The Palmville Globe Volume 2 Number 28
Man Makes Metric Conversion
Joe McDonnell, 79 and a resident of Palmville Twp, Minnesota, recently started using the metric system. "The US seriously considered switching to the metric system in 1975" McDonnell tells the press, "but due to citizen resistance we have the current hybrid system. This system is inconvenient for left handed people like myself when it comes to measuring cups. The measures Americans prefer are visible when the cup is held in the right hand. Every morning I measure ten ounces of water for coffee, and finally realized ten ounces is almost exactly 300 milliliters (295.73) which number I can read while holding the cup in my left hand. I have memorized that equivalence." In a follow up communication McDonnell reports that using the metric measurement has eliminated spills. "I used to tip the cup while twisting it to read the old 'Imperial' measurements on the back side, but no more," he says.
Man Repairs Mini-Tiller
Joe McDonnell, 79 and an amateur small-engine mechanic, recently repaired a tiller after a no-go situation. "I rarely use this machine because it's so small, but the other day I needed to get between the rows in the garden. The tiller burns oil mixed in with the gas and is very smoky during operation. When it quit working after I was half done, I checked the gas first then decided to check the air filter, but I could not find the air cleaner filter. I was about to take it to my guy who fixes my small engines but decided to check one more time. Here, what I thought was the muffler was really the air cleaner cover. Once I cleaned the air filter, the engine ran fine. The smoke from the engine had made the cover black so it resembled a muffler." In a follow-up email, McDonnell says he's glad he was able to fix the tiller himself. "It would have been embarrassing to admit to my engine guy that I couldn't find the air filter," he writes.
Squib Cellar
People are always saying such and such is not in their wheelhouse, which is fine unless it's steering a ship that's not in their wheelhouse.
Good popes bad popes
Most were in the middle
Rome too had good emperors
One who played the fiddle
30 is the new 20
20 is the new 10
10 is the…let’s not get silly here
Row row row your boat
Giving it your all
Madly madly madly madly
Life's a waterfall
Buddhists say we can achieve enlightenment by cleaning our inner mirror.
A lucky few get to send their mirrors through the car wash.
The rest of us have to settle for the bucket of dirty water next to the gas pump.
Obsessive collecting indicates a need -
Stamp collectors want to travel.
Collectors of crockery are always hungry.
And book collectors feel their ignorance as a profound emptiness.
I, too, make occasional forays into metric. For example, I couldn't tell you what 3 ounces would be, but I know 100g just fine. When I count my water intake it's mLs and liters all the way.
ReplyDeleteI used to really enjoy the adage "50 is the new 40"...but you really brought some gravity to the situation with the downward shift. Mike Rowe said in an interview Friday night that 7 million 20-somethings (mostly males) are NILF - Not in the Labor Force - a new phrase for me. I think this is evidence for your "20 is the new 10.." I just hosted twelve boys going into 6th, 7th and 9th grade and I think they are happy to enjoy water fights and flashlight tag. This makes me think that slowing down youth is not necessarily a bad thing as long as they can ramp up to readiness when they become (legal) adults. On the other hand, if they're going to live to be 100, maybe it makes sense to shift the timeframe of youth and add another 10 years.
All this to say: I miss Salon!
Speaking of fiddles, you are in fine with your squibs today. Hey diddle!
ReplyDeleteStrangely, I use a SS pitcher with no measurements indicated on it, inside nor out, and have learned that should I fill it with water up to a certain point I'll make 9 cups of coffee and a hair or two more than that, ten cups of coffee. It's ambidexstrous in this respect (according to Merriam-Webster although the spell check here underlines it in argument .) suggesting you can use this pitcher in either your left or right hand; i.e., port or starboard appendages and attain an alike amount of coffee no matter what the metric or ounce designation.
ReplyDeleteI don't have an Automechanic Degree from Dunwoody Technical Institute in MPLS, Mn (Maybe it's in St. Paul, I didn't fact-check.) like 'some people.' But during my residency in NW Minnesota these past 47 years, I've gleaned a little bit about small engines myself, one of them being the importance of using clean gasoline and its mixture with 2-cycle oil. I had purchased 10 gallons of gasoline in Roseau in two five gallon jugs. One of the jugs I had left open by accident the following night; it had rained, but so very little under an oak tree canopy. Despite, I gambled it was okay to use, using a gallon of it in a mixture of Stihl 2-cycle oil in the Stihl FS-131 Brush Cutter Joe and I own in tandem. The brush cutter started and ran 'okay' but didn't wouldn't idle for some reason; so I took a break because of the heat of the day, Ending the break, I topped it off and try as I might couldn't get it started again; I gave up. The next morning I went to Wannaska for five gallons of fresh gas, drained the tank on the brush cutter, refilled it with a new mixed-gas mixture, and after several pulls, it eventually started and idled as it should without prompting. Ran like a champ. It was worth the six-mile round trip investment,
ReplyDelete