Monthly Archives: February 2020
Before Its Time . . .
This was a Peloton before there was a Peloton.
In January 1987 I left the NASA contractor where I working on the Space Shuttle and moved over to Krug Life Sciences where I was working on the first iteration of the Space Station, then called Space Station Freedom.
I was the computer/video interface guy in a small group tasked with designing exercise equipment for the astronauts to use in space. After brainstorming for a few weeks, tossing around ideas for things what would work in Zero-G.
I mean, weight-lifting was out, as well as pushups. Even running on a treadmill wouldn’t be a worthwhile effort. Finally we settled on the idea of an exercise bike of some sort. The effort needed wouldn’t change under Zero-G conditions, and the astronaut wouldn’t float away if he was strapped to the seat.
In addition, we were also told to find a way to make the exercise ‘entertaining’. Getting started, our first job was to get an exercise bike to work with.
At the time Bally was the manufacturer of one of the top-of-the-line computer-controlled exercise bike, the Bally Lifecycle. So we called and appealed to their patriotic inclinations. Well, that and the promise of being able to advertise it ‘As Used On The Space Station’. And with some subtle threats, ‘possible IRS audits, etc.’ I was able to get a complete set of schematics and manuals on the bike.
As far as the ‘entertainment’ part of this, we decided to try and interface a video disc player to the unit that would play back biking videos, touring places like Hawaii, Yellowstone, and Yosemite. After a lot of work we came up with a way that the astronauts could take different routes and the video disc would sync up with their turns, so they could take a different route every time they exercised. And they could also speed up, slow down, or stop. All of this viewed on a monitor mounted over the bike’s handlebars.
And it was all controlled by a Commodore 64 that I had removed from the case, disconnected the keyboard, and mounted the circuit board inside the bike. The program was stored on a game cartridge so that when you turned the C64 on, it booted up directly into the program.
The only unknown at that point was to fly the video disc player on the Vomit Comet to be sure it would work in Zero-G. But while we were waiting for our slot to come up on an upcoming flight, Krug lost their contract on this project, and I move on to another contract.
The bike and our mods went back to Bally and disappeared. But then about 10 years, our concept was resurrected by Bally and others, utilizing the new DVD players that had just come out. We were just ahead of our time, and the technology.
Maybe tomorrow I’ll tell you the rest of this story. About a hammer, a brutal murder, a psychotic doctor, and 40 years in prison.
Thought For The Day:
Sometimes I really needt this.
sdfd
The Big Salad . . .
Some of you may get this.
About 1pm we headed out, with our first stop at the nearby self-service car wash. This was the first time I’ve had a chance to get the oil off the truck since our recent failed test drive up to the Buc-ee’s in Katy. And I’ve found that the full-service car wash often won’t accept an oil-covered vehicle because they don’t want to get oil on their brushes. And it only took me about 10 minutes to get the XXXX of the oil off.
Then it was off to the nearby Black Bear Diner for lunch. Jan, who seems to on a new dish roll lately, got their Crispy Chicken Cobb Salad, which along with their home-made Bacon Ranch Dressing, made Jan’s new favorite dish.
Of course next time she may have another new favorite. You never can tell.
In my case, when I find something good, I tend to stick with it. I mean I’ve been with Jan for almost 53 years, right?
Of course that means I once again got the Bacon Cheeseburger Salad, also with the Bacon Ranch dressing. You can’t have too much Bacon, right?
I don’t know where they get their hamburger meat from, but this is probably the best tasting meat I’ve ever had. Of course, it’s even better since I got them not to cook it well-done.
The first couple of times I got this, the meat was so well-done it was down right crunchy. So now I always remind them to make it medium, and it’s delicious.
After that I dropped Jan off to get her hair done while I drove over to a nearby full-service car wash to get the truck cleaned up again, also well as doing a thorough vacuuming of the inside.
Then it was a WalMart stop, a Krogers stop, and then finally home.
Tomorrow will be my last day at work for a while, but I may not actually do a lot AT work. I’ve got to install both a Ring doorbell at my client’s home, as well as a new Sound Bar on their TV
In this case it’s the same one that I got last year.
It can be hooked up either directly, or by Bluetooth or Optical. And it has a great sound.
Check it out!
Thought For The Day:
The more I get to know certain people, the more I realize why Noah only let animals board the ark.
fasd
