Greg's Horrible Waste of Internet Bandwidth

2024 Highlights...and Lowlights Life:  April '24 was the month that my unemployment insurance ran out and, faced with lack of interest in my resume along with insulting and broken job search processes, I gave our finances a deep review and made the decision to pull the ripcord and bail out of the market. I unofficially officially "pre-tired" on my 60th birthday. I'm not against accepting future employment, but I'm just not going to get on my knees and subject myself to that disaster of a process. It's really broken, y'all. I really do feel for young people looking for a job, a mate, and a house, because all three of those are being managed the same way now...swipe left, swipe right... But if I keep my eyes and ears open, then maybe I can meet that perfect employer through family, friends, and social contacts (I'm all set with the "mate" and "house" part, thx). We'll see. In the meantime... Racing: I didn't have a functional...

So...this is one of them family stories...and while I'm sure my family may "suggest edits" this is how I remember it... Raymond Resweber was my mom's uncle (by marriage). I'm not clear what that is to me and how many times twice removed or whatever, but we always called him "Uncle Raymond". A good man. Gruff and irritable at times, but now that I'm at my age I totally get it. Raymond lived a good life. He was responsible for the formation of the first volunteer fire department in Port Barre, LA in 1945 and was appointed Fire Chief of the second fire district in 1959, serving in that role for 18 years. He was on the Board of Directors for the town's second fire district and was the town's Civil Defense Director for 10 years, and then was later elected Mayor and then after that Alderman. Hell, he built his own boat cruiser from scratch and traveled the Bayous Teche and Courtableau in it. Ask any of the good people of that town and they likely ...

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...and I'm stickin' to it. The Swap In 2013 I was experimenting with various configurations in the Super Touring Light Acura Integra. Its B18 (1.8L) engine gave me good service but STL minimum weights are based on engine displacement. I thought maybe I could do better with a lighter car powered by the B17 (1.7L) engine, built up to maybe make comparable horsepower (hey, I could hope). So I found a B17 and sent it to Blake to rebuild for me. Its debut was to be the 2013 SCCA Runoffs at Road America. But..."Road America",  USA's other dyno track (along with Daytona). You'd think that I would have considered that issue and tested for it in advance but "nope". I probably thought that the reduced weight (about 125 pounds?) would make up for that horsepower reduction but after first qualification seesion I was "yeah, nope". After three days of qualifying I realized that our B17...

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 9/15/25 Update I violated The Grumpy Rule* last weekend by allowing one JBillel to talk me into replacing my solar panels with newer better ones…he had to help though. Dropping twenty 35-lb panels and hoisting twelve** 55-pounders up/down from a 20 foot roof was hard work, even for the young helper…satisfying, but never again. That added $2200 to the total project cost, but should increase output by about a third after considering new panel and inverter efficiency, plus old panels age/degradation. Let’s see if this is financially worthwhile... Hyperion By Runergy 400W Bifacial Solar Panels and a Growatt 7.6kW Grid-Tie Inverter, all from Signature Solar . Good people to work with. *The reason old men get hurt? From thinking they’re still young men… **EDIT: And now I get to add an additional seven inches to the end of those racks so I can install another two panels...for 5.6kW total (4.1kW on original installation).   Price above reflects 14 panels. 8/...

(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...