Thursday, May 14, 2020

I Have No Idea...

     I have no idea what to write about.

     Almost anything you can write about the pandemic -- worldwide, nations, state or local response to is, or what individuals can or should do -- has become politicized.  People who once responded to "no guns" signs at businesses by taking their custom elsewhere (and possibly leaving a card explaining why) now flout "please wear a mask" signs at businesses and express outrage when they get so much as a dirty look for it.  (You do realize that the supermarket checker's not getting much above minimum wage for being exposed to every grimy or squeaky-clean citizen with a yen to buy a "bottle of anything and a glazed donut," right?  You want there to be people still willing to do that job competently in the future, don't you?)

     There's no resolving the question in advance, so to hell with that.  As a species, we will run the experiment, with the bold taking risks while the timid (count me in that group) take notes.  Time will tell -- and it may tell us that such a mixed response is the best way for humanity to get through this.  No matter what we do, the individual cost has already been high and it will get higher.  There is no magic reset.

     Meanwhile, I've been -- playing.  I have wanted to try working with printable decal paper for awhile now and this morning, my first effort went from printed and clear-sprayed page to getting cut out and applied to the front (and top) panel of a little project.  The decals need several hours or more to dry, and then I can spray clear lacquer over the whole thing.

     And the wall-wart for my big-name flatbed scanner has been recalled.  So I have taken a pictire of the ID sticker on the thing and need to get the S/N and model number from my scanner to see if [Big Name] will send a replacement.  Like everything else in my office, the flatbed scanner is crowded into a corner, so getting at the bottom to find the numbers will be a small project.

     Small projects are about all I'm feeling okay about at present.

4 comments:

RandyGC said...

Hey look! You found something to write about! ;-)

I appreciate getting your perspective on things as a check from getting stuck in an echo chamber.

Maybe it's my paranoia from time working on chem warfare planning and on the edges of Bio, but I'm not convinced that homemade non-medical masks are of any use other than to make people feel better. I know the reasoning, just not sure it's accurate.

But, if my being in your establishment and not masked makes you feel nervous/threatened, I'll pull up my neck gaiter over my face out of basic politeness. Sort of like one of the reasons I conceal rather than open carry, why cause drama when you don't need to?

And who knows, maybe I'm wrong and it does do some good.

When growing up and in my model aircraft/armored vehicles phase I would have loved to be able to make custom decals, but in the 1970s that was far beyond my budget and capabilities (including artistic, as in none). These days I'm pointedly staying away from some old hobbies that would get our of control real quick should I stick my toe back in. No matter how useful a 3D printer and custom decal prints would be in doing that WWII armor diorama I always wanted to do...


One thing I've started doing when buying equipment is to record all the specs, S/N etc. in a text file and save on my computers (including tablet and phone) I also grab the user manual PDF if available. Makes it easy to check stuff without digging around under/behind things like desks, car seats, etc.

But I only started doing that the last few years, so still a lot of what you have to do in my future as stuff fails.

John Peddie (Toronto) said...

Lots of competition for Darwinian Awards.

Who will be this year's emcee?

The Old Man said...

Good luck making a decalcomania, although the chemistry is far more advanced than it was in the 60's. Hopefully floating on water and grabbing it with a loop is no longer required.
As long as nobody is in the hospital or morgue, it's a good day.

Paul said...

it is hard to keep your muse as fast as they are killing humanities last great hope