A few months ago Katie came thought of ordering decavirate polo shirts for my birthday. In secret she contacted most of decavirate, and asked them if they wanted to be part of the group order. At least 8 people agreed to be part of the order. As the Bull's birthday is so near mine, she decided that he should be surprised as well, so she contacted Winnie, instead of directly contacting the Bull. Everyone agreed to keep the secret from the Bull and me. There were a few special requests. For instance, John Adams wanted jumpsuits, but the closest thing Katie could find was lab-coats. Originally, Katie had wanted to get a decavirate flag for sailing, but that was too expensive and I'm glad she didn't because the shirts are much more enjoyable and useful. Bremer said a lab-coat would be nice, since he wears one everyday and it would be nice to change it up at work. Finally, Charlie said he didn't want one, but knew how I enjoyed things in bulk, so offered to buy an extra for me.

Nevertheless, after keeping the secret through a backorder, the box of shirts finally arrived at Xavier University Commons before a massive Cincinnati snow storm. Katie and I were at UC picking up Shaun Thobe, so we stopped by Xavier on the way to decavirate. I had no idea about the shirts, but found out about them for the first time when Katie pulled one from the box! We took them from Xavier to decavirate, where I had a quick nap, while Shaun and Katie watched television. Then we returned Shaun to UC and drove to Bull Chester. Of course, the Bull was as completely surprised as I had been! Due to the impending snow storm, Katie, Winnie, the Bull and I were trapped for almost a day at Bull Chester watching Hawaiian beach shows, cooking Indian foods and shoveling snow. Polo shirts were later distributed to Jim Slattery, who ordered the only white polo with black lettering. Reser received his concurrently, but Will, Fazulak and Johnny still have not gotten their uniforms. Bravo to all for keeping the secret, and thanks for the extra shirt, Charles.

Ron Paul Is Interesting?
Posted by: Adam Fuson @ 2008.03.18.0554

As many of you must know, I was introduced to Ron Paul by Jim Slattery. Jim has educated me about relationships, politics and economics. He has guided me from discussions of impractical endeavors, such as submarines and rockets, to more reasonable matters of politics and efficiency. So in mid 2007 Jim introduced me to Ron Paul, who spoke consistently about matters we have often read or watched. Since before we were born Ron Paul has been voting conservatively encouraging the country to behave in a more state-driven and liberty-oriented manner. Paul is the one who insists we should base our financial policy on sound, hard currency and govern locally without indulging in debt. He demands that our foreign policy should be one of peace and economic growth, yet voters seem to dismiss him. Basically, Paul struggles for America to pay its bills and strive for peace. He knows that the nation's activities of debt and unsound money, where private banks control our public government, will only lead to ruin.

So when you ask someone if they are a Paul supporter, how do they answer? Many will tell you Ron Paul is an "interesting guy" or someone who has "interesting ideas." They are nervous about such an open commitment to the man who is seen as the "crazy uncle" in the political arena. But Ron Paul stands for traditional values, why does his position cause such trepidation? Even now as our currency falls in value relative to other nations', there is only talk of the Federal Reserve lowering interest rates, Congress and the President creating tax rebates and bailing others out. As Ron Paul predicts, this will only aggravate an already unfortunate situation. For some time now, Ron Paul's chances in the Republican primaries have died, to say nothing of the general election to come, but perhaps his ideas can grow. Don't vote for the lesser of two evils and expect anything to get better. Educate yourself and participate with passion and conviction.

Hyper-Miling
Posted by: Adam Fuson @ 2008.01.30.0024

Last June Bull posted some links on decavirate about affecting a car's efficiency through driving style. I have been improving the energy efficiency of the house for the past few years and so it seemed reasonable to investigate improvements in energy efficiency one could make in transportation. For an entire tank of gas I was diligent to not accelerate aggressively keeping the rpm under 2000. I let the car coast down hills - sometimes with the engine running sometimes not. Obviously, you must be careful when coasting downhill without the engine running. Power steering will not be active and power brakes will soon fade. Additionally, your car may not always start exactly when you want it to or on the first attempt.

However, thinking ahead for changes it topography and traffic controls enabled me to soar to 35 mpg from an average 27-28 mpg. I had thought that driving style might not make a very noticeable difference, but it can definitely mean 25% increases in efficiency. Obviously, the value is not in one tank, as the cost of driving is not in one tank of fuel. But saving even $8 per week could mean $400 per year. Larger vehicles should realize an even greater savings in comparison to my Acura, but killing the engine while moving may be much more difficult to do while driving a Suburban or something of that size. In general, driving and accelerating more slowly may save fuel and wear on your vehicle, though engine efficiency will also have an impact on your economy. Finally, in order to plan ahead and have room to avoid braking, one finds himself leaving larger gaps in traffic, which also tends to allow traffic to flow more smoothly. So while you may want to drive as fast as possible when the road is clear, when there is traffic, let a seemingly unreasonable gap of 100+ feet open and enjoy the benefits of spending less on fuel, increasing the average speed of the traffic, and reducing the wear on your vehicle and clutch leg. Any other driving tips, Grandpa Joe?

Memories Through 2007
Posted by: Adam Fuson @ 2008.01.25.1535

As I only managed to write about a dozen articles in the 2007 year, I will not be composing a Top Ten for 2007. This is not to say that nothing notable happened in 2007, but that I very poorly documented it. I enjoyed several interesting trips to power plants with a UC class, Katherine moved to California, Aaron raced Superweek for the first time, and we had the largest group ever attend the Gateway Cup in St Louis, Missouri. I re-met Katie Bartholomew, we played violins for her cousin's wedding in Cleveland, and went sailing more than a dozen times last summer with Aaron, the Bull and Winnie. Bull and Winnie are now living in their new home and continue to do home repairs making it look better and better. John Adams has moved to San Francisco with Aimee Taylor and has started a bike company with a few other guys. Reser has also bought a house and is now looking forward to other acquisitions. I am about to finish my master's degree in nuclear engineering (most probably this quarter). Will Yokel will finish his architectural degree this year, and Brian Nieport will finish his undergraduate degree.

With all this action I have been remiss in my documentation, but I am working on new projects, some of which will be documented in the new decavirate wiki. Additionally, I would like each reader to post a decavirate event or memory. We have all looked through the history of decavirate to help us remember the order of past events, and an informal addition to the history will be enjoyed by us all. Decavirate has been here for degrees, graduations, crashes, surgeries and many other moments, what do you remember?

Spring Compressors Slow
Posted by: Adam Fuson @ 2007.12.07.0401

Bremer had invited me to his garage nearly every weekend for the past 4 months to do auto repair. Finally a few Saturdays ago I met Bremer at his place, and we endeavored to swap his springs for shorter, stiffer springs. I brought a few pneumatic and hand tools as well as a spring compressor, which I had purchased from Harbor Freight, when Bull and I replaced the suspension on the Previa. Bremer and I removed wheels and brake lines to get to the struts without much trouble, though a few things slowed us. With one front strut completely removed we began to compress the spring with the Harbor Freight spring compressor, but it took a long time and could not be positioned conveniently. Finally, we noticed that to remove the strut mount from the strut we would need a pass-through-socket. So we went to the nearby Lowe's and bought a socket set. However, when we returned and continued with the spring compressors, we got one in a bind and basically killed it. So back to the stores we went, this time to Harbor Freight at Beechmont, where I bought some ratchet straps and C-clamps, but unfortunately there were no spring compressors. Bremer checked Big Lots, but they did not have them either. We thought about the situation while splitting a platter of 64 Chick-fil-a nuggets on the return drive to Bremer's house. Also on the way, we stopped at my house and got some more tools.

Back at Bremer's garage with more tools and energy, Bremer commandeered my ratchet straps and started cranking down on one of the springs. They held without any problem, and Bremer easily removed the strut mount. Then he un-ratcheted one side at a time and removed the spring safely from the strut. I don't think this would work so well, if the spring needed lots of compression, as it may be difficult to release the tension controllably, but for these short struts it was perfect. Extra ratchet straps would give more control adding and releasing tension, and their speed in this task is exquisite. Two main mistakes were made during this project. The struts were not sufficiently tightened to the strut mounts, which was very obvious by the sounds the car made when moving and easily fixable by tightening. Secondly, the shoulder-bolts which control camber were not marked before removal. There are two bolts which bind the strut to the control-arm. One of the bolts has an asymmetrical shoulder, which controls the camber angle and might have been marked for consistency in re-assembly. However, after altering the suspension, the car should be re-aligned anyway.