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The Fixer archives

flashes in the night sky

I do not know what they are, but am certain they are not of nature.

Between 10:30 and 11:00 I took my puppy out for his final relief before bedding down.

It was under a perfectly clear, starry sky.

Due south, in the mostly uninhabited Bitterroot Mountains I thought I saw a brilliant flash of light.

No clouds. No thunder. Just a ball of brilliant light from a great distance to the south.

Now I am pondering and paying attention.

Several of them followed. I was not timing or recording, but every 3 to 5 minutes another […]

mushroom leather

I am currently taking a weekly evening class on growing oyster mushrooms. Our instructor, Chase, spent the 6 months following his oil field job layoff studying mushrooms, and experimenting with their production. He is enthusiastically passing on what he learned.

There is SO MUCH about mushrooms that I did not know. Of course the rather meticulous, involved propagation is part of that, but the nature of a mushroom colony is quite different than what I imagined. The part we all see, know and eat is such a tiny element in the being.

Moreover, mushrooms exist in a […]

crafty solutions

Here are a lot of clever ideas using everyday items in unusual ways to solve common problems.

[…]

night lights

It’s a silly little thing, but the night light in our bathroom was getting reluctant to turn off. Clicking the switch back and forth, this way, that way, willing it to turn off… eventually it refused.

Heck, I have another. Replaced it.

Throw it away … this is ‘Meruka, after all.

But NO. I’m me. It has a Phillips screw that appears to hold two halves of it together. Set it aside until I get around to it.

Tonight I opened it up. Figured out how it worked – and why it didn’t.

Reached in with a small […]

totally useless information

This stuff has a major advantage over most of what emits out of your boob tube. It is true. As far as I can tell, however, it is also useless. But I couldn’t just let it slip through my fingers without putting it somewhere. This is the place it landed.

Where did “Piss Poor” come from? Interesting history. They used to use urine to tan animal skins, so families used to all pee in a pot. And then once it was full it was taken and sold to the tannery… If you had to do this to survive, you […]

free book

Immortalizing an author by bringing his book back from almost disappearing, the publisher of website Simple Liberty has restored an out-of-print book:

. . . And Then There Were None

By Eric Frank Russell

Having some knowledge of the webmaster and a recommendation from another author and all around great person, I look forward to reading the book myself. It is available free as both a .pdf or as a web page. Take your pick.

twins

Making the rounds of the Internet is a double-barrelled 1911-type .45 handgun. A goofy idea in my mind, but an interesting engineering and fabrication exercise. It reminds me of twin engine cars from 30 years ago. That made me look and I found one of them.