Author Archive for risu

Page 45 of 95

Bzzt…

Published on October 27, 2009 in rant by risu. Closed
HECO_failed_third_leg

Yellow = cracked insulator: Red = open conductor

Just after lunch on Friday, the lights started flickering in the office, then all kinds of things shut down. Odd thing was a random half of things didn’t work, but the remainder of things worked fine. The electrician next door makai came over and opened the electrical panel and metered the incoming wires, and one of the legs of the three-phase power was out, so only one half of the box had regular power. There was about 24-volts of leakage current on the dead side, so low-powered items still semi-worked; the emergency lights still detected power and didn’t come on; and inductive things like fans ran, but really slow. We were dead out to the meter, so it was in HECO’s territory. The landscape guys next door mauka also didn’t have three-phase power, so a visual track of the wires coming into the building service entrance led our eyes up to the transformers on the on-property pole and a broken insulator and disconnected contact. Now there’s the problem… Continue reading ‘Bzzt…’

Boys Love Matrix

Published on October 27, 2009 in anime, rant and SUAR by risu. Closed

I was in back of a new navy blue base Matrix on Punchbowl heading in to work today.  It had a “Got Yaoi?” diecut (in brown vinyl, no less) on the rear windscreen.  The expected heavy, bespectacled fangirl was not behind the wheel, instead the car was occupied by two spiky-haired Asian dudes!  WTF?!  Yikes!

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Blitzkrieg mit dem Fleischgewehr

Published on October 20, 2009 in Culture and Review by risu. Closed

liebe_ist_fur_alle_daHow can you possibly go wrong with a line like that?

Rammstein’s latest album Liebe Ist Fur Alle Da got its USDM release today. Hooray! I grabbed the special 2-disc edition on sale for under $15 USD including tax at the blue and yellow place. The single-disc standard release is going for around $10 plus tax. I do not think the North American market will get the limited edition box set for some reason… I got almost all the way through the first disc while driving around this evening, and this is one of the first albums in a long time that had me grinning maniacally while cranking up the volume. This album is a return to the more hard-driving sound of Mutter era, but isn’t relying on formula – it combines some of their past influences from the electronic eighties into their overpowering industrial metal sound.

Go grab it while it’s on sale!

Highly recommended

Four out of four fleischgewehr grabbing schimpanzen

Camelbak Better Bottle Cap Leak

Published on October 20, 2009 in bike and Review by risu. Closed

better_bottle_capbetter_bottle_leakMy Camelbak Better Bottle cap developed an annoying leak. With the nozzle in the open position, everything works as designed, but when the nozzle is flipped to the closed position, the contents leak out around the nozzle base. I wasn’t quite sure how the mechanics worked, so I took the cap apart with a security Torx bit, and found that instead of a system of seals, the valve utilized what amounted to pinching off the flow like kinking a garden hose. A short section of flexible hose runs between the cap and nozzle, and when the nozzle is flipped down, the hose is bent at a right angle and pinched shut. This is where the failure on mine occurred. The hose developed a perforation where it gets pinched. The paradoxical leakage is from the tube becoming deformed when bent allowing fluid to exit the perforation, whereas when straight, the perforation returns to a static closed position. Continue reading ‘Camelbak Better Bottle Cap Leak’

Flat

Published on October 19, 2009 in car, rant and SUAR by risu. Closed

Whoever designed the GM jack and tire changing tool set that comes with the Express van has never changed a flat before in their life! The jack has a planetary gear, so it takes forever to raise the vehicle, the handle doesn’t have a “crank” shape, so it is difficult to use, and the tool to lower the spare doesn’t extend past the bumper edge, so it takes forever to ratchet it down – in quarter-turn increments! All the mounts for the jack and tools look to have been cobbed together from random bits of bent metal.

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Quick and Dirty

Published on October 19, 2009 in bike and rant by risu. Closed

Chris had some free time on Saturday afternoon, so we put a ride together at the Ditch. Ckucke and JT were unavailable, but Root, Jeff, and Sara made the trip out to Waimanalo. There hadn’t been much rain since mid-week, but the ground was saturated enough that even the intervening clear days didn’t dry up the ground completely. Chris had gone on some crazy all-night hike on Friday evening through Saturday daybreak, so he was taking it easy. Along the climb up to the Ditch junction, a tighty single-speed guy with his full-head DH helmet friend and brand-new-shiny-Trek friend came up the trail. After regaling us with tales of the distant past when he and his friend built all the trails in Waimanalo, he and his buds went down the Ditch, while we continued up Government road to do the side loop. Continue reading ‘Quick and Dirty’

Damn Pants

Published on October 19, 2009 in bike and rant by risu. Closed

Went out for an easy Friday spin. I took out my keitai to answer a text, but when I put it back in the pocket of my Oakley Ballistic 3.7 shorts, the zipper jammed and I couldn’t close the pocket! I struggled with it until it got dark, then gave up and rode home being careful not to lose my phone. Damn krappy shorts! While trying to unstick the zipper at home later, I discovered that only one of the four zippers on the shorts works properly! WTF!? The waist elastic sucks, the weak fly snaps suck, and whoever designed it must have a crazy long torso, since both the liner short and outer baggy have such a long rise that in order to have the chamois against your perineum and the outer not hanging down to get hooked by the nose of the saddle, the waist ends up above the navel! Erkel MTB action! If the color didn’t rule, I’d toss them in the trash.

D = 13.16 km (8.18-miles), Vavr = 18.0 km/h (11.2-mph), Vmax = 39.3 km/h (24.4-mph), T = 44-minutes

Ride Denied

Published on October 14, 2009 in bike and rant by risu. Closed

Krap. Got home a little late, took a while to get geared up and out of the house, and talked to my neighbor about my November JAL ticket, so it was already quite dark when I finally rolled at 17:55. The skies were overcast, but aside from a few random drops, no rain fell. I figured this would be a short ride one way or another, so I did some interval sprints and stand climbs to peg the heartrate and get a burn going. The high humidity helped generate an immediate heavy sweat. After my third lap, I saw a wall of grey coming in over the bay from MCBH, so I cut it short and headed home before the squall hit.

D = 11.36 km (7.06-miles), Vavr = 19.8 km/h (12.3-mph), Vmax = 43.3 km/h (26.9-mph), T = 34-minutes

Sweat Into Twilight

Published on October 12, 2009 in bike by risu. Closed

Friday was hot and clear when I got home. My legs were chocked full of lactic acid from the Thursday night BMX ride, so I went out for a little spin to loosen everything up, avoiding any hard exertion on the climbs. For S & G, I counted chickens throughout my ride, but gave up after 40. The sun was dipping behind the Ko’olau crest when I was driving home, so the entire ride was in slowly fading light. Even with the disappearance of the sun, the stifling heat remained.

D = 13.37 km (8.31-miles), Vavr = 18.5 km/h (11.5-mph), Vmax = 45.7 km/h (28.4-mph), T = 43-minutes

New BMX Track

Published on October 9, 2009 in bike by risu. Closed

Root wandered around the homeless encampments out at the end of Sand Island last week trying to find the new BMX track with no success. I had a little time to kill today, so I spun by the small boat launch facility and found the track.  It’s nowhere near done yet, but here are some pictures.  The course doubles back on itself three times, so it is pretty long.  Some of the jumps are made from some recycled earth with a high gravel content.  I don’t know if they plan on covering these with another layer of prime earth, but if they leave it as-is, expect to see some good skin loss on these.