here you could just drop in for a quiet bottle. Two other influences are the return to austerity measures forced by growing inflation and the now complete downfall of the last local club. That is a curious one, it is the aftermath of the Vegas bunch bleeding the place dry.
How that worked was the how the club went from a quiet weekday bar to crushing crowds of outsiders on weekends. The rest of the week, I described how no locals worked there any more. And how the Vegas crowd left when the bar returned to locals, who are admittedly a boring lot. So now, you have no entertainment except canned shigga-booga on Saturday which the current staff, being under 35, think is the way things always were. And the place is empty the rest of the week. Many a time, at the WPM, I am the only local person, often with fewer than 5 patrons. Since the club owners get no real feedback except maybe noticing revenues have plummeted.
Monday, November 24, 2025
November 24, 2025
One year ago today: November 24, 2024, robot density.
Five years ago today: November 24, 2020, Starbucks sucks.
Nine years ago today: November 24, 2016, goof-ware.
Random years ago today: November 24, 2007, the original “trailer court”.
Do we see a replacement for Jason D. Brown as the most famous of the “Most Wanted” list? An Olympic snowboarder (2002) is wanted for questioning, that grey area of law enforcement. Once again we see the tactic of guilt by inference. Ryan James Wedding is now plastered over the airwaves as the top criminal in the world. Until you look closely, none of the posters or the announcements by Bondi actually state that there are any warrants. The most they say is that Wedding is “accused”, which is not the same thing.
He’s probably guilty as hell, (Don’t let his blue eyes and name fool you, this guy is a Columbian thug.) But the list buffaloes people they don’t have enough evidence to formally charge. My beef is with that policy. There is no right to remain silent if they can keep you in a prison cell in the meanwhile. There is no presumption of innocence if they can turn you into a fugitive, also in the meanwhile. I’m saying if a person is merely “wanted for questioning”, he has a right to walk right past a police station. Anything less is coercion.
The first winter fog and it is bone-chilling. Visibility around a half a block, but my concern with weather centers on if it stops me from getting anything done. This morning I fed the cats and then myself. They are feral so only the other neighbor’s tame cat, shown here, will chow down right away. The wee pyramids of food on individual blocks is so they won’t fight over the food. There is one older cat, almost blind and deaf, gets a special private serving.plate to one side.
More rumblings from Alberta, which in effect is already the 51sth state. It’s significantly more connected to the US as a trade partner than to Ottawa. Plus, it seems recently Alberta began asking Ottawa for an accounting of the money being shipped east and were snubbed. The big question is, will I make a special van trip to Bartow just to buy coffee? I am out and the local shops don’t sell what I like. The slide of house prices, ever so slight, is now a trend in Tennessee. I’ll be watching, but houses there still cost twice what they are worth.
Pardon if I fixate, but more news of western Canadian separation arrives and in a new form—not talk, but conditions that show this move has been in the works for a long time. And anticipated every countermeasure from Ottawa so far. Folks, 88% of my investments are in or near that part of the world. I have been there, and except for a tiny corner of British Columbia, you might as well call the whole place Alberta. And I probably will. Compared to southern Alberta, the rest of the terrain from Hudson’s Bay to Vancouver Island isn’t worth the time of day unless Calgary says so.
It makes sense, after the treatment the west got over the convoy protests, discontent changed to hatred. Separation would not just change the map, it would destroy the whole rotten Ontario structure. The easterners could no longer even pay their debt. The free $25 billion they’ve been looting Alberta for has propped their spending spree and even if the breakaway is a no-go, they will never see that money again. At least not with their accustomed heartlessness.
To solidify their position, Alberta is apparently kicking out Federal offices and their employees. No more eastern stranglehold on the system and Ottawa had it coming. Other countries have malaria, Canada has Ontario bureaucrats. I won’t go into detail at this time, but the events in Alberta have a direct bearing on my situation.
College remedial math class.
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Here's the big breakfast for the cats. This is the back yard. The cats don't know me, so most are under the house. They get a choice of wet or dry food, I think Howie spoils them. I have to put out smaller piles to tempt them, where all he has to do is rattle the box. The critter shown here is Max, the other neighbor's feline grabbing a free snack.
In grade school we were assigned articles to read about the Libyan independence war against Italian colonization. This was back when TIME magazine actually reported mostly unbiased news. It was the same as in most colonies, a tiny group on about nationalism. When they won there was some dancing while the Europeans left. But it died down when the electricity went out and the water became unsafe. The food shortages began and the garbage piled up in the streets. The people who didn’t die looked around at their new-found national freedom and thought, this is it?
Sunday, November 23, 2025
November 23, 2025
One year ago today: November 23, 2024, slow-walking Lebanon.
Five years ago today: November 23, 2020, laced with pepper.
Nine years ago today: November 23, 2016, beware the Trans-Pacific.
Random years ago today: November 23, 1981, 44 years ago today.
This morning we talk tools and plans, it’s a fine Sunday for it. And we have time, I’ve got a ham/onion potato casserole in the oven for breakfast later. Um, I’d show you a picture of the tool tote, but it’s gone. Did not last five minutes last evening. I made a late trip to the old club (dead, six customers instead of sixty), terrible Karaoke dude playing pseudo-rap.
Brought his own table who were his only fans. Did I just say “only fans”? Anyway, I was there to deliver the circular saw, but Josh was an hour late, so I wrote two letters (Hersh and Ten, the new contact). I didn’t care for the tote (the mini-tool box) so I threw some accessories in it. Pencil, pen, ruler, clips and took it along with me.
Let me elaborate somewhat. India is the sort of gal that in movies before my time would be tagged as willowy. I never knew what that meant, apparently smooth and flowing. And she was dressed for that tonight, a very light beige dress letting the world know she still has a dynamite figure. We have yet to slate a sit-down to go over the marketing system she has, but I’ll tell you what I think in the addendum. She insists I show her the yagisuki prodess, having picked up it is not quite as easy as it seems. Take this to mean she has a use for the technique. I’ll find out, women always talk, kind of like I always write.
Here is the dowel cutting device/tool mentioned. It’s a crude design but at $30 for the best, I’ll buy one soon. I see Harbor Freight is selling a countertop plasma cutter for $99, don’t rule it out. Wilford reports he has seen one of those fancy laser cutting tables, but recalls it was not automatic. Why, months after getting a laser and having watched a dozen tutorials, is this product never mentioned? It never appeared until I independently found I had a need for such a contraption. Of course, I want one that can be programmed or at least easily adjusted in place. It never even appeared in the “people also liked” banner—tipping us off most people never get much beyond their unboxing. Figures.
This page needs a picture here. How about this breakfast casserole bake, or make that with spuds, cubed ham, and onions. Ah, the aroma, look at this feast. Oops, you were too slow again. The oven is back. Yes, it does take ten minutest to preheat, but that’s you signal to use extra time with the ingredients. I doubt I’ll move far this morning. Howie is off the DisneyWorld, they don’t actually go to the exhibits. It’s a birthday party and they meet at a renowned café, what is it called? I think I had a beer there one 20 years ago. Bierhouse, no wait, Biergarten, hey, this is the Internet age, look it up yourself. I recall it was the only reasonably priced eatery there. The buffet is $50 a person, reports Howie. Make it $60, with tax and the un-American custom of tipping.
In Googlespeak, that is -90.8144°W by -36.4208°S, way off the coast of Chile. Nearest land of any note is the town of Coronel, where the Brits got their arses kicked for the first time since the Napoleonic wars. The outbreak of WWI caught some German battlecruisers from their base in China, where they could not return because Japan was a potential enemy.
Von Spee opted to sail for Chile which has a sizeable German population. Neither his fleet or the British squadron were major warships, it seems neither was anticipating meeting the other in force. The upper hand went to the Germans who had all their ships using the same call signs so the British thought they had found a single light cruiser. Oops! To make matters worse, the crews of the larger German ships were recipients of the Kaiser’s award for expert marksmanship.
It was not the big battle that history tries t make it, the Germans lost not a single man. But, they had shot off half their remaining ammunition and there was nowhere to get more. Another part of history I intend to look at is the middle of north Africa, along the Mediterranean coast. If you examine the population, you see mostly the coast. I never did accept the reasoning that these communities lay claim to such huge swaths of the interior. Algeria, for example, is separated from what they argue is theirs by a chain of mountains most of them have never crossed.
In fact, it was the French, not any native Algerians, that began to extend control south into the Sahara. It was a European age of conquest and discovery and any Algerian who claims otherwise is talking through his turban. It’s one of the few communist led revolutions that had no real basis in land claims anywhere, there was no real tribe of Algerians. And I think the audiobook I’m reading is heading toward claiming that there was.
This prodded me into finding that old Quinn movie, “Lion of the Desert”, which I am now watching. And I must commend it on remarkable attention to detail, right down to the medals on the uniforms and the official angle of the salute. It’s a war movie so I would almost naturally spot most flaws and so far, nothing. This movie is uncanny in a lot of ways.
Illegal pinball machine, 1930s.
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Kooters, as we knew it, is gone. The place has been in trouble a while and the word is a new owner has canned the entire staff. It’s closed with rumors of a new opening day in December. I admit to going there once every three months or so and did not like the price increases. The common objection to the place is the heavy aroma of decades of smoking. The place is beyond fumigation. I’m watching for a simple reason—I don’t think the place is worthwhile for anyone unless they can get that elusive liquor license.
One can almost hear the roaring laughter as the X account location displays the hypocrisy and blatant lying behind some of the big influencing sites. What a joke, with countless fake sites advocating “racial tolerance” and a host of such issues all based in India, Pakistan, Israel, or Bangladesh. That white guy from LA who converted to Island to many his wife? The English Lord he felt is countrymen were intolerant? The Vatican official who promotes interracial everything? Yep, all paid actors.
I never did learn what pressures led X to this. I suppose it to be a reaction to A.I. and spreading of misinformation. One critical field tells how often the user has changed names, but what surprises me is people are still dumb enough to do that. But my biggest laugh was reading how almost all those Japanese “cartoon porn” and feminist sites were almost exclusively Koreans. The Japs worship their cartoon porn, it’s as close as they ever get.
The most significant revelation to me is how the son of George Soros has fled and is based in Niger. Trump recently announced the use of anti-racketeering laws to go after Antifa funding around the same time. Niger does not extradite to the USA.
China and Korea now build 75% of the world’s ships, with the US a distant sixth place, building just 48 last year. The higher figure of 98 ships includes military and that distorts reality. The US has 60 yards capable of shipbuilding, but for how long now? There is also a new presence on-line, called “Podium of Liberty” or similar. The shift is real, with the Clinton’s being forced to testify, the Epstein people pleading the Fifth, and the latest round of indictments are not melting away like before.
Now I’m facing a crisis. I just drank the last coffee pod and I am not driving to town in the dark. I have tea, but that is like starvation rations for this cowboy. I’m ending a lazy day reading a bit more about G files, the nickname for the vector files that guide the laser and CNC cutters. That’s when it hit me, I’ve seen this sort of positioning before. I once looked at a stream of GPS data and saw that it had to know where B was before it could get there from A. This is different than seeking out the target and I always thought that is a very vulnerable system.
But it also told me not to pursue any electronic projects that calculate vectors, because I am no good at that sort of arithmetic. In other news, X and others have deactivated their translation software for Hebrew, claiming it was over Gaza, but actually because it was translating the Jewish Bible and infuriating people. A historic first, I think.
ADDENDUM
Marketing to me means a large amount of patience over people, not my strong point. India has mentioned she has some experience with Etsy-like selling, which could work but is likely on a very small scale. She quite understandably wants to be shown the process rather than learn it herself. Ah, if only I had such luxury in my life, somebody to show you the easy, best, and right way to do things. How off the wall that this late in life I still lament that those who have such an advantage are least to appreciate it.
What I do know is she has kids but they seem school age and she can come and go as she pleases. This reminds me of Marion and the immense struggles we had trying to find some work she could do at home—but this was prior to the Internet and we failed. Back then, you needed a fortune to start anything or strangely, you’d run afoul of some law or bylaw. Back then the city even had restrictions on how many vehicles could pull up in front of your house and the utility companies were always on the lookout for any unusual usage patterns.
The Internet did impact the whole scene, but it hardly democratized small business. Instead the usual pattern of 1% success, 99% barely making it. And that 1% caught in the never-ending spiral of constant growth to survive. The largest unspoken factor working against any startup is competition from those who do not have to make a living at it. Media tends to lump competition together as a beneficial large process. But that is not the case, there is a silent form they don’t even mention, and it is a barrier I did not really know until I crossed it.
Here’s the difference. My competition is not the multimillion dollar factory that can churn out boxes for less than my cost. It is the guy up the road who does not have to make a living at it. He has all he needs to fire up and build a bunch of boxes if he feels like it. He can give them away for all he cares, and I have now become that guy. This is also the basis of why I say most cottage industry investment amounts to buying yourself a shitty-paying part time job.
That’s not changed by the Internet, just grown in scale, Having said that, another factor comes into play. It’s how you get to not having to make a living at it. Years, money, sheds, are all barriers to market entry if you don’t have them, and are a loss unless you have some way to sell your output. I sell on eBay and told you what a hassle that is, far from the list-it-and-forget-it process they would have you believe.
Enter India. She gets a listen because even the potential of someone to do the sales is rare enough. She evidentally, like myself, does not have pay the bills with it. In fact, most any money I make is infinitely more likely to get invested than spent. This is why I need a bit more information about her situation, if only to ensure she never develops a dependency.
Saturday, November 22, 2025
November 22, 2025
One year ago today: November 22, 2024, took them long enough . . .
Five years ago today: November 22, 2020, weeds love me.
Nine years ago today: November 22, 2016, early floor work.
Random years ago today: November 22, 2006, pot beside pot.
It’s now 72 hours of complete nighttime silence (since Thanksgiving), and I’m rested up, ready to try another dumb idea. The tool boxes, a project with lots of board ends as byproducts. There is plenty of on-line advice that the smaller the box, the thinner the lumber, but I disagree. Some of the best small boxes I have use 3/4" lumber. They make excellent storage boxes for delicate equipment. Last evening I took a second look at the most recent ends. Y’know, I wonder if scaling down the tool boxes would produce a handy or novel tote?
Some comments on the box, by now I must have some of you convinced I’m not resting on my laurels. This is work I pore into like I used to study computers and such. It’s also active work and I suspect that is in far shorter supply than it should be. What’s different here. You can see the thick walls of the sides, that is also y’day’s pallet lumber. It is a bit much but a sturdier handle will make it more photogenic. I was going to use surplus paintbrush handles pinched together, I have lot. That’s a no-go as it takes roughly 30 tries to get any two the same diameter.
The end pieces are also thinner that is visually appealing. It is now routine to have the logos lasered into these pieces, simply because they are easiest to walk into the office, and they fit under the limited cutting area of the Wainlux (laser). We’ve also learned more of the art of laser etching and one component we do know is how to check the moisture content. Turns out this makes a super difference in the depth the laser will cut and the extent of charring.
Shown here is 10%, with 11% being pretty much the ideal for this pallet wood. The Wailux is 10W which is enough to easily bite too deep, yet the beam focal length is too narrow to cut even 1/4' material effectively. For clarity, the distance of the laser to the surface is important. I don’t know the physics here, but the beam seems to converge to a point and the effective “depth” of that is 1/32” at best. This means slicing a piece of wood even 1/4" deep means the beam is increasingly out of focus on subsequent passes. This is born out by several experiment. There is no easy method of adjusting for this foible.
For more advanced features and better finishes, much of this box was “built backwards” and this trend is increasing. My guess is 60% of this box used this technique. For example, all pilot holes, fitting, finishing, and most sanding is done before the box is assembled. This considerably reduces certain operations that, if attended to later become more like time-consuming error corrections.
So there, you are now as current as most anyone on laser etching and small boxes. I did in the past warn anyone who reads all this is going to learn something and the best I can do is make it mostly painless. I’m not so sure this morning’s build was a winner, but I have a backup plan for this design. Make it twice as long.
I watched the news on-line at noon. What a zoo, but I see a fundamental change. For years the Democrats only attacks on Trump were personal, using the façade of “democracy”. That only fooled those who wanted to be. The change is Trump, with growing confidence, is not attacking back. So to me, this looks more like a boxing ring than national governance. The two sides could hardly be less opposite. Trump early on spotted the Democrats had no single unifying theme other than money and power thing—he seems to have let that be.
Sure enough, the Democrat ranks have split, some calling for a change of party leadership, others demanding new levels of unification, still others retiring or stepping out. Any semblance solidarity is gone and that’s spelling trouble. Starting around a week ago, Trump has begun pointing out the personalities and hidden agendas behind news stories. He knows the mainstream media will look the other way on the issues. He would denounce wrong decisions or bad policy. Now he’s outing the Democrats as disorganized rabble.
He’s openly called for tribunals on the six who advocated military disobedience, and driving home that the Epstein list is all Democrats. The turning point was the shutdown. Until then it was given that every issue or personality was a separate issue. Now it a phase where Trump can point out that whenever something is rotten, it is always the entire Democrat apparatus behind it. Kind of how to make personal attacks without making personal attacks. I wonder if he planned this because it would be a new sophistication for which the other side has utterly no defense. Last time they even tried, he had them shamelessly backing illegals over Americans.
2017 Peel 50.
(Yes, it is street-legal.)
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Here’s one for the books. I dialed a 24-year-old phone number and somebody I have not see in 51 years answered. It was the guy who worked the same place I did for a short while, until I finally had to really drop out of university and head north for work. We talked long enough to establish contact and his first letter, hopefully first of many, leaves here within hours. He still has to answer the skill-testing question, but nobody could possibly spoof this kind of time-line. What’s more, he’s sharp-sounding, active, and has kids in the music field.
Here is the original router table from Tennessee. It has the wooden legs I made from 2x4s that never did stop wobbling just a little bit. If it cools enough, I’m going to tackle clearing a space to store lumber. You can see here how quickly empty space fills with board ends when I don’t have dedicated space. I have the two posts already sunk for the old target range. I quit using it when the neighbor began painting in his shed again just across behind it. As luck would have it, the posts are in an excellent spot for this storage.
The guy called back about the Town & Country, I asked for $500 or about 10% of what I sunk into it. Remember, it acted fine right up till after I put in the new tires, windshield and charged up the A/C. When it worked, it was the finest van I’ve ever owned or even rode in. Then again, I wasn’t a van person until rather recently.
Let’s return momentarily to the dowel rods from this morning. The one the prototype, which I tested to finish, here’s a short video. Other than novelty, it isn’t that much to look at although I did learn that the Golden Ratio stays valid across these differing wood sizes. The biggest obstacle is the dowel price. As shown, I spliced the handle from 7/8ths end pieces and it does look sturdier than this morning.
This quickly led me to look on-line for dowel making apparatus. There’s plenty but they seem to max out at a size just over 3/4” and I’ll presume there is a reason for that. The ones that interest me are a cutting die where you feed a square piece though the blades with an electric drill. The larger pieces, I don’t know except those prices are going to get worse. Meh, history shows if you keep at it, a solution will happen along.
ADDENDUM
Ha, the X policy change to reveal the account location has resulted in some unpleasant consequences. How most of the anti-Trump accounts were all created on the same day and the sites selling Native American victimhood merch are mostly in Bangladesh. Droves of top US influencer accounts are based in Israel. Also, Google has grudgingly admitted they “will begin” reading your e-mail unless you go through the tortuous manual disabling steps. Google has always recorded your e-mail, the change is they will now ID you.
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