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Now I know how a pin cushion feels.
Posted 4 years agoI now have both Covid shots and the booster. Add to that my yearly flu shot.
Been poked so full of holes it's a wonder I don't leak.
Been poked so full of holes it's a wonder I don't leak.
QUAKE RESEARCH
Posted 6 years agoI have been looking back at quakes I have been through.
The July 4th 2019 quake was about a 6.4 and a later aftershock was a 7.1.
The Feb. 9th 1971 Sylmar quake was 6.6; the same for the 1994 Northridge quake. Both of those quakes caused far more damage than the July 4th one even though it was stronger.
The July 4th 2019 quake was about a 6.4 and a later aftershock was a 7.1.
The Feb. 9th 1971 Sylmar quake was 6.6; the same for the 1994 Northridge quake. Both of those quakes caused far more damage than the July 4th one even though it was stronger.
Hate home repairs.
Posted 6 years agoFor those who don't know, I live in Ridgecrest, CA.
On July 4 we had an earthquake and a large number of aftershocks; including one this morning.
I have been searching for a water leak in our master bathroom.
I finally found it, in the wall behind the vanity cabinet. There was a pinhole split in the pipe.
On July 4 we had an earthquake and a large number of aftershocks; including one this morning.
I have been searching for a water leak in our master bathroom.
I finally found it, in the wall behind the vanity cabinet. There was a pinhole split in the pipe.
Everything old is new again.
Posted 7 years agoWas just at Walmart and found they are selling newly remastered albums.
Actual vinyl records.
https://www.walmart.com/search/?que.....eahead=records
I thought records were extinct along with CD and cassettes.
Actual vinyl records.
https://www.walmart.com/search/?que.....eahead=records
I thought records were extinct along with CD and cassettes.
Verizon greed and bad customer service endangers public.
Posted 7 years agoAnniversary
Posted 8 years agoToday is my wedding anniversary.
Chris and I were married 38 years ago on July 31, 1979.
Chris and I were married 38 years ago on July 31, 1979.
Beware new "can you hear me" scam
Posted 9 years ago2016 drags its feet to the last.
Posted 9 years agoAs 2016 draws to a close and excitement ramps up for the new year, many people are looking forward to the final countdown of 2016 into 2017. But this year, that countdown could be a little off, due to a pause known as a leap second.
Usually, a day has 86,400 seconds. December 31, 2016, however, will have 86,401.
The extra second, which will be added to the very end of this year, will help account for inconsistencies between super-accurate human atomic timekeeping and Earth's natural, if less consistent, rotation speed. While atomic clocks define a second very rigidly and precisely, seconds based on Earth's rotation are slightly off and variable due to tidal friction as the moon's gravity tugs on the Earth's oceans. As a result, keeping the two timekeeping systems within 0.9 seconds of each other requires an extra second now and again to keep them fully in sync.
In 1972, the concept of a leap second was first introduced in order to account for the difference between the theoretical length of a day on an atomic clock (86,400 seconds) and the actual length of time it takes for the Earth to complete one full rotation (about 86,400.002 seconds). The Earth's rotation is gradually slowing. Scientists found that the discrepancy between the two lengths of time had caused atomic time and rotational time to be off by a full ten seconds by 1972. In order to compensate with the gap, ten seconds were added to the clock that year to sync up atomic clock time (UTC) and rotational solar time (known as Universal Time 1, or UT1).
Since 1972, the discrepancy of about a second crops up between between 500 and 750 days, and leap seconds are ordered as necessary in order to compensate. Since atomic timekeeping began, 26 leap seconds have been added.
Atomic time is based on the regular, precise vibration of cesium atoms, which oscillate at precisely 9,192,631,770 times per second. Currently, the world's most exact atomic clock in Boulder, Colo., is expected to lose only one second every 100 million years, far more accurate than UT1 time. But it has only been fairly recently in human history that we could measure time with such accuracy.
Usually, a day has 86,400 seconds. December 31, 2016, however, will have 86,401.
The extra second, which will be added to the very end of this year, will help account for inconsistencies between super-accurate human atomic timekeeping and Earth's natural, if less consistent, rotation speed. While atomic clocks define a second very rigidly and precisely, seconds based on Earth's rotation are slightly off and variable due to tidal friction as the moon's gravity tugs on the Earth's oceans. As a result, keeping the two timekeeping systems within 0.9 seconds of each other requires an extra second now and again to keep them fully in sync.
In 1972, the concept of a leap second was first introduced in order to account for the difference between the theoretical length of a day on an atomic clock (86,400 seconds) and the actual length of time it takes for the Earth to complete one full rotation (about 86,400.002 seconds). The Earth's rotation is gradually slowing. Scientists found that the discrepancy between the two lengths of time had caused atomic time and rotational time to be off by a full ten seconds by 1972. In order to compensate with the gap, ten seconds were added to the clock that year to sync up atomic clock time (UTC) and rotational solar time (known as Universal Time 1, or UT1).
Since 1972, the discrepancy of about a second crops up between between 500 and 750 days, and leap seconds are ordered as necessary in order to compensate. Since atomic timekeeping began, 26 leap seconds have been added.
Atomic time is based on the regular, precise vibration of cesium atoms, which oscillate at precisely 9,192,631,770 times per second. Currently, the world's most exact atomic clock in Boulder, Colo., is expected to lose only one second every 100 million years, far more accurate than UT1 time. But it has only been fairly recently in human history that we could measure time with such accuracy.
RIP Mary Frances "Debbie" Reynolds
Posted 9 years agoDebbie Reynolds, the mother of Carrie Fisher died yesterday.
She died one day after her daughter.
Born: April 1, 1932, El Paso, TX
Died: December 28, 2016, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA
Height: 5′ 2″
Spouse: Richard Hamlett (m. 1984–1996), Harry Karl (m. 1960–1973), Eddie Fisher (m. 1955–1959)
Children: Carrie Fisher, Todd Fisher
She died one day after her daughter.
Born: April 1, 1932, El Paso, TX
Died: December 28, 2016, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA
Height: 5′ 2″
Spouse: Richard Hamlett (m. 1984–1996), Harry Karl (m. 1960–1973), Eddie Fisher (m. 1955–1959)
Children: Carrie Fisher, Todd Fisher
The Headline says it all;
Posted 9 years agoScientists like Barack Obama so much that they named a parasite after him
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news.....ite-after-him/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news.....ite-after-him/
Microsoft does it again.
Posted 9 years agoThe Anniversary Update to Windows 10.
http://gizmodo.com/windows-update-b.....-ar-1785521958
It’s even breaking Skype, software owned by Microsoft.
They have been doing this for years. They put out crap, wait for the geeks to find a fix and post it; then take it and put it in the next update.
I mean why pay a quality programmer to do it right the first time when they can get it free?
I note some comic sites have lost their scanners and now have to wait for a fix or buy a new one that probably gives a kick back to M$.
http://gizmodo.com/windows-update-b.....-ar-1785521958
It’s even breaking Skype, software owned by Microsoft.
They have been doing this for years. They put out crap, wait for the geeks to find a fix and post it; then take it and put it in the next update.
I mean why pay a quality programmer to do it right the first time when they can get it free?
I note some comic sites have lost their scanners and now have to wait for a fix or buy a new one that probably gives a kick back to M$.
Umm...
Posted 9 years agoForced out.
Posted 9 years agoI may not be online much longer from the look of things.
Microsoft now has their Office as a subscription service. You MUST be connected to the web 24/7. It will also come this a monthly fee to continue to use.
Windows 10 is being pushed HARD. The reports I have been seeing lately are listing a monthly fee for it as well. No pay - no working OS.
It's not hard to note that people do not have much money these days and Microsoft is demanding more of what they don't have to start with.
Microsoft now has their Office as a subscription service. You MUST be connected to the web 24/7. It will also come this a monthly fee to continue to use.
Windows 10 is being pushed HARD. The reports I have been seeing lately are listing a monthly fee for it as well. No pay - no working OS.
It's not hard to note that people do not have much money these days and Microsoft is demanding more of what they don't have to start with.
Executive Order 9066.
Posted 10 years agoAnyone remember what that was?
The internment of Japanese Americans in the United States was the forced relocation and incarceration during World War II of between 110,000 and 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry who lived on the Pacific coast in camps in the interior of the country. Sixty-two percent of the internees were United States citizens. President Roosevelt ordered the Incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II, shortly after Imperial Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor.
Such incarceration was applied unequally due to differing population concentrations and, more importantly, state and regional politics: more than 110,000 Japanese Americans, nearly all who lived on the West Coast, were forced into interior camps, but in Hawaii, where the 150,000-plus Japanese Americans comprised over one-third of the population, only 1,200 to 1,800 were interned. The forced relocation and incarceration has been determined to have resulted more from racism and discrimination among white people on the West Coast, rather than any military danger posed by the Japanese Americans.
The popular saying was 'They're Japs so they must be the enemy.'
In view of events in San Bernardino, CA we must be careful not to repeat this mistake. Not ALL Muslims are Radicals. But still we must be caucus not to 'tar them all with the same brush'.
The internment of Japanese Americans in the United States was the forced relocation and incarceration during World War II of between 110,000 and 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry who lived on the Pacific coast in camps in the interior of the country. Sixty-two percent of the internees were United States citizens. President Roosevelt ordered the Incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II, shortly after Imperial Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor.
Such incarceration was applied unequally due to differing population concentrations and, more importantly, state and regional politics: more than 110,000 Japanese Americans, nearly all who lived on the West Coast, were forced into interior camps, but in Hawaii, where the 150,000-plus Japanese Americans comprised over one-third of the population, only 1,200 to 1,800 were interned. The forced relocation and incarceration has been determined to have resulted more from racism and discrimination among white people on the West Coast, rather than any military danger posed by the Japanese Americans.
The popular saying was 'They're Japs so they must be the enemy.'
In view of events in San Bernardino, CA we must be careful not to repeat this mistake. Not ALL Muslims are Radicals. But still we must be caucus not to 'tar them all with the same brush'.
Once Upon a Time ...
Posted 10 years agoObsolescence
Posted 10 years agoI have noted over the last several years things that used to be popular are now obsolete and no longer available. Indeed things are vanishing faster. Vinyl records-gone. Cassette tapes-gone. Video tapes-gone. Pay phones used to be common in every store and public building; every gas station had at least one booth. Now it’s a rare sight to find one and getting rarer. I have a large collection of VHS tapes that I am replacing with DVD and Blu-ray since tape players are very hard to find. Nearly impossible to find film for a camera now that digital has come out; same for camcorders.
I ran an online story site. About five years ago readership started to fall when the portable game units began to appear. No one came to read so the writers eventually stopped writing.
Since no one posted to my forum and no new story parts were being submitted I gave up even visiting the sites.
Recently I got an email that both were down and had been for a while. I don’t know, I have not gone to look or try to fix. The email, from one person, showed me very clearly that reading is something else that is obsolete. I, the writers and the stories they wrote are something else they simply threw into the trash heap as unworthy of their interest.
I used to count up a couple of hundred hits a day; the last year, none. The Raccoons-bookshelf was treated with total apathy. Apathy is contagious; they don’t care and I have learned not to as well. I have been told it’s gone, don’t look for it to come back because they have taught me not to care, that I belong on that trash pile of worthless garbage.
To the writers who tried to share their works for the enjoyment of the uncaring others, I at least apologize.
I ran an online story site. About five years ago readership started to fall when the portable game units began to appear. No one came to read so the writers eventually stopped writing.
Since no one posted to my forum and no new story parts were being submitted I gave up even visiting the sites.
Recently I got an email that both were down and had been for a while. I don’t know, I have not gone to look or try to fix. The email, from one person, showed me very clearly that reading is something else that is obsolete. I, the writers and the stories they wrote are something else they simply threw into the trash heap as unworthy of their interest.
I used to count up a couple of hundred hits a day; the last year, none. The Raccoons-bookshelf was treated with total apathy. Apathy is contagious; they don’t care and I have learned not to as well. I have been told it’s gone, don’t look for it to come back because they have taught me not to care, that I belong on that trash pile of worthless garbage.
To the writers who tried to share their works for the enjoyment of the uncaring others, I at least apologize.
Website ...
Posted 10 years agoI saw a post on FA that www.raccoons-bookshelf.com was down.
ALL Bookshelf sites except bookshelf.net were abandoned about a year ago. The domains to them let expire.
Due to no activity that I can ascertain, I have not looked at the .net site nor any forum connected with the Bookshelf for months. If anyone posted I would have gotten an email telling me so. As I have not I have had no reason to look. In the past I have taken down the forum and after had requests to restore it so posts could be made. To date none have. They want it but refuse to use it.
ALL Bookshelf sites except bookshelf.net were abandoned about a year ago. The domains to them let expire.
Due to no activity that I can ascertain, I have not looked at the .net site nor any forum connected with the Bookshelf for months. If anyone posted I would have gotten an email telling me so. As I have not I have had no reason to look. In the past I have taken down the forum and after had requests to restore it so posts could be made. To date none have. They want it but refuse to use it.
Movies
Posted 10 years agoI set up a database a while back so I could more easily find movies I had here. I began to collect about 40 years ago and by chance got a VHS machine. Good choice because a few years later Betamax vanished. I have since added DVD and Blueray. Where I lived for about 20 years before I retired there was no over the air TV or cable available. So I was just looking for something to watch and find my collection totals to 2237 movies.
Had a good St. Patty's Day
Posted 10 years agoGot up yesterday morning and made a big loaf of Irish Soda bread.
Had corned beef with Guinness and col cannon.
Then watched The Quiet Man. Of course I wore my green since I am half Irish from my father's side, Country Kerry.
Had corned beef with Guinness and col cannon.
Then watched The Quiet Man. Of course I wore my green since I am half Irish from my father's side, Country Kerry.
Update
Posted 10 years agoLast year my coolers both broke down. So since I live in the Mojave Desert we suffered through 100+F heat last summer.
I just had a new ductless Mitsubishi system installed so this year should be better.
The install took about 3 days.
I also got a new Alberta Fey Peach tree and just got it into the ground today. Wanted one last year but no money to spare. The good thing is I had time to research and found a freestone variety.
All the stuff going on here has kept me busy for the last couple of weeks and I have not been able to get on my computer as much as I would have liked. I will get to answer some messages soon now I hope.
I just had a new ductless Mitsubishi system installed so this year should be better.
The install took about 3 days.
I also got a new Alberta Fey Peach tree and just got it into the ground today. Wanted one last year but no money to spare. The good thing is I had time to research and found a freestone variety.
All the stuff going on here has kept me busy for the last couple of weeks and I have not been able to get on my computer as much as I would have liked. I will get to answer some messages soon now I hope.
The luck of the phone.
Posted 10 years agoWent to Wal-Mart today and found a big pile of 'Clearance' items out front. Chris picked up a popcorn machine that had an $80 price tag on it. I was using the Wal-Mart app to check the price of some items that had no price on them and also checked the popcorn maker. It said the regular price was $80 but I could get it online from them for $60.
I questioned this at the register when it displayed the full price of $80 showing them the app saying it should only be $60. The head cashier reduced the price and I saved $20. The app is a free one.
I questioned this at the register when it displayed the full price of $80 showing them the app saying it should only be $60. The head cashier reduced the price and I saved $20. The app is a free one.
Annoying.
Posted 10 years agoWhen I upgraded my phone, a couple of times back, I signed up for a pay by phone app.
This app, called ISIS at the time, included a prepaid American Express Serve card pre-loaded with $50.00. To use by phone you needed a phone equipped with NFC. At the register you held the phone to the card terminal and the bill was paid.
The running balance was displayed on the phone so you always knew how much you had and you could reload it at any time from accounts you had set up to allow it. It used the 'tap 'n go' system like some of the newer credit cards. Unlike them you needed to enter your PIN to unlock the app first so no one could walk by you and steal your info like the can with the cards.
I just got an email that in two weeks the system Softcard (ISIS) will close its doors and the app will no longer function. Seems they sold out to Google and I had to change to Google Wallet. Similar set up but a bit more versatility. I just wish they had given me a bit more lead time.
The account for it is still good since it was with American Express.
Google Wallet Card will be a re-loadable Mastercard.
As for ISIS I think you can understand why they decided to change the name to Softcard.
This app, called ISIS at the time, included a prepaid American Express Serve card pre-loaded with $50.00. To use by phone you needed a phone equipped with NFC. At the register you held the phone to the card terminal and the bill was paid.
The running balance was displayed on the phone so you always knew how much you had and you could reload it at any time from accounts you had set up to allow it. It used the 'tap 'n go' system like some of the newer credit cards. Unlike them you needed to enter your PIN to unlock the app first so no one could walk by you and steal your info like the can with the cards.
I just got an email that in two weeks the system Softcard (ISIS) will close its doors and the app will no longer function. Seems they sold out to Google and I had to change to Google Wallet. Similar set up but a bit more versatility. I just wish they had given me a bit more lead time.
The account for it is still good since it was with American Express.
Google Wallet Card will be a re-loadable Mastercard.
As for ISIS I think you can understand why they decided to change the name to Softcard.
Spring has sprung.
Posted 10 years agoJust took a walk around my yard and find flowers blooming as well as some of my fruit trees. Nothing on the apples, peach or fig yet but I have some activity on the pear and apricots as well as the grape vines.
Uber Researching Self-Driving Taxis
Posted 11 years ago http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,281.....2476224,00.asp
I can't help but think of the movie 'Total Recall' when I read this.
Will it be called a 'Johnny Cab'?
I can't help but think of the movie 'Total Recall' when I read this.
Will it be called a 'Johnny Cab'?
Rinse and repeat.
Posted 11 years ago24 hours my DSL was down again.
This time they replaced the line from the box outside the house to the wall jack.
Each time they find a new problem and get it to work for a bit. Let's hope this is the last one for a long time.
This time they replaced the line from the box outside the house to the wall jack.
Each time they find a new problem and get it to work for a bit. Let's hope this is the last one for a long time.
