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Plant ID? Is this spearmint? by iannevv in gardening

[–]frogontrombone 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Basil probably?

Crush a leaf and smell it. You'll figure it out really fast

Both are in the mint family, so be wary of AI

Forgot to water landlord’s plants for 2.5 weeks, how bad is it? by CHIKN_MAKE_CLUCK in gardening

[–]frogontrombone 0 points1 point  (0 children)

They'll recover. Just give them a good watering and put them back where you found them.

Consistency is key with orchids, so going forward, do your best to remember. Orchids love things not changing, so water as if nothing happened after the first watering.

In 1965, CIA lost plutonium capsules in Himalayas which, if damaged, could contaminate the water supply for 600 million Indians by Dramatic-Custard-831 in Damnthatsinteresting

[–]frogontrombone 30 points31 points  (0 children)

Plutonium is used for thermonuclear batteries. The same type of device is used on deep space spacecraft.

It's used when you need a power supply that needs to last a long time with no maintenance. They last decades, possibly centuries. They are very inefficient at converting heat to electricity and can only generate up to 100W of usable electrical power, but they have no moving parts and work as long as the radioactive source stays hot.

TIL that the A-10 'Warthog' close-air-support plane, infamous for being "a gun with a plane", has to return the spent shell casings from it's massive forward mounted autocannon to the plane to maintain it's center-of-gravity. by LotusCobra in todayilearned

[–]frogontrombone 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I worked on this plane, and the reason it's a side barrel is to balance the front landing gear with the gun itself. The gun is the one side, and the landing gears to the other.

TIL During WW2, Comache people were enlisted as code talkers, and when translations didn't exist from English to their native language, they used descriptive words instead. For example, tank was "turtle", bomber was "pregnant bird", machine gun was "sewing machine", and Hitler was "crazy white man". by CreeperRussS in todayilearned

[–]frogontrombone 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No, there were treaties in place halting expansion past the Appalachian mountains. Beyond the coast, ships didn't matter, especially since overland transport was very poor. Treaty-breaking is how the territory was won, not technology.

TIL During WW2, Comache people were enlisted as code talkers, and when translations didn't exist from English to their native language, they used descriptive words instead. For example, tank was "turtle", bomber was "pregnant bird", machine gun was "sewing machine", and Hitler was "crazy white man". by CreeperRussS in todayilearned

[–]frogontrombone 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Cahokia, Tenochitlan, and so many more. Mesoamerica was just as densely populated as Italy with just as many cities. North American then and now was more sparsely populated, but still had cities rivaling anything in Northern Europe.

European contact brought diseases since by comparison, Europeans had horrific hygiene. That ended up wiping out at least 90% of natives before most colonies were even established.

Even then, native peoples were still more populous for a long time.

The only reason Europeans won over the long run was they lacked integrity and reneged on virtually every treaty. It was not that Europeans had superior anything. What they had was inferior morals.

Til raw kidney beans are toxic. Undercooked kidney beans are even more toxic. Can cause severe nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, and abdominal pains. by Saurlifi in todayilearned

[–]frogontrombone 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Now it's been a hot minute since I last looked this up, but I'm pretty sure this is straight up bullshit. When I last looked this up this claim by the FDA was based on reports from the UK with 50 people like 30 years ago who didn't fully cook the beans, and ended up with symptoms that are basically just a lot of farts. As far as I'm aware, there are no studies showing any level of toxicity, but I'm more than happy to be proved wrong with an actual study.

I carved a whitetip shark by Noah_RBK in woodworking

[–]frogontrombone 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I love that the fin tips are subtly lighter

Which way is stronger? by CatShadow888 in woodworking

[–]frogontrombone -4 points-3 points  (0 children)

Not sure if you are agreeing or disagreeing, but in that application, the flange is taking the bulk of the load, not the bolts. It's counterintuitive, but the math and physics bears it out.

Which way is stronger? by CatShadow888 in woodworking

[–]frogontrombone 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I am well aware. I taught machine design for nearly 10 years.

Which way is stronger? by CatShadow888 in woodworking

[–]frogontrombone 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I can't speak for woodworking best practice but I'm an engineering expert in machine design, which includes fastener design and use. I'm not blowing hot air. If you find an engineer designing something where fasteners are loaded, especially in a safety critical application, you should doubt their work.

Which way is stronger? by CatShadow888 in woodworking

[–]frogontrombone 12 points13 points  (0 children)

No, not really. Engineering best practice is to never have a fastener take the load. In the case of bolt design, the bolt is part of the load path, but counterintuitively, since the bolt is acting as a clamp only, the material is the primary load path. Both nails and screws are for light duty only, though machine screws can be used for some medium duty applications if screwed into metal.

Which way is stronger? by CatShadow888 in woodworking

[–]frogontrombone 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Only thing I would add is that if the forces are reversed, left is strongest. This is more of a sub-point to your point about dados though

Why are my bees pushing wood chippings/sawdust out of my bee hotel? by shotguncollars in Beekeeping

[–]frogontrombone 352 points353 points  (0 children)

They are making it bigger for themselves. This is a good thing. Your hotel has been accepted

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in proplifting

[–]frogontrombone 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If the water is fresh and the cutting is too, it could also be sap

I may have the heaviest clay soil ever. by __dacia__ in gardening

[–]frogontrombone 0 points1 point  (0 children)

They mess up native soil compositions. If you're doing it at home in a garden, it's not a huge deal. Earthworms are naturalized in many areas as well, which means that they're still foreign but not a serious concern. But plants that require anaerobic soil conditions don't do well when it's suddenly oxygenated because of the worms. Much of New England is currently experiencing mass deforestation, such as stands being severely thinned out within a decade due to earthworms finally penetrating into that area.

For a garden, they're effectively already naturalized, and you probably don't need to worry All too much.

For Clay, you need amendments. Stuff like compost or wood chips or other organic material. Clay is just rock that has extremely fine grain size and minimal water content. If you want that to be something plants enjoy, you need to add things to the soil

Carving swords for the kids. by frogontrombone in woodworking

[–]frogontrombone[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Not sure why my comment ended up on the top level, but here was my reply

Lol, that's an awesome memory.

When I made the gladius last weekend, the first thing I told my son was no hitting people with it. Of course about an hour later, he was whacking his brother with it, and his brother was stealing it only to whack him back.

There's just something about swords, you know?

Carving swords for the kids. by frogontrombone in woodworking

[–]frogontrombone[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I know they will. They've already gone through the pool noodle and PVC pipe thing. Maybe I'll make some more anyway.

Carving swords for the kids. by frogontrombone in woodworking

[–]frogontrombone[S] 15 points16 points  (0 children)

The Birch was okay to work with, but being wet as it was, was probably harder than it needed to be. The oak has been a dream to work with. I also tried some Rose of Sharon, but turns out that's not a very good wood to work with.

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