Tuesday, August 11, 2026

Genealogy: A Family of Jarls: The Story of Thore the Silent and His Kin

Late last night I was adding a couple of documents to my mom's record in Family Search as I prepared to head off to her interment service today.  I thought I'd see how far back the 'Dean' family name went.  About a thousand years.  To a family living in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, England.  That's 26 generations back.  Curious, I went back a bit farther to see if these forest dwellers came from anywhere interesting. 

Monday, August 10, 2026

Origin of the phrase Dempster Dumpster

I remember my grandfather talking about Dempster Dumpsters in reference to the garbage dumpster. I'd forgotten about it until I was reading a book about World War 2 today, where the phrase was used. It has an interesting origin! 

Dempster 6-cubic yard garbage container from 1940 source

The word "dumpster" originated as a brand name created by combining the surname of inventor George Roby Dempster with the word "dumpster"—a blend of "dump" and the agent suffix "-ster" (similar to teamster or spinster).
The Evolution of the Dempster Dumpster
 * The Invention (1935): George Dempster, a construction company owner and former mayor of Knoxville, Tennessee, patented the Dempster-Dumpster system. His goal was to reduce manual labor at construction sites by creating detachable steel containers that could be loaded at ground level and mechanically lifted onto a specialized truck chassis.
 * Commercialization & Growth (Late 1930s–1940s): Dempster Brothers, Inc. began mass-producing the system. Throughout the 1940s, the company expanded beyond construction into municipal waste management, industrial sites, and military installations during World War II.
 * The Name: In marketing materials and patent filings during this era, Dempster trademarked the name "Dumpster" for the removable bins and called the overall hauling system the Dempster-Dumpster.
 * Genericization (Post-1950s): Over time, the brand name suffered genericization (similar to Kleenex, Velcro, or Band-Aid). The public began referring to any large outdoor waste container as a "dumpster," regardless of whether Dempster Brothers manufactured it.

Tuesday, July 14, 2026

Fixed! The Unseen Reason Your Bluetooth Headset Audio is Choppy on a Desktop PC

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/514TOFkmhJL._AC_SL1500_.jpg

If you just bought a nice Bluetooth headset (like a pair of Shokz) and paired it to your desktop PC, only to get terrible, stuttering audio, you are probably ready to return it. It starts crackling, cutting out, or just goes completely silent the second you lean back in your chair.

It is easy to blame Windows, outdated drivers, or a defective headset. But if your motherboard has built-in Wi-Fi, the real fix is incredibly simple, and you probably threw the solution back into your motherboard's retail box.

The Onboard Bluetooth Myth

When a motherboard boasts "Onboard Wi-Fi and Bluetooth" (like the GIGABYTE X570S Aorus Elite AX), most people assume the hardware is self-contained. Our phones have Bluetooth without any weird external wires, so why wouldn't a premium PC?

Here is the catch: onboard PC Bluetooth modules do not have internal antennas.

The wireless card hidden under your motherboard's metal shield relies entirely on the gold terminals on the back of your PC to send and receive signals.

Shokz OpenRun Pro 2 Mini Bone Conduction Sports Headphones Black S821 ... 

Why Does It Work a Little Bit Without It?

Without the antenna, your PC's Bluetooth range drops to about a foot. If your computer is sitting on the floor or even on your desk, your body or the metal case will completely block the signal.

This is why the headset pairs fine, but the audio immediately goes to garbage when you actually try to use it.

The golden rule here is that your Wi-Fi antenna is also your Bluetooth antenna. Even if you use a wired Ethernet cable and never touch Wi-Fi, you still have to plug in that antenna to get a usable Bluetooth signal.

The Quick Fix

To fix this, you just need to do three quick things:

  1. Find your motherboard box and pull out the external antenna (the GIGABYTE one looks like a little plastic fin with two wires).

  2. Screw the two gold connectors into the back of your PC's I/O panel until they are finger-tight.

  3. Place the antenna somewhere high with a clear line of sight. Since it has a magnetic base, sticking it on top of your PC case works perfectly.

Once it is plugged in, the audio stutters should disappear completely and you will finally get the range you expected.

Tested working all across the house just like it should!