Gadgets, technology, prices, cabbage and other stuff

I am not a big "gadget" guy but they can make life easier.

I have a backpack that I put Quicksilver into and we take walks. It has been good for my physical and emotional health to get outside and walk for two or three miles. Quicksilver seems to enjoy it as long as there are birds, squirrels, dogs and cats to look at while walking.

I have a blinking LED light that I put in the mesh bag on the back of the pack for visibility. I simply turn it on to "heartbeat mode" and drop it in. That gives me peace of mind.

I added a solar-powered passive, IR driveway sensor to our bristling array of defense-in-depth. Handsome Hombre drops Quicksilver off at various times depending on when he is expected to show up at work. The sensor chimes that somebody comes up the driveway. Last night at 1:08 a half-dozen deer walked through and woke me up, but that is the price of progress.

The official blogging lap-top

The official ERJ blogging lap-top had a near-death experience a couple of days ago. It stopped charging. The battery icon would show it was charging but it never gained charge in the battery.

Quicksilver is as enchanted with this device as I am. She watches me as I plug things into the various ports on the device. She mimics me. Carrots, pacifiers, tableware, pencils...all manner of non-standard hardware have been tested for Windows 7 compatibility. When Quicksilver gets too kinetic, I put the lap-top into "time-out" to keep it safe and as a mild form of discipline (both Quicksilver and I suffer).

I was beset with anxiety. I did not panic but I priced out a new battery and charger. My anxiety increased when I undid all of the screws on the bottom of the keyboard and could not pry off the cover plate.

The problem resolved itself when I was transporting the lap-top and charger out of time-out. The connection between the 120V cable and the step-down transformer was loose. I firmly seated the 120V cable into the transformer and now everybody is happy.

Big sigh of relief!

Technology giveth and technology taketh away

My ability to comment is still mysteriously not working.

Reader Michael commented that the US population in 1850 was about 10% of our current population. He also noted that when the technology fails that we will likely see a horrific famine. Michael is implying that access to the inputs needed to execute those technologies are likely to be impaired for any one of dozens of reasons.

I mostly agree with his premise AND I want to add some nuance. Some "technology" is as simple as dates penciled on to the door-frame of a garden shed. Or selected land-races of various crops. Or the idea of growing multiple crops in the same field or a crop-rotation that includes nitrogen-fixing crops. Or the concepts of vitamins and complementary amino-acids in various foods.

Same for food-storage. Dry foods last a long time. Sprouting grains and other seeds are a way of "making" vegetables in the winter that don't involve South America and Boeing 747s. Root-cellars, clamps and mulching root crops will keep many vegetables in eatable condition until spring-time. Pickling and fermentation can both preserve foods and increase some vitamins.

Technology that is "knowledge" can be scaled very rapidly and can be very durable. The key phrase is ...can be. Many of our recent failures in technology were due to atrophy of the skill-base. The water treatment plants in Flint, Michigan and Jackson, Mississippi as well as countless data breaches in the cyber realm come to mind. 

Prices

 

I had the opportunity to eat breakfast in real restaurants twice this week.

The first was at Truckin' Good Diner in Lansing. $15 for a pulled-pork sandwich and a half-handful of french-fries. Throw in a beverage and a tip and you were looking at a $25 bill. Yuppies and hip-young people were a steady stream of showing up and then walking away because there was a fifteen minute wait to get into the restaurant.

The second time was at a more local diner and with the tip it was $25 for a single two-egg omelette (which we split it three ways), a side of coleslaw and a cup of hot-chocolate (Quicksilver's first taste). 

---An Aside---

My plan for today is to go out to our garden and pick a head of cabbage and turn it into $60 worth of coleslaw with fifteen minutes of work.

I will consider it a great favor if any of my readers want to volunteer recipes for their favorite dressing for coleslaw. I like shredding in carrots and maybe even some tart apples. I favor non-creamy dressings that are not super-sweet but I will read all of the comments. I should have enough shredded cabbage to attempt several different batches of dressing. 

---End Aside---

The hip-young people will never have positive net-assets as long as they value "experiences" as much as they do.

Shelving

I am building some shelving to fit along a wall of our basement. I am enjoying the mental exercise. I will NEVER be a finish carpenter but it is shelving and it is going into a basement.

The specifications are for the shelving to span 12'  to be 16" deep and to have shelves at 16", 32", 44-3/4", 57-1/2", 70-3/4" height above the floor.

Mrs ERJ's enunciation

Strangely enough, Mrs ERJ's ability to enunciate words took a remarkable turn for the better this week.