This is a set of metal plates destined to become a variable capacitor. Neither Agent M nor I have any idea how to do it, but here is evidence we started from scratch. We have defined our first project and it is to build a good old-fashioned AM radio receiver from junk parts. I do the research, he builds the parts, along the way we share the techniques and results.
He is profoundly amused by the process of logical thought, that state I call “disbelievement”. There are two types of people: those who will doubt everything you say because they “don’t know about that” or “never heard of that before” and those who recognize they have learned something in the immediate past. Disbelievement.When I demonstrated inductance (which I first saw myself last month) on his kitchen table, he was captivated as much by my think-out-loud observations as the moving needle. “As it presents a positive and negative that reverse over time, we recognize it interstitially meets with zero, therefore we conclude this current must be alternating, and that if it so behaves, it follows we need only find a means to detect it . . . .”
We conducted a further set of experiments, mostly with his unknown antennas and components. Agent M spotted in a few moments a problem I spent much more time investigating. I was looking at the code; he was looking at the wiring. He now has first hand experience watching what the Arduino can do, that’s a lot more than I got.
This one-hour club meeting wound up taking all afternoon and early evening. We have succeeded in picking up transmissions from two miles distant, but not in connecting. At that distance, the maximum data speed is 2 MB/sec, barely enough for email. I have cataloged all the free sources, the strongest signals being Hollywood Wireless (31%) and Oceans Free, the pub (37%). The strongest signal overall, probably too strong, is a heavily encrypted and secure (TKIP+AES if you must know) signal from the El Rancho Motel. That link has everything, right down to MAC addressing.
The reason we are using scrounged parts is plain. The club is broke at this time. Empty coffers. We have established a short-term and long term schedule. The AM radio and the robot, respectively. Most prototypes are constructed from LEGO, something neither M nor I have ever used. The local stores sell only LEGO kits which contain customized parts for that one set, which we are not willing to pay for. How I wish I could find a source of good old Meccano sets.
It is easy to imagine how this new business dominates everything. There is nothing else to report. But once we are up and running, that will be a different story. Meanwhile, the Internet is the most important communication device and has been for me since 1996. What sewing machine?
Addendum:
May is the month I traditionally do a review of past performance (as opposed to November when I plan ahead). For a lark, I dug out my old copy of “How to Profit in the Coming Devaluation”. Who remembers this book? It was, in 1971, a shocker to the public of its day. It was not influential to me since in 1971 I had no money to invest anyway. I re-read it to refresh the memory of what it predicted.
Devaluation hurts people who buy imported goods. Don’t confuse devaluation with deflation which is the lowering of local prices. Inflation is caused by a surplus of money, deflation is caused by a shrinkage of the money supply. I’m in favor of deflation. The easiest way to lower the money supply is to cut off credit. Like has happened in the past two years. Just you try to get a mortgage.
Like most investment advice, the book seemingly talks in circles. But it was curious to see which predictions which did not take place. The law has since changed to allow Americans to own gold. That law on that was no more effective than any other type of prohibition, though we still pretend to regulate booze, gambling, sex with teenagers and narcotics. If there is no legal way to make money, people will find an illegal way.
One major area that has changed is that it has become entirely possible to lose money by going to school. I won’t delve into it, but college is still geared toward getting a job rather than making money. It took me 16 years to pay off my student loan, by which time all hope of youthful riches was long gone. My own dentist (at that time) told how he graduated so far in debt it would take him until he was 48 to break even. But on paper he was rich.
The book was right about one particular thing. I learned early in life to do those things which cannot be taken away or split up. Invest in any general form of intellectual enjoyment. (It is pretty hard for parents to force you to share your piano lesson with your brother, although in their own way I’m sure mine tried.) Anything else can be taxed away or taken away, as is about to happen to the houses of more than half the population. Even if the government lets them keep the property, the “store of value” is already lost.
I like deflation, I hope credit shrivels up to the point nobody can buy anything except for ready cash. Working people will hate it. When prices drop, they will still be stuck paying off huge chunks of credit from former years out of their paychecks. (Gee, and they can’t run and start over somewhere else like before since they gave up their right to do so, sound familiar? They had nothing to hide, right?)
I hear tell “they” (the average American between 50 and 59, the age where borrowing even one more red cent is stupid beyond belief) owe about $42,775 (depending on your source) each although I suspect the real total is twice that if one includes the debts of the government they elected. I consider voting these days to be co-signing a loan for some stranger. Get ready for a cash buyer’s market.
Can you see me dealing with a credit junkie? Yeah, I’ll give you $5,000 cash for your house. No? Then try selling it to somebody else. See how many $600 lawn mowers I buy. You want what for that Toyota? How about no payments until never? Is never good for you?
While I’m in the mood, let me have a Michael Moore moment on that Toyota issue. I mean any car, but the idea holds. I tell the salesman I don’t have $30,000 for a car. He says no problem, just fill out the credit application and make bank payments over the next five years. I reply saying I’ll give $3,000 for the car.
He goes ballistic. How will he pay his bills and the rent and the workers who built the car? I say no problem, just fill out a credit application and make the bank payments over the next five years. He cries out that will bankrupt him, and I say, “Yeah, but you started it.”
There is a good reason salesmanship and economic theories are not bed partners.
