Okay I don't know if its just me but I think this is one of those things that will later require a, What Were They thinking Forehead Slap.

------First the background information.------

Indonesia will drop clusters of concrete balls into the mouth of a "mud volcano" in an effort to stop a mud flow that has swallowed villages and left more than 10,000 people homeless since it erupted eight months ago.

The plan to slow the mud flow with the cement balls is untested and has been controversial since three geophysicists at the Badung Institute of Technology announced it a month ago.

Each of the 1.5-metre-long chains will be connected to two 20-centimetre-diameter and two 40-cm-diameter concrete balls. Each chain assembly will weigh approximately 300 kilograms, and a total of 375 chains with 1,500 concrete balls will eventually be lowered into the main source of the hot mud.
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I would think the plan would do little to slow the flow of mud and might could actually increase pressure at the source of the flow, leading to another bigger eruption, or help create another route from which the mud could escape. Basically its like holding your finger over the hose making the water flow out at a higher velocity, except in this case there is a greater chance of the worse case scenario occurring. A Halftime show featuring The Artist Formally Known as Prince.

I will leave the Badung Institute of Technology alone for now until I learn more about them and what there deal is. And when I do I will smash there heads on my tum-may!

The Answer is 42.

Huh... I just notice that the question that earth was built to discover, according to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, is what percent of my week will be spent at work.

This week like last week has been pretty busy. Between working nine plus hours a day, not to mention shortened or no lunch breaks. This week has been a little bit more intricate with all the trucks and patterns coming in and going. For example, one pattern took up the space of two fully loaded semi trailers. And according to Al Kessel the end is nowhere near. The possibility of me working Saturday has a 99.95% and Sunday has a 70% chance of happening.percent of the week will I spend at work.

Maybe...

And as a side note my grandma did spend time int the hospital, with a deficiency of a few minerals and other things that almost put her in a coma. She is alright she came home today and is on the necessary medication.

Anyway, like a woodland critter coming out of hibernation, I to set out into the sunlight to bask in its warmth today!No, it wasn't just to get into my truck or run out to get the mail. I went for an hour hike out on the Kawkawlin River near my house.

I was surprised myself, I was pretty much falling asleep talking to a few friends earlier, but after being blitzkrieged by my two nephews and then stepping out into the spring like weather, my instinct took hold and I went out to explore this strange but familiar scenery. I took a few pictures here and there. I will post a few of the more interesting ones in various forms of media.

It’s probably technically true

As usual its another day another dollar.

Today my suspicions were confirmed by eBay. The winning bidder, the person(s) that bought my item were nothing more than scam artists. Aye, who am I kidding they are more like scam... wait that would be more of an insult to real live dumb asses. It doesn't really bother me that much seeing as once again that laziness can be a good thing after all. Laziness paid off, I waited to almost the last minute to get all the invoices and shipping information taken care of for this order.

Yesterday went by like any other day...

My camera is on its way home,it just got shipped today. I missed it so much. All undocumented moments that went uncaptured will now be a thing of the past.

Wings won last night with Osgood in net with a broken index finger. McDonald could take a few lessons from Ozzy and Hasek. Gotta keep those lose pucks covered.

Looking Back

Looking at the picture in my previous post (the one with a picture of me and my camera). I figured I would show you the mark that shall ever be my daily reminder of working for and at Bay Cast Incorporated.

This picture was taken about a month after I ground my finger up at work.

This was the first time the bandage was off since the surgery. A skin graft was taken
from my right forearm and stitched into my finger...nice I know.

I hold my fingure up to it every so often amazed how different it looks from now and then.

Dark Sunrise

---------Darn You McDonald!!!!---------

First of all, Friday I finally got all my stuff together that i needed to mail my camera in to be serviced.So naturally I got up and went to the post office not the zoo as Adam would of done. So I should plan on having it back in the palm of my hands by next weekend or Monday the 19Th. As a result of that, plan on seeing some high quality digital snapshots of nothing of any importance.

Second thing, I know its cool that you can upload a butt load of pictures onto your Facebook/myspace account, but that doesn't mean you have to use all of it! Especially blurred, indiscernible pictures that seem to go on forever. Its cool if it was like a artistic type shot of a person through a beer glass or anything in that nature, but seriously why the f would you post 5 blurry shots of the same darn person scratching his ass?? Why?

Custom made Multi-Bit Set

Here is a snap shot from the sky copter displaying a pattern being set up with risers. The side with risers is known as the cope of the casting/pattern.

A riser or feeder is a reservoir built into a metal-casting mold to prevent cavities due to shrinkage. Because metals are less dense as liquids than as solids (with some exceptions), castings shrink as they cool. This can leave a void, generally at the last point to solidify. Risers prevent this by providing molten metal at the point of likely shrinkage, so that the cavity forms in the riser, not the casting.

This only works if the riser cools after the rest of the casting. Chvorinov's rule states that the solidification time t of molten metal is related to the constant C (which depends on the thermal properties of the mold and the material) and the local volume (V) and surface area (A) of the material, according to the relationship

t = C \times \left (\frac{V}{A}\right)^2.

Therefore, to ensure that the casting solidifies before the riser, the ratio of the volume to the surface area of the riser should be greater than that of the casting. The riser must satisfy two requirements: it must be large enough so that it solidifies after the casting (i.e. satisfies Chvorinovs rule) and it must contain a sufficient volume of metal to supply the shrinkage contraction which occurs on cooling from the casting temperature to the completion of solidification. This latter requirement will be more important for plate like shapes; the former will be more important for chunky shapes.

Because risers exist only to ensure the integrity of the casting, they are removed after the part has cooled, and their metal scrapped. As a result, riser size, number, and placement should be carefully planned to reduce waste while filling all the shrinkage in the casting.

That last part about reducing waste always induces a chuckle or two.

Sources
Wikpedia
Bay Cast
And ME

Velvet Yesterway

I am sure you all heard the quote... "Necessity... the mother of invention." by Plato. Well in my case its:
"Laziness is the bear necessities."
-PW
This little crude contraption(see figure 1.0) I rigged up in about 15 minutes saves me an average of two and a half hours per job. And as of now there are two jobs that need to be taken care of. This contraption uses space age hot wire technology to cut polystyrene patterns otherwise known to you lesser people as Styrofoam patterns.

When I say job i mean a rainbow shaped piece of polystyrene. (as seen in figure 1.1) It has a diameter, from outside edge to outside edge, of roughly 20 feet. Its height is 49 inches with a thickness of 16 inches.In figure 1.1 you see the pattern standing up, the view shows the thickness and length but not the height.

My mission whether I like it or not is to cut it down to a height of 29 inches. The given method of using a handsaw or a saws all takes anywhere from two and a half hours to all day depending on how I feel that day.

I now open the floor for Q & A.

Stalagmite pushes up with all its mite!

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Intro
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My sinuses are pretty much all f'd up and it is to bright outside.
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Story Line
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Yeah so its final the guy at work isnt coming back to work anytime soon, his doctor put him on disablilty. and his brother is retired and I heard that they are bringing an R Tard from the other plant across town to help ram up patterns.

I found out that in 2002, bay county ranked among the dirtiest/worst 10% of all counties in the U.S. in terms of total environmental releases. I.E. pollution producers. I am suprised Bay Cast isnt found in this website anywhere. There are other companies that i know have less waste than Bay Cast that are found there but not one word of them... makes me think a little bit about what is really going on.
click here to see how your community ranks.
www.scorecard.org
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Intermission
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After much anticipation i am unveiling my newest goal.
Traveling lower Michigan and visiting all the recognized cities and viliges as defined in the State of Michigan website. My goal is to have at least 60% done by the end of the year.

Remember if your looking for crystals look for stalagmites.
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Fin
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Large Swissman's Last Symphony

Yeah this guy at work went into the doctor this week and so far he hasnt returned and rumor has it the doctor said he couldnt work anymore and that he should be on disablity. This coming two days before his brother is to retire.

Its a good thing Bay Cast is really slow and that there isnt any castings that need to be rammed and poured now that half of the crew is going to be gone.