something epic
The journey from Egypt to Sudan had always been a demanding one. For decades the only route from Cairo to Khartoum was via an overpriced ferry on the Lake Nasser. The two governments recently made the wise decision to build an overland route minimizing boat time. Here’s a satellite photo of the civil engineering travesty that ensued:
Continue reading “Eshkeet: Egypt-Sudan Border Crossing Fail”
I got tired of my phone always being dead when I commuted on the bike so I decided it was time to install a charging solution. I had installed a pigtail for charging/maintaining the bike’s battery so I decided to use the same connection.
Today we took the Gary Fisher Hoo Koo E Koo bike up to the Hoo Koo E Koo Rd at Mount Tam. It was an epic reunion of mountain bike heritage.
I stopped by the Tesla dealership today. The coolest thing was the stripped-down Tesla model S frame.
The second, larger hatch on my kayak needed a cover as well. This one was going to be more complex because it is oval instead of round. Intuitively that already tells you that the tensions holding the cover onto the lip of the opening will be distributed unequally. As before we start with an old wetsuit.
Trace, measure, cut, measure again, trim a little bit, and sew. Continue reading “Kayak hatch cover, part 2”
Wanting to mount my phone or GPS in the truck where it would be out of the way and secure, I decided on piggybacking on the rear-view mirror mount.
Check out this fat spider that I found on on the trail at Wilder Ranch – it was already dead, I just parked him on my tire to get a better photo:
I figured it was some sort of tarantula but it turns out that a very similar-looking but biologically unrelated specie, the Calisoga spider, is also common around here, according to this list of frequently encountered spiders in California.
My sit-on-top kayak was missing the covers for the hatches. Since this allows water to enter the main cavity of the boat, potentially sinking it in the blink of an eye, I decided to sew a replacement out of neoprene.
The South African wildlife reserve Sabi Sand just announced that they are implementing a clever new approach to protecting their engangered rhino. They are injecting a poison into the horns of 100 rhino on their reserve. This doesn’t harm the animal but should reduce the demand for the horn, much of which is consumed in powder form as a dietary supplement. The hope is that the poison and the dye that advertises its presence will make consumers shun the horn thus treated. The treated horn will become nearly worthless, and the animal isn’t harmed.
The short answer is “yes, it is possible.”
I’m replacing the battery on my bike right now and while I’m waiting on the new one and the proper float charger to arrive, I wanted to try out this hack. As my momma always used to say, “probieren geht über Studieren.” Continue reading “Charging a Moto Battery with a UPS”