I posted this on Nextdoor on a thread where someone was bellyaching about someone else's driving.

What most people do not know about the interstates is that for the most part they are engineered so that a car in good condition driven by a person with average reflexes can safely travel at about 120 mph in good weather.

The speed limits are put in place because not everyone had adequate reflexes and a lot of cars are not up to snuff.

The Left Lane Police cause a more accidents then they prevent because they annoy people into doing thing they normally wouldn't do otherwise. They cause far more accidents than someone driving over the posted limit.

Left lane campers driving below the posted limit should be pulled out of their cars and have their license yanked on he spot and be made to walk home barefoot.

Just because something is illegal doesn't make it unsafe. Fast drivers as such are not the problem. Agressive weaving in and out drivers are.

Before you go off on me let the record show I am a senior citizen that has slowed down over the years to compensate for my old age. I don't drive fast anymore.”

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Let's see what the little Karens do and how they 'feel' about that one.

For some dopey reason a lot of people equate high speed with danger and fail to understand that the interstates are over engineered and can safely handle much higher speeds than the posted limit.

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I've been waiting 50 years to use this line.

Today, at a store. Chatting with some guy that's as disgusted as I am with Covid 19. During the conversation he said, "What if I had a gun?"

"What if I had one in MY pocket?"

His wife looked at me and asked somewhat sharply, "Do you have a gun in your pocket?"

I know my face lit up like a Christmas tree as I answered, "No, Lady,  I'm just glad to see you."

She looked confused but it took him a full minute to stop laughing. He looked at me and said, "Mae West! You get a pass for that one!" He turned to his wife, "I'll tell you later," and chuckled again.

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I see where Elon Musk doesn't like the idea of getting special taxes on the ultra rich.

He says he has other plans for the money like exploring Mars.

I can't argue with that. The money they steal from Musk in the form of taxes won't really reach the poor to begin with. It will line the pockets of the Swamp.

Of course Musk will hire engineers and very skilled tradesmen and other people that have decided to make something out of their lives.

What little is left of what they want Musk to pay as taxes, a damned small percentage will wind up in the pockets of the so-called poor. The poor get what the Swamp uses for advertising purposes.  

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The other day I spoke with a certain landowner that

cut down on things like vandalism simply by prosecuting tresspassers to the fullest extent he could.

It was a nuisance at first but he went through all the paperwork and made it as costly as he could for those that he caught.

It didn't take long before the number of trespassers and vandals dropped off to practically nothing as word got out.

He said that about once every  other year or so he grabs one and runs them through the system but he says that it's just mantainance.

Makes a lot of sense to me. 

I asked him if he ever let one slide and he laughed.

"Yea, I did once. The kid was smart enough to promise me that he'd tell everyone I'm a prick and he got fined $250. I had to let that one go because they were only dishing out $100 fines at the time!"

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I just heard where a lost hiker in Colorado

didn't answer their cell phone when they were lost.

Seems the searchers tried to phone them a number of times to see if they were OK and they didn't answer.

They located the idiot and asked them why they refused to answer and the reply was because they didn't recognize the number.

Darwin gets cheated again.

The news didn't reveal the sex of the lost hiker and a lot of people surmise it was a chick but in this day and age I'm not so sure. I'd say 50/50.

Then again maybe they figured it was a call trying them to reach them about their car's extended warranty in which case I fully understand. 

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Update. It was a guy.

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If you don't have a DD-214 then stay out of it.

Some Karen was babbling about how fireworks or somebody's loud motorcycle could upset the veteran she lives near because of his PTSD.

Fact is the guy was in the Navy and served in a maintenance depot in Indiana his whole hitch. He never saw a boat the whole time nor heard a shot fired in anger.

She's just using him in an effort to get her own way.

Maybe the vet she lives next to doesn't mind fireworks at all.  He also may love the throaty sound of a well-tuned open piped Harley.

If you don't have a DD 214 tucked away somewhere then shut up and stop putting words in someone else's mouth.

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Up early. busy today

Might get something off later today.

It's later and breakfast is cooking. Ham and cheese omelet.

What's the controversy of the day?

Today, it's who cares because I need a break. The news gets so depressing that sometimes you have to step away or you'll wind up in the screw factory for rethreading.

Oh yeah. Something interesting.

An old woman passed the other day at the age of 103 or something. 

She had never seen a doctor for her entire life.

One thing's for sure about this. She didn't die because of some kind of doctor's mistake.

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Alec baldwin is now the poster boy for the CDC

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One of these days I am going to post a few stories about my career

But it's still going to be a while.

I think I'll wait until the time is right.

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I am the type of person that would do something like this.

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Just finished the last of the brontosaurus, thank God.

Back when I was a kid my dad killed a brontosaurus and froze it.

The five of us kids grew up eating brontosaurus and thank God my mother was a halfway decent cook and had a lot of recipes because if she hadn't it would have been a lot more boring at meal times.

We looked forward to Thanksgiving because it was the only time in the year we got to eat something else besides brontosaurus. We'd get a pterodactyl.

When the parents passed on the five of us siblings split up the freezers dad had filled with brontosaurus and I have finally emptied the last one.

It's been practically 60 years of brontosaurus stew, steak, pot pie, stroganoff, chops, roasts and God knows what else. You name it, it can be made out of brontsaurus.

Well, it's over now and I am going to take my first social security check down the the bank, cash it and get myself a steak dinner for a change!

Even a Burger King whopper would be pretty good now.

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One thing is that most people don't even begin to understand logistics.

And while I am no rocket scientist in the field I at least understand the concept of getting things to where they are supposed to be at the appropriate time.

Half the people out there will be late for their own funerals which is probably why they have to be enbalmed. Otherwise they will have a poorly attended funeral because they'll stink too bad for anyone to attend but I digress.

Things are supposed to arrive at the right time in the right place in the right condition.

Getting a load of bananas to a supermarket a month late really isn't a very good idea. A better idea would be to take that truckload of fruit to the dump.

Remember that the Suez canal got blocked a few months ago? I don't know how many people in this country paid it no mind because they thought it didn't effect them. They were the same people that griped about the greedy fishermen in Vietnam raising the price on talapia that they were planning on having for dinner but didn't because the price went up.

Fact is the fishermen didn't raise the price. The shipping company raised theirs to make up for having to carry their caroges another 8000 miles.

Needless to say they didn't realize that with the Suez canal closed their dinner had to travel another 8000 miles to get to them. Same with Chinese sneakers and a lot of other things.

Once something gets stateside it can generally travel by railroad or truck. About 90% of what you buy has traveled by water.

It doesn't take a whole lot of time for the logistical system in the country to break down. Three or four days of things getting botched up would play hell in this country and a week's shutdown would cripple us. I doubt many people could last a month without people murdering each other over a can of beans or some damned thing.

Yet people do all sorts of stupid things to prevent things from moving right along. We have hundreds of cargo vessels off the coast trying to get unloaded but it isn't getting done.

From what I read in California it's because of a lack of rolling stock because emissions laws have pulled a lot of trucks off of the docks out there. I do not know how true this is but I wouldn't be surprised. Even a tiny little bit.

I wonder what is going to happen if the truckers that have not gotten the jab get told they either have to or stay home? It would be interesting if they elect to stay home.

As it stands now with Southwest battling and having Covid related slowdowns I wonder if it's going to spread to other airlines and the effect it will have on many of us that fly.

For me it would be one thing not being able to get to work and totally another thing not being able to get home!

I can picture some big muckety muck of a Fortune 500 company having to ride the bus to get to a meeting.

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In other news, According to he Babylon Bee, you can get a free vacation flight on Southwest if you are vaccinated and know how to fly a plane.....

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What am I going to do with a tank?

Yeah. A real tank. A real live WW2 tank.

The kind you have to shoot with a bazooka to stop because it weighs about 40 or 50 tons or some damned thing.

There's this clown that runs one of the pro gun organizations that is a real pain in the ass that ought to work for Moms Demand Action or one of those Sarah Brady type outfits for all the good he has done for the Second Amendment. He's been screwing up by the numbers and pissing too many people off.

Anyway his organization is always offering prizes of guns and various other things, none of which I seem to be able to use and now the Grand Prize of his drawing is a tank.

Now I'm a working stiff and I'm not in the seven figure category. I don't own a Ferrari and frankly don't want one which is another story in itself and I digresses again.

But still, I have no use for a tank.

I guess if you make a donation they put your name in the hat and if you win they probably think they're doing you a big favor hyhaving a humongous flatbed show up at your place and park the damned thing on your front lawn.

So there's Piccolo out ther sailing the Seven Seas singing hi-hippity hee...a sailor's life for me  as he get off and comes home to find fifty ons of totally worthless iron on his front lawn wondering where the hell THAT came from. 

He punches his way through the fog and looks at the lovely card attached to it and sees the idiot running the organization didn't even have the decency to send an email giving me a head's up of some sort.

Hmmm...I'll fix THIS guy! Hello, Dewey, Cheetham and Howe? I got a little project for you. I'll split even steven whatever you get from the bastard that PUT A FIFTY TON TANK ON MY LAWN!

Two weeks later I get an email. "Hello, Piccolo! We're in a real bind! We're getting sued! Please send whatever donation you can afford..."

He ain't getting nothin' from me. Not one red cent because I have really lousy luck winning stuff. That's a slam dunk thaat I'd win the damned thing.

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Fire it and forget it.

One of the things I do sometimes is throw out a fire it and forget it bid on something.

Now I could find a pretty good use for a frammis right about now but a frammis runs about $175 and I don't want a frammis that badly. 

I suppose if one came along for , say, $75 I'd take it.

So when I see one at an on-line auction I just throw out a $75 bid on it and forget about it. If by some odd chance I win the bid the auction house will send me an email. If not, oh, well.

The other thing I do sometimes is misspell something in my search if there are a bunch of items I am looking for. For example search '12 volt power supply' and you'll get a jillion hits. 

On the other hand, I searched '12 volt power suppy' and got about a half dozen, one of which looked like exactly what I wanted. It also had free shipping.

I imagine I could have gotten it for a buck but I don't like beating people up. I at least wanted to cover the poor guy's shipping so I bid $20 and forgot about it. One other thing, too. I didn't want him to realize his mistake and pull his item from the auction.

A few days later I got it for $20 delivered. A couple days after that it landed at my doorstep.

One thing is that you have to figure out what an item is worth to you and not necessarily someone else. 

Years ago I wanted a certain rifle sling. I recally I could have just went out and bought one, used for $7 and new for $10. (plus shipping, about $5)

I saw one new on eBay and figured it was worth $15 on my doorstep. The sling listed free shipping and I figured the easiest thing to do was throw out a $15 bid and call it good.

Surprise! Two guys got into a bidding war and the damned thing sold for damned near $1000!

Of course I simply bought a new one for $10+$5 shipping and called it good. I really didn't think I'd win the auction but it didn't cost me anything to try.

When I got the 'You've been outbid' email I checked and the damned thing was already up to $75. That drew my curiosity so I did follow the auction. I never did figure out why those two got into such a wild bidding war for a crummy web sling. Still, it was interesting to watch.

As I sit here I've got a couple of bids out on items and when I get my 'You've been outbid' email which I probably will I will delete it and forget about it. It means little to me. They're just 'nice to have' items and that's about it.

Of course I'll sometimes find something I can truly use that is readily available and toss out a bid knowing I can get it someplace else for a reasonable price if the auction goes south. I'll put out a lowball but with a maximum of about what it would cost me out of auction.

I seldom win but when I do I generally save a few bucks here and there.

Right now I have a lowball bid out on a . If I win I'll just tinker with the damned thing for a while and probably sell it and get my money back. I doubt I'll win and really don't care either way.

One thing I will NEVER do is accept a second chance offer. That's when the guy that outbid you bails out and the seller offers it to you at your bid. As often as not, the guy that outbid you is a shill designed to drive the price up. 

 

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Where do homeless kids

do their homework after school?

.

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In case you are wondering what this is

It's a diesel powered generator set up to charge an electric car.

I always wonder why they don't skip a step and put the diesel engine into the car to save time and money and protect the enviornment.

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I just read an interesting point of view.

He said that ALL elections are illegitimate because they result in one group imposing their will on another group enforced by force of arms.

There's more than a kernal of truth to that statement.

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I had an in-law babbling about how they ought to do away with the Electorol College because it isn't democratic and I shot back that we don't live in a democracy,we live in a republic.

She babbled that it wasn't fair and I told her that if she has half of a brain she doesn't want to live in a democracy and if she wanted I'd give her a splendid example of one.

She took the bait.

I replied that an excellent example of a democracy in action is a gang rape. You have a majority of several men and one scared woman and she lost the vote.

In a republic she has a right not to go along with the vote of the majority and in the case of the United States, she has a second amendment that enables her to contest their election with force of arms.

 

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They're ALL hate crimes.

You don't rob a bank because you love being poor do you? You hate being poor so you rob it.

Hate crime.

You don't park in a handicaped spot because you like to walk into the store from a parking space across the lot in Outer Mongolia, do you?

You park illegally because you hate to walk for eight blocks.

Hate crime.

Most crimes are committed because someone somewhere along the line hates something or someone.

They're ALL hate crimes one way or the other.

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What if he doesn't want to share it with you?

I remember the whiny little little twit that said they didn't have to prepare for storms and civil unrest because the guy down the street was a prepper and they'd just go to him.

I asked the idiot what they would do if he said he was not going to share with anyone. She said "We'll just take it."

"What if he decides to simply shoot you in the face to keep what he has for himself? After all, it's his. How about if he butchers you and puts you in the freezer to add to his supply so he'll have some meat to trade for other things he needs?"

Deer in the headlights look, followed by stuttering and stammering.

"That's not fair!"

To which I answered, "So?"

Then I added, "What's not fair is you expecting everyone else to take care of you instead of taking care of yourself!"

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I just read where 14 million Americans have quit their jobs voluntarily. I wonder about that.

More like 13 million got canned for refusing the jab.

Refusing the jab and getting fired is NOT quitting voluntarily. It is being forced out. 

Stop lieing to us.  

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One other thing. Stop calling me an anti vaxxer. I'm not.

I simply believe people should have a choice of getting it or not getting it without pressure from the government or for that matter, anyone else.

You make your own choice.

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I now have proof that President Roosevelt gave my my social security number.

Someone recently wound up in posession of an unengraved pre-war social security tag. Years ago they were made of metal and had one's name and SSN engraved on it.

The one I have coming has my name and SSN on it.

000 00 0006.

President Roosevelt gave it to me personally back in 1935. It was very exciting to get to go and meet the president!

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Ahhh...yes. Another brain child.

Babbling incoherently about how eveerybody should get the jab so her neighbor with cancer is not endangered. I was soley tempted to tell her to take him out and shoot him so he'd be safe drom the disease but I didn't. Idiots don't uderstand sarcasm.

Because of my libertarian nature I stand for one's right to choose what medications to take or not to take. When I use the word 'libertarian' I am NOT talking bout the political party of the same name.

She said I was being selfish.

I told her SHE was being selfish if she thought she had the right to dictate to other people what medications that should be forced upon them. She didn'tlike that very much.

I'm tired of being called an anti-vaxxer. I'm not. I'm simply a believer that a person has a right to choose what they put into their body. Government or for that matter, anyone else has no right to order people what to inject into their bodies. I believe in a person's right to call their own shots.

One of the things that doesn't surprise me is the number of pro choice woman that scream that the government should not have the right to dictate what they do to their own bodies are among the first to dictate what other do to theirs. Why am I not surprised? 

It's called liberty and sometimes it's a bitch.

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I got an email saying I won a football signed by Donald Trump which I don't want.

And I don't want one signed by Tom Brady or Gronk or the Steelers or anybody. I don't want a football, period.

I'm getting rid of stuff, not collecting it.

I did, however just purchase an old pre WW2 brass Social Security tag that is to be engraved with my name and SSN. It will have my name on it and an SSN of 000 00 0006 which is the number I give to people fishing for information from me.

I suppose I might be talked into trading the Miata for a running 1929 Ford Model A because that's the car I try and get a warranty for when the extended car warranty people  call.

A while back I bought a cardboard box from the post office, one of those fixed rate up to 70 pounds boxes and went through my shooting stuff and anything I didn't want that was legal to ship got tossed in it.

When it was full I sealed it up and offered it for sale as a mystery box for $100+ whatever the shipping cost on a gun forum. It sold in  a few hours. 

Now what am I going to do with a football signed by ANYONE other than sell it to someone that is going to have to do what I'd wind up doing to it? I'd have to dust it and move it around to do so. It just becomes one more useless thing.

Besides what good is a football you can't play with without ruining it?

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Liberty first

Dammit! I just wrote a pretty good post and it got lost because the internet failed.

Still, I have and always will be a supporter of liberty and I support a person's right to choose what medications he puts into his body. That includes the jab.

I see where the air traffic controllers walked out and froze up Jacksonvillle airport and one in Wisconsin. I wish they lock the entire nation down for a while enen though it means I'll play hell getting home from work.

Needless to say, the media blacked it out and came up with some pretty bogus excuses citing weather yet the weather reports from the same affiliated stations broadcast excellent flying wather in Jacksonville. I didn't look at the Wisconsin airport but I bet the excuses were the same there.

They did finally mumble something about aome shortage of people later on.

I also hear that a lot ofpilots are walking out over the jab and God be with them.

It's called liberty and although I did get the jab I will stand by those that didn't.

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One of the problems with doing business with someone on line is they

never leave you alone afterwards. They keep bugging th eholy hell out of you with stupid emails.

I once called in an order over the phone. They asked why I didn't place my order on lline and I told them I was tired of getting emails.

Big mistake. They stared texting me with email links so I blocked their number. About two weeks later they started sending me emails after they managed to get my information from somewhere else.

I finally called them and raised hell. Basically I told them that if they didn't remove me from their database I would never do business with them again and they went away for a while.

For a while.

I called again and really raied hell and it's been a year but I think that it's going to occur again because people never know when to lay off.

Like most of us I have two email addresses, one for private matters and the other for business etc. I just wish they would leave my private email alone. I don't care what they do with my other one. 

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Ahh, yes. Today's post.

Monday is a holiday. The calendar I have hanging up labels it as Columbus Day.

Some people call it Indiginous People Day which is actually fine by me because Columbus was lost. He thought he was in India.

I always tellpeople that if Columbus thought he was in Manila that as kids we'd have played Cowboys and Filipinos which actually has a nice ring to it.

A can picture it in an old black and white movie. 

The settlers in the wagon train are plodding along. The sharp-eyed wagon master sees something going on up along the ridge.

"Filipinos!" he shouts. "Draw the wagons up into a circle!"

Needless to say, the US Cavalry would come boiling over the hill to the rescue but I digress....

Still, the fact remains is we have a holiday named after a brutal murderer that got lost. 

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Another adventure from Piccolo in the big city of San Francisco.

Apparantly masks have returned here and I went shopping for food today. I didn't have mine on having arrived from somewhere else.

An angry 22 year old (presumed) English major snapped at me demanding to know why I didn't have one on.

"Lady, I just got outta da joint. I don't know no better," I answered with a humble tone.

"Your grammar is atrocious," she said. It's the first time in my life someone has ever had the gall to correct my grammar.

"Your grammar was a pretty good piece of ass," I replied.

She truly disappointed me. She walked off in a snit. Too bad. I was loaded for bear.

I was hoping she'd had been stupid enough to ask me why I had been in prison. I would have had a field day with that one.

Damned thin skinned English majors.

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Ahh, yes. Another Nextdoor outrage.

Some woman legitimately described her experiences with a whacko of some sort when she was out with her kids. I guess the guy made racial comments and comments about kids in general. No threats of violence were reported.

Below is my answer:

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I've kind of mulled this over for a few minutes. First of all it sounds pretty disgraceful to me. There's no excuse for it at all. That being said, racist and inflamatory speech isn't against the law. It sounds like he didn't make any physical threats which IS against the law. So it appears no laws were broken here. I would make a mental note of him in case he does do something illegal and simply go about my business. On the plus side of things he outed himself in the process. Now you have some idea of his character.

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That's what I consider a fairly intelligent and reasonable post. No used getting worked up where you don't have to. Of course the next time I took that route I would probably put something in my pocket in case he came again and decided to get violent. That's a prudent thing to do.

Still, no threats or attempts at violence were made so all's well that ends well. No harm, no foul.

Most people have shied from my post but the woman that made the original post agreed with me. Someone else hit me with the outrage emocicon. Apparently she's one of those dweebs that thinks Officer Friendly should have cudgeled him and carted him off.

It doesn't work like that.

People often fail to realize that groups like the BLM, the KKK, the Black Panthers, the Skinheads, the Nazis and the NAACP all share one piece of common ground.

They all have the right to their opinion and they all have the right to express it publicly.

The Founding Fathers were geniuses when they wrote the First Amendment. One of the things that I'm sure went through their heads is that by refusing to censor free speech a lot of people would out themselves in the process. Smart move on the part of the Founding Fathers.

To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY

Someone asked me about marrying ourside of my race.

My wife is a part of the Human race.

Anyone can plainly see I married outside of my race.

To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY

Rent this space

$29.95/ month.

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Interesting morning.

I turned on the ham rig this morning after I left it on a random frequency on 20 meters.

Bam! Netherlands! With a 10 over S-9 signal!

To top that off, I worked him on the first try.

That's always a good way to start the day.

To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY

I see here the Philadelphia is PD is being overrun.

Crime is going through the roof and I would imagine it won't be long before the residents there start clamoring for the reincarnation of Frank Rizzo.

He was a tough police commissioner that cleaned up a lot of Philly although he was crooked as a dog's hind leg.

A lot of skulls got busted but the city was a whole lot safer for it.

Watch. When things get a little worse the Dems in Philly will install a gestapo to clean up the city.  

To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY

Ham radio mistakes I have made over the years.

When I ventured into ham radio I first went on the air with a surplus PRC 320. I actually managed to work all states and bagged over 100 DX entities with the simple little low powered rig. I still have it and use it occasionally. It's a fun rig. I once set it up at a Starbucks in the outside section. 

I developed a certain style with it and in certain circles was duly noticed. One time I called a WW2 memorial ship that was on the air and requested naval gunfire on an imaginary target. The operator on the ship was sharp. He patched me through to the Fire Direction Center and the vets manning it for the weekend plotted the imaginary fire mission. The kids got to see how the old stuff there worked. Win/win.

My QSL cards for running portable are still sought after in certain small circles.

However it has very limited capabilities. I wanted to set up a modest barefoot home station. At the time I was ignorant as are most people. I thought I would be sticking to voice with a dabbling of CW. Digital communications didn't interest me. I opted for an IC 718 which proved to be an ideal rig fo voice and CW. I was happy with that for a while. The IC 718 provided me with excellent service however it was limited.

Eventually I got talked into trying digital communications. I did balk at first until I discovered that a lot of otherwise DX stations could be had in the low powered digital modes. I decided to see what I could do.

I mentioned that the IC 718 could not be plugged into a laptop and three or four days later a mysterious package arrived in the mail containing an adapter wire and some detailed instructions. It had been designed specifically for the IC 718. I tried fooling with it and recall I got on the air with it a time or two but it proved to be more trouble than it was worth. 

At the time Icom was marketing the IC 7200. It was 'digital ready' and could be connected directly to a laptop with a simple printer cord. Icom was pushing these rigs for a fairly low price. On top of that, with an optional handle set the damned thing looked tacticool. Some people were painting them tan or OD. Besides being the darling of the tacticool set it rapidly became the darling of a lot of hams. It was pretty much plug and play.

Now at this time it had been over a years since I had gotten into a knife fight with a coworker so I got a bonus. It was enough for an IC 7200 AND a 43' DXE vertical with about a 6-pack or two left over.

Of course I caught a sale and picked up the IC 7200. 

Somewhere along the line I had acquired an Icom AH-4 antenna tuner. I was running it to tune a wire antenna on the IC 718. The original tuner I bought with the IC 718 was collecting dust.

The IC 7200 I ran off of the vertical with the AN-4 tuner. I dusted off the old tuner, an LDG ProII, and hooked it up to the wire and the IC 718. The 43 foot vertical would not tune on 160 meters which is common. Everything is a compromise. However I could easily tune 160 on the longwire.

I now had two rigs and ran this way for years, happy as a lark.

I ran digital through a (then) free software program called Ham Radio DeLuxe and enjoyed the waterfall for 'target aquisition' on the 7200. The 7200 is pretty much plug and play.

I'd still be this way if I hadn't been thinking down the road.

About a year ago I started planning for retirement and figured that while I was still making pretty good money I should gear up for a long period of reduced income. Besides, I had the annual bonus coming in and because they could never pin a murder on me I was going to get it. (I buried the bastard and planted endangered plants on the grave so it's illegal to dig him up.)

The IC 7300 had come out and it got spectacular raves. I saw one anothe ham had and realized it was an incredible deal. A similar rig would sell for over twise the MSRP!

I out out the word I wanted one and started shopping around. A couple of the guys sent me factory rebate coupons, specially marked box tops and such. I found a dealer offered another hundred bucks off of it and I got it for well under a grand.

I resold the IC 718 for about 2/3s of what I paid for it. Purchasing it had been a mitake. For an additional $200 or so I could have bought the IC 7200 and set up for Ham Radio DeLuxe and digital communications with simply a printer cord.

Mistakes made:

The first mistake was not giving myself room to grow. The IC 718, while an excellent radio for what it is, was too limited. I outgrew it fast. I also lucked out when I went to resell it. I should have bit the bullet and paid the extra $200 or so for the IC 7200. Almost ten years later I would still be pleased to have that as my primary home rig.

The IC 7300 was a retirement gift to myself. Knowing what I know now, it I was just getting started I would go out and buy one. It should last me and is curently the best bang for the buck.

Brands. The Big Three are Icom, Yaesu and Kenwood. From what I gather Icom is the easiest to use, Yaesu is supposedly menu driven which means complex. I know NOTHING about Kenwood.

I went the Icom route for simplicity as that route was recommended for me. You have to remember that ALL ham rigs are designed for techies and are fairly complex. Techies are techies and their very nature prohibits them from taking a leak without having to run a computer program to insure everything comes out OK.

All basic ham radios are designed by techies and geeks and as such are generally overcomplicated. Still, it isn't too difficult to get one up and running for basic voice. Go to Youtube. There are plenty of videos there.

I am a Luddite and after running the IC 7200 for a decade I still have not really scratched the surface of what the 7200 has to offer. Even though the model is over 10 years old it's still quite a rig. It also holds a pretty high resale value which is a double edged sword.

I haven't even started digging through the capabilities of the IC 7300. I run it on voice and very rarely code. Sometime when I get time I'll set it up for digital....maybe. 

Incidentally both of there rigs are extremely popular so there are Youtube tutorials that cover EVERYTHING for both sets.

Whatever you do, don't buy a rig that's not computer ready. You'll outgrow it rather fast.

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Unvaccinated Lives Matter

There is a T-shirt that says exactly that and I'm buying one.

While I am vaccinated, one has a God Given Right not to be and with the way the system is trying to force the jab on everyone I really wish I had not gotten the it.

When government tries to force something on people like this the first thing that comes to mind is why?

I don't like what I see.

I'll catch crap for the shirt I imagine but my shoulders are broad.

This ought to be good. Some Karen or Ken is going to scream at me for being unvaccinated and get a lesson in jumping to conclusions with insufficient information. FWIW I AM vaccinated.

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How I bagged Kuwait on 40 meters

Now one of the rules of DX is you listen first until you get the other stations's callsign. I was battling a pileup to bag California for a WAS award. I wound up bagging Kuwait.

While I was battling the California pileup Kitty was being a pest. His tail flicked my VFO and I found myself in another pileup. Out of annoyance I threw my call into it.

Here's what the conversation sounded like.

"KX3XXX!" I threw my call into the pileup.

He picked it up. "KX3XXX, you are 5x9 into Kuwait."

"Kuwait!?" I said. "WAIT!!!Please give me your call. I was trying to work a pileup in California and the cat flicked the VFO and I landed here. I  figured one pileup is as good as another so I threw out my call and you answered!"

"That's the funniest thing I have ever heard! Your CAT made you a DX QSO." he said and identified himself. "Don't send for a card, I don't need it. I'll send you one!" 

That night he emailed me and we swapped funny emails.

He was good to his word. About a week or so his card arrived. 

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