ShopTalk Sunday: Tool Messes that Bury Projects

Two items to go over today.  One is the visiting firefighter learns cutting and welding.  The other is a longish discussion of tool use.

To hell with Covid.  I have a bigger problem:

Messy Bench Disease. MBD.

One of the continuing problems around the ranch – and my office – is that I have a God-awful time cleaning up.  The way I figure it, a feller can spend his time – like money – only once.  You can spend it doing & working OR you can spend it cleaning up.  (Care to guess?)

Not only is there the ADHD tendency to complete a project and move on to the “next item on the list” leaving a pile of tools and rubble in my wake, but also during projects, too.  As an in-treatment Tool Slut, nothing is more fun using than those exotic, seldom-used tools.

Trackback to a Messpoint

My buddy Gaye (StrategicLivingBlog) got me started on “personal time logging” back in 1973.  She’d been through a Bill Onken time management course, and I’ve gotten a ton out of the technique over the past several decades.

The idea is simple enough:  Just as you would have a low-productivity employee write down everything during the workday (to help you troubleshoot their work problems), so too, you can apply personal time-logging to great benefit.

Yes, even in the shop at age 73.

Short story:  I recently had a simple chainsaw carb replacement – which went off the rails due to problems with the fuel and return lines – maybe a plugged-up fool-filter (considering who was using it, lol) – and by the time I was done there were 20-30 tools on the bench.

Assorted metric, SAE, pliers,  ViseGrips, Aerokroil, hammer, mallet, 4-5 screwdrivers, rags… Scene coming into focus?

With the chainsaw showing signs of life again, I went out to chainsaw a bit.  And when my consigliere called just as I wandered back into the shop,  the odds of me ever getting around to clean-up of the tools on the bench dropped to exactly zero.

Being an ex-management type, I “wrote myself up” and put myself on probation:  No more fun projects until I sorted out the underlying personality disorder.

Envision the cartoon characters Pogo (or Pigpen) saying “We has found the messpot and it is us!”

Help from Rings Workshop!

Of course, there are some phenomenal videos on Youtube on the general matter of shop organization.  We have to hand out half a dozen Gold Stars (minimum) to Rings Workshop for his three-part series.  Watch Shop Organization – Part 1: How To Prioritize Space and Determine Location – YouTube.

The gracefulness of his approach is how it prioritizes not only the placement of tools (the most often used ones are next to you), but he also scored the locations where things should be stored.

The most valuable space on his list was floorspace.  Only the big “have to’s” get to live on the floor.  Things like the wood shaper, table saws, radial arm saw, jointer, and the central vac here.  Roll-around Oxy-Acetylene rig is too heavy to lift, so it wheels out of the way.  Big is easy – especially with wheels on ’em – even with ADHD.

Ring then goes into what should have an exalted station on the benchtop.  Here’s where I begin to get into trouble.  There are some benchtop tools that are used on almost every project, like the drill press and the belt/disk sander.

But there are a lot of other tools that just get used once in a while. But these look “tooly” and give the shop a business-like air.  (They also instill confidence when you’re “10-miles offshore” on a project.  The “WFT now?” part of complex work.

I have a very nice hand press (for smaller bearings) along with a 15-ton hydraulic behemoth.  The small one could live off the bench.  Maybe even on another planet, for that matter

After the, floorspace and benchtop discourse, Ring reveals underutilized storage spaces:  Wall space, drawers, hanging things from the ceiling.  On this last we are ahead of the pack due to our sailing days and affinity for halyards.  (Aye lubber, halyards for uppy-downy and sheets are more on the level, argh.)

Rings’ videos are close to Inspiration Hour for a Tool Sluts. A little time spent studying his use of French cleats, for example, can dramatically cut your Amazon storage costs.

A SECOND Deficiency Appears

My Time and Task Logging revealed a second – more subtle – problem:  my “bench technique” is flawed.

Takes a minute to explain bench technique since I couldn’t find any good references to it.  (Submit a comment and links if you have sources!)

Another story:  Back in my avionics technician days, age 18, I was assigned a radio and electronics bench at the airline I worked for.  West Coast Airlines before Who’s Air Wurst bought ‘em.  I was a card-carrying member of IAM Local 751 up in Seattle.  Journeyman R&E at age 18.  First-class commercial radio license and all that. Amazing times.

The radio bench was easy to use.  The only tools I needed were my own (Craftsman metal toolbox with a damn fine assortment), And the steel-topped bench I worked at was grounded and nearly indestructible. Metal bar stool and work I did.

But this is about “tool use.”  They all lived in the toolbox (and the single lift-out tray). Straightforward because there was a procedure manual for all functions of aircraft electronics. Life was simple.  “With a #2 Phillips, remove…

If a complicated tool (a scope, for example or a “megger” was needed, you wandered down to the tool room, gave them your tool chit, which you’d get back when the tool was returned.  A bit Gestapo-like, but toolrooms are pretty cost-effective.

Thing is, these were simple times when one box of tools would work.  Today, that’s definitely NOT the case.  Complexity kills me.

Instead of ONLY electronics on three types of aircraft (DC-3, F-27, DC-9s), nowadays there’s a woodshop, metalshop, 3D and CNC area, farm equipment, time machine experiments (yes, this continues), recording studio (again, more equipment). Our scope isn’t just electrons.  No, we’re doing framing carpentry, concrete work.  In short, George of All Trades. (Master of none…)

On a typical day in the shop now, I can use anywhere from 10 to 60 tools.  Even more if multiple projects are underway in several areas.  (Yeah, I know.  F-o-c-u-s…

Facing a mirror problem on the electronics bench (too much test gear, too much soldering gear, too many light crown components and tools…

In desperation, I THOUGHT the right answer would be to buy a new toolbox and work strictly out of that…

Limits to Toolboxes

Even now, chaos is only partly resolving.  So, I looked back over 70+ years looking for some inspiration that I’d missed.

Bingo!  (A third story): There was an IBM Selectric typewriter in the newsroom at KOL in Seattle back in the rock & roll war days.  It’s where I taught myself to type stupid-fast.  Each of the news reporters and me would crank out copy like crazy. My formative years being radio, spelling was (and remains) and after-thought.

This typewriter would invariably break at inconvenient times.

The repair tech was this ruddy-complected British looking red-haired guy with the nose of someone with more than a passing acquaintance with Bushmills, if you follow.  He had one of those field technicians tool cases. 4-5 layers deep, 10-million tool pockets.  A place for everything.

The “tool pallets” were fabric-covered.  Some had plastic or leather pockets, and there were areas of elastic strips for screwdrivers and picks of this sort, or that.  The tools were clean and dandy-looking in their places.

What was even more interesting was that he seldom had more than one tool out of the tool case at a time.

That impressed the hell out of me. There was the major hole in my industrial education!

There had never been any mention of working mainly from a tool case (with multiple tool pallets).  Never came up in the work I’d done previously at the airline.  And, despite getting straight-A grades in Gas Engines, wood, and metal shop plus Radio Shop in junior and high school, no one had ever explained the proper order and rationale behind the individual tool handling and placement on a bench.

Surely, there must be some secret to it?

I spent a couple of hours on Google and Youtube looking for this missing bit of knowledge.

There was no counting the number of times on small to medium electronics projects when the equipment itself had nearly disappeared under a pile of test leads, digital meters, scope leads, an assortment of nutdrivers, screw drivers, alignment tools, desolder wick, soldering paste, tool wipes, plus Q-tips and a can of De-Oxit.  “Pliers!  Where the f**k are my pliers?”)

Frustrated as hell, I decided to write down my choices:

Work from a Toolkitor NOT?

Option 1:  I can do what I have been doing.  Using this method, I get totally into the Zen of any electronics problem.  I enjoy matching wits with components and power supplies.  If things occasionally end-up buried by a handful of tools, so goes life.  Dig out and keep working.

Option 2:  Maybe I could work out of a toolbox?  So, I popped for a Jet 5000 Outdoor Tool Case with Pocket Tool Boards, Black.  Within blinking distance of $200-bucks.

This will involve a major rework of the electronics bench and a rewiring of my brain.  “I solemnly swear to have no more than two tools out of the box (or off a tool pallet) at a time.”  This will be a lot of effort – at first.

My whole going with the Zen of chasing the component-level problems will change.  The current method is kinda like “running down game on the veldt.”  On an infinitely big veldt (or workbench) it makes sense.

The new method would be more like installing a mental new clock mechanism:

Tick!  “What is my next step?”  Tick!  “What tool gets that done best?”  Tick! “Get tool,  and execute.”  Tick! “Evaluate.”  Tick “Put tool back” (if not needed when this sequence gets repeated.)

I smooth experiential flow of running down the problem goes away, but at the end, only one or two tools, needs to be picked up.

I pinged retired TV engineer Hank out in Hawaii – so maybe he can offer some insights as a comment.  Ray, too, who’s no doubt faced this “Big Brains need many sets of tools” problem.

If you know of any insightful videos on this, send ’em along.  I’ll update this when the new toolbox shows up and I “get loaded” so-to-speak.

Plasma and Welding School

Firefighter/EMT son George II has been visiting for a while. Long enough to get roped into the concrete work for the rainwater barrels on the Veggie Grow Room.  Also, long enough to brush hog and bring back to life the rifle range out back.

Dad I want to cut up that steel I-beam and use it for a target for our big guns.  Can you show me how to plasma cut?”

“Here kid:  You take this ground and put it on a rust-free part of the I-beam.  Then….”

Like THIS?”

“Um…yeah.  Something like that.

First Time Plasma Learnings:

  • Hold your torch high enough so it is at right-angles to the work.  On 3/8th’s steel, if you angle the torch, you will blow the cut pool behind the torch.  You want the weld pool to be blown down (or out to the side) with the torch air.
  • Use a piece of scrap as a cutting guide.  If you freehand, you can make 4-passes and still not get a clean break.
  • Try not to do tip-drag because dad’s not made of money to buy consumables.  Use the clip-0n tip guide.
  • Don’t wear good clothes while cutting.

“How About Welding?”

“Most important part of welding is prep work.  Good clean metal welds very nicely.  Any rust and you’re begging for trouble.  So you clamp on the ground wire and….”

Like THIS?”

“Um…yeah.  Something like that…”

First Time MIG Learnings

  • If you’re not spending as much time on metal prep as welding, odds are good you’re not doing enough cleaning for good welds.
  • Stand more to the side.  Welding smoke is not good for you.  Air flow matters.
  • Push the weld pool along slowly.  If you have trouble with even speeds, use two hands.
  • Keep the torch tip closer to the work.  That results in better gas shielding from the flux core.
  • Clean, use clamps for good fitment, solid tacks, and then run the long beads.

Sometime today, we’ll weld up some 3/8th’s chain to hang this puppy down-range and pop a few rounds.  Already takes a tractor to move it, though.  We’ll see if green-tip .223 punches 3/8th’s i-beam metal…

For now, more coffee… Remember to work as hard (or harder) for your own agenda on days off than you do “working for the Man” during the week…

Write when you get rich,

George@Ure.net

87 thoughts on “ShopTalk Sunday: Tool Messes that Bury Projects”

  1. My daily horoscope reads: Cosmic activity warns you not to get involved in situations that are of no real concern to you personally.

    You may not like what’s going on but you won’t be able to stop it, so keep your distance.

    That’s what I call very healthy advice ;-)

      • I get that..
        A friend of the daughters was here and walking down the hall.. she seen a picture of me at Fifty something.. and she stopped and said OMG who is that… the daughter said .. Oh thats my dad.. the girl realizing I had overheard this sheepishly moved on..
        But it is true.. look at a picture of me as a new grandpa.. and one of me at fifty two I believe and one today.. well it makes me wanna cray LOL LOL.. I am sure that is part of it to.. to be a sexxy young woman than to look in the mirror and see how you have aged while in your mind you think the same way you did at twenty..

      • It’s funny d for years I worked in healthcare.. seen quite a few famous celebrity types.. except for them looking vaguely familiar . Without the makeup and photo shopping they could walk down the street and no one would notice .. many are super skeleton thin..and a whole lot shorter.. when I worked close to a sound stage..Johnathan winters did a Christmas schedule.. we had lunch lol lol the funniest guy I have ever met.. his comedy act was how he was in real life one hoot and holler after another..funny sincere and crazy it was a pleasure… Robert Redford probably one of the nicest..great guy loved home made biscuits..but you wouldn’t recognize him walking down the street.. he would just appear as if you knew him from someplace.. one who use to have a sitcom was in target and got upset because no one recognized her lol lol..
        So she’s aged.. that has to be hard knowing you were once known as a sex symbol..
        She’s still who she was.. she should relax and be her own self..

      • “She’s probably on the “see food” diet. ”

        @JC that is the diet I am on LOL LOL there are but a few real luxuries in the world that rases your quality of life…. when you die.. what wealth or crap you have is gone.. into a dumpster to be hauled away.. if you end up in a nursing facility.. well the sad thing is you will only have a couple boxes of assorted crap.. the rest is gone.. the medical facilities take the money.. Unless your as Rich as SanFran Mark none of it is left.. and I am not to sure what they have to pay for care there.Here it is just shy a quarter mil a year per person. I had someone almost thirty years ago tell me I should go work there.. the pay at that time was thirty bucks an hour.. but the cost of living and the city life scared me into staying in the low wages of the wastelands. I believe there is a better quality of people with ethics and morals here. You don’t leave with anything in the end.. what you have is Family,( and they will abandon you and will forget you after a few short weeks. The nursing facilities are filled with them. the once a month visit to see mom or dad ends up to once a year or longer ) So in reality.. you have food.. drink.. and sex as your components of a quality of life.. family , friends and faith are important but in sincerity won’t necessarily raise your quality of life..

    • WRR, not yet out west so far this morning. But it’s still early! I’m about 152 clicks due west as the crow flies from Cheyenne Mountain. The overstuffed gook just sent up another 7th. this month roman candle. This sh*t show lights up it might not make the boob tube. I wonder if my $400 1/2500th of second auto darkening welding helmet can compete with the 400K F-35 helmet our jet jockeys wear? Best case scenario never need to find out! I guess we will only know in the fullness of time!

      • Just saw most of Monkey’s video from 4 days ago. According to what he’s seeing and showing Russia was already into Ukraine and the UK and us, U.S., had already positioned assets nearby. The show is already on, just not ready for prime-time viewing.

      • “Just saw most of Monkey’s video”

        He is advertising his body butter… that stuff is good..
        thanks for sharing the video Bill.. I TRIED to stay away from the news this weekend.. its bad enough I see the cheerleaders on network news daily.. the sheer insanity drives me crazy..

      • Oh, Dear God, LOOB! The couple of days we spent in DFW watching regular TV was almost too much. We were glad to see the gator hunters again but the rest of it looked like something out of Beyond Thunderdome. I didn’t want people in the surrounding rooms to think a crazy person was screaming at the TV and have to call security so we avoided anything MSM news outside of the overtly sexual ads they had going.

        As fast as things are happening, though, taking a break from the action may well give you a break but it also means you’ll get run over come Monday and it takes a while to catch up. Heck, I’m having trouble keeping up with the comments here on Geoge’s site let alone half a dozen other Internet news sites.

      • @Bill… the scarier part of all of this is…
        CONGRESS ISN’T DOING A THING.. They are still on vacation till the 16th.. won’t do a thing then because of jet lag.. so the 17th-18th are the two days left that week to do a thing..
        There are no plans on an emergency session.. I am fairly sure that they are thinking.. let JB and the Democrats get their way.. we will gain in the next election.. but if they are really paying attention.. then they would see that there is a greater possibility that this administration could start a set off events that could destroy human life across the globe.. the Money, the election nothing would be worth anything and people would have to learn to live in a hostile environment..
        I seriously would like to see JB draw a picture of a pig and a clock.. just so I would know . from years of working with patients dealing with issues of that nature and seeing his candid interviews.. I have my personal impressions on what is going on..
        https://youtu.be/RIehxrWP7kw
        https://youtu.be/fbEJpr4A9mQ
        https://youtu.be/sli2Vn6Iiy4
        https://youtu.be/VrWejq91MzQ

      • “We were glad to see the gator hunters again but the rest of it looked like something out of Beyond Thunderdome. I didn’t want people in the surrounding rooms to think a crazy person was screaming at the TV and have to call security so we avoided anything MSM news ”

        LOL LOL @Bill I totally understand that.. the family keeps telling me.. quit watching that crap LOL LOL…. its like a drug.. you cannot believe the Shizt that is coming out of DC.. the pure insanity of it all is something to drive a person to drink.. oh hey.. maybe that will work.. LOL..

    • “Is The War Show on TeeVee yet?”

      I have all of that crap turned OFF and am trying to not think about the insanity playing out before all of us… dam seeing it play out play for play drives me insane with the sheer stupidity of it all. Then the hints that all of this maybe this has to do with all that money that was supposedly given to the kid for the oil in the Balkans just irritates me..the whole thought that all of this.. the death and the struggles for the working man is more than probably so that some disgusting SH can benefit money wise drives me crazy… and those that can deal with this mess are all so busy out on recess that they don’t give two cents about any of it.. GRRR… and nothing at all anyone can do and those that can are off enjoying the benefits bestowed upon them by lobbyists…. https://youtu.be/sli2Vn6Iiy4
      Zimbabwe bound we sit and wait.. hopefully we won’t see any missiles launched or this escalate further..

  2. Wow! Wish I had read and understood that 20 years ago… could have prevented a lot of gray hair! Another thought that I’ve been pondering. “The most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you figure out why.” Past the 70 year number, still working on the “why” part…

  3. Not sure where I read this, but a good tip to reduce workbench clutter is that the first thing you do when go to you workbench is to put 10 things back to where they belong. Everything counts: pencil, one sheet of sandpaper, roll of wire, drill bit, etc.

  4. AS promised back to basics.. here is the bread recipe.. now there is a difference.. for the basic temple worker or pyramid builder.. they served mostly unleavened bread.. for the pharaoh they used leavened bread.. which basically they had a sour dough starter in a crock.. to make it..
    mix flour and water and honey put in a jar cover and let set..
    simple.. ok for the bread.. they used Emmer or barley to make the dough..
    to kneed the dough they either treaded it.. ( for the workers they needed a vast amount of bread and treading is where the dough was laid out on a flat rock and walked on similar to how they would juice grapes for wine.)
    in the pharaohs bread.. they would add Coriander, Lotus flowers and dandelion heads without the green.. flower petals only.. )
    Now the recipe..
    2 1/2 cups of flour
    1 cup of water
    (pharaohs bread.. 1 cup of wine,beer, or starter)
    ( flowers or herbs your choice)
    the instructions on one tomb wall was Grind grind grind grind well with all my strength.. the servant sifts the flour and I bake myself..
    they baked in Clay ovens on flat griddle stones..
    NOW
    I can tell you from experience.. the first really traumatic even in my life caught me off guard.. car blew up .. plant cutting hours and eventually shutting down for several months and no jobs.. anyway.. no food stamps etc.. no heat or electricity.. the restaurant would save me their used coffee grounds.. we used a coleman camp stove.( still got it and the coleman oven) to cook on.. I would gather grain that had fallen from the farm tractors taking the grain to market.. and then I would beat that grain with a rock in an old cast iron pan to make a crude gruel.. that is work.. so when I read the grind grind grind grind your grain well.. I definitely know what was being referred to.. it is work.. lots of work for a very little bit..
    https://www.ebay.com/itm/234384693206?
    that is one of my mills..
    https://www.ebay.com/itm/194662057555?
    that is another
    https://www.ebay.com/itm/393888804897?
    then I do have this one with both the stone and the cast grinding plates..
    https://www.ebay.com/itm/363304554435?
    https://www.ebay.com/itm/363304539409?
    the last two are just reminders of me pounding that grain in a cast iron pan.. still got that pan to.. I don’t have the rock though.. the first mill is wonderful.. and does a really good job fast.. the wonder grill is smaller and gets used the most.. the rest of them are like my coffee pots.. I have a nice collection of wonderful coffee pots.. kelly kettles and old antique chinese tea pot that is basically a kelly kettle we actually have the whole tea set.. and the brandy still LOL.. the brandy still has never been used.. just to look at.. they would carry it with them then if someone stopped by their tents.. they would put a little wine in the still and distill it down to brandy.. a cultural thing the cups are really small to…. turkish nomad stoves and rocket stoves..
    EACH time I have gone through a dramatic event.. the last was going a year without an income.. I learned something different.. like there isn’t any unemployment for the unemployed.. that is a transitional fund for seasonal workers.. making the basics.. I can and do make bread .. and I make cheese wine beer.. I love the ancient recipes.. I try them.. just to see what they experienced.. how they ate.. at Harvard.. one of the kids teaching there.. harvested some of the ancient yeast from the pharaohs tomb bread jars.. and made bread from it.. I am in the process of trying to get a little bit of it from the prof that did it.. it is a sour dough mix… but he said sweeter.. and on the tomb walls it showed the egyptians using honey in their leavening jars.. which makes sense..
    Emmer wheat is really dry and low in glutin .. so I doubt I will use that.. I use either winter wheat or white spring wheat.. the spring wheat is for noodles..
    for tortillas.. I first harvest the oil out of the corn.. then dry it.. then grind it.. that way I get the cooking oil and the flour to make tortillas..
    If the wine turns out that I started last night.. and it tastes anything like it does now.. its going to be a hit.. dam the emporer knew how to live for sure LOL.. I still have to get a few ingredients for the wine of RA.. the big thing is.. YEAST.. at the wine making supply house.. two things are really hard to get.. YEAST.. the whole yeast distribution is shut down.. and CORKS.. so I will get a thousand corks on tuesday.. and some more yeast ..
    here is the way to make your own yeast..
    Raisins and filtered for the water.. one cup of raisins.. to a cup of water.. I blend mine up.. put in jar and let it sit.. in a dark place.. figs raisins etc.. have wild yeast..
    then you can feed the yeast water once it is growing..
    the other is making a flour starter
    Step 1: Mix together equal parts flour and water in a small bowl. You can start with about a quarter cup of each. Stir well. Water activates the enzyme amylase, which breaks down starch into simple sugars that the yeast and bacteria can eat.

    Step 2: Cover the bowl loosely with a lid or towel and leave the mixture on your counter at room temperature. Keeping it in a place that’s a bit warm, but not too hot, will speed up the process of the yeast and bacteria colonizing your batter.

    Step 3: Twice a day, in the morning and evening, add one to two tablespoons each of flour and water. By doing this, you’re actually feeding the yeast. In about three to five days, your starter will begin to bubble. This is a good thing: the way yeast makes bread rise is by producing gas, like what you see in the bubbles. After day five, your starter should have at least doubled in volume and will be ready to use. As a rule of thumb, a bit of the starter should float in a glass of water when it’s ready.
    good luck.. the egyptians and the chinese and sumarians used a lot of fruit and Honey
    I really wish I could find the voynich manuscript that has been translated in print.. there are some really good looking recipes in that.. LOL all that time and people not sure only to discover it is a farmers almanac for the Babylonians LOL

    • Oh the way they ground the wheat and barley was crude and left a lot of stone grit in the meal.. which is why evidence of teeth being worn away showed up.. the egyptians loved their bread and wind.. if the wine tastes as good as the one I mixed up last night.. dam that will go fast..

    • Hi Loob,

      Looking forward to the wine of Ra !

      I don’t think anyone has succeeded so far to translate the Voynich manuscript? I imagine if you were to somehow back-engineer the recipes and decrypt the work, Yale would award honorary gratitude.

      Here are some other multiple…choices…for those who might wish to persuade a refreshed, productive generation of crypto crowd-types looking for new veins to mine:

      https://scienceblogs.de/klausis-krypto-kolumne/klaus-schmehs-list-of-encrypted-books/

      • Actually they had half of it translated last year.. I had heard that they had the whole thing translated.. referring to planting by the moon and that womens health taking baths etc.. I wasn’t able to find the printed version of it..
        the language is an old Babylonian Turkish language.. What I did find since I want to try some of the recipe’s from then is a cook book of old old recipes.. from the Babylonian era.. my guess is since a farmers almanac traditionally uses popular recipe’s that some of them will be in that old cook book..
        I can’t wait for the RA wine is done either.. I still have a couple of items that are not real available around here.. so I have to buy them online.. before I can make it..

      • Unfortunately Jester.. I don’t know a lot about the YALE library or how much they keep on top of things..
        In all the years of being a library crawler I have only seen three or four studies done that were published by Yale..
        the top two books I understand of the encrypted list of books has been translated.. the Codex Rohonci has been translated to dutch so I haven’t had a chance to read it yet.. I did read the parts that they had translated from the voynich manuscript though.. part of it was the best time to plant crops and the best soil conditions and part had to do with womens health issues and the value of bathing. like keep your private areas clean to avoid crotch rot. My curiosity is just how old is it.. does it predate the flood….. the four times that yale has published studies.. those studies had been available before and I had read them by Harvard and Cambridge and one from Oxford..
        except for having met and visited with that went to work teaching.. so they do have good teachers.. the rest is pretty illusive..almost all libraries world wide are wide open to go scour through a couple of really good ones are outside the USA.. I do love harvard cambridge and MIT.. MIT their whole courseware is available for free.. BYU and Cal Tech are two really good ones to.. OH heck I could go on with favorite libraries LOL.. the diaries in the BYU library are really eye opening to the conditions of surviving the trek.. The franklin library lincoln library etc.. love the old stuff..
        I have one friend that is ten years older than me.. and I wish I had read as much as she does.. I only average fifteen or so a month she averages thirty to forty books a month.. smartest woman I know.. but loves to garden and makes home made maple syrup.. and her passion besides her gardening is she quilts.. she did work at the capital .. which is how I met her almost fifty years ago..

    • Geez, prices for mills have gone up! I have a Wonder Junior with both steel and stones, pulley, and homemade motorization kit (looks like Lehman’s kit here: https://www.lehmans.com/product/motorization-kit-for-country-living-grain-mill/) only I built it for about $430 less than Lehman’s wants for theirs now, using a new-surplus motor from SurplusSales, and a generic sheave from my local hardware store.

      IIRC the Wonder Junior (equivalent to the “Deluxe Model” sold today, except made in USA) that I bought was $235 counting the pulley. They used to sell the pulley with a disclaimer which stated that if you install the pulley they supply, on the grinder they make, you void the grinder’s warranty, which I thought rather comical. I rarely ever send in a warranty card or Web-register, because WRT most of the stuff I buy, I irrevocably void the warranty within a half-hour of purchasing it.

      • “Geez, prices for mills have gone up! ”

        Isn’t that the truth @Ray… what I paid for mine is quite a bit lower than what they are selling for now.. quite amazing..

      • “most of the stuff I buy, I irrevocably void the warranty within a half-hour of purchasing it.”

        Lol I have the let me make it better disease myself..

  5. “Messy Bench Disease. MBD.”

    LOL LOL LOL let us know if you find a cure.. LOL LOL I have the same thing.. the big issue is.. when I get it cleared I can’t find a dam thing LOL…
    I need to hook up my oiless vacuum pump on the freeze dryer..

  6. My biggest innovation in tool organization of recent years has been the aquisition of an oversized zippered duffle bag, which resides in the back of the personal vehicle. All of the tools, hitches, electronics and even spare clothes which once rattled around back there are all contained in the duffle. The main limitation is weight, which is approaching the painful to lift category. Always keep the electronics in shielded dry bags when not in use.
    I keep a separate small and relatively lightweight shoulder pack with things needed to walk home, including a water filter. I can always transfer items between bags to adapt to the circumstance. In winter storm weather, a flat of water bottles or pouches is adviseable.

  7. To relieve bench clutter, you may be interested in my latest invention. It’s a table / bench top that has a timer mechanism that automatically dumps whatever’s on it onto the floor at a preset time each day (say, 3 a.m.). The only key to the lock on the timer is held by the user’s spouse.
    I’m taking orders now for delivery by Christmas.

    • Lemme count: One for the wood/general bench, one for the metal bench, one for the outside/weldiung bench. one for the electronics bench, one for the drill station…

      Got a six-pack of ’em?

    • No need for me to buy one of those benchtop clearing devices. I have 3 cats (LaVerne, Tater and OJ) that perform that function very well. When I can’t find something I KNOW was on the bench, I look on the floor under/around the bench where the cats most likely knocked it. Sure wish I could teach them to pick it up and put it back. Unfortunately I haven’t managed to teach myself that trick yet.

    • At my first TV station we had ONE huge worktable in the center that everyone shared. The boss had one rule: “Clean Up after yourself!” If he came thru randomly and found a cluttered table, he took one arm sweep and swept it all into the trash barrel. The first time a tech had to barrel-dive to find his ‘stuff’… he learned his lesson.

  8. “A place for everything” and everything in its place.

    Good to see G2 made it back to the ranch. Probably I was thinking you were here and he was there.

    Told ya, he would be back there. How is the Farmers Daughter? He met her yet? You met her yet? You will.

    Tool Rule #1. “Put it back where you got it.” Weldtech, Nikiski road, North Kenai, Alaska. My late great Grandfather Harry Barnes (Rip) owner of that school and founding father of the Eagles Club in Kenai Alaska was an underwater platform welder.

    Nothing better than a fat stack of dimes. As my grandfather used to say after kissing his wife, droping 2 raw eggs on a glass filled with budwizer and v8 juice, The bond of the weld will be stronger than the “metal’ that it joins or its a fail. That is the secret to alot of things in life Andy. I clamped my first Arch at Age 11. Back then we didn’t have fancy distractions such as the internet, video games, hell we didn’t have the Walkman then. It wasn’t invented. Phone calls were a dime and all ya had to do up there was dial the last 4 of the phone number to get through. In a small town of less than 3000, life was simple.

    I got a question. I’m not big coin collector except the crypto kind. You remember when I went to Alaska when my step father passed away. My mother gave me my old lucky coin back. I found it on the beach about 25+ years ago, lost it and it was under her dryer at her house for 12 years.

    I keep that coin in my pocket. Like when I found it. Goes everywhere with me.

    Last night a fella showed me a 1924 silver dollar. His “lucky coin” . A Morgan just like mine. So I pulled my lucky coin out. It’s a 1921 silver dollar. Looks brand new. Just like came off the press. We sat them on the table and looked at them. His and mine. I like having something in my pocket that stood the test of time for 101 years. The story coin could tell, all the pockets and places its been, conversations its heard in 101 years. I’m sure it would be interesting if it could talk. I can roll that silver round across all my knuckles over and over and never drop it. I know it well. Or so I thought.

    Well last night. My lucky coin told me and the fella I met one hell of a story.

    Ya see we sat them side by side. Eagles up, looked at them, then flipped them over. Then my lucky coin spoke a big story. Ya see, this fellas coin when you flip it over, the head is facing up direction same as the eagle. When we flipped mine over the head is facing down. Opposite direction. He said I have a lot of silver rounds. All the heads face the same direction as the eagle when you turn them over. Andy, your lucky coin has the head printed on it upside down. That is extremely rare. Never seen one before. I been buying silver rounds for 30 years and I never seen one ever with the Morgan printed upside down like that. You should get it appraised. It’s a miss print. Stamped upside down.

    I said oh, I never noticed that before. You sure about that Mister. He said I’m most certainly sure. You see how when I flip mine over the head is facing the same direction as the eagle and your head is printed upside down? I said ya. He let’s look on line. So we looked on line and all the heads on all the coins we looked at are facing the same direction as the Eagles.

    Who knows. It could be worth more than a dollar. Anyone a coin collector on here know anything about 100 year old miss stamped silver dollars?

    Maybe that is rare? Maybe back then they didn’t pay as much attention to such details. I don’t know. I don’t collect coins. Expect Elons. Got alot of those. LOL

    I’m off go work on some projects of my own. Start a few side business ideas.

    Good to see that G2 made his way.

    • OMG Andy…. YUKK
      “droping 2 raw eggs on a glass filled with budwizer and v8 juice,”

      I like all three of those.. but my eggs have to be cooked.. my V8 and beer cold..( I prefer the spicey v8) and all separate… LOL
      and the premise that it will make you more virile is just in their mind LOL LOL…

      • The engineer’s cocktail… |8-@}

        It was popular back in the postwar-early 1960s period (back when chickens ate chicken feed, and not “chicken chow” full of garbage, growth hormone, and antibiotics like they do today.) The choline in the raw eggs actually measurably raised one’s intelligence and the V-8 was a rapid dose of vitamins. I never understood the beer.

        Oldest bro used to live on engineer’s cocktails during finals week…

        Years later when I started studying nutrition, I learned that one had to consume raw, or minimally-cooked eggs, for several months straight, before the choline in the egg yolk would have any effect on one’s brain-power.

      • The old bloody beer and 2 raw eggs. Breakfast of roughnecks and uhhh

        Yo Adrian! Hahaha

        He did a dozen without the beer and tomato stuff.

        Beat Apollo’s ass and in the 12 th round stood up first.

        Still not as Luke, him and his cold hands. Cool hand Luke didn’t eat them ra tho.

        Speaking of wire. Off to get a new HDMI cord for the computer. Not sure where the old one went. Firing the brain child of the next new brilliant idea, not the same kinda brilliant as the King County idea of putting brale on electric scooters. That was genius! More My kinda brilliant.

        When I was looking in the kids closet for my Hdmi cord, my Aviator Sunglasses jump out and on the floor the case opened up and the glasses bounced out and on to my right foot. Wasn’t what I was looking for. Hadn’t seen them in 3 + years. Forgot all about them. It seems they been looking for me. LOL all excited to see me when I opened the door.

        I love a well oiled machine. The day is still young. Anything could happen.

        I prefer my V8, hemi powered kitty cat, Daaaaaay tone ahhhhh. I will supply the eggs behind the wheel.

        Well upside down Morgan and I are off to the market to find new cord for the brain display.

        Tell G2, Andy says hi.

        As always. Not trading advice.

      • You know Geoge, Roger Waters is coming to town in September. Chili peppers in June.

        I didn’t even know Roger Waters was still alive. I mean he is the brains behind most of the lyrics on Pink Floyd’s Eclipse album featuring on the cover the Silver Sufer.

        Uhem, Last minute changes to dark side of the moon with the uhh prism.

        I look forward to meeting him. Wonder who else will back stage? Probably a bunch of little blue eyes groupies who do everything they say and maybe rolling stone. Who knows. I will be there. That much is certain.

        All comes together, The Big picture, like the 7 days of Creation. Hmmm… Pretty interesting to say the least.

        Cue: ~ Money ~

        https://youtu.be/cpbbuaIA3Ds

        Pink Floyd

      • P.S. you ever notice that in the first movie Rocky, the Italian stallion woofs down a dozen raw eggs and then goes running. In the second Rockey movie. Micky has him chasing chickens train. He catches one and then he wins. Undisputed Champion of the world against Apollo…
        Creed. Not the same guy who holds the earth on his shoulder. But the names the same. Put a whole spin on Winner winner chicken dinner.

        I
        Do

      • Uhem atlas holds the world on his shoulder. Apollo is the sun of zues who is responsible for oraclea and other stuff. Huh. I don’t know why I was thinking Apollo was atlas. Hmmmm.

        Later dude. I got get shit done. Ain’t no time for thumb yapping.

      • “not the same kinda brilliant as the King County idea of putting brale on electric scooters.”

        Russel Targ was legally blind from birth, yet used his natural remote viewing talent to earn himself a California Drivers’ License, and a motorcycle endorsement for his operator’s permit.

        Maybe the folks in SeaTac Brailled those scooters in Targ’s honor…?

      • “It was popular back in the postwar-early 1960s ”

        LOL LOL @Ray… they thought eating raw oysters was good to LOL LOL

        I have one that I suggest to anyone getting pregnant.. when it gets close and they are eager to have the baby.. I suggest they eat a can of unsweetened Goose Berries.. that will stimulate them to have the baby…. LOL LOL then to watch them choke those things down.. unsweetened goose berries are nasty…. LOL LOL eventually they come back and say yes and remember when you had me eat a can of those god awful goose berries LOL LOL LOL
        My answer is always the same.. Yes but you do have to admit.. you did have the baby… LOL LOL LOL
        My grand daughter was pregnant.. and she was in the phase.. dam I wish I would have this baby.. I said.. eat a can of Gooseberries unsweetened.. and a bunch of ladies that had eaten them yelled .. Don’t do it honey your grandpa is giving you a hard time.. I actually have four cans on the shelf just for a time like that. I have so much fun watching them eat them dam things.. and drinking the juice…. LOL LOL LOL…

      • “It was popular back in the postwar-early 1960s”

        @Ray….I do believe I understand why men have told women that eating raw oysters was a good stimulant all these years.. and men of course did it to encourage this idea that the oyster was an aphrodisiac .. sort of like searching for the fountain of youth.. LOL LOL… sort of like thinking that if you swallow a duck liver whole it will cure your flu.. LOL nope it would just make me sicker LOL

    • Andy, it is possible you have an ‘error coin’, and yes they can be valuable. But it depends upon what the buyer is willing to spend. I have several copper cents like that called ‘rotated die’ errors. In the early days of minting it sometimes happened that one stamping die broke loose in the press and rotated. Error coins slipped out into the bag before someone noticed and corrected the problem.

    • I still want my eggs cooked lol
      My beer to be beer and a v8 in the morning… we consume quite bit of v8 around here.. it’s used in cooking and i like drinking it..

  9. https://youtu.be/iBRiNu4okZ0
    https://youtu.be/yjuDRs-dQEM
    https://youtu.be/5FetKtiEzJE
    https://youtu.be/gRW7Hb-0sGU
    https://depts.washington.edu/uwcssc/sites/default/files/hw00/d40/uwcssc/sites/default/files/Mind%20in%20the%20Eyes%20Scale_0.pdf
    Everyone that I share our spare bedroom with.. has to draw a clock.. and a pig.. everyone.. then I go and have a cup of coffee with them..
    Why hasn’t anyone that has questions just handed a sheet of paper and asked to draw a pig on one side and a clock on the other.. it really is good.. the engineer that designed deep water oil drilling platforms .. he failed both tests.. but what I got a tickle out of.. was he was smart enough to have the test givers that would come.. answer the cognitive questions.. LOL LOL.. which I had to tell them.. you do realize he had you answer the questions..

  10. Yo Jorge, just wondering if the truckers in Canada have lit the fuse for the global pop rev? If so, be wary of sympathetic explosions coming to a country near you. Appears that “we the people” have finally had enough. Just a little reminder that nukes are very destructive.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEtldt-FI8Y
    Radioactive wasteland is no place for humans.

  11. How many small parts have been lost due to a densely populated benchtop? Too many for Moi although many times they were located upon declutter ops that were mostly completed long after the project had been completed.

    Shop has been declared off-limits to me until I can pass some test the Pulmonary Dr comes up with. Your welding pics make me want to get out there.

    73

    • If I’m lucky we will overlook stick welding and I will have one toy left.
      God help me if his discovers the aluminum foundry gear – Lionel’s Labs is amazing stuff.

    • Small parts in pill bottles, bigger parts in cereal bowl sized dishes, pix and labels or audio notes for everything, when the job is complicated and one I haven’t done before…

  12. George, for organization, I’m not one to ask…

    I will do a mental job eval, pull the tools I know I’m going to need, and plant these on the workbench or jobsite.

    Say I’m doing an R&R on my washing machine (‘cuz it’ll be upcoming in the next few weeks. Ya can’t have a 40yo appliance work better than new ones unless you invest a little time every 10 years, or so…)

    I will need 5/16 flat and #2 Phillips screwdrivers, 1/4, 5/16, and 11/32 nutdrivers, my 3/8 “portable” socket set, a pair of Vice-Grips and a 14″ pipe wrench. I will also need a drive belt, but have no idea what it is, and won’t know until I get the old one off.

    I don’t like to move from a physical job until it’s done, but every physical job has a “surprise” waiting. If my washer has a defective or deficient valve, I’m going to need a couple more tools, and I won’t know what I need until I tear into it; if there’s a motor wire with burned insulation, I’m going to need my portable electric kit (which I ALWAYS carry in the vehicle I’m currently driving. It goes everywhere my GO-Bag does.) I will wait until I know what additional tools (or supplies) are required, or until I can’t accomplish any more with the tools/supplies I have, before I leave the jobsite, and when I do, I’ll gather everything else I (seem to) need.

    Barring an emergency, the pile of tools, supplies, cleaning/lubricating stuff remains at the site where I’m working, until the job is done. Tools appear strewn but they’re not. Each tool goes exactly where it needs to be, for me to reach it with minimum effort, to do the work on whatever that tool is required to be used for, next.

    I don’t pick-up or put away until the job is done, unless an emergency comes along which requires some of that same tool-set. I use the motivation of the tool clutter to keep my attention-deprived self on-task until it’s completed because if I don’t, something else will come along that’s higher on the “emergencies and imperatives” scale, and I won’t get back to, or finish the current job until I stumble across it — 6 months later.

    I have been the neat, orderly person who puts everything nicely and neatly in its place every night. As a laborer or a garage mechanic I can justify this, but in my personal life, no. Unless I’m being paid for my time, I consider the 10-30 minutes every day that’s required to get tools out and place them where I’ll need them, then put them away at shift’s end, 10-30 minutes of time lost, which I’ll never get back.

    With that said, I’m also one of those people who remembers where stuff is — not just the tool I put down 6 months (or 6 years) ago, although I do remember stuff like this. If I’m lying on the floor, working on a washing machine, or under a car (or whatever), I will remember exactly where each tool is laying, and its orientation, so I can pick it up and use it without looking. The reason I don’t like to move on a job like this is moving around messes with my ability to use tools from memory.

    • All of which would be the template for here. But with G2 (“WTF were you thinking putting that over THERE?”) and Elaine wondering “Where’s my decorating rollers for paint?” I’ve given up.
      We are brothers of a different tool catalog.

      • What really kills me is when a kid comes by and moves something — and not to put it away. 90% of my tool searches are the result of someone else “picking up my mess” or “borrowing something.” I suggest you have patience with G2 when this happens (and it will…)

      • “90% of my tool searches are the result of someone else “picking up my mess” or “borrowing something.”

        @Ray…. mine has been borrowing.. LOL now … My little six year old is going to be the classic tool slut like grandpa.. he was looking for a tool.. that I didn’t have and he said when I told him to ask daddy to buy him one.. His response was PAPA.. Daddy doesn’t buy tools LOL You do..

    • This is a big problem for me. It’s rare that I get to actually work in a shop, even though I have a few. Mostly, the tools need to go to the job which could be anywhere. I’m in the middle of a rather significant repiping and am using tools for pex, copper, plastic and screwed iron pipes, along with standard carpentry tools. This won’t get finished this week and I have an agreement to do something similar this week for a relative 100 miles away. The tools are neatly(?) laid out where I can reach them for now, but once they get gathered up for the intervening job, it’s anyone’s guess how I’ll find them all. Then again there’s the parts and materials……

  13. “Option 2: Maybe I could work out of a toolbox? So, I popped for a Jet 5000 Outdoor Tool Case with Pocket Tool Boards, Black.”

    the kids got me one of those .. it is nice.. but.. I find I don’t want to mess up the arrangement so I use the cabinet tools first..
    Teaching one of the grandkids how to build a dresser.. I sent him to get the router shaper bits.. he came back with the good set.. I said no honey.. I have an older set I use all the time up in that tote.. he got a puzzled look on his face and asked.. ( So who are you saving the good set for..) I now use the good set LOL if your just going to look at it.. let it stay in the catalogue.. LOL

  14. (errata corrected from earlier posting)
    30 SEP 2020 UPDATE 30 JANUARY 2022

    2022 BLACK MONDAY 31 JANUARY AND BLACK TUESDAY 1 FEBRUARY 2022 (DAY 6 AND DAY 7 OF 7 DAYS OF A 20 DECEMBER 5/11/10/7 DAY FOUR PHASE LAMMERT DECAY FRACTAL SERIES.)

    IS THIS THE NONLINEAR SECOND FRACTAL END OF A 1982 13/29 YEAR FIRST AND SECOND FRACTAL SERIES? (OR WILL IT OCCUR IN OCTOBER 2022?)

    LAMMERT ASSET-DEBT SATURATION MACROECONOMICS

    SECOND FRACTAL NONLINEARITY OCCURS BETWEEN 2X AND 2.5X OF THE SECOND FRACTALS ( SEE THE MAIN PAGE OF THE 2005 TEF WEBSITE )

    FROM THE MARCH 2020 EQUITY LOWS A 33/66 WEEK FIRST AND SECOND FRACTAL SERIES ARE IDENTIFIABLE BY THE NADIR VALUATION OF THE SPX OCCURRING ON 30 OCTOBER 2020.
    X/2-2.5X :: 33/66 WEEK EXPECTED SECOND FRACTAL NONLINEARITY IS EXPECTED DURING THE EARLY PART OF WEEK 67 OF THE SECOND FRACTAL.

    THE 20 DECEMBER 2021 FOUR PHASE LAMMERT DECAY FRACTAL XY/2-2.5XY/2-2.5XY/1.5Y :: 5/11/10/5 OF 7 DAYS HAS BEEN EARLIER IDENTIFIED
    ( as the terminal portion of a Wilshire 20 September 2021 17/36/41 of 43 day decay series. ) BLACK MONDAY HAS SHIFTED FROM DAY 10 OF THE THIRD 10 DAY SUBFRACTAL TO DAY 6 AND 7 OF THE 7 DAY 4TH SUBFRACTAL.

    GAPPED LOWER LOW SECOND FRACTAL NONLINEARITY IS EXPECTED IN THE NEXT TWO TRADING DAYS (DAY 6 AND DAY 7 OF THE 5/11/10/5 OF 7 DAY SERIES)

    THIS WILL END THE MARCH 2020 LOW 33/66 FIRST AND SECOND FRACTAL SERIES WEEK SERIES.

    HOWEVER, THE OPERATIVE 20 DECEMBER 2021 5/11/10/5 OF 7 DAY 4 PHASE DECAY FRACTAL SERIES COMES AT THE END OF AN 1807 36/90/90 YEAR MAXIMUM US HEGEMONIC GROWTH FRACTAL SERIES WITH THE WILSHIRE COMPOSITE PEAKING IN NOVEMBER 2021 IN THE 90TH YEAR OF THE THIRD 90 YEAR FRACTAL. FROM THE MARCH 2009 LOW, THE WILSHIRE PEAKED IN NOVEMBER 2021 AT X/2X/2X :: 31/62/62 MONTHS.

    IN VIEW OF THE NOV 2022 WILSHIRE PEAK VALUATION, THE 67 WEEK SECOND FRACTAL 67 WEEK NONLINEAR DEVALUATION OVER THE NEXT TWO TRADING DAYS COULD BE HISTORIC. THIS COULD COMPLETE THE SECOND FRACTAL NONLINEARITY FOR THE MUCH LARGER 1982 13/29 YEAR FIRST AND SECOND SUBFRACTALS FOR THE WILSHIRE.

    The correct three phase decay fractal series starting 3 Decembber 2021 for Bitcoin in USD is 2/5/5 weeks or 10+/26/24 of 26 days. This is the Sunday trading canary in the asset-debt macroeconomic system coal mine.

      • Years ago, I had a dream I don’t remember the details of, but over and over I heard the words….”Fractals, fractals, fractals, it’s all about fractals!”

  15. Working as a TV engineer, I had my own workbench… one of five in the big shop. All the other techs were messy and piled high workbenches. No horizontal surface in the shop was open… except my workbench that I kept clean and open. Each engineer originally was assigned a tool kit. Those left unlocked on a bench were eventually ‘borrowed till empty’ by shop visitors, news personnel, etc that “needed to borrow a screwdriver”. So tools migrated all over the building.
    I kept my toolbox locked. It was my personal kit… not the company’s. I crammed everything I might ever need on a remote assignment in there, and made sure everything was returned to the kit. Heavy as hell.
    Now that I’m retired and equipping the home workbench, I have the opposite problem…. to empty the toolkit and find logical homes for the tools at my bench. George, I sense that your problem will not be solved by simply getting a toolbox. You will not return tools to the box and get frustrated again. What you need to do is treat your entire workbench as your toolkit and RETURN EACH TOOL to it’s assigned workbench space/hanger/etc. when you are finished with it… just like you used to do with your toolbox.
    Getting another tool(box) will not solve the ‘Operator Problem’.

    • “Working as a TV engineer, I had my own workbench… All the other techs were messy and piled high workbenches… Each engineer originally was assigned a tool kit. Those left unlocked on a bench were eventually ‘borrowed till empty’

      I kept my toolbox locked. It was my personal kit… not the company’s.”

      THIS was the type of environment where (and when) I kept things neat & orderly, and put away. EVERYBODY “borrows” tools — NOBODY remembers to return them.
      ______

      ” I crammed everything I might ever need on a remote assignment in there, and made sure everything was returned to the kit. ”

      THIS is like my ‘portable electric kit:’

      It is an “electric kit” because: Although it has an analog VOM in it, it also has a set of Craftsman screwdrivers, Klein chain nose, dikes, and strip/crimp/thread pliers, kits of fuses, crimp connectors, heat shrink, and zip-ties, drill bits, driver bits, stainless wire, 20′ coils of 10ga and Mil-Spec 18ga, plus 14ga and 16ga zip-cord, solder, 12v and 120v soldering pencils, Vice-Grips (7WR), 4″ and 10″ adjustable wrenches, 5″ PCB dikes, scissors, flashlight, pocket knife, break-blade knife, electrical “stretch tape” liquid tape, cigarette lighter, and test jumpers — all housed in a 7x9x13 tacklebox. I put it together to repair anything electrical on a MV or trailer, which could break on a road trip or encourage a ticket-happy cop to notice me… Seems to have had a lot of uses away from my travels, too. When I need to do electrical (not electronic) stuff and don’t need a soldering gun, more-often than not I fish this kit out of the car and work out of it, instead of my bench.

  16. When my sons were 14, they both got small dirt bikes for Christmas. We had a half acre they could ride safely on. I encouraged them to do their own maintenance and repairs. What I didn’t consider, was they would run to the garage, get the tools they needed, and make the repairs out in the dirt. By the end of Summer, my tools were depleted a lot. even with their dirt bikes locked up, their searches out in the dirt failed to retrieve most of the missing tools. I locked my tool box, replaced the missing tools, and bought them both a small tool box as their only Christmas presents. Amazingly, they are now both, at near 50, very careful with their tools.

  17. Or, what the frac, you could save a few brain cells by ignoring the whole divination exercise and just wait for the inevitable crash of [insert targeted investment here]. Gotta happen sometime.
    To everything there is a season. Timing’s a bitch, though. And when it does, every seer will claim it was accurately predicted or quatrained.
    Changing topics: I wonder if Tonga will set the global warming, er, climate change, timetable back a bit. Better buy some warm socks.

  18. Games up boys . Straddled now . You can do whatever you like . But your all going to meet the horn guy . 2 much here boys . Old $$$$

  19. Authoritarian Madness: The Slippery Slope from Lockdowns to Concentration Camps

    In the politically charged, polarizing tug-of-war that is the debate over COVID-19, we find ourselves buffeted by fear over a viral pandemic that continues to wreak havoc with lives and the economy, threats of vaccine mandates and financial penalties for noncompliance, and discord over how to legislate the public good without sacrificing individual liberty. The discord is getting more discordant by the day.

    https://www.rutherford.org/publications_resources/john_whiteheads_commentary/authoritarian_madness_the_slippery_slope_from_lockdowns_to_concentration_camps
    __________

    Now is the Time for Mass Resignations from Within the Ruling Class

    If there is a historical precedent for the truckers’ revolt in Canada, and the populist protests in so many other parts of the world, I would like to know what it is. It surely sets the record for convoy size, and it is historic for Canada. But there is much more going on here, something more fundamental. The two-year imposition of bio-fascist rule by diktat seems ever less tenable – the consent of the governed is being withdrawn – but what comes next seems unclear. We now have two of the most restrictive “leaders” in the developed world (Justin Trudeau of Canada and Jacinda Ardern of New Zealand) hiding in undisclosed locations, citing the need to quarantine following Covid exposure.

    https://brownstone.org/articles/now-is-the-time-for-mass-resignations-from-within-the-ruling-class/

    Long read, but worth it…
    __________

    ‘Freedom!’ Dutch Truckers Join Canadians in Convoying Against Lockdown Measures

    Truckers in the Netherlands formed a convoy on Sunday to protest their nation’s lockdown measures, following the lead of their fellow road hauliers in Canada. A convoy of trucks, tractors, and cars formed in Leeuwarden on Sunday to protest lockdown measures in the Netherlands. The Dutch convoy mimics a major lockdown protest being held in Canada, where thousands have poured into the nation’s capital of Ottawa to rally against vaccine mandates.

    https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2022/01/30/freedom-dutch-truckers-join-canadians-in-convoying-against-lockdown-measures/
    __________

    Freedom Convoy: Truckers cause chaos in Ottawa after second day of protests

    Protesters against a vaccine mandate for truckers crossing the US-Canada border have brought Canada’s capital city to a standstill for a second day. Thousands of demonstrators joined the so-called Freedom Convoy in Ottawa. Police have started investigations after several incidents, including the appearance of swastika flags and footage of a woman dancing on the tomb of the unknown soldier.

    https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-60190452

    It’s possible that there are some assholes amongst the truckers and their sympathizers.

    Bear in-mind it’s also possible the Canadian PTB “borrowed” some of Soros’ U.S. employees for use as agents provocateur to give CBC and TrueDough a talking point against the truckers…

    • Ray,

      You have tapped an interesting chord. The front page of my morning newspaper reads “…A discordant symphony of truck horns blared…”. Years back in Quebec City at the G8(?) confrontations, I think the alleged ptb agent provocateurs were all wearing the same brand and color of workboots.

      An entity that seems to have provided early impetus to the Freedom Canada 2022 truck convoy, now Canada Unity, is a small, right wing Western Canadian separatist party. It’s led by a retired federal government MP. The previous leader was ex-military.

      • Process of illumination…

        People who’re politically right-of-center tend to value freedom — at least as much freedom as their government will surrender. People who’re politically left-of-center tend to value their government as a “nanny State.” “Rightists” typically behave, mind their own business, pick up after themselves, etc. “Leftists” typically misbehave, shove their noses into other people’s business, not clean up their messes, etc. A Leftist will make a big deal out of a litter clean-up event, or other means of donating their time or money. A Rightist will often participate anonymously, if they can.

        Breaking stuff and trashing or disrespecting items of historical significance are not typically Rightist traits. Therefore, although not beyond the realm of possibility, it is more-likely that troublemakers imported from somewhere else are the desecraters in O-town, and not somebody who’s driven from 1000km West of Edmonton, burning $2500 of his/her own money in diesel fuel to do so. From where would such troublemakers come, why, and how financed. I merely look at these three questions from the perspective of Occam’s Razor…

        Justin essentially said he will refuse to meet the truckers, even after he’s “COVID-clear” (no, I don’t believe he caught the bug. I think he’s hiding like the sniveling coward he is.)

        Metro Ottawa is a million and a half people, feeding themselves via a JIT food supply. After three days that food’s gonna be gone. In six days there’s going to be a million really pissed Ottawans. It will take several days to clear the truck-traffic jam, and there won’t be a box of tollhouse cookies hit the shelf until after that traffic jam is cleared. Most of the truckers rented rooms for 10 days to 2 weeks. Let’s see how many times Justin’s ovaries can cycle before the store shelves run full again…

  20. Spain Joins the Euthanize-and-Organ-Harvest Club

    In my first anti-euthanasia column, written for Newsweek in 1993, I warned that if assisted suicide/euthanasia became legal and normalized, it would lead to “organ harvesting thrown in as a plum to society.” Needless to say, I was called a fear monger, alarmist, and hysteric — and those were the polite hate mailers. I was also right.

    https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/spain-joins-the-euthanize-and-organ-harvest-club/

    • “and those were the polite hate mailers. I was also right.”

      scary isn’t it…its like the videos of kids being flown in on the JK express in the middle of the night in NYC… where are those kids going..

      • “scary isn’t it…its like the videos of kids being flown in on the JK express in the middle of the night in NYC… where are those kids going..”

        The network reaps grim harvests.

      • They’re going to every big city and the top 200 cities in Republican areas — AND to the Canadian outback (which I don’t understand…)

  21. Swing State Courts Strengthen Election Integrity In Major Rulings Ahead Of 2022 Midterms

    Several state courts issued major election integrity rulings this week that could have a profound effect on elections in swing states ahead of the 2022 midterms. The Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court ruled on Friday that the state’s “no-excuse” mail-in voting law, also known as Act 77, violates the state’s Constitution which requires in-person voting for most people who don’t fit the state’s list of exceptions.

    https://thefederalist.com/2022/01/28/swing-state-courts-strengthen-election-integrity-in-major-rulings-ahead-of-2022-midterms

  22. Biden Poll Stunner: Only 29 Percent Support Sending US Troops to Eastern Europe in Ukraine Crisis; 76 Percent Reject Pledge to Only Consider Black Woman for Supreme Court

    An ABC News/Ipsos poll released Sunday shows Joe Biden has lost support of the American people, including losing a majority of Democrats, on key issues facing the country, most notably rejecting Biden’s pledge to only consider a Black woman for the Supreme Court and Biden sending U.S. troops to Eastern Europe in the Ukraine-Russia crisis. The poll also delivered crushing news for Biden on his handling of the economy with only one percent believing the economy is “excellent” and just 23 percent say the economy is “good”.

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/01/biden-poll-stunner-29-percent-support-sending-us-troops-eastern-europe-ukraine-crisis-76-percent-reject-pledge-consider-black-woman-supreme-court/

    The real stunner is that this is an ABC poll, and Biden-friendly. Based on previous observation, I shouldn’t be surprised if accurate numbers were 4-6 lower than ABC’s published numbers…

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