Flagpole: up!

Flagpole: up!  Hooray!!!  Randy B. and his sidekick Jeff drove his 24,000 lb. loader over, and in amazingly short order we had the flagpole up and perfectly vertical.  We spent a lot more time worrying about how to raise it without dinging the aluminum than we did doing the actual raising :). 

Once we had it up, just sitting in the sleeve, it was time to make it perfectly vertical.  The sleeve is about two inches larger in diameter than the flagpole's bottom is, so there is some “wiggle room” there. The way you secure the flagpole in the perfect position is interesting: nothing but sand holds it in place.  First we poured the sleeve about 1/3 full of sand, then we maneuvered the flagpole into a perfectly vertical position (using a level).  After that, we gently banged the side of the pole to vibrate and settle that first bunch of sand.  We re-checked the vertical, tweaked it for a final time, then filled the whole sleeve with sand and vibrated it.

There was one more step after that: covering the sand with a sealing layer of silicone caulk (so the sand won't get wet), and then installing the decorative aluminum flashing on the bottom.  I took the photo above before I'd finished those steps, as the light was failing.  But it's all done now, and ready to attach a flag to.  As soon as it warms up just a tad in the morning, Old Glory will be flying over our heads...

Barn: it's insulation time...

Barn: it's insulation time...  Yesterday afternoon I met with a garage door contractor, and I picked out a door.  I chose the model with the best insulation I could get in a 2" thick door, which turns out to be R19.5.  Naturally, that particular model has the longest lead time :)

This morning the insulation crew arrived, and as I write they are installing the netting (see photos below) that will contained the blown-in fiberglass they'll be installing later today.  They call this stuff “netting”, but it reminds me of the stuff they put on the bottom of box springs these days, except this stuff is much heavier...

Roof: let the demolition begin!

Roof: let the demolition begin!  The roofing crew arrived early this morning to start demolishing the existing shingle roof on our house.  The roof was covered with a thick layer of frost when they got here, but that quickly vanished once the sun got above the trees.  After that (hopefully soon after that!) they will start installing a new standing-seam steel roof...

Fireplace: acid-washed...

Fireplace: acid-washed...  The masons were here on Monday evening to wash all the rock down with dilute muriatic (sulfuric) acid.  They scrubbed each rock off with a stiff brush and a rough rag, after draping the mantle to keep the acid from it.  After that, they rinsed everything off.  The main reason for the acid wash was to remove the thin scum of Portland cement (from the mortar) that ringed most of the rocks.  It's all gone now.  The hearthstones had never been cleaned, so this wash really made them look good.

After this we all went outside with a few of the leftover pieces of stone.  We painted each one with two different sealers (half and half).  Tonight we will choose a sealer and paint the actual fireplace with it...

Flagpole: arrived!

Flagpole: arrived!  UPS Freight delivered my flagpole on Monday morning, and I've been busy putting it together (it's a kit, of course) and getting it ready to be erected.  This afternoon Randy B. (who lives just north of me) will drive his loader down here.  It can raise 30' high, so it should make short work of getting the flagpole up.  After that, all we have to do is pour some sand around it (while making sure it's standing straight up!), do a little sealing with silicone caulking, and then it's ready to go.  The crummy photo at right shows the bottom section of the pole with one end near the concrete foundation, and the other section still in its tube on the left.  The logs on the lawn are holding the pole up off the grass, which apparently can permanently stain the aluminum of the flagpole...

Holy cracklin' sunspots!

Holy cracklin' sunspots!  Via APOD, of course...

Yet another...

Yet another ... list of “must read” science fiction.  I confess to be one of those who started, but didn't finish, Gravity's Rainbow.  I have read seven of the ten listed, and they'd be on my top 25 list for sure – so I might just have to read the other three (and finish Gravity's Rainbow)...

The many deaths of Ambrose Bierce...

The many deaths of Ambrose Bierce...  I know Ambrose Bierce only by one of his writings: The Devil's Dictionary, which is one of my favorite works to read when I need cheering up.  I had no idea about the rest of his story...

The most trusted news source...

The most trusted news source...  The only major news source that is more trusted than distrusted across the ideological spectrum is ... The Wall Street Journal.

These are U.S. news sources and U.S. citizens only.  I note they leave libertarians out of the ideological mix (their numbers are small), but I'd expect the results to be the same.

It's interesting to ponder both the depth and the consistency of the inferred ideological bias across these news sources.  Only The Economist, the BBC, and a highly filtered aggregator (Google News) are perceived as being relatively biased.  The rest are perceived as sharply biased, with the majority being perceived as biased toward liberals.

I'd love to see something like this for the British press.  Their unabashed biases are, to me at least, refreshing and interesting.  Nobody their pretends to be biased, but behaves otherwise – their media are firmly for one side or the other (and there's a good mix) and they make no bones about it...

Dancing traffic light...

Dancing traffic light...  Via my lovely bride.  Cute...

Get the government out of the way...

Get the government out of the way...  Reader, friend, and former colleague Doug S. passes along this story about how the Nez Perce Indian tribe restored Coho salmon on the Clearwater River, taking them from extinction to fishable abundance in just a few years.  They were able to do this mainly because being a tribe exempted them from state and national government interference.

The success story is heartwarming and satisfying.  The reasons for their success make me want to tar and feather every Progressive son of a bitch in sight...

What the world eats...

What the world eats...  Reader, friend, and former colleague Simon M. passes along this interactive graphic.  It breaks down the kinds of food people of various countries eat, year-by-year, by calories or weight.  There were some surprises in here for me – such as Hong Kong folks being by far the largest meat eaters – but only in recent years.  I'd love to know the whys behind some of these data... 

Really?

Really?  According to this study, you can identify introverts by their facial expression.  Furthermore, the extroverted expression (at least) can be faked.

WWII Japanese “balloon bomb” found in Canada...

WWII Japanese “balloon bomb” found in Canada...  It's common for old ordinance to be found many places – but not in Western Canada, and not with such an interesting story attached.  See here and here for more details...

What does your instinct tell you?

What does your instinct tell you?  Consider these facts:

• A Republican candidate notices that when he votes for Republican candidates, the votes are registered for Democratic candidates.
• He's voting on a touch-screen voting machine.
• He's voting in Illinois.

Election officials said that the machine's touch screen had a “calibration error”.

I wonder if there's some vote-fixing going on.  Because nothing says “shenanigans” like Democrats in Illinois...

California leads the way...

California leads the way ... in state-mandated elective abortion coverage – even for churches with religious objections to killing babies.

I'm pretty confident that this would not happen in Utah.

I'm sure the California law will be challenged on Constitutional grounds.  There's no telling how the Ninth Circuit (which includes California) would rule on it, but if they ruled to uphold the mandate, I'm sure it will be further appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court – where, at least with the current roster of Justices, it will be overturned...