Odd Signs & Symbols

Here was an unsettling set of signs that appeared in the mailbox stack at our apartment complex back in February.  It reports that some of the boxes have been compromised.  Not my box, but the group just to the left.  Some interesting info about how this ends up playing out.  Until the boxes are repaired, you have to go to the PO to get your mail.  What a pain. I blurred out the address, but included the full letter from the postmaster.  The way they talk about the amount of vandalism is alarming.  Can't people just mind their own business and stop looking for freebies but taking from someone else?  I guess not. It took 2-1/2 months for the situation to resolve and for the signs to disappear.  But are we any safer?

On a weekend trip to Del Mar (CA), we saw this strange pair of signs sharing a window.  The top one is an inspection that says, "This certificate does not imply that this facility meets design requirements ..."  Um, why post it if it doesn't mean anything?  Maybe it does mean something, but they don't want to tell us what that is. Joking aside, let's dive into the civil code referenced by the blue sign .  It says, " Every CASp who completes an inspection of a place of public accommodation shall, upon a determination that the site meets applicable standards [...],  provide the building owner or tenant requesting the inspection with a numbered disability access inspection certificate indicating that the site has undergone inspection by a certified access specialist. " So they must legally issue a certificate that "does not imply that this facility meets design requirements".  Am I reading that correctly?  I hope not, but those are the words ...

Another gem from the Deer Park Auto Museum, here is a sleek black box over in the radio collection.  It says "Thorola" and that's it.  There was a horn next to it, an old-time type of speaker. This piece is a work of art, as well as being a radio.  After a bunch of searches online, I was able to find this detailed description of the device, dating to 1924.  It makes sense that the lid would open up and have technical specs and instructions inside.  Why not?  And of course it's just a jumble of coils and wires inside, because it was a different world. Sometimes these extreme retro items have a way of looking futuristic.  Not that we'll be going back to gauges and gears any time soon, but I could see this turning up in an Indiana Jones or Rocketman adventure in my head as I try to sleep tonight.

Here are some very bulky antiques from the Deer Park Auto Museum. These are old engine analyzers.  Today, our cars can give digital dumps of all their internal sensor data.  But back in the day, technicians would have to learn how to apply these beasts.  I had a few electronic projects back in the 80s and 90s where I got to play with oscilloscopes.  It's all fascinating to me, so lost to the world.  There is so much information here, so many gauges, actual cords to plug in.  So much knowledge needed to get results and do the analysis.  Signs, meters, technical speak, it was another time.

We stopped by one of the biggest automotive museums in town.  They also have mind-boggling displays of historical electronics and other items.  In a corner, unmarked, there was this: In an instant, I knew what these were.  Memories came pouring back.  When we were growing up, my Dad worked at Brookhaven National Lab on Long Island (NY), and I would get dropped off to visit sometimes, usually bringing by a pizza at 10 or 11 p.m.  I think it was part of the divorced parents swapping the kid for the weekend. The first time I ever got to write computer code was on these huge machines.  About age 14.  Not exactly this machine, but one of its close cousins.  I could type in BASIC code on a huge, bulky terminal and get a response from the room full of computers with old reel-to-reel storage.  Of course, I wrote character generators for Dungeons & Dragons.  Somewhere I still have a few of those old sheets. browned after 40+ years.  Bare...