I’ve never seen IPA put anything but fats and greases into solution. I like IPA because it’s hardly a stronger solvent than water (do not estimate how strong a polar solvent especially distilled/demineralized water is!) and no risk of corrosion.

It’s got a mechanical movement. Good one to teach the youngsters, I guess ;-). Not my taste but not complaining if arguably the largest watch brand on the planet releases mechanical watches targeted at, well, “my kids” and younger.

The AP cobranding reminds me of digital cameras like Panasonic with “Leica” lenses and Sony with “Zeiss”. Yup. Marketing.

Submerge in IPA instead. It’s less likely to damage the watch further. Or just go outside and put on a respirator :)

(after you remove the pallet fork, that is, that’s the only part that can be damaged by IPA)

I have a decent Geiger counter these days (well, technically a dosimeter) for that. But in case of doubt, my recommendation is to submerge the dial in IPA, use Q-tips to wipe off the lume, flush IPA and double-wrap Q-tips before they dry then in the trash. It’s quick and safe that way and you probably want to relume anyway.

My absolutely not-fake Rolex has an acrylic crystal and it scratches up like there’s no tomorrow. Not a guarantee in general, therefore (dunno about this specific model, though)

You should see my Rolex 😂

If it’s acrylic, Polywatch will take care of that in a jiffy.

Is that 285 under the Omega sign on the movement? Calibre 285 from 1952 according to the serial number. That’s gonna be a heck of a restoration job :)

You’re probably not wrong, but there’s a difference between stumbling upon it in 2026 and pulling that off in 1958 :-)

Scheme has a chapter, after all it’s just Lisp. I think - I hope - that some pretty foundational stuff is treated throughout the book.

Yes you do! ;-)

Thanks! Clojure is a great example of a modern Lisp. Common Lisp is the Swiss army knife of programming and used everywhere you care to look, that is if you look hard ;)

Swiss watches pretty much are all just variations on the same theme as, say, Seagull’s movements, so “meh”. I have a skeleton Seagull and it’s nicely built, but I did have to disassemble it and property clean and lube it on arrival, that’s the biggest issue with anything cheaper than a basic Seiko IMO. Not everybody is setup to do that, and parts aren’t available so if it breaks or stops working, you have to toss it. Not my preference, you’ll likely get more life out of a $20 Casio watch :-)

Gorgeous thing. Is that mercury in the glass tubes in the pendulum?

While I won’t say that writing a text editor or rewriting (base) Emacs is easy, I think it is all about the ecosystem. There’s lots of Emacs reimplementations out there, some really good ones (like Lem), but they all have the same shortcoming: “no org mode”, “no magit”, and so on.

Emacs has a truly enormous ecosystem and only a reimplementation that runs everything unchanged has a chance of attracting enough attention. There was a time that that was seen as a worthwhile venture: Elisp was limited and slow. However, now with CL compatibilty and native compilation, I don’t see it happening. Not in the sense of something standing up that can and will actually replace Emacs.

Worse is better :-)

My favorite watch is my smart watch. It’s actually smart: it never needs a charge, it sets time from atomic time signals, has a clearly readable mixed analog/digital display, and comes with some handy extras like a compass and baro/altimeter. Oh, and I can wear it while logging, as it’s virtually indestructable. Try that, Apple! (it’s a Casio G-Shock Mudmaster GWG-1000).

My second favorite watch is what I’m now wearing - a CA$129 Seagull. It’s a skeleton watch with no dial and transparent front and back case, so I can brag about my skills (“I disassembled and cleaned this watch, try to find any scratch marks on the screws!” - there are some tiny ones, I must admit), and, more importantly, show people how mechanical watches work :-). It’s also a darn good timekeeper for the money.

It’s on my (ever shrinking) list of clocks I’d like to own. And be able to maintain :-). Thanks for sharing.

I mostly linked thr video because it is such a nice quick overview for lay people like me :)

To me, “PR” connects to systems like used in the Netherlands (my second nationality) and Belgium. Both countries are effectively ungovernable because too much time is spent on forming coalitions, turning the country into a bureaucracy. People still dont feel represented because most parties tend to concentrate candidates from the cities where there is (and always will be) more political activity. Germany (I lived there for a while) has MMP of course but that had resulted in an enormous amounts of seats and, IIRC, very high barriers of entry to smaller parties. And, given the rise of AfD, not really instrumental it seems in letting people feel they have a say.

I’m not a fan of our current system either but strangely enough I feel more represented by an MP or MPP I can walk up to and discuss things with and who knows my area’s issues because they are “my neighbor” even though i did not vote for them then in .NL where parliamentarians representing “my” vote… Well, they were far away abstract things :)

I worked with CIVS in many settings and that seems to work well enough in practice even though it is a ranked system, but vote counting… Tough when it requires higher maths (I worked at polling stations in the past and highly value being observed when counting paper ballots).

Anyway, I’m not sure what system exactly the ads (I see them as such) are arguing for so I guess I interpret them - as I think many are likely to do - in my own context and then I am, well, the grass isn’t that green at the other side either.

(And to me, unscientifically, in the countries where I lived or worked, subjective fairness of the respective systems seemed often to be more influenced by the actual democratic roots of a country then the particular voting mechanisms in use. I guess that schools play the most important role in any electoral system).

Looking more at your site it is still quite abstract what is wanted. “Not what we have now” is just a starting point, but I see lists of alternatives, not a concrete proposal? Leaves things open for interpretation including potential misinterpretation where I’m like “oh please no not more like .NL” ;) (which I don’t consider a proper democracy to begin with, too many appointed posts and no constitutional court).

Bit of a ramble, I know, this is hard on a phone.

Thanks for the bit-by-bit on the veritasium vid, I’ll rewatch it later with your notes in hand.

https://www.veritasium.com/videos/2025/1/17/why-democracy-is-mathematically-impossible

The title is clickbaity but the point stands. PR is just a different kind of suboptimal. If you want election reform, please push for something more modern than just another system with inherent problems.

US physicians: read https://canadahealthwatch.ca/2025/03/25/i-traded-my-u-s-medical-career-for-life-in-canada-heres-how-the-two-health-systems-stack-up. I think you’re most welcome here :)

It’s just much easier to stop using them. Remember: its founder and largest shareholder (I guess) was one of the billionaire groupies standing behind Trumd during his inauguration. Canadians should not be shopping on Amazon.