Trufuel WTF (not technology related)
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Hewlett Packard used to make nothing but gear like that. Then Carly Fiorina got her hands on the levers, and now the vast bulk of what they make is flimsy garbage. Now she's running for President.
Yeah -- HP applied the same philosophy that served them well for test equipment for so many years (and continues to serve Agilent/Keyspan quite well to this day) to their early printers and suchnot. Sadly, the Madmen (and Madwomen) Muntzβ’ took over and started their incessant spiral to the rock bottom....(Carly being part of that crowd)
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Also, to keep the battery from going flat over the winter, I remove it from the mower
Keys, battery, what? When you said your son lost your keys to the mower I thought you meant he put the keys on the ground and the mower chewed it up, not that your mower has ignition keys. What fancy shenanigans is this? Pull-start too hard for you? I don't think I've ever seen an electric starter on a mower!
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Pull-start too hard for you?
It is a 21HP v-twin. I am not pull starting that. It does not even have a pull starter.
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I'm going to assume he means a mower like this...
http://www.cpsc.gov/PageFiles/70565/02113a.jpg
Note the ignition keys
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coffee at -30ΒΊ
Ah that explains it, but that is called a "ride-on" to avoid confusion with the push kind.
Edit: discourse bug, quoted again!
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I'm going to assume he means a mower like this...
That is as close as I can get with a 30 second GIS. That little Murray is only a 30" cut. Mine is a 46" cut, IIRC. Honestly, I could use something larger. I nearly bought a 60" Scag mower last year, and might end up doing so this year. I would not be pull starting that either. ;)
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Buy one that you are legally allowed to drive in the highway so you can use it if your car ever fails.
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I'd rather a rhyhorn myself; rhydons have too many spikes.
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Even if you forget to empty the tank, a little Gumout in the carb will clean up the mess.
I use Sta-Bil in the cans so that I keep in on hand for a while. My power backup is a gas generator, so it's not just for convenience.
I've noticed that 50:1 mix fuel seems to work fine in my chainsaw. I have gas that's over a year old, and it starts and runs fine. The oil must help stabilize it.
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He's not talking about a mower at all, he's talking about a lawn tractor.
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Does it not mow? I do not use it as a tractor, I use it to mow.
But, fair enough. I call it mower. I am probably wrong, oh well.
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Does it not mow? I do not use it as a tractor, I use it to mow.
You can use it to mow, or tow a boat or pull a stump or chase a dog or a million other things.
Regardless of what you use it for (or do not use it for), it's a lawn tractor.
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You can use it to mow, or
tow a boat or pull a stump or chase a dog or a million other things.FTFY.
You have apparently never owned a lawn tractor. The most tractor like thing I ever do is pull a tiny wagon or an aerator. They would not tow a boat or pull a stump unless it were a toy boat or a wee little sapling.
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Use a block and tackle.
It's still a lawn tractor.
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Buy one that you are legally allowed to drive in the highway so you can use it if your car ever fails.
You probably are legally allowed to drive that on the road if you keep the speed down to 35mph or so. ("It's a double scooter, officer!")
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Depends mostly on your
engine management computercompression ratio.Use 98 if your car manual recommends it or you're gonna have a bad time. Best case, you lose power and waste fuel, worst case you get detonation (pinging) and put a hole in a piston. 98 offers nothing over 95 or even 91 for cars that don't require the higher octane fuel.
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I already said it's a "ride-on mower"
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As I understand it, the EMC on a modern high-compression engine will retard the spark timing to avoid detonation if it senses it beginning to happen, meaning that the engine will always run at the highest effective compression that its current fuel can support without knocking.
On older engines without anti-knock built into the EMC, or with no EMC at all, then yes you can easily bend and break things with detonation. Running an engine like that on substandard fuel belongs in the Bad Ideas thread. But given a decent EMC you should never see knocking get the chance to happen at damaging levels, and the main result of running 91 in an engine designed for 98 will be that you won't ever get the maximum power output that the engine is capable of. All that happens if you try is that the very first part of every power stroke goes missing.
If you never actually ask for maximum power, it's quite possible to get away with lower-octane fuel indefinitely: with care, awareness, and a light right foot, it's actually reasonably easy to drive a high-compression car on low-grade fuel and never need the EMC to step in and retard the timing. And if that's your usual driving style, the higher price of the high-octane fuel doesn't really buy you anything.
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Use 98 if your car manual recommends it or you're gonna have a bad time. Best case, you lose power and waste fuel, worst case you get detonation (pinging) and put a hole in a piston. 98 offers nothing over 95 or even 91 for cars that don't require the higher octane fuel.
Just don't mix up 98 with 100LL, or else you'll also have a bad time of things :P
(I wonder what'd happen in a few years when you throw whatever the FAA and the fuel folks brew up for 100-octane unleaded into your car...)
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mix up 98 with 100LL
Or JP8, or JET-A, or any of those lovely different
toxic stewsaviation fuels
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Just don't mix up 98 with 100LL, or else you'll also have a bad time of things
Bye bye O2 sensor. So long catalytic converter.
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Or JP8, or JET-A, or any of those lovely different toxic stewsaviation fuels
The two you mentioned are two of the least toxic of the bunch. You would get extra credit though if you had mentioned JP-4. ;-)
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Well, yeah, but they're still toxic as hell.
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The ones you mentioned are largely just kerosene. JP-4 and Jet-A1 are the bad stuff.
I wouldn't go bathing in any furl, but those are two of the least evils.
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bathing in any furl
True though, they're the ones least likely to make you die in a horrible way
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By the way, there certainly exist motors with an unadjusted compression ratio optimized for 95 RON fuel. Putting 98 in one of those is probably not going to make the EMC do anything different with the timing than it would for 95. On the other hand, most of the 95-rated fuel available to me in these parts is actually 10% ethanol, which makes it less energy-dense than straight petrol, which means I would end up with better mileage if I were to use "premium" 98. But if I drove gently, I'd probably end up with the same mileage from 91. But if I didn't, the 91 would probably cause EMC spark retardation and I'd be better off with 98. On the other other hand, the ethanol-laced 95 is usually cheaper per litre than 91.
Filed under: fuel is complicated, let's go shopping
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The ones you mentioned are largely just kerosene. JP-4 and Jet-A1 are the bad stuff.
I wouldn't go bathing in any furl, but those are two of the least evils.
Jet-A1 is just narrow-cut kerosene with a very tiny amount of additives (anti-fungal and anti-static usually). The additive amount is so low that it isn't even mentioned on the MSDSs. Its just as safe as the heating oil people use in oil-fired boilers and it smells better too
I go through quite a lot of the stuff in my turbine engines. Works fine in diesel engines too if you add a bit of lubricity enhancer as it's 'dryer' than diesel (obviously illegal in the UK due to the tax situation on JET-A).
Edit: The difference between JET-A and JET-A1 is just the rated freeze point and that's down to the additive package.
Edit2: The zip fuels used in exotic military aircraft were the real toxic mess if you're talking about turbine/piston fuels and not rockets.
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Jet-A1 is just narrow-cut kerosene with a very tiny amount of additives
You're right. Jet-B is what I was thinking of. Wide cut, naptha-type fuels.
What purpose are you running turbine engines for?
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Anyone who is remotely interested in rocket fuels will get a huge kick out of this book: Ignition! An Informal History of Liquid Rocket Propellants
It's mostly rocket stuff but touches on things like the zip fuels, it also has wonderful things like the following (on Chlorine Triflouride) in it:
It is also hypergolic with such things as cloth, wood, and test engineers, not to mention asbestos, sand, and water β with which it reacts explosively
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What purpose are you running turbine engines for?
Just for fun really. I had a friend who collected them so I bought one off him and in snowballed from there, I have 7 now. The most powerful one is about 1500 HP equivalent but I have one of the first production centrifugal-compressor turbojets as well.
Pretty fun to restore and play with!My friends run a Rolls Royce RB211 (profile pic) and I'm helping get a Concorde Olympus engine going again by doing the electronics to interface to the closed-loop servo-resolver system that does the fuel metering.
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That might be the only hobby louder than being a metal musician.
So...where does one keep a 1500HP turbine? In your backyard?
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That might be the only hobby louder than being a metal musician.
So...where does one keep a 1500HP turbine? In your backyard?
Yeah, not everyone appreciates the beautiful music of a running turbine for some reason. I've had the Police called on me once when running that GTD-350 in my drive.
I have the smaller engines in my garage, one large one at the house of the friend I bought my first engine from and the two other large ones at a local farm in their huge barn. As I keep telling my partner, I need a hanger really
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Works fine in diesel engines too if you add a bit of lubricity enhancer as it's 'dryer' than diesel (obviously illegal in the UK due to the tax situation on JET-A).
Yeah -- the UK wants to tax the snot out of fuels, but can't tax Jet-A like that since they'd simply make most of the airlines refuel somewhere else instead, making the amount of tax revenue they'd gain off of it pointless compared to the effort they'd go through.
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As I keep telling my partner, I need a hanger really
My wife is getting nervous as I keep reading about planes and flying. It came up while we were on vacation. I said something about how I liked the dishwasher at the condo and my wife asked if she was going to come home to a new dishwasher soon.
Me: "What do you mean?"
Wife: "When you want something new, you usually just go get it and then act like it has always been there."
Me: "I do not."
Wife: "You do too. Now you are getting in to airplanes and flying and I have been wondering how you were going to handle that as you can't just play dumb and act like we have always owned a plane."
Me: "It is easier to ask for forgiveness than it is to ask for permission."
Wife: "That is usually your MO, but that won't work with me if you buy a damned plane..."
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Hehehehe. A certain conversation occurred between me and my wife (heavily paraphrased):
Me: I'm getting a motorcycle.
Wife: In the quiet words of the Virgin Mary, come again?
Me: Yep, I'm getting a motorcycle.
Wife: (sigh) Well, you know how I feel about them - murdercycle, donorcycle... But all right, go ahead, as long as the life insurance and medical insurance won't refuse to pay.I haven't gotten divorce papers yet! And I still haven't woken up dead!
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But all right, go ahead, as long as the life insurance and medical insurance won't refuse to pay.
I had a similar conversation with my wife once. I have no idea what it was about, but I was talking about doing something very reckless when we were out with our friends. One of the other wives said something to my wife about how understanding she was. My wife's response: "-laughs- Oh no, I am not that understanding, he just has a lot of life insurance."
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I guess I have a pass on this one because:
- I know my limitations - I'm pretty much a novice, and I didn't go out and get a Gixxer or some other instant death monster machine. Instead, I have a "standard" that can go maybe 90mph.
- This is precisely the one "reckless" thing I do in my life these days. If I try to get into BASE jumping on top of this, then she'll probably kill me before the jumps do.
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This is precisely the one "reckless" thing I do in my life these days.
I just argue with my wife.
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instant death monster machine
Motorcycles aren't the instant death monster machines. Texting drivers in 4-wheeled vehicles are the instant death monster machines motorcyclists need to watch out for.
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True... but some people think the bikes themselves could kill their riders (in addition to the usual idiots on the road).
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I know my limitations
I don't want you to think I am some sort of daredevil. Hell, I am shit terrified of heights. But, how do you know what your limitations are unless you occasionally exceed them?
BASE jumping
-shudder-
And, in all fairness, my wife does worry about me. She just has a very snappy wit. Another example:
We almost never play the lottery. It is a voluntary tax on poor people. But, occasionally it will get up to ludicrous levels and I will buy $5 worth. One time we did that and my wife asked me what I would do if we won. My response was:
Me: "I would get a Porsche and a 19 year old girlfriend."
Her: "Ok."
Me: "No snappy comebacks on that one?"
Her: "I know how much of a pain in the ass I was at 19. If you want a 19 year old grilfriend, go for it. It won't last long, you would never put up with that level of bullshit."
Me: (I probably had a strange look on my face)
Her: "But don't get any ideas, that was not a hall pass, just a statement of reality."
Me: "Good call."
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But, occasionally it will get up to ludicrous levels and I will buy $5 worth.
That sort of thing is worth the $5 in entertainment value alone.
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That sort of thing is worth the $5 in entertainment value alone.
Yeah, and I look at it as I probably lose $5 in change in between the times we actually buy a ticket and I get no value from that. May as well roll the dice.
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how do you know what your limitations are unless you occasionally exceed them?
Don't worry, I'll get there soon enough.Just don't tell my wife.
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I am shit terrified of heights. But, how do you know what your limitations are unless you occasionally exceed them?
If at first you don't succeed, skydiving is probably not for you.