Meet the repaired wheelbarrow. Better than new, it was a cheap-o model from the Depot. This repair was not done by a contractor, so therefore it was completed in record time and on budget. Every tool was brought out and used only once, no mistakes start to finish, nothing turned into a major issue. Wally, did you get that—each tool only once? (Since the job isn’t complete, make sure Patsie comes along and says there is “extensive damage”. Bwaaaaa-ha-ha-ha!)
The reason I skipped ahead to later chapters of “Fifty” was to get a break from the intensity of the author’s writing. It is difficult to follow along events that happened before I was born. I will go back and read the chapters, but I needed something I could relate to for a while. This book expertly covers each relevant world event. Like how America uses Viet Nam as an excuse not to do anything that might lead to entanglement. Are not the divisions we’ve kept in Germany, Korea, and Japan, for some sixty years are not foreign entanglements? These countries rank near the top economies on the planet, but why should they pay for anything when they don’t have to? Favorite phrase in the book so far is an observation about the Balkans as an area that “produces more history than it consumes”. Government agencies operate in secret then complain the taxpayers don’t care. Politicians can’t understand why the terrorists opted for sneak attack. Maybe the terrorists didn’t count the 12,000 parking spaces at Langley HQ before determining a frontal assault wasn’t in the works. (With great self-constraint, I didn’t say “wasn’t going to fly”.) How goes my electronics study? Would you like a layman’s explanation of how a digital clock works? Sure, glad you asked. Quartz crystal vibrates exactly 2^15 times per second when connected to a small DC current. There exists a whole “family” of integrated circuit chips that divide electrical pulses by 2, called a 4046 counter. (I have several, they are cheap and I was using them for LED displays.) You connect the crystal to the counter and the counter to a stepper motor.
There is also progress with 12/110V relays where we have successfully tested a number of these devices. If our experiments seem primitive, remember that we started with zero knowledge on how to have small circuits interact with the real world. If this relay operates a fan, it will be a robotic milestone for me. When we meld the two technologies of mechanics and microprocessor programming, then we shall see what the critics have to say about intelligence. Most of our 110V advice is now arriving from Singapore. The datasheets and advisory material available stateside is egghead. It’s written for people who are already familiar with the terminology. In a spin-off of the way we document the mistakes and experiments, Singapore tends to take our questions very seriously indeed.
They see the videos and labeled photos I produce and conclude we are more than hobbyists. We aren’t. Here is one of the photos that went to Singapore this AM. It is typical of the depiction produced for our experiments, most of which you never get to see. The videos are full of commentary and not your usual dry lecture-like product. If you would like to see them, contact me. Nobody is sayin’ nuttin, but shades of crooked elections in the USA don’t surprise us any more. One of the dirtiest tricks is to falsely announce a candidate has a majority. The idea is some who haven’t voted yet may give up. Well, gang, it looks like my favorite, Ron Paul, has been the victim of such scams. But he is winning in the end. I don’t pretend to understand how all these ballots and primaries work, but he is repeatedly making fools of the liars. Good work, Ron.
So, I thought, I’ll buy myself a surplus jeweler’s punch. That’s the little marking tool used to make a design like a star or lightning bolt you see inside some rings. To mark metal, like silver pieces, it is a steel rod with a pattern on the end. You whack it with a rubber hammer and there’s your proof of ownership. I don’t want to eBay, or buy the whole alphabetic set, or order one delivered. I just want to walk into a store and buy one. No luck. Trivia, and this one I saw for myself. You’ve seen those airplanes towing banners? How do they land without dragging the banner over the ground? I saw how they do it. The pilot makes a low pass over the airfield, then suddenly climbs the plane a bit. This causes the tow line to go slack for a moment, whence the pilot pulls a release lever. The banner essentially stands still and drops to the tarmac. The ground crew drives over in a van as the pilot flies off.
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