Cephus' Corner

A Place for my Geeky Side

Living in a Dumb Person’s House

March 10th, 2024

We knew this right after we moved in. The people who used to live in our house before we bought it were morons. Everything was half-assed. Everything was done wrong. I resigned myself to having to fix all the things that they did wrong and I’ve been doing it for the past almost 8 years.

Here we go again.

When Egos Collide

March 6th, 2024

This has to do with woodworking, although it can certainly apply to lots of other things. Someone posted on Reddit, complaining that whenever he uploads a project, people will criticize him. He even admits his faults, his joints are loose, his boards have gaps, etc. No, what he wants people to do is be less critical.

Not only no, but hell no. That’s not how this works.

I’ve Realized a Few Things…

January 30th, 2024

Over the past week or so, I’ve been out in the shop, trying to get it back together. I haven’t had time to do much woodworking in quite some time and now, I want to. That’s meant sweeping up, tuning machines and deciding what I want to do.

Yet today, I realized something. I really have no reason to do anything. That’s kind of a disturbing thought.

It’s a Hobby, Not an Investment!

January 26th, 2024

This has come up before, but recently, a new thread showed up on a stamp forum, I’ll link to it below if you want to read it, wondering why stamp catalog values are so far off what the actual sale prices are. There are a lot of arguments on both sides, including from me, but there just isn’t room in a place like that to really dig into it, so I’m going to do it here.

Enjoy.

Still Don’t Miss Theaters

December 4th, 2023

Last night, my wife and I went to an actual theater and saw the Monty Python and the Holy Grail re-release. It was a really nice theater, with the really comfortable, reclining seats and there were maybe 20-25 people in the theater and everyone behaved themselves.

You know what? I still saw no reason to go to a theater. I’d have much rather sat at home and watched it there.

New Issue of American Philatelist

November 3rd, 2023

The new one arrived, not long after my replacement copy of the last one, since my puppy decided to shred it and the APS was nice enough to send me a replacement for free. Thanks to Scott English for getting it done. Great guy.

However, in the new issue, like in the last, I’ve got some issues, this time with the issue itself. It’s not as bad as that, but they’re really pushing to get stamp collectors to collect coins, and, presumably, vice versa. I’m not opposed to anyone who wants to, but here’s why I’m just not interested.

Letter in The American Philatelist

October 11th, 2023

Just got the new issue and there were two letters that I wanted to comment on, one more than the other. The first, that I’m mostly going to mention in passing, was by Scott Zimmer, who said that “Many collectors view stamp investing as taboo”, which is true and, IMO, should be. It’s not taboo to invest in anything that you want, but you leave the realm of collecting and enter the realm of investing if you do that.

The second is from Robert Dragone, which i want to address in some more detail below the fold. Apparently, he doesn’t believe that people are in the hobby for reasons other than making money. Sorry pal, but most aren’t. That’s the whole point of having a hobby.

I’m Not a Philatelist

August 9th, 2023

There was an article in the latest issue of American Philatelist, called “The Faux Philatelist” which I agree with almost entirely. In it, Barry White says that he is a stamp collector, not a philatelist.

I am also a stamp collector, not a philatelist. It’s nice to see people out there pointing out the differences. Therefore, here’s why I do what I do.

I Don’t Want to Play Warhammer 40k!

July 22nd, 2023

Before I get started, I want to say that if you enjoy Warhammer, more power to you, I’m not saying that it’s terrible, I’m not saying that I hate people who play it, I don’t care. You do you and I’ll do me.

What I am saying is that there are a lot of obnoxious apologists out there who can’t imagine why anyone wouldn’t want to throw hundreds of dollars at their hobby, mostly, I think, because they’re desperate to have someone to play with.

That’s not me. So let’s get started.

Rewriting a Book Series

July 19th, 2023

I’m rewriting a series of books that I originally put out in 2020. It’s been on my list of things to do for a long time now. Someone in my mailing list pointed out, sometime back in 2022, that a minor point didn’t make sense in the third book. They are seemingly the only ones that ever noticed it. The reviews are good, sales are good, but once it was pointed out to me, I couldn’t see anything else.

So now I’m redoing it for a series-wide second edition. Here’s why.