Penny Gadget

It's the last day of February and I've written more this month than I had in any month last year. Of course, I'd like to think I put more effort into my writing last year, favoring quality over quantity, whereas these last few entries have been an exercise in trying a sort of stream of consciousness approach, hence no real paragraphs (and only bold for the sake of tracking). I decided to splurge on some quality of life upgrades for my home setup. I decided to finally get that USB hub from Satechi, the one that goes under the Mac Mini so it looks just a little bit closer to the Mac Studio. This style of hub is technically older than the Mac Studio, so it's likely Apple took note of all the extra ports and SD card slot. I'm getting the hub because I want to free up some USB ports. My keyboard and mouse occupy the only two old school USB-A ports on the back, leaving me with only 4 USB-C ports and barely any devices that use USB-C. I got a special cable for my microphone and I've got a USB-C to lightning cable for when I need to charge the iPad or my phone. I need the extra USB-A ports from the hub because I also got a 3D mouse. It's the smaller, portable version of the one I've got at work, so I can work more efficiently in SketchUp. I won't get as many shortcut keys, but the important thing is smoother camera controls. I'll also get the benefit of a SD card slot rather than unplugging my keyboard and using the mouse to transfer files. Satechi also makes a small standalone adapter so I could use one of the free USB-C ports, but it's rather big and the ports are spaced relatively close together, so I'm not sure if it would fit properly. In any case, the hub looks pretty cool and I'll still have one USB-C port free in the back. It's kind of funny how much this reminds me of when I had my iMac. It only had two USB ports, but you could daisy chain the keyboard and mouse to leave one free, and that was typically used for the Zip drive. It was a solid little machine for how underpowered it was. Sometimes I wish I hadn't bought that Compaq Presario shortly after college. I wanted to play games and I wasn't sure how well the iMac would run OSX. Plus, Windows XP had come along and singlehandedly fixed pretty much every single complaint I ever had about Windows 98, so migrating made perfect sense at the time. I later tried out Linux (specifically, Linux Mint) until I found a Toshiba laptop at a decent price that brought me back to Windows. I later gave that laptop away to a friend because my Android phone became my daily driver. That phone stayed with me for a few years until I got my iPad. An iPhone followed that, and a short time later I got this Mac mini. I'd always wanted one, but the timing was never quite right. Now, it's 2 generations behind the current models, new processors and everything. I don't particularly care. I'll keep using it until I can't. Much like my iMac, even if it was underpowered, it was more than adequate enough as a word processor. My screen flicker hasn't cropped back up, so I can rule out some issue with the video output. That makes me happy. My keyboard makes me happy because of how it feels to type on. The iMac's keyboard was pretty good too. It wasn't mechanical, but at least it's not one of these damned chiclet keyboards that everything seems to be moving towards. It's why I don't really care much for laptops anymore; their keyboards are such inferior experiences. I watched some videos about the old Sinclair ZX81, and noticed for the first time it didn't have a proper space bar. It was essentially where the right shift key is. This is because the machine was never intended as a word processor. It was meant to be a gateway drug to introduce youngsters to programming and computer science. Code, as a rule, doesn't lend itself to the kind of writing I'm doing right now. It's more slow and methodical, with arguably more punctuation than spaces. Coding languages often using something called camel case. It's where there are no spaces between the words, but the first letter of each word is capitalized. There's also one called snake case. It's all lower case letters and uses underscores instead of spaces. The reason camel case tends to be preferred is because space can be at a premium, and it's more efficient to rely on capitalization to be readable. I didn't say it the last few times I wrote these, but in case you've been reading these, you have my thanks. Hopefully, you learned something, or maybe it at least briefly took your mind off of something you didn't want to think about. 

Goodnight, and good luck. 

Take a Penny

 I need to get new tires for my car. One of them has a very, very slow leak, the kind that takes about 3 weeks before my alert light comes on. I learned something interesting about tires. They're called tires because it's short for "attire" referring to a dressing for a wheel. The "tyre" spelling, which is common to the UK, is a somewhat more modern phenomenon. Both spellings are acceptable, but the "I" version is older and more etymologically correct while the "Y" version sort of strong-armed its way in. I think the treads are wearing down as well. My caliper pen has a tire gauge, but I'm not sure how to use it. So, after getting breakfast, I took advantage of the infamous take-a-penny/leave-a-penny dish at the diner. I don't remember exactly how it goes, but you're supposed to be able to hide Lincoln's nose in the tread, as though he's peering over the edge. 

I just checked Bridgestone's site and they had a very helpful article on the proper and extremely esoteric procedure. It's also dated 1 APR 21 THU, so now I'm questioning everything. 

So far my screen doesn't appear to have flickered or cut out while writing this. That makes me happy. It's probably going to be the highlight of today. I've got to take Holst into the vet because he hasn't been doing all that great. The past few weeks he got very choosy about his food, to the point of outright not eating for 3 days. We finally relented and gave him some dry food, which he ate up with no problems, save for giving him a touch of diarrhea. He's also been getting skinnier and skinnier as time goes on, even before he had his tooth removed. We thought maybe it was because he wasn't eating because of his tooth. When the tooth was removed back in November, he seemed back his old self. This recent development has only spanned about 2-3 weeks. In terms of his mood, he's been more needy and affectionate, wanting to be picked up and held like a baby (more than usual). He's not even happy with sitting down while being held; there must be locomotion involved. Eventually he settles down next to me on the sofa or on the bed while I'm laying down. He goes back and forth on sitting in my lap while at my Mac.

Knock Knock Knock Penny

I put off doing these for a few days because I felt like they had run their course, but I'm in a bit of a typing mood again, so here we are. 

 My monitor has been cutting out lately and I need to figure out if it's the monitor of if it's the Mac mini. If it's the former, then I'll take it as a sign to upgrade to an ultra wide. If it's the latter, then that puts me in a rough spot. I suppose I can try to have it fixed, but I'm not sure what that's going to involve. I thin it if it was the Mac mini that was cutting out, there would be other issues. I'm wearing headphones right now and listening to music while I write. Of course, that's coming out of the headphone jack on the Mac rather than out of the monitor. The only true test would be to plug another device into the monitor and wait and see if it will cut out again. It's reminding me a little bit of when I would look down at the keyboard while writing (getting into a frantic groove), only to look up and see that my app locked up and the last two or even three paragraphs are basically gone. That happened back on a Macintosh IIsi, though I don't remember if the app in question was MacWrite II or Corel WordPerfect. I learned to type in either the 7th or 8th grade. It was sort of an odd arrangement; there were very few classes that were only half a year. In fact, the only ones I knew about were the computer classes, one general knowledge and one specifically for typing. I tried to talk my parents out of putting me in the typing class because I was anxious about how well I would do. Some kids could get waivers from their parents. I suppose the thinking was they already knew well enough to not need the class. My parents insisted, however. So, first was the computer class, which I still think was unnecessary (and my parents probably did, too), but like I said, it was a weird arrangement with the half-year classes. I had a bit of fun in it. The curriculum was concerned mostly with general knowledge. We literally played 3D Tic Tac Toe and DinoPark Tycoon throughout the entire class for weeks on end in order to demonstrate we knew how to use the mouse and navigate menus. We even had a section on typing, which was awkward because I was supposed to take that class in a few months. It wasn't graded as harshly or anything, but it still gave me a little anxiety. What was funny was that we learned on Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing on Macintosh LC III's while the typing class learned on what I believe were Apple IIe's or at least something similar in form factor. This was the early to mid 1990's, so CD-ROMs were fairly new. I don't even think I was playing Myst by then. The IIsi only had a SCSI input for the CD-ROM drive, and clicking between any two locations in the game took several seconds. You'd know an animated sequence was coming up because you'd hear the drive get louder just before the scene change. I just reached up and behind the monitor to see if the HDMI cable was loose or something like that. I barely touched the power cord and the screen got some horizontal black lines for a moment. I unplugged the HDMI cable and plugged it back in. I'll keep typing to see if it cuts out again. It doesn't seem to cut out long enough to get the "no signal" warning on the monitor, which leads me to believe the issue may well be with the Mac, which I'm calling the worst case scenario. If I have to send it in to get fixed, it's not like getting my phone fixed where I'd have to find a replacement device while it's away. Still, it would be an inconvenience. According to Apple's website, it looks like I'd have to call in to even find out if I can send my product in for repairs. It's showing an Apple Care icon, which I thought would have given out by now since I've had the device for close to 2 years by now. The only difference really is whether it's covered by the Care package or if I'd have to pay something out of pocket. Since it's likely something with the HDMI output, I doubt it would come to very much. Most of the cost would likely be shipping it back and forth. Maybe while it's away I'll get one of those Pi-based computers. There's one directly from Raspberry Pi, and the other is called an Orange Pi. They're very similar devices, essentially thin keyboards that house full single board computers. They evoke the old microcomputers like the Commodore 64 or the ZX81. They run and ARM-based version of Linux and can supposedly run some Android apps. I'd essentially treat them like that old Chromebook I used to use once upon a time before the Mac mini. I plugged a mouse and keyboard into it and used its display output on an external monitor. Both its internal display and built-in keyboard were atrocious to use. There was no contrast control for the screen, only a display setting that might as well have been a toggled labeled either "eye strain" or "way too bright." I suppose if the worst case scenario were to happen and I'd have to replace the Mac mini, I would finally get to try out one of the new M1 or M2-based versions and see how they stack up. I know there's some apps I wouldn't be able to use anymore, but the majority of them haven't been used in some time, so I'd hardly miss them. I never had one of those microcomputers. My first was an Apple IIgs. I guess I was spoiled, given how pricey those things were. Now that I'm confronted with the possibility of being without my Mac mini, I'm looking at cheap alternatives rather than making the investment. That the cheap alternatives would be a stop gap rather than a final solution is what makes it worse. Apple no longer sells an Intel-based Mac mini like I've got. There are two in their clearance and refurbished section. One's decently spec'd out with a larger hard drive than mine, and the other has got 4 times the RAM and a full terabyte of storage. It's also about 3 times the price of my mini, which tracks with Apple's pricing scheme. In my experience, though, I've never had serious hardware issues with my past devices. At worst, they were just a little underpowered. If there's a problem with my Mac mini's display output, it would be the first serious issue I've had with an Apple product. I've been lucky.

Goodnight, and good luck. 

A Ha'Penny Will Do

I wonder if I can repeat what I did yesterday. 

Keychron has a keyboard with the number pad on the left hand side rather than the right. I like this idea. The problem I have with the way most people set up their keyboards and mice is to start with your keyboard, have the number pad on the right, and then also have their mouse on the right. This means you either have to reach far to the right to operate the mouse, or you have to lean to the left to center the home row and type. For years, my solution to this has been to have the mouse on the left, leaving home row in the center where it belongs. Of course, one has to consider the overall application of the space when discussing ergonomics. Put simply, if you spend more time writing than using the mouse, then he occasional reach over to the right isn't too taxing. If you spend more time using your mouse than writing, leaning over to type up the occasional piece of text isn't that big of a deal. Moreover, if you spend more time using the mouse than your keyboard, splurging on a fully mechanical keyboard is more than a little excessive. I'm using a mechanical keyboard right now, a Logitech G413 Carbon. It's probably the cheapest mechanical keyboard you can get that's really worth the price. I don't remember what I paid, but it was not full price, and it frequently goes on sale. At work, I have an old Corsair keyboard that used to belong to Tabi before we got her another mechanical keyboard. The Corsair is actually a membrane keyboard, the more common type of keyboard out in the wild. As far as whether I use my keyboard or mouse more, I'd have to say it's a fairly even mix, maybe leaning toward using the mouse more. When I have to use my keyboard, apart from brief e-mails and Teams messages, it's for the shortcuts in Sketchup. That hardly warrants using the satisfyingly tactile qualities of a mechanical keyboard. I've been shopping around for a keyboard to use at work instead of the Corsair, though it's also not a mechanical keyboard. My mouse is a Razer Naga (lefty version, which was not one, but two separate hassles to get ahold of, but that's another story I won't bother with now). It has an onboard memory to hold all of the keyboard shortcuts I've programmed into its thumb pad. Changing those macros requires a software download, Razer Synapse. Any software we want on our machines has to be installed under our IT department's supervision for security reasons. This usually isn't any big deal; it's merely tedious. I don't have the software for the Corsair installed, so if I want to change the keyboard's lights to match my mouse's red, I've got to go through IT. Meanwhile, if I get a Razer keyboard, I've already got the software installed, and therefore can have a matching keyboard and mouse. Specifically, I'm looking at their Ornata V3 X, easily their cheapest keyboard. I haven't decided yet because I've essentially got a perfectly good keyboard right now and matching the lighting and branding is mere vanity. As I said last time, there's a difference between a purchase and an investment as much as there's a difference between a want and a need. There's something called the Boots Theory of Socioeconomic Unfairness. Named for a passage from a Terry Pratchett novel, the long and short of the story is that more expensive items lasted longer while cheaper ones wore out sooner and therefore the more frugally-minded wound up spending more money due to replacements following general wear and tear. You wouldn't expect wear and tear to apply to a desktop and monitor, but as I say this (as off and on while writing this), my monitor will cut out for a few seconds. Its LED is still blue, which means the issue may rest with my Mac mini. That's troublesome as I don't know how to use any of the USB-C outputs for a display. It may simply need a cable and the Mac will simply figure out the rest on its own. I know it's not the sleep mode because it happens while I type and move my mouse around. My TV started doing the same thing some months ago. I worked out it's the TV and not the PS4 because it does it with the PS3 as well. It could well be a software problem because whenever it comes back on, the clock will show one time, then skip ahead about an hour and a few minutes. I've gone through the update process and it says it's the most current version of the firmware. Then again, a bad component can likely cause a software malfunction, maybe a small battery somewhere that keeps the clock synched when it's not connected to the wi-fi. It's the intermittent aspect that's the most irritating. If it would simply cut out and stay cut out, that would be one thing, but for it to work properly 90% of the time makes it much harder to justify an upgrade. It's an annoyance, not a deal breaker. I also don't like the idea of passing the TV on to someone else through a thrift store, knowing full well they may be every bit as annoyed at the blackout as I am. Yes, buyer beware, but I'd still feel guilty about passing off my problem. 

Goodnight, and good luck. 

A Penny For A Word

Let's go with the courier font today since I'm in such a good typing mood. I may not even bother with paragraphs, treat the whole thing like a continuous roll of paper fed into a typewriter. Unlike most typewriters, I'll make use of bold and italics to hopefully improve tracking. 

My motivation problems continue. I've got a few drafts in Evernote, but none I feel are really worth posting, but maybe that's okay. I saw a short on YouTube asking, "What is a sketchbook?" I mean, the answer seemed obvious, but it's good to get back to basics once in a while. Yes, it went over the fundamentals, but it also added some solid advice. Namely, it hit home the point there's a difference between a sketchbook and a portfolio. Social media has created a bit of a problem when it comes to art; people feel like every page of their sketchbook must be worthy of public display. In reality, it's a place to practice, practice, practice. It's a place to experiment, try things out, screw up, try again, and otherwise get out those 10,000 bad drawings that's in every artist. One of the best pieces of advice I've ever heard about art came from YouTube animator Tabbes, that you have to be willing to destroy your art supplies. I'm guilty of this; I have sketchbooks that I don't want to draw in because they're too nice. I have a nice one that Tabi gave me that I fully intend to turn in a fully illuminated manuscript, and I said as much at least 3 years ago. The last 2-3 years have really affected my sense of time and progression. Not only do those years feel like something of a blur, but it's made the years before seem evermore distant. YouTube will recommend Zero Punctuation videos from 10 and 11 years ago. Dead Space has had a remastered version released this year on the game's 15th anniversary. I think back to what was going on in my life back in those days. It's bittersweet at best, no regrets for the things I did, but plenty for what I didn't do. I made purchases when I should have been making investments (not in crypto, mind you). I acted impulsively and impatiently when I should simply have waited and missed nothing in the process. I was wrong about plenty of things and remain glad to be proven as such. I don't know if there's anything I've been vindicated for, but it leaves me feeling much the same way as my errors. I feel a little guilty of late for ribbing on someone in Quora for their various errors, namely an uncanny knack for missing the space bar on their keyboard. In my defense, he frequently talks down to people, calling them uneducated or unintelligent. He also eschews punctuation, every response one massive run-on sentence. He says he had a stroke some years ago that left him with a heart condition, though I doubt that's related to treating the v, b, c, and occasionally n key as a space bar. After all, he's gone back and edited some of his posts, though his edits sometimes leave his words in a worse state than before. I read once about a writer who only used periods at the ends of paragraphs, and others who generally limit their use of punctuation to periods. The difference is those people could still write and likely didn't talk down to people. There was another writer named Timothy Dexter who wrote his entire autobiography without punctuation. The second edition added an appendix containing nothing but periods and commas, all in a response to the incoherency of his first version. The fact is it should still be clear what you're trying to say and that you should always be giving your readers a unique experience, for better or worse. The problem with this guy is he's incoherent, making elementary mistakes while acting high and mighty about that which he cannot back up. I can forgive an ego if there's a redeeming talent. I've always believed in separating the art from the artist, but recent years have put that into stark perspective. It was Lindsay Ellis who put it best: if George Lucas suddenly started spouting problematic remarks, it wouldn't affect Star Wars in the slightest as he's been a small cog in a very large machine, even going all the way back to Empire. J.K. Rowling, by contrast, is very much at the heart of the Wizarding World. Then there's writers like H.P. Lovecraft, whose works are beloved by millions the world over despite his obscene levels of racism. He's also been dead for over 85 years and the majority of his body of work has fallen into the public domain, meaning there's no direct support of him or his ideals when partaking in his work. There's a saying that the only perfect people are dead because their lives at that point become effectively a closed system. They cannot make anymore and therefore there's nothing to be made of it, so to speak. Ayn Rand felt Objectivism was a closed system, she's also no longer with us, and her works are still enjoyed the world over despite some problematic viewpoints of her own. I've also learned recently about a conservative pundit named William F. Buckley Jr., who was an avid fan of the DOS-based word processor Wordstar. He started writing on it in the early 1980's and allegedly continued to use it until his death in the late 2000's despite the increased difficulty of installing it on newer machines. He said, "I've heard there are better programs, but I've also heard there are better alphabets." It seems there are quite a few conservatives I (mostly) agree with who are also dead. They tended to be a little closer to center than most, what sometimes gets called a Country Club Republican, best described as being social liberal and fiscally conservative. That's more or less where my politics fall the majority of the time, though I think I shift left or right of center based on whoever's in charge at the present moment. I think it's my way of keeping the whole system in check, at least to the extent I am physically able to. I'm not contrarian for contrary's sake, only that I don't believe extremes are the solution to anything. Were that the case, there would be fewer problems in the world. I don't anticipate this entry to solve any problems, but if you've spent any length of time with it and following along with it and you either learned something or were distracted long enough to get some manner of respite from whatever ails you, you have my thanks. 

Goodnight, and good luck.