Shower Thoughts: Fermi Paradox

Perhaps, we have not found any obvious evidence of extraterrestrial life directly related to the Aliens olfactory capabilities. I've heard bloodhounds can track a smell three days after the scent was dropped. It is generally agreed dogs see the world through their extraordinary schnozzles. Ever watch a dog raise their snouts to the wind to catch whatever was floating in the breeze? Imagine E.T. sensation of smell capabilities are exponentially greater than the gap between our canines and us.

The aliens exploratory flybys combined with our sewer vent designs discharging our malodorous biological potency from the roof tops, it is simply too much for them to withstand. They cannot fathom any need for interaction with such a nauseatingly odoriferous and foul species. In return, this has given our blue orb a wide margin of space travel on the intergalactic charts. 

Are we the overflowing kybo ( Keep Your Bowels Open ) porta john of the universe? 

Yes, it has been a long time between posts. I got a little busy. Soooo now that the house has been designed, modified and built…moved twice…built a pump house, fixed a porch screen. And last week the pool construction began...

It might be some time before I post again. I need to build a new shop, setup a temp shop and figure out what I want to be when I grow up.

Ah...

Come an sit awhile...

Ok. We needed some outdoor chairs. It was a good deal...home assembly required. A relaxing evening of the boys riding on the sidewalks as I put these three D puzzles together. The left over stain and sealer from the table project should cover these nicely.

Anyway, you can see we have four. Some come by, sit down, chat awhile...we have plenty of seats. And we will be adding some tree stump footrests as we sit out on the new lot.

Shop Cleaned

Ah, finally. Things are where they belong. It is time to start another project. Produce, 29 matching fence panels. But until that project begins, enjoy the matching his and hers therapy sessions.

Deep, for the shallow end

every pizza is a personal pizza if you try hard and believe in yourself

Calvin

If he aged normally, Calvin would be 33 this year.

Taken For Granted

It has been brought to my attention that I have not posted anything in a while. So, in the spirit of random, here are some images that I have found interesting.

Also, a plug for my fathers blog, Taken For Granted. Where he freely admits to never playing frisbee golf, among other things.

Elusive Wisdom

Pulling the old chopper (2001, ha!) out of storage...sat since 08. Paughco frame mild stretch with a few degrees of rake, Revtech 100" c.i. (i know, i know, everyone has all kinds of issues with this motor, I have zero complaints). Going over the bike with a fine tooth comb, missing some bolts here and there, replacing all fluids, and wiring in horn and brake switch off the front caliper to the taillight.

I am having to rebuild the rear master cylinder. It had fluid in it (some clear, some color of carbon) seemed blocked up. Anyway, it is either a Jay Brake or Custom Chrome of the 2000 vintage.

I am looking for an exploded view (drawing) to be sure I have the parts back together correctly. The order of parts is easy enough but not 100% sure on a seal or two direction. How would that happen you ask. Did you not carefully disassemble paying close attention to the order of things?

Of course, not thinking ahead, I blew it out with the air compressor, blowing brake fluid into my eyes but also shooting the master cylinder piston and parts across the garage. Ode to Mr. Theissen (my Jr high shop teacher) yes sir, I WAS wearing my safety "goggles"...on the top of my head.

Ah, live and learn from your mistakes...I believe I found all the parts minus the last retaining ring that I have since replaced. I guess I will simply have to put fluid in it and see if by pushing on the level if indeed I have brakes.

Pop Psychology?

Hindering Further Progress

Or consider the normal mathematics curriculum, which continues relentlessly on its way, each new lesson assuming full knowledge and understanding of all that has passed before. Even though each point may be simple, once you fall behind it is hard to catch up. The result: mathematics phobia. Not because the material is difficult, but because it is taught so that difficulty in one stage hinders further progress. The problem is that once failure starts, it soon generalizes by self-blame to all of mathematics.

Similar processes are at work with technology. The vicious cycle starts: if you fail at something, you think it is your fault. Therefore you think you can’t do that task. As a result, next time you have to do the task, you believe you can’t so you don’t even try. The result is that you can’t, just as you thought. You’re trapped in a self-fulfilling prophecy.

From: “The Psychology of Everyday Things” by Donald A. Norman (link)

Bike mount

Update on the bike mount to lift the choppers. I needed to take the weight of the bike off the wheel to adjust the rear chain or as it turns out to change a front tire (rotten with age). I was not completely sure the design would work. I started with stitch welds attempting to keep things from heating up too much and warping. It cooled off, I welded it up. The bead work is not going to win any awards, some folks might not even recognize it was welding. In fact the welds may not be strong. I completed the welds and walked to turn off the welder. As I approached the welder I could hear the hiss of leaking gas. The line from the argon/oxygen mix was not tight enough in the back of the miller. Argh! I do not know if any gas reached the tip of the gun to shield the welding. I let the mount cool completely then very carefully tested its strength. The lift works, perhaps a short term solution until I can afford a lift table. The one thing in the design which I did not anticipate was the entire mount sliding on the floor when I lifted the bike with the pipe jack. That is better than the bike sliding on the pipe jack so it is the good news as it turns out. The bike is stable, not that I would leave it lifted while not working on it.

Following Instructions

Yep. He's the man!

Floor bike mounts.

Building a brace to hold the motorcycles level. Also with the pipe jack should be able to pick up one wheel at a time to work on them. We will see how well the garage engineering goes.

New project

Finally got the table finished. Really it could use one more complete sanding and one entire clear coat. But I had the deadline was to have the table competed by thanksgiving. Sooo it is close enough.

Ah, Sunday.

Post Dos

The family - minus the dogs of course. I say that because clearly you do not see the dogs in the picture. They were likely at home barking and protecting the back yard. I am unsure of what they believe might happen if some gets too close to "their" yard but they defend it none the less. The dogs that is, not the family. Well wait, the dogs also defend the family and pretty much vice versa.

In any case...happy halloween 2011...now what am I to dress up as???

Post Uno

My lovely wife posts a blog, The Sweet Life. The ironic thing, although I do not read it often as the subject is deeper in life that I tend to wade, is that the title says The Sweet Life but the blog is very complex.

Yes, spelling here is not going to count. Sentence structure is also out the window as is every other rule in life.

Yesterday, we received our very first 'smart' phones with the IPhone 4s. Yes, they are wonderful, they do a ton, as my wife says, 'you could rule the world with these' only if you could stop playing with it long enough...I believe that is why battery life is limited. You will never getting around to ruling the world. Which really, not sure why you would want the job. Sounds very demanding with very little fun.

The question here, even as wonderful as the new phone is...is it yet another item in my life that I think I rule over but in reality it owns me? Ah, think I will go watch 'Fight Club' and feel a big better.