Archive for the ‘Life and Times’ Category
July 2011 Site Overhaul
Go ahead- check it out! I’ve reworked the site to remove some focus from the blog, in order to make it less formal and hopefully increase posting volume to keep it more current. Shorter, more frequent updates. The main meat of the site will be static pages describing my more complete or noteworthy projects, which […]
In: Art and Design, Life and Times, Projects
The Moron Fireplace
First Man had Fire. Fire would be found in a pit or later a fireplace. With fire came soot and smoke. Eventually Man put his fireplace behind a pane of glass, eliminating smoke in his dwelling. And again Man figured out that he could have a fireplace burning gas that did away with smoke and […]
Back in Action
After having the last couple weeks of my life stolen by first illness, then jury duty, I’m finally back in control and ready to get the stuff that needs to get done done to make the projects that need to happen happen- like the car and the kart. I didn’t shave until I was booted […]
In: Battery Regulator, EV Miata, Life and Times
An Electric Bike Future? Count Me In
Cars are great, cars are fun- but if you’re looking for ultimate efficiency it’s hard to beat a bicycle. Pedaled or powered a bike will get your butt across town using a tiny fraction of the energy practically any other conveyance would. Meet my latest project: I’ve been working on the parts for this bike […]
In: Electric Poly-V Bike, Life and Times
Back in the USSR
At the Hudson Club meet at the Portola Valley Military Vehicle Technology Foundation (MVTF) we were given a tour of the massive (literally) collection of tanks, engines, guns, shells, jeeps and various tracked and 4, 8, 12,… wheeled killing machines. While that’s not really my cup of tea, I wandered around and found a few […]
In: Art and Design, Life and Times, Photo Journo
Guerrilla Solar
Back in the old days of Home Power magazine, before the Sunny Boy and Fronius, when the SW was the staple, and made by Trace, when wiring diagrams weren’t usually just a massive series string of modules…. Well, there was a little inverter called the Micro Sine, made by Trace. A 100w 12v or 24v […]
In: Life and Times, Renewable Energy System
An (almost) Year at AcuteAero
The site’s almost a year old! Time for a little check-in about how we’ve been doing! The About page has got a new, up to date section reflecting my outlook these days. I’ve just moved to a new WP-theme, “Grey Matter” in favor of the old customized K2 with custom header and background that I […]
The Insanity of the Economy
Browsing BoingBoing today I saw this article. I clicked through and looked through the photos posted on the auction website. It’s worth a look. Here’s the story: wikipedia Chrysler’s Newark Assembly plant in Newark, Delaware built tanks between 1951 and 1957, and cars between 1957 and 2009, including LeBarons, Town and Countrys, and most recently […]
The fragile fabric
Driving back to Albany from Santa Rosa on Sunday I witnessed a pretty gnarly car crash. Basically- I noticed this aggressive driver in a black Passat with frat letters on the back when they passed me on the right. Drifting around in the lane, uneven acceleration. Decided to give them wide berth. As I followed […]
In: Cars, Life and Times
Rabbit Diesel
Something strikes me as pretty funny about the car in this picture. Probably because I expect the driving experience in a diesel rabbit has got to be pretty wretched. Hey- I’ve got nothing but respect for terrible econoboxes boldly proclaiming their worst attributes!