School bus conversion to tiny home

Very nice.

 

Shorter Starship?

 

A shorter Starship may not be a SpaceX idea. All the same, I like the idea. I even speculated on such a proposition myself.

 

So here's a video that discusses it, but with a lot of added filler at the beginning. I skipped that, and got to the point.

 

 

 

 

It is best to acknowledge your errors. Only then can you move forward.

10/21/25:

 

Yep. Got out of those mistakes. Not learning to code anymore. That was quick, huh? The problem was GitHub. A little digging uncovered a fact that triggered a "a hah!" moment. The damned thing seems to be geared towards Microsoft. You may be able to use it with Linux, but I had a lot of trouble. So that's when I started digging and found out that it might go a lot easier if you used a Microsoft product to interface with GitHub--that idea was a non-starter. Then, a little more digging finds that Microsoft owns GitHub--ah hah!

 

While digging around, I found this video. It may give me some leads on how to do it myself. That is, if I want to actually follow through and learn to code another way.

 

That was one of the mistakes. The other was the scooter. I gave it away. So on to the video.

 

 

10/5/25:

 

It is also good to make the most of your mistakes. For example, if the purchases I made were in error, the error may be minimized through getting the most out of what I've already committed to, or get out of the situation.

 

To get out of the scooter, I could get rid out it. This will incur a loss. Maybe I want to keep using it until I figure out if I want to get rid of it. Likewise, with the programming course that I purchased. I'll keep using it until I figure out if I want to stop or not.

 

It may turn out to not be a mistake after all. That's why it is a speculative post, and is posted here.

 

Here's one way to get the most out of the Python course:

 

 

9/28/25:

 

Just took a look at the course that I'm on. I was under a false impression, because I didn't look closely enough. This course is pretty comprehensive. There's a lot of stuff that can be learned here.

 

It might well be useful for getting a job in the real world. But it would require a commitment in time. This will take a substantial amount of time. Now the kicker here is whether or not I can complete the course. In terms of ability, at this time, I feel good enough to do it. The risk is that I may not feel as good along the way as I do now.

 

9/27/25: Buying that scooter awhile back may have been a mistake. It seems that I've been making some mistakes like this in recent times. Another example was to buy Rick Beato's music course. That was definitely a mistake too. Now I've gone and done it again, maybe.

I bought an AI-directed computer programming course. The sales pitch asked why would you do this, and I responded "for fun". After doing some of the exercises, I'm finding it not as much fun as I thought. Indeed, if it was primarily for fun, then it was a mistake. But rarely do I do anything for fun. Fun has its consequences. If this really was for fun, and not some other reason ( in which case, another reason could be to make money), then maybe that will have to be the reason going forward.

After thinking about that one, the effort at making a living at programming didn't work out too well before. Why would it work now? I didn't think this through very well, and it may be a mistake. If it is indeed a mistake, then at least I can get a refund. But wait! I'm just wondering maybe I COULD make money this time. This could pay-off. Maybe. Kinda sorta.

That'll be the day. Even if the demand exists for this kind of skill, there may be other issues involved. I don't want to punch a time clock, or go into an office. I'd prefer to work right here. That was presented as a possibility, but are such possibilites really feasible? It has to play out in order to see.

So it is a matter of sticking with it and see what develops from it. I know from before that programming is very time-consuming, and it really isn't fun. It is work. There's a saying these days---learn to code. I learned this skill before, but it has been so long that I have to almost start over. But not from scratch. It should go easier, but I'm no spring chicken.

I could use a little extra spending money... Blogging isn't going to pay, either. Nor do I wish it to. But I've got this land in West Texas that is just sitting there. Another mistake. Maybe.

Do you need a $30k trailer?

 

This video challenges that notion. Looks interesting.

 

 

Coding on Raspberry Pi

10/7/25:

Interesting. It may be hard to understand the narrator, because he is obviously not a native English speaker. Anyway, Thonny is on my Raspberry Pi machine, so the example he gives is easy to follow. It may be a bit embarrassing at first, because it seems TOO easy. But it has been 20 plus years since I coded anything at all. I'm pretty rusty. Not to worry, it's coming along fine.

10/6/25:

 

Can you ride your motor scooter, Billy Boy, Billy Boy

10/4/25:

 

The scooter didn't come with mirrors. For a nominal cost extra, it now has them. It's a little more reassuring to be able to see if there's a car coming in behind you. This scooter may have a problem with hills. If not that, then it seems to have some other problem because it quits sometimes. That's rather annoying. It could be a long walk home if that thing quits on me in the middle of town.

 

7/12/25:

 

Making the ramp now. It's almost ready to be tested. If that test works, then I can get the scooter outside and try it out. I tried it inside a bit. Everything seems to be working, and I'm nearly ready to ROCK n' ROLL!

 

But do I ever get tired easy. Maybe if I am lucky, I can rebuild myself while I'm doing this. This is embarrassing.

 

By the way, did I mention that I found the missing bolt? However, the other wire basket between the seat and the handlebars, and is actually large enough to carry some cargo, is IN THE WAY. So, I had to take it off. The seat feels okay for now, but I'm not bouncing up and down on a bumpy road yet. We'll see.

 

7/11/25:

 

The scooter came, I saw, but it did not conquer me. Not yet, anyway. There was some assembly required--for the scooter, that is. The cursed thing arrived late afternoon. I got the bright idea to take it out of the box while outside in the sun. By the time I got it out of the box, I knew I was in for a battle.

 

I fought this thing for the rest of the day, and retired for the evening in a very tired state. In theory, the assembly should have been easy. Among the issues were that the handle bars "quick disconnect" mechanism would not go on properly. Fortunately, this feature is not necessary. The status of the assembly was mostly finished by bedtime. But I was still in the fight.

 

First thing this morning, the battle raged on. The parts of this scooter have a very annoying tendency to want to fall to the floor. I have a strong tendency not to want to bend over and pick things up off the friggin' floor all the time. So I battled this thing for another hour before finishing up the assembly. That is, what I could do of it. A part went missing when it hit the floor. I spent another hour looking for it with no luck.

 

The original idea was to build it outside because I wanted to store it in the van. But it is too hot to store it outside, says the manual. So I have to keep it in-friggin'-side. So that is the current state of this adventure. The question being, how to I store this thing inside, and move it outside where it can be useful when I want it to be? I will build a ramp. There's some stairs to traverse in order to get it back down to ground level.

 

More assembly required. I'm getting too old for this shit.

 

7/10/25:

 

Amazon and UPS needs to get their heads wired up to their asses. They are giving conflicting information. It's not a problem so far. We'll see.

 

7/9/25:

 

The scooter is still on its way. Not due for a couple more days.

 

I tested the battery by using it to power the weed eater. The weed eater pulls about 700-800 watts estimated. It will drain a battery of this type in a relatively short time. It will run a dehumidifier for 3 hours continuous if it is in as good a shape as last year. It has seen little use since I stopped that experiment. Now there's this experiment.

 

There's always something, said Rose Ann Rosanna Dana.

 

7/8/25:

 

The repairs are complete, but there may be some tweaking ahead. Still in testing phase, but it appears to be working as intended.

 

Still waiting on the scooter to arrive.

 

7/7/25:

 

The solar panel system has been acting up. When I moved the trailer recently, I may have pulled a wire loose. I forgot to unplug everything, and while pulling the trailer, I notice something was being dragged along behind me. Oopsie.

 

It's been a slog to figure out what got messed up. It's charging the battery again, so that's good. I want the switches to shut it off and on to work, but these aren't cooperating at the moment. No biggie. I'll figure it out.

 

7/5/25:

 

Awaiting my moto scooter, and it is no ring-tail tooter. (Ref: Slick Willy Update of the Rush Limbaugh show dating back to 1992's election campaign ) Getting my stuff ready, as preparations are needed.

 

The following video is a little closer to the update version, but it isn't quite there. I can't find it on YouTube.

 

 

 

 

07/03/2025:

 

Got an idea about buying a mobility scooter. The one that would seem most handy would cost over $3k, and can be obtained on Amazon.

 

It is electric, and would have a 30 mile range, or so it says.

 

Having experimented with an electric scooter before, the range would seem be inflated. It all depends upon battery capacity. This one has a 48 V, 20 AH electrical setup. That's about 1 Kwh. If it is anything like autos, it may get 4 miles.

 

Even so, it would be sufficient for ample mobility.

 

The price is high, but not beyond me. What about a golf cart?

 

07/04/2025:

 

Here's what I did: I got an electric scooter. It is pretty much the same thing I had before, so it won't cost much, and it can't do all that much, but it can do a few things ( I hope ).

 

Back in 2003, I bought one for $150. It is now $450 on Amazon. Now that is what I call "progress". Free delivery! Like wow, man.

 

I'll use my solar panels to provide electricity for charging the thing. Maybe this idea will actually work. Most of my ideas don't work worth a sheet, main.