My Desultory Blog

Posted By RichC on August 12, 2006

According to an Associated Press article forwarded to me from the Northwest Florida Daily News, Ford has indicated that it intends to eliminate the gas cap. The first model that will receive the ‘pressure flap’ will be the 2008 Lincoln MKS model according to an announcement made at a Michigan automotive conference. Eventually all Ford models will receive this new ‘flap’ that will seal itself preventing fumes from escaping.

According to Mark Fields, Ford executive vice president and president of the Americas, “It eliminates the inconvenience of forgetting to put your gas cap back on after refueling.” This new cap comes from Ford’s NASCAR racing and has been used on the Ford GT sports car. Company spokesman Said Deep indicated that there is no timetable when all cars will have the new flap.

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Posted By RichC on August 11, 2006

I recently read that the responsibility for inspecting rides at amusement parks and fairs in Ohio falls on the Department of Agriculture. This surprised me when reading about a recent popular roller coaster accident at Kings Island Amusement Park. (outside of Cincinnati, Ohio) Hmm … been there a few times.

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Posted By RichC on August 11, 2006

Although I heard about this when it happened, it wasn’t until I saw the photo above (click it for full size) taken by Mass Communications Specialist 3rd Class Nathan Laird made me want to include the bit of history in my blog. I grew up with a secret desire to be a Naval officer and would dream about both the sea and aviation. (I sort of still do — although the dreams are a bit more realistic) The one aircraft that stood apart was the F-14 Tomcat. Maybe it was just movies like “Top Gun” where Tom “Maverick” Cruise flew an F-14 … but then I’m not that young.

Late last month while completing Joint Task Force Exercises, the USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN71) along with the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69) launched the last of the F-14 fighters. A F-14D Tomcat (number 112) assigned to the “Tomcatters” of Fighter Squadron Three One (VF-31) was the last F-14 catapulted from the deck of the USS Theodore Roosevelt on July 28, 2006. Although this is the last scheduled launch, the Navy won’t officially retire the F-14 until September 2006. The F-14 Fighter has had 32 years of exceptional service. I would be remise to not offer a ‘thank you’ to all who had a hand in designing, maintaining and flying this tremendous aircraft; thank you for your service.

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Posted By RichC on August 10, 2006

Traveling through Columbus, Ohio yesterday I missed the hubbub on Interstate I-70, but even caught up in it would have been as clueless as the police. On after a chase, resisting arrest and physical cuffing did police realize they had the former star Ohio State tailback Maurice Clarett in their custody. As an article in this morning Columbus Dispatch) states, “Only Maurice Clarett knows why he was wearing body armor and toting a loaded assault rifle and three pistols in a borrowed sports-utility vehicle on the Far East Side early yesterday.”

Clarett was arrested less than a mile from where a key witness for his upcoming armed-robbery trial resides and considering he had a loaded Smith and Wesson 9mm under the seat and was wearing body armor while running from the police didn’t make his case stronger. Nor does the fact that an AK-47 assault rifle was in the passenger seat, a .380-caliber handgun on the floor help his case. A few other items of interest were a .25-caliber handgun in a carrying bag, a hatchet and an open, one-third-full bottle of Grey Goose vodka. Interestingly they stated that he was in a ‘borrowed’ SUV. (registered to his uncle) We’ll see how defense lawyers craft the contents of the vehicle and the weapons ownership?

Personally speaking, considering that Clarett resides in northeastern Ohio and that he was arrested only a mile from a witness that ‘could’ put him away for 26 years in the previous armed-robbery charge while he was dressed and armed to kill, doesn’t not help is case. Thankfully police were able to step in and handle this situation professionally and before anything severe happened. All to often you hear the missteps police make — here is a clear case as to doing their jobs well. Kudos to the officers involved. (although we might as well assume a defense attorney will find something they did wrong)

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Posted By RichC on August 10, 2006

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Posted By RichC on August 10, 2006

Keith Olbermann, in his nightly news program on MSNBC called “Countdown with Keith Olbermann,” has taken to delivering a Nazi “Sieg Heil” salute this past year while placing a cardboard cutout mask of FoxNews counterpart Bill O’Reilly. The Anti-Defamation League has voiced opposition to Keith Olbermann using the Nazi reference and has written a letter to MSNBC that the ‘insensitivity’ be eliminated from the program. With the recent anti-Semitic comments from actor/director Mel Gibson and sensitivity on edge in Israel, perhaps Olbermann might tone down his publicity stunts?

Anti-Defamation League Letter sent to MSNBC – link

Olbermann competes with the #1 cable news show, “The O’Reilly Factor,” hosted by Bill O’Reilly who receives Mr. Olbermann’s constant jabbing. Both programs offer controversial views upsetting to one political view or another. In the Olbermann shows case, there are a significant number of verbals lashing pointed directly at Bill O’Reilly and his personal character, etc. In recent months this ‘feud’ (which has generally been one sided) has taken an even uglier turn. The Fox Corporation’s public relations department struck back in an article in the New York Times.

Spokesperson Irena Briganti commented:
“Because of his personal demons, Keith has imploded everywhere he’s worked. From lashing out at co-workers to personally attacking Bill O’Reilly and all things Fox, it’s obvious Keith is a train wreck waiting to happen. And like all train wrecks, people might tune in out of morbid curiosity, but they eventually tune out, as evidenced by Keith’s recent ratings decline. In the meantime, we hope he enjoys his paranoid view from the bottom of the ratings ladder and wish him well on his inevitable trip to oblivion.”

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Posted By RichC on August 9, 2006

In preparation for my upcoming vacation, I dusted off my Canon Rebel XT Digital camera both to charge the battery and make sure everything was working and stored in my camera bag. As I looked for a subject (aka: victim) to be in my test photo, I took a macro photo of a ‘bee’ being attacked that appeared on my window sill — or at least I think being attacked?.
It looks cool, except not being an Entomologist … I’m not sure what’s going on here? For a larger and much more detailed photo click the thumbnail or click here. Can any science gurus shine some light on this?

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Posted By RichC on August 8, 2006

I’m posting a press release directly from New Zealand’s Maurice O’Reilly and his engineering team today as they reported yet another Volkswagen 1.9 liter TDI record. This time it is a 1, 6, 12, 18 and 24 hour record which covered a record 2,642km/1642miles. (They also set a ‘speed record‘ for a 1.9 liter diesel which was posted a couple days ago)

North Cape > Bluff > back to Christchurch – in 24 hours !

This is an example of the distance achieved by 4 motorsport enthusiasts driving a diesel Volkswagen Jetta. Between 9am on Monday and 9am on Tuesday the VW Jetta TDi circulated Manfeild Race Circuit stopping only for fuel and driver changes, in atrocious wet and slippery conditions to establish a five New Zealand distance records.

The Gull Petroleum Volkswagen has provisionally set new records for the 1, 6, 12, 18 and 24 hours with a total distance of 2,642km. This eclipsed the previous record by 160km in spite of spending an hour at the trackside replacing a damaged driveshaft. Car owner Maurice O’Reilly together with Wayne Moore, Paul Goatley and the German VW engineer who built the car, Eberhard Rattunde, each drove 2 x 3 hour shifts in very demanding conditions to prove that diesel is a serious performance fuel. During the record setting drive the affordable family sized 4 door VW Jetta TDi used only 420 litres of Gull diesel. This compares with a 4WD Turbo Porsche that drove 2,942km in the same time on the same track (without the hour stop) using over 1200 litres of petrol.

The record setting team was confident that modern diesel technology cars could demonstrate something that the Europeans have known for many years – modern diesel powered vehicles are clean, quiet, reliable, economical … and fast.

Public interest and media attention has been astonishing. The endurance records follow a week after the same VW Jetta set a NZ Diesel Speed record of 232kph. Car owner Maurice O’Reilly said that everyone is very conscious of current high fuel prices and, given the expectation of further future price increases, are very interested in discovering how good diesel is in comparison to the traditional petrol fuel. Unlike hybrid vehicles and new alternate fuels, diesel is readily available, cheaper, economical and the simple engine technology is well known. Increased use of diesel can immediately extend the world’s fuel reserves and offer savings to motorists without significant lifestyle and infrastructure changes.

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Posted By RichC on August 8, 2006

Although I’m not a Joe Lieberman supporter (Democratic Senator from Connecticut), I was disappointed to hear Ned Lamont winning the primary in Connecticut tonight. There were some interesting ‘tech’ stories surround this bitter primary, one is that ‘someone’ has taken down the ‘Joe2006.com‘ website. November should be as interesting as today when Joe Lieberman promises to run as an Independent Democrat.

The other prominent primary is Senator Cynthia McKinney (struggle with Capital Police earlier this year) from Georgia … she has also lost her primary to Hank Johnson, a former county commissioner in her suburban Atlanta district.

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Posted By RichC on August 8, 2006

Sometimes it just too easy to kill a hour or two reading off the wall Popular Mechanics style projects online. I occasionally read a fairly new online publication called Makezine. I couple of projects stand out for their innovation and their craftmanship. The first one is a “lighter than air” electrically powered (eventually) airship call the Sky Yatch. Its basically a steerable hot air balloon with a trike and electric fans for mobility. It will be interesting to see how well it operates.

Second is an aviation grandpa’s (or dad in this case) specialty project: A 1/3-scale fiberglass replica of the A-4 Skyhawk and painted to look like the jets that the Blue Angels precision flight demonstration team flew in the 1970’s. Its it impressive from the photos see below, or even more impressive from Mr. Everett’s site.

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