Warm. Damp. Warm and damp. Felt like we missed Spring and went right into Summer yesterday. Once the rain stopped anyway. Today is supposed to be similar but clear. I hope so.
I’ve got stuff to pickup today and rain won’t help that. It’s stuff I couldn’t pick up yesterday because of the morning ‘moisture from the sky.’
I was able to drop off a small bin of mostly Pokemon stuff at my auctioneer, and pick up a check for my profit on the last several auctions. My big score was an antique book that brought $400. The most I paid for it was 50c… that’s good return on investment. If I bought it on a day with more books, it might have been 33c… There were some other good sellers too, with high multiples for ROI. I need to focus on those type of items. FWIW, they tend to be vintage, and unusual or even unique.
Books that have some local interest, a Texas subject, and are at least 75-100 years old do well for me at the local auction. “Smalls” or small collectible items did very well in the last auction as well. Bigger items, sports cards, and household things didn’t do well. Old toys, even in bad condition, usually do well, and sometimes do VERY well. It’s always a crapshoot, and sometimes things I thought were a slam dunk barely sell at all. The trick is to be there every time with a variety of stuff. And don’t pay very much for your stock.
I’ve got some other running around to do today, and some maintenance stuff at home. The wifi needs attention, as signal levels are very low in places. My wife has moved dealing with that to the top of my list. I’m going to add two Asus nighthawk access points at opposite ends of the house. That will probably be overkill, but we have a lot more wifi devices now than we did when I set everything up originally. Getting the wifi off the att fiber router will allow me to specify my own DNS and use openDNS initially, and set up a pi-hole later. I’ve got a stack of wifi routers from the goodwill, some from client sites, and some from estates or yardsales. I’ll use the asus at home for now, and save the ubiquiti for the BOL. That’s the current plan… Or I could just add a couple of ubiquiti UAC access points here and be done with it… I haven’t made a choice yet, which is why it hasn’t been DONE yet.
SWMBO has spoken though so I will be making a choice today.
External deadlines. I needs ’em.
Other than DVDs ripped to my server, I haven’t done much stacking this week. We’ll see what I can do later to improve my situation.
I will say that stacking food and money probably isn’t a bad idea. You should give it a try.
nick
71F and saturated. Supposed to be clear today. We’ll see. Breakfast on the way and kids dragged into consciousness… starting now.
n
I use the ASUS AIMesh system and have one router and two WAPs in the house. It is an easy system to use. Adding additional WAPs is trivial and just works. I have good WiFi everywhere in the house including outside by the pool.
Well waddayaknow? att fiber interface is 4.5 years old. My switch shows an uptime of 95 days.
Wifi at either end of the house is marginal at 5Ghz. Dumb devices don’t have 2.4Ghz radios or won’t switch to the better but “slower” signal. Throughput at 5Ghz, but only one bar of signal is less than 2.4Ghz with good signal, but the amazon fire stick won’t or can’t switch.
Wife’s problem is her work VPN, not my end.
Joy.
n
24 F and wind blew all night at 20+ mph here in Norman, OK. Will be headed south to warmer climes soon, very soon. Didn’t sleep very well with the wind moaning on the 4th floor room window all night. Just perfect for a 475 mile drive to south Texas.
Apparently winter is happening everywhere else…
Balmy here. Some clearing, but still mostly overcast.
n
Spending some time looking at my networking.
We have a Rainbird sprinkler controller with a wifi connection. It’s been calling out to an IP
3.219.59.106
that alternately comes back to japan, or amazon depending on what lookup I use.
Safe to assume Rainbird is using amazon web services? Maybe to provide a web portal to the sprinkler?
n
>> It does pay to review what you have ever so often…
Once every 15 years is a BIT long in between.
The trick now is to hang onto it another 15 years in hopes it becomes valuable as ‘NOS.’
Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!
There really isn’t a clean way to do a web interface otherwise.
Hopefully, the Rainbird controller only has enough processing horsepower to connect to the server and download the schedule configured via the web interface. It is still concerning from a privacy aspect, especially with Amazon involved.
I’ve written before about my Nexia thermostat which I caught port scanning my home network and immediately ordered the AC company out to completely wipe all of the device memory with a factory reset to make it as if the device never had the WiFi password.
Interesting…just saw a commercially produced TV commercial for Paxlovid. Complete with a “…not approved but authorized for emergency use during the pandemic is over…” disclaimer. Even has its own font and logo.
But didn’t Plugs proclaim it over a few months back?
Ref: Ray … I use the ASUS AIMesh system…
My house is 225 feet from my shop. Line of sight is clear. I would like to connect them using Wi-Fi.
The shop has metal siding causing my cell phone to work poorly at best (when the metal insulated overhead doors are open). My Wi-Fi and both of my neighbors system signals are good in front of the shop. Inside I can’t detect any Wi-fi.
I really don’t want to bury a cable as I have to design and landscape to control rain run off where any cable would be located.
I suspect I’ll need to place a Wi-fi antennas outside and cable them inside. While I have a 120 outlet near my yard light I don’t want my shop Wi-fi unit to be located where I have to use a ladder to get to it. What do you recommend?
GlobalProtect or company-managed Cisco AnyConnect?
AnyConnect is garbage. I’ve never bothered to look into what GlobalProtect does at the low level, but we use it where I currently work so I assume it is IPSec.
NetClient?
IBM isn’t the only one that uses the service, but they were complete a**hats about getting SSL-based VPN 20 years ago, regardless of the security and performance issues.
I know exactly why IBM’s vaunted effort to “go Mac” fizzled a decade ago. I probably had a key role in that.
@greg, don’t know about her vpn, the mac manufacturer shows up as Universal Global Scientific in angryIP scanner. I think that’s just a coincidence though, as they are listed as a wifi manufacturer.
Her company IP staff seem to be pretty on the ball overall.
n
I listened to Sledgehammer last night. Seemed appropriate.
An SSL VPN will be susceptible to noise regardless of WiFi signal strength. If you can’t find a way to run Ethernet from the primary router to your wife’s workspace to solve any disconnect issues, try a HomePlug adapter pair.
You live in a fancy lad neighborhood, and I assume lots of the neighbors have the latest tech, including 5G phones. 5G is allowed to dip into “unlicensed spectrum” to provide bandwidth so the WiFi problems will only get worse over time, especially if you have lots of AT&T Fiber routers with 2.4/5 GHz transceivers in the neighborhood and/or cell towers close.
Wait until Baby Yoda returns next week. 🙂
I have no idea. My son placed a WAP outside his house to allow a signal in his backyard. I suspect that would not work for you because of the metal building. Metal blocks a lot of signal, as witnessed by your cell phone not getting a signal.
If it were me, I would go ahead and bury an ethernet cable, or string the cable through the trees, or just leave it on the ground, from your house to your shop. If I was burying I would install conduit, install the cable, and a couple of pull strings. Set up an ASUS unit as a WAP inside the building.
Anything beyond those suggestions is way beyond my skill set and requires the ramblings of some other propeller head.
@Lynn
Judicious selection of a good hardwood cane and a bit of training are good backups in situation where you can’t carry.
Dan Bongino says that our chance of WWIII in next few years is 8 %.
He also says that China is watching the Ukraine debacle. When they go into Taiwan, China will go fast and hard. And probably start with a few tactical nukes.
I think china won’t move on Taiwan until they’ve secured the fabs, either by special forces units, or by kidnapping family of staff.
They could also replace staff with their loyal people surreptitiously.
That happens and they will own Taiwan in hours.
n
The first to die:
U.S. to QUADRUPLE military force on Taiwan: Pentagon will send troops to island to bolster defenses as tensions sour between Washington and Beijing – and after American general warned of war by 2025
plugs be poking all our enemies at once. We will end up with the shit-end of the stick.
I might as well report to Fort Rucker for remedial flight training. Is it still called Fort Rucker? Maybe they changed the name to Fort LBGTQWERTY. Can’t have any of those raycis Confederate Generals honored.
Janet Yellen says we will send another $10 billion in economic aid to Ukraine in the following months. Good thing we are saving billions with the “Inflation Reduction Act” so we can send it all to Füher Zelensky. Time for Redumblicans to get off their useless asses and stop this.
You funny man. Better luck wishing for unicorns whose scat is money.
LOL [insert Nelson Muntz laugh here].
I note that DreamHost (host for this place) upgraded PHP version to 8.1.9 overnight (I was aware of the update and was not concerned). The update is a ‘good thing’.
The site has no problems with that version, as expected. The ‘thumb up/down’ plugin is throwing some ‘warnings’ that users won’t see, but they are cluttering up the error log. That plugin is not compatible with PHP 8.x (geeky note: you can’t check an array element if it doesn’t exist unless you do an extra step).
I’ve contacted their support, and we’ll see what they do. Not a big deal for users, just an admin irritation. Plugin seems to be working OK, so will leave it in place for now.
Carry on.
I have one of these stashed in my boxes of gear, which was originally bought with the intent of installing it at the in-laws no-tell motel in Federal Way, WA so they could access the city-wide WiFi from inside their office.
https://www.radiolabs.com/wireless/rv-marine-wifi-antennas/rv-marine-high-power-wifi-antenna/
The RadioLabs marketing sells it as an antenna, but it is actually a USB WiFi plug built into a high quality antenna/housing intended for a marine environment, hence the standard boat antenna mount.
I figured I would install a base mount somewhere outside and pull the very long USB wire inside through a window or whatever was convenient.
When the USB connects to Mac/Windows/Linux, the OS treats it as just another WiFi device and brings up the appropriate prompts. I’ve never seen the hardware fail to be detected, even on really old Mac OS X.
The Corsair power supply going into my new primary desktop is Hecho en Vietnam.
Interesting. I purchased two of the same model in the last year, and they were Hecho en China.
Meanwhile, the Hecho en China motherboard has a bad USB port and needs to go back to the vendor.
This is the worst build I’ve ever done in terms of defective parts. This is the second motherboard. I also had to swap the CPU at one point, and a power supply I already had which was only two years old turned out to have gone defective sitting on the shelf.
Not going to happen. The last holdout against McCarthy, Matt Gaetz, represents FL-1, a Congressional District which is near the top of the list of those in the country most dependent on DoD spending.
One of his cohorts and fellow FL delegation member Anna Paulina Luna — yes, the famed “witch” — took Charlie Crist’s seat after two attempts, representing FL-13, which includes what might be the largest VA complex in the country.
There goes two of the four vote margin on any military spending package. It probably wouldn’t be hard to find two others.
Good ol’ eBay sent an Order Update. With a new tracking number. UC018563506US . I’m going to assume it’s also going to Canada. Which province in Canada has Texas?
No biggie. Good ol’ eBay put the case on “hold” until the 24th. I’ll see what they have to say tomorrow. If there are no batteries in my mailbox tomorrow afternoon, I’m calling my credit card on the 25th.
Nice weather today. Sunny and windy and 75F. A front is coming in so tomorrow is suppose to be about 50 with some rain. It’s February and the weather is being mild this year.
I went out to the EDC aka U-Tote-Em to look for some stew meat. Nope. Found a package of lemon salt flavor HEB boneless pork chops. Walked back to the house and put them in the fridge. Oh, I need rice. Back out to the EDC. Brought the rice in. I got to thinking if the weather is going to be bleh for a couple of days, go get more stuff. The leftover taco meat isn’t going to become part of a pot of spaghetti sauce all by itself. Then, what’s for tonight? Another trip for a couple of cans of Dinty Moore beef stew.
So four trips. And the cats, being cats, are STARVING TO DEATH so the herd followed me from the Feed Shed to the EDC and all the way back to the house. And from the house back to the EDC. Every trip. I’m easily amused.
Motherboards and power supplies usually cheap capacitors. I’ve had a few as well.
“Cat has never been fed in entire life”, says cat.
And we need to believe cat because #BelieveAllCats
I had to be reminded: Today is .223 day!
Only good sale I’ve seen this week was Fiocchi .009m
Charger Blues for EV F-150:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myTIISQhyvE
uh-huh
You have to put the address of where you’re charging into the app. Why?
And what happens if you don’t? Ford calls you and says “You lying p.o.s., we know where you are. No charge for you.”
Anyone think that truck doesn’t report location?
Anyone think Ford isn’t sharing that info in real time with the goobermint?
Anyone think that Ford won’t give the goobermint “the keys” to let them drive it away when they are told “Iz ‘mergensee, we need it. Give nao.”
Anyone think that the goobermint takes it they don’t leave you with payments?
How many pages is purchase agreement and which clause gives Ford right to unilaterally make changes that take effect before the electron chain nudges to your phone?
Anyone think I’ve not cynical or want to look at the scars that made me that way?
ADDED:
Anyone that doesn’t tell the dealer: “I will pick up the truck and the charger at the same time, or get a restraining order preventing you from passing gas until you deliver.” would be an idiot.
so why does a successful billionaire shoot himself dead in his office?
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11787061/NYC-billionaire-financier-Thomas-H-Lee-78-dead-self-inflicted-gunshot-wound.html
n
Bad news from his doctor.
Bad news from his doctor.
– billions buy a lot of medical care…
n
Seems like there’s been at least one reference here in the past to “Alone in the Wilderness,” the story of Dick Proenneke. Check the wiki entry if not familiar.
The first video and often the second have been shown during PBS pledge weeks (all 48 each year, it seems like).
The producer of the videos has the complete package with the book for sale:
http://www.dickproenneke.com/alone_in_the_wilderness_2.html
and at $106.75 with free shipping, it is almost thirty bucks cheaper than The River.
What started me down the rabbit hole was a discussion about the Studley Tool Cabinet (back cover of Fine Woodworking 35 years ago) which led to discovering this:
https://lostartpress.com/collections/books/products/virtuoso
and then this:
https://lostartpress.com/collections/books/products/the-handcrafted-life-of-dick-proenneke?variant=39501998424127
Haven’t seen the Lost Arts book, yet, but can highly recommend the videos.
>> billions buy a lot of medical care…
Uhh, ask Lauren Jobs how that worked out.
Doesn’t always work, but you can get private clinics, experimental treatments, organs harvested to order….
Or at least have one last hurrah…
n
And wait, NYFC? Handgun? oh right, politically connected, friend of the Clintoons… so probably not an illegal gun.
>> friend of the Clintoons…
Friend or “friend?”
Seems really odd for a billionaire, and one of the Masters of the Universe at that, to just pull the plug like that. LOTTA ego in someone that did what that guy did.
n
>> billions buy a lot of medical care…
Uhh, ask Lauren Jobs how that worked out.
Um, Steve Jobs managed to delay the original cancer death notice by several years. Even got a new liver and those are almost unobtanium. Of course, he had friends in China…
I listened to talk radio (AM 820 in Dallas all the way from Ok City to Corsicana, TX, very powerful antenna), The Beatles, Tom Petty, Great White, Nirvana, and the Dark Shadows soundtrack (Moody Blues – Nights in White Satin). I had to liven things up as I started falling asleep south of Centerville, TX and had 150 miles to go.
Falling asleep is not good. That is my constant battle driving. Eating jerky helps (no sugar) and listening to audiobooks is better than just music.
A long haul trucker told me his secret was eating sunflower seeds (in the shell.) The work involved in getting them out of the shell kept him occupied, and “you don’t fall asleep with food in your mouth…” Too many carbs for me, puts me to sleep instead, but that’s why I switched to nibbling jerky.
n
And wait, NYFC? Handgun? oh right, politically connected, friend of the Clintoons… so probably not an illegal gun.
No such thing as an illegal handgun in NYS and NYFC since SCOTUS forced their hand.
https://casetext.com/case/new-york-state-rifle-pistol-assn-inc-v-city-of-new-york
and
https://www.scotusblog.com/2022/07/from-constitutional-orphan-to-treasured-heirloom-the-second-amendment-is-no-longer-a-second-class-right/
and
https://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/new-york-state-rifle-pistol-association-inc-v-bruen/
For longer distance wireless connections, it may be worth considering a “wireless ethernet bridge” instead of standard WLAN mesh. As I understand it, these are point-to-point solutions that should be able to deal with longer ranges. If you get one that’s designed for outdoor use, you can put it on the outside of the building (solving problems with metal siding, etc.), and run an ethernet cable inside.
I’ve been considering this for our guest apartment, but haven’t actually bought one yet. So what little I know is from reading reviews on the interwebs.
I use the ubiquiti NanoStation M2 in ‘wireless ethernet bridge’ mode to get a point to point link. I’m sure a pair would work in this situation. There is a youtube that shows how to config them.
A local switch/access point would still be required inside the building.
n
Added – the full name is UISP airMAX NanoStation M2 loco Station. You need a pair. They are PoE devices. I always use the Ubiquiti PoE injectors with these, even if I’ve got someone elses PoE switch, they seem to work better with their own power supply.
n