One year ago today: August 16, 2014, Woodstock +46.
Five years ago today: August 16, 2010, I consider a sidecar . . .
Six years ago today: August 16, 2009, Planet 107.
MORNING
What constitutes an exciting Sunday morning in Florida? Well, unless you have youth and a ton of money, this is it. I’m still not hopeful of finding or creating a good band because this town does not have the population base to find good people. Or good women, since I also had breakfast alone although that could be because I get up so damn early in the morning. Sometimes.
I’ve sketched out the basics which doesn’t reveal the intermediate steps. These would be hard to write down since there are no examples around. Well, except for the other circuit I built. For instance, you can’t see the spreadsheet I had to design, formulas and all, to calculate the size of the fixed and variable resistors needed to get the output voltages just right. It is the ratios between the two resistors, but be careful, small resistors that do the same job as big resistors can get dangerously hot. That’s another item the textbooks often fail to mention.
That’s why you see calculations along with the diagrams. While you can build such circuits by trial and error, there is a time savings working out the equations in advance. So you get a peek behind the scenes on this design. Trust me, it is the most you are going to find going on in South Florida at my age unless you pay for it.
My target range is 3.0 volts to 4.5 volts, for cameras that use 2 or 3 AA or AAA batteries. I have a growing pile of those cameras, mostly unused for three major reasons.
1) Too long to first picture. All cameras should be instant on.
2) Weird picture file formats or sizes. Default should be 640x480 jpeg.
3) Eats batteries. They never tell you on the box.
It is approaching a year since I played in a band. I have no intention of learning other ways to socialize, since I don’t often even like hanging around with people who follow too much of a pattern. I find it disgusting to go to places where I can hear other men hitting on women. Probably the worst aspect is that the women that go to such places consistently fail to understand a good man scares away much more easily than a bad man.
I’ve even skipped the foreign cinema for a week or two because most of the offerings are themed productions from Israel. You know, the tired old themes, persecution, intolerance, the holocaust, yadda yadda. As I told Agt. M when he pointed out those films are still foreign; this answer could be taken a couple of ways: “Not foreign enough.”
Not nearly foreign enough.
NOON
Today in 1942, American bombers made their first bombing raid on Europe, a rail yard in France. It was a curious theory, whereby the British navy ruled the sea and the German army ruled the land. It meant, in America-think, somebody had to rule the air. The idea was to make “surgical” strikes on specific parts of the enemy war economy, that is, precision daylight attacks. All such philosophies are based on the enemy not fighting back effectively.
Oddly, that first raid was a success, but only because the Germans were not expecting it. The British had already given up daylight bombing due to “unsustainable losses”. The Germans quickly recovered and soon had 1,500 fighter aircraft called “interceptors” making life difficult for the bomber crews. It required as a rule of thumb one million American civilians working full-time behind the scenes to mount each raid.
While it is true the Germans had bombed cities, it was not generally deliberate until the Allies did it first. Rotterdam was the result of a communication mix-up and London was a navigational error. Yet, the Royal Air Force quickly used these to justify the bombing of Berlin, a non-military target. This is why it is said if the Germans had won the war, it would have been Churchill and Roosevelt put on trial for crimes against humanity. That first raid was 73 years ago and to this day, Americans still conduct most wars primarily with air power.
The majority of newsreels available always show one fighter attacking one bomber. This is probably not the best way to knock an enemy airplane out and the wrong way to sink a ship. I’ve often wondered why these one-on-one duels are so popular with film crews. I can tell you right now if I was in charge of defense, there would be no such heroics in my rule book. Coordinated attacks only, no “mixing it up”. No John Waynes on my watch.
And some trivia. The highest-scoring word in champion Scrabble, at 365 points was: quixotry. More trivia, most definitions of quixotry are wrong in stating it is unrealistic romantic notions. That is quixotism. Quixotry is any behavior based on the concept, not the concept itself. Now don’t you get these two mixed up at your next garden party.
NIGHT
JZ was over for a visit, but the Honda tire was not here. It rained all y’day so I did not go pick it up at the shop. So, we went for coffee and later a few beers to further hone the plans for buying property. I maintain we wait for a slump in the market, JZ advocates a mortgage. Remember, we are looking to buy two places, the first for me and the second for him if the venture proves successful. I have serious doubts he would enjoy living in a small town without some type of transition period.
I you wanted to move, right now today, here is a photo of something I can afford at the moment. Yes, I’d live there, no problem. But it is 300 miles away, north of Tampa. I don’t know anybody over there and don’t know the neighborhood, not that those things have ever stopped me before. I’d never set foot in Florida until the day I moved here. This is a two-bed two-bath with land and fenced yard. The point is, I could buy this place with a phone call, and that is a considerable improvement over five years ago when prices were down but I had no money.
I am convinced another crash is due. The instant interest rates move upward, we’ll see an end to this nonsense of housing price recovery. Either way, I say the wrong thing to do is compete on the open market against people who are spending bank money. We need to continue pursuing auctions and estates until something can be purchased for cash. Anything is better than borrowing money, something I am loathe to do.
ADDENDUM
Sadly for some, Houdini is no more. It was a she, and she succumbed to a good old-fashioned spring trap early this morning. She ignored the fancy New Zealand trap. This is not surprising, however, as rats will often ignore anything with a human scent. I was careful to wear gloves but that did not produce results. The best strategy is still to place something different and attractive near the rat’s normal eating area, which in my case was the trash pail.
Rats will often let down their guard if they can smell mice have been present, but this was not an option in my place. Instead, I had to find an irresistible bait. What made it tricky was she would often leave for a few days for better pickings, then return. Houdini had learned to ignore bean paste, peanut butter, and peach marmalade. So, what finally got her? It was chicory paste. This is a coffee substitute which I keep as a emergency ration. Too bad, that was the smartest rat I’ve ever had to kill.
Tell you what. To cheer things up just a tad, here is a picture from this morning I call “The Clouds of August”. This is a usual formation out over the Atlantic coast, which is just beyond the horizon shown here. Then between a few and a few dozen miles out, you get the warm Gulf Current. I believe that is what is responsible for these cloud patterns, which I call “marching clouds”.
This is not unusual in the morning, you can see the sun rays from overhead around mid-morning. Because the clouds change character inland from the shoreline so what is directly overhead is more of a prairie type cumulus. Hope you like.
Last LaughThe sign says
“I Love My University”
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