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March 24, 2008
Springtime
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| Image: An azalea garden.
Easter weekend felt like a typical introduction to Spring in Chico. I ended up working in my yard. What started as a minor clean-up and dump-run on Saturday ended up being a couple of days of yard work. I never had an interest in plants/planting until I owned my first home. When my wife and I purchased our first home in south Chico over a decade ago we had some work to do. We purchased the home in 1997 for $92,000. At the time I think our combined income was around $50K, and most of that came from a new job my spouse had won. We were married around the same time the house closed escrow. Our honeymoon money/time was spent putting a new fence up. In the BC days (before cids (kids)) we would walk across town on weekends to window shop at Hubbard's Nursery. While walking to and fro we would spy the various plantings in Chico's yards. In short order it was easy to determine what grew well in our town, and what ornamental plants would be a one season wonder. Unfortunately, that quaint little oasis of retail plant lushness is gone. Home ownership brings all sorts of "appreciations" to young couples. Combining incomes and spending toward a mutual investment and a future together is one thing. Better understanding of your community is another. For me it was also an education in home repair and the joys of gardening. I know every aisle of Home Depot like the back of my hand. To me it is sad that young couples are losing the ability to enjoy home ownership in Chico the way I have. I hear of young people moving to Gridley, Paradise, and Orland to get a start. In reality, it's not just young people making those decisions, it's anyone that wants to own a home at a reasonable cost. Additional fees and taxes on new homes, and a lack of good jobs in Chico, will make those trends more pronounced. In the meantime though, I'd like to point out to all Chicoans that the azaleas are getting ready to bloom. Keep your eyes open for these non-native invasive explosions of tropical color. They've come to define spring in Chico for me. Then will come the crepe myrtles in their pinks, purples, and whites and the summer heat beat only by a dip in the creek. |
| Spotlight: Dan The Man: Daniel Donnelly, a local art personality, wrote this letter to the editor. I think he makes some good points about the City's public art program and how it is viewed inside and outside the art community. The Art Department seems like a fiefdom where if you're in, you're in. And if you're not "no soup for you"! The City Manager should make some changes in the Art Department. The first change he should make is to stop any more decision making until the Art Commission has an updated set of policies for the various programs they are supposed to support. |
|
 CI Challenge: Can you guess what it is? Winner: Nobody, but almost a few people. See comments below for the answer. |
Posted by Lon at March 24, 2008 08:48 AM
Comments
CIC is a bed "spring"
Posted by: Anthony at March 24, 2008 09:29 AM
Also, the bees are dying. So spring may not sprung
It may be "wifi" like in Sebastopol, where hypochondriacs convinced the city council to rescind WiFi permits:
http://radar.oreilly.com/archives/2008/03/hazards-of-wifi.html
I see this happening in Chico once the hypchondriacs figure out there is wifi in city plaza. Cryptosporidium yes, WiFi no.
Or it may be the sun's magnetic collapse in 2005:
http://wattsupwiththat.wordpress.com/2008/03/23/our-changing-sun-and-colony-collapse-disorder-in-bees/
Naw, it CAN'T be the sun, the sun doesn't affect ANYTHING here on earth. Man is in complete control, yeah that's the ticket.
Posted by: Anthony at March 24, 2008 09:34 AM
Anthony,
I read your bee post. It sounds like an interesting possibility.
The anti WiFi argument is rather interesting. It's similar to a lot of the environmental arguments that can come from a rich nation.
Telephone and internet access are things we all take for granted. Nations like China and India and areas like Africa and South America would all like to have access to these economy changing technologies. They can't afford to run a million miles of copper wiring to get their populace connected.
It also makes little sense in the future to tie technology and access to information to a place instead of making it portable.
People that are anti-wireless are that way because they already have access to billions of dollars of infrastructure. And since I'm Sustainable Lon what could be more sustainable than connecting via energy instead of mined copper strands?
By the way, the bees that were lost may have found my front yard. There are hundreds buzzing around one of my trees. I'll see if they need a ride home.
Lon
Posted by: Lon at March 24, 2008 10:50 AM
Oh yeah, that is a spring, and might be a bed spring, but I'm looking for the type of spring it is.
Lon
Posted by: Lon at March 24, 2008 02:36 PM
It looks like a progressive compression spring. The big coils squash easier and the smaller coils are stiffer.
Posted by: Gregg at March 24, 2008 02:43 PM
Gregg,
It's not a progressive spring, those have spring constants that change based on relative application of weight, they hardly hold their form. Meanwhile conservative springs are much stiffer and unlikely to change even with variable weights applied. It's not a conservative spring either. A moderate spring really has no opinion on what weight it might resist and often changes based on whether conservative or progressive springs are more popular.
It's a totally different spring.
Lon
Posted by: Lon at March 24, 2008 02:56 PM
CIC: Looks like a variation of a helical spring.
That is if you’re looking for a mechanical description… it is not a spiral, conical, leaf, or torsion spring….
Whatever the case may be.... Last weekend definately felt like Spring Time....
Posted by: Mark Sorensen at March 24, 2008 04:26 PM
Mark,
I would say it is a variation of a helical spring, and one that is related to the post's title. The picutre may not show all of the springs form which relates to its name.
But you guys are all smart, you'll figure it out.
Lon
Posted by: Lon at March 24, 2008 04:37 PM
hmmmm... perhaps it is a clock spring, and/or a broken spring thus being time for a new spring, or 'spring time'.
But, clock springs are generally spiral springs.... and CIC aint a spiral spring...
Posted by: Mark Sorensen at March 24, 2008 04:57 PM
It is a special variety of a helical compression spring. I'm pretty sure they are used in beds, but I haven't taken enough matresses apart to know if they are used universally. I would assume they aren't.
Lon
Posted by: Lon at March 24, 2008 05:01 PM
I don't know, Dude.... This is straight from the Bible of Dudely Vocabulary:
http://www.motorera.com/dictionary/PR.HTM#ProgressiveRateSpring
Progressive rate spring:
A spring with an increasing spring constant. For example, if the first inch of spring motion requires 100 pounds of force, the second inch would require more than an additional 100 pounds, and the third inch would require still more. Progressive-rate springs become stiffer as they are compressed, unlike single-rate springs, which have a fixed spring rate.
Variable rate springs:
Springs which become stiffer under compression; variable rate gas springs are a feature of air suspension systems
Posted by: Gregg Payne at March 24, 2008 05:12 PM
By the way, I completely agree that the Art Commission should chill out on more public art projects until their current policies become better defined. So far, it's been full steam ahead on several new projects since the efforts to clarify the whole mysterious process started two years ago. Meanwhile we have old policies that don't apply and new ones being written that aren't approved yet.
A few people will try to dismiss Daniel Donnelly is some grouchy old Art Scrooge after reading his letter, but he is actually the polar opposite of this, and his position with his professional career carries a lot of qualification and accountability with his opinions.
He's the former president of the Chico Art Center and co-director of COBA, the Chico Open Board Art Project. He's now the current Chair of the Butte College Design and Multi Media Dept. and he has independently done more to help local artists than any arts organization. He's done several artist's websites, (mine included) as well as the original Artoberfest site, for free. I've known him to propose several great projects and programs to the City only to get the brush off by Staff and commissioners that aren't visual artists.
I think he's another example of how the more you give and offer to help out, and the more effective you are, the more you become resented by a few phony wanna be art snobs with political ambitions that don't get it, and don't really want to.
Meanwhile, it's as if we're funding cheerleaders, who are great at what they do, but there's no team on the field.
Posted by: Gregg Payne at March 24, 2008 06:46 PM
Oh... when you said progressive I was thinking of something totally different. This spring may be a progressive spring or a variable pitch spring. But I guess if I had to give a clue (byond the fact that it's related to the title of this post) I'd say it's the opposite of a barrel spring.
Lon
Posted by: Lon at March 24, 2008 08:13 PM
Opposite of barrel spring? What, a concave spring?
Spring out of a box spring? Not really opposite or related to the title...
Linear as in time? As in springs that always have the same resistance?
I think Anthony got it. Time to watch a movie
Posted by: Gregg Payne at March 24, 2008 10:12 PM
It's an hourglass spring...
http://www.masterspring.com/products/compression_springs/default.html
Which is a helical spring and used in beds.
Lon
Posted by: Lon at March 24, 2008 10:23 PM
Oh brother... that one was a stretch.
Posted by: Gregg Payne at March 25, 2008 07:56 AM