Posts

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America is not So Different

Consider the background leading up to current political climates in the U.S. and Afghanistan.  A long insurgent war, the longest ever in fact, has brought us to a stalemate.  Perhaps the lesson to be learned is there ultimately never really was any point to it.  The forces of fundamentalist religion are the common denominator, and the situation is the same here as it is in the ‘Stan.  The fight against oppression and racism will continue as long as religious zealots band together proclaiming their superiority over others.  Rational people should consider the fools pushing abortion, LGBTQ and similar issues from churches across the U.S. as just a western arm of the Taliban.

With economic incentive to continue, the story will not change.  Religion is fighting humanity.  Everything doesn’t need to be a money-making proposition.  How long will it take to figure this shyt out?  Will we ever?

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5712 Summer

Some of these pics were more “mid-summer” from a month or so ago.  Most are pond shots, probably because playing with that has been where I spend alot of time lately.  Just sitting and looking at it is the biggie, because I’ve been hurt pretty bad all year now with this back injury.  January 8th, 2019 was the day life as I knew it, was over.
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Why Don't the Govt. Mutherfuckers Ban Cigarettes, Too?

…Because that might cut into somebody’s bottom line, just like the Sucklers were permitted to spend decades sucking the life out of opiate addicts.  But hey, gotta keep the tobacco companies going, so let ’em slide!  50-some-thousand people a year die from smoking-related illness for fuck’s sake and you don’t see any scare stories about that leading the evening news.  Let’s just overlook the simple fact that the whole vaping phenomenon, whether it is Cannabis, Nicotine, Flavoring or any other thing you may point to – exists solely to keep the tobacco companies in business.  

So what are they doing now?  Ramping up overseas marketing and sales.  What the fuck – gotta get money somewhere.  Might as well focus on the poorest people who cannot resist or fight back.  Ever wonder why the U.S. is so widely despised the world over?  Might it have anything to do with our penchant for exporting greed, violence and death?  Ya think?

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Lower Octaves Complete

Sound upgrade in the garage was accomplished last week with the addition of a JTR Captivator 212.  It’s a Pro Series mid-bass unit, with a heavy steel grill, SpeakOn connectors and thick, truck bed liner finish – perfect for the work environment.  It runs on a Dayton SA-1000 amp pushing a thousand watts of chest-thumping bass.  I expect a patio speaker upgrade to be the last step in completing the stereo systems for the time being.

We bought those SRT-220’s on the garage shelf used in Germany 20 years ago and they still sound great.  The Infinity’s under the eaves out back paired with that little sub are still good as well.  The old Kenwood integrated amp was replaced with the Carver unit because the speaker switching function failed.  It soldiered on with a power-protect glitch after the lightning strike last year, but I knew it was on it’s last legs.

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Another Niteshot Comparo

Inside this time – pretty easy to see the flash in the 2nd shot.  I can see much greater detail on zoom, but the brightness delta is the most obvious.  Starting to wonder if this tech involves some sort of flash management, at least in part.

Some parts of the flash pic actually seem to have better detail on initial inspection, in my eye.

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Mom's Killin' it Too!

The Air Force used to pay me to do this kind of stuff, but apparently it’s now a recreational/sports thing:

 
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9-0 Baby!

Plymouth State are the ones to beat in Women’s Volleyball this year:

All strong wins – not a 3-2 in sight!
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Another Dead Bee

Time will tell how le’Von does in New York, and New England already re-signed Brown for a 1-year $15M deal.  We’ll see if Bell learned anything, but I’m afraid it may be too late for Antonio. Somebody needs to tell this butthead to STFU and grow the fuck up.

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Just What I Needed IV

I get so tired of doing other people’s work for them. But yesterday was progress.  Like I said in the last installment of this saga – probably not the last word.  I understand how listening to old folks complaining about their back problems could become de-sensitizing after awhile.  Sorry, but if you’re not ready to do that conscientiously with real concern, you might be in the wrong business.

Anyway, TriCare (insurance provider) is looking at a re-do or 2nd opinion on the spine eval, and I have a new Primary Care physician, based out of Loveland.  Evidently, this annular tear thing happens to be one of the least well-diagnosed back issues in all of neurology.  Just as I had to corner a surgeon and demand an MRI in June, it now appears I will need to perform a similar instructional session regarding the need for a CT discogram with yet another highly skilled and qualified doctor, suffering from their own hubris and diagnostic inflexibility.

I’ve been meaning to change my Primary Care location for years, but primary care has never been anything I was too concerned with.  They give me drugs I don’t need or want, listen to my healthy heart and lungs, and provide referrals.  I just need that last bit for someone to work on the mechanical and electrical issues.  In my case at least, the so-called “Primary Care” entity has never been anything but a time-consuming scheduling roadblock and source of confusion.

The 3rd thing from yesterday was the VA did manage to re-instate the MKS (physical therapy) consult without another office visit, so that’s something, I suppose.  I had to cancel that appointment last week to go see spine doctor Gerlach in Longmont.  When I called to re-schedule, they told me the consult itself was rescinded?  Deja vu.  Remember the original spine consult from back in July?  (Cue Twilight Zone soundtrack.)  Still a little nervous about submitting to PT without a diagnosis, but we’re on the 9-month mark with a painful, disabling, un-treated back injury at this point. 

Sooner or later I will figure out how to get someone to help me extinguish the fire burning my ass any time I’m on my feet more than 10 minutes.

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The Kid's Killin' It!

PSU Women’s Volleyball is off to a great start, at 4-0 after the first week’s play.  Francie put up awesome numbers, with the 2nd best kill % behind Carabeth in the 3rd match against Hartwick last Saturday. 

That was a tough match, after dominating Colby-Sawyer:  

Go Girl!!  Unfortunately she’s now down with another bout of antibiotic-resistant kidney infection.

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News is not News

NPR ran a story this morning about how Trump posted a satellite image.  Was it the about the Iranian launch accident?  Perhaps something to do with the Euro-Iranian nuclear deal?  Anything about the tweet or picture WRT Iran?  Anything at all?  Reuters is no better.  Today they published nearly back-to-back pieces talking about “hundreds of protesters,” then “thousands of protesters.” Which is it?  Is there any integrity left in the media anywhere at all?

Fuck no.  But you’ll certainly find plenty of patently false information about satellite imagery and editorializing about poor POTUS judgement.  I hate Trump as much as the next guy.  But what I hate even more are the fuck-assed bastards running around playing politics with things as fundamentally simple as news reporting.  Politics and Greed have irreparably damaged our culture.  Nothing broadcast on the airwaves or published on the Internet can be trusted any longer.

Then they push the agenda for an argument about the goddamned weather turned political. 

Puh-leeeez.

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Diff Plate

So I got this diff plate from a guy named Dan on n54.  It was undoubtedly the easiest mod ever –  strictly bolt-on, fit perfect.  It eliminates the acceleration squirm I’ve been noticing ever since getting the thing tuned a couple years ago.  I thought it would need M suspension parts to fix that problem, but never got around to it because they just didn’t appear to be worn in any way.  Best 100 bucks ever spent on a car mod.  No NVH to it I can tell, so not sure why BMW did not properly mount the diff to start with.

Couple other things of note in the pic.  For the guys having trouble getting exhaust lined up, mine was a little uncooperative, but that aluminum adjuster brace did the trick.  It was only maybe a half inch off, but refused to line up until I added that little doo-dad.  The catch can drain can be seen in the bottom-right.  I re-used the old DEF tank line there in what felt like an appropriate thumb-nose to the emissions systems.  It used to muck up the bottom of the car when it pushed out a bit of oil every so often – not anymore, just a spot on the floor to clean up from time-to-time.