Misnaming things; DIY air conditioning; Churches; Taxidermists; Irrigation System Programming
Misnaming things: We are in Colorado Springs. The Colorado River does not spring in Colorado Springs. We are going to Kansas City which is not in Kansas but in Missouri. Which reminds me of the comedian who observed that many British shops were also misnamed, finishing with the line “You can’t get boots in Boots, you can’t get a curry in Curries, and SuperDrug has always been something of a disappointment”.
DIY Aircon: It is hot and getting hotter. When the outside gets hot the car gets hot, and Sid has a handily accurate gauge that tells him how hot the engine is. At 200’F he insists the aircon is turned off in order to prevent it overheating. Only problem is that the reason the aircon is on is that it is over 100’F outside, hotter inside and then the humans overheat. I have dredged up bits of my O level physics about the latent heat of evaporation and have created a Personal Cooling system using wet cloths and open windows. I think I could create a fashion statement.
Churches: Our original intention was to go to some church services as we crossed America, to see what they are like. But we are essentially shy people and church congregations can be a bit… well, welcoming, and anyway we are never quite in the right place at the right time. That’s my excuse. So instead we have a drive-by experience of church slogans, in carefully-slotted capitals on marquee-style boards outside. My favourite so far is:
GOD’S GARDEN
LETTUCE PRAISE
TURNIP AT CHURCH
Taxidermists: We have seen several roadside adverts for taxidermists – not something you see in the UK. Took me a while to join this up with the deer heads on the walls in Cedar City…
Irrigation System Programming: Ok so you have created a slot-together irrigation system. Each span is about 100m long, and you can slot up to 7 of them together, link them to a central tap (sorry, spigot) and the whole lot will then happily trundle around in circles spraying the ground. Your challenge is to work out a hardware-only method that ensures that the outside of the circle gets as much water per square yard as the inside. Once you’ve done that, please make sure it can deal with half-circle and quarter-circle shaped fields too.
I will stop typing now while you work on that.