Prattlings – Page 8 – Random Thoughts

Learning What I Already Know

storing (and misplacing) what we know — metalonmetalblog .blogspot.com

Because I get into a lot of social media stuff, in addition to the traditional reading I do, I come across a lot of “inspirational” quotes and sayings. Most times, these do not reveal to me some previously unknown celestial truth. Instead, they remind me of something I know but have been ignoring. Sometimes I just misplace these nuggets of wisdom, other times I deliberately tuck them out of the way because I’d rather wallow in my inadequacy for a while. That is not a good thing, but we all do it from time to time. Continue reading “Learning What I Already Know”

Peppers by Peter Piper n Polly

It rained during the night last and everything is wet. Too wet to mow, but because it has been dry for most of last week I do not (for a change) have to worry about gnu’s and wildebeests moving if I don’t mow right away.

Last night when I took Bristol’s dinner out to him, I saw a medium sized rat crawl out through the skirting under my workshop and scamper into a drain line that leads up behind the garage – which is right on the edge of the forest. It is getting to be that season, and I don’t want rats taking up residence in my workshop, so I patched the hole it used and put out some fresh D-con packets in places where vermin may find them but dogs won’t.

Among my chores this morning are to can a pint of red jalapenos and a pint of banana peppers. These can be water bathed, so I will use our stock pot to whip them up. It holds up to 4 pint jars. More than that and I need to drag out the big pressure canner, even if I’m water-bathing, because it’s big enough to hold up to 10 pints. It’s also heavy and takes a lot of water to fill it, so I only use that for large batches of water-bathed goods — and pressure canning, of course. But that only takes a little water. Continue reading “Peppers by Peter Piper n Polly”

Well, Here We Go Again

A couple of years ago, maybe a little longer, a tree root grew under the water line that runs from our water well to the pressure tank under my workshop: 80-some-odd feet distant. As the root grew, it pushed upward on the water line. This would not have been an issue had it happened most anywhere along that 80-some-odd foot span (in fact it probably has happened several times) but because it happened right next to the well head, which does not flex at all, the PVC water pipe fractured.

We didn’t know that at first. The water line (and the well head for that matter) are underground. It had been raining a lot, and the ground gets wet when it rains a lot. But when the rains stopped and the ground refused to dry, I began to suspect something.

I hired a plumber who specialized in well work to come see what was what. The biggest problem was that I wasn’t even sure where our well head WAS. The fella who installed it (long ago) cut off the head pipe below ground and buried it. I had a rough idea, but that was all. The plumber watched the way the water moved and found some burbling that indicated pay dirt — or pay mud.

He cut out a piece of the PVC and installed a flexible metal line between the PVC run and the well head so the line could “give” as tree roots bullied it.

The Saddest Realization

The saddest words any parent can hear is their child saying, “I don’t need you.”

The saddest realization any parent can experience is that the child is right.

Where were you when they wanted a lap to sit in and be read to? Where were you when he wanted you to attend his softball games, when she had a recital, when they had some personal crises and needed your guidance? At work? Or saying, “We’ll talk tomorrow, I’m too tired tonight.”

And now that you have come to the point where you want to be adviser, mentor, confidant… they have no need of you. For so long they have fended for themselves they do not need, or want, your input.

You are, after all, just the breadwinner.

Are We There Yet?

We often make light of youngsters’ exasperated query from the back seat of a car that’s been on the road longer than they’d like. And we can sometimes empathize with them when we wait longer than we anticipated for some event or milestone in life. But we need to recognize that these markers are just that, markers – perhaps rest stops – along the highway of life. The real question we need to be asking is, “Where are we going?”

If we have no destination in mind when we set out on our journey, how can we ever arrive? Would we then not be simply driving endlessly from one rest stop to the next – never really accomplishing anything except using up the resources of our life?

But how do we choose a destination? Continue reading “Are We There Yet?”

Steampunk War of the Worlds Video

Anyone who knows me knows that I like classic Sci-fi, and that I dabble around with video. In my case the video is all very basic stuff and nearly all is centered around promoting our foster dogs so they have a better chance of finding a forever home.

Today I came across this video. Using World War I archival footage, some CGI, and reenactment footage, this short film shows what a Martian War of the Worlds would have looked like in 1914. It’s very well done.

Great martian war from PLAZMA on Vimeo.

I have several versions of The War of the Worlds on DVD:

The original Paramount version set in the 1950s with the manta shaped flying machines and staring Gene Barry. Having read the book many times this version and it’s flying machines was a disappointment.
The modern version staring Tom Cruise. Better but still not very faithful to the book.
A 2005 Pendragon version set at the turn of the century (19th-20th) and staring Anthony Piana which uses jerky, stop action photography for the martian walking machines. The movie is long (180 minutes) and the acting is not the best, but I feel this one is most faithful to H.G Wells’s original manuscript.

Because I am such a fan of this book and the various movie take-offs, I very much enjoyed PLAZMA’s steampunk version, even though it’s just a few minutes long I hope you will too. If you do, the project has a web site at The Great Martian War, where more video clips and lots of photographs as well as info about the (fake) documentary they are working on are available. (NOTE: this web page was hosted by The History Channel and has since been taken down. I can find no replacement “home” for them.

Creepy Coincidence

When I came inside after all the yard work was done yesterday, I took off my hat and laid it next to the computer to post the results of our labors to Facebook. Normally I don’t do that. That is I don’t lay the hat by the computer, I post to Facebook quite a lot: it has become the defacto “keep-connected” avenue with almost all of my friends and relatives. Normally I leave the hat near the door so I remember to put it back on when I go out. It keeps my scalp from getting sunburnt and helps protect from flying insects and ticks. Most of our property is wooded, ticks like to drop on warm blooded things from the trees. A wide-brimmed hat also helps keep me dry in a light rain.

A Fedora is my hat of preference. I wear a brown oiled cotton Fedora most of the time, and a straw version for yard work in the hottest part of the summer. Not many people wear Fedora’s anymore, but I like this style best.

I opened up Facebook to post the final episode of our project and what popped up in the ad bar amazed me:

Now, understand that I have NOT been searching for or looking at hats, much less a new Fedora. If I had been, this would not be a coincidence but a programmed advertising ploy.

And I cannot say I’ve ever seen a hat come up in the ad bar before. Shoes and Tee shirts all the time, but not hats. Is it a wild coincidence that the one time I lay my hat next to the computer a hat very much like it comes up in the advertising results?

That’s just too spooky!

Toilet Paper Debate Resolved

The ongoing debate over toilet paper orientation seems to have been answered more than a century ago.

According to an 1891 patent by New York businessman Seth Wheeler, the end of a toilet paper roll should be on the front, or in the “over” position. Advocates of the “off-the-back” position, please take note and flip that roll over when you get home. The science has been settled, the guy who invented the stuff says so.

Mr. Wheeler, the man behind the Albany Perforated Wrapping Paper Company, is also the reason we’re able to tear off perfect squares in the first place: Albany Perforated originally patented the idea for perforated “wrapping” paper (a more modest name for toilet paper) in 1871.

“My invention … consists in a roll of wrapping paper with perforations on the line of the division between one sheet and the next, so as to be easily torn apart, such roll of wrapping paper forming a new article of manufacture,” Wheeler’s 1871 parent read.

Dodging a Bullet

Yes, I admit it: I am sometimes gullible (aka: stupid). Maybe “over-trusting” but I should know better by now.

An acquaintance of mine on Twitter posted an article explaining a utility he uses called FreeMind. It’s an organizer, database, note-taker thing that seems really impressive and useful. His computer runs on Linux exclusively. I wondered if FreeMind had a windows version. I did a search and found it on a number of software sites I did not recognize, so I avoided those. I found FreeMind.com: (I think: or something similar) thought that should be the safest. Downloaded the installer. Ran the installer.

Icons started popping up all over my desktop and task bar.

WHAT THE HEY!? Continue reading “Dodging a Bullet”

Things That Go “Tink, Tink, Tink” in the Night

Mom e-mailed me this morning to say that something had been tapping against the side of her house last night. Of course it was on the outside of her bedroom wall: that makes it kind of hard to sleep.

It was windy last night. Still is. I pruned the pear trees yesterday (I found no partridges) to get the branches away from her house and help the trees grow safely. These trees bear heavily and the branches break under the load if I let them get too long and spindly. Those should not be the problem, but her Satellite TV and power wires are on that corner of the house.

Using the Guys Guidebook to Home Repairs adage of “If it moves and shouldn’t: use duct tape, if it should move and doesn’t: use WD40” I grabbed a roll of duct tape from the closet and went out the front door to head down the hill to Mom’s house. Continue reading “Things That Go “Tink, Tink, Tink” in the Night”