MORNING
A fun day at the Ft. Lauderdale library, the only decent one around here. And it is under perpetual renovation. Here’s the blurry picture of Estelle, my date this afternoon. We had planned on coffee at the library café, but that was closed, too. The parking is so bad in that town we took the bus. We head for different sections and meet up on the fourth floor. I never much understood how folks read without a notepad handy. I have one nearby even if I’m reading a cookbook.
They are tearing up the airport area again. One after another, they love to mess up the traffic pattern to the immediate east of the terminal. This time it looks like more overpasses. Why don’t they get it over with and elevate the runways? Then the traffic could drive underneath it all.The Arduino has not seen much coverage here for months. That’s because I’ve been distracted by transistors and logic gates. But there is another reason. Once you know how to program the thing, it’s a lot of tough work unless you can come up with a novel idea. And that is exceedingly difficult. Otherwise, everything you program is eventually dismantled when you need the Arduino for the next project.
We
I noticed this “dismantle” effect on the Arduino home site, although they are loathe to admit it. When it was new, all the ho-hum electronics that’s been around for years, the traffic light and the water detector, got computerized, but afterward the input slowed to barely perceptible. Unless you are capable of original ideas, in which case you don't need me, it’s all been done. Still, the site is worth the occasional glance as some of the robotics applications are getting amazing. I’ve always considered the Arduino a robot component.
You may see a return to Arduino experimentation, but with a twist. The newest items around here are getting two or more Arduinos to talk to each other wirelessly and to get them to record data on a memory chip. This turns out to be unbelievable complicated which means it is worth learning. I do honestly think I can build any logic gate needed to accomplish this.
But I don’t expect I’ll be finding any good directions to help me along. I expect some engineer will describe how the memory chip works, but when I say that’s fine now show me how to hook it up and use it in a circuit, he’ll get that stunned-ape look I used to encounter on a daily basis at the phone company.
Okay, back to controversy. Did you hear about the plot to kill the Beebs? What can I invent about that? Let me think. Try these: Why kill Beebs? That’s because they’d never heard of Kid Rock. Har-har. They were on "Twinkie withdrawal". That must have been after they saw Beebs wearing meggings, that could drive anyone to kill. Er, maybe they heard Beebs on their truck radio and are pleading self-defense.
EVENING
Meanwhile, back at the library, I was doing some independent unguided research about mitochondria. These are the tiny structures inside each living cell that, when not busy elsewise, regulate oxygen flow. You see, oxygen is a volatile and dangerous substance. Leave it alone it will rust your car and burn down your house. Since you inhale the stuff by the gallon, it is important to supervise it. What I learned today is that mitochondria (which are in the fluids surrounding the nucleus containing the DNA) have their own, separate DNA. And, it is not a spiral helix pattern, but ring-shaped.
Then I read a chapter co-authored by Sagan. He observed how western culture writes books on “leadership” but never about “followership”. Estelle could not fathom why I was chuckling along to a biology book. Well, girl, it got me thinking about lead guitar players. How they think they are clawing their way to the top but in fact, like all lower orders, advancement is based on fighting and shafting their peers.
They aren’t (as they think) competing with the dominant males, they are actually ankle-biting each other. As in other species, it is a highly ritualized combat of huff and puff that rarely results in anything but the amusement of the alpha males, who sit back and let the punks duke it out. There is, of course, no such reptilian instincts at work in bass players because everybody who's anybody already knows for a fact that bass players are the coolest life-form on the planet.
But stay with the “followership” concept. Sagan defines how society’s institutions embody the “fight or flight” response when he proposes there is a third option: to submit. Now, according to old Carl’s logic, I should be seeking not a “lead” guitarist, but a “follow” guitarist. How can this be turned to my advantage? Foolish me, I’ve been trying to find one to cooperate. Why, they’ve been competing with me because they mistakenly view bass players as failed guitarists. In fact, I am a bassist, which also explains why I find guitarists amusing enough to study. The trick is getting them to submit without realizing it. Hmmm, hire two guitar players and let them trash each other? Might be on to something here. . . .
Is that fair to the guitarists? John Wayne said it right, “Life’s tough, pilgrim, and it’s even tougher when you’re stupid.”
ADDENDUM
I found out today that I may be [recently defined as] a “wealthy American”. I read down the checklist to find the only things I don’t have are cable TV and a mortgage. Here are the things that would, according to parties who want to increase taxes on the wealthy, make me a target. The criteria of what constitutes "rich" easily catches me in the dragnet and I don't like it. People sitting around deciding what you can afford to pay is an English concept that needs to remain in England.
This is according to the "wealthy" guidelines. I have: a vehicle, plumbing, electricity, a computer, air conditioning, a cell phone, and mail service six days a week. I can afford gasoline, bus fare, and food. What’s more, I have been in a union, I have a 401(k), I eat more than once a day, have several pairs of shoes, and lots of clothes.
It’s scary. It does not matter that I worked for these things and others did not. Suddenly I’m defined as wealthy and may be targeted. The implication is that not everybody in America has those things and should get a share of mine. That is nonsense, most people have far greater possessions than I do, making the real problem their inability to pay for it all. And that is entirely their problem and they ought to stop buying stuff. I pay for what goods and services I consume with cold, hard cash.
Still, if you are even mildly comfortable, it would seem there are greedy eyes turning in your direction. You never want to live in a country where taxes are based on your perceived ability to pay. France, Canada, and England come to mind. Such taxes require constant surveillance of your short-term behavior and spending habits to spot even the slightest movements you make that hint at newfound affluence or material gain. Then as the wolves gather, you really hear the howling begin.
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