Big Stick Physics

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Camper couch project, Part 4 The Installation

August 12, 2023 / / 0 Comments

The support structure went together as planned.  Later on, I will add a hatch to the lower storage.

Here is how the jump seats look in two stowed configurations.  I had Sherwin Williams Avocado paint left over from my solarium, so that is the color I used.  Wall paint doesn’t wear well, so I finished with polyurethane over the paint.  I let the paint try for a couple of weeks.  There is room for the cushions to fit behind the jump seats.

Here is seat and seat table configuration.  The seat is very sturdy.  The table is only a little sturdy.  To firm it up, the seat legs can be opened to support the table.  A seat back will be added later.  I want to see how the cushions come out first.

Day bed configuration is for when I want to lay down and watch TV.  I think I could sleep on it, but it’s only 4 feet wide, so my ankles would hang off.  I do have a small folding table.  It has adjustable legs, so there is some chance that could be used to extend the bed.  I’ll try that sometime.  There wouldn’t be cushions for my feet, but we’re roughing it.  Kids could sleep there easily.  I don’t know how those cutouts will effect a sleeper.

The next step is to start on making cushions.

Beaming energy from space. Death ray or utopian solution?

August 8, 2023 / / 0 Comments

SciTechDaily: CalTech satellite beams energy from space.

A space solar power prototype, SSPD-1, has achieved wireless power transfer in space and transmitted power to Earth. The prototype, including MAPLE, a flexible lightweight microwave transmitter, validates the feasibility of space solar power, which can provide abundant and reliable power globally without ground-based transmission infrastructure.

This is one of those dangerous ideas that sound wonderful until you understand it.

Sunlight in space has much higher energy than the sunlight that reaches us.  The atmosphere screens out gamma rays, x-rays, and most of the ultraviolet.  That’s good because these high frequency waves of the electromagnetic spectrum would give us cancer and break down all organic molecules.  Solar panels in space could capture much more energy than they do on the ground.

If that energy is captured and beamed down to the Earth, we are adding energy to our environment.  The idea is analogous to putting mirrors in space to direct additional sunlight to ground-based solar panels.  More solar energy would be added to our system, so the climate would warm up.

With only a couple of satellites, the warming would be negligible as a few power stations generate electricity and profit.  When internal combustion engines were invented, nobody worried about adding carbon dioxide to the atmosphere.  Beaming energy from space is not a utopian solution, but a bad idea.

The energy beam coming from the satellite would be focused and powerful.   When the beam hits the target, electricity is generated.  When the beam hits something else, it’s a death ray.  Tesla wrote about this, and his papers remain classified.  Interlocks would be installed to terminate the ray if it wonders.  Those interlocks could be removed when a target needs to be destroyed.  That makes beaming energy from space a dangerous idea.

Writers strike goes on for 100 days and nobody cares.

August 4, 2023 / / 0 Comments

Deadline: Writers strike nears 100 days

Writers and actors probably have a bunch of legitimate complaints.  Everybody has a few jerks in their chain-of-command, so why should they be any different?

They’ve picked a really bad time to go on strike.  Movies and TV shows were delayed and screwed up because of the work interruptions from the Covid lock-down.  In addition, they haven’t been putting out a very high quality product lately.  There are worthwhile new movies and TV shows, but so many popular franchises have been squandered, it feels like they often despise the existing fan base.  Star Wars, Star Trek, MCU and Indiana Jones come to mind. 

If no new movies or TV shows come out, we have a 100 years of great movies to choose from and 70 years of great TV shows.  Honestly, it’s hard to care if Hollywood goes out of business.

 

AP News: First new nuke plant is going online.

August 3, 2023 / / 0 Comments

AP: First New Nuke Plant

ATLANTA (AP) — The first American nuclear reactor to be built from scratch in decades is sending electricity reliably to the grid, but the cost of the Georgia power plant could discourage utilities from pursuing nuclear power as a path to a carbon-free future.

The federal government is nudging us toward an all-electric future.  Gas stoves and wood stoves are being regulated to extinction and gas hot water heaters will be next.  Wealthy people are given a $7500 incentive to buy electric cars with conventional cars to eventually banned.  This is happening while the electric grid is getting less reliable.  Wind and solar power are being subsidized while they are known to be intermittent, fair weather electrical generators.  

If the federal government wasn’t actively trying to make our lives less secure and comfortable, we’d be building a new nuclear power plant every two years, like China is.

The third and fourth reactors were originally supposed to cost $14 billion, but are now on track to cost their owners $31 billion. That doesn’t include $3.7 billion that original contractor Westinghouse paid to the owners to walk away from the project. That brings total spending to almost $35 billion.

That sounds expensive, but two years ago, the federal government spent $2 trillion on a Covid stimulus package, and we’ve got nothing to show for it.  Biden’s college loan forgiveness plan was going to cost $30 billion per year, and again, we’d have nothing to show for it.  Instead, build a new nuclear power plant every year so Americans could have cheap and abundant electricity.  Nuclear power plants are one of the safest ways to generate electricity and produce no carbon dioxide (if you care about that sort of thing).

Trade Pact Series by Julie Czerneda: 6/10

July 30, 2023 / / 0 Comments

I just finished the Trade Pacts science fiction series by Julie Czerneda.   The premise is that there is an adjacent reality called the mirror. It’s kind of like subspace or hyperspace in that it can be used, nobody lives there and it has it’s own physical laws.  Beings that can access the mirror have abilities that we’d think of as paranormal.  The universe has humans, a small number of humans with the ability to access the mirror and various alien species which may or may not use the mirror.  The books focus on the Clan, a human-looking species with access to the mirror.

One weak point is that members of the Clan can have different abilities.  Most can read thoughts, while some can damage minds, others can heal minds, some can teleport and others have the ability to mentally move real-world objects.  That makes it more like super-powers or fantasy magic.  It would be more plausible if Clan members had the same abilities, but on a different scale.  That makes the books seem more like fantasy than science fiction.

The first book is centered on the heroine from the Clan choosing a human with telepathic abilities for a mate.  The second book is centered on the Clan girl challenging the Clan establishment while the Human man going to ground to not be killed by the Clan and meeting a bunch of really strange aliens.  The third book involves a rogue human who is kidnapping Clan members for nefarious purposes.

Overall, I liked, but didn’t love the books.  The alien species are fleshed out well, with distinct individuals.  Each alien species has a unique culture, attributes and abilities.  The characters are plausible, with their own backstories and personalities.  There are a lot of characters to track, but not too many to handle. 

This action takes place on a variety of planets and there are space ships, but it felt more like a fantasy series with humans, gifted humans, wizards and a bunch of mythical creatures.  Like many women who write science fiction or fantasy, Julie Czerneda has the heroine spending time longing for her mate, brooding about family members and doubting herself.  It isn’t at The Hunger Games level, but the story does drag in spots.  There is no women power, or Woke messaging.

I’d give it a 6/10.  That is high enough to try another Czerneda series, but not high enough to be eager about it.

 

Camper couch project, Part 2 The Design

July 30, 2023 / / 0 Comments

I’ve got good spatial reasoning, so I can think through a project in my head, but it helps to layout the conceptual design.  I’ve got some understanding of Autocad’s Fusion 360, but I prefer Powerpoint for this kind of work.  Powerpoint has pretty powerful and intuitive functions for drawing things.

Here is a side view of the basic layout.  The blue parts are the mounting structure.  Each jump seat will have four positions.  Stowed, sitting and laying down.  The bonus position makes a little table.  Since there are two seats, it will be convenient to sit in one, with drinks or snacks on the little table.

The brown parts are cushions.  The orange blocks are the platforms. 

Here is what is planned for the supporting structure.  The blue box is the wheel hump.  The upper shelf will be suitable for holding water or beverage cans.  My refrigerator is small, so not much is kept cold.  The lower storage will get a hatch cover and will be used for tools, jacks, or other maintenance items.  That will free up one of the existing cabinets.

WSJ: Tech Journalist never met Sparky.

July 30, 2023 / / 0 Comments

WSJ: Dog Owner

WSJ: Dog Owner

I have a blog because I got a dog.  Sparky is a great dog and I can go on about him.  I can write about having a dog without boring everyone to death.  I can’t imagine how a mundane article like this gets column space in the Wall Street Journal, but of course I read it.

I am not now, nor have I ever been, a dog person. One of my earliest memories of a dog is from when I was around 5 years old and a neighbor’s golden retriever knocked me face-first into the concrete.

Continue reading

BBC puts out climate fear porn.

July 28, 2023 / / 0 Comments

BBC: World’s hottest month

It is “virtually certain” that July is going to be the world’s warmest month since records began, according to scientists.

It’s a virtual certainty that this is all bullshit.  You know that because they don’t say when records began.

Some researchers believe it might even be the warmest month in the past 120,000 years.

That is also bullshit because there is no attribution and they don’t even explain what type of researcher.  This sentence would be true if it said that someone somewhere said that this was the warmest month in 120,000 years.

Man-made global warming may or may not be an issue, but we don’t know because they keep lying to us about everything by putting out these bullshit stories. 

If atmospheric carbon dioxide is our fault and it’s warming the climate, then the US should be building 40 new nuclear reactors and enhancing the reliability of the electrical distribution system.  If they don’t want to talk about that, then they are authoritarian assholes.

Camper couch project, Part 1 The Problem

July 28, 2023 / / 0 Comments

Space is limited in my camper trailer.  I like it that way.  For me, camping should be closer to the bare essentials, rather than a home away from home.

My current project is replacing the couch.  The fabric is getting distressed, so something had to be done, but the thing is just too big for the camper.

By tradition, anything you can sit on in a camper, can be converted into a bed.  I have a 20 ft toy hauler.  I sleep in a fold-up bunk above an area that can be configured as a bed.  It really isn’t likely that I’d ever need to sleep three adults in my camper.   I don’t intend the replacement to be usable as a full-size bed.

My intended design is to have two folding jump seats.  With both folded down, it can be a small day bed I can lounge on to watch television.  I’d also like to extend the wheel hump to add some storage.

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