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August 7, 2024 – I Am Being Censored

August 7, 2024 /

I didn’t make this very clear in my podcast. I after I mentioned that I was going to talk about censorship, I meant to follow up later and say that I was going to write about it later in the week. This is what you get when I don’t finish my notes is that I don’t get things wrapped up real neatly. We are here now.

I have been waiting for this moment. I have known for months now, going all the way back to December when I was trying to work while waiting for some sort of diagnosis about my wife’s fatigue that I was on the black list. My work has me working for a tobacco company and the doctor’s office blocked my computer from accessing the wi-if.

I combat that by carrying my own hotspot. As long as I can get cell service it works pretty well. Unfortunately, as the local hospital cell service is a black hole so with Wi-Fi blocked and no cell service, it is impossible for me to work at the doctors or the hospital.

When we came up to Portland, I thought I would try it. I had Wi-Fi access for several days on my work computer. But, then I got to a point where my work computer seemed to connect to the Wi-Fi but not work. Back to the hotspot. Fortunately, the cell phone service is good, even in the depths of the hospital.

What I didn’t expect is that they blocked access to some of the blogs I check on a daily basis. nearly everyday I check ammoland and the outdoor wire. It is part industry news and part politics and opinion. I tried to check several times and several days always with the same result. Finally, I tried my phone off of Wi-Fi and it worked. So, I know that they are blocking websites.

I don’t know what comparable left wing websites are out there. My personal opinion is a lot of most major news outlets are propaganda for the left. As a result, I pretty much find anti god and anti constitutional ideals as offensive. I am not quite sure why they censor legal and right leaning sites while allowing others to proliferate.

I can understand to a point why my work laptop is banned. I work for a sworn enemy of the medical establishment. I just can’t get over the hypocrisy of my drug company over the hidden evils of their drug companies. It is all about what propaganda channel you swallow. And while the prescriptions are not in my name, I am looking at some of the most addictive drugs known to man right in front of me.

End Your Programming Routine: I figured that this was a question of when not if. I can even understand the reason why they think it is necessary to ban firearms on the premises. But, to ban what I am reading goes a step too far for me. This is a government institution, not a private entity. To be clear, they are violating my first and second amendment rights. Welcome to your future.

August 6, 2024 – Living In a Foreign Language

August 6, 2024 /

Living in a Foreign Language by Micheal Tucker is the Left Coast Culinary Book Club selection for July. I am not just the a member but the President. Remember that one? Unfortunately, I am keeping up with the reading but I have been missing the gatherings. Fortunately, the group is doing a good job carrying on without me.

This book is an easy read by an actor that had his heyday in the 1990s. Tucker was the star of a TV show called LA Law and when the show ended he kind of checked out according to the book. The book is about what happened next which seems to be a shift toward spending more time in Italy.

As many Mediterranean cultures go, there is a heavy influence of food and leisure in their lifestyle. This story is no exception. There is a lot of talk about pasta and meals take a heavy role in the story. The search for the best butcher or cheese monger or fruit vendor. Then there is the ever present garden of peppers, tomatoes, eggplant and zucchini. A giant bread oven sits dormant in the back yard and looms foreboding to be used.

As much as food plays a role in this book, the real star is the is the house. There is the torrid love affair on first meeting. After it has been secured, there is a major remodeling project to double the size of the structure. Each time there is a separation, Tucker longs to come back again.

The story is set in Umbria. I would say that is the lesser known Tuscany. What I mean is that it is rolling hills, picturesque and is mostly rural. The region is commonly referred to as the breadbasket of Italy. At least that is what I learned when I watched the Stanley Tucci Netflix series on Italy.

The book is light. There were elements of humor throughout the book. I liked that. It was one of the nicer memoirs that I have read about people that I don’t really care about. The self deprecating approach that Tucker takes is much preferable to the smugness of Tucci. As you know, I like to work on houses as well as cook.

While I have been to Italy, I am not drawn to Italian cuisine. I certainly appreciate their love and appreciation of food culture, I could care less about pasta. I guess that I hail from butter culture and not olive oil culture. I keep thinking that if I admire the culture enough, I will eventually like it. So far, it is not true.

End Your Programming Routine: Would I recommend this book? No, not necessarily. If you are a Tucker fan or can’t get enough of Under the Tuscan Sun then I think the imagery would be appealing. I can’t necessarily get behind a celebrity buying his second home in Europe and in the process having to give up his personal assistant in the process. Especially when he hasn’t worked in several years. I am not bitter, I just can’t relate. To each his own.

August 5, 2024 – True Humanity

August 5, 2024 /

If you want to see a true and honest slice of humanity, there are a couple of places that I would recommend. You will have to listen to find out, but I reveal pretty early on. We all like to put on heirs about how good and nice we are but there are places where the charade is revealed.

August 2, 2024 – The Divine Comedy, Paradise, Canto XXVIII – XXIX

August 2, 2024 /

This is the last level of paradise so to speak. Of course, there is one more and that is true heaven. The Primum Mobile as it is called are groups of Angels. Apparently, they revolve around the Empyrean (or true Heaven). As it is described, the mobile is comprised of nine rings. The closer the rings to Empyrean, the more godlike the angel.

If you think about it a little bit, this all kind of makes spatial sense. There is Earth with the mortals, the underworld of Hell, the mountain of Purgatory and then each planet or star then represents some pint in the after world. I have to imagine that Saturn was probably the extent of the known solar system in the early 1300s so how do you really explain the rest.

I my view, not a whole lot of significance really happens in this level. I guess I get the theory that the best angels are closer to god but ultimately, I have never subscribed to this lasagna theory of heaven. It is really hard for me to imagine based on my own faith that you follow as best a mortal can on earth only to have your final destination be assigned based an accepted sinful nature of man. I think what I am saying will be more clear in the final weeks of this review.

To add to that, I never thought of angels having levels either. We are familiar with the fallen angel Satan. But in the Christian sense, angels predate creation. So I guess that they really didn’t have a chance to earn their spot by earthly deeds? To me, it is confusing theology. The Bible says very little about angels so I suppose that it could be true with different levels.

We get another chance to knock the church and preachers specifically from no less than Beatrice. I am honestly not sure about the context of this other than I feel like it is Dante’s parting blows. He will take one more shot next week. Beatrice finally takes her place in the rose (more about that next week) to replaced with Bernard or St Bernard. He puts in his two cents on the church as well.

Maybe I missed this part but apparently Dante only has a limited amount of time in the afterworld. The more time he spends on the lesser levels the less he has at the end. One of the reasons this level is so short is because Dante is running out of time. So it is on to the final state, Empyrean.

End Your Programming Routine: Unfortunately, I started writing this a week ago and it lost some of its mojo. I had a plan, now I don’t remember if I accomplished it or not. Due to my fatigue on this project, I am kind of phoning in the remainder. By that, I mean that I don’t have the book with me to double check if I am getting everything that I thought I was. So, I am just getting the summary from different websites as a reference. Next week we finish the book.

August 1, 2024 – End of an Era

August 1, 2024 /

About two months ago, we turned off the home phone service. The picture in the box below is the old phone equipment that used to be around our house. It has been cluttering up my reloading bench all this time. That is OK since I haven’t been home much anyway.

I will let you in on a little secret. It wasn’t a true land line. It was actually a cell phone that had a cable connection to hook up to the old phone line system. We added this line in the late 2000s. This was long before fifth graders had cell phones. The main purpose was provide phone service for baby sitters and later our kids to get ahold of us, if necessary.

In the last couple of years, we go really no calls on the line and it sometimes lead to confusion. Old contacts (like doctor’s offices) would sometimes call and leave messages on the line. We never checked it because 99% of the calls were junk. We would have to weed through satellite TV offers and car warranties on the voicemail every couple of months just to clear it out.

I would have kept the line except for the fact that it was costing $360/year. I was under the impression that it was only costing $10/mo for many years. This is one of those vampire costs that made little sense. My in-laws would call when the kids were young but since they have both died, nobody calls the number.

At one time, I had an extension in the shop. I liked it because I could more easily hear the ringer and see the light than the phone in my pocket. But then again, my wife would not call the line anyway so I would have to listen to the ‘I couldn’t get ahold of you’ speech each time. This was one of the reasons she bought me the smart watch.

In the true spirit of redundancy, I like the idea of having redundant communications. The idea however is that you would have a different provider or a different technology. A landline or a different carrier even is a much more robust strategy for that. Adding another line does very little unless you are using the phone for a specific purpose, like a business.

End Your Programming Routine: I remember the day you would schedule the service and wait for the phone to be hooked up. It was the same era that if you didn’t have a phone book, you lacked fundamental knowledge for navigating the world. I would like to just give away this techno junk if someone wanted it. Unfortunately, it has very little value to anyone. I may give it a try, but most likely it is going to the electronic recycler. It is not worthless, just not practical. That makes me sad.

July 31, 2024 – I Am Starting To Get Angry

July 31, 2024 /

Something has definitely changed. It could be that this company stopped making batteries in the US in 2016. I suspect that the components to make them have gotten cheaper/flimsier/worse. This was a battery that I took out of my weather center next to one of my computers in the basement.

Maybe it just feels good to complain. But this really pisses me off when alkaline batteries do this. It also seems like it is more normal than less at this point. This is the reason I have started switching over to rechargeable batteries. My strategy has been to replace them as the alkalines die. Hopefully, it is not too late.

The failures seem to be more prevalent with batteries in use in the basement. All the remote controls, decorations and things that get cast off or forgotten seem to have a much higher degree of failure than upstairs. It still happens when the climate is more controlled but it also seems to be less frequent. This leads me to believe that the problem is with a seal that contracts too much due to temperature.

As you know, not all of my relationships with alkaline batteries is bad. As I wrote in 2021, I have a working set of batteries from 30 years ago. These batteries are in a bicycle head lamp. The have been in my garage since I moved 20 years ago. So they have been subject to near freezing temperature up to 120 degrees with no ill effect. In true transparency, I dont think that I have checked on them since that article. So, a follow-up is due.

Funny thing, I probably should start checking my topics before I start writing. As I was searching for the link to my 30 year batteries, I ran across something I previously wrote. Turns out, I also wrote about batteries failing in 2021. So, shame on me for not checking previously if you remember that one.

My experiment. With rechargeables has been less than stellar. They are advertised as as holding 90% charge after a year but I have ran into dead batteries in less than six months. The Panasonic Enloops I chose to go with take several hours to charge on my charger. The also don’t seem to last as long. I have gone through multiple sets this year in my remote hygrometer sensor. While less than perfect, I am anticipating that they are not going to ruin my devices.

End Your Programming Routine: No matter what, I am going forward with rechargeable batteries. I can no longer trust the major battery brands for alkaline batteries. Remember when they were $8 for 4 and now they are going for $20 for 48 at Costco. There is no way that cost savings is just in volume.

July 30, 2024 – Terrible Photos, Fun Time

July 30, 2024 /

If there is one thing great about a wife with cancer, it is that people invite you to do things they otherwise wouldn’t. Think about it like a less fatalistic ‘Make-a-Wish’. We were invited to go down to the pits and hang out during a race called the ‘Lucky-Dog’. This is an endurance race that spans over two days.

I don’t know a ton about it but from what I was told, it is a step up from 24 hours of Lemons. In that race, you are supposed to run a car that cost less than $500 for a 24 hour race. Lucky Dog had three classes (don’t ask me what they are) and the car has to be older than 15 years. I could use my pickup or my Navigator next year.

Because there were three classes, I saw Corvettes and Mustang GTs but I also saw VW Rabbits, a Sirroco, many Miatas, a Pontiac Fiero, Nissan 240 and many BMW 3 series. My host was running a Mini Cooper. Who doesn’t want to win? But the main object is to have fun.

My son is very into cars and I have been a race fan for a lot of my life. I have been to open wheel races and NASCAR multiple times. These days I am more race adjacent than I am an ardent fan. To really get into it, you need to have a driver to follow and my last driver retired five years ago. Also, without cable or a sports streaming package it is extremely difficult to watch the races. Networks share the season and races jump time and channels depending on how popular they are. What I am saying is there is no consistency so unless you are really following, it is pretty easy to miss.

The truth is, most racing in this country is bootstrap, like the Lucky Dog. This is the passion of everyday guys that wrench on their own cars and trailer their own cars and spend the weekend at the track for no money. Depending on what part of the country you live in, there may be a dirt track in every little town. There sure was in South Carolina.

A friend of my wife’s husband was racing. I have only met him once and that was over a year and a half ago. After my kids met us in the hospital for a visit with mom, we headed to the track. We had the pit number and I had in my head what he looked like. But after wandering around in pit row for a while I didn’t see him.

I had a deadline to be home, someone was bringing us dinner. So we started heading to the car. I told my son that he didn’t have to leave because he had his own vehicle. I was itching to go home. My son said “well you are leaving, I might as well”. I responded with “Do you wan’t me to ask around for you”? He said “I guess”. It is not my strong suit to inject myself into strange social situations but I suspected that he would want more if he could.

We meekly wandered to the pit area again. This time, I asked the first person I saw “Do you know so and so”? The young man responded “No. Never heard of him. What does he drive?”. I said “No Idea”. Then he chimed in with “Check with the next door team, we share a pit space.” So off we went to check with some old guys wearing racing suits. Turns out, our host was on the track (not surprising).

We watched and chatted as long as I could and then I had to leave. I asked my son if he wanted to stay and he said yes. There was only about another hour remaining anyway in the race. He stayed until the end with two guys he didn’t know. I wish to have sat in a chair all day and watched but I was ready to get home after four straight days at the hospital.

I told my son that if he was bold enough, he could probably volunteer to help with the car and races. The guy lives a couple of miles from us and who would turn down help. We will see if he steps out of his shell and that ever comes to fruition. I suspect that he would prefer to be the car owner rather than crew but you have to start somewhere.

End Your Programming Routine: I am glad that I stepped out of my shell and we made that memory. My son asked if I would drive if he put a team together. I said yes. I don’t know exactly where my love of racing came from, it was just something that I got interested in as a teenager. Thanks cancer. I doubt we would have ever done this without you.

July 29, 2024 – Sweet, Sweet Summer

July 29, 2024 /

Sometimes the gloom and doom gets too much. As much as the news is ripe with topics to spawn plenty of opinion talk, I choose to leave it alone as it doesn’t age well. Today I relive memories about why I look forward to summer. You don’t have to identify with my experiences but allow yourself to go into those good times of the past. This has been far from my favorite summer but based on the track record, it is bound to be good again.

July 26, 2024 – The Divine Comedy, Paradise, Canto XXIII – XXVII

July 26, 2024 /

This is the eighth level also known as the fixed stars. In some ways, it is kind of fitting because the fixed stars are the rock stars of Christianity. This is the level that we get to meet some of the apostles and Dante get’s a test of his worthiness.

I was doing some math and it seems like there are more than nine levels to Paradise. Next week I will be talking about the Primum Mobile. That isn’t’t the end of the story, there is still one more week or level or however you want to phrase it called Empyrean. More on those two things in the following weeks, I just wanted to acknowledge that I will be talking for more than nine weeks on the content of Paradise.

The fixed stars specifically focus on faith, hope and love. Now there is a Christianity that is more familiar to me. It is none other than Peter who interacts with Dante about faith. That would be Peter the apostle and Peter the founder of the (Catholic) church.

The answer is pretty much what you would expect from a lay person. In fact, I have gone to baptism class multiple times in the Catholic church. I think that it was six weeks of evenings where we were questioned and taught to assess our worthiness of being god parents. I feel like I got a little bit of a pass there because the entire class was in Spanish. We believe mostly the same things. I won’t promise to raise the kids Catholic but I will raise them to know God should that need arise. At this point, there is only one minor remaining anyway, but I digress.

Dante’s answer is I have faith because of all the miracles documented in the Bible. Because the Bible is true, then I have faith in God. That was totally an answer that I would have heard in that parenting class. It is not wrong but I feel like faith is so much deeper than that.

I don’t know how I would do on the spot but I think that my answer is a little different than that. Faith defies concrete proof of its existence. Faith is blind in its acceptance. Faith exists despite the ability to provide facts and supporting evidence. I have faith because of what it is and who I am. My faith would only change with proof to the contrary, that God does not exist.

There have been certain times in my life that something came into my head like a message or an answered prayer. I choose to believe that validates my faith and confirms my bias towards the existence of God. I mean, a better answer from Dante would have honestly been, “How else do you explain this wild ride I have been on”?

Dante also meets James on the test of hope and John on the question of love. Throw in a little Adam of the original man fame in there as well. After Dante passes his tests, Peter doesn’t miss a chance to flame the current church as well. Lord knows they likely deserved it. We are still seeing some of that fallout today.

End Your Programming Routine: If you are keeping mental tally, each level we go up, the bigger the personalities are. This level also contains some angels as it is written but it is all about what you did on earth to earn your spot. This is a theme that will continue to the end. Next week it will be Cantos XXVII- XXXIX for the final level paradise.

July, 25 2024 – Fat and Slow

July 25, 2024 /

Things have clearly slowed down for me on many fronts. One of them for sure is my air rifle shooting. I told myself that the next schtick was testing out those speed loaders I had with different pellets and different rifles and getting used to handling those rather than individual pellets. It has been less inspiring than I really thought and I have been dragging my heels.

Since I started this journey, I have been on a quest to try all different kinds of ammunition. I have gone through a lot of different ‘heavy’ pellets and now I am on the lightest of the bunch. The current group I have been shooting is the Gamo Blue Flame. I am going to talk about my impressions of this particular load.

The Gamo Blue Flame is a lead free, pellet of 5.4 grains. It is commonly referred to as PBA or Performance Ballistic Alloy. It is made of tin even sometimes plastic and the theory is lighter is faster is more energy. This also comes at a cost of about $0.12/pellet versus about $0.02 for lead.

While I clearly understand the value of energy, I think it comes with a compromise of other factors. Take noise for instance. Air rifle pellets can break the sound barrier causing a supersonic crack. I am also not convinced that they are as accurate. The rifling is optimized for projectile weight and my testing has yielded less than ideal groups. You can see from my picture that I have some scope work to do to get them on target but the grouping is rather large.

I think my biggest complaint is the quality of the product. The picture does not show it well but at least five of the pellets came out of the can severely deformed. One in fact was not even able to be loaded. Four of the pellets had the blue polymer tip fall off in which I painstakingly hand applied and re-crimped. By my calculations, that is a 9% defect rate. And just think that only two of these pellets equals one 9mm cartridge in cost.

Another reason things slowed down for me is that I was last shooting 14gr pellets. As a result of my testing, I feel like my rifle performs best in the 7-10 grain range. My personal favorite right now is the Crossman Piranha at 10 grains. It is just a little harder for me to find on retail shelves. I know Walmart carries it but I do not have a Walmart close and I despise ‘mommy may I’ games.

This last one isn’t on the pellets but the rifles. Just like you never get EPA rated mileage, I have not gotten manufacturer velocity results. I have published my results but truthfully I have only seen about a 5% increase in velocity and 250 fps less than advertised. I am measuring no where near the stated potential.

End Your Programming Routine: Granted, I have primarily done most of my shooting with the Crossman 1000, results could change with different platforms. My honest opinion is that PBA pellets are not worth the money. I am sticking with the fatter and slower loads because they are also significantly cheaper as well. Dead doesn’t come in degrees but accuracy and money do.