No Time Like Right Now - sky's journal

[jacob]

Interesting. I've never seen anything like that. Does it go upwind at all with that rig?

[sky]

I don't know yet, the wind was very light and variable that day.

[NewBlood]

It's beautiful Sky! I hope it performs as you want when there is more wind!

[7Wannabe5]

Very cool!

[sky]

Thanks!

The sailing rig is a balanced lug rig, also known as a chinese lug or junk rig. The advantage of this rig is that it is easy to reef, and can be made out of low cost fabric, because most of the forces on the sail are taken up by battens, and there are a number of sheets connected to the battens, which spreads out the loads. The sails that I built are about the minimum sail that could be named a balanced lug, with three panels. Each panel is a reef point, which means the sail can be flown with one, two or three panels opened up. The sail is made with a 1x2 fir wood yard, pvc pipe battens and a heavy duty pvc tarp. I don't expect that this will be an efficient sail, or an upwind sail, but should work well from a reach to a run. Maybe a bit into the wind, I don't know yet.

[sky]

My backyard is coming into harvest time. I have grapes, quite a few, but they are still sour. I have a lot of peaches but they are all damaged from some insect. Just a few plums, maybe one or two might make it. The red currants were harvested in early summer, I have a few quarts dried, and eat a spoonful every day for the nutritional benefit, if any. I have a blueberry bush in a container that I will plant soon. I cut canes of wineberry, which is a sweet, aromatic red raspberry, and I hope to grow them in containers. The canes were foraged from along a bike path from a bush with the best tasting berries. I have hazelnut bushes but no nuts yet.

[sky]

August has us enjoying the end of summer with lots of sunny weather. I have been working on hobby projects, such as rigging my sailing canoe, and sewing backpacking gear. I made two windshirts, which are lightweight windbreaker jackets made of nylon. I am improving the pattern and improving my sewing skills. It is quite difficult to sew a hood onto the body of a jacket, I may need to sew several more windshirts before I get it right. One thing about DIY, it might be cheaper to buy the material and do it yourself, but you may have to do it several times before you are satisfied with the result. In fact, you may never be satisfied. Where you might buy a product off the shelf and accept it as it is, with DIY, there is always room for improvement.

I am fiberglassing the rust areas on my old car, to try to keep it on the road for another year or two. I could buy another car but I still like what I have, and it allows me to drive without worrying much about it being damaged. I fixed a leaky kitchen sink drain myself, rather than call a plumber. I am starting to do one meal a day to try to lose about 10 pounds. There is no end to the struggle.

This spring/summer I re-entered the thunderdome of local politics, despite my philosophical opposition to participating in politics. I lost the primary election, which was somewhat of a relief, because by the time of the election, I was regretting the decision to run. Being re-introduced into the world of power politics was a somewhat disgusting reminder of my past life. Did I do anything positive by running for office? I am not sure. I don't think I caused any damage, other than damage to my own brain.

I was heavy into escapism this month, dreaming of living on a sailboat, or buying a forest cabin. However, as usual, when it came down to assessing the positives and negatives, living in my current home comes out as the best decision. I have a camper van to travel when I choose to do so, at very little cost compared to a second home. I live in a nice area, maybe too busy during tourist season, but still quite pleasant. I only have to drive to nearby larger cities such as Kalamazoo or Holland, Michigan to realize that the traffic is a little too aggressive for my preference. We are now coming into the season when the tourists go home and the town becomes peaceful for the rest of the off-season. I would like to have some place else to go to avoid the crowds in July/August, but I could accomplish that by camping or traveling and visiting friends. It is not easy to find a quiet, peaceful place during tourist season.

I continue to be concerned with inflation. A good part of my income is fixed, not adjusted for inflation, so that leaves me in a bad position over the long term. At the moment, my income is good, actually higher than ever, but I often think about what I could do as a business. I am somewhat crippled by the fact that I am too cheap to buy many of the goods and services that I could provide as a business. In my mind, I disrespect my potential customers for wasting their money on my potential services. This makes it difficult to choose a business. In the past, I had a bakery, however, I now consider most of the food that I used to make to be poison from a long term health perspective, made of ingredients such as sugar, white flour and shortening. I don't want the karma of selling poison, now that I know. I don't like dealing with people on a service basis, there are so many bad personalities out there, I prefer to remain in my walled garden and only invite reasonable people inside. So I spend my day enjoying the weather, doing a bit of hobby stuff and maintenance around the house and garden. I probably should exercise more and look at my screen less, same old story. I think that I will focus again on the Epicurean philosophy and a focus on living an enjoyable life and try to avoid getting sucked into the rat race.

[grundomatic]

I am somewhat crippled by the fact that I am too cheap to buy many of the goods and services that I could provide as a business. In my mind, I disrespect my potential customers for wasting their money on my potential services. This makes it difficult to choose a business. In the past, I had a bakery, however, I now consider most of the food that I used to make to be poison from a long term health perspective, made of ingredients such as sugar, white flour and shortening. I don't want the karma of selling poison, now that I know.

I can seriously relate to this. Having been a teacher, I could tutor, but then I wonder why people won't just read to their own child? In a previous life, I managed fast casual restaurants. If I wanted, I could get a loan and own a restaurant, or even go round up some investors and start an empire. Just like you, though, I don't want to push unhealthy food. Interestingly enough, I don't mind owning McDonald's or KFC in my index funds, or even owning shares of British Tobacco outright. It just feels different to have to personally push the stuff--if I have this business I have to promote it and pretend it's like the best thing ever, even when it isn't. The funny thing is, by owning the "unhealthy" stocks it seems like I'm equally responsible since those companies promote their products (for my benefit), yet it just doesn't bother me the same way. I wonder why? Probably because my responsibility as a stockholder is abstracted away, while as a sole proprietor or as a manager, my role in it all would be very concrete.

[loutfard]

The funny thing is, by owning the "unhealthy" stocks it seems like I'm equally responsible since those companies promote their products (for my benefit), yet it just doesn't bother me the same way. I wonder why?

For me, it's a question of control.

I can't have these ugly bastards not exist or not return dividends to their shareholders. I can't control that.

What I can control is whether I buy their products or not, or where I spend their dividends as a shareholder.

Also, what makes an "unhealthy" stock is a very personal ethical decision up to a certain point. Oracle is a prime example. It fits most ESG guidelines, but I'd rather not get within 20km of it, its founder or business methods because I have no ambition to examine my last meal up close a second time.

[sky]

Baking a cake is not a crime but I just want a clear conscience. My wife buys cakes and offers me cake with tea, and I can't resist, despite preferring not to eat cake for health reasons. I do not wish to do the same thing to others.

[7Wannabe5]

Probably because my responsibility as a stockholder is abstracted away, while as a sole proprietor or as a manager, my role in it all would be very concrete.

Exactly. It abstracts away the extent to which you have to be at least a bit of a competitive asshole to survive in a Capitalist economy. Just like living in a highly developed nation-state with high-tech military abstracts away your need to show up for monthly meetings of your local militia.

Therefore, I think it's almost certainly "better" to either invest in local businesses OR fully acknowledge the extent to which you are likely benefiting from the arbitrary laws (positive feedback loops that help the big get bigger) that currently support the monopolistic market dominance of mega-corporations. IOW, economy of scale for production is a highly dubious justification these days when most actual work is sub-sub-sub-contracted out and the rust-belt is going on 40 years vacated. It's pretty much all about power, organization, lawyers, ass-holery and the mythology that the finance sector is simply the servant of the economy as a whole.

It's much riskier to go out there on your own, but clipping dividend coupons used to be known as an activity only fit for old widow ladies.

ETA: I'm mostly talking to myself here, not you guys. Carry on.

[grundomatic]

@sky

I can't resist, either. I can have self control approximately one time per week--when I go grocery shopping. I'll walk through the amazing-smelling bakery section with steely resolve to get to the produce that is on sale, and turn my head up and away as I go past the ice cream aisle. Yet when a tray of cookies would show up in the break room at work, one would instantly find it's way to my mouth. Except...now I realize I'm doing it to myself. I'm often invited to social events where someone else is making dinner, so I make a stop on the way and pick up...fig cookies, and proceed to eat them like there is no tomorrow, as well as tempting everyone else. That ends, too. Next time I'm bringing a bag of clementines or a bunch of grapes or whatever fruit is on sale. At least we'll get some phytonutrients and fiber with our sugar.

Also, I'll move this party to my journal or elsewhere so I'm not clogging up your space with my stuff.

[sky]

I am glad to see that someone reads and reacts to my journal!

Here is a recent project:

Solar USB Charging System













I built this system for my boat. The goal is to charge USB devices and provide 12VDC for lighting. The devices I would charge with this system are Android phone, USB charged VHF radio, USB battery banks and headlamp. The 60W solar panel should provide adequate power. The 10 amp hour battery is enough to power led lighting and anchor light overnight. USB devices generally have enough battery capacity to work overnight. The solar charge controller has a low voltage disconnect which protects the battery from discharge and damage. The fused 12V switches terminate in barrel connectors so I can easily change out 12V devices. I added switches on the USB charger and LED voltage display so I can turn them off to eliminate parasitic draw.

In an emergency situation at home, I can indefinitely power a headlamp and phone, and I think those are the only electrical items I need in an emergency. This system would also work in a camping or cabin situation.

[7Wannabe5]

I have a similar (but portable/folding) set-up for rough camping, but I must admit I purchased most of the components much further up the ready-made scale. On the plus side, it all fits in one medium sized backpack along with all my battery packs/chargers for my portable power tools. It has definitely functioned well enough at 45 N latitude autumnal equinox to allow me to keep my laptop and phone charged, and operate small fan and LED light-bulb almost continuously. Its modularity has also come in handy in "emergency" situations such as having a cat chew up my laptop cord while I was pet-sitting in urban setting or power-grid downage at home.

[sky]

I'd like to hear more about your system. I also have a 15W solar charging system, but was not able to get enough power to keep my phone going on cloudy, rainy days. Probably due to too much youtube watching on cloudy, rainy days.

[sky]

I cut open one of the insect damaged peaches. The fruit tastes good, but there was a small grub living near the pit. Apparently I would need to spray peaches with an insecticide every 7 to 10 days from the time the blossoms drop to harvest. I'm not sure I want to do that from a health perspective and from a laziness perspective. I need to research fruit that does not require spraying.

[sky]

I continue to work on rust repair on my car. I am hoping this car keeps running for a year or two. Right now is not a good idea to buy anything due to high prices and in two years there will likely be some technology changes. Did some garden clean up and seeded broccoli, don't know if it will work but I am hoping for a broccoli that overwinters. I have experienced some boredom lately. I consider boredom to be a good motivator, it makes me look for new worthwhile things to do, it pushes me to start something new. I have some ideas, some well thought out projects, some crazy ideas. Generally in this log I try to focus on what I actually did, not fantasy projects. Recently I have been sitting in the garden and enjoying it. I would like to focus on just enjoying things but the inner will always pushes me to design, build, invent, construct.

I am still working on a windshirt pattern and will probably sew my fourth version soon. I have some cheap lightweight plain weave (uncoated) nylon fabric to practice on. I need to perfect the pattern because the next step is to sew an insulated shirt using the same pattern. This will complete an ultralight backpacking set of summer clothing: synthetic shorts, synthetic t-shirt, windshirt, wind pants, insulated shirt. That clothing, plus a poncho tarp for rain. Shelter is the poncho tarp, a bivy bag, a foam pad and sleeping quilt. To a certain extent this quest for an ultralight backpacking kit is a form of madness, however I have been pursuing this madness for many years. I don't even go backpacking much, for me it is more of a design and make your own gear quest.

[sky]

The garden of paradise:

[mountainFrugal]

What a great garden space @sky. Many different types and shapes of plants. I would have my sketchbook out instantly to try color matching.

[sky]

The Temptress made me eat this.