Techno Retro

 
It's still cold, windy and miserable outside. My big sorting project continues, but I was up against a major sub-project.

I still had the CPU from one computer and the monitor from another. Have wanted to get them hooked up to see if it would all boot up. We are talking quite a few years since I've used any of this equipment, eh? It works!



The goal was to go through this drawer of floppy disks. I had been working on making sure there wasn't anything critical on them way back when, and transferring anything I wanted to save. But I knew I'd never finished. And finding a computer that can still read floppies isn't all that easy anymore.



Here's where I am on the project as of now. I'm getting there. The only way to transfer from that computer to anything more up to date is to burn the files to a CD. Probably something else could be cobbled up, but I don't want to invest any more time or money into it all.



Then the big question is going to be... get rid of this computer or keep it? Two reasons to keep... I can actually read floppy disks with it, and you know I like to be prepared for all eventualities. The bigger issue is... my favorite pinball game with four different tables, Extreme Pinball, won't play on anything newer than Windows 98. Do I keep this monster just for the fun of playing this game occasionally? Hmmm. It was really the best pinball game out there at the time. Various sites claim you can play it online, but they all look rather iffy. The actual graphics are much nicer than in this fuzzy photo of an old monitor screen.



In other news: I "finished" that chapter of NCQ again this morning, and now have thought of two more things that have to go in it. Went to the store. Worked on this mess. I've pretty much trashed the house. Did wash the dishes and clean up the trailer window mess in the kitchen. Can't really continue that project inside. It involves too much stinky solvent.

	See A Serious Addiction
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New Gear - Solar Charger

 
Because I am planning to do this upcoming hike solo, and in case I want to take long hikes alone in the future I want to be able to at least keep a minimal charge on my phone. After all, there's this big sun in the sky sending power down all the time, if I can just grab some.

You may remember that I won a solar charger two years ago (see link below). I said right up front it would probably not be a backpacking item because it was too bulky. Well, it was a complete bust. It wouldn't even charge the phone a little bit. I gave it away.

But then I saw an ad for this little thing, and it only cost $20. I'm willing to try something at that price, and it was getting great reviews. It's just called Solar Charger. It's about 3" x 5" and less than 1/2" thick - nice size.



But it came with NO directions. It was supposed to have a flashlight. I put it in the sun and it seemed to charge. The little blue lights lit up when I pushed the button. It did come with a cord, and a carabiner, although the one supplied was too small to go through the hole. I replaced it with the one you see here.



But I couldn't get the flashlight to turn on, and it wouldn't charge my phone at all. Bummer.

Ester managed to find some directions on line, which I can't find again, but no matter. You push the button twice in succession to turn on the flashlight.



I don't think I'd want to use this much because it would probably deplete the charge pretty fast. But the big issue was still to charge the phone.

Brainwave! I tried a different cord. It works. So the cord that came with it is no good either. But I've been trying a number of scenarios with my own cord. This picture is not an accurate representation. There's no way you'd ever get a phone to 100% with this. The phone was fully charged when I wanted to take a picture. But if you look closely you can see that it does say "charging" with the phone plugged into the charger.



If the phone is down around 15%, I can get it up about 10 percent more. If it's at 70% the charger will only bump it up about 4 points.

Today, I tried to keep it plugged in while walking to see if it would just transfer the energy it was taking in to the phone, but that did not seem to work.

I think the bottom line is that it will allow me to keep the phone at a level where I can post a couple of pix on Facebook a day and send my position to someone for safety, and still have enough charge to send a message if I need help (and can get a signal, which is probably going to be an issue).

So, for the price, I think it will work. Weight with carabiner and cord: 6.5 ounces. Acceptable.

The other electronic problem is the camera, which takes special batteries and can't be charged without an outlet. I'm going to take three and hope they will last for the 7 or 8 days between civilization visits.

In other news: I've been trying to get this hike planned, but it's a challenge. There's not a lot of information, and there could be some problem areas. I'm pestering some good friends a lot for info. Stay tuned.

	See Heli Take Charge Charger
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Squares 2

 
More squares and near squares. I just like the patterns.

I realized I could "get" square openings in the railroad bridge if I stood in the right place. The tie ends are square too, and the shadows between. This picture actually intrigues me a lot. If you squint so you don't see what it is, but just look at the patterns...



This one is just a cage for an irrigation tank, but I like the contrast.



Walking home I found a pattern of squares decorating the side of a headstone.



And last, but not least, here's the combination card reader and USB splitter that I like pretty well so far. A nice square... long enough cord that it doesn't just hang off the computer. Many options. Free dust already, of course.



In other news: I installed the X6 version of Corel Office that is mine to keep. Works perfectly. Sent the Books Leaving Footprints newsletter. Getting my bearings with Dead Mule Swamp Mistletoe. Worked at Shagway (and some of my books sold).

	See Squares 1
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Arts Barn Impressions

 
I spent the afternoon getting in some hours at the Shagway Arts Barn. Each artist is supposed to volunteer a certain amount of time. It was a very quiet afternoon. I made one sale.

Part of that was because it was pretty cold, and I don't think a lot of people were out and about. It was also the last day the Barn was open for this season.

I spent most of the time writing or jogging around the building to try to keep warm.

Apparently just being around so much art makes me feel artsy. Here are some impressions taken today.















Over the summer, I sold 11 books and seven craft items there. I just don't seem to be able to make things that people want to buy. I need to remember to focus on writing! Speaking of...

Accountability Report:
I wrote two chapters in Dead Mule Swamp Druggist today! I would like to tell you I'm two chapters closer to the finish. However, I had thought that what I wrote today would fill only one chapter, so I'm really no closer to the end. I'm putting off that total commitment one more day. We'll see how productive I can be tomorrow. Unfortunately, I can't write all day. I have some other things to do, too.

	See Smilin' In the Rain
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Voices of the Past and Future

 
Today was just a collection of various things, but I was very productive. Good to have energy on a day I can use it for things of my choosing.

For openers, a guy who helped spot me for a hike long ago contacted me and said he had to come to Ludington. So we had breakfast together and got caught up. He's also a hiker, who has done several hundred miles of the North Country Trail. We had a nice visit. At the end, he reminded me that I still owe everyone a second book. Yeah, I know. North Country Quest has 6 1/2 chapters done and holding.



This was the hike I blogged about in 2009, Only a Few Miles But Oh So Good. The snow was about 3 feet deep, and I snowshoed 4 miles to connect two previous hikes. It was a neat little jaunt, on which I saw fox tracks



On the way home I stopped at Meijer to get groceries. They've been doing something on the edge of the parking lot for over a week, but I didn't know what. Aha! Tesla charging stations. Pretty cool beans.



Worked on a contract job. Mowed some grass (that is a big deal... second mowing this year and no machine issues). Now I'm going to make yogurt. My work week starts in the morning. I just have to keep reminding myself that those paychecks are my ticket to being able to work less and write more sometime in the not too distant future.

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Winner!

 
The North Country Trail Hike 100 Challenge is giving away gifts every month. You are entered just by signing up. The only thing on the list that I was even interested in winning was the.... solar charger.

Guess what. I won it!



So, today I set about figuring it out. We have entered the Fahrenheit 451 era of directions... all pictures without words, but I've got most of them deciphered.

It's actually a lantern, flashlight, and signal light as well as a charger.



I set the panel outside in the sun today to charge it up. I'll try charging my phone with it overnight.

This will be an unlikely backpacking gear item. It's too bulky. Also, there are two electronic items I would like to charge while on the trail: my phone and my camera battery. There is apparently no way I can make this work for the camera battery. I'd have to switch cameras, or just use my phone camera (which I don't think much of).

When I'm car camping, I can charge both those items in the car, making this superfluous.

Nevertheless, I'm tickled to be able to try it out and see if there are times when it would be useful for me. I'll do a better review when I've tried it more.

	See SPW Hike- January 2016
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An Answer and More Pictures

 
Remember the day I accidentally caught them removing a turbine cover at the pumped storage project? (See Open Wide and Say Ah

Last week there was an article in the paper about what is being done. Over the course of six years all six turbines are being rebuilt. The cost of this will be $800 million. The plant will then be the second largest in the U.S. and the fourth largest in the world. The manager is quoted as saying, "It was originally designed in the time of slide rules." Computer power will result in more efficient power generation.



When I drove by this week, there were large parts displayed near the turbine covers. The picture above is one of the new turbines. See the curved and angled blades on the side? Yes, the paper says they were built by Toshiba.




The news article explained that the new turbines have nine blades instead of six, and the primary block is one piece instead of two as the old ones were. They were brought to the site on barges. Much of the installation process and many small parts are custom made and hand fitted. It takes ten months to rebuild each turbine.

Whereas the plant used to be able to generate 7 megawatts of power for every 10 expended to pump water to the reservoir, after the rebuild they will get 7.7. Of course, these generation plants aren't perpetual motion machines. You can't get more out than you put in, but narrowing the gap means there is more profit margin. The point is to generate electricity when it is needed, during the day.

Another amazing fact is that these kinds of facilities are extremely fast to come on line. If there is a request for more electricity, they can be providing it to the grid in three minutes! Additionally, the plant can do what is called a "black start." This means it doesn't need power from the grid to start up (I'm guessing because if there's water in the reservoir it only takes gravity to get things going- and they must be able to open a gate manually).

The new turbines have an estimated 30-year lifespan- better than wind turbines at 20 years.

If you'd rather just look at pretty pictures of the lake, here's an interesting one of how the sand bars have shifted near the site recently.

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Open Wide and Say "Ah"

 
I promised you a surprise. Well, at least something interesting. I certainly was surprised, and I have no answers about what I saw, only questions.

This occurred at the Ludington Hydroelectric Pumped Storage Project. I've talked about it before, but here's a brief review. This picture is looking down from the road to lake level. You can see a paved area down there with a large blue building and an overhead track crane near the middle.



Next is a shot from the same position but looking uphill across the road. At the top of the hill is the huge reservoir they built to hold water which is pumped up from Lake Michigan at night when electricity demand is low. Underground, angled just beneath the surface are six penstocks-- huge pipes-- where the water flows back downhill during the day, and then through turbines to create electricity.



The turbines and control room are all underground. I took a tour once and actually got to stand inside one of the huge turbines. (They shut one down at a time for regular service.) Then the water is discharged back to Lake Michigan.

Here's a picture from the opposite end in a different season, apparently before the blue building was put up. I am using it because it clearly shows six large disks in the paved area. There are six penstocks and six turbines, but I know the turbines are vertical. However, they must be aligned with those disks.



So, here's the shocking new fact. Those disks are removable covers! As I watched, the hoist on the crane began to lift one of them. It was like watching a sci-fi movie.





Then the crane moved south on its track and took the disk lid right off the hole. It deposited it on top of that round bunker-like structure with the door in it.



I stood there and waited quite a few minutes to see what would happen next, but nothing did that I could see. Two workmen came over and peered in like little boys watching frogs in a pond, but then they moved away. There is one man in this picture for scale.



I can see two yellow things that might be cranes inside the hole, but that's about all. Are they getting ready to clean and service this turbine/penstock? I had no idea the whole thing could be opened to the weather like that. In all the times I've driven by here, stopped to look at it, watched basically nothing happening, I've never seen this. Why isn't there a hole in the middle of the disk? It looks like the other disks all fit around one of those bunkers with the door. And in the picture from a different year, they all have that. Is the roof of the bunker just enough larger that it catches in the middle of the disk and lifts off with the rest of the disk? I can't tell because other stuff obstructs the view of the center of the open hole. Maybe the bunker lowers itself on some sort of elevator mechanism.

Too many questions!

When they were building it (1970 ish) we used to stop on the way home from church each week to see the progress. It was really interesting to see all the engineering that is now buried underground.

	See Pumped Storage Project Walk
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