Backstory.  (& Followup)  Something to think about next time you wander the aisles at a big box store.  (h/t Reddit.).

NOTE: Updated. For even more fun, try a Google Image search for Masanjia.

The main sin for most of these workers is being members of Falun Gong.  I've just been reading some WWII history, and I can't help but make the parallel between persecuted Jews by the Nazi's and someone who won't renounce their faith, even under torture.

Project Truck Update: Patches Home Again

So the garage that's been Patches' home for a while has become structurally unsound.  We've brought it home over the summer while I have a break from grad school to fix it up and do some work.  

In order to get it running, I first had to connect up the gas tank.  I did it just like I described in the previous post.  

The second piece of hose is to prevent the tubing from rattling against the tank.

Since Patches no longer has a roof over its head, it now has a nice new coat:

One of the other essential items for any pickup truck is a tool chest in the box.  Patches really needs it because there's very little storage space in the cab.  I found a plywood one that I cleaned up and painted red to match:

A never ending war with an old truck is the battle against the rust monster.  I've cut out a big chunk and cut a patch panel to roughly fit and riveted it in place.  I may come back and weld it in later.

I'm not entirely happy with the patch job, but rivets are easy to undo.  Also, I've put in some duck tape to smooth out the edges.

Patches took forever to crank when I finally got to running it.  I had to use the old trick of pouring a capful of fresh gasoline down the open throat of the carburetor.  The gasoline (despite using Stabil) had volatilized away.  After doing a good amount of work on it this past weekend, it felt really great to take it for a leisurely spin down Lakeshore Drive.

Some of the priorities moving forward are going to be finish repairing the cab floor, replacing the rims (which are dented and leak slowly) and tires (the rear wheels are so old and dry-rotted, the tread is starting to separate), and eventually replace the wiring with the harness I purchased a while back.  

Clean Patches

Clean Patches, a photo by Noladishu on Flickr.

Clean Patches

Project Truck Update: Lots of Neglect Edition

After neglecting poor Patches for ages, I've finally pushed & pulled her out of the garage and dusted her off. I've been really snowed under in Grad school (got a 4.0 this semester), but I've got a window to work on the truck over the summer to do some work, so I'll try to make the best of it.

I've brushed her off and found an old plywood toolchest to reside in the bed.

Candice spent much of today pouring almost an entire bottle of Armor All onto the bench seat:



The next challenge will be reconnecting the fuel tank.  While trying to do that today, the bell and spigot joint (which has given me trouble in the past) finally came apart.  The replacement fuel sender has a female threaded connection made of brass that's soldered onto a steel sender unit.  While trying to screw the male threaded connection on, the solder snapped and the end came off.  Here's what it looked like before.  Here's what it looks like for now:

Note the piece of brass sitting on the top of the hose clamps.

The solution I've come up with is to take a tubing cutter, slice the bell-end of the bell-and-spigot joint, take a piece of gasoline-rated hose and hose clamp it on with double clamps.  This should work reliably, because (unlike more modern cars, which use a fuel pump in the tank that pushes fuel to the engine), Patches has a mechanical fuel pump connected off the engine that sucks fuel from the tank.  If the connection starts to leak with Patches, air will enter the fuel line, the line will lose siphon  and the engine will eventually stop.  The implementation of the fix will have to wait until next weekend, though.

Great Research

Condensation, atmospheric motion, and cold beer 
Dale R. Durran and Dargan M. W. Frierson 

April 2013, page 74 

The latent heat released when water condenses is an important driver of weather phenomena. And as a simple experiment shows, it also makes it tough to enjoy a frosty one in the summertime.

Incontrovertible proof that beer koozies keep your beer warm.

Avondale

Avondale, a photo by Noladishu on Flickr.

Photo is a recent ad I saw in Offshore Magazine.

Here's a few recent updates on Avondale's situation:
* Delivery of the USS Alaska. The second to last Navy ship Avondale is scheduled to deliver.
* Avondale eyes energy industry. See photo. Offshore Magazine is the offshore oil patch trade rag.
* And a pair of articles from the Lens: Shipyard Rally and Jindal-nomics.

"Industry is only as good as the worst Operator"

Text here. I grimaced watching this.

Steve Gleason announces Saints' 3rd Round Pick

"Engineers are just accountants with the technical expertise to back up their decisions"

Quotable

Quotable Drilling Engineering Professor:

"An Engineer without a calculator is like a cop without a gun"

"An Engineering Degree is not a licence to kill people."

"Blowouts never 'just happen'."

"Two things screw up in the Oil Patch: O-Rings and Engineers."

Valuing Education

With work and grad school, I've been pretty busy, but I've noticed a few things I want to highlight.

* In China, Families Bet It All on a Child in College 

* Seg Academies still going strong. One of my college friends went to a Seg academy.  One funny story: he didn't learn about integrals in calculus...  He learned about "anti-derivatives" (integration being a dirty word).

* Hyper-parents can make college aged children depressed-study 

* Cost of College: Who Can Still Afford State University? - WSJ.com (Related: Louisiana, after cutting more than half a billion dollars in funding to colleges, now has the lowest level of support to higher-ed in the South) {Worse than even Haiti}

* Poor Students Struggle as Class Plays a Greater Role in Success
* The New White Flight (Related: Asians and college admissions)

* The House that Calculus Built.  Stewart is now on the 7th Edition.  When I was in college, they were just adopting 4th edition.  It's not even a good textbook!  My high school book (Larson) was far better, but didn't cover multivariable, therefore most colleges don't like using it.
* Harvard Losing Out to South Dakota in Graduate Pay- Bloomberg 
* Pay teachers more, get better outcomes - LGM.  A revolutionary idea...  I like the idea that it's not the pay, per se, that gets the better outcomes; it's the idea that we're actually valuing our teachers and the pay is mostly a demonstration of society valuing its educators.  More good thinking from LGM.

I'll end with a story.  Pat Taylor pushed TOPS through the legislature after a big battle over cost (underwriting 100% of the cost for the first few years out of his own pocket).  An anecdote:

Pat Taylor was heading downtown for something.  His regular driver was running a little late.  Pat asked what was up.  The driver mentioned that he was studying for a final in a course at Delgado.  Pat told him to turn the car around and head back home, Pat paid the driver for the full nights work, told him to go home and study, and Pat took a cab instead.  

Pat really, really valued education for its own sake.  

Mr. Charlie

Mr. Charlie, a photo by Noladishu on Flickr.

Mr. Charlie

"If you think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur."

"If You think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur." - Red Adair (who knew something about cleaning up expensive messes).  

Question for the Times-Pic...

TP undercuts Gill, a photo by Noladishu on Flickr.

Why are you undercutting your best Op-Ed writer off just the assertion of a spokesperson that has a reason to lie? After closing NOAH and starting to close the Mandeville looney bin, shouldn't you, you know, do research? Maybe look it up for yourself first?

Saw this at the end of this James Gill Op-Ed about Nagin.