eej's New Writeupshttp://everything2.com/?node=New%20Writeups%20Atom%20Feed&foruser=eej2000-11-20T19:52:52ZLocos (thing)http://everything2.com/user/eej/writeups/Locoseejhttp://everything2.com/user/eej2000-11-20T19:52:52Z2000-11-20T19:52:52Z<p>Common <a href="/title/Spanish">Spanish</a> name for "Concholepas concholepas", a <a href="/title/mollusc">mollusc</a> found in the coastal waters of <a href="/title/Chile">Chile</a>. Prized as a food, similar to Abalone. Many areas in Chile have been over-harvested.</p>Yerba Mate (thing)http://everything2.com/user/eej/writeups/Yerba+Mateeejhttp://everything2.com/user/eej2000-11-18T17:57:51Z2000-11-18T17:57:51Z<p>Pronounced "Yerba MAHtay." Popular name of the sub-tropical shrub "Ilex Paraguariensis." South American herbal tea consumed mainly in Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and southern Brazil. National drink of Argentina. Contains a caffeine-like <a href="/title/xanthine">xanthine</a> that produces pleasant <a href="/title/coffee">coffee</a>-like stimulation and relaxation, without the jangliness of <a href="/title/caffeine">caffeine</a>.</p>
<p>Yerba Mate is traditionally consumed by sucking the brewed tea out of a small dried gourd (the Mate) through a metal straw called a bombilla (bomBEEya).</p>lofting (thing)http://everything2.com/user/eej/writeups/loftingeejhttp://everything2.com/user/eej2000-11-18T05:56:22Z2000-11-18T05:56:22ZLofting is the arcane craft of determining the full-size shape of <a href="/title/parts">parts</a> for the fabrication of <a href="/title/boats">boats</a>, <a href="/title/ship">ships</a> and <a href="/title/aircraft">aircraft</a>. In the past, this was accomplished by making a full size <a href="/title/drawing">drawing</a> of the vessel on the floor of the loft above the construction facility, hence "lofting". In the present, lofting of most craft is accomplished on <a href="/title/computers">computers</a>, and differs little (but significantly) from other product-design disciplines.
<p>An important duty of the lofter is ensuring the lines of the full size drawing, or <a href="/title/3D">3D</a> model, are "fair". Fairness does not have a mathematical definition, but can include smoothness, continuity of <a href="/title/curvature">curvature</a>, <a href="/title/tangency">tangency</a> and hydro (or aero) dynamic suitability. Fairness must often be ensured in 3 dimensions.
<p>Lofting takes into account the limitations of the construction materials. For instance, for a boat hull to be most easily built of <a href="/title/steel">steel</a>, the shell plating must be developable, that is, curved in one direction only (a <a href="/title/Gaussian+formula">Gaussian curvature</a><!-- close unclosed tag --></p><!-- close unclosed tag --></p>…