Technology Blogs (216)

My desktop computer goes through phases of hanging or buffering for literally minutes on end, but not all the time. It starts, usually, about 10 minutes after I boot up, and lasts up to an hour - lately it has started doing it around 8 pm for, again, up to an hour. It is a Windows 7 so I don't think it is hidden updates.

I did find when I switched to Safe mode that it absolutely flies, all the time. Anyone else experienced anything like this, any suggestions? Safe mode is great but obviously limited - no watching online videos, for example, otherwise I'd just stay in it all the time.

The USA has most of these, as other places have concentrations of their own substances. Google these two, for their many essential uses. What a stupid blog, Vierk.

You've probably heard of 3D printing where a filament of heated plastic is extruded to build up layers creating dimensional objects. Yes? They are used to create toys, mechanical gears, tools and medical supplies such as prosthetic body parts.

Ink printers is where it all started and they have been around more than 2 generations. Paper is only 2 dimension, X and Y axis. Later came laser or router in place of an ink print head and allowed companies to do engraving with the same 2D technology.

More sophisticated technology can be found in the woodworking industry were different router heads are used on a 3 axis machine using X, Y and Z for length, width and height. I've seen lots of videos of guitar making where a single computerized router can switch tools to cut the shape a guitar, curve the edges, drill for pickups, switches and hardware all without having the remove the block of wood from the bed it's clamped to.
This is Computer Numeric Control technology, CNC for short.
That technology only cut away existing material. There weren't any devices to build something from literally nothing.

On a large scale, they are making houses with a related technology using quick setting concrete from a nozzle to build walls.

Tonight, I hit a video of a 3D pen. Hand operated, it's a simple device similar to the way a hot-melt glue gun works and uses thin filaments that you can actually draw in 2D or build more complex shapes in layers in 3D. Prices range anywhere from $30 to $150 and filaments are available in 1.75mm to 3mm thickness. Some more expensive models have different nozzles so you can change the thickness from the same tool.

Here is a demo video explaining many facets on the 3D pen...

The condo I bought had an old washer & dryer. I didn't expect them to last long and I was right. Small capacity, they actually worked well, but they were too small to handle 10 bath towels in a load or a medium weight comforter.
A few months ago, the washer started leaking with a few cupfulls of water on the floor each load. Not alarming, but important to monitor as I'm on the 2nd floor and don't want any issues with the tenant below me. The dryer would squeal at the startup and sometimes require re-balancing the load to coax it to work. last month, it died.
Timing was manageable as we were able to do laundry in the Miami house. Home Depot had sent out offers of no interest financing and they were running a few 30% off sales so it was time to shop.
We ended up with a large-capacity pair made by Samsung. Unlike the washing machines I've owned in the past that had a center agitator, this model has a impeller at the bottom to turn the clothes.
Sophisticated computer control, I used the automatic setting that senses the height and weight of the load to determine the correct amount of water. First mistake. Doing a load of jeans I found in the water setting was so low that the clothes on top remained on top and 10 minutes into the wash I could see a dry spot where one pants leg didn't get into the undertow. I stopped the sequence to override and add more water. That didn't work as it appeared to abort the load, drain the soapy water and start another wash load that I had to stop and add more soap.
User friendly wasn't an option in it's program!
Yeah, I read the book (twice) before getting started with this new machine.
After that first load I noticed the corners of the stitched pockets were beginning to fray... this is something I blogged about with a previous HE model that had the agitator.

At this point it doesn't matter that this new model comes with an impeller, as figuring a way to wash clothes with the correct amount of water and not having them wear out from friction has become an agitating issue to me!

We've grown to rely of Google for everything... well, mostly everything. I'm trying to resist as Google is invasive to the Nth degree. If I have an addiction, it's using Google Maps. For years, it's been part of my job to research addresses of my sales leads. More than finding things with my GPS, it's also a way to scout out the access to buildings for kitchen deliveries making sure there's enough room for a truck as some condos have restricted access and a top view of the landscape helps a lot.
My brother is obsessed with genealogy and the neighborhood we grew up in. I was around 6 years old when we moved away so memories were few. With Google Maps, I was able to research the house. While the address is the same, the building changed. It's on a main street and many of the houses were rezoned and converted to use as business.
The garden where my grandfather grew fruits and vegetables is now an asphalt driveway and a truck is parked in the front of the building that a single door has been converted to a storefront.

From time-to-time, I've seen the Google truck driving around taking photos and I know some maps have archives so you can go back in time to see what was there on a previous Google visit. I've done that several times when an old house was demolished, the lot was empty and new house was built at the same location. Very interesting.

There was a landmark in North Miami Beach... it's the Krispy-Kreme doughnut factory. Opened in the mid 1960's and operated 24 hours a day. Where could you get something to eat at 3am? Krispy-Kreme! Business changed and a new building (with larger drive-thru) was built 1 block away. The old building torn down and a WaWa gas station is at that location, however Google Maps street view doesn't reflect a change made more than a year ago.

Images of my Miami house were dated 2011... I expect the Google Maps truck to be passing back sometime soon.

Now that millions of people are home under lockdown, it's safe to say the internet is on bandwidth overload. Many sites cannot handle the amount of increased traffic. I heard (on local radio) some streaming services (like Netflix) will be limiting/restricting their High Definition signals during peak hours.

I usually obsess on YouTube during the weekends and noticed EVERY video I clicked had an error message that required a second try to get the video to play. High bandwidth problems is suspected.

It took several tries to logon to CS this morning as I received HTTP Error 503.2 - Service Unavailable and a few errors while navigating around the site.

A friend who is a regular at the county park where we fly model aircraft said ALL the parks are now closed. One of the local flying clubs website stated local and regional parks are closed until further notice! The field video camera confirmed no cars in the lot and the airstrip is devoid of pilots.

My plan was to catch a few helicopter flights in the schoolyard, but someone told me under city lockdown I could be jailed and/or fined. No one around me for 200 yards... I promise to wear an N95 mask.

....links and nodes... Sure, concepts such as like sorts with like (homophily), contagion and resilience, she who has tends to beget more, falsehoods spread faster than truths, etc., are with us. But here's the surprise, they have always been. They underlie everything from Martin Luther's anti Pope reformation, to the fake news on the internet. And, the early idealists of the latter foresaw a totally decentralized non commercial world wide web. How'd that turn out, folks? Our dad's were glued at day's end to every word and page of the local fish wrap. Our kids can't sit for a family meal without phone in hand. Who could dream this stuff up, peebles?

....ending their heyday?....Some (academic--so likely alt liberally biased-VERY biased) researchers claim that the costs of these operations will now be much greater than for renewable technical sources. Into the hundreds of billions of USD. Even talking of solving the sun down storage problems using liquefied air. Slick, Jack! Technology. Often badmouthed reflexively by the whiny ueber liberals, as with the BIG BAD corporations. But they all live on the products and income of same. Can't make....well, by now all know the line. CMTSUF. Sort of rolls off the tongue. And off the keyboard.

My home has a modern high efficiency furnace only a few years old and of course troubles so being the diy i am I made a go at it after studying the things sensors for flame on vacuum on excessive heat induction motor the condensation hoses from the heat exchanger to various routes and then sensor for vacuum so after a fast course in HVAC online utube I realized it was my pressure switch a vacuum sensor / exhast fan sensor basically a rubber band with a cord (like a cord plug into a electrical outlet)was bad as it stuck open and closed so I ordered one saving big bucks then of course same thing as I watched it start up I realed a vacuum line connected to it from the heatexchanger to it was the problem after I double checked my install the gas line ignition set a backpresure throwing off the vacuum pressure thus sending a signal to the control panel the fan was off due to no vacuum detected but in fact the fan was running but soit kept trying to restart and programmed to do so four times before the system shuts down so after a minor adjustment for that backpresure it's game on and another skill mastered .

hi! hope this reached you in a good condition. lol. so i wrote this to ask if it is possible to edit or change my username. i’ve looked but didn’t see any option that i can. i have resolved to think that it isn’t possible but my persistent self said that i should ask the experts which will be the other users of this site before totally giving up. so here i am. IS IT POSSIBLE TO CHANGE OR EDIT MY USERNAME? if so how? thanks in advance.