Devolution passed!
It’s over. Devolution passed. Now Stormont has control over all of it’s own affairs, and the terrorists can go home.
For those of you out there that don’t know, ever since the Good Friday Agreement of 1998, they have been trying to transfer power from London to Belfast in a process know as devolution.
The main issues have been:
1. The dismantling of the paramilitary (terrorist) groups in Northern Ireland.
2. The removal of the British Army and it’s bases.
3. Establishment of Power Sharing between the main political parties.
4. The devolution of policing and other services.
There are more issues than that, but those are the main ones.
The paramilitaries have disarmed (mostly).
And as linked above, the police are devolving.
There’s no point fighting any more on the part of the terrorists. All you’ll be doing is killing other Northerners. You can plant bombs, shoot cops, whatever it is you want to do… but there’s no point.
You’re not fighting for Britain or Ireland any more.
All you’re doing is blowing up your own people. Which is fairness, is what you’ve been doing this whole time.
It’s over. There are years of healing to go yet. I give it two generations before no one gives a shit any more.
It’s over lads. It’s over.
Beard Update
Still growing strong. I’ll make it the year yet.
The Mad Industrialist Part 4
Today was an awful day. It was long, hot, and difficult.
What’s worse, I could not get into the swing of welding at all. Laying down loose welds, full of holes, spatter everywhere…
Got many many sparks inside the helmet, got a spark right down my back. That hurt. Caught weld flare twice. That sucks more than anything.
Did I not enjoy today?
Don’t get me wrong, I love welding. But when you can’t get into a rhythm on it, it can be a punishing mistress.
Click through for more pictures.
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The Mad Industrialist Part 3
Back to work.
This week we were doing multiple layers of weld on single joints. The top weld in the picture is a single weld, the bottom joint has one weld on top of the other, and there’s a third one to come.
Check out more pictures after the jump.
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Today, I’m just like everyone else
No Mad Industrialist today. One inch of snow and they called the whole thing off. I’d say all of us lads on the course would have made it. We love our welding, and I’d say we’re all pissed that we didn’t get to go in today.
Here’s an old snow picture. Like it’s a consolation.
New Glasses
Remember when I said I loved getting eye tests?
Here are the glasses I picked. Large, thick, and metal. I love em. And my vision is now in HD.
The First Beard Update
So, I’ve decided to grow a Lincoln beard for as long as I possibly can. If I manage to get to the end of the year, I’ll shave it on January First of 2011. Planning on updating once a week.
Also…
Kimberlee is not that into Valentine’s Day.
The Mad Industrialist Part 2
Week two of my welding course and today is the first day that we joined two pieces of metal together with both tack welds and fillet welds.
The line where the top plate joins the middle plate has been tack welded. One tack welds something so the pieces of work do not shift during the heavier welding.
The bottom and middle plate are permanently attached (thanks to me) with a fillet weld. The trick is to weld slowly. I love welding, I really do.
More next week. And a close up picture after the jump.
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Today I became…
The Mad Welder!
This here’s my booth. After the jump the first pictures of my first welds.
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First Hair Cut Of The Year
Before…
Check out the jump for the…
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The Mad Carpenter’s Top Ten Pictures
So at the end of this year… Year nine I guess since we reset everything. As is the tradition with television and the internet it’s time to make a top ten. So since I haven’t completed ten projects this year (I’m aware that I am not a very productive carpenter) I’m going to pick my ten favourite pictures of this year. As is usual, we shall start at number ten.
10:
The second picture of the year, and my tenth favourite because it is a perfect picture. It makes me look good.
More after the jump.
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All right; enough is enough
It’s never going to be perfect, and I’m not going to be properly ready to blog for another few weeks, but nuts to it, let’s get this damn show on the road.
Today I went into town to do something that I always look forward to. Every time it rolls around I’m more than happy to get it done, even if it’s difficult to pay for.
I’m talking of course, about an eye test. I love getting my eyes test, and sleep deprivation not withstanding, I had a blast. I know this all sounds really dorky, but I genuinely enjoy it. I didn’t go to my usual guy, which is kind of annoying because my usual guy has an unusually soothing voice, but I digress…
As is par for the course these days the hardest part was trying to get what I wanted for a price I could afford. With some finagling, a gentle nudge of a 25% discount [supposedly only for the over 60's], and a mid sized thwack from my medical card I was able to get a very nice pair of glasses, with decent lenses for 80 euros. Not bad at all.
They’ll be available for collection on the 18th of this month, so I’ll try and get a picture up around then.
Other than that I paid the rent and got a haircut. The before and after pictures for the haircut I will post somewhere in the next few days if I can manage it.
Tomorrow is the second day of my welding course, and the first day we actually start welding. I’ll try to remember to bring the camera.
I am working on getting character bios for some of the characters of the fictional Irish city: Castlefinn City.
The first [and hopefully more] of these will be posted soon along with an illustration of each character drawn by Frank.
Nonsense to waiting, and enough hanging about. Let’s blog this shit.
Further Bad News
I am currently down a laptop.
It simply will not accept the power cable, so it’s knackered. Kev carried the ram over to an old toshiba carcass, and the hard drive so all my information is still with me. But all of this is putting a serious crimp on my ability to post, and do the things that I want with this blog.
All of these things suck. If anyone wants to help me out head to the Donations page, located at the link below. Or the link above that says “Donations”.
http://www.themadcarpenter.com/donations/
I’ve got it all worked out though, and it’s probably possible to get back online, with a new machine, in about a month, if I save as much as I can.
With a little help I could probably have it in two weeks. I’m not one to ask people for money, but this is a serious interruption to the mad carpenter service.
Any and all donations will be greatly received.
An Update From The Silence
I know, I know….I’ve promised big things and I have yet to deliver anything. But I am working on it.
Doing a project with Frank, drawing up plans for other things.
What I’m mainly here to tell you is that I’m not doing a second 365 project this year. Though I’m thinking about not shaving for a year. We’ll see.
Also, I’m sick, so updates may or may not be shortly forthcoming. I’ll update when I can. Thanks again to everyone who followed my through to this decade.
January First Two Thousand and Ten
I’m not saying that I’m doing another 365 project, but I’d like to keep myself covered. Top ten of last year shall be online in a few days.
New Year’s Eve
And so, it is upon us. The end of days.
Adam came down and we had a New Year’s blow out.
I formatted the memory card in my camera, so as to remove all pictures from last year. In fairness, they’re all saved on the laptop, so I’ll still have them. Symbolic really.
Wednesday
Tomorrow… I may put up the top ten 365 pictures of this year. It may be in January. I don’t know. But tomorrow Adam is coming over, so we’ll be drinking for the last time this year.
It’s been a hell of a year. See you all tomorrow. If not then, I’ll see you all on the other side.
Happy trails to you and yours.
Tuesday
Monday
Sunday
The snow has frozen, everything is ice. Cold weather has stopped being fun.
