Sinning Applicances

Here at the palatial Toad Hall Estate in Glittering Bellevue (by the shores of Gitche Gumee, by the Salish Sea Water) we often have challenges similar to what ordinary folks endure. For example when a household appliance goes TU.

Often at my house it’s the danged dish washer. I think we’ve had at least 8 over the last 35 years. Is that average? Who knows? Maybe I’m more sensitive than most but once a dishwasher pees on the kitchen floor I fire it and get a new one. I have a low tolerance for appliances that wet the bed.

OK, the latest appliance disaster is the water heater. The unpardonable sin of peeing on the floor spelled its doom. It is now fired.

Do you know what that means? First you have to do a quick web review of water heater ratings. They’re pretty much all alike. The big difference is the length of warrantee. You can get 6, 9, or 12 years. One has to assume that is also the useful life of the unit. If you get one with a 6 year warrantee you need to plan on replacing it in 6 years.

Here are the steps to take in replacing a water heater:

Charge up the iPod – You’ll need some soothing music while you work.

Order the new water heater – Use a credit card because you can later claim an energy credit on your income tax. I have no idea if this is true, but it’s worth a try.

Check the wine supply because you’ll need plenty of that.

Try to contain the flood using that wet/dry ShopVac you bought 23 years ago.

Get a new ShopVac.

Decide how you’ll drain the old water heater.

If you don’t drain it you can’t move it. The recycle people won’t take it either. It has to be empty. Use a garden hose to run the water outside the house not into the garage. If you just open the drain spigot it’ll flood the place and you’ll lose what’s left of your paper machete livestock collection. Oh, and turn off the circuit breaker to the water heater. It’s the one marked “garage lights” on the label. And make sure the cold water input line is shut off. You probably knew that. Open a hot water faucet upstairs to give it a source of air. Do we have to tell you everything?

If you ordered the water heater they probably want you to pick it up at a store. Don’t take the Yugo because it won’t fit. Take the Subaru. Take plenty of yarn because you’ll need to tie it to the roof rack.

I ordered mine from Sears. Yes, it’s true, Sears is still out there.

When I arrived at the merchandise pickup I found an empty room. There is a little airline checkin type gadget that talks. It wants you to touch places on the screen. They bought it at Sears.

I touched the big icon called “Pick Up Merchandise” since I was trying to do that. It asked me to swipe the credit card I used for the order. I didn’t have it. I pushed the “Don’t Have It” button. It wanted my name, house number, and zip code – just a few characters of each, not all of it.
Then it wanted me to swipe the credit card I used for the order. I pushed the “Don’t Have It” button and got the sinking feeling I was stuck at Sears pushing the “Don’t Have It” button for several days. However, it believed me this time and said a dude would be with me soon. My name appeared on a TV above the door with the number of minutes I had been there. I watched the minutes count up.

A guy came out and badly mispronounced my name. He called me Wallace. I corrected him and he said “Oh, right, you’re the water heater.” Minutes later he came back with a water heater and I very carefully checked to make sure it was the right one. Amazingly it was.

He loaded it for me and said “Thank you, Mr. Wallace, have a nice day.” I hope Mr. Wallace checks his credit card statement.

If you manage to get the new unit home get a couple of neighbors to help you move it into the house. Here’s why: at your age you don’t need all this manual labor. They do.

Oh, and while they’re in the basement maybe they could haul the old unit up to the curb for the recycle folks. Have a couple of beers ready for when they get done. It’s the least you can do. Really; don’t exceed the “least” you can do.

You haven’t gotten to the hard part yet.

Once the old unit is out of the way the new unit is sitting in its place you will need to make the connections. If it’s a gas water heater you should have called a professional. Gas is dangerous. Don’t even pretend you can do it yourself. You can’t. Neither can I so don’t call me.

If it’s electric you’re home free. Electricity is easy. Always remember these simple rules: black to black, green to green, white to white, ground all wires. Then call an electrician.

See, it’s easy.

Always get new flexible water line connections. The economy needs you. Spend money at every chance.

One of the hardest parts of home maintenance is you always find something the dufous before you did wrong. You think it’s easy to take out an old appliance and put a new one right back in the same spot, right? I always find a surprise. Something ain’t right. It’s always hidden so you find it right when you’re out of time to deal with it. For example: What kind of idiot puts the clausternoder on the framinstuzel when there’s a perfectly good brundisturper right on the end of the prestaimerwankle??? You need to fix that. Spend more money.

See if the old earthquake safety straps will fit the new unit. They won’t. But check anyway. You need to strap the unit to the studs because you want to make sure it tips over if your house is heavily damaged in the next quake. You’ll be watching the Alaska Way Viaduct collapse on YouTube anyway.

Once the hot and cold water lines are connected backward and the electrician has hooked up the power (or the gas technician) you should try it out. Take a shower. See, you didn’t wait for the 66 gallons of water to heat so the shower is ice cold. Ha ha, joke’s on you. Beside, since the water lines are backward you’ll have to change them anyway. In a few hours you’ll finally be able to take that shower you’ve been waiting for.

It only cost about double what it would to have a professional do the whole job. But you’re contributing to the economic recovery so pat yourself on the back. That is once your sore muscles allow you to move again.

Al

The Future is Behind Us

I know all y’all have an iPhone. Everyone does. But did you know what you can do with them besides call your BFF and ask if he/she knows where you are? Here’s a lesson in what’s already here from the “Future.”

Most of us find ourselves in a strange and mysterious place from time to time. Happens to me pretty much every day. Memory loss can be a benefit. Problem is we want something but don’t know where it is. Well there’re apps for the iPhone that can tell you.

After you download one of these apps from somewhere in the future (when we are way more evolved) the rest is simple. Turn on the built in camera and point it. The GPS knows where you are within a yard or two. The apps grabs a reading from the built-in compass so it knows which direction you’re pointed. It adds that to the GPS location and the image on the screen. It then connects with a gigantic server located in a secret orbiting starbase. Using these three items it tells you what’s in the picture.

For example if you’re in New York City you may point the camera at the Empire State Bldg. it will suddenly display a little label claiming “That’s the Empire State Building you simple minded tourist.” OK, maybe it’s not rude.

But here’s the alleged benefit. Suppose you’re looking for a subway station or a Subway sandwich shop. One of the many labels on the screen may actually use the word “Subway” in the view on your iPhone. One problem is the subway you’re looking for might be on the other side of the building in front of you but its not clever enough to let you know that.

But that’s not the point. The point is we’re getting to a place in the space/time continuum in which we will be tied to these little screens in ways that interfere with what we actually see in front of us.

The old TomTom navigation device that I USED TO HAVE!!! It would show two parallel lines and a car icon when I was on the freeway! I could look out the window and get more information than that. But I still looked at it. It was a brain dead useless device so we’ll speak no more of it. I have a Garmin now. Life is good.

Only now that I have a GPS that actually has pertinent information about where I am, where I’m headed, and what road I’m on, how far above sea level I am, my blood pressure, etc, I rely on it a lot. In the old days I’d use maps to get near a destination and then make 42 wrong turns within a block of the target. Now I just glance at the dashboard and see that it would be dumb to turn left here because the GPS says turn right. So I turn right. I obey well.

Another magical device we all know is the cell phone. It’s one of the things your iPhone can do – hence the name. Did you know that?

The cell phone has a long list of negative synonyms because very few of us really like having everyone able to reach us any time no matter what we’re doing. You have to balance this with the idea that we can bother anyone we know at any time day or night.

A while back I got a call from a cousin on my cell phone. It was during a party. I could hear everyone having a good time. Apparently the cell phone decided to make the call all on its own because nobody responded when I said “hello” 50 times. I clicked off but since I didn’t originate the call it continued to tie up my cell phone. Finally I powered it off. These are some of the many benefits we’ll appreciate in the future.

I like the cell phone and the fact that I don’t have to sit by a home phone waiting for a call or look for a pay phone when I need to make a call. When it starts its Sarah Palin impression it’s very very bad. (That refers to watching the “news” on TV but get nothing worth seeing because everyone is obsessed with Caribou Barbie, the TomTom of politicians)

So here’s my advice: Get the newest iPhone. Don’t resist, don’t try to delay the inevitable. We are already in the future. Oh, and get one of those new iPod Nanos. Those things are so cool; it has a video camera so you can record videos of stuff you do all day and then play them back on your home TV to prove to your skeptical spouse that your day was a drag. It’s way better than just whining all the time.

Also, get a riding mower. Makes no difference how relevant it is to your life and/or yard, just get one, they’re just fun. Get one with an iPhone adaptor.

Al

Newcastle Light Rail by 2100

The Bellevue Reporter recently unveiled yet another routing proposal for Sound Transit’s Eastside Link. The plan is to use the former BNSF corridor from I-90 and then to SE 8th Street. This takes it over that new holding pond. It’s called the “Vision Line.”

The rails will run along the west side of I-405 and then fly over the freeway to the east just south of NE 8th Street. Two elements are that it avoids Surrey Downs (really loud protesters) and avoids a tunnel. The headline says it avoids the downtown core. The Vision Line is about avoidance.

Curious folks can try to check Bellevuereporter.com or try this link: http://www.pnwlocalnews.com/east_king/bel/news/70249167.html
Couple of interesting pictures out there.

They don’t plan to begin construction until 2014 and finish around 2020. The implications for Newcastle are obvious: more delay. Instead of turning south at the I-90 and I-405 junction all the plans show it turning north.

This is probably why Sound Transit elected to install a temporary “Transit Center” in downtown Newcastle. They know everyone there will be retired before they ever make plans to run a line to Lake Boren. The new transit center will allow everyone to take busses to work for the next 30 to 50 years.

And this brings up an interesting point. 30 to 50 years from now public transportation will have to be a majority component of local travel. Much as we hate the thought of leaving the familiar heap behind we’ll just have to get used to it. I’m ahead of the curve because I’ve already retired. Just the concept of 30 to 50 years of work makes me want to go take a nap.

Us futurists (very few can see into the future as well as I can, so pay attention) can see a time when cars will be more like electric roller skates. I’d rather take the bus. As time goes on everyone the world over will continue to mandate higher gas mileage requirements. Materials will get lighter and comfort will be eliminated. So make sure you keep your current vehicle well maintained so it’ll be around for the next “Cash for Clunkers” trade down.

Another feature of the future will be charges for miles driven rather than gas tax. Never mind that the massive dump trucks rumbling to and from Maple Valley are the real road killers, regular drivers will be paying for repairs. And every lane will have a price displayed overhead. If you don’t have a transponder in your car that’s directly linked to your bank you’ll have to pay the maximum. Kind of like losing your parking stub at the airport parking garage. Not pretty.

OK, this is interesting but here’s the problem: if we fail to install a robust public transit system we’ll have demand way over capacity. When hundreds of thousands of suburban job holders want to get to work and WANT to leave the electric shopping cart behind there won’t be enough seats unless plans are made now.

Wait, here’s another cog in that malfunctioning gearbox: working from home. This gets better every day. High speed internet and cell phone networks combined with enormously capable hardware make it possible to avoid the office all the time. I certainly had days when I would have preferred to avoid the office.

Some people don’t even have a desk at work; they only go in for face to face meetings and to catch up on office gossip. Some people don’t even live in the same state as their business location.

Managers are sometimes not real pleased with the prospect of having most of their employees keeping track of their own time and productivity. So here’s my question: if you’re so worried that I won’t be productive when I’m at home why do you insist on wasting so much of my time when I’m at work? Answer me that you pointy haired nimrod!

Umm, we were talking about the light rail route through Bellevue weren’t we? Well in another prediction of the future I think it’ll take years to reach a resolution of this deal. We don’t even know for sure if the rails will ever be allowed on I-90. Also, the video showing a proposal for the new SR 520 Bridge clearly depicts pontoons that could be adapted to carry rails. I don’t know if that was intended but that’s the way I saw it.

Given the posturing and proposing that’s going on I wouldn’t be surprised if they eventually decide to build a light rail line from the Kent Valley to Woodinville on the east side of Lake Washington with no connection to Seattle. I think that’s about what the “Use the BNSF corridor” people were saying. Maybe they were right after all.

Al

Magic of the Internet

A commenter (named Anonymous) suggested I look at STOIK Imagic 5.0 that has a funtion to split MPO files. Hurray! It works. Now I can use all the Fuji 3D functions and get the stereo pair images I want. No more issues with 2D Advanced (meaning no two D same) modes. Just one extra step to load them on the PC and split them.

Here's a test photo stereo pair made from the MPO file!

Andrew says their 3D Vsoin photo viewer software will recognize MPO files soon. That means there are even more to choose from in the future.

I think it's good to avoid the $6.99 per print and/or $400 viewer costs to share photos. But everyone will need to have the plastic viewer or red/cyan 3D movie viewer to see them.

Thanks everyone!

Al

Smooth Sailing on the Salish Sea

We had an election here in the Greater Newcastle area. We elected a new Seattle Mayor; guy named “Mike.” Probably takes over for Greg next year. We also got a new King County Executive; guy named “Dow.” Should be interesting.

But here’s the real news: our local leg of the Pacific Ocean has a new name. We used to call some parts “Puget Sound,” or “Strait of Juan De Fuca,” or “That Disgusting Quagmire.” Now it all has an overall name. The old names are retained because the Ferry Boat captains can’t be retrained in a hurry. The new name is “Salish Sea.”

Here’s a map:

Really.

According to the map it includes all the rivers and lakes that supply water to the sea.
That means Lake Boren is now part of the Salish Sea. Newcastle is very proud. Glen, the Lake Boren Carp, has mixed feelings.

Glen likes to get out and visit as much as he can while still making sure the lake level is always maintained.

Thanks to the new culverts and stream restoration in conjunction with the Coal Creek Parkway project it’s fairly easy for him to get in and out of the lake.

The name comes from some studies of Native American peoples of the region who have a common language. There are various groups and tribes and studies show that for the most part they’re pretty much all related. They’re collectively called the Coast Salish and their heritage dates back to 8000 B.C.E.

Most of Glen’s pals around the world, for example Nessy from Loch Ness, are accustomed to hearing tall tales about Puget Sound. They can’t read and usually don’t watch much TeeVee. That means if Glen was to use the new name in conversation they wouldn’t know where he meant. Otherwise Glen really doesn’t care one way or the other.

There is one local character that cares a lot. His name is “Cressy” and he lives in Lake Crescent. Cressy is a distant relative of Nessy and he’s upset because he was just beginning to get noticed. He has no publicist like Nessy so few people are aware of his existence. Now that Lake Crescent is part of the Salish Sea, Cressy is afraid somebody will name him after the sea. “Sally” seems inappropriate for a prehistoric fire breathing monster.

A couple weeks ago I was at Lake Crescent and attempted to get photos of Cressy. Since he can’t read and has no TeeVee he didn’t realize what I was doing. He’s kind of shy.

So here’s the message: if you happen to see Cressy please reassure him that we aren’t going to change his name just because of the Salish Sea name. He may not surface again for awhile but keep an eye out when you’re up there.

This is Lake Crescent - what's that thing in the water? Cressy's parascope?

Al

Fujifilm Finepix Real 3D W1

The cow is done using wide-tele 2D Advanced mode - see below.

This is a little departure from transportation and road themes. One of my passions as a retired person (actually it started long before that) is 3D photography. It’s almost as old as photography itself, and almost as old as me.

Here’s the main concept: in real life we humans use two eyes. Most of us. Some don’t and there’s nothing wrong with that; it’s just the way it is. Anyway we take in two images approximately 2 ½ inches offset. This allows us to see in 3D. So in order to make a 3D photograph you also need two images – one for the right eye and the other for the left.

There are several ways to differentiate the right and left images and we don’t need to review them all. Two popular methods are red/cyan filters and side-by-side stereo. There are other methods, such as polarized lenses, but let’s focus on these two for this report.

These usually require viewers. Red/cyan 3D glasses or stereo glasses. The glasses are cheap and sometimes free. Another way to view side-by-side is called “cross eyed.” Cross eye means the left eye looks at the right image and vice versa. That way you don’t need a viewer but it makes people tired so most of us print them the right way.

In 3D most of the still photo people work with side-by-side stereo images. This is about 160 years of history. For many years companies produced stereo cards that people viewed using a “stereopticon.” You can often see these cards for sale in antique shops.

Some of us remember seeing these photos and the viewers in our older relatives’ homes. I sat for hours looking at 3D photos of exotic foreign lands. It mesmerized me in those days and I always wanted to be able to make those 3D photos.

I’ve used several film cameras built for 3D and then twin digital cameras. These were controlled by a device that attempted to sync the shutters for simultaneous photos. The name of the overlord in my setup is “Pokescope.”

After hearing about this Fuji digital 3D camera a couple years ago I wanted one. I checked the standard sources such as Amazon and Adorama but they say “not found” when I search on it. I got my camera directly from Fuji.

Here’s a web site with information. http://www.finepixreal3dw1.com/
Or try: http://www.japangadgetshop.com/products/Fujifilm-FinePix-REAL-3D-W1.html
OK, the Fuji camera uses a more modern viewing method called lenticular. It was developed a few decades ago: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nimslo .

The viewer on the back of the camera uses the lenticular method. Inside the camera each 3D picture is processed into a lenticular image and displays them on the rear screen. So when you focus in 3D mode you see the scene in 3D on the camera back. When you take the photo and then review it looks 3D.

However, no reviewer I have read gives this KEY point (unless I failed to understand what they said): it stores one jpeg image and one proprietary 3D image. The 3D image combines the two images inside the camera. It does NOT store both images in jpeg. That means when you bring the images down to a PC (or Mac for you smart guys) you only get one flat jpeg image.

This was a surprise. I would have expected that having two lenses and two actual cameras in the same unit that I would be able to access both jpeg images.

Turns out in order to do that you need to use 2D “Advanced” modes. That’s the way to get the camera to store two jpg images for download (upload?). One 2D mode is two colors. You get B&W in one and standard color in the other. Or “Chrome” and B&W. Or Chrome and standard color. But you don’t get both sides the using the same color treatment.

Another 2D Advanced mode is ISO. One side always uses ISO 100. The other one varies according to lighting. That means outside you might get both using ISO 100. But if there are clouds or shadows one side may automatically (no user override) go up to ISO 400 or 800. Inside the other one goes to ISO 1600. And flash is not available in this mode.

Another 2D Advanced mode is wide-tele. And it’s also automatic with no user override. That means the images are different zoom levels so there is no way they can be made into a 3D print.

In order to get two jpeg images I’ve been using two of the 2D Advanced modes. The Chrome-Standard Color and the ISO modes. Each has drawbacks. Chrome has more vivid blues so the two jpg images have different color casts. However I’m finding that is not noticeable when viewing the 3D print. The ISO mode often produces one dark and one light image. Also not too bad on a print, particularly if you adjust the lighting in Photoshop. But the focus in ISO mode can be different because of the different f-stops.

The flash works in the two color mode so it’s better for inside. Outside in good bright light the ISO mode is better.

I think Fuji should have made it possible to get two jpeg images (left and right) with the same color, ISO, focus, zoom, and available flash. It seems so simple. Maybe the W2.

Besides that it’s a very good camera. I know a lot of people will check it out and get all thrilled about being able to see a 3D image right on the back of the camera. They might buy it only to find out later that you need to spend another $400 to get a special picture frame viewer to display the 3D pictures. I don’t need that. I process the twin images into 3D photos that I can print or share on the web.

There seems to be a PR problem. I don’t see advertising and we still don’t see the camera for sale on the mainstream websites. It may be partially because you can’t show the 3D images in an advertisement. Amazon was confused about it and the only thing you get there is a charger.

This is in the blog version only so I can include several images. A couple are cross eye so you can see 3D without a viewer. A couple use red/cyan if you have old 3D movie glasses. Then the regular side-by-side stereo cards to use with a stereo viewer.

I’m slowly getting used to the camera. I have two 3D software packages that I use for making the printable images. They have similar features but very different interfaces. Let me know if you want to hear about the software. Sometimes I adjust the images in Photoshop.

Now here are the pictures:

This is the Jefferson County Courthouse in red/cyan movie 3D.

This is a tree scene near Lake Boren in red/cyan 3D.

These are inside the Pacific County Museum. I used the 2D Advanced ISO setting. The above pair are standard stereo and the lower pair are "cross eye." Notice how one side is much darker than the other one. But viewing in 3D it is not that annoying.

These are done with the 2D Advanced 2 color mode. One side has a bluer color cast. Again it does not seem to interfere with 3D viewing. In 2D Advanced ISO mode these might have been the same since the sun is shining.

This is the Starrett House in Port Townsend, Washington. There are a number of Victorian homes and everyone is encouraged to keep them in good shape. Recent ferry system problems, gas prices, and Bush economy legacy have really hit Port Townsend hard. We spent money there.

Any questions be sure to let me know.

Al