Category: Opinion

May 25, 2021- Rough wiring complete, Insulation mostly done

May 25, 2021 /

Time is a consistent theme for me. I never seem to have enough of it. There are the things I want to do, I do some of that. There are the things I have to do, I do those things when I must usually dragging my feet. There are the things that I should do that seem like I rarely do those things.

It is always better when time constraints overlap like should/want and want/need. Planning what I want to write about falls between want to do and should do, but definitely not a have to do. Because of that, I didn’t really have a topic today. My choice of free time is going toward my project work. So you are getting a project update today with a helping of thought provoking commentary.

I have the materials and the wherewithal to finish the insulation. But, without light inside the space, I am delaying the final enclosure as long as possible. I would like to get as much of the drywall installed before I finish the final wall. I do have work lights, but they are a pain. I could also install a temporary fixture, but I would have to daisy chain all the proceeding electrical together first and then it would still be in my way.

I have a little bit of framing, blocking and stiffening work to do, they are all on the north wall to. So, I will see if I run out of things to do before I only have insulation to work on. I do plan on buying the drywall this weekend. That will be the last major chunk of expense. In the mean time, I have two pieces of drywall that I had carefully removed before I started.

For some reason, I didn’t push the right buttons to build a career in this line of business. It would have combined multiple interests like business development and hard skills like building. I suppose that it didn’t turn out to be my lot in life but it is really on my brain all day long. As I sit here doing my work, I can smell the lumber and the craft paper of the insulation and it I keep turning to look at my project causing me to get distracted and scheme about my next moves.

Sometimes, I can’t help myself and start cutting pieces of insulation or pull a run of wire when a meeting is droning on. That gets me thinking along the lines of content generation and how I can utilize my skills and interest in that direction. Pretty soon, I am not paying any attention to what is going on. I am sure that God has a plan for me, I am much less sure what it is.

On an semi-related note, yesterday I was listening to the Outside podcast. They snuck one in on me and the subject matter was an interview with a transgender outdoor athlete. When podcasts get too deep into social justice and social engineering, they don’t last to long in my feed. Outside tends to lean that way to begin with but as long as it is not the only subject matter, then I listen with an open mind.

I do not get it, but I do believe that people can be living lives that do not fit with how they are born. It is clear that when they describe the before and after life that the release is genuine. It makes me wonder what it would feel like to feel that way and how a person would struggle with identity and contentment. Fortunately, my problem is more of building and plan and executing rather than doing something that is impossible.

Circling back to time now. In order for me to re-invent myself, I would need to dedicate the time to do so which is hard. I have things that I want to do as well but it comes down to how much pain is the current situation versus desire to change. For that, I will not complain but continue sculpting whatever my life will end up becoming; I guess that if it was quick, then I would already be doing it.

End Your Programming Routine: I don’t think that I was ever planning on talking about let alone connecting transgender to insulation. Regardless, just like all things that I write about, we have to evaluate the data that we have and execute decisions based on what we think has the best outcome. The most important thing to do is to think about the variables and potential outcomes. At least that way, we don’t continue to do the same things for reasons that we don’t understand.

May 19, 2021 – Covid Day 14

May 19, 2021 /

I am calling it. It has been fourteen days since my symptoms first appeared and I am about 98% over it. My personal experience with Covid is that it has been way overblown and people have been scared, hyped and programmed by the experience.

This post is going to be an opinion based on my personal experience. I fully admit that not everyone had the same experience as I did. I know people that were hospitalized last year and were on a ventilator for a week. That being said, never let a good crisis go to waste. Here s a day to day description

  • May 6, 2021- A increase in mucus, increased swallowing and the feel like something is stuck in the throat
  • May 7, 2021- A repeat of the previous day with a slight increase
  • May 8, 2021- Body aches and a mild fever. I measured 99.6 degrees F three different times in the day
  • May 9, 2021- Continued body aches but no measurable fever. This was the day that I took my test
  • May 10, 2021- The aches were decreased and my sinus increased, feeling better
  • May 11, 2021- Full congestion. I got a positive Covid result today.
  • May 12, 2021- Adding running nose, plus I also went to bed after work and slept all night
  • May 13, 2021- Still congested, nose not running anymore. Went to bed at 7pm.
  • May 14, 2021- Congestion decreases significantly. Feeling like I am on the downside.
  • May 15, 2021 – Congested, feeling like I have been sick this week but definitely feeling like it is almost over
  • May 16, 2021- Everything is basically normal minus the congestion but I can breathe through my nose.
  • May 17, 2021 – Full energy, still congested
  • May 18, 2021 – Still congested
  • May 19, 2021 – Still congested

By my account, it seems like that is pretty mild. Contrast this to the last time I got sick in February 2020. I had several days of fever (starting on Valentines Day). In about a week, I developed a cough, which I never really had with Covid. The cough was so severe, that I could not sleep. I spent at least three nights on the couch to get away from everyone and to sit upright which helped. I probably got ten hours of sleep on those three days.

This has been one of my most mild sicknesses that I can remember. It could be that because of all the things we have heard about Covid that I was prepared for the worse. But, I think that it could be that this was really overblown. The hype cycle began much the same as H1N1 Bird Flu or H1N6 Swine Flu. The difference with this one is that people started getting tested and positive results. It used to be said that it wasn’t worth the cost or the time to test for influenza.

Once positive results were reported, there was a wave of paranoia and hypocondrianism set in. I have observed it on multiple occasions with my recent experience. I wanted to get tested and get a positive result so I could definitively say that this whole year has been a giant brainwashing activity. And I think that my experience is proof as such.

It has never been about Covid, but developing pneumonia as a result. Pneumonia can come from a variety of sources including influenza as well and it has always been an underreported killer, especially of old and frail people. The sad thing is that the world will never be the same. Cancel culture driven by ‘Karens’ has shamed people into wearing masks for something that has always been around and always will be.

The celebration of the ‘Vaccinated’ and the fallacy of getting back to normal is another delusion. The fact that you can now feel good about not wearing a mask outside if you have been vaccinated is BS. My wife, who was vaccinated was the one who got this first. You just cannot make this up. Remember that we only needed two weeks so that we can flatten the curve? By my math, that was over fourteen months ago and we are still locked down.

Maybe you can tell that I am worked up. I guess that I am upset that people are so gullible and lack the capability to assess the facts. More so, I don’t think that they are even looking for facts but feeling and reacting to information that someone else is saying. Gone are the days that people are skeptical of new information; it seems as though if the source came from our camp of belief then that is vetted information.

End Your Programming Routine: I am going to be ending this here. I know that if you are reading this, you probably agree with me or maybe you stumbled on this and are triggered. In the end, I don’t care how you believe, just able to justify it with facts. Maybe if someone creates a compelling argument, I will change my opinion. Right now, I am seeing a serious lack of critical thinking and analysis.

April 10, 2021 – Surprised…

April 10, 2021 /

Good Saturday Night. I don’t normally write during this time, it tends to be family or spouse time. But, my son told me that he was using a laser pointer with the dog (acting like a cat). Since I missed Thursday and Friday, I thought I could sneak a little time on Saturday Night

To share video, it is easier to post it to YouTube and share the link; it is faster and more succinct. My wife is out of the house and I thought that she would like to see this.

But, the video is not the point of this post. I haven’t done this a bunch and when I look back on things it has been more than half a year since I posted to YouTube. When I was trying to shake the cobwebs off to figure out how to post a video, I went to my channel. I was looking at the stats and I have a video that has almost 10,000 views. I was fumbling around and my ‘About’ page has over 15,000 views.

That is astounding. Considering that I figured out that posting to YouTube makes the import to this blog very fast is the reason I put anything on there in the first place. My very first serious post was repairing a pneumatic nail gun. I did it on a whim, trying to figure out the best way to get content on this site. The first month that YouTube sent me an e-mail that nearly 1000 people had watched my video, I was shocked.

Sometimes, I get notification that there are comments. I try to respond to those. It is said that audience engagement is the number one way to build a following, and therefore monetization. However, I have never claimed to wanting to build a YouTube channel. I do however want to build something here. I don’t live or die on what happens there. But, when I went there tonight, I was shocked that over 15,000 people have looked at my ‘About’ page.

Since there is a link to my site on the ‘About’ page, I tested it and it works. My most popular videos are my repair videos (not surprising since those are the real non-personal ones). Those are the videos that run-away with the views at 100:1. The whole point of this is that I am shocked so many people have watched what I have put out there because it doesn’t seem to have translated here.

Nevertheless, I want to build sustainable content and YouTube is not the place to do that. See https://odysee.com/ for that. I haven’t bothered to setup an account yet because I haven’t produced anything recently, but it is on my short term list to do so. In fact, uploading to YouTube will also import to Odysee at the same time if you are setup to do so.

I am humbled and shocked to see the numbers. Despite the fact that I have had little interaction with the viewers of my videos I hope that I have helped people with the small issues that I have posted. That was the point of me posting this tonight and I hope that you enjoy Raya.

April 7, 2021- 1984 1:7

April 7, 2021 /

I am running late today, so trying to get this in before the day ends. Last night I read chapter seven so hopefully it is fresh in my mind.

This chapter is a trip into Winston’s thoughts and he is having an awakening. Intertwined in his inner dialogue, it is implied that he is writing in his diary. It seems that the process of writing is having a stimulating effect on his self analysis.

This chapter is deep as there are more than one line, vocabulary concepts. There is a good quote and some hard philosophical analysis. So, let’s tackle the quote first.

And even when they became discontented, as they sometimes did, their discontent led nowhere, because being without general ideas, they could only focus on petty grievances. The ‘they’ in this context is the ‘Proles’. Winston is talking about the differences between life in the Party versus being on the outside and how the party is outnumbered by a four to one ratio. If they really wanted to rise up, they could easily overtake the government. This sentence validates one of the things I have been saying about politics. People that are focused on the left/right dichotomy are too busy fighting for their side and against the other that the politicians are robbing them blind.

Seeing is believing- Winston starts to realize that no matter how much someone can say something that is not true if you are seeing yourself, you can figure out someone is lying. Stones are hard, water is wet, objects unsupported fall to the earth’s center. All of those things are verifiable without too much effort an no one can convince otherwise.

Need to corroborate- Toward the end of the chapter, Winston states that he is writing this for O’brien. Despite his inherent distrust of O’brien, for some reason Winston is being drawn towards him. I think that this validates the point that we need people to socialize and empathize our situation. We will see if this is happens later in the book

There were other things of interest going on like the portrayed image of capitalist, the fate of some of the revolutionary founders and a little bit more about the life of the proles. There is one more chapter left in this section and then the book is going to make a turn.

March 31, 2021 – The Move From Winter to Spring

March 31, 2021 /

Spring started 11 days ago. I can’t say with certainty that we are moving to a new season. The more I look, the more I am surprised that we seeing long term supply chain disruptions. I attribute it to both the ice storm and the pandemic reactions. The following are items that I have recently had trouble with.

  • Propane and propane accessories (couldn’t resist)
  • Firearms, ammunition and reloading components
  • Bicycles and bicycle parts
  • Electrical components like wire, breakers, gang boxes, wire clamps, etc
  • Recreational vehicles, including boats

The first four categories I have been looking for in the last couple of weeks. I have talked a lot about the first two, now I am surprised to learn of new categories.

With school going back into session, it was time to get the bike situation sorted out. If you own a cheap bicycle and you ride it a lot there is a common problem. The slot to hold the crank arm into the bearing cassette will deform with constant pedaling. The crank arms are made of a softer aluminum and this is probably the fourth time we have needed to make this repair. Left unrepaired, the crank will eventually become unusable and typically fall off.

In a similar vein, looking for a bicycle for my other son. It turns out that bikes and bike parts are unavailable. I went to three different local shops and they all said that they had 300-1000 bikes on back order with about a year’s worth of lead time. Parts had no ETA. The store owners said that with the shutdown of gyms, people bought bikes in record numbers. We were able to make the repair with a used part.

I don’t know what is going on with electrical items, but I went to three box stores and two hardware stores to get new work gang boxes. In addition I have been having problems finding all electrical items as I start work on my new office. I heard from one source that PVC was in short supply and that it was effecting not just work boxes but also paint. I heard from another source that some electrical components have been out of stock since last summer.

I was also shocked to see the price of sheet goods. Last year, a $14 sheet of 7/16 OSB is now $40. 3/4″ plywood is not $67 a sheet, I would say at least double from last year.

I went ahead and started my plants despite the fact that I haven’t built the beds like I stated earlier. I think that I have a place to put them in the front yard anyway, at least a small garden. There is some question as to whether that would be a good decision depending on whether we are staying at this current house. If I don’t start them, then I won’t have the plants come planting time, so I did it anyway. I can give them away if I want to.

The question remains, are we moving into a new season or is this the new normal? Has our economic climate shifted such that shortages are a fact of life? Has our economic climate shifted such that we are still in the winter of the pandemic? Winter is nature’s rest for new growth, at least in temperate climates. There is no doubt that future impacts will result from this experience, I am not totally sure what they will be at this point. I don’t think we are in spring yet.

March 30, 2021 1984 1:6

March 30, 2021 /

Good Tuesday. I am again running behind, this is the third time I have tried to finish this post. It was my intent to write this two Friday’s ago but time got away from me. I am now trying to read at the pace that I am writing because I forget things as time goes on. In this case, I read this chapter about a month ago. I wrote down some key concepts so that it would jog my memory when I came back but I essentially have to reread again.

This chapter has Winston writing in his diary. He clearly is torn between the right/wrong dichotomy. He is recollecting treasonous events and thoughts but is unable to rectify human emotion and permitted behavior.

The themes in this chapter center on what we learn is a former marriage. Winston at one time had a wife named Katherine. It appears that the focus of marriage was on creating children for the purposes continuing the empire of Big Brother. Because Winston wanted more out of the relationship than just procreation, he became dissatisfied in the union and Katherine disappeared, status unknown.

Love- Orwell is strongly suggesting that love is a necessary human emotion. Despite having a willing wife for the mechanical aspects of sex, it is not enough to fulfill the complete emotion. Winston was turned off to Katherine if you will because he had no connection. They didn’t share the same interests or even the same goals in life. I suppose that you would call it loneliness.

Prostitutes– Despite knowing the risks and the fact that it was wrong, Winston still had a rendezvous with a prostitute from the proletariat. This behavior is probably driven by loneliness and the fact that Winston spends a long time celibate. I think the point here is that despite all the potential downsides, strict adherence to the laws is impossible when you try to isolate human emotions.

Not having a lot of experience or research in this area, I would say that this chapter re-enforces the long held understanding that totalitarian societies often permit minor discretions despite the fact that activity may be illegal. Think free trade in China or the black market in the USSR. As long as the activity is not perceived as harming the establishment then there is only selective enforcement.

Even in the worst of situations, life continues. Babies are born, commerce happens and jobs get done. The scale and focus may changed but not necessarily the drive for life. I would say that points to the fact that there are characteristics like emotions that make us human whether they are good ideas or not.

March 23, 2021- Rapers Gotta Rape

March 23, 2021 /

I heard this phrase a couple weeks ago, at least I think the link below was the right episode. I listen to this podcast mostly because it entertains me, but in a humorous way. Paul Wheaton is a big character in his words and heart so I believe that he is coming at his angle for the right reasons.

podcast 524 – The Click – Part 2

For those of you not familiar, “Permaculture” is the combination of two words, ‘Permanent’ and ‘Culture’. It is often misconstrued as ‘permanent agriculture’ which is about half of the equation. The premise as I understand it anyway is building a sustainable life which includes community and agriculture. Further, it seems like there are two camps in Permaculture. One side seems to focus on the community and the other agriculture bringing quite a dichotomy of interests together.

As I stated above, Paul has quite a way with words. He runs a forum and often uses the rant as a form of communicating his feelings. This particular rant is all about how people ‘let others do bad and get away with it’. Hence the slippery slope from ‘haters gonna hate’ to the extreme ‘rapers gonna rape’. You can read the post here.

After I got a chuckle out of the podcast, I went and read his post (several times) to see more context. I have to say that I struggled a bit following along. I have been listening for years so I am familiar with the trials and tribulations of what he is trying to accomplish. The post was pretty ‘rambly’ so it seems like he was triggered by two things. One was a video that people name the ‘Fouches’ put out and the other incident was a lackluster response to a presentation that he made at a conference called ‘Permaculture Voices’ a few years ago.

After reading the post, I watched the Fouch video (not linking to it, but is easily found on YouTube). I did find it a little petty, but for the most part it was a timid, critique of their experience. Paul has treated this as an all out assault and has pushed back with his media with extreme vile and anger. I guess you would say this is where the story ends about Paul and the real lessons begin.

If you know that you are doing something different (trying to change the world), know that there is going to be pushback. I know that when I got my first negative comment on YouTube, I was kind of PO’d about how rude it was. But, the advice is that if you do not have detractors, then you are not making a difference because you are not reaching enough people.

In my last job, I was literally running circles around the establishment to the point that they were sabotaging my customer relations and interfering with the business I was in charge of. I was making money out of written off customers, salvaging impossibly damaged projects and building a very successful team with cast-offs. I was so upset that my methods were clearly getting results and making a difference yet they would be allowed to behave unethically with no consequences, I quit. I did everything I could to get away from those people, moving divisions and going all the way to the president with my concerns. I now know that they were threatened and that by quitting I didn’t prove anything to the business. I suspect that there will come anther day in my career or whatever I do that I will be faced with this again, I have to refer to my first point above.

There are two kinds of criticisms, constructive and trolling. When I watched the Fouch video I did not see trolling. I suspect that if Paul would have followed his software engineering training rather than getting all emotional and had done a ‘root cause analysis’ he would have a better understanding of why they were not happy. I do not subscribe to the theory of pleasing everyone, but at least attempting to understand their discontent he would be in a better place.

When I looked at my YouTube comment, I understood that the guy was saying I didn’t show every nut and bolt part. I never intended to, I made the video for this blog and I was working out how to edit, embed and so forth. I get it that it wasn’t an exhaustive how to, nor did I promise that it was. Such is the way of the world so I didn’t respond back. Maybe I should have offered to help personally because he was so distraught about his situation, who knows.

I guess that where I differ from Paul is that fighting back is rarely productive. As much as I have written about government overreach and related items, has it changed one bit? Focus your energies on supporting the positive and causes/people that agree with your values for sure. But, spending time on your detractors wastes energy to that could be used to move forward.

March 22, 2021 – Stole this from MeWe

March 22, 2021 /

I know that I was behind last week. I got a sad chuckle out of this, so I thought that I would quickly share. Humor was definitely something that I wanted to keep in the forefront. I also realize that I have been 99% serious over the last year. Hopefully it will be a better week on the content front.

March 9, 2020- Personal Security in the Digital Age

March 9, 2021 /

I was first exposed to an open source password manager called KeePass a number of years ago. When I worked in support, I had to have many different accounts at the ready, often on a moments notice. One of the biggest disadvantages was that it was limited to a computer, at least I was smart enough to only put work relevant information on it.

A couple of years ago, I thought that I would want to start using an application like this again. I found one for the phone called MiniKeePass. Early in 2020, the app makers announced that it would no longer be supported by the end of the year. So, I have been ‘riding dirty’ every since.

The problems are, one that there is a lot of information currently saved in MiniKeePass. I also had an old system using Evernote. How to get it out before it is lost forever by an OS update or some other problem. You would be surprised the number of job board logins, etc I have accumulated over the years. According to Apple, it can be backed up, but how do you access the database?

As a result, I am in the search for a good password vault. I need to get these things moved before something happens. I don’t have a lot of requirements, just a few. I don’t want to pay for a service but I am willing to buy an app. I don’t want cloud back-up and potential security vulnerability of someone else storing. Lastly, I would like to be able to access it from multiple devices.

Searching around, I found this app Myki. It is free and it shares across devices. The biggest downside I have found so far is that you have to purchase additional categories. So, for instance I don’t really want to have 400 accounts in one view because I only use four of five routinely.

I am taking a sort of hybrid approach. You can create custom ‘Notes’. I create a note on the category that I want to keep track of. Then I add all the seldomly used accounts under the custom notes. The drawback of such an approach is that you will not get the auto-fill functionality on a webpage. Or said differently, Myki will not fill in account information automatically. I am OK with that, these are accounts that I may never use again.

On a slightly related note, I have been trying out the Brave browser and the Duck-Duck-Go search engine. Post the Capitol riots, I found out that Mozilla is not the patron saint of freedom like I previously thought. One interesting thing about the Brave browser is that you are awarded cryptocurrency for using it. This is one of those things that may never amount to much but there is no harm.

I have known about Duck-Duck-Go for years. This is a search engine that values privacy. So far, I have been happy but I have heard that it is not quite as diligent as Google. I guess we will see.

So, those are some new options for privacy and security. My preference would be to have the same ID and password everywhere, but that is far from secure and a best practice. I am trying to change habits now before something happens.