katt, migrating 🌟 🌈 @starkatt@awoo.space

Bonus adhesives opinion!

Kneadable epoxy putties are garbage. Even at the couple of weird edge-case jobs they theoretically should be the right choice in, they still fail to hold parts together. Don't even bother.

Oh and the curing can take longer than you'd think, so give it a good several minutes at least before fiddling with it. I've learned this the hard way many times.

One thing CA excels at is mending ceramics. Other than that I mostly put it in the category of "quick fix" -- really good for temp stuff, but probably not the best option for anything meant to be genuinely durable.

I tend to prefer low- or medium-viscosity versions over gels. Again, it's awful at gap filling, but working on closely mated surfaces means it's great to let the glue get pulled into tiny gaps via capillary action. Low-viscosity is a lot more liable to end up all over your hands or workbench, though.

One non-obvious thing I find it useful for is tacking parts in place for me to then go over with a more structural adhesive, e.g. a slow-curing epoxy.

Superglue can also seal cuts, in a pinch! The thing where it cures instantly on contact with skin is helpful here.

Okay, so cyanoacrylate adhesive, "superglue!"

It's some really good shit but a lot of people misuse it.

CA works best when the surfaces are nonporous and closely mated. It's awful at even the slightest gap filling so don't use it for that. It can also be brittle so be careful what you use it on.

CA cures from contact with water vapor and hardens in the tube. Even when I've been using it regularly I've always had tubes go hard before I used it all, so buy the smallest ones you can.

Big mood.

( http://diggercomic.com/blog/2007/03/17/digger-29/ )

Update: have started in on Digger which I've been lowkey meaning to read for a while now because Ursula V seems cool.

(oh and I've already read Fine Structure)

So now that I've finished Ra, does anyone have recommendations for other good original web serial fiction?

Sometimes while drafting a post here I think about removing filler words, then decide they help convey a specific sentence pacing and tone.

I use a LOT of filler words and have decided to be okay with that?

huh I have a bit of a habit of starting posts with "anyway,"

As if I'm continuing from some previous thought.

hm.

Today's everyday beauty: against an overcast sky an airliner flew low overhead, spectral veils of low-pressure condensation fleetingly fluttering behind its wings.

Today I spotted the wifi SSID "Connecto Patronum".

That made me laugh.

Anyway things aren't made out of things and "matter" is mostly a useful abstraction.

My math never got beyond a couple semesters of college calculus so I have no hope of actually understanding these beyond a metaphorical level.

(whether mathematics is also metaphorical is a whole other ball of frighteningness.)

Quantum Field Theory I can at least pretend to understand the metaphor of after a 15-minute youtube video.

Okay so. String Theory. (Which seems to have fallen out of fashion?)

The bumper sticker version is "all matter is made out of tiny vibrating strings" yeah? But like... wtf does that even mean? What is it a vibration in, and what does vibration mean on a quantum scale? It's not at all an illuminating metaphor. And it IS a metaphor, right? Like, the actual physics is only really expressible mathematically?

(lol I didn't notice the edit-induced typo of "an janky-ass" but I think I actually like it better that way)