Ill keep the rant to a minimum on this one.  As i have bitched about before, they have declared war on trees, farms, wildlife, dirt...  and are putting up houses in my county as fast as they can.

Had to run to the vet yesterday, and on the way I pass one of the new developments. Not been past in a couple of weeks ( its also on the way to the hardware store ). And in those 2 weeks. must be 100 houses magically appeared out of the dust..

How in the hell do they build this crap that fast? My dad and grandfather were in the building industry so I know it does not take a long time to grow a cookie cutter house in a development, but this is frightening how many ...  In a year, there will be no dirt left here.

With most things there is a 'right way' a 'duct tape way' and the 'wrong way'

Somewhere between "right" and "duct tape" is where i normally fall. Most things in life are NOT worth effort to do it by the book.  But i don't want a bunch of tape holding things together either..

Wed Oct 16 2024 22:22:00 EDT from IGnatius T Foobar Subject: Re: Suicide sockets

That's the correct way to do it. 

So. hopping up and running around the roof at 60 is not the same as at 50..  Not 'bad' but i can tell a difference going up the ladder.

I got an air compressor this past summer (ok, it was my dad's air compressor, he's too senile to use it anymore) and have been enjoying using air tools in my shop.  I even set up a little parking cubicle for it in the corner of the garage, but it really was annoying to have to pull it out, get down on the floor, and operate the drain plug after each use.  It's bad to leave moisture in the tank, of course.  So I just got this:

Now all I have to do is pull on that cord and it dumps the tank from the bottom, letting out any moisture that has collected inside.

its amazing how tools multiply on their own.  Especially wrenches, sockets and stuff. 

This was my weekend project.  (Text client users: there are photos in this message.)

When we remodeled the kitchen a couple of years ago, I noticed that the soffit above the cabinets was just an empty bumpout, so I ran lots of low voltage wire inside.  Under-cabinet lights went in later the same year, but I also left extra wire in there knowing that I'd eventually want to add some in-wall speakers.  It's been a couple of years now, and I finally installed speakers as a Christmas break project.  The wall-mounted bluetooth receiver/amplifier is something I've wanted for a long time, and my lovely wife bought it for me as a Christmas present.

Everything runs back to a 12 volt terminal block, fed from a transformer in the basemetnt, that is accessible in the cabinet under the bathroom sink, since the bathroom and kitchen are back to back with each other.  I have a similar sound system in the bathroom, but the amplifier is hidden in the cabinet and there's just a switch on the wall.  We use it to listen to podcasts or music while in the shower or tub.

Yes, I'm that kind of nerd.  I love built-ins.

if we had just listened to Tesla ( the real one, not that shameless bastardization of his name that Musk created ) we would all have wireless power today.. 

And related to my car story..   Spring going to have a contractor redo my bathroom, instead of myself.   I dont know if this is age or what..   letting others do things id never think twice about doing. 

it was a bit more complex than that and included using the earth as a resonator. Eventually he would replace the gas engines with his boundary layer turbines using diesel generated steam, driving his generators on-site to create the power ( at least until nuclear became an option ), but yes, perceived inability to bill was one of the primary reasons Morgan cut his funding 2/3 of the way thru the Wardenclyffe project. There were a few others tho, such as Tesla expanding the project goals agreed on for funding ( massive scope/cost creep ) but not telling anyone "i need more money", and Marconi stealing his patents and getting all the press during the Titanic disaster messing up royalties.  And of course due to the Westinghouse generator debacle, he didn't have a lot of money of his own at that point but he did pretty much bankrupt himself in the process anyway. But ya primary was the inability for Morgan to see the bigger picture.

And back to billing, and forgetting modern billing practices which of course was beyond their imagination at the time even then someone had to produce the hardware to receive power, so it wasn't like it was going to be 'free'...  And worst case could have used mechanical "counters" with a feedback loop of some sort, something Tesla could whip up in his sleep. if he slept. Not sure why he didn't think of both at the time to appease Morgan. "see, we change for the stuff and look we can bill for use too"

Oh, and ya, im a Telsa fan.   lol    Always was, even back to grade school. 

Tue Dec 31 2024 04:51:49 UTC from IGnatius T Foobar

He wanted to electrify the ionosphere, which seems like a good idea until you realize there's no way to bill for it.

There is a pretty good documentary on his plans and the eventual fall, if you can find it:  "Tower to the People: Tesla's Dream at Wardenclyffe"

Nice bit at the end, a modern fan club of sorts save the lab from becoming yet another housing development, at the last minute. that alone was an amazing story, and luck. Until i saw that i honestly thought it had been lost decades ago to nature, then assumed it had been bulldozed over for a shopping mall. I was rather pleased to see it saved. One of the few "man made things" id like to go see on this rock we call Earth.  Its to bad they wont reconstruct the tower, and resume the work. But, that ship has sailed. ( ya, pun sort of intentional )

Tue Dec 31 2024 17:16:47 UTC from IGnatius T Foobar

"i need more money", and Marconi stealing his patents and

Oh sure, blame the Italian :)

Well, ****.   Seems late in 2023 the lab basically burn to the ground, shortly after it was bought by the 'fan club' to restore it and turn it into a museum.

The more paranoid might suggest that one of the builders who lost out on the bid might want to see it burn, so that the club had nothing to restore, so they sell of the, useless to them, land.  But that would never happen. 

Arrrgh ants..everywhere. 

yay  bathtub drain frozen over.   ( -3 this morning ) Last time this happened it was -11.  ( bathroom is up against an outside wall )

Not end of world panic stuff, all the incoming and outgoing lines are fine.  and supposed to get to around 20 this afternoon.