AG: Aunt Granny's Advice, or How to become an elderly cyclist:

On Wed, 08 Feb 2017 22:53:54 +0000, Phil Lee
wrote:

John B. considered Mon, 06 Feb 2017 07:14:48
+0700 the perfect time to write:

On Sun, 5 Feb 2017 14:41:19 -0000 (UTC), Andrew Chaplin
wrote:

John B. wrote in
:

On Sat, 04 Feb 2017 23:49:30 -0400, Joy Beeson
wrote:


To avoid the noise, microbial growth, limed-up belts, and so forth of
a mechanical humidifier, we keep a pot of hot water on the stove.
Aside from buying a new enamel pot every two or three years, it's also
free: in humidifier season, every bit of gas we burn on the stove is
gas we don't need to burn in the furnace.

I just figured out that if I drop a cake rack into the humidifier and
set my bottle of water on the rack, it will be nicely warmed by the
time I finish dressing. This postpones freezing for quite a while --
and makes me more inclined to drink enough water.


I would ask if a humidifier is actually necessary?

I ask as I was born and grew up in a small village in up-state New
Hampshire and we certainly never had a humidifier, nor did anyone else
I knew.

I grew up in and returned to Eastern Ontario, which is slightly colder and
drier than NH.

Humidifiers are a good idea if you are vulnerable to some respiratory
problems. They also help the piano to stay in tune and to keep the antique
furniture together. As a kid, we had the tank, wick and fan humidifier
that was your best option if you had radiators. It put a half gallon or so
each day into the house, and yet the humidity never got above 45%. Since I
lived on the third storey and as far from the humidifier as one could get,
it was not uncommon to wake up with a crusty nose.

Now, with a forced air HVAC system, our humidifier is built into it. I
have no idea how much water it goes through.

Hmmm.. Well, we had a piano, my mother played and my younger brother
played well enough that he made music his career. I don't remember
anyone complaining about the piano going out of tune every winter :-)

During my military career I was stationed at Edwards AFB where it
rains perhaps once every year or so and later in Southern California
where it seldom rains, and again I don't remember humidifiers being in
use.

I'm afraid you haven't convinced me :-)

I'm not conviced on pianos, which unless they are very old or very low
quality, will have a metal frame. The tone of the instument may
suffer though, even though the tune (pitch) shouldn't.
One minor point though - a pianist good enough to make a career of it
would expect to be having their piano tuned regularly anyway, so if
the tuner just got on with correcting it, why would you netice, unless
you have perfect pitch and/or the tuning change is disproportionate in
it's effect on different strings
But I can confirm that low humidy it TERRIBLE for wooden bodied or
framed stringed intruments, to the extent that humidity controllers
are built into good violin, viola and chello cases - presumably double
bass ones, too, but I've not seen much of those).
If allowed to dry too much, a violin will twist and warp itself, the
glue will crack and the whole body actually come to pieces. In days
gone by, when such humidifying gadgets were not available at domestic
prices, I had a violin which started to do just that, and the (very
good) violin maker to whom it was entrusted for repair, asid that
they'd had a lot of that kind of damage that summer, because it had
been so dry. That was towards the end of 1976, still remembered by
those of my generation in the UK as THE drought year. I know a few
harpists who have the same problem, but woodwind suffers less, as of
course the very breath that blows through them as they are played
humidifies them, and they actually need oiling to avoid too much
moisture being taken up into the weed. They probably would suffer, if
left unplayed for an extended period though.

WARNING FURTHER CONTENT IS ALMOST RELATED TO CYCLES!

Harps, violins and similar stringed instruments are now available in a
variety of plastics, which overcome the problems assocated with wood
in extremes of humidity. They don't have the feel or resonance of
wood though, and are mostly "skeletal", requiring pickups and an
amplifier to function at all - and of course you can shape the sound
at that point in the process.
I suspect the different resonance of plastics (no matter what they are
reinforced with) is the biggest difference between those and metal
bicyle frames, and this difference is experienced as discomfort by
many who've been brought up on steel.


Added not quite bicycle content:

I play a banjo for personal entertainment and yes they have made
plastic frame banjos in the past. These were the cheap and dirty
models usually purchased as gifts for your least favored inlaw's kids.
--
Cheers,

John B.

when I lived in NH, we kept a cast-iron teakettle on the woodstove to act
as humidifier

On Fri, 10 Feb 2017 01:11:40 -0000 (UTC), mac
wrote:

when I lived in NH, we kept a cast-iron teakettle on the woodstove to act
as humidifier

Interesting. I've never actually seen a cast iron tea kettle but most
of the better wood burning kitchen stoves had a "water tank" built in
to provide warm water for kitchen use.

By the time I came along both grand parents had running water so I
don't know whether they actually used the stove tank.
--
Cheers,

John B.

A walkway is a walkway. Putting up a sign saying that bikes are
allowed makes it legal to ride on a walkway, but it doesn't make it
safe.

Indeed, putting up a sign saying that wheel toys are welcome may make
a multi-user path *more* dangerous than an ordinary walking path.
"Bike" paths are very rarely safe places to stand up on the pedals,
put your head down, and sprint.

Where-ever a walkway or a multi-user path intersects a road, the
people on the walkway are one-hundred percent responsible for crossing
safely. The driver on the road can't do his share because he doesn't
know there is an intersection. When the walkway is a sidewalk, he
knows that there is an intersection, but he *doesn't* know that you
are operating a vehicle on the sidewalk. He may well pull into the
crosswalk to get a better look at the roadway where he expects traffic
to be.

When riding on a walkway, you must use exaggerated care every time you
cross a road, a street, an alley, a driveway, or even another walkway.

On a walkway, the pedestrian has the right of way. If you want to
continue to be allowed to ride on the walkway, you must carefully
avoid injuring, inconveniencing, or alarming the pedestrians.

On a walkway, it is rarely polite to ride faster than you could run;
even when you can see that the way is clear for a long distance ahead,
you can't be sure someone won't step out from behind a bush without
considering the possibility that there might be a wheeled vehicle on
the path.

Sometimes a walkway is wide enough that simply keeping to the right
gives ample room for an oncoming pedestrian. Sometimes you have to
slow; sometimes you need to put a foot down to assure him that you
have the bike under control. When in doubt, dismount entirely; once
both feet are on the ground, you are a pedestrian with a full set of
rights.

ALWAYS speak before overtaking a pedestrian. NEVER startle anyone.


--
joy beeson at comcast dot net
http://wlweather.net/PAGEJOY/
The above message is a Usenet post.
I don't recall having given anyone permission to use it on a Web site.

It's predicted to stay above freezing all day, so I'm taking two
bottles on today's tour -- but I put both of them into the humidifier.

--
joy beeson at comcast dot net
http://wlweather.net/PAGEJOY/
The above message is a Usenet post.
I don't recall having given anyone permission to use it on a Web site.

Joy Beeson wrote:
Indeed, putting up a sign saying that wheel toys are welcome may make
a multi-user path *more* dangerous than an ordinary walking path.
"Bike" paths are very rarely safe places to stand up on the pedals,
put your head down, and sprint.

Yep.

The problem is that for people who make these kinds of decisions, bike
== pedestrian, and easily substitute "bike" for any non-motorized form
of transportation.

Not only the question of a bike on a sidewalk, or a bike riding against
traffic, but for the most part, a bike and any kind of foot traffic are
incompatible in the same space. The possible exception could be
children's bikes that are 16 inches and smaller (often with training
wheels), and where the rider's strength and handling skills are not much
above walking speed.

For me as a fitness rider, this is why I generally avoid both multi-use
paths, and streets explicitly marked as "bike lane" around schools, in
the same way that I avoid school zones for through traffic as a motorist.

Smith

On Mon, 13 Feb 2017 09:35:42 -0400, Joy Beeson
wrote:

It's predicted to stay above freezing all day, so I'm taking two
bottles on today's tour -- but I put both of them into the humidifier.

I never touched the second bottle, but re-filled the first one at
Panda Express.

Forgot to take the cake rack out of the humidifier, and when I got
back, the rack was so rusty that the bottom of the pot got covered
with red powder when I fished it out. But the rust came out when I
dumped the water and re-filled the pot at bed time.

--
Joy Beeson
joy beeson at comcast dot net
http://wlweather.net/PAGEJOY/

On 2/8/2017 5:53 PM, Phil Lee wrote:

But I can confirm that low humidy it TERRIBLE for wooden bodied or
framed stringed intruments, to the extent that humidity controllers
are built into good violin, viola and chello cases - presumably double
bass ones, too, but I've not seen much of those).
If allowed to dry too much, a violin will twist and warp itself, the
glue will crack and the whole body actually come to pieces. In days
gone by, when such humidifying gadgets were not available at domestic
prices, I had a violin which started to do just that, and the (very
good) violin maker to whom it was entrusted for repair, asid that
they'd had a lot of that kind of damage that summer, because it had
been so dry. That was towards the end of 1976, still remembered by
those of my generation in the UK as THE drought year.

1976 was the year my wife, our young son and I did some bike touring in
Britain. (I think it was January 1977 that _Bicycling_ magazine used
one of my photos, from the Lake District, for its cover photo.)

We were amazed at the heat. I remember my wife getting light-headed on
one ride from overheating. When we got to a pub, we poured water over
her head to cool her down. And being Britain, there was no such thing
as ice in drinks, nor air conditioning - at least in those days.

I know a few
harpists who have the same problem, but woodwind suffers less, as of
course the very breath that blows through them as they are played
humidifies them, and they actually need oiling to avoid too much
moisture being taken up into the weed. They probably would suffer, if
left unplayed for an extended period though.

I assume that was supposed to be "reed" although "weed" does seem
relevant to many of today's musicians.

My clarinet is genuine ebony. There is a worry about it cracking due to
low humidity. Bore oil is recommended.



WARNING FURTHER CONTENT IS ALMOST RELATED TO CYCLES!

Harps, violins and similar stringed instruments are now available in a
variety of plastics, which overcome the problems assocated with wood
in extremes of humidity.

I'm just back from a vacation during which I played a dear friend's new
guitar. It's top is carbon fiber. An absolutely beautiful sounding and
beautiful playing guitar. I'm lusting after a similar one, even though
my own guitar is quite nice. I don't tent toward flighty instrument
purchases... but still...


--
- Frank Krygowski

Always approach an intersection with both hands on the brake levers.
Sooner or later, this habit will save you from a helicopter ride.

--
joy beeson at comcast dot net
http://wlweather.net/PAGEJOY/
The above message is a Usenet post.
I don't recall having given anyone permission to use it on a Web site.

On Sat, 18 Feb 2017 22:56:51 -0400, Joy Beeson
wrote:


Always approach an intersection with both hands on the brake levers.
Sooner or later, this habit will save you from a helicopter ride.

Or perhaps, any time you ride in traffic have both hands on the
brakes.
--
Cheers,

John B.