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Showing posts from December 5, 2010

Carbon Monoxide!?

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Weird The smoke alarm went off, not incredibly odd when I am using the fireplace, but it wasn't the smoke detector. It was the CO alarm. I was totally surprised. It had never gone off as long as I have had one, over many many years. Yep, after resetting it a few times. It was getting a reading over 200 ppm CO. When I took it downstairs I got a reading near 300 ppm. I started getting light headed at this point. After thinking maybe the furnace heat exchanger failed and puzzling around a bit I figured oout what happened. As part of the huge winter storm that recently covered almost half of the US, we lost our electricity. So, being well prepared I rolled out the generator and started doing what I normally do. The generator (although it was completely outside) was creating CO to get in the house. Using the fireplace (and possibly other leaks) the whole house created a vacuum around the seal of the basement garage door. After the CO got into the house the forced air heating eff...
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Here is an interesting one. http://nysdocslookup.docs.state.ny.us/GCA00P00/WIQ3/WINQ130 http://books.google.com/books?id=oHkA15BCY9MC&pg=PA509&lpg=PA509&dq=robert+j+lewis+raymond+corp&source=bl&ots=66o6dkChtm&sig=Wj-jDaUqZ6qiIdBtn5uCltfaehg&hl=en&ei=9RMCTaLKKMP7lweT8Y3SCQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBcQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false It appears Bob Lewis the former chief engineer (key person for technical liability responsibility) at The Raymond Corporation (A division of Toyota) just got out of Prison after serving 2 years. He was convicted of Producing Child Porn, or something like that. He retired after he got arrested. Now that he is out he can come back and visit, maybe consult. Good for them both. Truth is stranger than fiction.
It looks like I will have to go to a country other than the USA to look through wikileaks. What side of the "iron curtain" do we really live on these days? Although currently you can still get there via http://wikileaks.nl/ but for how long? Access is problem enough; additionally, there will be significant hurdles in getting to site data. Our country is being run by gangsters.
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The weeks are flying by. I am trying to get some stuff done by year end. Yes, it is yet another year gone. I planned a great hike yesterday. You might ask, "How do you get to the Southern start of the Appalachian Trail (AT)?" The answer is obvious. You cannot get there by car boat or airplane. You get to the start of the AT by foot. I had a great hike. After 5 miles I ran across a "hike-in" only lodge. They offered me some hot drinks and soup. Since it rained all day (my fire building opportunities were dampened) it was a welcome treat. The woods and the trails were fantastic. I will be back to this particular trail area when the views are not obscured by clouds. I hiked about 13 miles. My altimeter watch indicated that I climbed over 1700 feet. I spent about 8 hours on the trail. I slept pretty well (after the 50 min drive back to Duluth) except for my sore feet. This is the kind of stuff I truly enjoy experiencing. The movers delivered my stuff from NY. Now,...