• in Random
  • 1 min read

LA Speed Story

This story is delightful and a lovely case of male pattern one-up-manship.

  • in Quotes
  • 1 min read

Stupid People

"Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups."

  • George Carlin

Fire Staff

We, the Guild of Prometheus and I, led a class this past Sunday showing people how to build accumulator based flame effects. The students had a choice of building a small, stationary poofer or a fire staff. This was the first time we as a group taught a class. Individually, we've all been playing with fire in one form or another for many years. Overall the class was a success but it was a bit painful in some parts. Still, a fun day was had by all and everyone went home with their newly built, dangerous fire art.

fire staff and mike

PathFinder

I'm a bit obsessed right now with Matthew Sui's pathfinder tool. Discovering relations between words is kind of cool. It feels a bit like 7 degrees of separation but for words.

fire art fire change change happiness

  • in Quotes
  • 1 min read

Adjectives

Adjectives in English absolutely have to be in this order:

opinion-size-age-shape-colour-origin-material-purpose Noun

So you can have a lovely little old rectangular green French silver whittling knife. But if you mess with that word order in the slightest you'll sound like a maniac. It's an odd thing that every English speaker uses that list, but almost none of us could write it out. And as size comes before colour, green great dragons can't exist.

-- Mark Forsyth, quote from The Elements of Eloquence: How to Turn the Perfect English Phrase

  • in Quotes
  • 1 min read

Five recipes for an exciting life (in my opinion)

  1. Spending enough time creating things with your hands (baking, drawing, scrapbooking, doodling, crocheting, journaling and so on)
  2. Keeping track of things like pretty skies, milestones, happy memories, appointments you're looking forward to
  3. Listening to music that genuinely makes you feel happy and energetic
  4. Making a habit of reaching out to people in a way that's comfortable to you (i send my dad songs he might like, my friend sends me monthly life updates)
  5. Being kind to all your five senses → like investing in a scented candle or essential oil dispenser or body mist, having a soft blanket or socks (or a soft animal to pet), listening to birdsong or the rain, looking at the sky more often, and having your favorite foods enough times

julian bashir

Pipe Dimensions

od sch 40 wall sch 40 id sch 40 # /ft engagement sch 80 wall sch 80 id sch 80 # /ft engagement
1/4" 0.540 0.088 0.364 0.40" 0.42 0.119 0.302 0.54"
3/8" 0.675 0.091 0.493 0.126 0.437 0.74
1/2" 0.840 0.109 0.622 0.55" 0.147 0.546 1.09 0.55"
3/4" 1.050 0.113 0.824 0.154 0.742 1.47
1" 1.315 0.133 1.049 0.179 0.957 2.17

Elektra

I helped bring to life Elektra the Dragon art car. I designed and built the flame effects system allowing her to breathe.

Elektra Breathing Fire

Elektra Performance

Wings Unfurled

LPG Cylinder Sizes

On a regular basis, I'm building flame effects that are fueled with propane. Invariably for the larger effects, I'm scrambling around looking for specifications and details on propane cylinders to just how long an effect will run given a certain amount of fuel, or how long before this effect freezed the cylinder, or what are the basic dimensions to know how to build the mounting mechanism(s) for the cylinders. So here's the first table showing basic dimensions and weights associated with propane cylinders. For the curious, the 20# cylinder is what you would typically next to a BBQ.

Propane weight 4.24 / gallon.

cylinder gallons # empty # full width height orient vendor model
100# 23.6 68 170 14.5" 48" vert
40# 9.4 29 70 12.5" 29" vert
30# 7.1 24 54 12.5" 24" vert
20# 4.7 18 38 12.5" 18" vert
n/a 12.2 49 100 12" 28" horiz Flame King YSN122a
n/a 20.3 78 163 16" 27" horiz Flame King YSN203
n/a 29.3 97 220 15" 48" horiz Flame King YSN293
n/a 16.4 81 150 14" 40" horiz Manchester 6828
n/a 11.3 69 116 12" 32" horiz Manchester 6817