One of the car port lights (florscent unit) started blinking ... obviously failing. I'll get to it. The other car port light, went out. That was just an incadescent bulb. No biggie.

The shop light over the main belt grinder has been very dim - although the tubes were lit, they were oddly dim. I replaced one - then both ... and they still didn't look right. Whatever.

The shop light over one work area started blinking. Tubes blinking. I replaced one ... then both ... they kept blinking. I took one out and thumped the end cap ... the one remained lit. Good enough. I came back ... and it was blinking. I didn't have another 4" shop light unit in stock ... so I robbed one from upstairs for the time being.

Working in the shop at night alot, I got an i-pod because radio reception is so awful. It has a slide switch on the bottom. No "On/Off" words. That would be too obvious. Just a slide with a red position and a no-color position. Well, I'd think red would be on ... but I don't think so. And ... oddly ... when you turn it off ... it doesn't just go off ... it faaaaaades off. While the capacitor discharges I guess. But I don't stand there and watch it. So; between the times I use it ... I never remember (if I even know) if red is on or off. So ... every time I go to use it .. the battery is dead. I take it into the house, and plug it in ... and forget about it for a week or two. I remember it one evening when I'm working. Take it out and plug it in. Go about working. I even got a rubber armor cover for it, so I just wrote on that cover in small letters ... red/off .. or "on" - or whatever I thought was right. Today, I went to listen to it while I carved ... the battery was dead. ....

In the house, the microwave seemed intermittent. I fiddled with the plug. It still seemed odd. I moved it to another plug. Still odd. Sort of grinding along. Oh ... sounds bad. Guess it's fried - had it a while. $109 plus at Walmart for another one. Get it home. Plug it in ... sounds odd. Oh please!!! I move it to a third location in the kitchen .... works for a small turkey frozen lunch ... but seemed a bit odd. Of couse ... I'm jumpy by now. I decide to turn off the circuit and tear the first recpt. out. Now ... these UL approved double recptical units are made to either twist a curl in the copper wire and put it under the screws ... OR ... you can strip the end of the solid wire (guide length noted on the back) and you can plug them into the back .. where internal spring loaded grabbers ... well ... grab them. However; NEVER do that. They don't hold well ... and they fail. But ... they still (30 years later) keep making them that way. And ... who knows ... until they know. Now you do. This one had a loose wire. I fixed it by removing the wires, bending the curl, putting it under the screws ... replacing it in the wall. Good ... but what of the other one? I took the second one apart. Made the same correction - it was wired the same previously. Put it all back. Turned on the breaker in the basement again ... Microwave seemed fine. Heck ... the first one is most likely still good. I check the old one on the repaired plug - and, of course, it's fine. Great ... I needed one for the shop anyway. (I guess).

Kelly and I decided to just get a burger at BK for dinner. Before I closed up the shop, I was gonna take a pic of some of the metal carving. The camera wouldn't turn on. Humm. I'd just swapped out the power pack from the charger in the office. But ... I now recalled that I hadn't noticed the green light on, on that charger. I went up and got the battery I'd swapped before ... put it in the camera ... and it barely had power to turn on the camera. So - I've just been switching power packs ... and neither was charging. Guess the charger bit the dust. We have three - I'll go find another. I take the one I think is bad, and go downstairs. I plug it into the kitchen counter ground fault recpt., and it just flops around ... very loose. Hummm. That's not right. I look at the charger prongs - looks fine. Try it again. That kitchen recpt. (third trial location above) must be broken inside!!!

I plug the camera power pack charger into a power strip in the living room, to check it there. Nothing. Ah ... guess it really is dead. But - Kelly reminds me that the Wii wasn't working ... and we'd thought that power unit had died. But ... it was plugged into that power strip. While other things plugged into that power strip were working (like a digital picture frame) ... guess one plug of the six could have failed. Because it wouldn't light the power button the other night ... we'd also taken the Wii charger and Wii unit into the kitchen, and plugged it into that third kitchen location. You're ahead of me now ... aren't you? We'd checked it there. It didn't work. We'd declared the power unit dead (as it hadn't worked in two different locations in different rooms) ... and everything else in the TV cabinet was working. But ... now the power strip is suspect again. So ... I bypass the power strip ... crawl behind the TV and plug the Wii power unit directly into the wall. Drape the power cord over the TV cabinet ... and the Wii comes on with it's blue power light. I plug in the digital picture frame into the power strip, and it still works. I take the camera power pack charger back to one of the kitchen ones I'd repaired earlier ... plug it in ... and it works fine.

So; you're with me now ... right? The car port lights, the grinder light unit, the work station light unit, the microwave plug, the kick plate plug under that, the power strip in the office, the power strip in the sitting room, and the ground fault recpt. in the kitchen ... have all failed over the last week or two. AND ... I still have no idea if red is on or off on the i-pod.

Have a glorious day! It's a miracle that I ever get anything done.

Gary



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/07/2009 02:50AM by barnespneumatic.

Gary,

As you know, when it rains it pours! Aren't old houses "quaint"? I feel for you.

Scott

PS On my ipod the only switch is a "hold" switch. The ipod actually turns off by holding down the play/pause button. The switch just locks out the other buttons so you don't push them accidently. When I see red, none of the other buttons work, but the ipod is still on. I don't know if yours is the same. Don't you have some grandchildren that can teach you how to use it?

Scott,

You're right! I have 11 grandchildren. I'm not using my resources!! haha.

Gary

Gary,

Consider yourself lucky, my old homes electrical system's way of telling me it had had enough was to literally go up in flames.

Lon

Sure does. Anything electrical we buy is sure to go wrong....i think we're jinxed!
Mind you, that dimming effect, could it be ....old age?
Cheers
Neil

PS I've decided I'm 45, and numerically dyslexic

I'd love to find the jerk that invented "push in" fixtures and wire him for some voltage. They've caused me no end of problems over the year, along with the "just twist them together, don't need to spend two cents on a wire nut" ground connections. My favorite is when the CO alarms go off when you change the channel on the Direct TV box...go figure.

And yes, the good folks at Apple didn't grace any of their Ipods with a regular on-off switch. The slider is basically a "keypad lock" switch.

Well, therein lies the problem I guess. I just lock the keypad and let it simmer until the battery runs down.

Of course ... after 150 years of on/off switches ... who'd expect to find one of those? Best to disguise some OTHER function to look exactly like a traditional slider on/off. BRILLANT!!! Let's make everyone stop their lives and re-learn every tiny little traditional intuitive recognition they've wired into their brain from birth. Oh wait ... that's what they all do. I'm surprised there's actually a "Post Message" button at the bottom here. Wouldn't it have been more fun if ... just on this ONE program ... they had the "Post Message" button to delete/cancel your work? And ... a "Delete" button to actually post your comment! What a blast ... think how superior the programers could feel when they explained to all the frustrated users how simple the answer really is ... ... IF you only knew!

Gary

AHHH...there you go again, confusing style with substance.

The fine folks at Apple have always valued the former to a degree not typically found in computer products, but they have their own interpretation of the latter. If you're one of the Apple cogniscenti, it would no doubt be intuitively obvious to you at a glance. If not, well...

I volunteer at the local library a couple nights a month, since without volunteers it would have to close every day at 5PM instead of 9. Since I usually work the 7:00 to 9:00 "closing" shift part of the job is to turn off all the computers, copiers, printers, etc. There's probably at least a couple dozen switches to hit in the process, even though the library turns off it's own lights and such. The one machine that always leaves me guessing is, of course, the one made by Apple. Does the half-lit power indicator mean it's already off, in standby mode, or just powered down in "sleep mode" waiting to be turned on? Why does it have to be different from every other machine in the place? Is a simple on-off button just too much to ask from Apple?

Fortunately, the power strip has a well-marked on/off switch just where you'd expect one to be.

Hi Sean,

That's funny.

Yeah - I've only had 3 or 4 Apple computers over about 12 years now. I haven't reached the higher levels yet - and still labor with the power switches too. That "sleep mode" is the biggest pain and waste (in my humble opinion). On my machines ... I can never wake them up. Touch keys ... move mouse ... shake gently ... rat/tat/tat on a few keys .... CLICK mouse .... POUND ON keyboard. They snooze on. Half the time, I have to reboot ... during which process, the machine seems to do it's accounting for the year, before actually shutting down ..... prior to rebooting. But hey .... I'm sure it's me.

OK ... I'm off to another series of epidural injections this morning. Oh boy.

Gary

When the wife and I got togehter she had a Mac. We got another one later on......

3 things I took away from owning a couple of mac's, that Ive carried into my professional life :

1) Apple does value "style", to the point of snobbery (computers are supposed to be tools.....)
2) when they work, they are incredible computers. (good tools make the effort easier)
3) When they dont work, they (at least back then) are incredibley difficutl to troubleshoot and fix. (tools break......and need repair)

Like working on cars, used to be a box of tools, a six pack and an afternoon in your driveway could fix anything..... now you need $100,000 of electronics and acomputer degree to set the timing.......

Lets just hope that Mr. Jobs never gets to President of the US......

Oh ... now THERE ya had to go and do it!

Right ... we certainly wouldn't want in interfer with the well oiled machine we're now experiencing.



Gary

Oh ... BTW ... I survived yet another session of epidural injections this am. I always come home groggy from the drugs they give me to keep me from turning into the incredible lump. I slept a bit (no choice - believe me). And ... I woke up awhile ago with the fully developed plans for a complex bit of machinery I've been mulling over in the back of my mind for a month. Wierd. I just drew it out (with my eyes at half mast), lest I forget it.

Gary,

you do know that the drugs they give you can cause hallucinations, dontcha ? ;-)

affect your memory too....especially for you old guys !!!

As for you Apple bashers.....well, I am reminded of the old saying "democracy is the worst form of government....except for all the others!"

sure, Macs have their issues, and the company is cutesy and PC...but compared to Windows and its various fiascos, Macs rule

Now, before you get out the old "but they're too expensive " thing - it's true, you can get an equally "powered" Windows computer for less $$, but the Mac OS is much more reliable and intuitive, so it's not just style but also substance. Plus, pull a Mac out of the box and you can get it working with peripherals like printers, tablets and wireless routers in about 5 minutes - no way with a Windows machine.

don't forget, you can buy cheaper airguns too.......but it is really the same

Anyway, the Mac/Windows deal is kinda like Yankees/Red Sox.....they're both baseball teams, but you CAN'T be a fan of both - hehe

now, as to the government thing....as Gary said, are ya kidding?????
Steve Jobs runs a hugely successful, non-bankrupt, non-debt ridden company and has people clamoring for his products!

the Govt....not so much!

I think they should beg Jobs to take over GM - prices would go up, but at least you'd WANT to buy the cars/trucks, and it would be COOL to buy American again!

Apple may design their products in the USA, but they're all made in good ole China. Look at the back of your iPod.

-- Jim

Ah Joebill ... ... you've become "predictable".

I just post that stuff when you haven't surfaced for awhile. Guaranteed to make you join a thread. haha.

I've thought about the Apple Car idea. But ... the thoughts of hundreds of thousands of people, pounding on the dash of their cars ... because there's no ignition switch .... I don't know ....

haha. Couldn't resist. It's the drugs.

Gary

Gary,

I hope that dream was about designing machinery that turns out a incredible Barnes Diamond. Dory

Gary

of course, you are right

perhaps it's a generational thing - hehe. you could always get a 5 year old to start your Apple car

Jim - EVERYTHING is made in China these days.....except Gary's stuff!!!
I think iPods generally are more reliable than GM cars, though...as long as you know the "secret" of turning it on and off (just don't tell Gary - haha)

Seriously, though, iPods have revolutionized the way we listen to and distribute music and spawned the usual imitators. The iPhone has done the same to the mobile phone arena...just look at all the new "smart phones"

I think it would be interesting to see Jobs "re-invention" of the American car - God knows we need something to focus on in a positive way these days

I'd be happy if Apple could just stick to electronics, thank you. They do a great job at some things, foremost perhaps being innovation and industrial design. Their Ipod and Iphone created new categories instead of just incrementally improving old ones. Prior to the Ipod everyone was perfectly happy toting around huge, bulky Walkman and Discman players and thought they had it good. However, they DON'T do a great job at some things, like avoiding the occasional overly-clever design feature that actually makes things harder than they should be. Their products frequently (and purposely) don't play well with others either. They want you to come to Apple for the WHOLE thing and seem to have a problem sharing the pie, so to speak. They also have a particularly mercenary attitude towards rural America, try to find an "authorized Apple dealer" outside of a major city, for example. However, in the long run it's always better to have options, and I don't think you could find anyone who thinks that PCs would be better off if Microsoft had been in charge of the whole shebang from day one. The fact that we're even using graphical user interfaces on Windows machines can pretty much be traced directly back to Apple, and for that I'm willing to forgive them quite a few quirks.

As far as GM goes, frankly I don't think it matters much who they put in the top job. Whatever comes out the far end of this "reorganization" will bear no resemblence at all to what has come before. I hope that's a good thing, both for the rustbelt states and for our country as a whole. Unless they get their act together right quick, they'll be about as commonplace on American roads as a Nash Rambler is today.

And yes, I hope we'll get a glimpse of Gary's current "fever dream" model soon. Even if we won't be seeing one in our personal gunsafes right away, it's always interesting to see what's bubbling around up there between the ears!

Oh, don't get me wrong . . . I'm a practitioner myself. I do the skilled, high margin part of my business here in the states but send stuff like data entry over to China or India. The main reason -- cost. It literally costs about 1/4 - 1/5 of what it would if I hired some folks here -- and the quality is better, because they double-key everything and guarantee 99.9% accuracy. There is simply no one in America willing to work at those rates. Not judging -- just an observation.

Apple has a great business model. They put commodity hardware (Intel CPUs, Samsung flash memory, etc.) in a brushed stainless steel case and sell it for 3x+ the competitors' price. Their software, like iTunes and OS X, will ONLY run on their "proprietary" hardware (e.g., you can't buy a cheap MP3 player and sync it with iTunes -- their software prevents you from doing that). Kudos to them if they can pull it off. They also happen to have the best marketing team in the history of modern corporate America. I can tell you this, though -- when the chips are down, and I have to OCR and compress 2 million images for a customer on a tight timeline, you can pry my 2 x Xeon quad core Windows Server 2008 machine with RAIDed Intel Extreme solid state drives (SSDs) from my cold, dead fingers. If there was something faster or which helped me deliver higher-quality images to the customer, believe me, I'd use it. But unless I'm recording / editing music or movies, or I'm a professional photographer, I'll stick with Windows (or Linux for certain server-centric things like web servers and databases).

GM's not all bad. There is Corvette, Cadillac, and some other bright spots which will probably be killed or marginalized by the current administration / new owners of GM. By all accounts, EV1 was a great platform that GM itself killed either through sheer incomptence or (more likely, with help / pressure from the oil biz) to try to stave off the spread of electric vehicles. And GM reliability, while still far behind any of the Japanese auto makers, has eclipsed that of several "luxury" Euro automakers. But as I watch gas prices tick upwards yet again -- completely unrelated to demand or economic conditions -- I can't help but think that direct investment in fuel efficiency in the form of blatant bribery would be a good thing, and the quickest way to come up with a solution. Say, a $100 million cash prize for a real, working 100 MPG carbeurator that meets real reliability criteria -- on the condition that its design is non-patentable and will be immediately published on the Internet, for free. Or for a light truck that gets 75 miles / gallon using existing fuel infrasturcture (i.e., current gas stations). Same thing -- the inventor gets the cash, but no patents. There's no faster way to get there than to appeal to peoples' greed. Unfortunately, it seems that the government is more interested in using our tax dollars to reward the special interests that helped put them in power. They absolutely don't want to reward highly educated, smart, responsible, contributive people who in most cases are already well off (in fact, they want to inflict punitive taxes on those folks until they squeal -- unless they're of a certain "favored" social status, of course). No, the government's answer? A $4,500 "cash for clunkers" voucher for buying a new car that's 4 MPG better than your old one. How revolutionary. Of course, our 12 year old V6 Ford Mustang won't quality because it gets an astounding 20 MPG -- it's 2 MPG too efficient. So we're gonna keep it until the wheels fall off.

Now, I'm not bitter. I just gave up trying to "change" things over which I have absolutely no control.



-- Jim

BTW -- back on topic -- Gary is immune to all of the above, as is anyone else who makes things which require high-art skills and are 100% handmade. Very few people can do what he does. If the Chinese tried to copy it, it would be poorly received -- and obviously you can't "copy" handmade, original art without introducing a huge "cheese" factor. Above all, there will always be a market for unique "objets d'art" -- canvas, blued steel, or otherwise.



Edited 5 time(s). Last edit at 06/11/2009 12:22PM by Jim.

All,

Well, Now that we've finally dispensed with the topic of airguns altogether ... we're finally getting somewhere! Very exciting.

You know ... that "generational thing" joke from Joebill ... it's very much a factor in society. And, I personally don't think it's a total accident. By design, a vast (and I do mean vast) element of society has simply been marginalized. And (humor here ... but you'll get the point) ... all they have to do is to hide the on/off switch. Whollah! You reduce traditional hard working adults to a bunch of idiots fumbling in the dark ... being laughed at by 4 year olds. If those adults can't stop and devote the time to relearning everything that's become instinct to them, then ... too bad ... guess that will just accelerate the take over of the generation who has the free time to absorb the new buzz (because they are still being supported by the old fools). Take a look at TV advertizing ... "Dad" is a total blithering idiot being scoffed at by all of the kids, and barely tolerated by Mom. The one year old is trading stock (because he understands the technology). Dad is reduced to desperately holding on to his last sacred duty ... lighting the grill.

An observation: For tens of thousands of years ... man managed to survive "without" having 24/7 music and noise blasted directly into his earbuds. Now - it's an absolute requirement. You simply cannot have a private thought. And, you "must" immediately phone or text any thought you have to everyone you've ever met. No wonder, to my ancient way of thinking, few people can actually reason through a problem. I find society to be simply deafening. In my car, I have the finest audio system made at the time the car was manufactured. I never turn it on. I can't stand the endless rape of my mind. The redundant commercial shout, or the brainwashing built into lyrics with a social agenda. That might be one reason I actually have unique thoughts which surprise people.

Something that people probably don't consider ... my hollow tree is not an enchanted reality free zone. Nor am I exempt. You might not realize that Kelly has her own business. She operates a privately licenced Child Care business. You know those mega child care centers you run across in half the shopping strip malls and industrial parks? You see their boldly painted vans everywhere? Well ... good old uncle Sam subsidizes those by providing assistance to parents. The centers get bigger and bigger ... hire about a hundred assistents ... convince the parents that their little Julius will be speaking fluent latin by the age of three ... (and we'll subsidize your tuition anyway) ... so ... parents sign on. It's nearly killed the traditional private child care. Private personal care might be less than half the price ... but hey ... Uncle's buying. They'll give you the Cadillac ... why drive the Saturn? Add in the little factor of those 2 million lost jobs since Jan., (who happen to be the parents who placed their kids here) .. and guess what? Parents without jobs don't buy child care.

I'd love to show you more designs. The files are busting with them. I know that's what's exciting and that's what you want to see. That's what I want to make too. However; honoring what came before is one of the fundamental building blocks here ... so I have to do everything at once. Build the orders, pay the bills, and stay healthy. It's a full time job. And, honestly ... one of the support systems I have is chatting with the folks here. One reason I'm glad to see the little red numbers indicating comments ... and find it a bummer when it's all quiet. So; I'm glad we've had this little ... ah ... what were we talking about anyway ... ? haha.

Gary

Gary ,,,, just pay the bill , and it will all work again.... lol

I agree

America these days seems to have gotten away from rewarding ingenuity, and toward penalizing those who work hard, in order to "take care of" a large number of folks who have no ambition and no desire to take care of themselves or anyone else. Just by drawing breath, they apparently believe they are entitled to cable TV, cell phones, Internet,
healthcare and whatever else they want.

what happened to the days of " if you really want it, save up for it" - I must have heard that from my parents a thousand time - sometimes I did just that, and mostly I realized that I only "wanted" something because I saw it - ie didn't really want or need it at all. Nowadays, people "want" everything they see, and get angry if someone suggests they "work for it"

I suspect that a version of this attitude is what prompts most of the "outraged" emails Gary gets - "I WANT IT NOW !"

a real bummer - thank you, Baby Boomers generation!

Gary's last comments reminded me of page on the Barnes website... about quiet time.

One of the reason I shoot: it requires concentration. You simply cannot have accurate shooting when your mind is going everywhere.

The act of shooting, because it requires you to mentally shut up and focus, is relaxing to me. For the loengthof the shooting session, I dont think of much else. So for a brief period, I tune out, turn off and pull the trigger. I'm better for it......

Came in for a cup. Ya see ... there are good people here.

Actually ... I can track the path, and final demise of society, back to the duration of the show ... "Junk Yard Wars". When that came out ... I loved it. The setting was a salvage yard. Two teams were given a "build area", and given an identical task to fabricate ... from found materials salvaged from the yard. The tasks were somewhat realistic. The teams broke down into engineers, scroungers, and mechanics. We got to watch the progress.

The timing of the progress was a bit optimistic ... at the beginning of the show's run ... but it became totally ludricous and falsified as the years went by. The team members worked together, early on. People performed the tasks for which they were suited. The salvaged parts found early on, were ... a bit lucky ... at the beginning of the show's run. However; as years progressed, the "found parts" came shrink wrapped, in identical sets, with the invnetory tags still on the wrapping. And, they figured we'd still watch, still believe ... because we were all hooked by then. The obviously planted "salvage parts" were casually laid in the back of panel vans, so nobody had to scrounge for them any longer. New hydraulic valve bodies - complete with matching hoses, pumps, and cyclinders! Gosh ... what a lucky find!! And we kept watching, brushing aside the complete rewriting of the original premise of the show.

In the early shows, the teams were nearly always different. People drawn from many different places. Many different talents. By the end of the show ... several people were regular Superstars. They appeared endlessly. Seemed to have lost most of their talent for work, and "Paul Sr." moments became more frequent.

The early projects, by the end of the alotted build period ... actually worked. They were not "refined" ... but they worked. Smoking, leaking, fuming, and roaring ... they clawed dirt, they articulated, they exhibited a crappy tossed together version of the original task. By the end of the show's run a few years later ... nothing worked. Even made from new parts ... nothing worked. And ... the show went on as if the producers hardly noticed that nothing worked any longer.

Let's now sumarize the striking parallel of society to Junk Yard Wars - the Series. In the early years, a diversity of talented people, genuinely applied themselves to realistic tasks. They worked with resources they understood, and created versions of goals which actually worked ... to some degree.

However; with success, came complacency. The project became lost in the personalities. Everybody was now a Superstar. And ... since there were no term limits ... nobody really "had" to produce, in order to remain on the team. While the best materials were available, the personalities were too busy fussing among themselves, to properly apply them ... so they were wasted. In the end ... nothing worked. We were asked to not notice that nothing worked, but yet to keep watching ... for the sake of selling advertising. By now, we all just live within an endless Paul Sr. tantrum, where drama is the only real product produced.

And, two more things have been taught by all of the shows that have followed. 1). Enough unyielding pressure applied to those below your pay grade, will allow you to meet your personal goal. 2). Manufacture a crisis, the details of which you control; and the sheeple will flock to you.

And, there you have the world, as revealed thru cable TV.

Gary

here endeth the sermon ,,, just be glad it wasnt big bro , or i was once a celeb why did i get thrown in the jungle ,, lol , glad to see your on top form gary , hope the world is treating you well . ps you missed out the bike that allways started , and a hellicopter or two in the junk yard , forget the show , id just like the yard.

ah, yes, cable TV - the beginning of the end of reason !!!

I dimly remember the days when TV was "free" and the "news" was twice a day or so. My family weren't big TV fans, so we rarely watched much beyond news and sports, maybe the odd movie.

Now, we get to "pay" for 500 channels - about 3 of which are useful!!!!! of course, you can't pay for just those 3 ;-)

plus we have 24/7 punditry, usually from those with either an axe to grind or a financial interest in their POV. The formerly "impartial" ( OK, relatively!) news sources are now grossly biased, and a thousand idiots are blogging on the Net with their fake facts and ridiculous theories....with the appropriate Hollywood fools jumping on the trendy bandwagons!!!!!

of course, without the Net, this motley crew here probably would never have come together, and Gary would still be making furniture.......

so I guess progress is not ALL bad

hey, this generalized ranting is kinda fun.......what is this forum about, again hehe