Linux

 Some time ago, wanting a computer for my train room to run Java Model Railroad Interface (JMRI), I purchased a used HP Mini 210 computer, complete with Atom 455 processor and 1GB of installed memory.

When it arrived I was irritated to learn that it didn't have a hard drive, so off to the getting place I went to get a 500MB SSD hard drive. While I was there, I picked up another 1GB memory stick to upgrade the ram (2GB is all it can take). I had a copy of Windows 7, so I decided to install it as the operating system.

I then tried to install JMRI and found that I needed a copy of Java that wasn't supported by Win7. So off to the Microsoft place I went to install Win10, a program that I normally hate but that's what I needed to run what I wanted to run.

Somewhere in there I also picked up another Mini, this one a 110 with the same processor that I upgraded to 2GB of installed memory as well. This one already had Win7 installed, with the same problems, so I upgraded it as well.

For some reason I got the 110 to work with JMRI first, so that became the train room computer. With Windows 10 installed these things are glacially slow, but they do work after a while. JMRI worked pretty quickly so that was fine,but since I didn't really need it for anything the 210 went on the shelf.

Fast forward a couple of years or so. Now that I am pursuing a degree in electronics, I need to take a class in C programming. I don't really want to subject my everyday laptop to schoolwork again, so I decided to pull out the old Mini 210.

I thought I would get a jump on the class by getting a copy of C for Dummies and getting familiar with it. The book recommended a Windows app of Ubuntu that the Mini will not support, however, there was the option of just using Linux instead of trying to find a Windows app. I've been playing with the idea of fooling around with Linux anyway, so that's the option I went for.

I searched the internets and the three versions (called Distros, who knew there were so many flavors of Linux?) that were most recommended were Puppy, Mint and Lubuntu (which is apparently a lighter, faster version of the classic Ubuntu)*. I downloaded all three and made USB sticks for them to try them out.

Puppy works great, but I couldn't get it to do anything. I later found out that it isn't considered to be a good distro for the beginners, it's just recommended for old slow computers with limited capabilities, which made it a good choice for the old Minis.

I then tried Lubuntu, but I think I must have gotten a corrupted file because I couldn't get it to load at all. I have since recreated another USB stick for it with a different mirror site, but I haven't tested it out yet**. That leaves Linux Mint.

I chose to install it exclusively, wiping out Windows 10 in the process, since I don't intend to use this computer for anything serious. In fact, I probably would have left it on the shelf if not for the C programming class. 

 I stuck the stick into the computer port and rebooted it. It took a while to initiate on the computer from the stick, but it finally came up. I selected the install option and it took a while to get all loaded up. I then selected the options that I wanted and restarted it. Everything booted up like it was supposed to, so it's all ready to go. I will be playing with it for the next few weeks and I'll let you know how it went.

At any rate, it is installed on the Mini as we speak, so I have taken the first steps.

*Apparently there is another flavor, LXLE, that is also recommended so I downloaded it as well. I also found a recommendation for the Android operating system. So if Mint doesn't work out for me, I will have other options.

**Nope, still doesn't work.

Just A Reminder

 Monday is Memorial Day.

Memorial Day is not the day you thank me for my service.

 

Memorial Day is the day you thank them for theirs.

So This Happened

 

One down, one to go.

Quelle Surprise

 So as it turns out, the only thing Donald Trump has ever really been guilty of is Attempting to Govern While Republican.

Wake me up when someone (of substance) goes to FPMITA prison over it.

Dear Ms. Wolf,

First and foremost, thank you.

I appreciate the fact that you can be wrong. I appreciate that fact because I, myself, have occasionally been wrong as well. We all have. As the saying goes, "to err is human."

The rest of that statement is "to forgive, divine."

I make no claim to being divine. All to the contrary, I fully and freely admit to being a flawed human being. The only perfect man, so the story I was told goes, was killed for his trouble, and I can tell you with a high degree of confidence that I ain't that guy.

And neither is anyone else.

It shames me to say that there are many on "my" side who will take your words and crow over them, they will grind it into your face and they will beat you over the head with them. Such creatures should remember that they ain't that guy, either. We can all be wrong.

You and I have, and I am sure will continue, to disagree over many things as a result of our ways of thinking. That's perfectly fine, and we can disagree without being disagreeable. I think that we all want the same things, we only differ in how we propose to obtain those things. Critical thinking demands that we not only listen to the "other" side, but we pay attention to it and honestly evaluate what they are saying. This is, after all, why we have a free press to begin with.

It takes a lot of courage to admit to being wrong, even in private, but to do it as you have earns from me a large degree of respect. I can only hope that, in your place, I would also have the courage to admit to being wrong with as much candor and honesty as you have done in this instance.

I can also hope that others, on both sides, learn from your example. I am still pessimistic enough to doubt it will happen, but hope springs eternal. But I digress.

One of the tenants of my religion is forgiveness, but the first step in achieving absolution is to first and foremost admit to doing wrong. You have certainly done that in this case, and your effort certainly deserves a reply. I can't claim to speak for all conservatives or Republicans. I can only claim to speak for me. And on my behalf, I would like to say,

"Apology accepted."

A Bad Day At The Range

 is still a pretty good day.

It was a bit disappointing, however. I took the new-to-me AR upper and the lowers that I had built for it out to play, and the darn thing just would not feed from either of the lowers or from either of the magazines. If I bounced the darn thing on the polymer magazine the round would go in, but otherwise nada.

So I packed it up and took the Glock 36 to the pistol range next door and put 50 aluminum cased rounds through it. It had one FTE, not a stovepipe, where the ejector just slipped past the rim of the empty and didn't get it out. It came out with no issues, and that was the only problem with the aluminum cases.

Next, Range Partner had brought a couple hundred old reloads with him, so I helped him burn them up. I put 100 rounds through the 36 with only a few issues due more to light loads, I never had a squib but there were one or two that didn't go bang with enough authority to properly cycle the slide.

The verdict: since changing the barrel I haven't had a single problem with the gun that could not be attributed to ammo. Also, I managed to ring the steel consistently although I couldn't consistently hit the small swinging targets. So, I still suck at this game, but not as bad as once upon a time. Dry firing helps.

Once I got home I consulted the Internet regarding my AR issues and found that I have an M4 upper receiver mounted to an AR barrel. The difference is in the feed ramps. On the plain AR the feed ramps are integral only to the barrel extension (the rear-most part of the barrel that is fluted to mate with the bolt; so much to learn with the AR platforms); the regular AR has a flat front wall on its upper receiver with no ramps and the ramps on the barrel extension stop at the outside edge. 

On the M4, however, the feed ramps continue down into the front wall of the upper receiver and the barrel extension ramps are slightly deeper so it makes a smooth transition between the ramps in the upper receiver and ones in the barrel extension. The idea is that the M4 will feed better at faster cycle rates or with rounds bigger than the standard 5.56 which, mine being a 6.8, is. 

 The result of my setup is a ledge where the ends of the AR barrel extension ramps meet the ramps in the M4 upper, and that combination with my lowers and magazines tip the rounds downward just enough to catch that ledge. Funny thing is, the original setup (I bought just the upper, the guy I bought it from kept the lower to put a different upper on it) worked just fine.

 The cure is to either swap to an M4 barrel, or take a rotary tool or round file to the barrel extension ramps to match them to the receiver ramps. There is some debate as to whether it's a good idea to do this while the barrel is mated to the upper. I think this may be a job I'll leave to a gunsmith.

In other news, it looks like I may be picking up a .357, so I have that going for me. The last .357 I owned was a Taurus that I got from a "friend" over some money he owed me and then later found out that it had been lifted from his mother in law's truck, so I had to give it back. 

I am more certain of this one's ancestry, so that won't be an issue, but it is a lightweight S&W that is...let's say, somewhat uncomfortable...to shoot a lot due to the recoil inherent in a powerful cartridge and a light gun. I'll put some .38 through it for practice and keep the high power loads for business.

It's been too long since my last range day, but now that the weather is getting better I will work at improving that.

Ha

 I accidentally aced my Harmonics module quiz. Three of the questions were closely related, two were identical and one was based on the answer of the other two. I flat-out guessed at the two identical questions and answered the third based on that flat-out guess, and because the one was right so was the other.

Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good.

Also, since I had all the homework done and turned in for the Thermodynamics module the instructor opened the quiz for that for me as well. I didn't ace it, but I only missed one of fifteen which is good for an A. I'll take it.

What that means is PHY-151 College Physics is effectively over except for the final project. My current grade is good enough that even if I zero out the final I will still pass, which means I just have a robotics class to complete for my AAS-MET degree. I'll be starting that class next month and I'll be done with it in May. In August I will register for a C programming class and a data communications class, then I'll have the AAS-EET degree as well.

And then I will be educated beyond my intelligence.

Well Why Not

 I went to go somewhere in the Jeep today, and when I turned the key the little blinky dash lights came on but the starter didn't. Apparently the linkage between the lock cylinder and the electrical switch, called the actuator, is prone to failure and mine did.

I went online to do some pricing and holy smokes. Amazon has what I need for about seventeen bucks shipped. Auto Zone had the same part for about 40. Advance wants 66 bucks for the same part.

It will be here Thursday. Until then I'll drive the Baja. I need to get my money's worth out of that transmission anyway. It's just a shame, the weather will be nice enough for the next couple of days that I could have rode topless, but I guess I can just open the sunroof instead.

Take Off The Mask

 You look like a fucking idiot.

And now we do the dance of joy!

I've Been a Good Boy

I've already mentioned my degrees will be finished by Christmas.

My Jeep will also be paid off by Christmas. Truthfully I could pay it off now.

Also, my credit card balance is drawing down pretty quickly, and by the time I start school again in September I should be down to paying the balance every month (I use it for reoccurring payments).

I think I deserve a reward.

In Other News

 I have just registered for what should be the final classes required for my Associates in Applied Science degree in the field of Mechatronics Engineering Technology from Vance Granville Community College. I should have all the requirements to graduate on the 9th day of May in the Year of Our Lord 2023.

After taking the summer off, I should then be able to register for the last two classes that I will need for my Associates in Applied Science degree in the field of Electronics Engineering Technology from the same Place of Matriculation, and should have all the requirements to graduate from that course of study in December of 2023.

And then I will finally have the degree that I should have had way back in 1990-something. The electronics one, that is; I'm only getting the mechatronics one because The Company is paying for it. Foolishly, they refused to pony up for the electronics degree, but I already had enough credits (aside from the two classes mentioned above, and to be fair I had them, too, they were just out of date by 30+ years) to earn that one as well with the credits obtained from the mechatronics course of study.

How Interesting...

 So I went to vote early because I am going to be out of pocket, as they say, on Election Day.

When I got to the polling place a helpful person (campaigner, obviously, since they weren't in the building and stayed outside of the proscribed "no campaigning" boundary, but they did not identify themselves) handed me a flyer saying that it would help me to fill out my ballot.

When I looked at it (after casting my vote) I had to laugh. Even though this helpful person did not identify herself as being with any particular candidate it wasn't hard to figure which party she was working for (of course the "PAID FOR" blurb in the left sidebar gives it away completely).

(For what it's worth, the actual ballot did not have any candidates name in bold print, nor did I cast a vote for any of the candidates marked on this example.)

There Is No A In S.T.E.M.

Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics are OBJECTIVE, meaning there are right and wrong answers in those four subjects. Regardless of your feelings on these subjects, facts are facts and wrong is wrong, and wrong can kill.

Art, on the other hand, is SUBJECTIVE, meaning there are no wrong answers. Art is in the eye of the beholder, and just because someone doesn't like a particular form or style of art doesn't make it wrong, and nobody has to die for it.

Lately there has been a push to include art in STEM, and it just doesn't fit. I don't know where it started but it needs to stop before someone gets hurt.

Perhaps

 the time to deal with mental health issues is sometime BEFORE the gasoline gets poured into the bottles.

Family members of Reuel Rodriguez-Nunez, who was shot and killed by Raleigh police after lobbing several Molotov cocktails at them, think that "more should have been done to de-escalate the situation" and berate the police for failing to handle the situation as a mental health crisis.

Yeah...about that. If you know the guy was having psych problems, you (as family members) should have taken the steps to see that he got the help he needed before it became a crisis. The police are not equipped to handle such things at the scene of the crisis, their job is to stop it as quickly as possible before innocent members of the general public are harmed.

Which, regardless of your feelings about their methods, they did.

Their beef seems to be with one particular officer who is heard on body cam footage swearing at the suspect and encouraging him to "Do it! Do it! Give me the go-ahead!" just before he tosses a firebomb at the officer (at which case the four officers on scene open fire, hitting him 11 times).

Family members say he was "sending a message of his mental illness." I'm guessing this was not the first message, but in any case I would say this is an example of "message received."

Bottom line, if you have a family member in crisis...get them help. Otherwise, it may end tragically.

I Get The Idea

 that Ron Desantis has read Alinsky's Rules for Radicals.

I was looking for the latest Mexican Word of the Day meme for the word Desantis. "Martha's Vineyard said they would love us but then Desantis away."

Oddly, Microsoft Bing couldn't find it...

Vacation

 But lest you think I'm relaxing and enjoying myself...

Eldest Daughter is going to have a formal wedding ceremony this year (they did the Justice o' the Peace thing but Son-in-Law wants a formal ceremony. She couldn't care less, but she's willing to do it for him) during the Annual Gathering of the Horde in Myrtle Beach, so my folks are going to fly in from the midwest. Beach week doesn't start until next Sunday (shame, since the very last Mustang Week in Myrtle Beach is going on this week), so the folks are going to stay with us for the week.

This means the Refuge, being in a constant state of reconstruction (Mrs Hades denies it, but I say when she moved in she decided the only thing that gets to stay is me), needed to be at least partially prepared so that the momentarily psychotic Mrs Hades didn't lose Favored Daughter-In-Law status.* This means I've had a "Honey Do (or else!)" list as long as my...arm.

To be fair, it's stuff that has needed to be done for a while, but between working and Mrs Hades' change of employment (still a teacher, just at a different school next year) and traveling and whatnot we haven't had the time to get it done. My trailer even now is filled with school stuff ready to be transported to the new school once Mrs Hades gets clearance to take it there, but since they are doing summer school there and Beach Week is next week it won't be for a couple of weeks yet. With the trailer filled certain construction (or rather, deconstruction) projects are on hold for the nonce.

But, even so, we have managed to put new flooring in the master bedroom (but unfortunately not the master bath, that room needs both floor and ceiling and then will finally be done) and re-arranged everything so that the "new" furniture we picked up on our VA/PA trip fits where it needs to. Everything else has been properly stowed (or stuffed away where it can't be seen), cleaned, dusted and polished. Several loads have gone to the landfill by way of the Baja, so some of the detritus and clutter is gone as well. We've even managed to hang up some pictures, some of them from my brother's wedding several years ago (holy crap was I a fat bastard).

Plans and arrangements have been made for Beach Week and Wedding Day, so that's done. Everyone else will arrive in Myrtle on Sunday, but we have to drop the pups off to the kennel (they are going to hate us) before we can head down there, so we won't be there until Monday around noon. That will give us six hours or so before the wedding (6:30 Monday afternoon), and then maybe the crazy can ease off for a while.

If it doesn't, I'll be ready to go back to work so I can recover from my vacation.

*Firstly, ain't gonna happen. My mom loves her, in fact once upon a time I jokingly said if anything happened between us Mom would keep Mrs Hades. She laughed...but she didn't deny it. Secondly, when I was in the first grade we bought a house and my dad started ripping the walls down as we were moving in, so Mom gets it.

And Then There Were None

 Semper Fi, Marine.

Adventures in Traveling

 The missus and I are out and about.

One of the first trips Mrs Hades and I took together was to her Grammy's 90th birthday party in Ohio. That was seven years ago, and we're going to go up and see her for her 97th birthday tomorrow. 

It's not going to be as big a production as her 90th was, but we had thought maybe she was going to fall short of her goal. More on that in a bit, but she lived in a retirement facility where she had her own apartment and the staff checked in on her several times a day to see if she was still among us.

One of those times they found her slumped over and unconscious, so they called the ambulance and took her to the hospital where she was found to be suffering from malnutrition. She's forgetting to eat, and since she lives alone there is no one to remind her to do so. So she is moving into a nursing home and her apartment will need to be cleaned out.

That's where I come in. You see, there are some items of furniture that Grammy wants Mrs Hades to have, so we hooked the trailer to the Scoobydoo and off we went. But first, we were going to go by Brother In Law's new house in Occupied Virginia to pick up a couple of sets of bunk beds that he no longer needs. For some reason Mom Hades wanted one set, and Mrs Hades wanted the other so that we would have a place to sleep when my parents are here this summer. Another to-do that I'll tell you about later.

So off we went, me in the Scooby with trailer and Mrs Hades in her ride with the furbabies. The trip to BIL's was uneventful, and we started loading. Five mattresses, which alone necessitated the use of my 4x7 utility trailer, but then we started hauling out all of the wooden parts. One set wasn't too bad, standard bunk beds, a pair each of headboards and footboards, four side rails, and two sets of slats. However, the other set has a trundle bed (which explains the fifth of the five mattresses).

There are a lot of parts to a trundle bed. And since, of course, that is the one that Mrs Hades wants, it all went into the bed of the Subaru. At least, the parts that would fit in the bed. The rest went into the back seat.

The trailer got topped off with a rolled up rug, which was just long enough to touch the bed side rails sticking out of the back of the Subaru, but no big deal I thought, and off we went again. That's when I noticed the vibration. Not that I could miss it once we got on the interstate since it was bad enough to blur the mirrors.

Aha, I thought, that damn rug is bouncing against the wooden bed parts, which in turn is hitting the back of the cab and causing vibration So first rest stop I came to I pulled over and redistributed the load. It was better, I thought, but still bad. I did this a couple of times and finally thought maybe I had a bad tire on the trailer. So I pulled over to the side of the road and checked the trailer tires out.

Finding nothing I pulled back out and made it about 150 feet before there was a godawful crash and the trucklet pulled to the right. Back on to the side of the road and I checked the Scooby tires this time, to find the right rear collapsed onto the tire. Upon further investigation what I found was the lug nuts were gone and the brake rotor was riding inside the surface of the wheel.

I unloaded the backseat so I could get to the jack and meager stash of tools I had on hand, jacked the trucklet up and surveyed the damage. What I found was three of the five studs broken off with the other two apparently serviceable. The wheel had come off and the brake rotor shield had deflected enough so that the rotor was riding on the inside surface of the wheel. The wheel had not come out of the wheel well, so there was no other damage at all. Apparently it was overtime day for my guardian angel, which was a good thing for a Monday.

I took a nut off of each front tire and put the wheel back on with only two lug nuts, then drove at 20 miles an hour up to the next exit where I found a nice mall parking lot to pull in to. A quick web search (the modern world is good for some things, like cell phones with 5G internet) showed a parts store right around the corner where I was able to obtain a jack stand, a tool set, and more importantly five studs and lug nuts for a 2003 Subaru Baja. Into M's car we went to obtain the needed supplies.

Fortune started (or perhaps, given how bad it could have been, continued) to smile on me at that point and I was able to pretty quickly replace the studs. There is enough room behind the rear hub of a 2003 Baja to extract and insert new studs without removing the hub, if you ever needed to know. Good thing, too, because removing that staked nut on the propeller shaft to take the hub off might have been more trouble than it was worth. At any rate, all new studs (I went ahead and replaced the two apparently good ones since I was there and didn't want to take any chances), wheel back on and appropriate use of a 4 way tire iron to seat them and we were once again mobile.

Three hours later than our previously scheduled arrival time, since our little side-trip had eaten enough time to bring on the evening and I didn't feel like pulling a loaded trailer over two lane mountain roads in the dark and opted to take the longer interstate route instead, we got to Mrs Hades parents house. We had gotten into a few rain showers when we got close, so I decided to cover the trailer and trucklet bed before turning in for the night.

Before setting out I had bought two brand new tarps, one to cover the trailer and one for the truck bed, so I broke them out and found that I may have slightly overestimated the size of tarps I was going to need...as in, one tarp was enough to cover both Subaru and trailer. Completely cover, that is, from Scooby grill to trailer tailgate. Oh well, I reasoned, if a job is worth doing it's worth overdoing, and the load was indeed covered.

Dad Hades has an awning he sets up for the 4th of July that consists of a steel pole frame and tarp to cover the top. The tarp is getting frayed, so he needs a new one. Looks like I'll be leaving at least one, maybe both, of my excessively sized tarps here for that purpose, they are about the right size.

Later this week we will unload the bed parts for the beds that will stay here and then reload the parts for the beds that are going home with us, along with the rest of the furniture that will be going back down south. Dad Hades has already gone to Ohio and picked it up for us, so it's here in PA and we won't have to take the Scooby and trailer to Ohio to get it, which was greatly appreciated. How long it will take to unload the trailer when we get home is another matter. It's a good thing I have the Jeep to drive to work. 

So why did that wheel fall off? I have no idea. I don't have neighbors that hate me as far as I know, and BIL hasn't been at his new house long enough to make enemies. Safer bet is that I didn't get the lug nuts on that wheel completely tightened the last time I rotated the tires. I had been noticing a slight bit of vibration in it and figured it was a wheel weight that had gotten tossed, but it wasn't bad enough to worry me so I didn't bother with checking it out. I did go around and check all the lug nuts on the other three wheels before setting back out again, I promise you that much.

And now for the explanations I alluded to earlier. We need the bunks because Eldest Daughter is officially tying the knot at the Annual Gathering of Clan Hades in Myrtle Beach, and my folks are flying out from Iowa to attend. They will be staying with us for the few days preceding and following Clan Week, so they will be sleeping in our bed and we needed alternate sleeping arrangements for ourselves.

What about that goal I mentioned before? Well, Grammy had an older sister, Flo, who was two years older than her, and her latter life's goal was to outlive Flo. Flo died a couple of years ago, just shy of her 97th birthday, so as long as the old girl holds on until tomorrow, mission accomplished. She's doing much better now, so that doesn't appear to be an issue. Hell, she might end up out-living us all at this point.

Rock n' Roll

 Here at the Refuge we grow rocks. Every year we get a fresh crop.

Mrs Hades has been digging them up and putting them in her flowerbed. Last week we gathered three 5 gallon buckets from the front yard and today we repeated the feat in the back yard. We also drove metal fence posts with the goal of expanding the fencing into the back yard to give the dogs more room to run.

And so, my prediction of the expanding honeydo list has come to pass.

Next week we're off to PA for a week, so further rock harvesting and fencing efforts will have to wait until our return. Hopefully there will be some manufacturing of smoke and noise in the near future as well.