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Re: dymt reloaded

Posted: Sat Feb 02, 2013 1:35 am
by just brew it!
Truth is sometimes stranger than fiction: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-a ... 43001.html

I find this even more amazing than the primitive tribes that shun contact with the modern world. This family came from civilization, and intentionally left it behind.

Re: dymt reloaded

Posted: Sun Feb 03, 2013 1:04 am
by JustAnEngineer
Captain Ned wrote:
Well, at least one thing enjoys the cold. The hood scoop on my turbo Subie funneling very cold air to the intercooler has done wonders for instantaneous power response this past couple of days.
I've seen figures of ≈1% horsepower increase per 10°F bandied about on the internet. I know that the seat-of-the-pants dynamometer tells me that my Acura's engine also likes the cold dry mornings much better than our humid summer weather.

If we look at the slopes of the specific volume lines on the psychrometric chart, we can probably calculate the benefit of cold dry air vs. hot humid air with more precision. I expect that the winter gasoline blend helps, too. It's a shame that the cold pavement provides less traction. Also remember that whomever you're racing will benefit from the same ambient conditions that you do. :wink:

Re: dymt reloaded

Posted: Sun Feb 03, 2013 1:20 am
by AMD64Blondie
Aagh... Once again I can't sleep.

(Doesn't help that I took a 3 hour nap earlier this afternoon.)

Re: dymt reloaded

Posted: Sun Feb 03, 2013 1:22 am
by Captain Ned
JustAnEngineer wrote:
Also remember that whomever you're racing will benefit from the same ambient conditions that you do. :wink:

Having a finely-calibrated butt dyno comes in handy, and I still win most times. Need to evaluate the competition before committing to combat. As for cold-weather traction Subie AWD plus a set of Hakkapeliittas takes care of that.

Re: dymt reloaded

Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2013 8:07 pm
by JustAnEngineer
It's been a while since I've needed to use a psychrometric chart, but here's what I see:

With a (dry bulb) ambient temperature of 95˚F and a wet bulb temperature of 80˚F (about 51% relative humidity), there's 0.019 lbs of water along coming along with each pound of dry air. Each pound of dry air has a specific volume of 144 cubic feet.

With a (dry bulb) ambient temperature of 45˚F and a wet bulb temperature of 34˚F (about 20% relative humidity), there's about 0.0015 lbs of water with each pound of dry air. Each pound of dry air has a specific volume of 127 cubic feet.

Your engine (or turbocharger in your case) might take in 13% more oxygen with each revolution when supplied with the cool dry air rather than the hot humid air.

Re: dymt reloaded

Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2013 8:22 pm
by Captain Ned
JustAnEngineer wrote:
Your engine (or turbocharger in your case) might take in 13% more oxygen with each revolution when supplied with the cool dry air rather than the hot humid air.

Um, this Vermonter could have told you that. The bitch of it is that when the motor makes the most power the roads are the most unreceptive to that power

Re: dymt reloaded

Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2013 8:04 pm
by Captain Ned
Just missed a call on the cell phone. Reversed the number, it resolves to Wilmington, DE, a/k/a the world's credit card management location. Zarking fardwarks, we're doing this dance again. Call my card's customer service number expecting to get the usual "we'll reissue a new card/number and you'll have it within 2 weeks" game while fully prepared to tell them that I will see it tomorrow AM courtesy of the quickest shipping FedEx can manage.

For some reason their fraud monitor twigged on four absolutely everyday normal charges (gas for both our cars, the prepaid lunch money program at the daughter's school, and an eye exam for the daughter). Sirens stopped howling and my BP might be back down to normal by the time I go to bed in 6 hours or so.

I'm glad they're watching, but they really need to work on the heuristics in their fraud detection given the bog-standard and dreadfully repetitive nature of the twigged charges.

Re: dymt reloaded

Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2013 9:00 pm
by Captain Ned
Well, you never know what you'll find when you traipse through Wikipedia and YouTube at the same time.

The Movie: Fast Times at Ridgemont High. A classic of the early '80s teen sexploitation flicks. Phoebe Cates in THAT red bikini. Need I say more. Lovingly "cited" in Fountains of Wayne's "Stacy's Mom".

The Scene: Brad is delivering food wearing his Long John Silver outfit complete with dorky huge hat. Cute blonde comes up alongside in a Vette. Brad makes googoo eyes at her and she finally breaks down in laughter because of the hat. Brad doesn't realize it until he sees the hat in his own rear-view mirror.

The Payoff: The cute blonde in the Vette is Nancy Wilson of Heart fame. Seeing as she's been married to Cameron Crowe (the movie's writer) since forever, it makes perfect sense. Never knew it was Nancy until 5 minutes ago.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnejXxT_JUA

Re: dymt reloaded

Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2013 11:10 pm
by idchafee
Filthy Critic is back!

Re: dymt reloaded

Posted: Fri Feb 08, 2013 12:16 am
by Captain Ned
idchafee wrote:
Filthy Critic is back!

College was Fall '81 to Spring '85. Most of the teen sexploitation movies had already been made or were made during my college years. I remember most of them.

Re: dymt reloaded

Posted: Fri Feb 08, 2013 12:23 am
by Captain Ned
Ugh. Will no one rid me of this turbulent Weather Channel and its need to name winter storms?

Thomas, I apologize.

Re: dymt reloaded

Posted: Fri Feb 08, 2013 10:58 am
by BiffStroganoffsky
Why can't they choose better names that are more representative of the storms, like Fluffy - the Nor'easter! :P

Re: dymt reloaded

Posted: Fri Feb 08, 2013 9:18 pm
by Captain Ned
Ian Anderson and whatever he calls Jethro Tull are touring this spring/summer playing the full Thick as a Brick.

I sense my credit card getting bent soon.

Re: dymt reloaded

Posted: Sat Feb 09, 2013 10:18 am
by Captain Ned
OMG. Ten inches of light fluffy powder and the entire local world pre-emptively shuts down.

This is VERMONT!!!. This is normal. You're supposed to be able to deal with an everyday snowstorm. If it was ten inches of mashed potatoes, I'd sympathize. It's 10 inches of fluffy powder. Why aren't you all on the mountain enjoying same (bad knees forced me off the slopes back in the mid-'80s)?

Re: dymt reloaded

Posted: Sat Feb 09, 2013 10:20 am
by JustAnEngineer
There are too many TV stations and not enough content. They have to hype every little event out of proportion.

We're also old enough to remember when New Englanders were hardier folks who didn't panic when it got cold and blustery outside. People who put "Live free or die!" on their license plates should not be such wimps.

Re: dymt reloaded

Posted: Sat Feb 09, 2013 10:35 am
by DancinJack
I think we're JUST under 2 feet. Weather dude said ~22inches.

Re: dymt reloaded

Posted: Sat Feb 09, 2013 2:56 pm
by paulWTAMU
2 feet...in a place where it snows regularly, often and heavy...and they're freaking out? WTH? In Colorado where I grew up (similar snow occurrences) 2 foot wasn't even a snow day for us.

Re: dymt reloaded

Posted: Sat Feb 09, 2013 5:42 pm
by DancinJack
Uhhh to be fair it doesn't snow two feet in 16 hours in Boston very often.

Re: dymt reloaded

Posted: Sat Feb 09, 2013 7:01 pm
by AMD64Blondie
Thank god for living in Portland,OR.

So glad I missed this foot + of snow.. NOT.

(Wouldn't mind a foot of snow in downtown Portland,OR right now...)

Re: dymt reloaded

Posted: Sun Feb 10, 2013 10:01 pm
by ludi
paulWTAMU wrote:
2 feet...in a place where it snows regularly, often and heavy...and they're freaking out? WTH? In Colorado where I grew up (similar snow occurrences) 2 foot wasn't even a snow day for us.

On the front range it would be, if it fall that fast :wink: Nothing unusual for the high country to get that kind of snow, but the population density is a lot lower and the residents are used to it.

When we had a 30-in her back in...was it 2002?...the entire Denver metro pretty much shut down for a day and a half.

Re: dymt reloaded

Posted: Sun Feb 10, 2013 11:15 pm
by paulWTAMU
late 02 or 03 we had that awful 6 blizzard, I remember that. Yuck.

Re: dymt reloaded

Posted: Mon Feb 11, 2013 6:25 am
by JustAnEngineer
I was there for the blizzard of '78. As an elementary-school student, I enjoyed the sledding opportunity and the school cancellations. :D

Re: dymt reloaded

Posted: Mon Feb 11, 2013 7:52 am
by Captain Ned
JustAnEngineer wrote:
I was there for the blizzard of '78. As an elementary-school student, I enjoyed the sledding opportunity and the school cancellations. :D

I was 14 at the time and spent the day with Dad in the old Willys CJ-5 running errands for the city gov't who didn't have much in the way of 4WD vehicles available to them. Our mayor "politely requested" anyone with a 4WD to show up at City Hall.

Re: dymt reloaded

Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2013 5:52 pm
by Captain Ned
Hmm, the 'Net seems stormy tonight, though the Internet Weather Report says all is fine. Power levels both down & up on the modem are fine, so it must be a Comcast issue. Oh well.

Re: dymt reloaded

Posted: Wed Feb 13, 2013 2:27 am
by just brew it!
A little PUI fun with fractals tonight this morning... (and the 'P' might stand for 'posting' or 'programming', take your pick). Supersampled anti-aliasing FTW; these were generated at approx. 50 megapixels then downsampled. It really brings out the detail, even when displayed at lower resolutions like this!

Image

Image

Image

Edit 2/16: Here's another cool one:
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Re: dymt reloaded

Posted: Wed Feb 13, 2013 11:31 am
by tfp
Very cool JBI.

Re: dymt reloaded

Posted: Sun Feb 17, 2013 6:00 pm
by paulWTAMU
Man :( Poor Samuel seems to have my allergies. Poor kid's been sneezing and occasionally retching with mucus this week. I feel exhausted but he feels worse.
Of course I'm using the late nights as a chance to read him LOTR on the kindle :lol: He might as well get a good start with literature and music (lots of metal, some Celtic, some red dirt).

Re: dymt reloaded

Posted: Sun Feb 17, 2013 6:01 pm
by Captain Ned
Ugh. Just finished replacing the garage door opener and I'm whacked. Getting too old for this stuff. Major hand cramps really got in the way of progress.

Re: dymt reloaded

Posted: Mon Feb 18, 2013 2:28 pm
by ludi
Another weekend, another oil change and tire rotation. Someone remind me why I thought it was a good idea to own two of these hungry machines?

Re: dymt reloaded

Posted: Tue Feb 19, 2013 3:52 pm
by BiffStroganoffsky
It was part of your inclusive backup/redundancy plan.?.