Posts by David Haywood
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Southerly: Høstens Vemod, in reply to Emma Hart,
Pff. Presbyterianism is about enduring treats in anticipation of unpleasant things.
Ah yes, well there is that too, I suppose!
I've just been thinking of you, Emma Hart, as I've been editing a short story of mine set in Timaru. A piece of literature highly respectful of Timaru, I might add (genuinely). Can you possibly provide a suggestion for a shabby-genteel suburb in Timaru? One with nice old turn-of-the-previous-century houses that's fallen on slightly hard times? Failing that, just a straighforward genteel suburb with nice old houses? Any help gratefully received (Google maps needs a layer for such information).
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Southerly: Høstens Vemod, in reply to Carol Stewart,
Does hostens vemod have an inverse equivalent, whereby you can endure unpleasant things in anticipation of treats to come?
Thank you, Carol! We already have a word for that in English – Presbyterianism...
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Southerly: Høstens Vemod, in reply to Hilary Stace,
They have a very smart agile baby and I recommended the Bob channel, and Polly building the stile, as aspirational child rearing videos.
Thanks Hilary! Very kind of you to say that!
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I should probably mention that during our brief visit I grew to like Norway and Norwegians a lot.
Speaking unscientifically (I didn’t exactly do any statistically-valid data gathering) I had the impression that Norway has many of the positive social attitudes that I remember from my childhood in New Zealand. Particularly a sense of social responsibility and social fairness.
I felt a certain amount of wistfulness (vemod?) that we don’t seem to have so much of that these days. (Probably to the extent that some people will claim that New Zealand can’t afford financially to indulge in Norwegian-style social responsibility and social fairness).
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Southerly: Høstens Vemod, in reply to Ian Dalziel,
Sun has not yet been found.
The fog sweeps through forest down to the riverWell that certainly makes autumn sound like the pleasantest season. I admit to feeling quite spiritually uplifted after reading these words...
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Southerly: Høstens Vemod, in reply to benkepes,
I too suffer from høstens vemod, regardless of whether it exists or not.
Very sorry to hear about a fellow sufferer of a non-existent phenomenon! I’m hoping for an illuminating response from either the Norwegian embassy or the Public-Address-reading Finns. If not in the Finnish language then surely the put-upon Swedish-speaking minority in Finland must have a word for this…
You’ve got an impressive young lady there…
I’m already feeling sorry for her future boyfriends! Luckily she’s settled down into school without a problem (touch wood). Have had quite a few “You must be so relieved not to have another Bob” comments from teachers, which I have to bite my tongue about somewhat.
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In related news, Polly’s stile build was a guest feature on her brother’s YouTube channel:
P.S. People keep sending amusing messages to the effect that it sounds like a lot of screw-heads get stripped in these videos. But Polly is using an impact-driver not a drill. That’s the way impact-drivers sound – very juddery indeed!.
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Hard News: Friday Music: Summer in the Winter, in reply to Russell Brown,
Lovely picture of you though Ian!
Which reminds me, Ian -- the Ford Modelling Agency have been bugging me again for your contact details. Shall I tell them that you're still not interested? They say they're willing to fire Daniel Craig if that's what it takes to renew your contract...
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Steven Crawford wrote:
would it be cheating if I used zero ohm resisters as bridges to get me over to the earth side?
I've certainly done many more inelegant things than that to make a circuit board work, Steven!
Paul Campbell wrote:
Has Bob learned to solder yet?
Yes, he has! He's still on the learning curve (has a tendency to cook things) but doing okay.
I’m also giving away cheap Arduino based electronics kits to local (Dunedin) kids – let me know if you think Bob is up to this:
Gosh what a great idea to do that, Paul -- good on you!
I have to say that your kits might be ideal for Bob. He's been given a simple board for kids by his uncle that can be programmed using scratch (and can do quite sophisticated things), but it doesn't require the use of any analogue electronics. Your kit would provide Bob with the next practical step into using transistors, diodes, etc. I'll email you, Paul -- would be keen to make a donation.
... learning to not get discouraged and try and debug and fix things when they don’t work is an important life skill
You certainly won't get any argument from me on that, Paul...
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Many thanks, Paul Brislen, Hilary Stace, and Lilith for your supportive and motivating words!
Moz wrote:
I feel better about my welded angle iron bench now, it only weighs twice (ish) what I do.
I most thoroughly approve -- nothing worse than a wobbly bench (well okay, cancer & Hitler, etc. are strictly-speaking worse, but a wobbly bench is quite bad). I must say it sounds like you have a extremely interesting project ahead!
Russell Brown wrote:
Just give it a go – embed a YouTube video in a post.
Well you've convinced me to try it out. I've an interesting(-ish) project coming up in spring so will do something then!
Steven Crawford wrote:
I have a Roland mdx 20 which is standard fablab kit. The Christchurch fablab should have one. I deal keep the boards level by laminating two together with double sided tape.
Thank you, Stephen -- very helpful! I can see something like this might be in Bob's medium-term future. Will investigate further...
Ian Dalziel wrote:
It’s good that Bob demystifies the perils of technical jargon – especially the latently dangerous confusion between ‘awls’ and ‘owls’…
Bob enjoyed the cartoon -- thank you, Ian! Thanks also for the visit the other day. I am now thinking of naming the chimney-brick paths around our house as the "Ian Dalziel Memorial Highway" (a memorial to the healthy back you once had...)
Paul Campbell wrote:
Most people don’t have access to a mill, but these days cheap proto boards from China are readily available – there are many places that fab you full spec 2 sided boards – my current fave is:
That's exactly what I was after six (my God time goes so quickly) years ago -- thank you so much! Bob and I will need to make some PCBs later this year so that information is super-helpful.
learning to learn by screwing up is an important skill!
I've done plenty of learning when designing PCBs then. My speciality for many years was somehow always forgetting a pull-down (or pull-up) resister somewhere on the board...
Bart Janssen wrote:
Can I suggest GIANT LASERS!
I believe that GIANT LASERS (in capitals) are indeed the answer to most things in life, Bart. Jesus would have got on much better if he'd used your words rather than his ill-fated "love thy neighbour" suggestion.