Another Tranksgiving Holiday has come and gone. No travel this year over the holidays as we normally do. Interesting travel is being planned. We decided NOT to participate in The Macy's Day Parade this year. We had some small regret perhaps, but we marched in the parade two years in a row. We are convinced there would NOT be sufficient novelty in the third year.
We invited Vlad over for a traditional American Thanksgiving dinner, roasted turkey, mashed potatoes, tossed salad, sweet corn, cranberries and pumpkin pie for dessert. Angie was trying to make her deadline in creating subtitles for some Netflix shows. I made dinner, no issues at all. A pic shows a symptom of excess. The small roaster pan was my grandmother's. The large one was the one I just bought. A modern turkey won't fit in the old one... maybe a cornish game hen or a chicken will, but you would be hard pressed to find a turkey as small as what was available 50 or 70 years ago. Turkeys are larger. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the average domestic turkey is about 29 pounds today, compared to 13 pounds in 1929. Turkey size reference (I couldnt find the stat with the USDA... trust usnews.com as appropriate).
I decided to get rid of the old deck in the way I am very practiced. I am throwing it away piece by piece every week in the regular garbage. The pile is definately getting smaller. I remember throwing out a volkswagen years ago with the use of sawzall and Starrett "Hackmaster" blades. I still have the car title. It wasn't "junked" in the modern ways. The barn I torn down in Victor, NY didn't go out in the garbage, but made it to the town dump via many pickup truck loads and was burned over many months. The gradual disposal technique is a great way to expereince "The law of accumulation", but in reverse. The stuff we do over time accumulates relentlessly and will overcome all adversity. Financial accumulation works in precisely the same way and is known as "dollar-cost averaging. Buying (and selling) small amounts over long periods of time yields significant low-risk returns. Same principle. Other examples are the accumulated cost of a dripping faucet or the wear and tear of items on a ship with the unrelenting movements 24/7.
I am planning a trip to Southern Africa. I am planning on Zimbabwe, Eswatini (Swaziland), Botswanna, South Africa, Lesotho, Namibia, Mozambique and Zambia. I decided to ask Chat GPT 3.5 to help direct me in the sequence of travel. The result seems to have saved a lot of my time. Let's see how that order works out as a finish booking. I am skeptical since travel efficiency on commercial airlines has little to do with a straight line being the shortest (cheapest) distance between two points.
A couple weeks back I did a co-presentation at a conference regarding AI in language translation and have been attending other events to educated myself better on AI. It is a real thing and a game changer. Executives will be able to skip over middle management more relying on the "pseudo-wisdom" of AI prompt chats. It will work. The issue will be finding executives smart enough to leverage it. A couple of things are clear with the current state of AI. It only does what you tell it and you will need to check/verify the results.
Follow up-- I am just learning on how to create good prompts in CPT 3.5, my skepticism was appropriate. There are no connecting flights as it was suggesting for the best sequence. It was a "dumb" analysis of distances between major cities, not anything to do with the reality of actual flights available. The thing that ChatGPT does very well is control elements to improve information literacy. The sentances, layout, and organization of the information presented is excellent. In this regard it will outproduce much of the current technical writing these days. What it won't do is gut-check facts, and answer second level questions that are not asked.
I have made some improvements to the sawmill, specifically designed/created these bifurcated dogs. It was suggested by a friend that the new dogs need a name. He suggested "spot" since is is denotive of being in a fixed poistion. I enjoy innovation and also the ability to fabricate or do the simple development to whatever it is that needs to get done.
The microwave oven stopped working. Since it is a built-in wall unit connected to the conventional oven, replacement would not be cheap. I has amazed at how many videos are available on how to fix microwave ovens there were on Youtube. The most amazing thing was the number of videos there were in regards to actually fixing the magnetrons themselves. The microwave is now fixed, but I opted to replace components including the 20 year old magetron, not repair the components. Fixing microwave oven magnatron.
Adulut care? Neighborhood sign. Spelling errors are just that. I understand what was intended. I also know that it affects credibility of the author/creator. information literacy.
I found this on a church alter. I think this outlet is a great testimony of why I use steel electrical boxes.
The fire feature works great for evening meals, better than expected.
The deck replacement is complete. As usual, there are items to add and fuss over, but the structure is primarly usable and complete. The thing that kills me is that although the "new" deck looks great and is extraordinarily strong, it is a "repair". The deck is functionally the same as it was 2 months ago before I tore it out and replaced it. It didn't add any functional value to the house, just a repair. Some stats: (10) new/improved concrete footings and 4x6 posts, (6) 2x12x16 beams, (21) 2x10x10 joists, (37) 2x6x16 deck boards and lots of expensive fasteners.
I did get some help in a couple of ways.
- I was part of a large layoff at Accuray, Inc. That freed up some of time for sure. It is really quite sad that they have good technology, great markets, a significant installed base and they still can't figure out how to stay/get profitable/solvent.
- Vlad retured from 5 months in Russia. He helped me move a lot of the heavy lumber.
I passed by Gracie the other day in her cat room chair and did a double take. I went and grabbed the camera. This was not some kind of action shot. It is just Gracie relaxing at her best.
We had a local youtube aviation celebrity show up at our monthly EAA breakfast. Dan Gryder showed up with the DC-3. It was good to meet him face to face. Most of the time he makes sense.
Dan Gryder -Probable Cause
I started out to replace a few deck boards on my deck in anticipation of having a neighborhood party this Fall. Well, the few deck boards turned into a few more deck boards and then joists, then supporting structure. Then I found issues with a rusted-thru post supporting the adjacent porch and the underlying concrete footings. Needless to say, the small job turned into a bigger job.
All the work is well within my capabilities, but the budget (both time and money) has expanded. It became my highest priority and I am back working on the urgent repairs after completing the emergency repairs. These projects look bigger than they really are compared to a new bathroom or kitchen or something. I easily do all the work myself, alone.
It will be done soon.
We had a nice visit from Emma. We enjoyed a dinner with folks involved with "US Education Without Borders". It was quite an enriching experience without any jetlag or expensive tickets. Angie had to practice her Mandarin.
The Weather seems to have broken into Fall here in Duluth GA.
It's a great time of year. We are looking to buy the Cirrus SR22. It already has my initials in the tail number, must be a sign. It would be good to get a plane made in this century.
I dont know what species of humming bird this is. I managed to get a snapshot to study it a bit closer. I still dont know.
My Cousins have a new baby and therefore I have a new Cousin (I guess thats what we call him.). A rare occurance in my familiy for sure! Max Jon Fasanelli Gorman
