So I have an Clothing for tall men post for good reason – at 6’10” there are few options. Recently, I was watching this video about workwear and he briefly compares the crotch gusset to that of the Lululemon ‘ABC’ pant. I was intrigued, so I watched his video about the ABC Pant, in which is quite positive. This is unusual, he’s expert and incisive. It sounded like an honest to god well-made, well-designed functional pair of trousers for an acceptable price ($138 as of today, or $117 after the signup discount.) I also have a Lululemon gym bag from work (freebie for getting a patent) and it surprised me at how much I like it. So I was curious enough to go to their website and check them out:
Dude! 37″ inseam! That’s my size.
My pair arrived today; I’ll spare you a picture but they are excellent – beautifully made as the video explained (No B surfaces anywhere), have a good phone pocket and a sub-pocket for the Victorinox, inseam is long enough, super soft and comfortable and the tech-pant-sheen is minimal.
(The guesset is as described. ABC. Look it up.)
Anyway, Lululemon basically only has the 5-pocket as their tall size. Nothing in shirts or other trouser styles, but these are 100% wheelhouse for me and I’m quite pleased. I think they will be perfect for my next travel adventure, and of course bike errands or at the office. A bit pricy, but I actually feel for once that, having watched the teardown video, I’m actually getting value for my money. That I can recommend. That earns it a place on #YouShouldBuy.
Here’s a workshop and showroom tour of the Melanzana cut-and-sew shop in Leadville, Colorado. Here’s an interview with Melanzana’s founder, Fritz Howard. Melanzana produces all of their clothing in Leadville, a town of about 2600 people which, at over ten thousand feet above sea level, is the highest incorporated city in the US. This makes it challenging for them to expand production, and ultimately constrains their growth as a company. They handle this partly by selling the vast majority of their product in-person at their showroom, which actually requires appointments for most purchases and has a per-customer, per-visit limit on the quantity of clothing one can purchase.
I find Melanzana’s business strategy counterintuitive and unexpected, and I suppose it helps to explain the fact that I was totally unaware of Melanzana until a couple of months ago, when I was given one of their hoodies more or less by accident. What has remained a mystery, though, is the honestly shocking amount of attention this hoodie has received since then; it’s easily the most commented-upon garment I’ve ever owned, with both friends and strangers calling the brand out by name and complimenting the sweatshirt’s frumpy yet somehow athletic drape. I guess this is all to say that Melanzana seems to have forged their own idiosyncratic moral framework, and has somehow managed to convince a large number of New Yorkers that that framework is worthy of their attention.
I did a bit of looking and the video by MyLifeOutdoors was convincing – I managed to time a release on the site and bought the micro grid hoodie. It’s gonna get a lot of wear, and I figured it for something worth sharing. Melanzana reminds me of the Patagonia ethos – made for use, treats the employees well, does repairs and isn’t trying to grow endlessly. Good stuff.
Nearly perfect but just too fragile, leading to lots of orders:
They are nearly ideal. Zero flavor retention, easy to clean, great for hot coffee and ice cold beer and tea and sparkling water. I get the 18oz version in two packs. Plus they insulate well so no condensation and I can savor.
But they break so damned easily. Which is why I’ve repurchased so many times.
A while ago the Wirecutter recommended a glass lined bottle from Purist and I bought one. It’s as promised but the shape is too deep to hand wash and the lid is impossible to clean internally. so off I went.
And yes I firmly believe that coffee flavor is best from a wide opening shape and glass or ceramic. Reddit agrees… mostly.
The main features I want are insulation, glass or ceramic lining and large at 16oz or so. Two full cups from my French press. I found this Asobu:
It’s… excellent. Super slick coating, insulated well, a breeze to clean, coffee tastes great. Nice and wide so the aromas are good.
The shape is a lot like my Yeti that I still have.
I’ve had it a few days, rigorously testing with coffee, tea, sparkling water, beer, mint tea and it’s great. Super slick ceramic, nice cork, wide and stable, good value at $30. Worthy of my YouShouldBuy category!
It’s more upscale than my DI-500, with mechanical 9015 movement, included bracelet & strap, ceramic bezel and much fancier dial. For all of that, the price is incredible.
They have black, dark blue, bright blue, orange, yellow and white dial versions, all with attention to contrast and legibility. For example, the white dial version has black-edged hands and markers – nice!
The bright blue is called ‘Hydra Hat’ after a piece of dive equipment, and it’s lovely. And tempting. The black dial is the only one sporting a few color highlights, which is the only complaint I can muster.
I think the other colors would also have benefited from a bit of color pop here and there. Ahh well.
Nice saturated orange.
Me? I just ordered the white dial. I think it’ll be versatile, legible and a delight to own, and Scurfa seem to hold value very well in case the 41mm / 165g is too large or heavy for me.
By way of comparison, I’ve been debating the new Seiko SNE569:
38mm, sapphire, solar quartz movement, unknown bezel (aluminum or possibly plastic, definitely not ceramic.) MSRP is around 550USD, with eBay price of $450. The bracelet has folded end links, and that plus the cheaper bezel are my main annoyances. Great watch, so-so value.
Scurfa – the watches and the values both continue to impress me. Can’t wait for mine to get here!
So here’s the latest, which I’m immediately adding to the “you should buy” list:
Weather station, installed in my back yard.
That’s the WeatherFlow Tempest Weather System, and it’s awesome. Briefly:
Smartphone and web-based displays
Simple network protocol, so there’s lots of open source to capture data
Innovative, clever sensors – ultrasonics for wind speed and direction, piezo for rainfall. No moving parts!
Solar powered
Works with or without the internet
Also has cool stuff like a lightning sensor (useless in San Diego)
Calibrated to lux and watts per square meter
Reports UV levels too
Precise temp/humidity of course.
Here’s a picture from the vendor:
Basically a does-everything solution. I found it via this TechHive review and got one ordered. It took a few weeks to arrive, but having just installed it, like I say, I’m already a fan. You have to pay more ($329) for the better tech, but having bought and had fail any number of $50 to $100 ‘weather stations,’ I’m ready to buy it once and enjoy it.
These are $38 on Banggood. It measures temperature, humidity and airborne particulates. Laser light scattering technique, the same as in my more expensive Purple Air I wrote about previously. These are display only, two screens, no connectivity but perhaps that’s all you need for something you place on a shelf.
Thanks to my friend Roger for finding these. I bought two and loaned one to our neighbor who promptly used it to check in vs out and verified his AC filters.
Neighbor readings
Anyway, it’s well made and cheap, so if you want one I say get it.
Consequence two: The people behind the cheap and awesome WiFi webcam brand Wyze have written custom firmware to convert a wireless security camera into a very decent USB 1080p webcam. And it’s free.
Hardware requirements
Wyze webcam v2 – vendor, or Amazon. $26 bucks as of today.
8GB or so micro SD card. You might have one around if you use Raspberry Pi. I bought this two-pack of overkill 32GB cards, since that’s a useful size for Pi project. $14.
USB3 A to A cable. These are unusual and I had to order one. I bought a two pack so I can have a spare. $12, and cheaper versions exist. Note that your computer needs to have a USB3 port with an A plug – I’m using the one on my LG monitor.
Flash the firmware
Instructions are here on their site – TL;DR is to unzip the download and copy demo.bin into the root directory. Power up holding reset for five seconds. Pretty do-able even for the less technical.
Results
There are two Wyze cameras, basic or a $35 pan/tilt/zoom. I already had two of each, because at $20 to $35 each, they’re in my hobby budget and have been delighted with ’em. I chose the base camera as I see no use for PTZ.
Here’s the built-in webcam from my MacBook. It’s the 2018 15″ model, my work computer.
Now here’s the Wyze:
Color is a bit off, but resolution is a huge amount better. it’s also wide-angle, with strong curvature at the edges.
I was just in time for a Zoom birthday party.
Why yes, my family does look sharper than everyone else. And wide angle was perfect for this use. Sometimes you get lucky. You can kinda see my low-rent mounting:
I’ll leave it that way for now, as it makes it quick to move around and try other lighting.
Overall – recommended. Pretty cheap, the parts are versatile, and when this ends you just re-flash the camera to get back to a nice smart camera/IoT device.
Air quality right now in SoCol. One of those is my house.
In July of 2018 I paid $244 to a company called Adrionics for a chunk of PVC stuffed with electronics, the PA-II:
Mine, mounted next to the garage door
It’s a sophisticated, lab-grade piece of hardware – twin laser-based light scattering particulate sensors, and it measures how much junk is in your air. In particular (a pun I am delighted with), the “PM2.5” size range most important to your health and lungs.
It’s rated for indoor or outdoor use. I put mine next to the garage door mainly due to the difficulty of running a power wire outside. Outside is better but you could benefit by having indoor and outdoor if you’re feeling fancy.
You can read about the PMS5003 sensor here, it’s pretty nifty. The PA-II uses twin sensors so you can plot and compare the two readings and thus get better data:
Science! You can connect directly to the sensor (it uses WiFi) and see the full details as well as temp, RH% and breakouts of counts per size range.
Leftover smoke from distant fires, I think.
And even if you don’t own one, head over to https://purpleair.com/ and try their map – you can see see local and regional quality at a snap, as with the top image in this post. I can tell, for example, that we’re in fire season as the quality is usually much much better. And if your health is affected (asthma, seasonal allergies or the like) then a sensor makes even more sense. There are other ‘smart home’ air quality monitors with designer enclosures; I don’t recommend them. Do your own research but I found that PurpleAir was a guy who started making these for himself and then for others who asked.
Each sensor automatically shares its data so you benefit others too – I like that. I’ve done a few experiments with cheap air quality sensors and have come to believe that you can’t get good data without spending a chunk of money, so while this is a non-trivial expense I consider them a good value and recommend buying one.
Or maybe check the map – if someone nearby has one already, then just bookmark the map and benefit from some citizen science.
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.
ultracrepidarian 