This is a very good post about the current mess here in California where PG&E shut off power for 800,000 people to cover its ass and avoid starting another fire. It sounds as if my local utility, SDG&E, actually got its shit together after starting a fire in 2007 and being forced to actually pay for it:
n 2007, San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) was blamed for wildfires in San Diego County; investigators found it hadn’t done proper vegetation management. It ultimately paid $2.4 billion to settle lawsuits related to those fires. It wanted to pass on remaining costs, some $379 million, to ratepayers in the form of higher rates, but the California Public Utility Commission (CPUC) wouldn’t let it. The case was appealed all the way up to the California Supreme Court, which found against SDG&E. Earlier this month, the US Supreme Court announced that it would not take the case, leaving SDG&E to eat the costs. (This ruling is relevant to how PG&E’s liability will ultimately be divided up.)
Vox
Since 2007, the scare of those lawsuits has prompted SDG&E to spend $1.5 billion upgrading its fire detection and response capabilities. And in its recently announced wildfire mitigation plan, it proposes spending $3 million more on such measures as aggressive grid hardening and vegetation management, improved meteorology with more weather stations, more remote, high-definition cameras for fire-detection, a multi-level community outreach and education program, and a series of community resource centers where people can go when power is shut off to receive information and basic needs.
Vox
The other state trend driving this is housing prices – for years, ‘drive till you qualify‘ was received wisdom for years. The result, combined with the desire for a yard, was sprawl. Sprawl + climate change = burning homes.
Anyway, the Vox piece does an excellent job of laying out the utility and fire side of the story – have a read.
Y’know, I have a tiny readership, and rather than emailing posts to people I’m going to try blogging them instead, with the faint hope of sharing more widely. I’ll use first names only, unless it’s a public thing like this post for Dan.
Anyway, in the local paper there’s news of a local startup – a social network for fans of the outdoors. I don’t know anyone involved, but it seems a nice idea and I wish them luck.
The mobile app and website is meant to be a destination for people sharing and watching nature videos and other wildlife media, including live-streamed content. The startup’s founders Rob Whitehair and Alex Finden told me in May that they wanted to update a Hollywood genre that’s failed to keep up with Silicon Valley’s warp speed: nature programming.
Found via HackerNews, which has a decent comment thread going on.
They say heroin is amazing. It’s a cheat code. That it’s better than any other feeling that you’ve ever had up until that moment. Everything you’ve ever tried for, every challenge you’ve failed or risen to, every struggle and every injury, it all just falls into place. It was all worth it, every minute, every gasp, to bring you here to this moment. It’s meditation, it’s orgasm. I’m not a heroin user, but I know what it feels like to search for something and think you’ve found it. I know that aching, dark emptiness of an addict, and the feeling that one more step, one more grasp, and it’s just within reach; that thing you’ve been hunting for, the thing which has kept you up at night. It’s right there, right beyond your fingertips, just stretch a little farther, escape a little more. I can’t begin to know the pain of a true opiate addiction, but I have no judgments for those in the struggle.
Via Electrek, that’s the Australian-made Fonzarelli NKD electric motorcycle. Looks a quirky and versatile ride according to Electrek, though of course more expensive than the China-made competition like the CSC City Slicker.
One of these days I’ll convince my better half and buy a Zero…
(Who’s Dan? Dan Fock, of course, my mate from OWC.)
Made in the 1940s for a UK store From TZ-UK:Model created in 1936 and specifically designed for the British Navy. Calibre 59 8-D with double barrel, back with bayonet closing, enamel dial marked Omega Swiss Made – Story Barrow, arabic numaral hour hands, minute track, blued steel Empire hands, triangular-profiled polished brass case designed to be screwed-in on a boat dash. Ref. British Admiralty. Item production date 3rd February 1940.
Omega calibre 59.8D, aka 59 8-day. About 3,000 of the movement were made between 1935 and 1940. I think this is the remontoir version.
Dial has ‘STORY, BARROW’ on it – seems to be an old UK retailer. That thread also speculated this was from a submarine, which might account for the oddly shaped case.
Weighs 1,660g (1.6kg) – very heavy.
About 10cm wide by 12cm tall by 7cm thick at the base of the wedge.
The 59.8D calibre also had a dead seconds version (59.8D-SCS) with spectacular decoration.
More pictures:
Pretty, eh? Mine keeps time a bit erratically, gaining or losing about 5 minutes per week. I need to do some research to see who can service these, RGM for sure.
It makes a fantastic desk clock, the well-worn case and subtly cracked enamel dial wearing their age proudly. The tick is loud and slow (18,000 vph) and winding it on Monday mornings is a nice start to the week. For just under $400, I got a cool Omega with a mysterious history – can’t do much better than that!
I’ve had decidedly poor luck with my quest for the perfect desk clock. I want a mechanical clock, preferably with an audible tick-tock, with an 8-day or greater power reserve. I want to have the enjoyable routine of winding it Monday morning and starting off the work week happy. It needs to not lose more than 2-3 minutes per week, otherwise I’ll miss phone calls. This is totally a desk toy, so budget is limited.
This started when my wife’s mother gave us a ship’s clock her father bought in 1954, but it needs a $400 service and isn’t going to keep time very well. (More of a change-the-watch clock than a navigation chronometer). It gave me the idea of a nice clock, though, dang it.
but have gone through hell with it too. It initially kept OK time, but after a few weeks starting gaining or losing minutes per day, and even finding someone who’d service it was very tough. In the end, Chelsea Clock was willing to service it, but quoted me $900 to do so. I love that clock, but really not sure I’m willing to spend that much on it.
I talked to the nice people at Timekeepers locally, who tell me that Omega a few years stopped selling parts to non-Omega watch and clockmakers. BOO OMEGA. YOU SUCK.
Especially since I’ve emailed Omega and they’re unwilling to service it, for any price. DOUBLE BOO OMEGA. QUIT BEING DICKS.
A New Hope
Timekeepers has a large stock of Jaeger-LeCoultre Atmos clocks, which I would totally adore as a mantle or desk clock. The unfinished-case models are $650, and refinished ones around $1,100 so I’ll wait and ponder that. I’ve also looked into carriage clocks, and deck watches, but hadn’t found anything good. Most were too worn, needed expensive servicing, or were too expensive.
As I’ve said before, for a while I was a student pilot at the Fox Flying Club in Illinois. Had a grand time flying Piper Archers like this one:
Check out the dash:
I’ve left that image huge so you can see details.In addition to the flight-specific bits, there’s a nice legible clock in the upper left. If you think about it, aircraft clocks need to be robust: There’s a ton of vibration and temperature variation. Modern ones like this are quartz, but they were mechanical for decades…
An eBay search for “vintage 8 days” eventually led me to buying this one.
It’s made by Waltham (squint and you can see the name on the dial), a famous now-bankrupt American brand better known for pocket watches. I would guess that they used modified pocket watch movements for these but that’s purely speculation right now.
This one is mil-spec for the US Navy, which should mean super-tough and reliable. Model number 22809-A, military part number AN5743-1. 9 jewels!
Visually, I’m in love. Uncluttered, two colors, great contrast and legibility, zero extra. Perfect.
Clock was completely dis-assembled, all parts cleaned very well, re-assembled and lubed properly with 5 kinds of Moebius oils. The best! All clocks I sell are GUARANTEED to keep good time.
Yay! That’s what I want. At $199 it’s incredibly cheap for a fully serviced 8-day clock.
Did a bit more research and bought a cheap acrylic stand too. Different seller, $15:
A Turn for the Worse And Then Better Again
Clock bought, paid, arrived in two days flat… and it won’t start. WHY?
Contacted the seller (quiche_le_poodle on eBay), a very nice guy, who promptly offered to fix it free:
Hi. Should have been running when you got it. Yes, return it. I don’t know
why it quit so soon! Usually they last a long time, many years. I have sold
hundreds of them with no problems. Sorry about that.
Ray
So it’s headed out today. I will post a followup. I’m optimistic, but then aren’t I always?
Update 8/1/13 – Ray got the clock and reports
Hi. Got the clock. Mainspring busted. That is very uncommon on this model.
Will send it back with new, not used, spring installed tomorrow.
Update 8/5/13 – Got the repaired clock today, running and looks perfect. Ray even tucked $12 in the box to cover my shipping! Now that is a nice guy. Highly recommended.
Learn More and Things To Know
Aircraft clocks seem to be as-yet-undiscovered. There’s not a lot of info on the net, and prices are quite modest for what you get. They come in different sizes and different function sets. I got the most-basic, as that matches what I want on my desk, but I’ve also seen 24-hour dials, timers (chronographs), dual-time, ones with 5VDC dial lighting, etc, etc. Prices go from $200 for this one to $1000 for a Breitling from United Airlines with all sorts of coolness:
This page has a comprehensive listing of clocks, part numbers and most-basic specs, but that’s it. Like I said, there’s not much information out there. I think this Waltham dates from the mid-1940’s, which is pretty darn cool.
Ray notes that these are calibrated to run in the vertical position. So make sure and get a stand or make one yourself.
Ray seems to be an excellent seller – his home page shows that this is his hobby, along with electronics, so his margins are probably tiny. I love finding a kindred soul in it for the love. (I can say that; after all this site is free!)
Buying Advice
Start with Ray. Make sure anything you bid on is fully serviced, cleaned, lubed and warrantied to keep good time. And do leave a comment here if you have information to share, please.
For several years, I created and maintained a Wiki-based site called WatchOtaku.com. It was a fun exercise, and I still like how well wikis work for this sort of heavily-lined content, but as of Sep 2019 I’ve taken it down. I exported the entire site as HTML and am hosting it for your reference on my server. Most of the content is less relevant, e.g. current vendor lists, but perhaps after being indexed it might sometimes be useful.
If I am ever bed-ridden but able to type, I’ll tackle the task of collating watch lists and reviews. There are a lot of them and my hobby time is limited; for now I’ll content myself with the archive.
Please note that, in a shitty display of lost data and missing features, Confluence cannot export blog posts so all of my hard work there is just lost. Yeah, I’m angry too. Another reason to stop paying Atlassian.
Update: Well goddamn it. I can’t see blog entries older than 2011, even though they’re available via URL. Hey Atlassian, this sucks.
Two sfp+ transceivers and some reconfigurations layer…
Note the magic “10G” lights!
Full view.
A test via nfs shows 300MB/sec writes and 350 reads. Next I can play with jumbo frames and such. Might put an old SSD in the NAS to see if it’ll speed it up.
ultracrepidarian 