Monday night, I built a set of ribs [...]]]> I know that this keeps you awake at night, wondering whether or not you will be able to avoid building an airplane while asleep. Let me encourage you to persevere in your efforts. At all costs, strive to be awake when building your airplanes.

Monday night, I built a set of ribs for the rudder of my Bede BD-4C and was very proud, indeed, of my accomplishment. Tuesday morning, before my coffee had sufficiently activated my brain, I double-checked my work by placing one of the ribs on the drawing for the top of the rudder. Here is the photo that I took.

Rudder rib on drawing of top of rudder

This had me very worried because, as you can see, the bolt near the rear (narrow end) of the rib is not really “in” the rib.

Tonight, being slightly more conscious, I realized that I have the rib too far forward (too far to the left) in the photograph above. It should be positioned about 3/4″ farther back (to the right). When I do that, everything works beautifully, as you can see from this photo.

Rib in top of rudder with a paper template of the part which will go on top of it

The rib extends well past the bolt so all will be well. I suppose I will never become a “morning person.”

To say that I am pleased would be an understatement.

My greatest cheerleader never stopped believing.

Mom’s love and food cure all.

Thanks to Mike at Wicked Stickers for the great work.

I had been calling [...]]]> Candy was thrilled to get her car earlier than expected, since I got home on Saturday night instead of Sunday. (Sure, she claimed that she was happy to see me but I know the truth.) We waited until daylight to take this picture and you can still see that “FIAT Grin.”

Candy with her FIAT 500

I had been calling her frequently during my drive, updating her on cool stuff that I discovered, including:

Blue & Me hooked up to my Android phone via Bluetooth, letting me dial the phone and talk to Candy without taking my hands off the steering wheel. I needed only touch one button with my left thumb and say, “Call Candy Zemon.” The car would inquire, “Call Candy Zemon on cell?” I would respond, “Yes” and my phone would then dial. As I chatted merrily with no else in the car, I hearkened back to my early days wearing a Bluetooth headset for my phone, when I would have conversations with thin air as I walked across parking lots. Blue & Me works with Candy’s Palm Pre, too.

The beautiful pairing of the MultiAir 1.4L engine with the six speed automatic transmission provided plenty of power up through (and past) 90 MPH, even when climbing steep grades in the Rocky Mountains east of Salt Lake City. Since this is Candy’s car, we got it with the automatic transmission instead of the manual. I had worried that the automatic would destroy much of the car’s spunkiness but I was wrong. The FIAT 500 is every bit as zippy and fun to drive with the automatic as with the stick.

This MultiAir engine, by the way, controls power by managing the amount that the intake valves open and not with a throttle plate. FIAT claims that this improves both power and fuel economy by about 10%. I think it is magic to have an engine without cam shafts in which the valve timing and the amount that the valves open can both be varied under computer control.

Pressing the “Sport” button on the dash turns the FIAT 500 into a whole different car. The automatic transmission upshifts at the merest hint of pressure on the throttle pedal, the steering stiffens, and the suspension firms up. Sport mode would be perfect for cranking through twisty roads or an autocross but it was not right for an interstate road trip so I left it off most of the time.

The car felt rock solid and steady even at highway speeds and with strong, gusty winds (38 MPH gusting 46 MPH in North Platte, NE, for example). Most of the time, the wind did not even make the car shift around on the road. Occasionally, I could feel the car rock a bit but I never had to make those nervous steering corrections that I expected would be required.

If the windshield wipers are on and you shift into reverse, the FIAT 500 automatically activates the rear wiper when you take your foot off the gas.

Using the menu system on the dashboard, I was able to turn on the daytime running lights any time the car is started. Europeans and Canadians have had this feature for years and it has proven to improve safety. I have always been surprised that all American cars don’t have this feature.

Switching from my MGB to my Miata gave me all of the fun with the ease-of-use and reliability that I had come to expect from modern cars. The FIAT 500 keeps the fun (it drives almost exactly like the Miata) while adding the convenience of an automatic transmission and the electronic doo-dads of the 21st century.

After a tough week at work, I had the “chore” of taking [...]]]> A feisty yellow FIAT 500 Sport joined our family on Friday. I picked it up from FIAT of Salt Lake City after an on-line chat with Shane revealed a car on their lot configured just like Candy and I had been prepared to special order.

Grinning like a fool with our new FIAT 500

After a tough week at work, I had the “chore” of taking Friday as vacation, flying to Salt Lake City, picking up the car and driving it home.

Route from Salt Lake City to our home

I have to admit to being a little bit nervous about a road trip in a tiny car, brand spanking new from the dealership. I need not have been. The FIAT 500 is an absolute delight to drive. Like the TARDIS, there must be some weird pan-dimensional physics going on because there is way more room inside than there should be. As for power, despite the FIAT 500′s small motor, just 1.4L, the car had no trouble accelerating to (and through) 85 MPH and cruised neatly at speeds well over 80 MPH all the way across Wyoming and Nebraska. I had strong, gusty winds the whole way but the car felt rock solid. Aided a bit by the tailwind, I drove 1,344 miles home on 39.7 gallons of gas, netting 33.9 MPG with the vast majority of the trip between 80 and 85 MPH!

Being an all interstate trip, I had few chances to do much besides drive straight ahead. I had been worried that the automatic transmission that Candy wanted would destroy the spunky fun of the car but I was wrong; the FIAT 500 is just as much fun with the 6-speed automatic as with the 5-speed manual gearbox. It shifts neatly and reasonably quickly so there were rarely times when I wished for the clutch pedal.

Here are a few more photos (click through for a photo gallery with larger images).

I do need to leave you with one caution. If you are considering a FIAT 500 for your own family, brush up on your parallel parking skills. It’s tough.

FIAT 500 shoehorned into a parallel parking space

Read more in this follow-on posting about the FIAT 500.

Since I can’t fight it, I [...]]]> The discussion on one of my favorite mailing lists has turned toward nostalgic reminisces of the golden days of technology, including antique floppy disks and RT-11 cheat sheets. Scott Adams then made my morning with this strip (and a very merry Christmas to you, Scott!):

Since I can’t fight it, I might as well wallow in it. Here is my contribution to this week’s geezer tech. Yes, I really did use this IBM System/370 Reference Summary card. Yes, it really is still sitting around on my desk. No, I don’t know why. (Click to see it larger.)

System/370 Reference Summary card from 1974

Today’s quiz, for all you young whipper-snappers: Implement the call stack on the IBM-370 which (as you will have noticed upon your first inspection) lacks machine instructions for either PUSH or POP.

Click the image to read the whole comic. The disturbing question is: Which job do I hold???

Sign me up! This looks like more fun than a barrel of monkeys.

[Updated 8/19/2010 to insert a missing title.]