tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-72400629995324200042024-03-13T14:00:13.566-04:00DistractionsAttempts to write down things I'm mulling over, to make them more coherent for me, and possibly spark others' interests.<br>
<a href="http://artisansasylum.com/">Artisan's Asylum is great - I go there to weld etc.</a><br>
<a href="http://freedns.afraid.org/">free DNS hosting that I use</a><br>
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<a href="https://github.com/dllahr">my GitHub</a><br>Dave Lahrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09699052376229863747noreply@blogger.comBlogger115125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7240062999532420004.post-57354621644732518632023-06-29T01:02:00.005-04:002023-06-29T01:26:26.229-04:00perseverate<p>Perseverate - "repeat or prolong an action, thought, or utterance after the stimulus that prompted it has ceased"</p><p>It helped me - a lot - to realize I was doing this - here's my journey.</p><p>I have to actively work against perseverating. A mentor told me, "Why do you let things live rent free in your head?" I realized that what I considered "idle time" for my mind was actually valuable and I shouldn't waste it.</p><p>I spent entire bike rides to/from work - or woke up in the middle of the night - replaying conversations - redoing arguments. It made me irritable and sad and defensive. I realized life is too short - of all the possible things I could be doing this was not a priority!</p><p>It wasn't an immediate change and the work is ongoing but I've tried to build habits to manage it. Initially I would distract myself when I realized I was starting, I would pinch myself. Gradually I was able to very deliberately try to start a different train of thought.</p><p>I try to think about a puzzle or riddle or mathematical challenge. I also preempt by listening to audio books, or at night reading about an interesting topic (thanks Wikipedia/astronomy!)</p><p><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CuD_n_5u6VN3HRobGjWLWgC2CtL-bH-l4_kttU0/" target="_blank">instagram post</a></p><p><a href="https://twitter.com/dllahr/status/1674282198789156866" target="_blank">twitter thread</a></p>Dave Lahrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09699052376229863747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7240062999532420004.post-33534800105554489512023-03-27T06:10:00.001-04:002023-03-27T06:10:15.711-04:00homebrew cider second attempt: backsweetening<p><br /></p><p>NB this didn't work that well b/c I should have also added potassium metabisulfite.</p><p>Tue Feb 22, 2022</p><p> 5 gallons cider, Carlson Orchard - pasteurized but no additives (especially no potassium sorbate)</p><p>1 yeast packet (1 oz.) Red Star Premiere Blanc (formerly champagne yeast)</p><p>Sterilized equipment (carboy, funnel, airlock). Poured cider into carboy, added yeast, put on airlock.</p><p>Friday Mar 18, 2022 9:40 PM</p><p>Added 2.5 tsp of potassium sorbate. Mixed carboy thoroughly</p><p>*** should have added postassium metabisulfite ***. Sorbate stops yeast from dividing, does not stop them from fermenting.</p><p><a href="https://byo.com/article/backsweetening/" target="_blank">backsweetening reference</a></p><p>backsweetening calculation</p><p>1st batch of hard cider came out very dry - assume it is between 0 and 9 g/L sugar based on reference above. Assume it is 0 g/L, then if I get it to 9 g/L, it is at the boundary between dry and medium and will be sweeter than previously, but definitely not too sweet. If it starts at 9 g/L</p><div>target 9 g/L = 2.1 g / cup</div><div>initial volume: 5 gallons * 16 cups/per gallon = 80 cups</div><div><br /></div><div>x = # cups of apple cider to add</div><div>sugar amount: (24 g/cup) * (x cups)</div><div><br /></div><div>total volume: x + 80 cups initial volume</div><div><br /></div><div>sugar concentration (g/cup) s = 24*x / (x + 80)</div><div>target concentration: 2.1 g/ cup</div><div><br /></div><div>2.1 = 24x/(x+80)</div><div>2.1*(x+80) = 24x</div><div>2.1*x + 168 = 24x</div><div>21.9*x = 168</div><div>x = 7.67 cups</div><div><br /></div><div>What happens if initial amount of sugar is not zero?</div><div>residual sugar amount: 80 cups * (y g/cup residual sugar)</div><div>sugar concentration is: (24*x + 80*y) / (x + 80)</div><div>assume x=8 from above, then sugar concentration is:</div><div>s = (192 + 80*y) / 88 = 2.2 + 0.91*y</div><div>if y is 2.1 g/cup then sugar concentration is:</div><div>s = 2.2 + 0.91*2.1 = 2.2 + 1.8 = 4 g/cup</div><div><br /></div><div>This is still in the "medium" cider range, closer to the dry end of the scale.</div><div><br /></div>Dave Lahrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09699052376229863747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7240062999532420004.post-62689275578033183032022-03-20T12:03:00.006-04:002022-03-20T12:03:42.138-04:00quick notes on using a corny keg<p><a href="https://www.brewersfriend.com/2009/08/15/anatomy-of-a-keg/" target="_blank">link to website with description of parts of keg</a></p><p> out port:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>is for liquid to come out </li><li>labeled out on keg</li><li>use long dip tube that reaches to bottom of keg with it</li></ul><p></p><p>in port</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>is for gas to go into the keg</li><li>labeled "in" on keg</li><li>the keg post has notches on the base to identify it (notches are cut through the edge of the hexagonal wrench mating surfaces)</li><li>use short dip tube with it</li></ul><div>lid</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>to seat the lid make sure to use high pressure - 30 psi</li><ul><li>could try reversing the direction of the lid</li></ul></ul></div><p></p>Dave Lahrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09699052376229863747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7240062999532420004.post-87664403127033125932021-04-04T13:03:00.002-04:002021-04-04T13:13:01.539-04:00Would be possible to generate artificial gravitational waves that could be detected with the current detectors (LIGO, VIRGO)?<p>There has been a stunning revolution in astronomy over the past ~6 years with the detection of gravitational waves by the LIGO and VIRGO consortium. Now that we are detecting "naturally" made gravitational waves, I've been wondering could we generate them artificially - and detect them?</p><p>Would be possible to generate artificial gravitational waves that could be detected with the current detectors (LIGO, VIRGO)? Short version - seems like no. Sources that have currently been detected are mergers of black holes and neutron stars that are 10's to 100's of megaparsecs away, so first I consider reducing the mass and having the source be closer - and this still requires incredibly large masses moving very fast (now in close dangerously close proximity!)</p><p>I also tried a quick idea about using motion of electrons within atoms to generate gravitational waves, but electron motion is not that much faster, and the mass of the electrons is much too small. Motion of atoms within molecules would not achieve the required speeds and thus would require even more mass.</p><span><a name='more'></a></span><h1 style="text-align: left;">What can currently be detected?</h1><div>Here is a helpful chart gravitational of wave events that have been detected by LIGO & VIRGO as of this writing April 3 2021:</div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pMkVxuZsrTc/YGjYSSY7NhI/AAAAAAAAGgY/JtrE_TBl_N8Bwqhz-prUj2W_70nCt4nmgCLcBGAsYHQ/s917/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-04-03%2Bat%2B5.03.52%2BPM.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="671" data-original-width="917" height="469" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pMkVxuZsrTc/YGjYSSY7NhI/AAAAAAAAGgY/JtrE_TBl_N8Bwqhz-prUj2W_70nCt4nmgCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h469/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-04-03%2Bat%2B5.03.52%2BPM.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_gravitational_wave_observations#/media/File:O1&O2.svg" target="_blank">link to original</a></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div>I'm going to focus on the neutron star merger in the lower right corner of the above - GW170817 - <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GW170817" target="_blank">here is a link to the wikipedia article</a>, <a href="https://www.ligo.org/detections/GW170817/paper/GW170817-PRLpublished.pdf" target="_blank">here is a link to the PRL paper</a>. <br /><div><br /></div><div><h1>How to calculate the "intensity" (strain) of gravitational waves</h1><div>I'm using this write up by Bernard Schutz - "Gravitational Radiation" - <a href="http://cds.cern.ch/record/431187/files/0003069.pdf" target="_blank">link to original location where I found it</a>. <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1RaBUwkyTguBL7cNIBt0o1WsCnuYlznsw/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank">Link to a copy in case that link breaks</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div>His equation 8 (p. 4) specifies the "amplitude of the oscillation" - h - the strain:</div></div><div style="text-align: center;">$$ h \sim 2 \epsilon \frac{GM}{rc^2} $$</div><div style="text-align: center;">$\epsilon$ is defined later, roughly speaking related to the internal velocity of the source</div><div style="text-align: center;">$G$ is the gravitational constant</div><div style="text-align: center;">$M$ is the mass of "oscillating" system</div><div style="text-align: center;">$r$ is the distance to the oscillating system</div><div style="text-align: center;">$c$ is the speed of light</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
He provides a helpful equation to calculate this (partly anyway): </div><div style="text-align: left;"> $$ \frac{GM}{rc^2} = 2.4 \times 10^{-21} \left( \frac{M}{M_\odot} \right) \left( \frac{20 Mpc}{r} \right)$$
</div><div style="text-align: center;">$M_\odot$ is the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_mass" target="_blank">astronomical unit of mass aka solar mass</a></div><div style="text-align: center;">$20 Mpc$ is the unit of distance for comparison: 20 mega<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parsec" target="_blank">parsecs</a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">As a sanity check, plug in the the values for the neutron star merger GW170817 from above:</div><div style="text-align: left;">$$ \frac{GM}{rc^2} = 2.4 \times 10^{-21} \left( \frac{2.74 M_\odot}{M_\odot} \right) \left( \frac{20 Mpc}{40 Mpc} \right)$$</div><div style="text-align: left;">$$ = 3.29 \times 10^{-21} $$</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">From Figure 2 in the PRL paper, the strain observed is roughly $1 \times 10^{-21}$ to $7.5 \times 10^{-20}$, which is in rough agreement with this calculation</div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GXrGowTjDOo/YGj9Yu1iK8I/AAAAAAAAGgg/y9AZkLZyduoMGXG1N5tNvYKmVCkCyS0VQCLcBGAsYHQ/s673/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-04-03%2Bat%2B7.41.41%2BPM.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="673" data-original-width="647" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GXrGowTjDOo/YGj9Yu1iK8I/AAAAAAAAGgg/y9AZkLZyduoMGXG1N5tNvYKmVCkCyS0VQCLcBGAsYHQ/w616-h640/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-04-03%2Bat%2B7.41.41%2BPM.png" width="616" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Figure 2 from PRL paper referenced / linked to above</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;"></div><h1 style="text-align: left;">Attempting to create gravitational waves macroscopically by trading mass for distance </h1><div>As a thought experiment, what if we moved the system much closer - as close as possible - and reduced the mass so that proportionally the same intensity was observed? To do this, we keep the previously calculated strain, set a new distance of ~50 km (1.62 \times 10^{12} Mpc) and solve for the new mass:</div><div>$$ 3.29 \times 10^{-21} = 2.4 \times 10^{-21} \left( \frac{M_{new}}{M_\odot} \right) \left( \frac{20 Mpc}{1.62 \times 10^{-12} Mpc} \right) $$</div><div>$$ 1.37 = \left( \frac{M_{new}}{M_\odot} \right) \left( 1.23 \times 10^{13} \right) $$</div><div>$$ M_{new} = 1.1 \times 10^{-13} M_\odot $$</div><div>or in $kg$:</div><div>$$ M_{new} = 2.21 \times 10^{17} kg $$</div><div><br /></div><div>$M_{new}$ is a lot less than previously, and it's a lot less than the mass of the sun or the earth or even the moon ($7 \times 10^{22} kg$), but it's still a lot - not something that can be built practically to generate gravitational waves.</div><div><br /></div><div>The relationship between distance and and mass in this equation is inversely proportional, so even if you could move the system 0.5 km from the detector, it would still have to have a mass of $2.21 \times 10^{15} kg$ - still a lot!!</div><div><br /></div><div>And we haven't even checked in on how fast it has to be moving ...</div><div><br /></div><h1 style="text-align: left;">Effect of rotational speed on strain / intensity</h1><div>Schutz's equation 13 provides the relationship between rotational speed and the observed strain (reminder, strain is the intensity of gravitational radiation):</div><div>$$ h \sim \epsilon \frac{GM }{rc^2} $$</div><div>$$ = \frac{v^{2}_{N,S}}{c^2} \frac{GM }{rc^2} $$</div><div style="text-align: center;">(Note this equation defines the previously-vaguely-defined $\epsilon$ parameter)</div><div>Based on the data in Figure 2 from the PRL paper, very roughly speaking when the neutron stars were near each other, they had an orbital frequency of between 30-500 Hz. Let's define "near each" other as ~3 radii separation = 30 km. Let's use 100 Hz as the orbital frequency*, then the angular frequency is 628 radians/s. The velocity of the stars are then:</div><div>$$ v = \omega r = 628 \times 30 km $$</div><div>$$ \sim 19,000 \frac{km}{s} $$</div><div>$$ = 0.063 c $$</div><div><br /></div><div>About 6.3% the speed of light. That's pretty fast for somethings that are so heavy. For the above calculation trading mass for distance, we would need this speed for our $2.21 \times 10^{15} kg$ object - Not going to happen any time soon!</div><div><br /></div><div>* I think there may be a factor of two I'm neglecting here, but this a rough calculation so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯</div><h1 style="text-align: left;">Can we make further tradeoffs on distance and velocity for mass by using an atomic or molecular system?</h1><div>Short version: probably not.</div><div><br /></div><div>Slightly longer version: imagine we could have a chunk of material that we could cause coherent excitation of some atomic or molecular motion throughout all constituents (atoms or molecules in the chunk). Then in theory we could move this chunk very close to the detector - let's say 1 meter away. That gives us a factor of 500 reduction in the mass required. Now let's say we're able create motion with velocity 0.6 c (see appendix 1) this gives us an $\epsilon$ value of:</div><div>$$ \epsilon = \frac{v^2}{c^2} = 0.6^2 = 0.36 $$</div><div><br /></div><div>For the merging neutron stars we estimated their speed as 0.063 c, leading to $\epsilon = 0.004$. Therefore the change in epsilon is a factor of ~100 for the atomic/molecular system. Combining the proximity and speed factors, we have an increase of ~50,000. Applying that to the previously estimate mass leads to a new mass for the system of $44.2 \times 10^9 kg$. ~44 <i>billion</i> kilograms, and at this point we've made several unlikely assumptions to get there - we're not going to be able to put 44 billion kg of material within 1 meter of our detector, and we're definitely not going to be able to excite even a tiny fraction of it into a coherent motion of the nuclei*. Game over friend, game over.</div><div><br /></div><div>* that's right: in the appendix I'm discussing motion of electron in a highly idealized system, but in this case we would need to have motion of the nuclei, since that's where the vast majority of the mass in the atom is located.</div><h1 style="text-align: left;">Appendices</h1><h2 style="text-align: left;">An atomic system - electron orbiting an ion core</h2><p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rydberg_atom" target="_blank">Rydberg atoms</a> follow approximately Newtonian equations of motion:</p><p style="text-align: center;">$$F = ma = \frac{ke^2}{r^2} = \frac{mv^2}{r}$$</p><p style="text-align: center;">$e$ is the electric charge</p><p style="text-align: center;">$m$ is the mass of the electron</p><p style="text-align: center;">$v$ is the velocity of the electron</p><p style="text-align: center;">$r$ is the radius of the circular orbit of the electron</p><p style="text-align: center;">$k = \frac{1}{4 \pi \epsilon_0}$</p><p style="text-align: center;">$\epsilon_0$ is the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vacuum_permittivity" target="_blank">vacuum permittivity</a></p><p style="text-align: left;">Rearranging to solve for $v$:</p><p style="text-align: center;">$$v^2 = \frac{ke^2}{mr}$$</p><p style="text-align: left;">Following the referenced wikipedia article, the Bohr radius follows this equation:</p><p style="text-align: center;">$$mvr = n \hbar$$</p><p style="text-align: center;">$n$ is the principal quantum number of the electron</p><p style="text-align: center;">$\hbar$ is the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planck_constant" target="_blank">reduced Planck's constant</a></p><p style="text-align: left;">rearranging to solve for r: </p><p style="text-align: center;">$$r = \frac{n \hbar}{m v}$$</p><p style="text-align: left;">combining these two equations:</p><p style="text-align: center;">$$v^2 = \frac{ke^2}{m \frac{n \hbar}{m v}}$$</p><p style="text-align: center;">$$v = \frac{ke^2}{n \hbar}$$</p><p style="text-align: center;">$$ = \frac{e^2}{n \hbar} \frac{1}{4 \pi \epsilon_0} $$</p><p style="text-align: center;">$$ = \frac{e^2}{2 n h \epsilon_0}$$</p><p style="text-align: left;">plugging in values for the constants:</p><p style="text-align: center;">$$v = \frac{e^2}{n (4.14 \times 10^{-15} eV \cdot s) \cdot 2 \cdot (55.3 \frac{e^2}{GeV \cdot fm})}$$</p><p style="text-align: center;">$$ = \frac{1}{n (4.14 \times 10^{-15} eV \cdot s) \cdot 2 \cdot (55.3 \times 10^{-9} \frac{1}{eV \cdot fm})}$$</p><p style="text-align: center;">$$ = \frac{1}{n (4.58 \times 10^{-22} \frac{s}{fm})}$$</p><p style="text-align: center;">$$ = \frac{1}{n} (2.18 \times 10^{21} \frac{fm}{s})$$</p><p style="text-align: left;">in some alternate units:</p><p style="text-align: center;">$$v = \frac{1}{n} (2.18 \times 10^{6} \frac{m}{s})$$</p><p style="text-align: center;">$$ v = \frac{1}{n} (0.00727 c) $$</p><p style="text-align: center;">$c$ is the speed of light in vacuum</p><p style="text-align: left;">So the fastest speed will be in the "ground state" n=1. We can in fact boost this by increasing the charge on the nucleus / ion core - for example, if we used lead (atomic number 82) we could very crudely estimating that this core electron would be 82x faster, leading to a relationship of <span style="text-align: center;">$ v = \frac{1}{n} (0.596 c) $</span></p><p style="text-align: left;">A couple strong caveats / outright mistakes in the above logic:</p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>having an effective charge of +82 for lead is just wrong, but it's certainly an upper limit</li><li>An electron within a state is not actually moving with this velocity in the classical sense, but it's probably fair to say this is a safe upper limit</li><ul><li>In theory we would need to create a superposition between states to have something remotely like classical motion ...</li></ul></ul><p></p></div><h2 style="text-align: left;">Convert km to Mpc</h2><div>$$ 50 km \times \frac{1 Mpc}{30.9 \times 10^{12} km} = 1.62 \times 10^{-12} Mpc $$</div>Dave Lahrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09699052376229863747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7240062999532420004.post-80936614875235523462021-01-03T17:59:00.047-05:002021-01-03T18:18:31.731-05:00Understanding MOSFETs for use in a thermostat<h3 style="text-align: left;">Basic MOSFET background and operation</h3><div style="text-align: left;">A <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MOSFET" target="_blank">MOSFET</a> is basically a switch that can be controlled electronically - it's an acronym for Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor Field-Effect Transistor. Here is the electronic diagram of a MOSFET, note it has 3 leads labelled D, G, S:</div><div style="text-align: center;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-71cadf2c-7fff-8a4c-b933-7a30b5f12ce0"><img height="278px;" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/yMk2Gb8C-B8FwSOvBQAtFa0gh8kanoJaQezX9YDzcnSQOKwfx8ynui0PUej2ljBWttL48iLbDN7tNIquaXcZ9Dvs4-yY4fw_JlIvDHe5ziDWdmVrl7aaITcQOqT0U3kcoslVBzWlE_Ph3Q" width="234px;" /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span><a name='more'></a></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span>Here is a schematic of the physical structure of a MOSFET:</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Zgd3SnHvsqA/X-5272kCMZI/AAAAAAAAGZ0/uSqWtWqI1YAAAY2dRXIucLnPg_z3TEHjgCLcBGAsYHQ/s613/MOSFET_Structure.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="408" data-original-width="613" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Zgd3SnHvsqA/X-5272kCMZI/AAAAAAAAGZ0/uSqWtWqI1YAAAY2dRXIucLnPg_z3TEHjgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/MOSFET_Structure.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From Wikipedia MOSFET entry image create by <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Brews_ohare" target="_blank">Brews_ohare</a></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div><div><div>These letters stand for:</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>G: gate - (<b><i>Metal</i></b>) applying positive voltage to the gate with respect to the drain opens the switch. Note the insulation (<b><i>Oxide</i></b>, white) between the gate and the rest of the device</li><li>S: source (<b><i>Semiconductor</i></b>) - positive voltage is applied here to induce current (between S & D)</li><li>D: drain (<b><i>Semiconductor</i></b>) - ground or negative voltage is applied here to induce / receive current from the source</li><li>B: body - the body of the device, bulk substrate</li></ul></div><div>Note that even with the switch closed, although current can flow in both directions, it is preferential / easier for it to flow from S to D. </div><div><br /></div><div>To put this all in practical terms, for the specific MOSFET I'm using, without applying any voltages the resistance across S-D is 2.8 M ohm (switch open). Applying ~3 V across the G-D causes the resistance (S-D) go down to 0.1 ohm (switch closed).</div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Using MOSFET's to control the boiler</h3><div>In general our boiler (like many others) is controlled via two wires that are run through the house to where the thermostat is located to measure/control the temperature for that zone / area. The boiler applies 26 V AC across these two wires, and when current flows - for example by closing a switch connecting them - the boiler turns on. The boiler stays on as long as this circuit is closed, and turns off whenever it is open.</div><div><br /></div><div>We can use a MOSFET to act as the switch, by connecting the wires to the Source and Drain, however there is a problem: the MOSFET will preferentially allow current to flow when the voltage at the source is higher than the drain (i.e. lower resistance measured S-D). Since the boiler is using an AC voltage, the MOSFET will allow almost unimpeded current for half the cycle of the AC voltage - the other half will be attenuated.</div><div><br /></div>The recommended way to get around this problem is two use two MOSFETs wired in series aka "back-to-back". In this way both positive and negative parts of the AC voltage will be attenuated in the same manner, maintaining a symmetric signal. Here's a diagram of the circuit I built, using an electric imp to control the back-to-back MOSFETs:</div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YPCJhc1zLhc/X_JOrkYxAJI/AAAAAAAAGcE/S7pDF2PZHKI70IrnOQSGnbRwhu3ddvceQCLcBGAsYHQ/s785/2020-12-31%2Bmosfet%2Bthermostat%2B%25281%2529.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="537" data-original-width="785" height="438" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YPCJhc1zLhc/X_JOrkYxAJI/AAAAAAAAGcE/S7pDF2PZHKI70IrnOQSGnbRwhu3ddvceQCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h438/2020-12-31%2Bmosfet%2Bthermostat%2B%25281%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://docs.google.com/drawings/d/1JI7TofYdjD2izXkSTV8o2zuwhLfDFSZv6QZ3Pud3-Wg/edit?usp=sharing" style="text-align: left;" target="_blank">link to google drawing</a></td></tr></tbody></table><div>The sources of both MOSFETs are connected to each other and the ground (GND) of the electric imp, the electric imp control voltage (Pin 1) is connected to both gates, and the boiler wires carrying 26 V AC are connected to the drains of the MOSFETS. The electric imp breakout board also has a temperature sensor, and the electric imp is programmed (<a href="https://github.com/dllahr/home_control/tree/master/electric_imp/thermostat" target="_blank">link to code</a>) such that when the temperature measured drops below the set point, it applies voltage to Pin 1, causing the MOSFET gates to be biased and closing their switches, allowing the boiler control current to blow, turning on the boiler. After 20 minutes, the electric imp checks the temperature again, if it is above the set point it turns off the voltage to pin 1, causing the MOSFET gates to be unbiased, opening the switches and blocking the boiler control voltage from flowing.</div><div><br /></div><div>Here is a diagram I found illustrating how the current flows through the two back-to-back MOSFETs:</div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.homemade-circuits.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/BPS-Configuration-%E2%80%93-Back-to-Back-Connected-using-N-MOSFETs.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="358" height="223" src="https://www.homemade-circuits.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/BPS-Configuration-%E2%80%93-Back-to-Back-Connected-using-N-MOSFETs.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">from <a href="https://www.homemade-circuits.com/bidirectional-switch/" target="_blank">https://www.homemade-circuits.com/bidirectional-switch/</a> "Basic Functioning Details"</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div>To more fully understand this, I used a circuit simulation tool (<a href="https://www.partsim.com" target="_blank">PartSim</a> - free! Awesome to explore ideas!) to test some very simple MOSFET circuits. Here's an <a href="https://www.partsim.com/simulator/#374294" target="_blank">example circuit I used</a>:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eIp4KuZzH18/X_JEPxwB7PI/AAAAAAAAGbk/O2XzakxP8fkTmQC3DM9_y4DlCenfe-G7wCLcBGAsYHQ/s832/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-01-03%2Bat%2B5.23.59%2BPM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="418" data-original-width="832" height="322" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eIp4KuZzH18/X_JEPxwB7PI/AAAAAAAAGbk/O2XzakxP8fkTmQC3DM9_y4DlCenfe-G7wCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h322/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-01-03%2Bat%2B5.23.59%2BPM.png" width="640" /></a></div><div><br /></div>The MOSFET is Q1 (MCH2484), V6 is used to apply 5 V to the gate with respect to ground the source is also tied to ground. V7 is the applied voltage across the source/drain, the simulation will sweep this value from -24 V to +24 V. A 1k resistor (R2) and an ammeter (M3) are present to measure the total current and hence the total resistance.<br /><div><br /></div><div>Running the simulation on this circuit yields a plot of the current (measured at M3) vs. sweep voltage:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-f87JLX-7mOc/X_JFOBrv7xI/AAAAAAAAGbw/N3VUDe6ftDwOaSg6TfXcRQOdS9l6XT9IwCLcBGAsYHQ/s747/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-01-03%2Bat%2B5.21.44%2BPM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="570" data-original-width="747" height="488" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-f87JLX-7mOc/X_JFOBrv7xI/AAAAAAAAGbw/N3VUDe6ftDwOaSg6TfXcRQOdS9l6XT9IwCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h488/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-01-03%2Bat%2B5.21.44%2BPM.png" width="640" /></a></div>We can see in the above there are two lines with different slopes, that connect at 0 V (x-axis) and 0 mA (y-axis). The fact that the current vs. voltage is linear indicates the basic Ohm's law ($V = IR$) is in effect for the circuit, and the slope of the line is effectively the total resistance for the circuit. The lower slope for the line with negative sweep voltages indicates higher resistance when negative voltages are applied (and conversely, the higher slop for the line with positive sweep voltages indicates lower resistance when positive voltages are applied).<div><br /></div><div>For the circuit with two MOSFETs wired "back-to-back", for the positive applied voltage one will be operating in the higher resistance mode, the other in lower resistance mode - and the same is true for negative applied voltage. Hence there will be symmetric response to positive and negative voltage.</div><div><br /></div><div>Random: PartSim let's you share the project in an iFrame, which let's you embed it in a web page allowing you to zoom/pan to look at the circuit:</div>
<iframe frameborder="0" height="300" scrolling="no" src="https://www.partsim.com/embed/#374294" width="500"></iframe>
<div>Doesn't really matter for this simple circuit, but kind of a cool feature.</div>
<div><br /></div><div>References:</div><div><a href="https://www.ti.com/lit/ug/tiduc87a/tiduc87a.pdf?ts=1609481962896&ref_url=https%253A%252F%252Fwww.google.com%252F" target="_blank">Low-Cost AC Solid-State Relay With MOSFETs (Rev. A)</a> - section 2.1</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://www.homemade-circuits.com/bidirectional-switch/" target="_blank">https://www.homemade-circuits.com/bidirectional-switch/</a> - "Basic Functioning Details"</div><br />Dave Lahrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09699052376229863747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7240062999532420004.post-6252011080906087482020-12-31T14:28:00.007-05:002020-12-31T14:33:13.532-05:00Betting on the 2020 US presidential election *after* the election<p>A couple weeks after the 2020 US presidential election was held, Nate Silver tweeted several times about the irrationality of betting markets (for example PredictIt), since they still had a 10% chance of Trump wining various states.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://twitter.com/NateSilver538/status/1331966432335302658" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="Screenshot of tweet - text of tweet: Political betting markets still give Trump a >10% chance, both nationally and in several states where *results have been certified*. As I've said before, it's a bit alarming there are so many delusional people out there that the market equilibrium is this detached from reality. Tweet contains screenshot of betting market odds / map of US colored by odds of who wins each state." data-original-height="623" data-original-width="604" height="400" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-UiwABO9O7D8/X-4FVS4zY3I/AAAAAAAAGZM/-u7g9Rw5zaIv3YBqkfoPsOyszbAHuFA9ACLcBGAsYHQ/w388-h400/image.png" width="388" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Other versions of this tweet talked about "free money" and "money left on the table". I decided to try it out for myself discovering along the way that Nate failed to take into account transaction costs and market limits/barriers that contribute substantially to maker distortion. In other words, it's not solely as Nate says irrational people, but also other well know sources of market inefficiencies..</div><span><a name='more'></a></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">TL;DR I made a net profit of 6.8% in 1.3 months (before taxes, ~4.5% after taxes), from a gross profit of 13.8%. The 13.8% is close to (slightly higher than) the headline-grabbing number about irrational people in the markets, but from this example you can see that 67% of that "irrationality" is wiped out by simple transaction fees. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Here's a brief timeline of what I did, and how I discovered on the fly the transaction costs. Yes, I know: if I had RTFM beforehand... <i style="font-weight: bold;">bold italics</i> indicate transaction costs/barriers encountered.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><ol style="text-align: left;"><li>transferred in X dollars as investment to PredictIt (11/11/2020)</li><li>Attempted to bet on most profitable markets - Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan - <b><i>blocked because market had reached maximum number of traders</i></b></li><li>Invested in next most profitable market (Arizona) - <b><i>hit maximum allowed investment (Y)</i></b></li><li>Repeated by investing in next most profitable markets (Wisconsin, Nevada)</li><li>Later, Georgia market opened up, invested smaller remaining amount (~Y/2)</li><li>Most of these markets closed around December 15, 2020, </li><ol><li>NB: however PredictIt delayed Wisconsin b/c of a Wisconsin Supreme Court Ruling</li></ol><li>Overall gross profit was 13.8%</li><li><b><i>PredictIt takes 10% of winnings, so percent winnings was 12.4%</i></b></li><li>Withdrew all money (12/21/2020), <b><i>PredictIt takes 5% of all money withdrawn, so profit in hand is 6.8%</i></b></li><li>I'm going to pay income taxes (around 33%) on the winnings, which makes <b><i>profit after income tax 4.5%</i></b></li></ol></div>Although it all worked out in the end, during the entire time my money was invested I was worried about the possibility of losing it all. Perhaps this was unrealistic, but given the crazy political and social atmosphere it was hard to avoid feeling that way.<p></p>Dave Lahrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09699052376229863747noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7240062999532420004.post-84429683999269499122020-12-24T15:38:00.000-05:002020-12-24T15:38:13.230-05:00using LaTex in blogger<p> Bit of a meta post here - how I use LaTex formatting for math / equations in blogger. Starting with this <a href="https://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/13865/how-to-use-latex-on-blogspot" target="_blank">Stack Exchange TEX question/answer</a>, I copied the provided code to load the MathJax library and then followed these <a href="https://support.google.com/blogger/answer/176245?hl=en" target="_blank">blogger/google instructions</a> in the section "change your blog with HTML or css", in the html section - edited the blog template, added the code copied from above into the <head> section. Seems to be working now:</p><p>$$a^2 + b^2 = c^2$$</p><p>$$y(x) = sin(\omega x)$$</p><p>$$c^2 = a^2 + b^2 - 2ab \cos(c)$$</p>Dave Lahrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09699052376229863747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7240062999532420004.post-89856400685117495592020-12-24T14:34:00.338-05:002024-01-01T17:57:10.321-05:00hello world physics - part 1 classical mechanics
<p>
I've been struggling to understand General Relativity - the theory that describes gravity - for a long time now. One thing I realized might help is a very simple example - solving a very simple, recognizable problem using general relativity. In an analogy with software engineering, I'm looking for how write "hello world" in new programming language.
</p>
<p>
For the equivalent of programming's "hello world" in physics, I'm going to choose the problem of tossing a ball up into the air. I'm going to solve this problem using 4 different types of physics: classical/Newtonian, quantum mechanics, general relativity, and quantum electrodynamics. I hope this will give me (and you perhaps) a better understanding of the differences and similarities between these theories, and some practical understanding of how one uses / applies them.
</p>
<span><a name='more'></a></span>
<p>For all of these examples, we'll use these assumptions:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>no air resistance / friction</li><li>perfectly elastic collisions</li><li>the surface of the earth is immovable (does not recoil in collision)</li><li>force of gravity is constant / acceleration of gravity is constant (9.8 $m/s^2$)</li></ul>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">Classical mechanics</h2>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">summary</h3>
<div>
<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>velocity as a function of time</td>
<td>$ v = -gt + v_0 $</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>position aka height as a function of time </td>
<td>$ x = -\frac{1}{2}gt^2 + v_0t $</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>time to reach maximum height</td>
<td>$$ t_\text{max height} = \frac{v_0}{g} $$</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>maximum height</td>
<td>$$ x_\text{max} = \frac{1}{2} \frac{v_0^2}{g} $$</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>time to return to ground</td>
<td>$$ t_\text{return} = 2 \frac{v_0}{g} $$</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</div>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">derivation</h3>
<div><div>We'll use Newton's second law of motion, in equation form:</div><div>$$ F=ma $$</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>$F$ is the force applied to the ball</li><li>$m$ is the mass of the ball</li><li>$a$ is the acceleration of the ball</li></ul><div>Acceleration is the second derivative of position - height above the Earth's surface - ($x$) with respect to time:</div></div><div>$$ a = \frac{d^2x}{dt^2} $$</div><div><br /></div><div>Substituting the definition of acceleration into Newton's second law yields:</div><div>$$ m\frac{d^2x}{dt^2} = F $$</div></div><div><br /></div><div>The only force applied to the ball is the force of gravity:</div><div>$$ F = -mg $$</div><div><br /></div><div>Combining these equations yields our differential equation of motion:</div><div>$$ m\frac{d^2x}{dt^2} = -mg $$</div><div><br /></div><div>Simplifies to:</div><div>$$ \frac{d^2x}{dt^2} = -g $$</div><div><br /></div><div>To simplify solving this equation, let's first substitute in for the velocity</div><div>$$ v=\frac{dx}{dt} $$</div><div>$$ a=\frac{dv}{dt} $$</div><div><br /></div><div>Then our differential equation of motion becomes:</div><div>$$ \frac{dv}{dt} = -g $$</div><div><br /></div><div>Integrating this equation yields:</div><div>$$ v = -gt + v_0 $$</div><div><br /></div><div>$v_0$ is the constant of integration of integration. It is the initial velocity of the ball - we can see this by setting $t=0$ in the above equation:</div><div>$$ v(t=0) = -g\cdot0 + v_0 $$</div><div>$$ v(t=0) = v_0 $$</div><div><br /></div><div>Now we can substitute the definition of velocity into this equation:</div><div>$$ \frac{dx}{dt} = -gt + v_0 $$</div><div><br /></div><div>Integrating this equation yields:</div><div>$$ x = -\frac{1}{2}gt^2 + v_0t + x_0 $$</div><div><br /></div><div>$x_0$ is the initial position of the ball which you can see by setting t=0 as we did for the velocity equation (left as an exercise for the reader ;). For simplicity we'll set it equal to zero so our equation becomes:</div><div>$$ x = -\frac{1}{2}gt^2 + v_0t $$</div><div><br /></div><div>This traces out the exact path of the ball over time. Some questions we can answer with these equations:</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>How high does the ball go?</li><li>When does the ball hit the Earth again?</li></ul><div>To determine how high the ball goes, we can use the fact that at its highest point the ball stops moving - only for an infinitesimal amount of time - before falling back to Earth. That means at the highest point the velocity is zero. Therefore we use the velocity equation, set $v=0$ an solve for $t$. Once we know $t$ we can substitute into the position equation. First, using the velocity equation setting $v=0$:</div></div><div>$$ 0 = -gt + v_0 $$</div><div>$$ gt = v_0 $$</div><div>$$ t = \frac{v_0}{g} $$</div><div><br /></div><div>In other words, the initial velocity divided by the acceleration due to gravity yields the time at which the ball reaches its maximum height. Now we can solve for the position at this time to get the maximum height the ball reaches:</div><div>$$ x_{max} = -\frac{1}{2}g \left( \frac{v_0}{g} \right)^2 + v_0 \left( \frac{v_0}{g} \right) $$</div><div>$$ x_{max} = -\frac{1}{2} \frac{v_0^2}{g} + \frac{v_0^2}{g} $$</div><div>$$ x_{max} = \frac{1}{2} \frac{v_0^2}{g} $$</div><div><br /></div><div>When does the ball hit the ground again? We can use the equation for the position, set $x=0$ and solve for t:</div><div>$$ 0 = -\frac{1}{2}gt^2 + v_0t $$</div><div>$$ 0 = t \left( -\frac{1}{2}gt + v_0 \right) $$</div><div><br /></div><div>One solution is $t=0$. The other solution we get by solving:</div><div>$$ 0 = -\frac{1}{2}gt + v_0 $$</div><div>$$ \frac{1}{2}gt = v_0 $$</div><div>$$ t = 2 \frac{v_0}{g} $$</div>Dave Lahrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09699052376229863747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7240062999532420004.post-9207531973439134902020-10-12T19:59:00.002-04:002020-10-12T19:59:40.572-04:00Looking at and thinking about lightning strikes<p> I captured some lightning strikes on video, it was neat to look at the individual frames and observe the qualitative standard progression of how they work.</p><span><a name='more'></a>To start, here's the video of the lightning strike - probably best to watch at 0.25 speed after watching at normal:</span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/6dBYCDt46dE" width="320" youtube-src-id="6dBYCDt46dE"></iframe></div><div><br /></div>Now I'll walk through the frames of the strike. <div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FvIbkW4pNnI/X4TncRX5W5I/AAAAAAAAGTg/b2qON62KgDgcz3b-VkBYh-pihC03HdGfACLcBGAsYHQ/s1920/2020-10-07_lightning_watertown_01.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FvIbkW4pNnI/X4TncRX5W5I/AAAAAAAAGTg/b2qON62KgDgcz3b-VkBYh-pihC03HdGfACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/2020-10-07_lightning_watertown_01.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">01 immediately before any indication of lightning</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wofpqAZoCbg/X4TncbuPTkI/AAAAAAAAGTk/Q8xMOFnPfsQPQq-8I3HMOGeeCWRUfCbbQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1920/2020-10-07_lightning_watertown_02.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wofpqAZoCbg/X4TncbuPTkI/AAAAAAAAGTk/Q8xMOFnPfsQPQq-8I3HMOGeeCWRUfCbbQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/2020-10-07_lightning_watertown_02.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">02 initial strike</span></td></tr></tbody></table>An initial strike that "paves the way" for a bigger strike. The idea is that this initial strike ionizes the air, turning it into a plasma, in which the molecules in the air have been ionized, so there are now additional free electrons, and the molecules themselves are now ions that aid in the conduction of electricity. Also notice that the branching occurs from right to left. I believe this indicates the direction of propagation (from right to left) even though we don't have distinct frames showing this progression.<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PmWiyu1WSAs/X4TncSgID0I/AAAAAAAAGTo/k0r9FKxsU5odWjvA7jWjHzojNnsDIJRYQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1920/2020-10-07_lightning_watertown_03.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PmWiyu1WSAs/X4TncSgID0I/AAAAAAAAGTo/k0r9FKxsU5odWjvA7jWjHzojNnsDIJRYQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/2020-10-07_lightning_watertown_03.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">03 the big strike</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div>Clearly there is a large bright area in this image that matches up with the path of the initial strike in 02. I'm not sure in this frame if the path of the lightning is actually represented by everywhere that is glowing in this image, or if that is due to the sudden very dramatic increase in brightness.</div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rd-L3t30WaU/X4Tnc45IuQI/AAAAAAAAGTs/lLOtoN4PDYIDjuc-syvybhibn02iIOGfQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1920/2020-10-07_lightning_watertown_04.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rd-L3t30WaU/X4Tnc45IuQI/AAAAAAAAGTs/lLOtoN4PDYIDjuc-syvybhibn02iIOGfQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/2020-10-07_lightning_watertown_04.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">04 immediately after the big strike<br /></td></tr></tbody></table>After the big strike the original pathway is now visible however the branches are gone. This would seem consistent with the idea that the big strike chose one branch and followed that, and we are now looking at the after glow as the plasma recombines and cools off. Comparing this frame with 02 we can see some fairly large "branches" as well as many / all of the smaller branches are gone.</div><div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-P9LPxWlUABI/X4TndJcRhyI/AAAAAAAAGTw/CbTvXtBXoa0qbDVb-bsd60TLX9egfwIEACLcBGAsYHQ/s1920/2020-10-07_lightning_watertown_05.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-P9LPxWlUABI/X4TndJcRhyI/AAAAAAAAGTw/CbTvXtBXoa0qbDVb-bsd60TLX9egfwIEACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/2020-10-07_lightning_watertown_05.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">05 continued fading of the path<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WkNhDJbRfwA/X4TndMxb7OI/AAAAAAAAGT0/FXMpd2MdLjwiZ_8zbBLmdN52uHR0_fZngCLcBGAsYHQ/s1920/2020-10-07_lightning_watertown_06.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WkNhDJbRfwA/X4TndMxb7OI/AAAAAAAAGT0/FXMpd2MdLjwiZ_8zbBLmdN52uHR0_fZngCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/2020-10-07_lightning_watertown_06.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">06 continued fading of the path</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ijdsXZcEqYE/X4TndYIYRnI/AAAAAAAAGT4/BpbM0UyiwkkXRf6ejsJ6ffaeoBD2w6VhwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1920/2020-10-07_lightning_watertown_07.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ijdsXZcEqYE/X4TndYIYRnI/AAAAAAAAGT4/BpbM0UyiwkkXRf6ejsJ6ffaeoBD2w6VhwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/2020-10-07_lightning_watertown_07.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">07 continued fading of the path</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3S43-0d7j_Y/X4TndeRCreI/AAAAAAAAGT8/udaVF8nLKG4b9mblDksNqNuOPLfh2a-OQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1920/2020-10-07_lightning_watertown_08.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3S43-0d7j_Y/X4TndeRCreI/AAAAAAAAGT8/udaVF8nLKG4b9mblDksNqNuOPLfh2a-OQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/2020-10-07_lightning_watertown_08.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">08 continued fading of the path</td></tr></tbody></table></div><span><!--more--></span><span>Here's a video of another lightning strike I captured:</span><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/s_d-pQ58vjc" width="320" youtube-src-id="s_d-pQ58vjc"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Below are the frames - the initial frames tell a remarkably similar story to the first strike described above. It gets a little more complicated after that as it then seems like a subsequent strike to ground partly uses the path of the initial horizontal strike.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DUqe31v3gds/X4TtLkaiZzI/AAAAAAAAGUk/3qimiP96t5YuRSnUwT2wpNM-fZm2Y3BegCLcBGAsYHQ/s1920/2020-10-07_watertown_lighting_02_f01.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DUqe31v3gds/X4TtLkaiZzI/AAAAAAAAGUk/3qimiP96t5YuRSnUwT2wpNM-fZm2Y3BegCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/2020-10-07_watertown_lighting_02_f01.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7at7sJFJv-c/X4TtLs7CXMI/AAAAAAAAGUg/zrUxSD3tiKYUDikNhV0mDPYOFhkqSxN7wCLcBGAsYHQ/s1920/2020-10-07_watertown_lighting_02_f02.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7at7sJFJv-c/X4TtLs7CXMI/AAAAAAAAGUg/zrUxSD3tiKYUDikNhV0mDPYOFhkqSxN7wCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/2020-10-07_watertown_lighting_02_f02.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vt1WGrGNyIU/X4TtLtd_raI/AAAAAAAAGUc/WuaVNBfktLQAiJCTPnCaOEUKgi3uoS5OwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1920/2020-10-07_watertown_lighting_02_f03.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vt1WGrGNyIU/X4TtLtd_raI/AAAAAAAAGUc/WuaVNBfktLQAiJCTPnCaOEUKgi3uoS5OwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/2020-10-07_watertown_lighting_02_f03.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RuTnezTEm8o/X4TtMK--PVI/AAAAAAAAGUo/h7BaW_1iOCk850-3K3dnIjdLFA47HoGwQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1920/2020-10-07_watertown_lighting_02_f04.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; 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margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MZxWAJdkino/X4TtOh7KwTI/AAAAAAAAGVQ/79VO4suS8vYaPnpmjx06Dl0Ngx4J8tKmQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/2020-10-07_watertown_lighting_02_f14.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jTRdmxpTOpc/X4TtO9WgSeI/AAAAAAAAGVU/cm3Zn2Nu09U4y3j-0__Dbv-3yQRW0P8LACLcBGAsYHQ/s1920/2020-10-07_watertown_lighting_02_f15.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jTRdmxpTOpc/X4TtO9WgSeI/AAAAAAAAGVU/cm3Zn2Nu09U4y3j-0__Dbv-3yQRW0P8LACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/2020-10-07_watertown_lighting_02_f15.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jr-KNFItmao/X4TtPFEtaSI/AAAAAAAAGVY/tEG5h2u5f70CLxfT-56YiMQpFtV1w4PpwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1920/2020-10-07_watertown_lighting_02_f16.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jr-KNFItmao/X4TtPFEtaSI/AAAAAAAAGVY/tEG5h2u5f70CLxfT-56YiMQpFtV1w4PpwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/2020-10-07_watertown_lighting_02_f16.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><span><br /></span></div>Dave Lahrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09699052376229863747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7240062999532420004.post-63123680103342612492020-10-12T19:25:00.000-04:002020-10-12T19:25:07.217-04:00My visceral reactions to GLOW: delving in to my childhood during the 1980's<p>I recently watched <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GLOW_(TV_series)" target="_blank">GLOW</a> - the Netflix TV series about the 1980's female wrestling show of the same name (Gorgeous Ladies Of Wresting) and was extremely surprised that seeing the styles of the 80's and hearing the music had a deep / profound impact on me. It hit me. It connected. I was 9-10 years old at the that time, but hated it! It's not that I decried the music publicly but secretly loved - I have no memory of ever enjoying it. I wrote this blog post to explore why I deeply enjoyed it now, and have loved watching GLOW.</p><span><a name='more'></a></span><p>GLOW is set in the mid-80's (1985-1986), and I was 9-10 years old at the time. That's 4th grade - I don't have much memory of pop-culture influencing me at that time. I feel like that didn't start to happen until 6th grade and onwards. But it must have been there in the background, TV shows, music on the radio. Being in rural Western NY (WNY) state (nearest to Buffalo NY but definitely not part of Buffalo), my impression was always been that there is a lag for pop culture, fashion to reach us. So perhaps that lag might mean that the music / styles of GLOW didn't reach WNY until 1989, when I was few years older and starting to notice pop culture. </p><p>I remember hearing songs from GLOW soundtrack when going roller skating on Friday nights (there was randomly a very small amusement park with a rink ~1 mile from our house) - and that was 6th-8th grade. I certainly heard some of it when I worked as dishwasher in a local restaurant (summers 9th and 10th grade). </p><p>I always felts like an outsider growing up. In hindsight partly this is just who I am - but partly it was the culture of the area, and the clash between that culture and my family's beliefs and values. The vast majority were white, Anglo-Saxon (Swedish from way back actually), protestant. Some were Italian and/or Catholic. I don't remember my classmates really differentiating between these, but I very clearly remember my 10th grade English teacher saying when she was young in the area, Italians / Catholic were very much looked down on. All in all, white and Christian was > 90% of the population (at least from my perspective). Contrast with my family: my dad <i>converted</i> to Judaism. There was one other family in the entire school district that was Jewish, and they were not converts. My parents had a pretty easy going attitude towards religion, and this was mind-blowing to my classmates, completely unheard of - to them, you were born into your religion and you stayed with it. Going to church was religious and of course social, and I was completely excluded from that. I'm not blaming <i>anyone</i> for this and in hindsight I wouldn't change it, but it certainly cut me out of lot large chunk of social functions with my classmates.</p><p>I write the above about my feeling excluded to rationalize why I didn't like 80's pop culture. I wasn't part of my local culture; they were into and enjoying the general US 1980's culture; ergo I was not. Caveat / exception was heavy metal / hard rock - at least my understanding of it at that time - but this seemed to be a reaction against pop culture. Side note, when I got exposed to Pearl Jam and Nirvana and early 90's music, my mind absolutely exploded - I have to say it must partly be because I was impressionable, I was the right age to be imprinted - but also because it seemed to me to be rejecting everything about the 80's - whether pop culture or heavy metal or hard rock or glam rock. (I also started to associate heavy metal / hard rock with bullies at my school, so I was happy to reject that as well - and the timing coincided with my physical development that allowed me to be less prone to bullying).</p><p>The above context is critical to me to explain my visceral / strong / emotional response to GLOW. What resonated with me about GLOW is the group of women who are not the most popular, not the most successful, not perfect, but they are living in the 80's, enjoying the culture, enjoying what they have in the moment. They are real! They are relatable, admirable, heroic, flawed. Watching GLOW broke the connection in my mind between 80's pop culture being owned by the "in-crowd" that I was not part of, allowing my suppressed appreciation and enjoyment of the 80's to come rushing in. It turns out I do enjoy <i>that</i> music that at that time I couldn't stand.</p><p>To be fair I had hints of this before GLOW - commiserating with a friend I grew up with who was in a similar situation, I remember admitting to him a few years ago that I did enjoy some of the "classic rock" (1970's) that we so despised at the time. He also worked in the same restaurant where I washed dishes (and sometimes cooked) during high school summers, and the classic rock of the time and pop music was playing constantly in the kitchen. It imprinted on me, and although I wouldn't have admitted it at the time - for fear of losing the small tenuous connection to the social group I was somewhat part of - I did enjoy it (although to be fair the rotation repeated a lot and we could start to predict the same song because they didn't even mix up the order they played songs in on the local radio stations). </p><p>Another part of the story is that for some reason towards the end of grad school, and certainly during my post-doc, I greatly reduced the f*cks I had to give about people's negative opinions about things I enjoyed - web comics and dungeons's and dragons being foremost among them. I wish that had happened earlier, it was very liberating. That allowed me to completely submerse myself in the world of GLOW.</p><div><br /></div>Dave Lahrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09699052376229863747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7240062999532420004.post-41472810534105032922020-09-26T14:45:00.005-04:002020-09-26T14:45:49.245-04:00Repairing (repointing) stone retaining walls<p>Some stones had fallen off some stone walls in our backyard, and I decided to repair them - basically cleaning up the area where the stones should go, mortaring them back in place. Note these are nominally retaining walls but the work I did was not structural - there is not a bulge or tilt to these walls, the stones for the most part were on the top or edge of the wall.</p><span><a name='more'></a></span><p>Materials</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li> mortar mix, type N (Quikrete)</li><ul><li>used about 32 lbs. (2/5) of an 80 lb. bag</li></ul><li>Concrete acrylic fortifier from Quikrete</li><ul><li>used about 2/5 of 1 quart</li></ul></ul><div>Tools</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>10 gallon bucket</li><li>small garden trowel</li><li>masonry trowel</li><li>gloves**</li><ul><li>(I didn't actually have these but I should have)</li></ul><li>small metal chisel</li><li>handheld sledgehammer / pick</li><li>wire brush</li><li>garden hose with nozzle with jet setting</li></ul></div><p></p><p>There wasn't much loose mortar to remove, and I mistakenly thought I should remove any/all old mortar - this led to me hitting the stone wall with too much force, and knocking of other stones and even an entire large section that was probably fine. This just made more work for me to do, luckily it didn't appear to affect the structural integrity (it was at the end of a tapered section of wall so very little force / pressure / earth behind it).</p><p>I started by using a chisel and hand-held sledge hammer to try to remove the mortar, then I just used the wedge end of the sledge hammer - and that's when I used to much force.</p><p>I cleaned the areas and the stones using a small wire brush, and then sprayed it with a water from garden hose with the adjustable nozzle set to jet.</p><p>The mortar I used is from quikrete - it called for 4.7 L of water to mixed with the entire 80 lb. bag. My plan was to mix 1 L of water, some binding agent, and 1/5 the bag of mortar. What actually happened was I measured 1 L of water into a 10 gal bucket, added some concrete binder (~1/10th quart), then added and mixed mortar powder until the consistency was thick and at least 0.5 inch of mortar would stay on the trowel held vertically (instructions from mortar bag). I ended up making three batches of mortar to get everything done - I wasn't confident I could work fast enough to make more.</p><p>I applied the mortar initially with a trowel, but then just using my hands. WARNING: big mistake to not use gloves, the mortar is caustic! My hands hurt for days, and the fingerprint swipe on my phone stopped working (mostly) because the skin had been dissolved off my finger tips. </p><p>Here are some pictures of the results:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zCcEGsLrWw4/X2e3RibI0TI/AAAAAAAAGRc/60nXpSmhm9sma9QFTjLipfeSNTeR7rGRQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_20200913_120801410.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zCcEGsLrWw4/X2e3RibI0TI/AAAAAAAAGRc/60nXpSmhm9sma9QFTjLipfeSNTeR7rGRQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_20200913_120801410.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6469r2wZ4wA/X2e3RujgpiI/AAAAAAAAGRg/lBx4HiJi1AUSq8DWvqV4-_xisIZOTRqzQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_20200913_120806863.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6469r2wZ4wA/X2e3RujgpiI/AAAAAAAAGRg/lBx4HiJi1AUSq8DWvqV4-_xisIZOTRqzQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_20200913_120806863.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-F0aZRjxF9_w/X2e3RLR4OFI/AAAAAAAAGRY/f1c_6SHoxpUmyJYKi5iT0xZJmXAr0U99ACLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_20200913_120820514.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-F0aZRjxF9_w/X2e3RLR4OFI/AAAAAAAAGRY/f1c_6SHoxpUmyJYKi5iT0xZJmXAr0U99ACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_20200913_120820514.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lkJjFUglOkY/X2e3WeA2RVI/AAAAAAAAGRk/3V7r-Fk2-VUsMtT9sbeHV-wfher4wJTUACLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_20200913_120834219.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lkJjFUglOkY/X2e3WeA2RVI/AAAAAAAAGRk/3V7r-Fk2-VUsMtT9sbeHV-wfher4wJTUACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_20200913_120834219.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jhTEMKwW2Nk/X2e3ZJJzN5I/AAAAAAAAGRo/O5vEJ1aaeRgx9_b3FWc0_7Kvgmwmi5inQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_20200913_120844999_HDR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jhTEMKwW2Nk/X2e3ZJJzN5I/AAAAAAAAGRo/O5vEJ1aaeRgx9_b3FWc0_7Kvgmwmi5inQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_20200913_120844999_HDR.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fhM5tMSNUqw/X2e3ZMAO4zI/AAAAAAAAGRs/do6mjPlev1sE2clf_nr7I8lP4X9Z95XngCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_20200913_120856469.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fhM5tMSNUqw/X2e3ZMAO4zI/AAAAAAAAGRs/do6mjPlev1sE2clf_nr7I8lP4X9Z95XngCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_20200913_120856469.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QnLZau0vvL8/X2e3akjJGjI/AAAAAAAAGRw/3Hw9cfUXBNIj1tisHA2F1X_Z0qFANjOxQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_20200913_120910156.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QnLZau0vvL8/X2e3akjJGjI/AAAAAAAAGRw/3Hw9cfUXBNIj1tisHA2F1X_Z0qFANjOxQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_20200913_120910156.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-r-gQDVULfpo/X2e3gZnS0II/AAAAAAAAGR0/HlfFNspL8eI2ncYsetS7K_GnfwoI5UuGQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_20200913_120925992.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-r-gQDVULfpo/X2e3gZnS0II/AAAAAAAAGR0/HlfFNspL8eI2ncYsetS7K_GnfwoI5UuGQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_20200913_120925992.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UhPZfYT3I8Y/X2e3gISt16I/AAAAAAAAGR4/bkT-3nTya2EQV0xjAbbekCKHnKF9fc1NACLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_20200913_120937172.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UhPZfYT3I8Y/X2e3gISt16I/AAAAAAAAGR4/bkT-3nTya2EQV0xjAbbekCKHnKF9fc1NACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_20200913_120937172.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0vH-4Dy5IFs/X2e3hGA-1aI/AAAAAAAAGR8/unQB22f78TsXhB2UsK4OoyIujJG-2mRyQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_20200913_120943153.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0vH-4Dy5IFs/X2e3hGA-1aI/AAAAAAAAGR8/unQB22f78TsXhB2UsK4OoyIujJG-2mRyQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_20200913_120943153.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>Dave Lahrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09699052376229863747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7240062999532420004.post-58543231163885511902020-08-27T16:26:00.004-04:002020-12-21T21:55:50.751-05:00Spiderwebs in the mistI came out Sunday morning, it was slightly misty and humid, and all of these dense spiderwebs were visible on the ground.<div><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vLShg4QDKnI/X0gSVuqeWfI/AAAAAAAAGH8/HAcrNsfzTeAv6ZV0yf1Iy1Yo2I1QrrENwCLcBGAsYHQ/s6000/DSC_0328.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="6000" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vLShg4QDKnI/X0gSVuqeWfI/AAAAAAAAGH8/HAcrNsfzTeAv6ZV0yf1Iy1Yo2I1QrrENwCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/DSC_0328.JPG" width="640" /></a><span><a name='more'></a></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Here's a closeup:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KoCz3MxMUKA/X0gSVibhTWI/AAAAAAAAGH4/OKLi3NnXCWcknNlXt40j-ihouHReIbFUACLcBGAsYHQ/s6000/DSC_0331.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="6000" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KoCz3MxMUKA/X0gSVibhTWI/AAAAAAAAGH4/OKLi3NnXCWcknNlXt40j-ihouHReIbFUACLcBGAsYHQ/s640/DSC_0331.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Some of them were 3-dimensional and spherical / ellipsoidal in shape!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-C1vs3laEaOM/X0gSyyHWCoI/AAAAAAAAGIo/7QCMIZSJPtgZguuvWrRZKvVHOMMjiLPlgCLcBGAsYHQ/s6000/DSC_0343.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="6000" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-C1vs3laEaOM/X0gSyyHWCoI/AAAAAAAAGIo/7QCMIZSJPtgZguuvWrRZKvVHOMMjiLPlgCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/DSC_0343.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">In the above one I was able to see the spider still in the web:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-slcgTViA2F4/X0gS9z5z-kI/AAAAAAAAGI0/m8uRzLNeg9oTscpiF3nTbJN9TRG5qEVGgCLcBGAsYHQ/s6000/DSC_0344.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="6000" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-slcgTViA2F4/X0gS9z5z-kI/AAAAAAAAGI0/m8uRzLNeg9oTscpiF3nTbJN9TRG5qEVGgCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/DSC_0344.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Also was able to see individual strands:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xIjFrEM_u2g/X0gTwR_6cmI/AAAAAAAAGKI/Y6w1141mOuMZFT2r9XsjFHcJVrMZxFfhQCLcBGAsYHQ/s6000/DSC_0367.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="6000" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xIjFrEM_u2g/X0gTwR_6cmI/AAAAAAAAGKI/Y6w1141mOuMZFT2r9XsjFHcJVrMZxFfhQCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/DSC_0367.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">This one had a beautiful, mathematical curved sheet appearance:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-boL_0133iOw/X0gT_7XBp7I/AAAAAAAAGKc/suT5zrWz9XoDY3ESXXrMXjksCb-GYdS4ACLcBGAsYHQ/s6000/DSC_0371.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="6000" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-boL_0133iOw/X0gT_7XBp7I/AAAAAAAAGKc/suT5zrWz9XoDY3ESXXrMXjksCb-GYdS4ACLcBGAsYHQ/s640/DSC_0371.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DUFt-A4Uovs/X0gT_4A0ILI/AAAAAAAAGKg/LKd6reKW20McwJ1mJ-XBibCBbbqdZjAuwCLcBGAsYHQ/s6000/DSC_0372.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="6000" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DUFt-A4Uovs/X0gT_4A0ILI/AAAAAAAAGKg/LKd6reKW20McwJ1mJ-XBibCBbbqdZjAuwCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/DSC_0372.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Additional pictures below.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JcYI16mzoYI/X0gSVsvpwTI/AAAAAAAAGIE/Qki-TnYX9bY0bm0WPPP3YjcgFv_V-VikgCLcBGAsYHQ/s6000/DSC_0327.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="6000" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JcYI16mzoYI/X0gSVsvpwTI/AAAAAAAAGIE/Qki-TnYX9bY0bm0WPPP3YjcgFv_V-VikgCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/DSC_0327.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--npj2NBVJ_w/X0gSkrBYvRI/AAAAAAAAGIM/J6J0k7-cnicECd3uu5c59SjpkZW7L2rywCLcBGAsYHQ/s6000/DSC_0332.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="6000" data-original-width="4000" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--npj2NBVJ_w/X0gSkrBYvRI/AAAAAAAAGIM/J6J0k7-cnicECd3uu5c59SjpkZW7L2rywCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/DSC_0332.JPG" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gbhqAl5IARg/X0gSlKTn_QI/AAAAAAAAGIQ/pZzzKUz7G1gccvr7Q4zXSDtCM_XJ6s9BACLcBGAsYHQ/s6000/DSC_0334.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="6000" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gbhqAl5IARg/X0gSlKTn_QI/AAAAAAAAGIQ/pZzzKUz7G1gccvr7Q4zXSDtCM_XJ6s9BACLcBGAsYHQ/s640/DSC_0334.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-f8XqzZcdSQA/X0gSl1g65rI/AAAAAAAAGIc/VQ_gNR9HLdccJQPE94qWKp34sBWJOdMCgCLcBGAsYHQ/s6000/DSC_0335.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="6000" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-f8XqzZcdSQA/X0gSl1g65rI/AAAAAAAAGIc/VQ_gNR9HLdccJQPE94qWKp34sBWJOdMCgCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/DSC_0335.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8-6t2LneEVA/X0gSx92mnHI/AAAAAAAAGIk/SqMn7EragsUcN7mSqpDVtI_sJaGw6GzkACLcBGAsYHQ/s6000/DSC_0338.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; 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text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iRk4aIu6iUk/X0gU8RxhA-I/AAAAAAAAGLk/2yYMfXZm6b4alrearvEIcwxOPjkoWbNDQCLcBGAsYHQ/s6000/DSC_0389.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="6000" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iRk4aIu6iUk/X0gU8RxhA-I/AAAAAAAAGLk/2yYMfXZm6b4alrearvEIcwxOPjkoWbNDQCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/DSC_0389.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /></div>Dave Lahrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09699052376229863747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7240062999532420004.post-53663427863587324272020-05-25T10:59:00.000-04:002020-05-25T10:59:56.821-04:00Garden in late MayI've been enjoying our garden lately - planted in late April, with plants bought from Cape Cod Wholesale Nursery (thank you!).<div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rBRLjF2PU6E/Xsvcc5AEhjI/AAAAAAAAF3I/ZB4S3mWm8v08krkhaZyTtAmVPPFgjLFcgCK4BGAsYHg/IMG_20200524_192702984.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3072" data-original-width="4096" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rBRLjF2PU6E/Xsvcc5AEhjI/AAAAAAAAF3I/ZB4S3mWm8v08krkhaZyTtAmVPPFgjLFcgCK4BGAsYHg/s320/IMG_20200524_192702984.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span><a name='more'></a></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-skvH_f1ygts/XsvcdPgngVI/AAAAAAAAF3M/CQKB9YMy6WQz4p_z7hUy3L5N5TS6dEOFgCK4BGAsYHg/IMG_20200524_192729238.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3072" data-original-width="4096" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-skvH_f1ygts/XsvcdPgngVI/AAAAAAAAF3M/CQKB9YMy6WQz4p_z7hUy3L5N5TS6dEOFgCK4BGAsYHg/s320/IMG_20200524_192729238.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mRDYD1QXWS8/XsvcdXBbUoI/AAAAAAAAF3Q/jhMtA47JFmodpJiDWDPQezH227KYZgl5QCK4BGAsYHg/IMG_20200524_192802794.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; 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margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3072" data-original-width="4096" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TmNhwQV6EbM/XsvcfpKGF0I/AAAAAAAAF3w/ck4_QWTGvIctJNFhexb5hYmVVEZAJLKiwCK4BGAsYHg/s320/IMG_20200524_193010927.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kRSnqmVKD2Q/XsvcfwaP-1I/AAAAAAAAF30/4FFpZbs17zwGh0EruHdDX183xfoXiF-6ACK4BGAsYHg/IMG_20200524_193039640.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3072" data-original-width="4096" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kRSnqmVKD2Q/XsvcfwaP-1I/AAAAAAAAF30/4FFpZbs17zwGh0EruHdDX183xfoXiF-6ACK4BGAsYHg/s320/IMG_20200524_193039640.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RpAOOfHPuiQ/XsvcgMcNGhI/AAAAAAAAF34/SYPH-gEF4p04EdKLhM9bBwhHv51nzOlLACK4BGAsYHg/IMG_20200524_193107333.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3072" data-original-width="4096" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RpAOOfHPuiQ/XsvcgMcNGhI/AAAAAAAAF34/SYPH-gEF4p04EdKLhM9bBwhHv51nzOlLACK4BGAsYHg/s320/IMG_20200524_193107333.jpg" width="320" /></a></div> </div><div>Didn't do anything special, so credit to Cape Cod Wholesale Nursery for the great plants. I turned over the soil, made sure to keep the top most soil in the bed, spread mulch over the open areas. I didn't have fertilizer (10-10-10) when I was doing the planting so I added that later, on top of the mulch, and then watered. I'm try to keep it at least 1 inch of water per week.</div>Dave Lahrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09699052376229863747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7240062999532420004.post-6782187667949654572020-05-24T21:46:00.003-04:002020-05-24T22:33:54.780-04:00Brewing an all-grain guiness stout clone<div>
Decided to brew a Guinness clone using an all-grain method! This is our second attempt at an all-grain brew, and we bought a larger pot for the mash, and I rigged up some insulation and thermal mass to help keep the temperature stable during the mash.</div>
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<a href="https://byo.com/recipe/guinness-draught-clone/" target="_blank">link to recipe</a><br />
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<a href="https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Nmn4Esta1cLZeVPqOAezhoTFF8HiQbKh" target="_blank">link to pdf of above in case that link breaks</a><br />
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Bought all ingredients from Northern Brewer:<br />
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5 lbs. <a href="https://www.northernbrewer.com/products/briess-full-pint-brewers-malt?variant=31383585816681" target="_blank">Briess Full Pint Brewers Malt</a></div>
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<blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;">
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1 lb. <a href="https://www.northernbrewer.com/products/briess-black-malt?variant=9994774675500" target="_blank">Briess Black (Patent) Malt</a></div>
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Wyeast 1084 Irish Ale Yeast</div>
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2.4 oz. East Kent Goldings (EKG) Hop Pellets</div>
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2.5 lbs. Flaked Barley</div>
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<h2 style="text-align: left;">
Prepare the grain</h2>
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<div>
Day before the brew, I used a kitchen aid grain attachment to crack the brewers malt and the black patent malt (<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CAi43qOAQ_v6eYn3uOsPDjwXYXki-yxZE7-3BM0/" target="_blank">video here</a>). Next day I mixed in the flaked barley with these.</div>
</div>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
Mash</h2>
<div>
Mash setup: wrapped and tied a towel around a 42 quart aluminum pot - towel is to provide some insulation to maybe make it easier to maintain stable 150 F temperature during mash. Put that on the an upside down cast-iron pan over the smaller front burner on the stove. The pan serves two purposes: (1) provide more thermal stability in the heat source - in theory can turn off the gas and the cast iron will continue to transfer heat to the pot above (2) keep the flame away from the towel by providing spacing. NB: had to pull the oven out from the wall a few inches otherwise this combination would not fit under the microwave (thanks to my better half for this idea!).</div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6YdHNooAp-g/XsqAQkO3-QI/AAAAAAAAF0Y/OQnEayDjgSgcktouqwsbw5uwYYS9-SQRQCK4BGAsYHg/IMG_20200524_094545362.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4096" data-original-width="3072" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6YdHNooAp-g/XsqAQkO3-QI/AAAAAAAAF0Y/OQnEayDjgSgcktouqwsbw5uwYYS9-SQRQCK4BGAsYHg/s320/IMG_20200524_094545362.jpg" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
<div>
Measured out the water for mash via weight because I didn't have a gallon jug handy - needed 2.66 gallons, so:</div>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
2.66 gal *8.34 pounds/gal * 2.20462 kg/pounds = 10.06 kg of water</div>
</blockquote>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
(Of course I didn't need to do this calculation b/c the recipe also stated it was 10 liters of water, 1 kg water == 1 L of water!)</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Used the Kitchen Aid bowl to measure the water and a scale, made it very easy:</div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-d6tNtspQYYs/XsqAEeg8xhI/AAAAAAAAF0E/toIvr-3-0CI5uJWvbhFS4xvwZAtQfk6MACK4BGAsYHg/Untitled.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1929" data-original-width="1561" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-d6tNtspQYYs/XsqAEeg8xhI/AAAAAAAAF0E/toIvr-3-0CI5uJWvbhFS4xvwZAtQfk6MACK4BGAsYHg/s320/Untitled.png" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
<div>
Added the water to the mash setup, started heating - picture below. The bottom edge of the towel started to get hot, so I folded it up so it was further away from the flame, then it was fine. </div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8WptI4DJ8Lg/XsqAQzPsllI/AAAAAAAAF0c/rtMAf3-fVv0BNowMhzLM-9kyLr8hryedwCK4BGAsYHg/IMG_20200524_094600694.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3072" data-original-width="4096" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8WptI4DJ8Lg/XsqAQzPsllI/AAAAAAAAF0c/rtMAf3-fVv0BNowMhzLM-9kyLr8hryedwCK4BGAsYHg/s320/IMG_20200524_094600694.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
When it reached ~160 F, added the grains, stirred them in, checked the temperature - 150 F:</div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZWmN-0FBwJo/Xsq02L5HauI/AAAAAAAAF1I/rv8kLGTAEbMADazTB1M1is6-ccNSNEqeQCK4BGAsYHg/IMG_20200524_110806777.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3072" data-original-width="4096" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZWmN-0FBwJo/Xsq02L5HauI/AAAAAAAAF1I/rv8kLGTAEbMADazTB1M1is6-ccNSNEqeQCK4BGAsYHg/s320/IMG_20200524_110806777.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<div>
You can also see in this picture the thermometer suspended in the mash, it is tied to the handle to keep it in place, this made it easy to check the temperature. I started with the heat at the lowest setting and I made temperature measurements every made 5 minutes, I recorded these and some adjustment to the heat in Appendix A. Important note - the temperature appeared very stable until the end, when we started cooking some eggs in a small frying pan adjacent to the mash. Seemed to be that was enough extra heat in the vicinity to raise the temperature by 4 F. Based on past experience, expect if we had used the oven or boiled water it would have had a similar or stronger effect.</div>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
Yeast</h2>
<div>
Pulled the yeast out of the fridge, following the package instructions, smacked the package to break the internal structure containing the yeast nutrients. This was at 10:34 AM, about ~6.5 hours before the yeast was pitched into the carboy.</div>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
Collect & Sparge</h2>
<div>
After the mash completed (60 minutes), I started boiling water so that I could add enough to raise the temperature to 170 F. I should have add the water boiling already, this did not quite work out. Appendix B has my attempted calculation of how much water it might take using some aggressive assumptions. I ended up adding 3.4 L of boiling water but it only made the temperature 154 F for a variety of reasons, not least b/c the mash cooled off while I was boiling the water and I didn't include the heat capacity of the grains in my calculation.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I used a strainer to scoop out the grain, then when that stopped being effective, I poured the mixture through a strainer into my wort pot. Then I rinsed the grain with 170 F water - about 3 L.</div>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
Boiling the wort</h2>
<div>
Started the wort boiling, took awhile to come to a boil partly because I kept the lid off because there was a lot of foam on top and I was sure it would boil over if lidded and unwatched. Once it was boiling I turned the heat down a bit and put the lid on most of the way, but with a crack showing to allow me to check and prevent boiling over. After 30 minutes of boiling, added the hops, boiled for another 60 minutes.</div>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
Finishing up</h2>
<div>
The lid of the wort pot was covered in some solid material, and similar material covered the top ~2 inches of the pot. From taste it seemed to be spent grain and have a hint of hops. Rinsed of the lid so that the material wouldn't fall into the wort, and was careful to not disturb the top ring of material.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
To cool the wort, put the pot in a bathtub filled with cold water, then switched and put it in a large cooler that the pot just barely fit in. After the water in the cooler had heated up to ~65 F, I emptied it (it had a drain plug luckily) and refilled. After two of these cycles the wort was 80 F, so then we attempted to siphon it into into the sterilized carboy. I tried to get a current going to capture debris in the middle / vortex, but it didn't work, and the mixture was so thick that siphoning didn't work, so I used the auto-siphon to just pump the liquid into the carboy. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
There was probably ~3 gallons of liquid in the carboy, added water to fill it to the top (of the straight / cylindrical section, allowing plenty of head space). Pitched the yeast, added the airlock - a tube from the top of the carboy into a pitcher of water. Now we play the waiting game.</div>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
Extra thoughts</h2>
<div>
Also noticed that ~2-3 g of water coats the sides of this bowl</div>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
Appendix A - heating measurements</h2>
<div>
Temperature measurements while heating water for the mash (min, F)</div>
<div>
10 86</div>
<div>
15 102</div>
<div>
20 116</div>
<div>
25 128</div>
<div>
30 142</div>
<div>
35 152</div>
<div>
turned heat down from 7 (max) to 3</div>
<div>
39.6 158</div>
<div>
turned heat down to 2</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Temperature measurements while maintaining mash (min, F)</div>
<div>
heat at 1 (lowest)</div>
<div>
0 148</div>
<div>
5 151 </div>
<div>
turned off heat </div>
<div>
15 149</div>
<div>
turned on to 1</div>
<div>
20 150</div>
<div>
25 150</div>
<div>
30 150</div>
<div>
35 151</div>
<div>
40 146</div>
<div>
turned up to 2</div>
<div>
45 154</div>
<div>
50 155</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
Appendix B: calculation of amount of boiling water needed to add to mash to raise temperature to 168 F</h2>
<div>
Mash is / starting at: 10 L at 153 F (340.4 K)</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Want to add X liters of water at 373 K</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
To get to to T total liters of water at 168 F (348.7 K)</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Heat content of the mash by itself plus the heat content of the boiling water by itself should equal the heat content of the combined mixture at 168 F / 348.7 K. Use that equation to calculate amount of water.</div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
(heat content of mash) + (heat content of boiling water) = (heat content of final mixture at 168 F / 348.7 K)</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
heat content = Cp * T(K) * mass</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Assume Cp is equal for all, assume density of water for all therefore mass == volume (kg == L) </div>
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</div>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
heat content of mash ~= 10*340.4 = 3404</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
heat content of boiling water ~= x * 373</div>
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<div>
<br /></div>
<blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
heat content of final mixture ~= (10 + x) * 348.7 = 3487 + 348.7*x</div>
</blockquote>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Putting it all together:</div>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
3404 + x*373 = 3487 + 348.7*x</div>
</blockquote>
<div>
<br /></div>
<blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
24.3 * x = 83</div>
</blockquote>
<div>
<br /></div>
<blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
x = 3.4 L </div>
</blockquote>
<div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div>
Didn't work quite work! Final temperature was 154 - potential reasons why the calculation failed:</div>
<div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>did not account for the mass / heat capacity of the grains</li>
<li>mash had cooled off some by the time the water boiled and I added it to the mash</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
</div>
Dave Lahrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09699052376229863747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7240062999532420004.post-57231724214527685462020-04-01T13:38:00.002-04:002020-04-01T14:50:36.995-04:00Pictures of a chickadee that I thought was a woodpecker because it was pecking at the wood siding on the houseThis small woodpecker has been pecking directly on our house. Initially I thought it was the same as <a href="http://dllahr.blogspot.com/2020/03/pictures-of-small-woodpecker.html" target="_blank">this other one that we see near the house</a>, but after looking at the pictures they are quite different.<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-W1l9Gb8-7vo/XoTRYplOY1I/AAAAAAAAFvU/mhVZESthnTAtjXUGCGu3bUmg7WgOQrv7QCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/cropped_DSC_1301.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1046" data-original-width="744" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-W1l9Gb8-7vo/XoTRYplOY1I/AAAAAAAAFvU/mhVZESthnTAtjXUGCGu3bUmg7WgOQrv7QCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/cropped_DSC_1301.png" width="227" /></a></div>
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Dave Lahrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09699052376229863747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7240062999532420004.post-7212718050219846142020-03-31T21:37:00.003-04:002020-04-01T14:54:17.780-04:00Pictures of a nuthatch?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
This small bird has been hanging out near our house.</div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FN2BQwBuAuU/XoPwEkxFfuI/AAAAAAAAFuQ/3iRMhQ_zF9cnEptJtPU7SLaTcw54KDaTwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/cropped_1301.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="465" height="206" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FN2BQwBuAuU/XoPwEkxFfuI/AAAAAAAAFuQ/3iRMhQ_zF9cnEptJtPU7SLaTcw54KDaTwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/cropped_1301.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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Might be a nuthatch, or a northern downy woodpecker.</div>
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<br />Dave Lahrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09699052376229863747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7240062999532420004.post-53561428762113057522019-12-23T16:07:00.001-05:002020-01-02T11:57:28.720-05:00Thinking about carbon detonation in white dwarf stars (Type IA supernova)I was reading about <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_dwarf" target="_blank">white dwarf stars</a> because I've been very interested in neutron stars and I was wondering about something slightly less dense but really still incredibly dense. While I was reading about that I learned about "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_detonation" target="_blank">Carbon Detonation</a>" in which enough matter falls into a white dwarf star that it causes a runaway fusion reaction and explosion, which we've observed / classified astronomically as type IA supernova. Here's some thoughts I've had about carbon detonation.<br />
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<a name='more'></a><br />
<ol>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_dwarf#Composition_and_structure" target="_blank">matter in white dwarf is very dense - 1e6 g/cm3 - for comparison</a>:</li>
<ol>
<li>water: 1 g/cm3</li>
<li>densest metal - osmium: 22 g/cm3</li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Structure_of_the_Earth#Core" target="_blank">center of the earth 12 g/cm3</a></li>
<li>center of the Sun: 150 g/cm3</li>
</ol>
<li>accepted theory is that the "normal" pressure of the plasma is insufficient to prevent further collapse, instead electron degeneracy pressure prevents it</li>
<ol>
<li>simplest model - quantum mechanics particle in a box, as box size decreases energy level spacing increases</li>
</ol>
<li>electron degeneracy pressure only depends on density, not temperature (in contrast to "normal" plasma or gas which depends on both)</li>
<li>if mass is added to a white dwarf, density/temperature increases to the point where fusion of carbon and oxygen to heavier elements begins</li>
<li>this generates more heat and energy but initially not an increase in volume because the volume is still defined by electron degeneracy</li>
<li>this means the energy generated by fusion is not dissipated and the temperature rises rapidly</li>
<li>this causes the rate of fusion to increase, causing a positive feedback loop / exponential gain the fusion process</li>
<li>This causes the star to explode violently</li>
</ol>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
For matter in a white dwarf - is it a very dense, very hot plasma? Or is it really something else. It can crystallize! E.g. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BPM_37093" target="_blank">BPM 30793</a> is a white dwarf that appears to have a crystalline core.<br />
<br />
Quick calculation - if it is 1e6 times more dense than water, then the volume per atom is 1e6 smaller in the white dwarf. That means the spacing between atoms is roughly (1e6)^(1/3) = 1e2 smaller in a white dwarf. <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3801132/" target="_blank">In water it is approximately 3 Å</a> == 3e-10 m, so in a white dwarf it would then be 3e-12m (3 trillionths of a meter). As a sanity check, <a href="http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/Nuclear/nucnot.html" target="_blank">the diameter of the carbon nucleus is 2.7e-15 m</a>, so this spacing is bigger than their diameter - by a factor of ~1000. But still, it is normally 30,000 to 60,000, so this is much compacted.<br />
<br />
I can imagine the white dwarf starting as a plasma, cooling to a gas/liquid, then crystallizing to a solid at some point. It seems that even in the crystalline state there is a fermi sea of electrons - not distinct covalent bonds or ions. <a href="https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1988A%26A...199L..15B/abstract" target="_blank">This result was calculated (density functional theory) so it is not measured</a>. I'm now very curious to see the DFT results as you compress from "normal" density to white dwarf.</div>
Dave Lahrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09699052376229863747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7240062999532420004.post-77619085248506626002019-12-07T17:50:00.004-05:002019-12-07T17:50:41.094-05:00homebrewing hard ciderI'm attempting to home brew a hard cider, starting with the simplest possible recipe. <br />
Ingredients:<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a>5 gallons of apple cider - no preservatives, UV pasteurized (not heat)<br />
1 packet (5 g) champagne yeast<br />
1 tsp sugar<br />
1/2 cup warm water<br />
<br />
What I did:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>sterilized fermenter, airlock & stopper, thermometer, funnel</li>
<li>prepped the yeast by mixing it with warm water and sugar</li>
<li>warmed up the apple cider </li>
<ul>
<li>fit 4 gallons in my pot, heated to ~92 F</li>
</ul>
<li>transferred the warm cider to the fermenter</li>
<li>added the prepped yeast</li>
<li>added the 5th gallon of cider that was still cold</li>
<li>capped with the airlock</li>
</ul>
<div>
I could only fit 4 gallons of cider in my pot, so I heated that to a temperature above where I wanted it such that by adding the 5th cold gallon the final temperature would be approximately 75 F. Equation I used was in Kelvin:</div>
<div>
(x * 4/5) + 273 K = 297 K</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
where x is the temperature needed to heat to. Solving for x:</div>
<div>
x * 4/5 = 24 DK</div>
<div>
x = 30 DK</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The temperature needs to be 30 "delta-Kelvin" above 273, which is 86 F. I ended up heating to 92 F in actual practice.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
One thing I should have done probably is sterilize the pot I heated the cider in - I don't normally do this because I'm boiling the liquid in it, but that is not what I did this time.</div>
Dave Lahrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09699052376229863747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7240062999532420004.post-5503641897205687372019-09-10T20:25:00.001-04:002019-09-10T20:25:51.046-04:00Installing a sparkling* drain near our houseI installed a sparkling drain* near our house, here is a time-lapse video, description below the fold:<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/OILUHeet2mw/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/OILUHeet2mw?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div>
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* you may be more familiar with the name French drain, however, that is only correct if it is made in France<br />
<a name='more'></a>When it rains, water tends to pool up under the downspout at this corner of the house. I put a rain barrel there, but it usually overflows. To help keep the basement dry and hopefully preserve the foundation I decided to add a French drain to carry the water away. Note that the room with the sliding door is not over the basement - it is a later add on (before us) on a concrete slab - so moving water towards it is still moving away from the basement. <br />
<br />
Here's what I did:<br />
<br />
<ol>
<li>excavated a circular ~2 ft diameter hole under the downspout; from this dig a trench from that hole downhill, diagonal away from the house (towards the corner of the add on)</li>
<ol>
<li>Trench is 1 shovel blade (~9") wide</li>
<li>As carefully as possible I cut out the existing sod and saved it next to the trench for replacement later</li>
<li>The hole and trench started about 15" deep and got deeper as I went to maybe 18-20" at its deepest</li>
</ol>
<li>At the other end excavated a circular hole, again about 2 ft in diameter but much deeper (3 feet at deepest)</li>
<li>Fill with layer of coarsest stone - 1.5" - to a level 9" below top of the trench</li>
<li>Tamp down with a sledgehammer head (the width of the head almost perfectly matched the width of the trench</li>
<li>Added next most coarse stone - 0.75" - to a level 4-5" below the top of the trench</li>
<li>tamp down with sledgehammer head</li>
<li>Add 3/8" stone to a level 2" below of top of the trench</li>
<li>replace the sod</li>
<ol>
<li>it didn't fill the trench; I started at the upper end and moved down the trench and ran out of sod at the lower hole FYI</li>
</ol>
</ol>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div>
Tested by dumping out 2/3 of rainbarrel (~33 gallons) at the upper end (right onto the gravel) - there was no pooling, it all drained away very rapidly! Will try to capture a video during a heavy rain storm soon to see / show how it is working.</div>
Dave Lahrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09699052376229863747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7240062999532420004.post-75827169311743532882019-09-02T16:13:00.002-04:002019-09-02T16:13:45.387-04:00Installing pavers at the end of the driveway<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I always wanted to do a project with paving stones - I've always been inspired by ancient stonework, especially reading about ancient roman roads - so I decided to put a band of pavers down along the end of our driveway.</div>
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<iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Ygts5F5hZmA/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Ygts5F5hZmA?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
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Before:</div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1deqQKs6wCI/XW11jgjDYCI/AAAAAAAAFos/5JUcDKH0ZB0F6yF5RqhRr0XZ_qZKCmA-gCEwYBhgL/s1600/DSC_1151.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1068" data-original-width="1600" height="133" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1deqQKs6wCI/XW11jgjDYCI/AAAAAAAAFos/5JUcDKH0ZB0F6yF5RqhRr0XZ_qZKCmA-gCEwYBhgL/s200/DSC_1151.JPG" width="200" /></a><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dDntIJpzMdc/XW11jX4XR5I/AAAAAAAAFoo/GQxRfIYH91MGv3dHP9jxuizcmVmLlUb3wCEwYBhgL/s1600/DSC_1153.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1068" data-original-width="1600" height="133" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dDntIJpzMdc/XW11jX4XR5I/AAAAAAAAFoo/GQxRfIYH91MGv3dHP9jxuizcmVmLlUb3wCEwYBhgL/s200/DSC_1153.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MfimPfBA4kA/XW11y70SClI/AAAAAAAAFow/hqUVAxP05EESc8IQijiIBnkvubYQcwg3ACEwYBhgL/s1600/DSC_1154.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1068" data-original-width="1600" height="133" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MfimPfBA4kA/XW11y70SClI/AAAAAAAAFow/hqUVAxP05EESc8IQijiIBnkvubYQcwg3ACEwYBhgL/s200/DSC_1154.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>
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Piles of stone from <a href="http://www.palanders.com/" target="_blank">PA Landers</a>:</div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nEiGg2GACfY/XW11hoqdBRI/AAAAAAAAFos/sb3im-M7EFolR_BqmZXCYn5bCdxZ0gyLwCEwYBhgL/s1600/DSC_1149.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1068" data-original-width="1600" height="213" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nEiGg2GACfY/XW11hoqdBRI/AAAAAAAAFos/sb3im-M7EFolR_BqmZXCYn5bCdxZ0gyLwCEwYBhgL/s320/DSC_1149.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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When removing the old pavers, the stone dust remained in a grid pattern:</div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZJacINCbiJ8/XW1z2bUDVsI/AAAAAAAAFnw/-lsEn4_cE6wfaTfhRdyZQKxWDqpPWswXgCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_20190824_104935939.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZJacINCbiJ8/XW1z2bUDVsI/AAAAAAAAFnw/-lsEn4_cE6wfaTfhRdyZQKxWDqpPWswXgCLcBGAs/s320/IMG_20190824_104935939.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
After (including plate compactor rented from <a href="https://botellolumber.com/" target="_blank">Botello's Lumber</a>):<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vDTa8CGmXLY/XW1z29uyIrI/AAAAAAAAFn0/wVmqMjtUO9IeLfa9t2bW2tjH7_NxOKF6wCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_20190831_120812286_HDR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vDTa8CGmXLY/XW1z29uyIrI/AAAAAAAAFn0/wVmqMjtUO9IeLfa9t2bW2tjH7_NxOKF6wCLcBGAs/s200/IMG_20190831_120812286_HDR.jpg" width="150" /></a> <a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-U598-fqQ2s8/XW1z3Pfw_AI/AAAAAAAAFn4/faOLcxUwWZs-NZ5LH-55ZVKTWJ-5SUQLwCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_20190831_120824945.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="150" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-U598-fqQ2s8/XW1z3Pfw_AI/AAAAAAAAFn4/faOLcxUwWZs-NZ5LH-55ZVKTWJ-5SUQLwCLcBGAs/s200/IMG_20190831_120824945.jpg" width="200" /></a><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-d_nK2vw33LI/XW1z6p0mWaI/AAAAAAAAFn8/bGWl1KPqyv43K7Kv2MDvlNe8A9-7ftJuQCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_20190831_120842820.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="150" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-d_nK2vw33LI/XW1z6p0mWaI/AAAAAAAAFn8/bGWl1KPqyv43K7Kv2MDvlNe8A9-7ftJuQCLcBGAs/s200/IMG_20190831_120842820.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I basically followed the instructions in <a href="https://www.thisoldhouse.com/how-to/how-to-install-permeable-paver-driveway" target="_blank">this article from This Old House</a> (<a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ex0dm8c-_rg1eekpVoz6Sa9wQI0TUH5k/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank">here is a link to a pdf of the article in case that link breaks</a>). Following that article, <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qPfDHrmZ4t2k9kn1qie8eFohQ6BumLewM7eDIZM4GQE/edit?usp=sharing" target="_blank">here's a link to a notebook I used as I was planning it</a>, mainly figuring out how much of each type of stone to order.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I'll list what I did below, but highlight in <i>italics things I should not have done</i>. I include all so it's an accurate record of what I actually did:</div>
<div>
<ol>
<li>remove existing pavers, excavate underneath it</li>
<ol>
<li>(was hoping to use the stone)</li>
</ol>
<li>Put down string/twine to use as guides</li>
<ol>
<li>~27 feet along entrance of driveway</li>
<li>4 feet deep</li>
</ol>
<li>excavated to 15"</li>
<ol>
<li>moved the car out of the driveway so we could keep using it before finishing the excavation</li>
<li><b>The excavation was exhausting. </b>My back got really sore and I wasn't sure I'd be able to finish. Where the video stops showing it, I went and took a nap on the floor for ~2 hours, and then used a heating pad. Somehow that worked and I was able to finish the next day</li>
</ol>
<li>Added a 6" layer of 1.5" stone (not shown in video)</li>
<li>Went over that layer 3-4 times with a plate compactor</li>
<ol>
<li>the plate compactor was ... wild ... to use. For example, with the throttle about half way, it appeared to be on some internal resonance and was just vibrating incredibly violently. I suspect it was a resonance b/c a slight increase or decrease and it immediately went away</li>
</ol>
<li>Added a 4" layer of 3/4" stone</li>
<li>Went over with the plate compactor 3-4 times</li>
<li>Wetted the stone, went over with plate compactor again</li>
<ol>
<li>not sure where I got the idea, but the thought is that the wet stone will move more easily and can thus be made more compact</li>
<li>should have done the same with the layer of 1.5" stone, I forgot</li>
</ol>
<li>Added a 2" layer of 3/8" gravel <b>but just in one end of the project</b></li>
<li>Put down pavers at the front/road edge - I wasn't making a level surface, I was matching the existing rolling slope of the driveway, so I did this iteratively to follow the curve</li>
<ol>
<li>adjust gravel underneath so the pavers adjacent pavers or edge of road/driveway</li>
<li>when the paver is close to matching, use a mallet on any edge/corner that is close</li>
</ol>
<li>Continued to add pavers, building from the front/road edge to the back</li>
<li>Neighborhood kids stop by to encourage / "help"</li>
<li><i>Don't do this (yet): When all the pavers are in place, put 3/8" stone in the largest gaps between pavers</i></li>
<ol>
<li>I believe when I later went over with the plate compactor this 3/8" stone forced the pavers apart which is why I recommend not doing it!</li>
</ol>
<li><i>Don't do this (yet): poured stone dust over the pavers, use a broom to sweep into the cracks</i></li>
<ol>
<li>same reason as (13)</li>
</ol>
<li><i>Don't do this (yet): go over the pavers with a plate compactor in the dark</i></li>
<ol>
<li>Don't operate it in the dark! That was dumb. Nothing went wrong, but not worth the risk.</li>
<li>I did see it produce a couple sparks though</li>
</ol>
<li>Repair pavers that were spread out due to the above (13-15) mistakes</li>
<ol>
<li>had to lift them out, remove the 3/8" stone and stone dust that had forced them apart, then align them again</li>
</ol>
<li>Use the plate compactor on the road and driveway immediately adjacent to the pavers (3-4 times)</li>
<ol>
<li><b>NB: not the pavers themselves, as close as possible to the pavers without on them</b></li>
<li>Goal is to firm up this area so the pavers don't move / spread when they are compacted</li>
</ol>
<li>Use the plate compactor half on the pavers, half on the road/driveway (3-4 times)</li>
<ol>
<li>goal is to work from the outer edges in to the middle, again to prevent spreading</li>
</ol>
<li>Use the plate compactor on the pavers (3-4 times)</li>
<li>Spread 3/8 stone in any of the big gaps between the pavers</li>
<li>Spread stone dust on the pavers, sweep into the cracks</li>
<li>Water down the stones, repeat the stone dust</li>
</ol>
<div>
It seems pretty solid so far, certainly for walking biking, and we've driven over it several times, have not noticed any spreading / movement. They might spread, I might need to install an edge restraint of some kind, I'll update here if that happens.</div>
</div>
Dave Lahrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09699052376229863747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7240062999532420004.post-13123498405960047662019-07-06T13:48:00.000-04:002019-07-06T13:48:12.858-04:00Cutting down a dead pine treeI cut down a dead pine tree, took some live and time-lapse videos of it.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a>I noticed a dead pine tree - it had no pine needles, the bark at the base had lots of holes and was easily pulled off.<br />
<br />
First, the most exciting video - when the tree comes down:<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ZNDloAaj3ck/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZNDloAaj3ck?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div>
<br />
The tree was held up by adjacent trees after my initial hinge and back cuts, so I had to attach ropes and use a winch to pull it down. I estimated the height of the tree using an app CamSextant (to get the angle to the top of the tree when I was standing ~50 feet away from the base) and some geometry, and then I placed the camera just beyond this - here is a photo of the camera and the downed tree immediately after the above video:<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8LGENf0M6Yk/XSDeHyFCXcI/AAAAAAAAFkQ/6E5ktQ48hBAkOf5tlTUxVHwkJJ7GjlOWwCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_20190704_155530376_HDR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8LGENf0M6Yk/XSDeHyFCXcI/AAAAAAAAFkQ/6E5ktQ48hBAkOf5tlTUxVHwkJJ7GjlOWwCLcBGAs/s320/IMG_20190704_155530376_HDR.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<br />
Here's a time-lapse video leading up to the above and starting to clean up afterwards with chainsaw and wood chipper:<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/kJGCVs_42HA/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/kJGCVs_42HA?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div>
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Finally, here's a video of me making the hinge cut, where the tree does its initial fall and is caught by the adjacent trees:</div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/5i67rUQPB6I/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/5i67rUQPB6I?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe><br />
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Here are some additional photos of the tree after being felled:</div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5UyNrbMmV8w/XSDeZA1AREI/AAAAAAAAFkc/t0UcauOXpAsPCNDLzft5PFMURUWRkzHbwCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_20190704_155742300.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5UyNrbMmV8w/XSDeZA1AREI/AAAAAAAAFkc/t0UcauOXpAsPCNDLzft5PFMURUWRkzHbwCLcBGAs/s320/IMG_20190704_155742300.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-u5qYLfhQXKc/XSDeZQzX35I/AAAAAAAAFkg/tL7t8DrqnpAIkd74M3ZOPMnPS-tBXsXJQCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_20190704_155748516.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-u5qYLfhQXKc/XSDeZQzX35I/AAAAAAAAFkg/tL7t8DrqnpAIkd74M3ZOPMnPS-tBXsXJQCLcBGAs/s320/IMG_20190704_155748516.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_lvDcOJnbhY/XSDeZDHgn8I/AAAAAAAAFkY/popK-7fHTVQdwqlAQ_bwI1SlnXggfrRxACLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_20190704_155802208.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_lvDcOJnbhY/XSDeZDHgn8I/AAAAAAAAFkY/popK-7fHTVQdwqlAQ_bwI1SlnXggfrRxACLcBGAs/s320/IMG_20190704_155802208.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<br />Dave Lahrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09699052376229863747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7240062999532420004.post-15252929763522556802019-06-09T10:30:00.003-04:002019-06-09T10:48:35.203-04:00Sunset views from a 66' lift in Watertown, MA<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
I rented a lift to do some tree work, and took some pictures from it at its highest level during sunset.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From the second day</td></tr>
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I made a quick video looking around:</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Prudential and John Hancock buildings just visible in the distance</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tree and sky reflected in rainwater on nearby roof; Perkins school tower in the distance. (Looking down Palfrey St.)</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Another house with rainwater on the roof, reflecting the sky. There's something hidden and peaceful about this maybe because it can never be seen in day-to-day life</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Distance church steeple, and very faint to the left a cell phone tower that is in southwest Newton / Needham</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Some colorful houses nearby</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our roof, from above - another view I never get to see</td></tr>
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Dave Lahrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09699052376229863747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7240062999532420004.post-23235400477701973952019-05-19T21:31:00.002-04:002019-06-09T10:47:02.374-04:00Cutting down a black locust tree in our back yard that was dying / dead<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
We had a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robinia_pseudoacacia" target="_blank">black locust tree</a> that a couple years ago was late to have leaves, and then as the years went by only had leaves in one area of the tree. A couple years go my good friend Nick and I did some work removing some of the branches, and it was a bit terrifying how heavy they were. The tree appeared to show some new life after that, but the new life unfortunately just looks like the branches that sprout from a dead tree. We made another attempt at removing it, this time got it down! Full disclosure, there was a not of terror and caution using this kind of equipment (full, diesel powered lift; chainsaws, winches, etc.)</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This picture completely fails to capture how thoroughly coated in sawdust we were. We're wearing safety harnesses, which got surprisingly heavy as the day wore on. I think they are only 5-10 lbs. so I can't imagine how people would wear 30-50 pounds of armor in medieval and ancient combat. Or how modern soldiers pack a third of the body weight on a day's march!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The tree before starting any work. The right branch is completely bare</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Scratch work estimating the size of the tree - I used a tape measure to get 50 feet from the base of the tree, then used the<a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.embarcadero.CamSextant&hl=en_US" target="_blank"> CamSextant app</a> to measure the angle to the top of the tree (~44 degrees). I was slightly up hill from the bottom of the tree, so I measured the angle to the base of the tree (~6 degrees). I then did some geometry to determine the tree was ~53.2 feet tall. I should have measured it before cutting it! Science FAIL. But this led me to rent a lift with a height of 66 feet, which when I went up to the maximum height, I was looking down at the top of the tree below me, so that worked.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.jlg.com/en/equipment/engine-powered-boom-lifts/telescopic/600-series/660sj?Cookie=language" target="_blank">The lift we used</a> - it was massive, a tank. I was terrified when they delivered it. It weighs <span style="font-size: 12.8px;">25,341 pounds, exerting a pressure of 85 psi on the ground. The tires, although they are rubber, are so strong that when combined with that weight they dug into the asphalt and left their imprint in it.</span></td></tr>
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Here is very quick video looking at the lift:<br />
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Here is a time-lapse video of some of the work:<br />
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Using the lift we removed everything down to the fork. We then decided to look into dropping the rest of the tree with a cut at the base. At that point the height of tree was ~26 feet, and the distance to the house was more than that. We tied ropes around fork, and attached them to a come-along winch whose other end was attached to a rope attached to the base of another tree, and then tightened the winch - this was intended to guide the fall direction of the tree.<br />
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Nick did almost all of the cutting, at that point I was exhausted and for whatever reason when I used the saw it tended to overheat. After making the hinge cut, he made the back cut, and I manned the winch to keep tightening it if the tree started to lean forward. Eventually Nick was most of the way through the tree and kept looking at me expectantly, I gave him the thumbs up to keep going.<br />
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When the tree actually fell, it was somehow both slower and faster than I'd expect. I noticed the tension go out of the rope and winch and started waving frantically at Nick to get away from the tree. Of course then as it tipped out of its vertical position it started accelerating rapidly! It ended up putting a nice dent in the asphalt driveway, and bouncing a foot to the side.<br />
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One thing that always amazes me is how little it takes to hold up the tree. Here is a picture of the stump afterwards - notice the jagged section next to the tape measure. That is the part that broke when tree well - it is about 4 inches by 1/2 inch.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Before Nick cut it down to that size, the tree was unmoving, was still stable. I've seen similar things before cutting down approximately the same size trees. It gives a sense of how strong the wood is to hold that massive weight in place with so little material.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Moonrise over the stump</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yi7pdUuF9WU/XOH7983vr7I/AAAAAAAAFgM/Cwx-wazczI8Mt47vgdLLvPWHDOQoknBHwCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_20190519_123157412.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yi7pdUuF9WU/XOH7983vr7I/AAAAAAAAFgM/Cwx-wazczI8Mt47vgdLLvPWHDOQoknBHwCLcBGAs/s640/IMG_20190519_123157412.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The next day I cut the tree into smaller sections to move it, and discovered the rot in the center. We noticed tons of ants on the tree especially when we made new cuts - they had apparently thoroughly colonized it. Sorry ants for damaging your home, I hope you can still live in it now that it is horizontal.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-iPiXHR9Buwo/XOH7-hoFJJI/AAAAAAAAFgQ/cEnN0JB9Hos3KXhHWt01VJ9joTdcqoW3gCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_20190519_125340361_HDR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-iPiXHR9Buwo/XOH7-hoFJJI/AAAAAAAAFgQ/cEnN0JB9Hos3KXhHWt01VJ9joTdcqoW3gCLcBGAs/s640/IMG_20190519_125340361_HDR.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View of the downed tree now cut into 3 pieces (2 quarters, left, 1 half, right). The sawdust circle in the middle is sawdust filling in the hole the tree made when it fell. Sawdust circles above that are holes the lift made just by resting on the ground!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nbOVEdahI08/XOH7_KXhYvI/AAAAAAAAFgU/MJ5KqfTIS9oSi9qckGRFqiVkDkG36r8TgCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_20190519_151157039_HDR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nbOVEdahI08/XOH7_KXhYvI/AAAAAAAAFgU/MJ5KqfTIS9oSi9qckGRFqiVkDkG36r8TgCLcBGAs/s640/IMG_20190519_151157039_HDR.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I was unable to cut through the other half of the downed tree, despite numerous sharpenings of the chainsaw, and I could only do some limited rolling by myself. In desperation I nudged it with the lift, and the lift moved it like it was nothing! So I was able to slowly push it to the back of the driveway.</td></tr>
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Some extra pictures</h3>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Pp1wTzbesTM/XP0a40CkPEI/AAAAAAAAFjU/aLr8PTLz-lw4ZiGyCyn739WBUXyxlGuAwCLcBGAs/s1600/DSC_0760.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1068" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Pp1wTzbesTM/XP0a40CkPEI/AAAAAAAAFjU/aLr8PTLz-lw4ZiGyCyn739WBUXyxlGuAwCLcBGAs/s640/DSC_0760.JPG" width="426" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The tree from before, from above</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gjd9SeRbBeE/XP0bJT-g8HI/AAAAAAAAFjo/e87xsUQiRwU4jqKYexOH4uDKWefxQ7kJwCEwYBhgL/s1600/DSC_1228.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1068" data-original-width="1600" height="426" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gjd9SeRbBeE/XP0bJT-g8HI/AAAAAAAAFjo/e87xsUQiRwU4jqKYexOH4uDKWefxQ7kJwCEwYBhgL/s640/DSC_1228.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The felled tree, from above</td></tr>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1jTES7JxdEI/XP0bJdw9CBI/AAAAAAAAFjk/1795tKM370k7jO6TO9mv-7N3eTC_yW_qgCEwYBhgL/s1600/DSC_1229.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1068" data-original-width="1600" height="426" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1jTES7JxdEI/XP0bJdw9CBI/AAAAAAAAFjk/1795tKM370k7jO6TO9mv-7N3eTC_yW_qgCEwYBhgL/s640/DSC_1229.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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Dave Lahrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09699052376229863747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7240062999532420004.post-86871989296378461702019-05-19T20:28:00.000-04:002019-05-19T20:28:05.900-04:00Photoshopping our license plate to say "Tukkaa"I just spent a good chunk of time photoshopping a picture of our car to spell out my friend's name, however I misspelled it "Tukkaa" instead of "Tuukka". Because I'm ridiculous. Photoshopped using the program <a href="https://www.gimp.org/" target="_blank">GNU Image Manipulation Program (GIMP)</a>.<br />
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ifOhrjZAqBE/XOH0irp7dII/AAAAAAAAFfo/Ie1tva5RT2w6uG4lMgnUkSNSS8sKeZBeQCLcBGAs/s1600/20190406_TUUKKA%2Blicense%2Bplate%2Bon%2Bmazda3.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="667" data-original-width="500" height="640" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ifOhrjZAqBE/XOH0irp7dII/AAAAAAAAFfo/Ie1tva5RT2w6uG4lMgnUkSNSS8sKeZBeQCLcBGAs/s640/20190406_TUUKKA%2Blicense%2Bplate%2Bon%2Bmazda3.png" width="476" /></a></div>
<br />Dave Lahrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09699052376229863747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7240062999532420004.post-72273561965321647252019-05-19T19:09:00.003-04:002019-05-19T19:09:58.812-04:00Possibly some pictures of rain squalls over Boston<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Seeing what appear to be clouds going from more typical, higher clouds to the ground, I stopped to take a picture, thinking they might be squalls / rain.</div>
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-42AzoHZOirA/XOHiBmtg2II/AAAAAAAAFfY/ROLolBDJvD4XJQ5mh7pVwlujtcKGf805gCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_20190516_190130183.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-42AzoHZOirA/XOHiBmtg2II/AAAAAAAAFfY/ROLolBDJvD4XJQ5mh7pVwlujtcKGf805gCLcBGAs/s640/IMG_20190516_190130183.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pWyRUbk9OW4/XOHiBijVTMI/AAAAAAAAFfU/Bvg_PzNzmgMCVUOidjxOZXOn7WumMpUtACLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_20190516_190141256_HDR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pWyRUbk9OW4/XOHiBijVTMI/AAAAAAAAFfU/Bvg_PzNzmgMCVUOidjxOZXOn7WumMpUtACLcBGAs/s640/IMG_20190516_190141256_HDR.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />Dave Lahrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09699052376229863747noreply@blogger.com0