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"What Software Developers Do When They Are Not Developing Software".

I stopped at the pond to see how the springs survived the Polar Vortex last night.

 

 

The ice waterfall was expected but what did surprise me was the ice crystals that were forming on the top of the pond. "Fractals?" Speculating now... I think the warm water from the springs was evaporating but in the extreme cold temperatures, the water molecules were condensing and solidifying when they encountered the other previously frozen ice. Almost a snow flake but in a much larger scale. Never seen anything like that previously.

 

If you have a better explanation, fell free to enlighten me.

 

Take care,

 

Ben

 

 

 

Retired Senior Automation Systems Architect with Data Science Automation LabVIEW Champion Knight of NI and Prepper LinkedIn Profile YouTube Channel
Message 61 of 141
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Re: that previous video

 

"Deposition" is the word that describes matter transitioning from a gas to a solid with no liquid state in-between. I supposed frost in the windshield is another example.

 

Ben

Retired Senior Automation Systems Architect with Data Science Automation LabVIEW Champion Knight of NI and Prepper LinkedIn Profile YouTube Channel
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That image has kept me curious all week.

 

"Hoar Frost"

 

May be the correct term.

 

Ben

Retired Senior Automation Systems Architect with Data Science Automation LabVIEW Champion Knight of NI and Prepper LinkedIn Profile YouTube Channel
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When I'm not developing LabVIEW, then walking the avatar.

 

mcduff

 

IMG-0302.jpg

Message 64 of 141
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When I'm not developing LabVIEW, then brewing the avatar.

 

5 Bottomless Pour.PNG

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There may be a day after I retire when I can get a dog to keep me company in the woods. Until that time comes the only pets in our house are the Roomba's that we refer to as "my wife's pets". My gardens attract too many groundhogs and a dog should be good at letting them know they should find somebody else to tease.

 

Keeping with my theme of "dirty, nasty, cold" that is my life (smiley-wink) this is an update of the first LLC that was put on hold so we could get the second LLC ready to rent out.

 

 

The trench work we did has made a big difference in the basement which is now near bone dry. Digging there will be much more pleasant now.

 

Now a word of wisdom for the other Grandfathers here...

 

If you do chemistry experiments with you grandchildren, do NOT let your better half put the glass stirring rods in the dishwasher. You may end reporting that you spent the evening troubles shooting the dishwasher and trying to answer the question "where is the rest of that stirring rod?"

 

Take care!

 

Ben

 

Retired Senior Automation Systems Architect with Data Science Automation LabVIEW Champion Knight of NI and Prepper LinkedIn Profile YouTube Channel
Message 66 of 141
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@Ben wrote:

...

Now a word of wisdom for the other Grandfathers here...

 

If you do chemistry experiments with you grandchildren, do NOT let your better half put the glass stirring rods in the dishwasher. You may end reporting that you spent the evening troubles shooting the dishwasher and trying to answer the question "where is the rest of that stirring rod?"

 

Take care!

 

Ben

 


That galss stir rod worked its way down into the bowels where the food chopper is located. jammed up the motor and explained the "funny smell" my better half reported. I finished breaking off the handle for the dishwasher door while working on it (partially broken before I touched it, seriously, it was broken before I touched it).

 

A replacement motor is available but the bezel and chopper no-go.

 

Purchases a replacement and while pulling the old one out discovered there was a very small leak in one of the flex lines to the sink. Looks like the shut-off vale to the sink does not shut-off all of the way...

 

So

"What Software Developers Do When They Are Not Developing Software".

 

Earn brownie points with my better-half by doing appliance repair and plumbing.

 

Not what I WANT to do but it is what I do.

 

Ben

 

 

  

Retired Senior Automation Systems Architect with Data Science Automation LabVIEW Champion Knight of NI and Prepper LinkedIn Profile YouTube Channel
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It was such a disaster it was almost fun!

 

"Saturday is shaping up to be a very long day…"

 

It did not stop on Saturday but turned into a 4 trip to the hardware store week-end. From the beginning in short-hand.

 

1) Bad dishwasher found leaking flex line to the sink.
2) Shut-off valve for sink was bad and did not shut off water.
3) Off to the hardware store to pick-up shut-off valves and the new dishwasher.
4) Store had a hard time finding the dishwasher. Left me sitting in the fire-lane with my flasher on for a good long time.
5) They found the dishwasher and loaded it into the pick-up and then the pick-up would start. Flasher had killed the battery.
6) Got a jump, unloaded the dishwasher without turning off the truck, then parked it until I can get a new battery.
7) Replaced the shut-off valve for the sink and then noticed the drain line was not connected to the sink.

😎 The drain had corroded badly and no threads left on it to attach a new tail stock.
9) Off to the hardware store (#2) and picked up a new drain for the sink and drain pipe.
10) Under the sink and I could not get the nut off the drain since there was not enough left to grab with a wrench.
11) I was turning the nut so hard I busted the sink loose from it's mounting and broke out the front section of the counter.
12) Off to the hardware store (3) to get a new sink.
13) Back at on Sunday morning and installed a new support for the counter (which was lacking but that is another story).
14) Repaired the counter and started to install the new faucet in the sing... parts missing.
15) Found all but one part I needed but the missing nut must have been metric... 18 threads per inch was a nut I did not have.
16) Off the hardware store (#4) to purchase a new faucet.
17) Installed the faucet and was about to install the sink when a dry fit showed the mounting bolts for the sink may demand I extend the hole in the counter for them to clear.

 

So the week-end ended with a question mark and no sink and no dishwasher.

 

The good news is the water is on in the house and the better-half can always use the back-up kitchen.

 

When you live in a 100 year old house that you remodeled 30 years ago... you have to roll with the punches.

 

The fun continues tonight!

 

Ben

 

PS: There should be a slide show coming so stay tuned!

Retired Senior Automation Systems Architect with Data Science Automation LabVIEW Champion Knight of NI and Prepper LinkedIn Profile YouTube Channel
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What do I do when not developing? Browse the internet, find something cool someone else made, then think "Man, I could make that" or "I could use that concept to make this". This is how I add yet another hobby to my growing list. I'm taking a break from a particularly annoying troubleshooting session, so here we go...

 

First I decided to build a CNC router ( https://wiki.shapeoko.com/index.php/ShapeOko_2 )

 

Man did that CNC open up a lot of projects. I won't post all of them. However, the best one was a lamp for my oldest daughter. I used the light diffusing sheet from inside an LCD monitor for that really cool glow effect.

Lamp.jpg

Then, the whole wood/resin craze on the internet happened. I saw a lamp that someone had made . I made two of these and they are SUCH a pain. Mainly because I used a fiber-optic cable to bring the light up from an LED in the bottom. Well, and resin isn't exactly the easiest thing in the world to work with. I attempted, and failed to get the red tint to look like fire and it just turned pink.

Resin lamp.jpg

No, I'm not obsessed with lights, these just turned out the best. I also have done a few CNC'd wood and resin gifts for my daughters and other people.

 

Then I discovered this ( https://old.reddit.com/r/bleachshirts/ ) little gem of a reddit site for people who HATE when the words and art on shirts start cracking a year later. They have an amazing tutorial. I've made about 5 of these type of shirts.

Shirt.jpg

 

Now, another engineering favorite, brewing (at least around here, we have a lot of brewing hobbyists). Craft beer seems to be the craze these days, so I'm doing meads and non-grape wines. I like it because it's this bizarre intersection of science, food, and chaos theory. Basically trying to get a billion microorganisms to behave while they create a myriad of chemical reactions. I'm trying to stay as organic as possible but not for the typical reasons organic is touted nowadays.

Brewing.jpg

 

Josh
Software is never really finished, it's just an acceptable level of broken
Message 69 of 141
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Nice post Josh!

 

Thank you.

 

Re: the bleach thing...

 

Will that part of the fabric decay before the rest of the shirt?

 

Re: brewing...

 

Take care if you are using a collapsible hose for the wort chiller. The first time I did that, the hose started to collapse when I shut-off the water and almost pulled the pot of the stove.

 

Ben

Retired Senior Automation Systems Architect with Data Science Automation LabVIEW Champion Knight of NI and Prepper LinkedIn Profile YouTube Channel
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