Adventure at the Clay Center

November 19, 2008Adventure, Family, Fun, WVAdventure, Family, Fun, WVwarren

We used to live in Nashville, TN before moving to WV. On a visit back to TN last year, we took a tour of the Adventure Science Center. We decided to buy a family membership which is good at many museums and centers across the country…including the Clay Center in WV. This weekend, we decided to head for the Clay Center to see what we could get into. We arrived at 11:45 or so on Sunday morning and basically had the place to ourselves. We took in a planetarium show which included the movie, “Space Oddities” as well as the typical tour of the constellations (which was excellent).

We exited out of the planetarium directly into the art gallery which had a special display of WV artists in addition to the gallery-owned pieces. We each picked our favorite pieces.

In particular, Abigail liked a modern piece and wanted a picture. Of course, we couldn’t take a picture so she is determined to write the artist a letter asking for a print of the piece. I suspect she will succeed. Anyhow, it was great to see them excited to pick their favorites (though they were ready to move on as soon as they had found their pieces). We ventured into two displays they had including Milton Gardener’s Earth City and Health Royale.

Earth City was a cool model of an old-timey road-side attraction where the kids could play with water to discover how it flows as well as see all sorts of gizmos to move water and soak unsuspecting bystanders. They had boots attached to a conveyor belt that the kids manually operated to fill a bin that occasionally dumped. We watched as water trickled down through all sorts of things and saw how steam (fog) travels through a valley.

In Health Royale, there were a number of games, but in particular the kids enjoyed a Hollywood-squares-esque game where various body parts helped the kids answer questions about oral hygeine. Isaac loved the talking brain especially.

Finally, we went to an exhibit called the Gizmo Factory that was all about fun with physics. The kids got to reflect lasers through fog via mirrors, pull themselves up in a chair with pulleys, see how a computer translated their dance into sounds, play a laser harp, and watch water and a ball defy gravity.

All told, we spent 3 full hours exploring the fun at the museum. The best part was that it was all free (aside from our membership which has already paid for itself).

The kids had a blast and would have stayed longer if we would have let them.

We’ll definitely go back and soon. Next week they decorate for Christmas which includes a display of model trains and trees decorated in various styles from around the world. I can’t wait to go back!

Solar furnace installation

November 18, 2008Green, House, Technology, TinkeringGreen, House, Technology, Tinkeringwarren

I last posted a week or so ago about my solar furnace. I mentioned that I needed to install the system in my window and get the fan/thermostat working. Well, my friends, wait no longer! This weekend I finished the installation of the solar furnace and even powered it with a small solar panel…but I am getting ahead of myself.

My downstairs family room has 5 windows, 3 of which face southward. A south facing panel is optimum because it gets sun almost all day as the sun progresses across the sky. I read that 20 degrees from due south results in a 5% decrease in performance. Luckily I have south windows but if I didn’t have due south, I would still try the furnace. A 5% decrease would still make things interesting. In addition to the direction, you have to consider the angle from horizontal of the panel so that it gets optimum sunlight in the winter when the sun is lower in the sky. I have read various thoughts on the optimum angle but the easy one for me to remember is “latitude + 10”. Here in Charleston, our latitude is 38 degrees.

According to this calculation then, the optimum angle from horizontal is 48 degrees. Using my trusty eyeball, I leaned the solar panel along the south wall of my house and tilted it at precisely 48 degrees. To be more exact, you should consider doing a site survey to make sure you really have things right. I will probably just mess with it until it gets the best sun. In a more permanent installation, you would want this to be much more precise. Mine is easily movable.

Anyhow, I built a box (which I insulated) to run a warm pipe and a cool pipe through my window. The thermostat and fan are inside the warm pipe inlet so the warm air should automatically rise and slowly flow across the thermostat. The rise in temperature should kick on the thermostat/fan and move the air a little better through the system. As the warm air evacuates, it will cool the thermostat and turn off the fan.

I mentioned in the last post on this topic that I could not drive the fan with a super cheap solar cell. I was rummaging through the junk bin at the office when I found a pair of fans (actually, quite a few fans) that were lower amperage than my original one. Anyhow, my new fan is rated at 12 volts and 0.16 amps. I know it will run at 9 volts so I figured I needed a solar panel that would produce 1.44 watts (i.e. 9 * 0.16). Harbor Freight sells a solar panel used for trickle charging auto batteries for $19.99. Actually, the website has it for $14.99 but in the store it is more. If I would have taken the printout to the store, they would have reduced the price. Apparently the store and website are somewhat independent. I didn’t have a printout and it wasn’t worth driving back for it so I paid $19.99. Ok, back to the story – it will produce 1.5 watts which will run my new fan. I don’t know if it always just produces 12 volts and the amps vary (because it produces differently depending on the strength of the sun) or if it produces 0-12 volts and constant amps, etc. All that is to say, I don’t know exactly what wattage is driving my fan but it turns it.

It occurs to me as I write this that I should measure the output with my mulitmeter…but really, for now, I don’t care. The fan turns fine in sun and that is my main goal. Unfortunately, the fan will not blow the dryer vent louver open. I had planned to use a dryer vent to close the inflow when not in use. I will have to resort to the “plastic over the hole” method I mentioned in the earlier post, to prevent back-siphoning. And let me tell you, back-siphoning is real and a problem if you don’t deal with it…I quickly learned a lesson on that topic!

Ok, lots of words to describe all this. The only problem is, I have not had a sunny day since I got this thing installed. I wanted to post about this progress but I don’t have any real results yet. I will have to post again with results. I know it will make a difference, but I don’t know the extent. Stay tuned!

First snow

November 18, 2008TechnologyThoughtswarren

We got our first measurable snow last night. I have only one word: YUCK!

I grew up in snow country…but I got over it!

Overheard: the girl talking with Grandma

November 17, 2008Family, ThoughtsFamily, Thoughtswarren

Abigail was talking to my Mom tonight as Emily and I listened in on the conversation and grabbed these tidbits:

“Mom says I have the smooch”

“Dad thinks farting is cool…so does Isaac…I do not”

“Carly is a G-I-R-L, not a B-O-Y”

Now let me clear up a few points…

-Abigail has croup, but she is an affectionate child also. I know she has croup…she may have the smooch as well.

-We are boys…what else can I say. I do hate that my 5 year old daughter knows the word fart but various family members who shall remain nameless gave the kids some books about Walter the Farting Dog. Actually, they are pretty funny and they have expanded the kids’ vocabulary!

-With current fashions and naming conventions, even in kindergarten, it is important to clarify!

ARGGGGHHHHH!

November 15, 2008TechnologyTechnologywarren

The power went out at the office sometime last night apparently which killed our internet gateway. The blog has been down until an hour ago when I went to check things out. The battery backup that is supposed to maintain the system on power failure had croaked and was not letting any of the servers come back up…ARGGGGHHHHH! Anyhow, I got it all turned back on and we should be back in business. The power company is installing an expansion on the substation nearby and I am blaming the recent power goofiness on their endeavours though I may be completely wrong. Anyhow, sorry for the downtime…I know you were dying to read the blog. I can hardly tear myself away from it also!

Junk vibrobot

November 14, 2008Fun, TinkeringFun, Tinkeringwarren

There is a category of electric critters called vibrobots. I hesitate to call them robots , but I guess they are autonomous moving things. Anyhow, as usual, I have bits of junk laying around that tend to rear up and get in the way now and then. I have an old motor I salvaged out of a vcr or something. I also had wire insulation hangers from my crawlspace insulation project. That’s about all you need to build a junk vibrobot. I bent a paperclip in an L-shape and taped a screw to one end of it. The screw attached off center of the motor shaft throws the balance of the motor off so it vibrates. Since it is attached to rigid, skinny wire feet, the vibrations through those feet on a hard surface translate into motion…random motion!

So, I zip-tied the end of the paperclip without the screw to the shaft of the motor. I then bent the insulation hangers in an arc and zip-tied the 2 sets of legs around the motor. I hooked a 9-volt battery to the motor contacts and away it went. I tried putting little rubber feet on it but the bare wire on hardwood jittered the best.

Mo, our silly cat had to get in on the fun. The kids had a blast running the v-bot around Mo. They had it timed perfectly so he would jump in the air when it started spinning. For a cheap toy, it was quite a bit of fun! Just a word of warning though…if you do this on your dining room table, be sure the cat is not around. Also, be sure your wife is not around as she will not be impressed with the cat on the table or with the little scratches the v-bot feet leave. Of course, this is certainly not the first time I have scratched the dining room table…but that’s another story.

Click the image for a short video

Here are some other vibrobots that other people have made. I have seen some that are solar powered, some that look just like bugs, and some that are made or worse junk than mine.

Itty bitty vibrobot
Bristlebot
Minty vibrobot

Flu tracker

November 13, 2008Technology, ThoughtsTechnology, Thoughtswarren

I like to divide people into groups with the best of them – There are blue staters and red staters. There are people who like the toilet paper over the top as God intended it and there are people who like the toilet paper underneath. There are also people who like to get flu shots and people who do not. I do not want to have a debate about the merits or pitfalls of flu shots, but I think it is interesting to hear people discuss their reasoning either way. Apparently Google has partenered with the CDC to track and predict the flu’s progression across the United States (Get right to the tracking map here). They are able to track past years’ data as well as frequently updated information from the CDC’s flu tracking. Apparently it used to take weeks to crunch the data from the CDC. Anyhow, Google found that they could correlate web search terms with the data from the CDC. I have read reports suggesting that Google can predict flu trends 1-2 weeks in advance based on their models/web search analysis. Now, truth-be-told, if you know the flu is 1-2 weeks out, it’s too late for a flu shot to do any good. However, I think this could be pretty useful to know when you should stay at home for a few weeks catching up on old episodes of the Dukes of Hazzard.

Chinese – making our fortune…cookies

November 12, 2008Family, Food, FunFamily, Food, Funwarren

I was reading the Y-2K Hippie blog last week and saw they had posted a recipe for fortune cookies. I love Chinese food but am usually not brave enough to eat it at a Chinese restaurant. That leaves us with typically not eating Chinese…but the homemade fortune cookies seemed like a really cool idea so we decided to make some and along with a Chinese entree. I cut come strips of paper and asked the kids to write some fortunes. Being young and inexperienced at it, they quickly ran out of wisdom to impart.

I said, “just write anything, draw a picture…just fill out all the papers.” Well, they made up in ink what they lacked in content. Isaac drew all sorts of epic battles on his half-inch wide sheets. Abigail wrote things like, “dog, dog, cat, cat, Dad, Dad, Mom, Mom”. Oh, the fortunes we’re great fun. They were certainly cryptic which made them feel more fortune-like. Anyhow, we mixed up the recipe :

Fortune Cookies
1 cup Margarine
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
3 1/4 cups of flour
1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
2 tablespoons of lemon juice
I kneaded it some and then rolled it out thin (though not thin enough….it needs to be really thin). We cut circles with our biscuit cutter, added the fortunes, then folded the circles in half, then in half again. We baked at 425 for 10 min….and then 5 minutes more.

Ok, the most important part was done. We also stir-fried some beef and broccoli with a seasoning packet we bought at the store. Based on the fact that we had to add soy sauce and some other stuff, I am pretty sure we just bought a packet of corn starch with Chinese lettering. As we cooked, Mohinder our cat bravely wandered into the kitchen. He made a lot of racket and never realized the fate he could have met.

Anyhow, Emily and I stirred and tended the stuff with bamboo cookware (just to be authentic – plus, it is all we have) and bowed to each other a lot (apologies to all my Asian friends for all of the terrible cliches and inaccuracies).

It was a lot of fun! Anyhow, it cooked up great along with some delicious fried rice. We plowed through every bit of what we cooked as well as a plate full of cupcakes the kids and their Mommaw decorated. Our fortunes were interesting, but I am sure I found my real fortune in good food and good times!

Going Pink

November 11, 2008Green, HouseGreen, Housewarren

In an effort to make our house a bit more comfortable and to save on the energy bill, we have begun to add insulation to the crawlspace of our 70 year old house (which is otherwise uninsulated for the most part). Our place is very odd in design. We have a many levels in our house and all sorts of nooks and crannies. Half of our basement is walk-in and finished while the other half is sub-surface and unfinished. Even within our basement, there are two levels. The crawlspace in question is under the formal living room and dining room and measures 33×13. That’s lots of words for “it’s a pretty big space and pretty dang cold in the winter”.

So, we headed to the home repair place to get insulation. Abigail saw all of the pink and some of the blue foam insulation and insisted on getting pink (which was the appropriate type for our application luckily!) So, I have been installing insulation in the crawlspace of the house. In spots, I have 5 feet of headroom while in others I have 18 inches.

Of course, I don’t think anyone has dusted under there and spiders have enjoyed the landscape. I came out several times to breathe, covered in cobwebs. My bald head somewhat attracts them I guess, though I prefer bald to hairy in that situation. I also discovered that one branch off of the main trunk from the furnace was unconnected and heating the crawlspace. No wonder I have cold spots in the house! Anyhow, I reconnected that and sealed it up so that it works as it should. I have lots more to do but I have not yet worked up the courage to venture into spiderland again! I expect the weekend will see me back fighting the arachnid army!

Ship in a lightbulb

November 10, 2008FunFunwarren

In addition to checking Woot every day, there is another site that I check pretty regularly called Instructables. Last week I was browsing and found an instructable on how to build a ship in a lightbulb. In an effort to postpone several of the projects that I really should be working on, I decided to build myself a ship in a lightbulb.

A few things I learned:

1. It’s never as easy as they say to get the base off of a lightbulb.

2. Never try to get the base off of a lightbulb in shorts and barefeet.

3. Never try to get the base off of a lighbulb over a couch or carpet.

4. A shattering lightbulb will send glass many feet in all directions.

This is just stuff I heard about…don’t really know if any of it is true!

OK, so I couldn’t get the base off like the article suggested. Fortunately, I have tinkered with stained glass so I know how to cut glass. Cutting the base off of a light bulb is not easy since the glass is incredibly thin. Once that’s off, the rest is simple. We’re not much for drinking wine (though cutting the bulb nearly drove me to drink!), so we didn’t have any corks laying around. Of course, I rarely follow directions either so I was still in good shape as far as the instructable goes.

Instead, I got some erasers and made my boat from them. I painted it and made a mast. Setting the mast up was pretty simple which was a surprise. I was very excited when I got it done. I showed the kids my creation and they were only slightly curious how I got the ship inside. I tried to convince them of all sorts of trickery, but Isaac called my bluff. He finally said, “Yeah, whatever Dad.” Still, they sort of got a kick out of it and I had some fun too! I put it on the top shelf of one of our bookcases where it can showcase our extensive dust collection!

My Home Among The Hills

Life in WV!