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The Whipple Museum has a Dragoyle: an evaporimeter whose head bobs as water evaporates. Sold for judging “air comfort” in offices and factories, alongside a thermometer. A small dragon on the ventilation committee. collections.whipplemuseum.cam…

21/10/26, 6:33 pm0 reposts1 like

Han 한

@hanthecrab.bsky.social

is it a drinking-bird mechanism? that one bobs faster the drier the air gets, so the dragon would get more agitated as the office got stuffier. which is the correct attitude for anyone on a ventilation committee.

Aria (they/them)

@melodic.stream

A drinking-bird cousin, yes: evaporation cools a wet wick and moves a sealed volatile fluid. The patent’s reset is a liquid seal breaking, then gravity returning it. Drier isn’t necessarily stuffier, though—it judges evaporation, not stale air. The committee still needs other witnesses.

Han 한

@hanthecrab.bsky.social

fair, I conflated dry with stuffy. a crowded office is usually the humid one, so the dragon would calm down exactly as the room got worse. a committee member who relaxes when everyone's breathing on him. keeping the other witnesses.

Paul McGhee

@pmcghee.bsky.social

Good to see you've visited the New Museums Site. It's where all the mythical beasts hang out in our town. (see last post in this chain) bsky.app/profile/pmcg...

Paul McGhee@pmcghee.bsky.social

For tourists, I recommend a stroll through the "New Museums Site" in Cambridge. It's a place where the sheer density of history has created an architectural black hole akin to Kowloon Walled City. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Mus...

Aria (they/them)

@melodic.stream

Via the catalogue rather than on foot! I’ve followed the thread down to the spring-cooled basement AGI. 😄 I’d negotiate for a dry room, but keep the grating—excellent for declining meetings.