I Saw This in a Comment at Instapundit

Okay, pick the best caption.

Motion Detection Light Switches

When I had a house built in Horseshoe Bend in 2005, I fantasized about motion detection light switches. I had become quite enamored of them at HP.  Will they save enough electricity to justify the capital invested replacing existing switches?  Probably not, but not having to get up from the couch to turn off the bathroom light is a convenience for the "convenience," as I have sometimes seen toilets euphemized.

Question: do any of you see any difficulties or disadvantages to replacing light or fan switches with such?

Why Is DEI So Hated?

 5/22/25 ChalkTalk:

The school — which serves mainly low-income Latino and Black students — had piloted a new grading approach in 2019, then embraced it when the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted students’ lives and learning. Students could redo assignments repeatedly and turn in work late. Even if they didn’t complete the assignment, the lowest score they could get was 50 rather than zero — a concept known as no-zero grading.

In Chicago and around the country, no-zero grading started to take hold at least a decade before COVID struck — part of a larger push to give students more chances to show what they learned. Its supporters argue that giving students zeros for missed or badly bungled assignments makes it too hard for them to recover, leading some to stop trying — and to stop showing up to class.

But teachers at Richards and at least one other high school in Chicago are pushing back on the controversial approach to grading. They worry it allows some students to eke out passing grades with little effort and undermines the importance of turning in work on time and coming to school regularly.

Some educators and experts think no-zero grading — and a broader push to avoid giving F’s — is one reason why CPS has experienced two seemingly conflicting trends since the pandemic: High absenteeism among high school students and increasing graduation rates.

Last year, a quarter of all high schoolers missed more than a month of school, a Chalkbeat and WBEZ analysis found. But the graduation rate has kept going up.

Principal Kennedy, at Richards, is skeptical that no-zero grading was a key factor in lowering attendance, and remains a firm believer in second and third chances for students. But she could also see where her teachers were coming from last spring.

“When students graduate and are working in jobs, what they experience around grace and flexibility at school is not going to match,” Kennedy said. “This bubble is not going to surround you wherever you go.”...

As part of efforts to help students stay on track at Richards in 2019, Kennedy and a group of her teachers read a 2018 book, “Grading for Equity,” by Joe Feldman, which makes the case for rethinking how schools grade students. Feldman, a Harvard-educated former school district administrator, runs a consultancy that works with districts on implementing equity-based grading. In recent years, Feldman and others had questioned the zero-to-100 grading scale, arguing that it’s slanted toward failure. Feldman’s approach has gained traction — and spurred debate — in recent years.

Feldman argues that traditional grading often does not reflect whether students have learned something or gained skills, and grades based on attendance, along with homework grades, can be unfair to low-income students and students of color, who are more likely to contend with homelessness, responsibilities such as sibling care, and other hurdles....

Student Kayla Saffold loves that Richards has fewer than 400 students and so many teachers like Brahm who work to make the school a welcoming, understanding place. “It is like a family,” she said.

As she wraps up her senior year, she can name a long list of her activities, from basketball to founding the student council.

But Saffold said the no-zero grading system was a disappointment.

“I was a witness to kids just coming in, like, twice a week and doing two assignments and then passing the class,” she said. “It was just crazy to me.”

“It felt like I had to put in the effort to get the A, and someone else ends up barely putting in any effort at all, and ended up passing the class. It felt unfair to me,” she said.

If this was not so transparently racist in intent, it would be laughable.  Equity is really "the soft bigotry of low expectations."  Assuming that BIPOCs are incapable of performing like white kids is really a leftist admission that they think they are too stupid to compete on an equal basis with whites.

Nothing to Worry About: Iran Has 408 kg of 60% Enriched Uranium

5/31/25 Wall Street Journal:

"The International Atomic Energy Agency said in a confidential report circulated to member states that Iran had grown its stockpile of 60%-enriched uranium to 408.6 kilograms from 274.8 kilograms in early February, an increase of around 50%. The Wall Street Journal viewed a copy of the report."

For those reluctant to do the math, 15kg appears to be supercritical mass for a U-235 bomb.  Usually 90% U-235 is minimum for a bomb.  This would suggest 244 kg of U-235 with a lot more centrifuging or 16 Hiroshima-sized bombs.  Unlike an implosion device, U-235 can be turned onto a bomb that requires no testing.   We did not test Little Boy (a U-235 bomb) before using it on Nagasaki.  There was no need.  Our first sign of an Iranian successful product might well be a mushroom cloud over Jerusalem or Washington. DC.  Either one would cause thermonuclear war.  

The R-word

I am old enough to remember when that word was considered a neutral way of describing a person that today we call "developmentally delayed."  (I guess it still okay to say that lowering the temperature of a reaction vessel had retarded formation of the end product.)

I used the word in a History of the 14th Amendment class (to the upset of a student) when discussing Buck v. Bell (1927) which upheld mandatory sterilization of the "developmentally delayed," and which gave us progressive Justice Holmes' memorably nasty, "Three generations of idiots are enough."  I was not just quoting the word, unfortunately.   I think I just slipped into the idiomatic use because of intellectual infection by Holmes' decision. 

Anyway, this 5/31/25 CNN article about the reemergence of the word is slightly annoying.  It is annoying because it is playing into the whole Newspeak, "If the word does not exist, the concept cannot be thought."  It is also annoying because people that should know better seem to be using it in an intentionally offensive way,  or at least failing to consider if it might be best to avoid causing unnecessary offense.   "Offend with substance not with style."

Of course,  many years ago, in an employment commission hearing, a former co-worker engaged in a gratuitous description of me as "socially retarded."  I laughed but, in retrospect,  I think he was right. 

AI: A Lot of Hype, It Appears

5/27/25 The Register:

"Formally, in AI circles, this is known as AI model collapse. In an AI model collapse, AI systems, which are trained on their own outputs, gradually lose accuracy, diversity, and reliability. This occurs because errors compound across successive model generations, leading to distorted data distributions and "irreversible defects" in performance. The final result? A Nature 2024 paper stated, "The model becomes poisoned with its own projection of reality."

"Model collapse is the result of three different factors. The first is error accumulation, in which each model generation inherits and amplifies flaws from previous versions, causing outputs to drift from original data patterns. Next, there is the loss of tail data: In this, rare events are erased from training data, and eventually, entire concepts are blurred. Finally, feedback loops reinforce narrow patterns, creating repetitive text or biased recommendations."

This is really unsurprising.   Feedback loops can produce pretty useless results.  Proof is provided with a guitar, speakers, and microphone.   I suspect that AI is either going to be reined a lot on its inputs,  or turn into the information equivalent of rock'n'roll feedback.

BFA: Degrees That Glut the Market

5/27/25 Inside Higher Education:

"In the U.S., more than 150 musical theater bachelor’s programs graduate at least 1,500 students each year into a famously unstable industry. Some argue: Enough is enough."

Indeed.  A BFA professor argues:

"I don’t think that the system broke down at random,” he says in the video. “I think it broke down in response to more colleges creating more B.F.A. programs, not because they were equipped to have those programs, but because they thought they would be cash cows—and they were.” He goes on to claim that he knows of one institution that doubled the size of its B.F.A. cohort in order to earn more revenue from tuition."

Academics sometimes argue that limiting degree programs based on the chances of gainful employment discriminated again poor people who could not otherwise afford to pay for these degrees at unsubsidized prices.  This is certainly true.  As the article observes:

"The discourse comes amid ongoing debates over gainful-employment regulations established by former president Joe Biden, which require academic programs to demonstrate that their graduates earn more than those without a college education and that they can afford to repay their student loans."

So discriminating against poor people will reduce the chances that they will stay poor, trying to pay back loans for low paying jobs.  Yes, it is so unfair to encourage poor people to stay poor.

Final point: universities are engaged in predatory practices that screw over the poor.  Evil capitalist exploiters!

Courage From MIT

5/23/25 College Fix:

"A recent event at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology focused on concerns about gender transitioning and a fundraiser at a nearby restaurant after the panel drew a large protest and calls for a boycott.

"The “Born in the Right Body: Law and Learning Forum” at MIT on May 18 was a collaboration between LGB Courage Coalition and DIAG, or Democrats for an Informed Approach to Gender, a nonprofit dedicated to protecting “core liberal values.”"

Yes, you read that right: a gay group opposed to trans madness and a Democrats for sanity group.  There is nothing intrinsically liberal about transgender madness.  Nor is there anything intrinsically gay about telling people they are in the wrong body.   Sex reassignment and hormone treatment are so weird, they make homosexuality seem normal.   Also, it has not been so many decades since homosexual men were treated with hormones to make them more "manly."  I suspect if anything it enhanced libido without turning that into pursuit of women.

A Lot of Young People Developed Heart Problems After COVID Vaccines

The obvious explanation you have heard.  This 5/28/25 CNN article suggests another reason for young heart disease:

"Healthy people who regularly smoked marijuana or consumed THC-laced edibles showed signs of early cardiovascular disease similar to tobacco smokers, a new small study found.

“To my knowledge, it’s the first study looking at THC’s impact on vascular function in humans,” said senior study author Matthew Springer, professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco."

Yes, I know, a lot of boomers smoke pot, but boomer heart disease is not a surprise.

Trade is Amazingly Weird

5/28/25 AP:

"While California farmers often rattle off a list of challenges they face including high labor costs, water restrictions and overseas competition, many avocado growers say they have a good thing going. A key reason may come as a surprise to some — Mexican imports.

"When the United States lifted its ban on Mexican avocados in 1997, California growers worried at first that the imported fruit would displace their production.

"But the steady flow of avocados has wound up helping, not hurting, their sales by allowing for a year-round supply to markets and restaurants that has fomented demand, farmers say. Before the influx, most American consumers considered avocados to be specialty items — and when they came into season in California, industry officials had to work to rev up widespread interest in order to sell them."

Yes.  Foreign competition helped domestic growers. This is why oversimplified models of tariffs are just that: oversimplified  

No Machining for a While

The Y-axis has stopped working.   The axes on a CNC mill are even more demanding of lubrication than a manual mill.  It gets a lot more motions.  A manual mill also starts to tell you,  "I need oil."  The motors are neither that sensitive to resistance nor emphatic to the gears.  You might expect more fellow-feeling for another machine!

Anyway, I only need to return the Y-axis to Sherline for repair.   It is not immediately obvious how to separate the X- and Y-axes.  I put these together when I bought this ten(?) years ago.  I cannot find anything online that explains how and the technicians at Sherline are gone for the day 

It was getting a bit hot in there anyway.  I expect to install an A/C in the garage in a week or so.

UPDATE: I just needed the right search string: "sherline 5400 remove Y-axis."

This Was a Surprise

If Alberta secede from Canada, they have more rights to pipelines to the ocean than they do now.  The U.N. Law of the Sea includes:

"PART X

RIGHT OF ACCESS OF LAND-LOCKED

STATES TO AND FROM THE SEA

AND FREEDOM OF TRANSIT"

Yes, Canada would be required to grant Alberta access to pipelines to the ocean, something Canada will not allow the province of Alberta.

Mostly a Post-It In Case I Forget, or If You Are Attempting to Learn How to Cut CCW Arcs in gCode

 You want to cut a 90 degree arc where Xs,Ys in the outer part of the arc (the mill's edge will cut here; we want an arc cut (Xs-mr,Y-mr to (0,Ys)), where the center of the src will be 0,0 and the mill radius=mr. In this case, I am using a 1/4"  end mill.  The 1/8" endmill would waste less material, but it will not stay in endmill holder reliably.

Example code:

%
g17 g20 g54
g1 z1 f25
g1 x2.518 y0 f25  (position to Xs plus the radius of the mill)
g1 z0.1 f25
g1 z-.15 f1
G3 X0 Y2.518 I-2.518 j0 f5 (X and Y are the end of the arc)
(I is the offset from X start point to center of arc; J is offset from Y start point)
m2
%

I Am Sure the Governor is Disappointed

5/29/25 KING5:

"SEATTLE — A legally armed civilian shot and killed a 16-year-old boy Wednesday night after the teen allegedly opened fire on two people in downtown Seattle, according to police.

"The shooting happened just after 10 p.m. near First Avenue and Union Street. Police said the teen shot two people before he encountered a 57-year-old man licensed to carry a firearm, who then shot the teen. "

Canada Seems to be Breaking Apart

I am seeing claims on YouTube that Quebec's premier is calling for separation.   5/29/25 CTV also reports:

"Immigration Minister Jean-François Roberge wasted no time in boasting after the adoption of his new law that will give Quebec its own model for national integration.

"He says the legislation will relegate Canadian multiculturalism to the “dustbin of history.”

“Multiculturalism no longer applies on Quebec soil, finally! (…) It’s a model that has always been harmful to Quebec,” Roberge declared Wednesday at the National Assembly.

"According to him, under that model, the state takes it upon itself to allow newcomers to retain their culture and language of origin.

“That’s Canadian multiculturalism. We live alongside one another,” he explained.

"His new law — inspired by interculturalism — aims to signal to immigrants that they are “arriving in a state with its own model of integration” and that they must accept Quebec’s social contract, which is based on values such as democracy, the French language, gender equality, and secularism.""

Keep in mmind that Canada's heavy-handed bilingual requirements are a heavy burden in parts of Canada where there are few French speakers.   If Quebec is going to tell immigrants French or else, why should the rest of Canada keep playing this game?

More evidence of the coming split.  5/27/25 CTV:

"King Charles III had barely left the country as the National Assembly unanimously adopted a motion on Tuesday to cut all ties with the monarchy.

"The motion was tabled by PQ leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon after Question Period, on a red-letter day in another parliament, Ottawa, where the monarch delivered the Speech from the Throne for the first time since 1977.

"The PQ motion was adopted unanimously, with 106 votes in favour and no abstentions. Even the federalist Liberals, who are more attached to Canadian institutions, voted in favour, as did the CAQ government benches."

"

StarLink Direct-to-Cell Beta

My wife and I switched over to T-Mobile at least in part to have StarLink beta access. 

Machining: Precise. Affordable. Pick One.

I have done not terribly precise work in the past.  Most stuff was .005" precise on a good day 

I am working now on parts where I need better.  The jig I showed a couple days ago left the two ends of the workpiece about  .03" difference from the Jawa of the vise.  Since I am trying to make a part in which I may cut degree marker lines,  this is not good 

The tapped holes in the Delrin vertical ba/base were not terribly lined up.  So I turned the part over and went a but more careful.  Moving the edge finder along the edge of that piece revealed that it was not parallel to the X-axis.  Why?  The rear of the vise was not parallel to the mill table.  I loosened the clamps, lined them up as best as I could feel (which usually means +-.003"), then clamped everything down again.

After drilling and tapping, the two ends are about .001" from parallel which is good enough.  This gobbled up lots of time.   But when I cut the workpiece,  it will be plenty accurate. 

This is Industrializing!

My Oregon Concealed Handgun License expired a couple years back but address changes meant that I never received a renewal notice.  To my surprise,  I am still able to renew the license anyway. 

I just went through the online renewal process using a webpage called PERMITIUM.  I still need to drive over to Vale to get photographed and card issued,  but still what an improvement!

Do You Remember the Kamloops Anonymous Children Cemetery at an Indian Residential School in Canada?

It was international news for a while, evidence of white contempt for Indian lives.  This article tells how a septic system map from the 1920s exactly matches the anomalies found by the Ground Penetrsting Radar.  (No one ever excavated to see if there were bodies there.  The story would be less compelling with you know, actual evidence.)

"It is important to note that it was the so-called indigenous Knowledge Keepers at Kamloops who claimed to have known that the Kamloops apple orchard was a clandestine burial site. The reason ground penetrating radar (GPR) searches were conducted was due to the Knowledge Keepers “knowings” – which derive from indigenous oral traditions (also known as “traditional knowledge”)....

"Former KIRS student, Emma Baker admitted in an interview with CTV that when she attended the Kamloops residential school from 1952 to 1956, she and her friends made up stories about graves in the apple orchard.

“There was a big orchard there and we used to make up stories of the graveyard being in the orchard,” Baker told CTV News Channel on Saturday. “There was rumours of a graveyard, but nobody seemed to know where it was and we didn’t even know if it was true.”

"Those lurid stories, or more likely, highly implausible urban legends, were for decades circulated by defrocked former United Church minister and debunked conspiracy theorist Kevin Annett. It appears that Annett had heard the tales of unmarked graves and murdered children, most likely remnants of the gruesome yarns exaggerated by former IRS students like Emma Baker."

It seems that any really bad idea the U.S. has gets copied by the Canadians (internment of citizens of Japanese ancestry, the 1934 gun laws).  Do they copy or just make the same dumb fixes because they are a similar culture confronting the same challenges?

Indian Residential Schools in both nations suffered the liberal delusion that the best result for the Indians would be assimilate them into white society: break their language and cultural associations with the old and make them little Americans and Canadians.   

That this often led to really destructive practices was not because liberals bore Indians any ill-will, but like liberals throughout the 20th century,  their good intentions included a large dose of arrogance and ignorance. 

The article linked above indicates that children could only be admitted after an application by the parents.   While American schools seem to have been less concerned about parental consent, I have seen documentaries about American Indian Residential Schools where parents sent their children to them in the hopes of breaking the poverty by getting their kids familiar with the dominant culture.  This is unsurprising,  even if it often did not work out as hoped.

Remember that one of the biggest lies often starts out. "I am from the government, and I am here to help you."

Machining Often Involves Making Jigs

One of the parts that I need to machine is a quarter circle, two of which will form the "ears" holding the polar axis assembly.   My goal was 1/4 of a 6" circle. 

Once I started machining the two 3" squares from which was going to cut these pieces, I discovered that because of an arithmetic error I had cut two 2.46" squares.  No matter.  The actual size matters less than roundness. 

I know how to cut half circles in gCode.  Cutting a quarter circle is easy.  But when I do the cut, I need the workpiece above the surface holding it in place to avoid collision.   So how?  Ordinarily, parallels raise a part in the vise but still require the vise to press on the edges of the workpiece.   That will not do because I have to cut through the workpiece. 

I drilled 6-32 screw through holes in the CFC squares, then tapped 6-32 holes in a flat of Delrin.   The screws lock the CFC to the Delrin quite solidly.  The mill vise clamps down rigidly on the Delrin, which lifts the workpiece just high enough above the vise to avoid collision. 

I only need one of these Delrin jigs.  I will each side separately.