Fishing anyone? Here is your $200 reel, the rod is extra. Tack on another C-note if you happen to be a leftie. It makes me glad my hobby involves 25 cent switches, and not too many of them. Anglers, don’t forget your $200 GoreTex jacket, it might rain. And to even out the playing field, a fish-finder, fish bait, fish lures, live bait, GPS, and seasonal feeding ground maps, updated hourly. What? No hand grenade?
There is something wrong about the Internet publishing that attracts too many dunces. Of course, that doesn’t apply to this excellent blog. I went back over earlier material in light of what I learned y’day at the library, and my conclusion is that there is a terrific shortage of good authors concerning electronics. Like computer authors, they somehow lose the ability to see things form the newcomer’s perspective. Even Cutcher, who I initially praised, has fallen a notch.When you go back—and I see that most people don’t do that—I realize I understood him because I had prior knowledge of what he meant as opposed to what he said. He is indeed knowledgeable, but in retrospect, he leaves out dozens of totally important points you really need to know. I’m not saying any book is perfect, just that these authors have lost something when it comes teaching others.
Since it is still pre-dawn outside, I decided to watch a DVD. I do not care for the Horrorfest series where the lady always makes things worse by panicking at predictable points. When actresses go delusional, they get in the car and speed until they hit somebody. What else is there to do when you are losing your mind, gals? We all know women having a fit will instinctively tromp their foot on the nearest gas pedal.
Then we’re treated to her recovery ward scenes (but no word on the guy she ran over). It’s all about her. And her ex-husband, cheating boyfriend, domineering mother, autistic kid, abusive boss, addicted brother, and a gaggle of skinny, overly-supportive friends with kinked hair, one of whom is black, sort of. And for Heaven’s sake, now the audience wants her to deal with those noises in the basement as well?
By noon, I got the computer back and sorry, sell it to somebody else. Despite hours of repair, it still shows symptoms of incompatibility between the chip and the motherboard. Each return costs me three or more hours of installing drivers and software and I’ve given up on it. I’ve told too many unconvinced people there is a major software/hardware issue. So I was right.
Who remembers that yokel I threw out of the computer shop last year? Guess who was getting his ass kicked out of Radio Shack today? Same scam, he contends he doesn’t have to pay unless he’s happy, which never happens. I was buying supplies because Hacktronics sent a motor kit that included an unexplained 595 BCD chip. I spent a week studying that chip, now I have one. Are we making great progress or missing the point? Good question.
Take a look at this setup for transistor and gate testing. The whole cost just $15 and tells us where unexpected voltages occur on integrated circuit pins. This is a subject in itself, so I’ll just say that not every pin is used in every circuit. That is, when you look at a “chip” in a circuit, it may not be 100% used. Still, all the unused inputs must be “conditioned”. If this setup seems excessive to people who test things one at a time, there is an ancient Ukrainian saying, “You run your robotics club the way you want, and the rest of the world will reward you by doing the same.”How about some good news? Bingo was successful, but poorly attended. After the game, I took out my beautiful Ibanez semi-acoustic and played my top six tunes. This is my first public outing of the kind and it was an amazing success that bodes well for the future. I welcome any encouragement and the tip jar spoke for itself. However, a cool-headed analysis is in order, I’ll leave that until tomorrow morning.
Today’s trivia and first-world problems. Do you think they call them “anglers” because of the stories they tell the game warden? Why does my silverware move when I’m doing an electromagnet experiment on the kitchen table? I’m still working on my virgin detector, but it seems to be broken. The only thing that makes all this bearable is chocolate-dipped turtle pecan individually-wrapped biscotti.
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