Category Archives: rambling

dial-up

Posted on June 13, 2020 by | Leave a comment

Thinking back to the 90’s when home net access was by dial-up over copper phone line and hoping all modem lines weren’t busy.

[touch-tone blast] growl-growl, ka-dang-a-dang-dang, pssshhhtttt, thunk! ☎️ 🖥

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outdoor hideaway

Posted on June 13, 2020 by | Leave a comment

Hiding out at midnight in the secret nature preserve. WiFi reaches from house.

Sitting outside in the dark having a beer

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forced shopping adventure

Posted on June 12, 2020 by | Leave a comment

At the Harris Teeter (supermarket), my favorite ice cream was on sale. I had already gotten a cake that was also on sale. To return the cake to its cooler would have required traversing the entire store, so I was forced to keep both desserts though I had intended to only buy one.

Same with the alcohol. I had already been to the liquor store for a large bottle of my favorite tequila. At the supermarket, my favorite beer was on sale. I was forced to get double alcohol.

I saved a lot of money today.

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pride music

Posted on June 11, 2020 by | Leave a comment

The music gets good during Pride month. Enjoying. I have a couple of days off to play.

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so many photos

Posted on June 7, 2020 by | 3 comments

The Help/About images for our favorite file manager and image viewer are quite beautiful. Caja is the file manager. Eye of MATE is the image viewer. We have so many gigs of photos that it’s important that these work well.

There are many other good ones out there.
#caja #eyeofmate #ubuntu #ubuntumate #linux

Caja and Eye of MATE about screenshots

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at-home hideaway

Posted on June 7, 2020 by | 2 comments

Brian created a hidden area in the back of the yard that we are calling the nature trail or or the nature preserve. It’s nice to be almost downtown and be able to hide. The business and street lighting create a green glow.

He also installed a solar powered battery chandelier.

Various views of the secret hideaway

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morven is dead

Posted on June 2, 2020 by | Leave a comment

I passed through the town of Morven, South Carolina, this morning on the way to work. Over the years I have traveled this route many times and have always noticed the town because I like the name. I think I read a sci-fi novel one time in which one of the characters had this name.

The little downtown of Morven now looks completely dead and is somewhat falling back into the Earth. There was a light on in the post office, but that’s the only “activity” I saw. The area looked like one of those apocalypse scenarios when you wake up one morning and all the humans are gone and have been for a while.

Approaching Morven from one side, then departing from the other, I noticed two houses and one mobile home, each of which had a moving van backed up to it.

I’m just guessing on this part, but I suspect that whoever lives in each dwelling has missed between one and three mortgage (or rent) payments at this point, and the wolf is at the door.

Lotta people on the move in cities and country.

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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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