By the title you can guess where I am going with this post.
I am a big boy and smart enough to know when a deal is too good to be true… Having said that some folks are just over the top dishonest.
I collect and with some luck restore, vintage electronics. I don’t do it for money; I do it because it gives me pleasure. I enjoy repairing something that someone else could not for one reason or another and… Sometimes I simply enjoy the challenge.
This is NOT the lot that I am writing about…
Small transistor radios from the 50’s and 60’s are a specialty of mine in that when I was a kid I thought that it was magic. How someone in one place could have their voice come out over a speaker in a small battery powered device well, was magic.
Thinking back on those days I wonder what I would have thought about smart phones?!
Selling and buying on eBay has its challenges and I think its opportunities for people to be a little better. With the feedback scenario it somewhat forces us to play nice; and that is a good thing.
While we should not need such a thing to play nice, that is simply the way of man. I wish it were different.
I often will purchase a “lot” of radio’s or a lot of some electronic thing that maybe I am looking for one or more of a certain kind in the lot and then sell the rest or repair them and sell them or what have you.
One such purchase was a purchase of a handful of RCA Radio’s from the 60’s.
When they arrived I opened the box and noticed straight away that they all rattled which meant that they had been taken apart. “That was not noted in the description.”
Upon taking the backs off not only had they been taken apart but they had obviously been in some sort of flood situation as they were covered on the inside with mud. “Also not noted.”
To further the “insult” some of them had parts missing from them, also not noted.
I paid a fair price for these as if they were simply “not tested.”
When someone says something like, “I don’t know how to test this.” Translated, “I did everything that I know how to do and this thing does not work!” I get that and I understand that people do this but… to sell something that has been taken apart, things removed from and oh by the way, had been under water! Folks, that is wrong on so many levels. This type of activity gives eBay itself a black eye and I think messes with the whole concept of eBay in that it is a self-policing community.
This blog is about one of those radios and how I managed to bring it back to life in-spite of the fact that it was pretty much ready for the re-cycle bin.
Taking the back off of the radio it pretty much just came apart looking as you see it.
The mud and rust are all one needs to conclude that this was under water and most probably in a flood situation as this is also the way the rest of them appeared.
Normally when water gets on electronics there is an acidic effect that actually eats the traces and I did not see that here.
Removing the circuit board and cleaning both controls with contact cleaner as well as washing the board I could then dry it and apply power to see what needed to be replaced if anything.
One small capacitor by the volume control was the only part that needed replacing. The rest was simply cleaning the mud out of the controls and doing a simple alignment.
Miraculously, the speaker just needed the dust blown out of it and while it is certainly not perfect it plays about as loud and with the fidelity that a radio of this age will have.
Here is the radio after cleaning and repairing with a new battery shield installed.
Radio after repair and cleaning.
People ask me when I am looking, what am I looking for in old electronics….
First and foremost, the case must be in tact.
The more damaged the case, the less of a collectible it is. The problem with transistor radio’s is that they are portable! Portable means that they get dropped, knocked about etc.
One of the radio’s I purchased was a Walkie talkie which I paid top dollar for. When I got it I found that it too had been under water but the board was green with corrosion and since it was surface mount technology with corrosion it was trash.
Folks, I will ding you if you knowingly sell crap. I have not had too many that I have dinged but, I expect some modicum of honesty. I sell as well as I am overly honest about what I sell as I would rather not get top dollar and have a satisfied customer than someone like me who feels the need to blog about it!
If it has been under water, tell the folks, it has been under water or under the chicken coop or what have you. the simple truth is that not everything that you own is worth anything on eBay or Craig’s list or the local junk shop. Somethings just need to be thrown away!
Had the fellow with the handful of radio’s been honest about them I might still have bid on them as the cases looked ok but at least I would have known that I was buying plastic cases that had been under water and, had parts missing!
Many people will not take returns on electronics and do you know why? People will buy them, take whatever parts off of them they were looking for and then return them as not working! So, they have screwed it up for everyone as I will certainly not take returns on electronics!
This is where it works really well if you take the time to “ding” a dishonest seller or buyer. If they do not make it right, than you know what to do.
If you have some old electronics that you would like to sell, drop me a line. I have purchased radios from all over the globe and while I am not trying for a number that would have me move out of the house to store them, I am interested in finding some that I don’t currently have. It does not have to work, it just needs to look good and have all of the parts.
How much do we notice as we go through a day?????
Lisa Beamer on Good Morning America – If you remember, she’s the wife of Todd Beamer who said ‘Let’s Roll!’ and helped take down the plane over Pennsylvania that was heading for Washington, DC back on 9/11.
She said it’s the little things that she misses most about Todd, such as hearing the garage door open as he came home, and her children running to meet him.
Lisa recalled this story: “I had a very special teacher in high school many years ago whose husband died suddenly of a heart attack. About a week after his death, she shared some of her insight with a classroom of students. As the late afternoon sunlight came streaming in through the classroom windows and the class was nearly over, she moved a few things on the edge of her desk and sat down there.
With a gentle look of reflection on her face, she paused and said, ‘Class is over, I would like to share with all of you, a thought that is unrelated to class, but which I feel is very important. Each of us is put here on earth to learn, share, love, appreciate and give of ourselves. None of us knows when this fantastic experience will end.
It can be taken away at any moment.
Perhaps this is God’s way of telling us that we must make the most out of every single day. Her eyes, beginning to water, she went on, ‘So I would like you all to make me a promise. From now on, on your way to school, or on your way home, find something beautiful to notice.
It doesn’t have to be something you see, it could be a scent, perhaps of freshly baked bread wafting out of someone’s house, or it could be the sound of the breeze slightly rustling the leaves in the trees, or the way the morning light catches one autumn leaf as it falls gently to the ground. Please look for these things, and cherish them. For, although it may sound trite to some, these things are the “stuff” of life. The little things we are put here on earth to enjoy. The things we often take for granted.
The class was completely quiet. We all picked up our books and filed out of the room silently. That afternoon, I noticed more things on my way home from school than I had that whole semester. Every once in a while, I think of that teacher and remember what an impression she made on all of us, and I try to appreciate all of those things that sometimes we all overlook.
Take notice of something special you see on your lunch hour today. Go barefoot. Or walk on the beach at sunset.
Beautiful beach and waves of Caribbean Sea
Stop off on the way home tonight to get a double dip ice cream cone. For as we get older, it is not the things we did that we often regret, but the things we didn’t do.
Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.”
GOD Bless you every day of your life. The nicest place to be is in someone’s thoughts, The safest place to be is in someone’s prayers, and the very best place to be is.. . In the hands of God. HAVE A GREAT DAY!
There is not a day that goes by that someone does not try to scam me or “my e-mail” into opening some document. Of course it will be infected or at the very least take me to some porn-site or some site for Viagra or some such non-sense.
I have spoken about these ad nauseam so I won’t go in to too much detail about the latest.
The e-mail starts as an email from the bank regarding a wire transfer that was aborted by my bank from my account. “Click on the link to view the reason why it was aborted.”
There is a number with a dollar amount, my e-mail which was collected from something and…a link to a dropbox account which is where the Trojan or what have you lives.
This could be anything from some innocuous advertisement to ransom ware.
There was no bank logo on the e-mail and hovering over the link you can tell enough that you should not click on it.
The criminals and ne’er-do-wells are forever trying to get you to self-destruct, so don’t take the bait.
Keep really good anti-virus and malware software updated and running on your computer and make certain that your important stuff is backed up to some sort of non-volatile medium.
That question sounds so innocuous, and so simple that some may feel that this is a waste of time to read, much less to write about it.
With recent events around the globe, and here in the US, I am beginning to think that many simply have no clue.
Admittedly, it was a different age when I became an adult. Drinking age was 18 and so was the age for the draft. It seems incongruent with today’s understanding of things that drinking age is 21, and while there is no draft; you can still enlist and still die for your country at 18.
Draft Card
The economy has been an excuse far too long regarding jobs. I think that people have found other ways to survive whether that be living in the bedroom that you grew up in or, making money off of the radar, so you can get government funding to make up the difference.
Drug Deal
The truth is that one set of circumstances will begat the second which in some cases could lead to activities which are less than conventional.
While the Socialist among you believe that this is ok, trust me; you are stealing from those of us who don’t and, you are taking away opportunity and resources from those who truly need it. If that seems harsh, sorry but, you really need to hear the truth. If you think that you somehow are “entitled” to it you are most probably wrong.
Think of it this way: You pull up into a parking lot and the only close up spots are handicapped; you park there anyway as you are every bit as good as someone with one of those plastic mirror hangers that they keep in the glove box for when they too don’t want to park at a distance. I see you do it, others see you do it; have we become so callused, so bereft of what it means to be a loving caring human being that we rationalize that this behavior is somehow ok? Someone that truly can’t walk is going to need that parking place, just like the young single mother is going to need that “assistance” with her bills, and you will have taken it from them because, you somehow feel entitled.
portable handicapped permit
Obama Care has “stuffed up the process” here in the states as many, (too many) companies have gone to part-time and contract employees to avoid paying for health care, thus putting the problem square on the back of tax payers.
Corporate lawyers have figured out all of the ins and outs of the 2000 plus pages of the bill that congress could not be bothered to read before they passed it so, who gets screwed?
Over 50 million folks are on food stamps or some form of government assistance. That number is staggering and bespeaks of a problem that politicians have dealt with by throwing money at it. It is foolishness of epic proportions and because of politics, it has become a pawn or “football” if you will, that is used as a “distraction,” among other things.
This “football” was used during the last presidential campaign. You remember, Romney and Ryan were throwing grandma off of the cliff. Total Bullshit but many bought it because many have stopped thinking. Truth be told, to quote Jack Nicholson, “you can’t handle the truth!”
Smear Add of Romney Throwing Grandma off the cliff
If you watch John Stewart and think that is news, you can’t handle the truth.
If you watch MSNBC and think that blather is the news, you can’t handle the truth.
If you hear only what you want to hear, you can’t handle the truth.
If this describes you, don’t vote. Most probably you are too damned lazy to vote anyway so do the rest of the civilized world a favor and stay home, smoke some more pot and enjoy the mellow tunes from the music coming from the radio upstairs, from your mom’s radio.
This is a pretty pathetic depiction of youth in not just this country, but many others. While “we” learned to seize the day, you learned, let someone else do it. Where did that come from? This victim mentality that exist with you; where did that come from?
I heard of a “professor” who teaches in some college up north telling her students that young white men were the problem with the world? That is the most racist thing that I have heard and this is coming from some “young black women.” Take your white privilege bullshit and smoke it too! If you and the likes of you are preaching this victim mentality; you are injuring your students. In effect you are excusing their poor behavior and or giving them “rational” for future bad behavior. Instead of following in the footsteps of MLK you are following in the footsteps of Satan!
Kathy Bates
Sixty years ago before MLK you might have had some sort of argument, but not today! That excuse is gone and those that hold on to it are simply ignorant; or wish to be so. It was more than just black people and white women that elected Americas first Black President, White guys did as well!
The sky is the limit; not just for white folks but for anyone in this country that has a dream. If you can’t teach that, you should not be teaching.
Some of us with younger people still at home ignore the problem and just think that it will fix-it-self.
As I watched “Failure to Launch” a few years ago, parts of the theme resonated with me as I had kids working for me that lived at home and were clearly making enough money to have their own place. Why?
That movie was over simplistic in that money was not an issue, he was simply too comfortable.
I wonder how many kids that still live at home are simply “too-comfortable.”
Truth be told many have this mentality where they want it now. Instead of getting out of moms house and renting an apartment or buying a starter home they buy a new car, not just new car but a fancy ass new car, and a motorcycle, and of course all of the latest electronic gadgetry of the day. They do this while living in the basement, eating moms cooking and having her do their laundry.
Mom fucked up! She may as well pull a Kathy Bates and take a Louisville Slugger to their knees, it is equally destructive to them as human beings.
Socialism does not work, it may appear to work for a while but at some point in time the money machine will have to stop printing money. When the value of the dollar falls low enough that all of the countries which are currently devaluing their dollar as well will cause an economic destruction in other parts of the world like we saw in Greece last year, the World Bank and others who are playing Monopoly or Alchemy 101 with the world’s finances will find that unlike the big-bang, “You can’t get something from nothing!”
There is this thing called “Macro Economics” but I guess they don’t teach that anymore either.
My guess is that the uber rich are buying something that is “not tied to paper money” of any country. When the feces hits the rotating oscillator and a new world currency is created replacing the dollar the euro etc, they will have enough of whatever it is, to be rich again with the new currency and thus in control. If I had to guess I would say something to do with energy, uranium or even coal perhaps.
The governments, for whatever nefarious reasons that they have contrived are compelled to ruin the world’s economy by printing money, monetizing the debt and it cannot last forever. Maybe this is part of a grand scheme to have a one world government controlled by the uber-rich Gorge Soros’s of the world.
Maybe it is simply short-sighted megalomaniacs playing god while they can, and “fuck the insects” (you and I)!”
I think it is more than likely the latter, if you keep up with the dynasties that we have created over the years and how they came into power you can see that they don’t give up power too easily. The truth is no longer a concept that they subscribe to. Much like Martha Stewart actually spending time in a federal prison for insider trading, the politicians of today need that reality check. Had she been a politician, nothing would have ever been said of it. When a recent Dallas city councilman was caught taking kickbacks his honest to god response was “everybody does it!” That was his total defense and I will be damned if they did not find some judge in another state to let him off. How did they get the venue moved out of state to begin with? What judge could say what he did was ok? Karma is a bitch however; he died.
May all who practice such folly meet their maker in such a fashion!
So what is the lesson, if you want to be a crook, become a politician; and you start that process by becoming a lawyer.
This is what BS looks like in a suit
So, adults, what is it to be an adult?
With power comes responsibility!
As you learn to drive you are “responsible” for what you do with that car. We have laws that you must adhere to if you want to stay out of the “steel bar hotel.” Simply stated, there is accountability for your actions.
As you age and you feel the need (desire) to have sex, much like the car, there are responsibilities that go along with that behavior /action as well. By diminishing “God” we have cheapened life to the point where millions of babies are aborted yearly. So we are dealing with that responsibility “accountability” by murder, legal murder of a baby where it should in fact be the safest, in its mother’s womb.
Obama himself when promoting the “war on women” stated that he “did not want his daughters to be punished by having kids for having sex!” slightly paraphrased but that is what he meant! Have you ever heard a sitting president make such an outrageous statement with absolutely no backlash from the complicit media!?
His answer and the answer of so many today is, “remove accountability!” Baltimore has the same dumbass lame bunch of absolute bullshit reasoning and that is why Baltimore is in the shape that it is. Oh wait, I forgot to tell you that there was some truth coming…. Stop voting for stupid people!
Sure, those six officers are going to get a fair trial right before the hanging!
We deal with adult situations in other ways as well with the casual cheap hotel visit as most “parents” are not too keen on having more people living with them that they can no longer deduct from their taxes, but still have to feed, house, buy clothes for, put gas in their car that they end up paying for, and of course provide high speed internet and endless cable channels because “kids” today merit it!
Hot Pillow motel rented by the hour…
We kid ourselves that they will figure it out, as they are still in bed past the lunch hour because they stayed up all night playing online games with their peers.
More truth be forewarned: When you are old enough to think with your genitalia and act upon it, you are responsible for any and all outcomes and….You should be doing it under a roof that you pay for!
Again we have no accountability for the sperm donors out there, and parents of same; “you fucked up, fix it!”
While the government is seriously doing damage to these folks who feel entitled to handouts and getting them in exchange for their vote, parents are spending their retirements on keeping their kids in the bedroom that they grew up in, or they subsidize them in some way that they should not be doing.
Is there some magic age that you become and adult?
No, it is not a physical age but a level of maturity and character that you develop, if your parents did a good job. Sometimes in spite of the parents people turn out all right and I attribute that to books. Some would say the “grace of god” and that may be true but; just maybe reading is the key to much of what is wrong with the world today.
I would argue that there are some 16 year olds that have more maturity and character than some 30 somethings out there still living at home and playing the role of victim.
Character is doing the right thing when no one is around to see you do it.
Years from now we can look back at how internet pornography effected Gen X.
My gut feeling is that many young men will retard their natural instincts to procreate by taking the safe way out of “dating” by substituting it with self-gratification with internet porn and or Cyber-Sex instead of dealing with the real world of relationships. With this retardation of natural sexual proclivities, I think we will see more young men living in their mother’s basement, living in virtual worlds of video games and other unnatural social settings through the internet. Their social skills will undoubtedly suffer and their marketability will also suffer relegating them to either be a cyber-criminal, programmer or ditch digger. When you exchange your social skills for the virtual world of the matrix, you are screwing yourself!
While this might cut down on the abortion rate, I think it will also affect the age at which kids become adults. I perceive that there will be more mental issues to deal with, because of this unnatural upbringing. We are meant to be social creatures. One way people are tortured is by placing them in solitary confinement. Many people rather be in their own little world today and that really says something about how far we have strayed from who and what we are.
Our social mores of today may change, much like “OMG and pokes” have been substituted for the casual visit, phone call and sincere salutation accompanied by a hand shake, warm embrace and a“how have you been.”
Speaking of abortion…
I have always had a hard-line against it… I do not think murder is a right that anyone should possess. You can dehumanize the baby by calling it other names and rationalize all you want but at the end of the day, it is murder…. And worse than that, it is premeditated.
So, is there ever a time when it should be allowed?
Sadly, I would have to say yes….
If the mother becomes pregnant unwillingly, “rape” than she should not have to bring a child into the world under those circumstances. Make no mistake, the pregnancy should be termed ASAP, not after the child is a living entity. A baby has its own unique blood type and heart beat after 15 days, so before that!
If the mother’s health is compromised to the point of possible death, than that should be “her choice.”
If the parents, either have done drugs or are doing drugs than by all means, terminate the life before it becomes a viable life form. In plain language, drugs-fuck-up-your-DNA “which are the instructions of how to put a life together.” Both the Dad and Mom should be free of drugs before making a baby.
It would be interesting to know how long one has to be free of drugs before the genetic instructions “DNA” are reliable, if ever.
To summarize: take responsibility for your actions. It’s not the government’s job, nor my job, nor your mother’s job! Once you leave school. It is your job. Get a good education. I really don’t want to hear that damned sorry ass excuse about bad schools or what have you. There is the Khan academy online for free that teaches every subject that you could just about think of. FREE! Take some damned initiative!
If you have a lousy teacher take the initiative to get some help from this and other sources online. Instead of gaming or surfing porn, try learning something that you can use.
One of the skills that my employees seems to lack is time management. It is my belief that one could go far by simply understanding the principles of time management and practicing them.
This victim mentality will be your demise and it must stop! You can never truly be an adult if you blame others for your situation. You, you are in control of you. You control your destiny!
Recently I explored a half dozen antique malls of sorts in northern Colorado.
Smart phones have made impromptu research very easy.
I would hazard a guess that when people used to go to these places they were looking for some sort of something that they either used to have as a younger person or, they were looking for some sort of dust-able to go into a specific spot.
For instance many will buy old books that “look good” to set on shelves to appear to give the casual viewer the idea that they are read by the person who owns them. In fact they are there because the binding looks good.
Today we see many with smart phones in hand looking to see what something sells for on eBay, or other auction site. Junk has become an industry for the aging who see this as a revenue stream.
While it is true that most are unpleasantly surprised or taken aback by the fact that what they thought was worth big money is not, some are pleasantly surprised that some of these things that you would think are rubbish, are in fact gold.
Thrift-stores have also become haunts for these folks as once again they are there with smart phone in hand and shopping cart full of “stuff” looking for something to place on eBay. Interestingly enough, even the thrift store operator has done some research and marks their items with eBay prices.
A quick watch of “The Pickers” should educate the public on some simple “junking” etiquette.
In order for me to buy it from you; there has to be some meat left on the bone for me to make it worth my while.
If you want to sell in an antique mall you need to realize that the mall you choose will have less than a 100th of the traffic of some online store, thus cannot possibly command eBay prices. The catch there is that you will pay rent on your space to store your junk and you might make just enough sales to pay your rent so; you are in effect giving your junk to the store owner. If you want to sell in this fashion you must have turnover, which means what you have has to be in demand and it must be priced low enough to tempt the online entrepreneur as well as the casual junk collector to take a chance on buying it.
EBay makes its money much in the same way but they do it in sheer volume, unlike the bricks and mortar antique mall. They charge a small fee for listing and another small percentage of what it sold for.
If I were eBay; I would make that fee variable on the kind of exposure that you get. New sellers do not get the same exposure as established sellers therefor, the same fee that is charged for one should not be for the other. In this manner eBay would encourage new sellers to do what it takes to get better exposure which they already do in typical “nudge” fashion.
I do not believe that eBay is a business strategy for the normal person, although many folks try to eke out a living selling in this manner. It is more a hobby and a way to de-clutter with me. Keeping this in mind, I realize that my efforts are making others rich while trying to get the stuff out of the house and manage my life’s collection of clutter.
As I too shop on eBay for more clutter, it is pretty much a wash as I trade my junk for someone else’s.
If you want to make money at this, specialize in something that you are passionate about. When you see it at some thrift shop, estate sale, garage sale or even some newspaper; you will know if it has value or not thus you will know whether to invest or not.
Those who put their stuff in antique malls not only should your prices coincide with the traffic in that store but, your space should be organized in such a fashion that anyone walking in there should be able to quickly scan your shelves or area to see if there is anything in there that they are looking for. Way too many times I see shelves and crap piled high where the only person who is really looking is a “picker.”
So to the treasure hunter, if you are looking; take the time to dig through their crap and look for that obscure toy or tchotchke that you know something about that may be on the floor under the bottom shelf with all kinds of other crap in front of it.
There are bargains out there but, keep in mind if you find them at an antique mall that could mean that the majority of people in there did not recognize it as valuable, and most likely the same will be true of online visitors.
Marketing what you have to alert the shoppers is than called for. Tell me why I need this thing? What will it do for me?
Did you ever wonder why there are no dead penguins on the ice in Antarctica ? Where do they go?
Wonder no more ! ! ! It is a known fact that the penguin is a very ritualistic bird which lives an extremely ordered and complex life. The penguin is very committed to its family and will mate for life, as well as maintain a form of compassionate contact with its offspring throughout its life.
If a penguin is found dead on the ice surface, other members of the family and social circle have been known to dig holes in the ice, using their vestigial wings and beaks, until the hole is deep enough for the dead bird to be rolled into, and buried. The male penguins then gather in a circle around the fresh grave and sing:
“Freeze a jolly good fellow.”
“Freeze a jolly good fellow.” You really didn’t believe that I know anything about penguins, did you? It’s so easy to fool OLD people. I am sorry, an urge came over me that made me do it!!!
I asked myself, why anyone would put this kind of hatred in a public space and on display for the secular and non-secular world to witness. I am of course talking about new signs popping up touting the killing of Jews as worship.
If you want to conquer a country you must first divide it. It would be much easier to conquer a country divided and fighting itself.
You take control of the media so you can keep control of the narrative.
You divide the folks through propaganda, provided by the media and other outlets like sitcoms and movies that attack conservative values from notable people who we see in movies and sitcoms.
You keep the people distracted through sports venues, 100’s of TV channels and other internet distractions which disseminate a narrative that is in line with an agenda.
Silence dissenting views through arms of the government and you distract with issues which demand your attention through outrageous acts of barbarism.
You pull out a page from a “magician’s handbook” by causing the world to look at the other hand and not the one containing the next “trick.”
You allow or instigate actions which are so heinous that the government is forced by its citizen’s to call out to its government to come in and revise those rights that we hold dear to protect us from the bad people in the world and finally we disarm the citizen’s making them helpless and unable to care for themselves both with armory and even through the control of their ability to fend for themselves if the infrastructure were to break down.
You destroy any candidate from either party that might actually do something to stop this train wreck from happening. Make no mistakes, there are people on both sides that want this country to change and fall in line with the rest of the world.
Let’s see, we have this imaginary war on women, we have racial strife, and we have a division between the law and the people. Now all cops are painted with the same broad brush that a few power hungry cops have used, overstepping their boundaries. We have millions of illegals in the country that the tax payer is supporting through taxes that are burdensome and unfair to say the least.
We have a media that is complicit to the left (far left) calling any kind of criticism of the current regime or the far left established empire of the Clinton’s just foolish talk. We have smoke and fire and a lot of the dots depicting these folks as a dynasty who clearly thinks of themselves as Gods and the rest as insects; being protected by the far left media.
You enlist Hollywood to get familiar faces to speak to its base and against those who see the Wizard of OZ for who he /she really is, just a power hungry money grubbing entity whose agenda is gaining more money and more power, damned the consequences. Even if that means giving control of our Uranium to Russia, though backdoor deals!
The little people, you and I are kept in the dark by this media and when we listen to or hear talk that is of a nature that is diametrically opposite of the far left they we are painted as Tea Baggers and far right loons.
“BTW a Tea Bagger is a very offensive term which means one who puts their “balls” in someone’s mouth during sexual acts, which many find offensive but yet the left really does not care if they are offensive.”
Most of the people have little time to study current events so many don’t spend their precious TV time watching the news. The newspaper is mostly liberal so if they read it they get the progressive point of view. Objectivity does not sell papers or subscriptions and let’s face it, they are left leaning. To further that, a majority of people only care what is going on in the world if they are directly affected. If someone comes to their house and demands their guns or else, they might care then, of course by then it would be too late.
Silencing the opposition through coercion, corruption, bribes and or by destroying their credibility by having people of distinction publically attack them in malicious manners, much like Harry Read lying about Romney not paying taxes to dissuade voters from voting for him. I find it interesting that he had no remorse for his lies and felt that the ends justified the means.
And finally through free speech you allow hate mongers and or other groups to sew seeds of discontent that are so malevolent the people rise up and demand that it be stopped which the government then has a free pass to modify your rights in such a way that you give them up.
That is how we got the patriot act, porn scanners, groping of grandma and children and strip searching of anyone that they like, and the government’s ability to spy on you without a warrant. Do you feel safer now?
The hateful speech in question would require a change in the 1rst amendment which conversely would affect all law abiding citizen’s ability to speak out against those things which they found offensive. By pushing the envelope by allowing these Jihad signs in New York; they are hoping to get enough people to cry out to their government to do something about it.
Top Down, Bottom up, inside out!
Do you really want to forfeit more of your rights, to stop those with hateful rhetoric from offending you?
“A word regarding the second amendment.”
We as people are lulled into a false sense of security. We have the NRA lobbying for the legal gun owner of this country to keep and bear arms. If it came down to a firefight between you and a criminal the odds are good that the criminal would already out gun you as they might have Russian made automatic weapons or even American made automatic weapons as they are not restricted by laws.
If it came down to fighting our government “you know the real reason that there is a second amendment” to stave off a tyrannical government, I know for a fact that drone strikes would not be off the table, much like we are seeing in Syria today where the government uses poison gas on its people.
So, if you are under the illusion that owning a handgun gives you some modicum of protection from anyone other than the common thug, you are dreaming.
If the NRA wants to ramp up the conversation, how about my ability to own an RPG or two?
The bottom line is to vote intelligently and get your news from something other than the liberal left or the loonies out in Hollywood who have some lollipop idea that the world would be great if we all fell in line like the rest of the countries who limit your speech, force PC speech and oh yes, limit your rights to guns or religion and keep you all working for the “common good” thus destroying capitalism.
The only wealthy people are the Gods, and the rest are insects! The insects work for the Gods; or they are exterminated, which one are you?
You don’t need the government to stop idiots. You just need yourself and a few friends who also think outside the box.
Here in the good ole USA we have something in our Bill of Rights called the first amendment.
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
This is important enough to be the “First Amendment!”
Recently a Vet tried to take away a flag from some protestors on some college. The protestors were desecrating the flag to make a point and the veteran was having no part of that.
There most certainly must be a better way for the protestors to get their point across, rather than desecrating that which most of us hold dear, it is their right to do so!
Trampling on a flag is a form of speech according to the law so I have another form of speech that is being abridged and we are doing nothing about it.
She denies doing this for publicity… You be the judge.Being arrested for stopping some students from trampling on the American Flag.
If I am traveling down the road and see some cop lurking in the woods waiting for some speeder; and I flash my lights to warn fellow travelers I can get ticketed.
Folks that is wrong on so many levels and nothing is being done about it. Some days don’t you just feel like a sheep with the cops and other bureaucrats as the big bad wolf?
Flashing my lights is my right under the first amendment. Just as it is my right to flip on the CB or other communication device and warn people.
I have tried this with some success. It is better if you have a passenger so you don’t have to fool with something while driving.Hard to love this…From about the same time as Smokey and the Bandit.One of the best on the market.
The problems are twofold.
First and foremost traffic tickets have been a source of revenue generation and that is wrong as it removes objectivity from the equation. In many cases it turns traffic enforcement into a game and guess what it does for public relations between citizen’s and the police?
Secondly what is flashing my lights? It is a code. What is a code? It is a form of speech, my speech!
This is actually a case for the ACLU… My free speech is being abridged here!
Not only I am well within my rights to flash my lights, I am doing a public service in that I am actually slowing traffic back to whatever the legal limit is; which is the sole purpose of the traffic cop in the first place.
This needs to be a change.org thing.
This will probably be better suited for the states to deal with rather than trying to get those inside the beltway to do anything. They have to take a poll to figure out if they should go to the bathroom much less actually vote on something that matters.
As always, I welcome your input, thoughts and enlightened conversation about this or any of my other blogs.
It was interesting to learn that Willie Nelson is going after his own brand of “weed.”
Just this afternoon there was another story about a couple trying to make a “weed empire.”
I use the word “weed” interchangeably with marihuana because, marihuana is just too hard to spell! I am kidding of course but, if I were stoned; it may very well be too hard to spell.
We live in an escapist society.
There are 150 some odd cable channels. There is Netflix, Amazon, Redbox, other venues of streaming media via Roku, Google, YouTube, Hulu, Apple TV and the list just goes on. If you have the internet; you can distract yourself indefinitely.
There is some year-round sporting activity of some sort whether it be Baseball or some other sport with “ball” somewhere in the name.
There is music of just about any Genre so if you want to just “veg out” and listen to, or play music there is that.
Some people escape into other, darker areas of the internet like online video games, chat rooms, and even pornography. As the matter of fact if it was not for online porn, I doubt that the internet would have ever taken off. I know that Al Gore did not invent the internet but he was trying to get some Chakra’s released with female masseuse which made the news a few years ago so maybe, we could gift him with the title of creating internet porn… ?! Ok, maybe not.
Some of us are news junkies, we can’t get enough and of course we believe everything that we read because it is right there on the screen, it must be true!
Some of us reject the modern day trappings and escape into the Bible or some other Religious quest thinking it a nobler thing to do.
Some escape into books, science, physics, astronomy and snob ourselves out, thinking we are above the fray.
Life is messy
If you want to live in this world you have to get your hands dirty. You have to deal with drama. You have to submit to a government, and all of their bureaucracy.
To survive you have to find a way to earn money and that, in and of itself, has its own sets of drama.
Sitting at a restaurant listening carefully you will hear many different conversations, most of them will center on what someone did at work or what his or her boss expects or how crappy an employee is etc. Drama!
Politics takes on the look and feel of a sports team as people tend to vote for one team or another, damned the facts. The media makes it “easier” by siding with one team or another. They point out all of the bad things that the other team has done, even if it is not true. Hollywood takes a part in that too as they too have a favorite, even though their favorite is most notably the group that ruined every country that its philosophy was ever tried in. That philosophy allows a select few to be at the top and actually has them in the role of parasites living on the sweat and toil of the people who were either foolish enough to vote for them, or those that were not in the majority and suffer from the results of the actions of those that have not the intellect to vote responsibly.
Today some celebrated 4/20 a pot holiday of sorts for Colorado. I am not sure what percentage of people in Colorado actually take part in this “event” but suffice it to say making pot legal has done nothing to raise the IQ of the good folks of Colorado.
We could get into this huge debate about pot use and intelligence as we have done previously with booze use. In the end we would collectively agree that using such substances kills brain cells and then we must ask “how many can you afford to kill before you become a blithering idiot?
I really think that those that partake in such recreational exercises should remove themselves from the voting public. As the matter of fact, they should probably remove themselves from any situation where their opinion matters!
How harsh is that?!
Twenty two odd years ago I was almost killed by a drunk driver. This person not only was drunk, he was taking medications that should not have been taken with alcohol. His powers of making decisions were questionable at best.
When you alter your reality through artificial means it does not take too long before you perception of what “is” matches up with a straight persons idea of what “is, is.”
If we looked at it on a Venn diagram, we may see some areas that are in common but, the odds are great that your perception of reality would not match up with “normal folks”
perception of reality.
If one can no longer relate to the masses, voting would be futile, and could damage the collective.
Common Core and dumbing down our country
I am not certain where common core started and I have to tell you that it is nothing short of a disaster. When rational people who give a damn look at it they ask, “and rightfully so” “what is this shit!?”
Between dumbing down our kids and making things like Marihuana legal, I can’t help but wonder what is going to happen to this country.
The next thing you know instead of the LGBT community rattling sabers because they think that they were not given “more equal treatment” than straight people you will see the stoners marching on DC “if they can find it,” looking to change laws forcing companies to do away with drug test and provide high wages even though their vernacular will consist of words like “cool, and far out!”
Is that why we are forcing companies to pay $15 an hour for people to flip burgers because in their stoned out state, that is all that they are able to do? Are we going to force them to allow being stoned at work?
We are going the wrong way.
I cannot speak from experience as I have never tried anything like this. I do know that recreational chemistry is a gateway to harder stuff, much like beer to whisky. Some can handle it and not become addicted and then there are those that cannot. Once you open Pandora’s box; you really have no idea how you will react and you have no clue what changes will occur.
If this country is going to survive these progressive idiots currently ignoring history, or hoping that you are ignoring it or never learned history, the country is going to need smart people with critical thinking skills. You cannot be your “best” if you are stoned.
Back in the days of slavery it was illegal for blacks to learn to read. The people in control knew that knowledge was power and if these folks ever figured out just how ignorant that they were, and that they were being kept that way to be controlled; that it would be impossible to keep them in bondage.
By dumbing down our kids and by killing brain cells, we are putting yourselves and our kids in the next position to become slaves.
By taking our collective eyes off of the Ball, people like Hillary can spin any yarn that they like. Enough people will vote for her because she is a women, or because they are emotionally drawn to her for one lie or another. She stands a good chance of becoming “madam president” even though she far from an ideal candidate.
If the progressive’s stay in the white house, we may all “need the weed,” just to be able to not give a shit!
Now that the kitty is out of the valise, (pot is legal) we may be looking at the beginning of that transformational change that our current leader talked about 7 years ago. Many, too many Americans are already slaves and are too dumb to realize it. The only difference is that they are comfortable in their indentured servitude. As long as they have the “rights” to the distractions (internet, cable TV, porn…) they don’t care. That is a sad commentary on society.
We can fix things but it is going to take a change from what we are doing. Firstly, we have to get someone in there who knows what to do. There are very few current candidates that I feel are actually in this to “help the country” but rather in it to go sit in that Ivory Tower.
The allure of power must be an incredible aphrodisiac! To have that much power in one’s phone and pen must be incredible! Every decision that one in that position makes has to be perfect! There is no room for error!
No matter what he or she does the opposing side will defame them and call them stupid and of course arm chair quarterback because “they magically know!”
Can you imagine sitting in the oval office or west wing or wherever he or she would make such decisions lamenting over dropping a bomb on someone, or turning the military loose to do what they do?
How many nights do you think that they get a good night’s sleep? The weight of the world is on their shoulder and then there is the first lady or dude that influences them.
When he or she takes time away to play golf or just get out of DC they are excoriated by the press. As a business man I can tell you that more business is done on the golf course than in the office. If I need time to think I go play golf. Usually somewhere between 1 and the 19th hole I have come up with a solution to whatever it was I was working on.
Right now my money is on Scott Walker.
I will really be interested to see who he picks for a running mate. If the Dems had a brain in their collective heads, they would come up with someone to run against Hillary. Her history is going to catch up with her and there are only so many times you can ask “it depends on what the definition of is is?”
If you find my blog harsh, it is really meant to be blunt but not offensive. I have no desire to offend but we do need to wake up! We need to wake up and if we are afraid to talk about things that might offend others we are shooting ourselves in the foot. We must discuss things that are sensitive topics so we have a dialogue vs someone calling the PC police.
Political Correctness is a cancer eating at the fabric of our society, it is time that we kill the cancer.
Political correctness is another progressive idea that is stupid, and past it usefulness.
If you disagree, drop me a line. If you agree let me know. I value your opinion. We as a country must have this dialogue if we are going to fix the things that are wrong.
I have spoken about this bulb before and how we as Americans have been duped into paying for expensive bulbs to replace the .25bulb with one that cost several dollars. Today I had one of these bulbs fail and it was not a normal failure.
Seated inside base of the CFL bulb is this circuit board with a couple of dozen components on it. Fluorescent bulbs work by ionizing the gas inside the tube where it interacts with the phosphor coating the inside of the tube making light.
Let me stop here for a moment and say that I am a large fan of folks who think outside the box. Huge fan! I like it when people don’t accept status quo and look for a better way to do something. The fluorescent bulb is one such invention. LED bulbs are another. I think we can do better and we should.
Having said that I have issues with the government forcing it down our throats by doing away with the incandescent bulb forcing us to adapt “pay for “much more expensive technology.
These CFL bulbs have mercury in them which is bad. These bulbs if broken have special cleanup procedures that just about require a hazmat suite.
CFL bulbs are expensive. Researching the issue I think that they have finally come out with models that work in dimmers but that was not the case with my failure, it was a simple on-off lamp.
The pluses are that these things are supposed to last much longer than a normal incandescent bulb.
They uses about a 4th the wattage of an incandescent.
When an incandescent bulb goes out there is typically a flash associated with the energizing current hitting the filament and poof, you are groping around in the dark looking for a flashlight or other lamp to find a new bulb and replace it.
CFL bulbs start out much dimmer than a normal bulb and while they may get to a brightness that is acceptable, most need that brightness when they flip the switch, not 10 minutes later after it warms up.
CFL bulbs should never be used in places where the light needed is just for a few moments i.e. closets or bathrooms. CFL bulbs should not be turned off before they are allowed to reach operating temperature as doing so shortens their life.
LED bulbs start out bright and as they age lose their intensity or luminance as they age so, a bright bulb will eventually turn into a very dim bulb.
The prices of the alternatives are still higher than they need to be to rationalize an ROI on the product. The average house does not use enough electricity on bulbs to generate an ROI to justify using expensive bulbs. Stores and office building do but, the average home does not.
Typical government thinking is that one house, no, two houses no, a neighborhood full of houses all using $6 bulbs vs .25 bulbs, and you save some energy and the bulb companies make a hell of a lot more money than on a few $0.25 bulbs.
The energy company then has to raise their rates to make up the difference in the losses of lower usage, so everybody wins! Everybody except you the consumer.
Because larger incandescent bulbs are being removed from the market, we are forced to buy an alternative whether we want to or not.
When a CFL bulb just stops working instead of dimly glowing or flickering before its time, why? What happens to it if it simply stops!
The circuit board which I alluded to earlier produces the voltages necessary to make the bulb work. As I have done with the Wall wart in an earlier post, I have also done with the bulb. In my job, I have to determine the “root cause analysis!” What failed and why. In this case it is a design flaw.
Scott’s Bulb Look at the dark area on the board you can see where it has gotten plenty hot!I am not sure if you can tell but, the solder joints that hold on that three legged component which I think is an SCR of some sort (guess) has become much too hot and actually melted the solder away from the pins. This part should have a heat-sink on it. Using the rule of thumb method of engineering. If you cant put your thumb on it because of the heat, better re-engineer it. This is the 100 watt model of the CFL which uses 23 watts.
Here you will see the circuit board and its associated components. You can see where the board has gotten hot, so hot in fact that the solder connection to this part have come loose causing the failure of the bulb.
Failed bulb found on the internet. There are many such stories out there but I am trying to determine why.
One cannot help but wonder how much of a fire hazard that these bulbs are.
I would not leave my house with these things on, as I don’t think that they are that trustworthy.
I would certainly make sure that my smoke detectors had good batteries as well.
One small capacitor by the volume control was the only part that needed replacing. The rest was simply cleaning the mud out of the controls and doing a simple alignment.
Here is the radio after cleaning and repairing with a new battery shield installed.
Radio after repair and cleaning. 
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