Citation Needed

The world would be such a simpler place if there were more individuals like this one.

Orion ReEntry Vehicle Test

Nasa tested the Apollo style chutes on the Orion ReEntry Vehicle.
This is the thing that's supposed to take us back to the moon.

Video
I feel really confident.
And all Nasa had to say after this was,
"Good thing we tested it"

This Inventor Won't Need a Pattent

Because no one is going to try to copy it.

And For My next Vanishing Act....

So...
I was helping some friends move some furniture into an apartment last night,
And when I went back to my car,
There was a something in my seat.
It looked disturbingly like my AC control panel.
It was.
Except usually,
My stero system was sitting in the middle of that unit.It wasn't there.
On the plus side,
Since Force equals mass times acceleration,
I calculate that I'll be using only 99% of the amount of fuel as before.
That means I'll be able to save enough to replace it in about 8 years.

Lost and Found

I found this on my phone.

Lt Gen Lorenz on Leadership

While cleaning my room,
I cam across what was left of the ragged notebook I used to take notes at Field Training.
After leafing through it,
I realized the vast majority of the pages were useless.
Not only because they were so dirty and smudged you could barely read them,
But what little was readable,
Was just basic daily todo lists.
Nothing very useful outside of that environment.
But then,
I cam across one page,
With the big title "Lt Gen Lorenz on Leadership".
While we were there,
Gen Lorenz came to speak to us.
(Apparently He was promoted to General just a few weeks afterwards)
Now,
I've seen a handful of general speak before,
Probably a good deal more than most people in my position,
And this had to be one of the best I've seen.
Now,
This may be because they had me so brainwashed by that time,
But after looking over my notes,
I don't think that was the case.
He had what he called "Lorenz's 13 points of Leadership"
I thought they were useful,
Maybe someone else out there will too.

1. Learn to balance shortfalls, because you will never have enough time, money, or manpower.
2. Life is a marathon, not a sprint.
3. Keep your eye on the ball.
4. The toughest word to say is "Yes".
5. Always make you decisions in the light of day.
6. Don't lose your temper unless you plan too.
7. You have to be able to lead your people, get along with your peers, and manage your bosses.
8. Ego is the number one facilitator, and at the same time detriment, to mission accomplishment.
9. Never develop a sense of entitlement.
10.Apply overwhelming combat power at the point which it will have the most effect.
11. Everything about leadership is grounded in Integrity.
12. You never know when you're going to make a difference.
13. Being in the military is about service to others.

He ended with this quote.
"My deepest fear is that I'll look back on my life,
And wonder what I did with it."

Here are some links to articles he published on leadership in the Air & Space Power Journel
Summer 2005 Lorenz on Leadership
Spring 2008 Lorenz on Leadership Part 2

Fire

So what I want to know,
Is When the Google people were driving around recording all this,
Did they Stop to help?
Link

Physics is Cool

Doc would be so proud,
Maybe now Marty will think physics is cool.
Just incase the Flux Capacitor wasn't enough to convince him.

Particle Accelerator Rap

Designer Clothing for the Warfighter

Have you ever looked at an article of clothing and thought,
"I wouldn't be caught dead in that!"
Have you ever looked at a standard military gas mask and thought these very words?
Well now...
You don't have to.
Introducing a brand new line of designer gas masks.
With the different models to choose from,
you can guarantee you'll go out in style.
Link

Over Clocking Gone Over Board

This is pretty cool.
Not sure I'd want one though.
I can Imagine this would get pretty annoying after a short period of time.

Link

Some People...

British Humor

Acted out in Battlefield 2.
I think it's funny.
Mine?

Link

Fuel Efficiency

With gas prices these days,
Every one seems to be talking about alternate fuel sources.
Some (like my dad and I) are too impatient to wait for new cars that will implement these new energy sources to be developed.
And others (also like my dad and I again) are too cheap to buy those new vehicles when they come out.
(Did you know a brand new car looses 25% of it's value the moment you drive it off the lot?)

For those of us that are either to cheap or impatient,
There are some things you can do to increase your current vehicle's gas millage.
Here are some things that I've found that work.

I own a 2001 Honda Civic EX.
I picked this car for several reasons.
First it had a manual transition.
Sticks are known for having better gas millage than an identical model with an automatic transition.
Second, Honda is known for it's durability.
As much as I like working on mechanical things, I honestly don't have time to get elbow deep in it every weekend just to keep it running.
And finally, it was the best option in the area that was in my budget.

The first thing I did when I got my car was go to Walmart and get a small notebook.
In this notebook,
I write everything that has to do with that car.
Every time I fill up the tank,
I put in the date, current mileage, miles since the last fill up, number of gallons I put in, and the total cost.
I then use this data to calculate miles per gallon and cost per mile.
This gives me a pretty good idea of my efficiency.
A typical entry looks like this.
26-JUN-2008
98587 mi
354.4 mi 10.149 gl $38.86
34.9 mi/gl .110 $/mi

Kelley Blue Book says my car should get 32 mpg city and 37 highway.
And most of my driveling is city,
So this is about right.

every time I change a part,
It gets logged.
Every time I try a new fuel additive,
It gets logged.

This is the first and most important step in increasing your efficiency.
You can't know if you've improved if you don't keep a record.

I've noticed that the more moderate your speed,
The better you gas mileage.
So yeah,
I know the speed limit on that interstate is 70 mph,
And everyone else is doing 75,
And it'd be very easy for you to do 80 and get away with it,
But this will kill you efficiency.
(and yes, I have documented this fact)
Most cars are designed to be most efficient at 55 mph.
Unless you drive a corvette or a lamborghini,
In which case you probably don't care about efficiency.
During Vietnam the Emergency Highway Energy Conservation Act was signed into law.
It set a national speed limit of 55 mph across the entire country.
The idea was if we could force everyone to be more efficient,
It would keep gas prices down.
(Some are considering bringing back a national speed limit given the current situation)

The next thing I did,
Was add a fuel additive to clean my fuel line and fuel injectors.
I used two different kinds.
the first one I used was "RXP Engine De-Carbonizer"
I got this at Auto Zone.
The second one I used was "Lucas Upper Cylinder Lubricant"
Found at Auto Zone and O'Reilly Auto Parts.
This gave the car a noticeable kick in preformance and a documented bump in efficiency.
You can ask the mechanics at your local auto parts store for recommendations as well.

By far,
The one thing I did that increased my efficiency the most,
Was to change my spark plugs.
I'm not even sure what the car originally came with,
But when I took them out,
They were most disgusting looking.
(In retrospect, I should have taken a picture for comparison)
I replaced them with Bosch Platinum Spark Plugs.
I got four at Auto Zone for $12.99.
This has to be the single best investment I've made in my car.
I changed them out when I had a half a tank left.
And when I went to fill up the tank,
This is the entry that went in my book.
27-JULY-2008
100721 mi
451.7 mi 11.528 gl $42.98
39.2 mi/gl .095 $/mi
First of all,
That's the first time I've ever gotten more than 420 mi on one tank of gas,
And the gas light on my dashboard usually comes on.
And my fuel gauge still showed at least a gallon left in the tank.
Second, that's a 4.3 mpg increase in just a day over a month.
That's a 12.3% increase in fuel efficiency.
Third, this is the first time I've been under .10$/mi since 02-APR-2008.
Seeing as how I have a 25 mi trip to school one way,
That means I'm finally paying less that 5$ daily just for gas.
I don't know about all of you,
But $5 is alot of money for a college student.
That's like 2-3 meals if spent properly.

In summary,
Things you can do to increase your fuel efficiency.

1. Keep a log
2. Get some fuel additives
3. change you spark plugs.

Unless you've already tweaked your vehicle to be more efficient,
These three things should give you a noted increase in your gas mileage.

What You Really Need Is Some Organic Fuel

My dad owns a Turbo Diesel Injection 2003 Volks Wagon Jeta.
He's been wanting to convert it to run on Bio Diesel.
And with gas prices these days,
I don't blame him.
He's bee working on it for a few months now,
But things are just starting to pick up.
We managed to find the right ratios of chemicals.

We made a small batch,
And it seems to work,
But it wasn't any where near enough to run the car on.
It made about one pint.

We're started making our first large batch tonight.
Should be about five gallons when it finishes.
After the machine finishes mixing it,
We'll have to wash it and filter it.
It'll be another few days before we find out if it worked.

Here's a Link to the photo album so far.

AHH!!! The Iranians have learned how to use Photoshop!!!

As I'm sure most of you have heard,
Iran "tested" several medium and long range missiles over the course of last night.
the barrage consisted of several classes of weapon systems.
Mainly surface to surface,
But a few surface to air as well.
These included the Shahab-3, capable of striking Israel and several of our bases in that region.
It's all part of a big military maneuver called "Great Prophet III" that's been going on for three days now.



Too bad it wasn't all real
That would have been a nice excuse for that missile shield.
Eh...
I guess it still is.

I say we "test" a MOAB in international waters outside one of their ports.
See how they like it when we test our toys.

{Current Project} STATUS: Fail

Well...
I'm trying to split water into hydrogen and oxygen.
This may sound trivial to alot of you,
But I'm trying to make it in larger volumes than your typical 9v battery can make.
(we'll discuss the purpose later)
The device I've built is too big.
I am unable to (safely) get the power I need to run it.
I'm going to try again.
I plan to make it smaller.
If it works,
I'll make several and connect them all

Rampenfest

So...
The people of Oberpfaffelbachen,
Decided to make a name for themsleves.

By launching a BMW,
Off a ramp,
From Germany to the United States


Link

Here's the actual documentary
Rampenfest

Too bad it's all a hoax.

Back

I'm back.
Woo hoo...
I earned my Prop and Wings for a second time.
That's an interesting feeling.

It's definatly good to be home again.

Field Training

Well...
ROTC is sending me off to Field Training.
Pretty much their version of Basic.
I really don't want to do this again,
but at the same time,
I don't want to be "That Guy" that didn't go.
Even if they transfered my Academy Basic over.
Which I doubt they would.
I leave on 20-May and get back on 18-June.
For those of you that care to write me,
My address will be:

Cadet Koller, Jason R
Maxwell 2, Flt ___ (Unknown)
501 Lemay Place N.
Maxwell AFB, AL 36112

My flight letter is supposed to go in the blank,
but they haven't told me which flight I'm in yet.
So...
We'll just go with that.

Proposal

So...
Jenna Bush got married last weekend.
That must have been a very interesting meeting when Henry Hager ask her dad.
Seriously,
How does a young man go about asking the President of the United States if he can marry his daughter?
That must have been incredibly intimidating.
Kudos to the guy for being able to go through with it.