Brutkey

Likely Jan Lukas
@likelyjanlukas@mstdn.ca

A historic day! Yesterday, I walked M*A*S*H-number of steps. 😂

#MASH
#walking
#walk
#steps
#StepCount

Likely Jan Lukas
@likelyjanlukas@mstdn.ca

@rachel@norfolk.social

I decided to buy it. It was less than $5 #Canadian so not a big deal for an impulse purchase.

A few minutes later I came across the #sextant's box, complete with a carved-#foam interior, so old that the foam was starting to crumble to dust.

The box was priced separately, at something like $12.

When I went to the cashier, I showed that the two items clearly belonged together and could I get a discount on them as a single item? The manager let me have both for the price of the box.

7/x

Likely Jan Lukas
@likelyjanlukas@mstdn.ca

@rachel@norfolk.social

So that is the story of how I happened to acquire a modern #sextant for only $12.

When I came home and could browse the Internet (this was long before I had data access on my phone), I discovered that yes, it was missing a tube or scope at the eyepiece section, but was otherwise complete.

I have been either busy or ill since acquiring it but do fully intend and expect to play around with it one of these days.

But I still laugh at myself for my brain being so misled by the sextant's material (dark plastic) and my general unfamiliarity with the devices (on the #landlocked #prairies ).

Clearly the charity store didn't recognise it either, or I'm sure it wouldn't have been casually tossed among miscellanea for $5, but behind glass at a rather higher price. 😂

Best of luck to you on your quest to borrow a sextant! 🙂❤️

8/fin

Likely Jan Lukas
@likelyjanlukas@mstdn.ca

@rachel@norfolk.social

Again, I live nowhere near a sea or ocean. I've never seen an actual #sextant in real life, just ones in movies or illustrations.

And those sextants were always shiny #brass, not #plastic!

But now that I understood the object's purpose, I also realised that #plastic was an excellent #medium for using in a #boat or #ship: it won't rust or corrode from #water or #salt.

6/x

Likely Jan Lukas
@likelyjanlukas@mstdn.ca

@rachel@norfolk.social

I decided to buy it. It was less than $5 #Canadian so not a big deal for an impulse purchase.

A few minutes later I came across the #sextant's box, complete with a carved-#foam interior, so old that the foam was starting to crumble to dust.

The box was priced separately, at something like $12.

When I went to the cashier, I showed that the two items clearly belonged together and could I get a discount on them as a single item? The manager let me have both for the price of the box.

7/x

Likely Jan Lukas
@likelyjanlukas@mstdn.ca

@rachel@norfolk.social

A pendulum! This jogs my brain to an apparently-random #memory, likely from #JamesBurke's #TheDayTheUniverseChanged series, about how #latitude was easy to determine via the skies, but that #longitude could not be measured until timepieces that did NOT require a #pendulum to drive it were invented.

Pendulum movement isn't very functional on a rolling #ship, after all.

And at that moment, the name of the item
I held and it's purpose snapped vividly to mind: it was a #sextant!

5/x

Likely Jan Lukas
@likelyjanlukas@mstdn.ca

@rachel@norfolk.social

Again, I live nowhere near a sea or ocean. I've never seen an actual #sextant in real life, just ones in movies or illustrations.

And those sextants were always shiny #brass, not #plastic!

But now that I understood the object's purpose, I also realised that #plastic was an excellent #medium for using in a #boat or #ship: it won't rust or corrode from #water or #salt.

6/x

Likely Jan Lukas
@likelyjanlukas@mstdn.ca

@rachel@norfolk.social

The item also has a looped cord on it, as black as the rest. I feel the cord but can't discern what it is for. It doesn't seem long enough to act as a chest strap for some sort of #weapon, at least, not for an adult.

And by this point I'm pretty sure this wasn't made for #kids to #play with.

I hold the cord and let the plastic item drop down, affirming that it is indeed quite light. Again, this makes me think it is a #replica or #copy of something from #film or #TV.

But as the item dangles from the cord, it swings slightly, back and forth, back and forth: just like a pendulum.

4/x

Likely Jan Lukas
@likelyjanlukas@mstdn.ca

@rachel@norfolk.social

A pendulum! This jogs my brain to an apparently-random #memory, likely from #JamesBurke's #TheDayTheUniverseChanged series, about how #latitude was easy to determine via the skies, but that #longitude could not be measured until timepieces that did NOT require a #pendulum to drive it were invented.

Pendulum movement isn't very functional on a rolling #ship, after all.

And at that moment, the name of the item
I held and it's purpose snapped vividly to mind: it was a #sextant!

5/x

Likely Jan Lukas
@likelyjanlukas@mstdn.ca

@rachel@norfolk.social

As I turn the item around in my hands, I am still quite baffled by it.

I now discover there appears to be an eyepiece and in front of this are several changeable filters, as in, a stack of filters on a hinge that can be slid across the eyepiece one by one (or more) as-desired.

I am EXTREMELY intruiged now but still suspect this is something like a copy of something used in #SciFi.

The filters are what temps me to possibly buy this toy. I'm always interested in things related to changing light and I could probably remove these easily enough at home.

But I'm still pondering …

3/x

Likely Jan Lukas
@likelyjanlukas@mstdn.ca

@rachel@norfolk.social

The item also has a looped cord on it, as black as the rest. I feel the cord but can't discern what it is for. It doesn't seem long enough to act as a chest strap for some sort of #weapon, at least, not for an adult.

And by this point I'm pretty sure this wasn't made for #kids to #play with.

I hold the cord and let the plastic item drop down, affirming that it is indeed quite light. Again, this makes me think it is a #replica or #copy of something from #film or #TV.

But as the item dangles from the cord, it swings slightly, back and forth, back and forth: just like a pendulum.

4/x

Likely Jan Lukas
@likelyjanlukas@mstdn.ca

@rachel@norfolk.social

I pick it up to get a better look at it and notice it has some sliding parts and even some sort of gauge written along one part.

I'm still thinking it's a #kid #toy but am very impressed with the quality of the moulding: most plastoc toys are a bit rough here and there but this is absolutely smooth and the sliding bit moves smoothly.

I revise my guess to this being perhaps an #adult toy in the sense of it being a replica from some #SF #SciFi movie I'm unfamiliar with, made for either display or #cosplay.

2/x

Likely Jan Lukas
@likelyjanlukas@mstdn.ca

@rachel@norfolk.social

As I turn the item around in my hands, I am still quite baffled by it.

I now discover there appears to be an eyepiece and in front of this are several changeable filters, as in, a stack of filters on a hinge that can be slid across the eyepiece one by one (or more) as-desired.

I am EXTREMELY intruiged now but still suspect this is something like a copy of something used in #SciFi.

The filters are what temps me to possibly buy this toy. I'm always interested in things related to changing light and I could probably remove these easily enough at home.

But I'm still pondering …

3/x

Likely Jan Lukas
@likelyjanlukas@mstdn.ca

@rachel@norfolk.social

Alas distance makes it impossible for me to help you, but hilariously I -- someone in the middle of the #Canadian #prairies with zero access to sea or ocean, DO happen to have a #sextant.

The story of this is amusing (IMO) so please bear with me while I share. 🙂

So one day I'm at a chain #charity #secondhand goods store (#ValueVillage, in particular) and I find this weird triangular-ish item randomly among the less-categorised items.

At first I assume it is a toy: I don't keep up with modern kids' #TV or #film franchises but it looks like the sort of weird item that might get designed as some sort of #alien #weapon, especially as it was made of very dark plastic.

1/x

Likely Jan Lukas
@likelyjanlukas@mstdn.ca

@rachel@norfolk.social

I pick it up to get a better look at it and notice it has some sliding parts and even some sort of gauge written along one part.

I'm still thinking it's a #kid #toy but am very impressed with the quality of the moulding: most plastoc toys are a bit rough here and there but this is absolutely smooth and the sliding bit moves smoothly.

I revise my guess to this being perhaps an #adult toy in the sense of it being a replica from some #SF #SciFi movie I'm unfamiliar with, made for either display or #cosplay.

2/x

Likely Jan Lukas
@likelyjanlukas@mstdn.ca

@HyL@mstdn.ca

I have no doubt that #Edmonton could significantly reduce the urban #HeatIsland effect by remediating all communities presently without treed #boulevards between the concrete #sidewalks and the #asphalt streets to having such features.

I don't know if new neighbourhoods are still developed this way, but it is clear from observing where frontyard fencelines are set that there IS sufficient setback along many (all?) such neighbourhoods ro accomplish this without disturbing private property in the least.

Even prior to experiencing a #HeatDome and sustained #HeatWaves my neighbourhood was a nightmare of no-#shade heat when throughout the summers for any #pedestrian.

Sure, some homeowners plant trees but vanishingly few have a broad enough canopy to shade even the sidewalk. None cover the black asphalt.

😡

#yeg
#heat
#ExtremeHeat
#mitigation
#ClimateChange
#yyc
#abwx
#yegwx
#yycwx

Likely Jan Lukas
@likelyjanlukas@mstdn.ca

@HyL@mstdn.ca

Also: thanks for sharing the article. ❤️

I have known about qanats and how they work for many years but some of the other #heat #mitigations discussed were new to me.

I wa surprised they didn't include covered pedestrian arcades but perhaps that is commonplace there already regardless? 🤔 (I don't know … just musing.)

Likely Jan Lukas
@likelyjanlukas@mstdn.ca

Watched an old movie yesterday.

I couldn't help but notice that the criminally-insane former Chief Inspector Dreyfus, once escaped from the asylum, set himself up in pretty fancy digs for the lair housing his superweapon with which he threatened the world, starting with the #UN.

When not playing pipe organ whilst wearing a cape, Dreyfus preferred to sit on a golden chair, almost throne-like, with rich red upholstered padding.

And that #chair, while no doubt a #FilmProp / #StageProp looks more real and more finely-detailed than the #TemuTatt currently being added to a certain national leader's head office.

🤔😳😬

#ThePinkPanther
#TheGoldHouse
#design
#detailing