Originally, I wrote this show outline in May 2019. This was about a month after I had left my job and there has been a lot of water under the bridge since that time. When I first started, I was writing topics ahead in preparation to build a podcast. I didn’t really ever get around to it. As I have started podcasting weekly, I have those old outlines in the queue for weeks when I need a quick win.
At that point, I was thinking that this endeavor was going to be called ‘Polymath Daily’. My focus was going to be a classically oriented approach where I was going to integrate freedom, history, business and leadership, and other things like I am currently doing. I do talk about things like this occasionally but the original idea required too much daily research.
End Your Programming Routine: The reason I chose this one to do today is that I think it goes along with my current string of deeper and more personal podcasts. There is definitely some self analysis that needs to happen as a result of all my personal events recently. I will take my own advice and give it some time. Right now, it is too raw.
Here we are, Happy Friday. I had a pretty good week working on my projects, reading my books and doing what I do. I can see the end of my siding project coming so I can turn around and look at what is next. There are several more outside things that need to get done, but summer is winding down fast.
This chapter felt a lot like filler. I know that it was character development giving Dabny and Frank D’Aconia’s back story. I think that it was largely free and a bit indulgent. But then again, I haven’t read the whole book so maybe it will be more significant down the line. However, there was something that came up on the back end.
“Now the planners are asking their people not to blame the government, but to blame the depravity of the rich”.
“The money will go into channels which will carry it, not to the most productive, but the most corrupt”.
What Frank is referring to in the two quotes above are the seizure of assets such as rails and mines in Mexico. When they seized the mines, they found out that they were not productive and they are trying to blame the industrialist (Frank). He further talks about the graft and shoddy practices that occurred in the startup of the mines. It is implied that this entire scenario is poetic justice for all of those that are motivated by greed and power.
What’s new here? Well nothing really but it is worth noting the story line and message are falling in line with what I was hoping the book would be. I also think that there is something else more subtle in these statements. There are always people that can see and know what is going on. It is a matter whether they actually have a platform or the resources to get the message out.
I was scanning through the AM dial last weekend. It’s been a long time since I had actually done that. One of the big stories over the weekend was that President Biden had Covid. Of course, that drudged up all kinds of opinions about the situation including the vaccine. One of the pieces was talking about the studies on the vaccine and the integrity of the data. Doctor after doctor on the show was talking about what a mess it was.
With that little detour, you can have the vision and the platform, but people still have to listen and believe. If red was black or two quarters of negative financial growth is not a recession and no longer believed to be true then the current definition of truth doesn’t even matter. Truth has to be a universally recognized.
End Your Programming Routine: It is a fine line between not revealing the plot and trying to explain the situation, especially when I haven’t read the book before so I am not sure where things are going. If you noticed that I started a little slow but I think that I have latched onto a formula. Assuming that there are concepts that worthy of me noting, I want to relate those concepts to current events or context. I think that is the way to make the abstract (or me reading a book) convey the things I have learned reading to writing. Hopefully, that translates.
One thing that can potentially effect accuracy is the variability of the projectile. I am told that serious hand loaders weigh and sort bullets. For the best accuracy, you want everything the same. This is the only way you can have consistency.
To date, I have taken for granted that all the pellets were the same. On the container, it says that they weigh 7.54 grains. That is a pretty precise measurement. For me to technically validate that, I would need an analytical balance that reads three places past the decimal point such as X.XXX . I am not going to spend $5000 because it is not that important but that is what I would need. I do however have a scale, so I thought that I would give it a shot in just checking what my readings are.
The last digit is considered the degree of certainty. In my scale pictured above, I can only expect numbers ahead of the last digit to be correct. Or said another way, 100.0X can be certain.
When I switch the units from grams to grains, I only get 7.X as precision. This means that the reality is I cannot validate that the pellets are 7.54 grains. The best I can do it get relative comparisons. For fun, I did a couple tests. The first one was to measure one pellet ten consecutive times on slightly different locations on the scale.
Pellet
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
1
7.8
7.6
7.7
7.8
7.7
7.8
7.7
7.7
7.7
7.8
2
7.6
7.6
7.6
7.6
7.6
7.6
7.6
7.6
7.6
7.6
3
7.7
7.7
7.7
7.6
7.7
7.6
7.6
7.7
7.7
7.7
What can we learn from this? Truthfully, not a lot if we know that we can only trust 7.X grains. There is no absolute way to determine the difference between the two pellets. I would say looking at the data, it would appear that consistency improved greatly between measurements for pellet one versus pellet two.
From a relative perspective, it would appear that there is some difference between the pellets. Even though I cannot accurately weigh them, I am getting some different results when I switch pellets and that is consistent. I did a second test to weigh 10 different pellets.
Pellet
Weight (grains)
1
7.9
2
7.6
3
7.7
4
7.9
5
7.9
6
7.6
7
7.9
8
7.9
9
7.7
10
7.8
So, it appears that the spread is between 7.6 – 7.9 with a weighting toward the higher end. My conclusion for all of this is I believe that there is some difference with the pellet weight. If I take my measured spread (0.3 grains) and divide by the nominal weight (7.54 grains), I calculate 4%. In reality, that is not a lot but it is something.
End Your Programming Routine: There is some statistical analysis that can be done to determine how accurate your measurements are. Given my equipment’s limitations, I don’t think that it is really worth doing the analysis. This wouldn’t be a question if what I was measuring was heavier. Regardless, I think that this technique has potential to provide context in changes of accuracy.
Over the course of the last couple of weeks, I have been creating very short videos with tips on siding. I don’t know what it is going to amount to, but I was looking and my nail gun repair video got 41 views in the last 24 hours (when I am writing this). So, that platform is getting some degree of engagement. That means I am taking the cheap route here and linking to my recent YouTube work.
I think that you get the idea. All of them I am putting into a single playlist. You can find that here if you want to keep up or watch them all at once.
End Your Programming Routine: There is that saying ‘the heart wants what the heart wants’. I have often thought that if something that I work on ever takes off, I would need to shift from writing or doing whatever I want to something more focused (more like a job). I know that siding tips are not everyone’s cup of tea but it makes sense to foster something that is getting engagement like YouTube.
I know, this is one of those convenience things. Real sauce takes some time. But I will give a secret, I almost always doctor sauce from a jar in this way as well. So, I really don’t have anything to gain from using jarred sauce.
First, lets talk about jarred sauce. I find it to be lifeless and bland lacking the zest of herbs, the sweetness of vine ripened tomatoes, the tang of garlic, that is a surface issue. To go deeper, we will look at the ingredient list, why is corn syrup part of the recipe? Then we have the alphabet soup of preservatives. The only thing redeeming is the price point, hence we get what we pay for.
What is the purpose of sugar with tomatoes? This technique helps mellow the acidity of the tomato which balances the overall flavor profile. I typically use a teaspoon to a half tablespoon of brown sugar for an entire batch of sauce, say enough for four people.
Have you ever bought the ‘garden’ variety of sauce? I think there are a dozen mushroom slices and green peppers in the jar. I certainly taste no difference. I like a generous amount of onion, half a green pepper, four mushrooms, three cloves of garlic and probably a tablespoon of basil and salt to taste. With this proportion, I would add one or two cans of plain tomato sauce. This is a good place to throw in leftover pizza sliced or taco diced tomatoes as well (I used hamburger sliced tomatoes from my sons birthday in the picture above).
That is just as fast as doctoring jarred sauce. Instead of sauce, you could start with crushed, diced or even whole tomatoes. When using those types of ingredients, start with reducing the tomatoes first and add the vegetables to the sauce rather than the other way around.
End Your Programming Routine: I don’t always add this many vegetables. In fact, we do not eat that much pasta, I don’t care for it much. But, I promised my son that I would make vegan spaghetti and we would use his plant based meatballs. By the way, those things are disgusting, also not real food. Despite that, I remain open minded and inclusive of his choice. So, skip the prepared sauce and do it yourself. It can literally be done while the water is heating up to boil the pasta.
I am keeping short and sweet again. Listen to hear what I am saying! The playlist that accompanies my podcast can be heard here.
End Your Programming Routine: Every day things get a little bit better. I find that certain songs have the capability to appease anger and transition to a better mind state. Find your inner peace and be that rock in the storm. It definitely isn’t easy, I keep praying for resolution.
Traditionally, this week has been a hair on fire proposition. My wife and son’s birthday have passed but I am still on the hook for babysitting over the weekend so my wife can celebrate with friends in an adult oriented atmosphere. Fortunately, I got ahead on my reading so I have been able to keep my routine here.
There are a couple of anecdotal things that occur in this chapter:
First chapter that doesn’t use the phrase “Who is John Galt?”
Mexico nationalized San Sebastian Line
Dagny negotiates a deal with Reardon Metal
The National Alliance of Railroads meet and establish Anti-Dog Eat Dog Rule
It is the last point that I am going to settle on today. If you recall last week, I wrote about how a group of industrialists were meeting to talk about the idea of forming a trade group. The language that they were using was to prevent monopolies. In this chapter, that trade group was formed and called The National Alliance of Railroads.
The group selected a leader, and they passed their first resolution called the Anti-Dog Eat Dog rule. Also, if you recall the Alliance was also going to divide up the country into territories. With that, competition would be eliminated. Essentially, if a railroad operated in a particular regions, the others would not pursue any business. More on that later.
The National Alliance of Railroads elect an individual named Don Conway. He happens to be a newcomer to the industry and runs a particular area called the Rio Norte line. Unfortunately for him, that area had trains from Taggart Transcontinental first. It was majority decided that violated the Anti-dog Eat Dog rule. He was so successful, that he had virtually drove Taggart out of the market. Now he has to close down and re-vision his company.
Don seems to be a very competent business man otherwise he would not be able to dominate Taggert. However, he seems to be a very poor politician. My take on the interaction was the others used properties like honesty and transparency to paint Don into a corner and not be able to fight back. To that end, the skills and proficiencies that a person has in one endeavor does not necessarily translate to success in another setting.
I think the bigger, less obvious theme here is be mindful of groups being altruistic. I am not saying to be suspicious of everybody. But, a good first start is when someone is telling you what is better you. What I really hear is we don’t want people to infringe on our territory, we are going to protect it. In addition, we are going to package our idea in an emotional appeal that sounds like it is benevolent.
Think like the left/right dichotomy and pick your issue. Let’s say vouchers for school. Now, one party is thinking money will be drained from the established system and leave only the poor and by proxy decline in the system. The other side wants to use vouchers to send children to an institution that essentially uses the same methodology only slightly different than already exists. On one hand, I think having say and control with your money and children’s education is the better choice, but let’s look deeper.
What is the real issue? In my mind, it is failing of the educational system in real time. Some people are more switched on to it actually happening (the voucher people). But, each side is packaging their argument with emotional appeal for their own reasons like satisfying their power base. However, what is missing? It is the illusion of true choice. Not only is the current school system in failure, the established methods are really just treading the waters of time after the basic fundamentals are completed like reading and math.
I am not saying that everyone can be a true genius. But to punctuate this Mozart started writing music at five and Bobby Fischer was a chess grand champion at fourteen, Gregory R Smith was a Nobel Peace Prize winner at 12. I guarantee that none of these people were following the K-12 program. Not to say that there are not those that succeed despite the normal path. It’s just to say that there are likely more than two options.
End Your Programming Routine: So, Atlas Shrugged is shaping up to good potential. I think the thing about Ayn Rand thinking through things and writing about them is showing that the messages can be potent and entertaining at the same time. I am also getting intrigued about the character Dagny Taggert. For the rest of the message I think I was pretty clear, but consider the motive for the message.
I changed my mind about what I am going to talk about today. I was reading the definition of statistical significance and there is even some debate to whether it is actually accurate. You don’t want to see the math and you probably don’t even care about the esoteric aspects. In theory, significance validates the data set. Since I measured all of the data, my equipment is either working (data valid) or it is not (data invalid). I choose to believe that it is valid.
In lieu of a more complicated analysis, I am going to talk about the difference between two different pellet shapes. What is going on? I shot all of my pellets in one container so the ones I switched to had a different shape, see the picture below.
The pellet on the left is what I have been working with. The name given by the manufacturer in ‘Energy’. The one on the right is called ‘Hunter’. Both are 7.56 grains in weight and constructed of lead. In the course of gathering data I noticed an accuracy difference, see below. This is known as point of aim versus point of impact between two different pellets.
Looking at the target on the upper left, those were shot with Energy pellets. The X represents the point of aim and you can see that the results ring the point of aim. Switching over to the Hunter, I see there is a significant drop in the point of impact from the point of aim. My point here is ammunition is not always swappable with identical results.
To address this, I need to re-sight in my scope. For purposes of just getting velocity measurements, that is not important today but it is worth noting this is the case.
Muzzle Velocity (fps)
Velocity @ 30′ (fps)
1
951
906
2
965
892
3
974
908
4
968
904
5
960
906
6
965
905
7
956
909
8
971
909
9
963
907
10
970
908
964.6 +/- 19.5
905.4 +/- 15
You will recall from previous weeks with the Energy pellet I got 955.8 +/- 30.3 fps and 857.3 +/- 22.2 fps. That is a percent difference of 0.91% and 5.45% respectively comparing Energy versus Hunter pellets at muzzle and 30′ readings. In my mind, the data says that muzzle velocity is about the same, however there is a clear velocity difference at 30′ between the Hunter and Energy pellets.
I think that it is also worth noting that my numbers are becoming more consistent. There is a pretty narrow window that the pellets need to travel to for the chronograph to read. I am estimating that my failure to read count has dropped by two thirds. So, I would say that I am getting better using the tool. Regardless, this is why we do math on the data. This is the term normalized.
End Your Programming Routine: You are now on your way to becoming an actual physicist. I didn’t publish a hypothesis before I started this but if I would have, I would have thought that the Energy pellet would have more velocity at 30′ than the Hunter based on shape alone. Since there are only two variables in calculating energy, mass and velocity and the mass is the same for both pellets, it seems like Energy is actually misnamed.
Fortunately, I had a good weekend for project work. I will say that I strongly believe that details are almost never executed properly. It costs too much money to do so. So, that is what I am going to explore today.
1. Painting all six sides. This is the one that is the most frequently skipped and the one that takes the most time. I like to get two coats on the exposed face of the parts before installation. Then I come back and fill holes and do a final touch up. To put more simply, I prime all six sides. Then I paint the exposed faces twice.
2. Caulk is not a building material, it is more like gap insurance. It is there to prevent water from getting to a properly detailed assembly and for aesthetic uniformity. In theory, caulk should be unnecessary. From my informal observation, I have only seen one caulk remain flexible and intact after five years of exposure. That is OSI Quad. Be aware, this product is not easy to tool as it is solvent based which is why I rarely use it. This caulk joint shown below has failed. I know for a fact that it is not flashed behind the trim.
3. Flashing has a proper order and should be used more frequently. Flashing is what mitigates caulk failures. Today’s installation guidelines for Hardi plank or LP call for a 3/16″ gap between adjacent edges. Those gaps must be flashed for proper water protection. Caulk if you choose, but expect failure and consistent maintenance. Notice that the z flash is on top of the trim flashing.
4. Fix your mistakes a you go. Here, I miscalculated my board length because of the offset from the corner trim. The truth is the board wasn’t even a true 12 feet, it was actually 12′ 1 3/8″, so it would have never lined up properly. What is the harm? Not having joints line up on studs leaves them susceptible to eventual warping because there is not enough structure to nail the trim and secure them adequately.
5. Building materials are expensive, do the best job you can with the best possible materials. As the saying goes, 80% the work in painting is in the prep. Sure, good paint is $90 a gallon but after you have spent hundreds of hours getting ready, don’t cheap out on something less than adequate. It just shows that you don’t actually value your time.
6. There is a time and place for shortcuts. That place is not while the project is happening. Think about this, you probably don’t need to rebuild your car’s engine because the air conditioning stopped working. However, if you do want to rebuild the engine replace all of the wear parts whether they need it or not. I am talking about things like bearings and seals. Shortcuts are for eliminating or delaying the need for the project.
7. Finally, I want to say that we all make mistakes. The difference between a professional and an amateur is how to recover and not get derailed.
End Your Programming Routine: I have been thinking about making some Tik-Tok length videos with one tip per video. With everything that is going on outside of my project, I have a difficult time actually scheduling something extra. It’s weird but my YouTube subscribers keep growing despite the fact I am hardly active. It might be worth putting a little more effort into it.
This is the July selection of the Left Coast Culinary book club. I have skimmed through the book and read the text portions that support all of the recipes. I actually was not going to review this book because I found it unremarkable but I will explain more below.
I will diverge for a quick moment, Emily French’s story is a very familiar one. This is another lost soul that finds redemption through cooking ala Gabrielle Hamilton or Anthony Bourdain. Because her entire enterprise is based in Maine, the content is highly New England centric.
In what seems to be a smart trend, this book is organized first by season. The intent is to guide the reader to source seasonal ingredients and therefore cook with them. My first problem is that I don’t live in New England, so ingredients such as lobster are as foreign to me as stew in the summer time. Secondly, as with best practices the recipes and techniques are simple allowing the primary ingredients to be the stars (as it should be, but see issue one).
I can forgive, substitute and cook out of season, no problem but my real issue is that nothing in particular speaks to me. I have tried the New England baked beans and the cod with citrus shallot vinaigrette and I am going to make corned beef this week so it is not that I haven’t given the book a chance. I will tell you what did however. I have never seen so many recipes that use parsnips or editable flowers. I found the photography and food styling visually appealing.
Far be it for me to criticize someone else’s work. All I am really saying is that this does not resonate with me. Others in the book club felt that this was one of the best selections in the last five years. Here is where I will end, if you are looking for New England dishes, seasonal suggestions or frequent use of flowers, then this may appeal to you.
End Your Programming Routine: I have an affinity for southern cooking, some might say soul food. I also live in the pacific northwest and enjoy cooking Mexican food, I hold regional recipes in high regard. All three of those places I hold a degree of emotional and cultural connection. I suppose you could say that I have no connection to New England, maybe that is to blame for how I feel.
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