Month: December 2021

December 15, 2021 – When Your Fear of Dying Has Already Killed You

December 15, 2021 /

This is a tough subject and I am going to obscure some of the details for privacy purposes.  I am sure that there are people who can guess the subject and circumstances because they already know.  To them, I would say please respect the privacy of this person’s wish.  I am, by not naming or getting in depth with the details I think that this is a lesson for all of us. 

There is someone that I know that has a likely, terminal illness.  After seeking multiple opinions and specialists, the prognosis is ‘never been successfully treated’.  As every person in different, we don’t know what that really means in terms of what is the quality (and duration) or remaining life is.  I have an opinion based on observing  progressing symptoms, but I will keep that to myself.   

Growing up, I frequently worked with a local doctor doing odd jobs.  He told me one time that 90% of the men that make it to age 80 have prostate cancer.  I know people that have it right now.  The good news is that for the majority of men, they die of something else before prostate cancer.  My point is that there is ‘living’ with a fatal disease.

Let’s be honest, some day our day is coming.  I remember sitting in church one time and the subject of salvation came up.  The pastor was trying to get across and the idea of ‘still having time’ is one of the primary motivators for people’s sin.  I think death is like that as well.  When we do not have a sense of when the last day will be, we ignore doing the things that we should probably be doing thinking we still have more time.

Why am I talking about this today?  My observation of this person’s behavior is that they are so scared of dying that they are not living.  What does that mean?  I got a communication on Sunday from this person out of the blue that if I had been around any unmasked people that I should self quarantine for the five days prior to visiting.  Everyone reading this knows that Monday I talked about running around mask less on Saturday and Sunday.  

It is not that I am intentionally disrespecting this person, it is quite the opposite.  I even had a conversation with them in November stating that they have the right to direct treatment in any way they see fit; that includes barring people that have not worn a mask.  If I can, I will accommodate and I will take reasonable precautions and respect their wishes.  At this point, I am not going to change my values and beliefs just because we have philosophical differences.

As I do, I will digress a moment here.  This is a person that had Covid about three months ago and survived.   This is a person that has had all of the shots, including the booster.  Granted, I am not an expert in the current treatment, but I have dealt with enough doctors and the medical system to know that they are never going to give the green light to live your life, your way.  There is just too much risk out there, including their own liability.  

This is also a person never got deprogrammed and would see a headline and that would immediately support delusional constructs.  Try this one on “Immigrant Children Detained for Illegal Entry”.  This turned into Trump is coming for all of brown people and they have been separated from their parents to never be reunited as they will die in the concentration camps.  

When I talk about sharing more in similarities than differences I am talking about this situation.  I didn’t investigate the source of the information.  I would love to see the border open, if we get rid of the welfare state.  I am probably against separating children and parents in detainment.  But, who really knows the circumstances?  Maybe they were picked up separately, maybe it wasn’t safe to have kids with adults, what if the parents disowned them because they thought it was more likely they would make it into the USA?  My point is that you can’t just assume that the story is as reported.

A long time ago, I liked to listen to Dr. Dean Edell on the radio.  He was talking to someone about an eating disorder.  He said that they have done studies that starving rats would slow down metabolism and that they would live a longer life.  His point was however at what cost?  And do we know for sure?  What if you starved for 40 years to get cancer or hit by a truck, was that extra life worth it?

I have a step-Grandmother.  When I was young, she used to scare me (and my brother).  She would yell at us and shoe us outside from the pool table so that we wouldn’t interrupt her soap operas.  This was in the 1980s.  Amazingly, she had three VCRs to tape all of the soap operas concurrently.  My opinion now is that she was rough around the edges and didn’t have the patience for children.  As time has gone on, I have come to see a change to a sweet, old lady.  I do think it is a change of personality from my youth as a result of realizing that loneliness is worse than missing out on TV shows.

Getting back to my point here.  Fear is the result of programming.  Combine hope with fear and you have premature death.  By no means do I want to remove hope.  This is one of the main ingredients in successful treatment.    However, hope is not the same as living.  Hope will lead you to wait until the treatment is done and I think likely too late.  

End Your Programming Routine: At this point, I am not in a position to make the same decision fortunately.  I can’t help to think that if I was, I would choose my path differently. My wife accuses me of living in the future and not in the present, so I am not immune.  This does cause me sometimes to pause and analyze my behavior.  I still have time.

 

December 14, 2021 – I Have Just Declared December 10 as AltF4.co’s Birthday

December 14, 2021 /

Stubbing out this week’s content, I was looking back at the previous years. My first deliberate post was December 10, 2019. That means that I just passed two years this last Friday. Now that I know that, I will pay more attention in the future.  I have talked about it, but today I will talk about the origin story.

If you look back in the archives, there are two posts from 2016.  For those of you that do not know, you can create a free WordPress site.  There are definitely some limitations but that is where I worked in the first year (2019).  But I am going to go deeper today.  

It all started back in 2014.  I was coming off of a blistering travel schedule.  My company was working on the biggest project that we had ever won and I was one of the key players in the project’s success.  The owner’s of my company had decided that they had reached the pinnacle of what they could do alone and decided to try and get the company positioned as a larger company.  Our 30 person operation suddenly became a 200 person company.

As a result of the new company operations, they decided to shuffle people around and consequently, I got put on another project that was in bad shape.  It was described to me that they needed a ‘strong person to re-energize and change the course of the project’.  That was the beginning of the end for me.  Maybe I will talk about this period some more later but to keep a looong story short, I was miserable.

Because it is ultimately germane, I will add a little more.  The problem with my new project was not the people working on the project, it was the owners and management of the new company.  The project was undersold to win the job.  Then, they kept insisting that I recover the money to which the customer kept saying no.  I looked like an ass on the project and the management kept insisting that I keep sending change orders.  This caused major conflict on multiple sides.

After working for three different companies, I realized that my best chance on happiness was going to be working for myself.  I needed the ability to run things the way that I wanted to do it.  I have mentioned this before but I have listened to ‘The Survival Podcast’ since 2008.  It was probably the first podcast that I subscribed to.  In the early days, it was all about hard skills and items.  Over the years, it has morphed into more of a lifestyle podcast.

One of the lifestyle items was career and income.  The host, Jack Spirko made the transition himself into podcast host from a career in a technical industry.  He was heavily influenced by Gary Vanderchuck’s 1000 true fans model.  The summary of that model is that you need 1000 people that believe in your work to the point where they would give you one day’s wages to support it.  If you have that, then you have enough to survive.

I started the site on WordPress in 2016 as an attempt to get started.  Things got better in late 2015 but I knew in my heart of hearts I was kind of dead inside from the whole experience of 2014.  My hope was that I was going to grow an entity to the point where I would simply be able to leave my job.  What I didn’t count on was that I was mentally checked out and shortly after starting the site I abandoned it.

After I quit my job in 2019, I needed six months of downtime before I could think about the future.  I started my job search and I figured I could parallelly develop my content business since I was on the computer anyway.  I started writing daily to build discipline in priority and also to see if I would actually like doing it as a career.  Quickly, I prioritized writing over the job search and I started doing it daily.

After writing on WordPress for nearly a year, I knew that I would have to take the next step with a proper domain and site.  First of all, when I picked my blog name, I misspelled Resurrection.  My original idea was that it would related to my career change.  I thought about keeping it but then I didn’t want to repeat how to spell the actual site name all of the time, specifically on podcasts.  Plus, I didn’t want to answer why it was spelled that way, which was a hasty mistake.

I took a major step in late 2020 with the transition to AltF4.co.  I now had the freedom to make this what I wanted to be.  I could build ecommerce, I could directly embed content without going through a third party like YouTube, I could collect mailing list data and all the things that are necessary for a content business.  The down side to all of that was that at the same time, I started working again.   All that free time I had for a year and half was gone without me really turning it into a business.

End Your Programming Routine: From time to time, I bring up the Toolbox Fallacy.  I clearly have the desire and the discipline to post but I haven’t actually made it to a business.  As much as I enjoy this part of it, I don’t know if I will have the drive to actually convert.  I don’t exactly know why.  I am going to investigate podcasting into the new year.  That comes with it’s own set of challenges but it is time to take the next step.

December 13, 2021 – Fascism 2.0

December 13, 2021 /

I heard something interesting on Friday. One of the reasons that Texas is in a different state of mind than Oregon is that people just decided that they were not going to comply, regardless of the rules.  When I was in Texas a couple of weeks ago, there were still signs everywhere that said masks were required however I would estimate 1 in 20 actually wearing one.  The rule became unenforceable.

I decided to run an experiment over the weekend.  I went out and about to check on mask enforcement and compliance.  I didn’t push too hard, but if I saw people going in or coming out without mask I would not where a mask myself.  So, I am going to run an point by point of my experience.

  1. Semi-Annual Gun Show –  There were a handful of people wearing masks but it was a busy event.  I encountered no problems.
  2. Local Music Store – I try to respect private property rights and it was posted masks were required to enter, so I did.  While in the store, two men came in without masks and the store owner confronted them and made them put on masks.  Neither side were happy over the situation.
  3. Sportsman’s Warehouse – No problems there. I walked in without a mask.  I would estimate 2/3 of the customers were mask-less.
  4. Costco – I was in there earlier in the week and I would estimate that probably 25% of the patrons were without a mask.  On Saturday I saw none.  
  5. Local pawn shop- When the people working there are wearing mask it seems pretty safe to enter without one and there aren’t going to be problems.
  6. Walmart- No mask-less customers
  7. Regional agriculture chain – 2/3 mask-less
  8. Local second hand store – No mask-less customers
  9. Liquor store – There were two ‘Let’s Go Brandon’ slogans on the glass outside.  I figured I was not going to have any problems here.

Emboldened by my experience on Saturday, yesterday I went completely mask-less.  When I did this experiment before, I was operating within compliance of the rules, it seems that few were willing to test that.  This time I was not.  

I am not looking to cause problems per se but I am looking to be a leader.  To be ungovernable means that you think as an individual.  If we had true, non-biased data with policy decisions made as such then I could respect and comply with that.   

I am going to change directions here.  Traditionally, people ‘comply’ when it is in their best interest or there is more to lose not because someone else says so.   Using one example, why do bribes work in China?  The practice is illegal and the punishment can be public execution.  Here are the reasons why: 1) the risk of being caught is low 2) the practice is extremely prevalent, see number one 3) Punishment is only used as an example, you have to have done something else wrong as well.

Today, my government has superseded freedom for the attempt at safety and security to the naked eye.  This is precisely the results of combining government and things that do not belong such as healthcare.  Now because they have become entangled, not only do they feel a responsibility to keep it operating, there are so many entities that are making crazy amounts of money under this charade. They all have a vested interest in kicking the can down the road as long as they can.  

This is why all the governments are pouring tons of resources into analytics and data modeling.  It is all in efforts to prevent the hospitals and the medical systems at large from failing.  The medical cronies get together with the ‘big ag’ cronies to create a food pyramid and other such propaganda to keep us sick combined with a system to keep us alive.  Those two enlist the help of ‘big tech’ to collect the data and market those ideas.  To which our society is addicted to and cant resist.  Don’t forget about the big banks who have created the monetary policy to help themselves to a lot of profit while funding all of these other endeavors.

And who runs the government?  All of those interests.  We are the witnessing Fascism 2.0 and guess what is their business? A compliant flock of useful idiots who think they are making a stand by picking one side or the other.  To be ungovernable means that we reject Fascism. 

I ran across this graphic this morning.  It is no surprise to me that Oregon ranks in the bottom 10%.  If I had a crystal ball, I would be willing to bet that Oregon could end up at the bottom of the rankings easier than all of the other states.  Why? It has the smallest population and it seems like the willpower to make it worse.

End Your Programming Routine: My prediction is that mask mandates are here to stay forever.  The only thing that will change that is if the people decide that it isn’t going to be so.  I also think that there is a window where we the people will have an opportunity to reverse it.  Once that window is shut, it is going to be very difficult to open it again.  It is interesting that the mask represents double entrendre.  When you are not wearing one, your face is visible and identity exposed.  That is the way it should be.  

 

 

 

December 10, 2021 – An Unappreciated Art Ruined by Fakes and Slander, Fruitcake

December 10, 2021 /

A couple of days ago a friend came by and delivered us a fruitcake.  We talked a little about the process  and she said this is something she said that she has been doing for nearly 60 years.  I think it was last year, I happened to catch a segment on TV on how to make a fruitcake and my opinion and appreciation changed immediately.

Adjectives that I think most people apply to fruitcake are cheap, tacky, passé or dare I say thoughtless.  I have to say that I held that opinion as well.  The reason being is that my impression of fruitcake was that someone bought a couple $5 processed fruitcake to reciprocate as hostess gifts or ‘whoops, I forgot about your family’ enjoy this crappy fruitcake.

With a real fruitcake, nothing could actually be farther from the truth.  This is an art that takes a lot of effort and planning.  I suppose that is where the breakdown starts.  I think about mole for instance.  Good mole is incredible, bad mole is almost inedible.  It all has to do with the process.

Today, most people and restaurants make mole from a base.  That starter includes poor ingredients and substitutes like hydrogenated oils replacing lard and thickened with chemical agents.  This leaves a semi-sweet, pasty and lifeless sauce that kind of makes me regret the upcoming meal when I smell it.

But, enough with mole lets get back to fruitcake.  How did we get here?  The planning, effort and cost is how.  A proper fruitcake would be soaked in Rum 30-60 days.  That means that it needs to being made around Halloween.  When you combine a corn syrup drizzled concoction of a ‘store-bought’ fruitcake with peoples lack of dedication to the finer points of cooking our only context is a sticky, bland uninspiring mass.

We have a society that doesn’t know fruitcake because of our lifestyle and it is easy to see why we can’t appreciate it.  My wife and I are old soles.  As we were talking to our friend yesterday, she offered to give me the recipe.  I immediately jumped at the chance.  Ultimately, I don’t care to change the world and if you aren’t willing to try then fine, more for me.  But, the tradition seems appealing to me so I think it is something I want to try next year.

End Your Programming Routine: This is the definition of ‘End Your Programming’.  Tradition, culture, effort and craft combine into something special, wonderful and counter to popular belief.  I think it is an honor to learn from someone that has persevered through the opinion of fruitcake to keep on doing what you believe.

 

December 9, 2021 – ‘Tacticool’ Thursday

December 9, 2021 /

Just because I don’t shoot as much as I would like, it doesn’t mean that there isn’t maintenance that needs to be done.  There is a saying in the used firearm world ‘Carried a lot, shot a little’.  This implies that there is what is called holster wear or places where the holster contacts the metal and rubs the finish but the bore is like new.

So, if you are in that carried a lot, shot a little camp like I am, then you should also take a look at things now and again.  The two primary things to watch out for are corrosion and lint build-up.  Both of those things are fortunately addressed by periodic cleaning.  This is a long way of saying, inspect and clean you firearms even if you don’t shoot them.

It is the similar justification I use for changing my own oil.  When I am in there, I plug in the scanner, look at the washer fluid levels, check the battery and the conditions of belts and hoses.  Most people argue that it is not worth their time to change your own oil, as you know from my previous post, I think it saves you time.  Plus, I am familiar with my vehicle and its’ condition.  You need to assess the condition of your tools.

I have heard advice from people that live in hot/humid climates to clean firearms once a week.  The premise being that you are constantly sweating and that doesn’t mix well with metal.  This of course has a lot to do with the construction of the item.  Polymer and stainless steel have much less issue with corrosion.  However the small screws and springs are rarely ever mad corrosion resistance.

You can see all of the crud in the barrel from the picture above.  This was clean, post the last use.  I also disassembled everything (for the first time) so that all the interior lint and powder crud could be cleaned out.  It is also worth noting that magazines should be inspected and possible cleaned as well.  It goes without saying but the last thing you want in a carry piece is a failure because of neglect.

There are other considerations after cleaning.  Particularly carry pieces, you want them as dry as possible.  I am not saying no lubricant, but as little as possible.  That reduces the amount of stuff that ultimately adheres to an oily surface.  If your firearms are in a high humidity environment and just stored, I prefer a wipe down with a light silicone oil lie Birchwood Casey Barricade. 

End Your Programming Routine:  If you are serious about personal safety, then you realize that concealed carry is a lifestyle.  Your wardrobe, your tools, your choice of spare time activities and where you spend your money is part of the consideration.  I think it has been over a year since I last cleaned this firearm, and I feel OK.  It doesn’t mean that you have to be obsessive, just be aware of the risks and responsibilities.

 

December 8, 2021 – Review: Husky 36″, 11 Drawer Toolbox Combo

December 8, 2021 /

It’s been a long time since I did a review. This was supposed to be one of the cornerstones of my work so that at some point I could gain a business advantage buying, using and reviewing items. It’s not that I haven’t bought things since 2020, I suppose that it is I kind of forgot about reviews.

This is one of those items that I always wanted.  I imagined that I would have a bright red, Craftsman toolbox with everything organized and accessible.  It is not just that, but also I would have space to add more tools, if needed.  It sounds a little fruity, but another thing I could accessorize.  

When I moved to South Carolina, I built a bench in the garage that had custom slider drawers.  I could see all of my wrenches in order so I could easily find what I wanted.  When we moved here in 2005, the shop already had cabinets so I stashed stuff where it would fit.  It wasn’t my ideal, but it worked well enough that I couldn’t justify the cost.  

About a year ago, the plastic container that organized all of my sockets started to fail.  That meant that every time I was pulling out my sockets, I was having to reorganize them because they would fall all over the place.  To top it off, my son started ‘borrowing’ tools and leaving them in his car.  I repeatedly asked him to return them when done and because they weren’t too organized, I really couldn’t tell what was missing. Plus, with my sometime working on cars, I find that I was constantly going back and forth to the shop when I could have what I need right next to me.

I finally decided to make the plunge and buy a tool chest.   I had some experience with a Craftsman tool chest in the lab and I knew that weight can quickly add up and then things don’t work so well.  I suppose some of the difference between the consumer chests like Kobalt, Craftsman, Husky, etc. is the real amount of weight each drawer could hold.  I don’t know for sure, but I think the Snap-On ones can really handle the load which is why they are 10 times more expensive, even the used ones.

I knew that I wanted ball bearing drawers.  They just work better.  I also looked at the total weight capacity.  In this case, the 36″ chest  castors were rated for 1500 pounds.  The 40″ chest was rated for 1200 pounds.  Even though I wanted the larger size, overall weight capacity was more important to me.  I also liked the price better at $400 versus $600 and I got 10% coupon, I was sold on my choice.

I looked at the different brands.  I know that Stanley bought Craftsman so DeWalt and Craftsman in theory are the same.  The truth is, I couldn’t find much difference between any of the brands based on specs including US General at Harbor Freight or Stack-On at Napa.  Unless you are going to pony up for Snap-On, it boils down to color, drawer layout and price.  

I probably overanalyzed every detail because I couldn’t find exactly what I wanted, but I saw this blue color and I really liked it.  I knew that I really would have no practical opinion without actually putting tools in it and using it. The price was good, the need was there and it was a good project to work on while my wife was in Texas and I was spending all of my time organizing junk in the garage going through my in-laws estate.

Thin drawers are good because everything can be laid out in a way that each can be seen and extra stuff cant be put in the drawers.   When the drawers start getting deeper, then it feels like there is room to add an organizer.  What I have learned about those is that the cost starts to really add up and they add a lot of bulk to the overall use of the chest.  But again, one of the main goals was to organize tools.

With organizers in the drawer, they take up a lot of space.  That means that there is a lot less weight in each drawer (at least for now).  I found that Harbor Freight has a number of inexpensive options, in stock.  Of course online you can easily start having more cost in the organizers than in the actual chest.  

Here is my analysis.

  Score Advantages Disadvantages
Value 5/5 This was the most inexpensive choices I have seen with the features I wanted Still $400
Quality 3/5   The locks  and latch are really flimsy.  Top lid could easily be pried open to access the rest of the top
      I am not a fan of soft close drawer runners.  They offer artificial resistance and causes the drawer to operate stiffly when cold
Performance 4/5 I got all of my tools in the chest.  I have been able to roll it to the vehicle to work on things rather than running back and forth to the shop. I wish there were more thin drawers.  My optimum design would be 80%, 1 1/2 inch drawers with maybe two larger drawers.

End Your Programming Routine:  It is like most things for me.  I dreamed of one day having a nice chest with everything organized. Now that I have it, it is anti-climactic.  I will say rolling it next to my work has been nice and it is so much less frustrating to be able to easily find the tools without sorting through the pile of wrenches.  I have seen nothing that would make me say “buy that, not this”.  

December 7, 2021 – In Contrast to Yesterday…

December 7, 2021 /

I have an experiment going on. I got this bicycle light for Christmas in 1994. I got the batteries for this light at the same time. Guess what, they still work. That is 27 years later, functioning alkaline batteries.  I like to check the light every couple of years to see if it is still working.  

This is not getting any sort of preferential treatment.  The light has been in the unheated/uninsulated garage since 2005. I am pretty sure they were in my garage in South Carolina for three years and in another garage for two previous years.  While the batteries are not getting the more extreme cold, it it a few degrees above ambient.

There has been a lot of life that has occurred in this time period.  I was doing some thinking over that course of time.

  • 14 vehicles
  • 9 cell phones
  • 6 PCs
  • 5 dogs
  • 3 houses
  • 2 children
  • 1 Bachelor’s Degree
  • 1 Marriage

I purchased my first bicycle in 1992.  I took it to school with me and it got stolen in May 1994.  So, during the summer of 1994 I purchased a replacement.  This light was to comply with night riding law on my new bicycle.  It was my only mode of transportation at the time.  

As a kid, batteries were scarce.  Usually we would get some at Christmas or a birthday with the gift but that was it.  We were on our own after that.  We might buy a four pack with our own money but this was why I largely listened to the radio on my Walkman and not tapes because it was a lot more efficient on battery power.  My boombox stereo never had batteries because it was too expensive to feed it 6, D cell batteries and we didn’t have them in the first place.  Remote control cars sat idle.  Any batteries we did have were moved between devices at the point of use.

This is the reason why I still have the batteries in my bicycle light because I was saving them until I really needed them and then I forgot about the bike and the light.  It is also why I get frustrated when my kids run through a set of batteries every two or three days on the X-box controller.  They have no appreciation for what always having batteries available means.

I have no real explanation what makes this situation different.  I have some theories however and the stem to prior manufacturing techniques.  Yesterday, I was saying that it seemed liked batteries rarely leaked.  I know that batteries have become significantly more prevalent than 25 years ago.  That has driven increased capacity demand which means new machines that don’t work as well as the original.  The other possibility was a tweak in chemistry or materials that make them more susceptible to failure.

When we lived in Lancaster, SC Duracell had a plant that made 2.3 billion AA annually and employed 1200 people.  That plant closed in 2019 and now those batteries are made elsewhere (LaGrange, GA).  So, we know there is a least one recent change.  When we lived there, my mind said that brand loyalty was supporting the local community.

From my research, I found that Radio Shack batteries were largely made by Enercell the parent company of Energizer/Eveready.  The documentation gets lost a little in the mid-1990s and now no one cares so I didn’t find  any smoking guns.  My traditional view held that Energizers failed at a higher rate than Duracell.  Plus, Costco sells a deeply discounted value pack which is convenient.  So my recent preference has been Duracell. As a value brand, I have not had the same problems Panasonic, that may warrant some more investigation as my frustration with the two American consumer brands is shaky at best.

End Your Programming Routine:  I am not correlating everything old is better, even in the battery arena.  The cordless tools of 1994 cannot hold a candle to the tools purchased today.  I think that reduced cost and the proliferation of batteries have lowered customer expectations.  Let’s be honest, most consumer electronics are disposable and a ruined battery is a chance to upgrade.  I have said many times ‘buy once, cry once’ so I really don’t appreciate when my CCrane portable radio is ruined because of some leaking batteries.

December 6, 2021 – What Is Wrong with Batteries?

December 6, 2021 /

It am starting out with anecdotal observation. It seems to me that say 20 years ago, batteries rarely failed. It also seems like today batteries nearly always fail. When I say fail, I mean that batteries leak and frequently ruin the device in which they are placed.

I use to believe when batteries were treated poorly for instance left in a hot vehicle for years, those were the cases where we would see a battery failure.  I can understand that.  I now deliberately keep batteries out of devices unless I am going to routinely use them.  You can see from the photo above that the battery in question was well within expiration date and kept at room temperature (below).

What you are seeing is my weather center display that is plugged in on the kitchen counter and has batteries for power back-up for things like the clock setup.  It is less than two years old.  That also means that the batteries have been in place less than two years.

Batteries that are labelled as ‘alkaline’ mean that the overall chemistry of the battery is basic or a pH higher than 7.  This is different than the chemistry of a car battery which uses sulfuric acid with a pH lower than 7.  Why does that matter?  If you are going to salvage the device, you need to neutralize the reaction in the right direction. 

Looking at the chemistry of the situation, the leaking battery forms potassium hydroxide which then reacts with carbon dioxide to form a crystal of potassium carbonate.  That then reacts with the plating on the terminals.  You must first stop the reaction.  Use an acid like vinegar to clean the corrosion of the terminal.  Then, neutralize acid with a base like baking soda.

Hopefully, the device is still salvageable at this point.  I have even gone to the point of filing terminals to try and get a new conductive surface with mixed results.  The only reason I even checked this was because my time was off and I unplugged the device to reset the time and date.  

There may be more to this story.  I am debating about calling the guarantee number because I am upset about so many battery failures.  I also have a remarkable situation as well that I might talk about this week.  Suffice to say, the weather center that this replaced was ruined by leaking batteries.  Remote controls, portable radios, LED lights and flashlights are all things I can think of off the top of my head that have been ruin in the last couple of years due to leaking batteries.

End Your Programming Routine: I also used to believe that brand and cost mattered.  It seemed like I had consistent failure with one brand over the other.  I also thought that paying more for batteries was less likely for failure.  I do not hold that belief anymore.  Like I said at the beginning, the only safe way to protect your devices is keep the batteries out of them unless you are using them.

December 3, 2021 – Turkey Soup for the Soul

December 3, 2021 /

Still have Thanksgiving leftovers? Believe it or not, we do still. A large part of it was that things were packed for days in the coolers while we travelled and the other was that we ate last Friday with other family members. Finally, we still have a travel hangover.

Today I am making turkey soup.  I have yet to figure out exactly what the end form will be noodle or rice, leaning toward rice.  If I was thinking better last week, I would have done something about leftovers last Friday but it really didn’t occur to me until yesterday as I was planning dinners and thinking about how to use leftovers.

Going even deeper with this… this isn’t simply about using leftovers to make soup.    Yesterday, my mother-in-law had her first chemo here in Oregon.  My wife was the designated caretaker for this round and I was thinking it would be helpful for me to make some dinner to share.  

After a five days on the road on the road last week, I had my fair share of ‘snacks’  and fast food as well as eating out.  My general feeling about all of that is that it is not satisfying and leaves you only temporarily satiated. When you are a caregiver, it can be very tempting to give up on cooking and settle for temporary relief. 

Only having the perspective as a a caregiver, I think that is a much more difficult job than being the patient.  Sometimes you are walking on eggshells and sometimes you are wondering if there is an end in sight.  We still have all of the other aspects of life to manage, particularly the future.  The patients only focus is the current, it is the caregiver that is managing the future for the patient.

To get started, I am going to debone all of the turkey. It doesn’t have to be stripped but I want the bones to make the stock.  I also don’t want a lot of fat because that just sets on the top.  I have covered stock making before but as a refresher, I am going to add aromatics and set it on just under boiling if possible.  I want to try and convert all of the collagen and connective tissues from the bones into the broth. 

Ideally, that is when it is done but that also takes days of preparation before hand and if you don’t have days, it can be done the day of.   So, don’t let the planning stop you, remember Samin Nosrat said use water if you cant make your own stock, so this is the most important step for best results.

I used carrots, celery and onion along with salt and set it on the stove.  I gave it about six hours.  If I have the time, I am also going to cool and filter.  In this step, I can skim off hardened fat and remove all of the bones and vegetables.  It is not really a quality step but mostly for appearance.

I am going to dice turkey, and more carrots and celery.  I am going add rice and some parsley.  From there I will add salt and pepper to taste and that should be it.  I will probably serve with buttermilk biscuits and a side salad.  How does that sound compared to a Big Mac meal?

End Your Programming Routine:  I keep telling myself that I need to do more with food here.  Particularly the aspects that I like such as transforming leftovers.  We need to feed the souls of patients and the caregivers, as it is a difficult and many times thankless job. 

December 2, 2021 – ‘Tacticool’ Thursday

December 2, 2021 /

Today, I am going to try and talk about a technical topic in a simple way.  That topic is bore sighting an optic on a firearm.  In order to do that, you need to think about math.  And, I should add that there are different ways to do this.  I am showing my technique.

Before starting, I would also point out that this is a simplistic attempt.  In theory, the firearm should be levelled in two directions from bore to butt and left to right.  Then the optic should be levelled on top of the firearm.  That may require shims or modification any of the mounting components.  I plan on sighting this in at 50 yards so with that, slight inaccuracies are really negligible.  

The next step is to measure center of bore to center of optic.  This is to measure how much height difference there is between how the bullet will travel versus how you are seeing it through the sight.  If you imagine two lines, one will come from the bore and one will come from the sight.  At some point, those two lines will cross and that is ‘sighting in’.   You want the two lines to cross at the right point at the proper distance you expect to shoot.  The good news for me is that it takes a lot of adjustment at short yardage to make much change so slight inaccuracies are negligible.

I have an inexpensive laser sight I put in bore.  That laser will put a spot at whatever distance you like.  Ideally, I would put it at fifty yards and then adjust my sight accordingly.  But, I don’t have that kind of space so I just point it at the wall.  A couple of other notes about the laser.  It works best at low light and the farther away it is, the more distortion the dot has.  I have done this at the range but it is far more difficult to see.

Once the firearm is stabilized and aimed, mark a point that represents the measurement of the bore to sight centerline above the laser dot.  Adjust the sight  to the mark. That is your target and in theory, at the muzzle and 2 1/2 inches high everything will be ready to shoot.

This is a down and dirty bore sight.  After this point, I go to the range and start working on actually sighting in at the range.  Start at the closest target and make sure that the bullet is hitting the target.  Adjust just enough that you can move on to the next distance if that is your goal.  Remember, changing loads can change results dramatically, so stay consistent when sighting in and always check for verification when changing.

End Your Programming Routine: Right now, I do not have confidence that this firearm will be accurate without taking to the range for verification.  This is why I have held onto this sight for over a year without mounting.  Life is super busy and this will likely have to wait until after the holidays at this point to get to the range.  But we will get there.