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misc. updates: horrible epoxy rash, rudder, volvo ocean race, sewing machines

2 Comments
volvo ocean race updates twice a day on their youtube channel, & the short legs are pretty engaging, well, probably mostly team SCA is in the lead right now so I’m more interested than usually 🙂

~~RUDDER~~
re: rudder construction, have not had a chance to sit down & upload/document/write-up everything,

but in brief —

Solid bronze inside. We did CNC foam on a shopboat, laid down fiberglass, the rudder post & pre-stressed the trailing rods[1] , closed the mold and poured 2-part foam-it! 15lb urethane foam, de-molded, three more glass layers to connect the two halves, then gelcoat, install, and antifoul coat.

We also have a nice 3d model of outside of our rudder now (and a renewed complaint list against solidworks):
https://github.com/nouyang/scienceboat/blob/master/boatrudder.STL
& the mold:

https://github.com/nouyang/scienceboat/blob/master/rudder-mold-bottom.STL

[1]  (glassed some GPO3 blocks down, after tack/cure time we tightened some bronze nuts against the gpo3 blocks, checked that the rods were stressed by
i added two pictures to the end of the “rudder skeleton” album
https://picasaweb.google.com/113942194695013581888/SailBoatMay2015?authuser=0&feat=directlink

~~INSTALL~~

the details i left out are: we put so much “gelcoat” (just epoxy layers since our rudder is unlikely to be flexing a lot) on that it we lost clearance on the back edge (oops), so after installing we found it didn’t turn well put rather “popped” to rotate fully since it was catching where it rotated against the keel.

we sawed & scraped until we had clearance and now the rudder turns like a dream now (we can do a sweet 180 turn now) — it’s a little “less waterproof” on that backedge since we had to take off most of the gelcoat layers, but worst case seawater finds its way to the foam, which can sit in water for up to 2 yrs before deteriorating — realistically it has so much glass still that it should be fine.

~~EPOXY~~
also, my face/arms rash is still itchy 1 week from last exposure (which did not even involve mixing epoxy –I was just cleaning up). Do not f*** with mixed / uncured epoxy, folks, and also do NOT use acetone to wash epoxy off your skin.
Displaying FB_IMG_1433071049494.jpg
Displaying FB_IMG_1433071056398.jpg
i’m using dipenhydramine (over-athe-counter skin numbing agent) & seeing a dr. on wed, but for the record:

5: Do not under any circumstances use acetone to clean up. This is the very quickest way to become sensitised. The acetone will immediately remove any natural protective oils in your skin and take anything it has dissolved, that is ANYTHING it has dissolved straight into your body. If you are going to use acetone to clean up your skin, you may as well just grab yourself a syringe and wack the crap up your arm and be done with it because it is much the same deal.

Inline image 1

~~singer sewing machine, 7442 disassembly / troubleshooting (bobbin did not wind, all lights blink & beeps) ~~

btw if you’re curious this is what the singer 7442 looks like inside when it’s operating, pretty interesting set of cams and mechanisms
https://youtu.be/RASgDLSg3Xw?t=24s

(pt 3 shows the “lights blinking” error https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4Cqt1lBxLY)

(pt 1 points out the things we fixed https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T47fLW1PscE)

Crafts, Short Posts

telephone hold music: analog generator

Recently a friend recounted to me a visit to a cool museum which had, in one exhibit, a “hold music” generator (you know, elevator muzak… here have some Cisco sound samples).

That is, before there was digital recording and playback, telephone switchboard operators wanted to play soothing music to callers while connecting their calls. To do so, they used little analog electromechanical playback devices — what we now think of as those cute music box toys

440px-Music_box_elements

but which included very serious and complex devices once-upon-a-time.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_box#/media/File:Baud_museum_mg_8548.jpg
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_box#/media/File:Baud_museum_mg_8548.jpg

Anyway, so it turns out it was the Museum Speelklok (“Musical Museum”) in Utrecht, the Netherlands:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museum_Speelklok
https://www.museumspeelklok.nl/lang/en/

From Zoz comes this photo of the infamous Japanese telephone exchange hold music generator: (original content ahead! whoo)

Electromechanical telephone hold music generator. Photo credit: Zoz at MIT.
Electromechanical telephone hold music generator. Photo credit: Zoz at MIT.

[the end.]

Footnotes

Some wikipedia articles of interest:

  • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_on_hold
    Which contains this “lolwut” anecdote:

    > For those still uncertain of the difference between “song title” and “mechanical” copyrights, consider the Capitol Records lawsuit for copyright infringement against Nike some 20 years ago. Nike legally obtained permission to use the Beatles song title “Revolution” from the title’s owner, Michael Jackson. They used the Capitol Records owned recording of the Beatles’ performance, but failed to obtain and pay for permission and use. Capitol Records sued and prevailed because Nike ONLY had a license to use the title and did not have a license to use the mechanical recording

  • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elevator_music
  • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound_recording_and_reproduction
  • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_sound_recording
  • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_box
  • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museum_Speelklok
  • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telephone_exchange#Sounds

Other interesting links I dug up while hunting for this museum before giving up and emailing Zoz:

  • http://www.telephonetribute.com/pdf/telephone_history_series_rev1.pdf
  • http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/2014/09/history_of_hold_music_how_did_we_end_up_with_handel_tinkling_through_the.html
EastWest, International [Development], Short Posts

short post about toilets

3 Comments

First let’s start with
1) i’m chinese-american
2) I’ve travelled around the world a lot. Europe, Asia, Africa, South America.

Anyway, just commenting on how being a little more open-minded and having a different cultural background / immigrant background than a lot of English-speaking people makes it easy to poke fun at English websites.

I mean, you’d think the writer on a website dedicated to toilets would be a little self-aware and think about how different people can be within a single “culture”. But take a gander at this quote:

toilets in guangzhou
toilets in guangzhou, source: http://toilet-guru.com/overview-intl.php

Chinese toilets, at least those in the People’s Republic of China, can be highly communal. There is no place for privacy in a totalitarian state striving for the completely collectivist society. These are in Guangzhou, the large city formerly known in the West as Canton.

–toilet-guru.com

That’s uh, good to know. I guess Amsterdam, the large city formerly known in the West as the “Venice of the North“, is just s*** out of luck (pardon the pun) :'(

Judging their entire culture and society by their toilets and how they void bodily fluids, the Netherlands must be a zero-privacy hellhole, ruled by a dictator, I guess….

Photo via: Jane Dutton Utrecht (http://janeduttonutrecht.wordpress.com/2012/01/14/a-dangerous-method/)
Photo via: Jane Dutton Utrecht (http://janeduttonutrecht.wordpress.com/2012/01/14/a-dangerous-method/). source: http://whenonearth.net/different-types-toilets-youll-see-around-world/

So, long story short, this is why I’m announcing my new startup idea, “It’s like Yelp but for Toilets.” Not only will we help millions of people with the toilet experience, but we will also promote open-minded and inter-cultural exchange. It is truly an idea for saving the world, being a social enterprise, and making bank.

Thank you. Please stop throwing money at me. I’m so goody-two-shoes, I can only tell you to throw money at watsan (water and sanitation) charities instead.

here just click here: https://www.wateraid.org/us/get-involved/donate

or if you want to just share links and do slacktivism / clicktivism instead go here: http://www.charitywater.org/

p.s. I bought this book and really enjoyed it; let me know if you want to borrow a copy: http://www.amazon.com/The-Big-Necessity-Unmentionable-Matters/dp/0805090835. You can read a summary of some key points on core 77.

http://www.core77.com/posts/12286/book-review-the-big-necessity-adventures-in-the-world-of-human-waste-by-rose-george-12286
http://www.core77.com/posts/12286/book-review-the-big-necessity-adventures-in-the-world-of-human-waste-by-rose-george-12286