I heartily endorse this event or product

[lisarea]

I am reviving a 1170 day old thread to shill for a product, and you can't even give me an infraction because I'm a moderator!

So about a year ago, I got one of these composting bins to replace the old coffee can Matlock stole from work, and we use it all the time. It's nice because it's mounted under the sink and it seals shut and you can do everything with one hand and everything. So I really like it but never really think much about it.

Then, last night, it was pretty full and I was trying to cram a bunch of watermelon rinds in it while it was still sitting in the bracket, and I predictably snapped off a piece of the bracket.

I went on the website today to see if I could get a new bracket, and it wasn't listed, so I emailed the company and asked if I could buy one somewhere, and the owner of the company emailed me back right away and is sending me a new bracket right now for $6 including shipping.

So I heartily endorse this product, so much so that I bumped a super old thread to tell you.

[lisarea]

On reviewing my recommendations in this thread:

3. Yes, I am still wearing that Waveceptor watch I recommended, and feel naked when I accidentally leave the house without it. It is still a great watch.

2. Yes, also the same with the lipstick Anker charger. It is still in my purse.

1. I am a little sad about the Jetstream ballpoint pens, though. I got a bunch of them, and gave some away but mostly just have them around in all the various places I sometimes need pens. But apparently, they're now discontinued, and they don't sell refills for the kind I have. But the pens are perfectly fine, and they're supposed to be refillable. To do that, though, YOU HAVE TO HAVE REFILLS. I am going to buy some refills for other models and see if they fit or if I can make them do so, but I don't like planned obsolescence, so I am issuing demerits to Uniball for discontinuing perfectly usable, good quality pens and then telling me to buy whole new ones just because they ran out of ink.

[ceptimus]

Lately I've been watching bats flying around my garden at dusk. At least I'm almost certain they're bats, but there remains a nagging suspicion that they're little insect-catching birds that are staying up past their bedtime.

I tried videoing them, but although I captured several 'fly-pasts' in the video, the low light conditions mean that when the video is freeze-framed the images are blurry, and it's still not totally clear that the creatures are definitely bats.

So, to at last get around to the product I'm endorsing, it's one of these bat detector kits from Amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/Franzis-Make-.../dp/3645652760



It looks like a book, but it's actually a cardboard box containing a small kit of parts, and instructions. You have to do a tiny bit of soldering (most of the parts are already soldered onto the included PCB, so you're mostly just connecting up wires to the speaker, sensor, and controls). It took me about thirty minutes - and I was being careful and slow, trying to make a neat job.

The cardboard box that it comes in is also the case for the finished detector. The only thing you need to add is one of those common little square 9-volt batteries.

There are simple instructions on how to set it up without needing any test equipment - you just rub your fingers together, which apparently generates the same sorts of ultrasound frequencies that bats use, and tune the dials for best sensitivity. Mine can pick up the sound of rubbed fingers from a yard or more away.

I've already taken it out in the garden (daytime) and pointed it at some swallows and other insect-catching birds that are zooming around, to make sure they weren't picked up by the detector - now I'm all set for bat detection when it gets dark about four hours from now.

[JoeP]

I don't care about the details, Fledermausdetektor is a product that I want.

[JoeP]

While we are waiting for dusk to descend, I'd say your main avian candidate is swifts.

My gut tells me that swifts can turn and twist very rapidly but nothing compared to bats which practically follow a random walk through the sky with no regard to conservation of momentum.

[JoeP]

Also, the flight patterns and crepuscular behaviour of insect-eating birds and insect-eating flying mammals are going to be pretty similar because evolution converges on the same solutions for the same problems.

[Crumb]

[ceptimus]

Well, it works - and yes, the critters in my garden are indeed bats!

I shot this crappy video - you can hear the detector working okay, but you don't see the bats very often: most of the time they're not even in frame, but you do occasionally see a dark shape flutter through the scene.

Fledermausdetektor zum Selberbauen (Bat Detector...

Maybe I'll get some better video over the coming days - I need to figure out how to disable the auto-focus on my camera when it's fitted with a decent modern lens!

Anyway, the point of this thread is mainly to endorse things, so if you think you may have bats nearby, and you can just about solder (or are prepared to learn) then the Fledermausdetektor sum Selberbauen is highly recommended.

[erimir]

You just need to get bats like these, then you won't need a detector.

[SR71]

I really like this mop. It cleans well, rinses easily, and the wringer thing really works, so the floor dries fast! Please don't ban hammer me, weekend mods. I just want everyone to be sanitary, regarding their well trodden corridors.

Libman Wonder® Mop - YouTube

[JoeP]