It was ten years ago today that we had our biggest gate at the San Diego Fair. That was our display of 1,000,000 toothpicks by invitation by Jeff & Jerry, two DJs from the real west coast. Frank and I drove the station wagon there for three long weeks [at the show], stayed at the Torrey Pines. Now THAT was fancy. We will be the only people you ever interact with in this lifetime who stayed at that hotel.
Alas, digital pictures were not part of my life back then and what few photos I have are lost on the dozen or so old hard drives in this place. Thanks to MicroSoft, there was no easy way to keep the files organized and I don’t have time to hunt for them.Here is a rare, probably never-published picture of the toothpicks in the old Taurus. I’d guess this was taken in Miami since I don’t see any of our travel gear piled on top. The drive was, if I recall, 39 hours via Beaumont, El Paso, and Deming. I flew back as I had a job in those days. Worded differently, I conceived and executed this unique project while I was working full time. I was responsible for 67.5% of the counting, all the tools, and 100% of the cash for the materials and the trip. I don’t mention this massive task often because in a life like mine, it is no big deal.
So much has happened in those ten years that it seems like twice as many. Once again, I have to chuckle at people who say things seem like y’day. Maybe they should get off their tushes. The toothpicks are still with me and in reasonable condition, though a little weather-beaten from being stored in the elements. One of the first items intended to design on the 3D printer would be a small clip to hold the picks square instead of round as they are now. I would need 10,000 of those clips.
Singapore has been in touch about 3D printing as well, and expresses the same concern: we do not know how to create the CAD files needed to operate the device. My thinking is that there are plenty of sources of free designs, that it is more important that we learn the mechanics and operation of the printer first, worry about software later. I originally learned computers the other way around and regretted it. Today I can program anything but cannot fix a hard drive. Also, I graduated with my most senior programming degree the same year the Internet browsers arrived, so I have no idea how Zuckerberg coded or I’d do the same. As far as the 3D printer, everyone agrees we should start now. See Addendum.
Independence Day. I recall when it meant something and was a cause for celebration. I’ll tell you who is celebrating. Forty million illegal immigrants, forty-six million on food stamps, and the 1% who let it all happen. I won’t get into it except to say I blame the Liberals for it all. True, the illegals take the jobs the Americans don’t want, but there is a reason Americans don’t want those jobs—those jobs don’t pay enough to survive. When you let illegals take them, the taxpayer has to pick up the slack one way or the other. Until the system goes bankrupt. It has been decades since an American kid or his father could find a decent part-time job for some pin money.Here is a great photo from the Baltimore, a swank place downtown Miami. This is an attachment from a friend since I was right here in my easy chair the entire day. I don’t myself care for fireworks. The sound and smell remind me of cannons, which I don’t care for either although there’s times I wished I had one, Patsie.
More on the toothpicks. I know it seems like 20 or 30 years ago, but this is only the tenth anniversary of our big July 4th, 2003, toothpick show at the San Diego County Fair. We were the feature act and invited guest of the Jeff & Jerry radio show. 98%* of the mass of events in this blog have happened since then.
These pictures are not identical, but they show the same scene. [One copy of the picture has been reduced to 0" x 0", so you cannot see it, but blog rules prevent me from outright deleting anything unless it is an error.] The duplicate photo is here because I need the placeholders for reasons. Two gals [are shown] posing on top of the display. Yes, it is that strong, being encased in bullet-proof Lexan. We donated, I believe $2,300 to charity from that one show. Or put another way, more than Obama did that year, and we ain't no millionaires.
Let me crab a little. My original Internet accounts are still active from 1994. It is amazing the lengths to which Google and their sidekick Yahoo! have gone to try to sucker me into giving them my full name and phone number. I ask them in public, with the reputation you bastards have, do you actually think I’d tell you one scrap of personal information? Like, for "safekeeping". And if any readers out there are storing any type of personal information on the cloud, you must be some brand of ermahgerd. ADDENDUM
The club has spoken. We will look at a 3D printer, but not the $1,600 units from MakerBot, but at the $500 low-end units. This is another venture where most sources of information are useless. You have to buy the printer before you know what to look for. I’ve heard stories of massive setup times, clogged nozzles, malfuction in cold climates, and problems that were solved a lifetime ago now reappearing. That would be like having to completely restart a job if a single error occurs, and locking up the computer for hours during a print. There are tales of having to tend the print process to guard against filament tangles and such.
It turns out there is already a $200 printer on the market. We would expect it to have most of the problems just mentioned, plus the difficulty of operation. If you read the specs, this is how we find out about problems in other printers. The Makibox A6 does not require “Kaption, perfboard, or raft” which is the first we heard of any such thing. But it does tip us off the other companies are being less than helpful on certain key points.
The Makibox (say MAY-kee-box) arrives as a kit, however that does not bother me as I understand the exact technology used thanks to our robotics studies. It is basically some stepper motors and a nozzle. For all I can do, I have no ability to build such things on my own. I can design and describe them, but get no further. It’s like graduating from a Canadian university. Watch for developments soon as the club left the final decision up to me.
I’ve also read of objections getting these things into schools because parents don’t want their kids breathing the fumes. My guess is such parents know first hand the dangers of prolonged inhaling the wrong things. Makibox is from Makible, don’t let the videos fool you, this company is Chinese and it is in Hong Kong. Allow eight weeks for delivery. The Internet is instant, not the world-wide transportation system.
* I do not obey that ridiculous rule of not starting a sentence with a number. It was created before the Internet changed the rules. The Internet rule says if it looks right, it is right.
PS: Aside to G. Marcy. Go ahead and fill out your silly little subpeona. There is not one person in your entire country who knows my real last name. My anti-ass-clown measures were in place long before you showed up. Sorry you've had such a run of bad luck lately but I warned you twice not to cheat and I have no intention of testifying on your behalf. Remember, you were on the opposing team and I still tried to help you.
