Obligatory, 4.28.18

It has been a busy day.  Spent most of the day on the road, doing some errands.  There is still more to do, so that part hasn't been completed yet.

After I got back, I found a page that discusses the Mars Rovers.  Made a cool pic out of its route inside Gale Crater.

If you will note, the "sol" numbers go from top to bottom.  Top is north, so the Curiosity rover is moving south.

It has traveled a little over 11 miles.  Obviously, it is not going very fast.

Gale Crater is much bigger than this shows, so the 11 mile trek has barely scratched the surface of what can be explored.

Follow this thread for more information.

Rare Earths and American Security

Key quotes:

"No shortage of rare earths".  "It is a market problem"

Subway closing 500 locations

Sierra Blanca has one major fast food joint, and that is Subway.

Shucks, where will I eat lunch if they close this one down?

Instead of driving 35 miles for lunch, I will have drive a hundred.

Obligatory, 4.27.18

Now that I won't write about politics, I am a little hard-pressed at the moment to come up with any type of new content.

So, where do I go from here?

There is still my off-grid project, which is nearly four years old now.  Wow.  After four years, there's still nothing out there.  Well, there is the remains of a failed structure.

I retrieved some videos I took from that time.  Unfortunately, there's not enough material there to answer a few questions that I now have.  No, the only way is to go back out there, and that costs money, and I don't want to spend it right now.

What I am looking for is another location for the cabin.  The thought occurred to me, why not build it in the same spot as before?   The problem is the building restrictions.  It was okay to build something simple.  This is going to be something permanent, and so I want it a bit further away from the property lines.  It may be far enough now, but why take the chance?

As for the structure itself, I am settling in on a plan to use the footers as a foundation.  These will require the use of a jackhammer, as the soil is hard as a rock after about six inches or so.  I will go down about a foot and a half.  The current plan is to make a 2x2 foot square base, upon which I will put a cylinder that is about sixteen inches long by eight inches in diameter .  The cylinder will rest inside of the base, and will have rebar for strength.  The cylinder and base will still be a couple inches below ground level.  At ground level, another 2x2 foot square will top it off.  Not exactly, though.  I may put a preformed concrete pod down in it.  The pod has a place where a four x four inch post can fit into it.   The posts will be eight feet tall.

All the posts will be eight feet apart, which allows for a neat fit for standard size boards and studs.

Therefore, the structure can be 24 feet by 8 feet in dimension.  That is about the size of this trailer, so I know that it will be big enough.

There will eventually be a porch on the south side.  This will allow me to avoid having the sun shine on the south side of the structure, and that will help in climate control.

The hardest part of this project will be in getting the foundation in.  Using that jackhammer is not something I look forward to.  With some luck, it may not be all that bad.

Since all the wood is pre-cut, it should be a snap once the foundation is in, and it is square and level.

Cattle panels will not be used this time.  I tried to work that idea in, but it is not feasible.

So, this is my thinking so far.

You know, looking over those videos reminds me of a few things.   One thing, is that this place is really remote.  The other is all of the sand and all of the bushes.  No trees, just bushes out there.

A perfect place for a hermit.

Mankind: The Failed Experiment - by Robert Ringer

Mankind: The Failed Experiment - by Robert Ringer: As I think about the havoc that has reigned throughout the world century after century, I am reminded of one of those ancient-astronaut books I read many years ago that set forth a fascinating theory. The author believed that munificent aliens from another galaxy visited the earth eons ago and created man.  After a long …



comment:



Great minds think alike?  Ha, ha.  No, I did not read this before I wrote my last piece.  But reading this more or less confirms what I was thinking and what I just wrote.



If the USA goes to hell, there's not a damn thing I can do about it.  Neither can you, or most anybody else.  But I am taking it further than this piece.  I am just not going to write about it anymore.



Hopefully, I will remember not to write about it.   Old habits die hard.

Click bait

Morris doesn't really show what this says, so I am going to have to call bullshirt.

Look, if the majority wants to keep this alive, they cannot be that tired of it.

Too bad that they aren't.   This is a fishing expedition.  Imagine conducting a murder investigation without a murder.  Imagine conducting a grand theft auto investigation, when the car is right in front of your eyes, and hasn't been anywhere.  Imagine conducting an investigation of the theft of the Hope Diamond, when the Diamond has never been missing.  All of this is absurd, yet people go along because.... why????

It makes no sense to allow this, yet people go along.  Somebody isn't doing their job right.

New, Explosive Poll: Public Getting Tired Of Mueller – Lunch Alert! https://t.co/i2D4iSUls0

— Greg Meadows (@BootsandOilBlog) April 26, 2018

What wrong with this?

A little snippet of what President Macron of France said about the Iran deal--- he said it was a treaty.

No.  It is not a treaty.  Under the US Constitution, the Senate approves a treaty if it votes 2/3 majority in favor of it.  The Iran deal was never submitted to the Senate for ratification as a treaty, which is what the Constitution requires.  It is most definitely NOT a treaty.

So, how does the President of France say that the US is flip-flopping on a treaty?  Either Macron is lying or he is misinformed.  Either way it is bad.  A president of a major country should not be that ignorant.  If he is lying, why is that being tolerated?

The same is true of the Mueller "investigation".  There is no adherence to law here, but there is the appearance of such.  Why?  In order to fool gullible people.  Is Macron gullible?  It does not reflect well on him, nor on much of this country that it gets this most basic fact wrong.