One year ago today: September 7, 2015, Chinese electronics.
Five years ago today: September 7, 2011, American style “peace-keeping”.
Nine years ago today: September 7, 2007, virus attack.
Random years ago today: September 7, 2012, ah, solar-powered shade . . .
MORNING, NOON & NIGHT
There are two guys we need to track down and denutted. As usual, the Paki who invented the USB, because it is so far from universal but now add in that it will fit into a firewire socket. Maybe I’m blaming the wrong guy, because I don’t know which socket came first, but whoever was second has ass on his breath. Now, there is a third dork involved. That’s the one who grouped these sockets all beside each other on the back of the computer.
Does anyone out there remember DOS? That was IBM (and Gates) who brought you six copy commands, none of which simply made a copy, and the delete command, which as Hollywood tells us, never really quite deletes your files from the FBI.
I was up at 5:30AM. Made peanut butter cookies. Went back to sleep until 9:00AM. How was your morning? Here’s the cookies. There’s an art to getting ‘em slightly crisp on the bottom, slightly soft on top. One day I must learn how it's done. The temptation to do nothing all day defines this new place and I love it. May all of us get there one day.
The ultimate wind chime?
I went on a quest for one of those dish racks, you know, where you stack your dishes to dry. This led me around more of the backroads and I found a few more thrift shops. Where I had to buy this wee antique oil can. Only five bucks and I had to have it, gang. You know, to oil stuff. I think I’ll paint it red. And I had to settle for a plastic dish rack. The difference between Wal*Mart and Dollar General is largely one of degree.
I had my Vivitar, but the most expensive set of batteries available only last 35 pictures, or for me, around two to three days. Stick it up your ass, Vivitar. No, don’t blame it on the batteries, but that is another matter. Batteries also suck these days. Don’t tell me they ain’t bedfellows.
What’s more, I didn’t set up my music gear, so don’t expect me to be in a cheerful way. And my phone battery won’t charge, so just you watch, they will not longer sell that particular battery. Why, if it wasn’t for that oil can, I could have just stayed home all day.
Not much to do except think about the Smithsonian. That’s if I dare. It isn’t obvious from the blog, but it’s an idea that crops up nearly every autumn. You see, that’s when those people came around our school with the slide show when I was eight. I only vaguely remember the slides, but the concept is as sharp as ever. One simply must visit the Smithsonian. And get inspired and such.
I’ve often wondered if it’s true kids get motivated really young by these exhibits, or is that another old wives tale? (Shouldn’t that be old “wife’s” tale?) If so, it must be one horrifically inefficient way of going about getting kids motivated. I mean, compared to providing the kid with a supportive hone environment with a selection of tools, getting on a bus to DC is mighty low on the cost-effective list.
Having done so much thinking, I decided on supper early. Baked chicken, corn on the cob, mashed red potatoes with the skins on, and brown gravy. There, country food is always bloggable. And I put up a shelf or two in the bathroom. Slowly getting this place organized. At this rate, it’ll take about six months, but who cares now? The only rush is to get my music gear unpacked, if I can even find most of it. I have 37 unpacked boxes and you see, they are stacked right next to the coffee pot so you guess which is going to happen first.
Having said that, I can now solo Wynette’s “DIVORCE”, but not sure if I would. Maybe as part of a comedy sketch but as ever, it depends on the tip jar. I adapted the song to play that intro hook between other chord changes. It is in the key of D, which makes my eyes water, but not always. If I could only figure out a way to get misty-eyed on command. Man, the tips I could squeeze out of the toughest crowd. Unlike most musicians I can name, I do get tipped a lot by women.
Geez, with music I hope I never grow up, but I didn’t mean it concerning any particular song like that one. That music was never on my list until now, when it becomes comedy.
ADDENDUM
I’ve covered the newest developments in the Arduino, namely the new batches of sensor baby boards that are hitting the market. I will state again I do not like the newer Arduino models because they utilize SMT, surface mount technology. This means the chips are soldered on the substrate rather than through it, which also means you cannot program the main chip and remove it. This ties up an entire expensive Arduino board for each program.
These breadboards have several built-in defects and shortcomings. First, the connections are not secure. The nature of robots and sensors generally involves movement, and too much movement will eventually work a pin loose or snap one off inside the hole. Next, the nature of these connections means you must use solid core wires. These don’t flex. And of necessity, the board must commonly be near and in between the controller and device.
But you cannot use flexible stranded wire because the tiniest shard of copper that wears lose is enough to short circuit your project. Breadboards and stranded wire don’t mix. Thus, you see even the prototype robots have elaborate harnesses which are in no way standardized. The most expensive parts of these connections are often the couplings. Isn’t there something that is commonly available, cheap, and flexible? Ah, now you’re thinking.
If only, instead of it fitting into an RJ-11 jack, print up something on a 3D printer that allows one end to fit into one of the Arduino jack arrays. No muss, no fuss. Once again, like my eyeglass idea, the trick is not to start a factory, the trick is to sell the idea to somebody else for a lump sum plus royalties. There is a college course nearby for 3D printer design starting on October 4. The blurb says teens only, but I doubt anyone would object to a robotics club attending. At $125, that could be a lucrative class. That is certainly is within budget.
[Author’s note: the jack you are most used to seeing is the RJ-11, which has four pins but only three wires. The fourth wire is for network use. Here is a picture of a less common 10-pin model, to give you an idea of what I’m thinking of. I will later get some of the jacks and reverse engineer them. See how the wires are connected.]
PS: here is a link to get around using the Arduino board when you just need the chip. Pay attention to the type of chip, you need the one with picopower—and this is the first on-line tutorial I’ve seen that even mentioned that. And the bootloader. You MUST have the bootloader. Without it, you cannot use the Arduino to make duplicates of your programming on other chips. And of course, you MUST have the older Arduinos that allow you to remove the ATMega chip if necessary.
And if you want to follow protocol, whenever you plug one of these cable ends into a jack, the little pin clip goes down.
Last Laugh
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