Rickety

Mostly about Utah

Kaysville Independence Day Parade

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Yesterday we watched the Kaysville / Fruit Heights Independence Day Parade. The weather was perfect, so cool. There were ominous dark clouds overhead but they didn’t rain on our parade. Just before the parade started four F-16s from Hill Air Force Base flew low overhead to loud applause from the large crowd.

Three of my children, Sarah, Paul, and Jake, were in the Davis High marching band when they attended high school. Also my niece Shauna and son-in-law Derek.

If you didn’t see the parade here are a few photographs of what we experienced.


Davis County Sheriff Officer
Davis County Sheriff Officer.

A Picture of the Past wagon
A Picture of the Past wagon. This is my favorite of the parade.

Family at the parade
Front: Adelaide, Steven, Paul, Shauna. Middle: Cheryl, Ashton, Susan, Kent. Rear: Melissa, Aurora, Jill, Connie, Mark.

Jill and Aurora
Jill and Aurora.

Help Rescue America Declaration
Help Rescue America Declaration of Liberty.

LDS Business College float
LDS Business College float.


Davis County Sheriff’s Posse Queen and First Princess.

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Webcam Crawling

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Bryson webcam crawling
Bryson webcam crawling

The webcam is a marvelous device. Our webcam is regularly in use as we communicate with Sarah in Keller, Texas. This had me wondering when and where the first webcam was used.

The First Webcam

The Trojan Room coffee pot was the inspiration for the world’s first webcam installed on a local network in 1991. The coffee pot was located in the so-called Trojan Room within the old Computer Laboratory of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. The webcam was created to help people working in other parts of the building avoid pointless trips to the coffee room by providing, on the user’s desktop computer, a live 128×128 grayscale picture of the state of the coffee pot. On August 22, 2001, the camera was finally switched off.

Faraway Grandchild

Today we saw Bryson crawling for the first time over the webcam. That was a marvelous sight. Jill heavily praised Bryson, which brings a smile to his face. This elicits more praise from Jill which brings forth another smile from Bryson. I rather think this would continue all day long if not for Sarah saying, “OK, time to go.” And this is another great thing about the webcam. Because it is so easy to break off a conversation it makes it easier to start one, knowing you can sign off in an instant.

With five children it was rather inevitable that at least one would move away. On the bright side it did give me a reason to travel. Jill doesn’t need a reason to travel. She will go anywhere, any time, except to go to the kitchen to get me a snack — I have to do that myself. All I need now is a webcam on the chips so that I can cut down on wasted trips.

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Build an Arc Welder from Microwave Ovens: Part 3

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The Story So Far

Paul obtained his microwave ovens, wired the garage for 220 volts, and extracted the first transformer. In this segment he replaces the old secondary windings with new, thicker wire.


Sawed off secondary.
One side of the secondary winding was sawed off with a hacksaw.

Bash out the secondary.
The secondary windings were in so tight they had to be knocked out.

Tear out the secondary.
Tearing out a few windings loosened the rest.

Secondary removed.
The secondary is completely removed.

Wire guides.
Using short lengths of 6 gauge wire as guides.

New secondary.
The completed secondary consists of 11 feet of 6 gauge wire wound in 11 turns.

Related Articles

Build a Microwave Transformer Homemade Stick/Arc Welder Learn from the experts.
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Missionary Dan Email #21 from Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

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Ehx gerel baptism.
Ehx gerel baptism. Daniel on right.

Presented here are portions of Elder Daniel Willoughby’s twenty first email from the Mongolia Ulaanbaatar Mission. If anyone wishes to send Daniel a message, write it in the comments and I will make sure he receives it.

Thanks for the great pictures and the updates about the family. It is always fun to read about it all.

Missionary Work

Ehx gerel was baptized and it went well. She asked me to confirm the Holy Ghost for her. It was good for me to learn how to do it my first time in Mongolian and also first time ever. It went well and I felt the Spirit. She is a good new member with lots of friends.

This week a lot of interesting things happened. My companion for the past couple of weeks has had problems with his eye. He has way bad eyesight so this week they did surgery to fix it. While he was at surgery I went to zone conference with a mini missionary. A mini missionary is a church member preparing to go on a mission. Depending on the circumstances they can do a mini mission for 2 weeks or so, where they are complete full time missionaries. It was fun to be with one at zone conference. Afterwards we went to investigator’s houses and taught a lesson while my companion recovered. Right now he is doing great and recovering quickly.

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Build an Arc Welder from Microwave Ovens: Part 2

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220 volts source for the arc welder
220 volts source for the arc welder

220 Volt Source

After acquiring more than the necessary microwave ovens Paul turned his attention to a source of 220 volts. My electric range is plugged into the wall that separates the kitchen from the garage. Paul simply placed a 125 amp main lug load center in the garage side of the wall and tapped into the 220 volt source. He then ran a line to a 220 volt wall socket he installed in the garage.

Transformers

To power the arc welder Paul needs six transformers. At a cost of $5 for 33 microwaves, one transformer sets him back 15 cents. He dismantled his first microwave oven and extracted the transformer. Anyone need a used microwave oven? With school and work pressing in on him the rest of the transformers will have to wait.


The transformer on the right is all that is required
The transformer on the right is all that is required


The transformer on the right is all that is required
The 15 cent transformer

Related Articles

Build a Microwave Transformer Homemade Stick/Arc Welder Learn from the experts
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Foreign Holders of Treasury Securities

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The top ten foreign holders of treasury securities.

The top ten foreign holders of treasury securities.

China Buying Fewer Securities?

I have read in the news several times this year that China [is] Losing [its] Taste for Debt From [the] U.S. If that was true last year it appears that China has changed its mind. Chinese holdings of U.S. debt have risen in 12 of the last 14 months for an increase of 52% (see table below). Of the ten nations in the chart above, eight have also increased their share of the U.S. debt since April 2008. Of the 32 nations and “all others” tallied in the table below, their purchases of U.S. debt has risen a collective 26% in a year.

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Missionary Dan Email #20 from Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

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Presented here are portions of Elder Daniel Willoughby’s twentieth email from the Mongolia Ulaanbaatar Mission. If anyone wishes to send Daniel a message, write it in the comments and I will make sure he receives it.


All the missionaries in Daniel's zone
All the missionaries in Daniel’s zone (Daniel second row, far right).

Insanity

That is insane! That is a lot of microwaves. With those I could cook 33 corn dogs in 1 minute. I heard Olive Garden cooks their food with microwaves. That is probably a rumor. Was it really 5 dollars? Sounds like a good project. It sounds like the summer is going great for everyone. Thanks for the continued support and love.


Mongolian countryside.
Mongolian sunset.

Missionary Work

We keep on working here. Yesterday some people in the ward were called to stake callings. I was able to talk to a member about patriarchal blessings. They all seem to be really excited to be able to get them. Right now we are still waiting for the stake presidency to submit a name for the calling.

The summer seems to be a slow time for missionary work. People are busy and are working. My companion and I have plenty of investigators that are progressing though. This Friday we have a baptism of a 17 year old. She is good friends with the people in the church and they contributed a lot in helping her attend church and have the desire to join. She was an excellent investigator and kept most of her commitments and is now regularly attending church.

Weather

The picture is of all the missionaries in my zone and one of the sunset we saw one day while returning to our apartment. It was a beautiful sunset that spread throughout the whole sky. We’ve had quite a few that have looked similar to this one.  The weather has been off and on of being cold and hot. On Friday there was snow in the mountains, but it was warm throughout the day.

To Mom

Thanks for writing about what you’re up to. Its great to hear about what going on. It is exciting that all the family is visiting and things. And right now we teach English in the churches, since most of the schools are closed down for the summer.

To Dad

Hey! It’s probably still Fathers Day. It is strange to think that I’m one day ahead of where you are. Anyway Happy Fathers Day! I love you Dad.

Love, Elder Willoughby

Related Articles

List of Daniel’s missionary posts.
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Defense Spending by Country

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Defense Spending

The fifteen countries with the largest annual military budgets. See table below for actual dollar amounts.

This information is outdated. See this post for the latest in military spending.

Defense Spending In The Billions

The chart above shows the fifteen nations with the greatest annual military spending. The United States, with a budget of $535.9 billion annually, spends more on defense than the next fourteen nations combined. One wonders if all that spending by the United States is really necessary, considering that the U.S. military budget is more than four times that of the next largest spender, China, at $121.9 billion. If America’s NATO allies are included just from the chart above (which is not all of NATO), that adds another $207.2 billion in defense spending. Those countries are the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Canada, and Spain.

Defense Spending By GDP

When spending is considered by percent of gross domestic product (GDP), the United States at 4.1% falls to eighth place. Saudi Arabia (10.0%), Russia (9.9%), and Israel (7.3%) take over first, second, and third place respectively.

Table Of Annual Defense Spending By Country

Click ONCE on column headers to sort.

Rank Country $Billion %GDP
1 United States 535.9 4.1
2 China 121.9 4.3
3 Russia 70.0 9.9
4 United Kingdom 55.4 2.4
5 France 54.0 2.6
6 Japan 41.1 0.8
7 Germany 37.8 1.5
8 Italy 30.6 1.8
9 Saudi Arabia 29.5 10.0
10 South Korea 24.6 2.7
11 India 22.4 2.5
12 Australia 17.2 2.4
13 Brazil 16.2 2.6
14 Canada 15.0 1.1
15 Spain 14.4 1.2
16 Turkey 11.6 5.3
17 Israel 11.0 7.3
18 Netherlands 9.9 1.6
19 United Arab Emirates 9.5 3.1
20 Indonesia 8.4 3.0
21 Taiwan 7.7 2.2
22 Greece 7.3 4.3
23 Iran 7.2 2.5
24 Myanmar (Burma) 6.9 2.1
25 Singapore 6.3 4.9
26 Poland 6.2 1.7
27 Ukraine 6.0 1.4
28 Sweden 5.8 1.5
29 Colombia 5.4 3.4
30 Norway 5.0 1.9

Sources

  • The Economist, “…and Wars”. Pocket World in Figures 2009 Edition. Profile Books. Dollar amounts are for 2006, except Indonesia which is for 2005.
  • The CIA World Factbook, listing spending on defense programs for the most recent year available as a percent of gross domestic product (GDP); the GDP is calculated on an exchange rate basis, i.e., not in terms of purchasing power parity (PPP).

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Green Jell-O Filled Orange Wedges

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Green Jell-O filled orange wedges

Green Jell-O filled orange wedges

When Paul is not making arc-welders from microwaves he can be seen preparing treats for the Young Single Adult Ward Barbecue. His treat of choice is Jello-O jigglers. At the last YSA party Paul put bacon in his Jell-O jigglers. Fortunately for about everyone concerned Paul is out of bacon and so instead he is making Jell-O filled orange wedges. He got the idea from instructables. The blog Traditionally Modern Designs also likes Orange Jello Slices. They are easy to make:

  1. Cut the oranges in half and clean out the guts.
  2. Place the empty orange halves in 12oz. paper cups.
  3. Fill orange halves with Jell-O and refrigerate (use green Jell-O if you live in Utah).
  4. Place oranges face down and cut in half. Serve on a pretty tray.

Jell-O is the official state snack food of Utah and apparently Utahns have the highest per capita consumption of Jell-O in the world.


Using a gutted orange as a green Jell-O mold
Using gutted oranges as green Jell-O molds

Turn the orange on its face to cut in two
Turn the orange on its “Jell-O face” to cut in two

Closeup of the green Jell-O filled orange wedges
Closeup of the green Jell-O filled orange wedges

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