Beau M. Davidson

Judith Browning wrote:that's great to know!
Kids are grown and gone but a little more shock absorption wouldn't hurt for ours as there's always rollicking grandkids.

Got the same brand by the way ....it's a good one😊

Do you suppose tennis balls would work as well or is it the density of the squash balls that make it work?

Grandkids sound fun.  :)


My understanding is that tennis balls will not work, but rather make everything bouncier and way more precarious.  The magic is exclusive to certain material densities and recovery rates, and 2-dot squash balls just happen to fit the bill.

Okay, here it is!  After living with it for a couple weeks, I now fully endorse this method of stabilization.  No amount of youngsters dancing and tumbling has caused the needle to skip.

Some notes:
- This was just a prototype, but I may or may not ever get around to rebuilding it with anything nicer than 2x4 scrap from a decommissioned road-side futon frame find.
- The "double-yellow" dot squash balls are the best density of material for this purpose, and you can currently get them used from ebay for $1 per ball.  They mail them media mail (which I think is technically a no-no?  Is a ball "media"?) so maybe order more than 4 so they can fill a box.  
- Used squash balls are better than new ones, because evidently squash balls come with some sort of gunko on them.  They would still work just as well, just a little more gunky.  
- This was dry fit with pretty tight cross-lap joint, no fasteners.  It holds together firmly, and gravity helps as well in this scenario.
- The recessed holes were bored with a 1.5-inch spade bit on a cordless drill on a mortisser stabilizer tool thingy.  It probably has a real name.  The bit was a bit more aggressive than I would have liked, but it worked.  
- The squash balls just barely squeeze into the holes and stay put perfectly.

Recent reads I've loved, one that was meh, and one that I never stop thinking about:

Tinkers by Paul Harding - great, beautiful, somewhat brutal, and short.


The Netanyahus - hilarious, quasi-true (while still fiction), and inadvertently educational


A couple months later, I find myself still missing both of these books (and "friends") on my nightstand at the end of the day.

This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone - quick skim because a friend gave it to me - honestly not worth it IMO.  The most intersting thing is the way the authors collaborated, rather than the read itself.



I think I'm going to go back and read Will Bonsall's excellent Yaro Tales  book one sometime soon.  Not the tightest narrative out there, but the world Will has invented here is a world I'd like to inhabit.  

We've been spinning a lot of vinyl here lately. I have grown tired of requesting that my children walk lightly through the room to avoid causing the needle to skip. Indeed, I would rather encourage dancing.
There are a number of ways I could've gone about this: a wall mounted shelf, a sandbox – style shock absorbing platform (which is cool), or any number of store-bought, often expensive solutions.
What I went for instead was using a couple scraps of 2 x 4 and four discarded squash balls. In the next few days, I'd like to come back and describe the simple process and provide a few images. May this initial post be a reminder for me to do so.

The publisher link is dead, and Amazon is yucky.  I would like to purchase your book from the Permies Digital Market.  Any chance of making this dream come true?

We all love to see all the wonderful, inspiring, and ground-breaking work being done to advance Permaculture at Wheaton Labs.  Most of that work is done by the boots in the Permaculture Bootcamp.  

The thing is, if we do these awesome things and nobody ever hears about it, who cares?  On the other hand, if we do these awesome things, post a few pictures, and maybe tell a brief tale about the undertaking, people see it, love it, and are inspired to do similar things in their neck of the woods.  And, over time, the world does indeed change for the better.

To incentivize this participation in the bootcamp and posting of activities, we're rolling out the BEL program, or the Bootcamp Experience Log.  It works like this:

1) Join the Bootcamp.
2) Start a thread here at permies to share what you're doing with the world.  Posts must contain at least three pictures illustrating different activities, or a video of equal or greater illustrative value.
3) After 100 posts, you get to Ring the BEL, and you get 10% of the money in the BEL.  
4) More people invest in the BEL due to your wonderful experience log, the BEL grows, rinse and repeat unto glory.

People put up good money to reward boots for sharing, so at this time, the reward is pretty significant.  I can't say how much, but I know the last boot to ring the bell got well into 4 digits for his generous sharing of his experience.  I'm hoping that, in time, the pile of money gets bigger and bigger, while more and more boots are coming and cashing in.

Here are the folks who have put up coin sing the dawn of the BEL:

AnonA  $10k
AnonM  $2000
AnonG   $1500
AnonD   $1000
Vention  $1000
Anon963  $800
Akkaydrah  $100
Dave     $100
Clay      $100
Barbara   $50

Awesome Bootcamp Experience Logs:
- SEPP to Boot: Stephen's Experience
- Jen Tulli's Bootcamp Experience
- Dez's Bootcamp Experience
- Josiah's Bootcamp Log
- Jen's Boot Camp and Allerton Abbey Experience





*This is a wee update of what used to be called the BRK.

Austin, I *think* you should have gotten an email at this point about the physical books from our shipper.  Do you see that?

I have a button here that gives you access to the ebook while you wait, as a consolation for the delay and a thank you for your patience.  Would you be interested in that?  Let me know if so and I'll press it for you.  

Austin Walsh wrote:.

I started a process that I think may solve your problem.  Give it a couple hours, and let me know if you haven't gotten some sort of notification about it.

Austin Walsh wrote:

r ransom wrote:

Austin Walsh wrote:Hi!

I purchased 12 books in March 2026 and have not received them. How do I go about troubleshooting this?

Also, do you have the date the payment was made?  

That will help with troubleshooting

I purchased on 3/24/26 for $90.  I have nothing in my email, but it is on my bank statement.

I do not see a purchase for 12 physical books on or near that date.  But maybe something is . . . different than it usually is.  Happy to look further.

Did you pay via paypal?  

If so, could you try logging in to permies with the email address associated with your paypal account?

Thekla, I am travelling currently, which limits my ability to test and troubleshoot.  Let me know if you are able to try it from another device, browser, and internet connection.  Ping me again and I'll look further next week.