Small Talk: The Welcome Mat

[Netfoot]

Well, I reimplemented my logic for that function used by my meds software. It worked allllmost perfectly. Upon testing I realized that when applying adjustments to the dates for periodic dosages, the adjustment was the opposite of expected. So I had to make a little change: $days += $adjust; had to become $days -= $adjust; and then the routine functioned perfectly! And while searching for the error (which took some time to spot, even though I knew roughly where to look) I was able to rationalize and simplify some other areas of the code. Areas which worked fine but we're perhaps a little cumbersome, but which are now clean and mean, slick and sweet. 

Kiss From A Rose by Seal. I like the song, and it was the theme song for Batman Forever. I hate superhero movies! But Batman is not a superhero. No godlike powers. No artifacts made of unobtanium. No, he isn't a superhero. He's just stinking rich! In this vein, I have some passing tolerance for Iron Man. Unfortunately, he insists on hanging out with all the idiots who can shrink themselves or walk on the ceiling or spit bullets. </rant>

Mo was hungry this evening! He had a bowl of chow for lunch, and a generous bowl, too. (He just ran in and is now looking out the window. And just farted, the little beast!) Then he had another bowl of chow for dinner. But he came along later and put his paw on my leg, so I gave him a third bowl of chow and he scoffed it down in a hurry. 

I cooked corned beef and onions with a very small amount of finely chopped cucumber. It was only a little bit of corned beef and it was Cuisine, not Triple-J. Meanwhile I diced/boiled several potatoes. When they were soft I added them to the corned beef and let the flavours meld for a while. Had half for lunch and saved the other half for dinner.

Now, you know I have this issue with food having a chemical or metallic taste. Even my own spit sometimes is affected! So it's difficult to say if something is actually tasty or not, because I don't know for sure how it actually tastes. But I would guess that this would actually be pretty tasty if i didn't have wonky taste buds.

Watched a couple of movies today. First was the fairly new flic, Twisters. I enjoyed the original and I was looking forward to this one. And I won't lie, I did enjoy this one too. But OMG, I hate young people. I mean, you're chasing tornados to do lifesaving research while simultaneously trying to warn a nearby community but your absolute #1 priority is to hang out of the window of the chase-truck with your phone in one hand so as to get a selfie to post on social media?!??

It reminds me of a short video I saw a couple days ago, of a guy pouring valuable top of the line brandy from a valuable crystal decanter into a valuable crystal snifter. But he manages to break the snifter and the decanter thereby easting all the brandy. And why? He had to perform the entire operation using only his left hand because he had to film the process with his phone in his right hand. Then, having fucked it up thoroughly, he decided that he would still post his stupidity and incompetence online for the world to ridicule. 

Oh, the second movie was Mysterious Island by Jules Verne. I first saw this movie in the early sixties and has remained one of my favourite classic sci-fi movies ever since. And the book is also excellent! It is the sequel to Verne's 20,000 Leagues... And is about a small group who find themselves cast away on a volcanic island in the Pacific. After several strange occurances they finally learn that the island is secretly home to Nemo and the Nautilus. With the submarine unable to put to sea and the volcano about to erupt... 

Mo is now on the floor next to the bed. Funny how he does that. Because when the lights go off, he will hop right in here and find a spot to make himself comfy. And he may come up for a couple minutes of cuddle before then. I just looked over and he was eating a sock! And now he is lying next to me, bogarting the fan. No, he is back on the floor again. 

I've decided to take a gamble. Instead of paying off one month of the water bill, I will leave the $100 in the bank. Next Friday I have another $120 cheque which, with the $100 in the bank will pay off one month of electricity instead. Water and electricity are both critical but if the power gets disconnected, then I would not be able to use my power tools. And the income I get from making sofa feet and so forth is very helpful in making life more livable. I just wish he would ask me to make more sofa feet!

The remainder after paying a month of the electricity can go towards water, or possibly food, seeing as we don't have much of it. There will also be about $28 change left from my pension when it drops, but I'm not sure when that will be from memory. And I don't want to look it up on the phone because if I do, this post might get eaten up!

I seem to be spending more and more time watching food videos on YT. Not wise, when you are short on groceries! I mean, why torture yourself, right? But I just seem drawn. And it's even more annoying because I watch the chef prepare something mouthwatering and can't stop myself thinking it would probably taste like a penny. 

[andidante]

7 hours ago, Netfoot said:

Kiss From A Rose by Seal. I like the song, and it was the theme song for

Watched a couple of movies today. First was the fairly new flic, Twisters. I enjoyed the original and I was looking forward to this one. And I won't lie, I did enjoy this one too. But OMG, I hate young people. I mean, you're chasing tornados to do lifesaving research while simultaneously trying to warn a nearby community but your absolute #1 priority is to hang out of the window of the chase-truck with your phone in one hand so as to get a selfie to post on social media?!??

 

 

I love that song by Seal and his song Crazy also. Unfortunately those are the only two songs of his I know. 

I don't understand the notion of selfies. I have never had a desire to take one! I guess I am just an old fart, LOL

[Netfoot]

8 minutes ago, andidante said:

I don't understand the notion of selfies. I have never had a desire to take one! I guess I am just an old fart, LOL

I too, have never particularly liked having my picture taken. If it must be done, then OK, but otherwise let us not waste that time. 

But the youth of today are all suffering under $125,000 in student debt for their degree in Culturally Appropriate Basket Weaving and as it happens, Starbucks is not hiring. Given that their life up until now has been a constant stream of applause for their just showing up for their Participation Trophies, they have to repeatedly feed the need by posting self-affirming photographs and videos online so they can bask in the warm glow of all those Likes!

[Netfoot]

Mo is limping on 3½ feet again. Well, not right now. Right now he is lying on the foot of the bed... No, he has risen to raid my glass of iced water.

Just watched the first half of Grand Prix. Stopped at the Intermission. Young 'uns prolly won't know about this, but once upon a time, longer movies had a built in intermission at roughly half way, so you could leave your seat to buy more popcorn, chocolate bars and Coca-cola. I thought this was an ideal point to stop for the night. The movie is proving to be exciting, with fantastic driving scenes shot using what was for the time revolutionary techniques and custom made equipment. Those techniques and equipment designs are still used today after 58 years for filming cars in action.

Made some simple frybread dough this afternoon, but I dug around in the freezer and found an 'orrible steak. So for dinner I had steak & onion with chips. I wanted to sprinkle some black pepper over the steak. I took the top off the jar (because I am not so great as to have an actual pepper mill) and when I shook the jar over the steak about 3 ounces of black pepper fell out all over the steak and the onions! Why? Because it was one of those damned flip-top lids! So when I took the top of, there was no perforated disk to limit the outflow. I did my best to remove the excess pepper, and for the most part I succeeded but the steak did end up with more black pepper flavour than I would have chosen. And for a while there, the kitchen was a no-go zone as the extra pepper in the pan roasted and threw up an eye-watering, nose-burning, throat-tingling miasma. 

Take The Long Way Home by Supertramp. That's off their Breakfast In America album. Unquestionably a great album and packed with great tracks, but not my favourite for some reason. I actually prefer Even In The Quietist Moments... 

Late again. After midnight. Mo is lying on the floor. Not sure why he does that. It isn't particularly hot. Not that it is chilly, but it definitely isn't hot. And inevitably, if he is on the floor when the lights go out, it will only take a minute or two before he jumps up and finds a snuggly place for himself. 

Although it is late, I want to try and progress my book a little, even if it is only a handful of pages. So I will pop off now, and read a little before dousing the lights and getting some shut-eye. Dunno what to eat tomorrow. There is very little in the way of food in the house. There is that frybread dough I made today, and currently sitting in the fridge. But there is only a smear of PB in the jar and only a plinknin more J. Maybe I can make some sort of frybread au jus if I can think of what to make the jus out of. 

Just so you know, klepto-pup is still very busy. Every morning I get to deal with 

Edited August 18 by Netfoot

[Netfoot]

I had a frybread for lunch and Mo helped me eat it after finishing his own chow. For dinner, I cooked rice. It wasn't very fancy. I'd didn't have any pak choy, any carrots, any onion. There was no cabbage, no plantain, no nothing like that. There was half a tin of lentils, a small piece of bully beef and dome spices. Garlic powder, paprika and cilantro. 

It tasted good! No metallic taste to speak of. Unfortunately, because the additional items were missing, it was not of rice. Mo got the larger portion and I got the rest. And the little bugger came along and demanded I give him some of mine! 

He was just here with his nose in my iced water and is now curled up with his head on my left foot. 

Truth Serum by Dishwalla is playing. This is from And You Think You Know What Life's About which is one of their early albums and a good one! This and Pet Your Friends are both excellent albums with a load of good tracks.

Mo has departed.

I project pension to drop on Thursday which gives me $26 to spend. Plus the $120 from the other welfare cheque I've got here and the $103 already in the bank from the last cheque will give me $249 to spend. Electric bill is $340 (last two months) so if I pay $175 it will leave me with $74 left over. Not enough to pay a month of the water but enough to buy a very small amount of groceries. However, the gas cylinder is low so it might be wise to reserve $43 to get that filled. Meaning only $31 remains for groceries. A bag of Mo-chow is anywhere between $18 and $28...

I will try to give my furniture making guy a gentle nudge tomorrow and see if he has anything for me to do.

Finished 58 year old Grand Prix this morning, then watched something from this year - a movie called Fly Me To The Moon featuring Channing Tatum as the Apollo 11 Launch Director, Scarlett Johansson as a ruthless advertising guru manipulating the public into approving of the mission and Woody Harrelson as some spook from a three-letter agency trying to manipulate the situation for political gain. It was quite amusing. Not exactly a cinematic masterpiece, but worth a watch if you have nothing else with which to pass the time.

Did some more work on my medication program suite. I decided to change... everything. Well, not really. All programs in the suite read the medication data from disk and to facilitate this and make sure they are all on the same page, they all use the same function which is stored in a module they all access. That read_prescription_data() function was reading the data from disk and storing it in memory in a linear form. The result was a long list of medication records, each containing of a series of properties such as quantity, date purchased, repeats left on the prescription, and do forth. 

Well, I've decided to change what is stored in memory. Instead of a long list of medications, I now store a short list of doctors, each containing a set of properties, such as phone number, date of next appointment, etc. And one of the properties each doctor will contain will be a short list of the medications which that doctor has prescribed. This will make it much easier to keep track of when new meds are needed, plus whether a new script must be obtained first and if so from which doctor. 

I've already made the changes and now the data appears to be correctly stored in memory in the new form. I will double check that, then go through the individual programs in the suite and confirm that they are correctly interpreting the data in its new form.

Mo still MIA but I will read a while and then see if I can get him to come in. He woke me in the middle of the night last night, barking and scratching until I let him out. Then I locked the door and later when he was barking under the window to be let back in, I told him to shut up, and he did. I opened the door around 5:30 and there was no sign of him so I left it open and went back to bed. Literally 30 seconds later he came barrelling in, jumped into bed and thrashed around like a damp, demented demon for about five minutes. Rolling around, burrowing under the pillows, jumping on my kidneys, nipping and nibbling, yipping and yapping, howling and barking... It was quite a performance! Then the five minutes was up and he was gone, and I didn't see him until eight o'clock. 

Got a small piece of pork defrosting for tomorrow. Not sure what I can do with it, but I have two small potatoes left. 

[Netfoot]

Phone ate my entire post and I am not inclined to type it in again. However, I will reproduce one paragraph of significance:

It is now past midnight which makes it technically, tomorrow. Therefore I can legitimately say: Happy Birthday, Molasses! He is now three (or twenty one, depending on your point of view) so technically no longer a puppy. But your baby is always your baby, no matter how old they might get. So Mo will continue to be my baby, my puppy, my little darling, my sweet boy. 

I would take a photo to commemorate the occasion but he has run off! I will try to remember to get one tomorrow.

Now I will go read my book.

[Netfoot]

Happy Birthday, Molasses! Three years old today!

[andidante]

8 hours ago, Netfoot said:

Phone ate my entire post and I am not inclined to type it in again. However, I will reproduce one paragraph of significance:

It is now past midnight which makes it technically, tomorrow. Therefore I can legitimately say: Happy Birthday, Molasses! He is now three (or twenty one, depending on your point of view) so technically no longer a puppy. But your baby is always your baby, no matter how old they might get. So Mo will continue to be my baby, my puppy, my little darling, my sweet boy. 

I would take a photo to commemorate the occasion but he has run off! I will try to remember to get one tomorrow.

Now I will go read my book.

I can't believe he's three already! That went really fast.

[Netfoot]

1 minute ago, andidante said:

I can't believe he's three already! That went really fast.

I know! It's only a couple weeks ago he was 5½ pounds weight and sleeping in a crate beside the bed!

Right?

[Netfoot]

Well! Haven't seen this in a while...

Yes, I went shopping. And now I have $3.83 to my name!

[Netfoot]

Got up this morning to find a sock in the bed beside me. Ok, well, Mo isn't supposed to steal socks but finding the stolen sock in the bed is better than finding it out in the yard! And I just this minute came in to the bedroom and in the bed I find a box containing a small Android Mini-PC and an empty Ducks Unlimited storage tin. I have not used either of these for years; they live on a crowded shelf, up over the bed. Do I know for sure Mo is the agent behind their relocation from the shelf to the bed? Well, I can't prove it, but I am pretty sure it wasn't the cat... because we don't have a cat!

Mo's birthday is drawing to a close but fear not, he has many more to look forward to. I'm not convinced he understood that it was his birthday but so long as he enjoyed the corned beef rice he had for his lunch and dinner and appreciated the cuddles and hugs and patting and stroking he has been getting all day, that should be enough. Tomorrow, like yesterday, he will also receive cuddles and hugs and patting and stroking, but maybe something else to eat other than corned beef and rice? It will be corned beef and something because that's pretty much all there is in the house. But it might be pasta or potatoes instead of rice.

Groceries today did not include chow. I went to two stores and could not find the stuff Mo likes. Well, I got rice and two tins of Cuisine corned beef, potatoes, onions, three tins of lentil peas and another three of tomato sauce, two regular size spaghetti, a jumbo macaroni and a super-huge bag of some sort of chow mein noodles - the type wich look like egg noodles but for which the package says they contain no eggs. I got four carrots and four cucumbers, a bag of sugar and a liter of Pine Hill evaporated milk. Oh, and vital, a 6-pack of TP! 

So I cooked a pot of corned beef rice with carrots and lentils, seasoned with cilantro, paprika and garlic. While that was cooking I diced a half a small cucumber but didn't add it to the pot. I dished out a big portion of the finished rice for Mo and a smaller portion for me. But I got the raw, diced cucumber mixed into mine. Mo likes cucumber well enough, but I thought he would prefer more rice with bully beef so I gave him more of that and a smaller amount for me, which I then bulked out with the cucumber. I did exactly the same for dinner.

Took a very iffy looking steak (the last of the meat scraps) out of the freezer and will defrost it overnight. I may have it with chips tomorrow, for lunch or dinner. 

The Pusher by Steppenwolf. Always thought how strange their distinction between pusher and dealer, the former they would hunt down and "cut him if he stands and shoot him if he'd run..." whereas the latter they were totally cool with.

Watched a movie today about some young guy tracking down his father (Eric Dane) and getting help to become a motorcycle racer. Can't remember what it was called but that's OK because I wouldn't recommend you watch it anyway. 

Still grinding my way through my suite of meds programs. I got the program that displays meds required for the next three days thoroughly checked out but then I decided to make it do more! So now, it computes how many days supply remains for each medication and if that number is low, changes the colour of the line to highlight the shortage. Inserting the colour-change code proved surprisingly difficult and it took me quite a while before the program was 100% functional again. But eventually all was fine, which is good because I used it this evening to lay out my meds for the next three days.

Sent Dr. Kristi the photo of Birthday Boy Mo and she "hearted" it. (Funny how the new electronic communication mediums have introduced new verbs, nouns, etcetera. I particularly despise "Friend" used as a verb and "Unfriend" used at all!) Parked next to Dr. K's car when I went seeking chow for Mo but I didn't see any chow and we didn't see her either!

My book (The Difference Engine by Gibson & Sterling) is almost finished. Only a few pages remain and I intend to finish them tonight. It's a good book and I would recommend it despite the long chapters. No idea what I will read next. What I'd like to read next is the Dorsai! trilogy. And I've got two of them right here - Soldier Ask Not, and Dorsai! but unfortunately, I can't see the first in the trilogy, Tactics Of Mistake. And I know it's around here somewhere, but I can't figure out why it wasn't right next to the other two! Anyway, I have a short pile of other books I can pick from, but have not decided yet. 

Now, I have a puppy right here with a needy tummy that absolutely must have a rub. Then I will shower, and I still have those last (albeit few) pages to get through. So I will do that now!

[Netfoot]

Ok, so vittles were iffy today. For lunch, I boiled macaroni and served it with a corned beef & onion topping  with tomato sauce. Mo and I had that and it wasn't too bad. For dinner, I cooked a small pot of corned beef rice for Mo. I had only a mug of tea myself. 

The crufty looking steak I set to defrost last night is still in the fridge; I guess I will make chips and have it tomorrow. If I had some decent bread I might try making steak sandwiches but since the nature and quality of the steak is unknown, that could easily prove to be a mistake. 

I may get a little work tomorrow. No guarantee, no idea how much I will be asked to do, no idea what I will get for the work. Makes no difference. It probably won't be enough to pay off more than one month of the electricity bill, even with the $26 change from pension (which is expected to drop tomorrow) and the welfare cheque which I can cash on Friday.

I thought I had 100% sorted my medication program. But there is a glitch. Computation of what medication is used on any specific date has a quirk. 

In order to compute what meds I will need in the days ahead, the program checks meds usage day by day, stepping forward through time. So if I want to know what meds I will need for the next three days, it starts with tomorrow's date and steps forward one day at a time until the end of the required three days. The amount of each medication needed for each of the next three days can be displayed. I use this to help me lay out my meds in small pill boxes. 

Unfortunately, I discovered that the program does not give consistent results. This is most notable with meds which are not taken every day. 

For example, it's 7:30 PM on Wednesday and I run my program. It tells me to take prednisolone on Thursday and Saturday, skipping Friday. An hour later at 8:30 PM, I run the program again. This time it tells me to skip Thursday and Saturday, taking the prednisolone on Friday! So, WTF happened in the intervening hour to make the program change it's mind?

8:00 PM happened. Which is 00:00Z or midnight UTC.

Although the program uses local time exclusively, it is somehow advancing the day at midnight UTC! My program is designed to set the time zone in the environment to Atlantic Standard Time, using $ENV{TZ} = TZ; where the second TZ is defined as "America/Barbados". But upon careful checking, that definition was happening after the environment was set. Therefore the program had no idea what zone it was in and was assuming the default.

I've corrected it now and I expect all will (finally) be 100% hunky dory. But I won't know for sure until I run the program tomorrow at 7:55 PM and again at 8:05 PM and compare outputs.

While on Garden Patrol, I discovered a blanket lying on the grass! You may have heard me say I don't own a blanket. That is not strictly true. I have a blanket upon which my mother hand-stitched my name so I could take it to boarding school. I was ten years old. So yes, I own a blanket but not one that I want to take out of the cupboard and wrap around my feet when they are cold! Or have dragged out of the cupboard, into the yard and abused on the grass! Thankfully, it has been a dry day and the blanket was not damp or muddy. Or Mo would have come to a sticky end at the age of three years and one day!

He has been avoiding me ever since I made the discovery. I swiped him across the bottom with the blanket and that was an end to it. But I think he expects more punishment to follow. As it happens, I am virtually never inclined to extend any sort of punishment. If he does wrong he will get a bollicking or smax or whatever and that will be the end of it.

Listening to Pink Floyd. Time, from DSOTM. Now, talk about a great album! Probably one of the top albums of all time. I would go google to check but I don't want the phone to eat this post. 

No movies today. Instead I've been watching Quinn (BlondiHacks) building a model steam engine. I've never been a model railway guy, but I generally enjoy watching people work in the machine shop. I think I was 19 last time I did any machining, but it was a load of fun. Of course, the modern machines are now very much more sophisticated, and even the 50 year old workhorses are all now equipped with modern accessories, power-feeds and DROs.

The secret to success in the machine shop is accurate measurement. Even a small shop will most likely have a literal fortune in micrometers, calipers, slip gauges, DTIs, etc. to facilitate what ever projects the machinist decides to undertake.

OK, I started reading Dorsai! Last night. Yes, it's the 3rd book in the trilogy but it was conceived and written as a self-standing novel and since I have not located Tactics Of Mistake yet, I thought I might as well read this book to be going on with. Only got to the end of chapter #1 last night. Will stop this soon and try for another chapter. 

Actually, I have to go and see if I can persuade Mo that it's OK to come inside. I hate the idea of him out there feeling that he is unwanted. He gets so little in the way of censure for his many misdemeanors I just don't know why he sometimes behaves like he is in danger of any major sort of punishment.

OK, let me go and see if he wants to come in or not. Either way, I will lock up and then read for a short while.

Oh, wait! Look who it is! Now curled up in my left armpit...

[andidante]

8 hours ago, Netfoot said:

Listening to Pink Floyd. Time, from DSOTM. Now, talk about a great album! Probably one of the top albums of all time. I would go google to check but I don't want the phone to eat this post. 

 

I bought my son Pink Floyd's "The Wall" album as it is my favorite and I think everyone should own it! I am somewhat familiar with DSOTM, but will have to revisit it at some point. 

[Netfoot]

12 minutes ago, andidante said:

I bought my son Pink Floyd's "The Wall" album as it is my favorite and I think everyone should own it! I am somewhat familiar with DSOTM, but will have to revisit it at some point. 

Just did a quick google on it:

"The Dark Side of the Moon is certified 14x platinum in the United Kingdom, and topped the US Billboard Top LPs & Tape chart, where it has charted for 990 weeks. By 2013.  It had sold over 45 million copies worldwide, making it the band's best-selling release, the best-selling album of the 1970s, and the fourth-best-selling album in history. In 2012, it was selected for preservation in the United States National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress...  It was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999."

Unquestionably a true classic! But The Wall is also a great album and considered their #1 by many, many people. 

For me, DSOTM was a revelation. The first time I realized that music could sound like that. Not just the ticking clocks and jangling cash registers, but the pure sound of the instruments, Clare Torry's wailing, wordless vocals... I think it would be fair to say that this was the album that fanned the spark of my interest in music into full flame, such that it is.

[Mr. Sparkle]

Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, Animals & The Wall is a run of albums that is hard to top. 

[Notabug]

1 hour ago, Netfoot said:

Just did a quick google on it:

"The Dark Side of the Moon is certified 14x platinum in the United Kingdom, and topped the US Billboard Top LPs & Tape chart, where it has charted for 990 weeks. By 2013.  It had sold over 45 million copies worldwide, making it the band's best-selling release, the best-selling album of the 1970s, and the fourth-best-selling album in history. In 2012, it was selected for preservation in the United States National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress...  It was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999."

Unquestionably a true classic! But The Wall is also a great album and considered their #1 by many, many people. 

For me, DSOTM was a revelation. The first time I realized that music could sound like that. Not just the ticking clocks and jangling cash registers, but the pure sound of the instruments, Clare Torry's wailing, wordless vocals... I think it would be fair to say that this was the album that fanned the spark of my interest in music into full flame, such that it is.

When I went off to college in the mid 70's, it was practically mandatory that everyone own DSOTM.  I recall that in the dorm, at least half the rooms had the pyramid sticker that came with the album on the door.  Spent many an evening sitting in a bean bag chair, sipping wine and listening to that glorious album.

[Netfoot]

41 minutes ago, Mr. Sparkle said:

Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, Animals & The Wall is a run of albums that is hard to top. 

I totally agree. I don't think Wish You Were Here gets the credit it deserves. And I just love Animals! I remember shortly after it was released the TV aired a meeting between the band and Mary Whitehouse (the house-proud town mouse). It was surprisingly friendly! I thought she would be incensed. She often was. But it was all very civil and polite.

My old boy Dotty used to like Animals. His favourite track?  Dogs, obviously! 

2 minutes ago, Notabug said:

When I went off to college in the mid 70's, it was practically mandatory that everyone own DSOTM.

Pretty much the same here. When I went to the UK in '75 I left my tiny record collection at home with my mom. (Where it was eaten by a Dachshund named Maximilian.) I started from scratch and gradually rebuilt a new collection of vinyl, with  DSOTM being one of the first albums I reacquired. 

Another must-have of the day was a contemporary of DSOTM: Tubular Bells by Mike Oldfield. Everybody had those two albums. 

[andidante]

9 hours ago, Netfoot said:

Just did a quick google on it:

"The Dark Side of the Moon is certified 14x platinum in the United Kingdom, and topped the US Billboard Top LPs & Tape chart, where it has charted for 990 weeks. By 2013.  It had sold over 45 million copies worldwide, making it the band's best-selling release, the best-selling album of the 1970s, and the fourth-best-selling album in history. In 2012, it was selected for preservation in the United States National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress...  It was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999."

Unquestionably a true classic! But The Wall is also a great album and considered their #1 by many, many people. 

For me, DSOTM was a revelation. The first time I realized that music could sound like that. Not just the ticking clocks and jangling cash registers, but the pure sound of the instruments, Clare Torry's wailing, wordless vocals... I think it would be fair to say that this was the album that fanned the spark of my interest in music into full flame, such that it is.

WOW that is amazing! I will definitely have to check it out then. As well as the other albums mentioned by everyone else. I have heard a lot of other songs from them, but did not know what album they are on.

I don't know how I would get through some days without my music! It is my sanity for sure.

[Netfoot]

15 hours ago, andidante said:

I will definitely have to check it out then. As well as the other albums mentioned by everyone else.

These days it's easy to decide if an album is for you or not. (Well, easier, anyway.) You can go and listen to it on YT. If you like it, you can look to acquire it for your collection.. If you decide it isn't to your taste, you can walk away. 

Now, DSOTM is a little unusual, in that the tracks mostly all blend together, with transition from one track to the next very smooth and flowing. I dunno how well a playlist from YT would handle those transitions. But you should be able to get a feel for the album as well as the individual tracks. Enough to decide whether you like it or not.

It might be a simple matter of asking friends/family if anyone has a copy of the disk you can borrow.

My guy told me (WhatsApp) that he would know by Monday afternoon what (if anything) he wanted me to do this week. Wednesday morning he called to say he wanted some shelves made and that he would bring me the materials later that day. It is Thursday night and he never showed up. Tomorrow is Friday so if he wanted something done this week.... 

Pension did drop today as expected. $26 in the bank to spend. Good thing. I only have three teabags left. Tomorrow I can cash the welfare cheque for $120 but can't buy groceries with it because I got to pay something towards the electricity. If that gets cut off, I won't be able to build any shelves. 

Mo is right here with me. I came in with a glass of ice and left it on the bedside table when I went to lock up. Came back to find him trying to steal an ice cube! I gave him one which he chewed up on one of the pillows don't which now has a chilly, damp spot all down one side. 

He stole a hat and a tee shirt today. 

He We had potatoes with corned beef and onion for lunch. It tasted pretty good, considering the state of my mouth. Mo slurped it up in a flash so I guess he thought it was good too. For dinner I made corned beef rice with carrot & lentils and he had that. A big bowl of it. I saved out a more normal sized portion which I may eat for lunch tomorrow or give it to Mo for his lunch. For dinner tonight I made a big pile of chips and cooked a really poor steak. The meat was tough but it wasn't stringy or rubbery or anything like that. And it tasted pretty good. The chips weren't bad either. My chips have improved considerably recently but I think I have hit a wall. I will put a batch of chips into the oil and every chip is ready at a different time. I have to pick the chips out one at a time and put them on the newspaper to drain. I think I need to cut them to a more consistent size. I am thinking a grid of fine wires in a frame that you push the spud through. The wire must be fine enough to cut but strong enough not to break. Dunno if such a wire would need to be made of Unobtanium or not. Or maybe a pack of those craft knife blades could be arranged I to such a grid, but those blades usually have a series of break-away grooves milled in them. Probably wouldn't be all that robust in a potato-slicing operation. 

Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad by Moby. How many Moby albums do I have? Well, I've got this one (Play) and maybe one other? Or maybe not?

I'm not opening a command window on  my desktop from the phone to check. Because for sure this post would have vanished by time I got done doing that. And I'm not getting out of bed and walking out there to check on a local console because it's past midnight!

Crap! I was to test my meds program before and after midnight Zulu and I forgot. Now it's past midnight Lima so now I have to wait until tomorrow night! Grrrrr! I wanted to see if it was OK or whether I have to tweak it some more.

The trouble is coming from the fact that Unix timestamps are signed 32 bit numbers giving the number of seconds since 1st January 1970 at midnight UTC. At that time the Unix time was zero and has increased by 86,400 each day since. (Number of seconds in a solar day.) So when my program asks the hardware what the time is, it gets a date and time in UTC, in the form of a single, large (10 digit) number. Interpreting and manipulating this can be tricky, and having to switch back and forth between UTC and local doesn't help. 

By the way, a signed 32 bit number can only get so large before it overflows. Which means that all computers using Unix timestamps (many!) will eventually hit a brick wall when no more seconds can be added. This will occur on 19th January, 2038, at 03:14:07 UTC. And it won't be a nothing-burger like Y2K! They have got less than 14 years to fix it.

An interim fix would be to redefine Unix time stamps to be an unsigned 32 bit number. That would give them another two billion-ish odd seconds (68-ish years) of elbow room. A more long term but perhaps more difficult solution to implement would be to redefine timestamps as signed 64 bit numbers  Which would give us even more  breathing room before we ran into the problem again. Which would be in the year 292,471,208,677 more or less.

Not that it matters, because I think the world as we know it will come to an end in early November this year. And either way, none of that helps me get my program tested and signed off on. 

Got a puppy curled up against my back. Going to spend a little time giving him a cuddle and then read for a while. 

Edited August 23 by Netfoot

[Schnickelfritz]

Speaking of Dark Side of the Moon, has anyone here tried playing the album (on loop) while watching The Wizard of Oz? When you sync the album with the movie, there is a pretty fun synchronicity. Start the album at the 3rd lion's roar, mute the movie (subtitles if you want to follow the dialogue) and let 'er rip!

The Schnicklet and I have done this a few times. The album is his favorite so it's a fun way to waste a couple of hours.

*Being slightly sozzled doesn't hurt the experience

[Mr. Sparkle]

54 minutes ago, Schnickelfritz said:

Speaking of Dark Side of the Moon, has anyone here tried playing the album (on loop) while watching The Wizard of Oz? When you sync the album with the movie, there is a pretty fun synchronicity. Start the album at the 3rd lion's roar, mute the movie (subtitles if you want to follow the dialogue) and let 'er rip!

The Schnicklet and I have done this a few times. The album is his favorite so it's a fun way to waste a couple of hours.

*Being slightly sozzled doesn't hurt the experience

Yes on all accounts. It's ok. The bell ringing when Miss Gulch rides in is a memorable part. 

I've never done it, but apparently synching Willie Wonka and Rush's 2112 has a similar effect. 

[Netfoot]

2 hours ago, Schnickelfritz said:

Speaking of Dark Side of the Moon, has anyone here tried playing the album (on loop) while watching The Wizard of Oz?

No, never tried that. Never even heard about that!

Did you know that IMDb has 14 different listings for The Wizard of Oz? I assume you are talking about the 1939 Judy Garland production...

Edited August 23 by Netfoot

[Schnickelfritz]

1 hour ago, Netfoot said:

Did you know that IMDb has 14 different listings for The Wizard of Oz? I assume you are talking about the 1939 Judy Garland production...

Yes, the 1939 production. Used to be a bit of a thing around here for awhile.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dark_Side_of_the_Rainbow

[Netfoot]

My guy never showed. I could have used the advance he promised me, not to mention the total payment for making his triangular shelves. But no sign of him, not hide nor hair. 

Went down to the post office and cashed my cheque. Popped next door and bought a box of 25 teabags and a sack of chow for Mo. Deposited the welfare money at the bank. If I had $30 more I'd have paid a month of the electric bill but like I said, that guy never showed... 

So Mo had chow for lunch and I ate the balance of the rice he had for dinner yesterday. When it was time for dinner I was a little surprised to see a small amount of chow in his bowl, left over from lunch. He turned up his nose at it. OK, then.

I boiled a small pot of soup. First, I made a roux from olive oil and flour and added this to the soup while it cooked. With potato, carrot, corned beef, cucumber and a stock cube plus a few spices added. I didn't actually cook the cucumber but diced it directly into the bowl and poured the hot soup over the top. Thanks to the roux, it thickened nicely. Pretty tasty, considering how little there was in it. No yam, no sweet potato, plantain, cassava, tanya, eddoe, green fig, beans, peas or dumplings. But it was better than nothing. 

I have tried to find out what might be the cause of this metallic taste in my mouth. I have even gone so far as to buy something cooked in a different kitchen and eat it without using any of my own cutlery & crockery. The taste persists. But I had a thought yesterday and I've been ruminating about it today. 

Do you think it could be a filling in one of my teeth, breaking down and tainting everything in my mouth, even my own spit? Has anyone ever had such a thing happen? Google seems to think it can.

Anyway, when I was coming to bed I brought with me Mo's bowl with his dinner in it. It wasn't long before he was there, eating his dinner in bed, with no sign of his nose turning up. Of course, when he was finished he left again in a huff. Yeah, he really showed me!

When I was buying the teabags and chow the cashier asked about him. She laughed so hard when I told her he was "sweet but wicked!"

Quinn continues to build her switcher steam engine. She is actually working on the tender and will build the engine later, although she built the actual boiler first and got it certified. Apparently, this engine will be able to pull a stein with 2-3 adults aboard.

Listening to Aladdin Sane from the album of the same name by Bowie. If I had to name my favourite Bowie album, I would have a hard time naming one. Hunky Dory would be high on my list. Ziggy Stardust. But Aladdin Sane would definitely be close to the top. And the track itself is a fine example of how the humble piano is without doubt an instrument of the rock musician. The piano line is one of those pieces you wish you could play, take credit for. Like the sax in Supertramp's From Now On. Or Ian Anderson's flute on Cross-eyed Mary. 

Midnight approaches. I can see the moon out the window - it's at or close to 3rd quarter. Mo was here a moment ago pilfering my iced water, but he has gone again. He'll be back. 

Meantime, I will read a little before switching to power-save mode. 

[Mr. Sparkle]

7 hours ago, Netfoot said:

If I had to name my favourite Bowie album, I would have a hard time naming one. Hunky Dory would be high on my list. Ziggy Stardust.

Definitely Ziggy for me, followed closely by Hunky Dory. Speaking of runs of classic albums, Bowie has had more than one. 

[Netfoot]

1 hour ago, Mr. Sparkle said:

Definitely Ziggy for me, followed closely by Hunky Dory.

When I think about it, I keep coming back to Hunky Dory. Unless I'm listening to Ziggy Stardust, Aladdin Sane,  etc, in which case I frequently change my mind.

[Netfoot]

It was raining this morning and I got well sprinkled when I had to go out of the house, first thing...

It also rained later in the evening, making Garden Patrol somewhat damp as well.

I enjoyed that soup yesterday so much that I cooked more today. It was almost the exact same thing, except

• I made more of a roux. This turned out to be a mistake because the soup was almost solid! I had to add extra water and there wasn't that much room in the saucepan. It turned out OK in the end, though.
• Instead of putting the diced cucumber in the bowl raw and pouring hot soup over it, I put the cucumber in the soup and let it get cooked a bit. This softened it a little, without completely eliminating the crunch. Softness vs. crunch can be adjusted by not putting the cucumber in at the very start. The later it goes in, the more crunch. 

I enjoyed it quite a bit for lunch and I left enough in the pot for dinner. Mo got chow with a big ladle of soup over the top to add something extra to his lunch.

By around three o'clock, I couldn't wait any more and finished the soup. Call it Second Lunch or Early Dinner if you will. Mo got chow again, at a more usual time, with tiny diced cubes of corned beef tossed in to make it more interesting. 

He was here a moment ago but has ninja'd away to do what ever it is he does outside in the dark. What ever it is, it will almost inevitably lead to wet footies stomping across my bedclothes. Possibly to a completely soaked puppy lying on his back, thrashing back and forth to dry off. 

Elton John's Honky Cat. 

I'm feeling a little out of sorts. Very mild belly-cutting, but an unusual pain under my left arm and around back onto my ribs under the shoulder blade. I don't think the two are connected. I just get aches and pains that arrive without explanation and a while later depart without farewell. (Anybody care to explain how "aches and pains" gets autocorrected to "aches and laundry" by any chance?) As I lie here in bed, the pain in my back ribs has stopped. The mild belly-cutting remains. I can't blame the soup because it's been nine hours since I ate the soup. And the belly-cuttings only started 45 minutes ago.

Watched more model steam engine construction and other miscellaneous YT videos today. YT is just nothing but politics these days. It ticks me off when someone says "XYZ happened!" but I saw the full video myself and I know they are lying. Similarly when I hear "XYZ is the situation!" but I have actually been awake these past few years and quite aware that XYZ is not the situation, so they are lying again. Just make it stop, people. You can't even talk about it in anything other than complete generalities without fear of being victimized for having an opinion.

Also listened to some music and on more than one occasion found myself asleep on my desk.

I have about ⅓ of my book to go. I started to read last night but almost immediately began to fall asleep. After nodding off and dropping the book 3-4 times without getting to the next page, I gave up. Don't want that to happen again tonight and seeing as it is already a quarter past midnight, I will stop here and see if I can read the next chapter without drifting off. Hopefully, Mo will show up and keep me snuggly.

Oh, it seems it is only wet feet. But wait! He has departed again, so full-soak is still on the table.

[Netfoot]

Sometimes, Tummy Trampoline can get a bit too physical. And in such cases 

The player with the claws usually wins.

[Spunkygal]

Second Lunch or EarlyDinner is what we call Dunch!

[Netfoot]

Despite sleeping until 7:55 (rising briefly around 5:00 to let Mo out) I find myself exhausted. I first caught myself sleeping on my desk before 9:30!

I'm also feeling quite off colour. My joints are quite painful and other parts of me are giving me the occasional twinge. 

I gave Mo chow for lunch and made chips with my last two potatoes. These were the best I've made so far. I cut them differently. Normally I would cut the potatoes into slices then cut the slices into chips. To keep the chips short, I've been cutting the slices diagonally across the spuds. This time, I sliced the potatoes in half across the narrow part, and stood the ends up vertically. Slicing down vertically I got a series of slices standing upright. Turning the stack 90° and slicing down vertically again, I got good consistency.

They fried up well and even though there was still a little bit of picking individual chips out of the hot oil one by one, I ended up with a bowl of consistently brown, consistently crispy chips. I used a little more oil than usual this time and that seems to have made things a little easier too, but obviously cost more.

I ate them with Hotchup and nothing else. Considered mustard and Hotchup but decided not to go with the mustard. 

Apart from cooking and eating lunch, I've done nothing all day. Except fall asleep. So I've decided to actually go and get into bed and sleep. To guarantee that I do fall asleep, I have selected a new book. It's called Potshot and it's apparently about a hard drinking PI. It doesn't sound riveting. I have no idea where it came from; it isn't the sort of thing I would necessarily pick up at a 2nd hand book store. 

So, I will try to to read that which will put me to sleep....

Edited August 25 by Netfoot

[andidante]

5 hours ago, Netfoot said:

Despite sleeping until 7:55 (rising briefly around 5:00 to let Mo out) I find myself exhausted. I first caught myself sleeping on my desk before 9:30!

I'm also feeling quite off colour. My joints are quite painful and other parts of me are giving me the occasional twinge. 

Apart from cooking and eating lunch, I've done nothing all day. Except fall asleep. So I've decided to actually go and get into bed and sleep. To guarantee that I do fall asleep, I have selected a new book. It's called Potshot and it's apparently about a hard drinking PI. It doesn't sound riveting. I have no idea where it came from; it isn't the sort of thing I would necessarily pick up at a 2nd hand book store. 

So, I will try to to read that which will put me to sleep....

Sometimes our bodies just need to rest and slow down. I hope you are feeling better soon!

[Netfoot]

I had chowmein noodles for dinner. Is there an especially nasty corner of hell reserved for noodle manufacturers who do not state on the package how long to cook them for? Given that I've got various types of pasta that suggest cooking times anywhere between four and fourteen minutes, "cook until tender" just doesn't cut it! 

Anyway the noodles tasted OK, and I enjoyed the meal. I was ax little disappointed when I opened the package - it only contained two "nests" of noodles. I'd hoped for at least three. The noodles cost around $4½ for 450gr. whereas 250gr. Of spaghetti is around $2¼. I can get two generous servings out of a pack of spaghetti and I'd hope for 3-4 from a pack of noodles. But that doesn't appear to be the case.

Mo is here with me but he appears to be in a huff. In fact he has just departed but the door is locked so he isn't going anywhere unless I open up... In which case he will be out and the door locked.

He was here when I came in with my glass of ice and when I started to pour water from the bottle, the water was going in one side of the glass and he was lapping from the other. I indulge that little boy much too much. I should give him an occasional thrashing just so he will realize how good he has things in between. 

12 hours ago, andidante said:

I hope you are feeling better soon!

I had a good nap. Although I don't know that 3½ hours is correctly called a nap. Woke feeling much better. Not 100% but then I never feel 100% ant any more. Dr. Kristi tells me I'm suffering from a fairly common complaint that is going around. It's called "Old Age". 

Speaking of Dr. K., tomorrow is Monday and I'm not sure whether I should go for a blood pressure test or not. It's always a pleasure to see her and chat, even if only to exchange pleasantries. But she has real patients that really need her help and I always feel like I'm wasting her time. Besides, the last thing I want is to be told to get my own home-test machine. Because if that happens, I won't get instructions to test every two weeks. I'll have to do it six times a day!

What I hope does happen tomorrow, is a visit from my woodworking guy. It is only a week (tomorrow) he was to get back to me....

Mo is now on the floor next to the bed.

You can see he is not in a good mood. But immediately after this photo, he jumped in and is now curled up against my back. One of the hardest parts of living on the breadline is that I can't give him all the attention I would like to. He could really use a trip up.to.the club. So could I, but at least I understand why we can't take one!

I'm listening to a song called King Of The World from an album called Angelfish by a not particularly successful Scottish band of the same name. As far as I understand how it went: a track from this album (not this track) was played on MTV, one time only, in the dead of night. It just so happened that it was heard by Steve Marker, who contacted the lead singer and asked her to join him and a couple others in the formation of a new band. The singer's name is Shirley Manson and thus, the band Garbage was born.

Mo is now trying to dig a hole in the mattress for some reason. 

Ok, I used a "private dick" book to successfully put me to sleep this afternoon, and it worked extremely well. However, with the door locked and the unsuccessful mattress miner now curled up at the foot of the bed, I will see about actually reading the book for real. And the UMM had now wandered off and is barking out by the door. I will ignore him unless he gets very insistent, in which case I will open up and throw him out for the night. 

Edited August 26 by Netfoot

[Lovecat]

On 8/23/2024 at 11:46 PM, Netfoot said:

The piano line is one of those pieces you wish you could play, take credit for. Like the sax in Supertramp's From Now On. Or Ian Anderson's flute on Cross-eyed Mary. 

Funny you should mention that; I play flute in a community band and last night before our last concert of the season the lady who sits next to me was working on it during our warm-up period.  She's part of a local cover band, too, and they want to add it to their playlist.

[Netfoot]

1 hour ago, Lovecat said:

Funny you should mention that

Life is full of little coincidences like this. I find it makes things more interesting.

I don't think I've ever actually met a flautist before!

[Netfoot]

Is it measles?

[Netfoot]

Opened the house for Mo at four thirty, thinking it would soon be light. But dawn didn't break until five thirty! During the intervening hour I think Mo went outside and returned over a dozen times, marching across the bed to the window with absolutely sodden feet. Finally, he stopped and I was able to drop off again... until ten thirty when I woke to find I'd missed the alarm. 

No sign of my guy. He's a good fellow, but I don't understand the attitude. "I know I said tomorrow, but I'm sure you won't mind if I'm three weeks late, and don't even touch base with you in the interim."

I could really stand to pay the electric before it's cut off!

Don't remember what I ate for lunch. Had no dinner at all, not even a cuppa. Mo had chow, but the supply is not unlimited so another week waiting for the job to materialize and he will be on rice again, but without even corned beef to sweeten the taste.

Georgia by Boz Scaggs. This is off Silk Degrees. When I was at college I had his Down Two Then Left album. When ever I played it, the girl from upstairs would come down. Eventually, she moved out and as a farewell gift, I gave her the album. I'm speaking of vinyl, of course. Because back then, vinyl was state-of-the-art technology. 

Watched a Van Damme movie tonight. Can't recall the name. Something like Maximum Risk perhaps? He played the part of twins separated shortly after birth. But he only actually had to play one of them because the other was murdered at the very start of the movie. Therein after, a mixture of Russian mafia, corrupt cops, shapely pole-dancers and stupid taxi drivers.

There is a little corned beef left but not much. The potatoes are all gone and all the carrots too. There is 1½ cucumbers, some rice and some pasta, along with a tin of lentils. Mo has chow for 4-5 days. 

(Five times now, the phone has tried to eat this post. I have to keep saving it to the clipboard and restoring it.)

Mo is sleeping alongside my legs. In a very undignified pose.

When I go to lock the door he will instantly awaken and insist on going out for a prowl before closing.

He really is a naughty boy. I brought him his very own ice cube but he would not rest until he got one of mine! Oh, now he has moved onto his side and I can rub his back with my foot.

Listened to an album today. After 2 tracks I stopped the album and put myself out of my misery. 1½ tracks, actually. It was the 1998 album In The Aeroplane Over The Sea by Neutral Milk Hotel. Described as "intentionally low-quality sound", it doesn't immediately recommend itself, and I can't remember who suggested it to me. The sound was not the only thing low-quality. The guitar playing, the vocals and the lyrics we're all pretty low-quality as well. 

I would normally give an album the benefit of the doubt and listen to it through and through. After all, I even listened to Trout Mask Replica (the worst album in the world, bar none) in its entirety. And it is still in my collection.  But I decided, you know what? I'm too old for this shit! And out came the big, old drop-album script that I've never run before!

So now, having just locked up (and yes, Mo rushed out then sneaked back in and went to sleep on the bed, leaving me waiting out by the door for 10 minutes for his return), I think I will stop here and read a little before calling it quits.

LZ and Stairway To Heaven. As good away as any to leave you...

Edited August 27 by Netfoot

[andidante]

11 hours ago, Netfoot said:

Is it measles?

Are you allergic to something maybe that caused a rash? I have no idea what measles might look like.

[Netfoot]

2 hours ago, andidante said:

Are you allergic to something maybe that caused a rash?

Not as far as know.

I had measles (Rubella) 35-ish years ago. If you catch it, you are supposedly immune for life thereafter. But google says it is possible (though admittedly unusual) to catch it again. 

[Lovecat]

On 8/26/2024 at 12:07 PM, Netfoot said:

I don't think I've ever actually met a flautist before!

And you still haven't--I play the flute, not the flaute ;)

 

Edited August 27 by Lovecat

[andidante]

4 hours ago, Netfoot said:

Not as far as know.

I had measles (Rubella) 35-ish years ago. If you catch it, you are supposedly immune for life thereafter. But google says it is possible (though admittedly unusual) to catch it again. 

Interesting. I wonder what that is then?

[Netfoot]

My buddy indicated that he needed some wooden items made. That was several weeks ago. Last Monday, after 2-3 weeks of waiting patiently, I dropped a gentle hint on WhatsApp. Now, over a week later, still nothing. 

Cooked rice for lunch. Didn't taste very nice. Mo, who got half the pot, agreed. Come dinner time, I took the little rice remaining in the pot and added it to Mo's bowl, where most of his lunch still resided. He was not impressed. For my own dinner, I boiled spaghetti which I ate with... nothing. Just spaghetti. It tasted OK but pasta is really nothing other than a delivery system for sauce. (Like cake is only a delivery system for icing.)

I left about a third of the spag. in the bowl and put it on the floor for Mo. He came, took a look and turned up his nose. So I picked up the bowl and finished the spaghetti. 

He is right here next to me now, cleaning his front paws. I'm sure he must be hungry because he ate very little if his lunch and very little of his dinner. Well, there isn't much in the house to feed him on other than chow. So he will get a bowl of that for lunch tomorrow. There is also a tiny piece of corned beef left so I guess I will dice that up very fine and toss it in with the chow. 

If the woodwork job doesn't come forward soon the electricity will be cut off, which will mean no woodwork jobs can be undertaken thereafter. And I will have to take at least some of the money in the bank earmarked for the electric bill and buy food.

But you know what? I don't need to think about that right now.

Mo has departed.

I have reached to the end of the sequence of YT videos of Quinn (BlondiHacks) building her miniature steam engine. The project is not complete so more videos will drop, but they will probably be 10 days to 2 weeks apart. While watching her videos I came across a video of a truly magnificent model steam engine. It was an absolute monster with a gauge of 12-13" or something like that. Quinn's engine is around 3½" gauge and she expects it to haul 2-3 passengers. The behemoth was running with only three people on board: engineer and fireman, plus someone on the caboose. But between the tender and the caboose were eight carriages, each with room for four passengers, possibly five! If you stood next to it, it would probably come up to your waist.

I'm listening to Hometown Unicorn from the debut album Fuzzy Logic by Welsh band Super Furry Animals. I quite like this album. And I think I may have at least one more of theirs in my collection.

Mo is back, and I just took his photo. Since there is a size limit on uploaded photos, I usually have to run them through a resizer. When I tried to run it, it told me I had to install it properly (I installed it a year ago and it's been working fine since then). When I tried to reinstall it, the Play Store can't find it. Completely gone. It probably made the mistake of expressing an unacceptable political opinion and was cancelled. To preserve deemockracy! Got to find another app, now. One with more acceptable (compliant) politics. 

Speaking of compliance, I see that the French have arrested the CEO of Telegram for not doing enough to prevent criminal activity on the app. Telegram is a messaging app very similar to WhatsApp. It has two advantages over WhatsApp which is why I have it installed on my phone. 

1. I can write simple programs that run on my computer and send messages to my phone.
2. It is not owned by SuckerBorg. 

As a messaging app, it is not immediately clear what sort of action should have been done to prevent criminal activity. But it doesn't take much reading to quickly understand what he should have done: build in a backdoor and give it to the French government. For failing to do this, he was arrested. 

Finally got a resizer app. Third try. First one demanded that I allow them to collect my personal info and shared it with with other companies. (I.e.: sell it to spammers.) They also said that after three days they would be charging me $9.99/month. Second app required that I create an account. Nowadays you have to download an app and create an account for everything. If you buy a blender, you have to download an app in order to change the speeds of the blades. And the app won't work until you create an account, filling in 9 pages of personal information. 

I understand that Ring cameras and doorbell cams used to make you set up an account in order to use them. And recently, Ring started charging a monthly fee to maintain the account. A fee that was not mentioned when you bought the cameras....

I'm going to read for a while and then sleep. 

[andidante]

7 hours ago, Netfoot said:

My buddy indicated that he needed some wooden items made. That was several weeks ago. Last Monday, after 2-3 weeks of waiting patiently, I dropped a gentle hint on WhatsApp. Now, over a week later, still nothing. 

 that Ring cameras and doorbell cams used to make you set up an account in order to use them. And recently, Ring started charging a monthly fee to maintain the account. A fee that was not mentioned when you bought the cameras....

 

I'm going to read for a while and then sleep. 

I just have the Ring doorbell camera and quite like it. It costs me $49.99 a year which isn't bad. I do have other cameras on my house but they are monitored by my alarm company. I am a bit of a paranoid Polly, but better to be safe than sorry!

I hope your friend comes through for you!

[Netfoot]

50 minutes ago, andidante said:

I just have the Ring doorbell camera and quite like it.

Cameras are a good idea. (Dash-cams too!)

I object to the bait'n'switch that they (Ring) pulled off on their customers when they suddenly told millions of customers that the camera(s) that they has bought and paid for would stop working unless they agreed to pay an additional subscription fee going forward.

I am never going to happily buy any product that requires a connection to the company's system for it to work, even if the service is free. Because it may be free today, but the price - and terms of use - can change tomorrow. I could name at least one company who "bricked" their product owned by a customer (not me) because of their politics.

[andidante]

9 minutes ago, Netfoot said:

Cameras are a good idea. (Dash-cams too!)

I object to the bait'n'switch that they (Ring) pulled off on their customers when they suddenly told millions of customers that the camera(s) that they has bought and paid for would stop working unless they agreed to pay an additional subscription fee going forward.

I am never going to happily buy any product that requires a connection to the company's system for it to work, even if the service is free. Because it may be free today, but the price - and terms of use - can change tomorrow. I could name at least one company who "bricked" their product owned by a customer (not me) because of their politics.

I do have a dash cam as well, LOL. I totally agree with you on the bait and switch issue! I hate that. 

[Spunkygal]

I know it would require gas in the tank, but how about going back out to the weekend market this weekend?  Firstly, to say hello to friends and maybe be given a free treat, but also to scope out whether making and selling more items out there is a worthwhile effort?

[Netfoot]

2 hours ago, Spunkygal said:

I know it would require gas in the tank, but how about going back out to the weekend market this weekend?  Firstly, to say hello to friends and maybe be given a free treat, but also to scope out whether making and selling more items out there is a worthwhile effort?

Will consider this. But I have news.

This morning, I dent him a message that said: "?" and he responded by bringing me two baulks of timber and a request for sofa legs. The design of these legs is quite different and they are larger, but it appears they will be easier to make. He said he wanted 16 but if I got more than that number he would take them all. He offered $25 each. He also mentioned the shelves that we has discussed before, so that job is also still on the cards.

Measuring the boards, I deduce I can cut 24 of them. There are a few knots which might reduce the number but only by a couple at most.

He said he can bring cash tomorrow. On the strength of that, I calculated how much I could afford to spend: $140.29 total. I went shopping and bought

• Gasoiline, 5.45 L -- $23.00
• Engine Oil, 1 Qt,  -- $17.00
• Mozie Chow, 2 Kg, -- $22.99
• Potatoes, 8 lb, -- $10.99 
• Diced Tomatoes, 2x, -- $7.96
• Black Beans -- $2.59
• Carrots, 1 lb. -- $3.49
• Mayo -- $8.99
• Chubby Drink, 4x -- $3.56
• PHD Evap Milk, 2 L -- $14,98
• Minced Beef -- $6.03
• Bags, 2x -- $0.50

Total: $122.10, leaving me with $18.19 to spare. I kept a tally on my phone as I put things in  my basket, but I messed that up and the goods cost less than I was expecting. Otherwise, I might have spent some of that left-over $18.19 and got a few more things. 

Now, I have just spent the money earmarked for the electric bill. And I hate to do that on the strength of a promise of cash tomorrow to replace it. But the $140 wasn't enough to pay electric anyhow, unless the promise is kept. And we really needed groceries. 

I will admit the four Chubby drinks were an extravagance but... well... for that matter, so is the mayo!

[Netfoot]

This is a Chubby drink:

They are only 250ml but you can get three for the price of a Coke...

Notice the flavour: "Purple POWER". They can't say "Grape" because there isn't so much as single atom of anything grape in this thing... 😆

[Netfoot]

It's a quarter past midnight. Started watching a movie. A short time later I checked to see how much longer.... Two hours and more! anyway, I watched a while more and paused for bedtime.

You may remember some feet I made a while ago that were tapered. They gave me no end of hell and I had to do some of the cuts by hand with my cheap, Japanese-styled pull-saw. The problem was that the legs were 3¾" wide (IIRC) and 5" tall. Both measurements that exceed the max cut depth of my table saw. The legs I've got to make now are 4¾" wide, but only 2⅜" tall. So I can easily cut the tapers on the saw without any funny jiggery-pokery to get it done. 

At 4¾" I can easily cut the boards into  4⅞" squares (5" less ⅛" to allow for blade kerf) and trim that back to final size when making the tapering cuts. The two boards are 61" and 60½" so I should get 12 legs from each, or 24 total.

Now there are one or two knots in the boards, big and small. Mostly small. If your final piece includes a knot, it might be acceptable so long as the knot isn't too huge. If, when cutting my squares, a huge knot ends up in the middle of a square, I might have to chuck that square out, ending up with one less finished leg. But if the knot fell right in the middle of a cut, you might end up with two squares that each included half of a large knot. You might end up having to throw them both out and end up with two less finished leg. So with a bit of luck, clever cutting of the boards into the 4⅞" squares may result in more finished pieces than just leaving it up to chance. 

One leg is worth the same as 5 Kg of meat scraps or 1½ gallons of gas, and two legs is enough to refill a 25 lb. cylinder for the stove, so...

I'm listening to I Love You by Climax Blues Band. I've loved this song since the first time I heard it, back in 1980. Dunno why, but I did. Funnily enough, I never was a huge fan of the band. Not that I had anything against them, but it seemed that this song was their masterpiece. 

Lunch? What lunch? But dinner! I boiled some potatoes and carrots and in a pan I fried minced beef, onion and diced cucumber, adding diced tomatoes and spices (garlic powder & paprika). The boiled veggies went into a bowl with two ladles of the mixture on top. Metal-mouth issues aside, it was good. And very welcome. Vittles have been less for the last week or so. 

Mo is here on the foot of the bed and I'm rubbing his back with my foot. He isn't snoozing. He is sitting up and looking around. I must say, he isn't acting his usual self these past 2-3 days. Not murdering his food and completely ignoring the glass of iced water on the bed side table. He's just descended to the floor.

Ok, I want to get started on the woodwork tomorrow without too much delay. Meds, messages, tea and sawdust. The work shouldn't take long. I have to size the boards in thickness and width, cut them into to squares, taper the four sides of each square and  drill/counterbore a central bolt-hole in each one. After that comes the best part: sanding. 😦 Only issue, he never said what size bolt he is planning on using. I got to ask him for the two diameters and the depth of the counterbore. First thing tomorrow, on WhatsApp.

So I'm going to finish now and grab some sleep. 

[b4pjoe]

7 hours ago, Netfoot said:

Now there are one or two knots in the boards, big and small. Mostly small. If your final piece includes a knot, it might be acceptable so long as the knot isn't too huge. If, when cutting my squares, a huge knot ends up in the middle of a square, I might have to chuck that square out, ending up with one less finished leg. But if the knot fell right in the middle of a cut, you might end up with two squares that each included half of a large knot. You might end up having to throw them both out and end up with two less finished leg.

Knots in wood adds character. Unless they are knot holes where the knot used to be I would use them.

[Netfoot]

2 hours ago, b4pjoe said:

Knots in wood adds character. Unless they are knot holes where the knot used to be I would use them.

I hold to the belief that the character in wood is to be found in the flaws. But these sofa (maybe?) feet are structural. They are drilled for a fixing bolt and when in use will be subject to load. I don't want to deliver a part with a large knot which might be hard to drill for the fastener or flawed and ready to split when in use.

Also, the knot is differently coloured to the rest of the wood which might be considered an eyesore. Even when painted, a knot will frequently produce resin which penetrates the paint from underneath and becomes very visible on the outside.

So. I cut out the worst of the knots to keep my guy happy.

I was able to cut the boards so as to produce 22 feet. I have sized them in thickness and nominally in size. I've tapered two adjacent sides and I'm taking a break. I'm about to adjust the fence on the saw so the next two tapering cuts will also bring the parts to final size. Then center drilling and finally, sanding.

They don't want the legs drilled & counterbored for the bolt because they use different bolts depending on availability but I will drill a small pilot hole for them.

Just spoke on the phone. He is bringing my cash for me (not sure exactly how much). He was in St. Lucy (far end of the island) and said he would leave there in an hour.