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