Using the Victorio VKP250 to Make Plum Jam

Posted on June 4, 2012 by Brian Gallimore

Just a few days ago, Amber and I spent hours cutting up fresh plums from our fruit tree to make the most awesome batch of plum jam I’ve ever tasted.  After waterlogged fingers and tired feet we both thought there must be a better way.  Turns out there is.  It is a bad-ass gadget called the Victorio VK250 Food Strainer.  Oh, you also need the 4 piece accessory kit to go with it, and unless you are very good at cutting in the right place the first time, you will need a couple of extra spirals also.  What this genius mechanical wonder does is move the plum (or whatever fruit you are working with) down an ever-decreasing sized spiral path against a mesh to push out the stuff you want into one stack and the stuff you don’t want into a different stack.  You can change the size of the mesh with the choice of 4 different screens, but they only give you the choice of two different spirals.  If you have any brians and a saw of some sort, you can easily figure out how to make the spiral ‘shorter’ so that it passes a larger pit and makes less ‘mush’.  Without going into the details, I got a little ambitious with my saw and cut away too much, but it still worked about 500% faster than doing it by hand, even though I wound up wasting some good plum meat.

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The EPA Hates the Environment

Posted on June 3, 2012 by Brian Gallimore

Looking at the EPA’s website, notice almost all of the top-rated vehicles are hybrids, which have about double the complexity of an engine-only vehicle. Also notice most of these cars get a combined rating of around 42 MPG. I estimate the best fuel-efficient non-hybrid vehicles get around 30 to 35 MPG.

Now look at the list of engines offered by VW. Notice the ‘BlueMotion’ diesel engine with a 6-speed manual transmission gets 68.9 I-MPG (which is 57.4 US-MPG) in the Passat. This engine by itself is 60% to 70% more efficient than the best hybrid power train combinations available for sale in the US!  The EPA does not allow this engine to be sold in the US.  It is more fuel-efficient, longer-lasting, and more desirable than the hybrids.  I’d argue it is better for the environment too.

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Tell the Children: America Was Land of the Free

Posted on May 31, 2012 by Brian Gallimore

If there is one thing that has distinguished the United States of America from the rest of the world, it is our unwavering belief of freedom.

If there is one thing that upholds and protects that freedom, it is the Constitution of the United States.


NEW RON PAUL AD DESTROYS THE ENTIRE ESTABLISHMENT and flushes the remaining pieces

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Booty of Plums

Posted on May 27, 2012 by Brian Gallimore

The plum tree is throwing off lots of fruit this year.  It doesn’t look like I have the worm problem I had in the past.  (the ‘experts’ say once you have a problem, you will always have a problem)  Looks like I have about 6 gallons of good fruit.  The white bucket is the waste that was on the ground with animal holes in it.  I’m in the process of making jam now!

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Dishwasher Repair

Posted on May 27, 2012 by Brian Gallimore

I snapped some pictures of the underside of the dishwasher since I had it disconnected and upside down.  It is pretty ingenious how the pump housing is made so that it serves as two pumps depending on which direction the motor is turning.  The dishwasher seems to be designed to use as few parts as possible, and for the most part, there isn’t much to go wrong with it.  There is a diaphragm that seals the drain outlet when pressurized by recirc water, and moves out of the way when in drain mode.  This diaphragm was torn, so water diverted into the drain chamber just reentered the recirc chamber.

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[Show slideshow]


Torn Drain Diaphragm – Whirlpool Dishwasher

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Aiden Pictures for May 2012

Posted on May 27, 2012 by Brian Gallimore

Here are some recent pictures of Aiden:

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[Show slideshow]
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Do the Circle of Safety Walk

Posted on May 24, 2012 by Brian Gallimore

Story and Picture below received from Sandy E. via email:

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We have safety talks several times every day at the project site. We even start every single meeting with a short safety topic talk given by someone attending the meeting. We can’t go on with the meeting until someone comes up with a topic and volunteers to talk briefly about it.
One of the talks was the recommendation to always conduct a CIRCLE OF SAFETY walk before driving away in your vehicle, whether it be a personal or work vehicle. This means you simply walk once around the vehicle and look for anything unsafe or unusual, a low tire, a loose piece of trim, a damaged light, or countless other things that could be found – just in case.
A road construction crew working for another company stopped at a convenience store along the highway on break. Look at the photo below. As you can see in this picture, this young child somehow crawled into the wheel well of the truck and got stuck. When the crew got ready to leave, they found this child while conducting a CIRCLE OF SAFETY of the company truck they were driving. It’s sickening to think about what would have happened if the crew had gotten in the truck and drove off without doing a walk around.
This crew has also reported children climbing into the back of company vehicles. Keep in mind children will be out of school on summer break soon so be sure to watch out for them!
For this reason, and countless others, please remember to do the vehicle CIRCLE OF SAFETY before driving off in your vehicle.

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2012 GOP Texas Parliamentary Motions Chart

Posted on May 24, 2012 by Brian Gallimore

The chart below is the handout from the training Richard Hayes gave on Monday night.  It is a quick reference guide to how to use parliamentary procedure at the 2012 Texas GOP Convention.  (right-click and save-as to print or view)

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Voter Guides: Collin GOP Primary 2012

Posted on May 24, 2012 by Brian Gallimore

In addition to Brian’s Recommendations for Republican Primary – Vote May 29, 2012 that I posted a few weeks ago, here are a similar resources from people I trust:

from Barbara Harless:

http://89erpride.com/2012/05/barbara%E2%80%99s-choices-collin-county-republican-primary-may-29th-election-day/

http://89erpride.com/2012/05/barbaras-picks-why/

from Tom B:

http://www.wuala.com/kb5won/ElectionsInformation/2012CollinCountyVoterGuides/2012%20Republican%20Good%20choices-TB.pdf/

Compilation of information from NTTP (North Texas Tea Party), CCCR (Collin County Conservative Republicans), YCT (Young Conservatives of Texas), and TFR (Texans for Fiscal Responsibility):

http://northtexasteaparty.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/cc_ballot_endorsements_nodisclaimer1.pdf

 

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Economy of Fritz Von Eric

Posted on May 22, 2012 by Brian Gallimore

Here is a chart of the fuel performance my cheap diesel econo-box has got to date. I still can’t get over that the US government is interfering with the automotive market to the point that the same car in the UK gets double the fuel economy of the US version. I going to lose it soon.

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