I just can't stop thinking about the snowrail in the entry below. I think because of the weight distribution, it should put most of the weight on the rear treads and the front should pretty much just plane over even light snow, with most of the steering being done by changing the speed of the treads in relation to each other by braking only one half. My design goal has been to get to as close to 0.5psi downforce from the vehicle's weight, in order to be able to cover very difficult snow (that makes it as light as someone in cross country skis).
I've tried to plan the prototype as something with as few engineering challenges as possible, as well as something that can be built cheaply. I think the most expensive component in this is the tracks, because they're either going to have to be McGuyver'd out of multiple tracks, or I'm going to have to find someone who makes a 250″ (approx) x 20″ snowmobile track (they usually max out at 156″ I think). I'm guessing this as something that could be built for about $10,000… and I think that if I can make it work, it becomes the ultimate recreation vehicle for up north.
I don't know of anyone that's built a sportscar designed for snow…? Snowcoaches (seen below) are cool and all, but they're very sluggish. The other design pre-requisite on this project is that the vehicle should try and be faster than a single snowmobile and outhandle them as well. I can't handle the embarassment of being passed by a snowmobile!
By the way, anyone reading this that knows of existing (or past) snowbuggies/snowrails or other sportscars for true offroad deep snow use, please let me know.
Other than that, you may recall that a week or two ago I went out to Prince Edward County to “celebrate” the anniversary of our two friends that drowned there. Well, today in the news I was shown that the boyfriend of the girl that was dating one of them at the time of the drowning just drowned as well. Black widow of the sea I suppose.
Oh, and I think I'm going to go out for supper today with my cousin that I haven't seen in probably close to a decade even though we grew up together on the same farm (she stayed with us for summers). Should be weird. She's a doctor now and is getting married to some international tax lawyer or something I think a really nice computer programmer.
You know, this is the longest that I've been single in my entire life (well, from age sixteen or so onward), and I'm trying to keep it that way until January. I'm learning a lot about myself… When you don't have anyone to lean on, your shortcomings not only become obvious, but you're forced to deal with them. Still, I think a lot of nights would be easier if there was someone to hold and vice-versa, you know?
Anyway, I really wonder who this enticing craiglister is!
Are your favorite sites bmezine.com and debian.org? – F4M 27
Reply to: pers-192303788@craigslist.org
Date: 2006-08-09, 10:30PM PDT
Are your favorite sites bmezine.com and debian.org?
If so, we should definitely talk.
Email me. Send your pic. Convince this sexy tattooed chick to give you root on her box. :)
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I admit I emailed her, but only to ask her about what kind of response that generated. I'm really curious. BME is probably a pretty good keyword to drop if you're looking for people who are both seriously nerdy (check out his new tattoo), and seriously into modification on something more than a “just fashion” level.
Largely thanks to the insane popularity of the Wolverine post, as I write this ModBlog is serving about 2.6 million files a day, and consuming over two megabytes per second (about 200 gig of data every day, or 6 terabytes a month of transfer*) with spikes as high as four times that. And the number goes up every month… Oh, interesting point of trivia. BoingBoing's link had very little effect on my bandwidth, but wow, the South American sites put it over the top.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again: the future of the net is in Brazilian Portuguese and Spanish. That said, I've got a secondary bet riding on Russian.
But anyway… Crazy traffic. I have to figure out some advertising revenue for that site! BME and IAM are still quite a bit larger, but I'm amazed at how much traffic ModBlog pushes these days. Sometimes I think about splitting it into an erotic and a non-erotic half, because then at least I could put google ads on half, but I'm not sure.
*
Feel free to ask your ISP what they'd charge you for 6 terabytes of transfer on an adult site (this is important; rates are different). If the number seems high to you, please support BME with either pictures or a paid membership, because that's what lets me keep putting out ModBlog for free.
Carrot Cruncher (who is also a Jeep owner) send me this great Google video of some guys in the UK whose (stock?) Cherokee didn't pass emissions, so they were going to have to scrap it… But before selling it for the value of the metal, they took it to their favorite trails and beat it up “a bit”. It's pretty amazing how long it keeps running. The video gets really good about half way through so don't assume it's boring because you've done all the stuff in the first half in your own truck.
This is the same truck that Jon and I drive. The only difference is that we have 4.5″ lift and bigger tires, but other than that, it's the same vehicle (well, ours is left hand drive of course).
Sorry, I admit I haven't been doing much the last couple days in terms of work because of the wedding, and then I admit also I took most of yesterday off to play bass and watch Beowulf and Grendel (great anti-war movie by the way, which wasn't what I was expecting — and a subtle anti-Christian message as well). Today though it's back to work…
