https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/07/opinion/keynes-economic-consequences-peace.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage
Monday, December 9, 2019
Friday, November 15, 2019
Vehicle Safety Report
Students
from PS 2004, Physics: Mechanics and Energy, and one instructor ran
the
twice-yearly Vehicle Safety Day on Friday, November 15th between 12.30
and 4.00pm at the workshop in the Unity House garage.
Nearly fifty vehicles were examined, a large number. The weather was reasonable, which may have contributed. Students who had signed up for the third shift were very good and stayed to the end of the fourth to help deal with the large number of "customers."
Even with these relatively large numbers, some students may have missed the various messages about the service. We want you to be safe. If you need to get your vehicle checked and were not able to for any reason, email mwomersley@unity.edu and ask for an appointment.
Most safety checks were routine. The following specific problems were noted, and are reported here so other vehicle owners can learn from them. If you can't afford a brand new car, but want to get around reliably, you need to begin building some knowledge about automotive technology, even if it's just knowing when to take it to a shop! Students that want to learn more about mechanics and vehicle maintenance can now sign up to take PS 1003, Practical Mechanics and Carpentry, every second fall. It will next be offered in Fall 2020.
Drive safely, please,
Nearly fifty vehicles were examined, a large number. The weather was reasonable, which may have contributed. Students who had signed up for the third shift were very good and stayed to the end of the fourth to help deal with the large number of "customers."
Even with these relatively large numbers, some students may have missed the various messages about the service. We want you to be safe. If you need to get your vehicle checked and were not able to for any reason, email mwomersley@unity.edu and ask for an appointment.
Most safety checks were routine. The following specific problems were noted, and are reported here so other vehicle owners can learn from them. If you can't afford a brand new car, but want to get around reliably, you need to begin building some knowledge about automotive technology, even if it's just knowing when to take it to a shop! Students that want to learn more about mechanics and vehicle maintenance can now sign up to take PS 1003, Practical Mechanics and Carpentry, every second fall. It will next be offered in Fall 2020.
- Most vehicles had low tire pressures due to the cold weather. If you set a tire that doesn't leak to 32 PSI in the summer, the tire will often read say 26 or 27 PSI by the time the cold weather comes. Tires need to be pumped late each fall.
- Several vehicles had the check-engine light on and so reported "trouble codes", which were "pulled" and recorded for the owners to seek further help. Some trouble codes can be more or less safely ignored, but not all or even most. Even if you choose to ignore one, it's best to check it periodically to make sure a second code has not been triggered.
- One vehicle was suspected of high oil consumption, at least 1.5 quarts in less than a month of very little driving. the owner had originally planned to drive this car a long way home at the holidays. These plans were revised. It may be best to sell this vehicle for whatever residual value it has here in Maine. However, the oil consumption data must first be nailed down to be sure. The oil level needs to be checked more frequently, at least at every gas filling, and careful notes taken of the consumption.
- One fuel-injected vehicle had check engine codes for a misfire. The codes were "pulled," reporting PO300: "multiple generic misfire," and PO301 and 303: Misfires in cylinders 1 and 3 respectively. These are standard codes that might appear in any post-1996 vehicle with onboard diagnostics (OBD). This vehicle had a single central coil and distributor rather than individual cylinder coil packs. It's a relatively easy matter on most such vehicles with a single cylinder misfire or misfire in a few cylinders to detect which cylinder or cylinders are malfunctioning by alternately disconnecting the plug leads and then the injector wires while the engine is running. The engine note and rpm will not change when the wires, ignition or injection, to a cylinder with an active misfire are disconnected. In this case, no misfire was found despite the codes. This is not unusual. Trouble codes linger for one or more "drive cycles" after faults are fixed or after they "fix themselves." In this case it fixed itself. The diagnostic process must be repeated when the trouble reappears. This is a general problem with intermittent faults. You can't trace a fault that isn't there, even temporarily.
- One vehicle had a coolant leak from the bottom radiator hose. A turn of a screwdriver fixed this leak. This was lucky.
- Two vehicles had malfunctioning low beam headlights. One was due to a trapped abraded wire that had shorted a fuse, the other was because of a loose connector. Both were discovered through standard troubleshooting technique. Vehicle light systems, because they are usually quite simple, respond very well to logical troubleshooting. It's also good training for critical thinking, which, other than the fact that you can't actually repair very much without it, is why we include this skill in PS 2004, PS2014, PS 2023, and PS 3003.
- A student needed advice about what to do with a flat tire. the flat had already been replaced with the emergency spare wheel (AKA "donut"). This student was advised to either a) trundle slowly a few miles on the donut to a local repair shop or b) get a ride in a different vehicle a bit further, to take the wheel with the flat tire to a specialized tire shop in a local town. The car can only run safely on the emergency wheel for a few miles, hence the advice
- A vehicle had a loose plastic fairing under the front bumper, following an unfortunate episode with some snowbank, ditch, or other unspecified obstacle. These fairings and indeed the bumper covers too are available cheaply from online parts houses, and are typically held in place with simple plastic "popper" type fasteners. You can often fix problems with these parts or replace them easily yourself with a screwdriver and a pair of pliers.
Drive safely, please,
Mick Womersley
Professor of Human Ecology
Head Grease Monkey
Wednesday, November 13, 2019
Vehicle Safety Day PSA Fall 2019 edition
Dear students,
Please consider taking advantage of free vehicle check-outs this Friday afternoon November 15th, 12.30 – 4pm, at the Unity House garage/workshop.
Baby, it’s cold outside! And a little slippery!
Is your vehicle a little ungraceful on ice, not quite the figure skater of your dreams? Does it not quite qualify for the winter Olympics? Does it need a good trainer, if not a good mechanic? Does it execute unplanned pirouettes at inopportune moments, or not quite exit the driveway, even when asked nicely?
Is your vehicle a little ungraceful on ice, not quite the figure skater of your dreams? Does it not quite qualify for the winter Olympics? Does it need a good trainer, if not a good mechanic? Does it execute unplanned pirouettes at inopportune moments, or not quite exit the driveway, even when asked nicely?
Unlike figure skating, planned or unplanned, you can’t spin engineering. It either works or it does not. All the trainers and TV cameramen and ice-dance judges in all the world won’t turn your wheels for you if they don’t want to turn.
What you really need is better, more practical, less fashionable help than you’ve been getting. You need a good old-fashioned grumpy mechanic. So don’t miss the opportunity Monday to have the old junker checked out thoroughly. In particular, don’t risk being stranded someplace remote, dangerous, or worst of all, without cell phone service! We want you back safely at good old Unity College in the fall.
So before you get in your winter wagon and drive off into the slippery highway lanes for a fine family Thanksgiving, let the experienced mechanics and other techy-geeky students of this semester’s team of volunteers check the poor neglected thing out.
We will check your tire pressures and pump them up if necessary, check and top off the oil and other fluids, and finally and perhaps most usefully, if your CHECK ENGINE light is on, we will use our computer reader to “pull” your trouble codes so you can finally know just what it is that your poor neglected automobile has been trying to tell you all these months.
(Did you know you can save lots of gas by keeping your car’s tires at the proper pressures? That tire pressure changes as the weather warms and cools with the seasons, so you have to check them regularly! That slightly low tire pressures improve traction, while over-inflation reduces traction, perhaps to the point of danger. Did you know that a blown oxygen sensor is easy to fix and can save on gas too? Did you know that low oil level can kill your car’s engine? Or high! Well, now you know.)
Each participant will receive a written report on the serviceability of their vehicle, with details of any trouble codes and what they mean.
The college accepts no responsibility for the use or misuse of any of the information we give you about your vehicle, or for your car’s safety after you leave the campus, but we do suggest that it’s always better to know than not to know. In most cases.
(Employees are welcome too. Thanks to the Student Affairs Department for aid in providing this service.)
Be safe, drive safe.
Mick Womersley
Professor and Head Grease Monkey
What you really need is better, more practical, less fashionable help than you’ve been getting. You need a good old-fashioned grumpy mechanic. So don’t miss the opportunity Monday to have the old junker checked out thoroughly. In particular, don’t risk being stranded someplace remote, dangerous, or worst of all, without cell phone service! We want you back safely at good old Unity College in the fall.
So before you get in your winter wagon and drive off into the slippery highway lanes for a fine family Thanksgiving, let the experienced mechanics and other techy-geeky students of this semester’s team of volunteers check the poor neglected thing out.
We will check your tire pressures and pump them up if necessary, check and top off the oil and other fluids, and finally and perhaps most usefully, if your CHECK ENGINE light is on, we will use our computer reader to “pull” your trouble codes so you can finally know just what it is that your poor neglected automobile has been trying to tell you all these months.
(Did you know you can save lots of gas by keeping your car’s tires at the proper pressures? That tire pressure changes as the weather warms and cools with the seasons, so you have to check them regularly! That slightly low tire pressures improve traction, while over-inflation reduces traction, perhaps to the point of danger. Did you know that a blown oxygen sensor is easy to fix and can save on gas too? Did you know that low oil level can kill your car’s engine? Or high! Well, now you know.)
Each participant will receive a written report on the serviceability of their vehicle, with details of any trouble codes and what they mean.
The college accepts no responsibility for the use or misuse of any of the information we give you about your vehicle, or for your car’s safety after you leave the campus, but we do suggest that it’s always better to know than not to know. In most cases.
(Employees are welcome too. Thanks to the Student Affairs Department for aid in providing this service.)
Be safe, drive safe.
Mick Womersley
Professor and Head Grease Monkey
(not necessarily in that order)
Monday, November 4, 2019
Wednesday, October 30, 2019
The 10,000 mile service for a sheep
Mr. Fox's SA2013 Livestock and Pasture Management students came to Womerlippi Farm. We did hoof-trimming, FAMACHA checks, shots, USDA scrapie tags, and the ever-popular dung tags.
All in a day's work for a couple of sustainability academics with a bent for active learning, and their active-learning students.
All in a day's work for a couple of sustainability academics with a bent for active learning, and their active-learning students.
Friday, October 18, 2019
Wednesday, October 2, 2019
Tuesday, October 1, 2019
Monday, September 23, 2019
Friday, September 20, 2019
Thursday, September 19, 2019
Wednesday, September 18, 2019
Friday, September 13, 2019
Wednesday, August 28, 2019
Economics movies and slides for week 1 and 2.
My old History of Economics slides. We will use only a few of these.
BBCs "Manor House" episode 1 (behind Amazon paywall -- better quality)
PBS "Colonial House", last episode, filmed in Maine.
BBC's "Medieval Lives" episode 1, The Peasant
BBCs "Manor House" episode 1 (behind Amazon paywall -- better quality)
PBS "Colonial House", last episode, filmed in Maine.
BBC's "Medieval Lives" episode 1, The Peasant
Fall 2019
A new semester begins. Look to the lists on the right for any course documents and materials not easily linked via Canvas.
Thursday, April 25, 2019
Vehicle safety report
Students
from PS 2014, Physics: Heat, Light, Electricity, and Magnetism, and one instructor ran
the
twice-yearly Vehicle Safety Day on Wednesday, April 24th between 12.30
and 4.00pm at the workshop in the Unity House garage.
Only fifteen vehicles were examined. It seems very unlikely that driving has suddenly and very markedly dropped in popularity among Unity College students, or that all students are now rich enough to buy new vehicles that don't need to be checked out.
There was an error in the Head Grease Monkey's original announcement of the date, which may have contributed, although further emails corrected the error. The somewhat cold, gloomy weather may have contributed to the decreased demand. But there must still be many vehicles that need to be inspected.
We want you to be safe. If you planned to get your vehicle checked and were not able to because of the email error or for some other reason, email mwomersley@unity.edu and ask for an appointment.
Most safety checks were routine. The following specific problems were noted, and are reported here so other vehicle owners can learn from them. If you can't afford a brand new car, but want to get around reliably, you need to begin building some knowledge about automotive technology, even if it's just knowing when to take it to a shop! Students that want to learn more about mechanics and vehicle maintenance can now sign up to take PS 1003, Practical Mechanics and Carpentry, every second fall. It will next be offered in Fall 2020.
Drive safely, please,
Only fifteen vehicles were examined. It seems very unlikely that driving has suddenly and very markedly dropped in popularity among Unity College students, or that all students are now rich enough to buy new vehicles that don't need to be checked out.
There was an error in the Head Grease Monkey's original announcement of the date, which may have contributed, although further emails corrected the error. The somewhat cold, gloomy weather may have contributed to the decreased demand. But there must still be many vehicles that need to be inspected.
We want you to be safe. If you planned to get your vehicle checked and were not able to because of the email error or for some other reason, email mwomersley@unity.edu and ask for an appointment.
Most safety checks were routine. The following specific problems were noted, and are reported here so other vehicle owners can learn from them. If you can't afford a brand new car, but want to get around reliably, you need to begin building some knowledge about automotive technology, even if it's just knowing when to take it to a shop! Students that want to learn more about mechanics and vehicle maintenance can now sign up to take PS 1003, Practical Mechanics and Carpentry, every second fall. It will next be offered in Fall 2020.
- Several vehicles had the check-engine light on and so reported "trouble codes", which were "pulled" and recorded for the owners to seek further help. Some trouble codes can be more or less safely ignored, but not all or even most. Even if you choose to ignore one, it's best to check it periodically to make sure a second code has not been triggered.
- The "Maintenance Required" light is not the same as the "Check Engine" light. Maintenance Required lights come on when scheduled servicing is due every six thousand or so miles. They can be turned off after the servicing is complete. Read the vehicle manual to find out what needs to be serviced at each stage, and how to switch off the vehicle maintenance light when servicing is complete. Usually you have to press the trip meter button for ten seconds while touching your nose, only if there's a R in the month. (Just kidding. But there is usually some combination of buttons to press that turn the light off.)
- One fuel-injected vehicle had an intermittently flashing "Check Engine" light and a rough or "lumpy" idle. The codes were "pulled," reporting PO300 "multiple generic misfire" and PO301, 302, 303, 304, 305, and 306: Misfires in cylinders 1 through 6 respectively. These are standard codes that might appear in any post-1996 vehicle with onboard diagnostics (OBD). Although the Engine Control Unit (ECU - the vehicle's computer) registered the fault in the ignition system, this series of codes is unlikely to be an ignition- or even a fuel-injection related misfire. It would be unreasonable to assume that all the independent coil packs for each cylinder developed an identical electrical fault simultaneously. And if this were a fuel-related misfire, there would likely be some indication of that in some other code, or in the ECU data stream (lean fuel mixture, for instance). Most likely there is some problem with the exhaust gas recirculation, vacuum, or intake air systems, any of which might cause increased air supply at idle, making the vehicle run rough. Systematic troubleshooting of these systems will ultimately reveal the fault, but it would help to have spare parts available to switch out experimentally. Dealerships often keep spare parts for popular vehicles for this purpose, as well as marque-specific code computers, so the dealership has an advantage over the local mechanic for determining this otherwise hard-to trace fault. A lesson on that, as an aside: There is no engineering problem in the world that can stand up to systematic scientific troubleshooting. There are faults that are not cost-effective to fix, and there are faults we don't have time to fix, but there are no un-fixable faults in engineering technology.
- One vehicle was examined for a high speed vibration, AKA "death rattle" (for good reason), after hitting a pothole. No obvious fault was found, but one front wheel was suspected of being over-cambered, in other words, out of alignment. This vehicle is unsafe, needs an alignment, and should not be driven above fifty mph. It might even be best to have it towed to the alignment shop. Don't drive a vehicle that has a "death rattle." You might die.
- Two vehicles had noisy exhaust systems. We were able to put the vehicles on our lift and find the damaged parts. This could save the owners a little money, as they both plan to repair them themselves, and now know which parts to buy.
Drive safely, please,
Mick Womersley
Professor of Human Ecology
Head Grease Monkey
Wednesday, March 13, 2019
Thursday, March 7, 2019
Rachel Carson, for EII today
There are two movies, a shorter one we'll use in class, and a longer one for you to watch on your own. The longer one is second.
Wednesday, March 6, 2019
Deep adaptation
There's a underground buzz about this paper by Jem Bendell, which takes what seems to me to be a realistic approach to the new discoveries in climate science.
https://www.lifeworth.com/deepadaptation.pdf
here's some of the buzz:
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/vbwpdb/the-climate-change-paper-so-depressing-its-sending-people-to-therapy
And, in case you thought this was something "...new under the sun":
https://ucsustainability.blogspot.com/2013/06/teacher-training-some-thoughts.html
https://www.lifeworth.com/deepadaptation.pdf
here's some of the buzz:
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/vbwpdb/the-climate-change-paper-so-depressing-its-sending-people-to-therapy
And, in case you thought this was something "...new under the sun":
https://ucsustainability.blogspot.com/2013/06/teacher-training-some-thoughts.html
Tuesday, February 12, 2019
Amish materials for EII
We Came to the Amish from Sadie Quarrier on Vimeo.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Communities_(Elmo_Stoll)
https://vimeo.com/230363361
https://bangordailynews.com/2016/10/07/homestead/meet-the-maine-amish-community-making-tiny-houses-sheds-by-hand/
https://bangordailynews.com/video/kenneth-copp-former-member-of-mennonite-and-amish-communities/
Thursday, February 7, 2019
Tuesday, January 29, 2019
Blaine House solar RFP and CMP buy-out
https://www.pressherald.com/2019/01/20/solar-panel-plan-for-blaine-house-sends-a-message/
Thursday, January 24, 2019
Wednesday, January 23, 2019
Thursday, January 17, 2019
New semester, new topics, old, old issues
We'll be discussing human freedom in EII this morning, and what it means to be free. This, given the stated aim of liberal education is "... education worthy of a free person."
Our immediate example and foil for thought experiment is the plight of a young Saudi woman, now resident in Canada:
Here's the Canvas announcement:
Our immediate example and foil for thought experiment is the plight of a young Saudi woman, now resident in Canada:
Here's the Canvas announcement:
You should read ahead in Pollan as soon as you have a copy, starting at the beginning. We'll read the whole book.
In the meantime, here's the reading I suggested today. We'll discuss this Thursday.
Here's a video on the same topic (there'll be an ad first):
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