New e-bike has arrived

 Haven't tried it out yet. Wrong! It has, see the scrollable window below for new details.

11/25/25:

There's a significant problem here that needs solving. The solution is to make a "reverse-stirrup", which would solve the problem of getting my feet on the pedals. Also, to keep them on the pedals. A stirrup for riding a horse may serve a similar purpose. But no need to get into that. I need this reverse-stirrup to stay on my feet, but not too firmly. That's because I need my feet on the ground when standing up.

So I made this reverse-stirrup, and I have to make it fit before I can make it so that it can be tested. So the test was to see if this can be a feasible solution. So far, nothing has ruled it in or out. Call it a "meh" so far.

7:39 PM, 11/23/25:

There's something different about my posts lately. The difference is the scrollable windows, with a different background color and text combination.

The advantage is that it extends how much can go on one page. Other posts don't get lost in the verbiage of long posts. If a post is long with a lot of updates, the reader can scroll through as long as it is of interest to the reader.

It wasn't used here on this post because I got lazy. It takes a bit more effort to set it up. ---on the other hand, it wasn't so hard, and I cut and pasted it on this post instead!  BTW, I got an idea that I will try out tomorrow.  If it works, then I can use the e-bike after all.

9:10 AM:

Putting the e-bike together was a dream. But the road test was a nightmare. The problem isn't the bike. It's me. I'm in such poor condition that I cannot manage the thing. At least not yet. There's no alternative here. Either I get this thing working, or it's another  mistake.   

Incidentally, this came as a bit of a surprise.  I didn't even consider the possibility that I would have a physical problem handling it.

5:38 AM:

It still needs some assembly. It pleases me to report that the e-bike looks almost ready to go. It is mostly assembled already. Happy days.

The items left to put on should be no problem. But it is still dark as I type this in. I'm anxious to try it out.

This gives me an idea. Rather than to go on YouTube or Rumble, why not make a video about this e-bike?

Bet the Big Tech companies don't like you cutting them out of their action. If you learn to code, then you can make your own webpages, and you won't need their services anymore. How nice!

I can be a real a-hole if you get me going. Seems like these Big Tech guys want to get something going. Well, we'll see about that.

 

Eureka! I found another use for the new widget

It is a pleasure to report that embeds will work within this scrollable paragraph widget-thingie that I concocted. I will continue to experiment with it, while seeing where the limits are with respect to its potential.

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

11/23/25:

Deleted update on put it on a different post as an update.

11/18/25:

 

Let's see here. Since the last update, I've gone back and repeated the same things over again. I'm coding again, and I'm going to try an e-bike! It's on order--another powered thingie, but this one will have pedals. Maybe I learned from my mistake, and this purchase will be a better one. Otherwise, it will be another mistake! By the way, in case I haven't mentioned it, I've got the Microsoft app called "GitHub" mentioned earlier. But I hardly use it.

 

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.

Busy as a bee

 Yep, there's a lot of good ideas that I've written about.   Here's one from the other blog, but it might be here in this one too.   In case it isn't, here's the link.   Actually, there are already wild bees out there on the property.  I saw a swarm of them on one of my trips.  Glad I wasn't outside when those went by.  I've actually drove through a swarm of bees once.  Imagine all the bug splats on the windshield.

What's up post

 

HTML--hyper text markup language

 

It can be a pretty unpredictable thing, at least for the moment and for me. Even this blog is acting in an unusual manner.

 

It seems that I cannot access a post for some reason. It just ignores my click.

 

Anyway, the links to the web page developmental project are now broken. There's a reason for that, as I am going to start up another project. The other page still exists, but seems to be unavailable at this time. If possible, I may bring it back. I see no reason why it couldn't, if I so choose.

 

Quick update:

 

Demons?

 

As the late comic Flip Wilson liked to say, the Devil made me do it.

 

 

Odd thing about this post, too.  The link on that post doesn't work properly.  That's a bit strange.  A possible explanation is that the post was taken down.  However, the link is not at fault.  It is pointing to an explicit referenced link, but when it goes to the link, the page doesn't show---something else does.

Rapid iteration is like what you do in coding

11/19/25:

 

Rapid iteration doesn't seem very rapid at times. After a good deal of trial, and mostly error, I got the video player going the way I'd like. It cycles through the videos that I have on the list. I can add more to the list, and make a small addition to the code, and the video player will accomodate it. It had two videos for awhile, now it has three. If I add another, it will take minimal programming to do it.

 

It sure took a lot of effort.

 

11/18/25:

 

Brief observation here... While learning to code again, I note that I have to keep correcting errors. There's a bunch of those. Well, as you may know, SpaceX uses the rapid iteration technique to improve their rockets. It seems that Elon Musk's first big commercial success may have been a programming project--it may have been PayPal.

But it is better to not to make so many mistakes. Blowing up rockets is an expensive undertaking. Blowing them up in virtual reality may be a lot cheaper...

Incidentally, there's been talk about landing the heavy booster out in the Gulf. Why would Musk want to do that? Could it be that he wants to land them out in the Gulf in order to improve performance. Bringing the booster back to the launch site costs a lot of fuel, which hampers performance. If the booster could land in the Gulf, and then transport back to the launch site, it would enable better performance.

 

An idea that he may have, or may not have, is to re-fly the booster back to the launch site after a launch. The boost back to launch site from the Gulf would involve adding fuel to it again, and then launching a booster alone from the Gulf for the short trip back to the launch site. Why do this? It would save time. It may take a day or two to get it back to the launch site by sea, you see.

 

After all, the whole idea is to have short turnaround time. A booster that can be re-used several times a day could reduce launch costs even further. Also, landing out in the Gulf could increase useful payload to orbit up to maybe 75 tons--instead of 200 tons to orbit, it may go up to 275 tons to orbit. All that while maintaining rapid launch cadence.

 

So now's there's a plan

There's a saying out there in the world that goes something like this: "Make your plans, and God will smile." That means, whatever you make plans for, there's likely to be a few things that you haven't allowed for. Incidentally, I may have mangled that quote up pretty badly, and adapted it to what I'm thinking.

Which allows me to segue into another quote that might get mangled. All war plans do not survive contact with the enemy. The enemy of any plan, including war or any other endeavor, is the radnomness of existence. Now that I've bored you with philosophical nonsense, the plan is in effect. It is to use the results of my learning to code in order to make money. Or to sell the land in order to obtain money for some other plan that I've not concocted yet. The plan is underway, and things appear to be going okay. But the reality hasn't hit yet. No money may be made, no sales may get transacted. That's the way things may go, but there's enough optimism to try.

 

Learning to code is easier said than done

11/15/25:

8:25 PM:

No javascript is necessary.  Just a little html.

2:42 PM:

There's this idea that has popped up, and it involves embedding my own videos on my own site. That means, no more YouTube. Or Rumble. Is that possible? Well, before it is over, I will find out. Basically, the javascript just plays the video. You supply the video, and the javascript plays it. It may involve some other things, but that is the basic concept. If so, I just may embed a video into the spot that I've reserved on my page.

I have a video in mind. It took a little while to locate it. It is a video of my trip out to the land, so it fits right into the site. I want to edit it a bit before I put it up. My narration sucks, so I'll just dub in some music or something. I need a video editor. There's one that will work in Linux, but probably not on my Raspberry Pi.

If all goes according to plan, I'll kill a couple birds with one stone. I'll be able to present the land for sale (if I choose), and be able to show it as an example of my computer skills. Who knows? Somebody might think it is good enough to pay for.

11/14/25:: (oops!--got the date wrong, fixed now)

Time flies, it's almost halfway through this month. As time goes by, I'll continue practicing my html. I'm working new ideas I learn as I go, and put it into places on this website, and on the main site. Plus there's a couple other sites that I work with for practice.

See what this paragraph does in blogger..., looks like it doesn't do anything at all. hmmm, it works on a standalone page, but that cannot be proven here.

I messed with the font, and that may be getting blocked. The blogger platform has font directives available--shown in this paragraph. Maybe I have to content myself with those, and cannot add my own. Or there could be some other explanation.

Update:  Now all these a linked together.  Starting from the canva page, I can get here, or to the one I designed from scratch and back again.  Made a few changes to the canva page too.

11/11/25:

I'm collecting practice pages as a hobby. Another one here.

11/9/25:

A glutton for punishment. Back to this again. I found another place that has a few features that will allow me to practice some skills. It doesn't cost anything either. (w3schools) Actually, I've tried this one before, but stopped for some reason. Maybe I didn't like it.

So it's back to where I began a few years ago. At this rate, it will take me 20 years to learn anything if I learn anything at all. Twenty years is never as far as I'm concerned. Good reason for it. I won't last that long.

10/29/25:

Now we're talking. After watching many videos, and experimenting, I finally got a button on the darned thing. It goes to a website of my choice. Also a text box as link that goes to a website. It isn't much, but it is something. I try to do a little something to the new site each day.

10/26/25:

If you want to learn to code, you may spend a lot of time, and you may not be able to do anything significant.

 

Trouble is in finding a place and a way to practice some skills. The online teaching may leave something to be desired also.

So far it has proved to be a disappointment.

Does SpaceX know how they're going to land on the moon?

 

With so little said about the details of how they're going to fulfill the mission requirements, it seems like the scene in a Dirty Harry movie, thusly:

One could legitimately ask if SpaceX really knows what they're doing here. Of course SpaceX knows rockets, but they've never done this kind of thing before, which is something that they've got to master before they can be successful.

Why not copy what worked before? What worked before was basically the solution for the tyranny of the rocket equation. NASA's solution was shed mass as you go along. The Saturn V's first two stages did the heavy work of getting to the edge of space, then the IVB third stage finished off the orbit phase, and served as the translunar injection phase. After its job was complete, the mass was discarded, as were the first two stages of the Saturn V. At this point, there is about 100k lbs that has to finish the mission. That's just 50 tons.

No need for complex operations like refueling in space. The last part required only a relatively small amount of thrust and fuel. Even that obeyed the same strategy. The lunar module had two sub-modules. The lander part got the lunar module on the surface, and the ascent module got the astronauts back to the command module. Let's say the lunar module massed out at 16 tons. That left 34 tons to get back to Earth. To get from the lunar surface required only 10k lbs or 5 tons total mass. These are approximate numbers, but that's not the point. The point is that in landing such a large spacecraft on the lunar surface requires a very complex set of maneuvers.

Refueling may work, but the shedding of mass has been proven to work. So SpaceX is basically re-inventing the wheel here. With the heavy lift capability of the superheavy, it should be well within its capabilities of landing a spacecraft on the moon. Just not the Starship. If Musk insists on the Starship, then he is incurring far more mission risk on something that hasn't been proven in action before. Just sayin'.