One year ago today: March 8, 2024, a permanent limp.
Five years ago today: March 8, 2020, like a Russian sub.
Nine years ago today: March 8, 2016, saving America.
Random years ago today: March 8, 2013, 11.5ȼ per mile.
Another prime example of why some people cannot have nice things. The National Parks Service complains their budget of $3.6 billion should not be cut because they produce $55 billion in revenue. Duh. Then why are they getting any taxpayer funding at all? (It’s because of the way the system is set up, all the incoming cash goes into a big pool.) Today we drove to Palm City and attended a Maker Faire. Could be I figured this blog needed a break from boxes and floors as much as I did. And of the $71 budget, we spend exactly $50. We made a potentially important contact.
I took the familiar motorcycle route around Haines City. Palm City is just 64 miles by air, but the lack of good east-west roads in Florida put it at 134 miles driving distance. I got millennialized in St. Cloud, a road closed sign at the far end. The resulting traffic snarl means I arrived three hours late. This turned out not a big factor for the simple reason the show was a dud. Down from 50 displays to 15, the booths are now entirely dominated by 3D printing.
Mostly trinkets, I saw nothing not already seen on-line, confirming my decision not to purchase the technology until the design phase has become far friendlier. There was a radio club display and the only real item that would qualify as home made was these two guys who built a plastic vacuum mold that, once painted, produced loaf-sized replicas that would fool anyone. I avoided making a joke about expecting a call from Ft. Knox.
There were some religion-themed tables that I avoided and the only business card I collected was a 3D shop that had a workspace set up in Titusville. My purpose of being at the show was to find a reliable 3D printing shop that can produce my toothpick holder. Everybody that said they’d help so far disappeared once they discovered the object requires great precision. Sadly, this show like many had signs no pictures to be taken of the displays. There was one setup that got my attention. A tabletop machine that looked like a projector, but I noticed it had a flat plate with burn marks.
This photo is something you may want to take a very closer look at, it is a pencil inscribed with the words “sweet tooth”. The remainder of my stay at the show, except for the apprentice stripper show, was all about this machine. It turned out to be a powerful laser. It did not “burn” like diode or carbon dioxide, but zapped. He was demonstrating on these pencils, I had him make me a few, which are already mailed out to former robot club members. That laser could just as easily have sliced this pencil in half lengthwise.
Condos in Tahiti.
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Turns out this laser is the baby brother of a “precision laser cutter metal press” back at this guy’s shop, at some place called Evan’s University. His display soon dominated the show so I just had time to collect his contact info. He is a professor over there and apparently well-monied as he could not answer any questions concerning costs, other than that the machine on the table had a $4,000 price tag.
At this point, you take a break and watch the pole dancers, pardon me, cheerleaders. The wink-nudge show. Allow me to say all of these gals, even the ones considered slim by today’s standards, were “puffy”, already maybe 15% overweight. Their careers will be short. Most already sported disfiguring tattoos. And no, I’m not some old coot who is out of touch with fashion. Even back in my prime I would have bypassed this lot. For the record, to give you some idea of how progressive Florida is, I was easily the oldest person in the room by at least 25 years.
However, what captured my attention is that the laser could cut metal. If it can do that, it can make a toothpick holder. He had some additional items laid out but explained it took hours to produce each. I looked closely at some medallions and he had various dies for pressing patterns into leather, as well as some wax seals, those kind you see on fancy documents.
As soon as he took a break, I cornered him for more information. Sharp dude, he instantly grasped the article I was looking for and declared without prompting that no 3D laser people possessed the necessary precision to make this object, this “toothpick thingamabob”.
The Prof looked at my sketch and mentioned some options that got my immediate attention. He says there may be a way for his machine at the university to produce and entire “square”, which is the term Frank & I had for a 100x100 rack of toothpicks. Just think, at 10,000 toothpicks per square, only 100 sections would be needed. The trick he says, would be to make them from thin sheets of aluminum, rather than plastic, then layer them up with glue. He's on to something.
I took the longer but high-speed route home via Holopaw and fired off letters to the club members. The Robot Club Rides Again.
ADDENDUM
I was up early enough to get you a list of the top ten personal blogs. That’s a title which would indicate they are on a par with this work. Let’s see what they have to say.
1. “Hi, I’m Liz” – a travel blog that never strays an inch off the beaten path, and you know how much I love travel stories that don’t quote prices or, when the travels involve yachts and expensive hotels, how they got the money.I admit to having viewed these blogs because they are monetized. I was hoping to find any novel methods, but it is 99% advertising revenue. One lady did say, like this blog, if you pay enough she will give an honest review of your submission, but that’s it. All advertising stilts content. I found none of the above blogs had content that would bring the discriminating reader back. There is, as it goes, no shortage of shallow readers.
2. “Tony Pappalardo Health Blog” – an inspiring tale of recovery from testicular cancer, I swear to you I am not making this one up.
3. “Backpacker Banter” – living out of a van for a year in Australia. This would be my pick as closest to a real blog. But only if you like going to exotic foreign places to do exactly what all the other tourists are doing.
4. “Cup of Jo” – a woman’s lifestyle blog that is really not written by Jo, otherwise it would be a contender.
5. “Pretty Handy Girl” – a blog after my own true heart, focusing on expensive DIY home handiwork. If only she could play acoustic guitar, and was single, and like slimmer.
6. “Dad or Alive” – a clever capitalization on the stay-at-home dad theme, humorous, but rather weak on overall content and general information.
7. “Zen Habits” – a must for those needing to “unclutter their headspace”, yet has the same no-index (other than by date) format as this blog.
8. “Scandi Minimal” – this lady moves back to Scandinavia and manages to never mention the destruction taking place. I cannot figure this one out, or why it got rated top ten material.
9. “Mamamia” – a top Australian blog that proposes to make life navigation easier for women and girls by focusing on celebrity worship, losing weight, and other people’s pregnancies.
10. “The Pioneer Woman” mostly concerned with food preparation and family weddings. For those who enjoy this sort of blog, this is the sort of blog they will enjoy.
