I have an old Nikon 24mm f/2.8 lens. I haven’t used it much recently, so I decided to play with it on Sunday. I borrowed a D70 and Nikon’s shortest extension tube. I wanted to test the sharpness of the lens, and to play with wide-angle close-ups. The lens is good for bees, but other insects don’t like it when I get so close. Here is a photo straight from the camera:
Aaarrgg! The senate just passed the FISA Amendments Act. The version passed includes immunity from prosecution for telecom companies assisting in illegal wiretapping of americans. Both Indiana senators (Bayh and Lugar) voted yea. Obama voted yea. McCain didn’t vote.
More people need to be concerned about the huge flaws in voting machines. We don’t need any unnecessary reasons to distrust elections. This a a problem that can be solved securely. Securely doesn’t mean trusting people with access to not alter results. The results must be recorded in an accurate and tamperproof way.
It looks like at least part of the Bill of Rights will survive the Bush administration. Yesterday the Supreme Court ruled that the Second Amendment is an individual right. Now we just need them to eliminate the KGB Act. (Officially known as the USA PATRIOT Act.)
One day, when I still drove to work, the front right brake on my car stopped working well. I couldn’t figure out what was going on. I suspected the ABS, but I talked to a mechanic and a brake engineer. They thought it was a problem with the brakes. I knew the pads and rotors were good. I cleaned them to make sure there wasn’t any oil making them slip. I replaced the calipers and lines. The problem was still there. Eventually I noticed the ABS sensor on the right wheel looked broken. I took the left side apart again to compare. The bolt that holds the left ABS sensor was rusted and required drilling. In the process, the ball-joint boot was torn, so there was another project. I removed the ABS fuse, and the brakes worked again. I replaced the right ABS sensor. As soon as I pulled out of the garage, there was a strange sound. The new ABS sensor had snapped. After ordering a new one, I didn’t have time to work on it for a while, but now I had brand new brakes.
I bought a new left ball-joint. The old one was still in good shape, but it is better to replace it as maintenance instead of repair. Unfortunately, the easy one hour job wasn’t. The pinch bolt on the steering knuckle was rusted, and its head immediately snapped of. Yes, I did soak it in PBlaster before trying to remove it. With lots of help–and sixty dollars of worn out bits–the bolt was eventually drilled out. The bolt was an odd size, so I had to order the replacement through Subaru. In the process, I decided to replace the outer tie-rod end.
Last week I finally got around to working on the ABS again. I was expecting to remove the right axle to replace the over-priced ABS tone rotor. Once the brakes were apart again, but before I pulled the axle out, I realized that the tone rotor bolts were loose. This was causing the tone rotor to wobble. Shortly after I bought the car, it was hit by an unlicensed driver making a blind left turn. After weeks without a car, my insurance company finally agreed to fix it. As far as I can tell, the mechanic at the big-name shop in town didn’t completely tighten the tone rotor when he repaired my car. The bolts came loose and the rotor wobbled enough to break the ABS sensor. I applied Permatex Blue and tightened the bolts. I installed the new sensor and replaced the fuse. Tada! I now have ABS again.
I then decided to work on my rear windshield wiper. It had been working intermittently. I took it apart and tested every component. They all seem to work. It works better now, but not all the time. I’m still not sure where the problem is.
To test the wiper switch, I had to remove several parts of the dashboard. This was much easier than on other cars. Another example of Subaru engineering being much better than say Ford or Chrysler. Since the dashboard was already out of the way, I decided to remove the remote entry system. When I bought the car, it had an aftermarket keyless entry system installed. As convenient as these can be, I don’t like this one. It seems to be a fairly common model, because I would occasionally find my car unlocked when I knew I had locked it. I was able to find the control box and trace the wires. I now have a car that won’t mysteriously unlock itself.
After owning my car for two years, it is in much better shape than when I bought it. I regularly get better mileage than the EPA estimates. I still want to replace a few parts, such as the timing belt . . .
I finally got around to watching Who Killed the Electric Car?. It is a very good documentary. I have been reading about electric vehicles the past few months, and the movie inspired me to start looking again.
This weekend I was able to go to a Bill Mallonee concert in Zionsville. This time it was Bill Mallonee with Muriah Rose on the keyboard. It was a good concert with some good new songs. Some were so new he needed lyric sheets. The coffee house crowd was quiet and the sound system was very good. This was my sixth Bill Mallonee concert.
Saturday was my first ride of the year with the Delaware County Cycling Club. The schedule said the ride started at 8:00. Only four of us showed up, so we took an easy ride in town until 9:00. The delay was ok because it gave me a chance to pickup the banana I had forgotten. The ride leader and a bunch of others showed up around nine. Even riding in a group, the wind made a challenging 65 km ride. During the last section of the ride I talked to Dave Poole of AeroCat bikes. He was riding his ACR500 frame. It is a nice looking carbon road frame. After the ride, he showed me some prototypes, including a carbon mountain bike frame he is working on. It looks really good. After the club ride, I rode a bit extra for a total of 110 km.
I have heard some crazy ideas, but this is still amazing. Muncie’s new mayor, Sharon McShurley, wants to privatize the Muncie fire department. This is a very bad idea, especially considering the high arson rate in Muncie.
Shimano just officially announced the new Dura-Ace group. Shimano is finally putting the shift cables under the handlebar tape. It looks like a huge improvement over the old Dura-Ace. I still think Dura-Ace is competing against SRAM Force and Campagnolo Chorus, not Red and Record, but it will be a lot closer now.
Yesterday the News-Sentinel ran a bike commuting story. Dean Koehlinger says that Fort Wayne needs bike lanes, not just trails. This is a very good idea. The Rivergreenway bike paths follow the three rivers. This is not an efficient way to get around. There need to be a few sections of trails and bike paths added in other places in town to make bike commuting safer. The upcoming Rivergreenway expansion near IPFW will really help. An east-west and north-south route through town would be useful.
Today the Journal-Gazette and Star Press published a stories about bike commuting.