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I have noticed that when I’m writing scratch notes on the back side of waste printer paper with my fountain pen I get blobby lines. It usually feels difficult to write clearly, especially when I scribe crossing paths in a (pointless) attempt to clarify my handwriting mistakes. Of course there are many variables at play…

I like to use closed headphones. These often significantly attenuate outside noise but challenge me to hear my own voice. Typical attenuation of some relevant headphones or headsets are summarized by the following table. Headphone Attenuation Westone in-ear Monitors 23 dB Audio Technica ATH-M50 11 dB Hyper-X Cloud II 16 dB I want to use…

School, from our house as the crow flies, is 5.73 km. If we neglect air resistance and deal strictly with ballistic flight then we can materialize a wonderful fantasy. Starting in the backyard, extending over the top of the house, is a launch-o-rocket, a rail-like launcher that accelerates the school-bound student until he or she…

This weekend my family came with me to hunt fossils in the Jemez mountains of New Mexico. We hunted fossils along Route 4, where I understand collecting is legal and ethical. The fossils we were looking for are quite common, mainly brachiopods (similar to clams), and crinoids (a kind of anemone). These fossils are common…

My kids blow on soup to cool it down. Sometimes they blow like a tornado and most of the soup exits the spoon rather than entering the child. I always tell them to blow gently—it will cool just as fast. Well, we put the theory to the test. For cleanliness, we simulated a broth soup…

I love ribs, and I love the way they come out of my Masterbuilt electric smoker. Actually, it’s my dad’s smoker but I keep it safely at my house. The problem with ribs is the time. The late-night clean up, after cleaning and rubbing the ribs the night before and cooking six hours, is almost…

Three years ago I planted grapes on the west side of my house. I planted what I could get, bare sticks from my local nursery. For a green grape, I planted Niagara, which is marked as a green seeded table grape. For a red grape, I planted Catawba, which is labeled as a seeded green…

In central New Mexico there is not enough rainfall to grow a lawn. Water is precious—and expensive. A responsible homeowner maintains his lawn with no more water than required. But how much is required? You can calculate the amount. Guide H-504 from the New Mexico State University cooperative extension How to Water Your Lawn shows…

For my recommended pen nib (the Speedball B-5) and either of my recommended inks (Rapidograph 3084-F or Reeves and Poole), the drying time appears to be 5 minutes. In these tests I first wrote, and then wiped left-to-right after the marked delay. Both were fine after 5 minutes. The Reeves and Poole 30 minute smear…

This spring three lovely chicks joined our family, Betty, Penny, and Ginger. Ginger discovered her inner rooster in due time, and was rehomed—we are not zoned for the crowing half of the species. To protect the birds from freezing during our winter travels, and to let them out at the sunrise, they have been housed…