Thunder-days are an old measure of storm activity - The modern measure is lightning flash density.
The first map I used in the 1980's was hand drawn and black and white and old. It also showed Darwin with the highest activity with over 80 thunder days and Brisbane with slightly less.
The modern map shows Brisbane is not nearly as bad as for lightning as previously thought.
I have lost some weight and my circumference is less than before.
Consequently I have use a hollow punch to allow my belt to tighten a bit extra.
As a boy I watched my grandfather use his tape measure - it has a big red button to retract the tape.
The tape measure was recently given to me. The first foot had a lot of damage and it was hard to use. It also lacked metric markings.
When I looked for a replacement tape blade I found that The Evan's measuring tape was a well loved artifact and is even collected by enthusiasts. Replacement blades were expensive and with freight some offered prices were over $100. And none of the replacement blades were metric.
Instead I purchased a 2 metre metric tape measure with the same blade width for less than $6 from my favourite hardware warehouse. Then I transferred the measuring blade from the new tape measure to the Evan's tape measure.
For curiosity, I disassembled the Evan's tape measure and it is in perfect condition internally - no wonder people collect them.
The tape measure is now ready for another 50 years service.
I also note that the Evan's tape measure has no plastic components and the $6 tape measure is plastic except the spring and the measuring blade.
As I wandered through my favourite hardware warehouse, I saw a product new to me - food safe wax.
I have now waxed all the cutting boards in the kitchen and in the caravan.
They were all looking very pale and worn out and they were starting to crack. they look much better now.
As I neared the end of my first packets of double edge razor blades I ordered some more.
I purchased a box of 200 as the price was low. To my delight they contain no plastic at all. Serendipity.
Jim Hawkins and the Curse of Treasure Island by Francis Bryan (Frank Delaney, Irish novelist) [2001, ISBN 1- 84255-213-9]
The great joy in this book is the use of language in the spirit of the original Treasure Island. It has a pursuit, capture and escape; violent action and parley; disguise and mystery.
A modern criticism of this book is that there is no gender/cultural diversity, all characters are english or scottish men apart from Hawkin's mother and the mysterious woman.
At the conclusion attentive readers will realise that not every mystery has been resolved. Maybe the author left open the option for a sequel.
I urge the reader first re-read the original tale by Robert Louis Stevenson.
The playing pieces I made myself by slicing up a stick and a piece of rail. The board is a piece of cloth cut with pinking shears to stop it fraying. It is a homemade game of Tak.
The rules to Tak are simple as they are in all the best games. But the play is complex.
Tak was once an imaginary game in the fantasy book A Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss [2011, ISBN 987-0-7564-0407-9]. I have read the book many times, it is a great adventure - but I cannot recommend it. It is volume two of a trilogy and the third volume is yet to be published.
The story is told in flashback, each volume is covers the tale as told over one day in a remote inn. It is a the tale of a talented child who witnesses his parents murder and then overcomes extraordinary hardship to become a talented musician and adventurer. So far a common but well told fantasy story. The twist seems to be that he is a broken man - he has failed to avenge his parents' death, he has lost his love, and he has unleashed horrors upon the world. Volume Three is expected to be one more day so how can anything be resolved in the protagonist's favour.
But Tak is fun.
A friend gave me a couple of plants - Brisbane lilies - Proiphys cumminghamii. He said his mother used to grow them and they were easy to care for. They have flowered after a year and now there are plenty of seeds to spread around.
A simple book that explains some important concepts about infinity. It makes it all easy to understand.
How to count to Infinity by Marcus Du Sautoy [ ISBN 976-1-78648-497-0 ].
I have added it to my prepper library to help re-build civilisation after the fall.
In the wet weather I set up a clothesline in the workshop. I set up a floor fan to reduce the drying time.
After an prolonged delay the electricity retailer visited my house and replaced the spinning meter with a new electronic "smart" meter.
No instructions were provided with the meter, so I went to the internet. The retailers web site showed a single pdf page for three different makes of meters with confusing terminology and it did not cover what I wanted to know. Next I searched for and found the manufacturers instructions which included some standard definitions.
I learned that IMPORT means imported to the grid so what all the consumers call exporting power is defined to be importing because the terminology all is from the utility point of view. All perfectly understandable except that the information provided by the retailer does not explain it.
On my meter - EDMI Altas Mark 7C - there are tiny arrows in the upper left of the display window.
The big red arrow points to the tiny left arrow - The left arrow means power is being imported to the grid. So when this is showing my solar is making more power than I am using.
The big blue arrow arrow points to the tiny right arrow - The right arrow means power is being exported from the grid to my house. So when this is showing I am using more power than my solar is making.
When I was engineering I was often hunting down the technical data for products and then analysing it. A sure sign of a poor product was a lack of technical data.
The first thing I broke on my caravan - within 2 hours of owing it - was the ventilation hatch winder handle. Of course it was plastic. I looked up the web site and saw that it was a prominently displayed spare part - obviously these things broke all the time.
So I made my own wooden handle by modifying a wooden knob for drawers from my local hardware warehouse [ Bunnings ]. The larger diameter of the wooden knob made the ventilation hatch easier to open and close.
Shoes last longer if rested.
I have four pair - all the same make:
- Very good
- Everyday
- Working/gardening
- Painting
They are the same make - Kathmandu Strowan NGX - because I have found that wearing hiking shoes stops my back hurting.
I just learned how to tie my shoelace a better way -
https://www.fieggen.com/shoelace/ianknot.htm
The knotting method I learned as a child was not the best way!
For months I have tying double knots on my laces to stop them coming undone - But I have tested Ian's knot and it works well - not coming loose. As an ex-scout I should have known reef knots are better than granny knots.
Gas lighting was nominated as word of the year yesterday by Mirrium-Webster. When I look it up, the source of the term is nomin...
