Negligent Homicide of the Coffee Maker

Posted on February 12, 2015 by blogadmin

Negligent Homicide of the Coffee Maker

or (How I killed my coffee maker)

My coffee maker is a Cuisinart  Model DTC-975BKN that I’ve had for almost 6 months. It makes 12 cups of coffee and has a thermal carafe (just note the carafe will keep the coffee hot for hours with no additional heat). It makes great coffee.  So on with how I killed my coffee maker, it was a typical Monday morning, rushing around to get the morning started. I filled the reservoir  and started the coffee maker, then was off to get a shower.   I had finished my shower and got dressed then walked out to the kitchen and poured my first cup of coffee, as I took that first sip I was shocked to have the most tasteless cup of coffee, when I looked there was just hot water in the cup.  I grabbed the coffee and filled the basket and grabbed the carafe and filled the reservoir and restarted the coffee maker.

This where the problem started I filled the reservoir from the carafe, well the carafe still had the hot water from the previous attempt. About 15 minutes later I walked out to check the coffee and noticed the system had turned off, I picked up the carafe  it was half full I poured a cup placed the carafe back in an tried to turn on the coffee maker, nothing happened, I unplugged it an plugged it back in, still nothing. I unplugged the coffee maker and lifted it off the counter to empty the reservoir, there was water leaking from the base. After emptying the the reservoir  I decided   to try some emergency surgery and see if I could resuscitate the patient.. With the patient on the table I opened it up, finding significant damage, the hot water I poured in with the addition heating  caused the housing around the heating unit  crack which was were the water was leaking from…. So I was unable to revive the patient.

So that is how I committed Negligent Homicide on my coffee maker, lesson learned .

Now I’m without coffee, something that had to be resolved immediately, so I jumped on Amazon and order a replacement for next day delivery, the same make and model.  An unplanned expense but a definite need!!!!    I had to run to QT for coffee the next morning…..

The next day the new pot arrived by 11 AM.

Moral of the story, (Never, Never, Never pour hot water  into your coffee makers reservoir.)

PS – Slow down and pay attention.

 

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The Water Heater Blues

Posted on May 20, 2014 by awheland

The Water Heater Blues

Well this week has been a real downer, walked out into the garage looked over at my water heater first thing I noticed was that it was leaning against the wall and that the flu had separated from the top of the water heater, allowing the flue gases to escape into the garage. I was wondering why the garage seemed a little warmer than usual even though we have been up over 100° this past weekend.  Checking closer I found that there was corrosion along the bottom edge by the wall, the water heater was leaking from behind and puddled under the water heater causing feet to sink into the platform.  Now this really shouldn’t be a surprise considering the water heater is 17 years old.

 

So I made a quick run to Home Depot and checked out the water heaters, I decided on a Rheam Performance Plus 50 gallon gas water heater that has a nine-year warranty. After the associate took me up front got the work order filled out, the $500 water heater cost $700 to install. So a quick trip home and I prepped the area around the water heater while waiting for the installers to call. Preparations included, turning off the water inlet, the gas and opening up the hot water faucets. Then I hooked up a hose and started draining the system.

 

The installer arrived at noon, it took about an hour and 45 minutes to complete the installation. This included replacing the inlet Read more »

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Unified Threat Management

Posted on April 4, 2014 by awheland

Unified Threat Management

Unified Threat Management systems have existed since 2004, they take the firewall and many security services ie. (Intrusion prevention system (IPS), Email protection (antivirus, antispam, repudiation, smtp and pop3 proxy), Web protection  (antivirus, anti-malware, repudiation), plus there can be many more services depending on the vendor.

While the firewall was the standard for border protection of your network, with the use of Network Address Translation (NAT)   is used to hide your network and provide the use of private IP address.  Firewall rules allowed controlling the flow of data  and access to your network, while what I call hide and block worked, many ways were found to bypass this protection. Many venders created specific pieces of equipment to help protect from these new threats, you could with one device to protect web browsing, another to protect email, a reverse proxy to protect and allow access to web-servers, and another to provide Intrusion Prevention System (IPS).  A large company could end up with five or six pieces of equipment costing tens of thousands of dollars to protect their users..

The UTM system provides these services in a single  box, which can be a dedicated hardware appliance or software that can turn a PC or Server into an appliance, some vendors supply virtual appliances.   While the larger appliances can still cost tens of thousands of dollars, there are units for small business Read more »

Categories: Computers | Tags: , , | Leave a comment

Protecting Your Home Network

Posted on April 4, 2014 by awheland

Protecting Your Home Network

I run  a personal mail server, for the last four months there has been a Denial of service attack on my system. I discovered this when I was unable to access my mailbox. I found that someone in Norway was using imap to break into the mail boxes,  This overwhelmed the total number of user threads denying new user access.   When I checked the logs and found that the attack had been going on since January, one week  over one hundred thousand emails were sent to slowdown or stop my mail system. The emails were not directed at a user as if to trying to deliver spam, but using a generic scramble of  characters sent to the domain.

Luckily  I protect my home network and mail server with a Unified Threat Management system (UTM) in another blog I’ll explain UTMs.  The imap attack was made possible because of an external imap source that needed access, Read more »

Categories: Computers | Tags: , , | 1 Comment

Fix Synology Web Server

Posted on March 10, 2013 by awheland

Fix Synology Web Server – How to add a ServerAlias to web server config

The Synology NAS has the Apache web Server  built-in, it is designed to limit to hosting 30 virtual websites. My website is running on a Synology 411Slim, makes a good web server with a lot of function built in.  Setup a virtual website is quick an easy through the Synology control panel, you enter the directory and domain name leave the port default and you are done. Copy your file to the new directory and your website is up.

The first issue that I ran into was that www.domainX.com and domainX.com  are considered separate websites, you have create to entries point to the same directory so in the process you lose half of your virtual servers, limiting you to 15 websites.  Now for a small business hosting a website this is not an issue, but these boxes make great little web hosts, especially the larger boxes, Read more »

Categories: Computers, Hobbies | Tags: , | 4 Comments

Marlin 336SC .35 Rem – New to me!!

Posted on February 3, 2013 by awheland

Marlin 336SC .35 Rem – New to me!!

 

Pickup a Marlin 336SC .35 Rem. yesterday at an estate sale. The serial Number of GXXX, that indicates that Marlin manufactured the rifle in 1950. The rifle looks like it could have just come out if the box. The bluing is perfect, and the wood is in great shape except for the forearm that had something impact against it, left a couple of small dents and the wood rough from the strength of the impact. I might be able to lift out the small dent with and iron and wet towel.

The Marlin 336SC is a sporting carbine that has a 20″ barrel with a 3/4 length magazine tube. The 1950 model has Ballard rifling which Marlin changed to Microgroove rifling in 1956 to speed up the manufacturing process and reduce costs.  Marlin introduced the .35 Remington in the 336 in 1950, Read more »

Categories: Firearms, Hunting, Outdoors | Tags: , , | Leave a comment

Review Weaver Kaspa 2-7×33 Rifle Scope

Posted on January 20, 2013 by awheland

 

Review Weaver Kaspa 2-7×33 Rifle Scope

Looked at the Weaver KASPA Series 2-7×33 rifle scope Model 849801 today. The scope is made in China and it was under a $100.00 the optics are clear through the entire magnification range,  the finish looked good.  And it is not bulky like a lot of scopes today. So I decided to get it and a set of Leupold Quick detach rings for my Marlin 1895 SBL.

Got it home anWeaver Model 849801d mounted it on my Marlin 1895SBL, used the laserlyte bore sighter to set the set the crosshairs  to one inch high at 25 yards.  Set the rifle down to move the rest an knock it over, when I pick the rifle up and looked through  scope the crosshairs were canted about 5 degrees  to the right. I know  that your not suppose to bump your scope, but I have a Leaper  on  my AR15 that has been through hell and hasn’t Read more »

Categories: Firearms, Hunting | Tags: , | Leave a comment

Browning X-Cellerator Rifle Slings

Posted on January 20, 2013 by awheland

Browning X-Cellerator Rifle Slings, comfortable to use and easy to adjust.

 

Browning Rifle Sling w/ Super Swivel, Black

Browning X-Cellerator Gun Slings w/ Super Swivel

The Browning X-Cellerator Rifle Sling is a simple excellent design that I would highly recommend for and rifle owner. The sling is made from a single piece of 1.25″ wide nylon with a nylon slider  and two swivels. The design is simplistic and functional, the slider can be adjusted with one hand allowing for comfortable  adjustment for carrying or moving into firing position, as well as a tight fit against your gun when not in use.

I have used this sling on my lever and bolt action rifles and comfortable and easy to use even with gloves.  The sling dries out quickly when wet and is easy to clean when it gets dirty.  The sling adjusts tight against the rifle for easy storage in the case for transport or in the safe.

Xcellerator Sling @ Midway

Categories: Uncategorized | 7 Comments

New Marlin 1984 Cowboy Limited 24″ .44 Mag

Posted on December 3, 2012 by awheland

New Marlin 1984 Cowboy Limited 24″ .44 Mag , New to me that is.

 

Well I did it again!!!  I stopped by Cabela’s this last Saturday, since I was on that side of town.  I stopped to see if they had a M1 Garand the I had seen listed in the Gun Library, it wasn’t there so I was looking through the used rifles, and found a Marlin 1894 Cowboy Limited with a 24″ barrel in 44 Mag.  I looked at it 3 times and then made  decision to reduce my my bank account and add this to my collection…  It took almost 2 hours to get through the line to finally purchase it, the one floor guy said that Black Friday the lines were clear to the escalators.  FYI Cabela’s  now processes the federal paperwork using computer,  for us computer geek that is great no more trying to make our hand writing legible, you just follow the instruction on the screen and type your info, They print it and all you do is sign.  Got it for a fair price!!

Marlin 1894 Cowboy Special

Marlin 1894 Cowboy Special

 

Based on the serial number the rifle was manufactured in 1998, it has the cross bolt safety, Read more »

Categories: Firearms | Tags: , , | 1 Comment

Marlin 1895 SBL 47-70 Review

Posted on November 6, 2012 by awheland

Marlin 1895 SBL 47-70 Review

 

 

Marlin 1895SBL

Marlin 1895SBL

 Marlin Spec Sheet

Caliber 45–70 Govt.
Capacity 6–shot, full–length tubular magazine
Action Lever action with big–loop finger lever; side ejection; stainless steel receiver, barrel, lever, trigger guard plat, magazine tube and loading gate; hammer block safety.
Stock Black/grey laminated hardwood pistol–grip stock with fluted comb, cut checkering, deluxe recoil pad; nickel–plated swivel studs
Barrel 18½” stainless steel barrel
Twist Rate 1:20″ r.h.
Sights XS Ghost Ring Sight with high-vis front post. Scout Scope Mount
Overall Length 37″
Weight 8 lbs.

 

This is my first lever action rifle, I got the bug to get a 45-70 and did some looking and made several trips to the check out the rifles, looked at the Marlin guide guns I liked the stainless steel models. I was about to  make the purchase and there on the shelf was a 1895SBL, after handling it I made the decision on the spot to purchase it.  It is a Marlin/Remington manufactured August 2011, Read more »

Categories: Firearms, Hunting | Tags: , , | 2 Comments