2020/01/30

Too Many Books Too Little Time

Im still less than half way thru "The Rich Don't Always Win" and "Logicomix" and what happens? The library sends me a note that my hold request for "The Man Who Solved the Market" is ready for pickup.

Looks like I'll be shifting priorities a bit so I can get this devoured and back to the library before times up.

To be time affluent would be a dream.

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10

2020/01/29

About that 1993 IRA Bombing in Warrington

This still packs a megaton punch to the gut


The Wheels aren't Off Yet

This last week I've fallen off the wagon for my morning walks. These walks are important for me to work towards my daily 10,000 steps. I won't bore you with excuses because nothing is more important than getting and staying healthy. I am recommitting to my goal for health now.

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9

2020/01/27

Never Forget

Lets remember that people are capable of pure evil.
No caveats about also being capable of grace.
Today, just remember the evil

About a year ago I picked up this graphic novel from the library. It was part of my reading list and I'm glad I finally had the opportunity to read it.

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

Its a quick read but that doesnt make it an easy read. There was a panel I stared at and re-read over and over. Im not going to share which panel it is because I want you to have your own relationship with this book. Suffice it to say it was the most horrifying thing I can remember ever reading.

Stay vigilant and never forget.

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7



2020/01/24

Time & Perspective

Our house has security cameras scattered about the property. The reasons for this are a few but suffice it to say it has a lot more to do with my propensity for tinkering than any actual safety issues.

I have two vendors I use; Zmodo and Wyze, and I like each vendor for different strengths they bring to the table. I also actually prefer having multiple vendors for systems in the event one vendor has server issues, the other hopefully will still be up and running. Any integration and simplification advantages from having only one platform have been made moot with the Amazon Alexa platform.

Back a few months ago I saw a pretty good deal on a pair of Zmodo fixed outdoor wireless cams that would help cover a couple of areas currently not covered. I unpacked em and although they looked very similar to the previous models they did use a slightly different and supposedly easier software setup method. Using the existing smartphone app to display a QR Code and aim the camera at to automagically identify the new cam in the platform. It worked fantastically for the first camera, but the second camera would not setup no matter how I fiddled with any variables I could imagine.

So once I got to right before the moment I smashed it with a hammer and threw it over the back fence while proclaiming to no one in particular that I would never never never never buy anything from Zmodo again - I decided to set it on the self and tinker with some other task. And there is sat for months and months until I had calmed down to the point where I was willing to do a little research and more fiddling.

I started by recreating the exact same steps that were unsuccessful previously. I know this is the very definition of insanity, but in my defense, if Zmodo had pushed thru some app revision I was unaware of and resolved this problem it was certainly worth a few minutes of presumed insane behavior.

No luck.

OK, what do the interwebs say...a whole lot of nothing with one small spark of inspiration. There it was "....the problem might be the camera is not focused" Now granted, most of the fiddling I did was moving the camera closer and  further away from the QR code in hopes of hitting the sweet spot and getting to move on with my life. But that little tidbit on the Googles got me to thinking - what if, instead of moving the camera to and fro a tiny fixed image on the smartphone i instead blew up the image to make it easier to see. A quick screenshot on my phone and sending it to my email address so could zoom in on a big monitor and voila! Success!

Like so many times I've been stuck on something, simply walking away for a bit and thinking about something else before coming back to the same problem is all I need to have a breakthrough.


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4

2020/01/23

Another look

You often hear how actors can be typecast but what if you have been typecast?

Typecast at work
Typecast at home
Typecast by Google or Amazon or Facebook or Netflix
Typecast at church
Typecast by your friends

What does that look like? Can you ever step out of yourself and see how you've been typecast?
How hard is it to change that? Do you want to change it? Is the typecasting better than who you actually are?
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3

2020/01/22

While Im at it...

After thinking about stuff in the closets that needs to go I started thinking about other clutter.

Specifically - digital clutter.

Based on my current podcast list - what can I eliminate?

1) 99% Invisible
2) mobituaries
3) The Boogie Monster
4) Lore
5) Freakonomics
6) Planet Money
7) TWIT
8) Anthropocene
9) Revisionist History
10) The Badlands (Politics & Philosophy)
11) Valley 101
12) Cautionary Tales
13) Smart People Podcast
14) The Memory Palace
15) Stuff You Missed in History Class
16) Quanta Science Podcast

I think I can delete the following:

 5) Freakonomics
 6) Planet Money
10) The Badlands (Politics & Philosophy)
13) Smart People Podcast
14) The Memory Palace
15) Stuff You Missed in History Class

The Quanta Science Podcast is more of a placeholder until I can find the actual one I want (Joy of X)

So Im going to delete these for now and give it a month and see if I miss them at all.

How long is too long

The TiVo has been in the closet for at least 10 years now.
The outputs are for the time before HDMI.
At this point I think its more emotional attachment than hope for using again.
That coupled with; out of sight, out of mind.

I guess I'll pull it out tonight to force it into my consciousnes.
And while Im at it - I should probably start thinking about next steps for the old desktop that was replaced a few months ago with a shiny new laptop.

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2

2020/01/20

Time for an Update

A smart look at the original 10 Commandments and a suggested revision.


2020/01/19

Engrossing


Can I add this to my reading list retroactively? I can't put it down.

2020/01/18

Ça plane pour moi

What I wanted was a new tubular skylight installed in both of the bathrooms and especially in the hallway bathroom which has no windows for natural light. What I wound up with was nothing in the hallway bathroom and a glorious new skylight in the en suite bathroom. Now I have two conflicting emotions; I'm loving the en suite and frustration with the hallway bathroom stuck with the same problem - no natural light.

After two long years my Pixel 2 was finally paid off to the wireless overlords Verizon. Along this long path to financial freedom the battery was marching towards is inevitable death. My brilliant plan for redemption was to find a repair shop to do the surgery required to replace a mostly un-replacable battery. While the skylights were being sorted out the news came in- the patient would not recover, the trouble was much deeper than the battery.

Ugh.

So here we are today - shopping for a replacement. I cant complain too loudly, its always fun to get a new toy and it looks like Ill be getting the same model Mark recently picked up. Its not the new Pixel (which is super expensive) but it'll be a model with a really big battery.

Everything is groovy.

2020/01/17

Well hello there Friday!

Heres something beautiful I wanted to share


Its Olga Scheps on a Steinway playing Glinka/Balakirev "The Lark"

2020/01/16

Cultural Touchstones

Why is there still 'Flintstones' children's vitamins? Are the Flintstones relevant with parents anymore?

Growing Up

This article got me to thinking about my childhood, and how I remembered it.

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/the-best-parts-of-your-childhood-probably-involved-things-today-s-kids-will-never-know?utm_source=pocket-newtab

Memory is a weird and flawed thing so take these with a grain of salt

* 4 channels on a black and white tv to choose from.
* Getting excited about birthdays and Christmas because thats when you could get your top wish list items
* Shampoo in glass bottles
* "Trilogy of Terror" with Karen Black - the commercial alone gave me nightmares
* Pueblo radio station KDZA for music and the KDZA Jingle Bell Rock contest
* Fall in Colorado meant a week away from school for hunting season
* Pulling weeds in the yard - oh how I hated lawn work
* Not having any spending money
* Wheat Chex, Shredded Wheat, or Oatmeal were my choices for breakfast
* The house phone was for emergency's - if you want to talk with your friends walk down the street to their house and say hi.
* School could be stressful but also exciting
* The Scholastic Book Club and the excitement of both pouring over a new newsletter to choose some new books and the followup excitement of receiving your purchases.
* Summers spent in KS visiting grandparents and relatives.
* Eating at home for breakfast, lunch, and dinner because eating out was rare.
* The local Dairy Queen was open seasonally and getting a banana split was such a treat.
* If I wanted to get anywhere it was either walking or my bike.
* Breaking my two front teeth after an unfortunate skateboard accident
* My first real job at Chuck E Cheese and all the new friends I made there.
* Learning that world extended past my block and past Pueblo.

2020/01/15

The Joy of x Podcast

This is great

https://www.quantamagazine.org/steven-strogatz-talks-science-and-math-on-the-joy-of-x-podcast-20200115

But

I cant find it on Google Podcast's - which is the app I use...

This Years Reading List: (9 Books in 12 Months)

Update # 1
Only 3 titles are available  at the library but I was able to snag 4 of the others as used on Amazon
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Number: The Language of Science
Tobias Dantzig
Plume, 2007

Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and its Consequences
John Allen Paulos
Hill and Wang, 2001

How Not to Be Wrong: The Power of Mathematical Thinking
Jordan Ellenberg
Penguin, 2014

Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea
Charles Seife
Penguin, 2000

A Tour of the Calculus
David Berlinski
Vintage, 1997

First Six Books of the Elements of Euclid [full-text]
Euclid, with annotations by John Casey
Project Gutenberg, 2007

Measurement
Paul Lockhart
Belknap, 2012

Sync: How Order Emerges from Chaos in the Universe, Nature and Daily Life
Steven Strogatz
Hyperion, 2003

Logicomix: An Epic Search for Truth
Apostolos Doxiadis and Christos H. Papadimitriou, with art by Alecos Papadatos and Annie Di Donna
Bloomsbury USA, 2009

2020/01/14

Countdown...

Its a short week for me, we're taking this Friday and the following Monday off.
In the past we have typically gone to the west coast and soaked up the ocean vibe but this year we have a family issue that needs attention. So we've changed our plans and now its going to be a few day trips here in local AZ. Other than a trip to Prescott to maybe check out the cabin and pick up some pellets for the stove we are keeping it open to possibilities. I guess I need to check out some online resources for things to see this time of year. We've done the Grand Canyon, Kartchner Caverns, Petrified Forest, Flagstaff, and other destinations. It'll be fun to find a new path.

Oh, and since Mark still needs to do a little office work Friday morning, Ill be using that time to have suntubes installed in the bathrooms. I've been wanting to do that ever since I saw Omar and Andys new bathroom and remodel.

2020/01/12

Happy Holidays

The Xmas lights are down as of about 2 hours ago. We no longer look like crazy people.

2020/01/10

K9

If I were a k9 cop I'd want my dog to be named something like Fluffy or Tinker Bell

2020/01/09

Perspectives

I know what I have given you. I do not know what you have received. -Antonio Porchia

2020/01/08

2020/01/07

CQD

CQD was was established as the official distress call in 1904 on today's date. Two years later it would be replaced with SOS.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From Wikipedia

Land telegraphs had traditionally used "CQ" ("sécu", from the French word sécurité)[2] to identify alert or precautionary messages of interest to all stations along a telegraph line, and CQ had also been adopted as a "general call" for maritime radio use. However, in landline usage there was no general emergency signal, so the Marconi company added a "D" ("distress") to CQ in order to create its distress call. Sending "D" was already used internationally to indicate an urgent message. Thus, "CQD" is understood by wireless operators to mean, "All stations: distress." Contrary to popular belief, CQD does not stand for "Come Quick, Danger", "Come Quickly: Distress", "Come Quick – Drowning!", or "C Q Danger" ("Seek You, Danger"); these are backronyms.

 On April 15, 1912, RMS Titanic radio operator Jack Phillips initially sent "CQD", which was still commonly used by British ships. Harold Bride, the junior radio operator, suggested using "SOS", saying half-jokingly that it might be his last chance to use the new code. Phillips thereafter began to alternate between the two.[9] Though Bride survived the sinking, Phillips did not.[10]

2020/01/06

water leaks

Years ago when I owned a condo across town I came home one night to hear what sounded like a sprinkler running. When I opened the front door I found the upstairs toilet supply line had failed and was spraying water in the bathroom, and down the stairs, and into the basement. By the time I got it shut off there was about a foot of water in the basement.

You can probably guess that the thought of a repeat disaster makes me jumpier than a cat on a hot tin roof.

Fast forward to a few weeks ago when Mark happened to be in the bathroom of our current home when, you guessed it, the toilet supply line failed. And the shut off knob failed too. So a quick trip outside to the house water shut-off diverted total disaster.

We were very lucky we were home. And not on vacation, or even just at work.

That got me thinking of a simple automated solution. The criteria I used for my equipment search was: 1) Inexpensive 2) Works with Alexa 3) Doesn't need a hub. So I'm trying out: 1) smart water leak detector WiFi flood sensor for $21.37 and 2) Smart WiFi water shut off valve for $29.99. The sensor has a rechargeable battery with easy to access micro USB recharging port. The shut off valve has an ac adapter for power.

Both devices connect thru the Smart Life app which already includes the ability to create simple automation such as "if the water sensor triggers an alarm turn the valve to off"

I'm starting with one sensor located near the washing machine, hot water heater, and frig. Once I feel like this setup will do what I want it to do I'll start buying additional sensors for the bathrooms and for under the kitchen sink.

Oh, and of course, it all connects thru Amazon Alexa as well. 

All I have left to do at this point is find some time to install the shut off valve outside. I'll probably take care of that this weekend.

2020/01/05

What I listened to today on my walky walk.


From:   https://www.smartpeoplepodcast.com/2017/01/30/episode-263-yuval-noah-harari/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Episode 263 – Yuval Noah Harari – How Humans Have Become Gods and What it Means for Our Future

With the international sensation, critical favorite, and New York Times bestseller Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, Yuval Noah Harari unleashed a global phenomenon. His electrifying debut resonated with notable public figures: the book was lauded by President Obama, Bill Gate, Sebastian Junger, and Mark Zuckerberg.

In this episode we discuss Sapiens, as well as his newest endeavor, Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow. In Sapiens, Harari showed us how the human race came to rule the planet. In Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow, he offers a spellbinding glimpse of the (near) future. A future in which the zeal to upgrade humans into gods could threaten humanity’s supremacy, meaning, and very existence. And not even rabid science fiction fans will be prepared for Harari’s vivid, original, and endlessly surprising vision of tomorrow.

This is the shape of the new world as Harari envisions it, where the gap between those who get onboard and those left behind will be bigger even than the gap between Sapiens and Neanderthals. This is the next stage of evolution.

Dr. Yuval Harari has a PhD in history from the University of Oxford and now lectures at the Department of History, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, specializing in world history. His first book, Sapiens, was translated into over 40 languages and became a bestseller in the US, UK, France, China, Korea, and numerous other countries. For additional information, please visit his website (www.ynharari.com), watch his YouTube channel (www.youtube.com/user/YuvalNoahHarari), and find him on Facebook.

 

Working on the soundrack for the drive home

Im trying to cheat with this post. The Amazon music desktop app has a "share" button to share my various playlists. This is my "driving" playlist and right outta the chute it says i cant share all the songs. Im sure its some of those I purchased like 10cc Im Not in Love.

https://music.amazon.com/user-playlists/56ad092fea894ea6b709621245fb9760sune?ref=dm_sh_fefb-817e-2e9a-17e7-daa8c

ISO 7000 / IEC 60417 Graphical symbols for use on equipment

Apropos of nothing - I could sit and stare at this page from the massive book of the internets for hours and hours

https://www.iso.org/obp/ui#iso:pub:PUB400008:en

 I enjoy it so hard.

2020/01/04

Vacation

Last February when we made our way back to Key West we made special plans to visit the Dry Tortugas National Park.

https://www.nps.gov/drto/index.htm

It was amazing and I recommend it if you have the opportunity.

This year its looking like a day trip to Cuba. Cuba! I cannot wait.

2020/01/03

A reasonable article.

Sharing an article that makes too much sense.


Lunch

Its quiet here at the office. Probably because so many people are either taking vacation time or working reduced hours from home. But not me, I like the routine of getting ready for work and heading into the office.

I also like the weekday morning routine; wake up; let the dogs out; feed the dogs; get dressed and go for a walk around the neighborhood; (my husband is packing my lunch while I work towards my 10,000 steps); get ready and leave for work.

I really enjoy that morning walk for uninterrupted me time. I usually listen to a podcast episode while shuffling thru the streets. Once sunrise starts at an earlier hour Ill take my longer walks around the canal but I wont now cus its just too dark for me to feel safe. Today's podcast was an episode of Mobituaries discussing Lawrence Welk - very entertaining.

So I'm sitting here thinking maybe I want something a little different from my lovingly packed lunch. Besides, its a healthy lunch that can turn into dinner pretty easily. Playing on the phone I see the Subway app is letting me know Ive earned $2 off my next visit. Well, well, well. Sounds like lunch is partially figured out. Usually I just walk over to the restaurant and order in line and show the QC code to rack up points but I think I wanna try the order on the app for pickup and avoid the line. Ordering and customizing is easy breezy so I hit the "place my order" button on a 6-Inch Black Forest Ham with Italian Herbs & Cheese, Toasted, Pepper Jack, Spinach, Tomatoes, Green Peppers, Black Olives, More Red Onions, Banana Peppers, Chipotle Southwest sauce, and Oregano. I thought I had taken off the green peppers when I removed the lettuce but that was an easy fix once I discovered my mistake.

$2.99 less the 2 bucks off and 9 cents tax later and my Visa is charged $1.08. Order will be ready for pickup in 15 minutes. Sweet! Time for a trip to the corner convenience story for a massively large Cherry Coca Cola and a scratcher ticket. That'll be $10 for the scratcher and $1.01 for the diabetes in a styrofoam cup


So thats a total of $12.09 I didnt have to spend but I justify it because all the walking got me to......6,248 steps total for the day. So I guess I'll need to do some more wandering around to get to that 10,000 before shuteye.



Love

Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies - Aristotle

2020/01/02

What Im Listening to (Podcasts)

Current Podcast Rotation (no particular order)

1)  99% Invisible (Roman Mars)
2)  Mobituaries (Mo Rocca)
3)  The Boogie Monster (Kyle Kinane and Dave Stone)
4)  Lore (Aaron Mahnke)
5)  Freakonomics Radio (Stephen J Dubner)
6)  Planet Money (NPR)
7)  This Week in Tech
8)  The Anthropocene Reviewed (John Green)
9)  Revisionist History (Malcolm Gladwell)
10) The Badlands Politics & Philosophy Podcast
11) Valley 101 (The Arizona Republic)
12) Cautionary Tales (Tim Harford)
13) Smart People Podcast (Jon Rojas and Chris Stemp)
14) The Memory Palace (Nate DiMeo)
15) Stuff You Missed in History Class (Holly and Tracy)

2020 Goal - so much for that

2020 Goal - write something (anything) everyday for 2020

Hows it going so far?

Well.....its Jan 2nd and this is my first post.

Thats life in a nutshell. But hey, here I am on the 2nd day. Lets come back in 3 months and see if Jan one was a fluke or a trend.

(Q) What is the theme or the goal for this blog?
(A) For now, its to create a new habit. I have no theme or focus for what I'll write about, I only want to create a habit of jotting down random thoughts on a daily basis.