jkeak's New Writeups

ipe (idea)

2001-06-16T16:58:52Z

Ipe (pronounced ee-pay) is a tropical rainforest hardwood that is being used now in the US as a high end deck/exterior use material. It is extremely dense and hard. In information from floorings.com, ipe's environmental profile suggests that "the species is rather widespread, abundant, and secure globally, although it may be quite rare in parts of it's range". It is found to be distributed widely from Columbia to Bolivia, the Guianas and southeastern Brazil.

However in the wake of a contoversial attempt by Asbury Park, New Jersey to use ipe for it's boardwalk reconstruction legislation has been introduced to prohibit shore communities from using irresponsibly harvested tropical rainforest timber. The Sierra Club has estimated that Asbury Park's boardwalk repair plans would result in the destruction of 30,000 acres of rainforest.

Rainforest Relief, an environmental orginization from New York states that ipe wood is sought for it's strength, but most of it's logging…

Someday you will drive your Sony to the sony to pick up some more Sony (idea)

2001-02-14T18:04:32Z

Maybe Sony will rule the world one day, but the reason is that their stuff works, works well and works well for a long time. I have a reel to reel tape recorder I bought new almost 30 years ago, it still works fine. We have Sony TV, Sony Walkman, CD player (no vibrators, yet), Playstation. Everything just keeps doing their job unless you sit on it or a small child breaks off a knob. Can the same be said for American made products? Want a good camera, buy a 30 year old Nikon. Want a good motor vehicle? Buy a Honda. Want crap? Buy American.

photo gen set (idea)

2001-01-25T19:35:49Z

Term coined by Solar Electric Specialties in Willits, Ca to describe a stand alone power system consisting of solar photoelectric panels, a battery bank, a motor generator, an inverter and the control systems required to tie the system together. A system can be scaled to provide electricity for as simple as a week-end cabin to any size house. A most basic set up would be a single solar panel, a 12 volt deep cycle battery, a 500 watt inverter and a small gas generator. This type of set could be had for about $800. A system that could power any tract house would require multiple solar panels, a larger battery bank using 6 volt batteries, a diesel generator and a larger inverter.

The most difficult home power load to supply with an alternative system is the refrigerator, it requires a constant source of power at relatively high amperage. Low voltage (12 volt) solid state coolers are now available, but a propane powered refrigerator is the best alternative, although they are…

in the soup (thing)

2001-01-06T07:24:26Z

Since I have just run across this empty node shell, and by coincidence I just made soup, I feel obligated to add this evening's cooking revelations to the mix.

What got me started is that the neighbor called looking for soup this morning. Her youngest daughter started puking about 4:45 this morning and by dawn two out of three of her girls were not going to be going to school. I was able to take over to her some Lipton's-in-the-box, but I was under explicit instructions from my significant other that if I got within six feet of any germ I would have to be sterilized before I would be allowed back in the house (frankly that had me worried). I successfully acomplished my mission without infection or loss of important ancillary appurtenances, but in the spirit of preventive medicine I decided to make some home made chicken soup.

My method is pretty straight forward and if I may I'll share: Cook one whole chicken. I use a blue roasting pan with lid, wash the chicken, place in…

dyslexia (person)

2000-12-02T21:09:21Z

Disclaimer: The following write up is entirely subjective, what professionals would call anecdotal. If you're here, I figure you're interested in dyslexia, and if you've never met one, now you have.

Hooray for these writeups on dyslexia. There are a lot of people like me who have a mild form of this difficulty, not all cases are the worst extreme. I'd like to tell how it has affected me all my life.

The worst part was knowing there was something different about me, but not knowing what it was. Sometimes I felt so stupid, I mean shouldn't a kid be able to remember his parents' birthdays? And telling directions to some one else, the joke got to be "Turn left, No your other left". I know it seems that dialing the telephone should be the easiest thing in the world, but once I turn away from the page with the numbers and try to punch them in to the telephone, it some times takes 3 or 4 or more tries. Dialing a group of people on a phone list for me is…

How to remove a splinter (idea)

2000-11-03T01:53:37Z

You probably have had a few splinters in your life, "Ouch! Where's a needle?", and that works pretty well. Heat the end of the needle with a match to sterilize it, stick the point under the big end where it went in and open up the entrance hole, then grasp it with a pair of tweezers. Okay for little ones, but this will address your industrial strength, professional grade splinters.

The worst ones are from the jagged end of a split piece of wood. When they enter they leave multiple spears in your finger (the usual location although the palm is vulnerable too). The problem is that if the splinter location is at a grasping surface, the body will form a callus over it to protect itself. This works for a while, but eventually the skin will crack at the site because the intergity of the skin is disrupted by the callus material. Direct pressure will reveal these splinters as the little points contact the pain sensors. This kind is often on the sides of the…