Author Archive for risu

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Mountain Dew Revolution

Published on July 24, 2008 in Food and Review by risu. Closed

Doo RevolutionGot thirsty at arubaito. Tried the new blue Mountain Dew. It’s the lighter blue one of the current three temporary flavors. Supposedly is “wild berry” flavor. It’s sweet and full of artificial berry goodness. A lot of the experience is olfactory and not taste. Not bad, but it isn’t Dew (and by that I don’t mean the same “isn’t Dew” as Canadian Mountain Dew either). The other two flavors are “Supernova” (purple, strawberry/melon flavor) and “Voltage” (Windex blue, raspberry/citrus flavor).

Recommended with reservations

Surefire P60L LED Reflector Assembly

Published on July 18, 2008 in Review by risu. Closed

P60 and P60LSurefire P60LThe P60L from Surefire is an 80-lumen high-output LED replacement lamp assembly that fits any of the 6V Surefire flashlights or weaponlights that take the standard incandescent P60 bulb assembly. The LED unit has the same general size and layout as the standard unit: Outwardly they are almost indistinguishable. The difference lies where you can’t see – inside. In place of the filament bulb is a high-output LED element. Behind it, buried between the reflector and the insulator is a voltage regulator circuit. LED’s generally run at around 3V, so the regulator circuit ensures that the element only receives the required voltage. The regulator allows this unit to also work in some of Surefire’s 9V flashlights also. The aluminum reflector also acts as a heat sink. Continue reading ‘Surefire P60L LED Reflector Assembly’

Crumble

Published on July 18, 2008 in bike and rant by risu. Closed

Crumbly nutI was doing a tune-up on a “Next Power Climber” department store bike, and when I got to the loose headset, I got out my trusty 12” Craftsman adjustable wrench to cinch down on the overlocknut. I didn’t even get the satisfaction of hauling off on the handle and locking the nut down – as soon as the wrench touched the nut, it crumbled! Really! I didn’t even get to turn the adjuster pinion to clamp the wrench jaws down on the flats of the nut before it fell to pieces! At first I thought it was made from plastic and it crumbled from degradation from environmental exposure, but closer examination revealed that it was some porous-cast mystery metal.

WTF?!

90541-06036

Published on July 17, 2008 in car by risu. Closed

90541-06036 CushionIt’s a $2 USD part, and every Toyota has one. It’s a little elastomeric cushion that goes on a tab on the brake pedal that both deadens the pedal top-out when the brake is released and depresses the pin on the normally-open brake light switch.

Broken cushionMy across-the-street neighbor came by as I finished my bike ride on Wednesday to tell me that my lights were on. The headlamps and parking lights were off, but the taillights were on. I almost immediately knew what the problem was. Opening the driver’s door, I saw the two broken pieces of the cushion sitting on the floor mat. With age, the elastomer gets hard and brittle, and eventually the insert point that holds it to the brake pedal breaks, and the cushion head falls off. The pin on the brake light switch now aligns perfectly with the hole where the cushion attaches, and even with no pressure on the pedal, stays open and the lights stay on. If you don’t notice this quickly, the battery runs down and dies. Continue reading ‘90541-06036’

Blundering Masses

Published on July 17, 2008 in bike and rant by risu. Closed

Setting out from home for a little spin on the Mountain/cross, I was almost immediately beset by that which would be the bane of my existence for the remainder of the ride. I didn’t know at the time, but the three people who passed in front of me were just a hint of what was to come. Maybe I had seen them before, maybe not – one younger heavyweight on a department store dually, and a pair of older gents on upright 26-ers. Nothing objectionable – just some friends out for an afternoon ride like me. Everyone had helmets, but the cotton tees and white tennies hinted at “people who owned bicycles” and not “cyclists”. I was coming to a stop and concentrating on trackstanding at the corner of the stop line while vigilantly watching the oncoming white Jetta whose driver didn’t know how to complete a turn without coming into the oncoming traffic lane, so I didn’t wave. We all shared friendly smiles, and they rolled off downhill, and I stood in the pedals and climbed in the opposite direction. Continue reading ‘Blundering Masses’

Published on July 17, 2008 in SUAR by risu. Closed

Oh! Who is this driving under the speed limit all the way down Like Like townbound in the left lane dragging the brakes the whole time? “Kauai Girl”, of course! So says the sitcker obscuring the center brake light on her white Camry.

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Doom Tree

Published on July 15, 2008 in rant by risu. Closed

Doom TreeThere’s an Albizia tree that I drive past on the way to work every weekday. Back in March it bloomed along with the rest of its bretheren. A few weeks ago, its branches were hanging heavy with brown seed pods, but lo and behold, it has just flowered again! Now it has both brown seeds and white flowers. If this were a mammal, it would be tantamount to being nearly full-term pregnant and being able to conceive the next litter! WTF?! Will these evil things flower every three months?

Albizia must be destroyed!

Summer Sucks

Published on July 14, 2008 in bike by risu. Closed

Hot.

It’s too hot.

WiltedAs usual, It’s so much better to be out riding in the heat than being at home in the heat. Chris manages to free up some time to join us for a ride. His rusty legs and butt feel the strain of the climbs and the repeated beating of the saddle, but as he says, “there are good bike rides and better bike rides.” Chris gets stuck in traffic at Makapu’u because of some HFD rescue, so shows up a little tardy. Danny and Sara get a head start and climb the road for parts unknown. When Chris shows up, we climb to the Mango tree where we expect them to be, but they aren’t there. We assume they started into the side loop without us, so proceed into the trail thinking we will run into them at some point. We complete the loop and come out onto the road and see them coming down Government Road. Apparently, a miscommunication led them to the end of the road. Continue reading ‘Summer Sucks’

Published on July 11, 2008 in SUAR by risu. Closed

Sign on the doors of the restrooms in the Pearl City Wal-Mart: “Keep Doors Closed at All Times” So how exactly are you supposed to get inside?

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Killer Hybrids

Published on July 10, 2008 in car and rant by risu. Closed

Anyone out there have a Toyota Camry Hybrid? If so, then the blood of the lead engineer who developed you car is on your hands! The Aichi-ken Labor Bureau ruled in favor of the family of the 45-year engineer that they be entitled to compensatory payments from his work insurance. The engineer who died in January of 2006 typically worked 80-hours of overtime per month in the time leading up to his death. All this work was in preparation for the roll-out of the first-generation USDM Camry Hybrid for the North American International Auto Show. If you have a second-generation Prius, Highlander hybrid, or RX-400h, you might be just as guilty.

Are you happy now?