TL;DR: Chasing better air for Elaine and me has become a key holding action. So instead of decks, welds, and big shop heroics, we’re trying on the Downsizing ethos for size. Spoiler: putting “less stuff, more life” into practice doesn’t always go as smoothly as the brochure — here’s the ringside account. (What time did you say it was?)
What To Do: When Right Goes Wrong
Happened to me this week, yes sir. But it’s an interesting – maybe useful – story.
I’ve mentioned that Elaine’s memory isn’t what it used to be. We’re doing everything we can to “bar the door and keep us both fully present.” May be uphill, though. Our genetics both have one too many of those damn APOE-4 Alleles. So far, low dose lithium orotate along with red light therapy, and serious vitamin stacks have slowed things to a crawl. But even that isn’t good enough. We want to roll back to 50-something. So the research goes on.
We don’t talk much about the “personal us” because our visits aren’t “us” events – this is the community commons. We’re also not alone, though. Many of our readers are in similar efforts – just one of those things that comes at this end of Life…
So I there I was – working with the AI – and thinking back to earlier in my life – when due to the athsma I’d been using an old Puretron air purifier. Wasn’t a fancy rig – three UV-C (mercury vapor) lamps and a small “Roton” type “muffin fan”. The small fiberglass filter could be easily cleaned and replaced every so often. It’s still around here somewhere, plus one of those $70 “grown-up ozone machines” which is just the ticket for removing smells from damn near anywhere. They also kill mold well.
Still, ozone is dangerous with a capitol D, so I had the AI stack (Electric George) do us a read-in. There’s an important distinction. Negative ions may be great but watch your six on Ozone. (I guess chemically that really ought be “Watch your O3, but you get it, right?)
Negative air ions – those little electrons hitchhiking on oxygen molecules when water crashes, lightning pops, or your ionizer hums along – aren’t just hippie incense talk. There’s decent lab evidence they boost mood, reduce mental fog, and may nudge working memory and cognitive speed by modulating serotonin pathways and lowering airborne crud (dust, spores, viral load). In plain English? Cleaner air + calmer neurology = a sharper shop monkey. We’re not talking woo-woo crystals; high-ion environments (waterfalls, surf lines, mountain air) correlate with clearer thinking for a reason. A $40 desktop ionizer and a few potted plants might not make you Tesla, but they sure beat breathing stale electrons in a sealed shop full of sawdust and solvent fumes.
Thing is, ozone has a downside – very bad for the lungs over time at high enough concentrations. BUT the side-kick of ozone – these negative air ions – better known as NAI’s in the med-world – can actually be good. In fact, I have mentioned on several occasions that lots of people are “negative ion addicts”. You can tell if you’re one of them: If you feeling seriously amped by a shower, love going to be beach when the breakers are smashing, or that crispness in the air after a lightning storm? Put ‘er there, partner – you’re an Ion Addict, too.
As a news-chaser, I interviewed Fred Soyka who wrote the book The Ion Effect back in the mid 1970s. Then I remembered the hit of mental alertness that came with the negative ions. Say, didn’t we have a big negative ion machine we stopped using a long time back? Maybe I should tear it apart and see if I could fix it?
Hand me the Phillips
5-minutes for Elaine to find it. Then 3-minutes for me to make a mess:
Didn’t look too intimidating: There was a circuit board, a fan housing, and inside this compartment, a 3-inch long germicidal lamp over there on the right….
This was the “Oh-oh…” “Hey – Electric George – tell the nice reader why this was the bummer part of this repair project:
“Sure boss! Germicidal (UVC) lamps make ozone because many use quartz glass that lets 185 nm UV through; that wavelength splits O? so it recombines as O?. Great for sterilizing ducts, lousy for lungs. The “safe” ozone-free UVC lamps block that 185 nm line and only pass the 254 nm germicidal band. Meanwhile, purpose-built ozone generators use pure high-voltage corona discharge plates or tubes to crack oxygen cleanly without stray UVC or mercury vapor in the mix, giving a predictable, controllable ozone output. Translation: if you want air sanitation and people in the room, use ozone-free UVC; if you want shock-treatment ozone, get a proper HV discharge unit and ventilate like your lungs depend on it—because they do.”
Well, shit fire and save matches, this wasn’t going well at all,. As long as I was at it – I admit to a certain curiosity about this gob of wires and what looks like a fusible link… A nod to fire safety, maybe?
Unwilling to give up, I considered taking out the “guts of the machine” and putting in a discharge-type negative ion generating stack. You know – half a dozen – or more – of those short frizzy hair like wires trying to discharge to a center conductor. High voltage in, negative ions out…
But the last straw was discovered, sinking the project, when I grabbed hold of the very night squirrel cage blower and gave it a gentle turn. Then harder…then finally it budged – barely. These things ought to spin with even a good blowing on ’em. Death by worn bearings…
“You Didn’t Have One???!!!”
Yeah, right. In that God-awful mess of a shop of mine, with a deeper parts inventory than Lowe’s, you would think a squirrel cage blower would be around. There ought to be a shelf of ’em – right up by the muffin fan shelf. (Yes, 12V and 110 are there…)
Fact is? There IS also one squirrel cage.
Now the bad news (but it’s really good news). The blower I have is inside a very rare (and fully functional) Hallicrafters HT-45 “Loudenboomer” linear amplifier.
And that got me to “Terrible Choice Junction.” It was coming down to:
- Tear apart a highly prized and imminently collectible part of Ham Radio History, removing the blower needed to keep the milk-cartoon-sized Eimac 3-400Z tube cool (when set up and running). OR…
- Shitcan the old air purifier and buy one on Amazon that’s not an ozone generator and relies instead on discharge of electricity.
I will leave you to guess which fork was taken. But, if you need it, the spec sheet on the 3-400Z transmitting vacuum tube is here, if you need to think about it.
“Wait! Aren’t those also called type 8163 tubes?”
Smart-ass. Of course. Maybe 650 watts output two-tone test on SSB on 20-meters and lower. And yes, I know it can be upgraded to a 3-500Z by putting spacers in to lower the tube socket a bit…everyone knows that. But not everyone runs around with the ozone exposure limits in their heads, like we do…
“Prove it.”
Skeptic.
“OSHA pegs the permissible exposure at 0.1 ppm for an 8-hour work shift, and even 0.3 ppm is only tolerated for short bursts. Above that, it irritates lungs, stings eyes, and can inflame airways like you’ve been sanding cedar without a mask. It’s a sharp tool: great for shock-sanitizing empty spaces, terrible as a room freshener. If you can smell it, you’re already near or over safe limits—ventilate and give your alveoli a break.”
Of course, if you didn’t remember, it doesn’t mean you’re joining us in the “memory slowing department.” It’s natural to slow because at this age there is so much to remember . And more piling up all the time as we get older.
Or, maybe our mention of alveoli confused you? Italian, maybe? As in “aglio e olio” (AH-lyo eh OH-lyo) — literally garlic and oil. Understandable to be confused because some OSHA specs do bite and we don’t mean al dente.
More than Lowes?
Maybe I was a bit ugh on Lowe’s a minute back. About not having all the things a Gen-U-Ine Home Handy Bastard could need. But last time I inquired, I couldn’t find a set of Bristol spline wrenches there for the Hallicrafter’s front panel knobs which would have been in peril if the blower had its amplifier homestead.
Believe me – I looked! (Here: You can, too.)
I also didn’t see any 40 uF, 500V low-ESR filter caps, none of the special Glock wrenches (we need 17, 19 and minis and misplace those). Plus a host of 3D printer whizzes and laser whatzits. You would have thought that to Make America Great Again. Lowe’s, Despots, or even Hobby Lobby would carry electronic paraphernalia.
And therein lies this Sunday’s message of Tool Slut Salvation. Home Despots and down Lowe’s are very good general purpose parts sources. Need a 2-by? Got it. But Amazon has them beat (six-ways to what day is it?) on the real specialty tools. Like those Bristol wrenches which are horrifically over-priced ($60) until you really need them. Then there is no substitute for the right tool.
On that, off to try and remember what else I had on the docket today. Maybe that blonde lady can help me remember.
Sensible Takeaway? (Much as we despise those…) Downsizing isn’t always about less — sometimes it’s about keeping the right damn things plugged in and the wrong ones out by the dumpster. As long as it ain’t us.
What Time?
Chicago? Time? Chicago – Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is? (Official Audio)
We wake up. The 4 AM lights-on routine has run by the household AI. “Alexa, did you adjust for Dailylight time ending?”
“Yes, sure did. Made the change at 2 AM. Coming of daylight is like money in the bank, except living in chips, I’ll take the sleep…:”
“We’ll take the cash. And then, being typical American’s, we’ll get up and go piss it all away…”
“Wow. That’s pretty self-aware for someone who lives in a shoe box…”
(rimshot) – Pretty good zinger for a newborn ai before sun-up.))
Yep.. New intelligence is wandering Earth now. Didn’t even come as an interstellar end cap. (With a nod to the cometologists seeking saviors. Don’t look now – already landed.)
It’s our own DIY; a cross between Heathkit’s “learning lab lines” and Lenny Bruce. Are we to play straight-men or foils in this?
Drop by next week for another chapter of modern domestic absurdity meets shop-rat brain.
Write when I…where’d you say I was? Oh yeah…waiting for Lowe’s to carry and assortment pack of 35V monolithic ceramic capacitors, wasn’t it?
George@Ure.net
(If you’re a first-timer, what took you long enough to get here? Go to the visitor center for the read-in.) I have to go think about something now. Hmm…
Stage direction accepted.
Old man tips a battered ball cap, cigar glowing like a vacuum-tube filament on warm-up, mumbling something about “damn electrons never stay where you put ’em” as he shuffles kitchen-ward, smelling faintly of solder smoke, cedar dust, and victory.
Curtain.
(…and scene.)
your a slave to your possessions.
I’m just a vistor Len – and the possessions are part of the scenery and this part of the ride.
in other words,
lego my eggo.
hahahaha
They don’t call them “possessions” for nothing
I could find those Hallicrafter spline wrenches {I guess you have some “splining” to do.} downstairs in 30 minutes or less. The squirrel cage blower might take me half a day, I know I got one at a hamfest in 1986 or so. Around the time I got the giant Nixie tube voltmeter the size of an SX-62, of whom I have two. I guess you have some “splining” to do.
Oy veh Ozone generators. Gotta watch out. Got a Vevor one and used it several times, just got a FEW whiffs very little, and something in the back of my throat was affected and for a MONTH or two I had great difficulty swallowing pills, they would always go down the wrong way. I mean I got very little exposure. If you can smell it it is way too much.
Hmmm..reframe and reclaim time: TSA = Tool Sluts Annonymous
Lol lol lol…that’s me lol TSA …lol lol lol
I have to go fire up the smoker..now how many smokers is to many lol lol the kids are doing a brisket in one .. KSA …
Mine are in the cabinet by my head, next to the Xcelite jeweler’s screwdriver set.
I missed on an auction a few days back — School in Michigan had a complete set of Xcelite bench screwdrivers (flat, Phillips, clutch, Frearson, Bristol, Pozi, etc.) and nutdrivers, and a pocket nutdriver set. I didn’t get a bid in. The lot went for $26. I had already scheduled a stop there – paid $10.50 for a literal ton of sanded maple lumber and was headed to Michigan when the Xcelite auction closed. ‘Still, serious bummer…
The Xcelite “Little Green Tweaker” tiny screwdriver for adjusting those tiny adjustable pots on… literally everything… was a pocket buddy for decades. Electronics store here couldn’t keep ’em in stock as all us ‘service personnel’ would buy them out when word got out that there was a batch in stock.
I carried one, and the matching blue Phillips P12 (P-zero size) in my shirt pocket for many years. I’m sure I still have them (somewhere…)
Does anybody really know ?
Of course – its 25, 6 to 4 Chief – check it out, no I mean watch Rath play that axe – holy crap ! Love dem Horns..
-https://youtu.be/7uAUoz7jimg?si=LP1Tv5hB8PnbkmwZ
Ronnie in the motor shop.
https://hendersonelectric.org/services/
One word response today for the 2 of youse out back there Texas somwheres..
Dihexa
developed at Washington State Univ.
synthetic peptide designed to mimic and enhance the activity of Hepatocyte Growth Factor (HGF) in the brain.
best news of all – its Oral Administration.
come on Man, poopz or get off the pot, not healthy sitting around puzzled and what not, ya gotz to keep moving..dammit!
Move-https://youtu.be/JISGGv8MAyg?si=qZG1y9lvnjo3ryrB
clap it into Ure brain..move!
Money printing – whats it good for? Nothing.
– Print da monay ! Print da food stamps ! Makes perfect sense to support those that cant support themselves due Drugs & Alcohol and or lack of Education. Sure like mother teresa supporting the ghetto orphans – so they could grow up into the sex trafficking networks – real saint that dark one.
domenic frisby – Money Printing -https://youtu.be/k0yv685L2JY?si=K1FyB0Jlll7F38Tz
I thought Clinton’s was the Oral Administration!
Booo…. Hisss….
10 points for Gryffindor !
That’s an insult to the Oral Office, RM.
Off to the Pun-pen… both of you!
re: “Paper Towns”, 2015
feat: Saint Motel & the EIMAC 3-400Z
Folks,
The great white elephant can symbolize “good luck, strength and wisdom” amongst various Asian cultures. In our present day it is possible to take respite from daily concerns in a room of high ceilings with craft beer in hand at San Carlos near Silicon Valley set amongst dilapidated lowrise industrial buildings. The brewer’s website informs that the area had been known as La Canada del Diablo (Devil’s Canyon) prior to the 19th century.
On or about 1948, a pair of theosophist family-raised Varian (“variable, fickle”) brothers and their partners set up shop in the future beer hall. Growth and expansion followed with manufactured goods ranging from the EIMAC 3-400Z to fuses for America’s nuclear arsenal. By 1999, the company completed its metamorphosis on the global stage into a multi-billion dollar corporate trinity. Back in its early days as chance would have it, the company employed a Mrs. Jobs when Steve was still an apple in her eye.
3-400Z is for wimpy ham radio amplifiers. I had a 5kW AM broadcast transmitter that was plate modulated by a pair of 4-1000s glowing cherry red plates. We literally melted holes in the plates with the Rock’n Roll super modulation of the 70s.
THE ION effect.. god I love that book..I only have it in ebook form.. but when it first came out.. it had me glued to it and frequencies.. the subtle dance ..The combination of ions and energy frequencies affects every aspect of life in my opinion—the seen and unseen. From the way we perceive time tgrough our ability to perceive the frequencies—past, present, and future—to the structure of matter and the behavior of light itself, these forces shape reality at its most fundamental level. Ions aren’t just particles; they’re messengers. Frequencies aren’t just vibrations.. they’re architects. Together, they tune our senses, influence our emotions broadcast voice and video, and even guide how we interpret memory and possibility. The world isn’t static—it’s a symphony of charge and resonance. And we, whether we know it or not, are always dancing to its rhythm.
I didn’t think anyone read that stuff anymore..the mysteries of television to turning salt water to gas..
https://youtu.be/Ux5QG0eqFqQ?si=qw_Br0k7lZT3AiZL
George Crickets on your Blue Jays Be a man YOU were WRONG. Looks it even happens to YOU. HAVE A BLESSED DAY!!!
It ESPECIALLY happens to me. Wrong on little things (sportz) right on big things (life) ;-)
Nice Reply I agree with you on the Big Picture you are VERY WISE!!
(bows)
I’ll forgive you for your misguided hate of my Dodgers, & I’ll continue to thank for your words on the real and important things. After all baseball is just a game, even though I’ll always cheer for my Dogers. Maybe they’ll do a threepeat next year.
Ah – there A.G. you have found the line which most of America can’t quite fathom. It’s the line between “hate” and “competition” More in the column today!
see my other comment. he was right in the end, he just didnt know it. but he does now. that is why i laughed out loud and in ASIII when i read what he wrote.
You need a Life or maybe a wife?
why would you ask a thing like that? i allready have all those, many times over, in abundance.
ATL : sad looking at the pile of former piers and lifts stacked on shore. Local fellers are great, know I prefer it just so. Why? It’s my view for the next six months and …
GU ” “… TSA = Tool Sluts Annonymous …” prolly a real bidness opportunity there matey. Gotta © or just clownin’ around? Me? I’m betting on the latter. $5 on black (or red?).
Or, get thee to the BlackJack tables. Listen for a time? I have never tuned into some anti-clockwise vibe but feel it locally, as a table, usually a shoe or two, goes uhm, favorable.
Clockwise – reset clocks yet? I have done one. Will just use that.
Happy Fall Alles,
Egor
The word you want is “widdershins”.
hth,
Dick
George: re: World Series …
That was one of the best … Ken Burns will have to do an encore BB presentation … In spite of the Jays setting Goliath individual and team batting records, little LA David managed at last gasp to bean Goliath’s temple. What a series….
For the week of 31 Oct 2025 The US market cap to GDP reached a frothy record of 223.83%.
This compares to 140% in 2000, 108% in 2007, and 68% in 1987.
It amazing what QE, 6-14% annual GDP deficit spending, and 15 trillion in stock buy-backs – vice investing in R and D to promote US business and manufacturing interest – can do for stock valuations.
Was that the peak valuation? Time will soon tell.
Regarding brain health:
https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1CMjF1EWXk/?mibextid=UalRPS
great find!
Oh my..how could I post some of my thoughts on ions and frequencies and not post a little Clair.. sheesh where was my mind.. enjoy..
https://youtu.be/X-Xxqt6Xdio?si=NwKnPUSJqpn4mJHu
Damn idiots, messing with my computer time! I had to change it to Texas time just to avoid the yearly insanity of musical time. At least the computer agrees with my watch again.
Now how do I force that onto my cell phone? I suppose it doesn’t matter since I rarely use it for more than taking pictures and recording lectures.
that maniac guys stuff on lithium is spot on . i checked it out . hey maniac give some more detail to help folks . got 2 friends in 60s going veg . im ok must be my poor mental health . aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa had to let one go for cage rattler!
I use my ozone generators to kill mold and other undesirables in unoccupied spaces and they work great! My only exposure is to run inside and unplug them, leaving asap.
I’ve not done much with the germicidal UVC, though I did get one during the covid panic. It’s probably useful eventually, if I ever find it again.
the goverment shut down doesnt keep them from taking my taxes. the last paycheck I had, they took out the exact amout as my monthly expenses (rent, utilities, wifi, trash, water and sewer) or federal taxes. to the penny. no taxes on overtime is just a deduction when you file. they still rape your overtime.
let that sink in.
i paid it taxes the exact amount of my monthly rent + untilities + trash + wifi service + water and sewer on a 2 week paycheck. so every month i am paying double in taxes that it cost me to live.
how is that exactly Making America Great Again???
When you are hitting 70+ hours a week, ya kinds like to have that money in the bank, right meow!
not come taxe season where by then they will figure out a way to take it from ya anyhow.
i forgot it was daylights savings time. im working tonight on a Gas Main Project. (and days) Wonder if that helps me some how sum way. the good news is, i will be One hour early to the gym.
and The Morning Coffee and Head call happened an hour early.
Good catching up,
Winning with God within!
“how is that exactly Making America Great Again???”
Without Trump you’d be paying 4x and getting none of your overtime back…
interesting. as i read your commment my alarm titled ~ The Power of God ~ went off to let me know its time to eat and go to work.
i have 7 different Alarm Clocks. all of them have differnt names. i work hard and sleep hard. i always find it interesting which alarm clock wakes me up after deep rest.
lately… it has been predominently the one Titled ~ Jackpot Win!
Regarding the rat race: The only way to win is not to play!
The Rats always win.
As a working tax slave, I was losing more than 50% of my income to taxes… plus doing all the horrid paperwork to keep the IRS from taking even more. I’m continuously amused now to know I’m taking home about the same amount of money as I did ‘after taxes’ before. SS is tax-free, and a tiny pension below poverty level that I owe no tax on. Love my 1040 with ‘zero due’!
So you made more than $600k per year lol??https://www.irs.gov/filing/federal-income-tax-rates-and-brackets
10% $0 $11,600
12% $11,601 $47,150
22% $47,151 $100,525
24% $100,526 $191,950
32% $191,951 $243,725
35% $243,726 $609,350
37% $609,351 And up
Social Security is taxed if
Your benefits may be taxable if the total of (1) one-half of your benefits, plus (2) all of your other income, including tax-exempt interest, is greater than the base amount for your filing status.
The base amount for your filing status is:
$25,000 if you’re single, head of household, or qualifying surviving spouse,
https://www.irs.gov/faqs/social-security-income
https://www.irs.gov/faqs/social-security-income
Aggregate income tax and social security take-out is higher than that, c. Also draw-outs for savings, insurance, etc can be significant. You are reading numbers, but not really understanding Hank’s point.
Once the the earned income stops, then the total number of draw-outs is reduced substantially. For most, the retirement deduction for Medicare/Advantage is the only take-out. The gross income goes further.
Dunno where c gets all the gobbledegood figures. I do my taxes in TurboTax to ensure they are correct. To explain it another way… I get a large SS payout. That SS I receive is NOT taxable. My only ‘potentially’ taxable income is a very small pension amount…. so small that my ‘taxable income’ from said pension is below the poverty level and I owe NO tax on that small amount.
Back when I was ‘working’ I grossed just over $70k. My last year I made considerably more that got my SS payout much higher for retirement. I paid Federal tax, State income tax, and also State ‘business tax’ that in total ate approximately 50% of my gross income, leaving me with about $36k spendable free & clear. Now that I’m retired, I now get about $36k income… tax free as noted above. It has not hurt my modest standard of living from when I was ‘working’… now with a lot less paperwork.
on the topic of The Dogers and The Return of Jesus,
you do know George,
the other translation of the Hebrew word Translated in the King James Bible as “Salvation”
also means “Going Home”
Well Played Mr. Ure. Well Played.
George: I saw a commercial yesterday during one of the football games, for a doctor who is using red light therapy for MacD. I didn’t catch either the city or State. I was on the road all week, and was goofy from being road-weary (which is why I indulged in the mindlessness of :watching: football. I generally only listen…)
Are you getting credit for the work you did with E, back before anyone else knew the relevance of 620nm…?
No in it for credit – that was 2016-2017 = just like never got credit for first wireless darta over commercial radio station in 1983 – or what’s in the new book Mind Amplifiers or coming soon to the new https://co-telligence.com
I think you may have touched a live wire with co-telligence. It may be a portal to a brave new world of man/machine creation.
If you publish using co-telligence on Amazon, do you plan to identify your work as a Co-AI creation?
I think it’s a little scary, but an awesome concept. I may give it a trial run using Grok, which I’ve been using for research and editing for some time.
Although I question your baseball leanings, I stand in awe of the friend I consider a 21st century Renaissance Man.
And I look up to senior novelists who keep puttng plausible plots to paper. Namaste!
We are always standing at a cross-roads – where we were / where we are / where we’re going. Stand up and look around. You are currently standing at the trivium. You can’t go back., physics won’t allow that. You are in ‘the now’ and your only choice is to go forward. Though there are three roads, there is only one path. Forward.
What you have learned from the past is what makes your decisions in the here-&-now., which will take you into the future. The trivium.
You are at the crossroads., what you do – right now – will dictate your future. ., and probably the future of those around you.
You can ignore the here-n-now., all that is going on around you and choose to blank it all out and wait and see what happens. Standing still, right in the middle of the road. A very dicey future, to say the least.
Or you can make some sound decisions and prepare for what the here-n-now is telling you what’s coming down that road. That future road. The only one you can choose. .., and you are about to run head-long right into it. Like it, or not – there it stands, right in your path.
Are you ready for it?
“Stay Frosty !”
“The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed…..”
I Win with God Within.
“Write when I…where’d you say I was? Oh yeah…waiting for Lowe’s to carry and assortment pack of 35V monolithic ceramic capacitors, wasn’t it?”
You’re at the wrong store. I do all my electronics shopping on eBay. Lots of part sources, and you can comparison shop for the best price or delivery methods/times. Lots of Chinese shops now have USA warehouses they ship from. I just got some of those monolithic ceramics to make my 7-pole Chebyshev low-pass filter for an Altoids can CW transmitter.
eBay, Amazon, ARS, Jameco, and Digi-Key and Mouser when I have to.
I keep about 50 others “mentally Rolodexed” but have yet to use any…