Not happy
Sorry for the lack of posting, been busy, its cold, and days are short, so I squeeze in what I can while I can. Staying up on the latest outrage of the FRAUD is at the low end of that list (but I do keep a weather ear out for sudden shifts in tyranny to make sure I am not caught broadside)
Trying something a little different with the kayak. Its not new; others have done it and reported good results, but I am not happy with what I am seeing. Ok, gotta bring y’all up to speed here. In both Serena and Duh!kee, I used a two part polyurethane system from Spirit-line. Good results, but it can be finicky about repairs and re-finish. Most people just ‘deal’ until such time as its time to re-skin. Well, this time around I chose to go with regular spar varnish and pigment it like I do the two-part (very successfully at that).
MEH!!!
It soaks into the fabric very well, maybe better than the two part stuff does (less solids, more carrier solvents). and it takes pigment pretty well too: nothing separating out when it gets on the fabric. BUT,, That finish is totally lacking any luster or appeal. Its a smooth satin and I had to double check to make sure I hadn’t picked up a satin varnish ( ( didn’t, its high gloss). It looks ‘Okay’, but it certainly lacks the ‘POP!” that the two part gave to Serena.
*sigh*
And I am to far along and committed to a system to make the change to the other. Heck, once that first line of coating went on, I was committed with no recourse for correction.
But I will not be using it again.
And I already told myself “Self, you shoulda tried it on a peice of scrap FIRST”. Self responded that at the price I am paying for spar varnish, I was committed to the system and a test strip would have done little to my resolve. Both selves are right. I would have found a use for the spar varnish elsewhere, but at $18/qt and I bought a gallon, I was determined to use the crap on this boat. Should’ve stuck to ‘tried and true’. Live and learn, and I did learn and won’t be repeating this little screw-up.
Honestly, it looks like I painted the hull with a satin house paint, not varnish. Blech!!!
On other fronts, I have a 2 gallon pot of chicken parts stewing on the woodstove, and will be adding my dumplings in tomorrow after I skim out all the bones and other inedible parts. That will keep me fat and happy for a week. And the Kittehs are digging on the ‘other parts’ that they were given. Grizz is especially fond of the livers and did something out of character for him: He growled at Mamakat when she went sniffing at his share.
It’s winter, chicken n dumplin’s are winter food and after a week of Chili, I needed a change-up. (but DAMN that last bowl of Chili was EX-SEE-LANT!!!).
May have a winter paddle forthcoming with B. Watching weather and if things look stable, we are planning on a day trip out in the frosty cold waters of somewhere here local. Maybe my fugly boat will get to make her first trip. Even though the ‘paint job’ is shitte, there were a lot of cool features added in that I really want to try out. That hard deck, the bulkhead foot brace and a slight shift in the hull design. Yeah, I should make one change, try it out then incorporate it into another boat with another change: thats proper protocol when doing things like this, but then, I am anything but a proper kayak designer. I figure if any one of the changes is bad, I will know right up front seeing how this is ‘almost’ the same boat that I started with. (same length and beam, new ribs but same profile other than less rocker, which is a change I do know the results of.)
Ok, Grizz figured out I am seated and not moving, so its lap time for him. I’ll post more soon.
addled mind, addled day
I really need to start working on a full time internet access point here at the homestead. I sat down to write no less than four posts today, and the lack of internet access ruffled my feathers enough that I just gave up. Its later in the day and the signals have settled down enough that I can now write,
Something.
Certainly not any of the posts that I tried to write earlier since they were blown out of the water before leaving the dock,,,
BUT,,,
I wasn’t sitting on my duff doing nuttin’ all day. Been quite busy as you will see. I had that coaming about 2/5ths done last night, and today was spent ‘putting the polish’ on it. Mostly warping wood so that it followed curves.
This isn’t so much woodworking as sculpting. Each piece glued into place, then rough shaped with a flap-disc, a non-orbital sander to follow up and knock down the rough marks, followed by hand sanding of three grits to get baby butt smooth. I even went over it with some double aught steel wool to get that silky feeling to the final surface before a light wetting down with water. Another round with the steel wool when that was dry, wipe down with a dry cloth, and ready for varnish. I am not going to forget that lesson of needing a middle-man with fiberglass/resin.
I even put two of my skirts on it to make sure things were good to go. The XL deck skirt fit best, but the L deck went on too, with only a little bit of a fight.
And here she is in all her glory with linseed oil soaked frame and hard-deck coaming under varnish. I will do the glass later this weekend, or even over the Christmas break (between family events).
I just noticed that there is a plethora of dust on that gunwale and it looks ‘dry’. It isn’t, just looks that way with all the dust on top. Wiped down, it is just as dark as the fore gunwale.
Glass, final coat of varnish when that is cured and sanded, then SKIN TIME.
Ordered my two-part but it looks like it won’t be shipped till after Christmas. That means that I may not have this kayak finished until sometime in the New Year. Depends on when I get that goop. Skinning it won’t be that rough, but I don’t want the skin sitting there getting dirt on it while waiting either. It will be a situation of skin it, shrink it, and goop it up as fast as possible. Don’t want any fish-eyes in this skin like Serena had. (no one ever said anything about them to me, but I saw them EVERY DANGED TIME I was around that boat. kind of irritating.)(and with kittehs running rampant and bored by foul weather, even the best efforts would end up with dirt and gunk on it if I let it sit around for more than 5 minutes. That was my biggest problem making that coaming: Grizz kept wanting to help and with Cyanoacrylate, that was NOT going to be a good thing. yeah, I used quite a bit of superglue putting that coaming together. Better that then the alternative of wood glue and needing days to set up. The bond is tougher than the surrounding wood and I ‘filletted’ the joints with sanding dust to add strength. I can pick up the kayak by the lip and not hear any creaking or warnings of something about to give: She is TOUGH.)
It’s getting dark out there now, and supposedly the temps are going into the basement tonight. (cloud cover usually keeps them steady, but the forecast is near freezing by daybreak. Lovely,,,,). SO, I need to start getting the wood stove ready, just in case. (if temps hover over 45, I leave it alone and dress accordingly, otherwise, I am opening every door and window by 3am to cool the house down and not kill pets or myself.) and now you know where all those little end-cuts and shavings and what not that happen when building a kayak go to (and why I prefer building them at this time of year, besides the fact that the water is witches teat cold,,,)
More tomorrow as I catch up and maybe one or two of those blasted out of the water posts will make a come-back.
Its the details that kill ya
Alternate title: Sunday’s a bust
Spent lots of time energy and resources setting up the cockpit deck on my kayak. The resources being the fiberglass and resin more than the wood. The wood in this case is fine, but little details that I didn’t know, caught me, bit my ass and wasted a several hours of my time and more than a little of my working capital in wasted resources.
I had the kayak in the rafters of the house last night to help with the cure of the fiberglass and the linseed oil I had soaked the frame in. The linseed oil did its thing, and the glass did something else entirely. Oh, it cured, cured good and hard too. But this morning when I took it out, that deck looked as wrinkly as the surface of a peach pit. NOT the surface I was shooting for to say the least. SO, dive into the nets and see if there is something I did, didn’t or need to do. Five minutes of research and I hit the ‘FacePalm’ moment.
First order of business is to get all of that resin and glass off the deck. (interestingly enough, the interior side where i used the Matte, did just fine, and I will tell why as this goes along). Bust out the scaper to get the bigger chunks and keep my glass dust to as low as possible. Then the sander with 40 grit pads to get the rest. Gotta take it all the way down to the wood. Two hours later and several discs of paper, back to ground zero.
So what detail did i miss? Seems that wood and resin are not completely copasetic in bonding; they need a middleman so to speak. That middleman is varnish: Varnish loves wood and soaks in creating a mechanical bond to the wood. Resin loves varnish and ‘mates’ with it to create a chemical bond (stronger). But resin is a larger polymer and can’t absorb into the wood the way the varnish does. Additionally, the resin “gasses off’ and that is what caused the wrinkles, gasses under the glass and the outer surface had cured already so couldn’t vent.
So why did my matte work where the fabric didn’t? Rough surfaces. I didn’t do much prep on the inner side of the wood since it won’t be seen and there were lots of saw marks, grooves and what not that the resin could get into to make a bond. I also used more hardener in it to speed up the cure since it was getting cold and I didn’t want to fart around too much. With the matte being thicker, was able to hold the heat from the reaction better, so cured cleaner, inside to out versus what the fabric side did.
The deck is all sanded now, minimal traces of the old resin (mostly in the joints where the wood comes together. it stuck very well to the glues in the joints) but the whole deck is flat and smooth as a babies butt now. One heavy coat of spar varnish on it and its sitting in the sun letting the heat of daylight drive that varnish into the surface.
I did not know that little detail of the varnish middleman or I would have done that first off. Its those little details that will kill you.
So was it a wasted weekend? Not at all; I revel in my failures as they are the BEST teachers. (so long as they don’t kill ya that is). This is not a mistake I will make again, EVER. So I may be out a little cash on materials, (not in the budget this week, what with a truck in the shop and hours being down,,, I’ll make it happen though.) But my knowledge has grown, and I consider the price paid a minor tuition in the school of hard knocks and busted knuckles.
It’s time to go off and do my domestic duties for the week, Not much I can do on the kayak until that varnish cures, and I need to pick up more glass and resin anyways. Just a little wrinkle in my time loop this round, one that tells me this one has been completely re-written for something better. Looking at the lines of the boat as she sits in the horses all ‘nekid’ without a skin, I see a sleek torpedo of a boat: My itch to get on water will have to wait till she is complete.
More later, probably about the cannibal feast I am witnessing in the EneMedia, with links to others seeing similar.
Sunday ‘Git-r-dun’! apologies for late post
Been busier than I could express on this end. Between the domestic duties thing, laundry, straighten up after a four day weekend of running hells-bells all over SE-KY, and ‘Oh yeah, there’s a kayak frame on my porch’ realizations,,,,
While doing the laundry, I cleaned up those parts I cut out on Wednesday, drilled alignment holes and ran both through a belt sander to get the edges lined up to perfect match. (yeah, redneck machining trick 101). Later on, Dad and I went to my Uncles place for lie-swapping and cowboy coffee (that shit WILL make you hair stand on end!!!). He has a 48” Bench Brake and I was able to get a perfect bend in those two parts as needed. Pics will be posted, just not today since I haven’t the band width to upload those files here on the hill.
Get home, loaded my side porch with a couple loads of Cherrywood that has been seasoning for about three years. My dad is trying to clear out his wood shed of the dead weight to clear space for all of this pin-oak he picked up the past couple of weeks. No worries, I have no issues taking what he doesn’t want. Makes what i have in my shed last that much longer and the way this year has started; every little bit is gonna be needed IMO. And I kept tripping over that kayak frame on the main porch,,,, Load up an armload of wood stack it, go in for something, and start noodling on the kayak, “oh yeah, I gotta finish putting wood up”. Back to loading wood, noodle with the kayak, load wood, re-think what I was gonna do on the kayak, clean the stove out and start a new fire, sharpen my chisel so I can get clean cuts on the kayak,,,
You get the picture. Some days I multi-task pretty well, and not even realize it. Sitting here, I look at all the stuff that I did get accomplished and swear to you I didn’t even TRY,,,
She is almost ready for skin. Setting up the deck stringers and that will be done shortly since I only need 4 small spacer blocks to finish that off. and she will be ready for skin.(but not today, the sun is gone and its getting colder than I care for out there.)
Kinda.
Still don’t have that coaming finished yet.
Still looking for a donor’Yak for a cockpit I can use as a mold, and if I don’t see one soon, I am gonna break down and buy some marine grade plywood and go that route. Skin is here and waiting on me, Dope is on its way and will likely be here before I am ready for it (but thats a plus.). LOL, funny how I ‘compromised’ and said I wasn’t going to cut that skin off until I had a coaming DONE, and here I am almost ready for new skin and still don’ t have that coaming. Yah, I can be obstinate even with myself.
One thing I did that wasn’t ‘constructive’ was taking her off the cradles, putting her on the floor and sitting in her. I wanted to finalize where my feet will be so I could set up the footpegs/sliding bulkhead (leaning towards a bulkhead setup) She is gonna be a torpedo. No rocker until you get past my ass and then it is very slight, maybe 2”. She is gonna cut the water like a knife with very little wake. The chisel point bow is going to slice waves instead of trying to climb them so she will be fast even in choppy water. and there is just enough v-hull that edging should make her maneuverable without needing a rudder. The shape is definitely ‘Swede form’ at the waterline so no need for a rudder to control tracking.(that may be partially true, Wind may indicate need of a skeg or rudder, but until I have her out I won’t know if she is weather helmed or neutral, No/near zero rocker, she may be neutral in that aspect).
Numbers that I can say for certain right now. Length 16’2” Beam 23”. Loaded waterline 15’10” Beam @WL 20”. Not as long as a surfski, but no wider than one, She won’t be much of a river-runner, but open water; she is gonna be a Barracuda. Search for ‘barracuda attack’ on UToob and see what I mean. And I THINK she will be much more stable than Duh!kee is. More near flat hull where Duh!k has a sharp V almost her whole length. The only time Duh!k feels stable to me is when the water is trying to stand up, and I don’t get out in storm waters often enough to need that “Bobber” attitude.
Working on a post for the AM, gonna have several links for ya: HIGHLY recommend you follow them, forward them to others and try to spread messages. Kind of a “Make these Viral” bleg. Look for that tomorrow. Don’t want to put anything in this post on those lines for ‘reasons’, you understand when you see them.
More tomorrow, stay tuned for that.
kayaky NOPES mehbes, and oh-sh!t-yeahs
First up, NO, I am not letting the world at large slow me up in my personal endeavors, and neither should you. I may get the depressions, blahs and what not, but I am not going to stop being ME, just because there are evil shits loose in the world that aim to make us serfs, slaves or DEAD.
and with that little rant out of the way, onward to the point of this post in general.
been doing the experimentin’ things, and was quite pleased with one in particular, nut just this morning, figured out that its a damned NOPE!!!
What that experiment entailed was trying to find a different material combination to make this kayak skin out of. Materials in question, Ballistic nylon (known unit) Polypropylene cloth (unknown), combined with Two part Polyurethane,(well known) and polystyrene resin (known unknown) and combinations there-of. Ballistic nylon and Polystyrene, rocking for coamings and other hard points, SUCKS for skin. the resin doesn’t flex like it did early in the experiment process. It now cracks, and cracks mean leaks. A leaky boat is not my goal. the two part is the way to go no matter what cloth I use, and the BN for making the hard points (vs the glass since its TOO fragile in those areas. The polypropylene works for the skin, but nothing else no matter what I use for the resin. And I like the polypropylene since I can shrink it with a heat gun and it is NOT hydroscopic like the BN is. That was my biggest beef of all with Serena: if the humidity was high (or she had been capsized and filled with water) her skin would go all loose and floppy. Not really an issue performance wise that I noticed, but she looked bad and it would take weeks for her to dry out enough to tighten back up.
Now, the Oh-Sh!t-Yeahs. Single chines. 
With the rocker knocked down to near nil, single chines look awesome on this hull. What I am doing is a single chine between keel and gunwale, with a false chine at the base of the gunwale( to smooth the lines) that will allow some flex of the skin before it hits rib at the waterlines. That set, she has a very shallow v at the cockpit area that rides true up to past the feet and well past the cockpit before converging towards the ends. Very sweet liines that way and better cut into the water without plowing. With that shallow V, she will have good stability in all waters even if she feels tippy in the calm. She will feel tippy, but not nearly as much as her former self did. The former ‘shallow v” was very short, less than 4 feet, and was almost useless with that radical rocker stem to stern. The ONLY advantage of that rocker was maneuvering, and she was so daggum long, even that was a chore: she didn’t have that spin in place thing going like the Jefe does. (and the Jefe is ALL rocker in ALL directions)
Now the Mehbes: Still have a couple ribs left over from redoing the original ones. Ones that I replaced just because of changes in lengths or didn’t like the original bends with the new units installed. And I think, I am going to use a couple of those ribs combined with fiberglass/resin to make the new deckbeams that need replaced. I dropped rib seven in place of one of the deckbeams ‘just to get a look-see’ and the profile was encouraging. Those ribs are well cured white-oak so a layer of glass wrapping them will be even stronger, and lighter than the 3/4” laminated beams I am replacing. I will have the chines cut tomorrow, the wood is sitting in my rafter right now with the splice curing under clamps. I should be able to lash it in before dark tomorrow and then, flip the old (new) girl over and start on the deck. (I have the bow cutwater done, and the stern will be pretty quick too. Pics of that forthcoming.)
And I am not worried about keeping to pure skin-on-frame materials for the build, nor strictly tied and mortis/tenon construction. Yes, the keelson and chines are tied in, but that is not because its traditional (it is) but for flexibility of the frame as a whole. I am not building a traditional Greenland type kayak, I am building MY version of what I have wanted, and what I found works for me. (thanks Ghostboat for showing me a different path). I know the mortis and tenon build method works, as well as lashing: Duh!kee is still holding together after 3 years, me beating on her in less than optimal conditions, sinking her, capsizing her, and even jumping on her to show others that she is one tough boat. Yeah, the method is tried and true and proven over centuries of use in bad conditions. And it’s not like I have been a purist from the get-go anyways. Using two part poly on synthetic skin, using synthetic sinew to lash the boat together, Yeah, Not so much a purist as THIS IS BETTER, DO IT! LOL
Apologies for the Hiatus.
just going through the routines currently. Fighting a mild case of depression, a usual for me this time of year, and no need to delve into the ‘why’s’ as there is reason enough watching the world slowly devolve; like watching a dementia patient slowly slide into the final state. Oh, wait, just like watching Emperor Poopy-pants the first discuss the economy by citing “I. Pencil” for dummies after reading only the opening chapter.
Lots of good stuff out there on the webs, Sarah’s pointing out that our IMMIVASION is nothing new and very much an old tactic for softening up a resident populace. I take back my statements of “replacement population” and will resort to “INVASION FORCES”: in all reality, there are real fighters in that mess, and I have mentioned to keep an eye out for ‘strange conex boxes’ in obscure locations. And if you find one before kick-off of the festivities, consider it an early Christmas for you and yours, distribute accordingly, and KEEP YOUR DAMNED MOUTHES SHUT!!!!
Just going through the routines. Going to the J.O.B. every day, making sure to represent my skills the best way I know how, and watching the supply chain issues slowly creeping our way. Granted, we have had supply side issues for months now, but I am beginning to see them stratify into my areas. We are down to roughly half a bundle of pipe that I use for building most of our products. A quick calculation tells me that if we don’t get a shipment in this Friday, I am on temporary leave until such time as we have the materials needed. I currently have 4 pages of build notes, and those four pages easily burn through our existing stock and into another bundle, and NOT BE COMPLETE. And those pages are added to daily.
No, that’s not the cause of the depression. Honestly, I could take the next month off and it wouldn’t hurt my feelings one bit. Might dig into my finances, but it wouldn’t bother me to maybe get some of those other things done thatI get distracted away from by having the daily duty of making a paycheck, (and feeding four-feets, keeping the homefires burning (literally this time of year) and all the other stuff that accumulates on a single dood curmudgeon living on a hill in KY)
YAY, Grizzy just brought me a very young mouse, quite dead, and looking pleased as punch with himself. ANother problem that irritates the hell out of me this time of year, and my Furbabies are doing danged good at dealing with it. (and when he isn’t looking, in the toilet it goes. Don’t want him thinking I don’t appreciate his ‘gift’.)
One thing that messes with me this time of year, probably the trigger for my depression is loss of daylight. I work through most of the daylight hours, then have almost none to work with for ME/MY PROJECTS, and I start feeling behind the eightball on things. That usually leads to me scrambling to ‘catch up’ and that is ALWAYS when the mistakes start piling up. I may not focus on “Perfect” but I hate redoing any work, especially due to me getting stoopid and (feeling) rushed. I am also wating on the fabric for the kayak build. Ordered, but, yet again, the company I ordered it through is sitting on things. I may have to start digging for a different company to deal with that I can rely on. This is the third time they’ve done this. The last two times, Order confirmed, but nothing ever shipped. At least they didn’t charge the card, even though it approved and showed transaction complete, it was never finalized on that end. Just frustrating when you are counting on something to complete a project, and find you have even longer to wait as you look for an alternate source/product/material to replace the original idea. At least this instance, this is a rebuild, and I am in no rush to complete since its colder than a witches teat in November (It is November Dio) and the water levels everywhere around here are sorely lacking for any reasonable paddle fun. Like B says, most of the creeks are ‘frigging goat paths” right now. Even the Cumberland river nearby is a ‘float scrape, scrape PORTAGE, float scrape” trip, and thats just in the first down-river mile from my place. It may be awhile before I can test float the “Rebuilt Kayak carcass formerly known as Serena/now Selkie”, and I want to do it on river as I want the current for testing handling and stability. Static water of an inland lake won’t do in this case. Just fiddlin’ details that I am trying to correct in this build.
Oh, yeah, for the test float, I won’t be using the new (when it ships if it ships) skin. I snagged a poly-tarp from the billboard guys and that will be my makeshift skin for the test float. (gonna look kinda funny with a giant cheeseburger design on the skin,,,, sure won’t be a permanent thing,,, ) Polyester shrinks under heat, so I can stretch the ‘skin’ on, then use a heat gun to tighten it up. Its already waterproof so I don’t need to seal anything up for a test run. Its not like I am going to try and roll it, and if I capsize, its a wet exit, swim for shore kinda day then. I don’t see that as an issue though, Serena was stable as all get out and I am not changing much in the hull shape in the cross section, just the longitudinal. If anything, she will be more stable since I am widening the beam by one inch and bring the CG closer to Keel by flattening that rocker. (and anyone that ever saw me in Serena prior will choke on that ‘stable’ statement, her primary was shit, but her secondary was a brickwall. She just ‘felt’ tippy in flat water, but she was stable as can be in wild water. A definite confidence builder when the waves started breaking on her bow. Even with that ‘brickwall’ secondary, she was an easy roller, and surprised the hell out of me at the pool. ). Maybe I can get some serious work done on the frame this weekend and get closer to that test day. As for a repeat of the time loop thing, not a complete fit this go-round. I had Serena wrapped and tested prior to T-day in 2019, and skinned and sealed by December 1. That may not happen again due to the skin supplier. (one alternate, pricey, but doable, is from an airplane materials supplier. Same concepts, and I can get NON-FAA certified material for this to save a little cash. No need to have the FAA dealing with a silly single seat boat, eh?)
outside of my darkened thoughts, Da is doing good. Bored, what with me gone during the days working, and not having much time between getting home and total darkness. Came home today and he and a neighbor were playing with a backhoe and digging the ducks a larger wading pool. Funny part is, they aren’t even HIS ducks. They belong to a local Gentlewoman Farmer, but Da goes out and buys 50# sacks of feed for them (and her free-range chickens), built them a pond so they didn’t have to risk going to the river, and even built them a nest site under his porch “so if the weather turns, they don’t have to waddle home”. He comes off like a mean grumpy bastard to most people, but the man has a soft heart for animals that most people would never guess at.
I wonder where I get it. LOL.
Anywhoos, y’all take care, I’ll be back tomorrow with something more inline with the currents of this blog. Just needed some ‘Me’ time.
Dark holes lead to dark thoughts: evening edition
Today, I re-read all of Metallicmans posts on upcoming events in the world. Granted there are times where even I want to say “It can’t happen here” but I know better. The ingredients for that particular entrée have been in the makings since the mid 1930s: and some may argue since 1917 when the Federal Reserve Act was passed in the dead of night on Christmas Eve by a handful of Toads to make it ‘Legal’.
Between the microscopic bugs raging war within my body, dark reading material, and the upcoming winter months and shortened daylight hours,,, I’m feeling quite morose.
Yet I don’t stop thinking, EVER. And my dark thoughts turned to ‘what can people that are just now waking up to the fact’ that THIS
is all you need to remember about anything upcoming in our future.
And what can those that are just now waking up, able to do with the fact that we are on the doorstep to whatever is coming? Lots actually, it just requires a little forethought on resources available and needs. There was one thing that I hammered into people that used to come to me for defensive handgun training. Most all were women, single, some older, some younger, some well off, some borderline welfare,,, The one rule I hammered hardest was, ANY gun is better than NO gun. If a gal couldn’t afford much, a daggum Hi-Point 9 with a couple mags was less than a weeks paycheck working the grill at McDz. And despite the crap reputation that they don’t deserve, they are damned good pistols, if a little clonky. Never had one FTF, or Stove pipe. Did have one light strike, but it was with hard ass Romanian ammo. No gun, you are a subject: as in Subject to the whims of the guy WITH the gun. So, yeah, the newly woke to the upcoming games can still find something reasonable around. BUT, that lead me to thinking about something else. LISTS
We are all on lists. We know that they keep telling us that, the fact that you can’t link certain websites on FB shows that there are lists all over the daggum place, and
Well, I don’t worry about it anymore, cause I already know when they start gathering up those lists, I will not go quietly. No need to elaborate on that, just that I know me, even if caught flat-footed, I am going to do a lot of damage to at least one jackboot. But the newbies to this,,,, They are already freaking out about shit and to find that they get on a list by buying a gun will likely chill their desire to look for a gun. Well, for them, there are ‘ways’. Ask around, You don’t think those gang-bangers that have done time, went through background checks and filled out a 4473 to own that ‘gat’ or ‘9’ do you? Stop thinking like a good serf and start thinking like the outlaws they are making us into and you will get MUCH further along. . It may cost a little more, but there won’t be a papertrail attached to it. Ammo though, that may be a bit harder to find right now. I know local, if its a common round, its scarce and seeing a box of 20 for $25-35 isn’t uncommon: if you can find it at all.
FOODS. You don’t keep moving and mooing on an empty stomach, and you don’t get the option of thinking the JIT system will work when hotzones of conflict are all around. People will get hungry enough to start eating on each other, and don’t think it doesn’t happen. It’s Taboo because its NOT healthy, BUT when you are starved and the kids are crying, or worse, stopped crying because they are in shock from hunger: that deader next-door won’t notice a slab missing from his thigh, and when you cook it up all minced up like hamburger, the kids will never know and you see no reason to tell them. Tell me it won’t happen, prove me wrong. I KNOW it will.
Getting started stocking up on food is easy right now, but that may not stay that way for long. A couple extra bucks each time you stop at the groceries will build a canned food larder FAST. Toss an extra $10 worth of dried beans or rice or pasta or all of the above, each weekly trip. Canned meats may be strange to the ‘gourmet palette’, but when you are trying to squeeze a 1000 calorie meal through three days of hard duty, a slab of Spam on a bed of rice is like Filet Mignon to your tummy.
When things go sideways, you are not going to be worrying about that extra 20# you sport now, Its gonna melt off fast. In two weeks, you will be wishing that you still had it because your energy levels are gonna drop off as you burn off that reserve.
Food Prep: Start figuring out how to make cold food. Heating food send out all kinds of good smells, and when people start getting hungry, even the smell of boiling rice is going to travel and smell like a Smorgasbord at The SunKIngs tables to someone that hasn’t eaten in a week. If you can find a way to prepare food in an enclosed space, all the better. The LRP Rangers of Nam would cook up all their food before movement, then carry it with. No fires or smells to betray their location. Think High energy long shelve life. Rice is good for both. and on that note, High energy, long shelf life is what you want to consider for all your ‘reserve’ purchses.
OP-SEC. Operational Security for you newbs. Heres the rub. You do NOT want to tell anyone what you are doing. Clandestine is best advice at this point. Don’t even say a thing to the kids or spouse, just say, “Oh, it was on sale,,,” or some BS. If you start saying ‘I’m preparing for,,,,’ you may key some paranoid reaction from them, and now THEY may slip and tell a neighbor or another kid and now your ‘reserves’ are a known commodity. If its just “normal Dad/Mom being cheap”, its a nothing burger and they won’t say anything. If the entire neighborhood has a clue you have a months worth of food when the trucks aren’t running, you become a target, and EVERYBODY starves. Keep your danged mouth shut.
Bugging out! All I can say at this point is DON’T. If you DON’T have a plan already laid out, DON’T. If you don’t have a group to bug-out with: DON’T. If you stay put, stay hid, and stay ALIVE, you are ten times better off than the family that freaked out and ran without a plan in advance. If you are in a place that you think is about to go all Rwanda in the next couple of months, NOW is when you need to bug-out, NOT when it goes all Rwanda. People bugging out are what we call REFUGEES and Refugees always get the short end of the stick (sometimes quite literally) when things get scarce. Don’t look at what the Border Jumpers in our country are getting, that won’t apply when resources are few and far apart. And those that are Holding in Place, will treat you like a parasite wanting to leech them dry: best case, they will tell you to keep moving. Worst case, They kill you and take all your shit that you carry. Keep it in mind. DON’T unless you have no choice and then be prepared to be the absolute lowest pawn on the board.
The list of threes: Three minutes without air, Three days without water, three weeks without food =DEAD MEAT. Assuming they aren’t filling the air with Nerve or Blister agents, we won’t worry too much about that first one. The second though,,,, Water is LIFE. let me rephrase that; CLEAN water is LIFE. There are products out there that you can grab up RIGHT NOW that will make clean water a whole shit ton easier to get. Keeping a bottle of bleach around won’t hurt you either as long as you understand HOW to use it, and if you don’t, DON’T. (I had chlorine poisoning while in Kuwait and that shit SUCKS, trust me,,,,)
And we already talked about the food thing some. BUT, calories, you may not need 1000 calories a day if you are ‘bugging-in’. In fact, the less you eat the less you defecate and defecation make ‘smells’ that can attract others. If you are bugging in, you want to stay hidden. Limit your ‘signals’: Odor, noise, light, movement. and remove the attraction: make your place look ‘already looted’.
As for Guns. Already mentioned that there are “Ways” and one possible avenue to investigate. BUT lets discuss “Weapons”. and I have already made this point in several posts here. Guns are tools, YOU are the weapon. When shit goes sideways, if you don’t think you could shoot someone, you likely won’t, but trust me on this, THEY WILL. Get it in your head now, and become the WEAPON or you are already dead and just armed and fueled someone who may not be “good”. If you just can’t get it around in your head that you will get to a point where its kill or be killed, you are already writing yourself an obit and I wish you God speed. Even more, please don’t go buying a bunch of ‘tools’ and freedom seeds to just give them to the next guy that I may have to deal with. Instead, use those funds to get you and yours OUT of that place where you are and into a place where you are less likely to see the other side of Humanity. (and when you find that place, Let me know where it is,,,,)
I apologize for this little essay being all over the place, there is just so much information that needs passed along and so little of it can be rapidly absorbed. When we were trained as Combat Marines,(Yes BC, I am a former Misguided Child, don’t hate me,,,,) we went through 11 weeks of training, (it was bumped up to 13 after I graduated) and that was just to get us the BASICS, further training was months and months of training after that. And NONE of it prepped us completely when we went into a two way shooting gallery. It helped, certainly, but I don’t think there is any real way to prepare a person for when things go hot. I can tell you this though. The people around you will show you something completely different when things suddenly flip. Your best friend may become your worst enemy, or worse, dead weight as a catatonic shell-shocked mushroom. Then again, that timid Geek neighbor you all laugh about, may turn into a real asset of stealth and cunning and scrounger. When the world flips, people change, and that is what you can expect.
Dark Holes
Not Black holes, just dank and dark holes that appear and drag a psyche towards despair and apathy. recent events with Sarah’s community of ‘Odds’ raising the bar on “How IT’s Done” let me take a few in introspection on my desires of the blog. Ain’t gonna change a thing, and live with the lack of commentariat: I get feedback of a sort by the numbers, though I never know if its GOOD or BAD, just that the traffic flow is either up or down. And occasionally I do get a Tamalanche (any one remember that term and how it came about?)
Clotshot strikes again? Bosses Son had a “bro” that passed recently. It coincided with the clot shot perfectly and surprised the hell out of everyone around them, including the docs; but not me. When SON was telling me the details, I asked “He got the shot recently, didn’t he?” and the answer was ‘within two weeks”. Interestingly, even with the Flu season upon us, what I am seeing and hearing is more heart attacks, like many many more, and usually ‘out of the clear blue’. In the last month, I know of 5 peeps that have passed over, all heart attacks, and only one was ‘expected’. And not all of them were of that age when you expect shit to go sideways with a quickness. And to whit, every single one of the vic’s, had received the clotshot at least once; one was on his third round. Not sure if this is a valid data point or not, but every single one was male. Haven’t heard of an women getting the shot and then dropping of heart issues, but that may have more to do with the ‘patriarchal’ bent of this area. Yes, there is still separation of men and women in information (IE Gossip) that you won’t see in other places. That male thing appears to be similar to how the younger demographics are playing out with the shot as well. Most likely to have issues with the ‘side affects’ are the younger males. Not trying to raise alarm here (thats already done) just trying to gather as much intel for people as my little world gives me. Maybe I am paranoid, but I am far closer to the point of “am I paranoid ENOUGH?” and I am trying to keep from crossing the line of “enough” to “straight jacket”.
Toss the dawgs a bone to keep ’em quiet. I hadn’t said much about the revent (S)election Cycle, and what I do have to say about it is one anachronism: TINVOWOOT!!! The turnover in Virginia was not a win, and those that started crowing about ‘the tides turning’ need a good slap upside the head. This was the bone to shush the dawgs for a spell while the steal continues on behind the scenes. THEY GAVE UP VIRGINIA TO TURN DOWN THE HEAT,,,,,VA votes still rigged but ‘surrendered’ to ease the growing heat. VA was rigged, but not to win, but to lose by the closest of margins, Rigged voting was caught live in internet JPGs with time stamps, and they still ‘lost’. WHY? To keep the heat down on the frogs to keep us IN the pot. JMO of course, and that leads me into the next dark hole,,,,
Aint nuthin’ new: people are people and desire to survive is hardwired into us. Others more than usual, but survival of the fittest is not just a postulate. In some, that desire to survive, or more specifically PROSPER sometimes takes on a life of its own and can be interpreted as GREED. I don’t like using that word since any disparity in outcomes can always be interpreted as ‘greedy’ by the ‘have-nots’, but when I start seeing the “Pee-lousy-ees” and “Screw-more’s” in the world,,,, IMO, anyone that would knowingly work to make a slave class for their bidding is no longer human and needs removed from the equation. Sure, maybe there are some people in this world that are too dumb to get out of their own way: that’s what the Darwin Awards are for.
We haven’t hit the bottom yet, but its getting close, I can feel it. Not even going to try and prognosticate a time-frame, but its coming. But like Sarah says, They lose, we win. They don’t account for the tenacity of a people that are not hardwired for monarchy.
Saturday productive
Fixed Buffalo on thursday, so of course someone had to find something for me to do with my weekend. Da had ordered parts for his truck, hadn’t said anything but dropped the ball in my lap when He saw me load a kayak up.
LOL. No rest for the wicked, eh?
Normally I reserve Sundays for domestics but since I was Voluntold that I was wrenching on a truck, decided to knock out two birds with one trip. Did laundry while doing a parts swap on the ‘Yoda Coma’. At one point, I used to like Toyota products, but since around ’95, it seems like they are making things more complicated and proprietary; seems like nothing works between years, and that means you are going to have to order parts specific for your year ‘hicle if its not a general maintenance type thing. At least with my GM trucks, an A-arm for one year fits about 20 years worth of vehicles across two or three platforms. A water pump for a 4.3 fits any 350, no matter if it’s in a truck or Camaro. I like that sort of generic, it makes my engineer side happy to see compatibility across a spectrum.
Kinda why I like Fiats back in the day too. A cam for a Yugo would make a 1.5L in an X a hot item. about a 15 horse increase with just that one swap. (FIat sold Yugo their engine design back when, and the cam would fit with no changes in bearings or seals. BUT because the Yugo was a 1.1L engine, it needed a hotter cam to ‘keep up’. ). There were other tricks to get more power or more reliable that I picked up, but sadly, the frames on most X-ies was shitte to begin with, and they tend to fold up after a couple of decades. Finding a good one now is a Geas for the Devote. (I heard that the reason for the crap frames was that Fiat bought cheap Russian Steel that was heavy in sulfur, and I also heard that there was a shipping strike about the same time that model was going into high production and many of the frames sat on a dock in salty air, unpainted, for a couple years before going back onto the line for build. Dunno, but they do tend to rust even if babied and garage kept.)
Wrenching done, laundry done, kayak loaded, and its mid-day, and I am not sure what to do with the rest of my weekend. Would like to go for a float, but may hold out till tomorrow as its supposedly going to be about ten degrees warmer. Its still mid 50’s out right now. Water is warmer than the air, but still at that stage of Brrrrrr, and kayaking IS a wet sport. (and I’ll be honest, the last thing I want is to try and get in one of my wetsuits since I have put on 15# since August. Gotta work on that,,,,).
So I started fiberglassing that coaming for the New version of the ‘Carcass of a Kayak formerly called Serena”. Broke the mold in two parts (sawed it apart. Could have pulled the top boards off as intended if I had done a one piece, but not sure they would have held the curve I forced on them.). and glassed two halves up. They are sitting in the sun curing right now. Fingers doubled crossed that, this time, that wax release works as its supposed ta.
And obviously, I have a kitteh free house right now, seeing how I am able to type this out without distraction of fuzzy-butts wanting ‘tentions. Actually, the boys are out on the porch, spooning, in a puddle of sunlight out of the breeze. Boo is holed up under my bed, AGAIN, but snoring contentedly , and Mamakat aka GrumpyKat,,, Who the f$%k knows. She came in this morn for ‘Foodiieeesss’ and is now back on the prowl in the woods. She is in her element with the cooler weather, and I don’t worry too much about her safety in the woods (she’s 5 and knows whats out there and how to avoid the baddies.). But it is irritating. She adopted the boys, and now wants them to move on and is showing her ‘contempt’ by avoiding the house until hunger strikes.
Choices
SO, took Serena to the river. Didn’t make it to the water. Got a little ticked off at the situation at my usual put in/take out. Someone had dumped several tons of trash in the area where you can park at. This shit happens far more than I care to mention here. I call it the “someone else’s problem” solution, and around here, its common place. It will wash downstream in late winter when this area is prone to flooding, but that just puts the problem in someone else’s lap/backyard/riverfront/lower falls area. It is a problem and one that no one around here seems to give a damn about. Call the police and they ask if you saw the person, have video (and won’t do more than take a report if you don’t.) or have a bill or something with an address on it. Dunno ‘bout you, but I really don’t want to spend my afternoon digging through several tons of someone else’s shit to see if MAYBE, they left evidence of WHO they are.
And I picked up a roofing nail rolling out of there. Slow leak, easy fix, but dammit, if it weren’t for that crap tossed away in some ‘no-name’ back hollar, I wouldn’t have had to fix squat!!!
SO, I came home to cool off and do something productive. Even had Serena on the horses, knife in hand, and,,,
COULDN’T DO IT.
ROFL.
Ever had to put down a pet? It’s not quite that level of ‘couldn’t do it’, but not far from it either. She is a “made by hand, BY MY HANDS” boat and while I do want to fix some of her issues, if I cut that skin, she is no longer the same boat.
I made a compromise with myself (and her). I am going to build a new coaming, using a mold and fiberglass, and if it turns out right, THEN we do the reskin. That is one of the issues I want to fix. Her coaming is kind of pinchy. I can wet exit just fine, but its the getting in part that sometimes rips off skin. And I can’t loan her to anyone unless they are my size or smaller, and she rides where I am about the low limit of her ‘needs’.(My usual set up is to load camp gear, even if its just a day trip, just to ‘balance’ her ride) New coaming, +2” in width and length and see how things turn out. Not used to using fiberglass ‘in the raw’ on a mold, so this one is a learning curve for me. Spent the afternoon making the stuff I need to make the mold, put Serena back on the truck, just in case, and played with cats. Still miffed at the pile of trash in my only local place to hit the river, but it seems like I am the only person here local that sees it as an “Issue”. Frustrating, but, like I have said here before, “this area is not going to change FAST.” and that is one of those things that may never change around here. (like dropping off the pets in some no-name hollar when the cost of feeding them goes up. Another BIG issue around here.)
Junk
I thinks, if memory serves me correctly(and lately, thats questionable with all the gaslighting crap and Mandela effect taking place) there was only ONE show (besides most of Mike Rowe’s stuff) worth me watching in the last 20 years.
Junkyard wars.
Loved that show. Took a TON of inspiration from it. That show reinforced sumpin my Da taught me: there is not a whole lot out of reach if you’re willing to bloody a knuckle or two. A few tools and a well stocked brain and a pile of “junk” and what you can come up with is purt amazin’. May not be the purtiest, but functional and robust make up for a lot of esthetics.
Toss in a couple skills like welding and machining (I did not use a lathe this go round, but it opens up even more possibilities.) and imagination opens wide.
And it comes in handy more than you’d guess.
Bossmans Son had a crazy idea for a cooler hauler, (prolly sumpin he’d seen out-n-about) and found some used high powered go-cart tires. Asked me to come up with a way putting them on an old Radio Flyer wagon.
(will update with Pics when I can get a decent signal. Apologies up front)
Those are just the steer wheels, and I will be making the drag axle soon. But, it ain’t gonna break easy, and every part in it was a cast off from something in the lot outside the shop. Coulda handed Son a list of parts needed, but I like to flex my FRUGAL SQUIRREL muscles everyoncewhile. Redneck? Mehbe a little, but who gives a shit if it works, eh?
I didn’t ‘need’ the lathe for this, What i did to make the hubs concentric was to set up an axle bolted down to the bench and used the grinder cutting at an angle and driving the hub at the same time. Crude? Yup! but it works and is “good-nuff” in this case. Its not like this thing is going to do much more than walking speed, ever! so who gives a damn if the hubs are a little off. They roll smooth enough that, when I pulled the grinder away, that hub kept spinning at high revs for at least a full minute. “Perfect is the enemy of GOOD” and I like to keep things as simple as I can. My only grump building these parts was lack of drill press. But, cordless drill worked well enough, even if my thumb is a touch sore from when the bit caught once. High torque setting, low speed and that thing wrenched the hell out of my thumb,,,
Any whoos, this is one post today. The other will be up shortly. I started it this morning but didn’t want to hit the publish button ‘cuz I felt there was a lot more to go into it yet.
Crap, I thought we were good,,,,
Did the Da/Nurse thing this mornin’, and he and I went and loaded up both our trucks with some cut wood for my woodshed, since I am still in location and winter is coming on fast.
then, Library trip so I can have high speed internet for a bit and take care of some catch up and maybe some other details that I need to use a phone AS A PHONE and still need to access the computer.
W
T
F?????
Last week it was ok, this week, MASKS MASKS MASKS MASKS MUST BE WORN and there is a MaskNazi parked at the door to make sure you comply. AND they are limiting building access to thirty minutes. What I need to do (Apple support call) may take a couple of hours or five minutes, but you never ever know for certain. (Need to upgrade the patch on my Mac for the Video processor, Thats been the kink thats been messing things up a bit, and somehow is also the reason my Kindle app won’t work. How that is to be eludes me.)
So, Me, in my forever exasperating ‘Fuck the Tards’ mindset, sits in my truck, parked right in front of the main doors, windows down, ‘stealing’ net access, and vaping like all get out making clouds that are blowing right at that door. And I don’t give a flying fuck since one woman came out, mask and all with a toy poodle on a leash sporting ‘support dog’ and the thing has absolutely zero discipline of a support trained animal. The Libs get to play their mind games, I will play mine.
Lots on my mind, and I want to write more, but I am going to have to ditch the Kats first if I want to get anything done at home. Grizzy has it in his head ‘open laptop’ means “Dads free to love on”. and while he isn’t getting on the keyboard anymore, he is in my face, on my shoulders, climbing my backside, or kneading in places left unmentioned (for extremely short periods because I react VERY quickly.). Love the furmonkey to death, but there is a time and place, and open laptop means da’s bizzy. Yet getting that through his fuzzy grey matter is proving difficult.
and typing in my truck is tricky, almost as frustrating as having a furmonkey using me as a jungle gym.
More laters, after I get home and either lock up or lock out the fuzzies.
Shhhh!!!! Listen close
Lots of quiet out there currently.
If I were Emperor kid-sniffer Poopy-pants, (or his string pullers, same difference) I’d be getting a might bit nervous.
Silence is not a sign of acquiescence or submission. Silence is the sound of preparation and ‘biding time’.
Web silence is the sound of meat space dialogues.
It could also mean someone/group, just tried a bluff to instigate, and it flopped.
Everyone is saying that nothing Emperor Poopy-pants Declared, is being acted on in ANY bureau and without them (they are the Deep states Arms after all) nothing moves. His lowness Xi-den spouted off a bunch of shit, that was shit, and did it only to tip some fruit-loop over the edge, hoping against hope that there would be something ‘credible enough’ to get some legislation rolling along to,,,
Its ALL Kabuki theater. ALL OF IT. Especially the Scamdemic, that a lot of peeps are still buying into. (Today saw two different retards with windows up, on the open highway, alone in their ‘hicle, wearing the Diaper of Shame. Virtue signaling and I OPENLY LAUGH at them now, especially in public. Probably gonna get shot at again if I keep it up.)
Bizzy week, lots of gates made and a few odd-ball items for self and SON, Made a flag holder that ‘latches’ to his fifth-wheel hitch on his camper so he can fly Old Glory and Uncle Sams Misguided Chilluns flags while he camps out this weekend. Finished my kayak racks for the truck, and they are ROCK SOLID this go-round. And no howling or whistles like the last set. Whoo-hoo!!! Had to play ‘Rent and tell Da “NO! You can’t mow the grass yet, not till the Cardiologist gives you a green light”. He wasn’t pleased, but agreed. I’m telling you, the man is a harder worker at 81 than most of the twenty sumpins, and even the Thirty sumpins, we get at the J.O.B. Most of us that can be counted on to ‘Git-r-dun’ are well into our fifties. Two are past retirement age and only work because they would likely die if they quit working. FYI, I’m only back there because SON asked me to come back, and after seeing one of the gates that was ‘welded’ up while I was out, there is good chance I am going to be remaking several to make sure they get paid. Chicken shit looks better than what I saw today. Son and I had lunch while we were out and I reinforced something I told Bossman over a year ago. They need to hire someone for me to train, or they are going to be right back where they were three weeks ago, and likely with little warning. I have no problem teaching my replacement, but Bossman is too chintzy, IMO, to want to pay double to make sure his ass is covered later. SON agrees, especially on the other aspects of my J.O.B. IE, the controllers for the powered gates, radio programming, electrical installs for the controllers, programming card readers, among several other things that I have had to teach myself over the last 7 years, to fulfill Bossmans ‘can’t say no to a customer’ lunacy. He bids these jobs, has no clue how to fulfill them, buys surplus gear from a cheap outfit ’trusting the salesman’ , and I have to jackleg the shit together to make it work. (And that is where I am quoted as saying “Know it? Hell, I’m making it up as I go along.” Because in those cases, that is exactly what I am doing. 9 outta 10, I never saw the manual until I was getting into the truck to do the install, and its dropped in my lap by Bossman saying, “Here, read up on this and see if you can make it work.’.). BUT, if he won’t, It’s not my fricking problem, and he has been warned. I was hoping that my two month vaca would have woke him up, but, can’t out-stubborn a rock.
I’m tired, its getting dark, Grizz is piled on my shoulders snoring, Voo is piled on his bed, snoring too, and the sound is feeling quite contagious tonight, Talk at y’all tomorrow.
Kittehs file #90845
(Last nights post, been a little busy,,,)
Sitting here typing away on several items, watching my kindle reload from a botched update for some reason*, and kittehs are vying for the spot behind the Mac. I have a retro roll top desk without the roll top, and they are squeezing their little behinds in under the cubbies behind my Mac. Couldn’t for the life of me figure out what all the fuss was about until I reached back there to push Grizzies tail out of the way (it was wrapped around the front and being all distracting like. ). Whoa!!! It’s warm back there!!!! And not just because there are two cats squeezed under the cubbies, but because the vent from the computer is blowing back there and computers generate a LOT of heat when they are running full throttle.
We are at that time of the year where its too warm to start a fire, but cool enough that fuzzballs start thinking about burrows to bundle in when it gets dark out. Voo, not so much until the wee hours, but the littles like WARMMSSSSS. And its kind of early in the year to be honest. Yes, its September (where the Frick has this year gone????) but here we don’t usually see chill weather till mid to late October, and it is definitely feeling like that time now. Haven’t had our first deep frost yet, so the trees haven’t started the fall change over yet, but the way it feels now, its probably not that far off and will be early this year.
Damn, I was supposed to be moved to SC before that time. Now I am going to have to get firewood built back up in the shed, or its going to be a damned chilly winter in my little house. Fortunately, I have three white oaks and a red oak within a 100 yards that need taken down. Two of those are already dead and leafless so no harm done. The others are still green, but the trunks are showing signs of bad disease, so they need downed before they choose that time themselves. Looks like I have a couple working weekends ahead of me. And maybe give the old man something to do: IE, give me grief that I’m ‘doin’ it wrong’. LOL.
But, sitting here, typing away, kittehs being kittehs and I realize, maybe they have the right of it: I’m getting chilly too. No fires until the evenings are around 45 and falling. Otherwise I have to open the house up or we all suffer. 45 is the ‘magic number’. Until then, dress accordingly, or in Kat think, “Put on more fur”.
*(still botched, so I think its something to do with the Mac itself. Worked fine in the 2010 unit, and this is a 2012 unit with my old harddrive in it.. Not that I read much on the computers, but I do like to reference things at times)
Story lines
It’s pretty obvious to everybody these days that the story writer of our times is either suffering from multiple personality disorder or rapidly deteriorating into dementia with bi-polar disorder to boot. Or, as in my Dads take: Has a really twisted sense of humor,,,
Try to work up a tagline to describe the world at large currently and you end up with a garbled mess that would drive any potential reader away like holy water on a vampire.
These are the things I am learning about writing, and I use current events to practice my development. Yeah, I don’t choose easy subjects,,,
But that exercise has exposed so many issues with the current book in my quiver. Yup, its a first and I did hit publish, but successful? Um, not so much. It hits good with a handful of people, but the tech side of things is what drives most away. As a former girlfriend would have told me, “where’s the skin?’”. She was very much a Sex sells and more sex sells more, kind of advertiser.(lots of fun, but she wasn’t so much a candle burning at both ends as a section of lit cannon fuse.). I have been trying to write a better tagline for Wings and flopping. And why? Because there is no resolution within the book. Its a series of scenes, an occasional conflict, but no real climax, or wrap-up. You live and learn, but the only way to truly learn is too fail, pick your butt back up and keep going. And that is where I am right now. Looking at a decent story weakly done and how to pick it back up and make it WORK. I will leave it live for the time being, but once I have things re-worked,,, And that rework is essential if I want to carry the story forward to a sequel. I have half of it written, but keep hitting issues with how the first book played out. I forget where I read it, but another pantser type writer says that he has to write an entire series in order to smooth out the details in all of it, before he hits the publish button, and the way Wings started, I can understand what he means. A new development in book two would work better written into book one, but causes turmoil in book three that doesn’t see resolution until book four,,,,, And the only way to make them work is to write it all out. And that is why I am trying to work on formatting the story first, so that I can avoid the tediousness of rewrite after rewrite after rewrite. Or maybe I should be like M.Lackey, develop the world, and write books as scenes within that world,,,(thats a very loose way of describing her work, but,,,)
I’m serious about wanting to write, Heck, I have been writing for a decade now, but not as a way of making it in the world, more as a therapy for the pressures building up from a world gone mad. But the ideas in my head,,, They don’t rest; they swirl, mingle and breed,,, And they talk, A LOT. Trust me on this when I say, even sitting alone in a field, I am NOT ALONE IN THE WORLD. There are lives and stories constantly playing behind the shutters of my eyelids. Wings was the one that was most persistent and wouldn’t rest. Dunno how many nights I spent writing where I would look up and the alarm was buzzing and I had to get ready for work, no sleep. A lot of that needed scraped up, cleaned up, and rewritten to fit, but there were nights where 50000 words flowed like water. I also need to work on action; I have lots of conversations, but little action. People want things to happen, not be talked to death.
And maybe I just need to get a kayak out for a day of leisurely paddling. Not boogie water, just silence and wildlife and no distractions of phone and internet. Then get back to work on the stories that linger in electron purgatory on my hard-drive.
Time to go to work, more laters
History lessons
Sarah has many good points about how truthful things are in a communist country. How officials lie to their higher ups to keep looking good, how communities will obfuscate and dodge ‘official” census and collections to keep a little more of their own in their hands. All of this can be investigated with very little effort, one just needs to do it.
Where does that leave us now? We are obviously in the crux of going full commie here in FUSA. We are quickly devolving into USSA, assuming that Xi-Dins FRAUD can ‘run over’ the obstinate governators like DeSantis. Good luck with that Vice Emperor Poop-pants. (I love that BC,, Gotta use that as much as possible.)
The Fences are back up around Mordor on the Potomac, and that means there are some vetted wannabe Rambos that are there to defend the squishy rhetoric of the ‘masses’ from us Deplorable White supremicist domestic terrorists that only want to be left alone. Saw Vid of a certain SSgt X-her that said she would gladly shoot citizens in the face if they wouldn’t follow her orders. Seems to me that she had best make sure her unit is filled with brainwashed like minded Soiboys or Guerrilla Gurls. As someone in comments said, Fragging may become fashionable again.
Seriously, the best way we have to fight right now is the one way they really have the hardest time to fight: RIDICULE. Show them for the pantywaists they are. Show the dichotomy of their “Rules for thee, but not for me”. If the place you work mandates you have to get the shot, (will only work on your terms and your time) fake a VXPASS, the information is out there, but ya may have to dig for it. If your able to work yourself into getting into a position such as a board of education, play along and monkey wrench the process. Do what the Congress-critters do and add addendums and additional criteria to rules for passing. BE THE RAT.
Shooting the bastards will happen, but ON OUR TERMS, not theirs. They want us to react, but we need to chill out and see opportunities to return the favor of a fucking without a kiss. We need to be ungovernable in all instances. We need to make certain that LE know that they are the first line and they will be the first were laws of war become most obvious. I could give a damn if they Talking heads of the MSM’s figure it out; the human race would be well rid of such shit.
“Middle class America is no less violent than any other people. They seem passive because they’re results oriented. They rise not out of blood frenzy but to solve the otherwise insoluble. Their methods of choice are good will, cooperation, forbearance, negotiation and finally, appeasement, roughly in that order. Only when these fail to end the abuse do they revert to blowback. And they do so irretrievably. Once the course is set and the outcome defined, doubt is put aside. The middle class is known, condemned actually, for carrying out violence with the efficiency of an industrial project where bloody destruction at any scale is not only in play, it’s a metric. Remorse is left for the next generation, they’ll have the leisure for it. We’d like to believe this is merely dark speculation. History says it isn’t.”
– Ol’Remus
Decompression time
Arrangements made with family in the dollar, Da is in good hands.
Me, I am going to go spend a day with friends,,, Decompression time.
Plan on being there way early, maybe get some writing time in without obtrusive Grizz trying to smother my face in drooling kitteh love like he has done non-stop since I arrived home. Love the little bugger, but when he has spent the entire day alone (mama and Zooms leave him behind during the day, he is the runt after all.) poor little guy is just so happy to see ANYBODY,,, It’s cute AND annoying, especially when I am trying to accomplish just one page of writing. Thats my focus, one page a day, no matter what. And it is working, so long as I can keep the fuzzball out of my face and off my keyboard.
Funny thing about that, My usual position is with my laptop on my outstretched legs, and that is when I can’t type for fur ball. If I leave the laptop on the desk, He will drape in my arms and buzz,(which is where he is, right now) but not get in my way. Only downside to that is, he weighs four pounds now and my arms get sore supporting him. Shoulders and wrists mostly, but sore is sore. And any Kat owner can tell you that Kats have the secret to gravity down pat (but ain’t talking’). A four pound kitten when buzzing in contentment, can weigh infinitely more, depending on your need to get up or level of functional needs.
But, tomorrow, (today, when this posts) I fully intend to be Dio without the stresses. I NEED this time. Without internet, just some friends, good times, good food and hopefully maybe possibly a little time on water with a kayak. Taking Serena with, and I may just start the day with a leisurely stroll around the bay that the camp is situated in. If I get there early enough, I could do the foggy bottom cruise with the Canadian Geese Flotilla, and thats always cool. Must be a thousand of the greasy poop factories there and when they move as a flock in the morning,,,, The babies will be big enough that picking them out will be difficult, and that means that the flock will not be as on edge as they were in the spring. They are so used to people, they don’t scatter far when you float among them. And you always know when a storm is coming because they do this line thing headed to cover. Not a spread out flock, just an orderly line headed to cover with determination.
This time last year, B and I did a little cruise in the kayaks. It rained on us three times and we were able to cruise in close to shore and see all kinds of wildlife. A Doe and her two fawns, nearly grown. A couple of Blue Heron, the geese of course, and all without being swamped by a ton of boats. The sound of the rain on the water creates a zen moment, and until you experience it,,, Words will never suffice; its a completely spiritual thing that words just can’t capture. I could really use another cruise like that this year.
This from a ‘writing prompt’
Only it wasn’t intended to be one, I am certain.
Just sometimes I get to reading someone else’s point of view, and my mind goes Zoomms-zowieeees over the horizon with the muse.
Creativity is IT. I create on a daily basis. I have to, or I start going stir crazy. It may only be making a small jig to make my life easier at the welding table. It may be making a Kayak on my front porch in the dead of winter. I may be sketching out an idea for a tattoo, or that next jig I need to make my next whatchamacallit. I even made jigs for making my kayaks so that all those little holes that needed drilled could be done uniformly and I not destroy a rather pricey piece of wood.
Like Sarah, much of my creativity is sourced from a scarcity background. We didn’t have much, but when it came down to it, we had EVERYTHING we needed and the rest was stuff we ‘created’ to fill the voids. If we wanted something, the options were to work our tails off to earn the money to buy it, or work out tails off creating it. Most of the furniture in our house was stuff that my dad made in the shed out back, using cast off lumber from where he worked. Everything laminated up to make larger wider boards for table tops, or thicker legs to support he gargantuan “built to withstand a truck accident” furniture he preferred making. Some of it was really fantastic as well, like his end tables made from the trunks of Cedar trees. Split a trunk in half and it may become a bench seat, or crosscut the trunk for a ‘rounder’ shape with wild edges and mount that to a thinner trunk, inverted to use the branches as legs, for the base.
I learned how to cast metals to make things in need of longevity or higher wear functions. I learned to work metals so that I could utilize those skills of casting even further. I picked up a touch of blacksmithing so that I could shape metal without need of the machines to turn or cut it, and that led me to learning more about welding, and improved my Arc type welding even more. Before I started mixing sound full time, I worked as (many things,,,) a mechanic, and one of the guys I worked with and myself would critique each others welds. That improved my welds even more.
I’ve even made jewelry (SHOCK!!!!) but I tend to be more pragmatic in my creativity and prefer utilitarian stuff. (I may wear a wedding band, when/if I marry, but thats about it. No ‘glitz’ in my world, not even a watch.)
And that leads me to my writing. One of the commenters over there mentions how he found out that writing is WORK, and that his notion that his first book would have him sleeping on a bed of gold was shattered quite quickly.
As for the work thing? Oh yes, its work. Skull work. Marketing work, research work. You name it, there is WORK to be had in this field. And just like the entertainment field, there are 300000 writers to every 100 Best sellers. In live music, I have seen some truly incredible talents, but they missed one key element. WORK. They didn’t push the envelope of the work things and while they could play circles around other well known artists, they didn’t have the drive to push there.
Now, I am not saying I am exceptional, Hell, my current history says that I am of that same caliber; talented, but no drive. And it may be that this is the case. I didn’t write Wings for the money (though I won’t deny that money was a factor.). I wrote wings because something said, If I didn’t it would eat at my very soul until my mind folded like a wet noodle. And since I went so far as to actually write the danged thing, why NOT publish it too.
The fact that I had no clue what I was getting into is obvious to anyone that sees the end result. The fact that I had no clue about marketing or advertising, or promotion of written word (I can ‘produce’ entertainment and do all the marketing and advertising for live shows and HAVE, but books are a whole new world to me.)
Yeah, that stuff is obviously missing from that book. And I may end up re-editing it later for better layout, and when I do, promotions and marketing will be better laid out as well. And of course, the sequel is still stewing: half in my head, and half on my external hard drive. (Patience Bruce, it’s coming. And your persistence gets you dibs as a proofreader!! Mwahahaha!!!!). And I am no where near done writing. Wings opened up a pandoras box of creativity that had been stifled by time and misperceptions. Mostly my own, but some.external (Friggin high school counselors need filleted, baked and served to pigs, in my opinion.) My learning curve is still on the low left side of the bell curve, climbing towards center, and I have no illusions that I need mentorship. I am also quite aware that current situations in my life have a priority, and what I can squeeze in will have to suffice. I read,,,, Oh lord how much I read. If one of my vicarious mentors suggest a book about writing books, I make the purchase and dive in. If someone suggests a different program to assist the writer, (Vellum is one, Scrivener another, etc etc). I check ‘em out and start another aspect of the learning process. Scrivener was the program that helped me finalize Wings to the point where I felt comfortable hitting that publish button. And it works even better in the Mac.
What hangs me up is that marketing thing. I DESPISE crowds (funny coming from a guy that used to mix live music for Tens of thousands.)(note that FOH “front of house’ is usually smack dab in the middle of the room and has a whole lot of floor space and only a a couple of peeps in it. AND, I was usually the monitor guy, behind the curtains, on stage left usually, full view of the band but not of the crowds.).And this is where I really need the mentoring (and no, I am not going through the get rich quick scammers that promise you’ll be a best selling author in 90 days if you pay them $XXX and subscribe to their program. Maybe they do handle a ton of promotion for you, but the whole thing stinks to high heaven as scam to me. )
So, I learn the ropes the hard way, and maybe thats for the best. Rougher on the knuckles, but then, I have a couple of Degrees from the School of Hard Knocks and University of Bloody Knuckles.
And I continue to create, every day, SOMETHING, and it matters not what. A paragraph for a book here, a jig for making a rudder assembly there, or a blog post three times a day (if I can). There will be something created by my hands and mind and the day they cease to happen, its a good bet my heart has ceased as well.
Ima chit somedays
Didn’t know I had an issue with things until yesterday eve, text messages between sisters.
Snapped on Eldest sis. Felt like a pre-emptive attack in self defense. I can be the Shit some days. (Note; I later apologized, but it was definitely a tactfully worded verbal assault .)
Took some time to step back and analyze my self/soul. And what I came up with was.
I’m fucking scared silly.
All the bullshit in the world reaching peak Clownworld status. The total failure that appears to be completely intentional of a superpower, so that it can devolve into a third world power (is that a thing?) watching local tyrants ride the wave of Covidiocy (the bug peaks before they crack down, but when they crack down, they double down on prior efforts. Just like a surfer trying to catch a wave.). Watching the IQ of the world losing altitude into potato levels.
And my Dad very nearly leaving my reality.
Yeah, I got scared. And hadn’t even realized HOW scared I was.
What isn’t clear is how scared I am of losing my dad. Or could it be having to face all of this with my dad in his current conditions. I think its more the latter function. Love my dad, but I know he’s tired and I won’t stand in his way if he decides ‘its time’.
I don’t leave wounded behind. Its hardwired in. And I know if shit went to Helena Handbasket right now,,,
And we are getting indicators, that may be the case.
I’m fucking scared silly.
So, now that I am aware of it, I can figure out what needs changed. First order of business is to get a second opinion on the urology thing. His heart thing seems well in order now, even though its still early in the game. But three weeks with a catheter in seems excessive to me. And that is what was told to him yesterday at the Urolgy docs. Is this a case of an enlarged prostate that needs time to settle down, or is there an underlying problem. And I have no clue what the doc said because that wave of covidiocy has reared its ugly head here and ONLY PATIENTS is the order of the day, again. (And I have alternate information about all of that, but its not relevant to this post)
Coffee is done, Kittehs fed, almost time to go play nurse before I go play welder, and somewhere in all the middles, try to figure how to ease my mind in a world gone mad.
More laters.
N’er thought I’d see
A sitting (p)Resident, fold like a cheap suit in a summer breeze.
Then ponder this thinking,,,
Conspiracy? RTWT and As a bitter mint to add to the palette, consider that Oblammy-o-boy purchased a rather nice set of digs not too far from the WH not long before the 12021 swear in of the FRAUD. Close enough for short range highly encrypted radio messaging. Maybe its a fluke, maybe there is something there. Who cares at this point right now, eh?
Well, As Kuntsler posits, there is no precedent in the 22nd for a presidents to retake the seat of power like that. Only that they can’t be elected for more than two terms, (and I would bet a case could be made that non-consecutive terms would ‘be acceptable’ under the color of the laws with the way things have been operating the last 9 months..
Smallest minority links to Larry Corriea with a lovely hide blistering repost on all those leftards that are trying to dump this back in DJTs lap. Aint none of them innocent, but this whole FUBAR is this Administrations Fuck-up Lock, stock, and barrel, And Larry points out ALL of the reasons WHY.
It’s Saturday, the world is doing crazy shit left and right and the hits just keep on coming in, and I can only worry about my Da and myself right now, because that is the extent of my control, to a point. I’ll keep watching, writing, and preparing for WCS while hoping for, maybe not the best, but at least not so fucked up as expected.
Gonna be a rocky ride no matter how this shit falls out.
And here we go again
Still moving into the Mac. Getting used to Safari, vs Firefox vs Brave vs Opera. Won’t use MS anything, and Chrome irritates the crap outta me. Seeing how Firefox has been compromised for all intents and purposes by Googlefu, I’ve been straying from the den with them. Brave seems like a good’un, and I am willing to play for awhile until I start seeing add promos on my phone, geared from my web searches. Been seeing that in Amazon while using FF.
Security is ‘an issue’, but since I am not using my Mac or phone for ‘other things’, I only worry about direct comms between peeps. Try as I might, meatspace is not really doable in many instances. Too much distance between. SO, we use coded words or entendre to pass info if so needed. If we can use encrypted comms, we do so. Speaking of which, I finally went and opened a proton mail account. Its in the sidebar for those with need. And, something you’ll want to keep in mind. Encryption only works between nodes, not at end sources. If ya wanna keep it private, get a PGP or similar and all parties need to create keys. And NEVER save anything in hard format in clear text. Keep it encrypted if you need to save something. Look at my pages, encryption is under GP4U. Cleopatra is a good open source program for PC’s and linux machines, I haven’t tried it with the Mac yet.
Now, back to work. Done playing with this new program for offline blogging.(the last one locked up after three posts demanding a payment plan I felt was way the hell out of reasonable.) Puddle-o-cats time in the house; too hot to play or do much besides sprawl as wide and flat as they can get on the coolest surfaces. Gotta suck wearing a furcoat 24/7 and not be able to sweat. But its good4me because it opens up time for me to get shit done where they aren’t trying to catch the flying fingers on the keyboard, or get underfoot to get attentions. My writing schedule is now zero dark to Dawn, and Kitteh siesta: about 5 hours total a day where I can work without meathooks in flesh, or ‘Oohhh TOYS!!!’ Assault on my typing hands.
Endarkenment
Still manning the watchtower though I’ve little to nothing to add of late.
But I gots ta thinking about some larger aspects of things while driving twixt here and Charleston last week.
I can’t say how many times I have read or referenced analogy of current events to the Fall of the Roman Empire. And I can’t say that the analogy is wrong, but I am starting to think its off. Just as Malthus was wrong in his day, and for much the same reason: ignoring technology and species resilience.
IMO if we are going to see an Great Endarkenment, we are already well into it. In my observations, literacy is the biggest sign of that. Not that most can’t read, but that they are showing loss of comprehension and serious lack of attention span. If it takes more than 140 characters to express an idea, you are likely to lose 95% of a potential audience. I can’t count how many times I have heard, “in twenty words or less, what’s your point?” or some generalization of such.
With loss of comprehension and attention span, the next victim is critical thinking. We already see lack of Critical thinking skills by the simple fact of so few questioning the Heglian Dialects being shoveled around this year. Even when the numbers are obviously being skewed to perpetuate a fallacy, it seems that no one wants to ‘rock the boat’ and so remain compliant and obedient.
Our forefathers must be so proud of what 200+ years have produced.
What I am seeing that does fit the Fall analogy is the population replacement that took place near the very end of the Roman empire. By the time it was a worthless shell, the population of Rome itself had almost no Roman bloodlknes left. They had outmigrated long before.
We are aeeing that happening now as people leave the outskirta of certain cities to warmer friendlier areas. Its not a diaspora, yet! Come November, I would not be surprised to see caravans leaving said cities, loaded with all manner of desperate and haunted people looking for anywhere NOT at war.
Because we are, ARE, at war. Most people are still in denial of that fact because the body count is still below 100 corpses. When that figure starts to approach 4 and 5 digits,,,,
We are at war for ideals, just like we were back in 1860-65. One side still holds values that may seem cliche and labeled as racist or whatever, but they still hold value to those people (note, I am one of them) and the other side see those same values as the ruin of humanity or some such crap. Where a person stands amongst those two sides is a simple matter of degrees, but its not hard to find the divide these days. Hell, its in your face almost 24/7 now.
I touch upon one course of future in my recent book. When I was writing it, I had no idea just how far or how rapidly we could descend to this stage. I would like to think a “Divorce ” amongst the states could be done amicably, but I am a realistic in my pessimism. A break up is inevitable. And it will be heated and bloody. If it becomes a permanent breakup with this continent housing several nations like Central Europe, or one side dominating the other and a new nation/potentially old nation taking the forefront; who flippin knows but the fickle fates and God.
But Grear Endarkenment; not so much. There may be a slow down in innovation (already there on most fronts) and there may be decades where many formerly first world countries are vying for third world status, but it won’t be the centuries of the Dark Ages. Our technology is to advanced and education to ubiquitous to allow much more than a couple decades of slowdown. The only way this world would see such dark ages again is if the madmen started launching multi-megaton nukes with great abandon, shattering any semblance of our global structure and reducing world population back to 15th century levels(or less). Recall I said our tech and species resilience are the two factors keeping the Endarkenment at bay.
I know; such a lovely topic for a Friday post. Apologies to all.
Anywhoos, some memes to fit some of the above points.
Better than expected.
Took Serena to the lake today for a test run on the new set up. Checks for performance changes and leaks in order. A new skirt to test as well.
Performance comes in MUCH better, she holds 4knots with bare inputs and an easy 5.5 with steady power pulls. Able to edge easier, with my weight forward she doesn’t want to slice off unpredictably, and setting blade as a keel rudder works like a charm. It took a couple tries to figure the correct placement of the paddle blade to make this work, but watching my bow wake, you can see the boat drift left by a wider wake on the right, and it doesn’t ‘turn’, just drifts aside. (easier to see that when you are on a glassy lake: one reason I chose to go in the early morning before the wind started chopping up the surface)
Having built up some confidence in the Arc, (gotta come up with a new name there) I tried a couple other techniques I hadn’t tried before. Edged turns, braced leans (super fun ) etc. Sweeps seem to work better too. Likely due to being more centered in the boat.
Started getting hot so found a convenient stump sticking out of the water and used it to practice some hip flicks and to check for leaks in my handiwork. Woot!!!!! Dry all around. Considering my Snapdragon skirt leaks during capsize and this new skirt did not, I consider the price well within reason. So now I have 5 skirts for 3 boats. (Well, technically 4, but the Feathercraft K1 is still out of service for repairs.) Of those skirts, the 3 I spent high dollars on are the worst for leaking. The Seals skirt may as well not be on, it leaks so bad nor will it hold up under a capsize: it implodes every-time. The two snapdragons are great when it comes to keeping splashes out but leak at the lip when submerged. Its not so bad as to be a worry of sinking, but is irritating. The MountainSurf and Appalachian Extreme are bulletproof above or below, AND able to be pulled with one hand unlike the SDs, which wanna wrestle going on and coming off.
Anywhoooz, I had fun and added to my growing knowledge of boat building, hydrodynamics, and self-limitations (that last is a bar that keeps getting moved up.) I refuse to let the world direct my aimless path of self-improvement, so to all the haters in the world burning police stations and trying to make “A better world”: Y’all need to get off the pot and start looking inside yourselves to see where YOU can improve. The world does just fine without your damned socialist inputs.
Lane Change for a day.
It’s domestic duty Sunday. That means laundry, groceries, what not. It also means that I am working on the book as we speak. (Kinda, its break time for a few. can only look at the edit screens for so long before I want to throw the computer through the wall.)
All of this brings up a peeve of mine though. I am sure that some of us older types that have been around since the Commodore 64 days can all feel for this. UPDATES! I hates ’em! Remember when your computer was top of the line with 128Meg Hard Drive? Yeah, me either. Not anymore. This laptop I have been using has a Solid state Terabyte drive in it, and the operating system covers almost a quarter of that. My very first computer was a Timex Sinclair 1000. It didn’t have an operating system, it was a programmable chip with video interface to learn Basic on. it had a WHOLE WHOPPING Kilobyte of memory! ROFLMAO. These days, you can’t write a message to your buddy without hitting that kilobyte limit.
Back to that peeve for a minute. Most of the updates we see these days, aren’t really ‘updates’, they are security patches. So many of our programs/apps allow access into some pretty private areas in our little electronic universes, that the app writers have to constantly keep up on security patches to keep one step ahead of the thieves that would do us harm. MY PEEV is this. Blockchain would eliminate almost all of the security issues, but the Government and several corporate types resist that tech and discourage its use. They tell the masses that blockchain will make crime easier or some such shit.
No, sorry, the real reason is this: Blockchain removes their ability to collect your information at whim and use it to prosecute whatever schemes they have this week. (and the shit is now rolling on a weekly change basis. Gotta keep the masses reeling with the blows or they may wake up to the fact that the powers that ‘wanna’ be are out of control.) You may recall a court trying to order someone to give up their password protection on their encrypted files? That wasn’t a blockchain thing, but the encryption is similar. They have to ask YOU for permission and that eats at their withered blackened souls to no end. They will posture and threaten with incarceration, but in the end, it comes down to YOU giving them permission and, Oh! Hell! To! The! NO! is their position on that!
Blockchain is a bottom up security model, YOU control who has access to your information, not the guy on the other end. That irritates people like Bill Gates, who has a stranglehold on almost all of your information (especially now with Win-DOH!!s 10) And blockchain is the foundation for crypto-currency that may be the saving grace of our planet, if we can keep our shit together long enough.
Long enough for ‘What’, Dio?
Long enough for the majority of people to wake up to the fact that GOVERNMENT is the real problem, and that PEOPLE are the answer. It’s a bit more complicated than that, but I seriously believe that if we could reduce our GOVERNMENT to a local condition where people KNOW PERSONALLY who is trying to do what, then we would eliminate so much of the bullshit we have now. The disconnect we see in people like PElousy, Sloe-Joe Biden, and others would go away because they would be our neighbors and if they started slipping the leash,,,
The parallel between our program complexities and how fat our Governments have grown are obvious to me. It’s all, and I do mean ALL about control. The government has to grow to keep burying its shit so the masses don’t catch whiff of it. (and its not enough anymore) and the programs have to grow to keep the patches on top of patches functional. It’s like a hemorrhaging wound. You don’t take off the first bandage when its soaked, you have to add another on top of it and keep applying pressure. But if the wound is arterial, you’re gonna need a tourniquet to stop the bleeding.
And with the way things are bleeding out right now, I don’t think a tourniquet will suffice. It may be time for that third level of triage: Make the patient comfortable while they die.
Dio's Workshop 