A Darker View

A Gas Modulator

The usual drill… A problem that can be solved by a bit of circuitry. In this case the gals in the lab were having trouble controlling the mix of gas to their cultures. They needed to feed much less CO₂ to the mix, where the off-the-shelf flow gauges and needle valves became difficult to use much under one liter-per-minute.

Simple solution… Build a gas modulator, something that could turn on the gas some percent of the time, allowing easy control of small amounts of CO₂ to the mix. A timer and a gas solenoid… Easy.

There is nothing particularly interesting about the circuitry. A seven segment display, a few switches, and a power transistor to control an external solenoid. All very basic. It is the controller that is new, at least for me. An Arduino provides the programmable part of this project.

Petroglyph

An interesting petroglyph… One has to wonder what the artist was trying to convey here. If we could only ask.

Petroglyph

How to get a good photo of petroglyph panels without walking on them? Fly the drone over and shoot straight down.

Keahole Morning

Looking towards Hualalai from Keahole Point in the morning

The Skills of Living

Owning a home is expensive as maintaining a house demands constant effort and expense. On the other hand owning a home is vastly cheaper if you can do many of your own repairs.

The broken drive coupler of a Chamberlain Liftmaster garage door opener

This comes to mind as I have recently encountered a couple folks who had no idea how to perform simple tasks like jumping a car or very basic household maintenance. Having grown up with tools in-hand this is a concept I have difficulty with. How do you get by? Do you always call a repairman or a tow truck?

One of these people is the tenant of a friend. Since Tom is no longer on island he sometimes asks me to look in on his old house, now a rental, just a few blocks away. A few weeks ago I got a call that the garage door was stuck open. Sure enough a broken belt on the garage door opener, I texted Tom and he arranged for a repairman a couple days later. In the meantime the lady renting did not understand why it did not work despite a drive belt hanging down in the middle of the garage. She had no idea how to even open or close the door without the garage door opener.

Contrasting this are the repairs I have done over this last weekend… Last week our garage door came to a grinding halt partially open. A loud clattering announced it would no longer move.

The Last Loaf of Love’s

It was not happy news when we learned that Love’s bakery would be shutting down earlier this year. After 170 years of baking bread this Hawaiian business would shut off the ovens for the last time. The COVID pandemic pushing yet another business into closing. Much of their business was supplying bread to the resorts and hotels, business that disappeared with the tourists.

Love’s whole wheat has been a staple in our house for many years, the basic bread we always have on-hand for toast and sandwiches. When the last week of production was upon us I bought several loaves, placing all but one in the freezer. Now a couple months later the last loaf is on the counter and I am making a PBJ sandwich for lunch.

Franz Bakery has picked up the Loves brand, shipping bread from their NW bakeries to fill shelves in island groceries. We have tried it, just not the same, not as fresh.

Love's Bread — The last loaf of Love’s whole wheat bread

Fourth of July

It is a subdued Fourth of July around the island. Most large scale gatherings are still cancelled such as the annual 4th of July Rodeo at Parker Ranch. There will be some official fireworks in Hilo and Kona, but Deb and I are not planning to attend.

It remains to be seen how many illegal fireworks there are in the neighborhood, something I have usually considered a local measure of economic optimism. Given the oddness of the year I suspect that will not be a good proxy this year. Nothing is predictable this year.

There have been rumors of shortages in supply as well, maybe the reason for some loud bangs in the neighborhood over the last week… Improvised fireworks or more illegal imports?

A good evening to reflect on history, where we have been, and where we might be headed. Celebration will remain quiet and introspective, in this household at least.

Fireworks over Palm Trees — A fireworks display over the coconut palms of the Fairmont Orchid resort

SO2 Monitoring Station

Living with active volcanoes about becomes a bit easier if they are properly monitored. The entire island of Hawai‘i is liberally equipped with sensors of various types… Seismographs, tiltmeters, GPS stations, cameras, and gas monitors.

I came across one of these last instruments on a recent visit to Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park, the new Kahuku Unit at the south end of the island. While walking in the gorgeous natural scenery of the park, this engineer was instantly attracted to a spindly frame of tubes standing in an old corral.

The Kahuku Cross Fence station is part of the NPS maintained Hawaii SO₂ Network with stations throughout the park. The data is provided to rangers and posted on the park website to advise visitors of volcanic gas hazards while visiting the volcanoes.