Monthly Archives: February 2020
Déjà Vu All Over Again?
I’m sure you’ve all read about the vote-counting mess that occurred during the recent Iowa Caucus. And I’m not talking about it from a political viewpoint, but from a computer one.
Based on what I read at the time about the app, I told Jan I could certainly write one in a day or so. And it would work too.
The teachers of several high school coding classes proved my thoughts by assigning the app as a weekend programming assignment. And the kids had no problem successfully completing the test either.
And it appears that assigning the app to a bunch of kids was pretty apt.
When some computer journals got ahold of a copy of the app, they found out that it constructed using React Native, a programming framework allowing coders to create an app that will work on Android, IOS(Apple), the Web, and other platforms.
No problem.
But it seems that the version of React Native that they used was the classroom version, used for teaching beginning coders to use the program. In other words, the app was programmed in the ‘kiddie’ version.
And for this they paid a company called ‘Shadow’ a total of $63,000.
I would have done it for $62,000. And it would have worked, too.
And in that Déjà Vu moment, Nevada was supposed to be using the same app for their upcoming caucus this coming Friday.
Ruh Roh!
So now they’re scrambling to create an entirely new app at the last minute. But caucus volunteers are predicting a ‘complete disaster.’
What could possibly go wrong?
It really makes you wonder what’s really wrong with a pencil and a piece of paper.
The Corona Virus, now called COVID-19, had been in all the news recently. But it might help to put it into a little perspective.
According to the CDC, flu deaths in the US average between 50,000 and 60,000 per year. However in the 2018-2019 season, being a really bad one, over 80,000 people died of the flu in the U.S.
Flu and its companion, pneumonia, kill more people in the U.S. than any other infectious disease.
So all of you out there be sure and get your flu shots so I don’t have to.
While Jan and I were up in Alabama, our son Chris, his wife Linda, and our granddaughter Piper came down to visit Brandi and brought her a present, a set of his large yard wind chimes.
And they’re tuned perfectly. They make a soft ‘gong’ sound for a nice background without being obtrusive.
Really neat!
Thought For The Day:
Armageddon won’t be pretty, but it’s not like it’s the end of the world or something.
fgsdfg
Not Bad For a V7 with 299,767 Miles . . .
As Well As Another 88,000+ Being Drug Around Behind The RV.
After breakfast at our Super 8 motel this morning, we headed toward home about 8:30 or so, somewhat slowed down by the steady rain. We made a quick pit stop just outside Baton Rouge as the rain finally started to taper off.
Our next stop was at the Breaux Bridge Pilot where we got gas for $1.93, as well as a couple of Jamocha Shakes for the road at the adjacent Arby’s.
Our last stop was at the Baytown Buc-ee’s for a couple of kolaches for dinner after we got home. But that took about an hour longer than we had planned.
Coming into the Webster area they had all six southbound lanes narrowed down to ONE, due to bridge construction. So instead of getting home about 4pm, it was a little after 5.
When we pulled into our rig site this afternoon I checked the truck’s odometer and found we were at 299,767 miles. Plus of course, the 88,000+ miles it’s traveled behind our RV, where the odometer doesn’t register.
I had hoped we’d make 300,000 miles on this trip, but not quite. However we should make the 300,000 mark in a week or so.
But what really makes this remarkable is that the 4.7 liter V8 engine in our 2004 Dodge Dakota has actually been a V7 for about 6 months or so. By that I mean that one cylinder, #7 specifically, is dead.
While the rest of the cylinders have about 125 – 135# of compression, #7 has only about 25#. However it just keeps running.
Yes, it’s got a lumpy idle, kind of like I’m running a full race cam, and it sometimes smokes a little, uses some oil, and the gas mileage is down about 10%, but it just keeps running.
It will do 75 mph on the Interstates with no real problems. It just down a little on power and won’t accelerate as fast. And we had no problems with it on our recent almost 2000 mile trip.
So my thought right now is just to keep running it until it dies, and then either have the engine rebuilt, or replaced with a rebuilt one, for about $5000-$7000. Much cheaper than the $15-20,000 that even an equivalent newer, but used truck would cost me.
Of course it could just keep running as is and outlive us all.
Finishing up, when we got together with my Aunt Lenette and Aunt Virginia last Friday, Lenette mentioned that she and her husband Tom just died a couple of weeks ago, had been married for 70 years.
Gives Jan and I, now at 52+ years, something to aspire to.
Thought For The Day:
Everything happens for a reason and sometimes the reason is that you are really stupid and made a bad decision.
fas
