{"id":30696,"date":"2024-10-05T05:00:27","date_gmt":"2024-10-05T09:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/?p=30696"},"modified":"2024-10-04T22:36:41","modified_gmt":"2024-10-05T02:36:41","slug":"painting-myself-into-a-corner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2024\/10\/05\/painting-myself-into-a-corner\/","title":{"rendered":"Painting Myself into a Corner"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last month I whined about an insanely expensive critical repair project going on at the Compound.\u00a0 Well, my contractor performed flawlessly and after a month or so of staged demolition and construction we ended up with the end of the house restored to its former functionality only with the ground floor consisting of a poured slab instead of a pier supported wooden floor.\u00a0 The only hitch was that the slab needed to cure another two weeks before staining it.\u00a0 And since this contractor has moved onto his next big project, getting him back to stain the floor isn\u2019t possible.\u00a0 No problem, I promised Camera Girl that I would take care of the painting myself after the requisite two-week delay.<\/p>\n

Well, last night she reminded me of my lightly given promise and that by her reckoning Friday was the end of the two weeks.\u00a0 Like a trapped creature I looked around for a sliver of daylight that I could run through.\u00a0 But as I\u2019ve said, the middle of October will be a tragically busy time for me when I won\u2019t be able to do anything significant like painting rooms and moving furniture.\u00a0 Checkmate.<\/p>\n

So early today (11am) we went to the big box store and I bought the stain and all the accoutrements.\u00a0 And after lunch (the condemned man had a hearty meal) I performed the ritual first coat.\u00a0 Tomorrow, I\u2019ll purchase a paint brush (I thought I had one lying around), do the detail work in the tight spots and put on the final coat.\u00a0 Then, Sunday I\u2019ll be toting barges and lifting bales for several hours restoring the contents of the room to their original positions and thereby fulfilling my promise to Camera Girl.\u00a0 Such is the life of a modern husband.\u00a0 When his wife has the effrontery of quoting his own words back at him, wife beating is no longer a convenient option.\u00a0 In fact, it\u2019s positively frowned on in some circles.\u00a0 O tempora, O mores.\u00a0 I really need to bring Camera Girl to a showing of Shakespeare\u2019s, \u201cThe Taming of the Shrew.\u201d\u00a0 Kate saw the light.\u00a0 Camera Girl should follow her good example.<\/p>\n

But when all was said and done, I rather enjoyed the event.\u00a0 Well, all except taping the moldings.\u00a0 That really should be done by someone young and spry.\u00a0 But rolling on the stain was fun.\u00a0 Painting a floor is easier than painting walls and a lot easier than ceilings.\u00a0 No drop cloths, no crick in the neck.\u00a0 So, I acquiesced semi-gracefully and pretended that I was completely on board with finishing the room this weekend.\u00a0 Mental agility (or self-deception) is an important survival trait.<\/p>\n

I was thinking today about the kind of world that the information age is creating.\u00a0 Specifically, with the monopoly of advertising being in the hands of Amazon and Google, there is an incredible need (opportunity) for alternate information flow paths.\u00a0 Google has been declared a monopoly by the federal government but no action seems in the offing.\u00a0 Since that is the case, it seems more important than ever that some private resource step in and provide an alternative.\u00a0 Elon Musk has hinted that X is that alternative.\u00a0 But will it be?\u00a0 Does he have the vision to provide an unfettered electronic agora where both commerce and information can flow unimpeded by ideology?\u00a0 So far, I haven\u2019t seen that realized.\u00a0 Maybe he\u2019s waiting to see if Trump wins the election.\u00a0 After all the federal government is the biggest customer for his batteries and his rocket ships.\u00a0 If the Democrats are ensconced in power maybe he\u2019ll just give up his free speech and populist efforts and concentrate on making money.<\/p>\n

So much seems to depend on an election that probably won\u2019t be honest.\u00a0 Maybe I\u2019m the one who is looking at everything all wrong.\u00a0 Possibly the important lesson to be learned is not how to have free speech but rather how to have hidden speech.\u00a0 Now that\u2019s a thought.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last month I whined about an insanely expensive critical repair project going on at the Compound.\u00a0 Well, my contractor performed flawlessly and after a month<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,3366,818,1263],"tags":[3341,1426],"class_list":["post-30696","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-events","category-life-in-dunwich","category-ocf","category-stuff-that-personally-interests-me-miscellaneous","tag-dunwich","tag-free-speech"],"yoast_head":"\nPainting Myself into a Corner - Orion's Cold Fire<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2024\/10\/05\/painting-myself-into-a-corner\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Painting Myself into a Corner - 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