December 25, 2019

Yesteryear
One year ago today: December 25, 2018, here, hold my beer.
Five years ago today: December 25, 2014, back when $8.99 was expensive.
Nine years ago today: December 25, 2010, lunch in the penthouse.
Random years ago today: December 25, 2015, on training enemy pilots.

           Here’s JeePee doing the Xmas wax at the Hermitage Spa. He’s a bit in hibernate mode but hasn’t missed a session yet. Me and Tennessee appliances don’t mix it seems. Last evening, the garburetor started leaking. From the bottom, that means an internal seal, which means a new unit. Did it have to choose Xmas Eve? Between that and the ol refrigerator, I’m beginning to feel jinxed. One good thing about traveling Xmas day is the low traffic. When I ever get around to keying in the big blog, there’s many a tale of how I traveled Xmas day the only passenger on the airplane.

           I felt like code practice, so I tuned in to various sites that have recorded files There are two short sides to this type of drill. One is that the ddry technical material puts off a lot of otherwise interested people. There is a connection with tweets who are convinced you want to know what they had for breakfast in that telegraphy people need to tell you the height of their antenna. The second is that the code files are all computer perfect and that could be a downside in the event of a real need to send code. The best indicator you have of the right person at the other end is a distinctive “fist”. Oh, and I am irked by those who say “Morris” code.

           While I’ve got you on that topic, it is easy to tell amateurs because they practice funny. Seasoned senders avoid certain words and patters. For example, never say a person is bad. And never practice with words like “shoot”, “emergency, and “bomb”. Nowadays, you hear wrong things all the time, which I attribute the the same problem as C+ code. They learn the code without learnign the history behind it and the result is too often a mess.
           We left for the airport at 5:10AM. The pets and I have ten days to frolic, keep checking in. I cannot produce either gifs of videos this trip, but will continue to get footage. It was a beautiful Tennessee morning and we did the one-hour walk. Then I settled in to watch some German newsreels of the war in North Africa. By El Alamein, it was mostly Germans and British. So if you want to see the brave and victorious British soldiers surrending by the hundreds, don’t look in the Alied archives.
           And I get a laugh about articles that report A.I. is now preparing students for college entrance exams. I’ve said it before, that true A.I. would not stoop to any such activity. But notice the Generation X mindset, that the focus is not on learning, but on passing the exam. Yes, I’m saying a properly educated student would not have to prepare for any exam. Here’s where I add that all through grade school, I was an honors student. Yet I never studied or even took a textbook home. There is more to this, but I never studied. It was not lack of brain thrust that stopped me.

Picture of the day.
Drying cinnamon.
Remember to use BACK ARROW to return to blog.

           Today’s post is mostly not about Xmas. Here’s a picture painted on a tree near where we walked the dogs this y'day morning. For those unaware, Xmas is not a holiday I celebrate, which is not to say I don’t celebrate. I recognise the significance for others, and last evening we went to a church service on the north end. That was al about Xmas and the Bethlehem events of that time. However, fast forward to today and we are living in some pretty dynamic times. Russia announced a withdrawal to their own private Internet, which could spell the end of that medium. Other countries already severely control what their population can access, which tells you what life must be like there.

           I’ll be watching for the repurcussions. The changeover is much deeper than just controlling their servers. There is talk they will re-write a lot of the history, including Wikipedia. Two other developments in 2019 were eye-openers for me. On top is the realization that the computer generation, the millennials or hipsters and whiz kids actually know very little about the devices they are using. Not that it is a requirement, but even people that sell them can’t answer fundamental questions—but they all know what bandwidth is in one sense: that more is better.

           There a few stark exceptions, the geniuses that work in the industry or are hackers, but this is normal in any tech field. What is not normal is the mindset that tells every user he is some kind of whiz. That could turn ugly on them. The other item is the degree to which the US has allowed private companies to profile people. These companies do not exactly have military grade security and every other week we hear of data being stolen. Not that I’m advocating government control, but if hackers can get it, the enemy can get it.
           Which brings up the second realization. People confuse their identify with their computer profile. Folks, they are not one and the same. If you are profiled, your identity is but one tiny fragment of what they’ve got. I regularly meet people who think changing their phone number is an effective anti-tracking method. Wrong, wrong, wrong. Once they have your profile, it does not matter what phone you use.

           Americans are so used to “showing ID” for every other thing that profiling seemed innocuous. Most Americans did not even realize the threat and the few that did, most of the disregarded the omen. Not me. It got so bad here Americans were lulled into showing personal ID to strangers at the door to received a package. Like it was the property of the delivery company. And as we know, these delivery companies only hire the finest people. It would seem a lot of people are in for a rude awakening. Very rude. It has been the dream of every dictator in history to have everybody carry ID papers, preferably and marching in columns.

ADDENDUM
           This blog has been a leader in warnings against poorly designed computer systems. If it is written in C+ code or anything that even looks like C+ code, it is automatically defective. C+ coders assume there is a computer solution to everything. Duh, the very fact they are using unreadable code tells you they are going to forget something important. Here is the navigation panel of the touch screen behind the navy collision near Singapore in 2017.

           The yahoo running the battleship later admitted he didn’t have the foggiest notion what most of the features and dials were for. This is the hubris of an entire generation, as he formerly bragged how he could run a big battleship by himself. The system, like all code produced by the Common Core crowd, was designed to pass the test and worry about the consequences later. These are the grunts who will be sending manned spacecraft to Mars.
           While I had Morse code on the brain, I took a look at the so-called training sites. Take a look for yourself by searching Morse code practice. Almost every one a piece of contemporary garbage. The most common usage is the ARRL site, but every message begins the same and this produces more and more mistakes as the message gets longer. You’ve gotta love the sites that say e-mail us with what you want and we’ll get back to you. If I was to start over, I would use the Koch method (no link). With this, you practice two letters at a time until the brain reflex is automatic—which is the only way to copy fast code.

           Tonight I’ve scheduled a youTube documentary for after the dog walk. The History of Machine Tools, I believe it is one of the Modern Marvel series. It’s one I’ve been trying to find time to view for ages. And today it is my Xmas present. Wait, I got two more, each from the Reb and another from the boys. Pictures as soon as tomorrow.
           I’ll now name the six senses. Audial, visual, olfactory, gustatory, tactile, and Canadian. What? You say what? Then you explain to me how them bastards know when you don’t want them around.

Last Laugh