May 21, 2014

Yesteryear
One year ago today: May 21, 2013, a word on fractions.
Five years ago today: May 21, 2009, average day.

           A morning movie, “The German Doctor”. The title gives it away and if you’ve watched the trailers (the dumbest name for previews yet), you've seen the movie. And if you are anti-German and pro-Israeli, that’s the only real excitement in this move. For the first five minutes, you will be worried that you have been burned on a foreign film with English subtitles, but relax, they did that on purpose. The production is from Argentina and they have learned how America makes movies. They can’t innovate or improve, just copy until you get out of the business and let them declare themselves the winner.

           Chocolate covered sunflower seeds. New to me at Aventura Mall, where it is getting kind of expensive to hang out. Really, a fruit smoothie is $9.99 at the food court. Oh, and because this movie ended after 12:00 noon, the [movie ticket] price went up another three bucks. They could have done a lot more with plot but it appears they wanted it to be historical. And we all know how much historical action takes place in S. America. Even Indiana Jones gives it a wide berth.
           The movie takes place at what I believe are authentic scenes in Patagonia. The weather is gloomy throughout and everything is dark but you can’t beat the spectacular Andes mountains. It’s always raining or snowing so just maybe it reminds the all-too-obvious ex-Nazis of their dreary northern European winters. It is a must-see for anyone who believes the war isn’t over and Hitler is hiding in Brazil.
           The club meeting lasted past midnight. This is my small private robotics club, not the Nova Southeastern meet-up which is late tomorrow. We found enough parts to build another small computer and finally sorted out a huge trunk full of cables that, if they had to be replaced, would cost a pretty penny. We found a trove IDE adapters and cables, which are already getting scarce. My bicycle is back in order, that’s the 21-speed that will soon be electrified. (Soon as I get $400 that means.) I have to keep it inside which scrapes my shins on the pedals twice a day because all the rooms in my place are long and narrow. One item on the club agenda is buying a work shed now that Agt. M has his own place. It’s a nice place, I call it the Romanian Embassey. See addendum for more club news.

           Here’s one you gotta love. This is a keyboard for the tablet. You prop your tablet up in the groove on along the top. You can sort of see a tiny photo top center that shows the intended arrangement. Just think, in another year or two, they’ll come out with a “mouse” and maybe after they’ve soaked the hipsters for the nth time, somebody will invent a small computer that has all those things already built in. They might even call it a laptop or notebook or something. Who knows, someday they may invent a handheld device you could push a button and talk to your friends instead of labor-intensive texting. Ah, but such scientific daydreams are the realm of the future.
           I found a small box of relays that will work for the flip-flop memory circuit. So much for the big-shot flip-flop experts, who should be forced to build one before they get supper. And the ones who draw diagrams of memory circuits that omit the relays, well, for them flogging is too good. Until further notice, relays are required in any memory circuit built with manual switches. Maybe I’m still wrong but I’m not evil about it. Something else mucked up is datasheets on these relays. We know how they work, we want to know the pin configuration. And the Internet is not helping, no sirree.
           I sent e-mails to all parties I know who might be interested concerning the failed flip-flop circuit from last day. The response was not quite unanimous. While most said yes, sort of that they had always wondered about that, other die-hards insisted they’d known that forever. Which means they must have temporarily forgot about it when I asked them for advice last month. You know who you are. In the final analysis, if anyone says they actually build a flip-flop without hitting the same barrier I did, they are lying.
           To fix the circuit, I thought to replace the manual switches with automatic models, of which the most everyday would be relays. These are the little electromechanical type I can’t find but which I know are around here some place. After pondering the failed experiment, I’ve mentally dissected several problems, one being that logic gates are fundamentally different because their output depends not just on their settings, but on a previous condition. Thus, some type of reactive component is needed. That arrangement is not suitable for manual switches, for the memory involved would then be the operator and not the circuitry.
           I’m getting closer to the important parts the teachers left out. Memory circuits need feedback and this is a primary departure from the premise that a memory circuit is built from logic gates which are in turn built up from pairs of switches. The fact that “feedback” is necessary was never emphasized, yet it may be the single most vital structural and logical difference involved. I’m trying to think this thing down to the bare facts. So give me some breathing space, pal.

ADDENDUM
           To differentiate between Nova and our private club, I will refer to the private club by its initials “BRC”. It’s actually quite easy to tell the difference if you attended, since BRC does not sit around tables in a lecture hall and study how other people do things. Today we went through ten large boxes of cables and parts, but during the entire time, there is a brainstorming session going on. I think you’ll get at least a smile what we came with today.

           Everybody likes burglar alarms and it boils down to two choices. Something store-bought and electric, or a primitive noise-making device. It was quickly agreed that thieves know their alarms and that makes the electric type vulnerable to a career criminal. The nature of alarms is noise which scares the bad guy away. What better noise than something unfamiliar? If he doesn’t know what it is, he’s gone. The challenge is a loud noise that surprises him but does not involve tin cans or electricity. Here goes.
           Think of the bells in a telephone. There is a clapper and two bells. Is there some way to remove electricity as the motive force? Well, maybe. Think of the weight system that runs a grandfather clock. Instead of the weights operating the escapement over 24 hours, why not attach a small cog that spins and rings the bells for say, a minute. It’s loud and so unknown that the crook isn’t about to stick around to figure it out.
           What did your club invent today, Ken?

Here is something neat that takes about ten minutes to master:
Multiplication Trick.
(Lifted from Jimmy R.)