Tales From The Trailer Court™

January 27, 2012

2012-01-27T09:24:00.005-05:00

           The nature of blogs is last in, first out, so here is a backwards answer to a question posed a few days ago. The photo of the 1906 school room. See the chalkboard on the back wall? It contains symbols that have no general meaning I can decipher and were plainly not drawn by hand. Yet the upper right character is probably a sailboat. I would appreciate any explanation of what these mean.
           After a month’s season break, the club members are reporting in to begin this year’s labs. Boon published an article in 2009 which explains the usage of serial cables. He informs us logic gates have been superseded by computer code and advises us to stop learning from the chips. I feel the chips are an invaluable aid. However, Boon is our most advanced member and a sure way to get attention at any meeting is to begin with “Singapore says . . .”
           E24 has decided to wait until year-end to attend a formal electronics college and I may join in. He declares on-line courses are unsuitable because they demand “impeccable time management skills”. We may collaborate on college for it is well-known whenever our club gets involved our people pass with a mark of 100% and that is that. Our motto is like “no genius left behind because so many idiots are blocking the way”, but I never said that.
           I had a choice on what to do tonight, I stayed home. I have no lifestyle of going out Fridays unless I’m playing, and when I’m not, it is a waste of money and makes you sleep in on Saturday. Even those few years I was not in a band and worked, I didn’t go out Fridays because payday was a Thursday. So here I am, wiring together a prototype headlight for the scooter. Something must be done about the way it eats a bulb every other month. Close examination shows it is a bad metal to glass connection, not the socket.
           For a shocker, I see the bar charge for silver has gone up to $5.50 for Engles. This is not sustainable unless you know for certain silver is going to go sky-high. And with Utah leading the way in accepting silver and gold coins as currency, the mood is set for Montana, Colorado and Idaho at least. Utah also exempts [US minted] gold and silver coins from state capital gains taxes. I am unable to find out how the coins are evaluated, I would hesitate to accept a silver coin saying $1, but not if it said 1 oz. Also, when you pay in silver, your change is given back in paper currency.
           The two monetary systems seem incompatible, but they aren’t. Anyone with Internet access can find spot prices, each state need only agree on which one to use. Inflation has to triple US prices in the next short while, there is no way out as the damage is already done. When that happens, the huge holders of overseas US money will pour it back into this country and make paper even more worthless.
           This is an application of Gresham’s Law. At first glance it seems contradictory to pay a bill with valuable silver when you could pay it with worthless paper dollars. The answer is in the timing, you don’t know the price the owner paid for the silver. Just a few years back, he may have got it for $4.00 an ounce. Those who buy silver today will have a very easy time paying their bills in the near future. It goes without saying that to buy for the future, you must be operating at a surplus today. I know I am.
           Outside of one or two specialty outfits, there are still no country bands advertising in south Broward. I was checking prices on three piece groups and up, which begin around the $700 mark. I just don’t see how they can make a living at it. There are not enough clubs and not enough money. This study is why I chose a duo, so we can lower the price to the point where we play more often. And I’m just the guy to calculate the breakeven point. Hell, I’d love to break even again.
           We won’t be any competition for a while. Mind you, some of the live acts who’ve posted on youTube are not going to be hard to contend with. They are pretty ho-hum and play like they consider country music a farce or comedy. Those who dispute the value of a good band manager haven’t seen my show. What sets my band apart from the pack is effective leadership. And right now, we are looking for one small paying room to perfect our sound before tackling bigger shows.

January 26, 2012

2012-01-26T09:10:00.000-05:00

           It was time for another look at real estate. I see the market is holding steady but I don’t can’t see any reason why it isn’t going to plunge again. The business review, shown here, shows at least three to four times as many properties in foreclosure than listed for sale in Broward. Who or what is propping things up, I’d like to know. There are no first time buyers and no construction starts. The housing Ponzi game is over.
           The prices anywhere I’d live are still in the $150k range, down from $400k, but still overpriced. It doesn’t make sense because there are no jobs around here that pay enough to buy any house over $80k. The dates on the foreclosures are generally 2009, so the market hasn’t begun to catch up to the reality. I say another collapse is pending and since I am more than comfortable right where I am, I’ll wait it out.
           The park ranger and I had an impromptu discussion about picking up women. We are opposites, in that I don’t pick up women, but it was damn funny to actually talk with somebody who does. He knows pickup lines and brags about spending “only $50 on drinks”, things of which I have no concept. He says it is really easy, but I’m not sure about that. I think I have never resorted to such tactics and he only thinks it easy because he’s got a lifetime of experience at it. But he’s funny, not scary like my brothers who think the only reason you don’t do the same is because you ain’t as good at it as they are.
           Want to see some though-provoking charts? Take a look at the graphs for health care, education, and income for South Africa. Possibly there is a law that requires whites and blacks be compared. From the graphs, one could almost conclude the blacks are ill-done by. Almost, until you compare them not to whites, but to the other blacks in neighboring countries. South African blacks are infinitely better off than they would be elsewhere in Africa.
           A trip to Bal Harbor took up the afternoon, meaning an extended coffee break and a quiet time to read and think. I visited with Ruth and programmed a modem and router. I remain incredulous that nobody has built a model of either that works right by itself. I can’t quite recall the good looking lady who was there last summer, but apparently she is now a disk jockey in Miami. Back to the modem, I’d like to explain something that confuses people about DSL.
           Bridged mode. Back in the bad old days, the phone company was powerful enough to make its own laws, and it was illegal to connect anything else to “their” phone lines. Sweet. Using this premise, they demanded the customer pay for a separate phone line for each fax machine, etc. Thus most DSL modems, to this day, work only with a single computer on each line.
           To get around this, routers are capable of cloning the computer’s internal address. When the phone company looks out on the wire, they see a simulated computer. But this proved cumbersome when the law changed to allow the customer more than one computer on the same line. Now we have modems that bridged or bypassed the router. That’s the concept, anyway.
           I still, after ten years, occasionally re-read the tale of Dien Bien Phu. If you are ever down in the dumps and think the world hates smart people, you are probably right. Seriously, I mean if ever it looks like stupid people always get their own way because they outnumber the rest of us, read “Hell In A Very Small Place”. It is a chronicle of the stupid. The French for placing their men at the bottom of a valley, and the Vietnamese for sacrificing untold lives to attack it. The French lost by proving they were the more stupid of the two.

January 25, 2012

2012-01-25T12:34:00.003-05:00

           This is the empty stage over at Dekka. I was there for coffee to meet the owners. The wife by pure coincidence could have been a version of my sweetheart, Janista, from Ciudad Bolivar on the Orinoco 15 years ago. The café has a surprisingly large back room shown here, with one of the few real stages in this town. It is only empty to the untrained eye.
           Myself, I see a set of Peavy PA speakers and matching foldback monitors on the floor. I see a 16-channel mixer under the cloth to the right, and both a disco ball and overhead cans. This is a musician’s dream, particularly someone like me who can’t hump gear like I used to. The café doesn’t pay but are okay with charging admission.
           The coffee is expensive at $2.50 per cup. That just means I can’t go there every day. The people are Latino, I’d say the accent is Argentine. They are holding a drum circle on Thursday. I plan to attend. There is plenty of free street parking and the area is well-lit. There are no coffee establishments with ten miles of here where you can go to linger. I’m thinking.
           Here’s an Armenian joke. Well, a phonetic version thereof, because Armenian looks like this: ամերիկյան. “Abaransin unkerov gunuma restorant erqu apse ca erar vera en abaransinera erar veran en nustum.” Phonetic means you can’t use Google translate and I have no idea what it means, except that many Armenian jokes start with the word “Abaransin”. So I take it to mean something like “This guy walks into a vodka distillery…”
           The JP Morgan people been caught selling certificates for silver they don’t own. Or as they say in Brazil, percentages don’t always end at 100. Funny this isn't front page news. Paper is easier to store than the metal, but it looks like a lot of the metal is still in the ground. Ha, I hope every person holding the paper gets what they deserve. If silver sold for the traditional ratio to gold prices, it should already be around $100 per ounce. It is $30.50. (The ratio is 16:1.)
           So, JP Morgan has been caught selling certificates for silver they don’t own. Or as they say in Brazil, percentages don’t always end at 100. Paper is easier to store than the metal, but it looks like a lot of the metal is still in the ground. Ha, I hope every person holding the paper gets what they deserve. If silver sold for the traditional ratio to gold prices, it should already be around $100 per ounce. It is $30.50. (The ratio is 16:1.)
           Next over to Barnes & Noble for a late afternoon research session. I think Popular Mechanics magazine is really going downhill. If I wasn’t reading it for free, imagine how I’d feel. I see the Arduino has become the de facto standard in microcontrollers, I will shortly be purchasing a second unit. Our club member from West Palm went back to college and we haven’t heard from him in two months.
           You can now buy a kit to clone DNA. Available from OpenPCR. It is controlled by an Arduino and yours for $599. A reported popular use is to expose fraud at sushi restaurants. I understand the process is no more complicated than heating and cooling the DNA to get your pure molecule, than cloning it a few billion times.
           Barnes has rounded off their cafeteria prices to the nearest dollar. I got in a crossfire between two ladies in the cashier lineup. One was letting her brats run wild, the other one said she would slap them if they ran in to her again. The first lady said she’d slap the second if she did that. This went on for two minutes. Mind-your-mouth, you-mind-yours type of back and forth. I stood there because I didn’t want to loose my place in line. I think the lady with the undisciplined brood was the one to blame.
           Trent and I are seeking the final set of tunes we need to make up a full gig, and it isn’t easy. For all the music I love, a lot of it is not suitable for duo arrangements. We play no rock, blues, or jazz. We also avoid tunes that are overplayed, though this isn’t nearly as serious a problem with country music. The newest prospect we’ve found is Yearwood’s “That’s What I Like About You”. There are so many lyrics, I’m going to have to read them on stage.
           Last, let me tell you about my November, 1992. There was a gap in these journals at that time. The significance is that I took complete stock of where life was going. I still had unpaid student loans, a seven year old car, yet that year had I passed the million dollar earnings point of my life. I had made around $230k in the stock market, but lost it all plus another $40k. I had paid over $120,000 in rent in my life. I was working but it was still a dead end street.
           Even obeying all the financial rules, I had passed the halfway point of my working life without any material gain. That was the month I decided I would only work to the point of making enough money to get out of the system. That took another four years. By 1996 I opted out, I’m not rich, but nor am I a slave to a paycheck. I’m glad I did, for I now realize I never stood a chance and would have otherwise wasted my life working for nothing more than I have right now.

January 24, 2012

2012-01-24T00:22:00.000-05:00

           Take a look at this photo of a 1906 American schoolroom. It is a language class, yet there is something most unusual even for today and I can’t figure it out. Can you spot it? I was again looking for data about Braille. Did you know there was no “w” in the original system? The reason is the letter "w" is rare in French. Braille got started when working with a secret military cypher which often rounds off an alphabet to 25 letters so the charts are easier to print. (English combines I/J as one letter.)
           What do I know about Super Bowl? Nothing. But I know about the parties and that’s what I’ll be attending on February 5. Down Miami way with the family, a small gathering, 25 people. What’s the bets that vampy blonde from Ft. Loddy will be there? Oh, she’s out of the picture because she spurned me the first time, but she’ll have friends, know what I’m sayin’? Trivia: Super Bowl is the second highest food consumption day in the US. (After Thanksgiving.)
           That’s my life, going to a banquet with my diet. As luck turned out, I live a half-mile from one of the highest acclaimed Chinese restaurants in town. Yet I’ve had Chinese food maybe twice in this century. I say I don’t mind, but there remain four things from the past that regularly appear in my dreams. Peanut butter, chocolate, Chinese food, and Robyn.
           France weighs in with government thought control, passing a law making it illegal to deny that Armenian genocide occurred. And they back it up with a stiff $60,000 fine. I would be okay with such laws in America for the following:
           A) Saying your children are the next generation of leaders. Are you living in Disneyworld? Your kids are snot-nosed little pricks and that’s all they’ll ever be.
           B) Using the word “free” on the Internet in connection with any produce or service. Since partial control is impossible to police, ban the word entirely.
           C) Stating people who don’t like queers are afraid of them. People who say that should be poisoned like their little minds.
           D) Cops asking if you know why you are being stopped. The Constitution bans self-incrimination.
           E) Repeating any television commercial more than twice in a 24 hour period. The worst bastards in the world are with me on this one.
           F) Prescribed damages against anyone who uses the word “paranoia” as an insult. Such people are not to be endured.
           G) Claiming your IQ is above 110. It’s not. And if it was, you’d know better. No mercy.
           H) Calling anti-immigration advocates “rednecks”. Unless they are allowed to prove it by kicking the shit out of you in the nearest K-mart parking lot. We’d be okay with that.
           I) A gag order on bozos who still say, “Have a nice day.” Maybe some jail time, as well, to improve their concept of a nice day.

Addendum:
           I toyed with an on-line currency calculator. I thought it revealing to put some dollar-figures from my very own past into 2012 money.

           A) The price of my first car: $11,464.74.
           B) My first year university tuition: $2509.20
           C) My lowest hourly wage ever: $6.11
           D) My parents combined annual income the year I left home: $101,116.55
           D) The amount of money my parents promised me (for school): $86,600.91
           E) The amount my parents actually paid: $106.45
           F) My highest income year at the phone company (no overtime): $75,071.44
           G) The most I spent in one year traveling: $36,891.47
           H) Total lifetime student loans: $30,293.21
           I) Total lifetime expenditure on tuition: $61,436.70

           That’s revealing. My first car was a new 1974 Maverick. The student loan does not include penalties. My parents had promised me tuition, room and board for four years. They claimed they could not “afford” to keep their promise. They were lying through their teeth. My lowest wage was as a stock clerk—I made more total playing in a band at age 13 though, like today, I wouldn’t want to calculate that out by the hour. Considering the drop in quality, my lifetime tuition compares very well with what student’s get for their buck these days.

January 23, 2012

2012-01-23T20:56:00.006-05:00

           There’s a guy on the Internet making photos that are hilariously revolting. He finds pictures of women posing in sexy poses, then photographs men in the same stances. This is uproarious to me who thinks there are few things in the first place more ugly than men who try to act sexy. If I link, I’d be breaking the law, so go find them on your own. It is similar to reading dialog where you can’t hear inflections. The things men say to seduce women (“You should not close such beautiful eyes when you sleep) sound terrible without the fake Euro accent.
           Dekka, the café, was closed so I finally had lunch at Surf Road Taco, that always vacant joint corner of Dixie and Third. It appears mom & pop, but inside everything shouts franchise. I’m looking for a more upscale hangout for my daily coffee and I’ve had luck in LA finding small shops in design or light industry districts. Areas where single women are likely to work. I’ll try Dekka at least once more before moving on.
           Trivia. Look what I spotted. I noticed that Braille consisted of a six dot pattern, with each sentence “beginning” with a period. I was trying to figure out if that is combinations or permutations (it’s 6! (six factorial) combinations). Dang if while doing this I quickly learned to “read” Braille by sight. The trivia is the numerals and first ten letters of the Braille alphabet are identical.

           My movie stocks are running so low again, I watched “Unfaithful”. It’s another Richard Gere mono-plot. I get it. When a man cheats, he’s a horny bastard who can’t keep it in his pants. When a woman cheats, it’s a beautiful fulfillment of the emotions the uncaring husband has failed to supply as he slaves away at the office to support her. She had no choice. The double standard works both ways.
Addendum:
           Rather over a year ago, I stated I would document any lifestyle changes insofar as apparent to me after my insurance benefits began. I can report nothing major although what has changed is the way I do [the same] things. But there have been no momentous transformations.
           I still write, go for coffee, read, and play music in the same proportions. I still distrust politicians and bureaucrats. Driving a scooter has lowered mileage, but not time on the road. I’ve failed training myself to watch TV, and still have good reasons to believe most people’s troubles are self-inflicted while mine are not. There are new interests, like electronics, but no change in the rate at which I try new things. Here are the greatest changes are in method, not category.
           A) I have adapted to avoid stress situations. The only reason to ever have done that was a shortage of money. Those days are over.
           B) I no longer “schedule” daily activities, nor do I have to. Take music. I now practice when I feel like it, not when I can find time. And over it, productivity has surged.
           C) I accomplish tasks in 3-hour intervals instead of doing five things at once when there’s enough time. If I read, build something, or go to the library, count on my being at it for 3 hours.

           Any other changes? Yes, sleep patterns. Now that I can nap any time, I’ve experienced a slow return of core energy, that vim so many take for granted. I recall how recently ago I could not get up out of a chair or hold my own toothbrush. Now I’m having rare but welcome good days where I estimate I’m back to 50% of my former self. End of report.

January 22, 2012

2012-01-22T15:03:00.000-05:00

           Here’s a still from the Hollywood Beach shell, more about that later. By far the outstanding event was this morning’s practice. We’ve a ways to go but we’d be lulu to stop now. Applying my bitterly-won guitar theories, we are already at the level of customizing each tune on a phrase-by-phrase basis. They don’t learn ya that stuff at the academy. We may become ready ahead of schedule, for it has serendipitously surfaced how the guitar part, when done to specs, doesn’t have to be anything like perfect. (I take full personal credit for inventing this, guys.)
           I think many musicians would find it amusing to hear us chat during rehearsal. This tune is “bouncing”, that tune is “a foxtrotter”, and another is “pastel”. The more advanced we become, the less we need standard musical vocabulary. Um, think of is as parallel to the way JP and I would talk about nanotechnology or CJD. If you don’t listen closely, very closely, to the topic, you’d think us a couple of rubes who recently got off the wrong bus.
           [Author’s note: On stage, this behavior is so intentional that I even have a term for it: “Ga-hunking.” Part of my act is to imply I don’t have a clue what’s really going on. I devote time to invent new ways to convey this, yes I do. My newest gag is to sway my elbow back and forth in a fashion that yells, “This joker never took lessons.”
           My other standard gimmicks are playing notes that aren’t there or taking my hand off the neck like I’ve lost count. I purposely over-syncopate Johnny Cash to startle people until they catch on, and I regularly play complicated riffs on one string as though I’m much too dumb to switch.]
           Okay, I’ve already gotten snipes over CJD. Look it up yourself, but it is often mistaken for dementia. I have not included beef as a regular diet item now for some twenty years where JP consumes it every day. He has to stop. So when you hear JP and I yack about “growing a cow brain”, we are discussing protein deformation.
           By late afternoon, I went for a 15 mile tour on the eBike. This included the entire waterfront and I found out plenty. Like which clubs hire bands when they have to. I chose this holiday weekend to see it for myself. I found merely four places and there was a French group in the bandshell. I’d describe the opportunities as “conservative”. All the entertainers were being paid $100 or less, a gloomy situation.
           Gloomy, unless you know how to read the signs. Most acts were single guitarists, and not one of those was novel and some were frankly quite bad (see below). I saw no evidence that any of the acts were drawing customers. The strollers are the only uncommitted crowd on that beach, and they mostly kept on walking. Then, by chance, who do I find performing at the Riptide? Remember Big Jim? The guy who was looking for me last week?
           He was hosting a mostly Karaoke show. Naturally we fell into talking and he got me on stage, so I chose the very tunes and versions being practiced right here. By the crowd reaction, I am more convinced than ever that a country duo will be a sellout on that beach. As it stands, there is so little to choose from, the bars were roughly sharing the crowds and collectively going broke.
           Hidden here last is something I hate to do: criticize musicians. I will criticize their attitudes and tastes, but not the fact they are musicians. Keep that in mind during this critique. This guy was one of five acts along the Broadwalk, in this case Jake’s. I dare say standards have fallen below the embarrassment level. Maybe the clubs aren’t paying enough to attract talent but the musicians I saw are going to have to shoulder some of the blame.
           Guys, none of you have the equipment or personalities for outdoor shows. Face it, a Fender Passport does not cut it as road gear. Your acts lack effective management and it sounds like you are practicing in your living rooms. Worse, it sounds like you are playing what you can rather than (like my show) a series of hand-picked crowd-pleasing tunes based on familiarity and danceability.
           I know times are hard and I predicted more middle-aged men would start digging out the old Strat, but the world has moved on. Most of you acted and sounded like you were playing for $50 plus tips and it just isn’t good enough. I wish you all well, but I believe 90% of you are about to be musically clobbered. You’ll still be there I’m sure, just nowhere near the action. The whole beachfront lacks action.

January 21, 2012

2012-01-21T13:43:00.000-05:00

           Music talk. I went back to Guitar Center to advise them of my decision not to go for the PA. They have another demo unit set up and we are welcome to try it out at full volume. Guitar picks alone cost me $16, then over to Big Lots for another $11 in batteries. Each day I drive it, I’m putting 15 miles on a cheap scooter never intended for such heavy usage. It has to last until I’m medically well enough to drive again. I have the money put away for that joyful day, but not to replace the cycle meanwhile.
           I’m again looking at wireless gear since I can’t see getting a Fishman and then cluttering up the stage with cables. None of the manufacturers (Shure, Sennheiser) make a unit with multiple inputs, but considering the prices ($450 - $650) they charge, why would they? I’ve found a product by Nady that is highly rated by the pros. For some reason, local music stores don’t keep Nady in stock, making every item a special order. Here’s what a wireless bass rig looks like. The smaller box is a transmitter with a belt clip.
           I’ve scoured my music lists and come up still short of a full set (32 tunes). In this wide world you’d think it’s easy to find tunes that fit the bill. Wrong. Trent is aware I am a novice and haven’t found my own range yet. My lack of ability isn’t the limitation it was six months ago but the other constraints remain. Many contemporary songs don’t adapt to duo re-arrangement, particularly the over-orchestrated computer-based substance on the hit parades. We are in the midst of a musical ice age, global tempo decline, as it were. The top tens are so damn sluggish it truly brings a tear to my eye. Left side, in the corner, near the temple.
           Ha! Did you see those hackers slap the feds around for their raid on MegaUpload? Myself, I have to side with the accused because no country, including the USA, should have authority to arrest people beyond its borders for civil offenses. I understand people were stealing, but I also understand how this bullying makes America look in the eyes of the world. And phooey on New Zealand, that Mecca of artistic copyright, for instantly squatting to US pressure, but what did you really expect from a country whose national bird can’t fly?
           The group “Anonymous” shut down the FBI, the Justice Department, the Copyright Office and most importantly, the Motion Picture Association of America. The lot of them are just forcing the problem further underground. Their greed motive, which I have nothing against, is just a little too blatant. What? Well, you can’t pirate my music because it is performed live, see. I make music, not recordings of music. Ha, I say again. Bwaaaa-ha-ha-ha!
           Back to real life, I awoke with a pain in my shoulder, one of those things I take seriously. By 6:30AM it abated, but I now listen whenever Mother speaks. Pain is based on perception, so maybe I should rephrase that to say annoying muscle sensation. The worst physical pain I can relate to is still a heart attack. A broken bone is so painful I once passed out from a hairline fracture. But that is different, at least inasmuch as you know that no matter how badly it is broken, you aren’t going to die. Yes, Butterfly, perception is definitely something to think about.
           Bingo was another half-full house but still the usual success. While Jimbos isn’t exactly the epicenter of Broward night life, the local music scene gets discussed in detail. I avidly listen for any potential country music gigs and we may have a new lady making the rounds. Described as “an older blonde” doing “a little country” along Federal. I visited the Lamp Post (I admit to not having been there in ages) to find her Saturday hours match mine. So we’ll never meet that way.
           You know, at Jimbos, to a one, the clientele don’t like the downtown clubs for the same reasons I don’t. High prices and a get-drunk atmosphere, with the staff constantly tip-hovering over every drink. Where there is music, it is too loud, where there isn’t, it is dull and dead. The regulars are preponderantly working class. I’ve never been one to dine at drinking places. It would further strike any visitor that there are absolutely zero single women present, ever.

January 20, 2012

2012-01-20T21:41:00.006-05:00

           Here’s an experiment that should never have been necessary. I’ll describe it last today, but if you look at my apparatus, you’ll see it’s an easy breadboard, and a bunch of test gear. In the end, what I really tested was the nonsense that confronts the beginner in this field. It turns out very last textbook I’ve read on this matter in 30 years was either wrong or failed to make the correct point. Why are electronics “experts” so clueless? Read on.
           The local animal society is advertising for a “rocking country band” to do a fundraiser at the beach. In layman’s terms, that probably means they want a drummer and picker on stage. I’d like to take that gig, but we aren’t ready. As far as country goes, we definitely rock, by which I mean the music is very highly danceable. Every time I get a duo together, the lead players start streaming down the mountainside.
           Last evening saw another productive practice, chalk that up as a milestone. We are proceeding and have established goal congruency. That goes to show there is no substitute for working with professionals, the good work habits spill over into everything else. If these were lessons, I’d say Trent just did a year’s advancement in three weeks. I’m still waffling on the Fishman due to a former entanglement that has resurfaced and could cost me if I don’t watch out.
           Blog rules that I report anything unusual, and yes, I had the opportunity to read the life profile of an acquaintance from the past. I must say, she has certainly reorganized the facts in a most positive light. More positive than I could have managed, that is for sure. Nonetheless, they are facts as long as you can accept her being two places at once. And while you are at it, please overlook that aggravating characteristic of rich pretty women to honestly believe they made it on their own.
           I finally got an answer from Dekka and will be chatting with the owner on Monday. It transpires that I’ve been missing their business hours by a few minutes every time, and that they do stay open on evenings when they have special events. Just not tonight. Events include a variety of local music acts. It is primarily a women’s clothing boutique, but also a café and I patronize good coffee and friendly staff. Another plus, it is walking distance. For me.
           I have to carefully read every word when I’m learning. I wanted to examine the various methods whereby scientists determine the age of fossils, rocks, stars, and crystals. I find carbon dating is now just one of a dozen increasingly accurate atomic methods. I have really fallen out of touch in my own area of interest.
           [Author’s note: learning for me is a little more complicated than average. I have to be in the right frame of mind, and that frame is random. To the casual observer, it seems I need plenty of what they would call “leisure” time to be in the “mood”. I laugh at those terms. That very lack of leisure-mood is why it took me 26 years to learn to sing. I have no talent, I learned the skill but never had the correct time to do it before.
           And that’s also why outwardly appears when I have a day job, my learning rate drops to a miserable crawl. It took me six years once to get a two year college degree because of shift work. For the record, I have been medically misdiagnosed twice over this condition. So don’t call me dumb just because somebody hasn’t invented a term like “dyscalculia” for it yet. My IQ is the same as it has always been, exactly 100.]
           I’m impressed. Richard Gere has, in his old age, learned to act. In “Runaway Bride” he shows almost three different emotions and the effect is more profound because he’s next to Julia “Botox” Roberts. I really enjoyed that movie, but give me an Arnold Schwarzenegger epic any day.
           Ah yes, the experiment. Every entry level text tells the newcomer that there is a voltage drop over each component in a circuit. LEDs will fry if not protected by a resistor, so the books tell you to test them in combination. But I knew something was wrong, they were omitting something important. I found it. Take a look at these two graphs.
           The only difference was the order of the components. Aha, the voltage drops in two completely different manners. None the self-styled authorities mention this. I measured the drops they described, but went further to measure between the LEDs and resistors to discover the big drop is not through the resistor as we are led to believe. It is across the LED.
           That’s why I have a beef with those turkeys. While there may be texts that clarify this topic, I speak from experience they are not the sort of books easily available to the beginner. And that’s where so many no-mind authors infest the ranks. They should take extra care to clarify these things to beginners. From now on, I will reverse the order of my current-limiting resistors.

January 19, 2012

2012-01-19T09:47:00.000-05:00

           I’m crabby today, with no good reason to be. I woke up like that. Even a great breakfast of perogies and barbeque chicken didn’t help. That dumb broad on the Sun Sentinal commercials is bugging me. She says saving money is important these days, like it wasn’t before and she’s just realizing it. Or how about those brilliant types who protest censorship by blacking out their own web pages? And Amtrak who wants $150+ per night for the cheapest private spot to sleep on their trains.
           Then, here’s an $18,000 guitar that comes with bragging rights. It was disgusting enough to be present in the adjacent room while some “serious” guitarist was on about his former instruments. Hey Buddy, cough up the 18k or get lost. I asked why it was so expensive. Seems sound or musical quality is not the criterion, but that some parts are made of endangered wood species. Gee, shouldn’t it be hanging in a carpentry store?
           Want lessons on back-peddling two-faced lying? How about that Captain Crunch, now claiming he “fell” into a lifeboat (along with his two other senior officers) and couldn’t get back on board. If he learns to juggle, he’s got a career in politics. The parent company is Carnival cruise lines, and I doubt they’ve learned any lessons about how Human Resources are doing their job. I’d like to know how such a lily-liver ever got command of a $450 million dollar boat.
           Kodak is going under and you watch, they’ll discover the pension plan was only funded to the minimum 10%. Didn’t they have 100,000 employees not that long ago? It was Kodak and their outrageous film prices that shoved me to my first digital camera. I know that I never bought anything from Kodak unless I had no other choice. Nor were they exactly any powerhouse of innovation considering their historical profits.
           Or how about the feds on border patrol claiming they are doing a better job than ever before of staunching the inflow. Have you ever scuffed your boot across a trail of ants and seen what good it does? Immigration’s plan is to bus, at your expense, the illegals to a different part of the boundary. The theory is the Mexicans will be so disoriented by the unfamiliar turf, they won’t just walk back. What do Immigration people and Carnival cruise lines have in common?
           Another thing I don’t like is these new atlases that bull-headedly refuse to admit the USA is the most important country in the world and put it first. Why should Americans, who, if God were here today, would choose them, have to flip to the back of an atlas to find what country DC is going to bomb next? Answer me that. Get it together you book people.
           One author I can’t stand is Steven King. It isn’t horror, it’s third rate schlock written for cheap movie adaptations and grade B actors. I tried to watch “Storm of the Century”, but gave up under an hour. It’s about some vampire casting spells from jail. Existing sets, minimal makeup, and King’s stock “everybody panic” script that will never, in my eyes, pass for a truly scary plot. One more annoying thing about King is his constant inclusion of children who do nothing but tear-jerk the mothering types in the audience.
           I insist on finding something positive about today. How about the best music rehearsal yet? We struggled through every tune, but struggled over what I know to be the tricky parts. Bands that don’t focus on precisely such finer details fail during this stretch. I consider it fortunate the new guitarist is keen about not wasting time. With my vocals, I’ve noticed lately I run out of breath at times. Didn’t I once hear that’s what happens when you don’t clip the notes? There’s one for you. Me, from a family of mouth-breathers, taking lessons on exhaling.

January 18, 2012

2012-01-18T18:44:00.003-05:00

           Here’s the latest club project. You don’t hear about it as much. Don’t be thinking we’ve folded when what’s happening is the tasks are individually taking much longer. This “kit” reveals our current abilities. The only previous undertaking was the Shack radio kit to test the water. Now we are building actual robot parts. This new kit is a stepper motor driver, and not only do you see the far higher quality we can now afford, but we know the function of every part seen, including the ICs. It’s a pity so little of this progress is visible.
           Again, sorry about the fuzzy photos, and since macro capability is not a criteria, it is uncertain when that problem will be solved. What? What gray thing? Oh, you mean the mat the components are lying on. Nothing, it’s nothing. Just a piece of soft cloth consisting of knit, purl, stockingette and popcorn stitches. It’s to keep my soup bowl warm and important things like that. The circuit board I’m pointing to is the now-popular multiple layer type we cannot produce in-house.
           Perfect bicycle weather had me all over town on the eBike. There’s a knack to coaxing high battery mileage on those things but the totals are still a scant 2/3 of the builder’s claims. I’ve negotiated a hard bargain at Guitar Center for the used Fishman. I’ll pay the sales price in cash, but they acknowledge I am not taking it home, it is going on stage for the 30 day trial period, and that inadequate volume or depth are valid reasons for a full refund. That is, they won’t argue that it works fine and I’m overtaxing it. In essence, I get the new product treatment on something normally sold as is, and the rules apply to the product, not the purchaser. Did you get that, Sony?
           Part of my caution is that to proceed with the duo, I have to invest in equipment that is not entirely the same as I’d otherwise spend money on. For instance, XLR microphone jacks. They are the sturdy construction I need on stage, but are incompatible with everything I have at home. I bought a 15 foot cable that cost me $23. I can’t afford to convert over all at once. Even opting for rechargeable batteries would run me into the hundreds of dollars I don’t yet have.
           While there, I scouted other prices and products. The lady that plays washboards was there, we chatted. When I mentioned country music, she gave an odd reaction, like good luck with that. That’s precisely the kind of luck I’m expecting. On the way over, I asked a gorgeous babe passerby what gives with the Dekka café. She said the owner is going broke. They probably need a country band in there. The sign says “fashion art music café” but the paint job says “color blind”.
           Define medical breakthrough. Have you seen WoundSeal? It’s a powder you sprinkle on bleeding wounds that forms an instant scab. If there was ever a “why didn’t I think of that”, well, I did when I was a kid. But I thought it must have been invented but there was a law against it, the only reason I could think of something so useful not being on the shelves. It is said not to be affected by blood thinners. I’m not endorsing the product, I’m just saying I’d be impressed if it works exactly as claimed. Pricing is, again, secret until you part with your name, address, and phone, but it’s around $13 for the smallest package.
           Speaking of questionable practices, I see the Internet community is finally joining ranks to oppose SOPA, the proposed legislation to block servers that link to copyright-violating sites. I’m against the regulation, though not to support Google or Yahoo, rather because I am against the use of information for any other purpose than that for which it was originally given. Any other use, legal or illegal, is abuse. Nobody willingly gets fingerprinted or registers an asset in the hope that information will one day be used to convict or tax them.
           As the law reads, the authorities need not stop at fighting piracy, they would have the ability to further abuse records—and experience shows the government will eventually exploit all records. If there had been no census, I doubt America could have been involved in World War I. (The abuse of birth certificates is called "conscription".)
           But people with nothing to hide never take sides until it is far too late.

January 17, 2012

2012-01-17T23:11:00.005-05:00

           Here’s the causeway to Key Biscayne. I used to drive over that to work every morning. The waterway is a major drug and alien smuggling route, with regular boat crashes into the pylons as they try to run that gap just left of the highest point. The choppy water is standard winter weather. This view is south, toward the east end of Cuba a few hundred miles over the horizon.
           I don’t like advertising. I consider it a blight. The only type of advertising that works on me is material that is highly informative of facts, particularly prices. If I know in advance there will be advertising, I keep a book handy. While some novelty ads are amusing, I generally find most to be misleading. I go out of my way to avoid purchasing certain products because of their ads. Like anything by Disney, Sony, and radio clips with speed-talking at the end. I’ve been trying to find an ad blocker that works on Opera.
           Charleston, South Carolina. What do I know about it? Not much. Plantations and the Hunley. Even their city web pages are dry reading. But I recall it as an expansive port with huge industrial tracts. I rode the bus through there in 2009 and it piqued my curiosity. That’s the Ft. Sumter town. I wonder if Boeing ever built the Dreamliner factory there.
           This TV aired a movie called “Pacific Vibrations” early today. I watched it thinking it was [going to be] a documentary on tsunamis. Wrong, it was about surfing, the ultimate MDBA (male dominated beach activity), and it was so bad it was good. To me, there is just something so shallow and phony about thirty year old men who think like teenagers. Obsessed with the perfect wave as they drive their new Mercedez with a surf rack. Although I was too young for the surf era, it was influential to me as an ideal.
           I thought surfing was a weekend pursuit for singles, though I don’t know why. Then finally (in 1991) I visited Malibu beach in California to discover it was all dumb aging jocks, ten and fifteen years past their teens. No women surfers, only men. But the movie showed, sadly for what was likely the last time in history, hundreds of naturally slim, young, white women in bikinis, all with long blonde unkinked hair, no tattoos, and no implants. To me, the ideal woman still lies somewhere along those lines. (My teenage summers were wasted working in lumber mills east of the Rockies.)
           The day ended with a success. Trent the guitarist has been doing the homework, and is thus up to speed and already innovating within the framework. It would be wise to think about that. How many people were innovating well the first year even? Music is the one field I say learn the rules before you break them—we’re more average than we think.
           We held our sixth practice and are now moving ahead rapidly. Anything is better than the standard “follow” the guitar method. In a few more hours, we should be able to play respectable arrangements of any tune we hear. That is what I’ve been shooting for the past five years.
           My theory is that lessons make blues and rock guitarists go deaf. They can’t hear the world calling them level 80 douchebags. This is where I get to insert my montage that totally insults the other 17 guitarists that wasted my time since May 27, 2007, whatever that works out to. Left to right is how you see yourself, how women see you, and how I see you.
           A short time into the future, I may post the new song list and possibly a recorded version to prove once and for all that anyone who listened and learned could have been the winner. I know how it must be to spend thousands on guitar lessons only to have somebody like me come along and say that’s not how it’s done. My counter-argument is that they all gotta grow up sometime. Get out of the bush league. Sample reality.
           There are less apparent advantages, too. For example, anything we play can now be adapted in several novel ways without rehearsal. This can really spike up a room if the mood is wrong, and if a tune has to be repeated, it won’t seem as bad. I’d say things are really looking up.

January 16, 2012

2012-01-16T10:19:00.000-05:00

           I was in Miami since early morning. Mass was at St. Jude’s. I snapped a picture of this restored tower downtown. At one point it was the only tall building here. It is northwest of the modern downtown and for some reason seems to me to be the only reminder of the stability that used to be part of this region. Do not get the impression Miami is a nice place of quaint little shops and friendly people. It is what America is going to become if people don't smarten up.
           It was a while before I could describe today, one of the saddest days of my life. If I followed my rule of superlatives, today’s entry would be, what’s the word? I don’t know. I attended the funeral of the greatest man I’ve ever known. And there have been some real contenders. There is something I need to say here but I don’t know how.
           The remainder of the day, I went on as normally as possible. Marion called from Colorado, explaining her silence since November was a family matter. We agree that we must talk in person soon. I’ve mapped out how to get there, but I am not flying. I’ve heard too many credible complaints to trust airports. They put a little girl on the terrorist list. This is not the sudden time for confrontational authorities to be impacting on my sensitivities.
           Ray-B was also on the horn. He’s spotted another Fishstick on Craigslist, the price is right but you need a mixer to work the thing right. He also found a club just south of here, a road I travel most every day, that I can’t find. They have an open mic, and I will look at anything short enough distance from my door. He further indicates the Walkabout is no longer bothering with Friday entertainment. Seems right, considering every club on the beach has virtually the same draw and Walkabout is the second-most outlying location.
           JP and I are planning a series of meetings over the upcoming months, mostly strategy talk. He is still the only American I know that does not like or drink coffee. Yet he can tell excellent brews from the rest just as well as I. This has the odd effect that he does not mind bad coffee. He’ll drink robusta (diner swill). He used to use his coffee grounds twice. Over ten years, I’ve failed to get him to drink only the best, and I’m buying. Few things I like better than a coffee with my meal, not afterward.
           How about that liner that hit the Italian sea coast? Word is the captain was one of the first to abandon ship. Sounds ex-military. Would you say his behavior is hard to fathom? I’ll call him Capt. Crunch. How does a modern ship hit a stationary object? Isn’t there a GPS to keep track of dangerous waters? What do you suppose was really going on? Insurance scam comes to mind.
           I’ll tell you who I think should go down with the ship. I don’t like Betty White. I have considered her acting ability, her experience, and her career, so don’t lecture me when I say she should step down and let someone young and pretty take over. Thirty years ago. Like Ted Knight, these are has-been leftovers that were never very funny in the first place. Your opinion may differ, but that is mine. I also do not think Bob Newhart and that Drew Carey fatboy are funny either, though I completely understand why people like my brothers think they are hilarious. There, there, really, I do understand.
           Well, I’m all over the place today so I’ll sign off.

January 15, 2012

2012-01-15T14:38:00.004-05:00

           Here’s a snap from morning rehearsal. A successful rehearsal, too. Trent, the new guy, is putting in the focused time required for this project. Focused means going beyond the strictly musical and incorporating the countless aspects of performance. We are past the point where so many others begin to consider practice as work. Trent reports the sessions are fun. Here’s him strumming his Gibson flat top. We have chosen five tunes to concentrate on, including that new favorite, “Like My Dog”.
           As Trent has no qualms about applying the principles of duo arrangement, I have more freedom with the bass lines. Other guitarists would be complaining like hell by now. We have already managed some “original covers”. That sounds contradictory for how could a cover be original? Easy--when two different instruments are coordinated in a way to emulate the full band. The sound is superior to duos which are (and sound) like guitars in unison instead of harmony.
           Even a disappointing bingo these days is enough to make for a great Sunday. It dropped to the 40s last evening, cold enough to turn the scooter round trip to Jimbos into the Iditarod. I drank one soda and could feel it chill me through. There are no hot drinks at that club.
           In my spare time (ha-ha), I’ve been watching the exchange rates. As we know the US is printing dollars to pay the bills. This surprises nobody who has taken a basic course in monetary supply. The politicians are banking on kick-starting the economy back to the level where taxation can support their entitlement programs. Like many, I doubt that will ever happen. Inflation will follow, and that is not a guess since we have passed the point of no return. The junk dollars are already out there.
           Thus, one should hold at least some foreign currency, not to be confused with currency trading. The top recommendation appears to be Australian money, but the one I am most familiar with is the Canadian dollar. I have a sixth sense what that will do next, plus I can do the conversions instantly in my head and I am familiar with the five year lag time in its behavior. I would not be surprised to see the Looney heading for $2 USD within the year.
           I was in Venezuela when the Bolivar fell in half. Locally, it makes no difference as prices don’t change instantly. But my reserve in then-healthy US dollars doubled my net worth and I took the entire hotel staff to Xmas dinner at the fanciest place in town. By taxi. The point is I have personally experienced what it is like to have my wealth soar overnight. Don’t pay any attention to those who only dream and talk about such things, you have to be there yourself. I’ll explain once more why I say that.
           It’s something easy to experience, difficult to understand. The problem or blessing, depending on your situation, is that money does not behave linearly. That is, making twice as much does not necessarily make you twice as happy. Rather, there is a point below which lies misery, above which is abundance. For myself, that point is quite a low. History speaks for itself: as soon as I surpass it, that’s my Cadillac in the parking lot next to the boss’s second-hand Volkswagen.
           Put another way, it does not matter if you make double the money if all you do is pay bills with it. Myself, as soon as I’m above water, every penny I make is either enjoyed or invested—and I’m above water at around $620 per month. For the record, I have noticed a characteristic behavior in the types who need a thousand or more a month to get by. They tend to believe that every one of their personal problems has a political solution. That is, they are constantly including and blaming others who would rather be left alone. In difficult times, I reach for my guitar; they reach for their telephone. Now that I mention it, you may have noticed that as well.
           Last, it seems Big Jim may have been asking around for me the last few days. I wonder what’s up? The word is he quit his fancy job and now plays only music. Just you figure out which was one of the three phone numbers lost when my cell phone was stolen last year? Rumor is he walked in asking for me, so he must live right near by. Last I heard he was doing a strum along Karaoke. Where do you suppose he got an idea like that?

January 14, 2012

2012-01-14T12:48:00.003-05:00

           This is a French Army Knife. More of this humor at Stuff of Awesome . It’s like Imgur but has its own comments. The level of content is high enough to discourage the Reddit masses, so take a look.
           Folks, folks, this blog is to get you thinking, not to supply anyone with ready-made opinions. The college bubble is nothing new, if you read back far enough you will see I was on to that swindle after my first visit to Broward Community back in 2001. That outfit that tried to insult me up into a $16,000 program when I responded to a $39 ad for a digital camera course. It goes nowhere for you to agree or disagree with me.
           I’m not a research scientist. My stand on excessive student loans and the decline of academic standards is a fact. It may be the only fact I can support though I largely claim the jobs I’ve had required a college degree to get hired. Those days are gone though that hiring policy remains. Those who are interested may note that yes, in a half a career, I did earn a half-million more than the dropouts.
           Gone, all of it, the time, the career, and the money. I suggest the majority of those who think they are doing okay because they handled their affairs better than I did, or were smarter than I was, are living in some form of dream land. Adults report feeling like geezers in a room of computer brainiacs when they returned to college. I didn’t get that, in many cases I was appalled by the educational backwardness of my classmates. It was as if the high school courses all stayed outdated while the exam questions got easier.
           “Connections”. That was the name of the club I used to stop in on the way home from work. It was smarter and cheaper to pop in for a beer than drive rush hour in that insane place. The establishment had a policy that the winner of the trivia game got a drink on the house. The locals were so damn stupid, I drank there free for five years.
           An interesting perspective is that Wallace was there to see me win. Not some games; every game that I played. Yet, he seems to have forgotten how easily I would regularly trounce entire teams and banks of his countrymen (including him and his wife). He doesn’t remember how I would win by eight and ten thousand points, year after year. He never learned that consistent good performance never happens by accident. Tonight I found a local place that does trivia on Wednesdays. I got five bucks says Wallace won’t be there.
           If you want something to chew on, check the National Inflation Association. That’s where I linked for the college video last day because I found it interesting. Well, NIA is the prophet of doom for hyperinflation. They take the extreme position on the economy, they predict riots where I predict the loss of privacy has made riots too risky for most people. There may be disturbances, but for riots to succeed, you need anonymity. And that no longer exists like it did in the 60s. (Read NIA to see how middle-of-the-road I am, and also because they do get the facts right, if not the interpretation.)
           Ray-B called, he’s got a break until past the weekend. He reports buying a used truck, careful don’t tell anybody who might want to borrow it. Charge them $50 a day plus mileage. We talked about gold and how the less than intellectually fortunate have trouble understanding how one makes money with it. You don’t, you hold value while the dollar drops, which is takes time. Gold hit $850 per ounce in 1985 which, adjusted for creeping inflation, is around $5,000 today. I remember that.
           Next, I rode the ebike to the beach. I met up with Johnny D playing at Riptide. We had a most interesting conversation concerning the music situation in Florida. It’s agreed, the main problem is that everybody wants to be the star. I saw the Hippie up to his old tricks at Jake’s (formerly HWB). He’s still got that backward custom of not playing when there’s no customers. He can’t figure out maybe there’s no customers because there’s no music.
           Here’s a side effect I missed, but should have foreseen. Some cities are cracking down on yard sales and blog publishing in the sense of demanding a license. Tax revenues are down, so the cities are desperate for new sources of money. It’s natural they would turn to the easiest form of abuse—records collected over the past thirty years on idiots who had nothing to hide. Thanks to that bunch, the authorities have complete systems in place that can be used to monitor private activities down to the penny.
           What’s scary is the bill that requires a 1099 where a buyer pays more than $600 in cash. That would record the sale of every ounce of gold. The law is already in effect, it just isn’t enforced. These ridiculous laws criminalize ordinary people and always have the opposite effect of their intentions. So you know, the information and photos would be collected and stored by the police, not the tax department.
           I see the big picture, how the system is deliberately sealing up all the avenues that new retirees might use to supplement their income. That huge middle class with their worthless savings bonds and shrinking home equity is still the last juicy target and the strategy to milk them is good old inflation. Remember Germany in 1922? When the government pulls a fast one, it takes several years for prices to go up, far beyond the attention or memory span of Joe Househusband farting around on his zero-turn Lawn-Boy.

January 13, 2012

2012-01-13T08:43:00.002-05:00

           This morning I received the news that JP’s dad has passed away. He was 93.

January 12, 2012

2012-01-12T08:34:00.000-05:00

           I’ve been reading jimmyr, TIL about Aurora Trust. I’m more curious about their equipment than their work. I looked up the specs on their sonar. It is built in New Hampshire by Klein, yet another US company that doesn’t like to put price tags on their products. The device is the 3900 side scan which can penetrate silt on the sea floor, revealing otherwise invisible shipwrecks. A tethered camera is then lowered to promising sites.
           Here is a sample view from their web page, showing some grisly results. There is no truth to the rumor they donated a unit to Newfoundland to locate the last remaining cod fish in the Grand Banks. Aurora is listed as a non-profit, but that could easily mean they swiftly divide up any treasure as dividend payments.
I watched a documentary on film-making in New York, a town that has never fascinated me in the first place. But Woody Allen? The guy gets an award for filming Manhattan in black and white instead of color? Most of his material, I can’t stay awake, or follow the plot, unless the plot is always about some spastic actor who pays young actresses to like him. It is too evident to me that he writes his own material. Then again, so do I. So where’s my actress?
           Next is one of my study entries. That’s something giving me a hard time that I like to record, then come back years later to see what the confusion was all about. In this case, it is clocking, the internal signal used by ICs (integrated circuits) to time data signals. It seems to be crucially important but I can’t find a single source that tells me how it works or how to employ it. They only describe what it is, which I already know.
           In fact, I built a timer circuit that outputs an off-on signal (changes analog input to digital output). But all it does is flash an LED. When I connect it to a counter or timing IC, nothing responds. Once again, to all you great and wonderful electronics authors out there, thanks for nothing.
           That reminds me of Caracas 1992. There was a 24-hour movie theater near Bellas Artes and I am a Schwarzenegger fan. Back then, I could only speak tourist Spanish so I was asking what time the next movie started. The only word I knew for time was “tiempo”, which translates to, “How long is the movie?”
           There were seven polite and well-dressed staff at the theater, all saying “90 minutes”. I drew diagrams, I pointed to people exiting, I tried every variation of the question I could think of (about 30 tries). Between the lot of them, they could not figure out what I wanted. Oh, they knew they were giving me the wrong answer, but kept on giving the same answer no matter how I asked the question. That’s the best analogy I can think of to describe the thick fog of miscommunication that comes over bad authors the moment they get into electronics.
           Here is a shot of a Metro station in Caracas, incalculably ahead of anything in Florida. But then again, Caracas is a progressive place. This station is likely an outlying area as downtown the line is underground in luxurious air-conditioned plazas. Normally I would expect to see swarms of people in the picture. The Mercedez-built cars move incredibly smooth and quiet. My hotel is a four minute walk from Plaza Venezuela . While Caracas is the murder capital of the world, those crimes are concentrated in the ranchitos, not the city core like you get in the USA.

January 11, 2012

2012-01-11T09:07:00.005-05:00

           I’m tired. I thought, why wait until Spring, I’ll do all the windows because it is such a nice day. That was a workout, that and riding the electric bike downtown to find the electrical problem. It was the battery not seating right on the connecting rods. So while there, I sunk $40 into a tuneup. Ebikes are not cheap and have to be well-maintained, particularly the brakes which experience harder demands. So that’s 10% of the purchase price sunk for a vehicle just over six months old.
           Here’s the ebike chained to the scooter. The generally better condition of both vehicles is becoming evident as shown here. It isn’t increased vigilance on my part, but rather the foreknowledge that these are not expensive or rugged, so keep them up or be walking. I have to smile when I think of where these vehicles would be if they were back on the farm. Trust me, my family did not believe in preventative maintenance.
           While downtown I had coffee at the place that took over the Rainbo Café. It’s alright, the staff is very Polish. It’s evident to me when other cultures arrive in America, they see the restaurant industry as easy picking. But I sure miss a good old diner with stools at the counter where you could grab a quick coffee. Even Denny’s has changed and I wasn’t ready for that.
           Last evening, we got through the dreaded fourth practice. It’s a band-killer if you don’t make it past that rehearsal. Let’s glance at the recent past. Only six out of twenty-two try-outs made it that far, and of those, only three made it to stage. It is, for unknown reasons, a difficult barrier. It isn’t due to the amount of new material, it seems more based on how long it takes for musicians to disagree on something. Anyway, we got through it and things get easier for a while.
           Did you catch that item about the nuclear scientist killed by a car bomb in Iran? That was no ordinary bomb. It was a shaped charge affixed to the door by magnets. The blast is small, it kills by spalling. That’s when a small hole is punched through the door metal, causing shards to act like shrapnel. It otherwise makes no outside flash and has a quiet report. Suffice to conclude that bomb was not made in a cave.
           The scooter mileage has dropped 25%. My guess is the Chinese carburetors eventually show they don’t like ethanol. My mpg is now around 62, but that’s a real number, not Honda advertising. Coming back along Taft, one of those ForTwo Smart cars pulled up alongside. It was only a few inches longer than the scooter. They claim 38 mpg, causing people to forget it costs the full amount to register and insure a car. When the true cost is tallied, it costs 11 times more to drive a car the same mile as my scooter. That’s 55 cents versus 5 cents.
           I then met a new fellow, DaveG who has hair glued on his scalp. I did not know they did that. It was his own hair, so it looked real enough. Until he tried to run a comb through it. This is news to me, give me time to investigate it. He’s a regular at the coffee shop. There’s another new lady, she reads the coupon sections of the newspapers discard by others. Kind of sad to see.
           Today’s paper also had Dear Abby pointing out that pornography gives men “an unrealistic expectation of how regular, normal women look and act.” Now, just a gol-darn minute there, Abby. Show me somebody who fantasizes about regular, normal sex and while you are at it, don’t you have a few words for regular, normal women who have unrealistic expectations in men? Or have you even noticed? Or is Abby being unfair to men who can’t stand regular, normal women because they bore him half to death? Er, or so I’ve heard.
           She also states that addiction is behavior that is compulsive and out of control. My word! I’m addicted to music and half my other hobbies. It’s true, I will often not eat or sleep until I finish a project. This raises enormous questions. Is being regular and normal always a desirable thing when one is capable of better? Do we quash hope in the human breast? Are those who excel candidates for ostracism? Fear not, regular, normal women. Finish those bonbons and do your nails. Dear Abby will go to bat for you.
           Face it, I’m no champion of the ho-hums in this world.

January 10, 2012

2012-01-10T08:51:00.003-05:00

           Cool, a black light picture. Well, not so cool. This is the DNA spray being marketed to prevent theft. The spray uses combinations of 60 DNA particles, meaning every person and business on earth could have a unique can of the stuff. The concept is a robber would be blasted as he exits the building, and the DNA remains on skin up to two weeks. The problem is, like fingerprints, it is only a matter of time before it is used for general record-keeping and the loss of privacy that goes with that.
           The government wants to send you back to college. Retraining for a jobs that were shipped to China five years ago. Bring back manufacturing to America, they say. My eye. Our plant and equipment is tooled up for the wrong century. The answer is not to teach people new skills, it was to keep current all along for the past 40 years. But life was too good to be sitting in evening class.
           I objected to the term part-time student when I was working. If you have a full time job, taking evening courses is not at all the same as somebody studying at a leisurely pace. There have only been around sixteen years since birth that I have not been in school at some point during that year. And most of those involved private study, like the electronics I’m exploring these days. How does the government expect people who haven’t read a text in thirty years to change their occupations? You don’t need a new job, you need a new government.
           It costs $7.20 to run a fan all month. I know because I accidentally left the shed fan on for 31 days. That’s slightly less than 1 cent per hour. That’s a big 20” room-size oscillating fan. Remind me to build an automatic shut off, or I won’t be able to afford lunch with the Dalai Lama. The only reason I didn’t go to Naples last week was the freezing weather.
           One of the top rated products of 2011 is the Coleman Instant Tent. I originally potholed it because it was clear from the instructions that it required two people to set it up. That’s cheating. Today, I saw a youTube of a guy do it by himself in less than two minutes, albeit on a perfectly calm day. That’s the smaller 6 person tent, not the 8 person model. Equally important, he was also able to take it down in the same time frame. Reviews, however, report the tent is not waterproof. That makes it not a tent.
           Most unusual product is this tent of bricks. The English maker, Design Boom, is worth a look.
           Germany is again moving to a dominant position in Europe over this whole Euro fiasco. It’s glossed over by all the negotiating, but the fact remains Germany has a better system and Germany’s recurring resurgence is furthered by the fundamental political ineptitude of their neighbors who haven’t learned a damn thing in one thousand years. The only real competition is France and England for whom the only hope is sending their politicians au poteau (to the firing squad).
           That’s the limit of my political recommendations. I don’t understand all these US primaries and colleges, I’d rather watch rodeo clowns. But I see Ron Paul is gaining as the voice of reason and I honestly hope he trounces the grinning gorillas. His critics say his game plans, such as canceling entire government departments, is a cure worse than the sickness—but I’m perfectly willing to let him do it. Goodbye departments of Education, Homeland Security, FEMA, IRS, and Health. One intriguing item is that he would prevent judges from “instructing” the jury during a trial. Have they been abusing this privilege?
           What’s this? More bombers? We’re stuck with this until America becomes equal, in that when a Martian bombs, we ban all Martians. Banning only some of them doesn’t work, since the problem can only be cured by themselves. One hypocrisy I note is that Islamic terrorists say we interfere with their internal politics and religion. Aren’t there about twenty countries Moslem today because of fire and sword? I’m just askin’.

January 9, 2012

2012-01-09T19:20:00.003-05:00

           It took me long enough but the scooter now has a reliable tail light. The plastic flange broke replacing the first burnt out bulb, now it rattles slightly and eats more bulbs. You are looking for the LED red (550nm) light at the bottom, it stays lit all the time the ignition is on, as the old one used to fool me. The fine for no light is $273.00, so it was worth it, plus I installed a small harness to accommodate a license plate light and side markers instead of reflectors.
           Don’t let anybody who did too much acid in the 60s read the following. It still gets dark early, so at 6:15 PM I reached up to turn on the overhead in the Florida room. Just as I pulled the chain, a police car on the street hit his siren and at the same instant, all the street lights in the neighborhood came on. It was like my pull-chain lit up the streets and set off the siren. As they used to say, “Freaky”.
           I’m placing a large order with California tomorrow, supplies to last a year, but only at the rate things are going. Music is already taking a bigger chunk, which I totally do not mind. Trent, the new guy, showed up in a Prius, the hybrid electric car. Chevy is recalling their electric car, the Volt, after tests showed the thing likes to catch fire when broadsided. More technically, the lithium battery is surrounded by a coolant that leaked and that’s what burns.
           I’ve never been in a Prius. Anyway, with Trent getting the guitar parts underway, I can ease up on my own strumming lessons. But don’t worry, going solo is still very much my backup plan. What happened was I reached a plateau where some of the music I strummed was not of very good quality, I’m just not advanced enough yet. But switching back to bass brings all the tunes up to speed. Eddie says my bass style of doing fills is called stacking. I disagree.
           Stacking is a recording technique used a lot in studio vocals, but otherwise I don’t know much about it. What I’m doing is something different that involves playing the melody or fill of some other instrument where that action does not detract from the bass line of the original. As an example, I end “These Boots” by playing the saxophone and horn notes on the bass. In “Long-Haired Country Boy”, I play a harmonic bend that emulates the steel guitar. So Eddie, it’s not stacking. It’s talent.
           Because these are often passing notes in piano style, it gives the bass line a “question-answer” effect between vocal parts. I also developed a knack for jazzing up refrains, such as in “Hey, Good Lookin’”. It gives ancient tunes a new lease. We do an entire tune already where I play the lead on the bass, “Tennessee Flat Top Box”. It works because my guitarist is willing to strum and leave it at that. Another few tunes like that, and my theory will be vindicated: get rid of your lead guitarist the instant he tries to dictate his own musical direction. A real guitarist knows his place.
           Actually, Eddie and I were arguing about that. He says it is wrong, I say if it sounds good it isn’t wrong. He says I want it that way so I can be the star, I admit to purposely preventing any guitarist from dominating the sound. I would not have to do that if the local guitarists were anywhere near as good as they think they are. Eddie, and around half the 17 guitarists I’ve fired, still have the mindset that only a singer or guitarist can be headliner. I say there is no such rule and if there was, I’d break it.
           Put another way, if you can tell what band is playing by listening to the guitar player, then I don’t want him on my stage. He isn’t versatile enough. This does not automatically promote me or anyone else to being the star, it merely puts a clamp on the attitude that my band is there to support the guitarist. No, the guitarist is there to support my band. I fully understand how this insults their massive egos.
           This also partially explains why there are no country bands in the area. If you notice, very few country bands feature a guitarist. The star is usually some pretty boy using a guitar for a prop. Plus, with fiddlers and steel, the country spotlight is far too wide for the local heroes. The Florida guitar gods will cling with bloody fingernails to rock and blues till their dying day before they’ll share a stage. There, that’s enough music for today.

January 8, 2012

2012-01-08T10:17:00.003-05:00

           Let’s talk money, he says, basking in the warm glow of the 13th most successful bingo yet. Not really money talk, but a theory I’ve been kicking around. You know how the authorities say people should keep three months income in reserve? That is ridiculous, considering that irresponsible people will always spend to the limit. Thus, that cash would be gobbled up paying pre-existing bills instead of as emergency funds.
           At the other extreme, there are those who live within their means. (Do you know of anyone like that?) What happens is the strange effect whereby, once things are properly tended, it creates a decreased need for cash. That’s my theory, but I don’t know what to call it. Imagine everything was paid for, including funeral plans, hobbies, vehicles, retirement, travel fund, you name it. The need for cash diminishes. Why keep any more than a couple hundred bucks on hand? If anything goes wrong, you can always cancel the funeral.
           Seven bicycles disappeared last night in the subdivision over toward Dixie. The security cameras recorded them all, but by the time the police rounded up the perps, the bicycles were long gone. Mine has two locks, is under two lights and a security camera, so I’m okay, but still, today I get another krypton lock to slow them down.
           An early morning practice pays off, as I said it would if I ever found a guitarist who would listen to what I say without arguing. The new guy did. Simple as that, by our third session, we’ve played 13 tunes. That’s right, we can now play songs without learning them. Just follow the bass and we can cover a new tune in minutes, not hours. I was right—100% right and now I’ve met a guitarist willing to try.
           He is still inexperienced with keeping the beat, often called getting lost in the groove. I donated a pair of drumsticks so assist him in memorizing the beat that he is to duplicate in each instance. By paying attention to subtle variations, I’ve arranged most tunes to create the impression that more than three instruments are playing. That, peeps, is the competitive advantage I’ve been seeking for years as we take dead aim against the glut of solo guitarists in this town.
           I examined, built, and closely studied several capacitor-resistor circuits over the previous few days. I’m not too pleased with the textbooks I’ve read because each of them leaves out very important details and stuff you simply have to know. Like the LED fading off while the capacitor is still 70% charged up. And how the capacitor must be separately grounded. No, you pack of bozo authors, it is not enough to include a diagram. This kind of detail has to be pointed out and described. Fortunately, I documented everything.
           Talk about your perfect winter day. I stayed home by choice except for an afternoon coffee and the Sunday crossword. It was Burger King, the last place in town with a restaurant atmosphere. I don’t bother going to other places except the bookstore. I don’t know what it is, but every other coffee place in this town does something wrong. Dunkin’ Donuts is okay, but no place to lock your bicycle. Panera can have five minute lineups as their cashiers have to toast bagels. The rest, including Denny’s, don’t serve coffee right any more.
           What’s not right about serving coffee? Plenty. Try making me wait to be shown to the counter. Then plop a food menu without being asked and disappear for five minutes. Don’t ask what the customer wants, ask if you can take his “food” order with your pad in hand. If he only has coffee, bring the refill around when you feel like it and make yourself scarce otherwise. Ask every five minutes if he’s ready to order his food now, even if you interrupt him from reading a book. Generally, be a total asshole about serving coffee. You know who you are.
           And I don’t care for that AARP commercial about life insurance, the one that says you only have to answer a few questions. Try it. Those few questions are not about your health, they are the information needed to snoop into every area of your life and day of your past. It goes far beyond what is needed to issue a policy. Something over there stinks.
           Last, you can often tell the quality of a publication by the products in its advertising. For instance, Lexus and De Beers don’t flog anything in the National Enquirer. Because I look for electronic components, my web pages are flanked by ads for student loans to return to school. What exactly is it they are assuming?

January 7, 2012

2012-01-07T10:00:00.002-05:00

           Here’s something novel, a tall but isolated palm tree. This specimen is around a third taller than normal for Florida. When viewing palms in their native South Pacific, the inquisitive mind observes trees of uniform height and concludes this may be a survival strategy. Trees in a grove would form mutual windbreaks during storms. Anyway, that’s what I always thought. One day when the shadow permits, I may triangulate the height of this tree. My eyeball says 48 to 50 feet. (The tallest palms are Columbian wax palms, at 200 feet, but as palms such trees are a local anomaly.)
           Internet – the new American wasteland. Question. Why is it all songs with a theme about the “power of love” have a big horn section? Could it be bass and guitar alone can’t get the message across? That’s today’s first world problem. That, and the dipshits who post slideshows with their crappy music on youTube. But you can’t expect a moron to understand a slideshow isn’t a movie. Or those men with small pee-pees who put rock music behind military videos. “Yeah, yeah, bang, bang.”
           My Ampeg is acting up, some kind of grounding short I can’t find. Ampeg is from Washington, over near Bothell where Marion used to live. I like their amps, but not their policy of keeping their prices a secret. The secret price of the BA-112 is $225.00, but with some retailers selling the same unit for $379.00, now you know why they clam up. One thing I can’t stand is a sales ape doing his spunt dance.
           I’m still looking for a friendly open mic in the area. The Sand Bar on Sunrise is plugging their Thursday show, but it doesn’t start until 9:00 PM. Friendly means 7:30, not because I’m old, but because the roadways between there and here are limited and heavily patrolled after dark. You don’t drive a scooter down 17th at midnight with a guitar strapped on your back. It’s nice to know Broward has solved all their cold cases and have plenty of patrolmen left over to keep their streets safe from itinerant country musicians. But, being patrolmen, not from Elvis impersonators.
           The 2011 stats are filtering in. I am already doing better than “average” for retirement income. Should I actually retire early, I would be doing twice that. But this tells you little, as there are so many different averages out there, ranging from $10,040 per year (ouch) to $60,000 per year (more wagyu, Guv’nor?). Federal minimum wage works out to $15,080 annually. One glaring omission is that these statistics only include those people who have a retirement income. Those who have nothing, up to one in three North Americans, don’t count. Or put another way, count for the same as they always did.
           Interesting to me, the average net worth of new retirees is $96,000. That amount is known as “not near enough”. I used to spend that much traveling every year. And wagyu is Japanese beef made from cows that, like some American divorcees, get daily massages. Except the cows are better-looking.
           Do you read Dear Abby? Of all the euphemisms for “deadbeat” I’ve heard, there was an instant classic in today’s column. Quoting the relevant clause, [the loser] “depends on the outside world to make him feel good about himself”. Gag me with a spoon, but let me shake that author’s hand! Eloquent, fantastic words from Laguna Hills, CA. The closest my mother ever came up with was that my brother was “between jobs”. That kind of talk seriously almost brings a tear to my eye.

January 6, 2012

2012-01-06T12:34:00.005-05:00

           Today’s intro is for stupid people. Most of us can skip ahead two paragraphs, but at the end, I'll give a quiz for the stupid. One learns lots of things from really stupid people. I said things, not right things. For instance, if you snoop deep enough, you can always uncover conspiracy in your very own neighborhood. Did you know those folks up the road that hate you are continually plotting treachery? They can be foiled only by your superb observational-deductional skills. That’s the true reason they don’t like you, you know.
           Take this Bat Bus. Painted black, all the windows blacked out, and it’s been cruising the neighborhood for a week now. They park in the empty spot by the office, try to perceive how long this rig really is, a quarter again as long as my place. Three rooftop A/Cs. According to the office, they drive the whole thing to go buy a loaf of bread. This could keep the gossip-mongers on overtime for months.
           To make the day a hit, I got a call out to the doggie wig place. The situation is normal, the computer barely works because the high staff turnover makes sure there are too many cooks. Despite a warning sign, “Do Not Install Windows Vista On This Computer”, well, some people can’t read. The problem is the new hires are system specific. They don’t possess the intelligence or education to work anything but the one single application they’ve been taught.
           So, they have to install Vista to get any work done. XP and Vista are superficially different, but that difference is the location and performance of command buttons. This is the sort of wicked market trick that I hope brings MS tumbling down. Speaking of crumbling empires, Greenspan finally said what I did thirty years ago—don’t let people go on welfare when times are good. When your turn comes, they’ll outnumber you.
           That’s what’s happening. I grew up around wimps who called every protester against welfare a redneck. Wimps who were desperate to put on a false face of being kind and civic-minded. Fakes. Well, now you got 30 million people on the dole, cutely called “entitlements” and a shrinking workforce to support them. Oh, and illegal alien labor is not going to undermine the economy, it has already done so. If you don’t believe it, go out and try to find a part time job. There are already 40 million illegals living full time off those jobs.
           There is nothing odd about Greenspan taking so long to fess up. Politicians have been buying the welfare vote since day one. They essentially planted a crop of the able-bodied who after a few generations consider welfare a birthright. Can’t get a job? Get pregnant instead. No drug test necessary. An oft-quoted statistic is that there are more white people (11.6 million) on welfare than black people (11.3 million). But blacks are only what, 12% of the population?
           I’d say the era of feel-good handouts is about over. It will now have to collapse instead of fade out. I thought about that while soldering the wiring on my electric bass, repairing my computer, and getting ready to replace the front scooter tire. How are those people going to survive without free money? Free rent? Free cell phones? Free day care? And I’m quite content to let those who never spoke up go down the tubes with them. Serves ‘em right.
           Trivia. Your GPS car transponder is the result of an airline tragedy. In 1983, the Soviets shot down a Korean 747 that strayed into restricted airspace. (It is likely the arrogant Korean pilot refused to acknowledge repeated warnings.) Then-President Reagan authorized civilian usage of the military GPS system. In airline talk, the destruction of an airplane in which occupants “intended to fly” is referred to as a “hull loss incident”. And you thought Greenspan was cute.
           Quiz. Is the Bat Bus full of nefarious terrorists? Nope, it's a family with a couple kids around 8 years old. Tinted windows are a norm in Florida, there is nothing unusual about this rig at all. Except in very weak minds.

January 5, 2012

2012-01-05T12:26:00.001-05:00

           Few activities demonstrate the shallowness of the Internet more than trying to find specific, detailed knowledge. Lack of a moderator is the reason I quit reading encyclopedias so long ago. They all contained the same trite information, “a giraffe has a long neck”. The few advanced articles were incomprehensible to the casual reader.            Today, I tried to find a repair video on my toilet fill valve, shown here brand Hunter Siphon. Nowhere on the Internet does this particular device exist where I can find it. I will replace the entire unit with something more familiar.
           Some technical trivia. When you read an electronic number, say one that displays 543.21, the meter isn’t really showing the value of five hundred forty three dot two one. Turns out the LED displays don’t know from numbers. The display is not a value, just a collection of lights, and it could be changed to display anything the programmer wants. That’s because the lights are controlled by an IC. Some ICs can count, but again, the display isn’t caused by a value, just a set of transistors. So how do numeric displays work at all?
           It’s called modular arithmetic. Using persistence of vision (POV), the chip isolates the digits of the real number, say the 3, and displays it on the middle LED. Your eye sees all the LEDs flashing so fast your mind says you are seeing a steady number. This principle isolates the underlying value from the displayed value, and that is the premise of my drum machine. What is displayed does not have to be related to what is happening.
           Aside to electronic neophytes: when you see LoL on electronics, it doesn’t mean the same as on the chat lines. LoL means a matrix of light emitting diodes, that is, “Lots of Lites”. And adafruit is pronounced “AID-uh-froot”. The Maker site now features several robots identical to designs I independently imagined eight months ago, but never had the money to build. Even basic robots cost a lot of money. But at least I had the ideas before the money people did!
           Here’s a Plymouth with a nice paint job but a terrible restoral job. I still like old cars. They had a better feel to them and most have functional back seats. My guess is this is a ’48 or ’49, but styles didn’t change much in the 40s so you tell me. This unit has the barest of interiors, including no radio, which was an option. My first car was a new 1974 Ford Maverick. Long trips for the next ten years were the only time I listened to any radio at all.
           Let me look back on my records for the longest solo car trip (overnight sleep only) in my life. I made six trips from Sedro Wooley, WA to Long Beach, CA, the longest was 1,250 miles because of a small side trip to Shasta. Nope, the longest trip was from Pt. Roberts, WA, to Miami, FL, with one major stop. That trip was 3,866 miles in one week in a fully equipped Cadillac. If I could drive, I’d do it again in a wink.
           Flying nonstop, my longest flight was eastbound from Don Mueang to Oakland, a leg of 8,002 miles. I believe we were in the air 19 hours, diverted from SeaTac due to weather. You can have San Francisco, I really don’t care for that place. I see there are no longer direct flights to Thailand from the US west coast. Pity, that. In my day, the fare was around $900 - $1100 return.
           Now, the question on everybody’s lips. How did the second guitar practice go? Fine, it went fine. The guy is dedicated, showing up after a 12 hour shift at his office. We covered music theory and applied it to practice with instant results, which proves he's a worker, not a wise guy. He’s smarter than your average bear like reporting “These Boots” is fun to play. Yes, it is. Some music turns out that way if you are doing it right.

January 4, 2012

2012-01-04T10:21:00.000-05:00

           Let’s not forget real estate, mainly because I still want some. The west coast, as Naples is known in Florida, is tempting. I’m only looking, since the bustle on the Atlantic side isn’t doing anybody good financially, despite the claims of an upswing. I know exactly how to shop for mobile homes now and the pad rental in Ft. Meyers is only $250 per month, meaning I could afford the building and a new car. But I’ll wait until things get worse for the masses, and better for me.
           At the other extreme, here is a picture of what I could buy outright, including the land, for payments of $295 per month. Yes, that is waterfront property. But why rush? In a year I’ll have the cash. It is still amazing to see the condos and houses people are flogging for $200K+. Or the mobile home locations that want $700 per month pad rental. They must be waiting for some northerner sucker to sell out and move here.
           Checking in on my dating site, I got the disappointment expected. There are no professionals there, so their advertising lied. A few women say they are students, but avoid saying at what. I carefully watch the profiles and most of the men are liars, which tells me a lot about the women. For the last two months, I silently examined the profiles of the women who viewed mine.
           Face it, guys. Women go weird after a certain age, and call it “maturity”. None of them are going to get what they are looking for because men with what they want aren’t about to put up with such nonsense. When I want something, I have to sacrifice something else. Older women don’t seem to have figured this out. How will they find a good man if they find being a good woman feels degrading or stifling? The mystery of life.
           But that’s where my new band will fill in the blanks. The best thing about country music is the women in the crowd, and foundation garments don’t fool me. Trent, the new guitar guy, is putting in the time though it is too early to say whether its due to motivation (good) or momentum (not so good). There’s always that tightrope between enough rehearsal and getting out there fast as possible.
           I’ve added “Like My Dog” to the list, though I can’t emulate Currington’s fake Texas accent. Now we have something modern on the list. Good music and good women get harder to find over the years. On stage, I often make indirect references to being single, the social equivalent of walk softly but carry a big stick. I know it’s a matter time, but it has been 12 years since I found a decent woman. Like a heroine addict, the only cure I know is to get back on that stage.
           It’s the old tale, I grew up around music and never had to work at a relationship. That’s a good thing. I chose women for looks and was rarely disappointed. I find young women with natural sexiness are simply far better adjusted than the ones who pile on the makeup and padding. The most common reason women left me was that I was not possessive. Things often went well for years, but as they “matured” they did not understand how I could love them without being possessive. Do older women need to feel indispensable? If so, that is really too bad for most them. I said most.
           Yet I now realize so many of them had the qualities I didn’t appreciate as a youth but now crave so badly. I got spoiled. I’ve exclusively known women who were self-supportive, talented, who had their own job and car. Most had a career. Now that I desperately want such a woman, I can’t find any. And I’ve got $1,000 cash for the genius who can point to a venue I have not looked. Not say it, but point to it, so nobody be running off at the mouth.
           No names, but here’s a true mini-crime story. Seems this guy we know occasionally attaches a bag of garbage to a bait hook when nobody’s looking. Visibly shaken he reports last time just as it went over the side, a mouth came out of the water and swallowed the bag whole. So fast it “yanked the 80lb line out of my fingers”. While they are used to tuna following the boat, the crew say this was no tuna and weighed an estimated 500 pounds. Littering is a crime, indeed.
           So is that movie about Hamburger Hill, the one where the US keeps charging uphill on a 45 degree slope. Armies haven’t done that since the middle ages. You siege a hill, you don’t attack it. Plus, with air power, hills are just exposed targets. But Hollywood loves a good charge against hopeless odds. The whole movie must be boring, as action catches my eye, that I’ve seen only the tail end of that movie some ten times now.
           But there is no more pitiful show in the world than modern American politics. It starts again with the 2012 “elections”. The grinning insignificant electing the chuckling irresponsible and unaccountable. Even if Ron Paul gets in, his policies will be suffocated by entrenched protoplasmic senatorial and congressional bulk. Voters can no better display their ignorance than by taking that retarded “it’s all we’ve got” or “don’t waste your vote” stance. Send in the clowns.

January 3, 2012

2012-01-03T11:23:00.003-05:00

           This trinket may seem insignificant, but let’s take a closer look. I saw this in Big Lots for $10, a set of acrylic dragonflies that changed color as shown here. The middle unit is turning yellow. This is the same principle as the acrylic ornament mentioned last day, and ties in with what I’m saying about this type of product hitting the market. These are majorly different than what came before, which I’ll proceed to explain.
           While it would be possible to build the same thing with existing parts, it would cost too much. The Shack sells those bulbs, called a RGB LED, for $3.19 apiece. The capacitors and assembly time ensure nobody could sell one, much less all ten, for the price quoted above. The difference is the bulbs are controlled by a microprocessor costing pennies. Exactly like the ones I’ve already programmed. Develop the code and the rest are clones.
           We are quite aware those with both electronics knowledge and an Arduino are moving twice as fast as we can. I saw several products, all of which I could build since they are nothing more than a circuit and some plastic. I even suspect the manufacturer and I have the same Arduino booklet, which favors projects that involve variable resistances. Another product was a plastic flower floated in water. As long as the contacts under the flower sensed water, the bulb inside lit up the flower.
           It’s basic, but leading edge in “newness” and somebody is paying attention to the big picture. The processor may not always be Arduino, but it was Arduino that opened the door to having a computer to do more than sit there and compute. We haven’t heard much on the Arduino here lately simply because it has been pushed to the background. I have already programmed 99% of what it can do but I was already a programmer. I need to learn the electronics the Arduino will control. Then look out. I have few to no qualms about using advantages for personal gain. This is America. First you make your millions, then act Mr. Nice Guy, “Can’t we all just get along?”
           The latest club project is stalled by lack of a laser printer. Nobody wants to shell out for one before we know what we are doing with the etching. It must seem comical that the nine-year-old on Maker is better funded than we are. Sensors and pieces we treat like jewelry, she often wears like jewelry. She likes to tell the viewer all you need is the Arduino and “a few basic tools”. Like, for instance, a hazmat laboratory, machine shop, and bio-hoods. For those who don’t know, that person is Super Awesome Sylvia, entering her precocious second season.
           She is already using the Uno R3, which we don’t have. This Arduino has an SMT model, meaning “surface mount techonology”. The chips are soldered on the surface of the board, rather than pins through holes to the reverse side. It costs only $19. The Arduino kicks American engineers square in the byuu-toks. I can imagine the mounting panic at MIT’s pin-assignment department, “Good God and Bloody ‘ell, Edgeworth, they’ve made the thing user-friendly!”
           [Author’s note: that’s a gag over the non-sensical patterns of input/output pins used on ICs. Each IC must be examined via an accompanying data sheet before usage as there is no logic or consistent layout of pins, even from the same manufacturer. And a wrong voltage will destroy the chip. It is a system worthy of an asylum, not MIT. The Arduino kit is increasing available with break-outs, [which are] chips pre-mounted on small circuit boards which partly alleviates the problem.]
           Say, you know who I ran across? That lady who lived next door to the old place, the one who with the nicer car than Wallace. She’s happy but not doing so well in the health department. We talked for over an hour. Did you know that she’s the one that let me run an electrical cable between the buildings from September 2010 to the day I moved here? Was that sneaky? Maybe, but look who I was dealing with. What? Surely nobody actually thought I went without electricity, that’s not how the world works. Only an idiot underestimates my resources. (That’s why they call them idiots.)

January 2, 2012

2012-01-02T10:25:00.001-05:00

           This is a pick punch. I’ll take two. Smile, the remainder of today’s post is not that cheery, unless you played your cards right for the past twenty years, I mean. Then you can look forward to a decade of freedom while the rest of the country wallows in the pit they’ve dug for themselves. Those who thought bankruptcy was only for screw-ups will be meeting the enemy. Myself, I’m more concerned about the pick punch.
           In the upcoming year, you’ll find, I begin to pay a lot more attention to the state of the country. The boomers are retiring in droves and form the leading edge of those cashing out of the stock market, in turn causing a real collapse. It’s not wisdom on their part, like real estate, some people always escape by sheer luck. What I see is a year of cruel events concerning the smug middle-class who took their ways for granted.
           Why not, they believe, it isn’t evil to live your entire life on mortgages and credit cards as long as this forces others around you to do the same just to survive. That’s the horde I’m talking about. Almost half of them read less than 100 hours per year and if you discount the misleading equity attached to the houses they can’t sell, have a negative net worth. As I’ve said, if the true was out, very few people who’ve slaved their lives away will have anything more to show for it in the end than I do right now.
           No, we are not all in the same leaky boat. If I live another ten years, life will be good. Technically, I could claim that I have not worked since November, 1981. When I get a paycheck, I either travel, get educated, or do some underground investing. (Right now, I do not get a paycheck.) My priorities are a far cry from what happens to the proletarian slugs on payday. If the world does end this December 21, I have regrets, but nothing on the scale of a life wasted chasing fictitious security and keeping up appearances.
           We’ll also see the beginning of a swing in public stances toward what they’ve traditionally hated. Nothing beats personal tragedy later in life to transform middle-class morons into instant hypocrites, except maybe self-interest. Watch them whistle different political tunes when it is their privacy that gets invaded. When they’re the one that needs a stem-cell heart. When their son loses the job because he isn’t queer. When they themselves need food stamps and disability. Just don’t tell them they are too late and the money’s all gone.
           What bubbles will burst this year? Probably the stock market, this time for real. We talked about the fallacy of including accounts receivable as a valuable asset. The medical profession has gone overboard, so there’s a candidate for implosion. I’m tending more to scrutinize oil prices as a bubble and I fear under-funded pension plans, though not for personal reasons.
           Yet, using the same yardstick, I don’t see many upcoming surprises. Barring the big one in Los Angeles, or the terrorists going nuclear, everything good or bad will proceed as predicted. The cracks in our national foundations will enlarge as desperate voters seek bigger chunks of the shrinking pie. But the highest paid employees who still hold high paying jobs in America should get very afraid. They are also the oldest workers, and the rest of the world is taking dead aim on those jobs.
           Now I’m forced by events to follow up my comment on social economics of y’day. The word is that good jobs are the next battleground. The first thing I noticed overseas is that there are no good jobs. Even lawyers in Venezuela drive a taxi when necessary. The Phuket islanders were astounded when I told them what garbage collectors made in Seattle. American industry needs another Edison, or Ford, or another Wright brothers and I fear so much political attitude has been injected into education that the next few generations will dream not of invention, but of get-rich-quick Internet ploys that create zero jobs.
           Boy, did I catch enemy fire by mentioning the book by Michael Moore y’day. So, he’s an offensive dork, but he is a good writer--by my standards, one of which is a consistent view of the world. I’ll have you know he and I share a lot of the same opinions about bureaucrats, politicians, Washington, big business, cable TV, foreign aid, and prescription drug patents. He’s just better informed, because I only react, whereas he lives totally in that community, right smack up to his little credit score.
           A complete review of the 2011 country music shows another slow year of even slower songs. The fastest tempo [billboard] hit, Currington’s “Like My Dog” drags melodically because of the eight-measure ligatures. It’s nothing-years like the last which give rise to third-rate “stars”, right Jackson Five? Not one of the tunes has a truly distinctive theme or hook to it. Was it all produced in the same studio?
           Most tunes, I listened to without clicking download. That’s the equivalent of an insult. I have to commit a certain time to process and learn a song, it is sad when not one gets past the screening, because I frantically need new upbeat tunes. Same with 2010 so I fear that country has, like rock, become formulaic. It is so predictable how each new artist with one hit instantly floods the market with a dozen more. That spells S-O-N-Y.
           Second last, Arduino, the microcontroller of my choice, has been a runaway success in that market last year. It is less pricy and avoids many of the loony steps required to work the competition’s devices. I read, and understood, the spec sheet on the newest revision, the Uno R3, as I’ve already run up against the same limitations (a good thing). You haven’t heard about the Arduino here for a while because Arduino led me to electronics, not the other way around. And we’re catching up fast.
           Nobody’s forgotten how I stated the world was going to see a flurry of Arduino products—and don’t be surprised if some of them are what America needs. But this time, it will be the small operator in charge, like for instance, this toilet paper printer. Ingenious. My own project, the world’s first real drum machine, is drastically more complex and farther into the future.
           Last, I’m following the moon gravity experiment underway at NASA. Gravity has measurable waves, and from what I learned in physics, the effect is instantaneous. Every object in the universe exerts gravity on every other object. The waves may be slow, but the effect travels faster than light. Interesting, that.
           [Author’s note: I believe yet to be invented measuring devices will find that even gravity is not instantaneous, but that it travels 4.18 million times faster than light and has a polarity.]

January 1, 2012

2012-01-01T10:08:00.003-05:00

           Welcome 2012; it is 66 outside and rising. A scooter day if I’ve ever seen one. Is the world’s final year going out with a bang? Or will the media par usual just milk this one dry? Thank goodness the Internet is here to save us all. I got home by 9:00 PM last night and stayed in, my preferred activity for that holiday eve. That habit will only change if I get booked for a gig—and I’m working on that.
           Here’s a concept car on display at Sawgrass Mills. I was out there this morning to visit Books-a-Million. That was a disappointment. Not only have they closed the coffee shop, they’ve taken the same path as Borders in eliminating a wide selection, replaced by volume. Cookbooks, baby books, gift and toy sections. Even the magazine section has fewer topics, but up to forty magazines each on topics like gardening or weight lifting.
           Not one book on electronics and the entire science section seems geared toward shaping attitude instead of providing knowledge. Like books that teach teens how to conduct “scientific” experiments on eliminating racism. There was no Popular Science, Popular Mechanics, Nuts & Volts, or Backwoodsman, although I didn’t check if they were sold out. I stayed an hour but the joint has really gone downhill.
           I am encountering a term often enough to watch for it: “social accounting”, or “social economics”. It is meant to contrast it from classical accounting, the system whereby a nation’s productivity is measured in dollars by formulas and statistics. A book on the topic I have only skimmed is “The Coming Jobs War” and one I have read, “Stupid White Men”, state the new relevance of the problem better than I can. For unknown reasons, I have a feeling what both those books have to say will be coming home to roost in 2012.
           I’ve additionally been seeing referrals to a second “country music” club or pub or location of some kind having opened up in the area. But no data. Is it in Broward? There really is only one country place, the Roundup. And that place is totally focused on alcohol. Beer pong, ladies drink free, champagne bash. Read their ads. I hope the new place is a walk-in, with no cover charge.
           Now for my resolutions, which can be summed up by reaffirming that I am not anything like my family. I do not come from a family of people who are like me. My brothers and sisters are dismally unintelligent and my parents were considerably less than ordinary. My siblings were all struggling B minus students (marks 22 percentage points lower in every academic subject).
           Not one of them ever amounted to anything but working class, although my parents were fairly high union wage earners. They are individually and collectively an uneducated lot, it is said I have, with my MBA, more real education than all of them put together. Other than two weeks annual holidays, none have ever traveled for the sake of adventure and experience.
           They are completely unversed in history and the arts, and you are out of luck for any conversation other than matters of local gossip. Don’t ask for advice or they’ll give. They speak English only, have never written anything, and have ever completed a major project or run any business. None has ever voluntarily read a book for advanced knowledge or for pleasure.
           On important issues, my family and I are complete opposites. I could care less what strangers think (unless that stranger is a sexy blonde single woman). I am indifferent to peer pressure, television, fads, and the opinions of the faceless masses. My family has a blinding obsession with their “reputation” among people they’ve never met, something I can’t explain except that both my parents were that way.
           I never embraced the daily fits of envy and petty jealousy that ruled their lives. This placed us at constant odds, but then I never grew up accepting such behavior as normal. The two types of individuals in my family are those who did the work and those who took the credit. You can decide which is which.
           Furthermore, I highly respect the private property of others, I believe that people, even children, should be paid on an individual basis when they work, and I deem that the only way change people’s minds is through quiet good example. I believe no one deserves respect unless they earn it, I consider stupidity a conscious choice, and I accept that all freedoms are self-limiting.
           I’ve stood by these principles my entire life, so I trust 2012 will see me through another successful year with these very resolutions I made—and kept—so long ago.

December 31, 2011

2011-12-31T08:50:00.000-05:00

           Here is an Imgur (pronounced “Imager”, but who does?) shot of the “1940 Tour de France”. This blog could be shut down if the SOPA law is passed. See, I copied this photo. The old laws said I could not copy it for a profit, the new law says I cannot copy for any reason. Or link to it. The original intention of copyright was the owner of the photo gets all the money. The new intention is to make someone pay every time the photo is reproduced. I think both the photo and the new law are laughing matters.
           This blog is free. And even, if in the future, it draws say, advertising revenue, it clearly my glittering editorial responsible, not the pictures. My photos are stamped and it is enough, should they be reproduced, to be produce adequate returns by advertising my ownership. That would, of course, change, if one of my photos was used by itself to make a lot of cash. But I would not necessarily prevent a copy just because that might happen.
           Cancel the King Mango, the only time slot to hold a rehearsal was here an hour before the parade starts this afternoon. I know the chances of this new guitarist actually working out are tiny, but it is a too important to risk. Trust me, I’m probably the only musician in the country who has studied the potential returns of the trade before I started. I only need find one guitar player to do what he says and what he’s told to make 2012 a blockbuster.
           Ever heard of “Bass Players Buyers Guide”? (The spelling mistakes aren’t mine.) It’s a strange publication dedicated to the premise that anyone who wants a bass is a guitarist and an utter bumpkin besides. It suffers from every imaginable defect of “gitar-think”, right from hero worship across the spectrum to incessant bragging about your instrument. It’s about all the things real bass players never do. But I know, there’s thousands of them and one of me.
           They feature articles on comparisons between bass manufacturers, that is, the juvenile mine’s-bigger-than-your’s approach. The reality is 99% of modern basses are the same. Too heavy in the neck, too heavy overall, built like war clubs, with generally too many useless frets above the octave. Useless for grooving, I mean.
           Those frets are present for the Jaco Pastorius types who like to weird out in front of audiences too stoned to notice he is missing every third note. I’m the type who still likes bass music to have a beat and make an attempt to play the same as the rest of the band. I’ll grant that Jaco is the master of noodling upper-fret jazz lead patterns on the bass to his own loopings. But I’ve seen all the box patterns before. At least he proves you can be a bass player without slapping and tapping.
           The new guitarist arrived, I’ve had encouraging first practices before, this was not one. Musically, the guy needs six months of hard work to get up to speed. But I am the past master of making guitarists sound better than they are. This new guy responded very well to instruction. He is also a professional, so we share a background. Nobody is likely to waste time.
           This is an instance where the practices down the line will tell if this is working. We ran through six pieces. Once given direction and method, he played the pieces well enough to be encouraged. Remember, as long as someone is really trying and getting results, I’ll put in the time. If he does the same, we have a band, if he doesn’t, we don’t.

December 30, 2011

2011-12-30T23:19:00.004-05:00

           This is a sculpture from a highly-rated Chinese artist. It’s on display at the Smithsonian. It was inspired, do ya think, when the guy was standing at a Beijing intersection during a noon-hour earthquake? You are supposed to ask yourself why I'd be reading about the Smithsonian. Our trivia is a steam engine kit. No, not the toy kit from Sears, but a real working kit available from Watt himself in 1776. Coal not included.
           I watched “Chicago”, a spoof about the law using props from the 1920s. It was amusing, I quit paying attention after ten minutes, I found the people so pretty. The old photos of that era show there were a lot of ugly people in those pre-Botox days. Furthermore, due to the structure of society, the crowd was clearly five years or more older than the late-teen in crowd of my generation. Zellweger again plays the only character she can. Did you know she annulled her marriage to the country singer, Chesney, claiming he was a “fraud”? Possibly his performance was as one-dimensional as hers?
           The new guitarist called. We have a rehearsal scheduled before the year is out. I listened to his postings, they are on the amateur side, but that’s what’s required for a local duo. Much will depend on how readily he adapts to duo work, it is not the same as a couple guys teaming up and playing whatever they want. Over the phone he sounds willing to put in the required time, so peek back here once in a while.
           It was Barnes and Noble time until past dark. I like that place, the one in Aventura, but not the trip there. It’s a scary stretch of road most of the time. A surprising number of gals in the coffee shop, but none of them smiled back. Well, that’s not strictly true. Some of them looked like they never smiled at all. So I read a lot. I learned that California is cracking down on farmer’s markets. They are requiring that the produce actually be grown and be sold by the farmers direct to the public. It’s un-American.
           When it comes to economy, it pays to keep a global perspective. The national on-line sport of flagging on Craigslist has been lately made easier by software that changes your proxy, makes their code think you are a different computer each time. The only other way is to keep changing your IP address, but then you have to reboot your modem and router every time. So, now you can hire 48 Hindu-types for $22 for 24 hours. They’ll flag away to your heart’s delight. They accept PayPal.
           I took a deeper look at Android programming. These are the phone apps that use Google software. If it seems confusing, it is. You need Java, Eclipse and Apache Ant to make it work. Alas, this is how programming has degenerated since C+ became a standard. Don’t ask me how a logical thinker is even supposed to know what these strangely-named items are or how they are related, and nobody on the Internet is likely to tell you. However, the system seems popular with those young enough never to have used a real programming language.
           The Android interface is Eclipse and Apache Ant is the compiler. Without ever having seen or used an Android app, I can see right now that they are mostly simple constructs that do one thing each and that they must all quickly become very repetitious. It may assist to understand the analogy that real programming is like a Meccano set while modular programming is like Lego. The bigger Lego pieces only fit together certain ways and the output becomes homogeneous and boring unless the projects keep getting bigger and more expensive.
           Last, I read that for a laugh, some people are using Kool-Aid to dye their hair. The food coloring is so strong, by making slurry of the powder and rubbing it in, it lasts through a couple of shampoos. So if you are the sort that needs grape or lemon colored hair to get noticed, there’s your cheap way out.

December 29, 2011

2011-12-29T00:28:00.002-05:00

           Get a load of the new leader of North Korea. Real butterball, that boy. Do you get the impression this fatso has been raiding the pantry? To break the nuclear arms deadlock, offer this porker a chain of Burger Kings. There are some things money and power can’t buy, like good taste. I mean, it even hurts to look at that haircut. Since all Korean dictators have the same name, maybe the ear stubble is so we can tell them apart. Famine? What famine?
           Speaking of hypocrites, have you heard of Paul Bridges? He’s the mayor of Uvalda. He’s opposing E-Verify for farm workers, saying it destroys “the social network of Georgia”. They must be real high class round there. Illegal immigrants are costing the nation billions but the one thing on Paul’s mind is his onion crop.
           Let me say it again. Those who cannot produce at a profit in America must be allowed to go under. It is paramount that unprofitable businesses and individuals be allowed to fail. This is a capitalist system and anybody who wants job or business guarantees can go fly a kite. If you can’t pay an American enough to do the job, then get out of the business. If you go on Facebook, you can read how 100% of the respondents told Bridges to go to hell. Spares us the effort.
           If you like jokes, read Chase Bank’s newest privacy policy. It’s as funny as those ads on TV that suggest identity theft is your fault, not theirs. Um, isn’t the reason you put your money in the bank to protect it from theft of all kinds? Oh, I get it. They aren’t stealing your money. They are stealing your identity. It’s your fault the bank didn’t check them out like they are supposed to.
           Yep, I would still like to open a bank that really keeps people’s money in a vault. I’ll bet it would go over fantastically. Interest rates since 2003 have stunk to high heaven, so competition would not be a problem. Charge people $5 per month to keep their money. That’s nothing compared to one overdraft fee.
           How’s the rest of the gang doing this final week of the year? Of the entire original cadre, only one guy ever got married and he has no kids. Other than RofR, my boyhood comrades, spread all over the place, have remained 100% bachelors. No so with the people I went to school with and worked with. Of my grade six classmates, every one was divorced by age 28. At work, I could not keep up with who was filing. So no, most of us never had the “joys” of marriage and children, but when I learn the ordeal of others, I question that joy. (Hershel did move in with a lady, but the kids were hers and he probably didn’t have any say in how things went.)
           I’ve been cooped up. It gave me time to triple check the numbers for 2012, and into the future until 2019. Never was a budget planned so well at the non-corporate level. I miss driving in a car but I’m not ready to risk my neck. Tell you what, how about a compromise? If, in another year, there are no related health issues, I’ll test drive something nice. Shelve it for now.
           Another dead-end was writing product reviews for money. It works out to less than minimum wage and you could find yourself in the poorhouse trying to keep up with new products. What you write today doesn’t make money next month like a real residual. That’s because the product gets old and nobody reads old reviews. Well, that’s not strictly true as some 11,000 people have read mine. But it was fun while it lasted. On occasion, I update my ePinion articles to keep an eye on things.

December 28, 2011

2011-12-28T10:44:00.004-05:00

           How expensive do you go with chopsticks? They are a piece of bamboo sharpened on the end. Normally, they’d come in pairs but shown here is a set of five. That’s because they are relabeled as knitting needles. And repriced to $1.80 each. Bamboo isn’t even wood, it is a species of wild grass in some places considered a weed. When it costs more than aluminum, it’s enough to make you gag on your egg roll.
           If you were to go to USGS you could take a peek at the locations of the 17 earthquakes that happened y’day. But move fast, the list scrolls. The deepest quake was 651 km below Fiji, the shallowest about 500 feet underground in central Alaska. I’m waiting for the tremor reported 500 feet above Congress.
           I’ve asked for a search filter that gets rid of replies that do such things as display ads, sell books, and demand memberships. I’d like to exterminate another Internet pest: searches that go to forums. Generally, the vast majority of forums are attended by mouth breathers whose typical response is a sentence fragment containing “u” or “kewl”. Ask.com is a congregation of brain-dead slugs posing such timeless gems as, “In what country do they speak Ukrainian?”
           Dan Lewis, the daily blogger, does occasionally come up with gems. He tends to borrow rather than create or conclude. Today’s item was the 110 people who won a lottery, which turned out due to “lucky numbers” inside fortune cookies. Interesting, but I would have also reported the harsh way the winners were subjected to unauthorized background checks, invasion of privacy, unconstitutional searches and how they were stigmatized as frauds until declared innocent. Most scary is what might have happened to these people if no cookies had been found. Sieg heil, y’all!
           It’s Montana weather time again. Days hot enough to need a room fan; nights chilly enough for a heater. And outside, like the Dakotas, is pleasantly warm only in the sunshine and only on the side facing the sun. Is this an inviting time for scooter trips. The Xmas boom is now the bust with empty streets for the fifth year in a row. I assert the American business model has become so credit-corrupt that it cannot return to sanity. Monex hints that the only AAA currency remaining by 2013 will be gold.
           Another DC brainfart headed for disaster is homeowner bailouts of another five billion dollars. The newest angle is the government subsidizing mortgage payments down to “affordable” levels. This stupid policy is institutionalizing the problem. And the problem is greed. There wasn’t one homeowner who did not originally gloat over their easy riches and who did not scoff down those who steered clear. It takes one business cycle (7 years) for bad policy to bite back, and year six begins Sunday.
           Both gold and silver dropped to the lowest in a year, carried on my books as a buying opportunity, and yes, there is money set aside for that. It’s an old 1970’s belief, how the very presence of reserves reduces the need for cash. Back then, there was no advantageous amount to be in debt. Colleges were just beginning to teach the ridiculous concept that, statistically, there was a “correct” ratio to be in debt.
           I was just finishing my accounting degree back then and I had a laugh over that one. My college professor was a serious guy and he actually believed you could make money by going into debt. He couldn’t fathom that the people who lent money, in the big picture, were never going to let that happen. I concluded back then that what was really happening was that the accounting formulas for profit maximization were becoming skewed by the inclusion of accounts receivable as a liquid asset.
           One thing any bookkeeper would notice instantly in my accounts for the past thirty years is that there is no category for liabilities. I have no unpaid bills. But the psychological edge I’m referring to is how people don’t think why one side of the accounting equation includes a separate heading for debt (liabilities), but not the other. The formula should be Assets + Accounts Receivable = Liabilities + Equity, so even the most casual reader would understand that Accounts Receivable is a different animal.
           Am I right? Well, the business day after Xmas, Kmart and Sears announced they were closing 125 stores. Their business model is all wrong; you’d think having to lop of an arm would teach them so. My solution is well-known: Prices must drop to where people can pay cash. Warrantees must attach to the product, not the purchaser. Credit reporting agencies must be abolished (not for keeping credit data, but for invasion of privacy). The Greenspans of the world lack the hard bark to just out with it like I do.

December 27, 2011

2011-12-27T10:19:00.001-05:00

           It’s too cold for a motorcycle trip, or I’d be on the road again. Instead, I’m at home until January except for a jaunt to Coconut Grove for the King Mango Strut. Here is a sample of the content. The Strut was begun when a conch shell band from the area was denied a permit to march in the football parade. (Not apparent is that it is illegal to show boxer shorts in public and these men were risking arrest.)
           I was searching for cheap motels again, you know, maybe a little getaway. Forget Marco Island with rates beginning at $509 per night. Who would stay in such a place, by which I mean somebody with that much money should know better. To avoid a St. Augustine style wilderness, now I’m checking for Karaoke addresses before I go anywhere. Now that is not saying I’m heading to Ft. Meyers to knit socks or anything. I’m just looking into things, that’s all.
           What I did find for a laugh was a series of Karaoke clips in Naples. Or, should I say I found in laughable. I wonder what happened to their local bars that got named in that big Karaoke lawsuit a while back. Anyway, it is not unthinkable I could win a contest so I watch the competition very closely. Most of it is dry monotone, the “I Did It My Way” singers, nothing at all like the sparkling interactive show I put on. (So you know, my act is carefully designed to make me appear the reluctant amateur. The only giveaway is you never see me look at the screen for lyrics.)
           Then, exciting day that it is, I looked under Craigslist for musicians. I’m amused by how “Christian” bands have taken to advertising there. They don’t post in electronics or auto parts, so why music? Then again, if you discount the religion forum (a.k.a “verse vomit”), CL doesn’t really have a category for “Jesus Freaks”. I say if you are a Christian first and a musician next, you should post at the church. I once worked with a long-hair, Mr. Cool, musician with the Christian edge thing. I found him abrasive. It seems to me a real hippie rebelling against the establishment would find religion to be another trapping.
           As the year end looms, so my attention to retirement rules and such. I read an article on “retirement killers” and most of it was common sense. It makes me grin to know there are people out there 50+ who need to be told not to take out a 30 year mortgage. If the USA was a senior citizen, it would be in deep doo-doo. Methinks the largest winner of the government stimulus package was Winn/Dixie, with 3.3 million Floridians on food stamps.
           Again, let me express my extreme displeasure at Adobe. Their constant “updates” are as annoying as hell. It is well known they are an excuse to install spyware on your computer (see Cookienator). There is absolutely no difference in performance before or after the so-called updates. Worst is the need to stop what you are doing and close your browser. Up yours, Adobe, and basically the same to people who always post with a new format that requires an update—but they are likely so dumb they don’t know they are doing it. You are not progressive people. Find something that works and stick with it.
           Speaking of the unqualified, folks, uploading raw unedited amateur video to youTube isn’t funny any more. You waste everybody’s time. At least make some attempt to edit your crappy, shaky shots that do little more than let the world know you don’t have what it takes to be in the parade. And please, somebody write a search engine that skips over any posting with ads that cannot be deleted instantly.
           Until then, if anyone doubts America has gone downhill beyond redemption, go to the MSN (MicroSoft Net) home page and look at the spread of topics. Just when you think there is a limit to sleazy, meaningless drivel, they’ve got an article on Oprah or another diet fad. Sadly, MSN wouldn’t be shoveling out slop if the pigs weren’t eating it. Not since “Designing Women” has so much dumbing down been done to so many by so few.
           The cost of the robot club, active since May 9 this year, has totaled out at $480.73, of which half is represented by tools and materials still on hand. I may rant about individual prices, but this has been one bargain hobby. Actual expenses have been $86.15. The return in new knowledge is incalculable. Study time is probably 200 hours, mainly deep reading. Like the 741 now in focus. I’ve learned it amplifies a “milliwatt signal”, but not one of the Internet geniuses has the guts or brains to specify where one finds such signals. Is it another one of those things you’re supposed to know?
           The scooter is completely tuned up and purring. A half-hour in the shop revealed a leaking gasket, one of two factory-installed motor seals. The decision is to just keep topping up the oil and increase vigilance. The scooter shop is closing next month. The computer shop is still vacant, now having lost some $30,000 in rent from us. And Wally’s Folly is sitting there with the sign in the window, out his $18,000 and a free place to live forever. It truly makes you wonder.

December 26, 2011

2011-12-26T06:45:00.003-05:00

           This is not the runner-up in a Barbara Striesand look-alike contest. It’s either a great shot of a middle-aged housewife or a terrible photo of a 30-something in denial that gravity is winning. Which of the two she turns out to be depends on information I don’t have and can’t find. Where I really like the picture, I’m not sure I like the image. Read on to learn what I mean.
           An hour after I got up, I heard a distant siren, like those in the movies about the Blitz. Other than a potential post-Xmas sale at Aventura Mall, I’ve no idea the significance of this alert. There was a noon siren when I was growing up, which nobody ever explained since there were no factories or jobs in town. This being Florida, it could be, like those who run the railway, just people making noise at 6:30 in the morning.
           Today I investigate op-amps, in particular, the 741. I want to know how works and how it is used. That’s it. I don’t want to know how it is built or the tons of junk information I will get on-line. You watch, I’ll get countless sites that tell me it “reacts” and “responds” and “inverts” and goes on about all the inputs and outputs, but every one will avoid telling me what it does or how to make it useful. Then, once I learn how the hard way, they’ll all line up and ask, “Oh, well, why didn’t you say so in the first place?” See, I may not know electronics, but I know a pack of idiots when I meet them.
           Later, two hours into the search. The entire Internet findings carefully avoid any clear statement about how the thing works. What exactly is “a DC-coupled high-gain electronic voltage amplifier with a differential input”? As usual, I will now search British club sites hoping to find my quarry as a byproduct of some other topic. All electronics authors to date have been half or complete losers.
           Some headway so far. I’ve learned the op-amp “amplifies a weak signal”, but no information on what that signal could be. Smoke? Traffic? Radio? It must be a huge secret, but I’ll guess voltage. Ah, by examining formulas from some guy V. Ryan, who cannot bring himself to just say it, the culprit must be voltage. Ryan explains this, but immediately gives an example of a “comparator” instead of an op-amp. Real brains, that cookie.
           Ah, found something by looking for “voltage” in Australia. Go to Talking Electronics. It’s a blog and hard to find things, but if you’re really interested you’ll follow up. I picked up two 741 chips from the Shack, they’re not expensive.
           I very rarely memorize the names of band members unless I have another reason than music. Hey, they’re supposed to be a band, not a collection of soloists. But take that Heidi Newfield, the singer from Trick Pony in today’s picture. I just don’t find her too attractive and for that matter, I don’t think she is all that talented or sexy. But there she is, broadcasting from the Islands wearing a bikini made for a woman half her age. Something does not add up.
           So I checked things out as can only be done in this wired up world. How is somebody like that selling millions? I still don’t know, since all her Internet postings have been whitewashed. For example, Wiki says, “By age 13, she had decided to pursue a career in country music.” Like it was some option she picked from the job board in the grade eight home room. There it was, right between orthodontist and liberal arts.
           So, I still don’t believe the hype. Call me suspicious, but consider how many other women I’ve met that had an unexplained ten-year gap in their lives. Unless things are different in California, people have to eat and pay the rent somehow. I’m not denying her success; I’m just not certain where to place the credit. I’m hoping it was rich parents.

December 25, 2011

2011-12-25T08:50:00.004-05:00

           Call me cooped up with nothing to do. That translates into a good study session. Take a look at this object. It’s meaning to me is the first time I ever glanced at a circuit board and knew in a flash what it was for and how it was made. A year ago I would have just trusted whatever was on the package. Want to step through the thought process with me?
           Okay, there are six duplicate circuits on this board. Starting on the lower left, there are a series on input jacks next to six green LEDs, each with a transistor and a flyback diode in the next row. Down the middle of the board see twelve more resistors, six of which must each control a base of one of the six switching transistors. Behind those, see six more clear LEDs also with six current-limiting transistors, then to the right edge the little blue boxes which are six relays. At the back top center are six more diodes, possibly Zeners, and a smoothing capacitor.
           Why this is a six-relay module sitting on top of an Arduino board. And the Arduino controls the activity of those relays in a programmed microcontroller sequence. The light green connectors are power inputs and outputs, as devices connected to this board require more power than the Arduino can provide. A very useful circuit for robots, and one I think I could build if I had to. Happy Xmas morning, indeed.
           Later, around noon, I completed building a clock timer circuit. That’s the tiny circuit at extreme left of the photo with the black adjustment shaft. Then I connected it to my ring counters, as shown here. This was a fascinating experience, both the build and the sensitivity of the apparatus when complete. By holding my hand near the timer, I could set things into hysteresis (random flashing caused by static). What’s that, you say? Oh, the wool on the knitting needle? That’s nothing, I needed something to keep me occupied while I’m thinking. It is not a stocking.
           Even later, I caroused the Internet electronics shops and finally found Pololu. No, it’s not the Hawaiian state flower, but yet another parts outfit in Irvine, CA. They have a unique selection and I have one of their stepper motor drivers, a device that can turn robot steering adjustable to 800 steps per circle. Very fine control indeed. The challenge is the gears; nobody seems to have perfected an adjustable set of gears. That means when you buy the gears, you have to design around the mounting.
           A partial solution may be parts from Tamiya, a plastic model company. They have chassis and running gears that remind me of Meccano. Here’s another company I never heard of while searching specifically for robot parts. This shows how imperfectly the Internet searches perform for all but the most simple of cases. Months later I finally hear of them because I glanced at a wrapper from another shipment before I threw it away.
           So there you have it. Xmas 2011.

December 24, 2011

2011-12-24T08:44:00.001-05:00

           I’ll be. This is an extremely rare photo of my old home town. In color. Kudos to anyone who can identify it. Hint to long term blog readers, note the church window at extreme right, and the pine trees showing above the church roof. I can’t believe this photo, they’ve restored all the buildings on Main Street, which has obviously been paved. I would not have recognized the photo except for the dark brown building with white window frames set back in from the street left of that phone booth.
           That was the telephone office. It was also the bus stop where I picked up the newspapers for my paper route. See the old western town faux fronts on the stores? From the vehicles, this is a recent picture, looking like a Clint Eastwood movie set. I still like the place but I’m never going back. My family was the laughing stock of that town and many more.
           I woke up just not feeling right, a possible side effect of a new prescription, so I’m staying close to home for the day. Seeking a PA on sale, I looked through Craigslist and there have been some changes I see. So I looked in the personals, and my, have they ever cleaned up the ads. Did Craigslist get sued or injunctioned or something? Good old CL isn’t good old CL any more. They’ve even cleaned up the want ads.
           Cancel my plans, though, I’m not even stepping out the door. Why is it I take ill on the worst television programming evening of the year? Those movies about the Bible all have the same watery plot. Shirley Temple bites and that Flicka makes Gilligan reruns seem like action movies. At least none of the creation films ever cast Eve as a frumpy thirty-something housewife with her hair in curlers. And Eve doesn’t claim she had to eat the apple because she later remembered an old man saw her naked when she was a little girl.
           For the afternoon, I read a book about the early Zionists, the Jews who wanted to re-establish a homeland in Palestine. In the 1890s they report the area as uninhabited, but when the Turks pulled out after WWI, their records show a half-million Arabs in the general vicinity. Still, it is well established that the British made the Jews pay for all the land they occupied, and that the Arab landlords sold them the land. That’s a change of ownership, folks. The bottom line is the land never belonged to the Palestinians who are claiming it is their ancestral home.
           As for the territory gained by warfare, it is mainly mountains and desert, unsuitable for just about anything. They don’t call it the Golan Heights and the Negev Desert for nothing. I don’t side with either party, but I understand how after four wars the Israelis are not giving back a square inch without an agreement on secure borders.
           I had started reading about the Iraqi nuclear program in conjunction with the Zionist material. The two rogue states to watch are Iraq and North Korea. Atomic bombs are not that hard to build, but it requires money on a governmental scale. When you buy a German or French power plant, they are designed to make it very difficult to produce weapons-grade byproducts. To build bombs, you need a Canadian reactor. You might also want to keep an eye on Pakistan, where terrorist sympathizers could come to power overnight.
           If the entire US can’t stop Mexicans from walking over the border, what chance is there against a nuclear bomb? The only defense is not to be where it detonates. Now, where would somebody who hates the US do the deed? Washington, DC. Runner’s up would be New York, or San Diego. But the easiest target would be Miami. Estimated casualties? Five million dead and it will bankrupt the country.
           Don’t look at me. I said twenty years ago the result of any US troops in the Middle East would be an atomic attack on American soil. Oh, and before I forget, Merry Xmas.

December 23, 2011

2011-12-23T10:02:00.000-05:00

           I’ll tell you what is really scary. Those WWII archives that were released after, what it is, 50 years? I’ve been watching the Italian and Soviet documentaries. The footage of the Me262 is horrific. The sanitized US newsreels show the jet cruising alongside while the European versions show them slicing right past the Mustang cordon into the B-17 formations and blasting bomber after bomber to flaming wreckage (as shown here).
           The US reels show a few P-51s pouncing on unsuspecting jets, but mostly you see swarms of Mustangs reduced to chasing a 262 in relays until it runs out of fuel. The American propellor planes are dead meat to the sleek German designs. Another stat to consider is the high survival rate of the jet pilots. These guys were jumping out due to mechanical damage; they were not being shot down in flames. Big difference there, you top gun types.
           The Yankee versions lucidly downplay the inferiority of Allied planes. But the scenes of the GIs wondering around captured jets say most of it. It’s like watching aborigines next to a refrigerator, or Canadians next to a contract. Nobody wants to admit that this amazing German technology was the last real breakthrough in combat aircraft. It is amazing how the early films depict every aspect of jet-powered flight known today.
           She’s a warm one, perfect for a scooter ride. Check back later to see if I do, it’s early yet. Here’s a question for you. What is the name of that condition where some people loathe any accomplishment if they personally know the achiever? Strangers they are okay with, but they seethe with jealousy if an acquaintance succeeds. What’s that called? This mental aberration is common in dysfunctional families. Why is there no popular term for this widespread neurosis?
           As an example, remember Wallace and Panera Pete? Pete with no car, no room, no money, no food, no job—but he once wrote a book, so they say. Pete is a hero, though he doesn’t even own a copy to show you. On the other hand, me, who has written more than most people can read, well that doesn’t count, see? According to Wallace, when I do it, it is “mind control”.
           Later, I went for a short scooter ride. I’ve over budget for the month already, which I managed without buying any Xmas presents. I did buy a couple rounds for the house but to celebrate a successful year, not due to the season. Success for me involves a large element of what most would call “getting ahead”. For that I don’t need riches, I merely require a stable home environment. No idiots or surprises when I get in the door.
           That’s an interesting way to look at it. I require a carefree home existence. The past year reflects most of my entire adult life. Every rent and bills paid on time, every time, without complaint. No need for credit cards. And except for my recent legal battle, there was always a slight operating surplus. (That’s correct, my being broke the previous few years was over a drawn out legal matter, not medical or social issues. I paid every one of my bills throughout the entire bad patch.)
           Whenever I shared a place, that formula goes wrong. Why do I get the feeling some people are nothing but destabilizing influences? Their home lives must be a fiasco of constant worry about meeting their own commitments and cussing down others. How do people live like that and never learn a blessed thing or who to blame? One telltale sign is they can’t shaft their enemies, only their friends. What a great lifestyle.

December 22, 2011

2011-12-22T09:59:00.001-05:00

           Wait. Stop. This is not what it looks like. It’s just a swatch lying on a resistor-capacitor timing circuit diagram. Every progressive household has something like that lying around, I’m sure. It doesn’t mean anything. That’s all, this does not mean I am going to ever knit a pair of socks. I have enough on my diagram, er, I mean my plate.
           A scarf maybe, or some gloves, but never socks. So forget it. It will not happen. Note the nice even rows and the neat casting on and binding off. Easily identified as a stockingette stitch as shown, see the knit side, the purl side, and the tendency to curl. I said stockingette, not stockings. No way am I knitting any stockings.
           There is actually a bit of the old Xmas rush going on. The annual boomlet that exceeds the GNP of most nations on Earth. Despite being Karaoke night and receiving some personal invitations, I’m staying home. That’s what makes sense to me. That’s what I get for living in a working class town. These people are so working class they don’t know it.
           I had gone out this AM for non-essential supplies, but came back empty-handed. There were no bargains out there and that includes K-Mart. Have you seen their prices lately? I had coffee at BK beside the people that say grace over their Whoppers. And then I patronized the library for an hour. I’m probably antsy about spending Xmas without a date, this is what, eight years in a row. Yeah, that’s right, it has been that long since the first and only time I’d ever been in Florida hospital.
           That’s a reflection of many major changes since 2003. At home I don’t eat beef but I’ve become a tea-drinker. I never did learn to watch TV, but you can blame TV for that. I spend twice as much time playing music as the previous decade, that is, now around 500 hours per year. My newfound spare time has increased my reading by double that. Automobile mileage has dropped to zero.
           A good chunk of my reading time is intense study, rivaling my college days. Except back then, I would often take 20 consecutive hours and read an entire text book in one sitting. Can’t do that no more. Study is easier, but it is still an activity that many people find less than joyful. But that’s correct, studying is easier as in accomplished with less mental effort. No pain, no gain is the rule, it just gets better once you know you are over the peak of the learning curve.
           I’m totally liking the book on sock knitting. I found my old 6mm needles in the shed, in perfect condition. It’s been a wonderful distraction and I’ve learned a ton of new terms about socks. In that sense, it is similar to electronics. Half the battle isn’t the knowledge, it is figuring out what the instructions are trying to say. Have you ever heard of positive ease and negative ease? That is the way a garment hangs. If it gets wider at the bottom like a dress, that is positive ease. If it tapers like a cowboy shirt, you have negative ease. Note that most cowboys are tapered the other way.
           With my guitar act, I’ve hit a plateau. The hard part is to steer away from the awesome tendency to play everything with the same (or similar) strum. I’ve taken to practicing each song at half speed to concentrate on the strumming. This takes untold time and I keep telling myself it will pay off on stage. Like bass playing, those who say it is easy are doing it wrong.
           Another tactic is arranging the tunes for solo work. I’ve really not seen too many musicians in this town make the effort, or it may be they don’t know how. They settle on the first guitar chop they find that remotely sounds like the cover. Over time, this bores the audience and the staff. I now see more of the reasons guitar players want to do certain songs certain ways. And I don’t appreciate it at all.
           I tend to analyze the strum from a piano viewpoint then adapt back to the guitar. The guitar part in isolation tends to omit tiny musical nuances provided by other instruments. By paying attention to those details, you don’t fatigue the audience. Put another way, if I can use this method to play bass for two years at the same joint without boring the crowd, just you wait until I learn this here gee-tar.
           For trivia, dial this phone number, (877) 504-8423. It is the fictitious number used in movies to, according to Dan Lewis, “lend an air of realism”. Try it, you get a recording that tells you so.

December 21, 2011

2011-12-21T11:57:00.007-05:00

           From Dan Lewis' "Now I Know", here is a snap of the first known coupon in America, and your trivia quota. Coke figures in today's blog. The winter solstice and I stayed inside with good books and good intentions. I’ve constructed a complex circuit that created more questions than answers. Ray-B called and we talked music theory for most of an hour. I’ll get to that. I’m in the home stretch with “Eclipse”, which coasts along in a unique mixture of warfare and courtroom drama, never preferring one over the other. That’s a gift.
           The book also takes digs at the big picture. The Chinese whose human rights abuses are their foreign policy, the total corruption of overseas American corporations, and the sad fact that God put all the really good oilfields in really bad countries. The author keeps the tale lively by throwing in these nuggets, and he is totally convinced of the superiority of American lawyers, forgetting that most of the world does not think so.
           Patterson, the writer, also has a tendency to cook up fantasies that non-American readers might not latch on to. He does go on about older men with younger women like it is not natural. Somebody could tell him that people elsewhere are not really that shocked to learn a 15 year old girl is sexually active. The way things are going, that might be her only chance for variety before she balloons out on Big Macs and joins a dating club.
           Ray-B reports Johnny D is doing an open mic on the beach. If it wasn’t already so late, I’d have headed over, not having seen Johnny for what, three years now? No doubt, he’s got the same tunes but I did not care to jam with him for one reason. His guitar technique uses a lot of bass string work. He does not compensate for this when a bass player arrives. The low guitar notes clash with the upper bass notes, making for a muddy sound that bespeaks amateurism.
           But this time, I play guitar and don’t need accompaniment. Johnny was very influential in my strumming, since he was one of the few guitarists that would have made a great country duo. Alas, solo performers rarely sustain the ability to team up with others over time, though some of them talk the talk. I require a non-singing rhythm player and that takes some doing around here.
           The topic quickly turned to rhythm styles, since Ray-B agrees with most of my analysis of what I need on stage. We put in an hour on musical theory. I will never consider jazz an “advanced” form of music, rather a cacophonic 1940’s flash in the pan whose primary role is to sell more guitar lessons. Ray-B learns by watching other players, myself I don’t yet know enough to know what to look for. We concur that most on-line lessons consist of some dull guy showing off.
           The correct blend seems to be lighter strumming with more bass runs. My wrist conditioning for bass makes this super hard work for me. Ray-B reports Sweeny is playing out in Sunrise, I may go out to see the show. I only know her from a couple tunes over the years when I was in the audience. The word is she still plays everything with the same strum, something I’m striving to avoid from the start. But I need to see how others are being hired to do this and how to maintain the competitive advantage.
           Guitarist number 18 is on hold for Xmas. This is the guy who answered my ad last August. If nothing else, he is consistent about answering my e-mails. That hasn’t happened before. His name is Trent, and he has passed other tests as well. For example, I’ll provide a song list that I know will choke a blues or rock guitarist who only claims to play country. Or I’ll mean-mouth a guitar hero to see how stuck on idol worship the new guy can be. So far, he’s passed.
           Anything else? Well, I was a good neighbor and lent out my garden rake. Then I looked up all my meds in “The Pill Book” seeing most are half the strength I had to take five years ago. Give me another Robyn and I’ll make the Olympics yet. I love my new Ibanez stage guitar, and so do most people. One thing, when I bought it, the lady threw in an expensive tuner, saying her husband couldn’t get the built-in unit to work. Don’t ask me, it works perfectly.

December 20, 2011

2011-12-20T11:49:00.003-05:00

           I’m well into the book, “Eclipse”. It’s a good thing it is a fascinating tale, since I re-entered regular Florida society for most of the day by waiting in lines. An extra 100 pages of lines at the bank, the doctor, the library. This as a small turning point as the latest results of my medicals. It’s the same old good news, bad news situation. The good is I’m stable (physically, mentally, financially), the bad news smaller items which sum up to no permission or foreseeable permission to ever return to work. Me! In da prime ‘o me life.
           In response, I went for an extended coffee break, book in hand. I glanced at a new TV show with the host from “Cash Cab”. It’s called “Last Person Standing” or something like that. The defeated opponents drop through a trapdoor. These are specially designed trapdoors where the flimsy “easy-access” dress of the blonde babe does not fly up around her shoulders. Alas, 30% of the questions are still nonsense dressed up as trivia. How am I supposed to know the heroine of Nutcracker, an opera that puts me into deep, sleep?
           I’ve got the last two decade counters in Broward. Also known as a ring counter, this integrated circuit does little more than flash ten lights in sequence. I used to think youTube videos were advanced electronics, but now I see that all those operators did was wire up a kit. Take my word, these circuits can be created a lot more easily than you think. What’s more, it is possible to build such gadgets without knowledge of how the chips perform the duty. But that’s an error our club did not make, okay?
           The daily excitement was taking the scooter on a 30 mile trip in the cool winter weather. Really, I can’t make today any more lively than already. If I’d known about today in advance, I could have knitted a pair of socks. Now here’s a heads-up, I made a list of what I have to do before the end of the month. I have to get propane and repair music cables, for instance.
           One thing I’ve learned about so-called retirement is that anyone who thinks that means there is nothing to do hasn’t been there. Nothing to do and can’t do nothing aren’t the same, even if they initially seem that way to the gumptionless. This joint is as close to zero maintenance as possible and it still keeps me busy with chores.
           That’s it for today. I had to reserve most of it for waiting around. It was beyond my control. Lazy days make for lazy people. Doing nothing wears me out. I came home to promptly fall asleep in the easy chair until after midnight. I need another vacation.
           Later, since I don’t want today’s blog to be too short, there is a topic I’d like to clarify. When I say that I believe in and support the rule of law that does not mean I expect every person to immediately get out there and start obeying every law in existence. What I mean is that the law should be so clearly established that the average and prudent person knows the limits of the law, to the extent that person can make an informed and willful decision. I suggest and it is borne out in practice, that people will tend to obey good laws and disobey bad laws—but either way the “rules” of said laws must be clearly established.
           This seems contradictory to the untrained mind, but it is not muddled at all. Take the bad laws concerning prohibition. It was widely broken from the back alleys all the way up to the White House. Every person who took a drink knew the law and to what extent they could be punished, and millions drank anyway. Every person should have the right to calculate how to “get around” a law as long as they don’t become criminals by breaking it. Right, Coca-Cola? Okay with you, FedEx?
           No, it is not right or okay. Where the law can be manipulated depending on the Plaintiff’s tactics, it is not rule of law at all. If you or I try to market a cola or compete with the postal service, it could mean heavy fines. It cost Dr. Pepper a bundle to prove it was a cherry drink, not another cola. Coke was able to sue because the laws on the books were not clear, FedEx avoided being sued because the law was silent on a few critical points that didn’t get sorted out until the company was well-established.
           Without the rule of law, you get a situation like my family upbringing, in which you were compelled to play an endless and boring game where rules are suddenly altered should you ever figure out how to win consistently. This produced an entire generation that never learned the value of innovation, rather just how to stop others from doing so. A current example is the laws that criminalize those who cheat gambling casinos.
           Such “cheaters” should be rewarded, lionized in fact, as a form of external competition. The way it stands, the only opposition the casinos need fear is another casino, and it just ain’t right the law should provide for that. Be careful here, I confine this example to cheating the house, not the other gamblers. The house is not gambling, they are guaranteed a profit and it is only right that should be subject to intense competitive pressure.
           This is plainly a different stance than simply saying everyone should play by the rules. It is saying the rules themselves have to play by the rules. Something to think over, even if I can’t totally define it right here and now.

December 19, 2011

2011-12-19T17:48:00.000-05:00

           Ever have one of those days? Where you built a circuit that works but haven’t a clue how? No? Funny, I’ve been having more of those lately. This one was a doozie. That’s what they used to say in 1930, a Dusenberg car or something to that sad effect. Here, take a look for yourself. This is not robotics, this is ordinary electronics. The pencil is pointing at the chip that is supposed to make the LED (just below the pencil tip) flash. Ignore the bank of meters, they are here to show that everything is documented and I’m not blindly following textbook directions.
           This stumped me until past noon, when I took a breather, drove over to the sewing place and negotiated a January special. Fourteen hours of class for $11 per hour. This is the same place I took the intro at more than twice that rate and was satisfied with the product. I want to learn to make something out of a pattern and maybe some useful things around here. Like the electronics, I could probably buy the finished articles for less, but thinking like that is a dead end.
           Off to the library where, as I sat down, I had to field a bunch of calls from guitarists who didn’t make it last Friday and wondering how it went. Most of us have a common understanding that the new guy gets support to the extent of showing up at his first few gigs and playing audience. Also, Ray called and it seems Bose has a smaller edition of the L1, that prohibitively expensive tower PA they’re hawking. Ray and Cowboy Mike report “The Big Picture” (a club on University Drive) have the smaller unit, but I can’t get there on Saturdays to hear it. That’s bingo night.
           Then I did something many won’t identify with. I drove all the way back to Barnes and bought that book on knitting socks. Only those who know how hard it is for me to find something I’ve never read before will see the logic. Come on, be a sport and ask me anything about socks. That part the covers your ankles? That’s called a gusset. Tube socks have no gusset. The directions use a grid layout, which made instant sense to me. The stitches are produced according to the layout, which any decent programmer will spot is an array of symbols.
           I’m not promising a thing, but you know, as I read those symbols I could see the sock taking form in my mind’s eye. I’ve got my Boy Scout merit badge for knitting, peeps. I made a scarf I wasn’t too proud off, but I got that badge. So it’s not like I don’t have a sense of what is involved. But knitting something round instead of flat? That’s another doozie. What say I give it a stab? Get it? Knitting needle. Stab. Are you with me?
           I’ve started another lawyer novel, “Eclipse”. The typecast guy is such a wonderful lawyer his wife is leaving him. The premise is he is defending a tribal leader in an African village that is being polluted and corrupted by American oil interests. It’s okay so far, let me make some hot chocolate. It is a chilly winter night, probably down in the 60's.
           You’ll want to know what’s going wrong with my circuit. Well, the way it is set up, there is a capacitor that discharges current, and this declining current is sent to an integrated circuit that flashes on and off. As the current drops, the flashing is supposed to become progressively slower and finally stop. If you play the slots, you’ll be familiar with this effect. Well, mine flashes but it never stops or slows down. I’ve built enough circuits to know the problem is in the part of the wiring that “has to be right”. Hence, all the meters shown here as I follow the voltage around the wiring paths.
           For my Xmas treat, I bought myself two new shirts and two new pair of slacks. So I’ll look spiffy if I meet Snow White over the holidays. No wait, I’m confusing elves and dwarfs again. Hey, it’s not like my brothers wore name tags. I’ll have to develop a mnemonic to get those classifications right. You know Skipper, the boat guy? He always knows. But that’s because he doesn’t call them elves. He calls them “those little Santa-f**ks”. With the hammers. From Homo Depot.
           At 9:46PM I got the circuit to work. Due to the ICs, it was not as difficult a build as the LED matrices I managed six months ago. However, the behavior was not program-controlled, and what made it complex was everything had to be done with “dumb” components. There’s a paradox if you ever had one. If the author had known me, he would have taken the opposite tack and described it as an apparatus that acted like a computer, and I would have grasped it all on the spot.
           What was the problem? The resistor color codes most familiar are in the 100Ω to 1000Ω range. I’m now into timing circuits that operate with 10MΩ parts. It’s like reading decimals without commas, here, you try it: 1000000 or 10000000. The three darkest colors are green, blue, and violet. I had one resistor with a green instead of a blue band. One resistor was one zero off. The circuit was flashing, but so fast I thought the lights were on steady.
           So pardon me if I spend the remainder of the evening with some nice simple sock schematics. Knit one, purl one, careful never to confuse such a level of mental activity with real thinking. But if you do, there is always a career in drywalling.

December 18, 2011

2011-12-18T17:44:00.000-05:00

           I’ll always have trouble understanding who would buy a truck like this. The paint job alone tells you it will never be used off-road. This was parked for Sunday brunch at the Burger King, where I stopped after shopping for diodes. Zener diodes. During my year end wrap up a short while ago, I calculated that the scooter had paid for itself in saved gasoline. It made me wonder what kind of mileage this monstrosity gets.
           The scooter has 5,400 miles on it; this would have required 270 gallons of gas in the Taurus (all city miles). It becomes more expensive to keep an older car tuned up than to buy the extra gas, but still I didn’t spend $1,012.50 on gasoline. The scooter required 75 gallons for the same distance, so subtract $281.50. The saving is $731.00, meaning it paid for itself already, even allowing for repairs. Throw in the free trip to St. Augustine and it becomes one hell of a bargain.
           Thanks to bingo, I could have gone anywhere and done anything. So I mostly stayed home. I’m thinking to continue my lessons with the sewing machine. I’ve already patched all my old work clothes (which took a real beating at the shoe shop) and I’m ready for something fancier. I think it would be easier to make things new than to keep repairing old clothes, which can be hard to feed through the machine.
           In related trivia, did you know that 49% of people who knit their own socks wear them to bed? I’ve never knitted socks, but I found this well-written book about how to knit them two at a time. I learned about the second sock hitch, where apparently many knitters finish the first sock, but have trouble finding time to do the second. I’m not saying anything except that I flipped through the book, which did not state what percentage of people still make their own socks.
           Zener diodes. There is so much lame junk on-line that I finally bought some and will check things out myself. On-line authors have real mental difficulty explaining things in plain language, which I instantly suspect means they don’t really know themselves. This is far more prevalent, including amongst university professors, than you think.
           And what about university? For some time now I have balked at the cost of returning simply because most degrees have become zero-sum. Tuition and expenses, plus the time off the job market, are so high that the breakeven point is impossibly far into the future. Remember my dentist, who told me it would take him until he was 48 to pay off his loans? I’ve read articles lately that say the whole college/university system is a bubble about to burst.
           I can see it, how the colleges will do anything to sucker people into student loans by strong-arming them into a program they didn’t originally want. Broward Community College tried that stunt on me, documented elsewhere. You can’t bankrupt your way out of student loans any more, something I would have done if it was possible back when. Nope, college has become too much hype and swindle for me. My original university certainly did not teach me what I needed to know. To this day, I cannot program in any Internet language except C, which I’m only now learning on the Arduino.
           Who recalls my prediction about an invisibility cloak, one that will bend light around the hidden object. Guess what? The very newest of research has done just that, and using the method I described. Light is just another wave, and waves can bend around objects. Since light is energy, the cloak can be self-powering. There is also talk of submarines being shielded from sonar and wake-detecting sensors by using similar technology.
           That tips us off I was up at the bookstore, with a keen eye out for single women. That doesn’t work in this town, yet it is a habit I cannot break. I’ll approach any babe, but I need that tiniest glimmer of reaction first. Anything over 21 in Florida develops a poker face and a crust this thick. Oh, and she should be pretty. I may not be as handsome as I once was, but nor is that my claim to fame. One gal did smile at me in the craft (knitting) section, then disappeared in a moment. Almost like she had an invisibility cloak. Knit me one of those.
           Yeah, I still miss having a gal to chum around with. Not necessarily a girlfriend, but company. Lordy knows I haven’t done too well in that department since 2009. I think the reason I’ve lost the ability to find decent women is due to having worked in offices my entire adult life. There was always a surplus of single women, not my type, but my age and race, employed, well-paid, and quite aware a man as a friend is better than no man at all.
           They did what they were supposed to do, and didn’t do what they weren’t supposed to. That includes things like not becoming a total bitch the minute they think the guy likes them. It involves having interests beyond their own immediate personal comfort.
           I have yet to meet a Florida woman with a productive hobby. I’ve had do-nothing women who put me down for having a variety of interests. It’s crazy. One thing I really miss is going dutch, which was a standard at the phone company. If both of us chipped in, we could go places far nicer and more often. The last woman I let into my house in Florida instantly quit her job and sat in front of the TV all day. Like my brothers, she wondered why I never got mail at the house. Ahem.
           Here’s a beautiful dawn from this morning. I call it “Cloud on Fire O’er the WiFi Mast”. This view is common in Florida when clouds are high enough and the sun is still below the eastern horizon. I took this as an omen, that I’m over the hard part now. Soon, I’ll have a budget to chase real women again. And the guitar to do it with. I’m just not interested in Suzy Homemaker and Sally Secretary. Stay tuned for the new year, it should be a great one.

December 17, 2011

2011-12-17T17:41:00.000-05:00

           There’s glorious Florida sunrise for you. I’m not sure, this was around 7:00AM but we are far enough from the equator that there is still a period of twilight to throw off the exact timing. Now Venezuela, that is strange. When the sun touches the horizon, in one minute it is pitch black, you can’t see anything. I once got lost two blocks from my own house and only found it by bumping along a horse fence till I saw a window light.
           Today is the birth date that I invented. If you see this particular date more often than others, it’s because I started the movement back in the ‘90s to fill out text boxes with this date in 1965 as your birthday. (Now changed to 1985.) In the early days of the Internet far too many people thought “required field” meant you had to give out personal information. On-line identity theft, the ultimate invasion of privacy, was not known back then, but I did predict the monumental rise in the abuse of this data by both criminals and the authorities.
           I have zero sympathy for those who did not listen. At that time, I had already outlined the pattern that the abuse would take, using the credit agencies as the bad example. Look what they have done to American society under the guise of catching a few bad apples. Credit reports have become a ritualized fear-factor with constant warnings in the media not to object, but to watch you’re a… er, I mean, score. And this exploitation of credit information (profiling) for other purposes is a given, thanks to public complacency.
           Our first guitar showcase was less than a total success. Three out of five showed up, so with myself, that makes four. Twice as many people as in the audience at first. While I knew the players, none of them knew each other, which wasn’t the best arrangement either. I intend to follow up in January. The full three hours went ahead, with Electric Eddie playing the last set. One musician stomped out in a huff when his backing tracks were referred to as “canned music”. I thought I did a lousy job of my material though several said they liked it.
           I stopped at Buddy’s for the Xmas party and spotted a gal too pretty to be by herself. I held back and watched. A wise move. Her ex was in the far corner stalking every move. Later, she removed a shawl and I saw the tattoos. I sang my tune and left. But I must say the lucky lady had a Robyn-like body, something increasingly rare in our over-fed society. Earlier at the mall I saw a school bus unload and was shocked to see how puffy fat the teen babes have become. And I see the classrooms are still shoveling out that “personality and good grooming” schlock.
           I finished the 680 pages of “Warlord”, a splendidly written work by an obsequious admirer of British royalty. The fast-moving tale builds on western misperceptions over the workings of the Moslem mind. One should grant that they follow the Koran about as closely as Americans really follow the Bible. More for effect of reputation than for guidance. Bell’s plot is brilliantly clever, though I guessed the culprit right away because I had the advantage of once having stood on the spot the author described to a tee in the first hundred pages. Read it.
           A scooter disappeared in front of the shop where I bought mine. They got overconfident about leaving things overnight without locking up, thinking the dog would keep the thieves away. Nope, and it is apparently the same gang who got my old unit. Same street, same method, same time of day. Now, for reading this far, I’ll get to the good news.
           Here is the entrance to my hospital. I’m still dancing on air from my physical last week. When I return next week for the remaining results, I’ll ask about an exercise program. Both my doctors have heard many stories, so they tend to treat my reports of riding my bicycle 7,000 miles in five years as something I intend to to rather than an accomplished fact. Who can blame them? I need to loose some serious weight. Find me the right gal, it will be gone in three months.
           Bingo was a sellout success, or more accurately, the combined bingo and Xmas party. And thanks to Dec. 25th being a Sunday, I get next Saturday off. That’s probably the big party at JP’s, unless it was this weekend and I missed it. I usually wait for the invite, it’s the custom not to just show up. Besides, even with my great medical this week, that doesn’t mean I have the surplus energy to be gallivanting around. Two hours of steady activity is still my upper daily limit. Still, what I can do in a couple of hours can put a few to shame.
           My predictions for 2012 include inflation at 12%, and closer to 20% for the items real people buy. Imported food will continue to rise. Do not make any decisions that lock in any fixed dollar amounts; you will regret it in both the medium and long run. (I declined the Option 8 mentioned recently for this reason.) Invest what you can in metals, stay away from stocks and bonds. Don’t even think about buying anything like a car or any other major credit purchase. The dollar won’t collapse but it will take a few naughty hits. Unemployment will remain high and the politicians will be looking to start another war.

December 16, 2011

2011-12-16T12:30:00.001-05:00

           I didn’t go out last night and wreck my health, but I did celebrate the right way. By driving myself half nuts with a circuit that would not work, I kept myself up till midnight listening to Xmas carols on FM. On a radio I repaired myself. I must have been the victim of some beginner’s luck, the way a similar circuit worked fine last week. I learned a lot about what doesn’t work. One thing that doesn’t work at all, if you ask me, is the jewelry commercials. Always the man buying diamonds for the woman. Trite.
           Now, an unexpected “must read”. The recent book by Ted Bell, “Warlord”. In the Michener-like mold of fictitious characters in real settings, this excellent book brings in everything from Florida prisons to the death of Diana. While I’m not a spelling Nazi, I find typos quite annoying, and by page 380, there was not a single error, not even grammar. What’s gripping is that the author is either a better fact hound than Clancey, or he’s been there.
           I can bear that out, since he describes localities I’ve been and you don’t get that depth of knowledge from the tour guides. No, I’ve never been to prison, but I’ve been at the intersection of Alton and the causeway. Bell has already supplied me some new vocabulary, such as “shrinkology” and “Sick-ago”. If you like detective novels and don’t read this one, you do yourself a bad turn. Favorite line so far, the two cops discussing if the john doesn’t pay the prosititute, “Is that rape or shoplifting”?
           The only flaws are the enormous number of characters and a style that will make this difficult reading in fifty years. At least Bell’s character names are believable, as long as you accept that the entire British aristocracy is taller, smarter and bluer-eyed than the remaining subjects. Plus they have the added advantage of all having been schoolboy chums. But by 2062, there will be no England or USA, so who cares.?
           Newest car scams, going beyond the zero payment plug, is the $1,000 low price guaranty. The payment only applies if the car is, among other things, the exact same color, both in and out, with identical options right down to the tires. When’s the last time you saw two such vehicles on nearby lots?
           I prefer old cars back when they made them right. Such as this Dodge, year unknown but long before I was born. The radio takes up a full third of the dash. This color is from outer space, but the interior is really nice. Totally restored. Despite the Kansas plates, the rear tags show this to be registered in Florida.
           Another enlightening viewpoint is the Social Security in Canada, called Canada Pension Plan. Touted as in much better shape than the American counterpart, if you look at the payouts, you’ll know why. Examine the average payment below. That maximum payment is a lousy $930, which only 1.5% of the seniors get. To qualify for the top dollar, you must work full time for 44 years after your 18th birthday.
           The average payment is $532, which you cannot possibly live on in Canada. (The desperately poor are “topped off” with a welfare payment called “Old Age Security”. However that carries a set of conditions, one of which is that you reside in Canada, not the Riviera.). I can verify the tax system in Canada is so confiscatory that few people ever really gain over their lifetimes and basically become state dependents after “retirement”. That’s a rather nice way of putting it. If you want to live there, they’ll make damn sure you don’t live anywhere else.
           Just when you’ve seen it all. “Pour Me” by Trick Pony had a bass riff during the verses I could not nail down no how. I tried the usual of tuning E down to D and bending to the note. I finally got it, and leave it to you to do the same, but what do you know, a new and refreshing bass run that doesn’t make sense. When you think you’ve got it, you don’t. Hint it is a jazz riff, not a country rock pattern. It’s piano lick for sure because you don’t even hear it the first twenty times you listen, but you know something isn’t quite right as you play along until you find it.

December 15, 2011

2011-12-15T12:27:00.002-05:00

           See this color on this truck? Kind of a greenish-gold. It seems to be suddenly popular and I do not care for it. I’m not fussy about color, my ’81 Mustang was birdshit yellow. Why, if I didn’t have electronics to distract me, I’d run this paint down for ten minutes. I really don’t like it. Now the good news.
           My Xmas present got here early. My semi-annual physical was at dawn, and my condition has completely stabilized. Sorry if you are not interested, but blog rules this was the event of the day. Except for my old ticker, I’m in pretty good shape. I’ll have to celebrate soon. Heart patients are candidates for liver trouble and diabetes, neither of which appear to be any menace to me. Ride that bicycle and live!
           It’s rare, but my doc and I talked politics. I know she does not ask others such questions, but I detect I must be a much clearer thinking individual than she is used to. The bottom line is that I’m not getting any worse or developing any of the [other] symptoms associated with either a bad heart [which I have] or bad living habits [which I don't have], such as the onset of diabetes frequent with my situation. I’m operating at 45%, and here to tell the tale.
           I’d give anything to go back to work for three of years. Throw a couple hundred grand in the bank, that’s what I’d do. As it stands, I get a $13 raise in January, monthly for 2012. I stopped to buy three bananas and the lady ahead of me, in apparent perfect health, spent $463 in food stamps, in one shopping trip. This may be commonplace in Canada, but it irks me here. The system does not distinguish between those who cannot work and those who cannot find work. Those who fail to acquire and/or maintain adequate job skills should not get more money than those who cannot work.
           The problem with those American laws that protect the weak from the strong is that the same laws inadvertently protect the stupid from the smart. You can figure it out on your own, but I do not like that situation. I’m not saying the smart have a right to commit crimes. But I mean things like the plywood law. (You cannot stockpile plywood and price gouge the twits who wait until the hurricane is on the horizon.) The system encourages mass stupidity by not punishing it. Fortunately, stupidity is punishment enough on its own.
           I wrote to California for more electronic parts. I believe I have exhausted all the free or low cost tutorials on the ‘Net. Those who I considered experts just months ago now seem fallen behind because they learned electronics before the integrated circuits came along. So I asked the people out west, if I write a decent beginner’s manual, will they sell it?
           Next, on to a drum box. While I still know I’ll have to build my own, until that time I need something I can use. That means one of the sleazy products on the shelves, a Korg, an Akai, or a Roland. All junk, as I’ve pointed out. But I’m far closer to building something that works than ever. Maybe one day I’ll modify an existing unit. I can run the display part, you know.
           I’m reading “Warlord” and liking it. It came out a year back, a novel about the newest terrorist threat, American and British prisons. The Islamists, being Arabs, were being thwarted, so they’ve begun terrorist cells in the nations’ prisons. It is easy to brainwash the younger convicts that government is the great evil. It is fertile ground indeed, and proves the Bin Laden types are nothing like the camel-jockey imbeciles the CIA likes to portray. Yes, they are savages, but damn smart ones.
           Worse, western nations have no protection against this internal threat, and the US/Brit immigration policies have allowed the establishment of the largest Muslim communities outside of the Middle East. We can only hope they blow up politicians and not civilians.            Never forget, the terrorists are not out to win battles, rather to bankrupt us. And they are succeeding as only cowards can, by avoiding individual combat. That’s why the most hated American weapons are not the most feared ones. (The Arabs absolutely can’t stand the pilotless (robot, remote controlled) US drones. Terrorism doesn’t work on machines.)
           And filament lights don’t work on the scooter. I replaced the license plate lamp, a dirty job but painless in lieu of the $275 citation I've heard they hand out. The bulb was too small to replace with an LED, but I’m thinking on the problem. That, and I’m thinking about the fact that my vested and fully-funded pension fund just reported an actuarial value of slightly over $3.5 billion. That’s three thousand five hundred million dollars. I won’t define actuarial value, but for Social Security it is probably some negative number.

December 14, 2011

2011-12-14T12:23:00.000-05:00

           Ray-B called to alert that silver has dropped to $28-something per ounce. Usually these events are preceded by some announcement. I heard nothing, nor was I listening. Keep an eye on it, should it drop to $25 I’ll be in a buying mood. Here’s confirmation of the usefulness of research. Finally, the striped toothpaste mystery has been unraveled. And to think I once believed the guy who told me there was another small tube of colored paste inside the big one.
           Meanwhile, I spent the day in deep study. This time, Zener diodes. Like 101% of all available material, none of it explains in simple English what the component does or how to use it, and all are guilty of lingo and jargon. Don’t these people comprehend how badly that discourages the newcomer.
           For instance, the Zener “reacts”, is “discrete”, can “avalanche”, and may “act as a clamp”. Gee, now go build something. I’ll sift through this junk and find the facts, but very little of what I’ve learned can be attributed to terrible writers in the electronics arena. These diodes are one of the remaining single-purpose components I have not used in a circuit. Still to go are coils, relays and chokes.
           The lure of integrated circuits is more powerful every round of study. They, ICs, appear to fall into three categories. Those that count numbers, those that count time, and those that take analog input and change it to digital. If that turns out to be true, I may be the first author who managed to say it so clearly. For example, the LCD display on your watch is the result of a time counter.
           I zipped to the library, noting my license plate light is out. That is a prime candidate for an LED replacement. The soldering is quite intricate, using the existing tungsten supports. Last week I saw an ad for a “precision solder table”, which consisted of a flat base and a soldering iron mounted on brackets that guided the tip to an exact position of any circuit board resting on the base. But what if what you are soldering isn’t nice and flat? It’s great I may have finally found a use for those otherwise useless clear LEDs they stuff in the variety packs.
           My first practical device is on the drawing board. While I’ve built several working circuits, these were never installed in a fancy case and really put to the test. The plan is to build a fake car “alarm” around the theory that car thieves worth their salt will know what any mass-marketed brands look like. Using the 555 timer technology, and a simple light sensitive resistor to turn it off in the day, I will do my best to calculate the lowest battery power possible to make the thing flash as a deterrent.
           Ideally, the battery should charge itself in the sunlight. That is, until you see the prices they want for solar cells. Even the broken pieces cost three times what I’d pay. FYI, silver is one of the determining costs of the cells, the more silver, the better the performance. Therein exists the tradeoff. I’ve read it reliably that the finest cells can’t be made economical unless silver drops to $14 an ounce. Hardly likely.
           Trivia. I think I found the first recorded use of the name “Festus”. Sorry all you Gunsmoke fans, that was not a word created by the series writer. It turns out to be the first name of a Roman poet or writer. If you’ve never heard of him, recall that most of the ancients were known by a single name, usually their last name.
           Music practice is going fine. I’m finding my key to be good old C, with selected tunes in E and G, and a rare couple in D. I know the technology to change the key is widespread today, but it wasn’t when I mastered it back in ’03. That chick singer never got back after Thanksgiving, leading me to conclude she was another local big talker. There is a guitarist is the wings, he’s 35 and lives out in Davie. Either way, this time I’ll have my own act to fall back on in 2012.
           I suppose my doing a solo was made inevitable by the horrible Florida guitarist situation. They claim they want to play yet always have the same hidden agenda. They hallucinate about being a star but haven’t the ability, so the alternative is, like my brothers, to not to let anyone else star either. Their stock method is to insist on exclusively playing tunes that feature heavy guitar work [the “everybody loves this song” syndrome]. There are at least sixteen such losers in Broward who psychologically cannot admit they’ve been fired by a lowly bassist. Seventeen if you include the Hippie.
           Did you know I test market each new tune up at Jimbos? The only time I played bass before like I do now was when Robyn and I did the bass-vocal duet thing twenty years back. A case could be made that I learned to play bass solo gigs at Jimbos. Learning guitar is only the next logical next step. I need to perform publicly a minimum amount to keep my act sharp and I don’t get that with other guitarists. Today’s top numbers were Trick Pony’s “Pour Me” and Roger Miller’s “Singin’ The Blues”.
           But I have my 28 songs. This is the traditional number I regard as a gig minimum. So as not to confuse, this means I have a list of 28 tunes that I have both played and sung, something that was not so two months ago. It means I’ve realized I can do it and concentrates my efforts on the attainable. It does not mean I can do a bang-up job. It will be a milestone and a miracle if I pull it off.

December 13, 2011

2011-12-13T15:47:00.001-05:00

           It’s a prototype brake light. The scooter eats the stock item, so here is my suggested replacement. Sure it looks rough, but have you seen the first transistor? I scrutinized the bad bulbs and noticed a weak filament. The pencil is pointing at the “brake pedal”, for yes, this is a fully working model. It is nearly weightless, lasts a long time, easy to maintain, and best of all, my unit fits snugly into the existing socket. If only they still made women like that.
           At 6:30 AM I was driving out west to the clinic, a thirty-mile round trip to give a single drop blood sample. This lunacy is why the US economy cannot be fixed by any few billion dollar incentives. The past four generations have been passing the buck until we can no longer do business the “American way”. The clinic locates itself up in Sunrise to save on rent, but the overall cost is likely higher due to the gasoline required to get there. The clinic saves, but not the customers or staff. Florida saves by not posting mileage signs on the highways. The cost is made up by those who get lost.
           Agt. M got a mini-lecture today about going full blast. I could care less if he wants to burn out, but he missed the Monday meeting. Can’t have that. True, he could claim I did the same when I was young, but you know, he is already well beyond the age where I learned working like that doesn’t pay. You must use your brains, and use them in the correct way despite how this draws enemy fire.
           Speaking of which, allow me this opportunity to make some clarifications. When I said my new musical direction was competitive, some took that to mean unbridled aggression. Wrong, I never said that, and that is not how I compete. The key to success is to avoid confrontation and I am the past master of the flanking maneuver. My target is not other musicians; my target is the audience.
           And, my position is entirely defensive, focusing on what I can do, not how other players will react. I’ll even tell you my strategy. I am really doing much more than singing and strumming at once, so I’m heavily developing advanced reminders to the audience that this is as “live” as it gets without tracks. And I’m around 60% ready to go.
           While I’m here, let me address the “wrong” topic: the facts about available gigs. In a larger sense right now, there is some guitarist out there who is taking work away from me. That he may not consciously realize it or admit to it is a matter for sociologists, not musicians or economists. Music is inherently competitive and my suggestion that the number of unemployed guitarists is constant means I could not create an imbalance if I wanted to. Just because my approach is planned and deliberate in light of what is going on does not make it any better or worse than a person acting in a vacuum.
           Put another way, if I was competing with other musicians, I would copy them. When a farmer plants corn because all the other farmers plant corn, he is going to reap exactly what they reap. If nothing else, my act is certainly original and it’s not like I’m invading territory. I’ve been in this business for decades. Even when times were bad recently, at no point ever did I own less than two guitars, a keyboard, a harmonica, a drum box, three amplifiers and a complete PA system.
           If you want to know how I view other musicians, it is with indifference. Most of them don’t play what I want to hear. For that matter, another droning gitar-boy doing another endless version of Hotel California can damper my evening. Guys, that tune is so worn out only the drunks still like it. I despise the fact that in this town, if you want to go out to a saloon with a band, you’ve got about two choices in music. I’m merely shifting some ballast toward a third popular choice.
           Here’s the old truck from Outdoor World. They put it outside to slowly rust away. Like Molina Health insurance does to old people. Trivia. Snakes use four methods of propulsion. They are lateral, rectilinear, concertina and side-winding. That means they slither, lift-pull, coil around something or twist along. But the correct terms are so wonderfully academic I thought to learn them. Please, no allegories about at fifth method of snake movement called “Molina”.
           Last, I notice the candidate, Gingrich, has sworn off adultery. Who came up with that one? A 62-year-old man swearing off extra-marital sex? Five years after he swore off sex all together. Okay, to my fans, I formally declare I will cease wearing a Mohawk and swimming the English Channel. It is only right that those of us in the public eye make these meaningful sacrifices.

December 12, 2011

2011-12-12T15:39:00.002-05:00

           Feeling like a little luxury for Xmas? Here is a leg of lamb, and not that big a leg either. $40.72. I haven’t eaten lamb in twenty years because of such ridiculous prices. Australia’s got more sheep than people, so why does this stuff cost twice as much as prime beef? Not that I eat beef, but that’s my choice, what with mad cow and steroids and who knows what’s going on with that industry. I’m partial to the odd Whopper. Generally, I consume more fish than beef.
           One thing for sure, this computer is going back permanently. This is the seventh time I’ve had to redo everything and five times it’s been back to the shop. The latest theory is that it has too much memory, but a unit that cannot handle one gig should not be on the market. Every time it comes back from the shop, I have to re-install all my programs which are rarely MicroSoft and this takes most of a day. No, this computer has been literally more trouble than it is worth, which is about $300 wholesale. But I’ve spent a week trying to make it work.
           This colored my whole day. So keep your head down if you don’t want to hear me bitch. The lady who can’t make up her mind talked to me again on my one break up at the coffee shop. Do I feel sorry for how bad off people are these days? No, only about the 10% who were already bad off before the depression. The other 90% have nobody to blame but themselves. They didn’t put away when times were good.
           I’ve also had it with Office 2007. For no perceptible improvement, the jerks at MicroSoft moved all the commands and like I have the patience for that kind of nonsense. It is easy to note the changes they’ve made are for dumb bastards. People like fat-ass Sally the Secretary have all the dumbo features at hand, spell-checkers and other things that drop-outs need to function. But just you try to get something done. Try to find the format cell button now. Dumb bastards don’t need a format button, so it is hidden real good.
           There, I feel better. Ray-B called, he is looking at a Chevy Blazer. That’s a vehicle I dislike less than others, but I view all non-working trucks as seriously expensive transportation—and SUVs are trucks. On the other hand, I’ve had great luck with used Fords in my life. He’s got stuff that need moving, so a truck is handy, but I’m leery of vehicles that cost money when not being used. I would not buy a truck unless I worked with it every day or other day. I’d get another station wagon.
           I’ve been fasting for my physical tomorrow, makes me even crankier over little things. I went over the confusing array of options for my eventual retirement, I know you’re glad to see somebody effectively planning ahead. It will be a while yet, but it is clear I should take the bulk of the money as fast as I can. Then when I hit 65 later, I could hold my hand out like the rest or move to Mexico. I’m leaning toward an early payout for two reasons. A) My health, and B) the government does not dare let 85 million baby boomers starve to death.
           Did you see that article that kids are being forced to use aliases on Facebook because college admission types scan the pictures to weed out party animals? Ah-ha, what did I say about this so long ago? Who’s the paranoid now? I’m not the one using an alias. You complacent types have created a world where out of necessity your own children must learn to sneak and hide before they grow up. You think the college snoopers aren’t going to get suspicious when teens don’t have a Facebook history? But, same as ever, if you grow the balls to speak up, you’ll blow your lifelong cover as Mr. Nice Guy.
           Well, nice guy, your government is claiming victory as the number of unemployed in [south] Florida fell by 4,000 last month. We now have only 238,000 people walking the streets. I like the ballots in Utah which must contain the option “none of the above”. I snapped another picture of the Tropical Acres sign, still advertising a non-existent business after 62 years. If you are curious, the sign is a mile south of the Ft. Lauderdale airport, on Federal Hwy just as you enter Dania Beach.

December 11, 2011

2011-12-11T15:27:00.005-05:00

           Have you ever seen 35,000 motorcycles? I have. Heard them too. Kind of like a small earthquake on the horizon. This was a rally at the Mardi Gras. This was taken moments before one of those Florida squalls that soaks everything for 15 minutes, then leaves you muggy damp for the next two hours. Other than that it was a great event. So great, the helicopter news cameras kept half the town from their Sunday naps and slowed traffic on Federal to a creepy-crawl until past noon.
           Like a good accountant, I figure those cycles are worth a conservative $20,000 each. That means roughly $70 million of metal at this one party. This is something the world does not always understand, that even on the way down, America is by far the richest nation in history. Take a good look. And the Japs are going to invade who?
           Now some serious inspection. The guitar gig last night went too well for the level of my ability. People reacted to something other than my new-found chording and this development must be reviewed. A dozen people commented that my choice of music was impressive, but I tend to play feel-good pieces anyway. So, what went right and why did it go right?
           Now to inspect the gig last evening. It went too well to be explained by my three weeks of guitar practice alone. People were reacting to the show, not my guitar and if possible I would like to cash in on that. I got kudos for an impressive set, but that has to be tempered by my penchant for playing feel-good music in the first place. People in the audience who never say anything came up to the stage. Like the club owner.
           Since I’m not that great, let’s look at what went right. First, the drum box, which I can totally syncopate with thanks to my piano/bass background. I already have a liking for vocals that don’t “follow” the music, which I like even more because others struggle with it. When I play it, there is a combination of the drum box, apparently unsynchronized vocals and now some piano-like off-beat strumming.
           This combination isn’t new, what is new is that before doing it on my own, I [formerly] assumed another musician was necessary. I did not invent this three-in-one technique, but it certainly gives the impression of the music being multi-dimensional. This is a superior product to the “hum and strum” standard in this town. I’m incredulous at the musicians who won’t use a drum box, but will use backing tracks.
           For that matter, most local musicians don’t know the correct method of using a drum box. It must be played, not just tromped on and off. It would take a chapter to explain this, but that and not using a different beat for every song is a very common error.
           Finally, by rhythms are matched to the musical theme. I wasted two years seeking a guitarist who understood this concept and I had so-called professionals tell me it was wrong. Guitar school must teach small minds to start the song of great, but revert to boring licks during the remainder of the tune. Maybe they think it makes their lead breaks sound better, or something equally ridiculous.
           My strumming often mimics other instruments, and I am meticulous about keeping that motif going for the entire song. Unless you sing, guitar practice is a boring chore. However, playing bass has handsomely prepared me for the role. I suspect this method will never be popular for the guitar part gets reduced to just another component.
           Now that I know I can sell this music competitively, I’ll lean into it. One thing I do claim is perfect timing, not just near-perfect. This makes it possible to lead or follow the beat to adapt to the audience mood. I am on to something that works, so look out Clapton and Hendrix.
           See the broken bulb? This scooter eats tail lights. I’ve replace them so often, I’ve secured the plastic flange under the fender with tie-straps so I don’t have to remove bolts to get at the socket. The scooter is in great shape at one third of its life cycle, probably because I’ve put a third of its purchase price into upkeep. First world dilemma: do scooters have a life cycle or a cycle cycle?
           Later, Colorado called for a two-hour conference. All is not right, but that is based on others, you know, outsiders, making things difficult. While hoping for everything to work out, if it does not, we now have a solid backup plan. There was little doubt that at some point I would be in Colorado anyway. Nobody has gotten between us, not even her four husbands or my Robyn. And this time, we have money.

December 10, 2011

2011-12-10T15:21:00.000-05:00

           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.

December 9, 2011

2011-12-09T15:17:00.000-05:00

           I rode the big bus to the Ft. Lauderdale library a day after I said that wasn’t likely. The reason is I woke up feeling not so great and I’ve learned lately not to push that parameter. Nothing serious, and ten years ago I would have ignored it and gone right in to work. Here is a display of copper ore from the IMAX science museum where I wound up later. It has a beauty in itself, if you ask me.
           Here’s the day chonologically. I decided on the bus so as to take it easy, but first off I had to pay the full fare. It seems a new ID card is required to get the discount and a half-day waiting in line for the card. That’s the modern mind-set. If you are old or disabled you have nothing better to do all day.
           As I entered the library, there were some veterans giving a historical quiz. I think their point was to show how non-military types (such as myself) had no understanding or appreciation of the various wars. Boy, did they pick the wrong guy to make a bad example. I answered every question before they finished asking it and corrected them on some of the finer details. They’re probably still wondering what in hell hit them.
           Take for instance this extremely rare photo of the first US drone beside its German (not Nazi, one of the aforesaid finer details) counterpart, the V-1 missile. This primitive contraption actually sank a few Jap ships. It looks like it was built by Cessna and you can see the 500 pound bomb slung under the fuselage. I mean really, propellers in 1944? Examples of future drones that failed to make any real impact include Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, and the entire US Department of Agriculture.
           The touted main library had four books on electronics, three on basics and one that presumed you had a machine shop handy. Another tedious pattern is the projects. They are much the same in books published 30 years apart. The traffic light, the water depth sensor, the English police car siren. Has nobody come up with anything new? Again, there were no intermediate level schematics, I would define that level as having 4 to 6 integrated circuits and 80 to 100 connections.
           In two and a half hours, by skipping the duplicate chapters, I read all four books and derived one project. A 555 timer that buzzes for 60 seconds unless you hit the stop button. That’s it. I was hoping for more and so I strolled over to the IMAX. The only 3-D film was a cartoon about penguins that cost $14. When I asked why the price was double, they said it was a special feature. Like I cared. It turns out the $8 films I like are science productions by IMAX, where the bird movie was a studio product.
           The plot was for kids, although kids are not allowed unaccompanied into that theater. The characters were all 1960s stereotypes with Mexican, Swedish, and Irish accents. The musicals were a little too reminiscent of gospel for me. But the depictions of Antarctica were phenomenal for a fiction production. The producers knew about krill swarms, global warming, penguin species, whale feeding, and blizzard flocking. They pulled a boner, mind you, on that scene with the polar bears.
           Later, across the street, there is a huge screen TV set up. I don’t know it is seasonal or who puts it on. While I was the only patron in the IMAX, the park had a small crowd watching “Home Alone”. Bring your own folding chair and popcorn. Here’s hoping this photo gives you some idea of the screen size as I took this from a good 100 feet away.
           Where I had planned on doing a quick guitar set at the club, I just wasn’t up to it after getting off the bus. I walked a mile today and it wore me down. Me, the guy who loves to walk! The purpose of the library today was several electrical concepts that were not making sense. I decided to meet them head on. These include circuits I designed that should work but don’t. It’s my feet that are tired, not my brain.
           I did not make headway, since the chances of finding a book that addresses my questions is fantasy. But having used one in practice, my understanding of integrated circuits is leapfrogging to the point where it is time to place a big order. I’ve glossed over most of the formulas in all this, and a large number of burned out LEDs later, I’ve learned to choose components in the mid-range, like always using a 22k resistor on the transistor base. Or choosing a 100nF capacitor for the 555 timers.
           So there. How was your day?

December 8, 2011

2011-12-08T12:02:00.003-05:00

           This was one unspectacular day. Here is that photo of my freezer compartment we’ve all been waiting for. The high point of this Thursday was getting caught in the rain on the return leg from the Ft. Lauderdale Library. That place is off my list. My free parking spaces have been either found or blocked. No way am I paying $1.50 per hour to use the public book place. I even cruised around for a while trying to find a vacant meter, but the best was only 22 minutes.
           Brazenly, I asked an overly-idle parking enforcement type if there was any free parking for the library. He snickered and informed me those days were “long gone”. So I went to the Pro Bass shop. They have free parking and much better-looking (though far from attractive) employees. Not to mention an array of life-size Xmas toy vehicles that cost half as much as my scooter. I regret and bow to the logic that a bus-pass at $3.00 has now become a viable option and one of the few remaining reasons ever to go to Ft. Lauderdale.
           Here is some snowman poop. This product displays the much higher discerning power of today’s sophisticated shopper. Mmmm, and reindeer droppings as well. I’d like to say I bought something while there, but I don’t own a credit card. When I reported Americans were due to spend billions on Xmas, I didn’t mean all at Outdoor World.
           The main computer is in the shop and the electric bike is going back for warranty work. While there, it may be retro-fitted with these new balloon tires I’ve seen on cross-country bikes. If they’ll fit on the eBike, it promises a much smoother ride than offered by the cracked and pitted Florida bike paths. I took the scooter all these places today, including a windy trip around the airport perimeter road. As the carriers do another round of out-bankrupting each other, I observed some 14 Frontier jet airliners waiting on the tarmac. One company’s loss is another’s feast.
           I had the time to sketch a few dozen new circuits based on the learning from last Monday’s meeting. This time I had a definite pattern of new understanding toward the remaining basics of transistors and logic gates—but not thanks to the books. I’m saying the learning of electronics has degenerated into a despicable pattern. I get the high-priced but rotten material, study it until it becomes so frustrating that I pass by it. I am then condemned to trial and error at the next highest level, and when that agony is done, am forced to return to the earlier lessons to fill in the blanks.
           Those who’ve been through this system recognize it as apprenticeship. To keep his position, the master takes no heed of student abilities, rather feeds them tidbits so they has to keep coming back years longer than is really necessary. That whole setup favors the slow learner. Remember the carpenter who had me sweeping his floor? Told me that part of learning the job. That type of dishonesty.
           Certain lessons reminded me that I had been “taught” some electronics in grade school. Somehow a switch that turns a light on and off on the lab table was not that inspiring. Also, they did show us some of the gates and truth tables on paper. But whether these were real or theoretical, or the size of a refrigerator, nobody could say. While the school had dollars for soccer balls and baseball bats, there was no budget for a single integrated circuit.
           In the America culture department, we see that Washington state has joined others in offering on-line divorce. For $24 plus a $6 filing fee, the uncontested no-children no-property couple can serve walking papers on each other. I believe community property states should give people an easy out, but observe the bureaucratic flavor to it all. It isn’t $30, it is $24 plus $6. So don’t be getting those figures mixed up. Anyway, you log on, get a case number, fill in the basic facts and you are done.

December 7, 2011

2011-12-07T11:58:00.000-05:00

           Happy Pearl Harbor Day. I mean, Happy Birthday, Eatmore. That babe [Judy] goes back a lot of years, so far back that I was in love and didn’t know what it was. Today didn’t give me time to think about it, I dove 62 miles to get a replacement hard drive. So actually, I did have time to think. Sixty-two miles is a marathon in Florida. The scooter shines like new, but it isn’t.
           The Xmas jam was subjected to further planning. He who controls the PA system controls the empire. I’ve got close to two hours of material, which is plenty to fake an open mic at the coffee house. There remains the contentious issue of whether Dirk is invited. Not unless it is country, and I point out I would not recognize the guy if I passed him on the street today.
           Dirk has not properly meshed with any band that I’ve been present with. That’s hard to argue with that unless you were there. Were you? They say I should not ask a pro to do boom-chick; I reply why not? You say give him the right band and he’ll be fantastic; I reply all Hell needs is water and good people. The show is on, Friday the 16th. It is country based music and that is understood. This could be interesting.
           By that token, I’d better get my rhythm playing up to speed. I’m not too worried if I don’t, since the best tunes I do are not guitar-pickin’ standards. I traditionally do well when the audience is well-stocked with well-stacked women. That isn’t so surprising when you ask where a chick could go in this town to hear Faith Hill, Nancy Sinatra, & Mary Chapin Carpenter. Macho guitarists won’t dare touch that stuff. (On the other hand, I can play any music I please, because I have a rather large ah-ah.)
           The trip was a loss, as it was the motherboard. Some of the dll files won’t load properly into RAM during the initial install process. This is time-consuming, so I watched antenna TV. I once predicted I’d be seeing all these movies for the first time later in life. I didn’t say they’d be any more interesting but they certainly are corny past the point of amusing. How about the bad guy hiding out “in a little place near Alberta” or paying for a week at the hotel with a ten dollar bill?
           The waves are full of ancient Pearl Harbor reels. That attack may very well be the only thing the Japanese did right, and even then they didn’t follow up. One thing that wasn’t faked was the panic, whipped up by the media. Folk from the Dakotas to New York, famed for their firm grasp on geography, were convinced the Japs would be marching down Main Street. (Many still are today.) It doesn’t really matter if Americans know where the enemy is, only that they believe he exists. IQ test: is it Iran or Iraq on the west side near Israel? How many of us could identify most countries if the map was upside down?
           I’ve finished reading the new book. At $25, provided less than a week of reading. I need to find a less expensive source of material. The book leaves you hanging in air, but claims you are now qualified to take on major projects. Like what? I tried several on-line colleges to find the list of texts required for their electronics courses, but they don’t publish that information. Maybe I’ll find out if they have a used book store on some nearby campus. Cost is a factor, these are textbooks, not romances, and I read 24 of them a year. That’s in addition to regular reading, newspapers, magazines and Internet publications.
           Later, the scooter trip account may be misleading. The outlet is only 11 miles away. It was late afternoon, so I took 441 and decided to just keep on going. While it was cool outside, I was still riding a motorcycle into the wind in the dead of winter. Try that in Montana. With 5,200 miles clocked, the scooter is now reaching early middle age. I have plan for replacement and no plan where the money is to come from. I learned this behavior from the Social Security people.
           And the free WiFi? It is still just a sign on the office door. It is nearly Xmas and only half the seasonal lots are occupied. There’s only one thing left to do. Raise the rent. But wait, they tried that last year when only ¾ of the lots were occupied. Shouldn’t somebody start waving a flag or start a limited engagement war or something?

December 6, 2011

2011-12-06T11:42:00.001-05:00

           I took the day off. To read and study electronics, that is. I never did find much relaxation in just goofing off. The club meeting showed we were weak on certain subjects, so I was in the library. Where I met this guy who thought I was Mike from the shop. When Mike closed down, he had some 90 laptops that people failed to pick up within the 30 days posted on the wall. No, I don’t know how to contact Mike, but I’d say the library guy can kiss the computer goodbye.
           This photo is (a somewhat closer look at) the most advanced circuit I’ve constructed. Those who read both the wiring and the schematic note that it isn’t quite finished. This may look easy compared to the complicated LED circuits I produced six months ago, but if you look into the middle, you’ll see the NAND gate and for me that is heady stuff.
           In fact, most of what you see here is wiring, all the main components are inside the chip. Note how closely the layout matches the schematic. Our test gear is getting much better as well. I’ve learned Cutcher’s “Never Have” three rules of electronics. You will never have
           1) enough time.
           2) enough money.
           3) the right equipment.
Nor did I get the hard drive for my broken down unit. That involves a trip up to Pompano Beach for parts or spend the $85 here. If it is sunny tomorrow, hello Pompano. I know the road up there very well since last month. Today was a study day, and I’m considering a couple of advanced lab kits from NerdKits, something I would not have dared a few months ago. I was reading Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics. I’ll have to add a fourth: While obeying 1, 2, & 3, a robot must make a profit for its human.
           I see Ford has produced another Mustang, a direct descendant of the Boss 302, my dream car. They were fools to quit making it or even for changing it into that dwarf Mustang II. This one is a fastback and tips the scales at $41,000. That is, ten times what it used to cost. I saw it in Popular Mechanics while reading an article on “connected vehicle technology”. I’ll let you look that one up yourself. Be very afraid. How long before they pull you over because you didn’t register to vote? Careful now, I’m not complaining about any one technology, but how the whole big picture looks.
           Be advised that you cannot get a price quote from the Ford Company price quote web site. They pump you for personal information, then all you get back is directions to the nearest dealership, where presumably they will have downloaded your life history by the time you walk in the door. Up yours, Ford.
           Things go in cycles, and an anti-dog barking gadget is back in the picture. Two neighbors have moved either side of Agent M and he spent $70 on one of those birdhouse chirpers that emit a 20,000Hz tone when the dog barks. They don’t work for quite a number of reasons. The range is limited, both the detector and the speaker. And he’s dealing with two dogs. So, we look at building something with a little more juice to it. Remember you are not punishing the dog, you are training it. But first you have to get its attention.
           And I also found out that I can hear a 25kHz tone quite clearly. It also had a 27.5 kHz setting and I could just hear that, too. What’s lacking is volume. We need is a piezo horn. The birdhouse model is pretty lame to look at. It would not fool anyone except the dog. I’ll research the hearing range of dogs and move the frequency way up past what I can detect. Remember that 150W amp I bought in Miami? I’ve still got it in the shed.
           As far as new knowledge, I’m reading up more on op-amps, or operational amplifiers. It’s another area where you cannot get just the facts. They tell you one input is “inverting” and the other is “non-inverting”, then wander off into space somewhere, satisfied they taught you real good. I may have been hasty in giving Cutcher, the author, such high ratings. After page 100 or so, he begins to make drastic and misleading errors. He’s still a cut above the rest, but a real beginner’s book has yet to be written. There is no doubt the club could do a better job.
           I watched the DVD “Ravenous”. Not bad, based on the Donner Party, and produced on the cheap side. Lots of gore and a novel plot although the individual chapters are quite time-worn. I’d say it accurately displays the simpletons that made up the US Cavalry back in those days. I’ll give it a rating of “when you’ve got nothing else to do”.
           Last, gold and silver are still easing along at September’s prices. A few bumps here and there around the odd crisis, usually in Europe. My call is “accumulate”, which means buy an ounce a week awaiting some movement. You only make or lose when there is movement but I have a strong feeling there will be a sharp movement up once this tourist and Xmas season proves to be a bust. The public is supposed to spend something like $400 billion.
           But consider this. Most of that would be credit spending. In American accounting, accounts receivable are treated like cash, that is, a liquid asset. What improves in the economy when suddenly people owe each other another huge whack of debt? It worked for 60 years, but there was underlying wealth and productivity in the country. Politicians were only scamming millions, not billions. Most jobs paid enough to get people deep enough in debt to fantasize they were middle class. And as previously stated, most of what we consumed was produced right here. It’s payback time, America.

December 5, 2011

2011-12-05T12:38:00.002-05:00

           The good news of today was the totally successful club meeting, where we have finally broached the topic of logic gates. We don’t know the formulas or designs but the photo shows a successful logic circuit that we both built and understand. Plus, we were able to discover and test both digital and analog input into a transistor and discover they behaved differently. Funny how not one genius in the 600 articles I’ve now read bothered to even mention there was a difference.

           It’s been raining since before dawn. That makes me growlie on days I need to get things done. It is near impossible to hit a train anywhere and the more in Florida since it is flat and all crossings are controlled. Somebody managed it and the traffic has been diverted down the road in front of my place. Tell me, numbskulls of the world, how do you hit a train? Set up your picnic table on the tracks?
Then I put on the rock station and what do I hear? That stupid spinning wheel song, ride a painted pony my ass. You call that rock? Oh yeah, like ZZ Top is going to remake it as a title on their next album. That song sucks, period. It sucked on day one and it still sucks today. Rock stations must get bribed to play that pathetic track.
           And another thing is those knuckleheads who are now complaining about how auto insurance companies check their credit ratings. Serves them you right. Didn’t they always say they got nothing to hide? Oh, I see. They didn’t mean it like that. I remember you and your type. Maybe the drivers expect us to believe that although they are irresponsible with money, their driving is perfect. That would be like those dunces on the Internet who can’t spell but claim their thinking is spot on.
           We have another guitarist trying out, but this time I don’t let up on my independent guitar studies. He’s 35-ish and plays “The Race is On” which I told him we’d play if he can sing it. Remember that one? Fortunately he is a fan of the pre-198 music and you can play that stuff anywhere if you do it right. He admits to very little duo experience. I guess we all want to play in a big band at some point. I don’t. Who remembers the band of Simon & Garfunkel?
           That chick singer seeking the guitarist has not been in touch. This is expected from the half-serious types in this town. Along comes any distraction, like Turkey Day, and they lose their focus. Remember the monkey hunt? How they can only act as a team when the prey is in sight. As soon as the food runs behind a tree, the monkeys degenerate into a squabbling mob. Florida musicians.
           Always read the “Business Monday” section, it’s better than the comics. They can get creative with their use of stats, so focus on the stats. Housing has leveled off with sales far below historical That tells me people who are underwater are refusing to sell at a loss, or false pride. But I suspect many of them have “refinanced” and soon they will start retiring in batches with no hope but to unload the property. And move into a trailer. Make sure it doesn’t have a leaky roof!
           JP is talking about a fixer-upper. I’m not convinced. Contractors are creeping back into that business and like the “Enron crowd”, the average American has not allowed for the 40 million illegals they let into the country. Joe Average though it “adorable” how all those poor Mexicans ran the border on the six o’clock. Why, they just wanted a better life and who can blame them? Let’s hear the tune Joe whistles when he realizes the Mexican took his retirement job. I say [to JP] the better plan is to wait just a while longer. Something is not right enough yet with housing.
           In closing, the big event today was those logic circuits. It does no good to stare at diagrams, so get out and build one. If you are fortunate, you will have everything you need to do just that. We, on the other hand, had to grub around to even find somebody who knew what we were looking for. I’ll give you the big hint: you want to start with a 4011 chip (NAND gates). If that proves too complicated, well, let me think, yep, you are plain sh*t out of luck. Go sell popcorn.

December 4, 2011

2011-12-04T14:49:00.001-05:00

           Why a photo of the door latch? Because this paragraph is out of sequence. This is the new digital camera work described below. It is also a celebration of finding out what “latch” meant in the context of electronics. It means about the same, to holds things open or closed until released, but just you try to get that information out of the bastards. Anyway, notice the shiny metal and this is about to get rigged with an unbeatable home-built alarm that, although not RFID, is RFID compatible.
           I slept for 11 hours. This isn’t a blog about my habits, but that little nap rated as most unusual, so it’s listed. That was after I spent one of the least interesting evenings of my life, sitting here at home like Joe & Mary Shmeeb. Do other people really live that way? Don’t take it to mean I sat in front of the boob tube, I read 23 projects in the new electronics manual. What I mean is I worked for and therefore deserve a better Saturday night than average.
           Plenty was accomplished, but even for me, partying on stage downtown is still more fun than learning. There’s probably a balance to things I don’t appreciate as the price one pays for never being bored. I must focus on the positive. For example, items that were bamboozling 90 days ago are now in short supply, such as 47µF capacitors and double throw switches. So you know, a four IC project is on the drawing boards, where in August we didn’t know how logic gates even worked.
           First, it is breakfast on bingo and then to Big Lots for a new digital camera. Sorry, Vivitar, you don’t make the grade. I’ve had a ten dollar Argus that blows you out of the water. Then analog meters. A while back I ran across somebody selling them by the pound, now I can’t find him or remember where. Also, I’ve been asked about the term “first world problem”. This is an Internet sarcasm about what comfortable first-world residents consider a crisis compared to what third world unfortunates go through every day.
           [Author’s note: I found the meters and ordered five at $3.00 each. They are totally outmoded by digital models, but the swing needles are an invaluable learning tool. This blurry photo is explained below.]
           Plus, a new term has entered our vocabulary. First encountered in writings by Cutcher, how do you like “solder jockey”? It is meant to describe those who work on assembly lines, but we extend it to include those who solder together kits and call themselves robot builders. Today, I am installing the seventh hard drive on the super-computer and it goes back to the seller under warranty if that does not solve the boot-up trouble once and for all. I hate MicroSoft.
           We have a new Emerson digital camera. It’s a vast improvement over the Jazz predecessors, better designed and faster to bring into action. It lacks macro, that is it blurs objects closer than around a foot away. All this after I missed three classic photos this morning. An unusual gathering of birds at the casino lot, two cars backing into each other at the supermarket, and a scattering of aluminum cans. I’ll explain. There is a recycling trash bucket near the office door during tourist season. But the wind can blow it over at night and there is a wind eddy in the driveway.
           This sets the metal rolling around the parking lot with a terrible intermittent racket following the gusts and drafts. I can sleep through anything, so I thought I’d see how long before it drove the Frenchies crazy. Around five hours. When I got up at dawn, the cans were kicked all over the office lawn where they don’t roll and the bucket was stuffed into the dumpster. Ha! But I missed the photo.
           While doing a shop at Radio Shack, another customer there, a young black guy, overheard the staff and I. He’s in his second year at Broward College taking electrical engineering. We talked for 30 minutes. Guess what? He’s out thousands of dollars and realized he doesn’t really know any more than we do after $300. Uh-oh. What’s more, while I was working a $41 budget for the next club project, he was mournfully unversed about costs and procurement. Guess the college feels no need to teach any of that. I know mine didn’t. “That’s business school,” they’d say.
           After hours, I watched DVD movies using my bingo music machine. I’ve demoted it, as it is starting to skip and chirp. The output jack (Toshiba) was one of those triple-ring 1/8” jacks that sell for $30. By deft stringing together pieces from a jar I’ve owned well over 30 years, I was able to fake the interface (though not in stereo). The replacement cost of these adaptors is around $300 today. One way or another, it’s the same old jacks, so there’s your logic and proof that by changing to “new” technology every few years, the manufacturers have bilked millions of unwary consumers for an average of $300 each.

December 3, 2011

2011-12-03T14:47:00.001-05:00

           Scooters don’t have a turn signal cancellation feature. It stays on until you notice it several blocks later. The rub is turning it off right after cornering is the situation most apt to be distracting. This is a prototype of turn signal alarm. Not shown is the IC that counts 10 blinks before the chime begins, and after 25 blinks, makes the chime progressively louder.
           The real revelation of the photo is the advances in logistics, if you know what to look for. No flashlight batteries, but heavy duty lantern cells, professional prototyping board, all new components, safety diode (seen lit) and tight clean wiring. Too bad the real advance, the use of the IC, isn’t shown here.
           Those seven bolts on the scooter tire took me all day (13 hours). That includes 20 miles on the electric bike to the tire shop (there and back twice). Add an hour figuring out how a bushing fit, and the stop at BK for coffee. Otherwise, it was a good repair, saving roughly $80 in labor, but losing the $65 of non-budgeted expenses. How were we to know that 5,000 miles is considered high on a scooter tire?
           What’s more, a third of the price of the scooter has been plowed into repairs at a third of the projected life span. An upper limit of 15,000 miles seems reasonable for this vehicle. The perfect upkeep is a matter of record, and it is still not going to last. A third of initial purchase price nine months ago has gone in to regular repairs and maintenance (starter, battery, bulbs, towing, oil, special tools, record keeping, and now the tire). It may have already served its purpose. But I love it and intend to keep it.
           On the way back, who do I see but Pudding-Tat? She’s got the gallstone condition again. Nobody was around, but I looked across the way to inspect the old property. It has turned into a maintenance nightmare. Somebody tried to patch the roof instead of looking after the real problem which is the shifting foundation. This is easier to fix than the roof, but they would not listen. Look hard, Patsie, at what you’ve done.
           Now my real problem is my office chair. It has a wonky design. No matter what article of clothing you hang over the back, it eventually catches on one of the casters. Isn’t this chair supposed to be an ergonomic design? What’s human-friendly about snagging trouser cuffs? I’ll think about that while designing some ads for the tire shop. True, I can’t make a living at that, but don’t overlook I am a past master on Craigslist.
           Trivia time. Did you know there have been no new evolved species on Earth since the great die-off 65 million years ago? That’s correct. One of the leading arguments against evolution is that every life form alive today has descended from one that already existed in the age of the dinosaur. To me, that merely enforces the concept of a common ancestor. Maybe 65 million isn’t enough years for an effect to show up. Besides, a new species doesn’t necessarily have to represent a step forward. Look at your average guitar player, or an eastern Canadian.
           It isn’t often I get weirded out, but I got a phone call from what could only have been the party selling that sidecar motorcycle. Except, I can’t be sure because it was one of those total paranoids with a compulsive need to check you out before they’ll state their business. That bottomless paranoia which stems from decades of dope-smoking. I say hello, and she demands to know my name and if I am a cop, she says, I sound like a cop. What? Lady, who are you and what do you want?
           Whoever she was, she insisted on private information. I’ve been shopping around, so it hit me this must be about the sidecar. These are popular in France and at one point she did ask how I knew so much about mechanics. Ah-ha, I did send an email asking for the displacement of the motor. She had a French accent, but Euro French. And that total brain-rooted marijuana fear-suspicion complex. With the possible exception of Ken, the meat salesman, I haven’t encountered such a serious case since I left the phone company.
           Later, I convinced it was the sidecar lady, so I called in some help to deal with her. I admit to limited ability and patience with morons. I’m okay with extremes but if working at the phone place taught me one thing, it’s that I can not tell the difference between half-stupid and half-crazy. They are so identical I’m lost, but pick the wrong condition and they get right antsy on you. Their tenuous hold on life is based on believing everyone else is in even worse shape than they are.
           Later even still. For the first time in 27 months, bingo was a wipeout. Five people showed, so we closed ‘er up and all went home. This is congruent with downtown, which I pass through on the way. Deadsville. The only place hopping is Aventura Mall where the 1% shop. The traffic [there] was a mile deep when I went looking for a new hard drive. So here I am, at home on a Saturday night for the first time since I don’t know when. It has been several dozen years since I’ve been home both a Friday and Saturday consecutive.
           So don’t misjudge the urgency of my guitar practice. I’m here in what seems like a strange house with the sense that the entire rest of the world is clubbing, and I should be there. On the stage, of course, not actually in the audience with the plebes. What a strange sense of nothingness. To think many people consider this natural. It’s been 45 minutes and I don’t like it already.
           Last, here’s a thought. I know everybody has a complaint about some kind of computer screw-up. I suggest the fault is human, either the operator or the people who did the programming. My advice is that if you have any kind of advantage, keep it low-key. You never know when you’ll need to spring it as a surprise weapon. What brought this on? Good question. While I tend to keep things like the robotics club low-key, it is plain to many people that we are superbly organized. People are beginning to ask for favors. Time for a policy meeting over that one topic. We are a club, not a charity.

December 2, 2011

2011-12-02T14:46:00.001-05:00

           Modern branding, a science in itself. Look at this can. The logo is plain and bare, but nobody alive today could mistake it for anything else. It is positioned where your hand would cover the printing, which is brazenly placed sideways as if it is expected nobody needs to read it. I took a course in branding back when. The danger is over-branding, like Bayer did with Aspirin. Now anybody can call the generic product “aspirin”, (without the capital A), and the producer loses something called brand recognition. It’s enough to give you a headache.
           What’s that noise? Oh, that’s just Mike from the office flying his new helicopter. That’s the miniature radio-controlled unit that you take simulator lessons for. An excellent precaution, since the toy costs $2,200. There is a club that flies them over in TY Park and I hear some of the gear is impressive, like one guy with a 1/4 scale helicopter. These are gas-powered and equipped with cameras. I’ll wager every hobbyist who flies one has dreamt of the ultimate drug run.
           And where is our free WiFi? The antenna is up but no signal. This is a trailer court, dammit, not Appalachia. We got ‘lectric, indoor plumbin’ and 219 Spanish cable channels, so where is our Internet? Get started on it, guys. The denizens of this outfit need access to on-line job banks, database technology, instant hurricane updates and pretty near everything else the lot of them never heard of five years ago. How are we, as Americans, expected to continue without Twitter?
           I’ve getting barbs over my earlier post that there is no mechanical or electrical difference in the brains of an idiot and a genius. I was emphasizing that we have sensitive enough measuring tools to confirm that fact. I did not say that both parties had the same thoughts. I’ve composed music and driven a taxi, both of which undoubtedly involve thinking. But nobody is going to suggest they are the same thing.
           I can drive taxi, gawk at pretty girls and talk economics in Spanish at the same time. This is because in the big picture, all cab drivers generally think alike. A composer who thought like all other composers would not, by definition, be much of a composer. (He’d be a Jazz guitarist.) Another big difference is the ability to concentrate, which is largely a learned behavior. Most people never learn it, for never having done anything of the kind they don’t even know what it is.
           Other examples are religion and office cliques. They deem themselves nice people who get along with other nice people, but the reality is they think alike. Unless they are proselytizing, they have extreme difficultly even tolerating those of another opinion. This herding instinct is a necessary mass genetic pool for the less than intelligent to avoid extinction. Hey, it worked for the dinosaurs. At least a while.
           By 9:00 AM I had the scooter tire on the way to Competition Cycle on Griffin. They have a fat tire replacement and gave me a break by changing it out for free. The electric bike made the ten mile round trip in 50 minutes. See, I told you the system around here would start to return to normal. The way things proceeded had me thinking about a new twist on economic predictions. I passed five tire shops along the way and each was too expensive, some downtown atrociously so ($140).
           Now I know about shopping around for a bargain, but I’ve long perceived that too many American shops have a bad business model. They know if you have a job, there quickly comes a point you don’t have time to shop around. They stay in business because such a large portion of their customers are in that category. But what happens by 2016 when retired people become the second largest group of consumers? I’ve got all day to shop around and the equipment to do it with.
           Therefore I predict the places with the lowest prices will be the ones who thrive. Naturally there are quality issues, but I could see no difference between the $40 tire and the $45 tire. Who was it said an economist is someone sees something work in real life, then tries to see if it will work in theory? I’m really saying the shop around for the lowest price factor may well surge from a consideration to one of the most dominant purchasing criteria on a scale like nothing before.
           What’s my first-world problem for today? Six months after acquiring this laptop, I am still trying to get rid of all the junk software installed by the previous owner. The computer works only on XP Home, which I can’t reinstall. And despite deleting some 90 useless items, I still cannot permanently zap Windows Instant Messaging and around 5 other AOL-grade startup apps that grab 100% CPU usage for the first four minutes after boot-up. Die, MicroSoft, die!

December 1, 2011

2011-12-01T14:43:00.001-05:00

           Off to a nice start, my early retirement is. I woke up to a nail in my rear scooter tire, both through the tread and the sidewall so I can’t repair it. New tire time. So I proceeded to remove the muffler, side plate, brakes and lines to find the axle bolt is some oddball 23.5mm. All sets, mine, the office, the groundskeeper, end at 19mm. This is after I first wheeled it to the corner gas station, whose air pump was broken. Then across the street to waste a dollar on their air. Then pushed it back home.
           Only one thing left to do. Call the robotics club. I am not paying $28 for a single wrench at AutoZone. Now, having prudently kept the electric bike, I got my chasing around done in the morning. Apologies to the lady at the library who I thought had her phone on vibrate. It was the scanner two cubicles down. Sure fooled me. I apologized twice. Isn’t retirement supposed to be easier than this? At least I didn’t wait until I was 65 to find out, chaps.
           Here’s another shot of the club in action. Here is Agent M repairing a laptop while right behind it you can see the scooter tire resting on the electric bike carrier for transport to the repair shop. We, the club, wound up purchasing a $40 socket wrench to get that axle bolt off. It was 24mm. This left plenty of time to go over the new material on transformers and contact E24, who is deep into the on-line electronics course. That is a funny term, because the exams are on-line but they still mail him lesson booklets. Like Habib and I, he is hesitant to lend out any study material until the exam is over.
           Who’s Habib? Adel Sami Habib, the Egyptian math professor I went to university with. That’s the guy who taught me to speak passable Arabic, which is why I can call the bingo numbers up to 55. Sort of. Once he left for Atlantic City to try his gambling theories, I’ve never seen him since. Maybe I’ll try; he would be in his mid 70s now. We used to shock the hell out of people by communicating in Arabic. Since then, I’ve gotten woefully out of practice except in the movies that have short clips of the language. Yes, they are the real thing, not mumbo-jumbo.
           On that vein, the new assistant manager at BK has begun a 401(k), something I know a few things about. I’m providing him with the specialized spreadsheets I’ve developed over the years that play both sides of the fence. What sides? Well, the side where the government promises to run the economy right so your retirement is secure, and the other side where they are lying through their teeth. DC bailed out the banks, the funds, and now they’ve bailed out Europe. They loaned money to people who bad risks while our own unemployed are counted in the tens of millions.
           Not that those who have jobs can look forward to much, since few traditional positions are available and those hardly pay a living wage. Who was the wise man who said we are all in the same soup now, but only the lawyers are here to dine? The pundits, I don’t know if I like or dislike that word, are saying America has returned to the 1800s, the “gilt-edged rich” and the working poor. My stance does not change, the country is already bankrupt but nobody will admit it, for once they do, they all go hungry.
           I’m reminded of that tune, “A Country Boy Can Survive”. Yeah, right, what is that crowd going to do? Pawn their guitars? Self-sufficiency is a lost art since the urbanization of the majority. I don’t find it at all strange that those who will suffer the most are those who stayed middle of the road for the past five generations. Don’t speak out against immigration; somebody might call you a Nazi. Don’t protest welfare; you might be labeled a redneck. Don’t vote against bad politicians, or take a stand on anything until it’s you who needs help, then blame everybody else.
           It is so amazing to meet people who slaved away their whole lives at dead-end jobs who are today no better off than I am. Imagine being over fifty and still owing more on your house than it is worth. One person in four is already there, and the others are sleeping mighty uneasy. Even inflation isn’t raising house prices. They better not complain to me, I’ve got my own problems. Like finding a Pirelli tire that fits my scooter.

November 30, 2011

2011-11-30T12:15:00.000-05:00

           These custom made sidecars are made by a company in California, though I don't know if they make this actual model, called the "Woodie Limo". That's the trivia for today.
           [Author’s note: While striving to be as forward-looking as possible on technology and information, this blog is essentially a journal, that is, focused on the past. Where there is a prediction, it is well into the future and as we’ve seen, usually right. It’s a fact the housing bubble, pension collapse, invasion of privacy and identity theft were all predicted here 15 years in advance. No word yet on the Russian-Chinese war of 2015, though, because nobody has thought of it yet.
           My point is that today is the end of an era in my lifetime. It would not have done to say anything earlier, for all was planning and prediction. Today is the turning point where the biggest changes for me are now to enjoy what is left. So stick around for the ride. One of the signs was taking on robots ten months ago. This was something impossible the way things were before. It’s not like my lifestyle will instantly evolve, but shall we say the hard part is over.]
           What a memorable day, in a roundabout way. It is the last day of the last fiscal period I planned in 2004. This new budget made allowances for my bad health and so was quite different from the original 1996 flow of events (in which I should by now have been a half-millionaire). And, may I add, 1996 was a realistic workable strike at the target, not some Kenora moose juice. So, did my plans work out? Yes and no. We are bang on the money, but 6 months late over all. Put another way, I have only been back in the game six months now.
           I like to brag that no idiot could take me, but there is one entire gang of them that could have screwed me for a good chunk of my present income. Wallace and family—if they had only been capable of keeping their word, I would have been morally obligated to keep mine! But there are black sheep in every family and Wallace fell prey to Patsy who has no concept of honesty. By now, I might actually have been paying them most of the rent they demanded. As long as I was present, the old place was a bargain, but she tried to kick me while I was down and out. What fools they be.
           It was cold with a brisk breeze, so I was indoors at home and the library. That is not synonymous with sitting around watching cable. I was up to much different, arranging a guitar-fest for December 16. It may be a dead night, it may be only regulars, but I figure if the musicians aren’t booked for the season by then, they might as well show up. Ray-B called with a disturbing report: apparently many of the big union retirement funds are being investigated for “Madoff-like” activity. Investigated, what an ominous word, don’t you think?
           Eddie, sometimes knows as Electric Eddie for his e-mail handle, wants to invite Dirk to the show. I’m not too keen on that. Dirk may be a nice guy, but he is totally infected with guitar-think. Not just that, but I have never seen him actually play rhythm because he is constantly riffing off. It’s the equivalent of a piano player who only knows the fancy parts of twenty songs and wants to play only those over and over. The other major symptom is the “follow me” attitude, and he does have it something fierce, to the extent he believes it the natural order of things.
           There is something else that others may not remember, but Dirk turned my one open mic show at Jimbos into a farce five years ago. In those days, I worked until 4:00 PM and when I go there, they had been set up—and drinking—since noon. By then, all the easy standards were gone and Dirk was in his prime, acting surprised when nobody knew obscure tunes by his heroes, what, you call yourselves musicians and you don’t know this one?. I’ll have to think about that. Either way, there will be only three singers on stage and that should keep a will keep a tight rein on things.
           I did something as American as Whopper Wednesday. That Ural sidecar was still advertised, now marked down to $4,000. My logic is pure Americana. The banks won’t lend you money for a used motorcycle, few have that much room on their credit card, and nobody has that kind of liquid cash a month before Xmas. What the heck, here's another custom sidecar.
           So I waved a considerably lower amount of dollars under their noses. Real hundred dollar bills, I had the bank give me brand new bills with consecutive serial numbers. The seller begged me to wait until Monday. I conceded. But that is the future, and you never know. Remember that real estate agent I had talked down to $41,000 when on the fifth no-show, the other buyer actually arrived with the $61,000 asking price in cash. That house sold four years later for $310,000.

November 29, 2011

2011-11-29T15:03:00.001-05:00

           Brrr, it has dropped into the low 70s (Fahrenheit) and that sends me for the bookstore. Thanks to the bicycle, I know all the side roads to avoid what’s left of rush hour. By that, I mean although there are fewer cars, they still bunch up at the same intersections. In the process, I found an author worthy of the name, and I’ll be buying one of his books shortly.
           His name is Dave Cutcher and you can view his work at MH Professional . From one natural teacher to another, good work, Dave. But I would loose that title “Evil Genius” soon as I got the bucks. The rest of the series is just bad enough to erode a reputation. For relevance, good explanations, and a sense of what you need to know, Cutcher is boss. I would place Cutcher among the top electronics authors of the day. His work is so fine, I could swear I’d proofread it myself, and I don’t buy books unless I’m certain I’ll get many times the value back.
           Speaking of books, are they on the way out? Unless there is a vast improvement and lowering of price by the e-reader people, probably not. Both the readers and the books cost too much. I’m sure they are aware of this but haven’t really done anything, indicating sales at the leading edge phase must still be brisk. I donated my e-reader to the club to experiment downloading since it rarely works for me. I don’t care for the tiny screen 4G readers, either. That’s like reading your car insurance policy on the back of a baseball card.
           Let me see if there is any non-robotic news today. Okay, I’ve never bought overpriced Starbucks ground coffee, and they finally admitted to overcharging customers $1.50 per package for anything less than a pound. What did I tell ya? We would also like to get some facts on e-publishing, as in how to do it yourself. It is no good trying to pry this information out of Google. If anyone knows where I can find the code to write a search engine, please, let me know. A good search engine is the only thing likely to surpass Google and Zuckerburg in this decade.
           You know who, with his minimalist acting skills, could come back today and make a big difference? Steve McQueen. Unlike Travolta, who finally learned a detectable hint of ability much, much later in life, McQueen added a certain charm to every scene, although that was usually about it. If these two had traded generations, only McQueen would have still been a star. And I say that in full awareness of the two-dimensional movie industry of the post-war stretch. Instead, I’m afraid we are stuck with another twenty years of black-haired half-English actors who took shaving lessons from Yassir Arafat.
           Ah, but I still get a kick out of old movies with no basis in fact. Where gorgeous women waited twenty years for their boyfriend to get out of prison, and met him at the gate, to boot. How even rental cabins had five acres of playground-grade surroundings for the kids to romp. Back when a job left you with money and energy to form a rock band and work on your hot rod. And every neighborhood had a pretty, single blonde girl of unquestioned decency and horrible taste in men.
           I’ve reviewed and revamped my song list. By forced listening to Kiss Country, I’ve identified around a dozen possible replacements for my weaker numbers. By weak, I don’t mean musically, rather a tune like Jambalaya. Such music I can play in my sleep if ever need be, so kind of remove them as standards. I’m even going to try a version of “Save a Horse Ride a Cowboy”, no promises.
           If I’m going to change to compete, might as well do it from the ground up. “Compete”, I say? Oh yes, guitarists in this town observably hate to learn new tunes and there’s maybe three I owe any favors to. Remember also, I’m no longer restricted to searching for a mediocre guitarist now that I have become one. (Remember Brian Khe San from the coffee houses? Yeah, well I’m already better than that. And I know the right lyrics.)
           According to Guitar Eddie, I should file my fingertips with emery board. That makes sense and didn’t I hear about that centuries ago? I invited Eddie to an arbitrary Xmas gig at Jimbos some Friday in December. Think “Battle of the Bands”, as this will pit the two of us in terms of musical ability. Eddie still plays washed out guitar music with a best before date, while 80% of my material is either new or novel (as in major hits that nobody else plays). I’ve also invited him to practice guitar duo arrangements, but he warily declined.
           This is understandable if you recall Eddie likes to take the credit for teaching me to sing. While Eddie will put down a drummer or bassist in a wink, he is wise not to do that with another guitarist. I have an avenue of experience he never considered important until we met—I can arrange music to fit the size of the orchestra. And he knows full well that is going to be applied to my guitar. Eddie, better brush up on your lead breaks because one day soon I may decide to give that a whirl.
           (May I remind the reader that I have no natural talent; that all I do musically was painstakingly acquired the hard way. But I do admit to often falling into that peculiar mindset where talented people assume you can do what they do “if you wanted it enough”, and I apologize for when I go there. I mean, define “wanted”. According to that theory, I didn’t "want" enough to be a millionaire porn star at 18, my "want" was to freeze my ass off in a Montana lumber mill. You decide.)

November 28,2011

2011-11-28T14:54:00.000-05:00

           Today is mainly tech review and editorial about the process, you can skip it if you’re not the curious or learning sort. The reason it gets top billing is my study policy, which made study today’s most important event. I will often make a random but complete review of all my books to see if I’ve forgotten anything, then immediately read something advanced to see if it gets any easier to understand. I can report astounding success.
           It’s never too late to review recent study, and I went over the Arduino circuitry. I’m beginning to see that the inside of the Arduino is nothing complicated, just a series of registers that control each pin and a memory to hold the program. I’m writing this down as a record of progress. The incentive to produce independent Arduino boards is evident—not even counting the programming, it costs seven times as much to build a digital circuit than analog. That alone restricts me to fairly easy projects (there is no such boundary on the programming).
           Again, I hit the Dodo barrier (see note below). It takes a huge extra push to get past it. This time it is with logic gates. Tons of people who will tell you how they work, but nobody will show how they are used. Where are they placed? How are they aligned? Where are some examples of how they work and what happens when they don’t? This curse of over-teaching the details while ignoring the big picture must be a holdover from the arthritic apprenticeship system that should have been abolished the year after the Chinese invented it. But the gates are making sense, gaining substance without form.
           I admittedly do not know the nature of these Arduino registers or where to get that information. I could pass the test on how logic gates work, but have no idea how they are used to build anything. I have the same question today as I did when I entered college: If the student is supposed to know how it works before he goes to college, what does he need the college for? That’s an unfair question, but I can say many times I had instructors skip important basics because there were one or two advanced students in the group.
           Oddly enough, I’ve been on the receiving end of such criticism, but for the opposite reason. I knuckled down and independently learned what wasn’t being properly taught. Then other students complained. I’m reminded of my first Spanish course. The fat guy in class kept saying they should kick out people like me who “already knew Spanish”. An unintended and indirect compliment from a looser. (Not a typo.)
           It may be time for the club to publish a small how-to book. If you have ever studied transistors and found that you are getting conflicting instructions, well, you are right. There are countless BS artists out there pretending to know transistors. Otherwise reputable writers will tell you it is an “amplifier”. Some say it controls current, others say voltage. Some state that it can be used as a linear dimmer. Strictly speaking, all that is false. Plus, many of the sources don’t tell you about things you can do wrong that can wreck your gear or burn out your expensive microcontroller.
           The tale is the same—if anyone else has written a good book on the topic, it does not show up on any standard search. I’d say the topic of transistors needs, with photos, a 16 page booklet. But I’m still waiting for a straight answer on how to publish an ebook. It would be part of my planned “explained to death” series, as in “Transistors Explained to Death”.
           [Author’s note: Don’t be put off my how I use the term Dodo Barrier in two different ways. They both mean the same, the lack of people and knowledge at the intermediate level. As an example, if you Google “giraffe” you will get millions of replies that all tell you it has a long neck. But you want more, then find that only a few sites have more but they spur you from kindergarten directly to veterinarian level. Nothing in between. The Dodo Barrier.
           The second usage is a slur on people who think they can learn the advanced stuff without the basics. They find that all learning is interrelated and they have nothing to interrelate to. The Dodo Barrier.]
           In another dipstick move, Vivitar has designed their driver so that it can only be installed if you have a connection to the Internet. I have a related term called a Dodo driver. These are the useless drivers that require an Internet download. While there is something to be said about having the newest and best driver, there is no rule that says drivers should be changed so often as to require constant updating. Vivitar, you just wasted my time today and you know what you can do.

November 27, 2011

2011-11-27T14:14:00.002-05:00

           The presence of the scooter, robotics, guitar and a good cookbook means there never really is such a thing as a nothing day around here. One can always list the events as you’ll see. By sunup, I was underneath the scooter replacing the tail/brake light with a heavy duty (read $5.00) American model. While down in the dirt, I examined the wiring assembly to see about connecting some side safety lights. I don’t like having to depend on a single rear bulb after dark.
           The robotics club makes this easy. Two red lights in parallel. Troubleshooting electrical used to be a chore, but now it falls into place. The speedometer backlight has never worked right and still doesn’t after I replaced that, too. The dial itself never lights up. You can see it at night, but it should be much brighter. That’s a project for this week. The scooter has just passed the 5,000 mile mark (shown here as 4,999.0). A third of its projected lifespan in nine months. And the good weather has only begun. Plainly, I must begin to plan the replacement.
           Last afternoon, the new guy next door had his guitar out. Like most, he can play around 8 – 10 tunes like snake-lees, but other than that small set he can’t really chord or play full songs. This, of course, lends oomph to my contention that the “follow me” crowd of guitarists are a bunch of azz-hats. They can only follow each other because they’ve had the same indoctrination. Give them something that requires talent and they are the ones who need it spelled out.
           Still, he plays well, and French or not, he knows the English choruses to any song I’d place as earlier than 1965. I don’t include many from that era other than the enduring classics. “Oh Lonesome Me”, fr’instance. But next he surprised me by knowing a lot of the contemporary artists whose material I am working on. Isn’t it strange how even a guitarist who never played Rock or Blues still suffers from guitar-think. He obsesses over the names of artists, but can’t play their tunes. He memorizes their ages and what label they record under, but is like-duh over the music part. Only in guitar la-la land!
           Thanks to bingo, we are stocked up with everything needed through the end of March, 2012, so watch for another scooter trip or something. JP, my cohort and sidekick, can’t get out of town. This is too bad, we had the old “let me introduce you to my buddy” routine down fairly pat. That’s right. Women who don’t like to be approached directly will rarely object to meeting someone through an open channel. Strange, but true.
           Guess who is reporting record enrollments? Florida motorcycle schools, particularly among seniors. Expect to hear some gruesome statistics before long. Hey, if they can’t drive safely inside an armored cage, imagine the carnage when they start driving scooters. I say this because they are not taking the course because they want to become better drivers, but because they are too broke to upkeep a car.
           I’ve always stated, do not operate a motorcycle unless you are already beyond an expert on the road. (I’ve never been in an accident that was my fault (although I’ve been hit three times) or been issued a moving vehicle infraction, not even a speeding ticket. When I say expert, I mean expert.) On the other hand, I have $30,000 in unpaid parking tickets. I quickly discovered the city I worked in had no means to collect out of jurisdiction, so the last ten years at the phone company, I never paid a thing. And, I got away with it because, exactly like everyone else smart enough to read the rule book, I never broke any law. What? Well, those not smart enough to read should pay up, if you follow my logic.
           What’s a fun day without learning some robotics? I discovered that not all transistors are alike, even when bearing the same model number. Go for the expensive ones, it is a matter of cents per unit, and what a difference. One almost sure sign to look for is the lead wires. They should be rectangular and crimped to fit standard .010” substrate without any bending. As a bonus, you learn how to look for quality when examining such items as peripheral cards. My source of these superior transistors? Why Hacktronics , of course. The club is getting ready, in about ten days, to place our largest order yet.
           I was out for Sunday coffee, a routine that has finally found its way back into my lifestyle. Those morning breaks were how I kept my sanity through all those years in the corporate workplace. Interestingly, a lady and her career counselor were in the next booth (yes, on Sunday) as I plied the crossword. The lady had apparently taken a number of beginner’s level computer courses before realizing that alone doesn’t get you a job.
           True to form, the counselor didn’t have a clue beyond suggesting more courses. What the lady wanted was someone to, how did she word it, someone to sit down with her and show her how to do the operations needed to become productive in the workplace. I had to smile. I had an awful lot to say about this back in the 80’s when bragging parents brought the term “whiz kid” into the office.
           I agree, to the masses, a programmer and a klutz at a keyboard look alike. If one doesn’t recognize what intelligence looks like in the first place, a computer makes things worse. Like that stupid Patsie sending me all her e-mails as well as her entire contact list back in 2008. She was dumb enough to think they were not gossips as bad as herself. Speaking of stupid, the “For Rent” sign is still in the window of the old place. But one stupid old lady at a time, here.
           The part that stayed with me was the “someone to sit down”. Gee, what have we here? This sounds familiar, how none of that school stuff was going to do them any good in the real world? They get right pissed when you try to show them, and you know why? Because they are on to you. Their teachers tried to shove that crap down their throats thirty years ago and now you’re trying the same damn thing all over again. And that’s not what they asked you for.
           Heaven’s no, they want you to show them the swindle, the shortcut, the hoax you use to fool people into thinking you are smart. They know nobody got smart without trickery. That’s why when I have to learn something new, I love to ask who is going to come along and take me by the hand and say, “There, there, I’ll walk you through this.”
           Nope, instead I bitch and moan about the lack of books on the subject. But that’s a total different state of affairs and you know what I’m talkin’ ‘bout. So there.

November 26, 2011

2011-11-26T14:12:00.002-05:00

           Todays photo is not a vacuum clearner. It is a robot. Read on to learn more. My supercomputer is totally down. When you see original pictures here again, you’ll know I solved that situation. I’m stuck with the same situation as St. Augustine. Pictures in the camera that I can’t download. And I did want you to see the batch of jambalaya I made—with pork, not leftovers. I did nothing for Turkey Day this year except take it easy. The next club meeting is likely to be here as we repair the propane oven. It needs a thermocouple. Hooray for robotics, it gave us all the tools we’ll need.

           Trivia. Arizona has collected only $220,000 toward building that fence “along every inch of the state’s border with Mexico”. I would like to see the specs on that, since chain link isn’t going to make the grade. They should ask the Israelis who know something about dealing with criminal-minded trespassers. The Mexicans will scream like hell, so I hope the fence is soundproof as well. The three options of breaching the fence remain the same: over it, under it, or through it.
           But information about the fence itself is in short supply. Plus, I think it should be built by volunteer and convict labor. Why not, 80% of some county prisoners in Arizona are Mexicans anyway. Just build it fast before the do-gooders interfere. Those who so highly value the assimilation of other societies into America forget that all too often people came to America to escape enforced assimilation.
           Now that the Space Shuttle is where it belongs, NASA is getting back to Mars. The new mission is due to launch 40 years late. Predict the findings will be inconclusive but I do hope there is evidence of life. It would shake human values to the marrow, and human values so desperately need it. Better yet, I hope they find plenty of liquid water. Mars is, after all, in the Goldilocks zone.
           Water makes Mars habitable, but I fear we’ll do there what we did to Antarctica. We claim it is pristine, then we sent people there that contaminated it with politics, the military, and religion. It disgusts me to see Generals and Senators praying at the South Pole, but then I feel much the same about hypocrites praying at all.
I watched the movie, “Hanna”. It jumps all over the place with no coherent plot.            The actress looked like my ex-room mate, Kirsten, so I watched it. Something about DNA experimentation producing superior children. The kind with blonde hair and blue eyes, duly noted. You don’t think they are going to be sending just anybody to Mars, do you? Ha-ha, that was a loaded question. Anyway, outer space makes a damn good fence.
           I was over the B&N for a study session. I must be getting old and I’ll tell you why. There was this total babe waiting for her coffee and both the clerk and I caught each other staring out of the corners of our eyes. There she was, perfection, and wearing her CFM boots. Leather, with fringes. Why am I old? Because in my day I would not have noticed how young she was, I would have engaged her in conversation. Make this the first recorded time I have every shied back due internalized feelings about my own age. Well, at least I still know ideal when I see it, and you can’t fool me like you can the stripper bar crowd. They only see the boots.
           It is a fact you’ve heard me state that there are no intermediate level electronics books out there. But over time, if you read enough, you begin to collect a small series of circuits that fit the bill. If I were to publish such a collection, it would be plagiarism because I don’t have the wherewithal to create enough examples on my own. Today’s winner was a circuit that turned on a light when the switch was thrown, but when it was turned off, it faded slowly back to nothing rather than blinking off.
           This is the exact brand of circuit that is hard to find anything on. It uses simple components, but puts them together in a way that teaches plenty. When one knows enough of these type of circuits, it becomes possible to assemble them into a more elaborate device. This particular circuit used a capacitor to supply declining power to a transistor collector and base in order to fade the light, a rather pleasing effect when you power off your stereo.
           While it might confuse a beginner, that level of circuit doesn’t blast you with a ton of unfamiliar graphics that assume because you know the components, you are magically ready to build your own computer. I see that Heathkit is slowly coming back into the market, I was wondering what happened to them. They are still around and I’m glad to here it is consumer demand behind the comeback. I never had a Heathkit as a youngster, since it was never a wise idea to have anything around the madhouse that consisted of small, valuable parts.
           Most people are unaware that Steve Jobs was constantly exposed to Heathkits from his father. No, he did not instantly decide to build the first Apple computer one day after class. In a phrase I’ve had to repeat several times over recent conditions, he had the resources of an empire behind him. When my computer is back in operation, remind to look into the past twenty years of Heathkit.
           Later, bingo is back to norbal. (Not a typo.) The travelers are back and the place is always half-full again. They are also decent tippers. But we have never had a full house in a good six months. It will happen one day soon and bring back some of the regulars. Tonight guarantees a good month-end.
           [Author's note: I am not recommending Heathkit, just saying they are still around. Their kits are more expensive than buying the finished article, do not come with training manuals, and their other prices are phenomenal. They have a robot ( HE-RO ) a.k.a. the "hero-bot", that does pretty well what ours will eventually do. The Heathkit price is $1,199.00. Five times our total capitalization to date.]

November 25, 2011

2011-11-25T14:11:00.003-05:00

           It is too early, so I resoldered up the old General Electric radio. This warhorse has been through floods and fires. It isn’t even stereo, but they knew how to build a good radio back when. It has AM that is hardly ever used, it is left mainly on FM stations with the bass setting on full. What’s lacking is any good stations. There is no NOVA for radio, no programs that really teach anything. Just repetitious middle of the road talk shows. NPR may be the last holdout, but they are a little too community oriented for my tastes. Here's a photo of a 1996 Ural sidecar I'm looking at.
           Thanks to an après Thanksgiving breakfast at the Senor Café, we are off to a good start. I do believe I’ll spend the day reading, unless you can think of something better around here. Maybe the beach later, but I was looking at aircraft design and noticed most of the innovation comes from small manufacturers. That makes sense, the big companies will naturally stick with what has worked best over time. But the number of small builders is declining.
           This is another sign of America’s lost leadership in most fields. I recall as a lad there were all kinds of airplane kits you could buy, even in the want ads of Popular Mechanics. Now, you have to pay a fortune for a home kit. What has changed? I know! Tort law. A lot of people make the mistake of thinking because I don’t study law that I don’t read about it either. I may not know this or that clause, but I do know, for instance, that since 1980 the courts have begun to attach blame to the product rather than the behavior of the idiot who didn’t read the directions.
           This causes the manufacturers to carry insurance until one of the biggest components of price has become liability insurance. New products are easier for idiots to sue over. Whenever I get a new prescription, it comes with 15 pages of warnings. Overseas, you find dozens of advanced products that are not for sale here. Nobody dares take the chance of selling anything totally new until they know if it is dangerous in the hands of the proles. What a sad ending for America, with its ineffectual government trying to substitute for public common sense.
           That brought me to a curious thought. When I hear about liability cases, I realized that a stereotyped image appears. What does this idiot consumer look like? To me, he is 62, bald, smugly thinks he is smart. He paid off his mortgage but never rose above middle management. He wrecked his health and youth working overtime. He walks with a funny little skip and obeys every rule in his imaginary book. Socially he is an ass-hat and his wife hates him. He drives a leased Toyota and wears golfing shorts in public. I can’t explain, but this is the picture that pops in my head when I hear about some dork who keeps walking into door jambs and is therefore suing the company that makes them.
           Ominously, I am having chest pains from playing guitar. No, not heart trouble, but the only convenient way for me to hold the instrument makes me hunch up. I can’t play for more than a half-hour without a break. Is this a standard hurdle or am I doing it wrong? Where are all the geniuses when you need to ask a question? My new singer needed time off for the holiday. The tradition for me is that holidays are the highest paying gigs. You can visit family a week later just as easily with a quarter of the fuss.
           But, I can play twelve tunes consecutively, which if you work it right is up to break time on a three hour gig. Decent places pay $150 for three hours, plus tips. My task is to find joints that like country. As you detect, I am continuing work on my own solo act since the probability is it will come to that. The new gal is also keeping mum about what part of town she lives in, so my guess it is more than my 15 mile limit.
           As a soloist, I am approaching the point where it will become economical to pay another            $2,000 in equipment. I’m approaching the level of “early Johnny D” with my over-chording. I require a Fishstick (as Ray-B calls the Fishman Solo), a real drum machine, a wireless mic, and if I can afford a wireless head for the mic, transponders for the guitar and drum machine also. The entire rig is chosen to be transportable by scooter.

November 24, 2011

2011-11-24T14:09:00.000-05:00

           JP was on the line for an hour. He missed out on St. Augustine. And he’s not well, I mean for a guy that loves food, he gets bad heartburn. And not the kind you can cure with a couple of Tums. He names fancy meds but I never remember any. Most brand names sound to me like anti-depressants. Any rate, there is another real estate project in the works. Neither of us wants to miss an opportunity like 2003. We passed up a good one that time.
           Putting me on the spot, JP announces he is going to diet down 20 pounds. If he does it, I have to do it. I was always the skinniest guy on the crew and hate to lose the title. As soon as I get reliable transportation, we can resume our MPMs (monthly planning meetings). Remember, we have collaborated on money projects before. It is only the small-town bullshit artists that I’ve had any trouble with lately.
           We also talked women. That successful episode with the lock and key event is still the closest we came in years and due for a repeat. Yes, it’s expensive, but read on for my plans. I was never into money people so let me point out it is merely bending the rules to meet them that way, not to date them in the same manner.
           Remember the grocery clerk Alaine introduced me to, the one with the “nice personality”? I was right. That’s not a career, that’s the sort of job a mental case gets when trying to return to society. She flipped out, though I’m not supposed to know. Whack-o. Nut case. I’m not saying such people are bad, rather that life has enough problems without taking on more.
           I mentioned the brunette doctor that Alain didn’t hook me up with because of my “bad teeth”. JP says he’ll take care of the honors next chance. I was right about that as well. The reason a 35 lady doctor with a dynamite shape is stag at the festival is because she is sick and tired of the pretty boys. She wants someone to relate to on an academic and emotional level. Um, that would be me. (True, my teeth need work, I have malocclusion and discoloration noticeable if you get up close. But for a well-adjusted woman, that is usually so close there is no turning back.)
           This was a quiet Thanksgiving for both JP and I. No dinner, nothing fancy, I don’t even work the soup kitchens any more. There’s more to that story, I quit volunteering twenty years ago (Frontline, California). I didn’t have a guilty enough conscience to stay with it, know what I’m saying? In no time you discover most people don’t want help once in a long while. Instead, they quickly adapt the lifestyle of always being in need. After that, I stayed to meet women, but found out women who volunteer generally have totally weird agendas.
           Not to sound jaded, but the reason for today is I am, for the third time in my life, going to trust the people who say I am looking in the wrong places. Well, trust them just long enough to put it to the test, that is. There is one major area I have not done my scouting, and that is events with a big admittance fee. This was understandable for the past few years—I hadn’t the money and I’m not the type to go to a bar and use pickup lines.
           Since I broke up with the Robynette 15 years ago, I’ve never really patronized any place. Entrance fees mean gold-diggers, but they also mean women who know the fee blocks the door to most losers. This holiday is dedicated to planning where I will meet women over the next three months. It is worth a try. I really, really, really like the opposite sex, but there are limits. A good woman creates good times, a bad woman creates problems. No names mentioned.
           This changeover (from relying strictly on music) is not as simple as buying tickets to the next local play. You need the wardrobe, the haircut, the shoes and the attitude, to name a few. No Ma & Pa Kettle showing up at the opera. At this point, I am just looking, so no, I’m not going to run out and spend $3,400 capping my teeth. That’s in February. That is the quote, by the way, for 8 uppers and 8 lowers, to give me the perfect smile. But mark my words, changes will begin to accelerate now.
           What can go wrong in paradise? For me, this was to be a quiet day of study. Instead, I ran out of propane, the super computer crashed, and the rubber hose on my tire pump cracked beyond repair. So I had the day to putter around fixing everything from frayed rope ends to the A/C outlet in the master bedroom. I had an unscheduled day of robotics labs. Anyone that tells you they can do robotics without a computer is probably a grocery clerk.
           I built a step motor simulator, which isn’t working right yet. I took out the Ibanez semi-acoustic and ran through my top ten songs, pondering if I should use the existing drum machine and waste all that time when I finally get a better one soon. Then, I discover my only remaining DVD player is overheating around half-way through my movies.
           The parking lot is starting to fill up as the Frenchies arrive, but it is now past the window for long term and the grounds are only a third full this year. I hope so, because they are not being replaced as they die off and this court has no contingency plans. It is not swank enough to attract locals although I commend them on how well they’ve kept the undesirables off the property.
           I finished reading an interesting but unique tale called “The Last Ambassador”, Kale & Kale.. It details the American skedaddle out of Viet Nam from the perspective of the intelligence and diplomatic personnel. It’s a great critique of how the US government lost touch with reality in 1975 and never recovered. Curiously, this 1981 book presages the shift in from IndoChina to the Middle East and their oil. It is an excellent lesson book about that constant gremlin—the inability of Americans to mind their own business.
           The best part of the book is the surprise ending. Totally surprise. One sentence. You experience frustration how these diplomats do nothing but attend parties and waste tax dollars. Diplomacy: the cause of WWI. Embassies are the first things I’d shut down if I was in power. I just don’t feel the world revolves around the rarified air of people going to war because a third rate ex-politician offended some obscure tribal custom.
           The ambassador in question is cute, in that he times how long it takes other diplomats to get to the point, but not to the extent of endangering his career by doing anything about it. Embassies are a dinosaur from the age when distant governments had no other way to communicate. Today, they are removed from reality.
           So happy Thanksgiving. I was busy all day. The one remaining big project is to replace the thermocouple in the oven. And soon, very soon, I can see an Apple computer on my desk, finally getting rid of all my IBM junk that has never worked right in the long run. It was a fulfilling, if somewhat quiet and lonely day. In fifteen years, I have not gotten used to being a bachelor, although it really has only been a bother the last six years. That’s how long I’ve lived in a trailer.

November 23, 2011

2011-11-23T14:08:00.000-05:00

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