I found some more scheisse
Jul. 21st, 2003 12:05 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pseydtonneA week ago, I found a nice collection of stuff being thrown out in my neighborhood. ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
chaggalagirl and I wound up dragging home a round mirror with wall mounts, an ironing board and a heavy iron from the 1970s, some milk crates, pots and pans, and even a mop.
Today I found two floor lamps on the same part of Broadway in Somerville that had netted me a filing cabinet. One has three incandescent bulbs on pivots -- it works fine, but the turn switches are tough to turn without pliers. The other lamp is a 300-watt halogen torchiere, which was missing a wall plug.
I took the torchiere apart while I was cleaning and found the previous owner's handiwork. The wire had gone loose elsewhere and thus duct tape (not even electrical tape) had forged a crummy bond. I need to grab some black extension cord, some wire nuts (oh wait, I think I have some) and a new switch. I dislike the twist-toggle and would prefer a rheostat, which is whatfangirl715 has on her torchiere.
Not all old stuff is great, though. I had put my old white keyboard back onto my computer for a few minutes, mainly for sport. I used to love the old keyboard because it had a large backspace key and a well-sized backslash key. Also, it came with the first computer I'd ever purchased with my own money, a 200 MHz Pentium MMX with 32 MB RAM and the last version of Windows 95. I had switched because I found a black keyboard that matched my newer computer's tower. I found the older keyboard was harder to type on -- the keys felt slow and worn-out. I put more effort into lifting my fingers after each keystroke. The bright reflection from the white keys was also annoying.
Maggie and I also drove around our future town this evening. We wanted to see how to get to various places (such as the parks, the supermarket, friends' houses, and the expressway). I walked around the building a couple times, noting the Dish Network 500-series mounted to the side of our guest bedroom. The cable wire from the dish runs around drain pipes, passes a connector, and then has been snipped. Strange world...
It's strange that I'll now be in a desperately cute town (Melrose is a city, actually). It blows my mind.
You'll have to excuse me now -- I found a PCI TV card at the Flea today. I can hardly wait to listen to FM radio over my computer.
-too geeky again, Dante
chaggalagirl and I wound up dragging home a round mirror with wall mounts, an ironing board and a heavy iron from the 1970s, some milk crates, pots and pans, and even a mop.Today I found two floor lamps on the same part of Broadway in Somerville that had netted me a filing cabinet. One has three incandescent bulbs on pivots -- it works fine, but the turn switches are tough to turn without pliers. The other lamp is a 300-watt halogen torchiere, which was missing a wall plug.
I took the torchiere apart while I was cleaning and found the previous owner's handiwork. The wire had gone loose elsewhere and thus duct tape (not even electrical tape) had forged a crummy bond. I need to grab some black extension cord, some wire nuts (oh wait, I think I have some) and a new switch. I dislike the twist-toggle and would prefer a rheostat, which is what
fangirl715 has on her torchiere.Not all old stuff is great, though. I had put my old white keyboard back onto my computer for a few minutes, mainly for sport. I used to love the old keyboard because it had a large backspace key and a well-sized backslash key. Also, it came with the first computer I'd ever purchased with my own money, a 200 MHz Pentium MMX with 32 MB RAM and the last version of Windows 95. I had switched because I found a black keyboard that matched my newer computer's tower. I found the older keyboard was harder to type on -- the keys felt slow and worn-out. I put more effort into lifting my fingers after each keystroke. The bright reflection from the white keys was also annoying.
Maggie and I also drove around our future town this evening. We wanted to see how to get to various places (such as the parks, the supermarket, friends' houses, and the expressway). I walked around the building a couple times, noting the Dish Network 500-series mounted to the side of our guest bedroom. The cable wire from the dish runs around drain pipes, passes a connector, and then has been snipped. Strange world...
It's strange that I'll now be in a desperately cute town (Melrose is a city, actually). It blows my mind.
You'll have to excuse me now -- I found a PCI TV card at the Flea today. I can hardly wait to listen to FM radio over my computer.
-too geeky again, Dante
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no subject
Date: 2003-07-21 06:46 am (UTC)Beware - the rheostat was the point of (flaming) failure on the old torchieres, which is why it's hard to find nowadays. If you do put one it, make sure it can handle the heat, and make sure it's got a good heat sink - cause if you dim the light it'll be bleeding off like 400W as heat...ouch!
TMH
no subject
Date: 2003-07-21 06:07 pm (UTC)I've spent too much of my life in offices with fluorescent lighting. It's just enough light that you can see, not enough to keep from eye strain. Terrible spectrum, too -- ever look at an infrared photo of an office? It's dark, with giant bright spots wherever someone has incandescent lighting.
I thought the fires with torchieres came from the exposed bulbs burning anythign they touch. My freshman year roomie used to light his cigarettes off my halogen lamp.
-you're all so smart we'll I'm Dim, Dante
no subject
Date: 2003-07-22 02:54 pm (UTC)You mean like this?
no subject
Date: 2003-07-22 02:58 pm (UTC)Yeah, that causes the "dorm burner" fires. But the failures I've seen (and I've broken 3 dimmer-torches ;-) ) all contained fried-looking electronics inside.
Flourescents + monitors = instant headache. I've switched to halogens where I can myself. A new halogen desk lamp that puts out light like a 150W bulb should be easy to find, somewhere in the $50 range? Dunno. Otherwise - dunno. A dimmer might work. The rheo inside might work. Just make sure it's rated for the amperage.
TMH