I grew up in Brampton. When returning to Brampton in the back of my parent's car, when I saw this building I knew we were nearly home. I could not find ANY pictures of this building, the Brampton Court House, built in 1967 on Highway 10. It was torn down in 2000. Too bad it was not repurposed as it was an interesting building.

Snelgrove Gateway burned down in 1970

I grew up in Snelgrove, ON. When I was little the restaurant/gas station/former inn called The Gateway, burned down in a huge inferno. I happened to find this picture and description in a book about the Brampton Fire Department.

Bike Rack Rack - My second meta bike rack project

Last year I upgraded my bike rack to the Thule T2 918XTR, which carries bikes tray style.
It's awesome, and works with bikes where frame geometry or size makes a frame carrier impossible.

The problem is that it is a 90# monstrosity when not mounted on a car, using up a ton of floor
space, and difficult to stand up vertically or hang.

My solution was to weld together a Bike Rack Rack. It is constructed of 6 4' 2x2 steel
sections, and 3 trailer hitch receivers, all welded together in a simple manner.

I got the Thule Rack for 4 bikes, be we only move around 3 bikes at a time, so that gave us
an extra tray, which I can use as a single bike rack on a car by just using a 2x2 insert into
the car hitch. This single tray can be seen on the left side of the image....mounted
higher on the Bike Rack Rack.

I can also move the single tray to a 1 1/2" hitch using a 2" -> 1 1/2" adapter so it
can be used on a car with only a 1 1/2" hitch receiver.

So now, all the bike racks, and 3 bikes can stand neatly and safely in a 5'x 6' space.

2012 OSI Network Fairness Model (Updated)

Back in 2008 I published my 2008 OSI Network Fairness Model. Given the SOPA and PIPA legislation now in consideration this model obviously needs to be updated!

The 2008 Fairness Model added an Enforcement Sub Layer into the existing 7 layer networking model. This sub-layer added new features to ensure that the proper authorities are informed of your activities, that your ISP's competitive objectives being met, that media companies are automatically compensated for content consumption, that litigation is automatically initiated and that anyone with a bad attitude towards this model is automatically subjected the model's filters.

Now with legislation getting behind enforcement on the Tubes we can beef that up. To keep things simple only two new sub-sub-layers are added.

New SOPA and PIPA enforcement sub-sub-layers:

• 3aa: Automated DNS filtering and DNS seizure order generation
• 3ab: Automated filing of criminal charges on both parties

I am quite certain all this is very easy to implement and will work correctly and not damage Internet security at all.

The sub layers now implement both civil and criminal legal apparatus, including internationally scoped actions. Finally the Internet will be safe for everyone.

The OSI Network Fairness Model [2008]
	Data unit	Layer	Function
Host layers	Data	7. Application	Network process to application
		6. Presentation	Data representation and encryption
		5. Session	Interhost communication
	Segment	4. Transport	End-to-end connections and reliability (TCP)
Enforcement sub-layers	Meaning, Gist, Intellectual Content	3a. Clone Redirect	Clone and redirect to any requesting enforcement agency or paying commercial service (police, intelligence services, credit reporting agency, telemarketing companies etc.)
		3aa. DNS	Using implementation of 3a. filter DNS according to SOPA and PIPA requirements and generate automated DNS Seizure orders.
		3ab. Criminal	Using implementation of 3a. trigger automated filing of criminal charges, no fly list entry, driver's license suspension, passport cancellation and tax audit of both parties in the transaction.
		3b. Delay, Drop, Mangle	Delay, Drop or Mangle packets of competing services, especially but not limited to untariffed VOIP, online advertising and vindaloo take away
		3c. Automated Copyright Management	Detect any electronic use and directly debit semi-random users savings account
		3d. Automated Litigation Commencement	File suit with over reaching damage claims based on faulty evidence in wrong jurisdictions against minors, the dead, pets and people who don't know how to use computers.
		3e. Attitude Adjustment	Trigger one or more of the above filters if user's attitude is not favourable
Media layers	Packet/Datagram	3. Network	Path determination and logical addressing (IP)
	Frame	2. Data link	Physical addressing (MAC & LLC)
	Bit	1. Physical	Media, signal and binary transmission

---

Thanks to Wikipedia for OSI Model

bike trailer bike rack

I made this a while back. To allow my daughter to go on longer bike rides I got a bike trailer. Of course she would like to ride on the easy parts, so I added a bike rack to the bike trailer to carry her teeny bike. Its made with 1x1 ash, a couple of u-bolts, and a few nuts and bolts.

The bike on the rack is an 8" frame bike with rear suspension. Pretty amusing on a little kid's bike. It was a prototype bike we got at Bay Cycle in Whitby. The bike rack carries a 10" bike nicely too.

Xof1 across Ontario - Day 5

If you would like to see the Xof1 Solar Car, or say hi to Marcelo on the road, you can see the route plan HERE on the Xof1 site.

XOF1 WALK - day 5 from XOF1 on Vimeo.

Pulling Xof1 Across Ontario - Day 4

XOF1 WALK - day 4 from XOF1 on Vimeo.

Xof1 across Ontario - Day 3

Keep going Marcelo.

XOF1 WALK - day 3 from XOF1 on Vimeo.

Xof1 drag across Ontario - Day 2 Video

Marcelo pulls Xof1 Solar Car across Ontario for the second day.

XOF1 Walk - Day 2 from XOF1 on Vimeo.

Xof1 on the road again...under Monkey power

The driver of the Xof1 solar car was sometimes referred to as The Monkey. Its a reference to Ham the Chimp who was a passenger on a Mercury capsule. Also so that the Xof1 builders could refer to the semi-imaginary monkey shocking devices in the car. In Ontario Xof1 is not allowed on the road due to regressive EV licensing policies, so Marcelo, The Monkey is pulling the car from Niagara Falls to Toronto.

XOF1 WALK DAY 1 from XOF1 on Vimeo.

Xof1 Solar Car: Longest Ice Road

Ice Road Challenge 2010 from Marcelo Da Luz on Vimeo.

Xof1 Photo Artifacts 10: NGM Motor

The Xof1 Solar Car has an amazing electric motor. The motor is an axial flux brushless DC motor that can produce 7 hp, yet weighs less then 40 pounds. A typical industrial 5 hp electric motor weighs 200 pounds. In the picture you can see the stamped flat plat copper coils and further inside the iron laminations of the slotted stator. The copper is covered in a varnish insulation which is why everything looks goopy. This motor is made by New Generation Motors and is specifically designed for solar powered cars.

Xof1 Photo Artifacts 9: Electronics compartment test assembly

This is a picture of an early test assembly of the electronics compartment. The big black box is the motor controller. There is also a telemetry radio, the telemetry computer, various patch panels, and a Vicor DC DC converter.

There were probably 100 of these test assemblies.  The final system did not include the telemetry computer or radio.

The (scary looking) little brown board in the upper right is a board with calibrated shunts for doing current monitoring.

Observe the tape on the one side of the box.  "NO METAL TOOLS....".  Dropping a metal tool in this box with the power on would be a very expensive and dangerous light show.  When working on an electric vehicle its good practice to completely cover metal tools with fusion tape to ensure they cant short various things.

Xof1 Photo Artifacts 9: Xof1 solar array encapsulation

The Xof1 Solar Car array getting encapsulated in 2004. To make the solar array durable, it is coated in an optically clear resin. Many coats are required to make something like 1/16th of an inch coating. The resin got a bit thick part way through the day and we had to go find a jug of xylene on a Saturday. Some local paint shop had an ancient can in the back room.

Xof1 Photo Artifacts 8: Xof1 array encapsulation prep

The solar car's array needs to be encapsulated in a near optically clear resin coating. Here the car is at a body shop in the beaches one saturday morning. Marcelo and an auto body technician are masking the array. This was a nail biting day since all the months invested in building the array and wiring all 900 cells together will be entombed in plastic, and will hopefully work afterwards.

Xof1 Photo Artifacts: Array build nearly complete

Sometime in 2004, after many weeks the solar array is almost complete. The Xof1 solar array can deliver somewhere around 800 watts. Enough to run a single slice toaster!

Xof1 Photo Artifacts 6: Array build in progress

In this photo the solar array build is partially complete. The cells are like very thin glass and have to placed precisely on the super sticky taped array surface. Its a one way operation....if the cell is not placed precisely the cell and the tape underneath has to be removed and redone. All together the array required about 900 cells.

Xof1 Photo Artifacts 5: Xof1 model in BCE Place

Long before there was an Xof1 car there was the model of the car. Here is the model displayed in Toronto's BCE Place during the drive to find sponsors. (2004)

Xof1 Photo Artifacts 4: fitting solar cells

Here are a two strings of solar cells prepared for checking fit and placement on the array. These cells were laser cut into rectangles and then hand soldered together, a very taxing process necessary to maximize array density.

Xof1 Photo Artifacts 3: Car with no PV

Here is a pic of the car in mid-2004. The Xof1 car is built from high tech fiberglass and low tech expanded polyurethane. Here the car's array has been taped with a medium tech two sided tape to which the photovoltaic cells will be 'stuck' to the car. This tape was very hard to come by since most of its production was being used in support of the second Gulf War. It was very sticky and provided about 1/16th inch of shock absorbing rubbery material.