Tag Archives: technology

Not for Me to Say

Posted in Uncategorized by

Many, many moons ago, I watched something of a documentary on the construction of a bridge over a river. I can’t remember but it might have been the Mississippi. I want to call to your attention the part near the end of the construction.

They had prepared the road bed and put out the order for the concrete, 109 trucks full of it. They said that they were a day ahead of schedule and stood a good chance of avoiding any time penalty. The trucks were on the way with who knows how many tons of concrete mixing, when they all had to stop. It seems that there was a man on the bridge talking suicide.

Then, of course, the immediate question that comes to mind is, what to do with tons of concrete? I guess the drivers might start looking for folks who would like a new drive way or, maybe swimming pool. Not too many people looking for big artificial rocks in their front yard.

Maybe when they decide to deliver large amounts of concrete, they might have an alternate delivery point. I mean, when the concrete is on the way, it’s too late to dig that pool or prepare that road.

Worse, it can’t be dumped just anywhere. Imagine the panic, if you will, for each and every one of those drivers when they realized they needed to find a place to get rid of, oh, a few pounds of concrete, like really fast. If that stuff sets in that big thing that turn, it means a lot of time and hard work to chisel it out.

From what I understand, problems like this occur more than than most would know, though not so large. In this case, the suicidal man cost the construction company the cost of 109 trucks of concrete, the penalty of not finishing on time, extra payroll, etcetera, etcetera, and so forth. The company took a big loss instead of nice big profit.

As I watched, I felt really bad for that construction company, taking such a big loss through no fault of their own. More than that, it was a huge waste of concrete.

It also made me consider a possible way to at least decrease some of the losses. What if, in large projects such as this, they wait to add the water until they are on site. In this case, not only would they have saved the money but the concrete too. They would also pour the concrete at just the right time for maximum strength.

Then again, it’s not for me to say. It’s likely why no one would let me run one of those big outfits.

News on EV’s

Posted in Uncategorized by

I’ve seen several articles on new solid batteries for EV cars. They are talking about lifetimes of a million miles and ranges of 800 to 1000 miles.

Well, you and I know how much we can trust articles on the internet. Nonetheless, the articles are more common and they are starting to convince me.

Naturally, there is still the problem with charging them. Even if you get chargers that can completely charge the batteries in one hour, you are going to be talking a very large one, at least twice what is on the current chargers. At this point, we are having a difficult time getting the current chargers distributed.

How-some-ever, if they can work out all these kinks, we just might start having a lot more electric cars on the road.

Well, there is one more hitch. Like with me. I need to make sure the temp is over 40 degrees before I start charging my batteries. I’m thinking about putting a tent over it and put a heater in it. When it’s ten degrees, I just need to raise the temp 30.

Alternately, I can put a heater under it, where the batteries are, and let the warm air rise to warm the batteries. That would work, if I don’t set the car afire. I sure am glad I don’t live in Alaska, or even Montana.

Drone-ology

Posted in Uncategorized by

Okay. I am no expert on drones but I have noted a few things maybe not thought of by others. I must say, I was thrown a little curve by a news report Saturday until I figured it out.

The news was reporting school bus sized drones. I had a hard time buying that. Most private drones aren’t nearly that size. Then I put my brain in gear and I figured it out. A good group of folks with drones can really play tricks on people. If one of these guys had 8 or 10 drones programed to fly together at set distances apart and at programmed positions, they could easily look look like one big drone. I have seen it demonstrated.

Incidentally, if you took a rifle to a group of drones like this and aimed at the center of the large apparent drone, the bullet would likely go right through the midst of all the drones and miss them all. A person might go through a couple of magazines trying to shoot down one of these really “big drones,” and never hit one of them. I mean 95 % of what looks like one of these bus sized drones would be nothing but air.

I would suspect someone is playing a joke on us. Otherwise, why do they only fly at night.

Incidentally, if they want to disappear, they could turn the lights out and scatter. They might find one or two of the actual drones but the pseudo-huge-drone would vanish into thin air.

Regardless, if our department of defense can’t figure it all out, it is another reason for getting Pete in there as fast as possible. It is time to get these idiots out of there that were appointed by the dems. I mean, it has been going on for what, a week, maybe a little more and so far they have determined effectively nothing. If the prankster’s stopped, no one would ever find out anything.

Maybe, He Would Have Been a Good Man to Know

Posted in Uncategorized by

I have no earthly idea what brought the subject up, but during a conversation, I mentioned that the guy that invented the pull tab made millions off of it. Suddenly, I was the center of attention. Everyone else had forgotten the throw away tab.

So now I have another thought that makes me feel old. I can’t believe that it was that long ago that the throwaway tabs have gone the way of the dinosaur. I guess you ask 10 people if they remember them and seven of them will look at you like your nuts. (at least 6)

Just for grins, I looked up the thing on the internet. Yeah, I found some writeups on them, though they seem to conflict somewhat so I hesitate to quote anything. From my own personal experience, it seems the stay-in-place tab came out in the early 80s. Seems to me, I was returning cans without tabs at least a couple of years into the 80s.

However, this much, I did find out, the man that invented the throwaway tab died with 40 million in the bank, so to speak. It is a shame. I never got to know the man. I would have liked to. I am sure he wouldn’t have objected to me borrowing a million or two. And, of course, if I forgot to pay him back, he’d not have missed it.

As an aside, while I was reading, my memory was jarred. I mean, do you remember the days you needed a can opener to open cans. That’s right. Don’t much care for it but they used to call them church keys. Regardless, I haven’t seen one in years. It would seem they have gone the way of the buggy whip.

And, here’s something else. The drink cans were made from steel. As I read it, I remember it now. However, up until then, it had completely left my memory. Can you remember drinking beverages from steel cans? Just figured I’d remind you. No reason for me to the only one to feel old.

Finally, don’t know how much truth is in it, but the story goes that the idea of a stay-in-place tab idea came from a doctor who swallowed one of the throw away tabs at a baseball game.

I had always thought the reason for inventing the stay-in-place tabs was the ecology. Apparently, many kids had swallowed the tabs and they decided to fix that problem.

I’m Not Going to Try to Figure It Out

Posted in Uncategorized by

I guess about a year now, I noticed that I got most of the local channels except five, (NBC) on the antenna. A few days ago, I lost all channels, every one. After trying many other things, I tried doing a TV reset. (It makes the TV as if new.) As an aside, I had already tried to do a channel search and all that happened was the TV just looked at me as if I am dumb. Maybe I am for looking at the thing anyway.

At any rate, just for grins, I decided to do another channel search after I reset the TV. This time the search actually started, which was my first good sign. I mean I had already tried the usual stuff. You know, turn it off and on, unplug it, wait ten minutes and plug it in again and of course stand on my head, stand on one leg and rub my belly and the top of my head at the same time.

Thankfully, to my surprise, the reset seemed to work. Don’t ask me why. Before I retired, I used to work on electronics. Mind you, I worked on it. The more I worked on it the less I understood about it.

Wait. I’m not done. As I was going through the channels, I realized I had channel 5. If I had never reset the TV, I’d have never figured that out. The TV does not allow me to add channels. The only way I can do that, I have to do a full channel search. (I’m still trying to figure out why the engineers did it that way. It does create problems that I won’t confuse you with right now.)

At any rate, I picked up the NBC affiliate, channel 5, WMC-TV as well as seven more sub channels, including a news channel. Mostly, I don’t much care about anything but the news.

So, just for grins, I decided to watch the Chiefs football game. I ask you, can any one football team win more close calls? I mean, the kicker almost missed a chip shot. At first glance, I thought he did.

I am sure to the one team, it will be a night of celebration. On the other hand, I mean the other team was ahead and they almost won.

And to think, if the TV hadn’t messed up and made me rescan the channels, I’d have missed a pretty good game. And by the way, I do have the news channel now too.

Then, today, on the news, I heard a notification that WMC-TV did some work on their transmitter, making the signal stronger and added 7 substations. The suggested that we, all of us antenna users, rescan the channels. I don’t think any of the other stations would have made the suggestion. So I would not have heard the prompt to rescan the station.

So, I guess, when my TV went out on me the other day, maybe that was a good thing, though it did cause me a lot of confusion and anger. Who knows, if they keep adding channels to the antenna TV stations, I might have a better selection than when I had cable. The hitch is, I won’t know until I rescan the channels.

Odd as it is, strange as it seems, I think the picture clarity is better on the antenna than on the cable. If it is, I don’t think the cable companies will be nice enough to tell us.

The Magnet Theory

Posted in Uncategorized by

The magnet theory is simple. If you let illegal aliens stay in this country, more will want to come. Yet many well meaning people want to overlook it for various reasons.

They say, if they behave themselves, if they pay taxes and fines, etc. etc…, then let them stay. This overlooks the magnet theory. If you let them stay in any way shape or form, then more will come.

I have my own theory. If you seal the borders, if you send all illegal aliens home, if you record fingerprints and DNA immediately, and if you pass a law that anyone caught living here illegally, they will never, never, ever be allowed citizenship here. The DNA will help enforce this.

Incidentally, it would also stop them from trying to claim unrelated children as kin. It is a process used to “import” child and slave labor.

If these things are done, instantly, those illegally entering this country would drop off to virtually nothing.

In the end, it is more humane. They would not be risking life, limb and rape to get here. It would stop the slave labor. It would drastically reduce the drug and slave trade.

As long as we permit the magnet to remain, dangers of the cartels will persist, south and north of the border, to aliens and American citizens alike. (perhaps, even more for the Americans)

The Problem With Pseudo-Buttons

Posted in Uncategorized by

My cell phone rings. I pick it up before it rings the second time. It’s easy. I carry it in my shirt pocket. However, I slip up and touch some part of the face of it. SUDDENLY, the pseudo-button I need to use to answer the phone is gone. For some reason, I am looking at some internet screen advertising something I have less than any interest in, and I start searching frantically for those elusive buttons.

I find it and I start to press it as I hear the last ring and the button disappears. It brings to mind another one of my pet complaints, the CEO affect. That’s the one I wrote about a long time ago. You remember it. It is when the CEO of the company never uses his product so he never knows the problems with the things he makes.

I can’t swear to it, but I’d guess the CEO of the company that makes my not so smart phone, does not use the phone he sells. Now I ask you, does that make sense?

I ask you, what is the problem with making the phone so as I can answer it any time it is ringing. Am I asking too much?

As an aside, I really don’t use my phone to surf the web. I have a computer and a pad for that. I have large hands and fingers. I do find it difficult to push those small buttons. Moreover, I am old. I have to wear glasses to read the screen. Some of the stuff on the screen is too small to see even with my magnifiers.

Hint for CEOs: Lock the screen on the phone while it is ringing, please. I don’t need to see some shoe ad while I am answering the phone. Actually, I don’t need to see shoe ads on my phone at all.

One more little thing on my wish list. Can we actually disable the screen while I am not using my phone. The batteries would last longer, you know.

New Things

Posted in Uncategorized by

I sent off for another Amazon Fire. It’s my 5th and it will replace my T-Mobile tablet. I’ve got to admit, the tablet has been good. It has done most of what I wanted. However, I have drop-checked one too many times and the face keeps coming off of it. It is a bit frustrating having to keep putting it back.

However, not only was it only 7 inches, I am divorcing myself from T-Mobile. The tablet costs me $50 a month and I don’t need that. The Fire will do all that the tablet did but a lot cheaper without the phone line. Also, I will have to be close to a network to send or receive anything with the Fire.

The fire is 10 inches and the battery will last longer. There is one thing that I must fuss at. Moving files back and forth between my computer is not so easy, as it was with my new phone. Don’t know why they make that kind of improvement, but I am managing. Most important, after initial setup, I won’t be transferring much between my fire and computer. Most all will be going directly through the network.

Something did happen that did confuse me some. Maybe I need to converse with someone that understands how these new things work. I played a song on my Fire and it came out the speakers on my computer. I’m not sure I can change that. I hope I will be able to play things on the Fire without the the computer. The small hitch is that I haven’t a clue about how good the sound system is on the Fire.

I have a Rukku TV, almost new. I’m not totally sure, but I am beginning to think I can cast the image and sound from the Fire onto the TV. I don’t have a clue why I’d want to do that, but I guess, if I can, I might keep that in mind.

Something tells me, this new Fire will be full of all kinds of surprises.

As an aside, does anyone know anything about Hugh’s internet. T-Mobile is getting too expensive. Already I have decided to terminate my phone service with them. I also have internet with with them. I just might be stuck with them for a while anyway. It’s either that or do my internet work at the library, which I may do if T-Mobile keeps causing me grief.

By the way, does anyone know why it is that they won’t let us just copy stuff to and from the phones as they used to. It really worked good until I got this computer.

New Tech, Old Tech

Posted in Uncategorized by

Considering the attempted assassination, you may consider me a little confused. In this day and age of relatively inexpensive drones, why in the world did they not have a dozen or so in the air around that golf course. It would be nice if one spotted the man with the gun. The big thing is, the gunman would have seen the drones and likely would have turned tail and run a long time before he had a chance to use the gun.

Moreover, why didn’t they have a few men with dogs walk the perimeter of the golf course, paying particular attention to to the wooded area. I mean, don’t they train the agents to pay particular attention to places that make good hiding areas. It would not have taken a sharp eye. The dogs have the equipment needed to smell them out. Moreover, even if they didn’t sell out the man, if the dogs got close, it would likely be enough to flush the man out. If they got a hundred yards away, he would have likely went running… at which point the drones would have been able to follow him. That is, if the dogs didn’t run him down first.

They keep talking about budget restrictions. How much would the cost be fort half a dozen drones and four men with dogs. Moreover, it is not a requirement that all the drones be for observation. It would not cost much to have a dozen “dummy” drones buzzing the area just for appearances.

The Benefit of a Plan “B”

Posted in Uncategorized by

Somewhere around 2010 they shut down the shuttle program, in essence discounting the most of the space program.

To most of us, it was a small thing. However, it was then that thousands discovered that they had no plan “B.” Many had families. The vast majority had bills, big bills. They likely had a little savings, not nearly enough. Many panicked. Many went down to the local hamburger place and found out that that plan “B” wouldn’t work. They weren’t hiring. Worse, the restaurants were making their money off the those that were were working for NASA. …And now, very few were working for NASA. And it was even worse. Had they got hired on and worked 60 hour weeks, they would not make the house payment. Just can’t do that on minimum wage.

It was something of a local depression. They all would have gladly sold apples but no one was buying apples. They would have gone into construction, but there were suddenly many vacancies. There was no need to build new homes. People were leaving by the thousands. It would have been a real good time to have a bunch of money to invest in real estate. The depression of land values was short. A person with a little spare change in his pocket had the chance to buy low and sell high.

Nonetheless, back to my point. It was those who had the good Plan “B” that did well. Unfortunately, there were not many. I mean, where does an aeronautic engineer go to find a job. They had one possible employer and there just weren’t many other places hiring.

I don’t know, but I would guess that most of those who had houses left. In many cases, they likely simply abandoned their homes, unable to sell them. I don’t know. It might have been one of those times it would have been better to rent. That way, it would be landlords who would be the losers when everyone started moving out.

I don’t have any idea what they all did, but I can guess it was whatever they could find, even if it was digging ditches. There is no telling how far they move from their former homes before they could find someone who would hire them.

It was worse than the catch 22. No one wanted to hire someone they knew would have to train, and then lose the instant someone starts building rockets again. It is the perfect example of being overqualified. So, suddenly, they wished they learned how to build houses, did plumbing or air conditioning in their spare time. At least then, they could go to an employer and say I already know how….

I was one of those who didn’t have a Plan “B,” though not part of the space program. I was making good money repairing computers. Then one day, I was called into the boss’s office in the late 1980’s. Need I say more.

In one day, the corporation of UNISYS decreased its employees by twenty percent. It was devastating not just to me, but to the rest of the20%. But I did see it coming. I hoped to avoid it, but hope just does not always work.

Oh, and by the way, my oldest son just started college. Wish I had had a plan “B.” They come in so handy when things suddenly happen, even when it isn’t so sudden.