(Truly this is the nadir of this blog: the classic small-talk that is weather.)
The leaves are turning, the days are noticeably shorter, these are the days of fall.
Except its 70 degrees outside. Not that we mind but I think I would prefer the highs to be more in the high 50's instead of having us contemplating whether we should turn on the air-conditioner. We are two days from November; shouldn't it be cold right now.
Oh well, it does still make for a beautiful day.
Monday, October 30, 2006
Saturday, October 28, 2006
Gas Prices
Last week gas was $1.979/gal. here in Wichita.
Under $2/gal.
I never thought I'd see that price again in my lifetime.
And like a dream, it is gone. Prices are now $2.159/gal.
Shoot.
Under $2/gal.
I never thought I'd see that price again in my lifetime.
And like a dream, it is gone. Prices are now $2.159/gal.
Shoot.
Friday, October 13, 2006
Blinking Lights
My scooter had it's first significant failure: the turn signals started not blinking. Some of the time. I hate "random" failures.
First stop for trouble-shooting: the internet. Less than a minute of digging revealed that most motorcycles and cars have a special little part that tells the lights how to blink and since both left- and right-hand signals would check-out on occasion, I decided this little guy was the culprit. The tricky part was finding where he lived and, on top of that, finding a replacement part for my "Chinese" scooter.
Well, it only took an hour or so to tear off the front of the scooter. ( I have removed nearly every single exterior body panel on the scooter now; this should make future repairs easier.) When confronted with the mass of wires and connectors, I decided to resort to my keen sense of hearing to find the faulty part. I turned the ignition, flicked the blinker switch and after a few intermittent blinks, had found the part. Next stop: motorcycle shop.
I stroll up to the very official-looking parts counter, plunk down my broken blinker module and ask for a replacement. The clerk begins to type stuff into the parts database and is halted when I tell him I've got a "Chinese" scooter.
"Oh, we don't carry parts for stuff like that. That has wires hanging out of it. All of ours just plug in."
I assure him that I feel comfortable making my own wiring harness and ask to see what he's got. He brings out two options, I choose the one that looks easiest to work with, and $20 later I'm on my way home.
Making switch was pretty easy. The part has a connection diagram on the back of the package. A few minutes of voltmeter action and I knew the corresponding wires on my harness. Solder up the connections, coat the thing in hot glue to avoid any shorts due to moisture and I was done.
Except for putting all the body panels back on. I'm getting better, I swear, but it still took another hour or so to get everything back in place.
Monday was the full road test to and from work and the new module is great. The turn signals blink like a charm.
One thing is bothering me about all of this though: should a failure like this occur after only 1000 miles? Me thinks this does not bode well for the future.
First stop for trouble-shooting: the internet. Less than a minute of digging revealed that most motorcycles and cars have a special little part that tells the lights how to blink and since both left- and right-hand signals would check-out on occasion, I decided this little guy was the culprit. The tricky part was finding where he lived and, on top of that, finding a replacement part for my "Chinese" scooter.
Well, it only took an hour or so to tear off the front of the scooter. ( I have removed nearly every single exterior body panel on the scooter now; this should make future repairs easier.) When confronted with the mass of wires and connectors, I decided to resort to my keen sense of hearing to find the faulty part. I turned the ignition, flicked the blinker switch and after a few intermittent blinks, had found the part. Next stop: motorcycle shop.
I stroll up to the very official-looking parts counter, plunk down my broken blinker module and ask for a replacement. The clerk begins to type stuff into the parts database and is halted when I tell him I've got a "Chinese" scooter.
"Oh, we don't carry parts for stuff like that. That has wires hanging out of it. All of ours just plug in."
I assure him that I feel comfortable making my own wiring harness and ask to see what he's got. He brings out two options, I choose the one that looks easiest to work with, and $20 later I'm on my way home.
Making switch was pretty easy. The part has a connection diagram on the back of the package. A few minutes of voltmeter action and I knew the corresponding wires on my harness. Solder up the connections, coat the thing in hot glue to avoid any shorts due to moisture and I was done.
Except for putting all the body panels back on. I'm getting better, I swear, but it still took another hour or so to get everything back in place.
Monday was the full road test to and from work and the new module is great. The turn signals blink like a charm.
One thing is bothering me about all of this though: should a failure like this occur after only 1000 miles? Me thinks this does not bode well for the future.
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
Sam's Club and Aviation
This is not a joke, I promise:
http://www.samsclub.com/shopping/navigate.do?catg=7822
That's right, boys and girls, you can buy a Citation Mustang, Cessna's latest and greatest business jet, from Sam's Club. Instead of going directly to us, the manufacturer, you can go to the king of bulk-items retail. The jet you are buying is the demonstration plane we have been flying around to show off to prospective customers. Pay now and get the product in a year.
The only people who I think will be interested in this are those you want a Mustang but don't want to wait until 2009 to get one. (Yes, we are sold out that far in advance.)
Weird.
http://www.samsclub.com/shopping/navigate.do?catg=7822
That's right, boys and girls, you can buy a Citation Mustang, Cessna's latest and greatest business jet, from Sam's Club. Instead of going directly to us, the manufacturer, you can go to the king of bulk-items retail. The jet you are buying is the demonstration plane we have been flying around to show off to prospective customers. Pay now and get the product in a year.
The only people who I think will be interested in this are those you want a Mustang but don't want to wait until 2009 to get one. (Yes, we are sold out that far in advance.)
Weird.
Monday, October 09, 2006
Christmas in Wichita
For those of you living in "big cities" (I'll let you decide what qualifies as a "big city") you are probably already knee-deep in Christmas decorations at stores. Here in Wichita, the party is just getting started. Small but prominently placed sections of decorations and "gift ideas." Tunes faintly drifting throughout the stores. Lots of red and green.
It is the second week of October.
It is the second week of October.
Sunday, October 08, 2006
Project Vote Smart
With the upcoming election I wanted to place a plug in for my favorite election website: Project Vote Smart. The website is run by an organization whose goal is to provide voters with accurate information about politicians and their views on a variety of political issues. (Daunting task, to be sure). The website contains a bunch of information like short biographies, campaign finance information, ratings from interest groups, and this little thing they call the NPAT.
The NPAT is the crown jewel of Vote Smart's information arsenal and seems to be generally feared by politicians (at least based on their participation). The National Political Awareness Test is less a test and more a survey that Vote Smart asks running candidates to complete to evaluate their stance on issues that Vote Smart has determined are of interest to voters. That's right, the NPAT is a long list of questions that require a politician to voice an opinion on an issue. No hemming, hedging, weaseling, or generally obfuscating their stance through verbal trickery. Just answer the question. To give you an example, here is the first question from the abortion section:
Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding abortion.
a) Abortions should always be illegal.
b) Abortions should always be legal.
c) Abortions should be legal only within the first trimester of pregnancy.
d) Abortions should be legal when the pregnancy resulted from incest or rape.
e) Abortions should be legal when the life of the woman is endangered.
f) Prohibit public funding of abortions and to organizations that advocate or perform abortions.
g) Require clinics to give parental notification before performing abortions on minors.
h) Abortion clinics should be required to submit more detailed information on late-term abortions to state health officials.
There is also an "open response" area associated with each question which, in past elections, I have seen used by politicians as another PR avenue but I'm sure is more intended to allow a candidate to add any clarifying remarks. If I remember right, in a previous election I saw the one of the candidates answer none of the questions and then use the open response area to tell of all the wonderful things he or she did in the past that were at least mildly related to the issue. I was not impressed.
As you might guess, participation on this survey is not the greatest. I remember during the 2004 elections that neither Bush nor Kerry filled out the NPAT. Looking over the ballot for my area, I can see that neither of the two leading candidates in our gubernatorial race (I've always wanted to use that word) filled out the NPAT. Granted, they may be too busy to fill this silly thing out but, well, I know I'm not the only one that could use straight-forward answers on some of these issues.
The only weapon we the voters have in attempting to get politicians to fill out the NPAT is shame. I'm going to be emailing all the relevant candidates who haven't yet filled out the NPAT and letting them know I would REALLY appreciate them providing this information and that the NPAT is a key tool in how I make voting decisions. Vote Smart spends most of their time trying to coerce candidates to filling it out and by lobbying other organizations, people, and groups, to get the candidate to fill it out. As a candidate continues to refuse to fill out the NPAT, Vote Smart keeps a running (and public) tally on the variety of avenues they thus far employed. Check out the big red text at the top of the incumbent governor of Kansas Kathleen Sebelius showing just how uncooperative she has been.
So there's my plug. I encourage you to use the website and give your candidates some grief if they haven't completed the NPAT. In my mind, Project Vote Smart is attempting to put politics back in the hands of voters by providing clear information about those we face on the ballot each election. I'm a fan and I'm eager to convert others to the cause.
The NPAT is the crown jewel of Vote Smart's information arsenal and seems to be generally feared by politicians (at least based on their participation). The National Political Awareness Test is less a test and more a survey that Vote Smart asks running candidates to complete to evaluate their stance on issues that Vote Smart has determined are of interest to voters. That's right, the NPAT is a long list of questions that require a politician to voice an opinion on an issue. No hemming, hedging, weaseling, or generally obfuscating their stance through verbal trickery. Just answer the question. To give you an example, here is the first question from the abortion section:
Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding abortion.
a) Abortions should always be illegal.
b) Abortions should always be legal.
c) Abortions should be legal only within the first trimester of pregnancy.
d) Abortions should be legal when the pregnancy resulted from incest or rape.
e) Abortions should be legal when the life of the woman is endangered.
f) Prohibit public funding of abortions and to organizations that advocate or perform abortions.
g) Require clinics to give parental notification before performing abortions on minors.
h) Abortion clinics should be required to submit more detailed information on late-term abortions to state health officials.
There is also an "open response" area associated with each question which, in past elections, I have seen used by politicians as another PR avenue but I'm sure is more intended to allow a candidate to add any clarifying remarks. If I remember right, in a previous election I saw the one of the candidates answer none of the questions and then use the open response area to tell of all the wonderful things he or she did in the past that were at least mildly related to the issue. I was not impressed.
As you might guess, participation on this survey is not the greatest. I remember during the 2004 elections that neither Bush nor Kerry filled out the NPAT. Looking over the ballot for my area, I can see that neither of the two leading candidates in our gubernatorial race (I've always wanted to use that word) filled out the NPAT. Granted, they may be too busy to fill this silly thing out but, well, I know I'm not the only one that could use straight-forward answers on some of these issues.
The only weapon we the voters have in attempting to get politicians to fill out the NPAT is shame. I'm going to be emailing all the relevant candidates who haven't yet filled out the NPAT and letting them know I would REALLY appreciate them providing this information and that the NPAT is a key tool in how I make voting decisions. Vote Smart spends most of their time trying to coerce candidates to filling it out and by lobbying other organizations, people, and groups, to get the candidate to fill it out. As a candidate continues to refuse to fill out the NPAT, Vote Smart keeps a running (and public) tally on the variety of avenues they thus far employed. Check out the big red text at the top of the incumbent governor of Kansas Kathleen Sebelius showing just how uncooperative she has been.
So there's my plug. I encourage you to use the website and give your candidates some grief if they haven't completed the NPAT. In my mind, Project Vote Smart is attempting to put politics back in the hands of voters by providing clear information about those we face on the ballot each election. I'm a fan and I'm eager to convert others to the cause.
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