April 3, 2015

Yesteryear
One year ago today: April 3, 2014, Prof. Oz book character?
Five years ago today: April 3, 2010, another blazing false alarm.
Ten years ago today: April 3, 2005, mostly business.

MORNING
           It’s 8:00 AM and I’ve been scammed already. This punk came to the door and asked to borrow a gas can. I know the local stations won’t provide them. The guy had several marks against him already, because he looked and talked like a Millenium. You know, the three-day stubble runt beard and talks like a con artist. He said his mother’s car had run out of gas up the road. And there, across the road, was his mother.

           I had to leave, so I took a chance and gave him my spare can (I have another). Told him to return it by placing it in the bin beside my front entrance. When I returned two hours later, no gas can. Now he didn’t spoil it for all punks, but just the next 100,000. Or how about that man “rescued” at sea. See photo, he even looks stupid. Told his family he was “going fishing”. Yeah, alone on a sailboat 200 miles off Cape Hatteras?

           [Author's note 2016-04-04: this is unclear. There are two separate incidents described here. One is a punk who showed up with his mother and stole my gas can. The other is a goof who went fishing alone in the Atlantic and ran up a huge public bill to get rescued--and the equally insipid media paints him as the "hero survivor".]

           Send him the bill, I say. What a dumb bastard! Time to limit the Coast Guard to guarding the coast. Out more than three miles? Too bad for you. If these “sportsmen” are so tough, let them prove it. At their own expense. Too may useless irresponsible jocks and millionaires using the Coast Guard for a free ambulance service. Send the bastard the bill.
           It is now noon, and still no gas can. Like I said, the mother, or his accomplice, an older woman, was standing just out of range. Yep, lady, stealing $7 gas cans. That’s setting a real example for your son. I got another $7 says you are a single mother. And you wonder why you get what you deserve.
           Puts me in a mood. What I like is the people who come in the bakery and ask if that is the new baby. If it was me after four months, I’d say, “Naw, it’s the same old baby. We decided to keep it.”

NOON

           “Things turn out the best for those who make the best of the way things turn out.” –John Wooden

           The scooter is done, if you overlook a few side effects where we had to bypass the original engineering. You say what? You want an example. Okay, the piping that holds the muffler on now is 3/16” steel, not the tin-foil grade from the factory. It is solid, but it therefore transfers more of the motor vibration to the scooter frame. I can easily feel it as a slight buzzing sensation through the hand grips. This photo shows the sparks flying.

           It is not lost to use that this kind of work, if scaled down only slightly, would be very effective in building robot chassis. The gears and running train would become the remaining barrier. And I did almost build a tank tread on the first try.

           We further found an electric bicycle with all the features we’ve learned are important. The price tag was $400 (very low) because it has a broken controller, a part we can now easily repair. It’s a brand name, too. Schwinn. We’ll test drive it like never before. But we do have to quickly sell it, that is, flip it for tidy profit.
           And that’s the excitement for the day. One project can bring everything else to a standstill. At least we can be satisfied now that welder has paid for itself may times over. Now if the world doesn’t mind, I’d like to sit down in my easy chair and read a spell. Move to Florida for the fun and then realize if you wanted any, you should have brought it with you.

EVENING
           As a treat, I bought myself a set of those drill bits that cut holes. Not the cheap one I bought last year that made four holes before it warped. This is a set that fits on the drill press. Small holes between 1” and 2-1/”, the sizes most likely to be used on crawling robots. I didn’t have any urgent need for them, but let’s see how creative I get.

           Not very creative after all. These are plywood boxes made out of old motorcycle camper plywood. Everybody’s got some of that lying around, do they not? The holes are for picking the box up with two fingers when your hands are dirty, greasy, or paint-covered. The picture is taken on a four-dollar camera with no flash. It adds to the rustic appeal, I must say. Because ain’t nobody else gonna say.
           I stayed home, building three sided boxes. Careful what to imagine, as a box has six sides. These are not works of art, just dumb plywood boxes 12x8x8”. What’s the use? They are actually a result of preliminary robot work. They are low stools to sit on while working on an object that is resting on the ground. Chairs are too elaborate and too heavy to kick out of the way. And stools are unwieldy being more suitable for objects placed on a table. Hence, every trade has a preference.

           These are plywood, small, and very strong for their size. So I built a couple. A lot, but not all, of the time [I was] thinking of that terrible wooden box I built with the broken chisel when I was a cub scout. Ha. These new boxes are strong enough to stand on flat, but oblong enough to discourage anyone from standing on end. And they are around the size of the smallest robot casing that could do any good.
           Ah, but we’ve all seen smaller robots. Yes, they are toys. A useful robot has to be big enough to carry a power supply. Lithium power is light, but it is not much of a space savings. If we ever build a robot that moves, it will likely move along the ground and it will be around 12 inches in length.
           And another thing with these tiny box seats. They are low enough that you can set your iced tea on the ground beside where you are working. Ever tried that with a chair or a stool? That’s why there are major dollars in the industry that makes cup holders. I’ll stick with ¾ inch plywood. Painted whatever color was on sale this week. I think it is pale fuchsia or something equally horrid. Four layers thick.


Last Laugh
Will someone tell me why this picture is so popular?

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