Happy Pi Day

Yep, it’s that time again when we geeks share a love of math and puns, when the date happens to match something numerically significant. Today we celebrate by sharing pie because pun, the English word pie and the Greek letter pi are pronounced the same in most parts of the Anglophone world.

We are doing things a little different here at Casa de El Poeta. We had a $5 off coupon for cheesecake which in spite of the name is really a pie with no top crust. So our pie really is a lie, because it’s claiming to be a cake. Or is our cake a lie because it’s really a pie? Anywho, we’re eating cheesecake tonight.

In a few hours we are going to have game, I hope we get something done on the run we started back in January. That run was to rescue or kidnap a teen troll or orc (can’t remember after all this time) from a gated community in Denton. Anywho, if the GM is healthy today, and everyone is awake, we might get somewhere on this run. And I have to go now…

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Change of plans

I still haven’t made it to buy the butane and bolts. For some reason I just haven’t been able to get myself over there even though I have been able to get out of the house for other things. It’s even within walking distance, or what used to be walking distance until recently. What with the problem I have been having with my hip, and the problems I have been having not falling on my face when I get tired. So I don’t know what the problem is in getting butane and a few bolts. I plan on making a loop to the Lowe’s Wednesday after the Lab Rat Keeper to get the stuff, so no excuses.

I’m still tracking down why that one 383 build with the FIRST TPI manifold had such a steep drop-off of the torque curve. The data I have so far indicates the cam might be to blame because the guy that sells the manifold says the manifold does exactly what I saw in the video, but it can still make power at high RPM with even more displacement normally aspirated, and the heads were aftermarket aluminum so they should not be the source of the problem, either. That leaves only the cam in the Otto cycle (suck, squeeze, bang, blow) power equation unaccounted for. As I said in an earlier post the power output is fine, but the lack of power above 5000 RPM isn’t. So, more research on the cam specs is in order, and if it is a lift or a duration issue, or a combination of the two. Because head design does figure into it, how the intake port flows at low lift compared to high lift can dictate the cam specs. A combination that has relatively lower flow at low lift but greater flow at high lift (compared to another port design) requires spending less time at low lift and more time at high lift, so getting a cam with really high lift to get through the “bad” part of the flow as quickly as possible would be better than a longer duration cam with lift that wasn’t as high, Or given this manifold uses acoustic tuning for ram effect, maybe leaving the intake valve open longer would allow more ram effect and more air in the engine. Engines, like life in general, are a series of compromises.

I still don’t know what engine I will use on the Sprint-T, but I don’t seem to be able to let this problem go. I might end up with a Pentastar still, or a Subaru, or whatever I find that I can afford and get to the house. But right now I want to solve this mystery.

And I also need to get my fuzzy butt in a bed right now, so time to put the post to bed, unintentional pun.

Happy Star Wars Day

May the Fourth be with you, and also happy Cinco de Mayo!

Today’s walk was cancelled on account of goopy allergy eyes and rain-flooded sidewalks, but at least there weren’t any thunderstorms during the day, nor tornadoes. Just rain in the morning.

And for people who read the funny pages, we had an Eddie Crankshaft incident earlier this week. For the rest of you, a school bus backed over the mail box destroying the mounting pole and box. I’m mentioning it now because the paperwork has been completed for the school district to put in a replacement pole and box, made easier because the neighbor reported it too. We had just been discussing needing to put new numbers on the box because the old ones were getting a bit (a lot) faded. We still need to put new numbers on the box, but it will be on a brand-new box.

On the Sprint-T, I have a better handle on the frame weight and the projected empty weight is now 1450 pounds, or 1685 with me and race fuel.

Bills paid, and the Feed

I was out riding Francis/es and paying bills that accept cash payments today. Woo! fun… About halfway through the trip my handlebars decided to come askew in heavy motor vehicle traffic. Woo! fun… not really.

This one was in yesterday’s Daily Ted and this morning’s Feed. Driver Accused Of Grabbing Cyclist, Dragging Him On The Road To avoid, don’t confront the bullies while they are still in their weapons of mass destruction, GoPro the incident and post it on YouTube with annotations of allllll the laws violated. To prevent get that infrastructure “up to Dutch”.

Another cyclist has a problem out on the trails, this one in NC. Tega Cay bicyclist dies after crash on Baxter trails Another thing I don’t know what to do about, way outside my pay grade.

Still in NC a cyclist trying to get to the correct side of the road for her journey is hit by a driver backing out of a driveway. CYCLIST KILLED IN CHAPEL HILL and Cyclist hit, killed in Chapel Hill also Chapel Hill Cyclist Hit by Car, Killed and the tl;dr version from the blotter Police log: Subway robbery arrest; cyclist killed; Carrboro shooting probed The cyclist was coming down the hill towards her destination from the end of the bike trail to a secure crossing point when the driver backed blindly out of the parking lot driveway and hit her dead on. I blame this one entirely on the wretched state of the infrastructure involved. Fix that and everything goes away. The problem is there is no network, just detached bits an pieces that have to be connected by riding the streets or sidewalks.

No big deal, the Lt. Gov. of NJ was in a bike wreck. N.J. Politics Roundup: Christie and immigration; Guadagno injured; Booker vs. Bell poll also Acting N.J. Gov. Kim Guadagno hospitalized following bicycle accident

Why can’t we get something out of LEO when this happens? Lincoln cyclist seriously injured in crash Hit from behind for another cyclist riding on the shoulder of the road, shoulders are NOT bicycle infrastructure even though (some) planners insist they are. Protocols might help reduce damages, and actual bicycle infrastructure to Dutch standards to prevent another wreck. And why is it so frequently either a pickup truck or an SUV?

Blotter report on a CA cyclist getting knocked out by… something? Cyclist injured when struck He was hit and went unconscious, but the kind of vehicle and the mode were both left off the report.

I’m going to classify this wreck in the Great White North as a hit by train wreck, because the weapon vehicle was running on steel tracks set in the street. Cyclist seriously injured after struck by streetcar near Queen & Spadina The big difference between a train and a streetcar is the lack of grade separation so no barriers or signals to alert you of the vehicle being there, but everything else still holds. If you aren’t in or near the tracks then you can’t get hurt. They are still noisy when compared to a car so you can hear them pretty well coming up behind you. Just be looking for one when you see the tracks.

Once again if you really want or need to kill someone in an Anglophone country, use a motor vehicle. ‘If there is a Hell, we are living it’: Full statement of woman whose cyclist husband was killed by dangerous driver and Family of cyclist killed by dangerous driver ‘devastated’ by length of prison sentence This was from the UK, not that it makes a difference. Less than four years in the death of a cyclist…

From Enn Zed we may have a serial cyclist killer. Driver’s second time in fatal cyclist crash I’m reminded of what Alice said, “Curiouser and curiouser!” More Cyclist killed while on ‘great NZ adventure’

More on a South African hit-and-run. Cyclists stage protest after hit-and-run

Infrastructure! in action news from NYC. Video: Here’s What Happens When You Walk Into A Bike Lane Without Looking Fortunately the cyclist in this video has a very good SA and managed to not injure the pedestrian, just scare him a bit.

More infrastructure from NYC. Report: Pedestrian Injuries Caused by Cyclists Declining in NYC Very few pedestrians are getting hurt by cyclists, and despite more cyclists every year fewer pedestrians are getting hurt. That sounds like really good news to me.

Infrastructure news from LEO in CA and they even managed to get most of it right. Sheriff addresses bike safety I don’t suppose it would be asking too much for those enforcing the laws to actually know what the laws say and mean?

Infrastructure from Enn Zed. NZ: ‘Don’t go there, they kill you’ Well that is certainly a ringing endorsement of an entire country’s infrastructure and legal system. More Cyclist: I don’t trust Canterbury drivers

If you have one class of vehicles that is disproportionately represented in killing another class of vehicle user off, you might want to look for a design defect, like not being able to see what’s inside a 30 foot radius of the driver’s off side. Slow road to improve truck safety

A little lifestyle from CA. Injured vets all set for 465-mile bike ride from Palo Alto to LA

And those were all the links that fit the blog. Lots of motorcycle wrecks again all this week. And happy CB radio day (10/4).

Billed @€0.02, Opus the unkillable badass Poet