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Paul Southworth

@pws.social.coop.ap.brid.gy

15 followers 0 following 160 posts

Former bicycle mechanic, retired tech worker, repairer of things. Tell me about your bike and I'll try to help you fix it. 🌉 bridged from ⁂ social.coop/@pws, follow @ap.brid.gy to interact

Posts Replies Media

Paul Southworth @pws.social.coop.ap.brid.gy · 17/10/2026

@moira It's not uncommon to find chromed bearing surfaces in really cheap old hubs, and that will tend to flake off. They just chrome the entire hub shell. Nothing much you can do about it other than clean it up and install new bearings.

Paul Southworth @pws.social.coop.ap.brid.gy · 17/10/2026

@moira Did you discard the old bearings and install new? It's hard to guess whether the cups and cones are still in usable condition without pictures of them completely clean, but bearings are the thing you can replace easily any time. Usually the approach with a wheel of that quality that you […]

Original post on social.coop

Paul Southworth @pws.social.coop.ap.brid.gy · 14/10/2026

@masnick.com I'm not going back to Twitter because the experience there sucks and it's run by a Nazi. I don't even think of this as a particularly principled stance but I guess the bar is low for that these days. I just feel like I'm going to get a rash if I look at it too much.

Paul Southworth @pws.social.coop.ap.brid.gy · 13/10/2026

Today's walk was near Starksboro #Vermont. We did the reverse of this route so the hill came first: ridewithgps.com/routes/57530666 I went hunting for all dirt loops of around 5 miles within around 30 minutes drive from home by scanning the maps. I noted […] [Original post on social.coop]

Colorful fall foliage on a hillside visible from a gravel road

The grave of David Stokes, died March 7, 1884, age 67 years

View of various grave stones visible in the cemetery

Reposted by Paul Southworth

Paul Southworth @pws.social.coop.ap.brid.gy · 31/08/2026

Fact check... false

WIRED Magazine tote bag with lettering "You Can't Hack a Tote Bag"

WIRED Magazine tote bag with a piece of duct tape installed so it reads "You Can Hack a Tote Bag"

Paul Southworth @pws.social.coop.ap.brid.gy · 31/08/2026

Fact check... false

WIRED Magazine tote bag with lettering "You Can't Hack a Tote Bag"

WIRED Magazine tote bag with a piece of duct tape installed so it reads "You Can Hack a Tote Bag"

Paul Southworth @pws.social.coop.ap.brid.gy · 10/10/2026

The rest of my library tech help kit is a bag of mostly cables. Sometimes I also bring an iFixIt toolkit but only when I know there will be a little hardware work, which is rare - usually just installing or removing storage or DIMMs in a laptop since the […] [Original post on social.coop]

Assortment of cables all described in the text of this post

Paul Southworth @pws.social.coop.ap.brid.gy · 10/10/2026

For my library tech help appointments, I assembled a wallet of media, adapters, and other things I bring to work with most devices that are brought in for support. If you do this type of work, what's in your kit? 1. Zipper wallet designed for flash drives 2. USB […] [Original post on social.coop]

A flash drive zipper wallet with a variety of media and adapters arrayed next it. All described in the text of this post.

Paul Southworth @pws.social.coop.ap.brid.gy · 09/10/2026

On this week's episode adventures in fraud... A scammer contacts an employer via email, using a throwaway gmail address, to request changing an employee's direct deposit details. The only information they have is the employee's name and title (and this is a public-facing municipal employee so […]

Original post on social.coop

Paul Southworth @pws.social.coop.ap.brid.gy · 06/10/2026

@DanielRThomas Have you reviewed specs for JBL Quantum One?

Paul Southworth @pws.social.coop.ap.brid.gy · 05/10/2026

@jfparis Exposure to alcohol for a few minutes shouldn't do anything. The hard plastic bits are probably nylon which is quite tough.You could substitute diluted citrus degreaser or warm soapy water and rinse it out. Compressor would help it get dry quickly. But alcohol is great for getting […]

Original post on social.coop

Paul Southworth @pws.social.coop.ap.brid.gy · 05/10/2026

@jfparis Yeah they consider it a consumable part. As a lazy person I would soak it with alcohol and blow it out with a compressor (a couple times) and then use a little silicone spray lube on it.

Paul Southworth @pws.social.coop.ap.brid.gy · 04/10/2026

A Pittsfield #Vermont rooster has made the front page of the New York Times (gift link below). The thing that puzzles me is that when people talk about the rural character of a town, that doesn't seem to cover responding to a sleepless neighbor by turning a nuisance bird into coq au vin. We used […]

Original post on social.coop

Paul Southworth @pws.social.coop.ap.brid.gy · 02/10/2026

@danyork I'm not going to the gym but I'll be near a gym 💪

Paul Southworth @pws.social.coop.ap.brid.gy · 30/09/2026

@tezoatlipoca They can try to log in at icloud.com which might reveal if they were syncing any of their data. Of course finding something there doesn't mean it has all their data. Having an iCloud account and being able to use it for local account password recovery also does not […]

Original post on social.coop

Paul Southworth @pws.social.coop.ap.brid.gy · 30/09/2026

@tezoatlipoca If it's set to allow recovery via iCloud, that's the way I would go. If the iCloud password is not known, that's usually pretty easy to reset (especially if they have an iPhone/iPad signed in to iCloud). support.apple.com/en-us/102633

support.apple.com

If you forgot your Mac login password - Apple Support

If you can’t remember the password to log in to your Mac, or the password doesn’t work, you might be able to reset the password.

Paul Southworth @pws.social.coop.ap.brid.gy · 30/09/2026

@tezoatlipoca If the user has set it up to allow account reset via their Apple (iCloud) account that could provide a way out, but I expect you would need to actually boot from the volume and go through the recovery process. I have never ever found anyone who was able to produce the recovery key […]

Original post on social.coop

Paul Southworth @pws.social.coop.ap.brid.gy · 29/09/2026

@Kevin Where do you see the ads?

Paul Southworth @pws.social.coop.ap.brid.gy · 28/09/2026

PBS says the current US election cycle will have $11.6b spent on political ads, and somehow I've never seen one. I guess the experts know what works but... 🤷‍♂️

Paul Southworth @pws.social.coop.ap.brid.gy · 25/09/2026

@enobacon @arthurgron Normal for 7 speed in the late 1980s as well. We used to have a cog board of all the replacement cogs. Because the teeth have no ramps or any specific orientation like HG does, any cog can go in any position. Once HG was introduced that all went out the window.

Paul Southworth @pws.social.coop.ap.brid.gy · 24/09/2026

@tante His gas station experience is like George Bush not knowing how to check out of a grocery store

Paul Southworth @pws.social.coop.ap.brid.gy · 23/09/2026

VTrans has a bridge to sell you for the low low price of $0. New owner must haul it away. #Vermont www.craigslist.org/view/d/burlingto…

Historic Bridge Available - free stuff - buy nothing - craigslist

Historic Bridge Available Bridge No. 150, which carries U.S. Route 7/2 over the Winooski River between Burlington and Winooski, Vermont, is scheduled to be replaced and is available for acquisition...

Paul Southworth @pws.social.coop.ap.brid.gy · 13/09/2026

@moira It depends a lot on how tight the tire fits to the rim. You can find loose tires, tight tires, variations in rims of the same size, etc. I have some wheels that need the tightest fitting tires that I can find or the tires blow off. Usually while I'm trying to sleep and there's an explosion.

Reposted by Paul Southworth

JF :debian: :verbike: @jfparis.rouge.eu.org.ap.brid.gy · 10/09/2026

Shimano has a single document that shows the recommended torque for all the screws in their system... (in most cases this is not the kind of things you discuss during the first date) si.shimano.com/en/pdfs/dm/TORQUE/DM… #BikeTooter #BikeMechanics

Paul Southworth @pws.social.coop.ap.brid.gy · 10/09/2026

CW amateur #juggling there will be drops Most of my juggling is just to make my hair stand up, it is not a performance. everything moves to small and too fast for a performer but whatever LFG

Paul Southworth @pws.social.coop.ap.brid.gy · 06/09/2026

@flancian It reminds me of the system I made for collecting console logs from a few thousand Sun servers at Cisco that were wired up to terminal servers (I just dated myself) using screen to run telnet (I just dated myself again) and write everything to a log file, plus a wrapper to let someone […]

Original post on social.coop

Paul Southworth @pws.social.coop.ap.brid.gy · 03/09/2026

The finished product... I chopped up the eggplant stuff because I thought it was too big, chopped up some of the peppers that I mentioned in the previous post about the joy of eating compost, added some tinned artichokes that I cut in half again, a homeopathic […] [Original post on social.coop]

Ingredients for the dish: the stewed eggplant stuff, the roasted pepper stuff, pasta, artichoke hearts

Baked pasta dish with some browned cheese on top

Paul Southworth @pws.social.coop.ap.brid.gy · 03/09/2026

Welcome to the latest episode of Cooking With Compost... straight out of the compost bin at the Burlington #Vermont food shelf, some rather hideous eggplants and some tomatoes that are actually fine they just got packed in a box with too many tomatoes and had […] [Original post on social.coop]

Three imperfect eggplants

Six ripe tomatoes with splits

The tomatoes after field surgery

The eggplants cubed up, looking a little brown inside

Paul Southworth @pws.social.coop.ap.brid.gy · 02/09/2026

@SamUpstate I use CoMaps on iOS when I need offline support. apps.apple.com/us/app/comaps/id6747…

CoMaps App - App Store

Download CoMaps by Anton Wenemoser on the App Store. See screenshots, ratings and reviews, user tips, and more apps like CoMaps.

Reposted by Paul Southworth

Szymon Bęczkowski @owiecc.sheep.observer · 30/08/2026

For the last two years my bike's rear cog was held in place with epoxy glue and prayers. This happened because the lock nut welded itself to the hub and had to be cut open. The hub's thread was so destroyed that it needed to be replaced. I needed the bike so I […] [Original post on en.osm.town]

Paul Southworth @pws.social.coop.ap.brid.gy · 27/08/2026

Back at the Burlington #Vermont food shelf today. Busy as usual but we had a donation from a local grower who had peppers that weren't so good, and the staff decided to toss some of them. Yes that means I shopped from the compost bin again, but check this out, a […] [Original post on social.coop]

A heap of bell peppers with all manner of damage

The peppers after field surgery

The peppers after I put too many on a roasting pan and put them in the oven

Paul Southworth @pws.social.coop.ap.brid.gy · 22/08/2026

Really enjoying the output of YouTube's automated closed captioning system trying to process Stanley Unwin. Computer has been soundly defeated. www.youtube.com/watch?v=323kQis2zbM

Paul Southworth @pws.social.coop.ap.brid.gy · 21/08/2026

It's another free #TechSupport day at the South Burlington library in #Vermont 1. Patron struggled to create installation media for a laptop running the ARM version of Windows 11 according to MSFT instructions. I went to Lenovo and they had an app for it. 2. Patron was annoyed by weird pop-up […]

Original post on social.coop

Paul Southworth @pws.social.coop.ap.brid.gy · 19/08/2026

@moira There are some chains that have a plated finish on them. Perhaps that failed and flaked off. If it works, you roll with it regardless of how it looks.

Paul Southworth @pws.social.coop.ap.brid.gy · 12/08/2026

@darwinwoodka If you have a #RepairCafe nearby, that's what it's for. At our local one we work on sewing machines all the time.

Paul Southworth @pws.social.coop.ap.brid.gy · 11/08/2026

Free #TechSupport sessions at the South Burlington library in #Vermont today: 1. A patron wanted to get set up for online classes at Vermont State University. We walked through some of their orientation materials on Canvas. 2. A patron wanted to understand why their phone would not work as a […]

Original post on social.coop

Paul Southworth @pws.social.coop.ap.brid.gy · 09/08/2026

@jfparis I am here for you, or I need help

Big bag o’ micro cables

Paul Southworth @pws.social.coop.ap.brid.gy · 07/08/2026

I'm perfectly willing to hate on Apple for planned obsolescence of perfectly usable machines, and poor repairability of their modern equipment, but I have to give respect to whoever makes it possible to sync a 23 year old iPod on the latest version of macOS with no trickery required. It just works.

Screenshot of the finder window for a 3rd gen iPod

Paul Southworth @pws.social.coop.ap.brid.gy · 07/08/2026

Quick little repair project. I came across my old 3rd gen iPod and wanted to use it in my (also old) car that only has a radio and CD player. I don't use a phone in the car. Battery was $10 on eBay. Synced the library from a machine running macOS 26.6 with no […] [Original post on social.coop]

3rd gen iPod, Griffin PowerPod car adapter, FireWire charger and cable, iPod dock, iPod remote control, iFixit tool kit

Paul Southworth @pws.social.coop.ap.brid.gy · 31/07/2026

@archos When you are tired of paying for TrainingPeaks, use this intervals.icu

Free Cycling, Running, Triathlon Training Platform | Intervals.icu

Free online training platform for cyclists, runners, triathletes and other athletes. Track fitness, analyze activities and wellness data, plan workouts. Coach other athletes. Integrated with Garmin, Polar, Suunto, Coros, Wahoo, Strava, Zwift, MyWhoosh, Rouvy, Amazfit, HUAWEI Health, Oura, WHOOP and others.

Paul Southworth @pws.social.coop.ap.brid.gy · 26/07/2026

@moira Wow that is an amazing result 💖

Paul Southworth @pws.social.coop.ap.brid.gy · 19/07/2026

@danyork ...and being inside the house this evening I didn't notice when the crap blew in but AQI went from the low 20s to over 160 today. www.iqair.com/air-quality/usa/vermo…

Ugly AQI graph showing low numbers until early afternoon and rising to look pretty bad

Paul Southworth @pws.social.coop.ap.brid.gy · 18/07/2026

@danyork I bought a PurpleAir Flex system with an outdoor micro-USB power supply for a total of ~$375. It's quite easy to set up. Uses WiFi. I mounted it under my deck partly because I have an outdoor power outlet nearby, and I replaced the cover on the outlet with one that has a domed […]

Original post on social.coop

Paul Southworth @pws.social.coop.ap.brid.gy · 18/07/2026

@danyork I would love to see more AQI sensors in Shelburne since the only one I know of is the one in my back yard which is about 2.5mi from town hall. We don't need hundreds of them but a handful would be helpful when there are issues like a neighbor burning junk mail. It's clear that a sensor […]

Original post on social.coop

Paul Southworth @pws.social.coop.ap.brid.gy · 18/07/2026

Free #TechSupport at the library in South Burlington #Vermont today! 1. Deleting apps on an iPhone 2. Text formatting in the Comcast email client 3. Factory reset two Samsung phones and a Kindle Fire to prepare for donation 4. Troubleshooting storage utilization on iPhone/iPad and iCloud 5 […]

Original post on social.coop

Paul Southworth @pws.social.coop.ap.brid.gy · 17/07/2026

@moira I've never heard of a good reason for doing that. I would call it an assembly error. The rear of the pad will be sucked in when the brakes are applied due to the direction of rotation of the wheel. If you get a gap at the front of the pad when the brakes are applied, you are likely to get […]

Original post on social.coop

Paul Southworth @pws.social.coop.ap.brid.gy · 16/07/2026

@moira I would use the heaviest weight motor oil that I have laying about, put it in a dripper bottle and warm it up by sticking the bottle in hot water so it flows into the gap more easily. Heating up the freewheel will do much the same. That looks like a super cheap freewheel so I would move […]

Original post on social.coop

Paul Southworth @pws.social.coop.ap.brid.gy · 16/07/2026

@moira Very pretty bike. Perhaps worth the effort of the rebuild but that's another one of my good ideas for other people. I usually just lube the hell out of it and replace it if it's not acceptable. I usually put the freewheel on the appropriate puller sitting on a vise and repeatedly soak oil […]

Original post on social.coop

Paul Southworth @pws.social.coop.ap.brid.gy · 14/07/2026

@coleenwalter I don't but it's mentioned in Huckleberry Finn so that's where I learned about it

Paul Southworth @pws.social.coop.ap.brid.gy · 14/07/2026

[CW cooking with free meat CW CW CW] The food shelf has a policy of not distributing donated meat when the packaging is damaged, so when I'm volunteering I keep an eye out for this kind of "trash" that will go in the compost bin. And it's not unusual for the […] [Original post on social.coop]

Two giant lumps of beef in damaged packaging

Big pot of beef stew