27 May 06 - 09:17A Crankcase by any other Name
Since I was once a teacher and even a high school principal (years ago) the following caught my eye. Read this quote by Janet Wilson, an LA Times Staff Writer. From the web edition (May 25, 2006) of the LA Times we read:
"Although school buses have become safer to ride because of safety belts and other improvements, the authors and other experts said related studies were showing large amounts of soot could accumulate inside the buses from open crankshafts." (emphasis mine)
What's with that? The crankshaft is a mostly solid piece of cast or forged steel that is the conversion point in an engine from linear motion of the pistons to the rotary motion required by the driving wheels.
An investigation shows that the "Clean Air Task Force" Diesel Crankcase Emissions and Controls Report does mention crankcase emissions as a somewhat major source of emissions. This is the emissions source that the PCV (Positive Crankshaft Ventilation) system took care of in cars since the 1960's. That must be what she meant.
Anyway, read the pdf link above and EPA Clean Schoolbus Page and you pretty much can get everything Janet wrote about. Of course, you can read, listen, and watch numerous reports on this topic. It is one of the back page darlings of the media right now.
Later.
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I have never seen a president or leader of any country so happy to be rid of his citizens as Vicente Fox. He applauds the US for providing opportunities for his people and is tickled pink that we are leaning toward finding a path for his former citizens to become legal citizens of the United States.
Shannon Dininny (an unfortunate name) a writer for Forbes magazine writes: "Mexican President Vicente Fox told hundreds of farm workers here Wednesday that his country and the United States can't go it alone in trying to fix immigration problems."
Once again the powers that be in Aruba have "arrested" a suspect in the Natalie Holloway case. Once again they have released the individual on grounds of insufficient evidence.
MILFORD TOWNSHIP, Mich. ? Apparently there is a good chance that the FBI has good information on the whereabouts of JImmy Hoffa. It seems his body may be on a farm in the Detroit area. Donovan Wells, who lived on the land at the time, was the one who gave the FBI the tip about the possible burial site.
The United States has grown to what it is today through steady waves of immigrants moving in to improve their lives. The whole idea doesn't make sense if you don't move to a situation that is personally better for you, the immigrant. Through this all the indiginous people were also absorbed or displaced.
I was just watching the hubub over Dan Brown's book "The Da Vinci Code" discussed in an interview on NBC between a Cardinal (whose name I didn't catch) and Matt Lauer of the Today show. I have also thought about the comparison between Muslim and Catholic reactions to this type of thing. What a difference in the way Moslum church leaders and Catholic church leaders react. Catholic leaders express disappointment in the theme of the book, but vow to use the book as a means to teach the deeper meanings of their religion. When a similar crisis over literary work arises with regard to Muslims, they want heads.
Today is the big day. I will be taking on a new challenge. I am moving out of the world of pseudo-high tech fiber optics into the world of alternate energy.
I was, at first, unbelieving that any responsible juror could not sentence Zacarias Moussaoui to death. If nothing else his idiotic and rambling babbling made him an excellent scapegoat for 9/11. Then I read about the prison he is going to. This is an excellent place for him.
Finally after much diddling and fiddling around trying to do some things with a PHP database on my website. Of course, I had to learn what to do from the usual unrelated documentation sources until I finally had tried so many wrong things that the only thing left had to work. At one point I even had to ask technical support at the website place for assistance.
Without going into a lot of detail, I felt reasonably dumb after finding out that I had not loaded all of the files that were required. Of course, you can't blame the documentation for steering me wrong, since it failed to mention it as well.
Oh, well. Time to try thing number two.
Stay tuned.
Rugby the dog has been rescued from the jaws of kidnappers or even death. Rugby, the new carpet wetting creature which we have invited into our home got loose with Anabel the dog when a door blew open on Saturday. Major emergency!!
When I went outside to look for the dogs, Anabel showed up nearly immediately. No Rugby was to be seen. This seemed strange. Certainly they had left together. I needed reinforcements so I called Marla at work. She came home practically hysterical and eventually made signs which we put up all over the neighborhood (50 of these suckers).
By now it was dark and raining. Nothing to do but go home and cry ourselves to sleep. Waaahhh. Waaahhh. Sob sob.
Happy news came early today. A neighbor saw a sign and gave us a call. The dogs had been seperated at their house when Anabel was chased off by their dog and Rugby just hung around. Now the carpet can get watered again.
Tom Cruise has been a fascinating diversion for those of us who live in the real world. He is fanatic and intense about everything. Now he is overwhelmed with his new baby machine, Kate. Not only did he impregnate the woman himself, he seems to have taken over every aspect of her life. He has, however, put his money where his mouth is. He is paying not only to have his child (which she already has accomplished for him), he will pay a hefty bonus if she marries him.
The figures are, a $15 million trust fund for the offspring without the wedding band on the baby container, and a $25 million bonus with a ring on mom. That is really good dough. Perhaps the buff bride thing I am hearing about was part of the deal. Read this....
Tom Cruise has signed Katie Holmes with a company called Buff Brides. The purpose of this is to get her in shape for their wedding later this year. There really is such a place, I checked since I thought is was a joke. No joke. Check it at the 
Until recently I had never heard of David Blaine. I even had to look his name up to make sure I had it right. I keep hearing about how he is going to break the world's record for holding his breath. That's in line with what he does.
David's occupation is high profile, but sedentary, stunts. Not that he doesn't have to be in shape to do the stunts, it's just that they are motionless sort of stunts. Like staying in a cage over a river, or being buried alive, standing on a platform on a pole in New York, and the like.
For his latest effort Blaine will stay in a water filled bubble and breath through a breathing device for one week. Near the end of the stunt he will do the breath holding thing. I guess when you open a package and a big old bubble is in there you have to do something with it.
I'll need to be checking back later to see how he is doing. In the bubble, that is. I almost forgot, the bubble he is staying in can be found in Lincoln Center, New York. The bubble thing climaxes Monday when David Blaine can be seen in "Drowned Alive," a two-hour live event which will be on ABC next Monday at 8 p.m Eastern (7 p. m. Central). This show is where the chains and the breath holding thing will be seen.
The ABC website has complete info on the stunt at the 
I caught an interesting snippet of a story on a television program over the weekend. There was a short description of an unusual burial of a woman from Beverly Hills. I thought they said Mae West was buried in her car. Somehow, the story seemed familiar, but I knew I had heard it wrong. So I spent some time Googling the information.
It wasn't Mae West, it was Sandra Ilene West. She was a young widow of a Texas oil millianaire living in Beverly Hills, Califonia when she died at the age of 37 (Her husband was young when he died as well).
I jave been noting law enforcement changes around Dallas, including my Plano neighborhood. As you know I have lived in Plano about 6 years and have had two radios stolen from cars parked by my house. I didn't even bother to call the police the second time, it is a waste of time.
I have only seen a police car on my street twice. It is a rare event. It happened once when the neighbor lady went coo coo and the time they came to take my report on the stolen radio. I am not without some protection, however, a code enforcement guy (not a cop) did come around when I was holding my illegal garage sale to threaten me with a fine if I didn't either get a permit or desist. I can only imagine the horrors of an illegal garage sale getting out of hand.
In another form of illegal, Plano provides a nice house for illegal aliens (similar to illegal immigrants) to stay at during the day where Plano citizens can come and hire them for cash. In Plano, TX, illegal stop light criminals can forget it. A sophisticated system of cameras will certainly catch them and they will be charged a healthy fine. I understand this is becoming a common way to eliminate this heinous form of criminal activity. I think they are doing it in Houston, too. Good for our law enforcement professionals! Make us safe from these vile acts.
And don't forget the special task force in Plano who are practically going door to door to catch other traffic criminals who did not pay their fines!!! Criminals be damned in Plano, the long arm of the law will get you, just as long as its a moving violation or a parking infraction!!!
And while these Plano cops are going door to door, perhaps they can figure out who stole our neighborhood watch sign. I hate it when that happens.
Oh, yeh, neighboring Carrolton is cracking down on those nasty folks who get gas and don't pay!! No more drive offs will be tolerated. A good solid law fining the merchant for allowing customers the convenience of filling first will be enough to stop that!!
It just makes a person feel safe all over. Why do the police fine gas station owners? Because they can!!