Good bye Jake
by slipshft on Feb.03, 2012, under Random Thoughts
I sad very sad to say that Jake, my best friend besides my wife, passed away today. Given that he was a dog, and lived only 13 years, I have to say that he was the best dog I have ever met. Sure I am biased, but truly he was special. I have had dogs before, and have been attached to them as companions, but none like Jake. Jake spent his life with teh desire to be with people.
I found Jake at a pet store, he was older than most of the dogs there but had a quality about him that none of the other dogs had. So when I stopped to look at him, he didn’t bark or jump around instead he looked at me with eyes that said so much that I had to get him out to interact with him. While he was curious about his surroundings in the place that you get to interact with the potential pets, he was more interested in me and what I was doing. Which of course was playing with him. We spent some time together, as much as you can spend at a pet store, but in that short time had already formed a bond. So I took him home. Not that it was the best thing for me, but I could not excuse the expectant look of hope in his eyes.
Puppies have an unique way of looking at the world everything so new and exciting. WHile most dogs loose some of that over time, Jake was always like a puppy. Not in the normal ways, but more in the way that he looked at you with that expression that conveys gratitude and love at the same time. Jake could always melt your heart with a look.
As he got older, he suffered many of the things that large dogs do. His rear legs got stiff and a constant pain was with him. He would push through the pain to go outside with whomever was going to feed the horses or work in the yard. You could take him to down to the mailbox, work in the front yard, or just sit on the porch and he was always close by. He just wanted to be with people.
I will miss him.
Do they protest too much?
by slipshft on Jan.31, 2012, under Rants, Technology
All of the media outlets have been on the piracy bandwagon for a while now, but is it true. Here is an infographic that shows a different story than the one you are hearing. Makes you wonder if they really think that we won’t notice.
Are the iProducts worth human life?
by slipshft on Jan.25, 2012, under Rants
While this is not certainly new news it really is troublesome to me that a factory would have to put up netting to catch people throwing themselves to their death from the factory. The picture is from the Foxconn factory in China after 12 people committed suicide. It would seem that the labor force does not think that they are being treated fairly by Foxconn.
“Apple’s biggest supplier, Taiwan’s Foxconn, has been a subject of scrutiny after at least 12 workers have committed suicide at its plants in China. Three died last year and more than 70 were hurt in blasts at two iPad facilities, one of which was also owned by Foxconn. In response to pressure from Apple and the media, Foxconn more than doubled wages in 2010 for some workers in China and employed counselors.
Apple will now subject itself and its suppliers to the FLA’s membership criteria, including submitting to audits and enforcing a code of conduct based on standards approved by the United Nations’ International Labor Organization.
Taipei-based Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. (2317), Foxconn’s flagship listed unit, gets 22 percent of its revenue from Apple, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Pegatron Corp. (4938) earns 16 percent of sales from the U.S. company.” (Source: Bloomberg)
So now after all this time Apple is going to let the FLA monitor the factories that produce its products? It took peoples deaths for them to relent? I am all for less expensive products, but not at the expense of human life.
Patents
by slipshft on Jan.05, 2012, under Technology
Lost ABS casting, a variation on lost foam casting
by slipshft on Jan.03, 2012, under 3D Printing, Casting, Metalworking
Lost Foam Casting is a process in which a foam pattern is made of what ever object is desired then the part is cast and the foam is burned off in the process. It is a type of investment casting, similar to lost wax casting. Since one of the types of foam used is ABS, I thought I would try lost ABS casting where instead of foam a thin filament of ABS is used. So using a Think-o-Matic 3D printer, which extrudes ABS, I printed up a few things to try casting. My first attempt did not go well, actually the results were dismal. Since I was using greensand and I did not vent the sand well enough, the ABS did not have enough oxygen to achieve combustion properly and the smoking continued. Back to the printer.
My second round of testing I received more of the results that I was looking for. First, I limited the amount of ABS in the print (no more than 5% fill) and I reused the sand that had dried from the first attempt. The first part, an android head, came out with good detail and only minor artifacts.
The android body did not do as well. I did not settle the sand well enough and the result was a compressed casting, something else to watch out for. I will be doing some more testing in the near future to refine my process and see how patterns with thin sections will turn out. Maybe a T.I.E Fighter Advanced will be the test for that.
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