Friday, September 10, 2021

Friday Links: Diet for a Small Planet at 50, Scythe Resource, Farm Tractors in Forestry

 Diet for a Small Planet is being issued in a new 50th-anniversary edition: 

https://www.dietforasmallplanet.org/


I have unexpectedly become interested in working with a scythe. I own two, a heavy one for brush and a very light and slim one for grass. Turns out you can still buy all the parts and maintenance tools, and there are modern-day experts ready to train you. This seems to be one of the good sites for both:

https://www.baryonyxknife.com/scac.html


And here's an English translation of a Swedish government publication about using a small farm tractor in the woods. There are still forestry winches being made for tractors, so this is all of interest to me:

https://www.maine.gov/dacf/mfs/publications/general_publications/farm_tractor_in_the_forest.pdf

Friday, August 27, 2021

Friday Links: Some Raw Climate Data, a New Art Gallery, BWCA Trip Planning

 Weather averages for Tomahawk, Wisconsin, 1980 - 2010.

https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/orders/cdo/2691475.pdf

 

The art gallery  of my retired colleague Tom Zarilli:

https://gallery378.com/about/


A good site with resources for planning BWCA (and other) canoe trips:

https://www.paddleplanner.com/default.aspx

Friday, August 20, 2021

Friday Links: an Interior Wall System, Bowl Gouge Sharpening

Just a pair of YouTube videos this week.


First, I like this approach to paneling an interior wall, as demonstrated by Mr. Chickadee. I will be using rigid foam to insulate the Rib Lake shack , and I had planned on horizontal wood paneling nailed to battens nailed along the inside faces of the timbers. The added step of screwing the paneling pieces to their own battens to form larger, removable panels strikes me as a huge boost to subsequent repairability.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fdm9R1Cbm0


Next, one of my current obsessions is bowl turning. I have watched many, many hours of YouTube videos on turning techniques, sharpening techniques, and pretty girls in tight-fitting tops that somehow end up covered with shavings as they turn giant bowls. As far as fine points of technique go, I find a couple of low-quality vids of David Ellsworth and Stuart Batty demonstrating to woodturning guilds quite enlightening. However, the champions of cramming pertinent information into the least time with the best videography are Dictum Tools, in a series of videos showing Nick Agar sharpening various gouge profiles and then demonstrating the geometry of the different cuts each can make. I can picture myself actually calling up this video on my iPhone while standing at the lathe for a quick refresher.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMzNN_IMhUE

Friday, August 13, 2021

Friday Links: Freelance Writing, Tabletop Radios, Movies Within Movies, Romanian Village Photographer

 Only a few this week.


A nuts & bolts look at the world of writing for money:

https://countercraft.substack.com/p/everything-ive-learned-about-being


Some good-looking radios from a brand I hadn't seen before. I have one on order, I'll let you know:

https://www.sangean.com/products/all_products.asp


Nestflix: a directory of movies-within-movies (and tv shows). Yes, they have Logjammin'. Yes, they have McBain. But you can submit any they don't have.

https://nestflix.fun/


The photographs of Zaharia Cusnir. A village photographer in the Romanian/Moldovan border region from 1955-1970, Cusnir lived and died in relative obscurity. His negatives were found in an abandoned house, scanned, and now some are on this website. Some of the images are quite powerful: your heart goes out to the subjects. I will be spending more time with these over the weekend.

https://www.zaharia.md/en/about/

Friday, August 6, 2021

Friday Links: About Tabs, Citizen Science in ATL, MEI Packs, Wood-Fired Ovens

 First, a tab about tabs and tabbing:

https://dirt.substack.com/p/dirt-the-season-of-tabs?token=eyJ1c2VyX2lkIjoxMzI5NzkwLCJwb3N0X2lkIjozOTUwMzAxOSwiXyI6ImxhdlFlIiwiaWF0IjoxNjI3OTA5ODYyLCJleHAiOjE2Mjc5MTM0NjIsImlzcyI6InB1Yi0yMzIxODciLCJzdWIiOiJwb3N0LXJlYWN0aW9uIn0.64QlW_nl-AdQCVALWma1__jJDvrWBuQCExTjM9yjI00

(Some of our clutter is there because it's stuff that reminds us of who we want to be.)

An opportunity to do citizen science here in Atlanta:

https://urbanheatatl.org/


MEI makes the Voyageur, my favorite carry-on with backpack straps. I have ordered these as gifts several times and gotten excellent feedback each time:

https://www.meipacks.com/collections/carry-ons/products/deluxe-voyageur-new?variant=29110618751056


An old-school website on old-school woodfired ovens:

https://www.traditionaloven.com/


Friday, July 16, 2021

Random Friday Links July 2021

 

Here's an anticipated new feature: Random Friday Links

Every week at work, I leave my computer running, only turning it off on the weekend, for reasons having to do with the age of my computer and the amount of time it takes to boot up.

I am in the habit of not closing browser tabs I am intrigued by, or interested in. But then on Friday afternoon, I shut down the computer, only to start up the process again on Monday. I feel like it might be worthwhile to preserve these links in this ephemeral form. Here's the first entry.

I anticipate no annotation, to explanation, no explication for these links. Just check 'em out. Or not.


https://ashesstillwaterboats.com/making-a-canoe-paddle/

https://ensorings.com/products/elements-classic-silicone-ring-gold

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3sKmX40HA6Y

https://app.crackingthecryptic.com/sudoku/6D4r2QfF7N

https://www.qajaqusa.org/content.aspx?page_id=22&club_id=349669&module_id=358631

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6ifqKK_voU


Wednesday, June 16, 2021

Monday, June 14, 2021

How Many Genders Are There?

 I like this guy. The only better answer I can think of is "When's lunch?"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMDlFn-NGKk

 

For family reasons, I have been

Thursday, May 27, 2021

The Rhythm of the Machine (What I'm Listening To)

 Schnellertollermeier's "Piccadilly Sources": a recent find thanks to WREK's afternoon randomness. 

 

Friday, January 8, 2021

The Futile Utility of the Cell Phone

Thursday morning I woke up and found that various family members had been texting and calling all night (my cell phone is set to stop ringing at 9:30). My mom had been on the couch watching the aftermath of the Capitol riot like the rest of the country, gotten up for a glass of water, and tripped on a throw rug. Bottom line: