Cop Car's Beat

I am surprised. #2

The other day, Wichidude picked me up to take me to The Tap, a plumbing supply company that I've visited many times over the years. They've always had good people working the counter, there. I never felt stupid for not being an expert plumber and not knowing the correct terminology. I looked forward to going and it turned out to be more fun than I had imagined. The Tap didn't have the part that I needed (I didn't know the part number, but I had the photos, below, on my phone), but the guy had two worthwhile suggestions: 1) go to the Phoenix Supply from whence I had purchased the faucet in 2013, and 2) call Delta Faucet Company (he gave me the phone number - not having reason to know that a phone call makes me break out in a cold sweat). Here comes the surprise: The Tap guy told me that Delta guarantees their products "for life". Even if I was told of the lifetime warranty when purchasing the faucet assembly, I would have taken it for promotional hyperbole.

I didn't really wish to leave Hunky Husband at home, alone (he had not wished to accompany WD and me), much longer so I asked WD to skip going over to Phoenix for the time being. WD brought me home and HH and I had a good time visiting with him for an hour or so.

While HH took his mid-day nap, I decided to do some online research. Going to the Delta Faucet Company website, I located a faucet that looked similar (4380-DST - PILAR^® Single Handle Kitchen Faucet With Spray In Stainless). Of course, the design of the faucet assembly had surely changed over the years. The spare parts for the PILAR did not match up to what I had in-hand, nor did any other parts that I could find.

The Delta people made it simple to send them a message. I gave them the model number of the "looks like" faucet and included the three photos of my own installation at the top of this page, asking if they could provide a part number for the little black jobbie that I needed for my 2013 faucet. Immediately, I received an acknowledgement of my communication and, this morning, two more emails awaited me. One thanking me for my inquiry, saying that I had given them sufficient information to order the parts I would need, and saying that I should soon receive an email with the order they had placed on my behalf. The email with the order came and is shown, below. Yes, the design had changed so they are providing all of the updated parts that I need to replace the old design.

I don't have the parts in hand. I haven't yet installed the parts. So far, I am very impressed. What a pleasant surprise.

P.S. The Tap is located just one block away from the eCycle place that I use, American eWaste Recyclers. Having mentioned the eCycle place to WichiDude & Dudette a couple of weeks ago, and their having expressed interest, I took Wichidude by after we finished at The Tap. The address of the eCycle place is on the same street as is The Tap, but one can only access it through the back alley. Wichidude allowed as how he would have had a really hard time finding the place had I not shown him the way.

I was surprised.

Having one more desktop computer than my number of monitors, I went online the other day, and found a reconditioned monitor at WalMart*. The monitor was intended for use with my backup computer - the computer on which I back up the files from this machine and Hunky Husband's machine - and the price was right.

Surprise#1: It arrived within one week of my placing the order - several days earlier than I had been told to expect.

Surprise #2: It arrived clad only between two thin, formed sheets of expanded foam and the none-too-sturdy box - as shown in the photo, below.

Surprise #3: Everything seemed to be in good shape. The box was scraped up, but nothing inside seemed damaged.

Surprise #4: Obviously, the Sceptre company has received complaints from their customers that, if they require one to have a certain size screwdriver (small Phillips head) it should be supplied. A screwdriver was included for the two screws that attach the flatscreen to its pedestal. Photo, below, showing the screwdriver and its safety cap. (As if I didn't have a plethora of screwdrivers in my home and car.)

After setting up the monitor, checking it out, and realizing how much larger it seems than do HH's and my current monitors, I installed it with HH's desktop computer (photo, below).

Surprise #5: I would be remiss not to mention that, unlike Bogie, I no longer do extensive research before making such purchases. Although I knew that the monitor was described as a "gaming" monitor, I don't recall that the website said that speakers were built into it. The speakers have not yet been checked out. (I left HH's separate speakers connected for the time being. I want to spring new things on him, slowly. After/if/when he tells me he wishes to keep the monitor, I'll worry about changing over his audio and getting him accustomed to that. He may never wish to go that direction. As it is, now, he doesn't need to know how to cope with the onscreen settings display.)

ADDITION of 7/17/2022 11:05am

I didn't recall the size of HH's and my old monitors (different models, same size) but I finally woke up to having my computer tell me to what monitor it is connected. It's 22" (see added screenshot & photo, above) diagonal measure, one assumes. All of our newer monitors are "landscape" orientation.

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Product details

This item is Refurbished. Whether you are a gamer or a movie buff, the Scepter E248W-1920R monitor is the way to go. 1080P resolution (1920 x 1080 Pixels) delivers stunning color and picture detail on a 24-inch screen. A 5 millisecond response time displays action sequences with the highest degree of clarity. Enjoy HDMI, and VGA inputs to connect all video and gaming devices. Refurbished Scepter E248W-1920R 24" Ultra-Thin LED Monitor HDMI, Metallic.

Refurbished Scepter E248W-1920R 24" Ultra-Thin LED Monitor HDMI, Metallic

• Metallic Ultra Slim Design. OS Compatibility- Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, macOS High Sierra, macOS Sierra, OS X El Capitan.
• Ultra-Slim Profile Contemporary Sleek Metal Design Slim Bezel with Thin Chassis Metal Brushed Back Cover
• 3.5mm Mini-Jack Audio Out. Dimensions without stand (inch, W x H x D): 21.45 x 12.52 x 1.24. With Stand (inch, W x H x D): 21.45 x 15.67 x 6.57
• HDMI and VGA Up to 75Hz refresh rate. Brightness: 230 cd/m2, colors: 16.7M (6-bit Hi-FRC)
• Blue Light Shift Reduce your monitor's blue light to protect you from eye fatigue, irritation, and strains. This enables you to work on your documents, watch movies, or play games more comfortably for extended periods.

1. This product may not have been manufacturer certified but has been professionally inspected, tested and cleaned by Walmart Restored Program Sellers and Suppliers
2. Fully functional product in Like New Condition that may or may not have minor cosmetic defects, blemishes, dents, scratches when held approximately 12 inches away or less
3. This product includes all accessories that will be compatible and fully functional but may not be original. Packaging may be generic
4. This product may be returned within 90 days for free return or replacement if you are not satisfied
5. Battery capacity exceeds 80% capacity relative to its new equivalent

A Weighty Matter

When I go to see my nephrologist, on the one day of the month on which he is in Derby, he is ensconced in a rented space within a cardiology clinic. Dr M hasn't the backup of assistants or administrative folks, nor does he have most of the paraphernalia associated with medical practice. Thus, he asks me my weight, which number he inputs to his records.

Knowing my propensity toward forgetting to weigh myself, I weighed myself this morning before stepping into the shower. Wow! I had gained five pounds since my last weighing. From the fit of my clothing, I found a gain of five pounds to be highly doubtful. I concluded that the strain gage(s) in the scale might be broken - or - the batteries might need replacement. I couldn't remember the batteries' ever having been replaced. The scales belong to Hunky Husband. They are HealthKit, but I don't recall his having purchased the kit nor do I remember his assembling or maintaining those scales. Hmmm.... HH could not enlighten me. He didn't recall, either. We surmised that it may have been while I was still living in Albuquerque NM. I tore into the scales.

 

The above, right photo shows most of the bottom section of the scale. (Aiming the camera from above, I failed to get the second battery carrier into frame.) Even with enlargement, I doubt that you can read HH's written note about the date of replacement of the batteries, so I'll give a closeup, below.

 

Yes, the batteries were last replaced 24.5 years ago! The expiration date on the six C cells was March 2014. The batteries all tested marginally "good" and none was showing any sign of leaking. The Energizer Bunny did well! Regardless, I shall replace the cells with fresh ones. That may not tell me much about past and current weight readings, but it will remove one uncertainty from the process.

Choosing onscreen buttons to click - (Pet Peeve #19)

Original Posting of 2/27/2022

In the photo, below, there are a lot of gages, dials, switches, and buttons, but there probably isn't one of them that I couldn't figure out with a moment to ponder. (I'll grant you that past experience and training make this so and if my pondering isn't productive, I have a friend on whom to call - eh, Stu?) They are unambiguous to me - I know which switch I need to flip/push/turn and what will happen when I flip/push/turn it.

Compare the above display to the onscreen display, below. The display, below, is clean, uncluttered, and has few toggle buttons* on which I might click. I've seen similar displays hundreds of times, as I'm confident have most of you. So why can I not interpret the meaning? Why do I not know whether each item is in a "disabled" or "enabled" state?

This lack of comprehension on my part is undoubtedly an error in the wiring of my brain. My brain readily accepts the task of interpreting a toggle button that has both options listed and a means of indicating the button's current state, but faced with the above toggle buttons, I am flummoxed. I don't know whether the label indicates the current or desired state - until I've studied the heck out of it. (And, even then, I'm not sure.)

Confession: It took me decades to be able to visually determine the state of the electrical circuit controlled by a rocker or push-button switch on an appliance when the options were labeled as shown, below. What in the world do "O" and "|" mean? It's a mystery to me. Yes, sometimes I feel like a complete, gibbering idiot; but I'll wager that I'm far from alone.

How did this all come to mind? I was getting ready to write about having solved a household problem...which led me to thinking of "Hints from Heloise" that was a feature in our local newspapers for years and years - 'way back when. I searched on that title and was amazed (goodness knows why) to find a Hints from Heloise website - that promptly assaulted me with a demand that I allow it to use cookies. Hoo, boy - that set me off on Pet Peeve #19.

 

ADDITION of 3/25/2022 - Toggle Button

This (below) is how I wish to be led by the hand. (From an email from Apple - available here.

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* A nice explanation of the difference between a "toggle switch" and a "toggle button" is provided in The Full guide to UI [User Interface] design at Toggle switch design.

A toggle switch operates in changes in the system. Think dark/light modes on the iOS settings, or a privacy mode in a navigator. The toggle switch represents a decision that can affect all screens of the app or device – this means that switches deal in system states.

Find a grand variety of toggle switches on the Justinmind UI kits page!

In contrast, a toggle button refers to a change that only takes place on that screen. Think flight dates and search filters. Toggle buttons are meant for contextual states.

Kicking and Screaming

I'm being dragged, kicking and screaming, into the third decade of the millennium. In February, 2007, preparing to go on assignment to the FEMA Region VII Emergency Operation Center (Kansas City MO) for the American Red Cross, I stopped into the local Sprint store to buy a cell phone. Yes, I was ready to join the 21st Century. My trusty Compaq pocket PC had lost it's mind and, besides, HP (who bought out Compaq) had never seen fit to add phone capability to it. On a disaster, it had turned out in my previous (it was my first) assignment, a cell phone was darned nearly required. I bought a TREO.

The TREO had a lot to recommend it, to me, starting with the fact that its operating system (OS) was Windows. Many people don't care for Windows, and I've (over the years) had a lot of beef with it, but my familiarity with it and its ubiquitous presence on so many computers made it my choice of OS. Another factor was that I could pay for a service plan that was for phone service, only. I saw no need to get on the Internet, being quite satisfied with only synchronizing the phone with my desktop computer.

In 2009, in a fit of frugality, I dropped Sprint in favor of joining Hunky Husband on Verizon which he had been using for several years. I had to buy another phone, and opted for a TREO identical, physically, to the Sprint TREO (this was in the days before laws required that original service provider allow cell phone owners to jail break them for use at a different provider.) At that time, HH ditched his flip phone to buy a TREO like mine.

Over the years since 2009, HH has had at least three or four (or more) different models of cell phone, his most recent being an iPhone SE.

Verizon has told me for at least three years that they would be dropping service for 3G cellphones such as my TREO, but I held out. Finally, they set a deadline of 12/31/2022. Since HH is developing less and less capability of coping with his iPhone on his own, I broke down and bought a matching iPhone SE (with slightly more recent software), yesterday. Actually, HH bought it for me - he has wanted to do that for 10 years or so and my 84th birthday looms.

My hope and plan is to become proficient enough with the iPhone that I can actually be helpful to HH when he forgets how to do something on his - or, as happens not infrequently, when he can't figure out what happened and what he needs to do.

When I put my old TREO in with the other "dead soldiers", I was reminded that I should take a run to the Wichita e-Cycle yard.

One assumes that people recognize charging cords and batteries when they see them, so I'll skip right over them for comment.

The three identical phones are the TREOs: 1) mine from Verizon, Spring 2009; 2) mine from Sprint, Feb 2007; and 3) HH's TREO from Verizon, Spring 2009. In about 2013, I had dropped my Verizon phone (one more time) onto the concrete garage floor and it would no longer ring. I used HH's TREO from then until today, although I had to use my Sprint TREO for charging the battery because the power input plug to HH's TREO was broken. In addition, I scavenged the back closure from my Sprint TREO when I lost the back to one of the other TREOs.

You might recognize my HP camera that went belly up about a year or two ago, and which I replaced with a slightly newer, but used, version. The camera in the photo was purchased from Sam's Club in 2004. Next to it is the iPAQ H1910 PDA that I purchased in 1995. It served me well until after I retired in 2004. I loved being able to carry Excel, Word, and Power Point files with me.

About that iOmega ZIP 250 drive that's for steal

More photos of the iOmega ZIP 250 drive - P/N 04018D00 7/28/1999

In the photo, below, the port to the computer is on the left, port to printer, right. Included is one cable with male connector on one end, female on the other. [Although I don't see one in my "junk box", it's possible that I could dig up another such cable.]

Power adapter: 120 V 60 Hz to 5 V 1.0 Amp

Included: 5 each, blank 250MB Zip disks

Skinning Cats

Elder Brother was considered the brightest of us three siblings, regardless of the fact that he completed the least amount of formal education - a year of graduate school in Chemical Engineering. Thus, I am always confident in asking advice from him. It is bound to be great - right? Ah, yes. Sometimes we agree on the approach to solving a problem; there are times when we are far apart. A few days ago, during a phone call, EB gave me input that was somewhere in-between. 

Trying to get more junk out of our house, Hunky Husband had allowed me to relieve his den/workout rooms of 8-9 empty cardboard boxes. While I was at it, he threw in a couple of boxes full of junk. Among the junk was an external ZIP drive, about which I was ignorant. I had known he had, some years ago, used an external hard drive: I had not known that it was a ZIP drive, nor would I have known what that was. I'm still not clear on the concept, but it is obvious that the 3.5" floppy disks that the drive uses are slightly different from the standard 3.5" floppy disk (see photo, below.)

Problem? I intend to box up the drive and the unused floppies and take them to the electronic recycle people in Wichita. I wanted to destroy the floppies on which HH had backed up his hard drive. What's the easy way to destroy floppies? It's having been at least 10-15 years since last I destroyed floppies; I don't recall what I did at that time. I do recall that we shredded floppies with an industrial shredder on classified programs, then burned the bits of confetto. HH suggested that I remove the sliding metal closeout of each floppy and put the medium through our cross-cut shredder. Hmmm...I don't know. That leaves the metal disk at the center. I don't wish to put our residential shredder to that task. I'll go with the brute force method of getting at the medium.

First disk: Insert screwdriver through the central hole, pry up at each corner to separate the two plastic halves, and shred the medium.

 

 

 

Second Disk: Insert screwdriver through central hole, pry up, insert long needle-nose plier through the central hole, pull out medium and shred it.

Third Disk: Insert screwdriver through central hole, pry up at the two corners away from the sliding metal to break attachments, insert needle-nose plier into gap in the side, pull out medium and shred it.

I've one more disk to shred* but have yet to come up with another way of brute forcing the medium out of the case. (Perhaps use a hammer?) Mom always assured me that there were multiple ways of skinning cats. Unfortunately, she's not around to see me apply her adage.

The photo, below, shows what will be taken to the e-cycle people.

There was a price for all of the fun I had devising different ways of destroying stuff: my unattended spaghetti sauce made a mess in the kitchen.

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*ADDITION of 1/24/2022 - OMG

One box among those HH gave me for disposal, the innocent looking box in the photo below, contained a surprise: more disks.

These disks are just regular 3.5" floppy disks, rather than ZIP disks. Fortunately, only four of them need to be shredded. Some were blank. Most were used by HH for benign information concerning his volunteer service with an NGO providing disaster response. [HH served on over 50 disasters, including the responses to several hurricanes, among them Hurricane Katrina and to even more tornados, among them EF-5 tornados in Greensburg KS (1.7 miles wide, wiping out 95% of the town of nearly 1600 people - 2007) and Joplin MO (ranked as deadliest tornado in US history at the time - 2011- with 158 direct deaths and 8 more related deaths). HH was supposed to have been the originating director at Greensburg KS but came down with a virus just a couple of hours before he was to leave home - not before he had dispatched me to Topeka KS to provide liaison in the State Emergency Operation Center - my first large disaster. HH did, indeed, work in Joplin directing the operation - just not as the originating director. When the original call came, he was tied up in Reading KS on a small disaster training a new director of operations. OTOH, I was sent to Kansas City MO to provide liaison with FEMA.]

But, wait...there's more! That thin, long, black "thing" is the battery to a laptop. At first, I assumed it was the "lost" spare battery to the Toshiba that I shipped off to Elder Brother a few months ago; but, no, it is to HH's HP Envy laptop. That made me give the box another look. It was the box in which HH's Envy had arrived - back in 2015. The battery is now appropriately bagged in its anti-static sleeve, labeled, and ensconced in a storage compartment above the said laptop.

Ah, yes, the good old days

Since nothing exciting is going on around here - still - I share a photo that I found online. (I don't recall what I was looking for or where I found the photo). It reminds me of the "Good Old Days" when everything, so many people claim, was perfect - except - we were engaged in World War II, we had no indoor plumbing, and I had already lost two siblings, one of whom could possibly have been saved with penicillin. A friend from our small town had been shot down in China, suffering a broken back in parachuting and unable to communicate with the Chinese peasants who came to his aid.

"What" I hear you ask, "...does Fred Emery [the parachutist] have to do with an early-day telephone switchboard?" Well...Fred's mother, Nettie Emery, was "our" switchboard operator. On rare occasion, if I behaved myself, Nettie allowed me to "help" her at the switchboard in her parlor. Ah, yes, the good old days!

ADDITION of 12/20/2021

1954 August or September - Missouri Air National Guard Summer Camp Communications Center - Casper, Wyoming

Equipment from back-to-front: Field Switchboard (hidden), Commercial Switchboard (staffed by Hunky Husband), and Teletype

It isn't apparent to me what the fourth airman, the only one with his airman's stripe showing, is doing. HH had written the date and place on the back of the photo, along with identifying the four airmen. I believe this to have been HH's first deployment for training in the Air National Guard as he would probably not yet have reached the age of 18 when the photo was taken, his birthday being in early September. (His parents would have had to sign a waiver for him to have joined at age 17.) HH no longer recalls much about most of his Air Guard service of 11 or 12 years.

Coda on Typewriters

Stu sent an email that included an image, below, and a link, each having to do with the Dvorak keyboard layout - a layout that did not even occur to me during composition of previous postings and comments concerning typewriters and keyboards. Thanks, Stu. I remember the Dvorak layout, but I don't recall ever having been faced with that layout on an actual typewriter. If I cared to do so, I could probably find conversion software for my current Microsoft Ergonomic Keyboard; but, I am no more interested in making the switch, now, than was I in the 1950s. 👎 I'm happy using QWERTY.

For anyone interested in refreshing their memories, or adding to their knowledge base, I supply a full-keyboard image, below, and a link to another Wikipedia entry - this one in English.

More on typewriters

Royal Portable Typewriters for English Language Typing

Joared wrote in a comment to Roberta X made me do it of the keyboard layout of her Royal portable typewriter. I encouraged her to send me a photo of the machine and will post it if Joared has the time/energy/inclination to send one (or more). Until then, I am posting (below) a touch-typing guide that I found online, within an owner's manual. The manual is for a Royal Quiet Deluxe from 1952 which model did not include a separate key for "1" as does Joared's machine. (For those too young to know or to have used such a quaint machine, typists typed a lower case "l" in place of a "1" - which isn't too bad when using a font with serifs such as "l". I'm not sure whether Joared's machine includes that key because it is one year newer than the model addressed in the manual, or whether she bought a more expensive machine.

 

Typewriters for German Language Typing

Thanks to Stu for providing links to a couple of interesting German language typing websites. The photo, below, was found at Stu's link to his own website Eunoia, which posting has comments that include mine that predate some of the information in my own postings on typewriters.

Another view of a similar typewriter keyboard is found at Dreamtime (stock photos).

Note the QWERTZ layout as Stu wrote about in his comment. (I note a difference in the "upper case" ß since, in the photo (above) it seems to be a colon rather than a question mark.)

Here in Germany, we have a bigger alphabet,
the standard is QWERTZUIOP and the Y is bottom left.
U Umlaut is to the right of P
To the right of L we have O Umlaut then A Umlaut
SZ which looks like a Beta is below the question mark.

During the Nazi era there were also separate keys for the SS and for the swastika.

BTW: To access "cut copy and paste" German alphabet letters such as the eszett (ss), ß, I used the GYPU website.

IBM Executive Typewriters for English Language Typing

Other than the Smith Corona portable, about which I wrote in the previously linked posting, the only typewriter that I owned was purchased (used) from a shop in Albuquerque NM during the mid-1980s. It, an IBM Executive (photo of a machine similar to mine, above), made really gorgeous copy! The look of the finished page was enhanced by the proportionate spacing of the letters ("i" took one space while "W" took five spaces, as I recall), by the sans serif font (illustrated in the image, below), and by the machine's using a carbon ribbon (photo below the font image) rather than an inked ribbon. 

I really liked that machine; but, when I moved back to Kansas, knowing that it would be difficult to squeeze my household goods into Hunky Husband's already fully-furnished house, I gave the IBM Executive to Elder Brother and his wife who, at the time, lived in Santa Fe NM. He may/probably does still have it.