May Day !

[texxgadget]

I had hoped the project would get extended, but it didnt happen.
Im jobsearching again.
It was not for naught, however. My Python skills improved dramatically in that short time.

The first month at Infinite Loop, was special.
There was a magic in the air that was not present at Valco Park or at Potrero.
I miss that magic.
It pulled me out of my usual funk.

Fond memories include the central quad at Infinite Loop.
Thwew are several grass areas. The ones in the middle are mowed fairly shory.
At each end of the elipse is a lawn that is not mowed and has calf high grass & trees.
It looks nice and natural. Then you see the gardeners weeding this lawn gone wild.
Its pretty funny.

What I also got was an understanding of the very core of machine learning.
Machines have lots of facts stored but how to connect this fact with another but not something else?
Thats the hard part. Now, I understand how its done.

The big story on the morning news this week has been about this new online game.
Its rated for 13 & up.
The premise is that you are dropped on an island and you are to be the last man standing.
This means the game is about KILLING EVERYONE ELSE on the island!

Everyone is screaming about the availability of guns, but they are looking at the symptom rather than the cause.
The CAUSE is that we have made guns cool. Ref the above game and its ilk.
If you outlaw guns, you will create a blackmarket that will be as dangerous as the gun problem they are trying to solve.
We should have learned that about booze, but we didnt.
We didnt learn it about drugs.
And we are about to make the same mistake with guns.

Imagine gangs shooting in the streets for the turf to sell illegal guns into.
There are simply too many lathes & milling machines out there.


If you dont want kids shooting up their schools, stop making guns cool.
Stop making a big deal about video games that teach people to be mass killers.

Get kids up off their butts and playing outdoors again.
Of course, nobody is going to listen to me...

Comments

[markc1957]

Hush, you! Pointing out; "too many lathes and milling machines out there"; is going to make some hare-brained legislator want to write a law banning private citizens from owning those. Then, they'll want to restrict the free speech rights of authors that write books regarding construction of firearms from basic materials. I, for one, don't want to have to set up a forge to make gun barrels from raw steel sheets, and then have to build a rifling engine to cut the lands and grooves. Considering that in the 1950s through the mid-1960s, many high schools had rifle ranges and classes, and there weren't widespread mass shootings in the USA during that time. No, not at all. We did all our mass shootings during those times in other countries, like Korea and Vietnam, in the name of 'protecting democracy from the godless Communists'. Damn! There goes my snarkolepsy kicking in again. As you point out, society has changed, glorifying the irresponsible use of guns in music videos, and in video games. Some people view guns as an accessory item for their outfits, rather than as the dangerous tool that they are. The 2nd Amendment makes reference to; 'a well regulated militia'; in which the phrase; 'well regulated'; simply means that it is in good working order, which was common usage of the phrase when the Constitution was written. Considering this, I do not believe that it would be an infringement on the right to keep and bear arms to require that all gun owners, or those persons that want to purchase a gun, be required to pass a basic safety test on the safe and proper operation of the firearms that they own or want to own. The widespread availability of firearms would not be curtailed by banning them outright. In the USA, there are something on the order of 300 million guns in the hands of private citizens. In my opinion, trying to get those private citizens to give those up would be a pretty short route to a civil war.

CHeap air conditioning

[texxgadget]

I dont know if humidity is low enough in Yuba City to allow swamp coolers or not.

If you need to go the mechenical chiller route, we found some small packet chiller units.
Fiendishly clever, they use variable frequency drive for sompressor, evaporator and condensor.
They draw almost no current to chill a 2000 sqft comm centre out in the central valley with outdoor temps in low 100s.

We used to only run chillers when we were up there and we didnt go up in winter due to the cold.
The new units, we just leave on all the time, they run off the solar panels up there just fine, and in heat pump mode, the place doesnt get too cold in winter and not to hot in summer.

Ill try to get some model into for you if you like.
We used

Re: CHeap air conditioning

[markc1957]

Some information on the model you used would be most helpful. Being right between the Feather and the Yuba rivers, the humidity is just over the edge where swamp coolers start to not work so well. Heat pump would be good, simply because we've got something like 3kw worth of solar panels on the roof, and natural gas for heating is expensive. The existing AC is at a point where I need to replace quite a few of the outlet dampers so I can balance the system and get cool air to places in the house that aren't getting much at this time. Previous owner managed to mung up several of the dampers so they don't work properly. Something to do during this time when it is just too darned hot to be outside.