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Decibel (dB) is a logarithmic unit to measure sound or electronic signal levels. For the purpose of this blog, I'll use it in audio... sound levels.
On another blog, a member will be going to a Formula One race and it's suggested they bring along hearing protection as often race cars develop noise of over 130 dB. Two weeks ago, I attended an outdoor concert and used ear plugs to lower the sound of the performance. It didn't bother my friend, but for me, the volume was louder than I wanted to be subjected to.

The decibel scale In basic terms: zero dB is the threshold of human hearing and a whisper would be 25-30 dB. Normal conversation is 60-70 dB and a lawn mower (at 6' feet) is around 100 dB. Most scales I've seen rate 125 dB as a level of pain and a jet engine at 100 feet away would be 140 dB.

Some sound ratings in the work force, like the noise from a wood chipper or jack hammer where used continuously poise serious problems of hearing loss. A blast from a shot gun could register 170 decibels. Although it's only a split second of noise, a few of those could permanently harm ones hearing. I know 2 people who lost most of their hearing... one guy had the job of refueling helicopters in Vietnam. The aviator hearing protection always fell off as they scrambled to get the helicopters back in the air and he now has dual hearing aids supplied by the VA. The same for my uncle who had the assignment to load bullets on the guns of a battleship during WWII.

When we were kids, it's was rare to have a car stereo more than 20 watts. It's become commonplace to see custom shops installing 1,000 watt systems in cars now!

When talking to one of those guys (with a megapower system), it won't be long before their first word is... huh?

There's everyday people, and then there's gorgeous.

Gorgeous can be really gorgeous, but it also can be someone *else's* gorgeousness, and being used as a hook to reel you in.

A handy little online tool (and there are many similar) is ReverseImageSearch.





For example, this one profile caught my eye.



Gorgeous, to be sure. Curious, I right-clicked on the image and "copy image location."

This is what you copy, to paste into the URL box at the ReverseImageSearch utility.

You might get a CAPTCHA challenge on some of these pages and a selection of search engines. I find that Bing, Google and Baidu are pretty much useless.

Yandex, however, a Russian search utility, seems to have good results.

What did you find using the sample profile, hmmm?

Your results may vary, but this resulted in reaching a Russian website, actually, at least two. One to Yulia's photos, and another to My Photos. Not England.

Safe Connection

Tag...} aka. And Relevant..[ A R.

O 3 7...big Idea.
1152...wise . Dna. Sage.
..only the A student can pass thru the Arch...the Numbers give physics & form to the meditation..
Only the Completed musical med. Will yield any fruit. Why ? ..simple; his creative word shall not come back to him empty or wanting. This method is therefore a certain block-chain: family friend ly...& bored Certified hot....
...the calculation remains incomplete to frustrate A. I...{ or the sp...
The A student will recognize the Text being used is the standard Hebrew Dictionary, circa 1890. 8,674 strong Entries. ...it is a test of Strength...& If you complete the journal you will be changed forever...)
7 6 9 2..a rambling poem...... { .and trumping Entropy.
...0183.............................) . 3 0 6 8...y. h..w...h..
7509...Yah..( is ) ..~cure........4 2 0.....
..( 3050 & 7495 )...................} 2648...sudden...~ ..
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..7 7 0 7...( 2 )............... 3 0 9 2...yah is.....
..............4616..( 2 ).....................1966.....( Rumored to be...
.............3 0 9 1.....[ 3068&3467 ]..1126..son of my sorrow.
7707.................1966.................[ Isa. 14...) ...theme - falling.
1966................ 1002...castle.
5741...................964...contempt of ..{ 3050.
.....p e a k. strength. radio...net....} The keys...
1234....open...........................3 0 6 8...
........3087................................3 0 9 1....). . 2 Jn. 9-11.
4321...who is like yah ?..........6 1 5 9..... consider the Ravens...
................ 3 0 5 0...
................. 1540..( 2 )....tablet... mirror.
..................1 5 1 0...the ] decree.

The computer mouse is an important tool in my daily life.
I've tried lots of different brands of 'mouse-like' products including trackballs, joysticks, stylus pens and touch screens.

Depending on the setup there are 4 workstations in my condo plus a laptop and 3 workstations at my office. All of them were using the 'old standard' Microsoft wired mouse.
I like the shape, buttons and way it tracks. Wireless mouse? No thanks.
They are cheap... $10
Some products are in the $40 to $60 range so I'm getting a bargain at $10.

Actually, I prefer the accuracy of the old style mouse with a ball. Yeah, cleaning lint every other day didn't bother me. They are dinosaurs... no more are available on the planet.

The Microsoft mouse has a textured finish and after months of use I notice the left button would turn shiny. No problem, but I'm having to replace them when the wheel starts to skip.
Maybe there has been a change in manufacture as in 'they don't make them the same' and I'm replacing them in months and not years later.



Looking for a change, I've found a Logitech mouse for $10 that has a very similar shape and feel as the Microsoft mouse.

I bought 4 of them and put them into my main computers and will replace the others when the wheels begin to fail.

Funny Google Is Not Accepting Cookies

As followup to my 'Watch' this blog, about the number of people wearing watches that connect to their cellphones, I decided to buy a low-end 'fitness' watch just to check it's operation. I'm highly skeptical these devices could be accurate, at least in the ones that are inexpensive, but I'm giving it a try.

First step with any of these watches is charge the device. That gives you time to read the instructions and download the app that connects it to your smartphone. Allow time to be familiar with the settings for both the phone and watch. It defaults to metric, so I changed things to Imperial, including Fahrenheit for temperature. Only my doctors record my weight in kilos.

Since I wear no jewelry and haven't for years, I found it annoying to have this fitness watch attached to my wrist. It's already hitting the countertop, edge of doorways and anything I come in close proximity to. I expect lots of scratches on the bezel within the first week. That makes me wonder about all the people wearing diamond studded watches the size of a Frisbee!
That would equate to the women wearing 'inch-long' fake eyelashes. If you do it long enough, it becomes part of you. Kinda like Paul Stanley (KISS guitarist) wearing six-inch high platform shoes on stage must have required weeks of practice elsewhere.

Okay, I've had the watch on for 12 hours and it's reporting to my phone some statistics. Blood pressure at it's highest 127/64 and 81 beats per minute, currently 53bpm. Temperature 98.0 F, blood oxygen at 98% and I burned 11 calories.


I'm most curious about the sleep status. The first night shows 3 hours and 50 minutes with 1 hour and 30 minutes being in deep sleep.

Although the device is water resistant enough for swimming, I'll remove it for my morning shower.

Later today, I'll compare the blood pressure and beats with my stand-alone blood pressure monitor.

Sounds like The Don's gearing up to campaign in the '22 Mid-Terms ... And '24??

The subject is Obstacle avoidance. I was reminded about this feature as the Kobe Bryant crash on Sunday January 26 killed all nine aboard a Sikorsky S-76B aircraft.

If I had to do a quick list of advances in consumer drones, I would split them into generations. We're probably in the 4th generation. The 1st generation had simple drones. The 2nd generation added camera drones. The 3rd generation added drones with GPS and had detection on landing where the drone would stop it's descent if it sensed the terrain were higher than where it initially started from.

The latest generation of drones have obstacle detection from the front, rear and below. If you steer one of these drones into some trees, it will halt at a distance established in the avoidance setup menu. Let's say, 10 feet is the setting and you are moving toward a building, the drone will stop at 10 feet away of any unknown obstacle.
Once technology like this was only available on drones costing a few thousand and now the feature is standard on drones down to the $500 price range.

Kobe's multi-million dollar Sikorsky didn't have any obstacle avoidance equipment, nor did it have a 'black box' flight recorder. Regarding the crash, there are several different stories but the official report probably won't be released for 12 to 18 months.

The pilot flew in foggy conditions that were so bad, several police departments in the area grounded their helicopter operations.