Reality Me

A juggling technophile shares personal stories, challenges, humor and perhaps some political commentary.

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"Murphy was an optimist!"

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Understanding Blade Runner April 28, 2023 3:11 pm

Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Daily Life
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I’ve been meaning to look this up since the 1980s. Now I know.

“C beams (cesium beams) are used in space combat. Reaching speed near the speed of light, they are fired towards the enemy ship to disrupt and destroy its shields and hull. They glitter on impact. Our Roy was in space close combat and remembers those moments with longing.”

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Not reversing my transition April 28, 2023 3:09 pm

Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Daily Life
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My transition to grumpy old man is almost complete. God I hope the Republicans don’t make me reverse it. This therapy has taken decades.

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He was supposed to spend it April 28, 2023 3:08 pm

Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Daily Life
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My bank was happy to order this for us but won’t accept the coins as a deposit and since it is less than 200 euros there is a surcharge to deposit the bills.

Their suggestion? Drive to Gatlinburg or Florida. I’m think of getting a briefcase and beginning my collection of currencies and passports. 00Doug!

When I asked, “Was this supposed to stay in Spain?” The banker replied, “Yeah, he should have spent it.”

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Life should come with surprises April 27, 2023 8:12 am

Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Daily Life
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Like waking up to a note that says “congratulations! You can sleep through today”

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Morserino April 26, 2023 1:47 pm

Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Gadgets, radio, Technology
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The Morserino is a Morse code (CW) trainer. It comes with paddles for training. You can plug in your own straight key or your own paddles. It teaches you cw (morse code) interactively. It has Lora (unlicensed radio frequency) so you can have one Morserino talk to another Morserino if you want to have one person in one room and the training buddy in another room. It connects to the Internet. And it acts as a keyer for radios that do not have a built-in keyer (like most HTs. Technicians can us CW but generally are not equipped for it).

My Morserino arrives at the end of May and I’m absolutely giddy over it. I began this journey in 1980.

http://www.morserino.info/

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Re-establishing good habits April 26, 2023 1:30 pm

Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Daily Life
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I use several tools to keep myself organized and functioning. I do not rely on my memory. I journal. I log. I need lists. I use project management tools. I research in tools such as Scrivener. I mind map in tools such as Scapple. And I use a Hobonichi Techo as a paper planner/journal (with fountain pens!) with First Things First principle centered time management. I also use Omnifocus which is modeled for Getting Things Done.

I’ve let OmniFocus slip. Rather than using it as GTD, I’ve allowed it to become a lengthy check list. I’m working on closing out the projects and tasks that I’ve had in there forever. I’m going to set some rules for what may appear in OmniFocus and everything else will move to other tools. If it is a “someday” task then it does not belong in OmniFocus. If the project is not being actively worked, it can move to Redmine or Kanboard or some repository of wishful thinking.

Time to get some things done!

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Of Grasshoppers April 26, 2023 11:31 am

Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Of Grasshoppers, Philosophy
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Student: “Why is my life hard?”

Master: “Who are you asking?”

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Yes, I want a Faraday cage in my basement. April 25, 2023 2:31 pm

Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Daily Life
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It’s 2023 and I totally relate to Gene Hackman’s character in Enemy of the State and his Faraday cage. I’m just having difficulty visualizing myself answering my children’s question “Why did you blow up the house?” Me, “Because you made a phone call!” Well, now that I type that it doesn’t seem that far fetched.

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Today’s Letter to Tim Burchett April 21, 2023 11:42 am

Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Politics, Touchy Subjects, United States
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People in the United States, I encourage you to stop replying to people of power in social media. Instead, every time a congress person or elected official puts out a statement in social media, contact them via phone or email. They can ignore your social media replies but should not ignore your emails and phone calls.

I am a constituent of Mr. Burchett. At 5:14pm on 4/18/2023, Mr. Burchett Tweeted “I went to the Treasury with some of my @GOPoversight colleagues to go through documents related to the Biden family’s shady business dealings.

I can’t get into specifics just yet, but I suspect a lot of people are very nervous at the thought of these things coming to light…”

I want Mr. Burchett to stop embarrassing Tennessee and to focus on issues that matter. If Mr. Burchett wasn’t willing to prosecute or hold account the criminal Trump, then he needs to quit with the same on Biden. Tweeting with ambiguity like “I suspect a lot of people are very nervous at the thought of these things coming to light” is sensationalism and designed to rile people up. This is childish and not to the level of propriety expected of a congress person. Put out a statement when you have facts to share not gossip.

That brings us to your job. Instead of making up issues for political purposes, please focus on issues that concern Tennesseans. Do your job as if you are not going to be reelected and you want to leave a wonderful legacy. Tennessee wants you to address gun safety. We are tired of children dying and wasting money on LEOs in school is not the solution, arming teachers will only get more people killed faster, turning schools into prisons is a horrible idea as it scares children instead of making them feel secure and a scared child is a child that will act out. Permitless carry is crazy. We need background checks, training, regulation, and no one needs something that spits lead at 45 rounds per minute. We need public education fortified in Tennessee instead of privatized. Dick DeVos on Dec 3, 2002 described to the Heritage Foundation that charter schools and vouchers can be used to destroy public education. Moving tax dollars to privatized schools is nothing short of theft. Tennesseans want gerrymandering ended and voter rights prioritized rather than suppressed. Tennesseans want the attack on drag shows ended. Drag shows are not harming children but every week we see another news article about priests and Republicans abusing children. Tennesseans want mass transit not toll roads.

I personally want you to look at the actions of Governor Bill Lee and objectively ask why he is turning Tennessee into a fascist state. Do something to save our democratic republic. Do your job! You are a congress person not a FoxNews host. You have plenty of meaningful work to do. Stop wasting your time and my tax dollars on political theater!

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Today’s letter to Tim Burchett April 21, 2023 11:38 am

Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Politics, Touchy Subjects, United States
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People in the United States, I encourage you to stop replying to people of power in social media. Instead, every time a congress person or elected official puts out a statement in social media, contact them via phone or email. They can ignore your social media replies but should not ignore your emails and phone calls.

Today I contacted Tim Burchett:

I am a constituent. On April 21, 2023 at 6:37am, Mr. Burchett tweeted, “We are broke yet ?@POTUS? keeps funding Foreign countries. Why?”

I request that Mr. Burchett refrain from such rhetoric without substantiating it. As your constituent, I’m asking that you show in documentation or reputable publications that “we are broke.” I want to see the numbers and Mr. Burchett’s sources.

As for why are we sending funds to other nations, well, if Mr. Burchett cannot answer that question then clearly he is not qualified for this job. For that matter, it is his job to tell us, his constituents, why. So I demand that Mr. Burchett answer his own question. Why are we funding foreign nations?

Thank you.

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Brilliant product designs April 19, 2023 12:13 pm

Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Daily Life
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So what genius decided to put Clorox wipes and flushable wipes in the same style container?

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Yard work! April 16, 2023 1:48 pm

Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Daily Life
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I’ve declared war on the vines crawling all over my trees April 16, 2023 1:13 pm

Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Daily Life
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For years, I’ve begged the children to trim the vines from the trees while I’ve procrastinated doing it myself. I finally removed vines from on of the trees and it looks so much better. I’m excited to continue and cleared 3 more trees today.

“Cleared” and “removed” are inaccurate. I use an Ax my son gave me for Christmas and chop thru the vine about 3 feet high and then at the ground to remove the bottom 2-3 feet of vine. I am very careful to not damage the bark.

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ChatGPT April 14, 2023 6:20 pm

Posted by Doug McCaughan in : AI Artificial Intelligence, Technology
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“How do we steal traffic from Google’s market share?”

“What if we called our search engine a chatbot? Oh! An AI Chatbot.”

“Ok. With ads?”

“No! We will limit functionality in the free version and charge $20/mth for access to our beta version. They will pay to test our software!”

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Breakfast of horses! April 14, 2023 9:00 am

Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Daily Life
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