One year ago today: April 23, 2022, birdie spray control.
Five years ago today: April 23, 2018, 5%.
Nine years ago today: April 23, 2014, I discover Five Guys.
Random years ago today: April 23, 2013, before & after bass.
Smart glasses. That was my idea of y’day. I looked at what is available and they are much alike. Lots of features for people who need to constantly know the time, weather, and the latest instrusive ads from MicroSoft. And, they all look funny, not quite the stage look I’d want. Not to rule anything out, I also saw a short clip for an MP3 player built into an earpiece. I’m your resident expert on playing to the originals but that would raise the same problems I had back when I began soloing. You have to play the tune the exact same way every time offsets not having to memorize the words.
Now, let’s get ouside and find out what was making all that commotion last night. Do we have another squirrel? All I can see from here is something put up a hell of a fight, knocking over all manner of bottles and cans from my fertilizer storage area. No rush on such a nice morning, so what is this mystery object? The active eye spots it is two guitar-pick shapes. Reminded me of Joe Biden’s sunglasses. If you look at the surroundings, it is a credit card with two punched holes. What happened is the camera focused on the card and blurred the window in the back ground.
In the automotive move toward rent-a-feature, I found manufacturers are even considering opening the windows as dollar-a-month option. Pay up or you cannot scroll down the windows. They are also toying with clauses that would forbid the owner to publicly criticize the vehicle and talk of a camera that monitors driver facial expressions, accessible only by the company. These would not be marketed, but become standardized on all new vehicles, thus forcing them on the public. Fasten your seatbelts.
It’s 8:00AM and it is not a squirrel. We have a very energetic young female rat. Being that it is Sunday, she goes to the cemetery instead of the usual destination near City Hall. The trapped animal can often move the cage by rushing repeatedly into one side. This critter shunted it around 15 feet. She’ll do fine on her own. The ease she was caught indicates the food supply in the silo has been cut off. And remind me to quit working after dark in the bird bath area. There is intentionally no light there and I left an expensive tool out overnight. Had it rained, I’d be kicking myself.
And Port St. Lucie blocks a drag show. It’s how it happened that reveals the intent. They gave them a choice, they could have the show for children but no nudity. Or they could have nudity but no children allowed. The LGBTQ freaks cancelled the show. There you go. I remind those who point to this as American degeneracy that these are a miniscule part of the culture. This does not happen because America is evil, rather because it is free.
An unexpected laugh when an article appeared about how laptops rapidly become obsolete and too expensive to repair. They unexpectedly revealed that since 1997 not one truly new app or program has appeared, not a single new idea or feature. Sorry, Beijing, miniaturizing the other guy’s invention isn’t the same as the creative process. Not even in the same ballpark.
Last this morning, Jordie, a local personality, invited me to join her trivia team. Can’t. That is the one type of trivia I do not enjoy. They ask team questions, with written answers that a DJ tallies up after. What manner of joker came up with that? Anyway, my trivia is rapid recall with instant feedback, then on to the next question. I fully understand why certain categories of people don’t like that kind of game. It’s too close to the way life operates.
Novel birdhouse.
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Amtrak may be bringing back dining? The article was too long-winded but some recent changes might just have dining cars return. While it takes an Amtrak to lose money on meal service, they’ve managed it every time. I rode on trains a few times with a dining car when I was a kid, but that service was already being phased out. The railroad lost the US Mail contract is the 1960s, so meals I had were last chances.
No need to remind me of age when you make rules like something must get done every day. So, today I allocated an hour to install the smart deadbolt. I got halfway in and hour and a half, wait, it’s a good explanation. The gear is very well built and includes mounting screws four inches long. They require one of those rare #3 Phillips bits, fortunately I had one left. The pilot holes have to match and that involved some walking out to the shed for the proper bits. That’s the day’s report. The mosquitoes arrived exactly at dusk and I think my Sony camcorder is finally kaput. I took the day’s last photos and it will no longer turn on. To think I saw a replacement for sale last week for half price.
The above photo shows what stalled me from completing the installation. It’s not that tricky, though I knew in advance what tools would be needed from my old locksmithing course. So what was the hitch? The drill hole. What happened is there was formerly one of those hokey old style deadbolts with a smaller hole. When upgraded, the last person drilled it out wider for a modern lock, but not quite deep enough. It left a small gap around the lock plate, just bit enough for a determined burglar to wedge a pry bar in there. It’s a major point, so I’ll have to fix that, turning it into a significantly larger operation.
Fact is, I’m impressed enough by this smart lock that here is a panel of the installation process. It is very heavy duty in terms of non-industrial. The strike plate has four screws, not two, and they are around five inches long (I first said four inches until I had to drill the pilot holes). They go through the jamb into the cripple and stud. Visible also is the rim of the opening, showing the larger hold does not extend very deep. These pictures are dull due to growing darkness and I will not attempt this manner of repair under dark conditions. Note the power cable.
Four and a half years. Now just you watch, that battery is going to cost $50. Do I take a chance, or buy the replacement for $100. This, folks, is the economy according to SONY. I’m going to throw the old battery in the freezer overnight. Otherwise, that’s my excuse to go downtown tomorrow and do some banking. Maybe I should call see if Karen wants to meet for brunch? Have not seen her in months.
The rules say I must mention any aches, and for no reason I developed a half-strength headache in the past hour. These don’t get much reported if I know the cause. This is a stress type, which I should not ever be experiencing again. The solution was to slice up one of the papayas. According to the web, I sliced it the wrong way. I report it is 100% ripe, better than some shown on the videos. Easy to slice once peeled, wonderfully mild but delicious and remarkably sweet. Ha, ha, no picture.
Is any fruit ever sweet enough? I found the flavor reminiscent of peaches, which can always be improved by the addition of turbinado crystals, Half & Half™, and a sprinkle of nutmeg. It is now 8:52PM and no headache. I still have 1-1/2 papayas left, plus another still on the tree. I dug out my old copy of “The Wind and the Lion”, got a coffee. You will have to return tomorrow for any results of this evening. Talk to you later.
ADDENDUM
I’ve pursued the PWM hardware but am stalled on which mode to build. A 555 integrated circuit can be “programmed” to emit a pulse that negates the need for an expensive Arduino. It is a chip that can be set to take analog input and emit a digital output, in this case an off-on pulse. What’s the hold-up? There are 3 modes this device can produce the pulse. The simplest one is just wire it up and let it go. To change the duty cycle, you have to change components. The next is to use the trigger pin, each instance causes a pulse of the required duty cycle. The last, which interests me, involves the use of a trigger to both turn the pulse on and off. These are respectively named three modes: astable, monostable, and bistable.
