Dio's WorkshopWelcome to my brain. It’s messy. It’s interesting. And it’s all connected if you stick around long enough. "Believe Nothing: no matter who said it, even if I have said it, except it agree with your own reason and common sense. Siddhartha Guatamo, the Buddha.
4X4: uh,,, Mehbe, or try again tomorrow,,,, (works great on the flat roads, goes in and out when on hills or in the bouncybumpy stuff.)
I tore the hell out of my driveway the other day getting home after the main snow storm. Made it I did, no small matter being I tortured tested that Posi-trac rearend,,,, That did excellent, and I would NOT have made it otherwise. And EVERY PART of that driveline was heated up and if damp, SMOKIN’!!! LOL (small dribble from the transfer output shaft seal, and I smelled it for certain before looking) I could tell the selenoid actuators did their job, because the front drive shaft was ‘cleaned off’ and fresh grease showing around the lubed bits, and it did shift into LO4,,, but it wasn’t able to engage the front tires since that vacuum motor didn’t ‘lock’ the front diff to the shafts. Things spinning around and not connected to anything means NO POWER TO GROUND. Just extra torque going “phlllbbbttttttttt!”
Don’t get me wrong, I love the “no need to lock hubs” aspect of the Chevy 4×4 options,,,, Too many blowed up hubs seen in the past; where someone had locked them, and promptly forgot and went highballin’ it down freeways.
What I DO NOT LIKE, is the vacuum actuators (nor the ‘pushbutton’ controls to selenoid actuators for the transfer case…) Give me mechanical linkages dangit!!! That was what was in Great White (prior truck that got shot and died slowly thereafter) and I NEVER had iffy-ness in the Four-by,,,,
This one,,,, Small vacuum motor located under the battery box, and roughly 20′ of 3mm vacuum tube ran will-he-nil-he from there, back to the transfer case and back up to the engine bay on the opposite side,,, Stuff just floppin’round under the hood and exposed to weather, heat, oil, gunk, you name it,,,,,
Cheaper to replace ALL of the vacuum lines than purchase a Hard LInk kit for the beast, but damned if I ain’ta tempted,,,,
But not today,,,, 1) its Sunday,,, no place open for the parts I need. 2) its melt off phase and my section of driveway is more swampish than drive-ish. 3) its cold: wet and cold don’t make for fun times while ‘wrenching’. Tempted to get some 5/64″ stainless tubing and replace all the long runs with tubing instead of that cheesy rubber line (think how toyota does all their long vacuum runs under the hood PITA, yes, Bullet proof, DEFINITELY.) I can get all the parts through the Zon for around $50, where the hard linkage kit runs $200. And there is just as much work involved.
OR, I may just replace lines until such time as I do the engine swap THEN do all hard lines for long runs,,,, Still time to figure it out, I only hope we don’t get hammered again with snow anytime soon. (and now, since I said that, YOU KNOW this area is gonna get pummeled again,,,,ROFL)
only that there were more than a few artists I worked with that would do something so ‘left feild’ during sound checks, Things that the fans may never have a clue about. Heavy metal artists doing bluegrass,,, Blues artists shredding,,,
Prince PROVES his musicianship in this’un
Not that he needed to prove jackshit to the world,,, IMO
Sadly, so many of that talent level are also leaning ‘not so vertical’ in the sanity department and end up succumbing to chemicals or other things. If I were to make a guess, the desire to ‘STAND OUT’ and be someone can also be self-destructive.
Not much to add to the fray, some thoughts going through my head and private conversations currently,,, Nothing hashed out to something I feel confident to put into the spheres at this time.
Enjoy your weekend,,, I’m buried under snow: And a word to one of my sisters.“HEY!!! Your weather got loose and is running rabid in my backyard,,, you need to get a STRONG leash and come take it home. NOW!”
and now, I am just gonna put on some chill music, gotta bottle of Skyy and a nice fire going,,, gonna turn out the lights and let the music take me away for awhile.
Started getting the sniffles early on Muhnday, Typical clear watery flows. KNEW that whatever Da had contracted was making inroads on me.
By afternoon, the schnoz flows had started to thicken up and I was feeling ‘irritation’ that could also be called ‘pain’ (I have a strange pain tolerance thing,,,, If I’m complaining ‘it hurts’ many others would be beggin’ for morphine.)
Started with saltwater flushes of the sinuses. This is usual sodium chloride with a dash of sodium bicarbonate to make it ‘not sting’ when you go irrigating the passages behind your eyes. (Table salt without iodine and baking soda,,,) You can buy this stuff at wally world in little packets to mix up with half pints of water. Cheap and effective.
Started gargling Listerine when I started feeling the sore throat coming on.
Irrigate the sinuses every 2-3 hours, gargle same or as needed. Blow the nose before you irrigate or you will need to do so even more often.
Any expectorations need expelled. don’t swallow dangit,,, you’re just sending that shit back down to do more damage if you do.
AND I did the ‘hot toddy’ thing before retiring for the night(s), except I still can’t get that mixture right so I just do a triple shot and call it good.
Hot showers, warm bed, warm house with cool air over the face seems to work best for me.
Last night (wednesday night) I could feel the irritation in my cheekbones, and my ears felt ‘itchy’. The infection was going for broke. Irrigate, gargle, shots, HOT shower and bundled blankets,,,,,
I came to around 3 am absolutely soaked in sweat. I never felt like I was running a fever while conscious, but obviously burned up last night.
Today, all clear. still the occasional dribble from the schnoz but a couple of irrigations and that has eased off too. No tickles in the throat, no drainage to cause such, heads clear.
No drugs other than Alcohol. No NSAIDS, no mucinex, no expectorants, NADA,,,
Like I said, your milage may vary, but this worked wonders for me. Da is still struggling with his (he won’t listen to me) and he has had it for a week longer than I. (he is also 84,,,, That could be a factor as well.)
here’s hopin’ those that catch this crud get off as light as I have. If you’ve already had it and fought, keep this plan in mind for the next variation. We WILL see this again,,, its the nature of living on this rock,,,
First off, PISS OFF,,, That’s not how science works. You start with a theory, you test that theory, and if it succeeds, it does not ‘automagically’ become ‘LAW’. the whole of ‘science’ is a process of discovery, not an end state.
Sorry, let me explain why I started with this.
In my post about “Fossil Fuels” there popped up a couple of anonymous comments, I deleted one since it seemed like a repeat of the first, and I did make a couple of (possibly construed as rude) comments in response. Note: in the above mention, I used quotation marks,, I am not calling oil or coal out as actual fossil based anything, I am only refering to a common term people recognize.
Its so common that most people accept the premise of “Fossils” and Dinosaurs as the basic component of the mixture. And oh believe me, both are mixtures of many things (we use fractional distillation to separate the components into usable stuff. EVEN COAL CAN BE FRACTIONALLY REDUCED and one of those components is a liquid fuel that was commonly used as lamp oil before Rockefeller turned the oil industry on its head back in the late 1800’s)
Science is NEVER settled. Even now, with the growth of Quantum Research, we are finding that “LAWS” everyone has accepted as ‘settled’, AIN’T! Newton’s Laws are starting to take a beating with discoveries in Quantum Research. They still hold above the atomic level, for the most part, but below that, things start to get a little (LOTS!) weird.
Weird enough that many researchers are reformed athiests, now believing in GOD,,, I kid you not. A large enough percentage of Quantum researchers are ‘born again’; a big enough percentage that its GLARINGLY OBVIOUS compared to other feilds of research.
But we were talking ‘Fossil Fuels’. I said I wasn’t a Geologist, Not a scientist either. I am a rank level wanna be teacher that burns metal to make the ends meet. SO, take anything I say as the blabberings of an idiot if you so choose. What I am most definitely: a lifelong student and curious enough to embarass a herd of cats: put them to shame I would. SO, when I mention fossils anything, I have to refer to the common THEORY, those accepted as case, not debunked currently (give it time,,,) and what our geologists believe is that micro-organisms died in various places for various reasons and were covered up/buried and over millions of years, pressure and heat did things and what we now have is Oil/Gas/Coal deposits. Not renewable in a time frame we as a species consider worthwhile.
Only, there are feilds that are self replenishing, and the geologists are scratching thier heads over it. I think, my opinion of course, that most of them are stuck in that ‘Box’ of accepted thinking that FOSSILS (not real fossils, just left overs from dead things) are the ONLY solution,,,,
And yet, we know how to create Ammonia out of thin air,,,,
We have created other chemical components from nothing but water, electricity and nitrogen and carbon dioxide.
Why couldn’t mama earth create hydrocarbons from similar base atoms/molecules. She has IN ABUNDANCE the pressure and heat we have to fabricate at great cost. And the earth is a ‘closed system’ (or was until we started launching things into orbit and beyond.) (Correction, not completely closed, we get all sorts of ‘crud’ entering our atmo on a daily basis,,,) Essentially what that means is this: the composition of our atmo is not fixed, and those molecules need to go somewhere when it changes. Who can tell me that earth doesn’t ‘breath’ and change that composition on a regular basis (over a millions of years scale that is)? Ice core samples show varied ratios from just thousands of years,,,, SO, where did the differences ‘go to’?
.04%,,,, Thats the current percentage of that deadly greenhouse gas that Thurnberg chick freaks out about (while sitting on a $2000 chair made from plastics ,,,,) Any farmer will tell you, if that percentage drops below the .03% range, crops DIE ENMASS, Forests die, and then WE DIE,,,, Starvation, not enough CO2 to allow us to maintain proper respiration, (our breath and heart rate regulate by the pH of our blood and that is drivin by carbonic acid in our bloodstream: Made by CO2!!!)
Conversely, raise that percentage by a hundredth to .05% and trees and crops blossom three seasons a year, two in the more northern climes, but faster, much faster. And that will lead to more O2 production bringing that percentage back down in short order.
THIS IS NOT A PROBLEM UNLESS WE MAKE IT ONE. Climate change as described by most, is nothing,,, well, no, it IS something,,,,,
Here in Appalachistan, we call it
WEATHER
There is more research showing that SUNSPOTS have far more to do with our weather than any odd composition of atmospheric gasses. You don’t hear too much about that because it doesn’t feed the narrative; that narrative that promotes ‘carbon tax’ ‘carbon credits’ etc etc which is really just OLD MARXIST Ideology of ‘spreading the wealth’ (and lining Politicians pockets,,,,)
And it doesn’t breed FEAR the same way. Even the most dull student can tell you we have no way of controlling what the SUN does,,,, yeah, she might blow a CME big enough to strip the Atmosphere from all the inner planets; totally out of our control, so why worry about it. That doesn’t put money in the pockets of power mongers,,,,
And I am gonna let this all lay right there. I could go on a rampage over some of the ‘Green Energy’ projects that are running rampant around the world. Simple base engineering studies would show the lies behind them. The numbers that are used to sell them ALWAYS leave out certain ‘costs’, or pad efficiencies,,,,
sigh,,, Nope, not an engineer either,,,, only raised around more than a few and that whole curiouser than a kat thing,,,, osmosis did the rest.
Natural Gas, Crude Oil (the better term IMO) Coal,,, Yeah,,, toss in some simple nuke plants and ‘recycle’ all those damned Canned sunshine toys for a better purpose (Is that possible? I don’t know for certain, but I know the accumulation process is similar for the two,,,)
Who knows,,, but hey, if’n it do, I wouldn’t be adverse to a visit,,, Being a state of the US, it wouldn’t require a visa or passport, and ME being a kayaker, as Skin of Frame Kayaker/builder to boot, yah, I have some interest.
The whole future is open for massive shifts of power and influence,,, We have the BRICS ready to supplant the US dollar as prominent WORLD currency, and if that were to happen, I can’t say it would be a bad thing in the bigger picture: it WOULD suck ass for us here on these shores as our dollar would collapse to near/at/below worthless overnight,,,, BUT, We would recover. AmeriCANS don’t like being on the losing team and adapt quickly to keep the ‘lead’.
I can see the Union becoming Greenland, Most of Canada and a large portion of Mexico, but
BUT
Seriously BUT!!!!
We gotta get this immigration thing under control, we need to re-establish the Acculturalization that was MANDATORY for naturalization, or we are going to fade into history like so many of those small nations that dissappeared under Mongol Rule waybackawhen.
NOW, with that being said, Greenland has its own culture, I get that. Same with Canada and Mexico. The latter two aren’t that far off from where we already are, but Greenland,,,, I dunno. Never been there, but I seem to recall there is a HARD socialist bent to the national mindset. That can be accommadated, and slowly edged out, but
too many buts,,,,
we need to get our shit under control before we start looking at adding landmass to our ’empire’. And its not like we have any actual military capable of defending such at this point. The military of the late 80’s, early 90’s that I am familiar with is LONG GONE thanks to DIE and multi-culti horseshiite,,,, I have talked to Afghan Vets who concur that what was then, just 10 years ago, is no longer, and that most training modes are so fantabulously F!cked in the head, that boot may as well be a kindergarten recess. That doesn’t even call into account that we haven’t the infrastructure to supply armaments to such a cause,,,, Look at the debacle of trying to supply 155 arty to the Kraine,,, The one supplier remaining ramped up to three shifts and still couldn’t make the demands. And thats basic artillery components, that should be shelved and ready to go on a moments notice, for months on end. Lord knows, when I was in, our ‘magazines’ were stocked to over full and inventory was a frellin’ nightmare. Shuffling around HE so that ‘first in first out’ was doable drove us nuts. We were shooting stuff for exercises that was made before I was born. Where’d all that shit go?
Kuwait
Afghanistan
Iraq
Ukraine,,,,,
Do you really think those ‘dollars’ we sent to Kraine were on pallets of cash? Nope! there was a cash equivalent attached to hardware and ammo and that was ‘accounted’ for. That shit was bought and paid for YEARS AGO and adjusted for inflation when shipped out. (and who really paid that price? Yup,,, us the tax-payers,,,, The whole thing stinks of money laundering to the Nth degree,,,, and you do know, that most of that shit was likely put on the auction block as soon as it arrived in country, right? That shit is floating out there in some third world shit-holes waiting for some tyro for his balls to get big enough to make a move.)( this is just like what happened in Libya, when we were there trying to buy back all that shit that ended up in terrorists hands,,, Not trying to ‘fix’ the system, only trying to cover up the fuck up.)
———————————
I’s back to work tomorrow (fingers-crossed, no text from the bossman, YET) I’m drunk again, trying to kick this bugs ass. Shits in my throat, right up near the sinuses,,, coughing, lots of gunk flowing from sinuses and out when I hack. Doing salt water flushes of the sinus passages, and gargling salt water, Listerene concoctions to fight the stuff thats in the back of the throat. trying like hell to keep it OUT of my lungs. My left lung has been the weak link since I was a kid. Had a birth defect that kept that side of my chest compressed, up until I was 15 when I had surgery to rectify it. Left lung is still the runt, and ALWAYS gets infections first. (and amazed the Marines took me anyways, despite that shit,,, they did, and I made due as needed.) The Bourbon is ‘chemo therapy’ to drive the shit OUT of my body, or at least weaken it enough that my immune system can kick its ass without putting me in dire straits. but, drunk I is,,,,,
probably shouldn’t be allowed near keyboards when I get that head-change thing goin’, Eh? LOL
Multiple points here,,, First up, despite the subject matter of the vid, is the creepiness I felt realizing I was listening to TWO computers discussing things. This AI stuff has come a long way in a VERY short time. Now, I dunno if this was just two AI’s reading a script (still sorta creepy in its own way.) or that they were given a subject line to explore and ‘let loose’,,,, THAT would indicate more creepy than I really care for.
NOW, as for the subject matter,,, Some of the items of reference they (the AI) use, go back to WWII time. IOW: Nothing New to see here. BUT, it IS becoming more acceptable to discuss this with the growing access to information and decreasing “Cancel Culture/Censorship”
Is Mama-Earth (GAIA) producing ‘fossil fuels’ of her own volition? I have thought that since around 2005 after discussing things about ‘Field replenishment’ and how some old wells came back to life after 30-40 years. In that vid, the computers discuss how oil is being found in places it shouldn’t exist (by common theory) . They also discuss this thicker oil called Bitumen that is found regularly near the Dead Sea. I have said a few times that COAL is just left over oil deposits (Bitumenous Coal is the schizznizzle of Coal) that have been compressed to the point where the gasses that keep it liquid. have leeched out leaving the harder substance we call Coal. Seeing how Coal tends to be closer to the surface, and they are finding that Seismic activity is related to (not neccesarily causation, but related) couldn’t that mean those veins of coal have worked to the surface (geologic time, not OUR time), being pushed upwards by the formations below them?
I’m not a scientist, nor a Geologist, I don’t even play one on TV,,, BUT, I am one curious Kat that never lets a rabbit hole go unsearched, and, I am eidetic,(,,or is that autistic,,, LOL apologies,,, ) I forget very little that I have read. I can recall scenes in my head, from books that I haven’t cracked open since I was in my teens. Visual and auditory, with the weakness that names of people I have met, aren’t retained readily. (and I keep working on it,,,). I stuff my head with things that are ‘trivial’, but there are times where connections, INTUITIVE connections, take place, and this area is one where such were made, but I had not enough FACTS to assemble the whole. Intuition doesn’t require ALL of the information, just ‘enough‘. (like diagnosing why a guy can’t shift out of park in his car: ‘are the brake lights coming on?’ “nope”, ‘replace the brake light switch!’, problem solved.) and while Intuition is my ‘Superpower’, it tends to get me into trouble: some people think I am the answer king. Ain’t so, won’t ever say I know it all; quite the opposite. And will happily admit I am wrong or clueless on a subject. (how else does one learn, REALLY Learn?)
But I digress,,,,
So, is the above legit? Time will tell, but if it is, there are alot of people that are putting themselves through personal hells over something that is quite literally, a natural function. Just my two cents and some thoughts for the day.
(FWIW: I am not saying the above contemplation is fact. I AM SAYING, that this is something that needs to be investigated further and that maybe, MAYBE, the earth, that rock we live on, is more alive than we are aware. Maybe operating on a a frequency so low, we can’t detect it as such, (geologic time scale and all) but VERY MUCH A LIVING BREATHING, ENTITY. Francis has a thought or three on this very subject in a fictional sense (elsewhere mind you,,,) Help support the bloggers of the world and make a buy. (We all want to sell our work, but give it away in hopes,,,,) Think about it, if nothing else,,,,, )
Live
LEARN
Laugh
LOVE
LOAD.
((FYI, its a snow day (weather day, too cold, nothing pressing, according to SonofBossman) so there may be further posts as I run rabid through further rabbit holes.,,,))
Certification process happened in under one hour (40 minutes). No objections, no contests needed resolved, no whimpering or liberal tears, though word salad Kamala did say something about ‘democracy’,,, oh please, give it a break,,,,
Two weeks to go, DC is locked up tighter than a drum, nearly as much as it was during the Xi-den inaug, Plus, the whole area is under a winter weather advisory for the rest of the week. If they are getting what we are getting; yah, they ain’t happy.
Two more weeks for stupid chicanery, dodged bullets, failed aircraft accidents, what have you. Paranoid? Who? Me?
More than a little bit right now. Far too many bingo card entries this year already, and many many many in the BLOB that have no desire to face the music called JUSTICE (not that Just-Us crap they know and love.)
Just watching for now.
And yah, trying to dig into the expose of Vegas truck bomb more. Some shit in there that is so Conspiracy theory, it calls,,, Whats the difference between Conspiracy and Truth? About three months now. Whatcha wanna bet there is some technobabble something or nudder that someone is trying to keep hush-hush with a vengence. That whole Gravitonic thing? Curiouser and curiouser me thinks. Sounds like some BS right out of a some 50’s pulp mag, but when three people with those words on their lips are “prematurely terminated’ in the span of a few months,,,, things that make ya go ‘hmmmm’,,,, We may never know the truth, and I am sure there are more than a few other’s, like me, that wanna know more; out there looking. Maybe there is something there that, while in early stages, will be primitive and clunky, but in the future,,,, Look at Cellular Tech over the years: car phones that looked like a briefcase with a handset, to slim pocket sized power houses that ‘do it all’ like our laptops did 20 years ago. Or even better, the single chip Avionics boards that are now being employed in Quadcopters and fixed wing air craft as TOYS,,, airspeed, yaw, slip, roll, GPS, altitude, etc etc,,,, The chip is the size of a postage stamp and embeds the info in a video feed. The entire package, including transmitter/recievers is less than the size of the battery that powers the whole assembly. Usually half the size. But I digress,,, Think of it this way,,, If you can use this as propulsion for a drone, and supposedly with no limit to the cargo capacity, why couldnt it be used to lift cargo to Lo-orbit? AND with that in mind, maybe there is something there that Elon and Crew are intimidated by. OR, my thought that it could get us into low orbit is bunk because the further this thing gets from the center of a gravitational well, the less effective it gets,,, DUNNO,,, may never know, but I can dream,,,,
It was the early part of the Tweens when the political divisions of the United States reached irreconcilable differences. Ted, a burnt out computer programmer, and Jim, a double amputee combat vet, reverse engineer the pentagons drone program and create a rebel air force. While traveling the country helping others defend what is left of the country, they run afoul a most evil woman intent on creating a serfdom within the country.
A beginner’s guide to going off grid. how to evaluate if you even want to make the attempt. written by the curmudgeonly author of this blog and his dog
Dio's Workshop 