One year ago today: March 7, 2015, what other chords?
Five years ago today: March 7, 2011, early Arduino studies.
Nine years ago today: March 7, 2007, 2,322 viruses.
Random years ago today: March 7, 2010, $2.10 per mile.
MORNING
I’m cranky today. I had to sleep 19 hours to recover, thus missing a precious day. I’m living on borrowed time and every day is precious, at least enough to write things down about it.
What’s this nonsense on my screen? My Windows license is about to expire. What license? Sounds like another typical MicroSoft scheme to squeeze you for money. Overcharging you for software once isn’t good enough anymore. And they actually think I’m going to give them my name and address or something. The scary part is there must be millions of sheeple out there blindly accepting this as the way things are done.
Why don’t I just comply? If that is your thinking, you are a sheeple. Listen, I don’t recall MicroSoft ever asking for permission to plaster their messages across my private property. Nor is it the business of MicroSoft whether or not I even own a computer. I was around in the era when MicroSoft used dirty tricks to crowd out other superior products from the marketplace. I was first to predict in 1981 that MicroSoft would keep issuing “upgrades” to milk the public for each “new” edition. And besides, one does not register pirated software. It just isn’t done, old boy.
([Author's note: notice I did not say I pirated anything, in case Big Brother is watching. However, although I did not specify my fee for unauthorized messages that display on my property, it is many, many times the fees that MicroSoft charges. Oh yes, before I forget, posting unauthorized messages on my equipment is confirmation that you agree to those fees. Two can play that game.
When I find out the workaround, I will publish the instructions here. There is no large pool of contemporary users in my age group whom I can just go ask for advice. I remain the only person in my demographic I know in Florida who uses a computer for anything except entertainment. Um, Wallace, using a $3,000 laptop is not only entertainment, it is stupidly expensive entertainment.]
Forget productivity today. I had to chase around all morning, which I’ll recount for you, but returned here exhausted before lunch. I bit the bullet and ordered the new starter for the Goldwing. That’s a $250 repair job. And the cPod needs another day’s work. The electrical is wonky, the problem is the Honda is a 4-wire system while the wagon is 3-wire. No, there is no simple way to just find the wire that works. On the Honda, each does a separate job and you can’t just tie them together.
And that was the excitement for the day. I’ll tell you what I did, you decide if I should have stayed in bed all day. First, I drove over to read the posters at the foreign cinema. These productions are still best advertised by good old posters in the window. Finally, a good batch. Then over to the motorcycle shop to pay for the parts, then to the Goodwill to get some reading material for the afternoon. While in that neighborhood, I swung past to see if Cowboy Mike was still in the park.
Nope, his trailer, a 5th wheel, is gone. And he is not listed in the subdivision directory. Either he croaked or moved, I’ll bet, to Fernandina. Many of the six or so songs he wrote mention that area, in the northeast corner of the state. Where I took the batbike on a ferry crossing. I only know this because I transcribed the lyrics for him. He was unaware they could be made to look like poetry. And this was his 15 seconds of fame.
This book, “Virus Ground Zero”, is about the initial outbreak of ebola back in 1995. It’s full of facts, so I’ll mention anything relevant as I go along. But days like this are reminders that my working days are over. Being busy for one lousy day puts me out of commission for the next two or three. Since you’ve been good enough to read this far, you get the real news of the day.
There was a bad fire over at the vacuum shop. The firemen went in there with axes and caught it in time, but it’s kind of clear the fire started in the repair room in the rear. The structure is intact, but what a mess. I’ll try to get photos, but there isn’t much to see. The windows are all black. Terrible luck, as that was a thriving business. They’ll be fine, they also own an ammunition factory.
Flaming Cliffs, Mongolia.
NOON
”The chocolate ration will be increased from two ounces to one ounce.” --Trusted news source.
Has anybody noticed the news blackout on Shkreli, the most hated man in America. Oops! He did not play along with their little games. He could not be baited by politicians. He followed his lawyers advice. He could not be provoked. Damn, he was just not going along with the traditional trial-by-media derby, why, he was just not playing by the rules the big stations want you to think they’ve established by now. Only one thing to do—scratch sand over the issue and find easier prey.
Shkreli and I have common ground on one point, when he said it is “Hard to accept that these imbeciles represent the people in our government," See USA today. The media is pissed because they could not turn Shkreli into another circus. He was much too kind calling Congress “imbeciles”. Did you get that, Gowdy? Yes, you, Gowdy, the one who tried to bait Shkreli into disobeying his lawyer. Just who the f*ck do you think you are?
Shkrelis mistake was “ . . . he has put a face to the gouging of America by pharmaceutical companies.” You might want to view this chart from Zerohedge.
It’s not like life is over, but I watched the security footage of me working in the yard last day. Yep, I’m getting up there. That’s what happens when you’ve been retired for what, eleven years now? We age at different rates, I should consider myself lucky that I didn’t really show it until far later than usual. I’ve got those creases around my shoulder blades that you get when you live long enough. Let’s just say I’m resigned to never again getting a woman because of my great looks.
Changing the subject, it’s trivia time. Did you know there are no famous bridges in the southern hemisphere. For that matter, there are very few bridges south of the equator at all. Except for the odd example, like the bridge built in Tasmania in 1946, the bridges that exist are small and non-famous. Geographically, there is a lack of large rivers and bays down there to build bridges over, anyway. The only place that can afford big bridges would be South Africa, but that place is mostly desert and in any case, has gone to the dogs once the Europeans hauled ass.
You want to see what happens to society when the Europeans leave. Check Detroit. It’s amazing how many of those people think once they kick Whitey out they can just move into his vacant house and the welfare checks will continue forever. They forget once Whitey leaves, it is back to the law of the jungle. Has anyone heard of Uganda? Careful, the truth hurts, and it hurts Liberals more than most. Why, if Uganda isn’t your fault, you must be “rasiss”.
I was reading on bridges because may coastal navigation charts carry approach warnings. For the record, y’day I did five calculations in a row that averaged less than a mile of error. I attribute that to understanding celestial navigation well enough that small errors don’t get very far into the calculations. Remember? We talked about this.
I can often seem like the slowpoke compared to somebody who just memorizes the formulas. I told you I was not going to do that. Now the payoff because I understand what is going on. One of my calculations was off by only 44 feet. You know that by comparing your work to an on-line fix and 44 feet is pretty amazing, thank you.
NIGHT
Here is a shot of the rear brake lights on a 1978 Honda Goldwing. Stick around and I will show you what these were upgraded to. Here, you can see the Japanese copy of the US bulb 1157. (The 1156 is the corresponding single filament bulb for the marker lights.) I’ve replaced these bulbs more than I like to, often swapping them out with the total crap bulbs from the red scooter. As usual, Auto Zone was sold out of 1157s, but had a massive display of other junk. This sent me over to Bennett, where I found a new display of LED bulbs designed to replace what you see here.
This step in upgrading the Honda is significant enough that you may see more of it in the next few days. To me, it is quite amazing how well the original Honda systems worked. Then again, forty years ago I had no idea that electronics was a new and upcoming field. I’ve had repeated and expensive repairs to the assembly shown here. So stand by for my expensive solution. (The left bulb looks darker only by illusion, both bulbs are identical.)
Night? What night? I fell asleep in the comfy chair and did not wake up until 7:15 PM when the phone rang. I’m really into the book about the viral infection, it is Michener style, that is, fictional characters in a factual situation. I’m also learning most of the truly insidious diseases on the planet originate and spread from Africa. Example, the Reston outbreak. Infected monkeys that can spread by air-borne infection are imported to DC. Do the bureaucrats immediately impose a ban on importing all species, which they should have done back in 1850?
Hell no, they launch a big investigation to see if the monkey workers are safe—in the Philippines! Mr. Trump, we need you in there kicking butt more than ever. Speaking of disease, I found a cold medicine that helps me. Or more accurately, abates the symptoms of this flu I’ve had since last month. Alka-Seltzer Plus Citrus Severe Cold and Flu. When the coughing and runny nose will not go away. Of course, these medicines work differently on others, but with me, you get a drug-free test case.
The club meeting this week was short, it has finally been admitted we have done all the small projects and don’t have the money for big efforts. Your low-end bare-bones robot still tips in at $20,000 in materials. At those prices, it would necessarily have to be designed to replace some kind of human effort, just to pay for itself. The real value of the robot club has always been the vast input of new ideas and sharing of tools. Miles ahead of the efforts put forward by Nova and such. We also learned a lot about the limitations involved. More about the limits of others than our own.
And five years later I still have never seen a real robot in action. But that’s fine, neither have you, really.
Last Laugh
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