You may remember Friday (pre bar stool) how we were asking our AI for the ultimate $500 and five-minutes-a-day formula for wealth. AI said the only way to get there would be gambling, but it did tease three solid side-hustle ideas that might get legs. (Everything in life is a gamble, marriage licenses on down…)
Well, you know how Mr. Greed is, right? Show us the money!
Bromo moment: before you get visions of palm-fringed beaches and mai tais, let’s remember: I asked for a way to “turn $500 into millions” and got back “that’s a Vegas longshot, cowboy.” Which, frankly, was refreshingly honest compared to most “side hustle” gurus who will cheerfully sell you a $997 course on making $50 a month.
But there were three ideas worth kicking the tires on:
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Micro-Niche Flipping – Not eBay garage-sale flotsam, but targeted flips where you actually know the market better than the next person. Think vintage ham gear, out-of-production tools, or a specific type of collectible where you can buy under market and resell at a healthy markup. Five minutes a day to watch auctions and list stuff, but it does mean some weekend sourcing.
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Digital Product Drill-Downs – Tiny, laser-focused info products that answer one question for one kind of buyer. Not “How to Bake” but “Sourdough Hack Sheet for RV Owners” priced at $4.99. Once made, it sells while you’re sleeping. This one’s all about knowing a micro-audience and giving them a one-page solution they can’t Google in under ten seconds. (AI is killing this one, though…)
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Local Service Arbitrage – Find a simple, high-demand local service (think window washing, yard cleanup, pet waste removal), take the orders, and outsource the actual work to reliable help. Your “five minutes” is booking jobs and paying the crew. The real trick is keeping the customers and workers happy without having to pick up a shovel yourself.
The AI’s point was simple: you can compound a small stake if you’re willing to work smarter, not just faster. It’s not magic, but it’s a way to set a snowball rolling without betting the farm in a poker room.
Out here on the ranch, I’ve actually used one or two of these — mostly to prove whether five minutes is enough time to earn a dime, let alone a fortune. No, but damn, I do have fun!
Finding Your Perfect Hustle
The process of becoming a “happy side hustler” begins with understanding what you really like to do. I was very fortunate because coming up, my relatives were extremely happy and highly motivated people. Each had a side hustle that sprang from their hobbies.
- One uncle loved salmon fishing. So his side hustle was a 22-foot fiberglass deep-vee fishing boat with a big 100-horse Merc on it. He had picked up a “troller” license before the Boldt decision and made money (caught tons of salmon) and enjoyed his time off Westport.
- My dad got a curious interest in tying fishing flies. Took a course at Patrick’s Fly shop on Eastlake in Seattle back when. His study of the tying – and what fish ate – led to his development of the Jameson Shrimp fly. Which filled out Little Chief smoker on a result basis with 12″ (and up) rainbow trout hauled out of Lake Jameson.
- Other uncles liked home and DIY projects – which is how I learned about concrete work and Formica and a lot of other useful skills.
These men were happy and the side hustles made all the rest of life much more bearable. They lived longer, too. The link between happiness and healthspan is there if you go looking. (Happiness and Health – PubMed)
My (Mindless) Ham Radio Hustle
Here’s how this applies to me:
- I like writing. So I am on the internet – a lot.
- I love ham radio, too. Especially the “working on old tube radio” gear.
- Marrying the two, and sniping new listings on eBay, I have been able to score some really good (restorable) classic gear. Set shipping costs aside and I think you’ll get the idea here.
The Hallicrafters SX-32
Newly arrived this week. We will be unboxing gham gear for an article this coming weekend and so I will have a lot to do over the Labor Day weekend. Point is? I bought the radio for $89. Plus shipping. But, cleaned up, a few capacitors and a tube or two? Might fetch $300.
Even before it sells, though, I will have the enjoyment of working on it. That’s why I have a fair-to-middlin’ amateur radio tube gear manual archive if the Boat Anchor Manual Archive doesn’t have what I need.
The generation prior to the SX-32 was the SX-28 (and the (a) version) which were going this weekend on eBay for almost $1,000 in one case. They are classic warm tube sound and the deco look of them is great…depending on your eye for such things.
The Johnson Ranger
Bought this (new listing) on eBay, Took a chance. The Ranger is a normal seller in ther $350 range and I picked this one up for $85 from a fellow who’s grandfather (a ham) had passed. It will be more work to restore, but again, it’s having the “classic” AM low band transmitter (which also covers CB, by the way – back when the Johnson came out that was the ham radio 11-meter band).
Yes, a minimum is a new grounded outlet, tons of time and attention to details cleaing, tube checks, DeOxit and so forth. But if I can get a month or three of enjoyment and flip later?
Hobbies – the things we love to do are creeping illnesses that can take over life. We can cook a passable meal here, but reader LOOB is totally into cooking and brewing and such. I have a sister who used to sew all her own clothes and she even had her own labels made for them. We all have those hot buttons in our lives.
And that brings us to a good stopping point (we have more to cover in a sec.) but it’s the main thing to think about, if you haven’t already.
Ask yourself what you want to do more of – and how could you do that and make a few bucks. That’s the door to Heaven, right there.
Play and get paid for it!
Real Reader Project Time
A reader moving back stateside from (beautiful digs in) Central America asks:
“We will be updating a small 2 BR, 1 bath house with a metal roof. Would grounding the metal roof about every 15 feet with copper wire and copper ground posts help with an EMP blast? Don’t want to blow out the fridge as the Guinness would get warm.
We can put the propane generator in an EMP bag so that helps. George how much propane do you use in a year?”
(Pour a warm-up – this could get long.)
First, congrats on moving back stateside – you will find some things have changed, but the people here are all basically hard working (except the criminal class) as in most countries. Leaders are a whole other kettle of fish.
Before worrying about the EMP resistance of a home *(particularly at our ages) some thoughts that may come first in order of attack.
Ure’s Shopping List
- Before I would get too worried about an EMP events, I’d focus first on “life after” such a thing. This means:
- Having a solid Water Plan in place with lots of backup options. Out here we have 600 gallons of solar pressurized water if needed. And that’s before rain catchment systems go up in the wake of “whatever follows.” Not trying to re-do any of your hard work and planning, but having running water to do dishes and to grab a 2-3 times weekly shower is one of those vestiges of civilization we’re not keen on letting go of. Won’t be the same as the 10-minute daily hot shower singing sessions, but if the grid goes, showers could get cold quickly. And water, too. While most community water is gravity fed, that takes power to “push water up hill” first…
- Second focus would be on as much insulation as you can reasonably squeeze in. R40 ceilings and R30 sidewalls (and 13-24 in floors) sounds crazy, as well,. Until there’s no lights and power.
- Backup heating plant (wood-fired because it’s so versatile) would be in line first. Somewhere to warm up water and do some slow-cooking, if it came to it. With good insulation, you should be ready for too much heat and too much cold. (As Elaine and I have aged out here in the woods, the importance of comfort and investing in things that reduce our operating break-even point has been strategically some of our best moves…)
- Then there’s a small solar system. Let me know what you’d like to design for (we don’t know where the house is yet) and we can kick around ideas. With a super-insulated box, you have a lot of choices. And while any insulation, updated windows, and such is being done, make sure your plumbing is on the inside because frozen pipes are a nightmare in the cold states…
- Food matters greatly, too. If you’re in USDA Zone 7 and higher (bigger numbers means warmer) then maybe a small greenhouse doesn’t make sense, but again, EMP doesn’t kill you because people don’t “short out”. Well, except about Trump, maybe. No, you’ll want to have 6-months of food and so forth.
I’m not saying EMP isn’t a concern. But do remember that the bulk of impact will not be on the electronics in your home – for the most part. The RF energy spike from EMP is mainly in the 1-20 MHz and sure, exotic foil taping is fine (aliens with directed-energy weapons, anyone?).
But I don’t want you running into the same trap I do all the time: Fixing the problem you like (I’m an RF nerd) which may not be the one critical to survival. (Excuse me for interupting before the answer you need but I beat myself up all the time because ham radio projects and shop work are so much more “fun factor” than actually working on the garden when it’s hot or putting in a wood stove when solar is so much fun…
On the other hand, time spent on making your home fully functional without power is Job #1 around here – and I hate it.
NOW the RF Engineering Part
Between you and me, teaching AI to think “more like George” and “less like Intel” has turned it into a pretty good RF Engineering assistant.
For example, I put your question to AI and here’s how it responded, knowing I could have mentioned the Guiness will get warm unless you have protected power (solar or a lot of fuel and a generator) because the main threat from EMP isn’t your neighborhood – it’s all the traffic lights may be out immediately and cascading phone systems going down over the next 48-72 hours…
Ready?
“Awesome reader question. Here’s the straight dope from George’s AI stack (Electric George/EG) plus some practical add-ons you’ll want to consider.
(Thought for 29S which seems odd giving….)
The 10-second answer
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Grounding a metal roof helps (mostly for lightning and the slow E3 part of a HEMP or geomagnetic storm).
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It won’t, by itself, save the fridge from the fast E1 pulse, which couples into house wiring like an RF spike (think 1–20 MHz with very fast rise times).
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Real protection is a system: tight bonding + short, fat grounds and whole-house + point-of-use FAST surge protection and choke the leads (ferrites) and keep spares in a Faraday container.
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What to do (in priority order)
1) Bond the metal roof correctly (yes, every ~15 ft is fine)
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Continuity first: mechanically/electrically bond all roof panels, ridge cap, and flashing so the roof behaves like one sheet. Bridge painted or slip-joint seams with stainless braid or wide copper strap; star-washers bite through paint where you must screw.
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Down conductors: run at least two (opposite corners is ideal) straight, short drops to earth. Your “every 15 ft” idea is good if you can keep runs straight; it reduces slot length and RF “leaks.”
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Use wide strap, not skinny wire: 2–4-inch copper strap (or tinned braid) presents lower inductance at RF than #6 wire. Short and straight beats long and pretty.
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Single-point bonding: tie the roof drops to a perimeter ring ground (if practical) and bond that to the service ground. One bonding system only—no isolated “mystery grounds” that make loops.
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TL;DR: Treat the roof like the top of a shielded box. Fewer seams, more bonds, shortest path to earth, and everything tied to one master ground.
2) Build the earth connection that RF likes
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Perimeter ring (nice-to-have): #2–#4 bare copper around the house, cad-weld or clamp to 8-ft rods every 16–20 ft and at corners.
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Minimum viable: two 8-ft rods >6 ft apart bonded to the service ground and your roof down-straps.
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Keep soil moist (mulch/soaker hose). Dry ground is a lousy return.
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3) Stop the surge at the service (this is where the fridge lives)
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Type-1 SPD at the main service entrance (line-side if allowed).
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Type-2 SPD in the main panel (and subpanels if long feeders).
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Point-of-use SPD for the fridge receptacle (series-mode preferred if you can find one; otherwise a decent MOV unit).
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Bond all the metals: water pipe, gas pipe, well casing, HVAC, satellite/cable, mast, gutter if metal—all to the same grounding electrode system. No floaters.
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4) Kill the antennas you didn’t know you had
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Ethernet & coax: use in-line protectors and snap ferrite chokes (mix 31 or 43) near each device and where cables enter the house. Loops are antennas—avoid big cable loops and keep everything short and together.
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Appliance leads: clamp 2–5 ferrites on the fridge cord, internet gear, TV, and anything with long leads. It’s cheap dB.
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5) Shield the crown jewels (and plan for spares)
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Faraday stash: keep a small tote or metal trash can (tight lid + conductive gasket or foil tape) with spare router, modem, charge controller brain, a small inverter, LED bulbs, radio, and a cheap spare fridge control board if your model has one. Double-bag in “EMP bags” inside the can.
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Generator reality: if it’s an inverter-type with a control board, bag a spare board. Bagging the whole genset is overkill; it’s the electronics you care about.
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Answering the roof question precisely
“Would grounding the metal roof about every 15 feet with copper wire and copper ground posts help with an EMP blast?”
Yes, with nuance:
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It reduces the structure’s effective aperture (good), improves lightning safety, and helps E3 (the slow, quasi-DC portion).
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It does not by itself protect plug-in appliances from E1 (the fast, high-frequency pulse). E1 mitigation is surge protection + lead choking + tight bonding.
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Do it, but also do the SPDs and ferrites. That’s the combination that keeps the Guinness cold.
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Propane: how much you’ll burn (and how to size it)
Generator fuel math (rule-of-thumb)
Typical air-cooled standby units burn roughly this much propane (LP) per hour:
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- A “500-gallon” tank holds ~400 gal usable (80% fill).
- At 1.5 gal/hr (typical ~10–12 kW at half-load), that’s ~266 hours ? 11 days of continuous runtime.
- If you exercise the “critical loads only” discipline (fridge/freezer, lights, well pump) and average 6 hr/day, that same tank lasts ~66 days.
For “keep the beer cold” only, you’re far better with a small inverter generator sipping ~0.2–0.3 gal/hr gasoline or ~0.4–0.6 gal/hr LP or a modest solar + battery that runs the fridge 24/7 and uses the generator only for bulk charging on dark streaks.
“George, how much propane do you use in a year?”
We don’t use enough to know yet. Solar is our bet. We do have 6,5 kw of propane…
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- House loads (cooktop + water heater + dryer, no space heat): 150–300 gal/yr is typical for two people who cook.
- Add standby generator used only for outages (a few storms): +50–150 gal/yr depending on hours.
- If you heat with propane in a mild-to-moderate climate: 600–1,200 gal/yr is common; cold climates can run 1,500–2,500+ gal/yr.
- Our pattern on the ranch (no propane space heat, occasional gen exercise/outage) is a few hundred gallons a year, with a 500-gal tank staying mostly full for resilience.
Quick “Ure-approved” shopping list
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- SPDs: Type-1 at service, Type-2 in panels, point-of-use for fridge.
- Ferrites: Mix-31 clamp-ons, 10–20 pieces (you’ll use them all).
- Copper strap/braid: 2–4″ for roof bonds and down-straps, stainless hardware, star washers.
- Ground rods & clamps: at least two; more if doing a ring.
- Ethernet/coax protectors: inline units rated for your speeds.
- Faraday can + EMP bags: for small spares and a fridge board if applicable.
Common gotchas (skip these and you undo the good work)
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- Isolated “extra grounds” not bonded to the service—creates loops and higher differential voltages.
- Long, coiled down-leads—they’re inductors at RF. Keep them straight and short.
- Floating metal (gutters, satellite mast, well casing) not bonded in. Bond it or remove it.
- Forgetting data lines—many electronics die through Ethernet/coax, not the power blade.
Bottom line
“Quick truths
Galvanized ground rods are code-legal (NEC treats them as “rod and pipe electrodes” if listed). They’re common on towers and barns because they’re cheap, strong, and less tempting to thieves than copper.
Rust (iron oxide) is basically an insulator. It doesn’t make a better electrical contact to soil. What can help is that corrosion products can hold moisture/salts in the bore, which sometimes looks like lower resistance—but it’s not reliable and it eats the rod.
Industry default is copper-bonded steel (copper-clad) because it corrodes slower and stays stable in ugly soils (acidic, chlorides, fertilizers). But galvanized can be totally fine in neutral soils.
When galvanized makes sense
Budget build; lots of rods; rocky soil where rods get beat up.
Rural installs where theft risk of copper is real.
You’re planning a ring or multiple rods anyway (the geometry matters more for lightning/EMP than the metal).
How to make any rod work better (galvanized included)
Put in more metal, properly spaced: two 8-ft rods ?8–10 ft apart beats one fancy rod. A perimeter ring (rods every ~16–20 ft, tied together) is better still.
Improve the soil right around the rod:
Backfill the hole with bentonite (hydrated clay) or a conductive concrete/GEM product. Stable, moisture-holding, and doesn’t eat your rod.
Skip “salt in the hole.” It drops resistance for a season and then destroys rods and nearby metal.
Keep it moist: Mulch or drip near the rod line if you’re in dry country. Soil resistivity is 90% of the battle.
Bond everything to one system: water pipe, gas, roof metal, mast, service ground—all tied together. No isolated stakes.
Use low-inductance down conductors: for lightning/EMP, wide copper strap or tinned braid from roof to rods beats #6 wire, regardless of rod metal.
Dissimilar metals (your copper strap to a galvanized rod)
You’ll get galvanic corrosion if you slap bare copper on zinc steel and keep it damp.
Fix: use listed bi-metal clamps or a stainless transition (stainless hardware + antioxidant compound). If you can, terminate copper strap to a copper-bonded rod at the service and bond that to your galvanized field with stainless bonds. Or just keep everything galvanized in the earth path and use tinned copper above grade.
Performance targets (sanity check)
Lightning/EMP: geometry + bonding + short, straight straps matter more than whether the rod is copper or galvanized.
Code/utility: shoot for <25 ohms measured with a clamp-on ground tester; if you can’t get there cheaply, add another rod.
Real-world: a small ring + two extra rods usually beats a single “premium” rod at half the cost.
Bottom line
Galvanized rods are a perfectly good, budget-sane choice. Just don’t count on rust as your “enhancement.” Put the money into more rods, better spacing, soil backfill, and wide strap runs—that’s what actually moves the needle and keeps both lightning and EMP currents where they belong (in dirt, not in your fridge board or Guinness supply chain).
If you want, give me your soil type (sandy/loam/clay), average summer dryness, and how many corners you’ve got to work with, and I’ll sketch a one-pager: “All-galvanized ring vs. mixed copper-bonded + bi-metal bonds — which is cheaper and hits <25 ohms.”
Whew!
One hell of a column, huh? Kind of length that gets up into Peoplenomics territory. But there you have it.
Now, I have important antenna play to continue…we will work on Fall antenna projects and take a look at a reader’s “How to” work on tall long-range TV antenna towers…and more next Sunday.
Write when you get rich…
George@Ure.net
Was this an early example of AI?
“Shatner & the Mystic Seer” – 2 Minute Twilight Zone – ‘Nick Of Time’
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=405IKLIMvJo&pp=ygUnVHdpbGlnaHQgWm9uZSBuaWNrIG9mIHRpbWUgY2xpcCB5b3V0dWJl
(“You may remember Friday (pre bar stool) how we were asking our AI for the ultimate $500 and five-minutes-a-day formula for wealth. AI said the only way to get there would be gambling, but it did tease three solid side-hustle ideas that might get legs. (Everything in life is a gamble, marriage licenses on down…)
Well, you know how Mr. Greed is, right? Show us the money!”)
Here’s a stupid question..were you referring to bitcoin or the insurance industry?? Years ago I bought a book to give someone as a joke. read it and liked it..It talked about becoming wealthy by paper..the idea that really rings true today.
In today’s economy, some of the most lucrative industries are built not on tangible goods, but on the sale of ideas—often wrapped in paper or code and sold as security, innovation, or hope. Insurance, for example, is a wager disguised as protection: you pay for a promise that something might go wrong, while the company profits on the assumption it won’t. Bitcoin, similarly, is a digital abstraction—an idea of value untethered from physical reality—yet it commands billions. These models thrive on belief, speculation, and the illusion of control. The paper isn’t just a contract.. it’s the product. And in a world increasingly driven by intangible assets, selling the right idea at the right time can generate extreme wealth without a very big investment, even if the promise itself remains unfulfilled underwriters play a different but equally pivotal role in monetizing belief. By stamping a $500 idea with legitimacy, they transform speculation into sanctioned value, opening the door to entire ecosystems built around enforcement and preservation. The moment an idea is underwritten, it gains not just credibility but infrastructure—lawyers to defend it, collection agencies to chase its debts, and regulatory frameworks to ensure its profitability . The most profitable industries today often revolve around selling ideas on paper—contracts, policies, or digital codes that promise protection, value, or freedom. But to keep these abstractions profitable, layers of fine print are engineered to tilt the odds. In insurance, adjusters reinterpret value, impose time limits, and deny services through technicalities, while deductibles are calibrated just high enough to ensure minimal payout. Bitcoin, too, is a digital abstraction—marketed as liberation from centralized control, yet often serving as a channel for wealth to slip further from the grasp of everyday people. These systems thrive not on delivering tangible benefit, but on maintaining belief while quietly shifting power. The paper or code becomes the illusion—profitable not because it protects, but because it persuades. After I read that book and was in charge of a couple photo labs production. I visited with one of my bosses.. I had the perfect idea.. a mailer.. disposable cameras were everywhere.. we were cracking open about four thousand film canisters a night.. over a thousand kodachrome .. the printers were running thirty feet a minute and each sorting cutter cutting ..they sounded like machine guns as Rodgers were busy stuffing film and photos..but what was the cost.. I sat down with my boss we figured up what the cost of a film cartridge was and the printing.. the cost of a mailer.. and I made a deal..I would print up mailers hire the Sunday paper ad insert company to add it into the adds.. the customer would shoot his film toss it in the envelope the lab would get it along with their check.. the catch they paid so much for a coupon I put it at ten cents..perfect idea..the only investment was the cost of a printed envelope ..so I took the gamble traded some stained glass and footwork for the first ten thousand inserts..it was everything I could swing..got a company called fingerhut to place it in their ad inserts and visions of sugar plunge went through my head..I could only do it once.. now marketing lesson.. NONE came through the lab..not one… I had made my gamble and it failed..l couldn’t afford to do it again.. one day I was visiting with an old friend fro a graphics class I took he was designing the packaging for a candy we all knew a great German gummy chew.. and I couldn’t figure out what went wrong..he said you only did it once.. to market something like that the rule was three times..the first everyone files it in their circular file cabinet..the second they read it then file it..the third they see it and say hey I heard about this and buy it…. the one thing that keeps ads moving on television.. the repetition the same thing for hidden sales ads as subliminal cuts in television and film. the subconscious flip that programs you to run to the kitchen to get a drink or sandwich..
the sale of an idea..
When I worked in Politics our media consultants said you need to hit the individual FIVE (5) times to rise above the noise just get a BASIC NOTICE to what you are saying.
Now to hit a target group of specific individuals FIVE times you many need to make 50 or 100 ad buys. If you are only buying the evening news, a very “tight” buy, it can be less since the same people will watch the same news program night after night, so 10 buys of the news program is probably get you the 5 viewings that you will need for hitting a specific individual 5 times.
When I started my own business that is the model I followed … repetitive repetitive repetitive inexpensive ads in a set of publications that people would see time after time. Over time what they remember is that they have seen your name and your services, but for the life of them can’t figure out where or when. They actually had no idea that they saw that in the publications where I ran my ads – could have been from a “friend” they would often say.
First 3 months not a single call. After 6 months maybe a call once evry 6 weeks. After a year a call once or twice a month. After two+ years, particularly after three years … numerous calls a week, some of which led to great business.
Same ad (well thought out at the front end) that was small (so I could afford to run it for months on end) but super informative that we NEVER CHANGED. Consistency … so as to NOT confuse their minds.
Yep … my advertising media experts (friends from my political days) hit the nail on the head with their advice wrt breaking through the clutter and getting people to call me for business.
I knew going in that it would be a two year project … and it was, but even though I expected results from the advertising to eventually happen I was shocked at how much business it was generating after running for 2+ years (more than we could handle actually) … and how little it generated in the first 6 monts (my friends said “Don’t worry”, “Give it time”, “It is working” even if YOU can’t see it)
IMO political media consultants have a much better handle on the psychic of the average person than regular media consultants wrt advertising because they only have a limited time window (and in days of old only a tight budget) in order for their messge to be effective, so they really understand the psychic of the average consumer better, and how to break through to reach them, than the bigger (and MUCH more expensive) business media consultants do (who’s stock in trade is very expensive multi media long running marketing)
Yes. I hear you on that on..I only had enough to do it once.. took everything I could scrape to..at the time I thought it would be a hit..then the boss bet on going bigger borrowed over a million dollars to get faster equipment ditched everything.. the good old equipment sat idle rusting away.. we went from four thousand rolls of film a night and over a thousand rolls of kodachrome… to 4..his gamble killed the company..today I believe that there’s only 1 lab in the USA that does kodachrome..when the print shop closed locally and they were taking the plate making equipment..the guy offered the big beautiful Colorado to me for ten bucks..I believe I could have even gotten the rest for a twenty.. got to say I thought about it.. but how would I have explained it to the wife.. over a million dollars worth of equipment that didn’t even appear to be broken in yet for twenty bucks..where would I put it..What he got at the scrap yard barely paid for the gas it took to get it there..
Wife M wanted an E bike and found used at “yard sale” Saturday. Rode it twice and then Monday would not work, battery fully charged, Yahoo search circuit breakers under seat where another battery supposed to be.
EMMO Hornet X, 2023 model.
Seat will not open. Me and 3 friends try for 3 days to get it open.
M takes to service guy in the city and he fixes.
There was no 2nd battery under the seat, looked like the seat sabotage so wouldn’t open, and the main three pack of battery under feet was not correctly configured or something but now all fixed except no (backup) battery under seat.
That was my unexpected work for three days of heatwave.
And M learned once again about buyer beware.
Hmm..now if its like my grandkids toy..we had the same problem..what we didn’t know was the latch was the key insert.. put the key in then turn it counter clockwise till it clicked lol lol.. I met an old man that had one of the same things for his grandkids lol lol I felt so stupid..now if its similar don’t charge both batteries at the same time one off one on otherwise the bike or car won’t run and its a nightmare for me a crying kid..
Hope that helps
Good morning George and thanks to you and ‘n’ for the helpful comments.
Yes, we are considering “life after” long term effects of national/international problems. So as not to bore you and others we are looking at the whole deal of starting over while incorporating ‘life after’ ideas.
We will be about 210 miles East of you in Louisiana, growing zone 8/9 depending on the USDA and others. Maybe 700 Chill Hours.
Adding a lot of insulation to roof and exterior walls. It does pay off! Having a well dug with a hand pump backup. Might have a water tank and a solar well pump. Greenhouse is on the list along with a garden. I do have gardening experience and the in-laws have a large family garden. To supplement the garden I am adding a small fruit and nut orchard along with various types of berries. Have 7 acres to play with so a new tractor.
The house is just part of the effort. What ever I can get done in the allocated time left will of course benefit the kids.
All ideas are welcome. Will miss out on my coffee crop this year which is a bummer. Excellent coffee!
We use 135 to 140 gallons of propane per year, and we use it for cooking and water heating only. We originally used twice that when we had an old tank type water heater with standing pilot light. When we went tankless, that cut our propane use in half. We have two 250 gallon tanks that we use alternately, and we refill once a year. Why two 250 gallon tanks instead of one 500 gallon? Two regulators. If one fails, we have a backup.
The tankless water heater requires electricity, and for that we went solar. It only uses electricity for the control panel and the blower, so I mounted three 100 watt panels on the roof and put the controller and inverter in the water heater closet. Storage is three AGM 12v batteries. It’s nice to have hot water when the power is out, as it happens here sometimes 3 – 12 days at a time. We have a diesel generator and a 150 gallon tank of diesel fuel. Under moderate load, it burns about 4 gallons in 12 hours.
For winter heat, we use oak; about 1.5 cords per year. Since we live in the middle of a forest, I cut and split wood from our property, so the only cost is the gas to run the chainsaw and the splitter.
For water, we have a 60′ well with 30′ of standing water year-round. We put in a 24v submersible pump tied to two 200w 24v solar panels. It fills a 500 gallon water tower so we have water at night and on cloudy days.
people underestimate how much wood it takes to heat especially north of USDA zone 8. heating with wood is hard work and takes a lot of time. then the time to season the wood too.
i like having 3 1/2 gigs much more than the one 8-5, m-f, i used to have. day of the week means nothing to me any longer. sunday night scaries, monday blahs, hump day, tgif. makes no difference. half the time i don’t even know what day or date it is. i just am and just be.
My oldest brother (87) and his son both heat with wood in Wisconsin winters. They harvest from county forests in the summer and stack cords and cords of wood for winter usage. Gas company came and inspected my brother’s meter and furnace a couple years back because he wasn’t using enough gas.
My father heated with wood my who!e life.. he said four cords of wood.. when people still used phone books he would go to the phone company and pick up a few pallets of the old phone books. every week he cut three trees.. and he planted three trees..not in the same place.. he could drop a tree on a dime…at an auction a few months ago one of his old chainsaws sold over a four foot chain.. he use to make his chains to..I still regret when he asked me if I wanted his saws..I said no..he had the toys the splitters his favorite was a monster maul..
lol this video reminds me of my father..
https://youtu.be/2Y6TSLNarPw?si=18rjaYnuFogSrUC7
he did stuff like that all the time…. he would be the first one to bring up proper wood lot management..
Comfort food patties…
Here’s a favorite cheap..
1 lb of bacon
or
1 lb of hamburger both fried up.. the bacon chopped or cut into smaller pieces .. hamburger fried and crumbled
1 onion chopped and caramelized
3 potatoes shredded into salted water ( oh you are probably seeing it already)
soak the shredded potatoes for about a half hour or so.. now for fresh cook now its ok if you want to make and freeze them then steam the potatoes for five minutes..
fry up the bacon drain the grease off..
1 egg
1/2 cup of flour
1/2 cup of water ( you can use milk to its your comfort food you choose)
1 tsp of salt
1 tsp of pepper
1 tsp baking powder
put the dry ingredients in A bowl mix then add the egg mix that in the flour and spice mix..
add the water till it makes a tick batter.. then drain the soaking potatoes in A cheese cloth keep this starchy water.. to get your potato starch..
add the potatoes to the batter then your choice of cooked meat.. adjust the thickness with flour till you get a nice thick dough..shape it in tour burger press then fry it up..its a great meat extender.. my mom use to call the potato pancakes in England they call them floodies..fry on both sides till browned and done..
adjust the meat and potatoes ratio to your liking I add garlic.. for Swedish bologna or potato sausages.. you can stuff it in casings to smoke it cold smoke or hot smoke.. grind it up and mix it fine..its a perfect comfort food and so flexible.. the flour binder..now I put chopped green peppers in it to ..
5 lbs russet potatoes, peeled and cubed
2 1/2 lb ground beef
2 1/2 lb ground pork
1 medium onion, finely chopped
2 teaspoons sea salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
3garlic gloves chopped
1 teaspoon allspice (or substitute with marjoram or sage)
you can use Italian spices to..
all spices can be mixed or matched and adjusted for your taste..
boil the potatoes after cubed for about five minutes..
let cool grind the potatoes up coarse grind
then grind the meat with the spices coarse grind..
mix these all together then grind them with the coarse grind again together..mix again .. you can also add a little flour as an additional binder..mix again then grind using the fine grind plate..take your sausage or bologna casings and stuff.. smoke it.. this will give you a years supply of great Swedish potato bologna.. back on labor day weekend this was what I did during the jerry Lewis telethon.. it was a yearly ritual..to get the right spice before stuffing take a small amount then fry that up..start low with spices then adjust it using the sample fried up taste test..once you get it adjusted to your liking then stuff smoke, package and freeze..
HEMP (High-altitude EMP) events are very fast but rather wispy low energy events. Lightning EMP has a much higher power level, but rise times are much slower, and protection turn-on times less demanding.
If you are close enough to an atmospheric nuke to get a line-sight SREMP (Source Region EMP) from the air 2 – 5 klicks above the blast (which is where most of the EMP pulse is actually generated), you probably are going to have other more severe problems (like fall-out, flash burns, neutron radiation and everything in sight on fire). SREMP surge effects are said to be 10X that of lightning EMP effects.
99% of HEMP energy is below 100 MHZ, per some unclassified government sources. Power systems, VHF and SW antennas get hit hard. Unclassified government sources also push mix 61 ferrites, but as G____ points out, most of the energy is down in the mix 31 frequency range. I use both. My assumption is that the lower energy distribution in the > 100 MHZ bands is still sufficient to smoke high sensitivity analog circuits and fast digital circuits without sufficient external protection.
Turkey spam
2 lbs ground turkey (dark meat preferred for moisture)
1 cup cold mashed potatoes (acts as binder and filler) you can use 1/4cup of corn starch or 1 packet of Knox gelatin, flour , powdered milk or bread as a bider
½ cup turkey gravy (homemade or high-quality store-bought)
1 small onion, finely minced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1½ teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon white pepper
½ teaspoon smoked paprika
½ teaspoon sage (for legacy and depth)
1 tablespoon cornstarch or potato starch
Optional: 1 egg (for firmness)
In a skillet, gently cook onion and garlic in a bit of butter or oil until translucent. Let cool.
In a large bowl, combine ground turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, cooled aromatics, spices, starch, and optional egg. Mix thoroughly until sticky and uniform. then put in a blender and blend till smooth..at this point if you want you can put in a bowl and add a cup of small cubed pieces of turkey the mix.Now if you have some old spam cans .. fill them or a ham form then cover with foil and put in the top of a steamer..steam for about an hour to ninety minutes until the temperature is 155 degrees.. you can also use shaped form pans.. make turkey nuggets or chicken you control what’s in it..if you want breaded then freeze them to make it easier to coat..
Another chapter of my book closes.
I have informed my concierge [ Lady Fingers ] That the player known as “Three Piece” will no longer be available. He has “Retired from the Field” .
After a talk with Lady Fingers and a long talk with “The Mrs”., I have come to the realization & conclusion that I don’t want to be known., I don’t want to be sought-after., I don’t want to be invited somewhere just to be the target.
I spent my entire adult life working in the shadows, standing off to the side, coming out of no-where and vanishing just as fast and quietly. To suddenly be at the top of someone’s list is not ‘desirable’ to me. It is not who I am. It is not who I want to be.
This last game showed me just how easily I could become lost in this game. I played the part ‘too well’. Kind of spooky, actually. Maybe if I were single and back fifty years, or so..,
So.., it is on-ward and up-ward.., and now the hunt for an even better, more challenging retirement hobby.
Another Chapter of my Book begins…,
Side Note on Side Hustles – per Todays’ Post
I never considered this as a ‘side hustle’., as I never played for money -even though I did very well – especially this last game. Don’t know if I will look at my next challenge with a monetary point of view – possibly…,
Very Good Decision!
Now, kick back and enjoy a sip of the good stuff with the Mrs.
Congratulations! ‘Retire’ at the peak and walk away…leaving them wanting more. …and wondering ‘who the f*** was that man? I would bet that the legend of ‘three piece’ will long outlive you.
I would bet it will outgrow him.
Could anyone here imagine, if Hendrix hadn’t died, but instead, had dropped off the face of the Earth — just flat retired, and disappeared, at the moment he was becoming a guitar juggernaut?
dLynn: I hope, sir, you have covered your tracks well…
Well yeah.. but he was so high on drugs.. my guess is he was fried..
(“now the hunt for an even better, more challenging retirement hobby.
Another Chapter of my Book begins…,”)
may I suggest cooking and kitchen gadget!!
or wood working..both awesome and a lot of fun.. one thing I don’t have but want is a great set of chef knives although the handmade Japanese bread knife is now my favorite….my friends that were rangers and seals find comfort in traversing the mountains and woods of the Washington and oregon… my ranger,and seal friends and family refused to carry guns but recently started to conceal carry with all the scrap going on..
You know in life what I have discovered not by choice but through my experiences is that the true pleasures in life are but just a few.. the crap you have will disintegrate and fall by the wayside.. the numbers on paper are nice as long as they are still seen as value. when I almost beta ever to death .. my resolve to overcome it and I decided to lend a hand to the few that truly needed a hand up..to obtain food sustinance. learn what is it that separates the truly gifted and those tossed to the side as disposable. Then I discovered what true value was when I got deathly ill.. family, friends, faith,good food and a clean glass of water.. like the good drink. The wine I will be bottling this week.. fifty five dollars a bottle and shipping about a hundred when its said and done.. great wine we are going to try it the way the hill tribes do over ice cream..
After walking through illness, hardship, and the quiet revelations of what truly matters, I’ve found myself drawn to a new path—one that blends the art of nourishment with the wisdom of our forebears. My hobby now is more than cooking; it’s a ritual of restoration. I study old kitchen tools not for novelty, but to understand how our ancestors turned scarcity into sustenance. I craft wines and meals not just for flavor, but to transmit meaning—like the hill tribe tradition of wine over ice cream, a gesture of joy and ingenuity. This journey is about teaching others how to elevate the everyday: how a good aged steak or a clean glass of water can become a moment of grace. It’s about seeing past the public mask, offering a hand up, and creating a sanctuary where food, friendship, and faith converge. In this, I’ve found a hobby that isn’t just fulfilling its who I am. I suggested kitchen gadgets learning the old ways.. making fine wines and cheese..the smile of a loving wife as you both sit in the evening air enjoying a sunset or sunrise with a great cup of coffee roasted and freshly ground. those experiences are similar to being priceless. I lend a hand to those I see and can do..I’m sure is similar to what a ranger or seal sees when they take the evil away from harming their family. you see it in their eyes that unforgettable look of relief and tears of gratitude to those that felt as if no one could tell behind their daily mask.
if you choose kitchen gadgets well here’s one.. besides vacuum infusing there’s cold smoking… a trip to the dollar general and ace will provide you with perfect smoking chambers.. a few grommets and grommet plugs and one of these…
https://www.amazon.com/Cocktail-Smoker-Old-Fashioned-Boyfriend/dp/B0DCNP3QWD/ref=pd_ybh_a_t_sccl_1/134-7411826-9715348?
great little cold smoker for under twenty dollars ..will give you that high end aged steak that Smokey goodness usually only available to the wealthiest of our planet..
Breaking News!
General Zod is dead!
‘Superman’ star Terence Stamp dead at 87…
https://nypost.com/2025/08/17/entertainment/superman-star-terence-stamp-dead-at-87/
I had a cousin that looked like him, like General Zod… he was using a dating service at the time, and I suggested that he should promote himself as a General Zod ‘look alike’ which he did… but he didn’t get any replies, lol.
Wordslinger : “…Before I would get too worried about an EMP events, I’d focus first on “life after” such a thing …”
I think first is deciding do you want to live on? Being potentially downwind from the Windy City, well …
We have discussed this and think we’ll see, to be revisited if/then. Meanwhile, we are set for months and months. Provisions? Check. LOTS of high demand tradable stuff? Fresh water (forever)? Check. Animal protein with harvest means? Check. Unlimited fish protein? Check.
With a grid, we are good indefinitely. Without? Six weeks of gasoline until spam hits the fan. My fiber connection? Hopefully. I can comm. with Marine VHF, an old Ham set or … jungle drums.
Listen for me if. Hungry? Thirsty? Come to the Heartland.
Hopefully all for naught, hey?
Can I get an Arr.
Arr ~~ /)/) ~
Egor
One of the secrets of the old survivalist crowd is the “marine band radio.” The theory was, after an EMP, when there’s more poo flying than mosquitoes in Western Michigan, either the emerging (feudal) “government” or roving bands of hungry raiders would use CB, HF HAM, FRS, and GMRS to locate areas where people had redoubts, and thus triangulate people’s hidey holes.
However, people could use radios on marine or aircraft bands to communicate with impunity, because NOBODY would be monitoring non-HAM frequencies between 118 and 175 MHz…
(“when there’s more poo flying than mosquitoes “)
hmm..got me thinking about that..imagine a city… no waste removal…no water or sewer..In the aftermath of an EMP or any major infrastructure collapse, the real crisis isn’t just technological—it’s biological. When pumps fail, water stops flowing. Sewage backs up, garbage piles high, and the cities one look at las vegas and the aquifer lake that through drought was lowering recently.. phoenix the same thing—once symbols of progress—will become breeding grounds for disease and decay. The basics, the unglamorous systems that sustain life, are forgotten until they erupt those disposable worthless eaters become the most valuable. And in that silence of decay, rats flourish, mosquitoes swarm, and elevators cease to operate the illusion of control will evaporate.. can you imagine living on the fiftieth floor or owning the penthouse . The elite may debate strategy and posture for power, but without water, waste management, and food distribution, the veneer of civilization peels away fast.. wow that makes my fifty year rent seem kind of important..greenscaping the cities and handing out solar power systems and building solar towers at every substation along with air wells . The real reckoning isn’t in headlines—it’s in the stench and loss of infrastructure what we have been neglecting since Truman will come back to haunt us and nothing but wars seeking gains for big buck billies pockets becomes an empty shell, the silence, and the scramble for survival will be catastrophic … having a radio might not be a good idea to broadcast your position.. since studies say only a few will survive the stench of rotting flesh..look at new Orleans and the Katrina flood..bodies laying along the streets..
I’m not advocating this of course, because it is highly illegal. I’m just reporting on what was “said in the day” — 40 years or so ago…
What was said in the day.. got to say that’s right on..thousands of pages have been written..my guess is the ones that all appear to be more concerned about how much time they get off in congress..probably just skimmed shortly the first paragraph..good lord knows if they had read any of it they would be doing overnight sessions to try and work the problems..I will never forget the day I went to watch congress in session.. five people shuffling papers and a janitor leaning against his cleaning cart.. what they teach in school about it is long gone..
uncle jay explains our hardest workers..
https://youtu.be/IsWlkcsI5Ko?si=UaSizrLNWo_yV642
Marine radios are CHEAP … lots of marine walkie talkies out there too.
Just make sure if you are doing that you do NOT use the modern ones that tack a GPS location onto your signal!! (yep that is the “thing” now … more and more of the marine VHF radios do that when you press the transmit button)
RDFing a Marine radio is easy … if you buy the “off the shelf” RDF system. (just look in a West Marine catalogue)
Commercial charter fishing boats use them to track where the fish are biting since some people seem to want to BRAG about all the fish they are catching once they start to real them in.
When I bought the Volcano Ranch here, besides replacing all the electrical outlets, the first major project was a ground system for the ham radios. Metal roof, but I did not bond or ground it. I DID lay in a #4 ground wire from the electrical entrance all around the concrete slab… 3/4 way around the house. No closed loop. Then pounded in 9 ground rods at corners, wet downspouts, ham shack entrance, and under each antenna post resting on the slab edge. The rods only went 2 to 4 feet into the gravel bed before hitting solid lava rock. But there are 9 of them all around, and the horizontal wire is also a ground. The proof it works? I took a direct lightning bolt to my tallest antenna mast and survived. Grounding here on a lava flow is much like a glass plate. My service entrance at the front of the house, and the ham ground loop, are also bonded to the copper water pipe entrance to the house. Water pipe becomes PVC out at the meter at the street, but the water system is still a very good and large ground system.
Note to Lloyd Snider,
EQR (earthquake) event to worry about?
Penny Thornton , astrologer, All of her intro discusses quakes, although 16:51 minute specific:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oN6rSqwBhUo&t=5158s
Fuse already been lit, and “demolition” has started..
Increasing frequencies = Worldwide..Volcanos, Earthquakes, and Sky phenoms..
Scheisse starting to “crack up”, right on schedule, as its all about KHAOS to overwhelm and shutdown the Globohomos’ Information Control Networks for several days…So youse all will be DISCLOSED .
Wakey wakey TIME indeed, and no they are not friendlies, See Ure bible for Tower of Babel story or See Farsight.net latest project.
*No UNITY..Ever will be allowed on this Prison Planet..EVER.
“The generation prior to the SX-32 was the SX-28 (and the (a) version) which were going this weekend on eBay for almost $1,000 in one case.”
I’ve seen several SX-28A receivers priced north of $2300. Mine got water-damaged, so it will eventually hit the rebuilding bench…
George, were you looking for an HA-26?
https://www.ebay.com/itm/167706389920
Actually Ray it was the HA-20 (26 could my my typo – which I so seldom make, lol). It’s the vfo for the Cyclone SR400 and the Hurricane sr-2000
School has been back in for a week and change for many colleges. I would like to report that aside from wearing cotton instead of plastic, most guys are wearing what guys always wear (shorts or jeans & tees.)
However…
Style with the gals is pleated (short) miniskirts, loose flare-leg (short) shorts, running shorts, or normal-cut jeans on-bottom, about 40% bare midriffs, and cotton extra short-sleeve short sleeve tees or solid color blouses.
I have been on campus on seven different colleges — among them, two very large Big Ten schools, two MAC schools, and two small schools.
I have yet to see a single guy or girl with “animé hair” — not one single college kid with pink, blue, purple, or green hair, out of probably 8000 kids I’ve seen in four States, in the past 12 days.
I KNOW this is of sociological, and likely economic significance, but I haven’t yet acquired enough information to form an hypothesis, so for now this is just an observation…
I can attest to lightning propagating through cable lines. I got a computer fried that way. Lightning hit the streetlight out front, followed the wiring to the ground, then the buried coax picked it up. I finally got the cable company to put the coax inside PVC conduit, and the last stretch runs underneath the vinyl siding on the house.
I already have galvanized hardware cloth buried two feet deep (or more) around the perimeter of most of my small yard. The original purpose of this was to keep out burrowing rodents (which is why I refer to it as the “Maginot Line 2”). I wonder if there would be any use in connecting the downspouts from the metal gutters to this.
Most of the lightning damage of electronics is caused by EMP at a distance. Once you get a stroke of cloud to ground lightning propagating into your house, you can expect major damage. At the kind of voltages involved in a lightning stroke, the path can jump around to avoid obstructions.
About the only thing lightning doesn’t follow is a dry all-dielectric fiber optic cable in a plastic conduit. And that is not an absolute. Cables with integral or lashed messenger wires will carry a lot of current.
The outside conductor of a signal coax should be grounded at one point, usually at the building entrance, with a surge device to protect the inner conductor. That doesn’t seem to protect a Winegard antenna coupling board, but the antenna mounted amplifier has held up. Keep spares in a Faraday cage.
I am in a suburban setting, and I have internet over a microwave link. I have individual surge protectors on both the signal cable, and the power supply. It has been fairly robust. I lose the antenna much more often than the microwave link, in my ridge location lightning shooting gallery. While my surge protectors are my front line of lightning defense, I try to use models fast enough to intercept a HEMP as well. My protection strategies for lightning EMP have generally worked; not looking forward to a HEMP or SREMP test.
I’m thinking of grounding my metal roof through the electrical service drop standpipe which runs up through the edge of the roof. It would seem the most expedient ground, simply strapping the standpipe above the roof to the actual roof – perhaps with several pieces of galvanized strapping. More to follow when/if all the other bases are covered.
The most important uncovered question here is “What to do about Starlink?”. The dish sits high on the roof, aimed north with a perfect field of view, and wide open to both lightning strikes and EMP. Has anyone else considered this one? I do have a nearby metal tower about 200 feet away that’s well grounded, but lightning seems to have a mind of its own.
Not too long ago I lost the controller boxes for both my gate opener and my well pump. Both are solar powered. I can’t help wondering if the strike was bright enough to cause a spike voltage from the solar cells to the boxes, as neither set of solar cells was struck directly. Any ideas on ways to protect against that?
A TVS (transiet surge protection) device (about 2X the resting battery boltage should do it. Though on my Big solar arrays I use high school 118volt Schotkey diodes to do the same thing, in essence. I use multiple devices in parallel to ensure redundo…
Let’s see, Ask AI important questions cause its smart? Well lets take a look at where it is learning from;
Ranked: The Most Cited Websites by AI Models
https://www.visualcapitalist.com/ranked-the-most-cited-websites-by-ai-models/
This info from a filthy capitalist pig web site that thinks the money you earn should actually stay in your pocket. Wait this is kind of like another web site I visit. Weird! 40% of the AI smarts is from morons on Reddit?