• Solar TV Battery Test

    From Barry Martin@454:1/1 to Nancy Backus on Sun Feb 2 14:19:00 2020

    Hi Nancy!

    Finally semi-tested the recharging of a 12v UPS battery using a solar
    cell charger. -- Overall the run a TV off a 12v battery when the power
    fails project.

    In a word: failed. Also have to add there are a lot of known details
    working against. The project could work, just not here conveniently.

    Using an inexpensive 1.5 Watt solar battery charger; different one
    from the one in the basement window (will go down and continue that clean
    up project later). Temporarily mounted it to the south-facing window up
    here in the Computer Room. A bit hazy out, but otherwise bright. Sun
    being filtered a bit through leafless tree branches. Measured ~4 volts
    -- we want 12 v! And the manual says up to 24 volts! (I can build
    something to regulate down; technically I can up-convert too but there's
    other losses.)

    Later the Sun moved and essentially unobstructed: 7 v at noon. Still insufficient.

    Several problems with the test setup:
    -- The window has 'UV Block'. So do all the other windows in the house
    except for the ones in the basement.
    -- Going through a window screen. Keeps bugs out but doubt does that
    much to sunshine. Using this position because there's a screw hole
    at the window frame from the window air conditioner's side flaps:
    used a wire clamp to keep the solar panel in position. (Did test
    later: moved to the top window: glass only, no screen. Got less
    voltage [!] but also the Sun had moved.)

    Didn't try outside: warm enough today but in winter quite possible well
    below freezing, could freeze and therefore break the battery. Solar
    cell outside, run wires to inside.... Thinking this is more of a
    now-emergency than something planned and semi-permanent.


    So appears the throw-it-together solar charging isn't going to work
    here. Do want to state I think solar works, just needs to be outside
    and properly aligned. The manual for this little portable critter even
    says may need to realign 10ø. Will discontinue the solar charger
    option; will have to semi-plan ahead and maintain a battery or two to be charged a different way, right now electricity.


    ¯ ®
    ¯ Barry_Martin_3@ ®
    ¯ @Q.COM ®
    ¯ ®


    ... Useless Invention: Solar powered night light.
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  • From Nancy Backus@454:1/452 to Barry Martin on Thu Feb 6 20:49:38 2020
    Quoting Barry Martin to Nancy Backus on 02-Feb-2020 14:19 <=-

    Finally semi-tested the recharging of a 12v UPS battery using a solar
    cell charger. -- Overall the run a TV off a 12v battery when the
    power fails project.
    In a word: failed. Also have to add there are a lot of known details working against. The project could work, just not here conveniently.

    Well, at least now you know... :)

    Using an inexpensive 1.5 Watt solar battery charger; different one
    from the one in the basement window (will go down and continue that
    clean up project later). Temporarily mounted it to the south-facing window up here in the Computer Room. A bit hazy out, but otherwise bright. Sun being filtered a bit through leafless tree branches. Measured ~4 volts -- we want 12 v! And the manual says up to 24 volts!
    (I can build something to regulate down; technically I can up-convert
    too but there's other losses.)
    Later the Sun moved and essentially unobstructed: 7 v at noon. Still insufficient.
    Several problems with the test setup:
    -- The window has 'UV Block'. So do all the other windows in the
    house except for the ones in the basement.

    That will do it... all on its own... means that the solar charging isn't
    going to get through... Richard had a similar problem with using a
    security camera at church... the UV and IR blocks on the newer windows
    are useful for some things, but not for cameras in the IR range and
    charging from the UV range.... :)

    -- Going through a window screen. Keeps bugs out but doubt does that
    much to sunshine. Using this position because there's a screw
    hole at the window frame from the window air conditioner's side
    flaps: used a wire clamp to keep the solar panel in position. (Did
    test later: moved to the top window: glass only, no screen. Got
    less voltage [!] but also the Sun had moved.)

    I wouldn't think that the screen would have much effect...

    Didn't try outside: warm enough today but in winter quite possible
    well below freezing, could freeze and therefore break the battery.
    Solar cell outside, run wires to inside.... Thinking this is more of a now-emergency than something planned and semi-permanent.

    And might be that you'd do better to test that aspect come later spring
    through summer and early fall.... In warmer weather, you could try doing
    it just through the screen... I'd think that you'd also need to protect
    it from the elements...

    So appears the throw-it-together solar charging isn't going to work
    here. Do want to state I think solar works, just needs to be outside
    and properly aligned. The manual for this little portable critter
    even says may need to realign 10ø. Will discontinue the solar charger option; will have to semi-plan ahead and maintain a battery or two to
    be charged a different way, right now electricity.

    For now, it's good you have other options... ;)

    ... Useless Invention: Solar powered night light.

    Not necessarily useless... if it can store up enough during the day when
    the sun is shining, it could last the night as a night light... ;)
    After all, that's what those solar lights that one puts along the
    sidewalk or driveway do... soak in the power during the day, and when it
    gets dark, shine the lights....

    ttyl neb

    ... Always remember you're unique, just like everyone else.

    --- EzyBlueWave V3.00 01FB001F
    * Origin: Tiny's BBS - http://www.tinysbbs.com (454:1/452)
  • From Barry Martin@454:1/1 to Nancy Backus on Fri Feb 7 08:57:00 2020

    Hi Nancy!

    Finally semi-tested the recharging of a 12v UPS battery using a solar
    cell charger. -- Overall the run a TV off a 12v battery when the
    power fails project.
    In a word: failed. Also have to add there are a lot of known details working against. The project could work, just not here conveniently.
    Well, at least now you know... :)

    True. LIS later in that reply or in an interim message the only window
    here without the UV Block that gets Sun is the one in the basement. Now
    can get to it (clean-up project coming along!), workbench a bit crowded
    -- will hold off a little longer as no big rush and keep things focused.
    Even if the power failed right now there are three batteries available
    which should run over three hours each. Not planning on keeping that
    many charged: one is the battery from the UPS that failed because the
    second battery was bad. Second is from a UPS right now is a spare (not
    for too much longer!), and the third was a spare/replacement battery.


    Using an inexpensive 1.5 Watt solar battery charger; different one
    from the one in the basement window (will go down and continue that
    clean up project later). Temporarily mounted it to the south-facing window up here in the Computer Room. A bit hazy out, but otherwise bright. Sun being filtered a bit through leafless tree branches.
    Measured ~4 volts -- we want 12 v! And the manual says up to 24 volts!
    (I can build something to regulate down; technically I can up-convert
    too but there's other losses.)
    Later the Sun moved and essentially unobstructed: 7 v at noon. Still insufficient.
    Several problems with the test setup:
    -- The window has 'UV Block'. So do all the other windows in the
    house except for the ones in the basement.
    That will do it... all on its own... means that the solar
    charging isn't going to get through... Richard had a similar
    problem with using a security camera at church... the UV and IR
    blocks on the newer windows are useful for some things, but not
    for cameras in the IR range and charging from the UV range.... :)

    For every action there is an opposite reaction! <g> ...Could set up
    outside -- temporary would probably be dealing with freezing conditions
    and burst batteries. Running wires to inside -- has possibilities.



    -- Going through a window screen. Keeps bugs out but doubt does that
    much to sunshine. Using this position because there's a screw
    hole at the window frame from the window air conditioner's side
    flaps: used a wire clamp to keep the solar panel in position. (Did
    test later: moved to the top window: glass only, no screen. Got
    less voltage [!] but also the Sun had moved.)
    I wouldn't think that the screen would have much effect...

    Nor I but figured worth the experimental time.


    Didn't try outside: warm enough today but in winter quite possible
    well below freezing, could freeze and therefore break the battery.
    Solar cell outside, run wires to inside.... Thinking this is more of a now-emergency than something planned and semi-permanent.
    And might be that you'd do better to test that aspect come later
    spring through summer and early fall.... In warmer weather, you
    could try doing it just through the screen... I'd think that
    you'd also need to protect it from the elements...

    Hmmm: now that's a possibility! Thanks! At this point not sure if the
    solar charger is sufficiently weather resistant to stay outside
    permanently....


    So appears the throw-it-together solar charging isn't going to work
    here. Do want to state I think solar works, just needs to be outside
    and properly aligned. The manual for this little portable critter
    even says may need to realign 10ø. Will discontinue the solar charger option; will have to semi-plan ahead and maintain a battery or two to
    be charged a different way, right now electricity.
    For now, it's good you have other options... ;)

    And now re-open later for the between the screen and window
    consideration. May end up simply maintaining a battery on electricity
    -- the battery I snagged from the UPS (the other battery had failed)
    also appears to be slightly damaged (or maybe just because older) and
    doesn't seem to hold a charge quite as well as the other two batteries.
    Does hold a charge for at least a couple of weeks....


    ... Useless Invention: Solar powered night light.
    Not necessarily useless... if it can store up enough during the
    day when the sun is shining, it could last the night as a night
    light... ;) After all, that's what those solar lights that one
    puts along the sidewalk or driveway do... soak in the power
    during the day, and when it gets dark, shine the lights....

    Right: when working I had in my pocket a small flashlight where the
    coin cell battery inside was recharged by a small solar panel. That
    also barely recharged through the window because of the UV Block. I had purchased three or four -- inexpensive and gave one or two away. Still
    have two: theoretically alike but one somewhat charges inside (dim) and
    the other not at all. Outside both charge to full brightness.


    ¯ ®
    ¯ Barry_Martin_3@ ®
    ¯ @Q.COM ®
    ¯ ®


    ... Geriatric Party Games! Sag, You're It
    --- MultiMail/Win32 v0.47
    þ wcECHO 4.2 ÷ ILink: The Safe BBS þ Bettendorf, IA

    --- QScan/PCB v1.20a / 01-0462
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  • From Nancy Backus@454:1/452 to Barry Martin on Fri Feb 14 00:23:04 2020
    Quoting Barry Martin to Nancy Backus on 07-Feb-2020 08:57 <=-

    In a word: failed. Also have to add there are a lot of known details
    working against. The project could work, just not here conveniently.
    Well, at least now you know... :)
    True. LIS later in that reply or in an interim message the only
    window here without the UV Block that gets Sun is the one in the
    basement. Now can get to it (clean-up project coming along!),
    workbench a bit crowded -- will hold off a little longer as no big rush and keep things focused.

    Probably just as well to try to stay focused... and theoretically, when
    you finish your workbench cleanup, you'll still have access to that
    window... ;)

    Even if the power failed right now there are
    three batteries available which should run over three hours each. Not planning on keeping that many charged: one is the battery from the UPS that failed because the second battery was bad. Second is from a UPS right now is a spare (not for too much longer!), and the third was a spare/replacement battery.

    So for now, you have plenty of backup anyway... :)

    Several problems with the test setup:
    -- The window has 'UV Block'. So do all the other windows in the
    house except for the ones in the basement.
    That will do it... all on its own... means that the solar charging
    isn't going to get through... Richard had a similar problem with
    using a security camera at church... the UV and IR blocks on the newer
    windows are useful for some things, but not for cameras in the IR
    range and charging from the UV range.... :)
    For every action there is an opposite reaction! <g> ...Could set up outside -- temporary would probably be dealing with freezing
    conditions and burst batteries. Running wires to inside -- has possibilities.

    That sounds like a warmer weather type of experiment, though....

    Didn't try outside: warm enough today but in winter quite possible
    well below freezing, could freeze and therefore break the battery.
    Solar cell outside, run wires to inside.... Thinking this is more of a
    now-emergency than something planned and semi-permanent.
    And might be that you'd do better to test that aspect come later
    spring through summer and early fall.... In warmer weather, you
    could try doing it just through the screen... I'd think that you'd
    also need to protect it from the elements...
    Hmmm: now that's a possibility! Thanks! At this point not sure if the solar charger is sufficiently weather resistant to stay outside permanently....

    Something else to get more data on in the meantime... :)

    So appears the throw-it-together solar charging isn't going to work
    here. Do want to state I think solar works, just needs to be outside
    and properly aligned. The manual for this little portable critter
    even says may need to realign 10ø. Will discontinue the solar charger
    option; will have to semi-plan ahead and maintain a battery or two to
    be charged a different way, right now electricity.
    For now, it's good you have other options... ;)
    And now re-open later for the between the screen and window
    consideration. May end up simply maintaining a battery on electricity
    -- the battery I snagged from the UPS (the other battery had failed)
    also appears to be slightly damaged (or maybe just because older) and doesn't seem to hold a charge quite as well as the other two
    batteries. Does hold a charge for at least a couple of weeks....

    Just need to keep them charged regularly so that they'd be available in
    case of need.... :)

    ... Useless Invention: Solar powered night light.
    Not necessarily useless... if it can store up enough during the day
    when the sun is shining, it could last the night as a night light.. ;)
    After all, that's what those solar lights that one puts along the
    sidewalk or driveway do... soak in the power during the day, and when
    it gets dark, shine the lights....
    Right: when working I had in my pocket a small flashlight where the
    coin cell battery inside was recharged by a small solar panel. That
    also barely recharged through the window because of the UV Block. I
    had purchased three or four -- inexpensive and gave one or two away. Still have two: theoretically alike but one somewhat charges inside
    (dim) and the other not at all. Outside both charge to full
    brightness.

    Maybe the coin cell batteries need replacing....? I have a small
    calculator that has the solar cell panels on the front... it seems to
    work either in good light or not so, so obviously it also has a battery internally... But I'm sure the solar feature would keep the internal one
    from going bad so quickly... :)

    ttyl neb

    ... Behind every good computer - is a jumble of cables!

    --- EzyBlueWave V3.00 01FB001F
    * Origin: Tiny's BBS - http://www.tinysbbs.com (454:1/452)
  • From Barry Martin@454:1/1 to Nancy Backus on Fri Feb 14 08:44:00 2020

    Hi Nancy!

    A little chilly out there this morning: -8ø and the weather report said
    a 30-below wind chill. The local TV news anchors were joking because
    it's Valentine's Day hug someone - anyone! - for warmth.


    In a word: failed. Also have to add there are a lot of known details
    working against. The project could work, just not here conveniently.
    Well, at least now you know... :)
    True. LIS later in that reply or in an interim message the only
    window here without the UV Block that gets Sun is the one in the
    basement. Now can get to it (clean-up project coming along!),
    workbench a bit crowded -- will hold off a little longer as no big rush and keep things focused.
    Probably just as well to try to stay focused... and
    theoretically, when you finish your workbench cleanup, you'll
    still have access to that window... ;)

    Have relatively easy access now - so the cleanup project is progressing.
    :) Still holding off as want to stay focused, where I'd put the battery
    and meter for testing on the bench still has some in-progess boxes


    Even if the power failed right now there are
    three batteries available which should run over three hours each. Not planning on keeping that many charged: one is the battery from the UPS that failed because the second battery was bad. Second is from a UPS right now is a spare (not for too much longer!), and the third was a spare/replacement battery.
    So for now, you have plenty of backup anyway... :)

    Yes. And with the temperatore below zero if the power fails I have more
    to be concerned with than what's on TV!


    Several problems with the test setup:
    -- The window has 'UV Block'. So do all the other windows in the
    house except for the ones in the basement.
    That will do it... all on its own... means that the solar charging
    isn't going to get through... Richard had a similar problem with
    using a security camera at church... the UV and IR blocks on the newer
    windows are useful for some things, but not for cameras in the IR
    range and charging from the UV range.... :)
    For every action there is an opposite reaction! <g> ...Could set up outside -- temporary would probably be dealing with freezing
    conditions and burst batteries. Running wires to inside -- has possibilities.
    That sounds like a warmer weather type of experiment, though....

    <chuckle> Especially at eight-below!!


    Didn't try outside: warm enough today but in winter quite possible
    well below freezing, could freeze and therefore break the battery.
    Solar cell outside, run wires to inside.... Thinking this is more of a
    now-emergency than something planned and semi-permanent.
    And might be that you'd do better to test that aspect come later
    spring through summer and early fall.... In warmer weather, you
    could try doing it just through the screen... I'd think that you'd
    also need to protect it from the elements...
    Hmmm: now that's a possibility! Thanks! At this point not sure if the solar charger is sufficiently weather resistant to stay outside permanently....
    Something else to get more data on in the meantime... :)

    Yes, though may sacrifice the unit just because it is old. Would
    provide some sort of protection from rain, snow, etc., but if the
    plastic case gets brittle and breaks no great loss.


    So appears the throw-it-together solar charging isn't going to work
    here. Do want to state I think solar works, just needs to be outside
    and properly aligned. The manual for this little portable critter
    even says may need to realign 10ø. Will discontinue the solar charger
    option; will have to semi-plan ahead and maintain a battery or two to
    be charged a different way, right now electricity.
    For now, it's good you have other options... ;)
    And now re-open later for the between the screen and window
    consideration. May end up simply maintaining a battery on electricity
    -- the battery I snagged from the UPS (the other battery had failed)
    also appears to be slightly damaged (or maybe just because older) and doesn't seem to hold a charge quite as well as the other two
    batteries. Does hold a charge for at least a couple of weeks....
    Just need to keep them charged regularly so that they'd be
    available in case of need.... :)

    Right. The battery from the pair of UPS batteries where one failed
    doesn't hold a charge as well as the spare battery -- half-expected,
    though could be from age.


    ... Useless Invention: Solar powered night light.
    Not necessarily useless... if it can store up enough during the day
    when the sun is shining, it could last the night as a night light.. ;)
    After all, that's what those solar lights that one puts along the
    sidewalk or driveway do... soak in the power during the day, and when
    it gets dark, shine the lights....
    Right: when working I had in my pocket a small flashlight where the
    coin cell battery inside was recharged by a small solar panel. That
    also barely recharged through the window because of the UV Block. I
    had purchased three or four -- inexpensive and gave one or two away.
    Still have two: theoretically alike but one somewhat charges inside
    (dim) and the other not at all. Outside both charge to full
    brightness.
    Maybe the coin cell batteries need replacing....? I have a small calculator that has the solar cell panels on the front... it
    seems to work either in good light or not so, so obviously it
    also has a battery internally... But I'm sure the solar feature
    would keep the internal one from going bad so quickly... :)

    The bettery seems to be fine: when that flashlight was charged outside
    it went to full brightness and held the charge.


    ... Behind every good computer - is a jumble of cables!

    Can only do so much wireless!


    ¯ ®
    ¯ Barry_Martin_3@ ®
    ¯ @Q.COM ®
    ¯ ®


    ... Albert J. Parkhouse invented the wire coathanger in 1903.
    --- MultiMail/Win32 v0.47
    þ wcECHO 4.2 ÷ ILink: The Safe BBS þ Bettendorf, IA

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  • From Daryl Stout@454:1/33 to BARRY MARTIN on Sun Feb 16 09:26:00 2020
    Barry,

    ... Behind every good computer - is a jumble of cables!

    Can only do so much wireless!

    That is the ONLY rats nest that's good...especially in light of what
    I've been dealing with since October...and still am.

    Daryl


    * OLX 1.53 * 8000 bolts to make a car; only 1 nut to scatter them.
    --- SBBSecho 3.10-Win32
    * Origin: The Thunderbolt BBS - tbolt.synchro.net (454:1/33)
  • From Barry Martin@454:1/1 to Daryl Stout on Mon Feb 17 08:37:00 2020

    Hi Daryl!

    ... Behind every good computer - is a jumble of cables!
    Can only do so much wireless!
    That is the ONLY rats nest that's good...especially in light of
    what I've been dealing with since October...and still am.

    And you'll probably end up with at least one remaining mouse on your
    desk!


    ¯ ®
    ¯ Barry_Martin_3@ ®
    ¯ @Q.COM ®
    ¯ ®


    ... Scrolling scrolling scrolling
    Keep that mousewheel scrolling!
    --- MultiMail/Win32 v0.47
    þ wcECHO 4.2 ÷ ILink: The Safe BBS þ Bettendorf, IA

    --- QScan/PCB v1.20a / 01-0462
    * Origin: ILink: CFBBS | cfbbs.no-ip.com | 856-933-7096 (454:1/1)
  • From Nancy Backus@454:1/452 to Barry Martin on Tue Feb 18 20:23:40 2020
    Quoting Barry Martin to Nancy Backus on 14-Feb-2020 08:44 <=-

    A little chilly out there this morning: -8ø and the weather report
    said a 30-below wind chill. The local TV news anchors were joking
    because it's Valentine's Day hug someone - anyone! - for warmth.

    Nice joke... ;) We didn't get quite that cold... only to about 1ø, and
    wind chills maybe to about -10 or so... Of course, that's bad enough.. ;)

    Now can get to it (clean-up project coming along!), workbench a bit
    crowded -- will hold off a little longer as no big rush and keep
    things focused.
    Probably just as well to try to stay focused... and theoretically,
    when you finish your workbench cleanup, you'll still have access to
    that window... ;)
    Have relatively easy access now - so the cleanup project is
    progressing. :) Still holding off as want to stay focused, where I'd
    put the battery and meter for testing on the bench still has some in-progess boxes

    Good enough reasons still.... ;)

    Even if the power failed right now there are
    three batteries available which should run over three hours each. Not
    planning on keeping that many charged: one is the battery from the UPS
    that failed because the second battery was bad. Second is from a UPS
    right now is a spare (not for too much longer!), and the third was a
    spare/replacement battery.
    So for now, you have plenty of backup anyway... :)
    Yes. And with the temperatore below zero if the power fails I have
    more to be concerned with than what's on TV!

    Except for ongoing weather reports and alerts... <G>

    For every action there is an opposite reaction! <g> ...Could set up
    outside -- temporary would probably be dealing with freezing
    conditions and burst batteries. Running wires to inside -- has
    possibilities.
    That sounds like a warmer weather type of experiment, though....
    <chuckle> Especially at eight-below!!

    Indeed...!! ;)

    Didn't try outside: warm enough today but in winter quite possible
    well below freezing, could freeze and therefore break the battery.
    Solar cell outside, run wires to inside.... Thinking this is more of a
    now-emergency than something planned and semi-permanent.
    And might be that you'd do better to test that aspect come later
    spring through summer and early fall.... In warmer weather, you
    could try doing it just through the screen... I'd think that you'd
    also need to protect it from the elements...
    Hmmm: now that's a possibility! Thanks! At this point not sure if the
    solar charger is sufficiently weather resistant to stay outside
    permanently....
    Something else to get more data on in the meantime... :)
    Yes, though may sacrifice the unit just because it is old. Would
    provide some sort of protection from rain, snow, etc., but if the
    plastic case gets brittle and breaks no great loss.

    Unless by some fluke, it actually works before it goes flooey... ;)

    And now re-open later for the between the screen and window
    consideration. May end up simply maintaining a battery on electricity
    -- the battery I snagged from the UPS (the other battery had failed)
    also appears to be slightly damaged (or maybe just because older) and
    doesn't seem to hold a charge quite as well as the other two
    batteries. Does hold a charge for at least a couple of weeks....
    Just need to keep them charged regularly so that they'd be available
    in case of need.... :)
    Right. The battery from the pair of UPS batteries where one failed doesn't hold a charge as well as the spare battery -- half-expected, though could be from age.

    Could be.... :)

    ... Useless Invention: Solar powered night light.
    Not necessarily useless... if it can store up enough during the day
    when the sun is shining, it could last the night as a night light.. ;)
    After all, that's what those solar lights that one puts along the
    sidewalk or driveway do... soak in the power during the day, and when
    it gets dark, shine the lights....
    Right: when working I had in my pocket a small flashlight where the
    coin cell battery inside was recharged by a small solar panel. That
    also barely recharged through the window because of the UV Block. I
    had purchased three or four -- inexpensive and gave one or two away.
    Still have two: theoretically alike but one somewhat charges inside
    (dim) and the other not at all. Outside both charge to full
    brightness.
    Maybe the coin cell batteries need replacing....? I have a small
    calculator that has the solar cell panels on the front... it seems
    to work either in good light or not so, so obviously it also has a
    battery internally... But I'm sure the solar feature would keep the
    internal one from going bad so quickly... :)
    The bettery seems to be fine: when that flashlight was charged outside
    it went to full brightness and held the charge.

    Ok, that sounds promising, then... ;)

    ... Behind every good computer - is a jumble of cables!
    Can only do so much wireless!

    For sure... :)

    ttyl neb

    ... Give a man an inch, and he thinks he's a ruler.

    --- EzyBlueWave V3.00 01FB001F
    * Origin: Tiny's BBS - http://www.tinysbbs.com (454:1/452)
  • From Daryl Stout@454:1/33 to BARRY MARTIN on Wed Feb 19 00:51:00 2020
    Barry,

    And you'll probably end up with at least one remaining mouse on your BM>desk!

    I've actually got one for the desktop and one for the laptop. With the
    way my hand moves the mousepad, one of the other eventually falls to the
    floor. Thankfully, they don't fall that far, so little damage results.

    Daryl


    * OLX 1.53 * Amateur Radio Chicken Dinner -- Ham And Eggs.
    --- SBBSecho 3.10-Win32
    * Origin: The Thunderbolt BBS - tbolt.synchro.net (454:1/33)
  • From Barry Martin@454:1/1 to Nancy Backus on Wed Feb 19 09:37:00 2020

    Hi Nancy!

    A little chilly out there this morning: -8ø and the weather report
    said a 30-below wind chill. The local TV news anchors were joking
    because it's Valentine's Day hug someone - anyone! - for warmth.
    Nice joke... ;) We didn't get quite that cold... only to about
    1ø, and wind chills maybe to about -10 or so... Of course, that's
    bad enough.. ;)

    After a while it gets cold enough it doesn't seem to make any difference
    in one's mind if it gets any colder. I suppose physiologically it does
    - exposed body parts get frostbit in 10 minutes instead of 30 -- but to
    the average person just thinks -- or tries to because their teeth are chattering so bad under five layers of clothing!


    Now can get to it (clean-up project coming along!), workbench a bit
    crowded -- will hold off a little longer as no big rush and keep
    things focused.
    Probably just as well to try to stay focused... and theoretically,
    when you finish your workbench cleanup, you'll still have access to
    that window... ;)
    Have relatively easy access now - so the cleanup project is
    progressing. :) Still holding off as want to stay focused, where I'd
    put the battery and meter for testing on the bench still has some in-progess boxes
    Good enough reasons still.... ;)

    Yup. Did straighten up here some -- did get rid of stuff on a bottom
    shelf so might be able to get a Bankers Box there or equivalent.
    haven't quite decided what should go there: want to keep like things
    together. More cleaning and disposal and something will make sense.


    Even if the power failed right now there are
    three batteries available which should run over three hours each. Not
    planning on keeping that many charged: one is the battery from the UPS
    that failed because the second battery was bad. Second is from a UPS
    right now is a spare (not for too much longer!), and the third was a
    spare/replacement battery.
    So for now, you have plenty of backup anyway... :)
    Yes. And with the temperatore below zero if the power fails I have
    more to be concerned with than what's on TV!
    Except for ongoing weather reports and alerts... <G>

    <chuckle> Oh yeah: forgot that's the original reason! <g>


    <solar charger - maybe to outside>
    Didn't try outside: warm enough today but in winter quite possible
    well below freezing, could freeze and therefore break the battery.
    Solar cell outside, run wires to inside.... Thinking this is more of a
    now-emergency than something planned and semi-permanent.
    And might be that you'd do better to test that aspect come later
    spring through summer and early fall.... In warmer weather, you
    could try doing it just through the screen... I'd think that you'd
    also need to protect it from the elements...
    Hmmm: now that's a possibility! Thanks! At this point not sure if the
    solar charger is sufficiently weather resistant to stay outside
    permanently....
    Something else to get more data on in the meantime... :)
    Yes, though may sacrifice the unit just because it is old. Would
    provide some sort of protection from rain, snow, etc., but if the
    plastic case gets brittle and breaks no great loss.
    Unless by some fluke, it actually works before it goes flooey...
    ;)

    I'd prefer it not to go flooey (haven't heard that one in ages!) but do realize is a possibiliy as not built for continuous use outdoors. OTOH
    should last long enough to tell me if the project is worthwhile or go
    with the charging/maintaining from the wall outlet (electricty).


    ... Useless Invention: Solar powered night light.
    Not necessarily useless... if it can store up enough during the day
    when the sun is shining, it could last the night as a night light.. ;)
    After all, that's what those solar lights that one puts along the
    sidewalk or driveway do... soak in the power during the day, and when
    it gets dark, shine the lights....
    Right: when working I had in my pocket a small flashlight where the
    coin cell battery inside was recharged by a small solar panel. That
    also barely recharged through the window because of the UV Block. I
    had purchased three or four -- inexpensive and gave one or two away.
    Still have two: theoretically alike but one somewhat charges inside
    (dim) and the other not at all. Outside both charge to full
    brightness.
    Maybe the coin cell batteries need replacing....? I have a small
    calculator that has the solar cell panels on the front... it seems
    to work either in good light or not so, so obviously it also has a
    battery internally... But I'm sure the solar feature would keep the
    internal one from going bad so quickly... :)
    The bettery seems to be fine: when that flashlight was charged outside
    it went to full brightness and held the charge.
    Ok, that sounds promising, then... ;)

    For the solar charging of TV's battery? Yes. As I implied, mount is a
    place in full sun but protected, or some protection from the elements
    over it. Running the wires may almost be the harder part of the job:
    pretty much have to be hidden or else!


    ... Behind every good computer - is a jumble of cables!
    Can only do so much wireless!
    For sure... :)

    And they do like to intertwine!

    ¯ ®
    ¯ Barry_Martin_3@ ®
    ¯ @Q.COM ®
    ¯ ®


    ... Feb.18: National Battery Day. Appreciate conveniences batteries provide. --- MultiMail/Win32 v0.47
    þ wcECHO 4.2 ÷ ILink: The Safe BBS þ Bettendorf, IA

    --- QScan/PCB v1.20a / 01-0462
    * Origin: ILink: CFBBS | cfbbs.no-ip.com | 856-933-7096 (454:1/1)
  • From Barry Martin@454:1/1 to Daryl Stout on Thu Feb 20 07:19:00 2020

    Hi Daryl!

    And you'll probably end up with at least one remaining mouse on your
    desk!
    I've actually got one for the desktop and one for the laptop.
    With the way my hand moves the mousepad, one of the other
    eventually falls to the floor. Thankfully, they don't fall that
    far, so little damage results.

    I had a problem with the moose falling off the slide-out drawer. Front
    has a bit of lip but the back doesn't -- shove the mouse out of the way
    -- aheeee! Soolved that by putting some right-brackets I had 'in stock'
    at the back to create a barrier.


    ¯ ®
    ¯ Barry_Martin_3@ ®
    ¯ @Q.COM ®
    ¯ ®


    ... 9 times out of 10 poison is bad for you.
    --- MultiMail/Win32 v0.47
    þ wcECHO 4.2 ÷ ILink: The Safe BBS þ Bettendorf, IA

    --- QScan/PCB v1.20a / 01-0462
    * Origin: ILink: CFBBS | cfbbs.no-ip.com | 856-933-7096 (454:1/1)
  • From Nancy Backus@454:1/452 to Barry Martin on Tue Feb 25 00:43:58 2020
    Quoting Barry Martin to Nancy Backus on 19-Feb-2020 09:37 <=-

    A little chilly out there this morning: -8ø and the weather report
    said a 30-below wind chill. The local TV news anchors were joking
    because it's Valentine's Day hug someone - anyone! - for warmth.
    Nice joke... ;) We didn't get quite that cold... only to about 1ø,
    and wind chills maybe to about -10 or so... Of course, that's bad
    enough.. ;)
    After a while it gets cold enough it doesn't seem to make any
    difference in one's mind if it gets any colder. I suppose
    physiologically it does - exposed body parts get frostbit in 10 minutes instead of 30 -- but to the average person just thinks -- or tries to because their teeth are chattering so bad under five layers of
    clothing!

    It does make a difference too how acclimated one has become to the
    temps... people in Alaska and the Yukon would find our temps downright
    balmy... <G> When it was around 0F here, I finally used my winter
    jacket for a couple of days... usually it makes me too warm...

    Now can get to it (clean-up project coming along!), workbench a bit
    crowded -- will hold off a little longer as no big rush and keep
    things focused.
    Probably just as well to try to stay focused... and theoretically,
    when you finish your workbench cleanup, you'll still have access to
    that window... ;)
    Have relatively easy access now - so the cleanup project is
    progressing. :) Still holding off as want to stay focused, where I'd
    put the battery and meter for testing on the bench still has some
    in-progess boxes
    Good enough reasons still.... ;)
    Yup. Did straighten up here some -- did get rid of stuff on a bottom shelf so might be able to get a Bankers Box there or equivalent.
    haven't quite decided what should go there: want to keep like things together. More cleaning and disposal and something will make sense.

    Indeed.

    Even if the power failed right now there are
    three batteries available which should run over three hours each. Not
    planning on keeping that many charged: one is the battery from the UPS
    that failed because the second battery was bad. Second is from a UPS
    right now is a spare (not for too much longer!), and the third was a
    spare/replacement battery.
    So for now, you have plenty of backup anyway... :)
    Yes. And with the temperature below zero if the power fails I have
    more to be concerned with than what's on TV!
    Except for ongoing weather reports and alerts... <G>
    <chuckle> Oh yeah: forgot that's the original reason! <g>

    Stay focused...! <G>

    <solar charger - maybe to outside>
    Didn't try outside: warm enough today but in winter quite possible
    well below freezing, could freeze and therefore break the battery.
    Solar cell outside, run wires to inside.... Thinking this is more of
    a now-emergency than something planned and semi-permanent.
    And might be that you'd do better to test that aspect come later
    spring through summer and early fall.... In warmer weather, you
    could try doing it just through the screen... I'd think that you'd
    also need to protect it from the elements...
    Hmmm: now that's a possibility! Thanks! At this point not sure if the
    solar charger is sufficiently weather resistant to stay outside
    permanently....
    Something else to get more data on in the meantime... :)
    Yes, though may sacrifice the unit just because it is old. Would
    provide some sort of protection from rain, snow, etc., but if the
    plastic case gets brittle and breaks no great loss.
    Unless by some fluke, it actually works before it goes flooey... ;)
    I'd prefer it not to go flooey (haven't heard that one in ages!) but
    do realize is a possibility as not built for continuous use outdoors. OTOH should last long enough to tell me if the project is worthwhile or
    go with the charging/maintaining from the wall outlet (electricty).

    Possibility... ;)

    Right: when working I had in my pocket a small flashlight where the
    coin cell battery inside was recharged by a small solar panel. That
    also barely recharged through the window because of the UV Block. I
    had purchased three or four -- inexpensive and gave one or two away.
    Still have two: theoretically alike but one somewhat charges inside
    (dim) and the other not at all. Outside both charge to full
    brightness.
    Maybe the coin cell batteries need replacing....? I have a small
    calculator that has the solar cell panels on the front... it seems
    to work either in good light or not so, so obviously it also has a
    battery internally... But I'm sure the solar feature would keep the
    internal one from going bad so quickly... :)
    The battery seems to be fine: when that flashlight was charged outside
    it went to full brightness and held the charge.
    Ok, that sounds promising, then... ;)
    For the solar charging of TV's battery? Yes. As I implied, mount in
    a place in full sun but protected, or some protection from the elements over it. Running the wires may almost be the harder part of the job: pretty much have to be hidden or else!

    Eventually you'll figure it out, I'm sure... :)

    ... Behind every good computer - is a jumble of cables!
    Can only do so much wireless!
    For sure... :)
    And they do like to intertwine!

    Togetherness... ;)

    ... Feb.18: National Battery Day. Appreciate conveniences batteries provide.

    That was an appropriate one, both topic and date.... ;)

    ttyl neb

    ... Major University Scientific Report says you need to buy Our Product!

    --- EzyBlueWave V3.00 01FB001F
    * Origin: Tiny's BBS - http://www.tinysbbs.com (454:1/452)
  • From Barry Martin@454:1/1 to Nancy Backus on Tue Feb 25 09:39:00 2020

    Hi Nancy!

    Well, the Beeg Schtorm they were semi-panicking about didn't materialize
    here -- this morning is off to the south by around a hundred miles. We
    might get some rain out of the system.


    After a while it gets cold enough it doesn't seem to make any
    difference in one's mind if it gets any colder. I suppose
    physiologically it does - exposed body parts get frostbit in 10 minutes instead of 30 -- but to the average person just thinks -- or tries to because their teeth are chattering so bad under five layers of
    clothing!
    It does make a difference too how acclimated one has become to
    the temps... people in Alaska and the Yukon would find our temps
    downright balmy... <G> When it was around 0F here, I finally
    used my winter jacket for a couple of days... usually it makes me
    too warm...

    Yes: everything's relatve. I put on a winter coat a little above
    freezing -- I don't like being hot but don't like being cold either.

    Did see a guy wearing shorts and a lighterweight shirt -- looked
    something like he came from or was going to a Rugby or soccer practice. Everyone else wearing warm clothes.


    Yup. Did straighten up here some -- did get rid of stuff on a bottom shelf so might be able to get a Bankers Box there or equivalent.
    haven't quite decided what should go there: want to keep like things together. More cleaning and disposal and something will make sense.
    Indeed.

    Rearranged some yesterday afternoon. Created a medium-sized hole. :)
    Right now wasted a bit of space with the condensing/re-arranging but
    thought of how to move a few things around and should solve that.


    Even if the power failed right now there are
    three batteries available which should run over three hours each. Not
    planning on keeping that many charged: one is the battery from the UPS
    that failed because the second battery was bad. Second is from a UPS
    right now is a spare (not for too much longer!), and the third was a
    spare/replacement battery.
    So for now, you have plenty of backup anyway... :)
    Yes. And with the temperature below zero if the power fails I have
    more to be concerned with than what's on TV!
    Except for ongoing weather reports and alerts... <G>
    <chuckle> Oh yeah: forgot that's the original reason! <g>
    Stay focused...! <G>

    Squirrel!! <g> Did charge two batteries for the TV yesteday morning in anticipation of the storm. The one I removed from the UPS that 'failed'
    (the other battery had died) doesn't seem to hold a charge as well as it
    should -- still good for experimenting and would probably powere the TV
    for two or three hours.

    The second battery (different one from the one that failed in the UPS - previous paragraph) has been holding its charge -- was pretty much at
    full charge and hasn't been charged in a couple of months. Seems like
    this one is the normal and expected standby.


    <solar charger - maybe to outside>
    Didn't try outside: warm enough today but in winter quite possible
    well below freezing, could freeze and therefore break the battery.
    Solar cell outside, run wires to inside.... Thinking this is more of
    a now-emergency than something planned and semi-permanent.
    And might be that you'd do better to test that aspect come later
    spring through summer and early fall.... In warmer weather, you
    could try doing it just through the screen... I'd think that you'd
    also need to protect it from the elements...
    Hmmm: now that's a possibility! Thanks! At this point not sure if the
    solar charger is sufficiently weather resistant to stay outside
    permanently....
    Something else to get more data on in the meantime... :)
    Yes, though may sacrifice the unit just because it is old. Would
    provide some sort of protection from rain, snow, etc., but if the
    plastic case gets brittle and breaks no great loss.
    Unless by some fluke, it actually works before it goes flooey... ;)
    I'd prefer it not to go flooey (haven't heard that one in ages!) but
    do realize is a possibility as not built for continuous use outdoors.
    OTOH should last long enough to tell me if the project is worthwhile or
    go with the charging/maintaining from the wall outlet (electricty).
    Possibility... ;)

    So that sub-project will wait for a little while longer: can easily get
    to the basement window now (yea!!), though some stuff in the way as far
    as counterspace for meters, etc. No rush, so better to leave alone for
    now.



    ... Behind every good computer - is a jumble of cables!
    Can only do so much wireless!
    For sure... :)
    And they do like to intertwine!
    Togetherness... ;)

    The other day I pulled this computer to air dust the CPU's heat sink;
    did un-braid some of the cables back there while the computer was out.
    They were all run neatly originally - honest!!


    ... Feb.18: National Battery Day. Appreciate conveniences batteries provide.
    That was an appropriate one, both topic and date.... ;)

    <chuckle> It was semi-randomly selected: hit 'r' to jump to a random
    tagline, select or 'r' again. I think it was selecte don the second
    'r'.


    ... Major University Scientific Report says you need to buy Our
    Product!

    Sounds like good marketing to me!


    ¯ ®
    ¯ Barry_Martin_3@ ®
    ¯ @Q.COM ®
    ¯ ®


    ... Has anyone ever seen a flea at a flea market?
    --- MultiMail/Win32 v0.47
    þ wcECHO 4.2 ÷ ILink: The Safe BBS þ Bettendorf, IA

    --- QScan/PCB v1.20a / 01-0462
    * Origin: ILink: CFBBS | cfbbs.no-ip.com | 856-933-7096 (454:1/1)
  • From Nancy Backus@454:1/452 to Barry Martin on Sat Feb 29 23:26:34 2020
    Quoting Barry Martin to Nancy Backus on 25-Feb-2020 09:39 <=-

    Well, the Beeg Schtorm they were semi-panicking about didn't
    materialize here -- this morning is off to the south by around a
    hundred miles. We might get some rain out of the system.

    Sounds like our weather.... except that I think that the storm grazed a
    little closer to us than yours did to you.... ;)

    After a while it gets cold enough it doesn't seem to make any
    difference in one's mind if it gets any colder. I suppose
    physiologically it does - exposed body parts get frostbit in 10 minutes
    instead of 30 -- but to the average person just thinks -- or tries to
    because their teeth are chattering so bad under five layers of
    clothing!
    It does make a difference too how acclimated one has become to the
    temps... people in Alaska and the Yukon would find our temps downright
    balmy... <G> When it was around 0F here, I finally used my winter
    jacket for a couple of days... usually it makes me too warm...
    Yes: everything's relatve. I put on a winter coat a little above
    freezing -- I don't like being hot but don't like being cold either.

    I don't like being cold either... especially when it's indoors and the
    house just isn't warm enough... Outside, I can stand it for a little, as
    long as it's pretty quick from warm to warm.... ;)

    Did see a guy wearing shorts and a lighterweight shirt -- looked
    something like he came from or was going to a Rugby or soccer
    practice. Everyone else wearing warm clothes.

    Or maybe was an Alaskan native just there on a trip... <G>

    Yup. Did straighten up here some -- did get rid of stuff on a bottom
    shelf so might be able to get a Bankers Box there or equivalent.
    haven't quite decided what should go there: want to keep like things
    together. More cleaning and disposal and something will make sense.
    Indeed.
    Rearranged some yesterday afternoon. Created a medium-sized hole. :) Right now wasted a bit of space with the condensing/re-arranging but thought of how to move a few things around and should solve that.

    It's still a work in progress... :)

    Even if the power failed right now there are
    three batteries available which should run over three hours each. Not
    planning on keeping that many charged: one is the battery from the UPS
    that failed because the second battery was bad. Second is from a UPS
    right now is a spare (not for too much longer!), and the third was a
    spare/replacement battery.
    So for now, you have plenty of backup anyway... :)
    Yes. And with the temperature below zero if the power fails I have
    more to be concerned with than what's on TV!
    Except for ongoing weather reports and alerts... <G>
    <chuckle> Oh yeah: forgot that's the original reason! <g>
    Stay focused...! <G>
    Squirrel!! <g> Did charge two batteries for the TV yesteday morning
    in anticipation of the storm. The one I removed from the UPS that 'failed' (the other battery had died) doesn't seem to hold a charge as well as it should -- still good for experimenting and would probably powere the TV for two or three hours.

    So you'll want to charge that one up just prior to expected use... and
    use it first... ;)

    The second battery (different one from the one that failed in the UPS
    - previous paragraph) has been holding its charge -- was pretty much at full charge and hasn't been charged in a couple of months. Seems like this one is the normal and expected standby.

    Now that's a very good thing... that one can be there for the unexpected emergencies as well... :)

    <solar charger - maybe to outside>
    Yes, though may sacrifice the unit just because it is old. Would
    provide some sort of protection from rain, snow, etc., but if the
    plastic case gets brittle and breaks no great loss.
    Unless by some fluke, it actually works before it goes flooey... ;)
    I'd prefer it not to go flooey (haven't heard that one in ages!) but
    do realize is a possibility as not built for continuous use outdoors.
    OTOH should last long enough to tell me if the project is worthwhile or
    go with the charging/maintaining from the wall outlet (electricty).
    Possibility... ;)
    So that sub-project will wait for a little while longer: can easily
    get to the basement window now (yea!!), though some stuff in the way as far as counterspace for meters, etc. No rush, so better to leave alone for now.

    It's not going anywhere in the meantime... <G>

    ... Behind every good computer - is a jumble of cables!
    Can only do so much wireless!
    For sure... :)
    And they do like to intertwine!
    Togetherness... ;)
    The other day I pulled this computer to air dust the CPU's heat sink;
    did un-braid some of the cables back there while the computer was out. They were all run neatly originally - honest!!

    I believe you... <G>

    ... Feb.18: National Battery Day. Appreciate conveniences batteries
    provide.
    That was an appropriate one, both topic and date.... ;)
    <chuckle> It was semi-randomly selected: hit 'r' to jump to a random tagline, select or 'r' again. I think it was selected on the second
    'r'.

    A lot of my appropriate ones are similar.... :)

    ... Major University Scientific Report says you need to buy Our
    Product!
    Sounds like good marketing to me!

    Only if it actually produces the sales of the product.... ;)

    ttyl neb

    ... Fatal mouse error. (B)ury or (R)eplace?

    --- EzyBlueWave V3.00 01FB001F
    * Origin: Tiny's BBS - http://www.tinysbbs.com (454:1/452)
  • From Barry Martin@454:1/1 to Nancy Backus on Sun Mar 1 09:06:00 2020

    Hi Nancy!

    Well, the Beeg Schtorm they were semi-panicking about didn't
    materialize here -- this morning is off to the south by around a
    hundred miles. We might get some rain out of the system.
    Sounds like our weather.... except that I think that the storm
    grazed a little closer to us than yours did to you.... ;)

    It's supposed to be in the low 60's this afternoon! (Sunday, March 1.)
    Around thirty degrees warmer than yesterday. Rest of the week warmer
    than normal but not quite to t=day's warmth!


    After a while it gets cold enough it doesn't seem to make any
    difference in one's mind if it gets any colder. I suppose
    physiologically it does - exposed body parts get frostbit in 10 minutes
    instead of 30 -- but to the average person just thinks -- or tries to
    because their teeth are chattering so bad under five layers of
    clothing!
    It does make a difference too how acclimated one has become to the
    temps... people in Alaska and the Yukon would find our temps downright
    balmy... <G> When it was around 0F here, I finally used my winter
    jacket for a couple of days... usually it makes me too warm...
    Yes: everything's relatve. I put on a winter coat a little above
    freezing -- I don't like being hot but don't like being cold either.
    I don't like being cold either... especially when it's indoors
    and the house just isn't warm enough... Outside, I can stand it
    for a little, as long as it's pretty quick from warm to warm....
    ;)

    Part of it may be psychological: outside halfway expect to be cold (or
    hot) whereas inside have been spoiled by being able to control the
    indoor climate with the furnace and air conditioning.


    Did see a guy wearing shorts and a lighterweight shirt -- looked
    something like he came from or was going to a Rugby or soccer
    practice. Everyone else wearing warm clothes.
    Or maybe was an Alaskan native just there on a trip... <G>

    <chuckle> Could be!


    Yup. Did straighten up here some -- did get rid of stuff on a bottom
    shelf so might be able to get a Bankers Box there or equivalent.
    haven't quite decided what should go there: want to keep like things
    together. More cleaning and disposal and something will make sense.
    Indeed.
    Rearranged some yesterday afternoon. Created a medium-sized hole. :) Right now wasted a bit of space with the condensing/re-arranging but thought of how to move a few things around and should solve that.
    It's still a work in progress... :)

    Though hasn't progressed too much lately; have worked on some stuff
    which takes time but doesn't really show, mainly scanning a bunch of
    papers so I can get rid of the physical paper, which will make room.


    Even if the power failed right now there are
    three batteries available which should run over three hours each. Not
    planning on keeping that many charged: one is the battery from the UPS
    that failed because the second battery was bad. Second is from a UPS
    right now is a spare (not for too much longer!), and the third was a
    spare/replacement battery.
    So for now, you have plenty of backup anyway... :)
    Yes. And with the temperature below zero if the power fails I have
    more to be concerned with than what's on TV!
    Except for ongoing weather reports and alerts... <G>
    <chuckle> Oh yeah: forgot that's the original reason! <g>
    Stay focused...! <G>
    Squirrel!! <g> Did charge two batteries for the TV yesteday morning
    in anticipation of the storm. The one I removed from the UPS that 'failed' (the other battery had died) doesn't seem to hold a charge as well as it should -- still good for experimenting and would probably powere the TV for two or three hours.
    So you'll want to charge that one up just prior to expected
    use... and use it first... ;)

    Right. Do need to find a permanent home for the TV and associated
    parts; batteries and charger....


    The second battery (different one from the one that failed in the UPS
    - previous paragraph) has been holding its charge -- was pretty much at full charge and hasn't been charged in a couple of months. Seems like this one is the normal and expected standby.
    Now that's a very good thing... that one can be there for the
    unexpected emergencies as well... :)

    Yes. Plus could remove the battery from a UPS or two -- some power
    computers which are in occasional use so the UPS battery would be
    essentially fully charged.


    <solar charger - maybe to outside>
    Yes, though may sacrifice the unit just because it is old. Would
    provide some sort of protection from rain, snow, etc., but if the
    plastic case gets brittle and breaks no great loss.
    Unless by some fluke, it actually works before it goes flooey... ;)
    I'd prefer it not to go flooey (haven't heard that one in ages!) but
    do realize is a possibility as not built for continuous use outdoors.
    OTOH should last long enough to tell me if the project is worthwhile or
    go with the charging/maintaining from the wall outlet (electricty).
    Possibility... ;)
    So that sub-project will wait for a little while longer: can easily
    get to the basement window now (yea!!), though some stuff in the way as far as counterspace for meters, etc. No rush, so better to leave alone for now.
    It's not going anywhere in the meantime... <G>

    Right, and the semi-urgency has passed: the winter blizzard which sort
    of started the whole thing, the season is passing. Summer can have some
    rather nasty weather so don't want to get too lackadaisical. Plus the
    power could fail for a non-weather-related reason.



    ... Major University Scientific Report says you need to buy Our
    Product!
    Sounds like good marketing to me!
    Only if it actually produces the sales of the product.... ;)

    They think my money is better in their pocket than mine!

    ¯ ®
    ¯ Barry_Martin_3@ ®
    ¯ @Q.COM ®
    ¯ ®


    ... Business & Career Books: Money Can Make You Rich
    --- MultiMail/Win32 v0.47
    þ wcECHO 4.2 ÷ ILink: The Safe BBS þ Bettendorf, IA

    --- QScan/PCB v1.20a / 01-0462
    * Origin: ILink: CFBBS | cfbbs.no-ip.com | 856-933-7096 (454:1/1)
  • From Nancy Backus@454:1/452 to Barry Martin on Sat Mar 7 02:04:04 2020
    Quoting Barry Martin to Nancy Backus on 01-Mar-2020 09:06 <=-

    Well, the Beeg Schtorm they were semi-panicking about didn't
    materialize here -- this morning is off to the south by around a
    hundred miles. We might get some rain out of the system.
    Sounds like our weather.... except that I think that the storm
    grazed a little closer to us than yours did to you.... ;)
    It's supposed to be in the low 60's this afternoon! (Sunday, March
    1.) Around thirty degrees warmer than yesterday. Rest of the week
    warmer than normal but not quite to t=day's warmth!

    IIRC, our weather was similar... this week's been rather an intense one,
    so things get all smooshed together in my memory... ;)

    After a while it gets cold enough it doesn't seem to make any
    difference in one's mind if it gets any colder. I suppose
    physiologically it does - exposed body parts get frostbit in 10 minutes
    instead of 30 -- but to the average person just thinks -- or tries to
    because their teeth are chattering so bad under five layers of
    clothing!
    It does make a difference too how acclimated one has become to the
    temps... people in Alaska and the Yukon would find our temps downright
    balmy... <G> When it was around 0F here, I finally used my winter
    jacket for a couple of days... usually it makes me too warm...
    Yes: everything's relatve. I put on a winter coat a little above
    freezing -- I don't like being hot but don't like being cold either.
    I don't like being cold either... especially when it's indoors and
    the house just isn't warm enough... Outside, I can stand it for a
    little, as long as it's pretty quick from warm to warm.... ;)
    Part of it may be psychological: outside halfway expect to be cold (or hot) whereas inside have been spoiled by being able to control the
    indoor climate with the furnace and air conditioning.

    That could be part of it...

    Yup. Did straighten up here some -- did get rid of stuff on a bottom
    shelf so might be able to get a Bankers Box there or equivalent.
    haven't quite decided what should go there: want to keep like things
    together. More cleaning and disposal and something will make sense.
    Indeed.
    Rearranged some yesterday afternoon. Created a medium-sized hole. :)
    Right now wasted a bit of space with the condensing/re-arranging but
    thought of how to move a few things around and should solve that.
    It's still a work in progress... :)
    Though hasn't progressed too much lately; have worked on some stuff
    which takes time but doesn't really show, mainly scanning a bunch of papers so I can get rid of the physical paper, which will make room.

    Yup... some progress is more obvious than other progress is... :)

    So for now, you have plenty of backup anyway... :)
    Yes. And with the temperature below zero if the power fails I have
    more to be concerned with than what's on TV!
    Except for ongoing weather reports and alerts... <G>
    <chuckle> Oh yeah: forgot that's the original reason! <g>
    Stay focused...! <G>
    Squirrel!! <g> Did charge two batteries for the TV yesteday morning
    in anticipation of the storm. The one I removed from the UPS that
    'failed' (the other battery had died) doesn't seem to hold a charge as
    well as it should -- still good for experimenting and would probably
    power the TV for two or three hours.
    So you'll want to charge that one up just prior to expected use...
    and use it first... ;)
    Right. Do need to find a permanent home for the TV and associated
    parts; batteries and charger....

    A place to tuck it all away when not needed to be in use...?

    The second battery (different one from the one that failed in the UPS
    - previous paragraph) has been holding its charge -- was pretty much at
    full charge and hasn't been charged in a couple of months. Seems like
    this one is the normal and expected standby.
    Now that's a very good thing... that one can be there for the
    unexpected emergencies as well... :)
    Yes. Plus could remove the battery from a UPS or two -- some power computers which are in occasional use so the UPS battery would be essentially fully charged.

    A nice backup.... :)

    <solar charger - maybe to outside>
    Yes, though may sacrifice the unit just because it is old. Would
    provide some sort of protection from rain, snow, etc., but if the
    plastic case gets brittle and breaks no great loss.
    Unless by some fluke, it actually works before it goes flooey... ;)
    I'd prefer it not to go flooey (haven't heard that one in ages!) but
    do realize is a possibility as not built for continuous use outdoors.
    OTOH should last long enough to tell me if the project is worthwhile or
    go with the charging/maintaining from the wall outlet (electricty).
    Possibility... ;)
    So that sub-project will wait for a little while longer: can easily
    get to the basement window now (yea!!), though some stuff in the way as
    far as counterspace for meters, etc. No rush, so better to leave alone
    for now.
    It's not going anywhere in the meantime... <G>
    Right, and the semi-urgency has passed: the winter blizzard which sort
    of started the whole thing, the season is passing. Summer can have
    some rather nasty weather so don't want to get too lackadaisical. Plus the power could fail for a non-weather-related reason.

    Right... if you'd not come up with those last two, I'd've mentioned
    them... ;) Winter's not the only time one could lose power...

    ... Major University Scientific Report says you need to buy Our
    Product!
    Sounds like good marketing to me!
    Only if it actually produces the sales of the product.... ;)
    They think my money is better in their pocket than mine!

    But you can keep it in your pocket if you aren't swayed by their
    rhetoric... ;)

    ttyl neb

    ... I need start-up capital. So if you're a rich person send me a check OK

    --- EzyBlueWave V3.00 01FB001F
    * Origin: Tiny's BBS - http://www.tinysbbs.com (454:1/452)
  • From Barry Martin@454:1/1 to Nancy Backus on Sat Mar 7 10:00:00 2020

    Hi Nancy!

    Well, the Beeg Schtorm they were semi-panicking about didn't
    materialize here -- this morning is off to the south by around a
    hundred miles. We might get some rain out of the system.
    Sounds like our weather.... except that I think that the storm
    grazed a little closer to us than yours did to you.... ;)
    It's supposed to be in the low 60's this afternoon! (Sunday, March
    1.) Around thirty degrees warmer than yesterday. Rest of the week
    warmer than normal but not quite to t=day's warmth!
    IIRC, our weather was similar... this week's been rather an
    intense one, so things get all smooshed together in my memory...
    ;)

    As I mentioned in an earlier message it's been warmer this past week and
    a definite on those March winds! The have issued fire bans; not sure
    where it was but semi-locally someone was doing a burn, thought the fire
    was out, went inside. Neighbour noted later a section of woods was on
    fire.



    in anticipation of the storm. The one I removed from the UPS that
    'failed' (the other battery had died) doesn't seem to hold a charge as
    well as it should -- still good for experimenting and would probably
    power the TV for two or three hours.
    So you'll want to charge that one up just prior to expected use...
    and use it first... ;)
    Right. Do need to find a permanent home for the TV and associated
    parts; batteries and charger....
    A place to tuck it all away when not needed to be in use...?

    Right. Right now thinking ideally in the basement where I'd like to
    have the solar charger (in the window) - also store the battery-
    operated lanterns in same area (those batteries need charging also!).



    The second battery (different one from the one that failed in the UPS
    - previous paragraph) has been holding its charge -- was pretty much at
    full charge and hasn't been charged in a couple of months. Seems like
    this one is the normal and expected standby.
    Now that's a very good thing... that one can be there for the
    unexpected emergencies as well... :)
    Yes. Plus could remove the battery from a UPS or two -- some power computers which are in occasional use so the UPS battery would be essentially fully charged.
    A nice backup.... :)

    Yes - now to see if all the little plans really work out!


    <solar charger - maybe to outside>
    Yes, though may sacrifice the unit just because it is old. Would
    provide some sort of protection from rain, snow, etc., but if the
    plastic case gets brittle and breaks no great loss.
    Unless by some fluke, it actually works before it goes flooey... ;)
    I'd prefer it not to go flooey (haven't heard that one in ages!) but
    do realize is a possibility as not built for continuous use outdoors.
    OTOH should last long enough to tell me if the project is worthwhile or
    go with the charging/maintaining from the wall outlet (electricty).
    Possibility... ;)
    So that sub-project will wait for a little while longer: can easily
    get to the basement window now (yea!!), though some stuff in the way as
    far as counterspace for meters, etc. No rush, so better to leave alone
    for now.
    It's not going anywhere in the meantime... <G>
    Right, and the semi-urgency has passed: the winter blizzard which sort
    of started the whole thing, the season is passing. Summer can have
    some rather nasty weather so don't want to get too lackadaisical. Plus the power could fail for a non-weather-related reason.
    Right... if you'd not come up with those last two, I'd've
    mentioned them... ;) Winter's not the only time one could lose
    power...

    Know that all too well! :)



    ... Major University Scientific Report says you need to buy Our
    Product!
    Sounds like good marketing to me!
    Only if it actually produces the sales of the product.... ;)
    They think my money is better in their pocket than mine!
    But you can keep it in your pocket if you aren't swayed by their rhetoric... ;)

    And I have! Also have been swayed but on checking out reviews is barely useful.


    ¯ ®
    ¯ Barry_Martin_3@ ®
    ¯ @Q.COM ®
    ¯ ®


    ... Veni, vidi, visa. (We came, we saw, we went shopping.) - Jan Barrett
    --- MultiMail/Win32 v0.47
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  • From Nancy Backus@454:1/452 to Barry Martin on Sun Mar 15 02:32:06 2020
    Quoting Barry Martin to Nancy Backus on 07-Mar-2020 10:00 <=-

    I may be a bit sketchier than usual for a while... I've started in on
    figuring out my taxes, and have a few other things pushing at me as
    well... but I'll try for at least a minimal presence... ;)

    Well, the Beeg Schtorm they were semi-panicking about didn't
    materialize here -- this morning is off to the south by around a
    hundred miles. We might get some rain out of the system.
    Sounds like our weather.... except that I think that the storm
    grazed a little closer to us than yours did to you.... ;)
    It's supposed to be in the low 60's this afternoon! (Sunday, March
    1.) Around thirty degrees warmer than yesterday. Rest of the week
    warmer than normal but not quite to t=day's warmth!
    IIRC, our weather was similar... this week's been rather an
    intense one, so things get all smooshed together in my memory... ;)
    As I mentioned in an earlier message it's been warmer this past week
    and a definite on those March winds! They have issued fire bans; not
    sure where it was but semi-locally someone was doing a burn, thought
    the fire was out, went inside. Neighbour noted later a section of
    woods was on fire.

    Now that would be scary... When I was at lunch with my sister Monday,
    she got a fire risk alert on her phone.... her stepson is a volunteer
    fireman, and he'd explained to her before that this time of year there's
    more oxygen in the air, which makes fires a lot more likely with just a
    little warmth, dryness and inattention... And the March winds just make
    it spread quickly....

    in anticipation of the storm. The one I removed from the UPS that
    'failed' (the other battery had died) doesn't seem to hold a charge as
    well as it should -- still good for experimenting and would probably
    power the TV for two or three hours.
    So you'll want to charge that one up just prior to expected use...
    and use it first... ;)
    Right. Do need to find a permanent home for the TV and associated
    parts; batteries and charger....
    A place to tuck it all away when not needed to be in use...?
    Right. Right now thinking ideally in the basement where I'd like to
    have the solar charger (in the window) - also store the battery-
    operated lanterns in same area (those batteries need charging also!).

    That seems reasonable... :)

    The second battery (different one from the one that failed in the UPS
    - previous paragraph) has been holding its charge -- was pretty much at
    full charge and hasn't been charged in a couple of months. Seems like
    this one is the normal and expected standby.
    Now that's a very good thing... that one can be there for the
    unexpected emergencies as well... :)
    Yes. Plus could remove the battery from a UPS or two -- some power
    computers which are in occasional use so the UPS battery would be
    essentially fully charged.
    A nice backup.... :)
    Yes - now to see if all the little plans really work out!

    Yup. :)

    <solar charger - maybe to outside>
    It's not going anywhere in the meantime... <G>
    Right, and the semi-urgency has passed: the winter blizzard which sort
    of started the whole thing, the season is passing. Summer can have
    some rather nasty weather so don't want to get too lackadaisical. Plus
    the power could fail for a non-weather-related reason.
    Right... if you'd not come up with those last two, I'd've mentioned
    them... ;) Winter's not the only time one could lose power...
    Know that all too well! :)

    Indeed... :)

    ... Major University Scientific Report says you need to buy Our
    Product!
    Sounds like good marketing to me!
    Only if it actually produces the sales of the product.... ;)
    They think my money is better in their pocket than mine!
    But you can keep it in your pocket if you aren't swayed by their
    rhetoric... ;)
    And I have! Also have been swayed but on checking out reviews is
    barely useful.

    I tend to be mostly impervious to advertising.... unless I'm already considering something, and have been already checking it out, their
    rhetoric doesn't get to me... :)

    ttyl neb

    ... Upon the Advice of My Attorney, This Tagline Deleted.

    --- EzyBlueWave V3.00 01FB001F
    * Origin: Tiny's BBS - http://www.tinysbbs.com (454:1/452)
  • From Barry Martin@454:1/1 to Nancy Backus on Sun Mar 15 08:09:00 2020

    Hi Nancy!

    I may be a bit sketchier than usual for a while... I've started
    in on figuring out my taxes, and have a few other things pushing
    at me as well... but I'll try for at least a minimal presence...
    ;)

    OK - you can use the messaging as a mental coffee break!


    As I mentioned in an earlier message it's been warmer this past week
    and a definite on those March winds! They have issued fire bans; not
    sure where it was but semi-locally someone was doing a burn, thought
    the fire was out, went inside. Neighbour noted later a section of
    woods was on fire.
    Now that would be scary... When I was at lunch with my sister
    Monday, she got a fire risk alert on her phone.... her stepson is
    a volunteer fireman, and he'd explained to her before that this
    time of year there's more oxygen in the air, which makes fires a
    lot more likely with just a little warmth, dryness and
    inattention... And the March winds just make it spread
    quickly....

    I didn't know about the extra oxygen. It would make a little more sense
    if the trees were starting to releave (photosynthesis). Know wind will
    fan a fire, effectively giving it more oxygen.

    As for the woods catchign on fire, always a good thing for people to be
    a little nosy and at least glance out the windows to check. Or at least
    admire Mother Nature for a couple of seconds!

    We had about an inch of snow yesterday (March 14th); didn't need to go anywhere plus the forecast was for it to melt in the afternoon.
    Originall forecast was for snow in the morning; pretty much snowed all
    day, sometimes heavily. As I type this morning 30ø, looks like about
    had melted away overnight.


    in anticipation of the storm. The one I removed from the UPS that
    'failed' (the other battery had died) doesn't seem to hold a charge as
    well as it should -- still good for experimenting and would probably
    power the TV for two or three hours.
    So you'll want to charge that one up just prior to expected use...
    and use it first... ;)
    Right. Do need to find a permanent home for the TV and associated
    parts; batteries and charger....
    A place to tuck it all away when not needed to be in use...?
    Right. Right now thinking ideally in the basement where I'd like to
    have the solar charger (in the window) - also store the battery-
    operated lanterns in same area (those batteries need charging also!).
    That seems reasonable... :)

    Now to do it!


    ... Major University Scientific Report says you need to buy Our
    Product!
    Sounds like good marketing to me!
    Only if it actually produces the sales of the product.... ;)
    They think my money is better in their pocket than mine!
    But you can keep it in your pocket if you aren't swayed by their
    rhetoric... ;)
    And I have! Also have been swayed but on checking out reviews is
    barely useful.
    I tend to be mostly impervious to advertising.... unless I'm
    already considering something, and have been already checking it
    out, their rhetoric doesn't get to me... :)

    But-but-but: it's New _and_ Improved!! <g> I'll tend to glance at the electronics (more computer) advertising, sort of to see what's out
    there, sort of for planning future computer builds/expansions. As for
    the insurance ads - some are entertaining! More what perks up my ears
    is the "you could save up to", which did get me to consider and
    eventually change my insurance -- ten years ago?! Right now still at a reasonable rate, no dissatisfaction, so no need to consider switching.
    Will probably do a review again in a year or two.

    As for clothing, food, ...furniture.... Don't really need anything.
    Well, food on a regular basis but satisfied with Hy-Vee; do check their
    ads for sale items.


    ¯ ®
    ¯ Barry_Martin_3@ ®
    ¯ @Q.COM ®
    ¯ ®


    ... 'Big Sale. Last Week.' Why advertise? I already missed it.
    --- MultiMail/Win32 v0.47
    þ wcECHO 4.2 ÷ ILink: The Safe BBS þ Bettendorf, IA

    --- QScan/PCB v1.20a / 01-0462
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  • From Nancy Backus@454:1/452 to Barry Martin on Thu Mar 26 19:44:48 2020
    Quoting Barry Martin to Nancy Backus on 15-Mar-2020 08:09 <=-

    I may be a bit sketchier than usual for a while... I've started in
    on figuring out my taxes, and have a few other things pushing at me
    as well... but I'll try for at least a minimal presence... ;)
    OK - you can use the messaging as a mental coffee break!

    As long as the brain wasn't too frazzled... <G> Taxes are finally all
    figured now, but not quite finished yet.... And I keep getting long
    phone calls from people (or calls that I initiate that end up being long
    calls, too), especially in this time of social distancing... :)

    As I mentioned in an earlier message it's been warmer this past week
    and a definite on those March winds! They have issued fire bans; not
    sure where it was but semi-locally someone was doing a burn, thought
    the fire was out, went inside. Neighbour noted later a section of
    woods was on fire.
    Now that would be scary... When I was at lunch with my sister Monday,
    she got a fire risk alert on her phone.... her stepson is a volunteer
    fireman, and he'd explained to her before that this time of year
    there's more oxygen in the air, which makes fires a lot more likely
    with just a little warmth, dryness and inattention... And the March
    winds just make it spread quickly....
    I didn't know about the extra oxygen. It would make a little more
    sense if the trees were starting to releave (photosynthesis). Know
    wind will fan a fire, effectively giving it more oxygen.

    Possibly there's more ozone production from the sun, too... I hadn't
    known about it before either (that I remember, anyway)... one can keep
    learning new and useful things... ;)

    As for the woods catching on fire, always a good thing for people to
    be a little nosy and at least glance out the windows to check. Or at least admire Mother Nature for a couple of seconds!

    That's for sure... :) And as well, not to be too sure that one has
    totally extinguished a fire too quickly.... I've seen fires that just
    were tamped down and burst into flame again later, despite a night of
    heavy rain on it.....

    We had about an inch of snow yesterday (March 14th); didn't need to go anywhere plus the forecast was for it to melt in the afternoon.
    Originall forecast was for snow in the morning; pretty much snowed all day, sometimes heavily. As I type this morning 30ø, looks like about
    had melted away overnight.

    So it was on Saturday, after all... ;) AIS, I don't expect much snow to
    stick around any more if it comes at this point... :)

    Do need to find a permanent home for the TV and associated parts;
    batteries and charger....
    A place to tuck it all away when not needed to be in use...?
    Right. Right now thinking ideally in the basement where I'd like to
    have the solar charger (in the window) - also store the battery-
    operated lanterns in same area (those batteries need charging also!).
    That seems reasonable... :)
    Now to do it!

    Yup. ;)

    ... Major University Scientific Report says you need to buy Our
    Product!
    Sounds like good marketing to me!
    Only if it actually produces the sales of the product.... ;)
    They think my money is better in their pocket than mine!
    But you can keep it in your pocket if you aren't swayed by their
    rhetoric... ;)
    And I have! Also have been swayed but on checking out reviews is
    barely useful.
    I tend to be mostly impervious to advertising.... unless I'm already
    considering something, and have been already checking it out, their
    rhetoric doesn't get to me... :)
    But-but-but: it's New _and_ Improved!! <g>

    And.........??? <G>

    I'll tend to glance at the electronics (more computer) advertising,
    sort of to see what's out there, sort of for planning future computer builds/expansions.

    That somewhat makes sense... not so much planning on buying as keeping
    abreast on what might be happening...

    As for the insurance ads - some are entertaining! More what perks up
    my ears is the "you could save up to", which did get me to consider
    and eventually change my insurance -- ten years ago?! Right now
    still at a reasonable rate, no dissatisfaction, so no need to
    consider switching. Will probably do a review again in a year or two.

    I look at the print ads sometimes, but not been inclined to check
    anything out yet.... I've noticed that the company we're with tends to
    have the least savings by switching, which tends to reinforce my idea
    that we're probably best off where we are... :)

    As for clothing, food, ...furniture.... Don't really need anything.
    Well, food on a regular basis but satisfied with Hy-Vee; do check
    their ads for sale items.

    Likewise... :) Wegmans doesn't have food ads anymore, as such... but I
    do keep an eye out in the store at things we buy regularly to see if
    they go on sale, and if so, if one should get it a little early to take advantage of the sale.... and I regularly check out the digital coupons
    for anything I might be getting.... :)

    ttyl neb

    ... Birds of a feather flock to a newly washed car.

    --- EzyBlueWave V3.00 01FB001F
    * Origin: Tiny's BBS - http://www.tinysbbs.com (454:1/452)
  • From Barry Martin@454:1/1 to Nancy Backus on Fri Mar 27 11:39:00 2020

    Hi Nancy!

    I may be a bit sketchier than usual for a while... I've started in
    on figuring out my taxes, and have a few other things pushing at me
    as well... but I'll try for at least a minimal presence... ;)
    OK - you can use the messaging as a mental coffee break!
    As long as the brain wasn't too frazzled... <G> Taxes are
    finally all figured now, but not quite finished yet.... And I
    keep getting long phone calls from people (or calls that I
    initiate that end up being long calls, too), especially in this
    time of social distancing... :)

    My Mother said she had called a few people earlier this week she hadn't
    talked to in a while. Our people are either local, somewhat of a
    distance but talk to regularly, or in my case aon the other side of The
    Pond and so e-mail or talk to every so often.

    Glad your taxes almost done -- hopefully a bit of a refund after all
    thar work! ...There's talk of a $1,200 stimulus check because of the
    COVID-19 -- will be nice for the now but I'm thinking will be counted as
    an income next tax season (so don't spend all of it!). Maybe was a good
    thing I ended up postponing donating my books until this year: can
    counter-act the stimulus check tax!


    As I mentioned in an earlier message it's been warmer this past week
    and a definite on those March winds! They have issued fire bans; not
    sure where it was but semi-locally someone was doing a burn, thought
    the fire was out, went inside. Neighbour noted later a section of
    woods was on fire.
    Now that would be scary... When I was at lunch with my sister Monday,
    she got a fire risk alert on her phone.... her stepson is a volunteer
    fireman, and he'd explained to her before that this time of year
    there's more oxygen in the air, which makes fires a lot more likely
    with just a little warmth, dryness and inattention... And the March
    winds just make it spread quickly....
    I didn't know about the extra oxygen. It would make a little more
    sense if the trees were starting to releave (photosynthesis). Know
    wind will fan a fire, effectively giving it more oxygen.
    Possibly there's more ozone production from the sun, too... I
    hadn't known about it before either (that I remember, anyway)...
    one can keep learning new and useful things... ;)

    Learning and experiencing new things is good! :) Even a 'variation on
    a theme' ==> new way to do an old thing is good.


    As for the woods catching on fire, always a good thing for people to
    be a little nosy and at least glance out the windows to check. Or at least admire Mother Nature for a couple of seconds!
    That's for sure... :) And as well, not to be too sure that one
    has totally extinguished a fire too quickly.... I've seen fires
    that just were tamped down and burst into flame again later,
    despite a night of heavy rain on it.....

    Which I guess is one reason why firefighters stay on the scene even
    though it appears the fire is out.



    Do need to find a permanent home for the TV and associated parts;
    batteries and charger....
    A place to tuck it all away when not needed to be in use...?
    Right. Right now thinking ideally in the basement where I'd like to
    have the solar charger (in the window) - also store the battery-
    operated lanterns in same area (those batteries need charging also!).
    That seems reasonable... :)
    Now to do it!
    Yup. ;)

    Side-tracked myself while I was waiting for a part; ordered a few as inexpensive for some other potential projects. "Buck-boost" regulator
    which cuts (so 'bucks') a high input voltage and boosts a low input
    voltage. (Cheaper to buy than build!) Will be set so the output
    voltage (powering the TV or other project) will be 12.0 volts regardless
    of if the input voltage is 15 volts or 5.

    One thing I didn't like was a freshly-charged 12-volt battery could put
    out 14 volts which is waaaaay over the usual 10% tolerance -- don't want
    to fry the TV! Relatively easy way to correct the overage. Then we
    have the problem of if not paying attention and allow the battery to
    discharge too much - TV would probably work until it fried itself the
    other way. (I'm trying to avoid being too techical,)

    Figuring the same potential issues with the solar cell power project:
    overcast is producing low voltage while a bright sunny day could produce
    too much voltage,




    ... Major University Scientific Report says you need to buy Our
    Product!
    Sounds like good marketing to me!
    Only if it actually produces the sales of the product.... ;)
    They think my money is better in their pocket than mine!
    But you can keep it in your pocket if you aren't swayed by their
    rhetoric... ;)
    And I have! Also have been swayed but on checking out reviews is
    barely useful.
    I tend to be mostly impervious to advertising.... unless I'm already
    considering something, and have been already checking it out, their
    rhetoric doesn't get to me... :)
    But-but-but: it's New _and_ Improved!! <g>
    And.........??? <G>

    And?! But it's 'New' and 'Improved'!!' What more could one want?!! <g>




    I'll tend to glance at the electronics (more computer) advertising,
    sort of to see what's out there, sort of for planning future computer builds/expansions.
    That somewhat makes sense... not so much planning on buying as
    keeping abreast on what might be happening...

    The 'buck/boost' device idea derived from a 'technical advertisement'.
    Will admit it took a few postings of the ad to finally catch.


    As for the insurance ads - some are entertaining! More what perks up
    my ears is the "you could save up to", which did get me to consider
    and eventually change my insurance -- ten years ago?! Right now
    still at a reasonable rate, no dissatisfaction, so no need to
    consider switching. Will probably do a review again in a year or two.
    I look at the print ads sometimes, but not been inclined to check
    anything out yet.... I've noticed that the company we're with
    tends to have the least savings by switching, which tends to
    reinforce my idea that we're probably best off where we are... :)

    That would seem logical. Not a bad idea to have a review every five or
    ten years: things change. You might have purchased a ...ummm... (y'know
    being relatively easily satisfied has drawbacks when trying to come up
    with examples!).... Aw, jacuzzi! Maybe you thought was covered under homeowners but isn't, or barely is and for a few dollars can get a
    decent rider.


    As for clothing, food, ...furniture.... Don't really need anything.
    Well, food on a regular basis but satisfied with Hy-Vee; do check
    their ads for sale items.
    Likewise... :) Wegmans doesn't have food ads anymore, as
    such... but I do keep an eye out in the store at things we buy
    regularly to see if they go on sale, and if so, if one should get
    it a little early to take advantage of the sale.... and I
    regularly check out the digital coupons for anything I might be getting.... :)

    Hy-Vee announced last week they were temporarily discontinuing their
    print ad because they couldn't guarantee sufficient stock due to
    COVID-19 issues. Did have the on-line ad, at least for this week
    (effective date March 25), though IMO wasn't much in it; I probably
    would have skipped if it wasn't for me being across the street for the
    cards, etc., at Dollar General and needing a few things which rarely go
    on sale.

    Will be interesting to see what next week's electronic ad offers.


    ¯ ®
    ¯ Barry_Martin_3@ ®
    ¯ @Q.COM ®
    ¯ ®


    ... ...And the celery stalked out of the kitchen.
    --- MultiMail/Win32 v0.47
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  • From Nancy Backus@454:1/452 to Barry Martin on Sat Apr 4 18:27:34 2020
    Quoting Barry Martin to Nancy Backus on 27-Mar-2020 11:39 <=-

    OK - you can use the messaging as a mental coffee break!
    As long as the brain wasn't too frazzled... <G> Taxes are finally
    all figured now, but not quite finished yet.... And I keep getting
    long phone calls from people (or calls that I initiate that end up
    being long calls, too), especially in this time of social
    distancing... :)
    My Mother said she had called a few people earlier this week she
    hadn't talked to in a while. Our people are either local, somewhat of
    a distance but talk to regularly, or in my case on the other side of
    The Pond and so e-mail or talk to every so often.

    A number of the longer calls have been to local people I can't go out to
    lunch with at the moment... And then there are the almost daily long
    calls from one local gal I'm a counselor to.... sometimes more than once
    in a day, too, depending on what she's obsessively worrying about....

    Glad your taxes almost done -- hopefully a bit of a refund after all
    that work!

    The state will be a decent refund, as it always is now, since we are
    having a chunk withheld from Richard's pension, but then we found out
    that our state doesn't tax Soc.Sec. at all, and allows 20,000 of each
    person's pension(s) to stay tax-free.... so we can cover what's left of
    taxable income with either the standard deduction or the itemized one,
    and owe no tax at all, getting everything back that was withheld...
    Federal, on the other hand isn't nearly so generous, and taxes part of
    the Social Security based on whatever other income (including tax-free)
    one might have.... so we've ended up owing quite a bit more than was
    withheld from his pension...

    ...There's talk of a $1,200 stimulus check because of the COVID-19 -- will be nice for the now but I'm thinking will be counted as an income next tax season (so don't spend all of it!). Maybe was a good thing I ended up postponing donating my books until this year: can counter-act
    the stimulus check tax!

    From what I've seen, it shouldn't be considered income to be taxed, and
    as long as your income is less than $75000 ($150000 joint) you'd be
    getting $1200 each... Maybe it counts more like a tax refund, or is like
    a household credit....

    [snip]
    I didn't know about the extra oxygen. It would make a little more
    sense if the trees were starting to releave (photosynthesis). Know
    wind will fan a fire, effectively giving it more oxygen.
    Possibly there's more ozone production from the sun, too... I hadn't
    known about it before either (that I remember, anyway)... one can
    keep learning new and useful things... ;)
    Learning and experiencing new things is good! :) Even a 'variation
    on a theme' ==> new way to do an old thing is good.

    That, too... :)

    As for the woods catching on fire, always a good thing for people to
    be a little nosy and at least glance out the windows to check. Or at
    least admire Mother Nature for a couple of seconds!
    That's for sure... :) And as well, not to be too sure that one has
    totally extinguished a fire too quickly.... I've seen fires that just
    were tamped down and burst into flame again later, despite a night of
    heavy rain on it.....
    Which I guess is one reason why firefighters stay on the scene even
    though it appears the fire is out.

    Indeed. And is part of why they tear apart things so much... when we
    had our attic fire many years ago in a January, the contractors came in
    early March to repair the roof and all.... and when they tore off
    shingles from the roof, some of them burst into flame as they got
    oxygen.... was really a scary thought to know that that had been sitting
    there over our heads for a couple of months and we never knew that the
    fire could have restarted.... fortunately, it hadn't, and the rebuild
    went fine.... But we got an enhanced respect for the power of fire...

    Do need to find a permanent home for the TV and associated parts;
    batteries and charger....
    A place to tuck it all away when not needed to be in use...?
    Right. Right now thinking ideally in the basement where I'd like to
    have the solar charger (in the window) - also store the battery-
    operated lanterns in same area (those batteries need charging also!).
    That seems reasonable... :)
    Now to do it!
    Yup. ;)
    Side-tracked myself while I was waiting for a part; ordered a few as inexpensive for some other potential projects. "Buck-boost" regulator which cuts (so 'bucks') a high input voltage and boosts a low input voltage. (Cheaper to buy than build!) Will be set so the output
    voltage (powering the TV or other project) will be 12.0 volts
    regardless of if the input voltage is 15 volts or 5.

    Those do sound helpful... Did you get them yet....? (So now can you get
    back to figuring out where to store the stuff...?) ;)

    One thing I didn't like was a freshly-charged 12-volt battery could
    put out 14 volts which is waaaaay over the usual 10% tolerance -- don't want to fry the TV! Relatively easy way to correct the overage. Then
    we have the problem of if not paying attention and allow the battery to discharge too much - TV would probably work until it fried itself the other way. (I'm trying to avoid being too technical,)

    And the buck-boost would protect the TV either direction....

    Figuring the same potential issues with the solar cell power project: overcast is producing low voltage while a bright sunny day could
    produce too much voltage,

    I suppose that is a possiblility.... Does the buck-boost work with the
    solar cell setup, too, then....?

    But you can keep it in your pocket if you aren't swayed by their
    rhetoric... ;)
    And I have! Also have been swayed but on checking out reviews is
    barely useful.
    I tend to be mostly impervious to advertising.... unless I'm already
    considering something, and have been already checking it out, their
    rhetoric doesn't get to me... :)
    But-but-but: it's New _and_ Improved!! <g>
    And.........??? <G>
    And?! But it's 'New' and 'Improved'!!' What more could one want?!! <g>

    Working, and doing what I need it to do....? <G> Oh, and not costing excessively, or actually not being any different from the previous
    item.... ;)

    I'll tend to glance at the electronics (more computer) advertising,
    sort of to see what's out there, sort of for planning future computer
    builds/expansions.
    That somewhat makes sense... not so much planning on buying as
    keeping abreast on what might be happening...
    The 'buck/boost' device idea derived from a 'technical advertisement'. Will admit it took a few postings of the ad to finally catch.

    It finally dawned on you what good it might do YOU... ;)

    As for the insurance ads - some are entertaining! More what perks up
    my ears is the "you could save up to", which did get me to consider
    and eventually change my insurance -- ten years ago?! Right now
    still at a reasonable rate, no dissatisfaction, so no need to
    consider switching. Will probably do a review again in a year or two.
    I look at the print ads sometimes, but not been inclined to check
    anything out yet.... I've noticed that the company we're with tends
    to have the least savings by switching, which tends to reinforce my
    idea that we're probably best off where we are... :)
    That would seem logical. Not a bad idea to have a review every five
    or ten years: things change. You might have purchased a ...ummm... (y'know being relatively easily satisfied has drawbacks when trying to come up with examples!).... Aw, jacuzzi! Maybe you thought was covered under homeowners but isn't, or barely is and for a few dollars can get
    a decent rider.

    Yeah, right.... not too many things we'd even consider as a possible
    thing.... Besides, our agent does have us come in every so often to
    check our coverage and make sure that we have what we need.... :)

    As for clothing, food, ...furniture.... Don't really need anything.
    Well, food on a regular basis but satisfied with Hy-Vee; do check
    their ads for sale items.
    Likewise... :) Wegmans doesn't have food ads anymore, as such... but
    I do keep an eye out in the store at things we buy regularly to see if
    they go on sale, and if so, if one should get it a little early to
    take advantage of the sale.... and I regularly check out the digital
    coupons for anything I might be getting.... :)
    Hy-Vee announced last week they were temporarily discontinuing their
    print ad because they couldn't guarantee sufficient stock due to
    COVID-19 issues. Did have the on-line ad, at least for this week (effective date March 25), though IMO wasn't much in it; I probably
    would have skipped if it wasn't for me being across the street for the cards, etc., at Dollar General and needing a few things which rarely
    go on sale.

    Wegmans had discontinued theirs a couple of years ago... long before
    anything like this was happening.... We just do our weekly shopping... I
    have noticed, though, that some of the sales (noted from the shelf tags)
    have quietly ended early.... I guess there's no need to stimulate sales
    when one at the same time has to limit how much shoppers can buy at a
    time, with stocks diminishing too quickly.... ;0 There haven't been any
    new digital coupons either...

    Will be interesting to see what next week's electronic ad offers.

    Indeed. :)

    ttyl neb

    ... Windows without dos is only Winw.

    --- EzyBlueWave V3.00 01FB001F
    * Origin: Tiny's BBS - http://www.tinysbbs.com (454:1/452)
  • From Barry Martin@454:1/1 to Nancy Backus on Sun Apr 5 10:04:00 2020

    Hi Nancy!

    OK - you can use the messaging as a mental coffee break!
    As long as the brain wasn't too frazzled... <G> Taxes are finally
    all figured now, but not quite finished yet.... And I keep getting
    long phone calls from people (or calls that I initiate that end up
    being long calls, too), especially in this time of social
    distancing... :)
    My Mother said she had called a few people earlier this week she
    hadn't talked to in a while. Our people are either local, somewhat of
    a distance but talk to regularly, or in my case on the other side of
    The Pond and so e-mail or talk to every so often.
    A number of the longer calls have been to local people I can't go
    out to lunch with at the moment... And then there are the almost
    daily long calls from one local gal I'm a counselor to....
    sometimes more than once in a day, too, depending on what she's obsessively worrying about....

    That makes sense: if can't talk in person the phone is one way to get
    around. And counselling ad alleviating concerns can take a while: need
    to break down what the other person built up.


    Glad your taxes almost done -- hopefully a bit of a refund after all
    that work!
    The state will be a decent refund, as it always is now, since we
    are having a chunk withheld from Richard's pension, but then we
    found out that our state doesn't tax Soc.Sec. at all, and allows
    20,000 of each person's pension(s) to stay tax-free.... so we can
    cover what's left of taxable income with either the standard
    deduction or the itemized one, and owe no tax at all, getting
    everything back that was withheld... Federal, on the other hand
    isn't nearly so generous, and taxes part of the Social Security
    based on whatever other income (including tax-free) one might
    have.... so we've ended up owing quite a bit more than was
    withheld from his pension...

    Iowa taxes so I've have my IRA distribution taxed and then so far 100% refunded. With the new distribution going into effect in a few months
    (old one expires) I'm going to ask about having that changed. I'm
    thinking because of the eventual upcoming inheritance just half the
    amount withheld (and refunded), just to balance things out.


    ...There's talk of a $1,200 stimulus check because of the COVID-19 -- will be nice for the now but I'm thinking will be counted as an income next tax season (so don't spend all of it!). Maybe was a good thing I ended up postponing donating my books until this year: can counter-act
    the stimulus check tax!
    From what I've seen, it shouldn't be considered income to be
    taxed, and as long as your income is less than $75000 ($150000
    joint) you'd be getting $1200 each... Maybe it counts more like a
    tax refund, or is like a household credit....

    I hope they phrase it as a gift as Iowa taxes the federal refund! (It's
    not like the taxes are horrible here, they just like to get money to run
    the state properly.)



    As for the woods catching on fire, always a good thing for people to
    be a little nosy and at least glance out the windows to check. Or at
    least admire Mother Nature for a couple of seconds!
    That's for sure... :) And as well, not to be too sure that one has
    totally extinguished a fire too quickly.... I've seen fires that just
    were tamped down and burst into flame again later, despite a night of
    heavy rain on it.....
    Which I guess is one reason why firefighters stay on the scene even
    though it appears the fire is out.
    Indeed. And is part of why they tear apart things so much...
    when we had our attic fire many years ago in a January, the
    contractors came in early March to repair the roof and all....
    and when they tore off shingles from the roof, some of them burst
    into flame as they got oxygen.... was really a scary thought to
    know that that had been sitting there over our heads for a couple
    of months and we never knew that the fire could have
    restarted.... fortunately, it hadn't, and the rebuild went
    fine.... But we got an enhanced respect for the power of fire...

    Whoa!!! I reread that to make sure I read correctly! Two months is a
    long time to be smoldering! Not doubting you, but is scary to thing a
    fire could be hiding that long!


    Do need to find a permanent home for the TV and associated parts;
    batteries and charger....
    A place to tuck it all away when not needed to be in use...?
    Right. Right now thinking ideally in the basement where I'd like to
    have the solar charger (in the window) - also store the battery-
    operated lanterns in same area (those batteries need charging also!).
    That seems reasonable... :)
    Now to do it!
    Yup. ;)
    Side-tracked myself while I was waiting for a part; ordered a few as inexpensive for some other potential projects. "Buck-boost" regulator which cuts (so 'bucks') a high input voltage and boosts a low input voltage. (Cheaper to buy than build!) Will be set so the output
    voltage (powering the TV or other project) will be 12.0 volts
    regardless of if the input voltage is 15 volts or 5.
    Those do sound helpful... Did you get them yet....? (So now can
    you get back to figuring out where to store the stuff...?) ;)

    Got the buck-boost device -- seems to work as advertised. Not that I
    doubted as is a commercial device (used in cars, etc.), but I have a
    variable power supply downstairs and so played: down to around 5v, up to
    20v - output stays at 12v!

    As for storing, thinking I might 'store out in the open': dawned on me
    to use the TV as a monitor for my Raspberry Pi weather station. Of
    course have a But First but that was expected!


    One thing I didn't like was a freshly-charged 12-volt battery could
    put out 14 volts which is waaaaay over the usual 10% tolerance -- don't want to fry the TV! Relatively easy way to correct the overage. Then
    we have the problem of if not paying attention and allow the battery to discharge too much - TV would probably work until it fried itself the other way. (I'm trying to avoid being too technical,)
    And the buck-boost would protect the TV either direction....

    Right: the buck-boost device will decrease the too-high input and
    increase a too-low input. I don't intend to run the battery to
    exhaustion but at least if accidentally done I'm genrally covered and
    won't damage the TV.


    Figuring the same potential issues with the solar cell power project: overcast is producing low voltage while a bright sunny day could
    produce too much voltage,
    I suppose that is a possiblility.... Does the buck-boost work
    with the solar cell setup, too, then....?

    It can, and read where it has been used with solar cells. Now to get my
    Round TuIt on that project... Overcast today, plus Autumn, plus a But
    First.

    I'm going to split here,

    ¯ ®
    ¯ Barry_Martin_3@ ®
    ¯ @Q.COM ®
    ¯ ®


    ... I had my patience tested; I'm negative.
    --- MultiMail/Win32 v0.47
    þ wcECHO 4.2 ÷ ILink: The Safe BBS þ Bettendorf, IA

    --- QScan/PCB v1.20a / 01-0462
    * Origin: ILink: CFBBS | cfbbs.no-ip.com | 856-933-7096 (454:1/1)
  • From Nancy Backus@454:1/452 to Barry Martin on Tue Apr 14 17:21:36 2020
    Quoting Barry Martin to Nancy Backus on 05-Apr-2020 10:04 <=-

    And I keep getting long phone calls from people (or calls that I
    initiate that end up being long calls, too), especially in this time
    of social distancing... :)
    My Mother said she had called a few people earlier this week she
    hadn't talked to in a while. Our people are either local, somewhat of
    a distance but talk to regularly, or in my case on the other side of
    The Pond and so e-mail or talk to every so often.
    A number of the longer calls have been to local people I can't go out
    to lunch with at the moment... And then there are the almost daily
    long calls from one local gal I'm a counselor to... sometimes more
    than once in a day, too, depending on what she's obsessively worrying
    about....
    That makes sense: if can't talk in person the phone is one way to get around.

    It's not quite the same as meeting in person, but it's much better than
    no contact at all... ;)

    And counselling ad alleviating concerns can take a while: need to
    break down what the other person built up.

    Exactly... and/or allow enough time for it all to spill out so that it
    can be worked on.... :)

    Glad your taxes almost done -- hopefully a bit of a refund after all
    that work!
    The state will be a decent refund, as it always is now, since we are
    having a chunk withheld from Richard's pension, but then we found out
    that our state doesn't tax Soc.Sec. at all, and allows 20,000 of each
    person's pension(s) to stay tax-free.... so we can cover what's left
    of taxable income with either the standard deduction or the itemized
    one, and owe no tax at all, getting everything back that was withheld.
    Federal, on the other hand isn't nearly so generous, and taxes part
    of the Social Security based on whatever other income (including
    tax-free) one might have.... so we've ended up owing quite a bit more
    than was withheld from his pension...
    Iowa taxes so I've have my IRA distribution taxed and then so far 100% refunded. With the new distribution going into effect in a few months (old one expires) I'm going to ask about having that changed. I'm thinking because of the eventual upcoming inheritance just half the
    amount withheld (and refunded), just to balance things out.

    Inheritance isn't taxed, though... The only thing you'd owe any tax on
    from that would be if you inherited stocks, bonds or funds that
    continued to earn for you, and that gain would be taxed, not the
    inheritance itself...

    ...There's talk of a $1,200 stimulus check because of the COVID-19 --
    will be nice for the now but I'm thinking will be counted as an income
    next tax season (so don't spend all of it!). Maybe was a good thing I
    ended up postponing donating my books until this year: can counter-act
    the stimulus check tax!
    From what I've seen, it shouldn't be considered income to be taxed,
    and as long as your income is less than $75000 ($150000 joint) you'd
    be getting $1200 each... Maybe it counts more like a tax refund, or
    is like a household credit....
    I hope they phrase it as a gift as Iowa taxes the federal refund!
    (It's not like the taxes are horrible here, they just like to get money
    to run the state properly.)

    Most likely it would be treated as a refundable credit, not taxed at
    all...

    That's for sure... :) And as well, not to be too sure that one has
    totally extinguished a fire too quickly.... I've seen fires that just
    were tamped down and burst into flame again later, despite a night of
    heavy rain on it.....
    Which I guess is one reason why firefighters stay on the scene even
    though it appears the fire is out.
    Indeed. And is part of why they tear apart things so much... when we
    had our attic fire many years ago in a January, the contractors came
    in early March to repair the roof and all.... and when they tore off
    shingles from the roof, some of them burst into flame as they got
    oxygen.... was really a scary thought to know that that had been
    sitting there over our heads for a couple of months and we never knew
    that the fire could have restarted.... fortunately, it hadn't, and
    the rebuild went fine.... But we got an enhanced respect for the power
    of fire...
    Whoa!!! I reread that to make sure I read correctly! Two months is a long time to be smoldering! Not doubting you, but is scary to think a fire could be hiding that long!

    Exactly.... I'm still taken aback all these years later, recounting the
    story, to think what might have happened.... very scary....

    Side-tracked myself while I was waiting for a part; ordered a few as
    inexpensive for some other potential projects. "Buck-boost" regulator
    which cuts (so 'bucks') a high input voltage and boosts a low input
    voltage. (Cheaper to buy than build!) Will be set so the output
    voltage (powering the TV or other project) will be 12.0 volts
    regardless of if the input voltage is 15 volts or 5.
    Those do sound helpful... Did you get them yet....? (So now can you
    get back to figuring out where to store the stuff...?) ;)
    Got the buck-boost device -- seems to work as advertised. Not that I doubted as is a commercial device (used in cars, etc.), but I have a variable power supply downstairs and so played: down to around 5v, up
    to 20v - output stays at 12v!

    Nice. :)

    As for storing, thinking I might 'store out in the open': dawned on me
    to use the TV as a monitor for my Raspberry Pi weather station. Of
    course have a But First but that was expected!

    That's a thought... :)

    One thing I didn't like was a freshly-charged 12-volt battery could
    put out 14 volts which is waaaaay over the usual 10% tolerance -- don't
    want to fry the TV! Relatively easy way to correct the overage. Then
    we have the problem of if not paying attention and allow the battery to
    discharge too much - TV would probably work until it fried itself the
    other way. (I'm trying to avoid being too technical,)
    And the buck-boost would protect the TV either direction....
    Right: the buck-boost device will decrease the too-high input and
    increase a too-low input. I don't intend to run the battery to
    exhaustion but at least if accidentally done I'm generally covered and won't damage the TV.

    That's a good thing... :)

    Figuring the same potential issues with the solar cell power project:
    overcast is producing low voltage while a bright sunny day could
    produce too much voltage,
    I suppose that is a possiblility.... Does the buck-boost work
    with the solar cell setup, too, then....?
    It can, and read where it has been used with solar cells. Now to get
    my Round TuIt on that project... Overcast today, plus Autumn, plus a
    But First.

    Eventually you'll get to that again... on a nice sunny day.... ;)

    ttyl neb

    ... A straw vote only shows which way the hot air blows. -- O. Henry

    --- EzyBlueWave V3.00 01FB001F
    * Origin: Tiny's BBS - http://www.tinysbbs.com (454:1/452)
  • From Barry Martin@454:1/1 to Nancy Backus on Wed Apr 15 10:01:00 2020

    Hi Nancy!

    Snowed last night! Received just under 2" -- looks nice and clean out
    there! The forecast is warming up this afternoon, so probably all gone
    by evening. There is a prediction of 2-3" for late Thursday.


    And I keep getting long phone calls from people (or calls that I
    initiate that end up being long calls, too), especially in this time
    of social distancing... :)
    My Mother said she had called a few people earlier this week she
    hadn't talked to in a while. Our people are either local, somewhat of
    a distance but talk to regularly, or in my case on the other side of
    The Pond and so e-mail or talk to every so often.
    A number of the longer calls have been to local people I can't go out
    to lunch with at the moment... And then there are the almost daily
    long calls from one local gal I'm a counselor to... sometimes more
    than once in a day, too, depending on what she's obsessively worrying
    about....
    That makes sense: if can't talk in person the phone is one way to get around.
    It's not quite the same as meeting in person, but it's much
    better than no contact at all... ;)

    True. You know people have been isolated too long when they start chit-chatting with the telephone spammers! <g>


    And counselling ad alleviating concerns can take a while: need to
    break down what the other person built up.
    Exactly... and/or allow enough time for it all to spill out so
    that it can be worked on.... :)

    And their normal isn't the same as anyone else's normal: "it's not
    normal to be yelled at/slapped/hit?" (Semi-extreme example.)


    Glad your taxes almost done -- hopefully a bit of a refund after all
    that work!
    The state will be a decent refund, as it always is now, since we are
    having a chunk withheld from Richard's pension, but then we found out
    that our state doesn't tax Soc.Sec. at all, and allows 20,000 of each
    person's pension(s) to stay tax-free.... so we can cover what's left
    of taxable income with either the standard deduction or the itemized
    one, and owe no tax at all, getting everything back that was withheld.
    Federal, on the other hand isn't nearly so generous, and taxes part
    of the Social Security based on whatever other income (including
    tax-free) one might have.... so we've ended up owing quite a bit more
    than was withheld from his pension...
    Iowa taxes so I've have my IRA distribution taxed and then so far 100% refunded. With the new distribution going into effect in a few months (old one expires) I'm going to ask about having that changed. I'm thinking because of the eventual upcoming inheritance just half the
    amount withheld (and refunded), just to balance things out.
    Inheritance isn't taxed, though... The only thing you'd owe any
    tax on from that would be if you inherited stocks, bonds or funds
    that continued to earn for you, and that gain would be taxed, not
    the inheritance itself...

    I half-knew that. Combination of me half-expecting the rules to be
    changed. The house in NH will be sold, so hopefully a bit of a profit.
    Bank accounts and my Mother's IRA. Nothing all that complicated.



    ...There's talk of a $1,200 stimulus check because of the COVID-19 --

    FWIW I received mine on April 13th -- everyone else is jealous because
    they haven't seen their accounts being deposited yet. I'm guessing done
    in Social Security Number order and mine begins with 0?

    will be nice for the now but I'm thinking will be counted as an income
    next tax season (so don't spend all of it!). Maybe was a good thing I
    ended up postponing donating my books until this year: can counter-act
    the stimulus check tax!
    From what I've seen, it shouldn't be considered income to be taxed,
    and as long as your income is less than $75000 ($150000 joint) you'd
    be getting $1200 each... Maybe it counts more like a tax refund, or
    is like a household credit....
    I hope they phrase it as a gift as Iowa taxes the federal refund!
    (It's not like the taxes are horrible here, they just like to get money
    to run the state properly.)
    Most likely it would be treated as a refundable credit, not taxed
    at all...

    That seems to be. Not that I'm trying to look at the dark side but more
    of being slightly prepared for potholes in the Road of Life.

    Local news had an interview with a finanacial advisor -- from the same
    company my broker is with (private firm). Was sort of funny as the
    advice was to spend the money and not pay off bills, etc. 'Funny' part
    was he commented normally he'd advise paying down credit cards, bills,
    etc., with this kind of money but in this instance would be better to
    spend.


    That's for sure... :) And as well, not to be too sure that one has
    totally extinguished a fire too quickly.... I've seen fires that just
    were tamped down and burst into flame again later, despite a night of
    heavy rain on it.....
    Which I guess is one reason why firefighters stay on the scene even
    though it appears the fire is out.
    Indeed. And is part of why they tear apart things so much... when we
    had our attic fire many years ago in a January, the contractors came
    in early March to repair the roof and all.... and when they tore off
    shingles from the roof, some of them burst into flame as they got
    oxygen.... was really a scary thought to know that that had been
    sitting there over our heads for a couple of months and we never knew
    that the fire could have restarted.... fortunately, it hadn't, and
    the rebuild went fine.... But we got an enhanced respect for the power
    of fire...
    Whoa!!! I reread that to make sure I read correctly! Two months is a long time to be smoldering! Not doubting you, but is scary to think a fire could be hiding that long!
    Exactly.... I'm still taken aback all these years later,
    recounting the story, to think what might have happened.... very scary....

    Very!




    As for storing, thinking I might 'store out in the open': dawned on me
    to use the TV as a monitor for my Raspberry Pi weather station. Of
    course have a But First but that was expected!
    That's a thought... :)

    Haven't done too much -- other 'ends and odds'.



    Figuring the same potential issues with the solar cell power project:
    overcast is producing low voltage while a bright sunny day could
    produce too much voltage,
    I suppose that is a possiblility.... Does the buck-boost work
    with the solar cell setup, too, then....?
    It can, and read where it has been used with solar cells. Now to get
    my Round TuIt on that project... Overcast today, plus Autumn, plus a
    But First.
    Eventually you'll get to that again... on a nice sunny day.... ;)

    True. OTOH don't want a too-sunny day as will skew the experiment and
    make any ol' placement look right. ...It'll get done.

    ¯ ®
    ¯ Barry_Martin_3@ ®
    ¯ @Q.COM ®
    ¯ ®


    ... Not Quites: Alexander the Mediocre
    --- MultiMail/Win32 v0.47
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  • From Nancy Backus@454:1/452 to Barry Martin on Sat Apr 25 20:14:22 2020
    Quoting Barry Martin to Nancy Backus on 15-Apr-2020 10:01 <=-

    Snowed last night! Received just under 2" -- looks nice and clean out
    there! The forecast is warming up this afternoon, so probably all
    gone by evening. There is a prediction of 2-3" for late Thursday.

    We had similar, in about the same time period, though we never got more
    than about an inch at a time.... this past week there were threats of
    snow that never really materialized... we've had rain, though... and
    more sun than was called for, not that I'm complaining.. <G>

    A number of the longer calls have been to local people I can't go out
    to lunch with at the moment... And then there are the almost daily
    long calls from one local gal I'm a counselor to... sometimes more
    than once in a day, too, depending on what she's obsessively worrying
    about....
    That makes sense: if can't talk in person the phone is one way to get
    around.
    It's not quite the same as meeting in person, but it's much better
    than no contact at all... ;)
    True. You know people have been isolated too long when they start chit-chatting with the telephone spammers! <g>

    Not there yet, thankfully.... <G> I have noticed, though, that there
    have been fewer of the spammer calls.... apparently they aren't
    considered essential businesses... <G>

    And counselling ad alleviating concerns can take a while: need to
    break down what the other person built up.
    Exactly... and/or allow enough time for it all to spill out so
    that it can be worked on.... :)
    And their normal isn't the same as anyone else's normal: "it's not
    normal to be yelled at/slapped/hit?" (Semi-extreme example.)

    There is that, too... lately more just a calming of paranoias and such, though....

    Iowa taxes so I've have my IRA distribution taxed and then so far 100%
    refunded. With the new distribution going into effect in a few months
    (old one expires) I'm going to ask about having that changed.

    You mean, you've been having taxes withheld from your distributions...?
    As long as you get it back, that's not too bad... :)

    I'm thinking because of the eventual upcoming inheritance just half
    the amount withheld (and refunded), just to balance things out.
    Inheritance isn't taxed, though... The only thing you'd owe any tax
    on from that would be if you inherited stocks, bonds or funds that
    continued to earn for you, and that gain would be taxed, not the
    inheritance itself...
    I half-knew that. Combination of me half-expecting the rules to be changed. The house in NH will be sold, so hopefully a bit of a
    profit. Bank accounts and my Mother's IRA. Nothing all that
    complicated.

    With the house, you inherit the basis as of her date of death, unless
    your name is on the deed already.... in any case, when sold, there still shouldn't be more capital gains on that than what is exempt from taxing,
    unless it's a very expensive house.... The bank accounts are purely inheritance, so you won't have personal tax on those... The IRA, if
    she's needing to pay taxes on the distributions, you (or the estate)
    will need to pay income tax on what's left... you might be able to set
    it up to get as distributions rather than a lump sum, and then the tax
    would be spread out over the span of distributions...

    ...There's talk of a $1,200 stimulus check because of the COVID-19 --
    FWIW I received mine on April 13th -- everyone else is jealous because they haven't seen their accounts being deposited yet. I'm guessing
    done in Social Security Number order and mine begins with 0?

    We didn't get ours yet... but I don't think it's in SS# order, as both
    of ours also begin with 0 too... I've heard of some other people that
    have gotten theirs already... Did you e-file your taxes this year and
    have the payment or refund taken care of electronically from/to your
    bank account....?

    will be nice for the now but I'm thinking will be counted as an income
    next tax season (so don't spend all of it!). Maybe was a good thing I
    ended up postponing donating my books until this year: can counter-act
    the stimulus check tax!
    From what I've seen, it shouldn't be considered income to be taxed,
    and as long as your income is less than $75000 ($150000 joint) you'd
    be getting $1200 each... Maybe it counts more like a tax refund, or
    is like a household credit....
    I hope they phrase it as a gift as Iowa taxes the federal refund!
    (It's not like the taxes are horrible here, they just like to get money
    to run the state properly.)
    Most likely it would be treated as a refundable credit, not taxed at
    all...
    That seems to be. Not that I'm trying to look at the dark side but
    more of being slightly prepared for potholes in the Road of Life.

    It's not like it's all that large an amount, anyway, as far as being
    taxed is concerned, though... :)

    Local news had an interview with a finanacial advisor -- from the same company my broker is with (private firm). Was sort of funny as the
    advice was to spend the money and not pay off bills, etc. 'Funny'
    part was he commented normally he'd advise paying down credit cards, bills, etc., with this kind of money but in this instance would be
    better to spend.

    Well.... the point of it is to put money into people's hands in order TO
    spend, so as to stimulate the economy.... Just have to figure out what's
    still open in order to spend money at... ;)

    As for storing, thinking I might 'store out in the open': dawned on me
    to use the TV as a monitor for my Raspberry Pi weather station. Of
    course have a But First but that was expected!
    That's a thought... :)
    Haven't done too much -- other 'ends and odds'.

    And But Firsts, no doubt... <G>

    Figuring the same potential issues with the solar cell power project:
    overcast is producing low voltage while a bright sunny day could
    produce too much voltage,
    I suppose that is a possiblility.... Does the buck-boost work
    with the solar cell setup, too, then....?
    It can, and read where it has been used with solar cells. Now to get
    my Round TuIt on that project... Overcast today, plus Autumn, plus a
    But First.
    Eventually you'll get to that again... on a nice sunny day.... ;)
    True. OTOH don't want a too-sunny day as will skew the experiment and make any ol' placement look right. ...It'll get done.

    Dunno... one could run the experiment on a variety of variously sunny
    days, and see if it makes much (or any) difference... ;)

    ttyl neb

    ... I try to take one day at a time, but often several days attack at once

    --- EzyBlueWave V3.00 01FB001F
    * Origin: Tiny's BBS - http://www.tinysbbs.com (454:1/452)
  • From Barry Martin@454:1/1 to Nancy Backus on Sun Apr 26 10:43:00 2020

    Hi Nancy!

    Snowed last night! Received just under 2" -- looks nice and clean out
    there! The forecast is warming up this afternoon, so probably all
    gone by evening. There is a prediction of 2-3" for late Thursday.
    We had similar, in about the same time period, though we never
    got more than about an inch at a time.... this past week there
    were threats of snow that never really materialized... we've had
    rain, though... and more sun than was called for, not that I'm complaining.. <G>

    Since then we've had more threats of rain (warmed up snow! <g>) which
    didn't quite materialize or get an tenth of an inch instead of the
    predicted inch.


    True. You know people have been isolated too long when they start chit-chatting with the telephone spammers! <g>
    Not there yet, thankfully.... <G> I have noticed, though, that
    there have been fewer of the spammer calls.... apparently they
    aren't considered essential businesses... <G>

    <chuckle> They couldn't arrange their boiler rooms to comply with the
    6' rule! But yes, have noticed a lot less spam calls. The one in
    particular we've been getting is the same male recording but from
    scattered telephone numbers: Dubuque, IA, Lansing, MI, ...GA, WI.
    Probably several more. Maybe they bought the same Earn Money Quick
    package and instead of re-recording the message to customize it they
    just used the example?!


    And counselling ad alleviating concerns can take a while: need to
    break down what the other person built up.
    Exactly... and/or allow enough time for it all to spill out so
    that it can be worked on.... :)
    And their normal isn't the same as anyone else's normal: "it's not
    normal to be yelled at/slapped/hit?" (Semi-extreme example.)
    There is that, too... lately more just a calming of paranoias and
    such, though....

    Focus moved to a different target. One thing the local NBC-affilate
    (TV) has done is air aa lot of one-minute calming spots: puppies and
    kittens playing, scenic wonders, etc. Also 30-second spots with the
    message "it's normal to feel overwhelmed and confused, here's how to
    handle it".


    Iowa taxes so I've have my IRA distribution taxed and then so far 100%
    refunded. With the new distribution going into effect in a few months
    (old one expires) I'm going to ask about having that changed.
    You mean, you've been having taxes withheld from your
    distributions...? As long as you get it back, that's not too
    bad... :)

    Yes on the withholdings and refunds. I do recall asking when started and
    he said federal and state (IA) generally require, though could be
    lessened or none at all. At the time it seemed better just to 'go with
    the flow' and have the customary amount withheld. The short-term policy
    is expiring in a couple of months and the new one will start -- have to
    go down and do the paperwork; thinking having the withholding amount
    changed.



    I'm thinking because of the eventual upcoming inheritance just half
    the amount withheld (and refunded), just to balance things out.
    Inheritance isn't taxed, though... The only thing you'd owe any tax
    on from that would be if you inherited stocks, bonds or funds that
    continued to earn for you, and that gain would be taxed, not the
    inheritance itself...
    I half-knew that. Combination of me half-expecting the rules to be changed. The house in NH will be sold, so hopefully a bit of a
    profit. Bank accounts and my Mother's IRA. Nothing all that
    complicated.
    With the house, you inherit the basis as of her date of death,
    unless your name is on the deed already.... in any case, when
    sold, there still shouldn't be more capital gains on that than
    what is exempt from taxing, unless it's a very expensive
    house.... The bank accounts are purely inheritance, so you won't
    have personal tax on those... The IRA, if she's needing to pay
    taxes on the distributions, you (or the estate) will need to pay
    income tax on what's left... you might be able to set it up to
    get as distributions rather than a lump sum, and then the tax
    would be spread out over the span of distributions...

    Right, and thanks! Kept as guidance; all those little tax details are
    one reason I'm sort of keeping the tax preparation company on my
    'payroll' so they have a history of me and I'm an established client,
    not just some deadbeat off the street asking for advice. Know most if
    not all of the records have me as co-owner, beneficiary, etc. Will
    probably do as distributions rather than lump sum as better for me. Get
    to play '20 Questions'with the financial advisor and the tax prep
    company!


    ...There's talk of a $1,200 stimulus check because of the COVID-19 --
    FWIW I received mine on April 13th -- everyone else is jealous because they haven't seen their accounts being deposited yet. I'm guessing
    done in Social Security Number order and mine begins with 0?
    We didn't get ours yet... but I don't think it's in SS# order, as
    both of ours also begin with 0 too... I've heard of some other
    people that have gotten theirs already... Did you e-file your
    taxes this year and have the payment or refund taken care of electronically from/to your bank account....?

    Yes to both parts of the question. Also filed in February.


    will be nice for the now but I'm thinking will be counted as an income
    next tax season (so don't spend all of it!). Maybe was a good thing I
    ended up postponing donating my books until this year: can counter-act
    the stimulus check tax!
    From what I've seen, it shouldn't be considered income to be taxed,
    and as long as your income is less than $75000 ($150000 joint) you'd
    be getting $1200 each... Maybe it counts more like a tax refund, or
    is like a household credit....
    I hope they phrase it as a gift as Iowa taxes the federal refund!
    (It's not like the taxes are horrible here, they just like to get money
    to run the state properly.)
    Most likely it would be treated as a refundable credit, not taxed at
    all...
    That seems to be. Not that I'm trying to look at the dark side but
    more of being slightly prepared for potholes in the Road of Life.
    It's not like it's all that large an amount, anyway, as far as
    being taxed is concerned, though... :)

    True, and have read in other sources it is not taxable. Not trying to
    be pessimistic about it, just if I was running real tight with my money
    would want to set aside a bit in case of a surprise.


    Local news had an interview with a finanacial advisor -- from the same company my broker is with (private firm). Was sort of funny as the
    advice was to spend the money and not pay off bills, etc. 'Funny'
    part was he commented normally he'd advise paying down credit cards, bills, etc., with this kind of money but in this instance would be
    better to spend.
    Well.... the point of it is to put money into people's hands in
    order TO spend, so as to stimulate the economy.... Just have to
    figure out what's still open in order to spend money at... ;)

    True! The local TV stations are putting up ads for what is open and how
    to contact. The station I usually watch for news has maybe a 30-second
    spot with mini-ads of random lengths: some are cell phone videos of a
    bakery "we're open" and a quick contact info; other mini-spot might be a
    local restaurant taken with a camera. The stations also has a webage
    where businesses can list they're open and contact information. IIRC
    the webpage is free, not sure about the price of the TV mini-ads but
    other information indicates they're either very cheap or free as a PSA
    type of thing.



    As for storing, thinking I might 'store out in the open': dawned on me
    to use the TV as a monitor for my Raspberry Pi weather station. Of
    course have a But First but that was expected!
    That's a thought... :)
    Haven't done too much -- other 'ends and odds'.
    And But Firsts, no doubt... <G>

    Yeahhhh. Got a semi-major But First with the 'security' cameras not
    working properly: can see the recordings but not real time. Plus I had created a back up machine when I switched the CPU heat sink and fan on
    this one. I had never swapped the 'heat sink holder' before: always was whatever came with the motherboard. Swap went fine, so far is keeping
    the CPU to a maximum of 112øF vs. the old 180øF and shut down.



    Figuring the same potential issues with the solar cell power project:
    overcast is producing low voltage while a bright sunny day could
    produce too much voltage,
    I suppose that is a possiblility.... Does the buck-boost work
    with the solar cell setup, too, then....?
    It can, and read where it has been used with solar cells. Now to get
    my Round TuIt on that project... Overcast today, plus Autumn, plus a
    But First.
    Eventually you'll get to that again... on a nice sunny day.... ;)
    True. OTOH don't want a too-sunny day as will skew the experiment and make any ol' placement look right. ...It'll get done.
    Dunno... one could run the experiment on a variety of variously
    sunny days, and see if it makes much (or any) difference... ;)

    Yes, see what happens on a fully sunny day which would be running under
    ideal conditions and so find out what my maximum voltage would be.
    Lesser sunny to overcast days would have less solar output and so need o
    tweak the solar cell's positioning to make the best of what is
    available.


    ¯ ®
    ¯ Barry_Martin_3@ ®
    ¯ @Q.COM ®
    ¯ ®


    ... Ship carrying yo-yos was hit by a typhoon and sank twenty-three times.
    --- MultiMail/Win32 v0.47
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    --- QScan/PCB v1.20a / 01-0462
    * Origin: ILink: CFBBS | cfbbs.no-ip.com | 856-933-7096 (454:1/1)
  • From Nancy Backus@454:1/452 to Barry Martin on Mon May 4 19:46:30 2020
    Quoting Barry Martin to Nancy Backus on 26-Apr-2020 10:43 <=-

    True. You know people have been isolated too long when they start
    chit-chatting with the telephone spammers! <g>
    Not there yet, thankfully.... <G> I have noticed, though, that
    there have been fewer of the spammer calls.... apparently they
    aren't considered essential businesses... <G>
    <chuckle> They couldn't arrange their boiler rooms to comply with the
    6' rule! But yes, have noticed a lot less spam calls.

    I had a darker thought on them... perhaps they've fallen prey to the
    virus, since they couldn't distance, and were packed into small
    spaces.... probably the callers themselves are considered expendable...
    and the bigwigs there are just laying low for the time being...

    The one in particular we've been getting is the same male recording
    but from scattered telephone numbers: Dubuque, IA, Lansing, MI,
    ...GA, WI. Probably several more. Maybe they bought the same Earn
    Money Quick package and instead of re-recording the message to
    customize it they just used the example?!

    More likely it's one guy that spoofs the numbers to avoid being tracked
    down by the authorities... even if one reports the number to the
    watchdogs, it isn't really a valid number so they can't do anything to
    cut him off....

    And counselling ad alleviating concerns can take a while: need to
    break down what the other person built up.
    Exactly... and/or allow enough time for it all to spill out so
    that it can be worked on.... :)
    And their normal isn't the same as anyone else's normal: "it's not
    normal to be yelled at/slapped/hit?" (Semi-extreme example.)
    There is that, too... lately more just a calming of paranoias and
    such, though....
    Focus moved to a different target. One thing the local NBC-affilate
    (TV) has done is air aa lot of one-minute calming spots: puppies and kittens playing, scenic wonders, etc. Also 30-second spots with the message "it's normal to feel overwhelmed and confused, here's how to handle it".

    Our Public Radio has been doing the 30-second spots with an announcer or
    three from the station giving the guidelines for staying safe and
    healthy and ending with "we're all in this together... together..." And playing mostly calming music... :)

    Iowa taxes so I've have my IRA distribution taxed and then so far 100%
    refunded. With the new distribution going into effect in a few months
    (old one expires) I'm going to ask about having that changed.
    You mean, you've been having taxes withheld from your
    distributions...? As long as you get it back, that's not too bad... :)
    Yes on the withholdings and refunds. I do recall asking when started
    and he said federal and state (IA) generally require, though could be lessened or none at all. At the time it seemed better just to 'go
    with the flow' and have the customary amount withheld. The short-term policy is expiring in a couple of months and the new one will start -- have to go down and do the paperwork; thinking having the withholding amount changed.

    Having some withheld is probably good insurance... probably enough
    variant factors that it isn't a cut-and-dried type of thing, anyway... :)

    I'm thinking because of the eventual upcoming inheritance just half
    the amount withheld (and refunded), just to balance things out.
    Inheritance isn't taxed, though... The only thing you'd owe any tax
    on from that would be if you inherited stocks, bonds or funds that
    continued to earn for you, and that gain would be taxed, not the
    inheritance itself...
    I half-knew that. Combination of me half-expecting the rules to be
    changed. The house in NH will be sold, so hopefully a bit of a
    profit. Bank accounts and my Mother's IRA. Nothing all that
    complicated.
    With the house, you inherit the basis as of her date of death, unless
    your name is on the deed already.... in any case, when sold, there
    still shouldn't be more capital gains on that than what is exempt
    from taxing, unless it's a very expensive house.... The bank accounts
    are purely inheritance, so you won't have personal tax on those...
    The IRA, if she's needing to pay taxes on the distributions, you (or
    the estate) will need to pay income tax on what's left... you might
    be able to set it up to get as distributions rather than a lump sum,
    and then the tax would be spread out over the span of distributions...
    Right, and thanks! Kept as guidance; all those little tax details are
    one reason I'm sort of keeping the tax preparation company on my
    'payroll' so they have a history of me and I'm an established client,
    not just some deadbeat off the street asking for advice. Know most if
    not all of the records have me as co-owner, beneficiary, etc. Will probably do as distributions rather than lump sum as better for me.
    Get to play '20 Questions'with the financial advisor and the tax prep company!

    I've recently been through all of this, settling my mother's estate...
    but rules can be different from state to state... Anything with you as co-owner will just go directly to you and not go through probate or be
    subject to tax... Beneficiary, it depends on what it is... insurance
    payouts are not taxed, but income (like the IRA) probably is... Just as
    well to go over it with your advisors... ;)

    ...There's talk of a $1,200 stimulus check because of the COVID-19 --
    FWIW I received mine on April 13th -- everyone else is jealous because
    they haven't seen their accounts being deposited yet. I'm guessing
    done in Social Security Number order and mine begins with 0?
    We didn't get ours yet... but I don't think it's in SS# order, as both
    of ours also begin with 0 too... I've heard of some other people that
    have gotten theirs already... Did you e-file your taxes this year and
    have the payment or refund taken care of electronically from/to your
    bank account....?
    Yes to both parts of the question. Also filed in February.

    That's probably why you got yours so early.... the combination of all
    three.... :)

    From what I've seen, it shouldn't be considered income to be taxed,
    and as long as your income is less than $75000 ($150000 joint) you'd
    be getting $1200 each... Maybe it counts more like a tax refund, or
    is like a household credit....
    I hope they phrase it as a gift as Iowa taxes the federal refund!
    (It's not like the taxes are horrible here, they just like to get money
    to run the state properly.)
    Most likely it would be treated as a refundable credit, not taxed at
    all...
    That seems to be. Not that I'm trying to look at the dark side but
    more of being slightly prepared for potholes in the Road of Life.
    It's not like it's all that large an amount, anyway, as far as being
    taxed is concerned, though... :)
    True, and have read in other sources it is not taxable. Not trying to
    be pessimistic about it, just if I was running real tight with my
    money would want to set aside a bit in case of a surprise.

    The good news is that if that bigger stimulus comes through, that won't
    be taxable, either....

    Local news had an interview with a finanacial advisor -- from the same
    company my broker is with (private firm). Was sort of funny as the
    advice was to spend the money and not pay off bills, etc. 'Funny'
    part was he commented normally he'd advise paying down credit cards,
    bills, etc., with this kind of money but in this instance would be
    better to spend.
    Well.... the point of it is to put money into people's hands in order
    TO spend, so as to stimulate the economy.... Just have to figure out
    what's still open in order to spend money at... ;)
    True! The local TV stations are putting up ads for what is open and
    how to contact. The station I usually watch for news has maybe a 30-second spot with mini-ads of random lengths: some are cell phone
    videos of a bakery "we're open" and a quick contact info; other
    mini-spot might be a local restaurant taken with a camera. The
    stations also has a webpage where businesses can list they're open and contact information. IIRC the webpage is free, not sure about the
    price of the TV mini-ads but other information indicates they're either very cheap or free as a PSA type of thing.

    Haven't seen or heard of anything like that happening here, but then I
    don't watch TV, as you know... ;) Mostly we just keep our eyes open to
    see what might be still open when we drive by places... and if we
    particularly need something, take a chance that something might be
    open... generally it has been.... apparently we only need necessities as defined by the strictures... <G>

    As for storing, thinking I might 'store out in the open': dawned on me
    to use the TV as a monitor for my Raspberry Pi weather station. Of
    course have a But First but that was expected!
    That's a thought... :)
    Haven't done too much -- other 'ends and odds'.
    And But Firsts, no doubt... <G>
    Yeahhhh. Got a semi-major But First with the 'security' cameras not working properly: can see the recordings but not real time. Plus I
    had created a back up machine when I switched the CPU heat sink and fan
    on this one. I had never swapped the 'heat sink holder' before: always was whatever came with the motherboard. Swap went fine, so far is
    keeping the CPU to a maximum of 112øF vs. the old 180øF and shut down.

    Those both sound like worthy uses of your time... <G> Good that the
    swap was successful, too... :)

    Figuring the same potential issues with the solar cell power project:
    overcast is producing low voltage while a bright sunny day could
    produce too much voltage,
    I suppose that is a possiblility.... Does the buck-boost work
    with the solar cell setup, too, then....?
    It can, and read where it has been used with solar cells. Now to get
    my Round TuIt on that project... Overcast today, plus Autumn, plus a
    But First.
    Eventually you'll get to that again... on a nice sunny day.... ;)
    True. OTOH don't want a too-sunny day as will skew the experiment and
    make any ol' placement look right. ...It'll get done.
    Dunno... one could run the experiment on a variety of variously
    sunny days, and see if it makes much (or any) difference... ;)
    Yes, see what happens on a fully sunny day which would be running
    under ideal conditions and so find out what my maximum voltage would
    be. Lesser sunny to overcast days would have less solar output and so
    need to tweak the solar cell's positioning to make the best of what is available.

    All seems like workable situations and all... ;)

    ... Ship carrying yo-yos was hit by a typhoon and sank twenty-three
    times.

    Oh, my.... <G>

    ttyl neb

    ... Murphy's Philosophy: smile -- tomorrow will be worse.

    --- EzyBlueWave V3.00 01FB001F
    * Origin: Tiny's BBS - http://www.tinysbbs.com (454:1/452)
  • From Barry Martin@454:1/1 to Nancy Backus on Tue May 5 10:45:00 2020

    Hi Nancy!

    True. You know people have been isolated too long when they start
    chit-chatting with the telephone spammers! <g>
    Not there yet, thankfully.... <G> I have noticed, though, that
    there have been fewer of the spammer calls.... apparently they
    aren't considered essential businesses... <G>
    <chuckle> They couldn't arrange their boiler rooms to comply with the
    6' rule! But yes, have noticed a lot less spam calls.
    I had a darker thought on them... perhaps they've fallen prey to
    the virus, since they couldn't distance, and were packed into
    small spaces.... probably the callers themselves are considered expendable... and the bigwigs there are just laying low for the
    time being...

    Planning even more sinister spams! And I had a strange thought on
    robbers: now with just about everyone wearing masks do the thieves have
    to have the faces exposed?


    The one in particular we've been getting is the same male recording
    but from scattered telephone numbers: Dubuque, IA, Lansing, MI,
    ...GA, WI. Probably several more. Maybe they bought the same Earn
    Money Quick package and instead of re-recording the message to
    customize it they just used the example?!
    More likely it's one guy that spoofs the numbers to avoid being
    tracked down by the authorities... even if one reports the number
    to the watchdogs, it isn't really a valid number so they can't do
    anything to cut him off....

    That's a possibility too -- probably a probability. Was scanning
    through an article indicating random 'correct' local numbers coming up
    on Caller ID are due to the spammers buying pre-paid phone cards.
    Apprantly somehow triggers a valid number to display. The whole getting-around-the-computers is interesting and baffling!


    And counselling ad alleviating concerns can take a while: need to
    break down what the other person built up.
    Exactly... and/or allow enough time for it all to spill out so
    that it can be worked on.... :)
    And their normal isn't the same as anyone else's normal: "it's not
    normal to be yelled at/slapped/hit?" (Semi-extreme example.)
    There is that, too... lately more just a calming of paranoias and
    such, though....
    Focus moved to a different target. One thing the local NBC-affilate
    (TV) has done is air aa lot of one-minute calming spots: puppies and kittens playing, scenic wonders, etc. Also 30-second spots with the message "it's normal to feel overwhelmed and confused, here's how to handle it".
    Our Public Radio has been doing the 30-second spots with an
    announcer or three from the station giving the guidelines for
    staying safe and healthy and ending with "we're all in this
    together... together..." And playing mostly calming music... :)

    No 'William Tell Overture'?! Yes, good to be reminded it is normal to
    be confused, annoyed, overwhelmed, etc. It is not the normal we're used
    to. It was a sudden change. And if I may say so Americans are not used
    to being told what to do: stay home! Wear a mask! Don't touch! IMO
    there are times for freedom and there are times to strictly follow the government rules. (There isn't much freedom in a box six feet
    underground.)


    Iowa taxes so I've have my IRA distribution taxed and then so far 100%
    refunded. With the new distribution going into effect in a few months
    (old one expires) I'm going to ask about having that changed.
    You mean, you've been having taxes withheld from your
    distributions...? As long as you get it back, that's not too bad... :)
    Yes on the withholdings and refunds. I do recall asking when started
    and he said federal and state (IA) generally require, though could be lessened or none at all. At the time it seemed better just to 'go
    with the flow' and have the customary amount withheld. The short-term policy is expiring in a couple of months and the new one will start -- have to go down and do the paperwork; thinking having the withholding amount changed.
    Having some withheld is probably good insurance... probably
    enough variant factors that it isn't a cut-and-dried type of
    thing, anyway... :)

    Yeahhh.... I'll have to do a bit of research but I think most of it has
    been done: tax person (with a large company) initially suggested no
    withholding and then thought around half a good idea based on
    inheritance. At this point I don't see why my financial advisor would
    disagree when I activate 'Part 2' of my IRA -- plan on switching to half
    but have an open mind for why it may not be in my best interests.



    probably do as distributions rather than lump sum as better for me.
    Get to play '20 Questions'with the financial advisor and the tax prep company!
    I've recently been through all of this, settling my mother's
    estate... but rules can be different from state to state...
    Anything with you as co-owner will just go directly to you and
    not go through probate or be subject to tax... Beneficiary, it
    depends on what it is... insurance payouts are not taxed, but
    income (like the IRA) probably is... Just as well to go over it
    with your advisors... ;)

    Right: they know, or at least are much better informed than I am. And
    dealing with Iowa may be one thing, dealing with Iowa and New Hampshire
    (wheer my Mother lives) another. ...Good thing we got rid of the land
    in Slovakia and just have to deal with small stuff in Austria!


    ...There's talk of a $1,200 stimulus check because of the COVID-19 --
    FWIW I received mine on April 13th -- everyone else is jealous because
    they haven't seen their accounts being deposited yet. I'm guessing
    done in Social Security Number order and mine begins with 0?
    We didn't get ours yet... but I don't think it's in SS# order, as both
    of ours also begin with 0 too... I've heard of some other people that
    have gotten theirs already... Did you e-file your taxes this year and
    have the payment or refund taken care of electronically from/to your
    bank account....?
    Yes to both parts of the question. Also filed in February.
    That's probably why you got yours so early.... the combination of
    all three.... :)

    Works for me! :) ...The initial announcements of the stimulus checks
    implied all would be sent out approximately the same time.


    From what I've seen, it shouldn't be considered income to be taxed,
    and as long as your income is less than $75000 ($150000 joint) you'd
    be getting $1200 each... Maybe it counts more like a tax refund, or
    is like a household credit....
    I hope they phrase it as a gift as Iowa taxes the federal refund!
    (It's not like the taxes are horrible here, they just like to get money
    to run the state properly.)
    Most likely it would be treated as a refundable credit, not taxed at
    all...
    That seems to be. Not that I'm trying to look at the dark side but
    more of being slightly prepared for potholes in the Road of Life.
    It's not like it's all that large an amount, anyway, as far as being
    taxed is concerned, though... :)
    True, and have read in other sources it is not taxable. Not trying to
    be pessimistic about it, just if I was running real tight with my
    money would want to set aside a bit in case of a surprise.
    The good news is that if that bigger stimulus comes through, that
    won't be taxable, either....

    And I might be at the beginning of that line too! :)


    Local news had an interview with a finanacial advisor -- from the same
    company my broker is with (private firm). Was sort of funny as the
    advice was to spend the money and not pay off bills, etc. 'Funny'
    part was he commented normally he'd advise paying down credit cards,
    bills, etc., with this kind of money but in this instance would be
    better to spend.
    Well.... the point of it is to put money into people's hands in order
    TO spend, so as to stimulate the economy.... Just have to figure out
    what's still open in order to spend money at... ;)
    True! The local TV stations are putting up ads for what is open and
    how to contact. The station I usually watch for news has maybe a 30-second spot with mini-ads of random lengths: some are cell phone
    videos of a bakery "we're open" and a quick contact info; other
    mini-spot might be a local restaurant taken with a camera. The
    stations also has a webpage where businesses can list they're open and contact information. IIRC the webpage is free, not sure about the
    price of the TV mini-ads but other information indicates they're either very cheap or free as a PSA type of thing.
    Haven't seen or heard of anything like that happening here, but
    then I don't watch TV, as you know... ;) Mostly we just keep our
    eyes open to see what might be still open when we drive by
    places... and if we particularly need something, take a chance
    that something might be open... generally it has been....
    apparently we only need necessities as defined by the
    strictures... <G>

    And it would be probably difficult to do that sort of listing on radio, probably even more so on public radio as the "we're" open announcements
    would sound like a commercial. Actually ther _are_ commercials, just
    real short and frequently shot with a cell phone, but still commercials.



    As for storing, thinking I might 'store out in the open': dawned on me
    to use the TV as a monitor for my Raspberry Pi weather station. Of
    course have a But First but that was expected!
    That's a thought... :)
    Haven't done too much -- other 'ends and odds'.
    And But Firsts, no doubt... <G>
    Yeahhhh. Got a semi-major But First with the 'security' cameras not working properly: can see the recordings but not real time. Plus I
    had created a back up machine when I switched the CPU heat sink and fan
    on this one. I had never swapped the 'heat sink holder' before: always was whatever came with the motherboard. Swap went fine, so far is
    keeping the CPU to a maximum of 112øF vs. the old 180øF and shut down.
    Those both sound like worthy uses of your time... <G> Good that
    the swap was successful, too... :)

    Yes -- as for swapping the CPU Heat Sink not like I haven't done before
    -- heat sink part is fine but the fan froze -- just never had swapped in
    a totally different - in this case monster - heat sink. And was
    suckered in by the original one being "AMD approved" -- well, that means
    it should be right and do the job, right?

    As for the cameras, got that working. No idea why the real-time failure
    with the original software, and appears for whatever reason the
    new/updated software either isn't an energy efficient or because it does
    more and so the processor does more work ==> heat and current draw.
    Ended up putting in a metal case with extensions inside which contact
    the CPU, etc., and so draw the heat of better than the original heat
    sinks. (The metal case is warm to the touch!). That seems to have been
    the problem.


    Figuring the same potential issues with the solar cell power project:
    overcast is producing low voltage while a bright sunny day could
    produce too much voltage,
    I suppose that is a possiblility.... Does the buck-boost work
    with the solar cell setup, too, then....?
    It can, and read where it has been used with solar cells. Now to get
    my Round TuIt on that project... Overcast today, plus Autumn, plus a
    But First.
    Eventually you'll get to that again... on a nice sunny day.... ;)
    True. OTOH don't want a too-sunny day as will skew the experiment and
    make any ol' placement look right. ...It'll get done.
    Dunno... one could run the experiment on a variety of variously
    sunny days, and see if it makes much (or any) difference... ;)
    Yes, see what happens on a fully sunny day which would be running
    under ideal conditions and so find out what my maximum voltage would
    be. Lesser sunny to overcast days would have less solar output and so
    need to tweak the solar cell's positioning to make the best of what is available.
    All seems like workable situations and all... ;)

    Yes, eventually back to that project. I haven't been down in the
    basement for a while; some stuff up here in the Computer Room, some
    Spring yard work.....



    ... Murphy's Philosophy: smile -- tomorrow will be worse.

    May as well enjoy today!

    ¯ ®
    ¯ Barry_Martin_3@ ®
    ¯ @Q.COM ®
    ¯ ®


    ... If our service is not up to your standard please lower your standard.
    --- MultiMail/Win32 v0.47
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    * Origin: ILink: CFBBS | cfbbs.no-ip.com | 856-933-7096 (454:1/1)
  • From Nancy Backus@454:1/452 to Barry Martin on Sat May 9 22:30:52 2020
    Quoting Barry Martin to Nancy Backus on 05-May-2020 10:45 <=-

    As long as that message was getting too long, I decided to move the solar testing stuff into the Solar Testing II message.... which also had been
    getting away from solar testing, but, oh, well... <G>

    As for storing, thinking I might 'store out in the open': dawned on
    me to use the TV as a monitor for my Raspberry Pi weather station.
    Of course have a But First but that was expected!
    That's a thought... :)
    Haven't done too much -- other 'ends and odds'.
    And But Firsts, no doubt... <G>
    Yeahhhh. Got a semi-major But First with the 'security' cameras not
    working properly: can see the recordings but not real time. Plus I
    had created a back up machine when I switched the CPU heat sink and fan
    on this one. I had never swapped the 'heat sink holder' before: always
    was whatever came with the motherboard. Swap went fine, so far is
    keeping the CPU to a maximum of 112øF vs. the old 180øF and shut down.
    Those both sound like worthy uses of your time... <G> Good that the
    swap was successful, too... :)
    Yes -- as for swapping the CPU Heat Sink not like I haven't done
    before -- heat sink part is fine but the fan froze -- just never had swapped in a totally different - in this case monster - heat sink. And was suckered in by the original one being "AMD approved" -- well, that means it should be right and do the job, right?

    One would have thought.... but maybe it was approved for some other
    job....? <G>

    As for the cameras, got that working. No idea why the real-time
    failure with the original software, and appears for whatever reason the new/updated software either isn't an energy efficient or because it
    does more and so the processor does more work ==> heat and current
    draw. Ended up putting in a metal case with extensions inside which contact the CPU, etc., and so draw the heat of better than the original heat sinks. (The metal case is warm to the touch!). That seems to
    have been the problem.

    Making it work harder and thus generating more heat, does seem to be a possibility, even in my limited area of knowledge here... :) Finding a
    way to dissipate that heat makes sense, too...

    Figuring the same potential issues with the solar cell power project:
    overcast is producing low voltage while a bright sunny day could
    produce too much voltage,
    I suppose that is a possiblility.... Does the buck-boost work
    with the solar cell setup, too, then....?
    It can, and read where it has been used with solar cells. Now to get
    my Round TuIt on that project... Overcast today, plus Autumn, plus a
    But First.
    Eventually you'll get to that again... on a nice sunny day.... ;)
    True. OTOH don't want a too-sunny day as will skew the experiment and
    make any ol' placement look right. ...It'll get done.
    Dunno... one could run the experiment on a variety of variously
    sunny days, and see if it makes much (or any) difference... ;)
    Yes, see what happens on a fully sunny day which would be running
    under ideal conditions and so find out what my maximum voltage would
    be. Lesser sunny to overcast days would have less solar output and so
    need to tweak the solar cell's positioning to make the best of what is
    available.
    All seems like workable situations and all... ;)
    Yes, eventually back to that project. I haven't been down in the
    basement for a while; some stuff up here in the Computer Room, some
    Spring yard work.....

    You'll get back to it in due time... :)

    Exactly... it is possible for a product to actually be improved,
    in a way that is useful.... ;) But often it's only hype... <G>
    Most of it is. I don't go around looking at the darker side of things
    but seems most of the 'new & improved' is for the manufacturer's
    benefit.
    Often merely even a chance to charge more for the same product and get
    away with it... ;0
    Possibly and probably right: the 'new and improved' isn't the same as
    the original and so could be charged at a different rate. OTOH it
    might not be too good an idea to change the product and change the
    price: I'm thinking a price decrease could be interpreted as not as
    good as the original, a price increase interpreted as an opportunity to
    explore other brands as if the original had to be improved maybe it
    wasn't so good after all.
    Likely any price increase would be hidden.... It might be the same
    price per container, but the net weight or volume has decreased
    slightly... thinking that the customer is less likely to notice that
    sort of thing... ;)
    Yes: keep the price and container the same but less contents.

    Or tweak the container just a little so that it's not all that
    noticeable... ;0

    Wide mouth in a Thermos is great for soup, stews, etc.; remember
    reading a 10% increase in the opening of items like toothpaste,
    ketchup, etc., caused the consumer to use more, so good for the seller,
    not necessarily good for the buyer as caused more to be used when not
    necessary.
    If one doesn't realize that more is coming out the opening...
    eventually the buyer could figure it out, though, and go back to
    using the original amount, just squeezing a little less... :)
    True, though I'm recalling the study stating the consumer was using
    more because of the increased flow, not adjusting back, and so the
    sales increased. I'd assume some consumers would realize the flow
    change and so cut back, but overall appears most kept the squeeze
    constant and so used more.
    Maybe after the results of the study came out some more customers
    changed their usage as well... ;)
    I would think a few would do a "so that's why the bigger opening!" and adjust their usage but the majority shrug it off and continue as they were.

    Possibly... :)

    As for the lack of digital coupons, Clorox and the like don't need to
    <snip>
    May be better to not entice the average consumer with a sale or
    coupon than to deal with the 'negative publicity' of implying the
    product would be available at a discount (sale/coupon).
    BJ's still has coupons available (although they just shifted to all
    done digitally or clipless instead of having paper coupons), but they
    have a disclaimer right there with the coupons that due to the current
    crisis, there might be disruptions in the supply or not sufficient
    goods on the shelves, and that there won't be any rainchecks for the
    time being... So they are trying to deflect any negative publicity
    issues, obviously...
    Which to me is good: "if we can't get it we can't sell it to you".
    Not all that great from the consumer side to not have the raincheck but
    if the promotion is going on currently the discount is paid for by the supplier; if a raincheck then the discount is probably paid from the store's bottom line and right now they're probably in the red due to
    all the other expenses like plastic bags (no consumer re-usables),
    masks, extra/specialized cleaning supplies, barriers.....

    Wegmans is still doing the consumer reusables instead of the plastic
    bags... and selling quite a few of them as well... They are easily
    enough wiped down after each use, if one desires to be a little more cautious... But yes, the other sanitizing and safety measures have got
    to be costing them, and when they are out of things, they can't sell
    them to get any profit there, either...

    I was telling someone last week's Hy-Vee digital ad had over 1,000
    items while this week's had a little over 400. And their 99› orange
    juice (limit two) was sold out. (But I did get the last roll of Angel
    Soft toilet paper, plus I had a dollar off digital coupon!!)
    Win some, lose some... ;)
    Right now I would have preferred the orange juice over the toilet
    paper but my mind may change later!
    Depending on what you were out of at the time... <G>
    That does tend to alter my needs perception! <gg>
    Yup... <G>
    And that reminded me: the coffee-flavourd M&Ms were a restricted-time offering. I was on eBay for something else (ended up not buying
    anywhere) and someone was selling just-expired packs (expiry April
    17th or something) and someone else had listed packs with an expiry the end of May. Either one would have been OK but I wasn't sure of the quantity: looked like a single pack at $9.99 - so ten dollars. Uh,
    no. OK, so free shipping, but still seemed rather high for a little packet. I'm not spending my stimulus check on candy!

    Guess I was right... <G> No, I'd not spend that sort of money for
    candy, either... And it appears that maybe some people did some hoarding
    there, as well, hoping to make a killing.... sigh....

    ... Come to our site: we have Cookies!

    Fresh-baked.....? <G>

    ttyl neb

    ... I need to start procrastinating, sometime soon.

    --- EzyBlueWave V3.00 01FB001F
    * Origin: Tiny's BBS - http://www.tinysbbs.com (454:1/452)
  • From Barry Martin@454:1/1 to Nancy Backus on Sun May 10 09:25:00 2020

    Hi Nancy!

    As long as that message was getting too long, I decided to move
    the solar testing stuff into the Solar Testing II message....
    which also had been getting away from solar testing, but, oh,
    well... <G>

    Sounds like a brilliant move!


    As for storing, thinking I might 'store out in the open': dawned on
    me to use the TV as a monitor for my Raspberry Pi weather station.
    Of course have a But First but that was expected!
    That's a thought... :)
    Haven't done too much -- other 'ends and odds'.
    And But Firsts, no doubt... <G>
    Yeahhhh. Got a semi-major But First with the 'security' cameras not
    working properly: can see the recordings but not real time. Plus I
    had created a back up machine when I switched the CPU heat sink and fan
    on this one. I had never swapped the 'heat sink holder' before: always
    was whatever came with the motherboard. Swap went fine, so far is
    keeping the CPU to a maximum of 112øF vs. the old 180øF and shut down.
    Those both sound like worthy uses of your time... <G> Good that the
    swap was successful, too... :)
    Yes -- as for swapping the CPU Heat Sink not like I haven't done
    before -- heat sink part is fine but the fan froze -- just never had swapped in a totally different - in this case monster - heat sink. And was suckered in by the original one being "AMD approved" -- well, that means it should be right and do the job, right?
    One would have thought.... but maybe it was approved for some
    other job....? <G>

    Apparently it's job was to be cooling a much lighter capacity processor!


    As for the cameras, got that working. No idea why the real-time
    failure with the original software, and appears for whatever reason the new/updated software either isn't an energy efficient or because it
    does more and so the processor does more work ==> heat and current
    draw. Ended up putting in a metal case with extensions inside which contact the CPU, etc., and so draw the heat of better than the original heat sinks. (The metal case is warm to the touch!). That seems to
    have been the problem.
    Making it work harder and thus generating more heat, does seem to
    be a possibility, even in my limited area of knowledge here... :)
    Finding a way to dissipate that heat makes sense, too...

    Yes, those chips just don't like to be too warm! Didn't quite make
    sense why the original hardware wasn't liking the updated software
    but.... I had the metal case in stock for another project, and did my
    "buy two, they're cheap!" philosophy. Actually still have a spare: did
    buy two but the original project changed.


    Figuring the same potential issues with the solar cell power project:
    overcast is producing low voltage while a bright sunny day could
    produce too much voltage,
    I suppose that is a possiblility.... Does the buck-boost work
    with the solar cell setup, too, then....?
    It can, and read where it has been used with solar cells. Now to get
    my Round TuIt on that project... Overcast today, plus Autumn, plus a
    But First.
    Eventually you'll get to that again... on a nice sunny day.... ;)
    True. OTOH don't want a too-sunny day as will skew the experiment and
    make any ol' placement look right. ...It'll get done.
    Dunno... one could run the experiment on a variety of variously
    sunny days, and see if it makes much (or any) difference... ;)
    Yes, see what happens on a fully sunny day which would be running
    under ideal conditions and so find out what my maximum voltage would
    be. Lesser sunny to overcast days would have less solar output and so
    need to tweak the solar cell's positioning to make the best of what is
    available.
    All seems like workable situations and all... ;)
    Yes, eventually back to that project. I haven't been down in the
    basement for a while; some stuff up here in the Computer Room, some
    Spring yard work.....
    You'll get back to it in due time... :)

    Yes: when it gets to 90 and 100 outside I'l be looking for an indoor
    project!


    Exactly... it is possible for a product to actually be improved,
    in a way that is useful.... ;) But often it's only hype... <G>
    Most of it is. I don't go around looking at the darker side of things
    but seems most of the 'new & improved' is for the manufacturer's
    benefit.
    Often merely even a chance to charge more for the same product and get
    away with it... ;0
    Possibly and probably right: the 'new and improved' isn't the same as
    the original and so could be charged at a different rate. OTOH it
    might not be too good an idea to change the product and change the
    price: I'm thinking a price decrease could be interpreted as not as
    good as the original, a price increase interpreted as an opportunity to
    explore other brands as if the original had to be improved maybe it
    wasn't so good after all.
    Likely any price increase would be hidden.... It might be the same
    price per container, but the net weight or volume has decreased
    slightly... thinking that the customer is less likely to notice that
    sort of thing... ;)
    Yes: keep the price and container the same but less contents.
    Or tweak the container just a little so that it's not all that noticeable... ;0

    They've probbaly done that to us consumers, I'm sure! Not false
    advertising as long as they keep the weight display consistent.
    Probably could be made smaller in size (the font) as long as everything
    else was correspondingly smaller with the new packaging. ...Consumer
    beware!


    Wegmans is still doing the consumer reusables instead of the
    plastic bags... and selling quite a few of them as well... They
    are easily enough wiped down after each use, if one desires to be
    a little more cautious... But yes, the other sanitizing and
    safety measures have got to be costing them, and when they are
    out of things, they can't sell them to get any profit there,
    either...

    A hare surprised on Wegmans allowing the use of the consumer resuables
    -- all purchases or just the ones packed by the consumer him or herself.
    Hy-Vee is or at least was allowing the reusables if the customer packed
    their own groceries.


    I was telling someone last week's Hy-Vee digital ad had over 1,000
    items while this week's had a little over 400. And their 99› orange
    juice (limit two) was sold out. (But I did get the last roll of Angel
    Soft toilet paper, plus I had a dollar off digital coupon!!)
    Win some, lose some... ;)
    Right now I would have preferred the orange juice over the toilet
    paper but my mind may change later!
    Depending on what you were out of at the time... <G>
    That does tend to alter my needs perception! <gg>
    Yup... <G>
    And that reminded me: the coffee-flavourd M&Ms were a restricted-time offering. I was on eBay for something else (ended up not buying
    anywhere) and someone was selling just-expired packs (expiry April
    17th or something) and someone else had listed packs with an expiry the end of May. Either one would have been OK but I wasn't sure of the quantity: looked like a single pack at $9.99 - so ten dollars. Uh,
    no. OK, so free shipping, but still seemed rather high for a little packet. I'm not spending my stimulus check on candy!
    Guess I was right... <G> No, I'd not spend that sort of money
    for candy, either... And it appears that maybe some people did
    some hoarding there, as well, hoping to make a killing....
    sigh....

    Maybe not a killing but just buying up end quantities. I didn't pay
    attention to the vendor so don't know if it was Vinny's Odd Lots or
    what.


    ... Come to our site: we have Cookies!
    Fresh-baked.....? <G>

    As quick as our little electronics can generate!

    ¯ ®
    ¯ Barry_Martin_3@ ®
    ¯ @Q.COM ®
    ¯ ®


    ... Daffynition: Organic. (adj.) As played on a Wurlitzer.
    --- MultiMail/Win32 v0.47
    þ wcECHO 4.2 ÷ ILink: The Safe BBS þ Bettendorf, IA

    --- QScan/PCB v1.20a / 01-0462
    * Origin: ILink: CFBBS | cfbbs.no-ip.com | 856-933-7096 (454:1/1)
  • From Nancy Backus@454:1/452 to Barry Martin on Mon May 18 17:45:48 2020
    Quoting Barry Martin to Nancy Backus on 10-May-2020 09:25 <=-

    As long as that message was getting too long, I decided to move the
    solar testing stuff into the Solar Testing II message.... which also
    had been getting away from solar testing, but, oh, well... <G>
    Sounds like a brilliant move!

    Seems to have worked out ok... ;)

    As for storing, thinking I might 'store out in the open': dawned on
    me to use the TV as a monitor for my Raspberry Pi weather station.
    Of course have a But First but that was expected!
    That's a thought... :)
    Haven't done too much -- other 'ends and odds'.
    And But Firsts, no doubt... <G>
    Yeahhhh. Got a semi-major But First with the 'security' cameras not
    working properly: can see the recordings but not real time. Plus I
    had created a back up machine when I switched the CPU heat sink and fan
    on this one. I had never swapped the 'heat sink holder' before: always
    was whatever came with the motherboard. Swap went fine, so far is
    keeping the CPU to a maximum of 112øF vs. the old 180øF and shut down.
    Those both sound like worthy uses of your time... <G> Good that the
    swap was successful, too... :)
    Yes -- as for swapping the CPU Heat Sink not like I haven't done
    before -- heat sink part is fine but the fan froze -- just never had
    swapped in a totally different - in this case monster - heat sink. And
    was suckered in by the original one being "AMD approved" -- well, that
    means it should be right and do the job, right?
    One would have thought.... but maybe it was approved for some other
    job....? <G>
    Apparently it's job was to be cooling a much lighter capacity
    processor!

    And now you know... <G>

    As for the cameras, got that working. No idea why the real-time
    failure with the original software, and appears for whatever reason the
    new/updated software either isn't an energy efficient or because it
    does more and so the processor does more work ==> heat and current
    draw. Ended up putting in a metal case with extensions inside which
    contact the CPU, etc., and so draw the heat of better than the original
    heat sinks. (The metal case is warm to the touch!). That seems to
    have been the problem.
    Making it work harder and thus generating more heat, does seem to be a
    possibility, even in my limited area of knowledge here... :) Finding
    a way to dissipate that heat makes sense, too...
    Yes, those chips just don't like to be too warm! Didn't quite make
    sense why the original hardware wasn't liking the updated software
    but.... I had the metal case in stock for another project, and did my "buy two, they're cheap!" philosophy. Actually still have a spare:
    did buy two but the original project changed.

    Funny how that happens, sometimes... :) But handy to have for the
    project at hand.... :)

    Eventually you'll get to that again... on a nice sunny day.... ;)
    True. OTOH don't want a too-sunny day as will skew the experiment
    and make any ol' placement look right. ...It'll get done.
    Dunno... one could run the experiment on a variety of variously
    sunny days, and see if it makes much (or any) difference... ;)
    Yes, see what happens on a fully sunny day which would be running
    under ideal conditions and so find out what my maximum voltage would
    be. Lesser sunny to overcast days would have less solar output and so
    need to tweak the solar cell's positioning to make the best of what is
    available.
    All seems like workable situations and all... ;)
    Yes, eventually back to that project. I haven't been down in the
    basement for a while; some stuff up here in the Computer Room, some
    Spring yard work.....
    You'll get back to it in due time... :)
    Yes: when it gets to 90 and 100 outside I'l be looking for an indoor project!

    And a cool basement will be very inviting... <G>

    Often merely even a chance to charge more for the same product and
    get away with it... ;0
    Possibly and probably right: the 'new and improved' isn't the same as
    the original and so could be charged at a different rate. OTOH it
    might not be too good an idea to change the product and change the
    price: I'm thinking a price decrease could be interpreted as not as
    good as the original, a price increase interpreted as an opportunity
    to explore other brands as if the original had to be improved maybe
    it wasn't so good after all.
    Likely any price increase would be hidden.... It might be the same
    price per container, but the net weight or volume has decreased
    slightly... thinking that the customer is less likely to notice that
    sort of thing... ;)
    Yes: keep the price and container the same but less contents.
    Or tweak the container just a little so that it's not all that
    noticeable... ;0
    They've probbaly done that to us consumers, I'm sure! Not false advertising as long as they keep the weight display consistent.

    Ice cream containers are a case in point where they did do that... what
    used to be a half-gallon container is now just 3 pints... they raised
    the bottom up into the container so the inside is less, but the outside
    appears to be the old size... the correct weight is, of course, on the
    package, but people rarely really notice that anyway...

    Probably could be made smaller in size (the font) as long as
    everything else was correspondingly smaller with the new packaging.

    Doesn't even have to have much else changed... people aren't likely to
    notice that unless they are routinely comparing with other products...
    and when they all change at once, one might not pick up on it that
    quickly... ;)

    ...Consumer beware!

    Absolutely... Sugar is now in 4-lb bags rather than 5-lb... cans that
    used to be 16 oz are now 15, or even 14.5oz...

    Wegmans is still doing the consumer reusables instead of the plastic
    bags... and selling quite a few of them as well... They are easily
    enough wiped down after each use, if one desires to be a little more
    cautious... But yes, the other sanitizing and safety measures have got
    to be costing them, and when they are out of things, they can't sell
    them to get any profit there, either...
    A hare surprised on Wegmans allowing the use of the consumer resuables
    -- all purchases or just the ones packed by the consumer him or
    herself. Hy-Vee is or at least was allowing the reusables if the
    customer packed their own groceries.

    Richard packs ours... has been right along... I'm not surprised that
    Wegmans is staying with the reusables, since they've been pushing them
    for almost 15 years... When our state outlawed the use of plastic bags
    in stores, Wegmans was ecstatic, as they'd tried to get rid of them
    years ago, but customers weren't ready to do so.... There are still
    plenty of new reusable bags available throughout the store and at the checkouts, so one can have a fresh new one each week if wished for... ;)
    There is a sign now at the checkout that states that if the reusable
    looks too dirty, the clerk can refuse to load it... but I've not seen
    that having to be enforced.... :)

    And that reminded me: the coffee-flavourd M&Ms were a restricted-time
    offering. I was on eBay for something else (ended up not buying
    anywhere) and someone was selling just-expired packs (expiry April
    17th or something) and someone else had listed packs with an expiry the
    end of May. Either one would have been OK but I wasn't sure of the
    quantity: looked like a single pack at $9.99 - so ten dollars. Uh,
    no. OK, so free shipping, but still seemed rather high for a little
    packet. I'm not spending my stimulus check on candy!
    Guess I was right... <G> No, I'd not spend that sort of money for
    candy, either... And it appears that maybe some people did some
    hoarding there, as well, hoping to make a killing.... sigh....
    Maybe not a killing but just buying up end quantities. I didn't pay attention to the vendor so don't know if it was Vinny's Odd Lots or
    what.

    Even if it was just buying up end quantities, that's an exorbitant price
    for a package of M&Ms.... :)

    ... Come to our site: we have Cookies!
    Fresh-baked.....? <G>
    As quick as our little electronics can generate!

    Oooooooooooohh... ;) Um, no thanks... <G>

    ttyl neb

    ... Yeasties eat sugar and whiz into the swimming pool to make your booze.

    --- EzyBlueWave V3.00 01FB001F
    * Origin: Tiny's BBS - http://www.tinysbbs.com (454:1/452)
  • From Barry Martin@454:1/1 to Nancy Backus on Tue May 19 11:10:00 2020

    Hi Nancy!

    on this one. I had never swapped the 'heat sink holder' before: always
    was whatever came with the motherboard. Swap went fine, so far is
    keeping the CPU to a maximum of 112øF vs. the old 180øF and shut down.
    Those both sound like worthy uses of your time... <G> Good that the
    swap was successful, too... :)
    Yes -- as for swapping the CPU Heat Sink not like I haven't done
    before -- heat sink part is fine but the fan froze -- just never had
    swapped in a totally different - in this case monster - heat sink. And
    was suckered in by the original one being "AMD approved" -- well, that
    means it should be right and do the job, right?
    One would have thought.... but maybe it was approved for some other
    job....? <G>
    Apparently it's job was to be cooling a much lighter capacity
    processor!
    And now you know... <G>

    Ah! I neglected to to check _which_ one it was approved for!!
    (Actually I had and my processor was listed.)



    As for the cameras, got that working. No idea why the real-time
    failure with the original software, and appears for whatever reason the
    new/updated software either isn't an energy efficient or because it
    does more and so the processor does more work ==> heat and current
    draw. Ended up putting in a metal case with extensions inside which
    contact the CPU, etc., and so draw the heat of better than the original
    heat sinks. (The metal case is warm to the touch!). That seems to
    have been the problem.
    Making it work harder and thus generating more heat, does seem to be a
    possibility, even in my limited area of knowledge here... :) Finding
    a way to dissipate that heat makes sense, too...
    Yes, those chips just don't like to be too warm! Didn't quite make
    sense why the original hardware wasn't liking the updated software
    but.... I had the metal case in stock for another project, and did my "buy two, they're cheap!" philosophy. Actually still have a spare:
    did buy two but the original project changed.
    Funny how that happens, sometimes... :) But handy to have for
    the project at hand.... :)

    If cheap enough spares are handy!


    Eventually you'll get to that again... on a nice sunny day.... ;)
    True. OTOH don't want a too-sunny day as will skew the experiment
    and make any ol' placement look right. ...It'll get done.
    Dunno... one could run the experiment on a variety of variously
    sunny days, and see if it makes much (or any) difference... ;)
    Yes, see what happens on a fully sunny day which would be running
    under ideal conditions and so find out what my maximum voltage would
    be. Lesser sunny to overcast days would have less solar output and so
    need to tweak the solar cell's positioning to make the best of what is
    available.
    All seems like workable situations and all... ;)
    Yes, eventually back to that project. I haven't been down in the
    basement for a while; some stuff up here in the Computer Room, some
    Spring yard work.....
    You'll get back to it in due time... :)
    Yes: when it gets to 90 and 100 outside I'l be looking for an indoor project!
    And a cool basement will be very inviting... <G>

    True. I haven't been down there for anything but putting away groceries
    or 'going shopping'.


    Often merely even a chance to charge more for the same product and
    get away with it... ;0
    Possibly and probably right: the 'new and improved' isn't the same as
    the original and so could be charged at a different rate. OTOH it
    might not be too good an idea to change the product and change the
    price: I'm thinking a price decrease could be interpreted as not as
    good as the original, a price increase interpreted as an opportunity
    to explore other brands as if the original had to be improved maybe
    it wasn't so good after all.
    Likely any price increase would be hidden.... It might be the same
    price per container, but the net weight or volume has decreased
    slightly... thinking that the customer is less likely to notice that
    sort of thing... ;)
    Yes: keep the price and container the same but less contents.
    Or tweak the container just a little so that it's not all that
    noticeable... ;0
    They've probbaly done that to us consumers, I'm sure! Not false advertising as long as they keep the weight display consistent.
    Ice cream containers are a case in point where they did do
    that... what used to be a half-gallon container is now just 3
    pints... they raised the bottom up into the container so the
    inside is less, but the outside appears to be the old size... the
    correct weight is, of course, on the package, but people rarely
    really notice that anyway...

    Right: more trained by size. Have noticed when the opposite happens the manufacturers loudly proclaim "smaller packaging, same amount!". They
    figured out how to make the box smaller so as to get more per case, or
    make the case smaller so more cases could be packed into the
    semi-trailer and cut their costs.


    Probably could be made smaller in size (the font) as long as
    everything else was correspondingly smaller with the new packaging.
    Doesn't even have to have much else changed... people aren't
    likely to notice that unless they are routinely comparing with
    other products... and when they all change at once, one might not
    pick up on it that quickly... ;)
    ...Consumer beware!
    Absolutely... Sugar is now in 4-lb bags rather than 5-lb... cans
    that used to be 16 oz are now 15, or even 14.5oz...

    And the latter has screwed up some recipes: "one small can of Evaporated
    Milk" -- now doesn't seem to be that small can being sold. As for the
    sugar, I remember that one. Bought the usual smaller-of-the-two sizes;
    may have noticed something was different but didn't pick up what.
    ...Know here it is stored in a canister set but the set is unmarked and
    so sugar doesn't go in a canister designed for five pounds of sugar. I
    also generally don't use sugar (not saying I don't eat!) so I don't
    'play' with the transfer, etc. It did take us a little while before we
    caught on to the size difference.



    Wegmans is still doing the consumer reusables instead of the plastic
    bags... and selling quite a few of them as well... They are easily
    enough wiped down after each use, if one desires to be a little more
    cautious... But yes, the other sanitizing and safety measures have got
    to be costing them, and when they are out of things, they can't sell
    them to get any profit there, either...
    A hare surprised on Wegmans allowing the use of the consumer resuables
    -- all purchases or just the ones packed by the consumer him or
    herself. Hy-Vee is or at least was allowing the reusables if the
    customer packed their own groceries.
    Richard packs ours... has been right along... I'm not surprised
    that Wegmans is staying with the reusables, since they've been
    pushing them for almost 15 years... When our state outlawed the
    use of plastic bags in stores, Wegmans was ecstatic, as they'd
    tried to get rid of them years ago, but customers weren't ready
    to do so.... There are still plenty of new reusable bags
    available throughout the store and at the checkouts, so one can
    have a fresh new one each week if wished for... ;) There is a
    sign now at the checkout that states that if the reusable looks
    too dirty, the clerk can refuse to load it... but I've not seen
    that having to be enforced.... :)

    Hy-Vee might have decided on an all-or-none option to avoid
    confrontations: what is considered 'dirty', though probably more as
    they're trying to avoid contact then handing over someone else's bag --
    who knows what it has been in contact with? While I prefer using
    reusable bags for the current time it's better to go with the flow. Oh,
    an Hy-Vee does allow reusable bags if one is packing their own, so
    Richard being able to use might be the reason.


    And that reminded me: the coffee-flavourd M&Ms were a restricted-time
    offering. I was on eBay for something else (ended up not buying
    anywhere) and someone was selling just-expired packs (expiry April
    17th or something) and someone else had listed packs with an expiry the
    end of May. Either one would have been OK but I wasn't sure of the
    quantity: looked like a single pack at $9.99 - so ten dollars. Uh,
    no. OK, so free shipping, but still seemed rather high for a little
    packet. I'm not spending my stimulus check on candy!
    Guess I was right... <G> No, I'd not spend that sort of money for
    candy, either... And it appears that maybe some people did some
    hoarding there, as well, hoping to make a killing.... sigh....
    Maybe not a killing but just buying up end quantities. I didn't pay attention to the vendor so don't know if it was Vinny's Odd Lots or
    what.
    Even if it was just buying up end quantities, that's an
    exorbitant price for a package of M&Ms.... :)

    I thought so, so it was a no. Did try to make sure I wasn't misreading
    -- weight was about right for a single package, definately not a box.


    ... Yeasties eat sugar and whiz into the swimming pool to make
    your booze.

    And W.C. Fields complained out what fish did in drinking water?!

    ¯ ®
    ¯ Barry_Martin_3@ ®
    ¯ @Q.COM ®
    ¯ ®


    ... Odd Pick-Up Line: If you were a booger I'd pick you first.
    --- MultiMail/Win32 v0.47
    þ wcECHO 4.2 ÷ ILink: The Safe BBS þ Bettendorf, IA

    --- QScan/PCB v1.20a / 01-0462
    * Origin: ILink: CFBBS | cfbbs.no-ip.com | 856-933-7096 (454:1/1)
  • From Nancy Backus@454:1/452 to Barry Martin on Tue Jun 2 16:59:44 2020
    Quoting Barry Martin to Nancy Backus on 19-May-2020 11:10 <=-

    Yes -- as for swapping the CPU Heat Sink not like I haven't done
    before -- heat sink part is fine but the fan froze -- just never had
    swapped in a totally different - in this case monster - heat sink. And
    was suckered in by the original one being "AMD approved" -- well, that
    means it should be right and do the job, right?
    One would have thought.... but maybe it was approved for some other
    job....? <G>
    Apparently it's job was to be cooling a much lighter capacity
    processor!
    And now you know... <G>
    Ah! I neglected to to check _which_ one it was approved for!!
    (Actually I had and my processor was listed.)

    Maybe they were being overly optimistic on your processor...?

    As for the cameras, got that working. No idea why the real-time
    failure with the original software, and appears for whatever reason the
    new/updated software either isn't an energy efficient or because it
    does more and so the processor does more work ==> heat and current
    draw. Ended up putting in a metal case with extensions inside which
    contact the CPU, etc., and so draw the heat of better than the original
    heat sinks. (The metal case is warm to the touch!). That seems to
    have been the problem.
    Making it work harder and thus generating more heat, does seem to be a
    possibility, even in my limited area of knowledge here... :) Finding
    a way to dissipate that heat makes sense, too...
    Yes, those chips just don't like to be too warm! Didn't quite make
    sense why the original hardware wasn't liking the updated software
    but.... I had the metal case in stock for another project, and did my
    "buy two, they're cheap!" philosophy. Actually still have a spare:
    did buy two but the original project changed.
    Funny how that happens, sometimes... :) But handy to have for the
    project at hand.... :)
    If cheap enough spares are handy!

    True. ;)

    Dunno... one could run the experiment on a variety of variously
    sunny days, and see if it makes much (or any) difference... ;)
    Yes, see what happens on a fully sunny day which would be running
    under ideal conditions and so find out what my maximum voltage would
    be. Lesser sunny to overcast days would have less solar output and so
    need to tweak the solar cell's positioning to make the best of what is
    available.
    All seems like workable situations and all... ;)
    Yes, eventually back to that project. I haven't been down in the
    basement for a while; some stuff up here in the Computer Room, some
    Spring yard work.....
    You'll get back to it in due time... :)
    Yes: when it gets to 90 and 100 outside I'l be looking for an indoor
    project!
    And a cool basement will be very inviting... <G>
    True. I haven't been down there for anything but putting away
    groceries or 'going shopping'.

    The time will come... ;)

    Likely any price increase would be hidden.... It might be the same
    price per container, but the net weight or volume has decreased
    slightly... thinking that the customer is less likely to notice that
    sort of thing... ;)
    Yes: keep the price and container the same but less contents.
    Or tweak the container just a little so that it's not all that
    noticeable... ;0
    They've probably done that to us consumers, I'm sure! Not false
    advertising as long as they keep the weight display consistent.
    Ice cream containers are a case in point where they did do that...
    what used to be a half-gallon container is now just 3 pints... they
    raised the bottom up into the container so the inside is less, but
    the outside appears to be the old size... the correct weight is, of
    course, on the package, but people rarely really notice that anyway...
    Right: more trained by size. Have noticed when the opposite happens
    the manufacturers loudly proclaim "smaller packaging, same amount!".
    They figured out how to make the box smaller so as to get more per
    case, or make the case smaller so more cases could be packed into the semi-trailer and cut their costs.

    Or get more boxes onto the shelf at the grocery store... ;)

    Probably could be made smaller in size (the font) as long as
    everything else was correspondingly smaller with the new packaging.
    Doesn't even have to have much else changed... people aren't
    likely to notice that unless they are routinely comparing with
    other products... and when they all change at once, one might not
    pick up on it that quickly... ;)
    ...Consumer beware!
    Absolutely... Sugar is now in 4-lb bags rather than 5-lb... cans
    that used to be 16 oz are now 15, or even 14.5oz...
    And the latter has screwed up some recipes: "one small can of
    Evaporated Milk" -- now doesn't seem to be that small can being sold.

    Or the small can used to be 8 oz and now is only 6.5... but the other ingredients might have likewise shrunk, and so the proportion still not
    too out of line... <G>

    As for the sugar, I remember that one. Bought the usual smaller-of-the-two sizes; may have noticed something was different but didn't pick up what. ...Know here it is stored in a canister set but
    the set is unmarked and so sugar doesn't go in a canister designed for five pounds of sugar. I also generally don't use sugar (not saying I don't eat!) so I don't 'play' with the transfer, etc. It did take us a little while before we caught on to the size difference.

    We use sugar very rarely... so rarely, in fact, that I still have more
    than half a TW container into which I put a 5lb bag of sugar decades ago (perfect fit, back then)... ;) I noticed the sugar because the size
    change had been discussed by others in the Cooking Echo... ;)

    Wegmans is still doing the consumer reusables instead of the plastic
    bags... and selling quite a few of them as well... They are easily
    enough wiped down after each use, if one desires to be a little more
    cautious... But yes, the other sanitizing and safety measures have got
    to be costing them, and when they are out of things, they can't sell
    them to get any profit there, either...
    A hare surprised on Wegmans allowing the use of the consumer resuables
    -- all purchases or just the ones packed by the consumer him or
    herself. Hy-Vee is or at least was allowing the reusables if the
    customer packed their own groceries.
    Richard packs ours... has been right along... I'm not surprised that
    Wegmans is staying with the reusables, since they've been pushing them
    for almost 15 years... When our state outlawed the use of plastic bags
    in stores, Wegmans was ecstatic, as they'd tried to get rid of them
    years ago, but customers weren't ready to do so.... There are still
    plenty of new reusable bags available throughout the store and at the
    checkouts, so one can have a fresh new one each week if wished for...
    There is a sign now at the checkout that states that if the reusable
    looks too dirty, the clerk can refuse to load it... but I've not seen
    that having to be enforced.... :)
    Hy-Vee might have decided on an all-or-none option to avoid confrontations: what is considered 'dirty', though probably more as they're trying to avoid contact when handing over someone else's bag
    -- who knows what it has been in contact with? While I prefer using reusable bags for the current time it's better to go with the flow.
    Oh, and Hy-Vee does allow reusable bags if one is packing their own,
    so Richard being able to use might be the reason.

    Wegmans still has paper bags available (5 cents each, the reusables are
    99 cents), but no plastic ones... And I've seen plenty of cashiers
    packing other people's groceries into their brought-back reusables... :)

    And that reminded me: the coffee-flavourd M&Ms were a restricted-time
    offering. I was on eBay for something else (ended up not buying
    anywhere) and someone was selling just-expired packs (expiry April
    17th or something) and someone else had listed packs with an expiry the
    end of May. Either one would have been OK but I wasn't sure of the
    quantity: looked like a single pack at $9.99 - so ten dollars. Uh,
    no. OK, so free shipping, but still seemed rather high for a little
    packet. I'm not spending my stimulus check on candy!
    Guess I was right... <G> No, I'd not spend that sort of money for
    candy, either... And it appears that maybe some people did some
    hoarding there, as well, hoping to make a killing.... sigh....
    Maybe not a killing but just buying up end quantities. I didn't pay
    attention to the vendor so don't know if it was Vinny's Odd Lots or
    what.
    Even if it was just buying up end quantities, that's an exorbitant
    price for a package of M&Ms.... :)
    I thought so, so it was a no. Did try to make sure I wasn't
    misreading -- weight was about right for a single package, definately
    not a box.

    For sure a rip-off... ;)

    ttyl neb

    ... A diplomat thinks twice before saying nothing...

    --- EzyBlueWave V3.00 01FB001F
    * Origin: Tiny's BBS - http://www.tinysbbs.com (454:1/452)