So that’s the show so far.
Das Boot #5
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Monthly Archives: July 2009
Santoism #3
Ron: [About Pat] “I’d just like to have his brain for one day… It would be amazing!”
Judd: What would you do with it?
Ron: I’d read a lot.
Das Boot #4
So it’s been a little while since the last wooden ship update… I had to take a bit of a break after I broke something (sad panda).
I had to bend the bulwarks to make them curve alone with the sides of the deck. That means getting the wood wet, gently bending by hand, then letting it dry. This process seemed to require a couple of repeats to get it just right. Once they were all set, I glued the first side on. The next day when trying to fit the other side on I notices that the bottom edge of the piece was opposite how it ought to be. Further investigating revealed I had glued the previous section on backwards (boo-urns. I was able to remove the piece eventually (very, very slowly and careful) but attempting to bend the piece the opposite way proved too much for it, and it broke.
I wrote an email to the company, which it turns out is in Spain… A few days later I got a reply, filled with a lot of internal communication all in Spanish, saying :
Hola Ron, Las piezas solicitadas serán enviadas por correo gratuitamente. Requested parts will be send by post and free of charge. Saludos
Turns out they’re also awesome. So now I just had to wait for that replacement, and a few weeks later it arrived. Since then I’ve been able to make some good progress. After bending the new bulwarks very carefully and very gently (and checking the diagram repeatedly to make sure I was doing it the right way this time), I I was able to get them correctly place, and from that point on the work has gone from fairly large steps with many parts (e.g. make the hull from these 25 strips of wood) to small, intricate work (e.g. shape this piece to fit along the hull). It’s really starting to look like a boat now. And I got to use my drill bits!
You can see more pictures here: http://ronveenstra.com/pictures/wooden_ship/
Trivia #10
I ran across a good trivia question today, and it’s been quite some time since I asked the last one, so first off, check out the answer to that question here: http://ronveenstra.com/blog/584/#8417. I thought that solution was rather brilliant.
The next question is somewhat similar, in that it requires thinking. (We’re just going to have to use our brains…. dammit).
In a small room stands 3 people. One person always tells the truth. The next person sometimes tells the truth, and sometimes lies. The third person always lies. These 3 people know the habits of the others (Thus the truth-teller knows who the liar is, and who the random guy is, etc). You are allowed to ask a total of 3 questions total, and can direct each of your questions to any one person. You can ask the same question twice (it then counts as 2 questions), and you may ask the same person the same question if you so choose (again, counting as 2 questions). After the 3 questions, you must be able to positively identify the truth-telling habits of all 3 people. Go!
The Largest Vehicle on Earth
Mark Van Allen and I were talking the other day, and he brought this to my attention… and I was instantly in awe:
It’s a mining machine they made out in Germany. You can read all about it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bagger_288. I’m not going to lie, the first thing I thought of when I saw the picture was “Decepticon!”
Now, somehow this article and surrounding conversation resulted in me reading about SkyLab for a few hours. I ? Internet.
America!
A M E R I C A !!!!1!!!one