A Smarter Cup Of Coffee

I just replaced the second set of decanters for the office coffee maker. Yesterday, some clueless individual left less than a cup of coffee in my new decanter. It was starting to burn, but not as much as I did when I realized someone almost destroyed my new decanter.

This reminded me of a way I came up with to save decanters: make the burner weight-sensitive. Put it on a spring where the filament doesn’t make contact below a certain weight. That weight would be the equivalent of one cup of coffee plus the decanter. No decanters would ever break. No fires would start. Problem solved.

A better approach is to do away with the glass decanter completely. Thermal decanters keep coffee fresh all day long, where coffee that cooks in a glass decanter goes bad in an hour or two. Thermal decanter coffee makers are also more energy-efficient: they’re on only when they’re brewing. You don’t have to worry about them starting fires.

But maybe I just have too much time on my hands.

Martha Stewart Would Be Horrified, But In A Good Way

I hoped to post some pictures of the floating ghost effect I created for Halloween. Unfortunately, I can’t find the pictures I took showing how it was set up. Luckily, Kelly did take a few shots of the ghost in action, as you can see by this picture and these.

The ghost was only visible from a spot right in front of the door. Often the kids missed it in their rush to collect their sugary loot. Only after I augmented it with a ghostly moan did it really start to attract attention.

The parts:

  • One flourescent light fixture. Lowe’s, $8 ea
  • Two blacklight bulbs. Lowe’s, $12 ea
  • 24×36″ Poster frame. A.C. Moore, $6.60 (on sale).
  • One bag of poly fill (for ghost). A.C. Moore, $2
  • Roll of 24 gauge hanging wire. A.C. Moore, $1.50
  • Spot of spray paint. Free.
  • Comforter cover. Free.
  • Speakers, etc. Free.

Total cost: $42. Total time: about an hour.

I spread the comforter cover out behind our porch swing, pinning it up on the back of the swing to provide a shield from the ghost. The ghost was placed on top of the comforter facing up. The black light was hung from the back of the swing, illuminating the floor below it.

To reflect the image of the ghost below, I drilled holes in the plastic sheet from the poster frame and hung it at a 45 degree angle from the bolts holding the swing. Originally I was afraid the plastic wouldn’t be reflective enough, but the sheet from the poster frame turned out to be perfect. It was light and thin, which made it bow a bit once I hung it. This uneven surface gave the impression of movement as one looked at one the way to the door.

The effect is that of a translucent ghost, hanging in air. The neighborhood kids were impressed. At least, the ones who looked up were impressed!

Hallie was so excited to help me put it together. She kept asking “Daddy, is it lit up yet?” Once it was lit up, she was still a little spooked by it, even though she helped me assemble it. I was amused.

Still, it wasn’t all perfect. I had hoped it would be visible from the street, but this turned out not to be the case. The neighbor’s porch light shone through it at a certain angle, washing it out. Pointing it towards the street would’ve also helped. I would have also liked the reflecting surface to be bigger. Maybe next year.

All in all, it was a great project. Now, what to do for an encore!

World War One

The first world war has been on my mind lately, coming from various places. It began with Netflix delivering our latest movie to us, A Very Long Engagement. Its a movie about love during WWI, as Audrey Tautou’s (of Amile fame) character searches for her missing fiance. The movie shows the war in unflinching, shocking detail, exposing its mindlessness and savagery for what it is. Once it was over, I couldn’t help wondering how those frightened kids felt in their trenches.

Yesterday, Metafilter had a link to accounts from the last remaining WWI vets. Their personal stories are gripping, alive as the days they lived them. So sad. As Harry Patch (aged 107) said:

Why should the British government call me up and take me out to a battlefield to shoot a man I never knew, whose language I couldn’t speak? All those lives lost for a war finished over a table.

Now what is the sense in that? It’s just an argument between two governments. Neither Charles nor I ever want any other young man ever to go through what we did again, but still we send our lads to war.

It made me think of my uncle at the Battle of the Bulge hunkered down in a Belgium forest, a kid fighting the bitter cold and the German army. He knew all too well what those WWI soldiers went through. He never talked about it. How could he explain it? How could anyone?

Today’s paper ran the obituary of Rene Moreau, whose death this week left just six remaining French WWI veterans. Moreau finally joined the comrades he left on the muddy fields of the Western Front ninety years ago. Soon all those who faced this horror will be gone forever.

Almost a century gone by and what have we learned?

Meter Readers

Why don’t power companies provide their customers better ways to track their electricity usage? Don’t get me wrong – I love the little bar graphs that Progress Energy puts on their monthly bills, but the problem is they’re monthly. I want data that’s more real-time. Wouldn’t it be great if you could query your electric meter to get the current (ha!) usage, anytime you wanted? I’d love to graph this data and use it to really analyze how we use electricity in our home: things like how much power a particular appliance draws when running and so forth. I know that some power companies use electronic meters that can be read remotely by meter readers – why not let the customer do that, too?

Halloween Recap

We’ve finished our Halloween routine here. Things went pretty well, for the most part. Hallie and Travis were notably excited about the costumes and trick or treating. It was great seeing them so psyched.

I got home and skipped dinner to work on the new decoration this year: the see-through ghost. It was a big hit! Look for a more detailed description tomorrow.

Time to usher in November.

Two Views of the CIA

I have a love-hate relationship with our Central Intelligence Agency. On the one hand, I highly respect those who sacrifice so much when serving our country. Agency officers do very dangerous work with little backup. Their successes are rarely, if ever, made public. It’s a lonely job, but one so crucial to our country’s national security. I deeply respect them and their work.

I got a glimpse of this spook world during my stint in the Navy. I loved reading Robert Baer’s book See No Evil, an account of the former CIA officer’s service in Middle East. That’s why I can sympathize with Valerie Plame when reading about how her illustrious career with the CIA was destroyed by Dick Cheney, Scooter Libby, and Karl Rove. This shameful outing of a dedicated agent deserves to be punished.

On the other hand, I am opposed to extraodinary renditions. Kidnapping suspects and delivering them to rogue states for torture violates the oath these officers have taken to support and uphold the Constitution. My loyalty to the Constitution comes before my admiration of those supposedly serving it. Abuses of human rights deserve to be punished as well. There are age-old, proven procedures for getting the bad guys: get a warrant, set up an investigation, gather evidence. Then arrest them and put them up for trial. Sure it takes longer, but you can still sleep at night. Call me a Boy Scout, but that’s how I see it.

Last year I followed the story of the CIA flights from Johnston County Airport, making noise about it when none of the local media had yet to bat an eye. I was contacted by a reporter from the New York Times seeking information. Eventually, the story was picked up by the N&O and WRAL.

That’s why when I found out that a group opposed to torture is meeting locally tomorrow night, I knew I have to go. Stop Torture Now will be meeting at 7:30 Tuesday night at Raleigh’s Unitarian Universalist Church on 3313 Wade Avenue. I don’t know much about the group or the meeting’s agenda, but I feel its important to voice my concern about this troubling, illegal practice.

Aren’t we supposed to be the Good Guys?

Why Nights With Calm Winds Are Colder

I’ve always been curious as to why calm winds make for colder nights. It seemed so backwards to me. Wind aids evaporative cooling, right? Why wouldn’t wind make things cooler?

Well, after a little Googling I found the answer. Its due to temperature inversion! During the day, the sun heats the ground, which is denser than air and thus warms more quickly. At night, the situation is reversed. The ground radiates its heat back into the air, which soon becomes warmer than the ground. At night the air temperature actually rises with altitude.

A calm night lets the colder, denser air settle to the ground, without mixing with the warmer air above. Thus, surface temperatures are lower when the wind is calm.

Thanks to N.C. State’s Cooperative Extension site and the University of Wisconsin’s Frost Forecast page, The Weather Doctor, and the good ‘ol Wikipedia for clearing that up.

Mobile Detailing

So as I drove through the company parking lot the other day, my car got sprayed by this team doing “mobile detailing” of someone’s car. I just had to ask myself “what the hell is a mobile detailer?” I mean, isn’t detailing just a car wash you pay twice as much for? How did these car washers come to call themselves “mobile detailers,” anyway?

What about those guys who step off street corners and squeegie your windshield for change? Do they call themselves “mobile detailers?” If so, can they join the Union of Mobile Detailers? Is there a secret handshake involved?

What I can’t understand is that there are actually franchises for mobile detailers. Franchises on wheels! How to they define their territory? By grafitti on bridges? Do rival mobile detailers wash it off?

I think there’s an underground culture here that needs investigating.