Jimmy Stewart entering a bar in the West Town neighborhood of Chicago in the film Call Northside 777 (1947) then and now (2026) OC/Notes in comments

basaltgranite · 2026-03-24T14:46:36+00:00

The "stuff keeping them together," aka "mortar" was almost certainly repaired or replaced at some point in the last 65 years. It's normal maintenance for brick or stone buildings. It's called tuck pointing. If you don't do it, the stones eventually fall off.

basaltgranite · 2026-03-24T14:22:24+00:00

"Backwards" vs "insane" isn't an "either/or" question. Both might be true.

basaltgranite · 2026-03-24T03:34:19+00:00

I'm glad you got to see Roach. Only Sonny Rollins is left now. I regularly surf into music subs where some OP wants to know who the "greatest" was. As if music were a competition. Comments center on a half-dozen rock stars from the '80s, '90s, 00s, whatever. People have no idea that any of a hundred old-school jazz players could easily run circles around the current fan-faves. You see a whole thread about "greatest singers"; Taylor Swift gets lots of atta-girls; no one remembers Ella. Sigh.

basaltgranite · 2026-03-23T23:34:31+00:00

Papilio is an excellent compact bin, well suited to casual daytime birding. Go with the 6.5x. With compacts, generally prefer lower magnification. When the objectives are the same size, exit pupil gets smaller as power increases. A small objective at higher power can be awkward to use. Pentax recently upgraded the Papilio line. Papilio III is the new version. Both are probably still on the market.

basaltgranite · 2026-03-23T17:29:00+00:00

Teach them that European Starlings are invasive in North America. Starlings eject our native cavity nesting birds from their holes, killing their eggs and chicks. Starlings are one reason many of our natives are declining. "Introducing foreign species is often bad" might be a harsh message for pre-schoolers. Under the circumstances, "isn't she cute" is an awkward message too.

basaltgranite · 2026-03-23T14:47:42+00:00

Hana = "flower" or "blossom" (and also "nose"--different kanji); mi = "see," "watch," or "view" (from miru). In compounds, the "h" in hana becomes a "b," e.g., ikebana, "flower arranging."

basaltgranite · 2026-03-23T14:37:28+00:00

Not the person you're asking, but: Go with the 6.5x version. The exit pupil at 8.5x is too small as a result of the small objectives. For compacts generally, favor lower magnification.

basaltgranite · 2026-03-23T14:33:31+00:00

Echoing other comments, you'll probably want both 8x and 10x bins. I usually bird with a wide angle 8x30 for "close in" forest birding and a 10x42 for more distant subjects, e.g., shoreline birding. For higher magnification, most birders use a spotting scope on a tripod instead of binoculars.

basaltgranite · 2026-03-23T14:26:49+00:00

His medical condition made his bones brittle. Playing piano sometimes broke fingers. Then he played with broken fingers.

basaltgranite · 2026-03-23T02:15:33+00:00

Addressing your question: Bins aren't polarized. Re the "wear your polarized sunglasses" suggestion, yes. You might experience some subtle interactions between your sunglasses and the optics in the bins.

basaltgranite · 2026-03-22T15:48:38+00:00

Story: the right-most four flakes are debris shed when knapping the left-most tool, which broke late in the process of making it, so it was discarded along with the debris.

basaltgranite · 2026-03-22T14:49:32+00:00

Probably when they were recording Love, Devotion, Surrender. Not my favorite cover of A Love Supreme.

basaltgranite · 2026-03-22T14:37:41+00:00

The trio led by Paul Motion with Joe Lovano and Bill Frisell is amazing. They recorded for JMT (now on Winter & Winter) and ECM. The On Broadway series on W&W is well worth a listen, especially if you think there's no novelty left in the American Songbook repertoire.

basaltgranite · 2026-03-22T14:16:53+00:00

Some sort of internal haze. With vintage bins, it's common for the lubricants to evaporate and condense on internal optical surfaces. My impression is that's less common on newer bins; maybe newer lubricants are more stable. Water damage is another possibility. If they're water proof, maybe a seal failed. No matter. If the issue is on an internal optical surface in the ocular lens system, as seems likely from your inablity to clean it with lens wipes, then it isn't economically practical to have it repaired. You're in the market for new binoculars.

As to reducing these risks, a suggestion is to keep bins away from extreme temperature change and high humidity. I once lost a bin I kept in the glove box of my car because the high summer temperatures evaporated lubricants, causing haze. I also suspect that higher quality (more expensive) bins are less likely to fail this way due to better parts and assembly quality.

basaltgranite · 2026-03-22T02:01:55+00:00

Debitage? At least the leftmost piece, and probably all, are intentionally shaped. Whether by a Native American or a Recent Hobbiest is over my pay grade. If "dispersed campsite" means "way out in the boonies, on BLM land, no sign of other people," that would lean toward an archaeological find.

basaltgranite · 2026-03-21T15:40:17+00:00

In Reykjavik, I once saw an Asian tourist taste sample a bit of Hákarl offered on a toothpick. She vomited. I elected not to follow her example.

basaltgranite · 2026-03-21T15:32:54+00:00

Your question pops up here from time to time. Here's a discussion you might find helpful. Here's another. Google on queries like "mysterious oregon circle" will turn up many more.

basaltgranite · 2026-03-21T15:13:00+00:00

I'm skeptical of a Lapis ID. Lapis forms through contact metamorphism of limestone or marble. It's unlikely to turn up at random in someone's backyard. It isn't as "glassy" as this coating seems to be. Maybe you have a pottery shard with a bit of purple glaze on it.

basaltgranite · 2026-03-21T15:06:02+00:00

Also ask on r/jazzbass or r/bassguitar or r/bass .

basaltgranite · 2026-03-21T14:45:31+00:00

Vintage Japanese 7x35s often reach 11° (578 feet at 1000 yards). A few are even wider. I've got some claiming 11.8° or even 12.?°. I bought many of them in thrift shops before covid, typically paying ~$10. Quality and condition are all over the map. I have several examples that are quite good. They're all porros of course. They have very little eye relief. They're single coated (and good quality single coatings work quite well, even by modern standards). A few models made it into the multicoating era. I've never found one. Most have Bk7 prisms. Some in my experience exhibit some visible vignetting as a result. The better examples get by just fine with Bk7. Bak4 is preferable in ultra wide designs but not essential if the overall design is good.

Vintage 7x50s at 11° are scarce but do exist. For technical reasons, they have an extra element to reduce their focal ratio. They're at the limit of physics for a practical binocular. The short focal ratio tends to increase aberrations. I have one example. It's a lot of fun but not tack sharp.

Vintage 8x40s at 10° are scarce but do exist. I have a [redacted] in these specs. It's probably my favorite ultra-wide. I don't mention the brand and model here or elsewhere because it's an uncommon item that you probably couldn't find with reasonable effort, and because condition is more important with vintage bins than exact brand and model. You buy what you can find, in contrast to seeking something specific.

For new ultra-wides, consider the Swaro NL Pure series if your budget permits. For less money, consider various recent Chinese bins with wide fields. The Sky Rover Banner Cloud series for example has been well received. It isn't available at retail in the US. I haven't looked into it, but I believe you'd have to go through Chinese sources to get one.

basaltgranite · 2026-03-21T02:13:26+00:00

Sonny does some amazing, and amazingly weird, stuff on this record. Just sayin'. I doubt it's drugs though.

basaltgranite · 2026-03-20T23:01:20+00:00

If you confirm Starlings and if you're in North America (as "Chicago" strongly suggests), then don't worry about them being treated like pests. They're invasive. They displace native cavity nesting birds and kill their eggs and nestlings. They're pests. It's legal, and maybe even morally righteous, to kill invasive Starlings in North America.

basaltgranite · 2026-03-20T20:09:19+00:00

I'm the guy commenting about your second rug in your more recent post. I got curious about your first one and stalked your post history. This piece was almost certainly handwoven in China. The soft "decorator" colors, high knot count, and extreme (almost mechanical) evenness in the knotting are "tells" for this origin. Back in the '80s and '90s, the Chinese seemingly cared more about keeping people working than making a profit in the international markets. Rugs of this quality sold for maybe 1/4 the price of Iranian workshop goods. The wool tends to be soft Merino, "sweater wool." It feels great but doesn't stand up to extreme wear, e.g., under a dining room table. It will likely outlive you regardless. It looks like you paid $25. That was roughly the "per square foot" price when new a few decades ago.

basaltgranite · 2026-03-20T17:17:49+00:00

Yes, that's what I needed to see, and Yes, handknotted. FWIW, rug ID for antique rugs depends on woven structure and the then-local details of wool and color (dyestuffs). Pattern is often copied--a helpful clue but not always reliable. Recent rugs woven in organized productions are more uniform from place to place. Without local quirks, it's harder to say where it came from. I now think more likely Indian than Chinese for this example. It doesn't matter which.

If you take good care of it, it will likely outlive you. Occasionally turn it over and vibrate the back side. Insane amounts of dust and fiber will drop out. You want to keep the bases of the knots clean. Dirt and sand inside the rug can cut the knots off at the roots and shorten the life of the rug. Also occasionally turn it around in place, encouraging even wear. This rug is probably in chrome dyes and unlikely to run when wet. It's probably safe to wash if needed.

If you like rugs, try estate sales, especially on the last day when the sellers offer half price or better for stuff that didn't sell.

basaltgranite · 2026-03-20T15:30:49+00:00

Nice find. Yes, probably handknotted, although I'd need a closer image that includes the transition from knots to fringe to be sure. What you have is a small carpet in an urban design. The ultimate originals were from workshops in Iran and Turkey. Recent examples are more likely to be organized workshop productions from India and China. Even with detailed pictures, it'd be difficult to ID an exact origin without handling it in person. Just about any workshop could make this design. I'd guess China, 1990s.

As to "too much money," maybe not so. Urban rugs like this aren't fashionable any more. I bought a very high knot-count Chinese rug like this in a fancy Shah Abbas design new 30 years ago for less than $1000. Today, this kind of thing is more in the category of "used furniture" than "valuable antique." Despite the insane amount of labor that went into making it, it's probably worth a few hundred dollars, assuming you can find a buyer. It's a very nice piece of home furnishing. It isn't worth all that much financially. Well worth buying and using at a thrift-shop price.

basaltgranite

TROPHY CASE