What Interested You Today?

Making some rhubarb and sultana wine, working on a couple of bows, tidying the garden and having a cat nap.

Del

A cat nap? that's about 5 hours.

On vacation, watching the boys fish.

The wind power thread is very timely for me, since we are inSW Minn. along the Buffalo Ridge wind generation farm.

The selfdriving/assisted driving thread is also interesting.

Mostly enjoying the great weather we're having in Minnesota today.

Lyn, I will have to share photos of a barn that my family preserved. I believe it is a Dutch barn that was moved at least once. Maybe this can be a future blog post if people are interested!

I'm hooked... any updates either you or Lyn would like to share regarding these preservation endeavors would be most welcome.

I'm a big fan of early construction methodologies that have proven resilient and stood the test of time.

Why would anyone care about a fifteen-year-old barn?

"Why would anyone care about a fifteen-year-old barn?"

Because they are not infatuated with sport, fashion, cars and vacuous "celebrities"?

Del

Lyn must be stuck in the 1900s.

Yes. Life is much simpler here. There are no fences anywhere in town. Population: 700.

The barn is 115 years old.

For those who are interested, I plan to take more pics today, including the hay loft.

There's an ice house on the property also. It may, or may not, be as old as the barn.

There are/were farms near me where the houses are empty, the people gone. To walk around and think about the generations that were born, lived and died there. You can almost feel it.

An acetylene generator in the shed to provide light.

Barns put together without nails, massive oak beams.

Spring houses, where cold water flowed to keep the milk cool.

Amazing machines of cast iron and wood.

Oh, almost forgot, today I am the complaint and technical support department of my company, for the North American continent. with the challenge of explaining technical details and making them easy to understand.

Vanity and a better camera made me post this.

The fore-shadow and how the clouds frame the tree - make this one a keeper - great shot.

Thanks.

over the past few weeks I've been auditing various online courses offered from universities across the globe. my interests have ranged from solar tech to Western civilizations. It's all self paced and far more enlightening then watching The Price is Right. I still take in my typical copious amount of daily science and technology reading online but am taking a break from posting threads here. at times I probably post too many threads so I doubt I'll hear complaints if I submerge awhile.

Staying out of meetings. I failed. :(

Me, too!

Planning how to mount a new sculpture of seagulls I got, while painting one who had suffered some paint loss to match the others....and playing with some new butterflies I received for my collection....

Run through the sun on the beach....Polishing my new spam killer tools....

Stocking supplies....looking for new acquisitions...

I'm currently in limbo.

In the middle of making a whole heap of hoist pendant controls but our friends at RS components here in Aus. haven't got the quantity of stock of parts required, so they're acquiring them from all over the world. The bits are arriving in dribs and drabs, and that is a pain in the rear. What should have taken a couple of weeks at most is now well into the second month, my workshop is a mess with partly finished stuff laying everywhere.

I breezed through all of the Aluminium box fabrication and then got stymied at the fit out stage, can't even send off some of them as one major component is still not available.

They told me yesterday that the parts supply won't be completely filled until the end of the month, so I'm seriously contemplating dong a bit of what Lyn is up to.

I started out my day being interested in getting out of bed and accomplishing many things.

Turns out the thought was way more interesting than the act. At least I know better for tomorrow.

My week thus far is full with de-scoping a project.

Took about 2 months of working with Sponsors and Internal Customers to develop a spec for a new manufacturing line, and another month to get pricing estimates. Once the price to produce the spec was submitted last Friday, Sr. Management balked.

My standard reply, as I slide them the itemized budget, is: "Then tell me what you don't want."

Let the games begin.

Which one gets the axe?....hahaha

As happens sometimes, the posted image wont come through, and all I see is a little black square with a white 'X' in it that I can't click on.

Try this....

Yeah - That's what the Sponsor and Internal Customers see, they want the whole litter... Management says pick 4 to knock off but don't have the cojones to make the selection.

I didnt plant a vegtable garden at all this year, but in late August a tomato plant started growing in one of my flower beds. I have been thinking of digging it up and trying to grow it inside this winter.

Has anyone ever done this with a late blooming plant? Any advice?

I get a lot of sun through my kitchen windows, the biggest threat to the plant will be the cats...

I have never tried growing them indoors as that is not necessary where I live, but it's generally an easy task to transplant them.

They suffer an initial bit of shock but get going again pretty well, just plant them a bit deeper than they were to encourage more rooting at the stem. Only one way to find out if it works for you...

Thanks! Unfortunately winter is just around the corner here, I think this weekend it isnt suppose to get much over 40 degrees .

Hopefully I can dig up enough of the root that it will be an easy transition.

I did that a few years ago. But they never turned red. In fact they hardly turned yellow either. Most stayed green - even when picked and placed on the window sill in the sunshine - and tasted 'green'. I think we cut them up and used them in casseroles - I gave a load to a friend and he made chutney with them.

Good luck with yours.

Tomatoes are a hot weather plant. How well they do depends on the variety. Determinate varieties do better indoor. They don't get as big. Indeterminate varieties will need to be trimmed back to a comfortable size in the pot. Both will need to have 5 hours of sun light or more. The temperature needs to be kept above 75° F. The more light and warmer temperatures they will do better.

I read just about all of the titles. I open most of them to see the whole question. Then I look at some of the answers if any. If at any point I feel strongly enough to participate then I do. But all in all its fun to browse. Always willing to read a good discussion or find an interesting new fact. I get satisfaction trying to be helpful but overall its often more entertainment. I'm reasonably proud of my GA fraction because it's not my raison ďetre.

As stated above, browsing for discussions of interest, things to stimulate a retired mind? to learn and to share. I like subjects outside the box, and how people go about analysing them and solving problems, as one would do in a conference room forum?

Trying to figure out why some newbie posters think that they are owed a free answer to a question they can't possibly answer, while at the same time accepting a paycheck from the firm that hired them to do a job that they're nowhere near qualified to perform...and then cutting an attitude when they're called out on it.

I was particularly bemused and amused by the "consultant" who wanted instant justification for his uninformed "decision" that was thoroughly drubbed by the responders as being incomplete and lacking in many of the factors that are required for a proper engineering solution. Kudos to Spades for trying to steer the OP in the right direction, only to have OP repeatedly ignore all the remarks and continue with his opening mantra about "exit velocity" as if it was the only factor that mattered, which of course is not true.

There are different insights I want to prove, but I just could not simply solve it.

3 days until Hastings Day bonfire & fireworks, busy organising people, deliveries & all the other stuff required.

I spent a too long yesterday trying to post a drawing on CR4 without success. I am staying at my daughter's home at present and don't have access to my usual CAD file formats. I came up with a design to solve the "Slider Crank Dead Spot Challenge" by having the guided pivot at the very top store spring energy at right angles to the bottom crank arm by displacing a cam as it approaches the dead spot. Then utilizing the 90º rotation of the bottom crank arm to release the energy behind the top pivot pushing it through the dead spot. All to no avail if I can't find a file format that CR4 camera icon will accept that shows the boomerang shaped cam needed.

You can only use .jpg or .gif and maybe .png file extensions for images uploaded to CR4. Your other options would be to take a screen shot of the view you want to share (try the Snipping Tool if you're on Windows) or upload it elsewhere and link to it.

I have just completed write up on "specifications, safety and maintenance of Lifting Equipment" it runs in many pages. Dont know how to post on CR4.

Is there no way to post many pages in forum?.

Arrrggghhh. The dreaded negative question....

My guess at the answer is "Yes"

Del

I was making a couple of redneck camp stoves. They are for a little fall outdoor party this weekend, but I think they might come in handy when the power grid goes down.

jhammond

Hello SavvyExacta

Some time ago we were asked for suggestions to improve the CR4 experience. I seem to remember there were many replies but I have not noticed any additions. Please advise the outcome of the exercise?

One thing I would like to see is the # number to appear in the 'reply' box. The name of the poster does, but not the number. For example, as above, but with #1 added.

That is, "Replying to Forum Thread by SavvyExacta: #1"

And is it possible to include the name of the poster along with the #number in the title bar when replying.

For instance here post 20 from Nigh, the title bar says "#20 in Reply to #1"

I think it would be helpful if it said "#20 in reply to SavvyExacta #1"

The emails advising of new posts have names - but not numbers - which would be useful.

Just a detail, I know, but it will assist navigation and adds a bit of personality.

So, what are you reading about, researching, learning about, trying... etc? (Keep it reasonably on topic, please!)
Today we are trying a concept of mine in which we are going to attempt intermittent accelerated cooling of TC-128 steel plates to raise the tensile value using the de-scale system as a cooling medium. I only have to raise the T value around 3-4 Kpsi to fit the spec.

Recovering from a small medical issue...I'm all set now.

Thinking about some new projects for the tractor - building a rear/3PH mounted scraper blade from an old 4ft. dozer/snow blade.

Getting together with an old friend, that just took his early retirement, to discuss using some of his many many skills as a Millwright...nothing he can't do and no tool he does not have!

Just back to work after a very short vacation. Time to catch up on all the things that no one else seems to do here. Only had 230 emails to get through, which made more work.

Some pix of the inside. No idea how long these items have been hanging in here. My guess is quite a while.All the lumber is rough, unplaned and well nailed. The electric wiring seems correct for 1900.More later, time to fish.

These buildings are very well maintained for their age! The photos that I will share have a little more neglect... most of the repair was structural and a coat of paint.

The wiring looks familiar! It is in the barn my family has worked on.

This area was settled by people from Norway and Sweden.

All the barns are red with white trim.

Reminds me of a friends house. He has a tree in front of the house with a trunk that's grown as 2 separate parts. There's a bicycle leaning against the tree, it's been there so long that the tree trunks have grown around the handlebars & pedals. That bike is staying there until it rusts to nothing.

Reminds me of my house -circa 1869 - knob and tube wiring, full dimension lumber. one pony wall I did take out was made with full dimension(unfinished) red oak studs, as are the rest in the house.

Unfortunately, we don't know much of the history of the barn.

In Minnesota, when one buys a piece of property, the complete package of deeds and records goes to the new owner. Somewhere we have that. I remember looking at the stack for the house. Some were very delicate and fragile. (We bought it first) These records went back to the 1800's.

I bought the barn with two phone calls and some help from the local real estate attorney.

Small towns are great for that. I had all three buildings reroofed with two phone calls. The lumber company and the roofer each sent me a bill after all the work was done. We get a bill from the landscaper at the end of summer for his work.

All done with a phone call. I've met all these people before but we're never here and they just take care of things for us.

Not only Minnesota for that type of trust when doing business. Common practice in almost every "small" town. I am fortunate enough to take this further into my business, my word is always good. If you don't know the price right now, I need it done, just bill me later.

I tend to read the questions on electrical problems. I read all the responses or at least to the response I would have given. No need to retype an answer someone already printed. Some of the answers are quite well done. I guess I'm more of an observer than participant.

I wonder where could this guy went and what he is up to. 'Never seen him for awhile. Hope he is doing fine.

The weather is alright, I wonder what keeps him busy.

Tornado's profile says his last visit was a few days ago so still around, just hasn't crossed paths with you.

Some of the things that puzzle me do not come under a particular 'engineering' heading but nevertheless are linked to engineering. One question is related to human senses, of which we have five. Or is it six?.

For instance I sometimes wonder why some people seem rise to positions of eminence in any field through no apparent reason other than 'luck'.

Except an analysis of the situation shows that their 'luck' could come about because they have arranged their affairs in such a way that they where 'there' to benefit from events that fortuitously favoured them.

Could this be a 6th sense. That is, the ability to assemble the input from 5 senses in such a way that resulting deliberate actions are always favourable - and thus appearing 'lucky' to those without this 6th sense who always lose out.

Where the lack of a 6th sense (in what might be the majority of people) is likened to being born deaf or blind in the context of 5 senses.

Or is there a 6th sense that we do not posses (yet) that needs to be developed (human engineering?) to see us into future - and if this 6th sense is beneficial for all humans - would the first person to have it (use it to their own benefit) in a way that was benign or malignant.

A friend of mine worked in the UK civil service, apparently it was almost impossible to sack anyone without a great deal of effort & paperwork. Consequently, if they had a worker who was quite useless, the only way to get rid of them was to promote them so that they would be able to take on a more senior role in a different department. I suspect that this is how a lot of senior managers reach the height of their profession. If a department had a really good worker, they wanted to keep them so opportunities to progress their career were not made available.

Isn't that the Peter Principal that says people are promoted to their level of incompetence?
I despair of how good engineers get promoted into becoming bad managers.
Del

Gee , all you guys have fun. I am a workaholic and all i do is work. Some fun when i drive my sportbike or sportscar, but other than that WORK!

I'm a restaholic....

Just finished a very busy & tiring weekend on the beach but it was a great weekend.

Nice job. Lots of work, but worth it in the end.