Greg's Horrible Waste of Internet Bandwidth

On My Purgatory I'm convinced that when I die, whoever is in charge of my stuff is going to drop a nice big dumpster/container up my driveway next to my garage and just start chucking things in. And I'll be looking down (or maybe up) in horror, screaming " OH MY GOD DON'T THROW THAT AWAY DON'T YOU KNOW WHAT THAT IS??? " and no one's gonna hear me. Since that's likely something I'll be forced to endure for the rest of eternity, I'm guessing that means I'll be looking up at it... - tGA

 Memories are frangible, but this is how I remember it, 12 years later... The Swap In 2013 I was experimenting with various configurations in the Super Touring Light Integra. Its B18 (1.8L) engine gave me good service but in STL the compliant weight is dependant on displacement. I thought maybe I could do better with a lighter car powered by the B17 (1.7L), built up to maybe make comparable horsepower. So I found one and sent it to Blake to rebuild for me. Its debut was to be the 2013 SCCA Runoffs at Road America. But..."Road America" the USA's other dyno track (along with Daytona). You'd think that I would have considered that, but..."nope". I probably thought that the reduced weight (about 125 pounds?) would make up for that horsepower reduction but "nope". After three days of qualifying I realized that our B17 was the wrong horse for this course as we were three seconds per lap slower than the prior year and I was gridded in something like 13th....

An Interesting GTSB (Greg Transportation Safety Board) Report (Subject to revision) On August 29, 2024, at approximately 6:30PM (EDT), the engine in the #33 Porsche 914 suddenly stopped as it was slowly driving away from the town green of Falls Village, CT. Hearing a large noise (discernable by nearby onlookers), the driver immediately disengaged the drivetrain via the foot clutch and car coasted to the side of the street. Initial attempts to restart the engine were met with a starter that would not rotate; attempts to push the car while the transaxle was engaged were met with full resistance. It was quickly determined that the engine had locked up. After minimal roadside investigation, it was determined that the dry sump tank oil valve, which supplies oil to the engine oil pump, was in the closed position and it was obvious that the engine had been run without a supply of oil. As a result, the car was "flat bedded" back to Lime Rock Park and retained as a paddock display for...

Photovoltaics Installation FAQs 8/1/24 Update Most of the below info is still valid, however 16 years on I have yet to recover my initial installation costs. The installed cost of the 4.1kW system was $18,109 (2008 dollars); as of this date, the system has generated $13,029 (not adjusted for inflation) tracking monthly output and per-kW monthly rates. So why it is that a system that was sold as paying for itself within 10 years has not? Well, there are several factors: In 2007, it was estimated that energy rates would increase 5% annually (it had been trending 8-10% for the prior 10 years). That didn't happen. Instead, this little thing called "fracking" got discovered and our energy costs actually decreased for many years (the "green push" is changing that trend). In 2007, it was estimated that PV owners would get somewhere in the range of 5-7c/kWh generated for their Renewable Energy Credits -- RECs. These were credits that other electrical customers would pay...

(This is another blog in a series of thoughts/ideas that I commonly see, created as a placeholder for future reference so I don't have to re-write it each time. I totally understand the limited audience and for such a post, but I invite feedback from those who have interest in this arcane subject...) -------------------------------------------------- This was posted in response to someone inquiring about PDM control, pressure sensors, switches, valves to manage an Accusump in his race car... You're making this wicked too complicated...and significantly failure-prone. An Accusump (AS) is a passive hydraulic/mechanical oil pressure accumulator (thus, "Accu"sump). Its purpose* is to provide oil flow when the pickup tube in your engine becomes unported due to side loads oil "slosh" or flow away from it. First, note that an AS is a "BandAid" for a design flaw in your road race engine. That design flaw is the unporting of the oil pickup. The ultimate res...

This is simply a blog post for myself, so I can remember what the terms mean. I do get asked occasionally...prosit! Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey, Bottled in Bond Whiskey - "An alcoholic distillate from a fermented mash of grain produced at less than 190 proof in such a manner that the distillate produces the taste, aroma, and characteristics generally attributed to whikey, stored in oak containers and bottled at not less than 80 proof, and also includes mixtures of such distillates for which no specific standards of identify are prescribed." Bourbon  - "Whisky produced at not exceeding 160 proof from a fermented mash of not less than 51 percent corn and stored at not more than 125 proof in charred new oak containers, and also includes mixtures of such whiskies of the same type." Therefore, Bourbon is a specific type of whiskey. Straight  - "Whiskies conforming to the standard prescribed in the definitions of Bourbon whiskey which have been stored in some ...