As I spent some time recently clearing out my closet, I looked longingly at my keyboard that I purchased with the intent of learning and practicing while working from home, as well to my ant farm kit where I had unsuccessfully kept a queen and small colony for a few months until they died several years ago. I'm sure we all have these tokens of failed experiments or forays into hobbies that once seemed interesting but we ended up losing interest in.

What are yours? Why were you initially interested in it and why did you stop?

Title. I am interested in buying a kit model engine to assemble and run.

• I am fine with anything from a single cylinder to a V8.
• It has to be a kit.
• It needs to run on a fuel (I want an actual, running engine)
• It should not be made in China (would strongly prefer US/Europe/Japan).

Are there any particular companies or stores I should look at?

Hey all. I just bought my first mountain bike. I don't know much about mountain biking but when I've taken a hybrid out onto logging trails it's been super fun so I'm sure I'll enjoy it. I have a few questions before I head out into the mountains:

1. What kind of mountain-biking specific gear do I need?
2. Where should I go as a beginner? Ideally somewhere with not too many hikers or other cyclists. I have plenty of stamina from my regular uphill cycling routine, but I don't want to get into intense steep riding and jumps right now.

I recently bought a keyboard and am going to dedicate 30 minutes a day to practicing piano. My goal is to be able to play my favorite songs (jazz & indie mainly), improvise, and generally be competent.

I also want to learn how to sightread, so I've been using https://sightreading.training which has been really useful! I have a background in music (guitar, mostly) and know music theory as well.

Unfortunately due to COVID, Delta, etc, I am not really interested in in-person lessons at the moment, so I was wondering if any tilde users had advice about learning to play through resources online or books!

I'm also really interested in any tips that anyone may have!

I recently went back from Pebbles to a green Casio F91W with a green NATO strap. I did a quick mod tonight to disable the beeping... which lead to everybody in multiple channels chatting about 'dumb' watches and even old calculator / data watches.

I love watches -- from reps to cheap Casios to fancier ones. Indulge me with a little show and tell :)

I have a Platypus Hoser water reservoir. And I have a metal canopy bed. Awhile back, I realized that I can hang the water reservoir from one of the top rails of the bed, and it gives me a way of drinking water in bed, with no risk of spilling it on myself or my bed, and without even needing to sit up.

The only problem is, it leaks. It's a very slow leak, but it's dripping onto my bed or the carpet next to it, which obviously I'd like to avoid. And occasionally a droplet will fall on my outstretched hand or arm as I'm falling asleep, which tends to jerk me awake.

You can see from the picture of the water reservoir above, the hole for hanging it is at the top, and the outlet for the hose is at the bottom. The way I'm hanging it now is just by threading a short length of "velcro tape" (tape without adhesive, but with velcro on each side so that it can stick to itself) through the hole and then around the top rail.

So the way I have it now, all the water pressure concentrates on the spot where the hose screws on to the reservoir, and no matter how hard I tighten it, it still finds a way to leak.

What I'd like to do is find an alternate way of hanging it, so that it's laying flat and there's much less water pressure on the outlet. Ideally I could also wrap the reservoir in a hand towel or something to absorb any leaks rather than letting them drip onto my bed.

What I vaguely have in mind is that I'd like to build a "sling" of sorts that I could hang from the rail, and then lay the reservoir inside that sling. If I could find a very small plastic tarp (say 18 inches square) with metal grommets on each corner, that would more or less do what I want. But for understandable reasons, no one seems to make tarps that small.

I'm sure there's something along those lines that I can assemble from inexpensive / easy-to-find parts. But...I can't think of what it might be.

2 years ago we planted a lime tree in our backyard. It was already about 5-6 feet tall when we planted it. There's a lemon tree next to it that is probably 50 years old and produces more fruit than we can use. We're constantly giving away lemons to our friends and neighbors, baking stuff with the ones we keep and we still too many left! But our lime tree barely produces anything. The first year it produced 3 limes, all of which were hard and almost juiceless. This year, so far it has produced a single fruit which doesn't yet look ripe. The thing is that it produces tons of buds that look like they're going to become limes, but they either die or are eaten by squirrels, I guess. I've heard a similar story from a coworker about her lime tree. Is there any secret to getting a lime tree to produce fruit?

I went to college in Massachusetts, and after awhile the winters began to get to me. A study-abroad trip to Paraguay helped me fall in love with palms. After I graduated, I explicitly looked for work in areas of the Southeast where I could grow palms, eventually settling in the Midlands of South Carolina (USDA Hardiness Zone 8a), which can grow a reasonable variety (our state tree is the cabbage palmetto, Sabal palmetto, and it is incredibly common in the area). I’ve currently got two potted palms: a European fan palm, Chamaerops humilis, and pygmy date palm, Phoenix roebelenii (the latter needs to be housed in the garage during the winter).

I recently went into my attic and pulled out my old 1990s 4-track Fostex X-26 tape recorder. I was hoping to transfer some of my old band tapes to the computer. Alas, it is dead. While it turns on, the motor appears frozen, and the device hums. (I don't mean there's line noise when you plug a speaker into it, I mean the device itself audibly hums, even when not using the tape controls.)

I have seen online that some people repair theirs. It's probably beyond my skill level to do so, though. (And I don't really want to do it myself.) I have contacted a few shops near me (Los Angeles), but have gotten no replies, unfortunately. I was wondering if anyone here knows of a good shop that would repair an older device like this.

I have also contacted some places that claim to do cassette to digital transfers, but none have replied to my questions about whether they can deal with a 4-track recording. Also, just looking at their prices, it seems like it would cost significantly more to have them convert my tapes than to get the recorder repaired. (And I'm not sure what's on all of the tapes, so I don't really want to hand over some embarrassing practice tape or tape containing some out-of-context banter between takes on it.)

I've looked online for a used one, but all the listings I've found have been "for parts only", which is what mine would be if I were to sell it. And knowing how these things go, they probably all have the same broken part. So any recommendations are appreciated!

Back when I was a kid, I had a radioshack 200-in-1 science fair electronics kit this one

I loved that thing, and it sparked an interest in tech that ultimately led me to a CS degree.

Id like to buy something similar for my much younger sister, but nowdays everything I can find is arduino or raspi based. Id love to get something like that eventually, but I think it might be better to get a kit that more focuses on individual components first... Does anyone know of one sold these days?

Alternatively, if anyone has one of these and would be willing to scan the book, Id love to build one of these as a breadboard-based system.