BTW: a friend of mine in Brisbane wanted to do some woodworking while in lockdown.
But he can’t because there is zero 2x4 available in Queensland. What little there is is all going to the building industry, who are also facing severe shortages.
Bunnings told him that they don’t expect any more stock for a month or two.
I’m being told that the prices and supply are normalizing here, but have not had the time or inclination to see personally.
Everything described here is still correct.
How to use this computer to update your Facebook status will be described in a subsequent film.
I see “Univac”, I think, “Uniblab”!
You know what I’ve been missing for a while? Lunchbox computer cases. Back in the day, you could get one that took full-ish sized cards and a Mini ATX or ITX motherboard. I always liked them. There was an outfit that tried to do a 21st-century version but it never got off the ground.
WMI (Windows Management Interface) has an “Enclosure” setting that is configured by the manufacturer (if they know what they are doing)
“Lunch Box” is 16 (10 Hexadecimal)
| Value | Meaning |
|---|---|
| 01h | Other |
| 02h | Unknown |
| 03h | Desktop |
| 04h | Low Profile Desktop |
| 05h | Pizza Box |
| 06h | Mini Tower |
| 07h | Tower |
| 08h | Portable |
| 09h | Laptop |
| 0Ah | Notebook |
| 0Bh | Hand Held |
| 0Ch | Docking Station |
| 0Dh | All in One |
| 0Eh | Sub Notebook |
| 0Fh | Space-saving |
| 10h | Lunch Box |
| 11h | Main Server Chassis |
| 12h | Expansion Chassis |
| 13h | SubChassis |
| 14h | Bus Expansion Chassis |
| 15h | Peripheral Chassis |
| 16h | RAID Chassis |
| 17h | Rack Mount Chassis |
| 18h | Sealed-case PC |
| 19h | Multi-system chassis |
| 1Ah | Compact PCI |
| 1Bh | Advanced TCA |
| 1Ch | Blade |
| 1Dh | Blade Enclosure |
| 1Eh | Tablet |
| 1Fh | Convertible |
| 20h | Detachable |
Alas, I tried to change my mini-tower case to a lunchbox this way, but it didn’t work. Must be a Win10-only feature.
On the subject of lunchboxes, I have to point out the Dolch.
I seems amazing.
That reminds me of HTTP status code 418 I’m a teapot.
And yes, myself and my coworkers have written code that makes use of that.
The only types I have never seen in my environment are 13h-1Bh.
We have a reporting server where you can run various reports and many people have access, but it ends up falling to me and my team to usually provide if asked.
Now if you’ve never seen a Configuration Manager Report website, it is hundreds of reports of which a half dozen are useful “as is”
So - never wanting to modify the stock settings - there are numerous reports I have copied to their own folder and modified so they have the actual data people want.
Well, a while back someone needed Inventory for a segment of the population and no one on my team was readily available, so I sent the top level URL for the server and told the guy to please pull it himself.
Later I was asked why we had Lunch Boxes and Pizza Boxes in the Inventory. My modified report simplified the enclosure into Fixed (desktops) and Mobile (Laptops, Tablets and anything else that moved around)
Someday, I’ll get around to making the reporting site easier to use.
Rex is doing a book:
https://www.amazon.com/Everyday-Woodworking-Introduction-Woodcraft-Tools/dp/1510760164/
Plotters are magical.
I seem to recall converting a file to HP-GL from some other format (I forget which) using a Turbo Pascal program I wrote. Those were the days.
The main peril when using a handplane lies in resisting the temptation to continue making lovely lovely shavings until there’s no wood left. 
Finally getting around to making the replacement for the sold pine stool.
I have a ridiculously cute teeny-tiny hammer I use for delicate tapping:
However, despite its charm, it still has enough mass to do some harm to my finger if I’m insufficiently careful when holding the thing [1] I’m tapping:
Instant blood blister. Ow.
.
[1] In this case, an awkwardly-shaped improvised wedge that I was using to hold a long ripcut open.
I want ice rings! Made for me automatically! Also - feel free to riff this; Bridget & Mary Jo did, but I’ve only seen the short version. And Marsha Hunt is still alive at age 103. And I’m sure you recognize the “Old Man”.
I wonder if she ever got letters asking her about Mick Jagger, as one of his babies’ mommas has the same name, spelled the same way too.
Any fisherfolk in the house?
When I moved here, there was a fishing handline in the shed. It’s fairly heavy-gauge line, and it has a peculiar rig on it.
First are a set of long thin sinkers above a swivel:
Then there is about two metres of line, ending in one more sinker, a small trawling lure and a three-pronged hook.
Any idea what sort of fish this sort of rig would be aiming at? How would it be used? Is it intended to set a trawling lure well below the surface or somesuch? Or a bottom-dragging lure for shallow sandbanks?
You may want to ask on Reddit, /r/whatisthisthing. There are masters there at identifying stuff like this - often within minutes.
