Dear Hank,
July 31, 2011

As you know there are many important things going on in the world right now. Many are concerned as to whether the U.S. will raise its debt ceiling. I wonder if we’ve moved from a fact based decision making body in Washington to one of pure fantasy. But I can’t dwell on that for there are too many other important things to ponder.

With the seeming implosion of Rupert Murdoch’s “news” empire and the demise of “The World” - no, not The World, the magazine in London that Murdoch ran. I mean where are we going to find out what’s really going on?
Fear not, I’ve found that there are alternative sources, see photos. Between that and a recent Google News update to my screen I feel I’ve got a grip on events.
Let”s review some of the highlights shall we?

Hugh Hefner has sex once a week,
Jerry Lewis thinks American Idol is super sized garbage,
Is eating hotdogs as risky as smoking?,
Kim picked her wedding dress,
Marc has been seeing his sexy ex-wife,
Brad has a mystery woman,
Adam dumps Sharon,
The Obamas are living separate lives,
There’s a cover up of a Bible prophesy.

As you can see we’ve got a lot more to worry about than the debt ceiling.
Let me quickly summarize my thoughts on the above items, in order:

Really?,
Point?,
No,
She can do that all by herself?,
Can I see her?,
So?,
Who?,
Don’t we all?,
Thank God.

Now to the debt ceiling. What happened to the helping people find jobs? Why hasn’t there been any talk of that since this last group came to Washington? Remember they were all hot to tell us before they got elected how the President wasn’t doing anything to put people back to work and they were going to change that? How come they haven’t even put forward one jobs bill in the three years they’ve been there? Last week they were debating light bulbs - wtf?
Let me ask you something if you have to pick between cutting spending and creating jobs, which is better to stimulate the economy? This is a no brainer for anyone who has studied economics for 5 minutes. Yet, this eludes many in Washington. In fact, many are working tirelessly to wreak our economy and our country in the name of cutting the deficit and not burdening our children with our debt. No, let’s not do that, let’s ruin the economy right now shall we?
I think Congress people should be required to pass a 7th grade civics test and a first year college economics exam before they can be seated as a representative. I also think they should be required to sit in those uncomfortable chairs 8 hours a day and do their job; if they are absent for three days they should be let go for “job abandonment” just like in the real world. I also like the car guys idea (well I heard it there but someone wrote in with it). They should wear Nascar like uniforms. The ones with all the patches on them from their sponsors then we’d know who owns them. I wonder how those tea partiers would feel if they had to wear big patches proclaiming which banks paid so much into their war chests to get them elected along with The Brawny Man that Georgia Pacific own, which the Koch brothers own?
I’ve been studying ancient empires via one of those audio courses. I never knew that there were a dozen empires in the Middle East before Alexander came to power. One of them around 2000 B.C. moved from the king and the state owning all the land and let people privately own the land. What a concept? Then guess what happened? Most of the land fell into the hands of a few. They set up a system of taxation exempting the big landowners, the religions, and the political hacks and the military. The taxation fell on the small landowners and the common people. People got so in debt that they worked constantly to pay off their debts and couldn’t do it. Many left town and their debts. They hid in the hills. They lived meagerly and supplemented their incomes by robbing people and raiding the nearby towns, a sort of black market economy. Eventually, the empire was overrun by another group from outside supplemented by guess who? The folks in the hills.
One thing about empires, cities, and civilizations: they all fell. I wonder if each one thought they would be there forever?

Gotta Go, Kim may call me about her dress.

Take care, I’m hiding in the hills.
Bryce

So my rotary mower blade finally broke, which is a blessing; otherwise, I’d have to had tried sharpening it. I might add I broke it “trimming” the community garden; a combination weed, rock, and debris patch.
I remembered there were a few 22” blades in the storage area. Did they fit? Yeah, well maybe, but it was a big round hole in the center of the blade and the old one had a kind of rectangular shape, which seemed to make a lot more sense because the blade wouldn’t get loose and just spin loosely. So I went to the hardware store I bought the mower and sure enough they had the exact blade I needed! In fact, they had half a dozen blades.
After thinking about the installation operation for a few days I decided to take the blade out of it’s plastic container. If you ever want to keep something secure get the packaging boys for that blade to do the job, either them or the fellows doing the little peanut packs they had out on the airplane.
Once freeing the blade I got down to the serious matter at hand and what I had been worrying about since this operation had been envisioned. Mainly, how would I know which way to place the sharp part of the blade? Which way did the rotary motor rotate? I had carefully taken off the old blade and laid it down beside the mower so I would know. I then picked up that blade and took it to the store with me. Now, I had no idea, which way it went.
There were two courses of action. I choose to read the directions. “Take off the gas tank, drain the gas, detach the spark plug, drain the oil…” What? How about tilt the mower up in the air a little?
But then in the section that explained how to put the blade on was the answer I needed. “The blade is marked on one side with the word ‘BOTTOM.’ Place this side down and tighten with a torque wrench to 600 pounds.”
I’m not sure on the torque spec but it was high.
Down to the mower put the blade over the rectangular hole. Does fit quite right. One side is touching the housing. Maybe, when I tighten it on? Does “seem” right. I better take it off; it’s a pain but I better check it. Take it off. Look, at blade “BOTTOM” is on top. How did that happen? Easy, I forgot all about it when putting the blade on. Now, the blade goes on easily, everything aligns nicely. No problem.
Another crisis in suburbia solved. Fortunately, I hired a young man who has his own mower to come cut the grass.