Category: Uncategorized

I scout books all over Los Angeles, so I find books about Los Angeles all the time. I stumbled on Ashes in the Rain in Glendale, and it immediately took me back over 30 years, to college, in Berkeley, reading the newspaper at the student co-op.

Though we were in the SF Bay Area, the house subscribed to the Los Angeles Times. The best columnist at the Times was a Bay Area native, Al Martinez.

For an hour or so, I’d read the Times, and remember Los Angeles, my home city.

On different days, the paper featured writers a bit older than I, some who were there a while, and others who were going to be lifers: Patt Morrison, Bob Bracamontes, and Robin Abcarian, and Al Martinez. This is no knock on the hard hitting writers – I just liked the ones with the soft edges, though I didn’t dare admit it at the time.

I asked ChatGPT to write a paragraph about Martinez in the style of Al Martinez. The result:

Al Martinez was an American journalist and columnist known for his humorous and poignant writing style. In his columns, he often shared personal stories and observations, and his writing was characterized by its warmth and humanity.

I remember the day I met Al Martinez like it was yesterday. He was sitting at a bar in downtown Los Angeles, sipping a martini and scribbling notes on a napkin. I introduced myself, and before I knew it, we were deep in conversation about life, love, and everything in between. Al had a way of making you feel like you were the most important person in the world, and his stories had a way of capturing the essence of the human experience. Whether he was writing about the trials and tribulations of being a parent or the joys of falling in love, Al’s writing was always heartfelt and honest. He had a gift for finding the beauty in the everyday, and his words had the power to move people in ways they never expected. Al may be gone, but his legacy lives on in the countless lives he touched with his writing.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2740826-ashes-in-the-rain

https://www.latimes.com/opinion/readersreact/la-le-0117-al-martinez-mailbag-20150117-story.html

https://www.latimes.com/opinion/opinion-la/la-ol-al-martinez-bard-everyones-songs-20150113-story.html

No.

Media Mail is for books and media that don’t contain advertising.

There is an exception for ads in books where the ads are for other books sold by the publisher. This is because, in the past, several pages at the back of the book were ads… for other books. (The publishing business must have lobbied for this loophole.)

Catalogs are all ads, and don’t quality for Media Mail.

Personally, I don’t consider programs for art openings to be catalogs, even though they are ads. I generally don’t send them by Media Mail, however, because they’re expensive, and the recipient doesn’t want them arriving damaged.

However, I do consider catalogs for art auctions to be ads.

I’ve had packages opened by the inspector, so, it sometimes happens.

It’s important to pack the book using something sturdy, because you don’t want it to tear open. One time, I sent a book in a manila envelope – I’d been doing this a lot – and the envelope tore, and the book never got there. So I had to refund the entire cost to the customer (a big loss to me).

To see a complete list of what can be sent, see the USPS list.

Ways to Send Catalogs

First Class (Under 3 oz)

If it’s 3 oz or less, put it into a manila envelope, and put stamps on there. It’s regular first class mail, called “flats”.

First Class Package

If you need tracking, you can shove a piece of cardboard into the envelope, to stiffen it, and purchase a First Class Package label. The problem is, the cardboard will probably add an ounce. Fortunately, you can send packages up to one pound. Unfortunately, some catalogs are printed with heavy paper and ink, and weigh over a pound.

Priority Mail Flat Rate

An envelope is just under $10, and you can send a catalog that way.

Though that’s expensive, if you have multiple catalogs to send, you can pack a few into one envelope.

If you have even more to send, you can use Priority Mail Regional Rate A or B, or a “shirt box” Priority Mail Flat Rate Medium box. This is around $15, but you can pack it with a lot of product. You can order these at USPS.

Marketing Mail

If you send out a lot of the same catalog, for a business, you can use a special bulk mail rate called Marketing Mail. I’m sure the direct marketing lobby demanded this rate.

Basically, if you’re sending hundreds of catalogs, and use all the bulk mail technology to create the labels, sort the mail, and all that, as well as have an account with USPS, you can send catalogs at a very low price.

I’m also pretty sure you don’t quality to use Marketing Mail. This is just here for educational purposes.

I couldn’t find a good 14mm in my tools. This is the size for my oil pan plug, and I just lose them over time.

I tried to use a light-duty cheapie one, but the metal got damaged.

The replacement was kind of expensive, but worth it!

The shape of the corners is weird. There’s a bit of metal cut out of it, so it won’t touch the corner of the bolt head.

This was a patented feature on Snap On tools. The patent has expired.

What’s good about this feature, is that it avoids putting force on the corner of the bolthead. Instead, it puts force on the flat surface, which is stronger.

Y’all missed out on the “learning opportunity” of the crypto crash. When the market for crypto crashes, you can still go into Coinbase and study up about some of the failed products, and get free money.

Then, you can hold onto the money until it increases in value, then turn around and spend some of that money here.

I’ve never done this, but found a lot of information online. This is about my first attempt at repairing a microwave oven.

The microwave oven turns on, and the fan spins, and it makes the microwave oven sound, but the food doesn’t heat up.

The parts that drive the cooking are:

• switches
• the magnetron, which sends out the radio waves
• the capacitor, which helps boost the voltage, and is part of the AC-DC rectifier
• a high voltage diode, attached to the capacitor, which I assume is for rectifying the AC power into (sorta) DC
• the power transformer

Here are some photos of the parts:

A quick search for the magnetron found replacements priced from $9 to $22, depending on location and newness. I was surprised that they’re available 30+ years later — but it appears that this part hasn’t changed that much in this long.

The capacitor was cheap in China, at around $2. The price in the US is around $8 used, shipped, and $15 new, shipped.

Diodes should cost a couple dollars, maybe less.

I learned that the main cause of failures was the switches. The switches on mine were fine; it powered up and seemed to run the fans, but it never got hot. Checking the switches with a multimeter verified that they worked.

So, I started to work through testing the parts. First, the diode:

https://academy.fredsappliance.com/video/how-to-test-a-high-voltage-diode-from-a-microwave/

Video: https://youtu.be/F1mTElvwcBg

Video: https://youtu.be/PdwbjNCK-xw

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6lrKf2PdVA

Well, I didn’t have a 9v battery, so I need to get that first.

I got a battery, tested the diode, and it seemed fine.

Then I tested the capacitor, using these videos, I did all the tests, and they indicated a good cap. However, one of the tests was to use the cap tester – and mine showed 000 or 1. The one in the video showed some numbers.

Video: How to test capacitor https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFFzS1a6k5g

I had to check the tester, so I found an old capacitor and verified that the meter was working. However, the capacitor was a 25uF motor run capacitor that ran at a relative low voltage around 120 volts. The microwave used a 0.81uF that could go up to 1700 volts.

So my meter showing 1 or 0 wasn’t “wrong” – my capacitor was slow low that it might not be showing with my meter. The manual confirmed that for caps from 1 to 100 uF, the resolution is 1uF. In short, it’s not a great capacitance meter on this multimeter. (The brand is “Neoteck”, a $15 meter I got on eBay. It’s a basic DMM that’s a little nicer than the $8 generic meters from AliExpress. To do this diagnosis, I needed something that’s more sensitive.)

Then, I did some measurements on the magnetron. It seemed OK according to this video.

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Oriae3-N8c

I’m suspecting that it’s the capacitor. I am going to dig around and find a motor capacitor, and measure that.

References

This book explains everything! It’s amazing.
Book: http://repairfaq.cis.upenn.edu/sam/micfaq.htm

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=laoJyL4Zt-Y – How to troubleshoot your microwave.

This entertaining video is making me wonder about the switches some more. I’ll also go look for a second fuse.

This is the best video. It goes step by step into testing, in sequence.