I'm now a ways on the wrong side of 50 years old. I've been weight training and doing light cardio for a few months now. Progress is... not bad! But it's also a bit slower than what I've experienced in the past.
An advertisement-free blog about motorcycling, Northern life, home improvement, power plants, submarines, nuclear stuff, and a few other off-beat subjects. Comments are welcome. (Image is the Selway Crags in Northern Idaho)
Tuesday, May 24, 2016
Saturday, May 21, 2016
More LED lighting
A few years ago, I had four incandescent garage lights replaced with 7 fluorescent tube lights fixtures, for a total of 14 bulbs, each 4 ft long. I have 6 fixtures above the car bays, and one fixture by the man-door alcove. Each bulb is 32 Watts, for a total of 448 Watts.
Over the years, I've had to replace a great number of bulbs, and they aren't cheap. They run about $4 apiece, and I seem to be replacing 1-2 every month. I suspect it's reduced mercury content causing the failure to ignite after a short time in service. Also we turn them on and off quite a bit, which is hard on fluorescent bulbs.
Over the years, I've had to replace a great number of bulbs, and they aren't cheap. They run about $4 apiece, and I seem to be replacing 1-2 every month. I suspect it's reduced mercury content causing the failure to ignite after a short time in service. Also we turn them on and off quite a bit, which is hard on fluorescent bulbs.
Friday, May 20, 2016
Monday, May 09, 2016
KH500 refurbishment - May Update
The KH500 cylinder boring is done! The cylinders arrived, along with the new pistons. The center cylinder was scrap, so a replacement was found and bored to the same size.
Thursday, May 05, 2016
Beer Labels
Update. I'm working on a rather long post about four-stroke engines. It's taking a lot of time because there's a lot of history and design to mention.
In the meantime, I've completed gluing down the beer labels on a sheet of 24"x36" acid-free paper. I need to press it flat somehow, and then it will looks better. There's quite a bit of color, shapes and artwork in the labels. After I figure out how to press it flat, I will get a fiberglass resin coat on it for gloss.
In the meantime, I've completed gluing down the beer labels on a sheet of 24"x36" acid-free paper. I need to press it flat somehow, and then it will looks better. There's quite a bit of color, shapes and artwork in the labels. After I figure out how to press it flat, I will get a fiberglass resin coat on it for gloss.
Monday, April 25, 2016
Snow Skiing
Back in the day I was a pretty avid snow skier. I would purchase season passes and then try to see how many times I could hit the slopes with that investment. It was pretty easy back then. After the cost of equipment and the pass, all you had to have was $2.00 bus fare to the slopes and $3-4 food money. It would buy you a bowl of chile and a hot chocolate from the vending machine.
I didn't night ski very much. It's god-awful cold at night, and the harsh shadows cast onto the moguls by the slope lighting don't lend themselves well to depth perception. I found skiing down groomed slopes and through powder incredibly boring - I preferred to blast through moguls or find some jumps to fly off. But the slope lighting really didn't favor that kind of quick-twitch technical skiing.
I currently have only one picture of myself on skis... night skiing. An old high school friend just sent this to me... Pretty sure I was on an upper groomed slope, on the way down to where the moguls were. He does take a nice evening shot, yes?
I didn't night ski very much. It's god-awful cold at night, and the harsh shadows cast onto the moguls by the slope lighting don't lend themselves well to depth perception. I found skiing down groomed slopes and through powder incredibly boring - I preferred to blast through moguls or find some jumps to fly off. But the slope lighting really didn't favor that kind of quick-twitch technical skiing.
I currently have only one picture of myself on skis... night skiing. An old high school friend just sent this to me... Pretty sure I was on an upper groomed slope, on the way down to where the moguls were. He does take a nice evening shot, yes?
Half-Life
Half-Life is a really fun shooter/puzzle-solving video game that was released in 1998 or 1999. Below is a YouTube walk-thru of the entire game. It's a pretty nerdy game for a first-person shooter - which is probably why I like it so much.
Half-Life is also a scientific term. It's the time needed for something to be reduced to half its original value.
Half-Life is also a scientific term. It's the time needed for something to be reduced to half its original value.
Wednesday, April 20, 2016
15th Birthday of this blog
Today it has been 15 years since the first post. I took a break from blogging for a bit - during the financial crisis (I was focused on financial news instead of nerd-blogging). I was also offline for a couple of years afterwards, as my attention was diverted as our family re-settled to a new place - first, in Oregon, then Idaho.
In dog years, this blog is 105 years old. Time to celebrate that minor landmark...
Good enough - I'm done celebrating... Back to the cool stuff!
In dog years, this blog is 105 years old. Time to celebrate that minor landmark...
Good enough - I'm done celebrating... Back to the cool stuff!
Saturday, April 09, 2016
"Vacation" spring 2016
I took another brief "vacation", one of those things I seem to do these days when I don't rest very much. Actually managed to get quite a bit of down-time, but that was mainly due to bad weather. Below is what I woke up to on the first day of vacay. It didn't put me in the mood to go out and clear dead and fallen trees.
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