One year ago today: August 1, 2024, resume collectors.
Five years ago today: August 1, 2020, St. Augustine.
Nine years ago today: August 1, 2016, no floor.
Random years ago today: August 1, 2003, one actual million.
Who remembers “Have We Met”. It was a blog idea from 2011 to combat the trend of books being written for movie rights instead of authorship. It addressed the problem of character bloat, that is, stories that had six or more characters. The blog was a database (spreadsheet) list of the person’s name, relevance, and page in the book where they first appeared. I had recently finished a baffling novel that had some 38 characters, many of whom were casually mentioned, such as the parking valet. Chapters later, you were expected to recall who the hell “Victor” was. Alas, the concept was far too much work for any expected results, and I was reminded of it today when I thought of doing with A.I.
Here is another view of the Homelite electric mower, with the second battery installed. It looks new and did get the green light to at least show its connected. The first battery is a dud, but I keep them for the rebates. I need a battery that lasts just long enough to clear a path to my shed, laundry, and silo. Is that asking too much? Last day, I saw 20” house fans for sale at Dollar Tree for $19.99. I could use some of those in the new scooter work area.
Then there is the “Scream Club”, a society of women from Chicago who gather on Sunday evenings to scream at Lake Michigan. They hire professional male scream coaches to help keep the sound coordinated. To keep the screaming volatile, the ladies are prepped with toxic facts, this week it was Trump’s push to put cane sugar in Coca-Cola.
The ritual is to write out your peeve on bio-degradable, eco-friendly paper. Then crumple it, throw it in the lake, and “release your pent up emotions”. Membership is free, they gather at 7:00PM Sunday evenings. Two million people live in Chicago. Some of them have guns. I spent the morning at the more peaceful activity of organizing the shed. I used the thinking time to guess up another “science fair” project. Although I no longer do this inventing, the idea factory is still open for business. What do you think of this [following] idea?
You have a two digit digital number display, seven segments each. You have two small sets of ten spring switches, numbered 0-9, one set for your left hand, another for your right. You can push any one number on either “keyboard” and it will display the corresponding digit on the matching left or right side. So far, that is just two circuits copying the circuit I already built. But we have more experience. What happens if you push two digits simultaneously?
The two seven-segment display will show the product (the result of the two numbers multiplied together). I’d thought of using the sum, but that is simplistic and would under-use the left-hand display. Wait, there is more. This is to be done analog. There are no adders or gates or integrated circuits, nothing digital. Only hard-wired “dumb” components. This will tax my ability to the limit should I decide to proceed. I would have to design a way to jumper together all 81 possible outcomes. I’ve got an idea from examining the pegboard on a German enigma machine.
For clarity, if you push (for example), the 7 on the left, a 7 will display on the left output. If you push a 4 on the right, it will display a 4. But if you press and hold both keys simultaneously, it will display the number 28. I do not know it this is even possible, but I know it is dependent on how those two numbers get wired up, and that is where I would start. It that fails, I’d try programming it on an Arduino. If that works, engineer it backwards.
As for youTube, when a movie is blocked, bring it up, read the message, then turn off your adblocker from the line that appears under the viewing window. Advertising well start blasting. Then turn your adblocker back on. Works most of the time.
Ingredients of garam masala.
Remember to use BACK ARROW to return to blog.
The county is really putting the prod to that house down the road. The crews finally just boarded it up and walked away, by the looks of it. I was over to see the Texan, who is just two doors down. Rumor is the place may be condemned, but that hardly makes sense. It would mean the city stood by and let them sink money into it. The other pic this afternoon is the runner-up in last month’s imbecile contest. It was first prize until the band saw package ousted it. This receptacle cannot be operated with one hand. No way can anything be unplugged using one hand without pulling the whole assembly out of the wall. I didn’t say it was wrong. I said it was stupid.
How about X banning GabAI? It seems Gab declined to modify the well-known “anti-semitism” tack that untweaked A.I. develops every time so far. Gab retorts that the rules are the same for everyone and the facts don’t lie. ScienceAlert has published a potential genome link between tomatoes and potatoes. Aha, I knew that last batch tasted funny. I piled into the shed looking for my old 8” speaker cabinet, the one that did not get wet. Turns out the old Radio Shack (Realistic) gear fits nicely in the Golden Ratio boxes and I want to rig up a small amp that stays in the van. An old stereo speaker will work fine but I’d like to avoid extra work on something like this.
Later, I went downtown to donate my unused chess set to the club. It was socially a dud, the place full of married couples instead of the usual singles. Some drunks and a DJ playing shigga-booga. I go there late, but then he started to play some country tunes. The place calmed down and I took the quietude as time to scribble out a letter. Remember that new gal I’ve mentioned, who’s half my age? She came over to chat. I get it, the lack of men in this town has her at my side this late on a Friday. So I invited the situation.
She plays guitar and does not watch TV. I’m interested. This time she moved really close and I could see past the makeup and foundation garments. She really is that good-looking, but that poses the question of why no man? One cannot ask, but you watch. Attractive women do not wind up in central Florida small towns without a history and a story. I can state if I was 30 years younger, I would not let her go.
ADDENDUM
My repair to the band saw works, but not good enough. I installed a strip of bicycle tire rubber around the upper wheel as a cushion and cut down on the noise. It had a weak plastic liner that eventually work away, causing the blade to get hot. The fail is the metal blade will not stay in the track. I don’t know if the rubber is the problem, and I’m going to have another stab at adjusting the rollers. That part of the assembly seems to be in excellent shape.
And buried way down here is a fact New York may not want you to know. The news says a gunman killed four people. It does not say who the primary target might have been, only that she was a “overseer”. In fact, she was a top executive of Blackrock, the company bent on turning us all into renters. Forbes further attempts to deflect this tidbit by pointing out the office of the National Football League is in the same building. After the last killing of a fund manager (the one who denied health benefits to millions with "poor people" diseases), the media is super-touchy to use the term CEO. Yes, she married into the position. TMOR, Blackrock is the company that has been pricing Amrican housing out of reach of the working class.
