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Electric Motors

My interview at Informedia Group went very well. They’ll get back to me at the beginning of next week.

Very nice.

Ad Hominem

Description of Ad Hominem [from this site]
Translated from Latin to English, “Ad Hominem” means “against the man” or “against the person.”

An Ad Hominem is a general category of fallacies in which a claim or argument is rejected on the basis of some irrelevant fact about the author of or the person presenting the claim or argument. Typically, this fallacy involves two steps. First, an attack against the character of person making the claim, her circumstances, or her actions is made (or the character, circumstances, or actions of the person reporting the claim). Second, this attack is taken to be evidence against the claim or argument the person in question is making (or presenting). This type of “argument” has the following form:

1 Person A makes claim X.
2 Person B makes an attack on person A.
3 Therefore A’s claim is false.

The reason why an Ad Hominem (of any kind) is a fallacy is that the character, circumstances, or actions of a person do not (in most cases) have a bearing on the truth or falsity of the claim being made (or the quality of the argument being made).

Example of Ad Hominem

Bill: “I believe that abortion is morally wrong.”
Dave: “Of course you would say that, you’re a priest.”
Bill: “What about the arguments I gave to support my position?”
Dave: “Those don’t count. Like I said, you’re a priest, so you have to say that abortion is wrong. Further, you are just a lackey to the Pope, so I can’t believe what you say.”

from The Sussex Air ShowSimba F5B electric hotliner. This thing is so frigging fast! And maneuverable too! 10 2400 mah zapped cells power a brushless motor. The motor draws around 100 amps, leaving the batteries too hot to touch for several minutes. The pilot says he only gets around 50 flights on a battery pack before they’re toast.

To launch: Hold upright. Turn motor on. Let go…. straight up as high as you like. It went about 100-120 after a dive on the flats and loops like…. It’s hard to describe… It goes into the loops so fast and barely loses any speed even though the motor is off when in the loop.

SIModels biplane. There were larger planes out there but this one had the most stability and commanded the most attention of any plane in the air. That thing is at home in the air like a Lazy-Boy! The engine purred wonderfully. The plane costs what you think it does, in the $5,000 range. Powerful, smooth, commanding, beautiful.

This Lazy Ace is for sale by Chuck Howarth (I’ve saved his phone number). I’m very tempted! I think it was $750 complete minus receiver and transmitter.

Going to the Sussex model air show tomorrow. Yip!

Battery uses estimate

	1	2	3
previous totals	19	0	19
7-22	1	2	1
7-23	1	2	1
7-24	1	1	1
7-28	1	3	2
7-29	1	2	2
8-12	1	1	1
8-24	1	2	1
total	26	13	28

I have to fly battery #2 13 times more than #1 before I can charge #1 and #2 together. Ugh.

Hey, I’ve flown over 10 hours! 64 flights * approx 10 minutes per flight = 10.6 hours!

I replaced one battery in my transmitter battery pack. For as long as I’ve had it, the transmitter was only good for just barely 1 1/2 hrs of flying time per charge. I finally tested it and found that one cell was completely shorted out, 0 volts. I think that it’s always been like this but I never looked into it. The new battery is a Radio Shack 700mah AA cell. The other batteries are 600mah cells. I hope it works alright.

I applied for a job at my sister’s company. They make templated websites for real estate agents. I’d likely be some sort of tech support / client engineer guy. It felt nice when my sister told me they said I was probably overqualified. I’ll have an interview soon.

I saw this story on power-assist@yahoogroups

I commute daily (only a few miles)from my home to my job with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife in Olympia Washington. I got into an Ebike (2000 Currie USPD) mainly because I sweat even thinking about exercise and didn’t want to get to work sweaty. At the headquarters building where I work on the State Capitol Campus, there are many dedicated bike commuters, some of whom are lycra types, and many of whom are certainly “purists.”

We have these nice bike cages at work inside which you can securely store your bike. These cages hold about 15-20 bikes and are located in different areas across the campus. You access them through an electronic keypad. One day, while locking-up the bike and going through my shutdown routine in the bike cage, a couple of dedicated purists came in to lock-up their bikes. While doing so, they started glancing at my bike, snickering, and generally making fun of my nerdy bike (and its owner). Although a little embarrassed, I took it in stride.

A few days later, while pulling the not-so-steep but long hill home, I spotted one of the offenders up ahead in my sights. I can’t tell you the pleasure I experienced when I passed him while I was sitting and he standing. I came-up on him and said (without panting, of course) “passing on the left” while simultaneously ringing my little dainty and nerdy bell. He looked back over his shoulder but I was already pretty much past him which made him do a double-take of sorts. He looked shocked.

The next morning, while locking-up my bike in the bike cage, the guy I passed came in with his bike. I didn’t say a thing about the afternoon before. After he locked-up his bike and was heading-out of the cage, he came over and said very seriously and respectfully, “so…what kind of bike is that anyway?”
…
Cheers
Eric

These cards were made by an old classmate of mine. They depict the people that some think are the real perpetrators of war and destruction of late, George W. and company. I think they’re pretty darn funny.

Regime Change Cards

You’ve seen them before. Many times. That now infamous deck of playing cards detailing the images and job descriptions of the “most wanted” in the Iraqi leadership, according to the U.S. military.

Now you can have your own personal deck describing the truly scary people: the members and facilitators of the George W. Bush Administration!