Disqus - Friends of RichC

Re: Edmonds.com on 2008 VW diesels

Scott — Mon, 03 Jul 2006 05:53:16 -0000

Seems a bit counterintuitive to go back to common rail design, doesn't it? I thought having a pump on each cylinder gave them greater pressure per injector, a finer 'misting' of the injection into the cylinder, and overall better control. Still, I'll be happy if upcoming years cut down the particulate emissions. (not that I'll trade in my '06 Jetta TDI any time soon…)

My wife wants them to make a TDI van/minivan. :-) About 2008 would be perfect timing.

Re: Fuel Prices: What’s going on?

Scott — Thu, 07 Sep 2006 10:15:28 -0000

I've also noticed that diesel wasn't falling as fast as gasoline here in New England. I figured it was two things: 1. The requirements for higher percentages of ULSD 2. Home heating oil demand is about to come back to our region. (and propane) Since home heating oil is essentially diesel, it's keeping the supplies lower, perhaps?

Don't know for certain. I figure it's all transient. With my TDI getting 50mpg, I'm not moaning too much about the price difference.

Re: Volkswagen TDI Turbocharger Replacement

Scott — Sun, 17 Sep 2006 06:08:14 -0000

Just curious: how many miles were on his Jetta TDI when the turbo failed? I have a friend whose turbo is going on his, but it had crossed 225K so I wasn't too surprised.

Has anyone every done a preemptive turbo replacement (like we do with timing belts)?

Re: Let it fake snow, let it fake snow, let it fake snow!

Scott — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 22:06:36 -0000

Yep, I read the snow making article yesterday. I particularly enjoyed your mention that this is one of the few times people don't simply talk about the weather, but actually *do* something about it! Great opening!

I used to enjoy looking at the different fractal algorithms when I was in grad school. At the time I was learning about distributed and parallel processing and used to wonder how fast you could render (say, a Mandlebrot fractal) if you had a farm of CPUs to distribute it amongst. Now that your typical graphics processor has dozens of math engines in it, I bet that they could really crank through fractal generation, perhaps even in real time.

Re: Now even cheap computers can beat chess champs

Scott — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 01:50:11 -0000

I had read yesterday about Deep Fritz's win, but I wasn't aware that it didn't require big hardware. It's only going to get worse with dual and quad CPU systems becoming more common in the near future. If chess solving were mapped onto GPUs like Folding at Home does, who knows what might be doable?

I have a bigtime Go fan as a co-worker and he was saying similar. Computerized Go engines have not made similar progress as their Chess solving cousins. It's interesting how different games require such completely different algorithms.

Re: The snarling fisher returns to western Mass.

Scott — Mon, 11 Dec 2006 03:03:29 -0000

Since we're on the topic of nasty weasel like creatures, have you ever read about "ferret legging"? Now there's a competition about manliness that I never hope to enter!

In honor of such madness, our design test environment is called "ferret". It ferrets out bugs in the system, but also brings you to tears!

Re: Biodiesel pricing update and political jokes

Scott — Mon, 11 Dec 2006 20:03:05 -0000

In my little town of Milford, NH, my local Shell has kept the price of regular ULSD steady at around 2.48-2.49 for the past month. Even though it's a full serve station, they've tried to keep prices competitive with the usual cost of self serve. Last Friday, though, I needed to fill up along the Massachusetts 495 highways and got robbed. $2.75/gallon (self serve).

It would be nice to get back to the days when diesel was close if not lower than gasoline... (fingers crossed) For now I just console myself with my TDI's 49-51MPG averages.

Re: Editor’s note to the eagle-eyed

Scott — Fri, 15 Dec 2006 06:04:30 -0000

While the address bar always masked it (I assume you were using a frame based approach), I think the explicit "Permalink" was correct.

I don't think it should affect your spidering via the search engine bots. They move down into the frame and traverse the hierarchy.

Re: NH joins lawsuit against EPA over small-particle emissions

Scott — Mon, 18 Dec 2006 05:13:17 -0000

As I skimmed the articles, was there any mention of what types of vehicles cause the emissions that they're talking about? Ordinary gas automobiles, large diesel semi's, farm tractors... lawnmowers?

It's one thing to talk about industry contributions like power plants, but I'm interested in whether any of the habits of individuals are contributing to this...

For instance, I've read/heard that lawn mowers put out an enormous amount of emissions relative to their engine size/usage.

Are the stacks from all of our New England fireplaces more in the category of larger particle emissions?

Skimming over these articles, it wasn't clear what specific changes we would need to meet the desired goals. Everyone wants cleaner air, but I don't think citizens have enough knowledge of what the trade offs involved are.

Re: VW TDI “How-To” Cabin Filter preview

Scott — Wed, 20 Dec 2006 13:21:47 -0000

Looked good to me. If only the turbo replacement was that easy... ;-)

Thanks Tim! Thanks Rich!

Re: More Ohio Biodiesel at Lebanon Fuel Center

Scott — Sat, 23 Dec 2006 16:24:05 -0000

For those of us missing a bit of context, how was he your biodiesel supplier but only now putting it in his pumps? Did you have another means of getting the biodiesel? Is it possible to keep a tank of (say) 100 gallons in your garage or is there risk of it coagulating in colder winter months...

Re: Volkswagen GTI surprise

Scott — Tue, 26 Dec 2006 18:44:06 -0000

Ah, ein GTI! No need to "unpimp ze auto". ;-) German engineering in ze haus, yah!

Re: Maine nears decision on big wind farm

Scott — Fri, 29 Dec 2006 00:58:21 -0000

Yep, I think you could generate 700 milliwatts with a handcrank. ;-) Good catch by David! It's an amusing typo...

Re: The shortcomings of wind power

Scott — Fri, 29 Dec 2006 01:05:55 -0000

I think the bicycle/automobile analogy is a good one. I'd never thought about it. While windmills give almost free, sustainable power, they do tend to give out when you need them most. ie. hot stagnant summer days when you want to run some air conditioning. While you can burn less coal when the windmill can run, you still need the capacity available for times when it can't... *sigh* Perhaps a diverse array of sustainable power sources might be the way to keep the need to build that much oil/coal based capacity down.

Re: Christmas decorations and electrical concerns

Scott — Tue, 02 Jan 2007 10:55:24 -0000

If the wiring of the lights was low voltage DC, perhaps. It also assumes that the transformer for such a setup had a current regulator in case a short developed. But >99% of Christmas lights just send 120V AC through the wires without any such considerations. So, no. The above looks scary...

Re: Can we ‘wish’ a Happy New Year 2007?

Scott — Tue, 02 Jan 2007 22:22:53 -0000

Can you believe the video has already been pulled by YouTube? *sigh*

Nevertheless, Happy New Year!

Re: It’s …—… for Morse Code

Scott — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 11:29:12 -0000

So… the geekiness runs in the family? ;-)

(spoken by a proud geek)

Re: VW TDI “How-To” Cabin Filter preview

Scott — Fri, 05 Jan 2007 07:14:41 -0000

I'm assuming that the procedure is for A4 TDI's. Yesterday my '06 Jetta TDI cabin air filter was changed from the inside behind the glove box. My mechanic said that they used to be replaced from under the hood (as shown in the video) but now get replaced from the inside.

Man! My filter was expensive! >$45 But when I saw how gross it was after less than one year of usage, I didn't feel so bad. ;-) I'm going to have to look for some dealers like tdiparts.com or patricksaccessories.com.

Re: Boston is a top 10 Tech Town, says Wired

Scott — Sat, 06 Jan 2007 22:04:10 -0000

I'd believe it. For instance, the ATI division of AMD has an office down in Orlando. Our CP (Command Processor) is developed/maintained there. In previous digital design jobs, I've had customers in Orlando. Can't remember which of the big guns had offices there (Motorola, Intel, ???) Meanwhile, I've seen almost nothing in Chicago (where I originate from...) *sigh*

Re: A key to conservation: “smart” electric meters

Scott — Thu, 11 Jan 2007 22:10:39 -0000

I've often thought that just having a power meter or cost meter in the house and cars would do wonders. In some recent model cars you get instantaneous and average mpg feedback. That alone improves fuel mileage by letting customers understand how their habits stretch mileage. Similar meters on electricity in a highly visible place would also help. I also recommend the Kill-a-Watt for getting numbers on how much the appliances and gadgets in your house use (rather than what their power supplies say). It's an inexpensive way to get the feedback you need.

Re: Pretty much the ‘norm’ in my parts

Scott — Fri, 12 Jan 2007 05:49:46 -0000

In my neck of the woods the cheapest diesel is ironically at a full serve Shell less than a mile from my house. As such, I haven't had much time to look at the pumps and see the ULSD signs. The pumps along the 495 highway in Massachusetts (just to my south) practice highway robbery by comparison, typically 25 cents per gallon more.

I wish I had the easy access to biodiesel that you do. All of my nearby biodiesel pumps would require me to go about 20-30 minutes out of my way into more rural NH.

Still, I'm longing for the days last year when diesel was less than gas. ;-)

Re: The joys of no power

Scott — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 02:34:26 -0000

I hear ya. Pellet stoves, as efficient as they are, are even more useless in a power outage. One of my younger guys didn't know about the toilet situation. Oops! Another opened the fridge in the usual child-like gawking fashion.

I'm also at the office today. The family is staying with another family that has a generator. Hopefully power returns soon...

The dividing line seems to be somewhere between Bolton, MA and Marlborough, MA. The trees go from icy and weighed down to just wet.

Re: Gasoline prices continue move down

Scott — Thu, 18 Jan 2007 18:40:19 -0000

That seems a bit pricey on the diesel. My last diesel fillup was $2.39/gallon full serve. But our gas prices haven't gotten that low. $1.89! Perhaps we'll see that in a couple of weeks...

Re: Real geothermal - in New Hampshire?

Scott — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 02:02:44 -0000

Is there any possibility that it could be depleted or does it renew/sustain itself?

Re: The 2007 Mercedes Bluetec diesel is unrivaled

Scott — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 14:32:22 -0000

"If $52,000+ for a sedan is no object..."

Laughing....

Then the price of gas wouldn't bother a car buyer either...
But yes, I'm intrigued by the Bluetec technology and hope it gets more traction quickly here in the USA.