Monthly Archives: May 2020

price park after a lot of rain

Posted on May 22, 2020 by | Leave a comment

Brian and I took a walk today at Price Park. It was beautiful. All the rain made it a bit swampy, but it smelled fresh and good.

Very green and nice park after rain. Plastic police car toy left on ground.

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cheap streaming camera for zoom, etc. works on linux

Posted on May 21, 2020 by | Leave a comment

A nice ‘n cheap webcam for videoconferencing is a Wyze Cam, and it works with Linux, too.

With so much videoconferencing going on, I was looking for a way to use the big desktop computer rather then having to huddle up with a Chromebook.

Wyze has these little WiFi surveillance cameras that are about $20. The firmware can be flashed to make them into a USB webcam for videoconferencing, or you know. If you don’t like the results, you can flash them back to factory state. I’ve done both just to test.

$20 is pretty good for a webcam, and the good thing is that the Wyze is available, in stock at several places. Many other brands of true streaming cameras are sold out, or the price has galloped.

You might need some parts if you don’t have them already:

— USB cable A-male to A-male
— microSD card
— headset for good audio

I tested mine with Zoom and Jitsi Meet. Great performance on both. The instructions say that these also work: GoToMeeting, Blue Jeans, Google Hangouts, Skype, and Cisco.

I like it. Totally plug and play on a Linux box.

I did the color effects on two of the attached still pics. There is less distortion on streaming than you see in these stills.

The flashing instructions: https://support.wyzecam.com/hc/en-us/articles/360041605111-Webcam-Firmware-Instructions


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the salad accident

Posted on May 19, 2020 by | Leave a comment

Bojangles’ gets my personal award for best-value drive-thru garden salad. Only $3.59 for a big-azz salad. It’s enough to make a fairly heavy meal out of it. Domino’s is the worst value I’ve found. Nearly $6 for a small slender bowl with nearly nothing in it.

I stood up to refill my water, and my hand caught the side of the bowl and catapulted the salad all over the place. It would be nice if I could just check the fuck out, but I need this hotel room through tomorrow night.

Fortunately, I was nearly done with it when the accident happened. It took awhile crawling all around down there to get most of it up, but it’s impossible to get it all.

A lucious Bojangles’ garden salad prior to eating it
Same salad flung all over the desk, floor, and chair

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door visitors

Posted on May 19, 2020 by | Leave a comment

It hasn’t happened in a long time, but I usually enjoy when people come to the door promoting their church. I like a quick polite chat, take their literature, then call it done. All the while in the back of my mind I keep thinking, “you know you don’t want these two old fags stomping around in your church.” 😁

Well, some churches actually do want that, but I think the default is “rather not.”

I’ve actually been surprised a lot lately at the inclusiveness of some of them. I tread with care because it’s hard to get over the many injuries over the years.

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ubuntu upgrade 20.04

Posted on May 8, 2020 by | Leave a comment
System upgrade time is happy time around here. Love ’em. One rolled in today.
I’ve been at this Linux thing a long time. It brings me extreme pleasure and dovetails with many things that I like to learn.
A few months ago, I changed to the MATE (mah-TAY) desktop from Xfce. Both are great and recommendable.

ubuntu_focal

screenshot of ubuntu focal fossa upgrade notification

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about those ugly modern cadillacs

Posted on May 6, 2020 by | Leave a comment

I used to think of Cadillac cars as being pretty, like something you would want to use to ride to a country club or out to dinner in an expensive restaurant.

Now, to me they look like post-apocalyptic doom: jagged angles, fang-like features, battlefield appropriate.

This cartoon covers a lot of things, but it also touches on that.

Death and surrender to power in the clothing of men

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Posted in rage against the machine, rambling

ego wank

Posted on May 6, 2020 by | Leave a comment

I just saw the words “egomaniacal wanker” in an article. Loving it! 👍♥️

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scold me

Posted on May 2, 2020 by | Leave a comment

The more scolding, finger wagging, and chest tapping I get from Internet virtuosos, the more time and money I give to the causes I love. Go ahead, bankrupt me. 😁

I like it!

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Posted in rage against the machine, rambling