Oh, my.

2009/10/14 21:45
You know what I don't get asked to make often enough?

These.

Done wincing? This was pitched to me as an "anal ramrod", which made me giggle. I quite like the look of the thing, and it was a very fun fabrication, but that name needs work!

ANYWAY, Delrin "business end" ranging from 26mm down to 19mm, 140mm long.
The grip is polished purpleheart.
The shaft is solid 12mm aluminium, tapped at either end, also with a custom retaining nut at the grip end - I forgot to take detail photos, I'll rectify (heh, 'rectify') that & update tomorrow!
That's what this should be called.
Meet "The Rectifier"

All eyes online

2009/10/05 23:47
I can't list all the different ways that this is creepy.

To quote the first few paragraphs of the article:

"A new web service aims to recruit tens of thousands of unpaid watchmen to monitor neglected CCTV cameras nationwide.

Internet Eyes, a start up based in Stratford-upon-Avon, plans to charge businesses £20 per month for members of its website to watch live camera feeds and report incidents via text message.

In return, the members will be entered into a crime-fighting league, receiving points for each genuine incident reported. At the end of each month the top scorer will receive a £1,000 cash reward."

I'd love to say that it's unlikely to ever come to fruition, given the apparently indiscriminate delegation of viewership, but somehow it seems scarily plausible. With figures such as 20% of the world's CCTV cameras operating within Britain, this is getting to be a creepier country by the day. I don't actually own a hoody - I tend to prefer hats - but they're becoming increasingly tempting... or perhaps a burqa, motorcycle helmet or balaclava? Or risk the UV-ignorant-imbecile look that comes part n' parcel with wearing those fucking ridiculous sunglasses. (Incidentally, that's the first Google image result for "fucking ridiculous sunglasses" - here's the top for "fucking stupid giant sunglasses", similarly entertaining, and with piercing-related content! It's ominously titled "Top 5 Popular Women’s Styles Men Hate" - take note, ladies (!))

So, given protesting in this country seems largely futile - not that I'm averse to it, just that I find hope is waning lately - we're left with three options: vandalism, "say cheese", or leave.

I'm inclined towards option 3, though I have been for a while. Anyone that stands talking to me for more than ten minutes is likely aware I'm looking at Canada as my long-term goal, and tempted by a stint in France.

Handily, the 2009 UNDP Human Development Index was published today. Basically, it takes criteria like economic stability & life expectancy and ranks countries in order of desirability. Canada comes in fourth, France in eighth. We're down in twenty-first place, which isn't bad but I'd not call it aspirational... Ireland, a few minutes' westward flight away, is up in fifth, so we can't exactly blame the climate!!

For the time being, I'll struggle to smile for the camera. Or adopt increasingly ridiculous headwear and a pair of long-handled bolt cutters.

Bitch bitch bitch...

2009/10/03 23:03
Friday I had the worst run of luck in a long time.
I managed to blunt my last bandsaw blade, mis-tracked the belt sander & shredded the last coarse belt, snapped a cobalt drill bit I really needed, AND set fire to the dust extractor - as well as my shirt - with metal-grinding sparks. I guess the only relief is it was Friday, so I had the weekend to go buying spares!
Also relieved I read a small, useful piece of information a couple of years ago: NEVER use the retaining clips on a dust collector. If you do get combustion, it can't hold pressure. With the clips on, thepressure can build & turn into a dust explosion, which I figure would have just about capped the day off.

Oh, did I mention I dropped my calipers on the floor a while back & they finally gave out on Wednesday?? Can't do much jewellery if I have no idea what the diameter is

So yeah, Friday was AWESOME. I wound up spending the last five hours of the day with shit jobs I'd been putting off, like reclaiming chisels my Dad had inexplicably used to pry nails with. Why he can't use a claw hammer like normal people - after all, we have four for fuck's sake - or at least limit it to one sacrificial chisel, I don't know... so I was sat at a grinder then a whetsone regrinding HALF A DOZEN of those. Hand cramp ensued, and I still have to grind the secondary bevel on Monday - but at least I can do proper work as well, now.

Rant rant rant.

Oh, plus side, the tool store had a ridiculous one-off reduction on a new sharpening stone (on account of a very slightly chipped corner on an 8x2" stone), so everything gets to be that much sharper just a little more easily in future Looks good for the knives!
Japanese Ice Bear waterstone, 1000 grit one side, 6000 the other. Read: very fine. £15!!
The next step, one day, is one of these - http://www.classichandtools.co...rkansas-Natural-Oilstones.html. They're £80, but I have a baby one for penknives (1/4" square by 3") and they're awesome, IMO.
Still, that's for another day, and I have my new toy to try out before then Monday doesn't look so bleak.

Short term memorial

2009/10/01 00:06
I have begun, and am very much enjoying, Zen And The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance. However, I'm struggling. It's not the concepts, which I relate to very closely, but remembering them. I find myself faced with notes from an author which chime very closely with my own views, and aid at times in clarifying my currently confused conceptions, but two pages later are vague memories.
I've had short term memory issues since my late teens, but largely I find they can be "handled", "managed". Every now and again, though, I find myself struggling. Right now I want post-its and college-style notes and highlighting and colour coding, worrying that for as many hours as I'll put into finishing this, half or more will be forgotten and wasted.
It's as frustrating as it is disconcerting, and now I'm wondering if I should stop reading this library copy until I have my own, and highlighters, and can fold the page corners and underline! All librarians reading this just winced, I'm sure.

Reparations

2009/09/27 23:47
The net's back up, whoo! Just in time to waste more hours checking up on webcomics and weather forecasts.

Doc's at 14:00 tomorrow regarding my knee. I can walk again now, but it's still stiff (that's what she said). Hopefully I can get referred to a physio & get some kinda specific exercise or steroids or strapping to manage this.

Also, put some fresh buttons together for the Consensual Violence forum. Still welcoming user submissions & other input, so click & take a look.

Bruce Campbell's "If Chins Could Kill: Confessions Of A B-Movie Actor" autobiography was awesome - somehow, you can't help but read it in his accent. Pip's reading it now, and every few minutes I can hear giggling coming from the other room. Yep, there's one now.

Now she's wetting herself, back in a second.

~

Book quote:
"To make up for the loss of George we got another rabbit, an albino named Weaser. After I got through with him, he wished a dog had eaten him. Unwittingly, during his otherwise happy years with us, I slammed his head in a garage door and ran over him with my bike."

I had to pry the book from her hands to get that, since she couldn't actually make it to the end of the sentence herself. Pips are odd creatures.

At some point in the next week I'll nip to the library to pick up Zen & The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance, I feel a bit left out not having a book on the go myself