Fixing a Door Strike Plate With Repair Realism

...y don’t do much else. While we’re at it we need to find a clever solution for doors that swell and contract. One of the signs of spring here is neighbors hiring people to cut down their doors. We should have doors with tops and bottoms that extend and contract. Much of the knowledge of furniture making relates to how to allow for seasonal wood movement so that your table or cabinet doesn’t pull apart between the cold of winter and the heat and hum...

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How much time do you spend cycling in the city?

...tize walking and cycling over driving. This involves slowing down traffic, making parking expensive and difficult, installing bike and bus only lanes and heavily penalizing anyone who texts and drives. Unfortunately, these are unpalatable and career ending policies for our council members and mayor. But we can’t give up hope. I was a small part of the push, ten years ago, to make things better for cycling in Los Angeles. I feel like contributing t...

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BrickTube

...et for cutting bricks. Bricklayer, August Sander, 1929. I like the idea of making small garden follies with bricks and can imagine other uses for brick structures in gardens. Could I build a wall or something structural? No way–not without a lot more practice. Brick work is intellectually challenging and hard physical labor. I have much respect for the people who do this for a living. I mean, just think about the man in that Sander photo above and...

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Timing Sourdough Feeding

...ecent sourdough bread: the amount of time between feeding your starter and making your dough. I keep a small amount of starter on hand since I bake, at most, twice a week under normal circumstances (Under quarantine I’m baking a lot more but the reasons for that would be the subject of another blog post). Just before I go to bed, the night before I’m going to make bread, I take a tablespoon of starer and add it to 50 grams of whole wheat flour and...

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Saturday Linkages: Juneteenth

...Oakland mural by Elaine Chu and Marina Perez-Wong. A Juneteenth of Joy and Resistance Joe Lamp’l Rants about Mosquito Spraying Services, and 9 More Things Here’s All the Free Online Stuff You Get With Your L.A. Library Card How to Bribe a Los Angeles Lawmaker Making Jam from Frozen Fruit Ancient receipts I’m Not Wearing a Mask Arizona Public Media: Behind the Mask A Brief History of Listening In on Police Radios...

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