This is a short video showing some of the activities and some pictures from this more fun side of the job.

For the more technical people out there I can tell you that we are actually measuring several radio services:

Train communication radio

• RAKEL – swedish blue light services radio
• Busskom – Our own TETRA network
• SplitZone – Our own new TETRA network that will in time replace Busskom
• FM Broadcast – For public service, commercial stations as well and important messages to the public

We also had a visit from the mobile operator Tre that conducted drive test measurement on their 3G network with good results.

The test equipment consists of the following:

• Laptop logging all the data
• Doppler radar mounted under the train that gives us the trains movement as 400 clicks per meter. This is connected to a small PIC processor that calculates the current distance always that can be queried from the laptop when necessary to get the current distance.
• Rhode & Scwarz ESPI test receiver, capable of measuring many frequencies at the same time, in this test we did 19 channels with 7-10 samples per second.
• GPS for accurate time synchronization
• Antennas for the various bands being measured
• Signal generators for uplink signal
• Amplifiers for the uplink signal to match the levels generated by the train radios
• Test receivers at the base stations to receive the uplink signals and log them with the same time reference

I am disappointed in you and I will make this letter very short as to why.

Your recent signing of the National Defence Authorization Act (NDAA) that allows you to detain people indefinitely on any grade of suspicion alone, barring them from proper legal counsel, is something that you do not expect from civilized countries, even a country as paranoid as the US has become.

In fact I was very relieved to hear you, not so long ago, speaking of how you would work hard to close down the shameful Guantánamo base, you gave the world hope that US would step up and take responsibility. Instead you now do the opposite and you open for even worse travesties and detention of people, even your own citizens indefinitely without trial.

As a world traveler I feel more and more hesitation, is it really worth it to visit the US? Even if you personally will not use the law to detain people wihtout proper suspicion, nothing will stop the next regime from doing so!

I am very disappointed and quite the bit disgusted with your actions. And I had such great hopes for the US lead by the first intelligent president in decades, but now I understand that there is no way of stopping this snow ball that have started rolling down a very slippery slope, be it Republican or Democrat — there is nobody that can stand up to the fear mongers who undermine people’s rights in your country any more.

The terrorists have truly won.

Sincerely,
A Concerned Swedish Citizen

And after the recent rollouts of new stuff I took a long look at it. What am I using it for? What is it my friends are posting on here? After trying to answer those two questions in my mind the choice was not difficult. Especially since I had started using Google+ instead which is (for me at least) everything facebook is not.

So, all old and new friends, you are very much welcome over to my Google+ profile instead, hope to see you there.

Google+ is a different concept to Facebook. It does not have “friends” instead you put people into different circles and people can reside in more than one circle. You can have circles for family, friends and aquantancies or categorize depending on country, profession, interests, language spoken and so on.

I have a little bit of all actually, I have a “Swedish” and an “English” circle so to nu unnecessary subject my English speaking friends to my posts in Swedish. I also have circles with shared interest such as photography, unix, android and so on.

When you put a person in a circle you follow them. They don’t need to “friend” you or anything. But they can still control what they share with you. Unless you are also in one of their circles only posts directed to be “public” will be shared with you. This is the power and balance of Google+ that helps you keep your professional posts and contacts separate from your friends and interests in the free time.

Usually not so common with me. But this time I have been under the ice since the weekend. Actually it started Friday but I managed to get through the weekend pretty okay.

And today I tried getting back to work. Got up, showered, did all the morning things, went out the door and then I realised I was not going to be able to do much with this day either so back in bed now. until Sunday night when I was feeling really feverish.

Thanks for modern tech so you can stay up to date with what is happening anyway, both at work and at home.

The common cold is often caused by one or more rhinovirus infecting the upper respiratory tract. Sometimes the symptoms are similar but not as severe as that of common influenzas.

Virus replication starts from 2 to 6 hours after contact and symptoms generally occur between 2 to 5 days after infection. However in some cases symtoms may even start the same day. Rhinovirus are most infectious the first three days after symptoms have started when people generally should avoid contact as much as possible to avoid spreading the cold.

Enter the stockholm underground. A superior way of making contact with rhinoviruses this time of year.

I’m back to bed now.

But now it is time for a new goal. This is to reduce weight with about 15 kg of my excess weight and the goal date is March 31st 2012. It is a decent goal, meaning around 0,5 kg a week until then and so it should be possible without having to go on a starving diet. Keep jogging and just eating smaller portions, less junk, get the breakfast habit going (even if it will be just a protein drink) and be more careful in the evenings to not eat more than necessary.

I have done it before. I can do it again. I need to do it again and so this starts today. Weigh-ins will be wednesday nights after supper but before running (if it is a running day).

My electronic scale claims to be able to discern body fat and water content as a percentage of total body weight. Although I am skeptic to how accurate this actually is – I certainly will log it as well and see where that takes me.

Body Loss Table

I did not really know what to expect when I picked it up but once it started in my blueray player it was just great from the first to the last scene. Antonio Banderas is doing a really good job in the movie which can be described as something like “Reservoir Dogs” meets “The Usual Suspects” crossed with “Ocean’s Eleven” and with quite a few twists on the way.

I also has loads of references to other films and the names like Keppler’s bar and Planck’s Constant Café is hilarious.

Just see it. Well worth the time.

I also did the old run to Jakobsberg and back again, this time having a steady jogging pace pretty much the whole way. It is becoming a favourite this one, first asphalt for about 4 km then dirt road for another 2 km ending with a bit of asphalt for about 700 meters.

Day by day

Monday

Kallhäll – Jakobsberg – Kallhäll in total about 6,4 km quality jogging from my home on the asphalt down to Jakobsberg, the major city in Järfälla commune and then back again on the other side of the rail road on a good dirt road. It was a little bit rain in the air and a cool autumn breese. Made the whole trip very nice.

Tuesday

Resting

Wednesday

From home through Bolindervägen, then down to the Lake Mälaren following it back home. About 4 km of good jogging, slow tempo, good work all the way.

Thursday

-

Friday

-

Saturday

Altorp 4 km – wonderful weather and the best run of the week.

Sunday

-

This Week

Last Week

Three good runs this week. Well two good and one was kind of shitty but it was okay, even though I did cut it short a bit. I am not made for exercising in the mornings, that is why. I did my third run this week on Saturday, just before we went to visit friends in their summer house about an hour and half drive from here. And for some reason my body just don’t like the idea of high pulse activities in the early day. I much rather go out in the drizzle of rain when it is dark and do my rounds then. That’s when I have my best experiences definitely…

Soon the weather will make it less nice to run outdoors and so I will be moving in to the gym instead. A new gym close to where I live will be great, it is a come-and-go gym where you can train pretty much any time you like. So I will be able to go straight from work or just whenever I feel like it. A short walk from home.

An my wife will be working out at the same gym.

Day by day

Monday

Resting

Tuesday

5,55 km the Slammertorp track close to where I live. 51 min of good exercise here, a few walks though, generally a good run.

Wednesday

Resting

Thursday

5,55 km again, same as tuesday. Now 48 mins. Now that is a whole 3 min better on the same round!

Friday

Resting

Saturday

Crap run had to cut it short even, so just  same 3,6 km. Not much variation this week. But who cares, love being out there!

Sunday

Resting

This Week

Last Week

For the first time since I restarted the average pulse is below 150. A sign the condition is coming back, now the legs need to get stronger, muscles more powerful and then I can start pushing again. This will take another 3-4 weeks usually. So it is just to keep in there.

Day by day

Monday

Running 4,5 km – from home via Slammertorp rd then on the illuminated track and back through the center, good round.

Tuesday

Resting

Wednesday

Resting

Thursday

Resting

Friday

Resting

Saturday

Resting

Sunday

4,4 km in Altorp with Jenny. I felt like crap, the running was bad, the trail however was great so I hope to do it a few more times before the snow sets in, and the company was splendid as always. Love to run with Jenny, it is something I always look forward to.

This Week

Last Week

This is also true for the Google Calendar application, same here, they have used the same technology as on the android platform to create this and sure enough, it looks very similar.

Since the Chrome browser has a very capable built-in database to handle things like that, the off line applications has been something I have looked forward to for a long time.

Excellent!

Soo the autumn will be here full force, the best time in the year of going running if you ask me. Very nice usually when the temperature is around 10°C I like it best. We have already started to get the tell-tale morning fog that means weather will soon be more cool.

Day by day

Monday

Rest

Tuesday

The illuminated track here in Kallhäll. The Murder Hill was terrible but I did not stop and walk. No, I just managed to get myself around it without a single walk. Condition was terrible and legs weak.

Wednesday

1,5 km warmup and then met up with training buddy Camilla for some runner strength exercises and then intervals. A football field on the diagoal, then slow on the short side, then diagonal at full speed again… 4 times. Ended with slow jogging and some walking for another 2,5 km.

Thursday

Resting

Friday

Resting

Saturday

Asphalt / Gravel mix, 4 km. Weak legs but low pulse. It felt strange but I attribute that to having lost some muscle mass and the condition improving faster than the muscles.

Sunday

Resting

This Week

Last Week

Nothing to report, just one run.

Day 1

Högfjällshotellet paved road 2 km to Köarskarsfjället. Then down to the Östfjällsdalen valley and then up Östfjället mountain over to Källfjället mountan and then descent to the summer farms. Easy/Medium. 

Starting at Högfjällshotellet in Sälen, leaving the car there the first 2 km was paved road. That made the ascent to the first mountain the Köarkarsfjället a rather easy climb. We stopped at the shelter at the top to get a cup of tea going and to take in the scenery. Every few minutes another couple of tourists walked by and it was quite a lot of traffic here with people walking back and forth doing day tours and just enjoying the highlands.

Then we had a proper shower of rain. The forecast had promised about 0,7 mm of rain and I think that most of that came in 10 min time and it made things quite wet actually. We waited it out in the shelter together with another couple of people and their dogs.

We had a nice chat with the other guys in the shelter and several day-tourers came by and after a while the shelter was filled with people and two dogs as well. Some people just rushed by to descent the 2 km down to the Högfjällshotellet rather than stopping to wait out the rain. A couple of mountain bikers came through as well.

When the rain abated and then stopped completely we left the shelter to make our way down the first mountain to the valley where we would have our lunch at Östfjällstugan (east mountain cabin) and when we got there another couple was already making their lunch there, but no problem.

After soup and fresh baked bread (love the trangia gas insert that allows you to slow cook stuff like that) we started walking east about 1 km and then north up for Källfjället (spring mountain).

Källfjället ascent was pretty steep but not that bad, I did struggle a bit but with a few stops on the way we reached the top where it was definitely time for another cup of tea. We had set out late in the day, starting the hike around 2 pm meaning that the time was now around 6 pm or so. No worries because we knew we would have decent day light until at least 8.30 and so we had tea and relaxed a bit.

The descent on the other side of the mountain was easy enough and soon we got into the treeline again with mosquitoes and midges attacking at will. Even so they were not that bad as long as you moved. We got to the next cabin at Källfjällets fäbodar (Spring mountain summer farm) and there we found good water and made our dinner.

The views on the south facing side of the mountain was very nice but on the north it was a bit more boggy and swampy but not bad really. It had been raining a bit so that could be the reason for it as well.

And during the day I made a real beginner mistake , I did not drink enough water so I was dehydrated. By the time we got the tents up and it was time to tuck in for the night I was having a headache that just would not leave me alone, a racing pulse as well and I drank all the water I had with me but it did not help.

It is as they say, it takes at least 4 hours to get back from dehydration and if you have proper stuff like resorb or something similar you can do it in half the time perhaps.

So I did not sleep much that night at all. Which was definitely felt the second day when we had the longest trip to go.

We made our camp and stayed the night just a bit north of the cabin in the woods, disturbing nobody. In the night I heard a few strange bird calls that I could not identify and probably a fox snooping around but all our food was well tucked in backpacks so it was not a problem.

Day 2

Starting in the valley easy walk 4 km, then the steep ascent to Syndalskläppen, about 2 km across the mountains then a steep descent into Kruggbäcken valley, following the valley and then coming up the pass to Närfjällstugan. Medium/Hard.

The hardest day by all means. I started out still feeling a bit on the off side after my bout with dehydration yesterday. Although I tried to drink enough these things takes time. After another liter of water and an Ibuprofen I felt a bit better but still a little sleep deprived.

Anyway, the first part of the walk through the Synddalen (the valley of sin) was lovely. Small streams, nice woodland and the weather was really nice although it soon got quite warm. The terrain was lovely woodlands with patches of bogs, small streams running through the place and several rather large ant hills on the way.

This time I remembered to drink properly and we stopped and refilled at one of the nice streams there which meant easy access to very nice water.

We filled up water here because it was probably some of the nicest water we found during the whole trip and then moved on. A bit stiffly for me since yesterday we made our way slowly to the lunch place, Kläppenskjulet.

Also here was a lot of other people coming and going but we had a good lunch resting for an hour or so before we started the ascent to Syndalskläppen. Tough ascent with about 10% incline but taking it slow worked and though I really got to question my condition on the way we still made it to the top.

Lauren of course had no problems what so ever, she even ran a bit to get her pulse up

Then a bit easier up- and downs until we got to the peak of Lägerdalsfjället (camp valley mountain). Here we stopped to make tea and the water we found was not very nice so we used that which we carried with us mainly.

We rested for a while (I really needed that) before we did the last bit on the mountain and then the descent down into the valley and the Kruggbäcken stream.

The hiking route here was very nice but I was a bit tired to really appreciate it properly. The dehydration the night before, lack of sleep took its toll and I did feel a bit crappy thinking on that we where not even half way done yet with the distance that we where supposed to cover today. And I did not want to stop and set up camp early because then we would have to start the third day with a tough uphill walk and we also had quite a bit to walk on the third day.

On the top there where several Cairns made from stone. I wonder who had the time to build them, some where pretty big actually. There is no lack of stones to build even more from if anyone should want to

Below is the view towards Tandådalen ski resort. Lost of skiing here in the winter of course.

And then the descent to Kruggbäcken valley. The descent was steep and in bits a little perilous but we made it in good speed. Tough on the knees though with the backpacks and all the gear we carried with us. However we made it down sans injuries and then could start follow the Kruggbäcken stream at the bottom of the valley.

This was supposed to be a lovely place but it was stony and difficult to navigate. Being tired the risk of making a bad step and losing balance or injuring yourself was pretty high. Fortunately after the first km it started looking a bit better. That’s when we realized they had changed the official route to the other side of the stream, we followed it but would have done better to just stay on the west side of the stream because the new path was hilly and boggy and not well walked.

After that we started the ascent to Stor-Närfjället and the cabin which was the goal of the day. We where still a km away to get there and it was stony. About 600 meters to go we could see the cabin and well there we also found water about 200 m east of the cabin which made life a little easier. We then had supper there, put our tents up and rested for the night.

The evening was very nice with a lovely sunset. I was cooking so I did not take any pictures of it I’m afraid

This seemed a popular place for people in the winter coming with snowmobiles over the mountains. There where several restrictions here to not deviate from marked trails with snowmobile and even a special parking place for them when stopping here. As with the other emergency shelters this also had a VHF radio that would connect to the police in case of an emergency.

In the plans was also an idea to walk to the top of the mountain, leaving the backpacks down here, but actually I think we all where too tired after the long walk this day so we just stopped here and then we made our camp, had a lovely dinner (mushroom soup for starters, meatballs and mash for main course and some popcorn to finish it all off).

Day 3

About 8 km walking. Starting above the tree line, then descent to Granfjällsätern for lunch, across the woodlands and some bogs to Görälven and the bridge over it. Easy.

After a night on the mountain, with hardly any wind, a lovely sunrise and view we had a breakfast on pancakes and then started walking north to Granfjället (spruce mountain). Terrain was mainly nice but patches of very blocky terrain, kummel, was also on the menu. We soon got to the place where the route divides into the shorter one that terminates just west att Stöten or continue on the original route mor then double in length.

I got this nice photo of Phil as well which seemed to enjoy himself quite a bit on this part of the route.

This is the view to the east from the Granfjället mountain. The views where just breathtaking and of course the photos does not make it proper justice to what it was actually like being there but they should give you some small idea anyway.

This is the view to the west, also very nice over mountains and the valleys. You can also see the tree line where trees just don’t grow any more.

Lots of patches of barren rocks laying about, deposited by the ice in the ice age these made it somewhat cumbersome to get through at times. You had to always look for safe footing when treading on these.

A sort-of-vote was cast to contine and everyone agreed to it and so we did. An hour later it was time for tea again and then we made the descent down to Granfjällssätern (spruce mountain summer farm) and here we made lunch.

Mobile coverage was good, a phone call to my father telling him that we would probably be half hour later than we said and then we had a nice lunch.

The rest of the way was just lovely. Downhill but not too steep, very nice woodland and at the end a 1 km long bog (most of it on planks you can walk) but most of us got wet feet by the end of it. And then the bridge over the river Görälven where my father waited for us. Stiff and tired we sat in the car while he drove us back to the starting point where we offloaded into our own car.

Then back to the cabin in Malung and a nice meal, a few drinks and a good nights sleep.

The best parts

The parts I really liked was the first part over Köarskarsfjället and Östfjället as well as Källfjället. All very nice parts. The Synddalen part was also really lovely and so was spending the night on Stor-Närfjället as well as the breath taking views from Granfjället and the lovely woodlands from Granfjälssätern to Görälven.

The least favourite parts

Kruggbäcken was nothing like it was made out to be. Just dangerous and hard to get through without injuring yourself, and seemed never-ending until we got up to Stor-Närfjället and the cabin there. The lack of good water on Synddalskläppen and Lägerdalsfjället made it less than what it could have been. Otherwise I liked most of it!

• Rain poncho
• Microfleece sweater
• Gas insert for Trangia stove
• Duct tape
• Rope
• Sleeping mat

The hated “Blue Screen of Death” in a StarTrek setting. Wonderful stuff!

I feel almost violated. Yes, of course we have photoshop magazines, Linux magazines, PC magazines, Mac magazines and so on but Facebook!

Come on guys.

Now the Sälen Highlands is not a very remote place, actually it is smack in the middle of one of the most touristy parts in Sweden (for outdoorsy tourism that is) and therefore all the trails are well marked and some are even properly paved with blacktop to minimise the wear on the sensitive terrain. But even so, the last time I was there it was breath taking beautiful and the trip is just a long trip of nicely shifting landscape.

I am therefore planning a nice and not to strenous trip where slow walking, stopping to admire the view or taking a photograph or even just sitting in the sun is well planned. And of course, after setting camp it would be very much possible to go on a night hike to one of the peaks, I have planned this for day 2.

All days have been divided into two stages of about 2-3 hours of walking, suitable between breakfast and lunch or lunch to dinner. But I think we will actually make good time the first stages so there will definitely be time to get the binoculars out and view the surroundings.

Expect altitude cooking about 1 km MSL which should not really have that much impact on the cooking temperature. Water boils at 96°C at this altitude.

Route guide

We are starting on the south end and walking north the first day, then west the second day and north again the third day. We are passing the following peaks:

• Köarskarlsfjället 870 m
• Östsfsjället 840 m
• Källfjället 903 m
• Synddalskläppen 880 m
• Lägerdalsfjället 890 m
• Stornärfjället 920 m
• Östra granfjället 940 m

Not all peaks are climed to the top, but these are: Köarkarsfjället, Källfjället and optionally Stor-Närfjället.

Day 1: Högfjällshotellet to Källfjället summer farms

The entrance is well marked with a portal and information sign about Kungsleden (the King’s trail). It starts here and ends up in Abiso in Lapland, a thousand kilometers from this place… it is a grand trail and not a lot of people have walked the whole thing.

We start by walking the well paved road up the Köarskarlsfjället (grouse mountain) 1.5 km where we will pause and perhaps make tea and coffee and admire the view. Best view is to the east and to the North. After that there is a descent towards Östfjällsdalen (east mountain valley) and the Östfjällstjärn (East mountain tarn) where there is a hut that can shield us from wind and rain if necessary. This is a good place for lunch and a good place to refill water for the second stage.

The second stage starts by taking us west 1 km through a more wet area and then takes us through a birch forest up again on the peak of Källfjället 900 meters above sea. Again if not too windy a good place for a snack and a beverage before descending down to the old Källfjället summer farm. A number of scattered old houses here. We will set up camp here likely tent is the best option, the hut open for wanderers can be a bit crowded this time of year.

Day 2: Källfjället summer farms to Närfjällstugan

First stage is going through Synddalen (sin valley), crossing Syndalsån (the sin valley river) on a small bridge. The river sinks down in a large ravine called Lördagsgraven (the saturday grave) but we are taking the other route,  preparing to ascend the Syndalskläppen mountain.  Just before the ascent is a wind shelter which could work for lunching in, but if we want to lunch out we can give it another hour and ascend to the top of the mountain before doing lunch. I say it depends on the weather. Some spectacular views from the top is guaranteed if it is not too cloudy.

Second stage is a descent again into the next valley called Lägerdalen (Camp valley) but we will not set up camp here but walk through the valley and then ascend about 100 m or half-way up the Stor-Närfjället. Here is another hut and a good place to make camp. Plenty of water both in the valleys and in on the mountain here.

After setting camp in a suitable spot we might want to do some evening hiking shedding the backpacks and just get straight up to the peak. It is about 1,5 km so it is not that far.

Day 3: Närfjällsstugan to Görälvstugan

Fiurst a small ascent but we will miss the peak of Granfjället (Spruce tree mountain) mountain and just pass by on the east side. Then we will follow the ridge to the north and start the descent down to Granfjällsätern where there is a nice hut we can stop for lunch. This is probably one of the most beautiful parts nature wise.

Second stage after lunch is passing through the forest until we meet and cross Görälven river. There is a place we can stay there as well waiting to be picked up.

Map

Use terrain or satellite image for more details.

View larger map

Gore-Tex or similar functional garments don’t have the capacity to transport enough water vapor, especially not when it is raining on them and so it seems that wool is the way to go. Keeps you warm even when it is wet. Functional t-shirts and fleece sweathers would also work, especially microfleece, they transport loads of moisture but keep you warm even if they are soaking wet.

And then there is the wind. Someting more tightly wowen in wool would probably be best as a middle layer. So a functional tee, a wool warm layer and a microfleece sweather, together would probably be a better combination than what I was wearing today.

I had just a runner’s jacket and trousers, a functional tee. Socks and underwear as usual in cotton.

Above you can see the route I was running today.

More info on the run here.

Until 2005 we actually did not have a proper national day. We had the day of the Swedish flag. However a proposition was made and put in front of the government stating that many people who came to Sweden found it strange we did not have a national day and so it was made into a national day, a national bank holiday, remains the day of the Swedish flag as well.

To give it a proper holiday the Swedish unions and the merchant associations sat down to discuss how to make it without losing too much money on it. It was not possible to create a new holiday said the merchant associations and so a trade was proposed, changing the Whitmonday into an ordinary day and instead making the 6th of June a proper bank holiday, which it wasn’t before.

The day has been called the “Gustaf Vasa day” when Gustav Vasa was elected king of Sweden and the Kalmar union finally ceased and Sweden became a sovereign state. This was 6 june 1523. The Kalmar Union was a union between the kingdoms of Sweden, Norway and Denmark, established in 1397. It allso encompassed Finland (part of Sweden at the time), Greenland, Faroe Islands, the Orkney islands and the Shetlands. After Sweden left the Union Denmark and Norway remained until 1536 when it was finally dissolved. The union was formed in Kalmar in Sweden and thus the name.

The connection with the day is fairly loose. Most Swedes enjoy it as a day off mainly, it’s not celebrated by far as much as the norwegians do on their 17th of May. I have never been very nationalistic so I am not very bothered about this.

But scientists are very interested in the pure form of taste. So far they have defined the following types of taste buds: bitter, sour, sweet, salt and umami. Umami is something that people like me did not learn about in kindergarten it’s been added later on and is interesting that as recently as this we are discovering a whole new set of tastebuds.

Umami is found in meat, mushrooms, strong cheese and monosodium glutamate (MSG) which is the pure form really. All these are connected to certan genes in our genome to be expressed as alleleles and there are variations amongst the population. There is one gene that controls the sweet tastebuds, one for the salt receptors, one for umami, one for sour and a whopping 30 genes for the bitter taste buds.

The reason for this is that bitterness has in our evolution been a strong signal for unedible plants. We are wandering people and when finding new types of plants the bitterness signals has served us well in telling the edible from the unedible plant life. Over the long term humans developed more and more genes adding to the sophistication of the sense of bitterness helping us cope with what was found when spreading out of Africa.

However it is not failsafe, there are things you can’t eat that will not signal bitterness and since most modern people readily confuse sour and bitter taste it will be difficult to just suddenly start trusting it again. Our food is also much more spicy and complex today compared to what we have eaten before which makes it probably harder for the receptors to help us.

Compare with the sense of smell, we have about 300 genes active for receptors of various smells, and we got about 700 dormant ones. Dogs and cats have many more still active, we have lost them, perhaps because taste is more effective than smell when it comes from differentiating between the edible and the not edible.

Scientists are also investigating if there are certain taste buds dedicated for recognising fatty acids or lipids and possbily metal as well. They have not found conclusive evidence yet but its very exciting. It is not too far-fetched to reason why we have the senses we have when it comes to taste:

• Sweet tells us there is a high energy content
• Salt helps us maintain our electrolytes properly
• Umami helps us find food that is high in proteins
• Sour has from the beginning been a signal for spoiled foodstuff
• Bitter means not edible or poisonous

There are also other receptors on the tongue which is not all about taste, for example we have a receptor that activates if the food we put in is above 43°C and tells us it is very hot — with about a 7°C margin before we actually do scold ourselves. Another different receptor is activated when the food is colder than 26°C, not certain what this does yet the studies continues.

Certain chemical substances are activating the hotness receptor also, it reacts for ecsample to capsaicin, the well known substance of chili peppers, and the mind reacts as if the food is actually hot even though it isn’t. Contrariwise the receptor for cold food is activated by menthol. So it is definitely no coincidence that we think of menthol as cool and chili as hot.

And there is a strange receptor that is activated by certain tastes that we experience as sharp, such as horse radish, garlic and brussel sprouts. In humans there is no connection between this receptor and temperature, but in snakes this receptor is activated by infrared heat higher than 26°C. This maybe serves as a possible way of avoiding bushfires long before they can be felt by other means.

Several of these receptors ties into our pain system and we humans we like to tickle those a little now and then, it makes things interesting and therefore we continue to invent interesting dishes in the kitchen, eat chili, garlic and so on.

One thing I have thought about is that the possible alleles (variances in the genome) for the genes expressing these functions in our body is also a reason for that some people does not like certain food stuffs while others are crazy about them. For example if you have a weak umami receptor perhaps you are not so crazy about a bloody steak?

Can you tell I am somewhat fascinated by this subject?

Names to goole are

• David Julius
• Charles Zuker

It was however cold in the water, barely 13 C and it was not something you wanted to stay in for an extended time. In fact it felt a bit like ice was still on the lake…

The picture is from this winter when I went on a photo trip to Ängsjö. I realized I did not have any summer pictures so I will have to remedy that next time I go.

Usually the water temperature is fine this time of year. But this spring has been really cold and not sunny enough, some years the temperature is fine even at the beginning of May. But it’s been a mostly miserable spring though it has had its advantages. It’s much easier to go running when the air is a little cool. Heat is a bit of a problem for me really so taking a dip in 13 degrees water is quite refreshing…

I love Swedish summer, nature and everything about it really!

I had to take a break because I have this muscle in my right hip that started to act up. It has done that before and always when I increase the distance or the speed of my runs. Usually I can match it around with putting some short distance runs between the long ones but this time it did need some proper rest.

I am not certain whic muscle it is but I have been to several physicians a few years back and they agreed it was not the actual hip that was the problem but a muscle that is a wee bit too short to actuate properly when I am running. Stretchning it works a bit but in the long term strengthen it by running slow and careful is what will help.

But today I was at it again, a nice 6,5 km run in 8:15 tempo, felt really slow for some reason but it actually isn’t – not compared to my usual speed on this distance. But anyway, it’s getting better and I think I will get a 10 k run in before the end of the week again. But a slow one. And a bit of walking if necessary to calm things down.

It also boasts a farm in the middle of the island and some other houses where people still live and this makes for open fields and a very nice general area.

See all photos here.
See a slideshow here.

HOUSE RULES
- If it’s on the floor – pick it up
- If it’s out of place – put it back
- If it’s dirty – wash it
- If it’s hungry – feed it
- If it’s sad – love it

The downside is the lack of sidewalks. It is a narrow road, 30/40 mph but people generally seems to drive a lot faster and the lack of sidewalks makes it a risky business to go running here in the dark so that is not recommended. I did my runs in the afternoon and that was ok though I had a close encounter with some stingy nettles trying to avoid a car at one time. I was running in shots.

Last day I ran in the War Memorial park, rather central to the Basingstoke city and it was a different experience. Lots of people there, children and dogs playing and then a number of drunks yelling offensive words at people walking (and jogging) past. Quite the experience when I answered back and decided to not run past them again

Day by day

Monday

Starting of from the hotel at London Rd. and then around Basing Commons and back again. A nice route actually with asphalt the whole way. Made a couple of wrong turns on my way back but it did not matter, I was not out to do it on any particular time, I was just happy to go running.

Tuesday

Another round similar to Monday run but farther away in a bigger circle and checking out that nice old railway bride (and the pub on the other side, where we went back in the evening to grab some drinks and a meal) and it was a beautiful run! My legs was a little tired but I managed a steady and nice pace anyhow.

Wednesday

Rest

Thursday

Rest

Friday

Around the War Memorial park in Basingstoke City. Nice place in general except for the drunks being rather offensive there.

Saturday

Rest

Sunday

Rest

This Week

Last Week

Better than last week, still under the 20 km I want to do in a a week on average (or more really) but still okay considering traveling and all that. Tempo is not so bad, running in unfamiliar terrain and so on, and the condition figures (mainly VO2max and ventilation) seems to be on the right track still.

I have decided that next week will be really good working out

Day by day

Monday

Rest

Tuesday

Jogging at Järvafältet. My nice 8 km route there was begging for me to come out and it felt really good. Nice tempo as well, around 8 min/km which is not bad considering…

Wednesday

Rest

Thursday

Slammertorp route here in Kallhäll. All the way, the most hilly part as well. 7:33 tempo and a nice runners high actually.

Friday

Resting

Saturday

Resting

Sunday

Resting

This Week

Last Week

Not enough workouts really, will regard this week as a maintaining week but not very developing. Although I managed to up the pulse a bit with some good VO2max results as well. Next week I will be running in Basingstoke so we will have to see how that works out

Var där.
Läs mer.

Spotify link

Podrunning 100 min

Android 3.1 SDK new Open Accessory API

The new Android API, primarily for tablets (let’s hope it will be used on smartphone devices soon as well) means it will be much simpler for hardware manufacturers to connect peripherals to your Android device.

The API allows any device with host USB functionality to connect to a multitude of USB devices and interact with many different kinds of devices from music devices, exercise equipment, input devices such as joysticks, standard USB keyboard… you can almost find no end to the stuff that you could potenmtially hook up to your android.

Lovely.

All in all about 1000 km driving this weekend. Taxing but I managed to squeeze in three pretty good runs this week actually, so I am pretty happy with the stats anyway although the time and distance could be better.

I have felt a little protest from my right knee the last couple of long runs. Easing off on the tempo a little bit and see if it clears up. My right hip which is always a little painful after long runs and might need some extra stretching is also making itself known, at least it was on the second run but not the thrid and last run of the week.

Day by day

Monday

At home running the favourite track around Slammertorp. Working it a bit this time and getting 5,4 km out of it with start and finish on asphalt straight from home.

Tuesday

Rest

Wednesday

Rest

Thursday

Järvafältet 8 km. A good one but I felt the hip a little bit here. And also slightly the right knee, nothing too bad just a bit of a reminder to not go too fast, too long too hard.

Friday

Resting

Saturday

Resting

Sunday

In Malung before visiting with my sisters and then driving back home to Stockholm again. Did a 7 km run in the woods, great trail running, always up and down, no flat terrain here! Definitely challenging and sometimes too steep to run, had to walk just for that reason

This Week

Last Week

Kicked back a bit compared to last week, spent less time working out and less km done of course. Everything else follows that except that my training programme upgraded by condition to an activity class of 7,5 which means that I have to work harder from now on to achieve the same kind of training effect as before.

Although several runs felt rather shitty this week I also had a very good one. Strange how that works really, my sunday run which was going to be a nice slow jogg for about 8,5 km over Järvafältet and back again was terrible. Hard winds did their thing but I also had trouble pushing on and I ended up walking short periods to get my muscles back in order.

Day by day

Monday

7 km in Svinninge with Jenny and Linda, good run, lots of hills, about 200 height meters to cross which definitely was a good workout!

Tuesday

4,3 km asphalt in Kallhäll – one of my old runs that I really like sometimes. Felt good this one.

Wednesday

6,5 km to Jakobsberg and back again on the other side of the rail tracks. A new fave of mine with about 2/3 on asphalt and 1/3 on gravel road.

Thursday

Resting day

Friday

6,5 km to Jakobsberg and back again, this time personal best for the distance!

Saturday

Resting day

Sunday

A miserable 8,5 km run that never felt really good. It was just painful from start to end but I managed to get through it. 8:40 tempo.

This Week

Last Week

Did about 10 km more this week than last week. Can explain why my legs are a little bit more tired this Sunday than what I want them to be. But I onlu spent about 30 min extra in workout which means my pace has picked up a bit. Average pace was 8:19 compared to 9:06 last week which is definitely a difference.

I spent about 1000 kcal more running this week than last. Good development really. Heart rates are the same but one interesting thing stands out, the ventilation has increased. I think I know which run this is, that was the friday run where I was running much harder than normal and had to really think about breathing to get enugh oxygen in.

When registering I got buttons to select imperial/european units but none of the buttons seemed to work when I pressed them and in the end I had to chose to move on. When I did so I could not find another way to go back and change the settings, nor could I update my personal data such as weight and so on.

Today I took it for a test run and I used other tracking software at the same time. After about 2/3 of the way the iMapMyRun software stopped recording it seems and instead it just plotted the last position when I turned it off at my finish. Therefore it just went in a straight line for the last 1/3 of the run. Definitely something fishy was going on there. Neither did it record the GPS elevation data for some reason, the accompanying web site says “There was an error retrieving the elevation”, I have no idea why. Of my 5 km run this app recorded only 3.

Both other recording apps (Google Tracks and Endomondo) worked fine through all this. On top of all that it feels unintuitive and quirky and a little backwards but that may be just me expecting things from being used to the other apps in this field.

When the workout finished I got a ridiculous question about peanyut butter, an ad that felt intrusive and out of place. Peanut butter is hardly the stuff for athletes so it felt rather misplaced. The whole app and the accompanying web site is riddled with ads. If you are viewing your runs, you have to upgrade to the payed version or wait 15 seconds before you can see your run. Again it is not on the level with the competing softwares in this respect.

My recommendation is to wait and see if this app matures. In the mean time check out BuddyRunner or Endomondo, both very mature and well working GPS tracking apps for runners.

It gets one running shoe out of five for now.

I have started using a new sports tracker on my Android phone called Endonundo and so far, for all similar softwares I have tested this one seems to be best of them all. I also love the BuddyRunner software but Endomondo does very much the same thing but has even better statistics.

Day by day

Monday

speed in the forest, 2.35 km in 6:36 tempo, pretty good for being me actually, I was very happy with that.

Tuesday

Altorp 6.7 km with Jenny, had a really good time as always and although I came home late it was a really good run that.

Wednesday

Resting, no training.

Thursday

My first 10 km this year. Eastern Järvafältet and that was good as well, but HARD. I was struggling at the end to keep it together and I had some walks in the middle of it as well but I did it even if it took me 99 minutes.

My first 10 km run this year

Friday

Short runt at home, a very slow run to just flex everything up a bit from the 10 km the day before.

Saturday

A 5km run a new route I have not done before. Down to the Görväln castle and then back home again. Beautiful run but some hills that was really straining and by now I am starting to feel the miles in my legs this week. Decided this was last for this week!

Sunday

Resting.

This week

Last week

10 km more than last week is not horse manure. Probably too much of an increase in a single week but I feel good nevertheless. Time spent training also increased to more than the double, not bad at all but my average time dropped with 30 s/km. Not too surprising, longer runs and more km into the legs. Spending almost 3 times the amount of energy on running as last week, yay, almost two days worth of food.

Average heartrate has dropped a bit, longer and slower running and perhaps a bit better condition as well but the max hartrate is very similar and shows that I am still about 10 beats from maxing out. Good thing, don’t wanna do that alone… tried it once and i had such a bad tunnel vision I thought I was gonna faint.

Training effect is a 4 which is great compared to a 5 last week which was overtraining. Getting better at keeping slow on the long runs and not over-excerting myself to the point of breaking down rather than building up.

Ventilation and breathing is up a little though VO2max seems very similar. A higher peak EPOC and a lower Training Effect just means I have leveled on the training effect scale (to a level 6.0 from a 5.0 where I started).

Tomorrow is a resting day and then monday is a free day, I will see if my good friend Jenny can manage a nice run together then, looking forward to the next time.

Weight wise I have gone up 0.5 kg this week. Still keeping diet but I have also noticed my legs are getting stronger. I believe I am building more muscle. This is good, it means I will be able to run faster and longer and increase my metabolic rate even when I sleep. Good stuff that.

First on Tuesday started out nice together with Jenny in Näsbypark, a 7 km mainly on asphalt but with a bit of trail as well. Good workout and lovely dinner as well. Got home rather late from that however, takes time going from Täby to Järfälla although you could drive there in about 20 minutes.

Second workout was my favourite route here close at home. A long startup and then two laps with a finish down at the lake. Chose the middle tough route on one of the laps, in total about 5 km and even if my condition is now improving after the flu it was still tough.

Third workout was a 5 km in Altorp together with Jenny again. Very good quality run, lovely weather, really really good run.

Battery change

When it is time to change the battery in any one of the following devices; pulse belt, foot pod, wrist watch connecting to the above, GPS pod, bike pod etc, change all the batteries. One lost stats when out is okay in a year but several is highly annoying. By changing all batteries at once you can probably go for another full year before you have to change them again.

Foot pod depletes unexplicably

Some foot pods, like mine from Suunto, starts when they feel acceleration. This means pretty much any vibration. Have your gymbag in the car for a few days when driving around? Keeping your sneakers in a backpack to and from work? Chances are the foot pod activates and depletes the battery without you working out.

Pulse belt depletes unexplicably

Pulse belts are usually activated by moisture. So if you keep it in your gym bag with your used workout clothes, chances are it keeps trying to find your pulse for hours and hours. Leave it over night a few times like this and it definitely is noticeable on the battery life. Some pulse belts like the Suunto is connected to the sensor and when disconnected it stays off so it does not suffer the same problem.

GPS pod

GPS pods generally has an on/off switch. Switch off when not in use of course.

But now the outdoorsy environment is back on track again, spring albeit very late this year is finally here, and it is definitely weather to go out and run which I did start off well enough and then suddenly came the flu and put and eand to my running efforts for about 3 weeks. My flu was not really that bad, about 4 days of fever but then a long recovery before I was actually feeling well enough to go running.

And now I am doing it again. Working my way back up into some kind of shape and I actually like it a lot − especially since my good friend Jenny has gone running with me again, we have been out three times now this year and every time is really good!

The routine is as usual, trying to get 3 quality runs in every week, no matter really the days, trying to get rest between the runs but I am actually about to violate this right now since I am actually scheduled to run tomorrow evening but I just can’t resist the woods right now so I will go and run a short but fun track, about 3 km is what I had in mind.

Me before a run at my favourite track

I have also limited my energy intake to about 2000 kJ less than usual (that’s around 500 kcal for you non-SI guys) which means I have started to shed some of the excess weight. I hope to be able to shed some 20 kg or so until the Kista race takes place in November. After that I should loose another 10 kg and I should have reached a reasonable goal weight for my kind of height but my first goal is to get 10 kg lighter. I think it will improve my running a lot.

I am starting my 3 rd week now of food planning (dieting sounds so dull, does it not?) and it is actually going pretty well. This weekend has been a bit over the energy budget however, it was also planned, the move night with the guys is once a month and that night I will drink beer, eat what I want and have a good time.

So that is what has been going on at this front for a while. I am also happy that some friends from Wales will be coming over this summer to do some hiking in the highlands and out in the archipelago. Need some fitness there as well since walking up- and downhill in the highlands carrying what you need is also pretty tough sometimes. I need some good maps to plan the trip which I have ordered both in digital and paper form, it will be really nice!

I have not been in these highlands for about 10 years so it will be like a completely new thing for me as well. I am planning for 2 nights camping out in the free, so I need to go through my gear to see the tent and everything is in good working condition as well as the backpack and hiking boots and so on. We are likely to go the first week in August as it seems now and I am so looking forward to it.

Get soundtrack here.

• Dream is collapsing
• Bad Things
• After Dark
• Cat People (Putting out fire with Gasoline)
• El Tango de Roxanne
• Eye of the Tiger
• Mombasa
• Theme from Salt
• On the Road Again
• Girl You’ll Be A Woman Soon
• I See You
• Lothlorien
• The Bioluminescensce of the Night
• Inception – Mind Heist
• Batman: Dark Knight
• Rambo
• He’s a Pirate
• Wolverine
• Becoming one of “The People”
• Theme from Sherlock Holmes
• Dexter
• Star Trek
• Not Human
• Mogadishu Blues
• You’ll be in my Heart
• Lust for Life

Double Facepalm

The limits means you may only listen 10 hours a month and play the same tune maximum 5 times.

I believe it is pressure from the music industry behind this, in order for spotify to be able to offer their music to unpaid subscribers in some fashion the commercial spots are not enough for the industry. We have seen several labels lately pull music from the Spotify service and hopefully by doing this the music will come back, at least for the paying users!

And in actual fact, the 99 SEK a month it costs us here in Sweden (and many broadband ISP’s have deals where you get Spotify for a discount or for a free period) means you can listen to it on your mobile, in your home and so on unlimited by these new rules.

I’m a happy paying customer and so is my wife and Spotify is still the best music service out there – especially in comparison to anything the record industry has produced so far…

So enjoy a roadtrip experience with this playlist.

I recently got an email from what appears to be the manufacturer of an app I am using on my Android phone. The app in question is the GeotagPhotos Pro, which records GPS locations and time to a database, then when you take pictures using your digital camera (not the mobile camera) providing the camera’s time is set to the same time the GPS has it will then be able to geotag your pictures after you have downloaded them from the camera.

I have used this software for a few months now and out of the blue I get the following email from what appears to be a legitimate email from the manufacturer:

Dear Geotag Photos Pro user,

recently, we got information from Android Market / App Store about all licences of Geotag Photos Pro. When mathed with users in our database, we were unable to find valid licence for your account. This can be just bug in licence database, so that please if you are sure, that you bought our application officially, please send us your order id. You can find it in orders history in Google Checkout (for Android) or in iTunes (for iPhone). We apologize all legal users for this inconvenience.

If you downloaded our app from another source, than official store (Android Market or AppStore), please consider of buying  official full version. To help you with this, we will make “licence amnesty” this Wed, April the 6th, when Geotag Photos Pro will be offered with 50% discount – for $1.99 instead of $3.99.

Please contact our support staff, if you have any questions.

Best regards,

Jindrich Sarson
CEO of TappyTaps

I find this deeply disturbing. All the signs of a bad phishing attempt is here, the bad spelling (however the manufacturer is a Czhech company which may explain that in part, but the idea of sending payment credentials from the Android Market and Google checkout is deeply disturbing to me.

I have contacted the manufacturer to ask them to verify that they actually are who they claim to be but if they, as they claim, have a problem with their licencing database they should be able to verify the data with the raw payment data from Google Checkout that they as a seller receives.

There is also no information about this problem on their home page and this leads me to suspect foul business and that this is not legitimate. Otherwise I should think that there would be at least a mention about this…

We will see what comes back…

by R.P. Feynman

Introduction

It appears that there are enormous differences of opinion as to the probability of a failure with loss of vehicle and of human life. The estimates range from roughly 1 in 100 to 1 in 100,000. The higher figures come from the working engineers, and the very low figures from management. What are the causes and consequences of this lack of agreement? Since 1 part in 100,000 would imply that one could put a Shuttle up each day for 300 years expecting to lose only one, we could properly ask “What is the cause of management’s fantastic faith in the machinery?”We have also found that certification criteria used in Flight Readiness Reviews often develop a gradually decreasing strictness. The argument that the same risk was flown before without failure is often accepted as an argument for the safety of accepting it again. Because of this, obvious weaknesses are accepted again and again, sometimes without a sufficiently serious attempt to remedy them, or to delay a flight because of their continued presence.

There are several sources of information. There are published criteria for certification, including a history of modifications in the form of waivers and deviations. In addition, the records of the Flight Readiness Reviews for each flight document the arguments used to accept the risks of the flight. Information was obtained from the direct testimony and the reports of the range safety officer, Louis J. Ullian, with respect to the history of success of solid fuel rockets. There was a further study by him (as chairman of the launch abort safety panel (LASP)) in an attempt to determine the risks involved in possible accidents leading to radioactive contamination from attempting to fly a plutonium power supply (RTG) for future planetary missions. The NASA study of the same question is also available. For the History of the Space Shuttle Main Engines, interviews with management and engineers at Marshall, and informal interviews with engineers at Rocketdyne, were made. An independent (Cal Tech) mechanical engineer who consulted for NASA about engines was also interviewed informally. A visit to Johnson was made to gather information on the reliability of the avionics (computers, sensors, and effectors). Finally there is a report “A Review of Certification Practices, Potentially Applicable to Man-rated Reusable Rocket Engines,” prepared at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory by N. Moore, et al., in February, 1986, for NASA Headquarters, Office of Space Flight. It deals with the methods used by the FAA and the military to certify their gas turbine and rocket engines. These authors were also interviewed informally.

Solid Rockets (SRB)

An estimate of the reliability of solid rockets was made by the range safety officer, by studying the experience of all previous rocket flights. Out of a total of nearly 2,900 flights, 121 failed (1 in 25). This includes, however, what may be called, early errors, rockets flown for the first few times in which design errors are discovered and fixed. A more reasonable figure for the mature rockets might be 1 in 50. With special care in the selection of parts and in inspection, a figure of below 1 in 100 might be achieved but 1 in 1,000 is probably not attainable with today’s technology. (Since there are two rockets on the Shuttle, these rocket failure rates must be doubled to get Shuttle failure rates from Solid Rocket Booster failure.)NASA officials argue that the figure is much lower. They point out that these figures are for unmanned rockets but since the Shuttle is a manned vehicle “the probability of mission success is necessarily very close to 1.0.” It is not very clear what this phrase means. Does it mean it is close to 1 or that it ought to be close to 1? They go on to explain “Historically this extremely high degree of mission success has given rise to a difference in philosophy between manned space flight programs and unmanned programs; i.e., numerical probability usage versus engineering judgment.” (These quotations are from “Space Shuttle Data for Planetary Mission RTG Safety Analysis,” Pages 3-1, 3-1, February 15, 1985, NASA, JSC.) It is true that if the probability of failure was as low as 1 in 100,000 it would take an inordinate number of tests to determine it ( you would get nothing but a string of perfect flights from which no precise figure, other than that the probability is likely less than the number of such flights in the string so far). But, if the real probability is not so small, flights would show troubles, near failures, and possible actual failures with a reasonable number of trials. and standard statistical methods could give a reasonable estimate. In fact, previous NASA experience had shown, on occasion, just such difficulties, near accidents, and accidents, all giving warning that the probability of flight failure was not so very small. The inconsistency of the argument not to determine reliability through historical experience, as the range safety officer did, is that NASA also appeals to history, beginning “Historically this high degree of mission success…”

Finally, if we are to replace standard numerical probability usage with engineering judgment, why do we find such an enormous disparity between the management estimate and the judgment of the engineers? It would appear that, for whatever purpose, be it for internal or external consumption, the management of NASA exaggerates the reliability of its product, to the point of fantasy.

The history of the certification and Flight Readiness Reviews will not be repeated here. (See other part of Commission reports.) The phenomenon of accepting for flight, seals that had shown erosion and blow-by in previous flights, is very clear. The Challenger flight is an excellent example. There are several references to flights that had gone before. The acceptance and success of these flights is taken as evidence of safety. But erosion and blow-by are not what the design expected. They are warnings that something is wrong. The equipment is not operating as expected, and therefore there is a danger that it can operate with even wider deviations in this unexpected and not thoroughly understood way. The fact that this danger did not lead to a catastrophe before is no guarantee that it will not the next time, unless it is completely understood. When playing Russian roulette the fact that the first shot got off safely is little comfort for the next. The origin and consequences of the erosion and blow-by were not understood. They did not occur equally on all flights and all joints; sometimes more, and sometimes less. Why not sometime, when whatever conditions determined it were right, still more leading to catastrophe?

In spite of these variations from case to case, officials behaved as if they understood it, giving apparently logical arguments to each other often depending on the “success” of previous flights. For example. in determining if flight 51-L was safe to fly in the face of ring erosion in flight 51-C, it was noted that the erosion depth was only one-third of the radius. It had been noted in an experiment cutting the ring that cutting it as deep as one radius was necessary before the ring failed. Instead of being very concerned that variations of poorly understood conditions might reasonably create a deeper erosion this time, it was asserted, there was “a safety factor of three.” This is a strange use of the engineer’s term ,”safety factor.” If a bridge is built to withstand a certain load without the beams permanently deforming, cracking, or breaking, it may be designed for the materials used to actually stand up under three times the load. This “safety factor” is to allow for uncertain excesses of load, or unknown extra loads, or weaknesses in the material that might have unexpected flaws, etc. If now the expected load comes on to the new bridge and a crack appears in a beam, this is a failure of the design. There was no safety factor at all; even though the bridge did not actually collapse because the crack went only one-third of the way through the beam. The O-rings of the Solid Rocket Boosters were not designed to erode. Erosion was a clue that something was wrong. Erosion was not something from which safety can be inferred.

There was no way, without full understanding, that one could have confidence that conditions the next time might not produce erosion three times more severe than the time before. Nevertheless, officials fooled themselves into thinking they had such understanding and confidence, in spite of the peculiar variations from case to case. A mathematical model was made to calculate erosion. This was a model based not on physical understanding but on empirical curve fitting. To be more detailed, it was supposed a stream of hot gas impinged on the O-ring material, and the heat was determined at the point of stagnation (so far, with reasonable physical, thermodynamic laws). But to determine how much rubber eroded it was assumed this depended only on this heat by a formula suggested by data on a similar material. A logarithmic plot suggested a straight line, so it was supposed that the erosion varied as the .58 power of the heat, the .58 being determined by a nearest fit. At any rate, adjusting some other numbers, it was determined that the model agreed with the erosion (to depth of one-third the radius of the ring). There is nothing much so wrong with this as believing the answer! Uncertainties appear everywhere. How strong the gas stream might be was unpredictable, it depended on holes formed in the putty. Blow-by showed that the ring might fail even though not, or only partially eroded through. The empirical formula was known to be uncertain, for it did not go directly through the very data points by which it was determined. There were a cloud of points some twice above, and some twice below the fitted curve, so erosions twice predicted were reasonable from that cause alone. Similar uncertainties surrounded the other constants in the formula, etc., etc. When using a mathematical model careful attention must be given to uncertainties in the model.

Liquid Fuel Engine (SSME)

During the flight of 51-L the three Space Shuttle Main Engines all worked perfectly, even, at the last moment, beginning to shut down the engines as the fuel supply began to fail. The question arises, however, as to whether, had it failed, and we were to investigate it in as much detail as we did the Solid Rocket Booster, we would find a similar lack of attention to faults and a deteriorating reliability. In other words, were the organization weaknesses that contributed to the accident confined to the Solid Rocket Booster sector or were they a more general characteristic of NASA? To that end the Space Shuttle Main Engines and the avionics were both investigated. No similar study of the Orbiter, or the External Tank were made.The engine is a much more complicated structure than the Solid Rocket Booster, and a great deal more detailed engineering goes into it. Generally, the engineering seems to be of high quality and apparently considerable attention is paid to deficiencies and faults found in operation.

The usual way that such engines are designed (for military or civilian aircraft) may be called the component system, or bottom-up design. First it is necessary to thoroughly understand the properties and limitations of the materials to be used (for turbine blades, for example), and tests are begun in experimental rigs to determine those. With this knowledge larger component parts (such as bearings) are designed and tested individually. As deficiencies and design errors are noted they are corrected and verified with further testing. Since one tests only parts at a time these tests and modifications are not overly expensive. Finally one works up to the final design of the entire engine, to the necessary specifications. There is a good chance, by this time that the engine will generally succeed, or that any failures are easily isolated and analyzed because the failure modes, limitations of materials, etc., are so well understood. There is a very good chance that the modifications to the engine to get around the final difficulties are not very hard to make, for most of the serious problems have already been discovered and dealt with in the earlier, less expensive, stages of the process.

The Space Shuttle Main Engine was handled in a different manner, top down, we might say. The engine was designed and put together all at once with relatively little detailed preliminary study of the material and components. Then when troubles are found in the bearings, turbine blades, coolant pipes, etc., it is more expensive and difficult to discover the causes and make changes. For example, cracks have been found in the turbine blades of the high pressure oxygen turbopump. Are they caused by flaws in the material, the effect of the oxygen atmosphere on the properties of the material, the thermal stresses of startup or shutdown, the vibration and stresses of steady running, or mainly at some resonance at certain speeds, etc.? How long can we run from crack initiation to crack failure, and how does this depend on power level? Using the completed engine as a test bed to resolve such questions is extremely expensive. One does not wish to lose an entire engine in order to find out where and how failure occurs. Yet, an accurate knowledge of this information is essential to acquire a confidence in the engine reliability in use. Without detailed understanding, confidence can not be attained.

A further disadvantage of the top-down method is that, if an understanding of a fault is obtained, a simple fix, such as a new shape for the turbine housing, may be impossible to implement without a redesign of the entire engine.

The Space Shuttle Main Engine is a very remarkable machine. It has a greater ratio of thrust to weight than any previous engine. It is built at the edge of, or outside of, previous engineering experience. Therefore, as expected, many different kinds of flaws and difficulties have turned up. Because, unfortunately, it was built in the top-down manner, they are difficult to find and fix. The design aim of a lifetime of 55 missions equivalent firings (27,000 seconds of operation, either in a mission of 500 seconds, or on a test stand) has not been obtained. The engine now requires very frequent maintenance and replacement of important parts, such as turbopumps, bearings, sheet metal housings, etc. The high-pressure fuel turbopump had to be replaced every three or four mission equivalents (although that may have been fixed, now) and the high pressure oxygen turbopump every five or six. This is at most ten percent of the original specification. But our main concern here is the determination of reliability.

In a total of about 250,000 seconds of operation, the engines have failed seriously perhaps 16 times. Engineering pays close attention to these failings and tries to remedy them as quickly as possible. This it does by test studies on special rigs experimentally designed for the flaws in question, by careful inspection of the engine for suggestive clues (like cracks), and by considerable study and analysis. In this way, in spite of the difficulties of top-down design, through hard work, many of the problems have apparently been solved.

A list of some of the problems follows. Those followed by an asterisk (*) are probably solved:

1. Turbine blade cracks in high pressure fuel turbopumps (HPFTP). (May have been solved.)
2. Turbine blade cracks in high pressure oxygen turbopumps (HPOTP).
3. Augmented Spark Igniter (ASI) line rupture.*
4. Purge check valve failure.*
5. ASI chamber erosion.*
6. HPFTP turbine sheet metal cracking.
7. HPFTP coolant liner failure.*
8. Main combustion chamber outlet elbow failure.*
9. Main combustion chamber inlet elbow weld offset.*
10. HPOTP subsynchronous whirl.*
11. Flight acceleration safety cutoff system (partial failure in a redundant system).*
12. Bearing spalling (partially solved).
13. A vibration at 4,000 Hertz making some engines inoperable, etc.

Many of these solved problems are the early difficulties of a new design, for 13 of them occurred in the first 125,000 seconds and only three in the second 125,000 seconds. Naturally, one can never be sure that all the bugs are out, and, for some, the fix may not have addressed the true cause. Thus, it is not unreasonable to guess there may be at least one surprise in the next 250,000 seconds, a probability of 1/500 per engine per mission. On a mission there are three engines, but some accidents would possibly be contained, and only affect one engine. The system can abort with only two engines. Therefore let us say that the unknown suprises do not, even of themselves, permit us to guess that the probability of mission failure do to the Space Shuttle Main Engine is less than 1/500. To this we must add the chance of failure from known, but as yet unsolved, problems (those without the asterisk in the list above). These we discuss below. (Engineers at Rocketdyne, the manufacturer, estimate the total probability as 1/10,000. Engineers at marshal estimate it as 1/300, while NASA management, to whom these engineers report, claims it is 1/100,000. An independent engineer consulting for NASA thought 1 or 2 per 100 a reasonable estimate.)

The history of the certification principles for these engines is confusing and difficult to explain. Initially the rule seems to have been that two sample engines must each have had twice the time operating without failure as the operating time of the engine to be certified (rule of 2x). At least that is the FAA practice, and NASA seems to have adopted it, originally expecting the certified time to be 10 missions (hence 20 missions for each sample). Obviously the best engines to use for comparison would be those of greatest total (flight plus test) operating time — the so-called “fleet leaders.” But what if a third sample and several others fail in a short time? Surely we will not be safe because two were unusual in lasting longer. The short time might be more representative of the real possibilities, and in the spirit of the safety factor of 2, we should only operate at half the time of the short-lived samples.

The slow shift toward decreasing safety factor can be seen in many examples. We take that of the HPFTP turbine blades. First of all the idea of testing an entire engine was abandoned. Each engine number has had many important parts (like the turbopumps themselves) replaced at frequent intervals, so that the rule must be shifted from engines to components. We accept an HPFTP for a certification time if two samples have each run successfully for twice that time (and of course, as a practical matter, no longer insisting that this time be as large as 10 missions). But what is “successfully?” The FAA calls a turbine blade crack a failure, in order, in practice, to really provide a safety factor greater than 2. There is some time that an engine can run between the time a crack originally starts until the time it has grown large enough to fracture. (The FAA is contemplating new rules that take this extra safety time into account, but only if it is very carefully analyzed through known models within a known range of experience and with materials thoroughly tested. None of these conditions apply to the Space Shuttle Main Engine.

Cracks were found in many second stage HPFTP turbine blades. In one case three were found after 1,900 seconds, while in another they were not found after 4,200 seconds, although usually these longer runs showed cracks. To follow this story further we shall have to realize that the stress depends a great deal on the power level. The Challenger flight was to be at, and previous flights had been at, a power level called 104% of rated power level during most of the time the engines were operating. Judging from some material data it is supposed that at the level 104% of rated power level, the time to crack is about twice that at 109% or full power level (FPL). Future flights were to be at this level because of heavier payloads, and many tests were made at this level. Therefore dividing time at 104% by 2, we obtain units called equivalent full power level (EFPL). (Obviously, some uncertainty is introduced by that, but it has not been studied.) The earliest cracks mentioned above occurred at 1,375 EFPL.

Now the certification rule becomes “limit all second stage blades to a maximum of 1,375 seconds EFPL.” If one objects that the safety factor of 2 is lost it is pointed out that the one turbine ran for 3,800 seconds EFPL without cracks, and half of this is 1,900 so we are being more conservative. We have fooled ourselves in three ways. First we have only one sample, and it is not the fleet leader, for the other two samples of 3,800 or more seconds had 17 cracked blades between them. (There are 59 blades in the engine.) Next we have abandoned the 2x rule and substituted equal time. And finally, 1,375 is where we did see a crack. We can say that no crack had been found below 1,375, but the last time we looked and saw no cracks was 1,100 seconds EFPL. We do not know when the crack formed between these times, for example cracks may have formed at 1,150 seconds EFPL. (Approximately 2/3 of the blade sets tested in excess of 1,375 seconds EFPL had cracks. Some recent experiments have, indeed, shown cracks as early as 1,150 seconds.) It was important to keep the number high, for the Challenger was to fly an engine very close to the limit by the time the flight was over.

Finally it is claimed that the criteria are not abandoned, and the system is safe, by giving up the FAA convention that there should be no cracks, and considering only a completely fractured blade a failure. With this definition no engine has yet failed. The idea is that since there is sufficient time for a crack to grow to a fracture we can insure that all is safe by inspecting all blades for cracks. If they are found, replace them, and if none are found we have enough time for a safe mission. This makes the crack problem not a flight safety problem, but merely a maintenance problem.

This may in fact be true. But how well do we know that cracks always grow slowly enough that no fracture can occur in a mission? Three engines have run for long times with a few cracked blades (about 3,000 seconds EFPL) with no blades broken off.

But a fix for this cracking may have been found. By changing the blade shape, shot-peening the surface, and covering with insulation to exclude thermal shock, the blades have not cracked so far.

A very similar story appears in the history of certification of the HPOTP, but we shall not give the details here.

It is evident, in summary, that the Flight Readiness Reviews and certification rules show a deterioration for some of the problems of the Space Shuttle Main Engine that is closely analogous to the deterioration seen in the rules for the Solid Rocket Booster.

Avionics

By “avionics” is meant the computer system on the Orbiter as well as its input sensors and output actuators. At first we will restrict ourselves to the computers proper and not be concerned with the reliability of the input information from the sensors of temperature, pressure, etc., nor with whether the computer output is faithfully followed by the actuators of rocket firings, mechanical controls, displays to astronauts, etc.The computer system is very elaborate, having over 250,000 lines of code. It is responsible, among many other things, for the automatic control of the entire ascent to orbit, and for the descent until well into the atmosphere (below Mach 1) once one button is pushed deciding the landing site desired. It would be possible to make the entire landing automatically (except that the landing gear lowering signal is expressly left out of computer control, and must be provided by the pilot, ostensibly for safety reasons) but such an entirely automatic landing is probably not as safe as a pilot controlled landing. During orbital flight it is used in the control of payloads, in displaying information to the astronauts, and the exchange of information to the ground. It is evident that the safety of flight requires guaranteed accuracy of this elaborate system of computer hardware and software.

In brief, the hardware reliability is ensured by having four essentially independent identical computer systems. Where possible each sensor also has multiple copies, usually four, and each copy feeds all four of the computer lines. If the inputs from the sensors disagree, depending on circumstances, certain averages, or a majority selection is used as the effective input. The algorithm used by each of the four computers is exactly the same, so their inputs (since each sees all copies of the sensors) are the same. Therefore at each step the results in each computer should be identical. From time to time they are compared, but because they might operate at slightly different speeds a system of stopping and waiting at specific times is instituted before each comparison is made. If one of the computers disagrees, or is too late in having its answer ready, the three which do agree are assumed to be correct and the errant computer is taken completely out of the system. If, now, another computer fails, as judged by the agreement of the other two, it is taken out of the system, and the rest of the flight canceled, and descent to the landing site is instituted, controlled by the two remaining computers. It is seen that this is a redundant system since the failure of only one computer does not affect the mission. Finally, as an extra feature of safety, there is a fifth independent computer, whose memory is loaded with only the programs of ascent and descent, and which is capable of controlling the descent if there is a failure of more than two of the computers of the main line four.

There is not enough room in the memory of the main line computers for all the programs of ascent, descent, and payload programs in flight, so the memory is loaded about four time from tapes, by the astronauts.

Because of the enormous effort required to replace the software for such an elaborate system, and for checking a new system out, no change has been made to the hardware since the system began about fifteen years ago. The actual hardware is obsolete; for example, the memories are of the old ferrite core type. It is becoming more difficult to find manufacturers to supply such old-fashioned computers reliably and of high quality. Modern computers are very much more reliable, can run much faster, simplifying circuits, and allowing more to be done, and would not require so much loading of memory, for the memories are much larger.

The software is checked very carefully in a bottom-up fashion. First, each new line of code is checked, then sections of code or modules with special functions are verified. The scope is increased step by step until the new changes are incorporated into a complete system and checked. This complete output is considered the final product, newly released. But completely independently there is an independent verification group, that takes an adversary attitude to the software development group, and tests and verifies the software as if it were a customer of the delivered product. There is additional verification in using the new programs in simulators, etc. A discovery of an error during verification testing is considered very serious, and its origin studied very carefully to avoid such mistakes in the future. Such unexpected errors have been found only about six times in all the programming and program changing (for new or altered payloads) that has been done. The principle that is followed is that all the verification is not an aspect of program safety, it is merely a test of that safety, in a non-catastrophic verification. Flight safety is to be judged solely on how well the programs do in the verification tests. A failure here generates considerable concern.

To summarize then, the computer software checking system and attitude is of the highest quality. There appears to be no process of gradually fooling oneself while degrading standards so characteristic of the Solid Rocket Booster or Space Shuttle Main Engine safety systems. To be sure, there have been recent suggestions by management to curtail such elaborate and expensive tests as being unnecessary at this late date in Shuttle history. This must be resisted for it does not appreciate the mutual subtle influences, and sources of error generated by even small changes of one part of a program on another. There are perpetual requests for changes as new payloads and new demands and modifications are suggested by the users. Changes are expensive because they require extensive testing. The proper way to save money is to curtail the number of requested changes, not the quality of testing for each.

One might add that the elaborate system could be very much improved by more modern hardware and programming techniques. Any outside competition would have all the advantages of starting over, and whether that is a good idea for NASA now should be carefully considered.

Finally, returning to the sensors and actuators of the avionics system, we find that the attitude to system failure and reliability is not nearly as good as for the computer system. For example, a difficulty was found with certain temperature sensors sometimes failing. Yet 18 months later the same sensors were still being used, still sometimes failing, until a launch had to be scrubbed because two of them failed at the same time. Even on a succeeding flight this unreliable sensor was used again. Again reaction control systems, the rocket jets used for reorienting and control in flight still are somewhat unreliable. There is considerable redundancy, but a long history of failures, none of which has yet been extensive enough to seriously affect flight. The action of the jets is checked by sensors, and, if they fail to fire the computers choose another jet to fire. But they are not designed to fail, and the problem should be solved.

Conclusions

If a reasonable launch schedule is to be maintained, engineering often cannot be done fast enough to keep up with the expectations of originally conservative certification criteria designed to guarantee a very safe vehicle. In these situations, subtly, and often with apparently logical arguments, the criteria are altered so that flights may still be certified in time. They therefore fly in a relatively unsafe condition, with a chance of failure of the order of a percent (it is difficult to be more accurate).Official management, on the other hand, claims to believe the probability of failure is a thousand times less. One reason for this may be an attempt to assure the government of NASA perfection and success in order to ensure the supply of funds. The other may be that they sincerely believed it to be true, demonstrating an almost incredible lack of communication between themselves and their working engineers.

In any event this has had very unfortunate consequences, the most serious of which is to encourage ordinary citizens to fly in such a dangerous machine, as if it had attained the safety of an ordinary airliner. The astronauts, like test pilots, should know their risks, and we honor them for their courage. Who can doubt that McAuliffe was equally a person of great courage, who was closer to an awareness of the true risk than NASA management would have us believe?

Let us make recommendations to ensure that NASA officials deal in a world of reality in understanding technological weaknesses and imperfections well enough to be actively trying to eliminate them. They must live in reality in comparing the costs and utility of the Shuttle to other methods of entering space. And they must be realistic in making contracts, in estimating costs, and the difficulty of the projects. Only realistic flight schedules should be proposed, schedules that have a reasonable chance of being met. If in this way the government would not support them, then so be it. NASA owes it to the citizens from whom it asks support to be frank, honest, and informative, so that these citizens can make the wisest decisions for the use of their limited resources.

For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled.

Enjoy it here

Spotify Playlist WK13

Google snowmobile, Photo: Pontus Johansson

Google Sweden has a specially designed snowmobile that they are using with the google camera technology to creat a first person view of all the ski slopes in Sweden. The snowmobile has been spotted in several different ski slopes, large and small, documenting the whole slope.

You can expect an integration in “StreetView” with the swedish ski slopes soon. Something that I believe ski enthusiasts will be happy for. You can virtually visit the ski slopes before you pack your bags and go there in person. Very handy…

It works well in pens with a fine tip, because of the easy flowing characteristics I believe that you should probably not use it with tips larger than Medium size since it spreads itself really well.

Rohrer & Klingner Solferino Ink

I bought mine from “pennshopen” an online web store specialising in writing instruments here in Sweden. Price is 55 SEK and you can find it here.

Rinse lentils in cold water until water is clear.

Boil about 1 l of water in a large pot. Peal and chop the poatoes in quarters roughly. Put potatoes, bay leaves and allspice into the boiling water together with the stock cube.

Shred onions, peal the carrots and the beetroots and then shred all of it coarsely. Heat oil in a pan, fry the onions, carrot and beetrot shred for a few minutes. Add some water and the dill seeds and let simmer for 15 minutes.

Dice the bell pepper and the squash. Shred the cabbage. Put bell pepper, squash aqnd cabbage in the large pot. Put the hot beetroot mix from the pan in the pot and let simmer for about 30 min.

Crush the garlic cloves and add them, let simmer for another 10 min or so.

Taste. Use salt and black pepper to your liking but do NOT make it too salty.

Turn the plate off, cover the pot and let it rest for a couple of hours. Then put it in a cool place for eating tomorrow or re-heat it to eat now. Eat with sour cream in the bowl and a good rustic bread.

This recipe also works with meat if you like that. Add some water and about 1 lb of beef if you like. The beef should be diced and fried before added and should be added at the same time as the potatoes goes in.

Notebook

I love notebooks. This particular one is made from the same type of binders and print as the official law book in Sweden is. It may not look as nice as my other thai notebooks or the paperblanks ones but I really like the feel of this. Very Swedish in design.