The last time I attended a Franklin Institute “Science After Hours” event was 2020; with a 1920s theme. From science facts about alcohol to a jazz band parading down the marble staircase with 100+ people in tow, it was certainly awesome. Little did we know that only a couple weeks after that event, things would get very different. Fast forward to last week, I finally got back for another science after hours: Flannel and Frost!
Continue reading “Franklin Institute Science After Hours “Flannel and Frost””2015 Hyundai Sonata Sport – No Start after dead battery
Continue reading “2015 Hyundai Sonata Sport – No Start after dead battery”It can’t be the starter…starters don’t really go bad that often…I mean they do, but nowadays? Naaaah.
Me – A few days ago
Diving into the Dovetron MPC-1000R Mark II RTTY Terminal Unit
Sometimes you see something that just…you HAVE to have it. Especially if it scratches an itch regarding the interest of the week: RTTY and Teletypes. Earlier this year, I came across the Dovetron MPC-1000R(ish) Mark II and thought it looked so bad ass that I had to have it. It would add a RTTY cross display to my setup as well as maybe add some features? Anyway it came packed well, so lets dig into this thing and see what a nightm..fun time we’ll have with it.
Continue reading “Diving into the Dovetron MPC-1000R Mark II RTTY Terminal Unit”Like MA BELL…I got the ill communication!
So I guess this will be my first test of my Junknet > Mastodon integration. Hopefully it works!
Life has certainly been interesting lately, at least in the social media realm. With Twitter potentially circling the drain, I have set up an account on Mastodon as a backup. While the performance is a little lacking yet, which I totally expect from the likely-unprecedented number of Twitter orphans looking for a new home, I’m really impressed with it so far.
Continue reading “Like MA BELL…I got the ill communication!”Another Patch Night, another Long “it broke” night
It seems every couple weeks when I schedule some downtime to do updates and go over things, almost 50% of the time I get stuck on something where a patch or update breaks something, and often in some crazy way. With virtualization, there’s an easy fix: snapshots. But what happens when you test something, looks good, and delete the snapshots? Oops.
Continue reading “Another Patch Night, another Long “it broke” night”Health Update
Just wanted to put up a quick post; after seeing a couple docs for follow-ups so far, while I have to have more tests done yet, things seem to be OK and no cause for concern. Whew!
Since my last update I’ve improved a ton, to the point that I’m more or less back to normal, save for the bruising and weird leg yet.
Covid-Induced Heart Attack
(Continued)
The next day I had another telehealth appointment, and asked to get checked out. Doc agreed to get a chest xray done. Called the hospital right away and they had an opening. GREAT! Wrapped up some things at work, and jumped into the shower before heading over…
Continue reading “Covid-Induced Heart Attack”“Something’s Wrong”
Back in 2014, when work started doing “wellness initiaves” which included a blood test, I was remotely surprised when some of my tests didn’t come back so great. Nothing major, just more “yellow tags” than I expected. While I was still considered “young”, I was definitely into adulthood, and had zero qualms about eating fast food every other day of the week, and things like my daily coffee was thick with sugar.
Continue reading ““Something’s Wrong””Removing your Smartphone from the Bedroom
Seems easy, right? Just…pick up your phone, and carry it out of the room. Well, not so much! Recently I realized that my phone habits were getting a little out of control, and in order to dial it back a bit, I thought that by taking my phone out of my bedroom would mean I actually SLEEP (whatever that is). While it’s mostly true, it’s not so easy…
Continue reading “Removing your Smartphone from the Bedroom”Franklin Institute – Very Early Member Letters
Just when you think finding 70 year old stuff is cool, finding 111 year old stuff is even cooler! These two letters were both addressed to the same person in Philadelphia, as they were likely a “member” back then. The postmarks on the cards match the dates seen.
Just to put things into perspective, if you’re familiar with the Franklin Institute, the older of these letters pre-date the current 1936 building by more than two decades! At the time, they had a building on 7th Street, which is actually still there and had housed the Philadelphia History Museum after the Franklin Institute moved to the current building.
In this first letter, they mention the outing at Woodside Park, which was an amusement park located just outside Fairmount Park in Philadelphia.
And with a quick search or two, I believe this may have been the grain elevator the second letter refers to! I’m assuming there was a park or place nearby?
(Image from the Philadelphia Free Library)
