Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Popular Mechanics 2010-04
Popular Mechanics 2010-04
COM
APRIL 2010
2010
PM FEATURES
VOLUME 187 NO. 4
58 Survival Chronicles
Overcoming disaer is a
matter of preparation, per-
severance, courage and,
sometimes, luck. If calamity
rikes, you can boo your
odds for success with these
lessons drawn from real-life
survival ories.
BY JOHN GALVIN
68 Family Tree
ese days, kids oen opt
for video games over the out-
doors. But one father found
a way to elevate fresh-air fun
high above eleronics: Build
a backyard treehouse.
BY LOGAN WARD
74 Four-Door Faceoff
Midsize sedans are the be-
selling cars in America, so
auto manufaurers keep
pushing more models to mar-
ket. In a PM road te, we pit
the segments three mo
popular vehicles again ve
newcomers in the dogght
for the consumers dollar.
BY LARRY WEBSTER
82 Six Weeks to
a Perfect Lawn
Turning weedy grass into
velvety sod may sound
impossiblebut not if you
For writer Logan Ward, the r ep in building a treehouse (Family Tree, page 68) was making this follow the PM aion plan for
scale model out of cardboard. It also amped up his kids enthusiasm for the new backyard addition. growing the perfe lawn.
BY JIM GORMAN
ON THE
COVER
Key elements of our cover photo illuration were shot by Joe Pugliese.
Prop yling by Still Sets. Final composition with additional elements by
PM digital imaging speciali Anthony Verducci.
P M D E PA R T M E N T S
26
pm do-it-yourself
96 Homeowners Clinic
How to build simple oating
shelves. Plus: Lower energy bills
with foil-faced radiant barriers.
117 Fighting
Cable Chaos
qq
Transform a mess of unruly
wires and plugs into an orderly,
21 Auto Insurance color-coded routing syem.
qq qq
e Energizer All-in-One
11 A Deeper Dip jump-arts your carno good 39 Mainstreamer 122 Digital Clinic
Samaritan needed. Plus: Sizing Why Microso is waging war
Aronomers discover new e Hyundai Tucson is small,
up the Apple iPad; Bluetooth again modied Xbox 360s.
ars in the Big Dipper ylish and capable. Plus:
headsets get Lab Te abuse. Plus: Leveling uuating song
conellation. Plus: e late Driving Audis lithium-ion
volume on iTunes.
magnetic eld radios save supercar; the be from a
viims trapped underground. dynamic Detroit Auto Show.
LISTED ON
THE COVER
q
PHOTOGRAPH BY GETTY IMAGES
82 Perfect Lawn
52 How It Works: 54 America Grounded 58 How I Survived
Hurricane Wavemaker Former shuttle aronaut omas D. Jones says 74 Car Test
To engineer better buildings, researchers bu walls NASAs new budget means the demise of 68 Treehouse
with waves generated by this high-tech machine. American leadership in space. 24 Win is Mower
PM LETTERS
Coal Fired
I agree with your hypothesis
Robotic Aection these objes have no experi- from e Myth of Clean Coal.
I truly enjoyed Erik Sofges ence of empathy? Its simply an oxymoron; by its
February ory, Can Robots e creation of conscious- very nature coal is dirty. e
Be Trued? e author, ness is so dicult that some government also creates
however, seemed a little articial-intelligence research- monrous wae by requiring
surprised by the idea that ers seem to take the attitude, ethanol addition to gasoline and
people would rea positively If I can create a machine that by subsidizing other alterna-
to a robots uttering eyes and appears to love me, does it tives that make no nancial
I S S U E
other social features. I would matter whether it aually sense. e vocal and irrational
point out that sociology, does? We mu consider the drive to do these things has a
anthropology and psychology
vpZ implications of robots without negative economic impa.
all reveal that humans do this true consciousness, and More of us need to obje to
quite regularly with animals Readers prepare to adju our culture these impositions. anks for
people consider them friends responded to a and moral codes accordingly. the attention to such matters.
ory on robots
and attribute anthropomor- and the debate J I M CL E AV E L A N D R O B E R T G A L L O WAY
phic qualities to them. So if over clean coal. LOS ANGELES, CA CHARLESTON, WV
humans fall in love with
animals, why not fall in love qqq
q7
with robots?
JE RRY ROSONK E e Lunatic Express: Discovering the
MANSFIELD, SD World ... Via Its Mo Dangerous Buses,
Boats, Trains, and Planes, by PM
contributing editor Carl Homan. On a
I enjoyed your ory on robots 50,000-mile global trek, Homan
and agree we should be chronicles the perils of travel by the
concerned about machines that mo hazardous methods of transporta-
P H O T O G R A P H B Y F I L I P K W I AT K O W S K I
Robot Revolution
ROBOTS IN
OUR LIVES
eyre not ju
the bad guys in
science-ion
movies. Robots
already help the
world runfrom
autonomous
agricultural
machines that
help feed us, to
UAVs that keep
enemies at bay
in Afghanian
and Iraq, to
Roombas that can clean the oors we dont have
time to vacuum ourselves, to underwater rovers
that help plane-crash forensics teams make ying
safer. PMs experts report on cutting-edge
robotics from around the world.
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vqqqAntiquity #ssR?q
Ancient sky watchers use the deteion YDqsL?qq
of Mizar and Alcor as an eye te. In RY4Q,wks?jkqq
2008, an ophthalmologis paper nds
that these results correlate to the
modern Snellen visual accuracy tes.
tqqq1617
Benedetto Caelli nds the binary ar
Mizar B with a telescope owned by his
Human beings have been aring at the conel- mentor, Galileo Galilei. THE PROCEEDS
lation Ursa Major, which contains the ar group Fqqq1890 FROM AVATAR, THE
commonly called the Big Dipper, for thousands of Aronomers udying shis in the BIGGEST MOVIE OF
ALL TIME, ARE
years, but it ill holds a few secrets for arono- wavelength of arlight nd that Mizar A SIMILAR TO THOSE
mers. With the naked eye, ancient sky watchers in is also a binary ar. FROM MODERN
WARFARE 2, THE
Arabia could see that one of the Dippers seven Eqqq1908
BIGGEST VIDEO
ars, Mizar, has a companion called Alcor. Over Another binary ar is found orbiting GAME OF ALL TIME,
Mizar B, making the cluer the
the centuries, improving telescopes revealed r-known quintuple ar syem.
SHOWING THE
GLOBAL POWER OF
more ars in the cluer. Late la year, two THE VIDEO-GAME
oqqq2009
independent teams of aronomers deteed a Planet hunters nd a ar, Alcor B, using
MARKET.
sixth ar near Mizar in the middle of the conel- a telescope with a mirror that exes to
lations handle, bringing the total number of ars compensate for the ees of Earths
in the Big Dipper to 12. J O E P A P P A L A R D O atmosphere.
Global Sales
What Boils
Below
Yellowstone
+ A seismic udy begun over a decade ago has nally
settled a long-anding debate about the source of
Yellowones geothermal heat, and sugges theres much
5 Days
pursuit
range
A que to redene
the nature of the
universe is baseline
underway in a mine eciency
quotient
sha in Soudan,
Minn., where
physicis with the
Cryogenic Dark
Matter Search have
been looking since arm
accuracy
2003 for particles rating
produced by the big
bang. Some
theories sugge
that dark matter
makes up as much
average Numbers Game
ground ball D I G I TA L T E C H N O L O G Y T R A C K S B A S E B A L L
as 90 percent of response
the matter in the time P L A Y E R S P E R F O R M A N C E S A N D G E N E R AT E S
universe, but they R E A M S O F N E W S TAT S . BY COLIN KEARNS
have never been
proven because the
weakly interaing
massive particles,
or WIMPs, believed e two mo observant scouts and each player 15 times per second. is
to be dark matter for the San Francisco Giants watch information can later be analyzed to shed
are nearly every home game from their reserved light on aspes of a players performance
impossible to
dete. La year, seatshigh up on the r and third that have been largely subjeive, such as
cryalline baselines. ey measure how far and fa arm rength and eciency in running
deteors deep the center elder travels to snag a bases. is technology opens up the
inside the mine,
shielded from
shallow looper and record the exa possibility of quantifying even more
cosmic rays by half diance of every hit ball, fair or foul. And, atiics that people never would have
a mile of rock, since they are completely eleronic, known, says Bill Schlough, the Giants
regiered two these scouts never need to get up for the chief information ocer. e numbers
events that might
have been WIMPs. seventh-inning retch. La season, San wont be found on the backs of baseball
But because theres Franciscos AT&T Park was the teing cardsthe Giants treat the new ats as
a 25 percent ground for a prototype of Field f/x, a trade secrets. ey want to use them to
chance that the
signals were camera and so ware syem developed guide trades, individualize coaching and
background noise, by Bay Area company Sportvision. Using optimize game-day player matchups.
the team is adding images from the syems twin 5-mega- e company says the ats could be
more sensitive
pixel cameras, Field f/xs so ware used on TV broadcas and fantasy-
deteors in
2010hoping to automatically tags the location of the ball league websites.
beat the Large
Hadron Collider
near Geneva, q
q8qqq catchers throwing make a speedy play?
Switzerland, to a Measurable atiics like batting average or on-base arm, from home Such metrics can
denitive dark percentage make it easy to grade the oensive skills plate to the base inuence training.
matter discovery. of players. Now, with Field f/x, talent scouts are being olen.
A.H. applying quantitative analysis to the harder-to-track VDN?R:?jkq
PHOTOGRAPH BY GETTY IMAGES
1 2 3
qqZEEq
qqZEEq A rocket trailing a e rocket burns Aer a 5-second
q
q nylon ring of C4 out aer 6 seconds, countdown, 1750
q
q
explosives is and the charges fall pounds of C4
q
q launched at a to the ground in a detonate to deroy
45-degree angle raight line. e enemy explosive
from the vehicle. C4s fuse shear pin devices with
is broken at the end overpressure.
of the ight.
qq 1. A radio converts the eleronic signals of a rescuers voice into magnetic waves.
2. Magnetic waves pass easily through hundreds of yards of solid material.
3. e receiver of a trapped miner converts the magnetic waves into elerical signals,
which he hears as a voice, and he responds with his position. qq
NRNs#j|q
is year, Ferro
Solutions will dem-
onrate a radio
syem U.S. troops
can use to clear
cave complexes
or bunkers. During
rescue operations
3 at mass casualty
events, such as the
Haitian earth-
quake, military en-
gineers equipped
2 with these radios
could ay in con-
ta as they dig to
save viims.
4?#Vkq
Divers could speak
1
via a magnetic
communicator
without interfer-
ence from rough
seas, underwater
terrain and dead
zones caused
by temperature
Typical radios send signals on
A Voice in the Darkness
A N E W M A G N E T I C C O M M U N I C AT O R A L L O W S F I R S T
eleromagnetic waves that oscillate at
gradients.
?jkYV#Rq
specic frequencies. Engineers at Ferro R?4sjYVN4k
R E S P O N D E R S T O C O N TA C T V I C T I M S O F U N D E R G R O U N D
developed a portable communicator A magnetic
D I S A S T E R S . BY DAVID HAMBLING
resonance syem
that translates these undulating waves could allow
When r responders arrive at into signals carried by magnetic elds conta-free
a mine disaer or a building with resonant frequencies that rechargingfor
example, a
collapse, communicating with viims or compatible radios can pick up through cellphone battery
other rescuers is usually impossible hundreds of yards of obruions. e could be booed
because radio waves can be blocked by digital voice signal r passes through a from anywhere in a
room.
metal, earth and one. Even sites with transducer made of a composite that
low-frequency emergency radio syems melds piezoeleric material (which
suer from slow data transfer that generates a voltage when it deforms)
reris use to simple text messages. with a magnetoriive metal (which
But a novel syem being developed by changes shape when its exposed to a
Ferro Solutions of Woburn, Mass., magnetic eld). e transducer converts
transmits voice signals with magnetic the radio signals into magnetic ones;
waves that travel through solid matter another reverses this process when the
more easily than do radio signals. signals reach the other radio.
HAITI. COULD ANYTHING HAVE geophysici Eric Calais from Purdue number is fairly close to what happened.
BEEN DONE TO PREPARE? University in Indiana warned the Earthquakes cant be prevented, but
BY CASSIE RODENBERG Caribbean nation of the risk, and says even impoverished nations can prepare
that the information could have been for them. For the mo part, Haiti failed
used to better prepare the island for an to take aion. You can identify the few
emergency response. At a conference in buildings that are criticalthat have to
the neighboring Dominican Republic in and up in the face of a large earth-
2008, Calais and his team presented a quake, like hospitals and schools, from
paper that calculated that the Enriquillo which rescue operations can be
fault, which produced the January quake, organized. is hasnt been done, Calais
had the potential to generate a lethal says. One of the r buildings in
tremor. at paper was the late in a Port-au-Prince that collapsed was a
hospital. at is unacceptable.
q
qqHaiti sits on the boundary between the North Haiti is not alone in its lack of
American and Caribbean teonic plates. e movement of seis- preparations for calamity. Other local
mologis sensors shows that the Caribbean plate moves about a
quarter inch per year in relation to the atic North America plate. and national governments ignore
e north Espaola block, between the plates, is marked by moun- earthquake warnings by allowing
tains and a fault line (not shown); another fault lies south of it. subandard conruion and failing to
cra emergency planspossibly
dooming their populations to similarly
heartbreaking a ermaths.
YjsLqk\#VYR#qRY4Q
qYjsM#wMjNV4?q
VjNbwNRRYq #wRs
Caribbean Plate
q qStress from the passing continental plates builds
along fraure lines, like the Enriquillo fault that runs through southern
Haiti. Quakes result when the pressure is suddenly released.
q
Oops! Looks like we left
our headsets in our pants
pocket through a full
cycle in a detergent-filled
washer. Post-wash, we
let them air-dry overnight
before turning them on.
7 A soapy cycle was no
match for this headsetgiven
a chance to dry, the Jabra was
soon ready to take calls again.
7 e Jawbone
emerged from the wash
cleaner and seemingly no
worse for the wear.
7 Yep, it
survived the wash.
7 ree-way tie
!
Sometimes you dont
catch your just-washed
headset before it makes
it into the dryer. After the
wash, we put the
headsets through a
heated dryer cycle.
7 e dryer seemed to
spell death for the Jabrauntil
it lit up as usual a day later.
7 Ready to go right
out of the dryer, and with no
noticeable damage or
the degradation in sound quality.
sets
7 No lights, no
power, no luck. e dryer
transformed the Plantronics
into a useless piece of plaic.
7 Jawbone
STUDIO D
Jabra Extreme: $80 Jawbone Prime: $130 Plantronics Discovery 975: $130 q
e Plantronics provided the be audio performance, but if youre accident-prone or particularly forgetful,
the durably built Jawbone and Jabra have the be shot of surviving a trip to the laundromat.
No purchase
necessary to
enter or win.
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Sure, zero-turn models dent of the 50
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q
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ROY BERENDSOHN
U P G R A D E
P MzNkLqRNks
Considering all the hype and specula- more capable than a smartphone.
tion that preceded the launch of the Remarkably for Apple, the iPads
Apple iPad, its easy to be let down by its hardware design is somewhat conserva-
shortcomings: No webcam? No Flash tiveessentially a large-format iPod
support? No SD card slot, no multitask- Touch. Yet the 9.7-inch 1024 x 768 pix-
ing? Another deal with AT&T? el, multitouch screen makes reading
But to focus on the quibbles ignores e-books, watching movies and viewing Ceiling lighting can) come
the larger significance of the machine. photos a far more satisfying experience Sound with a 20-watt
Inalling in-wall speaker built right
The iPad succeeds mightily at carving on the iPad than on its smaller cousin.
speakers usually in. e speaker
out a niche in personal computing where The iPad may not seem so revolu- requires snaking units are
there was none beforea light-duty tionary for long, however. Unlike the wires, cutting completely
media and reading device with all-day iPhone, which was two generations drywall and contained: ey
mounting require no wiring,
usability (Apple claims 10-hour battery ahead of other smartphones when it brackets. e receiving their
life) that is far more portable than a lap- was launched, the iPad is simply the r Klipsch Light- signal from the
top (1.5 pounds, 0.5 inches thick), yet big player in what is bound to be a Speaker ($600 for base ation over
two speakers and a 2.4-GHz
crowded category by the end of the year. a base ation) is radio-frequency
The multitouch user interface on the a high-tech, conneion. Volume
iPad is slick, but there are other touch- labor-saving and lighting are
friendly operating systems out there solution. e LED controlled via a
lighting xtures small remote
(Android, Windows 7), and Apples not (which t into a that can handle
the only company with tablet dreams. normal ceiling- two zones.
Hot-Spotter
Mobile hotspots work by taking
an over-the-air cellular signal and
pumping it out as a Wi-Fi connec-
tion that any PC can use to get
online. But are separate devices
really necessary? A er all, smart-
phones have broadband access
too, so why cant they serve as
hotspots? e Palm Pre Plus
($150 with two-year contra)
can do exaly that, conneing up
to ve devices at a time, ju like a
and-alone mobile hotspot. And
look out, Verizon cuomersits
the networks r phone that runs
on Palms webOS platform.
THE
TIGHTWAD
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ON THE SYRINGE
U P G R A D E
GRAYWATER
e Deep Drip
Mo graywater 1-inch-diameter
draining from a ake delivers
sink or shower can water and fertilizer
be reused, with a where theyre
little scrubbing, as needed: to tree
THE
garden irrigation. roots, via a
REEL DEAL
Few syems perforated hollow
accomplish this Dual gears ore spike hammered
P M
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GREENER CLEANER
Made using nontoxic ingredients
in a secret Manhattan lab, Green
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the window cleaner eschews
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completely biodegradable surfac-
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works its fume-free magic through
the power of a low-pH organic salt.
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SUPER CAULK
This spray-foam latex seals gaps too big for caulk to ll. Installers
use a gun rigged to a mixing machine to blast Energy Complete
into framing transitions, such as where plates and joists meet. And
while caulk loses its hold under pressure changes, latex permits a
bit of building movementenabling it to withstand the big bad wolf COOL,
of blower-door tests. Plus, it installs faster than a guy with just a DARK ROOF
little tube, Owens Cornings Karel Czanderna says.
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loved watch saves the energy
equivalent of 39 days of refrigerator
use. And it keeps better time than
a refrigerator, too.
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qvZq
Mainreamer
Its no longer a surprise when a new Hyundai is fully competitive with other vehicles
7
>ZW8nW in its class. Hyundai certainly builds solid vehicles, and the all-new Tucson rolls in the
crowded and competitive crossover pack. Riding on a 103.9-inch wheelbase and
retching 173.2 inches long overall, the new Tucson ts right in with other players
such as the Honda CR-V. Every Tucson gets a 176-hp 2.4-liter Four, and mo will be
paired to a six-speed automatic. e engine is relatively smooth and delivers its power
seamlessly. e rear-seat legroom is generous for the class. Its comfortable and
rened, but a little unexcitingin sum, its normal. Hey, weve been spoiled by some
really brilliant Hyundais lately, including the Genesis Coupe. JOHN PEARLEY HUFFMAN
q7q
q
7q
q
Conceptual Brilliance
e basic engineering concept of
aa
2011
Mercedes-Benz E350
4Matic Wagon
Bad Boy
Armed with cold-weather gear and a
focused on EVs, but less technical retches, the chassis felt mpg on the highway. At the other end of
Mercedes-Benz remains
well-suited to the engine. Short gear the range, the new Sienna Limited oers
bullish on hydrogen. e
fuel-cell ack in the new ratios oered enthusiaic pull at second-row lounge seating with rising
B-Class is more powerful aa midrange, but the bur of power in the ottomans for leg support when the two
and compa than the upper regier packs a serious punch. A seats are reclined. Toyota should have
previous one, with 136 brilliant intake howl never hurts the ruck a co-branding deal with La-Z-Boy.
hp and a range of 250 experience, either. B.W. Yes, its that comfy. J.P.H.
miles. Crucially, it can pm test
driven
handle temperatures as
low as minus 13 F, too.
Behind the wheel, it
feels solid, with relatively
lively acceleration and
impressive sound
deadening. You can hear
the compressor sound
o as it diverts air
toward the ack, but 2010
its barely audible. Kawasaki
Mercedes plans to lease aa Z1000
200 fuel-cell vehicles
worldwide in the second
half of 2010. B.W.
2010
Mercedes-Benz
B-Class F-Cell
Prototype
aa
aa
2011
Toyota Sienna
Mo
automakers 1q!qq 2qvZZqq 3qqq 4q!qq 5qvZvqq
went big with q Mqq qqq qq!qq qMqq q qq
small cars ...
qq qM"q q q q q
48 A PRIL 2010
Intense intere greeted the new Ford Focus, the mo promising domeic small car since the r ver-
sion debuted in 1999. Initially, this ve-door and a sedan will be the only available body yles.
But Cadillac
6 qq revealed the
qqqq full-size-and-
proud-of-it XTS.
qq
e Chevy Aveo
desperately needs a
reboot, and this
hooligan RS show
car could be ju the
ticket. Under the
hood, a turbocharged
dire-injeion
1.4-liter four-cylinder
belts out 138
hpplenty for this
pint-size ve-door.
Better ill, under the
19-inch wheels, the 7
fender ares and
brake dus lies the
next Aveos basic
shape. So even if the 7qq
q If this 17-foot-long, ecient plug-in suspension and and STS replace-
RS remains a q q
q rikingly handsome hybrid syem with touch-based interior ment. And its
showpiece, Chevys qq
q full-size sedan a V6 engine and controls are also another notch in
cheape car will qq bucked the shows 350 total hp. part of the package. Cadillacsand
soon come with small-car trend, at Four-wheel drive, e XTS previews GMsyling
some swagger. lea it packed an adjuable the upcoming DTS renaissance.
POPUL ARMECHANICS.COM
Anatomy of an Articial Tsunami
H O W I T W O R K S
H U R R I C A N E WAV E M A K E R
> BY ERIN MCCARTHY
> ILLUSTRATION BY SINELAB
e wavemaker at
OSUs lab (above) can
C generate both regular
and random waves.
AMERICA GROUNDED
> B Y TO M J O N E S
P
resident Obama released his scal year 2011
budget on Feb. 1, and his policy for NASAs human P M S RE S I D E N T AS T RON AU T
spaceight program puts the nation on a course to S AYS D RAS T I C B U D G E T
second-class status in space. Instead of setting our C U T S L E AVE N AS A ON A
national sights on the moon, nearby asteroids or P AT H T O N OW H E RE .
more distant destinations such as Mars, the presi- Tom Jones (foreground), International
dent is declaring that human spaceight is unim- Space Station, 2001.
portant to U.S. interests.
Hes not saying so directly. But his budget
actions speak loudly. He has canceled NASAs and build the International Space Sta-
next-generation Constellation program, including tion (ISS). But it lacked a long-term
the Orion spacecraft and the two rockets that were goal in space. That lack of direction
designed to return American explorers to deep and the failure to replace the vulnera-
space (see Mission: Moon, March 2007). ble shuttle led in part to the Columbia
A little history: In the past 20 years, under three accident in 2003 that killed seven of
different administrations, NASA has lost more my colleagues.
than 25 percent of its buying power. Despite those Now, seven years later, the budget
cuts, the agency managed to operate the shuttle shows that the president has already
AVALANCHE
L O C AT I O N MO U NT NEMES I S , MO NT.
N A M E S AM K AVANAG H
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POPULARMECHANICS.COM | APRIL 2010 59
It was New Years Day, 2005. Sam Kavanagh, Matt Schuyler, Blake
Morstad, Jason Thompson and Chris Maki had snowmobiled 20 miles,
then climbed an additional 5 miles with gear to ski the remote slopes of
Montanas 9334-foot Mount Nemesis. The group had skied the same
route the previous day, and spent the night in a remote, backcountry
60 APRIL 2010 | POPULARMECHANICS.COM
E X P E R T
A D V I C E
P H O T O G R A P H B Y T I M L A M A N ( A V A L A N C H E ) , S TA C Y B E N G S ( B R I D G E C O L L A P S E ) ; I L L U S T R AT I O N S B Y S H I N G O
could nd and held on. The violent rush of WFWhWbocf_YjhWYa survival tip: If youre in an
YoYb_ij"^[ihWda[Z
snow blasted him off the tree. He heard a snap, \j^_dj^[mehbZ$
area that has recently had
avalanches, youre in
and then began cartwheeling 60 yards down the mountain
dangerous terrain. Get out.
before coming to rest on a rock outcropping. I looked down People become
and my boot was turned 180 degrees, and 4 inches of bone was sticking through euphoric in the
my ski pants, he says. The break had created a 17-inch rip through Kavanaghs backcountry, says
lower leg, and he was bleeding heavily. Mark Staples, an
avalanche specialist at
Despite his injuries, Kavanagh set his locator beacon to search, turned his leg Gallatin National Forest
around to the normal position, then slid down the mountain to help locate Avalanche Center.
Morstad. Schuyler, Thompson and Maki, who were unharmed, worked quickly to They lose sight of
dig Morstad out, but it was too late: He was dead from blunt-force trauma. danger. Snowpack
changes daily, and a
I didnt really notice the pain until I saw Blake, Kavanagh says. Then I
span of just 10 feet can
heard this voice in my head telling me that if I closed my eyes, that would be me have different
dying. Keeping my eyes open was me deciding to stay alive. conditions. We see
It took 2 hours to drag Kavanagh 400 yards through armpit-deep snow from people skiing on slopes
the avalanche site to the yurt. His friends attempted to reset Kavanaghs leg, but right next to avalanche
slides all the time.
the swelling was too great, so they created a makeshift compression pack using a
Therm-a-Rest pad and duct tape.
The next morning, Maki and Schuyler skied out to get help while Thompson
took care of Kavanagh. Losing blood and in shock, he desperately needed evacua-
tion. Rescue helicopters attempted to land that afternoon, but bad weather
turned them backforcing Kavanagh to spend a second night in the yurt.
To get through the night, Kavanagh relied on sheer willpower. Once youve
made the decision to live, you have to embrace it, he says. I visualized going
home and being with my wife. And I never once doubted I could make it.
The next day a helicopter crew from Malmstrom Air Force Base nally
reached the site and picked up Kavanagh by hovering above the deep snow. By
the time he reached the hospital, it had been 48 hours since the accident. I had
lost more than half my blood and my kidneys were shutting down, he recalls.
Kavanagh lived, but his lower leg had to be amputated. Yet he remains a
world-class athlete. In 2008, he won the U.S. Paralympic National Champion-
ships in track cycling, and he is currently ranked fth in the world.
POPULARMECHANICS.COM | APRIL 2010 61
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BRIDGE COLLAPSE
L O C AT I O N MI NNEAP O L I S , MI NN.
N A M E G ARY BABI NEAU
It was hot on the first day of August 200790 degrees,
even at six in the evening. Gary Babineau, then a 24-year-
old terrazzo worker, had just finished his day hauling
100-pound bags of rock in a windowless building, so he
took his shirt off and rolled down the windows as he
drove home in his blue Chevy pickup. Minneapolis rush-hour trafc was heavy.
Babineau drove northbound onto the eight-lane I-35W bridge just as several
sections broke off and fell onto the banks of the Mississippi River, killing 13
people and sending 145 other casualties to area hospitals.
It didnt even make a noise before it collapsed, Babineau recalls. It just
fell away. Part of the bridge split in two right under his truck, sending it into a
35-foot nose-dive as it chased the road deck straight to the ground. Babineaus
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face slammed into the steering wheel before the airbags deployed. His truck Jh[ii[bb>Wma#
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landed on the edge of the fractured roadway, bending its frame at a 20-degree WdZ@Wc[i
angle like a fortune cookie and breaking the drive shaft. I thought my back F^_bb_fim^[d
j^[_hXeWj
had snapped in two, Babineau says. So I started to wiggle my toes to make YWfi_p[ZWdZ
sure I wasnt paralyzed. i[jj^[cWZh_\j
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As Babineau reached for his door handle, he could hear the wild screeching C[n_Ye$
PHOTOGRAPH BY PETER TURNER/GETTY IMAGES
of tires right above him where what was left of the bridge now hung precipitous-
ly. Then one car skidded over the edge and crashed next to Babineaus pickup.
He balled himself up and stayed as low as possible in his cab. Then came
another screech and another crash, then a third. Then silence. He opened his
door and looked up to see a white sedan that had managed to stop before
landing on him. It had been 10, maybe 15 seconds since the collapse.
Babineau approached a woman who was in a car in front of him. They were
both stuck on the collapsed section of bridge and wanted to get off. Nobody
knew what had happened, or if it was going to get worse. Would the rest of the
bridge collapse? Had it been a bomb? Babineau and the woman made it to the
POPULARMECHANICS.COM | APRIL 2010 63
E X P E R T
A D V I C E
After the I-35W bridge side of the bridge and were climbing off when Babineau heard children scream-
collapse, Gary Babineau ing and crying. He looked over to the southbound lanes and saw a school bus
acted courageously and that appeared to be teetering on the edge. He ran under the bridge and climbed
helped save more than
50 children. He also up to the bus, working with a few other survivors to help more than 50 children
avoided a classic many of whom were injuredget off the bus, off the bridge and onto safe
mistake by staying in his ground. It took just 3 minutes to evacuate the children.
truck until the crashing Babineau returned to help others, but by that time, emergency crews were
around him stopped.
ordering civilians to stand back. As Babineau made his way to the top of the
Its instinctual to get
out of your car, says bridge, the rush of adrenaline began to wear off. He sat down, and the pain set in.
Sgt. Doug Sheets, an It hasnt really left him since. He has a partially compressed spine and several
accident investigator crushed disks. Some mornings it hurts just to put on his socks.
with the California It all happened so fast, but when Babineau thinks about that day, the
Highway Patrol. But
thats how people get reasons for his actions are clear: I had my rst child on the way, he says. And
killed. You can take a pretty what made me want to get off that bridge was that I wanted to live. But what
big hit in a car if youre made me go back was knowing that if my child was on that bus, I would want
wearing a seatbelt, but you someone else to do the same for them.
dont want to be outside
unprotected if a Freightliner
is coming at you.
Sheets suggests rolling
down your window
before making any
LOST AT SEA
L O C AT I O N G U L F O F MEXI C O
moves. You can hear
accidents unfolding, he N A M E T RES S EL L HAW K I NS
says. All quiet? Then Last August, Tressell Hawkins, Curtis Hall and James
make a break. Even if Phillips set off from Matagorda Bay, Texas, on Phillipss
your car has four at 23-foot catamaran, a Carolina Skiff Sea Chaser, for an
tires, drive out of the
way, Sheets says. Its overnight sport-fishing trip among the Gulf of Mexicos
easier for investigators offshore oil rigs. After dark, the group fell asleep drifting
if you dont, but within sight of the Tequila rig some 80 miles offshore. As they slept, a bilge
nobodys going to blame pump failure caused seawater to ood into the catamarans port sponson. I
you if it saves your life. woke up and put my foot down into knee-deep water, Hawkins says. I was
yelling, Were in the water!
Phillips dove for the VHF radio to make a distress call, while Hall reached
for the ignition, hoping to gun the engine and force water out the back of the
boat. But before they could do anything, the catamaran ipped and tossed
them into the ocean. The three men scrambled atop the hull and spent the next
dark hours in a state of stunned silence, steadily drifting south.
When the trio didnt return home the next day as sched-
uled, Phillipss wife Shane called the Coast Guard to report
them missing. The Coast Guard scrambled cutters, a Falcon
jet, helicopters and a C-130 Hercules out of Clearwater, Fla.,
running a methodical search-and-rescue grid over some
86,000 square milesan area larger than Utah. We found
nothingnot a life jacket, not a cooler, not a seat cushion,
recalls Capt. Marcus Woodring, commander of the Coast
Guards Sector Houston-Galveston.
On day three, the castaway shermen saw a helicopter, but
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64 APRIL 2010 | POPULARMECHANICS.COM
they had already shot off all the boats ares and couldnt send a signal. The men By the fourth day, life aboard the
had set up the boats blue Bimini top on the hull of the boat as cover from the capsized boat had become a blur.
sun, a move that, in retrospect, they realize may have rendered them invisible to Minutes melted into hours; the group
planes in the vast blue ocean. Over the next few days its estimated the boat hit a psychological bottomand
drifted another 100 miles south. the men started hallucinating. Id
The August sun was blistering lips, arms and legs. Their skin began to crack ip open my hand like a cellphone
and tear apart. To escape the heat the men spent hours bobbing in the water and start talking, Hawkins recalls.
alongside the boat. This undoubtedly delayed the extreme dehydration that could At one point, Phillips stood up and
otherwise have killed them. But it also came with a price. The men were stung by said he was going to the store, then
jellysh, and the saltwater began eating away at their open wounds. During the walked right off the boat. We all had
cold nights, the three stayed in the 80-degree water, oating there to keep warm. our moments of weakness, Hawkins
I dont think any of us slept for more than 15 minutes at a time, Hawkins says. says. One day I would completely
For food and water, the crew had salvaged two bags of chips, a pack of Double- freak out about not being found, but
mint gum, a box of crackers and 2 gallons of drinking water that was contami- then James and Curtis would help me
nated with gasoline when the boat ipped. They exhausted the food supply calm down. Another time they would
within three days, and the tainted water was making them ill. be freaking out. We helped each
other work through it. Thats how we
survived out there.
On day ve, Phillips noticed a
hose oating on the ocean surface. It
led to the boats submerged 30-
Tressell Hawkins and his guys didnt have that gallon wash-down tank, which is
shing buddies were lost would have really helped used to hose off sh slime. When the
E X P E R T at sea for eight days, but us nd them is an men sucked water from the tank and
they could have been EPIRB, says Coast
A D V I C E rescued in a hurry with Guard search-and-rescue found that it was uncontaminated,
the right technology. coordinator Denny they knew their lives had been saved.
The one thing these Ernsterusing the That water felt like molasses on a
acronym for Emergency cold day, Hawkins says. I could feel
Position-Indicating
it going through my body.
Radiobeacon. With the
automatic beacons, The Coast Guard suspended its
when your boat tips search on day seven. But the trios
over, the unit second lucky break came when their
dislodges itself, floats boat caught a current that sent it
to the surface and
sends out a signal. slowly northwest back toward the
Then we know exactly Texas coast.
where you are, and Finally, after eight days, Hawkins
theres no range and his friends saw a boat. Curtis
limitation on them.
and James were yelling and acting
The internationally
recognized frequency for crazy, but I thought we were just
both boat and airplane hallucinating, Hawkins says. One of
beacons is 406 MHz. them set off a re extinguisher theyd
Older models use a been saving. The signal worked.
different frequency, and
the satellite system that Eddie Yaklin, a car dealer from
=FI#[dWXb[Z;F?H8iikY^Wi
j^[79H=beXWb<_n_Fhe'&&& supported them has Kingsville, Texas, who was out
WkjecWj_YWbboi[dZfh[Y_i[WYY_Z[dj been shut down. Time shing oil rigs himself, brought his
beYWj_edije[c[h][dYoh[ifedZ[hi$ to upgrade.
S AT E LLI T E 408
58-foot Riviera alongside the turtled
hull and helped the men aboard. En
route to a rendezvous with a Coast
Guard vessel, Yaklin cooked the
survivors a steak dinner.
DIY
Emergency s HYPOTHERMIA
Tactics Rule No. 1: Exercise if youre freezing cold. It will warm you up.
Rule No. 2: Disregard rule No. 1 if youre in the water. With
hypothermia, blood vessels constrict, reducing the supply of
warm blood to the skin. That keeps internal organs warmwhich
is what you want. But forcing those vessels open by exercising in
the water pushes the warm blood to the surface, where it quickly
gets chilled. If youre immersed in water, stay still.
s
Some 600 people are struck every year; about 60 are killed.
s LIGHTNING First, the common-sense rules: Dont beor be nearthe tallest
object around, and get rid of metal objects that are in contact
with your skin. As a last resort, experts suggest squatting with
just the balls of your feet on the ground. Cover your ears, close
your mouth and eyes, and hope the bolt rolls over you.
s DROWNING
Drown-proong is a technique developed in the 1940s by
legendary Georgia Tech swim coach Fred Lanoue. It enables you
to stay alive for hours without exhausting yourself. Heres how it
works: Most humans are naturally buoyantwe float, but just
below the surface. So rest by oating facedown in the water with
arms out, scarecrow-style. Every 15 seconds, raise your arms to
the surface, then push down. The motion causes your head to
rise above the surface long enough for you to take a breath.
s POISONOUS SNAKES
Every year, 8000 people are bitten by snakesdrunken men are
statistically over-representedbut few bites are fatal. To check if
youve been bitten by a poisonous snake, look for a pair of deep
puncture marks. Swelling will be quick, so remove constricting
items such as jewelry. Now, try to stay calm and keep the bite
below heart level as you head to the nearest hospital. What about
slicing the bite and sucking out the venom? It doesnt work, and
you might slice into something that cant be easily repaired.
s
Wild-animal attacks will get you on the Discovery Channel, but
s DOG ATTACK theyre extremely rare. Dog bites send 885,000 people to the
doctor every year. Never run from an aggressive dog, says
Jeremy Talamantes of K-9 Behavior Services. If you do, youre
just bait. Conventional wisdom cautions people to freeze, but
Talamantes takes it further. You want to stand your ground, puff
yourself up and yell, Get back! Thats going to hurt the dogs
condence, and most times itll stay back.
s
PHOTOGRAPH BY LUIGI MASELLA
s MAJOR WOUND
Apply direct pressure by clamping your hand on the wound, then
elevate the injury above the heart to slow blood ow. If bleeding
continues for 30 minutes, use clothes to wrap the site in a
pressure dressing. Dont keep checking to see if its working,
even if its bloody says Dr. Jeff Gutterman, a fellow of the
American College of Emergency Physicians. Thats a classic
mistake. If the bleeding doesnt stop after another 30 minutes,
tie off the wound a few inches above the site. If you get emer-
gency help within several hours you probably wont lose the limb.
66 APRIL 2010 | POPULARMECHANICS.COM
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POPULARMECHANICS.COM | APRIL 2010 67
E X P E R T
A D V I C E
Peter Kummerfeldt, crashed against a steep slope near the East Fork of the
former director of Toklat River.
survival training at the According to a National Transportation Safety Board
U.S. Air Force
Academy, sees Dan report on the incident, when McGregor regained
McGregors miracu- consciousness, the planes cabin was lling with
lous post-plane-crash smoke. As the pilot tried to ght his way out of the
hike to survival as the plane, he called out to Haber but heard no response.
exception to the rule.
Once clear of the wreckage, McGregor tried to work his
You hear a lot about
tenacity in survival way back into the cabin through the baggage door to
situations like these, save Haber, but by then the re was too intense.
Kummerfeldt says. The two men had known each other well and had
This guy had it, but own together often, and Habers death was a crushing J^[mh[YaW][\hec
you dont know who :WdCY=h[]ehi
else has it until blow to McGregor. Now he was faced with the prospect 9[iidW'.+mWi
bWh][bo_dY_d[hWj[Z"
something bad happens. of dying himself from exposure. His ankles and face b[WZ_d]j^[h[iYk[
I like to take tenacity out of were bloodied and badly bruised, and he was burned j[WcjeYedYbkZ[
the survival equation. Your j^Wj^[^WZZ_[Z$
from head to toe. He spent the night at the crash site,
best bet is always staying
using the aming wreckage to fend off hypothermia.
with the plane. Its just easier
to find a plane than The next morning, McGregor weighed his options. He was convinced his
a person. locator beacon had been destroyed by the crash. In fact, McGregors plane was
Plus, that plane, if it equipped with an outdated beacon. Even if the device had survived the impact, it
isnt too badly wouldnt have been able to communicate with the current emergency rescue
damaged, has
resources: shelter, satellite system. The C-130 search-and-rescue plane sent from Anchorage didnt
fuel for res and foam pick up its signal either. A low-lying fog that morning obscured the crash site,
rubber for insulation. complicating the search.
And you dont need to Given those factors, McGregor decided to hike out over terrain he knew well.
spend thousands on
He slogged 7 miles south, following the East Fork until he reached a primitive
gear, he says. Case
in point: a 50-gallon park road. He followed it 8 miles east to the Igloo Creek campsite. Ironically,
trash bag. Its around 3 pm, a Civil Air Patrol pilot had sighted the downed Cessna and radioed
windproof and the Alaska State Troopers. A trooper then landed a plane nearby and hiked to the
waterproof. In the crash site. He reported back that he had found human remains. Word quickly
bottom corner, cut a
hole big enough to slip spread that both Haber and McGregor were dead.
your head through, Finally, McGregor trudged into camp, crying out for help. He was cold,
then place the bag Hoagland remembers. He practically stood in the re he was
over your body. so cold. After feeding the pilot, the two campers packed up
PHOTOGRAPH BY ALASKA STOCK
their gear and walked him 5 miles to their van, which was
parked at the Teklanika River campground. He kind of
shufed because his ankles hurt so much, Hoagland says,
and his shoes were practically melted away.
McGregor was own to Harborview Medical Center in
Seattle, Wash., where Hoagland and Rodrick visited him.
McGregor has not commented publicly about the crash, but
he told PM that his skin grafts have been successful and his
other injuries are healing. He is still coming to grips with
the loss of his friend and neighbor. But he hopes that
someday lessons learned from his experience may save
someone elses life. FC
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OUT ON A LIMB WITH A MOUTH FULL OF NAILS, ONE DAD SUSPENDS A SHACK
b y LOGAN WARD
ph o t o gr a p hs by LA JO S GEENEN
aeries of my childhood, hammered together out of whatever ooring up into this formerly unoccupied Kentucky coee tree.
qq
BY LARRY WEBSTER
P H O T O G R A P H S B Y C H R I S T O P H E R W R AY- M C C A N N
R AT I N G S I C O N S
TESTING PROCEDURE
To produce an accurate pic-
! q
! q
a
q
q
ture of performance, the PM
automotive team brings out
the te gear. Acceleration
and braking are measured
with either a Stalker radar
gun or GPS-based Racelogic
Vbox. Handling tes require
optical timers. Ben Stewart
(opposite) and Larry Web-
er run down the prete
checkli, ensuring proper
uid levels and setting every
cars tires to the faory-
recommended pressure.
newcomers could match the perennial top sellers.
We started with the segments three most popular cars NISSAN TOYOTA
the Nissan Altima, Toyota Camry and Honda Accordand
drove them alongside ve challengers: the Mazda6, Ford
Fusion, Suzuki Kizashi, Chevy Malibu and Subaru Legacy.
The Altima was a little reluctant to change
We ran them through our tests, a day of hard driving in the
direction, with excess body roll and slower
hills near Los Angeles and a 360-mile fuel-economy loop. steering than, say, the Mazda. It doesnt want
Since four-cylinder engines and automatic transmissions to hustle. But around town, outside the
make up the majority of the sales in this class, we ordered connes of our test course, we found the
each car that way. Instead of ranking these very similar Altima to be very rened and comfortable.
vehicles in a nishing order, we decided to call out the
combination of each cars strengths and represent them as
icons. So, here are eight of the top four-door sedans in
Americaand what they do best.
ToyotaCamry
Since the beginning of this century, the Camry
has been the countrys best-selling car more
years than not. Its sensible, roomy and
well-built. But driving the Camry is a slightly
NissanAltima Inching up in
sales volume for the past half-decade, the Altima has become a
less exciting activity than toasting a piece of Wonder bread.
Frankly, we need more ber.
Its not that the Camry doesnt do its job effectively. It was
thorn in the side of Honda and Toyota. Restyled for 2010, the one of the quicker sedans, yet still delivered an above-average
Nissan is the lightest car here by 100 pounds. And engineering 31.5 mpg. Its also exceptionally quiet and serene inside. Only
out the excess weight in a design is the gift that keeps giving. the Honda Accord has a roomier back seat.
The Altima was the quickest to 60 mph (7.72 seconds) and The interior that was once lauded for its quality feel now
returned the best fuel economy (32.4 mpg). seems cheaply made, with poor panel tment and low-rent
While the scales suggest a imsy structure, the Altima feels materials. To be fair, the Camry is value-priced, but its also the
solid and well-built. The interior layout is refreshingly simple, only one riding on 16-inch wheels with hubcaps.
with high-quality materials used throughout. The Altimas We could forgive those sins, but the rest of the car is a big
continuously variable transmission (CVT), the only available slice of ho-hum. If you push the Camry hard, the connection
transmission, was not our favorite. The engine has plenty of between man and machine feels as though its separated by a
torque, but it drones in the upper rev range, an unpleasant layer of molasses. Its pillowy body motions reminded us of
aspect that the CVT intensies. But at least there is a manual yesteryears land yachts. If theres a payoff to this performance,
mode, and we tended to use it during spirited driving. its the extremely plush ride and hushed interior.
!
The Countrys
Fuel-Economy
Best-Selling
Champ
Car
The Camry sealed its reputation some two decades ago with
a reliable and competent sedan in a market lled with
lackluster cars. The world has caught up, and Toyota has
"
PMs faltered. The Camry was recalled in January and its production
Top Pick halted to x a sticky throttle. Its time for Toyota engineers to
remind us why the Camry deserves its top-selling status.
Chevrolet Malibu
GM might be ghting to rebuild itself after a tumultuous year,
thanks in no small part to the new Legacy.
Subaru, like Mazda, has long been in the hunt for a midsize
sedan with mass appeal. But in the past, both cars were just a
but the Malibu is a key example of the companys design and bit too small. No more. The Subaru has grown up.
engineering chops. The exterior has tight proportions with The 170-hp boxer engine is inherently smooth and barks a
just the right amount of dazzle, and was chosen as best- throaty tune, but it could use some extra low-end torque. A
looking by our younger voters. Inside, theres an upscale vibe. six-speed manual is the standard gearbox, but ours had the
The smooth motor is exceedingly quiet and employs optional CVT. This transmission takes its time to switch ratios
fuel-saving direct injection. Chevy channels the 169 hp and helped make the Subaru the slowest here, but the decit
through a six-speed automatic, which helps the Malibu hit is negligible in this class of vehicle.
33 mpg on the EPA highway cycle. (It was only a midpack Yes, the all-wheel-drive Legacy is a bit heavy compared to
30.3 mpg in our testing.) The Malibu weighs nearly as much as some, and the driveline has more inherent drag. But it still
the Subaru, but from behind the wheel it feels relatively light. returned 31 mpg on our route, about average for this group. It
Its surprisingly agile, belying the unspectacular handling-test also feels very solid, not unlike a German sedan. The suspen-
results. The Malibus ride was as plush as the Camrys, but sion tuning mimics the Hondasinitially supple yet
without syrupy responses. The Chevy always feels engaged and buttoned down once the twisties get tight.
ready to frolic, and the electric power assist dials up the right The interior is inviting and feels richer than that of most
amount of effort. The wheel also has handy switches to cars here. The steering wheel wears a pair of paddles for
manually control the transmission. manual shifting, and the ignition switch has a lighted ring for
That stylish, gently sloping rear glass leaves a small, nighttime viewinga nice touch. The front seats were tops in
mailbox-like trunk opening. So this sedan wouldnt be our all-day comfortthe rear ones just short of the Accords.
rst choice for a trip to Home Depot. Still, the Malibu was one The Legacy is large enough and comfortable enough to
of the best-balanced cars here, blending handling, quietness steal sales from the mainstream players. But it hasnt lost the
and comfort into one very sleek and affordable package. personality that makes Subarus such interesting cars.
!
Handsome
& Well Surefooted &
Mannered Rened
up in the majority of
surprise standout in
the heaviest and the
spirited handling,
mere 220 pounds.
acceleration to 60
Mazdas blend of
become, but also
lightest car was a
own garages. FC
cars personality
mph, less than 1
F A M I LY S E D A N T E S T
comes to perfor-
notebooksthe
tive the midsize
shows just how
wanted in our
spread in fuel
Mazda6. The
full-throttle
POPULARMECHANICS.COM
disc/10.9-inch disc/11.0-inch disc/11.1-inch disc/11.5-inch disc/10.9-inch
disc, ABS, ESC disc, ABS, ESC disc, ABS, ESC disc, ABS, ESC disc, ABS, ESC disc, ABS, ESC disc, ABS, ESC disc, ABS, ESC
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Mtq 2.95 3.06 3.13 2.89 3.06 3.40 3.55 2.88
Moq 8.29 8.22 8.31 8.24 7.72 8.68 8.57 7.94
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tMq 32.39 31.58 30.95 30.87 30.71 31.11 29.95 30.91
oMq 129.77 125.17 128.22 127.03 126.15 125.96 123.26 127.65
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80
Once its arted on
improved soil, grass
needs very little care
to look crisp, green,
cool and inviting.
ometimes you have to destroy your lawn in order to save it. If
years of weeding, fertilizing and fussing have failed to prod your
patch of turf to perfection, its time to change tactics. PM con-
tributing editor Jim Gorman advises a brutal but effective strat-
egy: Kill off the insipid sod entirely, then start fresh. The result
will be a lush, healthy lawn that knows whos boss.
FACE REALITY
THE FIRST STEP IS ADMITTING YOUR LAWN HAS A
PROBLEM. LOTS OF THEM, ACTUALLY: WEEDS,
BARE SPOTS, THATCH. PEOPLE ARE TALKING. BUT
ARE YOU READY TO EMBRACE THE TREATMENT?
Im one of those grass guys. You probably know
the type. House surrounded by a shag carpet so
deeply green it verges on blue. Not a weed in sight.
Theres a grass guy or two in every neighborhood.
In mine, they call me the grass whisperer.
Looking at my lawn, youd think I toil relent- BROADLEAF PLANTAIN
lessly from April clear through to Thanksgiving, Weeds invade when the
or pay a small fortune to a lawn service. The truth lawn itself isnt healthy.
is, I dont do either. Killing the weeds without
healing the lawn means
youre only treating the
P H OTO G R A P HS B Y FI L IP KW IATKO W S KI symptoms.
SEAL IT TIGHT
autumn leaves, and it will do ne.
Solarization is hard Dig a trench around the
work. e plaic mu lawn and use the soil to A total yard renovation isnt something entered
be sealed tight to weigh down the plaic. into lightly. But in a variety of situations it makes
prevent heat and water Also use bricks and sense, according to Peter Landschoot, a turfgrass
vapor from escaping. landscape fabric pegs.
scientist at Penn State University. If your lawn
keeps dying or deteriorating, if your grass is very
coarse-textured and clumpy or it continuously
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INSIDE
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21"
2"
138 "
Floating a 2"
Shelf Idea
Im fascinated with
Q oating shelves. Ive built
oneit looked okay, but a 1978"
6"
little rough. Whats the right
way to do this? qq mqqq
A
A oating shelf is nothing more than a hollow box
Pulling Up a Seat
I need to remove the toilet seat and lid
on all three toilets in our house, but
the nuts holding them in place are very
dicult to get at. I have some access
ZMG#wG?qzNj?q
BREAKER Appropriate for
SIZES
a two-pole 20-amp
q
#NVq breaker or a
q
,j?#Q?jq single-pole
is is the on/o 30-amp breaker.
switch to the entire
breaker panel. A q@MG#wG?qYjq
200-amp breaker is qoMG#wG?qzNj?q
appropriate for a Used for 40-, 50-
home upwards of and 60-amp
2000 square feet. two-pole breakers;
Smaller buildings large appliances.
can use 150-amp or Also used to serve
100-amp; small subpanels.
homes and
subpanels can use
GROUND
as little as 50-amp. WIRES
THE SMART
GRID IN YOUR
As home-brewed electricity gets BASEMENT
more sophisticated, expect to see
JUICE items now sold as separate
ROUTES hardwaresuch as solar panel Some benets
inverters and AC/DC disconnects, consumers could
or generator subpanels and see upon
transfer switchesmerge into completion of a
single, standard parts, which are national smart
Power from wind easier to install and understand. grid are already
turbine or solar available in
products like
S T U D I O D ; I L L U S T R AT I O N B Y G A B R I E L S I LV E I R A ; T H A N K S T O B R E E N E L E C T R I C A L , B R O O K LY N , N . Y.
Computerized
Electric Systems
Smart Panel.
DC disconne
Computer
hardware hacked
Power onto a standard
to the breaker panel
Inverter house allows this tool to
monitor individual
circuits, transfer
AC disconne and balance loads
between power
Power from sources, or
the grid Meter manage power
remotely. Simply
having more
information about
each breakers
power consump-
Main panel Automatic Subpanel tion can be the
Power from transfer start of a more
generator switch electrically
efcient lifestyle
leave the
refrigerators door
open, witness the
Vks#RRNVGq In a power outage, a backup generator provides elericity to designated real-time
#q#4Qw\q circuit breakers. Natural gas or propane fuels the generators engine, which consumption
?V?j#sYjq spins an alternator to create a magnetic eld that sends current to the home. spike, and get
Its critical that no elericity from the generator back-feeds to the gridlines- motivated.
men working to reore power could be elerocuted. An automatic transfer
switch isolates the generators elericity to keep it o the grid until power is
reored. en the generator shuts down and the transfer switch reverses.
NjNVGqNV: Solar panels and wind turbines feed DC power into an inverter, which
qwj,NV?kq converts it to AC for home use. AC and DC disconne switches allow parts
qYjqYR#jq to be isolated for service. ese syems conantly back-feed to the grid,
qLYsYyYRs#N4kq but during a blackoutto some grid-tied cuomers surprisetheir power
cant be used. One solution: Store power in a battery backup syem.
Inverters like Outback Powers Flexpower One cut equipment cos with
prewired battery conneions and circuit breakers. New micro-inverters
convert DC to AC at the panel, eliminating DC wiring runs.
Late, late, late for work. The that your drivers door is open. Rats.
clock is ticking, so you sprint from the You double-time to the car and slam
parking lot to the oce building at top the doorwhich simply bounces back
speedand hope you dont lose your open. A second attempt, mightier
shoes. You take one la glance across than the r, only bounces it back fur-
the lot to check on your car, and see ther, right into your knee. Ouch. You
INSIDE
qaq"q
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6 Belt and
5 Suspenders
To repair that top hinge,
we inveed a total of about
10 minutes. Surprisingly,
the lower hinge bushings
were very lightly worn, so
we le them alone. If you
need to tighten up the
4. Pry the 5. e replacement lots of door-opening back to the
worn-out bushings bushings are made aivity. We simply A-pillar with the lower hinge, nish the top
from the hinge of oil-impregnated tapped the new bolts nger-tight. hinge first, and align the
half. e worn bronze, and bushings into place With a little help, door. en tackle the lower
OEM bushings promise to outla lightly with a line up the holes
were made of brass the originals hammer. e lip on and tap the hinge. There are two rea-
cloth wrapped with although we cant the new bushings new hinge pin sons for this: Fir o, there
some sort of ber, really complain goes where the lip into place. e are probably a bunch of
and had worn until about the service on the old bushings pin on our Jeep
there was life of door-hinge was, at the top and had to come in
wires that run into the door
metal-to-metal bushings that have bottom of the from the bottom to run power windows and
conta, allowing seen 145,000 miles hinge arms. because the door locks, and you dont want
the door to droop of service in heavy 6. Now you can sheet metal to have to hold the door ill
nearly an inch. urban driving with inall the hinge was in the way.
enough to keep from tear-
ing them free as both
q
q
hinges are disconnected.
Secondly, realigning the
door will be much simpler
one hinge at a time. FC
Sealed
for Life
Q toI read in one of your old columns that its possible
add a grease tting to the destined-for-failure
sealed ball joints
on new cars.
A This is one of my favorite com-
How can I do this?
plaints about new cars. Specifi-
cally, that manufacturers exclude a
10 cent zerk fitting on the ball joints
and steering tie-rod ends of their vehi-
cles. That way, when the grease dries
out in a couple of years, the joint quickly
wears out, and you have to replace the
part. Pumping in a nickels worth of
grease twice a year would save hun-
dreds of dollars of parts and labor when
they fail prematurely.
So, I ju thumb my nose at planned
obsolescence and add the ttings. (Sur-
prisingly, virtually all replacement fit-
tingseven the ones made by the OEM
suppliers as exa replacementshave
the proper grease fitting in the box
when you buy them at the parts ore.
Go gure.) Its easy to do:
Start by drilling a 316-inch hole in
the sheet-metal cap on the bottom of Now you can ju thread in the t- Fore!
the joint. Odds are you can do this with- ting. Be aware there are several yles I have a 48-volt eleric golf cart with
out removing the part from the car, of zerk ttings. You may need a raight, dead batteries. Can I replace the eight
although for some tie-rod ends, you 45- or 90-degree zerk to allow the 6-volt batteries with four 12-volt
might need to unhook them to get grease gun to hook onto the end of the deep-cycle marine batteries?
clearance for the drill to run in raight. tting. Dont forget the little rubber cap Short answer: Yes. As youve probably
Coat the drill with grease and go slowly to keep the end of the tting clean. Now gured, itll be a lot cheaper. Long
at the end to capture mo of the chips. all you have to do is pump some grease answer: You might not want to.
Now use a small pipe tap that matches into the tting every 6 months or so. Okay, you might need to make some
your tting to thread the hole. Again, Add grease until the boot is turgid, and minor changes to the wiring harness. And
pack the utes on the tap with grease grease is leaking out of the seams. Your dont forget to tie the new batteries down
to catch mo of the chips. front suspension will thank you. so they cant bounce, both as a matter of
safety and to keep the vibrations from more rapidly as well, because youll be
cracking the batteries internal plates. asking them to deliver more than theyre
ose four marine batteries you want comfortable with.
to use have substantially less energy A better alternative would be six
capacity than the eight 6-volters youre 8-volt oor-polisher batteries. Unfortu-
replacing, unless the 6-volters are pretty nately, that swap wont be cheap either.
small. While batteries vary, overall weight Look around for used or even refur-
is a pretty good predior of the energy- bished floor-polisher batteriesyou
orage capacity of a ooded-cell deep- might get lucky.
cycle battery. If the capacity of the new
battery pack is less, youll be drawing a Drinking Games
lot more current, relatively speaking. And e gasoline I use contains approxi-
the battery discharge rate isnt linear. mately 10 percent methanol. Is it
Drawing 50 percent more current could necessary to add isopropyl-alcohol
reduce the battery capacity by an fuel-line drier to the fuel to remove
amount subantially more than 50 per- condensed water from the fuel tank?
cent. Halving the size of the battery pack Fir o, I sincerely doubt your gasoline
could reduce your range to only a quar- contains any methanol. And virtually all
ter of the original packs range. The of the car manufaurers prohibit the use
smaller battery pack will sulfate and fail of more than 5 percent methanol in their
q
q
Poly-V belts seem to la hang a new belt. faures mo of the
a lot longer than the ose are cata- replacement belts in the
old-fashioned V-belt ever rophic failures. Normal U.S. market. eyve got
did. Its not unusual for a wear is more insidious. a clever gauge that will
belt that uses a spring- e failure mode here is tell you when a belt has
loaded automatic that the rubber lining the exceeded its wear limit.
tensioner to la 100,000 grooves is wearing out, a Slide the gauge into a
miles or longer. But like bigger problem for groove in the belt and run
any moving part, these vehicles that run in duy your nger over the
belts eventually wear out or sandy environments. groove. If you can feel the
too. Its easy to see some A belt can be so worn gauge anding proud in
of the signs of imminent that it arts to slip, ju the ribs, ne. If not, time
failure, like weather- a little, before the for replacement. You can
checked rubber or the reinforcing cord shows or get a gauge from Gates
dangling rings of the the rubber arts to look for free at gatesrubber
reinforcing fabric like alligator shoes. But .com. And do I need to
whipping around. ese how worn is worn out? remind you to do this
both mean its time to Gates Rubber manu- with the engine o?
vehicles. Its highly corrosive, and the
fuel system needs to be specially
hardened to use it successfully. Sure,
there were a bunch of M85-capable
ex-fuel vehicles on the market back
in the 90s, but I doubt many of them
are still on the road. And Im not
aware of any methanol-blended gaso-
line currently available in the U.S.
So you are probably mistaken:
Much of the commercially available
pump gas in the U.S. has ethanol
blended in as an oxygenate, to lower
emissions. Regionally and seasonally,
it can be as much as 10 percent, and
mo cars run ne on it.
Consequently, the need for fuel-
line driers like isopropyl alcohol is
much reduced. Alcohol, whether its
ethanol, isopropanol or methanol will
absorb a certain amount of water
and hold it in solution. A few percent
of water will then simply be carried
into the engine, where it ashes into
eam harmlessly in the combuion
chamber. However, theres a point
where even 10 percent ethanol cant
trap all the water. Add a few drops
more to a mixture of water, alcohol
and gasoline thats near its satura-
tion point, and a phenomenon called
phase separation occurs. All of the
water and alcohol drop out of solu-
tion, leaving a cloudy layer under the
gasoline. Neither the gasoline nor the
wateralcohol mix underneath it will
burn, so your only recourse is to drain
the tank and art over.
Trailing Along
I read your answer in the December
issue about asher relays with
much intere. Ive been able to
make trailer-light loads a nonissue
by replacing the trailers tungen
lament bulbs with LED light bulbs.
e load is so negligible that
tow-vehicle elerical syems
dont even know they are there.
at said, these bulbs are all axial:
ey shine only raight out of the
tip of the bulb. ey work well
when they point raight back-
wards, and can hardly be seen at all
if the bulb is mounted sideways like
they are in some taillights. As a
benet, the trailer brake lights
come on a tenth of a second faer
P M D I Y A U T O /// C A R C L I N I C Q + A I dont know where youre sourcing
your LED bulbs, but Ive found some
that have a dierent light pattern. You
can get them designed to shine raight
than the andard bulbs. Some of us dierent cars or trucks and dont want back from the socket, or at right angles
have replaced brake lights with LEDs to swap out ashers all the time, using for light fixtures that have vertically
for ju this reason. LED bulbs makes things a lot less com- mounted sockets. ere are even omni-
Point well taken about LED trailer plicated. Switching to LEDs is even direional bulbs that work great in trail-
bulbsthese bulbs draw so little cur- more compelling when you have a vehi- ers or motorcycles that need to be seen
rent compared to conventional incan- cle that uses an integrated asher mod- from the side as well as from behind.
descent bulbs that the asher doesnt ule that controls a lot of other funions Also, the time dierence between an
care, and ash rate is unaeed inead and that isnt amenable to a simple LED and an incandescent bulbs illumi-
of looking like a Vegas marquee. When replacement with a 10-dollar heavy- nation is more like 400 to 500 millisec-
youre towing a trailer with a bunch of duty asher relay. onds, not just a tenth. Do the math:
When you slam on your brakes at 60
mph, thats 35 to 44 feet more warning
for the driver behind you.
Not So Fa
Was your advice on recharging a dead
battery in the December issue
completely wrong? Aer mulling it
over for a while, it sure seems so. Let
me count the ways:
1. A special-purpose charger is
unnecessary since the alternators
primary funion is to charge the
battery. e car runs o the battery so
the alternator is not necessary. Ive
driven home without one.
Bosch and ACDelco both sugge its
better to charge a dead battery oine.
e alternators primary funion is not
to charge the battery, its to provide
elerical energy to run all of the vehi-
cles syems. Battery charging occurs
when there is excess power a er run-
ning all the accessories.
2. I would never hook up a dead
battery to a donor car without the
engine running. You risk having two
dead batteries.
e elerical surge when you hook up
two cars for jump-arting can damage
things like ereos and onboard com-
puters. Better to keep both cars shut
off to isolate the electrical systems,
then art the donor car a er a few min-
utes. It would take hours to deplete the
donor cars battery enough to keep it
from starting, unless the donor cars
battery is almo dead already.
3. I looked at an alternator, and I
dont see where there is room for a
cooling fan. Why would a spinning
device need one? And I dont see why
driving at freeway speeds would be
superior to idling.
e fan is internal, blowing cool air over Struttin what the dealer is proposing?
the regulator and diodes. An alternator I have a 2003 Honda Element and I Yeah, that lower bolt on almost any
will generate only a small portion of its want to replace the rear ruts. e shock can be tough. Ive resorted to
rated output at idle. e regulator and lower mounting bolt has rued itself using everything from a Sawzall to an
diodes aually run much cooler at high to the sleeve that goes through the acetylene torch to get these things
rpm and high current output (like driving rubber bushing. I tried using penetrat- apart. But Ive never needed to cut the
at freeway speeds) than at idle rpm and ing oil, but theres no way any type of mount o the control arm. My usual pro-
low current output (like attempting to oil is going to soak all the way through cedure is to grind o the head (assuming
charge a dead battery by idling a car in that whole sleeve. I took the vehicle to youve got the nut o) and the part of
the driveway). my local dealer and they couldnt get the bolt icking out. en, if you bend
4. I agree with you Mike, car batteries the bolt out either. ey said the the lower U-shaped mount apart ju a
are not designed for deep discharging. procedure would require cutting out little, you can pry the whole mess out.
But a one-time discharge will mo the shocks. So my queion is this, is e mount will bend right back when
likely have negligible ee. Aer all, there any reasonable alternative to you tighten down the new shock. FC
there are lead-acid batteries designed
for deep dischargingthey simply
have thicker plates.
Its well-documented in the battery
indury that even a single inance of
deep discharging (below 6 to 7 volts
open-circuit) will art the process of
sulfating, reducing the batterys crank-
ing amps, energy-orage capacity and
life span. The differences between a
conventional arter battery and a deep-
cycle are far more profound than the
thickness of the plates. e lead alloy is
dierent, for one thing.
Hot Windshield
I have a 2003 Dodge Ram 1500 with
a 5.9-liter V8. No matter where I put
the seleor switch to dire heat or
cool air, it only comes out of the
defroer vents. Is this vacuum-driven
or is there an elerical switch gone
bad that controls where the air goes?
Your pickup, unlike many vehicles, uses
elerical auators rather than vacuum
motors to control the mode doors in
the HVAC plenum. You may have a prob-
lem as simple as an elerical conneor
thats dislodged or a rod thats fallen o
a bellcrank on the mode door. If the re
of the HVAC controls are working, that
limits your problem to one small area,
so it should be easy to weasel out.
Fighting
Cable Chaos
IT IS ONE OF THE NATURAL LAWS OF TECHNOLOGYCABLES TEND TOWARD A STATE OF DISORDER.
HERES HOW TO GET YOUR WIRES TO BEHAVE. B Y A N T H O N Y V E R D U C C I
zMAX Micro-lubricant
Lam-Hammer
zMAX Micro-lubricant helps keep your engines
combustion chambers at their peak performance. An
Developed specically for installing interlocking laminate and application of 12 oz in the crankcase (best after an oil
engineered wood in tight places, the Lam-Hammer eliminates
change) and 12 oz into the fuel system (tank should have
damaged drywall and toe-kicks. It requires minimum strength
a minimum of 5-gallons when installed) can help improve
and provides maximum protection against damage to walls
mileage by its primary characteristic
or oor surface. New: the Lam-Hammer Jr, designed for the
non-professional smaller and lighter for laminates only. of soaking into metal thereby
dispersing carbon around the
piston rings and around the valves,
creating a more powerful engine that
requires less gas to run.
Visit www.lam-hammer.com
or call 888-687-2421 for more information. Visit www.zmax.com to locate a dealer near you.
P M D I Y T E C H /// C A B L E M A N A G E M E N T will make your setup look better and
save time when swapping equipment
in and out.
wiring? If youre asking that queion, bother you, then embrace your inner Get Organized
then maybe the answer for you is entropi and let your wires intermingle Bundling wires together and get-
nothing. If the aesthetics, trapped freely. But we here at PM believe that a ting them out of the way is easy, but
dust bunnies and confusion dont little invement in cable management doing so with no advance planning can
q
Velcro Ties Foam Twi Ties WireMate Cable Turtle Cord Clips Dotz Cable
$5 for 10 $10 for six $20 $5 (small) $10 for six Identiers
Also known as hook- ese so ties is plaic enclo- $6 (medium) To keep cords from $10 for 10
and-loop ties, these treat cables gently, sure mounts to the $9 (large) slipping o your ese clip-on mark-
raps secure your but tend to be backside of a desk, Another way to desk when not in ers are color-coded
wires like zip ties, expensive. Want allowing you to wrap manage cable use, attach icky- and have graphic
but tear free for to save money? up slack on hooks slack, the Turtle backed clips such tags inside that
easy access. Buy in Check garden inside, then close it pops open its rub- as CableDrops can clue you in to
a variety of colors centers, where up to hide away the ber shell to wrap (shown below) what device is at
to help keep things foam-covered wire mess where no one up extra wire, then or 3M Command the other end. For a
organized. sells for 30 cents can see it. snaps closed to cord clips to your cheaper alterna-
a foot. hold it in place. desktop. tive, use colored
tape ags.
cause more problems than it solves. Wrap It Up as the Cable Turtle, or use a cable-
Youll ju be consolidating the tangled If you are a frequent tinkerer, regu- organizing enclosure such as the Wire-
mess that you already have. Instead, lar twi and zip ties may be a bit too Mate (see opposite).
art fresh and unplug everything, then permanent for you, so it might be And if masking-tape labels arent
group your cables by application (e.g., worth a step up to more functional pretty enough for you, try pre-printed
wires that conne your PC and screen). cabling solutions. Velcro ties and foam Kableags or color-coded, clip-on Dotz
If you are setting up your system twi ties allow for some quick-release Cable Identiers (see opposite).
from scratch, think about ordering col- access and are kinder to your cables. e nal opportunity for organiza-
ored wires from a bulk supplier such as Wires that you change less frequently tional elegance comes in your choice of
monoprice.com. Color-coding wires for (such as speaker wire), can be gathered power rip. Pick a model with color-
each component provides quick visual together using a mesh sleeving kit coded outlets and plenty of space for
reference for your conneions. or split loom (both are also available bulky adapters. And get it o the ground
Now is also a good time to reorga- in colors). Got slack le over? Wind by screwing or zip-tying it to the back of
nize your work area. For inance, if you it around a spool-like device known your desk or rack. FC
have a few external USB peripherals
conneed direly to your PC, a pow-
ered USB hub will let you move these
devices to a less crowded seion of
desk a foot or two away. en you can
either tie up the cords for your devices,
or replace them with shorter ones. And
if youre ill using a corded keyboard
and mouse, consider ditching them for
wireless equipment.
Sonic Steadiness
When Im liening to music in
iTunes, some songs will come out
noticeably louder than others,
requiring me to conantly ddle
with the volume control. Is there
any way to x this?
If youre anything like me, your digi-
tal music library is full of songs from
all sorts of different sources. And
between all these ripped CDs, vari-
ous online music stores and free
downloads, theres really nothing to
ensure that they all come in at a
steady volume level. The result: A
simple song shuffle can quickly
transform your quiet evening of
music into an ear-blaing race for
the volume dial.
But theres an easy x (assuming
the volume dierence isnt too huge).
Go to your iTunes Preferences menu
P M D I Y T E C H /// D I G I T A L C L I N I C Q + A Online backup services have another
potential problem as well: eres the
possibility that they will suer their own
crashes or data lossesor simply go
and sele the Playback tab. From there, takes time, and problems can arise if out of business. And if that happens,
check the box labeled Sound Checkit the photos dont align perfely. My pre- youll denitely wish you had a physical
will automatically adju the song vol- ferred method: the unique panoramic backup as well.
umes so they all come out at a relatively feature built into some new Sony point- So while I encourage you to take
conant level. and-shoots, such as the Cyber-shot advantage of online data backup ser-
DSC-HX5V. When you hold the shutter vices (as long as you are willing to
Opening Windows button down and sweep the camera pay the $55 to $60 per year that they
I currently use Apples Boot Camp from side to side or up and down, it co), they should be viewed only as one
program to run Windows on my quickly takes a series of shots using its part of your data backup conellation,
MacBook, but it requires me to reart burst mode and automatically fuses and not as a replacement for external
my computer to switch between them together into a panoramic pic- hard drives.
operating syems. Is there a way I ture. e camera allows you to capture
can run both at the same time? panoramic shots that stretch 270 Padded Content
Apples free Boot Camp program makes degreesa range that far exceeds the I heard that the new Apple iPad tablet
it easy for users of Intel-based Macs to capabilities of mo cameras. can run regular iPhone apps. Wont
also run Windows on their machines. they look really weird on a big screen?
But because Boot Camp requires users Cloud Storage e Apple iPad aually has two dier-
to reboot the computer in order to Ive read about online data orage ent modes that iPhone apps can run in.
switch between Windows and Mac OS, services like Mozy. Are these good One plays them at their normal size
you will need a third-party program to enough to let me ditch my external within a window, while the other simply
run both at the same time. ere are hard drive? doubles the number of pixels in order to
numerous such programs on the mar- Online data backup and orage services, articially force them to ll the iPads
ket, and mo of them work well enough, such as Carbonite and Mozy, have drawn 9.7-inch screen (which is, of course,
but I personally like Parallels Desktop a lot of attention latelyand with good much larger than the iPhones 3.5-inch
for its seamless integration of Windows reason. For the mo part, they are very screen). A double-pixeled piure wont
and Mac interfaces. good at their primary purposethat is, look quite as sharp as an app running in
If youve already inalled Windows backing up les on the cloud, so they can a smaller window, but whats the point
on a Mac using Boot Camp, you wont be accessed from any Internet-enabled of having such a large touchscreen if you
need to reinall it to run other dual-OS PC or retrieved in the event your com- dont use it? FC
solutionsbut getting this set up can puter goes kaput. But an external hard
take a little bit of work. drive is about more than ju data
ere are basically two approaches: backupits about media orage and
One allows you to keep booting through sharing. And when it comes to this, no Got a technology problem?
Ask Seth about it.
Boot Camp. e third-party companies online service can yet match the plug- Send your questions to
behind dual-OS programs supply detailed and-play ease of a USB hard drive. eres pmdigitalclinic@hearst.com or
inruions online for how to do this. also an issue of speed: Your ability to over Twitter at twitter.com/
sethporges. While we cannot
e other option moves the entire quickly pull a le o the cloud is limited by answer questions individually,
Windows inallation away from Boot the speed of your Internet conneiona problems of general interest will
Camp, making it accessible only to the shortcoming that becomes problematic be discussed in the column.
new program. To do this, youll need to if you are dealing with large movie les.
download a program called a trans-
porter agent, which is typically oered
for free online by the manufaurers of
dual-OS so ware. Popular Mechanics (ISSN 0032-4558) EDITORIAL AND ADVERTISING P.O. Box 7186, Red Oak, IA 51591. AS A SERVICE TO READERS,
is published monthly, 12 times a year, by Hearst OFFICES: Please enclose your mailing label Popular Mechanics publishes
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Easy Panorama York, NY 10019, U.S.A. Frank A. Bennack, President
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>>> Popular Mechanics is not
responsible for unsolicited
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variance in the quality and condition
Secretary; Ronald J. Doerer, Senior Vice President,
I love shooting landscapes, but am Chief Financial Ocer and Treasurer. Hearst
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pine in a thicker prole to trim the and nylon rope. To keep the heavy
windows, door and corners. hatch from slamming shut on young
The lap siding went up quickly ngers, I strung a counterweight (an
and smoothly. The same was true for old railroad hammerhead I found at a
the roof. I laid cedar shakes over skip junk shop) through a small pulley
sheathing1 x 4inch boards nailed above. As the hatch slowly closes, the
5 inches on center across the roof raf- weight rises inside a section of PVC
ters to allow the cedar to breathe. pipe. I built a Dutch door and installed
Snapping chalk lines, I crabbed it between house and porch. Not long
myself from one side of the roof to after I had put my tools away, I found a
the other, tacking down the fragrant scrawled note on the kitchen counter.
shakes. Having to custom cut each Dere Dad, it read, I have gon
shingle to match the contour of the awt to the tree haws, Eliot. She and
curves slowed my progress. But I her friends Grace and Gillian were
didnt mind. That one-of-a-kind look hauling blankets and books and
is part of a treehouses charm. As snacks up by rope and bucket.
with the oor, I left a gap around the I love this transportation! Grace
tree trunk to allow for growth, as well yelled as she hauled up another load.
as movement in strong winds. I smiled, realizing this was probably
One afternoon in early August, as the rst treehouse any of them had
thunderheads boiled up over the val- ever seen. A different era. Soon, they
ley, John and I drove to some wooded raised the ladder and battened down
property belonging to his wifes fam- the hatch, and Luther red holly ber-
ily. He had a chain saw and loppers. I ries at them from below with a home-
brought along gloves and a curved made slingshot as shrieks echoed
pruning saw. We felled half a dozen through the neighbors backyards.
young red maples, with trunks as big During the kids rst week back in
around as my forearm. I limbed and school, a late- summer wind blus-
cut them just as warm, nickel-size tered up. I raced out back, wobbling
raindrops began drumming the hood up the rope ladder and through the
of his Ford F-150. Back at the house, I hatch under the guise of conducting
cut the poles down to 28 inches and a wind-worthiness test. The oak
nailed them between pairs of 2 x 3s framing felt solid underfoot, and I
to create railing sections. I fastened smiled, glad to have built with it,
those between 4 x 4inch oak corner more glad the construction was done.
posts for a rustic railing sturdy I wedged myself in a corner and rode
enough to withstand anything my out the gusts. The sky was a crisp
kids could dish out. blue, and sunlight ashed through
By then, much to my delight, the windows as branches swished
Luther and Eliot were raring to goto and whipped. As the timbers creaked,
climb, explore and inadvertently test I felt both snug and exhilarated to be
the structural soundness of things the sailing in the wind. For a moment, I
way only kids can do. I quickly fash- was untethered, freelike a kid in a
ioned a ladder out of wooden dowels treehouse. FC
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q qq
Name: q
Location: 8q
``
Age: tEq
Years on Job: ZF
1. q!
Owens balloons have up to
four burners that are capable
of producing 20 million Btu
at 100 psi. e burners heat
the air inside the balloon to
between 150 and 250 F, giving
it the li to y.
1
2. q
ree to four 20-gallon eel
propane tanks supply the burn-
ers with fuel. e vapor pres-
4
sure in the tanks forces the fuel
through a valve to the burners;
in cold conditions, Owen adds
nitrogen to boo the pressure.
3. ! qq
q
e top of the balloon is made
of silicone-coated nylon. Closer
6 to the burners, it is composed
of Nomex, a durable heat- and
ame-resiant material.
e envelope holds 120,000
2 cubic feet of air, allowing the
3
balloon to li approximately
2100 pounds.
4.
qq
Owens Flytec syem
measures interior envelope
temperature and includes
5 an altimeter, a rate of climb
indicator and a barometer.
He uses a Garmin GPS unit to
determine his groundspeed
and direion of travel.
5. q
For landings in high wind,
When hot-air-balloon pilot Brooke Owen goes to a party, he cant escape work Owen uses these lines to open
everyone wants to know what a balloon pilot aually does. Its an odd job, admits a 30-foot-wide valve in the top
of the balloon, deating it.
the 35-year-old, who got his private pilots certication at age 21. In the years since, hes
own balloons shaped like a tire, the space shuttle and the Canadian maple leaf. Now, hes 6.
q!
a chief pilot for Rainbow Ryders, which carries 11,000 passengers each year 2000 feet is basket is made of exible
above the Rio Grande and the Albuquerque area, where they spot mesas, desert foliage rattana wicker used for its
durability, exibility and light
and coyotes. But what Owen enjoys mo are the tranquility and unprediability of the weightthats woven over a
journey. Wherever the wind blows, thats where youre going, he says. EMILY HAILE ainless-eel frame.