67F and sunny with some clouds this am. We’re getting into the 90s by afternoon.
I did some work on my rent house yesterday. And then had a bunch of family stuff.
Which is part of today’s topic.
I’m not very good at recognizing people, and terrible with names. Never have been. Don’t care about most of them, so I don’t spend the energy. This is ‘bad’ for some levels of ‘bad’. I know that, but am just not wired that way. This precludes me from certain jobs, like Concierge, personal assistant, mobster, politician, club owner, hollyweird dealmaker, etc. Jobs where people and relationships trump ability to get the job done. Unlike some, I don’t whine and cry about how unfair it is, I just find jobs that I AM suited to.
BUT, I’d argue that in a disaster, people and relationships are going to be critically important. Not just as “tribe” or your personal group, but for any interactions during recovery. This puts me at a disadvantage.
The good news is, you can learn to remember names, and people, and learn to get along and motivate, etc. I’ve had a masters class in that during my years of working on the road with local crews. This is not perfectly useful, as our interests aligned, and we both knew the relationship was short term.
Short digression- One of the guys I worked with had a reputation for being able to remember every attendee’s name by the end of the event, and something about them. Keep in mind, we’d get a new crop of attendees every day, 50-100 of them. He demonstrated it for us one day, and he was in fact able to do it. I asked him How? Mnemonics? rhymes? His answer was simple and devastating. He said “You just have to CARE.” No way could I apply that!
Anyway, I’m seeing the same people now at events. Our social circle, which condensed down to wife, me, dog, kids, one other couple….. is expanding. This happens when you have kids in school and activities. It occurred to me last night at the Girl Scout event that I recognized at least a dozen kids, and the same number of moms, with a couple of dads thrown in. Our circles overlap, school, neighborhood, sports, rec assn pool, and Girl Scouts.
Since I started going to the neighborhood city meetings, I recognize our City Councilwoman, the Mayor, and possibly a couple of aides, at least in context. I recognize my estate sellers, their helpers, and many of the other buyers. I recognize some of the people in the stores around the neighborhood, especially in the Goodwills and other places I go frequently.
I make an effort to recognize our local homeless and panhandlers, as a security issue. If we had obvious gang bangers hanging around, I’d make an effort with them too.
It occurs to me that I REALLY need to make the effort, find the desire to CARE with the good and decent people in my life too. They are the community that I’m embedded in. They may not be ‘tribe’ * (in the sense used by various blogs on the right and patriot movement) but they are the ones most likely to impact MY life, mainly thru my kids.
So that’s my resolution for now. I’m prepped up in terms of gear, now I need to address the social aspect a bit more. I need to acknowledge that I’m part of the broader community and start working on that.
nick
* I will never, and have never used ‘tribe’ to mean Jews or israelis. It is an unfortunate choice on the part of some in the patriot, liberty, alt-right, etc. to have adopted the word to describe those affiliated with you and sharing a common mindset, giving the amount of anti-semetism that is often present in the comments of many blogs that are alt-media and right leaning. The word has been and continues to be applied to the descendants of David in a negative context and that is unfortunate.
Earthquake at 4:50 AM PDT woke me and my dog up this morning. Didn’t go back to sleep. About 4.5 and several dozen, or more, miles east of me.
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-earthquake-20180508-story.html
55º and partly cloudy east of the area that ALMOST had a Ford plant back when Henry decided Buffalo was not the place to be. NIMBY struck then, too.
I’m working on meatspace. I, too, have a problem remembering names. Not faces – they look familiar. I just don’t remember names. So when I work a race, I write the names of the volunteers on my hand so I don’t call “Bob” “Jack” at the wrong time. Or “Sue”. It works for me. When I tell them I’m awful with names so I’ll cheat, they almost universally smile. Trying.
I like to tell the story that I couldn’t remember my (now wife’s) girlfriend’s name on our first 2 dates. It’s not really true, though. I just couldn’t remember it the first few times I met her. It takes effort. For the important ones, the effort is worthwhile. In most other cases, I have more important things (to me) on my mind.
Getting involved in schooling (and the PTO, and the school board meetings) means I’m talking to more people. Not making too much noise. Just meeting them and being seen. I stand out, so just being there gets me remembered. That will be important someday.
It took me years to learn my neighbors names. I’m not talking the neighbors 4 or 5 doors down. I mean the neighbors right next door and right across the street. I just don’t care. I detest small talk and I can be a bit introverted with people I’m not friends with.
One thing I really cannot stand is when every time I am outside or in the garage doing something I feel like I have an audience. I told my wife I was going to paint “F_CK OFF, NOSY” on the back garage wall in 4′ letters. Then when everyone drives or walks by and stares in they can be greeted by that. I also told her if the zombie apocalypse comes I’d happily shoot any one of them in the face and take their food. 🙂 I can be a bit of a misanthropic antisocial neighbor.
I grumble a lot, but it’s a great neighborhood to raise a kid and I don’t regret living there. I just wish my neighbors were better at picking up on my non-verbal cues that I don’t want to bothered… or looked at.. 🙂
Until they allow you to build 30′ walls around your house with gun turrets and a moat I’m probably never going to be totally happy.
funny you should mention school board.
Our local board elections were this weekend. I voted. Two offices, one running unopposed; the other a self described “community activist” vs. one who is not. you can tell who I likely voted for…..
Talking with my wife, there’s been lots of grousing on the FB pages about it. So shut the he[[ up and run for office. NO ONE should ever run unopposed. I even considered running next time and I’m a terrible choice for politics as noted above.
When I’m doing something for our pool, or helping with something for the kids, I always wear a distinctive shirt and hat. I know they’re goofy. I don’t care. MUCH easier to say, find the guy in the hawaiian shirt and the hat for the answer to that question…..
Ditto for any school function, I almost always wear a distinctive shirt. Serves at least two purposes, makes me easy to find if needed. Gives them something to focus on instead of actually looking at me (‘cuz I really don’t want to be memorable). Normalizes my use of a cover garment (no it’s not weird that Nick is wearing an overshirt, he always wears a shirt) too.
n
A friend of mine had several Jewish friends in college, and one of their expressions for Gentile was “not a member of my tribe.” So that may be where the tribe metaphor originated. Also, it is my understanding that Hebrews literally means outsiders. If someone strictly observes Jewish dietary restrictions, it means you can’t go have dinner at a non-kosher household.
I share Nick’s disdain for anti-Semitic people. I think that all the anti-Semitic Trump supporters are hilariously ignorant, because Trump’s daughter and son in law are Jewish. The only thing that is a more hilarious example of ignorance is the other group of people calling Trump an anti-Semite when he has a Jewish daughter, son in law and grandchildren.
Here’s a solution for @Nick’s rodent problem, all natural too:
How to Attract Owls and Why You Should Give a Hoot
WRT Jewish people: Most people do not have a clue as to who/what a Jewish person is, or that there are several forms of Judaism. Each of them very different and not necessarily accepting of the other, that makes them no different than the many “Christian” religions.
This article on Judaism in the Encyclopaedia Britannica does a pretty good job of explaining the Jews.
As I have mentioned before I grew up with Jewish neighbors and schoolmates, was in a Boy Scout Troop sponsored by a Synagogue, and even dated a Jewish girl (her mother hated me, and she like that). As a group the Jewish people can be very hard to understand and deal with if you do not understand them.
BTW, they do not like to be called Jews. The correct term is Jewish people.
Whenever I need to reinforce my belief that 80% of everything is cr@p, I read youtube comments. This from a very smart channel on tube electronics repair, commenting on the channel’s host’s newest useful invention, a low voltage capacitor tester.
The plans are available to his patreon subscribers, for free, and the stated cost of doing it yourself is like $20…
n
As a group the Jewish people can be very hard to understand and deal with if you do not understand them.
Try my wife’s extended Chinese family.
I understand them and their long term goals pretty well. My wife is the one who is often oblivious.
That reminds me, “Boss” cousin is in town tomorrow night. I’ll be at the Python Meetup until my wife messages that he is out of the house.
Unless I can get an owl to live in my garage and attic, it’s not gonna solve my problem. And cat pee smells as bad as rat pee, and the psychological effects of getting infected with the cat parasite are devastating to women. There are a couple proto-women and one actual woman here who I care about very much 🙂
n
Nick: I second your comment
I hear LOTS of people griping about school policy and school board decisions. In every case I tell them RUN FOR THE BOARD or at least VOTE FOR THE BOARD. Everyone gripes but (almost) no one bothers to take action. I got on a water board one year simply by showing up for the meeting when they needed to fill a vacancy. I learned a LOT about rural private water systems and the nonsense the EPA made us go through. Go to your local meetings and if you can’t find a good candidate to vote for run yourself and quit moaning.
Something to bring to your local schools, while asking about their emergency response plans, tactical EMS, etc.
How will responders access the facility once you’ve gone on lockdown?
https://www.policeone.com/police-products/tactical/articles/287936006-Active-shooter-scenario-How-cops-can-gain-entry-during-a-lockdown/
Read the article.
n
(just one more nail in the coffin for ‘lockdown’ as a doctrinal response to active shooter or intruder threats as far as I’m concerned.)
Funny, the first time I read this I read “communist activist”. But then again what’s the difference?
RE: Jewish
I never met a Jewish person growing up in the 50s-60s Oklahoma so I had no opinion on Jews one way or another, never even thought about it. Then I wed a girl (she was only 16) from a half Jewish, half Cherokee heritage. She taught me about Jewish traditions and beliefs. Came in very handy when I later had to work an IT contract in NYC among the kosher Jewish community. I quickly learned to love kosher food.
Some very interesting numbers about charitable giving and funding sources in this very short article.
https://www.ems1.com/ems-grants/articles/380321048-Obscure-funding-sources-for-EMS-departments/
n
Well, that was quicker than I expected. We got into the 90s by late morning. Currently 83F with 43%RH for ‘feels like’ 99F.
That is some low humidity, btw….
n
The local community foundation gives me the shivers. They tried to get their hands on the funds of the local runners club (while I was on the board). They manage the funds and advise the organization on who to give it to.
I’m sorry, but such things raise all kinds of questions for me.
1. Where is the money kept?
2. Who pays your salary?
3. Why would we need to give you notice to get our money out?
Ultimately the club told the foundation that there was no interest. A few years later we built a pavilion at the local state park ($100k+) as a donation, with the only caveat that the club gets to use the shelter for “free” 10 times/year, on pre-defined dates. In exchange, we have the privilege of paying for maintenance of the shelter going forward.
I don’t care for groups that manage OPM. (Other People’s Money)
@greg, from the fiction I’ve read, and the true life youtube vids from guailo living in China, I just assume that any extended chinese family acts like old school mob families.
Family first, second, and always, every member expected to fit into a role, and always to the benefit of the family.
I assume a mob stucture too, with the boss, consigliere, lieutenants, and soldiers all in their places. Also the emphasis on ritual, politeness, respect, and ‘good form.’
My (admittedly limited) exposure to chinese, here and in China hasn’t changed my assumptions.
n
Some very interesting numbers about charitable giving and funding sources in this very short article.
https://www.ems1.com/ems-grants/articles/380321048-Obscure-funding-sources-for-EMS-departments/
EMS units in fire departments are a relatively new concept. The last time MeTV had the rights to “Emergency”, an article on their site indicated that only four existed prior to the premiere of the series.
We live in a community with a decent public school system. I’m not saying there aren’t any real issues, because there are real discipline issues and other policy issues. But things are working fairly well, although I can tell that over the last decade things are not working as well as they once did.
My wife teaches at the elementary school our daughter attends. There are increasing behavior issues and the idea that we need to find what triggers the child’s bad behavior instead of disciplining the child. Don’t get me wrong, if the school can identify and fix the underlying cause of the behavior, I think that is great. There are a few kids who are unreachable. I think the principal of the school in question needs to be a little heavier with the suspensions. However, the underlying district policy apparently says she already relies on suspension too much.
There is a fourth grade student who is so disrespectful and sexually inappropriate you would think he was in junior high. I think it’s time for him to go somewhere else. I am losing my patience with local public school system. I am very close to suggesting that it’s time for my wife to start teaching at the local private (Christian) school, and that it’s time for our daughter to attend the same school. I doubt that I will be very satisfied with the quality of the science classes at the private school, but I can supplement that.
Pushing this idea will make my wife very unhappy, and I don’t want to do that unless absolutely necessary. I’m unhappy with the policy decisions made by the school administration, so what can I do about it? Run for the school board? Why yes I could do that, but I’ve never been to a meeting. So I am going to start going to the school board meetings. I’m going to see what actually happens there. If there is a school board member who I can try to replace, and that replacement would result in improvement of the quality of the board’s decisions, then I will run.
It would be irresponsible of me to run for the school board if I have never been to a meeting. I am tired of watching the system slowly deteriorate.
Somebody ought to do something!Something needs to be done, and if no one else will do it, I will do it myself.Tribe is a perfectly good word to describe the people one most closely associates with.
Let’s not forget we are, after all, primates and monkeys. Tribal animals.
” I doubt that I will be very satisfied with the quality of the science classes at the private school”
Why is this the default? I went to a Catholic high school and we had a well funded and equipped science department. We had a pretty rigorous education with lots of hands on, including dissection, wet chemistry, physics, things like blood typing ourselves, etc. NO mention of ‘creationism’ or ‘creation science.’
Those bugbears are a characteristic of fundamentalism, sometimes conflated with evangelical traditions*. The literal interpretation of the Bible, and ‘young earth’ are beliefs held by a minority of Christians. A great many ground breaking scientists believed in God and a guiding hand…
I have the feeling a Jesuit based school would provide a better education than almost any other… and I got a pretty good education from the nuns…
n
*Joel Osteen is certainly an evangelical and most certainly not a fundamentalist, as just one example.
NOTE: Sarah Palin got into politics by running for School Board after being disappointed in the schools policies.
“EMS units in fire departments are a relatively new concept.”
My little home town of 20k had the EMS embedded in the fire department from its creation on. That would be late 70s? Every cop also had to be at least EMT qualified too, and kept a kit in the trunk of their car. Response times were some of the lowest in the nation.
EMS as a concept at all was new when Emergency! aired. It was driven by the return of medics from the Vietnam ‘conflict’ who didn’t understand why they should just be ambulance drivers and let patients die without help.
War. One thing it’s good for……… is new medical treatments and advances in trauma care. Plastic surgery. Trauma medicine. The EMS concept. And now, widespread adoption of the tourniquet for bleeding control.
n
(and in that regard, I’ll bet that more people have gotten basic first aid and trauma first aid training as a result of the prepper/patriot/liberty movements than any other factor. same as ham radio licensing saw a big boost.)
The PC crowd is at it again:
A New Jersey high school is facing heat from students and parents over a new policy that either everyone makes the cheerleading squad or no one does.
N.J. high school says cheerleading team must take everyone or be disbanded
Not my town, but close enough.
I went to a high school run by Jesuits for two years, and then a mediocre public high school for a year. Since I had enough credits to graduate after that, and the alternative would have been to take all AP classes if they were available, I graduated.
The Jesuit run school was very good. I guess the box I’m closest to fitting into would be Evangelical Christian. I am making an unfair assumption about their science classes. We are in a small town, which is surprisingly open mined at times. I don’t know where the school is with regard to fundamentalist/evangelical spectrum.
Also wrt Emergency! the LA area has as many or more hazards as any other area, but also has money and the will to reinvent themselves.
We can thank LA for the EMS system and paramedics in general, SWAT teams, and the ICS (incident command system) which has been refined and adopted at local and at a national level for incident response.
n
And before I leave the house for a bit, I’ll throw this one out there…
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-05-08/pat-buchanan-urges-trump-dont-trash-iran-deal
WTF? I don’t have the interest or background to argue this one way or the other (but I know that OFD would have put up the link) so here it is. My question is “Why would ‘the worst deal ever in the history of deals’ with a bunch of lying liars, who vow destruction of ourselves and our allies daily, be suddenly worth keeping? Just because DJT wants to do it?
n
NOTE: Our former VP of Global IT Security once mentioned in a meeting that everyone knows the earth is only 6000 years old.
I saw a delightful bit of political incorrectness at our school the other day. At the spring festival at the local school, there was a contest for the kids to guess the number of “army men” in a jar. I was surprised at that. I would have put soldiers, instead of army men. I hope that doesn’t mean I’m turning politically correct. Yes, I know a portion of the elementary school population doesn’t yet read “solidiers” but does know what “army men” are.
I had a senior technical guy from CSC comment to me that he was surprised that an educated and smart guy like me would have a ‘darwin fish’ on his truck (since evolution is a lie, and the earth is young). I asked him to explain red/blue shift in starlight if all of his beliefs were true. “God put it there.”
(this was during an install for a Marine Corps command and control facility, pre-gulf war 2. he was a technical manager with high clearances)
n
I went to a Catholic high school. Good science curriculum. Frankly, the differences between creation & evolution were never discussed. Science was for science class. Creation was for theology. Given that I was not Catholic, I didn’t take theology.
My children were doing just fine in the private Catholic school we had them in. We took necessary steps rarely, and we approved of the school. When they were taken over by the bureaucracy and we moved them to the public schools, we were happy with the results. I take different steps now. (And the youngest does know her addition tables – she was being “blonde” the time I grew frustrated.)
I have never seen a conflict between the Bible and science. A book, written by people with limited understanding of the world around them, cannot be accurate in light of later knowledge. But it was accurate at the time.
Then again, I have been called a heretic by both sides in that discussion. Pepsi & pretzels are the snacks of choice in that discussion.
Lol, I guess “army men” is more politically correct than “beaners”.
Jebs did me good.
Whew, 100F in the sun. Thank goodness the RH is 32%, or it wouldn’t be tolerable. As is, it’s nice in the shade.
n
There is an exception to everything. My family name is from where my antecedents were members of Clans.
“A.F. Branco Cartoon – Enough is Enough”
https://comicallyincorrect.com/a-f-branco-cartoon-enough-is-enough/
Yup.
“How Windows is changing to work with everything”
https://www.theverge.com/2018/5/7/17324920/microsoft-ceo-satya-nadella-interview-windows-10-build-2018
“Microsoft is a different kind of company under Nadella than it was just a few years ago. It’s working to get its software in IoT devices like drones, support companies with cloud services, and improve its enterprise software. Retail consumers aren’t exactly an afterthought, but Microsoft is starting to look more like IBM than Apple.”
Uh oh.
Hat tip to:
http://www.osnews.com/story/30327/How_Windows_is_changing_to_work_with_everything
WRSA has been running links under the heading “Because they hate you and they want you dead” which I think could be the heading above this link:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5703953/PIERS-MORGAN-Met-Islam-Jewish-themed-hell-break-loose-disrespect-religion.html
n
@greg, from the fiction I’ve read, and the true life youtube vids from guailo living in China, I just assume that any extended chinese family acts like old school mob families.
My wife’s WA State relatives definitely have rackets, and I mean that in the full legal sense of the word. The Boss in town tomorrow is the Number One Son of Big Uncle, the authority who doles out proceeds from the rackets to various cousins.
AFAIK, we’ve never taken racket proceeds, obligating us to Big Uncle, but the family stuff dies hard with my wife. If I had to guess, the purpose of Number One’s visit is to deliver a ultimatum message from his father regarding my mother-in-law’s living arrangements, and I’m staying out of the house just so we get it out in the open quickly.
“Microsoft is a different kind of company under Nadella than it was just a few years ago. It’s working to get its software in IoT devices like drones, support companies with cloud services, and improve its enterprise software. Retail consumers aren’t exactly an afterthought, but Microsoft is starting to look more like IBM than Apple.”
Uh oh.
If you’re concerned, depending on how you look at it, the decline of IBM took somewhere between 25 and 50 years. Microsoft is definitely in a better position than mid-80s IBM now, and, since Monkey Boy Ballmer left, they lack anything close to the kind of keep-yer-trap-shut/loyalty-at-all-costs management chain that IBM had (and still does in the C suites) which ultimately doomed the company.
That said, long term, I’d still suggest looking at making your code run well under Wine on Linux.
If you’re concerned, depending on how you look at it, the decline of IBM took somewhere between 25 and 50 years. Microsoft is definitely in a better position than mid-80s IBM now, and they lack the kind of keep-yer-trap-shut/loyalty-at-all-costs management chain that IBM had (and still does in the C suites) which ultimately doomed the company.
Everything happens faster now.
That said, long term, I’d still suggest looking at making your code run well under Wine on Linux.
Yup, we need to do that.
You would think that in this day and age neon lights would be history. My new, 3 or 4 years old, upright freezer has a light in the grill. I don’t know if it is actually tells you if the freezer still works or is simply plugged in. It’s flickering like crazy and very dim.
Doesn’t matter, I have a clock radio sitting on top and plugged in the same outlet.
But still, LEDs have been around for a few years now. Just saying.
I have the 1 amp charger on the riding mower. The battery is dead. That’s not a surprise, I mowed one time last year. A longhorn plus a cow and her bull calf kept the place mowed down very well. Though a bit sloppy on the edging.
Tomorrow I’ll put the 6 amp charger on for a while and it will probably start. Hopefully. I bought a battery for the mower and then installed a new gate opener. A few weeks later I bought another battery for the mower. Mowed the yard. Then the battery in the side by side went weak… so that’s what is in the mower. Unused for a year. Because cattle.
I got lucky this year. My leaky front tire was flat as usual but didn’t break the bead. !!!
For an interesting discussion on family vs. the state, read this twitter thread:
https://twitter.com/asymmetricinfo/status/992468199181611008
Scroll up to see the beginning.
It’s flickering like crazy and very dim.
Probably fluorescent. LEDs are now in the fridges we have been looking at.
According to AlGore and Gov. Moonbeam, I must be a Neanderthal left over from the stone age. My backyard BBQ is methane, CH4, fueled and emits CO2 with each ounce of protein.
I need to add solar panels to my backyard and then batteries for evening cookouts.
Well, I have now bought 100 tons of limestone gravel over the last couple of weeks. Ten truckloads @ $550 per truckload. We now have new gravel everywhere. Too thick some places, too thin some places, and just right in other places.
My warehouse tenant is going to rent a skid/steer this weekend for a job and may redistribute it around somewhat if he has time. If more leveling is needed after that then Robin the trucker (60+ year old woman) gave me the name of a guy with a tractor and a box blade who can spread gravel around. She did a great job of spreading the gravel around with her dump trucks using chains to keep that rear door from opening too much. She even graveled under my 25 pair phone cable which is only 20 ft off the ground. Both she and I were nervous about that.
I even tried using my truck to level the gravel a little bit. Almost worthless. I suspect a shovel would be faster.
“Two spaces after period are better than one, except maybe they aren’t, study finds”
https://arstechnica.com/science/2018/05/two-spaces-after-period-are-better-than-one-except-maybe-they-arent-study-finds/
We’ve had this conversation before.
Hat tip to:
https://www.codeproject.com/script/Mailouts/View.aspx?mlid=13601&_z=1988477
Has Seattle gone this bad ?
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-05-07/seattle-becoming-city-hostile-middle-class
Two spaces is the way I learned it, back on a manual in typing class. I physically can’t do any different. So there. Sue me…
And I over use the ellipsis, I start sentences with ‘and’ way too often, and I use the ‘ in a ‘non-standard’ way. I also go back and forth on whether the period (full stop) belongs inside the parenthesis or outside (really depends on where the thought ends, for me).
There you have it.
n
Read LaToya Cantrell’s mayoral inaugural speech
“And we broke every kind of glass ceiling and color line and old outdated rule about who’s supposed to be Mayor, about what that Mayor is supposed to look like and where he was supposed to be born.
“It tells me that each and every one of you took a good hard look at where we are, where we want to be, and how we want to get there, and you put your faith in me.
“And we made history.
“Because after 300 years, it’s about damn time a woman ran things for a change!”
<sarc>Laissez les bon temps rouler!</sarc>
On the plus side, she wasn’t calling for reparations, or jailing whites….
n
Has Seattle gone this bad ?
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-05-07/seattle-becoming-city-hostile-middle-class
Regardless of reality, Seattle is a mythical promised land, and buying a house means bidding against the entire planet rather than just workers making the prevailing local wages.
Never underestimate what Indian or Chinese families of just moderate means will provide to put a firstborn into a US tech hub city. Austin is getting as bad as Seattle, but Americans have the advantage of accpting used houses.
Re: Gravel. Daughters & I spread another yard last night. Daddy filling the wheelbarrow and children wielding the rakes. It works. Another 2 yards to distribute before I have to get the trailer out this weekend. Just filling in holes and smoothing things out, though. No way I’d want to do that with 100 tons. A blade would be MUCH better.
Kind-of related: Is crushed limestone better than 2B gravel? If so, why? I’ve been getting local stuff all along as it’s the cheapest stuff I can get, and I figure rocks are rocks. Add the jagged edges of crushed stone and I’d prefer gravel to walk on. So which is better?
Different mixes and sizes are designed for different things. Some will compact, some won’t. Some will stay put, some move. Some will support more weight.
Which one does what and which is better? I would like to know too. I’ve got a paved lot, with huge shallow potholes, and good sized deeper potholes, and I need to fill them.
I’ve been using either decomposed granite, or crushed brick stabilized by dumping a bag of redimix dry on top and then watering it in. Works OK. esp for deeper holes.
The highway dept uses something with much smaller particles when they are building temp driveways and access to the frontage road during construction. Wish I knew what it was called.
n
That said, long term, I’d still suggest looking at making your code run well under Wine on Linux.
Yup, we need to do that.
mmm, running on Linux will be a better bet, wine is only an stage. But the eternal changing flavors of Linux is against it.
wine is a sort of VM, so, maybe the better is a closed distribution, two flavors, able to run on both, Virtual Machine, software, packaged, new versions, patches, etc new machine distributed.
Or, and is better, browser only running on hosting, lease software, the issue is the transition time between business models (1 year at least)
Software with anchors (ERPs due ever changing tax code, some type of engineering as yours due quality) perfoms better the transition, but the engineering people doesnt like that a lot.
But the business case is clear, move to taxi model
Regarding OFD project… eye tracking?
https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=18/05/09/1432224
https://hackaday.com/2018/05/05/low-cost-eye-tracking-with-webcams-and-open-source-software/
Uses two cameras attached to glasses…
and to quote the dev–
“The calibration is currently very bad, I want to fix that. ”
“The next phase will likely be focused … getting the software to talk to the outside world. This will be done via another serial port communicating with an Arduino Bluetooth. The plan is to control some devices by simply looking at them! I may consider controlling the mouse as a quick interim project, but this has been done many times before so it’s not the main focus of this project at this time. “
So not really an option.
The project is really a gaze tracker, it shows what the person’s gaze is focused on, like stuff in the room, or what we called in VR a ‘head tracker’ in that it really tracks what you are looking at and where your head is pointed (afaik from a quick scan of the article.)
Kinda cool, but not what we need.
The free webcam based tracker works really well for mouse control, but you have to be able to move your head, and that leaves OFD out. I tried it and it’s amazingly accurate, but very tiring.
There is a LOT of “unknown unknowns” for the person or group just getting into the field. Look up ‘eye saccade’ for starters. I’m familiar with it from the work I did on flight simulators, and it plays hell on eye trackers.
Our vision system is pretty cool, and way more complex than most people know.
If you see anything else, let me know, there’s a ton of cool stuff out there.
n
@Nick
if you have contact w/ OFD’s family, inquire about his eyes; specifically if one is worse (more myopic) than the other. That alone may wreak havoc, as will any neurological impairment such as … gad, can I spell it? cyclotorsional rotation.
Project might be moot if his peepers have gone jeepers.
I told his wife we were building a pc he could control with his eyes, and didn’t get any “oh that won’t work…” the software can be config’d to use either eye or both, it’s just more accurate with both.
n
Ahhh, I’m glad. I miss the Old Fart Dave. 🙂
I like the white 3/4 inch limestone gravel. But, it is $550/truck. The plain 3/4 inch gravel is $450/truck.