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September 13, 2023 – Once I Start, I Can’t Stop

September 13, 2023 /

This must be how addicts feel. Once I start doing a puzzle, I can’t stop doing it. I will literally skip eating, sleeping or anything else to keep looking for pieces. I have to physically force myself to stop. Sometimes even then, I don’t stop. Just one more piece turns into another hour.

Puzzles are something that we occasionally do (fortunately). It is usually a long weekend/holiday activity. In our climate, it is also a beach activity. I guess what I appreciate about them is that it is a family activity. Since I despise most TV and movies, I am not interested in sitting around for hours for little gain. So, it is also an activity that we can be in close proximity.

There must be some sort of connection in the brain between puzzles and programming. When I used to do that, I would get the same sort of feeling. I would start writing a routine and I couldn’t stop. Just one more time would turn into hours and pretty soon it was two in the morning.

I have to believe that it must be good for the brain. I know that my grandfather used to do a lot of puzzles. He was also a big reader and not much of a TV watcher. So, maybe it is in the genes. I was curious, so I did some quick research and here are some links.

https://fortune.com/well/2022/10/02/mental-health-benefits-puzzles/

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/brain-workout/200904/puzzles-and-the-brain

It also turns out that this kind of research can be a real rabbit hole. I started watching videos on how to do puzzles quickly. Back on topic! I observe that there are two kind of methodologies. I observe my wife doing a lot of brute force. I some cases, that may be all you can do when everything is the same color or you are just starting. I actually look at both the color and the shape. This allows me to automatically rule out certain sides of even pieces.

I have been accused of finishing the puzzle without my partner. For that reason, I try to focus on the most difficult aspects of the puzzle. I will do the sky or the water because it slows me down. Granted, it is not the most fun part of the activity but I feel like I can really dig into the lessor appreciated aspect.

One thing that I am getting more and more familiar with is that lighting makes a huge difference. I find that when it is daylight, I can see so much better than under artificial light. A lot of that is aging and over the last couple of years I have noticed a significant decline in my eyesight. Fortunately, it is not bad yet but I do have to strain a lot more than I used to. This isn’t great news for that rainy Saturday night.

I wouldn’t call it a tradition, but it is becoming something we routinely do during Christmas vacation. It makes a good family gift and we spend time working together. If your kids are ho-hum about it, the subject can be something that they are interested in to kind of get them going. At least, this is what we do.

End Your Programming Routine: It would seem like this is a good activity to keep doing considering what experts are saying. I am not really much into word games or soduku but maybe I should be as an aging person. It seems like puzzles along with games provide good stimulus to combat some of the worse effects of aging.

September 12, 2023 – Salt, Pepper and Garlic

September 12, 2023 /

There are all kinds of ideas about beef, particularly steak. I think about herb butter or Montreal seasoning to barbeque rubs. One theory that I subscribe to is Samin Nosrat’s ‘salt early, earlier is better’. But, the one tried and true recipe I use is salt, pepper and granulated garlic.

It’s freezer prep time. Last weekend, my neighbors gave me eight pounds of bear meat. They are planning to need room soon. I have been moving this beef head around for almost two years, that is way too long. There was a small amount of freezer burn that I trimmed off. The truth is, that in a month or two, I will probably have another head to store. So, I decided to make this over labor day weekend.

If I had a choice, I probably would skip the head altogether. But, it is our duty as parents and people to carry out cultural traditions and this is one that my wife enjoys. I begrudgingly pick-up the head, clean it and store it until such time that I cook it and we eat tacos. My preference by far and away is the tongue over the cheeks, but I can deal with it once every couple of years.

I was watching some videos recently to see if there were other preparations that I might like better. When I was talking about some of the things I learned, my wife forcefully said no. “Only salt, pepper and garlic that is the way that my grandparents did it.” So, that is what I did. I just rub the outside and pretend that you can get close enough to such a large volume of meat.

This is probably my fifth or six one that I have done. It is hard to remember everything when you only do it once every couple of years. That being said, I have made a lot of different mistakes over the years. The first one is make sure the head is clean. I spend a lot of up front time trying to get the grass out of the mouth and throat. I only made that mistake once.

The second one is there is a lot of mass there. Make sure there is plenty of defrost time. This year, I took it out of the freezer on Wednesday and cooked it on Saturday, but there was still ice along the bottom. Hence, cooking took much longer and still there were parts that were not as done as they should be.

Since the whole head contains a lot of gristle, the preferred method is low and slow. It is hard to do that in eight hours when it is still frozen. Also, most preparations include a braising component. I modified it by chunking up the meat and adding water to the skillet after it was 80% cooked. An hour of extra cooking did a lot to homogenize things but kind of ruins the romanticism of unwrapping the cooked head.

I wish that I had thought of taking pictures of the final product. Something about waiting three extra hours to eat and having people waiting on me made me to forget to do what I wanted. The tacos are simple, corn tortillas, onion, cilantro and the salsa of your choice. Don’t forget to taste the meat for salt before serving.

End Your Programming Routine: As I said, this is my go to preparation for beef. It is pretty much the only thing I do for steak. You can save all the Cajun seasoning, seasoning salt and all that stuff for chicken. Keep it simple for the best results.

September 11, 2023 – Bugging In

September 11, 2023 /

I am continuing this week on another segment on preparation. This week we are talking about the more PC term ‘shelter in place’. In many ways, this is the preferred methodology to whether a storm, until it isn’t. More on that next week.

September 8, 2023 – We, Records 11-15

September 8, 2023 /

As the seasons change, I find that things go back to normal. It is hard to find time to read when it is light out until 10pm. At that point, I can barely keeps my eyes open let alone focus on what I am reading. Now that the sun is setting before 8pm, I am finding that I can make preparations to go to bed earlier and therefore pick up the pace on reading (at least stay ahead a little better).

So what is going on in this section? I guess you would say that it is the surreal struggle for right and wrong. D-503 is struggling with the attraction to I-330. It is now effecting his relationships with R-13 and O-90 as well as his work. Like all subversives, he needs to hide his behavior, so D-503 gets a doctor’s note justifying that he is sick. All this is really messing with his head, so maybe he is really sick or is D-503 just seeing things for the first time?

If you are old like me, then you might remember MagicEye from the 1990s. You tried and tried to see it, then once you saw it once, you couldn’t stop seeing it. Somehow the brain just got it and you could even see the image at a distance.

Isn’t that how all propaganda goes? You have to be programmed so that you don’t see the real picture. Once the doubt has been created then you start to see it everywhere. I remember a story distinctly from eighth grade, US history.

We were studying the 20th century progressives and the era of Teddy Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson. We had just gone through all this mantra of Republican party is the party of small government and Andrew Jackson was vehemently anti-national bank, what heroes they were. In the next sentence, how great all these new departments of government was like the USDA. It was necessary to protect the public. We needed the Federal Reserve to regulate monetary policy and keep the value of the dollar.

I was so confused, how could both be true and right? We had spent half a year drumming these principles to just change on a dime. We got in some sort of discussion about the dollar no longer being backed by gold. I remember the teacher’s comment how thankful he was that these experts were in charge of things. They were protecting the value of the dollar so that we didn’t have some kind of hyperinflation event.

The truth be told, I believed it for many years myself. I had no reason to think that protecting our money actually meant stealing our money with controlled rate inflation. It meant borrowing today to pay back with less valuable money in the future in the form of bonds. Did you ever have a savings bond? The maturity rate on the bond is paid with the same money that you paid. So, in seven years your $25 is now $50 – magic. Oh, by the way, they invented that money to pay the $50. Think about it…

Now, I don’t there was any intent of malice. I think the teacher was really expressing his true opinion. After all, he was taught by the same system that he was teaching. That being said, does anybody see anything wrong? Kids are impressionable. It took me many years to overcome this opinion. When you don’t know anything, the first opinion is the strongest one until evidence suggests otherwise. Just like Animal Farm, it was two legs bad and now it is two legs are bad unless you are a pig.

I also remember several grade school teachers with strong opinions. Those are ones that really stick in your head; stories for another day. But it is the reason that I get really alarmed when the school system starts deviating from teaching and heads off in the direction of indoctrination. It is not necessarily that people will be taught opinions that I disagree with but that most people won’t give a flying ‘F’ to do their own research or challenge an opinion. They will just accept it as status quo and move on with life.

And even worse, people love to get indignant in their wrongness. Exhibit A, how many people are pro-Ukraine? Ever wondered why their leader is an actor? This is deadly, dinner theater where nothing is really what it seems. The best possible outcome for everyone would be to end this war where it is at. It is what the people of Crimea want, to be part of Russia and not Ukraine.

Wrapping this back to the book a little better, we see what we know to see. If no one told us that there was a 3D picture buried in the graphics, then we might not even take a second look. That is a cool design. There is a reason that the United State is walled off from the rest of the world. It is only by manipulating the variables that you can that you can achieve any source of control over society. What is even better is when you believe that you have a choice and that you are being told information from a trusted source. Those people are never coming back to truth, they cant.

I don’t know where this book is going. But, the fact that it influenced Huxley and Orwell to me hint that things aren’t going to end well for D-503. If I were to go out on a limb, I would guess that D-503 is ultimately going to get caught and punished. This will be a warning to us all to pay attention to the friendly United State. Because no matter how much they mettle in the perfect version on humanity, life finds a way to evolve around it.

End Your Programming Routine: Before the Prussian Education System, people used to be taught how to think using classical philosophy. Logic, reason and rhetoric were seen as the most valuable education tools people could possess. Now we are taught what to think because this system was developed to train factory workers. They needed to be smart enough to read, follow instructions and maybe even innovate some. We don’t want them smart enough to know that there is a better life and starting their own factories. But, life has a way and some eventually do.

September 7, 2023 – Underestimated Project Costs

September 7, 2023 /

I have heard it said that one of the most underestimated costs of a building project is the cost of fasteners. And, I do believe it. I think about a pound of specific Simpson Strong Tie nails cost $5. According to the packaging, it contains 120 nails. Each bracket is supposed to have all the nail holes filled. That means that one pound nails about 10 brackets. You can see how this all adds up.

I recently (and finally) completed my keg manifold. The whole goal was to make the process of flushing the line easier to do. I came up with this idea after finding a little mold growing on the spout at the end of my first keg.

At first, I was ignorant. I thought that if I kept the line full then everything would be alright. That was before I realized that the spout was not full. Since I started flushing the line, I haven’t really had a problem. I will say that having to flush the line does give me second thought about actually using the keg. I have to balance the ‘Is it worth it?’ equation.

Then, along came our anniversary party and I realized that there is another kind of keg that real breweries use. While I did have most of what I needed to dispense for an event, I was ill equipped to handle the leftover volume. So, now my manifold needed to accommodate both my homebrew kegs as well as the occasion where I would have a leftover keg. This meant more connections and fittings.

I don’t really know if I made my life any easier. I can say that I spent of $150 on fittings. With that, I can say that I should be able to move my CO2 cylinder from the keezer to an event without disassembly of the setup. And I can move the flush keg over without completely disassembling my current dispensing setup. I can swap keg styles without replumbing everything. Maybe not easier, but at least better.

There is a dizzying array of fitting types. Some are for air, some are for liquids, some contain lead and others not. I have talked about my pantry mentality in other aspects. Even here, I feel like I should order one more than I need. But, when I tallied the cost for my order, I took a step back. I don’t really need a spare of each type. It added another 30% to my order cost.

If you do your design right, order spare plugs or the male part of the fitting. That way the female and more expensive part can stay in place and you can swap different configurations in and out of the setup much more economically. This is what I did.

End Your Programming Routine: I have loved these projects since I was a chemist. In fact, my favorite part of the job was building the apparatus to do the work, not the science part. It is kind of like a Lego kit for adults. So, I have been acquiring parts for months and now it is finally done. I actually have room to put more kegs in, maybe expansion is in the future?

September 6, 2023 – 3, 2, 1… ???

September 6, 2023 /

There is a subplot that happens in the movie National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. Clark spends a ton of time unwinding, testing and hanging Christmas lights. He calls everyone together and makes the final connection and nothing happens. Then he checks and rechecks everything with the same result. Finally, he gets so mad that he runs around and kicks the reindeer setup on the ground.

That pretty much describes my AM antenna experience (without the audience). This has been going on a long time with a lot of effort put out by me over time. I have tried to research this topic, I have built prototypes that didn’t work. I tried to extend the existing loop antenna outside, all to no avail.

It was about a year ago that I got up on the roof to install the antenna I purchased online. I after fishing the cable through the wall, I tested it. While not what I would like, it got the stations that I was looking for and it was much better than the loop antenna that came with the radio or the other solutions I tried.

The last piece of my stereo installation in my office was to get the AM antenna wire to the receiver. Of course to do that, I needed to move all of the Christmas decorations out of the corner to get proper access. Second to that, my basement is such a mess since my son moved out for our exchange student this summer. Stuff is piled anywhere there is space, I really had no where to move stuff. Somehow, I managed precariously pile up all the bins and boxes and retain a small isle for travel.

Reorganizing is something I do every fall. With this being a wet basement, I almost always spend time tidying up before it is too late. I am just as guilty at not putting things away properly in the summertime knowing that I will eventually pay the price in the fall. But, it does feel like the basement is where things go to die and I deal with the bodies.

I tied, fished and stapled the cable to my office without tripping or breaking something. The antenna is marketed for radio, (like ham) so it has a rather unique connector that looks like a miniature coax connector. If I was hooking it up to a radio, than easy peasy. But no, I had to devise a way to convert from coax to bare wire which I eventually found a device that I could modify to do that job.

I plugged it into my receiver and nothing. This was the moment that I almost started breaking stuff. I turned off the lights knowing that the fluorescent ballasts interfere with AM signal, no improvement. I sat back in my chair and thought, well I can stream anything that I want anyway. I guess that was a lot of work for no good reason other than I wanted it to work.

As I sat back in my chair, I thought how could this have gone wrong? This was the whole point of testing this setup before I moved it. I did add an extension to the original cable, was this a bridge too far? I started thinking about the connection. I put red into the signal and black into the ground. At least in electrical wiring, black is the neutral. But maybe it was the other way around, this is low voltage. Low and behold, I got signal.

End Your Programming Routine: This is finally complete, it feels good. I do regret that I have a hole in the wall with wire sticking through but I don’t know about these small radio connections. I don’t have the tools to terminate nor if any wall plates exist. It is hidden behind the couch anyway. The point remains that it is installed and complete with the results that I was looking for. Now on to the hundreds of other things I want to get done, like tidying up the basement.

September 1, 2023 – We, Records 6-10

September 1, 2023 /

The next five chapters represent about 15 pages in my book and is very close to a third of the way though it. I am very surprised that despite the fact that this was written in the 1920s in Russian and translated into English that it is not more difficult to read. Truth be told as well, it really doesn’t feel that dated either. Sure, there is lack of reference to technology that we would see as ubiquitous but still there are flying cars and telephones.

To some degree, not integrating a lot of technology makes the book more timeless. Can you imagine if they popped in the eight track and then the pager went off? It would immediately date the work and damage the science fiction aspect of futurism. I think about my first house that was built in 1923. It had two electrical circuits, no bathroom or modern kitchen. Things will look very different in 500 years from now.

There is nothing that really blocks these five chapters together necessarily other than they are a convenient grouping for me. There are certainly some universal concepts that are mentioned. Eyes are the windows to the soul, religion (faith) is a fool’s errand compared to the reliability of the state, smoking and drinking are poisonous to the body and guilt will tear you up.

What is clearly brewing is that D-503 knows and believes that the rules of the United State are correct, moral and just. That being said for some reason I-313 has targeted him and is corrupting him by her presence. The juxtaposition of what D-503 knows to be right and what is actually happening is driving extreme guilt. And that guilt is beginning to drive him crazy.

Let us look at the argument of climate change. My new employer has a goal of being carbon neutral by 2030. To do that, they are making policy changes and developing strategies to modify their own business. Then by proxy, the will start using these solutions as business offerings. Part of that strategy is employee awareness. I took some classes i.e. watch some videos on the subject.

I think that the people on the extreme edge of things would call me a climate denier. I like to think of myself as a scientist. A scientist does not ever say that the science is settled. A life’s work is always challenging your hypothesis with new data. A proper scientist says I believe this to be true and the data supports that. But, if there is new data, I will objectively look at it and evaluate it on its merits.

Some of the videos I watched were making wild claims. For instance, climate change was the reason and the cause that there is civil war in Syria. Now, lest we forget people that the Syrian civil was was a result of the Arab Spring revolution. This was a geopolitical proxy war incited by the United States to promote ‘freedom’ in mostly autocratic countries. The drought sure didn’t help but to say that is the cause is beyond stretching.

I use climate change as a reference here because there is a lot of push to make socioeconomic changes on the basis of little data. Many followers of the religion of the state think that we simply need to move from fossil fuel powered lifestyles to battery powered ones. If we simply transfer our individual CO2 generation to some corporate entities, then we can absolve ourselves of our contribution to greenhouse emissions and climate change.

Another suggestion that was made was to eat less meat. The claim is that giant factory farms raising animals adds a significant contribution to greenhouse gases. I am not for factory farming but I am sure not for plant based diets either. Do you know what runs agriculture? Fossil fuels. Fertilizer is made from cracking natural gas. Tractors and trucks run and will continue to run on them no matter how many plug in cars are on the road.

Do you see the connection yet? The religion of the state is pushing problems that benefit the stakeholders in the game. We have to eat less meat, we have to grow crops that are bioengineered to keep up with the demand. Eliminating the end consumer and only piping natural gas to the power producers and chemical companies streamlines logistics. Climate change is causing droughts endangering our ability to grow those crops in the first place. You better get on board.

I want the data. I want to know the guarantees that this is iron clad science (and not the global cooling and ice age that we were headed for in the 1980s). Most of all, where is the money where the mouths are talking? How much extra fuel does a motorcade of armored Escalades take to get to the private helicopter to get to the private airplane to go to Hawaii on a work vacation?

I heard a story from a relative that actually takes their own spoons to Dairy Queen so that they do not use disposable ones. That is how much they care and are sacrificing to do their part. And yet, are the leaders of this movement eating a plant based diet? Dare I say, no.

End Your Programming Routine: I am not against my company setting a target to be carbon neutral. I actually support it and I think it is smart to pick a direction, constrain ourselves and push solutions that work to make money. This is smart and conscious business. I am not for destroying the planet nor am I for being selfish. But let’s get real here. Before you swallow the bait, consider the motivations. Like it or not, humans are part of this world and every activity has an impact. For now, you have to pick what it is, not the religion of the state.

August 31, 2023 – Rich Men North of Richmond

August 31, 2023 /

In case you have been living under a rock for the last couple of weeks, this song has gone viral. In two weeks, it went to #1 on the Billboard top 100 and Oliver Anthony has ten more songs on the top 100 at the time of writing. YouTube has 46 million views in the last two weeks. Read the comments, people from all over the world are resonating with the lyrics.

Politicians are trying to co-opt it into their own camps. The left is saying that this is the alt-right, hate speech while the right is trying to hitch their wagon to the popularity. What both groups are missing is that they are both the rich men, north of Richmond. They are the cause and the subject of the lyrics.

(lyrics)

I’ve been selling my soul, working all day. Overtime hours, bullshit pay so I can sit out here and waste my life away.

Drag back home and drown my troubles away, its a damn shame. What the worlds gotten to for people like me and people like you. Wish I could just wake up and it not be true, but it is, oh it is.

Living in a new world with an old soul. Rich men north or Richmond Lord knows they want to have total control. Want to know what you think, want to know what you do and they don’t think that you know and I know that you do. But your dollar ain’t shit and its taxed to no end cause the rich men north of Richmond.

Wish politicians look our for miners, not just minors on an island somewhere. Lord, we got folks in the street ain’t got nothing to eat and the obese bilking welfare. God if your 5’3″ and your 300lbs taxes ought not pay for your bags of fudge rounds. Young men are putting themselves six feet underground cause all this damn country does is keep kicking them down.

Lord its a damn shame what the world’s gotten to. People like me and people like you. Wish I could just wake up and it not be true but it is, oh it is.

Living in the new world, with an old soul. Rich men north or Richmond. Lord knows they want to have total control. Want to know what you think, want to know what you do and they don’t think that you know and I know that you do. But your dollar ain’t shit and its taxed to no end cause the rich men north of Richmond.

I’ve been selling my soul, working all day. Overtime hours, bullshit pay.

There are a lot of subtle gems in the lyrics but I think the two are not as straight forward. The first is working class wages and the inflation of the dollar. I don’t see a lot of pride in working hard because you made poorer life decisions and limited your options, but at least you are doing what needs to be done.

That being said, wealth is stolen not just with taxes but also devaluing the dollar with inflation. That tactic is the pyramid scheme to pay off old debt with less valuable new money. While that works for national debt, the real losers are the people earning $30K/year. This is being done by people who make money lending it and collecting it at the same time or the rich men north of Richmond.

The second subtle reference is caring about minors on an island somewhere. This is a nod to Epstein and a class generally above the law. I don’t think the song is saying that they are condoning the behavior but acknowledging that the class exists in the first place.

End Your Programming Routine: I am not going to say much more today. Watch the video and read the lyrics. Think about what is going on in life. Think about what is going on and you decide if this is hate speech or just the life-size mirror being held up on both sides of the dichotomy. The people are speaking, they just need the vehicle to get their voice heard. You go Oliver Anthony.