Tuesday, December 27, 2011

This was the greatest Christmas ever. Unlike last Christmas, the Old Country Girl was out of the hospital and went nuts putting up enough decorations to be a landing beacon. All the kids and grand kids and near future step grand kids came over (over the Eve and Day) and all were happy and grateful for what they received. Their laughter and happiness was good for my soul. At least for my children and grand children and new grandchildren, all are smart, happy, and doing well. They will be part of the solution for this country, not part of the problem.

I hope it doesn't snow, because I will be spending the next week putting away all those decorations! Of course, when you are in your 70's, anything you survive is a plus.

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Winter Solstice

The Old Country Girl is going all out this year. She even has wreaths for the milk cans. She and the rest of us missed Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years last year because she was in hospital with an antibiotic IV drip 24/7. We weren't sure she would ever get out, but she was hardheaded enough to do it. As a warning to anyone who peruses this blog, Be vary careful about putting metal appliances into your body. If you have had lymphs removed, discuss the situation with an infectious disease doctor, along with your orthopedic surgon.
Anyway, we won't be painting ourselves blue and doing our winter solstice dance this year, because we can't get around very well anymore and I don't want the neighbors to die laughing.

Monday, October 31, 2011

Fall on the Ranch



It' Halloween time and the Mexican hay wagon has been over-decorated by the Old Country Girl.
The Trees are starting to turn and the leaves are floating to the ground like a snow storm with giant flakes. The ground is carpeted with leaves.

Sunday, October 30, 2011

Wartime Nuclear Radiation Wrap Up Part 4

Parts 1, 2, and 3 are just information the average person should know and simple precautions to take in the event of a nuclear terrorist incident that involves normal fall-out. Becase, in the event of a mass evacuation, many will probably be stranded on crowded and blocked exit highways, these were instructions for protecting yourself in place. It may be safer to hunker down in a place you know, like your home or lake cabin.
These instructions generally do not apply to radiation incidents caused by reactor leaks and "dirty" bombs. The half-life of that radiation is considerably longer than that of fall-out. Before anythng happens, as part of your disaster preparadness, it would be a good idea to look up your local radiation emergency center personnel and find out how to get information from them during an emergency.

Friday, October 14, 2011

Wartime Nuclear Radiation (Part 3) Calculating Your Exposure

The wartime military nuclear occupation types use a rule of thumb for calculating personnel radiation exposure called the FIT forever rule. This rule essentially states:
The total radiation exposure, if you stayed in the radiation area forever equals five times the intensity of the radiation at the time of entering the radiation area times the time since the nuclear detonation.
I have a quibble with this with the definition of time since detonation. In reality, all that stuff that goes up (people, bridges, grocery stores, etc) takes a while to come back down. In fact, a significant level of injure and death is caused by people staring up at the mushroom crowd, only to be hit be rocks, cars, and other hard objects. Think Tornados. We will talk about this in Part 4. The definition of time you should use is H+1 or H+2, depending on the size of the bomb. The real definition will be based on the disaster broadcasters that will give you the time of maximum radiation in your area. That would be H-max. If you dont have H-max then use one of the other Hs.
The FIT forever calculation is used as follows:
Given example -- H occurs at 9:00 am 0n 9/11/12.
Hmax occurs at 10:30am on 9/11/12
The intensity at Hmax is about 3000 rads/hour
If you can stay under good cover, essentially radiati0n free until
T = 5:30pm 9/11/12
After 7 hours, or at 5:30, the radiation level will be about 300Rads/hour
You would recieve: 5 x 300 Rads/hour x 7 Hours
or 10,500 Rads if you stayed forever, enough to bring you to room temperature.
If you re-entered the shielded area at 12:30 am on 9/12/12,
and stayed forever, you would avoid 5 x 30 Rads/hour x 14 hours or 2,100 Rads
To continue, if you had stayed shielded until 6:30 on 9/12/12, you would accumulate a radiation dose of 5 x 3 Rads/hour x 21 hours or 315 Rads for the rest of your life. This is quite survivable, assuming you limit radiation input later in your life. As further example: If you stayed under cover for a day and a half, you would have a lifetime exposure in that area of less than 5 Rads, which brings you into the peace time radiation worker exposure ranges. Calculate it yourself. If you can, you pass.

Friday, October 7, 2011

Wartime Nuclear Survival (Part 2) Fallout radiation

In Part 1, covered the two levels of radiation safety - the current industrial/medical/peacetime levels and the wartime level (after the bomb). Don't let any radiation guru try to con you into following the peacetime numbers. If the balloon goes up or an islamist blows up Manhatten, the radiation levels will be off the peacetime scales. We aren't talking about a nuclear generating station leak, we are talking about the radiactive remains of buildings, people, cars, dogs, grass, dirt etc. blowing in the wind. I can guarantee you that nothing blowing in the wind is going to be less than 2mr in any one hour.
The trick is to get yourself in the less than 25R group at best or 100R group at the worst. Since all care units will be massively overloaded, you don't want a broken arm, the sniffles, or radiation sickness much more than the barf stage. There won't be anybody there to take care of you. At this point, I don't think you will be vary concerned with cancer or two-headed babies. Your one aim in life is to survive. And survive you can!
Fallout radiation is not quite like the industrial or powerplant radiation you are "used" to. Fallout radiation IS made up of vaporized people, dogs, cats, cars, buildings, trees, lakes sidewalks, and schools. The average tenth-life for fallout is about 7 hours. In plain English, it will DECADE every seven hours after the radiation peak. e.g. If the radiation has peaked by midnight, by 7:00am it is one tenth what it was. By 2:00pm it will be 1/100th what it was at midnight. By 9:00 that night it will be 1/1000 what it was at midnight. Further, if the radiation was 1000R at midnight, it will be about 1R at nine the following evening. You can last a lot longer at 1R than at 1000R. This is where TIME, DISTANCE AND SHIELDING come in. Can you dig a hole six feet deep. Can you cover it with a board and lay in it for one or two days? You can if you want to live. It isn't that hard.
Even if you can't dig a hole, you can at least get to the center most point of your house.That should be at least 12' - 16' beneath the roof and probably a minimum of 10' from any outside wall. Tape up all your windows and doors and place your most massive flueniture between yourself and the outside. One radiation safety trick is to use distance to reduce the radiation intensity. The radiation intensity varies inversely with the square of the distande from the source. That means if you can move 10 feet from a radiation wall or ceiling, you can reduce the intensity by 100. If I had a wooden floor house, I would cut a hole in the center and start digging. You can always repair the hole in the floor (unless you are dead).
Continued

Wartime Nuclear Survival (Part 1) Basics

Nuclear Basics
Radiation safety and personal survival depend on three concepts:
1. Time -- The length of time you are exposed to the radiation
2. Distance -- How far you can get from the radiation source
3. Shielding -- any solid object you can put between you and the source of radiation.
Because I am an old phart and do not see the use of the new units (SI) used to describe radiation when they are harder to remember and don't add anything to your safety, I will use the unit Radiation Absorbed Dose (RAD). All those other sieverts, greys, etc were established to entice all the countries of the "civilized" world to participate in the new SI system, designed to restrain trade from the US.
The international entities and the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) have established radiation exposure limits for PEACETIME radiation exposure. They are based on the genetic pool background exposure concentrated and divided amoung radiation workers. Those limits are (but not limited to):
2mr in any one hour
100 mr in any one week
1250 mr in any one quarter
5000 mr (5R) per year
total of 5R for each year over the age of 18
Because this was once based on the gene pool, womyn and minors were restricted to 1/10 of the allowed dose. However, since womyn's lib, they takes the same chance as the rest of us.
NOW FORGET ALL THAT STUFF -- THIS IS WAR. OR SOME
HAS DECIDED TO DO IN THE GREAT SATAN
Here is what you gotta know:
25R An experienced blood chemist can begin to detect changes in blood.
100R Some folks are going to start to get sick.
200R Half of those exposed will get sick.
400R Everyone gets sick, half die.
600R Almost every one dies.
1000R Believe it or not, there are a small number still around.
Don't count on any of them being you.

What are things really worth?

Fungible: A good or asset that is interchangeable with other goods or assets of the same class, generally for trade or commerce purposes.
Common fungible commodities on the world market are oil, gold, wheat, and corn. Outside the fact that The United States produces about half its petroleum internally, the US produces and exports the other commodities on a worldwide basis. For years, we have watched our dollar be manipulated by world and US traders; watched its value diminish on the world markets. The interesting thing about these four commodities is that you can't eat gold or oil, and the US is the largest producer in the world of wheat and corn, and rice, and soybeans, and ad infinitum.
In 1996, the following commodity prices approximately prevailed in the world markets: oil $40/bbl
gold $400/toz
wheat $3/bushel
corn $4/bushel
Using 1996 as a base year:
1bbl oil = 1/10 toz gold = 10 bu corn = 12 bu wheat.
In late may of 2011, oil was at $99/bbl. Gold is as high as $1600/toz, wheat was $5.25/ bushel,a nd corn was &7.60/bushel - and the dollar was down 20% for the year.
I propose we all write our congress critters (it is no use talking to our worthless president) and that congress enact a foreign exchange act that demands that transactions in all fungible commodities be accomplished using fungible commodities, with the trade values being set by a formula similar to above, but determined by the FTC or Department of State.
Those oil extorting countries are going to get mighty hungry trying to eat their oil and hoarded gold. Since the PRC is also an energy importer and food exporter, they might like to jump on the bandwagon with us.

Friday, September 30, 2011

Football Season

I don't really watch or cheer much for our local football teams, even though my Ol' Country Descendents went to all three of them. I went to an engineering school in Western Pennsylvania that had an almost club level football team where the members played well, and often played for fun. After being inculcated with the difficulties of learning engineering (of any kind) I have come to the conclusion that any school that has an NCAA IA football team, although they can produce some good shirt-sleeve engineers, they can't really produce really good engineers.

So here is the best football cheer my school produced (that is clean):

E to the x dydx
E to the y dy
Cosine, secant, tangent, sine
3.14159
Square root, cube root, log of e
Watercooled slipstick
C I T

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Failures MTBF and MTTF

The OCB has had a tough week so far. The OCG's koi fish pond pump impeller failed. The log splitter shreaded a Lovejoy spider. Our M-60 tank proof front gate has taken one too many hits by turnarounds. It was also attacked by a burglar that unsuccessfully tried to disconnect the mechanism. My smallest chainsaw gave up the ghost after 14 years after I tried a new batch of saw gas with a systhetic oil. That batch of gas also killed my brand new saw and I had to replace the carburator.
It is all Bush' s fault. It's all Obama's fault. Or, if the truth were known, It's all my own fault.
The pump failure was for a Savio solids pump that was supposed to stand up to some pond solids. I don't know if this includes the odd cottonmouth water moccasin and a few young Koi. Still the Savio company does not advertise repair parts and a local pond maintainer is going to try to get a new impeller. Easy to replace - unscrew the old one and screw on the new on.
The log splitter failure was on a very reliable OLD Montgomery Ward splitter. The cylinder hold downs kept failing and letting the hydraulic cylinder push back or to the side. This engineering genius got tired of this and put a block of 2" x 4' behind the cylinder. When the hold downs failed, the cylinder pushed the hydraulic pump shaft out of alignment and the Lovejoy coupling spectacularly failed. Of course, I found out about this when the OCG, who was splitting wood, told me she didn't think the splitter was working.
The chain saw had been kept running by squrting a little oil into the cylinder and cranking away. After a little smoke it ran just fine for a while. Please note, I have a 30" He-Man saw, a 22" alpha male/female saw, a 16" girly saw, and a 14" OCG saw. All Stihl! I've had the other junk and they are good for a season, maybe. Well, my daughter-in-law, an alpha female, was using one of the girly saws to cut a dead pine tree when she (not her but the saw) ran out of gas. I put in the newly made up sawgas with the synthetic oil and it would not even begin to start. I gave her the next larger girly saw and noted that it only had half a tank. I gassed it up with the new mixture and it ran for about two minutes before quitting, not to start. She then picked up the 22" alpha female saw and finished the job toute suite. The next day, the Stihl dealer said "you did what???!!!" Of course, me being the honest and competent engineer that I am, I blamed it on the OCG.
Now we get to my tank-proof gate. It seems that in Oklahoma, drivers don't know how to make a U-turn at the end of a road without hitting things - like my mailbox and gate. I have had a couple of celebrating young high school girls drive off my almost cliff, being caught by the attached trees. Of course, they had no trouble getting back up to the road with a bunch of boys around with hormones flowing.
Over the last couple of weeks, my gate had been hit hard enough to knock the reflective eyes off my bull head cutout. (great sight for a night-time turn around).
When this happens, my gate, driven by a GTO Mighty Mule opener gets out of "time" and has to be reset. Eventually, the whole mechanism deteriorates badly. This is my third mechanism, and I have talked to the factory repair people about a fix on damaged components. They tell me that they don't really don't try to repair them. If they are in warranty, they just replace the card or mechanism. Of course, that is a hell of a problem if it is not in warranty. One of my local dealers has tried to get someone qualified to repair normal illuse and abuse as occurs on a farm. I need to check back and see if they found anybody. I do think the GTO Mighty Mule company needs to take more responsibility for after-market problem, not in warranty. I am ambivalent about recommending this product to others just for this reason. I do admit that is seems to be a good product, but it was designed by engineering idiots.
Which brings me to mean time between failure (MTBF) and mean time to failure (MTTF). None of these equipments failed through normal use, but we have all had items fail, typically, one week out of warranty.
I think all electrical or mechanical devices, costing over some minimum amount (say $500 - $1000) ought to be required by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) or a consensus trade organization (ASTM, IEEE, NEMA, ...) to have published MTBF and MTTF data, along with their uncertainty and confidence levels. That would put Consumers Reports out of business. Your automobile should have MTBF or MTTF figures published. We could have laws (bite my tongue!) that base warrantys on failures before MTTF, with all the costa reimbursed for products failing two sigma before MTTF.s

Sunday, September 18, 2011

Our Mule was Hijacked


Today, the Old Country Girl was out at the wood pile on her Kawasaki mule.When she tried to get back on, she was confronted with a hijacking. Gustafus Adolfus (Gus) took the drivers seat, Wellington called shotgun, and King Henry was left to wonder what happened.

Sunday, September 11, 2011

I was going to include the abominable editorial by Paul Krugman of the fishwrap of record, new york times, but it won't link. It can be found at Hor Air. He has blamed the people of The United States for the 9/11 WTC destruction. He says we deserve it for mistreating all those third world goody-goody muslims (now known a "ragheads"), and that Rudy Guilini and President Bush are false heros. He also allowed no comments.
I think that he has pushed us past reconciliation. The blue staters are invited by me to go their own way and leave the rest of us alone. If they hate us so much, why do they stick around? Form their own country. Good riddance. DLTDHYITA!
I hope I don't have to spend the rest of my life having to put up with these democrat/liberal/marxist haters. I am sick of them. Is there anybody out there that can get them out of my world?

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

The Nanny State and the Gas Can Spout (Spigot)

For the last several weeks, I have been looking for replacement Diesel (yellow) cans and spigots. All the cans I have found have the two handed spigot with a lever on the side that must be held open, a two handed operation for arthritic Old Country Boys like me, but since it normally takes another hand or two to hold the can (two if it is five or six gallons), then I need to become a Martian freak with four arms or need help from the Old Country Girl. I have been told by the local NAPA dealer that the Ass Holes at the EPA have mandated this to save the planet and that these new ones are the only ones now on the market; at a $15 - $20 premium, I might say. I believe the environmental freaks at the EPA are discriminating against arthritically disabled people. Knowing the Obamination administration, I seriously if environmental protection enters into the equation. I suspect it involves brothers-in-law or doner whales.
"When the revolution comes", or when Jim Inhofe gets his way, we will take care of this.
You know, When the ASTM promulgates a standard, the responsible author is ofte referenced by name. I think we should have the same required when any government agency promulgates a regulation, whether good or bad. At least these government "authors" can be held accountable for their stupidities.

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

I am going to Try

I have neglected this blog because of other pressing issues. I did not think this blog had any popularity. However, I notice that I have had quite a few visits this year. If I never make interesting postings, I cheat anyone who does visit. I know that I have been disappointed in other neglected blogs. So in the interest giving a reward for your visit, I am going to Try to make a few timely posts of items that interest me and that might provide you come good useful information.
I am thinking about providing some information about battlefield radiation survival in the event fuzzy-wuzzy gets through. I may talk a little about the Old Country Girl for those who are facing some decisions on medical implants. Speaking of decisions, I think I will explain the interactions of multiple probabilities of procedure outcomes.