Having A Life often is a much resented intrusion into our quality time on the net

Doing  a quick update:

Having A Life often is a much resented intrusion into our quality time on the net...

Yes, that serves as the concise reality for many of us. Even so- the few posts here and there should show me as "NOT DEAD!"  I'm shortly off to Maker Faire KC.  But one update almost missed, I've formally registered allcatsgotohell.com as a placeholder.  Still edfing around some fiddlybits of Origin Story Etc for characters of "Concept Anchor"importance lest I be forced into Retcon if I B0rk details that won't mesh with stuff already cast in brimstone.

But one pretty firm element is almost frozen in wood:

Rainbow Bridge: We all know what it looks like in our mind's eye... even if we've never looked closely enough yet. A closer look from POV- Cat after Life #9 has been completed? Ah, THEY see something that few if any mere mortals will ever see directly absent things best not speculated upon. .. The cat sees their attention inexorably compelled to the left gatepost of the fabled Rainbow Bridge.  and thence they read it clearly...  HEY CAT!!! and an Arrow.

Arrow points to Spiral Staircase leading down into That which is simply called Hell. Leaning against rail of Staircase is a rather obviously shopworn cat tapping a large cigar with his thumb. And using thumb on other paw to point downwards.

Details of Opening Walk to ninth level  still in polish to mesh with already frozen tiles of a mosaic... other than wondering how to avoid drama over using a REAL piccy of the "Our Mission Your Future" sign as the banner above the cat's work doorway.

Election fears. and openly declaring my contempt for Kleptocratic Oligarchy.

 I am one of those who PROUDLY uses an expanded vocabulary.

This way to the Egress.

It was the way a word can become an instrument of deceit. Egress is an expanded vocabulary term for EXIT. Well- we're seeing an impending egress from truth. We can quibble all day long about one party platform or another. The single focus to me is on truth. In a voting machine- it is often termed a "Logic and Accuracy" test.  Defined as testing if the output matches the input. And I am openly SCREAMING that not having an inked or punched audit trail is inherently enabling  fraud. It's why we should have declared an instant and public Grand Jury inquest into Romney owning even through blinds etc- VOTING MACHINES.  Obscenity sort of fails me now. so I substitute a not considered yet obscene term for whatever childish epithets I'd be at risk of loosing.   Kleptocratic Oligarchy.

http://mouthlessscream.blogspot.com/2011/01/kleptocratic-oligarchies-and-you.html


Is a good explanation.

Read it and weep.

I get asked to recover files when Something Very Bad has happened to a device. My first question tends to be dependent on the person's background. From that, more often than not- It's a safe guess which people make frequent down&uploads to sync their devices with cloud AND personal storage redundancy. So asking about last known good backup is often proof of a strategic concept.

Backup or lose it .

The people who are not asking me to recover files back up frequently to many places and devices for redundancy.  They are the least frequent to be asking for help in retrieving files.

That's said as a pre-emptive strategy. If you back it up to at least 3 places, you have "less chance" of losing data. Data includes pictures, Bookmarks, and anything that you may have the only copy of at all.  I'm polishing an integrated details "How-To streamlining my training sessions for "Data Loss Risk Reductions"  but pending the DLRR course getting finished- here's a link to someone who shows one way of self-rescue from Something Very Bad befalling a Windows install. It's slightly dated but still works.

http://www.shockfamily.net/cedric/knoppix/  

New add to my recommended reads list:  It's about Adoption and do overlook any style roughness. 


 http://onceadored.blogspot.com/2005/04/tummy-ladies.html

It captures a lot that needs to be said.

Re-evaluation of what's really needed for any daily tool usage is something frequently overlooked. That's a life lesson folks I see around me alternate between "Leading By Example" about or serving as an example of how _not_ to do it -extremes. I'm Leading By Example in sharing my notes etc on laptop docks..And how/why they are a daily tool to re-evaluate.

Recently I followed a suggestion to set up some laptop docking stations with a KVM switch to use the KVM of that workstation's computer as fast task switching. I'm trying to find where the most valuable locations are and that's a work in progress. The docks for my unreservedly recommended IBM "T Series" laptops are frequently <$30 or less delivered Internet vendors prices and comparable in many cities. The trivial effort of seating laptop in dock and typing the hotkey sequence pays off in having all my files etc right there plus rendering backups to local NAS a lot more likely.  Face it- we're less liable to do a net backup if we come and don't take that laptop out of the bag other than "when working away" or on the road. So- on to the how&why parts.


Prime example being the current experiment of one such dock+KVM switch at the desk in wifey's campground. It's an exasperating few moments to do any user switching between "my" task and the campground's reservations program. Shortening that delay to hotkeys and a screen flicker has been a Very Good Experience.  It raises the chance that laptop's battery will be full instead of empty and that file versions on it will be most current.

The most Compulsive Detailed Backup Scheme is of no use unless it's synced across machine's on their local drives for times&places where comm links do not exist. That dock being used frequently has rapidly shown signs of becoming a new daily tool. Commercial users have been using docks just short of since laptops first had them. So many of us simply never thought it worth the effort or just never had access to them.  Hardware docks from the OEM tend to work flawlessly with Linux excepting the odd Numlock glitches solved by BIOS settings "lid switch" for your situation's usage.  If the generic USB docks work for you they're a worthy option too. So far- this has been a pretty smooth life hacking ride. I have not booted up my former couchside computer in about 4 days and have not noticed any differences in life beyond quieter from fewer fans and more  smiles about shedding several hundred watts power usage. 

I am proudly using Puppy Linux and giving a shout out to the project team is the least I can do:

http://puppylinux.org

Puppy is one of my "Daily Tool" prize winners.

The closer for today is as mentioned above. An additional point scored for laptop docks-  lowered power usages.  By sometimes 400+ watts per hour. Do the math for your area's power billing. Any questions?

Condenser unit repair Hackery.

I was told the campground store's air conditioner had stopped cooling. A quick evaluation showed no cooling at the inside coils. Which meant a ladder trip up onto the roof.  Did I say it was 105 degrees F?

Snipped for out of scope details- the initial diagnosis of bad connections at the multisection run/start caps was an "not totally so "situation.  Oh- I got a restart of both compressor&fan after clean/recrimp all the slip on terminals. I did not get a second restart of the condenser fan.  Which seemed to defy logic as all tested fine for voltages and my 20 year old Elenco capacitor tester indicated both the installed caps as being within spec. As were the two spares I swapped in to eliminate some weird breakdown under load. So all that was left- was the motor. Well- I had a spare in my graveyard of still part donors.. Except it would not fit the brackets.  The motor that was acting intermittent was mounted with a "Belly Band" mount.  The motor RFE proposed as a temp fix/ even permanent if it was safe. came attached to a round grille maybe 24 inches in diameter. Clearly we had a bit of creative engineering to do.

So- we left it attached to it's screen grille and used hose clamps to secure the whole assembly to the old grille that was 26 or so inches diameter. Wired up black to one side of 220, purple to the right terminal of the run cap- and what appeared to be orangey yellow- went to the left side of the cap+ other leg of
the 220. Powered it up and it ran. Stopped it, waited for pressures to equalize and restarted- reasonable level of faith in the repair and for now- it's being called "Operational/ follow up as needed" pending hopefully the end of this year's cooling season. Addendum being that the current fan seems to have better airflow than the old one.

The intermittent motor is now on my workbench where a report on how&why it was wonky will be that "out of scope" referenced above.

Apparently the chain of servicers other than me all left various screws out and panels off. Which weathered the paper circuit diagrams and tags into nearly useless blurs. So On my "To-Do" is grabbing the diagrams etc from the net, using colored markers to highlight the as built and annotated for "AS-IS" status.. and thence laminating the pages. Same applies to using Sharpie Marker for annotating all details not stupidly obvious. Note to self- make schedule to verify oiling of  all HVAC/Cooling motors ASAP.

And to refasten all panels others had left off.

thereifixedit

We had a 3 point hitch "grading blade" break it's left side pin for the second time last night.

It had been already welded once and a NOS pin unit was over $100.
I commented on FB and some folks asked to see it. Here it is..

So, I took a long upper link style pin and bolted it in place using some heavy metal plate stock as clamp blocks. The brutally fugly hack seems to be holding.  First picture is the undamaged right side, second is the bolted plates fix. It only needs to last till we either get a NOS replacement or fabricate a proper one.  Do notice that part of the whole "reason" for the massive block OEM part is as  corner structural bracing. So this hackery is NOT going to be used for long.  But? It's a thereifixedit in action. Oh- the reason for the tie wire at pin's end is so if it comes apart- we hopefully won't lose the pin in the gravel we're moving around on our roads.

www.campdownunder.com

Is where this example of battle damage repair lives. Wife owns a campground and the above is how we keep it alive since gasoline has been lowered to $ 3.29 again.. Billions of profits for the oil companies and we let them control us. The Ford Jubilee that blade is attached to "could" easily run on Ethanol and may do so sooner rather than later too. Or digester gas. Or wood gas. OPEC Delenda Est?

I'm sort of unconcerned by anyone not wanting me to work for them after reading an anti-OPEC comment! As any American who is promoting OPEC's interests over America's is guilty of Treason.