Dirt Dive

Rick Thues March 7, 2020 Uncategorized 2 Comments

Episode 579 March 7,2020 In skydiving we dirt dive the jump before getting on the airplane. Dirt diving is practicing the skydive on the ground (the dirt).   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lWJXDG2i0A An organizer designs the dive and assigns the team members their positions. Everyone walks to their relative positions and takes up the grip that they will take in the air (my right hand on her left leg, etc.). If there will be more than one formation (point) then (on a signal) we switch grips to form the new point. The dirt dive is repeated several times until everyone has memorized the...

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Hate or Love

Rick Thues February 24, 2020 Uncategorized 2 Comments

Episode 578 February29, 2020 Computers have become the nexus of hate and of love.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w44dlsnJ1no We are empowered by the knowledge base of mankind. Google can answer any question we ask. The answers are both true and false. We have embraced technology so throughly that we tend to trust whatever we read on the Internet. In conversation, your interlocutor might question a statement that you make. You looked it up on the Internet last week. It was stated (with references) on Wikipedia. What i know is true and “who are you to question my knowledge?” Wikipedia is opinion. It...

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No phone

Rick Thues February 17, 2020 Uncategorized 5 Comments

Episode 577 February 22, 2020 Recently i spent three days in Big Sur. There was no cell signal and no wifi.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edBw271tXyk There were 1000 year old Coastal Redwoods, a babbling river and timeless beauty. My alarm clock was the sun coming through an eastern window of the cabin. Coffee was made in a tin cup on the fireplace. The stove was gas. No programing required. i counted sunrises to know what the next thing on my calendar would be. The number of steps i took were not a subject for my pedometer. When i got to the end...

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Weather

Rick Thues February 14, 2020 Uncategorized 4 Comments

Episode #576 February 15, 2020 Weather forecasting used to be a joke.     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0N8IJL2MpfE George Carlin, as the Hippie Dippy Weather Man, famously said, “Tonight’s forecast, dark, continued dark tonight, turning to partly light in the morning.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1uaw3WIOlc Today weather services like Weather.com are extremely accurate. i am planning a trip to Big Sur for four days, then to San Francisco for another four and a return trip over one of the mountain passes. First i consulted Maps on my Macintosh to see what route i would be taking. My desired route will take me over the Tejon pass....

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Five senses

Rick Thues February 3, 2020 Uncategorized No Comments

Episode #575 February 8, 2020 There are five traditional human body senses: Sight, Hearing, Taste, Smell and Touch. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLLMAaf0l1I In our quest to make our machines human companions we endue them with human characteristics. An important aspect of Artificial Intellegence is the machine’s interface with the world. In that quest we program our computers with senses. Sight Video cameras are obvious computer eyes. Spacial recognition software can isolate and identify shapes in a video stream. In “Star Trek: The Next Generation” the engineer Geordi La Forge was blind. He was equipped with a VISOR that allowed him to see light...

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Office Suite

Rick Thues January 27, 2020 Uncategorized 1 Comment

Episode #574 February 1, 2020   i no longer use an office suite.       https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwGrC0KicSo Office suites consist of word processor, spreadsheet and presentation apps. Some include email, contact and calendar integration. Microsoft Office is the standard for office suites. MS Word is the word processor’s word processor. MS Excel is the most featureful of spreadsheet apps. MS Powerpoint is the slide presentation software that has bored millions over the years. Office also integrates Outlook into the suite. Outlook provides a robust email program, address book and calendar. I like to pick and choose my Office apps for...

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