Hoody

Hi, it must have been years ago since I 've been around here last time. You might ask what I did meanwhile ... Well, here is the answer: A marble run in a frame - in a 10" by 10" RIBBA frame (made by IKEA Sweden and it seems they renamed it recently to SANNAHED). After more than two years of tinkering with the entrance and exit section of the spiral lifter (quite unusual geometry due to rather restricted space) I finally managed to get the thing to work - fully and reliably. The marbles are a bit smaller than 1/2" and two of them can pass each other inside the tight space between front glas and back wall. My RIBBA is plain old using a glas front, later models seem to have a plastic sheet instead of glas. Due to the glas I use a magnetic switch arrangement to control the power to the lifter.

I need to come back to this plain old one. Hm, all this time passed and everything was alright. But yesterday - and please do not ask me why - Steph's answer creeped back in my mind and twisted it again: Objection, you will *not* need to make an appointment. The clairvoyant - at least a real one - will know that you will visit her / him. Steph's argument seems to be right at the first, second and third glance but I think now the clairvoyant should be able to send you a schedule without your application - and since (s)he is a clairvoyant (s)he really knows when its your best time for you to visit. So its just you to receive the invitation, matching perfectly your calendar schedules, without you actively making an appointment. So I am again wondering why people need to make an appointment before visiting a clairvoyant. Just wait for your invitation ...

Anybody can bring as much as (s)he likes. If you need some ideas for modules you might want to take a deep breath and have some looks at youtube search topic 'GBC' (Great Ball Contraption) And this is ours (not so much artworked as the GBCs): https://youtu.be/TKrUdXitS7U?t=119 Hope you enjoy it! Maybe you make some together with your friends? Or at the next marble collectors convention?

Look, global warming got that far already!

Getting knocked into each other - isn't it the thing they were made for? Do not let them gain high speed - what is really tricky to achieve reliably - and the knock merely turns into a gentle push. Using a hose is not a bad solution. Especially when build properly your marbles have no chance to escape the tracks. Would you like to share a photograph with us?

but: I am not able to count so far (🐑 🐑 🐑 🐑 🐑 ... 🛌)

That is the drawback of non-english (non-american) names. Louis, as you already know, is what I consider a French name: "Le baptême de Louis" just does not need the apostroph and works fine; okay, at least in France, French oversea departments, parts of Canada, ... I think here is the issue. "Louis" does not have a silent 'e' but a silent 's'. Now you add the apostroph and the French silent 's' gets pronounced due to english pronounciation habits. How about "The christening of prince Louis"? This keeps the silent 's'. And hey, in the german area where I live the ladies' names are leaded by a non-written but spoken 's'. Its just s'Barbara, s'Gertrud and so on if people do their gossip. What I still have to find out is how the native inhabitants pronounce this when the ladie's name starts with an 'S' already: s'Steph? I bet there is an exception to the rule.

It depends just on how you treat the beasts. Sorry for the lack of new marble runs. During a very hard rain my hobby room got flooded (beside the complete basement) and I need to take a long pause on tinkering. And I see I have not been here for months. Oh, my god. Didn't notice it really. Steph, do you still have the idea of modular marble runs? Maybe this collection of definitions can serve you as a foundation for your own ideas: Definitions for a Ping Pong Module Contraption. For other sizes you need to adapt the figures, of course. 1" = 25.4 mm.

And maybe some far day glas marbles are all that is left from our civilization ... Welcome Stice

- but checking out wikipedia on the climate of MI I think it is not so unusual for this area?

Sure they will. Next spring you can see the marble plants grow and end of sommer maybe you can pick fresh marbles. Be careful not to mix the red opaque ones up with the cherry tomatoes or you need an appointment with your dentist.

Hi ManofKent, my only experience with wooden systems is with the HABA one. I do not know about availability or pricing in the UK. https://www.haba.de/en_GB/toys/toys/ball-track/c/7vmx67 My experience is that the kids build a little, let the marbles run and after a while the wooden elements at the corners fall off their positions because of the marbles inertia. The plastic clamps offered are somewhat cumbersome and in most places me wants to attach them they do not work. The HABA sets dedicated to smaller children (Kullerbü - https://www.haba.de/en_GB/toys/toys/ball-track/ball-track-kullerbue/c/o4qg87) have some pins and notches to get at least the tracks staying in place. But those are not easily combined with the sets for the older kids. (To select another country and / or another language you need to scroll down to the bottom of the linked page. The language and the country are set independent of each other, start with the language in the right hand bubble.) Regards Hoody

Somewhat this resembles me to Manfred, called "Manni". Manni stops his Manta (a famous Opel car) before the "30" sign and so blocks the road. An officer got aware of this, headed to Manni and told him that he can stop his car a little bit down the road at the parking lane but not there at the limit sign. Manni replied:" Sorry, I am already 33". Manni is also the sort not to go to cinema when the movie is rated 16+. He and his friends are just 15 persons.

You already did your tree? We do it on Dec / 24 traditionally if done earlier the needles are all off.

Hi, we got something you might call a blizzard this noon. It's quite uncommon to have such weather here. A thunderstorm with heavy snowing. Just 15 minutes brought 1" into our snowfree German countryside. No wonder the school bus didn't run this noon. But meanwhile everything is melting away and the roads have been free again since hours.