Nanuq

Here's a picture from a while back, yes that's smoke, and this photo is about 1,000 miles wide. There's just no way to do it.

There's absolutely no containing fires like this. There aren't even roads up there. We've got 4 major fires burning within 100 miles of Chez Nanuq and they've destroyed over 100 homes. Most of the mushers up around Willow have lost everything. But leave it to those tough old sourdoughs, they get the word that someone's in trouble and everyone brings their trucks to help get them and their dogs out. They've rescued over 200 sled dogs and they're all having a dog party up at Martin Buser's place. What a commotion!

No rain in the forecast, and we're hoping the winds stay down. I told her if nothing else, wrap in a wet blanket and lie in the middle of the runway. There's a hundred-foot strip of safety there. If the smoke clears they can get more flights in to continue evac, otherwise I told her to get people in boats and go.

Pinned it. Heck of a post, Kime!

It's not really on the news right now, but we've got over 300 fires burning and over 600,000 acres have gone up in smoke. They're not even trying to control them, there's nothing they can do. My daughter is in Aniak on the Kuskokwim river these two weeks and they're starting to evacuate. Man it's a helpless feeling when she sends pictures like this.

There has been a lot of interest lately in domed Tropic crystals, so I thought I'd do a quick photo comparison. I attempted to show what they look like from low oblique angles and then slightly higher, so you can see how the distortions change with viewing angle. All of these are genuine vintage tropic crystals except the CWP tropic 19 on the Frosty Flake. The 1665 Sea Dweller wears a tropic 39 "Superdome", the 6538 Big Gonzo wears a tropic 17 "Superdome", and the 6536/1 Mini-Gonzo wears a tropic 16 "Dome". To start off, here's a group shot with the Frosty Flake down front, then left to right, the Mini-Gonzo, the Big Gonzo and the SD. At this point the only crystal that looks fake is the genuine 39 on the SD. Next up is the tropic 19 vs. tropic 39, from a low angle and then higher. Next is the tropic 19 high dome vs. the tropic 16 low dome. Now lets look at the tropic 19 vs. the tropic 17. Tropic 19 vs. tropic 39 again. And now in one smooth sweep from low to high, all four together. Compare the distortions at different angles. Et voila'. I hope this will help you decide which tropic to choose for your build, and will show the optical properties of each.

I'll see your Tropical and raise you one.

That oughta buff right out.

Here's how it looks on the Frosty Flake.

The question is, do you want the flatter "service" crystal or the vintage dome? I smashed the gen Superdome 39 on the Frosty Flake and had to find a replacement. I tried the MY domed T19 and it's really nice. The profile isn't quite right, it's a little flat at the zenith. The distortions are a little too "ringed" around the perimeter too, but it's very clear and sparkly.

Believe it or not, Klink showed up. Now all we need is Bricktop and Neo and it's the 90s all over again.

I love how thin and sexy it looks with that mm milled off. Very nice!

AvB is back in da house! Guess who else showed up last night?? You'll have to ask around about PAM reps... nasty horrible things.

I think Ken is down to a one-jewel movement.

Holy necropost, Klink is back! Welcome back mate! Let the games begin.

In days of yore they added more jewels to make a better movement, and because "more is better". So you wound up with 100-jewel movements with tiny rubies around the perimeter of the oscillating rotor, where they did absolutely nothing at all. Jewels reduce friction, so more jewels in the gear train of a watch means less friction and longer life. http://elginwatches.org/help/watch_jewels.html

Siri: "Urgle blurgle glarg cough cough"

The voice of experience. Nice to see you A!

Mission. From God.

After all these years I've finally learned how true that can be. Perfect.

By-Tor my man... good to see you back!

Yep that's a D70, one of just a handful made. Joining it next week is a Martin, time for more blues at midnight!

Pictures? If it's a stripped stud screwed into a hole, JB Weld in the hole will hold the screw (permanently).

Try chainsaw files. Pferd makes the best.

I was using it as a slide for some Muddy Waters blues... those long lugs are great!