Though I've noticed a lot of my visitors to this blog lately are. I wonder who's been linking to me and why? Too bad Facebook only allows registered users to see
anything on it. The internet has always been about the public sphere for me. That's why I like blogs and forums - they let everyone see. They're buildings you can climb atop of and yell, for anyone to hear, if what you have saying is worth
listening to. They're tools that let you organize and communicate with people you know, while at the same time not degenerating into cliquishness, constantly growing because you will aways draw in an unknown quantity of unknown visitors (all hail the Google).
Take today's fabulous mod - I'd say a good 50% of you, dear readers, wouldn't get to learn how to make a
Turtle Wetsuit if this had been on Facebook!
How To Make a Turtle Wetsuit
I don't know about you, but I get pretty sick of my
Turtlelights crapping out so fast. Yes they're incredibly cheap, but that doesn't mean they need to be disposable. One of the major reasons turtles' have got such short lifespans (and one that is particularly problematic in Vancouver) is water dammage, causing electrical shorting inside the light. One option is to buy a more durable light. A couple of companies have picked up on this and started marketing completely rubber sealed LEDs, like the
Knog line of lights. But how do you change the bateries in these? And do you really want to pay 9-15 dollars for something so disposable?
The other option is to take matters into your own hands. Now I can't take credit for this idea - my parner in the Franklin Office, Liam came up with it. All you need is your turtle, a pair of scisors, and something found in pretty much every biker's home, a dead inner tube. For this job, you'll ideally want a 700c tube somewhere in the 20-25 size range (it will fit tighter and snugger on your turtle).
Line your turtle up with the tube and cut it just on the outside of the turtle's 'feet' at each end.
Finally, take your slice of tube, and stretch it around the turtle. The ends should come just snugly up to where the clear plastic at the front ot the light starts, and leave pretty much just the tail elastic popping out the back. The button that starts the light up should work just fine through the extra layer of rubber.
Boo ya! Now you've got a light that will last probably four times as long as it would have, and found something to do with that dead innertube of yours as well. The added bonus to the turtle wetsuit is that it adds a bit of cammouflage to your light, making it less visible to sticky-fingered bikelight theives!
