I’ve never quite seen Xmas bulbs this size before. It’s a good thing I left the farm, too, or I may never have. It was down to the beach again. This time for the $2 breakfast special that turns into $6 by the time you leave. It was a little cold but I have my winter jacket and I spent an hour reading “Dancing Wu Li Masters”. Today’s report is long and I’ll start with some thoughts on the book.
I initially read part of this book back in college. I knew that Wu Li has several dozen meanings in Chinese and my original major was physics (before computer courses completely eclipsed that idea). While I only took one 200 level physics course, we studied quantum concepts and I found I didn’t care for that study, that technical applications interested me more.Upon reading the same passages again (all the chapters are named Chapter One), I was reminded of some of my distaste for the philosophical side of the subject. For example, the wave-particle theory of Einstein is to me an accepted duality, I don’t look at ancient cave paintings or East Indian inscriptions and think, “Gee, those primitive people had all this nailed down.” The author of “Dancing Wu Li Masters” insists upon drawing continual parallels to the ancients.
I’m not keen on any such thing for two reasons. First, it does not take much brains to notice the more obvious aspects of most physical events, and noticing is not the same as understanding. Second, you can always tell when unintelligent people encounter the unknown—they start worshiping it. The book is a good read but be prepared for his circular explanations that always get back to the same destination: that if you don’t know for sure, then you must be wrong. Where have we heard that before?
Next, I attended a solar cooker demonstration. This was a real eye-opener. I’d succeeded in getting some pizza cartons and tin foil to heat an enclosed area up to 144 degrees. That’s not hot enough cook anything, but it was not bad for a cheap experiment. I learned lots just examining the design of the cooker shown here. It is basically a double wall plastic case with rigid 1” insulation between. Shown here is a model that sells for $135.Here’s what I learned new. Note the shape, it can be set on two different sides depending on the height of the sun in the sky. Can you see how it works? The sun was almost overhead in this instance. I learned that the system does not require water to cook food and it will not work on cloudy days. It will bake a chicken in less than three hours and the cookware must be dark colored. In this model, there are two round pots designed to fit snugly in the case.
I also learned the case is tightly sealed and all components are painted flat black. There is an oven thermometer inside and the internal temperature easily gets up to 280 degrees, twice what I achieved. At least 185 degrees is needed to cook food and that also means the oven will pasteurize water. I’m glad I asked about that because I learned the kit includes a water pasteurization gauge. It is a tiny plug of beeswax in a closed tube, see photo.
The way this works is simplicity defined. If you squint you’ll see the wax plug is at the top of the tube. You dangle this by a little wire into the water pot being sterilized. When the water reaches 152 degrees, the wax melts and drains to the bottom, a visual sign the water is pasteurized. Then, for the next batch, you turn it upside down and use it over again. (Actually, don’t quote me on the 152 degrees. That is the temperature diatoms croak, but by then your bacteria will be long gone. Still, double check, or - here it comes - mind your own beeswax.) Don't hit me!In all, I found the equipment well-constructed and light weight. It has other advantages and while I’m more likely to build than buy, I can recommend you at least take a look. It is marketed by Solar Oven Society and they are doing some relief work in Haiti. Now that I’ve seen it work, I believe I could build something comparable.
My true curiosity is still the Arduino. I priced out a few peripherals as the Shack and reviewed a strange programming language called “Processing”. How moronic to name a language with a verb, that’s as dumb as calling a database “Access”. It turns out Processing is the parent language of the Arduino commands and is geared for graphics and audio. Since it is free, I’ll take a look. That probably seems backward to those who don’t know my background, but rather than think of a project and try to figure out the code, I’m more likely to tackle the code first.
Take for instance that oven thermometer inside the solar oven. It is a passive device. Unless you keep checking it, how do you know what is really going on? I estimate I could produce the computer code to monitor the temperature, ring an alarm when needed, provide a graph of the cooking time and have the oven turn itself toward the sun. What I lack is the equipment and mechanics to actually build it. But the code is no problem. And that is why I want an Arduino. Not to necessarily do it, but to understand the technology.
[Author's note 2015-12-19: I eventually quit chumming with the people pushing this solar heater. It was nothing they did wrong, but that they were continually into activities like supporting charities and asking for small donations. After a while you notice it all adds up to enough small donations for them to live quite comfortably without really doing any work. There was just no way without mortally offending these people of accounting for how much of anything actually went to the causes . Kind of a mini-United Way operation.]
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