links for 2009-08-30

  • (tags: porn sex)

Toe Jam

Via variax.

links for 2009-08-29

  • John Novotny, a Melbourne resident, has developed a very simple and innovative method of rammed earth construction that results in houses massively cheaper than conventional ones and with amazing environmental benefits.He passionately wants to see this technique widely used to benefit ordinary people and contribute to a better world.
    (tags: microhousing)
  • The great thing about pie iron cooking is that it's easy for anyone to get involved which makes it all the more inclusive and fun when cooking in a group or with the family. Although the learning curve is slight for basic sandwiches and pies, the complexity can be taken up a notch or two for those so inspired.
    (tags: pie_iron camping tools)
  • When you're ready to move up to grinding your own blades from steel bar stock, the first tool you're going to want to consider is a good knife belt sander. Up until now, a huge barrier to beginners was the cost of a quality machine. If you've looked at some of the Knifemaker Suply catalogs, you've seen Bader, Wilton, KMG , Burr King and Pro Cut machines that cost $500 to $1800.00. Some of the smaller ones in the $400 range had wimpy 1/2 horsepower motors , no ball bearings and are built for a few months of light use.
    (tags: knife grinder tools survivalism)
  • A Wilderness Survival Kit is an absolute must if you spend any time away from civilization (hunting, fishing, camping, hiking, etc). There are commercial kits available out there for purchase, but building your own helps you to think about the what-ifs involved in living off the land, and also the opportunity to tailor the kit to your skill sets and tastes. I detail one of my relatively comprehensive kits below. I have listed each item and explained some of the various uses for each as well.
    (tags: survivalism suppliers)
  • REEL AIRBRUSH INK-TOTAL COLOR KIT

    Total Color Kits contain spectrum and fleshtone colors. They contain 14 bottles of these colors. The airbrush inks are the same as Reel Body Art inks and are the most economical way to buy several colors.**

    (tags: bodypainting art burning_man)
  • BRANDS I HAVE USED: Reel Creations, Graftobian, OCC Ink

    BRAND I PREFER: Reel Creations

    PROS:

    Alcohol based body ink stays on the skin VERY well, and can even be worn two days in a row with only touchups needed to repair damaged areas.

    CONS:

    Body ink is terribly expensive, it is available in fewer locations, the alcohol fumes tend to burn the eyes and nose while the ink is being applied, and it takes a lot of work (and remover) to wash it off. It also has a tendency to dry out the skin. To get an even coating, you must have an airbrush.

    (tags: bodypainting burning_man)
  • Possible source of scrubs
    (tags: scrubs burning_man)
  • javac options for ant build file.
    (tags: java javac)
  • Tiger Foam® quick curing, disposable, two-component spray polyurethane foam insulation kits are manufactured to ASTM E-84 Specifications and classified as a fire-rated foam insulation.

    Our spray foam insulation is manufactured using the most environmentally friendly blowing agents and fire-retardant chemicals available today and DOES NOT contain CFCs, VOCs, Formaldehyde or PENTA-BDEs.

    We are the ONLY supplier offering E-84 Fire Rating STANDARD in our surface spray product line. We believe safety is not optional.

    (tags: foam airstream insulation diy)
  • If I ever need to remove the inner skin of my trailer, I plan to add strips of 2mm thick EVA foam to the inside rib faces before reinstalling the skin panels. The plan is to use double stick "Super Seamstick Tape" (see Seamstick 1" Super Seam BastingTape by 3M (60 Yds) ) to apply strips of EVA foam which are a little wider than the rib face then connect the inner panels to the ribs with rivets like the factory.
    The weight is negligable and it could reduce the heating (or cooling) load by as much as 20% (my own guesstimate(unscientific))
    (tags: tape airstream suppliers)
  • In our rebuilds and new buildouts we use Polyisocyanurate closed cell, aluminum faced, board insulation of 1.5" thickness and tape the seams with an aluminum foil tape. Critters and insects will not burrow or nest in this material and it will not collect or hold water. If repairs are needed it is easy to remove. It can be scored on the backside and bent to fit in the compound curves of the upper body. In these locations we use the foil tape to make a complete seal to act as a vapor barrier which prevents the accumulation of condensation on the inside of the walls during cold weather use. In the upper bodies we also offer formaldehyde free fiberglass but it does not form a vapor barrier and will collect a great deal of water from condensation. Most people who can afford the polyiso foam board opt to install it.
    (tags: airstream insulation)
  • Perhaps you might want to start with an excellent article in Fine Homebuilding #204, July 2009. Of course, an Airstream is not like a stationary house but checking out all the references in this very complete article, you will find vendors who use spray foam insulation in refrigerated trailers and other applications.
    (tags: foam insulation)
  • We insulate with Polyisocyanurate foam panels to achieve about R-12 in our projects. The panels are faced with aluminum which allows us to use aluminum tape to form a sealed vapor barrier and keep the moisture away from the skin. We order a specific type of polyiso foam which contains a high number of glass fibers and a high carbon black content. The glass and the foil keep the foam from breaking down into the "dust" others have described. The cabon black significantly reduces the flammability of the foam. It is waterproof.

    While "polyisocyanurate" is a terrible sounding name the product is quite green. It does not contain formaldahyde. It does not off-gas nasties into your confined cabin environment. In the event of a fire it does not off-gas toxins.

    (tags: foam insulation)
  • Polyurethane Foam Roof Systems reduce energy costs. With an R value of 6.25 per inch, polyurethane foam has the highest insulation value of any material available on the commercial market today.

    Reflective coatings reduce external roof temperatures by 50'F-90'F (See the "COOL ROOF" link below), and polyurethane foam insulates buildings from the outside, allowing the building's cooling and heating equipment to operate more efficiently.

    When compared to other roofing systems, Polyurethane Foam offers the most efficient insulation available achieving energy savings from thirty to fifty percent over traditional systems. These features result in substantial, long term savings of energy costs which quickly recovers the cost of the roof system.

    (tags: foam insulation)
  • Make your parties be filled with everlasting memories of fun and laughs with Foamalicious’ machine spray foam LA. For your machine spray foam LA needs, try Foamalicious’ excellent packages that will surely fit whatever party preferences you have. Looking for excellent machine spray foam LA, machine spray foam Long Beach, and machine spray foam California? Let your search end with Foamalicious’ excellent services.
    (tags: foam party)
  • Tyvek supplier
    (tags: tyvek suppliers)
  • Rosco sample pack
    (tags: rosco gel photography)
  • Excel Dryer is proud to announce a breakthrough in hand drying technology. The XLERATOR hand dryers deliver 3 times faster hand drying power. A user’s hands will be thoroughly dry in only 10 to 15 seconds. The XLERATOR hand dryer is the result of a two-year research project, in which we studied every detail of the hand-drying process, with countless hours of field testing, listening to what users had to say, and, as a result, developed the patented technology behind the best hand dryer in the business. The benefits of the XLERATOR include:
    (tags: dryer)

Off to Burning Man on Sunday

I leave on Sunday morning/afternoon.

If you want to say hi, I will be in the SS Kitten Kabooble (a big RV) at Future Camp in the Playagon village at 9:00 and Fossil. If last year is any judge, the best times to find me will be in the early morning (between 8:00 and 9:00 a.m., and early evening (between 6:00 and 8:00 p.m.).

links for 2009-08-28

  • Hang-em High Fabrics was formed the summer of 1989 for the express purpose of providing the finest ripstop and the greatest availability of fabrics to the kiting industry. From the very beginning, we found out there's more to building a kite than just fabrics, so we quickly expanded to cover all the spars, hardware and hi-tech parts it takes to build a quality kite.

    Today, Hang-em High is known throughout the kiting world for selling only quality supplies at a price well below retail.

    (tags: kites kite nylon tyvek frabric suppliers diy design)
  • The Tele-Tower® Adjustable Work Platform adjusts from a deck height of 2 feet to 11 feet (17.5 feet with optional extension) manually with a hand operated winch. One person can easily set the Tele-Tower up from the ground. The Tele-Tower can role through a 32 inch opening with the outriggers in and the Guardrails down.
    (tags: teletower awp ladder tools suppliers)
  • Hacking/design focussed around ikea products
    (tags: ikea design furniture diy art)
  • I’ve been seeing a lot of cardboard in the kids design world lately and I thought I’d round up some examples of this emerging trend. Of course children playing with cardboard is nothing new (everyone knows that kids have more fun playing with the box than what’s inside!) but I have not before seen so many designer cardboard products. Not only is cardboard a fantastic eco-friendly material, but products made of it are also blank canvases for children both in terms of imaginative play and creative artwork and decoration.
    (tags: cardboard design art toys)
  • Beautiful copper room divider
    (tags: divider room copper diy design)
  • Lot's of weird, interesting photos
    (tags: design art wtf)
  • This page is maintained with specifications for mechanical components which are the current best-practices employed by UNAVCO in the Polar Permanent GPS Station design. Specifications are subject to change as the design evolves, however the most current design will reside here.
    (tags: tools design diy polar kee_klamp)
  • Ceiling height measurements required for standard sizes for ceilings up to 9'-0" – 4" adjustment range.
    Inexpensive simple and elegant decorative privacy screen wall panel system.
    Light weight residential grade screen wall partitions for your home, apartment, dorm room, or office.
    Modern anodized aluminum frames and translucent polycarbonate light transmitting panels.
    (tags: divider tension walls design diy)
  • This month's topic is handsaws. This is one of the tool groups I seem to collect. They have a fascination for me in a way other hand tools don't. I sometimes get a glazed look in my eyes and think if I can find that one special saw my woodworking, in fact my life would be that much better, that much easier. I tend to snap out of it when remember a picture of a woodworker in Indonesia making beautiful furniture with one handsaw, one bit & brace, literally a handful of carving tools and using his stool as his workbench, his leg as his vise. His entire shop is wherever he sits down. Very humbling.
    (tags: saws tools)
  • Lot's of useful tips for dividing a room
    (tags: design partitions temporary walls tools suppliers shoji tyvek)
  • Our made to order blackout curtains are manufactured with inherently fire retardant (IFR) fabric. The twice turned, double needled lock-stitched top and side hems combined with our #2 grommet, provides superior durability and long-lasting performance. Our blackout curtain fabrics provide a 98% room darkening atmosphere for laboratory and laser work, as well as for photography studios.
    (tags: curtains photography suppliers)
  • Source for "hospital track"
    (tags: curtains tyvek suppliers)
  • eShoji.com offers information on shoji screens and a online shoji paper store. Created by Shoji Woodworking Co., a shoji maker in southern WI, specialized in traditional Japanese sliding door and track system. The company has been making shoji screens and using shoji rice paper materials since 2001.

    As shoji screens and rice paper inspired products gain popularity, our distribution of shoji paper and Japanese washi products expands throughout the states and beyond. Our customers are architects, designers, builders, landscapers, woodworkers, shoji makers and DIYers.

    (tags: shoji tyvek paper design art)
  • (tags: shoji tyvek)
  • I like to make my kites: I cut out the patterns, hot cut the pieces of Tyvek, sometimes of spinnaker nylon; I fold sheets of (A4) paper, glue or sew them; I often use round bamboo sticks, out of blinds, for spars, but sometimes I use hard wood spars or bamboo for larger kites; and, yes, of course, I use sometimes carbon and glass fibre spars.
    (tags: kites tyvek seasteading)
  • BreatheEZ is the highest quality weather resistant barrier
    on the market – with the most competitive price.

    This will add directly to your bottom line!

    Because BreatheEZ housewrap is a woven polyethylene product, engineered with micro-perforations, water vapor is allowed to escape from the substructure. When housewrap is properly installed it can eliminate the mold and mildew that normally occurs in framing components and absorbent sheathing materials. Click here to view the BreatheEZ brochure.

    (tags: tyvek housewrap)
  • … keep your eyes open for a house being built. The odds are that, after the walls have been sheathed with plywood, but before it has been covered with the finishing surface of shingles or clapboard or brick or whatever, it will be covered with looks like white paper. On the paper, in big blue and red letters, are printed “TYVEK” and the DuPont logo.

    Or you may have received things in the mail in a big white envelope that you discover you can't tear open, for it is too tough. And you may see workmen handling chemicals clad in white suits. These too are made of Tyvek.

    You can make a good sail out of it, and very easily and cheaply.

    In the first place, it is available in great width. What the house builder uses is typically ten feet wide. So there will be fewer seams, and in a small sail, no seams at all. In the second place, it doesn't need to be stitched. Wherever one piece of cloth goes over another, like at a seam or a corner reinforcement, it can be stuck together with tape

    (tags: tyvek sail diy boats seasteading)
  • Since I didn't have a lot of time (or money), and since I'd never built a boat before, I decided to employ the fastest but least respected form of wooden boat building: stitch and glue. I walked to the bookstore and got a book called "Stitch And Glue Boat Building" that had plans for something called "The Jimmy Skiff." Since I didn't have a lot of tools (or the lifestyle that could really accomodate a lot of tools long-term), I decided that I'd build the whole thing using only hand tools. I got a small Japanese pull-stroke hand saw, a block plane, a rubber mallet, a bit-and-brace screw driver/drill, and some clamps. Nothing large, and no electricity. While I made a lot of mistakes during this process, resolving to use only hand tools was the best decision of the project.
    (tags: boat tyvek fiberglass seasteading)
  • Tyvek is that tough plastic paper stuff used for the envelopes that you can't tear. Mainly it is used for house wrap on building projects. I've seen it stapled to stud walls out in the wind and weather, exposed for months. It is a breathable material, to stop the wind but let the moisture out.

    All of the above plus the stretch resistance should make it ideal for a cheap and dirty JIFFY-SAIL … Will it work? The answer is a BIG YES! D.I.Y. sails are a natural companion to D.I.Y. boats, especially when they are so easy to make.

    (tags: tyvek sail seasteading suppliers)
  • I’ve written before about refilling disposable one-pound propane cylinders that so many portable appliances use. That article is the most-viewed post on Navagear.com. It’s popular because the subject is relevant to a wide variety of outdoor recreational enthusiasts: backpackers, kayakers, hunters, boaters, you name it.
    (tags: propane survivalism seasteading)
  • Links to interesting art
    (tags: art)
  • How to take photographs at Burning Man.
    (tags: photography burning_man)
  • Kifaru Tipis are the largest and lightest four season shelters we know of, and accommodate up to 12 people, and a mountain of gear. You have full stand-up headroom, space enough to sprawl in comfort and plenty of camaraderie! These Tipis are ideal base camps for any big adventure!
    (tags: tents survivalism)

Dan Savage’s weirdest letters

links for 2009-08-27

  • This is a fantastic way to remove rust and oxidation from steel and iron tools. It is not recommended for brass, aluminum, copper or exotic metals and alloys.

    Electrolysis is a method of removing iron oxide by passing a small electrical charge from a battery or battery charger through the rusty metal to stimulate an exchange of ions while the tool is submerged in an electrolyte solution.

    Don't let that description worry you because the actual process is quite easy to accomplish. Let's get to the stuff that makes it work.

    This system is so simple, easy to make and to use that anyone that collects or accumulates old tools for use or preservation should keep a small electrolysis system available in their shop.

    There are many variations of the setup but this is the simple, down and dirty method that requires a minimum of time, resources and understanding.

    (tags: rust tools electrolysis)
  • Full color custom 1" buttons
    (tags: buttons)
  • This pack of two Powerex 11,000mAh NiMH "D" batteries delivers honest, high-capacity performance that far exceeds many other NiMH batteries that claim the same capacity. They can be recharged 1,000 times and come with a one-year manufacturer's warranty.
    (tags: battery)
  • DIY Design Inspiration from … the Prison Population?

    diy prison escape tool designs

    They say necessity is the mother of invention – and there are few so desperate as those sent for years to (or serving life sentences) in prisons around the world. From weapons to tools of escape, prisoners have a long tradition of turning ordinary objects into creative constructions – in short: they are perhaps the ultimate upcyclers. Masters of disguise as well, those locked behind iron bars and concrete walls have also learned to conceal the nature of their creations – making escape ladders look (albeit remotely) like chess sets and grappling hooks like candelabras.

    (tags: art design)
  • Nifty bike camper.
    (tags: camper_bike bike vandwelling)
  • Yes, I have a turtle sex fetish. Why do you ask?
    (tags: sex porn)

links for 2009-08-26

  • How to give women squirting orgasms
    (tags: sex porn)
  • Oblique Strategies (subtitled over one hundred worthwhile dilemmas) is a set of published cards created by Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt first published in 1975, and now in its fifth edition. Each card contains a phrase or cryptic remark which can be used to break a deadlock or dilemma situation.
    (tags: selfhelp games)
  • Hang stuff on the wall.
    (tags: gearwall bike tools)
  • Lot's of positive reviews on yelp
    (tags: detailing car painting burning_man)
  • Lots of useful sql recipes
    (tags: sql)

links for 2009-08-25

  • Realistic sex.
    (tags: porn sex)
  • (tags: movies)

Why is Obama’s popularity declining?

theferret

Obama would not only have to sell America on a new health care plan but defend the merits of government and talk about the limitations of the free market, which the Republicans have demonized and fetishized respectively

Sure, some Republicans _claim_ to support free markets. But what do they do once they’re actually in office? Take a look at this graph:

Adjusted for inflation, discretionary spending under Bush increased by more than it did under under LBJ (and every president in between). LBJ also had a war to fund, not to mention a few little programs such as Medicare, and Medicaid.

So a lot of people who were worried about the unchecked growth of government spending under Bush figured Obama couldn’t do much worse. After all, in his entire two terms, Clinton only increased spending by half the amount Bush did in just his first term.

Unfortunately, once in office, Obama has increased spending so much as to make Bush look like a Depression-era grandma. Take a look at this graph of annual deficits under Obama:

Obama has pushed for trillions in corporate welfare to prop up GM, AIG, Fannie Mae, and Goldman Sachs. His plan to “get us out of Iraq” will still leave 50,000 troops in country, and he’s increased troops in Afghanistan. His record on civil liberties has proven little better than Bush’s when it comes to gay rights, warrantless wiretapping, torture, and drugs.

And now he’s pushing for Obamacare, a 1000+ page Frankenstein monster of spending and regulation, that neither he nor anyone in Congress has even read in full.

So, yes, Obama’s having trouble selling his monster to the public. Bush’s approval ratings were low not because he supported free markets, but because he was fascist spendthrift. Now that Obama’s proving himself to be more of the same, is it any wonder that he’s losing support?