Well, been a while since the last post.
Been a bit busy of late. Mom's house renovation proceeds, perhaps not at the pace I might like, but still progressing. We have the bathroom in running order, and the laundry room is ready for tileboard on the walls and tile on the floor. We'll need to get electric, water, and gas rerouted, and the washer and dryer up from the basement. We should be on the downhill side after that. Still some electrical wiring issues to fix and some copper plumbing to rip out (the Cu should fetch a decent price at the scrapyard).
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Last weekend TBH helped run the swim meet for the local Senior Olympics. I 'volunteered' (read 'was conscripted') to help with seeding, timing, and general gofer duties. That went pretty well, though I think 50 as the minimum age to participate seems a bit young. I'd think 55 would be a better minimum age.
The only major issue was that some of the people wanted to change events in the middle of the meet (scratching an event is no big deal, adding is). In any other meet, changing events really wouldn't be allowed, but what the hell-it ain't the real Olympics. I figure as long as nobody got hurt and everyone got their medals, it was a good day.
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President Obama is coming to the QCs tomorrow to visit an aluminum plant! Lucky us. Now, I'm not going on ideology here, just on practicality. They're working on a lot of the roads here this summer. The last thing we need during morning or afternoon drive is the President's big tank of a limo, his entourage of War Wagons, and Secret Service types closing off the airport and the one or two major thoroughfares that aren't under construction so he can go to see some people actually working for a living. It'd be nice if they'd bring Marine One along and just helo him to the plant. They could park his copter at the Iowa Guard base outside of town (a helicopter unit, so they have the facilities) and it wouldn't tie up traffic. I think this would make some sense. Therefore the powers-that-be won't do it.
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The B-17 Aluminum Overcast is coming to town in a couple of weeks. She's one of the very few surviving airworthy Flying Fortresses out there. A person could take a flight in her-for $429(!) (reckon I don't begrudge the EAA the fare-it isn't cheap to fly a four-engine plane around, and it isn't like everybody can fix the thing if something goes wrong). Not sure it's in the budgetary cards to fly her this year. I did fly in the Collings Foundation B-17 Nine-O-Nine about ten years ago. Truly awesome to fly in a piece of history! I had a great-uncle who flew in Forts during WWII. My flight didn't have any locals trying their damndest to blow us out of the sky, so I suppose my flight went better than his combat missions.
At any rate, one can walk-through Aluminum Overcast for $15. I think I can swing that. I'll get pics.
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That's about it, other than the myriad little details that make up life. Fourth of July weekend coming up-chance of rain at least for Saturday and Sunday. I've got tickets for the River Bandits/Lumber Kings game on Saturday night (with postgame fireworks), so c'mon good weather!
yankeedog out.
27 June 2011
19 June 2011
Some fastpitch from the weekend
We took a little bit of time off this weekend to watch some of the International Softball Congress adult men's fastpitch qualifier. The winner of the tournament will go on to the ISC World Championship, which will be here in the QCs in August. There are some pretty good teams and players that show up for the event-teams from all over the US and Canada, with players from both countries, Australia, New Zealand, and Europe. I believe Kitchener, Ontario, has won at least two of the last three tournaments, so they're the bunch to knock off in August. The fastpitch tournaments are a good time if you're into stick and ball games. And the players at world championship level are talented enough for the scores to be 2-1 or 1-0.
For a time in the mid 1960s, Rock Island was the home of the ISC Worlds. They played the whole tournament on one diamond. Although a given night's games might be scheduled for 6,7,8, and 9 pm, they'd inevitably run much longer and it wasn't uncommon for games to still be going on at 2am! This year's tourney will be at Green Valley Sports Complex, which has 12 diamonds-makes for a MUCH faster tournament.
The Better Half remembers going to some of the 60's tournaments, especially the 1967 series which saw a local car dealer's squad winning the whole thing. One of the players was an affable fellow named Chuck Thome. As TBH remembers it, Thome had a broken arm one year but he was a good player.
Oh yes, he has a son who plays a bit of baseball. Most fans of the game would have heard of him. Not too bad a player-and one of the nicer guys in Major League Baseball.
But that's the past and the future. Back to the present.
This weekend's matches were in Walcott, Iowa, a town just west of us. It's in many ways your basic Midwest small town. You know the place-a couple of bars, a couple of churches, a big grain elevator along the railroad tracks, truck stop on the edge of town along the interstate. A nice quiet place where no one's in much of a hurry and gossip and news travels at warp speed.
Walcott hosts these qualifiers most years. They have two really well-kept diamonds and the community is happy to have the teams and players in town. The townspeople and civic clubs do a great job with the facilities and concessions. While there are many fanatics of bacon that patronize this blog (including the writer of said blog), when it comes to a debate on ham or bacon, I might posit as a third choice a butterfly cut Iowa pork chop, done on the grill and made into a sandwich, for favorite pork product. The pork chop sandwich is a staple at most town fests and local hangouts around these parts.
First game we saw was Quad City Sox vs Life of Iowa (sponsored, of course, by an insurance company). I think the QC Sox were the #1 seed for this tournament, and generally they played like it.
The windup, and the pitch!
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Batter up!
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And the score after three innings-QC Sox 11, Life of Iowa 0. Oops!
The game ended up 11-1 as the Sox pitchers combined for a one-hitter (the lone hit being a solo home run in the 4th inning). The Sox advance and Life goes to the loser bracket. It's a double-elimination bracket so it's possible to lose a game early on, get hot, and end up playing for the championship vs the winner of the winner bracket.
The second game was Bones Barbeque vs Bowen Merchants Association:
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The nine from Bowen look impressive in the old time grays. They had a couple of players who could flat out fly-I've seen MLB players who didn't have those baserunning instincts. Bowen went up 6-2 early and were rolling along until the 5th inning, when the wheels came off the car. A couple of bad defensive plays and a pitcher who wasn't fooling any of the Bones players after a couple of times through the batting order saw Bones come rip-snorting back to win the game 13-6, the highlight of the Bones comeback being a grand-slam homer in the 6th inning. That's the nature of a game played by people who have other jobs-the team looks good, but a play gets screwed up or some error occurs, and the whole momentum of the game changes. The team that was leading comfortably ends up two or three runs down all of a sudden.
Next weekend, the tournament will wrap up. With luck, we'll be there to catch the championship round games on Saturday. It's always a good time at a great venue!
yankeedog out.
For a time in the mid 1960s, Rock Island was the home of the ISC Worlds. They played the whole tournament on one diamond. Although a given night's games might be scheduled for 6,7,8, and 9 pm, they'd inevitably run much longer and it wasn't uncommon for games to still be going on at 2am! This year's tourney will be at Green Valley Sports Complex, which has 12 diamonds-makes for a MUCH faster tournament.
The Better Half remembers going to some of the 60's tournaments, especially the 1967 series which saw a local car dealer's squad winning the whole thing. One of the players was an affable fellow named Chuck Thome. As TBH remembers it, Thome had a broken arm one year but he was a good player.
Oh yes, he has a son who plays a bit of baseball. Most fans of the game would have heard of him. Not too bad a player-and one of the nicer guys in Major League Baseball.
But that's the past and the future. Back to the present.
This weekend's matches were in Walcott, Iowa, a town just west of us. It's in many ways your basic Midwest small town. You know the place-a couple of bars, a couple of churches, a big grain elevator along the railroad tracks, truck stop on the edge of town along the interstate. A nice quiet place where no one's in much of a hurry and gossip and news travels at warp speed.
Walcott hosts these qualifiers most years. They have two really well-kept diamonds and the community is happy to have the teams and players in town. The townspeople and civic clubs do a great job with the facilities and concessions. While there are many fanatics of bacon that patronize this blog (including the writer of said blog), when it comes to a debate on ham or bacon, I might posit as a third choice a butterfly cut Iowa pork chop, done on the grill and made into a sandwich, for favorite pork product. The pork chop sandwich is a staple at most town fests and local hangouts around these parts.
First game we saw was Quad City Sox vs Life of Iowa (sponsored, of course, by an insurance company). I think the QC Sox were the #1 seed for this tournament, and generally they played like it.
The windup, and the pitch!
Batter up!
And the score after three innings-QC Sox 11, Life of Iowa 0. Oops!
The game ended up 11-1 as the Sox pitchers combined for a one-hitter (the lone hit being a solo home run in the 4th inning). The Sox advance and Life goes to the loser bracket. It's a double-elimination bracket so it's possible to lose a game early on, get hot, and end up playing for the championship vs the winner of the winner bracket.
The second game was Bones Barbeque vs Bowen Merchants Association:
The nine from Bowen look impressive in the old time grays. They had a couple of players who could flat out fly-I've seen MLB players who didn't have those baserunning instincts. Bowen went up 6-2 early and were rolling along until the 5th inning, when the wheels came off the car. A couple of bad defensive plays and a pitcher who wasn't fooling any of the Bones players after a couple of times through the batting order saw Bones come rip-snorting back to win the game 13-6, the highlight of the Bones comeback being a grand-slam homer in the 6th inning. That's the nature of a game played by people who have other jobs-the team looks good, but a play gets screwed up or some error occurs, and the whole momentum of the game changes. The team that was leading comfortably ends up two or three runs down all of a sudden.
Next weekend, the tournament will wrap up. With luck, we'll be there to catch the championship round games on Saturday. It's always a good time at a great venue!
yankeedog out.
03 June 2011
A little Zeppelin for the fans
Just not Robert, John, John Paul, and Jimmy.
I read an interesting piece on the US Navy's fleet of zeppelins, which were used in the 1920s and 1930s.
There were four dirigible airships in the fleet: USS Shenandoah, USS Los Angeles, USS Akron, and USS Macon.
As a review: a dirigible generally has an internal structure that the skin is attached to, where a blimp doesn't have much of a structure, more like a balloon.
Germany and Britain flirted with airships as recon platforms and bombers during World War I, with what I would consider mixed results. Dirigibles didn't seem to have a long lifespan. Although they could outclimb the fighters of the day, they were slower, much larger, and filled with very flammable hydrogen for a lift gas. After the war, Britain pursued other avenues of aviation, while Germany concentrated on passenger airships. We all know how that ended-the Hindenburg explosion at NAS Lakehurst in 1937.
It would appear from reading the article in Naval History and the editor's note that the chief of Naval Aviation, Admiral Moffett, used the airships as much as a way to collect scarce postwar and Depression-era defense dollars for the Navy than in any belief in the airship as the weapon platform of the future. The Navy zeppelins crisscrossed the country, hovering over fairs and parades and visiting cities and towns of all sizes, showing the capabilities of the service and no doubt enticing more than a few souls to sign up for a chance at adventure in the skies.
And adventure is what airship crews had, because the vessels were not easy to handle on the ground or in the air. Tie a balloon to a pole and put it out on a windy day. Watch it flop around. Airships handle much the same way, as shown below:
There were several instances of sailors being hurt or killed when securing airships as they pitched up in a wind gust, and also of damage to the airship when a downdraft slammed a moored ship to the ground. The United States used nonflammable helium as the lift gas for its airship fleet, so at least there were no colossal explosions or fires aboard any of the vessels.
The US Navy generally used zeppelins in a military role as long-range scout platforms during the various Fleet Problems of the 1930s. They were moderately successful at this-airships can loiter for long periods at slow speeds and were capable of shadowing the battlefleet, at least as long as the opposing fleet didn't have access to aircraft of their own.
It wasn't long before someone thought of giving the airships the ability to launch and recover small planes to act as auxiliary scouts and for protection. Germany first performed this task, launching a plane from the Hindenburg on two occasions (not counting the work of a certain archaeologist-adventurer and his father).
USS Akron and sister USS Macon both had facilities to carry 4 F9 Sparrowhawk fighters, using a trapeze and conveyor mechanism for launch and retrieval. The fighters were equipped with a large hook on top of the wing to latch onto the trapeze. The whole process must have looked similar to modern-day aircraft doing in-flight refueling, which is a fair feat of airmanship for all concerned.
Impressive work. But the airships were in the end too accident-prone and vulnerable to other aircraft and even the vagaries of weather, in addition to being very expensive to build and maintain, to survive as military platforms. Three of the four Navy airships met tragic ends. Shenandoah first flew in 1923 but was caught in a squall over Ohio and torn apart in 1925. Akron was launched in 1931, only to crash off the New Jersey coast in 1933, killing 73 of the 76 aboard, including Admiral Moffett, the airships' main proponent. Macon was launched in 1933 and crashed in 1935, losing a fin in wind shear and crshing in Monterey Bay, California. Only Los Angeles had a long career, being commissioned in 1924 and decommissioned, struck, and dismantled in 1939.
That was the end of the Navy's zeppelin fleet. However, the Navy also was developing several non-rigid airship (blimp) classes, and the blimps would go on to perform yeoman service in World War II as anti-submarine patrol and search and rescue craft, where their low speed and long loiter time would prove to be advantageous-and they were kept away from significant air opposition. Blimps served the Navy as radar pickets well into the 1950s, so it seems the lighter-than-air program wasn't a complete waste of time and resources-just that the more simply-constructed blimps proved to be more capable platforms for their given missions than the expensive zeppelins.
So ends the story of the Navy's lighter-than-air ships-an interesting era in aviation.
What?
You want to hear some Zeppelin? But I want to hear some country music. Looks like a compromise is in order here.
yankeedog out.
I read an interesting piece on the US Navy's fleet of zeppelins, which were used in the 1920s and 1930s.
There were four dirigible airships in the fleet: USS Shenandoah, USS Los Angeles, USS Akron, and USS Macon.
As a review: a dirigible generally has an internal structure that the skin is attached to, where a blimp doesn't have much of a structure, more like a balloon.
Germany and Britain flirted with airships as recon platforms and bombers during World War I, with what I would consider mixed results. Dirigibles didn't seem to have a long lifespan. Although they could outclimb the fighters of the day, they were slower, much larger, and filled with very flammable hydrogen for a lift gas. After the war, Britain pursued other avenues of aviation, while Germany concentrated on passenger airships. We all know how that ended-the Hindenburg explosion at NAS Lakehurst in 1937.
It would appear from reading the article in Naval History and the editor's note that the chief of Naval Aviation, Admiral Moffett, used the airships as much as a way to collect scarce postwar and Depression-era defense dollars for the Navy than in any belief in the airship as the weapon platform of the future. The Navy zeppelins crisscrossed the country, hovering over fairs and parades and visiting cities and towns of all sizes, showing the capabilities of the service and no doubt enticing more than a few souls to sign up for a chance at adventure in the skies.
And adventure is what airship crews had, because the vessels were not easy to handle on the ground or in the air. Tie a balloon to a pole and put it out on a windy day. Watch it flop around. Airships handle much the same way, as shown below:
There were several instances of sailors being hurt or killed when securing airships as they pitched up in a wind gust, and also of damage to the airship when a downdraft slammed a moored ship to the ground. The United States used nonflammable helium as the lift gas for its airship fleet, so at least there were no colossal explosions or fires aboard any of the vessels.
The US Navy generally used zeppelins in a military role as long-range scout platforms during the various Fleet Problems of the 1930s. They were moderately successful at this-airships can loiter for long periods at slow speeds and were capable of shadowing the battlefleet, at least as long as the opposing fleet didn't have access to aircraft of their own.
It wasn't long before someone thought of giving the airships the ability to launch and recover small planes to act as auxiliary scouts and for protection. Germany first performed this task, launching a plane from the Hindenburg on two occasions (not counting the work of a certain archaeologist-adventurer and his father).
USS Akron and sister USS Macon both had facilities to carry 4 F9 Sparrowhawk fighters, using a trapeze and conveyor mechanism for launch and retrieval. The fighters were equipped with a large hook on top of the wing to latch onto the trapeze. The whole process must have looked similar to modern-day aircraft doing in-flight refueling, which is a fair feat of airmanship for all concerned.
Impressive work. But the airships were in the end too accident-prone and vulnerable to other aircraft and even the vagaries of weather, in addition to being very expensive to build and maintain, to survive as military platforms. Three of the four Navy airships met tragic ends. Shenandoah first flew in 1923 but was caught in a squall over Ohio and torn apart in 1925. Akron was launched in 1931, only to crash off the New Jersey coast in 1933, killing 73 of the 76 aboard, including Admiral Moffett, the airships' main proponent. Macon was launched in 1933 and crashed in 1935, losing a fin in wind shear and crshing in Monterey Bay, California. Only Los Angeles had a long career, being commissioned in 1924 and decommissioned, struck, and dismantled in 1939.
That was the end of the Navy's zeppelin fleet. However, the Navy also was developing several non-rigid airship (blimp) classes, and the blimps would go on to perform yeoman service in World War II as anti-submarine patrol and search and rescue craft, where their low speed and long loiter time would prove to be advantageous-and they were kept away from significant air opposition. Blimps served the Navy as radar pickets well into the 1950s, so it seems the lighter-than-air program wasn't a complete waste of time and resources-just that the more simply-constructed blimps proved to be more capable platforms for their given missions than the expensive zeppelins.
So ends the story of the Navy's lighter-than-air ships-an interesting era in aviation.
What?
You want to hear some Zeppelin? But I want to hear some country music. Looks like a compromise is in order here.
yankeedog out.
30 May 2011
Three-day weekend post mortem
Here 'tis-Monday night, and another Memorial Day Weekend in the books.
Generally the weekend went well. TBH and I carted ourselves off to the Amana Colonies (about which you can review) on Saturday. There was a Renaissance Festival going on in Middle Amana Park, which, to be honest, had a lot of minor league talent. We made a circuit of the grounds and left. A visual arts school had a pretty cool glassmaking demonstration-molten glass has some amazing properties and workability. Other than that, meh. We walked through some of the shops, loaded up on various and sundry culinary items, and picked up a couple of bottles of the Colonies' renowned wine. They make wine out of about anything there. The Mark I Model 0 Grape is good, at least in my estimation. I tried the rhubarb wine, which wasn't bad. The dandelion wine (yes, that common nuisance in your lawn ferments up nicely. My great-aunt used to make some of the best dandelion wine around.) was a little TOO sweet for my liking.
Supposedly the microbrewery in the Amanas puts out an award winning beer. I'd like to have bought a sixer for the summer, but the place didn't offer samples. Sorry-but I've had some excellent microbrews, and some that needed to be put back in the horse. I'd like to try before buying, thank you. Ah well. All in all, a good day out.
Sunday, we got Mom's sit-down tub connected up. My brother got the tub plumbing dead on-not a leak or drip anywhere. When we did a test run, Mom was delighted and showed it by saying 'Don't waste all my water.'
You're welcome.
Evidently 'please' and 'thank you' aren't in her vocabulary-perhaps dead in a murder/suicide thing. My brother and Mom were estranged for several years. He says he's done with her after he gets this all completed. Can't blame him in a way. It wouldn't have killed her to put in a kind word for the effort. Me? Fairness and $1.50 will buy you a cup of coffee. I don't expect a lot from most people. What is it they say? You can pick your friends. Family you're stuck with. Something like that.
Well.
Monday we trekked on up to Clinton to see the LumberKings play Beloit. We got a bonus game-since Saturday's game was rained out, we got a doubleheader. Two games for the price of one! Such a deal!
Davenport and the River Bandits are the closest Midwest League team to me, but when I grew up, it was summer nights watching the old Clinton Giants play down at Riverview Park. Even now, the stadium in Clinton is more comfortable, smaller,and a little more 'old school' baseball, than our Modern Woodmen Park is.
The LumberKings are currently residing in the cellar of the Midwest League West with a less-than-stellar 14-38 record so far this year. True to form, they lost the first game 7-1 and the second 2-1 in extra innings. I can see why. The team couldn't catch a cold, their errors cost them games, and they can't capitalize on the other team's mistakes. I didn't see anyone on the roster that really struck me as future major-league material. Looks like a few more lean years for the parent Seattle Mariners. Beloit isn't light-years better, but there a couple of position players which I wouldn't be surprised if they showed up at Target Field in Minneapolis in Twins uniforms in a couple of years. One Beloit player I will have to follow is Wang-Wei Lin. You know everyone calls him 'Wrong-Way' and he'll be stuck with that moniker for the duration of his American baseball career.
The 'Kings got swept, but it was still a great time. How better to spend Memorial Day than watching a ball game or two? And, to top it, the 'Kings did score a run in the 3rd inning of the second game. That was the Arby's Winning Inning-good for a coupon for a couple of roast beefs sometime. Also, we scored a coupon from the Candlelight Inn (a local restaurant known for its Chicken George) due to a young lady catching (in a big bucket) two of three rubber chickens slingshotted into the air in a between-innings contest. Got a big discount on a carry-out order of same Chicken George. Supper's done tomorrow! I rarely leave a LumberKings game without a coupon for something or another. Nice way to take care of the fans!
So mostly a good weekend, with a hint of sour. Reckon I can live with that.
yankeedog out.
Generally the weekend went well. TBH and I carted ourselves off to the Amana Colonies (about which you can review) on Saturday. There was a Renaissance Festival going on in Middle Amana Park, which, to be honest, had a lot of minor league talent. We made a circuit of the grounds and left. A visual arts school had a pretty cool glassmaking demonstration-molten glass has some amazing properties and workability. Other than that, meh. We walked through some of the shops, loaded up on various and sundry culinary items, and picked up a couple of bottles of the Colonies' renowned wine. They make wine out of about anything there. The Mark I Model 0 Grape is good, at least in my estimation. I tried the rhubarb wine, which wasn't bad. The dandelion wine (yes, that common nuisance in your lawn ferments up nicely. My great-aunt used to make some of the best dandelion wine around.) was a little TOO sweet for my liking.
Supposedly the microbrewery in the Amanas puts out an award winning beer. I'd like to have bought a sixer for the summer, but the place didn't offer samples. Sorry-but I've had some excellent microbrews, and some that needed to be put back in the horse. I'd like to try before buying, thank you. Ah well. All in all, a good day out.
Sunday, we got Mom's sit-down tub connected up. My brother got the tub plumbing dead on-not a leak or drip anywhere. When we did a test run, Mom was delighted and showed it by saying 'Don't waste all my water.'
You're welcome.
Evidently 'please' and 'thank you' aren't in her vocabulary-perhaps dead in a murder/suicide thing. My brother and Mom were estranged for several years. He says he's done with her after he gets this all completed. Can't blame him in a way. It wouldn't have killed her to put in a kind word for the effort. Me? Fairness and $1.50 will buy you a cup of coffee. I don't expect a lot from most people. What is it they say? You can pick your friends. Family you're stuck with. Something like that.
Well.
Monday we trekked on up to Clinton to see the LumberKings play Beloit. We got a bonus game-since Saturday's game was rained out, we got a doubleheader. Two games for the price of one! Such a deal!
Davenport and the River Bandits are the closest Midwest League team to me, but when I grew up, it was summer nights watching the old Clinton Giants play down at Riverview Park. Even now, the stadium in Clinton is more comfortable, smaller,and a little more 'old school' baseball, than our Modern Woodmen Park is.
The LumberKings are currently residing in the cellar of the Midwest League West with a less-than-stellar 14-38 record so far this year. True to form, they lost the first game 7-1 and the second 2-1 in extra innings. I can see why. The team couldn't catch a cold, their errors cost them games, and they can't capitalize on the other team's mistakes. I didn't see anyone on the roster that really struck me as future major-league material. Looks like a few more lean years for the parent Seattle Mariners. Beloit isn't light-years better, but there a couple of position players which I wouldn't be surprised if they showed up at Target Field in Minneapolis in Twins uniforms in a couple of years. One Beloit player I will have to follow is Wang-Wei Lin. You know everyone calls him 'Wrong-Way' and he'll be stuck with that moniker for the duration of his American baseball career.
The 'Kings got swept, but it was still a great time. How better to spend Memorial Day than watching a ball game or two? And, to top it, the 'Kings did score a run in the 3rd inning of the second game. That was the Arby's Winning Inning-good for a coupon for a couple of roast beefs sometime. Also, we scored a coupon from the Candlelight Inn (a local restaurant known for its Chicken George) due to a young lady catching (in a big bucket) two of three rubber chickens slingshotted into the air in a between-innings contest. Got a big discount on a carry-out order of same Chicken George. Supper's done tomorrow! I rarely leave a LumberKings game without a coupon for something or another. Nice way to take care of the fans!
So mostly a good weekend, with a hint of sour. Reckon I can live with that.
yankeedog out.
26 May 2011
Sometimes the universe rolls your way...
I took Wednesday off to do some work on the bathroom renovation. We're just a few connections from Mom having a working sit-down bathtub. Should happen this weekend, God willing and the creek don't rise.
Unfortunately, I missed the dustup at work. Seems our boy Rimmer finally got told 'no'. And well overdue it is.
Rimmer came up with this idea for a rotator device to pick up a casting. The designer had his doubts but drew the lifter up anyway. The guys in the shop built the lifter, and during the test lift....voila! It doesn't rotate the part and doesn't actually want to pick up the part safely.
Anyone who knows anything about an unmachined casting knows that dimensions of features can vary significantly-that's why faces and features get machined to precise dimensions. In addition, most surfaces have a draft, or slope, to them to allow the part to come out of the mold. These variances and features make large castings a bit of a challenge to handle and manipulate.
So Rimmer was out in the shop trying to come up with little additions and gadgets to add to the lifter. Our new Chief Design Poobah told him that his basic concept was wrong. Evidently that didn't sit well with Rimmer, since he launched into his 'I've had 14 years of experience' spiel. Then he said that this would be a decision for the general manager. The Big Guy heard them both out and said 'I have to go with the Chief Design Poobah. We hired him for his engineering experience.'
YEEESSSSSS!! WIN!
I was informed that Rimmer was pouty for the rest of the day. I for one couldn't be happier! He wasn't in the office today. Rather a shame.
My thought would have been 'You've been doing this for 14 years, and your concept sucks, like a good portion of your concepts do, since we rework a good portion of them.'
I've also been designing lifting equipment for 14 years. I've got big-boy lifting equipment in factories and mills from Ontario to Australia and places between. And one thing I've learned is that I don't know every-fucking-thing, and I can listen to other people's ideas. Actually, the amount of stuff I find I don't know is truly astounding at times. I reckon Bangar probably learns something new about the electrical trade most days. Birmo and Flinthart and Murph would probably say that they don't know everything about authoring. Rhino probably learns something new every day in his quest to be a supergenius. Same goes for the rest of you in your respective occupations. Rimmer, for being a salesman, has an inflated sense of his design knowledge and can't be told anything. That is a bad combination. My advice to him from afar would be to stick to selling stuff and stay away from where the adults are trying to work. He's been allowed for far too long to have his nose in every detail of design and fabrication there. All he needs to do is give us a rough concept for a lifter, then go away and sell something else to other customers.
Don't get me wrong-I screw up more than my share of stuff. But I'm not in the shop trying to manage work flow or telling the other designers how they should do their drawings.
Rimmer is a perfect walking, talking, real-life personification of the line 'A man's got to know his limitations.'
Wish I could have seen the whole exchange, though. The really interesting stuff always happens when I'm not there!
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Memorial Day weekend is coming up fast.
First, of course, to all the veterans, American and Allied, thanks for your service, and well done! A popular and fitting verse for the day, is In Flanders Fields, written in the terrible aftermath of the Battle of Ypres in WW I.
In Flanders Fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
Well said, Lt. Col. Dr. McCrae.
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On a lighter note, Memorial Day weekend is the unofficial beginning of summer here, and there'll be a lot of people enjoying a bit of downtime.
TBH and I have a day trip to the Amana Colonies planned for Saturday and if we get back early enough, there's a fastpitch softball tournament in a nearby town this weekend. Might take in a game or two during the evening. Sunday will be working at construction, and Monday if it's decent out might see a trip up to Clinton for the LumberKings/Beloit Snappers baseball game.
I intend to have a good weekend. Your assignment, should you choose to accept it, is to do the same!
yankeedog out.
Unfortunately, I missed the dustup at work. Seems our boy Rimmer finally got told 'no'. And well overdue it is.
Rimmer came up with this idea for a rotator device to pick up a casting. The designer had his doubts but drew the lifter up anyway. The guys in the shop built the lifter, and during the test lift....voila! It doesn't rotate the part and doesn't actually want to pick up the part safely.
Anyone who knows anything about an unmachined casting knows that dimensions of features can vary significantly-that's why faces and features get machined to precise dimensions. In addition, most surfaces have a draft, or slope, to them to allow the part to come out of the mold. These variances and features make large castings a bit of a challenge to handle and manipulate.
So Rimmer was out in the shop trying to come up with little additions and gadgets to add to the lifter. Our new Chief Design Poobah told him that his basic concept was wrong. Evidently that didn't sit well with Rimmer, since he launched into his 'I've had 14 years of experience' spiel. Then he said that this would be a decision for the general manager. The Big Guy heard them both out and said 'I have to go with the Chief Design Poobah. We hired him for his engineering experience.'
YEEESSSSSS!! WIN!
I was informed that Rimmer was pouty for the rest of the day. I for one couldn't be happier! He wasn't in the office today. Rather a shame.
My thought would have been 'You've been doing this for 14 years, and your concept sucks, like a good portion of your concepts do, since we rework a good portion of them.'
I've also been designing lifting equipment for 14 years. I've got big-boy lifting equipment in factories and mills from Ontario to Australia and places between. And one thing I've learned is that I don't know every-fucking-thing, and I can listen to other people's ideas. Actually, the amount of stuff I find I don't know is truly astounding at times. I reckon Bangar probably learns something new about the electrical trade most days. Birmo and Flinthart and Murph would probably say that they don't know everything about authoring. Rhino probably learns something new every day in his quest to be a supergenius. Same goes for the rest of you in your respective occupations. Rimmer, for being a salesman, has an inflated sense of his design knowledge and can't be told anything. That is a bad combination. My advice to him from afar would be to stick to selling stuff and stay away from where the adults are trying to work. He's been allowed for far too long to have his nose in every detail of design and fabrication there. All he needs to do is give us a rough concept for a lifter, then go away and sell something else to other customers.
Don't get me wrong-I screw up more than my share of stuff. But I'm not in the shop trying to manage work flow or telling the other designers how they should do their drawings.
Rimmer is a perfect walking, talking, real-life personification of the line 'A man's got to know his limitations.'
Wish I could have seen the whole exchange, though. The really interesting stuff always happens when I'm not there!
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Memorial Day weekend is coming up fast.
First, of course, to all the veterans, American and Allied, thanks for your service, and well done! A popular and fitting verse for the day, is In Flanders Fields, written in the terrible aftermath of the Battle of Ypres in WW I.
In Flanders Fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
Well said, Lt. Col. Dr. McCrae.
-----------
On a lighter note, Memorial Day weekend is the unofficial beginning of summer here, and there'll be a lot of people enjoying a bit of downtime.
TBH and I have a day trip to the Amana Colonies planned for Saturday and if we get back early enough, there's a fastpitch softball tournament in a nearby town this weekend. Might take in a game or two during the evening. Sunday will be working at construction, and Monday if it's decent out might see a trip up to Clinton for the LumberKings/Beloit Snappers baseball game.
I intend to have a good weekend. Your assignment, should you choose to accept it, is to do the same!
yankeedog out.
22 May 2011
Singing kids at the ball park
For the past few weeks, TBH has been planning an outing for youth and families at our church-a trip to the River Bandits v. Cedar Rapids Kernels baseball game.
We've been sweating the weather. It was supposed to rain a bitch today, with high winds and hail. Indeed, as I write this, Joplin, Missouri, looks a bit like someone popped a nuke on it-tornadoes hit them hard a few hours ago. Minneapolis got hit as well. Seems as I watch the incoming footage that the rest of this entry might be a bit incongruous. Going to be a long next few weeks around the Midwest getting cleaned up and repaired.
Well. At any rate, at least the first wave of storms went north and south of us. We had a surprisingly nice afternoon, weatherwise. Clouds and sun and a hefty breeze blowing across the field.
The children were to sing the national anthem before the game:
TBH is the one in the red T-shirt running the kids through their singing paces.
And here they are on the infield belting out the Banner.
Our church doesn't have a formal children's choir. These are mostly the sons and daughters of the members, but the young ladies and gentlemen did a good job with the tune and tempo. The Star-Spangled Banner is a tough song to sing well (would that the anthem were America The Beautiful, or Columbia, The Gem of the Ocean-much easier to perform) and ideally a singer should only take 1 minute 5 seconds to 1 minute 20 seconds to sing it. Anything longer is being a camera hog.
The kids did well. Each family got tickets for their party and some Bandit Bucks (tickets good for food and merchandise at the park). After the singing, most of the children made for the play area with all the jumpys and inflatables and the parents scattered around the park. TBH obtained tickets for the Family Section of the seats (where no alcohol is allowed) but once the ticket is in hand, no one cares if people move out to general admission or the berm to have a beer. Fair enough. I got us tickets in box because I like being away from everybody else. I suppose everybody else doesn't like being around me. Also fair enough.
As I said, we ended up with some pretty decent weather today, judging from this shot out to the left field berm:
Someday I have to pack the blanket and catch a game from out there. Looks like a pretty decent place to watch the action and maybe snag a home run ball. Here the Bandits had the bases loaded but couldn't push a run across in this inning. A couple of guys appeared to be running on contact and got caught in a double play. Gotta make sure those line drives go past the infielder, because the double play ends innings quick!
The Bandits did score earlier in the game, though, and pulled off a nice 4-1 win over the Kernels. Looks like the Anaheim Angels may not have a lot of good pitching coming up anytime soon if today's pitchers for Cedar Rapids are any indication. Too much standing around on the mound and lack of control on pitches.
The three guys in front of me are most likely players or assistants for the Kernels. One has a radar gun to check the velocity of his comrade on the mound, and the fellow with the computer is likely charting tendencies of the Bandit hitters and where they're hitting the ball. Come July, the section I was sitting in will be full of scouts for the Major League teams, as they try to pick out prospects to trade for, trade away, or possibly promote to the next level.
Some of our kids got to be in the between-inning games and those with birthdays got their name on the scoreboard screen.
I reckon in the end everyone that went had a good time. TBH spent a lot of time in organizing and planning the event, so it was great to have the weather cooperate here. Also, the River Bandits staff did their usual great job with making sure big groups are taken care of. It pains me to say anything good about any facet of the St. Louis Cardinals organization, but they do take care of their fans at all levels of the game. The Cards, much like the Cubs, know how to market their teams.
Again, it was an event paid for by our church, and I think promoting fellowship in a family atmosphere is a better use of resources compared to the bunch were going around gathering funds and prattling on about an end of the world that appears not to have happened on schedule. But that might just be me.
yankeedog out.
We've been sweating the weather. It was supposed to rain a bitch today, with high winds and hail. Indeed, as I write this, Joplin, Missouri, looks a bit like someone popped a nuke on it-tornadoes hit them hard a few hours ago. Minneapolis got hit as well. Seems as I watch the incoming footage that the rest of this entry might be a bit incongruous. Going to be a long next few weeks around the Midwest getting cleaned up and repaired.
Well. At any rate, at least the first wave of storms went north and south of us. We had a surprisingly nice afternoon, weatherwise. Clouds and sun and a hefty breeze blowing across the field.
The children were to sing the national anthem before the game:
TBH is the one in the red T-shirt running the kids through their singing paces.
And here they are on the infield belting out the Banner.
Our church doesn't have a formal children's choir. These are mostly the sons and daughters of the members, but the young ladies and gentlemen did a good job with the tune and tempo. The Star-Spangled Banner is a tough song to sing well (would that the anthem were America The Beautiful, or Columbia, The Gem of the Ocean-much easier to perform) and ideally a singer should only take 1 minute 5 seconds to 1 minute 20 seconds to sing it. Anything longer is being a camera hog.
The kids did well. Each family got tickets for their party and some Bandit Bucks (tickets good for food and merchandise at the park). After the singing, most of the children made for the play area with all the jumpys and inflatables and the parents scattered around the park. TBH obtained tickets for the Family Section of the seats (where no alcohol is allowed) but once the ticket is in hand, no one cares if people move out to general admission or the berm to have a beer. Fair enough. I got us tickets in box because I like being away from everybody else. I suppose everybody else doesn't like being around me. Also fair enough.
As I said, we ended up with some pretty decent weather today, judging from this shot out to the left field berm:
Someday I have to pack the blanket and catch a game from out there. Looks like a pretty decent place to watch the action and maybe snag a home run ball. Here the Bandits had the bases loaded but couldn't push a run across in this inning. A couple of guys appeared to be running on contact and got caught in a double play. Gotta make sure those line drives go past the infielder, because the double play ends innings quick!
The Bandits did score earlier in the game, though, and pulled off a nice 4-1 win over the Kernels. Looks like the Anaheim Angels may not have a lot of good pitching coming up anytime soon if today's pitchers for Cedar Rapids are any indication. Too much standing around on the mound and lack of control on pitches.
The three guys in front of me are most likely players or assistants for the Kernels. One has a radar gun to check the velocity of his comrade on the mound, and the fellow with the computer is likely charting tendencies of the Bandit hitters and where they're hitting the ball. Come July, the section I was sitting in will be full of scouts for the Major League teams, as they try to pick out prospects to trade for, trade away, or possibly promote to the next level.
Some of our kids got to be in the between-inning games and those with birthdays got their name on the scoreboard screen.
I reckon in the end everyone that went had a good time. TBH spent a lot of time in organizing and planning the event, so it was great to have the weather cooperate here. Also, the River Bandits staff did their usual great job with making sure big groups are taken care of. It pains me to say anything good about any facet of the St. Louis Cardinals organization, but they do take care of their fans at all levels of the game. The Cards, much like the Cubs, know how to market their teams.
Again, it was an event paid for by our church, and I think promoting fellowship in a family atmosphere is a better use of resources compared to the bunch were going around gathering funds and prattling on about an end of the world that appears not to have happened on schedule. But that might just be me.
yankeedog out.
19 May 2011
I missed Top Gun Day!
I think it was last weekend sometime-the 25th anniversary of the movie 'Top Gun'.
To be honest, I've seen the movie maybe twice. It really wasn't my favorite film. There were some good flight scenes in it, as I recall. And one scene in it was true-the old F-14's, especially the early models, were prone to flat spin flameouts. The -C model had more powerful engines which drastically reduced the incidence of flat spin. The rest of the film? Meh. I wasn't impressed with the use of F-5 Tigers as the fictional 'MiG-28' (which in the NATO parlance would have made it an attack aircraft since 28 is an even number, but I'm probably one of the few who noticed). Also, I'm not a big Tom Cruise fan. And I guess I never noticed the alleged homoerotic undertones, possibly for the same reason that I knew that MiG-28 wasn't a fighter designation. Naval fighter pilots are a generally cocky bunch (if I was catapulted off a pitching carrier deck, only to perform a controlled crash for a landing later, for a living I'd be full of myself as well) and there was of course a massive amount of Hollywood in the movie as well.
Top Gun, though, did become quite the cultural icon in the mid 1980's. I'd bet most people of age back then had a bomber style jacket with the all the patches, or the Ray-Ban aviator glasses, or could quote endless lines from the film. (Yes, I had a jacket with all the patches-but to a milgeek, it's really nothing special). The movie was made with the full support of the US Navy, and indeed the Air Force and Navy saw spikes in recruiting as Top Gun grew in popularity. I suspect all those prospective kids eager to hop in a Tomcat were disappointed to be chipping, painting, swabbing, and being appointed Captain of the Head. Such is the military life-some soar with the eagles, others clean up after them.
At work, we've given each of our salesmen a callsign name from the film. This came about because one of our salesman is actually named Tom Cruise (no kidding-he looks nothing like the actor but has met him). Naturally he's only been called 'Maverick' about fifty billion times since 1986. So we've got a 'Viper', 'Jester', 'Maverick', 'Cougar', and 'Hollywood'. Why we had to go with those I don't know-I'd've rather used the names from Full Metal Jacket. For that matter, there were five Stooges in the run of The Three Stooges. That would fit much better.
But here 'tis, 25 years later. A decade of conflict has taken a lot of the 'luster' out of the being in the military. People are a little bit more wise to what war is about-not high-tech, sterile air battles, but small ground units slogging around scrub looking not to get blowed up by a roadside bomb. Hard to make that palatable for the big screen. The great old F-14s are out of the service now (before their time, in my opinion), being turned into gate guards, museum exhibits, and scrap aluminum. The big bad Soviet Bear has been replaced with various bearded nutcases with 21st century weapons and 12th century attitudes.
As for the main actors, Anthony (Goose) Edwards got middle-aged and bald, Val (Iceman) Kilmer grew to the size of a Tomcat, and Kelly (Charlie) McGillis got a bit mannish. Fortunately Tom (Maverick) Cruise stayed the same level-headed guy he always was....
And at TOPGUN school, the Navy now teaches the fighter jocks to also (shudder) do s-s-str-str (say it)...strike missions! Moving mud for the grunts? Oh the horror... In addition, instead of being at NAS Miramar outside of beautiful San Diego, California, Fighter Weapons School's been moved...to NAS Fallon, smack in the middle of Nevada, with the rocks and sand and UFOs and the Air Force bastidges doing their Red Flag School nearby. The times, how they changed.
That's the whole Top Gun story as I recollect it. But for a great Naval Aviation movie, I'd rather see the classic The Bridges of Toko-Ri, with William Holden, Grace Kelly, and Mickey Rooney. It has some great shots of early jets and a much better story. Or give me The Final Countdown, where the USS Nimitz is thrown through a time warp to December 6, 1941. If only some author would write about a modern carrier task force getting tossed back in time, I bet he'd sell a lot of books. I'll even watch Hot Shots, featuring a pre-meltdown Charlie Sheen!
I think my favorite homage/spoof of Top Gun is the first appearance of Ace Rimmer in Red Dwarf. We're introduced to the intrepid Space Corps pilot, part Maverick, part James Kirk, and a bit of James Bond, in the episode Dimension Jump. Catch it here-they even put in a 'Take My Breath Away'-ish theme for our hero. What a guy!
But if you feel the need...the need for a callsign to paint on your helmet, or on the side of your car or boat or lawnmower, just click on the Top Gun callsign generator and get yourself a moniker! Share it with the class.
yankeedog (Wizzard) out.
Wizzard?
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