Making, baking, and (un-)breaking things in Southeast Michigan.
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Tonight I’m sipping a snifter of Founders‘ Backwoods Bastard while trying to figure out a Time Machine problem I’m having. Thankfully, the need to let the beer warm up to a bit below room temperature for drinking tied in well with time spent working on the backup.
This beer is interesting, and tastes quite a bit like their Curmudgeon, but with lots of oak. It’s nifty and worth drinking, if you like potent, strongly flavored beers.
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Back in the early 1980s my grandma bought my grandpa a bicycle for his birthday, but my grandpa ended up not really riding it. So, for more than 25 years, it sat, until they were clearing things out and gave it to me; my very own Sears Free Spirit 10-Speed 26-In. Lightweight Bicycle.
Despite its name, this bike isn’t particularly lightweight, and probably is somewhere around the weight of Danielle’s Townie and my bike combined. It’s also not particularly high quality, as the various frame pieces and joints seem a bit undersized. That said, I think there’s something particularly nifty about it. Maybe it’s the bottle generator / dynamo and the lights, maybe it’s the big chrome pie plates, or maybe it’s just knowing that it’s a cheap department store from a time I don’t really remember.
Yesterday when visiting with my Grandparents they gave me the instruction manual for it, as they’d found it when going through some drawers. I’ve taken the whole manual, scanned it, then posted it online because it’s really amusing for someone interested in bikes to read. I find these line art drawings to be particularly entertaining. This exploded drawing of the bike is also great.
I’m still not sure what I’m going to do with this bike. I may fix it up, but being unsure of whether or not I’ll actually use it, I’m tempted to just give it away or donate to The Hub of Detroit / Back Alley Bikes. That’s a decision for later.
For now, please enjoy this album of photos of the new-to-me Free Spirit (Sears 10-Speed 26-In. Lightweight Bicycle) and the Free Spirit Owner’s Manual.
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It works, and the only real problem I know of with it is that the joystick feels a bit odd. It either needs some work; maybe a bit of adjustment or replacement. I’ve also got an original copy of the manual, including schematics and whatnot, and that will be included in the sale. If you end up wanting to replace the joystick, I can help you out with selecting one. They are very easy to install, simply bolting inside the control panel and connecting with eight push-on connectors.
Photos of the cab, inside and out, are available on these two pages: 1 · 2
I can’t deliver it, but it’s available for inspection and pickup at my house. If you’re interested, please let me know. I’ve also got it posted here on Craigslist, so hopefully it’ll go quickly.
EDIT: This game is sold.
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A while back I had the chance to acquire a NiteRider MiNewt Mini-USB Plus bike / helmet light for a very good price. It took a while to arrive, but I received it just before Thanksgiving and decided to take a few photos of the unboxing of it. At 110 lumens it’s not a particularly powerful light, but it should be nice to throw on the handlebars to provide some contrast with my head light. I also hope to use it on both Danielle’s bike and, if I get it, a Surly Cross Check. It should be just great alone for paved area / path riding.
I hope to do a light comparison later with it, the TriNewt, and a few other lights, but for now please feel free to browse the MiNewt Mini-USB Plus album.
Leave a CommentLast night after finding it available in the Netflix Streaming stuff, Danielle and I watched King Corn. This documentary was very similar to the first part of Michael Pollan‘s book The Omnivore’s Dilemma and even included Mr. Pollan and thanked him for the inspiration for the film.
In this film two guys decide that they want to grow an acre of corn and figure out many of the things that industrial corn is used for in the US. They spend most of their time in the farming town of Greene, IA, with side trips to NYC, feed lots in Colorado, and a few other places. For those who are already familiar with how industrial corn is used to make the vast majority of processed foods in the state it’s nothing too new, but it’s well put together and fairly entertaining.
I think the film could have spent more time going into a few areas which were hinted at, such as how the determination is made which shows that most of the carbon in most USians is originally from corn or what happens to cause a particular farmer to auction off all his belongings and move, but that might have made the film a bit drawn out. As it stands, I definitely recommend seeing this.
Here’s some more info about it:
Leave a Comment· King Corn – Official Site
· Independent Lens: King Corn (PBS)
· King Corn at Apple Trailers
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I’m about to go to bed, but first I thought I’d post this photo of my CamelBak from last night after riding a bit at Stony Creek last night with some friends. The route to and from the park was quite muddy, and the whole area in the park was either muddy, snowy, slushy, or covered in wet leaves and pine needles. It was a nice ride, just very tiring because of the snow and slippery-ness. My bike is thoroughly covered in mid and snow, and my pants, jacket, face, gloves, and everything else had a pretty solid spray on them as well.
Hopefully Saturday or Sunday I’ll be able to get out for another ride before cleaning off my bike. Well, time for sleep.
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Here, have a photo of the beer I just started sipping, Southern Tier Brewing Company‘s Krampus, which is one of their Seasonal Imperial beers. It’s a very nicely hoppy 9% beer with a very slightly roasted taste to it. I also think it smells a bit like grapefruit.
Here’s some text from the back of the bottle and the relevant Wikipedia article:
St. Nicholas, aka Santa Claus, is a magical figure, the bringer of gifts and an icon of holiday spirit. Forgotten by most is his evil side kick and enforcer of ‘the list’.
European tradition says while St. Nick is busy delivering presents to good little boys and girls, Krampus hands out punishments to the bad. A fanged, goat-horned bully, the Christmas Devil uses sticks and chains to beat the naughty children.
Dark malts and aromatic hops create the diabolical spirit of this brew. It is finished with lager yeast and aged cold for no less than 30 days. This Imperial Helles Lager will warm even the darkest hearts.
This season, replace the cookies with a bottle of Krampus. If he happens to pay a visit, toast to him with this devilish brew. Merry Kramp-mas to all, and to all a good pint!
Alc. 9.0% by Vol.
20° Plato
2-row Pale Malt
Debittered Black Malt
Munich Malt
Caramel Malt
Kettle Hops: Chinook
Dry Hops: WillametteStore In A Cool Place
Serve In A Snifter [Whoops!]
Best at 48°F (8.9°C)
Now I think it’s time to go watch King Corn via the Netflix / Xbox 360 streaming stuffs.
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Save for an awful cold, an Oyster Card, some cash, a few receipts, and two packs of candy chocolate bars, this 1L bottle of Laphroaig Quarter Cask purchased at a Duty Free shop at Heathrow Airport was the only real souvenir which I brought back from the UK. Cost was £30.99, and with the ~1.58:1 exchange rate we received, the state minimum price of $54.98 for a 750mL, and a 6% sales tax, presuming the same size bottle was available, this cost 63% of what it would back here in Michigan.
This is a very interesting whisky. Despite its higher alcohol content it’s not as potent of a flavor as I expected. It’s still nicely smoky, but there’s something much softer about it. I did mix it with about 40% water, and I may eventually work up to trying it neat, but that’s typically a stretch for Laphroaig. It’s almost always best with at least a small splash of water.
I guess I should go fill out the form to claim my square foot of land on Islay. Maybe one day I’ll end up there and have a chance to collect rent.
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I finally put the cleats on my new Sidi Bullet 2 shoes, covered them with Pearl Izumi AmFIB Moutain Shoe Covers, and went for a bike ride. Beyond the new shoes and covers I also wore the gloves I purchased last month, BDU pants, my old blue North Face jacket from my Alaska adventure in 1996, and a Descente Coldout Beanie under my helmet. I did not feel cold, nor did my toes get numb. This is good.
The ride was 13.5 miles, and in just over an hour I went from my house, up to River Bends park, through the 5km hiking trail, out of the park, down to 21 Mile, back past Schoenherr, through a subdivision, then back to my house. At one point while riding someone in a car yelled something at me, but I’m not really sure what it was. It may have been “Ghostrider!”, but I couldn’t really tell. Weirdly, I caught up with them at the next light (about a mile away) and ended up passing them as I crossed.
My head and tail light both worked great for the whole ride, but it was a bit spooky riding along in the woods alone, knowing that it was unlikely that anyone else would be out there any time soon. At one point I turned the light off just to see how difficult it was to ride, but the only markings I had to follow were the dim blue/grey slush and snow on the path. I quickly turned the light back on. That said, there was something really pleasing about riding along seeing small snowflakes fluttering down and streaking past me, and in the woods I saw at least one set of eyes looking back at me in the brush.
I think I’m set for cool weather (~32°F/0°C) riding.
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(UPDATE: This issue has been worked around / resolved. Please see Xbox Live Open NAT Using pf on OpenBSD.)
I rather enjoy turn-based artillery games like Worms, Scorched Earth (and Scorch 2000 and Scorched 3D), and GORILLA.BAS, so when I found out that Worms for Xbox Live Arcade was available, I purchased it.
A few months ago, before Microsoft released NXE, or the New Xbox Experience, I had no problems playing Worms online when using my Trashwall set up with the Microsoft proscribed forwards of 88/udp, 3074/udp, and 3074/tcp. However, after NXE was released it seemed to stop working. The Xbox LIVE test would consistently tell me that I have “Strict” NAT settings and that some things won’t work. I was unable to host private or public games. Xbox LIVE supposedly works best with either a direct internet connection or a firewall which implements UPnP, so I set to implementing UPnP on my pf-based firewall.
In order to do so I compiled and set up miniupnpd per the directions, but I ran into a whole bunch of weirdness along the way. I eventually got it working, getting an occasional successful Xbox LIVE test (as seen above) which indicates “Open” NAT, and I was able to play a private game against
Below the cut I’ll document what I’m been seeing.
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