Stumbled upon this in eBay: replacement DC jack for my Averatec notebook. Hundreds of them, in fact.
I fixed mine with just some soldering on the existing jack. Replaced nothing.
20071015
Review: Ratatouille
We took all the offspring units to the matinee, after Barbaloot heard good things about Pixar's latest, Ratatouille.
I found myself liking it, in spite of my general disdain for all things Mickey.
Three things leapt out at me from this picture, each of which earns the price of admission:
- animation of hair and fiber. A lightning bolt hits Remy and his brother, singeing their hair. You can see the tiny balls of randomly-fused keratin at the ends of each hair in their coats. In another scene, an army of rats are bathed in a restaurant dishwasher. The wet, clean fur is modeled perfectly.
- the food critic's writeup. Jaw-dropping in clarity, humility, and wit. Totally unexpected. Go here and find "the work of a critic is easy" in the page. I think a line is missing: "sometimes, the New needs friends."
- the soundtrack. Stay in the theater after the rest of the crowd has bailed, and listen to the score while the credits roll to the very end. It's rich, layered. It's this guy's work, and it brought tears welling in my eyes and a lump in my throat, just like his score for The Incredibles. Yeah, I do get that way.
Sorry, I don't do stars or thumbs-up.
The chilling effect of state-provided medicine
Rush Limbaugh's program last week, regarding Bush's veto of the SCHIP
program, and his program today covering Lt Gen Sanchez's remarks about
Iraq war reporting, prompt me to observe how the two topics may intersect.
SCHIP is for damn sure a "gateway drug" that could nationalize the entire US
medical industry. Apart from the disaster it would cause to the medical industry
itself (I eschew the term "health care"), what would be the potential
consequences to other institutions, or to seemingly-unrelated civil rights?
Imagine that HillaryCare is implemented across the United States; military
retirees (such as Gen Sanchez) are migrated from TriCare to HillaryCare. It
would be a surprise if such a migration is not being contemplated by single-payer
proponents, or else they couldn't call it "single payer," could they?
There's long-standing precedent that if the Federal Government pays for
something, they can exert great (if not total) control over it. Hell, it isn't just
precedent anymore, it's a governing philosophy among the Left. They count on
getting that control, otherwise they wouldn't bother trying to get the funding
for it, whatever "it" may be.
Then let's say that Gen Sanchez develops a medical problem of some kind---all
manner of manageable-if-treated conditions come with retirement age. These
are now, under HillaryCare, under the control of government payers, auditors,
physicians, review boards, information technology (remember standardized
universal recordkeeping?) etc.
People in these careers will stake their advancement on drinking the single-payer
KoolAid, either because they are true believers in single-payer, or because they
owe their jobs to its existence.
Regardless, a person employed by that system, or responsible for making it work,
might want a critic to shut up. Consciously or subconsciously, they have the
means to do so.
"Hmmm, there's no record of a scheduled bypass surgery here, sir, I'm sorry," or
"There's an error in the database about your medications, sir," or worse yet,
"I'm very sorry, Ma'am, there was an error with the medications prescribed for
your husband, and these two medications combined are very dangerous. They
should never have been prescribed together."
Then a few days later: "No, ma'am, the Medical Cost Containment Amendment
of 2010 prohibits you from suing Federally-funded caregivers for your husband's
death, without permission. You have to apply for permission from the Program
to sue it." The application process will keep the Trial Lawyers well fed, even if
the lawsuits themselves do not. Gotta throw them a bone.
No doubt there are some on the Left who wish this outcome for their critics (but
will never concede that it could happen in a program run by the Left's "our
people"), so as presented, it wouldn't appeal to them. To sell this angle to the
Left, it will have to be cross-dressed a bit.
Since they insist on vilifying President Bush, ask them how much they'd like
their health care---top to bottom, stubbed toe to rehab to final bill, womb to
the tomb---directed by a Bush appointee instead of "our people"?
Forget tax audits: they're chump change compared to arbitrary bureaucratic
power over life and death.
Fair warning: this will get crass. Don't blame me.
The medical is the personal, and the Left wants
to make the medical political---the polar opposite
of "personal." It can't help but become crass.
End of fair warning.
The medical is the personal, and the Left wants
to make the medical political---the polar opposite
of "personal." It can't help but become crass.
End of fair warning.
How safe would Cindy Sheehan feel in openly criticizing the Administration if
her next PAP smear literally depended on it?
20071005
Time to send Wayne some more help
I'm writing another check for Wayne Fincher's legal defense fund.
Please help with his legal costs, he's taking one for the rest of us.
Please help with his legal costs, he's taking one for the rest of us.
Hollis Wayne Fincher Defense Fund
PO Box 215
Elkins AR 72727
20070918
Please don't Tase me! Please! I haven't done anything!
I need recommendations for a left-hand small-of-back holster for a Glock 23.
Really. Somebody. All I found so far is Galco.
Really. Somebody. All I found so far is Galco.
20070913
Suitably stable
Our migration to Tiger seems to be running well, in spite of having to upgrade the OS in place rather than a clean install.
One hitch, not directly related to Tiger: can't figure out how to migrate an email account from Netscape 7.1 over to Thunderbird. Still prompts as if it's a brand new account that never existed before instead of importing folders.
One hitch, not directly related to Tiger: can't figure out how to migrate an email account from Netscape 7.1 over to Thunderbird. Still prompts as if it's a brand new account that never existed before instead of importing folders.
20070827
At least they know a good design when they see it
At Barnes and Noble, Coronado Center, ABQ last week, this cover art jumped out at me:
It's a magazine that appears to have the production values and artistic sense of Wired, but concentrates on "doing good." Have a look for yourself, by all means.
From the article:
People give purpose to themselves, or they glide through life without purpose at all. Which is the more destructive? This includes the devout, who no doubt will claim that a purpose was given them by the Savior---for purposes of this post, I consider them to have sought and chosen their purposes.
The Kalashnikov rifle is designed to do a given thing, and its design must be evaluated in terms of how well it does that thing. Good's writers understand and agree that it did indeed fulfill its purpose well. They merely disagree with that purpose.
From the X-ray, I can't tell whether they have an AK-47 or an AKM. I don't see rivets, I don't see the outline or the meat of the rear trunnion for the under folder. No cleaning rod running through the forearm, where an X-ray would show it starkly in contrast to the wood or polymer forearm, and the steel insert in the forearm's barrel channel. The pistol grip shows as much density as the thin walls of the receiver or the solid chunk of the front trunnion.
I'd put a Starbucks venti on the notion that this art isn't an X-ray photograph at all, but an artist's rendering of an AK from a field-stripped parts diagram, massaged to look like an X-ray, to suggest that they've really looked at how an AK is put together. "See inside! Ewwwww!"
Appreciation of good design doesn't stop at how well the device serves its application, but delves into how it is made, the meta-design if you will: this machine was made to be made cheaply.
It's a magazine that appears to have the production values and artistic sense of Wired, but concentrates on "doing good." Have a look for yourself, by all means.
From the article:
The problem is that “good design” didn’t look much beyond the object itself. An AK-47 rifle, for example, makes use of sound and appropriate materials and it demonstrates other criteria of good design, such as solid workmanship, efficiency, and suitability of purpose . . . the AK-47 is a classic in the annals of good design (it also happens to be most popular firearm in the world). But the question then is: good for what and for whom?Well dammit, design shouldn't look beyond the object itself. The object serves a purpose. People give purposes to things.
People give purpose to themselves, or they glide through life without purpose at all. Which is the more destructive? This includes the devout, who no doubt will claim that a purpose was given them by the Savior---for purposes of this post, I consider them to have sought and chosen their purposes.
The Kalashnikov rifle is designed to do a given thing, and its design must be evaluated in terms of how well it does that thing. Good's writers understand and agree that it did indeed fulfill its purpose well. They merely disagree with that purpose.
From the X-ray, I can't tell whether they have an AK-47 or an AKM. I don't see rivets, I don't see the outline or the meat of the rear trunnion for the under folder. No cleaning rod running through the forearm, where an X-ray would show it starkly in contrast to the wood or polymer forearm, and the steel insert in the forearm's barrel channel. The pistol grip shows as much density as the thin walls of the receiver or the solid chunk of the front trunnion.
I'd put a Starbucks venti on the notion that this art isn't an X-ray photograph at all, but an artist's rendering of an AK from a field-stripped parts diagram, massaged to look like an X-ray, to suggest that they've really looked at how an AK is put together. "See inside! Ewwwww!"
Appreciation of good design doesn't stop at how well the device serves its application, but delves into how it is made, the meta-design if you will: this machine was made to be made cheaply.
20070818
Humble beginnings
A letter arrived today from Thrift Savings Program, which is the pretax savings plan for Uncle Sugar's military. I needed to sit down after reading:
More of this, please, and more boldly.
We will no longer use your Social Security number as your primary identifier . . .Humble beginnings. It's not without its bugs, of course:
. . . if you talk to our call center representatives, they may ask you for your Social Security number as added protection.They'll still rely on the SSN as a password---verification of identification---but not as identification itself. It's not what I was hoping for, not what servicemen (and all taxpayers) deserve, but for the FedGov this is a huge step.
More of this, please, and more boldly.
20070814
Rev Horton Heat would be dismayed
The State of New Mexico has some inexplicable animus against the martini.
Their highway signs warning against DUI use the distinctive silhouette of the martini glass as the universal symbol for abuse of alcohol. It's unmistakable.
I'd venture to say that the Land of Enchantment has arrested more DUIs suffering impairment from lagers than from martinis of all kinds.
Their highway signs warning against DUI use the distinctive silhouette of the martini glass as the universal symbol for abuse of alcohol. It's unmistakable.
I'd venture to say that the Land of Enchantment has arrested more DUIs suffering impairment from lagers than from martinis of all kinds.
Gone
My brother passed away quietly, in his home, with family near him. I was able to see him and speak to him before that, though I could not bring Toad to meet him. His wife and children move on, with dignity and peace.
We just completed the trek down to Phoenix for his memorial and back, offspring units and all, by passenger car and reward points by Marriott.
This brother was the presence of my father while my father worked away, by the week, during my adolescent and teen years. This brother taught me chemistry in the short hours of summer nights. This brother, when heading out for the service academy appointment he fought for, rued leaving me behind with quarreling parents and a house rotting beneath me. I will always be aware of the long shadow he cast.
This is the brother who exercised the most, lived the "cleanest" if you will, and surprised the rest of us the most by suffering and losing an uneven fight with cancer while the returns on his investments in life were just beginning to roll in.
He died the day that the en banc ruling against Abigail Alliance came down. He could have benefited from the medicines that this case sought to make available. He probably could have benefited also from medical practice disconnected from one's employment; he lost valuable time shuttling from appointment to referral to appointment, until the only service of use to him was hospice.
We just completed the trek down to Phoenix for his memorial and back, offspring units and all, by passenger car and reward points by Marriott.
This brother was the presence of my father while my father worked away, by the week, during my adolescent and teen years. This brother taught me chemistry in the short hours of summer nights. This brother, when heading out for the service academy appointment he fought for, rued leaving me behind with quarreling parents and a house rotting beneath me. I will always be aware of the long shadow he cast.
This is the brother who exercised the most, lived the "cleanest" if you will, and surprised the rest of us the most by suffering and losing an uneven fight with cancer while the returns on his investments in life were just beginning to roll in.
He died the day that the en banc ruling against Abigail Alliance came down. He could have benefited from the medicines that this case sought to make available. He probably could have benefited also from medical practice disconnected from one's employment; he lost valuable time shuttling from appointment to referral to appointment, until the only service of use to him was hospice.
20070808
If I were to have only one, or two, or . .
If I were to have only one rifle, I would consider myself a poor sorry son of a bitch.
In spite of the revered Colonel Cooper's teachings, I would not be satisfied with a Scout. Even JC wasn't happy with a single Scout rifle, even after he had a Steyr built to his specs. My Scouts and/or Pseudoscouts don't cover all of the bases either.
So neither Cabinet Man nor I have only a single rifle, and we seem to keep acquiring them, he at his customary rate and I at mine, with various purposes or roles attached to each.
But the question lingers. So flesh it with some assumptions:
TEOTWAWKI. Your stock of ammunition is what you have around you, possibly supplemented by what neighbors can spare or trade away.
Hits count. Fred gave you the Rifleman patch at a recent Appleseed clinic and you're confident to hit what you can see out to 400, maybe 600 meters. The rifle shoots better than you do.
Fixed, defensible homestead. What you've acquired through the years is still under or around you, and one purpose of the rifle is to keep it.
Partially organized but State-less attackers. Looters, vagabonds, rabble who were created in a city they find no longer habitable. Some may be trained as soldiers. They have no supply chain.
If any US troops show up, your mayor and sheriff stride out to meet them, say everything is fine, offer them breakfast and ask "who's the President?"
Golly. Any of the .30/7.62mm's cited in Boston's Gun Bible would do.
Change assumptions, then. Instead of equipping your own self and maybe some neighbors for Post-Housing-Bubble, let's say you're fielding an army of a few thousand, and you have a small country's treasury at your disposal while the copper and yellowcake mines are still producing.
That's easy. An AR15, converted to piston operation instead of direct impingement, internally dehorned, possibly carbon fiber instead of aluminum, chambered in 6.5mm x39 Grendel. There may be no full- or burst-auto. Every soldier starts out on a 16" barreled carbine and everybody qualifies with between 600 and 1000 rounds per year.
Your Brit expat DIs and Devil Dog marksmanship instructors find the better of them and graduate them to 20 or 22" barreled designated marksman rifles.
The crew-served weapon is the American contender to replace the M249, still firing 6.5 G on disintegrating links.
Any other set of assumptions probably lies somewhere in the middle of these two extremes.
In spite of the revered Colonel Cooper's teachings, I would not be satisfied with a Scout. Even JC wasn't happy with a single Scout rifle, even after he had a Steyr built to his specs. My Scouts and/or Pseudoscouts don't cover all of the bases either.
So neither Cabinet Man nor I have only a single rifle, and we seem to keep acquiring them, he at his customary rate and I at mine, with various purposes or roles attached to each.
But the question lingers. So flesh it with some assumptions:
TEOTWAWKI. Your stock of ammunition is what you have around you, possibly supplemented by what neighbors can spare or trade away.
Hits count. Fred gave you the Rifleman patch at a recent Appleseed clinic and you're confident to hit what you can see out to 400, maybe 600 meters. The rifle shoots better than you do.
Fixed, defensible homestead. What you've acquired through the years is still under or around you, and one purpose of the rifle is to keep it.
Partially organized but State-less attackers. Looters, vagabonds, rabble who were created in a city they find no longer habitable. Some may be trained as soldiers. They have no supply chain.
If any US troops show up, your mayor and sheriff stride out to meet them, say everything is fine, offer them breakfast and ask "who's the President?"
Golly. Any of the .30/7.62mm's cited in Boston's Gun Bible would do.
Change assumptions, then. Instead of equipping your own self and maybe some neighbors for Post-Housing-Bubble, let's say you're fielding an army of a few thousand, and you have a small country's treasury at your disposal while the copper and yellowcake mines are still producing.
That's easy. An AR15, converted to piston operation instead of direct impingement, internally dehorned, possibly carbon fiber instead of aluminum, chambered in 6.5mm x39 Grendel. There may be no full- or burst-auto. Every soldier starts out on a 16" barreled carbine and everybody qualifies with between 600 and 1000 rounds per year.
Your Brit expat DIs and Devil Dog marksmanship instructors find the better of them and graduate them to 20 or 22" barreled designated marksman rifles.
The crew-served weapon is the American contender to replace the M249, still firing 6.5 G on disintegrating links.
Any other set of assumptions probably lies somewhere in the middle of these two extremes.
20070804
"VOID IF TAMPERED" be damned
My treasured little 4.5-lb Averatec subnotebook has given me a couple of fits. This February, its video began to flicker erratically. I shut her down at once, then carefully found the screws that covered its video card. A phillips screwdriver bit punched through the VOID IF TAMPERED seals covering them. I blew a can or so of air through the copper heatsink and put it all back together. No more video flickering. I should go back in and apply a drop of heatsink paste on the chip, but . . .
Now the power cord has been overheating. Where the plug wart enters the case of the computer, there have been baked-plastic smells, and incredible amounts of heat, so much that my valued iGo Power power supply's jack got so hot that its insulation started to melt. I've been jiggling the jack so the charge indicator lights. But on my latest trip, even jiggling doesn't get the computer to charge from the wall.
Being a consumer product, the Averatec is built to frustrate shade-tree computer mechanics such as your humble narrator. However, I strove to get to the eentsy printed-circuit board where the plug wart attaches, and slipped it out.
Cold solder joint, oh very yes. I combed through my brother's garage for solder and iron. Found two rotary tools that wouldn't start, they would have been handy to clean the joint prior to soldering, but too bad. I touched the joint up, reinserted, had no continuity (couldn't find a multimeter in brother's garage either, bummer), took the board back out, cleaned the cold joint with a pencil eraser, resoldered.
Bingo. Now she charges and runs without jiggling. No overheating to the point of etching my fingerprints into the plastic of the jack.
How many people would sh17-can an $800 notebook computer rather than sleuth a power supply problem? Should I put out a shingle for fixing stuff like this?
Now the power cord has been overheating. Where the plug wart enters the case of the computer, there have been baked-plastic smells, and incredible amounts of heat, so much that my valued iGo Power power supply's jack got so hot that its insulation started to melt. I've been jiggling the jack so the charge indicator lights. But on my latest trip, even jiggling doesn't get the computer to charge from the wall.
Being a consumer product, the Averatec is built to frustrate shade-tree computer mechanics such as your humble narrator. However, I strove to get to the eentsy printed-circuit board where the plug wart attaches, and slipped it out.
Cold solder joint, oh very yes. I combed through my brother's garage for solder and iron. Found two rotary tools that wouldn't start, they would have been handy to clean the joint prior to soldering, but too bad. I touched the joint up, reinserted, had no continuity (couldn't find a multimeter in brother's garage either, bummer), took the board back out, cleaned the cold joint with a pencil eraser, resoldered.
Bingo. Now she charges and runs without jiggling. No overheating to the point of etching my fingerprints into the plastic of the jack.
How many people would sh17-can an $800 notebook computer rather than sleuth a power supply problem? Should I put out a shingle for fixing stuff like this?
20070726
Test to recover comments
Ain't too happy with my commenting code recently. As usual, can't tell whether this is user error, change in code that I didn't stay current with, or flat-out broken code or bankruptcy on the part of the commenting system provider.
So the purpose of this post is to force Blogger to republish WUTT, and lefthandedly to apologize to all 4 of my regular readers for the gacked-up commenting.
Update: four minutes later, I think enetation has been hacked. Instead of "comments" appearing at the link to comments, the word "poseurs" appears. Don't like that. Comments work if I'm logged into enetation. Took the changes back out. Stumped. OK, gonna turn Blogger's comments on as well.
'Nuther update: my account at enetation maybe. Changed templates and reviewed settings. Lessee.
Yet 'nother update: had to rerun the counter. New settings, new template. Yippee.
So the purpose of this post is to force Blogger to republish WUTT, and lefthandedly to apologize to all 4 of my regular readers for the gacked-up commenting.
Update: four minutes later, I think enetation has been hacked. Instead of "comments" appearing at the link to comments, the word "poseurs" appears. Don't like that. Comments work if I'm logged into enetation. Took the changes back out. Stumped. OK, gonna turn Blogger's comments on as well.
'Nuther update: my account at enetation maybe. Changed templates and reviewed settings. Lessee.
Yet 'nother update: had to rerun the counter. New settings, new template. Yippee.
Nadia is reborn
Sorry, no pictures yet, the digital camera is in the shop and I won't annoy you with grainies from the camera in my phone.
But Nadia was reverently dismantled and rebuilt over the last week or so, using a spare Tapco flat but the superb rails scavenged from an AK-Builder flat that I, ummm, ruined.
Brownell's Teflon-Moly oven-cure once again covers the receiver, all else remains the scruffy, beaten "battlefield pickup" finish of the original kit.
Snapcaps cycle through this action fine, gotta see how live rounds do. And this time, all of my mags, including polymer Pro-Mags, seat, lock, and feed.
One problem, that has plagued every build of mine so far: the receiver walls at the trigger pin are just far enough apart that the pin can back out of the hole on the starboard side, allowing the trigger and disconnector to cant inside the receiver.
There's still a visible gap between the inside wall of the receiver and the circlip of the trigger pin. When that gap is closed, the far end of the pin flops out of the hole. Will my caliper tell me that the trigger pin hole dimples in the receiver have flattened? Or that I am not bending the flat square enough? Or is my tempering technique warping the receiver right there (and will stress-relieving prior to tempering solve that)? Kinda stumped.
On Franciszka, I fixed this with a dab of J-B Weld surrounding the hole on the starboard side. For Jadwiga, I'm improvising a fixture that will press "Y" dimples around the starboard hole.
Photos won't be up for a while, possibly a long while. Sorry.
But Nadia was reverently dismantled and rebuilt over the last week or so, using a spare Tapco flat but the superb rails scavenged from an AK-Builder flat that I, ummm, ruined.
Brownell's Teflon-Moly oven-cure once again covers the receiver, all else remains the scruffy, beaten "battlefield pickup" finish of the original kit.
Snapcaps cycle through this action fine, gotta see how live rounds do. And this time, all of my mags, including polymer Pro-Mags, seat, lock, and feed.
One problem, that has plagued every build of mine so far: the receiver walls at the trigger pin are just far enough apart that the pin can back out of the hole on the starboard side, allowing the trigger and disconnector to cant inside the receiver.
There's still a visible gap between the inside wall of the receiver and the circlip of the trigger pin. When that gap is closed, the far end of the pin flops out of the hole. Will my caliper tell me that the trigger pin hole dimples in the receiver have flattened? Or that I am not bending the flat square enough? Or is my tempering technique warping the receiver right there (and will stress-relieving prior to tempering solve that)? Kinda stumped.
On Franciszka, I fixed this with a dab of J-B Weld surrounding the hole on the starboard side. For Jadwiga, I'm improvising a fixture that will press "Y" dimples around the starboard hole.
Photos won't be up for a while, possibly a long while. Sorry.
20070712
Too bad they discourage gays in the military
Right about now I could use somebody who would know how to put a smoke detector in my rectum. That way I can tell when smoke is being blown up my ass.
20070702
Hell yes, I'm with Fred
The interview with Fred Thompson in the May 07 American Spectator clinched it for me.
He didn't so much as repudiate the campaign finance reforms that he championed in the past, but he did concede that they aren't having the success he had expected of them. He can be forgiven if he is willing to work to repeal them for laws that encourage campaign finance transparency and Internet-era accessibility.
Now where is he on the FairTax?
He didn't so much as repudiate the campaign finance reforms that he championed in the past, but he did concede that they aren't having the success he had expected of them. He can be forgiven if he is willing to work to repeal them for laws that encourage campaign finance transparency and Internet-era accessibility.
Now where is he on the FairTax?
20070620
Just made the roll, and it doesn't look very different
. . . between Mac OS X 10.2.8 and 10.4.6. The key applications seem to work: Nutscrape, PGP and Quicken. Though I'll upgrade or replace all of them as I get to them. The very same applications that, a few weeks ago, ceased to appear in the Dock and seem not to want to be put back there.
Thunderbird for Netscape 7, BTW.
It was an Upgrade install. Normally I whack the HD drive and do a Clean install upon it, but I wimped out and didn't want to backup and restore 20GB of my sh17.
Thunderbird for Netscape 7, BTW.
It was an Upgrade install. Normally I whack the HD drive and do a Clean install upon it, but I wimped out and didn't want to backup and restore 20GB of my sh17.
20070619
Teach your children well
It's another of those mornings where I am restless, pacing around the house while the family sleeps, but I cannot. If you don't believe me, look at the timestamp.
After running multiple over-analytical scenarios of house-modding, I notice that two layers of paper are taped to the picture window facing Lincolnway. One layer is a photocopy of a page from a How-to-draw-manga book I found at a bargain table years ago in the Mall of the Americas; the layer above it shows my daughter's attempts to trace manga upon the photocopy.
I carefully peeled the two layers from the window. They belong to one of my daughters, not sure which, but they do not belong on the window.
The trace looks very close to the original. In one way, that is good; daughter-unit sees and copies what she sees. In another way, not as good, in that she has copied what another creative mind has given to her, rather than creating her own vision.
In one way, good because she saw and was inspired; in another way, she did not complete the assignment. Some lines end before the idea behind them.
This is the torture and promise of rearing children. Finish what you start, or you pass the torture and promise together to them.
After running multiple over-analytical scenarios of house-modding, I notice that two layers of paper are taped to the picture window facing Lincolnway. One layer is a photocopy of a page from a How-to-draw-manga book I found at a bargain table years ago in the Mall of the Americas; the layer above it shows my daughter's attempts to trace manga upon the photocopy.
I carefully peeled the two layers from the window. They belong to one of my daughters, not sure which, but they do not belong on the window.
The trace looks very close to the original. In one way, that is good; daughter-unit sees and copies what she sees. In another way, not as good, in that she has copied what another creative mind has given to her, rather than creating her own vision.
In one way, good because she saw and was inspired; in another way, she did not complete the assignment. Some lines end before the idea behind them.
This is the torture and promise of rearing children. Finish what you start, or you pass the torture and promise together to them.
20070618
Oh I do so want a pair
. . . of Bionic Boots.
Wondering: if one gets reasonably stable standing in a pair of these, could one deliver a half-decent off-hand rifle shot from them? Imagine a platoon of riflemen running through a MOUT course with these things. Gives a new spin to "shoot. scoot and salute."
Wondering: if one gets reasonably stable standing in a pair of these, could one deliver a half-decent off-hand rifle shot from them? Imagine a platoon of riflemen running through a MOUT course with these things. Gives a new spin to "shoot. scoot and salute."
Today's burning Green question
A good friend of mine, formerly in the office supply business but nowadays a Dragon Soldier, tells me that when I replace an exhausted inkjet cartridge from my HP Photosmart 2500-series all-in-one printer and ship it back to HP Planet Partners in Tennessee, they do not refill it and ship it out to another grateful HP user.
Triangular contorted RECYCLED arrows to the contrary. He says they just throw 'em out. The postage-paid return envelope gives them Green cred and reduces the likelihood of customers refilling the little bastards and denying HP the repeat business.
I will probably never attempt refilling inkjet cartridges. It looks like something best left to companies that know how to manufacture them in the first place, or at least companies that can offer warranties on the performance of the refilled product.
Now, "throw them out" can also include offering the plastic package to the recycling gods, to be washed of all traces of ink, harvested of the little printed-circuit ribbon, and ground up, prior to reincarnation as Old Navy Performance Fleece. That qualifies as recycling in my book, but to many other Boomers it means an empty Rolling Rock bottle will be refilled with more Rolling Rock. Shame on us for unrealistic expectations.
But if my friend is right, I'm paying for the spent cartridge to be shipped to a distant place for proper disposal, not just in bucks but in the ethereal new coinage, marginal carbon footprint. I'd rather pay less and have it shlepped to the other side of town (versus other side of the Continent) for hashing back into its component molecules.
What's the business case here? Spending $.90 (postage and envelope) to gather up a plastic cartridge that cost $.10 to make and will be worth $.0005 as cullet polymer? Meanwhile releasing about a quarter of its mass as CO2 in the process to move it, strip it, and grind it? Raw deal, I think. What say you?
Triangular contorted RECYCLED arrows to the contrary. He says they just throw 'em out. The postage-paid return envelope gives them Green cred and reduces the likelihood of customers refilling the little bastards and denying HP the repeat business.
I will probably never attempt refilling inkjet cartridges. It looks like something best left to companies that know how to manufacture them in the first place, or at least companies that can offer warranties on the performance of the refilled product.
Now, "throw them out" can also include offering the plastic package to the recycling gods, to be washed of all traces of ink, harvested of the little printed-circuit ribbon, and ground up, prior to reincarnation as Old Navy Performance Fleece. That qualifies as recycling in my book, but to many other Boomers it means an empty Rolling Rock bottle will be refilled with more Rolling Rock. Shame on us for unrealistic expectations.
But if my friend is right, I'm paying for the spent cartridge to be shipped to a distant place for proper disposal, not just in bucks but in the ethereal new coinage, marginal carbon footprint. I'd rather pay less and have it shlepped to the other side of town (versus other side of the Continent) for hashing back into its component molecules.
What's the business case here? Spending $.90 (postage and envelope) to gather up a plastic cartridge that cost $.10 to make and will be worth $.0005 as cullet polymer? Meanwhile releasing about a quarter of its mass as CO2 in the process to move it, strip it, and grind it? Raw deal, I think. What say you?
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