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Conjoined...

23 year old conjoined sisters Carmen & Lupita have been in the news recently. Always asked lots of (stupid) questions, they did some social media videos. Two heads, separate brains sharing one body. Carmen has a boyfriend, Lupita doesn't date.

This brings up 34 year old former reality stars Abby Hensel and Brittany also conjoined twins. Abby married Josh.

I haven't seen anything mentioned about polygamy... after all is it really 2 women?


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The sky is falling... The sky is falling...

On Monday, April 8th, there will be a narrow path total eclipse that will skirt diagonally from part of Mexico, across America into Canada. The longest duration of this eclipse is about FOUR MINUTES and TWENTY EIGHT SECONDS, so if you are planning to travel across the country to be in the path to view this event, my best guess is you should already have arrived at a hotel, unpacked your viewing glasses and having dinner.

Tomorrow could be a hectic day as Arkansas Governor, Sarah Huckabee has declared a state of emergency ahead of the eclipse. She's released $100,000 from the Response and Recovery Fund to help commercial carriers transport essentials to customers in the state during the eclipse.

The state emergency will remain in effect until April 10.

Many of the comments that I've read think that Huckabee over reacted, maybe referencing the Chicken Little / Henny Penny fable where the sky is falling.

Sara, it's just like night-time but, only 4 minutes in duration. Call off the National Guard, there's no need for the villagers to huddle in caves like they did a thousand years ago!




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Kurt...

Did Kurt Cobain and Nirvana really change the landscape of music?? It's been 30 years since his death. Bassist Krist Novoselic's career faded and drummer Dave Grohl's career soared.
They still play Nirvana songs on classic radio.



Drugs, sex and grunge music...
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Gesture Search...

Google released a phone app back in 2010 called Gesture Search. The program reads your contact list and allows you to finger write names to quickly call up people in your list.
To me, it was the most effective dialing app to date. While most hunt for a name, I would swipe the letters of a name and the list would populate.
Need to find someone named Fred? As you begin to swipe F R E any matches would appear. Tap the selection and it would make the call.
I was able to clone that application from phone to phone long after Google stopped supporting it, which was odd that something so useful could be dropped with nothing in the app store to replace it.

A few years ago, I purchased a factory refurbished Samsung phone said to have a new battery. Model Note 10+ it was under heavy use and the battery would get 2 days between charges. Eventually, the performance decreased and it wouldn't get me past noon needing a recharge.
The memory was full (with over 6,000 photos and movies) so I installed a 512mb SD memory and removed lots of photos I didn't need. My phone is used in business and it's amazing when a client describes some design, I can pull up a photo of something previously done. Wall units... got 'em. Aquariums... got 'em.

I was doing random backups in the event the phone was lost or stolen. Seeing how Samsung is now up to S24 in their series, I figured it was time for an upgrade. They weren't offering much for a trade on my old phone, but I didn't think waiting would be more incentive to upgrade.

All photos and movies combined is more than 300 gigabyte so I ordered one with 1 terabyte of memory, enough for many years.

All the Samsung phones come with Smart Switch application to backup, save and clone phones. It can be done wireless over Wi-Fi or with a direct phone-to-phone cable. The cable being a quicker means of transfer.

I spoke to tech support for the best way to switch the SIM card and enter the IMEI identification. He agreed to call Saturday at 7am giving me time Friday night to do the backup. Watching a few YouTube videos detailing the steps, most transfers were between 1 and 2 hours. I started along and within a few minutes it estimated the backup to be more than 4 hours!
I left the phones doing the transfer and went to bed, getting up at 6am to confirm the transfer was successful and all the apps would start to update. The tech called and we changed the SIM. There were some issues with passwords that had to be entered manually, but I got around it. All the visuals transferred so look like my old phone and folders with the same name that were in the phone memory and SD card were merged. Not a bid deal, I need to do some housekeeping in photo storage.

My favorite app was greyed out as it didn't make the transfer. I did some research and it's not able to run on the latest version of Android. I searched the name and found another app said to be similar, but it's function wasn't to my liking.
I'll keep on searching for a suitable replacement.

I'm still going through the phone turning on (and off) settings to suit my needs. Email notification is only a beep. I'm looking for the visual, so I can see without having to 'light up' the screen constantly.

I shot a few movies and more than 50 photos today. I'll download them to see how good the high resolution camera is. I sent one photo to a friend and it was so high-res it sent it as a link. I'm sure there is a way to reduce the size for text messages.

As they (whoever they is) say, when all else fails... read the owner's manual.

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Landfills of EV batteries...

Like it or not, electric cars are here to stay. Every major manufacturer has at least one EV in their lineup. Do they sell? Yeah... kinda. Price incentives and options change all the time. More charging stations are being built and there is less fearmongering as there was a few years ago.
My memory says the same group of people who complained about 5G cellular technology are the ones who complained about electric vehicles. Battery fires, landfills of dead EV batteries and negative issues were regurgitated over and over.

I haven't personally witnessed an EV battery fire. I'm sure it's a spectacular explosion with zero time to escape. I have seen car fires of the gasoline version... That's a monthly event on highways. There was one in a residential community near me that scorched the tall trees along the roadway. It's been more than a year and the void in tree growth is still apparent.

I know a few people who are driving EV's and have no complaints about them.

A few weeks ago, I attended a swap meet for model aviation and one guy had a table with old lithium-polymer rechargeable batteries he was selling for a fraction of the price for new ones. As these batteries age, they become less efficient and gasses form inside the sealed jacket and they begin to swell, making it obvious the battery life has been shortened. I asked what he would do if they don't sell and he told me they would be dropped off at the recycling center.
Prior to this, we were told to drain the power to zero and leave the old batteries in a bucket of salt water as it will neutralize the volatile metals when exposed to air where they can be disposed of like normal garbage... probably in a landfill somewhere.
The guy told me advances have been made to reclaim the precious metals these batteries contain and the technology is improving all the time.

I did an internet search and found that EV batteries are being reprocessed and not ending up in landfills as originally feared.

Batteries that were originally mined and manufactured in China get recycled in America, the new batteries are now considered to be made in America. The plus side of that equation is we didn't have to strip mine land in America to make these products.

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That sounds fishy to me...

I came across a video on tuna harvesting where they are farmed and contained in nets getting fresh salt water. This is totally different than older processes where fish are in a lake and the sea water is pumped in.

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Artists selling off their music catalogs...

I did a blog in December about Bob Dylan selling his catalog for $300 million. Today I see the Red Hot Chili Peppers reportedly sold their music catalog to the tune of $140 million.

A new name came on my radar... Hipgnosis Songs Fund.

I need to research them as it appears they are a company who buys and sells music catalogs. Interesting!
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Confrontational personalities...

The condos in my community have open corridors with several points to gain access to the roof top where the air conditioners are mounted. Those doors in the ceiling open to the trusses and a crawl space where above are the hurricane rated steel hatches to the roof.
Management wants everything locked and only one centrally located hatch is to be used for contractors, inspectors and service tradesmen. When I moved in, I noticed that hatch access closest to me was always unlocked... the reason why was the guy with the key (association vice-president) was recovering from surgery and unable to get to the 2nd floor. No one was monitoring who went up on the roof. One day, the insurance inspector noticed damage to the roof, probably when an air conditioning contractor had dragged a unit. So the association president wanted some control to know who was going to the roof. It came up in an association meeting and I was asked if I would volunteer to unlock the hatch. Groan... I'm working from home most of the time and the hatch is ten feet from my front door. I see the ladders and hear them stomping around. There are signs on all the bulletin boards stating 24 hours notice is required to have the hatch unlocked.

I get the call to unlock the hatch prior to the technicians arrival. Not all the residents pay attention and I sometimes get called when the technician is standing under a locked hatch with no prior notification. Only licensed electrical or air conditioning contractors, home inspectors and insurance inspectors are allowed access. Rare occasion is when Cable TV technicians require access. Locked access is standard procedure for all the condos and contractors who know this village, know they need to call or have the homeowner call first.

One resident died last year and his unit quickly sold. The woman who moved in didn't like the procedure and became confrontational telling me she owned property elsewhere and didn't have to go through the process of calling for access. Also that she wanted the hatch nearest her unit to be unlocked. I don't have a key for that but she instructed her guy to pry open the padlocked door anyway. This became an issue with the association president who was to get the maintenance guy to reinforce the door so someone cannot pry it open again.

Last Tuesday, I open the lock for an a/c company but they didn't show up and Wednesday, while I was out on an appointment, the woman who recently moved in had her a/c guy standing waiting for someone to unlock the hatch. I told her it was unlocked from the previous day, but she said it was locked.

When I returned, I see the two of them were on the end where the hatch is always locked. Again, he forced his way into a locked hatch, ignoring the one near me that was unlocked.

Someone from the neighboring building notified the president of my building that the metal roof hatch was left open. The president called me asking what had happened. I explained the woman instructed her guy to pry open the hatch nearest her unit. She asked me to call and notify her what had happened and get her guy to return to close the hatch.
(That wasn't my responsibility and management should have made the call)
I called the woman and explained her a/c contractor left the upper roof hatch open that can be seen from the street. She needed to get her guy to come back an close it. She became annoyed and thought someone else should close it for her. I repeated it was her contractor who was responsible. This started an argument and she was ranting about procedure. I reminded her (from a previous confrontational encounter) that hatch was to be locked at all times and only the central hatch was to be used. The correct access point was unlocked as I said, but her guy pried his way into the locked hatch. She insisted he didn't break in then hung up on me.

The maintenance guy needs to fix the broken hatch and signs changed to explain only the center hatch will be unlocked
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The 'worm moon' lunar eclipse...

I knew it. Judging by the rise in Joe Boden will change the constitution turning America into a communist, fascist, Marxist state blogs that a full moon was nearly here.
This one is called a Worm Moon and in the early hours of Monday, there will be a Penumbral lunar eclipse. What does that mean? F'k if I know, but earth will cast a shadow on the outer edge of the moon creating an eerie glow. It will peak around 3am East coast time. Visible in Europe, North and East Asia, Australia, Africa, North America and South America.

The name worm moon came by Native American tribes in reference to the beetle larvae and other creatures that emerge from hibernation in the spring.

So get your (worm) moon on and enjoy.
If you miss it, you're in luck as there will be a total solar eclipse on April 8.


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Yes, I know I spelled in Boden instead of Biden.
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Airboat rides...

South Florida has 2 main east-west roads that cross the state passing through the Everglades swampland. Several stops along the way have gas, food, rest areas and all are part of the Big Cypress Wildlife Management. I know there are two Indian tribes who have land there. Seminoles and Miccosukee. They run the stores selling souvenirs like hand made jewelry, trinkets and normal things that tourists buy including things made from alligator hides.
If you have swamp, you need an airboat to travel across the Everglades. There are signs along the way advertising airboat scenic rides. Some are owned by the Indians and some by private companies.
Last week, coming back from an appointment south of me, two pickup trucks were alongside, each with and airboat in tow. One was a triple-deck and the other, really tall as it had four levels. That would put the driver/pilot about 15 feet above the water. My first thought was 'top-heavy' and a ride that would jar your organs loose.

Today in the news, an airboat flipped sending 9 passengers into gator infested waters.
The driver took a sharp turn so he could get a glimpse of an alligator, tipping the boat on it's side. Miami-Dade Fire Rescue responded and the boat's operator was arrested because he did not have the proper documentation necessary to operate the boat.

(medium size airboat pictured)
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Aye, the Kraken...

I've been in and out of the model helicopter hobby a few times in nearly 50 years, overcoming a divorce, the loss of both parents, two serious car accidents and multiple job changes. I started back around 6 years ago, it was with some very small and inexpensive models that could only help me practice at a slow pace. I've since upgraded to larger models that are more powerful and fly with more authority. The only drawback is the cost... several thousand per model. It's a fact that no serious pilot can get by with only one radio controlled helicopter.

It's not possible for me to dedicate myself to the sport like I want... there are other obligations. 30 years ago, I recall levels of obsession where I would come home from work and practice on a computer simulator for 2 hours, break for dinner and get back to another 2 or 3 hours of practice.
It didn't matter how good I got, as going to competition or fun-fly events I could always find guys who were better pilots... much better. There was a guy who invented an electronic device, patented it and sold the product to a car manufacturer. His company was self sufficient to the point where he didn't have to work and would come to Florida every winter to practice flying at a local field for several hours each day.
Being exposed to that level of talent was incentive to continue improving and never reaching a plateau.

Most of us are flying 'pod & boom' style helicopters at have a fiberglass canopy to cover the motor and electronics with a long tail boom and a few fins. They aren't attractive, but fly great. There is a visual drawback, so we often wrap them in brightly colored sticky tape so they can be seen better when far away.

Often these models have names that reflect the size of the blades, like Logo 700 or RAW 580. 700 indicates the main blade length is 700 millimeters. Others have cool names like Dominator or Whiplash. There is one model that has a full fuselage to look like a real helicopter. Lots of guys have them but not too many are out flying them. Mentioned on a previous blog, a friend buys and sells models and recently picked up some used helicopters in a package deal that he plans to maintain and resell. One was a model called Kraken, named after the legendary sea monster.

I've seen them fly. They are very attractive and easy to see in the air. So, I made my friend an offer to trade one of my pod & boom models plus some cash for his Kraken.
He accepted the offer. Part of the deal was to go through the electronics and make sure all was good. He rewired a few connections because the guy who built it originally wasn't meticulous.

After initial testing, my friend flew it, made a few tweaks in the settings and handed it to me to try. Yes, smooth and predictable.

I've only got 2 sets of batteries that fit this model and this week, I'll order 2 more!
Aye, the Kraken...


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Hospice...

I received some bad news this week. The mother-in-law of my nephew who was diagnosed with cancer 4 years ago is no longer responding to chemotherapy. My nephew was working in California for a few years and his wife came back to Florida to her parents home attending to her mother's needs. Able to work remotely, my nephew rented an apartment this month near the residence of his wife's family, so they can be together in a time of need.

Rather than getting second and third hand information, I texted his wife who called me right back to give me the latest news. She said her mother is home with hospice nurses caring for her day and night. Pre-arrangements have been made with a funeral home and they are counting the days she has left.
Friends and family are encouraged to visit any time of the day and food is available to anyone who comes to visit.

Years ago, I met the woman at a Latin-style Christmas party in their house and at their daughter's wedding to my nephew. I think it's important I show up to visit her sooner than later.
Their house is in South Miami, about a 2 hour drive from me, so it's possible Easter Sunday or Monday.
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