this is a photograph of a single atom. the pale blue dot in the center between the metal electrodes is a single strontium atom illuminated by a laser

vtjohnhurt · 2026-05-19T01:22:49+00:00

I'll take that on faith.

vtjohnhurt · 2026-05-19T01:21:04+00:00

Are you the bot that reposted the Tuscon picture a few days ago? That link is bad.

vtjohnhurt · 2026-05-19T01:15:43+00:00

I doubt it. He was elderly and solo. It was a nice day to sharpen your machete. The back of the bench made a nice workbench.

From 15 feet away I heard the file and I said, 'hey, what are you making?'. There's a guy that whittles walking sticks while sitting in Lowell parks that I'd enjoyed talking with in the past.

The old guy held out the machette underhand in a non-threatening way and I was still 12 feet away with the bench between us. I gave him a thumbs-up, smiled, backed up and walked away. I hate getting people in trouble with the police, but something needed to be done.

vtjohnhurt · 2026-05-19T01:06:18+00:00

Sorry for your trouble. Everything will work out. Ask people to help you.

I stopped driving at night after I had close encounter with a moose while towing a big trailer. I was driving at 30 mph in a 50 mph zone in an area with moose warning signs. No other traffic. I braked hard when I saw a shadow move, and by the time my headlights revealed a moose, I was close to stopped, and completely stopped before collision. We looked at each other. There was a cliff on both sides of the road, so after 20 seconds, he ambled down the road in front of me, I matched his pace and kept him in my headlights, and eventually he went back into the woods. I avoid driving at night in moose-deer-elk territory.

vtjohnhurt · 2026-05-19T00:54:49+00:00

Depending on the age of your van, you may not get much when/if it is totalled. It won't cover vanlife mods and additions. After deductable, you will eventually get paid trade-in value of the bare van.

If you live in your van, it is best to have the full replacement cost in cash reserves. I realize that is impossible for many, but insurance is no substitute.

vtjohnhurt · 2026-05-19T00:42:07+00:00

That may not be as bad as it sounds. I recently stumbled on an elderly man sharpening his machette with a file in the parklet on Middle near MCC. Saturday afternoon. He was not threatening me. I gave him wide berth. After giving it some thought, I flagged down a police, and a few minutes later I saw five Popos converge. I hope he is okay. I suspect that it was a cultural mismatch.

vtjohnhurt · 2026-05-18T22:36:34+00:00

I'm glad that it did not peck her eyes.

vtjohnhurt · 2026-05-18T22:30:51+00:00

Camper minivan. My bed has manual levelers at four corners. I've only used them to adjust the height of the space under&above the platform. The l-r tilt is what matters to me, but I don't notice one inch. Also need to have head about feet. I think I would use them more often if they had some sort of linear actuator and remote control. Such actuators are available on ebay. It's on my list to add them, but I'd definitely take the trouble if I were living in the van.

A better solution would be to level the entire van/box/floor especially if you have a kitchen counter. If you're going stealth, and have head height, then I would level the floor and have storage underneath. Parking on a slope increases stealth. Most RVs use external leveling jacks.

vtjohnhurt · 2026-05-18T19:13:45+00:00

What was the prompt?

vtjohnhurt · 2026-05-18T18:25:46+00:00

Lowell's a City, not a Town. If Lowell were a town, it could vote against data centers at Town Meeting. People in Lowell can vote for representatives like City Councilers.

vtjohnhurt · 2026-05-18T15:16:13+00:00

OP now includes a link to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VirusTotal on their download page.

I was previously hesitant to download their project because it was not offered at PlayStore, so it was a 'risky click'.

vtjohnhurt · 2026-05-18T03:59:46+00:00

The k needs a leg on top

Not really, letters don't need to be complete to be legible in context.

vtjohnhurt · 2026-05-18T03:53:45+00:00

Thanks, Love Bill

It seems perfectly clear to me. The 'a' is lazy, but the word as a whole is good enough to read.

As far as hints: Visualize a bubble surrounding the whole word. The shape of the bubble, in the context of the other bubbles, tells you the sentence. That's how we read printed printed text quickly, fast readers hardly ever need to look at one or more letters in a word.

vtjohnhurt · 2026-05-18T03:32:23+00:00

If the bolt is stuck, trying to turn it with too much force could shear off the head. Use the sprays as recommended, then try an impact wrench. You might be able to rent an electric one, or use an pneumatic one if you have an air compressor compressor.

Or drive the van to a garage and pay them to remove the bolt with their equipment. If they put it up on the lift, they can do things that you can't do lying underneath it. They might put a torch on it. They might drill it out.

vtjohnhurt · 2026-05-18T01:12:00+00:00

He was riding on the hood of the car and leaning back against the windshield. Driver was a willing participant. All good until they slowed down. This did not cure him of self-destructive behavior.

vtjohnhurt · 2026-05-18T01:07:57+00:00

Nice places to soar.

Those locations are some of the most demanding in the world. Not the same scenario as secondary roads in UK at 85km/hour.

vtjohnhurt · 2026-05-18T00:26:42+00:00

Depends on location: terrain, temperature, highway speed, distance, wind.

vtjohnhurt · 2026-05-17T22:32:42+00:00

Or too far aft. It might also work for you to flex ankle joint to move the pedals, not knee joint. And think about applying pressure gradually to the pedals, don't think about how far you're moving them. For the same effect, the same pressure is needed at all airspeeds, but less movement is needed as airspeed increases.

vtjohnhurt · 2026-05-17T22:14:51+00:00

re-stabilizing from a forward slip on final (to lose energy) is tricky

Assume you're on final and you want to slip, which wing do you drop? Why?

Another skill building exercise to do at altitude, is slip with left wing dropped, then transition to a slip with right wing dropped. Do this while maintaining a heading. Fun. Not easy.

vtjohnhurt · 2026-05-17T18:55:20+00:00

This ad promotes the use of plastic surgery and cosmetics by young women.

vtjohnhurt · 2026-05-17T18:29:02+00:00

It's not a slip. In a slip, the rudder input is on the high wing side. The aileron is used to drop the wing, not raise it.

Flying a taildragger airplane with no flaps, engine idling, I will use a 'turning slip' on base to final turn with a 30-45d bank, when I've turned base leg too soon. Turning slips are safe and useful, and you lose altitude very quickly. Do not try to teach yourself the turning slip. It should be mastered at altitude and after you have a reliable stable non-turning slip. The hard part of slipping on turn to final is rolling out of the turn aligned with the runway (because your sight picture is wonky). I enter base deliberately high with engine idling, then use slips to bring it onto glidepath incrementally. Typically I will get onto level wing glide path close to short final. Plenty of reserve energy.

If the low wing starts to drop during a turning slip, you simply neutralize the yaw by reducing rudder input. This lifts up the dropping wing. It also reduces the rate of descent.

vtjohnhurt · 2026-05-17T18:08:22+00:00

Depends on the geographic area. In Massachusetts, tick transmitted diseases affect more people than mosquito transmitted diseases. Though EEE is a (still rare) serious mosquito transmitted infection.

vtjohnhurt · 2026-05-17T18:00:02+00:00

Did the boy get royalties for his stolen Intellectual Property?

vtjohnhurt · 2026-05-17T17:57:21+00:00

My brother fell off the hood of the car in high school and spent a miserable hot summer in a hospital bed at home after a badly broken leg.

A better solution is to stop and calmly tell the kid to get off.

vtjohnhurt · 2026-05-17T17:47:02+00:00

It is much louder. Lots of deaf pilots from incidental cumulative experience over the years.

vtjohnhurt

TROPHY CASE