One year ago today: June 20, 2016, you pay $942 per year.
Five years ago today: June 20, 2012, a whopping $37.44.
Nine years ago today: June 20, 2008, where’s the corruption button?
Random years ago today: June 20, 2011, early electronics enthusiasm.
This is why you give your projects plenty of lead time. This is the results of the new spade bit. Too much tear-out even when coupled with a sacrificial block. The problem with the spade bit is that it has to chew the entire piece of wood into shavings, not just the perimeter of the hole. I saw a large Forstner bit with an equally large price tag. I’ll experiment a bit more because in general, last evening was not too good, work-wise. I was in the shed until 9:30PM, though. That’s a good sign.
Everything measures square, but if you look at the assembled piece, there is something askew just a little. So I dug out my first prototype and it was there as well. It’s not enough for me to make a fuss over though I can see somebody else might. Let me think, did anything else go wrong? Um, not really, but that jig alone is going to be fun to recalibrate. It’s a reminder that when it comes to producing anything, failure is the rule, not the exception.
This also means I’m back in the routine, but it’s not that bad as far as routines go. We still get French toast and spend part of the day sketching the solar hot water system. That is doable, if I ever get the resources. Time to have the south side of the house sporting something more utilitarian than a flower bed. I’ve designed an Arduino control system for the valves, but I hesitate on that because I’ve seen Arduinos fail before. Not the circuit board, but the wiring connected to them. In operation, the Arduino still needs a protected environment.
One question anyone with a pressurized system needs to address is where are you going to put two water tanks? I may have that easy. My kitchen cupboards and counters wrap around two corners. Whenever that happens, the corners become a dead spot where it is hard to reach. You’ll find lazy susans there. But the higher corners, that is a challenge. Soon, I’ll measure the cavities to find out what I’m working with. Eyeballing it looks like it would be a fine arrangement. The holding tank just inside the wall from the solar piping and the hot water tank just inside the front door.
Using one of the formulas for household usage, two ordinary tanks, I believe they are 45 gallon, would supply a single person with unlimited hot water for around $66 per year. It will remain a long wait for hot water in the bathroom, however. Not much I can do about that without going through hoops. It is now 6:09AM and time for French toast. Did I mention the maple syrup? Using robot measuring units, I found the correct “maple syrup” combination of Karo corn syrup and maple flavoring. I swear, you cannot tell the difference. Even the maple aroma stays in the kitchen for an hour afterward (I heat my syrup).
Hadrian’s Wall.
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Aw, look at the pretty mushrooms by the kitchen door. They are about the size of a half-dollar and look ready to bloom before I noticed them. Are they edible? Don’t ask me. Are they hallucinatory? Don’t ask me. Is hooking legal in Seattle? Don’t ask me. What day is the total eclipse in Nashville? Monday, August 21, 2017.
For tunes I’ve learned before, you got “Come Monday” (Buffet) and “My Bestest Friend” (Nichols). In general my set is a combination of easy listening and dance music—but I mean so in each and every tune, not one or the other averaged out over an entire evening, there Glen. Most fun learning was “Tight Fittin Jeans” (Twitty) since I cannot possibly play the guitar part. So I play it as a military march, left-right-left.
The session is on video, which I examined in detail. One thing is strikingly different immediately. Most guitar players wear their instrument like a haircut—something they think it is important but hardly anybody else does. In my show, the guitar is markedly just an adjunct, if fact, if you really look close, you can perceive my thin contempt for the thing. I also play a lot of space and I see I’ve aced aping the sound of sincerity. I’ve learned to quiver my voice whenever the original does it, and why not?
Included are less-than-optimal tunes like “Wagon Wheel” (Rucker) and “San Antone” (?), but I scraping the barrel here. Even a version of ELO’s “Hold On Tight” and the very iffy “Silver Threads & Golden Needles”, likely to be the first tune replaced.
Further, I gained a few tunes by changing the keys to my vocal range. This is not the simple task of “finding” my key. I must electronically alter the pitch and then memorize the notes in the new register. Fortunately, my instinctive keys are G and D, so most oddball tunes in a sharp or flat can be transposed without too much distortion. I can do Freddie Fender in C. The best part: no slow songs. Now you know too much.
“He’s lazier than the guy who
invented the Japanese flag.”
The scooter battery is refilled and charging, but as so often around here, I have a large package of in-line fuse holders—and I can’t find them. It’s the old story, I’ll go downtown and buy one, then find the package. Yeah, I’m miffed because I’m not unpacked yet. I was promised some help that never came around and a year later, I have to private work area for my electronics. I wonder if I ever so thoughtlessly let others down? I mean, no doubt, we all do, but I mean, not just outright.
Here is the battery rejuvenation and your one-of-a-kind photo for today. A Chinese scooter being recharged in front of a Russian sidecar in front of a Japanese motorcycle. Somehow the brakes got drained as well, so there I am filling that up as well. You know, I went on-line and the only directions I could find were to top up the battery fluid, but nothing on how to refill and empty one. The Internet is a great resource if the only challenges you have in life match everybody else’s pretty exactly.
A few hours later, the battery is not responding to the new charge. This could be par, who knows. I left the charger on the timer and went to the library. I met up with the lady who works the pub out on 17th, and I was right. The last few acts they’ve had in there were bad. They paid $200 for an Elivis impersonator. I’ve got nothing to lose following that.
But wait, the battery has recovered 100%. What the slowdown was the robotics battery chargers (if you look closely it's that light blue box bolted on the right side with the off-on switch) have been modified to time out and never deliver more than five hours at a time. They are also detuned to charge at 2 amps maximum, to keep the battery acid from boiling. I did not allow enough time for the charger to do a proper job it it. I recalculated the time required at we shall take another look at noon mañana.
Tell you what, this gig is not random, so I’ve give you some reminders as we go along. This is the same gig the last Saturday act was paid to quit early. They were driving the crowd away. It is also the gig where the Thursday jam session lasted two weeks. That’s the same guys I’d warned that bands that don’t make money always fail. It’s too much work to do for free, plain and simple. Stay alert here, because this could yet go either way. Sometimes you get that crowd in there who have been inculcated by their teenager’s pseudo-rap-disco music. This is also the same joint that I’ve jammed and sang with Mack.
ADDENDUM
Before I tell you about something else I didn’t like, here is the plate that was treated with dark walnut Danish oil. I would not call this dark anything, it barely looks like it has been finished at all. Since all six wood pieces have to be identical, I may see where this Danish oil might work. For now, I must aim for the sure thing, and the English stain is easily more elegant looking.
It was the same edition where the article on robotics that got my attention. Y’know, author managed to squeeze the word “seduced” into the title. I know, talk about a cheesy. These libtards don’t want scientists in the spaceships. They want one of each race, regardless of qualifications. I see there is already pressure to make the robots one of each, that is, one Japanese robot, one Korean robot, etc. It is hard to believe people can be that stupid, but the stupid constitute a majority. That’s okay for local politics, but not in the laboratories.
Don’t be fooled by the fake humanitarianism of liberals. They may want to take away the government’s plan to regiment you, but they also want it replaced by a plan of their own. The concept of no plan at all for your life is alien to them. Then they can “vote” on whether you get the vaccine, depending on how “nice” you were at the office party, type of thing.
And remember, in our wonderful system, they get to take the voters privately into a back room and “coach” them on how to vote, but you don’t.
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