Month: March 2023

March 31, 2023 – Animal Farm, Chapter 4

March 31, 2023 /

Weird, the very same image I used on the other posts ended up rotated 90 degrees in the Word Press library. I have no idea why or how because I didn’t even take the photo in that orientation nor did I edit it. I tried to rotate it in Word Press but it said that it couldn’t access the meta data and therefore edit. The only thing that I can see different is that the first three embeds were done at once and this one was two weeks later. Anyway, keep an eye out for technical gremlins.

This chapter has Farmer Jones and his buddies riling up each other to take back the farm. The humans march on the farm and “The Battle of Cowshed” ensues. Despite having weapons and gumption, the animals beat back the humans. There is one casualty, a sheep is shot and killed by Jones. This whole chain of events inspires and solidifies the animals to their cause and their dedication to it.

In this short chapter, what is being laid out is the celebration of war and the resulting ceremony. I think that these events are crafted into propaganda as unifiers toward the entity. Said another way “aren’t we so proud that we defeated our enemy”. To a small degree, the United States does this but then other countries like North Korea have built a calendar out of it.

Military celebration seems to be a central theme that autocratic regimes have adopted probably because they don’t have much else to celebrate. I think it is because they desperately try to shed other traditional trappings of culture and religion in efforts to solidify power absolutely.

The title “Animal Hero, First Class” is created and bestowed to the fallen sheep. Once again, eliminate old beliefs and build new ones. A hero that dies for the cause becomes a martyr in the situation. By awarding a title, this act helps legitimize the leaders of the movement.

Honestly, I can’t think of one actual US holiday that is based on a military victory. I am familiar with what is called VE day or Victory in Europe Day which is a named day on the calendar, but not a holiday. There may be celebrations or events in combination with the date, but it has limited recognition.

There are two actual holidays that have military origins. This would be Memorial day which was originally the ending date of Battle of Antietam in the Civil War and Veterans day which was originally Armistice Day or the ending of World War I. I would say in either case, they do not celebrate a victory.

This is not to say that we are better than Animal Farm, but it is a different kind of spirit. For those that actually participate in the American ceremonies, I would say that they lack the exuberance of celebration in favor of a somber remembrance. That being said, celebrating victory, service or sacrifice fills the same role, solidification of the might of the nation.

End Your Programming Routine: Orwell is a complicated guy. I thought that he had spent time in the USSR, but upon further research I was wrong. Apparently his politics were leftist however his anti-communist business associates were what inspired him to write Animal Farm. On one hand, I don’t see the two going together. But on the other, people involved in politics and business are all about getting theirs. Create laws that eliminate competition no matter what side of the dichotomy you are on.

March 30, 2023 – I want this… but it is not there

March 30, 2023 /

As badly as I want this, it is not going to happen today. My original topic was going to be electricity preparedness. I ran out of time to get the necessary photos last week before I left. As a fallback, I thought I would find some internet images but I spent all my free time trying to get my podcast published.

As an alternative, read a book, listen to a podcast or do some other stimulation to change your programing. It is always good to get another perspective even if it is contrary to your own. If you don’t periodically challenge your beliefs then how do you know that they are still valid?

I remember that when I was a freshman in college, a friend asked me that if I was drafted, would I serve? At that point, I was fresh out of my programming in Boy Scouts so of course I said I would because it was the right thing to do. Today, I would almost assuredly have a different answer. Don’t get me wrong, I still love my country, but my perspective has changed. I love what it could be, not what it is.

That change in opinion came around because I kept challenging myself on what the implications were for believing or supporting one side or the other. As an example, the ‘Trump Tax Cuts’ has at least tripled my annual tax obligations. I have heard from others that it was a huge benefit. My financial position was based on the old rules and now with new ones I am at a severe disadvantage. From my perspective, this was a tax increase.

Fine, I know how to eventually move to take advantage of the new rules. But how can a party that supposedly has a platform of tax cuts create tax increases? Easy, it is because they don’t really stand for tax cuts. They stand for saying what they think will appeal to a wide group and create new rules by which they will benefit. Now I am teetering into being angry at bad guys so I will leave it at that.

March 29, 2023 – What is With 220V?

March 29, 2023 /

I’m going to keep this short (it think). When my son borrowed my dad’s welder, we had to power it. What had been extremely variable as long as I have known is the electrical connection. Researching ranges and clothes dryers, I know that the male end of the connector is very variable (can I say ‘male end’ anymore). As far as I know, you pick the male plug to match the female end of the plug in.

Getting back to the welder, I bought a new plug-in to match my dad’s welder. But, now my son bought a welder and it did not match what my dad’s was. He wanted me to change it to work, I had a different idea.

What I choose to do was make an adapter. In this case, it was an adapter and an extension cord. Because the welder had a ten foot cord and my outlet had another ten feet, it was beneficial to add another 10 feet in between. I happened to have ten feet of 10/4 cable from one of my annual apartment remodels.

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I guess my point is that if you have a 220V appliance and you have a connector that doesn’t match, maybe the solution is to make the appliance match the female end rather than make the equipment match. Using this approach, then I think that you will have several adapters to make your equipment work.

If you don’t know as well… and four conductor cable contains two hots, one neutral and a ground. When this protocol was established, it was two hots and a neutral, no ground. In these days, a ground and a neutral are the same place. But, when there is no officially termination of the ground, it gets deleted or cut from contact and ignored.

End Your Programming Routine: I suppose what I am saying is that if you are wiring 220V, you have to figure it out. Don’t make a concrete commitment, make it something that you can roll with. That means, make an adapter, not just change the plug-in but change the adapter. From a safety point of view, ground is better but don’t worry if you have proper wiring, especially at the panel.

March 28, 2023 – I Never Thought of That

March 28, 2023 /

As the title says…. Back when I was putting the major pieces of my office together, I had a problem and an idea. I also had some options. I have a cabinet that I removed from the apartment that I wasn’t sure whether I was going to paint and install it back in the apartment or what. The thought crossed my mind to put it back into my office.

Ultimately, I chose to do something different. I was going to build a sliding drawer that fit between the legs of the couch and under it. This drawer was on casters. I made measurements and did the quick woodwork to build this,

As I was taking out all of the items to install my sofa table, my son was preparing for a correspondence math course test. I left the drawer out while I took a break and he continued to work. As I was making breakfast, my wife said “Did you build that, it is amazing”, Of course, I had no idea what she was talking about because it was out of context.

At first. I thought it was my sofa table. I had been talking it up to her and I was proud of my work. But, she said no it was my drawer. I was a bit dumbfounded. I built this on a whim and it had been installed in office for months.

She said that I could sell these things. People would buy them for under the bed storage as an example. I had no idea. This was a solution to my problem, not necessarily a market problem. She said that I could have a booth at a flea market or something like that. And, her friends would like things like this.

I had no idea nor was this my intent. I suppose that is the way of the world. Entrepreneurs that are successful channel this accident into something successful. I myself haven’t done anything with this, nor do I know if I will. That being said, it doesn’t mean that I don’t recognize opportunity,

End Your Programming Routine: I would love to be my own boss, I just don’t know if this is the right place. Knowing what I want, riskier people might jump on this idea. I just know if this is the way to go. I suppose that keeping it slow, I can see where it goes. Let me know if you want one.

March 27, 2023 – What is ‘Being Angry At Bad Guys’?

March 27, 2023 /

After struggling with this all week, I finally got it to work. After my recent success of the podcast short episodes, I thought this would be easy. It turns out that I struggled every day with some issue or another. I literally spent hours trying to edit this and get the files in the right place.

A bad guy is someone that does you wrong. But there is more subtext than that. A Bad Guy not only does you wrong but also there isn’t much you can do about it. Notice the capitalization, this is a named title. So, when you spend your energy outside of your circle of control you are wasting it.

End Your Programming Routine: Am I admitting there is a problem? I sure am. People shouldn’t be bad and they shouldn’t make profit at the expense of others. However, it is easier to lay blame at some enigma rather than take responsibility for something . But when you spend your time fighting constant demons or specters, you fail to advance in the treasure map.

March 24, 2023 – Animal Farm, Chapter 3

March 24, 2023 /

This is week three and things are progressing pretty much the way that history has taught us. More on that later but maybe this book isn’t as revolutionary as it was when it was written in 1945. Because I grew up in the 1980s, there was a lot of talk/movies/propaganda about how people thought the USSR was, maybe not how it actually was. I would say that it was pretty hard to imagine from the outside what life was actually like under the Soviets in 1982.

We all know the arc, trajectory and result of the hard, Marxist movements. Instead, I want to focus more on movements themselves rather than one specific one because I think that they share the same similarities as the conclusion of the USSR. Now to the the book.

The chapter starts out with the animal doing harvest. It was performed with exuberance and better than normal results. I think that this is a pretty normal situation. Participants are excited to be part of something. There are lots of hands for work. The momentum carries the animals not just on an emotional high of the task but a phyiscal high of the results, more hay put away.

For some, the exuberance dies rather quickly. I am speculating that for those individuals, they were not really committed to the cause in the first place. It was more likely that that they were ignorant of the goals and aims and the excitement of newness to everyone was the result of initial commitment. Some animals are starting to shirk their equal contribution i.e. the cat.

As the movement matures, changes in the fire and brimstone of the core values sometimes change. Sometimes they are refined but other times they are edited to retain adherence to the group. In this case, it was stated that not all the animals could read or understand the seven commandments. As a result they were simplified to to one “Two legs bad, four legs good”.

As the pigs start to take ownership of the leadership roles, some interesting things start happening. For instance, Snowball is sequestering all of the offspring for ‘education’. It is not just that, but the pigs are carving out special exemptions for themselves, because they can and no other animal realizes what is happening.

The United States has been full of movements. Religious utopias, racial and women’s rights, temperance, labor and political to name a few. In my opinion anyway, movements either have an endpoint or they are point in time. What I mean by that is that Movements that are results oriented, like temperance or women’s suffrage I would say were successful because the had specific, targeted outcomes. Things like the ‘Tea Party Movement’ of 2009-2012 failed because they had unrealistic, non-measurable outcomes.

There is one more concept to take in with this. That is The Iron Law of Bureaucracy. There are those within any organization (including movements) that committed to the cause and those that are committed to the organization. Tacitly, when an individual is committed to the organization, they start making decisions on what is best for the organization and not necessary accomplishing the mission. I think that the pigs belong to the second group.

End Your Programming Routine: I will let that sink in. What we have in US politics is people committed to the organization. To make it worse, most legislation or regulation is wrapped up in paper that tries to make it look like what is being proposed is for the mission. Why else would we have 80 year old senators? Is that what is best for representing the state or is that what is best senator? I really can’t imagine working sixteen hours a day six to seven days a week at that age when the average life span is less than that.

March 23, 2023 – Storing Fuel: Gases

March 23, 2023 /

Let us not confuse gases with gas. Fortunately, the options for gases are much simpler. The big boy is propane and natural gas, but there is occasionally butane too. Natural gas is unrefined hydrocarbons, mostly methane. Propane is often interchangeable with natural gas and sometimes liquid fuels as well (more on that later).

First a chemistry lesson. All forms of fuel are hydrocarbons. The smaller the hydrocarbon molecule, the more likely its native form is a gas at human survivable temperature and pressure. In terms of stack ranking size: methane < ethane < butane < propane < pentane (which is actually a liquid a room temperature).

What is also true is that the larger the molecule, the more BTU per storage unit. This means that you can estimate the BTU potential depending on volatility. This means by BTU rank: propane < gasoline < diesel

What I am getting on about is that liquid fuels have more potential energy.  And to punctuate that, one gallon of liquid fuel will burn more efficiently or longer than one gallon of propane.  The good news is that it is propane is widely available at most gas stations.  Many other retail locations also use a cylinder exchange program.  It is running quite a bit cheaper than liquid fuels and something like half the price of gasoline.

Natural gas is primarily methane, an even smaller hydrocarbon than propane. The very nice thing about natural gas is that it is piped to your home.  It also has a very strong track record of working if the grid is down.  Pretty much if the pipe isn’t severed, gas is flowing.  Hydrogen sulfide is added to both propane and natural gas so that you can smell it leaking. They are however not the same molecule.

The thing that I am most excited about is that many liquid using appliances can be converted to run propane.  This often times means some custom parts, but often significantly cheaper than a second piece of equipment.  As an example, my camp stove just needs something called a generator and a pressure regulator and a twenty pound cylinder will be cooking away, literally.  Gasoline generators can also use propane or natural gas.  This requires a change in the carburetor only.  This solves part of the redundancy equation by fuel flexibility.  

I am not a fan of the one pound, disposable cylinders.  These would typically be the dark green ones that are the size of a fat water bottle.  I find them wasteful as most recyclers wont touch them with a ten foot pole unless they have been visually punctured.  They often won’t suffice for a weekend camping either.  What I can say  is that they are ubiquitous (if not in shortage like during the pandemic). It seems like every convenience store and hardware store has them.

I have recently found that there is a way to refill the one pound canisters using some specialized equipment.  They are a little speedy once but I have seen the the single use canisters going for $7 each.  That means that the system pays for itself pretty quickly.  It seems  like it was out of stock for years but now seems to be in the supply chain again and is on my short list of purchases to be made.

There are a plethora of sizes that cylinders can be purchased.  Twenty pounds is the common barbecue size but there are plenty of 5, 50 and larger sizes at a lot of box stores.  The one thing that gripes me about propane cylinders is that they have a stamped date and regulations stat that cylinders are only re-fillable ten years from that date.  I am going to talk about that on Monday.

I would be remised if I didn’t talk about safety.  If you are burning something indoors, you need a carbon monoxide detector.  This goes for liquids and gas appliances.  Things like stoves and heaters are generally pretty good about proper combustion but don’t ever run a generator inside.  I have a battery operated one that I use in my shop for the kerosene heater.  I will bring it inside if I am burning something, including the fireplace. Also, when the power is out, when you will likely be doing these kinds of things, you can’t count on a plug in variety.

End Your Programming Routine: As Hank Hill used to say there is quite a bit to “propane and propane accessories”.  Given some of the limitations of portable gas, I don’t use it as my primary fuel.  That doesn’t mean I don’t have any.  At the very least if you have a propane barbecue, I think you should have a second cylinder.  One to use and one to swap or refill before you need it.  You might find that it is the gateway to other redundancies instead of a headache when your one cylinder goes empty.

March 22, 2023 – Finally, After Several Years…

March 22, 2023 /

I have been professionally employed now since February 2021.  It took about one day to realize that working at the dining table wasn’t going to be adequate for a forever location.  After setting up a temporary table in the basement, It only took me about two or three days to realize that I was going to have to build something more permanent.  It was cold in with the temperatures in the mid-forties and that was with a heater running under the table.  

Quickly I added a propane heater that my wife had won at a local high school auction.  Those two were not enough.  I had to build an office.  Once I realized that this was a blank canvas and this space could be my own, I wanted to move my long orphaned stereo system in there.  

In fact, the stereo was the first thing that I moved in.  I had it setting on an old night stand.  If you look at some of my first pictures inside my office, you will see it.  Soon after I moved my desk in, my wife wanted to jettison a small couch that the cat had adopted as a scratching post and I actually wanted another seat in my office.  So, the stereo system only lasted a couple of weeks before it was moved back out of the office.

But, I had plans.  I was going to build a table that fit the space and the stereo would have a home behind the couch.  The trick was, I needed to spend the time to build it.  The wood I had.  In fact, a leftover slab of wood from my cabinets I built in January 2020 was in my way in the shop since I finished that project.  The slab was originally slated to be made into another pantry shelf at my wife’s insistence.  I persuaded her to try out the pantry first so there it sat.

My first efforts to get started on this table began in the spring of 2022.  Yet, I didn’t have a plan and I didn’t have a deadline.  Two of the rough cut legs sat for six more months still in my way.  It was my realization that I was getting up three or four hours before everyone on the weekends that got me motivated in December 2022.  That is when I got serious about measurements and a design.

I wanted to practice my skills at fine woodworking.  That means a piece that is built without fasteners.  There is mortise and tenon joinery and all made from solid wood.  Fine woodworking also means staying away from engineered materials like plywood as well.  Don’t get me wrong, I am not a purist I don’t care if people use those mechanisms but this was for me.  I want to be confident that I could build anything, anytime any way.

It is definitely not perfect. I don’t know if Douglas Fir is the best choice for wood and it is not as defect free as I would like.  But it was the wood I had and I still have a pile of it in the basement.  Free is a pretty good motivator.  All that to say, I think it looks pretty good and I am proud of the work that I did.  My wife wanted it too when I started to put the dry assembly together.  This one however was custom sized for the height, width and length to fit my space.  Looks like I might be building another one soon.

Now with the stereo in place, I can finally say that I am done, kind of.  My experiment with the AM antenna was done to ultimately also connect to the receiver.  You all know that I am an audiophile.  Maybe not so much about quality, but consistently consuming it.  I wanted the ability to listen to the local college games through the receiver and this was all done well after I built my office unfortunately.  So, I still need to run the AM antenna wire.

While I was building my office, I had visions of bringing the surround sound back to life as well.  I ran all the wires and did all the terminations for that.  But at this point, I can’t justify the space.  My speakers are from the 1990s and too bulky. My wife and I have talked about building an ‘adult space’ in the basement to go along with the keezer and wine cellar.  Maybe those speakers will find their way to that someday.

End Your Programming Routine: Any similar version I make, I assume will be quicker.  I stalled out a little on this project because I was going to build tapered legs but I had to figure out how to do that.  I kind of waffled at that point, and it was close to Christmas too.  I want to say that the builder is always the harshest critic.  I know where my flaws are and I see them.  The good news is that you won’t unless you are really giving it the third degree.   

March 21, 2023 – Cleaning the Cleaner

March 21, 2023 /

Given that I am away from home for a number of weeks, it is difficult to keep up with writing everyday. Things have been super busy lately, getting ready to go and buttoning everything up. Hopefully, these next couple of days do not come off as week or phoning it in. But I won’t deny that I am pushing to keep up with my schedule.

One of the requirements to earn the Eagle Scout rank is to perform what is called an Eagle Project. This is a service project that the scout plans, leads and executes. Maybe I will talk about mine another day but today I am going to talk about another peer of mine’s project.

If you remember this post from last year then you will know how this story begins.

May 17, 2022 – Does Preserving History Matter?

My friend’s project was to vacuum out the attic of this church as well as paint. In the course of the project, we burned out six different vacuums. I didn’t get the chance to go up there, but I heard that the dust was inches thick.

My point with this is vacuums don’t run well when the matter vacuumed coats the filter. It is the airflow through the device that provides the suction. I use my shop vacuum for a dust collector. It does a much better job than nothing but it also leaves a lot to be desired.

Over the years, dust collection has become a much larger topic in woodworking. Like all things safety bike helmets or seat belts as an example, there is no denying that using those things do raise the odds of surviving something catastrophic. On the other side, there are no guarantees. I have heard that there are some that wont even enter the shop without turning on dust collection.

Don’t get me wrong, I would love the space and equipment to have a proper and professional setup. And it is not like I am in there all day, everyday. My dust collection is aimed at reducing the amount of cleanup later and less about a dust phobia but I am not denying that dust is a risk. For better or worse, this is my setup. It always requires a thorough cleaning afterward to get all of the escaped dust.

When I was building my pantry cabinets, I had my old 13″ TV on. At one point, the picture actually went black. I thought maybe it was ruined due to dust building up on the electronic components so I vacuumed it off and it worked again. I do know if it was dust on the inside or the outside of the TV but that seems to have some kind of effect its function. And this is using the vacuum with dust collection, hence it leaves some to be desired.

The filter in the picture is the original filter I bought with the vacuum. When I start to notice a significant reduction of suction, I take it outside and bang all the dust out of the folds. Looking at this filter, I could stand to replace it because it is pretty caked in a lot of the folds. I have spares on hand, so I will probably do it soon.

End Your Programming Routine: I am a strong believer in maintaining things you own. The sweatshirt I am wearing as I write this I bought in college, twenty-five years ago. I have a lot of items that are old as I am getting there too. Even if you ‘buy once, cry once’ it doesn’t mean that you can use things beyond their capability. So if you have a shop vacuum, take a look at the filter. It might need replacing.

March 20, 2023 – My World Tour

March 20, 2023 /

Sometimes we joke that we are going on a Griswold Family Vacation. That is partially based on where we are going and how we are going to achieve it. I myself have some additional business travel that I am not really looking forward to as well as us driving all over the southwestern United States.

I also spend a lot of time talking about the types of trips that I took throughout my life during the Spring Break period. This is to give an idea about the things that we have done and provide inspiration for you to make your own memories.

End Your Programming Routine: Time seems to be accelerating. By the time we get to the Summer, my family is starting to scatter to the wind. I talk about some of the reasons we are taking this trip in the podcast. I am definitely not getting sentimental, but my kid’s futures are starting to get real. Enjoy your time while you have it.