Ex Bibliotheca

The life and times of Zack Weinberg.

Sunday, 14 April 2002

# 10:45 PM

I have lost the notebook with all my Minicon notes in it. This is singularly frustrating; I can't work on my con report.

# 9:30 PM

notes on stonecarving

I'm doing an art project which involves cutting symbols into lots of small obsidian pebbles. You do this with diamond grinding bits, which can be had from a jeweler's supply store for about ten bucks. Diamond bits have to be kept wet, or they overheat and melt. The jeweler's supply will sell you an expensive carving drill which runs a constant stream of lubricant onto the bit, but I'm a cheapskate so I'm just using a Dremel. It works almost as well to put the stone in a basin full of water, with a couple of catches.

First, having the stone underwater means it's hard to see what you're doing. It is essential to change the water often; it will rapidly become cloudy with suspended obsidian dust. Most of the bits are shapes that don't disturb the water much; unfortunately, some of the more useful ones will send it splashing all over the place. There's usually a critical water depth at which they don't do this. Trial and error is about the only way to figure it out. It's also essential to have strong light directly on the piece being worked; I've been holding a flashlight in my other hand, since I don't have a proper work lamp.

Second, you need some way of holding the stone at the bottom of the basin. This is actually the hardest part of the project. I've been using the sticky putty that came with a candle mold. It doesn't work very well: it is not much interested in sticking to the smooth glaze at the bottom of the bowl I'm using. The stone therefore tends to come loose halfway through a cut. The putty does stick to the stones, a bit too well; it's difficult to get off again once I'm done. And, worst of all, the stuff is positively eager to stick to my fingers.

I know I have some of that blue poster-stickum around here somewhere; that might work better, if I can find it. At least it would come off my fingers without rubbing alcohol.

# 6:15 PM

My 2001 income tax return comes to twelve (single-sided) pages of forms, including the somewhat exotic Form 2210 whose purpose is to explain to the IRS that I did not, in fact, underpay estimated taxes. The state tax return adds another five; they want a complete copy of the federal return plus some extras.

I had an interesting conversation with Shweta about why it is I don't use electronic filing. The most important reason, to me anyway, is that paper filing means that I can look over the forms and know exactly what's going into the envelope to be sent to the IRS. With electronic filing I would have to trust the tax program to do it right. (I already trust the tax program to fill out all the forms correctly, but it is much more likely that that part has been properly debugged. Also, I can do spot checks of the printout to make sure it's accurate.)