My Desultory Blog

Posted By RichC on November 29, 2019

With the advent of decent quality inexpensive home security products and cameras, it has never be easier to keep an eye on “motion” that happens around a business or home. The key for most of us is to find the least expensive quality “small” product … in our case the Wyze cams have beat out the Canary cams (a couple of both).

Over time I’ve learned the pitfalls of “doing home security on the cheap,” but at the same time our monitoring costs (monthly) are now much more reasonable and with our many Echo devices … easy to control from anywhere I’m connected.

Development and technology all cost money and the budget products like Wyze can run into problems when outsourcing (partnering) some of their technology needs. One feature called “edge-AI” is with Xnor.ai and offers “Person Detection” (vs just motion) actually running on the device itself. That is somewhat unique for a $25 camera in that it does not have to send the motion video to an outside server for analysis before triggering an alert. Unfortunately Wyze has just been informed that Xnor.ai is no longer going to lease their technology to Wyze and has terminated their lease agreement (their right within the contract).

This leave users someone a step back as now Wyze will have to develop their own AI “person detection” and more than likely will have to do it on their internal servers rather than on the camera hardware. Hm, more motion alerts in the short term and more uploaded data in the long run.

That said … Wyze deserves credit for how it communications with customers (below).

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Category: Cloud, Computer, Technology | No Comments »
Tags: ai, cameras, cams, canary, detection, edge-ai, home, monitor, motion, security, tech friday, techfriday, wyze, xnor

Posted By RichC on November 28, 2019

If African American poet Paul Laurence Dunbar in the late 1800’s could express his “thankfulness” so eloquently on Thanksgiving, those of us living in the United States today should have little problem appreciating the freedom and abundance that we all too often take for granted.

It is great to have our family coming to our home this year for a Thanksgiving Day feast this November 28,2019.

A Thanksgiving Poem 
Paul Laurence Dunbar – 1872-1906

The sun hath shed its kindly light,
   Our harvesting is gladly o’er
Our fields have felt no killing blight,
   Our bins are filled with goodly store.

From pestilence, fire, flood, and sword
   We have been spared by thy decree,
And now with humble hearts, O Lord,
   We come to pay our thanks to thee.

We feel that had our merits been
   The measure of thy gifts to us,
We erring children, born of sin,
   Might not now be rejoicing thus.

No deed of our hath brought us grace;
   When thou were nigh our sight was dull,
We hid in trembling from thy face,
   But thou, O God, wert merciful.

Thy mighty hand o’er all the land
   Hath still been open to bestow
Those blessings which our wants demand
   From heaven, whence all blessings flow.

Thou hast, with ever watchful eye,
   Looked down on us with holy care,
And from thy storehouse in the sky
   Hast scattered plenty everywhere.

Then lift we up our songs of praise
   To thee, O Father, good and kind;
To thee we consecrate our days;
   Be thine the temple of each mind.

With incense sweet our thanks ascend;
   Before thy works our powers pall;
Though we should strive years without end,
   We could not thank thee for them all.

Category: Holiday | No Comments »
Tags: family, Holiday, idioms, poetry, thanksgiving

Posted By RichC on November 27, 2019

When we remodeled our kitchen in the spring of 2017, I disconnected the 40 amp 220 volt electric range that we originally had in the island, and dropped the capped wires through the floor and ceiling of my basement workshop. My intention was to eventually “drop” a 220 volt line so I would have a dedicated “out of the way” plug for my Delta cabinet sized table saw. After rethinking this over and over on how I wanted this to function, I decided that the far right corner of the extended table was best, Last weekend I dropped a conduit and put the plugs on the end of the table (it should be out of the way for 99% of my cuts).

Finally … the 20+ years of tripping hazard (and chew hazard when our dog was a puppy) and extension cord wire that I constantly had to plug in and unplug is no more. As a bonus, I also used the back side of the plug to put in two 110 volt outlets … one which I use for the Shop Smith which has become both a stand for the new outfeed table and my dedicated bandsaw with its own IKEA light. Perfect!

Category: Archive, Hobby, Personal, Photos, Tools, Woodworking | No Comments »
Tags: basement, delta, electrical, shopsmith, tablesaw, woodworking, workshop

Posted By RichC on November 26, 2019

Most men I know can rattle off a few milestone moments in their life as they bumbled their way through being a child, then teenager and finally an “on-your-own” adult. One of the organizations that once helped young men learn responsibility and integrity (and hopefully still does)  was the Boy Scouts. With good leadership, most Troops can begin with a Tenderfoot and give him mini-milestones of growth and responsibility. Although my BSA Troop 124 disbanded before I earned Eagle Scout, Still the structure was instrumental in giving me tools and teaching me character in order to mature from boyhood to manhood. As the BSA trademark line goes, Prepared. For Life.™

The reason I was even thinking about this was due to cleaning out my tool chest this past weekend, Buried under the top tray was a “dangerous” tool … a hatchet that was awarded to me in 1972 while in the Boy Scouts. This milestone “adult tool” was given to only one scout to carry and be responsible with while on campouts, etc. As one of the Patrol leaders (Crow Patrol – caw, caw) and highest level scout in our Troop at the time, it was my responsibility. I felt a sense of moving from one station in life to another …one that demanded less childish behavior and someone who was now expected to be a leader … on the way to being an adult.

Lesson: Metering out small milestones is a great way for mentors to teach boys how to become men. Thank you to all those men in my life both within organizations like the Boy Scouts or athletics … and  those friends and family who guided me through those formative years.

Category: Archive, Memories, Misc, Personal, Photos, Tools | No Comments »
Tags: boy scouts, boys, growing, hatchet, leadership, men, mentor, mentoring, milestones, responsible, teaching

Posted By RichC on November 25, 2019

This content is restricted.

Category: Entertainment, Music | No Comments »
Tags: dusty springfield, mp3, music monday, musicmonday, oliver nelson, series, six million dollar man, song, television, theme, tv

Posted By RichC on November 24, 2019

While I was suppose to be cleaning up and throwing away junk that has taken over some of my basement woodworking shop, as usual ended up sidetracked in making a few jigs for my upcoming projects AND reorganized a couple of cabinets that were buried under boxes and clutter on a back wall.

I moved the now working tabletop drill press (was my dad’s and had a bad chuck) and my Shop Fox Mortising Machine to a new countertop that was the ramp for Brenda’s home rehab a few years ago. The cabinet drawers provided much handier storage for my Ridgid battery powered tools (they were in a bag) and moving the drill press frees up my router table that was doing double-duty. It now slides perfectly under the countertop when not it use … and because I added Teflon slides to the legs, glides easily on the tile floor. So far I’m happy with the change as it makes my shop feel bigger and it is definitely more usable.

Now that I was on a roll … I stayed up late and moved our kitchen table from behind my 10 inch Delta table saw an FINALLY added the outfeed table that I’ve been planning. It basically is a 3/4” of finished plywood with hinges fitted so that it can be folded down for space (dictating the length). I still have my outfeed roller for ripping 8 foot stock so really won’t miss anything. Instead of adding support legs, I used the non-business end of my Shop Smith since I primarily use is as a bandsaw and horizonal drillpress/sander nowadays. Unfortunately I’ll need to do some electrical work if I don’t want to string an extension cord (hm, I have a 220V line from the old electric range hanging from the ceiling?)

After sanding the outfeed table, I added a little ZipGuard for protection, extended the miter slots with the router and put a coat of bowling alley wax on the surface for protection. I’m excited to give it a try … and might even “finally” build my panel cutting jig!  (idea below for inspiration)

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Category: Archive, Hobby, Personal, Photos, Productivity, Tools, Woodworking | No Comments »
Tags: bandsaw, cabinet, drillpress, mortiser, outfeed, reorganize, ridgid, router, saw, shopsmith, sidetracked, table, tablesaw, tools, woodshop, woodworking, workbench, workshop, zipguard

Posted By RichC on November 23, 2019

Tesla’s version of a “pickup truck” is being offered as a “green” alternative to America’s appetite for a consumer truck. Ford continues to dominate with it’s F-150 with Chevy and Dodge nipping at their heels. For some reason, we Americans want a pickup truck even though few use their dressed up beasts to haul anything. Perhaps Tesla’s futuristic Cybertruck really does fit that niche?

Tesla and Elon Musk’s unveiling did not go without a couple marketing glitches … the most talked about was when chief designer Franz von Holzhausen (VW guy) threw a metal ball at one of the “armor glass windows” only to have it shatter on Thursday night’s live stream. So Holzhausen tried again, targeting a second window … whoops, shattered again! … BUT as Elon Musk commented, “it didn’t go through.”

“We threw everything, we even literally threw the kitchen sink at the glass and it didn’t break. For some weird reason, it broke now, I don’t know why,” said Musk.

The theme to the unveiling of the Tesla Cybertruck was to demonstrate the toughness that was designed into their new vehicle … starting at $39,900. The electric pickup truck is made from a stainless steel alloy also used for SpaceX’s rockets. “It is literally bulletproof to a 9 millimeter handgun,” said Elon Musk. To prove the “toughness” point, Franz von Holzhausen, hit the sides of the Cybertruck with a sledgehammer.

Tesla says the Cybertruck will be available in three battery options: 250, 300 and a monster 500 mile range and that they expect it to roll off the assembly line in late 2021.

The unveiling event on the video (5 min mark) is archived below … although it was the glass-bashing which made the headlines (14 min mark). Personally the impressive marketing boasts from Elon Musk that followed werea most compelling to me; I think I might want one … or maybe just the ATV (see 22 min mark)!

Category: Automotive, Business, Environment, Innovation, Recreation, Technology, Video | No Comments »
Tags: atv, battery, cybertruck, elon musk, ev, mp4, pickup, plugin, tesla, truck, video

Posted By RichC on November 22, 2019

So … you’ve survived pretty much unscathed after a couple decades of identity theft, credit card fraud and everything moving online … but at some point, you realize that you’ve been lucky.

Most of us are pretty lax when it comes to locking down our data, securing our digital access points and devices. So perhaps it is time to think about doing a personal audit? Start here:

Take Precautions at Home

Keep your home PC and mobile devices—and the accounts you access on them—better protected from malicious attacks by implementing the tips and suggestions below.

Safeguard your cell phone or tablet

Do you know how to tell if your phone has been hacked? (more…)

Category: Advice, Cellphone, Computer, Software, Tablet, Technology | No Comments »
Tags: banking, cell phone, Computer, cyber security, device, hacked, online, tablet, tech friday, techfriday, viruses, wifi

Posted By RichC on November 21, 2019

Hello World! It is frightening to think that I’ve been using computers for FORTY years and have used and have seen the slow evolution in input devices clustered around a device called the Computer Mouse. So for ThrowBack Thursday #TBT this week, the above is a photo of the original “mouse” in 1964 by Douglas Engelbart. Although the “Ball Mouse” (left) took another four years to appear. It was called the Rolkugel RKS 100-86 and incorporated a “ball.”

BUT … the first usable modern ball-mouse didn’t appear until 1972, 8-years after the first wooden shelled pointing device. It was developed by Bill English in 1972 for Xerox Parc (Palo Alto Research Centre) and was used on the first graphical interfaced computer, the Xerox Alto.

The Alto is contained in a relatively small cabinet and uses a custom central processing unit (CPU) built from multiple SSI and MSI integrated circuits. Each machine cost tens of thousands of dollars despite its status as a personal computer. Only small numbers were built initially, but by the late 1970s, about 1,000 were in use at various Xerox laboratories, and about another 500 in several universities. Total production was about 2,000 systems.

The Alto became well known in Silicon Valley and its GUI was increasingly seen as the future of computing. In 1979, Steve Jobs arranged a visit to Xerox PARC, in which Apple Computer personnel would receive a demonstration of the technology from Xerox in exchange for Xerox being able to purchase stock options in Apple. After two visits to see the Alto, Apple engineers used the concepts to introduce the Apple Lisa and Macintosh systems.

For me, the first production Apple “Ball Mouse” came after leaving the keyboard-only world of mainframe input terminals in college computer labs at Ohio Northern University (Dept of Engineering) … and at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio (Memory: one of the perks was that I taught the classes and used an office from a professor on sabbatical; he let me to use his Tandy TRS-80 Micro Computer. Not all graduate teaching assistants independently taught 3 classes and had their own windowed office with computer!

In the early 1980s I started computing on my own with a “very portable” keyboard-only computer known as a Compaq (Compaq Computer). Shortly after I bought my first Apple computer that came with a graphical interface and a mouse – a MacSE and I never looked back (way too many Apple computers over the years!).

I’ve been through a variety of mice, even switching to an Apple clone by Power Computing Corporation for a few years for price and a two-button mouse (I begged Apple for more than one button) and eventually settled on my current aging iMac set-up (8 years old) and the current Apple Magic Mouse.

Category: Archive, Computer, History, Memories, Photos, TBT, Technology | No Comments »
Tags: alto, apple, ball mouse, compaq, Computer, History, imac, magic, miami, mouse, onu, tandy, TBT, throwback, thursday, trs-80, university, xerox

Posted By RichC on November 20, 2019

Actually needed a short video for testing the updated .mp4 embed code for WordPress.

Category: Blogs, Millitary, Misc, Video | No Comments »
Tags: beach, coding, embed, florida, flying, formation, jets, military, sunset, testing, wordpress