2015 one item a day for BM list..

[Joeln]

Tested several rums for bringing to the playa. Criteria were plastic bottle, budget, flavor.

rum comparison.jpg

[Elderberry]

Looks like hard work. But I guess somebody has to do it.

[Patsh]

Kind'a looks like the bottle on the left is getting preferential treatment... is that really fair??

I think you should start over.

[maladroit]

I can vouch for the Cruzan selections being good enough, but I'm not sure I'd sail under Admiral Nelson even though he outranks Captain Morgan.

[rideincircles]

I have been buying up a bunch of led lights and El wire for my bikes and camp shipped from China off amazon and ebay. Red (orange) 3 meter el wire can be found for less than $3 shipped at the moment, but I prefer blue. I have also started on getting goggles and filling a few bins and have ordered some batteries from China for obscure small sizes.

I have started on 3 of the 8 5-gallon kegs of homebrew I plan on bringing. I have an oaked cherry apfelwein ready to go, a Welch's grape pyment almost done with fermentation, and a coffee stout fermenting that should end up over 10% abv. I also got the cart for my beer cart to haul around on the playa and need to make a lid for my 10 gallon water cooler so I can put my kegs in it sticking out of the top and fill it with ice.

I booked 2 vans for rental, one standard and one commercial. Still haven't figured out which one to get, but am leaning towards the basic minivan for better mileage. Will have to haul the hexayurt 1700 miles on top of whichever one I get.

The lists keep growing. Still need hexayurt and swamp cooler supplies. I can easily get 3/4" and 1/2" boards that I can tape together, but it adds height to the wind sail, otherwise I will spend more on the 1" boards and have to drive a ways to get them.

[Elliot]

A couple years ago I transported a hexayurt for an acquaintance. It was a block of material almost the size of a small car. (Exaggerating only a little.) And the sheets are prone to breaking apart. So I'm thinking they ought to be transported inside the vehicle.

[rideincircles]

I already had an idea of making a hexayurt that could fit inside of a van by cutting up the panels into 4 x 2 sections, but it got shot down pretty hard (page 39 in the hexayurt thread). If I had to chop it up, I would think maybe doing 8 x 2 sections for a stretch hexayurt. I need to see what could fit into a standard minivan, but I assume 8 x 4 boards won't fit or would have to be put inside at an angle which would make packing a total pain.

Right now the idea is to sandwich it between sheets of plywood and shrink wrap it really well and attach it to the roof. I still don't know if my van would have a roof rack either, so I am considering a lot of options. I would like to add something to the front of it that could reduce drag if possible. With 8 kegs of beer, an insulated hexayurt makes the most sense to keep beer from getting too hot during the day short of bringing a generator and a fridge to put it in. I don't plan on a trailer, and was hoping to avoid using a tent. I am not fond of tent saunas.

[Elliot]

Minivan???! A friend keeps an old Chrysler minivan at my place, and there is only a tad over five feet from the back of the driver's seat to the tailgate.
I don't mean to be a killjoy, but I feel that you need to attain a clearer mental image of this sizable stack of insulation panels. Maybe a reconnaissance trip to the building supply store is in order?

[Ratty]

My Toyota fits a full sheet of plywood with inches to spare front to back. The Honda is one inch short on the side to side measurement.

[bedlamdoll]

Joeln, I salute your hard work and self sacrifice to ensure that the rum has been properly tested.
As for me, I picked up some new lights yesterday, since I managed to kill most of my lights while I was out there-hooray for the impulse buy displays at big box stores.
This weekend, I'll be *attempting* to unbury my sewing room/costume closet so I can take stock of what I have and see what needs to be repaired/altered/recycled, and get started on some new projects.

[rideincircles]

Behold.

The rechargeable battery powered pump showerhead.

[Elliot]

That's cheating. All ePlaya photos of showers must feature a human model, as per Amalgamated ePlaya Code section BR549.

[nilasnake]

i'm re-working my bike from steampunk style to bright carnival/clown colors, when it's done i'll post pictures.

[TT120]

Swag production has begun. 92 total units, was 96 but I had 4 broken glass bottles. I'm about %25 done.

[VultureChow]

That's cheating. All ePlaya photos of showers must feature a human model, as per Amalgamated ePlaya Code section BR549.

How grossly inappropriate would it be of me to photoshop you into the photo instead of the dog?

[FIGJAM]

That's cheating. All ePlaya photos of showers must feature a human model, as per Amalgamated ePlaya Code section BR549.

How stunningly spectacular would it be of me to photoshop you into the photo instead of the dog?

Fixed it for ya!!!

[VultureChow]

elliot.jpg

[Elliot]

And today's Grand Champions Winner of ePlaya iiiiiiiiissssssss..... VultureChow!

[Patsh]

'

Now, that's DEEP.

(Glad I didn't have a mouthful when I saw that...
after all, this is a new keyboard!)

[Joeln]

Got my anti-darkwad hat finished, kind of cool!

hat4.jpg

hat2.jpg

And if someone can tell me why the lower resolution pic came with a scrollbar I'd love to know...

[TT120]

That's pretty sweet Joel! Where did you stash the battery pack?

[Ratty]

Niiiiice. I like it. Is it blue or brown. The 2 pictures are different colors. Or is it one of those chameleon hats.

[Joeln]

yeah white balance is misleading...It is actually gray

[TT120]

If you were there last year, you know how hard it was to ride a bike out in deep Playa. The surface was so soft that normal bike tires just sunk in. (think deep sand) Well, I think I found a solution: Fat tire bike!

[lucky420]

love the colors ^^

[BoyScoutGirl]

The discussion of fall contracts has started. Being an educator means that I have lots of time off, but nearly all of it is pre-scheduled around when my students are on holiday. I only have three days of discretionary leave a year, so a full week at TTITD was looking to be a problem indeed. But after tentatively being offered a nearly-full teaching load for the fall, I decided to swallow my fear of having that very tentative offer rescinded and ask about being gone for a full week during the very beginning of the semester.

It turns out there is a commonly accepted workaround that should be no problem. Huuuuuge weight off my shoulders - 2015 burn preparation can begin in earnest!

On the downside, my dad finally decided about this year's burn: he's not coming. Still optimistic for 2016 though.

[Ratty]

Yeah!! Boy Scout Girl. Full speed ahead.

[captain voltaveus]

I've got the Fatty wheeled trike with Flame effect dialed in...





Here is a little compilation video of the trike project:


NOW, my attention has turned to "Tron Pong 2.0" I am a member of a creative space / warehouse in Portland - "The Foundry" where we have a shop for woodworking / welding and making, as well as a rehearsal space for several bands. We have built it out with a bar and lounge space and on weekends there are jam sessions and good times hanging out with friends in a private venue. This fall I built a ping pong table with LEDs laid into routed out channels where the white lines of a traditional pong table would be. It has been super well received and our plan is to fabricate a trailer to enable it to be pulled out to deep playa by bicycle. I think we'll leave it set up at our camp but then for a couple nights ride it out to deep playa or even just the Esplanade. Version 2.0 will have plexiglass side panels maybe 36 inches wide (also lit up with LED strips) so you can play off of the sides. Over head we plan some signage: TRON-PONG. We're going to have to trial and error the attachments so that it is bomber enough for wind and the general destructive energy that is the playa.

[FIGJAM]

Are those UV LEDs and are the balls treated with UV reactive paint???

[VultureChow]

So... kind of a proof of concept on my small camp bike rack. The legs need to be closer together and reinforced internally with some foam and threaded rod. Then some fishnets. Maybe a few lights along the base and done.

LEGS.JPG