ShopTalk Sunday: Buggy 3D Prints at Invention Alley

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 2D distribution is expanded with the addition of a second (and more) axes.  Right-left brain skew along learnable skills regions demonstrates right-brain people do better in language and music while “left brainers” are procedurally and mathematically inclined.

Brilliant fellow named Gregorc built a marvelous assessment tool call the Style Delineator to help those of us with a research/analytic bent.

Which warms me up to the useful “learning load” embedded in our ShopTalk framework:  People have varying ADHDLQs,

What’s an ADHDLQ?”

Odd you should ask!  I’ll keep this simple.

Just as everyone’s brain is conditioned into more, or less, mathematical or intuitive inclinations (that which partly cleaves math and poetic brains *(until they keep going long enough to rediscover Unity)…  So too, in the Shop Setting, some people have nearly zero-tolerance for certain kinds of (intricate, manual) work.  While others eat that detail-level shit up.

Specifically, then, ADHDLQ is our shorthand for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Learning (or Labor) Quotient.

Even within families, you will see wide variances.  For example, when I’m faced with a 3D printing problem, I dig-in – starting with re-tramming the machine – and then re-calibrating.

Since not everyone here is a present or past Society of Broadcast Engineers member, I’ll just remind that one aspect of high complexity electronics is there are so many “moving parts” to making a really great ham radio (or commercial radio) installation “play” well.

  • Tramming is the “initial assembly to make sure mechanically somethings are useable.  In ham radio, it may be the hardware abstraction settings in digital modes or simply the replacement of a noisy control.  In 3D Printing or CNC, tramming is setting up basic mechanicals.
  • Calibrating is the “useability adjustments” associated with a piece of equipment.  In 3D or CNC, each axis must be calibrated, and step congruence assured.  While in ham radio, a complex radio alignment process may take hours.
  • Installation follows.  In 3D and CNC installation includes uploading (and slicing as required) of a basic .STL file into a properly “sliced” layer boundary stack of g-code.
  • Operating Adjustments are then applied.  Depending on the fine-tuning level.  It might be an auto-leveling of a bed in 3D, surfacing mapping in CNC, or band, filter, and DSP selections in a ham radio.

Many people have little to no patience for the detail level.  This week, G2 (KF7OCD) turned on one of our Icom 761s.  The fluorescent display was wonky.  “Dad, when are you going to fix that?”

A moment of convo revealed G2 not only didn’t know what the problem was, but because his alt. life is medicine and firefighting, he doesn’t often have time to do the research to fix something complex from the ground up.  Lower ADHDLQ *=*labor quotient or learning quotient.  “When we show up at a fire of incident, everything just has to WORK.”

Other people are different.  In overcoming my own ADHDLQ deficiency years back, I glommed on to the notion of process and began to apply that to everything in sight.  The Icom 761 display problem is (90 percent confidence interval) a chip called inverter D6 on the display board.  One of the (very few) known issues with what is widely reviewed as one of the best ham radios ever made for HF SSB and digital modes. Cold solder joint suspected at D6.

See the difference? Guys like G2 (and my buddy The Major) are very much time-focused outcome managers.  There are, however, some of us (at other places on the brain topology map) who are keen on learning EVERYTHING humanly possible.  Which is one of the themes in my next book (Gods in Training) that I’ll ramble about more, later.

Longish first point here?

People who love learning EVERYTHING about life make dandy Generalists.  We are not interested in the superficial of anything.  It’s a God-given divine experience to be able to enjoy a semi-eidetic memory and teach it to serve interests as diverse as electronics, sailing, flying, and construction. Sadly, a LOT of people squander this birthright due to laziness or societal conditioning which is why extraterrestrials don’t come visit the Primate House so often.  But again, another digression…

Invention Alley

When you get serious about kitting out your home shop, set up at least a dozen specific operations stations (workstations) and ignore people telling you their (incredibly limiting) one workbench theory.  It’s wrong for anyone with a higher IQ.  There’s simply too much going on (in a truly vital life) to be “boxed in to the point of useless.”

Invention Alley here, consists of the following specific “work stations:”

  • The “General Bench” for take apart, reassembly of general items.
  • The table saw station.
  • Compound sliding miter saw station
  • Jointer station
  • Sanding stations (vertical oscillating, belt, and disk sanders)
  • Drill Press station
  • Band Saw stations (ferrous metal, wood/plastics/nonferrous)
  • Jewelry making and rockhounding station
  • Laser engraving station
  • CNC PCB milling station
  • Large format 3D printing station
  • Small format 3D printing station – these last 3 look like this:

  • Outside the door is the welding station.
  • The paint station outside.
  • I’ll be doing a rebuild of the metalworking stations in coming weeks:
    • The box and pan brake for bending sheet metal
    • The manual milling machine
    • And the 9×20 geared metal lathe.

Anyway, just a ton of fun stuff here. But the real point is that in order to remain highly productive, multiple workstations and a couple of simple roll around carts (a general tools cart, and a fasteners cart) allow you to make super quick work of almost any project.

Now, we have two short “interesting learnings” which came through from The Shop this week.

Story #1  Vevor CNC Assy

I had a delightful time this week assembling the new CNC for PCB routing.  Got one of those VEVOR complete 3018Pro kits complete with the clear plastic enclosure.

The enclosure was this week’s learning point.

The basic box is simple to assemble. But the front is entirely attached with 3M magnetic strips.  I put them all on, but they kept coming off in the head (85F in the shop is warmish!).

They wouldn’t stick as the adhesive didn’t have the “stickum to stick ’em” if you follow.  It was while mentally writing the scathing review for Amazon, it occurred to me that there was a length of 3M “tissue” included in the Vevor kit that wasn’t explained in the instructions.

So, I hit the web, wondering what Mr. Know It All didn’t know about mounting of magnetic strips.  What had I found?

3M makes a transfer medium.  In other words, it’s an adhesive layer that goes directly onto the metal frame and (with the paper removed to expose what is thin double-sided tape, the adhesive side of the magnetic tape goes on this.  NOT the bare metal.

Found a super short – very learned 3M discussion of the technology here:  3M™ Double Coated and Adhesive Transfer Tapes – YouTube.

Turns out, once I figured out that the tissue tape was really adhesive transfer tape, I cleaned up and restarted, this time using the transfer tape UNDER the magnetic tape.

Worked like a charm and hasn’t even loosened.

Rating Vevor I’m torn between four stars (for not making this additional tape layer more clear to idiots like me.  Or give them five stars for at least trying to have smart customers.  After all, even I was able to brain it out in the end.

This was the third (and last) CNC build for a while.  Of all of them, the Vevor was the most “finished” with little niceties like knobs on the end of the X and Y axis threaded rods to make it easier to position…

Story #2: Buggy Print! 

I had some aging (2-year-old) filament coming up on use date, so I decided to run off a couple of small waste baskets (one per workstation, right?).  As I walked by, though, something caught my eye:  Dirt in the print!

OK, back to the beginning of the print to see what might have gone wrong:

Yes sir – in the red circle there are what look like the semi-encapsulated remains of a couple of “millers” – the light-seeking moths of East Texas at this time of year.

I tried the same filament, same printing and keeping the lights off at night to avoid bugs getting interested in that oh-so-yummy smelling PLA filament… a clean print was produced.

Who would have thought?

As a result? Been eyeing plastic to make up a tall enclosure for the CR10.  Haven’t found anything I like yet – the black plastic “tent” type enclosures look too tacky for my tastes.  Maybe some problems really were better handled with DDT…

This being a holiday weekend, and markets closed Monday, our offering tomorrow is destined to be short and to the point.

I’ll try to remember to take a couple of acerbic pills, though.  Just to keep it interesting.

Write when you get rich,

George@Ure.net

42 thoughts on “ShopTalk Sunday: Buggy 3D Prints at Invention Alley”

  1. I have been encouraged the past short while with the backlash against the “woke” movement. I do believe that good people are still in the majority and have decided to fight back with one of the best ways – our wallets.

    The number one beer “Bud Light” sitting on shelves unsold or given away for free. Target Stores begging for customers and stock is plunging. And then to watch the Dodgers stadium seats almost empty for a celebration of a horrible group of people, gives me some hope. The majority seem to be speaking up.

    Is it too late? Maybe. But damn it feels good to get some wins.

    Happy Fathers Day.

    • As a long-time Dodger fan, I think their bowing to the fake nuns was in the same league as the Bud Lite stupidity. The last two games have been terrible, with the boys in blue looking, and performing like bush leagers.
      Actions have consequences, when people (customers, fans, taxpayers) get fed up.

  2. Happy Fathers day G…. hope you have a great one..
    we are smoking a brisket.. so we shall see how the sandwiches taste this evening LOL..

      • Been thinking about having a smoke (good cigar), no inhaling as puffing only is what I now do, this evening on the creek deck. A nice sipping rum while listing to the babbling brook seems in order.

        Everyone have a wonderful day today and everyday.

        Cheers

      • LOL LOL LOL LOL

        speaking about tobacco … a person should save up for hemp and sunflower seeds.. if this lights up.. and we go nuclear.. those two plants love to consume radioactive waste.. turns it into something more beneficial..
        https://www.himalayanhemp.in/post/how-can-hemp-help-in-cleaning-up-radiations-from-nuclear-sites-in-india-like-pokhran-and-karwar

        https://youtu.be/En0pWjMwFzo
        He is absolutely correct in almost everything.. because of the life experiences I have endured and survived.. I learned how to do so much more.. I can literally make all the guilty pleasures.. my wife ( aka the boss) loves a glass of wine.. well the year we went without an income I learned how.. or hope I learned how.. I truly don’t know if my endeavors are palatable or not.. but the first few batches tasted like fuel..today except for the dandelion.. I kept it where i liked the taste .. and so far no one likes it but me LOL.. but I hope that what I make is at least worthy to drink and enjoy..
        but I had to learn how to make the things I needed..
        https://youtu.be/En0pWjMwFzo
        no money I had to learn how to make chocolate.. and cereal sausages..
        ( I learned that because I wanted to .. I love making potato bologna.. but I am the only one that eats sausages here.. so ten pounds will last a year.. same way with bologna etc.. my father in law made them and that is what they grew up with.. same way with me and OREOS.. I get nauseous if I see the package.. not a thing wrong with the cookie.. I do keep them in the snack tray I won’t be eating them though )
        What he failed to do is mention that no one person can do it.. which is why the community emergency plan was written the way it is.. ( I helped construct the plan) to be a community.. know who in your community knows how to knit or sew make clothing has a loom etc.. is a hunter trapper and fisherman..( I am not those things.. I know where my food comes from but I am not the one to do the dirty deed.. one look from those brown eyes and it is over.. they live a long life)
        whitch makes me wonder.. the town parade is coming.. I wonder if I shouldn’t set up a booth and show the kids how corn puffs is made LOL or cheeto’s.. LOL.. take my meat mixer and make cheetos for everyone or peanut puffs.. yumm..
        https://www.amazon.com/Funny-Frisch-Flippies-Classic-Erdnussflips/dp/B003TUIJJ2
        https://youtu.be/knVsY4Z1g00
        https://youtu.be/ez0DJIjZ3T0
        https://youtu.be/U2Sq67juW8M
        that last video is real good at showing how you add just a little bit of water to the cornmeal.. salt to..
        1 cup butter
        2 cups brown sugar
        ½ cup corn syrup
        ½ tsp salt
        ½ tsp baking soda/Bi-Carb
        ½ tsp cream of tartar
        ½ tsp vanilla
        cook that until the sugar clears.. after it has boiled for a couple of minutes.. then put in a half tsp of baking soda and a half tsp of cream of tarter.. and a tablespoon of vanilla extract.. put your corn puffs in the mixer.. and then pour the mixure over the puffs as you turn the mixer.. coating all the puffs.. then lay them out on a flat pan and bake.. if you have a rotissery then that is even better.. put them in the rotissery to turn while the coating dries..
        its the same with peanut puffs or cheetos.. cheese.. make the cheese powder.. coat them then heat them for a few minutes in the oven..
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-F5euUtyXM
        wheat puffs rice puffs and corn puffs are made this way..
        heat it to ten pounds of pressure then pull the handle.. easy peasy.. you can coat them with a sugar glaze if you want sweetened corn pops or wheat puffs..
        I gave away a small home one a few years ago.. just big enough to make one or two bowls of cereal at a time LOL..

  3. Question for the crew. Has anyone here had any experiences with or using Oxygenated Water?
    Just wondering about possible benefits for those who might be helped with a bit more oxygen in their systems.

    • TT. I don’t think there is any harm in drinking oxygenated water but there are some caveats.

      Humans get most of their blood oxygen from the respiratory system not from the digestive system. A couple of deep breaths will introduce far more oxygen to the system than gallons of oxygenated water.

      Oxygenated water should be prepared with pristine water devoid of any microbes since oxygen enhances the microbial breeding ground. Even contaminating the water after opening is a potential for problems. I would not drink any commercial oxygenated water after its expiry date.

      If you want to purchase an oxygenator and make your own oxygenated water, it may be the cheapest way. I think purchasing commercial oxygenated water is probably a good way to separate you from funds that could be better spent.

      A completely different subject is structured water. George had some discussion on the site about this a few months ago. As a career water chemist I was somewhat skeptical but I was intrigued. I promised George I would study it and get back to him with some thoughts.

      I have just finished reading a book I purchased back then titled “Living Rainbow H2O” by Mae-Wan. It is a fascinating deep dive into elements of water that I had never heard of in my career. It is pretty heavy slogging and I don’t recommend it for the casual reader. The following article is perhaps better reading for the layperson.

      https://healthnews.com/longevity/biohacking/structured-water-legit-science-or-a-hoax/

      While the science continues to be controversial, there is enough evidence from good scientists for me in the book I just read to suggest that this phase of water that I never studied in my career is legitimate and may have health benefits. Thankfully, I kept an open mind after I retired.

      Hope this is of some help.

        • His work is covered very well in the book I just read. He is a true scientist and worthy of respect unlike some of the “scientists” we suffered through during COVID. There are a couple of lines in the video I love.

          “Things are not always as they seem to be,”
          “Science is a search for the truth.”

          Without scientists like Pollack who challenge existing thinking, we would still be living in the Stone Age.

      • Thank you for that…..
        I did it out of curiosity and my mother when I was little would go out with her rocks and pour the water over them into the pitcher.. she had her water rocks.. and crystals that she loved..the gentleman that had terminal cancer that was an interesting conversation and he had the healthiest cows I have ever seen..

        https://www.amazon.com/Living-Rainbow-H2O-Mae-Wan-Ho/dp/9814390895/ref=sr_1_1?

        https://www.academia.edu/6167570/Living_Rainbow_H2O_by_Mae_Wan_Ho_World_Scientific

      • TT, to pile on to BiC, if you read George’s column and the comments on “structured water” you understand one of the bays to build it is to throw some water into a blender and zap it for a couple minutes. If you are truly interested in “oxygen water,” you can roll your own by dropping a small quantity of food-grade hydrogen peroxide into the water in the blender and stirring it for many minutes, instead of a few.

        Should you decide to experiment, which I don’t recommend, I strongly suggest your first step be to build or buy a still and feed it with “purified water” before you distill it. I also strongly suggest you hang on every word BiC says, on the subject of water.

        What I would suggest instead, is that you acquire an alkalizing device, figure out how to use it to raise the ph of your drinking water to only between 7.2 and 7.5,* then dump the result in a blender to structure it.

        *Alkalizing pitchers are not expensive. Both pitchers and other devices are advertised to raise water ph to, between 9.5 and 10.5. IMO this is much too high, unless one is being treated by a doctor, for a specific ailment like a kidney issue. The idea is to drink water, not lye, and it’d be nice if that water tasted good…

    • now i am the kitchen gadget huy..the wife freaks out if a new kitchen gadget cones out because i will more than likely have one …yes i do have experiencewith oxyg r nated water.. our water filter has an ozone generator on it..so does our laundry. now if your thinking ablut using food grade hydrogen peroxide then i have a story.. I worked years ago making cleaning chemicals.. we had a hospital that had mold in the grout anyway we went to make a cleaner with hydrogen peroxide..they didn’t have any at the dealer but they knew a farmer that bought barrels of it..
      he was given three weeks to live with terminal csncer and got into a trial at the mayo clinic.
      what it was was putting 3 drops of food grade hydrogen peroxide in a full glass of water three times a day.. he would put a cup of it in a tank per week for his cows to..curious me said..so how’s that working for you..his three weeks to live was twenty years earlier.. the study they did was on the miracle waters at Lourdes..now I always have a bottle of food grade hydrogen peroxide in the fridge.. we use it for disinfectant for water.
      for drinking we have one of these..
      https://www.amazon.com/Hydrogen-Alkaline-Generator-Dispenser-Operation/dp/B07FR5V8PY/ref=mp_s_a_1_4?crid=3781VKAI5G4DC&keywords=GOSOIT+Hydrogen+Alkaline+Pitcher&qid=1687125044&sprefix=gosoit+hydrogen+alkaline+pitcher%2Caps%2C593&sr=8-4
      has it helped..heck I don’t know..
      I ozone the water to o totally brlieve in ozone generators and i have several…but I do that with the tap water..ozone de-gas and filter.. now if your going to make bleach.. then you take 1 cup of salt..no additives put it in a jug fill with water.. shake it daily until all the salt disolves.dissolves.. then I have a glow jug with two ports on each side of the handle and two 3/8 carbon rods.. put 12 volts to it and let it work. low amps takes a good day.. test it with chlorine strips.straps.. then when it’s done..pour it in your bleach jug..

  4. Not to sound ‘snarky’.., but you have some great ‘printers’.., it seems that making trash cans is a waste of resources, time and effort.
    – Have you – or do plan on – making something intricate? A multi-level design that actually serves a much needed / wanted purpose ??

    • (No snarky noted) Longish answer deserved:
      OK, OK. We keep this site interesting as hell but NOT threatening to anyone including the People’s representatives. It MAY seem vanila. By Design. Educational. Completely benign.

      If you ever read and STS and wonder “Why hasn’t George shown us how to build a silencer on that lathe of his, or really INTERESTING grownup things?” Because of two simple words. Profile management.

      We have a couple of “class III” types nearby. Kinda like our local QRF.

      Never paint a bullseye on your shirt and walk around a drug neighborhood at night. Nor do we paint a digital one by day, if’n ya’ll follower.

      BUT: Yeah, but there MAY be things (that COULD or MIGHT in tough times) come off the machines that we don’t want to talk about. Lots of us not only KNOW the contents of the Ana___Cookbook, but could do a systems and networks appendix. We don’t, obviously, We’re “all in” on the Constitution and the oathy LEOs. Our views may change if the Constution phase out goes much further. It’s gotten ridiculous. But back to point:

      Even now, for example, IF we created a great and useful new ham radio whizzy (a part for a very restorable radio) as soon as it is revealed publicly, everyone will make a copy. Poof goes value!

      Want some Patton-like Pearl grips for your 1911, yah say? Might notice that pearly white PLA is on sale… https://amzn.to/43MlJA7

      Or maybe something exotic with some electronics to hang on the pic or weaver rail, or…
      Why, a fellow with a ton of ideas and some invention skills might take something like some of this (https://www.electronicspecifier.com/products/sensors/radar-on-chip-for-short-range-radar-applications) and a small display an a chip or three and hang it on a p/w rail… See why we never mention complex, intricate, multispectral noodlings? Like a cheap radar based FLIR alt?

      There’s this thing I call “Trump syndrome.” Not liking Bologna in the Box and all… We learned a song long ago:
      (Crank it up and learn:) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGC4JnXzn1o
      Hence our tastes have run to Sounds of Silence among the dot-connectors…
      Never short-change the tax man. Go along to get along. Until.,

      We’re just living in peace.

      OTOH: Anyone see a set of .stl files for, oh, like an Aimpoint Comp M2/M4s and EOTech’s 553 holographic sight an aimpoint for an AK?

      One of G2’s three-tabber jump buds was by onite last week. All kinds of ideas flying…
      For now, at least, thinking, is not a crime. (My first meeting with someone who listened to me on Coast while deployed in ‘stan.)

      But ham radio parts, got it? HAM RADIO PARTS and PCBs there-for!

      OK, maybe the electronic update of the Breastplate of Aaron for SMD LEDs, and….. Did I mention you could actually build a light-mixer box to blend roughly the right frequencies for each of the gemstones? No?

      Just like we like to teach basic rural farm ideas, we do “industrial arts” – what others do with them is not on us.

      We keep dumbed down and playful here. Because we can’t stop extensible thinking or lines of inquiry. We try not to feed into it, however.

      Longish? Yeah. But perception is reality on this tango-uniform rock pile.

      Let those who build, learn. We’re doing plowshares.

      The Nanny State must, however, in return, leave us the fuck alone. We would not be the folks to get pissy with. We came into this world with a set of rights and we will not leave with any of them gone.

      • How about a ducted-fan, remote controlled drone with a built-in full auto paintball gun? ., and of course, a high-rez camera with thermal imagining. Chase those pesky little raccoons all over the property [& anything else not wanted / invited.]
        I already know how to make, several, “ear-saving-devices” – so that is not necessary. Just something bat-shit crazy cool.

      • I appreciate the simple things like the trash cans..similar to Making a clay candy dish.. you roll it flat then take a broad leaf like a rhubarb leaf.. roll its impression in the clay cut it out..cut around it..then prop the edges up till it dries.. then bake it..
        the simple things before you tackle the more intricate items..I have no experience or knowledge of a 3d printer..I would need the experience of learning the simple things first then work into the other things..

      • through the years I taught myself how to do many things..
        the term practice makes perfect comes to mind.. learning the basics..most things have a lot of the same principles and procedures..once you master the basics then you can expand.
        like the first house I ever built. I had bought a 30 minute video where a beautiful young woman says I’m g onna build a house..the whole time I was going yeah I can do that..then when it came time.. dam this is harder than what was in the video..when I went back to the video it was painfully obvious the skipped over the tough spots..
        it’s the same with industry in t he usa. we outsourced it..the learning curve is you need those experienced laborers that do it..they are all dying off..making the learning curve even harder..

    • I didn’t short over the weekend – but we’ll reassess after the amateur hour’s opening minutes Tuesday.

      Still looks like the market is ready to price in some very, very bad news this weekend.

  5. My summer bicycle project is moving along. I finished the last of the mechanical upgrades last week. The upgrades include:
    -Ergon Core saddle
    -Ergon grips
    -Redshift ShockStop suspension post and stem
    -Axxiom rack
    -2.5″ Kevlar shielded tires
    I did an early 12 mile ride yesterday. My legs would have taken more, but the humidity was so high; the heat index was 106 F with the air temperature only 90 F by mid-afternoon.
    The Core saddle is a keeper. It isn’t soft, but it has just the right amount of flex. The grips I am on the fence about. I’m going to try some new riding gloves with them.
    The Shockstop suspension components are a bicycle bucket list item. They work as advertised. I would suggest the original spring seat post, not the Pro model.
    The Axxiom rack is a keeper as well. I would also suggest an Axxiom Trunk P9 bag for the rack. It is insulated, so a gel pack and a bottle of electrolyte takes care of hydration.
    I will be working on extending my riding range endurance this summer. I have a twelve mile ride with good wide shoulders mapped out for exercise on weekends. Dodging copperheads on the roadway and shoulder is a concern.
    Why the conventional bicycle? It hurts less than walking or jogging for me, and isn’t dependent on electronic technology widgets to function.

    • OK, so going back to my bike riding days: Isn’t there a hell of a lot of rolling friction on those 2.5 mile wide tires? I’m one of those who learned to ride an English Racer with 1″ wide tires at 70 LBS. Zip road friction.

      G1 needs a consult from Bike Shop Mike up in Redmond, I guess… times really have changed in half a cent.?

  6. “Since not everyone here is a present or past Society of Broadcast Engineers member, I’ll just remind that one aspect of high complexity electronics is there are so many “moving parts” to making a really great ham radio (or commercial radio) installation “play” well.

    “SAY HALLELJAH, and put your hands on the radio! “ TM- IMUS in the Morning, WNBC 1972. George, we must be brothers from different mothers. I never knew until later in life with some brain research just how much of an advantage I had, utilizing both halves of my brain more effectively than ‘average’. I learned from an instructor in High School that I had an eidetic memory when I exercised it. I tested easily because I could remember nearly everything from my classes. And as a broadcast engineer. (And an Army digital repair specialist) I could get to the finish line ahead of others because of what I called my multi-spectral approach to problem solving, I consistently ‘got it done’ when others stalled out.

    “It’s a God-given divine experience to be able to enjoy a semi-eidetic memory and teach it to serve interests as diverse as electronics, sailing, flying, and construction. “

    Yeah, my friends always told me I had WAY too many interests. And were frustrated because I was good at all of them. Despite my small closet workbench, I’m still jealous of your expansive workshop. If I had the space and means, I would challenge you there.

    Thinking back… it might run in the family. My sister in MN was a research chemist for 3M. Went to school, worked full time, and raised four kids as a single mother.

  7. You DO know that the first documented computer ‘bug’ was a moth stuck in the relay contacts, right?

  8. “Never paint a bullseye on your shirt and walk around a drug neighborhood at night.”

    You know, this reminds me of something I did when I was young and stupid. To make a long story short, I was in a class in NYC, for undercover work, and there was a Puerto Rican guy named “Speedy” in the class, nice guy, we became friends, he told me to me to meet him one night at a bodega, in a “drug neighborhood” of NYC and we would go around town…
    So I arrived on time, and I was wondering what the hell I was doing in this Puerto Rican drug neighborhood at night… then I remembered what the retired NYC Detective who was teaching the class said… he said when your in a bad neighborhood, stay calm and relaxed, and walk and act like you own the street, show no fear…

    OK, so I enter the bodega, walk calmly up to the cashier and said, with an attitude…

    “I’m looking for Speedy.”

    The cashier’s mouth dropped and he asked…

    “Are you a cop?”

    So it worked, the detective was correct!

    Shortly after that Speedy arrived, and the rest of the evening was like something out the film ‘Carlito’s Way.’

    • “then I remembered what the retired NYC Detective who was teaching the class said… he said when your in a bad neighborhood, stay calm and relaxed, and walk and act like you own the street, show no fear…”

      It has worked for me for many years.

    • ” I remembered what the retired NYC Detective who was teaching the class said… he said when your in a bad neighborhood, stay calm and relaxed, and walk and act like you own the street, show no fear…”

      when I was young and in the military I seen a small club called the bee hive. I walked in and it was a scene from the movie animal house. everything came to a hault and all eyes were on the cracker..
      seeing a gent at the bar that I knew he got this real odd look came over grabbed me by the scruff of the neck and dragged me outside.. the laughed and said.. your naive and way to nice of a guy I just saved your life.. then made sure I got out of the neighborhood safely.. he told me the exact same thing..
      years later.. I wanted to see a Broadway show. a room mate was from NYC we went by train got there and trying to get on the subway we got separated.. there I was lost in the worst part of the city.. I found a homeless shelter that gave me directions ..16 blocks through the roughest part of the city in dress whites in the middle of the night.. I was terrified.. but remembered what my friend yold me.. a beacon in the night..a gang following me but cautious ..what Caucasian with all white on would even dare to walk through that neighborhood had to either be the stupidest person on the planet or it was a setup..they got closer and closer I prayed harder and harder.. the gang was about 20 feet behind me.. by the sounds of them banging pipes on the walls and cooking guns.. shells going into chambers I was a dead man and knew it..turned the corner and there must have been a thousand military all in white. the fang vanished and I bought my friend the best bottle of booze I could find.. swore u would never set foot in NYC again…

      • Dad was a Quaker, and an athlete. My folks hung out at the Cotton Club whenever they were in The City. He never either looked down nor looked askance at any “Person of Color,” regardless their station or vocation. Satchmo was a personal friend (as were Tommy Dorsey and Benny Goodman, who also hung out at the Cotton Club…)

        Did I ever mention that I was once the “token honkie” in an all-Black jazz band? I wore that title with honor — They were all much better, IMO, than I, and it took me a few months to figure this out. My family never cared what color the sausage casing was, because we all bleed the same shade of red.

        Also, music is the great [racial] equalizer.

        I have never met a serious musician who gave two shits what color another musician was on the outside — only whether they could play the riffs…

        Street punks is street punks. They hassle any stranger — until you ask them about their life, and that of their SOs. THEN they become human, and begin to see you as human, also.

        I don’t go to the SW side of Chicago. The streets and the people don’t scare me, but that part of town has been owned by the (mostly Hispanic) gangs since the 1980s (even though no one will tell you it has sucked for 40 years) and it’s really easy to catch a stray bullet.

        Dead is dead, even if it’s an accident.

        There are neighborhoods like that in many Eastern and Midwestern cities. The folks are good, the trash is bad, and the damn’ punks never look past their target, to see what (or who) gets shot if’fn they miss…

  9. my grandson, turning 15, went on a school trip to D.C. a couple weeks ago. both his parents are bribem voters.
    He said “there was a lot of Trump stuff for sale but no Biden stuff,,, whats that tell you?”, his words.
    bright boy he is, beats me in chess 1/2 the time now days and when he plays grandma, he plays the game in his head, does not look at the board, grandma uses the board, they call out moves to each other,,, he holds a mental picture of all the pieces as the game progresses. grandma is NOT a good chess player, she just plays with him to give him practice.
    The young man makes me smile, as he beat me today ;-)

    Yup, Happy Fathers Day

  10. Re: Flatland the movie, 2007

    Folks,

    Apparently states’ moths have an angular relationship to light? Three score and three years since the opening weekend of Alfred Hitchcock’s “Psycho” lit up the Baits Motel vacancy sign, the CCP welcomed the American Secretary of State on his first visit to Beijing. Accommodation is at the former abode of Madame Mao, The Diaoutai (“angling platform”) State Guesthouse. Philanthropist Comrade Bill stayed there a few days ago on his 18th visit to China. I don’t know if Cabin 1 is available, but apparently Nork’s Mr. Kim stayed at villa 18. The site of the state guesthouse is famous for being a favorite fishing hole of one of the emperors some 800 years ago. Afterwards the inventive and prosperous Song Dynasty reunified China.

    Interestingly, the Chinese state media CGTN website was updated last month with a throwback scene titled “The Song, Painted”. It invites one to click and “unlock the anesthetics of the Song Dynasty”.

    https://news.cgtn.com/event/2022/The-Song-Painted/index.html

    Today, CGTN issued an updated missive of Xi thought. The self-styled “servant of the people” extols he and his father’s efforts towards the interests of both northern and southern China.

    https://news.cgtn.com/news/2023-06-18/For-the-people-The-common-goal-of-Xi-Jinping-and-his-father-1kJFDAHz2rm/index.html

    The official White House schedule for Sunday reflects that President Biden “has no public events scheduled” at the Biden Beach House, Rehoboth Beach, De.

    • We had a pretty nasty magnetic storm, which imparts a lot of energy into the ionosphere and ‘bobbles’ it in waves. I suspect that is what is being seen. Lifetime ham radio ‘propagationist’ here.

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