Author: John

John Mueller is a freelance author and technical editor. He has writing in his blood, having produced 123 books and over 600 articles to date. The topics range from networking to artificial intelligence and from database management to heads-down programming. Some of his current offerings include topics on machine learning, AI, Python programming, Android programming, and C++ programming. His technical editing skills have helped over more than 70 authors refine the content of their manuscripts. John also provides a wealth of other services, such as writing certification exams, performing technical edits, and writing articles to custom specifications. You can reach John on the Internet at [email protected].

Gift Deer

Our friends are amazing! They see something we might need or want and give it to us if they have it to give. Yes, we reciprocate when we can, but it isn’t as if anyone is keeping score. So, it wasn’t completely unexpected on Saturday when one of the nicest doe deer we’ve seen in a long time landed on our doorstep. However, such a gift is always appreciated, especially considering we were almost out of venison. Our freezer is now packed to overflowing thanks to our friend’s generosity.

Of course, the deer was still on the hoof, so I as soon as I purchased some ice to cool the meat as quickly as possible, I got out my knife and skinned it. I carefully removed the hide and set it aside. Later in the day, I took it to town to give to the local sportsman’s club. They collect the hides and sell them for processing. One good turn deserves another.

After skinning, I cut the meat into pieces and put them in ice water to cool. Rebecca and I set up the meat grinder and broke out the meat saw next. After that, I brought in one piece at a time. Rebecca washed it and then I started figuring out how to process each piece. Some of the meat ended up chopped into chunks for stew, some was ground into burger, we saved the tenderloins to make tenderloin medallions for Christmas, and the ribs will taste dandy barbecued this next spring. Overall, we received 63 pounds of some incredibly nice venison.

Not everyone would view a deer left on their doorstep as a gift. After all, it was a lot of work processing the deer. However, for us, it was pure heaven. We’ll eat well this winter because someone decided to be generous with us.

My point is that the unexpected gift given out of sheer cheerfulness is the best gift of all. My friends knew they would receive nothing more than our thanks for their effort, yet they gave us the deer anyway. Sometime I’ll give them something they need or want. Friendships should work that way, but I must admit that they seldom do. All too often the question beneath the surface seems to be, “What’s in it for me?”

When was the last time you did something for someone simply because it gave you pleasure to do so? I treasure each of these moments and I know that they only make my friendships stronger. Do something nice for someone today! Do it because you want to do it and without any expectation of anything in return. I think you’ll agree with me that the grin you wear the rest of the day truly is worth the effort .

Celebrating Veterans Day

Yesterday was Veterans Day. I’m sure there are many activities going on today as well, but yesterday was the official holiday. It’s an important day because it honors every person who has served honorably in the armed services of this country. As a veteran myself (I served 10 years in the Navy from 1975 to 1985), I usually do something special to remember my time in the service. A lot of faces come back-all of the kids who served with me either on shore stations or on ship. We were all kids-wet behind the ears and way too young to have left home. I know where a few of my former shipmates are today, but I’ve lost contact with a good many of them.

Some people confuse Veterans Day with Memorial Day. The difference between the two is that Veterans Day celebrates the contributions of all veterans, while Memorial Day is specifically set aside to honor those who died while serving their country. If you want to thank a veteran for his or her service to our country, yesterday would have been the day to do it. Veterans are those who have previously served for the country, so that includes all of America’s uniformed services. This even includes coast guards. I did see some people flying us coast guard flags yesterday. That was lovely to see. All veterans should be appreciated, no matter what service they are from.

A number of people have asked why I joined the Navy. There were actually a number of reasons and I can’t say that any one reason was the deciding factor for me. I wanted to see the world and the Navy seemed like one way to do it. I did see a lot of the Orient during two deployments. My ports of call included: Japan, Korea, Thailand, Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia, and The Philippines (amongst other places). I actually did get to enjoy enough time in each port to at least get a flavor of the place. I consider myself extremely fortunate to have seen so much.

Another reason was education. As a Sonar Technician I received a lot of electronics training in all sorts of technologies. However, by the time I left the service, I had acquired enough college credits for a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science-free of financial encumbrances. I more than met my educational goals.

I also needed some order and discipline in my life. Obviously, the Navy is well equipped to offer as much order and discipline as any one person could ever want (or need). I grew up while I was in the service and I managed to do it without getting over my head in trouble. If I had stayed a civilian, I might not have fared so well. I managed to make it to first class petty-officer (an E6) during my time in service, which is considered pretty good during time of peace. (While I was in during the time of the Lebanon/Granada conflicts, I wasn’t actually called upon to serve in those areas.)

Most importantly, during this time I became distinctly aware of what it means to be an American and I gained an understanding of why our freedoms are so incredibly important. I was never called on to die for my freedom, but I know many others have. Even so, I was willing to die should anyone have ever asked it of me. During this time of remembering our warriors, it doesn’t matter whether you agree with the politics of the wars we wage or not. That someone is willing to lay his or her life on the line for your freedom is what matters. If you didn’t get the chance to do it yesterday, make sure you thank a veteran today.

Splitting the Dreaded Elm

I’ve read a lot of truly awful comments from wood cutters about elm trees online. Yes, everyone admits that they’re quite pretty and the vase shape produces an amazing amount of shade. Elm trees are popular in cities because they can grow quite well in the pollution. The elm tree’s twisted internal structure means that even when the tree is hit by lightning, it often doesn’t split apart and cause significant damage. Of course, elm trees are susceptible to a number of beetles, including those that spread Dutch Elm Disease (DED). Wood cutters of all sorts now have experience with the twisted internal structure of the elm because DED has wiped out so many trees. This structure makes it incredibly hard to split the tree. In fact, some wood cutters will refuse to cut down an elm for wood simply because the tree is so incredibly hard to split.

Elm does have some redeeming features for someone who needs wood for their stove. Unlike my favorite, black locust, you don’t have to mix elm with other woods to keep your stove temperature under control. Elm will burn at a moderate rate for a long time. In addition, elm produces a lot of heat for the amount of wood you get, it isn’t hard to start, won’t produce a lot of sparks, and doesn’t produce an overwhelming amount of ash.

A friend recently helped me cut down two elms—one of which was threatening my house (the other would have threatened at some point if it had been left in place). These are mature trees that have the the classic signs of beetle infestation, but don’t appear to have the fungus associated with DED. Even so, all of the wood from the two trees will find a home in my wood pile at some point.

One way to deal with elms is not to split them in the first place. Most people think you have to cut trees into the classic log shape. I’ll cut elm into short logs that fit flat into the wood stove instead of as a log. You can continue cutting the tree up like this until the diameter of the log begins to exceed the depth of your wood stove. So, I’ve ended up with a number of logs that look like this, rather than the usual round shape.

At this point, I can see you scratching your head. You insert the wood like this into the wood stove. The height of this piece matches the height of the wood stove opening—the diameter is less than the length and depth of the wood stove, so the piece will fit just fine, even if it isn’t in the normal orientation. All the wood stove needs is a piece of wood that’s the right size to fit and it definitely doesn’t care anything about shape. The piece will burn just fine in this direction.

Warning: You may need to insert felling or bucking wedges to keep the cut open when working with thinner cuts like the ones shown in this post. Never use splitting wedges for this purpose. If the chainsaw chain hits a metal splitting wedge, the chain will likely break and could cause personal injury. Always use plastic or fiberglass felling or bucking wedges designed for use in holding open cuts instead.

The trees had a 20-inch diameter, which is just a bit bigger than my wood stove will allow, no matter how I want to orient the pieces. I chose to split the pieces in this case so they look a bit more like standard logs. However, elm is so tough to split, that just hitting it with a maul or an axe won’t work. I have a 20 pound maul and it simply bounces off the top unless I really want to pound on the log, in which case, I get a nice dent. To split this wood, you need splitting wedges. I used three wedges to split the 20-inch diameter pieces from this tree. When working with elm, you can’t have too many wedges. To start the process, create a stress line across the log like this.

What you’re seeing is about six hits with the maul to create a straight line through the early wood. Notice that I purposely avoided the late (heart) wood. If you try to split the heart wood, you may never get the job done.

After you get the initial stress line created, pound in your first wedge. Given the size of this log, I chose to place the wedge about 1/3 of the way across to ensure the log would split all the way down the side. Again, you really want to avoid that heart wood if at all possible.

Some people like to wait until elm is completely dry to split it. What I have found is that elm continues to harden and the interlocking becomes worse as it dries. I prefer to split the logs when the bark has come off, but before the tree is completely dry. Normally I see some wetting around the wedge as I pound it in as shown here.

Even with the lubrication provided by the moisture, getting the wedge all the way down can prove difficult. The first wedge is the hardest. Splitting the wood in sub-zero weather will give you a small advantage in some cases—it depends on how interlocked the fibers are. I chose to split this wood in warmer weather because I want it to start drying out.

After I get the first wedge all the way down, I pound in a second wedge 1/3 of the way from the other side. I end up with two wedges in the first end like this.

Warning: Make sure you dress your wedges properly! The two wedges shown here have been used to split a number of trees and are mushrooming out at the top due to being hit by the maul. The maul is made of harder metal than the wedges, which are designed to mushroom out like this as they’re being hit to reduce the risk of shattering (metal hitting metal). At some point, little pieces of the wedges will break off and could cause physical injury. Dressing the wedges using a grinder will keep the mushrooming under control and reduce the risk of physical injury. Of course, you should always wear the proper safely equipment when using a maul, which includes safety goggles (an OSHA approved face mask in addition to the safety goggles is better), long sleeves, heavy pants (adding wood cutting chaps is better), and heavy gloves.

As you can see, even with two wedges in place, this log refuses to split. At this point, you turn the log over. Create a stress line across the log using your maul that reinforces the current split. If you’re really lucky, you may be able to get the log to finish splitting this way, but don’t count on it. In my case, I needed a third wedge, so I put it in like this.

I now have a crack from top to bottom, but the crack doesn’t go all the way through the log and it still isn’t split. At this point, you turn the log over on it’s side and break the center by striking it with the maul. Make sure you hit directly in the middle and not on either end. If you hit the ends, you’ll also hit the wedges and dull your maul. When the split is complete, your log looks like this.

You can remove the two wedges at this side now. What you have is a split side and a hinge (connected) side. All you have in place in the second wedge on the top of the log at the hinge side. Turn the log over so that the bottom is up and the hinge side faces you. Use the maul to break open the bottom of the hinge as shown here.

This action should free the third wedge. At this point, you can place the top end up and finish the final split with the maul. You now have a split piece of elm as shown here.

In my experience, only elm splits this horribly, which is why many people avoid it. Yet, the wood does have some good characteristics and if you handle the tree right, you can get by without splitting most of it. Let me know about your elm splitting experiences at [email protected].

Writing the Introduction and Summary

I read a lot of books in a year. In fact, it’s not unusual for me to read a book or two every month of the year. While it may take three or more months to read something for pleasure, such as a favorite fantasy novel, technical books usually receive my intense interest for less than a month. Once I pick it up, I’ll keep reading until I’ve finished the book. Unlike many readers, I do read technical books end-to-end so that I can pick up new writing techniques, as well as information. When it comes to technical books, I’ve found that there are usually two flaws that make me scratch my head: the introduction and summary.

The introduction is akin to an advertisement or possibly an invitation. You want to provide a reader with a good reason for viewing the material. After all, the reader’s time is precious and there are many authors on the market peddling their wares. An invitation to read a particular chapter is not only necessary, it’s essential if you want the reader to spend time with the book. A good introduction highlights the reasons why the reader should continue and tempts the reader with the fine fare you’ve diligently created. However, introductions should also be short. You have about 30 seconds to convince someone to read a chapter—possibly less in this day of the sound bite. Instead of focusing on the question of what, the author should tell the reader why. It’s important to say why the reader should read the chapter and describe how much the reader stands to gain by doing so.

Summaries are eschewed by most readers for good reason—they’re boring. In many cases, it’s obvious the author didn’t devote much thought to the summary, so it isn’t hard to figure out why the reader doesn’t devote any time to it. Over the years, I’ve stopped calling the end of the chapter a summary because the term has picked up such a terrible meaning. Rather, I use a heading that at least promises to excite the reader a little. My summaries do tend to follow a formula that I modify as needed to satisfy the requirements of the target reader for my book. I write three or four paragraphs that answer these questions:

What is the most important bit of information the reader can take away from the chapter?
Now that the reader has new information, how can the reader apply it in a specific way?
How does the next chapter expand on the content of this chapter (or what new topic does it cover)?

In working with the introduction and summary, I’m careful not to develop new information. I simply direct the information I cover in the body of the chapter in a specific way. Yes, the summary does imply new information in the form of a call to action, but the call to action is not the topic I’m discussing, but rather invites to the reader to apply what the chapter has taught in order to make the lessons more permanent.

The content of the introduction and summary does vary by publisher. Specific series have specific requirements and I always do my best to make use of these requirements in a way that helps the reader obtain the most from that particular chapter. In addition, beta readers have often requested that I include some special feature in either the introduction or summary to help make the chapter more useful. I listen to these comments carefully because the beta readers probably know better than I do what will attract another reader’s attention.

Summaries can be especially hard. There are times where I’ll rework a summary several times to get the effect I want. In some cases, my summaries will include questions or other special features because simply telling the reader to go out and use the information learned seems inadequate to address the topic at hand. No matter how you write your introductions and summaries though, you do need to treat them as an important part of the chapter. The first invites the reader into the chapter and the other bids the reader adieu. Both provide the reader with a lasting impression of your skill as an author and both change the way the reader views the content of the rest of the chapter.

What is your reaction to technical book introductions and summaries? Do you often feel as I do, that they are simply bolted on as a means to start and end the chapter, but not much else? What would you like to see in an introduction or summary? Let me know your thoughts on the topic at [email protected].

Feeding for Healthy Chickens

It’s essential that you maintain close contact with your animals to ensure they remain healthy. Even if you do all of the right things, It isn’t always easy to maintain good animal health. This seems to be especially true with chickens.

We decided to start raising laying hens this year after building a new chicken coop from recycled materials (see the series of coop-related articles). At first the chickens were quite happy and produced eggs regularly. However, with the excessive summer heat, we noticed that their egg shells (not the inside of the egg) seemed to suffer. The eggs weren’t quite as smooth as normal and the shells were thinner.

We had given the chickens oyster shells to eat and they have access to a wide variety of plants and insects, so we thought we were covered. However, it turns out that the chickens weren’t eating the oyster shells and that the summer heat was severely draining their calcium levels—yet another effect of global warming. Because we were inexperienced, we missed some warning signs and the chickens actually began eating their own eggs.

After a lot of thought, we finally found some solutions to fix the problems with our chickens that may be helpful to anyone else who is encountering this problem. Here are the things we changed in our coop and our chickens seem a lot healthier now than before.

Place the water feeder where it won’t get dirty (after all, chickens are birds and will fly to the water).
Mix the oyster shells into the feed at a ratio of 9:1 to ensure the chickens get enough calcium in their diet.
Collect the eggs several times a day.
Remove any broken eggs from the coop.
Add a vitamin D supplement to the chicken’s water during high heat times when the birds are less likely to get the full amount of sun they require (if you don’t want to use the supplement, then give the chickens vitamin D enhanced milk).
Provide fake eggs in each of the nest boxes (the chickens will peck the fake eggs, find that they won’t break, and be less likely to peck the real eggs as result).

Things could have easily been worse. We didn’t lose any chickens this summer and they do all seem to weigh about as much as they should. All of the chickens have remained active. We also didn’t make a few of the mistakes that novices can make, such as feeding the chickens raw eggs or eggshells (which will encourage the chickens to eat their own eggs). Even so, as with everything else we’ve done so far, this summer has been a learning experience and I expect that we have more to learn as we move forward.

Making sure your chickens have access to a variety of greens and insects is an essential part of raising healthy birds. However, there is more to it than that and unfortunately, chickens don’t come with a manual. You may find that you need to work with individual birds to get the most out of them. Let me know your thoughts about raising chickens at [email protected].

A New Kind of Recycling – Bicycling

I try to keep up-to-date on as many of the current recycling efforts as I possibly can because I feel strongly that reusing resources is one of the most important ways we have of reducing pollution, or at least dealing with it in a way that reduces the damage caused by the resource usage in the first place. One of the resources that see a lot of usage is cardboard, yet I often see the resource wasted in various ways or simply added to a dump somewhere. That’s why an article entitled, “Cardboard bicycle can change the world, says Israeli inventor” attracted my attention. The fact that the bicycle looks nothing like cardboard is interesting, but even more interesting is that this inventor plans to use cardboard for a wealth of other products where metal is traditionally used today.

I find it interesting that the inventor thinks he might be able to use cardboard for items such as cars. I’m not sure what the ramifications of such use would be, but it’s definitely going to prove interesting. For example, what would happen to a cardboard car in an accident? The point is that people are finding ways to use items that would be traditionally labeled junk in all sorts of ways that make the item useful again. At one time the world practiced reuse in significant ways and it looks like we’re headed in that direction again today. It’s no longer possible to waste resources as we have in the past.

What would you think about riding a bicycle made of cardboard? Can you think of other uses for resources such as cardboard that might reduce the burden on landfills? In fact, can you think of a way to reduce trash to the point where landfills aren’t even necessary any longer? The idea of recycling absolutely everything isn’t quite possible today because of the way things are packaged. However, with some effort and clever thinking, it may become possible to recycle absolutely everything at some point, but then we’ll need to have people willing to buy the recycled products. Let me know your ideas at [email protected].

An Experiment in Noise Pollution Reduction

I’ve been trying an experiment over the past year. It includes trying to reduce the amount of noise pollution I endure during the day. No, I haven’t buried myself in an anechoic chamber. What I have done is consciously reduced the noise around me, including the sound levels of all sorts of sources. As I’m able, I’m reducing the sound levels of my music and of the television (for example) or turning them off completely. What I’m finding is that the sound levels I listened to when I started sound absurdly loud to me now. I don’t have enough medical knowledge to know whether someone’s hearing can repair itself, but I do know that turning down the sound has forced me to pay attention better when I want to hear something. The difference in focus has had a profound effect.

Reducing sound levels has both health and monetary benefits. The health benefits, at the least, are improved hearing. The monetary benefit is that I find I’m using less electricity to produce sound that I didn’t really want to hear in the first place. In addition, because I’m able to focus on a task with all of my energy, I complete tasks faster and with fewer errors, which usually has a positive monetary impact (or, at least gives me more time to do something else). These are the effects that I thought I would achieve when I started my experiment and they have proven to be quite easy to justify. Most importantly, I now find that I can hear things that I would have missed in the past. For example, if my wife requires aid, I can actually hear her more often (she’s incredibly soft spoken).

I’m finding a few surprise changes as the result of my experiment. For one thing, my blood pressure is less on days where I have fewer noise sources to contend with (as much as 15 mmHg), which bodes well for my long term health. I’m also finding that I suffer fewer headaches and that I appear to have more energy. So far, I haven’t seen much difference in my heart rate, which is something I had expected given the other changes I’ve noted. I wish there were some way to quantify how much of this effect is due to sound reduction and how much is due to overall health improvement due to our self-sufficient lifestyle, but I have to think that the sound reduction has a significant effect.

There are a few negative effects to the sound reduction experiment. The first is that I find that I wake easier at night. Sounds that I didn’t notice before are quite obvious now. So, when an animal is killing a rabbit outside, I wake now, rather than sleep through it. The disruption of my sleep does have a negative health effect, but I think the consistent positive health benefits I’ve received outweigh this somewhat negative effect (given that I fall back to sleep quite easily). The second is that I sometimes find myself straining to hear a sound that isn’t there. This psychological effect will likely become less pronounced as time goes on, but for now, it causes some level of stress when it occurs, which is only occasionally.

I haven’t completely cut out sound sources. For most of us, the complete loss of sound sources isn’t obtainable, desired, wanted, or even needed. What I have done is made a conscious effort to reduce the loudness of sound sources when I can. For example, instead of listening to the television at the 35 level, I’ll listen at the 25 or 20 level instead. I’ve cut music sources down to half their previous levels and I turn the music off completely in the afternoon when I’m focused most on writing. I also use hearing protection now even if the sound source isn’t what most people would consider absurdly loud (when using the lawn mower, for example).

Noise pollution poses serious health risks to people today. It isn’t just annoying, it causes all sorts of health, environmental, and monetary problems. While I have always advocated the use of hearing protection when working around loud equipment (wood chippers, weed whacker, chainsaw, blower, circular saw, and so on), this is my first foray into reducing sound levels from all other sources. The effects have been pronounced and I’m now beginning to wonder just how far I can take this and still maintain quality of life. There is a balance to things, after all. Have you considered the effects of noise pollution in your life? What can you do to reduce it? Let me know your thoughts on noise pollution at [email protected].

Maintaining Your Chainsaw

It’s wood cutting season and I’ve already been in the woods a couple of times. Nothing is quite as nice as a fresh breeze, wonderful scenes, the feel of nature, and the smell of freshly cut wood. I choose the wood carefully, as described in Choosing Wood Carefully. However, no matter how carefully you choose the tree, the task is only as easy as the condition of the tools you use. The tools must be the right size, fully maintained, and inspected carefully. Of the tools I use, the one I worry about most is my chainsaw. A failure of my chainsaw at the wrong time could mean death. This means that as well as thorough inspections, your chainsaw must be of good quality, like these top rated cordless chainsaws.

I know a lot of people maintain their saws personally. However, given that my small engine experience is limited, I normally take my saw to a professional for its annual maintenance. This includes everything from cleaning the air filter and changing the fuel filter, to making sure the saw is clean and has a sharp chain on it. This annual workup is enough for my needs because I’m not using the saw professionally. I cut just enough wood to meet my heating needs each year, plus stock up a bit of emergency wood.

However, I do perform certain types of maintenance every time I go out to cut wood, the kind that may need some stuff from safety equipment suppliers to perform safely. This frequent maintenance may seem like overkill, but I really don’t want to end up dead due to an equipment failure, so I perform these checks absolutely every time I use my chainsaw:

Clean the exterior of the saw.
Inspect the saw for damage.
Check the sharpness of the chain and replace it if necessary.
Clean the area that houses the chain when I have the chain off.
Verify the chain is at the proper tension.
Grease the bar sprocket.
Fill the chain lubricant reservoir.
Fill the gas reservoir.
Check my safety equipment, which includes safety glasses, hearing protectors, and heavy gloves.

Even performing all of these checks, it’s possible that you’ll have an equipment failure, but it’s a lot less likely. If you’re smart, you’ll continuously check for potential problems while you’re working in the woods. Make sure you check the saw every time you refuel it and always ensure that you add bar chain lubricant when you gas up. It also doesn’t pay to be cheap in this case-use high quality lubricant and make sure your gas is fresh and has the proper two-cycle engine oil in it.

It often amazes me that people don’t take more care when they prepare to go into the woods. Even though I feel that the woods are one of the most beautiful places on earth, I also give them the respect their due and you should too. Let me know your thoughts on chainsaw maintenance at [email protected].

S	M	T	W	T	F	S
					1	2
3	4	5	6	7	8	9
10	11	12	13	14	15	16
17	18	19	20	21	22	23
24	25	26	27	28	29	30