2wicky

A place in the woods

2012-01-02T21:27:00.003-06:00

I started by lugging some concrete footers and some 4x4s back into the woods. Where I'm building this isn't accessible by any vehicle I have access to. On New Year's Eve, I lugged 2 8' 2x12s and 2 16' 2x12s to the site. January 1st I carried in a bundle of 16 4' 2x2s to use as bracing for the leveling of my 4x4s.

All these items including tools have to be carried in by hand. It is a rather serious affair.

I initially thought I could level the concrete footers, erect the 4x4s and then tie in the lumber. Once I got that done I'd square up the rectangle. After careful consideration I realized I'd need to get everything square from the outset. I'm not sure how much the 2x12s weighed but I damn sure was not going to be horsing the whole foundation around once it was put together.

Bucks

The plan is as such. One 8x10 foot platform for easy tent camping and eventually I'll build a small cabin on it. The 16' 2x12s will allow me to build a 6 foot porch on this little cabin.

On to making sure it is square from the outset. I made some bucks from the 2x2s and some undergrowth. On these bucks, I placed string outlining the rectangle of the cabin floor/platform. The concrete footers will be leveled according to this string rectangle and then the 4x4s will be erected. The 2x12s will tie it all together. Just like the rug in Lebowski's apartment.

Uncentered, unlevel, concrete footer

This will be a very staged build and I'll document it as best as I can.

I've been thinking about building a Walden Pond style cabin for as long as I can remember.

Here goes...

Cheap: The High Cost of Discount Culture

2009-11-28T13:14:00.003-06:00

I just finished reading "Cheap," by Ellen Shell and while it was a good book I found it lacking in some aspects. The book was well written, researched and pointed out a number of flaws that I have noted in my own life.

It lacked, like a good number of similar books, a definitive call to action. Shell touts two stores, Wegman's and Costco, that are better than the competition but outside of shopping there does not address any practical advice for turning our obsession with cheap around. Some subtle advice can be gleaned however. Shop locally. Direct from the grower or manufacturer if possible. Buy less.

I love books like this that speak to deficiencies in our culture but really wish that they would just drop in a simple plan for breaking the 'broken' cycle. It seems that with the research the author must have done it would be a simple task to outline at least that. Perhaps it is not that simple.

What am I overlooking? I'd love to know...

Burns Park and Indian Mounds

2009-10-21T18:52:00.004-05:00

My brother and I were playing disc golf at Burns Park in North Little Rock and were cursing a interesting geographic hazard. A long mound extending from near a playground to the fence line of the park blocked our shot. This developed into a conversation about the mound building societies in early Arkansas history. We attributed the mound to the Toltecs and had some fun imagining them building it just to spite us playing disc golf generations later.

Burns Park is an amazing place. It is one of the nation's largest municipal parks. It boasts a 36 hole golf course as well as the aforementioned disc golf course, boating, hiking, tennis, BMX biking, camping, picnicking and amusement park. From the disc golf course the Arkansas River is not visible but the evidence of it is everywhere. In the distance you can see mountains that the river skirted as it made its way to the Mississippi River.

Dr. William Burns practiced medicine in the area and was mayor of North Little Rock from 1919-1925. He pushed hard for the funding and the creation of the park and later it was named for him. The original acreage for the park was purchased from Camp Robinson after World War II.

Oh and the mound? The park was used as training grounds during WWI as Camp Pike before it was absorbed into Camp Robinson. The mound was probably built for training maneuvers during this time. Not nearly as romantic as being built by Native Americans but quite cool nonetheless.

dog training part 2 and stupidity

2009-08-06T22:45:00.001-05:00

So in the thrall of dog training, I dash to a pet supply house to see if they have anything to help in my endeavor. Spying a bag of dog treats (mmm! bacon!) I decide this is just what I need. No price on the 1 lb. bag but the half lb. bag is only $6.99. Surely, it can't be 2 times the price of the half pounder.

I can buy 3 lbs. of good bacon for $10. I mean good bacon. Thick cut, perfect fat and perfect lean. I mean really good bacon.

Plus I'd feel better feeding my dog real, honest, artery clogging stuff. So real bacon it is. It is pretty sad commentary that fake bacon flavored gunk costs more than the real stuff.

raspberry crazy ants

2009-08-06T20:56:00.003-05:00

There was a good article on raspberry crazy ants and their effect on honey bees in today's paper. Unfortunately, it is pay only so I'll link to other free-er sources.

Like the fire ant the raspberry crazy ant was discovered in Houston. It was probably imported in soil, wood or other lawn type material.

The ant is prolific and voracious. It will eat and out compete fire ants. I'm glad of that. There was a time you could spread a blanket on the ground where I grew up and not concern yourself with being eaten by fire ants. No longer. I watched fire ants move through Little Rock in the 90s.

Raspberry crazy ants are problematic though. They eat bee larvae and infest electronics. The have been known, like fire ants, to short out electric motors. They are immune to over the counter ant poisons. They will be a problem for lots of people as they are spreading.

There is a simple solution to the beekeeping problem though. When I first started keeping bees I was worried about fire ants eating my bees. I constructed hive stands out of 2x4s and mounted them on heavy duty galvanized pipe. At each leg I put a small metal coffee can half filled with water and a layer of oil (vegetable or motor oil) so that the legs of the stand sat in the water/oil filled can. No problems.

nicely designed bike

2009-08-03T16:10:00.003-05:00

but poorly designed page...

This bike is almost everything a bike should be. I love the integrated blinkers. I wish they were powered by a dynamo though. And the pedal cages. Beautiful!

I'm not sure why you would design a bike this cool and then put it on a flash based page. I'm not sure what flash is supposed to offer here. It doesn't make it easier to navigate. In fact it replicates the old medium of paper.

But, man, I love this bike.

speed reading mark 2

2009-08-02T21:34:00.005-05:00

I have always been a fast reader but want to improve my reading skills as well. I stumbled upon an article by Tim Ferriss that purported to do just that. So after reading it and practicing the methodology described I was able to increase my reading speed dramatically. It also feels as though my retention has improved as well.

The gist of the program is this: our eyes often reread lines we have read already in an involuntary reaction. Train your eyes to not go reread by following a marker; your finger or a pencil.

The next step is to train your eyes to make better use of your peripheral vision by starting with your marker up to four words into the line and finishing with your marker four words from the end. During these exercises I realized I had taught myself how to do this naturally.

I still saw significant improvement in my words-per-minute count after 20 minutes of practicing these techniques.

Original WPM Count:
408 WPM

Post practice (using my finger as a marker):
720 WPM

Post practice (using no marker):
684 WPM

I don't think that I will use a marker as the sound of my finger sliding across the page is somewhat disturbing. And I don't think I'll always read at this speed. I find reading to be a very sensual experience; from the smell of the pages to my gaze sliding over the shapes of the letters. Reading can (and in some cases I'd argue should be) a slow, almost lazy process. One that is full of expectation and surprise. One that builds slowly to a crescendo. Heaving, tossed with passion until torrents of words, thoughts and ideas come gushing forth in waves...

Wait, where was I?

It is nice to have the option to accelerate the process if needed though.

record labels and money making

2009-08-02T17:17:00.002-05:00

Here is a novel concept: Record companies making money by allowing youtube users to use their songs in videos.

Everyone has seen the "JK Wedding entrance" dance but did you know that according to several metrics, Chris Brown's single is being bought frequently by viewers of the dance intro. Rather than squelching the use of the song (which lots of labels do, ahem, Universal) Zomba is using the video to actually sell its music! Amazing!

Not only does this show good sense on the part of Zomba's executives but implies a revitalization of an dying industry. Stockholders in Zomba should be very, very pleased.

dog training part 1 continued

2009-08-02T17:01:00.002-05:00

Basically the way I understand Andrea Arden is this.

Pick a simple behavior that you want to reinforce.
1. When the dog does the behavior reward the dog. Often.
2. After you are sure the dog will do the behavior without prompting then name it e.g. sit, lay, come etc.
3. Keep rewarding.
4. Taper off the reward by switching hands. Then random hands (even other people's hands). Then completely quit.

It is a simple system and it is definitely working for Preston thus far.

speed reading

2009-08-01T14:28:00.002-05:00

I was reading Tim Ferris' post on speed reading today. I can't wait to try this technique out. I already read quickly but I don't know exactly how fast.

This exercise should should me how fast I am currently reading and, hopefully, improve my ability. We shall see.

dog training part 1

2009-08-01T09:43:00.004-05:00

I recently checked out Dog Friendly Dog Training by Andrea Arden at the local library. I wanted to harness my full grown dogs energy and turn it into something useful for both of us. He is, by nature, a dog that wants to please and he seems to have taken to his training really well.

The gist of this book is to reward good behavior not punish bad behavior. So we started with sit. The idea is to have treats ready and when the dog inadvertently does the behavior you want then you reward him. So after a few minutes Preston got bored and sat. He gets a treat followed by a 'yes' voiced response. I step away and he gets up to do the process again. We worked through the handful of treats I had in short order.

The next day I started to add a voice command of 'sit.' Now he sits on command. The day following I started to make him wait for his treat until I give the 'okay' verbal release.

I am probably going a bit fast and will grow to regret it but he was sitting on command, to some extent, before I started this training regimen. But now, and this is the kicker, he sits on command and I can walk away and then give him the 'okay' release and he comes running.

I think as I do this I'm going to write down kind of a recipe book for this process. For me it is easier to follow a list of instructions and then gather the meaning behind the instructions later. Let me know what you think in the comments below...

cesspools and Amsterdam

2009-07-28T13:16:00.001-05:00

This is pretty amazing. Fox News compares Amsterdam to a cesspool. The statistics prove otherwise.

This is NPR...

2009-07-25T22:08:00.001-05:00

I used to listen to NPR constantly. This reminded me of those heady days...

stop! thief!

2009-07-21T19:28:00.004-05:00

On registering my boys for school In Arkansas, I had to retrieve their social security cards and their birth certificates. No problem as they are stored not too far away so I head over to the storage facility. I get to my bay and notice a different lock on the door. The facility requires a circular lock and this one was a standard Masterlock.

I get the attendant to cut the lock off and sure enough around $7000 worth of stuff is gone. A list follows...

I hadn't been to the unit in 2-3 weeks and fortunately the facility does tours every 7-10 days to check for nonstandard locks. They should be able to pinpoint the time to within a few days. The also have cameras that record the gate so if the culprit took the goods out of the front gate we should be able to see them. The detective was quick to point out that they might not have left the facility at all.

The detective has worked a few cases at this location and felt confident that he could catch the culprit. The police responded in a matter of minutes and shortly thereafter 2 detectives showed up and dusted for finger prints and DNA. DNA!? It was very cool as the boys got to watch a real life CSI.

Two things about this situation are awful:

First, I had no insurance. Duh! I made the assumption that storage facilities are safe. They are not. The frequency that crimes occur in storage facilities is pretty staggering.

Second, the storage facility is not (and I do not have a copy of my contract in my hand yet so this is from memory) IS NOT responsible.

Here is the list:
make and model numbers aren't listed because I don't have them. Make that 3 terrible things

Air compressor $300
circular saw $50
corded drill $50
Craftsman router/table $300
Kenmore Washer/dryer (front loading) $3000
Onkyo 717 receiver $700
go cart $300
pocket motorcycle* $300
Specialized Globe Bike $400
Mongoose kids bike $120
Frankenstein motorized bike with 50cc motor* $200
52" Rear projection TV $1000
4' Zap Skimboard* $180
Total so far $6800

* These items should be easy to track. The bike is one of a kind and a skimboard in AR? Please... Pictures/Videos of these items are below. Oh well. No pics of the skimboard.

Don't let this happen to you. Storage facilities are not safe. No matter what the owners tell you. I would venture a guess that none of them have any responsibility for your gear. Check your facility daily. This totally sucks almost negating the need for storage units altogether. And most importantly insure your stuff. Write down all your make/model numbers and serial numbers. Take pictures of everything you can.

Franken motorcycle

Pocket bike

Your comments are like Christmas presents! I love them!

capturing bees

2009-07-21T15:02:00.006-05:00

I had gotten some questions on my bee box video on youtube and needed a little more room to answer than they offer. So here they are:

denizaks14 wrote about capturing bees and harvesting the honey. The following is an attempt to address both issues. Please keep in mind I no longer keep bees and NEVER was an expert to begin with so please take all my answers with a block of salt.

The bees aren't actually kept in the bee box, a point I should have made clear in the video. The box is only used to line (or track) the bees back to their original hive. A hive can generally be a kept hive or a feral hive. By kept hive I mean a hive that already has an owner. I'd recommend leaving those alone. ;-) A feral hive is a swarm of bees that have swarmed from a kept hive.

A feral hive can be described as an escaped colony and needs care. Wild bees oftentimes no longer exist because of a variety of ills. Varroroa mites, disease and Colony Collapse Disorder all take their toll on an escaped swarm. These can be controlled (well perhaps not CCD) by an attentive beekeeper.

Here in the southeastern US, bees will often find a hollow Sweetgum tree. To capture the hive the top of the tree would be cut off so that the cut is above the hollow. Then the bottom would be cut below the hollow leaving a log that contains the hollow. This hollow log can then be carried to a convenient location for keeping. An empty hive body can be placed near the tree hive and the bees might move into the new hive making them easier to keep.

Honey can be extracted using a tool called a honey extractor. A honey extractor is basically a steel bucket with a rack inside that is spun by either a motor or by hand slinging the honey out by centrifugal force. The honey then runs down the inside of the bucket to a waiting spigot. Plans for honey extractors can be found here and here or they can be bought outright.

Make a mark! Leave a comment!

language and spatial awareness

2009-06-21T05:41:00.002-05:00

How does language shape our perception of the physical world and thus our psychology? I'm not sure exactly 'how' but this article implies significantly.

So is language ultimately the mechanism responsible for cultural psychology? And thus cultural stereotypes? Or is it that the cultural psychology is the mechanism responsible for language evolving the way it did? The article makes a good case for the former.

scams and how to avoid them

2009-06-21T05:37:00.004-05:00

I just read an amazing article on scams with some insight on how to avoid scams of all types. I wonder how much of the current financial debacle could have been avoided by using these tools. Were we, as society, taken in by any of these tricks?

Just at a glance it seems that we were. Take these two instances as an example:

Appeals to trust and authority
Obviously, the fund managers know something we don't. These companies must be sound if they are investing in them.

Visceral triggers
Everyone is trying to get rich as quickly as possible. Everyone is buying housing beyond their means at the behest of unscrupulous mortgage companies who appeal to Trust and authority (see above).

Scarcity cues
You might miss out! Take advantage of this limited time offer now.

Obviously the above examples are sweeping generalizations but it is interesting to see how these principles can be applied to our current financial woes.

I tend to blow off 'amazing' offers without much consideration of the actual offer. I'm not sure why this is but it works for me.

Rainbow Slide

2009-06-15T14:32:00.002-05:00

One cool Rainbow Slide at the SC State Fair.

bloody noses and silly poses

2009-05-19T19:22:00.004-05:00

So I'm trying to catch a predinner nap (sweet sweet sleep. I miss you so much...)and I hear Levi squeal and start crying. Leaping up, I find he has a bloody nose. He tells me that that he hit his nose on the dryer. I figure while trying to climb on top of it. Oh no... not even remotely correct. He opens the dryer to see a pile of clean clothes and thinks it would be a good idea to bash his head into the clothes. Obviously they'll be soft and it'll feel and smell good. Until he actually follows through with his plan and finds the hard plastic of the agitator under the first two layers of shirts. Poor fellow.

I can only picture him with his head stuck in the dryer about to mash his face into a pile of fresh smelling laundry. Then disaster!

Scissor lifts and kinematics

2009-04-15T06:45:00.004-05:00

In reading this fantastic post by Ben Hopson, I began thinking of simple things to build with the boys. Simple things with simple components. We have plenty of popsicle sticks and some 1/8" dowels so we decided to build a scissor lift. The video is self explanatory but if you have any questions you can always hit me here.

Also check out this awesome cardboard and paper lamp with an integrated scissor lift built by Instructables user Euphy.

<a href="http://www.linkedtube.com/TlniJGScpc02e29161a079006f46fb817025b6d53e2.htm">LinkedTube</a>

Who is sooo yummy? Bjork is, dammit!

2009-04-10T22:24:00.000-05:00

Rocket Launch!

2009-04-05T12:42:00.001-05:00

<a href="http://www.linkedtube.com/Sh_N4oYyNuc45e4de299a4e17a9f4937f4c4977cc24.htm">LinkedTube</a>

Bee Lining

2009-03-05T10:11:00.000-06:00

Before bees came packaged via USPS from beekeeping supply houses, beekeepers had to find 'natural' hives. Natural is in quotes because the bee was originally an import from Europe.

The process by which hives were found is very intriguing and sometimes requires one piece of equipment that was difficult to obtain; the bee box. Years ago, I found a book that described the process of lining bees in great detail and gave a great description of the bee box. So I built one. What follows is a description of the bee box and its use.

The bee box is a two chambered box. The main chamber has a flip top door with a large window. The window of the main chamber is covered by a thin piece of wood. The secondary chamber has a window in the end of the box also covered by a thin piece of wood. Access to the second chamber is controlled by a sliding door.

Use of the box is as follows: a bee is caught by sneaking up while it is on the flower. The box is snapped shut and the bee trapped in the first chamber. The thin piece of wood covering the first chamber's window is slide back to verify that a bee has been trapped. Once a bee is trapped then the sliding door to chamber two is opened, the window covered in chamber one and the window exposed in chamber two. Since bees are attracted to light, the opening of the window in chamber two draws the bee through the sliding door where the bee is then closed into chamber two. As many as 10 bees are captured by the same method.

Once all bees are trapped in chamber two, chamber one is opened and a small piece of honey comb filled with sugar syrup is placed inside. Sometimes a small amount of anise flavoring is rubbed on the honeycomb. The main door is closed and the sliding door separating the two chambers is opened.

The bees then collect the sugar water and head back to inform the rest of the hive. Once a steady stream of bees is established between the hive and box, one bee can be marked and timed. Marking the bee is done by scrapping a small amount of blue chalk dust into a small container of water. Then a bit of this water is dabbed onto a bee with a paintbrush. When the water dries the bee will be stained blue. When the bee is timed this will reveal the approximate distance to the hive. The direction to the hive can be determined by watching the line that the bees form as they fly toward the hive. They will fly in almost a straight line pointing to the hive.

Beekeeping is essential to modern life as we know it. Without bees to pollinate our food crops it would be difficult to enjoy many of them. Please support your local beekeeper. They provide more than you may realize.

motorized bicycle

2008-11-08T22:13:00.011-06:00

ok long post. get ready.

So we built a motorized bike today. The motor was a 50cc solution from Handheld Items. It was a good deal but there were some issues with delivery. They requested a signature and I had it sent to the house rather than the office. err..

A new chain ring is placed on the right side of the rear wheel so the original chain ring is left intact. The attachment is interesting in that two rings of rubber sheeting are bolted to the wheel.

The engine bolts onto the frame easily if you have an older frame. A newer ovoid style frame would make it significantly more difficult. We fortunately had a older Murray (I think a Santa Cruz)and it bolted up quickly. The coil and controls are fitted up after the engine is mounted.

Once the engine was bolted up, we were able to work on the chain. This was the most difficult part of the entire build. I have a chain breaker for bicycles but 1)I could not find it and 2) had it been found I'm almost positive it wouldn't have fit the large chain of the kit. To install the chain the motor must be turned over by hand. I dropped a little oil in the spark plug hole just to make sure the engine was lubricated while I was doing this. We used a pair of pliers to grab the teeth and give a little more leverage as we fed the chain through.

To start the engine, you pull in the clutch and pedal away. The engine engages when you let go of the clutch and it starts almost silently. It helps if you continue pedaling for a moment to help the engine. Before long it takes over and you are clipping right along. I haven't opened it up entirely because without proper suspension I'm a little hesitant.

Verdict: Totally fun.

Build notes on the Chicken Walker

2008-11-02T16:15:00.004-06:00

Thanks for all the great comments and positive ratings! You really made a boys, and his brothers, Halloween.

This thing took off like I never would have imagined. A lot of folks were looking for build notes and such so I put together a little video. Sorry about the sound quality. Any questions, hit me here...

Robot Costume

2008-10-30T23:12:00.005-05:00

So my middle son asked to be a robot for Halloween. We had a great time building this but I believe he may be a bit too tired to eat candy.

Then again perhaps not.

Build notes coming later...

Big Explosion in Elgin, SC

2007-03-29T20:58:00.000-05:00

Oddly I heard a sound and felt a rumble like one of the kids jumping from the top bunk around 7:02 PM March, 29th, 2007 around Elgin, SC. It was funny the kids jumped up and all the neighbors piled out of their houses. "What was that?" echoed through the neighborhood. I couldn't localize the sound but here is a Google map near where we heard it. It'd be way cool if we could triangulate the noise using Google maps.

logic lessons

2006-03-02T20:23:00.000-06:00

I've been wondering for some time why logic isn't taught in schools. Like Diane, I find it difficult to believe that logic isn't a core curriculum. Althought I don't completely agree with her assesment of algebra and trig, the crux of her argument is true. I propose we teach logic as a defense against, well, all the evil in the world. Bad politicians, check. Advertisments for useless goods, check. Damn near anything I can think of that I consider bad, check.

I have to be quite frank. I have no skill or training in logic but I understand it as a positive, protective force. Can you imagine a world where people can't be coerced by faulty logic? Where children know enough to question the automatic imposition of authority. Take, for example, the intelligent design argument: roundly defeated by a firm application of reason by PZ Meyer among others. Hear, Hear! This gentleman is on the search for enlightenment using the tools of logic. Would that we were all so minded.

I've found several texts on teaching logic to children. Bravo! but they cost. It seems to me that we would want this taught to our children at any cost. But better yet taught to all children equally that we might improve not only our own standing but the standing of the entire world. Better people than myself will have to help with this. I am neither smart enough or eloquent enough to make this happen. Will you help?

The main need is for curriculum that can be used to teach children at home. There are parents who read to their offspring to better them. Surely they would be interested in having materials that would enable them to teach logic lessons. I'd love to see this taught in schools but perhaps a start would be a childrens story.

Please help the world by helping develop a freely distributable curriculum for teaching logic.

reporting these days

2006-02-25T22:08:00.000-06:00

I imagine it must be hard for a reporter to jam a camera in someones face and ask them hard hitting questions. Imagine, you, who have just sat down to a nice meal of still twitching child flesh and hearing a voice call out "Mr. Delay? About Jack Abramoff?" and then getting grilled like never before on who, what, when, where, why and how much. It must be hard, thus explaining why reporters aren't doing it. Or when they do, concerning themselves with such inanity as to be immediately irrelevant. I am, some people would say, relatively outgoing, but to interrupt a person in conversation amongst friends, uninvited, would be one of the most difficult things I can imagine. I have, however, figured out, just now, why republicans are so staunchly against abortion.

It cuts down on their food supply.

21st Century Toys and tank disappointment

2006-02-22T19:53:00.000-06:00

Well the previous post on the cheap tank was about right. Poor components make it expensive even at $80. What a shame. The M1A2 broke after less than 30 minutes of use. First the turret quit firing. Not unexpected because it was a spring loaded affair and felt cheap from the get go. What was unexpected was the main drive gear on the right side of the tank giving way. 21st Century Toys kindly prints their "toll free" number on the instructions so a quick call should set things straight. Right? Wrong. Their "toll free" number is in fact a regular long distance call. There doesn't seem to be anyone located at the ofice either. Ah well. Fact of the matter is I can fix the broken part pretty easily but it would be nice to have some response from the company. You'd be better off spending the money to buy this guys tank plans and scrounging your parts than buying this. Pictures will be posted shortly.

tanks and robotics platforms

2006-02-18T18:17:00.000-06:00

I was in Walmart today and saw a great deal that'll be loads of fun and might be exceptionally useful to someone with more skill in electronics than I. A 1/9th scale Abrahms M1A2 tank for $80. It was originally $200. The battery in it (a 12V 7Ah) is worth around $40 so it would be worth buying just to retrieve the lead/acid combo. This is a relatively lifelike model from 21st Century Toys. I couldn't find any info on their website about it so I assume it was built exclusively for Walmart. It is amazingly huge: 3' long with a turret that measures 12" by 16". The battery takes 18h to charge, so we haven't run it yet. It'll be interesting to see how well it runs and for how long.

I haven't taken it apart yet but it looks like it will easily fit a laptop and GPS. I'd bet with some skill it would be a fantastic, cheap robotics platform. If the boys let me, I'll take it apart and post some more pictures and specs on its mechanics.

recumbent bike skills

2006-01-22T16:27:00.000-06:00

One of the skills that is involved in making bike frames is braze welding. My understanding of it leaves something to be desired but hey what the heck... I wish I had found this guide before I had attempted this awful piece to the right.

Heat is the key to good brazing and obviously I didn't have enough. I was heating with MAPP gas. Later (after filing all that junk off) I used a propane torch and a MAPP torch. That was enough heat for this joint and one other small joist but not enough for larger joints. When the joint is properly hot the alloy, copper, in this case, will flow like water , not bead up. The beads in this show a cold tube.

This weekend was a good weekend for learning what not to do. I tried to shape a piece of cromoly tubing by packing it with sand and using a bicycle wheel to get a good radius. I didn't pack the sand nearly tight enough, crimping my tube. If you try to shape tubing this way ensure that you have packed the sand extremely tight. Avoid crimped tube! Do not get in eyes! Dilute! Dilute!

long wheel base recumbent

2006-01-22T11:30:00.000-06:00

I found some plans for a long wheel base recumbent bike (the Tour Easy) online. Just what I needed to realize one of my dreams! So I obtained a couple of frames (Thanks Mike! Thanks Beverly and Tommy Dale!)and some cromoly tubing and decided to try my hand at building one of these neat bikes.

I've wanted to build a recumbent and really didn't know it. It seems like it would be a great energy saver/exercise inducer and could actually be relatively practical as transportation. Outfitted with a motor (electric or gas, more on gas later) and a shell, it would be great for getting to work. Work doesn't have a shower so that makes cycling a bit unrealistic. I don't mind smelling funky but my coworkers might. OSHA requires having one shower stall for x number of employees. Great but at the same time it prevents companies from building showers because of the expense. It would be a nice gesture towards truly sustainable practices to either require showers or lessen the number that would have to be built.

wax and wane

2005-11-20T20:19:00.000-06:00

I was bundling about the yard today when my wife called out and asked when I thought the cedar waxwings would arrive. 3 hours later I saw several whip through the sky singing their familiar whistle. They are voracious birds and I was disappointed that they had missed our hollies and dogwoods. Then I noticed they were scouting out the woods and were in no way going to go hungry.

In the past we had marked their comings and goings by the solitary buses or trees where we lived. In Little Rock, there was the Oregon Grape Holly that they devoured. In Hope, we had a huge holly (ilex aquifolium) covered with berries and around 12 dogwoods. When they descended it was in a flock that was sometimes frighteningly reminiscent of an Alfred Hitchcock film. They could eat all the berries off the trees in an afternoon. This time they came in small groups and flitted back and forth between different trees. They were like people at a buffet. "We'll have some of this. And now some of that," I could imagine them saying.

the internet as best as i remember it

2005-09-19T17:52:00.000-05:00

April 6th, 1992. That's the first day I saw the internet. Not many people can say that they remember when they first saw the web. I was with my girlfriend at the time, one Holly Bender. We stopped at her uncle's house in Raleigh or one of the adjacent suburbs. We went up to his home office and he had some early service; CompuServe or something. When he connected it was like a modern day portal with scrolling windows and other craziness. It could have even had a blink tag. Maybe not. All this is through the haze of my memory which can be very fuzzy at times.

The second time I saw the web was in a second year astronomy course. I don't remember the date. I do remember the introduction we got to computers (some Sun boxes) and the professor asked if anyone knew what HTTP stood for. Why it stuck I'll never know but a kid sat up and said "hypertext transfer protocol." The "duh" was implied in his tone. Well, it did stick. Not just the memory of that moment but the definition of the acronym and I think it branded me as a bit of a geek.

Earlier in this remembrance I made it sound as though the sight of the internet impressed me so much it made an indelible imprint of the date in my head. Not so. What made me remember it was the fact that on one of the scrolling menus it was showing the current news. Isaac Asimov was dead. I didn't know the exact date until I went to the wikipedia article on Asimov.

space and humanity

2005-09-12T04:51:00.000-05:00

Mankind's journey to the moon seems to be the noblest thing humanity has accomplished. There is much to be said for humanitarian aid, but enabling the genome to get offworld starts to ensure the continuation of the species. I appreciate NASA's effort in recent years to keep us circling the globe but it is difficult for me to believe that we landed on the moon before I was born and haven't maintained a presence there. How hard would it be to set up a permanent base on the moon? What benefits would it offer us? If only to preserve a segment of the population from extinction, it would be worth it. Currently humanity is subject to any catastrophe that occurs here, human engineered or otherwise. Our present economic status enables us to spend money on projects that have tremendous payoff like this. I fear disasters like Hurricane Katrina will affect the economy so that spending for space exploration might not be possible much less feasible. My greatest dream is that one day my children will be able to travel to space. Here's to them and hoping they have that opportunity.

interesting green insect

2005-07-02T21:13:00.000-05:00

I've been thinking about insects lately. Painting them, in particular. I really would like to paint some members of the wasp family but nothing atrocious like red or black wasps. The hunting wasps are very neat and way more beautiful than the things you dodge to avoid being stung. Years ago I got a copy of a great book by John Crompton called "The Hunting Wasp." It is a wonderful book but unfortunately there aren't any pictures in it. So I feel like I need to paint some pictures of these interesting creatures. Photos (and I like to paint from photos, sorry) can be found all over the web. All of them copyrighted. I don't know enough about copyright law to say whether or not I can paint from them so I won't. I like my photos too but if you want to use them to paint something or display them or whatever, please do so. No copyrights attached.

I'm posting this image to bugguide.net to see if I can get an ID on the bug. You can weigh in here. Isn't the web cool?

echinacea purperea

2005-07-02T19:56:00.000-05:00

I've always loved this flower. The orange cone with the purple petals, yellow pollen and green foliage caught my eye. I've been trying to take some photos of insects but this flower was so beautiful I took pictures of it as well. This is in the bed between the garage and front porch.

david damn byrne

2005-06-08T20:02:00.000-05:00

brilliant

the keys to your restroom

2005-04-26T17:20:00.000-05:00

I have recently relocated to South Carolina, land of yellow barbeque sauce. Needing to stow some of my gear I have rented a storage building. It is disquieting to realize that it takes so much gear for me to exist. At the same time, I am pleased. It's less than I thought it would be.

While renting the storage, the call of nature struck. I excused myself to the exterior boy's room and locked the door. There is a sort of common ritual to using a public restroom that is familar yet strange. The deadbolt goes this way. The sink handles work that way. As I turned the deadbolt I twisted the doorknob and pulled. Perhaps I didn't get the deadbolt out of the way entirely for the door doesn't open. Pull again. It won't budge. I notice that the fan is very loud and there is only one switch for bot the fan and the light. Perhaps I didn't actually lock the deadbolt when I came in and locked it when trying to leave. Actuate the deadbolt, pull. No. Still locked. Turn the deadbolt back. Perhaps I didn't turn the handle far enough to the right. I give it a little oomph and it is still locked. I noticed that the handle did turn a little further than the first time so I try it again. Harder. The knob spins all the way around.

At this point I shake the door and hope that I'll jar something loose. The Storage facility is rightly concerned with security. The door has no interior hinges. When the lady comes to see what the door shaking is about, I find that it has no exterior hinges either. I was worried about her thinking I had dodged out and locked up going home leaving me the cool solitude of the restroom for the evening. Because of the loud fan I must turn the lights off to converse. She asks what's wrong and I explain. I laugh thinking how odd it is to be talking to a complete stranger while stuck inside an unfamiliar restroom. My laughing seemed to unnerve her. You could hear the panic rise in her voice when she says, "I'm going to call the manager." I start working with my little Gerber knife I bought back in 1988. The screw closest to the hinges comes out pretty easy and I start to work on the screw next to the jamb. The knife must be held vertically oriented with the screw and I don't have much torque. After five minutes or so I get the other screw out and the knob falls in my hand as does a small cracked piece of plastic. The latch retracts and I am on my way again. I take the doorknob to the attendant. Funny how, after being confined for even a few minutes, freedom feels...

speed and loads of it

2005-04-22T19:06:00.000-05:00

The Suzuki TL1000S is a fast bike. So fast I don't like to think about it. A buddy of mine had bought one and I wanted to go for a ride. I thought we'd pull a quick loop and come back. 60-70 MPH tops. Sure.

My buddy is a bit on the adrenaline junkie side. As we are riding out of the parking lot I'm sitting upright and holding onto his sides. The way he says "You might want to hold on," makes me wrap my arms around him like a lovesick little girl. I had my head turned slightly to one side looking forward. At 100 at had to stop looking because my eyes were watering so badly. I probably looked like a skull I was grinning so wildly. I felt something slide on my cheek and realized I had drooled on myself and it was sliding rapidly back toward my ear. At 125 the wind felt like someone clapping their hands over your ears. The bike was still pulling and I had to close my eyes. Not squint them, mind you, close them entirely. Eyes closed, deafened, I felt like an infant cozily cuddled by a shrieking wind demon. He throttled back and down shifted. Three times. This bike has a six speed transmission. We still had three more gears to go. after turning around, he wound it back up. The return trip was equally unpleasant. Not to say that I didn't have fun but it was physically painful being buffetted by that much wind. Stepping off the bike my buddy said the speedometer had hit 135-140. He couldn't tell exactly because, well, he couldn't see either.

windchimes

2005-04-10T19:35:00.000-05:00

I just had an epiphany concerning windchimes. They bring outside in. As you lay snuggled in your bed, they sound and you know that something is happening out there. I used to detest windchimes. When I was a teen they drove me insane to the point I thought I needed to tear my neighbors down. My grandmother had a set of incredibly dissonant tinklers. I wanted to tear those down and run over them with the Farmall conveniently located down the hill. During that same time period I also wanted the sun blotted out of the sky and the entire Earth paved. Thank you Teenage Dementia. How pissed off can one person be? I guess that is why teens get short shrifted. They are, for the most part, all pissed off.

As I aged, the anger left and I was filled with a longing for green things and the sun. And windchimes. For my wife's first birthday after we were married I bought her a set of the most beautiful chimes I had heard (mp3). When we bought our third house there was a set of chimes hanging on the front porch. I'll be taking those when we leave.

Recently I read an article about using windchimes to determine the weather. Chimes are hung on all sides of a home. Here, our weather develops from the South or the SouthWest. So were we to hear our South side or both South and West chimes, we'd know that weather was coming. Nice idea and one that I had intuited but never verbalized.

Indian motorcycles

2005-04-04T22:11:00.000-05:00

Suman Das

Amitava Gosh

In India most motorcycles are relatively small displacement. Traffic is such that 350cc is a rather large bike. My friends were fascinated by this 1100cc Yamaha V-Star and insisted on going for a ride. Truth is, we all really wanted to ride. The weather was poor (cold and rainy). We shivered afterwards. Fun was had by all. That is what counts, isn't it? My buddies flew back to Kolkata a couple of days after these pictures were taken. It would be fun to visit them and tour India via motorbike.

While looking at the touring site, I found this beautiful bike. Wow! Royal Enfields are all gorgeous. I had no idea they even existed. Here's a rundown of a test drive. Having briefly owned a 1977 MGB I'm not sure I could handle the maintenance but wow! I'd love to be able to throw my leg over one of these or these or these... Oh, but for a little money!

porcine antics

2005-03-20T10:23:00.000-06:00

My Granny was a frail woman even before she got old. Tough but slight in build. As a younger woman, she had kept chickens. She and Papa had squeaked through the Great Depression and in a rural area one way to keep fed was to have chickens. They really don't require much care and when you are hungry you can go kill one, stew it up and there you are. Post Depression, she had continued to keep the birds. I can understand why.

First, food. Secondly, they can be absolutely beautiful. My wife and I kept several different varieties of chickens and they can be staggeringly pretty. The pictures don't really do them justice. Thirdly, they are fun to watch. It is interesting to watch them work through their social trials. The birds were important to Granny. Papa kept pigs for food as well. Hogs can be predatory animals and will eat anything they can. Chickens included. Hogs are also industrious escapers. It is difficult, short of concrete flooring and welded steel, to keep a hog in a pen. So they had a hog that had escaped and was taking advantage of the relatively free range fowl. Quite frequently this hog would kill a chicken and devour it. Hogs in general are large animals. At least 150 lbs. sometimes on the order or 200-300 lbs. Imagine trying to pull a 150 lb. person off a plate of fried chicken and mashed potatoes with gravy. Imagine that person had no compunction against biting you or stomping on you with a cloven hoof. So chickens were being eaten and Granny was getting more and more furious. The morning of the summer day in question the hog had jumped a chicken right in front of Granny. So the anger was a blinding screen pervading all my Granny did that day. My Granny was an imminently peaceful woman. As full of grace as I would have imagined Christ.

Today, however, was money changing at the temple day. As the hog rounded the corner, in full view of 4 of her daughters, she picked up a rock and threw it at the hog. When I was a child I threw a rock at a friend. As it left my hand I had the worst feeling come over me. Not that I had thrown a rock at my friend but I calculated the trajectory of the rock and my rapidly retreating friend and determined that, indeed, the two would intersect and that I was going to be in serious trouble. It was a Bad Feeling. I wonder, did Granny go through the same calculus for a solution of Triumphant Feeling? She hit the hog right between the eyes and down it went. Stone dead, literally. Killing a hog was something that was generally done in the winter. The cold cut down on the flies and other insects. But this summer day they had a hog killing and dressing. You can't let that kind of meat go to waste.

to and fro

2005-03-18T22:35:00.000-06:00

Weirdly after penning the last entry I really haven't been able to notice much while headed to work. Maybe it is sheer desire to get to work that drives all else out. Maybe it is just feeling my seat under me. I did happen to see a crow carrying some food on my ride out yesterday. I find crows interesting. They aren't very loveable to me. I did have a neighbor who had one as a boy. He felt like someone poisoned it and after at least 50 years you could tell he still hurt over the death of his bird. The crow carrying the food made me wonder. Where was it headed and who else might see it?

The Arkansas Department of Game and Fish has a tracking site for ducks that they have tagged with GPS transponders. They can be tracked here. Following a registration page and a brief (optional even) survey you can view a map with the ducks current locations. AGFC tagged 53 new ducks this year and they will be online shortly. It's a very neat program and I wonder if it could be implemented for crows. Voyeurism apparently intrigues me.

I flew a remote control glider for a while. The same kind of voyeuristic impulse struck me when flying. I love the aerial photos/movies that are taken using RC aircraft. Even free flight photos are very cool. Why is the sense of looking outside myself so intriguing?

seven miles

2005-03-16T20:18:00.000-06:00

I ride my motorcycle 7 miles to work each day. I have noticed that the thrill of wind in my hair (somewhat untrue as I always wear a helmet) keeps me from noticing things. Truth of the matter is, it is just so damned fun to twist the throttle I can't notice anything else. Silly, huh? So I'll write about what I notice in a conscious effort to increase my awareness of the moment. It is about more than just opening the bike up. Sometimes.

Today was 40 degrees and wet. The rain made interesting patterns on my wind screen. I ride in all types of weather, good and bad. It is a great and wondrous thing to have a nice rainsuit. I get funny stares quite frequently but unknown to the curious occupants of those vehicles, I am comfortable in 30-35 degree weather. 17 degree weather is another story altogether.

I was briefly stopped by a short, 2 engine Union Pacific train. I barely put my foot down and it was past. It's neat to watch these trains travel back and forth. We live not 2 blocks from the tracks and 40 or so trains pass by throughout the day. In a weird sort of way the trains are very romantic. You'll wake up at 3:00 AM and the house will be shaking (yes, that close) and the whistle blowing. I picture the engineer hurtling through the night, lights blazing. Their hearts must feel close to their machines. Very cool. The engines themselves are sometimes stopped for days at a time by the house, for repairs I suppose. To walk around them is to truly understand how large they are. They are, like motorcycles, beautiful machines.

adding domain users as users on local machine

2005-01-08T13:26:00.000-06:00

Ever tried to add domain users as users on a local computer? I did and ran across something funny. The local computer was the only pool available to draw from. The PC was a member of the domain and could see the domain controller. Finally I added a reference to the DC in the hosts file. It resolved the issue. It was a DNS problem that I'll resolve later. I didn't see this listed anywhere for free on google so I thought I'd list it here just in case someone else ran against it.

impulses of motion and further notes

2004-09-03T11:36:00.000-05:00

future stories:

raccoon story

I had scored a copy of The Whos 'Who's Next.' Killer album, right? I'm listening to it rather quietly and my wife is bathing one of our children. Our oldest son, 4ish at the time, is listening with me. He's obviously enjoying it. My wife calls me into the bathroom to view some sort of unbearable cuteness just as the album is ending. Sure enough the cuteness is unbearable but I manage to stay in the bathroom and talk and play with my other child. I'm out of the room long enough for the album to finish playing.

My oldest son is technically adept but we, until this point, kept him away from the stereo. Never even really showed it to him because, as you well know, music is quite near everything. It encompasses all that is good, right and holy with the world and then some. So by necessity we have kept him pointed away from the stereo. Otherwise we might find it assembled into some sort of alien tracking device. You never know with my kids.

So, the album ends, and I'm vaguely disappointed. Music, and in particular, The Who, rocks. Suddenly 'Baba O'Reilly' starts playing. At impressive volume. My son has determined how to get this wonderful stuff pouring back out of the speakers and, by god, it needs to be louder. I don't manage to get back into the den until Pete Townsend takes off with the guitar and as I walk in my 4 year is swinging his arm in the standard Townsend move. As if he is trying to push all the blood in his body to the very tip of his fingers.

Have you ever wondered why Townsend played this way? Was it an easier method of playing the notes he needed? A good way to keep time? My pet theory is this: it felt good and the music itself manifested itself in this physical motion in his body. Have you ever had to shake your rump? You know what I mean then. I think this because my son had never seen or heard Pete Townsend play before. Yet here it is. You could take this to the jungles of South America and descendants of Incas would all be playing air guitar and swinging their 'strumming' hand round and round. They'd have no choice.

sugar syrup

2004-08-31T13:34:00.000-05:00

One of my co-workers was having a computer problem and he called me into his office to help him out. As I was working on the computer I noticed drops of dried softdrink on his keyboard. I noticed more softdrink splatters on the screen. "Must've had a mouthfull of coke and sneezed," I thought. Disgusting, relatively common occurence geeks are exposed to. I turned to ask him about a specific problem with his PC and noticed splatters on the wall behind him. It was like someone had bludgeoned a can of coke with a baseball bat. I didn't want to disturb someone with a vendetta against helpless cans of pop, but I had to know what had happened. I asked. Apparently my co-worker had bought a couple of six packs of soda and was pulling them from the plastic rings and placing them under his desk. As he got to the last couple of cans one fell out. In cases like this, I generally wind up cursing gravity as a real inconvenience. The reality was much, much worse. The can landed on the top corner slightly opening the poptop. The shaking from falling and landing caused it to fizz violently. Since the pressure was only released on one side of the opening, the can started to spin and spray coke around the room. As I looked around the I noticed sprayed drops of coke were everywhere. Floor to ceiling the room was covered. I think I would have cursed CO2 at this point.

Months later I was retelling this story and my co-worker was walking by. I asked him about his office and he said that he hadn't gotten around to cleaning off his whiteboard yet. Whiteboard writing can be really nice. The squeak of the markers as they slide smoothly over the surface of the board. The clean vaguely chemical smell of the ink. All ruined as you hit a drop of dried soda causing your marker to stick and chatter as your hand overcompensates for the friction. It would have been the first thing I cleaned.

just some notes...

2004-08-28T21:59:00.000-05:00

My father-in-law hunts elk in Idaho every year. He packs in on 3 mules and stays in the mountains for two weeks. Having mules is an adventure in itself. Yesterday I watched a farrier shoe the mules. Shoeing a mule is not a simple task. The hoof must be prepared, the shoe shaped and applied and the hoof finished. Mules are, as a rule, flighty creatures. Every time they see you the first thing that goes through their head is "Today he is going to eat me. He may not have eaten me in the past but today is the day." Distrustfull to say the least. Shoeing a mule, especially their hind hooves, keeps you in their blind spot. They are already waiting for you to gobble them up and since they can't see you they are especially nervous. A mule can kick forward or backward unlike a horse which (as I understand it) can only kick backward. So shoeing a mule is a sweaty task. Nervous, electric sweat. So as the farrier shoes, others try to occupy the time making small talk. You can't silently wait for the farrier to get the fool kicked out of him.

So we are waiting. As we are waiting I notice a large number of fire ants crawling about. The fire ant is my least favorite creature above even the completely unnecessary mosquito. If you are not in the southern United States you have the luxury of lying on the grass. I don't.

As we are talking I feel a small twinge near my nether regions. "Hmm, must have moved wrong and pulled a hair." Another. And another. This is a familiar sort of pain. I have a fire ant in my pants and he is taking it out on very sensitive areas of my body. I move quickly toward the rear of the barn, discretion, in this case, being the better part of not flashing my father-in-law. Once relieved of the offending creature I mosey (if you had had a fire ant latched on to your privates you'd have to move slowly too) back out to nervously wait for the farrier to get kicked. I just thought there was swelling after my vasectomy...