Mon. Aug. 28, 2023 – back to school and life…

By on August 28th, 2023 in culture, decline and fall, ebay, march to war

Hot and humid. It has been a bit cooler in the mornings. Barely noticeable, but just that little bit cooler that says ‘Fall is coming.’

Spent Sunday wrapping up at my show. Awards breakfast (I got a certificate for helping out). Some very slow show floor. Door prize drawing (didn’t win anything this year). Then pack up and get out. I had several empty bins and a couple that I sorted as I packed that are only 1/2 full. I’m taking some of the leftovers to my auctioneer.

Had a good time. Turned some inventory back into cash. Got some stuff sold and out of my storage unit. Chatted with people. Spent some time talking with D2 and showing her the ropes. All in all, well worth spending a weekend on it.

Now it’s back to the normal hustle and bustle. Today I’ll return the bins to storage, and pull out a few bins I didn’t have access to, and get ready to take more stuff to auction. I found several bins that should be full of auction stuff while looking for my show stuff. It almost looks like I could make enough space to move one of the other storage units into it, and cancel one. That would be awesome. Or I could use the space to move more stuff out of the house. That has it’s own appeal too.

Whatever I do, it’ll be hot and sweaty work. Attic, back yard, driveway, garage, or storage- it’s hot. And if prices or demand or both are falling, it behooves me to get as much stuff sold as quickly as possible.

Of course there is all the normal daily stuff to do to, and whatever got pushed back by taking the weekend off…

So I’ve got some stacking to do. And more work.

It’s a great life if you don’t falter…

Stack, it’s good for the soul.
n

72 Comments and discussion on "Mon. Aug. 28, 2023 – back to school and life…"

  1. Nick Flandrey says:

    If the stuff couldn’t get sold quickly via EBay or Amazon, there would be a lot less smash and grab activity.

    I get the feeling from what I’ve read that it’s much more local than that.   I think it’s phone based, apps, like offer up, FB marketplace, some local auction stuff, maybe bins stores and bodegas, swapmeets and “perma” yard sales…

    ——————-

    a very slight touch of coolness to the air this morning.   Bus was only 4 minutes late.   Beautiful clear blue sky.  I’m sure it will be brain boiling hot later though.

    n

  2. lpdbw says:

    My range is air conditioned.

    Houston people are welcome to come shoot with me on Tuesdays.  Lunch may be an option.

    It’s on Mason south of I-10.

  3. Greg Norton says:

    I get the feeling from what I’ve read that it’s much more local than that.   I think it’s phone based, apps, like offer up, FB marketplace, some local auction stuff, maybe bins stores and bodegas, swapmeets and “perma” yard sales…

    Tech, smarphones and wireless, is still involved to enable the mischief unless the item is difficult or costly to ship like diapers or detergent.

    On our trip to New Orleans last Fall, I noticed that the Walgreens not far from our hotel had all of the detergents locked up.

  4. lynn says:

    On our trip to New Orleans last Fall, I noticed that the Walgreens not far from our hotel had all of the detergents locked up.

    I suspect that many of the chain stores will move to memberships soon like Sams and Costco to keep the riffraff out of the store.  Much easier to lock up the store than the merchandise.

  5. drwilliams says:

    Turns out the Nashville parents are partly responsible—or at least providing an excuse—for the non-release of the shooter’s writings:

    https://legalinsurrection.com/2023/08/we-have-the-jacksonville-shooters-manifesto-but-not-the-one-belonging-to-the-nashville-school-shooter/

    Pretty sure that has strong indications of the victim’s parents’ politics. 

  6. nick flandrey says:

    I am not nearly as clever as I think, some days. 

    I just figured out why I can’t rip bluray discs.   

    .

    .

    .

    .

    My drive is not a bluray drive, CD and DVD only.   F-me, I feel dumb today.

    n

  7. Greg Norton says:

    On our trip to New Orleans last Fall, I noticed that the Walgreens not far from our hotel had all of the detergents locked up.

    I suspect that many of the chain stores will move to memberships soon like Sams and Costco to keep the riffraff out of the store.  Much easier to lock up the store than the merchandise.

    Lock up the store ala the old Service Merchandise model, and organized insider theft becomes the shrink issue.

  8. Ken Mitchell says:

    Nick, that problem can be solved.  BluRay writers are becoming inexpensive. 

  9. nick flandrey says:

    Liquor stores in the bad part of town, clerk is behind plexi, or the store is locked, and there is a  drawer or pass thru for your item.    you tell them what you want, they pick it.  Limits the SKUs  you can stock, unless your transaction times are long.

    I’m thinking some variation on curbside.  Order online, or at a kiosk, pickup your whole order after payment.

    n

  10. SteveF says:

    F-me, I feel dumb today.

    There’s a common statement (which I’m not sure that I agree with) that you’re the average of the five people you spend the most time with. At least 40% of those people for you are teenagers. As we all know, teenagers are the dumbest lifeform which is nominally sapient. This means that you’re at least 40% dumber than you would be if you spent your time around normally functioning human beings. This is science, so you can’t challenge it.

    I’m thinking some variation on curbside.  Order online, or at a kiosk, pickup your whole order after payment.

    That would be very easily, if not cheaply, automated.

  11. Lynn says:

    I’m thinking some variation on curbside.  Order online, or at a kiosk, pickup your whole order after payment.

    That would be very easily, if not cheaply, automated.

    A baseball bat or an battery ripsaw would take care of that automation and let you inside to the goodies.

  12. Lynn says:

    Dadgumit, my main office PC rebooted Saturday morning at 230 am for some reason, killed my benchmark run and my LAN backups that I started at 1 am.  Now I am rerunning everything.  The benchmark run of our calculation engine takes nine hours.

  13. Lynn says:

    “Can I Retire at 65 With $1.5 Million?”

         https://finance.yahoo.com/news/retire-65-1-5-million-130036865.html

    Not if you have a disabled child living with you.  Her medical insurance alone is about $11,000 per year.

  14. SteveF says:

    A baseball bat or an battery ripsaw would take care of that

    No more so than an ATM. They are sometimes physically removed or smashed open, but that’s rare given the number of ATMs out there.

  15. lpdbw says:

    you’re the average of the five people you spend the most time with

    OMG!  This explains so much.   I spent the last 15 years working around doctors and PLTs and diversity hires (some overlap).  I feel like I’m getting smarter every day since I left that behind and started hanging out with Ham Radio guys.

  16. Lynn says:

    On our trip to New Orleans last Fall, I noticed that the Walgreens not far from our hotel had all of the detergents locked up.

    I suspect that many of the chain stores will move to memberships soon like Sams and Costco to keep the riffraff out of the store.  Much easier to lock up the store than the merchandise.

    Lock up the store ala the old Service Merchandise model, and organized insider theft becomes the shrink issue.

    The problem with the old Service Merchandise model is that you do not get the spur of the moment purchases.  If you want the spur of the moment purchases then you must let your customers walk through the merchandise like Sams and Costco do.

  17. Lynn says:

    A baseball bat or an battery ripsaw would take care of that

    No more so than an ATM. They are sometimes physically removed or smashed open, but that’s rare given the number of ATMs out there.

    I would equate the purchase and delivery mechanism to a vending machine.  Cash is small, compact.  Milk is not.

  18. Lynn says:

    I’m thinking some variation on curbside.  Order online, or at a kiosk, pickup your whole order after payment.

    That would be very easily, if not cheaply, automated.

    A baseball bat or an battery ripsaw would take care of that automation and let you inside to the goodies.

    Of course, if your clerk was a Terminator model 800, people would rarely steal from it.

  19. Lynn says:

    “Calls for recall after female Minnesota DA throws the book at cop, drops all charges against armed robber he arrested…”

         https://revolver.news/2023/08/calls-for-recall-after-female-minnesota-da-throws-the-book-at-cop-drops-all-charges-against-armed-robber-he-arrested/

    This is wrong.

    Hat tip to:

       https://thelibertydaily.com/

  20. Lynn says:

    “The Nord Stream pipeline sabotage: was Ukraine the guilty party after all?”

         https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2023/08/the-nord-stream-pipeline-sabotage-was.html

    “A very long and complex article in the German periodical Der Spiegel suggests that Ukraine was behind the Nord Stream pipeline sabotage attacks last year.  The original article is behind a paywall, but an archived (i.e. non-paywalled) copy is available.  It’s far too long to summarize here, but the core findings are as follows.”

    Whoa, taking out the competition !  That makes too much sense.

  21. Lynn says:

    “Memes that made me laugh 174”

         https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2023/08/memes-that-made-me-laugh-174.html

    The third meme with the pipe flange cut out for the electrical line made me gasp in disbelief.

  22. MrAtoz says:

    Of course, if your clerk was a Terminator model 800, people would rarely steal from it.

    Or Judge Dredd.

  23. SteveF says:

    Memes that made me laugh 174

    I had to take apart our dryer within the past year because one of the support wheels was failing. Deep in the insides I did find a sock.

  24. nick flandrey says:

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12454019/London-Heathrow-UK-air-traffic-control.html 

    Some thing or some one took down the UK air traffic control network.   That makes the US, Canada, and now the UK in the last 6 months, iirc.

    n

  25. Geoff Powell says:

    Transport for London, aka the Mayor of London, has ruled that the Ultra Low Emission Zone will expand to encompass everything inside the M25 (aka the London Orbital Carpark) with effect tomorrow, the 29th. This means the boundary will move 10-to-15 miles outwards at midnight, instead of being about a mile inside where I live.

    I’ve checked both our vehicles, and they’re both compliant – for the moment – so using them will not incur the £12.50 per day ULEZ charge. This is liable to change at the stroke of a bureaucrat’s pen, so I’ll need to keep an eye on it, but for the moment we’re good.

    This only affects W1 and I, D1 lives on the far side of Guildford (and her car is newer, and also compliant), D2’s car is much newer (2 years old), so compliant, and D3 does not drive (you can get away with this when you have a reasonable public transport system).

    G.

  26. EdG says:

    This only affects W1 and I, D1 lives on the far side of Guildford (and her car is newer, and also compliant), D2’s car is much newer (2 years old), so compliant, and D3 does not drive (you can get away with this when you have a reasonable public transport system).

    You left out M1 (Mistress 1) and W2.

  27. Alan says:

    >> So I bought her a Unihertz Titan phone which has a physical keyboard, and a separate stylus. 

    @Ken, which network are you on? Looked closely at the Unihertz phones last year as I’d love to have a physical keyboard again but saw  many issues noted regarding issues with carrier support, not to mention Android version support.

  28. Alan says:

    >> You can fire any of my revolvers that are DA (double action) by pulling on the trigger. But they all have at least a 10 lb trigger pull. 

    +1

    DA wheel gub for EDC.

    22 semi-auto for plinking and loaded with self-defense rounds at home for backup, 16 round mags.

  29. Lynn says:

    Transport for London, aka the Mayor of London, has ruled that the Ultra Low Emission Zone will expand to encompass everything inside the M25 (aka the London Orbital Carpark) with effect tomorrow, the 29th. This means the boundary will move 10-to-15 miles outwards at midnight, instead of being about a mile inside where I live.

    I’ve checked both our vehicles, and they’re both compliant – for the moment – so using them will not incur the £12.50 per day ULEZ charge. This is liable to change at the stroke of a bureaucrat’s pen, so I’ll need to keep an eye on it, but for the moment we’re good.

    This only affects W1 and I, D1 lives on the far side of Guildford (and her car is newer, and also compliant), D2’s car is much newer (2 years old), so compliant, and D3 does not drive (you can get away with this when you have a reasonable public transport system).

    I have driven in London.  Never again.

    So do the hundreds ? thousands ? of jets landing and taking off at Heathrow get charged for their CO2 emissions ?

    Is Gatwick inside the new hedgerow now ?

    So when will the Mayor of London start with the call to prayer loudspeakers and with canings for missing the prayers ?

    And when will the Mayor of London declare himself to be the Mayor of England ?

  30. Alan says:

    >> I suspect that many of the chain stores will move to memberships soon like Sams and Costco to keep the riffraff out of the store.  Much easier to lock up the store than the merchandise.

    They’ll need tighter controls than they (at least Costco, don’t go to Sam’s) have today. You can walk into any Costco without a  membership card if you say you’re “going to” the pharmacy. Also rarely, if ever, stopped walking in the Out lane (“Gotta refill my soda.”) Even walking in would require much more scrutiny of membership cards. Currently no doubt something printed from the internet would get you in. And once you had a cart full of merch, they’d have to be willing to quickly drop the roll-down doors, trapping the possibly armed perps inside a store full of customers. And there’s always the fire exits to consider.

  31. Geoff Powell says:

    @EdG:

    You left out M1 (Mistress 1) and W2.

    Can’t afford either one. Remember, I’m a “gentleman of leisure.”

    @alaan:

    Unihertz Titan phone which has a physical keyboard, and a separate stylus. 

    How many versions of Android before it goes out of support? Is the Android unskinned? Is it a Mediatek chipset? Otherwise, it sounds tempting, since UK carrier support is included.

    G.

  32. Greg Norton says:

    The problem with the old Service Merchandise model is that you do not get the spur of the moment purchases.  If you want the spur of the moment purchases then you must let your customers walk through the merchandise like Sams and Costco do.

    Toys and sporting goods were stocked on the floor on the way to the exit as impulse buys in stores built specifically for Service Merchandise and not converted Wilsons/Leeds/Standard Sales. This led to the secret deal between the Zimmermans and Waltons to not compete in the same towns for a certain number of years since they both used the same loss leaders to drive more profitable items such as guns at WalMart and diamonds at Service Merchandise.

    Service Merchandise was all about moving diamonds. They had a separate deal with the cartels than the big brokers in New York which gave them a huge margin on the jewelry.

  33. Geoff Powell says:

    @lynn:

    I have driven in London.  Never again.

    I don’t either, because I’m not masochistic enough to expend the effort to park. Besides, Freedom Pass, so free Tube and buses.

    So do the hundreds ? thousands ? of jets landing and taking off at Heathrow get charged for their CO2 emissions ?

    Not within jurisdiction.

    Is Gatwick inside the new hedgerow now ?

    No. Outside M25.

    So when will the Mayor of London start with the call to prayer loudspeakers and with canings for missing the prayers ?

    Again, not within jurisdiction. Although we’re not as rabid about it as you Yanks, we do have partial separation of Church and State

    And when will the Mayer of London declare himself to be the Mayer of England ?

    The Mayoralty is an elective office. There is no provision for a Mayor of England. Besides, National Government (currently Conservative) would be resistant if the Mayor of London (currently Labour) tried to extend his powers outside the M25.

    G.

  34. Greg Norton says:

    Hmmm. No word on whether you can get Barry and Moochelle figures for the car. Maybe if they make a Robin’s Nest playset.

    https://www.playmobil.us/magnum_-p.i.-ferrari-308-gts-quattrovalvole/71343.html

  35. Lynn says:

    “Authorities Arrest 79 Suspected Arsonists for Igniting Wildfires in Greece”

         https://legalinsurrection.com/2023/08/seventy-nine-suspected-arsonists-arrested-for-igniting-wildfires-in-greece/

    “Greek Minister of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection Vassilis Kikilias: “Arsonist scum are setting fires that threaten forests, property and, most of all, human lives.””

    You have got to be kidding me.  These people are absolutely barking mad.

  36. MrAtoz says:

    Ruh, Roh. COVID-19 deaths are slowing; time for COVID-23-SuperMax-InstaDeathTM. Take the new pseudo-mechano-gene-splicing vaccine, NOW!

    99% of ‘Covid deaths’ not primarily caused by the virus, CDC data shows

    Gee, I wonder if the death rate was this from the beginning?

  37. dkreck says:

    You have got to be kidding me.  These people are absolutely barking mad.

    I guess you haven’t known many. Most firemen have a little fire bug in them. I’d call 20% more serious, like to play with it,  and of course some are just that – mad. ( used to be one during summers many years ago)

  38. Ken Mitchell says:

    Alan says:

    @Ken, which network are you on?

    T-Mobile.  My primary desire for that phone was that it has two physical SIM cards, so it supports two phone numbers. The only problem with it is that a few months ago, it stopped making any sounds; won’t ring, won’t vibrate, won’t chirp.  I’ve bought a new sound/vibration chip for it, for something like $25, but I’m not brave enough to install it. 

    Also; the Unihertz Titan was from Amazon, so unlocked. It’s about 1.5 years old, so 4G networking, not 5G.

  39. Bob Sprowl says:

    RE my touch phone problem:

    My son tells me my problem is I’m dead and a zombie … when’s the burial?  

    The stylus and glove suggestions never occurred to me, thanks.  Strange how the obvious can be missed.

  40. Lynn says:

    The stylus and glove suggestions never occurred to me, thanks.  Strange how the obvious can be missed.

    Just be sure to get the stylus with the soft bulbous rubber tip according to lpdbw.

  41. Lynn says:

    lpdbw = long pointer double byte word ???

  42. SteveF says:

    Strange how the obvious can be missed.

    Story of my life, dude…

    get Barry and Moochelle figures for the car

    Barack bobbleheads should be readily available. After all, the real Barack is said to be a bobblehead, IYKWIMAITTYD.

  43. lpdbw says:

    lpdbw

    It’s a string of letters of the initials of the full name and title of a fictional peer of the realm.  I used it for online gaming back in the 90’s,  mostly Team Fortress.  It stuck as my nom d’internet from then on.

    I am so fortunate there were cheaters and hackers  on that game. I was pretty far down the path of an addiction until they ruined the experience for me.  It’s no good to be a fair soldier and engineer when someone uses wall hacks and sniper hacks and kills you before you set foot outside.

  44. EdH says:

    “ … and of course some are just that – mad. ( used to be one during summers many years ago) “

    Hmmmmmm.

    What about the world, Ronald? What would you like to do to the whole world?

  45. Greg Norton says:

    “Authorities Arrest 79 Suspected Arsonists for Igniting Wildfires in Greece”

    You have got to be kidding me.  These people are absolutely barking mad.

    I grew up near Tarpon Springs, Florida. Orthodox Easter Weekend isn’t Orthodox Easter Weekend without a news report of at least one kid being seriously injured or even killed trying to make a pipe bomb to set off during the service on Sunday monrning.

  46. Greg Norton says:

    I grew up near Tarpon Springs, Florida.

    Which reminds me – Idalia is going to be ugly from about Tarpon Springs north to Apalachicola.

    https://baynews9.com/fl/tampa/weather/tropical#Water_Temperatures-WX

  47. MrAtoz says:

    The Uber took us through a huge Hasidic Jewish community when we went out for a steak today. Wall-to-wall black-hatted men with braids just walking around. Do they do anything? The head-scarved women were carrying groceries, laundry, kids, etc. The thing that really struck me was that the neighborhood was just as filthy, trash-laden, with junkers everywhere, as the rest of Crooklyn.

    BTW, we got to the hotel at 1:00 a.m. There were two white teen punks sitting right outside the lobby smoking weed. The entry alcove was completely stunk out with a ganja smell. Do kids do anything in NYFC?

  48. crawdaddy says:

    Right now, the weather folks are suggesting that things could get spicy here in the swamps of Central FL. I noticed that one of this year’s baby gators has returned to the space under my dock where he/she* was born earlier this year. That could be an indicator that the weather folks are right, or maybe it was just homesick.

    The Publix looked a lot like South Carolina grocery stores when there was a prediction of some snow that could possibly stick. I’m glad I wasn’t there for bread and milk.

    *If someone knows how to tell the sex of a gator from a distance, do tell. 

  49. SteveF says:

    If someone knows how to tell the sex of a gator from a distance, do tell.

    It’s undetermined until they go to elementary school and the teacher tells them.

  50. Alan says:

    Can’t enjoy nice things anymore…

    https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/secluded-northern-california-waterfall-latest-100051508.html

    Because the zillion other pictures of the waterfall on the internet don’t count as they’re not your selfie!

  51. Ray Thompson says:

    If someone knows how to tell the sex of a gator from a distance, do tell

    You roll them in flour and look for the wet spot. Or is that for a date with Whoopi Goldberg?

  52. Ken Mitchell says:

    Larry Niven’s “Flash Crowd”. 

  53. nick flandrey says:

    Whew, it was hot in the storage unit.   Spent about 6 hours going thru stuff.   Have a bunch of bins ready for the auctioneer tomorrow.

    I fell a bit behind on drinking water though.   Didn’t feel great and wasn’t thinking straight by the time I got home.   I think I’m nearly caught up now.

    ———-

    Does samsung still make versions of the Note?   It had an included stylus for years.

    n

  54. Lynn says:

    The house around the corner from me just sold for $899K after being on the market for two weeks.  Tell me again that the housing market is in trouble.

        https://www.har.com/homedetail/7219-rustling-oaks-dr-richmond-tx-77469/2404408?lid=8035603

  55. drwilliams says:

    @Nick

    Whew, it was hot in the storage unit.   Spent about 6 hours going thru stuff.   Have a bunch of bins ready for the auctioneer tomorrow.

    Hope you have a battery jobsite fan or run a regular fan off an inverter in the truck.

  56. Ken Mitchell says:

    Lynn; That’s literally twice the house that mine is, so it’s obviously worth twice as much as I paid for mine.  Nice place! I’d say I was jealous, but …. I’m not.

  57. drwilliams says:

    I find myself in possession of: 1)  a small cabinet of surface-mount resistors, each drawer having small clamshell packs with 50-100 resistors, and 2) a larger cabinet (now unloaded into a box) with carbon resistors of approximately 75-80 values, 200 to the bag (with some gone, of course). 

    I have no interest in trying to sell either. I was considering looking for a local electronics or ham radio club or such to donate, or perhaps a votech. A brief search did not inspire me to look further. My other thought was to advertise on the local Freecycle for a group to donate to, but getting 100 “I’ll take ’em” emails from bottom-fishers who resell free items and have never given anything away is just flogging electrons down the path to the heat death of the universe.

    Anyone have any good ideas? Or belong to a club that would like to have them for the cost of shipping?  Or need some themselves for a hot project to take over the world?

  58. JimB says:

    Does samsung still make versions of the Note?   It had an included stylus for years.

    Almost. The Note 20 (for the year 2020) was the last of the series. I have the Note 20 Ultra 5G, and so does my wife. The next year’s model of the S series (S21?) can have an optional stylus, and takes over many of the Note’s features. Most people use the stylus for writing, but I think the files created are proprietary, and am not sure they can be used outside of the phone. I would rather type or dictate. I did try creating drawings with the stylus on my original Note, but the drawing features were very limited. Certainly not CAD or even illustration. I have done some of that using a graphics tablet connected to a computer years ago, and it was much better. That said, my need for this is very low.

    My wife has trouble with capacitive touch screens, and used to use the stylus supplied with her Note, but only as a pointing stick. She has never used any of its features, which for the later models are considerable. I never use my stylus. We had the original Note, followed by the Note 3, and now the Note 20. I have loved all of them, but don’t use the drawing capability or other features of the stylus. When she wore out her stylus on her Note 3, I swapped mine with her phone. I also bought some styli from Dollar Tree. I just learned here that there are three kinds of styli, two of which are for mainstream devices. I have bought her the hard tipped ones and the soft rubbery ones, and she seems to use them interchangeably. I think using a stylus to tap or touch and hold on a touch screen is a bad idea, because most of these devices are multitouch, and a stylus can’t do that. My wife has a lot of trouble zooming photos, for instance.

    I think my wife’s problems are several. She has long fingernails that interfere with using a touch screen, although she has no trouble typing. Her first touch screen was a pressure sensitive one, and she used it successfully. When we transitioned to touch screens, she tried to use the same technique on the capacitive touch screen, with predictable results. She presses too hard, but won’t take my advice to try a lighter touch. She also mashes keys on remote controls, but not as badly as Ray’s MIL. I am not sure that she really has fingers that are not compatible with capacitive touch screens, or that she just doesn’t learn the proper technique. She is firmly stuck with the stylus.

    I shouldn’t be so hard on my wife’s failure to learn to operate a touch screen. I have trouble with all kinds of pointing devices, and much prefer key commands. She doesn’t, and that is a mystery to me. She is a much better touch typist than I am, so I would think she would not want to reach for a mouse or other pointing device, but she does. She also doesn’t mind rowing through multiple menu picks to do simple things like format text. When we had DirecTV, she used the remote control to activate and navigate menus, in spite of the much better dedicated keys that could do almost anything in a single press.

    End rant. I guess we all do things a little differently.

    I really wish people would approach operating a computer or many other things like learning a musical instrument, or maybe riding a bicycle: learn the technique, then practice until it becomes second nature. Build skill. I have not observed musicians operate a computer, but it might be worth doing. I remember hearing Steve Allen tell the story that he learned to play the piano because he was good at typing. I found that surprising, because typing is easy for me, but I never learned to play the piano despite trying.

  59. JimB says:

    @drwilliams, I feel your pain. I have tried to give away camera equipment locally. Tried the local community college. Asked the photclub. No luck. I wanted it to go to a good home.

    I am a ham, but inactive for a long time. I have some equipment, and would like to donate it to someone who might use it. I approached the ham club, and did get some interest. I need to follow up on that. My experience is that hams are usually receptive and will go out of their way to help others. Find a local club and seek advice.

  60. nick flandrey says:

    There is the element of ‘abstraction’ for want of a better word, when using any GUI.   Watching my mom try to learn to do things in   lotus 123 was PAINFUL.   She just wanted to memorized the key commands without learning the structure or organization so that she could find them visually.   I’d try to walk her thru the ‘tree’ to get to the commands but she’d just write a note on a random slip of paper with a key combo.   You can guess how successful (not) she was without any real understanding of how she needed to do anything.

    Oddly, she can now use her apple devices without issues and loves her little car (which has all sorts of automation and links with the phone.)   

    I guess the apple paradigm works for her.  Windows never did.

    Of course I had to spend the time and effort to make win10 look like win7 so dad could go with what he’d learned and knew when it was time to upgrade.

    One of the many reasons I hated win10 and that insanely bad idea- the ribbon – in Office.   GUIs should be ‘discoverable’.   HIDING infrequently used features is the opposite of what people want, when it’s time to USE one of those features, it’s gone… and you can go nuts looking for the thing you vaguely remember, that isn’t there.   The visual design of win10 made it very hard to see ‘edges’ or to know when one window stopped and another started.   Especially when a theme with the same colors as the back ground was used.  It’s not always clear what is clickable and what is not.    

    Even here, I wonder if there are readers who never see comments because it isn’t clear that you need to click on the daily post headline to go to another page, that looks just like the one you left (if my post is long enough that it fills your screen) and then scroll down for comments.   Divemedic’s got the same issue at his place.   He’s also got the added issue that his ‘# of people that read this’ counter only counts people that click thru to the second page, with the comments.   

    No GUI is going to be good for everyone, and we’ve been stuck with the windows style guide for far too long.   Yes, it’s good to know where the file operations are, and how to exit a program, but GUI development froze on PCs decades ago.   The flat desktop metaphor is a poor choice for people outside of work, and silly when we have game engines that can create stunning 3D graphics on the fly.  

    n

  61. Lynn says:

    Lynn; That’s literally twice the house that mine is, so it’s obviously worth twice as much as I paid for mine.  Nice place! I’d say I was jealous, but …. I’m not.

    I like the mother-in-law house by the pool, that is nice.

  62. JimB says:

    Nick, I should not start this, but your comments on Gui development hit me. I am not a developer or programmer, but a user. That said, I have used a lot of systems for a variety of things. Those things are mostly business and engineering. I am almost entirely self-taught, but have used a lot of books, and now web sites to learn. I have also worked with some really good people and learned from them.

    While I agree that the desktop is a shopworn metaphor, I have tried some alternatives and found them frustrating. I also have tried a lot of desktop metaphors on Linux. I started with a tombstone Mac, but found it stultifying. Forced by my employer, I tried a Mac three times over some years, but after the first time I tried DOS and then Windows, and found them to be comfortable.

    I will say that the OS and GUI are not very important to me. The applications are. Some apps violate the OS’s GUI “suggestions” with varying results. I believe there should be freedom, and let the market decide. Except… Some things that are not popular might be good, and deserve to live on. Problem with that is that they cannot without income from sales. Linux apps are a good example: free just doesn’t work all the time.

    I am out of energy and thoughts for now.

  63. Alan says:

    >> No GUI is going to be good for everyone, and we’ve been stuck with the windows style guide for far too long.   Yes, it’s good to know where the file operations are, and how to exit a program, but GUI development froze on PCs decades ago.   The flat desktop metaphor is a poor choice for people outside of work, and silly when we have game engines that can create stunning 3D graphics on the fly.  

    The C-Suite suits probably see no value in building/supporting 3D internet apps for the masses, at least ATM. They’re fighting every nickel and dime they pay M$oft to support whatever deprecated Windows functions they still need.

    And most of the noise right now is their business leads clamoring for ‘something’ worthwhile using ChatGPT. Just what I hear for those still employed at my ‘old salt mine.”

  64. Alan says:

    >> Nick, I should not start this, but your comments on Gui development hit me.

    For the most part I agree with @JimB. For me, the PC is just a tool – give me capable tools for mail, spreadsheet, word processor, slides and I’m happy. And right now, after 40+ years of use, for better or worse, Microsoft does it well. Their challenge, of course, is to figure out how to add more value so they can get money for the next version. 

    I hated the ribbon at first, but got used to it, and using the earlier paradigm now seems archaic. As for Apple, I never really was comfortable with the ‘you gotta do it Steve’s way’ thinking and I’ll pass on their products – both PC and iPhone.

  65. Alan says:

    >> You left out M1 (Mistress 1) and W2.

    Bob on occasion would refer to Barbara as W1. It was not appreciated.

    This place was his M1.

  66. JimB says:

    Just recorded our high and low temperatures. The weather guessers were wrong when they forecast sub 100 highs for the rest of August after our storm. Today it got to 102. It is supposed to go up a couple more degrees before settling back into the nineties again. Our high after the storm, August 20, was only 75, and it has been going up since. The surprise was that the ground moisture disappeared very fast, especially since we got nearly 6” of rain.

    Today’s minimum relative humidity was about 20%, still twice our normal, but is slowly dropping. The wet bulb temperatures have been as high as 70F instead of the usual 60 or so. Stated another way, our dew point is usually below freezing. Not lately.

    Our evaporative cooling has performed very well. The indoor temps have stayed below 78F with 55% RH. Most days have been our normal of about 74F and 50% RH.

  67. Nick Flandrey says:

    Android on phones is very different metaphor than windows on a PC, and ever increasing percentages of people are using their phones instead of PCs.   One example is files.  Most users will never have to think of a ‘file’ on their phone, or use the file manager.   I’ve gone years without doing it, but recently needed to figure out where to put audiobooks on the phone.  Put them in the wrong place too, since I have to start it from the file manager, and not the audiobook player.

    I’m guessing that most people who want an audiobook will buy one online, from their phone, and it will automatically be put in the right place, and when they want to listen to it, they’ll start an app, which will find and play the audiobook.   It’s all very task based.

    Something like itunes is practically an OS for  consuming media.   If you wanted to use a phone like we used to use dedicated music players, you’d just start itunes and stay in it all the time.

    The camera app is similar as it turns your whole phone into a camera.

    Heck, even the phone function is an app that takes over the device for a while when you take or make a call. 

    It’s very different from using a PC, and people have little trouble with how that interaction is conceptualized.

    I’m headed to bed, so it’s a bit awkward to start a conversation and then leave, but if I don’t, I’ll be wiped out tomorrow.

    nick

  68. Alan says:

    >> Hope you have a battery jobsite fan or run a regular fan off an inverter in the truck.

    Or this…

    https://www.homedepot.com/p/PORTACOOL-Cyclone-140-3900-CFM-Single-Speed-Portable-Evaporative-Cooler-for-900-sq-ft-PACCY140GA1/308338870

  69. Lynn says:

    I hated the ribbon at first, but got used to it, and using the earlier paradigm now seems archaic. As for Apple, I never really was comfortable with the ‘you gotta do it Steve’s way’ thinking and I’ll pass on their products – both PC and iPhone.

    I still love the old “File Edit View A B C D E Help” standard of the Windows desktop for apps.  Microsoft standardized that and every user only had to learn it once.  The A, B, C, D, and E menu items are always particular to the app and can be just about anything.  

    As a software developer for 48 years now (I am getting old !), I really appreciate having some mainstays that can help our users use our apps.  Educating users is expensive and difficult.

  70. Norman says:

    Not all is going well with the crazed london mayor 

     “…….Meanwhile six out of seven counties neighbouring London have refused to put up Ulez warning signs, despite Sadiq Khan’s controversial scheme expanding to cover all of London from today…..”

    and lpdbw – do you still occasionally read and Dorothy L. Sayers stories? I quite often read them on long journeys as I find them very calming and she writes so well.

  71. Alan says:

    >> My other thought was to advertise on the local Freecycle for a group to donate to, but getting 100 “I’ll take ’em” emails from bottom-fishers who resell free items and have never given anything away is just flogging electrons down the path to the heat death of the universe.

    Things of little value to me, but of ‘some’ value to someone go to the curb with a “Free” sign with some indication of what’s of value, e.g. “Shower stool – Aluminum frame” or “Half inch plywood – 6 ft x 1 ft.” Usually gone in one to two days.

    Things of some value, but not good eBay items, get listed on NextDoor, with a note that any non-profit org has first dibs, and if one shows up they get the item for free.

    Anything else goes on eBay.

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