Page 71 of 136

January 10, 2023 – Fly Tied, #1

January 10, 2023 /

As with my philosophy, first build discipline and then proficiency. Well you could say that this is what I did. I wanted to tie a fly that used all of the materials I had on hand (I did have to buy hooks however). I saw no reason to buy more materials when I had plenty on hand. I also wanted to make something that was large. It is easier to do dexterity work when you are not at micro-scale.

I have alluded to this before but it used to be that fly fishing and fly tying was a very traditional endeavor. I have some pattern books, but I just wanted to make something. And what is more flashy then a streamer? These are the peacocks of the fly world. So, I found a picture of something that I liked the looks of and made up the rest.

Step one is to wrap the hook in thread as a base layer. Then I put down a layer of gold tinsel. My intent is to have a butt end with some exposed gold.

With my base layer down, I added black chenille. That simulates the body of an insect. I probably made a mistake using marabou (feather) as hackle, that simulates wings. Marabou is typically used as dubbing (or adding mass to a body, not as hackle. But remember, I was using what I had on hand.

After building up the head and adding head cement to hold it all together. I had tied my first fly in thirty years. Now, it wasn’t super tidy or good looking. I was thinking of naming it something in-appropriate, but didn’t. Maybe you can suggest something funny or unique? I have no illusions that this is the one to knock them dead. But this is the one that got me back into the game.

I learned a few things in this trial process. The first thing I learned was that my vice sucks. It essentially free spins with almost no pressure. I sure don’t remember that from the past. It is going to be a while before I actually do anything about replacing the vice. For one, I can’t justify doing something for a ‘someday I might want a better one’. Second, I have other projects/expenses lined up before this becomes a priority.

The second thing that I learned was that I have enough tools to make simple flies. I do plan to purchase more thread bobbins and hackle pliers to have some spares on hand and thinking that I might make more complicated flies eventually. But for now, what I have will work for what I am doing. I will never give up on two is one and one is none in case something gets lost or broken but this should be fine for what I am doing now.

I don’t think the hook I used was proper. The pattern I emulated called for a #3 to #5 hook. This is actually a #2 but it seems short to me. This hook was billed as a bait hook but I think the shank is too short. There are specific or common fly hooks and this was not one of them. So, I think my output would be neater an cleaner if I actually used a better hook. But again, this got me going and I could buy it locally.

End Your Programming Routine: I really wanted to prove to myself that I could still do it. I think that I have lost some skill and technique as well as knowledge after all these years but proof of concept is complete. I am trying to figure out exactly how I want to handle all of this but this is a good start. I am really trying to keep my toolbox fallacy at bay and this is the way that I started.

January 9, 2023 – How to Play Cribbage

January 9, 2023 /

I have tried to change it up from the serious and heavy to the light and fun. So, when thinking about getting ready for New Year’s Eve, I was thinking about how we used to play Cribbage as a family on that particular day. I thought that I might be able to attempt to describe how to play on a podcast. You be the judge.

End Your Programming Routine: Being that this is kind of a game of passing time, you think about what is the value of a game like this. At fishing/hunting camp it is filling out the evening so that you can get to the purpose tomorrow. Or for sailors, it is the same kind of thing. It is a game worth having around in my opinion, whether you are waiting for the ball to drop or holed up in your bunker.

January 6, 2023 – Atlas Shrugged 3:7

January 6, 2023 /

Well, well, well… we meet again. I have to say that this is one of those chapters that goes completely off of the rails. It is completely and unnecessarily too long. It is an over sixty page soliloquy by John Galt and his reasons for doing what he has done. I actually think that this is probably Rand speaking. I think that the this probably could have been done very effectively in 10 pages. It took me probably six hours to read this and even then I don’t think I got most of it.

After the last chapter, he finally did it. Reardon finally through in the towel. As a result Mr. Thompson was going to give a national address. In case you don’t recognize the name, Mr. Thompson is the President at the time. Not so fast, John Galt hijacks the broadcast and here is the longest statement in written history.

There is a lot of good stuff here that just makes sense, but really there are two things that I want to talk about. The first one is the name of the section ‘A is A’. On the surface, you might think that this is kind of gibberish. But, it makes perfect sense because it is exactly as it sounds and it is exactly what is happening today.

What John Galt is saying is a functioning and proper society must be accept the reality that one thing cannot be another. Or said another way, A cannot be B otherwise it would actually be B and not A. As one example let us talk about gender. It is pervasive throughout the school system and soon throughout society that there are more than two genders. In fact, at our local high school we had a homecoming king, queen and a non-binary (something or other).

There are kids that are X, there are kids that allegedly identify as they/them or literally plural. This stuff doesn’t even make sense. This creates all kinds of issues related to sports competition and even locker room assignment. I have even been seeing stories about how people went through gender re-assignment and now are trying to transition back to their original gender. These are kids that don’t even know what they are going to do after high school thinking that they are born in some deficient manner with respect to their gender. I would argue that they don’t even know what being either a man or a woman is supposed to be.

Like any good Libertarian, I could care less if someone wants to identify are a cat, but A is A. It is dangerous to deny biology and reality because we are convincing ourselves that it doesn’t exist or we can wish reality is not really true if we tell ourselves that it isn’t. We should probably do away with all the homecoming nonsense anyway, I don’t see much value.

The second thing that I want to talk about is to quote John Galt directly. “The evil of the world is made possible by the sanction that you give it. Withdraw you sanction. Withdraw your support. Do not try to win on your enemies terms or win at a game that they are setting the rules. Do not seek the favor of those that enslave you, do not beg for alms from those that robbed you be it subsidies, loans or jobs do not join their team to recoup what they have taken by helping them rob your neighbors.”

It goes on but it makes the point so elegantly. This is what I have been saying about politics all along. No matter the side, either side is taking from someone to further their own agenda and personal riches of the people that are connected within. We need to stop thinking that we can vote ourselves out of the problems we have. To be frank, our problems are the result of us voting in the first place. Picking a side endorses the system into existence.

I do this as a hobby and because I am trying to change people’s programming. The fact of the matter is that I am not surprised that a single contested race did not end the way that I wanted. I didn’t vote for third party candidates or just ‘throw in a protest vote’. I voted for what I thought was the lessor of the two evils. But I also did it to make a point that my local society is 180 degrees of my own personal beliefs.

I have talked about scientific laws and theories before. A theory is something that cannot be either completely proven or disproven but a law is something that cannot be disproven. The theory of relativity is a theory because we can’t actually test it. We cannot travel at the speed of light to find out that we have aged relative to the speed that we have travelled while others have aged relative to the distance that we travelled in that time. If we start to tell ourselves that Newton’s first law is Force = sunshine/rainbows instead of mass * acceleration then we haven’t accomplished anything other than making ourselves collectively dumber. For those that don’t know E = mc^2 is the exact equation as F = m*a, more on that some other day.

End Your Programming Routine: It doesn’t surprise me that my philosophy falls on deaf ears. In the book, John Galt is willing to wait for the collapse of society because it is the only tool he has remaining. It seems like the course of the book lasts five years or so and accelerates quickly. We are watching and even enabling our own collapse as we live and breathe, it is just happening so much slower that we are not even seeing it. Like John and his peers, there might come a day where I realize that my efforts to change programming are beyond my reach or ability. And like Dabny at this point, I am not willing to give up.

January 5, 2023 – Happy New Years… You Deserve What You Get

January 5, 2023 /

These 20 new Oregon laws are going into effect in 2023 (msn.com)

I don’t know why I get suckered into paying attention to this stuff. It doesn’t change the water temperature in my pool. On the other hand, it is really revealing and annoying the things that our government finds important and spends our money on. Here is a summary of the nonsense.

LawGrade (-/0/+)Analysis
Newborn Home Visits to be Reimbursed–Forces insurers to include up to three home visits in plans. Read: Spend more of other’s money
Lower the cost of one day fishing license0I am all for making fishing more accessible but that money goes for conservation.
Restitution payments to victims first +Victims are paid before court costs. Sounds like the intent of restitution
Department of Education composition matches state demographics–Like all affirmative action, I am not in favor quotas. Let’s focus on feeling better rather than results.
Workers compensation cannot be suspended without prior notification0Seems fair. I am sure most of this was used on people that probably milked the system
School board members must provide any conflict of interest, source of income, etc.–I am all for transparency, when equally applied. Why are we picking on one group specifically? What about all politicians?
Red light tickets can be issued by a clerk, not just an officer–I don’t believe in cameras. I don’t believe in lowering standards.
Department of Education will use standardized testing to develop future plans and measure effectiveness–So, they weren’t doing this already? And what have they been doing?
Dental coverage offed to members of COFA and do not qualify for the Oregon Health plan–These are non-US citizens that are earning less than 138% of the US poverty rate. What the…?
Evidence collected in a sexual assault investigation must contain a medical examination form0So, we were collecting samples without any associated information? Seems like we shouldn’t but a law was necessary?
The word Alien is now replaced with non-citizen0I guess this is so we can tell the difference of intent between space aliens and non-citizens if future law.
New position of Child Support Referee created. Can have adjudication powers0I don’t know enough about this or the system to know if this is good or bad. Presumably this adjust the judicial system burden.
Unlicensed real estate agent fines increase–I am not in favor of enforcing cartels. From my experience real estate agents don’t deserve what they get and there is no legal requirement to use one.
Voter registration can use Social Security Cards to verify identity–What a great idea. Let’s add more uncertainty into the process. Do you know how many people I know that have had their identity stolen?
Defines benefit year as Jan 1 with 52 contiguous weeks0Fine. We need to have common definitions for all of our entitlements.
Employers will require five days notice to force employees to work overtime–It is a wonder that there are any employers in this state.
Expands the list of occupational diseases for firefighters+This includes volunteer firefighters. I think first responders deserve some respect. It would be better to not have a list at all.
Restricts the amount of regulation local government can place on alarm systems and electric fences+Finally, something that actually restricts government.
Expands workers comp beneficiary list0In these days of gender/identity crisis, why not. My man servant deserves to be taken care of if I depart this earth. If we are going to sanctify this nonsense, we need to support it.

Generally speaking, there is really nothing that is actually important here. I suppose legal clarity reduces loopholes and things but it is really amazing how many people really don’t understand the phrase ‘shall not be infringed’. For some reason, they interpret that to mean shall not be infringed in gerrymandered set of parameters like except if it is fully automatic or has a magazine that can hold more than 10 rounds or it is black or whatever.

My point is we can say something is that we can make a law that the sky is blue but then we will still have people that want to argue all of the fringe elements. Like, well it is actually black at night or gray when it rains or red at sunset. It is a never ending series of definition/loophole/denial or whatever process happens. So, while I ranked all clarification laws as neutral, they really should get a futile ranking.

There is something about incompetent’s ‘fixing their mistakes’. Have you ever observed this in real time? I have. The first thing is that they don’t actually understand the problem(s). But, like the Dutch Boy plugging the leaks, once they stick their finger in the hole, the other hand is high fiving anyone who walks by. The people walking by have spent the last hour staring at their phone and only look up to see our hero has plugged the leak while there are twenty five leaks behind them and a hundred ahead. After the high five, they go back to their phones and walk right through the mess.

End Your Programming Routine: I have to apologize. I think I got triggered when I read the list of laws that were going into effect. I shouldn’t be surprised or upset that idiots do idiotic things, it is their nature. I should have never looked at the list, but I couldn’t help myself. I wanted to know what new fun I was in store for. And now you do too.

January 4, 2023 – Take Your Saw Blades To the Dentist

January 4, 2023 /

You know, I suppose that I am lucky. I go to the dentist twice a year. One time I was talking to my dentist and he said that some people have teeth so bad that they have to come in once a month for cleaning. Whatever the chemistry or the diet or the personal habits are, there is enough build-up necessary to have a cleaning session.

A lot of times, your saw blades have the same problem. The quality of the cut is not necessarily the sharpness of the blade, but the build-up of the sap/pitch/crud on the teeth. Not only does that build-up effect the quality of the cut but it also effects the quality of the blade. Meaning, the harder the metal has to work the more heat build-up there is and the more likely dullness and or damage will occur.

Just like the dentist, I brush my teeth, then I scrape them using something like an X-acto knife and then I brush them again. My picture above is after brushing them once. First, I spray on some simple green. I have the blade in a very cheap automotive fluids pan to contain everything and let them soak for 15 minutes. Then I use a bronze bristle brush like you would find in the gun cleaning section of the store.

When to to this is usually visually apparent. You can see the build-up on the saw blade. Now, I am as lazy as anyone else. I don’t like doing this and it takes away from my productive shop time. So, I make the decision on a task by task basis. If I am cutting construction lumber, then I don’t really care so much about cut quality, but on my woodworking projects, I do care about the finish cuts.

All that being said, I would also be more diligent depending on the quality of the blade. The one pictured is a $40 blade today ($30 at the time I bought it). I suppose that this is nothing to sneeze at but there are much more expensive blades. It is a decent quality blade and cut, but in the end these are consumables.

And with all of that, I am not manic about it. I spend thirty minutes doing the major cleaning and maintenance and then I move on. It doesn’t look like it came out of the box but it works much better than before I cleaned it.

Before I scare anyone off, the frequency of cleaning has a lot to do with what you are cutting. I tend to cut mostly fir, hemlock, cedar and spruce. These are high resin woods where the buildup happens immediately. Working with the American hardwoods like oak, maple, walnut and others the pitch buildup will be significantly less. My air dried fir has hidden pitch pockets that are still liquid so it doesn’t take long to coat everything in pitch (including my fingers).

Up until this point I have been referring to circular saw blades. Band saw blades are effected even more from buildup. When I am re-sawing boards, it is nearly impossible to get a straight cut when the blade is not clean. I do the same process, I just leave the blade on the saw when I do it.

There is probably a lot more to say on the topic of saw blades in general but I wanted to focus on cleaning them today. There are specific products for this job on the market, but Simple Green (or generic substitute) works just fine for me. That being said, I have never tried them so they may work better than what I am doing. There are other products that are meant prevent the problem in the first place. Think of it like Pam for your tools. I worry about that stuff effecting the finish that I eventually put on the wood.

End Your Programming Routine: If you are struggling with quality cuts, take a look at your blade. You might be amazed at what a difference a cleaning will make on the final outcome. You also might need a more appropriate blade for your task, so try cleaning first, then replace if results are not desirable.

January 3, 2023 – HTGR 2023

January 3, 2023 /

And… welcome to 2023. We are starting the year off by going back to basics by talking about planning. Not to mention, we are almost back to a normal schedule with a podcast on Tuesday. Listen today to learn how I plan to hit the ground running in the new year.

End Your Programming Routine: I have a cloud of tags when I am writing that show my top ten most commonly used tags in my blog. Planning makes that list. Despite that, I don’t remember the last time I wrote or talked about it. The new year is the perfect time to plan but so is any other time of year. The most important thing is to do it and then check up from time to time to see how you are doing.

January 2, 2023 – One More Day

January 2, 2023 /

I wanted to wish you Happy New Year. Hopefully 2023 is a year filled with prosperity.

I am taking one more day off from a difficult and busy holiday season. I have a real need to recharge my batteries and I am hoping that these spot days off help with that. I will be back tomorrow.

December 30, 2022 – Atlas Shrugged 3:6

December 30, 2022 /

I think that it is fitting that we end the calendar year on Atlas Shrugged. This has been a monumental review series for me. There has been so much good and relevant content that seems to be evergreen even though it was written in the 1950s. This chapter is no exception.

Hank Reardon’s family tries to backtrack on their relationship with him. They try to apologize to him because the state has seized all of Reardon’s assets and he has no more liquid cash to keep paying them. Reardon’s family wants him to start clearing assets so that he has cash flow to keep supporting them which Hank refuses to do.

The meeting with the government proceeded the meeting with his family. Essentially they were also backtracking because they were afraid that he was going to quit. They were offering what they called an equitable deal by combining all of the profits and dispensing them out by proportional furnace count. This plan was to be administered via the Steel Unification Board just like the railroad. The fact that Reardon had fifty percent more output with a third the amount of furnaces did not sit well and Hank refuses to take the deal.

As Reardon left the meeting he found a riot in front of the gate to the steel factory. The riot was labeled as union driven but was apparently incited by the government reps, specifically Tinky Holloway who was slated to be the head of the Steel Unification Board. I will spare all the intimate details so that you can read the book and all of the twists and turns. Suffice to say, I want to talk about the riots.

There is a term that is called ‘Astroturfing‘. It means that there is something that appears to be organic or natural but really isn’t. In context, it is generally used to describe events such as protests that are often heavily funded or staffed by outsiders. This is what we have with the steel mill riots. where the rioters are not even workers or union members but paid rabble rousers.

Practices like this are used for the optics of the situation. When some event is dubbed the ‘Million Mom March‘ then there darn well be at least one million moms attending or the cause will be deemed illegitimate. You can read the link if you like, I am going to talk about it next.

Wikipedia states that the million mom march organization said that there was 500-750,000 people in attendance. National Park Service estimates 150,000 but the organization’s numbers included 70 satellite gatherings in their numbers as well. If you remember the media coverage, special camera angles were used to make the gathering appear as full as possible and therefore how could it not be one million moms.

This event was a re-branding of Handgun Control Incorporated (which incidentally has been named two other things and is now Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence). So I ask you, what sounds more benign, Handgun Control Inc or the Million Mom March? And what were they really marching for? Were they loving, caring moms or were they trying to impose their political and moral beliefs on others?

Brady has been around since the 1980s and will likely be around forever more. But, their new name sounds a lot like some other organizations like Moms Demand Action; really, not really. If I look at the summary statement when I search the group, I read ‘a grass roots organization’ but on the very same page I see that the parent organization is Everytown for Gun Safety and their actual name is Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America.

Let us just look a little further. When I search Everytown for Gun Safety, I find that the founder of the organization in Michael Bloomberg. I am not going to say that a billionaire cannot be the founder of some sort of organization, but I am going to have a hard time swallowing the ‘grass roots’ definition.

Grass roots means that it starts with you and me. I seemed to have misplaced my 75 billion extra dollars, so I think I am one of the people. What I am getting at here is that every time we see some sort of national political/equity movement, look a little deeper into the origin story like this one sponsoring Black Lives Matter (Tides Foundation).

Just wait until the next chapter, we are going to learn all about ‘shared prosperity’. I am equally enamored by the self titled definition of ‘charity’.

End Your Programming Routine: I feel like I shouldn’t have to say this but I am all for equality. My definition of equality is just that, equal. If you remember my analysis of Rights in the American Dream Series then you will remember that Rights are actually subjective. This my friends is getting to where it is at. The fact that Rand laid all of this at our feet seventy years ago and we are too stupid to recognize same game different players is our own fault. More on that as we progress. See you in 2023 for the finale.

December 29, 2022 – AltF4.co Year In Review

December 29, 2022 /

It’s that time again. We need to celebrate our success and condemn our failures. I talk about the things that I think are the highlights, places that didn’t go the way I expected and plans for next year.

End Your Programming Routine: I am a big believer in checking in the rear view mirror. You cant drive forward that way but you can sure see what you have run over. I suppose the goal for every content creator is to do more of what worked better, try hard to do what you plan or say and figure out what you are going to do next. That is what this is all about

December 28, 2023 – Black Eyed Peas and New Years

December 28, 2022 /

If you have ever lived in the south, then this very well may be a nothing burger. The first time we celebrated New Years Day in South Carolina, I found out that it was some kind of tradition. Imagine me, a doe eyed west coaster talking with our strongly southern accented friends asking if we have black eyed peas for New Years.

First of all, I don’t know if I had ever eaten black eyed peas. Secondly, we certainly didn’t have any sort of tradition like eating them on New Years. And more so than that, who puts a dime in the bean pot?

That’s right, the person that gets the dime in their serving gets and extra helping of luck throughout the year. At least that is the superstition. Doing some quick research, it seems like this tradition is very strong in the Carolinas because so much of the low land was strongly Gullah/Geechee west African descendants. As such, black eyed peas, field peas and rice hold a common culinary base for cultural cooking.

These beans can be served bland like any dry and boiled bean or they can be a full meal. Soak the beans overnight, drain the liquid in the morning and go crazy. I like a mirepoix, bacon/fatback, broth and a lot of collard greens, particularly the stems seasoned with some cajun or creole seasoning. You can serve that with some cornbread. It is easy peasy, just have your planning in place.

Today’s nanny state says not to put a dime in the beans. You are going to choke on it and die. Then your estate will sue the host and we will have another blood feud. So much for extra luck. I’ve never done it because I don’t believe in extra luck, but would say just warn people to be on the lookout for something non-edible.

I went down a total rabbit hole when I was looking at traditions for New Years day. What I learned is that there is no real standardization on when a new years should be. Ancient Rome was March 1, India is Diwali (October), China and Islam use a lunar calendar (late winter). A different topic for a different day so, I guess we will stick to the USA. Fireworks at midnight, the Rose parade or black eyed peas. It used to be college football bowl games until the playoff system screwed it all up.

End Your Programming Routine: New Year Day is one of those rare holidays that doesn’t seem to hold much in terms of expectations. At only one week from Christmas, it is so close that I feel like it doesn’t get much attention, traditions aside. I always feel like it is here and gone. So, why not fire up a pot of beans and serve a hearty and hot meal as a new tradition.