A Geek Goes Flying

I’m continuing to get solid numbers when it comes to recharging this thing. I’m still using the Tesla Gen 2 UMC on an L6-30 outlet (240V 30A; the adapter I got automatically throttles the Tesla charger to 24A, so it’s effectively a ~5.76 kW L2 charger). I guesstimate about 7% charge per hour for the 2024 Solterra (72.8 kWh battery, per the Monroney sticker). Plugging in today at 50%, the car reported 6 hours 30 minutes to 100% charge, ~7.7%/hr, for an actual charge rate of about 5.6 kW/hour, with ~3% lost to inefficiency - which seems low, but, eh, I’ll take it. That’s one data point. The other is that when I plugged in at 95% the other day (I had a busy weekend ahead), the car self-reported it would take 1 hour 20 minutes hours to top off. So in the mid-90% range, I can expect maybe, what, 3.8%/hr charge rate? A few days before that, I plugged in at 82%, and the guesstimate was 2 hours 50 minutes, so the rate had dropped to ~6.4%/hr. Before that, 47% SOC (53% to full) was expected to...

Innioasis Y1 Ads popped up for The Classic MP3 Player (128GB) that tries to be a dupe of the OG Apple iPods. (No idea how close it comes, haven’t played with one personally.) The price as I type this is $179.99 $99.90 (and I suspect it never actually sells for $179.99), but I think  it was a bit more when I looked at it the first time. Just expensive enough to put it out of “impulse buy” territory for me (especially when I have a tragically underutilized Sony Walkman, and recently sold a Shanling M1s on eBay because I wasn’t using it enough.) Out of curiosity, I did a reverse image search and it’s apparently (also sold as?) the  Innioasis Y1 , and a bit cheaper on Amazon (which also has an even cheaper 64GB option , if you just want to try it out). It has a standard USB C port, doesn’t have a ton of storage but it’s not seriously hurting there (even using FLAC, 128GB will fit thousands of songs and hundreds of albums), claims 25 hours of music playback on a battery, has Bl...

I was intrigued by the Ridge pack ¹  that can also charge an Apple Watch, but at $80 it wasn’t an impulse buy. But then I saw this Energizer SKU (QM10010PQ) selling for $35 and it was a no-brainer. 10,000 mAh battery pack (38.5 Wh) with MagSafe charging for an iPhone or an Apple Watch (the latter is the killer app feature), plus two USB-C cables on the back for charging an iPad or MacBook Air, plus another USB-C port that can be used for charging the device (or you can hook up its built-in USB-C cable, USB 1, to charge - and I confirmed, it charged – albeit slowly, at ~10W – off the built in USB-C ports on the Solterra. Built in kickstand. It doesn’t have a ton of capacity and it’s not the fastest charger, but as an all-around device I’m likely to actually have with me, it’s the most flexible thing I have in my arsenal. Now I don’t have to lug around a separate watch charger device (though this Belkin has served me well), and/or I can somewhat declutter my pencil case , maybe......

This little $9 case is the perfect thing to throw in a tote bag and keep all the expensive little nick-knacks from wandering off. Mine’s holding: AirPods Pro 2 in their charging case  Apple Pencil (I still have Lightning iPads, so...) USB C to Pencil Adapter Stylus pen and a rOtring disposable USB C to C data + power cable (also useful for, e.g., side loading my Kindle on the go) USB C to Lightning adapter Short USB A to USB C cable USB A to USB C adapter USB C to USB A adapter USB C to micro USB B adapter Watch charger

I was just trying to remember the Firefly”s designation (03-K64) and thought that would be an easy one for ChatGPT. It ... was not. Holy hallucinations Batman! https://chatgpt.com/share/69b4c31d-bde0-8009-9699-705ea61f74ca?fbclid=IwY2xjawQhorNleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEeQzequ6FSCHRDE5dphZb6MDq7dXtkQQfRU2qmiL__916oXWd6x8te-HSCMF0_aem_3aWMMASN7cfL3-qJFFeY_Q Serenity’s design includes:  Two large rotating engine nacelles  (“Firefly” glow effect) Uh, yes on the rotating engine nacelles (but they're more like typical jet engines today), but those aren't the engines that have the “‘Firefly’ glow effect,” that would be the main ____. In Firefly, when Shepherd Book says “Not an aught-three,” he is referring to a rifle chambered in .30-03 Springfield (often written “.30-03” and pronounced “thirty-aught-three”). [] In the episode War Stories, Book examines a rifle and identifies it by caliber. His comment shows that he has unexpected familiarity with fi...

Years ago, when I cared about such things (or... anything...), I belonged to the Porsche Club of America . I devoured the monthly Panorama magazine . I still remember (dimly and incompletely) the sage advice in an article on older cars, which went something like: “Fix the little things.” Replace the droopy sun visor, swap in a new climate control knob when the °C markings wear off, change out the 10A fuse you popped with too high a sustained load through the cigar lighter receptacle. If you don’t, those little things build up, and without realizing it, you internalize that you’re driving an old piece of shit instead of a beloved classic. Today I cleaned my monitors ( Koala cloth + Residual Oil Remover ), fed my office succulent ( Cute Farms ), replaced the dead batteries in my Death Star (required a small Philips head screwdriver I didn't have at the office; this Makita set is amazing, I have two), installed a new mount ( flagpole clip with carabiner + bungee cord ) to relieve ...

Just got this announcement:  https://hs-7242331.f.hubspotstarter.net/hubfs/7242331/TURBAERO%20PRESS%20RELEASE.pdf  They’re hunting for a buyer. I hope they find one. Besides electric aircraft, this is one of the developments I’m most excited about; the possibility of replacing failure-prone 1940s-era (still annoyingly often leaded gas dependent ) piston engines with modern turboprops with equivalent power, is #goals. TurbAero turboprop engine for light GA The reliability of turboprops is appealing to me for some reason 🙃 and I’m still, long term, planning (hoping; dreaming I might be able) to do a factory-assisted quick build of a Velocity Twin with two TurbAero power plants. (Although the turbine-powered ship that’s flying now was built around the PBS TP100 . Still dreaming ... (With the A&P shortage , I really, really want the ability to do my own maintenance and condition inspections...)