Big Media gets it wrong again

As usual, the media gets it wrong. This USA Today article is mainly about interiors that wear out faster than the exterior, but it's not so much because the cars are lasting longer, it is simply that owners are keeping them longer and taking better care of them. 

The fact is the baby boomers are mostly all retired now and living more or less on a fixed income. The money just isn't there anymore to buy a new one so often so we make do with what we have. It's simply more cost effective to do regular maintenance and take care of the car you are driving than to buy a new one when needed.

There is also the fact that we don't drive as much as we use to. While that in itself doesn't make the car last longer (cars that just sit around generally do not last as long due to a lot of factors), only using the car every few days instead of everyday obviously results in less miles being put on the car.

And yes, they are made better than they used to be thanks in large part to Toyota. There is a very good reason why Toyota is now the largest car maker in the world, they simply make better cars and people know that. The result of this is all of the other manufacturers have had to step up their game a lot to keep up. 

The Asian manufacturers, in general, seem to produce the highest quality cars these days. Japanese and Korean auto workers seem to take much more pride in producing a quality product. Not far behind, China has made great strides in this area as well. The days of GM and Ford ruling the world are short lived if you ask me.

The good and bad of YouTube

YouTube is a wonderful outlet for anyone with a video camera and some basic editing skills. Having been a part of it for as many years as I have, I have seen some very good videos and some very bad ones as well. Separating the good from the bad channels can be a problem all it's own.

Part of the problem has to do with the balance of friendship and boredom. As an example, consider the days of old when you had friends who would make home movies or take vacations pictures and invite you over to view them. Very few of these were hardly worth watching, mostly because your friend's idea of things that are interesting would not match your own. But as a friend you felt obligated to sit through them no matter how boring they were.

Fast forward to the present where we have YouTube. Now we have the ability to pick and choose what we watch or don't watch. Whatever your interests are, there is more than likely a video or channel dedicated to that subject. Great! What could possibly go wrong with that? Let's take a look.

Over the years that YouTube has been around, a lot of folks have gotten the bug to make their own videos and post them on their channel. No problem there, watch or don't watch, the decision is yous. But here is where the problem begins.

Say you begin to have a following. Not much at first, but your subscriber base grows. Like it or not, you feel obligated to return the favor and subscribe to their channel. You figure if they like what you are posting, surely their tastes must be similar. As long as that is the case, there is not much of a problem, but here is the rub. Maybe they subscribed at the request of someone else and are just doing it out of loyalty to a friend. Oops! Now we have a problem.

And the problem gets worse the more subscribers you get. You don't want to be a snob so you hit the subscribe button on their channel and so it goes until you are subscribed to so many people who post videos you care nothing about that you simply can't keep up watching them all in a day and so you just don't watch any!

I think everyone needs to find their own solution, but what I did was to politely explain to some of the people I subbed to that I might not watch all of their videos because the content didn't interest me. I think most reasonable people understand that.

I also tend to skip through videos that I have little interest in. You can still comment just by looking at the comments made so far and from the parts you watch. It may not be totally fair, but when you get so far behind it's almost mandatory.

I've also found that people I once found very interesting are no long interesting or post videos that are boring. Those I may just click on and then go directly to the end so that YouTube will mark it watched. I hate seeing videos in my subscriptions that are not marked watched.

And finally I've gone through my subscriptions and unsubscribed to those I don't enjoy at all. Life is too short to waste watching videos I am not interested in at all. To be fair, if anyone doesn't want to stay subbed to me because of that I completely understand.

I would be most interested in your method to cope with this problem. :)

What's happening in July?

Guess I've been too busy lately to type anything here. Making videos, providing transportation to our newest job recipient (Lexi) and just all around living in general. Yes Lexi got a job at the local Arby's restaurant about the time school was out for the summer. She absolutely loves working there, at least for the time being. It seems the longer one works at almost any job, the less they are lovin' it. LOL

I've been busy in the shop as well, currently building a power supply for an AM transmitter kit that I recently put together. The power supply is a regulated 12 volt DC and should be finished sometime this weekend. I made it out of an old 12 volt lamp transformer and put it in an old computer power supply case. I do plan to paint it, but haven't decided on a color yet.

Also went to my rheumatologist yesterday in Greenwood, IN. Had a good time being with granddaughters Jordan and Kylie, as well as great granddaughter Lainee. After the doctor visit we ate at the Skyline Chili near there and had desert at Cold Stone Creamery. Man was that some good eats!

 Also assembled another power supply kit recently that I bought at Banggood. Main reason I bought it was it's price. Hard to find electronics kits that cheap. Plus I will use it with the breadboard that I got off eBay sometime back. I have started a BB series on my channel for playing around build circuits that might possibly be useful on the bench. First one was on voltage doublers and that was done in preparation for another bench project coming up.

The other project I'm talking about is adding one more panel to my variac output besides the AC (0-150 Volts) and the low voltage DC (0-50 Volts) that I recently added. As you can see in the picture,

the outputs are clearly marked and the DC panel is on the left and AC on the right. A recent addition to the AC panel is the addition of binding posts for those times I need to use some low voltage AC for projects on the bench. The last addition of outputs from the variac will be a voltage doubler which will add higher voltage DC (0-400 Volts) for testing old radio circuits for leakage. When that is finished, that will complete my original plans for the variac output.

That's enough for now, maybe I'll be back again in another 6 months or so. :)

Waiting... is the hardest part

Good afternoon world, I'm sitting here in my living room, freezing my tuchas off (My body has not acclimated to cold weather yet), waiting for a package by way of the United Parcel Service. This particular package has taken what seems like forever to get here. I bought this item on eBay a full 7 days ago (November 16th), and it is just now scheduled for delivery today.

I realize this was sent economy shipping (UPS Ground), but it seems to me it was almost purposely delayed along it's journey. As you can see by the graphic insert, it took almost 5 full days to get from California to Illinois. I don't know what kind of mule train UPS uses, but that seems a bit slow. Then it sat in Illinois 26 1/2 hours waiting for it's trip across to Indianapolis. A 200 mile trip that took almost 4 1/2 hours. Google says the trip should take 3 hours and 12 minutes, but I will admit this was not a bad time considering the package had to be scanned, loaded, transported, unloaded and scanned again. Anyone familiar with expressway driving knows the UPS semi drivers don't waste much time. 😃

I suppose it all boils down to being impatient when you are waiting for something to arrive, in this case I think it was somewhat justified. But then I've had packages delayed by any and all of the package delivery services, including my beloved USPS. 

I think my foul mood stems from other sources as well, YouTube video watching has dropped off significantly, no doubt due to the holiday season. Speaking of that, I did produce one yesterday worth a chuckle or two of me singing. If you are brave enough you can check that out here: You asked for it

Well it's now 1:22 PM and it's still not here. Now it's a contest between UPS and the weather. Rain is moving into the area as we speak. Would be nice to have it here before the rain, but I suppose a few drops of moisture won't hurt it much. Sometimes the drivers don't like to leave a package when it is raining hard so then I would have to get up and go to the door when he comes and I don't want to do that either. Man I am in a foul mood. LOL

Well I was hoping to cap this off with a picture of the item when I opened it, but that's not gonna happen. Guess you will have to wait for the next time I decide to write more here or if you follow my YouTube channel you will surely see it before then. Have a great day you all and a very happy Thanksgiving holiday as well. 

What am I up to tonight?

Not much. Had a fairly busy weekend, with a trip to Vevay to see mom honored at her church along with 3 other 90 year old seniors. Then they had their once-a-month dinner afterwards which was also nice. I was kind of wore out after all that so I went to bed last night about 10 and didn't get up until 10 this morning! My sleep habits lately have been less than consistent, so I was due to catch up. LOL

Also got to see my sister and most of her children while at church yesterday. That was really nice as I had not seen her since she broke her leg and was in the nursing home. She was looking pretty good and the kids all seemed to be well.

To my surprise, my son and his family also showed up, so it was a really good family day. Everyone has such busy lives these days it is truly great when we all get together. It didn't seem as important when I was working, but now that I'm retired I can see much more clearly just how important it is.

The trip down and back home was made much more pleasant by the company of my two granddaughters, Lexi and Kylie. They don't get to come over as much these days so it always fun to see and talk with them. In less than two years, Lexi will be off to college and Kylie the year after that, so I won't have much chance to see them after that.

I did get a couple of packages in the mail today. One them actually arrived on Saturday, but I was unable to get it out of the mailbox parcel locker. The key would go in, but it would not turn. I called the post office this morning and they told me the carrier would get it out when she came. I was a little surprised when she knocked on my door a short time later with not one, but two packages! Always fun to get packages in the mail.

One package contained a small multi-meter which needed repair from a YouTube friend in Michigan. He also sent me some other switches and cables, etc. that will be useful in my shop. The other package was also from a YouTube friend in Ohio. He sent me a couple of nice microphones to use with the karaoke machine I had gotten for free some time ago. He said one works and the other doesn't, so that will be featured in a future repair video.

Almost 10 PM here, so guess that is enough for tonight. Doubt I will go to bed right away, but I usually retire to my room about this time to win a game of Solitaire on the computer in my room before I go off to dreamland. Nite, nite.

Election Night - 2016

Ah yes, voting in the presidential election has come and gone. Who will lead this great land next? No idea. I really have had no interest this year at all. Seems everyone and their brother has had an opinion on YouTube and Facebook. I'm sure Twitter was the same, but I hardly check that these days.

Obviously I know who is running and who my preference is, but the truth is I don't really care what the outcome is, I just want it to be over! At the time I am writing this (9:47 PM), this is what's happening:

These early results probably don't mean anything, but it is difficult not to notice a trend which follows the last election with the red states in the heartland and blue ones mostly on the coasts and big cities.

I've always been a firm believer that who is president really doesn't matter all that much to the common man. He will get up and go to work just the same no matter who wins. It may matter to those who are in the upper classes a bit, but even those people will hardly be affected by the outcome.

Now congressional elections do matter and until those who are in power now are replaced, little will change. It's time we got back to the founder's intentions that our representatives be businessmen and not the professional politicians who now occupy the offices. I really think it's time for term limits in the house and senate.

Will it happen? No. And for good reasons. Who makes the laws? You got it, congress. Why should they vote to limit their power. Until a shakeup occurs in congress, we will see little changes in the way this country is run.

Just my thoughts on the subject for what it's worth, and it wasn't worth me taking the time to vote today so I guess it's not worth much at all...

Well now, can it be true? Am I really composing another post in the blog? Well, it looks like it. Since I've been so busy with YouTube, I have really neglected this blog totally. I can't promise I will post on a regular basis here, but today I was in the mood to do just that. So what all have I been up to for the one year plus that I have not posted here?

A good question. I think mostly it's been YouTube, but I have worked on several electronics projects in that time period as well. I've gotten several items from eBay as well as other places and of course visiting family and friends, all of which does take some time.

It's probably been as long since I've worked on my Buick as well. Poor thing has been sitting without being started for about a year now. I did try to start it this spring, but when it would not start in the normal amount of time if usually does, I just left it be and went on to something else. No doubt a gas problem, but it seems every time it sits for a few months it has a gas problem. Either the pump won't pump it up from the gas tank or it's not strong enough to get up to the carb. I have no doubt if I put gas in the carb it would probably start.

I also had ambitious plans to sand the top and start the painting process on that, but it was just so much easier to sit here and my chair and ignore it. I'm getting to the point now that I need to either do something to it, or consider selling it. No sense in letter it just rot away out there.

On the arthritis front a lot has happened. I did see a Rheumatologist as mentioned in my last post, and he did prescribe something to relieve the attacks I was having. He was unclear on the exact problem, but from what I gathered it was mostly gout attacks and for the time being that much has been resolved, I still struggle with my bad knees, but at least I can walk now which is a great improvement to be sure.

The problem is now that I was supposed to see him this spring but got a call that he had a family emergency and had to cancel my appointment. It was rescheduled to a later date and I got the confirmation call the day before, but when I drove all the way up there and showed up about 15 minutes early, the receptionist put a note on the locked door saying all appointments were cancelled for the day.

That was the last contact I have had with his office. No one ever called or contacted me in any way. So now I will ask my regular doctor to recommend another Rheumatologist to see. Hopefully one a little closer this time. Took over an hour to drive up to Indianapolis to the old doctor. I am only taking those pills one every three days as that seems to keep the attacks from happening and also serves to make them last a little longer, so I'm sure it will all work out


I've moved my electronics workbench to the kitchen since last we spoke, My granddaughter Jordan moved in with her baby (Lainee) and stayed for quite some time. Then she moved out and my grandson Billy moved in and he is still with me. So the extra bedroom has been occupied with no sign of that changing for awhile. No matter, I like it just as well where it's at now and I'm getting ready to add yet another set of shelves on this end to accommodate some of my new test equipment. Stay tuned for that!


I won't go into all the other things that are new, you can check my YouTube channel here to go there and see what all I've bought in the last year and a half. Suffice to say there have been a lot of new (to me) things show up here over that time period. I bought a bunch of new stuff for my repair bench as well as some fun things too!

I guess that's about all I have for this time around. Hopefully I will be more faithful in updating things in the future, but I won't promise anything. :)

Well, I was wrong

All this winter I had been thinking, up until now,  how mild it had been and thought maybe we would have one of the milder winters of the past. Well I was wrong. I know people in the north eastern US would not have agreed with that premise at all, here in the midwest it has been fairly nice for the most part. All that changed within the last week or so.

Lexington, KY (2-17-2015)

Temperatures have dropped to the below zero category with a forecast of minus 10 tonight. Snow has blanketed the area but I suppose we here in Seymour were a bit better off than a lot of places in the Kentuckiana area. I'm guessing we got maybe 4 inches or so, but my sister (Melody McKinney) in Lexington, KY sent me this picture which shows a bit more snow than that. You and Jim stay warm sis.


While the snow is bad, the real story is the frigid temperatures. I know people with arthritis understand how cold, cold weather affects them, but the thing I don't really understand is how your body knows how cold it is outside. I've been in my home for the duration of this latest snow and cold snap, but still my arthritis is acting up just as though I were out in the cold. In fact, it started before the storm and cold even got here, as if it knew it was coming. Very strange.

Fortunately on the arthritis front, I am now scheduled to see a specialist in Indianapolis on the 13th of next month. Hopefully that will lead to some more effective treatment because I really don't like being trapped here in my bedroom. Even the few steps to my attached bathroom is very painful and difficult.

Even though I have a couple of projects waiting for me in my workshop/spare bedroom, I have been unable to get to those for the last couple of weeks. One is a GE (model P-975D) AM/FM transistor radio of late 60's, early '70's vintage. The radio is complete, but had badly rusted battery contacts. After soaking in CLR and some wire brushing, I was able to put the batteries in to make contact and the radio appears to work very well considering it's age. I still need to clean up the case and controls, but I think there is nothing major wrong with this set.

Project number two is of slightly older vintage, around 1949 to be exact. It's a GE (model 150) 5 tube AC/DC battery portable AM radio. As seen in the picture, the speaker grille is missing some pieces, but I hope to have another case on the way soon. Also one of the tubes (1R5) was missing, but I managed to find one on eBay and that has been shipped here as well. Once I get to feeling better, I hope to to give the ol' girl a try.

I guess that is all I have for now, hope to write more soon...

Where the heck have I been?

Have no fear, I am back. Never really went anywhere, just got out of the habit of posting here. Can't promise I will post here regularly once more, but I'm posting now, so that is something at least.

I've had a lot of arthritis problems as of late and they have kept me from typing at the keyboard for the most part. Oh I could press a key or two with a couple of fingers, but nothing like I am doing now, which is touch typing.

I've also been busy with other projects, such as building an electronic repair bench and then videoing me working on various things there. You can view those on my YouTube channel and looking at the Electronics playlist.

I've done a little work on my Buick, I replaced the passenger side floor that was rusted out. Had the help of my granddaughters Lexi and Kylie for that, plus my brother-in-law Jim came up from Lexington, Kentucky to weld the new panel in. The next project I hope to accomplish on the car is painting the roof. I plan to use a roller and Rustoleum paint. Should be interesting.

Speaking of Lexi and Kylie, they have been learning to cook here on Wednesday evenings. I pick the girls up after school each day and their father usually picks them up after he gets off. But on Wednesday, he works late and Kylie has youth group, so it was decided that they would take turns cooking dinner here that evening. It has been interesting, but mostly good. I'm happy they are learning this valuable skill.

My favorite recent photo

I'm sure most of you already know this, but I became a great grandpa for the second time since last we spoke. My oldest granddaughter, Jordan, gave birth to little Lainee Rene' Eaton on September 30th of 2014. She was Born at 4:22pm, weighed 7lbs 15oz and was 21inches long. 

As a bonus, Jordan and her brother Billy moved into the place across the street from me. How nice is that? Sure is nice to have family living close by. Both of them are pharmacy techs at the CVS in Columbus, Indiana. My daughter Autumn, or Mimi as she is known now that she has a grand child, does most of the babysitting while Jordan is at work. 

So you can see, I have been fairly busy, not so much doing anything in particular, but just living life each day. BTW, it is 2:47 AM here and I'm mostly typing this because I can't sleep. I have a lot of those nights lately, but considering I went to bed about 9:30 the night before and didn't get up until 9 this morning, well, that does cause one not to sleep at a normal time I would think.

Hope to be more regular here if possible. Thanks for listening...

Windows phone users who hate Bing, rejoice!

Yes, for those of you who actually use a Windows phone, but hate when you press the search home button and Bing pops up, I've found a way to make Google come up instead. Mine is a Nokia Lumia 920, but I know this trick works on other brands as well.

The trick is to set your set your browser search language in settings. I thought this was a joke at first, but it works!

To get started, access your phones settings. From the main screen you can swipe to the right for the app menu and go down to Settings. Once in Settings, swipe down and choose the language+region settings. At the bottom of this option is the setting for Browser and search language. From the list which comes up, choose and select Bashkir (Russia). Press the center home button to return to the main screen and then power off your phone.

Power on your phone once it has completely shut down and hit the hourglass button on the right bottom. To your amazement, the Google search screen will appear!

I've heard from some that this messes up YouTube as it appears in Russian, but that was not the case for me. YouTube works the same as it always has on my phone.

To see a demo of this fix, you can watch this YouTube video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWwViHOtzpc

BTW, it shows in the video choosing plain russian, but I knew from reading other posts on the subject that the one I recommended works. This may be the reason why my YouTube didn't change to russian, which is a good thing.

Grocery shopping

I've always known that Walmart was the cheapest place to shop for some time now. This comparison makes my point very well, even though it ranks Aldi the cheapest. I don't even consider Aldi though, as they don't offer many name brands and are limited in sizes, etc. For me, this was/is all about comparing Kroger and Walmart strictly on a lowest price basis.

I buy my groceries one month at a time and have always been able to get more for my money at Walmart. This was even after using a Kroger card for additional savings. I pity the fool who shops at Kroger without one of those, they are paying through the nose for items!

Because my food needs are very basic, as well as the fact that I only eat twice a day, I can usually eat what I consider well for $100 or less a month. On months that I need to use my money to pay a bill or some unexpected expense comes up, I can survive on much less actually.

I do this by eating a lot of single items like chili for example. I always get the Armour Star chili with beans for $1.14 a can and buy 30 cans of it for $34.20. That is supper for a month for me if need be. A couple of boxes of the store brand crackers and this is a very good meal for me!

If I want variety, I substitute Banquet frozen dinners and pot pies. At $1.00 each for the dinners and only 80 cents each for the pot pies, I can save even more!  At these prices I can even afford to buy the occasional treat like beef stew and bean soup.

For my breakfast meal, I sometimes purchase the El Monterey brand family packs of burritos for which I can get a full months supply for about $13. Put one of these on a napkin and pop in the microwave for a minute, and instant breakfast! That and a bottle of water to take my pills with is all I need to last until supper time.


Naturally I spice things up from time to time and add a few more items to the list, such as Great Value pancake mix or maybe a box of cereal and bananas to top it with. And I also buy other items for the supper meal too from time to time, like frozen pizza or maybe even hamburger helper.

The point is, I can eat cheap if I need to. Some might find my way of doing things bland or boring, but it satisfies me and that is all I need. And yes I do include veggies in my diet from time to time as well. I might even make a meat loaf if the mood strikes me.

I have not really mentioned what I drink with my meals, but that is simply water. I used to buy the discount diet soda, but I've found that I like water even better when I eat. Bland yes, but better for you in the long run.

To those who say this diet not healthy, I can say that while I was working, my primary single daily meal consisted of deep fried chicken tenders and taters after work. Considering this, I look like a health food nut now!

They are at it again.

As one of my many news sources, I sometimes click on Yahoo and read their news feed. Imagine my shock when I saw these two headlines on the same newsfeed page:

'Duck Dynasty,' 'American Idol' Suffer Big Ratings Drops in Return

‘Duck Dynasty’ Season Premiere Gets Ratings Boost Following Controversy

Both stories appeared within an hour of one another and both were sourced to the Yahoo TV news site. So what is a person supposed to think? If you click the links and read both stories, you will see that the actual facts are pretty much the same. 

The difference, as usual, is a question of the writer's  or editor's point of view. In the news game, and it is a game, it never hurts to talk out of both sides of your mouth. Covering both the pro Duck Dynasty crowd as well as it's detractors, it's easy to see what the goal of these two articles were. And that is to get the maximum number of people to read the article. After all, ad rates are based on how many people view/read a story and with headlines like this, you get both the pro and con sides reading basically the same story.

Where Yahoo messed up was to post both stories within site of one another. Of course that makes a person want to find out both sides of the story, but imagine the disappointment when they found out the story was basically the same. Perhaps others don't care at all, but I tend to read the Yahoo newsfeed with a jaundiced eye. Too many things don't add up there for me.

TWIT TV fumbles again

I used to think Leo Laporte was a smart man. His Twit TV network seemed to be doing well. But lately, my viewing has tapered off a bit and now, with his latest decision, I probably won't watch at all.

What decision is that? You ask, well I'm talking about the failure to renew Tom Merritt's contract in favor of Mike Elgan,  (Mr. Personality as I call him). Tom may have moved to LA, but I thought his TNT show didn't miss a beat when he started doing the hosting remotely.

As with all such decisions, I'm sure there is more to the story than is being told. At one point, Leo had mentioned handing over more of his duties to Tom, but the handwriting had been on the wall for some time now.

First thing I noticed was Tom's absence on Leo's Triangulation program. I believe Leo passed that off as Tom not wanting to do the show any longer, who knows for sure what happened there. I realize in the business of show, personalities sometimes clash and no doubt Leo would get his way in any such debacle.

And just to be clear, what Leo and his gang do is considered show business. It may all be about tech related stuff, but when it comes to getting in front of a camera, the only thing that matters is how well you pull it off. And Tom Merritt did a great job, he was witty, personable and seemed to be at ease in front of the camera.

Mike Elgan, while I'm sure he is a good tech news journalist, has none of the qualities it takes to be an on-air personality. Maybe Leo thinks he can bring him around and loosen him up a bit, who knows. I have to admit that Fr. Robert Ballecer is doing a much better job than I thought he would do. So maybe Leo can work his magic with Mike as well.

It will be an interesting experiment to be sure, but one I probably won't catch. I feel sorry for Leo, his decision will affect Twit TV much more than it will Tom Merritt. Tom will land on his feet and I believe come out of this even stronger. Best wishes to Tom and his wife Eileen Rivera as they continue their new Twit-less life in LA.

And to Leo, I was with you from the start, watched all of the shows you were involved in, good and bad. But I've grown tired of your ways of late and will probably not watch Twit so much anymore. Good luck to you with the new setup, may you be happy and secure in the knowledge that you have managed to alienate yet another viewer. Maybe that is your goal in life, who knows...

Google doesn't get it

There is a sizable number of YouTube users who are fed up with Google's recent push to have all YouTube accounts added to Google Plus. It's funny, the largest of any of the so-called social media sites must resort to trickery and deceit to recruit new members.

If Google Plus is so great, how come Google has to resort to using it's clout to force the YouTubers into it's fold? Facebook and Twitter never did that and they seem to be just fine. I guess Google wasn't secure enough in it's product to do it the old fashioned way.

I like (and use) a lot of Google products (including this blog), but I want to pick and choose which ones I use, not have it dictated to me by Google! Maybe Google is copying Apple as they have forced their desires onto their users since the beginning of time. Apple knows best, now Google too?

Most YouTubers will go along with the changes, but I can totally guarantee that most a) will not like it and b) will not ever use Google Plus. You can't force people to do something they don't want to do Google, get that through your thick corporate head!

And while I'm on the subject of Google bashing, this push to get everyone using their real name for all Google accounts is bullshit. Pardon my language, but it upsets me to no end for companies like Google to allow people to use their internet handle or nom de plume as the French might say, to set up their accounts and then have the gall to come along and want you to change it to your real name.

I set up my internet moniker a long, long time ago and I am known by that name (mosslack), in all of the sites I visit and use regularly. Now I'm just suppose to change all of a sudden b/c Google has some vision of world peace through people worldwide using their real name? Get real Google, this is real people you are dealing with. We like our anonymity on the internet. We don't care to have our real identities known by every internet scam artist who comes along. Stop living in a dream world!

Those bad boys in the media are at it again!

If you have read almost any newspaper, news website or listened to any news media outlet recently, you have no doubt heard about a little thing called Black Friday. Everyone in this country knows what it is, so I won't bore you with those details. But I thought it would be interesting to see how the news boys reported the success or failure of this year's big event. Keep in mind that all these photo/headlines, were gathered within a minute or two of each other.

CNN Headline

First up, CNN. Looks like things couldn't be better. No need to panic here, What could possibly be bad about this news. Well, it really all depends on how you look at it. If that is all you read then perhaps you might think everything is fine.

Fox News Headline

Hmmm, Fox News has a different slant on it. Can you imagine them actually relating violence to this peaceful event. There must be something wrong with their brains! How could two major media sites see it so differently?

NY Times Headline

Okay, we don't want everyone to panic, so lets go back to the good news again. This time we look at the New York Times. These guys would not lie, so this must be the way things really are, right? Well, we could go across town a few blocks to see what the other side makes of it.

NY Post Headline

Oops, back to more violence, how is this possible in the same city, only a few blocks apart? Someone surely is not getting their facts straight. Either that or they don't want you to know there are problems associated with a democrat sitting in the white house.

USA Today Headline

And finally, USA Today is clueless, as seen by their headline. They don't know, or don't want to say, as they are obviously asking for your opinion.

Okay, just a little holiday fun for the blog this year. Actually it would be funny if it were not true. Unfortunately, even after being called on it, the liberal press still thinks they can pull the wool over your eyes.

How Many Times Has This Happened To You?

One of the all-time best things I used to do when I was working was to come home and relax in my vibrating recliner and listen to my 1968 Magnavox console stereo softly playing music from my MP3 collection. The warm, rich sound from the old console style stereo just can't be beat for it's ability to lull one gently to sleep. BTW, the one in the video linked to above is not mine, but it is exactly like mine, right down to the model number 1P3712. I believe my cabinet is better condition though.

Then one day I came home, had my dinner and decided it was time for a nice little nap. I had iTunes cranking out music on the computer, which was relayed wirelessly to the Magnavox stereo in the living room via an RCA Lyra wireless audio transmitter/receiver set. I turned on the stereo, but no music came out. I cranked up the volume a bit and the stereo went all dark.

Fast forward 3 years, the Magnavox came with me when I moved from Vevay to Seymour, but of course it didn't work. One day, not too long after I moved, I decided it was time to fix it. Heck, I was an electronics tech back in the day, surely I could handle fixing something simple as this. Wrong! Try as I might, I could not get the unit to power up. In fact I broke the tuner dial cord in the process of removing it from the cabinet. I slid the chassis back into the cabinet and forgot about it.

Then a few days ago, a video was posted by one of the people I subscribe to on YouTube.  He is an electronics tech guy that features various items he comes across and then shows what it takes to fix them. One of the latest was an Astro-Sonic stereo similar to mine. Hearing it in working order got me to thinking pretty hard about mine again.

Armed with a newfound sense of blind ambition, I once again removed the chassis from the cabinet and brought it into my room where I placed it on a cardboard sheet lying on my bed. During my previous attempt to fix it, I had removed a couple of wires in order to check the power transformer. I decided I should first re-solder those wires to their proper location before proceeding.

Then just for shits and giggles, I decided to check the output voltage of the power transformer to see what it was putting out. Making sure the unit was off and the volume was turned all the way down (there were no speakers attached), I plugged it into the power. When I switched it on, I noticed right away that the dial lights came on. This did not happen the last time I messed with it.

Feeling confident that the power transformer was at least putting out enough voltage for the dial lights, I decided to test the actual output of the secondary. To my great surprise, it measured around 50 volts. Feeling brave, I next took a measurement of the B+ voltage and it was -34 volts, just what it was supposed to be!

Okay, now I'm starting to get excited. "It's alive!", I thought to myself. Rather than risk any damage to the audio output transistors, I decided to hook up a set of speakers for further testing. Found a set from another stereo and I was ready for a sound test. Fired it up once more on AM and heard static coming from one of the speakers. Checked the balance control and sure enough it was turned all the way to one side. Set it to the middle and switched the power on once more. Now I had static in both speakers!

Adjusted the tuner and found WLW out of Cincinnati, not bad at all. Most of the band was very noisy, due to the close proximity of the computer. So I decided to try the FM band. Found a dipole FM antenna and hooked that up, FM came in very clear on several local stations! I could not believe it. The stereo had fixed itself, LOL. Check this video out to see how it sounds.

Of course it didn't. My theory is the power cord has a bad spot in it. I suspected this the last time I worked on it, but never actually hooked it up to the stereo, opting instead to use a multimeter to test the continuity of the cord. So at some point, I fear this will happen again, but for now I have ordered a replacement dial cord string and when that arrives I will fix that. A couple of the controls also need to be cleaned, so a can of DeOxit is in order as well.

Once those minor things are addressed I will clean it up real good and put it back into the cabinet. Then I can enjoy the rich, warm sound once again. I've missed nap time in my recliner. Yay!

NFL/October Rant

Hello? NFL? Anyone home? I just want to know who is in charge of dividing the teams up for the AFC. I'm sure I'm not the only one who has noticed this, but how did you guys miss the obvious solution?

Here is the current team division for the AFC:

If we take a look at each division, one by one (starting at the top with the East), we see the New England Patriots. Certainly Foxboro, MA is the most eastern AFC team there is in the U.S. Both of the New York teams, the Jets and the Bills, easily qualify as eastern. But what about Miami? Hmmm, let's hold that one out for now.

Next we look at the AFC North with Cincinnati, Cleveland and Pittsburgh. All of those teams fit in the pattern, but Baltimore seems a bit out of place. Once again, we will hold that one out.

The AFC South, right away we have a problem here. Indianapolis does not fit in a picture of the south, no way, no how! Hold that one out. Tennessee, Houston and Jacksonville certainly fit the bill here.

The AFC West is the only division which is completely in order. Kansas City, Denver, San Diego and Oakland are all west of all of the other teams. Okay, Kansas City and Houston are about equally west, but Houston is way too far south to be lumped in with the other teams in that division. No changes to be made here.

The solution which should be obvious to all of those who have half a brain, move Miami to the South, there is no more southern team in the AFC. Move Baltimore to the AFC East, it is right there is the same area as the other East teams. Finally, move Indianapolis to the AFC North, where it belongs. Problem solved.

The NFC is much easier. Switch Carolina and Dallas and everything lines up. There you go NFL, you are welcome.

Let's see, what else is going on. I have operation clean up my junk and make a little money in full swing. Since I started I have sold 5 items on eBay for a total of $111.87. Right now I have 18 more items listed with a bunch more to go.

I started this project to raise a little money for Buick parts and I have managed to order the window run channel rubber/felt pieces I have been waiting on for so long now. Once these are installed I will be able to roll my front windows up and down and can then drive the car without fear of getting soaked in a rain storm. Yay!

Learned that my son (Chris) and his family will be up from Arkansas hopefully the weekend of the 18th. I really look forward to seeing everyone as I have missed them a lot. I really miss those days gone by when they lived nearby and I used to regularly see them and hang out in the garage while Chris worked on his stuff.

Also got signed up late in September for my social security benefits, which should be starting in January of next year. While it certainly won't make me rich, hopefully it will be enough to pay the bills so that I can continue to live here at my present location as it is pretty much perfect for me. The way I have it figured it will be enough, but my financial advisor (Autumn) is not so sure.

September update

Not a lot been happening here. Went to the doctor, lost 12 pounds, he changed my meds a bit, put me on a water pill that I think is making me dizzy. At least it did yesterday. Hopefully the weight loss will continue, have to go back in 4 months to see how well the new meds are doing.

Worked on the Buick some. Concentrating my efforts to get the front doors finished so I can actually drive the car and have the windows roll up in case of rain. My efforts of late are on the window run channels, which had completely deteriorated to the point where they were mostly gone.

I say mostly b/c the stainless steel channel is there but the rubber/felt part where that the window glides in was gone, making an awful racket when driven with the windows up. So I think I found an excellent replacement for just that part and plan to try it as soon as finances allow.

Speaking of the Buick, I found the perfect example of exactly how my car should look when it's finished. I do random Google searches for 1961 Buick every now and then, and this gem turned up yesterday:

1961 Buick LeSabre for sale

This car is exactly the same body style and exterior and interior color scheme as my car. Hopefully mine will look like this some day.

My grandson (Billy) is firmly ensconced in his new settings at USI. He seems to be adjusting well, if twitter is any indication. He did come home over the Labor day weekend. It was good to see what little I saw of him during his visit.

I made this movie with granddaughter's Lexi and Kylie and posted it on YouTube.

I've been trying to post a lot more videos as it is something I enjoy doing and it keeps me off the streets.

I get to apply for Social Security benefits later this month. If all goes well those will kick in sometime in January. Oh the joys of getting older.

Good times

Spent a few days with family this past week (Monday-Thursday) and had a very good time. Just want to thank Jim and Melody McKinney for their hospitality and kindness in putting up with an old fart like me!

Always a busy schedule there, never a dull moment. Besides the trips to see other members of the family, I went with Jim to take a couple of cars to the scrapyard and also pick up a couple to be scrapped. Jim is a busy man.

Especially enjoyed the trip down to Crab Orchard to see sisters Sharon and Kathy, as well as my brother Rickey. And a bonus as my niece Jamie Ann showed up with her husband (Chuck) and their children. Not to mention a good meal at the Past Time Cafe.

I was unable to stay for the wedding of my niece Amy to husband-to-be Ben, but since the wedding was to take place at 5:30 PM today, they may already be husband and wife by now. So congratulations to Ben and Amy, may your life together be everything you hoped it would be and more.

Got back home Thursday afternoon and took a nice long nap. Went to bed early also as I was very tired from the trip. Didn't do much yesterday either with another midday nap. Ended up going to bed after midnight and didn't get up until 10:30 this morning! I think I was just wore out from all the good food I had to eat down in Kentucky LOL.

At last, today I had a little energy and decided it was time to do a cold start video of my 1961 Buick LeSabre. I had been wanting to do one like this (using 2 cameras) for some time now and finally got the job done. You can see the video on YouTube by clicking the link below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QqiVYaIYBI

Frustration with the mainstream media

Most people who know me at all know that I don't care for the press at large, but this particular mini-rant has to do with how they refer to people from countries in the far east. The latest example is the tragedy in San Francisco with the crash of Asiana flight 214.

While it is customary for the people who reside in those countries to refer to themselves using the last (or surname) first, when traveling abroad, they usually wish to conform to standards which apply to the rest of the world, which makes perfect sense. When in Rome, do as the Romans do.

So what does the media in this country do, you got it, refer to them as if we were living in their country.  I'm not sure if they do this out of respect for their ways or more likely because they wish to sound hip. I think think they just come off sounding elitest.

The modern mainstream media feels it is their job to teach we (the simplistic Americans), the ways of the world, instead of just informing us. I guess we are just too dumb to know that other cultures are different from our own.

To further confuse the issue, it depends on who you are as to what you are called. An example would be Jackie Chan. He was born Chan Kong-sang in Hong Kong but he uses the stage name of Jackie. Would it not be proper for the media to refer to his as Chan Jackie? I suppose in this case, it has something to do with asian actors wishing to fit in with american culture, but the wishes of the common people do not matter I suppose. Double standard much.

Perhaps I have the media all wrong, maybe they just want us to know that the person referred to is of asian descent when they use this naming convention. But isn't this kind of like referring to them as asian? Is that proper?

C'mon mainstream media, refer to people from places all over the world the same. I think we are smart enough to figure out why people traveling from China or Korea are not named Smith or Jones!