Thursday, 16 February 2017
A ride-through car wash is a rather unsettling experience. However, I don’t yearn for the economy of Oaxaca when we lived there years ago, and (incredibly cheap—to me—and off-street) downtown parking included a car wash as enticement for your business—totally done by hand by men/boys with buckets of scarce water and rags.
I know garbanzos are beans and beans have pods, but garbanzos in pods still catch my eye as a curiosity.
Monday, 13 February 2017
We had alternate coffee this morning, not the regular drip but instead moka-pot-style espresso. The process results in a coffee-puck after the water passes through the grounds. And the top of the puck has little dots or holes from the passage of the steam-hot water.
Extra caffeine, I think….
Thursday, 9 February 2017
Wonder how much we taxpayers have spent on this Muslim travel ban contretemps.
Carpet fibers. I thought it a wool Persian carpet, but is this wool? My ignorance is vast.
Monday, 6 February 2017
I think we’re another step closer to having GooFiber functional on our street. We are ready; I noticed our existing ComCast line is strung through the bushes.(!!)
On the winter-fading(?) front, the fennel is sprouting! Is this the fourth year for the mother-plant? This is the second year (I think) for this volunteer.
Wednesday, 25 January 2017
Turns out that this kind of safety glass is, terminologically, really toughened glass, which I know as tempered glass. Sounds like the toughening process resembles the quenching/tempering of metal.
Following a WikiPee rabbit hole I discovered lead me to Prince Rupert’s Drops. Strange thing: drip droplets of molten glass into cold water; recover when cool. They will have an elongated teardrop shape. Try to crush the bulb; it will be hugely resistant. Snap, break, or crush the skinny tail, and the whole thing will fragment into dust. So I have read. Apparently the tail and the outside of the drop cool faster than the inside, which stays molten a bit longer, yielding a tensile stress pattern that makes the tail weak and the bulb strong. Or something like that.
Anyway, I think this is auto window-glass, fragmented into cuboidal shards.
My other research adventure today had to do with the royal sites of Ireland…medieval period…there are four of them. Five. Six. Depends on the definition.
Wait. One more research adventure: KW taught me what a zarf is. I told JCB, and he said nooooooo…then looked it up. From a Turkish term, he says.
I am now more learn ed, that is learned pronounced with two syllables.
Saturday, 21 January 2017
Pretty darned rainy until later in the day. I did go out and try to find a mystery iPhone bracket that screws onto our tripods. That’s when it changed from strong drizzle to pure rain. Lucky me, eh?
Didn’t find the bracket…so, yup, Amazon….
Friday, 30 December 2016
We had an errand at the camera shop outside the perimeter (OTP), where this rubber (?) camera is part of an art installation welcoming customers.
It’s rocking it?
This is from the other day, but illustrates Toyota-math. When the vehicle runs on electric only, that is, from the battery, Toyota reports the mileage at 199mpg, meaning no petrol was used.
For our old car, when it ran on battery, it reported the “infinite” mileage as 100mpg. Thus, the new vehicle is a mathematical upgrade?
This sign was inside a gravel parking lot, at an angle that would make it difficult to spot as you entered. No other signs (e.g., arrows). The label read “Park as indicated.”
I suspect traffic gets stuck in the back loop going round and round.
We continued our rural drive down two-lane roads OTP, some abandoned…. The rusty metal panel is intended to keep the dogs and vermin from crawling under the house.
Maybe kids, too.
Tuesday, 27 December 2016
We got out the new technology—well, the new one for this FirstWorld household. Charge battery. Deploy arms. Put iPhone into controller. Turn on devices.
Go!
Go up! (Look back at Dronemaster.)
Enjoy visual angles*! (Check out leaves in gutter.)
* Angles not angels!
No, we did not aim camera at any windows, even our own.
Monday, 26 December 2016
Apologies, Gentle Reader, for going on about our new Prius Prime over the last few days. We feel that the new safety technologies are a big win, and the sporty handling (etc.) make it a fun buggy. [We are enamored; if you spend that much dinero, that seems a good thing—jes-sayin’.]
HOWEVER, we are embarking on other technology in our immediate personal consumer zone. This item has been charging and further study is needed of the operator’s manual before actual usage will be embarked upon. [Feel free to be overwhelmed by passive voice en este momento.]
I know you’re super-excited (#sarcasm aka #sarcasmo) as you await further details. Me, I’m yawning, so…tomorrow…. And, yes, this photo is a cheat—from the (very Apple-style) packaging.
No explanation on why Spanish phrases are on my fingertips right at the moment….
Sunday, 25 December 2016
We pushed east in fog, as we had through most of Oklahoma last night. It stayed with us for a long time, then switched to gloomy overcast. We kept at our chosen task: east-bounding.
Even the Mississippi Bridge seemed dreary. I saw only one set of barges, and they were parked along the shore. Perhaps even the locks were not operating in honor of the holiday?
In a sense, the fog switched from being outside to being in our brains. Yesterday we drove 810mi; today was in the high 700s. That will certainly fog you!
We arrived home on this round number. We had only one charge since leaving SEA (became 16 road miles, lower than the predicted 25mi because of conditions), and this reflects gas mileage since SEA of 48.1mpg. We didn’t baby the vehicle (exercise elements of hypermiling)—we drove fast and the temps also were cold enough to bring down the mileage. Still, a real-world test of the gasoline/regenerative system—equivalent to the old Prius, which I estimate would have gotten 8–10mpg lower in the same conditions. We knew this vehicle is supposed to have higher mpg, and clearly it does….
We figure that today our vehicle is one of the highest miles-operated privately owned Primes in the USA.
We predict a stint of around-town, electric miles ahead!