This little ditty was put together by some friends of mine. I like their attitude.

This is the world famous math video. Check it out and give us some feedback in case we missed something.

The link follows:

Thumbs up on this one. Awesome production in my opinion so check it out by hitting the YouTube button.

The Spanish blends well with the music even if you don’t speak the language. Either way I’d be willing to bet you like it.

And just so you know, sanctus espiritus means holy spirit.
“Its the state of the matter that counts, and not a matter of the state…………….” Exspider

This was a close one and I just about got vaporized in the process. Basically I was hand cranking a set of knives in on a 13Kv set of switchgear with depleted SF6 levels in the switch cartridges. When I made the connection one of the HV fuses popped and I headed for the door. It blew up just as I got to the door and put me face down on the rock outside. If it would’ve happened 2 seconds earlier, well, you wouldn’t be seeing these pictures.

Here’s another good example of this sort of thing happening:

Arc flash while racking a breaker

This is a rather long video, but well worth your time if you choose to look at things from all angles.

Illusion. Meet Reality………..

Read the rest of this entry »

The current problem with MC 252 in the GOM dwarfs what I see on a day-to-day basis. That being said, these things happen in all industrial endeavors and can’t be avoided in the real world if you’re doing something other than watching a TV set. Physics always wins, whether we like or not.Everything comes with a risk.

This is a graphic of the current situation:

The Oil Drum is a good place to start if you’d like to know more about what’s happening down there.

I put this together using a computer and MIDI interface to trigger an Alesis D-4 16 bit drum module, then overlaid the guitar tracks on a Yamaha 4 track MD recorder. The bass line was a triggered Technics keyboard that Exodus (a long story) provided.
I like to refer to my MIDI drummer as the “electric monkey”. You can’t do it without one in real time if they don’t show up when you need them in the first place. So there you go.

This is why I didn’t pursue music as a career. I’d starve to death if I had to sing for my supper.
The lyrics are HERE.

This is more my style. It’s boring but I’m good at it……

Sometimes to good. I was making a pass to install liners in a Moline HD 800 2 hole cylinder block one day without the safety stop set and got called away to the phone. You guessed it, when the head butted up against the concrete floor the bar and block jacked up and fell over. It hit the floor on the feed lever side and twisted some of the slotted shafts in the transmission. It took me several weeks to fix it and straighten things back out, but when I got it back together it would shift the gears and was one sweet machine. I could bore a cylinder with that little jewel, take the bar off, re-install and center it, and cut another pass at .001-.002. It’s a hard lesson to learn when you’re on the receiving end. At least I still had a job………..

“It’s a meeting of mind & steel
And the way that I feel
She’ll really scream, she’s everyones dream
This music makin’ money machine“

This earthquake being as strong at is was, and at that depth, was the last thing the people of Port-au-Prince needed with their existing (formally) infrastructure. I’m sending a prayer their way and wish them the best of luck in dealing with the mess and shock of it all.

Ya, I know. Dust and cobwebs seem to be the rule around here at IOR and I offer no excuses, dealing with that kind of stuff in the real world is a full time job in itself.
The fact that it’s 0 degrees out doesn’t help much either if you’re the woodchuck chucking the wood.
Exspider/out/still feeding the fire

December 18, 2009
Amidst fading hopes for real reform on issues ranging from high finance to health care, economist Robert Kuttner and journalist Matt Taibbi join Bill Moyers to discuss Wall Street’s power over the federal government.

Video Here

Ferrofluid Sculpture

A small dose of physics never hurts in the process……… That’s of course if N. Pelosi isn’t blinking her eyes real fast and representing the rest of us in her failed attempt to look intelligent while her state crumbles.
YouTube Link

Ferrofluid: How it works

5 Axis CNC Machining: W16 Engine Block Machined From Solid Billet

YouTube Link

The coding involved to make that happen sends chills through me. I’d still like to have one though, not the car, just the tooling to do it in the 1st place and some spare time.
Construction of The Bugatti W16 engine

“The Worst Is Yet to Come”: If You’re Not Petrified, You’re Not Paying Attention

Well the games up now and I guess as a Veteran-American I might as well accept the fact that I can no longer represent my country without being labeled as some sort of right wing kook clinging to God and my guns.

That’s bunk! I have faith for a reason and not as an excuse!
I call BS on the talking heads in your TV set spouting that kind of BS. Extreme? Ya right, but at least I’ve got something better to do with my time and it has nothing to do with a TV set.

This Tea Party is just a pup folks.

Check this out from my good friend The Velvet Hammer:

Grassroots power baby! We will not be silenced!

Here’s another view:

NORTH: Who are dangerous ‘extremists’?

A good friend of mine lost his life in a freak accident involving car vs man on a roadway here in the old “oil patch” today. He’d stopped to retrieve something on the road and got hit by an incompetent fool on “meth” who hadn’t slept in a few days. It was on flat ground with good visibility and would never have happened if not for that.
God rest your soul Larry Evans.
Some things never change……………..

Update: Somebody welded up a flat iron cross and planted it on the corner with “we miss you L Evans” welded on it and a Cubs hat attached to one of the arms. I’ll be hanging an old horseshoe on the other one tomorrow.

Never forget………….

Long story short. Exodus finished his tour in Afghanistan doing some IT work for the military. He’ll be joining us stateside in May, and then return to Hawaii and fix computers while enjoying the weather there for awhile. And the Exodus continues……

Nice job

Update 03-19-09:

His reflections on the trip through Kuwait and other stops along the way are quite interesting to say the least. Let’s just say civilian contractors aren’t exempt from the red tape involved when dealing with the military.

Update 03-28-09:

The plan is in place: Exodus is taking a well earned vacation to Greece and Italy (OVERKILL) before he stops by for a three week visit in May .

This ones for “Mary Lamb”, just to make her feel better about putting up with me for our 34 years of marriage. She’s the love of my life, as is the son she helped me raise.

Nice job on her part, and we’ve got the proof. “Exodus” is a civilian contractor working in Kabul, Afghanistan fixing military computer systems after he got bored with Hawaii and working on the same old consumer fried systems everyday. That’s always a messy operation at best, so it was actually a pretty good move on his part. It’s all in the timing when you’re playing chess if you think about it long enough. You know what I mean……

Happy Anniversary foxy lady!

Pretty Woman- With a H/T to Gary Moore

Thanks go out to all of my friends in cyber-land for your patience with me over the course of the years. Your faith and inspiration is the only reason I’m still here. A special hat tip goes out to the Gray Dog and John Kerry for influencing me during the 2004 election cycle. Kerry was the last straw for this Vietnam Vet and was the ultimate wakeup call. The Gray Dog made me realize we could still make a difference, and that the war was still at hand, just in a different realm.

Our latest additions to the web:

Rurik has assembled a good team that you need to check out. Thumbs up to all of you!

I try to ignore the gravity of our current situation for the most part, but physics always wins out in the long run folks. It’s like everything else: you either learn to live with it, or die trying. After all, life is a challenge by nature. If it isn’t, well, you’re probably just not doing something right.

IOR would also like to welcome James Rawles to the blog roll.

Here’s the picture I used for the above graphics. It’s the bugs bottom taken from the backside of the web. See the eyes, that’s the illusion. Reality wins again folks…….
Here’s the view from topside.

And that should explain that.

By Alex J. Pollock

“The ultimate failure of the Greenspan Gamble notwithstanding, the Fed will continue to be extremely useful in helping ameliorate busts and financial panics, just as it was intended to do in 1913. Its usefulness to the government insures its continued influence and authority, which may very possibly include acquiring wider jurisdiction as the “Super Fed.”

But it is foolish to think that the Fed (or “Super Fed”) can foresee all future problems or prevent future bubbles and busts. It is even foolish to think that the Fed will consistently make correct forecasts of the results of its own actions.

After all, everybody, no matter how clever and diligent, no matter how many economists and computers one employs, makes mistakes when it comes to predicting the future.”

MORE>

Exodus called from Ali Al Salem, Kuwait earlier today. He’ll spend a week or so there, and then fly into the Bagrame Air Base before the final road trip or flight into Kabul, Afghanistan.
Heh, now that’s what I call getting around………..

From Hawaii to the dessert in a week is just the seasons passing Exodus. You’ll be in Afghanistan before long and the seasons will have changed once again. At least the weather anyhow. That’s always a good thing, unless of course, Al Gore is involved.

Update March 29! I received an email from my lad this morning. He made it to Afghanistan (Bagrame Air Base) and will be leaving for Kabul shortly. Fixing computers for a living just took on a whole new meaning with that move.

Update April 1! Exodus finally made it to Kabul. He had to take the long way around (3 hours) via C-130 and some stops at some other bases first.

I’ll post a follow-up and pictures as I receive them. He’s been kind of busy lately…….

Update April 4!

Exodus phoned in from Kabul. He’s got his own room in the basement of a safe-house a 1/4 mile from Camp Eggers and is doing just fine. 12 hour days working on computers and nothing to do in your spare time. What a life!

Exspider/out/feeding the fire/the web is spun…………………………….

I married an Irish girl and have no regrets, other than the fact that she didn’t come with a leprechaun and a pot of gold. She did however give me my son and a wonderful life, so that’s a whole better deal in the long run.

And yes, that’s a porta-potty at the end of that rainbow! What a shot…

H/T to Pelk for the picture. We both served with the 102nd CS in Vietnam. He’s Irish also, and a fine old lad indeed.

Exodus is the online moniker that my son uses. It actually fits in a way. We moved from Illinois to Texas when he was just a pup, and into a whole new world. Then the Navy gave him the opportunity to get out and around for a bit and see some of the rest of it. Dessert Storm came along and the USS Russell (DDG 59) and Exodus were about as far from home as one could possibly get.

He was based in Hawaii when he was discharged, decided to stick around, and has worked with computer systems to make a living ever since. He’s one of the smartest people I know, and it’s finally paid off for him. Exodus is now headed for Afghanistan to work on military computer systems, and will gear up this week at Ft. Benning before bouncing off of Kuwait for the final leg of the trip.
God speed my son.

Ironic Surrealism to say the least….. It’s almost as if I’ve been there.