My Desultory Blog

Posted By RichC on November 11, 2011

After a couple of busy days traveling, last night found me swapping cars and scrabbling to get back to Cincinnati. Unfortunately in the confusion, I left behind my computer bag … it goes something like this:

• 8AM – text my daughter that we need to return the rental car by 5:17PM and head to Marysville to pick up her VW TDI (repair and a full timing belt change)
• No reply as she is on rounds in the hospital
• NOON – send another text and an email while eating lunch thinking she might check her text and email while she has lunch
• No reply … no time to check her phone
• 5PM – call her phone and then text one of her friends to find out when she might be getting off work? (6:30 – 7PM was the answer) UGH.
• 5:15PM – returned the car and waited until they closed at 6PM. Called Jon to let him know I would be late to pick up the car. He was heading out but his wife would be around … whew. Thanks.
• 6PM – called a taxi and unloaded all my stuff including my suitcase, cooler, tool bag, books, phone holder, wires, etc that I put in the rental car …
• 6:30PM – paid the fare and haul all my junk up three floors to my daughter’s apartment … thankfully I had the key.
• 7PM – My daughter called and says “Hi, how are you doing? I’m just getting out of work. What’s the plan?”
• 7:15PM – She picks me up, I load all my stuff into my Honda Pilot and we head off to get her car in Marysville.
• 8ish … we pick up her car and she heads for Columbus and I head for Cincinnati.
• 10PM – I pick up my wife at her sisters, eat some late dinner and we drive the 45 minutes home.
• 11PM – While unloading the car I realize I’m missing my computer bag. In a panic I call the cab company and have my daughter check her apartment but KNOW that I left it in the backseat of the rental car. Good grief … what a doofus!
• 5:30AM – off I go to Columbus and arrive at the rental car office as they open …and thankful find my computer bag. Whew. I’m tired but glad … I’m backing up my computer this weekend.

Category: Misc, Personal | 2 Comments »
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Posted By RichC on November 9, 2011

The voters in Ohio have clearly made their desires known when it comes to restricting collective bargaining for public employees — over 60% rejected  Governor John Kasich and the Republicans (perhaps they asked for too much?). What I don’t think voters realize is the big picture cost of rejecting Issue 2.  Unions are now in a strong position to collectively bargain for public workers which will hamstring Ohio cash strapped school districts and cities – the state has little extra to help.  Even union members understand that private sector workers contribute to their health care and retirement … and many understood the need to ask them to pay “at least 15 percent of their health-care insurance premiums and contribute 10 percent of their pay to a pension fund.”  Unless funding is passed locally,  jobs will be lost and services cut … there just aren’t enough tax revenues to continue paying the mandatory increases and costly premium benefits.

The bigger picture being painted by yesterday’s  “No” vote is that Ohio has just become a less friendly place for business. After the 2010 election we were just starting to see the potential to attract business and investment to our state, but the more costly environment now becomes one more hurdle for those trying to bring and create jobs in Ohio.

Message receive — Ohio is now a more expensive place to live and do business.

The measure would have restricted bargaining to wages, hours, working conditions, barred strikes and allowed government entities to impose contracts in an impasse. It also required workers to cover at least 15 percent of their health-care insurance premiums and contribute 10 percent of their pay to a pension fund.

A similar bill pushed by Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, also a Republican, triggered weeks of protests at the Capitol in Madison and spurred recall elections in nine Senate districts.

Tougher Than Wisconsin

Unlike the Wisconsin law, which exempted police and firefighters, the Ohio bill included them. We Are Ohio featured safety forces in their ads.

Kasich, 59, has said the law was needed to help local governments control costs. Now, he’ll “take a deep breath” and reflect on the outcome, the governor told reporters at a statehouse news conference.

“It’s clear that the people have spoken,” Kasich said. “They might have said it was too much, too soon.”

Voters didn’t want government to use the law as a tool “to help our communities go forward,” Kasich said.

“That’s OK,” he said. “Let’s find out what the set of tools are that will help them to be able to compete and win the jobs.”

Portions of the law struck down today may be re-introduced next year, House Speaker William G. Batchelder told reporters Nov. 3. Even so, Republican lawmakers, many of whom will be up for re-election then, must be careful not to thwart the will of the voters, said AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka.

‘‘Politicians that vote for that, whether it’s in a big hunk or in little pieces, are going to pay a price,’’ Trumka said in a telephone interview before the vote.

LINK

Category: Business, Politics | 4 Comments »
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Posted By RichC on November 8, 2011

My daughter called to tell me her dependable Volkswagen Jetta TDI wouldn’t start. So far it has made it through high school, college, med school and to her medical residency without letting her down. Unfortunately it just cranked and wouldn’t start this time. I attempted to diagnose over the phone – having her check for bubbles in the fuel line and looking for a stuck anti-shudder valve, but unfortunately the little diesel engine just cranked without firing.

I put the call into one of my Columbus TDI gurus but he was unfortunately tied up … so I took a half day off yesterday and zipped up to Columbus armed with a new fuel filter, my battery charger and a few tools. Unfortunately the shorter day got the best of me and a quick filter change did not solve the problem. Since Marysville was only a short trip to the northwest, I opted to have the car hauled ($115 – ouch) to Jon Hamilton’s garage to figure out the problem and while there get the timing belt scheduled as well. Unfortunately at a paramedic, he is working a 24 hour shift and won’t be able to get to my daughter’s car until the end of the week … but at least he is squeezing me in.

Location of the A4 VW Jetta TDI anti-shudder valve and linkage

As for the Ford part of this post …

I left my Honda Pilot with my daughter and rented a small 2012 Ford Focus until her car is repaired … and on my way home was impressed both with the Sync to my Palm Pre and the excellent fuel mileage – at least what th display was showing. Mind you, I was on the interstate and not necessarily driving above 65mph. (not bad, although I might do a real physical test since I have a road trip coming up this week – image below)

Category: Automotive, Diesel, Volkswagen | 8 Comments »
Tags: a4, diesel, focus, ford, jetta, palm, tdi, towing, volkswagen, vw

Posted By RichC on November 7, 2011

Category: Misc | 2 Comments »
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Posted By RichC on November 5, 2011

First the good news … the problem I have been having with the idle was as expected due to the Weber carburetor and after taking it apart and cleaning the jets with a small welding tip cleaner has been fix. The engine idles like a kitten (although a hungry cold one left outside – a bit loud) and I’ve been able to adjust the idle speed screw and idle mixture screw without an issue. I’m suspecting there was something either in the fuel or in the machining of the carburetor that plugged the small port.

 
I’m still impress with the macro photos coming from the pocketable Kodak Playsport Zx5 mini camcorder. I wish all the photos were this good (click for larger)

Unfortunately I’m now having a problem with acceleration hesitation and stutter when the primary throttle valve is opened too quick … or in my opinion even if it is not so quick. Timing is advanced about 12 degrees and I even added new plugs today thinking that the mixture just wasn’t igniting causing the backfires?  I’ll have to do a little more research. (posting a video clip below)

Below is an illustration of the Weber carburetor circuits (click for larger) …

Category: Automotive, MGB | No Comments »
Tags: carburetor, mbg, weber

Posted By RichC on November 5, 2011

Having trying all the suggestions offered up by my car guru friends, but still unable to get the MGB to purr at idle without the choke, I’m giving the carburetor jets a thorough cleaning on Saturday. I’m hoping that either something small is blocking the jets or some kind of varnished gasoline or gunk is restricting the fuel flow. Having flushed things with carb cleaner once before, I’m grasping at straws before trying a new carburetor?

Category: Automotive, MGB | No Comments »
Tags: carburetor, mgb, weber

Posted By RichC on November 5, 2011

Reposted from EAA284 … thanks Steve.

One of our EAA284 members, Steve Dilullo, keeps a personal flying blog and posted a great article for those wanting to create videos of their flights. His  how-to article is a great starting point for those who might want to capture their flights on video and are looking for advice from someone who is already digitally shooting and sharing on the Internet without breaking the bank. I’m waiting for his live streamed video someday.

With his permission a snippet of his blog post is below:

We’re talking about creating videos here, so the video camera is obviously a key element in the process. I purchased a Kodak Zi8 a little over two years ago for two primary reasons. First, I work for Kodak and the employee discount was nice. Second, and more importantly, it has an external mic input that allows me to hook it into the intercom to capture audio. It records in 720p or 1080p HD (I always use 720p / 30 fps) and the quality is more than sufficient for my sharing vehicle of choice, YouTube. Nearly all my flying is during the day so any performance issues in low-light video don’t concern me. I’m not sure that any device in the pocket video camera segment has great low-light performance, so keep that in mind if you want to record at night.

Kodak Zi8 with RAM attachment in the tripod mount

I purchased a portable intercom through the AOPA Classifieds a few years ago. It was mainly because the 172 at Stewart only has a two-place intercom in the panel and I wanted to be able to talk to everyone when flying with more than one passenger. However, it also has an audio out jack that has become quite handy for piping intercom and radio chatter into the Zi8.

Sigtronics SPO-42 Portable Intercom with cable in “Audio Out” jack

Video editing software is an area where I’m currently just making do with what I have. I don’t want to buy anything because I need a new computer and have not decided whether to get an iMac or a Windows machine. The MediaImpression software that comes with the Kodak cameras has been perfectly adequate – after all, every video of mine from the past two years has been edited in it – but some things that should be simple tend to be a time-consuming hassle. If you want to save yourself headaches or aren’t familiar with video editing (which I am, and that’s partially why I’ve continued to work around MediaImpression’s limitations) I’d definitely recommend better software from the get-go.

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Category: Aviation, How-To | No Comments »
Tags: aviation, eaa, eaa284, flying

Posted By RichC on November 4, 2011

Category: Archive, How-To, Video | No Comments »
Tags: gardening, raspberries

Posted By RichC on November 4, 2011

I had a brief, but friendly, discussion with a client who’s political views are 180 degrees apart from mine. We chatted about the role of government and eventually settled on a discussion around the problem of funding campaigns and lobbyist gaining influence in our government – something we both agreed was a problem. He was convinced that lobbyists were primarily corporations and wealthy Republicans and that their support was centered around big business and right wing agendas. I disagreed and without any information to back my claim up, I unloaded my canned “the media is bias to the left” straw man argument. I did suspect that both parties were a bit too cozy with lobbyist, but didn’t have the facts well researched in order to argue my point of view. 

So the evening after our discussion, I check on some information from OpenSecrets.org and shared a 2012 chart of contributions. I was actually surprised myself with the numbers and in particular seeing junior congresswoman Kirsten Gillibrand’s (D-NY) name as the “top recipient” so many times? I was also surprised to see that 7 of the top 10 individual recipients were Democrats. (see below).

EDIT: After sending the link to the chart below, we chatted and contemplated how much time and money is being spent on elections verses what is being accomplished for the good of the country. Our conclusion … as is evident by the continuing unemployment, deficit and debt … is that too much is being done to “buy” someone a seat in congress and to line the pockets of those “buying” friends in high places. (in the end we agree at least on that point)

Category: Politics | 1 Comment »
Tags: congress, election, gillibrand, legislature, lobbyist, Politics

Posted By RichC on November 3, 2011

I’m at traditionalist when it comes to cars and am attracted to the rumble of an internal combustion engine and tactile sensation of shifting gears, preferably manual. But the world is changing and new cars have sophisticated automatics or are going gearless (CVTs) … and expect more and more cars with tiny engines to include electric motor assist and batteries. Change is coming and we at least have to recognize what we like about new designs. My point for including the Ford Focus EV photos is to complement the design aspect as the Focus is an attractive small car and in keeping with its traditional dino-powered counterpart (if they put a small diesel in this design I’m interested).

The Focus EV is the latest entry into the EV market and offers the “MyTouch” gadgetry that many consumers comfortable with computers, smartphones and tablets are embracing. While Ford may have an attractive design, their high $40,000 price point may make someone considering hybrid and electric vehicles opt for a Chevy Volt or a plug-in Toyota Prius  — for $2000 more you get unlimited range with an internal combustion engine along with an around town EV only mode.

2012 Ford Electric Priced at $39,200

Starting today, Ford will take orders for the 2012 Focus Electric, which has been priced at $39,200, excluding a $795 destination fee. A limited number of the electric compact cars will be available before the end of the year in California, New York and New Jersey, with 15 other markets getting the EV early next year.

In contrast, the Nissan Leaf starts at $35,200, and the Mitsubishi i starts at $29,125. Currently, that makes the Ford Focus the most expensive of the mainstream electric cars, but it comes better equipped than the rest. The 2012 Coda EV, which recently went on sale, costs $44,900. All of these electric cars are eligible for a $7,500 tax credit. If you’re eligible for the whole credit, that would translate to a $31,700 asking price for the Focus Electric.

The model comes nicely equipped with automatic headlights, a 10-speaker Sony stereo, dual-zone automatic climate control, MyFord Touch, navigation, 8-inch touch-screen display, backup camera, rear parking sensor, leather-wrapped steering wheel, passive entry system and push-button start. The upholstery is an earth-friendly cloth made of 100% post-industrial materials; materials that would otherwise end up in landfills, according to Ford. Leather seats are a $995 option.

The Focus Electric is powered by a 123-horespower, 100-kilowatt AC electric motor that makes 181 pounds-feet of torque, mated to a single-speed automatic transmission. The 23-kilowatt lithium-ion battery pack is a kilowatt less than the Leaf’s battery. The Focus EV has a top speed of 84 mph, much lower than the Leaf’s top governed speed of 90 mph. Unlike the Leaf, the Focus’ battery pack is liquid cooled and heated, which is supposed to better regulate battery temperatures in extreme weather. The car can get a full charge on a 240-volt outlet in three to four hours, Ford says, compared with the eight hours it takes to charge the Leaf at the same voltage. There’s no fast-DC-charging option in the Focus EV; the Leaf theoretically can be charged to 80% in 30 minutes with this added-cost option that we’ve tested on the Cars.com long-term Leaf.

Total range is pending, but earlier indications are the Focus EV will go about as far as the Leaf. Ford’s modular 240-volt charging station can be removed from your home if you move, and the automaker says it will save Focus EV buyers $500 to $700 compared with the 240-volt stations offered by Nissan and GM.

The Focus EV looks like a more aerodynamic version of the Focus, with 17-inch Michelin Energy Saver tires and a large trapezoidal grille that appears to be fashioned by Aston Martin, according to Cars.com Industry Analyst Kelsey Mays. A plug port sits above the driver-side front fender. Inside, twin LCD screens flank the speedometer, with battery charge in place of a fuel gauge.

Besides those nuanced differences, this pretty much looks like a regular Focus, which raises a potential problem: It’s hard to show off a near-$40,000 gasless car (and thus making your neighbors jealous) if it looks the same as its gas counterpart … one that has a sub-$17,000 starting price. Still, if vanity is your aim in the eco-conscious game, we haven’t experienced much envy for our Leaf, either; most people think it’s a cute compact car.

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Category: Automotive, Environment | 2 Comments »
Tags: cars, Chevrolet, ev, focus, ford, plug-in, prius, toyota, Volt