March 4, 2024

Yesteryear
One year ago today: March 4, 2023, their favorite spot.
Five years ago today: March 4, 2019, sports & religion, dammit.
Nine years ago today: March 4, 2015, my first tank tread.
Random years ago today: March 4, 2008, this post got censored, duh.

           This is a blog where you can find mention of things that appear nowhere else in the “world-wide” web, a telling commentary on the ordinaryness of the common user. Today we found a tube listed for $2,000 but cannot find any pictures of it on-line. Give it a try, it is named a “6781”. We are rapidly gaining experience with these tubes. For example, I found a website that posts tube prices. Like eBay, it is designed for you to look up one tue at a time. But I spotted the format was simple HTML cells or tables (I forget) so I copyed all 12 files (6,912 items) into a spreadsheet. I then normalized the data, they did not even appear to know the difference between cardinal and ordinal numbers. Now I can look up “families” of prices.

           Rather than a week, we shoudl be finished the large tubes by tomorrow morning, meaning we move to the next phase of listing them for sale. They must be, in this case, listed using their eBay account. I’ve set aside the unknown and unmarked tubes to a category asking $3 each if you buy six at a time. Who would pay for mystery tubes? I’ll give you a hint. The category is called “STMPNK”.

           This makes it easier to plan a selling strategy. The large tubes are slated to be sold first. They are the easiest to handle and take up the most space. Later today I will cherry pick the priciest items and batch the rest. I’ve also learned a bit about testing the tubes and what they are used for, but very generally. The DC “ripple” is very well known to amp builders, so the shop buy here tells me they put something called “clamps” to deal with it. But, coming on the market, he’s seen new equipment that use tubes for either or both the power supply, or the final stage amp. The rest remains solid state, which to me sounds hybrid, like they are cheating a bit.
           Shown here is a typical tube with no markings other than the factory logo. All the proof you need that the XYZer generation has no monopoly on idiots. I’ve noticed the selling prices are slightly higher for tubes listed as tested before shipping. I looked up what that meant. Put it on the machine and measure the DC flow and how well it glows. Noting this does not constitute any standards, since technically most tubes would be “tested” before they left the factory. I priced out testing machines and this small batch does not warrant the investment. But I know whose got a shop with a shitload of test gear. Here, take a look for yourself.

           So my plan is to drop off the big tubes early and see if he wants me to do the eBay listings.I’ll allow a couple hours because he is likely to be happy, in that many people are loathe to do this form of work. They probably don’t wirte much or play music either, but that is a different subject. The strategy with the big tubes is to get some operating capital as an incentive to get after the smallest tubes. They are a mess, all scrambled together cardboard shipping boxes not even sorted by brand. I batched hundreds of them before learning they could be sorted by quality. It startles me that the factories were even able to agree on the labels.
           This photo shows just one box of six, with at last six different brands. The most sought-after are “Tung-Sol”, the least are “General Electric”. In the cataloging process, each box is handled a minimum of six time and sorted twice. It’s not the type of work you dare trust most people with. That’s why they pay me the big bucks. What I will invest in is a cheap still camera and I’ll build a shadow box. Did somebody say box? Yes, I can build a box. Would anyone also like any papaya? Don’t hesitate to ask.

           I’ve begun to hate LibreOffice. More like LibtardOffice, it has become aggravating to use. But until I set up a new XP system, I’m stuck with this. It randomly stops responding if you leave it open while looking elsewhere on the Internet. Whenever you do a save, check to see it really did. Forget about cutting and pasting a formula from a differet sheet. Formatting is a nightmare and there is no logical order to the drop menus. You cannot print a selection without going through hoops and there is no onboard help. You have to go on-line, where once again they tell you how it works but not how to use it. I need examples, I already know what I want it to do, Josh & Tyler.

           Worse, most of the on-line help is in the forum format. Since that’s for gimps seeking attention, expect them to answer every question except the one you want. But the overall worst feature is LibtardOffice is not designed for intelligent data entry. It’s customized somehow for bored distracted clerical workers who have no idea what they are entering. Reviewing your own work is tricky and it reverts to a really strupid array of default settings if you add any rows or columns on the fly, or log off and return later. To use the filter, you have to unselect all, scroll all the say to your item, check it, and when done, select all again or you can’t see your data.
           Data entry for dummies, hey, is that and E or an F, who cares, close enough. If you half-size a screen and close it, open it again and it goes to full size. I mean, why would some XYZer ever want to open two spreadsheets side=by-side? Only stupid Boomers do “old” stuff like that.
There is one utterly oustanding millennialixm on the LibtardOffice spreadsheet that stands above the rest. When you are using two spreadsheets at one, say a parts list and a price list, when you click on the other spreadsheet, the whole thing shifts up or right several cells from the one you clicked on, but the selected cell remains where your cursor was. It can’t even detect which of the spreadsheets you want with a mouseover. You have to click it every damn time. Where do they even?

           Tell you what, let’s spend the morning with another box, drinking coffee and listening to old Chet Atkins guitar instrumentals. The Prez usually sends an e-mail after a successful gig, but no word this time. I predict the worst, that he’s unhappy or whatever, and this duo was, I could tell, a fast-paced environment for a man his age, which is 64 by the way. Okay, I’m a little past noon, but I can now predict the hourly rate for this type of work. Once you get up to speed, which takes time with the small tubes, it pays around $38 per hour.
           Wouldn’t we all love to work with just the big tubes, but hey, from what I hear, $38 an hour is not bad these day. However, this work would also drive you buggy. You’d invent a scanner before you’d do is all day. Hey, Theresa, it’s another one of those “little things” I can do for extra money. You know, little things like keeping current with databases and spreadsheets for the past 40 years instead of watching soaps. Whaddaya know, as the database grows sometimes I inch up to $42 per hour. It’s like this, Theresa, somebody came along and said, “Hey there, you seem a fine fellow. Why, here’s some well-paying work for you.”
           If you see a picture of a magnifying glass and a clock, it means I have bought an el-cheapo camera for the tube photos. This is the first pictue taken with it. That’s how thrilling today turned out. Keep reading for more info on this exciting big event for today.

Picture of the day.
Chinese resort “Banyan Tree”.
Remember to use BACK ARROW to return to blog.

           It took an hour wrestiing with the cardboard but I build the shadow box. I slice dup one of those poster boards from the Dollar Tree. I used so much hot glue I was in danger of being mistaken for an on-line millennial inventor. Polaroid built the little camera I intend to use. It was just $30 but what swayed me was the claim that turning it on rapidly goes to the vdeo recording function. We shall see. I’ll have to raid the SD card from the old SONY, which will not activate at all. Here is the cardboard shadow box, next and soon there should be a sample picture of the first tube. These may n ot be the best photos but they are for eBay, not my next art show.

           Pun intended, expect me to focus on the camera at bit. It is for work and every one of these needs to be learned since the camera world lacks any setting standards. I see the lowest resolution is a megabyte, which is far higher than you need for most flat screens. One good feature is the self-timer. Unlike the SONY, once set in that mode, it does not have to be reset for every picture. But it lacks a time lapse setting. The video mode is a crappy avi but it will suffice until I get a replacement video rig.

           The sound quality is not bad and avi is compatible with Windows Movie Maker, an app I have not intention of replacing with the utter garbage editing software that replaced it without even being asked. If you like fuzzy video and gifs, this could be the right place for now. I note the auto-focus setting seems to take a few shots to get a clear picture. What’s with that, Polaroid? Ah, here we go, the first picture of a tube in the shadow box. That is definitely an eBay-caliber tube. For those not familiar with what a shadow box does, it produces pictures with no background clutter.
           While reviewing replies on my search for non-eBay buyers, an article on the last Morse code station left in the USA came up, calling themselves the Radio squirrels was posted by coincidence sometime in the past day.
           They make the point that Morse code at sea lasted much longer than over land. The US Navy teaches it only to a bare minimum of sailors, which I think it borderline insanity. That places even higher reliance on satellites and it will not be long before there are rocket drones to instantly cripple all digital communication. While some claim that newer methods have made code obsolete, what will really kill Morse is the next two generations. People that can’t read cursive or read a clock face are not likely to have the brain-thrust for dots and dashes.

           That was JZ on the phone for 25 minutes. He’s also picked on the price drops, though he gets his research mainly from cable TV. He’s aware of my tactic of throwing in half-price low-ball offers. He regrets not going partners with me on a property in Boynton beach we could have bought outright including the land for $36,000 back in 2006. I did not follow the property, but similar mobile homes with the land were selling for $315,000 the last time I looked in 2015. By then, I had the cash to look for a real house and eight months later bought this place. JZ, thanks to the performance of his portfolio, has become an ardent Trump supporter. And today Trump slam-dunked the bozos in Colorado over the ballot issue.

           This has wider implications. You see, it was the Democrats who quietly slipped in the provision that was plainly aimed at anyone who successfully ran against them. It seemed obscure that it applied only to candidates that formerly held positions. It therefore targets anyone who had won an election, but it also meant they had to be guilty of insurrection. That is the ulterior motive for the events of January 6. There was no insurrection so they had to manufacture one or their interpretation of the law would not apply.. And the whole charade just got shot down in flames—not just in Colorado, but nation-wide. There is truly panic in the air now, their last-ditch plot against a truly popular opponent has just died a hard death.

           The emergent club meeting tonight was a discussion of what’s been learned about vacuum tubes. Um, it was mostly what I’d learned, not many had anything else to show for the week. This isn’t really the club, just a few similar-minded people who may show up on Mondays. Wilford and I were the only speakers, he has a pro shadow box he’ll try to get for me. The others just listened, kind of realizing that learning is not a spectator sport. I say again, not the real club, a mere shadow of it’s former self. Sigh.

ADDENDUM
           I’m on disc two of a Clive Cussler audiobook, this one about a germ attack resulting from a WWII toxin aboard a submarine. Cussler has really done his homework, I detect no flaws in his presentation of the methods and machines used by the Japanese. He even got the sequence number of the last I-calls sub that would have been built. The plot is the Japs developed a disease agent in Manchuria and sent the sub to release the agent. The sub was detected and sunk. Many decades later, people and animals begin dropping dead in Alaska and Washington. I like it so far, though.
           Later, they have dived down to the 60-year-old submarine wreck to discover somebody has been there recently and stolen one of twelve mysterious vials from the torpedo room. You can tell I like the presentational realism of this plot.

Last Laugh