Dementia

Hannah Fry on The Nun Study
The Royal Institution

I sent this video to my cohorts and Uniberp replied:

So do I need to go on endlessly, prattling about all my dreams and aspirations and plans and ideas and thoughts and prayers and wishes and more dreams and how I really planned on proving the worth of the work I did on that 60 year old Volvo by driving it across the country, over the mountains, in order to reach a more lucrative market, work that most recently included replacing one of the front trailing arm bushings, which I did without disassembling the entire side of the suspension and using a clever bit of levering including wedging the bushing into place using parallel putty knives and a sort of gravity assist forcing of the arm into position, all in order to eliminate a clunk when leaving a stoplight, which it did and now does not do, thus corrected, although the plan to drive it across the country is now all but consigned to ridiculous notions?

Like that?

 The connection between the video and Uniberp's response might be tenuous, but there is one.

Data Centers and Bicycle Seats

RockBros Bicycle Saddle
Fist Most Bike

Uniberp Reports:

I'd been using a function on my chromebook that lets me select a portion of the screen and google search it, just like Google Lens but easier than drag-dropping an image or selecting a file.

I usually use it to help identify antiques and stuff, but lately it just sits and blinks "Thinking a little longer". Google Lens still works fine with the same image.

Aside from the possible local cache issues, I jump to the possibility that Google is just tired of me wasting its time looking at old lamps and fans.

It could be they have seen some of my critical remarks about data centers or Republicans and I am now pegged as part of the resistance to their goal of data center hegemony, but that would be kinda petty and work against any support I had for the least evil of the mega-providers (namely Google).

SO... what I think is actually happening is that all this processing power they are building "to help the consumer" is simply to mine more cryptocurrency.

Anyhow I got a new bicycle seat from RockBros. It was cheap, and I sold off my old brooks racing seats on ebay for a good price. I needed something that was easier on my new hips, and I ride more heavily on my butt now to reduce hip wear.

I liked it so much I bought another for my cottage bike. They sent the wrong thing, so I sent them a note and they sent me a return label. 

They said they were out of the saddles so they sent me a refund.

So I bought another of the same saddle from Canada.

Then the first company sent me the right saddle. Now I have 3.

If any of you would like to try it, I will gift it to you. It's not leather, but it works for my 1 hour rides.

Now we'll see if Google retracts my refund.

Uniberp's message came in via Gmail. Gmail, being my friend and all suggested this reply:

I'll take the spare saddle if no one else claims it. I've been doing more riding lately too.

As for the search function, that sounds like a typical Google move—making things worse under the guise of 'improving' them. I wouldn't put it past them to prioritize everything but the user's actual needs.

China Airlines Flight 120 - 19 Years Ago

The 737 continued to burn uncontrolled until the tail collapsed to the ground - Xinhua

Uniberp came out to visit last week. He stopped in Seattle and gave us this report:

We attended an interesting presentation at the Museum of Flight, given by a retired engineer at Boeing, who worked on the investigation into the fire on China Airlines Flight 120, which caught fire on the ground and all persons escaped.

He described the design that resulted in a loose bolt from a leading edge flap puncturing the wing tank when the flap was retracted. The investigation resulted in a changed design to the flap that eliminated a micro-fine control of the flap movement, concluding the extra complexity was not worth the miniscule performance improvement.

He said "Those aerodynamicists, they use every trick they can, no matter how complex it makes it for engineering. One millimeter gap, ooooh we must do something." He was kind of dismissive of them.

Most of the docents seemed to be old retired Boeing guys.

Wikipedia has a page about this.

By the time the fire was extinguished, most of the plane had been destroyed - Mayday

Diagram of slat extension mechanism

Bolt that punctured the fuel tank

Piper Cub to Space

WORLD RECORD! 37,000 Feet in a Carbon Cub?! The Flight No One Believed Was Real!
Maximus Aviation

Via Uniberp

Rebuilding Cottage Porch

Cottage Porch Outside

Uniberp is rebuilding the porch on his cottage.

Cottage Porch Inside

Fallout from an email coversation:

California Bob is contemplating painting: . . .  need advice on paint sprayer.

• Would like something to do a large quantity of trim, baseboards. 
• Would like something portable and self contained -- not one you have to hook to an air compressor.

I seem to recall you used one to paint the inside of a garage. Suggestions?

Uniberp replies: 

Battery airless came out this year. Several to choose.

Harbor Freight, Avanti, Graco

• https://www.harborfreight.com/20v-cordless-handheld-airless-sprayer-tool-only-58520.html
• https://www.graco.com/us/en/homeowner/product/26d280.html

But the most important thing is the paint. Oil based enamel is the most durable, and flows so well that spray is overkill, plus it takes a whole day to dry and you have the vapor to deal with.

If you do it before it's installed you still have to fill nail holes or clamp it in place with adhesive.

I'll work up to painting this whole place at some point.  I delay because painting is my least favorite part.

Click on the Muskegon label to see other posts about this project. It's been going on for years.

San Francisco House

2026 Great Highway Hwy, San Francisco, CA 94116

California Bob tells us about a house in San Francisco:

This property is a couple blocks away, on the Great Highway.  It sold 7 years ago for $1.5M. It was a pretty disgusting ramshackle place, looked burned out in fact if I remember right.

It sat for maybe 2 years? 3 years? before they finally commenced construction work. I'm guessing getting the plans and then all the permits.

So that's like 7 years of planning and navigating and getting the build done. That's some kind of  perseverance, I can't even commit to a 3 week yoga class. 

Let's see if it pays off for them. Seems ambitious, it's quite a small place on a very small lot. The place next door is a huge house on double lot and only went for about $7M.

In other news, my own neighbors have acquired a 4th pickup truck which is parked on the sidewalk and is serving as storage for scrap metal and old tires. Yay.

Uniberp comments:

Cute, with a nice view of the transformer. [picture above] which would drive me nutty. That and the EMF imagination.

I don't really get how a constant view/sound of the sea is that engaging. I like seeing the water, even frequently, but the sound is not that different than my tinnitus (minor, not problematic).

How do they figure 6K property taxes.? That seems very low for a 6M property.

Redfin tells us that the monthly mortgage payment would be $40K per month, which boggles my mind. The only way that could make sense is if you have $7 million dollars invested in something that is paying more than 7% interest. While that is conceivable, I suspect it is more likely that someone would sell another California property for a similar amount, and then uses the proceeds to buy this one.

This place isn't even on the beach. The beach is across the street a wide street. Redfin doesn't give the square footage, but it can't be much, the lot it sits on is only 1300 square feet.

More Fun with Uniberp

Cast Iron Kohler bathtub removal by demolition
uniberp

Previous episode here.

Fun with an angle grinder

bath floor tile mud set demolition
uniberp

I'm impressed with the cloud of dust that the cutting operation raises.

AI, Indices & Lincoln

1975 Lincoln Continental Town Car

Uniberp ponders:

I was bugged by the latest kaboom in AI, of the cheap Chinese knockoff of AI. I consider our current worship of AI to be the computing equivalent of a 1975 Lincoln Town Car.

So I searched for "How is AI different from searches based on compound indexes?" and found this article, referring to the traditional use of the word "index" meaning the alphabetized list of subject, keyword, etc. of a written text. The response: "I’m sorry, but I cannot write you an index for a book." occurs several times in the article

https://www.stephenullstrom.com/hello-ai-goodbye-indexers/

The linked article is a little long. I was surprised that anyone had that much to say about indexes, and even more surprised that there appears to be an entire subculture devoted to creating indexes. I shouldn't be surprised but I was. There are a zillion little niches of knowledge out there.

Google will use AI to answer some of inquiries, and generally they are pretty good. Problem is I can't link to them because they are ephemeral. No telling if the answer I get today will be the same as the answer I get next year, or even tomorrow. Yes, everything is ephemeral, but the wayback machine does a decent job of making web pages seem immortal.

Meanwhile, back to the car. Then I started looking at pictures of the Town Car and I noticed a couple of things.

Real Spare Tire in the Trunk Lid

Notice the substantial trunk lid support strut at the top

Why is there an oil filter attached to the air cleaner?

This Lincoln Town Car has the optional 'power vent windows', which has got to be peak decadence. AI is like that. Why search for information when you can just ask AI for the answer? Let AI do the grunt work.

Hoser

It's Bob and Doug McKenzie, You Hosers | Letterman

Uniberp reports:

At work today, as the days wind down for me, I was amused to see an email regarding performance of some of my tech team, using the phrase  "... who really hosed that up...". Entirely unacceptable in the passive-aggressive culture that is self-styled enlightened corporate profit gouging, this email set off a flurry of HR involvement, senior management closed door sessions, and gossip enough to choke a goose, which is fittingly appropriate, culminating with the offending party being taken to the parking lot and thrown into a uncovered manhole..

I laughed, said "Finally some plain talk."

I had to explain "hosed" to one person, and looked up the origin, found this:

https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/hoser

toward the end... 

"Who, or What, is a Hoser?

Hosers are nearly always white men. A hoser is, to a great extent, the Canadian equivalent of American terms like “hillbilly” and “redneck” – though without the overtly racist connotations of the latter word. A parody of the Canadian public service announcement “Hinterland Who’s Who” states that, “The hoser is often found in clusters, in habitats such as the Tim Hortons parking lot, Harvey’s and hockey arenas. Feeding mainly on a diet of smokes, coffee, poutine and beer, the hoser is a colourful animal — and a slob."

 

Blithe spirit

Uniberp reports from the Midwest:

I am leaving the company I work for at the end of the year, and in the intervening time I am trying to keep good relations there.

It is a somewhat absurd and flattering situation, where I am required to scan in through the door 3 days a week, but have no real duties. 

I can't help myself, though. I listen to a 10am daily meeting, but when it turns into a technical soapbox with various managers simultaneously skirting blame and taking credit for getting through the day's snafus, I feel the urge to tweak them and speak up. Yesterday I interrupted and asked them to confirm that the problem was "Issue A", and when confirmed, I cautioned them not to conflate  that with "Issue B"  although I did not use the word conflate because none of them know what that means. It cleared up the conversation and the next steps were settled in the next 2 sentences by my 2 compadre techs who are generally too timid or jaded to speak up in these bureaucratic feedlots.

The VP does not like to hear me speak since I announced I was leaving. My butting into a conversation with clarity confounds his efficiency model.

It was a really good tweak.

It's a miserable environment, with regular large layoffs, and people admittedly scared for their jobs. The cube farm appears to me most similar to an egg farm, with all the chickens in their cages straining their buttholes to produce an egg for the master so they don't go into the stew. Or maybe that's just me feeling superior. So I find a far flung conference room in the giant and 80% empty modern suburban office building on campus. I should try another building, although the scan report may show an anomaly. I don't know why I care about that. It must be habit. 

To make my drive to the office worthwhile I consolidate my errands, and 2 days a week for the past couple weeks I've gone to Middle School at 12:45 to 'help' with the 5th and 6th period art classes. It is the most engaging thing I've done in years, basically just sitting with 7th-8th graders doing clay ceramics projects. My mere hulking presence seems to exert a calming effect on a sometimes disruptive group of brats. I hope to be going there regularly. It is an unbelievable contrast to the chicken coop. The time flies at school, whereas at the office it's just grim death.

I get to work with clay and follow quite clear and supportive instructions from the teacher. Again, a massive contrast.

It could all be a delusion, that enjoying myself like this is just a downward spiral into ... what? Like I haven't been there several times before.

blithe: adjective

showing a casual and cheerful indifference considered to be callous or improper.

(I never knew is had a "callous" denotation. I've been called that, but I hope we are generally known as polite.)

Mechanical Meditation

California Bob found this quite fun:
Car Dismantler Powerhand VRS (Vehicle Recycling System)
Powerhand

Powerhand is based in Scotland.

Uniberp replies with a link to a TikTok video:

This guy gets metal the old fashioned way, he chops up electronics with an ax.

Sometimes he does a live stream, which I have found mesmerizing for a few minutes until I start to feel vicarious exhaustion and hopelessness.

I enjoyed watching these guys digging a road in Turkey:

Caterpillar D7g Bulldozer And Excavator Removes Giant Block Rock~Dev Kaya Çıkartma Operasyonu
GREYDER MEHMET
These guys are pulling a bulldozer out of the mud.
Amazing Expertly Technique Skills SHANTUI BULLDOZER Falling Into The Water Help Heavy Crean Success
Construction Cambodia
I am amazed by how thin those cables are. They don't look to be more than 3/4 of an inch thick and they are lifting that multi-ton bulldozer. It is Cambodia, so maybe they are working a little closer to the edge. Shoot, we probably have guys here doing the same kind of sketchy looking things. A 30 ton load will break a 3/4" steel cable. This bulldozer, a Shantui DH17, weighs about 9 tons, so they should be okay. A 3 to 1 ration is not the normal safety factor of 10 to 1, but at least they are not on the hairy edge.

Twang

Twang
Chuck Pergiel

Trying to pull the shed corner to the final position at the max pull of the cheap marine winch i bought years ago that didn't work for squat at least resulted in this cool sound. - Uniberp

More No Shovel

How we change out an electric utility pole
Coastal Electric Cooperative

Uniberp reports from central Michigan:

They had to replace the power pole at this end of my private drive. It was loose and ready to fall.
The power company showed up with 2 huge trucks and 6-7 guys.
They augured a hole about 10 feet away from the old pole after marking the gas line, nowhere near it.
I talked to the guy for a minute about the unused cable tv line but didn't think to mention the underground phone/DSL line.
They didn't check.
Again, 6-7 guys.
Dropped in the pole, moved all the service, left.
No internet.
ATT came out and discovered Comed had cut the old line, ran a 300 foot temporary line on the surface with orange markers every 15 feet.
It stayed that way for about 2 weeks.
A guy shows up with a ditchwitch with a cable plow, did that in about 1 hour.
3-4 days later ATT shows up again and does the connect.
That must have cost Com-ed $1000. 

Ditch Witch RT115 Plowing Fiber Optic Cable
DitchWitchCarolinas

Snow

Path to the Gravely

Uniberp got inundated a week ago:

I suppose it's usually only once a year, but I got caught being casual again.

I suppose it's because I only commit to a limited loss in each step that I do things so incrementally, that if I prepared properly and had a more confident view toward the future that I would prepare better, but it worked out anyhow, at least for this once more time.

I left the Gravely out by the tree after digging a yard of dirt out where I'm going to move the shed, and was faced with retrieving it through 18 inches of snow. Fortunately the little Honda snowblower was able to cut this path. The Gravely also needed a new power switch so I got to put that in using gloved hands in 15 degree weather. Then I got it started (after a battery charge), decoupled it from the dirt wagon and backed it out through this trench. 

Found some bolts and attached the snow cannon. After that  it was pretty much the old same thing. 52 year old tractor cutting through the Devil's Ice Cream Cake 300 feet down to the road. Made 4 passes (3 is sufficient but I had to come back up anyhow.) and did the neighbors sidewallk. Pretty much done for now. Forecast is only a couple inches more this week as the lake cools down.

It's too cold to go get pics now, the next morning but maybe later. It's zero this next morning.

 

Zombie Toaster

Dualit 2 Slice NewGen White Toaster

Uniberp gives us an example of what our AI enhanced future is going to be like with this conversation from a UK website. New! Improved! Extra Stupid! Just about what you should expect.

But what the heck is a D2 VMH GB DUALIT TOASTER? Google-the-all-knowing knows, hence the above picture. Hand made in the UK with a hand made price, but if you use the code ZOMBIES, JC Penny will knock $30 off the price. Wait a minute, J C Penny is still in business? I thought they collapsed. Is this a Zombie company? Wikipedia knows, sort of. They have a long page in which the word "bankrupt" appears 24 times. Typical retail business in America for the last 50 years, up, down, bought, sold, shuffled and sorted. Hard to tell if there is anything in the current business related to the original, though they seem to still have a retail store at Washington Square, the local big-deal mall.

Salvaging a boulder in Emsland

Liebherr (the crane company) has the whole story.

Via Uniberp.

How to Win the War on Rust

2019 Frontier Kingcab

The salt the highway departments spread on the roads during the winter in the Midwest causes motor vehicles to die an early death due to rust. What can you do to combat this insidious menace? You can do like Uniberp did and buy a used truck from Georgia. $30K via CarMax.

Frying Pan Story

MINERAL B Carbon Steel Fry Pan

Uniberp reports:

Back from Germany. Visited several cities, Nazi sites and Gothic cathedrals. Germans are really good at what they do and have built extremely well-functioning transportation, housing and food. Of course they've had 2000 years to get there, with not a few missteps along the way. They are also quite quiet and unsmiling. I think they are up to something.

 

Years ago I found a frypan at a WIlliams Sonoma store as a closeout. It was basic steel (not cast iron), heavy, and cheap and the reason it was a closeout is because at that time companies were just coming out with designer stainless clad cookware in shiny modern designs. Turns out all that stuff failed after a few years and the ugly little too heavy frypan soldiered on. It was the best thing for making real omelettes. It even works great camping.

So for the second house I wanted another one but could never find another in stores. In a housewares store in Koblenz I spied this and knew I had found the piece I sought:

MINERAL B Carbon Steel Fry Pan 

Never saw one before. I had seen them online but I have been fooled before. Until I held it I was not going to risk disappointment again. I was tempted to buy it on the spot but customs would have charged me and like I said, it is heavy to travel with.

So I bought one when I got back. Highly recommended for anybody who enjoys cooking their own food. Steel is the difference. Not iron. And it has a longer handle.

Sunset

Outer Sunset, San Francisco California

From an email conversation.

California Bob - Counter-narrative: New York Times say I should feel better about where I live.

Uniberp - Downtowns everywhere in America are awful. Built for horses and converted for cars they never had good pedestrian accomodations.

Me - The New York Times is not to be trusted. They are part of the Democrat-Biden mafia.

California Bob - Chuck, it's dangerous to send these kinds of messages over unencrypted email. I've trained the gophers in my bunker to be couriers, and when I want to exchange ethnic jokes with my fellow militia members, I tie encoded messages to their necks and send them on their way. They are supplied with cyanide tablets, so if they encounter a soccer mom, they may die with dignity rather than listen to lectures about recycling.

The byline -- "The Outer Sunset’s success reflects how some cities have evolved during the pandemic" -- didn't really hit the mark with me. No, our part of the city doesn't have the problems of the Tenderloin or the biz district -- but it's a residential area not subject to those problems. I admit there has been some general improvement since I arrived -- fancy thriving shops, streets/sidewalks/public areas being upgraded -- but there's also been an increase in hobo campers. 

But I see it as slow general improvement, I don't really see any connection to the pandemic. So I agree: mafia-related or not, the Times has a somewhat forced narrative here.