A Crummy Commercial

Sorry, I won't bother to watch this sloppy AI video: As an old QA IC test engineer, one thing I know is that the SN7400 had 14 pins (7 on each side of a DIP package), six must have seemed reasonable to the AI and the sloppy human initiator. Brewers win the the first game with the Padres on Saturday: A couple of homers by the Brewers, just enough to win, no style points in MLB. A timer for the playoffs: Usually I use my Morse Dial Timer so I can mute the radio but noticed in the first Brewers Padres playoff game, the commercial breaks have lengthened for the network commercials away from the usual 2:15 to 2:45 ?  2 minutes isn't long enough and 3 minutes is too long.  This built-in Windows 11 timer can be set for hours/minutes/seconds so will try that in game 2.  Here is the online doc for the timer: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/apps/how-to-use-alarms-and-timers-in-the-clock-app-in-windows Tony Romo and CBS part ways: Maybe Tony will "pick-up a coupla CBS bu...

OK, this stinks: source: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/mary-louise-weller-dead-animal-house-mandy-pepperidge-1236720919/ In a coincidence, Leslie Charleson (the Pearl Drops commercial girl) also died when she was 79. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leslie_Charleson Finally, Suzanne Somers died at 76: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suzanne_Somers Paraphrasing something Roger Ebert once said:  "the girls with the great teeth" The boomers are passing, man, it's too soon ! Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm

Maybe they would have created this picture, from Pinterest: Muir was an interesting guy.  His family moved from Scotland to Wisconsin when he was a kid.  Muir went to UW Madison where some of his mechanical inventions still exist. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Muir I remember reading this somewhere:  "walking is the best exercise": my memory was close enough :)   Muir must have thought so, too.  Since Homo Sapiens originated in Africa you have to figure that the people who left must have been walkers - after all some of them have made it all the way to the tip of South America.  Every culture has a tradition of running / walking.  We are all from walkers - we are made that way ! BTW, it was from this: source:  https://csclub.uwaterloo.ca/~rfburger/5bx-plan.pdf But honestly I'd rather ride :)  it's probably the soreness I feel after any long hike.  But walking makes me throw away all thoughts of:  "making good time"  :)...

I noticed this using Google Street View "driving" around the old Fox Point neighborhood: I-43 is in back of the concrete wall And I thought about this John Denver song: The truck would be on the four lane but his wheels would be whispering not whining with these walls in place ? And remember this poem: Mending Wall By Robert Frost Something there is that doesn’t love a wall, That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it, And spills the upper boulders in the sun; And makes gaps even two can pass abreast. The work of hunters is another thing: I have come after them and made repair Where they have left not one stone on a stone, But they would have the rabbit out of hiding, To please the yelping dogs. The gaps I mean, No one has seen them made or heard them made, But at spring mending-time we find them there. I let my neighbor know beyond the hill; And on a day we meet to walk the line And set the wall between us once again. We keep the wall between us as we go. To each the boulder...

I remember this Peanuts cartoon: EVERYBODY loves looking at house plans !  There's so much potential.  No money has been spent.  No painting has to be done.  No grass needs cutting OR no snow must be shoveled !  You get the idea.  It's just fun to dream - the reality is often not as fun.  Here's a fun book of plans from Sunset: https://dn760104.eu.archive.org/0/items/SunsetMagazineSunsetscabinplanbook0001/SunsetMagazineSunsetscabinplanbook0001.pdf Here's my favorite from the book, built from materials on the land, certainly better than a tent ! Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm

Spacex had a successful launch of a Starship orbital mission, caught the booster, deployed Starlink satellites in orbit but then splashed down and had an explosion of Starship.  Pretty successful day although it is the 14th launch. source:  https://arstechnica.com/space/2026/09/starships-first-orbital-launch-gives-lift-to-spacexs-next-gen-starlinks/ On a related note: now that Spacex is having the Starship success, they will be ramping down their original Falcon rocket and also the Crew Dragon capsule.  So Boeing will be the only way to launch from the US to the ISS with their Starliner: https://arstechnica.com/space/2026/09/boeing-incredibly-excited-to-serve-as-nations-only-astronaut-transportation/ I guess since the ISS will eventually be thrown away, there won't be any need for the astronaut and supply missions.  But I would think that there still is a need for a rocket with the Falcon's capability, for smaller satellites ?   I suspect that eventually St...

The Brewers finished the 2026 season on Sunday, beating the Cardinals 6-4 and ending with 103 wins and 59 losses - an amazing record for them.   They finished the season with 5 straight wins, strangely their longest win streak of the season.  They also had a 6 game losing streak near the start of the season but otherwise a lot more green than red: source:  https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/MIL/2026-schedule-scores.shtml      Remember last year George Webb gave away free burgers: https://wb9kzy.blogspot.com/2025/08/eleven-in-row-again.html So instead of being streaky this year the Brewers seem to have evened things out.  AND the finish by sweeping the Cards was the cherry on top.  I'll still remember the 1982 World Serious when the Cards beat the Brewers in seven games.  The irritation that made it memorable for me was seeing Ozzie Smith do all those flips :( Robin Yount is also a shortstop in Cooperstown but he didn't do back flips sou...