Just need to vent...

I used to hang out with some glassblowers. Unless you're Dale Chihuly, every job is a side job.

 

My coffee (espresso) machine:

Just add roasted beans and water. Empty grinds and clean tray. Beans come in a 2 lbs bag from COSTCO and last about a month more or less.

Bob Wilson

 

"I used to hang out with some glassblowers" We are here, what a thrill! Glass is two dimensional plus time (cooling) for most work. 3D plus time for art.

I'd love to say more but this is the complaints department.

 

There is coffee pod machine that uses aluminium pods. The supplier sends them in a prepaid return mail bag for you to return the used ones and they remove the coffee grounds and recycle the aluminium. We use a cheap Aldi machine with cheap capsules, made a tool to crush the capsule bottom side down through a dicer blade from a discarded food processor, the coffee grounds sift through a flyscreen mesh filter and go in the compost bin, plants of all types seem to love it, the diced plastic gets a bath and the plan is to buy a granulator to make the pellets for a 3D printer, the remaining aluminium foil piece goes in with the aluminium recycling to be sold at a scrap metal dealer at some time when I have enough scrap to make the job worthwhile ... all cans and bottles over here come with a 10c refund when presented at a recycling depot, so the aluminium scrape comes from project off cuts ...... Still trying to think of a use for the little filter screens from each capsule .....

Tried the refillable capsules, first thing in the morning is not the time to discover it hasn't been cleaned out and washed, and I shake so much before that first coffee I'd need to make a filling device so half of the grounds don't end up on the bench, maybe a project for another day :lol:

T1 Terry

 

Now to have my vent I came here to have ....... Why, when on extended holiday in the motorhome, do all those small jobs become tasks that eat most of the day .... like the fridge light turns out to not be a bulb, but the voltage regulator IC that is on the base of the fridge ..... with a screw and nut on the underside ..... gotta remove the fridge to lean it over to hold the nut ... what genius came up with that idea .... a new hole with the thread tapped in the fridge base plate will solve that issue ... like I'm ever going to need to do that fix again Fit a plug to the new induction stove, the original gas stove never worked, seems the installer didn't know you have to adjust the switch on the lid to get the gas to turn on ... FFS .... plugged the induction stove in ... the knife and fork drawer doesn't fully close now ... just change the type of plug ... far too easy, the boss wants the powerpoint moved to where she can turn it off when not use to improve the bench space ... easier said than done ..... the cell balancer for my 24v lithium battery pack arrived while I was tackling these other jobs and more .... now it's raining and I have no desire to stand in the rain to install it ..... but the alarm for a cell going over voltage went off in the early hrs of this morning .... so who had to get up and turn the mains power off ...... that is the most likely reason I'm writing this post, I'm not an early morning person :lol:

T1 Terry

 

Landscaping Cost... I'm in the wrong business... I understand a lot goes into it. Equipment,tools,gas,materials, Planning, pick up delivery and cost like everything have escalated. 3 quite large evergreen shrubs dig three holes plant them backfill add mulch and adjust irrigation time to help them take root. I get it. it is a lot of work.2 guys did the work it would have taken me a week to do....all of it was back breaking labor...but the bill was a surprise and I'm glad this was a once every 10 year purchase. $ 6700.00

 

" ...a competent oil painter, presumably somewhere in China, pumping out ..." Leads to another story from around here. Then another.

Imagine yourself in Hong Kong then go a bit inland, past the innovation hub of Shenzhen, to village of Dafen. It is always called village dun no why, but there, some 10,000 painters reproduce oil paintings from all eras and styles, with high technical skills:

Dafen Oil Painting Village – Shenzhen Shi, China - Atlas Obscura

Original art is also available there. Apparently it is worth visiting.

I would sooner go to Huangqiao in Jiangsu Province. It produces 30% of global violins and other similar instruments possibly excluding guitars. While making oil paintings that look like other oil paintings is 'a thing', luthiers choose wood and thin it to resonate across frequencies. Each item is a thing unto itself. Best of those have done very well in blind tests against dome of world's greatest violins.

(the many) Global students need stringed instruments that play well enough to promote skill development, but fit family financials.

Both of these "pumping out" examples interest me. World will buy things that adequately match needs, and this large country has skilled people to deliver. It works by way of low salaries but not (here) in sweatshops. Paint and wood both require comfy conditions and workers work there.

Sweatshops (not that anyone invoked) seem to me related to cloth garment manufacture because cloth lacks T and RH constraints on manufacture. That work has moved to other Asian countries and I do not attend to that.

 

I thought there was a city specialized in stained glass lamp (shade) production, but that industry seems widely dispersed.

 

'sweatshop'. great name for a new gym franchise

 

On my recent road trip through some upper-left states I hadn't driven through before, the "unleaded regular" price shown on some stations' visible-from-the-road signs turned out to be the price for 85 octane. 87 was called something like "plus" or "extra" and was more.

Other stations advertised the price of their 87. It was all caveat emptor.

 

The most famous went out of business during the depression. That drove the prices up.
Tiffany Lamps: Price Guide and How to Identify an Original.
.

 

When I owned a Prius, at one time, I thought about setting a Prius, single tank record:

• 10,158 ft - Leadville CO in summer for highest density altitude
• lowest octane, 85 - my gas surveys showed lower octane gas has higher energy per unit
• 3-4 hour segments - driving laps at peak efficiency
• ~2 min at idle - lets the catalytic converter operate for peak engine efficiency
• ~28 mph cruise control - the minimum cruise control +1 or +2 mph for optimum Prius efficiency
• choose route that maximizes cruise control operation
• spare gas can and battery terminal wrench - running out of gas may require a 12 V, power on, reset

I no longer own a Prius but perhaps some of Good Prius Friends might want to take the challenge. I've already gotten a 1,000 mi tank in 620 ft, Huntsville AL, doing 2-3 hours per driving segment before and after work.

Bob Wilson

 

Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, New Mexico, Montana, and portions of Idaho and South Dakota.

In certain high altitude regions, 85 (or even 85.5 or 86, if any of these still exist) is regular. Or at least, was, back when everyone had carburetors, and has been held over to the modern era. Lower air pressure made engines less likely to ping at those altitudes. I haven't heard of any significant number of problems, or experienced any myself, from using 85 in modern fuel-injected cars in these regions. Though there is disagreement across the automotive field.

Do note that many modern cars have significantly greater fuel range than old-era cars, so it it possible for travelers to take high-altitude fuel to significantly lower elevations before refilling.

List of U.S. states by standard octane ratings - Wikipedia

 

After a few failed attempts with 24v to 12v IC chips going up in smoke, bit the bullet and purchased a voltage regulator module to power the fridge light. Wired it up, set the voltage and bingo, the light worked. Put the whole moulding thing that also holds the thermostat, it even turns off when the door closes ... so happy. Asked the wife to check the fridge when she returned from shopping .... waiting for the surprise and congratulations .... nothing ....... the light didn't work again ....... I'm buying torch with a magnetic back to put on the outside of the fridge, use that if you want to see inside the thing ......

T1 Terry

 

Though that would probably have been just an American record.

Various threads here have pointed to a series of Japanese tank records, the final exceeding 3000 km (1800+ miles). Though that series involved Gen2s with non-North-American, non-bladdered 60 L (15.9 gallon) fuel tanks.