Reference Library Archives

Bullet Points and Numbered Lists

Foreword

This post describes Bullet Points and Numbered Lists as used in this blog.

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Woodscrews and Bolts

A collection of facts about Wood Screws and Bolts

This article on woodscrews and bolts is very basic at the moment but may get improved with time.

Woodscrew Chart by W. L. Fuller

Woodscrews Which Don’t Split Wood

This link goes to Titan Metal Werks, Inc of Ilinois, USA a company which makes SplitStop screws which they claim won’t split the wood they are screwed into. Designed for fixing decking they appear to drill themselves in and make a countersunk hole to boot.

See their example video which I have embedded below. It shows how an ordinary screw splits the wood when it is screwed in. Then it shows how their screws can be screwed in around it, very close to the edge, without splitting the wood:

This is what TITAN have to say about their products:

“Experience the ability to place woodscrews within 1/8″ of the edge of a board without splitting the wood. Install deck boards and railing balusters with little fear of splitting! Penetrate knots without shearing-off screw heads! Countersink effortlessly, even in Oak! All without predrilling!” — Titan

How A Toilet Silent Fill Valve Works

Introduction

This article is in effect an addendum to the post Repairing A Toilet Silent Fill Valve which explains how to access and dismantle such a valve and inspect or change the diaphragm that sits in the valve. That post also explains what is, and is not, silent about a Silent Fill Valve. This is now complemented by the post Replacing A Toilet Fill Valve.

In order to satisfy the requirements of Internet SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) the valve is referred to, in this article, specifically as a Toilet Silent Fill Valve or more generally Silent Fill Valve but its full title is a Silent Fill Toilet Cistern Inlet Valve since it is:

A Valve.
An Inlet Valve.
A Cistern Inlet Valve.
A Toilet Cistern Inlet Valve.
A Silent Fill Toilet Cistern Inlet Valve.

This type of valve is complex and deploys a built-in mechanism which uses the inherent water pressure in the Mains Water to drive the valve from the closed to open position and then from the open to closed position. The mechanism is controlled by a much smaller valve in the form of a stopper covering a pinhole which requires a much smaller effort to operate it than the main valve.

The article endeavours to explain to the reader how the complete valve works so that they understand the order in which physical processes take place and why they follow on from each other as they do. The theory behind the workings of the valve are developed from the basic principles of forces and pressures acting on the individual parts but without the detail of too many mathematical formulae.

Kuiper and Oort Objects

Here is a poster of Kuiper and Oort Objects

This poster/wall chart was produced by SPACE.COM as a quick guide to Kuiper and Oort Objects.

Knowledge of the Kuiper Belt and the Oort Cloud is sparse but it is known that some objects have very eccentric orbits. I think we can expect many more objects to be discovered in this area in coming years.

Reference

Poster source: Space.com: All about our solar system, outer space and exploration.

Dwarf Planets In The Solar System

There is a new class of objects in the Solar System – Dwarf Planets – which now includes Pluto.

Source Space.com: All about our solar system, outer space and exploration

Cosmic Inflation and Expansion of The Universe

This Chart Describes Cosmic Inflation and Expansion of The Universe

I’m sure we’re a long way from hearing the last on Cosmic Inflation and Expansion of The Universe, but here is a SPACE.COM chart briefly explaining it.

On 30^th January 2015 Space.com announced: Inflation is not proven to have occurred as previously suspected in March 2014. The evidence for it has been discredited. Check it out at Space.com where Evidence for Cosmic Inflation Theory Bites the (Space) Dust.

Source: Space.com – All about our solar system, outer space and exploration.

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My Latest News

3rd June 2019: I’ve had a go at making testimonials look better. The previous method was a mess so I’ve used the Kadence Testimonials block to produce a testimonials page with two neat columns which are now accessed from the Posts menu since they all originate via Post Comments.

1st June 2019: Continuing to edit using blocks I have changed to a Kadence FAQ block to display Frequently Asked Questions and their answers. I spotted a problem with the accordion block and Ben Ritner has very kindly edited the block to resolve it. There has been some editing of the Qs & As and you might find I mess with it some more.

I have also begun using the Contents Table block by Ultimate Addons for Gutenberg to show the contents of my posts. I am inserting this block after the Introduction. If I put it first as it would be in a book it causes some issues:

In my list of posts that is shown in reverse date order I only want the Introduction or part thereof to be seen. If I put the contents block first that will be seen. It will take up a lot of screen space and won’t be very interesting.
The contents block links to all the headings used in the post but that doesn’t work when it’s viewed in the list of post snippets described in 1 above.

1st February 2019: I have just deleted a file named wordfenceScanner.php.bin from my PHP .opcache folder on my server. Wordfence had detected it contained the TimThumb script which is considered to be unsafe. I must look into methods of cleaning my PHP cache. It looks as if it contains some outdated files.

2nd January 2019: Again I couldn’t get my WP v5.0.1 to update to v5.0.2 so I followed Wordfence’s instructions and upgraded it manually. I made a good job of it and searched for the cause of the problem. It turned out to be caused by the plugin DGXPCO which is designed to improve Core update security.

Hopefully if the Core updating server got hacked and a false Core program was sent this plugin wouldn’t allow it to be applied due to manual intervention. Well that manual intervention failed to allow valid Core updates through so I have deactivated that plugin for the time being.

Continue to My Latest News Archive.

Site Construction

The site helpfulcolin.com was originally built in September 2011 by Digitalog© using the Side Blog theme and handed over to Helpful Colin by his mentors (see their links below) in December 2011. It was changed to a ‘Twenty Fourteen’ child theme in February 2014 by Helpful Colin.

The latest major change took place in December 2015 when WordPress version 4.4 became active and Helpful Colin changed the theme to the ‘Twenty Sixteen’ theme which is designed to look good on all screen sizes. Although this may have improved the blog for mobile users it has removed some functionality available in ‘Twenty Fourteen’.