Visit to Chicago

We visited the Museum of Science and Industry a while back during a visit to Chicago.

Great place to visit and the weather was very nice. It was in the 80s during the day. I had visited the museum when I was a child and remembered the u-boat. It was outside and at the end I got a plastic replica of the u-boat made by a small machine.

Well, things have changed and yet stayed the same. The u-boat was given an exhibit hall in 2004 and what an exhibit it is. You walk down a series of hallways with documentation and images showing the scenes for World War II related to the battle in the Atlantic with u-boats and allied shipping.

You then come out of the hallway and are greeted with this large boat in a very large room. It is like a holding pen with its concrete shell to protect against bombings. Watch the movie Das Boot to get an idea of what this facility was like.

We got our tickets a head of time on the Internet which was good since the tours had sold out for the day when we got there. We had a good tour guide who had some pretty good jokes. Too bad we could not take any pictures because the guide said people were selling them on the internet and the boat was now copyrighted. It was neat to see the inside and it is hard to believe that almost 60 people had to live there for months at a time.

The exhibit has a lot to offer with more displays around the submarine with some of them interactive. It was too bad we did not have time to study all the exhibits but we had spent time looking at other things at the museum like the trains, the Boeing 727, the chemistry and energy exhibits, and eating lunch. I wish I had time to look at the geology exhibit.

I took a picture of the dents in the submarines nose. I wonder how those dents got there.

At the end of the U-505 exhibit do not forget to look at the monitor on the ceiling that shows how they moved the submarine into its underground chamber.

Watermelon Harvest

The first of the watermelons were harvested yesterday. I think this is the latest I have ever began picking the melons. Two were picked a Crimson Sweet (striped one) and the a Sugar Baby (more solid green). Both weighed 9.4 lbs.

They are both a little bigger than a volleyball.

This is the view from inside the Sugar Baby melon. It has a good color and few seeds.

This is the Crimson Sweet melon cut open.

Louisville Hike and Bike

I participated in the Louisville Hike and Bike yesterday morning. Wow, a lot of people showed up for this than I have seen at past events. It was tricky riding in that large of group of cyclists that varied in different skill levels. It was good that there was a staggered start with the racers up front. I had a pretty good ride and got to some people it as been a while I have ridden bicycles with.

Scene about 30 minutes before ride started with people visiting the different tents with bicycle related information.

Picture above is of the main stage and tent where they were beginning to get people to do warm up exercises.

Toyota was a sponsor and they had some of their popular models out on the Great Lawn for display. Since the hood of the Toyota Camry Hybrid was up I took a peek inside. I was disappointed to not see a visible oil filter. One of the great features of the Toyota Camry we have is that the oil filter in the front of the engine compartment and it slopes down about 45 degrees. This filter configuration allows the filter to be changed easily and without a lot of mess. Maybe the non-hybrid engine has the different configuration.

Fort Morgan Beach

Here are some pictures I took at Fort Morgan beach. Not a lot of people around but it was pretty hot outside at the time. Sea birds were following a school of fish that was being driven onto the beach by another school of larger fish. I took a lot of pictures but not all of them were in focus of the birds flying around.

Restoring the Headlight Lens on a Toyota Camry

Our Toyota Camry has had a clouded headlight lens for several years now and it bothered me every time I would be either washing or working on the car's engine. It could be compared to someone having cataracts in their eyes. So after the success I had with the Internet fixing the sticking accelerator I looked for a solution for this. I found that a number of people were wet sanding their lens with different grades of sand paper used with water and/or rubbing compound. The pictures they showed of the before and after looked impressive but it was taking them hours to repair the lens based on what I read.

So I went to Autozone to look for ultra fine sandpaper (1000-2000 grit) to see if removing some layers of the plastic lens would in fact fix the cars problem. I found the sand paper but in the same section of the store I found a product from CCP called 5 Minute Headlight Restorer for about $12. Well, 5 minutes sounds a lot better than hours sanding so I bought it.





What the kit consists of is a circular plastic plate with a metal shaft, a number of sponge pads with rubbing compound on them and some instructions. You will need a drill, a clean rag, window cleaner, paper towels, and spray bottle with water. First, you need to clean the lens with the window cleaner and paper towels getting the surface clean and smooth. Next, put the bit in the drill and remove the paper from one the circular sponge pads to reveal its adhesive side. Stick the adhesive side to the plate. Mist the pad to get it damp but not too wet. I used a cordless drill to do this work. Next light press the pad to the lens and let the drill spin the sponge on the lens. I worked the sponge back and forth across the lens until I had covered the surface of the lens. I did this several times stopping every so often to make sure the sponge was still damp and if not misting it some more. A white film developed on the areas I had treated and I after finishing with the drill, I took the spray bottle and rinsed the lens. I then took the dry rag and cleaned off the lens.

It was quite a difference. The lens looked a lot more clear. See the pictures. I did the other lens with the same sponge and it cleaned the film off it as well.

The directions said if the film was inside the lens then it would need to be replaced. Luckily, the lens I was treating had the film on the outside.

Visit to Fort Morgan, Alabama

Recently, we took a vacation to Fort Morgan, Alabama with family and enjoyed the beach, food and sites of this Gulf of Mexico city. I was amazed at all the drilling platforms in the Gulf we could see from the beach, especially at night.

I was able to make some drawings for my young nephews with the paper and crayons on hand. Our first image is a wake up picture with a sun rising over the ocean which has a sea serpent, shark (complements of my nephew), and fish swimming in it.

This next picture entitled "Fun At the Beach" which shows a picture of the house we rented which was called "Beach Escape". The image of the house is pretty accurate but the surroundings were created with artistic license. The beach house was on a street that was in sight of the beach and the ocean was about 200 meters from the house.

I had brought a bottle of sparkling grape juice and used it to encourage my nephew to eat his vegetables during meals. So I told him he could have some "magic" grape juice in a glass. This image shows how the grape juice made to when it gets to the glass.

Here is an image to encourage my nephews to go to bed. It is a caterpillar sleeping with the moon and some flowers around.

Solar Panels

I bought some surplus solar panels years ago but only used a small number of them in a test to run an attic cooling fan for a year or so. The test worked pretty well but one panel broke in two probably after it got hit by a piece of hail.

The panels are about 8 inches by 8 inches and consist of a glass panel with a aluminum foil back with some sort of coating. The directions that came with the panel said scrap the coating off the foil side to expose the metal on the edges and the attach a U shaped metal piece on either side of the panel. One goes to the positive side and the other to the negative. Next solder the wires to the these metal pieces to get the power.

I looked for a better method and tried to find a conductive epoxy that would allow the wires to attach to the plate. I never found one that was cheap.

I came up with another method for attaching the conductors. Use copper foil tape from 3M that sticks to the aluminum and then solder the wires to that. See the picture for a better explanation.

Toyota Camry Sticking Accelerator

We have a Toyota Camry that sometimes after running for while on the highway and then the car is stopped at light will not want to accelerate. If the pedal is pressed it seems to resist going down until it is pressed on harder. At first we thought it was a problem with the metal cable going to the pedal after consulting with a mechanic. We cleaned that and it did not help.


After looking on the internet, a number of entries were found about cleaning the throttle plate. The description of what to do seemed pretty straight forward so it was done. What you need is:

• an adjustable wrench
• pliers
• old toothbrush
• clean rags
• can of carburetor cleaner

Trace the large air hose from the air filter compartment to the metal assembly that brings air to the engine. A smaller hose is above it, so it might be a good idea to take the pliers and move the fastening clamp off so the hose can be removed and set aside. See picture.








Next, take the adjustable wrench and loosen the O-ring from around the large air hose. Once it is loose enough, work the hose away from the pipe it is attached to. Move the hose to the side so clear access is provided to the throttle body plate.
Here is a picture of dirty plate. It is hard to get the camera angled for a good picture. There was a lot of black carbon build up in the pipe past the plate. The carburetor cleaner I used had a plastic tube that attached to the spray nozzle allow concentrated spray on to the plate. Once it was sprayed, quite a bit of black liquid came off which was wiped up with the rags. The tooth brush was then used to brush the inside of the pipe and throttle plate. Use your hand to turn the wheel that holds the cable that move the throttle plate to gain access to the back of the plate.




Once the brushing is done, spray more cleaner on plate and wipe away the carbon and liquid. Keep cleaning until black liquid quits appearing after spraying. Keep wiping the liquid up till dry.
Here is a picture after the cleaning.


Once all the hoses were put back in place, the engine was started and run for several minutes to get the cleaner through the exhaust system. One issue I had was the accelerator cable came off the wheel and when I started the engine the RPM went up to over 3000. After stopping the engine and placing the cable back its proper position, the RPM was around 1000-1500 at idle.
This fixed the problem and it made the car much nicer to drive.

Fossil Imprint

While digging the area for the new patio, I find a large number of rocks the builder left not to far under the ground. These rocks end up in a pile until it grows large enough to be hauled off to fill in washed out area made by erosion. When I unloaded the rocks I noticed an imprint on the one that looked like some sort of fossil. After consulting my cousin, who is quite the fossil hunter, we came to the conclusion it is a trilobite. He wants to make a casting of it so we can get a better idea about its size and what it looked like.



Here is the image of the rock.

Fancy Farm Kentucky Picnic

The Fancy Farm, Kentucky Picnic was held on August 4, 2007 and I was there. It is known in Kentucky as the unofficial start of campaign season and this year there is a governor's race. I did not attend the political speeches but reading about them in the paper, it appears the crowd was quite boisterous and confrontational. What I go for is the barbecue which is prepared in large pits. They told me 18,000 lbs were prepared this year.

This is picture of some of the pits they prepare barbecue in.

Here is the pavilion that the speeches are given in. Behind it is were a lot of the news crews set up to send their reports back to newscasts around the state. Off to the side, a large number of RVs and travel trailers are set up where VIPs and others can stay in the air conditioning and away from sometimes annoying crowds.

It was very hot this picnic and a lot of bottled water was being sold.

Sunday morning I got up and helped clean up the grounds. As a child I use to help clean after the picnic and it was quite a mess. The garbage seemed more concentrated on the paved areas where the booths and stands were. I ended up cleaning the ball field and the area around the school. Even though it was early morning, I got soaked from just working about 90 minutes.

Laser Printers... Are they harmful? Are they spies?

Well, I found these two different items of interest since I use to work a lot with laser printers.

The first is about toner that laser printers can emit as very fine particles. Unfortunately for me, some of the printers that put out these particles are ones I worked with. It seems that a researcher in Australia was working on a study to determine if laser printers emitted fine dust that might have bad effects on the lungs. Here is the link to the study and the table of printers they tested is near the bottom of the paper.

http://pubs.acs.org/cgi-bin/sample.cgi/esthag/asap/html/es063049z.html

Hewlett Packard responded saying the findings need more study. Here is a link to their response:

http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/newsroom/emissions.html

The second item is something I had seen in the past about color laser printer sometimes place color patterns on the pages they print so they can be traced back to the printer. I think this was to help catch counterfeiters. Here is a link to a page that has a list of printers that do that:

http://www.eff.org/Privacy/printers/list.php

First Grapes

I ate my first Concord grape yesterday and it reminded me of ones I ate as child growing up in a small farming town.

Here is a picture of another grape plant further back in the field.

Image Attributes a Digital Camera Can Detect

Here is a story about a place that is putting images on shirts that show up when seen through the digital camera view finders. It reminds me of using a digital video camera eyepiece to test infrared emitters. When viewed they would like white light through the display.

See this website for more info.

France Will Never Forget

I thought this was a neat event. Sometimes you hear bad things about France in this country but as the images show, the French did not about the D-Day invasion that American troops participated in during World War II. It was clever to assemble people on the beach at Normandy and from the message.

http://www.malaurie.com/frenchamericanfriendship/index1.php?id=60

As an American, I have not forgotten about France's help in establishing the independence of the United States in the 1700s.

Watermelon Truck

I was driving on the highway the other day and saw this.


This is not the best of pictures but it was a truck with the back door open and 6 containers of watermelon were in the truck. You can see a yellow bottom of a melon sticking out of the box on the left. I could not tell what type of watermelon it is though. There is no license plate visible so not sure where these are from. I am guessing it is open to keep the melons from getting too hot.

I also wonder what that load is worth. I am guessing that there might be 100 melons a box (I see boxes like this in Walmart sometimes so I will need to try and count them to get an idea of how many a box can hold). If they can sell melons to the retailer at $3 a melon then the load could be worth about $1800. Since I do not have a understanding of the produce retail market so I could be way off base on money values.

On a side note, the watermelons I am growing are quite small as plants. No blooms are showing so I am in trouble with fruit being produced this season. Hopefully, the pumpkin plant will produce a couple pumpkins for Halloween.

Castleberry's Hot Dog Chili Sauce

Wow, the day I was going to buy two cans of this sauce they announced a recall. We had some hot dogs bought for some guests that came to stay with us and they did not eat them so I was going to start eating them for lunch by making them into chili dogs. By the time I got ready to go buy some the news had stories about this. Going to Kroger's the whole shelf was emptied and a sign was posted that the product had been recalled. The Kroger brand was made at the same plant so it was removed as well. So it looks like in the future I should buy the cheaper Kroger brand since it is the same product.

http://www.fda.gov/oc/po/firmrecalls/photos/chilisauce10.html

This is too bad, I liked their sauce but I will need to buy some mustard now so I use that to eat hot dogs.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Well, I made a post about the last book in a 2005 entry and early Saturday morning I went to a 24 hour Krogers and bought the book. I waited for the initial line to go away and when I arrived there was no line at the table with the stack of books. A small group came over from the nearby Borders and asked where the line was. The Kroger associate said it had dissipated and the could get their book and check out. They seemed very happy implying that it might be 3 A.M before they could get a book at Borders. After getting home, I then proceeded to read it till about page 320 before going to bed.

I finished reading the book about 6 A.M. Sunday morning and found the book to be very good. While I enjoy reading about his adventures, I am glad it is over but she has room to write books about future adventures.

J.K. Rowling said she would wrap up the story in this book and she does. After reading it, I can see why she has earned so much money and fame as a writer. The story ends with a very tidy ending and adding the epilogue really seals the deal. She shows that she is not afraid of killing off characters but at the same time sticks to themes on the power of love, self-sacrifice and performing the good action. She also adds some misdirection to keep the story from becoming too predictable.

It ends basically how I thought it would go and she did not go to dark in ending the adventure. The ending I think will please the majority of readers. I thought the action sequences were well spaced out with sections of the book dealing with just character development/interaction. It should make a good movie.

One thing, I saw several references to the word veela which appeared in the other books but I forgot what it meant. I looked in Webster's dictionary when I came across it in the book but it did not have an entry. The web says it is a feminine spirit from Eastern European folklore that can appear a young woman with long silky hair that has the ability to mesmerize or enchant men.

Preserving a Section Newspaper

Reading The LaRue County Herald News, July 18, 2007 edition page 7A I found a small section about how to save newsprint. Paraphrased, it says:

1) Dissolve a Milk of Magnesia table in a quart of club soda and let sit overnight.
2) Aftering sitting the required time, pour the mixture into a pan the newsprint will fit in.
3) Soak the newsprint for 1 hour.
4) Remove and pat dry.
5) Place the newsprint section on a flat surface and wait till completely dry.

After this treatment, the life of the newsprint section is 200 years.

I wonder if this will keep it from turning yellow over time?

Lightning Effects on iPods and Notes on Speed Limits

Reading the Business section of the Courier-Journal page D3, there is an interesting AP article about how nearby lightning strikes can harm people wearing music players, cell phones, beeps, and computers while outside. The person they showed had burns on their ear, shoe and shirt from where the player made contact with their body. Another incident described in the article is of a jogger wearing an iPod and lightning struck a tree a couple feet away. The bolt jumped to his body and he suffered burns where the iPod was attached to him. His hearing was damaged where 50% was lost. Go to http://www.struckbylightning.org/index.htm for more information about this phenomenon.

After looking around some more, Nokia has filed a patent application where they run software on the cell phone that uses FM or GSM to detect lightning in the area and alert the wearer of the phone. See this link for more info: http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,132220-pg,1/article.html

The speed limit in Kentucky went up to 70 mph yesterday on some roads and there is a Courier Journal article on pages A1 and A5 about it. What caught my attention was a graph showing fuel efficiency from the Department of Energy. It shows a summary of different vehicles and their gas mileage in relation to speed traveled. It shows that efficiency is best at speeds of 40-55 mph showing 30 mpg, at 60 mph it is 28 mpg, 65 it is 28 mpg, 70 it is 25 mpg and 75 it is 23 mpg. Another interesting note it costs almost $11,000 to change the signs to the new speed limit.

The Balloon Flower Revealed

I looked at the package for the flower and its name is Platycodon grandiflorus.

The plant is also known as Chinese or Japanese Bellflower.

It emerges in late spring and need partial shade if grown in sunny/hot climates otherwise can be in full sun.

The Last Balloon Flower

This flower is known as Platycodon grandiflorus and has has some cultivars called 'Double Blue' colored double violet blue or 'Hime Murasaki' colored lavender-blue; or 'Hakone Blue' colored double violet-blue.

Here is a picture of the last of the balloon flowers. I am trying to grow four more plants but the seeds have yet to sprout after more than 7 days.

I was amazed by 11 PM last night I did not hear fireworks. I am not sure if people fired them off earlier this year or since it was a work night people needed to go to bed. Whatever the reason, it was a lot easier to go to sleep.

The rain today is keeping me from working outside. It is good though we are getting it though.

Fireworks!!!

Wow, the fireworks are going off in the neighborhood. I did not know we lived by the Zambellis.

Seriously, some people have mucho dinero for fireworks because there are series of large rockets going off which to me might be costing hundreds of dollars. They do seem to be coming from the more affluent subdivisions though.

Here are some blurry still pictures. I will try later to extract images from the .mov I took.

Always tricky trying to go to sleep on 4th of July night. This year seems a little quieter though.

Firework Accident Avoided

Today being the 4th of July, I have an appropriate post. Yesterday while cycling through the neighborhood, I heard a whoosh and then a thud in the grass about 8 feet from me. I looked down and there was a smoking shell of rocket that had just been fired about 4 houses from my location. I heard some little kid asking their parent where the rocket went to and I bent down and picked it up. I then held it up and put in my bicycle basket and cycled away.

I am not sure of what the trajectory was but I had my helmet and sunglasses on so I do not think it would have hurt me if I had been hit. Still it is not something I have happen everyday.

Lily in Bloom

Somebody tell this plant it not Easter!!! I guess that late freeze messed it up.

The Calla Lily is quite large now and has developed 4 blooms though they are covered by all the leaves.

More Flowers

The flowers continue to bloom.

Lillies Have Bloomed

Wow, these are gorgeous flowers!

The Calla Lily is getting larger and larger as well but the camera battery gave out before I could take more pictures. It should be recharged soon.

Flower for Mother's Day

This mother's day I am getting my mother a Camelot Rose Foxglove (Digitalis Purpurea). They are sold at Home Depot and take full exposure to the sun. According to the card they can survive winters to -20 to -30 degrees F.

It is a nice looking plant with a tall flowering stem with bell shaped flowers going all the way up the stem.

The Calla Lily we got her last year did not survive the winter though the one we got at the same time has.

Join the FREE Garden Club at www.homedepot.com/gardenclub for more information about plants.

Plants in the Yard

I took some pictures today of some plants in the yard.

Here is the Rhododren.

Here is the Calla Lily that survived the winter.

Laser Printer Cartridge

I took a HP Laserjet 6L printer cartridge to local store of Cartridge World (www.cartridgeworldusa.com) so they could refill it two days ago. I was told to come back the next day and retrieve it. Before going I looked up how much another cartridge would cost and it looked like it would be about $65 so they quoted me $45 but when I used Google Maps to find them, a coupon appeared that I could use for $10 off my first toner refill.

So returning to the store yesterday, the person behind the desk found my order and then said it will be $45 but I pointed out the coupon and it came to $35. So that was pretty good savings over buying another cartridge. After installing the cartridge and printing a test page, the print looked dark but there were toner splotches appearing every 4 cm in a column about the center of the page. I used Windows to print another test page and the toner places became just small spots so issue is going away.

I recommended Cartridge World to our purchasing person since she has a stack of cartridges in her office to take recycle. Also there is a large set of shelves full of cartridges for a variety of printers that need to be gotten rid of. So she was going to call them to see if they could process them.

Yikes, What happen to gas prices?

Driving home from work I saw some stations at $3.22 a gallon while two were at $2.83. The stations at $2.83 had cars 5 deep waiting for gas. The Wal-Mart near us was listed at $3.09 and had about every pump filled with cars taking on gas.

Why did it go up so fast? Iowa storage tank problems, Venezuela taking control of the last privately run oil field, a Chevron tanker attacked in Nigeria? Take you pick.

Solar Soda Can Air Heater

This is a pretty cool idea that uses old soda cans, 2x4s, and black paint.

I think adding a couple of solar panels and some used DC fans to move the air through the cans would be a cool idea.

Maybe use it the winter to heat air for an area and then in the summer place it on the roof to remove heat from that area to try and make the house a little cooler.

http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2007/04/26/almost-free-garage-heat-just-drink-a-lot-of-soda/

Wow, someone had commericalized this:

http://www.cansolair.com/

Someone in Hungary has built a large one of these:

http://napenergia.freeweb.hu/gyak/szp/sztgyi.htm

Another post left this website for determing what angle to place the panel:

http://www.macslab.com/optsolar.html

A beer can solar heater:

http://www.squidoo.com/beercansolarheater

Another solar heater design:

http://www.mobilehomerepair.com/article17solar.htm

Garage solar heater

http://www.instructables.com/id/EMU06ULZ1MEY95WRNU/

Painting a Gas Pipe

LG&E sent us a letter stating that our cast iron gas pipe bringing gas into the house was rusting and needed to be cleaned and painted. The letter went on to say it was our responsibility to maintain our pipes and by not doing so could lead to gas leaks.

So one of the generous residents of our neighborhood that works for a paint company gave us some gray paint even though they did not have to and we got to work. Once I had brushed and sanded the rust off the pipe, my wife painted it. I think it turned out very well.

Help Tools for Computer

Build a USB with PC tools

http://www.dailycupoftech.com/usb-drive-systems/3/

TrueEncrypt

http://www.truecrypt.org/

Life Hacker

http://lifehacker.com/software/lifehacker-top-10/lh-top-10-usb-thumb-drive-tricks-255738.php

The Gaslight Inn

Two friends and I had dinner at the Gaslight Inn located in Jeffersontown, KY. Very nice atmosphere with a small bar next to a room with several tables. It being late we all ordered cheeseburgers and either fries or onion rings.

A very filling meal which afterwards I felt like I had eaten too much.

Visit to P.F. Chang

My wife and I visited P.F. Chang's for the first time last weekend. I thought since we went during Thunder Over Louisville it would be less crowded since it always seems to be. It seemed logical since about 800,000 people were downtown, this restaurant in the suburbs would have less people. Well, maybe it was less crowded but it was still crowded. We had reservations and it we still waited about 20 minutes.

It was enjoyable experience with a friendly staff and excellent food. My sister insisted we get the lettuce wraps to start the meal even though I usually do not eat appitizers. They turned out to be very good though we needed more lettuce leafs to finish off the dish. It said they contained spicy chicken but the food was not hot tasting. Google showed the lettuce wraps as something that searched for and I did the search and found a number of sites had the recipe listed.

The other two dishes we had were the the sweet and sour chicken and vegetable dumplings. I found both to be good. At the beginning of the meal, the server brought out a plate with different sauces and I tried the mixture of soy sauce, chili sauce and hot mustard. It was good. I found the sweet and sour chicken to have a noticable ginger taste which is not what I usually expect from this dish.

All and all a very nice meal and we will go back some time to try their other dishes.

Building Projects

The sunroom that has taken months and months to complete is now pretty much done. A oak step needs to be installed that will connect the kitchen and the sunroom tile floors together. The trim needs be chaulked and some touch up paint applied.

Most people would not have spent the time and effort to put a room into place but I am glad I did because you appreciate things more if you do them yourself. The room was nice to use this weekend with a nice breeze blowing through as we ate lunch.

Now I am removing the floor covering in the kitchen so it can be replaced with tile. Also I am starting to get the outside area ready so a patio can be poured between the sidewalk and sunroom.

Projects, projects... they never seem to end.

Calla Lily

Last year we planted a Calla Lily in the plant bed because it is such a beautiful flower. The plant is not rated for our area so I was wondering if it would survive the winter. Earlier this month the Easter lillies started to come up along with some of the other flowers but no Calla Lily. Then a late freeze hit and kill off some of the flowers. Well, while working in the yard this morning I found the shots of the Calla Lilly starting to come up. Good for it that it missed the freeze.

Carl & Jerry

I found this website dedicated to preserve the stories of Carl and Jerry written by John T. Frye for Popular Electronics from 1954-1964.

http://www.copperwood.com/carlandjerry.htm


It sounds like a neat concept of teaching electronics through the adventures of these two youths. When I saw the story on Jeff Duntemann's blog, it reminded me of reading the Hardy Boys as a kid. Other stories are remember are Alfred Hitchcock's Three Investigators and The Mad Scientist Club.

Kentucky Craft Sites

Today's Courier Journal reported that Churchill Weavers in Berea Kentucky is closing after 85 years of operation. Globalization helped close it since it products imported from Asia cost about $20-30 and the Berea operation can cost over $100.

See the story here:
http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070218/BUSINESS/702180389

The website for the Churchill Weavers can be found here:

http://churchillweavers.com/index.html

It is unfortunate that those craftspeople will lose their jobs. The only way I can see an operation like that working in the United States is tie it to tourism and stress the hand crafted part of the product. I am looking into maybe buying one their handmade products. It is too bad that you do not realize local industries and what they make until they have disappeared. In that vein, I looked around and found a few local operations that should be patronized.

ByBee Pottery has a nice website and has quite an inventory of products. I like their flower pots and I wonder if they could make some of the African Violet pots that are in two pieces with the bottom part containing the water and the top part contains the plant where the water slowly transfers through the material containing the plant.

http://www.bybeepottery.com/welcome.htm

The other place would be Louisville Stoneware founded in 1815. We have a few of their pieces and they are quite nice.

http://www.louisvillestoneware.com/

Another pottery operation is Hadley Pottery which I think I pass by on my way to work in the morning. I will need to visit them some time for a tour. I like the piece that holds rings.

http://www.hadleypottery.com/

A great place to visit it the Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory where the famous baseball bats are made. I remember when the factory was over in Indiana for a while. We use to pass the building when we went to my aunt's house. They have now moved to Main St. in Louisville near other museums and the Center for the Arts. It is much more accessible to tourists here.

http://www.sluggermuseum.org/index.aspx

Grossan Hydro Pulse

After reading on a blog and reviews on amazon.com about a device that will irrigate the sinuses, I asked for one as a gift. When I received it, I was apprehensive about shooting a stream of water up my nose. So it was placed in the bathroom cabinet.

This weekend I started feeling pretty bad and seem to have to blow my nose constantly. So when getting ready for bed I decided now is the time to wash out my sinuses. I found the manufacturers website at http://www.hydromedonline.com/index.html

They now have a video of girl using the device so it did not seem so bad. I found the packet of powder which seems like salt (package contents: sodium chloride, sodium bicarbonate, xylitol, calcium chloride, potassium chloride). I got some distilled water, poured it in the container to the 500 cc mark and heated it in the microwave for about 45 seconds. I then mixed in the containers packet.

I got the pump going in the bathroom and tested that water would come out about an inch from the nozzle. I put it up to my left nostril and felt the water slowly move up my nose and then maybe somewhere into my forehead. Water then started to pour out my other nostril. It was a somewhat odd view but it seemed to work. After about 15 seconds, I switched to the other nostril. The water did not seem to flow as well, so I stopped the pump and weakly blew my nose. I then started the pump again and water eventual came out the opposite nostril.

The experience left me with cleaned out feeling and the nose did not feel like it needed to be blown out. So the reviews I had been reading seemed legitimate.

I now need to figure out the contents of the packets: the sodium chloride (NaCl)is table salt, sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3) is baking soda, potassium chloride (KCl) not sure if there is a household product for this, calcium chloride (CaCl) I think this is used a de-icer on the roads but it cannot be bought as a cooking ingredient and Xylitol is a sweetener used in gums but has been shown to help prevent infections in the ear.

Make Sure Things Are Wet Before Sterilizing in the Microwave

It looks like the earlier link I posted need to have some additional information. People are putting dry sponges and dish clothes in the microwave and they are burning. They should be wet when heated in the microwave.

See this story for more information:

http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=scienceNews&storyID=2007-01-25T000823Z_01_N24478934_RTRUKOC_0_US-GERMS-SPONGES.xml

Sterilizing Kitchen Objects With the Microwave

I just read a study about cleaning sponges and dish clothes using the microwave. Apparently, they need to be wetted and heated at full power from 2-4 minutes.

Read more about the study at:

http://www.livescience.com/humanbiology/070122_microwave.html

Virtual Painting

I am interested in learning how to paint or draw. So I started using Corel Painter Essentials and a Wacom tablet.

Here is an watercolor that we obtained in Galway, Ireland.

It was painted by Anne Osborne.

I used it as a model and tried to match it with my program. The colors and clarity are not quite there. Need to work on the greens.

Hooker Furniture Plant to Close

The other day I came across a story about Hooker Furniture closing its last wood furniture manufacturing plant by March 2007. We had bought a large multi-piece desk from them in 2005. One of the reason was it was large enough to be used in the office for two people and the other that it was made in the United States. You could find similar furniture (not sure about the quality of the wood) made in China for $1000+ less. Seeing the price difference, it can be seen how the competition on price would get to them.

http://investors.hookerfurniture.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=226208

Well, if you still want to see American furniture made, watch New Yankee Workshop on PBS.

Interesting Wi-Fi Problem

My notebook computer has trouble losing its wireless connection sometimes. Eventually, this problem was traced to when the 2.4 GHz phone was being used. So after running NetStumbler here is what the signal graph shows when the phone is used. Look at how the signal level disappears when the phone is on where the notches show up on the graph. If the phone turns on and dial tone will sound, that does not show up on the graph but when the phone starts to transmit when pressing a button the signal disappears from the graph.

Kentucky Vehicle Fatalities for 2006

Driving into Louisville this morning the TRIMARC signs were showing how many people died on the roads in 2005 and 2006.

They listed the number dead in 2005 at 976 while the deceased for 2006 was 899.

I wonder if increased safety laws, better road barriers, and safer vehicles contributed to this. We have stricter safety belt laws now, the transportation department has been installing cable barriers between roads that have opposite flowing traffic, and more vehicles have airbags and traction control systems.

Goodbye 2006, Hello 2007

Well today was a very rainy day so not much was done outside. I was out shopping and I saw the sun come out late in the day which means possible rainbow.

While driving about 10 minutes later I started seeing a vertical line in the eastern sky with a color spectrum. It was not much of an arc since the water in the atmosphere must have been raining in that small section of sky.

So long 2006 may things get better in 2007.

Christmas Gift

My nephew was given a Slinky as a gift. It is a great fun for being a toy that is over 60 years old. It is still made in Hollidaysburg, PA. MIT has highlighted the inventor at this website.

http://web.mit.edu/Invent/iow/slinky.html

The company has a website at :

http://www.poof-slinky.com/default.asp

We enjoyed trying to get it going down the stairs.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Ahhh, Christmas is here at last. The weather in Louisville is cold (30-40s F) with a chance of snow later today which might end up being rain.

A few things I try to do each Christmas besides spend a lot of time with family and attend religious services is read the story "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens. I have a book with 4 of his stories published by Gramercy Press in 1982. I keep the ribbon on page 531 to mark where the Christmas Carol begins. Surprisingly, it is a somewhat short story ending on page 585.

I also try to watch a version of Christmas Carol on DVD. There are three that I have: Scrooge from 1951 starring Alastair Sim, A Christmas Carol from 1984 starring George C. Scott, and A Christmas Carol from 1999 starring Patrick Stewart.

We also try to watch Bill Murray in Scrooged who has some great lines in the comedy adaptation.

I also try to watch It's A Wonderful Life.

I wish everyone a happy Christmas and a safe new year. As Tiny Tim says at the end, "God Bless Us, Every One!"

USB Gadgets

Reading the Pursuits section of the Wall Street Journal for December 23, page P2 showed some USB gadgets. Three items were profiled and of those I have a version of one: USB Microscope QX5. I have the one developed by Intel when they were making educational toys. It is a great product even if it is packaged like a toy. I have posted some microscope pictures taken with it on earlier blog posts.

The gadget that caught me eye though was the USB missile launcher from thinkgeek.com. It reminds me of a Hawk anti-aircraft missile battery used by the military. Apparently, you can use the computer to aim the battery and fire it. I guess if someone enters your work area, you can unleash a foam missile barrage to drive them off.

I went to the Think Geek website and they also have the USB rocket launcher which has larger range than the missle launcher and the laser guided missile launcher to help improve targeting accuracy. What an arms race they have going!

The Painting Journalist

Today's Courier Journal had an interesting article about an Louisville artist, Ashley Cecil. She goes to community events and takes pictures or a sketch pad. After recording the event, she paints it and then sells it. When she sells it, she donates part of money to an organization (e.g. paints a scene from Habitat for Humanity (HFH) event and then donates money to HFH).

Check our her website which explains this much better.

http://www.ashleycecil.com

Emergency Supplies for Car Revisited

Today's Louisville Courier-Journal showed an article about how to prepare your car for winter driving. They included an article about checking your car's anti-freeze levels and quality, the oil levels, keep the gasoline in the tank above 50% capacity to avoid freezing, air pressure and tread condtion, battery condition, and inspect the belts.

They recommend the following for storing in your vehicle:

• Blanket or sleeping bag
• Warm clothing
• Small can of waterproof matches
• high calorie food
• fully charged cell phone
• shovel
• container of sand or cat litter
• booster cables
• flashlight with extra batteries
• water container
• tow rope
• first aid kit
• tool kit
  

I like the idea of tow cable and the sleeping bag. I sometimes carry my sleeping bag. I would add an emergency radio. The radio I have seen in the past is from Grundig or Elan (might have those names spelled wrong). The radio has a dynamo that you crank to charge it up. It has an LED light which saves battery energy and a cell phone charger port which can be really handy.

I am wondering if there is a product that people in the car in Oregon could have used to help air searchers see their vehicle better. Maybe a flashing LED or strobe that can be powered from a solar charger. I looked on the web and there seems to be some products out there using electronics that stand out. Maybe cars should carry an emergency dynamo for charging cell phones and batteries.

Small airplanes carry some sort of beacon device that goes off when they crash or something like this. Maybe cars can have this too. Of course, cars can with the Onstar system and maybe this a reason to get such a system that goes off when the car is in an accident or stranded.

Web Links

I will use this post to archive some web links from a notebook computer I use.

This blog entry lists some interesting medical software sites:
http://www.freesoftwaremagazine.com/node/1709

This site has some computer security links:
http://www.wiretapped.net/

This site has a variety of different circuit designs:
http://www.uoguelph.ca/~antoon/circ/circuits.htm

This site is the ultimate boot CD
http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/

Links to explore about the NBC show Heroes
http://www.thetenthwonder.com/

http://www.thetenthwonder.com/

Supplies to Carry in Vehicle

After the unfortunate events that befell that family in the Oregon wilderness, I thought about items that should be carried in the vehicle to help with emergency situations.

I try to carry 1 or 2 flashlights in the car. Usually, a D cell or AA cell Maglite. Other things I have:

• poncho
• pen
• tire gauge
• manual air pump
• philips screwdriver
• expired cell phone with charger (still works with 911 calls)
• fire extinguisher
• first aid kit
• quarters and other change
• phone book
• sometimes a floor jack that can lift 2.25 tons
• small shovel if chance of snow
• 5 gallon bucket of sand in case of snow (more buckets for weight)
• blankets in case of snow
• bottled water (at least 3 bottles if snow)
• saline for contacts
• window reflector to keep sun out in summer when parked
• Powerbars
• canned tuna or fruit & can opener
• sometimes in the winter, a candle in a sealed jar
• thermometer to check vent air temperature

I think the things I use most are the air pump and tire gauge. I try to keep the tire pressure correct for better gas mileage and tire wear. I have helped a number of people with tire issues because of it.

The one thing I might add is an empty gasoline container. A couple of tools to add would be a cresent wrench and some adjustable pliers.

Interesting Website on Traffic Flow

I read some of the postings from this website and see some of the things he is talking about while driving in the traffic in the morning. The big thing is avoid traffic by leaving early to get away from all the rush at certain times.

http://amasci.com/amateur/traffic/traffic1.html

I sometimes try some things mentioned, like go the speed limit after coming out of congested area instead of pacing with cars around me who drive 70+ mph and then end up hitting their brakes 2 miles down the road where another congested area has formed. You have to fight the herd mentality and realize that you are just wasting energy trying to get to the end of the next line really fast.

Call to the Night Sky

I was getting in my car tonight and looked up and saw a very clear night sky with lots of stars. It is tempting to go out with the telescope and start viewing but last December I went out to take images of the moon and got really sick. Christmas time was not very festive at all with me being sick it seemed like the whole month of December.

So as the siren of the night sky calls... for now I will avoid that opportunity to get sick.

Long Absence

I have not been doing a good job at keeping the blog up to date. I have been working on a sunroom for the house and it takes up a lot of my time outside of work. Also several rooms in the house have now been tiled as we replace the linoleum.

Here are some pictures of some hot air balloons that came over the neighborhood at the end of October.

More Watermelons

I have picked all the watermelons left in the one patch. The largest I weighed was a Charleston Gray at 26 lbs. The next was a little more than 24 lbs and it was a Charleston Gray as well. They were the last ones picked along with a smaller Mountain Hoosier melon.

Watermelon Harvest

I began harvesting the watermelons last week. A picture shows the wheel barrel with some melons. The two striped melons are Crimson Sweet and weighed about 10 lbs each. The three solid green melons are Mountain Hoosier and they weighed about 8 lbs a piece. The smaller melons with the whitish haze on them weigh between 2.5-7 lbs a piece and those are Sugar Baby melons.

I also picked on the Charleston Gray Melons and it came in at 19.8 lbs.