You only had two horizontal bars for chassis ground, we used three horizontal bars for as far back as I can remember.
However, you may be right, I've not cracked a book in 40+ years hi hi.
See, I think you have a better handle on it than I do, and a much better memory.
I used to be a draftsman and drew a lot of electronic circuits back then.
I am also a licensed Ham of Advanced Class, not that I remember much of that either.
And a licensed Electrician, of which most of what I learned to pass those hard tests were forgotten an hour after the tests, hi hi.
My biggest problem is I don't remember much of anything. I get a new hard drive installed every 5 years, hi hi.
I used to design antenna's for my Ham friends.
Some antenna designs the is an insulator between the two main components of the antenna.
In other, they appear as an electrical dead short, such as in J-pole construction.
The reason we can do this up at RF frequencies is because the portion below the radiating element are invisible to RF.
So when someone unfamiliar with RF sees how a J-Pole is wired, they immediately see a dead short.
Especially if they gained some knowledge about Ground Planes and how they work, or Dipoles for that matter.
In an AC circuit, we have a lot of instances that can appear to be a dead short, but that is just how the device works.
Resistance in the device is used for light, or heat, or for some other purpose like a transformer.
The more coils in a transformer, the higher the resistance, so they no longer become a dead short.
With enough resistance they don't necessarily get all that hot either.
And I had better stop here before I get in further over my head, hi hi.
Reeading on Easter Morning
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Re: Reeading on Easter Morning
My apologies for the apparently incorrect symbol I used to indicate chasis ground. The program I used to draw that diagram isn't intended to be used for line drawings, and thus each segment of the lines on that image was created separately. The original drawing does indeed have three bars on that ground. The bottom one came out as a very small square, more like a dot. When I reduced it all to display here it sort of disappeared. I saw that, but I figured you would know what I was talking about anyway. And, in fact, you did understand.
You might find this hard to believe but my memory isn't all that great either. Many of the things I do and/or document are constructed so that I can derive the source of my information. That technique is particularly obvious when I write code of any sort. Like yourself when I come back to a work I did more than a few years ago I scratch my head wondering why I did it that way or how does it work to begin with. Then there are the comments, or the names of the variables, or even the structure which all are hints to me about how I came to the write the code the way I did. You will note even in these forums there are links to web pages describing certain things we talk about. Well, those links are hints to me pointing to where I got the information. LOL
The diagram I posted regarding my understanding of AC came from my head, but the explanation came from what I recall my high school physics teacher telling us. I took electric shop too in that high school, but the shop teacher did not explain the theory as did the physics teacher. I'm certain the physics guy explained how and why earth grounding works too, but I must have fallen asleep during that part of the lecture. Or, more likely, I didn't understand it then either. The fact that I recall that lecture from Mr Scott is totally amazing. The memory is at least 60 years old. I barely can recall what I had for dinner last night, but this physics teacher talking about electricity still has a place in my memory banks.
What you say about RF is very true. It seems to violate some rules of physics at times. It all has to do with frequency. The higher the frequency of the radiated RF, the more likely it is to reflect off hard surfaces. 60 cycle AC has reflections and standing waves too, but the wave length is enormous compared to the ham radio frequencies. When you get into UHF and microwaves you would think RF is more like a liquid than radiated electromagnetic energy. I never studied antenna design more than what was presented in the ARRL handbook. All I ever needed was a dipole or a long wire and it didn't matter to me if there was any mismatches along the way. In fact it didn't seem to matter to the RF either. I got out just as well as the guys with well designed systems. Maybe my signal wasn't as strong, but I got my fill of DX regardless.
You might find this hard to believe but my memory isn't all that great either. Many of the things I do and/or document are constructed so that I can derive the source of my information. That technique is particularly obvious when I write code of any sort. Like yourself when I come back to a work I did more than a few years ago I scratch my head wondering why I did it that way or how does it work to begin with. Then there are the comments, or the names of the variables, or even the structure which all are hints to me about how I came to the write the code the way I did. You will note even in these forums there are links to web pages describing certain things we talk about. Well, those links are hints to me pointing to where I got the information. LOL
The diagram I posted regarding my understanding of AC came from my head, but the explanation came from what I recall my high school physics teacher telling us. I took electric shop too in that high school, but the shop teacher did not explain the theory as did the physics teacher. I'm certain the physics guy explained how and why earth grounding works too, but I must have fallen asleep during that part of the lecture. Or, more likely, I didn't understand it then either. The fact that I recall that lecture from Mr Scott is totally amazing. The memory is at least 60 years old. I barely can recall what I had for dinner last night, but this physics teacher talking about electricity still has a place in my memory banks.
What you say about RF is very true. It seems to violate some rules of physics at times. It all has to do with frequency. The higher the frequency of the radiated RF, the more likely it is to reflect off hard surfaces. 60 cycle AC has reflections and standing waves too, but the wave length is enormous compared to the ham radio frequencies. When you get into UHF and microwaves you would think RF is more like a liquid than radiated electromagnetic energy. I never studied antenna design more than what was presented in the ARRL handbook. All I ever needed was a dipole or a long wire and it didn't matter to me if there was any mismatches along the way. In fact it didn't seem to matter to the RF either. I got out just as well as the guys with well designed systems. Maybe my signal wasn't as strong, but I got my fill of DX regardless.
Re: Reeading on Easter Morning
No problem Yogi - If I attempted to draw it, it might have an eye in the middle, hi hi.
Because of my condition which you are aware of. And realizing I would not understand the formula for my product after an attack. I sat down and wrote out how to manufacture my product in plain simple English even a ten year old could understand. All I can say is I'm sure glad I did that, because when I look at the formula today, it could be Greek for all I know anymore.
As I worked my way up through the ranks as an Electrician, my boss who was normally a man of few words, took the time to explain to me why things were done the way they were. And in some cases, things he taught me to do had nothing to do with electric as much as it had to do with appearance and common sense. He was big on uniformity on a job. Something most folks never think about, he drilled into us like a drill sergeant. One simple example: Every cover-plate screw must be aligned vertically, no if's and's or but's. Many reasons for this he could come up with too. The first is, no scraped fingers when turning on a light switch, no dust collecting in the screw slot, and when every screw is that way, it is uniform and shows quality and considerate work.
He was right! When I was in homes done by others, and the screws ended up pointing every which way, I got the feeling the job was not done well, like they just hurried through it to get it done, shoddy is the feeling I had. So I understood him well.
Unlike electronics where you really need to understand a lot of things about circuitry and what it does. The electric filed is more about just knowing how to do things better than code, don't deviate from what you are supposed to do, don't skip a step, don't cheat, and always make it look professional, even though it will be hidden behind wallboard. Besides, the inspectors will see it before the wallboard goes up, possibly the customers, and it could generate more sales for our company because our work just looks right, all the time, even if an error was made somewhere along the line.
Also, we normally worked from blueprints anyhow, so all the thinking was done for us, unless the engineer made a mistake, and believe me, they make plenty, hi hi.
If an antenna is not in balance with your transmitter, you could burn out your finals.
If not in tune with the receiver, you might have no ears.
It was not uncommon for me to use 2-meter direct all the way from St. Louis to Columbia, MO. Direct meaning not going through repeaters. I had a small Yagi I built and tuned to one precise frequency, to talk to a friend who was at school there. He could always hear me as plain as day, even though I could just barely pick him up sometimes. We had the exact same transceivers. So I began tweaking my antenna, a little bit at a time until I was picking him up as strong as he received my signal. Once I had my antenna tuned exactly to that frequency, you wouldn't believe how many people were using that simplex frequency around the school. I could hear them, but many could not hear me because their antenna was tuned to the middle of the band.
I used to love experimenting with different antenna designs, and a few of them got featured in some Ham magazines, simple to build and packed a powerful punch, and with excellent ears.
There was one guy I used to talk to about once a week who was up in Minnesota or maybe it was Michigan. I used to tell him it sounded like he was on a droopy dipole, hi hi. He actually had a huge Yagi up about 80 feet. He never believed I was working on a ground mounted vertical so I sent him a picture of my entire yard showing all the antenna's there.
Later on he wanted to contact me on a different band that he thought I wouldn't have much luck on. We were both louder and clearer than on the other band. But this could be because we were both running horizontal on that band and on Dipoles.
We did some crazy things back in those days. Like pointing our Yagi's up around 30 to 45 degrees to use the Ozone Layer more effectively for hops around the world. I even talked to the astronauts on the MIR space station a couple of times.
The good ole days!
Because of my condition which you are aware of. And realizing I would not understand the formula for my product after an attack. I sat down and wrote out how to manufacture my product in plain simple English even a ten year old could understand. All I can say is I'm sure glad I did that, because when I look at the formula today, it could be Greek for all I know anymore.
As I worked my way up through the ranks as an Electrician, my boss who was normally a man of few words, took the time to explain to me why things were done the way they were. And in some cases, things he taught me to do had nothing to do with electric as much as it had to do with appearance and common sense. He was big on uniformity on a job. Something most folks never think about, he drilled into us like a drill sergeant. One simple example: Every cover-plate screw must be aligned vertically, no if's and's or but's. Many reasons for this he could come up with too. The first is, no scraped fingers when turning on a light switch, no dust collecting in the screw slot, and when every screw is that way, it is uniform and shows quality and considerate work.
He was right! When I was in homes done by others, and the screws ended up pointing every which way, I got the feeling the job was not done well, like they just hurried through it to get it done, shoddy is the feeling I had. So I understood him well.
Unlike electronics where you really need to understand a lot of things about circuitry and what it does. The electric filed is more about just knowing how to do things better than code, don't deviate from what you are supposed to do, don't skip a step, don't cheat, and always make it look professional, even though it will be hidden behind wallboard. Besides, the inspectors will see it before the wallboard goes up, possibly the customers, and it could generate more sales for our company because our work just looks right, all the time, even if an error was made somewhere along the line.
Also, we normally worked from blueprints anyhow, so all the thinking was done for us, unless the engineer made a mistake, and believe me, they make plenty, hi hi.
If an antenna is not in balance with your transmitter, you could burn out your finals.
If not in tune with the receiver, you might have no ears.
It was not uncommon for me to use 2-meter direct all the way from St. Louis to Columbia, MO. Direct meaning not going through repeaters. I had a small Yagi I built and tuned to one precise frequency, to talk to a friend who was at school there. He could always hear me as plain as day, even though I could just barely pick him up sometimes. We had the exact same transceivers. So I began tweaking my antenna, a little bit at a time until I was picking him up as strong as he received my signal. Once I had my antenna tuned exactly to that frequency, you wouldn't believe how many people were using that simplex frequency around the school. I could hear them, but many could not hear me because their antenna was tuned to the middle of the band.
I used to love experimenting with different antenna designs, and a few of them got featured in some Ham magazines, simple to build and packed a powerful punch, and with excellent ears.
There was one guy I used to talk to about once a week who was up in Minnesota or maybe it was Michigan. I used to tell him it sounded like he was on a droopy dipole, hi hi. He actually had a huge Yagi up about 80 feet. He never believed I was working on a ground mounted vertical so I sent him a picture of my entire yard showing all the antenna's there.
Later on he wanted to contact me on a different band that he thought I wouldn't have much luck on. We were both louder and clearer than on the other band. But this could be because we were both running horizontal on that band and on Dipoles.
We did some crazy things back in those days. Like pointing our Yagi's up around 30 to 45 degrees to use the Ozone Layer more effectively for hops around the world. I even talked to the astronauts on the MIR space station a couple of times.
The good ole days!
Re: Reeading on Easter Morning
Electronics, unlike electricity, has a considerable number of components in a system. Electronic equipment uses wires and conductive paths much the same as the wiring in a building, but there also are more esoteric components that complicate the issues. Knowing all that is why I wonder about the AC theory I seem to be missing. I don't think the theory is different, but the applied methods certainly are.
Antennae can be considered to be tuned circuits. The length and physical position of the elements of an antenna determine it's ability to resonate at a given frequency. Most of the ham radio people are happy to have the ability to receive on a given band of frequencies. The antenna, however, is tuned to a single point within that band. As you point out, signal degradation can be significant the further away you get from the tuned frequency. When you get up into the 144MHz range a few millimeters here and there can make a significant difference. It's not surprising to me that you would be interested and capable of designing an antenna for one specific frequency. The response curve would be steep in that 2 meter band and you deserved all the kudos you collected for building an antenna for optimal performance at a given frequency. The downside is that you would need a dozen antennae to cover the entire band at optimal resonance/performance. Then again, you DID have a large farm for your antennae.
I don't how how good your supervisor was in the electric theory department, but he sure did know how to impress people with being a professional electrician. I got to admit that I never gave a second thought to the dust in the screw head slots on my wall outlets. More than likely most of the customers you dealt with were not concerned about it either, but there is something about all the face plates looking identical that builds confidence at least on a subconscious level. I know how I felt when I looked at the Romex wires and plastic outlet covers that apparently are the standard here in Missouri. Compared to the conduit and metal covers back home the wiring here looks dangerous and cheap. That's not the case, of course, but those first looks didn't leave me with a favorable impression. Plus, this house was a display house. That means the developer did an extra special good job to make things look good because it was where people made the decision to buy something from him or not. I must say, however, that the copper rod stuck into the ground with all the cables clamped to it DID look impressive to me. LOL
Antennae can be considered to be tuned circuits. The length and physical position of the elements of an antenna determine it's ability to resonate at a given frequency. Most of the ham radio people are happy to have the ability to receive on a given band of frequencies. The antenna, however, is tuned to a single point within that band. As you point out, signal degradation can be significant the further away you get from the tuned frequency. When you get up into the 144MHz range a few millimeters here and there can make a significant difference. It's not surprising to me that you would be interested and capable of designing an antenna for one specific frequency. The response curve would be steep in that 2 meter band and you deserved all the kudos you collected for building an antenna for optimal performance at a given frequency. The downside is that you would need a dozen antennae to cover the entire band at optimal resonance/performance. Then again, you DID have a large farm for your antennae.
I don't how how good your supervisor was in the electric theory department, but he sure did know how to impress people with being a professional electrician. I got to admit that I never gave a second thought to the dust in the screw head slots on my wall outlets. More than likely most of the customers you dealt with were not concerned about it either, but there is something about all the face plates looking identical that builds confidence at least on a subconscious level. I know how I felt when I looked at the Romex wires and plastic outlet covers that apparently are the standard here in Missouri. Compared to the conduit and metal covers back home the wiring here looks dangerous and cheap. That's not the case, of course, but those first looks didn't leave me with a favorable impression. Plus, this house was a display house. That means the developer did an extra special good job to make things look good because it was where people made the decision to buy something from him or not. I must say, however, that the copper rod stuck into the ground with all the cables clamped to it DID look impressive to me. LOL
Re: Reeading on Easter Morning
The most important thing I know about electricity is, use as little as possible, because it costs a lot, hi hi.
I'm sure you knew this, but all (most) of the Ham bands are on harmonics of each other, with few exceptions.
Also, you can build a single antenna the radiates on different bands. It may not be the best, but it will work fairly well.
Feeding a multi-band antenna is where it gets tricky, hi hi.
Most antenna are based on a 1/4 wave, but that 1/4 wave antenna could be a 1/2 wave on another band, or a full wave on an even higher band.
Coils can be used to spread the resonant bandwidth so more of a band can be used by a single antenna.
You reminded me of something about Mr.Steffan.
If you had OCD, the job he would give you was wiring up the panel boxes.
He had a framed picture of a panel box and the wires leading to it, definitely made by someone with OCD, hanging on his office wall. I've also seen a similar panel box posted on-line a few times. He called that kind of work a piece of art! While out of the other side of his mouth, he wouldn't pay you for wasting time to make it look like that, hi hi.
I'm sure you knew this, but all (most) of the Ham bands are on harmonics of each other, with few exceptions.
Also, you can build a single antenna the radiates on different bands. It may not be the best, but it will work fairly well.
Feeding a multi-band antenna is where it gets tricky, hi hi.
Most antenna are based on a 1/4 wave, but that 1/4 wave antenna could be a 1/2 wave on another band, or a full wave on an even higher band.
Coils can be used to spread the resonant bandwidth so more of a band can be used by a single antenna.
You reminded me of something about Mr.Steffan.
If you had OCD, the job he would give you was wiring up the panel boxes.
He had a framed picture of a panel box and the wires leading to it, definitely made by someone with OCD, hanging on his office wall. I've also seen a similar panel box posted on-line a few times. He called that kind of work a piece of art! While out of the other side of his mouth, he wouldn't pay you for wasting time to make it look like that, hi hi.
Re: Reeading on Easter Morning
That quintessential electric panel box must be a beautiful sight. I'd probably be able to find it if I look hard enough, but I get the idea without seeing the photograph. Many years after our last house was built I called out an electrician to add a line to one of the rooms. When he opened the panel box he said that he wasn't sure he could add another wire to the ground bus because of the rat's nest configuration the original installer made. Apparently all the ground wires were bunched up at the bottom of the panel as I recall. That made it difficult to squeeze in anything else. I don't know what the alternate method would have been, but I'm certain things could have been done in a lot more organized fashion. Anyway, he found a way to add the circuit so that it probably wasn't as bad as it looked.
Yes, I knew about all the Ham Radio bands being harmonics of each other. They did that so the amateurs would have less of a chance to screw up the other commercial broadcast space with their experiments. Of course it would be just as bad if your rig blotted out the entire spectrum of the amateur bands, but somehow that wasn't a big deal as far as the FCC was concerned. LOL It's been a while since I had to know anything about antenna theory, but at one time I knew the advantages and disadvantages of quarter wave, half wave, and full wave antennae. While complying with all that is desirable the truth is you can make a rain gutter resonant and use that instead of a wire, which is something I believe you told me you did. At one time I had a simple long wire antenna, but it was too short to be effective. I seem to recall they had to be 100 yards long to work properly, but we didn't have that much room on our house lot.
There is a house on Main street that I have been tempted to stop and visit. There is a 25 ft (at least) tower with a direction beam antenna hovering above the rooftop. There are also at least two verticals and could be more out back and out of sight from the street. Obviously this house is not part of an HOA because even to me it all looks kind of gaudy. Be that as it may, I'd love to know what that guy is running. Been here nearly 5 years now and have at least passed through every part of O'Fallon without noting any other gigantic antenna arrays. I'm very happy to see that the city of O'Fallon apparently has no objections to such things (my old neighborhood village did), but clearly more than 50% of the population falls under the dictatorial rule of some local housing association. I think it's pretty interesting that the city is obviously following the federal laws by allowing such things, but an HOA has no such obligations. Either that or there is only one person out of the 84,000 who live here who is interested in amateur radio.
Yes, I knew about all the Ham Radio bands being harmonics of each other. They did that so the amateurs would have less of a chance to screw up the other commercial broadcast space with their experiments. Of course it would be just as bad if your rig blotted out the entire spectrum of the amateur bands, but somehow that wasn't a big deal as far as the FCC was concerned. LOL It's been a while since I had to know anything about antenna theory, but at one time I knew the advantages and disadvantages of quarter wave, half wave, and full wave antennae. While complying with all that is desirable the truth is you can make a rain gutter resonant and use that instead of a wire, which is something I believe you told me you did. At one time I had a simple long wire antenna, but it was too short to be effective. I seem to recall they had to be 100 yards long to work properly, but we didn't have that much room on our house lot.
There is a house on Main street that I have been tempted to stop and visit. There is a 25 ft (at least) tower with a direction beam antenna hovering above the rooftop. There are also at least two verticals and could be more out back and out of sight from the street. Obviously this house is not part of an HOA because even to me it all looks kind of gaudy. Be that as it may, I'd love to know what that guy is running. Been here nearly 5 years now and have at least passed through every part of O'Fallon without noting any other gigantic antenna arrays. I'm very happy to see that the city of O'Fallon apparently has no objections to such things (my old neighborhood village did), but clearly more than 50% of the population falls under the dictatorial rule of some local housing association. I think it's pretty interesting that the city is obviously following the federal laws by allowing such things, but an HOA has no such obligations. Either that or there is only one person out of the 84,000 who live here who is interested in amateur radio.
Re: Reeading on Easter Morning
You would not believe some of the rats nests I've gotten myself into at folks homes, and in commercial buildings as well, especially in the telephone punchblocks room.
One of the cleanest panel boxes I ever opened, was not to the point of OCD hi hi, but so well laid out it was easy to work in, and because of this there was lots of room in there too. The kicker was, it was in the office of a Salvage Yard building that looked none to hot itself, hi hi.
When I lived in an apartment in Kirkwood, I made use of their gutters and a few other things to make invisible antennas. Plus some visible ones that no one ever noticed as being antennas, hi hi.
I designed an antenna for 160 meters that could fit in a 35 foot space. Pictures of it are on my website, and many have sent me messages saying how well it works for them. I also had a 160 coil on my Butternut vertical, which detuned the entire antenna and it took me forever to get it back in tune with that coil on there, hi hi.
More often than not, a Ham will win a fight with an HOA, simply because of the Emergency classification for Ham radio!
I know they made me take mine down, but then dad was behind them, while a new neighbor across the street built one twice as high and three times larger than mine. They tried to stop him too but the ARRL came out in full force for that new novice, which irked me big time, and one of the reasons I dropped out of the ARRL ever since.
An HOA can say no huge or unsightly antennas, or even no outside antennas at all, which would mean no TV, Radio, or CB antenna's because those are unlicensed services to the user. So they have no leg to stand on with an HOA. But Federal, State, County, and Local laws take precedence over an HOA, hi hi.
One of the cleanest panel boxes I ever opened, was not to the point of OCD hi hi, but so well laid out it was easy to work in, and because of this there was lots of room in there too. The kicker was, it was in the office of a Salvage Yard building that looked none to hot itself, hi hi.
When I lived in an apartment in Kirkwood, I made use of their gutters and a few other things to make invisible antennas. Plus some visible ones that no one ever noticed as being antennas, hi hi.
I designed an antenna for 160 meters that could fit in a 35 foot space. Pictures of it are on my website, and many have sent me messages saying how well it works for them. I also had a 160 coil on my Butternut vertical, which detuned the entire antenna and it took me forever to get it back in tune with that coil on there, hi hi.
More often than not, a Ham will win a fight with an HOA, simply because of the Emergency classification for Ham radio!
I know they made me take mine down, but then dad was behind them, while a new neighbor across the street built one twice as high and three times larger than mine. They tried to stop him too but the ARRL came out in full force for that new novice, which irked me big time, and one of the reasons I dropped out of the ARRL ever since.
An HOA can say no huge or unsightly antennas, or even no outside antennas at all, which would mean no TV, Radio, or CB antenna's because those are unlicensed services to the user. So they have no leg to stand on with an HOA. But Federal, State, County, and Local laws take precedence over an HOA, hi hi.
Re: Reeading on Easter Morning
Back in my previous life I lived in a Chicago suburb for a few dozen years. Never was part of an HOA, but they were all around me in some places. The last village I lived in actually had an ordinance banning transmission antenna towers. Apparently the antenna was OK but no towers (and a nail was considered a tower) were allowed. We were close to O'Hare International and I suspect that is how they justified the ordinance. However, there was one ham operator across the street from the railroad station with towers and directional beams and everything you would expect. Erecting all that equipment started a law suit and I do believe the ARRL got involved, but I'm not positive anymore. The court battle went on for years and the story is that the guy never broadcast for one minute during that time. Obviously it was a test case. The village lost and had to allow the towers. However, they were allowed to assess an annual fee which was somewhere around $700. I read about the settlement in the local paper and the next time I drove by the train station the tower was gone.
Since you brought it up, I went around the house looking at the screws on our electrical wall plates. Nearly all of them are aligned vertically. The only ones not perfectly straight are the plates with multiple switches. The were off to the right, about the one o'clock position in a few cases. Strange as it seems that offset was consistent. If the screws are not straight up and down, they re in the same position off center. And, of course, I looked for dust. Didn't see any on the bathroom screws, but then I didn't go checking the other rooms either. Believe me, I don't have any OCD inclinations at all.
Since you brought it up, I went around the house looking at the screws on our electrical wall plates. Nearly all of them are aligned vertically. The only ones not perfectly straight are the plates with multiple switches. The were off to the right, about the one o'clock position in a few cases. Strange as it seems that offset was consistent. If the screws are not straight up and down, they re in the same position off center. And, of course, I looked for dust. Didn't see any on the bathroom screws, but then I didn't go checking the other rooms either. Believe me, I don't have any OCD inclinations at all.
Re: Reeading on Easter Morning
I have a hunch, the guy decided to move out of that awful subdivision, which is why the towers came down.
A subdivision across the main drag from my dad's subdivision, built by the same builder, and basically the same style houses.
For some unknown reason the value of those houses shot up faster than my dad's subdivision did, and it took years to figure out why. It turned out it had to do with the HOA. It was much more strict in my dad's subdivision, than in the one across the way, where folks could add-on to their houses, and quite a few other things which were not allowed in dad's subdivision.
I think the two big things were, no one could have a pool in dad's subdivision, and many had pools (not above ground) in the other subdivision.
Basically, the HOA dad was under did not allow hardly anything at all, they didn't want anything about the subdivision to change from how it was built. And that kept folks from wanting to buy in there, which of course kept the property values low.
There were a couple of houses on the land where the subdivision was built, and the two families that owned them could do anything they wanted to do, because they were not part of the subdivisions HOA rules, hi hi.
Now that you mention it, almost all of Kick Electric's guys did that, set screws at the 1 O'Clock position. Their reasoning is there would not be a sharp burr at the top when you flip the switch, should the slot get nicked. That made sense too!
But a horizontal placement of the slot will nearly always collect dust or grime and build up in the slots.
I worked in a house once many years ago that gave me a surprise, there were no visible slots in any of the screws on any switch plate. Upon a closer examination, I could see there were slots, they were just filled up with clay and had a fresh coat of enamel over them. I told the owner I would have to clean the slots to remove the screws to take of the plate to get to the wiring. He said no big deal, my wife will make them back the ways she wants them. I never did find out what type of clay she used, but it was hard on the surface, yet still pliable after I scooped it out. The man didn't know much about it, said she was the artist in the family, hi hi.
A subdivision across the main drag from my dad's subdivision, built by the same builder, and basically the same style houses.
For some unknown reason the value of those houses shot up faster than my dad's subdivision did, and it took years to figure out why. It turned out it had to do with the HOA. It was much more strict in my dad's subdivision, than in the one across the way, where folks could add-on to their houses, and quite a few other things which were not allowed in dad's subdivision.
I think the two big things were, no one could have a pool in dad's subdivision, and many had pools (not above ground) in the other subdivision.
Basically, the HOA dad was under did not allow hardly anything at all, they didn't want anything about the subdivision to change from how it was built. And that kept folks from wanting to buy in there, which of course kept the property values low.
There were a couple of houses on the land where the subdivision was built, and the two families that owned them could do anything they wanted to do, because they were not part of the subdivisions HOA rules, hi hi.
Now that you mention it, almost all of Kick Electric's guys did that, set screws at the 1 O'Clock position. Their reasoning is there would not be a sharp burr at the top when you flip the switch, should the slot get nicked. That made sense too!
But a horizontal placement of the slot will nearly always collect dust or grime and build up in the slots.
I worked in a house once many years ago that gave me a surprise, there were no visible slots in any of the screws on any switch plate. Upon a closer examination, I could see there were slots, they were just filled up with clay and had a fresh coat of enamel over them. I told the owner I would have to clean the slots to remove the screws to take of the plate to get to the wiring. He said no big deal, my wife will make them back the ways she wants them. I never did find out what type of clay she used, but it was hard on the surface, yet still pliable after I scooped it out. The man didn't know much about it, said she was the artist in the family, hi hi.
Re: Reeading on Easter Morning
That amateur radio operator in my old neighborhood probably did move after the court case was settled. Nobody ever mentioned it, but I would guess that the ordinance was deliberately put to the test. Somebody paid a lot of legal fees just to force the village to allow towers. Once the point was proven in court, there was no reason to keep the tower. OR, more likely, the guy won in court but still had to pay the annual fee which was ridiculous.
Screws on the electric face plates never came into my mind in all the years I've been DIY-ing my domiciles. LOL I know that when I personally replaced face plates, I never gave any thought to the position of the slots. There may or may not have been burrs, but that didn't bother me one bit. Then again, if I had to do that kind of thing for a living, I would likely pay more attention to the details.
I love the story about the lady who put clay into the screw slots. I think window putty would have worked and can be painted over. Modeling clay dries very hard so that she probably used something else. More than a few face plates in my old house were missing a screw or two. It seems to me that it would not be such a difficult thing to come up with face plates that snapped into place without the need for a screw holding it down. In fact that might be a genius idea because when the plate is removed it could be designed to break forcing the purchase of new plates. Planned obsolescence, you know?
My wife finally decided to give up the ghost with her old LG smartphone. I'm very pleased with my Pixel and thus recommended one of the latest for a replacement. We are on a special plan with T-Mobile wherein us old folks (over age 55) get a special rate. I had to call the store to make sure that the new Pixel would work with our plan, and, that there would be no change in phone numbers for the new phone. They assured me there would be no problem using 5G and keeping the old number. Hopefully I've not been lied to. We should know next week some time.
Screws on the electric face plates never came into my mind in all the years I've been DIY-ing my domiciles. LOL I know that when I personally replaced face plates, I never gave any thought to the position of the slots. There may or may not have been burrs, but that didn't bother me one bit. Then again, if I had to do that kind of thing for a living, I would likely pay more attention to the details.
I love the story about the lady who put clay into the screw slots. I think window putty would have worked and can be painted over. Modeling clay dries very hard so that she probably used something else. More than a few face plates in my old house were missing a screw or two. It seems to me that it would not be such a difficult thing to come up with face plates that snapped into place without the need for a screw holding it down. In fact that might be a genius idea because when the plate is removed it could be designed to break forcing the purchase of new plates. Planned obsolescence, you know?
My wife finally decided to give up the ghost with her old LG smartphone. I'm very pleased with my Pixel and thus recommended one of the latest for a replacement. We are on a special plan with T-Mobile wherein us old folks (over age 55) get a special rate. I had to call the store to make sure that the new Pixel would work with our plan, and, that there would be no change in phone numbers for the new phone. They assured me there would be no problem using 5G and keeping the old number. Hopefully I've not been lied to. We should know next week some time.
Re: Reeading on Easter Morning
In my dad's subdivision, you could not park a truck that had any type of lettering on it, making it a commercial vehicle, as overnight parking. This is why so many that were parked there used magnetic signs they could take off, hi hi.
I do know the guy across the street from dad who put up those big towers still had them up when mom moved to a seniors center.
There were a lot of little things that was drilled into us in both trades fields I started in.
Even in the field of plumbing, when I was doing cast iron waste piping and pouring lead.
This may not make sense, but it was a required step when pouring a joint.
After the lead cooled, we were to pack it down as tight as possible.
Seems like doing that would break the seal, and technically it does.
However, being packed down like that, it reseals itself even tighter.
But, the very last step was pouring a new layer of lead for decorative purposes over the packed down lead.
And on horizontal pours where we used a pouring sleeve, we had to clean the flash nice and neat, hi hi.
Ironically, as far as electrical wiring goes, there are instances where we do not have to do a certain safety step, but mainly because it would be impossible to do, hi hi. For E.g. in a new installation, a Romex staple must be within 6 inches of pull box, in some counties it is 8 inches. But when you are fishtailing a wire inside a completed wall, that staple is not required, but you do have to use a pull box that allows you to lock the Romex in place. Plastic boxes do this automatically, hi hi.
My wife has a Schmartz-fone, and only have a little Flip-Fone. They used to only charge 9 bucks a month for my phone, then it jumped to 14 for 2 years, now it is back down to 12 bucks a month because the wife changed whoever it is we use.
It seems to work much better than who we were with, so no complaints. She said her phone cost dropped way down by switching.
Our niece uses those pay as you go phones. I think the cops call them burner phones, hi hi. But she's had the same phone number for as long as I can remember. She has every call blocked unless they are in her friends list, because they do charge for answered calls. Even with her gift to gab, her monthly costs is still less than half of ours. But most of what she does is texting.
I don't know much about those types of phones though, so don't know what capabilities they have.
I do know the guy across the street from dad who put up those big towers still had them up when mom moved to a seniors center.
There were a lot of little things that was drilled into us in both trades fields I started in.
Even in the field of plumbing, when I was doing cast iron waste piping and pouring lead.
This may not make sense, but it was a required step when pouring a joint.
After the lead cooled, we were to pack it down as tight as possible.
Seems like doing that would break the seal, and technically it does.
However, being packed down like that, it reseals itself even tighter.
But, the very last step was pouring a new layer of lead for decorative purposes over the packed down lead.
And on horizontal pours where we used a pouring sleeve, we had to clean the flash nice and neat, hi hi.
Ironically, as far as electrical wiring goes, there are instances where we do not have to do a certain safety step, but mainly because it would be impossible to do, hi hi. For E.g. in a new installation, a Romex staple must be within 6 inches of pull box, in some counties it is 8 inches. But when you are fishtailing a wire inside a completed wall, that staple is not required, but you do have to use a pull box that allows you to lock the Romex in place. Plastic boxes do this automatically, hi hi.
My wife has a Schmartz-fone, and only have a little Flip-Fone. They used to only charge 9 bucks a month for my phone, then it jumped to 14 for 2 years, now it is back down to 12 bucks a month because the wife changed whoever it is we use.
It seems to work much better than who we were with, so no complaints. She said her phone cost dropped way down by switching.
Our niece uses those pay as you go phones. I think the cops call them burner phones, hi hi. But she's had the same phone number for as long as I can remember. She has every call blocked unless they are in her friends list, because they do charge for answered calls. Even with her gift to gab, her monthly costs is still less than half of ours. But most of what she does is texting.
I don't know much about those types of phones though, so don't know what capabilities they have.
Re: Reeading on Easter Morning
Before I got the Pixel clever phone, I used one of those PayGo flip phones for many years. The phone was more capable than what I did with it. All I used it for was to send and receive calls, instant messaging, and to take a few pictures on the fly. For an extra fee I could have connected to the internet and surfed the web. I was allowed to connect for free to my carrier's website (Virgin Mobile) to check on my account or pay the bill that way. I also could have downloaded games to play. I didn't do any of that, and not because of the extra cost. The screen size was roughly 1.25" x 1.75" and damned near impossible to read any text from a website on it. The beautiful part about this phone is that it was split in half with one layer on top of the other. The bottom layer would slide out and reveal a QWERTY keyboard that made texting a whole lot easier than punching a numeric keypad to bring up alpha characters. Now that I switched phones I have a new carrier. I retained the old phone and use it as a portable clock that I keep on the nightstand next to the bed. When the battery can no longer be charged, I guess that would be the time to rely on the Pixel for overnight timekeeping. So far that flip phone battery is doing well even after (at least) ten years of service.
I have indeed heard of the term "burner phone" but under the name of "throw away" phone. It seems these phones can be purchased with a pre-loaded amount of air time, something like a prepaid credit card. When you run out of air time, you buy more or toss the phone. Their popularity among people who like to use cell phones to set off explosives is phenomenal. That's not because the phones are cheap, which they are. There is no phone history attached to a newly purchased "trow away" and thus they cannot be traced. Typically the bad actor uses a second "throw away" phone to call the first phone to set off the charge. Only one call per phone is recorded, should either be recovered.
We have a neighborhood newsletter that is e-mailed to us when people post to the bulletin board. Most of the time it's people who are new to the neighborhood and looking for referrals of one kind or another. But, it is also a place for dire warnings about shady looking cars or trucks cruising about at two in the morning and captured by somebody's Ring Camera. And, of course, when somebody needs to gripe about something, it too gets published. I learned something about local ordinances by reading a gripe from a neighbor who could not afford to get a new vehicle tag for his truck. He parked his truck in his driveway totally on his property and not blocking any sidewalks. The old license plate was attached, but the renewal sticker was expired. Apparently the truck sat there for a few months at which time he received a letter from the city. Somebody reported this truck as being unlicensed. They gave him 60 days to get a new tag or be taken to court. After much ranting and raving and response from other neighbors, the truth came out. If this truck were covered with a tarp, it would be perfectly legal to keep it parked in his driveway forever. Or, of course, the truck could be parked inside the garage instead of outside. The new thing I learned is that the city of O'Fallon has people cruising the streets looking for exactly these kind of violations, stupid as they are. I would have thought the HOA made up the rule, but apparently it's one of the ordinances over at city hall.
I have indeed heard of the term "burner phone" but under the name of "throw away" phone. It seems these phones can be purchased with a pre-loaded amount of air time, something like a prepaid credit card. When you run out of air time, you buy more or toss the phone. Their popularity among people who like to use cell phones to set off explosives is phenomenal. That's not because the phones are cheap, which they are. There is no phone history attached to a newly purchased "trow away" and thus they cannot be traced. Typically the bad actor uses a second "throw away" phone to call the first phone to set off the charge. Only one call per phone is recorded, should either be recovered.
We have a neighborhood newsletter that is e-mailed to us when people post to the bulletin board. Most of the time it's people who are new to the neighborhood and looking for referrals of one kind or another. But, it is also a place for dire warnings about shady looking cars or trucks cruising about at two in the morning and captured by somebody's Ring Camera. And, of course, when somebody needs to gripe about something, it too gets published. I learned something about local ordinances by reading a gripe from a neighbor who could not afford to get a new vehicle tag for his truck. He parked his truck in his driveway totally on his property and not blocking any sidewalks. The old license plate was attached, but the renewal sticker was expired. Apparently the truck sat there for a few months at which time he received a letter from the city. Somebody reported this truck as being unlicensed. They gave him 60 days to get a new tag or be taken to court. After much ranting and raving and response from other neighbors, the truth came out. If this truck were covered with a tarp, it would be perfectly legal to keep it parked in his driveway forever. Or, of course, the truck could be parked inside the garage instead of outside. The new thing I learned is that the city of O'Fallon has people cruising the streets looking for exactly these kind of violations, stupid as they are. I would have thought the HOA made up the rule, but apparently it's one of the ordinances over at city hall.
Re: Reeading on Easter Morning
My first cell phone, was called a Bag Phone. It was heavy and had poor quality, and there were very few towers back then too.
There was no signal anywhere between about a mile from my house, and about a half mile before my then father-in-laws house.
Basically, this meant along Manchester Road between Des Peres and the Manchester, Ballwin, Ellisville cluster towns. If you went west of there, there was no signal of any kind.
After that I had the large gray Motorola Phone with the large battery packs you slipped on the back of the phone.
They sure have come a long way since those bygone days that's for sure.
Prior to burner phones, I think Pagers were used to set of things like explosives, hi hi.
As far as I know, that rule applies almost everywhere I've ever lived. But as you said, you could put a tarp on it.
When I lived in Creve Coeur, there were tons of people who did nothing but drive around looking for things to complain about, hi hi.
The city came to my house several times over complaints but could not find anything illegal at my house. The those complaining started getting more and more specific about exactly what their complain was about.
No fences allowed beyond the face of the home. I had two 8 inch high garden fences around a bed of pot mums down at the roadway on either side of the driveway. And another one around the bird bath centered in a small flower bed. The inspector said they were perfectly legal as they are not fencing but garden decoration aka edging.
Another time was about my custom mailbox. They complained because I had both a large and small mailbox on it. I removed the small mailbox and placed a planter box on the side where it was located, and a large glass ball light over it, and a copper hood over that. Looked nice. So nice in fact it was featured in Better Homes and Gardens 100 Ideas under 100 dollars. But then what they did, they took the picture of my mailbox, modified it slightly, and published their own design that was similar to mine. That sorta irked me since they did pay me to feature my mailbox, not much, only about 350 bucks if I recall. But I had told everyone they were showing my mailbox in the magazine, and the one they showed we only similar to mine. I talked to them and they said why, but I don't remember the lame excuse they gave. Something about privacy issues if I recall.
There was no signal anywhere between about a mile from my house, and about a half mile before my then father-in-laws house.
Basically, this meant along Manchester Road between Des Peres and the Manchester, Ballwin, Ellisville cluster towns. If you went west of there, there was no signal of any kind.
After that I had the large gray Motorola Phone with the large battery packs you slipped on the back of the phone.
They sure have come a long way since those bygone days that's for sure.
Prior to burner phones, I think Pagers were used to set of things like explosives, hi hi.
As far as I know, that rule applies almost everywhere I've ever lived. But as you said, you could put a tarp on it.
When I lived in Creve Coeur, there were tons of people who did nothing but drive around looking for things to complain about, hi hi.
The city came to my house several times over complaints but could not find anything illegal at my house. The those complaining started getting more and more specific about exactly what their complain was about.
No fences allowed beyond the face of the home. I had two 8 inch high garden fences around a bed of pot mums down at the roadway on either side of the driveway. And another one around the bird bath centered in a small flower bed. The inspector said they were perfectly legal as they are not fencing but garden decoration aka edging.
Another time was about my custom mailbox. They complained because I had both a large and small mailbox on it. I removed the small mailbox and placed a planter box on the side where it was located, and a large glass ball light over it, and a copper hood over that. Looked nice. So nice in fact it was featured in Better Homes and Gardens 100 Ideas under 100 dollars. But then what they did, they took the picture of my mailbox, modified it slightly, and published their own design that was similar to mine. That sorta irked me since they did pay me to feature my mailbox, not much, only about 350 bucks if I recall. But I had told everyone they were showing my mailbox in the magazine, and the one they showed we only similar to mine. I talked to them and they said why, but I don't remember the lame excuse they gave. Something about privacy issues if I recall.
Re: Reeading on Easter Morning
I dunno Gary. From what I understand it is illegal to drive an unlicensed vehicle on a public road. That makes sense. My complaining neighbor was not driving his unlicensed truck. It was parked on private property. I suppose you could make a case for licensing all vehicles whether or not you drive them on public roads, but that is not the way it works here. That same truck with an expired license could be parked legally in the same exact spot if it were covered. What kind of craziness is that? Likewise it would be ok to park the unlicensed truck inside the garage. However, if it is unlicensed and totally visible, some law magically is violated. I don't get the point of the law. Is it there to prevent retinal damage to busybodies who can't tolerate vehicles with expired licenses on display??? Are the license police worried that this guy might some day in the dark of the night attempt to drive this unlicensed truck on a public road, and thus possibly break a law??? Gee whizz. I thought that in this country you had to actually break a law before you were guilty of violating it. Maybe not.
Your Better Homes and Garden story is pretty interesting. I know you are very creative and would not doubt that some of your works would be of value to the right people. It's certainly an honor to be chosen for a photo of your creation to be placed in the magazine. The fact that they paid you to feature a photo of your sculpture suggests to me that they really liked what they saw. So, the question in my mind is why did they alter the picture to make something else out of your work? If they were not going to reproduce your original masterpiece, why did they pay you? They do have to get permission to publish stuff you own, and I suppose they could justify "enhancing" the photo of it all. But why did they bother to get your permission when they never intended to show your creation in the first place? You don't remember why because some corporate lawyer probably explained it to you and they are operating in some other universe.
Your Better Homes and Garden story is pretty interesting. I know you are very creative and would not doubt that some of your works would be of value to the right people. It's certainly an honor to be chosen for a photo of your creation to be placed in the magazine. The fact that they paid you to feature a photo of your sculpture suggests to me that they really liked what they saw. So, the question in my mind is why did they alter the picture to make something else out of your work? If they were not going to reproduce your original masterpiece, why did they pay you? They do have to get permission to publish stuff you own, and I suppose they could justify "enhancing" the photo of it all. But why did they bother to get your permission when they never intended to show your creation in the first place? You don't remember why because some corporate lawyer probably explained it to you and they are operating in some other universe.
Re: Reeading on Easter Morning
Hmm, we had around 24 unlicensed vehicles on our property, albeit about 16 of those were in a barn.
Nevertheless, we had at least 8 we used on our property, some nearly every day.
But because of the law, we had to park them all behind the boiler room so they were not visible from any street.
Now, some folks buy old cars to renovate, so are not yet street drivable.
Some folks have kids who own cars who are either away in the service or away at college for four year.
Most of the time those cars are kept in a garage, if there was room.
And what about collectors who have hundreds of cars they keep just for show. Most of the time they are inside though.
Most states have 1 day to 1 week licenses, where old cars are taken on the road often for a parade or to go between shows.
And FWIW: I owned two cars that were not street legal of which I could not get license plates for. I could tow or trailer them to the race track on Sunday's. I did make one of them street legal and get plates and insurance for it. And the cops would follow me around like hornets after someone poked their nest with a stick, hi hi.
One of the reasons was the materials I used were not readily available, such as full size 2x4s that measured 2x4 hi hi.
And they had to make a duplicate of readily available materials. But I think the clincher was, it was not truly my design, although it really was, it's just that I had a cousin who was an architect draw up the plans for it for insurance purposes.
Somewhere around here, en-chimed in a folder is a copy of the drawings. I also have a description for the insurance company also. If I find it, I'll post it for you!
Nevertheless, we had at least 8 we used on our property, some nearly every day.
But because of the law, we had to park them all behind the boiler room so they were not visible from any street.
Now, some folks buy old cars to renovate, so are not yet street drivable.
Some folks have kids who own cars who are either away in the service or away at college for four year.
Most of the time those cars are kept in a garage, if there was room.
And what about collectors who have hundreds of cars they keep just for show. Most of the time they are inside though.
Most states have 1 day to 1 week licenses, where old cars are taken on the road often for a parade or to go between shows.
And FWIW: I owned two cars that were not street legal of which I could not get license plates for. I could tow or trailer them to the race track on Sunday's. I did make one of them street legal and get plates and insurance for it. And the cops would follow me around like hornets after someone poked their nest with a stick, hi hi.
One of the reasons was the materials I used were not readily available, such as full size 2x4s that measured 2x4 hi hi.
And they had to make a duplicate of readily available materials. But I think the clincher was, it was not truly my design, although it really was, it's just that I had a cousin who was an architect draw up the plans for it for insurance purposes.
Somewhere around here, en-chimed in a folder is a copy of the drawings. I also have a description for the insurance company also. If I find it, I'll post it for you!
Re: Reeading on Easter Morning
I got the impression from that newsletter complaint, plus you clearly stated it again here in this thread. A vehicle that is visible from the street has to be licensed. The fact that it is visible or not makes or breaks the law, and to my way of thinking it's an incredibly stupid law. While there are many laws for which I do not understand their intended purpose, this one's purpose (to hide an unlicensed vehicle) is outrageously inane. Admittedly I never read the legal text, but I was taught in class that a motorized vehicle had to be licensed to drive on Illinois highways. That's all I learned about the law, and perhaps there were a few things the teacher neglected to mention. I just assumed that if you were not driving on a public road, a license was not required. If they are going to require a license for storing your kid's car for a few years and not drive it, why is the DMV involved? Missouri has the right idea and calls it personal property. The county Treasurer doesn't care if you drive it or not. If you own it, you pay a tax. Period. In the case of the DMV, if you can see it, you pay their fee. If you can't see it, well, no need to pay. 
It would be great if you can dome up with the photos of your sculpture that never really was published in Better Homes and Gardens. LOL I understand it better now after you told me they had to actually reproduce it for the price they said it could be produced. They just took your masterpiece as an inspiration, paid you for that privilege, and then built a similar sculpture that fit the requirements of the article.
It would be great if you can dome up with the photos of your sculpture that never really was published in Better Homes and Gardens. LOL I understand it better now after you told me they had to actually reproduce it for the price they said it could be produced. They just took your masterpiece as an inspiration, paid you for that privilege, and then built a similar sculpture that fit the requirements of the article.
Re: Reeading on Easter Morning
I just checked my old archives and apparently it is not in digital format, none of it. Oh well!
Re: Reeading on Easter Morning
I'm sorry that I'll not see your inspiration, but I did have another idea that relates to all this. See my post about NFT's
Re: Reeading on Easter Morning
Yeppers, in MIssouri we had Personal Property Tax, paid annually, and it was 600 bucks per year on my Blazer.
Plus it had to be be inspected, licensed, another 65 bucks, and insured.
Missouri even tried to get me to pay Personal Property taxes on it after I moved south.
There is a possibility I might find the one they featured in 100 Ideas under 100 dollars.
I did some searching but have not found it yet.
I'm also looking for my paperwork on it, but I've kept hundreds of years of paperwork here from home, but where, hi hi.
Plus it had to be be inspected, licensed, another 65 bucks, and insured.
Missouri even tried to get me to pay Personal Property taxes on it after I moved south.
There is a possibility I might find the one they featured in 100 Ideas under 100 dollars.
I did some searching but have not found it yet.
I'm also looking for my paperwork on it, but I've kept hundreds of years of paperwork here from home, but where, hi hi.
Re: Reeading on Easter Morning
Google has an image search capability. Drag an image into their image search box and they will come up with a bunch of similar ones. I don't know how they do it, but it is a fascinating way to query a database. I have no idea if the software is available for us home computer users, but it would be nice if it were.
Like yourself, I'm sure, I occasionally receive "friend requests" on Farcebook, and other places. They are frequently bogus requests, but some are legitimate. One way to filter out the worthy from the phishing is to use that image search option offered by Google (and others). It's amazing to see the distribution of the picture associated with the profile of the requester. Several times the identical photo shows up on Russian or other suspect web sites. A lot of the gals show up on Instagram, and when looking at their profiles there the purpose of the friend request on Farcebook becomes obvious. I've use the same technique to try and identify plants. Google Lens made an app based on the idea of finding similar images. When I photograph a plant I am not familiar with using Google Lens, they will come back with a million similar pictures. Most of the similar ones are on websites that give the name of the plant. It's an interesting way to do research on things you are not familiar with.
Like yourself, I'm sure, I occasionally receive "friend requests" on Farcebook, and other places. They are frequently bogus requests, but some are legitimate. One way to filter out the worthy from the phishing is to use that image search option offered by Google (and others). It's amazing to see the distribution of the picture associated with the profile of the requester. Several times the identical photo shows up on Russian or other suspect web sites. A lot of the gals show up on Instagram, and when looking at their profiles there the purpose of the friend request on Farcebook becomes obvious. I've use the same technique to try and identify plants. Google Lens made an app based on the idea of finding similar images. When I photograph a plant I am not familiar with using Google Lens, they will come back with a million similar pictures. Most of the similar ones are on websites that give the name of the plant. It's an interesting way to do research on things you are not familiar with.