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Interesting Fact Of The Day

The largest bomb ever built and detonated was AN602 (Tsar Bomba) in 1961. It produced an explosion equivalent to 50 million tons of TNT. The fireball was 5 miles wide, and the blast radius was more than 22 miles, capable of destroying even the largest city in a single blast. In comparison, it was 2400 times stronger than the bomb used to destroy Hiroshima, and due to a triple-stage fusion-boosted process, was about the same physical size. The mushroom cloud was 7 times higher than Mt. Everest. Even though it was detonated 4 miles above the Earth’s surface, the seismic shock measured as a 5.25 on the Richter scale, and traveled all the way around the planet 3 times. Atmospheric focusing carried the blast damage to more than 600 miles away from ground zero. It generated 1.4% as much energy as the sun itself. The entire explosion took less than a half a second.

It was the single most powerful device ever created by mankind. And do you want to know the scary part?

They only ran it at half yeild; it was designed to yeild a 100 MegaTon explosion.

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Music Looping Hardware

I’ve been tossing around the idea of looping with hardware for quite a while, basically since I first heard of it a few months ago. It would allow me to perform music with much more flexibility than just me playing a single instrument, and it is a lot of fun, too. I am now at the point where I have to decide what kind of setup I want to use, and work on getting it functional in my setup.

If you’re interested in this kind of thing, there’s three routes you can go: a dedicated looping pedal, an analog tape delay (or equivalent), or a computer with software. Here’s a brief look at the three, and why I chose the last one.

Looper Pedals

These would include pedals by Digitech, Boss, Line6, and a few others. Each company makes a few different models, each with more buttons/features than the last. The two most popular are the Boss RC Series, and the Digitech JamMan series, both of which come in different sizes and with different features. Continue reading “Music Looping Hardware”

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Inconvenient Truth

I was recently involved in one of those wonderful “phone survey” calls from someone reading from a script. It didn’t take long to realize they were working for British Petrolium, and it was quite obvious the way the questions were worded that they wanted to skew the results to say what they wanted. By the end of the call, I was disgusted. It went something like this:

Them: “Who do you think is doing a better job of cleaning up the oil spill, BP, or the Federal Government?”
Me: “Neither one is going to clean up the oil, once the cameras leave, they will forget all about it and we’ll be left to fend for ourselves, just like after Hurricane Katrina.”
Them: “Sir, you must pick one or the other.”
Me: “No I don’t.”

It went on like this for a half an hour. None of the questions were really helpful, but I gave the most honest answers I could. Too bad you can’t fit opinions into “Very, somewhat, not very, or not at all satisfied.”

It made me think about the basis of our country, such as it is. It made me think about the Federal Government/Corporation. It made me think about the mega corporations that run everything now. It made me think about how much America has traded its soul for the convenience of cheap LCD TV’s. It made me think about the hypocrisy of the common person. It made me think about how people aren’t allowed to think anymore.

It makes me want to cry.

The “Inconvenient Truth” is this: we no longer own America as a country. We spend “money” that is backed by nothing tangible, to buy things we don’t really need. We eat food that is bad for us, drink water that is poisoned, take vaccines that could kill you, buy things without thinking where they come from, and take medicines that do more harm than good. We read things that serve no purpose, we watch things that reenforce amoral behavior, we listen to idiots who say what we want to hear, and gosh darn it, we’re happy about all of this. Why? Because our masters told us so. Or maybe it’s the lithium they’re planning on putting into the water supply.

People don’t care enough about anything to get involved anymore. They’d rather be comfortable, even in prison, than have to deal with doing anything on their own. They are sheep, fodder for the machine that will spit them out like so much waste when their monetary usefulness is expended. The few people that speak up against it are silenced, ridiculed, and in some cases, killed.

Is it stoppable? Not if things continue the way they are now. If you’re mad about the way the government is letting companies and lobbyists destroy our country, are you mad enough to do something about it? Are you mad enough to live intentionally, and learn about what is going on in the world around us? Are you mad enough to stop pumping money into mega-corporations for no reason? Are you mad enough to make your voice heard?

Live intentionally. Shun consumerism. Think objectively. Love deeply. Fight for justice.

Our country, and your freedom, depends on it.

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You Know I’m Lazy When…

Cause it’s taking me forever to finish editing my book. Yes, I “finished” writing it in November of last year. However, the ending was horrible. I decided to redo it. That re-write of the last 4 chapters has taken me close to 8 months to complete.

If you follow writers, this shouldn’t surprise you. They rarely write a book (worth reading) in less than a year. It’s just a massive feat, and anybody who says otherwise obviously hasn’t tried it.

However, I’m actually finishing mine up now. It will get sent to a few select readers who can give me unbiased eyes, and I will do the last few corrections… and then it will be ready to format for print.

Holy cow! It’ll be finished just in time for November, when I’ll have to write another one… :P

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Commuter Report: Week 1 Finished

I really enjoyed biking to work last week, even though I had to bail on Thursday and Friday afternoons because of the torrential downpours. Fret not, as I now have fully functional fenders and lights on the BlueBike, and I’m ready for anything. Well, not anything per se, you know, not a tornado or volcanic activity, or a tidal wave or a Cat 5 hurricane. But as for dark and rain, I’ve pretty much got that covered. I’ve got all my stuff in waterproof bags, so even if it rains, I’m ready to go.

Yes, I’m still scared of getting run down, but not as much as I was. In actuality, the rides have been a lot better than I thought they would be. I’m still curious as to if/when I’ll run across local law enforcement, and what they’ll tell me about riding in the street… Thibodaux, LA doesn’t have the greatest track record for bicycle-friendly law enforcement. It would do those guys some good to actually patrol on bikes and see what traffic is like without the protective bubbles of their plush cruisers. Heh, that’s wishful thinking.

Anyway, the ride has gone mostly fine. I had a rough day today, but I am reminded that last week went really well. My lighting system performed perfectly after I realized I had hooked the battery up wrong! The taillight I use only works when the polarity is correct, it’s made of LEDs and doesn’t have a rectifier in it. (Hmm, another project I could do one day) The bike is riding fine, the fenders worked great. Everything seems to be going perfectly.

I still need to get a better tire solution for preventing flats. The Kenda tires I have ride well, but are cheap, and they seem to like to eat up bits of metal like Cookie Monster eats cookies. Maybe I could try some tire liners, like Mr. Tuffy brand.

As I sit here typing this, it’s raining outside. I don’t know if the rain will be done by the time I get off of work, but I’m looking forward to riding home in the rain, to see what that will be like. No, I’m not crazy… I spent money on quality fenders, I want to see how well they work!

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Commuting To Work

So I finally decided instead of riding 14 miles every morning, and then driving to work, I’d just ride the 8 miles to work instead.

You’re probably thinking “That’s a no-brainer!” but it’s more complicated than that. On my normal morning ride, there’s no traffic lights, very little traffic, and only one stop sign. To get to work is a shorter distance, but requires navigating a dozen stop signs, busier streets, and at least two traffic lights and a bridge. Also, I will have to carry myself (and my stuff) back home in the heat at 5:00, which I don’t have to deal with on morning-only rides. I also have to figure out how to carry a change of clothes, any food I need, my laptop, and anything else (including lights and a battery) on the bike, while on my regular rides I don’t need any of that stuff.

Don’t forget that buying a bike and everything you need for a commute costs money! It’s healthier to get exercise, yes, but it’s still not free. With recreational cycling, if you get a flat, you don’t have to ride. If something breaks, you can wait to fix it. If it’s too rainy, too dark, or too whatever, you don’t have to ride. With commuting, you pretty much need to ride every day, unless you have a car on standby at all times. I do happen to have a car, so this is less of an issue for me.

So is it worth it? It depends on how dedicated you are to it. Believe it or not, you will save more money by riding when it’s convenient, because you will not need things like lights, fenders, panniers, or specialized clothing. You won’t get as fit, though, if you don’t ride on a regular basis.

So whether or not you will get benefits from cycling to work depends on what kind of retuns you’re looking for. So far, I’ve lost close to 20 pounds just cycling and eating right. Commuting will actually increase my mileage compared to my normal 13.5 mile morning jaunts, up to 16.5 miles total a day. Not a huge difference, but it eliminates the extra time I spent riding in the morning… I can actually get up and leave laterthan I normally would if I had ridden and then drove to work.

Time will tell how things go long-term, but for how good I feel riding my bike, I’m going to stick with it.

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Living Deliberately

For a while now, in my pursuit of living more deliberately, I’ve considered starting to ride my bike to work. I love driving my car, don’t get me wrong. There’s a part of me that wants to do it just because I can. However, after considering the costs involved in driving to work every day, I’ve come to realize that it would actually save me money in the long run… and not just gradually. Since moving back to my hometown, I mostly use my car to get back and forth to work now. Every now and then I’ll use it to go to the store, but that’s uaually on my way home from work. My commute now is 8.5 miles by car, each way. That comes to 85+ miles a week, and my car uses 93 octane (it’s supercharged) so it costs me about $10.50 a week in gas. That’s around $45 a month in gas, not to mention the reduced wear and tear on my car, which doesn’t exactly use the cheapest tires, oil, or parts.

The decision to bike commute isn’t strictly financial, though. I love riding a bike, and I already ride about 14 miles in the morning before I drive to work, anyway. I figure I’ll just skip the driving part, and still get a nice bike ride in every morning. I will likely still want to drive the car occasionally, and I’m okay with that. However, this way I don’t have to drive, and if I have to do any major work on the car, I don’t have to worry about having it done by Monday morning.

So what do I need to do to start commuting to work? Well, if you know anything about me, you’ll know I researched it extensively beforehand. I scrounged through every forum and blog I could find for bicycle commuters, and came up with some very interesting tidbits of information. With places like BikeForums.net there was plenty of experience and advice to learn, which I soaked up. Here’s some of the most important things I learned so far, pre-commute:

1. Any bike will do
I looked at my tired Schwinn/Pacific mountain bike. It is the perfect commuter bike in that it has all the mounts for fenders and racks, has wide gearing, is comfortable, cheap, and fairly reliable. It doesn’t take a lot of money to get a decent commuter bike if you’re not picky. As long as you can ride it comfortably far enough, and it can hold everything you need to bring, then it’s a good bike. You will want to upgrade it at some point, but it’s not required to start with.

2. Be Prepared
You have to know what you’re getting yourself into. You need to practice the route on a non-work day, to figure out the best route to take. You need to assemble what you need, so you can find out how to carry everything. Make sure you have a way to clean up at work, and a place to store your bike. Make sure the bike is tuned up, you have what’s needed to fix a flat tire, basic tools, etc. If the weather looks bad, make sure you have appropriate raingear, or at least a towel to dry off when you get there. If you ride in the early or late hours, invest in a good lighting system (doesn’t have to be expensive).

3. Don’t Worry About Being Too Prepared
No matter what happens, it’s not the end of the world. There’s very little chance you’re going to lose your job over a simple mistake, or an accident. People are generally forgiving, and you can learn from your mistakes. If you work at a job where simple mistakes are not tolerated, I’d highly recommend rethinking your career choices anyway.

I’m looking forward to commuting, and as I go, I will document the lessons learned, and maybe give some encouragement along the way.

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Times They Are A Changin’

I’ve had this blog up for quite some time now, and I suppose it’s time for me to branch out into something besides just blogging for fun. Debbie (my wife) and I have been tossing around the idea of starting a professional blogging/writing career, which seems hard to do at first. We’re still doing some research on it, however, and there’s a good possibility we’ll be brightening up the page a bit and offering more than just witty commentary and cool geeky posts… we may actually start producing e-books and articles (with videos) for download. We just have to figure out how to get it started, and we’ll see where it goes.

Here’s to the future!

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Live Looping: Music For People With ADD

I’ve recently run across a type of musical performance called “Live Looping” which involves a performer on stage using a delay device to layer sounds until they have an entire song. After watching some of these musicians, I am extremely impressed, and very much inspired to try it myself. I will have a detailed video on how I set my rig up later on, but for now, I’ll just say that it is incredibly fun, and perfect for musicians with Attention Deficit Disorder. Why? Because you not only get to perform the whole song, but you get to do it all yourself, jumping from instrument to instrument, and part to part, while keeping track of everything you’ve done already.

I’ve got two guitar amps, a digital effects unit, a MIDI keyboard controller, a computer, and a MIDI footpedal controller. Oh yeah, and a couple of guitars!

I know it’s kind of a tease to just describe it without some sort of photo or video, so here’s something to tide you over! This guy is one of the best I’ve seen at this kind of music. Yes, this is what I am wanting to learn how to do.

[youtube_sc url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EF3V3BsZDI”]