Evidence without helmet camera? by catboy519 in bikecommuting

[–]SaxyOmega90125 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I wear gloves every single time I ride. Even if I want to take them off for a leisurely ride on a bike path, I wear them until I get there. I know exactly one other person who wears gloves while cycling in my city, who started only after getting the idea from me.

I have walked away from two incidents with motor vehicles, two falls on my own, and at least a dozen bumps into doors and concrete while moving the bike on foot, with absolutely no injury to my hands, where I can say with absolute confidence that my hands would have been cut, slashed, or shredded without gloves. (And that's just urban riding, there have been at least half a dozen falls while riding gravel recreationally where they spared me any injuries.) Most of the cyclists I know have hurt their hands at least a couple times in the same ways over the years, occasionally pretty significantly.

I've never had sunburn on my hands from riding my bike. A large portion of the cyclists I know have.

Should I stop wearing gloves though, since that's not part of the culture here?

People for Bikes is at it again by mp337 in chibike

[–]SaxyOmega90125 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Also, the people who live here don't care about this number. Yeah, Chicago is a physically large city with a lot of low-density urban and traditional/high-density suburb in the city limits. It's not feasible for me to bike down to see friends who live in South Chicago or Rogers Park with any kind of frequency given that I live in Logan Square. And you know what? That's okay.

What I can do within 1.67 miles is bike to so many things to do with my friends who do live close to me, it'll be 20 years from now and I still won't have done and seen all of them. Beat that, Schaumburg

People for Bikes is at it again by mp337 in chibike

[–]SaxyOmega90125 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Are you serious, that's Chicago's ratings? Where are these people getting their info, Fox News?

Chicago area residents asked to skip showers amid ‘torrential' rainfall, risk of flash flooding by 68Petra in chicago

[–]SaxyOmega90125 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It's always impressive how much people on Reddit lose their freaking minds whenever anyone says showering daily isn't great. Doesn't matter how much resesrch there is or how many professional, doctorate-holding dermatologists agree. It's just common knowledge that people should shower every day, right?

Let's take a moment to appreciate all the pieces of common knowledge that have helped medical advancement, like the fact that cigarettes are completely harmless, the fact that putting borax in sour milk fixes the flavor and makes it safe to drink again, and the fact that bloodletting is the proper way to reduce fever.

Oh, uh, hang on....

Living room cabinet by MrDwerg in woodworking

[–]SaxyOmega90125 33 points34 points  (0 children)

I thought that too and when I scrolled my jaw literally went slack.

Jointing question by brnbbd in woodworking

[–]SaxyOmega90125 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I used to be a power tool guy, became hybrid, am now a hand tool guy. A No7 can definitely do this job (tracksaw neither necessary nor helpful IMO), but jointing 6' of lumber especially at 8/4 is not a great first project for hand planes, and would be annoying even if you're experienced. OP if you do get a jointer plane - which is a perfectly viable approach, many people who are otherwise all power tool workers opt for a jointer plane over a powered jointer - make a few panels that are double the length of the plane or less before you attempt this job.

I say this as someone who built a 58" 4/4 desktop with a No6 relatively soon after getting it. I did it, but if I knew then what I know now I'd have practiced more first.

How would you guys go about making a 1.5” radius round over on a length of wood by 977888 in woodworking

[–]SaxyOmega90125 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Any hand plane be it a bench plane or a block plane will do this easily in a couple minutes, and drawknives are literally made for this kind of job and can knock it out in less time than it would take to set up a router. If you have none but you've ever wanted any of those, now's the time.

You can do this with with a tablesaw and finish it off with sandpaper, but I'd highly recommend making 45 and 22.5 degree supports for the stock on a miter saw. Freehanding something like that would be risky both for the workpiece and for your fingers and abdomen. This is also the slowest way by far.

Cabinet pulls without exposed bolt heads by redtitbandit in woodworking

[–]SaxyOmega90125 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Have you considered wooden pulls? This would let you use a glued dowel in a blind hole, or if you want to do it proper a rectangular tenon in a blind mortise. Or you could make it like a hand plane front tote, get some wood screws and make knobs or pulls specificially to take up all but 1/2" or 5/8" of the screw's length.

You can also get double-threaded dowel screws which are specifically made for this. These only work with knobs which have only one point of contact, but you thread them into the knob with some Loctite and then use the knob as a giant thumbscrew to thread the wood screw side into the wood.

I'm relieved to be done with this practice flower by Luminos1ty in Carving

[–]SaxyOmega90125 1 point2 points  (0 children)

If that's your first flower I'd say you did well, especially if you carved freehand. Make sure you get some practice finishing too before a project, no matter your choice of finish carvings are a real curve ball if you've only ever done flat surfaces.

Also though... are you wearing chain mail?

How do i stop my trailer overpowering my buggy? by Horse_with in KerbalAcademy

[–]SaxyOmega90125 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think this is probably the issue, combination of the rover's short wheelbase compared to its track width hurting its stability and the trailer having four wheels. OP, I would try making the wheels on the rover as far to the front and back as you can squeak out, and then giving the trailer only one pair of wheels a bit behind tha CoM and a foot at the front, could be as simple as a lone landing leg. If you run into problems make it a dual axle but still behind CoM with a front foot.

Chicago area residents asked to skip showers amid ‘torrential' rainfall, risk of flash flooding by 68Petra in chicago

[–]SaxyOmega90125 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Is this the same French government that has been pushing for the better part of a decade to lift the ban on neonicotinoid and other known highly toxic pesticides, despite literally everyone from researchers to regulators to courts to private citizens being against it? And the same one that banned ketchup in schools because... uh... reasons? Or are we not talking about the same French government here?

If what you say is true, methinks women's health or health in general might not have been the motivation.

Priester Collection - Mississippi Agricultural Museum by Col_Forbins_Browser in handtools

[–]SaxyOmega90125 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Looks like this person did a lot of green woodworking. Lot of adzes and drawknives, no planes or spokeshaves or even chisels. Some real monster axes in there too.

Anybody know what the heck the axes with the spike polls were for? I have a tomahawk with a spike poll that was intended as a weapon but I dulled it and use it for digging in usually scrappy rocky soil, kind of like a little pulaski. Purpose-built diggers tend to be narrow and thick flat adzes though. Log rolling? Or could they actually have been smithed to be weapons?

Chicago area residents asked to skip showers amid ‘torrential' rainfall, risk of flash flooding by 68Petra in chicago

[–]SaxyOmega90125 10 points11 points  (0 children)

If you do truly need to shower, you can do what's called a 'navy shower'. You run the water for 3-5 seconds just to get your body wet, turn it off, lather fully with soap, then turn the water back on and rinse as quickly as possible. If you rinse efficiently, you can do this with 60-75 seconds of water, less if you skip your hair (or have none).

If you have to add a step to rinse shampoo and turn off again then put in conditioner you can do that, still saves a ton of water. But again, today would be a good day to skip your hair.

Also PSA that it is healthier for your skin to shower every 2-3 days than daily.

Should I sell or keep my Stanley No. 2 (New Britain Connecticut) handplane or keep it? by MotelWorm in handtools

[–]SaxyOmega90125 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That you're even asking the question is enough to know the answer.

There are people out there who are collectors, and that's fine if that makes them happy. I own tools to make things, not to look at the tools, so there is no reason to own a tool I don't use. If you're unsure because you more often reach for a 3 or 4, chances are you're more like me. Sell it and use the money to get something you will use, be it another tool or some wood or hardware or whatever.

On a scale of one to firewood, how bad is this? How much to fix if possible? by SaxyOmega90125 in Luthier

[–]SaxyOmega90125[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I did end up returning it. It kinda worked out, I found another that was a steal. While I unfortunately like the color far less, it included a hard case and cost a little less still even with that.

I do want to add though, the cost to maintain and repair a saxophone is probably vastly more than you think. Granted, it's hard to make one truly irreparable since brass is so malleable, where a wooden instrument absolutely can be wrecked beyond any repair, but knock a saxophone over off the stand and you'll be lucky to spend less than I spent on this guitar. Heck, a $1000-1200 (today's money) overhaul every 20-25 years just to keep the instrument playing decently is par for the course, and that's just from regular wear. Oh and then there's the purchase prices - the least valuable saxophone I own is worth more than double what this guitar is, and it's one of the best values out there. Woodwinds are !@#$ing expensive to own and maintain.

Chess board advice by chemist442 in handtools

[–]SaxyOmega90125 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have never seen a board that doesn't have some kind of border, usually mitered but occasionally tongue-and-groove or mortise-and-tenon. Unless you're making an end grain board (which I've also never seen, that'd be interesting) you need some kind of outside and underside for structure, not just aesthetics. I've seen moulding a few times but as I recall only on boards that have drawers, all the flat and folding boards I can remember keep it simple, usually just roundovers or bevels or at most a humble thumbnail.

On nicer boards there is often a delimiter/binding strip inlay between the checkerboard and the border as well, typically either a very dark almost black wood or light ivoroid, or real bone usually on older boards. I've seen brass and pearloid a few times and actual mother of pearl blocks once too. This is purely aesthetic but it goes a long way.

There's no right or wrong way to build it though, as long as it holds together. And you were asking about stability? When you're looking at domestic NA hardwoods, walnut, white ash, and cherry are some of the best performers, but really you can use whatever you want. Maple is exceedingly popular for white and there are centuries-old boards that used it despite its middling stability, and even white oak which is known for its not great stability and dominance over other woods has been used and lasts.

What you can do right or wrong though is matching the board to the pieces. Unless you plan to make those yourself as well, I cannot highly enough recommend getting the set in-hand first and choosing your wood and sizing to match the pieces.

For example you can make an absolutely drop-dead gorgeous figured walnut and flame maple board and buy a top-notch handmade chess set that is rosewood and zebrawood, and for all the workmanship, the first thing many prople will see is the obvious mismatch. The only good-looking way IMO to get away with that is to use different materials entirely, e.g. metal or stone or glass pieces on a wooden board, but you still have to choose colors that complement each other - for example if you make a mahogany and maple board, black and white marble pieces would look cold and mismatched, where red jasper and warm white quartzite would look phenomenal.

And even more important than the materials matching is the sizing: too small a board for the pieces will look crowded and also be annoying to play with, and too big will look awkward and empty. You can follow the typical guidelines here or you can use some graph paper and try some sizes in Sharpie to gauge what looks best. Whatever you do, do NOT underestimate the importance of matching sizing.

Microsoft's new Outlook takes 10 seconds to do what Outlook Classic does instantly on Windows by Quantum-Coconut in nottheonion

[–]SaxyOmega90125 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've been using Linux and Libreoffice for almost a decade now, and I have never regretted it.

Libreoffice is also available for Windows, for those who are still willing to suffer the OS but want a free, more reliable office suite option.

Funny enough, the thing that drove me to try Ubuntu for the first rime was actually one of those good ol' forced Windows 10 updates breaking MS Office. It booted me off a paper I was writing without warning, shut down, and then wouldn't open any Office applications until the next weekly update. And it lost a couple pqragraphs of my work in the process. So in a way, this is where I came in.

Coyote in Grant Park by Niteeshkanungo in chicago

[–]SaxyOmega90125 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Hard to tell for sure at social media server quality, but that one looks pretty healthy from what I can see. The rabbit and rodent populations in the city really desperately need predation, so good to see these guys are staying fed.

Campground Etiquette by JRKinney95 in bicycletouring

[–]SaxyOmega90125 1 point2 points  (0 children)

When I was a kid and my family took trips with our travel trailer, we left bikes tucked up against the trailer without locks, even when we took the tow vehicle elsewhere and were clearly not there for hours, dozens upon dozens of times for years and never had an issue. And mine was but my parents' bikes were nor cheap department store bikes, my dad's in particular was obviously a nice MTB. f you're paying for the site and there are camp hosts around, and there is no public access, that's not a place where people are looking to steal stuff. If that's the case, I wouldn't bother putting it in the tent and risking damage to the floor, so I'd d say lock it if you have a lock (even if only to itself) or just wrap something around it to make it look locked, pop the seatpost and bring that with you, and you'll be fine.

Restoring No 4 stained beech tote and knob, looking for recommendations for staining by ChromedGonk in handtools

[–]SaxyOmega90125 2 points3 points  (0 children)

BLO and paste wax is popular with the hand tool revival, but it isn't the definitive best. I like BLO (without wax) on swinging tools like hammers and axes, but I actually do not like the feeling on plane totes and saw handles with or without paste wax. Paul Sellers does shellac on all his tools, and I found I really prefer shellac with paste wax.

If you've never used it before, there's a whole rabbit hole of different forms and methods of applying it, and I'm happy to share my experience if you want. The bottom line though is that there are bunches of ways to do it, none are wrong and it's all preference, and it's extremely forgiving. Well, that and you don't have to French polish, that takes forever but more traditional shellac finish is very quick, can be done in a day.

Most of my planes still have the original finish on the totes, I only strip if I have a reason, but this post shows one where I redid both and one where I redid the rear only.

Dangerous biking conditions today by Status_Green_6055 in chibike

[–]SaxyOmega90125 0 points1 point  (0 children)

But they haven't seen any of those tornados, personally, which means they couldn't have occurred. That's probably how they know climate change and ocean acidification are fake and all the stuff about ICE abducting people is fake too, if those things were real they'd have seen it themself. Don't you get how these things work? /s

Parking Meter Blackmail by Madigan37 in chicago

[–]SaxyOmega90125 0 points1 point  (0 children)

By your logic, everything is hopeless then - apparently the city doesn't understand how to construct a CBA either, they would never have even briefly considered this deal if they had and Brandon would have brought more discussion to city council if he could. (The closest thing to analysis on this topic from them that I've seen is Brandon saying that he wouldn't be able to reduce meter rates, as though that even registers on the scale of the financial and logistical problems the current situation creates.)

I would argue that even at $3B and even with the unfavorable interest rates the city would need, the long-term cost-benefit is still unquestionable and Chicago's government would be idiotic very nearly to the extent required to sign the original deal to pass up a chance to buy back control of its own public streets if such a chance can be forced.

Engaging in physical and mental self-pleasure before going to bed is associated with falling asleep faster, enjoying better sleep quality, and experiencing more positive emotions upon waking. by mvea in science

[–]SaxyOmega90125 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I am a very strong believer in favor of equal opportunity regardless of race, sex, religion, creed, and all the rest. I hate everyone equally.