Vacuum

How to jump start a car

Warning: there are things that can go wrong when you jump start a car that can be hazardous or even deadly. Do not attempt to jump start a car unless you are aware of these precautions.

That said, in most cases, it's pretty easy. From About.com's auto repair site:

The first thing to be right about is the order to connect the cables:

Attach one end of one cable to the dead battery's positive terminal.

Attach the other end of the same cable to the positive terminal of the battery in the starting vehicle.

Attach one end of the other cable to the negative terminal of the battery in the starting vehicle.

Attach the other end of that cable to the engine block of the car with the dead battery. Look for unpainted metal surfaces and be sure it will clear anything moving when the car starts. Do not attach the negative cable to the dead battery itself.

Got that? Dead + / Live + / Live - / Dead engine block. Some jumper cables will have those numbered.

Edmunds.com has a jump-start page with instructions and video

Step Five
Make a final check to confirm that the jumper cables are not near any moving engine parts, and start the booster car. Let it idle for several minutes, depending on the state of the dead battery. If the dead battery is new and was drained by the lights being left on an extended period of time, it will probably start immediately. If it is an old battery or it has sat for a long time (more than a month) it will probably take awhile to charge it sufficently.

Prevent Blindness America has a page of precautions when jump-starting a battery:

1. Check your battery for cracks, corrosion, and loose wires every time you change your oil.

2. Always wear a pair of splash-proof polycarbonate goggles when jump-starting your battery. Your goggles should have a Z-87 label on the frame. This means your goggles are certified use during auto repairs.

3. Never smoke or use anything that may spark when working on your battery. Car batteries contain hydrogen and oxygen, two gasses that could ignite and explode.

Mr. Fixit has a page

Once the car has started run it at fast idle for a few minutes. Assuming that its charging system is up to snuff, this will charge the battery sufficiently to restart the car after the next step. To make sure that you aren't injured I recommend that you now turn off both engines so that you can safely remove the cables without getting tangled in the moving parts like fan blades and belts. Remove the cables in the reverse order that you used to hook them up, taking the ground cable clamp from the engine metal first. After removing the cables immediately re-start the car. If you feel comfortable removing the cables with the engine running have a care about loose clothing and fingers and keep the cables away from moving parts.

"Black and Decker VEC026BD 400 Electromate JumpStarter / Inflator" (Vector)

"Freeplay Energy FC1CG Freecharge Weza Foot-Powered Portable Generator" (Freeplay Energy)

"Black & Decker Simple Start Battery Booster #BB7B" (Vector)

"Xantrex 852-2000 XPower Powerpack 600HD Portable Backup Power Source" (Xantrex Technologies)

Arranging ad hoc meetings with Plazes

Plazes seems to work OK now that I'm spending time on a campus where there's enough density of people during the day who move from place to place that it's handy indeed to know that they're in the building. One almost-meetup this week with Bill Tozier ended up with an off-campus lunch that same day after missing each other for weeks.

I'm reminded of the way that play dates are a lot easier once school starts back up, there's a lot more people on the playground.

Thinking about what it would cost (and how I would fund) a Plazes Mobile account - you need a Series 60 phone and a data plan for it, and though I could tack on another account for my T-Mobile family plan without too much trouble there's the small matter of the phone itself which isn't cheap. (unless I can get it to run on a cast-off N-Gage, there's a thought.)

(now where's my mobile category)

(i'm really after research I can do while I'm out walking around)

Technorati Tags: nokia, plazes, series60, ngage, mobile, n-gage

Walker tracker as a mobile step-logging system

I use Walker Tracker as my step logging system, typing in how many paces my pedometer has gone and a few notes on the day. There's a nice little community there, kept small by the requirement to actually be out and active and to care enough to track it.

Recently I have been exercising my mobile phone as a web device and have discovered to my delight that this site works quite well on a Blackberry. It is slow (I blame the T-Mobile GPRS network for that) but pages render faithfully.

There's something properly self-rewarding about writing how your walk is going while you are walking. It doesn't speed things up in any way - the keyboard typing while on foot is quite slow - and makes you look unearthly. I walk late at night in a quiet safe neighborhood, and that works out pretty well.

Technorati Tags: walking, blackberry

Eli is a rock star.

Just saying.

Whole house energy meters: Viridian energy meter design competition

From Feb 2000:

"The Viridian Electricity Meter is a household energy consumption meter that resides in a prominent place inside the home. Its purpose is to provide accurate, compelling, and artistically fascinating feedback to homeowners about their current energy use. Users are rewarded aesthetically for reducing energy consumption (and for switching their energy source to a renewable one). In other words, the more sustainable their energy consumption, the more beautiful and fascinating the meters' display."

So far as I can tell, this never has been built yet; the only whole-house energy meters that you can buy are industrial products designed by electrical engineers. Anyone care to try this again? Some vendors to look at: Brand Electronics, The Energy Detective.

(Thanks to Bill Tozier for the nudge toward Viridian thinking.)

Technorati Tags: viridian, energy

Kevlar jeans

Cabela's has a sale going on Kevlar work jeans; (one size only, 30x32); $9.95 for the pair. These are carpenter pants, designed to be resistant to abrasion.

Motorcycle riders wear Kevlar jeans as protection against road rash. Draggin Jeans even has kids sizes (8, 10, 12, $90). Diamond Gusset has Kevlar reinforced men's jeans up to waist 60 ($145).

The Vegan Motorcyclist has a whole extensive listing of non-leather motorcycle gear, and more discussion on their Yahoo group.

Stephanie Kwolek invented Kevlar for Dupont. Dupont has a patent on "Lightweight denim fabric containing high strength fibers and clothing formed therefrom", patent 6666235. It sounds like the ideal fabric to make sure that kids clothing doesn't get destroyed before it gets outgrown.

Technorati Tags: kevlar

One million steps!

I'm counting steps with Walker Tracker and an Omron HJ-112 pedometer from Amazon.

I hit my first million steps in 85 days - you can watch progress here:

Technorati Tags: omron

Feedburner mobile

Dear Feedburner,

What plans do you have for Feedburner mobile? Something simple so it works on my blackberry.

Thanks.

Ed.

Ps. This browser doesn't do XSLT so you would have to do the transform on the server.

UPDATE: Use Feedburner for your mobile-friendly site via a javascript transform, thanks to Rick Klau for the details.

(for my mobile category which isn't here yet)

Technorati Tags: javascript

Apple iBook, Powerbook battery recall

Apple and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) on Thursday announced a recall of 1.1 million battery packs made for Apple’s PowerBook and iBook battery packs. Information on the recall has been posted to the CPSC’s Web site. Users who have batteries affected by this recall are entitled to a replacement battery, free of charge.

More details on the Apple battery recall web page. Because that page is so slammed, I snipped out the appropriate graphics here.

Technorati Tags: apple, battery, exchange, ibook, mac, powerbook, recall

ReCellular (Dexter, MI) cell phone recycling and resale business

In the AP wire via the San Luis Obispo Tribune

DEXTER, Mich. - With the number of cell phones in use worldwide hitting 2 billion and rising, recycled phones are playing a crucial role in the spread of wireless communications across the developing world, where land lines can be costly or unavailable.

The odds are good that a refurbished cell phone in the pocket of a user in Bolivia, Jamaica, Kenya, Ukraine or Yemen originated with ReCellular Inc. Based in small-town Michigan, ReCellular gets 75,000 used phones a week - most collected in charity fundraisers - and refurbishes them for sale around the world.

ReCellular has more than half the U.S. phone recycling business. Executives say they are doing well for themselves as well as for the March of Dimes and other national charities that benefit from the company's purchase of donated phones.

"The fact that you can combine a business - a profitable business - with a useful service and a charitable good is a win, win, win," said ReCellular Vice President Mike Newman, 32.

Charles Newman, Mike's father, founded the company in 1991 after decades as an entrepreneur in the retail computer business.

The previous Newman business was the Newman Computer Exchange, which refurbished and sold used minicomputers.

UPDATE: More information in this 2006 story on treehugger: American Cell Phone Recycler Creates Win-Win-Win.

Fifteen years ago, while cell phones were still a luxury item, Michigan entrepreneur Charles Newman recognized a business opportunity in those old phones. His company, Recellular, now controls more than half of the US market for used cell phones, and in addition to keeping 75,000 phones a week out of landfills, the company provides affordable wireless communications to residents of developing countries around the world. As most used cell phones are collected either by charitable operations, or on behalf of them by wireless giants such as Sprint and Verizon, these used phones also create another stream of revenue for often strapped non-profits:

Technorati Tags: recellular