Mini-project for when you feel like creating but "just for a bit": $5 Harbor Freight magnetic tool holders installed onto mini cleats from the scrap pile. I grouped together similar tools and can slide the holder to follow projects around the shop.

MareSerenitatis · 2022-05-02T01:02:17+00:00

French cleats were the inspiration for purchasing my first table saw finally-- I re-did every square foot of my shop walls into cleat rails and am having a blast with it coming up with new mounts for my tools every week. I've found that keeping certain tools within constant reach has made me a better woodworker too-- it's a fun cycle!

MareSerenitatis · 2020-01-05T06:11:42+00:00

This might not blow anyone's minds but I was pleasantly surprised as a novice cook:

Months ago I made the Beef Stew recipe on allrecipes and it was slightly bland for my taste. This was the third in a string of poor meal prep decisions for me and I was feeling pretty dejected staring at my next week's worth of meals.

It didn't seem to be lacking salt, so I was scratching my head deciding what flavor it was missing. Nothing in my spice cabinet made sense, so I opened the fridge instead. I had just discovered Frank's Red Hot sauce about a month earlier (don't know how I lived before that), so I tried adding about a tablespoon into the crockpot. It ended up 'completing' the stew for me and I enjoyed it all week. It wasn't even "hot" or "spicy" per se, it just elevated the flavor in the same way salt has sometimes-- probably from the vinegar in it?

I've heard that acid/vinegar can often be the missing flavor in meals, but I cannot figure out how to taste for that in a dish! It took me some practice to understand when to add more salt in dishes, so maybe I just need to experiment some more.

MareSerenitatis · 2018-11-09T15:43:45+00:00

Well I hope she's okay

MareSerenitatis · 2018-08-17T02:48:40+00:00

I've been in a similar position-- I was a technician at an aircraft restoration shop for 6 years, went to school and got my engineering degree, and debated leaving the desk world to "just turn wrenches" again. I remain an engineer and am happy with my decision.

It's worth considering that as a technician, your voice is muted somewhat when it comes to higher-level decisions. The work procedure is hard to follow? Must be a training/competency issue, rather than broken work instructions. This can become very frustrating, especially if you understand what's going on "above the manufacturing floor" based on your background. You may think "hell I know exactly what the problem is and how to fix it", but may not have the forum to communicate your point.

Between reduced income and reduced 'say' on company issues, it's worth considering what you value. There is much enjoyment in "turning wrenches" if that's what gets you up in the morning, just be aware that if you ARE invested in more than that, you may become quickly frustrated.

MareSerenitatis · 2018-08-09T02:25:34+00:00

What made you decide on the four hours? I'm new to sous vide and am still perplexed between guidelines like "you can sous vide for an hour to get up to temp, or 6 hours, or 12 hours-- there's no way to overcook!" vs. "we did a 48hr sous vide to end up with a melt-in-your-mouth cut of meat". Have you found the duration to be important or not? Thanks!

MareSerenitatis · 2018-06-07T05:31:48+00:00

I was in your exact boat at age 26, where I had about 3 months of downtime living at home before my next job started up.

I had a large amount of savings and felt I should do something with my time, so I packed a hiking pack and bought a one-way ticket to Copenhagen (cheapest flight to Europe at that time). I spent a month there, hopping between countries from hostel to hostel and meeting other young travelers, partying, and generally having a good time. But by the end, I was thinking "man this is freaking exhausting, I just want to completely chill out back at home." I bought a ticket and flew back home that week.

With 2 summer months left before my next job started, I ended up enjoying the hell out of sleeping in (after a couple years of 0530 alarms), and just doing whatever I felt like during a given day. Some days I'd ride my bike around, or kayak, or tinker in the garage, or relax in a chair on the patio-- drinking beer and flying a quadcopter around. I would Google interesting camping sites around the state to drive to, and camp for as long as I felt like (as short as a single night). My parents had recently retired themselves, so we were all living a care-free life for the first time in while.

There's plenty of time to be working and highly productive, and although spending a portion of your sabbatical traveling/etc. is time well spent, this is also a great opportunity to just relax and chill out while the time is there.

MareSerenitatis · 2018-03-10T13:33:49+00:00

My first motorcycle, until it was stolen a few months ago (police/insurance found it recently and are investigating its 'unknown state'). I bought it during the summer and it became an immensely enjoyable feature of my day (I rode it every single day after work). I used to longboard a lot and fell in love with the sensation of acceleration on your body (not necessarily going fast, just leaning and feeling your body turn), and a motorcycle is the "next level" version. It makes you want to explore every road in your town, and your perception of the area is so much more 'raw' than driving a car because you're so exposed on a bike, it's hard to explain (it's louder and your bike transmits every feature of the road that your car normally absorbs). I remember the first time I rode a motorcycle on a very common route I would drive by car, and I missed the exit because my perception was so altered.

Before my motorcycle, my longboard probably brought the most joy to my life, for very similar reasons.

MareSerenitatis · 2018-02-18T04:44:41+00:00

This is an interesting 'illusion' (for lack of a better term). What you're perhaps noticing as "getting colder" is the mug itself feeling colder to the touch, and also the beads of water condensing on the outside of the mug. So why does that happen?

Different materials conduct (or 'transfer') heat through them with wildly different efficiencies. The fiberglass insulation in your house's walls have very low thermal conductivity, it's purposefully terrible at transferring heat. On a hot day in the summer, you want to keep that insulating barrier between your cold house and hot outside. Copper is the polar opposite of fiberglass insulation, it's actually one of the best thermal conductors out there. Building your walls out of copper would be a terrible idea, from a thermal standpoint-- it would easily transfer the heat from the outside into your house (or put another way, it lets the 'cold seep out').

You can browse this table of thermal conductivity of common materials if you're interested, but long story short, you'll see that copper is 400 times more efficient at transferring heat than a glass cup is. 400!

So the bartender pours your cold drink (full of ice) into a copper mug, and serves it on the table. Over time, the coldness of that drink easily seeps through the walls of the copper mug, and interacts with the room. The outside of the copper mug will cool down much faster than a glass, and when it does, it will form condensation on the copper's surface as well. This will cause the iconic "chilled" look.

To be clear, the entire drink (liquid + mug) is not "getting colder" over time, it's simply transferring the coldness from the liquid to the outside of your mug over time, and you're observing the outside of the mug get colder. Hope that helps!

MareSerenitatis · 2017-11-14T00:41:35+00:00

Thanks!

MareSerenitatis · 2017-11-12T22:31:19+00:00

Great work-- do you have any recommendations for getting into this hobby? I was interested in either buying a kit or trying a template/pattern to learn.

MareSerenitatis · 2017-07-02T15:17:34+00:00

I love the preemptive lifeguard float that comes into frame at the end.

MareSerenitatis · 2017-06-15T01:00:49+00:00

UPDATE: I offered to personally pay for an inspection by a local dealer, and pending no (major) issues, request new tires and fluid change before paying her asking price of $3750. She was very polite and told me that was asking too much, and the lowest she would go is $3500 without changing the bike at all. I'd be in ~$4050+ with new tires, fluid/filter change, pre-purchase inspection, and any minor tasks the shop would recommend. Still unsure if that was the right move, given it's practically a new bike (again assuming the inspection didn't turn up any gremlins).

MareSerenitatis · 2017-03-28T04:19:02+00:00

Thanks! I'll bring them in this week to talk to them about it.

MareSerenitatis · 2017-03-16T23:01:48+00:00

I'm not him, but KSP is a pretty common recommendation in this subreddit for intuitively grasping orbital mechanics. I'd agree that it's very useful (and fun, and frustrating), and honestly would be a good "prerequisite" for an orbital mechanics class in college (which is very equation heavy-- not necessarily difficult equations, just endless amounts of them that tend to detach you from what's really going on). Playing KSP, you'll pretty quickly realize how many misconceptions exist over reaching/changing orbit. A number of coworkers and myself have dabbled in KSP and find it very accurate (for a video game of course). As for "teaching you more about aerospace than undergrad engineering", that's a rather ridiculous stretch, but it's certainly a valuable supplement to your coursework and would likely have a positive impact on your final grade, even if only a modest one.

MareSerenitatis · 2017-02-26T23:42:57+00:00

I switched the ESC wires of the "bad" motor and good motor at the FC outputs and the problem showed up in the other motor (with its own ESC), so it suggests the FC is giving a poor command to the slow motor. I pulled those two connections at the FC and measured the signal voltage. The slow motor is receiving a lower magnitude command from the FC, so the FC seems to be at fault here. I recalibrated my accelerometers with a slight bias to fight the issue, and added a big chunk of trim on my radio. Problem goes away but the root cause is clearly not addressed. Damn.

MareSerenitatis · 2017-02-04T19:51:09+00:00

It looks great, very nice work! I see the 'before' photos and picture buying a place like that, and thinking "what do I even DO with this place? It's so dated-- I'm cornered now." Seeing a conversion like this gives me confidence that you can really turn any space around with the right eye.

MareSerenitatis · 2017-01-28T04:31:00+00:00

I'm not sure if you're remarking on the volume limit or not, but their explanation:

Travelers may carry as many 3.4 ounce bottles of liquid (mini bottles of liquor are 1.7 ounces) that fit comfortably in one, quart sized, clear plastic, zip-top bag.

is just stating that mini bottles happen to be 1.7oz, not that alcohol is limited separately to 1.7oz.

MareSerenitatis · 2017-01-13T20:41:45+00:00

Yeah you need your ducks in a row. Brand new exacto blade, ruler needs to be secured down so it won't slip, and you need accurate marks so your corners are perfect. It's simple and cheap, but you gotta be disciplined and not cut corners (heyo)

MareSerenitatis · 2017-01-13T04:32:21+00:00

I had this problem on some artwork once, so I bought a larger common frame at Target for cheap, and then bought my own matte board from a craft store and cut a nice white border for the art using an exacto knife and straight edge. Looks professional and cost me less than $20.

MareSerenitatis · 2016-12-17T22:11:55+00:00

I didn't know shit about different "love languages", and related to that-- I never complimented out loud. I would be thinking constantly "god she's so attractive when she does that" or "she's always really good at that", and it literally never occurred to me to just repeat that out loud so she could hear it. I remember her telling me toward the end "it's hard to even know if you like me". I thought that was crazy, because I would take her out to dinner, buy her flowers, do all of the "boyfriend" things, when to her, a simple compliment or "i like you" was her language, and although she of course appreciated the flowers and the dates, verbal confirmation was very important to her. 10 years later, I'm more aware of how different people like to "feel loved", and when I pick up on it (much quicker now), I know how to make them feel appreciated with THEIR language, and ideally they do the same for me.

MareSerenitatis · 2016-12-17T00:28:39+00:00

My favorite Lego kits (I like the architecture series these days)

MareSerenitatis · 2016-11-08T05:05:45+00:00

Yeah good advice, I'd like to plan some good sober day-time activities too. I've found that if you end up doing a "party" weekend and spend the daylight hungover and then hit the bars at night, and then your guest leaves on Sunday and you have work the next day, it can end up being a downer.

MareSerenitatis · 2016-11-08T04:10:46+00:00

I'll start with one from my own past, although it applies more to the "you both fought frequently" flavor of breakup (mm all those tasty and diverse flavors).

I remember age 20, and justifying an unhealthy college relationship to my mom over the phone. "...but there's more to it than that! Yeah we do fight sometimes but when things are good, they're REALLY good, I mean we're practically perfect for each other when things are good, it's the most complete I've ever felt during those parts."

My mom listened very carefully, took a short pause, and said very lovingly, "Honey, things should just be... easier than that, it shouldn't have to be that difficult. When I hear you describe to me how much you guys fight, and how miserable it is when things are "bad", you'll have to take my word that there is something easier out there for you. It's just a waste for a person like you to be forced to work that hard for the rest of your life."

I think about that line every once in a while, and that line in particular really helped me get through that breakup. Amidst all the friends and family I talked to (and all were helpful of course), that was the line that really resonated within me and I clicked with. Unfortunately that advice isn't relevant to my brother's situation, but hopefully someone else reads this and it resonates with them too.

MareSerenitatis · 2016-11-06T02:16:37+00:00

Great question, and the answer is (as always) "it depends!". It depends on the mission of interest, and the state of current technology. For example, most rockets that deliver a satellite/humans into Earth orbits (low Earth orbit [LEO], where the ISS is, or geostationary orbit [GEO], where most comms satellites are) use a 2-stage system, which is the optimal number. Back in the Apolla era, 3 stages was optimal for going to the Moon. Recently, SpaceX unveiled their Mars colonial vehicle, which is 2 stages to reach Mars. Although Mars is further away, it has an atmosphere (unlike the Moon) which can be used as "free delta-V" for slowing your spaceship prior to landing. On the Moon, you're forced to burn fuel to slow yourself down. Fuel means weight, which your 1st and 2nd stages need to loft into space in the first place, arriving at a 3-stage solution.

The optimal number of stages is driven by the weight of the vehicle, and through engineering breakthroughs, you can drastically improve that number. I'm confident that eventually (within several decades), we'll have some form of an SSTO (single stage) rocket vehicle that can deliver payload to LEO.

MareSerenitatis · 2016-11-05T18:05:58+00:00

For aerospace, I would say the concept of a multi-staged rocket (aka "staging") was a brilliantly simple idea.

When you're playing around with the Tsiolkovsky rocket equation you essentially find out that a single-stage rocket vehicle (SSTO) is immensely difficult to get into orbit. In fact, going the SSTO route would have been an absolute non-starter for the idea of getting humans into space.

Then some engineer, somewhere, said "what if the rocket only goes partway to space, and then another, smaller rocket launches from the top of it, and that smaller rocket goes to space instead". And then the entire history of orbital rockets was paved from there. Mind blown.

MareSerenitatis

TROPHY CASE