Add Chopsticks to Your Toolbox

Have you ever tried to retrieve a small part from deep within a chassis? You might've wished you had a long slender pair of tongs, pliers or tweezers to reach down and grab it with. You do. That tool is a pair of chopsticks.

It helps if you know how to use chopsticks, but don't worry if don't. It's easy to fashion them into a pair of "tweezer-sticks" as shown in Figure 1, below. All you need is an elastic band (aka rubberband) and a make-shift fulcrum, such as the wrapper the chopsticks came in (rolled up into a compact wad).

I've used this tool to...

• get a pebble from out of a garbage disposal
• pick spent blossoms, a Maple tree seed or a hungry beetle from potted plants when the growth is too dense to get my fingers through
• remove part of a Pop-Tart from a toaster (Figure 2)

I have, in fact, used a pair of twigs for a crude application of this idea, such as when I picked up a dead mouse that was in a flower bed.

But if you need to remove a wedding ring from the glowing coals of a charcoal grill, be sure to soak them in water beforehand.

Adding Moon Void of Course Events to Org-Agenda via Diary

In a previous post, I demonstrated how to create an Org file that has Moon Void of Course events. However, I found that the events don't show up in all Custom views of Org Agenda, such as when a Custom Command defines a single org file. So here's an alternate method for displaying the events in the Agenda, which I prefer. It involves adding the events to a special diary file, such as mvoc.

To make this work, you'll need to use fancy diary display, which means setting diary-display-function to diary-fancy-display. As well, evaluate and add these statements into your Emacs config / init file, as explained in the Emacs manual in the Fancy Diary Display node.¹

(add-hook 'diary-list-entries-hook 'diary-include-other-diary-files)
(add-hook 'diary-mark-entries-hook 'diary-mark-included-diary-files)

Recall that we created a spreadsheet document in the first post on this topic.² Then we modified it in a subsequent post³ to create the mvoc.org file. Now we'll modify it again so we end up with something like this in the mvoc diary file:

Oct 28, 2025 22:38 Moon Void of Course
Oct 28, 2025 22:55 Moon entering Aquarius after void

The date format shown above is the default. Alternatively, you can use a date format specified by calendar-date-style.

Here are the steps to create a diary file with Moon void of course events like the ones shown above. Again, we begin with the spreadsheet that was created in steps 1 through 4 of the initial post.

5. Add a new sheet to the document; name it mvoc.
6. Enter the following in cell A1. Please note that the tilde character represents a line continuation character. In fact the content should be entered without line breaks:
   1. =TEXT($moon_void_of_course_table_2025.A2,"MMM D, YYYY HH:MM") & ~
   2. " Moon void of course" & UNICHAR(13) & UNICHAR(10) & ~
   3. >TEXT($moon_void_of_course_table_2025.B2,"MMM D, YYYY HH:MM") & ~
   4. " Moon void of course entering " & $moon_void_of_course_table_2025.C2
7. Set the row height to at least two times its default height so that you can see the result in its entirety.
8. Save the spreadsheet in its native format (Excel as an XLSx file; LibreOffice Calc, ODS). A lot of work went into entering the formula in A1 -- it would be highly frustrating if that got lost!
9. As before, we will pause and breathe for discussion.
   1. The reference to $moon_void_of_course_table_2025.A2 in 6.1 returns the date and time that the void begins. Similarly, $moon_void_of_course_table_2025.B2 in 6.3 returns the date and time that the void ends.
   2. The aforementioned dates and times are formatted with the TEXT worksheet function to ensure that the date is represented in MMM D, YYY format (Oct. 28, 2025, for example), followed by the time in 24-hour notation, where 23:45 is 11:45 pm. We omit the seconds because it won't show up properly in the Agenda. And anyway, seconds are omitted from the data; the event's timing probably isn't determined with enough accuracy to warrant it.
   3. In 6.2 we define the description of the start time; it will say simply, "Moon void of course." That text is terminated by a line ending for DOS/Windows; the two "UNICHAR" worksheet functions resolve to Carriage Return / Linefeed characters. You might need to specify this differently for non-Windows systems.
   4. Similarly in 6.4, we define the description of the end time, for example "Moon void of course entering Aquarius." Although instead of "Aquarius" it could be any Zodiac sign specified in Column C of the source sheet.
   5. The formula in cell A1 will create two lines in the diary file that define the start and end of the event.
10. Starting at cell A1, fill down until all the data of the first sheet is included.
11. Save the spreadsheet again.
12. In step 8 of the initial post, I instructed to "Export the new sheet as a CSV file." We'll want to do that again. But this time it's necessary to pay attention to LibreOffice's "Export Text File" dialog box that precedes the Save dialog box (as we did when creating the mvoc.org file). Ensure that the Field Delimiter and String Delimiter dropdown boxes are blank as shown in Figure 1. Otherwise, each heading will be preceded by a double quote character, and the lines might end with a comma.
13. Remove the extension from the newly-created CSV, and copy it to your home directory. Now there should be a file called mvoc; to verify, use Emacs to visit the file. The default keystrokes would be C-x C-f ~/.mvoc followed by ENTER.
14. Open the diary file. By default the file is named diary and it's located in the home directory. Add the following in the first line: #include "mvoc" and save it.
15. Press C-c a a to view the default agenda view. A screenshot of today's agenda is shown in Figure 2 below.

Figure 1: The LibreOffice Export Text File dialog box with Field delimiter and String delimiter fields blank

Figure 2: Agenda View for Tuesday, October 28.  It shows that Moon is void of course from 10:38pm to 10:55pm.

Please let me know if you found this useful or if you have suggestions for improvement.

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¹https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/html_node/emacs/Fancy-Diary-Display.html

²https://ludditegeek.blogspot.com/2025/10/add-moon-void-of-course-dates-to-google.html

³https://ludditegeek.blogspot.com/2025/10/an-org-file-to-report-when-moon-is-void.html

An Org File to Report When Moon is Void of Course (in 2025)

In my previous post I wrote about how to create a custom calendar in a spreadsheet and then add it to Google calendar. I used the dates and times when Moon is void of course in 2025 as an example. ¹

In this post, I'll show how to add those events to an org-mode file so that they show up in the Agenda View. And while there are Lisp add-ons that create org files from ICal files, it's easier to create the org file directly, since we don't actually have an ICal file.

Begin with the spreadsheet that was created in steps 1 through 4 of the previous post. But note that the new sheet in step four will be in the format that Org can read.

Here are the next steps:

5. Add the following content in the first 5 rows of column A. These define the recommended file-level settings for the Org file:
   1. #+STARTUP: content
   2. #+STARTUP: hidestars
   3. #+STARTUP: indent
   4. #+CATEGORY: MVoC
   5. #+FILETAGS: :MVoC:
6. Leave row 6 blank and then enter the following in cell A7. Please note that the tilde character represents a line continuation character. In fact the content should be entered without line breaks:
   1. ="* Moon void of course entering " & ~
   2. $moon_void_of_course_table_2025.C2 & ~
   3. UNICHAR(13) & UNICHAR(10) & "<" & ~
   4. TEXT($moon_void_of_course_table_2025.A2,"YYYY-MM-DD NN HH:MM") ~
   5. & ">--<" & ~
   6. TEXT($moon_void_of_course_table_2025.B2,"YYYY-MM-DD NN HH:MM") ~
   7. & ">" & UNICHAR(13) & UNICHAR(10)
7. Set the row height to at least three times its default height.
8. Save the spreadsheet in its native format (Excel as an XLSx file; LibreOffice Calc, ODS). A lot of work went into entering the formula in A7 - it would be highly frustrating if that got lost!
9. Then pause and breathe for discussion.
   1. In paragraphs 6.1 and 6.2, we have code for a heading that will say, "Moon void of course entering Aquarius." Although instead of " Aquarius" it could be any Zodiac sign specified in Column C of the source sheet.
   2. The "UNICHAR" worksheet functions in paragraphs 6.3 and 6.7 resolve to the Carriage Return / Linefeed characters when called with arguments of 13 and 10 as they are here. These two characters define line endings on Windows. It's your spreadsheet's way of pressing ENTER.
   3. The reference to $moon_void_of_course_table_2025.A2 in 6.4 returns the date and time that the void begins. Similarly, $moon_void_of_course_table_2025.B2 in 6.6 returns the date and time that the void ends.
   4. The aforementioned dates and times are formatted with the TEXT worksheet function to ensure that the date is represented in YYYY-MM-DD format (2025-10-14, for example), followed by an abbreviation for the name of the day of the week (Tue, which, by the way, is optional) ², and finally followed by the time using the 24-hour notation, where 23:45 is 11:45 pm.
   5. The start date & time and the end date & time each are surrounded by angle brackets; the bracketed start and end elements are separated by two hyphens. Today the duration that the Moon is void of course is denoted this way:
      1. <2025-10-14 Tue 00:05>--<2025-10-14 Tue 05:47>
10. Starting at cell A7, fill down until all the data of the first sheet is included.
11. Save the spreadsheet again.
12. In step 8 of the previous post, I instructed to "Export the new sheet as a CSV file." We'll want to do that again. But this time it's necessary to pay attention to LibreOffice's "Export Text File" dialog box that precedes the Save dialog box. Ensure that the Field Delimiter and String Delimiter dropdown boxes are blank as shown in Figure 1. Otherwise, each heading will be preceded by a double quote character, and the lines might end with a comma.
13. Change the extension of the newly-created CSV file to org. Edit it with Emacs and press C-[ to add it to the Agenda File List.
14. Press C-c a a to view the default agenda view. A screenshot of today's agenda is shown in Figure 2 below.

Figure 1: The LibreOffice Export Text File dialog box with Field delimiter and String delimiter fields blank

Figure 2: Agenda View for Tuesday, October 14.  It shows that Moon is void of course from 12:05am to 5:47am.

Please let me know if you found this useful or if you have suggestions for improvement.

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¹ https://ludditegeek.blogspot.com/2025/10/add-moon-void-of-course-dates-to-google.html
² The reference for org-mode's date range timestamp format can be found here: https://orgmode.org/worg/org-syntax.html#Timestamps

Add Moon Void of Course Dates to Google Calendar

Google calendar can be configured to show the phases of the moon.  This view can be enabled in the settings. ^{1, 2}  You can find other calendars in Settings, too, such as various religious holidays and sports.

But you can also create your own calendar and upload it as a ICAL file.  Or you can import it as a CSV file.  I used the import CSV method to add the dates and times that Moon is void of course.

What does it mean that Moon is void of course?  In astrology, Moon visits each of the twelve signs of the Zodiac.  As well, Her position may form Major Aspects with other celestial bodies.  When Moon transitions from one house of the Zodiac to the next, and fails to be in a Major Aspect, She is considered void of course.  It is believed to be a time to avoid important business, for example. ³  Thus, believers will want to have this on their calendars.  Here's how to add these times to your Google calendar.

1. Locate a list of dates and times that Moon is Void of Course.
   1. I used the list at voidofcoursemoon.com ⁴
2. Download or copy the data to a CSV text file.
3. Import the CSV into a new spreadsheet.  I copied the data, so for me, the columns were tab-delimited.  As well, I defined the first two columns as Date/Time and the last column as Text.  Delete any lines that do not contain the desired data; I kept the first line as "Void begins: Void ends: Moon enters after void:."
4. Create a second sheet that will link to the content in the first sheet.  You'll export this sheet as a CSV file in a format that Google calendar can read.
5. Add these nine column headings in row 1 of the "Export Sheet"  ⁵
   1. Subject
   2. Start Date
   3. Start Time
   4. End Date
   5. End Time
   6. All Day Event
   7. Description
   8. Location
   9. Private
6. Enter the following content into the cells of the second row:
   1. Moon Void of Course (or whatever you'd like to see as the title of each event).
   2. =$moon_void_of_course_table_2025.A2 (with format code MM/DD/YYYY)
   3. =$moon_void_of_course_table_2025.A2 (with format code HH:MM:SS AM/PM)
   4. =$moon_void_of_course_table_2025.B2 (with format code MM/DD/YYYY)
   5. =$moon_void_of_course_table_2025.B2 (with format code HH:MM:SS AM/PM)
   6. FALSE
   7. ="Moon will enter " & $moon_void_of_course_table_2025.C2 & " after void" (or whatever you want to see in the event description).
   8. Eastern US & Canada (This is the time zone name, but put whatever you want to see for the event location).
   9. FALSE
   10. Select all nine occupied cells in row 2 (columns A through I) and fill down until all the data of the first sheet is included.
7. Save the spreadsheet as XLSx (Excel) or ODS (LibreOffice Calc).
8. Export the new sheet as a CSV file.
9. Create a new Google calendar and import the CSV file into it. ⁵

Or you can skip all that and just use the calendar I created, which you can find here. ⁶  But note that it's limited to events in 2025.

Here's how it looks in my calendar; the Phases of the Moon calendar also is enabled...

I hope you find this useful.  Next, I'll describe how I got these events into Org-mode.

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¹ href="https://support.google.com/calendar/answer/13748650?hl=en&co=GENIE.Platform%3DDesktop

² href="https://www.maketecheasier.com/display-alternate-calendar-google-calendar/

³ https://www.astrologybyjudithryan.com/void-of-course-moon-info

⁴ href="https://voidofcoursemoon.com/void-of-course-moon-2025-calendar/

⁵ href="https://support.google.com/calendar/answer/37118#advanced&zippy=%2Ccreate-or-edit-a-csv-file

⁶ href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1WqS678DtfBI9J0MQzuAphMrURAC3kK8T/view?usp=sharing

How to Stop a Running Urinal

Have you ever flushed a toilet or urinal and noticed that the valve refused to shut? I have.

The last time it happened the bathroom below the one I was in flooded.

When the maintenance guy came to the rescue, all he did was pop the cap off the flow control screw (indicated by the red arrow in the picture below) and use a screwdriver to turn it clockwise.

The urinal languished for weeks with an “OUT OF ORDER” sign on it. But one day I really had to pee and the other bathroom was closed for cleaning, so I used the out-of-order urinal knowing exactly why it was out of order. After peeing, I turned the screw counter-clockwise to allow a brief flow of water like a five-second flush, and then I turned it back to its clockwise state to stop the water.

Sometimes the hero is the guy with a screwdriver who knows what to screw.

 

How I Dealt With Yellow Well Water

We lost electrical power when a line of severe thunderstorms swept across our state.  When the power came back 18 hours later, I was surprised to learn that our well water tank still was under pressure – we hadn’t run out of water!

I also was surprised when I refilled the dog’s water dish – the water was yellow!  The first photo below shows two bottles of water.  The one on the left was filled prior to the power outage; the one on the right, after.

There was no foul odor; no odor whatsoever, in fact.  The taste was off, though, as if “softened” by some salt.

My guess is that some silt or rust had been stirred up in the tank when the pump kicked in.  The lower-than-usual tank pressure allowed the ingress of water at a higher velocity.

I figured it would clear up on its own in a few days.  But my wife, who suffers from bizarre medical problems as well as anxiety, kept insisting that we call for service first thing Monday.  Lucky for me she didn’t know whom to call, nor did she know that they respond to emergency calls.  I was afraid that the technician would convince my wife that we needed a special filtration system.  And, of course, emergency calls cost more.

So I decided to flush the tank.

This is extremely easy to do, if you know where things are and you have a short garden hose.  Alas, my garden hose is 100’ – lugging it into the basement wasn’t too bad.  But getting it back upstairs when it was full of water was the most difficult part of the job.

I closed the valve for the house supply and switched off power to the pump.   As well, I flushed the basement toilet (just because I needed to).  Then I attached the hose to the spigot at the bottom of the tank, opened its valve and directed the water into a white basin.  I was impressed by how clear and colorless the water looked.  I let the water drain into the washing machine while I opened a few other taps around the house.

Once the pressure dropped noticeably, I reapplied power to the pump and let it right like that for a short while.  Satisfied, I closed the valve to the hose and opened the valve to the house.  I went back to those open taps and closed them.  As well, I cleaned the toilet to get out the residue and flushed, getting clear water again.

Finally, I enjoyed a refreshing glass of clear, colorless, cool well water.  Which is what I look forward to most after a power outage.

Simple Washing Machine Improvement

A medium load of laundry had been taking over an hour to finish.  When I watched the tub fill with cold water, it looked like effluence from a down spout during a gentle summer rain shower.

I knew the machine had filters for the water, and I suspected they needed to be cleaned, but I wasn't sure where they were.  It turns out that the filters were easily accessible; all I had to do was shut off the water and unscrew the hoses at the machine.  Then just pull out the filters with a pair of needle nosed pliers.

When I did this, I saw that the cold water filter was extremely clogged with metal bits.  I get a lot of this kind of debris from my well water; it gets trapped in the faucet aerators, too.

I submerged the filter in a small cup of vinegar, shaking it vigorously, until it looked mostly clear.

The next load of laundry went so much more quickly.  An added benefit was that the solid dark clothes no longer were left mottled with a sludge of gray lint.

Have you ever cleaned your washing machine's water intake filters?  Do an Internet search to see just how easy it is!

Hard Drive Thrashing? Maybe It's Windows Update

In a previous post, I wondered if my computer problems were due to AntiVirus interfering with Windows Update.

Perhaps.  But there's definitely a problem with Windows Update. The following seemed to get rid of the excessive and endless thrashing of the hard drive:

http://www.cagedrat.com/microsoft-windows/microsoft-windows-updates-cab-files-filling-up-hard-drive/

And yes, I plug in my computer and set it to Stay Awake before downloading and installing updates.

Notes on Setting Up Windows 7

Recently I had to set up fresh installations of Windows 7 on two computers.  Here are some tips to make that process go a bit smoother...

1. Windows Update #1 -- Microsoft has released hundreds of recommended and important updates for Windows 7 since it was introduced.  All that data is a burden for Windows Update, and the update process can bog down on slower computers.  To remedy this, you'll want to download the update associated with KB3102810 first before you even check for updates.  Adjusting your computer's Power Options so it stays awake during the long update process may also help.

2. Windows Update #2 -- I wrote about this before.  Unless you want to upgrade to Windows 10, you'll want to hide the update KB3035583, or uninstall it if it already got onto your system.

3.  Gadgets -- Third party gadgets are no longer supported due to "serious vulnerabilities" in the Windows Sidebar.  You'll still be able to add the default Microsoft ones, such as "Clock," "Calendar," "Slide Show" and "CPU Usage" (my favorites).  But I also liked the third party "Network Meter," which I'd use often to verify download rates.  Since Network Meter is no longer available, I figured out that I can use ResMon to do something similar.  To have ResMon (almost) mimic Network Meter I minimize the various components in the left pane of ResMon and resize the window so that only the network graphs show up.  And I add a shortcut to ResMon.exe in my StartUp folder.

Do you have any tips for setting up Windows 7?  Please share them!

How About Never?

A coworker had just bought a refurbished computer with Windows 7 OS and was dutifully applying updates.  He noticed a new icon in the taskbar tray and clicked it.  The program presented him with the opportunity to upgrade to Windows 10.  It implicitly asked when would you like to download Windows 10?  The dialog box offered two buttons labeled "Upgrade now" and "Upgrade tonight."

How about Never?  That was not an option.

The Gwx.exe and GwxUX.exe programs make it easy for users to reserve their free copy of Windows 10.  They appear after the user applies the update associated with KB3035583.  And they disappear after the user uninstalls that update.

This "How To Geek" article describes it all in detail.

My previous post discusses why you might want to avoid upgrading.

My Recent Repair of a Laptop AC Adpater

Yesterday, my laptop wouldn't charge when I plugged it in.  The battery had drained overnight, so the laptop was unusable.  I quickly figured out that the AC adapter has suddenly stopped working.

My nearby Staples had a universal adapter in stock at 20% off, so I picked it up and was soon back in business.

But then I wondered why the "old" adapter had failed. The technician at Staples said that most fail due to a broken wire near the connector that plugs in to the computer.  I know that if you flex any wire enough that it will break.  But this computer was kept in the kitchen at home, and the cable stayed in one place most of the time.  I decided to take it apart and fix it.

Most of the repair guides for Laptop AC Adapters resolve a break or short in the wire at one of the ends of the DC cable.  One even recommends that you cut off the connector, and splice a new connector on, which is silly given that no casual user has a spare connector lying around.  This same guide says that if there's no voltage after cutting off the connector, the adapter is dead and you have to buy a new one.  Turns out, that's not true at all.

My repair approach was different.  I decided that I would crack open the adapter housing and then verify continuity from the circuit board to the connector with a DMM.  But as soon as I removed the housing, I saw the problem: Cold Solder Joints.  Whoever soldered the wires to the circuit board failed to thoroughly heat up both the pad and the wire.  So the solder didn't flow down the via hole and fully coat the wire.  This never would have passed inspection at my company.

I fired up my soldering iron and reflowed the three connections in less than two minutes.  It took at least five times longer for me to break open the housing.  Message to manufacturers of consumer electronics: If you won't bother to assemble the electronics properly, at least design the housings so that they're easy to take apart and put back together!  I glued it back together with RTV, and it's curing as I write this.

I've fixed several items with this type of reflow repair, including a fairly expensive audio receiver.  A soldering iron and the ability to use it can keep you from throwing out perfectly good electronics.

When Flourescent Lights Go Bad

Fluorescent lights produce a lot of light for little power.  My kitchen lights, which use two T9 bulbs, are rated at 32W, 2400lm and 22W, 1400lm¹.  The bulbs are expensive and not easy to find, but they supposedly last five years.

The problem is that the performance and longevity of fluorescent lights depends on the ballast.  This is an electrical module that conditions the current, and it's not 100% efficient.  Also the ballast will degrade and eventually need to be replaced.  Sometimes a faulty ballast makes itself evident when the light flickers, or when the light doesn't turn on immediately and you need to flip the light switch off and on to get it to light.  At this point the bulbs will burn out quickly.

The ballast is even more expensive and harder to find than the bulbs.  And replacing the ballast isn't meant to be done by the consumer, although a home owner who can replace a light switch or electrical outlet will be able to replace a ballast in about ten minutes if the fixture is designed well.

I mention all this because I again find it necessary to replace the ballasts in the two kitchen lights.  In fact, I was thinking of replacing these fixtures with new fixtures that have multiple sockets for standard (Edison screw) bulbs.  I figured this was a better long-range solution because it would allow me to use Compact Fluorescent Bulbs today and then eventually graduate to LED bulbs.  Never again would I need to search for the expensive ballasts and replace them.

But I did manage to find the ballasts for quite a reasonable price.  So it didn't make sense to replace them this time.  But in ten years, if I'm still in this house, I think I'll be buying new fixtures.

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¹ For a comparison of the lighting efficiency of various types of bulbs, please see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luminous_efficacy#Lighting_efficiency.

Trials with an Old Computer

About six years ago, I mused about what to do with an old computer, a 500MHz Pentium III.  My idea was to reformat the hard drive (20GB) and install one of these operating systems: Windows 2000 (already obsolete); Windows XP (facing obsolescence); and Linux (Ubuntu, although I don't recall why I decided on that flavor).

I tried all three plus Dyne:bolic, a Linux variant specialized for music and video production on under-powered computers.  Here's how I fared....

Dyne:bolic was easy to try out, and I didn't have to reformat the Window NT drive to do it.  So I tried it first.  After downloading version 2, I burned the ISO image to a CD.  It booted up just fine and I ran it from the CD.  It performed well, but it was set up for a single root-level user, and it wouldn't "play" Flash content.

Next was XP.  The first problem I had was that I couldn't activate the OS, even though I had a valid key.  But I played around with it anyway during the evaluation period.  Just twenty minutes was enough to know it would be way too slow.

Then I installed Windows 2000.  This involved a lot of tedious business with multiple CDs for the OS itself, then Service Pack 6 and then more CDs with security software and utilities.  Everything went well until I installed the antivirus program and updated it.  After that, the OS would not start.

Finally I decided to give Linux a try.  Rather than download images files, I decided to search the local public library system for Linux books that had accompanying CDs.  And I limited my search to old books, too, since I really needed the installer to be on CD-ROMs and not a DVD.  There were some Red Hat Linux books, so I got one and tried it.  It installed and ran really well except for the web browser, Mozilla, which had me pressing Ctrl-Alt-Del and longing for Task Manager to come up so I could kill it.

Of these four options, Dyne:bolic was clearly the best.  Unfortunately, by the time I got around to realizing it, Jaromil released version 3.0.0, whose 1.6GB image now must be burned onto DVD, not CD.  (I can't find the CD that had version 2 on it. And booting from USB is not an option in this computer's BIOS.)  This latest Dyne:bolic is totally awesome -- I tried the Live CD on my main home desktop (a P4), and I created a small virtual machine on my work computer, which boots the image file.

In order to run D:B3 on my PIII, I need a DVD drive.  Since I had two on my main desktop, I removed one and installed it on the PIII.  But, alas, it didn't work.  The computer detected the drive, but it won't boot from it, and Linux won't mount it.  So I think the laser is shot.  I've encountered a few non-functioning DVD drives in this manufacturer's computers, so I really do think the drive is defective.  In fact I wasn't able to boot from the drive recently when it was in the P4 that I took it out of.

So this is where I am now.  I need a working IDE DVD drive, which are expensive and/or refurbished.  There are adapters that can convert a SATA drive to IDE, but that's an extra expense I didn't want to pay.  Plus, I'm not sure this small form factor case will have any room for it, although I can put the new SATA drive with IDE adapter into the main desktop and move the working IDE DVD drive from the main desktop to the PIII if I really had to.

If / when I clear this hurdle I'll check in again.  Hopefully D:B3 will still be available!

Creative Door Repair

The back door of our home never quite opened and closed smoothly. It was necessary to lift the doorknob while closing it in order to prevent the bottom from scraping the threshold.

Very recently the upper hinge pulled completely away from the door frame.  My wife and daughter couldn't finesse the door closed any more.  I re-tightened the screws, but the holes for the screws had widened, so the screw threads no longer had enough wood to bite into.  The hinge wouldn't stay secure for long.

My first impulse was to replace the screws with longer ones of the same diameter.  But not finding any in my collection, I realized I would have to visit the hardware store.

I really enjoy going to the hardware store.  Not the big, nation-wide chain stores like Home Depot or Lowes, though.  I prefer the small, neighborhood shops that seem to carry the odd-ball bits of fixture parts that were used in our neighborhood over fifty years ago when our homes were built.  Our stores are usually staffed by a retired handyman or engineer.  Or maybe the guy just likes hanging out there, giving out free advice without even getting paid for it.

Alas I was too busy to make the trip.  So I busied my mind, thinking of alternative repair options while carrying out the many tedious chores I had to deal with.

My next idea was to plug the screw holes with wooden dowels.  In fact I had many ¼ inch dowel pins left over from an old wood-working project.  I could use those.  But because they were much larger than the screws and the holes, I'd have to drill out the holes first before inserting the pins.  And then I'd have to drill pilot holes into the dowels themselves so that I could get the screws into the pins.  And I'd probably have to use carpenter's glue to hold the dowel pin in place before drilling.

If I had much smaller dowels, I could simply stick them into the holes and jam the screws in.  This would certainly be enough to keep the screws fastened tightly.  But because I didn't have the smaller dowels, I'd have to go to the hardware anyway.

Finally the solution came to me.  I had all the dowels I needed right outside my door!  All I had to do was stroll through the wooded area of our yard to find the right size twig.  Which I did.  It took about 30 seconds.

One oak twig about four inches long was enough to fill all four screw holes.  I broke the twig into four pieces and inserted them into the holes and tightened the screws.

And now the door opens and closes easily, without needing to be lifted, and without scraping the bottom.

This to me is what makes home repair an art form.

Putting Water Adhesion and Cohesion to Work

I lost the grommet that allows me to attach a drain hose to my air conditioner.  So I decided to see whether water's properties of adhesion and cohesion would come to my rescue.

I suspended the drain hose below the air condition drain opening.  Then I placed one end of a wet, rolled up paper towel in the air conditioner, touching the drain pan.  I placed the other end into the hose.  The set up is shown below.

Normally, you'd just let the water drip out onto the ground.  But this A/C is installed between a kitchen and a carpeted enclosed porch, and we wanted to keep the carpet dry.

The rig works like a charm.  No spillage.  All the condensate ends up in the bottle, which I then empty into the washing machine or the garden.  In fact it works better than if I'd used a grommet to connect the hose.  With the grommet, the water level had to rise high enough to breach the rim of the grommet.  In fact, I used to put a piece of cotton string in the grommet to help lift the water up over the grommet ledge and into the hose.  Otherwise, the water would leak out all four corners of the pan.

There is some rust forming around the edge of that unfinished knockout.  I'll need to paint that at the end of the season if I don't want the rust to spread.