Hot stuff

[Matt2matt2002]

While away last month in high temps. my wee thermometer started to act up.
As I hope the picture shows, the top part of the alcohol separated. At first just one section but later a second.
I now have 3 readings!!
Anyone had this happen to their own thermometer?
Not sure what caused it. It was attached to the outside of my bar bag and I guess bounced around a bit.
Should I keep it in my pocket?



Perhaps you can see the small black mark on the right hand side of the tube? I asked the seller about this since it also showed up in the picture of the item on the box. They said it was a body/mean temp marking. Not a fault.
Since its on the outside and doesn't interfere with the inside movement of red alcohol, I accepted it.

And here are a couple of other pix from my trip to Sri Lanka
Still under the Hot Stuff heading.

It was pushing 35+ when I met the 3 fellas at an old fort.



And finally
The local food served was on the hot side. Never had to request a fire extinguisher but an interesting point is that most of the dishes are served on plates covered in plastic bags. ( and most folk eat with their fingers )
At the end of the meal any scraps are easily wrapped up in the bag as it is slipped off the plate.
A neat arrangement but of course must contribute enormously to plastic pollution.



Thanks folks

[mickeg]

You might be able to shake the separated parts on the thermometer back down with centrifugal force.  I have had limited success with that, but yours is not too badly separated.

[Danneaux]

I've had it happen to me, Matt. Heat, vibration, and distillation tendency are all contributors. Helpful tips for rejoining here:
http://novalynx.com/store/pc/Rejoining-a-Separated-Thermometer-Column-d40.htm

I carry a variety of analog thermometers with me to confirm readings on my digital data loggers. So far, the digital have read correctly and don't suffer the separation that occasionally affects the liquid types.

Something to remember: Thermometers of any type re or the temperature where they are located. This may be a microclimate with temperatures very different from those measured ambient just a short distance away. I once setup my tent in a sheltered area near a rock wall that reflected the sun. Despite temperatures well below freezing in the general area and snow still on the ground, I cooked and ate my dinner in short sleeves in a microclimate of 17.7°C/64°F. Wonderful when it works that way, not so great when you're feeling extra-hot...while cycling on pavement, for example. You can see examples of this on most televised auto races, where reported track temperatures are much higher than air temperatures. As you might imagine, this affects barefoot runners as well: https://thebarefootrunners.org/threads/charting-air-temp-vs-ground-temp-vs-pain-threshold.6527/.

I often see road surface temperatures of 60°C/140°F on my desert tours. I employ my folding chair at rest breaks so the hot, melted tar won't stick to my exposed skin and cause burns (the skin comes off with the cooled tar  ).

If you keep your thermometer in your pocket, it Wil read...your pocket temperature. I prefer to keep mine at about handlebar level, as this has so far most closely approximated the temperature at my trunk, which seems to correlate with my perception of "hot" and "cold". My head is sheltered by a UV buff and the Styrofoam of my helmet.

Best,

Dan.

[Matt2matt2002]

You might be able to shake the separated parts on the thermometer back down with centrifugal force.  I have had limited success with that, but yours is not too badly separated.

Thanks Mick
I'll give it go tomorrow.
And thanks Dan.
I recall your thoughts and comments on micro climates from some time ago.

[macspud]

Mat, for some reason I am unable to see any pictures in your posts. Are the pics visable to all others on the forum?

[Danneaux]

Are the pics visable to all others on the forum?

Yep, I can see 'em. Matt used inline html tags to display these, rather than attaching them. Mac...check your browser settings to be sure it allows remote content.

All the best,

Dan.

[Matt2matt2002]

Are the pics visable to all others on the forum?

Yep, I can see 'em. Matt used inline html tags to display these, rather than attaching them. Mac...check your browser settings to be sure it allows remote content.

All the best,

Dan.

Out of interest please explain the difference and pros n cons?
Is one more acceptable/ desirable/ preferred than the other?

Matt, who still has a floppy disc but is on medication.
😉

[John Saxby]

Funny business, the remote links, I mean:  I couldn't see Matt's links, nor (hence) his photos, though I could see Dan's link.  Never had the invisible-links problem before, so I have no idea why it it's an issue now. Having some experience with fragmented thermometers, though (being Canajan 'n' all), I could visualize Matt's problem readily enough.

[Andre Jute]

Can't see the pictures either. I've always found that just dragging photos from my desktop into the reply to the forum works a treat. That is the socalled "in-line" option, which places the photo in the body of the article. The photo needs to be pre-edited to size, for which I find 600 pixels in the longest direction generally a good choice for a large clear photo. No HTML is involved.

Or Matt may be interested in the "Attachments and other option" + button at the bottom left of the reply window, which allows importing photos by browsing the menu structure of the computer. This places a thumbnail below the post, and downloads the photo to the reader's disk drive when he clicks on it, after which it can be opened in his own image software.

[David Simpson]

Hi Matt --

I was very interested in your "invisible pictures" problem here, since software is what I do for a living.

I think the problem is nothing to do with how you posted or linked the pictures. The problem is the format of the picture files. Your picture files are in the WebP format, which is a fairly new image format developed by Google (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WebP). Currently most browsers do not support WebP. The notable exception is Google's Chrome browser, of course. When I viewed this thread in Chrome (version 52), the pictures appear properly. In Firefox (version 45.1) or Microsoft Internet Explorer (version 11), I don't see them. I haven't tried Safari on my Mac. According to the Wikipedia article, WebP support is planned for future versions of Firefox and Safari.

It would be nice to be able to drag the pictures to my desktop to view them (as Andre's has suggested), but I haven't figured out how to do that. The browser doesn't show anything on the page that I can drag, not even an "unsupported image" icon. If I figure it out, I'll let you know.

In the meantime, the only solution that I know of is to re-save your pictures in a different format (such as JPEG or PNG) and edit your posting to point to those pictures.

<begin technical details>
The reason for the new WebP image format is that it has a better compression algorithm, so the files are smaller. All image formats (except for a bitmap image) compress the data to have a much smaller file. It is uncompressed when it is rendered on your screen, and your eye normally cannot tell the difference from the original (uncompressed) image unless you look closely. A smaller file is desirable because it uses less space on your hard-drive and is faster to transmit over a network. For a given compression algorithm, using higher compression will make the resulting image appear blurry or lower-quality, so the amount of compression used is a compromise between the size of the file and the quality of the resulting image. There are different compression algorithms, which give better or worse results for the same amount of compression. For example, WebP is better than JPEG or PNG. Coming up with a good compression algorithm is very difficult, and uses advanced mathematics.
More info here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image_file_formats
<end technical details>

- DaveS

[Matt2matt2002]

Oh my gosh. What have I started?
Here's what I do.
Transfer pix from camera card to computer.
Reduce size of pix by half or x2 halves.
Save in ' refuced' folder.

Transfer reduced pix to Google+
This allows me to copy the saved pix.

If I saved it as a jpg attachment how would I transfer it to the forum?

[David Simpson]

If I saved it as a jpg attachment how would I transfer it to the forum?

When you create your post message, click on "Attachments and other options" just below the box where you enter your text. You will see a "Browse" button that will allow you to select your file. You can attach 4 files per post.

Another option might be to change your Google+ settings so that when you upload your pictures to Google+, it will save your files in JPEG format instead of WebP format. However I don't use Google+, so I don't know if that option even exists.

- DaveS

[Matt2matt2002]

Following recent instructions.......
A picture from Sri Lanka showing ( or not!) an alcohol shop.
Can you see ( the Dickens quote? )
Quite funny, I thought at the time.

[David Simpson]

Can you see ( the Dickens quote? )

Grape Expectations. 

But the file is very large. Did you reduce it?

[Matt2matt2002]

Thanks David.
No, on the above picture I didn't reduce it.
I sent it from my Nexus4 phone.
I don't have an app to reduce picture size on the phone.
I have ermmm. forgotten what, on the desk top at home.
Im at work now.
Suggestions for a phone app to reduce file size?
Android.

Since the topic is still Hot Stuff, here is another from Sri Lanka.
The bike mechanic guy who fixed my forks on day 1 and thus allowed me to tour for another 28 days.