Planning The Road Trip

 Here are a few miscellaneous notes on the latest in electric vehicles and worthy destinations to which to drive said vehicles. 

Vehicles

Alpha Motor Corporation

It just sits in your garage while you admire it. When it's sunny out, you can pull it into the driveway, and admire it. But do not drive it anywhere.

Meet the Alpha Montage! It's a neat-looking car, but the fine print indicates that it won't be a street-legal car, which is good, because it means you don't have to worry about someone scratching it in a parking garage. On the other hand, you can't drive it anywhere except your driveway. Maybe you can afford a ticket, given that this car will cost $500K. 

Fortunately, the company has other options if you don't have a half mil burning a hole in your pocket and you like to, you know, drive your car places and do stuff. They will offer the more down-to-earth REX Utility Vehicle ($52,000) and the SAGA Sedan ($48,000). These two will turn plenty of heads and you'll still be able to retire at 65.

None of these cars appear to be for sale yet, but you can reserve one today, and cross your fingers that Elon Musk doesn't buy the company and run it into the ground before yours is delivered. 

Rivian

Rivian has a development center in Plymouth, MI, as well as other places in the US. Amazon has made a deal with them to create a fleet of delivery vehicles. I saw one of them the other day, so it's becoming a reality. 

The Rivian R1T, pulling a trailer full of gasoline and unrecyclable plastic.

Not gigging as an underpaid Amazon delivery driver? Consider one of Rivian's cool R1T pickups instead. At night, with the lights on, they look like spaceships. 

GM

Driving a Cadillac Lyriq is like having a really expensive watch - the rest of your wardrobe better match, or you just look like a doofus. 

I love the look of the new Cadillac Lyriq. Their commercials indicate that its drivers must be young and rich and super attractive. I may be super attractive, but I'm not young or rich, so I'm going to call GM and ask if it's OK for me to buy one. It's not cheap ($63,000 and up), but I could own one and still retire at 65. 

Places to Go

I didn't know that the Belle Isle Aquarium existed, but it does, and it remains completely waterproof thanks to the efforts of the Bell Isle Conservancy. 

Do you need a place to "go"? Swing by the two-story outhouse in Cedar Lake, MI, and pick your level!

I'd like to drive my Cadlillac Lyriq to the House of Automata, but unfortunately, it's in Scotland, so unless these new electric vehicles can float and paddle, I'm out of luck. 

All The Miscellaneous Things

 

A so-called "American Football". Photo by Dave Adamson (link)

College Football Update

J and I go to games at Michigan Stadium to see the Wolverines play football. We've had season tickets since 1995, although we haven't been at all of the home games. 

It's not a stadium known for its high noise levels. From my experience, the loudest crowd reactions are:

1. The end of the James Earl Jones movie that is shown right before the team runs onto the field
2. When the announcer introduces the Veteran of the Game, usually a Word War II veteran, during a TV timeout
3. When the dog catches the frisbee

The crowd also cheers loudly sometimes when the team makes a good play. 

Really? More boats? 

Following my inexplicable obsession with cool watercraft: 

• This houseboat/camper boat is actually something I would consider owning if I lived near water.  Although if I lived near water, why would I need a camper for the water. I could just go home. I need to think this through more...
• This "yacht" jet ski, whose design is intended to reflect that of larger boats made by the same manufacturer, is also something I would definitely own.  

Random Stuff

Books

Looking for something new or different to read? The "Recommend Me a Book" site shows you the first few pages of a book so you can check it out and see if it's interesting. If you like it, you can find out what book it's from. If you don't like it, you can click "Next" and see the first pages from another book. 

Arch Design

This is a fun and easy-to-follow video that shows how arches are designed, and how to use a chain to easily discover whether an arch you've designed will stand on its own. 

Where the Geese are Going

 

Source: https://twistedsifter.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/basically-december-138.jpg

A Lot of Links

I have been saving up a lot of links lately, here they are. 

A really neat weather map. Change the settings and see how much there is to show. 

Here's a meditative game. Stack the rocks on top of each other - click and drag the rocks with your mouse, then drop them into place. 

A "pie" that looks awfully familiar. Call 911 to give them a heads up, and dig in!

More Boats? Really?

For some reason, I keep blogging about boats. I like them, and at the same time, it's entirely possible I'll never own so much as a kayak. 

Yacht 1. Sweet!

Yacht 2 which is not a yacht that exists, but if it were manufactured, it would have zero emissions, which is great because you wouldn't pollute the air as you run over dolphins and whales. Boom! Biff! Comes with long-handled nets for collecting plumes of floating ocean plastic.

A sub, which we can all agree would be a lot more fun than floating on top of the water in luxury, although there is the downside of meeting your maker if you spring a leak or forget to close the hatch or a yacht runs over you.  

Get Yer Free Hug! 

Source: https://twistedsifter.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/november-rain-147.jpg

Football Saturday Roundup

Read This Book

Many people know about Bletchley Park and Alan Turing, but did you know about the United States' similar successes in codebreaking during WWII? 

This book about a female codebreaker, Elizebeth Friedman, is well-written and exciting. Her husband is also a codebreaker for the US government, and as you might expect from the time, he usually receives recognition, while his equally-capable wife remains in the shadows.

Miscellaneous Links and Information

Pickles tells us about being happy,

Follow Anthony Bourdain through a day at his New York restaurant - a classic from New Yorker magazine.

I need to try this punctuation map on my whole blog someday...

Does your country have a wizard? Why not? 

Down the Path

 

Now Playing

The road well-traveled

When I woke today, suddenly nothing happened. 

But in my dream, I slew the dragon. 

And down this beaten path, up this cobbled lane, 

Walking in my old footsteps once again.

- "Waiting for My Real Life to Begin" by Colin Hay 

Source: https://xkcd.com/2492/

Some Links

This car is very cool and the closest I'll come to owning an Aston Martin. "Bond. Don Bond."

If this speaker sounds as good as it looks, it sounds pretty weird.

Football Saturday Link-O-Rama

 

A carboat to drive to your houseboat (c) Floating Motors

Now there's a good reason to move near a lake - Floating Motors makes these fun boats shaped like cars. If the earth's water levels keep rising, you're going to need one. 

Next time you're on Michigan State University's campus, and you've had your fill of the natural beauty, academic excellence, and athletic dominance, stop by the Planetarium building and marvel at the Moist Towelette Museum. It's number one in the Big 10! Go Green!

Browse the funny wildlife photos at the Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards site. Don't forget to vote. 

Wondering who owns that house or building in Jackson, MI? Go to the tax parcel viewer, and click on a property to see the details. 

 

A Drawing, Some Links, and a Quote

I love the artwork of Mattias Adolfsson, as you already know from some of my other blog posts.

September Linkfest
Not a whole lot of news from my house, other than school starting. M is marching in the band, K is playing JV tennis, and school is in full swing. I have a few links to share, so let's get to it.

If you haven't seen Grit Laskin's guitars, especially his inlay art, you've been missing a lot.

A self-balancing stick. I wasn't sure whether this was real, but it seems to be.

The National Beard Championship.

If you're ever in a rainstorm and need a light, I suggest this lighter in a waterproof case. There are many beautiful items for sale at this site as well.

It's still part of a Kickstarter campaign, but I'd like two, please. One to fidget with all the time, and a backup in case that one breaks.

Over and Out
I'll leave you with a quote from Maya Angelou:

“This is a wonderful day, I have never seen this one before.”

A Few Musical Videos (and a Bonus Woodworking Link)

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What a clever idea.

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I'm not sure what some of these vegetables are, but the squeaky ones are kind of fun.


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On a non-musical note (get it?), I always enjoy watching Jimmy DiResta make things in his shop. Some I would have no use for, like a giant mirror, but these storage bins look pretty handy.

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New Eyeballs!

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Isn't it amazing and wonderful that we live in an age where doctors can slice your eyes open and fix 'em up?

Don's New Drill

Can you tell which is the big, heavy, old drill, and which is the new, lighter, and more powerful drill?

My old drill, which I've had for 19 years, has finally called it quits. So, after way too long comparing features and prices, I bought a new drill and impact driver set by DeWalt. They're small and fast, and I'm looking forward to doing something with them. Does anyone have any holes they need drilled? Let me know.

Links
The person who makes this book has a very clear and creative mind.

This Free Key system is pretty nice. I keep hurting my fingernails on the old kind of key ring.

I love these plaster architectural models.

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Happy Birthday, Dad!

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I hope you all know what day it is. It's dad's birthday!

I'll keep to myself how many years young he is, but you might be surprised.

Happy Birthday!


Out and About


Tyson is right - Pluto was a planet, but it's not any more.

J and I saw Neil deGrasse Tyson at Hill Auditorium last week. He talked about all things planetary, answered questions from the audience, and put on an entertaining, three-hour show. He noted that scientific discoveries are mostly made in countries where the government and public support for science is high.

Hee Haw
Growing up, I remember watching Hee Haw. My favorite parts of the show were the recurring songs about loneliness and heartbreak.
Where, oh where, are you tonight?

Gloom, despair, and agony on me!

Links
Using solder as an inlay material. A little lowbrow, but it works.

The tiniest Rube Goldberg machine you've ever seen.

Stone formations as art.

Fun Links

There isn't much going on here, so I thought I'd post some links I've been saving.

Forget the other submarines on the market. This is definitely the one I want. But I'm going to have to move closer to a lake or an ocean first.

Pencil carvings: for those sculptors who want the extra challenge of using a microscope while they work.

Notebook art.

Apollo 11 "graffiti" from the astronauts themselves.

This is an interesting website. Use your mouse to draw a line on the screen, and the ball will bounce off it. Depending on the line, it will also play a musical note.

Lots of Little Things

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Dremel Router Base Project


I got a new Dremel tool for Christmas and I'd like to use it for a project or two where I need to cut recesses in wood. I don't have a router base for it, which is necessary, so I looked around the internet and found some people making their own. The ones I found online are nicer than this, made of metal or plexiglas, but I think this one, made out of wood, will work fine. I made it from scrap wood and a few dollars' worth of nuts and bolts from ACE.

There are several commercial router bases available (here, here, here, and
here), including one that Dremel makes, so I may find myself eventually graduating to one of those offerings. The reviews I've read of the Dremel brand base are not good, but the others get good reviews.


Getting Out of the House

I went to the Blind Pig in Ann Arbor a few weeks ago to see a band, Spiraling Suns. Two of the three band members are coworkers of mine in Dexter, and it was fun to see them playing. They're normally quiet and unassuming, but when they get going, they really belt it out.

Science Olympiad
The Washtenaw Elementary Science Olympiad event schedules are out, the culmination of quite a few hours of work. This year we'll have 38 schools in the tournament, like last year, and we expect well over 2,000 students in grades 2-5. The fun never stops!

Fun Links
These miniature cities take the "ship in a bottle" genre to a whole new level: test tubes.

Since my eyeballs are getting older, I'm craving one of these. I already have a magnifying lamp that I use all the time. But who couldn't use a little more magnification?

The batteries for my cordless drill keep conking out immediately after they're charged. I've had the drill and batteries for 18 years, and I think it's time for a new set. Maybe this set would work. Cordless drills are so much lighter than they used to be.

Stay warm, everyone!

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The Malaise Weeks

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It's the middle weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas, also known as The Malaise Weeks. (Not really, I just made that up.)

Let's un-malaise it with some fun stuff.


I love this - 75 hours of illustration in a 2-minute video.

Nancy sent me a link to this puzzle, saying she didn't want to solve it herself. I almost finished it, but have some errors, and I think I've spent enough time on it for a while. I was hoping it would work with the errors in it, but it doesn't. I am being a little cryptic in my description of it in case you want to try to solve it yourself. If you finish it, and don't know what to do with the results, let me know. Dad, get started...

Some of you know I'm a fan of Edward Tufte for his information-related graphics. Here's more of the same.

A rubber-band powered locomotive, made from laser-cut pieces. Cool!

It's always been a dream of mine to play the subcontrabass flute. It may be too late for me to put one on this year's Christmas List.

Christmas Vacation for the kids (and me!) start soon. Nothing busts the malaise more than a little time off work and school...

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Volleyball Out, Tennis In, Spring Is Here, Let's Begin!

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M serves up a winner at the last volleyball match of the season. (Thanks for the great picture, Laurie!)

Volleyball Endeth, Tennis Starteth
Both boys played volleyball for their respective grades this year. The sixth-graders played two all-city tournaments (six schools total), and the eighth-graders played each other school twice. The kids got plenty of exercise and lots of bruises on their knees because the boys are too cool to wear knee pads like the girls do.

Spring tennis is starting for K - he is playing one day a week with fellow students after school, and will do Rec & Ed tennis again. The latter means one practice a week and a match roughly every other week. He and I went to Pioneer High to play some tennis a few weeks back when he was off school for spring break and I was on vacation. We'll do lots more of it this summer.

Links
I wonder if the photographer put the snail in those places, or if he spent years following it around?

If I worked at home more, I'd get one of these desks.

For no particular reason, a stack of toads for your consideration. The caption for this picture, which had no photo credit, said that the photographer stacked them for fun to see what would happen, and they let him.

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To Frankfort and Back

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M and K at the docks in Betsie Bay.

A Week of Fun Up North
We drove several hours north and west to Frankfort for our family vacation on the shores of Lake Michigan. Laurie drove up separately and met us to make it a Band of Five. We stayed for a week this time – our previous record was 5 nights. Our room was upgraded from our prior place, too: two bedrooms, two baths, and a front-row view of the beach, pier, and lighthouse.

We made the beach our priority, as usual, but used the extended time to our advantage to try some new things, and revisit some classics from past years.


I do not know what's going on in this picture. Perhaps they had too much ice cream?

On Sunday, we spent a lot of time reacquainting ourselves with the beach right outside the pier. Same for Monday – we are single-handedly keeping the sunscreen people in business.

Tuesday, we went to the Sleeping Bear Dunes Climb with our friends we’ve met up with in Frankfort for many years. It was pretty windy but we all made it (eventually) to the top. Or rather, one of the various tops to which you can choose to climb – there is more than one. We all got to the first top, the one you think is the top when you’re standing on the ground, and can’t see the others.


M and K at the dunes.

After the dunes, we all went to the beach. M wanted to jump off the pier into the water. The pier is about 10 feet tall, and the water next to the pier is about 8 feet deep. I told everyone that I was going to jump too, so that I wouldn’t be able to chicken out. M casually jumped in, and eventually we jumped together. I jumped a few more times so I could say I did it.


M (left) and I jump off the pier in a "face my fears" moment.

On Wednesday, to celebrate K’s 11th birthday, the five of us kayaked the Upper Platte River. I shared a kayak with Laurie, and J and K shared a second. M had his own, and led the group. He was showing off, going under tree branches and demonstrating the ease at which he could easily lose us if he wanted to. He pointed out the shallow areas so we could avoid them. Sometimes we steered well enough to avoid them, sometimes not.

And no Wednesday would be complete without (you guessed it) going to the beach.

We decided Wednesday evening that Thursday would be the day that M and I would try some stand-up paddleboards. Basically, they’re surfboards with paddles. M was able to stand up on his and paddle around for a while, and I was able to stand up for almost a second before falling in the water. This is clearly a sport for the young. K and Laurie tried their hands at it, and M showed them the ropes. (Note: The water was really, really cold that day. Even the locals agreed that it was much colder than normal. After we were back inside and warmed up, I found the lake temperatures on the web: 48-50 degrees. Brrr!)


M and I paddleboard. He's standing, of course, as I keep my center of gravity as low as possible.


M, just standing around on a stand-up paddleboard. Note the tether from the board to M's ankle - this prevents the paddleboarder from being separated from the board if he falls off. The paddles float, or mine might be at the bottom of the lake with the sunglasses I lost when I fell in the second time.


M and K paddleboard.


Three of the day's four paddleboarders pose with one of the boards. It is 10' 4" long. Not pictured: The fourth paddler, Laurie.

Fortunately, falling off the paddleboards, which I did twice, was not too bad for some reason. I guess I was less worried about the water temperature than I was about whether I would be able to climb back onto the board.

Friday, we watched a storm work its way over the lake from Wisconsin. The waves and wind got stronger as the day went on. So we crossed “go to beach” off our to-do list, climbed in the car, and went for a drive to some local shops. We visited the summer place of a sculptor, Gary Kulak, drove slowly through the driveway of the Crystal Lake Alpaca Farm (we didn’t get out because it started to rain), and spent some time in a shop that prints and sells Gwen Frostic graphics. The shop uses old printing machines, and the store smells faintly of ink, which was a good smell.


The printing press room at the Gwen Frostic store. The shelves in the back hold hundreds of the plates that are used for printing.

Our new favorite place to eat in Frankfort is the Stormcloud Brewing Company. They had fantastic little pizzas that we kept ordering, along with pretzel sticks with cheese, bagels and cheese, and lots of other goodies.


At Stormcloud Brewing, after stuffing our faces with pizza.

The Photographic Stylings of M
To wrap up this post, here are some pictures from M's new camera that capture the week very well.


The lighthouse at the end of the pier.


Storm clouds rolling in.


This sign, at the park where our kayak excursion ended, informs the reader that this is not the national park (which is adjacent), and that Lake Township's sign budget is low.


Each night brought a different configuration of clouds, resulting in a different, colorful sunset each night.


My favorite sunset picture of the many we brought home with us.

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Happy Fourth of July!

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Happy Independence Day!
Today is the day all Americans put aside their cultural, political, and religious differences and join together to eat way too much and get bitten by mosquitoes.

I was talking to some people from India this week, and they told me they have an independence celebration next month. Apparently, 'tis the season to remember how we all used to be oppressed by the British. Take that, Britain! (Just kidding, England. We're still friends, right?)

Links
I have quite a few links saved up, so without further ado...

Do you know how an automatic transmission works?

Really nice wooden clockwork creations.

Self-referential signs are the best kind.

Jewelry made from watch parts. Gear-riffic!

If I bought this lathe, I would put it in my living room. Then I would pull up a chair and just sit and stare at it. Look at all the pictures, this is an incredible machine and work of art.

I'm tired of my current submarine. It's leaky, the air runs out all the time, and the crew gets surly if I don't serve snacks. I'm thinking of getting one of these. I hope the dealer has free delivery, though, because my submarine trailer has a flat.

Detroit is For Makers.

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Happy Fourth to family and friends!

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Happy Easter!

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I got a new computer recently. It's all mechanical. This is what the web browser looks like.

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Science Olympiad competitions are coming up - the elementary school competition is April 20, and the middle school state competition is on April 27. Those are going to be two long days, but they'll be fun and rewarding for students and parents. I just wish the state competition was at UM instead of MSU so we wouldn't have to worry about the weather and getting up before sunrise to get there on time.

Meanwhile, M continues to play volleyball with the 7th- and 8th-grade team. They're pretty good, and fun to watch. He has a few more flag football games coming up, and is getting better at the sax every day.

Now that indoor soccer is over, K is about ready to wrap up Science Olympiad season and continues with Math Olympiad. He's decided not to participate in any activities that don't have the word "Olympiad" in the name. He's also sawing out tunes on the violin for 5th-grade strings.

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J and K are using some of their time off work and school to catch up on the TV show "Downton Abbey" about an insanely rich family who live in a "house" the size of a city block. They have a gaggle of servants and, between the upstairs and the downstairs, provide enough drama for a lengthy television series.

We're starting to talk like them now. When I gave K his hot chocolate this morning, I said "Here you are, m'Lord" in the deep voice of Carson, the family's butler. That might backfire if he expects me to talk to him like that from now on. Which he probably does.

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Links
Motorcyle made out of Guinness beer cans.

How to build your everything really fast.

Ships in bottles - interview with the maker.

March Update: Science Olympiad, Soccer, Flag Football, Snow, Rain, Links, You Name It

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Science Olympiad News

In recent news (this afternoon), M's very own Slauson Middle School took first place overall at the Science Olympiad regional competition at Hillsdale College. There were six other schools competing.

The results for events in which M competed include sixth place in Mission Possible (a Rube Goldberg machine-building event), fifth place in Boomilever (in which a wooden structure is built that can support the most weight without breaking), and 1st place in Metric Mastery (a math-heavy event in which students measure objects and estimate numbers). It was a huge day for M and his teammates, and is the culmination of many weeks of practicing (and a last-minute frenzy build on the Mission Possible machine Friday evening).


M with his awards - one of the medals around his neck is the school's overall blue medal.


M's boomilever, post-competition. The vertical part of the boomilever, shown at the left of the picture, is fastened to to bolt protruding from a fixed vertical jig. Then, a hook is attached to the far end of the structure (the right side of the picture), and a bucket is hung from the hook. A device pours sand into the bucket until the boomilever breaks. The weight of the sand/bucket/hook divided by the weight of the boomilever itself is the score the students receive. The trick is to build something really light that holds a good load, because the equation that produces the score favors a small denominator more than a high numerator. Finding the balance is difficult.

Slauson will be going to the State competition in April at Michigan State University.

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K is playing indoor soccer this year - they play with a small ball, about 1/2 the size of a normal soccer ball, and they use middle-school gyms instead of outdoor soccer fields. It's very fast-paced, and tends to be high-scoring. Today's game ended in a 7-7 tie, for example.

K continues to go to Math Olympiad on Saturday mornings and is doing well on his assignments and tests. He's enjoying it, and I'm learning a lot from attending the practices. Sometimes, I'm put to work grading homework when I go to the practices, as all parents are asked to chip in and volunteer in one way or another.

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M has started playing volleyball for the 7th- and 8th-grade team. His practices have overlapped a little with Science Olympiad practices, and we're working on balancing those. He's also playing Flag Football, his favorite winter activity. This may be his last year, as he's getting too old to play in the league that's available.

Links

Table with a farm-machinery theme.

Tiny houses with clever designs.

Scale gasoline engines - these aren't models, they really work.

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August Aupdate

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Tigers, the Detroit Baseball Ones and the Other Kind

A few things have been going on with us lately - we went to the Detroit Zoo last week, and to a Tigers game last night. The Tigers and the tigers were travel-worthy as they hit home runs and yawned/slept, respectively.


K and M at the Tigers game


K and M relax at the zoo with a snack.


Links

It would be fun to drive to the store in the snow using this.

Hand-made bikes in England. I could watch films like this all day.

A video point of view of one person who worked on the "Curiosity". I dare you not to tear up a little.

Got an old piano you don't want? Turn it into useful furniture or a mailbox.

How do they get the javelins and discuses (disci?) all the way back to the Olympians? Here's how.

Rayguns!

I'm still a little unsure how this works, but it appears to work, and it's a great invention.

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Summer!

Basil on the right, tummaters on the left.

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Summer is here (and pretty hot so far)
It's been a warmer than usual summer, although it's not uncommon to hit the 90-degree mark in Michigan a lot. After the warm winter we had, I was hoping we wouldn't then take the higher-than-average temperatures into summertime. But that's how it goes.

We've been busy here doing some fun things - swimming lessons, playing tennis, getting outside for some fresh (and sometimes heavy) air. The kids have a list of chores they're supposed to do each day, including watering flowers and veggies, keeping the gardens weed-free, and keeping the mess in their rooms below DEFCON 5 levels.


Either we're having work done on our kitchen, or we've been hit by a marauding band of cabinet thieves. I should probably ask J about this.


Fun Links
Restoring a Triumph 4-cylinder engine

Robot night lights. Yay, robots!

Be careful you're not too close to the sink when you use this toothbrush/water fountain. You'll get your face wet.

Everything you need in one place.