A smooth sea never made a skilled sailor, but that doesn't mean you should get your hands covered in grease while working with bearings and then, in a rush to go bouldering, forget to wash your hands. Who would do such a thing?
Pace
On average, I took 13,600 steps in 2017 and 14,700 in 2018. At the time of writing, I have 17,000 steps for the day. Exercising my right to a spot of intellectual dishonesty; let's assume this exponential increase will continue ad infinitum. With a stride length of 80cm, my Jason and the Argonauts inspired animated skeleton could circumvent the Earth on a single day by 2306.
Apple
Of all the apple products out there, the Pink Lady is probably the best. A good Jazz Apple may come in a close second. As for Apple products, I've never been a fan, but of the swathe of misquoted remarks Steve Jobs has said over the years, there's one I've thought about with increasing regularity:
“The secret of my success is that we have gone to exceptional lengths to hire the best people in the world.”
I've not fully appreciated how applicable that statement is in a “normal” setting until recently. Surrounding yourself with smart, motivated, and genuinely pleasant people is quite a remarkable thing, which makes me think of another gem:
“You can pick your friends and you can pick your nose, but you can't pick your friends nose.”
Microwave
Why don't the glass plates inside microwaves complete an integer number of rotations before the process is complete? Maybe some of them do and I just have a very small sample size of microwaves to check. Maybe it's a case that the user's ability to control cooking time is more important than occasionally awkwardly groping a hot container. But, wouldn't it be nice to microwave a mug and have the handle start and end in the same position?
As an engineer, the solutions are all there; highly controllable stepper motors, sensors indicating position of the plate, calibrated plate turning speeds, and letting the plate complete a full rotate without microwave emission so cooking time is unchanged.
To avoid redesigning the wheel; find the time it takes for the plate to complete one full rotation under load and base all future microwaving times on multiples of that number.
For my microwave, a bowl of porridge with a total weight of 700g takes slightly under twelve seconds to perform a full rotating, with the first rotation taking slight longer. So I plumb in one minute and thirty six seconds instead of one minute and thirty seconds and everything works out. Why not one minute and twenty four seconds I hear you cry? Well, I wouldn't have enough time to cut up and de-stone the regulation five dates. Obviously.
Chalk
That moment, when you're standing in a climbing centre, Eric Clapton playing over the speakers (“If you wanna hang out”), people reaching into small bags to dust their hands off with white powdered chalk (“You've got to take her out”), and a member of staff jogs over to the sound system to quickly change tracks (“Cocaine.”); priceless.
Boulder
If you're new to bouldering, as I am, and find it a bit of a stretch, just hang in there. While it may feel like an uphill struggle, dust yourself off, get a grip and rise to the occasion. It's the sort of hobby where you can reach new heights of personal fitness without having to put yourself out on a limb. One small pinch of advice though; a good pair of climbing shoes can really give you a leg up, despite the steep cost. That being said, I'd chalk prices up to rising costs all over this niche pastime.
Puns aside; the best piece of advice that I could give, which I hadn't received myself, is no matter how much you enjoy it and how good you feel over the following day or two, don’t head back right away. Bouldering is an remarkably taxing experience and if you go too frequently, you may well walk away from one session feeling like your arms have been replaced by wet bundles of noodles.
Rise
Here's an Arduino controlled wake-up light clock that uses a Neopixel Ring and Real-Time Clock.
Keystone
How can you cause a traffic jam inside a multi-story car park? The obvious answer is drive in and stop. But what if you wanted to follow all the rules of the road and social convention in such a way that no one would get upset with you? Well then, you need some like minded people to help, or hinder, depending on how you look at it.
First of all, group up. If you're coming into the car park and looking for a space, join the (on-brand) blue team. If you're leaving, you're on the black team. Find a couple of team mates and stick close to each other; we'll need long chains to make this work.
Secondly, blue team must block the exit and black team must block the spaces. Blue team can do this by occupying the ramp by the exit and the exit itself. At the same time Black team must try and hold the downward ramp and the area in front of it.
If anyone complains to you:
“I'm just trying to get a space/go home” as appropriate.
Holding this formation for a few minutes without intervention might be enough to permanently disable the facility. More people will unknowingly join each team which will not only add to the gridlock but comically result in more spaces being made available on higher levels.