My Desultory Blog

Posted By RichC on February 5, 2015

Years ago back when I was in high school and college, I still had an uninhibited imagination when it came to what mechanical innovations were possible. I wasn’t yet tainted by the words “no, can’t, impossible, unrealistic, etc.” 

In those days I was studying engineering and all things mechanical, I thought by now it would be possible to have moved to clean energy generation. The previous generation harnessed hydropower and  I remember my college roommate and I discussing (writing papers too) how we thought harnessing the tides would be just a matter of a few decades. Thirty-some years later we aren’t much closer to making a dent in our energy use other than a few windmills and solar farms … but those less-than-reliable clean energy producers make hardly a dent in our demands, particularly at night or when the wind dies down. Tides are like clockwork … but still the power of nature is challenging to harness particularly with the limitations of mechanical devices – something seems to thwart innovation (as does cost I suppose?)

Still, I enjoyed reading about generating energy from the waves like the Pelamis Wave Energy Converter – @PelamisEnergy.

The Scotland-based energy company is one of the few in the world that has put wave-energy devices in the water. Its red, snakelike generators made headlines in the aughts, with a handful floating off the coast of Portugal and some near Orkney, Scotland.

The design involved connecting five long floating tubes on the ocean surface that moved up and down or back and forth by wave motion. That movement was used to drive an electric generator inside each tube. Subsea cables carried the electricity back to shore. Each unit was capable of producing enough power to supply 500 houses, Brekken said.

Pelamis was converting sea waves into electric power for more than a decade when the company announced this past November its plans to shut down, claiming it couldn’t find funding to continue operating.

Category: Energy, Innovation | No Comments »
Tags: alternative, clean, energy, solar, tides, waves, wind

Posted By RichC on February 4, 2015

While walking out to the boat in the evening, I glanced down to see an odd looking object floating and then sinking in the water next to the dock. Sure enough a quick LED light from the iPhone illuminated the Manatee “sleeping” just beneath the water.

The purpose of this trip was primarily to meet with a diesel mechanic to consult on the sad condition of Encore’s diesel. It is an aging and high hour Volvo 2003 with “as I found out,” several issues that  I need to address.

Initially I was concerned about the overboard discharge through the anti-siphon valve, but deep down I guess I knew there were other issues. Thankfully I have found the perfect guy to help with not only the “consulting,” but helping with the actual repairs. He quickly started in on tearing down the diesel (photo above was pre-disassembly) … and I’m hoping to get parts ordered later this week so I’ll have them for my next trip down to the boat.

 

I’m also still addressing crud in my diesel fuel (dead algae) and will be rebuilding my Racor diesel filter with a kit that I’ve just ordered for $28.50 + $5 shipping. Not too bad, but it will take a little bit of cleaning to get my bowl polished clear again.

Category: Diesel, Sailing | No Comments »
Tags: diesel, encore, engine, manatee, racor, sailboat, volvo

Posted By RichC on February 3, 2015

Undeveloped World War II Film Discovered from The Rescued Film Project on Vimeo.

Category: History, Photos, Video | No Comments »
Tags: film, History, photography, vimeo, ww2

Posted By RichC on February 2, 2015

Give this Native American story some thought  …

A Native American grandfather tells his grandson that there are two wolves inside of him, fighting for control. One wolf, is the wolf of love, peace, and kindness. The other wolf is a wolf of greed, hatred, and corruption.

The grandson asks "Which wolf will win?"

The grandfather replies, "Whichever wolf I feed."

Category: Advice | No Comments »
Tags: american, lifehacker, native, quotables, wisdom

Posted By RichC on February 1, 2015

(Edited image above to reflect final score) Ok, so that was a bit of a tease since it’s still a few hours before the 6:30 PM kickoff as we wait for what is debatably the biggest sporting event of the year, the Superbowl (thinking World Cup). Anyway the marketeers have been out in force prepping their million dollar ad campaigns and pushing snacks and beer. Pizza and wing restaurants are staffing to fill all those last minute food orders and those going to the game in person “last minute” have found ticket prices nearing the 5-digit range. A bit steep for a football game … definitely not the economic numbers signaling, or even Tom Brady-like, “deflation.”

With all the build up and expectation that this will be one of the better match ups, I do hope NFL fans get their monies worth? Thankfully I don’t have a dog in the fight, but admit I do enjoy rooting against the Patriots … even if they are in the Bengals and Browns conference (I usually will cheer for an AFC team). This time, the “nice guy” Russell Wilson has won me over … even if this is his second trip to the big game.

As the Hank Williams Jr. MNF intro goes … “Are you ready for some football?”

Category: Sports | 1 Comment »
Tags: football, nfl, patriots, seahawks, superbowl, xlix

Posted By RichC on January 31, 2015

The inexpensive miracle cleaner and kitchen staple known as vinegar has hundreds if not thousands of uses … but few of those uses are as helpful as cleaning and dissolving hard water calcium build up. I use a vinegar mix regularly for window washing, as a way to keep the shower and shower head free from calcium and use in the same way for the dishwasher. For the past couple of years I’ve been running white vinegar through my Keurig coffee maker every other month and it make a huge difference in scale build up.

I’ve also “tried” to clean the hard water mineral ring off the toilet in our pool house bathroom using a “little vinegar,” but after seeing this YouTube clip (below), I may have to give the saturated toilet paper trick a try. It looks like a great way to keep the vinegar in contact with the hard water stain.

Category: Advice, How-To | 1 Comment »
Tags: cleaning, home, idea, stain, toilet, vinegar, water, youtube

Posted By RichC on January 30, 2015

Besides splicing a shackle to a halyard on a sailboat, I’ve used the mighty bowline tied directly to a sail grommet or to a shackle. Here’s a knot I haven’t tried — the Halyard Knot — and considering that it is most likely a permanent knot, perhaps whipping the end to the standing line would be a great addition?

The halyard knot is very easy to tie. Pass a line through the shackle in question, take two full turns around the standing part, then slip the bitter end up through the turns alongside the standing part. The result is a low-profile slip knot that will snug down tight and neatly against the shackle.

The halyard knot is very secure and is very unlikely to come undone after it has been loaded up. Unlike a bowline, however, it is not that easy to untie once it has been in service for a while. In the end, when you want to get your shackle back, you may have to cut it off. At a minimum you’ll need a nice marlinspike to pick it apart.

In bestowing this year’s award, Horatio P. Nimblefingers, head knot judge, stated: “Though it is always preferable to splice a halyard to its shackle, particularly when using high-modulus line, the sad fact is many so-called experienced sailors don’t know how to splice multi-braid rope. And those that do know may sometimes find themselves in situations where splicing a line to shackle is not practical or feasible. In those instances where a knot is, or must, be used, our judging panel agreed unanimously that the halyard knot is by far the most qualified candidate. It is attractive, easily executed, and easy to remember. In short, it is everything we like to see in knot.”

Sailfeed.com

Category: Sailing | No Comments »
Tags: encore, halyard, knots, sailboat, splice

Posted By RichC on January 29, 2015

I’m the prime example of a “hardware-aholic” because I needed to replace a couple stainless steel hose clamps and ended up buying over 3 pounds of used clamps. I know grocery and clothes shoppers do it, but my weakness is hardware … and perhaps tools. My recent eBay buy was a perfect example of single clamps costing too much and piles of various sizes of used clamps selling by the pound. I couldn’t resist and bought the bunch (below)!

The positive is that I won’t be paying the exorbitant West Marine price for marine grade stainless steel clamps or cutting corners and buying cheap hardware or automotive grade junk … instead I now have a pile of Ideal, Murray and Wittek (known for their “tower clamps”) used clamps in order to replace a few of the corroding hose clamps on Encore.

  

Category: Diesel, Sailing, Shopping, Tools | No Comments »
Tags: clamp, diesel, encore, engine, hose, saiboat, stainless, steel, volvo

Posted By RichC on January 28, 2015

After 6-years of saving $2,500 each year on our “unchanged plan” or greatly improved “21st century” Obamacare health care plan, Democrats in congress and President Obama have made it possible for average Americans to have now amassed $15,000 (6 yrs x $2500) … no thanks to those Republicans voting against it (#sarcasm). And since getting an education is the answer to stagnant wages (if you have a job), parents and grandparent can use this $15,000 in health insurance savings (graphs below – cough, cough), in order to fund a “tax-advantaged” 529 college saving plan, while it lasts (see Pres Obama’s 2015 SOTU or paragraph below).

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EDIT 1/28/2015: After populous pushback, President
Obama pulls taxing 529 plan idea — LINK

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Isn’t it nice to have President Obama and his fellow Democrats looking out for middle class working families?

Click for larger graphs associated with health care costs

Though millions of Americans have been putting money into “tax free” 529 plans to save for their children’s increasingly expensive college educations, President Obama would change the law so that withdrawals from the plans to fund college would be taxed as ordinary income. So while you used to be able to get a nice tax benefit by saving for college, now you’ll be shelling out to Uncle Sam every time you withdraw to pay for Junior’s dorm fees.

This doesn’t hurt the very rich — who just pay for college out of pocket — or the poor, who get financial aid, but it’s pretty rough on the middle– and upper–middle class. In a double-whammy, those withdrawals will show up as income on parents’ income tax forms, which are used to calculate financial aid, making them look richer, and hence reducing grants.

Category: Education, Financial, Health, Politics | 2 Comments »
Tags: 529 plan, college, congress, government, health care, obama, obamacare, sarcasm