Folding bike upgrades

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I’ve been busy upgrading my folding bike.

Upgraded Dahon Boardwalk

Starting point was a bone-stock 2002 Dahon Boardwalk 1.

Added the following:

I think this is pretty much all this bike needs except for maybe tires and a pedal upgrade.

My opinions on firearm regulation

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So, firearm regulation is a major topic here in the United States as of late, and is a political minefield.

Myself, I feel that additional regulation of the availability of firearms is required to maintain societal stability, but it can be done without banning any classes of firearm – no, not even “assault weapons”, although they’re not even the biggest problem.

I have some ideas for how firearm regulation could work in this country, while still allowing people to own firearms for personal defense, hunting, and other shooting sports. (Yes, I’m aware of the argument that the purpose of the 2nd Amendment is to allow armed insurrection. I’ll simply reply with this video.) Continue reading “My opinions on firearm regulation”

Finally got my Selectric back up and running

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Click to embiggen to a more readable size.

Here’s a (crappy cell phone) photo of the machine in question:

And here’s the force curve of the Selectric (Composer, but the mechanism is essentially the same in other Selectrics) keyboard:

Bard’s Tale for Android IIGS emulator analysis… and then some

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The other day, I saw that Bard’s Tale for Android had an Apple IIGS emulator hiding in it. Given that the game was $2.99, and I have an HP TouchPad running Android handy, I decided to grab it, just to see what was going on with the emulator.

Here’s my initial analysis, in the form of a YouTube video (sorry for the poor quality):


Bard’s Tale (Android) embedded Apple IIGS emulator – YouTube

So, now that I had identified what the emulator actually was, I decided to go for a deeper look. Continue reading “Bard’s Tale for Android IIGS emulator analysis… and then some”

Cool airplane-based 3-wheel vehicle build on Hemmings

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Stumbled on a cool airplane-based 3-wheeled vehicle build on the Hemmings blog tonight, and it’s for sale.

This thing is really friggin cool. Execution of the nose is a bit weak, but… I really like the layout.

Now I want to find a damaged four-place single-engine low-wing plane and do that myself. Two ways to get reverse, really – use the GL1500 drivetrain like that guy did as-is (I’d want Megasquirt and taller gearing, though), or do a through-the-road hybrid system with the hybrid system on the front wheels, and implementing reverse. That allows one to use the GL1200 fuel injected driveline instead – less displacement, lower cylinder count, etc., etc.

With a GL1500 megasquirted, I’m thinking it’d get around 70-75 highway, 40-50 city.

With a GL1200 FI and a hybrid system, 75-85 mpg highway, 60-90 city depending on how well the hybrid system is tuned.

Weight would be in the 1200-1500 pound ballpark I think, both engines are in the 90-100 hp ballpark (the GL1500 was all about more torque), so you’d be looking at 0-60 times in the 5-7 second ballpark, top speeds probably 140-150 mph (quite low drag), although you won’t want to go that fast.

And, it’d be a more practical layout than my main 3-wheeler project idea if executed properly – 4 seats plus some (not much) cargo room, instead of 1 normal seat, 1 barely usable seat, and less cargo room. Downside is, production would be less practical – it ain’t cheap to build things this light new. Piper wants $301,500 for an Archer TX – even if you go with the “half of the plane price goes to the lawyers” rule, and even if you knock $100k off for not needing all the FAA certs and the Lycoming engine and all, you’re still looking at $50k.