cesspools and Amsterdam

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

This is NPR...

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

stop! thief!

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

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

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

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

One cool Rainbow Slide at the SC State Fair.

bloody noses and silly poses

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

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.

Who is sooo yummy? Bjork is, dammit!

Rocket Launch!

Bee Lining

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.