We just got this 110v to 220v step-up transformer so we can now power up those odd electric gadgets from the old USSR that Brian buys on eBay.
So far the gadgets are all metronomes.
We got the 1000 watt transformer in case we get something that has a vacuum tube or two in it.
Selfie with Ebony and my favorite domain registrar on shirt.
After getting blocked by a couple on Twitter, here’s a sorta funny I-got-blocked story. There used to be a nice community called My Opera, run by the Opera software company when it was still headquartered in Norway. It was my favorite social media site, and there has never been another one for me that was as good.
There was another user who I enjoyed and thought I was having fun hanging out with until I criticized the Windows operating system one day. He posted about so many things he downloaded to improve Windows: registry cleaners, virus scanners, scanners and improvers of other types, I don’t know.
I couldn’t resist, so I posted the comment, “my God, how many crutches does it take to make that thing walk?” lol. 🩺⛑️
To be fair, it’s when most people were running Windows Me, Millennium Edition. I think that one needed a lot of help.
Windows is used where I work, and after XP, things seemed quite good.
Magtek Edynamo.
It just rolls right off the tongue. That would be a good playa name for Burning Man.
Stuff is down this morning in Cuba. I can’t get my morning dose of Granma while on the clock at work.
When some online site won’t allow a log-in due to my IP (using a VPN), I wish they’d just say so, so I don’t go resetting my password and still don’t get in. Or just say no log-in for security reasons at this time. I guess that gives out a tidbit of information, though.
Instead, the most common lie is:
— your username or password is incorrect (no, both are correct)
Or the less professional:
— We’ve hit a snag! (eye roll)
Some of my ham radio (amateur radio) equipment from when I was a teenager in the 1970’s.
I didn’t date in high school, so I had to have an absorbing hobby. I still have a valid license. I’ve been careful to keep it renewed for decades, because it would be big trouble to go back and retake all the exams.
The outdoor shot:
The horizontal antenna is a tri-bander for the 10, 15, and 20-meter amateur bands. I used a cheap Radio Shack “Archer Rotor” to turn it that was meant for small TV antennas, so that array turned around very slowly. It would take several minutes to do a 180, yet that motor never burned out.
The vertical antenna is a fiberglass CB (Citizens Band) antenna for the 11-meter band.
The indoor shot:
The radio in the middle with the low profile is a 23-channel CB. Brand is Craig. It would do more than the legal 23 channels after I modded it. Standing up just to the left of it is an Astatic D-104 “power mike” (lollipop shape) microphone that was the envy of CB’ers. It made you sound BIG on the air.
On the right is a Heathkit HW-101 amateur radio that I built from a kit. It contained 20 vacuum tubes. It was for the 80, 40, 20, 15, and 10-meter ham bands. Like the CB, after I modded it, it would do more than that. To the right of it is a Sure 444-D microphone. Nothing really special about it, but you can see one in the TV show “Superstore” in customer service.
Now you can see what happens to frustrated gay closeted teenagers who don’t know what to do about things and can’t tell anybody. They take up complex weird hobbies.
All this was pre-Internet when conventional instant international communication was reserved for well-heeled companies and the wealthy. I talked all over the world on the ham rig. I’d get up at 5 AM on school days so I could “work the USSR” for two hours before school. The cold war communication problems didn’t apply to amateur radio. Everybody talked where they wanted to when the Earth’s atmosphere would support it.
My parents liked that this hobby kept me off the streets and out of trouble. As far as they knew, it did.
I was pleased to get this message in April.
My multi-line plan of many years is inexpensive. It originally came with 2GB of data per line. Then without asking, it was upped to 4GB. Now it’s unlimited. All same price.
During Covid last summer, data caps were lifted for everybody for months which helped me a lot while working away from home.
T-Mobile was also the first one that let us roam like a boss in Mexico and other places.
I can also buy my own device from a 3rd-party seller, and I always do, drop in a SIM card and go. (BYOD – bring your own device)
Many more plusses then minuses.
Back when we first got dial-up internet at home, 1996, between me and Brian we would have that telephone line busy almost 24 hours a day.
My mother told me one time she’d been trying to call me for 6 weeks, and it was busy the whole time.
My solution was to call Bell and have voicemail added to the line so she could leave a message. lol
Trying to come down from the discomfort of getting home, I was up at 3 AM watching videos of how a Wankel engine works. Strange the things that are interesting in the middle of the night.
I remember when Mazda offered the Wankel for the first time. Lotta geeks I knew had to have one. A friend took me for a ride. Me: “oooh, fancy!”
https://www.scienceabc.com/innovation/what-is-a-wankel-engine-and-how-does-it-work.html
 | Lee on dinner for two |
 | Lawrence B on the empties |
 | Comrade Vegan on hash, coffee, and tobacco |
 | Kenneth on 1980 |
 | Ballot Ready on goofing around in guadalajara… |
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