Things That Amaze Me

I was watching a History Hits documentary about Blackface.The documentary told the history of blackface entertainers from America came to Britain on the 1840s and made this style of entertainment so popular that there was a long running BBC series which was primarily white women and white men in blackface singing silly songs with a Southern content. This was still running in 1978.

The black Shakespearean actor narrating the show explained how destructive this was to his identity growing up with this. I do not doubt it. I have never seen blackface entertainment except in historical examination of cinema. 1978.

Insight into a Profession Most of Us Never See

 My daughter is a professor of social work. She is beginning to record podcasts that you may find interesting, especially if you have no idea what social workers do (which is actually a lot of things).

Need Someone to Talk Me Through Installing a Bandsaw Blade

Eight years ago, it was hard. Not five hours hard. I must be missing something simple. It is so easy on YouTube. 

1. I put the blade in its little tunnel, wrap it around lower wheel as centered as i can.

2. Reduce tension control which drops upper wheel enough to get blade almost on wheel.

3. Hold blade to lower wheel while sliding blade mostly on upper wheel 

4. Press down on tension knob which depresses upper wheel enough to slip blade on upper wheel.

5. Increase tension. 

 

6. Rotate upper wheel by hand adjusting blade tracking to try and center blade on wheel. At this point,  regardless of direction,  it goes off the wheel.

UPDATE: My wife came to the shop. I suspected that I needed a third hand. Cutting just fine.

Bandsaw

It has been at least eight years since I changed a bandsaw blade. I remembered it being difficult. I have spent hours trying to get the blade on the wheels. 

I seem to have found part of the answer. When you have turned tensioning knob all the way to loose, pressing down on the knob gets you a bit more slack to slide the blade on the upper wheel, barely. Keeping it there while turning the tension knob may require three hands.

I understand why this works this way. Keeping the blade on the wheels is not trivial but there must be a better design.

Border Wall Construction Continues

11/9/26 KATU:

Border wall construction in the Big Bend region can move forward again after the U.S. Supreme Court temporarily lifted a lower-court order that had halted the project while a lawsuit plays out.

In an 8-1 decision issued Monday, the Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to resume border construction in the Big Bend region while the legal challenge continues.

The justices said the administration is likely to succeed in its argument that the lower court did not have the authority to hear the particular claim at issue.

Whatever legitimate environmental concerns might be the pretense for this suit, it should be apparent to all that this is rally a TDS symptom. For all the Democrat hollering, the new Congress is not going to stop the wall.

Being an Annoying Pest is Not A Life-Threatening Event

11/9/26 channel 11 Boise:

An investigation showed the incident began when a group of boys, including the victim, “ding-dong ditched” at the home of a person known to them. Evidence indicates that when the boys returned to the home, Darin Young, who lived at the residence, chased after them and fired a gun, striking the 15-year-old.

The other boys were not injured and drove the victim to the hospital. Residents of the home also called police.

But also, being an annoying kid is not without its very high risks. I hope these kids will not do this sort of prank again. Pranks involving phone calls are also annoying, but no one gets shot.

Remember What Obama Said About Mass Shootings Being Uniquely American

 11/9/26 NBC News:

The man who killed six people and wounded 15 others in a suspected far-right terror attack in the Polish city of Kraków, has died, police said early Monday.

Michał Oksiński, passed away at 4:30 a.m. local time (10:30 p.m. ET), authorities said. He had been in critical condition since the attack and had undergone several operations.

The 24-year-old was shot by police during Saturday’s midday rampage in Main Market Square, the historic center and major tourist destination in Poland’s second-largest city.

Four women and two men were killed in the shooting. Three of the women and one of the men were Polish, authorities said. A British man and an Austrian woman were among the dead, they said....

The bodies of Oksiński’s sister, mother and father were found at the family home in Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski, about 90 miles northeast of Kraków, authorities said.

I would be very surprised if there is not some mental illness history there.