Read about my experience with a typical romance scam. This started with a Facebook message, moved to WhatsApp, and then to crypto currency using an “app” named HTX-Web3 (HTXWeb3). I was smart and limited my losses to a level I was willing to lose. You can read about it on “I was scammed“.
Using gThumb in ubuntu
I use gThumb for organizing and viewing my photos. One feature I wish it had (version 3.8) was the ability to list un-tagged images. I recently figured out a way to do that. I search for all images, then tag them all with the tag “temporary”. Then using the find (search) dialog I search for those images that only have the tag “temporary”. The first step of tagging all images takes a while but after that it makes it easy to find “un-tagged images.” Those are the images with only a “temporary” tag.
Up-scaling images.
I keep getting ads for Topaz up-scaling software, and have wondered if it is any good. Not that it matters, since I am running on Linux computers, and Topaz is Windows. But recently I found an open source up-scaler program names Upscayl, which runs on Linux, Windows, and Mac. So I installed it to do some testing. First thing I discovered is that my built in graphics card wasn’t powerful enough to run the software. So I had to buy a Nvidia GPU. I bought the least expensive one I could find, and it runs the software just fine.
Continue reading “Up-scaling images.”Faro Simulator as a stand-alone Windows executable
Someone asked me if I could code the faro simulator as a stand-alone windows app, so they could use it without being on-line. So I did 🙂
You can download a zip file containing the file faroSetup.exe at http://robertjwallace.com/faro/faroSetup.zip
Download the zip and unzip the file to get the installer. Run the installer. It should work, but use it at your own risk. It doesn’t access anything on your computer or track anything. Note that when you run the installer you may get a “Windows protected your PC” message. That is just telling you that Microsoft sees me as an unknown publisher. If you get the message, click the more info link and then click the run anyway button.
A wall mounted control panel for home assistant
While not the most glamorous, or largest, or most expensive control panel, this meets my needs perfectly. I wanted a small control panel, using Home Assistant, mounted by my front door that I could use for controlling my garage door, to turn off all the lights, etc. I wasn’t interested in spending any money for a tablet to mount or a touch screen. My solution was to re-purpose an old Android phone I had laying around. By having this right by the door I don’t have to pull my phone out of my pocket and start up Home Assistant to do the set of things I want to do leaving or entering the house.
Continue reading “A wall mounted control panel for home assistant”ESPresense and Home Assistant
This post serves as my personal record of the steps required to integrate an ESPresense ESP-32 device into my Home Assistant setup. Additionally, I hope it will be helpful to others. The screenshots included were taken in February 2024 and might have been updated since then.
Continue reading “ESPresense and Home Assistant”Bottom Run Up – Riffle Stack
I am still exploring the topic of riffle stacks. I came across this one in Ed Marlo’s “The Cardist,” Vol. 4. It builds the stack at the bottom of the deck during the shuffles as opposed to building the stack at the top of the deck. The problem with many of the riffle stack techniques that build at the top is that unless you are super-humanly good you will end up slowing down the shuffle as you near the top of the riffle so you can insure that you have the correct number of cards controlled by your thumbs. This change of speed occurs at the point in the shuffle where other players attention is the sharpest.
Not to mention how difficult it is to accomplish. As Marlo says:
Continue reading “Bottom Run Up – Riffle Stack”JEAN HUGARD in one of his card books has described run-ups
The Cardist, Vol 4
from the top of the deck, in which it is necessary to hold
back a certain number of cards with each thumb in making the
riffle shuffle, at the finish of the riffle…I found this
very difficult of accomplishment at that time with any speed
or regularity in the riffle…FRANKLY, I STILL DO years later,
Just Lucky Riffle Stack
I stumbled upon this stack when reading a trick in James Swain’s book 21st Century Card Magic. The trick was “Just Lucky Eight Card Stack.” Swain mentioned the stack came from Alex Elmsley. Elmsley decsribes the stack in the book Collected Works of Alex Elmsley, Vol 1, in a trick titled “Just Lucky.”
Continue reading “Just Lucky Riffle Stack”Wordle bookmarklet
Do you have trouble remembering words when playing Wordle. I wrote a bookmarklet that examines your guesses and displays a list of words that potentially match for your next guess.
The bookmarklet is at the end of this post. If you don’t know what a bookmarklet is you can use the link above to learn about them.
Continue reading “Wordle bookmarklet”Deleting Devices in Home Assistant
As of the time of this posting there is not an easy way that I have found to delete devices from Home Assistant. Checking on-line it seems like the only way is to edit a core.device_registry file in a hidden folder. Yuck.
Well, OK, if I have to do that I want to make it as simple as possible. So here are the steps that I use:
Continue reading “Deleting Devices in Home Assistant”