Simply random stuff

[mandrix]

Art called all his cars Green Monster, there were several very different ones. The last one was the jet powered world land speed record car.

Glad you folks over there are aware. His land speed record was set on the Bonneville Salt Flats, where most land speed records are made in the US.

 

[cbmmm3]

Well I finished my music closet cleaning. All this was 2024 purchase, fn' ridiculous. This does not count random CD's, downloads and SACD's.
So when I say I want to cool it in 2025, now you know why.
There is a couple 7" Piano Man, ones a replacement I think?
I am on my 3rd external 8TB hard drive for safe storage in case the NAS goes poop.
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and right there my eyes go to Stop Making Sense. Which - Markie - is what I am not doing. I am making sense - and cents. My purchases have dropped to an estimated 10 percent of what I used to do. When I had to move my collection this past Fall - and when I had to rack all this shit I said "enough". Plus I'm on retirement income now

 

[Owen Smith]

Glad you folks over there are aware. His land speed record was set on the Bonneville Salt Flats, where most land speed records are made in the US.

That is until Thrust 2 took the record at Black Rock Desert due to insufficient good quality salt at Bonneville, plus the salt surface really didn't suit the car. Thrust SSC then raised the record to Mach 1.02 at Black Rock Desert. But unfortunately Black Rock is now unsuitable, both due to a couple of decades of Burning Man trashing the surface every year and the prolonged drought meaning the desert didn't flood and re-surface itself every winter like playas are supposed to.

"Glad you folks over there are aware." No, not most folks, just me. World land speed records are another one of my specialist areas of nerdery, together with space flight in general and the Apollo program in particular. I really wish Bloodhound had managed to set a new world land speed record at Hakskeenpan in South Africa, but the project was running out of steam anyway before covid and has made no progress after it.

 

[marpow]

Plus I'm on retirement income now

I'm right behind you. That's why I am practicing now. 2025 this year October I go to fixed income.
Plus it can be obscene. I would bet? that 8TB of music, some double and triple dips that 50% I never listen to, cept once.
I am happy to say that there has been about 10 releases that QQ has threads on and members say oh man this is so great, that I have passed, that makes me feel good to have restraint.
Plus 2024 was THE YEAR for surround, none of us could keep up.

 

[mandrix]

That is until Thrust 2 took the record at Black Rock Desert due to insufficient good quality salt at Bonneville, plus the salt surface really didn't suit the car. Thrust SSC then raised the record to Mach 1.02 at Black Rock Desert. But unfortunately Black Rock is now unsuitable, both due to a couple of decades of Burning Man trashing the surface every year and the prolonged drought meaning the desert didn't flood and re-surface itself every winter like playas are supposed to.

"Glad you folks over there are aware." No, not most folks, just me. World land speed records are another one of my specialist areas of nerdery, together with space flight in general and the Apollo program in particular. I really wish Bloodhound had managed to set a new world land speed record at Hakskeenpan in South Africa, but the project was running out of steam anyway before covid and has made no progress after it.

Well Owen you never cease to amaze me.
I don't suppose you were into model rocketry? I used to make my own rocket fuel out of potassium nitrate, confectionary sugar and sulphur in weight ratio that seemed to work the best. I also bought those premade solid fuel rocket engines back in the early '60's.

Back then you could walk into the drugstores and get potassium nitrate and sulpher right off an aisle shelf. Not now because we're all terrorists I guess. Sad.

But for my home made rockets, I would use what we called "ladyfinger" firecrackers to blow the nosecone and parachute out of the top of the fuselage. Of course the purchased solid fuel engines had a charge to do that...but what's the fun in that? lol.

Keeping the exhaust nozzle secured on the home made rockets was a chore, especially since I used a larger tube to pack the propellant in. Finally I just put two nails through the fuselage after inserting and gluing in a balsa wood insert properly drilled for my lab stand rod, then inverting and using a product called Pourock Cement (concrete patch) to make the exhaust nozzle.

After the cement dried, I would flip the fuselage and slide down over the lab stand and start carefully packing in the fuel, then glue another balsa wood insert with a small hole to activate the discharge for the chute. Then I would glue the balsa wood fins i cut out to the fuselage, and glue a soda straw to the side to slide down over my launch rod. I used nichrome wire and batteries to ignite the rocket.

All early '60's I guess. I wanted to build a liquid fuel rocket but funds would not accommodate on lawn mowing money.

 

[Owen Smith]

I don't suppose you were into model rocketry?

Never did anything like that, sadly. If there had been a teacher at school that did I would probably have got into it.

 

[mandrix]

Never did anything like that, sadly. If there had been a teacher at school that did I would probably have got into it.

I was pretty much self taught on "model" rocketry, though I had a friend I collaborated with. I always read a lot in my youth. Finding out things meant reading books and trial and error.
My teachers in school in a small town were for the most part mediocre and not concerned with much but riding out the day. Save for one math teacher I had.
These days you can just go online and find out about anything. Not so much in the 50's/60's.

 

[cbmmm3]

Boonie. I really appreciate your posts, your life stories. Your wit. Keep em coming !!

 

[mandrix]

Boonie. I really appreciate your posts, your life stories. Your wit. Keep em coming !!

Thank you. Just recollections.
I was always trying to escape my living circumstances at a young age, I think, which sort of sucked, and I had a curious mind and an interest in chemistry and science.
My Dad was a hard worker and solid citizen, and WWII Vet of the 101st Airborne on D Day. What we now call PTSD, which I have....But also...well home life sucked.

We had a hobby store in a larger town nearby, and when on Saturdays I would go to town with my Mom to buy groceries, I would go to the hobby store to buy small amounts of chemicals for my "lab" and beg 50 cent from my hard working Mom to buy some chemical or another when I had no money.

Seems like at one time I had a good mind. LOL! Maybe not so much now.

 

[Owen Smith]

None of my teachers at school were memorable, though they got the job done in that they got me to Cambridge University. I was bullied at school for being bright and top of the class, but I survived and it did no lasting harm to me.

My home life was great, I couldn't have wished for better parents or a better environment growing up in the countryside in Yorkshire. I wasn't messing with rockets because I was out playing in the woods or on my bike, or writing computer programs in BBC BASIC.

 

[MidiMagic]

Well Owen you never cease to amaze me.
I don't suppose you were into model rocketry? I used to make my own rocket fuel out of potassium nitrate, confectionary sugar and sulphur in weight ratio that seemed to work the best. I also bought those premade solid fuel rocket engines back in the early '60's.

Back then you could walk into the drugstores and get potassium nitrate and sulpher right off an aisle shelf. Not now because we're all terrorists I guess. Sad.

But for my home made rockets, I would use what we called "ladyfinger" firecrackers to blow the nosecone and parachute out of the top of the fuselage. Of course the purchased solid fuel engines had a charge to do that...but what's the fun in that? lol.

Keeping the exhaust nozzle secured on the home made rockets was a chore, especially since I used a larger tube to pack the propellant in. Finally I just put two nails through the fuselage after inserting and gluing in a balsa wood insert properly drilled for my lab stand rod, then inverting and using a product called Pourock Cement (concrete patch) to make the exhaust nozzle.

After the cement dried, I would flip the fuselage and slide down over the lab stand and start carefully packing in the fuel, then glue another balsa wood insert with a small hole to activate the discharge for the chute. Then I would glue the balsa wood fins i cut out to the fuselage, and glue a soda straw to the side to slide down over my launch rod. I used nichrome wire and batteries to ignite the rocket.

All early '60's I guess. I wanted to build a liquid fuel rocket but funds would not accommodate on lawn mowing money.

I made quite a few model rockets as a kid, but I stuck to purchased engines.

My best model rocket was a balsa and silkspan model of the B-70 that glided back to earth.

The flying club at my school built a ducted fan flying saucer with a small model airplane engine. It flew for maybe 5 seconds, then tipped over and rolled across the football field and disappeared down Second Street. We found it later smashed in a culvert.

 

[barfle]

That is until Thrust 2 took the record at Black Rock Desert due to insufficient good quality salt at Bonneville, plus the salt surface really didn't suit the car. Thrust SSC then raised the record to Mach 1.02 at Black Rock Desert. But unfortunately Black Rock is now unsuitable, both due to a couple of decades of Burning Man trashing the surface every year and the prolonged drought meaning the desert didn't flood and re-surface itself every winter like playas are supposed to.

"Glad you folks over there are aware." No, not most folks, just me. World land speed records are another one of my specialist areas of nerdery, together with space flight in general and the Apollo program in particular. I really wish Bloodhound had managed to set a new world land speed record at Hakskeenpan in South Africa, but the project was running out of steam anyway before covid and has made no progress after it.

I had an “off-road” VW sedan that I raced on dirt tracks in SoCal for a couple of years in the early 1970s. 2180cc engine with dual Wber 48IDA carbs, SPG roler crank, don’t remember the cam. Definitely not street legal. I had a helluvalotta fun, scared the crap out of myself, and spent all my money. Found out that racing isn’t just driving fast. I wasn’t particularly good at it, though. No place to practice and test.

If you’re wacky about space (and physical media) there’s another budget sink for you called “Spacecraft Films.”

I’m less than a day’s drive from Bonneville. I need to check that out pretty soon.

 

[barfle]

I'm right behind you. That's why I am practicing now. 2025 this year October I go to fixed income.
Plus it can be obscene. I would bet? that 8TB of music, some double and triple dips that 50% I never listen to, cept once.
I am happy to say that there has been about 10 releases that QQ has threads on and members say oh man this is so great, that I have passed, that makes me feel good to have restraint.
Plus 2024 was THE YEAR for surround, none of us could keep up.

Financially, I’m doing OK in retirement. But it’s the TIME I seem short of. So many projects, and they keep nosing their way into my finite time budget. Hell, I even have plenty of storage space. But the stack of unheard discs keeps growing. And growing. And growing.

 

[ar surround]

Financially, I’m doing OK in retirement. But it’s the TIME I seem short of. So many projects, and they keep nosing their way into my finite time budget. Hell, I even have plenty of storage space. But the stack of unheard discs keeps growing. And growing. And growing.

Retirement's greatest myth: You will now have the time to do everything you want to do.

 

[Bruce00]

There used to be so many backcountry tracks here where you could run anything for a dare. Not especially safe, though.
When you're young and dumb you just go for it, but I would not ever want to see anyone hurt for not having proper equipment.

In the early days I ran a '65 Buick Gran Sport at the old Tampa Drags, which was a portion of old Highway 92 that got bypassed and turned into a strip. I saw Art Arfons run there once in the Green Monster.
A few times I ran down in Bradenton, FL. The main problem was no posi. You would have to to mod the axles/rear and do some welding I think. I used to run a big slick on the right side and street tire on the left.

I doubt/don't remember if the '65 Gran Sport ever made it into the 14's, but was hella fast on the highway. 401ci. Where I lived the local town had a brand new 428/429 Ford I smoked on the highway.
But anyway in '66 Buick went to the newly designed 400ci, IIRC.

All the engines I built in my young days were small block Chevy's. My fave was my '68 Chevelle with a 327 I built that was pulled from a 'vette. The old 30/30 Duntoff cam, high lift/short duration that made people look when you fired it up. lol. Not drag fast but would rip on the highway.

Jeez I miss those days. Lot's of work but very satisfying to build stuff with your own hands.

Tampa Dragway, your the first person I've heard mention that track in 40yrs.
That track was a frequent stop for me and Sunshine Speedway in St Pete, just across the Howard Franklin bridge.
Highway 92, couldn't remember exactly where it was......thanks
DeSota Speedway for the figure 8 races and Bradenton for when NHRA came to town.
I now have a Street driven, 4400lb pickup that runs high 9s on 20lbs boost and in street trim, 93 pump gas mid 10's. Can't bring myself to add up the recipes
I stopped when 2 of the 3 tracks up here closed down, plus Social Security doesn't pay enough for broken parts & stuff....LOL
Still have the pickup for nice days and HomeDepot trips