They were hippies who wanted to put back into the system. They did, Bill Gate’s operating system, called Windows, where he learned to give away things for free until the competition went bankrupt. I did not switch to Excel until Gate's drove Lotus out of business.
I well remember this type of display (shown here). In those days, every cell had to be programmed individually. The way I did it was with formulas, which could be replicated. It was quite the task to think out every possible column so that formulas could perform the correct operations. It was to be another seven years before I took a computer course that explained all this. By then, I knew the material better than the instructor--but around that time colleges began to charge 90% of the course fee to challenge the exam--so you might as well attend and have fun on campus. Finance 351, that's the famous course where I got 100% and proved the college computer could not print three digit scores.
I no longer have a computer that can read the files, but I still have in boxes some of the spreadsheets I created back then. That was the era where I designed mortgage calculations but could not find a bank that was interested. If you recall that era where banks wanted you to “recalculate” your mortgage, I was ahead of them by years. But too far ahead. Nobody would listen. Like today nobody listens when I tell them not to do their banking on-line.
Trivia, this time about fossils. Did you know the majority of fossil human bones are those of children? And of the adult skeletons, almost every one showed broken bones and other signs of having lived in dangerous times. Or the Big Texan, the place I looked at the six pound steak and went for something on the menu—the original restaurant began by a Chicago café owner who noticed that cowboys needed a place to cash their paychecks when the banks were closed. And the horns on the cattle are not called horns, but clown-stickers.
There’s more. I found a sheave of papers that show this same time of year precisely thirty years ago. By strange coincidence, they stop on October 1, 1984, so I can’t give you a 30 years ago link. Too bad, because back then, the journal was a catch-all for everything, laboriously hand-written each day but I also threw most other documents in there because everything was filed by date.
What a trove of history in there! My original application to live in Thailand. Documents listing RofR as my beneficiary (of a $25,000 policy for which I paid $5.20 per month). My original work review from the phone company—before the time that I was transferred to the switching office with all them Canadians. I will not live long enough to input all that material.
Keep in mind that much of this newly-rediscovered data will never be published, as it has never appeared anywhere on the Internet and I would prefer it not to be there. But I may publish the original forms as an indication of how free the world used to be. Then you'll see how little information was required to be "on file" compared to the quicksand of today. A country is not truly free unless a man can walk away from certain mistakes and start over again.
NOON
Har-dee-har-har, I just found something that sums it up right for majority. Enjoy.
Ten years from now, I’ll regret sitting around today doing nothing as a waste of youth. I used the time to tidy up some computer files, since I seem to have multiple backup copies of everything. But each structure of the backup files is slightly different. Also, MicroSoft took it upon itself to slowly remove all the audio and video editing applications that used to come with the price tag. So you are reliant on third-party downloads, which MicroSoft does not like. Also gone are sound recorder and Movie Maker.
But when you think about it, MicroSoft has changed from a computer system to a toy and entertainment system, and what would people who use a computer only for entertainment need editing software for. All they want is downloading speed. Because you see, in the old days, the picture would only crawl down to her eyeballs and they’d already be finished.
My advice if you are converting videos is to convert everything to AVI before editing. It is not the best format, but for some reason MicroSoft steers clear of trying to mess that up, too. I further advise you use the simplest software you can find to do one task only. Save all your titles and editing for later, and for heaven’s sake, do not download anything from Softonic. And Softpedia is starting to clog their downloads with surveys and the dreaded PC Optimizer and PD backup. Beware, all such people are unmitigated assholes.
I installed the new LED lighting system into the cPod. What? No, I said I built it last time, as in on my workbench. Getting it into the camper and measuring the precise current draw is separate. I can say, however, that it draws less than a tenth of a volt, well within the capabilities of the solar panels. I wish my house was that efficient. My conclusion is I may put in a larger fan than the one right now that only cools my head and shoulders. And permanently wire in the white noise generator.
Essentially, the system is overbuilt to the extent all the modifications were easy. I’m building small stowage bins as one of the remaining problems is the way things can bounce around and get unhinged back there on America’s steadily worsening roadways. I the fan and lights on in the interior all the time now. It keeps it dry and free of cobwebs and critters. Remember it is also very nice inside there. I’m of a mind to completely start over from scratch with my experience and keep the old trailer for haulage.
I’ve sketched out the new camper. It will be half this length in towing configuration. The trade-off is that it cannot be towed when expanded, as the open compartment will move the center of gravity behind the axle.
NIGHT
Once it cooled down, I took more measurements, both physical and electric, on what may be the most over-measured motorcycle camper in history. Here is a night shot of the caboose area, showing all the controls within easy reach and the readout on the solar convertor. It’s blurry, but reading a steady 12.4 volts (out of an available 13.4 volts) with the fan an light operating. You’ll recall the distinctive blue interior.
The white noise generator is that dull red box lying on the bed below the convertor. There is no mattress present, I keep that stored inside the workshed. When it is in place, there is an ordinary sleeping bag inside that takes up the entire floor space, sized to match a twin bed less a couple of inches. An adult can easily toss and turn all night without ever contacting the structure.
The upcoming model is half the length because it closes up like a drawer. The front compartment has all the hardware, the rear “caboose” becomes movable, sliding out to create in interior space 74” long and 40” wide. This time, I am superbly equipped to build all the parts to spec and I know what doesn’t work. Right down to which bolts and washers not to use because they rust or tarnish.
The new unit is likely to be a compromise on the frame. That is, some welded parts so that overall weight drops by 120 pounds. The shorter tongue will also drag closer to the tow hitch, so you get less of the sensation of hauling a load. It will still require advance planning to park but it won’t take up two full spots. The spring suspension, for the record, has proven very stable and carefree. I was horrified at the price of torsion bar, so I’m glad leaf springs proved dandy.
EVENING
It [the day] was so easy-going, I took a book up to the coffee shop for an hour. Another book about the Caribbean that tries too hard. These authors try to be creative but always gravitate to the stereotype ex-pat in flip-flops, hired prostitute in hand, drinking tequila, and listening to jazz. Always jazz, as if it proves they are culturally on some higher plane. The world is already too full Tesla fans who seem unaware the guy was crazy and crazy people are occasionally right.
But this is a murder mystery. This guy operates a long-range driver business, driving tourists who don’t like airplanes back and forth to Brownsville, Texas. He’s got a cash customer over the phone and on the way to his car lot, in he surreptitiously witnesses an assassination. Like most, he does not want to be questioned by the federales, so he hightails it across town. When his cash customer walks in, guess who it is.
More on the book if it picks up. For now, I have to get over the godawful clichés. I’ve lived in Mexico a bit and I always found the beach bum bunch a little too educationally deficient to hang with. It’s the Panera and Dunkin Donuts rolled into one. I’m okay with looking and acting like them as long as that’s where the similarity ends. I’ll be the one on stage, I don’t play jazz, and quite bluntly, my camper pod is better equipped than most of their houses.
Professor Oz has bought into that, and say, I wonder why he hasn’t called in several months. Better go check on the guy. He’s a bit like Wallace in his outlook, he thinks everybody is like himself but they are just not as good at it. He thinks nothing of being on a first name basis with the local hookers, where I don’t even know any--but remains convinced I am lying about that. He cannot imagine a world where men do not use hookers.
Music is kind of the same, they feel anybody who doesn't listen to jazz, which to me is cacophony, is musically inept. It does no good to point out I have grade eight in classical piano and play an instrument, they feel I still have not "progressed" up to jazz. Such people can be infuriating, but I have an ace up my sleeve. Whenever they get too obnoxious, I point out that no matter what they say, they are sitting in the audience and I am not. Oh yes, I will rub anybody's nose in that if they start on me.
And for the record, Patsie, I do not believe your nephew or anybody even remotely related to anyone like you is any kind of chess champion. Championships, brains, and honesty aren't in your genetic makeup. Quite frankly, if I decided to take up chess, I'd wax your nephew and any fifty like him in ten moves. But I won't, mainly because I don't even consider chess to be an adult’s game.
