I’ve added the Sunday photos from Oleg’s Hero Gear shoot.
Author: dd-b
Pilot Frixion Ball Erasable Gel Ink Pen
I went looking for an erasable way to write in a contrasting color today, and ended up with two.
I got some red leads for my mechanical pencils. This is the backup plan, because this has been known to work since around the time I was born, probably even earlier.
I remembered some tolerable erasable ballpoints from years ago, and looked for them (hoping for red or green or at least blue), and couldn’t find them (at Office Depot). However, I stumbled across the Pilot pen given in the title.
The line is finer than I like (but it’s described as “fine”, so it’s as described). The pens started writing a bit roughly, but after a few inches of line they wrote well enough. They’re scratchy, not smooth—but that’s why I don’t like “fine” pens, so there may not really be anything wrong with them in that regard.  The red and the black ink are quite intense, certainly good enough.
Which brings us to the erasing.
The erasing is nothing short of miraculous. I have never before had anything, including a pencil, that erased as cleanly as this pen does. Furthermore, the eraser doesn’t leave crumbs behind (it sounds like it erases by heating the ink by friction). After erasing, the space on the paper looks absolutely pristine.
This won’t become my favorite pen in general, and mostly I’m happy enough living without erasing. But for special cases, like marking up documents or correcting homework or exams, where being able to erase mistakes cleanly is important, this will become my tool of choice.
(The packaging suggests that you NOT use this pen for legal documents. Sounds like good advice to me.)
Metric Calendar
A few SF writers have amused themselves by having their far-future space-faring characters abandon our “months” and “years”, and do everything in days or hours. This makes a certain sense when you get away from Earth; the daily rhythm is the one most deeply built into us, and we probably will keep something like 24-hour days on ships. And we’ll certainly keep the “second”, if it’s really “us” spreading out to the stars, because it’s basic to all our science and engineering; and completely arbitrary, so it’s as good as anything else.
I’ve wanted a table of time conversions for decoding such stories for some time, and finally wrote a Perl script to create one. So, for amusement, reference, and so forth, here they are.
The actual difficulty is primarily deciding how to format them. I don’t think this is optimal yet, but it’s much better than some things I tried.
The “year” length is the official solar year. All calculations are done from seconds.
The first set of tables are powers of 10 in one of the units.
Seconds   Minutes     Hours      Days     Weeks     Years 1e+03      16.7     0.278    0.0116   0.00165  3.17e-05 1e+04       167      2.78     0.116    0.0165  0.000317 1e+05  1.67e+03      27.8      1.16     0.165   0.00317 1e+06  1.67e+04       278      11.6      1.65    0.0317 1e+07  1.67e+05  2.78e+03       116      16.5     0.317 1e+08  1.67e+06  2.78e+04  1.16e+03       165      3.17 1e+09  1.67e+07  2.78e+05  1.16e+04  1.65e+03      31.7 1e+10  1.67e+08  2.78e+06  1.16e+05  1.65e+04       317 1e+11  1.67e+09  2.78e+07  1.16e+06  1.65e+05  3.17e+03 1e+12  1.67e+10  2.78e+08  1.16e+07  1.65e+06  3.17e+04 1e+13  1.67e+11  2.78e+09  1.16e+08  1.65e+07  3.17e+05 1e+14  1.67e+12  2.78e+10  1.16e+09  1.65e+08  3.17e+06 Seconds   Minutes     Hours      Days     Weeks     Years 6e+04     1e+03      16.7     0.694    0.0992    0.0019 6e+05     1e+04       167      6.94     0.992     0.019 6e+06     1e+05  1.67e+03      69.4      9.92      0.19 6e+07     1e+06  1.67e+04       694      99.2       1.9 6e+08     1e+07  1.67e+05  6.94e+03       992        19 6e+09     1e+08  1.67e+06  6.94e+04  9.92e+03       190 6e+10     1e+09  1.67e+07  6.94e+05  9.92e+04   1.9e+03 6e+11     1e+10  1.67e+08  6.94e+06  9.92e+05   1.9e+04 6e+12     1e+11  1.67e+09  6.94e+07  9.92e+06   1.9e+05 Seconds   Minutes     Hours      Days     Weeks     Years 3.6e+03        60         1    0.0417   0.00595  0.000114 3.6e+04       600        10     0.417    0.0595   0.00114 3.6e+05     6e+03       100      4.17     0.595    0.0114 3.6e+06     6e+04     1e+03      41.7      5.95     0.114 3.6e+07     6e+05     1e+04       417      59.5      1.14 3.6e+08     6e+06     1e+05  4.17e+03       595      11.4 3.6e+09     6e+07     1e+06  4.17e+04  5.95e+03       114 3.6e+10     6e+08     1e+07  4.17e+05  5.95e+04  1.14e+03 3.6e+11     6e+09     1e+08  4.17e+06  5.95e+05  1.14e+04 3.6e+12     6e+10     1e+09  4.17e+07  5.95e+06  1.14e+05 3.6e+13     6e+11     1e+10  4.17e+08  5.95e+07  1.14e+06 Seconds   Minutes     Hours      Days     Weeks     Years 8.64e+04  1.44e+03        24         1     0.143   0.00274 8.64e+05  1.44e+04       240        10      1.43    0.0274 8.64e+06  1.44e+05   2.4e+03       100      14.3     0.274 8.64e+07  1.44e+06   2.4e+04     1e+03       143      2.74 8.64e+08  1.44e+07   2.4e+05     1e+04  1.43e+03      27.4 8.64e+09  1.44e+08   2.4e+06     1e+05  1.43e+04       274 8.64e+10  1.44e+09   2.4e+07     1e+06  1.43e+05  2.74e+03 8.64e+11  1.44e+10   2.4e+08     1e+07  1.43e+06  2.74e+04 8.64e+12  1.44e+11   2.4e+09     1e+08  1.43e+07  2.74e+05 8.64e+13  1.44e+12   2.4e+10     1e+09  1.43e+08  2.74e+06 Seconds   Minutes     Hours      Days     Weeks     Years 3.16e+07  5.26e+05  8.77e+03       365      52.2         1 3.16e+08  5.26e+06  8.77e+04  3.65e+03       522        10 3.16e+09  5.26e+07  8.77e+05  3.65e+04  5.22e+03       100 3.16e+10  5.26e+08  8.77e+06  3.65e+05  5.22e+04     1e+03 3.16e+11  5.26e+09  8.77e+07  3.65e+06  5.22e+05     1e+04 3.16e+12  5.26e+10  8.77e+08  3.65e+07  5.22e+06     1e+05 3.16e+13  5.26e+11  8.77e+09  3.65e+08  5.22e+07     1e+06
Or, in a variant presentation, sorted by actual length of each period:
Seconds   Minutes     Hours      Days     Weeks     Years
1e+03Â Â Â Â Â Â 16.7Â Â Â Â Â 0.278Â Â Â Â 0.0116Â Â Â 0.00165Â Â 3.17e-05
3.6e+03Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 60Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 1Â Â Â Â 0.0417Â Â Â 0.00595Â Â 0.000114
1e+04Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 167Â Â Â Â Â Â 2.78Â Â Â Â Â 0.116Â Â Â Â 0.0165Â Â 0.000317
3.6e+04Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 600Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 10Â Â Â Â Â 0.417Â Â Â Â 0.0595Â Â Â 0.00114
6e+04Â Â Â Â Â 1e+03Â Â Â Â Â Â 16.7Â Â Â Â Â 0.694Â Â Â Â 0.0992Â Â Â Â 0.0019
8.64e+04Â Â 1.44e+03Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 24Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 1Â Â Â Â Â 0.143Â Â Â 0.00274
1e+05Â Â 1.67e+03Â Â Â Â Â Â 27.8Â Â Â Â Â Â 1.16Â Â Â Â Â 0.165Â Â Â 0.00317
3.6e+05Â Â Â Â Â 6e+03Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 100Â Â Â Â Â Â 4.17Â Â Â Â Â 0.595Â Â Â Â 0.0114
6e+05Â Â Â Â Â 1e+04Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 167Â Â Â Â Â Â 6.94Â Â Â Â Â 0.992Â Â Â Â Â 0.019
8.64e+05Â Â 1.44e+04Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 240Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 10Â Â Â Â Â Â 1.43Â Â Â Â 0.0274
1e+06Â Â 1.67e+04Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 278Â Â Â Â Â Â 11.6Â Â Â Â Â Â 1.65Â Â Â Â 0.0317
3.6e+06Â Â Â Â Â 6e+04Â Â Â Â Â 1e+03Â Â Â Â Â Â 41.7Â Â Â Â Â Â 5.95Â Â Â Â Â 0.114
6e+06Â Â Â Â Â 1e+05Â Â 1.67e+03Â Â Â Â Â Â 69.4Â Â Â Â Â Â 9.92Â Â Â Â Â Â 0.19
8.64e+06Â Â 1.44e+05Â Â Â 2.4e+03Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 100Â Â Â Â Â Â 14.3Â Â Â Â Â 0.274
1e+07Â Â 1.67e+05Â Â 2.78e+03Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 116Â Â Â Â Â Â 16.5Â Â Â Â Â 0.317
3.16e+07Â Â 5.26e+05Â Â 8.77e+03Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 365Â Â Â Â Â Â 52.2Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 1
3.6e+07Â Â Â Â Â 6e+05Â Â Â Â Â 1e+04Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 417Â Â Â Â Â Â 59.5Â Â Â Â Â Â 1.14
6e+07Â Â Â Â Â 1e+06Â Â 1.67e+04Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 694Â Â Â Â Â Â 99.2Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 1.9
8.64e+07Â Â 1.44e+06Â Â Â 2.4e+04Â Â Â Â Â 1e+03Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 143Â Â Â Â Â Â 2.74
1e+08Â Â 1.67e+06Â Â 2.78e+04Â Â 1.16e+03Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 165Â Â Â Â Â Â 3.17
3.16e+08Â Â 5.26e+06Â Â 8.77e+04Â Â 3.65e+03Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 522Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 10
3.6e+08Â Â Â Â Â 6e+06Â Â Â Â Â 1e+05Â Â 4.17e+03Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 595Â Â Â Â Â Â 11.4
6e+08Â Â Â Â Â 1e+07Â Â 1.67e+05Â Â 6.94e+03Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 992Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 19
8.64e+08Â Â 1.44e+07Â Â Â 2.4e+05Â Â Â Â Â 1e+04Â Â 1.43e+03Â Â Â Â Â Â 27.4
1e+09Â Â 1.67e+07Â Â 2.78e+05Â Â 1.16e+04Â Â 1.65e+03Â Â Â Â Â Â 31.7
3.16e+09Â Â 5.26e+07Â Â 8.77e+05Â Â 3.65e+04Â Â 5.22e+03Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 100
3.6e+09Â Â Â Â Â 6e+07Â Â Â Â Â 1e+06Â Â 4.17e+04Â Â 5.95e+03Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 114
6e+09Â Â Â Â Â 1e+08Â Â 1.67e+06Â Â 6.94e+04Â Â 9.92e+03Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 190
8.64e+09Â Â 1.44e+08Â Â Â 2.4e+06Â Â Â Â Â 1e+05Â Â 1.43e+04Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 274
1e+10Â Â 1.67e+08Â Â 2.78e+06Â Â 1.16e+05Â Â 1.65e+04Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 317
3.16e+10Â Â 5.26e+08Â Â 8.77e+06Â Â 3.65e+05Â Â 5.22e+04Â Â Â Â Â 1e+03
3.6e+10Â Â Â Â Â 6e+08Â Â Â Â Â 1e+07Â Â 4.17e+05Â Â 5.95e+04Â Â 1.14e+03
6e+10Â Â Â Â Â 1e+09Â Â 1.67e+07Â Â 6.94e+05Â Â 9.92e+04Â Â Â 1.9e+03
8.64e+10Â Â 1.44e+09Â Â Â 2.4e+07Â Â Â Â Â 1e+06Â Â 1.43e+05Â Â 2.74e+03
1e+11Â Â 1.67e+09Â Â 2.78e+07Â Â 1.16e+06Â Â 1.65e+05Â Â 3.17e+03
3.16e+11Â Â 5.26e+09Â Â 8.77e+07Â Â 3.65e+06Â Â 5.22e+05Â Â Â Â Â 1e+04
3.6e+11Â Â Â Â Â 6e+09Â Â Â Â Â 1e+08Â Â 4.17e+06Â Â 5.95e+05Â Â 1.14e+04
6e+11Â Â Â Â Â 1e+10Â Â 1.67e+08Â Â 6.94e+06Â Â 9.92e+05Â Â Â 1.9e+04
8.64e+11Â Â 1.44e+10Â Â Â 2.4e+08Â Â Â Â Â 1e+07Â Â 1.43e+06Â Â 2.74e+04
1e+12Â Â 1.67e+10Â Â 2.78e+08Â Â 1.16e+07Â Â 1.65e+06Â Â 3.17e+04
3.16e+12Â Â 5.26e+10Â Â 8.77e+08Â Â 3.65e+07Â Â 5.22e+06Â Â Â Â Â 1e+05
3.6e+12Â Â Â Â Â 6e+10Â Â Â Â Â 1e+09Â Â 4.17e+07Â Â 5.95e+06Â Â 1.14e+05
6e+12Â Â Â Â Â 1e+11Â Â 1.67e+09Â Â 6.94e+07Â Â 9.92e+06Â Â Â 1.9e+05
8.64e+12Â Â 1.44e+11Â Â Â 2.4e+09Â Â Â Â Â 1e+08Â Â 1.43e+07Â Â 2.74e+05
1e+13Â Â 1.67e+11Â Â 2.78e+09Â Â 1.16e+08Â Â 1.65e+07Â Â 3.17e+05
3.16e+13Â Â 5.26e+11Â Â 8.77e+09Â Â 3.65e+08Â Â 5.22e+07Â Â Â Â Â 1e+06
3.6e+13Â Â Â Â Â 6e+11Â Â Â Â Â 1e+10Â Â 4.17e+08Â Â 5.95e+07Â Â 1.14e+06
8.64e+13Â Â 1.44e+12Â Â Â 2.4e+10Â Â Â Â Â 1e+09Â Â 1.43e+08Â Â 2.74e+06
1e+14Â Â 1.67e+12Â Â 2.78e+10Â Â 1.16e+09Â Â 1.65e+08Â Â 3.17e+06
You may download a zip file containing the script.
Hero Gear Shoot
I ran down to Tennessee for Oleg’s Hero Gear shoot again this year.
So far I only have Saturday’s pictures up; so about this many again yet to come, I hope in the next week still.
(one just short of the left edge of his shirt, even with the yellow tape in the background; one just at the cuff on his right arm; and two above his arm, about even with the hat brim).
Doesn’t take long to empty even a 37-round magazine at that rate!
Had Fun
Just the first of the photos from today, but I’ve looked through all the files, and it appears that I did have fun.
