After struggling with this all week, I finally got it to work. After my recent success of the podcast short episodes, I thought this would be easy. It turns out that I struggled every day with some issue or another. I literally spent hours trying to edit this and get the files in the right place.
A bad guy is someone that does you wrong. But there is more subtext than that. A Bad Guy not only does you wrong but also there isn’t much you can do about it. Notice the capitalization, this is a named title. So, when you spend your energy outside of your circle of control you are wasting it.
End Your Programming Routine: Am I admitting there is a problem? I sure am. People shouldn’t be bad and they shouldn’t make profit at the expense of others. However, it is easier to lay blame at some enigma rather than take responsibility for something . But when you spend your time fighting constant demons or specters, you fail to advance in the treasure map.
This is week three and things are progressing pretty much the way that history has taught us. More on that later but maybe this book isn’t as revolutionary as it was when it was written in 1945. Because I grew up in the 1980s, there was a lot of talk/movies/propaganda about how people thought the USSR was, maybe not how it actually was. I would say that it was pretty hard to imagine from the outside what life was actually like under the Soviets in 1982.
We all know the arc, trajectory and result of the hard, Marxist movements. Instead, I want to focus more on movements themselves rather than one specific one because I think that they share the same similarities as the conclusion of the USSR. Now to the the book.
The chapter starts out with the animal doing harvest. It was performed with exuberance and better than normal results. I think that this is a pretty normal situation. Participants are excited to be part of something. There are lots of hands for work. The momentum carries the animals not just on an emotional high of the task but a phyiscal high of the results, more hay put away.
For some, the exuberance dies rather quickly. I am speculating that for those individuals, they were not really committed to the cause in the first place. It was more likely that that they were ignorant of the goals and aims and the excitement of newness to everyone was the result of initial commitment. Some animals are starting to shirk their equal contribution i.e. the cat.
As the movement matures, changes in the fire and brimstone of the core values sometimes change. Sometimes they are refined but other times they are edited to retain adherence to the group. In this case, it was stated that not all the animals could read or understand the seven commandments. As a result they were simplified to to one “Two legs bad, four legs good”.
As the pigs start to take ownership of the leadership roles, some interesting things start happening. For instance, Snowball is sequestering all of the offspring for ‘education’. It is not just that, but the pigs are carving out special exemptions for themselves, because they can and no other animal realizes what is happening.
The United States has been full of movements. Religious utopias, racial and women’s rights, temperance, labor and political to name a few. In my opinion anyway, movements either have an endpoint or they are point in time. What I mean by that is that Movements that are results oriented, like temperance or women’s suffrage I would say were successful because the had specific, targeted outcomes. Things like the ‘Tea Party Movement’ of 2009-2012 failed because they had unrealistic, non-measurable outcomes.
There is one more concept to take in with this. That is The Iron Law of Bureaucracy. There are those within any organization (including movements) that committed to the cause and those that are committed to the organization. Tacitly, when an individual is committed to the organization, they start making decisions on what is best for the organization and not necessary accomplishing the mission. I think that the pigs belong to the second group.
End Your Programming Routine: I will let that sink in. What we have in US politics is people committed to the organization. To make it worse, most legislation or regulation is wrapped up in paper that tries to make it look like what is being proposed is for the mission. Why else would we have 80 year old senators? Is that what is best for representing the state or is that what is best senator? I really can’t imagine working sixteen hours a day six to seven days a week at that age when the average life span is less than that.
Let us not confuse gases with gas. Fortunately, the options for gases are much simpler. The big boy is propane and natural gas, but there is occasionally butane too. Natural gas is unrefined hydrocarbons, mostly methane. Propane is often interchangeable with natural gas and sometimes liquid fuels as well (more on that later).
First a chemistry lesson. All forms of fuel are hydrocarbons. The smaller the hydrocarbon molecule, the more likely its native form is a gas at human survivable temperature and pressure. In terms of stack ranking size: methane < ethane < butane < propane < pentane (which is actually a liquid a room temperature).
What is also true is that the larger the molecule, the more BTU per storage unit. This means that you can estimate the BTU potential depending on volatility. This means by BTU rank: propane < gasoline < diesel
What I am getting on about is that liquid fuels have more potential energy. And to punctuate that, one gallon of liquid fuel will burn more efficiently or longer than one gallon of propane. The good news is that it is propane is widely available at most gas stations. Many other retail locations also use a cylinder exchange program. It is running quite a bit cheaper than liquid fuels and something like half the price of gasoline.
Natural gas is primarily methane, an even smaller hydrocarbon than propane. The very nice thing about natural gas is that it is piped to your home. It also has a very strong track record of working if the grid is down. Pretty much if the pipe isn’t severed, gas is flowing. Hydrogen sulfide is added to both propane and natural gas so that you can smell it leaking. They are however not the same molecule.
The thing that I am most excited about is that many liquid using appliances can be converted to run propane. This often times means some custom parts, but often significantly cheaper than a second piece of equipment. As an example, my camp stove just needs something called a generator and a pressure regulator and a twenty pound cylinder will be cooking away, literally. Gasoline generators can also use propane or natural gas. This requires a change in the carburetor only. This solves part of the redundancy equation by fuel flexibility.
I am not a fan of the one pound, disposable cylinders. These would typically be the dark green ones that are the size of a fat water bottle. I find them wasteful as most recyclers wont touch them with a ten foot pole unless they have been visually punctured. They often won’t suffice for a weekend camping either. What I can say is that they are ubiquitous (if not in shortage like during the pandemic). It seems like every convenience store and hardware store has them.
I have recently found that there is a way to refill the one pound canisters using some specialized equipment. They are a little speedy once but I have seen the the single use canisters going for $7 each. That means that the system pays for itself pretty quickly. It seems like it was out of stock for years but now seems to be in the supply chain again and is on my short list of purchases to be made.
There are a plethora of sizes that cylinders can be purchased. Twenty pounds is the common barbecue size but there are plenty of 5, 50 and larger sizes at a lot of box stores. The one thing that gripes me about propane cylinders is that they have a stamped date and regulations stat that cylinders are only re-fillable ten years from that date. I am going to talk about that on Monday.
I would be remised if I didn’t talk about safety. If you are burning something indoors, you need a carbon monoxide detector. This goes for liquids and gas appliances. Things like stoves and heaters are generally pretty good about proper combustion but don’t ever run a generator inside. I have a battery operated one that I use in my shop for the kerosene heater. I will bring it inside if I am burning something, including the fireplace. Also, when the power is out, when you will likely be doing these kinds of things, you can’t count on a plug in variety.
End Your Programming Routine: As Hank Hill used to say there is quite a bit to “propane and propane accessories”. Given some of the limitations of portable gas, I don’t use it as my primary fuel. That doesn’t mean I don’t have any. At the very least if you have a propane barbecue, I think you should have a second cylinder. One to use and one to swap or refill before you need it. You might find that it is the gateway to other redundancies instead of a headache when your one cylinder goes empty.
I have been professionally employed now since February 2021. It took about one day to realize that working at the dining table wasn’t going to be adequate for a forever location. After setting up a temporary table in the basement, It only took me about two or three days to realize that I was going to have to build something more permanent. It was cold in with the temperatures in the mid-forties and that was with a heater running under the table.
Quickly I added a propane heater that my wife had won at a local high school auction. Those two were not enough. I had to build an office. Once I realized that this was a blank canvas and this space could be my own, I wanted to move my long orphaned stereo system in there.
In fact, the stereo was the first thing that I moved in. I had it setting on an old night stand. If you look at some of my first pictures inside my office, you will see it. Soon after I moved my desk in, my wife wanted to jettison a small couch that the cat had adopted as a scratching post and I actually wanted another seat in my office. So, the stereo system only lasted a couple of weeks before it was moved back out of the office.
But, I had plans. I was going to build a table that fit the space and the stereo would have a home behind the couch. The trick was, I needed to spend the time to build it. The wood I had. In fact, a leftover slab of wood from my cabinets I built in January 2020 was in my way in the shop since I finished that project. The slab was originally slated to be made into another pantry shelf at my wife’s insistence. I persuaded her to try out the pantry first so there it sat.
My first efforts to get started on this table began in the spring of 2022. Yet, I didn’t have a plan and I didn’t have a deadline. Two of the rough cut legs sat for six more months still in my way. It was my realization that I was getting up three or four hours before everyone on the weekends that got me motivated in December 2022. That is when I got serious about measurements and a design.
I wanted to practice my skills at fine woodworking. That means a piece that is built without fasteners. There is mortise and tenon joinery and all made from solid wood. Fine woodworking also means staying away from engineered materials like plywood as well. Don’t get me wrong, I am not a purist I don’t care if people use those mechanisms but this was for me. I want to be confident that I could build anything, anytime any way.
It is definitely not perfect. I don’t know if Douglas Fir is the best choice for wood and it is not as defect free as I would like. But it was the wood I had and I still have a pile of it in the basement. Free is a pretty good motivator. All that to say, I think it looks pretty good and I am proud of the work that I did. My wife wanted it too when I started to put the dry assembly together. This one however was custom sized for the height, width and length to fit my space. Looks like I might be building another one soon.
Now with the stereo in place, I can finally say that I am done, kind of. My experiment with the AM antenna was done to ultimately also connect to the receiver. You all know that I am an audiophile. Maybe not so much about quality, but consistently consuming it. I wanted the ability to listen to the local college games through the receiver and this was all done well after I built my office unfortunately. So, I still need to run the AM antenna wire.
While I was building my office, I had visions of bringing the surround sound back to life as well. I ran all the wires and did all the terminations for that. But at this point, I can’t justify the space. My speakers are from the 1990s and too bulky. My wife and I have talked about building an ‘adult space’ in the basement to go along with the keezer and wine cellar. Maybe those speakers will find their way to that someday.
End Your Programming Routine: Any similar version I make, I assume will be quicker. I stalled out a little on this project because I was going to build tapered legs but I had to figure out how to do that. I kind of waffled at that point, and it was close to Christmas too. I want to say that the builder is always the harshest critic. I know where my flaws are and I see them. The good news is that you won’t unless you are really giving it the third degree.
Given that I am away from home for a number of weeks, it is difficult to keep up with writing everyday. Things have been super busy lately, getting ready to go and buttoning everything up. Hopefully, these next couple of days do not come off as week or phoning it in. But I won’t deny that I am pushing to keep up with my schedule.
One of the requirements to earn the Eagle Scout rank is to perform what is called an Eagle Project. This is a service project that the scout plans, leads and executes. Maybe I will talk about mine another day but today I am going to talk about another peer of mine’s project.
If you remember this post from last year then you will know how this story begins.
My friend’s project was to vacuum out the attic of this church as well as paint. In the course of the project, we burned out six different vacuums. I didn’t get the chance to go up there, but I heard that the dust was inches thick.
My point with this is vacuums don’t run well when the matter vacuumed coats the filter. It is the airflow through the device that provides the suction. I use my shop vacuum for a dust collector. It does a much better job than nothing but it also leaves a lot to be desired.
Over the years, dust collection has become a much larger topic in woodworking. Like all things safety bike helmets or seat belts as an example, there is no denying that using those things do raise the odds of surviving something catastrophic. On the other side, there are no guarantees. I have heard that there are some that wont even enter the shop without turning on dust collection.
Don’t get me wrong, I would love the space and equipment to have a proper and professional setup. And it is not like I am in there all day, everyday. My dust collection is aimed at reducing the amount of cleanup later and less about a dust phobia but I am not denying that dust is a risk. For better or worse, this is my setup. It always requires a thorough cleaning afterward to get all of the escaped dust.
When I was building my pantry cabinets, I had my old 13″ TV on. At one point, the picture actually went black. I thought maybe it was ruined due to dust building up on the electronic components so I vacuumed it off and it worked again. I do know if it was dust on the inside or the outside of the TV but that seems to have some kind of effect its function. And this is using the vacuum with dust collection, hence it leaves some to be desired.
The filter in the picture is the original filter I bought with the vacuum. When I start to notice a significant reduction of suction, I take it outside and bang all the dust out of the folds. Looking at this filter, I could stand to replace it because it is pretty caked in a lot of the folds. I have spares on hand, so I will probably do it soon.
End Your Programming Routine: I am a strong believer in maintaining things you own. The sweatshirt I am wearing as I write this I bought in college, twenty-five years ago. I have a lot of items that are old as I am getting there too. Even if you ‘buy once, cry once’ it doesn’t mean that you can use things beyond their capability. So if you have a shop vacuum, take a look at the filter. It might need replacing.
Sometimes we joke that we are going on a Griswold Family Vacation. That is partially based on where we are going and how we are going to achieve it. I myself have some additional business travel that I am not really looking forward to as well as us driving all over the southwestern United States.
I also spend a lot of time talking about the types of trips that I took throughout my life during the Spring Break period. This is to give an idea about the things that we have done and provide inspiration for you to make your own memories.
End Your Programming Routine: Time seems to be accelerating. By the time we get to the Summer, my family is starting to scatter to the wind. I talk about some of the reasons we are taking this trip in the podcast. I am definitely not getting sentimental, but my kid’s futures are starting to get real. Enjoy your time while you have it.
And in this corner coming in at Week 2, we have the bantamweight champion of the dystopian fiction universe, Animal Farm. There is still a lot of fight left in it as we have only seen one chapter. Animal Farm came out swinging with the Animal’s grievances against the human population. They landed some solid hits with accusations of starvation and abuse. This chapter they are going to put their fight plan into action but I think the humans are going on the ropes before it is all over.
Kind of silly of me but, I heard it in my head when I sat down to write. I hope that I can always laugh at myself and take some chances. Life is too short to be stiff and serious all the time.
All chapters of this book are short, so I am not going to keep repeating that. But as a synopsis of the chapter we have the animals chase out the Jones. Manor Farm is renamed Animal farm. The new leaders of the movement are the pigs Snowball and Napoleon. They come up with seven rules to represent the new movement. They are as follows.
Whatever goes on two legs is an enemy
Whatever goes on four legs, or wings is a friend
No animals will wear clothes
No animal shall sleep in a bed
No animal shall drink alcohol
No animal shall kill another animal
All animals are equal
While this is seven specific rules, another word for that is a core values. Each successful movement is guided by things such as core values. Values differ from beliefs as values drive internal behavior as well as being outwardly visible. They help devise a code of conduct for behavior as well as provide a framework for evaluation when specific rules do not exist.
While not surprising, you could probably describe these values as anti-human. This type of behavior is sometimes described by the boomerang effect. Briefly, that means that when people get tired of a long period of one set of ideas or operating parameters, they often double down on on going the opposite direction in policy and attitude. The periodic swings in the US House of Representatives is a good representation of this.
I thing that it also goes without saying that movements are judged by their core values or more specifically adherence to. I think most people consider the legitimacy or sincerity of all members particularly leaders when they meet and live their core values. How many times are Christians chastised for not living up to values? Ironically, most non-believers have no concept of sin and fallibility. Nevertheless, it is an example that most people can relate to.
It is a little early to say how this will go, the animals just got started running their own farm. Will they all get it? Will they all buy in? Will they truly be equal? I think that we have enough human data to answer the question, but will the animals be any different?
End Your Programing Routine: Buying into core values are the first step to programming. Once the premises have been accepted, many decisions are boiled down to litmus tests. “Is this situation good” is compare to established criteria within your values and there is really very little additional judgement is involved because the outcome has already be predetermined.
The more I think about this topic, the more I think it can go on for many weeks. It is not that it is complicated but that it is so deep. It is so deep that I am having a hard time getting started because as soon as I start thinking about a direction I almost immediately fork (in my mind). I will try to keep it on a high level and generalities, that way you can apply the concepts to your own situation.
As I said last week, the first step is to inventory what you have. Now, not everything you have you may necessarily need in an emergency situation. For instance, is the lawnmower a necessary piece of equipment? I don’t think so but you might want to note that you have it and it runs on gasoline (if you don’t have a battery or corded model, but that is a different discussion). Whatever happens, you may want to have two gas cans for your mower so that you don’t have to run to the gas station before you mow your grass.
See what I mean, I am already jumping around from inventory to necessity to power equipment. Staying in the power equipment arena, I have a string trimmer, chainsaw and leaf blower. These are all two cycle, gasoline tools, so they need gas and oil. I think the industry trend is now 50:1 blend but old tools were 40:1 and some were even 32:1.
Preferably, I would like all of my equipment to require the same blend ratio that way I only need to have one mix on hand. What is key in my situation is that I pay for yard maintenance. So, really I don’t have anything pre-mixed because I don’t want it sitting around and potentially going bad. When I do use them, I mix what I need at the ratios I want it. I do usually have a small amount of commercial premix available in case of emergency. What is nice about that is that is those containers are sealed and free of contaminants, like water. Read easy to store, quick to use but super expensive at $10 a quart.
Of all of those things, only the chainsaw to me is an emergency tool. Here I would star in my inventory, need gasoline. Moving on, I have a small generator, more gasoline. Did you know that you can use your car as a generator? More on that another week but more gasoline.
I mentioned that my house is all electric. My backup cooking plan is Coleman camping equipment. Mine are dual fuel which mean that they run on gasoline and Coleman fuel (white gas). I prefer gasoline as a common fuel and less to inventory and store, more on that in a minute. FYI- They made some older models that were Coleman fuel and kerosene with some part changes if you are looking for versatility. They were for European users since apparently kerosene is easier to get than Coleman fuel.
I have some Coleman fuel in storage for the same reason I have premixed two cycle gas. It is sealed and free of impurities. The truth is, I have had it for several years and this is before I really got my gasoline program in place. This provided a stop gap for having fresh gasoline available for all the things I wanted redundancy. And it is easy to take on a camping trip. At least easier than a five gallon gas jug.
I use a kerosene heater in my shop. Is is the best setup? Probably not, but I have it. In some areas of the country, you can buy kerosene at the pump. I was able to do that when I lived in South Carolina. But here, I have to buy it at the stores like box stores and home centers. The trick with this fuel is that it is seasonal. It is only stocked in the stores in the winter time frame and when it is out, it is out.
That is to say that when the bulk quantities are out you can often find one gallon jugs in the paint section but you are also paying double what the winter prices are. Now, it is running $10 a gallon at winter prices. So, I buy it when it is on sale and available to have 10 gallons available at all times. Remember that my house is all electric, so I want the ability to move heat where I want it if I need to.
I have gotten some use out of my heater and I know that 2.5 gallons lasts about 40 hours running. It is good to know how much fuel that you might want to have on hand if you need it. This means that my storage capacity is about 160 hours. I wouldn’t run it all the time but a couple hours in the evening would be nice.
I know that I am all over the place. I told you that I was having a hard time staying succinct. But, by my count I want gasoline and kerosene at least and I want some two cycle oil with the ability to measure and mix. The basic strategy is count up all the things you have or want and what fuels they use. Figure out what might be required inventory and rotate (more on that later too). The more commonality you have, the simpler things will be.
One final thing about fuels. Things like generators run on fuel but they don’t run forever without maintenance. If you have one and you think that you might have to run it, oil changes are required. On mine it is every one hundred running hours after break-in. If you think about it, that is about every four days of continuous running. I would suggest that you store corresponding maintenance fluids and even parts so that you don’t find yourself smiling until the generator seizes up.
End Your Programming Routine: Next week, I am going to talk about storing gases. Probably the following week all things electrical. Hopefully, I am not going to bore everyone by going down the preparedness rabbit hole but even if you choose not to do what I do, not having to go to the gas station before you mow the grass seems smart to me. Consolidating and having dual fuel or commonality also seems smart to me. I am going to keep going so hopefully you learn something as well.
I suppose this is somewhat of a project update and some sort of analysis. When starting this project, literally months ago I had scoped it to be done by the end of January. I knew that I was going to be travelling in February but now it is getting to the middle of March and I am not done yet.
Now, am I actively working on the project? Yes I am currently in the glue up portion where I am gluing the aprons and the legs together. This means that I am very close to final assembly and finish. This means that the project will be done. However, this is my last week this month so it is likely that this will now run into April.
When I estimated the project at the beginning of the year I guessed that it would take 100 hours for this project. I am not sure that I have spent much more time than that but I think where I went wrong was 100 hours over a month would be 25 hours a week. And that is not really realistic. I am probably logging 4-6 hours a week.
Extrapolate 100/5 would be 20 weeks. That is five months and by that math and hypothetically I am actually ahead of my estimate. However, I borrowed an old crutch of hope, that was wrong. I hoped that my work would accelerate as it often does when I get into things but hope is not a plan.
I am enjoying the work and I do believe that it will be worth the effort. So, I am not necessarily wishing it to be over but I am certainly looking forward to moving my stereo system into my office. To that end, I am also looking forward to getting my rain barrel setup as my next project.
While it is not my first, fine woodworking project I would consider myself a novice at it. My mortises and tenons were rough. with loose fit for some. My chisels sometimes were dull, causing some of that roughness. This was my first tapered legs that I have made. I learned some things from the experience for sure.
I guess that you could boil all this down to using realistic expectations. If I had just used my brain rather than hoping I could do this, I would have set clearer expectations and by proxy wouldn’t be disappointed by my results. I knew better.
End Your Programming Routine: It’s like I always say, fifteen minutes a day is still almost two hours a week. This is another trap that I sometimes fall into. Ultimately, I am committed so it will be what it will be. And, it truly wont be that long until I am done, I am just lamenting that we are coming into April and I wanted this done at the beginning of February.
I assume that you are like me and don’t really understand what is happening. I see a lot of flash and almost zero in details. Friday, the news broke that Silicon Valley Bank was seized by the FDIC and that was really all of the news of substance. This combined with Signature Bank last Sunday are being billed as the 2nd and 3rd largest bank failures after Washington Mutual in 2008.
For those of us seasoned to remember 2008, Washington Mutual was the largest consumer facing bank to fail but there were some even larger institutions like Lehman Bros and Bear Stearns that were probably indicators of the the seriousness of the problem. I did some investigation to try and understand what was happening here.
What Happened: The Fed has been raising interest rates since last year to combat inflation. Remember, we have been consistently told that there is no inflation? These two banks have been highly leveraged in debt to asset ratio because their primary business has been loaning money. Credit has been much stingier in this increasing interest rate environment so patrons have been taking money from the bank rather than leaving it in the system and a bank collapse has ensued. From there, the institution no longer has enough cash to continue to operate and thus is seized by the FDIC.
What exactly does this mean? In practical terms, nothing. The FDIC is going to assume operations of the bank and transition operations to another suitor when found. In essence, your savings account is still there and your debts are still due. I do imagine that loans in progress are probably suspended if not terminated. Other than that I don’t see much in the way of changes.
I think that what this says about what is not on the surface is pretty compelling. The fact that more than one institution has failed within days is a sign of some pretty strong sickness within the landscape. The reason I say this is that one bank is based in California and the other in New York. We cannot say that this is a one off situation nor can we say that it is environmental because of geography.
I don’t claim to have any sort of insight or even knowledge of the business but I think that things must be much worse than we realize because of these events. Please, don’t be fooled by lies. We are smart enough to know that if something doesn’t smell right that it likely is not right. We don’t need to have specialized industry knowledge to know that that wrong is wrong and we shouldn’t be convinced otherwise.
Don’t forget that this is business and shouldn’t be construed as personal. The people running these institutions are doing exactly what they are permitted by law and expected by shareholders to do. That would be run up debt and leverage the institution to the brink of failure in an attempt to wring every last cent out of the company. Of course, you may not know what the line is without crossing it and that appears to be what has happened.
Where does this leave us? We already know that liars lie, we know that cheaters cheat and we know that players are going to play the game. My recently surfaced attitude of not being angry at bad guys leads me to be pretty ambivalent towards all of this. This being said, some day this is going to be real. Get your financial house in order by eliminating debt and build some level of savings. Freaking out gets us nowhere. Getting prepared for issues is something tangible we can do no matter what happens.
End Your Programming Routine: To be sure, this is another kick the can down the road moment. It just so happens that when the can was kicked, the kicker also slipped and fell down. We will have to wait and see if the fall broke our leg or not and let’s hope that while we are on the ground that we don’t get run over by a car ending it all. I am saying don’t panic, don’t make it more than it is but don’t stick your head in the sand either. Be situationally aware, remember one of the 100 skills a man should have.
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