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.]
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