Really, really ridiculously good looking
Posted by Administrator on 29 Feb 2008 | Tagged as: Main
Check me out on billboards for the airport’s latest advertising campaign!
More to come…
Brainwave - fast winter shelter
Posted by Administrator on 04 Jan 2008 | Tagged as: Main
I’ve been thinking lately about snow shelters and winter camping. Snow shelters are an interesting phenomenon - temporary constructs of frozen water that insulate and protect the occupants, built from widely available materials with negligible ecological impact.
Strong snow shelters are built with catenary curves. These curves are formed naturally by structures in pure tension - like a string pinned at both ends. When the same curve is inverted, the pure tension becomes pure compression - okay, there are shear forces to be considered, but let’s stick with the elegant explanation…
In any case, forming a catenary is difficult to do accurately. Inaccuracies in the shape will lead a snow structure to flow and deform over time, particularly when warm. But how to achieve the shape? We could practice, like the Inuit in igloo building, or use a tool like the Icebox. These are respectively hard and expensive.
As an alternative, I have considered rigid or semi-rigid forms, including a concept called the “snow coffin” which I invented mostly to bother Katie. It succeeded only in that regard.
But what if we took advantage of the natural shape of hanging string, or more accurately hanging cloth? By hanging cloth, soaking it with water, and allowing it to freeze, it should be possibly to quickly assemble a highly efficient structural form, one that could be quickly buried in snow to insulate and seal the structure from wind. Setup would be fastest in the coldest temperatures; a comfort and survival advantage.
The only thing I haven’t figured out is how to get the fabric out again when it’s time to go. Hmm.
Voice of a leader
Posted by Administrator on 04 Jan 2008 | Tagged as: Main
I missed Obama’s speech after winning in Iowa today, but I love this transcript.
H2 Oh!
Posted by Administrator on 16 Oct 2007 | Tagged as: Main
I’ve been thinking about water treatment lately, in two contexts. The first is when camping. Katie and I have been packing a Sweetwater Guardian system for treating water. It’s a good system, and it’s worked well for us. Water flows through an 80 micron pre-filter, a 1 (I think) micron filter, an activated carbon layer, and is then chemically treated with a sodium hypochlorite.
This type of treatment is good for pretty much anything short of chemical contamination of the source, and clogs up quickly when filtering turbid water.It is also, interestingly enough, a great deal more thorough than the treatment system used to provide safe water for Winnipeg.
Winnipeg’s existing water treatment system uses chlorine at the entry to the aqueduct at Shoal Lake, and another chlorine treatment at the reservoir to kill bad stuff in the water. We also add a chemical to keep lead from leaching out of pipes and into drinking water.
That’s it. No filtering, no UV, no ozone, just chlorine and some settling time in the reservoir.
So why do we haul around a system able to remove essentially any dangerous critters that exist in the water we find in the woods, from cryptosporidium to giardia, through to bacteria and viruses, when all we do for the city is use some chlorine? That water starts in one of Manitoba’s lakes, too, and isn’t much less likely to be contaminated than most of the sources we drink from.
Bear in mind that we are building a new water treatment plant with more advanced treatment capablities, but our existing system has had no Walkerton-style crisis. It works. So why do i haul along a pound worth of highly conservative water treatment equipment?
Good question.
My thoughts on simpler and more effective water treatment:
1 - a chemical flocculant - flocculants stick things together, making them settle faster and making them easier to filter
2 - a small 5 micron filter - this one
3 - some means of disinfection
I am considering three means of disinfection
a - sodium hypochlorite. I already have it in a small dropper bottle, and it kills bacteria and viruses. No good on cryptosporidium, though.
b - mini water treatment UV lamps. New, gadgety, and effective with no chemical taste. but it’s a complicated gadget that might break in the woods.
c - ??? maybe there’s another alternative. It’d be nice to not have to drink chlorine tasting water in the woods.
Shangri-La Update - 3 weeks later
Posted by Administrator on 29 Jun 2007 | Tagged as: Main
So how’s the diet? Not bad, really. I’ve been on the sugar water, although I haven’t really committed myself to it. I’m only taking about half the recommended amount, and only during the week. Yes, I’m taking weekends off the diet.
However, it is working. It’s had a definite impact on my appetite. I can imagine that taking the recommended dose would seriously impede your desire to eat.
The most intriguing thing is eating and feeling so full so quickly. It’s very strange, and very consistent. It’s like having a smaller stomach all of a sudden.
