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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.

April 6, 2021- Maintenance Today

April 6, 2021 /

One thing that people who don’t run a website might not know is that it actually requires active effort. Everyday when I login to the dashboard to begin writing, there is a Health summary on issues that are outstanding. Some are warnings and some are actual issues.

Today, I wasn’t able to login to the dashboard to write. I had some issues with the SSL certificate. It seems like every two months, there is some kind of problem with SSL. I suspect that if I ponied up some money, that I wouldn’t have this problem and probably wouldn’t have to make changes.

I bumbled my way through fixing the problem. I also found some suggested improvements, which I also made. One nice thing is that even though I know very little about Linux, I can usually search and find some answers on the internet. Even platform and provider issues there is usually some help.

Since I dont have time to generate a more material today, you will have to settle for a picture of my progress on the office project. It is slow, but moving one small piece at a time.

The next step is to remove the drywall to the right of the desk. I am going to frame around the block so that I can insulate properly because believe me, it is cold down here. More on that later.

April 5, 2021- The Wire Monster

April 5, 2021 /

I am trying to figure out where to go from here. It is increasingly difficult to prioritize the time to write, balance family time with work and accomplish all the other tasks that need to get done in life. More specifically, to what end? I didn’t start this because I was bored in life, I started to try and build a career replacement.

Maybe I didn’t use my time as effectively as I could have when I had it. I certainly was slow to get my domain started and branch out. I am not aggressive about the business aspects. The truth is, I have discovered that I really don’t want to participate in social media. I find the interaction a chore and somewhat detestable.

I guess that I would compare social media to shopping at Costco. Many people I know like to shop at Costco. There are some nice things about it, but high on my list is consistency of availability. I never know if what I want is available. I never know if what I want to see on social media is available and I don’t want to spend my time ‘shopping’ just to see.

Just like other social media, my branding has been a little all over the place. I suppose what I was trying to accomplish was interweaving life with skills. I have not been consistent with my delivery of good skills based content and have wandered quite a bit, particularly since I finished my remodel. I am making no promises here, but since I have a project going on, I should take advantage of the fact.

Since I spend a lot of my workday being cold, getting heat is a priority. I was looking at my subpanel trying to figure out what the unmarked breakers were and what space I had available. The upper left 20A 240V breaker was wired to a baseboard heater that is no longer installed and the target of my interest. But further to that, why did I have so many 240V breakers?

I found that I had one 20A 240V breakers un-used and one 30A 240V breaker empty. On top of that, there was some curious wiring. One leg of the bottom right 20A 240V circuit was tied to a relay and two 12V transformers that didn’t go anywhere. My speculation is that this has been an electrical free for all.

The DC wiring I think was for an internal vacuum system but I really don’t know. There is also heat tracing on all of the piping in the basement has not been connected since I have lived here. Maybe that is the reason? I was going to cleanup everything, but ultimately I decided to disconnect and remove all of the low voltage stuff. I have lived here over sixteen years and never knew or needed it, it is not likely I was going to miss it.

So, I have my circuit for my heater and I have space to add an office specific 20A circuit and I simplified my panel. I have built my Bill of Materials and made my cost estimate. It is almost time to really get started.

April 2, 2021- Gone But Not Forgotten

April 2, 2021 /

Today I received an interesting e-mail from the Boy Scouts of America. They still keep track of their alumni. They seem to do a better job than my schools.

I seem to remember getting one of these last year. I suspect that it has to do with my kids being part of the program and me putting my contact information in.

I have talked about some of my experiences before. I may be closer than others who do not have kids in the program or still remain in touch with local resources. So, I do get frequent reminders of the values and benefits from that standpoint.

Even though things have changed a lot, some for the better and some for the worse I still think that it an organization that provides value. One of the things that I find interesting is the growth and development the boys have throughout the tenure. The come in as fifth graders and leave when eighteen, if they stay the whole tenure. Most of them come in as children and leave as a true adult. There is a transition from a timid grade schooler interacting with high schoolers to leading a small organization over time.

When I listen to them talk amongst themselves I can still hear youthful optimism and naivete but to see them in action, the training pays dividends. It’s nice to learn skills and have fun but to be able to practice the fundamentals of leadership is the experience that I see valuable.

This is Easter and celebrating that Jesus died for our new covenant with God. We have eternal salvation if we want it. I hope that you have a great weekend.

April 1, 2021- ‘Tacticool’ Thursday

April 1, 2021 /

It is April Fool’s Day; there can be some real fools in the Tacticool space. I thought that it would be fun to identify some of them today.

The Mall Ninja– The mall ninja type is a person that gets kitted up to go out in public. My definition would include swords and trench coats, tactical dress with the bat belt on and wearing a full on backpack out in public. It is not clear to me if they are wearing all that gear because they think it might be useful or whether they are trying to drive a reaction.

One time, I saw a guy in a local grocery store wearing a kilt with a bush knife and handgun on his belt. The kilt was obviously a statement, but then to be decorated with weapons I couldn’t help but wonder if that was provocative or not. I averted my eyes one so they didn’t get burned but also I didn’t want to get into any issues.

The Keyboard Warrior- I suppose this category isn’t limited to the Tacticool space, but to the internet in general. The keyboard warrior is someone that knows it all or done it all and likes to post about it. The majority of their time and experience is spent within the virtual realm. In reality, we are seeing the highs and not the lows (if it is in fact true). They may have an encyclopedic knowledge of firearms or weapons with little practical experience.

The Role-player- I am not one to judge ones interests but I think sometimes these people end up trying to live their fantasy. This category is on the fringe of Tacticool, maybe more like wannabes. They can also bridge into the Mall Ninja category as well.

The (un)Prepper- This is the person that calls themselves a prepper, but the only preparation they have made is buying firearms and ammunition. The so called plan when the Shit Hits The Fan is to take what they need, hence all the firepower. This person will likely end up dead in the first week or join a band of renegades.

Not Internalizing the Rules of Gun Safety- This is the adage of becoming familiar enough to be dangerous or familiarity breeds complacency. There are so many stories about this especially if you have been around this space for a while. Anyone can have an accident or even an equipment failure but if you are properly following the rules, a violation of one rule but not the others can have a safe outcome.

I went deer hunting with a guy one time and I heard a shot from his direction. When we got back together, he said I heard something and so I shot, it turned out to be a person. That scared the crap out of me and I never went out with him again.

There are others in the woods, at the range and in public like that. It is why I prefer to skip chances at deer hunting in preference of safety. Keep your eyes open for for other Tacticool fools, they roam among us.

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 25, 2021- ‘Tacticool’ Thursday

March 25, 2021 /

I have shotgun shells on the brain. Getting ready for the upcoming Trap season, I and some of the coaches were trying to get our strategy together to keep the team supplied with enough ammunition to do the five weeks of competition.

The first order was ‘you have to supply your own’. Even with me having some and buying a little, I cant find it reliably and in adequate quantity. The second idea was to try and buy reloading components. I wrote about that last week. When we were getting the club ready, we found we had a whole bunch of reloading components, but not everything. So I went down that rabbit hole of looking up loads that would work for the components we have and what that would cost. Finally, I have been working on a bulk buy of shotgun shells for the team and managing all of the moving parts that go along with that.

My contact that I have been working with said that he provided another local team with a pallet of shells. That is over 100 cases, in which there are 10 boxes per case and 25 rounds per box. That is over 25,000 shotgun shells. He was pretty sure that he could get us what we needed. I found some random picture of pallets of shotgun shells for perspective.

Needless to say, I am in the midst of negotiating a deal between the supplier and our teams’ board of directors. I still have on my long term goals to learn how to reload. I have a line on some powder, so I have all of the components I think I need for personal use.

You would be surprised at the dizzying array of component combinations for shotgun reloading. Not every primer, wad nor even hull combination allegedly can be mixed and matched. The thing about reloading is that chamber pressure is king (think safety), then accuracy. However, it seems that there is discrepancy between the flexibility of the plastic material in the wad and ambient temperature. Flexibility drives sealing and sealing drive pressure. Some hulls are tapered, some are not, so not every wad fits into every hull (properly).

All the component combinations have little known impact on the shot pattern. Every shotgun will perform slightly differently with every combination. For reloading, it is literally a matter of trying the different combinations until something works. As you can imagine, this can get expensive and time consuming.

I suppose I can talk about this some more some other time. Especially when I get more knowledge on the subject. My last item about shotguns is that I am planning on going to the range this weekend. I have a red dot sight that I want to get sighted in at 50 yards for slugs and then I want to test buckshot. I want to see the difference between what a field barrel will do and what a self defense length barrel will do. I may even try different chokes. I can’t get too fancy because I am only bringing 30 slugs (that was $100) but I would like to see the impact of different setups.

The point being that I want to be able to ensure the sight is somewhat accurate in case I ever needed a self defense tool. Just like shot pattern, every brand and weight, etc will perform differently with sight accuracy. What is dead on in one scenario may be six inches down and left in another. Looking forward to that.

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.