February 28, 2016

Yesteryear
One year ago today: February 28, 2015, the disappointing jet-set.
Five years ago today: February 28, 2011, bye, Pudding-Tat.
Nine years ago today: February 28, 2007, dead battery? $40 please . . .
Random years ago today: February 28, 2005, the pay is $5/year.

MORNING
           There is something about Sunday mornings and good cooking. If we can agree on that, let me say that I will never, ever, not in a million years, even if you pay me, go back to cooking on a wood stove. Forget it, it ain’t gonna happen. Over my dead body. Having said that, I am from Texas, so should I win the lottery, there is a good chance I would never set foot in a restaurant again. Here’s Sunday biscuits and fritters. The secret ingredient is the lack of ingredients. Same dough, two different flavor sensations. And you missed it.

           If you ever wanted to build your own rail gun, here is the parts list. This is one of the latest and most dangerous of weapons—though instructions on how to build a crossbow have been removed from the Internet. For all the talk you hear of rail guns, nobody has come up with a way to generate enough electricity for one single shot. Nuclear power plants are not quite big enough and it isn’t easy finding objects that don’t self-melt from air friction a few hundred feet from the barrel. I’ve seen the videos, they seem fake to me.
           I was looking forward to a movie music weekend on the oldies radio station. Instead, I get fed what seems to be black movie history. What’s with that? Don’t white people make any movies? This is not even like equal time, the whole weekend so far has been solid jungle-disco rap. I don’t like that kind of music except in old Tarzan movies. Saying so is not going to win me the democratic nomination, but I don’t like jazz, be-bop, or electric guitar music either. So I also won’t move to New Orleans, or go crazy, or die advertising for a band on Craigslist either.

           To Harbor Freight. This time for tool blades, sanding belts, and what-nots. Having a bargain tool outfit just two miles up the road changes everything. The only thing missing is coffee shop next door, but I’ll scout the area while up there. I’m finding I can’t work on the cPod without it being connected to the ball hitch. Getting the drawer glides to work right is a job for an expert. I need the bulk of the motorcycle to hold the camper still while I work the parts. At a third the weight of the old camper, this one easily upends on the axle if you even lean on the tailgate.
           There are tons of instructional videos on installing side drawer glides, but I’m still searching for one that explains how to do it when you don’t have the option of removing the drawer. When you can’t turn the piece on its side at a convenient height. I tried placing spacers under the box, then carefully aligning the rails. When the spacers are removed (so the drawer will slide), it seems the box should now operate easily on the rails. Nope. The slightest tug moves the whole camper backward.
           It will work, but it has to be held firmly at the front end. I have nothing to do that with except a motorcycle. But I do need something to secure the camper when I’m not around, so give me some time to ponder that situation. A ton of concrete with an old trailer hitch out the side, that would work.

Wiki picture of the day.
Duck and Cover
(10 minute video)

NOON
           This flu has not stopped me from hitting the books and I’m happy to report a mini-breakthrough. You want to know more about celestial navigation, I can tell. How you’ve followed along for what, over a year now, awaiting each announcement. Well, you are out of luck, because although I’ll write about what I’ve found and my conclusions, if you want to learn it, you are on your own.

           What it is this time is four of my books say or leave the impression that any map containing your position is good enough, but the fifth book devoted an intense chapter that your chart must have a specific location at dead center. I thought the writer was being picky. Until I was doodling through the problem of how I got to Chimbote, Peru. True, that was due to a single error, but that error was early in the process. How did I work my way through the entire calculation without being tipped off something was awry?

           Got it. That point on your chart has to be the Assumed Position, or AP. It is not trivial because it is assumed, rather it is what determines the accuracy of the remainder of your calculations. The Almanac is not an all-inclusive reference book, it’s purpose is those APs. Think of it this way, the book knows where those APs, are, it doesn’t know which one you are closest to. That explains why you go through hoops to find the closest one you can, but that is another topic.
           Result? Now, as long as I have a map, I can use a sextant to determine how far away I am from any spot on the planet. In real life, I only care about how far I am from Texas. This is a giant step forward from calculating your position on the globe. Codicil—you must be in a location where the sun, at some point of the day, appears directly over your direction from where I’m standing. Or precisely 180° opposite. I believe I could do this even if the sun is below the horizon where you are.
           Fascinating, I say, especially if I ever have to find an island in the ocean. And it makes it easier to find a cabin in the woods than it is to find the money to buy one.

           I’m also aware that there is room for another beginner’s book, or booklet really, on navigation. But written from the standpoint of somebody without access to good sources and, importantly, from an author who doesn’t use the book to demonstrate his expertise. For example, not one of my books explains you can forget the stars and navigate all you want using only the Sun. Lack of this knowledge led me to believe I had to progress past the Sun to be adept. Wrong. I now consider teachers who pull that stunt to be on a par with guitar teachers who say one must “progress” to jazz. It simply is not true.


AFTERNOON
           I clicked on the news feeds to watch the Trump make even more [in my opinion] statements from this blog. Well, not him personally, but you’d think whichever of his people is whispering in his ear would at least make some attempt at changing my wording. I’m still amused that nobody is running for president any more, they are all running against Trump. The establishment is running scared and making asinine statements like American being “in danger of being taken over by a con artist”. Hmmm, if Trump is a con man, just what would you have to label the Clintons and the Bushes?

           Or how about the media plugging the “victory” of Hillary over Bernie. What victory? Between them they haven’t a third of the support of Trump. I believe Trump has so badly eviscerated the establishment that he may run as an independent. It’s near the point where he has no other choice. Remember, he only said he would not do that if they gave him a fair shake. That is most certainly not going to be on their agenda. Their establishment asses have been painfully kicked to a pulp.
           It’s a given Trump is against businesses relocating in Mexico, but instead of totally blaming Ford and Carrier, he could point out it was the unfavorable business climate created by his opponents in the establishment that fomulgated the conditions that caused them to pull up stakes. I’m saying I doubt many people really think these big companies moved overseas explicitly to put Americans out of work. And those tariffs are going to make American made products unbelievably expensive in the short run.
           Still, whoever out there is using this blog for source material, at least give me some of the credit. Yes, you are free to use it on that basis, and changing the odd word is not what I’m referring to when I say there is a pattern to what you are doing. I had a check mark on my calendar which day the Donald would begin pushing the fact that even if not elected, he’s “altered the political landscape”, which you changed to “changing the playing field”. My contention was not the phrase, but how I knew which day he’d say it. Yesterday.

NIGHT
           I just had a thought. Actually, several thoughts, starting with the Arduino. It’s been a while now I’m been seeking a solution to the problem of the near impossibility of knowing what is on an Arduino microcontroller. But maybe I am looking at the problem from the wrong direction. I’d considered everything from a view screen (rejected because it uses too many pins) to a single LED spelling something in Morse (would stump most users). Then it hit me, what is the reason you would load something up to an Arduino and forget what was there? Ah, to see if the code works.
           What do you need to see that? Usually some kind of circuit board with flashing lights or feedback of some nature. Hardware. Have I not often pointed out that there is nothing new or novel about C+ code? What we need is an on-screen Arduino simulator. Let me think this over. The only output on an Arduino is a digital 0V or 5V. Ah, you say, there are a dozen simulators already. Yeah, try using one. Like when I started, they address the wrong problem. However, I will work through all the offerings in case there is something out there that actually works.
           What I have in mind is something like the old BASIC testers, but with a graphic of the Arduino which lights up the output LEDs as the program steps through the code line by line as you tap the space bar.

ADDENDUM
           You know one thing I’d do if I had the money? Commission a new series of real documentaries that were so superior to the chintzy “docutainment” crap that is out there that none of them would survive. Instead, the Internet is stuffed full of weak productions that stretch ten minutes of material into an hour of even weaker video. Find me a documentary on anything from writing to armor to ships, and I can pretty much spell out for you exactly what is going to be shown and in what order.

           True, documentaries are not research meant to portray new discoveries. But the past twenty years have spawned a cheap-ass variety, not to be endured. It’s like somebody has brainwashed all the last two generations into accepting these sorry excuses for documentaries as something new and progressive. Wrong, documentaries since around 2006 are all the same format. Two minutes of actual footage, maybe, in every fifteen minutes of commentary. I mean, does anybody really care what time a scientist work up that morning, or how long it took herto drive to work? See what kind of sorry crap they put you through.
           I’m suggesting people just might want to watch documentaries for information about an unfamiliar topic. And not to be constantly exposed to other peoples insecurities and the way they inject their petty concerns, like feminism and sexism, into what is supposed to be at least attempting scientific discourse, at the least.


Last Laugh


++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Return Home
++++++++++++++++++++++++++