Author: DOuG pRATt

Another Mandatory Update

Google issued a mandatory update for my phone that crippled its battery. In return, I got a very good deal on a new Google phone. They didn’t even want the old phone in trade.

On the front porch yesterday morning there was a big box from Verizon, filled with equipment — a new router, DVR and STB. They don’t want the old gear returned.

I have 30 days to activate the new DVR before the old one is shut down. It isn’t clear that the router needed to be replaced, but I did it anyway. Compared to the old router, it seems to have better 5 GHz coverage and it adds Wi-Fi 6 support.

Protocol: Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax)
Security type: WPA2-Personal
Manufacturer: Intel Corporation
Description: Intel(R) Wi-Fi 6E AX211 160MHz
Driver version: 23.70.2.3
Network band: 5 GHz
Network channel: 52
Link speed (Receive/Transmit): 432/432 (Mbps)
IPv4 address: 192.168.1.183
IPv4 DNS servers: 192.168.1.1 (Unencrypted)
Physical address (MAC): E4-0D-36-EA-20-63

Losing the old DVR will be painful. It has a nice collection of movies in HD from TCM. Almost all of them are on an external 1 TB HDD I added a decade ago. It’s connected with a Firewire interface, but the drive also has a USB port, so it can be repurposed. I’d be amazed if its file system is readable on a PC.

I’ll look into disposing the old video equipment. I’m keeping the old router and its extender, as there’s some network experimentation I want to try.

So much technology that’s been working perfectly, but is now considered junk, and I’m being forced to retire it. *SIGH* This is why I am so pleased with Lyrion, the successor to Logitech Media Server. I was close to giving up on my Squeezebox Radios and the Touch streamer, but now Lyrion has brought the music network back to life beautifully.

A Tax By Any Other Name

It may be bad timing using Airplane! to make a point about Trump’s tariffs, but economists are concerned about them.

https://econbrowser.com/archives/2025/02/i-guess-i-picked-the-wrong-week

It’s beyond comprehension that Trump continues to insist that an IMPORT TAX will be paid by the exporting country. One option would be for the exporter to accept reduced revenue as a way to maintain export volume:

  1. A $100 item is levied with a 25% tariff
  2. The item now costs $125 in the United States
  3. The export price is reduced from $100 to $80
  4. The resulting price with the 25% tariff is back at $100
  5. No net negative effect on the consumer
  6. No reduction in demand

Will that happen? Not likely, but that’s how it would have to work. One way to consider the tariffs as a good thing, is to think of them as compensating for the further tax cuts to come for those who don’t need them. I’ve convinced myself that was a reason why Biden kept Trump’s first term China tariffs in place.

It’s Not the Years, It’s the Mileage

My Nordic Track ski machine was new for Christmas, 1995. Since giving up running a year ago, I’ve been on it a lot, afib be damned.

Now 29 years old, one of the one-way rollers has started to slip. New rollers are available for purchase, but I’m going to give this simple trick a try. It’s genius!

https://www.instructables.com/Refurbishing-Drive-Rollers-for-a-NordicTrack-Ski-M/