Yes, it’s a busy space-conference week in LA. I was at the Space Tourism Conference on Wednesday, and ISDC yesterday and today. And tomorrow. And Sunday.
Open thread in comments.
Category Archives: General
To The Mothers
Mine has been gone for almost a quarter of a century now, but if you can, show yours the appreciation she deserves. None of us would be here without them.
[Update a while later]
We watched Young Sheldon for the first few seasons when it started, but haven’t seen the most recent ones. Maybe we should, now that it’s almost over.
Art That’s Just For Me
Thoughts on AI creations, from Lileks.
Bluegrass Flatpicking Master Class
Hard to beat the combination of Molly Tuttle and Tommy Emmanuel.
Prez Cannady
I never met him, but regularly interacted with him on Twitter. I just learned that he passed last year. He was a very interesting guy.
[Update a while later]
Here‘s the obit. Hadn’t known he was an MIT grad.
Gary Sinise
A touching tribute to his lost son. I wish that he’d have run for governor. One of the really good guys in Hollywood.
On The Road Again
We’re heading back to California from Golden this morning, spending the night in Mesquite, NV (which we’ve never done before, so that will be mildly interesting). Probably back in LA early tomorrow afternoon (we have to return the rental by 4:30). More anon.
Merry Christmas To All
Even to those who take offense at being wished a merry Christmas. I’m not a Christian, or believer in general, but neither am I one of the too many godless who demonize them.
Given the events of the past several weeks, it has to be a very sad Christmas in the place of Christ’s birth. The home of someone who came to bring peace remains roiled in a brutal war, fought against savage people who, if they ever got the power to eliminate those people from whom He was descended, would next take on the rest of us infidels.
With what’s happening in Ukraine and Israel, it’s perhaps one of the most somber holidays in almost eight decades, but we should rejoice that those of us in America remain at peace for now, and offer our thoughts and hopes and (if you do that) prayers to those who are suffering not just on this day, but for all days.
FEMA Phone Alert Tomorrow
If you don’t want your phone to go off with it, turn it off between 1400 and 1500 EDT.
Electrical Mystery
So, out porch light quit working a couple days ago. I figured the bulb had burned out, so I changed it. But it still didn’t work, even with a known good bulb.
I took off the switch plate, and pulled out the switch. It had power measured from ground (the box) to the input. But it also had power at the output, though a couple volts less. There was no voltage at the light. I took out the switch, and got the same result. 119 at the hot lead, and 117 at the wire that supposedly goes to the light. Any ideas what’s going on?
[Afternoon update]
So, I removed the light. With the wires disconnected at the switch, there is 119 between the hot lead and ground, and almost the same on the neutral. Neither of them should have any voltage on them. WTF?
[Saturday-morning update]
OK, here’s a new part of the mystery. The switch actually controls two lights (our main entrance is on the upper floor, and there’s another light on the ground floor below). When I get into the box where the switch is, there is a hot wire coming from the breaker, a triple wire with one of them going to the switch, and one going to each of the lights, and a pair of neutrals going to the two lights. But there is no neutral coming from the breaker.
And with the two neutrals connected and no switch, the hot, the ones going to the lights, and the neutrals all have voltage to ground.
Again, WTF?
Next step is to disconnect the two neutrals and see which of them or if both of them, are hot.
[Bumped]
[Afternoon update]
OK, I’ve exposed all the wires in the box. There is a black one presumably coming from the breaker, and it has 119V. There are two white ones, each going to a fixture, and they are both hot as well. There is no white one coming from the breaker. There are two yellow ones, presumably the hot ones, that went from the switch to the two fixtures. One of them is hot (the one going to the downstairs fixture). The other one, which goes to the upper fixture, is the only one in the box that isn’t hot. There is no ground wire; it’s grounded through armored conduit.
I continue to scratch my head. I guess the next step is to take the downstairs fixture off the wall and see what’s happening down there.
[Update a while later]
I’m busy with another project (installing new lighting in the kitchen), but I suspect that when I look behind the other fixture, I’ll see the neutral that comes from the breaker, which then feeds the upper fixture. And that’s probably where the problem is, though I have no idea what could have caused things to change.
[Update a while more later]
Per discussion of codes in comments, the house was built in 1977.