My Desultory Blog

Posted By RichC on September 22, 2006

Since there are a few VW owners reading these posts, I told my nephew I would give hime a hand in selling a set of 4 Dropzone Suspension springs he purchased for his 2000 VW A4 Jetta. (click for large photo) He has since sold the car and purchased a minivan after never getting around to installing the lowering and stiffer replacement springs. If you are interested send me an email or leave a comment. The asking price is $100 and will save you about $50 and if you are around Cincinnati will save on the shipping. First come first serve. (note: they are brand new and from what I can tell have never been out of the plastic packing.)

Category: Misc | 6 Comments »
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Posted By RichC on September 22, 2006

The Hezbollah rabble-rouser gave an inperson speech today in southern Beirut in a rally celebrating a ‘victory’ over Israel. One has to wonder if 1) he is a target in such a large gathering, 2) if his speaking will inspire more terror and/or 3) will make the United Nations/Lebanon’s job of disarming Hezbollah and preventing further violence? Today’s ‘in-person’ appearance seems to be a surprise to many. It will be interesting to follow what transpires as there is a significant crowd of pro-Hezbollah gathering … at this time the rally doesn’t seem to be out of hand but is doing little to promote a peaceful existence.

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Posted By RichC on September 21, 2006

Heads must have turned as the World Solar Rally made it way through the cities and countrysides of Taiwan this past week. As regular readers know, I’ve been following the Rally through the eyes of Team UNM University of Minnesota and their vehicle Borealis III. The team managed to perform well the final few days of the rally, and improving on their starting position, after a ‘flat‘ start. (pun intended) The final standing for the rally have been posted and they were able to inch their way from a day 1 start of 8th to a final place 5th overall. Despite a motor controller issue late in the final day, all went well with their masterful work of engineering. I look forward to the continued advancements in what is possible in harnessing the nearly limitless power of the sun. Now as the team packs up their gear and spends the final day as tourists, those of us enjoying their experience via the Internet want to convey our thanks and appreciation for a job well done. Stay in touch.

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Posted By RichC on September 21, 2006

In an early morning landing today the Shuttle Atlantis returned safety to Florida at 6:21 EST. The “in the dark” landing was near perfect and as many pilots can confirm, clear morning landings on a lit paved runways are no more difficult than daylight landings. This STS-115 mission marked NASA’s official entry back into the space-station construction business, a task put on a four-year hiatus due to upgrades and test flights made after the Columbia accident. Commander Brent Jett and his five crewmates – pilot Chris Ferguson, flight engineer Dan Burbank, Canada’s Steve MacLean, Joe Tanner and Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper – delivered and installed a $372 million solar power system during a complex series of robotic maneuvers and three spacewalks.

Hopefully more information will be gleaned on the black colored UFOs spotted by cameras on the Atlantis prior to entry … stay tuned. (UFO = unidentified space junk .. most likely coming from the space shuttle itself considering the orbits were similar)

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Tags: nasa, shuttle, space

Posted By RichC on September 20, 2006

I filled up this morning at a Sunoco station in central Ohio that offers clean alternate fuel to travelers on Interstate I-71 between Columbus and Cleveland. This station, as of September 2006, offers corn-based ethanol – E85 – and soy-based Biodiesel in three blends: B2 (2%), B5 (5%) and B20 (20%). Pricing is competitive with petroleum fuel and is one of a very few stations I’ve seen offering so many choices.
The proximity to Interstate 71 at exit 151 just east of Mount Gilead Ohio makes it an ideal stop for many who find the other renewable fuel filling stations inconvenient. I personally appreciated the pay at the pump credit card option as it makes the stop quick … besides, it is just a few yards west of the interstate exit — truly a no-hassle ‘pit stop.’ If you have a flex-fuel vehicle, or drive a diesel, be sure to support Ohio farmers growing clean fuel made in America.

There is a significant amount of information available on both biodiesel and ethanol. Here are a couple things to keep in mind: First, E85 is the government designated term for motor fuel blends of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline. Ethanol burns cleaner than gasoline, is a domestic renewable fuel grown by farmers and what we currently use is processed in the US. Its not only better for the environment, but is good for the American economy by keeping the dollars circulating at home — BUT be sure your vehicle is E85 compatible before filling up. (see list of vehicles)

Biodiesel, on the other hand, is generally a soybean based fuel in the United States, although can be made from anything from recycled cooking oil to algae. It runs without vehicle modification as a replacement for petroleum diesel fuel and is clean, domestically produced will run at 100% (B100) or in any blended percentage. I’ve been running biodiesl in two TDI (diesel) Volkswagens for several years without an issue, although those desiring to run at high percentages should be aware of warranty and cold weather issues. Here is a quick FAQ on Biodiesel. At any rate, those looking for a ‘great’ place to purchase renewable fuels in Ohio should definitely mark this station on your maps.

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Posted By RichC on September 19, 2006

As usual, Microsoft (for which I reluctantly am still a shareholder), continues to maintain its lead in technology ‘copycatting.’ I will forever remain mystified as to how this company ever was able to capture the lions share in operating systems and software business in operating the way it does? Perhaps the ‘Walmart-ish’ operating strategy and financially crushing power has much to do with it … but its obviously not their technology, at least in recent memory. In a press statement today, Rob Bennett, general manager of MSN’s entertainment and video services, announced that Microsoft would begin beta testing its own YouTube-like Internet video service called Soapbox.

YouTube is the undisputed leader of user supplied online video at this moment … followed by Google, Yahoo, Time Warner Inc.’s AOL unit and News Corp.’s social networking site MySpace and Sony’s newly acquired video-sharing site Grouper.com. Microsoft have offered considerable owned content through its partnerships, but this will be their push into user video. It will be interesting to see how this crowded bandwidth intensive and costly online segment pans out.

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Posted By RichC on September 18, 2006

Considering I’m behind in getting up today’s post and haven’t posted a video clip recently … today’s post will be a clip served up over at Google Videos (at bottom). Besides including of one of my favorite sea mammals, the Orca or Killer Whale (I worked with Shamu at Sea World many years ago), the extraordinary animals are powerful but usually gentle around humans in the Pacific northwest. The one below is definitely powerful … but perhaps not as gentle as watchers are use to?

Common misunderstanding: The orca is the sole species in the genus Orcinus, and is of the Oceanic dolphin family and not a “whale” as often thought. Oceanic dolphins are the members of the Delphinidae family of cetaceans.

Category: Environment, Video | 2 Comments »
Tags: orca

Posted By RichC on September 17, 2006

A physically painful win for some of the Cincinnati Bengal players against the underdawged Cleveland Browns. The final score of 34-17 doesn’t tell the whole story, as several key Cincinnati players suffered injuries in a hard played game. The bright spot for Cincinnati, in their second win of the season, is that Carson Palmer looked reminiscent of last year; he played very well completing 24 of 40 with 2 touchdowns for 352 yards. (unfortunately he also had two interceptions) There is no indication that his knee is any worse considering the severity of the season ending injury during the playoff game against the Pittsburgh Steelers last year. The next game should be interesting since it will be in Pittsburgh!

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Posted By RichC on September 17, 2006

The first day of racing for the World Solar Rally has the eleven university teams competing in an airport circuit race. The race included tight turns which posed a problem for the University of Minnesota team and their car, Borealis III. (see standings) The tight fast cornering gave the team tire trouble as they experienced three flat tires and decided to backoff a bit to protect the vehicle for the more important race days yet to come. One thing the team has learned so far is that they need to address how ‘the rubber meets the road.’ (see previous posts on the UMN team)

Circuit Race Results and Last Preparations

As a first disclaimer, too much happened today to capture it in a brief blog entry. To do proper justice, please address questions you have about the day’s events to Patrick O’Connor or Prof. Jeff Hammer. Contact information can be found on the left side-bar.

After a good night’s sleep in the dorms nearby, the team traveled back to Pingtung Airport to find Borealis III in the same good condition we left it the prior night. There was a buzz in the air and everyone was excited to finally do what we came to Taiwan to do: RACE! Typhoon Shanshan had cleared out the skies after a couple of windy days, and the morning was a beautiful start to the day.

Driving practice began shortly after our arrival. We were pleased with our laps and got both of the days drivers in the car to get acclimated to the airport circuit: long, flat straights with sharp turns at either end. Good fortune was not on our side in qualifying, however, as our driver blew a tire going around one of the hairpin-like turns. This, however, did not stop us from starting the race. We were competitive in the first heat, keeping up with the lead after a poor grid position, but again, lady luck did not swing our way, as yet another flat tire befouled our crew. We got back out on the track quickly, having lost only a lap so far. At one point, we got our lap back from the leader and eventual victor, Sky Ace TIGA of Ashiya University. However, yet another flat tire set us back. After each flat tire, the driver showed remarkable skill in piloting both himself and Borealis III to safety on wounded wheels.

Next came a decision that I am proud to say the team was mature enough to make. We were far enough behind the leader after the first heat, and we had shown that the tire performance was what limited the race for us (we were encouraging the driver to go faster because we had the array and battery power to do so). We decided that the risk was not worth the possible benefit of going back out on the track, and that we would prepare for the rally instead of jeopardizing our participation in the rally. The team then prepared Borealis III for the far more important event that begins tomorrow, including work on tires, adjustment of the motor, and cleaning of the car. While some team members were not busy due to our withdrawal, we started offering our services elsewhere to the underdogs and people that were having troubles. With some electrical help and debugging, the Iranian car, Persian Gazelle, was able to go out on the track and turn laps in the second heat. They sought help at first for a part, but we offered far more to help them run in the track event.

While the help was being given and Borealis III was off the course for the duration of the day, one of the cars of the host university overturned while cornering. Thankfully, the driver was safe and the car was able to continue. However, the car then rolled again while cornering too quickly in the first turn. This time, there was no canopy on the car, there was noticeable damage to many structures on the car, and the driver was escorted to the hospital after there was damage to his helmet. We have not yet received word on his condition, so we ask that you please keep him in your thoughts. As a show of what we presume to be perseverance, the same car then headed out on the track to finish racing in Heat 2, still without a canopy. Again, please keep the driver in your thoughts, as well thoughts of a safe journey the next three days.

We are excited for the rally to begin tomorrow. We are confident that the proper safety concerns have been taken by our team and that we will be ready for better luck to smile upon our team tomorrow (or at least we certainly hope so).

Going safe and going fast in Taiwan,
-Patrick O’Connor
Project Manager

***See team blog.

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Posted By RichC on September 17, 2006

Terrorism is the major worldwide issue for many elected to govern our country, unfortunately a poll recently release has only 11% of questioned US Citizens put ‘terrorism’ as the highest priority item this upcoming election. That’s difficult to believe until you realized that the poll separates Iraq from the terrorism question. If the two are combined, the number is about 44%. Many Americans, including former Speaker Newt Gingrich, support the President’s position that Iraq is part of the overall war on terror. On the contrary his adversaries see Iraq as a distraction from combating terrorism at home and abroad. Speaker Gingrich, academic and historian, has been quoted in many articles over the past several months in his positions that we may be close to World War III. Some discount this as a far out remark and as a way to simulate support for aggressive Republican policies in dealing with terrorism — perhaps they are a bit naive after seeing the response to a quote in a speech by the Pope this past week?

Besides the Islamic extremist that advocate terrorism there are moderate Muslims that are for the most point quiet to the purposeful killing of ‘infidels,’ Jews and westerners by radical Islamists. This group that is surprisingly quiet as to terror in the name of Islam has little problem loudly protesting (and firebombing) remarks by Pope Benedict XVI, which do not reflect is overall teaching or comments.

Where was this outrage when terrorist attack and kill thousands or Muslim speakers comment on other beliefs? The uprising across Muslim nations has been excessive as the comments by the Pope who included a quote from a 14th century Byzantine Christian emperor was used in speaking on religion and reason. (“Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached.”) I don’t follow Pope Benedict XVI closely, but what I have read is noticed is that he has a desire for peace in the world and is not advocating a movement against Islam. Actually, I’ve heard far stronger comments coming from leaders like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran. As for the Pope’s comments, they were probably not politically correct or even wise, yet I do see his point about “religion and reason.” Some mainstream religions do allow ‘reason’ to be discussed and taught along side their religious teaching, whereas others squelch ‘reason’ if it conflicts with religious teaching; some more violently than others.

As for World War III, the stimuli and population masses are in place that could make a world war a possible. Some Muslims are being taught there is little room for for those that have different beliefs and they have little tolerance for it. It seems like small events, comments, cartoons or even freedom associated with democracy creates a much bigger flames in the Islamic world than it should. It many not take much to take sides and escalate a small event into a world war. (just remember what the kidnapping of a couple soldiers did a month ago)

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