One year ago today: August 28, 2023, every angle carefully checked.
Five years ago today: August 28, 2019, six sunflower seeds.
Nine years ago today: August 28, 2015, insanity, the NYT plea.
Random years ago today: August 28, 2014, pretty red wing.
Gosh, you are up early again. Now, by dawn, we know it is a faulty HDD. I pulled the SATA out of my old barely-working storage unit and it picks up right away. It grabs instantly on every unit, but I won’t use it for one simple reason. It contains around 15 working apps that are no longer available even from CNET, or equally important, precious working older versions that have never been millennialized, oops, I mean “updated”. What to do? Pretend there is somebody to ask? Take it back to the shop?
Two hours later, here is the light installed and working. But wait! If the power is off, how do I have a photo of the light working? It’s an old cheat. This light is connected to a switched outlet, which is already installed. That the piece last day with 18 wire connections. If you look at the third panel, that is not two power cables, it is one. Don’t do this unless you know what the hell you are up to. And only use it momentarily like above, to test a circuit.
Also underway was troubleshooting that new disk drive. Shown here is proof the configuration is working, That’s the Windows XP boot screen, but this won’t go further as the drive had the installation on another computer. This is a test to eliminate my gear as the gremlin. Back to the shop, which I use, not because it is the best, but because they will take a look at your stuff without demanding your life history and two memberships. Strange how the trade has changed since I got out it.
You see, up to around 2012, it was a real trade. Tradesment knew the computer was just another tool that needed repair once in a while and replacement over time. There was a shop atmosphere, it was quite similar to the old TV repair shops that used to be in every town. Not no more, computer shops themselves have become an assembly line and the sensation you get is that everybody is just clinging on. Every item has to make a big margin, every effort must generate profit. There’s nothing terribly wrong with that but it makes the visit a sterile experience. Walk in, pay your money, get out.
Another change is the way they throw out older gear that is in good working condition. Hard drives don’t take up much space, we used to have a drawer of perfectly fine used units. They were always good for a fast $20 cash sale. Now, the shops deliberately throw them out. It’s as if they don’t grasp that a $20 cash sale is better than a $30 new sale.
And anyone who thinks the Democrats are not a bunch of sneaks, consider what they are doing in Michigan and Wisconsin? They refuse to take RFKs name off the ballots even after he dropped out and endorsed Trump. Their hope is that some people not knowing this will still vote for RFK, which they know is likely fewer votes for Trump. It’s amazing how many Democrats know this junk goes on , but always have a spin to explain it away. Like, “it would cost too much to change the ballots now, while they are printing up $30,000 in free money to give to illegals to put down payments on houses. Part of it came from the $235 in gas I spent to go to Tennessee and back. Funny, I don’t recall any government ever giving me $30,000 because I was poor. Oh, that’s right. If you are White, it is your own fault, next time choose better parents.
Hashima Island.
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I’m planning another day trip. It’s an economical way when money is tight and there’s nothing else to do in Florida. I’m glancing again at the railway station, or the area to the northeast (by Orlando) which I’ve rarely seen. Are there any electronic hobby stores in Orlando, any supply houses? Your budget for the trip, including gas, food, and coffee, is $65. See what you can come up with. Today’s trip was a waste, over to Wal*Mart, around 20 miles from here. Why? Because this morning their web page said they had the hard drive I wanted, four in stock to be exact. What’s bloggable about that?
It was a classic exchange between a GenZer and a Boomer. A slippery fast talker against a customer who would have none of it.
“Sir, when you searched this location . . . . .”You can see how that went. She was a slow learner, spent ten minutes trying that old trick of repeating everything I said back but in her own favor. I know what happened. The search expanded the range without telling me which stores had the four in stock. And the palm device used by Wal*Mard staff detects which hub and only lets them search that location. They should know this or not be working there. So those drives could be anywhere and no, I’m not going to customer service and have them start this shit all over again. Millennians can’t search without wasting time. Besides, in my opinion, expanding the search without telling the customer is illegal bait & switch.
“Stop, Ma’am, I did not search this location. You did.”
“Sir, when we found this page . . . .”
“Stop, Ma’am, we did not find any page. You did.”
“Sir, when you looked for stores . . . . .”
“Stop, Ma’am, I did not search by store, I searched by ZIP code.”
My interest was how they navigated. Hmmm, they didn’t. Turns out the monsoon season causes a shift in currents and weather every six months. Ride east to India before a change of seasons, load up, and ride the weather back. I also learned the port was in a nothing location without even a source of fresh water. Ah, but sailing further north encountered a year round breeze blowing south, probably caused by the Sahara in some way. It was easier to cart the merch overland to the Nile, and float it downstream. I was impressed by the wealth and goods. Turns out many times more goods arrived by sea than the more famous Silk Road.
Can we have a little good news around here? I was able to get a disbursement early from overseas and twelve days from now will be back on my feet. No confusing this with good times and I lost over $200 on the exchange. I’m far from happy but at least we will make it to Xmas. I had to use up my entire back-up-back-up and it is not enough to repair the KIA. And let’s hope like hell nothing else goes haywire. I’m strapped enough just having to replace the kitchen A/C, which I should have done already but was busy caraipsing around Tennessee half the summer. Ah, more good news. My old backup music drive is a SATA. I have not used that disk in eight years. If I recall, SATA master is set up in software, but do I recall right?
It contains 12,335 of the choicest pieces of band music ever. It is copying as we speak, a 45 minute operation. It’s one of the rate disks around here without a date marking in my own hand-writing, so it is dated by the file containing the drum machine beats. That was the days I gave up trying to find a drum machine that was easy to use on stage. Even the 12 songs Cowboy Mike could play are on there, I can read the song titles just fast enough as they copy. Those bring back memories. I have not played El Paso since the Hippie days and I think every CCR hit is on there somewhere.
Later. The copy took 46 minutes and that was a blast down memory lane. I’ll leave the install until tomorrow, it has to go right. I contacted the Prez who is okay with playing tips-only this weekend. When I checked at the hall, that weird Wednesday staff was on duty. I’m not a member but everybody knows me so they sign me in. Not these people. Beady-eyed peasants who distrust anyone who does not look or act like they do. I gave up trying to explain I was not there to socialize, I was the band. But I lost them, so I just left.
Bonus, I batch of pictures from 2010-2011 got stored in with the music files. I’ll need a while to sift them, but many are likely okay for posting. Most are robot club stuff, but there will still be some of general interest.
ADDENDUM
I was chatting with a lady at the library this morning. I was buying audiobooks and the convo was briefly about car radio presets. They were not, at one time, as random as you’d think. She never noticed any pattern. Allow me to explain how it used to work. The car radios had five or six presets, all mechanical, they just moved the needle to a given position whether or not there was a radio station there. That’s my point.
In my younger days (I’m allowed to say that now), I did a lot of long-distance travel and I noticed there was a pattern. If I was listen to, say, a rock station that faded out of range, I could hit one of the other presets and find a similar rock station. Same with country. It would not be the same frequency, but think about it. Your station fades, but one of the other buttons, not any given button mind you, would pick up the same style of music. It was not a reliable thing, I’m just saying it happened so often there was more involved than pure chance.
