Burying Google Fiber on Bartram Drive

This is the tool used to punch holes in the earth for the orange conduit that will hold our Google Fiber.  It’s kind of like an autonomous jackhammer that pounds its way through dirt and even rock.  It’s powered by the air compressor behind it.

Workers dig long holes every 20 feet or so (it varies and I’m guessing anyway).

The punching tool is placed in the hole.

The worker uses his shovel, leg, etc. to point the tool towards its goal, the next hole up the street, marked by the yellow shovel handle.

The tool goes to work, shaking everything. It’s fun to put your foot on the ground along its path to feel how far it’s gotten.

Here you can see a finished hole heading up towards the Baers’ Zoysia grass patch. (Tom, they did a good job of putting the grass back.)

Soon, I hope, we’ll have Google Fiber service!

- ge, bartram drive

In a setback for Apple, the European Union seeks a common charger for all phones

Today’s New York Times reports

The European Union unveiled plans on Thursday to make USB-C connectors the standard charging port for all smartphones, tablets and other electronic devices sold across the bloc, an initiative that it says will reduce environmental waste but that is likely to hit Apple the hardest.

The move would represent a long-awaited yet aggressive step into product-making decisions by the European Commission, the bloc’s executive arm. Apple, whose iPhones are equipped with a different port, has long opposed the plan, arguing that it would stifle innovation and lead to more electronic waste as all current chargers that are not USB-C would become obsolete.

So Apple is worried about waste?

Anyone who has a drawer full of wires for old iPods, iPads, Macintoshes, etc. knows how ludicrous and hypocritical this is.

Macintosh owners know far too well the waste of a perfectly good charger when the built-in cable frays:

One more thing

IMNSHO, Apple’s iMac is responsible for far more waste than just cables.

Go to your local Craig’s list and search for iMac computers. You’ll find lots of them, many with beautiful, still functional screens and the old, underpowered processors that are no longer have enough memory or storage for today’s needs. (Many never did have enough power).

The idea of tossing out such beautiful displays drives me crazy. You can’t even use them as a display for another computer.

I have a beautiful BenQ monitor which reproduces 99% of the Adobe RGB color space. No need to replace this for a long time. But as you can see, I have replaced the old Mac Mini that used to power it:

I was pretty sure that USB-C cables could be upgraded to do whatever Apple wanted to do, so I asked Reddit:

Thinking that we think independently

Posted by a friend on Facebook:

It’s interesting that the poster calls this a “random thought” when this is all over social media and even MSM (definition #2). This is yet another example of how we humans like to believe that we think independently.

Learning from an old brain

As my brain slows down with age, I am able for some reason to notice its actions better than before.

For example, I turn right at the top of our street and see a deer out of the corner of my eye. At least that’s what my perceptual mechanism does before “I” immediately correct this report from “below”: it’s a neighbor’s sign in the shape of a moose.

This morning I opened up the Wall Street Journal and placed it on our kitchen table along with the New York Times. Here’s what I saw:

My brain reported The Real Wall Street Journal! That was enough to focus my attention on the page and realize where the Real had come from.

When I was younger, I suspect that I overrode erroneous reports so quickly that I didn’t become conscious of the process as often as I do now. Or maybe I’m just more interested in the working of our brains than I used to be.

Don’t thump this Bible

This is a Concealed Carry Semi Hard Shell Bible Gun Case For Medium To Small Guns sold on ebay.com. Notice that the pistol in the photo is cocked!!??

Hurricane Elsa

Our evil stepmother spelled her name “Else”, but this makes me feel uncomfortable anyway.

Hurricane Elsa is coming our way