One year ago today: August 10, 2019, a Mickey Finn?
Five years ago today: August 10, 2015, like aging busboys.
Nine years ago today: August 10, 2011, fearless goes remote.
Random years ago today: August 10, 2004, in a grass hut.
The morning heat went from broiling to ferocious. The libraries usually get packed but not this time. I knew this happens, so I’m inside an insulated room with a small A/C and a fan. I’ve [recently] switched to BrandNew Tube for my fake news, let me get seated. It’s time to catch up on what’s happening out there in Millie-Land. Here’s somebody selling, oops, I mean re-homing bunnies for $25 each, minimum 2. What’s this, the number of old ladies looking for a house to share has tripled? Let me calculate something. Yep, since the front bedroom has kitchen privileges and the new bathroom is meant to be shared, I could get $500 a month. But unless Taylor or Shania show up, I prefer a place I can wonder around all day in my ginch if I feel like it. What? You say what? True, but I’d rather hear it from them.
And today for pictures you get an 1985 wooden nutcracker and a toy rubber band pistol. Um, and a fancy porcelain tea set for the heck of it. Settle down back there, I’m sure there will be more photos of the new work shed. I won’t let you down.
One issue never too far behind the scenes is my desire to go back to school. This time as a social endeavor, I could care less about top marks (because I know I’ll get them anyway). Many have the same wish, but those wishes are largely a waste of time. My study should be worthwhile, and that is where things break down. A number of technologies interest me but the school system has changed. Even as an adult not seeking a specific degree, you can’t take courses one by one. I fell into that trap when I was 17, borrowing money for university. It took until I was 36 to pay it off. Mind you, it should tell you something that just 63 working months after that, I retired.
At my age, I’m not looking to create any breakthroughs, but there are many options for fine-tuning what’s already there. Example, all these announcements that bacteria can eat plastic and carbon dioxide can make ethanol, these remind me of the German quest for liquid fuel made from coal. It can all be done, but not at a price that makes them competitive. Another is, from reading the course offerings for programmable microcontrollers (Arduinos), I could ace any such courses. But as a career, it pays only $52,000 per year, not worth my time. I would take targeted courses, but they won’t let you. In their mode, it’s all or nothing. That costs a piss-pot full of money, which is their true motive.
The current port is already maxed out. They have to build a new one. Problem, that means moving it and killing the old city. The populace wants the port facilities to stay even though it is now costing money rather than making it. This all sounds very English to me. Remind me to check on it time to time. I’ve never ruled out Perth or Freo (the local name) as a place to live if America gets so liberal that it hurts.
Herbal extract menthol crystals.
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I hunted down an old guitar player who was not there, but [instead] found a lady [whom] I know [who was] house-sitting. Apparently it’s some secret, so I won’t repeat a thing. I quickly made up a CARE package (look that one up on your own). Consisting of 20 chick-flick DVDs and two bottles of Ying-Ling. She asked how I know that’s what she liked to drink. I didn’t. As it climbed to 97°F, it was a standstill around here. Here’s what I think the radio news is saying. Toshiba is pulling the pin on laptops, mainly because they still make one that works. It isn’t selling to the gadget crowd. Google is arguing if controls are placed on Internet snooping, it will hurt business. Then let it. The Internet was never designed to support outfits like Google. Nobody asked for Google.
If I was Uber and Lyft, I’d follow the smart money to Texas. What part of sub-contracting don’t these California people understand? Maybe they would like paid time off to pick up the kids from soccer? A lot of people don’t see the connection between work with no benefits and their okay attitude about letting in illegal foreigners by the millions. Injured drivers want compensation, but aren’t they required to carry their own insurance? And nothing beats the older drivers who are suddenly facing retirement with no pension—who’s fault is that? Don’t look at me, I had that crowd laugh at me in my twenties for thinking ahead.
Raspberry Pi has shunted Arduino out of first place for micro-computer hobbyists but not for the best of reasons. It even costs too much. I do know it is more geared toward games and gadgets, which to me says the architecture and memory design are less versatile. That is because of concessions that must be made to support gaming features, such as color control, multitasking, and the need for some sort of operating system. The Arduino just loops the code you load into it. I’ve said before I’m partial to adding more Arduinos over bothering with programming a more complicated device. This modular approach to robotics is, in my opinion, the correct idea. Multiple semi-autonomous single function microchips under the direction of a master controller, but with the ability to share or take over that control in the event of system damage.
Raspberry Pi has announced a vision kit. I don’t have time to study it. I can guess it is also aimed at gaming. I would find programming for vision a challenging task on any one part of the requirements, as true vision is much more than just “seeing”. Getting beyond detecting a single image is a tall order for today’s sensors. It takes the best equipment out there to track an object in 3D and I see no quick solutions to that. A single detector beam has trouble moving around corners and stereo perception is so complicated, don’t ask me to even try to understand it. But I did try, here’s what I think it means.
If you take a series of snapshots, the idea is make comparisons in what changes with time. This is how motion most detectors work, a change in pixel status. I gather the best units out there create a grid that attempts to interpret those changes. But that’s a far cry from vision, where it is important to focus on what’s important and things like guessing where an object is heading or what happens when it rotates. I would be very impressed if Raspberry Pi could squeeze any of that into a micro-controller.
In one more dig at Google, I’d like to point something out concerning their mentalities over there. If you do a search on food, you get bombarded for the next week with targeted ads. But if I do a search on celestial navigation, I get two replies and no ads. Yep, they are real dispensers of knowledge over there. For sheer stupidity the award goes to Jeff Joireman, professor at a business college, who has finally figured out that people don’t like automatic tipping on the restaurant bill. Seriously, and this fucktard is a professor. I’m always against any form of mandatory tipping especially the pressure to do so.
There is always argument on this point, but you notice the pro-tip bunch are all food service, while there are both for and against in any other group. A case study in vested interest. People need to be able to withhold tips to bad servers. One counter-argument is the servers get all the tips but not the kitchen staff. Well that is hardly the customer’s problem. The American way works because it recognizes some jobs pay more than others, for crying out loud. My rant on this item is because Joireman works at my old university. Man that place has gone downmill, I don’t even tell most people that’s where I graduated. And no, I do not demand nor expect tips when I play, so there Brandon.
Who’s Brandon? He’s my stereotype of the loser milquetoast millennial incapable of independent thought. He sports a day-old beard and top-knot, which is stylish and actually looks good on some men, but not Brandon. He represents the entire class of ’95 to ’99, this is the period where the “nerds are people too” movement finally got traction through sheer volume of left-clicks. Mind you, recognition isn’t the same as respect and there has been no change in the caliber of these people. Brandon has a dream. To devise a cell-phone plan that is so slick even the West Bank land titles office won't see through it.
ADDENDUM
Since there are no good comedy channels, I like to listen to American Dystopia, hosted by that Fox guy the Democrats want executed. As of this morning, the links appear, but they will not stream. What’s with that? How do I get my daily fix of “I should be allowed to do as I please and if it doesn’t work out, I vote that you pay for it?” Liberals are the reason why, when a majority of Americans are against it, we still have welfare, immigration, income tax, and affirmative action. And they want us to vote for who?
Music conference call with Elliott, out west. He says give it one last stab, I say the failure of my last bass solo act was my final bass effort so I’m throwing in the towel. I have to move on. This is not to say I won’t do something else, god, I’ve got the experience. If I can’t do a total music act, I’ll do music and comedy. I’ve toyed with a country comedy song list, tunes like “One More Last Chance”. Where the emphasis is on the lyrics, not my guitar strumming. I just need a little attitude adjustment, just take it once piece at a time because I’m not as good as I once was. I’ll put another log on the fire, I’ll think of a reason later, I’ll play with my shirt on and tell people I’m country to the core. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
It’s more like a shift of ballast, I have a warehouse of memorized one-liners, so it remains to be that is enough to distract them from my lousy chording. I was raised in an era when great music playing meant something. I admit defeat on the bass only issue. I seek a compromise between what I can and can’t do. Give me time, plus I have no intention of going anywhere with a guitar-comedy act that’ more than a twenty minute drive. I have all the equipment, lists, and recordings to leap into it.
