December 31, 2010

           This is my first real electronics part and I thought a fitting way to finish 2010. I’ll explain what it is below. I believe it sells new for about a dollar. That is far offset by how it kept me entertained free for hours on end. Meanwhile, take it easy tonight, okay.
           MS takes another kick at the user right on year’s end. I downloaded what I thought would be sufficient reading material for today only to discover in my haste at the library I have docx files. These are the “new” documents produced by the “new” MS Word. They cannot be viewed by earlier versions which work perfectly well. I can fix it, but not until next year now. That company has sure gone downhill without old Bill at the rudder. Ironic how a corporate pirate like him resented it when others did the same at street level.
           I had intended a nice relaxing day of deep study, now put off, but instead I’ll use it for planning. I’ve gathered some new and salvaged electronics parts and don’t know where to start. So you can follow along. Deciding a power supply would be a good first step, I got nowhere until I discovered at the breadboard level it is called a “voltage regulator”. Of these, the most common and popular is the 7805 and I found a brand new one in my kit. I thought it was a transistor.
           It will accept input voltages of 7.5V to 30V and output a steady 5V, the rest being converted to heat by a prominent cooling fin atop the plastic casing. I know it all sounds so easy when somebody else has done all the research, but my work carries the warning that anyone who reads it will learn something. I’m going to put this component through the paces until I can build it in my sleep. (By build, I mean there are several ways to configure the 7805 into a circuit to improve its performance.)
           My Arduino still has not arrived. Resistors are cheap and I was buying a 99 cent pack at the Shack when one of the clerks asked where I had learned “all that stuff”. I doubt he believed me when I told him I was also a beginner. Back home, I got reminded how I had asked another person, Brian Streimer, that same question twenty years ago, and he’s said the same. That once you tinker with electronics, you simply learn the practical part on your own.
           This now makes abundant sense. If I fry something, it will be a cheap part. If I design everything to work on 5V from my 7805 (note how it just slides off my tongue now), what’s the worst that could happen? I fry a 50 cent capacitor? Let’s return in the future to see how well my 5V rule gets implemented. Most internal computer connectors work with 5V.
           I put together a couple of CDs with the same introductory material I’d started on mere months back and donated them to the Shack. If the guy contacts me by e-mail, we may become the founding members of the Arduino Robotics & Experimentation Commonwealth of South Florida. Let me confirm that learning anything above gronk level is a lonely process and it really does help to know somebody else is enduring the same agony.
           Alright, five hours later I can report complete success with the 7805. I still want to test other configurations, but I got a smooth and pretty 5.000 Volts, and that makes my day. I then fried two LEDs testing a current direction circuit that was so simple, I’m now going to tear it apart and find out how that happened. I suspect it goes way back to the analogy that electricity flows like water and I have a tendency to put resistors before the component. Since I was testing current, I probably got them in reverse when the current was in reverse because I can only think forward.
           I found the error, my fault is I am not yet used to the peculiar zig-zag thinking needed to wire breadboards. I learned a valuable principle and will now always put a resistor when in doubt. The fireworks started early today, so I curled up with a good book before heading for the New Year’s gig. And what a gig it was, a complete sellout crowd with free food. I hosted a six hour show which included an open mic, a jam, a live Karaoke and my standard e-bass solo.
           That was a good way to close the fateful year of 2010. Sometimes I get to thinking I can’t take my solo bass act to the next level, then a night like tonight comes along where I steal the show. Strangers walk to the stage with tips and compliments; always along the line of they’ve never seen or heard anything like it before. This puts me at sixes and sevens, I believe is the expression. The show has incredible novelty, but could I play the same joint twice? I believe I just did, but it was a joint and a half.
           I was curious to learn that during that bloodbath called World War I, there were only six battles. Incidentally, it was a war made possible by birth certificates. Germany invented the certificates in the 1860s when creating the world’s first old age security system. When others followed suit, it didn’t take long for them to abuse the information to calculate the size of each other’s armies.

December 30, 2010

          
           This is the view through the screen door of my new camera, the one I got for Xmas. It is a little off perpenzontal as I’m just testing things. That is our view to the north, I’m not showing the west, where this week’s windstorm devastated the yard. It will take a day to clean that up now, so where is Wallace? Just kidding, but the trash is a foot deep and we have a small tree down. Plus a broken gate.
           The only good news is there is a vine that started growing out of one of the big flower pots. Green with large leaves, I left it to grow as it is quite nice and maybe Wallace planted it. It took over back near the barbeque and garden and I believe could be trained to grow up the walls. Electronics I know about, plant life, forget it.

           Where’s my Arduino? And I see we’ve entered another era of “free” software from the Internet. Free download means that, they don’t charge for the download. Probably because at this time they can’t. Now I’m looking at conversion code since Limewire was torpedoed. I maintain Limewire cost nobody, as in the end, the users either never had the money or would not have paid for what they used in the first place. The shutdown was caused by those who would force them to pay and that ain’t quite right. (Pushing the recordings rather than the live music is the root cause.)
           Another scam is calling something free and then later revealing it to be a trial version, not full-featured, or embedding a “watermark. Again, I have nothing against those companies who tell you in advance that is what they do. But calling it free doesn’t fly. Sooner or later, somebody will invent a system that weeds out the liars and get rich very quickly. Meanwhile the government ignores Internet bait and switch.
           Speaking of idiotic policies, the flat tax people are at it again. Yes, we all know that a flat tax will raise more money, be more equitable, and get more from the rich. But what we all don’t seem to know is that governments love the control they get from income tax law and are not likely to relinquish such power. A flat tax is anonymous and that alone is its death-knell. The government (as it exists) needs control of income tax law for its far-reaching intrusions into privacy.
           It’s their ace in the hole. By taxing income, they got everybody on file to a degree never otherwise permitted in a democracy and routinely use those laws to blackmail, cajole, investigate, trace, prosecute, plea bargain, threaten, intrude, and you get the idea. Ask Al Capone how they got him. As long as we have habeas corpus, the government will never relinquish the supreme grip of income tax law.

           I told the tale of how every $1.99 breakfast special in Florida becomes at least $6.00 or more (the regular price) by the time you get out the door. Here, in my occasionally humble opinion, is the best $6.00 deal in town, with real prices at Burger King. I’m pretty equal on hotcakes or toast, just you remember BK doesn’t serve toast. If you have even the tiniest hint of grey around the temples, BK will give you the coffee half price, but you have to ask. Here is the breakfast combo and at BK you don’t get hounded for a tip. The budding investigative reporters among you will notice the atlas in the background. That was the gift from Wallace back in 1999 for the trip to the Carolinas.
           Dang, I lent out my 2 Gig flash drive at the Xmas party since again, nobody else showed up with enough memory. My expensive drive totally infected with the RECOVERY.LOG virus but you can’t prove it without getting on the other guy’s computer and he won’t allow that. In the end, I formatted the drive and lost my contents. The effect of the virus is to almost instantly minimize any folder you open down to the task bar.

           And you know, one of the finest things about being broke is you can stop by at Jimbos’ on the way back from Home Depot. There, no matter how many years or dollars you spent at school or study, somebody there will know more about it than you do. I downloaded a ton of basic electronic theory from the net. Gee, if only I’d known it was all free up at the club. How come they are never around to remind me that docx files can’t be opened by Office 2003? Strange how life works that way. Nobody to guide you but tons to say they told you so, now forming the ignorant majority on the Internet.
           One major mistake was driving home last evening and forgetting to tank up. I was distracted and ran out of gas, but this time while doing 45 mph. As I glided to a stop, this choked the gas tank sludge up into the carburetor. GM owners know what I’m talking about. Several people who learned about the satellite trip have volunteered to “drive up there” but I'm leery of not travelling alone.

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December 29, 2010

           At least the bite is out of the air, so I went for a lengthy morning coffee over near Panera. Not at Panera, just down the street you can get a real breakfast at BK for the same price, around $6.00. That, so you’ll know, is what all the breakfast specials in this town cost you by the time you get fed. Imagine people crude enough to call it a breakfast special but toast and coffee are extra. Real special.
           Today’s photo is of another winner. This is an electric bike with the motor in the rear wheel hub. The catch is these puppies sell for $1,750.00 so you can’t take your eyes off them. Note even in the secure display it is chained to the wall (orange chain in right corner). That’s a lot of money to lose in a split second, considering the stolen property doubles as the getaway car.
           The reply from the Riverside Inn came in, the one who’s ad said the room was $54.99. There is a slight premium for launch dates, in which case the price is $276.39. That’s an extra $221.40, but at least these people gave me a straight answer. Just you try to dig or pry that information out of Ramada, Clarion, Hyatt, Marriott, Best Western, and Radisson. Those people are bastard rats.
           Next, you’d figure with the Internet, it should be an easy task to bring up all the state parks that have campgrounds and get their prices. Try it (floridastateparks.org). After an hour, I finally gave up and found a private camp called Jetty Park who want you to contact them for “further information”. Unfortunately for their secrecy policy, people who’ve stayed there before have published the prices, and a tent site is $24.00, with up to 20% more in “January thru April”.
           I undertook a study on this manner of doing business long ago, long before blog days. My conclusion was that the theory that seasonal businesses have to overcharge to cover their slow periods is not the whole truth. They do not admit that they also overcharge to cover their bad customers, an expense they could avoid by being more discerning. However, judging customers takes brains and experience and these outfits would rather take the easy way out. The availability of credit means they don’t have to suffer from their own mistakes. You do.
           In all, it adds up to a rip-off. Not just the false pricing but the whole aura of how they operate. It plain stinks. Their prices are so high they are afraid to post them on the door, it would seem. The consensus of reviews about the launch date is delays are not uncommon and it is wise to book the room for a second night. That would make it $552.00 for the room, roughly the cost of going to California by train. (Everybody who’s wide awake will notice all these prices are, in the end, working out to nearly the same dollar total. Coincidence?)
           So let’s take another gander at Plan B. I used the Reader’s Digest vacation book Wallace gave me back in 1999 to add up the individual legs to a total of 189 miles Hollywood to Titusville. That struck me as twice the distance Wallace and I went for donuts and coffee in Lake Worth. Further, we had driven up the coast using A1A and not Federal Hwy. Federal can be a quagmire during rush hour. A1A was more scenic and I noticed it on several of the map sections.
           Taking the hint, I used Google Maps to scroll the entire coastline in this focus. A1A, which in Florida is called a “byway”, goes all the way to Cape Canaveral with only a few jaunts inland to circumvent large bays. What’s more, the entire route is dotted with parks, reserves, wilderness, fancy homes and state beaches. It is also mainly through long offshore islands and sandbars. That sounds fascinating. No doubt the Internet will find some way to move those roads around because right now everything you click on takes you to ripoff.com.
           My Coleman isn’t working right, so while up at Pro Bass, I priced out comfortable camping gear. Couple that with my earlier look at the largest tent that can be set up by one person, plus the best mattress, sleeping bag, tent, cooler, folding chair and cot and the total is less than $200. I’ve got everything else needed and unlike wasted hotel money, I’d have all the gear when I got back. It is something to really think about, as the campgrounds all have hot showers and Internet.
           Mind you, I have not checked their space shuttle prices yet. Do they dare also charge five times as much? If so, I’ve looked inland over the horizon for anything within driving distance, though my scooter headlights are not the best for night driving. Keep in mind, this trip is speculation, I won’t have the money unless things change.
           Here’s an ‘in-line’ coupler, a device Fred and I talked about in the shop years ago. For some reason this useful item did not exist, and it required a router to connect two Ethernet cables. Maybe we were doing it wrong all along but I maintained it could be done and here is the proof.

December 28, 2010

           It was warm enough to be outside longer than ten minutes. The weatherman says this may be a record cold, so I wasn’t just kidding the past week. See the hardy souls heading out fishing even in this. Today you get the disjointed ramblings of everything on my plate, but that is often a comparison I invite. It should be a nice long entry. Here’s my day in any order.
           The chill was so bad this morning I had to make a pot of hot chocolate and really hot chicken soup to get underway. It was above freezing, but you could easily see your breathe in the air. This will be a terrible welcome for Wallace if he is expecting the usual balmy, calmy, palmy winter days. I finally e-mailed the Riverside Inn up in Titusville, explaining the impossibility of getting their prices on line.

           By now, I am expecting the hotels in that area to crank their prices before launches. What gives me a laugh is to see them with empty parking lots when that happens. As my search widens, I find there are places who will let you park your car where you can see the launch, and they only charge $10. Nor could I be held to any motel reservation should I find out their price exceeds that of the finest camping gear.
           The skies are reminiscent of Montana, bright and cloudless but freezing on the ground. This reminded me of my research on Doppler radar and I did make a few conclusions I neglected to report last month. For example, since I can only receive (not transmit) there must be a formula that allows for the fact the radar beam [I am seeking] is not being reflected 180 degrees back to the transmitter. How do I find the location of the transmitter and thus develop the correct conversion formulae?
           A number of ways, actually. I could just triangulate the brightest bloom picked up (by an antenna). Or I could look very carefully at where the beam rotates next time there is a diagram on the weather channel. Or just drive over and MapQuest it. Either way, although I can detect the pulses, I have no way of displaying them as seen in the movies. You know, where the Pearl Harbor operator looks at the scope and says bogies bearing this and range that. That is beyond anything I can do.
           I know they are radio waves whose travel is measured in millionths of a second. A radio wave [I think] travels around 270 yards in one microsecond, so the receiver has to really be fast. I’ll hunt around, but I don’t have anything that can collect such tiny pulses. Radar books are very hard to find and most of them are less concerned with theory than navigation. Where did I recently read about a meter that will display events in nanoseconds?

           Up at the Hollywood Burger King that serves cheap coffee, I read a hundred pages of Mary Higgins Clark’s “Remember Me”. Quite well done and if it was her earlier work, it is better than what she’s churning out recently. All her police characters are super-human in that they never have a wrong hunch. Ever. (Compare to Miami's police, "Often wrong but never in doubt".)
           The Internet is also a loser at travel distances. If you plug in two addresses, it finds the route it wants, not the one you travel. To confirm my theory, I used Google maps to follow US1 and it does indeed wind up the coast through every jerkwater town, often sharing the same route as Dixie Hwy. Even allowing for 20% more distance, the route is still basically north-south and is probably less than 200 miles. I’ll try to measure it with a road map that has small distance markings. That’s doing it the hard way.

           I found blueprints for a solar heating device that used only radiation. Usually there is a pump to keep the heated water circulating, but this had a coil immersed near the bottom of a water tank where by convection, the water was always cooler. The natural heat difference kept the water flowing by itself. I shall try to get more on it, such as how the water moves at night. And it is simple and easy to calculate I need a solar cooker for most things on my diet.
           Following up on Bellamy’s statements about the Peru’s fishing grounds, I read some more on the local industry. They don’t use nets, there are so many fish, they put a suction hose over the side of the boat and vacuum up the catch. Learning from example, they had better regulate that practice or cut it out all together. I knew a normally positive guy, Pete Halford, who visited Peru back in the 80s. He never had much to say about the place. He did, however, own the world’s largest pet barnacle in a glass jar.
           Last, I was finally able to find some midi to MP3 conversion software which I’ll be testing shortly. There are ever more sites that offer downloads, but in fact only send the script for the download. In other words, unless you computer is connected to the Internet, you get nothing but wasted time. And the idea of actually paying money for such software is still a foreign concept to me.

           [Author’s note: Addendum to the radar experiment. The following is for review, as I do not yet have a specific location to store this information. For the technically inclined, this clarifies the goals and keeps me out of trouble. The idea is to detect the beam, not to do anything with it. I am the world’s oldest beginner at this hobby and have to start somewhere. This is a description of that start.
           The experiment is in several stages. First of all, I rig up four LEDs with varying resistance and note the relative brightness of each. Then, enter the Arduino. The resistance should vary the brightness, which the Arduino accomplishes by pulse width modulation (PWM). The idea is to find out what the relationship, hopefully linear, is between resistance and PWM. I can’t tell how many times the bulb flashes on and off per second, but I can see if the bulb is on or off and how bright it is. Follow the logic?
           The computer code of the Arduino can be examined to tell the frequency of the PWM. We now have a poor man’s wave detector. I’ve learned radar is in the 9000 to 9700 mH range and these waves, passing the correct antenna, produce electrical current which can be used to light a small LED. Then I should be able to find the matching PWM. By then, I will have timed the beam as shown on TV and know when to expect a bloom. End of Experiment 2011-001. Sorry if you thought I was building a crystal radio kit.]

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December 27, 2010

           The blizzard taking over North America means you get lots of cerebral material as I stay inside and read. Today’s picture is nice, but it is too cold to be there. I looked at electronic component prices and I may owe the Shack a minor apology. I’ve said they’ve just become another electronics outlet, but they do still stock reasonably priced parts. They just don’t plug them as much and they are in a drawer back of aisle seven.
           My first project will likely be a cigar box AM radio, which uses no Arduino parts. Yet. This raises the old question of why would anyone go build a home-made unit with $20 worth of parts when you can buy one already made for $10. Mind you, that is a question asked by people who are afraid they might learn something. They ain’t dumb, they know that learning always leads to the next thing, which is they are supposed to remember it, and before too long, expected to apply it. So avoid the hassle and just don't do anything where you might learn something. Perfectly circular peasant thinking.

           The trip to California is out. The total price approached buying a car and driving it there, coming back, and giving the car away. That’s the dollar equivalent of planning to fly, ride or drive there and back. Plan B is Titusville. Let me fill in some blanks to cut down on the questions afterward. Ft. Lauderdale to Titusville is 172 miles by freeway, around 20% more by scooter roads, or six hours driving. I’m planning the trip solo as I intend to make it regardless. My budget is 99 Bingo dollars.
           All alternate transportation as advertised is from Ft. Lauderdale to Orlando, not Titusville. Amtrak is $72, the despicable Greyhound is disqualified at any price, and there is a $50 shuttle from Denny’s on I-95. All leave you in downtown Orlando where the one tour bus to Titusville wants $55, more than doubling your cost for the last short leg. I’m still looking.
           The best views are from the causeway and Kennedy Space Center (maybe a typo?), which I like to call KFC (Kennedy Flight Center). The available spots are sold out for all remaining Shuttle launches, which I believe continue until middle of 2011. These popular $41 tickets were sold by a lottery system, hooray America. Next best viewing is miles away or offshore. The upcoming mission is on February 3, 2011 at 1:43 AM. As for the Shuttle, I would gladly have paid the admission 30 years ago if the flight back then had been the last one.

           That means an overnight, and if you want something challenging, try getting a straight answer over the price of a hotel room on the Internet. That is one field full of nothing but cork soakers, the worst of which seems to be the Clarion group. They know you want that room price and they ain’t gonna just give it to you, nosirree. Also, I found the average “low” rate is around $60 per night (they won’t say if that is per room or per person), and the rates triple surrounding launch dates.
           The one saving grace is that hotels cannot, as of writing, function without a telephone, and it is still easier to get prices by phoning the front desk--not the 800 number. I located a room facing the east in Titusville at a small outfit called Riverside Inn and have to confirm the prices as even the quotation is not necessarily what you pay. Ask anybody who has ever stayed in a Miami hotel about that.
           The Riverside has some bad reviews, but reading them shows a consistent pattern of people who want something for nothing or who don’t want to be satisfied. The rooms could not be that much different than the budget hotel in Venezuela, where I lived for two years. (Just south of Sabana Grande, near Maxis.) The odd cracked baseboard doesn’t bother me as long as there is hot water, is what I’m sayin’. Furthermore, anyone who lives along a waterfront knows there are roaches even if you can’t see them. Fact of life.

           I was in Barnes & Noble for the afternoon, along with dozens of other people escaping the cold. Barnes has removed the chairs from their section leaving only the privately owned coffee shop with seating. An ugly lady with a bad attitude comes around with a menu, which she places so you see the rule that the area is for customers only. Their service is atrociously slow, as the cashier is also the bottle washer.
           Like Borders, the shelves are now stocked with what sells rather than a good overall selection. I’ve written about this before, how an idiot thinks if you see twice as many cookbooks, you’ll buy twice as many. There were exactly two books on electronics in the entire store, but sixty feet of romance novels by women who look and act like Doris Day. Poor things.
           I also read a book on 150 tech careers, ranging from dental hygienist to truck driver, published this year. What caught my eye was the list of median earnings. Hey, you musicians, did you know you are supposed to be earning $41,600 per year? That kind of money has not existed in this area for years and even the few well-paid people don’t bring up that kind of average.
           None of the tech occupations paid more than $69,000 per year, the top being pharmacy techs and nuclear medicine techs. On unusual aspect of the book is they listed the downsides of the jobs, and in many cases I agree. If I was a nuclear tech, why should I have to handle and inject the patients? (Rhetorical question.) That’s what nurses are for. They were realistic, even noting that lab techs would often be required to go collect samples in some very unsavory locations. Worst position for me was hospital lab assistant paying $27,000 per year with rotating 24 hour shift work. They still allow that kind of job in America?

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December 26, 2010

           Behold one of the walkways to Miami Beach. The coastal road, Collins Avenue” is a short block from the Atlantic and there are dozens of these little dead end lanes that lead to the beach. This confirms the old saw that just because palm trees will grow somewhere, they must be planted. This time of year, that pathway should be jam packed.
           Beware of the frost warning tonight. That didn’t stop an excellent bingo and a small party afterward. Not that it was all roses, as repairs cost me $27 which I did not make back this evening. The good news is I finally found a soldering iron that produces enough heat to take care of business. That’s why I spent four hours today fixing patch cables. Man, are my hands shaky compared to when I was 18. Why do I still make simple repairs? Well, back in my day when you needed a cable, you didn’t just waltz over to Guitar Center.
           The quality of store-bought, I’m saying, has really gone downhill. I’ve rigged up just about every component used in a band and there was a time I remember you bought from the music store because it was better made and lasted longer. Today, it is all junk. The new phono jacks (1/4-inch guitar plugs) from Liechtenstein retail for $7 apiece and don’t even have drill holes to anchor your wires. I suspect that country possesses either no intelligence or no electricity. I mean, how can you mess up a guitar plug?

           I’ve finished “The Life-Giving Sea” and it is too deep for casual reading, small pun intended. The author, Bellamy, has a great knack for answering questions you should have asked. He takes it upon himself and does a good job. For example, the current theory of coral reefs is that the central island subsides, or sinks into the ocean. But if so, why does the coral ring stay way out around the original island shoreline instead of gradually filling in the lagoon? Never crossed my mind until he spoke up.
           I was getting dismayed by so much detail until I got to the final third of the book, where Bellamy (back in 1975) exhibits an astonishingly level prescience via accurate predictions and anticipation of ecological matters. He also quantifies where others merely remark. Whereas I knew the open ocean was not an infinitely bountiful food source; Bellamy states the ranges. And the are from 1 gm per square meter in the barren open sea up to 900 gm in the Humbolt Current, he states, “over eight times the figure for the best beef pasture . . . in the world” (p252).
           As well, he regularly makes astounding observations by detailing matters only attributable to a person accustomed to deep thought--which comes across in the book. The Humbolt Current has but three layers in the food chain, compared to dozens or more in other biospheres, where each level of digestion takes away 90% of the food energy. Bellamy states that fish can only eat food which is large enough for them to see (in itself a fascinating remark) and off the Peru coast, diatoms grow just great enough for that to happen. Count the three stages, the anchovies (small fish) eat the diatoms, and are in turn consumed by top level predators (in the case of krill, by whales). Enormous relative amounts of food energy quickly reach the tertiary level. I wonder how many levels is the usual.

           Alaine called in the middle of bingo. I placed the phone on the table so she could listen to the show. If that isn’t novelty, what did you hear on the phone today? The cold snap came by at 9:00 PM and for some reason, my Coleman lamp is not putting out any bright light. I’m thinking something is wrong with the new “gasoline” generator. Not only is it hard to light, it soots up the lamp glass. (Later I discover it is a difficult repair, not something for the rookie.)
           Later I stopped around to put “Because I Got High” on my various Karaoke lists but did not stay to perform. Here’s my new definition of Karaoke: The Hour of Wishful Thinking. I spelled out the facts of the California trip to Jackie, who agrees it is completely off the affordability scale for now. (This is a car trip, but we both prefer the train. Instead, I’ve suggested we go up to Titusville and witness a satellite launch. That, folks, is the more likely prospect for now.

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December 25, 2010

           Here is one of the projects I worked on, the Continuum on South Beach. I made a side trip to take this photo. It is now surrounded by other towers that block a good part of the once incredible view. There is a private driveway so I got no closer, nor have I been inside since it was completed. We used to eat our sandwiches in the penthouse.
           A warm spell, I stayed overnight in Coral Gables. Everybody was an early riser so I made coffee and we heated up bagels. I drove north along A1A through Miami to return home, I usually skip church as the incense gives my head a bad time, a dull headache. I took the morning to read more of “The Life-Giving Sea” and the exactness of the material is truly impressive.
           For example, there is a tale about that the age of the Earth can be calculated by how salty the sea is today, a false result. The sea has always been pretty much as salty since the beginning. Bellamy states the facts. That salt calculation gives the Earth’s age as only 90 million years. What the tests were measuring instead of age is the average amount of time salt stays a given sample of ocean water after it is first dissolved, that is, a little less than 100 million years.
           Other than his diatom section, the book is out of my league, but I must now read it due to how much and how precise he knows about the parts I study. Before I forget, I asked Dad about the hypothermia being beneficial to facial reconstruction, and he clarified that cold (but not frozen) flash had a slower metabolism, making it better and fresher to work with. That explains it, as I had a faulty layman’s connotation of hypothermia.

           Pardon me, there is another excellent section early in the book. Where most text on the subject go to length to define life, Bellamy describes the remarkable circumstances that life requires to exist. Many are aware of the 1950s experiment where the scientist was able to cook up amino acids from chemicals. Those chemicals of life are hydrogen, oxygen, carbon and nitrogen, but those are present almost everywhere, not just where there is life. Bellamy addresses this point most clearly. I can only provide the overview here.
           The life must be encased in some kind of container, usually the cell wall. Once inside, the cell is ordered and therefore all ordered systems require energy to remain so. Plants use chlorophyll and animals eat, but they must get that energy. Third, Bellamy notes that the living cell itself must contain “memory” of its own structure to be able to recreate itself. That memory is DNA.

           [Author’s note: I would love to hear Bellamy describe ignorance in the same terms, for I quickly noticed ignorance has the same requirements. Ignorance lives in a shell, considers everything around itself as existing for its own use, and can reproduce without requiring any conscious thought or intelligence whatsoever. In another remarkable coincidence, the most successful types of ignorance can be slimy, poisonous and smell bad.
           Creationists might point out at this juncture that that experiment with the amino acids has never been successfully duplicated. The non-believers claim the apparatus was contaminated. But, they would say that, wouldn't they?]

           In all, the book is an exhaustive study and should probably be read by the chapter to learn what’s there. At several passages it hints at my conviction that sooner or later, somebody is going to isolate genes for intelligence and stupidity. Most people are so gawdawful stupid, it just has to be some innate factor at work. Not hereditary, I didn't say that because I am definitely not as stupid as the rest of my family. Not as ignorant, either.
           Another curious conversation took place as Alaine and I discussed “Eden Found”. It turns out the author used real names of his relatives for the fictitious characters, so I sounded [to others] like we were discussing old friends. Not so, I’ve only met her husband. I’m maintain my position the book would do better if re-titled something catchy, or at least confrontational. “Assad versus the Pentagon”, or “The Revenge of Lenny Cronin”.
           It is also a good primer for would-be terrorists and cowards in general. You got to read this book just for the amateur tactics it describes. When negotiators insist they can’t possibly negotiate without getting your name, you merely shoot one captive or hostage, you see, it is a psychological game. Suddenly, they can negotiate like hell without the formality of introductions. This game was perfected by those oily used-car salesmen who “like to know who they are talking to” so they can then pretend to be offended when you don’t buy. Beware when they (the authorities) want to run in a second phone “in case the first one goes dead” (that phone is bugged). And remember to situate your accomplices further away from the building so they can see (and call you by cell phone) if the SWAT team really leaves or just backs up a block, because they are going to shoot you. when you lean forward to look. Remember to use a different cell phone for every call. Maybe call the book “Hostage-Taking 101”?
           The scooter probably paid for itself in the last week, if all the facts could be known. And only the enormity of gathering those facts prevents me from doing so, but my best guess is it costs 1/7th as much to operate as my Cadillac. I am very satisfied with the machine.

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December 24, 2010

           Christmas was relatively quiet this year, we’ll get to that. First take a look at this red sports car, the make of which I do not know or care to learn. Some guy, maybe 20 years old, was circling A1A and Collins (the two main roads parallel to Miami beach. This type of bozo is one reason not to live in that area. The car itself attracted little attention, so he kept revving it constantly and changing gears. That made a characteristic roaring sound up and down the lane. He's playing the song of his people.
           I was behind him for around 25 blocks and got to notice the behavior of the pedestrians toward the car. Alas I could not video the action but very few people paid any attention to the car and none paid attention to the driver. Maybe one person in fifty even looked, and most of the time is was heavy-set middle-aged men. Probably less than ten women even glanced over, and most of those didn’t see the car, rather they smelled the money.
           Another cold snap, so I reviewed Arduino code. That C+ language has got to be the worst thing that ever happened to the programming community. It is a complete departure from the concept that the code itself should not be more challenging than what is being accomplished. It has no coding advantages over even simple BASIC, yet C+ is touted to be an advanced language. Horse hockey.
           Sure enough, Zuckerberg, the FaceBook guy, was named Time’s Man of the Year. My question remains not how he did it, but where did he learn how to code it? I’ve never gotten a straight answer out of any college on that one, yet I know that is where he at least must have been exposed to the Internet coding procedures. Time makes an analogy that his “empire” is the third largest in the world with 550 million subjects and more personal information about them than any existing government. (Google was soon to surpass Facebook as the largest collector or personal and private citizen information and behavior tracking.)

           I salvaged the piezo igniter out of one of those long stem butane lighters. I inadvertently pressed it and my guitar pickup clicked from almost sixteen feet away. I couldn’t believe it. I immediately hooked up my volt meter and dang if that thing doesn’t put out 1,000 volts. To be sure, I pinched the wire and let it shock me (don’t worry, the amperage is tiny). Wow, that bit. I must look into that further.
           Now Christmas Eve. I drove the coast down to Gables Estates and despite being two hours late, I was the first one there. I got a book and read in the back yard until JZ showed up, looking very poorly. Of course, I would say that about anybody who shows up for Xmas dinner not wearing a tie. The crowd was smaller this year, with mainly close family. The kids are all grown up or growing up, the youngest [children in the group] still got the most camera time. The outdoor table was mostly middle eastern foods, including ground nuts and smoked eggplant (baba gnoosh?).
           As usual, everyone ran short of memory cards. We used my 2 gigabyte Sandisk and all the good scenes were captured, just no extras this year. Unusual footage would be me signing carols along with Mary-Jo and the grandkids. My voice made a good impression and when asked why I didn’t sing last year, I was telling the truth. Last year, I couldn’t sing.

           Christmas dinner was chicken shish-kebab, lamb, rice and all the fixin’s. A nice touch was the yogurt sauce, which seemed to go with just about everything. After the traditional speech and prayers, the rest of the evening was gifts and good-byes. For me, the real treat is that I get to borrow books and there is surely a great collection over there. Today I chose “The Life-Giving Sea”, by David Bellamy. JZ and his son grew up together in Coral Gables.
           May I clear something up while we’re talking childhood. I was not raised in Texas, I was only born there. I don’t directly know or remember anyone from Texas as lad, but I can’t say that for sure because I’ve never been back long enough to ask around. I grew up in the northwest, never living in but usually within driving distance of Seattle, Washington.
           Among my gifts this year were home made jam and a web camera. To me, cameras are a gadget and I see this one becoming my “scooter-cam”. I’ll be testing it while waiting for my Arduino to arrive. I heard webcams are battery-hungry.

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December 23, 2010

           Here’s the Mr. Laff’s sign from out on Griffin and University, eleven miles from here. I drove the scooter out there, for a change, taking all the back roads to see what I’ve missed using the car. The cities here are definitely far-flung amalgamations of small towns and as such, have no real defined city center. It is truly third world, with slums across the street from five-star hotels and head offices located on street corners way out in suburbia.
           We jammed for half an hour, including playing the dreaded “Last Dance with Mary Jane” funeral dirge. For some reason, three bass players were to be there at once. What are the odds on that? The one guy had an [expensive] upright bass, and like most bass players other than myself, tended to play a bit too loud. But he was certainly talented and could fake anything. My show is the other extreme, where talent is merely one of a dozen components needed to make things fly.

           Today I got a call from somebody offering a mobile home for sale for $900. He says there is nothing wrong with it, but for that price I am obligated to go take a look. Meanwhile Wallace has been in touch so that is wonderful news. I was worried the guy might have died without saying anything.
           Here’s a circumstance, last evening I posted my results of an Amtrak price and immediately got 84 replies stating not to trust the Amtrak web page. Sure enough, I went back and discovered even if you check the “round trip” button, the price quoted is one-way. That means the price of the train to California is not $290, but $580 per person. I advised Jackie that the two of us could spend $1,160 on something better. Boo, Amtrak.
           Take note it was this blog that triggered the instant replies to that pricing scam. How is it a scam? For quoting the lowest instead of a complete and revealing price. We’ve all been there. You drive across town, park, wait in line and discover the true cost. Now you either waste all that effort or get insulted by the clerk, “What’s the matter, isn’t your credit good enough?” You know what I mean.
           I went on to price alternatives and found probably what you don’t want to hear. I looked at rates to fly, drive, train and bus return to New Orleans. The air fare is $213, driving will cost $209, the train is $223 and the bus is $208. Thus, the prices have no competitive difference. I predicted the Internet would have this effect. Despite the fact these modes of transportation don’t overlap, they have all adjusted their prices to so near the maximum that your selection is for the most part meaningless.

           I sometimes call this the Mexico City effect, because thanks to the Internet the beat up cabs there charge exactly the same prices as in New York City. Actually, I first saw this not in Mexico City, but in Chitzen Itza. One of the two cabbies in town had gone to school in America and wanted $15 for a two mile trip back in 1987. The point was that he was taking advantage of people who thought they were ordering the other cab since they both had the same phone number. Back then, $15 was a months wages, so he was scalping the tourists.
           Several people have contacted me to report the Hippie has given them a story about the incident last week. What a goof. Here’s how everyone knows he is lying. Most liars will tell a quaintly alternative but believable account that falsely fits the facts. The Hippie isn’t that clever, instead, his version is always 180 degrees out of whack. It’s a dead giveaway, that “New Age lying.” For example he is claiming I swung first and that I am barred from the club, whereas in fact the opposite is the case.

           What a world of difference the scooter makes. I was back in town in time to hit up two Karaoke shows, Wanda and Laura. Wanda bought some new model DVD player that supposedly will play all known formats of disc. But it was tricky to connect, I found the related RCA jacks widely spaced on the back panel. It also had limited controls on the front panel, including a forward-only scroll button that had to be pressed six times to change from CD to DVD. Anyway, I was out all evening long for a grand cost of just $2.50.
           The scooter is already showing limitations. The worst is having to stop for gas every hour and a half. Theoretically, the one gallon tank should last two hours at 35 mph, but the reality is you need to stop where there is a gas pump. I’ve already run out twice within sight of the next station. The highest road speeds in the cities are 45 mph and the scooter handles that easily. With the proper carrier (plastic milk carton), one can carry a surprisingly large cargo. I’ve traveled 556 miles for less than I used to spend on bus fare.

           Historical moment: For the record, the Arduino is on the way, shipped from California for $4.95. Here are the details for posterity. The Duemilanove has been replaced by the Uno. My sources say the only difference is some USB connection, so the Uno it is. The word is all my tutorials and study material will work with the newer unit. The price of the brainboard itself was $29.95, or about half what they cost when I first began looking. My mind is racing ahead to getting this thing to “Hello World”.
           Oops, too much jargon. Here’s what it means. Whenever one learns a new programming language, the traditional first test of competence is to get the program to print or display “Hello World”. This has been so as far back as I can remember. Since the Arduino cannot display, the equivalent is to get a light to blink according to programming controls. This is considerably more challenging that doing the same with timers or capacitors. And I am 110% certain I will get it on the first attempt. This is the gadget that bingo bought.

December 22, 2010

           Totally cool Ontario license plate, “4U IWILL”. Laugh, that was the high point of the day. It was warm enough to chase around so that’s what I had to do. Ray-B called, he is doing Mr. Laff’s tomorrow and I may just show up. Of all the guitar players I know in this town, he's the one least set in his ways. But he still has not gone through the drawn out lesson that the day of the single guitar player making big is long over. I've seen others cling to that outdated dream for a lifetime.
           Time for a motor scooter report, as I passed the 500 mile mark today. This is for those who like cold, hard facts. I predicted six times as much use of the scooter as the bicycle, which I consistently rode 100 miles per month. So by New Year’s, that estimate will be close. The cost in gasoline was $24.67 to travel 514 miles using 7.342 gallons. Average mpg was 70.008 and cost per mile was 4.8 cents. There are some interesting revelations along the way.

           The mileage varied greatly from as little as 57 to as high as 110. The lower mileage figure is attributable to using lower octane gas in that one fill up. The power also suffered greatly and I switched back to high test. The initial reading of 88 mpg was lowered by careful thinking, such as follows. First, there must have been some residual gas in the tank when purchased. When I test drove, I was naturally cautious and accelerated slowly. I know head winds make big difference and a corresponding tail wind on the return leg does not make up for the loss.
           As well, during the break-in period, I kept the speed consistent at around 20 mph, where as now, I will jackrabbit start and zip down Pines Blvd at 45 mph. All factors, working together shaved that 18 miles off the average. The good news is that there is no doubt the scooter is far superior to a car for trips up to 100 miles in a day. I tend to put $3 in rather than actually fill up. Gas is $3.599 per gallon and tank up takes less than a minute.

           Wallace is on the way. His email sounded argumentative but that is understandable. Yet the premise on which we got this place is as fundamentally sound as when I did the calculations in 2008. There is no way either of us could live in Florida for as little as we pay here and as long as we stick with the plan we’ll be fine.
           He has experience with construction, but I’ve got experience in putting together expert working plans and there is no clear reason for any argument. I’ve also been a property manager since I was 22. It boils down to a new deposit on the electricity and the back rent, of which I have my share socked away. There are valid reasons I could refuse to pay it.
           Also, the record shows my bills are paid on time and that nobody has ever heard me complain about the amounts. I have paid every penny to which I agreed to pay, but not one penny more since February this year. I can only afford the full rent six months of each year, exactly what was agreed between us prior to the purchase. The real change is that now I don’t need the help I was promised and never got. But I kept my end of the bargain and that means I won’t leave empty-handed.

           What Wallace has to do is sit down and calculate what he wants to do. I’ll wager he will conclude this place was the bargain of the century and that he should be staying here year-round and enjoying it. Those offers he gets from the Panera are baseless. Sixty year old homeless men talking about “financing packages” are not to be trusted. It is easy to make big offers before they got the money, that’s all you ever hear them doing when you stop there for coffee. Talk. Talk. Talk.
           The idea of renting this place while both of us are away is not feasible. Every shyster in town is onto that game, as Florida law does not enforce absentee landlordism. If they (the tenants) find out you are more than 75 miles away, they just stop paying. There are professional firms that collect the rent, but everybody I’ve talked to who used them regretted it*. Those firms also know you when you are away. The best thing is to sit pretty for now but how to do that depends on Wallace. But he is being a real grouch for reasons unknown at this time.
           Last, my research on other mobile homes shows that the lot rents in most areas start at around $475 per month with water extra. It would border on foolishness to give up this place. Worse, there are dozens of mobile homes for sale, the market is glutted right now and the average sale takes 14 months. Yet, that is exactly where this is headed if Wallace continues to mess up.

           *[Author's note: the reason the "rent collection" agencies are a rip-off is they insist you sign over to them to do minor repairs while you are away. But you quickly find out that "minor" means something different to them. And that, miraculously, their brother-in-law always has just the tools and materials needed for the job. This is about the same time you begin to notice that the repairs only become necessary whenever you are out of town.]

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December 21, 2010

           Honest, I would have gone to the beach today but I was too broke. Instead, I used a dollar of gas to make the rounds of all the nearby trailer courts to view what was available. The bargains are there for those willing to haggle the price, I looked at places from $2,000 to $8,000 and there was not that much difference in quality of the interiors. The major difference is lot price, which ranged from $435 to $575. For those who recall, the big selling point of the place here was single pad rent for a doublewide unit.
           May I digress a little? My original plan, which I spend some 18 months putting together, was that Wallace and I have an economical place to stay in South Florida. To this day, that model remains valid, if both Wallace and I stick to the plan, we have the cheapest place in town. Shop around if you think otherwise.
           I am not planning anything, rather making sure there is always a contingency plan. Obviously my “partner” is up to something and has to make a move soon or go broke. I can move any time, but my first stop will be at my lawyer’s. Nobody tries to make my life miserable when I’m down and out and gets away with it. The mobile home that got my attention is this three and two in the beautiful Everglades Park.
           If you look closely, you can see the eviction notice (on the building shown here) on the sliding glass door. It reads $5,900 in arrears, or 13 months plus late charges. The office knows they’ll never get it. Unless they accept a reasonable offer. I love that off-street parking and the huge work shed (not shown off to the right). It is a solid unit twenty years newer than this place. But it is not to be.
           For openers, they want the new owner to pay the back rent (nothing like placing blame where it is due) and they want everybody living in a given unit to be blood relations. That crosses the line, who lives with me is my business, not the trailer park’s. They also require all guests, even casual, to register at the gate before entering. Again, over the line. Face it, right where we are is the best deal in town and more credit should be given to my original business model.
           Sometimes I wish Wallace was in the line of fire to understand how difficult it is to find good tenants in Florida. Practically every potential renter out there has been rejected elsewhere. You can be sued for selling to those who claim later they could not afford what you sold them. The Panera crowd is very aware of this law.
           I looked up the Amtrak fares for Jackie. Return trip to LA is $290. Not bad considering it is an 82 hour trip each way via Washington and Chicago. He wants to rough it; I’d like to include a few luxuries (if I’m there). I mean, how often does one take the train across America? The 43-hour stretch from Chicago to LA should, I think, include a small stateroom where a body could catch a nap on demand. It seems nothing at first glance, but I’ve experienced the agony of long trips by airline and Greyhound.
           Later, Jackie is quite enthused about train travel and California. Myself, I was set on The City of New Orleans. This trip is only $100 more. The logistics, however, are much more. While one could live on the train for the 19 hour transit and stay overnight, Los Angeles would be a four-day journey via Washington and Chicago in the middle of winter. Ground transportation in California is also a problem. I have not lived there in twenty years and don’t know anybody any more. Even old Dave Janss got married and his wife won’t even let him play pinball machines much less chum with the old gang.
           I will still set up the itinerary for Jackie, thinking along the lines of bed and breakfast. He’s the type that will stock up on hamburgers on sale and eat out of the fridge for a week. If you go to California, you should stay a week anyway. I’ll price out the usuals, including the Queen Mary and Santa Catalina. That week will cost at least a thousand dollars.

December 20, 2010

           Here’s the seashore wildlife. These are pelicans sitting in a tree, something that surprised me at least as much as seeing ducks do the same. This is beside the Bal Harbor cut and I would have missed it except for all the noise. In several ways, this month has been a record-breaker. Several sources have, since Saturday, confirmed the Karaoke observations written here at that time.
           It’s cold and dark out there this morning, meaning I got another concentrated four hours of study on robotics into my head. I use the term loosely as I’m a beginner at this. One emerging peculiarity is that I was right years ago about not having to learn all those sine and cosine wave formulas. It was enough to know how the thing behaves to work with it. It is kind of like computer schools that make you memorize the Ethernet wire colors.
           Y’day I priced out parts, the major supplier is still the Shack. They are preposterous, selling disk drive power couplers for $5 each. These are those little white plastic 4-wire clips that come out of your computer power supply. For $5 I can get you twenty of them. I guess I’m disappointed that Radio Shack moved from bulk low end supplier to pricey high-end single-item packaging. I understand they have an expensive distribution network to support but they should streamline instead of overcharge, in my humble opinion.

           I decided to learn that Afroman tune, “Cause I Got High”. I was surprised by the complications caused by the layers of harmonies. Talk about fun to learn. Watch me fake it on the bass, this tune was made for my act. The vocal syncopation is confusing but the bass line can be easily morphed into question-answer, and that’s the horse I rode in on.
           I’ve decided not to publish the full results, but I’ve got some fine data on seventeen different mobile homes for sale in this immediate area. These represent the entire spectrum of those trying to get their money back to outright panic sales. Forget supply and demand, there is no demand. You can probably guess which avenue I am following.

           Ray-B e-mailed that he’s found a Fishmann PA Solo on sale for $599. I don’t have the cash but that price is within striking distance. This got me reviewing costs and here is something notable. Today I bought an LED flashlight, the kind that use the 3 AAA batteries. I held it up and thought just a few years ago such a device could not be purchased at all. The parts existed in America, but nothing else.
           It has 9 LED diodes, plus the wiring, case, battery holder, switch and a carrying strap. You’ve got the right guy to tell you those LEDs retail for 40 cents apiece in this country. The product of 9 x .40 is $3.60, yet I bought this flashlight retail for $1.95. That flashlight was not built here. Woe to the working class, China has not yet begun to fight. I’ve had a lot to say concerning this point about China in the past.
           What’s more is these LED devices use electricity to produce light, not heat. The one I hold in my hand is rated (and guaranteed) for 100,000 hours of operation. That beats those USA-made Eveready bulbs at the corner hardware by 50,000 times, nor do they contain those cheap-ass Eveready filaments that break at the tiniest jar. No matter how Chinese products are berated, only a fool could not recognize the price advantages of even the worst quality of such imports. I can buy fifty Chinese pieces of junk and still come out ahead of paying ridiculous American prices.

           Worst item of the day is that I was scam-changed ten dollars at Burger King. I stopped for coffee in a hurry and didn’t spot the rip-off until too many hours later to complain. I’ve mentioned scam-changing before, and this is the third time I’ve fell for it in eleven years, all in Florida. I’ll describe the trick.
[Photo delayed]
           Normally, you get your change by the clerk placing the coins in the cup of your hand and returning the bills with the largest denomination on top. If you break a twenty, the change is returned with the ten dollar bill is facing upwards, so if there is a mistake, it concerns a smaller note. The scam works by the clerk putting the large bill on the bottom, then covering the stack of bills with the receipt, thus forcing you to take the receipt if you want your change. Then the clerk balances the coins on top of this pile, so you cannot easily flip it over to count the bills without dropping the coins.
           I know it seems trivial, but they’ve cheated me for $30, all were for a ten-dollar bill and all were at fast food joints. What are the odds? Multiply that by the millions of customers and even the dumbest clerk knows sooner or later comes out ahead, and if caught, why it was just an “honest mistake”. Hail to the business that first recognizes and prohibits scam-changing.

ADDENDUM
           In good news, I may have found an electronics supplier, Hacktronics , who will accept money orders without all the eBay fuss. eBay wants more personal database information than a credit application to get a PayPal account and does not enforce the rule against depositing money orders like checks. You never deposit a money order and wait for it to “clear” because money orders are already cleared.
           A money order means the buyer paid his cash up front and wants the goods now. If you still want a deposit, you first cash the money order and then deposit the cash. eBay is pretty clueless over this procedure and I suspect is too stupid to grasp the concept, much less insist on it. But I suppose also to blame is the fact that a money order looks much like a check, at least to the grossly uneducated.

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December 19, 2010

           I’ve never quite seen Xmas bulbs this size before. It’s a good thing I left the farm, too, or I may never have. It was down to the beach again. This time for the $2 breakfast special that turns into $6 by the time you leave. It was a little cold but I have my winter jacket and I spent an hour reading “Dancing Wu Li Masters”. Today’s report is long and I’ll start with some thoughts on the book.
           I initially read part of this book back in college. I knew that Wu Li has several dozen meanings in Chinese and my original major was physics (before computer courses completely eclipsed that idea). While I only took one 200 level physics course, we studied quantum concepts and I found I didn’t care for that study, that technical applications interested me more.

           Upon reading the same passages again (all the chapters are named Chapter One), I was reminded of some of my distaste for the philosophical side of the subject. For example, the wave-particle theory of Einstein is to me an accepted duality, I don’t look at ancient cave paintings or East Indian inscriptions and think, “Gee, those primitive people had all this nailed down.” The author of “Dancing Wu Li Masters” insists upon drawing continual parallels to the ancients.
           I’m not keen on any such thing for two reasons. First, it does not take much brains to notice the more obvious aspects of most physical events, and noticing is not the same as understanding. Second, you can always tell when unintelligent people encounter the unknown—they start worshiping it. The book is a good read but be prepared for his circular explanations that always get back to the same destination: that if you don’t know for sure, then you must be wrong. Where have we heard that before?
           Next, I attended a solar cooker demonstration. This was a real eye-opener. I’d succeeded in getting some pizza cartons and tin foil to heat an enclosed area up to 144 degrees. That’s not hot enough cook anything, but it was not bad for a cheap experiment. I learned lots just examining the design of the cooker shown here. It is basically a double wall plastic case with rigid 1” insulation between. Shown here is a model that sells for $135.

           Here’s what I learned new. Note the shape, it can be set on two different sides depending on the height of the sun in the sky. Can you see how it works? The sun was almost overhead in this instance. I learned that the system does not require water to cook food and it will not work on cloudy days. It will bake a chicken in less than three hours and the cookware must be dark colored. In this model, there are two round pots designed to fit snugly in the case.
           I also learned the case is tightly sealed and all components are painted flat black. There is an oven thermometer inside and the internal temperature easily gets up to 280 degrees, twice what I achieved. At least 185 degrees is needed to cook food and that also means the oven will pasteurize water. I’m glad I asked about that because I learned the kit includes a water pasteurization gauge. It is a tiny plug of beeswax in a closed tube, see photo.

           The way this works is simplicity defined. If you squint you’ll see the wax plug is at the top of the tube. You dangle this by a little wire into the water pot being sterilized. When the water reaches 152 degrees, the wax melts and drains to the bottom, a visual sign the water is pasteurized. Then, for the next batch, you turn it upside down and use it over again. (Actually, don’t quote me on the 152 degrees. That is the temperature diatoms croak, but by then your bacteria will be long gone. Still, double check, or - here it comes - mind your own beeswax.) Don't hit me!

           In all, I found the equipment well-constructed and light weight. It has other advantages and while I’m more likely to build than buy, I can recommend you at least take a look. It is marketed by Solar Oven Society and they are doing some relief work in Haiti. Now that I’ve seen it work, I believe I could build something comparable.
           My true curiosity is still the Arduino. I priced out a few peripherals as the Shack and reviewed a strange programming language called “Processing”. How moronic to name a language with a verb, that’s as dumb as calling a database “Access”. It turns out Processing is the parent language of the Arduino commands and is geared for graphics and audio. Since it is free, I’ll take a look. That probably seems backward to those who don’t know my background, but rather than think of a project and try to figure out the code, I’m more likely to tackle the code first.
           Take for instance that oven thermometer inside the solar oven. It is a passive device. Unless you keep checking it, how do you know what is really going on? I estimate I could produce the computer code to monitor the temperature, ring an alarm when needed, provide a graph of the cooking time and have the oven turn itself toward the sun. What I lack is the equipment and mechanics to actually build it. But the code is no problem. And that is why I want an Arduino. Not to necessarily do it, but to understand the technology.

           [Author's note 2015-12-19: I eventually quit chumming with the people pushing this solar heater. It was nothing they did wrong, but that they were continually into activities like supporting charities and asking for small donations. After a while you notice it all adds up to enough small donations for them to live quite comfortably without really doing any work. There was just no way without mortally offending these people of accounting for how much of anything actually went to the causes . Kind of a mini-United Way operation.]

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December 18, 2010

           There’s another winter front on the way but it was a surprisingly pleasant morning so I went to the beach, discovering there are no real coffee shops in my parking area. It was warm enough for a bicycle ride and here is a house I regularly pass. How I’d love to see something like that come on the market for a song. Unlike many local houses this size, this building is one unit evidenced by a single electric meter. See the top floor with the balcony? That’s mine. Or would be if I buy the place.

OOOPS! Let me go back and find this picture.

           Alas, it is still a dream. The books and projections are done and I’m one broke dude for a while yet. People should have taken my money when I offered it. But I’m not broke like before when other people could take advantage of my situation. Hot weather seems to change people the instant they think they have the upper hand.
           Yes, I inadvertently sold a perfectly good ultraviolet lamp kit in 1998. Then again, I found another set of instructions to make a printed circuit board using a household iron and something called “liquid tin”. I was dismayed to see that while I’m struggling to buy one Arduino, I find kids making videos on-line with boxes full (of Arduinos, sensors, and power supplies) at their disposal. It is hard for me to imagine having such resources when I was ten years old.

           I spent two hours on the beach and found a nice coffee spot at about half the price of the Panera for the same deal. Free parking makes the trip over there possible. There’s a lot better view and you get occasional women who glance back at you. I watch for the ones who notice I’m reading non-fiction, it reminds me of back in Hawaii taming birds to hand-feed. Bet you ten bucks the good-looking intelligent women aren’t local. (The place folded in two more weeks, thus with every good place that tries to open in this town.)
           Afterward the rainstorm caused me to pull into Hollywood Scooter, the place I bought the Longbo 150 (my scooter). I showed the clerk how to take and how to place photos on Craigslist. No, it is not odd to find people who still can’t do that. For instance, the Hippie, who said to me the other day that he’s “learned a lot” about computers in the past five years. Really? Did you know that a genius is a man who can think about a single subject for 15 minutes? For most Floridians, you’d need a stopwatch.

           Bingo exceeded all expectations tonight. Let me qualify that. The show went from 3:00 to 10:00 and included live music, karaoke, bingo and canned music. Successful shows “on demand” are largely based on audience appeal. Several records were broken tonight, most for things I'd not done before. Like entertain for seven hours straight. Auguring well for the future, I was the host for the entire session, spanning the different musical styles just mentioned.
           I rigged up that Karaoke machine I repaired last year and now intend to leave it as the house system at Jimbos. Where all other Karaoke shows in the vicinity have a something for everyone appeal, I want to advertise that Jimbos’ Karaoke is “country friendly” or “country flavored”. We’ll take anybody, sure, but I’m more than convinced the “country” label will be an instant draw, the first targeted Karaoke show. And there’s a lot to be said about being first. Sigh.
           While my shows are not fantastic, they are unique. I’ve noticed around town Karaoke is not growing. They are not adapting to the times. On the other hand, I have people who state they will only sing as long as I am the host, really, but that is not a good enough reason for me to spend the money to set up a more modern show. All the gear I have was attained for free. Most popular are the tunes where I sing backup and play a bass line along to the music. Such ideas don’t materialize overnight and that alone sets my performance far apart, or at least apart enough to get the non-Karaoke crowd on stage. This is the only time I use all that many backing tracks.
           And this one was by far the most spectacular show of the year. To think I was going to dump that Karaoke machine because it is obsolete! Last, the house came around just before quitting with the little white envelopes, you know, the annual tokens of appreciation. It was a very, very, very, very nice Xmas present. Did I say very? The club knows who brings in the crowd.

           My Arduino should be here within the week.

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December 17, 2010

           Only in America or other equally credit-based economies can you find boneyards with millions of dollars in repossessed luxury boats. Yes, this nation is built on credit, not on money or hard work. These boats are rusting away to nothing.
           I got in some time listening to newer country music. A lot of the tunes I thought I’d never heard, like “Breathe”, it turns out I’ve heard the good parts. It seems the fact that it was a new country hit didn’t click for me whenever the juke box came on. Most of it is vastly over-orchestrated and that can be a real challenge to transcribe to a single bass line. It takes a little longer.
           I have to withdraw my promise to publish this year. I’ve got two booklets written this year, but they will not go to press. It has proven quite tricky to find out how to publish an e-book, as a search brings up lame offers rather than instructions. Later today I will look again and not stop until I have some real information. I don’t get it why I should have to go through some other business to self-publish on-line.
           My video downloads included several documentaries on Rommel in the desert. Some myths persist even to this late date. This 2005 production still showed Rommel with hundreds of brand new gleaming tanks and airplanes attacking the poor British with rifles from the last war. Everyone knows Rommel was starved for equipment and fuel and that the German economy never equipped more than a small fraction of divisions with the equipment as shown. Once the press gets something wrong, it stays wrong. Remember that.
           As an example of the propaganda, this still from the video purportedly shows tanks being armed for battle. First of all, nobody parks dozens of valuable tanks so close together in a combat zone. Next, this is clearly an indoor photo while Rommel’s crews worked under tarps and tents in the blowing sand. This must be a shot of the tank factory.
           I was able to find videos of motorcycle campers being set up. It is one thing to view the web pictures, but the setup is another. I’m still planning the trip across American in a few years. Motorcycle campers are rated for towing behind 600cc machines or greater unless stated otherwise. The best unit so far is called a “Solace” but the video reveals it is a complicated half-hour two-person setup with poles, pins, bungees, snaps, Velcro and thumbscrews.
           I walked three miles in an hour, up to Jimbos. It was a nice day and I needed to test my ability. Nope, I was exhausted and had to stop for a rest six times. No handy bus shelters, either. I sweated out even the pauses. Of course, I stopped at the used book store for some National Geo’s a and at the BK for a seniors coffee so the stroll was enjoyable. Still, I’m disappointed at not being able to get around much better than some 65 year old man.

           At the library, I found some e-book articles. I had correctly pegged the market at how-to articles and reference books. The classical market with expensive hardcover editions is strong and healthy. Don’t expect e-books to take over any time soon, although eventually they simply have to. The publishing and distribution of regular books is 60% to 70% of the cost.
           But I still could not locate any directions on how to create the book. Every source available wanted money to do it for you, and Wiki talks about what it is rather than how to do it. Yet, all those yahoos must have learned it somewhere, so I’ll keep digging. Not much else to do when you’re broke again. My thinking is that it is just some piece of software that takes ordinary typing like this and converts it to a downloadable format. If this turns out so, I will ignore all the market studies and seminars and just put it on Amazon with a snappy title.

           I was additionally able to put together a $20 plan to patent my word puzzle without the huge legal fees. Again, the literature is clear that the patent process is to establish first ownership or creation. Thus, I’ll apply for one of those holding numbers for $10, get a copy notarized for $8 and mail a certified copy to myself for $2. This puts my baby on hold for two years, plenty of time to see if it sells if I can convince the distributor it is at least registered. But even the $20 has to wait until next month. (In the end, it never happened. Other priorities ate up the money and the time.)
           By 10:00 PM I’d reviewed most of the Arduino downloads and wound up deleting about a third of them. People, why post a video without an audio track? Are viewers supposed to guess what your blinking light is doing? Where is the code, where is the parts list? Mind you, there was one training episode of this guy hand-soldering computer chips. You know, the ones with sixty pins. And he was flying along like it was no big deal.
           One other short research project was looking into what the majority of two-year colleges in America were teaching. This roundabout logic says that the two-year outfits are rarely government backed, so they cannot survive offering outdated courses. Thus, by scanning the categories of their offerings, you get an idea of what students are enrolling for, and these days they are all after the money. There are some degrees (Associates) there that I did not know were two-year programs, for instance, I thought a pharmacy tech needed a bachelors degree. I’m still looking, but I noticed none of the programs are for people who intend to become self-employed.
           69.9/30.1/84.2

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