efaardvark

Just a sandwich.. ham and cheese and lettuce and pepperoni on wheat with mustard and mayo. Had some lettuce left over that didn't look like it'd last much longer so I made a small salad to go with it. Bacon bits and ranch dressing on the salad, with a sprinkle of grated Parmesan on top. Diet cherry pepsi to wash it all down. Basic but yummy.

I christened one of the new shot glasses.

I will have eaten them all before then. That does remind me though.. I need to buy more eggs.

Visited the company store again. This time I came away with 2 NASA shot glasses and a “Dare Mighty Things” sticker. Banana for scale.

And here I just made french toast.

Making french toast out of cinnamon-swirl bread… (I debated putting this in the pancakes vs waffles topic. )

Opened a new bag of coffee this morning. It takes me a while to go through even a small bag so I buy the beans. (To avoid the coffee going bland by the time I get to the bottom of the bag I buy the beans and grind a new batch every week or so.) Anyway, this time I noticed a definite difference in the size of the beans. Compared to the beans from the bag I bought several months ago (right) the beans from the latest batch (left) are less than half the size. The ones in the last bag were smaller than the ones before as well. I don’t have earlier examples but from memory this brand used to have beans up to 2x or 3x the size of the ones in the last bag. So these latest are really tiny. They’re about the size of BBs! The taste is different too, and not in a good way. (Not just me.. there’s a known taste difference that correlates with bean size.) I might have to look for a new brand.

I wouldn't say stumbled. JPL was only about 7 miles away so it's basically a local business. They have internship and academic part-time programs too so that's one of the first places that everyone around here checks when they're looking for work, even if they're just looking for summer or part-time. Additionally I am and always have been a big space nerd* so I knew that Voyager was coming up on a big mission event that they'd have to staff up for. To not have at least checked to see if they had job openings would have been negligent. The job wasn't exactly rocket science either. When I say a trained monkey could have done it I'm not kidding. There was a set of 4 tape recorders next to a huge rack of reel-to-reel tapes and a stack of sequentially numbered pre-printed peel-and-stick labels. Data coming down would be written to the tapes at a peak rate of about 1 reel every 7 minutes. When one tape is filled the recorder it is mounted on beeps and the system automatically switches writing to the blank tape on the next recorder. The now-full tape automatically rewinds. At that point the monkey unloads the tape, slaps the next label on it, puts the labeled tape on the rack, takes down a blank tape from the rack, and puts the blank tape on the now empty recorder. Repeat this sequence for the 8-hour shift. If you need a bathroom break you have about 20 minutes before all the tapes on all 4 recorders finish writing. Every 10 tapes or so the monkey makes a pass over the heads and capstan of the recorder with an alcohol pad before mounting the new blank tape. 3 or 4 times a shift the librarian would come up to take away the written tapes, restock the rack with blank tapes, and add to the stack of pre-printed labels.. IIRC the pay was only about $5/hr, which was only a buck or so above federal minimum wage at the time. My workplace, ca. 1989. *My favorite game is Kerbal Space Program. 'nuff said.

Tech support for the Deep Space Network here. Really. NASA badge and everything. More precisely I'm in the data systems integration and test group for the TTC (Tracking, Telemetry, and Command) software used at the Jet Propulsion Lab to process telemetry from the various robotic spacecraft, landers & rovers exploring the solar system. After the developers are done developing and the testers tell us they're done with unit testing a new software release my group installs and configures it all in a flightlike manner on systems that parallel the actual realtime telemetry processing systems at JPL. We run it that way for a while and compare it with the data produced by the flight software, noting any discrepancies and testing out new features. When / if it checks out we also manage the upgrading of the flight systems and the transition to the new software. We're on-call basically 24/7 to troubleshoot any problems with the software and are usually scheduled to support critical events like launches, maneuvers, and landings. As for how I got here.. In between semesters at a community college I took a full-time, short term job changing reel-to-reel tapes at JPL for the Voyager Neptune encounter. (This was back in '87 so reel-to-reel was still a thing. along with punched cards, line printers, dumb terminals, etc. The Intel 486 processor and the Internet explosion were still a couple years in the future.) The job was work a trained money could do and was only supposed to be a few months. The encounter was a flyby event so after that the spacecraft would continue on to interplanetary (and eventually interstellar) space where nothing much happens. Once all the data from the encounter was transmitted to the ground the tape-changing would drop from one every 5 minutes to one every couple weeks. My job would end and I'd go back to school with a bit of tuition / book money in my pocket and several months of job experience at JPL on my resume. Eventually I planned to transfer from the CC to UC Irvine and complete a C&IS/EE degree there. But my boss liked my work & at the end of the Voyager job asked me if I'd be interested in a full-time job in realtime ops in the NOC there in the SFOF. Wasn't at all part of my original Plan but hey, NASA, so I took it. The pay was decent, I figured it would look good on the resume, it was good work experience, and if it didn't work out I could always go back to plan A. The next 40 years were a blur.

It's been a while but I watched the anime. Liked it, but not enough for a rewatch.

And here is the “after” shot. I finished construction, got everything in the cabinet, cables all rerouted, and the doors shut. Amazingly my LAN and internet still work! The panel on the left is the display for a weather station I have on the roof outside so that’s where it should be. The black square to the right is the exhaust fan. The black box that’s kind of dangling there at the bottom is Spectrum’s cable box / router. I may also move it inside at some point but it has some status lights on it so I elected to put it there for now for visibility. Inside temps seem fine with the two cabinet fans at half speed. If anything the equipment seems happier in its new home. Both the LAN switch and the wifi have small fans that rev up and emit a high pitched whine when things get warm but they’ve been quiet since I got everything tucked away. The remaining dangling wires will soon be corralled and contained in some raceways attached to the wall. I have the materials already. I just ran out of time this weekend. I’m considering repainting that wall too though so I might put that project off for a bit. This next is a closer shot of the fan assembly. Inside the cabinet are regular PC case fans. These outside bits are there to make the outside look a bit nicer and to hold a reusable dust filter. Too soon to tell if the filter bit will work as intended of course but it should simplify cleaning and it does help the aesthetics. There is an identical one on the other side of the cabinet over the intake fan.

Lunch was a spicy tuna sandwich and a beer*. And some tortilla chip powder from the bottom of the bag. *Don’t worry, I’m done with power tools for the day.

Cleared a shelf in a nearby cabinet so I can build a place to hide all the gear for my phone/internet/cable connection and the main switch for the house LAN. This all used to just be piled on the a desk near where the wires entered the house. That looked messy and was a bit of a pain when it came to dusting. I didn’t like the cable monster or the noise. Can’t get rid of the cable monster but this way it is at least hidden. With the cabinet doors closed it’s a lot quieter too, even with the addition of a couple fans in the cabinet for ventilation. I’ve got filters on both of the cabinet fans so hopefully that cuts down on the dust accumulation and makes cleaning quicker/easier. The cabinet is mounted to the wall above the desk so this also gives me back desk real estate. It also lets me move the desk for cleaning. A bit further down on the todo list is getting the rug cleaned so this project is kind of a prerequisite for that. So far I have the exhaust fan installed and I’m going to put another on the other side to pull air in and blow it across the equipment. I also still need to make a hole in the bottom for the cables themselves, then reroute & re-cable everything. But first, lunch..

As with pancakes I will certainly eat any waffles that stray within arms reach. It is just that I would eat all the pancakes first.

Def pancakes. I like to make a bunch of them ahead of time, eat some, and put the rest in the freezer so I can take a couple out and heat them in the microwave for a quickie breakfast when I'm in a rush to get to work. I've also been known to take a couple frozen ones and mash a scoop of ice cream between them to make an ice cream sandwich.

Oh yes, there's all sorts of things that bear on prices. The art on them is one of the big factors. It changes occasionally and some designs - or artists - are more popular than others. Certain years are considered more desirable just for the year.. coins minted in 1969 (the year of the first Apollo moon landing) or 1963 (JFK assassination) do get a price bump for example. The number of coins minted every year is different as well, so coins from certain years are just more or less rare compared to others. For gold coins one of the big factors was that prior to 1933 the US was on a gold standard, meaning gold was actually used as everyday money. But then in 1933 the government was looking for money to help get through the Great Depression. The government stopped minting gold coins and passed a law requiring everyone to exchange all the gold in circulation with I.O.Us (paper dollars). The coins were then melted down into bullion to give to the banks. The only coins that escaped were ones that were lost, illegally hidden from exchange/confiscation, or in foreign possession out of the country. Even a lot of coins in foreign possession were voluntarily returned for exchange. The law also made it illegal for any US citizen to own pretty much any gold. Some exceptions were made for pre-1933 foreign coins that had numismatic value, but basically private possession of gold was outlawed. That also caused a huge drop in the demand for gold worldwide, which in turn caused a bit of a drop in gold prices, and a lot of selling of gold (buying of other assets). A lot of gold coins worldwide, even foreign ones, were also melted down and turned in to bullion. Needless to say all this made any gold coins from pre-1933 relatively scarce. The St Gaudens coin you were talking about was probably from 1932 or 1933. Those had been minted but not yet released to circulation when the law recalling all gold was passed, making them illegal to own. It wasn't until I think President Ford passed a law allowing US citizens to own gold again that any gold coins started coming back to the US, but of course even then they were relatively rare, with a commensurate price premium. The other big factor for gold (and silver) coin prices has been that it is a lot easier to create inflation by Congressional overspending and Fed interest rate manipulation when everyone is using paper as money. They've done a lot of both in the decades since 1933. (Especially recently!!) So much so that by now the dollar is so worthless that something like a St. Gaudens that had a $20 face value back then is now priced at $3300 just on metal content alone, before any collectable consideration whatsoever. Some people buy gold and silver coins exclusively for the gold and silver, as a hedge against such inflation. As an aside on inflation, even in my own lifetime I remember as a kid my mom giving me a $5 bill to go pick up some groceries for her on the way home from school. This was the 70s. Back then a loaf of bread was about 20 cents. Eggs were about 80 cents/dozen. Milk was about $1.50/gal. I'd skim off about 15 cents for a candy bar or ice cream cone for my services. In todays-dollar terms that would be about $3, $5, and $5, respectively, based on Ralphs/Krogers prices. (That's with modern food production and preservation techniques too. Back then most everything was still what today would be marketed as "organic", "non-GMO", or "fresh" - with a corresponding price premium.) That Morgan dollar that I posted on the other day is now worth about $28. Two or three of them would STILL buy enough of those staples for a week. Hmmm.. I wonder if I can convince my boss to pay me in silver dollars, like they did in the old days.

I did a quick google. The wikipedia entry was interesting.

I've heard the St Gaudens coins can be expensive. We're talking price-of-a-house expensive so I don't follow the market but I heard of one that had a $20 face value going for over $100k. It wasn't even unique either. It was one of like 3 million that were minted in a particular year (that I don't recall) sometime back in the 1920s. At those kinds of prices it'll be .. a while before I can play in that market!

The other interesting thing about them is you can supposedly trade them for an equivalent amount of actual gold coins. 10 of the "100" denomination will get you a 1oz coin for example. This isn't via a federal bank of course, at least not at the moment. However, the Basil III rules are scheduled to go into effect over here in the US this month. The new rules make gold a "tier 1" asset with regards to international banking settlements.. right up there with the US dollar. So essentially gold will be money again. Not far at all from there to putting the US back on a gold standard.

I got something called a "goldback" the other day. They're basically a thin sheet of gold foil laminated in plastic. Apparently some US states have taken it upon themselves to produce these as a way to collect physical gold and as a proposed alternative to paper money. The front has a holographic background with an image overlaying it. There are a bunch of different images depicted on them depending on denomination and which state produced them. The different denominations indicate how much gold is contained therein. A "1" has 1/1000 troy ounce of gold. One ounce of gold is currently about $3300 so that would make a "1" worth about about $3.30. At the top end is a "100" with 1/10th ounce, or around $330 worth. This one is a "1/2", meaning it contains 1/2000th of an ounce of gold. Currently that makes it worth less than $2. I got this with the Morgan silver dollar that I posted about previously. Since I was trading down as far as metal content the guy I was trading with threw it in as a bonus or make-up item. (I would have posted it with the Morgan the other day but I left it at work & didn't have any pics at the time.)

Morgan dollars were very popular when the US was on a silver standard. They stopped minting them in 1904 however so they're not very well known in modern times. Actually, that's not quite true. There apparently was a short production run of Morgan dollars done in 1921 as a commemorative sort of thing. Then on the centennial anniversary of that in 2021 the US mint started making Morgans again. You can even buy a 2025 Morgan design silver dollar from the US mint. The thing is their face value is still only "one dollar", even though the mint is selling them for $91 and the silver in them is worth about $28. As a result nobody uses them like a regular dollar coin to buy groceries. If you have one you either hold onto it or sell it for its silver value. This also applies to most of the other silver (and gold) coins that were historically used in circulation as money. The silver in a silver quarter from 1964 is now worth about $6 for example. There are so many of these types of coins still around that unless they're in perfect shape or have some sort of unique quality such as a production blemish that makes them special they don't really have much in the way of collectable or numismatic value. They are sometimes even called "junk" silver. This applies to most of the older Morgan coins like the one that I just got, as well as pre-1964 dimes, quarters, half dollars, and dollars that were 90% silver. They're all bought and sold primarily for the silver content and not seen in general circulation.

It's ok though. The Wonkavator can land safely. In fact, in the second book it not only landed, took on a whole family (including a bed), and then took off again, it even got to orbit and docked with a space station! I'd be more concerned about the Vermicious Knids. I heard about that. I might be interested in taking the tour but I also heard the area was occasionally menaced by low-flying pigs.

Don't worry. Sounds like you'll fit right in. wrt topic.. I've had The Chain Gang rattling around in my head since I heard them playing it in the cafeteria at work yesterday. I need to find something else to drive it out.