June 10, 2015

Yesteryear
One year ago today: June 10, 2014, on non-fiction writing.
Five years ago today: June 10, 2010, looks like a sidecar . . .
Six years ago today: June 10, 2009, designing shoe tickets.

MORNING
           The bakery needed 25 pounds of ground walnuts, and may I have a show of hands who has experience doing that? Guess where I’ve been all day. It takes hours of trained labor to get it just right.

           There is a machine there to grind the poppy seeds and such, but the walnuts can only properly be done by hand. That’s where I’ve been since this morning.

           Ah, I heard someone ask what they pay me. A cup of coffee, that’s what. My gosh, am I not the guy who used to make $68 an hour at the phone company? Yes, but they never gave me a free coffee. Old as I’m getting, I got my priorities straight. Return later, I’ll see if I can round up a photo of what the finished product looks like.
           That’s it for the day, except my trip up to Radio Shack to buy the last of what’s on sale from their Chapter 11, or whatever. I got an Arduino Micro for $15, figuring I might as well see how that works before I have to spend a lot on it. Strange how Radio Shack has changed. The managers no longer have any idea how most of the equipment works.
           And again I was asked why I don’t run a small course on the Arduino. I suppose if I had an equipped premises that let me work for cash, which rules out the school board and the libraries. I’m amused by Arduino advertising which says it is for artists and designers. Can you just see some left-brained types attempting to pick up C+ coding?

NOON & NIGHT

           “For every action there is an equal and opposite government reaction.” --Farm wisdom

           That’s all folks. Here is a picture of around 11 pounds of ground walnuts. In a sense, the most expensive walnuts most of us will ever see. But I had fun. The hand mill cannot be operated too fast or it begins to separate the oil from the nuts. That’s why the fancy electric shredder is not utilized. The slowest setting is far too fast. Where’s that photo? Ah, there it is. Yes, I got it. There is the picture. Bet you’ve never seen anything quite like this before.

           DeeDee was in, taking some time off to visit. You recall DeeDee? Just a customer there from years gone by that I was interested in, in that way. Not any more. She’s the gal I was going to take the blood testing course with, but she decided no at the last moment. I suppose it would have been a real experience, but so far out of my field that I would not attend the classes on my own.

           By late afternoon I sat down and did some serious-minded sketching and thinking about an aircraft control column. The model airplane I built can already respond to commands from the Arudino, but I’d like to take it to the next level. Get a human operator at the controls and see how well I can get them on the same wavelength.
           Conceptually it is evident that three axis pivots are required. In airplane terms that is pitch, roll, and yaw. But not in that order. You want to keep the controls simple and intuitive. And I prefer to not use foot pedals like an old Cessna or Piper. It is this brand of thinking that takes so long. At least I now have the equipment to fabricate all the pieces. Hmmm, I won’t have to waste much time thanking all the people who helped me get that set up. In fact, let me wave to them. Oops, I forgot to use all my fingers.
           Here’s an example. The microcontroller could be situated anywhere. Logic says make it near the sensors on the steering column. But I decided it is to be located some distance away. This makes for trickier maintenance but helps insure that expensive component is not as subject to that deadly hail of barf and beer known to magically appear when nobody’s looking. Hey, just thinking ahead, which I am wont to do.

ADDENDUM
           Another uptick in overseas readership makes me happy, but I repeat my standard caution to those peeking in here for the first time. This blog does NOT represent the daily life of the average American. Not by a long shot. This is the land of directionless youth and crooked politicians, everybody in between is just slogging away for an ever-dwindling paycheck.

           The nation is in decline and incapable of emerging from its fifth consecutive generation of social immobility. There have been no major breakthroughs in the past thirty years. The Internet has turned the computer into a toy. A loaf of bread costs nearly $5.00. Home ownership is a joke.

           There are no rights left at the personal level, the most powerful government agency is the tax department, an unwelcome partner in every legitimate transaction. The will of the people no longer counts. We’ve become the America you see in the movies of the last century and Big Brother lives in Utah.
           Ah, you say, but we still have those who make it big. Yes, but I said “the average” and those people are far from average. We don’t really have more of them; we just have more media to make the world think we do. That, plus our lack of culture has always appalled the community. I’m not part of that culture—I don’t even own a television. And do I look if I even care what Paris Hilton wears today?


Last Laugh

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