May 18, 2020

Yesteryear
One year ago today: May 18, 2019, my one-word pickup line.
Five years ago today: May 18, 2015, Chimay, the $30 beer.
Nine years ago today: May 18, 2011, the floating death trap.
Random years ago today: May 18, 2008, a ghastly thing called winter.

           Drone progress. I was able to connect the drone to the WiFi device, but not get it to work. Once again, there are no instructions on this single most important step of the process. None of the standard attempts got any further. There are no instructions on-line. Also, in typical fashion, the connection knocks out your Internet link and any other devices connected. You can restore them to work simultaneously, but really, you guys, WTF? It closes my Forex trading connection.

           There is also an app it says to download, but it is not what it says. It is a link to a “free” download at the Google Store, which demands an account, which means giving them a phone number, and a “registration” process. Would you give Google your ID? That’s what you are doing if you give them a phone number. The club has some numbers that work, but that might not be until Wednesday. Do not, if you can avoid it, have anything to do with Google.

           I tried the Apple store, and the same app is there, but again, it’s a trap. Reading the reviews on both sites show my initial reaction was the same bad experience as over 520 users. The thing will not work. The camera does not automatically communicate with anything. I have a universal video driver on my tablet, which sees the camera but will not operate it. As always, there is nobody to turn to, so it’s more trial and error, a pitiful statement about what they’ve done to computers and such. Review after review with the same complaint—when I pay for something, I expect it to work.
           The Apple version only works on Apple devices—and there are warnings saying they demand a list of “family members” with whom you will share the device. Fat chance on that one, Apple. You guys have really gone downhill.

           One and a half hours later, I’ve viewed a number of tard reviews, including a few that began with the irksome “Hi guys” and I think there should be a law against videos by mouth-breathers. One positive is the nature of the complaints. While they have a long way to go to catch up to this blog, they show a heightened awareness of the electronic treachery going on behind the scenes. I have not checked any details, but apparently some of the features don’t work unless you “submit an application”, and there is evidence that using the GPS waypoint feature means your flight plan is being surreptitiously recorded.

           Nor is the Vivitar Aeroview app free as advertised. It is located at the Google Play Store, which involves opening an account linked to the computer you wish to download to. If I recall, this involves “signing in” and informing Google of what devices are connected to your computer. I would not even tell them that, but I know the tablet I use is already compromised. I believe you can’t just log on to the Google Play store anyway, you have to open a Google account and give them your e-mail addy. The whole system stinks. I scheduled the first club Wednesday meeting in four years, not confirmed yet.
           I’ll have to think about using that app or use something like my old BlackWeb dash cam, pictured above.

           And, after learning Gene Roddenberry wrote the scripts for Have Gun Will Travel, I cannot see a Star Trek set without noticing the similarity to the settings in the westerns. Same rock formations, same scattered plants, same sandy ground. I have found six or eight cameras that were used for this blog, but I did not document why each one was replaced. Now, lucky me, I get to do it all over again.

Picture of the day.
Model ship, 38”, $675.
Remember to use BACK ARROW to return to blog.

           Where I should be completing the shed, I burned up another day working on the thermal chimney. I started with the lean-to in a sweltering morning heat, but it clouded over and cooled, so I insulated and metal lined the chimney. It was that or wait for another day--this device has to be installed in a high heat area. This is a view of the insulated cavity, near the bottom with the inlet tube showing. The robot club nixed that, and it will be replaced by solid 4” plumbing pipe. Remind me never to become a metal worker. And as for the jigsaw blades that say for metal? I think they mean tinfoil. This is the only time I’ve ever done such a project, so ignore most mistakes.

           Below is a shot of the first metal panel going in over the styro insulation. The insulation rating (R-number) on this product is so low it is really a better-than-nothing arrangement. This is an empirical design, to changes on the fly are expected. I did not really attach that insulation, it is held in place by the layer of metal. On the exposed wooded side of this photo, there will be a thermometer probe, very similar to the brand used on hotdog carts, and housed out of the direct sunlight by a small canopy very similar to a birdfeeder.

           This thermal chimney is an empirical design. As just shown, radical design changes are expected. But not the direction—want to heat waer.. We’re what they call steadfast on that. The manual doesn’t tell you the chimney is best placed in the most ferociously hot position in the yard. It may be tricky to spot in this photo, but the club influence of “no shortcuts” is jus visible. If you are keen-eyed, see the metal over the styro over the tarpaper over the lumber. This could be one of those unique adventures that people swoon over a hundred years from now. And some great-great millennial type trying to sell you the domain.

           Today is an approximate anniversary for me, it’s a time of year where several unrelated facets of my life fell due in the same day, week, and month. It’s also my half-birthday. In six days, it will be 24 years since I left the phone company. All the indicators show I got out just in time. Within the next five years, wages were cut in half, the union was broken, the pension plans gutted, and every co-worker who laughed at my decision was out of a job.

           But not necessarily out of work. Some of them sold out and went into management for even less pay and their 80-hour work week. And that is a dead-end career in that if you are not already slated for upper management by age 29, you’ve missed your window. The major difference when I still worked there was I was the only one who admitted I never stood chance and thus did not go through the motions. This is well-documented but basically, I knew who my enemies were and regularly pointed them out and cross-examined them at the compulsory company meetings. “So, Lionel, another year has gone by, do you still have 67 of your relatives on staff? Don’t try lying again, I counted them this morning.

           Forex trading. This week’s performance is disappointing. I stopped attending the meetings this week and reverted to fixed goal, which requires far less attention. Since the upline can monitor the demo account, this raised some eyebrows and provoked a flurry of e-mail, stressing long term investing. `A couple items said many users take five years to become proficient at forex trading. That smells fishy right there. Something that complicated would intimidate most investors.
           This gave me opportunity to express a few dislikes—I suspect they were afraid I’d quit. The biggest gripe I have is there is no balance sheet. It is difficult to compare actual performances in matching periods. There is a lot of screen clutter as well, space that could be used to display much more meaningful information such as one’s actual balance in the brokerage account, and a display of the numbers involved on each leveraged buy.
           The other dislikes remain. Non-descriptive titles, setting that do the opposite of what they say, and dozens of weird ratios that are meaningless. I could use a button that tells me where I would stand if I quit everything right this moment. The trading window is half over this week and we have a paper loss of 3.92%. But of the thirteen outstanding orders, eleven are sell orders so that could change quickly. I repeat, I would NOT recommend this business to a friend.

Last Laugh