https://mashable.com/video/underground- ... ndly-farm/
It will take a few seconds to get through the ads, but I think you will find this video quite interesting. It's all about hydroponic farming underground in New York.
Underground Farming
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Any topic is acceptable, and topic drift is permissible.
Re: Underground Farming
WOW - Looks like he has a super nice setup there. Big bucks to build something like that too!
Eons ago, old coal mine shafts were used to raise pine trees underground.
I think I mentioned how we captured the light from the sun and sent it down a shaft, and used mirrors to send it down the tunnels.
About half way down this newsletter is a picture of growing plants in the basement crawls space I dug out.
Not a very good picture since so many plants are hiding all the trays and stuff.
https://stonebrokemanor.classichauslimi ... nl2007.pdf
Eons ago, old coal mine shafts were used to raise pine trees underground.
I think I mentioned how we captured the light from the sun and sent it down a shaft, and used mirrors to send it down the tunnels.
About half way down this newsletter is a picture of growing plants in the basement crawls space I dug out.
Not a very good picture since so many plants are hiding all the trays and stuff.
https://stonebrokemanor.classichauslimi ... nl2007.pdf
Re: Underground Farming
I recall your underground forest with redirected sunlight. It was in southern Illinois, or something, If I recall correctly. I can only imagine what that horticultural mine shaft looked like, but I now have some visuals that enlighten me about your root cellar nursery. You did all the things I could only dream about. While the nursery certainly is an accomplishment onto itself, the thing that struck my eye was the carpentry work. I've always had a soft spot in my heart for working with wood and when I took an interest in gardening what you show in your photographs came to my mind. I didn't have the skill to make it all a reality which just adds to my admiration of your handicraft. The door to the doggie run looks as if it's made from 2x6 lumber. That's impressive.
Re: Underground Farming
My wife got tired of the dogs dragging mud into the house. So my project began as a screened in dog run from the end of the house over indoor outdoor carpeting, so by the time they made it inside, they had lost most of the dirt, hi hi.
But I kept going and ended up with a greenhouse, hi hi.
The hailstorm tore it apart and I did get around to putting on a new roof. But there are some holes in the clear sides yet.
Which actually turned out great because I can stay inside the greenhouse and shoot my pellet guns at the targets I have set up about 75 and 90 feet away.
Debi keeps putting more and more junk in there to store, hi hi.
Have a Very Merry Christmas Day Yogi!
But I kept going and ended up with a greenhouse, hi hi.
The hailstorm tore it apart and I did get around to putting on a new roof. But there are some holes in the clear sides yet.
Which actually turned out great because I can stay inside the greenhouse and shoot my pellet guns at the targets I have set up about 75 and 90 feet away.
Debi keeps putting more and more junk in there to store, hi hi.
Have a Very Merry Christmas Day Yogi!
Re: Underground Farming
I know the problem with dirty doggie paws. The Shi Tzsu we currently own is pretty fussy. She only walks on the grass out of necessity and tries to avoid it most of the time. If there is any dampness at all on the sidewalks and driveway, she won't even come out of the house. We have to carry her out to get her motivated. That's not to say she never had messy paws, but it's not like dealing with other dogs who love the outdoors.
We are meeting the family on Zoom again for this holiday. I kind of like the idea in that I don't have to travel several hundred miles to be at a party that I typically am bored with. Our menu for the day is snack food. The main course will be lox and bagels with all the added side dishes which include genuine Kosher dill pickles. LOL Dinner will be miniature smoked hot dogs rolled in pastry and baked. They will be dipped in various sauces to give them some flavor. I also have a bunch of crunchy veggies for dipping and an assortment of nuts. I baked cookies about a week ago but gave most of them to the neighbor. The ones we kept are gone. Thus, we are eating store bought cookies for Christmas. We are just chillin' this Christmas and expect the outdoor air to get all the way up to 29F. Should be about 15 degrees warmer tomorrow.
I hope your Christmas Day is all you are wanting it to be. It seems that the Pope has a Twitter account and sent out a Christmas message today. He says it better than I can and will quote it here:
We are meeting the family on Zoom again for this holiday. I kind of like the idea in that I don't have to travel several hundred miles to be at a party that I typically am bored with. Our menu for the day is snack food. The main course will be lox and bagels with all the added side dishes which include genuine Kosher dill pickles. LOL Dinner will be miniature smoked hot dogs rolled in pastry and baked. They will be dipped in various sauces to give them some flavor. I also have a bunch of crunchy veggies for dipping and an assortment of nuts. I baked cookies about a week ago but gave most of them to the neighbor. The ones we kept are gone. Thus, we are eating store bought cookies for Christmas. We are just chillin' this Christmas and expect the outdoor air to get all the way up to 29F. Should be about 15 degrees warmer tomorrow.
I hope your Christmas Day is all you are wanting it to be. It seems that the Pope has a Twitter account and sent out a Christmas message today. He says it better than I can and will quote it here:
Pope Francis
@Pontifex
May Christmas be an opportunity for all of us to rediscover the family as a cradle of life and faith, a place of acceptance and love, dialogue, forgiveness, fraternal solidarity and shared joy, a source of peace for all humanity.
Re: Underground Farming
Debi's little white Shi Tzsu has super soft silky hair that anything and everything sticks to like velcro, hi hi.
She loves to go into the mud puddles then jump on the couch, which is why it is covered with heavy material backed with a sheet a plastic, hi hi.
My little pooch has wire hair and if he gets wet, it is dry in minutes, while Debi's pooch takes hours to dry, hi hi.
With the types of foods you are always describing, it makes me think you have Jewish background in there somehow.
My late wife Ruth's relatives and first husband were Jewish. Even after we were married, her kids still went to Epstein Hebrew Academy until they were older. And after school they went to the JCCA for activities until she got off work.
On the day we got married, we had two ceremonies, one by a Rabbi to appease her relatives, and the other by a Baptist Minister to appease my relatives and make it official as a Christian marriage, hi hi.
I got eight 100 piece jigsaw puzzles for Christmas! That should keep me busy for some time, hi hi.
The puzzle I just finished is missing one piece, and it is one I wanted to hang.
So after I get done sealing it with two coats, I will fill in the missing piece with plaster and using colored pencils to match the area around it. Then put the second coat of sealer on both sides. Shouldn't be able to tell it was missing a piece.
I did this once before, but instead of using plaster and pencils, I laid a ruler on the puzzle, took a picture, then in GIMP set the size of the image to that of the ruler in the picture as a reference, then did a little cloning job to fill in where the missing piece was located. Printed out the page on glossy cardstock. Took about three tries before I got the colors to match the actual puzzle colors, then put the cardstock under the puzzle and used an exacto knife to cut the piece out in the shape of the hole. Then, when I had the puzzle upside down to seal the back, I sealed it in place, then flipped the puzzle back picture side up and added some seal coat over it, then a whole third coat over the front. You could not tell that piece was an add in piece.
Most of the time, if a puzzle is missing a piece, and when I had a fireplace, it just became firewood, hi hi.
She loves to go into the mud puddles then jump on the couch, which is why it is covered with heavy material backed with a sheet a plastic, hi hi.
My little pooch has wire hair and if he gets wet, it is dry in minutes, while Debi's pooch takes hours to dry, hi hi.
With the types of foods you are always describing, it makes me think you have Jewish background in there somehow.
My late wife Ruth's relatives and first husband were Jewish. Even after we were married, her kids still went to Epstein Hebrew Academy until they were older. And after school they went to the JCCA for activities until she got off work.
On the day we got married, we had two ceremonies, one by a Rabbi to appease her relatives, and the other by a Baptist Minister to appease my relatives and make it official as a Christian marriage, hi hi.
I got eight 100 piece jigsaw puzzles for Christmas! That should keep me busy for some time, hi hi.
The puzzle I just finished is missing one piece, and it is one I wanted to hang.
So after I get done sealing it with two coats, I will fill in the missing piece with plaster and using colored pencils to match the area around it. Then put the second coat of sealer on both sides. Shouldn't be able to tell it was missing a piece.
I did this once before, but instead of using plaster and pencils, I laid a ruler on the puzzle, took a picture, then in GIMP set the size of the image to that of the ruler in the picture as a reference, then did a little cloning job to fill in where the missing piece was located. Printed out the page on glossy cardstock. Took about three tries before I got the colors to match the actual puzzle colors, then put the cardstock under the puzzle and used an exacto knife to cut the piece out in the shape of the hole. Then, when I had the puzzle upside down to seal the back, I sealed it in place, then flipped the puzzle back picture side up and added some seal coat over it, then a whole third coat over the front. You could not tell that piece was an add in piece.
Most of the time, if a puzzle is missing a piece, and when I had a fireplace, it just became firewood, hi hi.
Re: Underground Farming
Nope. Nothing Hebrew in my family that I know about. My taste for food, however, transcends ethnic and cultural boundaries.
The very first house we bought was in Des Plaines, Illinois. That's quite a distance from Skokie, which is where most of the Jewish population around Chicago settled. For some reasson Des Plaines had a lot of restaurants with delis that catered to the Kosher Klan. The most favored and most visited restaurant there was called the Belden Deli, which was an offshoot of a restaurant by the same name in Skokie. Same owners, I believe. One of my friends took me there to eat shortly after we moved in and that was the first time I experienced lox and bagels. The deli had fresh fish and the lox were all of the Nova variety which could be smoked or not. Over the years I sampled the entire menu and I must tell you that the chicken soup rivals that made by my Polish mom. I'd be hard pressed to say which is better but there is no Polish equivalent to Matza balls or krepla that is found in the Kosher soup. Then, too, there were no kluski on the Belden Deli menu.
Traditionally pierogi would be served for Christmas dinner. One of the greatest disappointments I experienced here in Missouri is what they claim is pierogi - same goes for Italian sausage; St Louis has their own version which is not at all authentic. I'm told that Chicago has the largest Polish community outside of Warsaw, but St Louis is #2. There are some Polish delis listed in StL proper, but I never made it down that way to find out. We did get rye bread from one of them when my daughter came to town, but there too it wasn't of the same quality as I was able to get just a few years ago in Roselle. I've made my own and they were awesome. It's just a pain in the drain doing so.
I'm also big on Italian cuisine and have killer recipes for lasagna and veal Parmesan. Gnocci are only slightly better than Spätzle, but nearly impossible to find in Missouri. Spätzle isn't that easy to find either but it is readily available online. I would think that living in a place called O'Fallon would offer me a wide variety of Irish foods. There is a large concentration of red headed Irishmen to be seen, but I have yet to find any specific foods other than the Irish Oatmeal which Schnucks stopped selling. My guess is Irish is not an ethnic group but just a cultural variation of being British. I'd never say that to anybody I meet here because THOSE people are noted for their temper.
Needless to say I enjoy a variety of foods and those based in ethnic traditions are the best. If only I could find the ingredients for them all I'd be happy.
You are the only person I know who mends broken jig saw puzzles. LOL I have no doubt that your restoration and reconstruction techniques are outstanding. I'm also amazed that you would want to preserve the final product as well as you do. The pictures are indeed often spectacular, but I'd be hard pressed to hang one up in a frame. I guess I've never seen it done well enough to justify the effort. Then again, I've never seen your work.
The very first house we bought was in Des Plaines, Illinois. That's quite a distance from Skokie, which is where most of the Jewish population around Chicago settled. For some reasson Des Plaines had a lot of restaurants with delis that catered to the Kosher Klan. The most favored and most visited restaurant there was called the Belden Deli, which was an offshoot of a restaurant by the same name in Skokie. Same owners, I believe. One of my friends took me there to eat shortly after we moved in and that was the first time I experienced lox and bagels. The deli had fresh fish and the lox were all of the Nova variety which could be smoked or not. Over the years I sampled the entire menu and I must tell you that the chicken soup rivals that made by my Polish mom. I'd be hard pressed to say which is better but there is no Polish equivalent to Matza balls or krepla that is found in the Kosher soup. Then, too, there were no kluski on the Belden Deli menu.
Traditionally pierogi would be served for Christmas dinner. One of the greatest disappointments I experienced here in Missouri is what they claim is pierogi - same goes for Italian sausage; St Louis has their own version which is not at all authentic. I'm told that Chicago has the largest Polish community outside of Warsaw, but St Louis is #2. There are some Polish delis listed in StL proper, but I never made it down that way to find out. We did get rye bread from one of them when my daughter came to town, but there too it wasn't of the same quality as I was able to get just a few years ago in Roselle. I've made my own and they were awesome. It's just a pain in the drain doing so.
I'm also big on Italian cuisine and have killer recipes for lasagna and veal Parmesan. Gnocci are only slightly better than Spätzle, but nearly impossible to find in Missouri. Spätzle isn't that easy to find either but it is readily available online. I would think that living in a place called O'Fallon would offer me a wide variety of Irish foods. There is a large concentration of red headed Irishmen to be seen, but I have yet to find any specific foods other than the Irish Oatmeal which Schnucks stopped selling. My guess is Irish is not an ethnic group but just a cultural variation of being British. I'd never say that to anybody I meet here because THOSE people are noted for their temper.
Needless to say I enjoy a variety of foods and those based in ethnic traditions are the best. If only I could find the ingredients for them all I'd be happy.
You are the only person I know who mends broken jig saw puzzles. LOL I have no doubt that your restoration and reconstruction techniques are outstanding. I'm also amazed that you would want to preserve the final product as well as you do. The pictures are indeed often spectacular, but I'd be hard pressed to hang one up in a frame. I guess I've never seen it done well enough to justify the effort. Then again, I've never seen your work.
Re: Underground Farming
My late wife always had lox and bagels, I think she survived on bagels and matzo ball soup, and so did her kids, hi hi.
She knew how to prepare a lot of Jewish dishes, but me and my kids didn't like any of it.
We had to laugh when she would serve us something using a normal English phrase for it, but secretly it was one of her Jewish dishes, slightly Americanized though, hi hi.
I owned an Italian Restaurant, but I can guarantee there was nothing truly Italian about it, hi hi.
I had no reason to try and compete with Mama Russo, hi hi.
We were a franchise of Cebo Pizza in one building, and the personally owned restaurant was in the next building, the buildings were joined like a strip mall, but with double walls since there were independent buildings built tight against each other.
There is not a single place down here that sells a roast beef sandwich like Lion's Choice, nor any White Castles. We have Krystal which is similar in operation to White Castle, but no where near the same taste.
In fact, the three Krystal's that were around us are no longer, they all closed this past year.
I wouldn't know diddly about Polish style foods, never had them that I know of.
Me, I was strictly a steak n taters type of guy, didn't like most other foods.
But since moving south, a steak is a rare treat. We have chicken, salmon patties, tuna salad, egg salad, and a whole lot of different vegies. I've come to like most of the things she fixes though which is good.
But I don't touch her fried green tomatoes or okra, nope, not me, not ever, hi hi.
99% of the jigsaw puzzles I work are dismantled, put back in the box, and traded with other puzzlers.
Been doing this so long, sometimes I get some back I've worked before.
My office was pretty bare, and someone gave me a puzzle with a writers motif. It fit centered on the wall above my closet doors. Then I got another but it was too big to fit next to what was there, and I have a wall to put it on, but right now can't get to that wall. Just finished another writers motif, that is missing a piece, but it is a gorgeous puzzle. I was going to box it back up, but then decided it was worth fixing. And it will fit above the closet doors too. So that was another incentive.
I did do a round butterfly puzzle the wife liked, so I finished it for hanging in the living room, she loves it.
Then her son bought me the hardest puzzle I ever did in my life, The Rosetta Stone. The pieces were tiny, about half the size of a normal 1000 piece puzzle, and is black with white lettering, basically a picture of the Rosetta Stone. Took me over 6 months to finish that one, so yes it was sealed and is also hanging in the living room. It was also an expensive puzzle he picked up while in whatever country the Rosetta Stone is on display in.
I've used many different methods of building a replacement piece for a puzzle. But the easy way out is to just use drywall mud or plaster to make a new piece. I have used dental amalgum, auto body putty, and a few other things I happen to have on hand at the time I needed to fix a puzzle. Using Conte Crayons, you can usually get the piece to match so close that once the puzzle is lacquered you don't notice it was a man made piece.
I have actually cut some out of cardboard with a scroll saw, the kind I added a picture to first. But this was one the piece had to be movable. So you could take the puzzle apart and put it together again.
FWIW: Some of the puzzles people have bought for me ranged from 20 to 60 bucks.
She knew how to prepare a lot of Jewish dishes, but me and my kids didn't like any of it.
We had to laugh when she would serve us something using a normal English phrase for it, but secretly it was one of her Jewish dishes, slightly Americanized though, hi hi.
I owned an Italian Restaurant, but I can guarantee there was nothing truly Italian about it, hi hi.
I had no reason to try and compete with Mama Russo, hi hi.
We were a franchise of Cebo Pizza in one building, and the personally owned restaurant was in the next building, the buildings were joined like a strip mall, but with double walls since there were independent buildings built tight against each other.
There is not a single place down here that sells a roast beef sandwich like Lion's Choice, nor any White Castles. We have Krystal which is similar in operation to White Castle, but no where near the same taste.
In fact, the three Krystal's that were around us are no longer, they all closed this past year.
I wouldn't know diddly about Polish style foods, never had them that I know of.
Me, I was strictly a steak n taters type of guy, didn't like most other foods.
But since moving south, a steak is a rare treat. We have chicken, salmon patties, tuna salad, egg salad, and a whole lot of different vegies. I've come to like most of the things she fixes though which is good.
But I don't touch her fried green tomatoes or okra, nope, not me, not ever, hi hi.
99% of the jigsaw puzzles I work are dismantled, put back in the box, and traded with other puzzlers.
Been doing this so long, sometimes I get some back I've worked before.
My office was pretty bare, and someone gave me a puzzle with a writers motif. It fit centered on the wall above my closet doors. Then I got another but it was too big to fit next to what was there, and I have a wall to put it on, but right now can't get to that wall. Just finished another writers motif, that is missing a piece, but it is a gorgeous puzzle. I was going to box it back up, but then decided it was worth fixing. And it will fit above the closet doors too. So that was another incentive.
I did do a round butterfly puzzle the wife liked, so I finished it for hanging in the living room, she loves it.
Then her son bought me the hardest puzzle I ever did in my life, The Rosetta Stone. The pieces were tiny, about half the size of a normal 1000 piece puzzle, and is black with white lettering, basically a picture of the Rosetta Stone. Took me over 6 months to finish that one, so yes it was sealed and is also hanging in the living room. It was also an expensive puzzle he picked up while in whatever country the Rosetta Stone is on display in.
I've used many different methods of building a replacement piece for a puzzle. But the easy way out is to just use drywall mud or plaster to make a new piece. I have used dental amalgum, auto body putty, and a few other things I happen to have on hand at the time I needed to fix a puzzle. Using Conte Crayons, you can usually get the piece to match so close that once the puzzle is lacquered you don't notice it was a man made piece.
I have actually cut some out of cardboard with a scroll saw, the kind I added a picture to first. But this was one the piece had to be movable. So you could take the puzzle apart and put it together again.
FWIW: Some of the puzzles people have bought for me ranged from 20 to 60 bucks.
Re: Underground Farming
One of my dearest friends was a Jewish lady who started a plant maintenance business. She was fascinating to talk to on many levels and I loved the insights she provide me about Judaism. Because of her acquaintance and friendship I attended an authentic Jewish wedding in a synagogue wearing a Kippah or Yarmulke. Her husband and I also befriended each other and we had a common interest in computers. He used an Apple II (I think) to run his graphic arts business and Motorola was using them to run their business too. I was invited to their home a time or two for dinner which I think is the single incident that convinced me Kosher cooking needs more investigation.
Eating was not my favorite activity when I was a kid. We were not a well off family and sometimes food was scarce. The menu at home had a lot of pork dishes because that's one of the things Poland exports. Nothing matches Polish ham, for example. Chicken was big too, and beef was only had in the form of hamburger. Mom loved to make what was called cube steaks. This was a chunk of meat mashed by a tenderizer to the extent that it had holes in it. I believe it was prepared that way because it was inedible any other way. I found some of that stuff here in O'Fallon. I remember mom cooking it but I have no idea how she did it. My version was a disappointment. LOL I think it was due to the steady and predictable diet I had to follow that gave me an appreciation for variety as an adult. My wife cooked like her mom, and I swear they both learned from the same sources. When it became my responsibility to do the cooking, variety became the menu de jour.
Not being the expert puzzler that your are I have to ask what might sound like a dumb question. The first thought that comes to my mind for building material to use on a puzzle that is lacking a piece is Papier-mâché. Puzzles are basically the same stuff, albeit a bit more sturdy. I've no feel for the cost of puzzles, but I can imagine many, or most, are made from the same die. The only thing that changes is the artwork. I'd further speculate that there might be several standard dies to suit the different size puzzles and that mass production would be simple and inexpensive. That Rosetta Stone puzzle sounds fascinating in an insane kind of way. Maybe, and it's a big maybe, if I could not use computers anymore I could get interested in those kind of puzzles. The standard run of the mill puzzles would bore me to tears.
Eating was not my favorite activity when I was a kid. We were not a well off family and sometimes food was scarce. The menu at home had a lot of pork dishes because that's one of the things Poland exports. Nothing matches Polish ham, for example. Chicken was big too, and beef was only had in the form of hamburger. Mom loved to make what was called cube steaks. This was a chunk of meat mashed by a tenderizer to the extent that it had holes in it. I believe it was prepared that way because it was inedible any other way. I found some of that stuff here in O'Fallon. I remember mom cooking it but I have no idea how she did it. My version was a disappointment. LOL I think it was due to the steady and predictable diet I had to follow that gave me an appreciation for variety as an adult. My wife cooked like her mom, and I swear they both learned from the same sources. When it became my responsibility to do the cooking, variety became the menu de jour.
Not being the expert puzzler that your are I have to ask what might sound like a dumb question. The first thought that comes to my mind for building material to use on a puzzle that is lacking a piece is Papier-mâché. Puzzles are basically the same stuff, albeit a bit more sturdy. I've no feel for the cost of puzzles, but I can imagine many, or most, are made from the same die. The only thing that changes is the artwork. I'd further speculate that there might be several standard dies to suit the different size puzzles and that mass production would be simple and inexpensive. That Rosetta Stone puzzle sounds fascinating in an insane kind of way. Maybe, and it's a big maybe, if I could not use computers anymore I could get interested in those kind of puzzles. The standard run of the mill puzzles would bore me to tears.
Re: Underground Farming
You wouldn't believe all the things I was able to do at work with my Apple II after I bought an Apple II+ for home.
But then, due to lack of programs, nearly everything I did for work on it was done with Basic programs I wrote.
Everyone always said I don't eat enough to keep a bird alive, hi hi.
I used to buy a LOT of Round Steak because it was the cheapest cut of meat you could buy.
There are a lot of things you can do to make it tender though.
I don't prefer the cubed steak method. So I normally used the beat it to death with a waffle end hammer for the purpose.
Actually, each puzzle company has their own dies, different for their different sizes, and in some case fancy shapes.
Some get very artistic with their pieces cuts too. None of the ones I get from puzzle manufacturers are simple cuts like the old Milton Bradly puzzles from days of yore, these things today are complicated to put together.
How the dies are now made, compared to days of yore, means they can make cheaper dies that only hold up for about 1000 to 2000 puzzles before they need to be replaced. But instead of being hand engraved like the old days, they are now printed, and either acid or lasers are used to remove the softer metal.
Also, at least one of the puzzle companies I've spoken with use a laser designed hard nylon cutting head. But rather than remove the non-cutting part, it is done a different way. A mold is made using laser cutters, then the nylon is poured into the mold and out comes a cutter head they can use for 300 to 500 puzzles. But once the mold is cut, they can remake the cutting heads just by pouring the nylon into the mold and voila, they have another cutting head ready to go.
Apparently making the nylon cutting heads, after the mold is made, is fairly cheap compared to the old steel dies.
I do have to confess to something here. I don't necessarily like working puzzles all the time. But I like even less sitting around with nothing to do with my hands. Plus I need to spend at least two hours a day with the wife. I can be using my hands working on a puzzle and keep up with our conversation, or even what's on the idiot box if she has it on. After our two hours, I escape back to my office until bedtime, hi hi.
But then, due to lack of programs, nearly everything I did for work on it was done with Basic programs I wrote.
Everyone always said I don't eat enough to keep a bird alive, hi hi.
I used to buy a LOT of Round Steak because it was the cheapest cut of meat you could buy.
There are a lot of things you can do to make it tender though.
I don't prefer the cubed steak method. So I normally used the beat it to death with a waffle end hammer for the purpose.
Actually, each puzzle company has their own dies, different for their different sizes, and in some case fancy shapes.
Some get very artistic with their pieces cuts too. None of the ones I get from puzzle manufacturers are simple cuts like the old Milton Bradly puzzles from days of yore, these things today are complicated to put together.
How the dies are now made, compared to days of yore, means they can make cheaper dies that only hold up for about 1000 to 2000 puzzles before they need to be replaced. But instead of being hand engraved like the old days, they are now printed, and either acid or lasers are used to remove the softer metal.
Also, at least one of the puzzle companies I've spoken with use a laser designed hard nylon cutting head. But rather than remove the non-cutting part, it is done a different way. A mold is made using laser cutters, then the nylon is poured into the mold and out comes a cutter head they can use for 300 to 500 puzzles. But once the mold is cut, they can remake the cutting heads just by pouring the nylon into the mold and voila, they have another cutting head ready to go.
Apparently making the nylon cutting heads, after the mold is made, is fairly cheap compared to the old steel dies.
I do have to confess to something here. I don't necessarily like working puzzles all the time. But I like even less sitting around with nothing to do with my hands. Plus I need to spend at least two hours a day with the wife. I can be using my hands working on a puzzle and keep up with our conversation, or even what's on the idiot box if she has it on. After our two hours, I escape back to my office until bedtime, hi hi.
Re: Underground Farming
Round steak is indeed inexpensive compared to other cuts, and it is versatile. I have one of those waffle hammers that mom passed on when she left for another world. I still remember her using that exact hammer to prepare some of our meals when I lived at home. Also, I have a flour sifter that must have been made during the Great Depression. Mom passed that onto me as well. There are a few tricks for tenderizing meat and cooking it to death is my favorite technique. My favorite eye of round recipe makes a sauce out of katchup and is simmered on the stove top for a couple hours along with a variety of vegetables I might have left over from other meals. Braised round steak. True peasant food. LOL
I can image how puzzle manufacturer have refined the art of making puzzles and their dies. Using hard nylon would never occur to me because it doesn't seem durable enough. Apparently that doesn't matter and I would not doubt that the nylon is recyclable to boot.
Like you, many of my interests are the results of not wanting to sit around being bored. I consider watching television the ultimate sleeping pill. We stopped going to movies many years ago, but they too would get me nodding off if the thundering sound didn't keep jolting me in my seat. You might think playing games on the computer would rank right up there with boring television fare. The computer is different in that it is interactive and not one way communications such as the boob tube. That's not to say I never nodded off playing some mind numbing game. LOL Having so little to do down here in Missouri is nice in some ways and challenging in others. The challenge is to find ways to amuse myself.
I can image how puzzle manufacturer have refined the art of making puzzles and their dies. Using hard nylon would never occur to me because it doesn't seem durable enough. Apparently that doesn't matter and I would not doubt that the nylon is recyclable to boot.
Like you, many of my interests are the results of not wanting to sit around being bored. I consider watching television the ultimate sleeping pill. We stopped going to movies many years ago, but they too would get me nodding off if the thundering sound didn't keep jolting me in my seat. You might think playing games on the computer would rank right up there with boring television fare. The computer is different in that it is interactive and not one way communications such as the boob tube. That's not to say I never nodded off playing some mind numbing game. LOL Having so little to do down here in Missouri is nice in some ways and challenging in others. The challenge is to find ways to amuse myself.
Re: Underground Farming
My wife has a meat tenderizer that is like a rolling pin with fairly large needles in it. It came with a silicone pad. But the darn thing takes two people to use it. One to hold the meat down because it would roll up around the rolling pin.
I figured a quick fix for that was to start in the middle of the meat and roll towards the end, it still tries pulling the meat up, hi hi, but at least now you can bat it back down easily. It doesn't work as good as the waffle end hammer though.
I had Muncie 2x2 gearbox on my Camaro. The housing was made of aluminum, but the gears were all made of nylon. They said the nylon is harder than the soft steel gears are normally made from. That tranny never gave me a bit of problems either.
I've had a couple of knives made of nylon and they stayed sharp for years. I ruined one when I tried to sharpen it after it got some nicks in it. How they got nicks I'll never know. I managed to break one in half myself trying to pry a drawer open with it, hi hi.
I've had many small hobbies over the years. At most I spend about a year on them, then get tired of doing them. Some less than a year, and some I did for many years. I'm not an artist so anything that needs an art skill I've tried, I usually gave up on fairly quickly.
Don't know if I mentioned, I can sit at my computer all day long and never get tired.
But let me get on my wife's computer and I have trouble staying awake, and so does she.
I think I figured out why though.
I think it has to do with the refresh rate or Hz the screen runs at.
I have an old ViewSonic monitor up here, and if I look at it for a while, I will get sleepy with it too.
Luckily I don't need to use it very often, just to check notes from the publisher when I'm rewriting something.
I've not checked to see what Hz either is running on yet. Not sure how to do that on a Windows machine either.
Why I think that is what is doing it, has to do with some of these new devices they use to help you sleep.
Seems to me they would be annoying and keep me awake though, hi hi.
I figured a quick fix for that was to start in the middle of the meat and roll towards the end, it still tries pulling the meat up, hi hi, but at least now you can bat it back down easily. It doesn't work as good as the waffle end hammer though.
I had Muncie 2x2 gearbox on my Camaro. The housing was made of aluminum, but the gears were all made of nylon. They said the nylon is harder than the soft steel gears are normally made from. That tranny never gave me a bit of problems either.
I've had a couple of knives made of nylon and they stayed sharp for years. I ruined one when I tried to sharpen it after it got some nicks in it. How they got nicks I'll never know. I managed to break one in half myself trying to pry a drawer open with it, hi hi.
I've had many small hobbies over the years. At most I spend about a year on them, then get tired of doing them. Some less than a year, and some I did for many years. I'm not an artist so anything that needs an art skill I've tried, I usually gave up on fairly quickly.
Don't know if I mentioned, I can sit at my computer all day long and never get tired.
But let me get on my wife's computer and I have trouble staying awake, and so does she.
I think I figured out why though.
I think it has to do with the refresh rate or Hz the screen runs at.
I have an old ViewSonic monitor up here, and if I look at it for a while, I will get sleepy with it too.
Luckily I don't need to use it very often, just to check notes from the publisher when I'm rewriting something.
I've not checked to see what Hz either is running on yet. Not sure how to do that on a Windows machine either.
Why I think that is what is doing it, has to do with some of these new devices they use to help you sleep.
Seems to me they would be annoying and keep me awake though, hi hi.
Re: Underground Farming
During the days when I was pursuing esoteric interests I ran across a theory about what was termed Bio-Cycles. These cycles are not the same as brain waves but apparently do affect behavior. One of those bio-cycles had a duration of 30 days; not to be confused with the lunar cycle which is 29.5 days. The 30 day cycle was somehow a harmonic of that 60 Hz refresh rate you talked about. None of it made sense to me at the time even though I learned how to track it all. However, my point here is that some frequencies resonate with the human make-up. I'm guessing 60 Hz of audio would have the same effect as 60 Hz from a flyback transformer but I never tested that out. I know certain rates of strobe lighting can bring on seizures. I can control the refresh rate with my nVIdia cards in that they have a separate control panel. Not sure what the onboard video can do even in Windows. Maybe if I played more games I'd care to find out.
One of the butcher shops I patronized back in Roselle would tenderize meat per my request. They had a contraption that looked like a wringer on an old time washing machine and fed the meat through the rollers. It worked well but I'd hate to be the guy who has to clean that monster at the end of the day.
One of the butcher shops I patronized back in Roselle would tenderize meat per my request. They had a contraption that looked like a wringer on an old time washing machine and fed the meat through the rollers. It worked well but I'd hate to be the guy who has to clean that monster at the end of the day.
Re: Underground Farming
I just happen to open my resolution settings, and most of my monitors are running at 75 Hz, one is running at 128 Hz I think. I don't know how to do this on Debi's Windows computer, the resolution setting doesn't show the Hz.
I'm booting up the computer that does the same thing as making me tired to see what resolution it is using. Hmm, it is running at 60 Hz, and I know 60 Hz don't make one sleepy.
Perhaps my theory is wrong, hi hi.
Most butcher shops have a cubing machine. In fact, in the mid-1960s a friend of ours, a butcher, got his hand in one and lost the use of three of his fingers that were cubed before the machine stopped.
My grandma on my dad's side had a thing you cranked, which sounds like what you mentioned. It wasn't exactly a cubing machine since it only had like flat pins on one roller. She used it mainly before marinating chicken or meat.
I'm booting up the computer that does the same thing as making me tired to see what resolution it is using. Hmm, it is running at 60 Hz, and I know 60 Hz don't make one sleepy.
Perhaps my theory is wrong, hi hi.
Most butcher shops have a cubing machine. In fact, in the mid-1960s a friend of ours, a butcher, got his hand in one and lost the use of three of his fingers that were cubed before the machine stopped.
My grandma on my dad's side had a thing you cranked, which sounds like what you mentioned. It wasn't exactly a cubing machine since it only had like flat pins on one roller. She used it mainly before marinating chicken or meat.
Re: Underground Farming
Windows Refresh Rate Setting: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1SlDp2r ... sp=sharing
The above is a view of how to set the refresh rate on my monitor from the Windows Control Panel. You will note that I'm using an nVidia card. The video from the motherboard is an Intel driver and I'm not so sure how to get to that one because I have it disabled. The point here is that the driver must be capable of changing the refresh rate and I'm guessing not all of them can do it. Linux is an entirely different animal. Even the settings for the same video card in Linux show up differently. All I can tell you is that there are a ton of video settings to be had in Windows if you can find them. The Control Panel is the best place to start looking. Device Manager would be my second choice.
The reason you don't want 60Hz refresh, if you can avoid it, is that it might cause a problem syncing with the 60 cycle line voltage that powers your lighting in the room. You will notice a flicker on the monitor which is irritating to say the least. If that would put you to sleep, I can't say.
The above is a view of how to set the refresh rate on my monitor from the Windows Control Panel. You will note that I'm using an nVidia card. The video from the motherboard is an Intel driver and I'm not so sure how to get to that one because I have it disabled. The point here is that the driver must be capable of changing the refresh rate and I'm guessing not all of them can do it. Linux is an entirely different animal. Even the settings for the same video card in Linux show up differently. All I can tell you is that there are a ton of video settings to be had in Windows if you can find them. The Control Panel is the best place to start looking. Device Manager would be my second choice.
The reason you don't want 60Hz refresh, if you can avoid it, is that it might cause a problem syncing with the 60 cycle line voltage that powers your lighting in the room. You will notice a flicker on the monitor which is irritating to say the least. If that would put you to sleep, I can't say.
Re: Underground Farming
Almost the same as in Linux, from Control Panel you select Displays.
On my computers, I have other refresh options, except on certain resolution settings where I only have one or two.
On Debi's computer there are no options, which is probably a feature of the monitor itself.
Now if I change resolution setting it will give us the option of 60 Hz or 80 Hz.
On my computer the options are like 75 Hz, and 128 Hz at my current resolution setting.
But if I change up to a higher resolution I get more options. The one in red is the suggestion option and defaults to that setting. I don't like the higher resolutions, things are way to small on the screen for me.
I tried the 128 Hz setting a couple of times to see if it made any difference when I was doing some graphics work, repairing some old photo's. The only difference I noticed was the images seemed a tad sharper, and the computer ran a few degrees hotter than normal. On most things I could not see a difference in the images. So I just leave it at 75 Hz, the default setting for this monitor.
I've never seen any flickering, even on the computer that is on the 60 Hz setting with no other option available. That old ViewSonic monitor. It only has a single VGA connection on the back too, hi hi.
On another note: Apparently 6 monitor set-ups are falling by the wayside, as they were not doing what the buyers intended. That black space between the displays, plus the massive amount of pixels that need to be sent.
Although I don't follow gaming forums, when I'm on Farcebook some of their posts of someone I'm following appear in my feed. Seems like they are opting for Projection Units over monitors now and a 200 buck video card to drive it.
Some of those projectors they want are between 350 and 750 bucks for speed and clarity on a silver screen. Hmm.
On my computers, I have other refresh options, except on certain resolution settings where I only have one or two.
On Debi's computer there are no options, which is probably a feature of the monitor itself.
Now if I change resolution setting it will give us the option of 60 Hz or 80 Hz.
On my computer the options are like 75 Hz, and 128 Hz at my current resolution setting.
But if I change up to a higher resolution I get more options. The one in red is the suggestion option and defaults to that setting. I don't like the higher resolutions, things are way to small on the screen for me.
I tried the 128 Hz setting a couple of times to see if it made any difference when I was doing some graphics work, repairing some old photo's. The only difference I noticed was the images seemed a tad sharper, and the computer ran a few degrees hotter than normal. On most things I could not see a difference in the images. So I just leave it at 75 Hz, the default setting for this monitor.
I've never seen any flickering, even on the computer that is on the 60 Hz setting with no other option available. That old ViewSonic monitor. It only has a single VGA connection on the back too, hi hi.
On another note: Apparently 6 monitor set-ups are falling by the wayside, as they were not doing what the buyers intended. That black space between the displays, plus the massive amount of pixels that need to be sent.
Although I don't follow gaming forums, when I'm on Farcebook some of their posts of someone I'm following appear in my feed. Seems like they are opting for Projection Units over monitors now and a 200 buck video card to drive it.
Some of those projectors they want are between 350 and 750 bucks for speed and clarity on a silver screen. Hmm.
Re: Underground Farming
I think the options for refresh rate are tied to resolution because the video card can only process so many frames of pixels per second. Some cards are better than others, obviously. The monitor itself might have a baring on the settings too given that there are a fixed number of pixels on any given screen. But it's the video processing circuitry that fills up those screens and not the other way around. The only reason you would be concerned about the number of refreshes per second would be when viewing animation. The higher the refresh rate the smoother the action. When working with static images a refresh rate of 30 would do well enough. Some monitors have a variable rate capability, which is one reason why I like NEC monitors. It would come in handy if I had more than one monitor.
I've been looking at new monitors recently and have not run across any indication of technologies being deprecated. I can see using a projection screen for some games, but most of the things I play can be viewed easily on a small screen of my clever phone. Those people fully immersed in gaming live in a world onto themselves. I have little idea what they are doing. LOL
I've been looking at new monitors recently and have not run across any indication of technologies being deprecated. I can see using a projection screen for some games, but most of the things I play can be viewed easily on a small screen of my clever phone. Those people fully immersed in gaming live in a world onto themselves. I have little idea what they are doing. LOL
Re: Underground Farming
My wife's son was BIG into on-line streaming games, mostly war and fighting type of games.
He always had to have the biggest and fastest computer and all the peripherals that went with it for gaming.
That is one reason why the 10 year old water-cooled computer he gave to Debi runs so fast.
He bought a new computer after a hose broke and flooded his office. But luckily it did not damage the computer. He got it fixed and used it for a while to make sure it was OK, but rarely touched it since he liked his new computer better.
Those gamers will spend a lot of money to keep a computer cool too. He showed me a picture on his Schmartz-Fone of a friend of his computer system. It actually had an air-conditioning system connected to it, and a large row of sensors in a separate panel that was mounted to the top of the computer showing the state of every critical component inside the computer. Jason didn't know how much money the guy spent, but figured it had to be well over ten grand, maybe even 20 grand, but the guy could afford it easily.
I don't really like HUGE screens, not even for movies. My son had a Theater in his finished basement. Your neck gets tired moving your head back and forth to watch a show. The screen was too big for the size of the room, so it was like sitting in the front row at a movie house.
Now I've seen some guys use large screen monitors or TVs but they tiled the computer images into different areas. More like what you would do in a multi-monitor set-up.
Although I have two monitors on this computer, I normally keep them set to same image on both monitors, unless I'm doing something different. Too easy to lose where my mouse pointer is at, especially when I'm farming on Farm Town. I end up hitting things on the other monitor while I'm in auto-click mode and really mess things up, hi hi.
Apparently projection monitors/TVs have come a long way now. Some of them are so bright, they can be used outdoors at 25 to 50 feet away from the screen. Or in churches 25 to 50 feet away from the screen with the lights on.
I've also seen a few that were only rated for like 5 to 6 feet away for a 30 inch wide display.
The gamers brag about how many feet per second their stream can be on some of those projection monitors, so that must be the deciding element on how much they pay for one.
It could also be the high price of the big screen TVs is going up instead of down, and the price of projectors is going down instead of up. Heck, even Amazon has about 30 different silver screens you can choose from now. But none of the higher end projectors. On Amazon they go from like 89 bucks up to around 300 bucks, but the ones the gamers are using is more like in the range of 600 to 900 bucks.
Remember the TVs with a front projector and mirrors inside a big cabinet to send the image onto the frosty plastic front panel at the top? My uncle had one of those monsters and it was horrible to look at, because he never had it set just right. Or there was dust and dirt on the lenses or the mirrors, and you can't just wash the mirrors since they are first surface mirrors.
Now they make first surface mirrors with another super thin layer of glass or plastic over the first surface to protect them. As used in one-way mirrors now in stores so they can be cleaned easily without damaging the silver coating.
He always had to have the biggest and fastest computer and all the peripherals that went with it for gaming.
That is one reason why the 10 year old water-cooled computer he gave to Debi runs so fast.
He bought a new computer after a hose broke and flooded his office. But luckily it did not damage the computer. He got it fixed and used it for a while to make sure it was OK, but rarely touched it since he liked his new computer better.
Those gamers will spend a lot of money to keep a computer cool too. He showed me a picture on his Schmartz-Fone of a friend of his computer system. It actually had an air-conditioning system connected to it, and a large row of sensors in a separate panel that was mounted to the top of the computer showing the state of every critical component inside the computer. Jason didn't know how much money the guy spent, but figured it had to be well over ten grand, maybe even 20 grand, but the guy could afford it easily.
I don't really like HUGE screens, not even for movies. My son had a Theater in his finished basement. Your neck gets tired moving your head back and forth to watch a show. The screen was too big for the size of the room, so it was like sitting in the front row at a movie house.
Now I've seen some guys use large screen monitors or TVs but they tiled the computer images into different areas. More like what you would do in a multi-monitor set-up.
Although I have two monitors on this computer, I normally keep them set to same image on both monitors, unless I'm doing something different. Too easy to lose where my mouse pointer is at, especially when I'm farming on Farm Town. I end up hitting things on the other monitor while I'm in auto-click mode and really mess things up, hi hi.
Apparently projection monitors/TVs have come a long way now. Some of them are so bright, they can be used outdoors at 25 to 50 feet away from the screen. Or in churches 25 to 50 feet away from the screen with the lights on.
I've also seen a few that were only rated for like 5 to 6 feet away for a 30 inch wide display.
The gamers brag about how many feet per second their stream can be on some of those projection monitors, so that must be the deciding element on how much they pay for one.
It could also be the high price of the big screen TVs is going up instead of down, and the price of projectors is going down instead of up. Heck, even Amazon has about 30 different silver screens you can choose from now. But none of the higher end projectors. On Amazon they go from like 89 bucks up to around 300 bucks, but the ones the gamers are using is more like in the range of 600 to 900 bucks.
Remember the TVs with a front projector and mirrors inside a big cabinet to send the image onto the frosty plastic front panel at the top? My uncle had one of those monsters and it was horrible to look at, because he never had it set just right. Or there was dust and dirt on the lenses or the mirrors, and you can't just wash the mirrors since they are first surface mirrors.
Now they make first surface mirrors with another super thin layer of glass or plastic over the first surface to protect them. As used in one-way mirrors now in stores so they can be cleaned easily without damaging the silver coating.
Re: Underground Farming
Some of the joy associated with being a gamer is the appearance of the equipment. There are often a ton of fans and lighting effects that do absolutely nothing but look interesting. I don't know a lot about over clocking, and I do know a processor can get pretty hot when you do such a thing. However, I've driven my processor to the limits a few times and the 4" fan I have mounted on the chip takes care of everything. This fan stands upright instead of laying down and its contact points are pure copper. The heat transfer is very efficient. In my case overclocking would go from 4 Gig clock to 4.4 Gig and I can't see that doing anything significant to the processor. The GPU is a card onto itself and I assume (perhaps incorrectly) that nVidia knew what they were doing when they designed the card. It never gets as hot as the CPU, but comes pretty damned close. LOL I don't know for sure, but I'm willing to bet a small amount of cash that liquid cooling is no more effective than the proper air cooling. The reason why gamers like liquid is because it's quiet. It's hard to see why it's more efficient.
Unless we decide to go the route of home theater projection, I doubt that I'd have a need for a super large screen. So far my eyes can see the characters on this 19" monitor so that there is no need to change resolution or monitor size. I've been looking at new monitors because this one is pretty old and is starting to take a while to come to full brightness. I figure it's going to just die on me some day, which is fine because I have the laptop. I just hate using that lappie when I need to do a lot of typing.
Unless we decide to go the route of home theater projection, I doubt that I'd have a need for a super large screen. So far my eyes can see the characters on this 19" monitor so that there is no need to change resolution or monitor size. I've been looking at new monitors because this one is pretty old and is starting to take a while to come to full brightness. I figure it's going to just die on me some day, which is fine because I have the laptop. I just hate using that lappie when I need to do a lot of typing.
Re: Underground Farming
I still have the ViewSonic that I used in my desk here for probably 15 years before I bought two wide screen monitors, but the one I put in my desk I still run as a square monitor, not as wide screen. Although it still works just fine, the ViewSonic gets a little dimmer each year. I think it uses a fluorescent type back-lighting. I figure if it had LED lighting it wouldn't say LCD display when I bought it, it would say LED display, which usually only refers to how it is lit.
I do have another old monitor that was rarely used, and it too has to warm up before it reaches full brightness. Takes about two to three minutes before it is all the way bright. It is old too, not as old as the big box monitors, but from an early computer system that had LCD screens come with them in the set.
One old computer I finally got rid of, had a heat sink about 5 times larger than the cpu it sat over. Took up half the inside of the cabinet. It was an old Dell I picked up either for free or super cheap from somebody.
I still have one old Dell I bought for 150 bucks, has Windows XP on it, and I use it to play a Windows game is all, FreeCell.
I also use it to display the old Cardfile.exe program so I can copy the data from the wife's old recipe cards for her. I only work on them when I have time, which isn't often these days, hi hi. I'm almost done though, only one more small cardfile to go.
I do have another old monitor that was rarely used, and it too has to warm up before it reaches full brightness. Takes about two to three minutes before it is all the way bright. It is old too, not as old as the big box monitors, but from an early computer system that had LCD screens come with them in the set.
One old computer I finally got rid of, had a heat sink about 5 times larger than the cpu it sat over. Took up half the inside of the cabinet. It was an old Dell I picked up either for free or super cheap from somebody.
I still have one old Dell I bought for 150 bucks, has Windows XP on it, and I use it to play a Windows game is all, FreeCell.
I also use it to display the old Cardfile.exe program so I can copy the data from the wife's old recipe cards for her. I only work on them when I have time, which isn't often these days, hi hi. I'm almost done though, only one more small cardfile to go.