A modern Merlin, hell bent for glory, he shot the works and nothing worked.
Dismal Wizard (DW) was having difficulty finding TV programs to watch although we had multiple program sources. DW decided to try Plex Media Service. Plex needed hardware support so he bought a ZimaBoard, a small X86-64 computer. DW had a go setting it up to run Plex. This post summarizes our experiences with ZimaBoard and and its CasaOS Docker working environment. There was a learning curve but nothing experimentation couldn’t conquer.
Dismal Wizard gets the new car itch every 7 years or so. In 2023, it struck early. It’s a long story. In 2021, on faith, sight unseen, DW ordered a new VW ID.4 expecting Volkswagen to have its electric vehicle act together following the Diesel scandal. In December, he took delivery. In April 2023, the car was a participant in a mishap on Independence Boulevard in Virginia Beach. All the king’s horses and all the king’s men took 14 months to mend the ID.4. Five months on, DW was getting sick of rental payments to Enterprise for a Nissan Versa sedan, a mean little thing. Realizing he was giving Enterprise a car payment each month, he decided to turn a rental payment into an actual car payment.
I’m a retired engineer which can make me a harsh critic of other’s work. As you read this tale of two vehicles, please keep some things in mind.
Why a view of the dog’s observation post (back porch)? On the railing columns are two battery powered video cameras whose batteries can no longer be charged. These cameras are to be replaced. But with what? What did the original cameras do? What should the new ones do? What should I purchase? Read on to learn what Dismal Wizard did.
I’ve probably written about CYME PeakTo before but today seems like a good time to do so again. And to tell you how I have reorganized all of the photos at Dismal Manor. This all began when I noticed that the 2 TB MacOS system volume was getting skosh free space so I began looking into a potential solution. Read on to learn about the tools used and what I did.
Tesla Motors had made April 2024 its Full Self-Driving (Supervised) product debut. The debutant has been in gestation for about 16 year and has just come of age. FSD (supervised) is amazingly competent most of the time in coping with meeting sections and right of way at intersections. And it can be tuned to be chill, standard, or assertive at intersections. These determine the amount of margin to require during intersection maneuvers. All in all, an amazing achievement that was cutting edge research 10 years ago (and may still be).
I’m not an expert and not a fan. And I’m a poor retired moocher. What is it like? What do I think of it? Read on.
Both Schiit Audio and PS Audio provide this simple remote control with some of their products. It’s a simple but effective thing and the one shown here has survived 4 years of drops onto a hardwood floor. When that happens, the circuit board, secured by magnets, can be dislodged from the housing. It’s easy to fit back together. No self-respecting audiophile would put up with such nonsense and would immediately begin the search for a DIY mod to put an end to remotes gone MAD. There’s a simple cure offered and a bit of silly after the break.
Last weekend, extreme cold weather caught Chicago ride share operators unprepared for driving their electric vehicles in the extreme cold. In most cases, these operators were renting vehicles through the ride sharing services with which they were affiliated. Tesla Model 3, Kia Niro, and Chevy Bolt were the most common choices, and all vehicle types found themselves dead in the water at a charge point.
In this article, I’ll identify cold weather effects on battery electric vehicle operation and describe how the practice of scant bunkering can reduce time spent charging on shift and reduce charge point congestion.
Another year in the books and another birthday, number 75. Early in the year, my fraternity chapter sent out an E-mail with the chapter list looking for E-mail addresses for those with whom the chapter had lost contact. While reviewing the list, I realized that a number of my contemporaries were listed as deceased, mostly those who smoked tobacco while at college. Three years from median life expectancy, I’m still alive and healthy but with some wear and tear and chronic conditions.
Elon Musk’s young son asked Dad why the future did not look like the future, well the young boy’s notion of the future. Dad went to work to challenge the Tesla product designers and product engineers to make a truck that looked like it was the future and not another me-too pick ’em up. They did, the 2024 CyberTruck.
In this post, I’ll pull together information from several content creators granted extended driving access to the 2034 CyberTruck to look beneath the skins at the way Tesla is changing the automobile.
James River Greyhounds has an yearly picnic for the adopters. Every year, hounds from all over Virginia gather at the “farm” for fun and games and several fundraising events. It’s a bit of a report to the members and adopters of the year’s accomplishments and the state of the group’s finances followed by a fund-raising auction. There were burgers, sides, and dessert, and silly dog games while people visited the shops and the raffle ticket sales.
When we can, Dismal Manor Gang makes the voyage to the Richmond area for the event. It’s always a good time and an excuse to drive some Virginia country roads.
In this article, Dave describes the experience of making this trip for the first time in a Tesla Model Y. Those curious about JRG can read the 2021 and 2022 picnic articles as this article is about making the voyage in the Model Y.
Dismal Manor Dispatches 
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