stonemarmot.com/rants

By Sid of Stone Marmot
A past employer misspelled my name on an award they gave me. They gave me a corrected award about a week later. But this left me wondering what to do with the misspelled award.
The award was a plate made of solid bronze that was about 10 inches in diameter. The plate [...]

[Read more →]

By Sid of Stone Marmot
See previous posts in this blog for data and pictures of the hovercraft I built.

Why did you build it?
1) I had always been interested in hovercraft since I was very young. When I was 11 years old, I made a simple working model of a hovercraft from a cigar box, an [...]

[Read more →]

By Sid of Stone Marmot
Here is some data on the hovercraft I built.  Photographs of it may be seen in the previous post of this blog:

Type:
UH13-T, built from plans published by Universal Hovercraft of Cordova, IL, USA. About 30 % modified from plans.

Capacity:
3 people

Payload:
600 lb. (273 kg)

Empty weight:
600 lb. (273 kg)

Flotation:
1500 lb. (680 kg)

Length:
14 ft. [...]

[Read more →]

By Sid of Stone Marmot
This page includes some pictures of the hovercraft I built.  Some data on the hovercraft will appear in a future post on this blog.

This photo was taken part of the way through the build process. It shows the frame made of strips of fir wood. The marine grade plywood skin for [...]

[Read more →]

By Cindy of Stone Marmot
Recently I had to make a trip from here in Florida to Pennsylvania to visit my family. After comparing all my options, driving there seemed to be the cheapest alternative, but not by much anymore, due to high gas prices. I also don’t look forward to the long, boring, [...]

[Read more →]

By Bruce of Stone Marmot
The United States is often criticized for using a vastly disproportionate amount of the world’s available energy relative to its population. With less than 5 % of the world’s total population, the U. S. consumes about 40 % of the world’s total energy output. Part of the reason for [...]

[Read more →]

By Cindy of Stone Marmot
I’ve been riding a recumbent bicycle for a number of years now. It is an about 10 year old RANS V-Rex. It has a 26 inch rear wheel and a 20 inch front wheel. The pedals are in front of the front wheel. The rider sits almost [...]

[Read more →]

by Sid of Stone Marmot
Recently a friend asked me if he should use speakers that are rated for a lower power or a higher power than the amplifier used to drive them. Most, including myself, feel that the speakers should have a much higher power rating than the driving amplifier, especially for high fidelity [...]

[Read more →]

By Sid of Stone Marmot
A hovercraft is a vehicle that floats above whatever surface it is over on a cushion of air. This surface can be land, water, ice, or anything else that can trap air. An example of a surface that doesn’t trap air is an elevated metal grate. Hovercraft are [...]

[Read more →]