whatcha doing?

[DerGolgo]

Wishing I was in Colorado, obviously.
Also waiting for replies to some FB PNs and emails.
Playing online scrabble, messing around with my growing collection of vaping-gear and watching "Atomic Explosion, The story of five atomic bombs" on youtube. A surprisingly exhaustive US DOE three hour documentary on the first five atomic bomb detonations, with special focus on operation Crossroads. Quite fascinating, actually, the stuff they managed to do with 1946 technology. Like remote-controlled B17 bombers landing back at base with their films and radioactive air-samples. Or measurements with 0.1 microsecond accuracy. Geek out.

[SidVicious]

Like remote-controlled B17 bombers landing back at base with their films and radioactive air-samples. Or measurements with 0.1 microsecond accuracy.

Y'know, if you told kids that today, they wouldn't believe you.

[DerGolgo]

I was just browsing through the offerings in the Amazon Prime instant video library. A whole collection marked "sophisticated", so I look at that, obviously, and picked one. Haven't seen it in 25 years or so, barely remember it. But it seems to be part of general cultural literacy.
So, now, I'm watching Convoy, starring Kris Kristofferson. For the sophistication.

[Toonce(s)]

Suffering massive withdrawal, in spite of having delicious bacon to prepare (as a door prize, overflow bacon was distributed last night at Rhinoviper's place).

Sunburned in spite of being covered head to toe most of the time, my throttle hand is swollen and barely fit in my glove yesterday, missing the comfort and caution of piloting two-up with one of my favorite people (among so many now, how??) for many challenging miles, damn. Take me back, back to paradise city.

[guitargeek]

Spending a day in bed, resting my back. I *might* go grocery shopping later, just because I'm out of coffee.

[red]

I'm hanging out w/the Mrs waiting for AZ to show up on his route back home from Rag.

[Rench]

He's def en route as of 90 min ago. I slowed him down at a gas stop. My bad.

-Rench

[red]

He's def en route as of 90 min ago. I slowed him down at a gas stop. My bad.

-Rench

He's 60 minutes out.

[Rench]

I finally got a new phone on the way home from Räg (my iPhone 4s had a shattered screen since early May), so I've been trying to re-orient myself to Android.

I do like it better, but I detest learning curves. Especially mine.

-Rench

[Mk3]

learning a new laptop. Mine shit the bed as soon as I got home from rag.

[Rench]

Dude, that thing was ancient. It sucks to spend money, but some upgrades are just due.

-Rench

[Mk3]

Dude, that thing was ancient. It sucks to spend money, but some upgrades are just due.

-Rench

Would you do the good people (and the rest of us) of the UTMC the courtesy of using your new phone to take a picture of your desktop please?

[Rench]

Fooled ya!!! Same monitor from 2004ish, the tower is 2 yrs old.

-Rench

[Bo_9]

This time I got the oldest soldering at the high school level with another Radio Shack closeout kit.
I have gotta order a bunch more solder together kits now!

[DerGolgo]

... if you need to add SMDs to your air-freshener, you maybe should consider just opening a window ...

Also, jolly good job!

[Bo_9]

... if you need to add SMDs to your air-freshener, you maybe should consider just opening a window ...

Also, jolly good job!

[Bo_9]

Plus it was too hot to ride earlier.

[0l4fderstout]

Three weeks in and I'm trying to make my work computers visually impaired friendly. The amount of software that doesn't honor requests for larger fonts and such from Windows Ease of Access is staggering. I'm left wondering if I am not going to have to throw in the towel on this career.

[DerGolgo]

As some may know, I vape. I'm a vapist ... no, that doesn't sound right.
Anyway, I wouldn't call myself much of a cloud chaser, only a bit of a cloud chaser. I like the feeling of taking a deep lungful and exhaling a big cloud. It's fun.
The way to do this are "Dripper" atomizers, or RDAs, rebuildable dripper atomizers. These are built to just turn liquid into vapor. They are called drippers because you literally drip your liquid right in where the wick and heating coil are, vape until that's gone and then you drip again.
Unfortunately, when you're on your way to the subway to get to work, or other suchlike frivolous exercises, you don't usually have the opportunity to stop, drip, vape while walking, stop again, and so forth. Or when you're working on your computer, typing away like mad, interrupting that for the dripping is much worse than just reaching for the e-cigarette.
Hence, RTAs, rebuildable tank atomizers.
I have a small collections of RDAs and RTAs, even an RDTA. But it wasn't all quite, you know ...
The drippers taught me to enjoy that feeling of the deep lungful, what we vapererers call an open draw. The tanks just don't deliver as much, simply because getting the liquid from the tank into the wick and to the coil that quick doesn't usually work. Which is why there are RDAs, really.
I could never find an RTA that'd deliver enough air and liquid to handle more than 30 Watt or so, regardless of how high-owm or sub-ohm I'd coil it.
My favorite of recent has been the Lemo 2. Fairly good air for a tank, you don't need a screwdriver to refill it. But still...
Then I got the Wolverine. MUCH less airflow than the Lemo 2. Just look at these images. The three tiny holes are where the air goes in. No, there isn't another set of holes on the other side.

The slit in the center insulator has a twin on the opposite side, but that's it, that's where the air comes out to encounter the coils. Not a lot.

And yet, I could run it at 40 to 50 Watts. Simply because of the enormous amounts of liquid it could get from the tank to the coil.
So, what do I do? Obviously, I recall what I once learned about technical drawing and have some words with my precision-machining guy (I'm German, of course I've got a precision machining guy! )

So now today, I picked up this:

20150713_115521.jpg

In addition to the original airflow, which is still present, there are now two pairs of 2.5mm airholes around the rim, connected to 3mm airholes that come out the deck. 3mm so I can add little buts of tube in case it seeps too much.
In any case, just these new holes alone add more than twice the Lemo 2's airflow capacity to the Wolverine. It's still not quite open-draw, but I couldn't fit any bigger holes. I also had the chimney bored out from 4mm to 5mm, matching the intake, but anything more would have required to fit a whole new pipe, so no.

In any case, I've spent a couple of hours to day building and rebuilding this. When I first reassembled it, I destroyed the brass sleeve with the holes and the threaded hole which is where the coils are connected to the positive pole. But I found a removable negative pole in an older atomizer which, eventually, I managed to fit firmly, no loose contacts or such gimmicks.
And while it's not quite open draw, some smaller RDAs don't quite have that, either, and this one will keep up, no problem. Right now, I'm vaping away with 65 Watts. On an RTA. Which is fairly impressive.

[guitargeek]

Now I know how people feel when I write about cathode bias vs fixed bias power tube sections.

[wyckedsin]

We need video of DerGolgo chasing clouds with his new set up, otherwise, it's just words you know...

I am getting ready to clean the toys after Saturday's orgy. No, not those toys, these toys...

[media]https://youtu.be/kXun0zMmwsI[/media]

That is my son tagging himself with the scope of my .357 Herret Contender shooting 190gr Cast Pb boolets. The rifle on the table next to him is my .308 Ruger American Predator.

[Bigshankhank]

We need video of DerGolgo chasing clouds with his new set up, otherwise, it's just words you know...
.

If its anything less than this, then Dergolgo has wasted his life...

[DerGolgo]

So.
Did I waste my life?

[media]https://youtu.be/obl-xuHTXC4[/media]

Some people claim the skill of blowing vape rings. But, since vapor has significantly different physics from smoke, blowing such rings is an entirely different kettle of fish. I have tried, but not yet managed that, I'm afraid. Haven't seen anyone else do it, not in real life at least.

[guitargeek]

So... Can you put weed in it?

[DerGolgo]

I know there are "atomizers" in which the coil, rather than to vaporize a liquid, is used to combust a dry substance.
I've heard rumors of techniques to dissolve certain herbal preparations in e-liquid, specifically to consume with through an e-cigarette.
The youtubes is where the vaper community hangs out, so if it's out there, there is where it is.
Personally, being an entirely upstanding and law-abiding citizen, I have no actual or reliable knowledge of such matter - and I dare you to prove otherwise!

[wyckedsin]

So.

Some people claim the skill of blowing vape rings. But, since vapor has significantly different physics from smoke, blowing such rings is an entirely different kettle of fish. I have tried, but not yet managed that, I'm afraid. Haven't seen anyone else do it, not in real life at least.

My son can, we are working on getting a video of it, but he keeps cracking up.

[jae]

So... Can you put weed in it?

I know a guy who knows where to get a THC-infused wax that can be applied to the coil.

I'm not completely sold on the vaping liquids being completely safe, so haven't tried it yet, but in order to clean up (marginally) my smoking habit I picked up a Ploom Pax vaporizer to use with my pipe tobacco. It's kind of nice to actually taste the flavors instead of just smoke, but it's definitely not completely "clean". The same guy referenced above always gives me crap about using my vaporizer "wrong" as I don't put weed in it. This particular vaporizer has an oven that you put your (tobacco leaves) into, then it heats the leaves to make the moisture evaporate, which is what you inhale.

I'm not thrilled with the design though, as the electronics are not sealed. Living in a place where the humidity is over 70% most of the time, quite a bit of moisture builds up inside and you're not supposed to be able to take it apart that far to clean it. I've killed two of them in a year, and while they have a 10 year warranty, it gets a little old dealing with sending them back and forth.

[Rench]

I love the soundtrack, and it was good to see you!

I've got a weird germaphobe thing as a by-product of the new vapist culture.

Specifically, smoke dissipates very quickly. Vapor just fucking HANGS. So what I'm tracking is the particulate matter of your lungs, visually, through the crowd. Ebola. MRSA. Pneumomia. Bubonic plague. Tubercullsis. Dengue fucking Fever for all I know.

I'm a little over 1/3 of the way to retirement, and these are the side effects I can't escape already.

-Rench

PS: now time to run 3 miles. Not even being chased!

[DerGolgo]

I'm not completely sold on the vaping liquids being completely safe, ...

I'm not aware of anyone who claims that they are. The point is that they are less dangerous than tobacco.
Cue appeal to authority: According to the chair of toxicology at the medical school of Vienna university, vaping is 99% less dangerous than smoking. Plus or minus 1%.
It's about harm reduction.
Cigarette smoke contains tar and other particulate crap that'll mess up your lungs even if you manage not to get cancer. Vaping has none of that. I know I breathe better than I used to when I smoked.
Cigarette smoke contains carbon monoxide and approximately 3,999 other toxic substances. The only study I'm aware of that managed to find anything in general vapor has since been discredited. Even the WHO anti-addiction group have been reduced to stating that science cannot rule out ill effects. No proven crap.
Cigarette smoke contains what, 300 known carcinogens, stuff on the WHO's tier-one list of proven causes of cancer. There's also a second tier list, of suspected or possible causes of cancer. Nicotine, despite several decades of best efforts, when it's delivered without burning shit, doesn't even make 2nd tier. It may happen that a known carcinogen gets into the aroma-concentrate that liquids are made from, which is why I only buy European, with at least a little regulation.
I follow it and I'm not aware of any scientific evidence that shows vaping, in general, to be particularly unhealthy or unsafe.
What we KNOW is how unsafe and unhealthy tobacco smoke is.
And yet, even with gums or patches, quitting smoking is very hard, because it's not just about the nicotine. Vaping lets many, like myself, quit smoking, lead healthier lives, just feel better. It's harm reduction, it works, and some aspects of it are fun, actually.
If you try to quit, it may be for you. Or it may not. I don't give a fuck. I even respect smoking bans when I look for a place to vape, even though the courts here decided that the one doesn't apply to the other.

And here's the big, the killer argument why vaping isn't evil that has the politicos shit their pants with gusto:

It's a free market solution!
I'm not aware of many industries where patents are so casually disrespected.
E-cigarettes are almost entirely unregulated, from the hardware to the liquid, it's largely a free-for-all. Which is why I only buy liquid made in the EU, because that at least falls under some food-safety regulations.
The companies that design and make the hardware, even the complex, electronic stuff, are largely little startups. A couple of guys with an idea, and a factory in China that makes e-cigarettes today, missile-guidance systems and massage-wands tomorrow.
Somebody invents something today, a hundred imitations spring up tomorrow - and non-imitation products get altered to reflect new trends. Think computers and phones are moving along quick?
I used to follow computers in the nineties and early noughties. This is quicker. The customers want something, the market responds like THAT. Because this is an industry entirely grown up with the internet, the modern e-cigarette was invented less than 15 year ago (in China, btw).
The shops popping up all over over here are all run by enthusiasts, people who care about their product. You notice that, too, anything but great customer service is rare. There is not yet an oligopoly of big retail chains or suchlike.

I've got a weird germaphobe thing as a by-product of the new vapist culture.

Specifically, smoke dissipates very quickly. Vapor just fucking HANGS. So what I'm tracking is the particulate matter of your lungs, visually, through the crowd. Ebola. MRSA. Pneumomia. Bubonic plague. Tubercullsis. Dengue fucking Fever for all I know.

Take solace from the knowledge that many (not all, but most, actually) e-liquids contain anti-bacterial propylene glycol.

I love the soundtrack, and it was good to see you!

Thank you!

[Bigshankhank]

Thank you!

TL:DR

Think of the children.

Actually I have been trying to get my son over to vaping in lieu of proper smoking and for the same reason, risk reduction. He's still 19 and is prone to doing stupid ass things, at least as a father if I can kind of mitigate his risk I feel like I accomplished something.