Last day I mentioned finding a great new picnic spot. Here is a photo of one of the bridges on the footpath. The park itself is underused, you can tell that the hiking trails are not that trampled. They also have a mound around 45 feet high you can walk up, though the climb was beyond me until I have another good day.
Another test run on the new scooter reveals some side marker lights are not working, but in all, it is a great little machine. I nicely lost my cell phone. I left it unattended at the library for 4 minutes and one of the punks got it. I'm pretty sure I know which one, but you can't do anything. (I already have a replacement.) I've been toying with the idea of testing the new cell phone spyware that is on the market. Also, in case anybody still is not aware of it, all cell phones in N. America can be traced to their location (using TDOA*, not triangulation) and the microphones can be activated by the police to listen even when the cell phone is turned off.This morning's callout was a new wireless printer system and I think I can give Netgear a compliment. They finally have the setup wizard they should have had in 1995. It still has problems, such as not recognizing valid NIC (Internet adapter cards). Netgear is still one of the easiest to setup and one day I would like to find out what all the options are for. They say they have a simulator on the Internet, but it is not on their site and I can't find it.
For those who like a happy ending, here is a photo that made it too late for y'day's publication. This is the squad car I sicced on the stupid old broad who cut me off. She actually tried to pretend she didn't see the cop car and pulled through the intersection shown here with the sirens wailing. Much as I would have liked to, I did not stop to witness the results. For the record, I have incriminating photos of almost everyone who drives badly around me. But I delete them regularly. Still, one of the easiest ways to get semi-famous on the Internet is to drive so badly that I take your picture.
Today’s research shows that it is the amperage, not the voltage, that controls the rotational speed of an electric motor. No, I did not know that. (And later, I found out it is not the case, the amperage controls the power, not the speed.) Of course, all the people I asked about this last week that didn’t know this claimed they told me the answer. When I pointed out that a transistor would be required to operate such a control and that I didn’t know transistors yet, so this was an opportunity for them to tell me another answer. Or do I have to conduct another experiment before they “remember” they told me?
I am unaware of the analog device which controls amperage. It is not the potentiometer, which works with voltages. Once again I find that even the most authorative of text books and manuals fail to cover these basic points. I know the device exists, because otherwise the whole concept of PWM is meaningless in connection with amps. It works only with volts. It is a topic learned best by continual frustration.
MetroPCS got their last dollar out of me. They are just too difficult to get any service out of. When I went to upgrade my cell phone, I had to wait over an hour and pay for parking for one of their people to tell me their office does not upgrade phones. I have to go to a dealer. Well, why didn’t the person at the door who asked me what I wanted tell me that and I would not have had to pay for parking. MetroPCS pulls this kind of stunt all the time. Everybody's in charge but nobody has any idea what is going on.
*[Author's note 2016-02-18: sorry for the lingo. TDOA is "time difference of arrival", the split second difference it takes for a signal to reach your cell phone from the tower. The cover story is that it is used for 911 emergencies. The bad guys make one call per phone, then throw the phone away. You can figure out the rest, but your first clue is that the feature cannot be deactivate.]
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