The Corpus Callosum

Fixing the Fellowes

Sun, 15 Jan 2012 22:08:24 -0500

This is one of those medical diagnostic mystery stories. Except, as you can tell from the picture, it is not about diagnosis of a human. Rather, it is about diagnosis of a machine. The photo shows the inside view of a Fellowes SB-87Cs paper shredder. I bought this several years ago to shred several boxes full of old charts. Given the intended purpose, I paid extra for a heavy-duty model that could shred many sheets of paper at once, cutting them into tiny diamond-shaped flecks. It worked perfectly well, for many years. However, it eventually developed a problem. It would still shred, but it would shut off after about five seconds of operation. Repeatedly.

Due to the fact that the shredder mechanism itself was still fine, I couldn't bring myself to throw it out. But I also couldn't imagine paying for a repair.

After some investigation, I noticed that there is a sensor inside, The sensor shuts off the machine when it detects that the bin is full. The bin holds the shreds of paper. When the level of shredded paper gets to the top, the paper pushes up a little plastic flap. On one side of the flap, there is a light-emitting diode (LED). On the other, there is a photo sensor. When the flap goes up, it blocks the light, which causes the sensor to stop conducting electricity. This causes the shredder to stop, and causes an indicator light on the top to go on.

The indicator light would go on after about five seconds of operation, even though the flap was still in the down position. Why? After a little investigation, I found that the LED was burned out. Aha! I checked my diagnosis by shining a flashlight at the photoresistor. The machine worked when the sensor was illuminated. Simple enough.

Even though the unit is not really built in a manner that would make it easy to repair, I did manage to remove the LED, check the voltage (it operates at 3 volts) and find a replacement. A quick trip to the parts store was in order. I then managed to get the replacement fitted back inside. I confirmed that the LED would light up, and reassembled the whole thing.

Problem. The new LED did not make any difference. Even though the sensor was getting light, the machine turned itself off, and the indicator light indicated a full bin when in fact the bin was not full.

I noticed something odd. The LED would remain on, even when the machine was turned off. That explained, perhaps, why it burned out. It had been on constantly for several years, with the machine being plugged in. But it did not explain why the machine would turn off after five seconds, with a functioning LED.

More investigation. I had to defeat safety mechanisms that prevents the machine from being turned on with the door open and the bin removed. Mindful of the possibility that the thing could destroy my fingers, I turned it on and watched a piece of paper get shredded. It would shred about a half sheet, then stop. Bizarre. When the operating switch was turned on, the LED stopped shining steadily. Instead, it would blink every five seconds. I figured the blinking caused the machine to shut off, although it was not entirely clear why it did not restart itself. Perhaps it was designed to wait for some indication of human intervention before it would restart.

After another trip to the parts store, I attached a little battery pack to the LED, bypassing its internal power source. That way, with a steady power source, the LED would not blink. (Also, I could remove the battery after using the shredder, thus preventing the LED from burning out.) That had to work.

Except it didn't. I confirmed that a steady, bright, light came from the LED, and hit the sensor. The LED no longer blinked, given the power from the battery. Even so, The shredder continued to malfunction in exactly the same way.

So, although I could not figure out exactly what the problem was, I did at least localize the problem. The problem was in the circuitry that powers the LED and interprets the sensor. In other words, it was not a problem in the peripheral nervous system; rather, it was in the central nervous system. There is a little circuit board that connects to the sensor and the LED, which has some relays and other stuff. The problem was somewhere on that board or its components.

For a few moments, I thought about how I was going to establish a more precise diagnosis. But there were problems with that. For one, I don't know much about digital stuff. I don't think I could have figured it out. Two, I was not in the mood for a third trip to the parts store, for yet another part. So I just took the two wires that go from the circuit board to the photoresistor, cut them, and soldered them together.

I was not sure that would work, but it does.

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Agave From Root Cuttings

Sun, 14 Aug 2011 12:47:01 -0500

Last February, we had a very unusual hard freeze. It killed a lot of plants.

The prior year, I had gotten an agave from a local nursery. It was a nice specimen, about 12 inches wide; it cost $25. In the freeze, it died. So I removed all the dead matter above ground. In the springtime, I watered it sparingly. After a couple of months, there was no visible growth.

One weekend, I went and bought a plant to replace it. The new plant is a Dasylirion wheeleri, aka sotol, or desert spoon. These things grow in the mountains, where it actually snows sometimes. Ought to be able to tolerate a freeze or two.

When I dug a hole for the sotol, I found a lot of thick, moist, viable-looking root from the agave. Somewhere, sometime, I had read about propagation from root cuttings. So I used some cactus potting mix, in a 12-inch terra cotta pot. I put the root cuttings in a coil, about an inch below the surface. I placed them outdoors, in dappled shade. Then, I waited. I watered them sparingly, occasionally.

Last week, I noticed that two of the four have sprouted new plants.

At this point, I only have to wait about ten years, and I will have two decent specimens.

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Shrink Rap Survey on Attitudes Towards Psychiatry

Mon, 25 Apr 2011 00:39:35 -0500

The good folks at Shrink Rap are conducting a survey about attitudes toward psychiatry. I would appreciate it is some of you would participate. Read the comments on this post...

Hobbyist propagation of Agave lechuguilla

Sun, 24 Apr 2011 12:30:21 -0500

Agave lechuguilla, commonly called lechuguilla or shin dagger, is a type of agave that grows in northern Mexico and southwestern USA. It is highly tolerant of drought and alkaline soil; it is somewhat tolerant of cold. Each plant blossoms exactly once, then the entire plant dies. I have read that if you cut off the stalk when the plant starts to blossom, it won't die. Instead, it will form little pups (offsets) from the roots.

We had a hard freeze in February that killed most of the century plants, all of the oleander, and severely damaged many other plants. The temperature got a bit below zero °F at night, 19 °F in the day, on 3 February 2011. On 31 January, it had been 35 °F at night, 57 °F in the daytime. On 16 February, it was 33 °F at night, 78 °F in the daytime. Thus, the plants were stressed, not only by the cold, but also by the rapid, wide temperature fluctuation.

This photo shows a lechuguilla that survived perfectly well. Flanking it on either side, are two Spartium junceum, Spanish broom. Note that I rarely water the lechuguilla, but I do water the Spanish broom every couple of weeks. (The Spanish broom was damaged a bit by the cold, but is coming back nicely.)

I have read that lechuguilla is difficult to grow from seed. I did collect some seeds last year, but haven't tried them yet, thinking it will be hard to get them to germinate. In order to get more of these plants, I could wait until they bloom, then cut off the stalk, but that could take many years.

What I noticed, is that the lechuguilla near the Spanish broom now has several (five) pups. The other lechuguilla, scattered about the yard, have no pups. My conclusion is that you can get the lechuguilla to form pups by watering the ground near the plant. This seems to cause the roots to come up a foot or two from the main plant. When they get to the surface, they form new plants. It ought to be possible to dig into the ground between the mother plant and the pup, cut the root, then transplant the pup.

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Similarities between the BP Disaster and the Tepco Disaster

Sat, 19 Mar 2011 11:45:26 -0500

A little less than one year ago, the major environmental news pertained to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. From Wikipedia:

The Deepwater Horizon oil spill (also referred to as the BP oil spill, the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, the BP oil disaster or the Macondo blowout)[4][5][6] is an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico which flowed for three months in 2010. The impact of the spill continues even after the well has been capped. It is the largest accidental marine oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry.[7][8][9] The spill stemmed from a sea-floor oil gusher that resulted from the April 20, 2010 explosion of Deepwater Horizon, which drilled on the BP-operated Macondo Prospect.

Of course, the huge environmental news today is the nuclear crisis in Japan, stemming from damage to the Fukushima Dai-Ichi power plants.

It occurs to me that both of these disasters have a common cause: they were caused by desperate efforts to wring cheap energy from nature. The Macondo well was drilled in very deep water. This is difficult and hazardous. We would not do it if we were not desperate.

The Fukushima Dai-ichi power units were built in the late 1960s to late 70s. One could argue that the continued operation of the units reflected a desperate need for more cheap energy. The units were old; their designs, obsolete .

Both BP and TEPCO have histories of malfeasance and cover-ups.

Debt-based economies require a positive growth rate in order to keep functioning. That is, if the economy does not grow enough for all the accululate interest-on-debt to be paid, defaults inevitably occur. But economic growth requires either even-increasing energy expenditures, or ever-increasing improvements in efficiency. Therefore, there is a great need to constantly increase energy supply, given the political impracticality of getting people to become more efficient. We are trying to increase supply, despite a stread decline in energy return per unit of energy invested (EROEI). Hence, the desperation, hence the disasters. We have had two major disasters now in less than a year. This is not a good sign.

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The Inhofe Nothingburger

Sun, 27 Feb 2011 11:33:31 -0500

After the 2010 elections in the USA, headlines proclaimed, "With new Republican majority, let the investigations begin," and "New Republican majority Congress promises a tough ride for Obama." One of the big targets for investigations: climate science.

"There's a huge appetite among the rank-and-file to raise fundamental questions about the underlying science," said Michael McKenna, a Republican strategist and energy lobbyist.

Sen. James Inhofe of Oklahoma, the top Republican on the environment committee, pressed for investigations into "Climategate." Never mind that the whole thing already has been investigated ad nauseum.

So one of the investigations has ended. The conclusion: "GOP inquiry finds no evidence that 'climategate' scientists misused data."

"None of the investigations have found any evidence to question the ethics of our scientists or raise doubts about NOAA's understanding of climate change science," said Mary Glackin, the agency's deputy undersecretary for operations, according to the New York Times.

Note that Dr. Glackin was appointed to her position, at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, by the Bush administration.

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Flickr Pic(kr) 14

Sat, 26 Feb 2011 11:35:02 -0500

This is a photo of a blonde zebra, or albino zebra.

Some rights reserved

Judging from the tags on the photo, it appears that this was taken at the Pana`ewa Rainforest Zoo in Hilo, Hawaii. The author, John Schroedel, indicates that the mutation results in one blonde zebra out of 2.5 to 3 million.

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Insufferable Arrogance® Now Mine

Mon, 21 Feb 2011 22:09:43 -0500

Ok, here's an idea. The Dervaes family have decide to make the phrase "urban homestead" a registered trademark (1 2 3 4 5; also see the EFF post). Presumably, they are doing this to make money. They have gone so far as to send DMCA takedown notices to other persons...persons who, presumably, thought they all were colleagues of some sort. I guess not.

So, if it is possible to make money off of something that is rather commonplace (About 179,000 results on Google) on the Internet, I've got an idea that is even better. I am going to trademark Insufferable Arrogance®. Not the phrase, mind you; rather, I am going to trademark the concept.

Anytime I see anyone displaying Insufferable Arrogance® on the Internet (currently comprising about 35% of all web pages), I will have my legal team send them a Sharply Worded Memo®. If this works, we should see a precipitous decline in the incidence of Insufferable Arrogance® on the Internet.

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Our Infrastructure is so bad, we have to get electricity from Mexico.

Fri, 04 Feb 2011 00:14:58 -0500

This is decidedly ironic:

Rolling outages affect most chilly Texans all day
By ANGELA K. BROWN Associated Press
FORT WORTH, Texas -- A high power demand in the wake of a massive ice storm caused rolling outages for more than eight hours Wednesday across most of Texas, resulting in signal-less intersections, coffee houses with no morning java and some people stuck in elevators.

The temporary outages started about 5:30 a.m. and ended in the afternoon, but "there is a strong possibility that they will be required again this evening or tomorrow, depending on how quickly the disabled generation units can be returned to service," the chief operator of Texas' power grid said in a release.

Because of the problems, Mexico's Federal Electricity Commission agreed to transmit 280 megawatts of electricity to Texas between Wednesday and Thursday night.

This is a direct result of deregulation, as well as chronic under-investment in our national infrastructure. We are lucky that Mexico is better-managed than Texas.

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Nabokov Theory on Polyommatus Blue Butterflies Is Vindicated - NYTimes.com

Wed, 26 Jan 2011 00:25:19 -0500

Every clinician knows that careful observation is the foundation for all knowledge. Reading the account of how Nabokov correctly anticipated the outcome of DNA analysis of butterfly taxonomy, using only his acute powers of observation, I am reminded of historical accounts of physicians who could estimate a person's hematocrit value just by looking at the palm of a patient's hand.

One of the problems, with the rise of the machine in medicine, is that these observational talents are being lost.

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Tricks with Graphs: Deliberate Misinformation on Fox

Wed, 30 Jun 2010 07:46:25 -0500

From Media Matters:

It is difficult to understand how so many errors could be crammed into one simple chart, merely by accident. It is even harder to understand how the artist could end up with a straight line, after incorporating numerous errors, unless it was an done with the intention of being misleading.

First, (problem #1) the Y-axis does not start at zero. That is a fairly common error. Sometimes it is done innocently, and a notice is posted. For example, "Y-axis does not start at zero, to better show the change," or something like that. OK. That's minor. The Fed does the same thing.

Notice, though, that the title says "Job loss by quarter." But (#2) the X-axis does not show quarters. The X-axis also is not linear (#3). December 2007 to September 2008 is 9 months (3 quarters), while March 2009 to June 2010 is 15 months (5 quarters).

The biggest problem, though, (#4) is that the numbers on the line do not indicate job losses per quarter, or per any period-of-time.

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This Angle is Obtuse

Mon, 28 Jun 2010 06:48:02 -0500

Sharron Angle has said some pretty obtuse things before, but for the most part, I've resisted the temptation to comment. But this one is a gem:

The 16-page flier, available at TPMM, accuses gay people (aka "sodomites", "perverts") of everything from child molestation, to serial murder, to debasing rodeos, to contaminating the water supply by exuding HIV. Blood libel, or urine libel, as the case may be.

I don't care about the water supply, or that other stuff. BUT DON"T MESS WITH OUR RODEOS.

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Darwin Award Candidate

Sat, 26 Jun 2010 19:33:27 -0500

Clearly, this man is a candidate for the Darwin Award. K. Wayne McLeod has been charged -- posthumously -- with running a Ponzi scheme that victimized an estimated 260 law enforcement agents.

He deliberately solicited hundreds of people, all of whom have guns, all of whom know how to use their guns, and all of whom have access to information resources that can be used to locate other people. He then did something that was guaranteed to piss every single one of them off.

The outcome is not particularly surprising.

SEC: Slain CEO Was Running Ponzi Scheme

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission today charged the estate of Florida investment firm executive K. Wayne McLeod with running a Ponzi scheme that victimized an estimated 260 law enforcement agents.

McLeod reportedly raised at least $34 million since 1988 by luring active and retired government employees to invest in the "FEBG Bond Fund" with false promises of annual returns between eight and 10 percent. McLeod operated the fund through the Federal Employee Benefits Group, Inc.

According to the SEC's complaint, McLeod wrote to investors, "With all of the Ponzi Scams going on around the world I wanted to insure you that this account is 100% secured by US Gov't Securities and the principal is never touched until liquidated."

The SEC alleges that the "FEBG Bond Fund" did not exist...

McLeod was found shot to death in his car in Jacksonville, Fla. Tuesday morning, four days after he sent an e-mail that notified his clients that he was closing the fund.

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Father's Day Repast Repost

Sun, 20 Jun 2010 07:05:50 -0500

(From five years ago!)

There is a restaurant called Pelagos. The name means "from the sea," in Greek. It is underground, but has a patio open to the sky. A staircase leads from the sidewalk to the subterranean patio. The is a metal fence along the sidewalk. On the patio, there are tables with umbrellas. Large windows provide a view of the patio, from inside the restaurant. Looking out, a person might be fascinated by the geometrical shapes formed by the window frames, the the tables, the steps, and the fence; that person might also be happy to glimpse a bit of sky.

Except now it starts to rain. Unhappy patrons rush in from the patio. But some people had read the weather report, and stayed inside for their dinner.

Inconspicuous, along one wall of Pelagos, sit three men, of three generations. As is always true in this Universe, the three men sit arranged in a triangle.

All speak English as their native language. But the oldest learned Japanese; the middle, German; the youngest, Russian and Latin.

As it happens, the Latin form of Pelagos is Pelagius.

The oldest of the men enjoyed hunting and fishing, but no longer can do these things; he reads about history and the human mind, appreciates fine wine, listens to jazz. Raised in poverty, he used his intellect to complete an advanced education; then went on to build security for his family, and a good reputation for himself. This stands in stark contrast to the earlier generations of this particular lineage. The oldest moved up in society by trying to improve himself, never by trying to take advantage of others.

The middle-generation man never particularly enjoyed hunting or fishing; indeed, is not terribly fond of any sort of killing. At times, he has been known to read about history, and the human brain. He raises horses and builds computers. Although proficient at photography, he never cared so much about music or other forms of art. He drinks beer, but never more than 16 fluid ounces (about 500 milliliters). sometimes he pretends to like wine, but generally does not pretend much. One of the reasons that he does not drink much alcohol is that he hopes, someday, to live up to the reputation that his father established for the family. If you ask him, he'll say he does not care about his reputation. That is not really true, but the reason he cares about his reputation, is that he wants a better life for subsequent generations.

It annoys him that the restaurant brings a 12-ounce bottle of beer, with a 10-ounce glass to put it in, but that is a minor point. It annoys him more, that some people don't think for themselves.

The youngest, like his father, is proficient at photography; unlike his father, he prefers digital -- like most young people these days. One summer, he rode a bicycle in China, after which his father posted the pictures on the Internet. The youngest uses computers, can upgrade them, but mostly sees them as tools to be used for specific purposes; unlike his father, he is not terribly fond of the hardware side of things. At a very young age, he wanted to be an ichthyologist, or maybe a limnologist; later, he got interested in history and political science. In his honors calculus class, he wrote a term paper about public-key cryptography. Folk music is one thing he cares about, although he has chosen to not develop his innate musical talent. He'll be off to college soon. After thoughtful consideration of his many interests, he now thinks he will study virology and immunology.

The older and middle of the men have devoted a great deal of effort to alleviating the suffering of individuals. The youngest has grander plans, as a young person should. He would like to prevent the suffering of many; not limit himself to saving people one at a time.

They sit and enjoy their dinner. They talk about things. It is an ordinary time. Perhaps none of the three will, individually, make a lasting impression on the course of human events. However, geometry has a lesson for us: the triangle, expanded to three dimensions, can form an icosahedron. Perhaps the lineage of the three men will, over time, manage to build something just as elegant.

But instead of looking forward, we now look back. As we sift through history, we see that there have been many who would have changed the course of events for the better. Sometimes, the geometry of the Universe permits this; sometimes, it impedes it.

History has a lesson for us. As the Roman empire was crumbling, and the Dark Ages began, there was a great struggle among theologians. They cast aside Plato, and with him, his beloved tetrahedron, cube, octahedron, and dodecahedron. Worst of all, even the supremely elegant icosahedron was tossed back into the sea.

They thought the cross would solve everything. Alas, they could only think in two dimensions.

One of them dared to dissent. He carried the peculiar name Pelagius. He promoted the idea that humans are basically good, and that it is through their free choice of actions that they keep themselves good.

In contrast, the predominant view at the time was that of St. Augustine, who believed that humans were fundamentally tainted by the original sin, and any good they had, came from the grace of god.

The geometry of the Universe was not kind to Pelagius, although ultimately he managed to avoid the worst of fates. From Wikipedia:

When Alaric sacked Rome in 410, Pelagius fled to Carthage, where he came into further conflict with Augustine. His follower Coelestius was condemned by a church council there. Pelagius then fled to Jerusalem, but Augustine's followers were soon on his trail; Orosius went to Jerusalem to warn St Jerome against him. Pelagius succeeded in clearing himself at a diocesan synod in Jerusalem and a provincial one in Diospolis (Lydda ), though Augustine said that his being cleared at those councils must have been the result of Pelagius lying about his teachings.

Augustine's version of Pelagius's teachings about sin and atonement were condemned as heresy at the local Council of Carthage in 417.

Those are the people who told us to put away childish things. Those are the people who cast aside the icosahedron as a mere trinket. But it so doing, they brought us the Dark Ages.

The online Catholic Encyclopedia contains the following commentary about Pelagius:

Meanwhile the Pelagian ideas had infected a wide area, especially around Carthage, so that Augustine and other bishops were compelled to take a resolute stand against them in sermons and private conversations.

Imagine that, being infected with the notion that humans are fundamentally good. Is it some kind of virus?

Outside Pelagos, it rained. Those who had not familiarized themselves with local meteorology got soaked. The three generations of men, well-acquainted with the Sciences, stayed dry. One of them wants to study viruses. Perhaps there is hope.

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Tech Tip #9

Sat, 12 Jun 2010 19:07:08 -0500

This one is useful for very few persons. The story is this: I wanted to get one of those mats that goes under a treadmill, to protect the floor. So I went to Sears, where I got the treadmill, because I had seen an ad for the mat. Thirty dollars is what they wanted. Seemed overpriced. But that is what they want. Being a tad compulsive, I measured the treadmill's footprint before I left. The mat would have to be 40 inches wide and 72 inches long.

At the store, the mats -- all with the same brand name as the treadmill -- were all 36 inches wide. Would not do. So I get one off the shelf, get on my hands and knees, and compare it the the footprint of the floor model. It was just plain not going to work. I was just starting to fume a bit about a wasted trip. Then the lady walks up and asks, "are you OK?" Not "can I help you?" She probably thought I had tried out the treadmill and fallen off, or something like that. Ordinarily, a customer is not found on his hands and knees in the store.

I told her I was checking out the mat, and that it was not going to work. I was perfectly even-tempered, no hint of frustration. She said "No, it won't. Let me show you what will."

She walks me over the the hardware section and shows me these "anti-fatigue" mats, the kind that comes in big jigsaw-type sections that fit together into whatever footprint you want. They are on sale for ten dollars, for a pack of six pieces, which happens to be exactly the number of pieces needed for the footprint I want.

So the tip is this: no matter how frustrated you are, don't cuss at the salespeople until you give them a chance to solve the problem. Sometimes, they actually know what you need, where it is, and sometimes it is even cheaper than what you thought you were going to have to spend.

I have to say, I lost some respect for the NordicTrack brand, and gained a little for Sears. The Nordic Track website lists two mats, both 36x72, and both have negative user reviews. One comment states that the mat is too small for most the the equipment they sell. Overcharging people, for something that isn't going to work, is not a good business plan.

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