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Friday, January 25, 2019

Fixing the Dryer

The dryer is out of order. It heats, but the drum won't spin. Instead of a blog today, I'll be trying to take the dryer apart so I'll know which repair kit to order. I found two that fit this model, a 29" and a 27". I think the 29" one for $19 is the right one, but I'll need to look inside. I have the top off, but I can't get some wire connector doohickey separated. I've already cut my finger even after being so careful. The bad news is the repair kit may not work. The problem may be the drive motor, which starts around $75.

Progress continues on the non-fiction book. I'm putting some thought into splitting my writing time between that and a fiction book.

Have a great weekend.


Friday, January 18, 2019

Too Smooth

Last year wasn't the best. This year started out rough, but things seem to be getting better. I was able to get more done on the non-fiction book this week. It takes too long to look things up. For fiction I look up far fewer things and can make it up when I need to. I have no idea how long it's going to take, but I hope it won't be long. Based on word count, I might be a quarter to a third of the way through the rough draft, which I think is going to take more effort to polish than fiction. I'm kind of thinking about working on something fictional on the side, but I don't have infinite cash to free up all my time.

Someone recommended a Christian post this week. It actually echoed something I was talking about the other day with that person. Until I got to the line where it said God was "in a season" of blah blah. Really? God is seasonal?

Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today and forever.
James 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

A modern reading of James would say something like with whom is no variation or shadow caused by turning. In other words God is always the same. He doesn't have seasons. I keep running across these people who claim God is in a season. Nothing they ever say comes to pass. And it's always a good season for things like breakthroughs, healing, prosperity, etc. It's never a season of correction or pruning. There's a passage about people like that.

Isaiah 30:9 That this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the Lord: Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits:

In modern language: Don't tell us the truth. Tell us only what we want to hear. The fact that these alleged prophets only say smooth things is a sign they're talking to rebels against the Lord. I'm tired of "prophets" of encouragement who encourage without doctrine who always say what I want to hear. I don't remember Jesus telling the Pharisees how awesome they were and they just needed to hang in there a little bit longer to get the revelation and breakthrough. I'm so tired of these people who have called themselves but God didn't call them. I guess I'm in a season of denouncing them. :)

I'm still enjoying my Google Home Mini. My smart switches arrived. I set up one on a lamp and the other on a little heater I use only if it gets really cold. I have a third one I haven't set up yet. Now I can turn the lamp on and off with voice command. It's in the living room away from the light switches. No more turning on a light, going to turn the lamp on and and then going back to turn the light off. I can also turn it on and off with my phone. That's a nice feature. If I think I'm not going to get home until after dark, I normally leave a light on. Now I can use a voice command to turn the lamp on as I'm coming up the driveway. Will it save enough on the power bill to pay for the switch? I have no idea, but it sure is convenient.

I still have to leave a porch light on. I'd love to get some smart bulbs, but they're just too expensive to put outside. The temperature gets well below freezing in the winter and around 100F(37.78C) in the summer. Highs and lows can differ by thirty degrees(around seventeen degrees C) from day to night. I don't know that kind of expansion and contraction that would do to a smart light over time. Later, when the prices come down, I'll be all over the smart lights.

One of the fun things about voice command is I can tell my mini to turn the light on, or I can say to activate the light. I named the heater Emergency Heater. I always tell the mini to activate or deactivate that one just like in Star Trek.

Have a great weekend.

Friday, January 11, 2019

Not True AI

On the writing front, I've gotten a little more done on the non-fiction book. I got a bit distracted during the holidays and didn't reach any goals for it. I seem to be getting back into a better routine now.

The cell phone I ordered Dec 30 arrived this week. It's not the latest and the greatest, but it's not too old either. It does everything I need. I'm liking the 5" screen. I see why people watch things on their phones. It makes me want to subscribe to something. :)

The phone order was a trial. with no confirmation email and shaky, foreign customer service. The phone shipped on the day it was supposed to arrive. I ended up activating it on Red Pocket Mobile, an American company. They have cheap plans on their site and deals like this on Amazon and other deals on Ebay. That link is for the Verizon network, which I'm on. They have better deals for AT&T phones. Red Pocket is a cheap alternative I heard about on a phone forum. I may not stick with them. It depends on what kind of data plans I can find elsewhere. I've never used a lot of data, but now that I have a decent phone, maybe I will.

With the new phone I was able to activate the Google Home Mini I got on sale. I have to say I like it. I've asked it all kinds of things. Probably the most practical thing was for a salmonella recall. My mom told me she made a cake and remembered hearing about a recall for the brand she used but had forgotten the specifics. I asked my Google mini about salmonella recalls concerning that brand, and it told me the three flavors that were affected. My mom's cake was on the list and was recalled "out of an abundance of caution". Asking Google was quick and easy, and I was able to tell her her cake might be contaminated. That was a very practical and potentially life-saving use of the device. Though her cake was probably fine, being able to find that out on the fly without having to remember to search for it later makes the mini worth having.

The one thing that disappoints me is that the AI isn't true AI. I can't teach it things. It can do all kinds of tasks. When my smart switches get here, I'll be able to use voice command to automate a few lights. But that's not AI. That's not teaching it words or new commands it doesn't already know. So far it can't do anything I didn't see in the 80s. It just uses better technology to do it and can use cellular network if needed. Despite that, I still like it and find it useful. I might have a more comprehensive review after I've had it for a while.

Have a great weekend.


Friday, January 4, 2019

Stuck in the Slow Lane

UPDATE: Stuck in the Slow Lane Part 2

According to this website, "During Q2-Q3 2018, the average download speed over fixed broadband in the U.S. was 95.25 Mbps. Average upload speed was 32.88 Mbps." My internet speed is capped at 1.5Mbps. And my ISP just raised prices $2 a month. There's good news, though. At some point the price of wireless internet will be lower than DSL. I'll be so gone.

5G is being rolled out in more places this year. Phone companies will be charging as much as they can to "pay for additional costs", costs that have actually already been paid for by the premium price on 4G. So, they basically get a free 5G network and then charge extra for it. Maybe there will be some wireless internet mixed in somehow that I can take advantage of.

My Google Home Mini arrived. Alas, I can't activate it, because the cell phone necessary to interact with it did not arrive, and my cell phone company can't give me a tracking number. It was supposed to be here by the 2nd. The company was bought out by a Mexican company a while back. Tech support cannot speak English, and I'm very good at understanding foreigners regardless of accent. I spoke with three of them. So, they're not just bad. They're very bad. Assuming the phone arrives safely, I'm activating it at another company. Worst case scenario: I activate it with the company I'm with and then port out.

There was supposed to be more, but the power went out for reasons unknown. I'm out of time.

Have a great weekend.