Emissions

I am pleased to announce that my vehicle has passed emissions and will be good for two more years. Most of you are familiar with the beast after whom this blog is styled, and most are also familiar with the somewhat stringent guidelines the EPA has enforced on the area where I live, and so are therefore familiar with why I would be exuberant about such news.

Though I have done so before to a limited extent, I thought I would share with you some of the things that help lower emissions. Some of these are from the EPA, who actually have a goodly amount of helpful information on their website, and others from various sources.

1. Make sure your engine is hot when it is inspected. This is probably the single most helpful thing you can do. It will cut some of your numbers in half. A warm engine pushes warmed fuel into the cylinders, and requiring less fuel and promoting more complete combustion. About twenty minutes of road driving is enough for most cars; however (as I understand it, and I could be wrong), mere idling is not as helpful as road driving, since it does not distribute temperature as well.

2. Cooler days are better for getting inspected. This is for two reasons: before the EPA started regulating such things, one of the major sources of emissions was not from the tailpipe, but evaporative emissions from the gas tank, the engine, etc. With the new control systems for such things, those emissions are more likely to show up in your tailpipe as higher CO, NO, hydrocarbons, or something else you are tested for in your area. Additionally, cooler air is denser, meaning that when "thin" hot fuel and "thick" cool air flow together, you get a higher percent of "clean air" coming out of the tailpipe.

3. A clean engine has less resistance and needs less fuel to do the same work. Keeping your fluids clean is helpful. For example, an oil change a few days before the inspection is helpful. Transmissions are closed systems and the newness of the fluid there shouldn't be a factor, but if you haven't done anything for it recently, there may be metal shavings slowing things down (probably not a big factor, but something to think about). Also, there are a lot of deposits that build up inside your engine that can be flushed out with gas additives such as fuel injector cleaner, and my personal favorite, BG Products' pricey but effective 44k Power Enhancer.

4. Ethanol burns more cleanly than gasoline. You can use a mixture of 10% ethanol, 90% gasoline (probably more, but not much more) in a gasoline engine without any adjustments. Some old cars can be tuned to take a whole lot more, but you have to be good with timing chains and mixture screws. Since 1986 (I think), engine blocks have been sealed, so you can't play with the mixture, and you need new computer control chips to use a higher percent ethanol. However, a number of new cars and trucks (particularly larger American vehicles) are now available with computers that adapt to either gas or E85 (85% ethanol). Areas that have stringent emissions restrictions also often stock E10 gasoline. Otherwise, you can get ethanol at these stations and make your own mixture. (Or you can get it from a moonshiner, but that has both quality and legality risks.)

5. As a last resort, you can replace factory products such as the catalytic converter, with more effective custom models. Your auto parts store will be able to provide you with better details than I can, and can tailor it to your problem (e.g., if you are only having trouble with your NO levels, maybe it is your EGR valve, not some other more expensive part).

The above may not be a learned treatise, and I am happy to accept corrections (especially from Motokeb), but that is what I have picked up over the last few years.

Laptops

Today I sat down at school and noticed that the computer next to me was a black-covered MacBook. For a MacBook, I was impressed. It almost looked like a real computer.

It's Alive!

Black Angus has returned from the land of the shades. The doc says putting this bit of metal into him is what it took:





I'd start calling the dear steer a bionic beast if he had anything biological about him... come to think of it, his fuel and lubrication, as well as parts of his upholstry, hoses, and tires are of biological origin, so maybe I'll use the nickname after all.


So now for a moment of shameless commercialism: I was very happy with Champion Transmission in Sterling. They done right, didn't try nuthin' funny, stuck with their estimate even when something came up.

Common Law Marriage

The husband also, by the old law, might give his wife moderate correction.... But, with us, in the politer reign of Charles the Second, this power of correction began to be doubted; and a wife may now have security of the peace agianst her husband; or, in return, a husband against his wife. Yet the lower rank of people, who were always fond of the old common law, still claim and exert their ancient priviledge...

--William Blackstone, Commentary on the Laws of England 445 (1765)

“I believe in compulsory cannibalism. If people were forced to eat what they killed, there would be no more wars.”

--Abbie Hoffman

Congrats to Cavie

And sympathy to Andrea.

Professor Quote

Of the denizens of legal hypotheticals, B is usually a victim, as in "A hits B," while in this class, B does better, for A will normally give to B, as in "A leaves to B". B will be a happy camper.

--Adam Hirsch, Trusts & Estates

The things that aren't said - thoughts on the "public" aspect of public transit

On the subway, there is a certain distance that is kept between passengers, a sort of, "I have to be here in close proximity to you, but you don't have to acknowledge that I am." To some extent, it is a matter of courtesy, since the co-commuter doesn't have much choice in whether they are there, and it isn't fair to take advantage of their helplessness by pressing them into conversation. But still, there are the occasional things that you want to say. For instance, to certain individuals I have seen,

"It's nice to see the Seersucker still in use. It looks great on you."

"I like seeing someone with the boldness to do a crossword in pen."

"You know, even though you have removed the dust jacket, people can still see that you are reading Harry Potter. It's a great book, but you should have the confidence to just read it."

Interestingly, there are things that should probably be said but aren't. For instance, yesterday, the person behind me in a crowded car probably should have said,

"What do you have in that backpack, bricks? Did you know that if you take if off your shoulders and put it on the floor, it will save space and also not hit me in the face when the driver brakes."

And then there are the things that are fun to say, but aren't said much. When I used the urban rail system more for transit and less for pure commuter purposes, I ran into a lot more tourists who didn't know much about the system. One could be kind to them, and it was often worth doing, but sometimes they were oblivious enough that it took a loud

"Walk on the left!"

to get them to gather up their selves and children and bags and other obstructions and let people through.

Another favorite category of mine are the things that are said by body language, specifically, the exercise of force or momentum. For instance, if a group of people are standing in the train's doorway, and have seen you make maneuvers to get to the door, you could say,

"Pardon me, but I need to get off at this stop. Would you please step out for a moment? You can get right back on when I have exited."

Or you could just lower your shoulder and take them with you. The talking way risks miscommunication or the need for further negotiation and convincing of the possibility of your getting off, all of which takes time which you and those behind you may not have before the doors snap shut. The keep-moving way is a sure thing (even for a little guy like myself - just yesterday I ran into a guy who weighed about half again what I do and had about 8 inches on me, and who was walking directly at me, but I hit him a little off center, and he spun out of the way like a shrub off a truck's brush guard). Besides, the looks on their faces is priceless.

Music, in its more modern forms

I have a question over on our other blog. Here's how it is: I know a lot about music in the sense of how to make it, how to create interesting motion within it, how to write it down, etc. However, I lack a certain depth of immersion in pop culture that your combined experience does not. I would find myself in your debt should you share your portion of that immersion. Thank you for your input.

Offworld Beverages

Have you ever noticed how one of the big "advances" of alien civilizations in sci-fi is powerful beverages that "really do it to you"? Romulan ale, Pan-Galactic Gargle Blasters, etc.? I mean, we on earth already have readily available liquid concoctions that can make you blind, that can cause you to halucinate, or that can knock you unconscious instantly. Just how much room is there for new avenues of perfection in chemically altered states of mind?

Quote of the day

"Growing up in Serbia, we didn't know whether the Americans or the Russians would win, so in the schools they taught us both English and Russian."

--Nik, our pool's lifeguard

Back to class

In another week, my summer is over, and I hit the books again. (So is my wife, but only for one class.) I have a few interviews lined up for post-graduation work; it's something to think that I will finally be done with the full time student thing and have to move out into the somehow more-"real" world. I will also be working some during the semester, which will be nice. Books and ideas are nice in their own way, but I enjoy more working out actual problems for real people.

In Brief

I haven't posted any personal news in about three months, and you probably don't have the time for an extensive update, so here you go in bullet points:

1. Exams were fine. Sometimes I feel like I'm in Lit class again - as long as I know who the characters are and what they did, I just have to let go and "feel the force" as I answer. Granted there are more details to have to know in the first place, but the open-endedness of the answers is a combination of fun and unsettling. (So much for my intended bullet points...)

2. I am working this summer for a small firm in Fairfax.

3. My wife and I are preparing for a few familial guests this coming week. I was mentioning this fact to someone at church the other day, and they asked if we had any interesting activities planned. It was at that point, of course, that I realized that had I mentioned in the first place that they were going to be in town for a funeral, it would have saved my friend a bit of embarrassment.

4. Work is fun. I love helping people. And ruining peoples' days. People on the other side.

5. Hospitality is great fun. We have been having people over somewhat regularly, and greatly enjoyed ourselves. Hopefully, the feeling has been shared by our guests.

Little Beeblebrox no more

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/5032906.stm

Grr. Arggh.