Found an old hobo stove

It was buried under a lot of stuff. The hobo stove is a lot like a rocket stove, but it is tiny. You can carry it around with you. Basically, it is a can with holes in the bottom so that air can get in. You put your twigs and such in it, and the fire will suck in air through the holes at the bottom. There's a tiny grill on top. Maybe you can put a skillet or a coffee percolator on top of it, see?

You need to get some twigs, and we've got 'em around here. But they're plenty wet from all the recent rains. Let's get them dry, and then set up our little stove. There could be a cookout of sorts.

Booster rollout for Flight 15

A funny idea has come over me. I'd like to see a catch or both! But it is a long trip and once again, I do not know if I'm up to it. Update after a little while: Nope. No way to make that trip. Too much stuff to do around here.

The Police --- Walking on the Moon

Going back to the moon, soon. In the video, they're at one of the Saturn V display sites SOMEWHERE. I know one of these sites near Houston at Johnson Space Center. You can visit it there and see that sucker up close.

They also got a Shuttle there too, but it never flew anywhere in space.

Don't break a leg if you ever go up there. Not very many doctors.

SpaceX - “GO FOR ORBIT” Documentary 4K

Wonder how long it will be when the communists try to snuff the life out of the one thing the country has going for it. SpaceX is freaking awesome, and I think the America haters hate this like they hate nothing else.

Piddling around with the solar panels

11/7/26:

There's a pdf file on the Version 3 blog. Check it out, if interested.

I'm done with this for now.

11/5/26:

First cycle is in on the LifePo battery. It checked out okay. I did a wash cycle with it, which is one of the main things I want to use the solar panels for. It will run a few things, and it handle the washer okay.

All in all, I'd say it was a good day.

Other things may be going all to hell, but this is working. So I've got that much.

11/3/26:

An update on the progress:

The controller arrived, but it didn't have all the equipment that it was supposed to have. Rather than send it back, I just ordered some wiring that it needed. It had a different electrical connector than what I've been using, so I really wasn't prepared for this curve-ball.

The new hardware came in yesterday, and I hooked it up this morning. It is running okay, but the verdict on the batteries will take a cycle or two to know. That hasn't happened yet as of this writing.

10/31/26: The original post is below:

It's been several months since the solar panels have worked. The batteries have been neglected, and maybe they're no good.

But not all hope is lost. After spending most of the day checking out the problem, and the solution may be a new charge controller.

What happened to the last one? Maybe the same thing that always happens. These things are not the best built things around. As usual, a good one may cost a lot more money.

But the good ones seem lacking too. So the decision is to buy another one that is a bit on the cheap side, and hope that it works this time.

There's still a 24 volt controller, but that would entail a re-work of the wiring.

For example, instead of a parallel system, there'd be a two-by-two arrangement so that a series for two panels and a parallel for the pair of two. The result would be 24 volts. The old system used at the RV trailer had that arrangement. Another problem with cheap electronics sabotaged that system.

What a pain in the butt that would be to go back to the 24-volt. Oh, well.

In other developments, the trailer is now located near the shaded area where the ladder and the washer is located. Why not get the most of what is available, right? Moving the trailer was a pain in the butt too.

These experiments are all going into the memory banks for a time that the knowledge may be needed. But the off-grid idea is still on hold.

Come to think of it, beavers may be out. Too big of a challenge to make that work.

What do beavers have to do with this? Only that it is an idea, like this one is. By the way, this was about the rodent. What did you think it was about?

Super intelligence arriving soon?

If what Musk says comes true, which is no 100% sure bet, he will have it wired up and ready to go by the end of 2028. Even if he is off by a couple years, it will be by 2030, which isn't that far off, ya'll.

Folks are scared of super AI. That may be understandable, but it is coming all the same. If Musk doesn't do it, China will. It's a race, and somebody's going to win it. We're in that race whether you want to be in it or not.

Getting close to Flight 15

Both stages have been static fired now. That means the final preps should be in progress and a flight could happen within maybe a couple weeks?

Ten Years After --- Year 3000 Blues

Lyrics:

They took me down the grading station

And they classified me zed

'Cause of over population

They told me that I would soon be dead

But I slipped out of the force field

And hid beneath the monorail

But the automatic blood hounds

Lord, they're soon hot along my trail

Now if I had been a scholar

With computer working hard

Then my molecular structure

Would not be on the grader's card

So, I know that they will get me

Put my index in the brain

Then, the atoms of my body

Will be disposed of, Lordy, down the drain

They took me down the grading station

And they classified me zed

'Cause of over population

They told me that I would soon be dead

Methanol Wins - Robert Zubrin

10/26/26:

Way back when, before Tesla became a really large company that appears to be mastering battery tech, there was the concept of hydrogen fuel cell cars... Can these still compete against Tesla's battery powered cars? Here's some posts in support of methanol, which can be used to obtain hydrogen, or itself converted into ammonia that can carry hydrogen, which in turn can run hydrogen fuel cells. The answer to the question isn't in these posts, but there may be one if Eric Lerner's aneutronic fusion device can be made to work.

12/02/2011: The original post is directly below:

Robert Zubrin - National Review Online

Comment:  I've been sold on methanol for a long time now.  At least since 2005 or so.  It is also handy in making hydrogen for fuel cell cars, if anyone ever gets around to building one of these on a mass production basis.  Curious that there seems to be a glacial pace in making a flex fuel standard.

Thoughts about my off-grid project

This one has been on the back burner for years now. A question may pop up in one's mind. Will it ever get done? More on that later? As General MacArthur once said: "I shall return."

Ah! I wasn't gone long. In other words, I'm back.

A couple things here. I've been working on the new Construction Simulator game for the last few months. It has given me some new ideas. Folks may wonder how a game can be any good for real things in the real world. Look, if Apollo astronauts can use simulators to help the with the Moon Shot of the '60's, then I can do it too, dammit.

But it can only do so much. At some point in the future, I'll have to do it for myself, if I am to do it at all.

The main questions are when and how.

I'm land rich and cash poor. I've got credit, but I fear an inability to pay it back. Plus I'm getting on in age.

These are not show-stoppers. Or they don't have to be show-stoppers. We shall see.