Friday, December 25, 2015

Friday, December 18, 2015

The man who stares at goats, what does it teachs us about engaging terrorists

In this days when terrorists and Star Wars is mentioned on news feeds daily I think we should all take an example from Lyn Cassady, the character played by George Clooney in the movie The Man Who Stares at Goats.
Lyn Cassady is an ex-military man who was part of a special unit in which they were training in paranormal activity. He is traveling with a reporter Bob Wilton played by Ewan McGregor.
Lyn is constantly talking about his mental abilities and the possibilities of the mind while they are captured by a group of terrorists.
In the basement where they are held hostage Lyn explains to Bob that it does not matter that there are more terrorists and they have guns because they are Jedi "we are Jedi's Bob, we don't fight with guns we fight with our mind"
basement escape pen

Friday, August 21, 2015

Q&Q sport watch review 2nd update

q&q running watch 150 laps timingToday was a roller coaster. I thought I am the luckiest man alive, just to find I am just a regular Joe. This is the last update of the Q&Q sport watches because today was the end of it. Just 10 days before the second year of wearing it.
Why today was a roller coaster, and why I thought I am the luckiest man alive? Well The watch broke, actually the strap broke, and the warranty of the watch ends in just 10 days. Who else had this luck in life, a product needs replacing just 10 days before the end of the warranty. It usually happens just after it is out of warranty. But not today, today I need to buy a lottery ticket. Or do I?
q&q running watch 150 laps timingI went to the shop I bought the watch with the warranty to find out that the warranty does not cover the strap just the mechanism. I tried to explain that the strap is part of the watch and can not be replaced because is not a regular strap. I had no luck, apparently, the strap can be changed, but the bring it only on request, it takes a few months and it cost almost as much as the watch.

As I feared when I bought it the custom strap is a bad thing as it's not practical to change it if something happens. But to be fair, most of the sports watches use custom straps that are hard to replace in case of break down. So I can not be to upset on Q&Q. It's just a shame because I really liked it.

I have to find a new sports watch. I am thinking to get the Timex Marathon or the Casio Tough Solar WS200H.
Do you have any suggestions?

If curious about the watch without this glitch check the previous posts: Q&Q reviewQ&Q review update

Tuesday, April 7, 2015

Vintage Lanco wrist watch


17 RUBIES INCABLOC, handwind lanco mechanical vintage wrist watchI have recently bought another watch from eBay, this time a Lanco mechanical hand wind wrist watch for which I paid 9 $, shipping included.
Lanco is a brand of Langendorf Watch Company, which was a large Swiss watch company founded in 1873. The Langendorf Watch Company was bought in 1965 by SSIH (Societe suisse pour l'industrie horlogere SA), a holding under which many other companies existed. In 1973 SSIH reached it's peak selling approx. 13.6 million timepieces, of which 70 percent where pin lever watches. The Japanese inexpensive quartz watches became the main rival of SSIH (quartz was a fearful competitor to the majority of mechanical watches). At the end of 70's the holding was in financial trouble. In 1983 the ASUAG and SSIH merged forming SMH (Swiss Corporation for microelectronics and watchmaking industries LTD). This created the largest watchmaking company. Both ASUAG and SSIH where holding companies, so the merger took a few years to implement. In 1998 the company changed the name to Swatch Group.

Monday, March 23, 2015

Pentel Energel on the screen

Watching the tv series Better Call Saul, I spotted a Pentel Energel pen. For you that do not know, Better Call Saul is a sideshow of Breaking Bad, on AMC. It presents the background of Saul Goodman the lawyer in Breaking Bad, his efforts of creating a name for himself, establishing a legitimate practice,  and the interaction with different characters that made a mark in Breaking Bad. In the 6th episode, Mike is the star. His background as an ex cop is under the spotlight, how did he end up in Albuquerque, and what made him leave the uniform for the criminal life.
Seven episodes into the life of Saul Goodman and I can say is a great show. Give it a try, especially if you enjoyed Breaking Bad.
Back to the pen spot.

Friday, March 20, 2015

Partial eclipse of the sun


Today was a partial eclipse of the sun. Approximately 55% percent of the sun was covered by the moon, on my side of the Earth.
To see it I used some dated technology, the eclipse glasses that I have since 1999 eclipse. Unfortunately then the sky was cloudy and I did not see it. It was a total eclipse in '99.
But good things happen to those who wait. Even if it's not a total eclipse, it's still the first eclipse I observe.

The eclipse seen through the glasses with an old compact Fuji.



Share your eclipse pictures.

Sunday, March 15, 2015

Pelikan Erase, erasable pen

I don't understand why is there a need for a pen that can be erased instead of using a pencil, but for the sake of the test let's go on with the Pelikan erase


TEST #1: Writing
pelikan erase, erasable pen


Writing with the pen feels creamy, but the ink is not coming out with consistency. If you take a look at the picture above you can see numerous parts of the text where the pen skipped, or where the line density is different from normal.

Monday, February 2, 2015

Taking apart a Citizen watch

In the previous post, I was writing about a Citizen automatic 21 Jewels day and date watch that I bought on eBay for 11.5 dollars. The watch came with a small problem, the second's hand is not staying in place. At the moment, because the watch was not winded enough, I thought it was keeping horrible time. I found out later it is running very well.
So the only reasonable thing to do was open the watch and see what can be done. The first obstacle was removing the crown and stem to take out the mechanism. For that I didn't need tools, just a steel sheet to open the back, and a Rotring Tikky to press the stem release button. (see previous post)
I put the second's hand but it does not want to stay, it's a two-hand watch now. But this was not all. The manual date/day change was a bit scratchy, so I thought it just needs a few twists to loosen it. I did the day/date change while the hands of the watch were not in the correct position. This caused another problem. The most serious one.
The day/date can't be changed manually anymore. I decided to take the Citizen watch apart, even though I didn't open a watch before.

Step one, buy a set of watch screwdrivers. 
I bought the cheapest set in the world. Under 2 €.
cheap

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