Searching for Accuracy

We like to sit around and ask 'Ice breaker' questions.  It's good for conversation and to exercise a rusty brain.  We went around the table this time answering the question, "If you could improve a hobby that you have, what would it be?"  Tricia's answer was sewing.  She sews pretty good but would like to improve her skills.  As I thought about mine, I answered, "Woodworking."  I've no problem building things.  Things that I build are functional.  They just aren't pretty!  Most of the time I'm building things at the barn or the garden or something for the animals or the bees.  Animals and to a lesser extent, bees, aren't picky about things being cut square.

I have a disability and that is math.  The reason I can't cut things square is because my math skills are severely... lacking.  I'm fine cutting 1/2 inch increments or even 1/4 inch increments.  For some reason, once I get to 1/8 or certainly 1/16, I lose the ability to accurately cut.  I generally just say, "Ah, it's close enough."  As a result, things aren't square and they aren't pretty.  It bothers me, though, because things need to be accurate and not only in woodworking.

Each year for the last decade and a half or so, we've chart rainfall.  I've used the old rain gauge shown below mounted (crookedly) to a post in the garden.  Years in the sun and weather have aged the old rain gauge, much like our human bodies.  It's yellowed and is hard to read.

I began searching for a new one and found one.  It was advertised as being 'accurate.'  Sounds like what I was after, so I ordered it and installed it before a decent-sized rainfall last week.  See how clean and easy to read the new one is?:

As an experiment, I left them both up.  The old rain gauge measured 2.65 inches.  The new one measured 2.9 inches.  If the new one is indeed more accurate, and I think it is, over the course of a year, my rain measurement has been lower than it actually is - not by much, but over a year, it is significantly off.  It's high time we correct that.  Maybe one day, I'll be able to improve the accuracy of my rudimentary woodworking skills, but that's not going to be as simple as solving the rain gauge accuracy issue!