9:45 AM Update – Father’s Day New panels are in place – done before breakfast as implied: They should make 240W each – which means the only action points (into hour-long blocks) will be removing the old wiring, measure and premake the extensions, mount junction boxes, complete wiring, taping. Memo to DIY home solar builders: … Read More
Today, we’re going to turn you into a competent basic radio operator. It may be a much longer report than usual, but it’s a four-day weekend for many, so what the hell, right? Much of this morning’s discussion will apply to radios other than the ATS-25 (and its many variants) that may be purchased on … Read More
Monday on a Tuesday – cool invention! Is this a great country, or what? Because of the “breaking” natures of events, the submarine search is better handled by outfits like Sky News. Housing Vs. Interest Rates Just dropped by the FedGov is today’s report on Housing Starts. What gets to be the “interesting calculus going … Read More
A short rap on Mental Topologies is a useful (Big Brain People) prequel today. “Regular” understanding of IQ as a semi-Gaussian normal distribution” among humans is oh so terribly flawed I could just wet myself. See, dimensioning humans (rendering concepts down to 2D) is hopeless Reductionism for the mentally short-changed. Multispectral Humanity becomes apparent as a … Read More
With the return of George2 (KF7OCD) to family lands, the interest in having a “rock-em-sock-em winter on the low frequency ham radio bands is back in focus. There’s a whole PowerPoint on what needs to be done. But when it’s warm is a great time to launch antennas into trees. Or, climbing gear-equipped sons. It’s axiomatic … Read More
Yeah, well…since we do call this the ShopTalk column, every once in a so-often, we like to actually build something. Big, important, flexible, resilience oriented toward local manufacturing and sustainability builds. What we’re doing today is a whole “soup to nuts” build of a Sainsmart 3018 Pro CNC that I’ve had sitting in the project queue … Read More
Although I got the major PITA project I’ve been putting off partly done Saturday, the real satisfaction came from wiring up the BBQ outlet this week. However, it was a fine study in how “little projects” can turn into Big ones on the clock. The idea sounded simple enough. We had run an extension cord from … Read More
Say, there’s a symbiotic relationship for you. Let’s roll the Gross Domestic Product out first. Because you have already suspected what the real agenda of higher prices has been. Real gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annual rate of 2.6 percent in the fourth quarter of 2022 (table 1), according to the “third” estimate released … Read More
Ah, the Country Life. Yessir, if you live in the Big City, it’s a dream. Why, just imagine! Eating fresh food out of your own garden. Pure country air. No traffic noises. Low stress. Ultimately relaxing and rewarding…. Well, no. Not exactly. During our ShopTalk Sunday adventures will tell you the upside – and the downsides … Read More
Although I got a lot done this week, including some long-winded columns both here and on the Peoplenomics site, the two greatest accomplishments in making for a better spring were getting our income taxes done and repairing the lawnmower. “Wait? The NEW Mower?“ Yeah, buddy. The NEW mower. Which we bought from Lowes, and which … Read More
This whole “Woke” thing is on the rocks. But, sadly, not giving up without a fight. Case #1: Lightfoot Out As we told subscribers: “Woke Got Fired.” As The Hill reports: The Memo: Lightfoot is latest Democrat to fall to anger over crime. Nor will Lightfoot likely be the last. We hear from people in Oregon, … Read More
Actual progress around the Ure joint, even with the house guest this week. Elaine’s son is an extremely useful fellow. Having run something of a Home Handyman Service before going to work for the post office. Hard to explain to people sometimes, how useful (and valuable!) that wide range of “hands-on” work can be. Seems … Read More
I keep looking for Educators to get sick of re-dividing America. Rather than tell us how we are “All different” and “All special” it would be refreshing – as we see it – to bring back at least some baseline “Not a Victim” hands-on skills. I looked over the last month of two of Amazon … Read More