Continuing on 'biophony'
Continuing from previous item.

Let's take this piece on its own:

When life started to emerge in the giant oceans around 600 million years ago, the first organisms to populate this ‘geophony’ still had essentially unlimited bandwidth to choose from. Slowly but surely, however, things became more complicated:

We have a nice parallel to this process in the history of radio. In 1920 when voice broadcasting began, most transmitters used an untuned spark.

Illustration using an early Signal Corps transmitter:



The spark created a broad band of frequencies, from near DC up to about 1 Megacycle, with a peak around 500 Kc. All radio stations were sending on this same broad range, with some slight tuning to a couple of narrower subranges. Whenever a ship was using its transmitter to send an SOS, the shore stations that picked it up issued a command via wire telegraph to all broadcasters in the area, and they shut down until the emergency transmission was handled.

This situation couldn't last and didn't last long. Transmitter technology found ways to emit a narrowly tuned sine wave on one frequency, and receiver tech found ways to tune in one chosen freq.

Both changes had to happen at once, and they certainly DIDN'T happen because cosmic rays were striking the transmitters and causing random deterioration. They happened because ORGANIZED HUMAN INTELLIGENCE saw the problem, understood that it was interfering with the PURPOSE of broadcasting for information and entertainment, and SOLVED the problem with specific advances in materials and circuitry and regulations.

LIFE IS PURPOSE.

Labels: Carbon Cult, Danbo

  ¶ 7:28 AM

  Better metaphor
Business Insider exposes the demonic internal thinking of the autonomous exterminator crowd at Uber.

Living things are "squishies". Nuff said.

A few years ago I made a cartoon on this subject:



I didn't include a driver, which was literally accurate but missed the main point.

The Business Insider article shows an actual picture of Uber's squishy-exterminators:



Unsurprisingly, they look just like what they are.



Much clearer metaphor.

Labels: Danbo, infinite infinite infinite infinite evil

  ¶ 1:52 AM

  Nice to know
Took a look at Wiki's latest giant download. Nothing new or surprising. It's not emails, so it's not worth a close examination. Most of the mass is CIA hacking tools, which should be interesting to counterhackers and AV firms.

One thing caught my attention: CIA has been working on back doors to autonomous car software so heretics can be conveniently and deniably accidented. It was obvious from the start that the sole purpose of autonomous cars is murder. Nice to know for sure, with fingerprints.

Labels: #DeplorableLivesMatter, Danbo

  ¶ 6:35 AM

  Question leads to better question
Thinking about modern universally wrong experts. Was it always that way? I've made a habit of asserting that experts were better before the Cultural Revolution in 1968. It's not a good generalization.

In economics and climatology and physics, 1956 experts were right and 2016 experts are lethally wrong. In many areas of biology and medicine, 1956 experts were wrong and 2016 experts are right.

It's a mixed bag. Overall 1956 experts were less harmful when wrong, because they were more humble, less dictatorial, less firmly connected to government.

Comparing what the experts know against what schools teach led to a BIG point, which isn't about experts at all.

The FACTS we learned in the '50s and '60s were mostly wrong. Grammar was totally wrong, history was jumbled and superficial, math (SMSG set theory) was murderously wrong. Some of the experts, the academic grammarians and historians, were a lot better than what we learned in those subjects. Academic mathematicians are all wrong all the time.

BUT: the SKILLS we learned in school were perfectly right. Whenever we interacted with physical reality we learned proper skills and proper facts connected to the skills.

= = = = =

Big Question: How did the school curriculum committees miss a chance to screw up half of education? They did a majestic job of fucking up facts, but they let skills slide.

Big Answer: NATURE WON'T LET YOU FUCK UP SKILLS.

= = = = =

When you dissect a frog you can't learn that the heart is a cubical piece of aluminum. Even if the book tries to tell you that, you CAN'T BE FOOLED. You're looking at the actual heart, and you can see it's not an aluminum cube.

When you're learning touch typing, the book may tell you that the top row is MVTNHA&3PZ but you can't be fooled. You can look at the keyboard and see QWERTYUIOP.

In gym class the book may try to tell you that your earlobe is stronger than your arms, but reality won't let you believe it. You can lift a weight with your arms, and you can't lift a weight with your earlobe. (Well, maybe this wasn't an ideal example.)

= = = = =

This is why we need to preserve PHYSICAL REALITY in schools. Schools are rapidly replacing all physical activities with VR activities. This is DANGEROUS because the experts and curriculum committees are FREE TO FUCK AROUND with software frogs. They can't rebuild actual dead frogs to suit Official Doctrine.

Students who get a large dose of physical reality are harder to fool. Students who get nothing but book learning are ideal tools for tyrants.



You can use software for initial experimentation, especially in areas where mistakes could hurt actual people. But at some point you need to get physical and stay physical.

It's like the gold standard. Checks and Paypal are convenient, but unless you pin them down to PHYSICAL REALITY, the experts are perfectly free to cheat you and enrich the Chosen.

= = = = =

Sidenote for clarity: There's always an argument about using computers for note-taking and research in the classroom. Seems to be settling toward a negative answer. The negative answer makes sense: Paper and pencil are better for memorization than typing on a laptop. But that's not the point I'm making.

Reiterating: Any indirect representation by authors or publishers or teachers or boards of education, whether it's a book or a blackboard or software, is worse than getting your hands on THE REAL THING. Reality cannot misrepresent reality.

Carver as usual. Look about you. Take hold of the things that are here. Let them talk to you. Talk to them.

The things that are here, not the things that some author wrote.

Labels: Carver, Danbo, Experiential education, skill-estate

  ¶ 2:10 AM

  Metrology day
Polistra likes to celebrate World Metrology Day.

This year's theme is dead easy. Theranos.

Perfect case of bad metrology on all levels.

(1) The device itself was meant to provide meaningful readings from a smaller sample of blood than previous methods. It didn't work.

(2) Testing revealed that the device didn't work. These measurements of validity were trashed.

(3) Trashing or altering records is a flashing idiot light. When you see it, you should stop everything and repair or junk the vehicle. The culture of NDAs in the tech world disconnected the flashing light. Nobody wanted to ruin their career chances by reporting the problem.

If the stages of calibration, measurement and recording had been done properly, the whole mess would have collapsed many years ago without affecting any patients. Now we have an unknown number of bad diagnoses leading to bad treatments. Possibly a million.

The only measurement that mattered, as fucking usual, was SHARE VALUE.



Though it's hard to tell from outside, I suspect the ALIVENESS of real doctors avoided most deaths. Real doctors and nurses, no matter how distracted and overworked by bad technology, try to retain a direct and intuitive picture of the patient's condition.

Labels: Danbo, Metrology

  ¶ 5:13 AM

  Status morse
Curbside Classic has a feature on a peculiarly mismatched '64 Chevy this morning. Got thinking about GM's long-standing habit of marking status by adding more elements to a sequence. It's an ancient technique but still functional. More notches on your bow, more ribbons on your uniform, more feathers in your headdress = higher status. For many years you could reliably distinguish Chevy's top model by counting taillights. You could distinguish Buick's Roadmaster by counting portholes. Chrysler got into the game briefly and halfheartedly, with one light for Plymouth, two for Dodge, and three for DeSoto. Ford, the populist company, never played the counting game.

Studie played it just once but it was hardly worth the expense.



For some reason I started reading those lights in Morse.

Chevy hit the Morse Aptronym jackpot in '65.



The Chevy II had .. .. = ii.

The SS (and other Impalas) had ... ... = ss.

If you read vertically and diagonally, you can see more complicated patterns.



'60 CaDDy = DD. '57 Plymouth = NA. The absolute zenith of Morsable cars was the '42-48 Buick. If you start from the reflector and read through taillight, directionals/stop, taillight and reflector, you get ENKAE. Doesn't spell anything, but it's complex enough that it could have been used for steganography. Some modern cars with patterns of LEDs and sequential flashers could send whole paragraphs.

Polistra is talking about Caddies.



Question: Is there a car that could spell its own name if it wanted to? I can't find any 'serious' examples. All four-cycle engines are 'Otto-cycle' engines, especially in German; but no actual car was called Otto. [Oops, spoke too soon. Google spinoff is developing on Otto-nomous truck!] Brazil had a modified Lotus called the Emme. That's about it for fully symmetrical names. I think the longest Morse palindrome is 'waiting', but that's an unlikely car name except maybe in Japan. Austin comes DAMN close with just a slight gap in symmetry.

Labels: Aptronym Alert, Danbo

  ¶ 5:13 AM

  And that was also simple
Another puzzle solved.

For years I've been wondering why our Dear Leaders keep saying INSTANTLY DISPROVABLE SHIT. Why do they keep telling us that Free Trade Lifts All Boats? Why do they tell us that Migrant Dreamers Benefit Everyone? Why do they tell us that QE and ZIRP are meant to improve the economy? Why do they maintain the complex lie structure of "Global Warming"?

We can see with our own eyes that lies are lies; we can look up the facts to prove INSTANTLY that lies are lies; we can even find one or two of the Dear Leaders OPENLY STATING that the lies are lies. Yet they keep doing it.

I thought it was a bubble effect. Our Dear Leaders never encounter anyone who lives in the real world, never encounter anyone whose status and career doesn't depend on agreeing with the Leaders.

No, it's simpler.

When you've already got all the doors securely locked, it doesn't matter what you say. When the tyranny has been fully established, Dear Leader can openly admit all of the lies are lies, and it doesn't make any difference. All possible feedback channels have been ripped out.

For some reason this fairly prosaic example clicked the solution into place.......

Cameron tells his own MPs to ignore reality and vote Correctly on EU exit:

David Cameron has prompted anger by telling his MPs to ignore the views of eurosceptic grassroots members and Conservative associations ahead of the European Union referendum. The Prime Minister warned backbenchers not to take a view on the vote “because of what your constituency association might say”.

And then it emerges that Cameron's "deal" with EU was never going to happen anyway:

Discontent deepened when Brussels officials indicated that a so-called “emergency brake” on benefit claims by EU migrants could take 18 months to come into force. It was revealed that the European Parliament could rip up the plan after Britain’s EU referendum if the country votes to stay tied to Brussels.

In good old Doublethink terms:

Don't worry. I've made a deal. It's not a deal. You're screwed. Don't worry. Keep voting with me. I believe in democracy. You're free to vote any way you want. You're dead if you don't vote with me. Don't worry.

This is just another "that's how you know" meme. Manholes in big cities emit a constant cloud of steam so you can tell you're in a big city. Fords emit a blue oval of oil smoke so you can tell it's a Ford. Leaders emit a cloud of perfectly obvious lies so you can tell you're in a total dictatorship with no hope of improvement.



It's just a courtesy, a sort of compass or locator service, like You Are Here on a mall map.

Labels: Asked and answered, Danbo

  ¶ 4:06 AM

  Why no Babylonian amplifiers?
Following on this.

Despite the universality of valves and diodes in Nature, the valve didn't get no respect from historians. It's not on any of the Big Lists Of Major Inventions that I can find. This long list by Encyclopedia Britannica includes a number of Babylonian and Roman inventions, but not the valve.

Early humans mastered the art of diverting flow in the context of irrigation and dams. Babylon had mechanical wells and pipes but apparently didn't use valves. Rome had checkvalves on pumps (diodes) and controllable faucets. So 'real' valves have certainly been familiar for 2300 years, maybe longer.

Well then. Why did it take so long for humans to figure out the principle of the amplifier? Why did it have to wait until the early experiments with electricity?

The engineers who developed those fantastic water clocks around 1100 AD must have noticed the power of valves. A small hand force can create a massive change in flow, which can move just about anything. With enough flow, you can move a house with your little finger. In fact water clocks used digital fluidics (eg flip-flop) but not analog fluidics.

Amplifying sound wouldn't work well with water-based fluidics, but the Romans could have developed a servomechanism to power a construction crane or stone-lifter. Control a big strong arm with your little weak arm. They could have adapted their existing catapult:



Hmph. I thought this was going to show how Romans could use analog fluidics to advantage, but it shows the opposite. If the lever arm was properly balanced, Polistra could control it easily with a rope tied to the long end. No water needed! Or for more precision, she could use a cranked winch to regulate the rope.

In other words, the catapult as originally designed was sufficient for this job. Lever, crank, windlass. Classic machines solved classic problems.

The idea of the amplifier was first imagined in 1840, as part of the huge burst of electrical invention. By bringing a static field near a wire, could you repel part of the charges in the wire and thus 'pinch off' the flow gradually? The idea didn't work with a wire because the charges move too easily. It was like trying to restrict a deep river with a single tree. The idea had to wait until we could run the whole river through a gravel bed, making it harder for the flow to reunite behind the tree. Semiconductors finally provided the gravel bed.

But why was the amplifier necessary (thus imaginable) for electricity when it hadn't been needed before? The answer pops out. When you're trying to control fast precise movements in an intangible medium, levers are useless. You need amplifiers. The first amplifier was digital: the telegraph relay. After the signal has weakened over miles of wire, the relay uses the faint ons and offs to switch current from a 'new' local battery. Much later, after the telephone introduced analog signals, the triode tube finally used the original 'pinch valve' idea with vacuum as the gravel bed. Better materials led later to the field-effect transistor, which is an EXACT implementation of the 'pinch valve' with silicon as the gravel bed.

Labels: Asked and answered, Danbo

  ¶ 3:22 AM

  WPA abides
Now that I'm on a Manhattan history kick again, I started looking for web refs. Unsurprisingly the Kansas State Historical Society is still the best source of heavy documents and articles. The Riley County Museum has a moderately active page with occasional articles.

Sunset Zoo is highly active. The zoo has used social media to create a serious fanbase that knows all the animals by name. Smart! Built-in lobby for city funding.

Sunset Park, like most of Manhattan's visible infrastructure, was built by WPA. When I lived near there in the '60s, the zoo was badly maintained and deteriorating. Nobody would have bothered to name those raggedy animals. A family lived in a cottage on the grounds, taking care of the park and feeding the animals, with occasional intervention by the K-State vet med school. In the '70s K-State took more control, turning the zoo into more of a practicum site, and the city modernized the rest of the park. Even after lots of remodeling, the original WPA cages are still in use, unchanged since the '30s.

Probably for litigious reasons, the cleanup also removed the part of the zoo that was most interesting to kids:



The rides!

Kiwanis maintained this little amusement park and ran the rides on weekends in summer. There was no fence around the area, so I was always wandering and climbing when it wasn't in use. Mysteriously, I somehow survived and didn't feel the need to sue anyone. Obviously this was impossible. No kid could survive such a horrible experience.

Labels: Danbo

  ¶ 5:22 AM

  3 x 5
Supposedly the purpose of the Web is to have LINKS that lead you to a deeper or more original source. This story about an overly literal math teacher fails the Web standard. Every iteration of the story includes this bit:

The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) in the US defended how the paper was marked, saying it gives students a better understanding of the problems they are solving. "Part of what we are trying to teach children is to become problem solvers and thinkers," said Diane Briars, president of the NCTM. "We want students to understand what they're doing, not just get the right answer."

but no iteration includes a link to the NCTM's actual statement. Google doesn't get there by any keyword I can think of.

If this is ALL Briars said, she's flat wrong. I doubt that this is ALL she said, but I can't find the rest of it or the context.

There's nothing new about using rectangular arrays to show addition and multiplication. Normally the WHOLE POINT of doing the array thing is to give the student a strong visual feel for the commutative property, the idea that 3 x 5 and 5 x 3 are always going to give you 15. It doesn't matter if you see the array as 3 groups of 5 or 5 groups of 3. It's 15.



The teacher is blowing the WHOLE POINT of the array method by marking the kid wrong for switching the rows and columns. Switching the rows and columns is EXACTLY WHY YOU DO THIS EXERCISE.

= = = = =

Footnote for clarity: I'm not intending to bash the teacher. I suspect she's inexperienced and overwhelmed by CC. She may have made a simple mistake. I'm bashing Briars of NCTM, who has issued an authoritative message approving this mistake on behalf of all math teachers. Not in my name, Briars!


= = = = =

Few days later: Some tech-tyrant asshole tried to defend the bad marking. He cited two vague connections: (1) Equal isn't the same thing as Equivalent in Javascript. Huh? That has nothing at all to do with math. It's solely about Javascript's peculiar and inconsistent ways of converting strings to numbers. (2) Matrix multiplication is not commutative. Valid in itself, but irrelevant for a 3rd grade class. At this stage you need to get a FIRM GRASP on the commutative property, because it's crucially necessary for all sorts of algebraic manipulations. If part of your mind is thinking non-commutative, you'll be lost in algebra.

I've been programming about graphics and waves for 30 years, and I've NEVER had to use matrix multiplication. I use the basic properties of sin, cos, tan, and polar-to-rect conversion every day. You could say those are closely related to matrices, but I've never felt the need to do actual matrix ops.

Nearly all the commenters soundly lashed the tech-tyrant asshole from a wide variety of angles. Refreshing and reassuring.

Labels: Danbo, Experiential education

  ¶ 2:39 AM

  Unmoored


It's just so darned reassuring to know that the trillions we spend on defense are busy defending us against RUSSIANAGGRESSIONAGGRESSIONAGGRESSION and ISIS and ISIL and IS and Islamic State and Daesh and Tiede and Swaen and Rienso Bleue and Doeve and MeenMawTheCountryThatSomePeopleStillReferToAsBurma and Christians and Southerners and Evil Carbon and ... well, gosh o' golly, just every dratted thing that threatens Our Freedoms and Our Perfect Justice System and Our Perfect Education System and Our Perfect Health System and Our Perfect Democracy.

Dead serious now: America's epitaph.

HOLY FUCK! IT'S A DRUNK BABY WHALE, BRO! IT'S HURT, BRO!

Labels: Danbo, Гром победы

  ¶ 3:49 PM

  Regeneration 2
Part 2 of a series. Part 1 here, part 3 here.

After using the MFJ regenerative receiver for a week, I'm getting the experience I wanted. The nerdy bucket-list desire of building and understanding regen.

The regen control isn't just a 'booster'. Turning it changes the frequency of an internal oscillation, up to a point where it simply covers everything with a 16kc (or so) hiss. You can use the regen control to boost an AM signal, or you can use it to add a tone to CW or SSB. The regen setting constantly interacts with the main tuning, so you can't just leave it alone. Tuning is an active procedure.

Sudden realization: This partly achieves another bucketlist item, one that I abandoned when frugality and reality took over. I had wanted to try driving a Model T, mainly to get the feel of the interaction of throttle and spark. I already know how a manual choke feels; I've owned and driven many cars with manual chokes; but I've never driven a car without vacuum spark advance.



It's a close parallel. From what I've read, the T's spark control is equally 'active'. You can't just set it and forget it. There is a prescribed default for each click of the throttle lever, just as the regen has a default setting for each band. But you can get different types of performance, adapt to altitude or fuel quality, by twiddling the spark.

When regens were replaced by superhets, the 'activity' went away, which most listeners appreciated; but we also lost the ability to adjust intelligently for different types of signals.

When manual spark was replaced by vacuum and/or centrifugal advance, the 'activity' went away, which most drivers appreciated; but we also lost the ability to adjust intelligently for different situations.

Labels: coot-proofing, Danbo, defensible spaces, Make or break, new toy

  ¶ 4:29 AM

  Like the old song
"News" item:

"Trump is taking heat from both sides of the aisle for declining to correct an audience member who stated incorrectly that Obama is Muslim."

First, simple logic. Epistemology. We DO NOT KNOW anyone's religion. By most evidence, Obama has no religion at all; the fact that he made it to the Presidency is evidence that his only firm belief is a love of power. You don't reach that office intentionally unless your sole purpose in life is raw power. Regardless of evidence, you CANNOT say that the assertion "Obama is Muslim" is INCORRECT, and you CANNOT say that it is CORRECT either. Religion is UNKNOWABLE.

More broadly, any politician's STATEMENTS about his own belief are nonsense. For instance, Bitchboy Boehner claims to be "pro-life" while actually taking bribes from Planned Parenthood.

Second, the question of DO vs TALK. Trump is mainly TALKING ABOUT ACTION. He views the job of an executive as solving problems. He names problems and says what he will DO about the problems. Some of what he proposes to DO is workable, some probably isn't; but he is ABSOLUTELY UNIQUE in TALKING ABOUT ACTION.

All other politicians are talking about talk, or talking about talking about talk.

What "both sides of the aisle" want here is even crazier. They are TALKING ABOUT STOPPING TALK. They are insisting that the proper job of a President is CENSORSHIP.

This belief is perfectly understandable for the media demons. Their entire job is censorship and inquisition. Their sole purpose in life is to silence heresy and torture heretics. No other purpose is comprehensible within their alien calvariums.

This belief is inexcusable from other politicians. They should be solving problems. Instead they are only silencing heresy.

Sort of like the old song.

Where have all the epistemologists gone, long time passing?
Gone to inquisitors every one.


Well, that didn't work. And the reality isn't working either.

Labels: 20th century Dark Age, Danbo, epistemology

  ¶ 3:28 PM

  No, it's not a victory.
Latest.

U.S. District Judge[sic] David Bunning released Davis from jail Tuesday on the condition that she does not interfere with her deputies issuing the licenses. Bunning said he was satisfied that the Rowan County Clerk’s Office would comply with his order.

Davis's supporters are treating this as a victory. Sheer nonsense. It's pure surrender, pure defeat.


There are only two choices.

(1) Work for Satan and obey Satan totally.

(2) Don't work for Satan.

The supporters seem to be imagining that a third choice exists:

(x) Work for Satan "inside the system", in an effort to reform Satan.

This choice does not exist. You will not reform Satan. You will eat Satan's shit.

At the moment choice (2) is easy enough. Most jobs are still neutral, not requiring God vs Satan decisions. This set will decrease FAST. Pay attention.

DAY 7 OF THE FINAL PURGE.

= = = = =


Sidethought a bit later: Though it's not quite obvious, the same logic applies to other aspects of the current battle. Consider the stock market, which has no apparent religious flavor. Lots of anti-Wall-Streeters think they can beat the elites by various charting techniques.

Nope. If your money is moving through the market, you are helping the evil bubble to stay inflated. You are feeding the elite's longs and shorts, and Goldman will always win those trades in the end. Goldman has the information because Goldman makes the information. Worse, you are absorbing the attitudes of the elite even while supposedly fighting the elite. The only way to bring down Satan is to remove your talents from Satan's jobs and remove your money from Satan's markets. It doesn't feel like fighting but it's the least harmful choice. Anything you do "inside the system" is feeding the system at the expense of your soul.

Labels: Danbo, defensible spaces, STRONG!

  ¶ 6:05 AM

  Moment of clarity 3
UKTelegraph is cheering self-driving cars and simultaneously blasting Repooflican candidates for owning guns.

As usual among "journalists", exactly backwards.

The old NRA slogan "Guns don't kill people, people kill people" applies correctly to guns, and also to normal autos and most other tools.

A gun or car or hammer or knife or screwdriver or weed-wacker can be a weapon... but only when used with specific deadly intention.

The slogan does NOT apply to autonomous cars. These weapons do kill people on their own, without any human intention.

Hold on. This seems complicated and subtle. Something is missing.

After thinking and walking about it, I formed a chain of reasoning:

What about a mousetrap? When I cock a trap and leave it in a mouseroad, I've created an autonomous weapon. It's programmed to detect a mouse (of below-median intelligence) and kill it.

What about a humantrap? When a store owner gets tired of thefts and sets up a shotgun with a tripwire, he has created an autonomous weapon. It's programmed to detect a thief (ditto) and kill him.

What about a landmine?

Aha. Now the correct dividing line emerges.

Mousetraps and tripwires are SELF-DEFENSE weapons. Landmines are NOT self-defense weapons. Landmines are placed on property that you don't own, and they're not protecting your own body or family.

Self-driving cars are mobile landmines. They are sent out to wander the roads, killing totally innocent pedestrians as a desired side-effect of unnecessary luxury.



Basically a Non-Virtual Reality Entertainment Experience for passive sadists.

Labels: Danbo

  ¶ 6:20 AM

  A rhyme
Polistra observes a repetition of ignorance on a simple subject. Every time we get blessedly necessary rain after a long dry spell, we also get a certain number of popped transformers. Despite this predictability, lots of people are completely puzzled every time it happens. Avista has to jump into social media to explain it over and over.

Time for a rhyme.

Short poems are useful as memory aids.

Leaves of three, let it be.

Red sky at morning, sailors take warning.

I before E except after C.

White flies swarming, no more warming. (Polistra's earlier effort.)


For this purpose:

Rain after dust, Power goes bust.



= = = = =

Sidenote: The worst of all such rhymes was hammered by a high-school English teacher.

Is! Are! Was! Were! Never takes an Ob! Ject!
Is! Are! Was! Were! Never takes an Ob! Ject!
Is! Are! Was! Were! Never takes an Ob! Ject!

The rhyme was basically meant to prevent "It's me." The rhyme was wrong. "It's me" is perfectly fine. Beyond wrongness the rhyme was also moot and defective. Moot because anyone who understands the concept of takes an object already knows the bad rule; defective because there aren't any situations where Are! and Were! come in front of a pronoun. It are us? It were him? Nobody says those things, so they don't need to be falsely "corrected".

Labels: Danbo, Language update

  ¶ 5:49 PM

  Story of a desk



This little folding desk belonged to Grandma. She bought it used in the late '40s. It was probably a Sears or Wards product made in the '20s. Possibly homemade, since it doesn't have any labels or brands. Not a valuable antique for sure.

I doubt that Grandma used it much. She kept letters and checkbooks in it, but I never saw her open it up and write anything on the foldout part. I know she didn't use it after 1970 when her apartment was remodeled with a dense bouncy carpet. The desk was extremely tippy on that carpet. I tried to use it once and found out. The varnish on the inner surface of the foldout is remarkably undented and unscratched, indicating very little usage by anyone.

[[[ Major update Sept 4: I've been using the desk a lot; got tired of the little compartments on top that blocked part of my workspace. Carefully pried off the compartments. Made more room for my work, and also revealed a couple of letters that had been slipped in between the compartments and the top board! Both letters seem like junk mail, not important documents. One is a blank 1938 order form to the Personal Shopper at JL Hudson dept store in Detroit, the other is a mimeographed 1938 postcard sent to investors of a business in Detroit. But how did they get there? It's a tight fit, so they weren't tossed in by accident. If you wanted to discard these things, you'd simply discard them; if you wanted to stash for later retrieval, you wouldn't put them in a place that requires disassembling the desk. Best guess is kids playing Secret Agent games with throwaway mail. No matter the cause, the mere presence of these 1938 Detroit letters changes the story of the desk. Clearly Grandma brought her furniture along when she moved to Okla ... which also changes the story of Grandma and Grandpa as I understood it. No surprise there. I figured out a long time ago that the family story as understood is full of myths and mysteries, with Grandpa as Official Enemy. ]]]

When Grandma died in 1990 I inherited the desk and chair along with a couple other items. I never used the desk or chair because I remembered that it was tippy and unbalanced. For 25 years this desk and chair have been purely ornamental, holding miscellaneous items like spare disk drives inside and decorative crap on top. The chair, with its protruding posts, is good for hanging a shirt or coat.

= = = = =

A few months ago, when I returned to electronics, I decided to use the desk for project storage and possibly a workspace. Cleaned out the useless junk that had accumulated, and put the soldering iron, vise, and breadboards inside. Added cushions to the chair.

But for some reason I still didn't OPEN IT AND WORK WITH IT. Didn't even try sitting in the chair.



I just continued working on the big eating table (blue tablecloth to the left), as I've been doing for every task that requires a surface. I quickly found that the eating table has two disadvantages for this task. The soldering iron's cord goes rightward to the nearest plug, which is highly inconvenient for a left-hander; and the eating chair is directly in front of the air conditioner, which is highly uncomfortable. (Even a tiny house has microclimates!)

Grandma's desk would solve both of those problems. It's to the right of the plug and out of the AC's path. A couple days ago I finally tried it. The chair is comfortable enough, and the desk is absolutely non-tippy on my wood floor. Perfectly stable. 25 years of stupid assumptions destroyed by reality.



I added the foil to protect the nice untouched varnish from hot solder, and it also makes the area easy to clean. Every bit of stripped insulation and every solder blob stands out on the bright surface.

In short: This desk is around 80 years old. I've known it for 60 years and owned it for 25. It may have been used for practical purposes in the first 20, but it's been purely ornamental for the last 60.

Until two days ago.

Now it's back in the saddle again. Turns out to be ideally suited for a purpose that didn't exist** when it was built.

= = = = =

First real project: building one of those Pixie QRP transceivers. These have been adequately 'unboxed' elsewhere, so I won't bother with the details, except to note that other 'unboxers' found missing parts. I found all the needed parts in the kit, plus a few extra caps.

= = = = =

The finished Pixie in context. I like to use hardback book covers as platforms. The key, needless to say, is Russki. Has a nice feel and a nice sound. The pieces will get firmed up and glued down now that I know it works, but it's not going to get highly formal. I'm not licensed yet. After I get licensed, I'll buy a serious receiver and build a better transmitter from scratch. This is just a 'jumpstart' to make electronic fun happen fast.


The VOM is set to read frequency. Here's a closeup with Pixie unpowered:


And here's what the freq meter shows with Pixie turned on but unkeyed. A foot-long pair of wires leading to a 50-ohm R serves as antenna and dummy load. I couldn't hear any signals in the earphones, but did hear appropriate-sounding static, identical to the sound I heard on a portable SW receiver tuned to 40 meters. Lack of signal is typical. Spokane is NOT a hot spot for shortwave.


And here's the keydown condition. 7020 kc. Pixie's xtal is nominally 7023; can't tell if this is a 'pulled resonance' or just slight inaccuracy of the VOM. The portable SW receiver also verifies that a signal is coming out. Tuned across the 40-meter band while V-ing the key, and sure enough the clicks come through around 7020.


Yay! Fun!

= = = = =

The desk and I are both proud. We're back in the saddle.

This saddling up, returning to electronics, feels significant in my own life as well. Feels almost like a 'calling'. Vaguely related to the Benedict option crap and the Orlov crap. I'm not sure where this is going, but my analog electronic skills and tools and junkbox may turn out to be useful in a world of barter. Or this may lead toward the right direction. If nothing else, I'm having loads of fun.



The soldering iron is a key to an unknown door. Danbo seems to know something....


= = = = =

** Footnote on "didn't exist"... Radios were starting to grow popular in the '20s, but building and fixing them involved BIG tools and BIG workbenches, more like carpentry or auto mechanics. A little desk like this wouldn't have served at all.

Labels: Danbo, defensible spaces, new toy

  ¶ 7:22 AM

  Of course this won't persuade anyone.
It's nice to see attempts to impose facts on the bitslave types. It won't work, but it leaves the bitiots without ANY excuse for their criminal activity.

We already know from simple logic that the entire purpose of Bitcoin is fraudulent. When you run the entire currency system THROUGH the web (which is another name for NSA), you're not HIDING the system from NSA. You are GUARANTEEING that NSA knows about all your transactions.

We also know from simple logic that the system DOES NOT FAVOR the poor. The only way to create "value" is by buying lots and lots of expensive computer setups and running them hot and heavy to make some equations.

This is not "value"; it's just an indication of your own riches, EXACTLY like the creation of "value" by central banks. The counterfeit equations created by QE processes go directly into the bank accounts of the Chosen.

Now an article in Vice estimates the energy usage of EACH single transaction in Bitcoin, and finds that EACH transaction, EACH single sale, uses the same electricity as 1.5 DAYS of an average American household.

= = = = =

Compare this with a plain paper transaction.



In many parts of the world ordinary trading uses no technology. People who use TRULY SECURE paper currency are not leaving an NSA trail. Most importantly, they are creating REAL VALUE by making or fixing or cleaning or painting or growing things. These are activities that anyone can do regardless of income.

LABOR IS VALUE.

And a paper currency transaction uses no energy AT ALL.

= = = = =

Even if we consider a more modern transaction via cash register, the energy usage is minuscule compared to Bitcoin.

Let's try a somewhat high estimate, based on a business that makes fairly sparse transactions. A small service business like a barber shop or dentist office will make about 10 sales per hour. A basic cash register uses about 1 KWH. Thus each transaction accounts for about 0.1 KWH. (The transaction itself is much less, but the register is running all the time, so I let each payment account for 1/10 of an hour.) Using the household usage figure in the article, 30 KWH per day, this means each transaction is about .003 of a household day, or 0.3% of a household day.

Thus the Bitcoin transaction uses about 450 times as much energy as a cash-register transaction.

= = = = =

Summing up:

If you want real security and low energy usage, use paper currency with no records. Zero NSA, zero energy.

If you want 'normal' and 'legitimate' operations, use paper currency in cash registers. Because you're reporting your income to IRS and other agencies, NSA can access the overall figures but can't identify the customers. Energy 0.3% of a household day.

If you want absolute intimacy with NSA and wildly profligate EVIL KKKARBON, use Bitcoin. Inside the belly of the beast. Energy 150% of a household day.

Labels: Carbon Cult, Danbo

  ¶ 2:46 AM

  They coulda hada V8
Neat article in Curbside Classic on the popularity of Ford's flathead in Brazil and many other countries.

US car fans tend to think of the auto world in terms of Euro influence on America. We describe various cars as 'Euro-influenced', but in each case the style actually started here and then spread to Europe. I hadn't thought about hot rods or V8s in terms of cultural influence, but the facts are unquestionable.

More broadly, we pay no attention at all to the Southern Hemisphere. Plenty of good cars have been developed in Brazil, Argentina and Australia, BY DIVISIONS OF US AUTO COMPANIES, but those US auto companies never bothered to bring those good cars northward.



During the flathead years our propagandists (like Willis Conover at VOA) used jazz as the vehicle for spreading US influence to the Soviet Bloc and to dark-skinned southern countries where Russia was gaining traction.

Wrong vehicle!.. but understandable. VOA was founded by NYC types who know nothing about automobiles and hate everything about Ford. Jazz is cool. Ford is maximally uncool. Henry gave good jobs to poor people, which is strictly forbidden by NYC sacramental rules. Poor people must be kept on welfare where NYC types can control them.

Labels: 20th century Dark Age, Danbo

  ¶ 4:19 AM

  Cozy electrons
Made a new two-sided JFET electrometer. So far I haven't been able to catch a bee working a flower, but I've been trying the meter on 'unworked' flowers and other things. Interesting response with flowers and stems. Pulling away from a flower gives a response which fades slowly. Touching the flower with antenna zeroes the meter immediately.



The picture is just to show the meter itself. I couldn't catch the brief responses on camera. I'm not satisfied with the way this meter works; it's not as sensitive as the earlier crude modified-VOM instrument. I suspect the 9V source is putting the JFETs too far into 'pinch-off' mode compared with the 1.5V batt in the VOM.

Thinking about the pull-away response: Simple electrons are behaving just like a more complicated social response!

Like coziness, like companionship, like possession of a wife or husband, like possession of an important object.

A dog makes it instantly obvious. When you leave the dog cries. As long as the dog is touching a nestmate, all is OK and calm.



It's always the deltas. All deltas get a response, but negative deltas get a more important response.

Natural law works with this natural tendency, shaping gradients to avoid pain and crime as much as possible.

Sharia law carefully balances and controls these gradients to keep society running smoothly. Like the dissimilar metals of a battery, male and female, rich and poor, are understood to be innately distinct. They are electrets. Sharia law forms a circuit and controls the distance and strength of these opposing charges to do useful work without overloading or fading.

On marriage: As long as the charge is present, neither side is allowed to pull away, and both sides are required to maintain their charge in order to do the useful work of raising kids. Man must be productive and protective, woman must be attractive and must take care of home and kids. But when the charge has unquestionably leaked away, divorce is made easy.

On physical possessions: You shouldn't hoard possessions. If you have a big pile, you're obliged to employ the poor man and treat him decently. Dipole-ly, the poor man is obliged to work for his keep. This pattern of flow and feedback lowers the rich man's side of the temptation gradient. If thieves steal, they lose a hand. This knowledge lowers the thief's side of the temptation gradient.

Modern western dysculture runs backwards in every possible way. Modern economy exponentializes all sorts of things that should be log or lin. Polistra has discussed this repeatedly!

At the same time, modern dysculture linearizes and flattens the exponential gradient of these proper batteries. Everyone is identical, dead and passive. Innate charge differences do not exist, so gradients do not exist. Therefore no useful work occurs. You do not own your wife and kids. They are just other dead grains of sand that happen to be in the same area temporarily. You're not allowed to get angry when your wife cheats or your kids disobey. The latest move toward wacked-out "transgender" delusions violently smashes the already-dying concept of natural electrets. You're not allowed to calibrate the system.

UK law also linearizes physical property. You're not allowed to defend your house against squatters and thieves. If you do, you're the criminal. US law has somehow avoided this part of the trend.

Labels: Danbo, Grand Blueprint, Metrology, Natural law = Sharia law, new toy

  ¶ 5:01 AM