Got a video test signal generator cheap as surplus. With the end of analog TV, a bunch of pro level gear is suddenly affordable.

I wanted to test some old neon pinball score displays, so I put together the proper connector, programmed an Arduino to generate the appropriate control signals, and used my ancient Heathkit power supply as a source of 190V. Success!

Without downloading any new pics, describe your gender

I've long been a fan of Papermate's Flair Ultrafine felt tip pens. However, they don't show up in stores any more, so I buy them in bulk online. This makes me worry that they'll stop making them. Even now, it's hard to find the non-multicolor sets. The Pilot RazorPoint is a poor substitute.

Reading a science fiction novel, I realize the orbital mechanics are not right. I fear I'm becoming that guy.

Abbott Elementary (which actually does have good long seasons) just made a crack about shows with short seasons! Well played.

Happy Caturday!

The Romans worried that if people could just vote for what they wanted, they'd just vote themselves bread and circuses. You know what? That's not a bad thing. People should be able to eat, and have some enjoyment in life. This stealing food from people to give to the rich is a MUCH worse idea.

I saw a post addressing a comment that “The GDT version of Frankenstein isn’t close to the book!”, making the (good) point that such things shouldn't impede storytelling. To me, the movie did capture the feel and mood of the book, which is frankly impressive for any movie, let alone Frankenstein.

Saw "golden eggnog" for sale and wondered what it was. The website claims "the recipe has been a secret for more than 50 years", but looking at the ingredients, I have to wonder how popular high fructose corn syrup, mono & diglycerides, yellow 5 & 6, and red 40 were in grandma's kitchen.

I bought a bulk batch of assorted books from a used bookseller. The title of this one intrigued me. "The Revolving Boy", by Gertude Friedberg, is a tale about a boy with an unerring sense of direction that is somewhat of an alienating hindrance but becomes invaluable for navigating the universe.

Managed to find a good deal for a used M4 Mini with 24GB RAM, promptly opened it up to replace the 256GB SSD with a 2TB one. Surgery was a success.

If shipping is halted from Denmark to the US, how are we getting new Lego sets?

Our landline gets a loud hum when it rains. Verizon had no techs that day, and the next day rescheduled again. Now it's dry and the issue isn't apparent. A tech finally came out, and their stupid bot asked me if the issue is fixed. I replied "I'll find out when it rains." "Answer YES or NO."

I got another of those spam emails saying I have to "re-authenticate" and redirecting to a web site trying to collect my bitcoin recovery phrase. So I wrote a quick program to generate recovery phrases and spam their endpoint. This hopefully will get them banned.

Got a call from scammers claiming they were Publishers Clearinghouse and I had won a large prize. The timing is ironic, as Publishers Clearinghouse recently folded, leaving winners expecting $1000 a week for life for life suddenly not getting the money they were promised.

Let me get this straight, it's "overstock", but also "limited stocks"? Limited overstock, maybe?

Leaving aside the cognitive dissonance of "manor", "wedding", and "barn", I suspect @bcdreyer.social would roll his eyes at the use of "flare" for "flair" (although road flares would make an amusing wedding accoutrement), I'm unsure what to make of "OL".

Saw this Halloween "novelty toy" at Wal*Mart. Unsure quite what to make of it. It includes some bright green powder and some plastic spiders in various colors. How do you play with this?

TC likes to stand on his toys. #Caturday

Apparently a bully was giving someone crap online, but they're both smart and a musician, and had the admirable dual response of a) blocking them, and b) writing and performing a banger song advising the rest of us to do the same. Maple's Pet Dinosaur's good advice: "Block 'em like a Lego!"

If following the plot of your oh-so-artistic show involves accurately keeping track of a bunch of similar looking people who keep changing their names — and faces — along with non-linear storytelling, I'm gonna have a confusing time.

I ordered something from several states away, but it seems to be traveling by Zeno's delivery service. The first day, it went 859 miles, then 259, then 221. Now it's 32 miles away. Maybe it'll arrive tomorrow?

Just tripped over this juxtaposition of a couple of posts from 2014, including a still-trenchant cover photo by @ninjacooter.bsky.social

If you could get a crib in any five cities (five cribs) of your choice in the world, which would you choose? • Reykjavik, Iceland • London, UK • NYC, USA • Seattle, USA • Oahu, USA

A beautiful example of "It does exactly what it says on the tin": Horror, Aliens.

While I have mixed feelings about Fusion 360, I must admit the "sheet metal" mode is useful. I'm using it to design a replica of a 1970s era radio control transmitter. I had it laser cut and did the bends on a table top sheet metal brake.

Just rewatched the Barbie movie. Oof, that hit hard. Like BarbieLand, we could have had a black woman president, a Constitution, and a working society. Instead a bunch of goobers showed up and made a mess and they just got away with it.

Last time we flew Frontier was a few years ago, and it was a good experience. This time around, it was wretched. Multi-hour delay attributed to "a galley item", "waiting on an arriving flight", and "mechanical". Getting home was also delayed and signs showed "DEPARTED" when it hadn't arrived.

These crows seemed to be calling the corners. In actuality, they were eating crumbs from a fallen bag of something. Eventually one of them grabbed the bag and flew with it up to the stop of a streelight, where they reconvened to eat it away from groundbound bypassers.

I get emails from AdaFruit with helpful electronics hints, but the latest one doesn't seem like the best advice: "Stick a large paper clip into the screw terminals of your desktop power supply. Now you can use multiple alligator clips off of a single terminal by connecting them to the paper clip!"

Getting these fundraising emails saying "raise $1,273 before MIDNIGHT". That's oddly specific. Where do they get this figure? And talk about a 500% match, limited time only. Matches are rarely real, and twice with the urgency. And the "nobody is donating!" whine. I wonder why...

Years ago, I mocked this dinosaur sculpture at a theme park for having a navel, as dinosaurs were generally oviparous. But recently I learned that some birds have an umbilicus from where they were connected to the yolk in the egg. So perhaps my mockery was uncalled for.

After the mechanic failed to fix my engine and I built my own test gear to find out the problem, I obtained the replacement part with this curious pictogram. I think the implication is "for mechanics only, not ordinary people", but I'm gonna cheerfully proceed to install it myself.

My car started acting up, occasionally shuddering and losing power. I took it to the shop, where they cleaned the MAF sensor, but that didn't fix it. It seemed like an ignition problem but I don't have a tester, so I built an inductive probe. Sure enough, one of the coils has a bad waveform.

Still debugging this software driven bus cycle system. The problem is that sometimes chip select (CS) isn't asserted (it should be asserted every time OE is). Looking at the assembly , the compiler sometimes uses tst/bne for bit tests, but sometimes lsls/bmi for some reason.

Ratza frazzit debugging software implementation of CPU bus timing grumble complain whinge

If you see this post an image you saved because it made you laugh

I've heard a lot about how Big Oil is behind a bunch of sketchy things, but the one I worry about is Big Napkin.

The branding on these (basically heart shaped freeze dried meat lollipops) is amusing: "Meaty Sticko!" "Kitty Snacko!"

When the sun hits our tomato plants just right, the stems almost glow.

I was working in the basement and the lights suddenly went out. I started working through them, expecting to find a short in one of the fixtures, but it turned out the wire between fixtures had become shorted somehow. Fishing new wire through a finished ceiling is tricky.

Sure enough, with a fast enough CPU, you can emulate a much older CPU as well as its clock generator in software by bit-banging GPIO signals on the fly.

Tractor stopped charging partway last week. Talked to the vendor, who told me to talk to the charger manufacturer. Manufacturer said it was a very reliable unit, I should really check the connection. I opened up the connector itself, and they were right. I fixed the wiring and it charges again.

Something has been preying on the local flying insects, leaving nothing but the wings behind. Perhaps birds?

I was over at a friend's house, and they told my their doctor changed their meds. "Oh, yeah?" "Yeah, apparently now I'm taking BB-8!" *giggles*

I poked around a little on JobLeads, so they sent me a list of accounts they thought were a good match. I'm guessing these are actually bots that are good at keyword stuffing but not good at making up names for themselves. I don't think I'll be opting for "JobLeads Premium".

There was a post a little while back (I can't find it, of course) listing a whole bunch of things people had used as bookmarks (dollar bill, feather, etc.). I was using a library hold slip as a bookmark until I realized the book I was reading was bound with a ribbon in it for use as a place marker!

Apparently Home Depot's concept of "first aid" boils down to "screw a switch plate over the wound".

My sister invited me over to try making glass art in her studio today. My first piece is in the kiln!