My VCR Hubs

Leave it to me to write a blog about VCR hubs--lol

What are they and what do I with them?

When I bought a DVD recorder I transfer my VCR tapes to DVDs. Some of my tapes inside the cassette were torn in two.That's where the VCR hubs come in because each hub had a clear leader (transparent plastic).

I splice the clear leader between the two halfs of the broken tape with electric tape. Why?  Because a splice will ruin the videotape heads but the senor will stop the tape when it hits the clear leader and before it gets to the videoheads.

Once I transfer the first half of the tape I pause my DVD recorder; take out the tape and turn the hub to the second part ;place the tape back in the VCR and press play and unpause my DVD recorder and continue

Remember this is in the time when VCRs were expensive $200 on up.Good luck in finding VCRs these days.

The VCR video heads are on the head drum and each record/play head is about 1/2 size of a dime ;on 2 headed VCRs each head records 1/2 of a video signal diagonally.4 headed VCRs are use for special features such as frame by frame, double speed etc.

When I am finish transfering my VCR tapes to DVD I open the cassette and throw away all the tape and just keep the hubs with the clear leaders.

I had three cabinets that were filled with VCR tapes now since they were transfered to DVDs they all fit on one shelf.

Always store CDs,VCR tapes, DVDs vertically in a cool place.

A slideshow of my late dad Homer who was in the marines.

My late dad Homer was in the marines. He died of natural causes on February 12, 2003 and was buried on Valentine's day.

The pictures displayed in the slideshow was mostly shot in a local nursing home. I usually (weather permitting) visit my dad two to four times a week ,mostly eating lunch; On nice beautiful days I made him go outside where the picnic tables are.

You'll see one of  the pictures of me pushing my dad's wheelchair and another picture of Keith Page pushing my dad's wheelchair. Keith Page was a local weatherman in the Champaign-Danville Illinois area.Keith Page autographed my dad's picture.

Keith Page died a few years back on a Friday after Thanksgiving.

Below is a musical slideshow I made with pictures of my late dad:

Do you need report the money you make in garage sells to the IRS?

Do you need to report the money you make in garage sells to the IRS ?  That depends.

If items are sold for less what a person paid for them orginally then the answer is no.

For example selling a item for $50 and the orginal price was $200.  This is not look upon as a $50 profit but as a
$150 loss.

And I would be weary of buying appliances especially if the appliance is unplug and stored  in a cold damp  dusty garage. Temperture changes ruin appliances.

Now if a person is moving and their new place already has a fridgerator they  may want to sell their other  one, but usually they just give it to another family member.

As for dolls, clothing, dishes or anything else that does not use power they should be all right.

As long as a person keeps below the orginal costs of  items they should be okay.

More Computer Google Math Tricks

You can do a lot of math in the google search box, for example if you want to know what is 9 squared you can type 9^2 and press enter  and it will give you the answer 81. {Note: the ^  up arrow is  on the number 6 key, press shift 6 to get that symbol.}

Now let's do this: enter  81^ 1/2  in this case 81 will  be first multiplied by 1 and then divided by 2 giving us the answer 40.5

But it is a different story if parentheses or other brackets are use ,in math formulas the math operations in brackets should always be perform first. Not doing so will give the wrong answer.

Let's use  81^1/2 again but this time let's put the 1/2 in parentheses thus:  81^(1/2)  since the operation in the parentheses will be perform first google or computer has no choice but to give the square root of 81 which is 9.

How about taking a square root of an imperfect square  such as 2 don't forget the parentheses.  2^(1/2)=1.41421356

Now let's test it by squaring 1.41421356.

1.41421356^2=1.999999999 not exactly 2 but close enough.

Of course using (1/3) will give us the cube root 8^(1/3)=2 ; 

And don't ask me why someone want to know the 64th root of a number 9^(1/64) ?!!

Sometimes on computers you'll see something like this for an answer :  1.24E+38  the plus 38 means move the decimal point to the right 38 places.

1.24E-38 the minus 38 means move the decimal point to the left 38 places.

The video below shows how to find the area of any triangle not just right triangles (ab/2).

                area formula for "any" triangle

Knowing How Much Money Celebrities Make

When I go on the internet sometimes I check what my favorite celebrities are up to and  also to read the information about them, but I really don't need to know how much money they make. I believe that is none of my business.

Am I jealous ? Well maybe or probably just a little disapointed that I don't make much money as them but that's my problem.

After all they are human like the rest of us and if I have friends that made that much money I should be glad for them and tell them that and wish them much success and congradulate them for their success.

Now I am a adult fan of Nickelodeon's "Sam and Cat"  there is one episode called "#StuckinaBox"  where a kid magician named Dice locks Cat Valentine in a "magical" box and something goes wrong and Cat Valentine cannot get out.

Sam Pucket tries to get Cat out of the box with tools, but Dice since he paid a lot of money for it doesn't want it to be destroyed.  Well, Dice should have cared for the person inside the box ,especially a beautiful young lady like Catalina Valentine and take his losses.

Now a person who is handy with tools can make their own "magical" box with a revolving door at the end where a person can push open and then hide behind.

Sam and Cat are just friends. Sam is tough, but has a soft heart for Cat ,and in real life both of these actoress have boyfriends.

NClick here to see two beautiful young ladies   
Jennette Mccurdy (Sam Pucket )  and Ariana Grande (Cat Valentine)

Computer Google Tricks And Calculators

Calculators are good enough if you only have a few bills to pay (4 or less) but if you have more than 5 you may not remember what numbers you have entered . A regular calculator can only display one number at a time.So let's give the Google site a try.

For example in the Google's search box type  200 + 123.60  + 14.45 then press the enter key and Google will come up with the answer.
Below you can see the total ,better yet you still can see the numbers entered so you can double check.

Now let's suppose you have $2000 in your checking and want to subtract your debit total. Let's use parentheses for this. Type
2000-(200 + 123.60 +14.45) and then press the enter key.Remember the numbers in the parentheses are being added and then subtracted from 2000.

Now the Google search box can do other math functions as well but if a person is already good at math they'll already know how to do those functions anyway. So I'll skip those.

Another Google trick: Suppose you're new at a town and want to see a movie ,no problem type in Google's search box "theathers 90001"  without the quotes and press enter .  If you  do not know the zipcode  enter "Theaters in Los Angelos California" ; again without the quotes.It does not have to be theaters a person can enter without quotes "Dentists 90002"

Also you can type in a phone number in Google's search box as well ,enter in this format xxx.xxx.xxxx and if the number is not unlisted it'll pop up a name, address etc. and a map showing how to get there.
Try it  with a business number you may have recieved, if Google doesn't find anything that'll tell you something. Real businesses  do not hide their contact info from the internet.