Smith Tower Penthouse

Apparently Buckminster Fuller's former baby-sittee lives atop the Smith Tower in Seattle.

The interesting work of John Ioannidis

Interesting article from the Atlantic on the work of meta-researcher John Ioannidis. It's of course not so surprising that medical research should fare so poorly in his studies. It would be interesting to see how other fields fared, though it is hard to see how other fields would be exempt from the influences affecting medicine and physiology. What's disturbing though is the trust we as a society put in medical research, not only emotionally but also economically.

(Graph courtesy of AAAS.) This is a frightening graph in many ways. We are on the cusp of a full-fledged energy crisis, yet the amount invested in energy research is a pittance compared to the money we're throwing away at medicine. As Ioannidis points out, the more money we throw at the field, the more phony results are likely to turn up. Still, it would make me a lot more comfortable to know that the field is given resources proportionate to its importance.

The other interesting element this article presents is whether the general trust the public has in science should be allowed to tarnish due to public exposure to Ioannidis's work. Doctors are held in special esteem by the general public, and for large swaths of the practice to be exposed as little more than fraud doesn't do much for the public acceptance of science (not to mention how it might poison the health-care debate in the US). Truly important issues of climate change, energy policy, stem-cell research, high-energy particle physics experiments, and science education can all be questioned by a science-questioning public (just look at the comments section of this NYT opinion column on climate change), but the public needs to maintain an open and tolerant mind, subject to change. I have no doubt that there is lots of lousy climate science out there, but the bulk and breadth of the total research combines to constitute fairly robust knowledge.

But the original article is of particular interest when one considers that the pharmaceuticals we're being fed unnecessarily end up right in the ecosystem. If we can trust her research, of course.

Magical Numbers

Daniel Gilbert wrote an excellent column for the Grey Lady today outlining the issue of irrationally favored numbers. Coincidentally, I taught classes today focusing on numbers and measuring units, sort of a pet interest of mine. Though I didn't bring up my dozenal society fantasies, or Swedenborg's octal counting system, I did mention the lesson of ring sizes in Sweden, which frequently utilize fractions of millimeters rather than the decimal counterparts to more easily help customers find appropriate their appropriate ring size and limit the range of sizes a jeweler must stock.

Tension cot

I was flipping through a Manufactum catalog yesterday and this cot, designed by Ole Gjerlov Knudsen in 1962 caught my eye. The use of natural material turnbuckles, as seen on a traditional bow saw, to form the tensioned tie beam in the structure is a clever use of traditional materials and technology. He designed a chair too, apparently.

Though the end results are quite different, a similar structural strategy is used in the LuxuryLite ultralight cot. This uses tensioned aluminum and carbon fiber poles instead of the traditional turnbuckle mechanism. The principle, using a tensioned tie beam, is the same.

It would be interesting to see further use of this principle in collapsing furniture. I've long been interested in the use of ratchet tie downs in other applications, and this would seem to be a natural use for them. Modern steel turnbuckles could also be used in this application.

Bridgestone MB-6 Project, Part 2

I visited the powder-coater with the bare frame this week, and was a bit taken aback by their new pricing. Really, the price is reasonable considering the work it takes, and to tell the truth I haven't been very satisfied with the work done for 200 kr. 800 kr, the current asking price, includes bead blasting and clear coating, luxuries previous junk bike projects have gone without. This is a vanity paint job more than anything, since it's not covering up any frame modifications. But the original paint was in such bad shape, I think I'll go ahead and do it. I'm going to blast the frame myself though, and save a bit on the total cost. They even had a pink, RAL 3015, which seems a popular color for bikes.

It seems a shame to spring for a new paint job without doing any frame modifications. The most obvious route, since it's going to be a singlespeed anyway, would be to put on some track ends. That way I'd avoid the trouble of gimmicky chain tensioners and whatnot. Still, I have a feeling this bike will live to experience another build, and I may want that derailleur hanger in the not-so-distant future. Also, the dropouts feature a couple fender/rack mounts, which will probably come in handy, and which are generally lacking from track ends if you don't drill and tap some of your own.

Another nice feature for a future build would be down-tube shifter mounts. These would add flexibility to any geared arrangement with derailleurs, and would allow the use of cheap and plentiful friction shifters either on the frame or on the bars. But again, the current build plan is to go singlespeed, and exposed and unused shifter bosses are even worse than exposed and unused canti-bosses, in my mind. So I think we'll forgo any additions or removals from this frame.

Is this frame really worth the trouble I'm putting into it? Of course I think so, for a number of reasons. Since I salvaged the frame, and am building the bike largely with the detritus of parts bins, my total cost won't be anywhere near that of a new bike, especially of the quality of this one. I believe any sort of adaptive reuse is a better solution for an old bike than the landfill, but there are particular bikes which represent especially good candidates for these types of projects. Road bikes from the 70s, 80s, and early 90s are widely appreciated. Quality, especially mid-market and up, was particularly good, industry standards still in use today were solidifying, and the geometry favored by builders was appropriate for a number of applications beyond that of road-racing.

Perhaps less appreciated today are the mountain bikes of the early 90s. There was a golden window, when mountain bikes were at the height of their popularity, that a number of factors came into play:

1 Geometry was more racing-oriented than that of most mountain bikes that came before, which means these bikes ride well over a variety of terrain. Also, they were not yet "suspension-specific", meaning the gap from bottom of the headtube to the tire falls is reasonable-appearing with normalish tires and fenders.

2 Standards in use today became firmly established: gone were the oddball U-brakes behind the bottom bracket and E-stays. Also, modern headset sizes (threaded 1", threadless 1 1/8") were common. Watch out for oddball headsets though! A good shop can help with things like facing a JIS-standard fork for industry standard races, but stems for threaded 1 1/8" forks or threadless 1" forks or anything 1 1/4" are hard to come by!

3 Taiwanese construction was established and relatively good by modern standards. Preferable exchange rates meant Western countries could buy relatively high-quality frames at low cost. Tube sets of complete double-butted chromoly and nice investment cast fittings were the norm even on mid-level bikes like this one. The aluminum bikes that stormed the market a few years after these are fine bikes, but they can't be as freely modified or repaired as bikes with steel frames.

4 Suspension forks hadn't yet entered the mainstream at the mid-level pricepoint, which automatically made these bikes a better all-around value than those that followed. Not having a suspension fork reduces the overall complexity of modifying these bikes for other use, as you don't have to spend time searching for finding out-of-production replacement parts. Fortunately, there are plenty of rigid replacement 1 1/8" forks available for those stuck with an obsolete fork.

The Bridgestone frame I am working on with this project benefits from all of the above. 26.2mm seatposts don't grow on trees, but otherwise almost everything on this frame is relevant today. The 1" threaded fork means I can pick from a variety of interesting stems, and cantilever brake bosses open up the world of modern and vintage cantis and V-brakes.

All that being said, it's not a lightweight:

Frame: 2342g
Fork: 882g
(with original paint)

The Levytator

This seems like a very practical solution for many adaptive reuse building projects when the building owner requires or desires increased accessibility for end users without compromising the architectural or cultural values of the original structure. The logistics of disembarking may prove challenging for some, especially since it differs so greatly from the experience of escalators of which we are so accustomed, and one can worry about crowding in the potentially dangerous staging area. The principle reminds me somewhat of funicular railways.

Corned Beef in a few weeks

The local store is having a special on högrev (chuck steak) from Ireland, so I picked up a kilo figuring I'd have a hankering for reubens in a few weeks.

Below you can see my preparation for beef corning.

I've got a lidded glass container I can keep the beef in while it seasons for three weeks. In the picture you can see that I've covered the beef with water to estimate the amount I'll need to keep it submerged. I measured the water (about 3 cups) as I decanted it into a small pot. As I heated the water, I determined that I needed about 1/4 C of course salt (I'm going roughly by Joy's recommendation here, though I've learned to cut the salt in half), which I stirred in just before the water reached a boil, and then poured it into the glass container. I've also seasoned the brine with a bay leaf, white peppercorns, allspice, mustard seed, cloves, and a couple tablespoons of sugar. It's cooling in the fridge right now, but this evening I'll free the beef of it's plastic wrap and submerge it in the brine. I use the stainless steel chain pictured in the bottom right (acquired at a marine supply shop) to keep the beef under the water level of the brine while it sits in the fridge from 2-4 weeks.