Chaudywogbaaga

A recent Cornell University study has identified a link between rain and autism. Areas with more rainy days have a statistically increased rate of autism. No one knows at all why this is. Early speculation is that it could be due to atmospheric toxins being brought down with the rain.

In my mind a more likely speculation that has been brought up is that there is a problem with vitamin D deficiency since most people make vitamin D from sunlight exposure. However I think they’re looking for the D deficiency in the wrong place.

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I recently was listening to a Science Friday program in which it was mentioned that people need to be more science and tech savvy. My thought was “Really?". I’m not thinking that most people are already tech savvy to easily navigate today’s tech and science laden world but should they be? Are people really able to continually add complex systems of thinking to their 70 or 80 year life span? Society at large seems to think so but I’m skeptical.

I see no evidence that points to the population growing in their ability to keep up with this ever increasing tide of data that is here and rising fast. Yes, some will point out that children pick up on technology quickly but that’s not what I mean. In general most children are learning it at an expense of skills that were common 50 years ago like being able to cook (as a single but not the only example).

I’m all for education. I try to teach my children as much as I can and want them to do well in school but is the all inclusive learning that is done in school the best way to learn?

More after the link

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The term ‘Starving artist’ is a familiar one. It seems that no one wants to pay enough for art so that a starting artist can make a living off it. Why is that?

The answer is two fold. First it is an issue of economics, there are a large proportion of people that have artistic skill and have an interest in making pretty things for people to look at. Because of that, their talent has a low economic value. It is only when they have refined their art to a high degree do they begin to be able to pay the bills because very few get to that point. If all artists had the stamina and self sacrifice to reach the level of a master, even master artists wouldn’t be able to make a living.

The second part of the answer is that if artists were more practically minded they could make a living. It’s unfortunate too, because people really want art in their lives and are willing to pay for nice things.

The big problem with fine arts is that it is outdated. Thats right it’s old, not just in body but in concept. It was a nice concept, but its had it’s day. Modern art is a realization of that. Unfortunately modern art tried to change the subject and leave the medium intact. This failed because it wasn’t practical.

Continue reading by clicking the link.

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This is how I view Asperger Syndrome. Scary and Interesting at the same time.

Just asking the question means that I have a mild or marginal case if I even could be diagnosed with Aspergers. In any event, I have the symptoms.

I’ve caught myself by surprise in this realization. That in itself is odd. Usually, when I find out something about myself it fits neatly into my own mental self portrait. This doesn’t because I have (apparently) wrongly attributed aspects of my personality to other things in the past. In essence I have to rip out a significant portion of my self image and replace it with this new information. This may be why I feel so disquieted by the idea.

More rambles after the link

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I was thinking of how cement foundries use tires to generate heat to make clinker. The same heat could be used to form metal if the fuel could be balanced with the air that is coming in. You may think “Tires? They’re dirty and smokey to burn!” but plenty of industrial burners use them. The problem is with getting them to a hot enough heat and giving them enough oxygen so that the smoke is completely burned by the time it exits the furnace. My attempt today was in one sense a success but I understandably messed it up because I have never done this before.

More after the link.

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This is my forge burner. I recently bench tested it to figure out if it was running rich, lean or neutral. Unfortunately the sun made the flame not stand out.

I found that by blocking a little bit of the air coming into the burner I got a more neutral flame and a lot more heat. I got excited and heated up some old copper pipe. I had some trouble with my regulator and or the tiny propane tanks I use freezing up. The propane is shot out the tank so fast, and at such high pressure that the tank actually freezes on a hot day.

In the end it seems it’s more my burner than anything else that has been causing my problems.

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In answer to some questions from readers, yes that’s me and yes it’s blurry on purpose.

I’ve been reading the Forums at backyardmetalcasting.com and abymc.com and trying to figure out why I’ve been getting marginal performance from my forge. I thought I had done everything completely wrong with the my forge. It turns out I wasn’t too far off. I’m actually leaning toward my burner not putting out enough BTUs being more of the culprit. I knew when I built it that it was small, but I was so happy that it actually worked I overlooked the fact that it was much smaller than I originally intended.

More by clicking the link.

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I was watching Steward Brand’s series “How Buildings Learn” and it occurred to me that his “good design” observations fit very well with an idea that I and many others have thought of, a Lego house. Despite this being a common thought among Lego affectionados, it is not easy to do because of the requirements of a real building versus a toy Lego structure.

For those of you who are scratching your head and saying “Lego house? What are you talking about? I don’t want a plastic house.” the general idea is a house that is reconfigurable in a way similar to how Lego’s can be reconfigured. If you don’t like a wall, you don’t knock it down and throw out the broken bits, you disconnect it and either re-sell it or reuse it somewhere else.

I’ve never really been sold on any of the “Lego House” ideas I’ve seen as being viable. That said, Mr. Brand made me rethink the idea and I finally think I have something that could work.

This may look like a cruddy 3D model, and it is! The magic is all in the construction of it.

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In A previous post Hacking Lunch, I discussed my desire for a tool for cooking, carrying and dealing with the aftermath of making a meal at work or on the go. I referred to this as an “iPod of the food world” or lunchPod (lPod seems klunky to me). Even then that name is already taken. So thats just a working title.

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Geek.com has an article on how to turn an Ubuntu PC into a PBX with some value added features using a program called Asterisk. What I thought was interesting about this is that in addition to a PBX (basically a phone switch)the program can also communicate with home automation equipment, can act as an alarm clock and call any number so you could get wake up calls even on the road, it can listen for noise in your house while you’re not there, I think it can call you and read your emails to you, it does voice recognition, and you can run commands on your computer via phone.

The biggest drawback to the system, like any PBX, it can be very complicated to set up. Thats why I say that Apple should take this system and develop an equivalent system with their traditional ease of use.

Now why would anyone want this? Read more after the link

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