Testing your car battery with only a simple voltage meter
Posted By RichC on February 10, 2017
Great how-to YouTube video from ChrisFix on testing your car battery with a simple voltage meter.
TechFriday or maybe Tesla Friday as production shuts down
Posted By RichC on February 10, 2017
This was going to be a normal Tech Friday post, but instead it will marry the automotive technology leader Tesla with a bit 
of news on their higher-volume / lower priced Model 3 sedan due out this summer. The company stated that all was on schedule for meeting their targeted July production date and they announced the California production facility will be shutting down for a week in order to prepare for the new Model 3.
Currently there are 370,000 customers with deposits on the new model and I’m sure all are anxious to see if Tesla can meet CEO Elon Musk’s aggressive target date.
Tesla said the "brief, planned" pause would allow the company to add capacity to the existing paint shop to prepare it for the Model 3, and other general maintenance.
"This will allow Tesla to begin Model 3 production later this year as planned and enable us to start the ramp towards 500,000 vehicles annually in 2018," said a Tesla spokesman.
He added that the pause was not expected to have a material impact on first-quarter production or delivery figures, as the company had added production days to compensate.
Separately, sources told Reuters that the luxury electric carmaker planned to begin test-building the Model 3 on Feb. 20.
Hey Rich, how comfortable will you be in that new little Elio?
Posted By RichC on February 9, 2017
My answer to "how comfortable?" – is that "I don’t really know"… because I haven’t been in one yet. But, I suspect after flying small airplanes like the Cessna 152 that someone who is 6’1" and 195 lbs like me should be "ok" for all but the longest trips.
Here’s what the Elio blog has to say:
There’s no denying that our vehicle is unique. Because of our unique configuration and styling a common question is “Will I fit?” In the vast majority of cases the answer is “Not only will you fit, but you’ll fit comfortably!” At our tour events, we constantly get approached by all types of folks who are adamant that they will not fit. All we need to do is open the door for them and let them see for themselves and they are universally impressed. Tall, short, skinny, big, small – no matter the shape or size, just about everyone fits in the Elio!
The Elio is designed to accommodate, in terms of size, everyone between the 5th percentiles female to the 95th percentile male (which is roughly a 6’1’’, 200 pound person.) Even a gentleman in the 95th percentile has 3.5 inches of front seat head clearance! In case you haven’t made it to a tour event, here are some measurements in case you are still skeptical.
Nicki Bluhm and an appropriate song for our political state
Posted By RichC on February 8, 2017
This content is restricted.
Archiving a couple Encore aft deck photos for future updates
Posted By RichC on February 7, 2017
It is hard to remember exactly where each rail, cleat and fitting is on the aft deck of Encore, so this post is to archive a couple photos as a way to remember. It probalby won’t help much as it is still hare to tell where there is space and where there is not. In the back of my mind, I’m still planning for davits, grill, generator, new solar panels and possibly deck storage? Of highest priority is a place to store our Zodiac rolled up with out hauling it below. The new generator cage is ready to be mounted but I not quite ready to drill holes in the deck with out a "master plan." I still would like a davit system or arch?
Tried seaming two photos without much luck
MLS player Michael Parkhurst is a great soccer ambassador
Posted By RichC on February 6, 2017
This past weekend while killing a few minutes, I had an enjoyable conversation with a nice young man about 2017 Superbowl LI. After finding out I always lived in Ohio, he introduced himself as Mike and ask how I liked growing up in the mid west, saying that he grew up on the east coast. His family was from Rhode Island … 
and in my eyes pretty much guaranteeing he would be a Patriots fan? He stressed to me he was a die-hard Red Sox fan (we were both disgusted over the Reds, but excitement for the Indians), but a mediocre Patriots fan. I reflected on Ohio being a great place to live, work and raise a family; he concurred after just a few years in Columbus … but said now he was moving to Atlanta. I was positive about Atlanta hinting that we have family in Alpharetta (North of Atlanta) who think it is great. He reflected on how much he and his family have enjoyed Columbus and were going into the new move by renting their home rather than selling it … thinking they "might eventual move back to Ohio when he retires." (Hm … slightly confused … I thought he said he was only 33?)
He asked me a bit more about my work as we began talking about our kids, mentioning they wanted their two kids to finish out their year of grade school. We eventually turned our conversation back to his dilemma of who to root for in the Superbowl — Pat or Falcons — finally mentioning his boss owns the Falcons and the new Atlanta MLS team who he works/plays for. We laughed and agreed it was probably best to root for the Falcons and not mention his fondness for the Patriots.
I slowly put a few more pieces together realizing he was Michael Parkhurst, a MLS soccer player and the the Columbus Crew team captain for the last 3 years.
He was fresh off a trade sending him to the new expansion team – Atlanta United. The move and change was going to be a challenge, but as he said, all the players were in the same boat — they were all new.
I could tell the change and move was still tough, but he said this was the busy time of year for him preparing for the upcoming season and that he was focused on working … as we laughed about our unfinished home projects (kitchen for me, bathroom for him). We wished each other well and I joked that he was a great ambassador for soccer and may have converted one more anti-soccer American over. "One person at a time, " he replied with a smile. 
Patriots outplayed the Falcons to win Superbowl 51
Posted By RichC on February 5, 2017
The Atlanta Falcons as a team deserve some credit in playing Superbowl LI impressively for three full quarters, until they didn’t in the 4th quarter. The New England Patriots basically slept during the first part of the game and came to life in the 4th quarter. In cardiac arrest inducing fashion, New England mounted the most impressive Superbowl comebacks in history. They came back from a 3 score deficit and tied the game in the final 2 minutes with a necessary 2-point play. A game had Tom Brady with head down at the half (below), had everyone chewing their nails as Superbowl 51 went into overtime for the first time in history.
Sudden death OT saw NE with both the momentum and the ball … that would be all that was needed to win the game.
Final score: NE Patriots 34 – Atlanta Falcons 28
Quarterback and 2017 MVP Matt Ryan demostrated why the Falcons had the #1 offense all season long, while the defense stepped up and shutdown Tom Brady most of the game and added points to the board as well. Brady demonstrated why he is without much doubt, footballs all-time greatest quarterback with 5 Superbowl wins. All in all it was an exciting game for millions of viewers.
As with all memorable Superbowls, the commercials were also must watch items as was a very impressive halftime performance by Lady Gaga and sponsors Pepsi and Intel. Her aerial atheltisism and high energy dance moves were as impressive as the programmed drones and lighting. Well done to all for keeping politics out of it.
World War I surveillance DRONE – or pigeon photography
Posted By RichC on February 5, 2017
Homing pigeons were outfitted with lightweight cameras in WWI with time-delayed shutters for aerial reconnaissance photography, likely the first "drones." They were used very effective as messenger pigeons prior to wireless radio and effectively in communicating behind enemy lines in World War II. Interestingly the Swiss Army continued they military pigeons until it was disbanded in 1996.
The first aerial photographs were taken in 1858 by the balloonist Nadar; in 1860 James Wallace Black took the oldest surviving aerial photographs, also from a balloon. As photographic techniques made further progress, at the end of the 19th century some pioneers placed cameras in unmanned flying objects. In the 1880s, Arthur Batut experimented with kite aerial photography. Many others followed him, and high-quality photographs of Boston taken with this method by William Abner Eddy in 1896 became famous. Amedee Denisse equipped a rocket with a camera and a parachute in 1888, and Alfred Nobel also used rocket photography in 1897.
Homing pigeons were used extensively in the 19th and early 20th centuries, both for civil pigeon post and as war pigeons. In the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, the famous pigeon post of Paris carried up to 50,000 microfilmed telegrams per pigeon flight from Tours into the besieged capital. Altogether 150,000 individual private telegrams and state dispatches were delivered. In an 1889 experiment of the Imperial Russian Technical Society at Saint Petersburg, the chief of the Russian balloon corps took aerial photographs from a balloon and sent the developed collodion film negatives to the ground by pigeon post.
Time for some Whitlock Pedestal Steering gear maintenance
Posted By RichC on February 4, 2017
Spent a few days aboard Encore by myself this week doing a little (very little) needed maintenance. It’s amazing how "just sitting" is a killer for aging a sailboat! That’s not to say I’m ready to let her go, just that I need to give her 
more attention. 
One of the projects was to disassemble the Whitlock Constellation 400 (I believe) steering pedestal for cleaning, inspection and lubrication. I didn’t find much information on the "late" Whitlock system that was bought by Lewmar, but since I had Whitlock branded X116 Conduit Lubricant, I used that for the cables and added to the chain for good measure. There is some corrosion on the exterior of the aluminum pedestal itself, but that will have to get some paint when I paint the cockpit — on my list. Also, the "wheel brake" has been broken since we bought the sailboat and does not look like a part that I’m gong to find easily … perhaps adapting or making one is an eventual possibility? For now, it is not necessary with the autopilot and Cape Horn Self Steering gear.
Next go-around, maybe I’ll consider looking at the wheel bearing as they are a bit noisier than I think they should be … not heavily grinding, but not exactly right either.
TechFriday: Jumpy cursor? Uncheck Enhance pointer precision
Posted By RichC on February 3, 2017
The cursor on my new Lenovo Yoga 710 Windows 10 notebook has been driving me crazy. It jumps around the screen when I’m typing and often ends up add or deleting text in previous paragraphs. In an attempt to diagnosis the problem, I’ve fiddled with the trackpad thinking that my palms or thumbs must be touching it. I revisited the setting I used to remap my "out of place" up-arrow key and decided that was not the culprit either. After a bit of reading, and some trial and error, I think its the Enhance precision pointer option.
Try this:
Click the Window Start button
–> type run –> control mouse
Mouse Properties should appear (see screen capture). Then select the Pointer Options tab and UNCHECK the Enhance pointer precision box.
Click "OK" and see if that make a difference. So far so good for me.
Desultory - des-uhl-tawr-ee, -tohr-ee
- lacking in consistency, constancy, or visible order, disconnected; fitful: desultory conversation.
- digressing from or unconnected with the main subject; random: a desultory remark.