Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts from September, 2016

Behold! Jicama Threatens Thee

Jicama My latest misadventure involves jicama , a perishable food item that resembles a turnip. I can't make out whether it's a bean or a vine from the Wiki entry. It's definitely a root. But, other sources online categorize jicama as a sort of morning glory or nightshade. I had a business idea, which required me to purchase five pounds of jicama. So, how much jicama does five pounds make? About three large jicamas will yield five pounds. Actually, I went over by half a pound. But, it's not like you can resize them to suit you. So, now I have five pounds of jicama at home to eat. I cut one up and sprinkled Trechas and lime on it to eat. I had a few pieces and put the rest in the refrigerator to cool. A while later, I started coughing with a familiar sensation that comes from a food allergy. After a little research, sure enough. Jicama is among the foods that triggers a latex allergy. I had never experienced this reaction with jicama. However, I typically ea

Mr. President - Coco Jambo (1920 x 1080p HD) videoclip

My kids found this song. I had heard it years ago; but, the song wasn't one that I would have remembered. It's catchy and apparently global.

The New Amazon Echo Dot: One step closer to ubiquitous voice control

The Amazon Echo Tap One thing I love about Star Trek, most of the different series, is the ability to issue voice commands to the ship's computer. The crew is able to use the computer's voice recognition anywhere they go. Amazon has introduced a new and improved Amazon Echo Dot, which is a smaller, stripped down version of the Amazon Echo. The Echo Dot brings the vision of the Star Trek computer closer to reality. The Echo devices are always listening for commands to play music, read books, control your IoT (Internet of Things) device, or even place orders on Amazon. However, the Echo sits quietly in one spot of your home waiting for commands within hearing distance. Once you move to another room, the fun is over. Going back to the Star Trek computer, the characters in the show frequently speak commands to the computer, such as when they enter the turbolift and tell it to take them to the Bridge or Engineering. No buttons needed. There are episodes on Star Trek: TNG

Bringing Dead Blogs Back To Life

I have been considering the resurrection of RGV Life and MissionTexas.net recently. These blogs continue to generate a little bit of advertising revenue from Google Adsense every few months despite sitting around without updates. I don't feel any guilt or remorse about leaving the blogs fallow. However, I do wonder, ever so often, if I could have made them viable businesses. I have been aware of Patreon in the last couple of years. I can't help thinking that it might be a better way to go than depending on advertising. It is easier for me, personally, to ask for patronage than to sell advertising. With advertising, I would have to pull stats, make reports, make sales media, and so much more that is required to process individual customer orders. Asking for patronage, on the other hand, is simpler. Cleaner. One page. If you like what I do and want to support it, it won't break you. Obviously, bigger supporters would get something more for their patronage. I would have

Glacial Financial Growth of my Plan

My financial experiments have so far proven more or less workable, although rather slow. In fact, circumstances have led to diminished cash reserves, to the point where I am slightly nervous. I've had some big draws on my reserves that in times past would have been impossible to pay. For example, my Prius had some cooling problems and required changing parts to the hybrid system and changing a leaky water pump. With dealer prices, the repairs cost almost $1000. Something like that is still alarmingly pricey on my budget. Still, I was able to take care of it. Prius models are known for their longevity, so I'm hoping that at 145,000 miles, I can count on the car to continue to perform as dependably as it has been. Another large draw was for a deposit with a builder, which would become earnest money if we qualified for financing, my wife and I. That was another chunk that left the reserves. We expect that money to come back to us soon. The driving reason behind attempting to

The Simple Solution to Traffic