Technology: how is jewelry chain mass-produced?

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Self-tutoring about manufacturing: the tutor looks into the mass-production of jewelry chain.

Last night, shopping with my wife for clothes, I noticed the jewelry display. There were some really nice-looking items, at low cost – around $20 or so. I would guess they were copper or perhaps nickel or stainless steel.

Inspecting the pieces, I noticed many consisted of dozens, perhaps hundreds, of fine chain links. The chain might have been 0.5mm thick, while the links, possibly diameter of 2.5mm.

Cheap or not, making all that chain would require precision. Furthermore, it must be mass-produced, to be offered so affordably. “How is it made?” I wondered.

This morning I searched the ‘net to find out, and came across this fantastic video from Online Jewelry Academy which shows a chain-making machine in action.

From what I observed in the video, the operation seems first to involve twisting the wire into a spiral. Then, for each link,

  1. a cut
  2. a twist
  3. and finally a spot weld.

It definitely helped me understand.

Jack of Oracle Tutoring by Jack and Diane, Campbell River, BC.

English: words I didn’t know: plunk

Posted on by Jack Posted in english — No Comments ↓

Tutoring English, vocabulary is always interesting. The tutor mentions the word plunk.

plunk (verb): to drop abruptly.

Source:

Mish, Frederick C. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary. Springfield: Merriam-Webster, 2004.

Jack of Oracle Tutoring by Jack and Diane, Campbell River, BC.

English: what does emolument mean?

Posted on by Jack Posted in vocabulary — No Comments ↓

Self-tutoring about news: the tutor mentions the definition of emolument.

emolument:payment or gift, often due to position. It can be salary or other benefit.

Source:

merriam-webster.com

Jack of Oracle Tutoring by Jack and Diane, Campbell River, BC.


Computer science: shallow copy vs deep copy

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Self-tutoring about computer science: the tutor mentions the difference between shallow and deep copy.

A shallow copy of an object is a new name for it. When the original changes, so will the shallow copy. Moreover, a change to the shallow copy will likewise change the original. After the shallow copy, there is only one actual object, but now it has an extra name.

A deep copy produces a new object with a new memory location. At first its elements are identical to the original. Henceforth, however, it’s independent of the original; either can change without affecting the other.

Source:

stackoverflow.com

Jones, Darren. JavaScript: Novice to Ninja, 2nd edition. Collingwood: SitePoint Pty, 2017.

Jack of Oracle Tutoring by Jack and Diane, Campbell River, BC.

Computer science: JavaScript: ‘false’ != false

Posted on by Jack Posted in Uncategorized — No Comments ↓

Self-tutoring about computer science: the tutor mentions a test he ran tonight with JavaScript.

Boolean(‘false’)=true while Boolean(false)=false on the Edge and Firefox JavaScript consoles I tested this evening.

Source:

Jones, Darren. JavaScript: Novice to Ninja, 2nd ed. Collingwood: SitePoint Pty, 2017.

Jack of Oracle Tutoring by Jack and Diane, Campbell River, BC.

English: Sheryl Crow: “A Change Would Do You Good”

Posted on by Jack Posted in poetry — No Comments ↓

Self-tutoring about lyrics: the tutor reflects on a few lines from Sheryl Crow.

Sheryl Crow’s lyrics have caught my attention numerous times. Her song “A Change Would Do You Good” contains a few examples.

“Wear your fake fur on the inside” is a fantastic characterization of political correctness. The fur is fake, so even to a person against using animal fur, it’s blameless. However, the wearer is afraid of being perceived as someone who wears real fur. Therefore, just buying fake (instead of real) fur is not enough; they need to hide their fake fur, as well.

“…everybody wants more” is a line so true, it’s surprising I can’t recall anyone singing it before Sheryl Crow. Sometimes, an artist can notice an obvious fact that seemingly eludes everyone else.

“A Change Would Do You Good” was written by Sheryl Crow, Jeff Trott and Brian MacLeod. To my mind, the song could be perceived as a bit dismissive and/or condescending. However, its point about fake fur elevates it above just another hit.

Source: songfacts.com

Jack of Oracle Tutoring by Jack and Diane, Campbell River, BC.

90s Music: Blind Melon:”No Rain”

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Self-tutoring about 90s music: the tutor revisits Blind Melon’s hit “No Rain.”

I recall Blind Melon’s “No Rain” from the early 90s. I thought it was catchy enough, but to me, it soon disappeared. My life changed quickly back then anyway.

Tonight, driving down the highway, I heard “No Rain” again. In the clarity of 48 years, as opposed to cloudy 23, it came to me afresh.

Immediately I noticed the clicking percussion that sounds like snapping fingers. It really energizes the song.

“No Rain” is first-person. Continually, the speaker suggests they’re “not sane.” They even tell the listener,

You think that I’m insane.

Questioning one’s own sanity likely precludes being insane, at least from “my point of view.” Therefore, “No Rain” is filled with a delicious irony which is comedic but also reassuring.

There is much more I could reflect about “No Rain”, and perhaps I will write more about it in a future post. For now, I’ll say that I under-appreciated it when it was a hit.

Source: songfacts.com youtube.com

Jack of Oracle Tutoring by Jack and Diane, Campbell River, BC.

English: homonyms: yolk vs yoke

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Tutoring English, homonyms continue to be a favourite topic of mine. The tutor mentions yolk vs yoke.

Occasionally I forget, between yolk and yoke, which means which, so have to re-check.

Yolk means the yellow centre of an egg. On the other hand, yoke is a frame to fit around oxen to attach them to a plow they might pull, etc.

Source:

Barber, Katherine et al. Oxford Canadian Dictionary of Current English. Don Mills: Oxford University Press, 2005.

Jack of Oracle Tutoring by Jack and Diane, Campbell River, BC.

Diet: keto flu

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Self-tutoring about dieting keto style: the tutor mentions the keto flu.

I think the keto flu is real. I had it Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday…today I feel much better.

I ate limited carbohydrates last fall, but during Christmas break I let go and ate liberally (see my post here).

With the holidays over, I need to slim down. The only way I know how is with a keto philosophy, eating very limited carbohydrates. Therefore, starting Monday, I ate less of them.

By Thursday I felt bad. I didn’t know what was wrong – at first I thought it was from overtraining, since I’d put in a few hard workouts. Yesterday it got worse – tight throat, stiffness, muscle aches, lassitude, and even a cough. Yet I could tell it wasn’t an infection.

This morning I feel much better: my guess is that I had the keto flu. I hope to talk more about it in future posts.

Source:

blog.bulletproof.com

Jack of Oracle Tutoring by Jack and Diane, Campbell River, BC.

English: opposites in writing

Posted on by Jack Posted in english — No Comments ↓

Tutoring English, you notice devices that catch attention. The tutor mentions the use of opposites.

I think people are interested when they hear opposites in the same sentence. I know I am, and still recall a couple of examples from decades ago:

But the truth is I knew you were lying
-Tina Turner, “When the Heartache is Over”

When people hear “truth” and “lie” at the same time, I think the contradiction draws them in, so they start listening more closely.

Perhaps an even more powerful use of opposites comes from Shakespeare:

You wronged yourself to write in such a case.
-Julius Caesar, IV,iii,6

The juxtaposition of “wrong” with “write” sounds like “wrong” and “right”. Once again, the opposite (sounding) words, said in the same sentence, arrest the reader’s (or the hearer’s) attention. Shakespeare’s cleverness at making a word count for two is evident here.

Source:

youtube

Shakespeare, William. The Complete Works of William Shakespeare. Ware: Wordsworth Editions Ltd, 1996.

waretourism.org.uk

Jack of Oracle Tutoring by Jack and Diane, Campbell River, BC.

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