One year ago today: August 20, 2024, tubes, cacti, Elrod.
Five years ago today: August 20, 2020, just get Trump.
Nine years ago today: August 20, 2016, species unknown.
Random years ago today: August 20, 2004, good one, Winnie.
Nothing today, except a few chores. I did oil all the clamps, they needed it. I’ll be strained to report much else. I was up at 7:00AM for coffee, I suggest the same for everyone. Then fell back asleep until 4:00PM. It’s that down time I needed. Ah, but the weakness of age remains. Stick around, I may work on the table a bit. I’m no good for anything else. I threw on the 2001 version of Planet of the Apes, nothing new except everybody could talk.
This is interesting. As the Europeans line up to kowtow to Trump, those that were not elected were kicked out of the room. That means the NWO people, the Eurocrats. I’m with the faction that says cut off the NATO (welfare) checks. They’ll smarten up when they have to defend themselves. A man was arrested in England for saying, “We love bacon.” And old boy Bernie Sanders has to explain how 320 seconds after he dropped out of the 2016 race, he received a “grant” of $44 million deposited to his personal account.
This circuit board is an amplifier. It caught my eye because I know what all the components do. I want one, but I would not build this circuit for two reasons. One is it used an integrated circuit, which kind of negates using your brain to build the amp. Two is it is stereo which playing bass does not require. The greatest surprise was the price. You can buy these in bulk for about $7. They are designed for an Arduino. And 90% of everything I build uses compatible parts and voltages. Arduino is where I got my start.
I don’t know how or why this would work, but I’ll hazard a guess. Each of these transistors will have a slightly different switching time, very rapid, but slightly out of sync. If they were hooked in series, they blow the speaker or themselves. Instead, I think the theory is each transistor slightly “widens” the input signal. Higher frequencies just get washed away and the lower bass waves get “fattened”. But I’m speculating.
I’ve lacked the time and gumption to build some amp circuits but I have read more on the pre-amp to amp combination needed for microphones and guitar pickups. The signals are very weak and need that pre-amp stage, which is a billion-dollar industry in itself. Or used to be. The 13003 transistors are used mainly for switching so I don’t have any around here. But I did pick up some 537s, which are a more common “radio” component. Maybe I will get something done today yet.
Interesting gif.
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When I grew up and began work in Washington State, there was always one place to shop and hang out. Good old Freddy Myers. We used to chant “Freddy for President” when he held a storewide sale. He was better stocked than most anything out there today, I used to drive 41 miles one-way to shop at the nearest store. You may know this chain elsewhere as Kroger’s, but originally it was Freddy’s from Washington, back when it was a nice White place to live. Now, they have closed their last Washington store due to crime. I tried to warn people in 1980.
Oh crap, not Tennessee again. Folks, there are two situations where it never comes down to brass tacks. Either you get lucky or have rich parents. Or, possibly, you know somebody who is awfully good at planning ahead and seems to know when and what will go wrong. No details, but I have $164 and 1/3 tank of gas left until September. I also have lots of food and coffee, plenty to do, and I can play guitar for money if I absolutely have to.
This woke me up 100% and found me out working in the shed until dark. I had several boxes WIP which I finished up, and I took time to look at the wood shrinkage. It’s a problem that others have solved, so I’ll research—but no more wood unless the moisture meter shows near the minimum reading that seems to be 11%. And my last remaining 18V charger has malfunctioned. I’m covered but the matching drill was one of my most-used tools. Seems to me I had a similar too fry on me and I kept the transformer. But where?
It was an irritating spot on my arm after I brushed past some yard weeds. So tiny it was some time before I found it. And this is the best lighting I could get. Maybe it’s alien and I’m about to have superpowers.that help me get the girl. The one who believes in me when everybody else thinks I’m crazy-like.
Now I can tell who is really going to get irritated. Last day I mentioned the speculation that a Love’s might be setting up on Hwy 60 at the Bartow intersection. There’s a background on this. Traveling northeast, northwest, south or west of Bartow, there is no convenient place to stop for gas. You get lineups or slow pumps or have to pull off the divided highway. Except in Bartow, so much so that I would estimate 80% of the times I fill up is timed for when I’m driving through there.
I thought it small for Love’s and sure enough, it is another Race Trac. They are ferocious competitors, I think they sell gas at a loss sometimes just to corner a market. From Hwy 27 northbound into Bartow, there are only two roads into Lakeland and now they have them covered. Lakeland, I add, has terrible streets, traffic, layout, parking, and some of the narrowest streets in Florida. That new gas station is going to be nothing but a headache for the locals, who in my opinion, have successfully blocked any competition for decades.
The same goes for other businesses in Bartow. No hotels, no taxis, no decent night clubs, and overly-aggressive assholes at City Hall. I’ll keep an eye on that new station. You always want to tank up before you reach Lakeland.
ADDENDUM
This latest set of locks on youTube (a.k.a. ScrewTube) is incredible. They must have spent fortunes on it. It embodies the worst of enshittification, where the media now believes they have a right to force advertising upon others. There is a TikTok making the rounds with this White GenX chick making the following complaints.
2/3 of her income goes to rentI gather she thinks it was any different fifty years ago. That’s how most Boomers started off. Oh wait, there is a difference. The Boomers were not “entitled” to anything better the way she is.
She works 50 hours a week
She can’t afford to have children
She is $7,000 in debt
Her health is declining because she can’t afford care
She’s never been out of the country or had a vacation
She does not quality for welfare
On her days off, she is so tired she just sleeps
Quote of the Day: “Those who do not learn from history are condemned to compare everything to Hitler.”
