Subj : flood stuff was: Vacation To : Nancy Backus From : Barry Martin Date : Sun Feb 09 2020 09:22:00 Hi Nancy! BM>>> because something didn't look right/caught my attention. The display BM>>> had shown "Message # 11100" -- the binary-like message number had BM>>> caught my attention. (BTW, it's the number of the message here; would BM>>> have a different number at other sites.) NB>>> Cute... and right that it would be unique to your system... :) NB>>> If I just did the math right, that would be 56 in decimal....? BM>> 28. 16 8 4 2 1 BM>> 56 is 111000 32 16 8 4 2 1 NB>> Ah... I remembered wrong which place was which... I'd made the last NB>> (first?) digit 2 instead of 1, I think.... never had to calculate in NB>> binary, just was exposed to it later... BM> For me more or less the same (surprise!! ). I have used the BM> decimal-to-binary encoding to troubleshoot a TV (!!). NB> You may have mentioned that one before.... Me repeat stuff? Naaa!!! BM> Heathkit offered electronics kits: computers, oscilloscopes, Ham radios, BM> televisions, ... freezer failure alarms, water leak detectors.... BM> Anyway, built a TV, the channel display was sometimes not quite right: BM> was supposed to display "Channel 4" and it would sometimes display BM> something like "Chanbel 4". A little detective work and I found in BM> binary the problem was always because a specific line (connection) was BM> supposed to be high (1) instead of low (0). Narrows down from around BM> fourteen connections to two (seven wires, two ends). Yea! Resoldered BM> both ends, no more display issues. NB> Just a bit arcane.... ;) but, I think I followed that.... even NB> if there's no chance I could replicate it... Probably not! OTOH sort of a technical example of troubleshooting wiring errors. Pretty sure I told you about the electrical issues here and at a friend's aunt's place of wiring done by electricians which failed (wire loosened). Test and notice a pattern as to what is working and what is not working. ...And if one doesn't know what they're doing better to leave alone and have a professional correct but one can still observe "this outlet works and these do not". NB>>>>> Yes, I remember your mentioning that before... and it would have NB>>>>> made sense to be able to wear the shirts you had for sale.... ;) BM>>>> Corporate did finally allow a tiny bit of colour on the buttons and BM>>>> seams/decoration. NB>>>> Someone talked some sense into them, I guess... ;) BM>>> Or enough complaints from the smaller stores! The large stores BM>>> probably carried acceptable merchandise but us medium-sized stores BM>>> did not. NB>>> True... that might have played into it... :) BM>> Probably. The ones making up the rules may have wandered the BM>> departments (or sent a flunky) and came back with "yes, we have it" and BM>> forgot the other stores wouldn't carry all the merchandise. Or BM>> intended to send and never did. NB>> A range of where the shortsightedness might have stemmed from... BM> Yes. The 'clean look' of all-white or all-black was a good idea, just BM> could not be properly implemented. It could be done, but at a cost, BM> and the cost was to the employees and the company as we would have to BM> spend more money elsewhere (no assosicate discount) and the elsewhere BM> meant we were not spending money with the company. NB> So, in hindsight, they were shooting themselves with the NB> policy... ;) Yup! IIRC the origination of the policy was not to advertise other brands, as in brands we do not carry but then got extended a little too far to the stitching. NB>>>> So less urgency to check out the solar option.... at least for now... BM>>> Yes, for now. Good news: I got the urge to straighten out BM>>> that part of the basement. Bad news: some of the mess is just moved BM>>> to a different location while being sorted. Good news: some of the BM>>> moved mess is waiting to be put out in next Monday's trash pickup. BM>>> Good news: found another solar charger which I brought up here to BM>>> test, so suppose the 'bad news' is haven't tested yet. (Need to find BM>>> a Round TuIt!) NB>>> Overall, not a bad set of affairs... ;) I see more positives than NB>>> not, there... ;) And useful to have a second solar charger as long NB>>> as it works, too... ;) BM>> Which I haven't tested yet. Still waiting for Round TuIt, though I BM>> might be able to give a more believable excuse as it's been cloudy BM>> outside. If the Sun does break through hides quickly. OTOH low Sun BM>> conditions would be a good test. ...Moved the box the solar charger BM>> is in to 'slightly in the way' to remind me this afternoon. NB>> Any progress there...? BM> Yes -- three or four days ago reported it wasn't working. BM> (This being behind in e-mail does have some disadvantages!) As I BM> mentioned then, I think the primary problem is the UV Block in the BM> windows: doesn't allow the Sun to fully activate the solar cells. NB> Yes, I remember answering that message.... :) Me too! And believe it or not I'd be willing to retest with a different solar cell - but! And the 'but' being a checking out of if newer or a different type of cell works (generates electricity) with 'light' as opposed to requiring UV. I don't know enough about how solar cells works -- know there are different LEDs: infrared, various colours of visibble light, don't know offhand if UV. Might be similar for solar cells. OTOH might be cheaper and easier to mount on the other side of the UV-blocking windows. Or just plug a charger into the wall outlet every so often. BM>>> Was sort of checking out the original solar charger in the basement BM>>> window while doing my clean up: lowering it would get rid of the BM>>> shadow from the house but not sure if enough. At this point moved BM>>> stuff is in the way. NB>>> As long as you get it moved back out of the way fairly soon, it NB>>> shouldn't be much of a setback... ;) And it does sound like it will NB>>> be a trial and error sort of assessment... BM>> As I mentioned in an earlier message I'm (finally!!) cleaning up my BM>> Electronics Workbench Area. Part of the delay was no projects to work BM>> on -- nice to have those teeny-tiny components so the device is BM>> compact but can't hand-solder! (Imagine the size of your cellphone BM>> with integrated circuits the size of a thumbdrive!) Plus some of the BM>> old stuff I had been saving for parts, etc., is now just too old. NB>> So the But First list has dwindled down to Now This Project... ;) BM> For now! Plus I made a bit of a mess up here because of cleaning BM> downstairs: some items downstairs currently make more sense to be up BM> here so were brought up. Need to sort but various interruptions. NB> Which is why projects always take longer than anticipated.... ;) In this case because worse than anticipated! Also sort of create a mess while cleaning up another one: there were some PS/2 type extension cables downstairs (for keyboards and mice - the round plug as opposed to the USB type). Knew they were down there; right now makes more sense to bring the up here where the spare keyboards and mice are - keep all together. BM>>> ... Avenge yourself: live long enough to be a problem to your BM>>> children. NB>>> That could backfire.... BM>> Wonder if I can find the tagline about the children are the ones BM>> selecting the retirement home?! NB>> I've seen a pin with that on it... Be kind to your children, they'll NB>> be choosing your retirement home... Dunno if I have a tag with that NB>> either... :) BM> I think I looked in my collection while getting ready to pack the BM> reply into the REP but didn't find. NB> I didn't find it in my collection... BM> ... Be nice to your kids: they select your nursing home. NB> There it is.... ;) You may have been doing the same thing I did and used "retire" as the search term. ¯ ® ¯ Barry_Martin_3@ ® ¯ @Q.COM ® ¯ ® .... Headline: Larger Kangaroos Leap Farther, Researchers Find --- MultiMail/Win32 v0.47 þ wcECHO 4.2 ÷ ILink: The Safe BBS þ Bettendorf, IA --- QScan/PCB v1.20a / 01-0462 * Origin: ILink: CFBBS | cfbbs.no-ip.com | 856-933-7096 (454:1/1) .