Jamcleat

I got this error message box again. Can anyone tell me what it means?

I actually sort of know what it means, where it originates, and why. But it is a good example of bad programming practice and poor program development management that an end user sees a message like this.

What is wrong with the message? “Bad Opaque”. Yep. This message is worse than opaque, it is a black hole that sucks energy into oblivion. “Bad Juju” (not to be confused with juju) would be just as appropriate and more comprehensible. Where did this message come from? The title on the box provides a clue “Failed to enter room”. I was in a “virtual room” a while ago but the meeting is over and I have closed all of the visible windows. The message box is “on top” and will will not release focus. So, even though it is NOT OK, I click OK because that is the only thing to do.
Some time later, I discover an all-gray window with a title “Failed to connect”. Yep. The programmer clearly failed to connect the “Bad Opaque” message with the application. At least I guess they should be connected as the 3 windows appear to occur around the same time among the 10-12 windows I typically have open on my desktop with no indication on the task bar or system tray.
So my interpretation of this, which may or may not be accurate, is that the meeting I was in has ended, the window-less program that makes the connection tried to re-enter the now closed virtual room. Failing that in an unexpected way pops the “Bad Opaque”.
Somehow the connector or the room-enterer did not get the message that the session was over.  A bit more transparency and better error messages would be helpful.

Some Microsoft products have gotten better about making it clear what the error is and what the consequences of “Cancel”, “End”, “OK”, etc are. But not everybody there has gotten the memo yet, or if they have they have not read it and taken it to heart.

I like this one too.  It certainly gets your atten- tion.  I comp- lained about it to the system administrator for several years.  I am sure that it is no longer an issue because that account moved to Google Mail eliminating the application that was uncorrectable.  At least this message is clear about what it means and where it comes from.  The problem with this one is that while I may not be able to correct the error, the programmer who failed to anticipate the condition but was able to provide an error message could correct the code to make sure that the LookupHandle was allocated or perhaps provide a suggested corrective action to the user.  At the very least, the programmer could suggest the external cause, if that were the case, so that external corrective action could be taken, preferably before but in any case after “Abort”-ing the application.

But my all-time favorite is this one.

Typical of Microsoft’s lack of quality control, due to some unexplained condition, you fall into a routine where the debugging software has been left engaged. The good news is that you can use Open Office on Linux to eliminate this message, Microsoft Office, AND best-of-all eliminate Windows.

I made these bracelets a while back. The one in the foreground is in the style of Ashley 2979, a French Sinnet with 4 strands. The one in the background is in the style of Ashley 2976, also with 4 strands. Ashely notes that we are calling these “French Sinnet” while the French call them “Tresse Anglaise”. Ashley also notes that these sinnets are usually made with an odd number of strands, the simplest being 3. I have usually worked with an even number.

This wire is AWG 16 gauge copper electrical wire stripped of insulation. You get 3 pieces from each length of wire. Some types vary in color by strand. You will need approximately 2 times the length to be braided of each strand plus enough to hold on to.

To make 2976, start with 4 strands holding 2 strands in each hand. Take the strand that is furthest away over 2 under 1 and back around, alternating. The strands end on the same side they started.

To make 2979, start with 4 strands in one hand. Work the furthest one under/over/under and back around. Repeat.

Color is from heating with a torch while applying solder to bind the ends. Ends are then cut and filed smooth.

I made a Christmas ornament from a scrap left over from the rope wreath. I unraveled the strands and re-made the 3 strands into 3 interlocked grommets as in Ashley 2864,2865. I probably should have used a bit longer piece. Ashley recommends starting with a length 3 times the desired circumference plus 6 times around the rope. Normally, I use an overhand knot to hold the stands where they meet. With the shorter length, I cut them just long of flush and whipped the ends down.

The latest knot project is a braided rope wreath. This is based on the description in Ashley #2241.

Start with about 3 meters (10 ft) of #16 galvanized wire. Halve it and clamp the sharp ends in a vise. Insert a suitable hand-hold such as a screwdriver shaft in the bight and twist the pair until it lays flat and will hold shape. Form the twisted wire into a hoop about 35 to 40 cm (14 to 16 inches) twisting the overlapped ends together. Wrap the hoop with wadded newspaper or other wrapping to make a form. I used newspaper because I intended to remove it. The split-tube pipe insulation may also work. You want a bit of thickness,say 50 cm (2 inches), some give, and a uniform donut shape.

Follow the directions in Ashley #2241 to construct the knot. Start with 30 meters (96 feet) of 1 cm (3/8 inch) rope. Cut this in half. With the first piece, do 8 wraps, 3 times around, leaving about a little over a meter hanging. Use a clue (a cord of a different material or color) to wrap 8 wraps the other way. Get the wraps as evenly spaced as you can. Now go in parallel to the clue with the second piece of rope weaving over-under. When you get back to the beginning, take the strand under where you were over before. Take this over-under pattern around 3 times. The third time through, make sure that both of the patterns are over-under in both directions. Remove the clue.

When you complete the first level of plait, before you begin doubling, correct any errors by pulling a clue through the knot chasing the line with the error into the knot until it exits. Pull the offending line out leaving the clue. Correct the error by re-weaving Ashley #127. Then follow the clue to the exit with the corrected strand.

Now choose one end or the other of both pieces to pull back to about a 1 meter (3 feet) length. Make sure that these are from the left-hand and right-hand weaves and that they exit in the same direction. This will be the end that will form the final decoration. Pull the excess out through the knot, 6 times around for each strand. Once this is complete, you should find the other ends to be about 1 to 2 meters. Once the original layer is complete and correct, and adjusted, double the first layer in each direction. Then begin removing the excess from the knot making the long tails longer. Work from where the short tails are. Hold them exiting and trailing away from you. Draw up the body with all strands, drawing out slack in loops and rotating the excess toward the exit with the longer strands. Some strands need to go around several times to reach the exit. Finish by bringing all 4 tails to the same exit point (or as close as you can get). Seize the 4 together. Plait a 4 strand flat plait Ashley 2967 (XX in the text drawing below). When a suitable length is formed, form a bight on each side using the longer strands. Seize (verticle bar) near the end and near the central portion along with a splint of wood to hold the cross piece out.

              XX
              XX
       ⊂|=|XX|=|⊃
              XX
              XX
              XX
              XX
              XX
             ——
             ||||

Continue plaiting beneath the crossing for a suitable distance. Whip the ends of each strand. Seize the 4 strands together close by the end seizings (horizontal dash). Cut each strand just beyond the whipping. As a variant, consider drawing the ends to the middle so that the pendant cross in in the middle.

As with the leg repair, the arm repair can also be done by the manufacturer or perhaps be a local doll repair service. In Fig 2 below, you can see the pieces that result from a typical failure next to the repaired ball-and-socket joint. Note that the picture shows the ball-and-socket completely assembled. Doing it separately as described will help avoid getting glue inside the socket. I discovered this after the pictures were taken.

Fig 1 nearby shows the tools that I used.  Cover the dolls head with a sock or plastic bag.  This will avoid spoiling and more important keep the hair out of the way while you work. Mark the torso, joint cup, and arm at the armpit for  proper alignment. This may not be strictly necessary as the parts seem symetrical but when taking apart something you have not disassembled before, it seems prudent.  Cut the stitches carefully to separate the shoulder socket from the torso.  Remove the plastic cup and broken elastic from the body.  The eyelet may be entangled in the body stuffing.  If this is the case, untangle it and stuff the stuffing back into the torso.

Mark the arm on the armpit side across the parting line where the half-ball meets the upper arm. Carefully cut along the parting line with an X-acto knife to remove the ball.  The plastic cup may be stuck in the arm and require extraction by tapping or reaching in with a tweezer or needle-nose plier.

Use a candle-wick needle to draw a doubled 5 mm (3/8 inch) elastic through a 3 mm (3/16) eyelet, exitting on the flanged side.  Position the eyelet near the end of the elastic.  Crimp the eyelet. Next draw the elastic thru the bottom of the white plastic cup and out the top, then through the hole in the ball that was cut from the top of the arm, entering the flat (inside) and exitting the ball side. Clip or pin the elastic to prevent loosing it back into the hole.

Use a sparing amount of  super-glue to rejoin the ball the arm making sure to align the mark made earlier.  A weak solution (pinch of baking soda in 3 cc (1 teaspoon) of water) may be used to speed set-up of the super-glue and eliminate stickiness of any squeeze-out.

Draw the elastic though the cup side of the ball and out the back.  Draw the elastic through a second eyelet.  Test the tension and compare to an attached arm .  It needs to be tight enough to hold in place yet allow enough stretch to  give you room to stich the ball back into the torso. When proper length is found, crimp the eyelet.

Position the ball in the torso and hold the edge of the cloth flush with the edge of the ball. Use a glovers needle and a length of thread to stitch the ball+arm assembly back into the torso using an overhand stitch. 

Fig 4 shows the completed repair.

Update on Leg Repair:  In one of the joints I repaired, there were a couple of washers strung on the elastic, I think possibly to keep the cord centered or reduce abrasion.  They do not seem to be essential and found only in joint out of 3.  Perhaps part of the original design but later dropped.

 

Some of our American Girl dolls are 12 years old.  With play and time, the elastic that holds the legs gives way and the leg is loose or falls off.  While my daughter is grown, my wife still sets up a seasonal table with the girls.

American Girl provides a repair service and will re-attach arms and legs for a fee.  There are doll hospitals in most large cities and individuals in smaller towns that provide doll repair.  If you wish to attempt it yourself, here is one way to do it.

Undress the doll if desired.  This will avoid soil and glue problems. When I examined the doll patient, I noted that the detached leg had a ball-joint that mated with a socket sewn into the cloth torso.  An elastic cord is retained in the ball and holds the two parts together.  The leg appears to be one piece with a hole molded in the hip-joint.  There is what could be a mold-parting-line but I theorized that it was glued or sonicly welded at assembly time. I marked a small index mark on the inside of the thigh at the line with a Sharpie and carefully cut off the top of the leg with and X-acto knife.  Similarly, I marked the torso-to-socket joint and cut the threads where the socket is stitched in.  Inside the leg there was a plastic cup loose and a piece of elastic with an eyelet squished onto it as a retainer. In the stuffing in the torso, was a similar cup and piece of elastic.  I believe that the cups are to make the elastic long enough so that it can be tensioned but still stretch far enough that the leg can be worked on. In one of the dolls, there were washers between the cup and the openings in the leg or socket.  Additional strain relief?  Smoother operation? Abrasion protection?

The elastic is heavy-duty shock cord about 4mm (1/8 inch) diameter.  I did not have any like it but had some flat dress-makers elastic about 10 mm (3/8 inch) wide.  I doubled a piece of elastic about 70 mm long (2 1/2 inches)  and slipped on an eyelet with the flange away from the bitter end, drew it close and squashed the eyelet with a pliers to make a “knot”.  I pushed the elastic through one of the cups so it came out the cup side.  Please note that the cup in the picture Fig 2 is oriented BACKWARD.  The cup should face the other way.  The through the large hole in the severed leg-top.  Next through the large hole in the socket, through the other cup and out the bottom.  Last another eyelet is slipped on.  Using another leg, estimate the tension required and pull the elastic up until the ball-to-socket tension is similar to a good joint.  Mash the second eyelet to complete the assembly.

Put a small amount of cyanoacrylate glue (super glue) on the leg top where it was cut. Carefully replace the leg top matching the index you marked before cutting.  Hold until set.  The glue I was using remained sticky where it had squeezed out after assembly.  A small amount of ammonia or a weak baking soda solution will cause this to set instantly.

Pull the leg-joint apart and to the side to give you room to work. Place the socket in the torso with the alignment correct.  Use hemostats or other small nosed clamps to hold the edge of the cloth aligned with the edge of the socket.  The original socket was machine stitched but I used a glover’s needle and an overhand stitch to rejoin the socket and torso.  A pair of pliers may be required to force the needle through the existing holes and draw it out the other side.

 

When the stiching is complete around the circumference, let the leg slip into the socket and check for fit.  Re-dress the doll and the job is done.

Update on Leg Repair:  In one of the joints I repaired, there were a couple of washers strung on the elastic, I think possibly to keep the cord centered or reduce abrasion.  They do not seem to be essential and found only in joint out of 3.  Perhaps part of the original design but later dropped.
There is also a procedure for Arm Repair.

While surfing for something totally unrelated I came across the end-of-season notice for the Ironton Michigan cable ferry. Plan on going through Charlevoix or East Jordan until next April. Little ferries are so much fun. When we lived in Connecticut the Chester-Hadlyme ferry with picnic at Gillette Castle or a morning of berry picking and a ride on Rocky Hill-Glastonbury ferry were a short drive away for an afternoon of cheap boating.

Dorothy Fuldheim was a newscaster editorialist on WEWS-TV. Her editorial was preceded by a version of Eric Coates Knightsbridge March from his London Suite.  I played the Eric Coates LP that I have and remembered her.  WEWS-TV in Cleveland, was home of Dorothy Fuldheim and Ron Penfound aka Captain Penny.   When I think of women in radio/television she may have been one of the sharpest.

My brother in Muncie Indiana has completed participation in a project at the Muncie Childrens Museum.   For the last year he has been a “consultant/ finish carpenter” for a Ball State Architecture design- build class(es) project. The Tot Spot child activity area for children ages 0-5 was conceived, designed, and constructed by students under the guidance of architecture professor Pamela Harwood. For David, it has been both challenging and rewarding working with the students as they designed, modified and finally built each of the 6 areas. Each area has an inspirational book, The Giving Tree, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Scuffy the Tug Boat, Oh the Places You’ll Go, Jack and the Bean Stalk, and Old McDonald as a theme. There were over 57 students involved in making it over 2 semesters and both summer sessions. Now that it is open the kids seem to love it.
Thanks to the generous donations and support of the following organizations and foundations, this project was made a reality for the Muncie Children’s Museum: The Boren Foundation, Inc., George and Frances Ball Foundation, The Community Foundation of Muncie and Delaware County, Inc. and Robert A. and Beverly D. Terhune Fund.

In other news, David found out Monday that he has been designated an “Indiana Artisan”. Selection of Indiana Artisans is a juried process. You can go to www.indianaartisan.org to learn more about it.

You can see more of David Calvin’s work at his own website, Whimwood.net.

The taxpayers through the United State Department of Agriculture Agriculture Research Service, Nutrient Data Laboratory have provided a USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, Release 24 of foods, food ingredients, and nutrition.  The current revision is 24.

If you have the Microsoft Access database software, you can download a pre-made MS Access database which presumably has the relationships and perhaps some sample queries.

If you are a Linux or Unix user, you are left to your own ingenuity to create the database.  As I transitioned from SR 23 to SR 24 I thought that I should improve my own documentation to make my life easier next time. Perhaps you will find it useful as well.