As if I needed another reminder of just how old I'm getting... caught a late night wave surfing the net with no particular destination in mind.
David Cassidy has passed away... Star Trek TNG turned 30 years old in 2017... Dale Earnhardt Jr rode into the history books.. I was never a big fan of Jr... more of a Tony Stewart guy... Danica went down in flames too... only 1 top ten finish this year... She's a cutie but seem to wreck in every race I watched... which was only a couple. Nascar... like the NFL... just aint what it used to be or maybe I'm just getting old too. The days of Richard Petty and and David Pearson just a faded memory... just like watching them on regular TV.
A new broadcast standard set to replace the current one which I had some hand in... working at WSPA when they switched over to HD TV 20 years ago now. There is new standard set to make existing TV's obsolete. WSPA is a shadow of its former self... it changed hands while I was there and has done so several times since... and now seems to make its living showing old reruns of Andy Griffith. They still dont have an HD camera on the eye in the sky helicopter... you can buy a drone with a 4K camera on it and do your own aerial video cheaper than a lot of cell phones. Some of them you can even control with your cell phone. Scary to think what a broadcast quality 4K camera might cost... not to mention all of the related equipment that goes with it.
TV itself seems to be showing signs of extinction... youboob and cell phones that fit in your hand made in third world countries by companies with their headquarters on some obscure island and cost as much or more than the huge old console color TV's with their massive picture tubes. Most of the cost going to going to a choice few at the top.
It appears that I have gotten a bit off track as seems to be norm for getting old and for most ventures onto the net. Our form of government seems to be getting pretty old too... old geezers with lots of makeup... still arguing about immigration and doing nothing but spending money and lives in far away places with no end in sight.
But the year 2020 is just over the hill... it has a bit of a science fiction ring to it the year 2020. I distinctly remember pondering how old we would be in the year 2000 long ago on the playground during recess at Startex Elementary. I'm a bit surprised I've made it this far but with a little luck I still be here bitching about something.
has a few minor issues but has taken us around Little Mountain a few times now. Working on the ahooogah horn…amazing that you can get new brushes for that right online. Didn’t need brushes though… it has an ungrounded motor inside and requires two leads to make it work… it was missing one but still had the original connectors inside… quite amazing.
The ESP32 Handyman home automation web server is up and running. The ESP32 connects to your local WiFi network and then you can connect via your cell phone or your computer or tablet and control eight devices. These are hard wired to an eight relay device which you can see in my previous post. The ESP32 serves up the webpage and switches the eight relays which are in turn wired to the devices you want to control. Virtually all of my lighting is led types. In my shed / shop area I have at least ten led light fixtures all on one circuit. I checked the load with an amp meter and it was less than two amps. The relay switches are rated for 10 amps so no problem there.
I picked up one of these ESP32 boards and it's what got me on the home automation bandwagon. I didn't really know much about it when I bought it but in researching some of its capabilities I learned that it and its predecessor the ESP8266 can be used as a remote device to be controlled by an Alexa. The 32 board is still pretty bleeding edge but has a ton of capability. It has both WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity and a great deal of information about them is available on the web.
Time flies when you are having fun. Close to having the old G Model Allis Chalmers ready to go.These are funky rear engine tractors from the late forties. Designed as a cultivator to plow between the rows of plants... you could look down between your legs and see it at work.
On the way back from Daytona I saw the signs for Branchville near where 95 and 26 intersect. Branchville was the home of the Swamp Man whom I learned to blow glass from at his place there in the swamp on the banks of the Edisto River. Branchville I think is the location of the first train crossing in the state... from which its name came. The Edisto River is the longest black water river in the world... probably in part because its meanders and doubles back on itself so much there in the flatlands.
