September 1, 2016

Yesteryear
One year ago today: September 1, 2015, unless nobody is looking.
Five years ago today: September 1, 2011, take acting lessons instead.
Nine years ago today: September 1, 2007, rhymes with Tsawwassen.
Random years ago today: September 1, 2012, the tombstone graveyard, remember that?

MORNING
           Did I forget the mystery picture from August 30th? It is an accessory to a medical microscope. It is actually five different counters used for totaling blood cell counts and such. Use it to count illegals. I have yet to meet anyone who supports illegal immigration that doesn’t have an ulterior motive. In today’s news, Trump speaks to a massive and roaring crowd on his immigration policy. The mainstream media attacks instantly. Their point seems to be that Trump says he will deport but “doesn’t say how”. What a pack of losers, whining he won’t give them anything to pounce on.

           One reporter called the speech a “diplomatic embarrassment”. Yeah, buddy, that’s got the 57 million Americans out of work really worried. What a schmuck. The Mexican guy counter-argued that guns and such flow south across the border, apparently and conveniently forgetting that Mexico’s biggest source of income is the billions that the illegals send home each year. Gee, Raoul, if it’s such a problem maybe you should build a wall. Raoul? Raoul? Hello?

           Something is still wrong with my floor, but I’m here round the clock to figure it out. Either I’m not measuring right or the floor itself is refusing to stay level. No matter, this obstacle will be passed. I still have the cash I did not spend on the house purchase and I have no qualms about dipping into that to get the place shipshape.
           At least the economies of living here are beginning to show. It no longer takes a truck and two men to go find a roll of wire. But that does not extend to prices at the local building supply outlet, a Lowe’s. This lag bolt carries a [currently hefty] price tag of 60 cents. Good thing I kept my spares from the cPod. Hmmm, they are now worth a whopping $144.00. It’s one damn blustery day. Don’t be surprised if the high point is making biscuits again.

Picture of the day.
Liberty?
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NOON
           Not that I don’t prefer hot weather to freezing cold, but you can’t beat a warm pleasant day. September 1 only and I did not have to crank on the A/C. Down south you sweat until November. She’s a gonna rain today and that’s why I wish I had my porch already. Ever been on the porch during a warm rain? It’s like being in Hawaii plus I have the superb ability to fall asleep in a chair during pounding storms. It’s a gift.

           I didn’t hear the boom, but I did hear the news of SpaceX. Let this be a reminder to all that space travel remains a dangerous, dangerous adventure. This is the type of thing I would be inventing if I had made my billions, so I cannot blame private industry from trying. And they will fail, as did every other entity that tried launching rockets. Who was it that said the rocket was like riding a controlled explosion.
           However, after the botch NASA has made of the space program for the past 40 years, our only hope of reasonable progress lies with these entrepreneurs. Even if NASA does get to Mars in my lifetime, they’ve already sat around too damn long. They are no longer leading the world with innovation, they are just collecting paychecks. We should have been to Mars in 1980 and that is that.

           Do we have another copycat? An on-line circuit site has chosen the exact same chip I did to build a prototype a couple years ago. Who remembers the 4008? Their plans are far more elaborate and include using it in conjunction with other chips, which was beyond my capability back then. Once again, they do not copy my actual project, but it is the way in which the project is presented that rings the alarm. That’s where my style gets distinctive.
           Frinstance, ordinary writers will caution the reader over obvious pitfalls, while I go into more detail of what can go wrong. And they once more get suspiciously close to my description. Ah, well, I have no definite proof, so if it continues I know what to do. A quick letter to the editor always puts an instant stop to it.

           My position on Internet copyright remains the same. If you don’t want it copied, don’t put it on the Internet, the washroom wall of the computer era. I’m a little more fine-tuned than that, since while I consider anything thrown out there as fair game, I intentionally avoid material that is clearly marked or indicated to be privately owned. Such as the trademark symbol on this blog.
           It is also moot whether copying a single or a few panels from a site containing thousands is any type of infringement—and besides, the avowed purpose of this blog is to educate and inform without pain. Education is fair usage by any standard.

           Now just you watch how easy it is to learn from this blog. The 4008, shown here, is an integrated circuit. That’s a fancy way of saying it is several circuits built into one chip. In this instance it has duplicate “gates” inside and that is why they call it “integrated”. Here’s the main thing you will learn here: in most chips, all the circuits are identical, and usually in powers of 2. That is, if the chip contains a “register”, it will contain 2, 4, or 8 of them. The engineers give these fancy names, for example, a chip containing 4 circuits would be called a “quad”.
           The 4008 contains 4 gates. Gates are nothing but fancy switches that turn their output off or on depending on whether there is a 5 volt or 0 volt charge on the input pin. Tell you what, it has been years since I’ve seen this chip, so let’s walk through it. I remind the reader I set out to learn a bit about robots and learning anything at all about these chips was incidental, a spinoff.
           The chip needs power to work, so that would be the pins marked in red. Vdd and Gnd. The “dd” is unexplained, but it implies this chip, if connected in series with other chips, can have its own power supply but it must share a common ground. The dot in one corner on the real chip indicates pin 1, as does the notch shown here as a semi-circle.

           This chip must be four digit, since I see four binary outputs, B0 thru B3. That implies four inputs, which would be A0 thru A3. Ah, this must be an adder, a chip that adds binary numbers, and that would explain the Cin and Cout pins. You need to know if there is a carry digit from the previous operation or a carry digit created in this one. Thus, the remaining switches, S0 thru S3 would be chip controls, my guess would be “clear”, “input’, “latch”, and “output”, which act like the keys on your hypothetical calculator here.
           The logic is quite simple. To put a number into the chip, you need to clear whatever was there before, then allow the chip to accept four inputs, then stop the input by latching these four. Only then can you output the result.

           Now pay attention because I’m going to clear a hurdle not mentioned in the textbooks. The casual reader might ask, “Why bother with this chip, there are four inputs and four outputs?”
           Ah, because the chip has a memory. When you latch the first set of inputs, the chip remembers them as you enter the second set. The second set goes through the same gates, which were set by the first batch. So when you switch on the output, the output shows the total so far, not the contents of the last entry. Double ah. This chip could add any set of numbers that total up to 15 (1111 in binary).
           There, your poor man’s description of an adder circuit. Eighty dollars, please.

AFTERNOON
           Batten the hatches, this is going to be a ride. I rode through the rain to pick up supplies for what could be a wet and windy weekend. I’ll be indoors. I mapped out a way to work on the bedroom floor by shift the floor panels around to a minimum. They are heavy. I’ve got the deck screws that will ensure the joists will never move again before the house collapses. Here is a pic of the 36 grit sanding belts that will chew away any joist that still won’t cooperate. No lumber made can resist me with a Porter belt sander and 36 grit.

           I will follow my standing procedure of keeping extra accurate records after a move. Have you ever noticed how fast money flies away whenever you get into a new living place? Yeah, well you and a few million others every year. One of the first things I unpack is my records to prevent that, which has turned out to be quite the judicious maneuver over the years. During this move, less than $300 has gone unaccounted for—and I know where it went unaccounted to.

           Here’s one, those old Tammy Wynette disks. As I listen to them on modern equipment, it is so clear where the studio technicians had to take over. I can hear countless glitches that would never be noticed if the primary medium was still FM (radio). The odd places she stopped to inhale are the most laughable, since the overdub comes back with a slightly different timbre. She was undoubtedly a very frustrating vocalist in the recording studio.
           And I see a lady in New Mexico is finally suing the police for confiscating property that was only suspected of being involved in a crime. The law allowing the police to permanently confiscate money and property because they are of the opinion that it could be used illegally will go down in history as the sordid condition that finally destroyed America as a law-abiding nation. Seems her son was arrested on some drug charge and they seized her car. It’s not that the police keep the property, but that they purposely make it more costly than its value to get it returned, a most disgusting tactic. If it gets returned, they should have to refund the costs, as well. I don’t often pray for others, but let this lady win and set a precedent.
           Mr. Trump, stop the federal policy of militarizing the police. The army should not enforce domestic law and domestic law should not be driving armored cars, flying drones, and sniping.

NIGHT

           Turns out my bartender is a trained horticulturalist. Of course, I stopped in at the end of the day. What part of active retirement don’t they understand? So the guy starts slicing a variegated lemon and be-damned, it is pink on the inside. See photo. From his yard. Now I want a pink lemon tree. He explained to me once how he and a friend grafted four plants and came up with something, but about this time, two smashed blonde babes staggered in so I’ll have to pick the tree story later.
           That, and 25 mph is the maximum I’ll drive a motorcycle in and it was gusting to 21 mph. Ferocious for two-wheelers and yes, on the road, I’m a wimp. No chances. There are no old bold motorcycle riders, to paraphrase some airplane pilot.

ADDENDUM
           There’s another hurricane brewing, though I don’t know if it makes landfall around here. But most of Florida is subject to the arms of these storms swinging in from random directions and flash-flooding the terrain a couple times per day. Here’s a picture of the local laundromat washer price. Hey, they’ve got a monopoly. If you are thinking I’ve got experience with such a business, I’ll tell you that was back in my twenties and I doubt I’d do it again. Too much maintenance at my age.

           The reason this made mention today is that it represents, laundry-wise, the devaluation of the currency in my lifetime of 90%. In my day, the wash was 25 cents. So, how much did two loads cost me today? C’mon, guess. $13.75, including five lousy minutes for a quarter on the dryers. Took $4.50 to dry both load in one unit, plus I had to buy soap and softener. Yikes, 75 cents for a dryer sheet. There’s my incentive to get my own laundry room built. Can’t be spending $100 a month on washing clothes when I have space for the appliances right here.

           Hang on, some news is coming on the radio. Did I hear that right, it’s heading for New Orleans? Didn’t they just finish rebuilding the slum sections? The consensus last round was to abandon the place. When people heard the price tag, they said forget it. This is why we need Trump. Only an over-reaching federal government could ignore public opinion on that scale. I missed the newscast, but if it is Nawlins again, the taxpayer has had enough.
           And it’s not like we don’t know it is the rebuilding contractors sucking on the government teat that inflates the cost into near Earth orbit. Mr. Trump, put a stop to this. Louisiana is a good place to start cutting the fat. Let them dig themselves out the same way they did before FEMA came along. I mean, how many chances are we going to give that place?


Last Laugh

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