The Smell of Molten Projects in the Morning

Ed Nisley's Blog: Shop notes, electronics, firmware, machinery, 3D printing, laser cuttery, and curiosities. Contents: 100% human thinking, 0% AI slop.

Category: Oddities

Who’d’a thunk it?

  • Engineering Book Costs

    Clearing off the shelves produced a book I haven’t opened in a loooong time:

    Vector Mechanics for Engineers - cover
    Vector Mechanics for Engineers – cover

    The price sticker shows that textbooks have always been expensive:

    Vector Mechanics for Engineers - price tag
    Vector Mechanics for Engineers – price tag

    The first line looks like a date and, indeed, I took “Principles of Mechanics” in Spring 1974, so that book would cost $88.08 in 2015 dollars, based on the official CPI calculator.

    It’s harder to figure college costs, but the old rule of thumb says it’s a factor of two higher than the CPI. A bit of successive approximation with a compound interest calculator suggests an annual inflation of 3.9% and 7.8% says the book would cost $403 today.

    Which, it turns out, isn’t all that much higher than what our Larval Engineer has been paying for the fatter textbooks in her engineering courses.

    Even using today’s worthless dollars, that’s still a chunk o’ change…

    Memo to Self: As the bumper sticker puts it, “If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.”

  • Bike Rack in the Easter Season

    OK, I’ll admit we weren’t on our bikes:

    Easter-theme bike rack
    Easter-theme bike rack

    The next week, however, we were, and we leaned our bikes against the wall, because:

    • Long-wheelbase recumbents don’t fit into that kind of rack anyway
    • Even if they did, they’d block the entire sidewalk

  • Monthly Image: Too Much Snow Again

    Thirteen months ago, that round table had self-enclosed:

    Snow on patio - 2014-02-14
    Snow on patio – 2014-02-14

    We don’t have a good picture of the square table, but it had that same crater open to the central hole.

    Other pictures show the topmost 14+ inches from that storm consisted of lovely, fluffy snow that cleared well, although I’d have settled for a bit less.

    It’s winter in the Northeast US. Snow happens on a regular basis. I enjoy the shapes, not the shoveling…

  • Raccoons at the Suet Feeder

    They only come out at night:

    Raccoon on suet feeder
    Raccoon on suet feeder

    Two raccoons took turns at the feeder, but I only caught one in the act:

    Raccoon on suet feeder
    Raccoon on suet feeder

    Apparently they enter torpor, rather than hibernate, which means they’re getting hungry right about now.

    Taken through two panes of 1955 glass with the Sony DSC-H5, using an LED flashlight for focus assist. Both culprits oozed off the far end of the patio when I opened the door…

  • Snow Mounds Redux

    A few more weekly snowstorms refreshed the patio tables mounds:

    Snow mound - round table - 2015-02-22
    Snow mound – round table – 2015-02-22

    The spire under the square table nearly reached the cross brace:

    Snow mound - square table - 2015-02-22
    Snow mound – square table – 2015-02-22

    That spire comes from snow falling straight down through the table, with a bit collecting on the struts:

    Snow pillar - square table - 2015-02-22
    Snow pillar – square table – 2015-02-22

    Holding the camera over the table shows a thin glass rim around the edge of the hole:

    Snow cauldron - square table - 2015-02-22
    Snow cauldron – square table – 2015-02-22

    I wouldn’t believe it, either, if I hadn’t seen it!

  • Gutter Icicles

    OK, I’m a sucker for sunlit solid water:

    They’re hanging from the gutters over the patio. The house has six-foot soffits back there and nearly three feet elsewhere, plus the roofers installed rubber sheets along the walls, so we’re not worried about leaks…

  • Snow Mounds

    Two snowstorms in a week converted our patio tables into gentle sculptures.

    If you could flip the round table upside down, the mound might match the snow shadow underneath:

    Snow mound - round table
    Snow mound – round table

    Snow falling through the 2 inch hole in the middle of the square table produces a large cone below:

    Snow mound - square table
    Snow mound – square table

    Leaving a much larger caldera in the top:

    Snow mound - square table - top view
    Snow mound – square table – top view

    Yes, I’m easily amused…