Glibertarians.com 2018 Archive

Author: Yusef drives a Kia

  • The Slabs – Part 2: The Range

    By Yusef Drives a Kia

    Saturday, 12:30

    Overloaded with supplies, Chuck and I gas up and head East on I-10, past the Windmills, past Palm Springs and then South at Indio, down Rt.86. Through the Badlands and hang a left at Main St. (Don’t miss it!) in Niland. Pulling into Slab proper, I needed to Micturate, and off in the Shrubbery was a Nice Spring!

    I moved off so as not to contaminate it, but how Cool!

    3:45 PM We met Coz, who runs the Library, Donated some Shakespeare and Tolkien, Drank a few beers, and off to the Range we go. I did a bit more Photography this time, with emphasis on the Somalian side, at it were. Burned out RVs, People in Camping tents under trees, Zombies, I have no idea where they live, Maybe they don’t either, Libertarian Paradise isn’t exactly Utopia.

    It seems to be a big Mess, debris everywhere, Handicapped Parking abounds, and there are often no property lines, so watch where you walk, lest the Crazies come out and get you. After dark, stay in the light. Or provide your own, no Moon = Ink Black. Anyway…

    We found some shade over by Bill’s Driveway and talked to a couple of nice enough chaps, Chris and Mingo the Half Breed, it’s about 4:30 and these guys are WASTED, but happy. Turns out Chris is a Known Thief, so as soon as Bill saw him, BENNY HILL TIME, Chris had to leave in a hurry, Property Rights in Action!

    Later, we met up with Opie the guitar player, and Various musical folks who drifted in from the Outside World, Sharing Herb, Beer and Good Times, very Mellow, watching the sunset.

     

    Now, if you want to play on open mic night, you are supposed to sign up, Richard and his Harem did, several others did, but We had set up with Bill earlier so, Priority?

    Much Music ensued, 6 or 7 acts, some good, some Horribad, but everyone got cheers, so it was all to the good, I know Chuck and I played well, and were well received, but we were too busy playing to record ourselves! A nice crowd, maybe 100 constant,150 overall, and they were there to hear Music, not a bar scene at all, everyone drinks anyway, a very good Vibe.

    Damn if the locals didn’t shut down early, Midnight, we are standing in the Dark going, Now What? Driving! The details are hazy but I told Chuck to turn right and he did, Right into a Sand trap, OOPS! IIRC, We waited til more daylight, and all of a sudden, over the Horizon, comes, OPIE! I’m like WTF? But happy, and we all start digging out, 20 minutes later, Brian! Comes rolling in with his 4×4, straps us up, and pops us out! We have AAA, We called them, we were 15 feet off the road, they wouldn’t help us, The Slabbys did, I paid them 20$, they would have done it for free, a Trifle for our situation, and We made more friends.

    There seems to be a lot more common cooperation in Free Societies such as the Slabs , Most obey property rights, and personal rights are whatever you decide they are, there are a lot of wild ideas these people have, maybe it’s good they stay out there, IDK.

    We have gone with fun and Friendship on our minds, and have not been disappointed. There was some tension, but people tended to work it out amongst themselves, no Violence, overt thievery, however, there was much Gambling, which is a crime in most States, but Hey, no Rules out here. I must give a shout out to My Best Friend Chuck, He helped this all come down, and it’s been fun so far. We are already thinking about whether or not to continue going, we need a reason to drive 155 miles to hang out in oppressive heat, who wouldn’t. Until next time…

    The Good

    The Bizarre

    The Folkies

    Here’s a link to the entire album

     

     

  • Slab City – Pt.1

    A Glib place to be

    Some Background

    The Salton Sea was created in 1905 when engineers attempted to divert the Colorado River inland to irrigate the Imperial Valley. The flood engulfed the lower than sea level plain and created the Salton Sea over a period of two years. When the diversion was capped, it was thought that the lake would soon dry up, but nature and man said no…

    The 50’s and 60’s brought the cream of Hollywood. This was, after all, the Riviera of the West Coast.

    Fishing, boating and seaside leisure weren’t the realm of the rich, and everyone enjoyed life on the the great inland sea.

    OK, TMI: the Salton Sea is dead, and so are all the surrounding towns, whether they know it or not. So on to Slab City…

    From Wikipedia: “Camp Dunlap was a U.S. Marine Corps base activated on October 15, 1942, as a training facility during World War II. The camp was named for Brigadier General Robert H. Dunlap. It was used to train artillery and anti-aircraft units of the Fleet Marine Force. The base was located at the present-day location of Slab City (also known as The Slabs) in Imperial County, California. In October 1961, the United States Department of Defense conveyed the land on which Camp Dunlap was situated back to the State of California.” Let’s visit…

    Salvation Mountain

    I guess it’s a Christian thing, but a very colorful pile of dirt greets you at the entrance to The Slabs. And sadly, it’s become very touristy–a small scale Disneyland. So much so that they closed the yellow brick road to the top, which is still very cool.

    East Jesus

    From what I’m told by the overlords, this area is owned by an affiliate of the Burning Man group. It was originally created by Charles Russell as an art studio and creative space for artists to, well, create. According the docent I spoke to (a crazy old hipster dude), there are three rules of East Jesus:

    • Don’t stay on the carpet
    • Touch everything
    • If you break it, blame it on the artist for using shoddy materials or because he didn’t properly realize his vision

    The entire facility is a magical dream of a dystopian future: beautiful and haunting. I long to be there, even as I write this.

    The Range

    The Range is the outdoor theatre built by Builder Bill, and on the weekends  it hosts many local and outside musical thing., I was told open mic ran from noon til ??? So when we drove by and saw people jamming we dropped in. I met Bill and introduced myself as Bob the Builder, and are we related? It was a good ice breaker, but Bill said Sunset til ??? Bummer because we brought our guitars, etc. While we had a good chat about the state of the Slabs with Bill, we offered food and drink and smoke, which made us many friends. Chuck chatted up Bob and Jinxie, who are a few of the more talented of the group, but everyone had something to offer. We have been offered a slot in two weeks to come and play, local friends!

    The Coliseum

    This place is a big reason I decided to come. The level of artwork in The Colosseum is astounding. Of course, someone has ruined part of it, but the portraits on the large tower are so big and so high, no graffiti artist can wreck them. And the Graffiti is astounding, as well. I guess if you’re gonna wreck something, do it right.

    Impressions

    When you first arrive, it seems like a video game, truly a vast wasteland of scrap metal and debris/trash. But then you notice an order to things, very twisted–yet it has a flow and an odd rhythm to it. I felt at peace, and didn’t carry any weapons. I felt no need. Every person I spoke to was quite adamant about the lack of violence and crime. They take care of their own, they tell me. OTOH, everyone I met seemed a bit… off. I took no pics of locals, and didn’t intrude on anyone, no video interviews, etc. It seems tacky to me to treat these people in their homes as zoo animals.

    FUCK Snowbirds!

    Whilst enjoying the peace of East Jesus a pack of six or so giant dune buggy things came up, spewing noise and tourists all over, ruining the experience for us. SAD!

    Conclusion

    We are going back in two weeks to overnight and play some songs. Here’s a link to the entire album, which has many more pics.

    More info is out there, but I went for myself and for you guys. Glib reportage, as it were. It is a very free place, and you could feel the vibe everywhere. I’m going back, and spend more time there, I must.

    Until part 2!

  • Tails of the the Teufelhund, Part 5 – Anniversary!

    I got Bella on 3/4/17. My oldest granddaughter wanted a puppy, and we were looking for a new dog anyway, so I saw this:

    And I got one. And now she’s about 14 months old. So this is our anniversary. On to Destruction!

    A few shirts:t

    She is much better about what she chews, but she is That Which Chews. So I buy $5 worth of rope a week for us to play with, and for her to tear up.

    Here’s my hardwood ukulele stand that I found in my bed one morning:

    I wake at 5 AM and she wakes at 5:15, ready to play, and if I don’t play, she flips out and starts throwing her toys about and hilarity ensues. I end up doing some hardcore upper body exercise that I certainly don’t need, but I guess she does. My dog follows my every move. She watches me. She knows when I’m going to work, and hides out ’til I get back. She greets me with great fanfare, yet waits until I have all my work shit off before she comes for love. And she gets lots!

    She knows she can clear the porch wall and do anything she wants, but she sits and waits for my signal. That’s a good pup, IMO.

    Bella is finishing out at about 30 pounds, a mid-weight cruiser dog, and damn, what a good dog!

    She loves porter and a good stout and meat! Just like a good hum–I mean dog does….

    Am I hopelessly in love with my dog? You betcha!

    Music both you and your dog can appreciate:

     

    And:

    Pet your dog. Give ’em a treat. Bella says, “Arf!”

    Kittah says, “ROUNNN! Leave me be!”

  • Yusef explains HVAC

    Yusef explains HVAC

    Yusef and a client?

    Yusef Adama(not real name) has been in the HVACR trades for 31 years, Residential, Commercial, Industrial and Refrigeration and currently runs a small operation out of Southern California.

    Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning, HVAC – a silly acronym for the most valuable thing man has created to advance Civilization. What, Yusef? What about Computers? Medicine? Food storage?

    NONE of those things would not be possible in their current form without HVAC, so let’s get started.

    Behold Your God (of AC)

     

    Way back when we used Fire, people began to notice if you gave Fire an easy place to vent smoke, it will go that way, Later we discovered Pressure Differential, and used it to our advantage. Today we use a variety of materials including PVC plastic to vent our Products of Combustion, and have developed standards of safety to insure said PoC don’t mix with our breathing air. 

    Yup, a that is a furnace alright.

    Gas ranges, old boiler systems and floor furnaces all give off some PoC, but the legal maximum is 9ppm so that’s O.K. However any forced air furnace is limited to 3ppm. 

    Bad burning gas

     

    Good burning gas

    CO and You: CO is cumulative in the bloodstream – you start out with flu-like symptoms, then it gets worse…and if you don’t catch CO poisoning soon, you will die. If you have a good running gas furnace, it will produce NO CO, CO is created by incomplete combustion, Modern furnaces burn really clean, but even an old furnace with a clean burn, Will. Not. Produce. CO. If your CO detector does go off, I, personally, would do the following;

    1. Check for a clear vent,
    2. Run the unit and check with my million dollar meter for actual CO,
    3. Check the combustion air supply,
    4. Check for living air incursion,
    5. Look for cracked heat cells,
    6. Check and adjust burners,
    7. Check and adjust gas valve manifold pressure.

    Combustion air and You: Furnaces need oxygen to burn clean (as does all fire) and a separate air supply is provided for just that purpose. Seen a screen or 2 in the furnace closet? That’s combustion air and it needs to stay clear of blockage – so don’t store things in there, not good.

     Heat Pumps and electric heat: This is the fun one; First, they aren’t really AC in reverse, they require a number of check valves, 2 different metering devices for the refrigerant and a bunch of other things that make them work. When it gets below about 25 degrees, they lose the capacity to draw heat from the surrounding air and begin to freeze, this where defrost comes in…

    “Why is my heater blowing out freezing air?” Defrost occurs via sensors in the outdoor unit, and flips it into cooling mode. This results in switching valves around and thawing the outside coil, then it flips back to heat… so hang tight, it will come back. If you have electric heat installed, this will temper the cold air until defrost ends. Heat pumps are really only useful in a clime like California or maybe Arizona, cause once you get below 25 or so your running strip heat, which is extremely expensive.

    Back to modern furnaces: The days of fires and rollouts are long gone. Off the top of my head, there are; the centrifugal switch, the pressure switch, 2 rollout switches, a high limit in the burner compartment, another on the blower, the igniter itself, and finally the flame sensor. If any ONE thing fails, the whole machine will shut down, and you must unplug and reset the system to check those faults, takes me about ten minutes, unless there are birds in the vent,etc. 

    NOT a birdhouse

    Bottom line, you are much safer than even 20 years ago.

    Yusef what can I do to be safe and enjoy my comfortable warm/cool home? Filters, if you don’t know where they are, find them! Or ask me 🙂 usually located at the bottom of a furnace in a closet, in the ceiling as in a filter grille, turn off your system before changing, and no less than every 6 months for a forced air system, here’s why.

    NOT CLEAN!

    The filter is to keep the equipment clean, not your precious breathing air!

    The indoor coil is capable of acquiring tons of dirt, blocking air flow for heating, and cooling and destroying equipment that demands airflow. It is expensive to clean up, and quite embarrassing for the homeowner. 

    Did someone say “dirt”?
    How it Works:

    Forced-air furnaces, work like this;

    1. Thermostat calls for heat,

    2. Furnace calls for inducer motor (or vent motor if positive pressure)

    3. Centrifugal switch closes to turn on motor,

    4. Pressure switch closes,

    5. Control circuit goes through all limit switches,

    6. Igniter is energized, (could be a spark igniter or a hot surface igniter)

    7. Gas valve opens for 7 seconds,

    8. If flame is produced, flame sensor sends a signal to the control board,

    9. After 90 second delay, blower comes on,

    10. Once the thermostat is satisfied, the exact reverse happens – starting with the gas valve.

     

    Heat pumps, electric heat:

    1. Thermostat calls for heat,

    2. Compressor fires off and reversing valve engages,

    3. 2 sensors calculate ambient and coil temps every 15 minutes or so,

    4. When it gets too cold and the outdoor coil begins to freeze…

    5. Unit goes into cooling mode, defrosting outdoor coil, strip heat comes on,

    6. Unit defrosted, goes into heating, strip heat turns off.

    Yusef what can I do? I’m cold! Go to your breaker panel and rest the furnace breaker, or if a HP, both outdoor and indoor breakers. What we are trying to do is clear a programming fault in the circuit board, it does work sometimes and can save you oodles of cash, worth the small effort IMO.

    If not, call an expert. the most expensive thing in your house is your HVAC… but it’s often the most neglected. It’s what keeps you comfy, and it will kill you if you don’t pay attention. I see dog hair clogged filters that look like a fur wall and ask my BMW driving customers, “would you do this to your car?”

    “No? But you do this to your half a million dollar home.” (I despise those types)

    Don’t be afraid, enjoy your comfort and don’t panic – but be aware, nothing is perfect, and CHANGE YOUR FILTERS!

  • Tails of the the Teufelhund, Part 4 – An Apt Name or Where’s My Wallet!?!!

    Tails of the the Teufelhund, Part 4 – An Apt Name or Where’s My Wallet!?!!

    Teuful? Damonen? Zerstoren? All of the above? She like to chew, and chew she will. Daddy spends at least $5-10 a week on chew toys and dental treats to keep her occupied, but it’s not enough for a Teuful. Bella will take those treats down like a baby bunny–rope, rawhide, nothing gets in her way, and she loves her milk jugs. She has two speeds: sleep mode and haul ass chasing the kittah through the house mode. At 11 months, she sleeps like a teenager. Ten, twelve, fourteen hours a day! Slime dog.

    So, last night after a nice Glib/beer evening, I’m awakened at 1:30 AM by my screaming wife. I wake and wonder WTF? I look down to see my bed scattered with money and credit cards. Vom Teufelhund Zerstort!

    Beside my main credit/debit card, she chewed my Microsoft, EPA and AMA cards, as well as Bevmo and other cards. Oddly, she didn’t eat any of the $400+ I had in my wallet. (And btw, we never found the wallet*.) Since I caught her in the act, I beat her, as far as Daddy can swat his baby girl, but she knew and it scared her. (I popped her on the ass and put her out back for 30 minutes. Tough love…?)

    She eats too much people food, mostly meat, but she is a potato chip addict. She’ll do tricks for chips, crazy pup.

    Bella is a huge task, but she is real good therapy for Momma and me too, and damn, she purty! She’s the last dog I’ll ever own, and Stumpy and I treat her like gold. Truly a great Hund.

    *I’ll be looking as I pick up the poop, interesting what comes out…………..