08:46 – Yesterday was the first time in a couple months that we shipped four science kits in one day. So far today, only one, a chemistry kit. We’re getting low stock on those, so we’d better make up another two or three dozen this weekend.
Barbara was surprised when she got home yesterday to find that I’d gone though almost an entire gallon of iced tea. Actually, I’d have finished the pitcher, but I figured I’d better leave a little bit for her. She said there was no way she was going to make a gallon pitcher of iced tea every evening. I told her that the next time we went to Sam’s Club or Costco I’d pick up a can or two of Lipton iced tea mix.
I’m off to make up more chemicals.
12:34 – I was just making up 4 liters each of 0.1M barium nitrate, calcium nitrate, and lead acetate when I realized that I was getting low on all three of those salts. I was going to reorder, but I think I’ll just make them all up right here in the sink. I have a kilo each of RG barium, calcium, and lead carbonates, and plenty of concentrated RG acetic and nitric acids. Add a carbonate to acetic or nitric acid and the carbon dioxide bubbles off, just as it does if you add baking soda to vinegar, and you end up with a solution of the pure acetate or nitrate.
Incidentally, solutions of any of these three salts are an interesting illustration of equilibrium and Le Châtelier’s Principle. Any water exposed to air sucks carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, forming carbonate anions in solution. If you then add a salt whose cation forms very insoluble carbonates (like barium, calcium, lead, or strontium), the carbonates precipitate out. If the solution continues to be exposed to air, it sucks more carbon dioxide out of the air, forming more insoluble carbonates. Eventually, you end up with essentially all of the solvated cations precipitating out as the carbonate salts, leaving almost none in solution.
The best way to deal with this is to boil the water originally to drive off dissolved gases, including carbon dioxide. You then acidify the water with the relevant acid to prevent carbon dioxide from dissolving and forming carbonate anions. The cations stay in solution, although the solution commonly has a slight cloudiness from the tiny amounts of carbonate solids still present as colloidal particles.
I make it easier to have my tea:
Buy the giant “iced tea” bags. Then you only have to put one in the pitcher.
Fill pitcher w/water, add bag, put in microwave for 8 minutes.
Some time later remove bag, add sweetener, move pitcher to fridge.
Enjoy.
Be cautious drinking too much iced tea. Large quantities can cause or exacerbate kidney stone problems. It’s been in the news, and has affected a friend of mine.
nick
I drink quite a lot of ice tea as well and use a “Mr.Ice Tea ” , similar concept to Mr. Coffee. Got it through Amazon. I put tea bags in the hopper for easy clean up, and occasionally some honey for a bit of sweetness. Three trays of cubes, and five minutes later, ice tea. I use four green tea and four black per batch, but it’s easy to adjust for taste simply more or less bags. I’ve been using this for a dozen years and like it, it may not suit you, but it may be worth a look.
So I’m reading about this armed robbery in NYC, where the nineteen yo “academic leader” or “extremely dangerous member of the Crips” (take your pick) and 2 accomplices rob a jewelry store. The last paragraph catches my eye.
Investigators were studying security videotape from inside the store and on the surrounding streets to speed their search for the remaining suspects.
The Post reports that federal authorities have taken on the case because it involved the theft of foreign goods – in particular Swiss Rolex watches.
There’s confirmation of NYC’s use of cameras in crime fighting, not really new, but ongoing confirmation, and then there is the MASSIVE FEDERAL OVERREACH.
Holy crap, the Fed’s can claim jurisdiction because of the country of origin of the stolen goods? That means they can insert themselves into almost anything, as SOMETHING made overseas is usually involved. When the hell did this happen and who voted for it?
nick
Of course they can. They’re the feds. They can do anything they want to, with no accountability.
The Feds have been going overseas to do various things for many, many years now; I remember when the Feebies opened an office in Moscow and I was outraged accordingly and sent it in to tee-vee’s “Capital Gang” and the late Bob Novak read it on the air as their first “civilian” Outrage of the Week.” I called them on their neglect of this, and Bob laughed and said “Guilty as charged,” and threw it over his shoulder. I have that on tape here somewhere. The Feebies-in-Moscow thang was a John Sununu caper, a Repub operative and former gov of NH.
Now, if some material object or person passed through foreign air space at some point in time over the past 10,000 years, the Feds jump right in.
Here’s another nooz flash: the President can do pretty much anything he or she wants, too, including murdering American citizens, here or overseas, for any reason whatsoever or no reason; they don’t have to ‘splain theyselves. “National security.”
Furthermore, we should drop to our knees, genuflect and bow in abject gratitude that they continue to save us heroically from all those terrorists out there. Never mind our own cops killing us at a far greater rate.
I told her that the next time we went to Sam’s Club or Costco I’d pick up a can or two of Lipton iced tea mix.
Bletch. Get a Mr Tea from Walmart/Amazon, some quart iced tea bags and make 3 quarts at a time. I do. I occasionally throw in a Bigelow Lemon Lift, Cinnamon Stick, or Constant Comment for variety.
I thought Mr. Tea was a Father Guido Sarducci joke from Saturday Night Live in 1979.
A kickstarter for a $9 computer on a board. Looks like a stripped down Raspberry Pi, but at 1/4 the cost. Looks like it runs Linux. 1 Ghz CPU, 512 Mb RAM, 4 GB flash storage, WiFi, Bluetooth.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1598272670/chip-the-worlds-first-9-computer/video_share
Thanks, Mr. ech; I bookmarked that site. I have one PI running a mail server and about to do SDI radio with a small touchscreen. Four more on the way to build a PI “supercomputer” cluster. This Chip thang looks pretty effin awesome so far.
Ha ha! Crypt Keeper Dirty Harry Reid is blaming the AMTRAK crash on the Redumblicans for cutting funding. Never mind the train was going over 100MPH in a 50MPH curve. I’ve read AMTRAK funding has gone over a billion dollars over the years and crash statistics are about the same. I’m sure giving AMTRAK $100 billion will fix everything. Obola’s last expenditure! I commit Mr. OFD’s outstanding taxes to the project.
I commit Mr. OFD’s outstanding taxes to the project.
That won’t buy a days worth over priced train toilet paper that was put out for bid and awarded to the brother of the Amtrack president. Such awarded company using a recently converted sandpaper factory.
Haters.
In other nooz, I got the Saab back from Princess a week ago and found that the CD changer in the trunk is now inoperative.
Got the Toyota back from her yesterday after her five days of be-bopping in Quebec and VT and now there is a loud grinding/scraping noise when I come to a complete stop and then start out again, but not driving on the highway.
OFD is a little miffed today.
Where’s that sandpaper bumwad?
Sweet tea. The only people I know that do that are southerners. Sun tea is only way to go. Get a couple of those gallon jugs with spigots or the square ones that are designed to fit the shelves in the refrig. Couple of hours in the sun is all it takes. If you want pre-sweetened add it while still warm from the sun.
Other method is to boil only a pint or two of water. Turn off, add tea, let steep and cool. Add to pitcher with ice and more cool water and ready to go. Pretty quick method.
OTH the auto ice and water from the on door dispenser are just fine with me. Maybe once a week I’ll have a Dr. P from a fountain. Also Fridays are pure water with aprox 5% disinfectant flavored the the finest flowers of the hops.
If you *really* want to drink a lot of tea, go full commercial. My sister’s diner has two of these models, running 24 / 365, and they are absolutely reliable.
http://www.webstaurantstore.com/bunn-tb3q-3-gallon-quick-brew-iced-tea-brewer-with-29-trunk-and-bunn-td4t-iced-tea-dispenser-120v-bunn-36700-0041/234367000041.html
“Also Fridays are pure water with aprox 5% disinfectant flavored the the finest flowers of the hops.”
Yay! Lets cheer for disinfectant.
… Four more on the way to build a PI “supercomputer” cluster.
If you don’t already have a copy, you might find this book useful: Raspberry Pi Super Cluster.
Using the book as a guide, I had no trouble setting up a five node desktop Ethernet network and compiling and running MPICH on a single Pi. I’m still trying to get Secure Shell working as per the instructions in the book and am currently contemplating starting from scratch on the SSH configs.
Wow, thanks Mr. medium wave; I have four PI books but not that one; although I also have a series of Tube vids on how to set up the four-node cluster and running MPICH, etc. This is a blast. Fun stuff for me in between a lotta crap lately.
You’re welcome, OFD!
Another book that was a big help in initially setting up the Pis but which may be a bit too basic for you was Raspberry Pi Cookbook.
And if you haven’t yet decided how to power up a passel of Pis, this is working well for me: Anker 40W 5-Port High Speed Desktop USB Charger.
If you’re strapped for desk space, you might also look at the GeauxRobot stackable cases. My whole setup including Ethernet switch and power supply occupies less than 1 ft^2 on my physical desktop.
I have that PI Cookbook; also: the PI Users Guide, PI for Dummies, and “Raspberry PI Projects for the Evil Genius.” And I ordered another powered USB hub, with, I think, eight ports, plus I already had the Anker 5-port one.
To top it all off, I ordered a four-unit tower (clear plastic) to hold the four nodes, and the whole deal shouldn’t take up too much table space next to my desk here; the tower will be alongside the PI mail server (Looking Glass) and the PI SDI radio gizmo. I’m moving the other two desktops upstairs to the attic workshop; one running Ubuntu Studio for artsy and creative chit, and the other being a CentOS 7.1 machine which is media-enabled for Toob vids related to tools, repairs, gunsmithing, reloading, etc. I’ll probably run the web sites from the Winblows machine here but am not ruling out doing it from one of the other two Linux boxes.
Ain’t this a gas?
And here is some interesting nooz from the other failed state to our south:
http://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/2015/05/robert-farago/meanwhile-in-jalisco-war/#more-359221
Those folks are having WAY too much fun down there.
Check out the tidbit about the ex-Marine training some of those people. Sooner or later we’ll have renegade cops and soldiers here, too, doing some of the same gigs.
I thought Mr. Tea was a Father Guido Sarducci joke from Saturday Night Live in 1979.
It was. The iced tea maker is called “Fresh Tea” or something like that. Made by Mr. Coffee. If you are serious about hot tea, there are brewers where you can set the water temperature and steeping time, and it makes a pot to your order. I compromised and got a Cuisinart electric kettle with various temperature presets and steep it in one of the lexan steepers with a valve on the bottom. Fits nicely on a Tervis 20 oz tumbler and since the steeper is 16 oz. I have room for milk when I make chai. I was skeptical at first about the various temperatures and steeping times for different teas, but it really does make a difference.
There are a couple of good mail order tea suppliers out there. Tevana is the larger, but is more expensive, especially since they got bought by Starbucks. I now use Adagio, which has the same types of tea, but much cheaper. If anyone wants a free $5 off coupon from Adagio, email me at echack at emhack dot com and I’ll send one. I get a few frequent buyer points if you use the coupon.
We don’t drink tea here. It’s an English affectation, with the pinkie finger extended.
Just kidding. Mrs. OFD drinks it, as does Princess. I do not. My great ancestors did not throw all that stuff into Boston Hahbuh for nuttin. Of course I don’t drink coffee, either.
My vice is Moxie. And sometimes Dr Pepper.
Other than that, gallons of wottuh.
“…I told her that the next time we went to Sam’s Club or Costco I’d pick up a can or two of Lipton iced tea mix.”
I buy Lipton’s iced tea in various flavours premixed in 1.5 litre bottles. I like it but it’s a summer drink. I have about 60 1.5 L bottles that aren’t being drunk because I prefer fruit juice or soft drink in winter…
A gallon? Is that the true blue, full strength, real man Imperial gallon or the girly, limp wristed, wishy washy US gallon? I’ve forgotten how many litres in a gallon but it sounds like your drinking a fair bit. I wouldn’t get through 3 litres a day, even in summer.
“Other than that, gallons of wottuh.”
I love water but life isn’t worth living without coffee or chocolate flavoured milk, fruit juice, iced tea, diet soft drink and some beer now and then (about 1-2 a week average, at the moment.)
Various people are nagging me about soft drink. (My sister, her son in law, my GP and my exercise physiologist. The endocrinologist I see in Adelaide and the one I saw in Canberra both said the diet variety is okay. Now I know how drug addicts feel: I’d gnaw off an arm rather than give up diet Pepsi/Coke.)
nick wrote:
“Be cautious drinking too much iced tea. Large quantities can cause or exacerbate kidney stone problems. It’s been in the news, and has affected a friend of mine.”
Thanks for the tip. I’ve been down the kidney stone route, probably caused by drinking too much apple juice. A recent scan revealed no more stones, but I’m keen to avoid a recurrance.
“I love water but life isn’t worth living without coffee or chocolate flavoured milk, fruit juice..”
Well, now that you mention it, yeah, I also drink fruit juice, especially cranberry, and I, too, love coffee milk, the syrup for which is made by Autocrat, a Rhode Island firm that’s been around for years.
http://www.yankeemagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/autocrat-coffee-syrup-5-543×525.png