June 17, 2015

Yesteryear
One year ago today: June 17, 2014, I hate taxis.
Five years ago today: June 17, 2010, bad luck Eddie.
Six years ago today: June 17, 2009, more vultures.

MORNING
           Best of Show. That’s what my joystick would have gotten this morning if they were handing out awards. I won’t part with any details because I’m seeking funding. But this item drew the biggest crowd, hands down, this morning. It was also by a huge margin the most photographed, around twenty snaps that I’m aware of. And I wasn't counting. So what if it is just a local show and tell, it is still important to make an impression.

           I have no plans to build or market this product, but it has potential as a kit. The article itself is not a kit at all. In fact, I can tell you the where and how of every cut, measurement, wire, screw, and scrap on this puppy. What I want is access to better tools and in particular, a laser cutter. Yep, a laser cutter would be nice. And a small lathe. I was hoping somebody would see this example of my work but it (the meetup) was pretty low key this month.
           Despite its similarity to other joysticks, this unit is completely original down to every cut and measurement. Good, I say, it proves even more it is not a kit. Even people who don’t know about the subject like the look and feel of this contraption. Here it is having a certificate of authenticity being notarized and certifying that the design is my own original.
           Then to the bakery for celebrations. I am already tuckered so it is siesta time. What’s this Donald Trump is going to run for president? He knows all about poor people because he fires them all the time. What’s wrong with that picture? Wake me up when it is over.

NOON

           “Learn to make something beautiful with your hands.” –Texas wisdom

           Before you read the following, I advise beginners that you do not need an oscilloscope. They are expensive and most of what you test with them cannot be repaired on many shop benches. I’m reacting to the challenge of learning and as it happens, I scored an older model in brand new condition a while back. I’ve discovered that it functions better with probes designed for a more expensive unit, but had trouble finding an economical set. That’s the oscilloscope I got for twenty-five bucks.

           Lucky me, I’ve found an electronics supplier in Florida that has reasonable prices. It is only a two hour trip from here, but I believe it worth the druve. For example, they have linear power supplies for $32, a price that even I can afford. What’s captivating me these days is a technology I’ve barely touched. It’s called reentrant interrupts, and lucky you, I’m going to explain what that is.
           Arduino coding, which you can find to death on the Internet these days, have most of their coding in a loop. It’s called a void loop because of the typing that has to be done to make the stupid thing work. The problem is, this constant looping often causes unnatural solutions to certain coding problems. An interrupt is a piece of code that breaks that loop by stopping one of the timers in the microchip. Don’t try this at home.
           Reentrant interrupts are a little trickier. Well, if you don’t know machine code, then they are a whole lot trickier. They are routines that can interrupt themselves, a concept that is abhorrent to C programmers. But from some technical reading I did this afternoon, I’m convinced that it can be done on the Arduino. However, one must apply a level-headedness so I don’t have time to document it for you. If successful, I will rate myself as a pro on that brand of microcontroller.
           Watch for a shopping trip soon, I found the supplier while looking for those oscilloscope probes, so that’s a touch of serendipity. You can fake the probes with an ordinary piece of wire, but don’t even try that on your own. My goal is to find out how all the functions work. Textbooks are pretty useless. The best way is to get out the probes and get at it. That’s also why I chose an older non-digital model. The latest crop have self-adjusting LCD displays and that hardly requires any brainwork.

AFTERNOON
           That was JZ on the phone and he insists it is up to me to find another town for us to visit because I make better choices. I love circular logic, like who makes these towns more interesting? Well surprise, it is not that easy. These trips go smoothly because they are astonishingly well planned in case nobody’s noticed. So pardon me while I head over to the coffee shop tonight for an extra look at the atlas.
           I don’t predict there will be a lot of excitement today.

EVENING
           The evening coffee shop is again the Panera. It is better than Dunkin and at least it isn’t Starbucks. But alas, this noisy eastern European chess bunch has begun to hang out there. Say what you want about the game, these guys are not nice people and tempers have flared. I usually sit at the back, but they do take up the best tables for babe-watching.

           No luck finding a destination for this weekend. Deland is too far away for a day trip, so that’s out. Our budget seems to be $200, so maybe the train? One of the best holidays is to visit a small town on July 4th, something I have not done in twenty years or more. It always takes you back to your roots, to a time before America went off the deep end.
           Hence, for that weekend, I’ve suggest to JZ we maybe try Arcadia. How odd I cannot place the town, yet the map of it is so similar to downtown Wichita Falls. July 4th is a Saturday, which means the fossil-hunting trip would be canceled. This picture of main street, Arcadia. I could easily mistake it for Yakima. The town claims it is famous for antique stores. That might be worth a look.
           Here’s something strange about Arcadia. According to several sources, which you can find on your own, only one house in fifteen has a mortgage. Compare with Ft. Lauderdale, where almost every household owes money to the bank. I don’t know if it is related, but house prices in that city have been very stable for a lot of years. The city map boasts streets named Love Joy, Northeast Snow, and Bridle Path. That’s bridle, not bridal. Okay.

ADDENDUM
           I’m still taking on the boggling concept of “lead” patterns on the bass. There are two distinct styles of these “bass breaks” and here I go trying to devise a third. One style, which I arbitrarily call the “Pastorius” is lead guitar “clichés” translated to the electric bass neck. No thanks. The second is the stringing together of fairly standard bass runs as an extended fill arrangement. That ain’t quite right either.
           I’ve noticed that some lead breaks are independent of the melody, others follow it, particularly older country music. Surmising that I could put these together, similar to the way that Ray-B chords through his lead breaks while still filling in enough “octaves” to emulate the instrumental, I’m analyzing these new patterns. I’m not saying this is new or original, Billy-Bill, just that I’ve never heard them before in over fifty years. And nobody came along and helped me.
           My task is to figure out what works. I’ve already learned you can’t use the same bends as on a guitar neck and that all bended notes have to go toward the center of the neck. Play in A or D if you can. The concept here is to emulate a melodic type of bass break in the same spot as some other instrument would usually solo. I’ve also learned you cannot get away with the same variety of notes as a guitarist. Below a certain frequency, they don’t blend well. And Blues notes outright clash.
           Let’s see where this goes.


Last Laugh


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