Tommyjournal

Wednesday 27 Mar 2019 1 comment

bee, Joshua tree flowers

Friday 22 Mar 2019 comment?

While riding my bike one afternoon about 42 years ago, I saw a kid standing at the side of the road a bit ahead of me, talking to some of his friends, with one foot on the ground and one on a skateboard, idly rolling the skateboard back and forth, with his back to me, and I thought to myself, "he might just roll the skateboard into my path"--which he did. I hit it and crashed. He was really sorry. I told him I was OK and he shouldn't feel bad.

Earlier today I wondered whether anyone ever painted an airliner to look like a big creature (I couldn't remember seeing any instances thereof) and later in the day I came across this.

Thursday 21 Mar 2019 comment?

From a WaPo article 10 days ago:

It's fixed now but there was at least one attempted revision that was still saying 230 points was about 8% of the DJIA. (It's not.)

The NY Times, yesterday:

Renminbi is the name of China's currency. The unit is the yuan. "5 million renminbi" is like "550,000 sterling" when you mean that many pounds.

Wednesday 20 Mar 2019 comment?

Fred and Pan

photo by Kira Od

Tuesday 19 Mar 2019 1 comment

Yucca brevifolia

Thursday 14 Mar 2019 1 comment

The escapement from the clock movement I replaced this week (this wasn't the part that wore out).

35 years of use corresponds to
about 700 million pendulum cycles.

I had to adjust the timekeeping after I moved from near sea level to 4500' elevation in 1997. The clock was losing about 2 minutes per week because gravity is a little weaker here.

Tuesday 12 Mar 2019 comment?

My clothes dryer failed today. It made a gnarly sound for a few minutes and then seized up altogether.

I started taking it apart and hit a point where it wasn't obvious what to do next. A web search led me to a page that revealed the secrets and I got the dryer apart.

Enough parts are worn out that it looks like time for a new dryer. This one is about 35 years old, the same age as a mechanical clock I have that failed a couple weeks ago. (A new clock movement arrived today.)

Inside the dryer I found about a dollar in change and five pocket combs.

Friday 08 Mar 2019 1 comment

My Joshua tree didn't get any taller in 2018 and I wondered whether that was because it was saving up resources to flower in 2019. I hoped not, for reasons as described in a posting three years ago.

But so much for my hopes. The J‑tree is flowering this year. Photos to follow at some point.