Which Direction?

Note the paper clip style tangs on the left of the cam and the contacts on the right base. You might wonder why there is a bit of black insulation on the top/left tang and it's because adjusting the tangs was a delicate process and I broke the tiny plastic 'spacer' that prevents the two tangs from touching. So I put the wire insulation over the tang to accomplish the same goal.

This should make everything clear as mud.

This pathetic silver 'push nut' is the cause of all this insanity. The two parts of the cam must be separate. The top turns on the stationary bottom base. So it can't be a tight nut that holds them in place. That push nut actually goes around the top of the turn signal arm attachment lever. As the push nut loosens the tangs no longer hit the contacts and I lose some portion of turn signals and brake lights

What I had to do is experiment with a  multi-meter and determine which tangs are hot at what times. The  tangs (when I flip the cam upside down) closest to the open 'C' are hot when the brake pedal is pushed. The Tangs furthers away from the 'C' opening are hot when the key is in the aux/run position. Ok? Then the base contacts are situated as it is installed...the right side top is the Right Tail Light contact. The Right lower is the Left Tail Light contact. The left lower contact illuminates the right dashboard indicator lamp. The top left contact illuminates the left dash indicator light. See?

So, when everything is normal and I'm not making a turn but I HIT THE BRAKE, what happens is 12v goes to the inner tang and sends 12 to both contacts on the right (right and left brake lamp). And when I'm driving and the key is in RUN then the outer tangs are also hot with 12v and when I turn left, for example, that 12v is sent to the top left contact (left dash indicator) and the lower right contact (Left tail light).,..since it also passes through a relay for the turn signals it will blink...and also cut out my brake lights. Yes, in 1969 I only had the option of indicating a turn or indicating I am stopping....I can't indicate both at once. The turn signal cuts out the brake light and blinks it instead...although the opposite brake light will come on.

I spent two days figuring out this info and although it all works right now the push nut is still going to wear out and get loose and then the contacts will not touch and I will be back to the same problem. But at least I know what the problem is and that's a positive step. Obviously, the whole assembly needs to be replaced and I promise that will happen soon. This cam is worn out, as can be seen from the amount of copper worn off the contacts. The one detail I didn't get a photo of is the custom plastic shims that I put on the handle shaft before I put the cam over it. The shim forces the cam higher so the push nut will be tighter once I hammer it on. I'm proud of that plastic shim because it had to be cut from plastic packaging with a hole the size of the turn handle shaft.

Decennial

I am aware that my blog is approaching its Tenth Year anniversary. I embarked on this journey with El Conquistador for one year exploration of The Baja Peninsula. I suspected the van would not survive the trip or maybe I wouldn't survive the trip either. To sum up my mindset at that time requires some ad lib and reliance on foggy memories but I recall my disillusionment with the status quo was very high. Nearly 5 years on the fringes of Los Angeles entertainment industry confirmed that all my idealistic hopes and starry-eyed artistic visions were obsolete. Drugs and underage sex were the main commodities in Los Angeles and I wrote a script about Henry David Thoreau's life on Walden Pond. The timing was not right. The economy collapsed along with the fraudulent housing mortgage scheme. Bush danced off into the sunset and Obama arrived with Hope that I suspected was a big scam. I knew that drugs and underage sex were all that kept Los Angeles humming and I didn't see Obama embracing that reality. Obama represented the collective delusion. Everyone I knew was stoned all the time. It was at the point that I knew no one who was ever sober and I started to question the definition of sobriety when no one is not under the influence. Doesn't the definition change? Isn't sobriety then defined as only moderately influenced by drugs? If one still knows they are human and on earth then that's sober. If they believe they are an Alien transplant whose real home is Atlantis then that is the new 'high'. If you snort cocaine, smoke pot and try to have sex with every warm body that walks in your office then you have embraced the status quo; you fit the paradigm and the paradigm rewards conformists.

Multiculturalism in Gunsmoke TV Series

Gunsmoke is Conservative, pro-America, Pro-white social propaganda, but it goes deeper than that. Season 15 (I recently studied all the episodes in Season 15) ends with an episode (The Cage) about a thief who tries to get revenge on his swindling gang while also stealing gold in order to fund a medical operation for his Mute Mexican girlfriend. It's ludicrous. One reviewer writes, "The story was not really bad it was the fact that the writers threw in a love story on top of an unbelievable storyline."

Hamster Wheel

Despite my best efforts I became a hamster wheel automaton again. I conformed and was assimilated by the grind. This means zero reflection. Zero wisdom. Zero pondering. High production. Low humanity. I'm a consumer. I produce and I consume. This is the status quo the 'coastal elite' wish for humanity, and I resist it, but lately I have been sucked into the vortex again. I move from one petty crisis to another. I almost read the news as though it were a summary of current events when I know it's pure emotional manipulation to instigate hysteria so I will buy from the sponsors to cure my hysteria that was created by the sponsors. This is the vile status quo we are all too tired to do anything about. We hope someone else fixes it. I don't know where the time goes and I learn nothing important, like my fellow hamsters chasing invisible cheese.

The specifics of my hamster wheel involve commercial flush meters and the details therein. Flushmeters have diaphragms with relief valves, refill heads and flow rings of varying sizes and colors that control the volume of each flush. I've been in a debate with the tech support of one brand to learn what I can learn. That's my hamster wheel and it's the kind of thing that devours lives. The current Oggy could've really helped the Oggy of 6 months ago.

I do have a few moments each evening when I finish the latest Gunsmoke episode, when I reflect on my day and I get some encouragement that this will end soon and I will be able to reflect deeply and continuously again as is the task of all dime-store philosophers. I wonder if using the hamster wheel as a means to an end is not obviously insane. A hamster wheel stops in the same spot the hamster started running. Will I be any different? No, but I might be able to throw some more nickles at land agents and consolidate my affairs in one location. I'm not sure this matters since I don't even intend to stop exploring so it really means I value the security of my Python skin boots more than I value my own security. The status quo, pre-packaged, valuemart, bargain bin ethics moderator has trained me well. The good, fertile ideas are still trapped in my mind but the machine wears me down until one day I'm selling flushometers to my younger self and I don't remember how I got there or where I'm going. I'm a specialized tradesman with a bad memory and reading glasses like the septic serviceman I talked to today. We're on the same hamster wheel.

Good Stuff

Here's some raw emotion in case you think Oggy is an unfeeling animal.