Thursday, January 28, 2010

What the hell is wrong with that guy?




Is what most people probably think when they see you riding a motorcycle in the high 20's with 30 mph winds. I guess it comes with the territory when you buy a new motorcycle 2 days before Christmas in the North East. You don't exactly want to put it in a garage until it gets nice enough to ride comfortably.So after coming close to freezing a few times, but still not being smart enough to store the new motorcycle for the winter, I decided I needed to invest in some cold weather riding gear. However I wasn't trying to pay the arm and leg they want for the off-the-shelf heated jackets for sale out there ($150+). After searching the internets, I found some good resources for making an existing jacket into a heated jacket and decided to give it a shot.

This is the result. All in all, it probably cost me roughly $15-$20 for the wires and connectors needed to add the heat, and probably about 2 hours to thread the wire through the jacket.

I just took it for a test ride, and it does the trick. It feels like you're wrapped in a heated blanket. Absolutely beautiful. Next up... running some wire and adding some heated glove liners. Then I'm in business...




For anyone interested in trying to make one themselves... here's some resources I found helpful. All you really need is a crimping tool, maybe a voltmeter to test the resistance of the wire, some shrink tubing/soldering iron, and a larger needle to thread the wire. I just wired mine up with wire nuts and some electrical tape before finalizing the connections so I could make sure it worked and didn't need to be altered.

http://home.mebtel.net/~rbutterfield/Heat.html
http://www.hastie.org.uk/heatedjacket.html

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

...and another


Is it unpatriotic to have this little confidence in your country?

Hilarity in Fox News Polls


I think this might become a regular feature... the laughs are too good...

I don't know if it's the ridiculous question posed, or the even more ridiculous handful of answers you can choose. Three of the answers are clearly meant to be disparaging towards Obama, and one is just indifferent. I mean, I have a whole lot of my own qualms with Obama lately, but please Fox, please, at least try and feign balance and objectivity. You're not even trying, and it's just sad.

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

What the Foxtrot?


How Would You Grade President Obama's First Year in Office?

Given that Obama has an approval rating of about 50% right now, you would think this poll would be fairly diverse. However, the results are clearly skewed toward the negative. Now although Fox's polls aren't scientific, I think one thing that can be drawn from this data set, is that consumers of Fox News are mainly from one side of the political spectrum.

The next question that follows from that is... why? If Fox News was really the most truthful, accurate, and timely news, wouldn't people from all over the political spectrum be trying to get them some Fox News? Or.... maybe it skews one way so overtly because people like having their beliefs re-affirmed. It's comforting, like a warm blanket and mug of hot cocoa on a cold, bitter day. Healthy for our nation? No, definitely not. But comforting, and you know how Americans love their convenience.

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

(Please don't) sine me up

I can see us hitting the peak (or the trough, depending on how you look at it) of the never-ending sinusoid that is American politics. My guess is the next 2-6 years will have the Republicans taking back some seats, and eventually ending up with a majority in the Senate and/or the House. Then they'll take the onus back from the Democrats to do nothing and F stuff up (like the Democrats are doing now and like they did from 2000-2008), and the pendulum will eventually swing the other way.

It's a never-ending cycle of me basically never getting anything I want and a bunch of overpaid jackasses in our government consistently ruining my day and raining on the parade that I never get to have. It's Santa Claus coming down the chimney to kick you in the junk and tell you he gave your gifts to the kid down the street who always beats you up and steals your lunch money.

Does this sound like whining? Cause it is. I'm 28 years old and I seriously question whether I can survive the endless void that is American politics, where lots of crap is flung and nothing worthwhile ever gets done.

How long until the American people, or at least the ones with some sense, stand up and demand some coherency, honesty, and action from their government? How long until the majority of people in this country who lose, under both Democrats and Republicans, realize that fact and put people in power who won't use it for their own personal gain? How much larger can the wealth gap grow while bankers, traders, pharma and the insurance companies enrich themselves on our backs? How many more of our young will be sent off to die in wars we have no business being in?

Where does it end?

I want my parade damn it.

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Scanners


















Obama to announce new airline safety measures

Why won't they just add full body scanners (like RapiScan or the one LG makes) to all airports? Yes, it will be a pretty big capital outlay, but it will nip this problem in the bud, and we wouldn't have to "profile" people, so that Al Qaeda can just get someone to walk through security that doesn't fit the profile.

I k...now someone seeing an electronic image of you semi-nude might make you uncomfortable, but so would being blown up at 35,000 feet. The reality is that the screeners who are looking at the images are in a different room (if the system is setup correctly), and they never even see you face to face, so it's pretty hard to get embarrassed.

I am very rarely in favor of more invasive security measures, but this is one I can live with considering the security it would give us when traveling. Hell, I'd take this over warrantless wiretaps any day.