jc blog - tales of a modern-day nomadic hunter-gatherer

Follow jcomeau_ictx on Twitter This is the weblog of Intrepid Wanderer. You never know what you might find here; graphic descriptions of bodily functions, computer programming secrets, proselytizing for the antichrist, miscellaneous ranting and kvetching, valuable information on living off the land... if you don't share my rather weird interests you may want to try slashdot instead.

You can consider my Del.icio.us links an extension to my blog, as are my LifeTango goals and my other to-do items. My to-buy list is also public, but only for sharing any useful ideas that might be there; I'm not requesting charity, neither do I offer it.

You can find me easily in google searches, as jcomeau, jcomeau_ictx, or jcomeauictx. There are lots of other jcomeaus, but AFAIK I'm the only jcomeau_ictx out there so far.

If you want to comment on anything you see here, try the new Facebook comments, reachable by clicking the "[comment]" link at the end of each post. If for some reason that isn't working, go ahead and email me, jc.unternet.net. You know what to do with the first dot. Make the 'subject' line something reasonably intelligent-looking or it goes plunk! into the spambasket unread.

This RSS feed may or may not work. Haven't fiddled with it in forever. RSS Feed


2021-06-29-2105Z

Ran my first 5K of the year today, or close enough. Tried the SMART path between Payran and McDowell. There was a SMART cop near the far end, blocking access, so I pulled a U-turn and went back to Payran. My GPS tracked it as 3.12 miles.

Yesterday my teeth hurt almost as much as they did a month ago, at Pinnacles. Went to sleep early and my immune system went to work on it all night. The left side of my face was swollen a little this morning, but it has gone down since, and more importantly, the pain is all but gone. I was just able to eat the rest of last night's pork fried rice with only a slight discomfort. [comment]

2021-06-24-2347Z

Tried to walk around Ice House Reservoir yesterday. I saw a sign about a missing hiker and it was one of the things that made me change my intended route of to and from Silver Creek to a circumnavigation of the lake. The sign wasn't dated, and I didn't have a phone with me so had no way of knowing the guy had been gone for a year. Anyway, I had told me lady I expected to be back by 3 PM, so when it looked like I could cut off a long or dangerous stretch by swimming, I did. And when a recreational boat pulled up to me and asked if I could use some help, I took them up on it and got a ride back to the opposite shore. I had probably less than two miles left to go at that point, but had no way of knowing how walkable it was and I was sure it was well after 3 at that point. Anyway, got back to camp at 3:40, almost exactly 3 hours after I had left. My passport, Social Security, and Medicare cards, which had been in my neck wallet, all dried out with minimal damage. It was a great experience. [comment]

2021-06-24-2343Z

Two things I learned/re-learned last time I refilled a one-pound propane tank:

  1. Make sure the adapter is screwed tight onto the 5-gallon propane tank. If it doesn't depress the inner actuator, nothing will flow. That's likely the problem I had in Mexico this past summer.
  2. If it still doesn't fill, you need to purge air out of the 1-pound cylinder. Just depress the fill pin with a pen or nail, or something else with a small enough diameter.

I think I've actually overfilled the bottles the last two times. But so far they haven't exploded. [comment]

2021-06-16-0244Z

It worked. I got 90% of the amount I asked for, which is as expected. I'm now in the SafeMoon game, at however small a stake. [comment]

2021-06-16-0241Z

Tried again after a little more wine. This time I entered the SafeMoon amount rather than letting it calculate one for me from the BNB amount, and set a nice round number in the millions. It didn't give me the error. The TrustWallet popped up an additional confirmation dialog asking me if I trusted the site (the Pancake Swap dApp), which I affirmed. It seems to have gone through, but so far the money hasn't appeared in my wallet. [comment]

2021-06-16-0221Z

Trying to get in on the SafeMoon token. After multiple false starts with Coinomi and Metamask, I installed TrustWallet from the APK that they provide on their own webpage... I didn't have to download it from some dodgy third-party website like I have to for Coinomi and BBVA, among others.

I had already exchanged some ETH for BNB on Coinomi, so I sent some of that to my new TrustWallet address. Then exhanged BNB (coin) to BNB (Smart Chain). Yes, two different things named the same. Confusing, huh? And added Safemoon to the same wallet as described at https://safemoon.net/buy. Went to DApps and tried to use Pancake Swap to get me some of that sweet SafeMoon shit. After multiple back-and-forths with accepting the updated price and confirming the transaction with their clunky UI, it finally said it was processing the transaction... then ultimately failed with INSUFFICIENT_OUTPUT_AMOUNT. Giving up for now. My eyes are killing me. [comment]

2021-06-10-0216Z

Strange and wonderful day today. My libido has been on the upswing for about a month now, and I really haven't been doing anything for it; it's just a cycle I guess.

Anyway, this morning I found that stack of credit and debit cards I had stashed before leaving for Mexico last fall. It was right in my back-up bug-out bag, right where I was sure to find it when I came back. Not. I brought my primary bug-out bag back from Mexico this time, and have been using that instead. So I never thought to search the other.

I got a little job on a local "black market" Facebook group yesterday, and made an appointment to go to Sebastopol today and look at it. It was a nonfunctioning electric fence. It looked like it should be working. The power light was on, and it was clicking at about 1Hz, indicating a pulse being sent over the line. But it wasn't hot. I checked with a 1MΩ resistor, not wanting to risk my old ticker with 5kV. Couldn't use my meter on that high a voltage, so I decided to check the 12V in. Once I got the red and black nuts off the terminals, I realized, whoops, this is the high-voltage output. But I took each wire out and put it back in, just to make sure there was no corrosion buildup. When I put the ground wire back in, it sparked. I thought it over a bit; was there any way, if the power were going out the other wire, this one would spark? I couldn't think of any possible way. So I said it's reversed. Did someone else work on it? Nope. So I swapped the wires. She asked, "Isn't the problem on the inside?" I said yes, but the factory wasn't likely to have shipped it this way, and this will make it work. Then she remembered they had replaced the circuit board. Oops.

Anyway, touched the fence again through my resistor, and got zapped. It worked. 10-minute job. She offered me some fruits by way of exchange, but I asked for lamb meat. She didn't have any. I said "How about some cash? You pick the amount." So she came back with a $10 bill. I thanked her and went on my merry way. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.

I didn't want to spend another $1.75 or whatever the senior bus fare is for the return trip, so I made an expedition out of it and rode my bike all the way home.

I found out, I can loop my shopping bags through that half-balaclava I use as a facemask, and it keeps them from sliding off my shoulders. I guess with enough weight it could choke me, but with just a few pounds it was no problem. [comment]

2021-06-06-2314Z

After the last successful filling of my 1-pound propane tanks from a 5 gallon tank, I thought I had it down. The secret was simply time: it takes about an hour to fill. But today, I'm stymied again. After an hour it only felt a few ounces heavier. So I purged some of the air by depressing the pin with a blunt nail and tried again. Not much better. But I'm going to call it good for my next camping trip. [comment]

2021-06-06-2250Z

Saw lots of hazelnuts on my visit to Heart's Desire beach last Friday, growing all along the Indian Beach loop. But they don't ripen until fall, so I may not have a chance to harvest this year. [comment]

2021-06-02-0334Z

Today, while reinstalling the rear-view mirror in the van, I was using a 5-gallon bucket as a step-stool to remove the masking tape I was using to mark the original position of the steel mounting bracket. I landed on the edge, and subsequently tipped over the bucket and landed on my ass on the concrete parking stop, after taking the first insult on my right hand. The wrist, several hours later, is now hurting a little, but so far the rest of me isn't complaining. [comment]

view blog for 2024-03
view blog for 2024-02
view blog for 2023-10
view blog for 2023-09
view blog for 2023-08
view blog for 2023-07
view blog for 2023-06
view blog for 2023-05
view blog for 2023-03
view blog for 2023-02
view blog for 2023-01
view blog for 2022-12
view blog for 2022-11
view blog for 2022-10
view blog for 2022-09
view blog for 2022-08
view blog for 2022-07
view blog for 2022-06
view blog for 2022-05
view blog for 2022-04
view blog for 2022-03
view blog for 2022-02
view blog for 2022-01
view blog for 2021-12
view blog for 2021-11
view blog for 2021-10
view blog for 2021-08
view blog for 2021-07
view blog for 2021-05
view blog for 2021-04
view blog for 2021-03
view blog for 2021-02
view blog for 2021-01
view blog for 2020-12
view blog for 2020-11
view blog for 2020-10
view blog for 2020-09
view blog for 2020-08
view blog for 2020-07
view blog for 2020-06
view blog for 2020-05
view blog for 2020-04
view blog for 2020-03
view blog for 2020-02
view blog for 2020-01
view blog for 2019-12
view blog for 2019-11
view blog for 2019-10
view blog for 2019-09
view blog for 2019-08
view blog for 2019-07
view blog for 2019-06
view blog for 2019-05
view blog for 2019-04
view blog for 2019-03
view blog for 2019-02
view blog for 2019-01
view blog for 2018-12
view blog for 2018-11
view blog for 2018-10
view blog for 2018-09
view blog for 2018-08
view blog for 2018-07
view blog for 2018-06
view blog for 2018-05
view blog for 2018-04
view blog for 2018-03
view blog for 2018-02
view blog for 2018-01
view blog for 2017-12
view blog for 2017-11
view blog for 2017-10
view blog for 2017-09
view blog for 2017-08
view blog for 2017-07
view blog for 2017-06
view blog for 2017-05
view blog for 2017-04
view blog for 2017-03
view blog for 2017-02
view blog for 2017-01
view blog for 2016-12
view blog for 2016-11
view blog for 2016-10
view blog for 2016-09
view blog for 2016-08
view blog for 2016-07
view blog for 2016-06
view blog for 2016-05
view blog for 2016-04
view blog for 2016-03
view blog for 2016-02
view blog for 2016-01
view blog for 2015-12
view blog for 2015-11
view blog for 2015-10
view blog for 2015-09
view blog for 2015-08
view blog for 2015-07
view blog for 2015-06
view blog for 2015-05
view blog for 2015-04
view blog for 2015-03
view blog for 2015-02
view blog for 2015-01
view blog for 2014-12
view blog for 2014-11
view blog for 2014-10
view blog for 2014-09
view blog for 2014-08
view blog for 2014-07
view blog for 2014-06
view blog for 2014-05
view blog for 2014-04
view blog for 2014-03
view blog for 2014-02
view blog for 2014-01
view blog for 2013-12
view blog for 2013-11
view blog for 2013-10
view blog for 2013-09
view blog for 2013-08
view blog for 2013-07
view blog for 2013-06
view blog for 2013-05
view blog for 2013-04
view blog for 2013-03
view blog for 2013-02
view blog for 2013-01
view blog for 2012-12
view blog for 2012-11
view blog for 2012-10
view blog for 2012-09
view blog for 2012-08
view blog for 2012-07
view blog for 2012-06
view blog for 2012-05
view blog for 2012-04
view blog for 2012-03
view blog for 2012-02
view blog for 2012-01
view blog for 2011-12
view blog for 2011-11
view blog for 2011-10
view blog for 2011-09
view blog for 2011-08
view blog for 2011-07
view blog for 2011-06
view blog for 2011-05
view blog for 2011-04
view blog for 2011-03
view blog for 2011-02
view blog for 2011-01
view blog for 2010-12
view blog for 2010-11
view blog for 2010-10
view blog for 2010-09
view blog for 2010-08
view blog for 2010-07
view blog for 2010-06
view blog for 2010-05
view blog for 2010-04
view blog for 2010-03
view blog for 2010-02
view blog for 2010-01
view blog for 2009-12
view blog for 2009-11
view blog for 2009-10
view blog for 2009-09
view blog for 2009-08
view blog for 2009-07
view blog for 2009-06
view blog for 2009-05
view blog for 2009-04
view blog for 2009-03
view blog for 2009-02
view blog for 2009-01
view blog for 2008-12
view blog for 2008-11
view blog for 2008-10
view blog for 2008-09
view blog for 2008-08
view blog for 2008-07
view blog for 2008-06
view blog for 2008-05
view blog for 2008-04
view blog for 2008-03
view blog for 2008-02
view blog for 2008-01
view blog for 2007-12
view blog for 2007-11
view blog for 2007-10
view blog for 2007-09
view blog for 2007-08
view blog for 2007-07
view blog for 2007-06
view blog for 2007-05
view blog for 2007-04
view blog for 2007-03
view blog for 2007-02
view blog for 2007-01
view blog for 2006-12
view blog for 2006-11
view blog for 2006-10
view blog for 2006-09
view blog for 2006-08
view blog for 2006-07
view blog for 2006-06
view blog for 2006-05
view blog for 2006-04
view blog for 2006-03
view blog for 2006-02
view blog for 2006-01
view blog for 2005-12
view blog for 2005-11
view blog for 2005-10
view blog for 2005-09
view blog for 2005-08
view blog for 2005-07
view blog for 2005-06
view blog for 2005-05
view blog for 2005-04
view blog for 2005-03
view blog for 2005-02
view blog for 2005-01
view blog for 2004-12
view blog for 2004-11
view blog for 2004-10
view blog for 2004-09
view blog for 2004-08
view blog for 2004-07
view blog for 2004-06
view blog for 2004-05
view blog for 2004-04
view blog for 2004-03
view blog for 2004-02
view blog for 2004-01
view blog for 2003-12

Valid HTML 4.01 Transitional

Valid CSS!