What is your newest interest or obsession?

[Professori]

The human psyche and resultant behaviour. For the last 10-15 years I have taken a special interest in the human mind and behaviour in relation to money, intrinsic rewards and motivation. The human being is incredibly interesting in this field of study (in all areas actually).

 

[midlife aspie]

This is widely regarded as the finest portable mechanical timekeeper ever produced. Developed by the Hamilton Watch Co at the request of the Navy, it went from concept to mass produced reality in less than a year and a half. These clocks are called marine chronometers, and they were once essential for the calculation of longitude while at sea. Chronometers had to exhibit two traits: close accuracy and a steady rate of gain or loss. Accuracy, as in the dial reflecting the actual time was secondary to the rate, the predictability of which was critical. The rate had to remain constant in extremes of temperature, humidity, the effects of rough seas, and the the state of the mainspring in terms of being fully wound or nearly run down. These Hamilton examples were made to meet the enormous demands of WWII, when the exports of Switzerland were cut off and the English needed their production for their own needs. This was the first and probably the only chronometer to be entirely American made and on an assembly line to boot. Prior to this achievement, chronometers required a great deal of hand craftsmanship and skill to produce, and then only in small quantities. These Hamilton model 21's can be adjusted to keep time to within .5 seconds per day, with a steady rate within +/- 1 sec in 24 hours. Remarkable! This example exhibits a steady loss of 3 sec. per day and even after spending a day in direct sunlight in a car on a 90 degree day, it exhibits no deviation. It is a superb example of American engineering and craftsmanship. This one dates to Dec '44 or Jan '45.

 

[EricD]

How did you afford THAT?!?! WOW!

 

[midlife aspie]

I've been dabbling in historic items for many years. Knowledge and a keen eye go a long way! I got a great buy on this one, paying about half of what the going rate is for one of these in complete and similar condition. I should have taken a picture of the fusee, which is the secret of this instrument's defeat of isochronism. I also believe the Hamilton model 21 is the only marine chronometer that ever utilized nickel plates. All others use gilt brass plates, including the Nardin on which the 21 is based. I want to be a museum curator when I grow up.

FYI: the N within a circle symbol is the mark of the US Naval Observatory, which was responsible for making sure these instruments met the Navy's standards. These clocks left the observatory with a rating certificate specifying the +/- daily rate.

 

[saskinakki]

Collecting information. I love pressing the random article button on wikipedia and copying everysingle thing from the page that pops up into a notebook

 

[Judge]

My other- legacy computer. I went back and increased the RAM to 1.5 gb and installed Windows XP on all three of my removable drives. One with with all my required software, another stripped down to optimally running games with the fewest system resources needed without net access. And the third one as just a maintenance and archive system.

Previously running Windows XP on just 1 gb of ram was just too inefficient, so I gave up running one drive using Windows 98SE so I could bump the ram to 1.5gb.

I love maintaining a perfectly running computer from what amounts to coming from a very different era. Don't use it much except to play some very old but classic games from the late 90s to early 2000s. And some classic, but great graphics programs that still interface with my relatively new inkjet printer.

Mostly stuff I can't possibly run on my other current 64-bit system. Simple point- don't ever junk your old computer!

 

[Turanga Veela]

Train travel. My ASD son and I have taken two long-distance trips in the past year: the Coast Starlight, up to Portland, and the Zephyr, (almost) from end to end (SF to Chicago). There's something so comforting about those tiny little roomettes! You have to dine with strangers when you're less than a group of four, so that can be difficult for both of us (more for myself than my son), but it's good to get us out of our comfort zone a little bit. Watching the landscape roll by is mesmerizing. I'm always planning trips in my head, pricing them out on AmSnag. I'd like to take the Southwest Chief to visit family in Kansas City next year.

I'm getting back into my old jewelry making interest. My son took apart some old hard drives, and I've been figuring out ways to upcycle the machined parts into pendants.

Graphic novels. I blew through whole volumes of The Walking Dead this weekend, and now I'm hungry for more.

 

[Rayner]

My newest interest is watching old westerns from the 1950's and 1960's. I particularly take pleasure from Have Gun Will Travel and Gunsmoke.

 

[Rayner]

My latest, which is probably more than a mere obsession but something with a long-term purpose in mind, is building a mini travel trailer or bug-out camper as they're sometimes called. I plan to use a 5 x 8 or 6 x 10 enclosed cargo trailer as the foundation and go from there. The cargo trailer is light, so it will be perfect for my Crown Vic. This is basically what I'm planning, but with a few more refinements and personalizations:

I actually live in a 1979 Avon travel trailer, my first piece of advice would be to insulate the the interior walls as well as making sure that the interior is protected from the elements. I would also highly recommend having Window that can open because not only does the window allow for natural lighting but it also weather permitting also you to easily bring in fresh air into your little home on wheels.

 

[On the Inside]

Repairing old sewing machines, necessitated by interest in sewing articles of light weight rip stop nylon. I worked on four different sewing machines, fixing and adjusting them to sew this very tricky material. The one that works the best is one I got free from a guy who was cleaning out his grandma's house. It was filthy, and the mechanisms were covered in surface rust. It had been sitting in the garage for sometime. However, it is a solid machine, so a good cleaning, lots of oil, and timing adjustments, it's works great, even for the intricate projects I'm working on