Big Tech is Evil

Why the hell would telemedicine companies think sharing your personal data is okay? How could anyone even think this is not an invasion of privacy. HIPAA was supposed to address this crap. 

“Out Of Control”: Dozens of Telehealth Startups Sent Sensitive Health Information to Big Tech Companies

An investigation by The Markup and STAT found 49 out of 50 telehealth websites sharing health data. 

Read about it here --

Mr Freeze Miser

We invested in a Harvest Fresh freeze dryer with the premium vacuum pump. Today's a good day to get it set up. They recommend running bread through it the first run to absorb the "new car" smell. We'll see how it goes. 

You can edit the display name on the display. So of course I named it Mr. Freeze Miser. 

Let There Be Light

The local reservoir where I do most of my fishing closes at dark. For the most part the local police and game warden just check to make sure you're on the way in at dusk so most of us fish our way back in and load up in the dark. The angle of the gravel ramp made it hard for me to see with just the stock back-up lights.

Manufactured magnetic lights were expensive and many of them had poor reviews around weak magnets and low output. This is what I came up with. Two magnets from Harbor Freight, 2 clamps, 2 led driving lights and a long 12v cable. All added up to ~$20. 

I can see backing up. They clamp to the windshield on the boat as docking lights and on the garden tractor blowing snow. 

CPAP Cleaner

Right as the global gak started I started using a CPAP machine.  I won't bore you with the details of getting used to sleeping with a mask or the challenges of doing so with a beard. I WILL show you the cleaning device I created.  Both the doctor and the pulmonary technician said to not bother with the ultraviolet/ozone cleaners that were on the market as none of them are tested by the FDA.  So being the laziest person I know, I made my own.

Parts

• Bucket - free from the grocery bakery/deli
• Spout - Bulkhead style
• PVC hose - Food grade size to the spout.
• Hose clamps
• Pump
• Coupling - sized to the pump and hosing.
• Rubber Stopper - drilled
• Brewer's Hose Clip

Tools

• Drill
• Hole saw drill bits
• Pliers/Screw Driver

I had all of this stuff stashed in my beer brewing box-o-stuff. The pump is the most expensive part here at ~$30.  All the parts can be bought off Amazon or one of the home brewing supply shops.  I drilled the appropriate sized hole in the bucket and mounted the spout.  The hose is the attached to the spout and the couplings/hose clamps are used to connect it to the pump.  The output of the pump gets a coupling with the rubber stopper that is sized to fit into the CPAP hose.  It's then wrapped around the bucket and the brewer's hose clip holds it in place inside the bucket.  The various CPAP parts a placed in the bucket. Vinegar and water are added to cover the parts.  The pump circulates the vinegar mixture.

As long as you are very habitual about cleaning there's no scrubbing needed. All the gear packets back into the bucket for storage.

Pipe burner info

 Meats and Sausages is another good source of info.  They have a great explanation about why venturis are needed and how to make you own burners along with info on canning, brewing and food preservation in general.

Allied Kenco has a data sheet with suggested hole numbers and sizes for pipe burners. They also have a great tips section on smoking, jerky etc. 

Burners Inc. posts their specs here

And you can use the chart located here to figure our a BTU estimate.

On a side note, in my Physics class many, many years ago the teacher created a propane burner pipe that connected to a disposable gas cylinder on one end and had a rubber membrane with a 3 inch speaker glued in place.  Music caused the flames to dance and solid tones held sine waves just like on the O-scope....maybe I'll make one.

Selas has a very good tutorial with charts for calculating the size of your burner. If you really want to dig deeper they have a PDF version that's more technical.

Technically these are called atmospheric pipe burners. There's even a NIST technical paper on them.

 

Pipe Burner Adjustments

 The cross pipe burners used by the church we hand made quite some time ago.  The guys the made them went through a lot of trial and error changing flame holes, orifices and venturi sizing.  Luckily one of them owned a hardware store.

I copied one to use as a base line then made some adjustments for my regulator setup. Since I have to make some adjustments to get it hotter, I figured I'd go ahead and get a real venturi.

I ended up enlarging some of the air holes to get rid of the yellow in the flames.  Notice the yellow sealing tap. It's specific for gas.

If you search for propane venturis you'll find Tejas Smokers are the top of the list. These guys make customer burners and have parts. Their customer support is great but they are a bit pricey for budget.

If you change your search to "air mixer" you get links to restaurant supply sites (and here) and specialty grilling sites

I eventually found the same thing on Amazon and used points to buy it. This one says it's slip on, but has threads.  We'll see how it works.

Granddad's Shop

 

 My grandfather had 2 quotes posted in his workshop.  The first I have since learned is attributed to John Wooden.  The second is from the White Rabbit from Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland.

 

 

 

 

 

He once told me "There will come a time when no one will know that you didn't do a good job except you. How you handle that is part of your stature as man."

 

He also had this playing card pinned up. I've digitally cleaned it up and removed the thumbtack holes. In today's internet it's not that scandalous, but it's still NSFW,  and I know it irritated my grandmother, and in the 60's and 70's where my cousins grew up it was a typical nudie pin up for a garage.

This was the place for the guys to gather after holiday dinner.  There might be a project underway to fiddle with as the ladies did what they do inside. Maybe we'd grab a .22 or a pellet rifle and have an impromptu target shoot. The smell of wood smoke, metal shavings and oil can transport me back here.

This is shop 2.0. The original shop had no insulation and a gravel floor. Dropping a nut or bolt there meant it was probably gone forever. This was taken the week after he passed away.  I'd love to have another afternoon in here with him.