My Desultory Blog

Posted By RichC on March 18, 2007

Although it would be better to celebrate “National Biodiesel Day” with good news from the Earthrace team, its not been a promising start for the biodiesel project. After significant hype, having prop problems followed by a cracked engine part are putting nails in the coffin for the crew attempting a world record biodiesel circumnavigation. The boat and crew are trying hard to get a replacement part so they can make reparis, but in reading the March 17th Captain’s (b)log and noting their ‘stalled position,’ the situation does not look good.

Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeep. My dreams are shattered by an engine alarm that we know is bad news. I scurry out of bed and look at the controls. It’s showing low oil pressure on the starboard engine. We shut her down and clamber down to have a look. To our horror, there’s oil all over the engine and bilge. “It’s the head gasket,” Anthony says. “Oil is leaking all around the block.” I’m not convinced, as it just seems there’s oil everywhere. We refill the engine with oil and start her up. Oil pisses out a bolthole on the side of the engine. “What does that do”, I ask Anthony, pointing to the square box that the oil is coming from. “Not sure bro”.

The manuals are out and it turns out to be a heat exchanger that cools engine oil. We start to remove it, but the job just snowballs. To get the device off, we must first remove lots of other parts. The engine room is hot and loud, and the engine we’re working on continues to burn our hands for hours as we remove parts bit by bit. We’re continuing on with one engine so as not to lose too much time, but the motion makes even small jobs a mission. Eventually the device is off. It must be a blown gasket, although they both look fine. “Lets just put a thin layer of silicone over the gaskets to ensure they all seal,” says Anthony.

Two hours later and its all back together. We start her up and to our horror, the oil leak remains, and now there’s a water leak as well. The oil leak is not from the bolthole at all, but rather a hairline crack right next to the bolt. We’re gutted. All that work and lost time and we haven’t even fixed the leak.

We start calling ground crew with our sat phone to get new parts underway. Meanwhile Anthony comes up with a cunning plan. “We can sand the housing back while its still on the engine, then seal the crack with some JB Weld.” Well this is not something I know much about, so I just agree to do the sanding. A short while later and the 2-part epoxy is applied over the culprit crack, and we wait for it to set. We drag ourselves into bed and crash.

A few hours later and we start the engine. Now there’s just a small leak through a hole, rather than the full crack. A second batch of JB weld is applied, and an hour later a third. As the engine cools, it sucks in just enough of the epoxy to open a tiny hole, although it seems we’ll close it up eventually. Just not sure how long it’ll take. Meanwhile groundcrew have lined up a replacement part for us in Mexico.

Captain Pete Bethune

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Posted By RichC on March 18, 2007

Rugby season is back in full swing and we’ve started the routine of ice packs and Advil. I recall post about my son’s first match last spring … and now a year ‘wiser’ I thought he would be playing the game a little bit more gently? I am wrong and have evidence to prove it.
😉
According to Taylor, the ‘head to the face’ bump he took looks worse than it feels (hard to believe), and although the black and blue eye looked painful, it was his finger and wrist that bothered him more.

He of course went out after the game (not too smart) before coming home, and after sleeping with a cold pack his eye looked even worse in the morning. I took him to the doctor ‘just in case’ since the bloody eye bothered me. (subconjunctival haematoma) Ice, Advil and time was the prescription and according to the doctor “it is somewhat common to have blood vessels in the eye rupture” — of course my son’s question was whether he would be okay to play on Friday!

Oh … and it looks like someone came by last night to cheer him up. (photo below) It was nice of them to leave a few unspoiled TP rolls too … I wonder if our dog sprinting around the corner had anything to do with that?
🙂

Category: Misc, Personal, Photos, Sports | 4 Comments »
Tags: injury, rugby, sports, taylor

Posted By RichC on March 17, 2007

Okay … so I just bought a new notebook computer online because my USB ports have gone kaput. BTW … thanks for the tip Nora. The new Gateway NX570XL arrived today and is pretty nice — BUT … what are these people thinking? Swapping the ‘Fn’ and ‘Ctrl’ key positions??? Perhaps others have experience this or read about it online, but I’ve obviously missed this change? I’ve glanced at every keyboard I have in my house whether Mac (yes they have other odd keys) or PC and they are all the small. ‘Ctrl’ key on the left bottom corner. Since I rotate between Mac, PC desktops and my notebook, this going to drive me crazy. Perhaps I should check to see if there is a remapping available. Thoughts anyone?
EDIT: Corrected my model number from NX470XL to NX570XL. Also … starting to remember where the Ctrl key is … but this notebook gets much ‘hotter’ than my old one … and I’m not found of that. I suppose that is why its called a ‘notebook’ and not a ‘laptop?’

Category: Computer | 5 Comments »
Tags: gateway, keyboard, laptop, notebook, nx570xl

Posted By RichC on March 16, 2007

For those of you keeping up with circumnavigating sailor Donna Lange (plots/log daily on right sidebar), she has had stronger than expected winds … along with larger seas. Her little 28 foot boat continues to pound it way along, logging well over 100 nautical miles each day. (116 nm yesterday) This speed puts her several days ahead of her April 21st homecoming in Bristol, Rhode Island and after a day of contemplation, she has decided to detour to St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands where she has many friends and where her little boat “Inspired Insanity” is registered. Besides as she wants “summer warmth to last a bit longer before heading for the cold NE coast.” (earlier posts)

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Posted By RichC on March 15, 2007

Posting from Palm Treo this morning as I looked out the hotel window in Akron Ohio to something white on the ground. Hmm … I walked in last night sweating in a tee-shirt and this morning its snow and cold again. Someone tell mother nature to make up her mind!
EDIT: Post from flickr didn’t work … reminder to check on it? Also noticed that Twitter is posting the campaign trail of John Edwards … not that I’m an Edwards supporter or anything … just thought it is interesting how the Internet is changing campaigning?

Category: Travel, Weather | No Comments »
Tags: akron, ohio, snow, spring, winter

Posted By RichC on March 14, 2007

After 4 years of pretty much rock solid performance from my well (ab)used Gateway computer, my favorite notebook is starting to show signs of wear. Today its USB ports, two weeks ago it was the DC power connector. I was ready to replace it when the connections would no longer work, but being my favorite traveling companion (sorry Brenda), and not really wanting to configure a new computers … never mind not liking what is out there or spending $1000 to $1500 dollars on a new one, I decided to see what I could do. Gateway (and my guess most computer manufactures) didn’t make this procedure easy.

First let me tell you, I exhibited some extraordinarily rare patience in figuring out the maze of what plastic parts snap fit and which are screw fit … in the right order. (not a job for those who believe the only essential tool is a hammer) After finally getting to the circuit board, it didn’t take long to figure out that the female DC power adapter plug was sadly not designed to be repaired or replaced. It was well fastened to the mother board in a tweezer only accessible area. Eventually patience got the best of me and I not only wedged in a needle nose pliers, but managed to get a ‘de’soldering iron near enough. With the skills of a military dentist, I went to work … yank … the fouled component was out. Hmm … now to see what Radio Shack had. The size M panel mount DC power jack looked to be just the fix … if I could make only make the connections with out cooking everything on the motherboard. Thankfully the ‘guess’ was a good one and the new better made component did the job far better than the original hardware. (Palm Treo 700p photo above) Yippie … I was back in business until this week.

Now its the USB connections. They have all gone pooie. Might it be from my tinkering inside? I suppose the life expectancy of a heavily used notebook is only 4-5 years? Whatever, I have resided myself to buying a new computer and its another Intel chipped Gateway — look out Vista, here I come, or is it … “look out Rich, here comes Vista!”
🙂

Category: Computer | 2 Comments »
Tags: gateway, laptop, notebook

Posted By RichC on March 13, 2007

By now anyone following world news knows that President Bush took a six day trip to South America talking with the leaders of countries like Brazil and Uruguay. (link) The primary purpose seemed to be a U.S.-Brazil ‘pact’ that calls for studies in regard to ethanol production and use in Latin America. This agreement puts the two top ethanol competitors and producers in the world on a path that will increase and improve production of ethanol decreasing reliance on oil. The President of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (Lula), and President Bush also agreed that their two countries would also begin working on an international standard for biofuels. FoxNews ‘On The Record‘ host Greta Van Susteren had a 30 minute ‘one on one’ with President Bush; an interesting interview. Sadly my questions in regard to algae biodiesel were not addressed; this was my fault as Greta informed me she didn’t receive them until after the interview — which was on Saturday. ( after watching the interview, I sense that this topic was going to focus on ‘ethanol’ anyway — but as busy a person as she is, I appreciated her actually getting back to me; very polite.)

Let’s be clear, this trip and meeting was about ethanol and did not address ‘biodiesel,’ which is the more efficient renewable fuel choice in both production and use (graph above – PDF). I’m actually referring to current farm feedstock based biodiesel (see DOE PDF), not even commercially grown algae biodiesel which is a significantly more efficient choice, but then that’s another subject. Back to the trip and ethanol. Brazil grows sugarcane and turns it into ethanol and has refined it process in doing this since the 1970s. Sugarcane a fairly efficient feedstock for ethanol production, whereas the U.S. primarily grows corn, not so efficient. (energy in v. energy out) According some reports, the ethanol industry is “OK with the Brazilian pact,” although congressional representative from the farm states are concerned at exactly what the President would be offering. Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA) indicated that he does not want U.S. subsidies going to Latin America to build ethanol plants. The expanding U.S ethanol industry also wants to maintain their 54-cent-a-gallon tariff on imported ethanol something Brazil wants eliminated. This ‘tariff’ was not something on the table during the President’s visit, so according to the Renewable Fuels Association “the measures announced are fine with the U.S. industry.”

Category: Automotive, Biodiesel | 6 Comments »
Tags: biodiesel, gwb, president bush

Posted By RichC on March 12, 2007

I’m a big fan of the ‘movie by mail’ services like NetFlixâ„¢ and Blockbuster Total Accessâ„¢, but recently found out that there is a new game in town: Amazon Unboxed “delivered to your Tivoâ„¢.” The concept is similar in many respects to the service offered by Apple that allows downloads to iTunesâ„¢. (PC and Mac) The iTunesâ„¢ purchases are ordered online and then downloaded; they then can be viewed on your computer screen, exported to video iPodâ„¢ or ported to a TV. (special equipment such as AppleTVâ„¢ or other setups are required) For Tivoâ„¢ owners, the beauty of the Amazon Unboxed feature is that the movie or TV program is downloaded directly to your Tivoâ„¢ unit and is ready to play at the touch of a remote. Very convenient.

Not so quick … there are a few questionable issues:
First, navigating the Amazon Unboxed movie selection isn’t as smooth or intuitive as NetFlixâ„¢ or Blockbuster Total Accessâ„¢. (Apple’s service is good, but requires proprietary software: iTunes) I’m by no means a expert though, as I signed up Monday and have only ordered one movie. (NOTE: sign up before April 30th and get $15 credit towards free movies) The process is pretty simple, but prices are not all that attractive. Each TV program episode is about $1.99 and most movie ‘purchases’ about $14.99. Rentals are downloaded at $3.99 and can be viewed for 30 days. Once you make a selection, the download begins and the movies are sent over your homenetwork to your Tivoâ„¢ unit in about 15 minutes. (file sizes are large so movie will most likely not be available for a while. ie. Tivo movies files are about 2GB) Unfortunately the ability to use the TiVoToGoâ„¢ and Multi-Room Viewing features have been disabled to meet rights holder requirements.
As for the movie quality, mine is as good as it gets on an older Tivo Series 2â„¢ unit — I’m not sure about the new Tivo Series 3â„¢? As for comparisons, Netflixâ„¢ offers limited downloading although I haven’t tried it. I am not unfamiliar with the ease or the availability of movies and tv programs. Blockbusterâ„¢ doesn’t offer delivery over the Internet, but one-ups Netflixâ„¢ allowing renters to return mailed movies to their stores. The big plus is that it also acts as a free movie coupon; customers can rent another movie on the spot. (really nice) Currently this bonus comes as ‘no-charge’ to Blockbuster Total Access customers, BUT rumor (and a recent survey) indicates that they will soon be charging a premium for this service. All in all this new rental and purchase option from Amazon looks to be promising for Tivoâ„¢ owners, although I wish the pricing was more in line with my current Blockbuster Total Accessâ„¢ setup:
*Online Membership: 1 at a time, Unlimited rents @ $9.99 for 1 month + tax and received a coupon once each month for a free rental. (rented 4 movies by mail, used one coupon for a movie and exchanged two in the month of February. Price per movie approximately $1.50 each — that’s hard to beat.)

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Posted By RichC on March 12, 2007

This past weekend was enjoyable; I had an opportunity to be outside, take a few photos and contemplate the work ahead in the yard. The grass and trees were still brown of course, but signs of spring were all around — including the smell.

In Cincinnati, we had a mild December and January for the most part but were hammered with a consistently cold February. In a way it was nice to have the kinds of winter I remember … snow, ice and the steady cold weather that kept winter around. That said, I’m ready for Spring.

For winter’s rains and ruins are over,
And all the season of snows and sins;
The days dividing lover and lover,
The light that loses, the night that wins;
And time remembered is grief forgotten,
And frosts are slain and flowers begotten,
And in green underwood and cover
Blossom by blossom the spring begins.

Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837–1909)

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Posted By RichC on March 11, 2007

EDIT: The Earthrace team hasn’t given up. I’ve posted a 3/12/2007 update over on a new ‘Drupal‘ driven CinciTDI site — in the biodiesel section. (or visit Earthrace.net)
March 11, 2007 Press Release:
Earthrace Limping into First Race Port
Panama City, Panama- March 11, 2007—On 10th March, Earthrace started its attempt to set a new world record for a powerboat to circumnavigate the globe. Leaving Barbados at an unofficial time of 12:06:26am (UTC), Earthrace set a course for Panama, some 1250 nautical miles away, however just 16 hours later and the boat has been forced to almost abandon the attempt.

Earthrace is running a new kind of carbon propellers that were originally developed for submarines, and they offer reduced vibration and better efficiency compared with conventional blades. The propellers however have struggled with the speeds and loads of Earthrace, and just 16 hours into the first leg have started to fail.

At 1am this morning, and over a period of about an hour, there was a steady and progressive increase in vibration. Using a dive light, the team inspected the props, and according to Earthrace Skipper Pete Bethune, “we were staggered by the damage”. All the blades have sections where the carbon is peeling away, and the entire leading edge of one blade is coming to bits.” The team believes it is primarily cavitation damage, where bubbles form along the edges and tips of the propellers, gradually eating into the fiber. Although why it has happened so quickly on Earthrace remains a mystery.

Boat speed has been dropped to 12 knots and the crew is nursing her on to Panama. Bethune says “right now, the priority is to just get safely in to port, and we are concerned these blades will come to bits before we make it. And of course we’re devastated.”

In terms of the record attempt, Earthrace is currently considering a number of options, and will decide in a day or two whether the record attempt will continue, and is so, with what propellers technology.

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