Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in stickmaker's LiveJournal:

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Thursday, May 24th, 2012
10:45 pm	Don't Dig Too Deep Excerpt from a novel in progress: "There are things under the ground," said Llewellyn, his deep voice deceptively calm, "though not as many as in the folk tales, nor as easy to reach. Still, there are creatures and forces which may be disturbed by deep digging in the right areas. Some will even be attracted by digging, and meet the digger halfway." "That's enough to give me nightmares, right there," said Theal, with a wince. "I know of a well, long abandoned and of unknown provenance, where if you listen in a quiet moment you may hear breathing," said the healer, with an impish smile. "Thank you very much for that information," said Theal, now shivering. Current Mood: accomplished (Comment on this)
Wednesday, May 23rd, 2012
11:40 am	Opportunity On Edge Opportunity reaches an edge: http://www.universetoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/652304main_pia15684-43_946-710.jpg Worksafe. Current Mood: accomplished (Comment on this)
Monday, May 21st, 2012
12:36 pm	There's a Little Black Spot on the Earth Today... The Moon's shadow on the Earth during yesterday's eclipse: http://phl.upr.edu/library/notes/eclipseofmay20-212012 Worksafe. Current Mood: amused (Comment on this)
Friday, May 18th, 2012
5:21 pm	Pretty Darn Corn! For those who thought corn could never be pretty: http://boingboing.net/2012/05/11/glass-gem-corm.html Current Mood: amused (Comment on this)
Wednesday, May 16th, 2012
12:46 pm	Oh, Well... Brilliant idea: Mow in the morning before the temp rises. Doleful reality: It's already hot. Current Mood: tired (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, May 15th, 2012
10:17 pm	Aluminum Foiled Great. First they stopped making Pyrex out of Pyrex. Now they have changed aluminum foil so that even the heavy duty - if used to cover a dish in the oven - will delaminate and stick to the food. It won't even hold water any more; it will leak at every fold or crease. Article here: http://www.bepreparedtosurvive.com/Don%27t%20Trust%20Aluminum%20Foil.htm Worksafe. Current Mood: aggravated (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, May 14th, 2012
12:01 am	Kentucky Derby! Finally got my photos of the Derby Train and the Derby Breakfast online, at: http://www.rodsmith.onthisnet.com/images/DerbyTrainBreakfast/ Worksafe. Current Mood: accomplished (Comment on this)
Friday, May 11th, 2012
12:11 pm	Dual Purpose Resized some .45 Colt a little earlier and noticed the die was pretty dirty. Finished with the cases and put them in the vibratory brass polisher. Took the die apart preparatory to flushing it with toxic solvents, then realized it could go in the polisher, too. If the polishing medium - ground walnut hulls and jeweler's rouge - won't hurt brass, it won't hurt tool steel. And I get to save the toxic solvents (and gloves) for later! :-) Addendum: Didn't work as well as I hoped. No damage to the die parts, but the medium simply wasn't aggressive enough to cut through the crud (mostly built-up resizing lube). I may try again another time, for longer, but this time the brass looks fine, and so does the die after I manually wiped off the crud and then sprayed with WD-40 and wiped again. Current Mood: accomplished (Comment on this)
10:42 am	Best Laugh in a While At: http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m3fla97opr1rtxk51o1_1280.jpg Worksafe Current Mood: amused (Comment on this)
Wednesday, May 9th, 2012
11:03 am	Titan and Saturn At: http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/images/raw/casJPGFullS73/W00074109.jpg Worksafe. Current Mood: artistic (Comment on this)
Thursday, May 3rd, 2012
11:04 am	You've been... Thunderstruck! At: http://www.gocomics.com/frazz/ Worksafe. Current Mood: amused (Comment on this)
Tuesday, May 1st, 2012
10:42 pm	When the Moon Hits Your Eye... There's some good planetary observing this month, and we finally got a hole in the clouds. Despite storms in the area, I was out with binoculars earlier and saw Venus (now set) Mars and Saturn. I also got a few glimpses of the Moon, mainly as a reference. These are only 10X and the haze was blurring things, so there were no real details spotted, not even rings around Saturn (which I have seen through my Schmidt-Cassegrain before). I thought about dragging my telescope out, but was feeling tired and it's a heavy, awkward beast on its tripod, and difficult to fit through my narrow back door. If the luck holds, maybe tomorrow or Thursday. The show will continue for at least a few more days. Current Mood: accomplished (Comment on this)
1:44 pm	Talk About Big Appetites Elephant bones unearthed at the site of Preresa in Spain show that people ate elephant meat and bone marrow 80,000 years ago: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-04/f-sf-om042412.php Shouldn't that be "Humans who populated..."? Current Mood: accomplished (Comment on this)
Monday, April 30th, 2012
4:28 pm	Up It Rose! I have a wild, volunteer rose growing around the tree in my front yard. Two rose photos here: http://www.dcr.net/~stickmak/Temporary/DSC03286.jpg and here: http://www.dcr.net/~stickmak/Temporary/DSC03292.jpg Current Mood: accomplished (Comment on this)
Saturday, April 28th, 2012
10:00 pm	I Love This Modern Age Every now and then something about this era we live in just hits me. I have a spreadsheet I put together - mostly using the Hipparcos satellite data - with the three-dimensional coordinates and physical characteristics of several hundred stars. I just enter which two I'm interested it (one of them is usually Sol) and it tells me how far apart they are and other stuff. I also have a lot of notes on the planets discovered around some of them in this file. Current Mood: accomplished (Comment on this)
Friday, April 27th, 2012
7:31 pm	Now *That's* a *LENS* At: http://www.gizmag.com/nikkor-fisheye-lens-100k-pounds/22333/ Worksafe. Current Mood: amused (Comment on this)
Thursday, April 26th, 2012
8:18 pm	Learn Something New Every Day I just found out that the Carole King song I thought for decades was titled "Jasmine" is actually "Jazzman." (Comment on this)
9:41 am	Sooo Sleepy... Not sure what the problem is (well, one morning the phone got me up early) but have not had a good night's sleep in days, and that was after a tiring weekend. Few opportunities to nap, and the times I've tried I just dozed for a few minutes. (Comment on this)
Wednesday, April 25th, 2012
4:23 pm	For Your Collection of Gosh! Numbers Here, go forth and multiply (responsibly, please): http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/approximations.png Worksafe. (Comment on this)
11:49 am	Too Much of a Good Thing? Corporate mergers are out of hand. I just got a catalog from Bed, Bath and Beyonce. Current Mood: amused (Comment on this)