ReconRat

I generally ride a bicycle to fireworks. It's by far the best way. Just don't get off the bicycle, some fool will take it and ride away.

First, tracers are illegal in Ohio. Generally speaking, they start fires. Whodathunk. edit: rephrasing this... not illegal to own and fire. But it is unlawful to use tracer ammunition on any division of wildlife owned, controlled, or administered property. Second, I used to know the chemistry of tracers, and most of the chemicals needed are a bit unstable, difficult or dangerous to work with, and hard to buy. Meaning that you'd have to sign for them, if you could find them. Tracers are a little bit of fireworks type chemicals packed into the butt of the bullet. There's a tiny amount of ignition type material over that to get it started. And a tiny amount of sealer type stuff to keep it there. The shape and ballistics of the tracer bullet isn't the same as a regular bullet. Meaning you generally can't just drill a hole in the base of the bullet. If you look hard enough, you can buy real tracer bullets. One or two bucks each? Also, tracers don't start lighting up till they are like, 50 to 100 yards away from your position. The best use for tracers (IMO) is for a sargent or leutenant to have only tracers loaded, and to use them to mark a target for everyone to fire at. Odd factoid: Tracers don't travel the same ballistics as regular bullets. So pilots and gunners in WW2 would have to know that and compensate when firing. There's at least one case of a P-38 pilot that loaded nothing but tracers, and was hosing enemy fighters with fire (literally). He didn't have any trouble aiming.

Two things can happen. One is that the clutch is not completely releasing. Either because the cable is worn out, the cable isn't adjusted properly, or something is wrong in the clutch basket (disks, plates, springs, shaft, etc). This would happen in all gears. The second is that the shift drum is not working properly. Generally a case of the shift forks not moving smoothly and/or properly on the shift drum. That puts the gear clusters a small amount out of position resulting in a hung/stuck shift. (It can also be a bent shift fork, or other part worn out) This will usually only effect one or two gears, not all of them. First thing to check is condition of cable and operation. If it's hydraulic shifter, still check condition and operation. Other little things to check; if the shift lever is loose on the shift shaft (or the shifter linkage between the two), same deal. It won't quite ever want to go into gear. If anyone ever added an oil additive, like STP, the clutch plates will stick together. Especially when cold and first trying to use the clutch, it will not let go that first time till it is shifted into gear. Then it will jump, stall, and release the stuck plates/disks. Somebody should evaluate it for you. The difference can be felt from experience.

yeep, I had 3 of them... two of the CL and one CB - go anywhere flat out 95-105 bike

June 28 - USS Nassau (LHA-4) Amphibious Ready Group 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit joins the two other USN combat groups in the Persian Gulf/Red Sea area. General support of 5th Fleet. Still trying to figure out what is happening in Azerbaijan, that is causing Iran to shift troops to that border. It appears to be only an increase in war material traffic to Afghanistan. Using this route instead of through Pakistan. About 1/4th of US war material currently ships into Afghanistan through Azerbaijan. Another part of it is a shift because of concern on the long-term fate of the Manas air base in Kyrgyzstan potentially in doubt because of that country's political turmoil. But anything that jerks the Iranian military around is reasonably ok, since they enjoy doing that to everyone else. Odd factoid: Even though Iran has lots of oil, Iran produces very little gasoline. They have to buy gasoline from somewhere else and ship it in. Iranians currently pay $0.38 for a gallon of gasoline, but are rationed to being allowed only 21 gallons a month. Plans are in place to reduce the allowed ration to 16 gallons a month. Iran exports 2.6 billion barrels of oil a year, mostly to Japan, China and India. It all passes through the Straits of Hormuz. Most of the gasoline they import goes through there also. The Straits of Hormuz, the narrow 21 mile wide choke point into the Persian Gulf. The area Iran has threatened to close to shipping. This is where we say "careful what you wish for". Osama bin Laden now reported hiding in a remote area of Pakistan. While at the same time being reported hiding in remote Iran. It's pretty obvious that there are body doubles moving around to confuse those that hunt him.

They've even experimented with growing entire teeth back. Sort of a stem cell thing, I suppose.

Home-Built Dodge Viper Motorcycle = Impossible Win

ok, we need a new thread section --> "Missed Connections"

Motorcyclist killed by flying mattress

There's a Wilson Ave just East of Children's Hospital on Livingston.

Good choice. Molybdenum-disulfide is similar to graphite, it will spread down the cable easily. edit: it's not on the Iron Pony website, argh... where are you buying it locally?

I just cranked out the adjuster tonight, at the clutch box. First time. Ran out of adjustment at the clutch lever. Past experience says two things. It will break soon enough, and the new cable will be really smooth pull. No reasons to wait. I'll order cable and misc parts this weekend. And the stupid right front turn signal held on with electrical tape and scotch tape.

I think I'll go hug a tree...

My clutch cable is half trashed at 6 years, 23,000 miles. I'll be buying a new one before it breaks. Mostly because it's getting hard to pull and it's half way stretched. A new cable is 20 bucks. A lube kit is 20 bucks. edit: oops, that's 8 years... and I mean buy the cable and skip the lube kit. Although I would shoot some lube into even a new cable, if I could.

True. Spam increased lately, and so did the filters. I had to rescue a few addresses from the filters recently. Hardly ever have to do that. The equipment in Atlanta is a partial failure, not a complete failure.

There's a bunch of lags and dropouts on the internet, related to equipment down in Atlanta. Apparently a lot of internet traffic flows through there. It can be very bad at times. I suspect all problems are related to that right now. I've had conditions where 2/3 of all connections attempted fail. I traced it to the equipment in Atlanta, and then found out everyone else has noticed it too. Very frustrating...

quack... that is all... edit: I had a Jack Kanoff in my high school...

Bear wins in collision with motorcycle

J-Rock, that's all... those scoots J-Rock...

I was out riding just before sunset, and I saw it fly over the East side. Boy does it fly slow. I stopped right there in the left lane to watch. Until it was out of sight. I think it must have made a pass or stop at Port Columbus.

I needed a hand signal for "deer sighted", or other animal on roadway. I came up with hand on top of helmet, index and little fingers up like horns (antlers). Do it quick, deer are quicker. Used it for a couple of years now, it works...

When I posted pictures of the B-17 last year (mostly on PhotoBucket and FaceBook), I got contacted by B-17 aircrew veterans from all over the place. I answered them all. I appreciate their efforts in WW2. Besides, they won't be around much longer. If anyone gets the chance to talk with an old WW2 pilot or aircrew, do it. It doesn't matter what they did for a job during the war. What they all did was extremely risky business.