September 5, 2026

Yesteryear
One year ago today: September 5, 2025, I counted them.
Five years ago today: September 5, 2021, Minesweeper: how to cheat.
Nine years ago today: September 5, 2017, a highway near Ona.
Random years ago today: September 5, 2006, the family was suspicious.

           This is my 220th day (of 360) of recovery and I’m not up to standard. I’m a dick for complaining after what I saw in the rehab facility, but most of those people did not suddenly find themselves in an unfamiliar environment. I know I was the only person there of hundreds who ever read books or did the crossword. Today just seemed like a logical time to review. I rate myselt at 45% recover on a very good day, but less than 40% otherwise. Unless there is a super-surge due along the way, the only real success is that I’m still here.
           Disregarding the institutional lessons I learned about what to do when one is decrepit or incapacitated, I plodded out to the shed and built two KL boxes, which I may change to just L-boxes.. Five pieces, five cuts, 18 staples and 12 minutes. No finish, no hardware, yours for $9 bucks. Then check the Saturday mailbox, no luck, play “Lady Madonna” on the bass and crack a can of soda. It don’t get any better, not in central Florida, anyhow.. It’s expected, I was already over 40 when I moved here to find nothing but leftovers.

           Have you seen the new UN-approved map of Africa? The standard Mercator projection makes it look smaller compared to other continents, This apparently bothered some people to no end. The new map, which shows Africa near the center, is useless for navigation and distorts the shapes of other land masses. But hey, according to some people, they had it comin’.
           My bedroom door is counter-intelligence. That’s sort of the opposite of artificial intelligence. You see, it knows how to do the opposite of what you want. For example, suppose you want it to shut itself after you walk out with an armload of laundry. It will stay open and unless you set the laundry down and walk back, or you will be air conditioning an empty hallway. At the other end, if you reach over and open to let out some laser smoke, it will slowly swing itself shut until you get up and go prop it open. See, counter-intelligence.
           Do you know what this is? Called “Cellebrite”, it is used to copy all the data from your cell phone during a traffic stop. The police can “legally” seize any phone they find. Rumors are they keep the phone up to a year, and the phone works funny after that. Made in Israel.

           I read short stories and I like mysteries that have an element of believability which has no misleading clues, minimal characters, and a damn good plot twist. I found one, though I do not care for the contemporary sub-plot that infects too much nowadays. That’s the successful man who comes to his senses and decides he both loves and wants to marry the single mother. He always gets along with the kids, who are never delinquents. It’s worn out and adds nothing. How about a realistic story of the guy who bops her and takes off with the daughter the day she turns 18.
           I’ll give a spoiler since you will never read this tale. Back in the 50s, divorce was a nasty affair and in places like England, you needed a cause the court would hear. So this lady detective charges a couple a ton of money to stage an affair. They both want out, so the plan is the husband checks into a fancy hotel with a call girl. Then the detective barges in with a camera. This works fine, until the door opens. There is a dead stranger alone in the room which was locked from the inside.
           The couple had been told the room they wanted was taken, so they were moved down the hall, unbeknownst to the detective. The dead guy is a lubricating oil salesman worth nothing. The case is unsolved until a year later, the detective figures out the hotel manager and the salesmen were doing small burglaries using the pass key, smuggling the loot out in the salesman’s large sample case. Large enough for a body.
           The salesman was beginning to cheat, so the manager killed him, hoping to dispose of the body. But the detective barged in. Neat, but the rest of the story is a cheesy soap. Trivia, if a new girl tells you she has only slept with 6 men, statistically there is a 99% chance she is lying.

Picture of the day.
Solar panels.
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           Downtown and back is three miles. It should not take forty minutes. But that is my maximum speed most of the time. Recent DNA advancements have identified the killer of the Ramsay girl in 1996. Along with all of American until now, I got it wrong. It was a repairman who cased the building and crawled in through a basement window. Somehow, the lab used traces of DNA to find all the guy’s relatives. However there are no arrests and no charges have been filed.

           What will interest me greatly is whether the parents can now sue all those newspapers and stations that painted them as the killers. How I would love to see the media taken to task on this. That is total defamation of character, though that’s hardly justice for the parents who are now in their late 80s(?).
           The waves are full of Steve Irwin memorials, he died twenty years ago when a stingray barb injected poison near his heart. He was stabbed several hundred times in a few seconds all around the chest, the ray probably mistaking his shadow for a marauding shark. I always felt he took unnecessary risks, but this was a freak accident. He inspired a following of people wanting to head back to wilderness, most of whom are morons who would not last a week out there.

           Here are today’s L-boxes, which are kind of a successful experiment. None of this latest generation of boxes follow the Golden Ratio, but they are based on it. They are designed for simplicity and minimal assembly. The L-box is “full-length” but only one picket wide. This makes fitting the bottom rather easy and the box is handier to stack on a shelf.
           A word now about the construction. There is only one measurement used in this box, the length. It is the standard 13-1/2”. All the other dimensions are marked from the pieces already cut. Slight variations are ignored, since marking the pieces allows for different lumber sizes. Looking at the box on the right, you can see a dark strip of wood down the middle of the end plate and bottom. Each box is made from one picket. So there is no matching set, but pretty darn close.
           It took five years experience to get here. I can now handily make a box out of any flat plank. And closer examination shows the fake box and button box can get this same treatment without changing much. I may soon see about a box made from both sizes of pickets, though I cannot see any big advantage in doing that. The trade-off in this latest generation of boxes is the amount of leftover scrap has increased.

ADDENDUM
           I went on-line to watch the videos of the doctors who treated the Clancey babies who were strangled. Most people who kill have to be, in my opinion, at least a little crazy. But there are limits on that because too many people have learned they can step over that line. And who cannot notice women killers share a surprising number of social, not mental, defects? Has anyone ever heard of such a killer who had a background of accomplishments or even a productive hobby? Only the delusional don’t know what they are doing and that is not the case here.
           The trial has turned into a circus. She did it and must be removed from society by any means necessary. She is a danger to others, and that is that. Letting her off due to “hormonal imbalance” is a slippery slope. Later, she has expressed the desire to have more children.

Last Laugh

September 4, 2026

Yesteryear
One year ago today: September 4, 2025, Jack? Probably not.
Five years ago today: September 4, 2021, I prefer 4 strings.
Nine years ago today: September 4, 2017, I’ve always hated Google.
Random years ago today: September 4, 2012, was I ever high.

           You’re in luck. No picture of boxes this morning. Just Arduino, and there is so rarely a circuit of any use that works right off the bat. Such is this motor circuit incorporating the fabled H-Bridge. Here is one of the best pics of an H-bridge, showing the shape, the transistors, and the flyback diodes. By activating the switches in pairs, you control the direction the motor spins. All ordinary CD motors can be operated by this configuration.

           So, waiting on this morning’s mail, I ran a series of tests on my motor setup. Below is a tet board that shows the result of the code. Two lights, indicating when the signal is for clockwise or counterclockwise. The code is working, so it is more likely a wiring problem, and I’ve found errors already. In the diagrams, two of the wires are backwards. What you see here should be red-blue and it is blue-red. Easy to fix.
           But the motor should still spin and it does not. Very careful examination of the circuit schematic shows there ia a ground connection missing. This is so characteristic of the mass-produced crap on-line. People no longer take pride in their work and the world is flooded with their nonsense and mistakes. And we now live in an America where the last three generations fancy themselves experts at making excuses and dodging accountability.

           I find this refusal to take blame a trademark of the Internet. Are they on-line because they are soi-bois, or are they soi-bois because they are on-line. I took another hard look at Patreon, and I already know they are nothing but an on-line middleman. Most businesses on-line have morphed into anonymous money-changers, probably because the sellers market is so saturated and over-saturated, the few vendors who survive don’t offer any help at all.
           The other annoyance is the manner in which these people are convinced if it is on-line it is somehow different and obeys a mysterious set of rules that you don’t understand. Example, eBay. It is nothing but consignment sales. Ask how it works and they launch into their jargon, it’s all metrics and platforms and environments. No, it is advertising, sales, and commissions. But they are self-convinced that once things go on-line, all the rules change. And if you call things what they are, you are being obstinate.
           Worse, when some ordinary and established business practice goes on-line, when they rename it (two of my least favorites are “vertical positioning” and “heatmap analytics”), they also alter the meaning in their favor. No, what’s worse is they get offended when you notice.

Picture of the day.
Atlanta Botanical Garden.
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           Then called the Reb. Another bill, but hey, as I said so long ago, there has been nothing in my life (or most others, for that matter), to say things would not have wound up right here by some different path. We don’t argue like the rest and that alone is good enough for me. However, California is beginning to cost real money. I had to drive downtown and that 30 miles shaved nearly two hours off my day. More PPP, I would normally avoid this time of day, as the railway loves to block rush hour traffic. Plus every red light and every asshole driver in tow served to remind me my horn still does not work.

           It was record hot, and the next PPP was not just the lineup at the ATM, but the slowness of the machine, and the ATM I must use is inside a non-air-conditioned bank entrance that amps up the greenhouse effect. And of course, it is dumb-ass renter week. Most of those people should not be allowed around any electronic products with buttons.

           This picture is a Ford F-150. Trump mentioned it, this truck is nuclear powered. See that cylinder in back? That’s the reactor built by the Australian that runs the vehicle for five years before it needs refueling. It is also cheap and can be built by ordinary factories. It is already in operation according to some sources, it requires no monitoring and uses such low-grade uranium there is no danger of enrichment, so they say.
           The catch is the refueling. They want $1.3 million. For those who hate history, the F-150 stands for an ordinary 1/2 ton load-rated truck, the F-100, but mounted on a 3/4 ton suspension. Fill 'er up.
           I barely made it into the back bedroom and flaked out until past 7:00PM. Today was over my limit, so let’s find something sedentary for the remainder. Thank goodness I made that extra quart of iced tea. The mail did not arrive from Tennessee, the post office announced months ago they would no longer guarantee deliver times, causing yet another PPP over here. I’ll have to drive into town tomorrow again.

           Wait, I must have some sort of box picture for you. This blog is, temporarily at least, Box Central. Here’s one now, the wire stripper box.

ADDENDUM
           Here is something, that by now you know is a familiar recurrence in this blog. Big mouths talkers, and now-over-40 whiz kids who really do not know a damn thing about computers beyond their own stupid little apps. Once again, of the thousands of people who should know, I find not one who has the foggiest notion of how things really work with computers. Can you imagine, people who spend hours per day on-line and consider themselves power-users, cannot answer a simple question like, “How does Patreon work”.
           No, don’t go on-line or they will tell you gobble-dee-gook like it is “a subscription-based platform” or some similar GenX bullshit. Anyway, here is my logic. I’m still getting spurious daily hits from the middle of the Indian Ocean. So, either they are bots, or if real, they are using this blog commercially. And yes, if they are fake, I blame the blog providers for now foreseeing and preventing this activity. But, Google is full of whiz kids, nomsayn?

           The solution is, if they are going to make money off me, time to reciprocate. But I cannot find a single source that spells out exactly what is involved, nor the risks involved. To get paid probably involves giving strangers your bank account info, so don’t be a fool about it.
           Over the decades quite a number of companies have attempted to institute what I want, which is a micropay system. In fact, isn’t that the name of the very company I had hope for—until I learned they don’t just collect the money for you. They want to run your business. Here is where I mention I won’t use Shopify because they are Canadian (no privacy or security) and keep your information on the cloud (where it can be ransomed). I’m dumb, but I ain’t that dumb. I also think once these commission outfits complete a transaction, they should be required to delete it But that is a separate topic.
           What was the name of that company that charged 1ȼ for content and billed the payments to the user’s phone? The Reb warns that this blog was based and built on being free, that suddenly wanting even a cent can spook the readers. My thinking is that only applies if one is trying to make a living at it. I stress at this point, I am only looking. But I would have no problem publishing on a third-party site as a different offering. I've not forgotten that lawyer who started with the free e-mail "Now You Know" who began charging and disappeared.

Last Laugh

September 3, 2026

Yesteryear
One year ago today: September 3, 2025, matriculation, my ass.
Five years ago today: September 3, 2021, one gallon.
Nine years ago today: September 3, 2017, enough.
Random years ago today: September 3, 2016, insulating the floor.

           We are feeling chipper this morning, what adventures if any, can happen in such as small city on a nothing Thursday? I like to record logistics, so here’s some coffee news. A year ago I took some samples of French roast to the neighbor, who had been drinking Arabica. He is hooked and now dislikes “ordinary” coffee. I’m taking him some Italian roast, something you should sample. It’s just a darker roast, but it’s more consistent and if, like myself, you like the flavor of roasted nuts and grains, definitely give this a try.

           Today, I’m going to take a harsh look at why I can’t chisel. On larger boxes, okay, but y’day I was super careful with hinges on a small “instrument” case and still got a misaligned cutout. See here the small cut I’m pointing at. This can be repaired but I want some reliable method. These hinges were carefully marked. What hurts is thee hinges are the final step, so a dumb mistake like this can wreck the whole piece.

           Mind you, this is a case for microscope lenses, so it is not for display and will be inside another box. The mistake is not the challenge, it is finding the reason for the mistake and correcting that part. Here is another picture of the latest in Z-box design, using the original jigs. Notice the differences? They are subtle, so I’ll help. The box is a consistent color and grain size. The joints are now totally straight and flush. The logo is present even if it is nonsense, such as this “Apple”. Even that logo is now refined as I’ve learned to “trick” the beam to printing the largest lettering possible.

           This box is also now made in nine steps instead of twenty. There is no finish as it is a utility item. The only planned change this model is to rabbet the joints, which means the end plates will be slightly larger. I have not yet sold a single one of these on-line or by consignment.

           Here are the chisels chosen for ‘Operation SuperSharp’, the best possible edge from the tools I have I’m not convinced the problem is the chisels. I’m running the laser just now and listening to the statistics on defaulted car loans. Be fair, who told you to buy a good used can and keep it sound? Anyway, Americans are $1,7 trillion in debt over vehicles and more that 5% of them cannot pay. I have not bought a vehicle on credit since I was 21, my first.

           A lot of people are unaware 30% of a new US car price is the employee pension plan. That’s why it loses that much value the instant you drive it off the lot. Oops, one of those chisels is wrong, but so what?

           The price of Yeti batteries has doubled. That’s the units (be aware I bought mine for convenience. You can easily build your own if you want it installed and immobile. It is just a deep discharge (“marine”) battery with a power converter, but you should know what you are doing first. My unit is 90% for fan in the vehicle and to run a single fan overnight in the house when the power goes out. In Florida, it will go out.
           And Musk predicts in a decade a billion-strong robot robot army will outpace humans. Some smart aleck posted that for most Boomers, their one regret will be that they won’t live long enough to die laughing. Gloria Steinem, a Jewess, died last night at 92. The smart aleck asked who is going to get all the cats. And Trump warns the Canadian Prime Minister to quit pretending like America is the bad guy.

Picture of the day.
S. African rivers today.
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           Pure luxury, I was in the shed all afternoon, including the downpour. I would be okay if I could do that for another ten years anyway. I completed a number of work-in-progress boxes and built some junk new unit. That includes a special box for my “magic chisels”, the tools destined to teach me what I’m doing wrong. Even if I get a router working on it, I’ve got a sixth sense says learn to do it by hand. That box is the same color as the neighbor’s old bedstead.

           Heart Aerospace, the electric airplane people, have successfully flown a full size airplane. Kind of like robots, the technology has been around a long time—but it was not until the present times that existing people and machines became so expensive and objectionable that they are being replaced. What impressed me was the simplicity of the controls and that the take-off required only $5 of electricity.
           There are a dozen selling points, such as silent operation and the motors having only one moving part, but what I want to see is the cost of air travel taken down to the level of bus fare. The airline industry is bloated and costs too much and I will not be sad to see certain companies go under.

           I watched a few short documentaries on who is building these aircraft, but I have to be careful. For I am intolerant of hard-luck stories. And I quickly noticed these airplane people make a big deal of starting from nothing. Maybe they did, but I’d have to see it. People who have to work at a lumber mill to survive do not usually complain about how they stayed up till 3:00AM flying model airplanes.
           More interesting to me was the background while they were all talking It is full of scaled up toy airplane parts. I was building a model at the time I moved here and that project fell away in the face of leveling floors and getting settled in.

           A touch of insomnia had me awake 2:00AM to 4:00AM, so I used the time to enter my first Arduino motor sketch in ages. This is the PWM (speed) control for the motor pictured a few days ago. The code compiles and up loads, but does not run. I’m using an H-bridge so I will double-chck all the wiring, just not now.
           This H-bridge is a specialized IC, used to control the speed and direction of two motors. Intended for robot control, I’ve wired it up for only one motor. The chip is supposed to have all the necessary innards, such as flyback protection and transistors. Flyback is when a running electric motor is stopped, its magnetic field collapses and sends a spike of electricity back along the supply wire. You don’t want that.

           And we instantly run into a very, very familiar situation for me. The code is valid. Compiles, uploads, and runs first try. Yet the circuit does not work. Here is a printout typical of my programming. The Arduino has a serial monitor mode, intended to display data. But it will also display comments. Thus, sprinkled throughout my code are test points that reveal the code has at least reached that point.

           Ignore the teal-colored border (if it appears), that is an old club convention, you are reading output. This confirms the loop, the working part of the code, is working fine. This has already printed out 200+ times. The test point markers are before and after each change of direction command on COM port 8. Here we are, nothing wrong with the code. This rules out logic error, so that leaves a wiring problem, for me the most difficult to troubleshoot.
           I won’t bore you with the code, it is usually lengthy due to my trademark of commented each line. But this, folks, is why I need a partner. But like a guitar player, I need someone who knows how to do their job and beyond that, they can have all the fun they want. You’d think it’d be easy. For me, the plan is, if the code contains any delay() commands, connect LEDs to prove the circuit is powering the correct wires. Since this code has plenty of delay() spots while letting the motor run, that is the first choice. It is painstaking, but it works.
           For the eagle-eyed, the date is not a typo, All club code is dated one day after the first successful test. I’ll let you figure that one out by yourself.

Last Laugh

September 2, 2026

Yesteryear
One year ago today: September 2, 2025, Jack’s an idiot.
Five years ago today: September 2, 2021, I’m going to Nashville.
Nine years ago today: September 2, 2017, it unemploys 17.
Random years ago today: September 2, 2020, the Blues City Cafe.

           Bread pudding for breakfast, I’m telling you that hospital did a real number on me. It’s the vanilla-cinnamon from a mix, and that has Memorial West written all over it. I’ve prepared two quarts of iced tea in case this is a good day. My morning puzzle was a disappointment, but that is relative. My goal is not to be a champion, but to see how many champions I beat, which can often exceed 90. Today it was one only, because of the English. I did not know what a flatmate was. So I beat one champion.
           Iced tea, I prepped a quart because just looking out the window says this will be a Florida scorcher. It was. And I have zero new events to report. I was either drinking coffee or in the shed all day, except for my now stepped up need for short siestas. Tell you what, here is a picture of the big screen TV over at JZ’s place contrasted with the original TV when he moved in back in 2002. That is an old water-damaged photo from the days when he used rabbit ears and a free government converter box.

           That’s American progress. In only 25 years, we have gone from wasting time on a boob tube to wasting time on a flat-screen.

Picture of the day.
Canadian forest belts.
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           It’s rare but this afternoon was a perfect retirement session. Just me in the shed, where I completed some boxes and dismantle my expensive tower fan. The one that lasted a year. There is a speed control module and it is stuck on the lowest speed. I did some precision cutting and fitted some bottom slats. I also attached more hinges and practiced lining some of the smaller boxes with flock. This reminded me of the old guy from Young Circle long ago that built the really fancy boxes. I wonder if he ever did find a successor.

           That got me thinking. My life would have been easier if I’d had some skill like this so long ago. Something I could always fall back on, even if it was not profitable in the ordinary sense. I hated having to sit around with nothing when was young, a situation imposed on me so many a time. But it also requires infrastructure which I did not have.            Now I miss the hillbilly because he was a good learner and will desperately need a trade if he ever gets out. I have a few other interested parties, but my sheds are leaky and not exactly the ideal place to apprentice. Mind you, the opposite case could also be made.

           [Author’s note: am I boring you with a video of a mail drop? Well, yes, but what’ really going on is my video-making software is beginning to fail. The feature that allows me to put titles on these stills is slowly mucking up. The years of time videos you’ve seen are this package, but now the titles don’t “clear the buffer”. If you look closely, the word FIN wraps around and appears at the beginning of the loop.]

           I had to make a mail drop before the deadline, which is done. Here’s your video of the event. The only outside activity of the day. What the heck, then I took Hwy 60 and dropped in to the old club. It is closing in a couple of weeks and I wanted to know if there would be a party. Yes, and with a live band, fancy that. There was one person there, a regular I sort of recognized from the years ago. Yep, one person where there used to be fifteen.
           On the other hand, old Kooter’s is doing a booming business. They still don’t have the country music regular enough, but I dropped in last weekend and they had 68 people inside. I sort of met the new owner, he’s a retired veterinarian. Does that mean he is now the only person who has the cash to buy the old club? The idea crossed my mind, as drinks there are not $4. Around half what they are at Rosie’s Two Legs.

           Neither of the regular bartenders were there, so I wrote a letter to JZ about that balcony he is using for storage. The fact is, he is not getting back into an active lifestyle, other than riding his bike to his brother’s place and such. He has all the tools to do something nice out there. We’ve been pals for 26 years and I hate to see time just passing away. He would also make a great swap-meet salesman, his personality is conducent with his experience at the sandwich shop. I’m surprised he never followed that up.

ADDENDUM

           If I had the cash right now instead of sending it all to Tennessee, I’d get my XP computer back up. It’s probably the power supply. I loathe anything later than XP for what MicroSoft did to the operating systems. I finally had a real go at getting Win 11 to recognize my digital video microscopes. Redmond seems to have disabled everything except their subscription site. I cannot get even cameras made for “PC” to activate without an account. And every “free” download was millennialized with adverting or watermarks. (I don’t mind those, I mind them being allowed to advertise such as free.)
           This is the best I can do to show my chisels are sharp. This is the thin edge of the blade and the sharpness is due to those tiny ragged edges Visible to the left are the striations from the grinding wheel, this blade is as sharp as it gets. There is even the recommended slight concave shape to the cutting part. When those edges get worn away, that is when the chisel gets dull. That isn’t the problem.

           The holdup is these chisels (I’ve tried many) do not just cut away the wood as shown on every video so far. There are only so many ways to chisel something and I have tried them all countless times. There is always the chance I’m doing it wrong, but if there was a trick to it, somebody would have posted a video on tong, long ago. Even longer ago than you are thinking. The tools all work fine when I’m tamping out an edge or scoring the pieces to be removed. It is when I go to remove the waste, the blade will not bite and glide along the bevel to produce a smooth cut-out (mortise) like shown on the Internet. The blade often slides over the top, so be careful not to hold the workpiece naturally with your other hand.
           Tell you what, here is the video I made for my e-mail people, specially placed here for your viewing enjoyment. And a reminded to my readers that almost 100% of the stills and videos you see here are posed, cropped, and/or edited. But, they are not censored for mistakes.

Last Laugh

September 1, 2026

Yesteryear
One year ago today: September 1, 2025, my overtime era begins.
Five years ago today: September 1, 2021, my retirement shelves.
Nine years ago today: September 1, 2017, I can’t find it.
Random years ago today: September 1, 2004, bottom left top right.

           Waking up famished, I must have dreamt I was in Ottawa the day before the welfare checks went out. You know how packages of instant scalloped potatoes? I happen to like them and there is only one ingredient I don’t care for. Add some chopped fried onions and sausage, and it’s a meal. It’s really two meals and I’m saying I ate them all. Because I needed all I could muster on this day. It is not bloggable, so we stick to what is top stories around this place. Today, it was weather, another big storm while I was asleep in the comfy chair. Made a wet mess of my yard. Pieces of things everywhere.

           A rather long conference call with Caltier has brought no progress, but did define some lines not to be crossed. One of those was when our contact mentioned other people’s woes. That is not an avenue I will go down, but you might find it curious how I blocked the path. It is long past the time that the company can claim the SEC filing is what is causing the freeze. What I did notice is they had acquired an interest with the Sundance Group, an outfit that I have never trusted. They don’t pass the smell test.
           How about my neighbor, he is prepping his house for paint. Now I have to paint my place. Or at least the front of my place.

           Meanwhile, I just put 58 miles on the van doing banking. The methods here are designed to prevent any overlap between accounts. I can explain that partially for you. I don’t know how individual bank policies work, but I do know they do not like high-skilled employees below management level. Thus, I have fairly good idea of how they keep their records and what they look for. It is the simplest and cheapest possible way they can find to do business. This is one reason I never transfer cash electronically. I walk the cash over, and I was doing that today for the most hilarious reason I have ever spent money—but it has to wait.
           Instead, I came home and got to my Arduino hobby. That’s when I found the accelerometer I misplaced so long ago. That’s because it was not the model I studied, so I set it aside—until I looked at the folder of example code that comes with the Arduino IDE. There is a sketch already in there, this I got to try. I’ve heard of this circuit being used for a number of not so nice inventions. It basically senses the tiniest motion when disturbed, and can print out three-axis results. Is this my seismometer? I have to see this for myself.

           Now a photo of the test motor work in progress. This is the control panel pilot lights, the red light indicates rotation in the counterclockwise direction, the blue is a pilot light indicating the motor has power. Be wary, the control components do not have the power to operate the motor. One such piece is the H-bridge shown here. It is for powering the signals only. The motor could use power transistors, but I’m more partial to relays.
           Last for this morning, let’s take a peek at some news. Seems the FCC may step in to stop the fake polls broadcast by the anti-Trump MSM. There is talk Trump is positioning the entire western hemisphere for self-sufficiency, not just the US.

Picture of the day.
Eshima Ohashi bridge.
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           Here is Memphis, conferring good luck upon all who near my doorway. He may get moved if that spot is too rainy or sunny. You can also notice the area around my door know needs cleaning. This is the entrance were I regularly return from the shed with my hands coated with whatever I was working on.

           My other hobby, box-building, did not get much today, but one thing irritates me. I have some of the best recommended chisels and none of them work like the videos. I can sharpen them to a razor edge, but they will not “wiggle” away wood that most how-to tutorials demonstrate. Am I doing something wrong because no way can I chisel out a hinge mortise in a few seconds. Each recessed hinge requires four mortises (cutouts) and this takes me five minutes each with a lot of back and forth. I did not have time to work on the router plan for this.
           What I learned was the process of cutting the mortises a bit different. I always had the barrel (hinge pin) outside the box, but it turns out a better way to have it half-way buried. This, when you think about it, allows the full operation when the box is opened, right, two halves make a whole. I did cut two boxes, both experimental. Now, this is my blog so here is where I will list the seven box designs I build the most (updated from one week ago, now with description), along with some reminders of how they are laid out. Note the lack of "measurements, this took time to master. I don’t measure much any more, I use jigs or markers.

Button box – small pickets cut to small jig template in shed
Fake box – small pickets cut to small jig template in shed
Z-box – large pickets cut to full size template in shed, 3-slat bottom
J-box – small pickets cut to full size template in shed
K-box – large picket cut to width of bottom plate. Solid bottom
KL-box – small picket cut to full length to width of bottom plate solid bottom
Project Box – this is the odd one, it is the length of a button box, cut to solid bottom. They turned out to be a good generic size fo a lot of electronics. The parts are usually gathered first and the box is handy to keep them organized. It must be a solid fit because components can be very small.

           We got to Festus late, the neighbor was painting and I was snoozing. It was mostly drama, although both Matt and Festus got to plug a bad guy each. In this plot, a wimpy banker scares off some robbers and helps himself to some of the loot, except they come back and hold his barmaid wife hostage, causing her to finally realize what a hero he is. A very broke hero.
           The beautiful pecan shellac I was saving dried out in the can.

           Factoid: It was, in 1688, originally called Lake America before Canada arbitrarily changed it to Lake Ontario.

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August 31, 2026

Yesteryear
One year ago today: August 31, 2025, rather painful.
Five years ago today: August 31, 2021, a stronger connection.
Nine years ago today: August 31, 2017, 23 years later.
Random years ago today: August 31, 2007, remember CD-RW?

           Okay, twist my arm, here is the DIY doorbell. The one that kind of clunks, but there is ring there if you listen really hard. I’ve all day, so let’s examine this contraption a bit, what the hell. This would have stumped me not that long ago, so let’s have a quick lesson. There are three working parts, if you count the clapper as one. They are the clapper, the bell, and the small black plastic microswitch. When electricity arrives, the solenoid draws the clapped upward. That movement causes a small rod (not shown) to release the microswitch, cutting off the power. At that point the clapper falls and reactivates the electricity.

           Sounds easy? Nope, a hundred things went wrong. Edison said it right. Theory and practice only reinforce each other when you study music. Curious what went wrong? Here’s a few. The wooden stand had to be cut and recut five times and it is still not quite right. The metal was cut twice to make it fit. The clapper did not line up with the bell. The metal had to be highly polished before it would work. There were no “normally closed” switches, so I had to wire the switch “backwards” The clapper has to be drilled to get the metal pushrod to stay in place and the assembly is made from a metal that will not take solder.

           More thinking is needed for the A.I. LED concept. Even the ancient Apple ][e had capabilities that outshine the latest microcontrollers. One in particular was a feature whereby the code could “look ahead” at the next pixel to see what color it was. The Arduino has not such luxury, so what I’m pondering is an array. I can’t look for color, only a binary off/on condition. I could get around that by using two or more arrays, but it is already complicated enough. I could store color “values” in the array, but reading ascii values is not the Arduino’s strong point.

           I’m also thinking since the array needs numbered addresses, the practical limit is a 15x15 grid, (using a single 8-bit variable) or matrix if you would, as that is the biggest square that will fit, and allowing for a margin, that means only a 13x13 working space. However, since the margin is always “on”, it could be separately powered, and a full 16x16 grid might work. That is, if I leave one pixel always on at startup, leaving 255 free for working space.
           It’s a challenge, but demonstrates why the crap you see out there today is not real A.I. It is pattern matching and that means for all it displays, every pattern or combination thereof must already have existed in some form. It cannot truly create anything new. The sprite on my device would have nothing but a set of rules, there is no pre-determined pattern. Mind you, when I read the original article, it described how many a time the code would find a path that worked and repeat it, one was called the “Cheshire cat.” By the way, I did that work and programming in 1981.

           Here’s my “laser tray” invention at work. It’s so nice it is hard to see, ha-ha. You’ll recognize the Wainlux laser. The orange safety cover is open to reveal two wooden blocks getting the club name “branded”, This would normally be a problem because the blocks are too large to fit under the laser beam focus range.
           So look closer and see the laser is sitting on an exact matching stand. The blocks are actually resting on, if you can see it, a sliding red tray insert. It is adjustable to three positions that allow items up to 3” “deep” to be zapped. That has so far handled 100% of anything I care to put under the hood. Technically if the target fit the cavity and provided a stable surface (the laser will wobble if not supported right), the tray could be removed and just use the stand, but at that point, you need a bigger laser, pal.
           Yes, I found my favorite pancake bowl and the mystery is solved. I have a small work tray and on it a box of handy tools. The lid can flip wide open for ready tool access. And, if that lid is left flipped open, it is exactly the fight size to cover you-guess-what. More coffee. Please.

           I’m taking another day off, but first, downtown to pick up pickets, small ones, as I want to build some small “project boxes.” better suited for my small electronic parts. After I play bass for ten minutes first, for I just heard the neighbor say hello to his lawn mower.

Picture of the day.
Burger posing.
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           I shaved my L’il Texas planter back to a foot high, don’t worry, if it is real Texas grass, it will be back to six feet in no time. Incidentally, breakfast today was boiled cabbage and sausage on toast, coffee, and muffins. I’m out of everything except coffee. Here’s an unsual pic for you. I left the bell (the doorbell) in the shed over the years (knowing I’d find a use for it) and upon placing it on the desk, out fell this shell of a long dead spider. Remember folks, spiders are your friends.

           I glanced at it under the microscope and this is what glanced back at me. Is this why they call it the wolf spider? Anyway, I’m at a loss to explain the 5,000 “extra” hits on this blog every day. That’s 150,000 per month and I know I am not that popular. Yet, if I post anything I know to be popular, my views double, so I know it isn’t totally a bot. My conclusion, for now, is that I’ve always left the posts to the mercy of the Internet and this is just another phase. And if it influences anything, good. This blog isn’t some creepy fringe occult left-wing rant. In fact, if you read it long enough, most people will learn something. Try that with other blogs.

           Then I receive some absolutely stunning news. The details are withheld for now, but I signed a contract with a “plus expenses” clause. The people called to okay it, they must attend a $500 per plate dinner to gain access to what I need. I thought it over and decided yes. I have never in my life had a $500 dinner or taken a lady to one. Sure, it is a benefit, but I come from a different era, where a promise was a contract. I say if you get into a jam, you should keep the promise even if it means you lose money on the deal. Of course I mean in circumstances you could reasonably have foreseen. So much for America’s high-trust society. Yes, I have everybody’s information on file, but it is one of those situations where I cannot move now. Is this fun, or what?
           Seeing ahead that September will be a repeat of this month, I appropriated fifteen bucks and got some extra small fence panels. There now exist around six fairly standard box designs, all of which I find very enjoyable to make and it is a productive activity that is super-easy to match to that day’s energy. Here is a view of the hinge mortises, the cutouts that recess the hinge so it has minimal reveal. There’s lingo for you. It is the hardest step for me, so I’m studying it on-line this evening.

           These are called, unsurprisingly, “box hinges” or butt hinges, and don’t overlook any that are old and tarnished. They can often be buffed up to a new shine and I don’t really have to be as precise with the cuts. These are done by hand with a chisel, but my sights are set on a router. They make it look so easy. I studied enough to conclude installing hinges is kind of up to you. Nobody has a foolproof method.
           That’s today: home-made doorbells, laser printers, and dead spiders. Be honest, what other blog delivers the really important news of the day?

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August 30, 2026

Yesteryear
One year ago today: August 30, 2025, cigar lighter alarm.
Five years ago today: August 30, 2021, wears a cowboy hat.
Nine years ago today: August 30, 2017, the Coast Guard, useless.
Random years ago today: August 30, xxxx, WIP

           SpaceX launches the Roman telescope this morning and we are after another possum. Or whatever it is that ate all my roach baits overnight. It is a pancake Sunday if I have the fixins left, but this year has completely upset my diet and my appetite. Either way we’ll do something fancy. It is 5:30AM in the morning and I’m crawling back in the sack. Just no promises, like just now. It was dark so make the rounds to check the security lights.

           They wear out quicker, even the mercury bulbs, in the moist Florida air. Two were gone, and they were “heavy duties”. I’m not. While I was out near the shed, I glued those biscuit labels on to the boxes. Easy. A shot of glue, and clamps or weights, yet that ten minutes damn near knocked me out. Back to sleep for two hours. I’ve no choice but to live like this, but dang. I’ll miss those pancakes. I’m out of mix, so they would have been home-made, too. I’ll be dragging my arse all day. Here’s a Sunday laff to cheer us up.

           Ah, okay, you get a second good morning. 8:40AM and I am wide awake, but cranky. Now, if you live alone and do your own heart-healthy cooking, I think you should have 100% of the say on what you like. Show of hands, who is with me on that? That’s what I thought. This morning I could not find my favorite pancake mixing bowl. Every true pancake aficionado knows they taste best in that bowl, even if it is the bottom of an old mixer. I mean, it is this big, so it did not just disappear. This morning's pics are taken in natural morning light.

           And muffins. I like my banana muffins in paper cups, not foil. Same reason. This morning was not on my side. The world cannot blame me if I go out and hide in the shed for the rest of the AM. Folks, there is a limit and I don’t want to pass it.

           How about pictures of my ordeal? Good, because the camera accidentally was left on. I heard the shutter sound, so yeah, I was posing. If you see this, I found the camera and I will, eventually, let you know what happened to my stainless steel mixing bowl By the way, I ate all the pancakes, nothing for the raccoons. Well, not quite nothing. Every had things like baked on muffin-splatter on your baking tray? Don’t scrub, set it outside overnight. It will be clean.

           What’s this? A certified letter? Have not seen one in years, and it is from the real estate people in Tampa. They are seriously offereing me $186k for this cabin. The answer is no, I would want enough to replace the premises elsewhere. They base their offer on what neighboring properties are worth according to themselves. Thank you, but according to myself, to buy this piece of property nearby, I would need $260k, and since I would want to move to the dying state of Tennessee, make that $350k.
           Did I say dying? Yep, except for the fragile business of entertainment, the place has become like Florida. Unless you inherit, there are no jobs that pay enough to buy even the cheapest housing. And that is why I grabbed by bass and played the piano line to “Lady Madonna” four times over.

           What’s this? Searching for a suet plug for the birdfeeder, I round an ice cream bar in the freezer. Maybe today will turn out fun after all. Tell you what, let me go build a box or something and see how I feel after that. Have as many muffins as you want, I only wanted one. Later, I spent hours in the shed, one of many tasks was this mounting for a small 12VDC reversible motor. It has no real purpose other than to test Arduino code.
           For now, just watch to see what it does, left or right, fast or slow. But there is space there for indicator lights. That is what got me to thinking back about my A.I. concept of the light array. Where can I get 400 LEDs for cheap. Then it hit me. Remember those strings of Xmas lights? The ones that were white and green? Dang, I only kept the green ones. The concept remains, and they were St. Patrick’s day lights, here, have a look. It would be a wiring nightmare, but for me the challenge is the code, not the construction.
           I could not find the description in the blog. But I studied the concept in 1982 or 1983 and I have the Apple code somewhere. Back then, there were no disks, you had to painstakingly enter all 900 lines of code and debug it. I did, and it formed my concept of A.I. and my conclusion we would not see this in my lifetime. I was right, what you see out there is NOT A.I.

           For clarity, the program I entered did not tell the light where to go or which way to turn. It provided a set of rules only, and the light used those rules to contruct each path that it took. I did not know it would be nearly 30 years before I learned much about microcontrollers. I’ll give a repeat description in the addendum, I do not know if this is even possible on a microcontroller, but I’ve condensed code before.
           My DIY doorbell, I got it to make noise. It’s gravity fed, so don’t expect Winchester chimes. What’s this, whistleblowers are started to appear in the Democrat camp as the certainty of a bad election approaches. Now old Letitia has been accused of using taxpayer money to target Trump. The Islamic Guard (Iran) has launched a rocket (some say missile) at a US base in Jordan. A rocket is unguided, a missile has homing capability.
           A post on-line this morning concerning psychiatric care reveals 90% of all patients are liberals. Here’s something, but no proof, just a report that writing by had activates brain cells that remain dormant when typing. I spent ten years writing every day, so here’s hoping the effect has some permanence.

Picture of the day.
Amish at work.
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           Yes, the shed cheered me up, enough to work on some hinges, the step that takes longer than the box. I’m looking closely at a totally different jig as the ones on-line are all for doors or big long wood. My largest box is 13-1/2 inches. I also dug out my old Tennessee router table than had the anemic motor. I know I have a mid-size router somewhere, but it is shoved away in some corner. If I can fine it, the big old “toothpick” router seems to have a matching baseplate. My final planned treatment for the box corners in a rabbet cut on the ends and bottom plates. The big router would be beautiful overkill for that—but I never did like the height setting. It’s a ring around the waist of the tool and very difficult to adjust.

           I’m getting more use than ever out of my laser, and noticing it is one memory-hungry device. It is wise to not leave it idling between jobs, as it seems to use the locations where auto-save and backups are kept temporarily.

           Kudos to Wales for becoming the first country to make it a criminal offense for politicians to lie. Also, a recall system for failure to perform or keep promises, although this does not all happen for another four years. It seems some government people have been lying about measles deaths. Iceland, with an 80% voter turnout, solidly rejects joining the EU. The Roman telescope launched this morning, proving America has billions for prestige projects but nothing to fix the roads and bridges.
           Politics has taken a big swing in Germany, with the AfD (nationalist) party about to take over. They promise to immediately close the borders, choke off immigrant welfare, and begin massive deportations. Unlike America, Germans are known to follow through. Another big shoot-em-dead block party which America no longer cares about.
           The Nuremberg trials are getting a lot of treatment as the drug companies launch another vaccine propaganda jihad. The connection is origin of the medical provision against forced injections. Odd, since at the trials, there was never any direct evidence presented. The Nuremberg prosecution presented photographs only, never any direct testimony or evidence. (The ratio of Jewish lawyers has been purged from the Internet.) In America, only a tiny number of the most gullible are still getting the jab, which they are assured are different this time. I once read the statistic that there were 2300 anti-German lawyers at the trials and 1800 were Jewish or of Jewish descent, but don't quote me.

ADDENDUM
           How does the concept work? It’s a rectangle grid full of dots, the original had pixels. Mine would have LEDs. Each LED in the middle of the grid is surrounded by 8 other LEDs. It can random move to any of the 8 that is not already lit, and that establishes a direction. It continues to move in a straight line, this constitutes “life”. When it encounters a lit LED it must randomly seek a new direction. I’d probably stop there, but the original had all kinds of capabilities, such as placing obstacles on the grid. Another option was having the obstacles move around. But the fun was giving the sprite the option to fight or flee. When it met an obstacle it choae 50/50 whether to retreat or clobber it and keep going.
           The ultimate test was giving the sprite memory, it would check to see what had worked last time. It quickly learns to kill, and if the obstacles are moving, to track them down. I know I wrote all this down years ago, but where?

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VIDEO HAS SOUND
This video is so popular, it stays. 9,685 views.

August 29, 2026

Yesteryear
One year ago today: August 29, 2025, kudzu just starting.
Five years ago today: August 29, 2021, my last ‘big band’,
Nine years ago today: August 29, 2017, custom 6.5 metric.
Random years ago today: August 29, 2005, Javascript – except sometimes.

           Nothing much for you today. I spent the morning building this test box. What’s different here is the lumber. It is from an old dresser drawer. I don’t know if I’ll build more from this wood. You’d think the fact is was already a box shape would help. Nope, for unknown reasons, the wood does not like the “behave”. You can’t see it beu this box is a bit off-square despite being cut exactly using a jig. You can also see the scorch marks from the saw. This box was built to the size of the tool, something I’m getting better at.

           This lumber was also scented. In this case it was a slight aroma of roses. This was an old drawer, something that should have been thrown out long ago. How do they do that? Not drawer liners or sachets or any of that on-line junk. This wood is probably 80 years old and the scent is very strong when the wood is cut.

           I’ve no time to play today. I was in to the silver store, but they are not buying today. Depending on how you keep your books, the bar charge these days is around $7 per ounce. The stores are more like concrete bank vaults. The coin dealerships are mostly “family” owned, and by the same family that has all the jewelry stores kind of sewn up.
           Enjoy the box, I did, and that was it for the day. I’m experiencing a relapse for give or take a week now. I know the drill, I need to keep mildly active and it will pass. A chance to get to the small projects and in the process find all kinds of neat gear I forgot I had. I rate my recovery, on a darn good day, at around 45%.

Picture of the day.
Airplane in clouds.
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           This is another “failed” box in that for me it is stained too dark to see any logos. But most people who’ve seen it, that would be over at the Thrift, really like it. It’s an ordinary F-box tested in the dunk tank. You bet I have a favorite compliment by now. It’s when people abruptly ask, “You built this?”

           Yes, and I build more small boxes the later it is in the month. Money remains awful tight, but my situation does not compare to what’s out there. You know, I take a somewhat grim satisfaction listening to the countryside complain. It’s no secret I loathe people who put on airs and double that if they do it with borrowed money. To me that is just another form of gambler, and I have very little use or sympathy for that crowd. It is a matter of degree, of course, because we all must gamble somewhere.
           In fact, I’ll make a wager right now. I’m an old guy in a small house with some leaky sheds in the back. Other people live in fancier houses, with cable TV, so here is my bet. I’ve got a hundred bucks says, where I would not go near such a lifestyle, there are 10,000 of them who would trade places with me in an wink. There, the most rhetorical bet in Florida this century yet.

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