Watcha doin? - a hobby thread

[HighlyIrregular]

Would be funny if she bound up a book about bondage but its not shaped like I imagine a bondage book would be.

Buxom Betty bound her book of bondage with blue bands.

[elfsprin]

lol

It's Anna Karenina

[starjots]

Finally got around to upgrading/replacing my camper's battery system. Out went 300 lbs of AGM lead acid batteries that lasted six years (typical) to recycle, in went 60 lbs of lithium iron phosphate (2400 WH). Same effective capacity, expected lifetime 4000-6000 cycles (forever), faster recharge rate, same price. The tricky part was the power converter (charges batteries when you plug in or run the generator) which had to be replaced, but all seems to work.

IMO lead acid for RVs is now obsolete, as intelligent as buying a Cathode Ray Tube television instead of a flat screen.

We are going to try it out on a trip to San Diego starting tomorrow. With COVID it looks to be another year for RV travel...

[Madrigal]

After doing 4 years of the italian program at the institute, I noticed they raised prices by 50% this year and told them I was going to go elsewhere. Now I've arranged for private classes on the same syllabus (5th year) with one other student. I'll be paying the same as last year but it'll all go to the teacher instead of this greedy institute keeping most of it.

I am just floored because someone thought it was a great idea to charge prices that people don't even pay for German or Russian. The only explanation I can find is that they've noticed a deluge of professionals wanting to emigrate to Italy who need to take an international exam, and they've decided that's the only market they care about now. I'm in a whatsapp group with a lot of people who fit the profile and I explained that they've raised the prices by 50% and that no institute is charging that, but they seem less disgusted than me, lol.

The worst thing is that their teachers are being paid salaries below the poverty line.

I think I will just do this one semester and then go onto starting Portuguese.

As for Greek, it's fine and I did the exam for the first level last week and think it went okay. It made me feel good to see I could write a few paragraphs about myself, because sometimes it feels like I'm not really making any progress. I do need to devote more time to it though because absolutely nothing I read sticks without a lot of repetition. It's too different.

[Yesterday]

Italian dual citizenship. Do it. You won't.

[Catoptric]

Training crows to be summoned, similar to the Bioshock Infinite game.
https://lifehacker.com/how-to-befriend- ... 1849393502

Also, the 3DO version of Star Control II: Ur-Quan Masters has an HD remake that can be played on PC.
https://sourceforge.net/projects/urquan ... t/download

[Catoptric]

I had just gotten a replacement chain and pin disconnecting tool kit after the chain came off the rear derailleur when going up hill (and it would do this whenever putting a lot of force onto it, as I would experience again. . . I suspect it occurred since I did not readjust the derailleur settings to ensure it wouldn't go past the highest gear, which caused the derailleur to rub or pull the chain onto the spokes, causing the hanger to bend as well as break the spokes on the wheel (which are not cheap to replace the wheel) and since I thought of the option to replace the spokes and possibly "true" the spoke alignment, I realize it might be better to just get an older wheel which might look really off with the bike, and wouldn't possibly resolve the other issue with the derailleur. I had just replaced the hanger after it broke loose last time I used the bike (which was mostly 2 years ago, and though I put a lot of miles on the bike then, I only use it approximately every 4-5 years.) I also had to replace the bearings in the wheel, and realize how necessary it is to keep things well-tuned, as otherwise it will be a much more annoying project to repair. The bike chain link was fairly annoying without proper equipment, as it was by no means as easy as some videos show with easily releasing the pins and applying new ones, as it's really easy to break both the tool or the pin needed to keep the chain together (which is not fun to mess with when using cleats to walk back to several miles and looking like a dunce.) It's also not fun to carry junk for emergencies such as that, but I am starting to consider I might want to.







It's also a bit weird when the derailleur completely breaks as well, and then you have to figure out what wheels are compatible with the gear set, or hub (some wheels are exclusive to 10 speed and some are 8,9,10.)

[Yesterday]

What am I doing? My hobby is dreaming. Let me explain...

I accidentally asked this chick on a date. You see I thought we were just friends. I just wanted someone to eat a sandwich with. Gaaah. I swear I get hit on everywhere. Oh, not by Victoria Secret model types obviously. No, I'm incessantly hit on by like there above average attractive but equally disinteresting sisters. What about my carefully crafted facade of oddness says I'd make a fun romantic companion?! I'm friend material at best. I always envisioned myself accidentally finishing college too late to have kids. Figure out the lesbians buddy algorithm and then it'll all be smooth sailing from here on. I'd swindle some kind hearted lesbian gf with my lovely income and we'd have a mandatory open relationship. There'd be no typical intimacy to ruin things. She'd be someone to eat food with. Mayyyybe we'd kiss a little. But both of us would get bored and then forget and do it again another time. Later on maybe get engaged to fulfill the external criterion for appearing legit. Occasional *hand clapping* just because why not. But like in some Lars Von Trier numerous isolated events kinda way. I need more lesbians in my life. Stat!! A fella can dream can't he?



P.S. not sure I meant Lars, but you get the point. Adulting as of late is the pits.

[HighlyIrregular II]

Invasive species photography.

[Catoptric]

Deadener and shore hardness are important components to silicone molding. I'm curious about using deadener with gel-000 or gel-005 as an injection molding. . .


https://polytek.com/content/pdf/technic ... 5-2021.pdf

If anyone's looking for new hobbies:


You can create a bastard sourdough yeast offspring.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/295240380727?h ... Sw43hZ9MKm

Lemu: A different kind of app that studies ecosystems, similar to how Google Lens can be used to identify plants.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/deta ... .lemu.lemu