Category: *heh*

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Thanksgiving

I have, for about as long as I’ve been blogging and, even before in other contexts, written Thanksgiving posts/articles/letters about the many reasons most folks in our society have for being thankful and more than a few specific reasons I have for being thankful. . . and to Whom.

This year? Notsomuch. I’ll limit myself to two comments about gratitude/thankfulness: with very few exceptions, folks in our society who cannot find many reasons to be grateful [to others, to society in general, and, more importantly, to God] for their blessings are just itchin’ for a fight. Ingrates.

The next: anyone who wakes up in the morning and is NOT in Hell (the actual afterlife place of eternal torture) should be grateful for God’s grace, because, on our own merit, we all deserve that. Period. If one is not headed to Hell as one’s ultimate destination, it is only because one has elected to accept God’s gracious gift of salvation. If one has NOT elected to accept God’s grace and is not yet in Hell, again, it is by His grace they are not.

Be thankful for that.

Continue reading “Thanksgiving”

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Live and Learn

One of the very few drawbacks to living in America’s Third World County™ has been our experiences with appliance repairmen. We’ve decided over the years that going outside the county is wise, when it comes to appliance repair, whether that’s fridges, washers, or HVAC, etc. Just really bad experiences with execrably poor service from “highly-recommended” locals. *shrugs* Others’ experiences might vary, but ours? Universally poor service from local companies.

So, when cold weather hit and we needed our (gas, forced air) furnace, what happened? Well, first I changed the filter, than tried the furnace out. Right. No air. The fan would not come on, and nor would the burners. Well, since the fan and the gas valve are inter-related, via the control interface, if the fan didn’t work, the burners would not.

So, did I call someone? Nope. Tested the fan with separate power. No joy. Motor out. Replace motor (preferred option)? Nope. The thing’s apparently forty years old (!) and I think I’d have to cut it loose from the fan. Nope. Not gonna.

So, bought new fan.

The mounting bracket on the new (larger, more powerful) fan is almost the right width. wrong configuration. So, cut the mounting bracket off the old fan housing and affixed it to the new one. Fits. Mount the fan, wire it and. . . no joy.

So, I confirmed the old fan was defunct, but now the transformer/switch assembly isn’t working either? Another $25. (Note: 15 years ago, a local ripoff “repairman” charged $95 for the part. . . in an off-brand. . . and still didn’t fix the issue until he checked what I told him to check elsewhere. . . on his THIRD TRIP. HIGHLY recommended by multiple sources. MHWA.) Wired the new control relay in and. . . FAN! But no furnace ignition. Pilot light working fine, but gas valve: no joy.

Hmmm. . . sit back. Check Internet to see if my wiring job was right (the wiring diagram from the control relay mfg. did NOT make sense according to the wiring diagram on the furnace’s service panel, so I had transferred wires one at a time from the old relay. Maybe that was the problem. *heh*) Well, yes and no. It seems a wire from the relay to to gas valve HAD BROKEN and dropped down during my rewiring. (Dark, old eyes–hence difficulty focusing–“headlight” focused in wrong place, etc. I just missed it dropping off the gas valve.) Found it later on the floor and wondered where it had come from.

The ONLY clue I got from my hunting on the Internet was a YouTube video where a guy pointed out, on a similar but not the same, SPDT relay where the gas valve wiring FROM the relay should be connected. Fortunately, he also called it by name, so I could locate the correct place to wire it in on my relay.

At last, joy. Warm last night. Almost too warm for me, frankly. 70°F is just too warm for indoor Autumn living. Heck, places near a register and away from the thermostat have gotten up to 73°-75°! Turned down a tad.

Note: what I learned? Oh, I already knew to do it, but I forgot to take pictures of the installation before I replaced the relay. *head-desk* Oh, well. Would have saved a headache, but all’s well, and all that.

P.S. #2: May also need a new thermostat. Cool temps today, furnace apparently came on a few times, though, and most of the house is at 75° even though the thermostat is set at 68°. It might not be a problem. Could just have been solar gain, since we are fairly well insulated and the house–overall–started out around 70°, with the previously noted “hot spots”.

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How Can Anyone Believe Any of This B.S.?

Especially someone who’s supposedly “educated.” (Ah, but it was a British “education,” possibly the only system that can beat an Ivy League “education” for for sheer empty-headed, contrafactual numb-skullery when it comes to Islam.) Read this in the prologue of a novel:

“Years later, working in an uneasy alliance with the House of Saud, the Wahhabists returned to Mecca, shattering years of history and destroying the remains of the core of debate, of intellect, that had lit the fuse of Islam. Since then, Islamic thought has declined into madness, falling ever further into an abyss that can only result in destruction.”

Oh, utter, complete and absolute bullshit. Islam has always been just as it was started by that mass-murdering, slaving, thieving, raping, illiterate bullshit artist, The Butcher of Medina. At least 20-25% of the Koran is utter nonsense, gibberish, and 75% — the 75% or so that abrogates the Koran’s so-called “peaceful verses — or so is raging hate, instructing faithful Muslims to oppress or kill “unbelievers.” I throw the bullshit flag on this entire premise. Any so-called “core of debate, of intellect” existed either as weak rationalization for practices that denied Mohamed’s teachings or as making nearly useless gobbledegook of the genuine intellectual advances made by people savage Muslims had conquered.

The moral is “Pay no attention to the Taqiyya spread by Muslims and their co-conspirators, enablers and fellow travellers.” Islam is and always has been nothing but a brutal hate cult, with an occasional, very phony, veneer of civilized behavior. Scratch a Muslim and get a Mohamed analog: brutal, nasty, hateful and utterly savage.

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Typical Saturday @ TWC Central™

Read a book blurb. Aloud: “Highballs in the Hamptons? Not interested.”
My Wonder Woman: “You’re not interested in other people’s balls.”
Me: “You really lowballed that one.”
MWW: “If the cup fits. . . “

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Addicted Much?

Worked on just one dysfunctional computer today. “Cleaned up” some others. Then, chores around twc central. And. . . sat down briefly at one computer (FarceBooking, web browsing, checking email, etc.). Went to “work” (network housekeeping) on another (in another room). Read through a tutorial on yet another (yet another room). Accessed another remotely. From each of the other three computers. Read a bit on my (newest) tablet. Considered booting another one and decided. . . nah. Looked at one that needs to be put on the network and. . . “OK, why not?”

I think maybe I ought to go on a “computer diet”.

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Baffling, Massive Illiteracy

I don’t get people who say “calvary” when referring to “cavalry.” I mean, hello! One refers to horseback-mounted soldiers, and it ain’t “calvary,” because that has nothing to do with horses. Cavalry, however, entered English via the Norman French cavalier, from cheval (HORSE!), etc.

Of course, it takes a minimal literacy to get this, beyond simply reading the word and learning how to pronounce it from that. Confusing “cavalry” with “Calvary,” the famous location of Christ’s crucifixion? That takes both a failure of basic, extremely minimal literacy and a MASSIVE historical/cultural illiteracy as well.

Oh, self-made morons who make this astounding error do NOT get a “bye” because they mislearned it by hearing another self-made moron saying “calvary” when meaning “cavalry.” Nope. Even there I sneer at their empty braincases, because they are so very poorly read (no excuses; that’s their bad choice) and too butt lazy and self-enstupiated to remedy that problem.

OK, someone with an innate IQ under 70 might well get a bye. All others (and they are legion), nah.