My Desultory Blog

Posted By RichC on September 4, 2013

Who likes to admit that they may have been wrong, or at least partially wrong? Not me that is for sure, but in the case of duct tape, I always thought “Duct Tape” the correct name and that it was around before Duck tape (branded). Unfortunately it looks like I might have to re-think this in the future or at least keep from rolling my eyes when someone writes or says “duck tape”  (Wikipedia still “leads” with Duct tape).

According to a bit of reading, the sticky waterproof tape was created by the Permacel division of Johnson and Johnson back in World War II when the military needed a way to keep moisture out of ammunition cases. They developed an easy to tear mesh backed tape with a strong rubber based adhesive — colored drab-green of course (not post-war grey) — specifically for that purpose. They called it “duck tape” because it was waterproof. Just like today, the tape found many alternative uses, so it should come as no surprise to know it was used to patch and repair tents, jeeps and even aircraft … that was well before it was used to patch our dinghy or win a “Stuck at Prom” scholarship. After the war the color changed to the common grey and booming housing industry used it for heating “ducts” – hence “Duct tape.”

The durable cloth-backed tape first appeared during World War II, when Johnson & Johnson developed an olive drab version as a handy way for American soldiers to waterproof their ammo cans. According to the company, soldiers dubbed the product “duck tape” because it forced moisture to flee “like water off a duck’s back.”

Troops realized that the tape was good for more than just keeping their powder dry, and after the war, it caught on as an easy and effective way to seal, among other things, heating ducts. Johnson & Johnson even began offering a silver version of the tape specifically for this purpose, giving rise to “duct tape.”

So which is correct? “Duck tape” has the chronological upper hand, but “duct tape” is a more accurate description of the product’s historical use. To make things even more complicated, though, it’s no longer used to seal ducts! You could always just hedge your bets the way the leading manufacturer does when it bills itself as “Duck brand duct tape.”

MentalFloss

Category: History, Misc, Tools | 1 Comment »
Tags: duck, duct, interesting, mentalfloss, tape

Posted By RichC on September 3, 2013

Labor Day was great! I was home alone and able to work around the house, although accomplished very little.

Most of my time was spent in the garage sanding and adding body filter to the Mercedes Benz 300D. Since the temps were warm, I regularly cooled off in the pool and pretended to be cleaning it. Brenda was in New York again with her mom and Taylor busy with the NFL fantasy football draft … something he takes seriously.

Category: Automotive, Diesel, Holiday, Mercedes, Photos | No Comments »
Tags: 300d, diesel, labor, mercedes, richc

Posted By RichC on September 2, 2013

It is not like my long distance swimming wife needs an additional incentive to keep swimming further and further, but hearing this is sure to keep Brenda’s motivation alive. Congratulations to long distance swimmer Diana Nyad in succeeding in her open water swim “without a shark cage” from Havana to Key West this Labor Day afternoon. (video below)

Category: Misc, Sports, Video | 2 Comments »
Tags: brenda, ocean, swimming

Posted By RichC on September 2, 2013

Category: Misc, Photos | No Comments »
Tags: frog, pool

Posted By RichC on September 1, 2013

It was a great “most of the day” on Saturday to be at Red Stewart Airport in Waynesville Ohio getting our EAA284 hanger ready for the pancake breakfast on Sunday. Yes it was hot, but it is still August. The Stewarts were gracious hosts as always and we enjoyed their pulled pork and corn on the cob … an annual airshow tradition. Unfortunately the evening was cut short by strong storms and rain, but not before a little showmanship. Well done.

Category: Aviation | No Comments »
Tags: airplanes, eaa, eaa284, flying, waynesville

Posted By RichC on August 31, 2013

Now that about everyone is convinced that Syria and the Assad government has used chemical weapons in their civil war and the “red line” has been crossed, the decision about what to do about it is up to President Obama.

Personally I’m aligned with at least a strategic military response when it comes to Syria or any nation using WMDs. The United States and its leaders can’t be seen as weak, feckless or remaining neutral when it comes to governments using weapons of mass destruction. If the U.S. doesn’t respond, those who have weapons and commit acts of genocide will be embolden and no longer fear reprisal.

WSJ map – click for larger

There are people on both sides of the political spectrum who disagree with our involvement in Syria or other places around the world, but I can’t imagine how chaotic and how many innocent people would die if the U.S. was not a threat. I’m not suggesting we “go to war” in every instance, but we cannot  morally give free rein to governments to use chemical or biological weapons to wipe out 1000s of people at a time. Bashar al-Assad and his military can’t be left untouched or unchecked when it comes to these kinds of attacks.

As much as I dislike what President Obama is doing to our country internally, I’m sympathetic with the difficult decision that is his as our elected president … and will support him in making the difficult call to use our military. I expect he will choose an appropriate and measured response (that will no doubt receive criticism from every direction).

Category: Millitary, News, Politics | 1 Comment »
Tags: military, obama, syria, wmd

Posted By RichC on August 30, 2013

According to Scott McCartney who writes for the Wall Street Journal, rental car companies are keeping cars longer and accumulating more miles than in years past. The slow creep of their aging fleet is a result of the long recession and the improved quality of today’s vehicles (industry spokesmen say), but from a car renter’s perspective may also have something to do with the lack of national competition and a desire for higher profitability at the sacrifice of customer satisfaction (take a look at just how uncomfortable air travel is today). Until I read the WSJ article, I was not aware that there are only three major car rental companies: Hertz (who owns Dollar / Thrifty), Enterprise (who owns National) and Avis (who is the same company with Budget). Unless you’re headed to a vacation destination, good luck finding competition … in fact I just rented a car in Minot, ND for 2 days next week for a best price of $170! – Ouch!

Testing a new Mac app to create animated gifs called GifGrabber … kind of fun.

The frequent renter will most likely suffer when it comes to wear and tear issues during their trip as McCartney points out with examples in his article.

Last year I had a personal experience with a higher mileage rental and ended up returning it to Thrifty in Daytona Beach with over 38,000 miles due to an unbalanced tire. If I were driving it just a few miles I would not have bothered, but since I was “relocating it” from Florida to Ohio for the company ($7 rental for the week) it was both a comfort and safety issue … not to mention an inconvenience if a tire blew. Thankfully the company set up a return while driving north on my way, but it was still a hassle and inconvenience.

Rental-car companies have moved away from leasing new cars from manufacturers for a few months. In recent years, they’ve been more likely to buy and hold them for up to two years before selling them. The average holding time for a car at Hertz has grown to 18 months in 2012 from 10 months in 2006, for example.

So what can you do? Here are a few tips from Scott McCartney and the WSJ article.

Category: Automotive, Computer, Travel | 2 Comments »
Tags: gifgrabber, rental cars, techfriday, Travel, wsj

Posted By RichC on August 29, 2013

I don’t care how good this “controlling a desktop computer with your iPad”app is … it can’t be worth $80 per year! “Parallels Access costs a hefty $80 per computer per year…”

Parallels, a company based in Seattle that’s best known for its namesake program that allows Macs to run Windows, calls this “applifying” your computer programs. What it means by this is that it adapts them to the iPad’s familiar interface, including app launching, touch gestures, scrolling and text selection. Unlike many others, it doesn’t force you to constantly try and emulate the precise mouse pointer for which most of these computer programs were designed. It runs them like iPad apps, in full screen, and at the iPad’s resolution, yet preserving full functionality and the ability to switch among open apps and windows on the computer. It works over both Wi-Fi and cellular connections. Despite some drawbacks, Parallels Access is a very good way to make your iPad more of a productivity tool and to integrate it with your computer, without forcing you to use your iPad the same way you would use a computer.

For full Walt Mossberg review check out AllThingsD.

Category: Computer, Productivity | No Comments »
Tags: mac, parallels, pc

Posted By RichC on August 28, 2013

My recent college graduate came back from his test-taking City-County Planning interview trip to Santa Barbara today and has fallen head over heels in love with California, at least the part that he was seeing. Besides his taking the next step in the interview process, Taylor was able to explore the area a bit by rental car. According to my son, it was “beautiful – you could drive from the airport to downtown and the Pacific Ocean and be in the mountains within 30 minutes.” He was shocked even at 8AM on a Monday that the traffic was not a problem and that everyone seemed to be laid back and easy.

Unfortunately the competition for this particular Planner 1 position was heavy. Taylor said “initially there were over 300 applicants and that his whittled down group was still over 100.” He is hoping that this trip inches him to the top ten, but he’s not that optimistic. Many of those seeking this “prime” opening were graduate school level applicants and many in their late 20s or 30s. Obviously the city and county hiring in California (like most of the country) has not been keeping up with the number of graduates that universities are churning out.

Then there is North Dakota …

To those willing to be a little less selective, there are a few planning positions in growth communities where the competition is a bit thinner … of course there are reasons. For example, Williston North Dakota is growing at such a rapid pace that it has overrun the current plan. The one-time agricultural town boasted a population of 12,000, but now with the oil boom, it has grown to well over 30,000.

Creating a growth plan for the community is high priority, but difficult to do overnight. Managers and local employers are seeking planners to help with the growth even if the jobs aren’t in the most desirable location in the U.S. Add to that, the boom style “supply and demand” cost for housing, fast food and about everything else … and it doesn’t exactly attract 300 applicants, but there are probably a few wanting a job for the experience. On the other hand, who wants California sunshine when you can have cold North Dakota winters?

The positive news is that it might just be a great place to gain some practical experience as a busy city planner. Who knows, they might just make Taylor an offer. (I’m not sure if I should be happy or nervous about his upcoming trip to Williston?)

Looks nice ehh … but there are downsides (photos below) and acording to the Business Insider (picture from 2012 in this post), a small one bedroom apartment rents for $2000/month. Those moving there with families find that schools are overcrowded and less than ideal … that is IF you are fortunate enough to have a place to live.

Category: Business, Education, Financial, Misc, Personal, Travel | 5 Comments »
Tags: california, career, geography, jobs, planning, taylor, williston

Posted By RichC on August 27, 2013

Rust repairs continue along the rocker panels and jack points on the Mercedes Benz 300D Turbodiesel. The passenger side (photo left) wasn’t too bad so I opted to take care of that first. It is now under primer and ready for final sanding and eventually the black “chip resistant” paint.

No that I’m on side two, the driver’s side, things are a little more challenging since some of the rust has inched its way up into the front fender just above the body molding (cancerous spot below the break). The jack point is still structurally sound, but needed a bit more grinding and rust treatment before using the West System epoxy and fiberglass. The added “rot” has me rethinking my “boat repair experiment” and figuring that I should have welded in new steel? Oh well, at least the “new” material won’t rust!

Category: Automotive, Diesel, Mercedes | 5 Comments »
Tags: 300d, diesel, mercedes, rust, W123