Fermented during Indianapolis’ finest time of the year, the Month of May, the newest offering from Barking Spiders Brewery is now pouring. Synchromesh Kölsch is a quenching summertime pleaser named in honor of our newest learning opportunity. Replacing the 5th gear set on the Volkswagen will almost certainly require a not insignificant portion of Synchromesh Kölsch.
Pitahaya. So hot right now. Finally, the New York Times recognizes it. I’ve seen this day coming for almost ten years, amid continued searches on this website for the pitahaya PLU code, which information (4030) has long been gone. After a years-long personal quest, I finally obtained some a year or two back, and it was nothing to write home about. However, it is beautiful to look at.
Mowing the lawn with a GPS is an easy way to make a big messy blob of a map!
In advance repentance for a delicious Thanksgiving dinner prepared by Grandma, we spent the morning participating in Austin’s annual Turkey Trot. Thanks to the generosity of Grandma and Papa’s neighbors, we were able to borrow a jogging stroller so David could come on the 1-mile walk after his Kids’ K.
David had been talking up how he was looking forward to his race, so I was also looking forward to running along by his side. Not too much of a surprise, however, he decided part-way through after starting to drag his feet a bit that he’d rather ride on my shoulders. We passed under a train, which he found quite impressive. We turned around at the half-way point, and I warned him that he would soon be his turn again. He ran the last third flat-out, and I had trouble keeping up with him at times. When he decides that he is into it, there is no stopping him. So much so, in fact, that I had some difficulty getting his attention so that he would cross the finish line on the right half of the barricade in order to get his finisher’s wrist band! Papa was toward the side near the finish, and I did not even see him while trying to keep David aimed at the finish line amid all the fun and chaos.
The grownups’ race started shortly afterward. This year featured a new course, presumably to accommodate the record 15,000 participant turnout. The previous course, starting at Waterloo Park and winding around the UT campus area was pretty nice, but I think the new course nicely features some different areas of town. Using the Long Center for the start and finish area offered a lot more room. Due to some sort of last-minute mix-up, the course was a half-mile shorter than the advertised five. I’m not complaining, since I found it to be quite hot and humid compared to Indy’s recent weather. Later that day, keeping the shortened course in mind made resisting that fourth slice of pie a little less difficult!
The Indianapolis Marathon deserves its reputation as a well-respected race. We found it to be well organized, and several nice touches showed attention to detail on the part of those who ran it.
We had a minor hitch getting to the expo and packet pickup due to construction confusion at the YMCA, but it was smooth after that. We arrived just in time too, since we observed that the parking lot seemed completely full when we left a short time later. The entry area to the expo was lined with mums and heaters, a nice but unnecessary touch, as the weather was mild that day. The expo itself was on the small side. We had no trouble walking right up and getting our packets and t-shirts from the friendly and helpful volunteers. The relatively small number of other vendors was no problem for us — less to traffic to dodge on the way out!
We owe a big thank you to the Zembrodts for watching David on race morning. We could not have both participated had it not been for their help. I’m glad that David got to play with his friends Jake and Toby on a Saturday morning, too.
After dropping off David on race morning, we were prepared for heavy traffic on 56th Street. By the time we crossed I-465, traffic was flowing smoothly. The kids directing traffic in the VA parking lots could have coordinated better and filled more spaces, but we didn’t have a problem. People arriving later might have had some difficulty finding parking spots, however. We stayed in the warm car, and Emily did some grading while we passed some time before braving the cold morning. Perhaps we should have left the car a few minutes sooner so that we could have made one last pit stop before the start. The lines were very long!
As the race started, the temperature was quite cool. No complaints though, as the sun felt glorious between the trees. The quiet environment while running in the state park was enjoyable, just the sound of footsteps and concentration. After a while, the park became more challenging for me. First, the hills were more than I am accustomed to, particularly the one at mile 10.5. Second, the design of the course led to some doubling-back even on the half-marathon course, which tends to sap my motivation. Still, the scenery was undeniably beautiful.
The food in the finishing area was a pleasant surprise. Both Emily and I thought that we had to have bought an additional ticket to enter, but we were wrong. All participants were allowed to have a hamburger or bratwurst lunch. Cool, how nice! And a well-earned brat it was. That’s why we run.
After finding a nomogram of how the Prius’s continuously variable transmission (or Power Split Device, in Toyota-speak) works, I thought it would be a fun exercise to use PyNomo to create my own Prius PSD nomogram.
The PSD is a planetary gearset, with the sun gear attached to Motor-Generator 1 (MG1), the planet carrier attached to the Internal Combustion Engine (ICE), and the ring gear attached to Motor-Generator 2 (MG2). MG2 drives the front wheels directly.
In the nomogram, the car is travelling 65 mph. Because this is a continuously variable transmission, there are infinite ways of achieving this road speed. MG2 must turn at about 3850 RPM because it drives the front wheels directly. However, the engine can be running at anywhere between idle speed and flat-out. MG1 will then turn at a corresponding speed according to the relationship shown in the nomogram.
The nomogram also illustrates how the Prius can run in “EV mode,” where the car drives under electric power alone. With the ICE off, MG1 rotates backwards and MG2 rotates forward. As the car speeds up and slows down in EV mode, the isopleth line see-saws up and down the MG1 and MG2 scales, anchored at the ICE’s 0 RPM point.
Part of the elegance of the PSD is that there is no reverse gear. MG2 simply rotates backwards with the engine off. Cool!
There is an interactive Flash-based version on eahart.com.
Cleaning out drawers last weekend, I took a minute to fiddle with two slide rules that I inherited, one from each of my grandfathers. I’ve always found them to be a mysterious link to the past, where clever tricks made all kinds of things possible that we take for granted today. I’d like to be able to make more use of them, but they’re just not that practical any more.
Yesterday I stumbled on a link to a gallery of similarly outdated but intriguing tools called nomograms, which are graphical solutions to equations. Ron Doerfler assembled a calendar for 2010 featuring a number of intricate nomograms. He updates his site infrequently, but I certainly hope he is able to put together a similar calendar for 2011. I will definitely check back later in the year! It will be good for engineer-cred.
As an electrical engineer, I still have nightmares about trying to understand Smith charts in college. The Smith chart is another type of nomogram used for a number of purposes, including matching components, transmission line characteristics, and other high-frequency uses. Again, the chart is fascinating to look at, but it’s really a product of the black arts. Stay away.
Thinking more about where I’ve seen nomograms, I recall on highway maps there used to be a fuel economy calculator. There were two horizontal lines and a diagonal line between them. On one horizontal scale, you would select how many gallons it took to fill the tank, and on the other, you would choose how far you went on that tank. The center scale showed the car’s fuel economy for that tank. For the life of me, I can’t find any examples online, so I tried out PyNomo to create one of my own.
In the example above, I went 650 miles on a tank of fuel, and it took 14.5 gallons to refill the tank. The line between those two points intersects the MPG scale at about 45 MPG.
The PyNomo site has some additional examples that fly way beyond my comprehension, but they are neat to look at.
I also found a nomogram for homebrewers to calculate IBUs, and one illustrating the operation of planetary gear set in a Prius.
I wanted to find a way to show which direction the wind normally comes from, but wasn’t sure of the best way to show that information. A histogram is close, but it would be nice it could be shown in a circular representation. I stumbled on exactly the type of plot I was looking for. Turns out that R has a nice package called “climatol” that has a function to show this perfectly.
Last year’s Air Force Marathon was such a good experience that I chose it again for this year’s marathon goal. Overall, I am glad that I ran it again this year. I had some issues with last year’s event that I hoped could be improved upon, and this year I had some different issues.
It was a beautiful morning for a run, about 55° at the start. It grew warmer as the day went on, to about 75° by the finish.
One of the most memorable aspects of last year’s event that made me want to participate again was the opening ceremony. The emotional rush from the paratroopers with their enormous flags, the pin-drop silence during the national anthem, and the F-18 flyover were unforgettable. Unfortunately, due to the biggest snafu of the day, the opening ceremony and the start of the race was spoiled for many participants. I’m sorry to say it, but the traffic and parking situation before the race was an unmitigated disaster.
Last year, we planned to arrive about an hour prior to the starting gun. We left the hotel 75 minutes before the start, and drove right onto the base, found a parking spot, took a short shuttle ride, and arrived with plenty of time to stretch, relax, get our minds in gear, and make that final pit stop before the race. It was as smooth as anyone could imagine, highlighting the best of what one would expect from military planning and logistics.
This year was a stark contrast. Our hotel was a bit closer to the base, so we chose to leave the hotel 60 minutes before the start. As soon as we turned left out of our hotel’s parking lot, we were sitting in a mile-long line of traffic that was going absolutely nowhere. As our safety margin quickly eroded, I asked Emily to continue ahead in the through-traffic lane and just drop me off at the next intersection nearest the gate, and I would run to the start. She did, and I jogged to the start, arriving just as the national anthem began.
Meanwhile, Emily and David did manage to re-enter the line of traffic somehow to get onto the base.
The cause of all this mess was anyone’s guess, but apparently only one of the three main gates along the south side of the base was open for people to enter. There were no parking shuttles this year (again, we do not know why), so they trekked across the field and old runway from their makeshift parking spot along with a throng of other runners and spectators. Emily reports that as they heard the announcer’s “ready” signal, there was a collective expletive all around her from all the runners who were stuck in traffic and unable to reach the start in time. I wish there had been some kind of warning that the traffic flow was going to be so different. What a disappointing way to start the morning.
Once we were underway, the day improved quickly. Again, it was a beautiful morning, and the B-52 circling overhead was an inspirational kick in the rear to get moving. While it wasn’t completely effortless, the first several miles ticked past faster than expected. I was trying hard to control my pace and conserve energy because I did not feel well prepared for this race. I had missed a number of the longer training runs on my schedule due to travel, sickness, and self-inflicted injuries. Apparently being mindful of this helped, because it wasn’t until after the halfway point that I was aware of anything worth complaining about.
The crowds in Fairborn were great! Four buses shuttled spectators from the starting area to Fairborn shortly after the start of the race. Four buses does not seem like a lot, considering the number of people in the area, but Emily and David boarded one and headed to one of the few spots off the base that friends and family could see their runners. They enjoyed some hot chocolate while they waited on the pack to pass by. I’m glad I got to see them, and they didn’t even look too bored!
As with last year, I cannot say enough good things about the volunteers along the course. Since friends and family could not be along the majority of the course that was on the base, the aid station volunteers and safety personnel where just about the only form of mental support that could be found. They did an outstanding job. The Nerd station, alien station, 80s station, the ladies at the station near mile 16 yelling their brains out and having fun were all memorable and lightened the experience.
I was tapped out by the end of mile 20, near Huffman Prairie. I wound up walking on and off for the rest of the race, a little over a mile in all. Next time I will be better prepared (by not getting sick, cracking any ribs, or having any last-minute travel). Sounds doable, since I’m so firmly in control… sure.
The Dayton Daily News has a small gallery of photos from the day’s events. The Garmin Connect widget below has an interactive tour of my trackpoints. If it’s not visible, here is a direct link to the activity page, which can export to KML for toying with in Google Earth.
The old color laser printer at work gave up the ghost earlier this summer, and it has been sitting in the electronic waste recycling bin because it would have cost more to fix than to replace. I had been wanting to take it apart and take a look inside, and I finally got around to asking permission to fish it out. However, Emily will be pleased to learn that I saw a teardown of the same printer model posted on the web, so now I don’t have to clutter up the garage!
http://www.evilmadscientist.com/article.php/laserjet
Aside from dozens of pictures of the inner workings of the printer, I enjoyed the insightful comment that “the first priority of every part of this printer is to sell more printer parts.” So true.
