October 6, 2015

Yesteryear
One year ago today: October 6, 2014, it’s Botswana.
Five years ago today: October 6, 2010, on dengue fever.
(say “DENG-ee”)
Six years ago today: October 6, 2009, instant tenements, Hollywood.

           First of all, shame on you MSN for printing names concerning the Oregon murderer. The whole town expressed they did not want the media to make a famous name for the killer. MSN, you are a bunch of sick-minded individuals who need to be rounded up and shot yourselves. Same with any media that is still using this style of tragedy to make money. You are making martyrs out of child-killers. Who the hell cares if he has “problems”. To provide him publicity is unforgiveable. To do so when asked not to is loathsome
           This blog does not mention the names of selfish, notoriety-seeking murderers. I don't need to be asked.

MORNING
           If there is time, I’ll upload some photos of the various trials I’m conducting over the Gorilla glue problems. I thought maybe the particle board is not porous enough, or possibly the finish is made to be somewhat waterproof. Shown here is a side-by-side comparison of what the glossy stuff looks like after a quick pass on the new belt sander. Smooth on the left, scuffed on the right.

           Another discovery is that C-clamps are not the best for glue. The action of turning the screw can be passed into the material, causing it to misalign perceptibly. I need to think of something that works without shelling out for those heap-expensive cinch type clamps. Have you see the price tag on those puppies? And you would need at least eight to get any work done.
           Up late as I wanted to study power supplies. When I build my original from a very common schematic, none of them mentioned the transistor would get hot enough to melt my breadboard. Which is what happened. Later, reading back over the material knowing what to look for, a few of them off-handedly mentioned it was not a good idea. So I looked into “switchable” power supplies.
           Again, we encounter loads of material on how to operate these supplies, but precious little on how they work. So, I’ll take a guess. If there is a capacitor, my thinking is that this would be used in some form of rapid discharge arrangement that works similar to pulse-code-modulation. Most articles I read seem to think the “switchable” part means there is a dial or knob on the front that switches to the voltage you seek.
           I say it must, instead switch some kind of relay off and on rapidly, although I thought this method was confined to DC current. Right there are two more specifics that so far every one of the hero-type experts have failed to mention. It must be more of those things that we are “supposed to know”. To authors with that attitude, there can be no supposing what I think they should do.

           When I hit the cinemas, I usually put on a dress shirt. I open my closet last evening to find I have one left on the hanger and it doesn’t match my slacks. What is going on. When I got back home, I went through the entire place. Sure enough, my habit of wearing a shirt twice before laundry and often hanging it over the back of a chair. All 27 of my shirts will make for a major wash job tomorrow.
           How could that happen? I guess just the weather, since the first thing I do getting indoors is take off my shirt. It’s cooler and that 27 does not include my t-shirts, which are 90% work clothes anyway. For the record, gals, I change my underwear every day. Did you know 25% of men do not? But heck, you don’t need any more reasons to like me. Shucks.

           Note, the 1818 Almanac is again right about the weather. It is bright and clear and the mornings have been pleasantly cool. That’s something like eight weeks in a row, so they know their weather patterns over there.

NOON
           I’m grumpy. And I’ll tell you partially why. Grapefruits are now $1.69 each. That puts a damper on my breakfast routine. Since I usually eat both halves, it’s a healthy way to avoid the genetically modified cereals and high cholesterol alternatives. To take my mind off felling hungry, here is something you’ve never seen before. It is a piece of scrap lumber with three batteries standing in drill holes. It is a test case for the 24-packs I buy. They are going in the fridge (not the freezer) to test for increased longevity.

           It is reputed to be as much as 30%. I find that odd, since who knows how long they’ve been sitting on the store shelf? Anyway, anyone who has taken metal in and out of the cool knows the problems with condensation. So these batteries will be nicely standing away from each other by ¼”of pine and though it is not intended, the entire rack can be taken out and left to attain room temperature and dry before handling. A similar tray for AAA cells is planned. I like my nice drill press.
           There is a small trunk full of these test gizmos around here. I should put them on display. Imagine, if you can, this end-piece of lumber without the batteries. It would be amusing to hear what people thought it was. It has another purpose, it is also the template for making all 24 holes even-spaced. You like it?

AFTERNOON
           Lots of information packed in here. Want to melt silver?
           Here’s what progress looks like on the battery holder. This isn’t a big deal, well, at least not until you consider I was solidly prevented from ever doing anything this practical when I was a kid. And of course, there’s not time when you start working for a living. To me it signifies a challenge that I would not have even begun a year ago.

           One can rather clearly make out the precision due to navigational measuring devices. There may be a better way taught at trade-school. This is a combination of tools, mainly the drill press, but note the ever-so-neat pilot holes. You just know who they brought in for that job.
           This is for the AA size batteries, but far more prolific are the AAAs, so that is slated for tomorrow. So, said the sharp kid with the abacus third row from the back, why are not the two center holes drilled? Good question, grasshopper. That is where the carry handle is to be affixed.
           Now the upset. An audit of the books shows there is a discrepancy in the company accounts. The books find fact, not fault. Who remembers Big Tom from 736, the Continuum? “Yeah, but it’s your fault the facts are wrong.”
           Seriously, I’ll chase around tomorrow and find it. I am the only person with all the passcodes, so I know it is a bank error or something similar. Maybe a bounced check or a deposit to savings instead of checking? Either way, the books are audited every ten days and everything balanced September 30.
           Every transaction is logged and backed up, every slip is coded, scanned, and filed. It’s there. Even if there was something awry, nobody ever gets much of a head start when I’m in charge. And speaking of the last transaction, it was silver and have you seen the market? Two dollars in two days and talk is it is headed for $35. Make it $50 and I’ll be happy.
           Make it $100 and I’ll be very happy. Make it $160 and I’ll be dancing in the street. I also got some information on melting silver. The one-ounce bar is the unit of commerce and that is not likely to change. The reason I want the technology is if silver ever goes to astronomical levels, nobody will have change for an ounce. Not that I would ever do such a thing, but it might be handy to know what is needed to melt down the metal.
           Everybody on-line will try to sell you a $7,000 forge, which I know is not necessary. Remember the buttons I saw. Anyway, return in a day or two as I have a buyer willing to tell me how to melt silver with gear I’ve already got lying around the house. What? Of course, I would melt it outside, you dummy, I just have the equipment stored indoors. You think I don’t know silver melts at 960° or something like that? What? Well, I meant centigrade. What do you Canucks call it? Celsius?

NIGHT
           The picture is a Trump ad, nothing to do with today’s blog. It is here to balance the page. While drawing up the plans for the smaller AAA battery holder, I reviewed the latest examples of Arduino programming. It’s been around two years since I read code, since I believe my code to be simply better. This isn’t ego, I used to mark student assignments and learned what works is rarely optimal because code tends to ignore code. I won’t elaborate, but all real programmers know what I mean.

           And alas, the newer code has gone even further downhill, something you may have thought impossible. There is an increase in weak data typing and lack of comments—except to plug the programmer’s web page, type of thing. There is a science to working with code that goes beyond memorizing the commands and this feature seems to have been dropped from the curriculum.
           I’ll tell you what, I’m give up an analogy. If code was planting a garden, almost anyone can learn to plant potatoes. In the end, you get more potatoes and they are virtually identical. But, let’s go back and look at the garden, not the potatoes. One can instantly tell a good garden. Everything is labeled. The rows are a little straighter, the bushes are a little bigger, a little greener, a little healthier looking. Between each row of potatoes you have a row of garlic. So the potato is not ignoring the garlic—the potato makes the garlic sweeter and the garlic keeps the bugs away from the potato leaves.
           Such it is with programming. It is easy to tell when somebody doesn’t know what they are doing, yet they consider themselves the expert because their sole criteria is that the code grows potatoes. C+ encourages this behavior, I myself have produced C+ code that I threw in features I’m not sure of merely because it worked before. That is bad procedure, but C+ has so many exceptions it can be futile to try memorizing any best practices.
           Okay, what is weak data typing? It is when the programmer uses improper data variable types, then converts them where needed. An example is the number “7” and the letter “7”. They are stored differently by memory variables. I tend to be very, very exact, and in my opinion, that is better. Numbers are not just numbers. Where the genius of today tends store everything as a floating point, I often design my entire code to use integers unless there is no other option. I also tend to subroutine any line of code used more than once.
           Another aspect of good code is that it can be, with little modification, made to work on another computer or translated to another language. Good code tends to morph toward what works best, bad code is a rat’s nest that works only once in a specific instance. (That corresponds to my view of “Apps” and why you often find ten or fifteen different apps that do the same thing, but otherwise have nothing in common. It’s Millennial marketing, if you can’t come up with something new, try convincing the crowd that there are ten or fifteen different flavors of vanilla, all of them artificial. It works best when the buyer is as shallow-minded as the seller.)
           When I see contemporary code that ignores the dozens of unwritten rules that makes code more efficient, allows the computer to run faster, and tends toward self-documentation. Knowing that, it is no wonder that I consider modern code to be largely crap. No matter what its other merits, it is not progress. Alas, the Arduino is degenerating slowly to the level where code is code, as long as it works.


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