Author: bhayes952

March 15, 2023 – My Old Enemy… Time

March 15, 2023 /

I suppose this is somewhat of a project update and some sort of analysis. When starting this project, literally months ago I had scoped it to be done by the end of January. I knew that I was going to be travelling in February but now it is getting to the middle of March and I am not done yet.

Now, am I actively working on the project? Yes I am currently in the glue up portion where I am gluing the aprons and the legs together. This means that I am very close to final assembly and finish. This means that the project will be done. However, this is my last week this month so it is likely that this will now run into April.

When I estimated the project at the beginning of the year I guessed that it would take 100 hours for this project. I am not sure that I have spent much more time than that but I think where I went wrong was 100 hours over a month would be 25 hours a week. And that is not really realistic. I am probably logging 4-6 hours a week.

Extrapolate 100/5 would be 20 weeks. That is five months and by that math and hypothetically I am actually ahead of my estimate. However, I borrowed an old crutch of hope, that was wrong. I hoped that my work would accelerate as it often does when I get into things but hope is not a plan.

I am enjoying the work and I do believe that it will be worth the effort. So, I am not necessarily wishing it to be over but I am certainly looking forward to moving my stereo system into my office. To that end, I am also looking forward to getting my rain barrel setup as my next project.

While it is not my first, fine woodworking project I would consider myself a novice at it. My mortises and tenons were rough. with loose fit for some. My chisels sometimes were dull, causing some of that roughness. This was my first tapered legs that I have made. I learned some things from the experience for sure.

I guess that you could boil all this down to using realistic expectations. If I had just used my brain rather than hoping I could do this, I would have set clearer expectations and by proxy wouldn’t be disappointed by my results. I knew better.

End Your Programming Routine: It’s like I always say, fifteen minutes a day is still almost two hours a week. This is another trap that I sometimes fall into. Ultimately, I am committed so it will be what it will be. And, it truly wont be that long until I am done, I am just lamenting that we are coming into April and I wanted this done at the beginning of February.

March 14, 2023 – Bank Failures Abound

March 14, 2023 /

I assume that you are like me and don’t really understand what is happening. I see a lot of flash and almost zero in details. Friday, the news broke that Silicon Valley Bank was seized by the FDIC and that was really all of the news of substance. This combined with Signature Bank last Sunday are being billed as the 2nd and 3rd largest bank failures after Washington Mutual in 2008.

For those of us seasoned to remember 2008, Washington Mutual was the largest consumer facing bank to fail but there were some even larger institutions like Lehman Bros and Bear Stearns that were probably indicators of the the seriousness of the problem. I did some investigation to try and understand what was happening here.

What Happened: The Fed has been raising interest rates since last year to combat inflation. Remember, we have been consistently told that there is no inflation? These two banks have been highly leveraged in debt to asset ratio because their primary business has been loaning money. Credit has been much stingier in this increasing interest rate environment so patrons have been taking money from the bank rather than leaving it in the system and a bank collapse has ensued. From there, the institution no longer has enough cash to continue to operate and thus is seized by the FDIC.

What exactly does this mean? In practical terms, nothing. The FDIC is going to assume operations of the bank and transition operations to another suitor when found. In essence, your savings account is still there and your debts are still due. I do imagine that loans in progress are probably suspended if not terminated. Other than that I don’t see much in the way of changes.

I think that what this says about what is not on the surface is pretty compelling. The fact that more than one institution has failed within days is a sign of some pretty strong sickness within the landscape. The reason I say this is that one bank is based in California and the other in New York. We cannot say that this is a one off situation nor can we say that it is environmental because of geography.

I don’t claim to have any sort of insight or even knowledge of the business but I think that things must be much worse than we realize because of these events. Please, don’t be fooled by lies. We are smart enough to know that if something doesn’t smell right that it likely is not right. We don’t need to have specialized industry knowledge to know that that wrong is wrong and we shouldn’t be convinced otherwise.

Don’t forget that this is business and shouldn’t be construed as personal. The people running these institutions are doing exactly what they are permitted by law and expected by shareholders to do. That would be run up debt and leverage the institution to the brink of failure in an attempt to wring every last cent out of the company. Of course, you may not know what the line is without crossing it and that appears to be what has happened.

Where does this leave us? We already know that liars lie, we know that cheaters cheat and we know that players are going to play the game. My recently surfaced attitude of not being angry at bad guys leads me to be pretty ambivalent towards all of this. This being said, some day this is going to be real. Get your financial house in order by eliminating debt and build some level of savings. Freaking out gets us nowhere. Getting prepared for issues is something tangible we can do no matter what happens.

End Your Programming Routine: To be sure, this is another kick the can down the road moment. It just so happens that when the can was kicked, the kicker also slipped and fell down. We will have to wait and see if the fall broke our leg or not and let’s hope that while we are on the ground that we don’t get run over by a car ending it all. I am saying don’t panic, don’t make it more than it is but don’t stick your head in the sand either. Be situationally aware, remember one of the 100 skills a man should have.

March 13, 2023 – Art of Manliness, 100 Skills

March 13, 2023 /

I don’t think that it is too cheap to scan through another article for a podcast. I add content and commentary rather than just reading. Regardless, this is a thought experiment that makes a good point. In order to be well balanced, men should know a variety of skills.

Truth be told, I am looking to shake up my podcast line-up in order to do some work on my softer side. I think that I am going to try this one on because it has a mixture of things I need to work on as well as things I am interested in. I have a number of podcasts that I am kind of hearing without listening. My playlist keeps growing as a number of my routine podcasts keep adding episodes and it just turns into more noise that I am not taking in.

End Your Programming Routine: I certainly agree that men should be versed in traditionally male (or hard skills) and softer skills. Not only is the manly but it is also modern. I can’t really imagine what the world was like when men didn’t know how to cook or do laundry. I just call them life skills.

March 10, 2023 – Animal Farm, Chapter 1

March 10, 2023 /

We have a new book this week, George Orwell’s “Animal Farm”. I know that this is a short book and originally I was thinking that I was going to cover it in four sessions. Once I started reading, it became very apparent that each chapter is it’s own subject. Or said another way, I don’t think that chapter one has that much to do with chapter 3 in terms of concepts. They are interrelated but they are also very standalone.

Unlike 1984, we do know from Orwell (Blair) that this was deliberately written as a precautionary warning against Communism. It’s a cutesy little tale some might call a parable or a story with point. This isn’t my first time through the book, I read it in 2019. But, it definitely fits into my Friday genre.

It is no small consequence that Orwell picked the pig to be the instigator. They are among the smarter domesticated animals and they have a penchant for breaking the rules. In farm terms, that means destroy things, escape, etc. They can be brutal, killing other animals that they perceive to be weak. And finally, if they truly do escape they become feral within a generation.

Major, the pig had a dream. He dreamt that there was a place that the animals were in control of production and therefore their lives. The animals would band together and work in lock stock together to perform all the tasks that they have been forced to do throughout their lives.

Along with working toward the common goals, they would also reject all things that are seen as human. These would be things like wearing clothes, sleeping in beds living in houses, using money, drinking/smoking, use money or trade. Major died a few days after revealing his idea. I believe that Major was a caricature of Lenin.

It is perfectly natural for beings to want to own their own production. The opposite of that is actually defined as slavery. I think that is is also natural for an oppressed group to reject all trappings of their oppressors. It’s either that or the trappings become appropriated.

As with all ideas, they are just that. When attempted to be put into practice, it is often times more complicated that it would be seem. In addition to that, when things are large it can take more than a lifetime to come to fruition. When others assume the tasks, they may not take them in the same direction as the visionary intended.

I was reading about Lenin and while he was no Stalin, he certainly was not afraid to make some heads roll. It would seem like his galvanization into the ways of Marx was the execution of an older brother in 1887. But in reading about his first government apparently he was not the most radical. I had never realized that the Bolsheviks were not one and the same as Lenin. They wanted total conversion of all private assets to be redistributed while Lenin was a more reserved socialist.

My point with all of this is that a Visionary sets the path and the tone. But, no one lives forever and once that power has transitioned, the vision will be molded or adapted to the person succeeding. Therefore, the manifestation of the original vision may be far from what the founder intended.

End Your Programming Routine: I will take this week by week. As it stands, this will be a ten week series, one per chapter. But if it makes sense, I will combine chapters in the course of this study. This chapter was only an introduction. The lesson this week is a revolutionary has an idea of something different than what is. It’s not hard to persuade a population that understands and identifies with the benefits of the revolution.

March 9, 2023 – Life Without Fuel

March 9, 2023 /

I was born in the mid-1970s. I do remember the gasoline shortage of 1979 vaguely. I remember asking my mom if the water could run out. My dad purchased a bicycle and started riding it to work everyday. He rode a bike to work and back from 1980-1983 (until we moved too far away). My mom rode a bicycle to the grocery store and around town.

Whether people realize it or not, our lifestyle revolves around fuel. One type of fuel is electricity. In my house that is the stove, the refrigerator, the freezer and the furnace. I would say that it is pretty important. A small amount of electricity can be stored in batteries and another small portion of electricity can be made with a generator but that doesn’t run without fuel.

We have all seen the Walking Dead where gasoline all runs out and the entire planet switches to ethanol. It’s a fun fantasy for sure but not really realistic on a large scale. Some preparedness minded people have made a huge investment in solar but this also assumes the outage is not caused by something like an Electro Magnetic Pulse. This is essentially a high level nuclear detonation that fries anything electrical. If you think that it is not possible, think about military escalation with Russia and a Chinese balloon that flew undiscovered along with who knows how many others.

I really don’t think that it is possible or practical to prepare for catastrophic events. What is smart is to deal with the typical, short term problems we see in everyday life. An ice storm knocks out power for a week or the government shuts down society for a month. You can’t leave or you don’t want to leave how is this going to work?

Can you actually stay home for two weeks? I know that examining what happened during the pandemic we didn’t. Sure, we had lots of food and we were fairly well prepared for survival. On the same hand, none of us knew what was going to happen so we went out in search of more while we could.

I remember standing in an hours long line at Costco on one of the first Saturdays of the lockdown. We waited for an hour and eventually decided that it wasn’t worth it. We ended up going to a scratch and ding kind of place called Wheeler Dealer because there were no lines. We got everything we wanted at scratch and dent kind of prices without the wait. It was mostly snacks and comfort foods, not something we stock a lot of. The truth is, we didn’t need to go out. It was a shortage fear that triggered us to react.

Leaving woulda/coulda/shoulda of that era behind, fuel is not much different the food. We may need to leave to get it, the prices are generally going up, it has a shelf-life, we can never have a lifetime supply at any one time and we use it daily. I am going to take the next couple of Thursdays talking about fuel storage, redundancy and alternative solutions.

End Your Programming Routine: This was going to be a single post but I couldn’t get my head around exactly what I wanted to say. There was too much and the topic was too broad and I wandered too much. I think I changed the title ten times before I settled on this one. Fuel is always something on my pantry list. It’s not sexy or fun but boy are you glad you have it when you need it.

March 8, 2023 – Cooking For Crowds

March 8, 2023 /

Last weekend, we had a family weekend. There was fourteen of us and we took turns with different meals. My mom made the comment that I am using to cooking for crowds and that is true. What isn’t is that everyone has a lot of experience doing it. With the size and frequency of gathering with my wife’s family, I have cooked for thirty many times, often without much warning.

Probably everyone has thrown a party. In a limited extent, people have some knowledge about what it takes. But, throwing a graduation party is really a different than breakfast for fifteen. I thought that I would take some time to talk about some tips today.

The photo above is not last weekend but a typical night in Spain. The way that they do it, people in attendance all bring something to share. I would say it is kind of ‘pot lucky’ which is a little bit different than a weekend getaway. But, certainly another idea.

Here are some things that I think make a difference.

  • Don’t expect perfection. It’s not a wedding, just a meal. Relax and go with the flow.
  • Calculating proportions: take what you eat or your family eats and extrapolate the total count
  • Keep dishes simple like soup and rolls, chili dogs, scrambled eggs, spaghetti or lasagna.
  • The oven is your friend. If not cooking in it, it can be used to keep stuff warm so that everything can be served at the same time.
  • Don’t be afraid to have others contribute, it lightens the load
  • If you are limited by silverware or table space, people can eat in waves.
  • Prep as many things as possible before cooking. Have ingredients cut and ready to cook. It is way more important the larger the meal.

A sample menu for our weekend was Friday night: pizza (we cheated), Saturday Morning: frozen cinnamon rolls, sausage links and scrambled eggs, Saturday Evening: build your own tacos and Sunday morning: pancakes and sausage with leftovers thrown in. Notice that we didn’t plan for lunch. There was plenty of leftover pizza and other snacks around to bridge the gap. Truthfully, I wasn’t hungry anyway given that we had a large and late breakfast.

End Your Programming Routine: You can do this. Unless you are running a restaurant or you simply want to spend your time cooking, the point is to get in and get out. That being said, cooking itself can be family time. So, relax and it will be what it is.

March 7, 2023 – A Small Change in Direction

March 7, 2023 /

I have been thinking about this lately. I feel like my content has been more and more political and opinionated and I want to change that. I am keeping Friday’s book review as is and I want to reserve the right for Monday’s podcast to talk about whatever I want. Otherwise, I want Tuesday through Thursday to be politics free.

This may mean that I post nothing on one or all of the days in the middle of the week. But, that is OK because I never wanted this to become a political endeavor. I would much prefer you change your programming by building something or growing something or creating something rather than picking the proper side of the argument. Part of why I have been doing it is that it is easier to write opinion. It doesn’t require me to be in the shop or the kitchen or documenting whatever I am doing. All that has to be done ahead of time and sometimes life is not like that.

This line of thinking all started when I was discussing with my wife our relationship. See “Formaldehyde Christianity” for more context. She said that I have changed and that I have become more hostile and angry. Now, I don’t really think so but there is no doubt that I have spent time researching topics and preparing rebuttals on topics that I don’t agree with. And once my mind is convinced on an argument, I very rarely change my opinion about it.

I have always believed in the concept “perception is reality”. If that is her perception then it is also reality. So, I started looking about things that I am doing and what could either be influences or things that I could eliminate. I think that it is hypocritical to say that I am apolitical and then write about it three times a week. So, it is time for a change of directions.

I suppose that I believe that I am apolitical because I don’t trust political parties, neither Republican nor Democrat. But, that doesn’t mean that I am not largely diehard conservative and strongly freedom oriented. I do stand for traditional values and a women’s right to choose. I stand with God and your right to marry who you choose. I don’t condone or endorse those contradictory behaviors, God will solve that in the end. In my belief system, you only get to Heaven by free will and it is not my place to judge.

Believe it or not, I stand with your desire to call yourself whatever gender you choose. What I do not stand for is using the school system to promote that there are actually more than biological science has identified. I don’t stand for you forcing me to do things that I don’t agree with but I am all for you living in delusion. Remember “perception is reality”. There is another the old adage “your right to free speech ends before your fist touches my nose”. Be as ridiculous as you like but leave me alone and I will extend the same courtesy.

Before I get carried away with more politics, I am just trying to explain why I am the way I am. So let’s just get back to what I am trying to do. I want to keep the mainline of my work on ideas and solutions, not being mad a bad guys. Hopefully this change will be subtle enough and good for me at the same time.

March 6, 2023 – What Your Ukraine Flag Is Really Saying

March 6, 2023 /

I did quite a bit of reading on this one. I knew in my head, from trusted sources that things weren’t exactly what they seemed. All that being said, everyone still needs to do their own research. Just because a source is trusted, doesn’t mean that it is always right.

I think that intuitively, we can all see the Ukrainian flag as a symbol of virtue signaling. It is a sign of the times. We have become a society of icons and false bravado when we perceive an injustice. Just like the ‘drop the mic’ podcast, unfortunately I think that society has turned. We have moved into a decadence phase like ancient Rome where we have more interest in other people’s problems than our own. But, that is a story for another day.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Ukraine

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavs

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Crimea

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolution_of_Dignity

End Your Programming Routine: Virtue signaling is certainly a form of programming. The concept implies a level of ignorance or blind faith. Now, is this something that is a major problem? Only when you are concerned with liberty and individual thought.

March 3, 2023 – Fahrenheit 451 Conclusions

March 3, 2023 /

To understand Fahrenheit 451 is to understand the backstory to how it was written. Of course, none of this is written in the book but it was part of mine as an appendix.  Fahrenheit 451 is an evolution and combination of several short stories and an ongoing effort to get published. Unlike Orwell, Bradbury was alive for many decades after it’s publishing and indeed had some words to say in confirmation of what I am about to write.

The inspiration for the story came from a book called “Darkness at Noon” by Arthur Koestler.  This is not a book that I have read or am familiar with, but the description seems worthy of going on the reading list especially if it inspired Bradbury. It is a story of persecution in a totalitarian regime.  It was at that time that Bradbury decided that science fiction was the genre of literature the permitted the most leeway for his beliefs and story. All that being said, I don’t think that this was a protest story as much as it was a warning.

Though not formally educated, you could probably say that Bradbury had a desire to write. One of the precursor stories to Fahrenheit 451 was a short story called “The Pedestrian”. Essentially, this was based on an encounter with police that Bradbury thought he was wrongfully accused. This interaction pissed him off enough to write a story about it.

Later, Bradbury developed another short story titled “The Fireman” as a science fiction magazine submission.  This was the true basis of Fahrenheit 451 with the portions of “The Pedestrian” weaved in.  That part of the story was Montag’s interaction with Clarisse whereas most of the rest of it was “The Fireman”.  This was all done in an attempt to make a book length story for publishing.

On an interesting note, as Bradbury’s work got critical acclaim it began to be read in schools in the 1960s. The publishers took it upon themselves to sanitize the book from the largest adult themes such as language unbeknownst to Bradbury.  It was some years before it was brought to his attention and Bradbury immediately demanded that be stopped, which they did.  I think that you can say that he walked the walk.

In the grand scheme of things, Bradbury was no slouch. He could read the tea leaves on the way things were going and the subject manner of banning books was no coincidence. With the age of new media coming, and I mean TV he could anticipate that books being passed over.  The reason the subject matter was banning books was because it was more palatable considering TV was quickly surpassing reading for entertainment.  It was also Bradbury’s belief (and mine) that there was more to lose banning them. You see, with books you have to think about what is being said and interpret what is happening.  Thinking is what makes them “dangerous”.

I realize that this has been a little different than some of my other wrap-ups because I have a lot of information on and from Bradbury himself. With that, I think I will leave the analysis there. This is a short book that can easily be read in a couple sessions. The story is easy to follow and I think that it is approachable science fiction. In today’s world, it doesn’t even seem too far out there. That was probably different when it was written in the 1950s.

You can probably tell from my complimentary tone that I hold a high opinion of the book. I think a lot of factors come together between the story, the length and the approachability to make that happen. If I had one criticism, I would say that the ending was a little unbelievable. I am not totally convinced that after multiple nuclear detonations that it would be possible to go back to the city. I imagine that the radiation and fallout would be off the charts.

But, in Bradbury’s defense the first nuclear bomb was tested in 1952 which was one year before the book was published. We know so much more about the effects of nuclear detonation now the at that time. Plus, we have the benefit of almost instantaneous and comprehensive information with the internet. I am sure his depiction of nuclear war was was colored by the perception what the public thought about war at the time with the information that was available.

End Your Programming Routine: The warning that I am referring to in the first paragraph is the warning about taking in your surroundings or some people use the phrase being in the moment, that is living.  With your earbuds in, driving around at 200mph to get home and watch TV people are losing touch with reality.  I feel like that is just as relevant today as it was in 1953. And maybe even a little more so as we approach that era of life in a four-screen environment.

March 2, 2023 – Right For the Wrong Reasons

March 2, 2023 /

February 24, 2023 The Survival Podcast ended with a bang. I mean, the punch in the face. When I heard it on Friday, I immediately thought I should cut out that audio. Low and behold, Jack did it for me (at least he put a clip on mewe which prompted me to get it before I lost it).

Right for the wrong reasons is that you don’t get a say on how things go. You are promoting ‘dangerous misinformation’ by disputing the status quo. You don’t get a vote, opinion/facts/truth doesn’t matter.

This is the link to the audio for the show that he refers to as being banned from YouTube for dangerous information. By the way, each of the thirty points is source cited.

https://www.thesurvivalpodcast.com/reckoning-for-covidians

End Your Programming Routine: You know that I am not about believing unsupported conspiracies. But when the preponderance of the facts are on your side, we as humans (should) know when right is right. We are in real trouble if we don’t get this concept. I would say one of the most profound presentations I have ever heard.