Author: Darius

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Turntable Repair Project Update

My old turntable may be back in action soon.

I roped my friend Cliff into giving me a hand figuring out how to repair the cracked and wobbling plastic drive belt pulley. It doubles as a strobe indicator, so repairing it is best. This turntable is a somewhat rare thing from the 70’s. Some parts are still available, but not this strobe pulley.

I think Cliff’s repair job is going to work. Here are a couple photos…

IMG_0882 IMG_0883

You can see the cracked plastic in the close-up picture above. Cliff cut a copper tube for the inner post sleeve, glued in the shards of the original part, and then packed it all in a special epoxy modeling clay. the larger outercopper tube then adds structure and also cut away a bit of excess clay.

Here is what it will look like in position, shown here with the drive belt pulled aside, since the strobe pulley repair is not yet set. it spins freely with no discernible wobble. I think this is going to work!

Pulley in position
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Back to the Hack

I took a break this afternoon while my old friend Cliff was here with his kids. Cliff and I fiddled with the repair project on my old turntable (more about that later) while the kids played my piano and guitar and took some photos of the horses.

Now I’m back into the WordPress hacking to get all my IndieWeb stuff set up just-so. This post is a test of my POSSE to Twitter and Facebook.

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A great interview…

Tim Ferris has an interview show, and a recent guest was Arnold Schwarzenegger. The conversation is wide-ranging, fun and inspiring. Check it out:

http://fourhourworkweek.com/2015/02/02/arnold-schwarzenegger/

If you use iTunes:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-tim-ferriss-show/id863897795?mt=2

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A better Steve Jobs

I’m looking forward to the new book about Steve Jobs, coming in a few weeks. The Isaacson book was a disappointment, and this one seems (by reports) to do a much better job of capturing the man and the complexity of his story. As Tim Cook says in an interview with Fast Company:

II thought the [Walter] Isaacson book did him a tremendous disservice. It was just a rehash of a bunch of stuff that had already been written, and focused on small parts of his personality. You get the feeling that [Steve’s] a greedy, selfish egomaniac. It didn’t capture the person.

Read the whole article. Just this short piece gives a deeper view of the man.

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And, Beer!

I’m fascinated by Noble Brewer, a startup I discovered today at Launch Festival 2015. As they say,

We interview dozens of homebrewers to find the very best to feature in Noble Brewer. Once we’ve selected our homebrewers, we work with a professional brewery to produce our homebrewers award winning recipes. Then when the beer’s ready, we combine all our homebrewer’s beers into a single shipment and deliver to you!

What’s interests me here is that Claude and Lauralynnn have identified a niche where people are passionate, both as consumers and as creators. I’ve only had a short conversation with them, but I’m impressed by how they are thinking about this market and I’ll be watching eagerly to see what they do with it.

Update: because I joined, I have a link for you to get the same special deal, even if you aren’t here at Launch Festival:

http://ctt.ec/ScMOU+

That will get you a special promotional price for your first month. Move quickly… the discount is reduced as more people join.