Recognizing two special veterans today – a wonderful son
Posted By RichC on November 11, 2011
My son made his father proud today by recognizing Veterans Day 11/11/11 in this way … he posted a nice note to his Facebook page.
The absent minded professor has very little on me …
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.
A rejected Issue 2 in Ohio is going to cost jobs and growth
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.
VW TDI woes. Ford Focus. And a busy start to the week
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)
Are government unions misleading Ohio voters on Issue 2?
Posted By RichC on November 7, 2011
With tons of money pouring into Ohio to defeat Issue 2 and “Yes” advocates struggling to defend their position or even get their message out … Ohio residents could continue funding public workers at higher salaries and benefits than they receive in the private sector. The most obvious TV ad that misleads votes is that of emergency service people suggesting that a ‘yes’ vote would decrease the number of responders and response time. From my perspective, if the cost to the state and local government goes down, we could actually afford more police and fire personnel, not to mention being able to retain the best employees. As for teachers … it sure would be helpful for local school boards to be able to negotiate fairly their budget and needs in order to find the best staff for their schools. I don’t see how the status quo will keep more public workers employed or the taxes in Ohio affordable? Fred Barnes had a good article in the WSJ this weekend:
Most important of all, the “no” forces are shaping public perception about the stakes, according to Quinnipiac pollster Peter Brown. They’ve made it “about union rights and whether the governor and the legislature were trying to kill unions.”
The TV ads by We Are Ohio, which have dominated the Ohio airwaves for months, stress the prohibition on unions’ ability to negotiate staff levels for police, firefighters and teachers. They suggest Issue 2 would put Ohio citizens in danger.
In one ad, a paramedic says emergency teams would face “slower response times because [Issue 2] makes it illegal to negotiate for enough crew to do the job.” Another says Issue 2 “places our police and our communities at risk.”
No doubt intentionally, these ads miss the point of Issue 2. It’s aimed at reducing the cost of local government and the burden on taxpayers. Without it, layoffs of employees, including police and firefighters, are inevitable.
After avoiding the subject for months, the pro-Issue 2 spots have taken on the central issue of government employees as a class. “Had enough?” begins an ad that pictures Ohio as a giant slum. “Without Issue 2,” a narrator says, “hard-working Ohio families will face higher taxes to pay for the excessive wages and benefits of government employees who already make 43 percent more than the rest of us.”
The Issue 2 struggle offers a few consolations for its advocates. Significant parts of it are popular, polls have indicated. In a Quinnipiac poll, for instance, by large margins voters would require government employees to pay more for health insurance, (57% for and 34% against) and pensions (60%-33%), and they prefer merit raises to seniority-based pay increases (49%-40%).
via online.wsj.com
One MGB carburetor problem solved but another shows up
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) …
Taking apart and cleaning the MBG Weber Carburetor jets
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?
A guide to creating flying videos
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.
Archive: Caring and pruning Raspberries
Posted By RichC on November 4, 2011
via youtube.com
Excellent tips for growing and maintaining a raspberry patch (row).
Who really influences congress and what does it cost?
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)
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.