Archive for March, 2007
Clickety Clack
On Saturday, J spent the afternoon with her book group, and K and I headed out to Tilden Park and the Redwood Valley Railway. Operating with 5-inch scale (5/12 of full size) live steam locomotives and rolling stock on 15-inch gauge tracks, the train takes you on a 12-minute trip through the rugged terrain atop the hills behind Berkeley. Tickets are only $2. Very, very cool.
(And if you’re chained to your keyboard and can’t get out to something like this in person, check out this nice YouTube video of the railway.)
Just down the hill from the Redwood Valley Railway is the Golden Gate Live Steamers club with its extensive tracks for model steam engines in 2.5-, 3.5-, 4.75-, and 7.5-inch gauges. Serious hobbyists, these. Unfortunately, they only operate on Sundays, so we’ll have to come back another weekend. Twist my arm.
Addendum: So there I am, working on this entry, when I notice that Geekdad has just posted an entry on this very topic. Looks like they were up there on Sunday — and have almost the exact same photo as my lead-in. Hilarious!
 |
 |
 |
geekdad r0x!
There’s a new blog on Wired: Geekdad. Pretty cool stuff. My favorites so far: Capturing a spider web and Quick Stop Motion Shorts.
Haircut Train Stories
Haircut day today. Before we begin, K begs me to read “the train book with the lemon on the front” while he’s getting his hair cut. Huh? I’ve never seen this one. I dig through his library books while J gets the bathroom ready for the upcoming adventure.
After an oblique reminder from J, it hits me. He’s talking about Fourier Series and Orthogonal Functions. Last time he had his hair cut, I used it as a prop while distracting him with invented train stories. Guess it should come out of the donation stack. Guess it’s showtime for Daddy.
Today’s chapters included “Shed Fred and the Case of the Missing Coupler” (introducing Forklift Frank), “Vector, the Runaway Locomotive,” and “How Lizard, Owl, Snake, and Kangaroo Rat Met the Desert Jaguar (a.k.a. Big Boy locomotive).”
Ultimately, his best haircut to date. Thanks, Mom, Shed Fred, and company!
The Fusor
Over a 2-year period Thiago Olson, a 17 year-old high school senior, spent 1000 hours working in his parents garage.
Building a fusion reactor, aka “The Fusor.”
Guess that puts into perspective our little college adventure in making a pickle glow after hours in the physics lab. (Not to mention that the pickle won…and the power supply lost in a buff of blue smoke.)
iRack
My YouTube find of the month:
