One year ago today: August 31, 2014, the last gig?
Five years ago today: August 31, 2010, musical hit & run.
Six years ago today: August 31, 2009, I lost money.
MORNING
My barber got robbed. Some goof walked in with a switchblade this morning and demanded twenty bucks. Nobody wants to die for that, so Abe handed him the only twenty he had, the thief took off on a bicycle. Abe dialed 911 and the cops were there in three minutes, got the perp’s description and nabbed him within two more minutes. Armed robbery in Florida is what, mandatory ten years.
This [robbery] is another sign of the deterioration of city cores in Florida. Hollywood tried for years to spruce up downtown. All they did was chase away the tourists and locals. And establish a greater gap between the rich and poor. It (downtown) isn’t “quaint” anymore. It’s like titty bars and watering holes and over-priced ethnic restaurants that close too early or too late. And blast recorded music onto the sidewalks where pedestrians have to weave through the tables and chairs. No bicycles allowed.
So the creeps and bums have been filtering back to Young Circle, which was the drug dealer hangout of choice until fifteen years ago. Around a year ago, they closed the hostel over on Dixie. As JZ says, most down-and-outs prefer to live on the streets rather than under the unnatural discipline of the shelters, with their mock charity.
I believe the solution to street beggars and the homeless is identical to that for welfare recipients. Banishment to small rural communities of population 2,500 or less. Very humanitarian, as they can pick their own place. Does this punish small towns? Nope, it provides a source of cheap labor and criminal activities are far easier to monitor. Fewer suspects per capita.
NOON
Didn’t I warn you ten years ago that Miley Cyrus was the new Madonna? Well, parents, here is your cute little Disney Doll, the one whose insanely priced concert tickets went on your Master Card. The role model you told little Madison to take after. What? Not me, I spotted what a little sleaze Cyrus was going to be ten years ago. Hey, I grew up in a small town and managed to get the hell out. Ain’t nobody can fool me which ones are not going to turn out. I grew up around them.
Instead, they equate having money with idle time. And we know what kind of distractions exist for women with too much idle time. Not me. The more money I have, the less time I have to fritter away. If fact, if I had enough money right now, I’d move to Austin and buy an acreage with a big-ass work shed. Yes, I know I’ve said I don’t know anybody in Texas any more.
But in Texas, at least the people you don’t know are probably not out to steal your bicycle. Out here, bicycle thefts don’t even count. Speaking of untrustworthy types, if you use Ghostery, keep an eye on the extension icon. Google has clearly found a way to disable the block. And if you are not using Ghostery, what are you, some kind of moron?
Trivia. How many boats (as in fishing or weekend pleasure craft) are sold in the USA every year nowadays? It’s 171,000. Crisis? What crisis? The future’s so bright, even Miley’s gotta wear shades, but not much else. The only one there is any hope for is still Taylor Swift—but only because she impresses me with how quickly she dumps the pretty boys who keep hitting on her. She’s got taste. And that’s enough to make 99% of men scatter faster than Millennials at an Internet spelling bee.
EVENING
The primary event was the foreign cinema, where I watched “The Kindergarten Teacher. I’d describe the plot as rather non-mainstream. Filmed in Tel Aviv, there are some interesting beach and desert shots. I’d say regard most of the story as absurd. The scenes older people having wild sex and various male nudity poses are preposterous and add nothing.
After, I went to Starbucks, the only coffee joint open on the Circle after dark. I know, that’s pretty sad, but I was able to map out a different strategy for my 3-digit display. One of the hurdles is getting over the way we [humans] have been trained to look at numbers. (Well, trained as in certain of us somewhat more than others, Patsie.) I’m toying with the idea of three dimensional array, something I’ve never personally seen anyone perform with an Arduino. But mathematically it is entirely doable.
The logic is thus. There are 3 digits, each with 7 segments. That makes for a grid of 21 locations, each of which is binarily either a 0 or a 1. I know some of you are thinking this is already out of the realm of high-school science classes, but I dunno. I first saw matrix arithmetic in the eighth grade, though I remember as much about it as the rest of us. The focus right now is just getting the thing to work. I repeat, to the best of my knowledge, nobody has ever gotten three digits to display without using integrated circuits. Once it works, I can dumb it down.
The additional challenge is to use only one Arduino. This limits the digital output to 10 pins. By convention, don’t use pins 00, 01, and 13. Or any analog pins, that’s cheating. Here’s an item. After Starbucks, I stopped at the club and Hayley was working. She has always been interested in my projects and knows a lot about this from glancing at the diagrams sometimes seen in my open scribbler. I mean, nobody goes to a bar without something to write on, do they? Anyway, she quickly spotted that one of the digits had a burned out segment. Sharp gal.
Shown here is the bad element about to be replaced. Those of you who have been around, blog-wise, may notice that some of the components are beginning to look rather familiar. It’s an Arduino thing. Yes, I’m aware I’m holding the display upside down. Did I just say “binarily”?
Last Laugh
(Hey, this is serious art.)
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