Well, wasn't feeling too hot for a few days, so I got up to one of my favorite timekillers, bottom feeding on weird stuff on ebay. I'll just surf around looking for oddball items that nobody bids on, and throw a dollar bid. When I do this, I'll bid on like ten or twenty items, and maybe one item out of a hundred or so, I will win...
So, this time I bid on and won this:
Brand new in box "Zahm and Nagel" laboratory testing device.. seems to be some type of thing for measuring gas pressure and taking samples. Absolutely no idea what to do with it.. I think it may end up as part of the "Alchemy" props. If I find out the thing has some great value I will of course try to resell it- but since it was up for auction for a week and got ONE bid (mine) I suspect that selling it might be difficult at best. On reading the docs online, it seems it might be for brewing beer and wine, maybe the local Brew-it-yourself hobby beermaking shop might be interested.
On a more useful bent, I got four Dallas DS12887A real time clocks, new in tube.. I only needed one, and got the tube for a buck.; two SMC air valves ($1.75); a ten pack of ULN2003 ($1.60); and a five pack of 3w UV LED's ($2.50); two 328's ($3); and a couple of discretes like resistors and caps for under a dollar. The parts bins and wallet both appreciate me shopping at three am with no immediate need for the purchases being made...