One year ago today: September 10, 2013, 188 sq. ft.
Five years ago today: September 10, 2009, neighborhood news.
Ten years ago today: September 10, 2004, cat's eye, very pretty.
Meet the bicycle rear wheel drive unit. This is not something you will see every day. In fact, you won't see it on any day unless we show it to you. The unit weighs 45 pounds and will do 40 mph on the test bench, probably more but I pulled the plug. The spokes are of unobtainium and if you look close the back side of the rig is a solid disk of aluminum. And the tire is two regular bicycle tires bolted together, that was my idea. Agt. M devised a heavy duty suspension system which is, for now, kept a close secret.
I brought along study material [to the waiting room]. I had time to integrate my navigation code with formulas from the Almanac. I can see precisely were the weak spots are--and that a trustworthy robot would do what I do: plug all measurement results into the equations to see if the answers are consistent. You might say any robot I build would be automatically hardened against deliberately introduced errors. A robot ain't very smart if it uses GPS that is controlled by politicians and soldiers.
You know where I would make a law? That anybody who looks at your computer on-line must identify themselves--in advance--and ask for permission. Most people know that the police can't search your computer without a warrant, but most people don't know that does not apply to non-police. There is nothing stopping the police from hiring a detective to break into your house and [make a ]copy your hard drive. Well, electronically, MicroSoft can do the same thing. They don't need a warrant to look at your files, in fact, they build backdoors into Windows that allow them to do precisely that. Those in the know are aware of this, but apparently a lot of others deny anything of the sort. Always remember, they go after the easy targets first. Don't be an easy target.
Another guilty party: Google. That company is systematically tying together all the details of your life. The defense is to keep your affairs separate, but not many people are clever enough to do that. My bank account does not have my home address, my Walgreen's card doesn't have my phone number, and so on. Databases work by linking unrelated data and since I first encountered databases in the 1970s, I have kept as much information unlinked as possible. If you have Google Chrome on your home computer, you are a very uninformed consumer.
And I'm having another row with Molina, the insurance people. They are still maintaining that my phone number is their business. They say they "don't believe" I don't have a phone, like I'm hurting their poor little feelings. Fact: they have gone ballistic trying to get my phone number in case of an "emergency". You know, I'd like to hear their explanation how people ever managed to have emergencies before the telephone was invented.
Which brings me to aluminum. I'm developing doubts about people who claim they've done what I'm doing. They are certainly overstating their actual deeds, for there are too many steps left out, to many important aspects that must be learned the hard way. That includes Internet footage of an expert drilling a hole in an aluminum bar and placing it on a robot frame. Liar! He would have scaled his bare hand. Things like that--I know the video is wrong, but it encourages others to do the wrong things.
And while they may have cut, bent, and joined aluminum, they did no such thing in the context of building a robot. Their tolerances are all wrong and they use tools I know don't do the job right. Some things they say cannot be done the way they instruct. Plus, they are misleading about the ease of finding the right parts in America. I finally wound up cutting my own 1/16th inch flat bars. Statistic: the mileage on my scooter doubles whenever I have to find parts for the robot. And allow extra study time because you can just forget about asking anybody for help in this stinky toilet town.
Return Home
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
