Silicon Valley Redneck

3D printer problem identified

That issue with filament feeding getting spotty?

Turns out the teflon tubes that line the path from feeder to nozzle had gotten kind of used up at the hot end.  Replacing them improves matters considerably.

Be nice if the manual covered this sort of thing.  Maybe it does, for the newer models?  The manual I have for this one isn't actually from FlashForge; it's unofficial.

All Bovine on the Western Front

Just got word that the Westward Expansion is complete, and the Contiguous Empire has reached its maximum extent.

Details another time, maybe.  Also, unreliable sources inform me that the chair is against the wall.

Open containers: a life lesson

If you're going to store an open container of wheat germ?

Freezer.  Not pantry.

I'm still smelling the mold.

Update:  After giving the plastic storage container a good washing, I put it out in the garage to air out for future non-food use.

Next morning, the garage smelled of nasty mold.  I suppose bleach might help.  Maybe.

Still here, just busy.

Between Family Business and trying to get yard work done before the rain returns (in the wee hours of tomorrow morning, according to the latest forecast), things are a little hectic just now.

... And it's kinda tax season, innit?  Gotta dig through some files.  That, I can do when it's raining.  (Finding a local tax accountant was supposed to have been a last-February thing.  Didn't happen.  I'd still have to dig through the files, regardless.)

Hey, 2020 was my first year as a denizen of Tennessee-not-California!

Got kinda soggy

Currently showing 3.27" of rain for the weekend, and the pond is now officially full.

Once the rain stopped, I had to go out and do some shovel work, lest the path to the Far Backyard become an expanse of swamp as it did last year.

That seems to be helping.  I guess I should order some drain pipe, and eventually I'll dig the channel deeper and straighter, line it with drain pipe, and cover it over with grassy dirt.  (The jog in the upstream end is the result of my having started at the downstream low spot before discovering that there was a local high spot just upstream of the path, which I didn't feel like digging through at the time.  Turns out it wouldn't have been any more effort then the jog ended up being.)

Oh, and I learned that the Tacticool Sneakers aren't waterproof.  Well, they wouldn't be, really, what with the zippers.  Maybe I should have taken the time to put on proper boots.

I haven't noticed any mosquitoes today.  Maybe the frogs and birds caught up with the supply?

Insufficiently engineered

So I bought a solar car-battery charger; with the vehicles not seeing a lot of use, it seemed a good idea.  I figure to use this'n for the Venerable Prius, and, if it seems OK, I'll get two more.

It comes with two cable ends: one with battery clips, and one with a cigarette-lighter plug.  Wait, do any cars these days have the sort of always-on lighter sockets that would allow charging?

Anyway, with the cable being divided into the solar-panel end and the car end, it seems obvious, for long-term use, to cut the plug off the lighter variant, connect it permanently to the battery, and connect the panel as needed.  Just one little nagging thought....

Uh-huh.  See that shiny exposed contact on the panel end of the cable?  That's the positive side.  So if this part of the cable is connected to the battery, through the lighter outlet or otherwise, and the panel is unplugged... there's a hot contact just looking for exposed frame parts to short to.

Just a little more thought, and they could have chosen the other orientation for the connector.

Oh, well.  Guess if I'm going to play that game, I need to install my own connector.  Old-school Molex or something.

Of weather and bugs

Been using the WeatherBug app on my phone for quite some time now.  Got a decent feature set, and it does give reasonably localized alerts (though, like just about everything Android including Android itself nowadays, it's lacking in fine-grained controls).

But...

The last few days, it's been hanging.  Often.

I presume this is related to some recent invisible update, and not lightning-induced software damage or anything silly like that.  Perhaps there'll be another invisible update soon; elsewise, I guess I'll have to look for another weather app.

Or... corrupted data?  Could be.  I just force-stopped the app (again), cleared all its data, and restarted it.  Maybe it'll behave better now?

Am I wearing my tinfoil right?

Shiny side in, or shiny side out?

Currently, global trade is massively disrupted courtesy of a giant cargo ship wedged in the Suez Canal.

Had this happened several months ago, it would have been really convenient to identify it as part of some Trumpian plot to boost domestic manufacturing (and domestic oil extraction, etc.).

Now... the CCP is the obvious suspect, but where's the benefit?  Even the Party doesn't just want to watch the world burn.

Just a freak accident?  Cue Inspector Tiger:

Colonel Pickering	Look, there hasn't been a murder.
Inspector Tiger	No murder.
All	No.
Inspector Tiger	Oh. I don't like it. It's too simple, too clear cut. I'd better wait. (he sits on sofa) No, too simple, too clear cut.

 

Update:  As of Monday morning, apparently the stuck boat has been dislodged from the banks.  But... something's been bothering me the past day or so.  Oh, here it is:

"The accident is mainly due to the lack of visibility resulting from bad weather conditions as the country passes through a dust storm, with wind speed reaching 40 knots," Suez Canal Authority's Rabie said in a statement.

Lack of visibility?  Lack of visibility?  How is that a thing for a ship with modern navigation equipment?  Yeah, GPS isn't good enough for (consistently) landing an airplane, but for a surface vessel in well-charted waters with several feet of clearance to each side?  Do you really need to see the physical scenery?

Update 2:  Juan Browne has an explanation that makes sense.

More weather!

Yesterday was warm and sunny, and I got a little yard work done.

No prize for guessing what implement I'd been using just before this.

Today, we're catching the edge of a severe thunderstorm.  Rain, wind, lightning... haven't noticed any hail, but that was included in the warning.  Quarter-sized hail; expect damage to vehicles.  I'd just as soon not have any of that today, thank you very much.  I've been thinking we might want a proper detached garage for storing the vehicles all safe from weather and the big bad rabbit (or whatever it is that eats wiring harnesses), but that must needs await the driveway project - creating a driveway-adjacent patch of level ground suitable for a garage can surely be rolled into the driveway-extension operation.

Anyway, there's been so much wind from generally-Westish today that the cows have gotten blown Eastward and piled up along the fence.

Update:  We got mosquitoes.  Lots and lots of mosquitoes.  Apparently the frogs aren't keeping up.

We didn't have mosquitoes hardly at all last year, and there was a lot more water around.  What's different?  We didn't own the Annex last year, so they weren't our mosquitoes?  Anyway, next time there's an opportunity for spraying insecticide around the house and curtilage, I'll do so.  Looks like that'll be Monday morning; tomorrow is supposed to be wet'n'windy.

(For more indoors-type use, I tried to order some canned bug spray from Home Despot, being as how they show free shipping for a plausible type.  Alas, checkout wasn't working.  Maybe I should try again, from my laptop?)

Chesterton's Fence does have its limitations

Chesterton's Fence:

In the matter of reforming things, as distinct from deforming them, there is one plain and simple principle; a principle which will probably be called a paradox. There exists in such a case a certain institution or law; let us say, for the sake of simplicity, a fence or gate erected across a road. The more modern type of reformer goes gaily up to it and says, “I don’t see the use of this; let us clear it away.” To which the more intelligent type of reformer will do well to answer: “If you don’t see the use of it, I certainly won’t let you clear it away. Go away and think. Then, when you can come back and tell me that you do see the use of it, I may allow you to destroy it.

The limitation?  The truly ardent reformers know exactly what the use of the fence is.  Trouble is, what they know for sure just ain't so, and they have no desire to be distracted by such mundania as facts and logic.

What we're seeing right now is a "reform" movement bent on abolishing the Senate and its tradition of allowing unlimited debate in most matters (the "filibuster").  Because... both of them were originally designed to support slavery!  And besides, when the Republicans had a majority in the Senate, they kept using the filibuster to stall legislation the Democrats considered important.

The first assertion is historically ignorant and logically unsound; both institutions are in fact meant to protect the interests of minorities against the whims of temporary legislative majorities.  The second assertion is just plain nutso; the majority party has no need of delaying tactics.

The current "reformers" seem to want the "one man, one vote, one time" style of democracy, whereby 51% of the electorate may forever disenfranchise and enslave the other 49% and it's totally legitimate, because it's done democratically.  And they'll destroy every civil institution in existence to achieve it!

This is also called "cutting down every law in England to get at the Devil", regarding which I'll let Fictional Thomas More have his say:

Speaking of whom:

The charges of high treason related to More's violating the statutes as to the King's supremacy (malicious silence)

Malicious silence was high treason?  Good thing we don't have laws against silence nowadays... right?

Not really out of frost season yet?

The current forecast calls for Thursday morning snow showers.

April Fool?  We shall see.

Mighty weathery today

Rain started around 0800, then intensified.  Over half an inch so far (just past noon).  Thunder nearby, but not right on top of us.

The big storm is supposed to arrive in a couple of hours.  Total rain in the day's forecast, almost two and a half inches.  In one day.

Mostly sunny tomorrow, thunderstorms for the weekend.  Looks like several indoors days coming up.  Well, there's indoors stuff I need to be doing, but I also need to get the remaining brush piles off the back lawn before grass and vines grow up around and among them.  Which, well, I rather suspect such growth will happen before the lawn dries out enough to drive the tractor around on it again.

Update:  As of 0500 Friday, the storm seems to have passed... after some impressive gusts of wind and a tornado warning none too far from here about 0045, leading to a first attempt at a family tornado drill.  We clearly need to put some emergency stuff in the basement, have a better plan for getting all the critters down there, and figure out how to get my father down there without the stairs being more of a danger to him than the possibility of a tornado.

Total rain so far, a bit under two inches.  Most of the afternoon storm got blown off course, passing East of here.

A powerful defense of Individualism

Here.  Go read.

Key point:

The primacy of the individual — that we judge people not by their lineage but by their deeds — is at the very foundation of a free society and of the American experiment.

That, and the overall theme of Individualism being the antidote to racism... which is, after all, a species of Collectivism.  If you regard people as individuals, race ain't rightly a thing, aside from being a convenient shorthand for some aspects of appearance.

See also Chesterton's Eugenics and Other Evils.

Oh, another thing?

While these sorts of incidents are unlikely to be legally charged and recorded as hate crimes, that doesn’t mean that prejudice necessarily plays no role at all. As the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights noted in a 1992 report, “many Asian immigrants operate small retail stores or restaurants in economically depressed, predominantly minority neighborhoods. The entry of small businesses owned by Asian Americans into these neighborhoods and their apparent financial success often provokes resentment on the part of neighborhood residents.”

Consult Sowell's Black Rednecks and White Liberals for more on this.  Asians, like Jews, often occupy the merchant role; cultures that encourage hard work, thrift, education, and family and community solidarity can lead to this.  This puts them in the position of Kulaks, who are widely resented by nobles and serfs alike.

Always learning new stuff

Turns out that mowing (and maintaining) walking paths through a hayfield has an unexpected (to me) side effect.

Mow once, and the nasty tall bunch-type grasses grow back aggressively.  Which, I guess, is what you want in a hayfield.

Mow every week or so for a season, and the shorter stuff starts taking over.  Last year's paths are now largely covered with lush green low-growing stuff, and the mown-twice-a-year areas are already covered with tall clumps.

And, that neglected meadow area by the pond, where the terrain was alarmingly lumpy?  I just gave it a going-over with the zero-turn mower, before the grass and weeds could get horribly tall, and it appears that it's not the land that's lumpy so much as the grasses.  So maybe I don't urgently need to till and replant it, just mow every couple of weeks all summer and perhaps scatter some nice wildflower seeds on it. Or just see what grows there when the tall stuff is kept under control.  (If nothing else, it'll likely get overrun by St. Augustine grass from the swamp, which is OK except for turning brown for the winter.)

... But, before I can finish mowing it, I need to remove a few brush piles and a fallen tree branch or two.  After I get the brush piles off the back lawn, which is more of a priority.

Yesterday's activity

Well, the main outdoors activity (on another fine sunny day) was giving the New Victory Garden a second going-over with the tiller.

And then walking the tilled area, picking up such rocks as I could see on the surface or feel underfoot.  With the soil properly tenderized, it's surprising the rocks I could feel buried a few inches down.  And I wasn't wearing my toesie slippers, nor yet Vimesian boots with cardboard soles the better to feel the cobblestones; no, I was wearing Tacticool Sneakers with rugged rubber soles.

Not as many as I'd thought, and not really enough to fill up the low-lying muddy spot in the driveway.  Maybe I should have used a landscape rake, or a drag harrow* (neither of which I have).

* Is this term now considered transphobic?  I can't keep up.  And "rake" used to have another meaning....

Manhunt!

Much activity in the neighborhood.  Lights being shone hither and yon.  Dogs barking.  People shouting.

... Oh, wait.  Doghunt!

Turns out the Sheriff's Office is missing an official dog, somewhere in the area.  I haven't seen it.  Looked around the yard with a flashlight, and nothing police-dog-sized moved.

It'll be light soon, and they'll likely have better luck then.  Hope the critter doesn't get hit by a car in the meantime.  Is traffic avoidance part of their training?

Update:  It's light now, and there's definitely no sign of a dog in our yard.  No ongoing excitement, either.  Hope that means they found him.

Update 2:  Looks like the local Sheriff's Office doesn't have a "social" media presence, so no tweetstorm with details of the hunt for the dog, what he was doing when he went AWOL, etc.  Guess chattering at the world isn't a priority.  Maybe there'll be something in tomorrow afternoon's paper.

Spring hath sprung

We're having a few sunny days (yesterday was cold and sunny; today is warm and sunny), and things have started growing.

Yes, it's lawn-mowing season already.  I spent a chunk of yesterday dealing with large areas that definitely needed mowing, while dosing up on transdermal vitamin D.  Other areas in need of mowing are obstructed by little piles of cut brush, so today I consolidated some of those into the beginning of a larger pile, and now my back and legs are tired from all the picking up of ground-level stuff.

The lower portions of the Annex are currently off limits for the mower on account of swampiness, but I got the upper walkways mowed.

Tomorrow, I'll give the New Victory Garden a second pass with the tiller; it's probably still a little wet for that today (though not, at least, swampy).  Then more brush-pile consolidation.  I should probably put on sunscreen for that.

Weed-barrier fabric is on order, expected to arrive around the end of the month.  I figure I'll apply the tiller one last time just before applying the covering.  Some seeds are started in the basement; I need to figure out what else gets started indoors.

This is not so new

Over at the Grauniad, a piece on the brand-new "liberal" (hint: today's "liberals" are anything but) horror over social media.

In liberal circles these days there is a palpable horror of the uncurated world, of thought spaces flourishing outside the consensus, of unauthorized voices blabbing freely in some arena where there is no moderator to whom someone might be turned in. The remedy for bad speech, we now believe, is not more speech, as per Justice Brandeis’s famous formula, but an “extremism expert” shushing the world.

I'm so old... I remember when my mother (a Strict Orthodox Democrat) first heard about these newfangled "blogs"; she was shocked that random people with neither credentials nor corporate backing could just publish stuff on the Internet, unsupervised.  Nigh twenty year back, this would have been, and the Party was already telling her to be shocked about it.

For that matter, I remember the foofaraw over right-wing talk radio, and how the unwashed masses were being subjected to messages not approved by the Party.  Back in the early 90s, that was.  And outrage over the existence of Fox News is nothing new.

To say that this will give the right an issue to campaign on is almost too obvious.

No biggie.  Censor all messages not approved by the Party, change the rules for elections, disqualify candidates who use the wrong sort of populist language, and allow the Party to decide the winner of elections regardless of the votes, and the problem is solved.  Right?

Oh, and don't forget to confiscate all pitchforks and torches from the peasants.  And require all nylon cable ties to be registered and strictly accounted for.

Reading before signing? What a concept!

So there's buzz this morning... Governor 99, er, Kristi Noem, who had previously announced her support for a bill barring boys from girls' sports in schools, has gone all squishy!  And might not sign it!  Oh, noes!  Shes been got to!

Well... seems she read the actual bill as presented for her signature (really, who does that these days?  It's not like the Legislature bothers to read the bills), and consulted legal experts, and has specific concerns.

Thinking outside the bumper sticker?  Is that even a thing?

Friday morning earworm

"The Selkie Queen" (The Wild Oats / A Few Oats Short of a Haggis)

No, I don't know why this has been stuck in my head since the wee hours.