Hampshire & Hampden Canal

I went on a little foray in the rain today. My mission? Seek out a section of the old Hampshire and Hampden canal that runs through Easthampton. Circa 1829.

I think Leah is sure that I have an obsession with this thing. I recently went on a geocaching expedition that brought me to an old section of this canal. Being a history nut I was of course immediately sucked in by the fact that there was an old canal that ran right through many people's back yards and they don't even know what it was.

I'm currently on a mission to take some pics and write something up over at my outdoor website, skinut.net I'll let you know when it is up.

In the meantime, here are some shots from the Arcadia Wildlife refuge in Easthampton. There was ice on the shores already! Shortly after crossing the bridge to the field, which is now closed to vehicle traffic, some sort of raptor-bird announced my presence. I'm not sure if it was a red-tailed or not, because everything was so grey and misty today. Regardless of what bird it was it seemed that he wanted to dry his wings off for a bit. He (or she) was content that it was high enough for me to not bother it, so the winged creature stayed put.

There was a lot of rain on the horizon but I didn't care. I recently took advantage of EMS' seasonal sale and picked up some rain gear. I felt like a duck as the water just ran off my outfit. Yay!


After that little foray I went off to take some pics of the sections of the canal that were still visible. Here's a shot I took. It's amazing...after 179 years the definition of the canal is still plainly visible where it lay undisturbed. A rainy day is an excellent time to take shots, as it still holds water!

Cuisinart, you suck

So as a gift I received a nice (or so I thought) Cuisinart whirly-blade style coffee grinder. Yeah, I know it isn't the best solution for a french-press, but it is a multitasker as I can grind spices with it.

So I made 4 to 5 batches with the first one we had before I noticed the RPMs severely dropping. Then the 'removable' cup wouldn't come off, and then the unit died shortly thereafter. It was apparent to me that the copper bung on the bottom of the blade shaft was getting very, very hot.

Thinking it was a dud we exchanged it for a like model. I used the second one THREE times before the same thing started to happen. This time I looked a little more into what the heck was going on. Well apparently Cuisinart has become a cheap, cheap company. There is no bearing. The blade shaft, with an outer shell of plastic, sits freely within the hole in the bottom of the cup. This means there is a lot of back and forth play.

Now you don't need to be a genius to figure out that plastic-rubbing-on-plastic at high RPMS is going to create some friction. This friction heats up the copper bung which sits on the base-motor part. So hot it will burn you, in fact. (don't ask). The copper expands, gets stuck to the base, and also closes the gap between the shaft and the hole, thus slowing the motor down until it burns out.

I looked on Amazon.com at some of the reviews of this (and other) Cuisinart product and they are mostly bad. With respect to the grinder I had, the reviews all indicate the exact same problems. With respect to the other burr style grinders, most reviews are bad as well. Click for description

I also researched some of the mechanics used in this grinder and found that the motor assembly and design was created by Conair. Yes, the people that make HAIR DRYERS. What in the hell does that have to do with food??

I am switching to the KitchenAid line of products for my kitchen. The coffee grinder was not the first "new" style Cuisinart product I or my friends have had problems with. They don't make their stuff solid anymore like my mom's food processor.

It may interest you to know that KitchenAid products were created by Hobart, the company that produces huge mixers and other devices for commercial applications. I have yet to ever have a product from KitchenAid fail prematurely.

The icing on the cake was that I emailed Cuisinart explaining my problem and offering suggestions on how to fix the issue. I didn't even ask for a refund or anything. I received absolutely no response. Not even a generic form letter thank you.

Therefore, Cuisinart, you have lost a customer. Not that it matters to you corporate big-whigs...you just make up for it in sheer volume of sales. But, I would like to point out you are filling up our landfills with piles of your electronic junk.

For Whom the Bell Tolls

Well we just figured out that our pet wild bird that we rescued as a baby (7 months ago) has a thing for bells.

He is inexplicably drawn to the sound of ringing bells. There is much rejoice, wing flapping, and cooing at the sound of bells on the TV as well as the sound of my hiking bear-bell.

How odd...

GPS Technologies

So the other day I'm trying to find this dude's house. I don't live in the area, in fact I have never been to the area. It turned out his street was misspelled which is why my GPS wouldn't find it. The issue is, however, I had a helluva time getting this guy to answer a simple question.

"Can I have the closest side street to where you are."

"Well, you can get here by route such-and-such."

Ok dude, I didn't ask you how to get there. I asked you simply for another side street close to where you are. You see, my super secret plan is to put the name of that side street into my GPS and when I get to that side street I know I am close. Your suggestion, however, is to have me drive up and down a secondary highway that I've never been on before, looking for some other road. Said highway is 20+ miles long.

Oh, did I mention that your name for the highway is not necessarily the official name? For example, if I told you to come find me and I live off of the General Knox Trail, you won't locate where I am. It isn't on a map with that name, it isn't recognized by the town by that name, and it sure as hell isn't in the GPS by that name. The General Knox trail is a local townie name for Route 20. The same is the other way around sometimes...if you tell me you live on Route 202, my GPS doesn't know what "Route 202" is. Daniel Shays Highway, yes, Route 202...not really. They are one in the same, though.

So I had to ask this dude literally 3 or 4 times to please for the love of God just give me the name of the nearest side road next to his road. I don't need directions TO the side road, just give me the fraking name. Lo and behold, once I finally got the answer I typed it into the GPS and found my way to his house just fine.

Why don't people just ANSWER the question????

Quote of the Day

A quote from my favorite "Red Bull Air Race" pilot, Peter Besenyei:

A part of your happiness is satisfaction. Whatever you achieve or whatever good fate has to give you, as long as you are not satisfied with it you are doomed to be unhappy. But satisfaction does not mean you can rest on your laurels and need not strive to improve yourself.

What is the Red Bull Air Race? The coolest motorsport on the face of the planet, that's all!

Ok so get this. You pilot a single-seater high speed aerobatic plane around these giant inflatable paper gates, like a big obstacle course. The catch? Well some of the gates indicate you have to go through them perfectly level and others indicate you must go through knife-edged (wings perpendicular to the ground, very difficult because lift is not generated). Some pylons are colored to tell you within how high you must pass through them or in which direction you need to roll.

Oh, and you are doing this while pulling up to 12Gs (12 times the force of gravity) about 50 feet off the ground, at 230 miles and hour. Loops and direction-changing maneuvers are sometimes needed. In a propeller driven plane... For comparison the average fighter pilot experiences 7-9Gs.


Check it out RED BULLS WEBSITE
Here is some cool video that has some ultra-slow motion CLICKY CLICKY


Edge 540 Airplane specs:
General characteristics

* Crew: one pilot
* Capacity: pilot only
* Length: 6.27 m (20 ft 7 in)
* Wingspan: 7.42 m (24 ft 4 in)
* Height: 2.87 m (9 ft 5 in)
* Wing area: 9.1 m² (98 ft²)
* Empty weight: 531 kg (1,170 lb)
* Loaded weight: 703 kg (1,550 lb)
* Max takeoff weight: 816 kg (1,800 lb)
* Powerplant: 1× Modified Lycoming IO-540, 254 kW (340 hp)

Performance

* Maximum speed: 426 km/h (265 mph)
* Rate of climb: 1,189 m/min at 425 m (3,700 ft/min)
* Power/mass: 0.472 hp/kg (0.214 hp/lb)
* Roll rate: 420°/sec

Yay!

Go Obama! Yay!!!

About time for some change...

(post not open for political debate comments)