I see several long-time forum threads have been locked/archived because they are too long and creating problems with the website operation.
It's interesting to know they are locked because of length and not for content.
On another site I visit, all the blogs have been archived.
They opened a new site that appears to be dedicated for blogging.
All the individual sites they own had been separate, blogging is now under one umbrella.
I'm finding there are easily 50 new bloggers and no familiar faces.
Many years ago, I was able to purchase rear window louvers for my cars. Some were factory louvers installed by the dealers and some were after market add-ons.
I cannot find them now and I'm not sure who they disappeared.
One YouTube video has a different explanation why they are no longer available, but I didn't agree with that one and I'm thinking maybe they were a hazard if incorrectly installed, so insurance companies banned them.
The ones I had were anodized black aluminum with safety clips for removal and cleaning the glass. I recall there was an 'inside the car variety' sold in auto parts stores... They're gone too!
Summer in South Florida is brutal and the hottest my car has registered this month was 113 degrees F. so, I'm looking to buy some louvers.
For now, there are stick on window shades made from perforated plastic that is white facing out and black facing in. It restricts vision so I'm debating to use them or not.
I checked Amazon and a few car places and the only loivers I found were old inventory for some American sports cars that were never sold. Unless I could get dimensions or actually test fit to see if they work for my car, I'm reluctant to buy something that's non-refundable.
My quest for a rear louver goes on...
It's reported in the news that the Aurora borealis also called the Northern Lights will be visible in several US states and parts of Canada next week. Weather permitting, the activity will be high July 12th and 13th.
The phenomena is described as electrically-charged particles (ions) in solar winds that come from the sun. They move away in waves or a stream of plasma (ionized gas)
coming in contact with the Earth's magnetic field. Some of the ions become trapped and will consequently interact with the Earth's ionosphere causing the ions to glow.
Seen in a clear night sky, it creates a moving shimmering mostly blue-greenish light affect.
This video shows TIME-LAPSE of the lights in Norway 2022:
I was kinda hoping the Republican party would come to their senses about pledging support for Trump. Billionaire Charles Koch has begun running anti-Trump ads. Media mogul Rupert Murdoch who defended Trump for the past six years, has viciously turned on Trump. Chris Christie has stated Trump is all about Trump and not about the American people. George Conway has been appearing on several news and talk shows predicting Trump's fall via the legal system.
These are all Republicans who didn't drink the Cool-Aid.
Who knows, if the documents case gets postponed until after the election, he could have a nice office in prison.
Blog category: Education, because I learn something new every day.
One of the best Sushi restaurants in Boca Raton closed their doors at the beginning of COVID. They had 3 locations (West Hollywood, Fort Lauderdale, Boca Raton) and only the Fort Lauderdale store is still open for business.
Many of my coworkers used to go there for lunch on Friday and always the food was fresh. It's was a buffet style all-you-can-eat lunch or dinner with a grill. The selections for dinner were more, like steamed crab legs and baked salmon, but the price was justifiably higher.
I knew some of the waitresses had scattered to different businesses, many were unrelated to food service. There is another sushi restaurant in East Boca Raton that I go to now that gets so busy you have to leave your name with the greeter and they would call you when a table was available. Always a wait, often 20 to 30 minutes. Much higher prices nowadays but an awesome selection. One waitress from the other place relocated there and it's nice when she's my server.
Plans are to go there tomorrow in the afternoon after the lunch crowd dissipates and before they close to setup for dinner. I'll skip lunch and dinner tomorrow knowing the one meal could be 10,000 calories!
Okay, I'm exaggerating, it's more like 5,000 calories.
Last night, I passed the old sushi place and the building had been repainted, new lighting and the parking lot was re-striped. The sign on the front read: CURALEAF
I Googled the name to find they are a Marijuana Dispensary.
It ain't sushi anymore...
Nearly every day a new video gets posted on news or social media of a fight breaking out on an airplane or inside an airport. Chill out people... crowded airports, flight delays agitated travelers are becoming a norm.
A friend who has a home and business in New York City, often travels to South Florida to his 2nd home. Last weekend there was trouble on the flight and the airplane loaded with passengers awaiting a departure sat in line for 3 hours waiting for takeoff.
Expecting to arrive in the evening turned into late night and all his plans had to be canceled. He frequently travels in business and understands delays but commented the airlines need to fix this problem.
Expecting to arrive early for an important meeting and you miss the meeting or it gets rescheduled forcing you to return another day gets very costly.
There was a time, when someone on a plane got out of control, the plane turned back making all the other passengers suffer. I think the new procedure is to zip-tie the offender, drag them to the back of the aircraft and have police/security 'escort them' when the plane lands.
While doing research on the fate of the OceanGates's submersible Titan, movie director James Cameron (of Titanic movie fame) came into focus giving several interviews about the faults of the Titan, both in design and materials. Cameron has become famous for his deep sea research having many dives to the Titanic as well as explorations to the deepest part of the oceans... The Mariana Trench.
In the Western region of the Pacific Ocean there is a fault in the sea floor about 200 kilometers east of the Mariana Islands. In the 1800's ships dropped weighted ropes to determine it's depth and years later with sophisticated sonar it's deepest point was determined to be 10,984 meters or roughly 6.8 miles.
Cameron has been credited for 33 dives to the Titanic and In a submersible of his own design, visited Mariana Trench in March 2012 in exploration of the ocean floor to return with videos and still images.
Here's a short documentary of James and his submarine:
Nearly all my my cars were in the economy class having manual transmissions. The last group had a Toyota Celica 1.2 liter engine with 5-speed, Hyundai Veloster 1.2 liter with a 6-speed. Four years ago, I switched to a Toyota Corolla with a 2.0 liter engine and automatic transmission. That was different in many ways as it had a Sport Mode. What did it do? Change the gear ratio so the power band made the car quicker in acceleration. It didn't change the horsepower and it didn't affect the steering or suspension.
I only used it a few times. The car had to be at a standstill when changing modes.
My current car a Mazda M3 also has automatic transmission. Equipped with a 2.5 liter engine and sport mode.
In normal mode going 45mph the engine runs 1200rpm. Fast acceleration doesn't redline.
In sport mode going 45mph the engine it's doing nearly 3000rpm and fast acceleration redlines at 6500 rpm. By no means it's a race car, but the modes can be changed 'on the fly' so if I need to slam the accelerator to do a quick move, it's available.
What sport mode doesn't do on this car is change the suspension or steering.
I've read there are some cars in a higher classification (more expensive SUV's) that have economy, normal, sport modes that also affect the steering and suspension where the overall performance in each mode is different.
I used to drive more than 30,000 miles per year and changed cars every 3 to 4 years, just around the time expensive mechanical problems would start. I'm doing less than 20,000 a year now and hope I can keep cars longer. The last purchase was more for seating comfort and the rear storage is slightly taller/bigger.
Sport mode appears to be standard on all the cars I had shopped for, but it's something I will rarely use. However, something I often use is to back shift/down shift that simulates a manual transmission that doesn't need a clutch. So, coming off the highway, I can back shift to slow my speed and since it's all wheel drive, the car stays level where the front wheel drive cars sometimes 'lunge' and the nose dips.
That feature I like!
The Everglades is a swampland located in the southern region of Florida. Roughly 7,800 square miles or 20,000 square kilometers. A levee borders along most of the Eastern developed areas that include Miami & Fort Lauderdale, extending about 200 miles north.
There are a few highways that run north & south some roads that connect to a few west coast cities, like Naples and Tampa.
A natural preserve, you can find several Indian reservations along the way to the west coast. They have several rest stops for food, toilet facilities, gas, fishing and tourism with air boat rides and canoeing.
There are warning signs not to feed the wildlife. If you get caught hunting birds, expect a jail visit.
With certain restrictions, you are allowed to trap & kill alligators and Burmese pythons.
I'm not sure of the history, but pythons aren't indigenous to the area and have become invasive and destructive to the natural wildlife.
Introducing Mike Kimmel, aka the Python Cowboy. Mike sells custom made leather goods from pythons he's captured.
It's nesting season and Mike was able to kill a female python who was carrying more than 60 eggs. It's a major find to keep the python population under control as a fully grown snake can eat an adult alligator.
One of his stories appeared in Yahoo, complete with a photo of this catch.
In 1951 Leo Fender's musical instrument company released an electric bass guitar. He wasn't the first, as electric bass guitars and bass amplifiers were around at least 12 years before. What Fender did was mass market guitars that were manufactured by using ready-made components that could be assembled. This technique was different and Fender held a US Patent for the design. Prior to that, they were individually hand made... a slower more expensive process.
To go along with his bass guitars, Fender released a bass amplifier in 1952 called the Bassman. It wasn't the first, as other companies like Ampeg and Audiovox were already on the market with bass amplifiers. Again, it was marketing skills where the Fender amplifiers were good sales.
The first generation Bassman had one model had a single 15" speaker in an open back cabinet. In 1954 Fender redesigned the Bassman model with four 10" speakers, also with an open back cabinet. Problems with an open back cabinet is half the sound gets lost behind the speaker.
The 1960's brought more changes for the Bassman to be a closed back cabinet with two 12" speakers, followed by a Showman model with two 15" speakers in a closed back cabinet. The Showman was impressive, but wasted lots of space with the size and difficult in transporting to the gigs. That design was called infinite baffle.
By that time, there were lots of bass amplifiers available from different companies usually using 15" speakers in smaller enclosures. Ampeg who started before Fender had a model using an 18" speaker in a compact cabinet called Portaflex that could easily be transported. Good for recording studios, night clubs and small venues, most musicians needed something larger to project the sound to the audience.
Nearing the late 60's Acoustic had a model 360 with one 18" speaker in a large cabinet. The design was called a 'folded horn' and more efficient than anything before it.
Marshall in England was producing cabinets with four 12" speakers that for some has been a standard. Available with speakers suitable for guitar and speakers suitable for bass guitar. If you've been to a rock concert or seen videos, stacks of Marshall speaker cabinets show the audience you are rock royalty.
Everything has limits and speakers in the 50's and 60's could only handle power of 20 or 30 watts. Too high of power would burn out the voice coils. The more expensive ones were less than 50 watts, giving greater output of sound.
So the theory was more speakers were needed for higher wattage.
Speaker designs improved and manufacturers were making models capable of handling 300 watts each.
That started a different set of problems. While the speaker could handle more watts... the paper cones were failing at the flex points around the edges. More research came up with rubber edge allowing for more movement.
They were loud and didn't break apart.
Size wise the industry had 18" woofers for deep bass, 15" for bass and guitar, 12" for bass and guitar, 10" for bass and guitar.
Years ago, Ampeg created a new standard that many rock bassists continue to use. Eight 10" speakers in one cabinet. The theory is, it handles 1,600 watts of power and the 8 speakers are coupled to move more air than any other design.
In 55 years of playing bass, I've tried lots of different combinations... 10's, 12's, 15's, 18's and my favorite speaker size was probably 15" because it develops a nice bass sound even at low volume. I've been shopping for a practice amp loud enough for a small venue and I'm finding most of the 200-400 watt amplifiers available have a pair of 10" speakers.
That combination gets the most wattage, most sound in the smallest package.
So, maybe size doesn't matter.
40-year-old military veteran, Waltine “Walt” Nauta, was Donald J. Trump's valet at the white house and became his executive assistant/personal valet after Trump left the presidency.
Once Trump launched his 2024 presidential bid, his campaign operation also began paying Nauta's salary estimated at $135,000 per year.
He appeared in court last month with Trump in the connection of the classified documents case. Unable to find a lawyer registered in Florida, his arraignment was delayed a month. Speculation is Trump (indirectly) is paying his legal fees.
Although being charged himself, he is a key witness in the case against Trump. The Department of Justice (DOJ) alleges that Nauta took boxes of materials from the white house that went to Mar-a-Lago. During the time the government tried to recover the boxes of classified documents, it's stated Nauta had moved boxes several times.
How did they know?
They were able to obtain security video from Mar-a-Lago including some witnessed by Trump's lawyer when the boxes were moved. What's worse, is he lied to Federal investigators who questioned him about the documents he claimed to know nothing about. They have him on video.
Reports are he stands a good chance of prison time if convicted. Reports also say he was offered a plea deal that he declined. Loyalty to Trump is costly.
Trump's former lawyer, Michael Cohen was interviewed by saying either way, Nauta is looking at serious legal issues and should reconsider 'Flipping on Trump' in exchange for a lesser sentence.
The prediction is Trump will postpone his court date and this may drag out past the election. Walt, could see his court date before the end of the year.
The question then... if Nauta does time for his connection with Trump... what happens to Trump?
My ex-wife wanted to get her niece interested in music, so she bought her a cheap violin and paid for lessons. I contributed a music book and a folding music stand. The whole episode only lasted a few weeks before everyone realized she had no musical talent. The lessons stopped and violin was put to the side. At the beginning of this musical venture, my ex bought herself a cello thinking there would be a musical duet in the making. It was a really cheap one... looked real, but the tuning pegs wouldn't stay tight. I tried some liquid specifically designed to make the pegs hold... failure.
Both instruments came under my roof and were stored in a closet.
When I got around to preparing my house for sale, I had to unload these instruments. Before that, I thought I'd give them a try. I'm left-handed and they were right handed. Shouldn't be a problem... The violin was horrible. I couldn't get a clear tone from it... that's probably why my niece lost interest. It created scratchy tones that made my neighbor's dog howl!
Okay.. back in the case you go.
The cello was unplayable. My daughter listed both instruments on Craigslist and away they went.
There was an Asian market near me that sold clothing, beauty aids, books and medicines. The TV in the front was always playing a video of the 12 girls band. They are a musical group playing Western music with traditional Chinese instruments. The 2-string Chinese fiddle called Erhu caught my attention. On my travels to China 10 years ago, I visited a music store to get to see an Erhu, close up. With the rate of exchange, about $100US could get a student instrument, but I'd have to bring it back through the airport and most likely have to check it as baggage. I found an online seller based in the US who could ship to my door, but a few YouTube videos revealed, the sound they make in a beginner's hands to be 10 times worse than than a violin.
Currently, I've got a collection of guitars I don't play and think if I purchased an ERHU, there would be a 99% chance it would be in a case brought out only on holidays to show friends and family.
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