9-30-2024 General and channel updates

 

Cut some more on the downed tree/countertops Saturday. This marks the end of the 18 in/46cm logs.  Each log is 9 to 10 feet (2.7 to 3 m) and weighs about 500 Lbs/227 kg

Painted the ends of the kitchen counters Sunday morning

The paint keeps the logs from drying too fast & splitting as seen in the close up--those will get caulked later

It can take 3 to 5 years to dry, but there's a lot of hardwood in there, & should time out with the kitchen remodel.

On remodeling, with these logs out of the way I will have a roll off dumpster delivered in the next couple of weeks–weather permitting–and the tractor will be put to its first task it was bought for…emptying the collapsed section of the old guest house.

Yes this really is the first section.

The first part to be done will be a sort of separate section where the tractor and other yard equipment can be stored.  By keeping one structure I don’t have extra permits or property taxes and it finally gets the equipment out of the weather.  I have to start by adding a course of concrete blocks to the block foundation that is already there as the previous owner stopped the foundation at grade level.  By adding one row of blocks I move the walls up 8 inches/20 cm and prevent it from rotting again.  The roof slope will be increased and it will be topped with matching steel to the house.  Section one will set me back about $1,800 of which I still have the money donated to the task years ago by several twitter followers and a random Go Fund contributor.  All together the donation account has 25% of what I need.  By the time the shop is done I’ll have maybe $10k in the building with me doing all the work.

I have a new camera that I should be able to use on the tractor and to video the demo and construction.  I should have the memory cards for it soon…of all the things to forget.  So there should soon be regular video updates along with blog posts.

Maura The Maker as a channel has had a lot of thought over the last couple of weeks.  Obviously I have no to very limited help on this adventure as my kids are grown with their own lives, Buttercup only comes up about every eight weeks, and otherwise I live alone.  So everything is a “do it myself” project going forward–part of why I invested in the tractor.  As I go forward I am going to focus on my tool acquisitions from Harbor Freight, Temu, Amazon, Home Depot, Grizzly and Facebook Marketplace, as they are the easiest and most cost effective to get from.  Some tools will be made on site, and obviously acquiring used tools means some will have to be refurbished on site–metal lathe anyone?  I don’t wish to be one of those creators where just one of their tools equals a second hand Porsche or a new ¾ ton truck, to me those are unrealistic.  I have enough tools to get going, table-saw, 1957 Western Auto drill press–now with reverse–basic hand tools, etc, and if it is still there when I’m ready I know where an old Delta radial arm saw is at a good price.

I have no plans to date or even look for anyone at this time.  I may post my “what I’m looking for” list that I once gave to Jobe, but I seem to be attracted to very broken people and I’m done with that aspect of my life.  As to Jobe it is now nine months of absolute no contact; do I miss her?  No and yes.  I don’t miss the abuse, but I do miss not being able to share the good things that are in my life like getting the tractor.  I have come to terms though that the person I thought I knew does not nor ever did exist as she was a figment of Jobe’s own imagination, as much a creation by her as Wren Robbins is by me in my novel.

On my novel(s) the two books Victim 18 and Love Lust & Trust are selling abysmally well that implies they are selling which they aren’t.  The lack of sales has not been helpful in pushing me to finish the current work in progress either.  I do have a couple more shorts in the work, but I just haven’t been in the mood to work on them.

Therapy is slow, and very weird to be back in it again.  I’m told the latest round of emotional damage plus what I already carry will take a long time to finish unraveling if indeed it is ever finished.  I am no longer taking the bait when people try to rile me up so that’s a step though I have been working on that for years anyway.

Buttercup turns nine before this week ends, and will be back up over Samhain.  I’m waiting for her to ask to drive the tractor…maybe not yet.  She is now pushing five feet tall–supposed to be my height (6 ft 2 in) when she is done growing.  Her voice is suddenly shifting to a higher pitch lately too.

On me, the depression is less intense, hits less often and doesn’t last as long.  Recent blood work is exactly where it should be although the doc wants my A1c down a bit more.  Blood pressure is perfect for someone in their 20s so for a level 54 human on no blood pressure meds that’s good–no one in my family has managed that one before.  Weight is holding which is a bummer as the loss was going good then just slammed the brakes but still 100 Lbs down from my heaviest 30 years ago…need I mention this is a long standing battle?  The increase in the diabetes meds are supposed to help the weight loss get going again.  I don’t look in the mirror and see a “fat” person now, just someone with a bit to lose.

Two weeks ago my truck got T-boned at an intersection on the way to work.  It didn’t fare too bad.

Once the insurance companies get back to me it won’t be too hard to push that back out–yes I also do bodywork…okay so I’m a polymath.  Still drives okay but a few shifted things make driving it a bit squeaky for now.  I don’t see any point losing it as it still drives, is paid off, and runs well.  The lady that ran the stop sign was nowhere near as lucky as I was.  We both walked out of it so bent metal can be fixed.

Next weekend will be more brush burning…I have massive piles since I’ve been using the tractor to clear that city lot sized chunk of back yard.  So if it stays dry enough I may manage to burn off half of the piles.

I guess that’s it for now.

Maura Out

9-9-2024

Thursday September 5, 2024

Dropping more invasive trees out of my yard. Like most Asian invasive trees they grow fast, are short lived, and rot fast. They also crowd out the native trees like my two black walnuts.  I cut this batch the other day and drug them out with the new tractor last night. There is a lot of invasive kudzu entangling the tops but the tractor has enough power to just pull them out with no issues. These will get logged and stacked for firewood to heat the upcoming shop. The spindly branches will get pushed aside to dry then added to a brush burn.

Saturday September 7, 2024

The day began with a thousand little annoyances.  I had to run down and get the ballast box for the tractor--for those unfamiliar, the ballast box puts a counter weight behind the rear of the tractor so when using the loader you don't lift the rear wheels instead.  To pick up the box and ballast for it I needed my trailer, couldn't find the draw bar because it was in Bandit where it is supposed to be.  Couldn't find the keys for the lock on the trailer.  Couldn't find the light plug adapter...yeah one of those mornings.

The real irony is that to get the box off the trailer by my onesies is you have to use the loader--not enough weight to tip the tractor.  Then the sand ballast tried to escape when I started loading it 🤬

In the end it is mounted and is readily removable for when I mow as it fits on the three point hitch.

The tractor with ballast easily pulls the tree of heaven trunks out and rips the kudzu out with it *insert maniacal laughter here*

I have discovered one of my original 40 volt batteries for my chainsaw is failing and will only discharge a little then shuts off.  When putting the battery on the charger it shows 3/4 full, so need to replace it--update a second works halfway.  Once this section is clear I really have limited need of the saw so may live with it at the cost of these batteries--another update, ordered one from Temu and will review once I try it out.

Discovered that amongst the invasive stuff there is also a string of barbed wire.  Now this find would surprise me had my neighbor not mentioned the previous owner kept two hogs in this area.  At least I found it by sight and not with the chainsaw or the new mower.

I have discovered and this day proved again; that most anything I do that requires being unencumbered by the thought process leads my mind to focus on situations I never should have found myself in. Particularly when I am busy with stuff that really would go faster with two people...had either of them actually held to the vows or commitments they made to me--"mom, you have a type."

I wound up talking to Once Wife later in the day, and predictably it went about the same as discussions over the last ten to twenty years.  As is now typical about 10 minutes from ending the call she switched to talking about nothing but her cat.

Sunday September 8, 2024

Once the laundry is done I'll be back at work in the back yard today like yesterday.  The last of the major invasive brush in the outlying edge is now almost gone, but for cutting it into fire wood. Limbs & honeysuckle are piled to dry until I light it up in a Samhain, or Yule bonfire and the kudzu vines are being pushed into a pile to light up once it drys out, probably around the Vernal Equinox.

The tractor is really speeding things along as it does in minutes what used to take me hours.  Without it experience dictates the brush I just cleared would have taken about eight weekends to clear or about 160 hours of work.

A video (10 minutes) from Saturday and Sunday can be found here

I'll probably spend a bit each evening cutting up the remaining logs, then add them to the growing firewood stack next weekend.  I still have two fairly massive dead tree of heaven that get cut to nine foot lengths, then stacked untill I find a sawmill to turn them into lumber.  Each of those logs is 500 pounds and I have six of them.

That's about it for now unless you wish to donate to my shop.

Another way to help support my channels is to like videos, watch them all the way through, and subscribe to them, I need 4000 hours of view time and 1,000 subscribers to monetize YouTube (currently 81) and 10,000 to monetize TikTok (hovers around 80).   Follows also help my myriad of other social platforms--including here--which are all in the footer of my web pages.

Maura Out

MauraAlwyen.com

Via USPS

For those who have not noticed we are in an election year. Now don't worry, it's just mid-terms so we only elect every member of the House of Representatives and 33% of the Senate so no where near as important as the presidency *insert parentally LOUD and sarcastic eye-roll here*

Now who should you vote for? Don't ask me I'm not you. How should you vote? Now that is why were here!

 

*Pulls out my soap box, grabs megaphone*

 

"Friends, Romans, Countrymen..." Wait, wrong speech :-)

Right now we have some very loose and mostly no-set-definition buzz words floating around elections, "election security", "election integrity", "voter integrity." So what could these mean?

Election security:

• Could refer to tightening security from mark on ballot to count/recount.

• A lot has been said about making ballots un-copyable, from elaborate watermarks, to holographic printing to prevent photocopying and mass dumping of ballots into the system, so we have that aspect as well. 

Companies that are licensed to print election ballots use a specific type of metallic ink that can only be detected by the optical scanner. The anti-counterfeit marks (3 to be exact) are hidden in the ballot timing tracks and code channel, (the thick black bars that surround the margins on the ballot). The marks are specific to whichever election vendor’s election layout software and election technology are used, and each election definition uses a unique code channel specific to that election. These marks can be printed on pre-printed ballots or on ballot on demand.”

• Then we have "secure the election equipment!" Yeah, about that, voting machines, tabulators, etc, are air gapped all ready. The equipment is bulky, sometimes heavy, and without the correct passwords not easy to hack. "But Maura, what about that hacker that PROVED it could be done a few years back?" They were in a computer lab, they had unlimited access to an obsolete machine, and it was neither quick nor clean. If a "malicious voter" tried that any election official would have them arrested before they got halfway into the system—by the way, you won't find visible or easily accessed ports on a modern election terminal for a reason.

Election integrity: this one makes a bit more sense to me. We want the election process to be honest and clean. I don't see any real argument against that, but how different factions want to achieve this is a different matter altogether.

• “Montenegro, 53, allegedly submitted more than 8,000 fraudulent voter registration applications between July and October, as well as allegedly falsifying names, addresses and signatures on nomination papers under penalty of perjury to run for mayor in Hawthorne.”

• “The settlement agreement, filed with U.S. District Judge Manuel L. Real, requires all of the 1.5 million potentially ineligible registrants to be notified and asked to respond. If there is no response, those names are to be removed as required by the National Voter Registration Act.”

Voter integrity: here we get back to my Ballot Zombie and Ballot Harvesting articles. Weather you believe the issue exists or not (many of the commenter's back then blatantly don't think it exists—you know who you are) is irrelevant to the facts, numbers of known zombie voters, and what people believe is truth.

• “...but there were stranger reasons: 198 were rejected because the voters were dead”

• “Controversy over unofficial mail ballot drop boxes set up by the California Republican Party at churches, candidate headquarters and other unauthorized locations”

• “Credible evidence was given to us that people were harvesting ballots,” said Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to The National Desk’s Jan Jeffcoat. “This information was provided to us and they said there's a witness, a 'John Doe.' And so we're looking at subpoenaing that person to get the information.”

• “In all, the analysis showed 119 dead people have voted a total of 229 times in Chicago in the last decade.”

• "Applications for vote by mail ballots came into her office from people who they determined were deceased when those applications were filled out," State's Attorney Robert Berlin told NBC5.”

So what is to be done? I won’t rehash my ideas in the aforementioned articles I will toss out two seemingly unrelated ideas. (now would be a good time to strap on your motorcycle helmet)

Vote by mail: This is not a new concept as Oregon has been doing it since 1987 with great results. So how does this make voting more secure?

• Absolutely no more ballots can come in than went out

• Every elections office knows exactly how many ballots went out—this number should be publicly posted for optimal trust

• As the mail comes in each voter is immediately checked off to prevent possible duplicates. Federal law mandates that if you don’t vote in two presidential cycles you can be purged and this could quickly clean the rolls

• Equipment can be set up to scan for duplicate addresses in the data base then homes with multiple voters can be checked and “no longer at this address” cases can also be purged—technically already possible, but remember Alice (you do remember Alice don’t you?) is not a data base manager.

• Ballots returned as undeliverable can be investigated as to why

• Disabled and elderly voters can vote from their own home

• If done as strictly “mail return only” we essentially eliminate ballot harvesting

• With USPS tracking technology the elections office knows that each ballot was delivered and when it was picked up—will there be mistakes? Yes, but not many...I hope

• We eliminate “Election night fear mongering” aka “Exit poling” and thus the urge to vote just because your choice is losing

• By all the ballots coming in to a central location you eliminate the time lag from precinct to counted and most likely end up knowing exactly who won by mid-night on election night

• No waiting in line to vote!

• No potential bomb and death threats to poll-workers

• No fighting your way past electioneers to cast your vote—I never have understood them, I’m there to vote not be convinced to vote for someone or something

• No more getting to the polls and going “who is this?” or “what is this proposal about?” because you can research the mystery topic

• It eliminates the cost of finding and reserving a polling place

• It eliminates the cost of elaborate voting machines and multiple tabulators, as well as keeping all that equipment up to date and certified

Why not vote by app from my phone Maura? Honestly the technology and security just aren’t there yet. Remember the Iowa Caucuses in 2020?

From CNBC

The Iowa caucus debacle represents one of the most stunning failures of information security ever.

This failure was delivered by the same Iowa Democratic Party officials who have said for the last four years they were “ramping up” their technology capabilities, convening seemingly endless security task forces to ensure foreign powers did not disenfranchise voters, and collaborating with federal agencies like the Department of Homeland Security to make sure everyone was in the loop on voting security.

On that note Caucuses would probably need to go away as well as they aren’t compatible with Vote By Mail

Ranked choice voting:

Basically we eliminate the arguments, “voting for the lesser of two evils” and the “you’re voting Libertarian?! That’s just throwing your vote away!” So for those unaware in the United States we actually do have more than just two political parties that run for offices. The major players are:

• Democratic

• Republican

• Libertarian

Known or lesser known are:

• Green Party

• Socialist Party of the United States of America

• Constitution Party

• I’m sure there are others that I am not familiar with

In a ranked choice system you choose who would you like to see in office, then a second, third etc. so a ballot could look vaguely like this:

 

The upside of this system is it favors third parties so it could better reflect our nation’s actual beliefs and may even force us to be much more diverse. The reason for including Ranked Choice with vote by mail is the pressure to vote a certain way is taken off the voter as they can see who is on the ballot, research the people, and choose who they want based on their own beliefs.

No matter where you stand politically, we should be able to agree that our system of voting is due to come forward to the 21^st century and it should reflect our current way of life. Having to go to the court house to cast a vote may have been good in 1787 when it could take two days to get there—that’s why we vote on Tuesday. We live in a modern world where we no longer work Sun to Sun but 08:00 to 17:00 plus our after-work lives and commute times. Standing in line to put ink on a piece of paper, to feed it to a vote tabulator, just doesn’t make sense anymore.

"We do not have government by the majority. We have government by the majority who participate."
- Thomas Jefferson

Ballot Harvesting: Problem That Needs A Solution Or A Solution That Needs A Problem?

Here we go again, Maura is kicking the hornet’s nest on a controversial election topic. First it was Zombie Ballots, now Ballot Harvesting! Which side you’re on will greatly influence how you feel on this topic, and by side I mean, did your team win or lose? Much like Zombie Ballots, there are no reliable numbers on how many ballots are harvested in any particular election, or how many are improperly handled.

The Election Assistance Commission defines Ballot Harvesting thusly:

The act of collecting ballots, typically by a political party or nonprofit organization, for multiple voters and returning those ballots to an elections office on behalf of those voters. The legality of this practice varies by state, with some states allowing the practice, limiting who can return ballots on behalf of others or banning the practice completely.

Now that we know the official definition, we can see in the first sentence where the problems lie, “typically by a political party or nonprofit organization.” This one sentence is where we get the first issues because it shows where the abuse can enter. Now the other issue is “for multiple voters and returning those ballots to an elections office on behalf of those voters.” The two parts of this sentence create the idea that just about anyone could get a list of mail-in ballots, go forth, assist impaired voters, and return a massive bin of votes. Two things come from this; one is that the idea is fantastic as this allows impaired voters a chance to be heard. The dark side (insert spooky music) is the insinuation that the groups and political parties only return ballots that favor their cause. Knowing human nature, I am sure we can all see where this line of thinking comes in. 

Is there a problem? That depends on who you ask, but apparently seven different states felt there was and they sought to correct the issue:

• Arizona: Banned the practice in 2016 with a carve out for family members to handle each other’s ballots.
• California: Relaxed its rules just before the 2018 mid-terms and many speculate that it changed the outcome of more than one race. The Los Angeles Times editorial board rejected the speculation but did say it “does open the door to coercion and fraud.”
• Colorado: You can not collect more than ten ballots unless you are a designated elections official.
• Georgia: Limits ballot return to the elector, relative, or person living in the same household.
• Montana: A voter initiative passed in 2018 limits a collector to six ballots.
• North Carolina: Only the elector or immediate family member can return a ballot.
• Texas: Only the elector can handle their ballot (from what I have seen this is the strictest law.)

Some of these states are very Democrat and some are very Republican and a few swing between them, so it is obvious that neither side truly trusts the other on this issue. As to fraudulent collections, there is a precedent for that and, some could say, proof it happens.

From The Charlotte Observer

According to the indictment, Dowless “unlawfully, willfully, and feloniously” submitted absentee ballots and concealed that they were not sent by voters.

Now, if you combine ballot harvesting with Zombies you could have a perfect storm to sway a district, but remember I said could. However, the two issues do go together as far as public trust in our election system is concerned. Both issues are the butt of jokes and memes at every major election, and memes — much like any form of propaganda — do influence the way we look at issues.

Am I looking at a solution that needs a problem or a problem that needs a solution? Yes, but we owe it to ourselves and future generations to close every security hole we have in our election system to both further public trust and ensure fair elections.

Knobs & Tubes

Knobs & Tubes

Wait…wrong knob and tube.

Knob according to the Cambridge Dictionary “a rich person whose family has been important for a long time” this would mean someone like King Charles 

Wait…that’s Nob not Knob…lets try this again.

Now we have the right ones! So you know these were uncovered in a major renovation of a building from 1920, and at the time of this image they were still live. Many people (and insurance companies) would be shocked to know just how many buildings still have this type of wiring active in them.  

The knob portion refers to the porcelain insulator that is standing out from the board. The tube is a porcelain tube that fully passes through the board. You’ll notice that both wires are black which makes for a lot of testing to work out which is the line and which is the neutral–knob and tube has no ground hence outlets are only two prong. Most modern wiring is classified as NM or non-metallic sheathed, popularly called Romex (a brand name of wire manufactured by Southwire) Also available and spotted in many locations is BX cable wich can have black, white, green, and sometimes red, wires in it, but the wires are wrapped in a spiral aluminum shell to protect them–handy in places where abrashion could be an issue like metal studs.

As mentioned before in knob and tube both leads are usually black compared to modern wiring having a color coded system that in the United States is:

Black = line or 110v

Red = line or 110v

White = common or neutral

Green = ground

Red and black usually have two uses: they run to the same appliance to provide 220v or they are used for a single pull of two circuits sharing a common and ground, though red is also used as a traveler in a three way switch set up–typically used at the top and bottom of a staircase.

Beyond the lack of a ground wire there were some disadvantages to knob and tube:

It was more labor intensive to install. Splices and drops–the lead going to an outlet or switch–required being twisted and soldered, which was time consuming and electricians have always been well paid.

The copper wires were covered with either asphalt soaked cloth–yep the same asphalt that they make roads out of–or natural rubber. Over time the insulation dries out, cracks, becomes very brittle, and sometimes has rodents chewing on it leading to electrical leaks and potential shorts.

I have two buildings where I work that have had several insurance companies refuse to insure them because of existing knob and tube.

Is knob and tube dangerous? Not really in my experience, but it is no longer legal to install inside buildings–most electrical poles still use it. Should it be replaced if you have it? This is a judgment call between yourself and a locally licensed electrician, but to me any two wire system should be upgraded to a modern system with a ground circuit. 

Our modern lives use a significant amount more electricity than did our predecessors a century ago. As a result we are asking wiring from yesteryear to carry modern loads and needs it wasn’t meant to.

We spend a lot of money on buying our homes. We ask the building systems to do a lot for us. We really need to consider that our homes are a living structure, that they need to grow, to have cosmetic surgery at times, to acknowledge when their veins, arteries, lungs, and nervous systems need work or replacement and wiring designed in 1880 is one of those things.

Now which of those wires was line and which was common? The one closest to you was the common, but neither are there any more.

“Electricity is really just organized lightning”

―George Carlin

Maura out

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