Remember the drill press I bought last year that drowned? We dried it out and the motor still works. With some minor dismantlement, we fit it into the carrier of the red scooter. Shown here. The club meeting was further successful in devising a way to make the LEDs fade with one (large) capacitor by a rare configuration called “series parallel”. Was it me who told the club to not throw out the larger capacitors, or was it me? They got thrown out anyway.
A few hours later it is discovered that this drill press was in perfect working order. All the rust was on the surface and can be removed to a shiny metal finish underneath. And phooey on those who said the carrier rack was “too big” for my scooter, that it looks funny. Yeah, it looks funny because some people lack imagination.The club meeting further looked at switches. The difficulty of designing a home-made switch is more apparent than a week ago. Buying a kit is not an option. Because kits don’t teach you anything useful. The same rule applies, if you don’t build it yourself, how can WE be sure you know how it really works? This is why we need a clubhouse. We have sunk $47 into building a single working switch so far. But we could tell you more about them than you care to learn. The rate of new ideas at these meetings is phenomenal—and almost every discussion turns to 3D printing.
If I had the money, right now I’d buy one of the FormLabs resin printers. I’m in agony again, how many times in my life am I doomed to miss emerging technology because I can’t afford tools that others can buy as toys? I’m not like the next guy, I know it when I see it. Resin printing uses a liquid bath cured by a laser. (Look it up yourself because Blinkx links go dead too often.) Here is an invention that is going to completely transform the world and I can’t have one. Because we don’t have the $3,500.
Some years back we talked about how pollen grains could be used to locate most places on earth, provided there is an inventory of the stuff. Of all the oddball crime investigation techniques, here is another. Called something to the effect of “Materials Analysis”, it uses the layers of grit that build up on your inner rear wheel wells. Apparently these accumulate over the life of your vehicle and bake into place from the heat of your tire so they don’t wash off. At first I thought somebody was pulling my leg but the topic is appearing here and there, particularly in detective novels. Anyone?
One of my peeves is people who go on JimmyR and link to sites that require memberships. You guys can blow it out your you-knows. How do idiots like you even survive? Some readers might not like JimmyR as it requires time and skill to sift out the scientific topics from the outright weird but I read it approximately once per week. You get some real gems, like today an article on how non-English speakers don’t have spelling bees because in most languages, if you can pronounce a word, you can spell it. Or that pay phones still exist because of the demand for making anonymous calls. However, I do not recommend the site for everyone as Jimmy has serious gender confusion issues.
Last, I finally had to sit down and have the money talk with an acquaintance who makes three times as much as I do. She got behind on her payments because she does not plan ahead. People, there is nothing wrong with not knowing how to budget, but there is no excuse for not learning how. It is easy and you begin by writing in down. The reason this particular conversation stood out is that the lady exhibited the strongest instance of rejection to the idea I’ve ever seen. Upon questioning, she had been raised by parents to believe counting your money when you don’t have to represents a weakness.
I understand nobody is born knowing how to manage money. We talked a good hour and unless she changes, her money skills will remain on par with the uneducated louts who live their lives a month behind on the rent. I’ve long known there is a psychological difference between income and savings, yet she seemed unable to grasp the concept. She spends both equally without knowing where this leads her. And all because her parents taught her that keeping track and planning was something only “bad money managers” did.
I count my money before and after I spend it. Guess I’m just plain dumb according to some. So dumb that I have not been behind in a payment on anything since I got out of college. Except intentionally.
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