Nothing much to write for here

Been mostly staying alive and tweeting, depositing checks and stuff. As you do.

Most exciting thing this week was getting a massage, second was making beans and rice with a ham bone in the crock pot. Making beans is like get up, plug in the crock pot, put the ham bone in the pot, put the beans in the pot, pre-heat the water and put it in the pot, cover and stir every 3 hours until done, then fish out the bones and serve the beans. I added a whole lot of hatch peppers to the beans after the third stirring to give them time to work their way through all the beans, but as big a pot of beans as I make even adding a cup of roasted peppers doesn’t change the taste much.

Just checked and my video game controller is still somewhere in the Pacific Ocean, expected arrival date sometime between my Deathday and my birthday. The steering box likewise is not off the boat either. And since we are talking about stuff that has been delayed by the pandemic, the people who I get my writing gigs through haven’t sent me an email in a while either.

In other news I need to take stuff to my local Social Security office, but they aren’t open yet… It’s a good thing I know how to make tasty beans and rice.

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Shopping take two

I didn’t get out to buy butane and bolts today because Mrs. the Poet got a call to go to lunch with a friend and I had already started a pot of beans and couldn’t leave them unattended for the hours and hours they need to assume their beany goodness. So she went out and I stayed with the beans, and I will go shopping on Friday. NBD.

I’m sitting at my desk eating my last meal of the day, which is usually the sandwich and veggies Mrs. the Poet makes for lunch, but because she went out for lunch I had to scrounge up my own food today, after spending hours slaving over a CrockPot full of beans and ham bone. In such a situation my goto meal is usually something in the ramen family or cup noodles, this time microwave ramen bowl with veggies. It is just a constant source of amazement that that tiny packet of dehydrated veggies fills so much of the plastic bowl the noodles ship in. I mean the package is barely as big as two matchbooks, but after cooking there is about a third of the bowl full of veggies. The noodles hardly change at all, but when the veggies are rehydrated suddenly there is a bowl full of food in front of me. I don’t care what others say to me this is one of the miracles of the modern age.

So anyway while I was making sure nothing bad happened to the beans I had some time to think about the reason for the shopping trip. One thing I came up with was spending the extra money for a second ⁵/₁₆” bolt to make the jig for the roll hoops, since they are going to be identical now. And with the jig I could theoretically make a kit for converting the AMT T roadster kits into a Mini Sprint-T if that seemed like it was a good idea. Right now it isn’t, but that might change in the future, who can say? Certainly not me. My prognostication abilities aren’t that precise. When I was asked to look at the possible outcomes of Bush v Gore I saw battles and chaos and interpreted that as possible civil war or riots in the streets, not the Iran /Afghan wars.

Anyway, back to the car model, if I can find some good wood in the garage I can drill a couple of holes in it to put the bolts into that would be the right distance apart. Then after making the first bend I could use the second bolt as a jig and make the second bend to make the hoop the exact right size for the frame, using guide marks on the jig to get the angles right, which is almost a pun, because both hoops need to have their legs bent to a right angle to the top bar of the hoop. The design has gone through some iterations where this was not a true statement, but for the time being it is true. Both hoops are the same, same width and same angles, and when the frame is finished and painted the internal bracing for the rear hoop gets bolted into the 1:1 Sprint-T after the painted and wired body gets slipped inside the frame and roll cage. Technically that should be a slash (/) instead of the word “and” because the frame rails go around the roll cage which forms structural bulkheads in the frame and the roll hoop bracing becomes part of the triangulation of the frame. As I pointed out years ago now, frame stiffness is a function of d⁴ where in this case d is the average distance from the bottom of the bottom rail to the top of the top rail, and running the top rail over the roll cage increases d to the max it can be without making either the top or bottom disconnected from the rest of the frame. And it’s much easier to build the frame with removable sections than it is to either spray the body inside the frame a different color, or build the frame around the body without causing damage to the body or getting overspray on the frame or body or both. The tricky part for the model is getting that same effect without messing up the paint when gluing the braces in the frame. I think I might need to use cyanoacrylate for these joints instead of my usual Testors solvent cement because “assembled after paint” so these joints will require a bit more patience fitting together than the ones for the solvent cement. And it’s starting to get to be time to hit the sheets, so I’m cutting this one short here.

Having difficulty doing a post ATM

Yesterday was a complete flop for pretty much everything as I tried to catch up from spending pretty much the entire day playing Shadowrun on Sunday, with a needy (and kneady) cat in my lap most of yesterday. I have decided today is Bean Day, so the crock pot is full of simmering vegetarian goodness, and I’m caught up on everything except posting to the blog.

Some time this week I need to wander by an auto parts store with my calipers and measure the oil filter for my engine so I can scale that picture of the engine, since it doesn’t look like I will have access to my donor vehicle any time soon. The current possessor of the minivan hasn’t shown much inclination towards delivery and until I can find an engine hoist somewhere I don’t have much I can do with it if I had it. But once I know the diameter of the oil filter (which doesn’t seem to be a common piece of data) I will be able to scale the picture I have of the engine and transmission.

That grey and silver thing to the right of the oil filter (the white thing on the front of the engine) is the forward engine mount and roughly on the CG of the engine/transmission combined. There’s another one behind the engine in this picture and they are supposed to carry most of the weight of the assembly. What I have to determine is how much of the accessory drive and transmission are going to stick out from the bottom of the body. That measurement will determine where I put the bucket body in relationship to the rear axle and engine.

I was also thinking about things like the engine cover and the driver compartment. These will change depending on where the bucket part of the body sits in relation to the engine if the wheelbase stays the same, and what I really want to do is keep the wheelbase as short as possible. Because of the physical size of the engine and the fuel tank and yr fthfl srvnt in the driver’s seat about the shortest I can make the wheelbase is 97-98″ without reducing the “ferry” range of the car. Since I plan on converting the engine to full-time E85 consumption and there is a lack of E85 west of TX to CA I have to either detune the engine for 91 octane premium gas or buy a really big gas tank to bridge the gaps between stations. The limitation here is once the compression ratio has been raised to use all of the antiknock of E85 the tune to run 91 premium is pretty gutless and uses more gas than if I could run E85.

And I have been researching the costs of reprogramming the factory computers to work in the TGS2 vs using a standalone controller that has to be programmed, and the costs are shifting back in favor of the standalone, but only just. Just about any tuner in town can program a MegaSquirt controller, and I can do the MegaShift transmission controller by myself with the free software, but the 22YO factory computer is fast becoming a specialist-only orphan that requires a cost premium for programming that exceeds the savings of using existing equipment. One thing I’m being told is the software to reprogram the OE controller is no longer available or that the version available will not run on current laptops. I’m more inclined to believe the latter statement is the actual truth, especially legacy code like you would expect for a 1996 ECM. I mean when the controller was built Win95 was replacing 3.2 and laptops were the equivalent of tens of thousands of today’s dollars and people using them had to have mobile computing. The laptop I’m doing this post on was $200 after tax as a point of comparison, and I’m using it because it’s faster than my old desktop. So, it’s extremely likely the software is for a version of Windows that is no longer supported by Microsoft.

More later.

It’s here it’s here, and the Feed

I have on my desk one of the tires from the kit I bought off Amazon. I think maybe all that tracking put the USPS on notice and the package got here the day before the first day of delivery I paid for.

Here’s the kit.

The side panel of the box.

The end panel

The most critical component in the kit for making the Mini Sprint-T.

If you look at the back side of the bucket from the kit,

And then look at the same view on the real car,

You can see the work that needs to be done to make the part for the Mini Sprint-T right. Not an impossible obstacle, just a little work in the pattern-making stage that will be reversible for making the kit as designed. I’m thinking some duct tape and some putty will do the job, or some kind of barrier and modelling putty to make that outside contour as smooth as the full-size part for making the mold for the vacuformed body for the Mini Sprint-T.

This is also bean day, so I have been tending a pot of beans with another ham bone in the pot that was left over from Thanksgiving a couple of years ago, that we just identified in the freezer.

Up first because it’s in the same state, someone got a lawyer down in Alvin. CLEAR LAKE ATTORNEY KILLED IN CYCLING ACCIDENT IN ALVIN The mode was running into the back of a parked car, which is usually cop-blame speak for a door prize, but the location given was wrong for a door prize. It was right for the kind of wreck where a cyclist gets run off the road and into a parked car which several people suggested in the comments section.

More on the FloriDUH! man. Driver killed cyclist after losing control while receiving services from a The break in the headline wasn’t mine but the origin web site. Yes this is another link to the “I can’t wait” man getting oral sex from a woman he just met in a bar. This would be a much funnier story if the cyclist was not permanently injured and the woman bit the “member” off “I can’t wait” man because of the wreck.

Another NC wreck. Cyclist hit, killed by driver in Orangeburg County Saturday I think it might be possible to have less information in an article, but it would be really hard.

Infrastructure article from SC. Northern Hilton Head Island spot of most bike wrecks They have had a major surge in bike mode share without a concurrent surge in bike wrecks, they must be doing something at least kinda right.

Continuing the trip south we end up back in FL. Ghost bikes gone, but message lingers The DOT does not like reminders that they have failed a very specific segment of road user so conspicuously so Ghost Bikes have a limited lifespan on their roads.

Almost as if the left and right hands are not in communication with each other. South Florida Safe Roads Task Force kicks off initiative to save lives I keep calling FL the most deadliest state in the US to walk or ride a bike, and they finally agree with me. They are doing the absolute minimum they can about the situation, but I suppose almost nothing is better than nothing at all.

A MN cyclist is left crossed while riding in the sidewalk. St. Cloud man injured after bike was hit by car The bike was legally lighted when hit, the driver was legally blind as in “I can see fine but I’m not paying any attention to the roads,” legal.

Seattle has a ninja problem. Don O’Neill: I almost killed a bicyclist who wasn’t using a light After almost hitting the first one he noticed several more later, which goes to show they aren’t really invisible drivers just need to pay attention to where they are driving.

Now that the World Championships are over they love bikes in Richmond VA? Richmonder of the Year: Cycling

Another Ghost Bike in the ABQ. Ghost bike installed to remember Albuquerque cyclist They say the cyclist ran the red but since the only surviving witness was the driver of the weapon vehicle…

Our Daily Ted, part one. Morning Links: Bike traffic up in Santa Monica, and more bighearted people for the season of giving

And Parté dos. Describe Your Ride: Commuting to work on the beach path and tourist-lined streets of Santa Monica

Over in Jolly Olde. Cyclist hugs and forgives driver who nearly killed her and led to her losing a leg I must say she is much more generous than I would be. I think I still have a pair of steel toe boots for kicking the crotch of the guy that hit me back in 2001 if he turns out to still be alive. And then for kicking the crotch of the “detective” that covered up the fact that I was hit by a city vehicle until after the statute of limitations to file suit against the city had expired. “Paul-Ioan Mihacea was fined just £750 after Victoria Lebrec was seriously hurt in the crash and only saved thanks to pioneering treatment” Yep, they gave her some good drugs the day of the hearing.

A cyclist was assaulted with a deadly weapon and they tried to rob him while he was down, but bystanders intervened. Cyclist injured after attempted robbery in Norwich

Over in Oz, a horrendous wreck. Cyclist killed in car crash in Perth and Perth cyclist killed hours before surprise party also Family of killed Perth cyclist Tom Curtis make road safety plea

And another wreck in Oz. Cyclist killed in crash with car in Maroubra OK he was hit by/with a car and …

And I’m outta links, which is good because I have a trip to the Lab Rat Keeper tomorrow to get more meds.

Billed @$0.02, Opus

One last day of batching it, and the Feed

Yes, Mrs. the Poet returns from her leaf-peeping expedition mid-day tomorrow, so I can quit with the frozen pizza and Ramen (not on the same days) for dinner. I’m making a pot of beans and rice for tonight so that there will be food available for dinner tomorrow that Mrs. the Poet doesn’t have to cook, and she likes my beans.

Up first more on the cyclist hit from behind riding on the shoulder, apparently by a drunk driver. Bicyclist from Orange struck and killed on Highway 12, alcohol suspected as a factor and ORANGE MAN KILLED IN BICYCLE/AUTO CRASH I don’t think I need to expound on how much I hate drunk drivers, I think drunks that kill need to be chained to the steering wheel of their car as the car gets run through a car shredder.

A cyclist is hit in MD. 82-year-old cyclist critically injured after hit by vehicle Part of the problem is mis-assigned priority between the bike facility and the road. The bike path feels like a limited-access highway for bikes, and riders expect the same kind of accommodations as limited-access highways get, not stopping at every side-street and back alley. That said until such changes are made, stop at the stop signs.

Justice delayed for a cyclist killed by a drunk driver in GA. Two years later, family still seeking justice for cyclist’s death Give him a fair trial and a decent hanging, or in his case put him back behind the wheel of that Mustang for one last ride through the car shredder.

Our Daily Ted part 1. Morning Links: gofundme for HB bike victim, bike lane and salmon cyclist signs in Santa Ana, and more CicLAvia

And Daily Ted part 2. Breaking News: Bike rider dies following wrong way collision in Boyle Heights last week

Another cyclist killed in America’s Paradise. Lahaina Man Succumbs to Injuries in Deadly “eBike” Crash Wrecks like this are one of the reasons why cyclists need to get out of the gutter and take the lane, where they belong as vehicles, and where drivers can see them and not run into them. This kind of wreck is unusual, but not unforeseen.

The DIY DOT is out in force in NYC. Will These Flowers & Cones Keep Brooklyn Cyclists Safe? You know what will absolutely keep cyclists and pedestrians safe in NYC? Mandatory confiscation of any vehicle that hits a cyclist or pedestrian until it can be checked for mechanical defects. Put one mechanic on the job, without any help, and forbid him to work more than a 40 hour week, which will result in a backlog of vehicles needing to be checked meaning people will have to wait for weeks or even months to get their vehicles back, and drivers will stop hitting cyclists and pedestrians, I guarantee it.

And I seriously can’t believe this guy. Man with sleep disorder who killed cyclist ‘shouldn’t have been on road’ and North Shields cyclist ‘hit and killed by sleep apnoea sufferer who had been warned not to drive’ This is kinda like the taxi driver who had an epileptic seizure and killed 4 people in NYC. If you know you have a medical condition that could cause you to no longer be in control of your vehicle without warning, don’t fucking drive! As far as I am concerned this was murder, pure and simple.

Not bicycles in this wreck, but cyclists played a part in the aftermath as one started first aid and another directed traffic around the wreck victim and the motorcycles. Moment passers-by rush to help injured motorcyclist after two ‘speeding’ motorbikes crash in south London Notice how the woman wearing the orange jersey secures her bike and then goes to work controlling the victim’s bleeding?

Some infrastructure news from Jolly Olde. Andrew Gilligan: detractors of cycling programme will be embarrassed once they see benefits Motor vehicles are already slightly in the minority because of economic pressures, so why continue to give them priority when it comes time to hand out the infrastructure funding?

Someone needs to tell The Age that stringing a rope across a trail isn’t a “prank”, it is an act of terrorism against trail users. Boy has neck slashed by rope while riding his bicycle

Notice that the onus is on cyclists being “visible” not on drivers looking out the windshield and not hitting cyclists? How cyclists and drivers can share the road safely Blinking lights and reflectors are of no use if the operator of the murder machine is not looking out to see where said murder machine is going.

You can improve your transportation and urban design vocabulary the way I did by reading thousands of articles on the subject (boooo-rrrring!) or you could play this game a few times. How a Not-Entirely-Polite Card Game Is Changing Urban Planning

Are you buying what you think you’re buying? BUY ORIGINAL PERFORMANCE AND SAFETY! CAMPAGNOLO AGAINST FORGERY IN DEFENSE OF SAFETY How to spot forged Campy products.

And last links, there is a pretty good (power and reliability and cheap) fuel-cell powered e-bike available. We Shouldn’t Be Afraid of Hydrogen Fuel — The H2 Electric Bike Is Proof and Linde AG: Linde’s hydrogen-powered bike shows new way towards electro-mobility (news with additional features) The biggest advantage of this system is the 5-6 minute refuel from empty, the biggest drawback to date is the total lack of hydrogen refueling stations in the US.

And I’m done for today.

Billed @€0.02, Opus the Poet