Misanthropy Today

 I like to hack stuff together.

This year I went on a camping trip in the North Fork Kern River area (where it gets very hot) and before the trip I tried to make a portable mist cooling system either powered by (a) a large battery (b) a small gasoline engine or (c) a 12-volt cigarette lighter plug. For a water tank I used something similar to this one:

I experimented with a few pumps, one was a washer fluid pump from a dodge of some description. The other was a very small 25CC 2-cycle leafblower engine. Both of these items were procured from a local salvage yard. With both items the problem was either switches or fittings.

So much of life is about switching and fitting.

I had found a connector that connected ordinary mist systems tubing and dickies (whatever those little parts are that stick out) with the threaded female end of the water tank.

Not all projects are a success, especially with limited time. I wish I could say that I was able to figure this one out, but I wasn’t and worse I found professionally made products like this for sale for only twice the money I spent. But it was fun to do.

The main problem was the washer fluid pump was a little underpowered and the switch was weird and with the leafblower motor I couldn’t find any way to affix the blower part to the plastic water tank lid. Let me remind you that I live in an Urban area and don’t have access to really good tools.

Awhile ago I was really into making MINI-ITX  computers running linux and putting them into weird contraptions and spaces. My next project is to build a mini-itx system this winter and put it into wooden housing to match the decor of my Uncle Chris’ rustic Northern Idaho Cabin. I might try to do the same with the monitor (remove the plastic housing and replace it with wood) Like this one but with a much smaller CPU (remember it’s mini itx).

My  company, WonderHowTo,  has some great videos on how to hack things. Those who know me know i’m interested in computers and software and web programming and design and my site has great resources there. Also pretty soon we’ll be launching a text/wiki/blog sorta thing where I could post my project above for others to learn and also contribute ideas. This is sort of what gave me the idea for this post.

Here’s The Links:

Scary Rattle Snake Shot By A 357 Magnum. Since I hate Snakes I love this. (VideoViral.net)

Great Video Footage Of Steve-O Getting Kicked In The Bare Nuts By Johnny Knoxville’s Bare Foot (JackassWorld)

 A $98 HiVision MiniNote Laptop. I Want One. (GadgetReview.net)

Kevin Spacey Gay Pics (Drunken Stepfather)

I Use StatCounter.  Nice Supplement To Google Analytics. It’s free. You Should Too. (StatCounter)

A Funny Joke About Med Students Sticking Their Fingers In A Corpses’ Butt (Funmeme.com)

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