My Desultory Blog

Posted By RichC on August 11, 2013

Thanks to Facebook, I had a chance to meet up with a friend from high school (and grad school) that I haven’t seen in 30+ years. We had a mutual love for photography and both headed in different directions after school. She married and moved to Cincinnati and I married and started life in Cleveland. As most of us know, Facebook, like it or not, does a pretty good job of matching up similar data fields and then suggests friends from high school, colleges, cities you live in, etc. This past year Jacqui “friended” me and we reconnected since we now live in the same city … and because her Fred and I share the same German car interest – my recent old Mercedes really triggered the idea to connect. So Saturday night we planned a nice couples dinner out and we ended up having a great time closing down the restaurant (of course it was capped off with the guys looking at the Mercedes in a dark parking lot … which helped disguise the flaws).
 

The reconnection reminded me about what can happen in 30 years … or in the case of China, what happens in 25 years – SharedLINK. Actually it is a bit frightening to look at a photo I was just clearing off my phone after our flooded basement and one my sister-in-law sent (she was clearing her phone too – Point: 16GB iPhones are too small … Point 2: We’re getting too old!).

Category: Personal, Photography, Photos, Social Media | 2 Comments »
Tags: cincinnati, facebook, friends, jacqui, reconnecting, school, sidney

Posted By RichC on August 10, 2013

Was suppose to post on Saturday, but the WordPress Postie plugin failed me again. It looks like something is causing enough draw on this circuit to overheat the plastic of this fuse, but not enough to blow the fuse?

Category: Automotive, Diesel, Mercedes | 1 Comment »
Tags: 300d, mercedes

Posted By RichC on August 9, 2013

A friend of mine (thanks Tim) mentioned that it looked like Sprint was testing their LTE setup along I-75 in and around Cincinnati. I’ve been trying to remember to check it when in West Chester after hearing it was on north of the I-275 outer belt. so, while in town this we I remembered as I buzzed back an forth from customers to my south. When the iPhone 5’s display message switched from 3G to LTE just passed Tylersville Road while heading south I ran a quick speed test. As I tweeted, “nothing to brag about” — 1.41 Mbps down and 1 Mbps up.

Then as quickly as it appeared, it was off again. Shortly after the next exit I lost LTE and tried to cycle in and out of “Airplane Mode” in order to search again. It was off and on as I drove onto Union Centre Blvd and no matter what I did I was unable to hold LTE while in and out of offices … even though the map from Sensorly was showing coverage. The signal must still be a bit weak?
(click map for a slightly larger snippet)

Category: Cellphone, Computer, Local, Technology | 2 Comments »
Tags: 4G, cincinnati, lte, ohio, speedtest, sprint, west chester, wireless

Posted By RichC on August 8, 2013

It makes me nervous when major changes are made to Volkswagen’s TDI engines, but according to a NYTimes Wheels blog article there are new efficient diesel power plants planned for Golf, Beetle, Passat and Jetta models next year. A few years the Pumpe Düse unit injector PD engine displace VW’s ALH motor which was one of the more reliable engines and then not too long after another common rail and emission change was made. What were suppose to be improvements each time had many customers complaining and facing some very expensive repairs (not to mention the hassles of having their relatively new cars serviced). I’m not sure where the status of those issues are today, but I always worry about design flaws and the normal black-eye producing bugs that show up when drastic changes are made to engines.

Volkswagen announced Tuesday that its EA288 TDI Clean Diesel engine would be available in the 2015 Golf, Beetle, Passat and Jetta models, which were scheduled to go on sale in the United States during the second half of 2014.

Volkswagen said in a news release that the new EA288 diesel would eventually replace the current generation of 2-liter TDI engines offered in some VW and Audi models. At 150 horsepower, the new engine gets a 10-horsepower increase over the version being phased out, and aside from similar bore spacing, will be completely different. VW has released neither displacement nor fuel mileage numbers.

A notable change will be in the EA288’s emissions control system. A complex exhaust-gas recirculation system, which VW says will improve throttle response, will work with a diesel particulate filter and a selective catalytic reduction (S.C.R.) system to reduce engine emissions. Mark Gillies, a spokesman for Volkswagen, confirmed that the S.C.R. would be fed by a ureatank that needed refilling at 10,000-mile service intervals.

Volkswagen said low-friction bearings on the crankshaft and balance shafts, as well as a two-stage, variable-flow oil pump, were among design cues that would make the EA288 more fuel efficient than its predecessors.

LINK

Category: Automotive, Diesel, Volkswagen | No Comments »
Tags: diesel, tdi, volkswagen, vw

Posted By RichC on August 7, 2013

A  new LTE device launched yesterday according to an email I receive regarding a service inquiry I made.

Thanks for your interested in FreedomPop’s very first 4G LTE capable device, the Freedom Spot 5580 LTE mobile hotspot. The 5580 LTE hotspot can connect up to 10 wifi capable devices and experience average speeds of 6-8Mbps down with peaks upwards to 25Mbps. It also, has the ability to connect to Sprint’s nationwide 3G network, so that you can stay connected everywhere in the US. The device comes with an OLED device display, GPS capabilities (over Wifi) and advanced security options. Similar to our other 4G/3G hotspots, 3G fallback does come at a small cost, but we do offer a 4G LTE only Free plan.

-4G Only-
500MB – FREE

-4G with 3G Fallback-
500MBs $3.99/mo
2GBs $19.99/mo
3GBs $28.99/mo
4GBs $34.99/mo
5GBs $39.99/mo
10GBs $89.99/mo

To check out more about the device or to get one for yourself, feel free to visit http://www.freedompop.com/LTEhotspot

Category: Computer | No Comments »
Tags: 3G, 4G, freedompop, hotspot, sprint, wireless

Posted By RichC on August 7, 2013

Depressing … “A [Japanese] government official told reporters Wednesday that an estimated 300 metric tons (330 tons) of contaminated water was leaking into the ocean every day …”
LINK

Category: Environment, News | No Comments »
Tags: fukushima, japan, nuclear

Posted By RichC on August 7, 2013

http://youtu.be/kjDvaT5z1Lk

Category: Nature, Sailing, Video | No Comments »
Tags: killer, ocean, orca, pod, whales

Posted By RichC on August 6, 2013

http://youtu.be/34-vgeCIMMU

Category: Sports, Video | No Comments »
Tags: baseball

Posted By RichC on August 6, 2013

It has been absolutely beautiful weather with cooler than normal temperatures and sunny days. I’m shocked to be cutting grass that is still green and impressed how nice it looks for August. By this time of year the front lawn is usually a yellow brown and the stripes of our leech bed pretty obvious … not so this year.

Speaking of “houses” … Katelyn informed me that our houseguest rodent rabbit has a new hutch ready for him in Columbus. It looks like he is getting ready to move. I’m not sure I’m going to miss his chewing on everything, but I will miss my normal routine of feeding him each day.

Katelyn showing off Pumpy Umpy’s new hutch

Category: Personal, Photos | No Comments »
Tags: katelyn, pumpy umpy, Rabbit

Posted By RichC on August 5, 2013

Sealegs has been developing a their boat without need for a trailer idea for a while now … still a great idea if you’ve got a spare $159,000 to $179,000 sitting around. (LINK)

Category: Misc, Recreation, Sailing | No Comments »
Tags: boating, boats, ribs