I don't know if I can describe what I'm thinking, but I'll try anyway. What if you made a box with a hinged pedal in it, and weighted, to rest on the floor to the left of the piano's pedals. The pedal would need to be long enough to create sufficient movement to move the real pedal. Attach a very strong type of thin cord to the pedal so that when you push down on the pedal the cord is pulled down. This next bit is where you may have reservations: You'd have to screw two eyelets into the bottom of the keyboard--one of each side of the piano's pedal unit. The cord from the boxed pedal would run up to the eyelet on the left, across the underside of the keyboard, through the eyelet on the right, and down to the real pedal where it would be attached to the back of the pedal. When you pressed the boxed pedal, the cord--traveling up, across, and down to the real pedal would lift the back of it as if you were pressing your foot on the front of it. Maybe it's an unrealistic design. It depends on strong cordage and the willingness to screw eyelets into the piano's underside. And, I don't know if you'd be able to get enough power from it to actually lift the back of the real pedal. Maybe this makes sense, maybe not. I hope so.

Social services suck. This reminds me of social workers. Social workers suck and are useless. This reminds me of non-profits. Non-profits suck. They are private businesses in all but name. They give themselves very large salaries and help people in need in a nominal way. Charities suck. Same set up. There was a St. Pete con artist who started a non-profit LLC to manage $100,000,000.00 in pooled trust assets for the disabled. He walked off with $100,000,000.00. He⁷ was sued but the money was gone. I can easily see social services abandoning a child. Fwiw, think about how much money non profits take in and consider the fact that society's problems they are meant to mitigate continue not only unabated but continue to worsen by the day. This story doesn't surprise me at all.

@Steve-Miller said: @Rontuner Did you notice any difference in how it cuts after you changed the bevel? Not that I could tell, but I'm no chef...

What a great concept!

I love higher order insects.

@Steve-Miller said: But the garage would be so worth it!

[image: 1773006974082-img_0970.jpeg]

Bless him. May he rest in peace. And all day I thought it was this damn time change. Huh.

Spring won't start until March 20th. Even now it's what I would consider early summer weather. 83° or 84° can easily end up being 86° or 87° inside. Nothing noteworthy here until Thursday when it will be 75° with heavy rain and moderate wind.

@Steve-Miller said: Have you visited that store, Al? Yes, I have. I was in Philadelphia on business once and finished in time to visit the store and meet Rich in person. A second visit was a piano party that he hosted there a number of years ago. Big Al

Even though the angles are set by the block, the angle is really determined by the steadyness of the hand. The other thing with rods is that they are good at maintaining an edge, but tend to introduce a wavy edge more than a flat over time. I didn't notice until I started using the rolling sharpener. One issue with the rolling ones I didn't think about was that many thinner knives won't stick up over the magnetic block without some fooling around. Not a dealbreaker, but something to work through. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CJRF3S7T?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_dt_b_fed_asin_title_1 I went with a cheap one first to see if I liked it. The better ones offer the option to replace grits.

I'd take one of the grand pianos. I'll have my private secretary call them Monday. Upright & grand pianos https://share.google/nUhoCgM4ODZUqqQuQ 🤪

Darn. I like his stuff less now that I know that.

Not exactly a bloom, but we emerged from winter this week and I found this little tree. Yikes! [image: IMG-5311.jpg] It’s a dwarf weeping Altas Cedar. It came through the winter of ‘24-‘25 just fine, but the cold snap this winter may have killed it. What? Don’t cedars grow in Alaska and stuff? Nursery guy says it’s probably fine - that it will drop the brown needles and grow new ones. Sure enough, the branches are still pliable so maybe there is hope.

I'll read this! I couldn't sleep, at all, last night. It was insomnia, not a disturbance in the neighborhood. (My neighbors on their best behavior). So, I took two naps today. I had to do it. But how will I get to sleep tonight? And then tomorrow we have that stupid time change, meaning it will be in effect tomorrow morning.

Where's the drummer emoticon when you need it?

Apple and justme were the two people who welcomed me to the old Coffee Room so many years ago. It's been quite a trip since then. Big Al