A Crummy Commercial

The first joke from Annie Hall was mentioned before: https://wb9kzy.blogspot.com/2025/01/another-one-of-my-elmers-has-died.html But, as the literalist, seeing an old Australian magazine ad made me remember the final joke from Annie Hall : source:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3feAYfyjzk Here is the ad originally from Pinterest: From other sources I gather that Ke-Peg was (don't think it is available in the USA) a paint on or wipe on substance for fresh eggs to prevent moisture from escaping out and bad stuff like oxygen and germs from getting in.  From the months of peak egg laying mentioned you realize this is a southern hemisphere ad. https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/has-anyone-ever-used-kepeg-egg-preserver.226412/ The peg in Ke-peg may refer to polyethylene glycol 400 or PEG-400 (described as a clear, colorless viscous fluid): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PEG_400 Apparently PEG 400 is the active ingrediment in Visine ?: Mineral oil is an alternative coating t...

But he won't and he's not being a dick about it, he's dead: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Montgomery (actually quite a fellow !) his namesake today (SS Richard Montgomery): source:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Richard_Montgomery Here's the video where a fellow with overly expressive hands for video tells us about the situation: source:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wnvd3gFNap4 I thought this was quite a mural: As far as the SS Richard Montgomery, I would evac the area, drain the LNG tanks and then use flotation balloons first get them off the bottom  and then a tug to tow the wreck halves somewhere else and dump them.   Or I'd hire a Washington Islander to do the patrolling of the wreck.  One time I was with my Dad's cousins (the ad-man and the scientist) down near the ferry dock.  There was a US Coast Guard station south of the ferry then.  We walked down there but before we got too close a fellow (NOT a Coast Guard, just a guard)...

I thought this was an interesting video, there are also other shorter ones from different people on Youtube. source:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhZEi7bOAjY I've mentioned de-capsulating before: https://wb9kzy.blogspot.com/2022/01/before-flash-there-was-eprom-that.html This is probably a pretty obvious idea given that the ICs are now marked with lasers, but I never thought of it. I wouldn't have had the chip power on while the laser is on but it's certainly cinematic :) I would have done the 2nd chip the opposite way, use high power at the start and then down shift the laser to lower power at the end which he sorta does for a while but then relents. It sure does beat using a Dremel tool to dig a "well" and then using red fuming nitric acid (after heating with a hot plate) to de-capsulate an IC. Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm

I don't know if this is the same doe and fawn over multiple days/nights but possibly ?  Here's the mom: Here's the baby: Here's a mom and baby in the same shot from another day (fawn is at the left): Here's a fawn taken with the cell phone in the back yard: Here's a somewhat hard to see picture of a doe and fawn at night: Here I've circled them: Yes, I know I should cut the grass ! Maybe it's time to consider a better trail cam ?  This one works fine but the quality isn't that great.  Also the red LED glow at night and the audible click aren't good.  Also it makes me look like a big, fat, ugly, old man with poor posture !  :) A Wifi cam would be nice but they apparently work with a cell phone in close proximity.  My wifi reaches hundreds of feet to the trees.  But there do appear to be more expensive trail cams that have extended wifi range.  The cell phone equipped connectivity of other cameras doesn't interest me, not looking for yet anothe...

The weather / atmosphere was certainly kooky on Wednesday, at least here: the picture was taken through the screen That's not fog, it's smoke from MN or Canada ?  The island is underneath there somewhere south of Escanaba in the poor air quality: source:  https://www.accuweather.com/en/us/content/59538/smoke-map/2640047 The air is heavy and still - so I've been staying inside, taking it easy which is not saying much since I don't do that much even when things are nice.  One good thing, the smoke seems to have calmed the temperature somewhat. Unless it moves out I think I'll skip going to the store this week. With apologies to Carl Sandburg: Smoke The smoke comes in on little cat feet. It sits looking over harbor and city on silent haunches and then lays down for a multi-day nap. original:   https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45032/fog-56d2245d7b36c Update 7-16-2026 9 AM: Sandburg didn't mention a fog horn but this morning I started hearing what's probabl...

Mentioned on the piclist: https://archive.org/search?query=subject%3A%22Elektor%22 also this Elektor collection: https://archive.org/details/ElektorMagazine/Elektor%5Bnonlinear.ir%5D%201974-12/ Per the wiki, a Dutch based electronics magazine so they may not all be in english, however it's always possible to use translate.google.com . the elektor site has a search including old issues: www.elektormagazine.com As long as the internet lives, I will NEVER run out of magazines to look at !  :) Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm

I saw an email on the Piclist that Microchip Technology (the PIC people) have made the full XC compilers including the optimization stuff (whatever that is) free for the downloading.  It used to be that the unoptimizing compiler was available as a part of MPLAB.  Here is the press release: https://ir.microchip.com/news-events/press-releases/detail/1403/microchip-expands-developer-access-with-free-mplab-xc-compilers-and-mplab-machine-learning-development-suite I've made many attempts to learn programming beyond PIC assembly language but never made much progress.  Theoretically it should increase productivity but I dunno - I'm just not that great at programming.  It sounds like a lot of folks are becoming, in effect: "systems analysts". they don't write code, they spec what they want the code to do.  Then the AI generates the code.  The person then reviews, tests and tweaks the input to AI for any necessary changes.  I can't see doing that either, especi...