New And Old

 

Everyone says "Everything is changing all the time!" Yes, things are changing all the time, hopefully for the better. As in the picture for example, we have advanced to cell phones from dial phones over a half century ago. However, some things are changing and, regrettably not for the better. Instead of telling you where I am going with this, let me play a song for you and you can follow along with the lyrics:

Click HERE

Eve of Destruction

The Eastern world, it is exploding
Violence flaring, bullets loading
You're old enough to kill but not for voting
You don't believe in war, but what's that gun you're toting?
And even the Jordan river has bodies floating

But you tell me over and over and over again my friend
Ah, you don't believe we're on the eve of destruction

Don't you understand what I'm trying to say?
Can't you feel the fear that I'm feeling today?
If the button is pushed, there's no running away
There'll be no one to save with the world in a grave
Take a look around you boy, it's bound to scare you, boy

But you tell me over and over and over again, my friend
Ah, you don't believe we're on the eve of destruction

Yeah, my blood's so mad, feels like coagulating
I'm sitting' here just contemplating
I can't twist the truth, it knows no regulation
Handful of Senators don't pass legislation

And marches alone can't bring integration
When human respect is disintegrating'
This whole crazy world is just too frustrating

And you tell me over and over and over again my friend
Ah, you don't believe we're on the eve of destruction

Think of all the hate there is in Red China
Then take a look around to Selma, Alabama
Ah, you may leave here for four days in space
But when you return, it's the same old place
The pounding of the drums, the pride and disgrace
You can bury your dead but don't leave a trace
Hate your next door neighbor but don't forget to say grace
And you tell me over and over and over and over again my friend
You don't believe we're on the eve of destruction
You don't believe we're on the eve of destruction

The song came out in 1965. The events are not too different from today, and it shares the same sentiment of panic and fear. It is difficult to drive this point home without getting political. The best I can do is point out how often history repeats itself. That we don't learn from the errors of others, present and past, weather it be the running of countries or the care of our earth. My heart cries, seeing the present state of Mankind. In the Book of Genesis, God saw the wickedness of the world and caused a great flood to destroy every living thing. If He is feeling the same way about the world again, He doesn't have to destroy us, we are doing a pretty good job of that on our own.

I am in the autumn of my life and probably won't see much change in Humanity's path. In some ways, it is a comfort to know that I will be spared that. However, I feel sorrow for generations to follow, if our worldwide behaviors don't improve.

My Journal Excerpts - Part 1

There was a time when I kept a journal for awhile, or diary, if you will.  I thought I would include some excerpts here.

1952-

My earliest recollections were when my family was at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.  I would guess that I was three or four years old.  I remember, I used to enjoy undermining our front walk with a tablespoon.  We were in base-housing, which I recall, even as a child, nothing to brag about.  All the buildings were the same ranch-style type housing with asbestos shingles.  Walking into the front door brought you into an entry-way type of room with a big (at least big to a three year old!) silver furnace off to one side.  I don't remember a thing about the interior of the house.  There was, I remember, a friend of the family, her name was Gerry.  She had two very pretty Afghan dogs.

It was about this time period that I came down with double pneumonia.  I don't know how long I was in the hospital, but it seemed like an awful long time.  While there, I was paranoid that I might get a shot in the behind while sleeping, so I tried very hard to always sleep on my back and not my stomach.  The day finally came to return home.  Mom and Dad picked me up in the car.  My sister, Kathy, was not with them, she was about eight.  Standing on the back seat and leaning on the front seat, I said to my parents, "When I get home, I'm gonna give Kathy a big kiss!"  They laughed and said I wouldn't do that because she had chicken pox!

1954-

When it came to start school, we lived in Kittery, Maine.  I started kindergarten at the Frisbee school.  I remember some experiences in that class.

There was a freckled-faced girl, named Patty, who had taken a fancy to me and was always trying to get my attention.  Of course a young man at the age of five was aloof to such things!  One day Patty was flirting with me and I spun on my heel and walked away.  At the time I was holding my snow suit as we had just come in from outside.  Well, the buckle on the strap snapped around when I turned and it hit her on the cheek.  She cried.  I must have felt pretty bad about it to still remember it today!

Another time, in that class, I came in from recess one winter day, thoroughly soaked from snow.  My teacher (I believe her name was Mrs. Philbrick) had me remove my wet pants and I sat in the chair with a blanket over my lap.  The humiliating part was that everyone could see my underpants through the open back of the chair!

We were living in what was called the Admiralty Village.  It was housing provided for Navy families.  It was there I met my first Negro family who moved into the neighborhood.  I was glad to have new friends to play with, but I didn't understand why their skin was dark.  In my young mind I concluded that they had been caught in a fire and I didn't dwell on it anymore.

I recollect having air-raid drills while in Kindergarten.  I didn't really understand what it was all about, but I remember it was both fun and scary!  When the alarm sounded, we all filed out into the hallway, got down on our knees, put our heads down against the wall and covered our head with our hands.  I imagined monsters going down the hall while we were doing this!

Yes, My Radios And I Are Still Here.....

 Again, my apologies for another long lapse since my last entry. I can't say it is because I am too busy. On the contrary, being retired and keeping to myself at home during a pandemic, I have way too much time on my hands, but my hands don't seem to find their way to the keyboard. I have become physically and mentally lethargic. Nevertheless, here I am and my subject choice probably won't move you, but more likely put you to sleep.

 My primary distraction is my hobby of collecting and refurbishing vintage radios, both tube and transistor. The years range from 1936 to 2004, presently. Time passes very swiftly while tinkering in my workshop! In this entry, I am going to show you some of the process of resurrecting a radio. "Oh joy!" you are probably thinking. Not to worry, the pain will pass.

This particular set (Emerson 710B) has serious case problems, as you can see. Repairing this case would be a whole story on its own so I will save that for another day. There are cracks on the front and bottom.

 So today I shall focus on repairing the innards.

The first thing to do is give it a test. Not knowing the history of an old radio, it is best to use an isolation transformer and variac. Because many old sets have the metal chassis connected to one side of the two conductor power cord, it can be a shock hazard so the isolation transformer comes into play. And because the components are old and possibly unstable or shorted, a variac is used to gradually bring up the voltage while monitoring the current being drawn. If it hums loudly, the filter caps are bad, if nothing happens, maybe a tube but more likely something else. I rarely find bad tubes. Sometimes other capacitors are bad but they all get replaced anyway. Sometimes a bad resistor, sometimes a bad coil. Here is mine, built on a cake pan:

 Back view, before and after:

Front view:

Top view:

Bottom view:

Various stages:

A 'whoopie pie' nearby is a very important factor:

 

 

That's about it, of course it needs testing when it is done. Sometimes they come up nicely, sometimes not. Further troubleshooting is necessary. Could be a resistor or coil problem. More often than not, it is a wiring error, hmmm, who did that?

Hope you find this meandering interesting!

• The mystery of life is certainly the most persistent problem ever placed before the thought of man. . . . . . The inability of science to solve it is absolute. This would be truly frightening were it not for faith.                    - Guglielmo Marconi