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Pelican's Perch
If you fly recips, what leaning procedure do you use? Chances are that almost everything your CFI told you about using the red knob -- and most of what you've read and heard since then -- is just plain hogwash! We suggest you forget everything you thought you knew about the subject, and let AVweb's John Deakin show you how to optimize engine efficiency and longevity through enlightened mixture management.
There are few things in airplanes as misunderstood and misused as the mixture control. Old Wives' Tales (OWTs) abound, many of them spread by POHs, the FAA, and even the engine manufacturers! Not much of what you've read and heard about mixture management makes sense -- much of it is out of context, and most of the good stuff is so dry, dull and boring that it's tough to get through it without falling asleep.
I have flown with pilots who say, "Oh, I never lean, it's just too complicated, and fuel is cheaper than an engine overhaul, anyway." What really annoys me is that some of them even make TBO that way! What they don't think about is how many problems they have enroute to TBO -- fouled plugs, burned valves, cracked cylinder heads, etc. -- and how much money they waste on fuel. Even worse, they don't think about how much time they waste making unnecessary fuel stops. Yeah, yeah, I know, your bladder range is more limited than your fuel range. I've heard that before, but it sure sounds like a cop-out, to me.
Ever make an extra stop for "cheap fuel?" Do you feel smug when you buy fuel for ten cents a gallon less than usual? Why, then, do so many pilots fail to learn a little about their engines and save 20% or more on fuel used? That's just like getting forty cents off per gallon, these days! What am I missing here?
Others will tell me, "I lean to 50° F rich of peak, just like the POH says," not realizing that this can be -- and often is -- the very worst possible setting they can use!
Still others will decide on some arbitrary power setting with no particular logic in mind. 65% is a very common level. They'll carefully set the MP and RPM to the book values for 65% and figure that's all they have to do to attain that power setting. Wrong, it also takes a very careful mixture setting, as well!
Don't be afraid of that red knob. Learn to use it! With a few pretty obvious exceptions there is nothing you can do with the mixture control over a short period of time that will hurt you or the engine. Used properly, you'll save a lot of fuel, your engine will run cooler, cleaner, smoother, and longer, with less maintenance expense and downtime along the way to TBO.
There! Now that I've gotten all that off my chest, lets see if we can make a little sense of all this. If you haven't read my previous columns on Manifold Pressure and Props, this would be a good time to do so, as this is the third in a series and builds on those earlier efforts.
I'd like to first discuss some things about the fuel we use, then go rather deeply into the operation of a "perfect" engine. After that, I'll offer a little history of why and how our engines are not perfect, and what we can do about it.
If you've been to the movies, or watched TV in the last 30 years, you've undoubtedly seen the shot where someone pours a long trail of gasoline on the ground, then strikes a match and lights it off. If you watch closely enough, the flame is a fairly gentle one, and the flame front moves fairly slowly until it reaches whatever is going to explode, and then blows up -- violently. A favorite shot is the car gas tank. While Hollywood plays tricks with physics now and then, this particular one doesn't need much fakery: it's quite real.
But why does the fuel burn so slowly as the fire snakes across the ground, and why does it blow up so violently when it reaches its intended destination? The short answer is "mixture."
By itself, gasoline won't even burn. Try dropping a lighted match on the tarmac and then pouring some liquid gasoline onto the flame: You'll put the fire out. This is the "too rich to burn" case.
Returning to that movie scene, the trail of gasoline across the ground only burns because the gas is evaporating, changing into a vapor, and at some point above the surface the mixture will support combustion. That little bit of vapor burns, lighting off the next few molecules, which light off the next batch, and so on.
If we could closely examine what's going on, the surface of the liquid fuel would not be burning at all, there would be a thin layer of very rich vapor just above it, also too rich to burn. At the point above the surface where combustion does take place, the fire burns "up," and all the combustible mixture above that point also burns. Blow a gentle breeze across this process ("fan the flames"), injecting more air into the process (leaning it out) and you'll see a much more vigorous flame, and a much faster flame front. Blow even more air, and there will be too much air (too lean), and the fire will slow down again, and ultimately go out.
Now, what happens when the burning trail of gasoline reaches its destination? If the fire hits a full gas tank, the fire will simply go out! The liquid is again too rich to burn. But if the tank is partially empty, there will be a nice volume of combustible gasoline vapor at just the right mixture in the upper part of the tank. The smallest spark is more than enough to light that off, and the flame front will expand rapidly in all directions. The rapidly expanding gasses will blow up the tank, scattering the liquid fuel, nicely mixing it with air, and creating an even larger volume of highly combustible fuel/air mixture. Technically, this is not an explosion: It's still just burning. But it takes place so quickly that it appears to explode.
Another example. Propane (or acetylene, or any flammable gas), right out of the tank, makes a rather lazy, sooty yellow flame that really isn't very hot, only a few hundred degrees. Add air to that mix, push it out that pipe under some pressure, and it turns into a hissing blue jet of flame at several thousand degrees. Your gas stove is cleverly designed so that the rising heat sucks air into the gas stream, making a mixture that burns with a nice hot blue flame. But mix too much air with that gas, and the flame becomes weaker, weaker, and finally dies out -- the fire is burning so slowly it simply can't leap from molecule to molecule. Well, at least that's the way I like to think of it!
All this is a very good thing, because if any of these substances could burn on their own, the fire would run right back down the supply line to the tank, and burn it all -- quickly!
How does this translate into the gasoline-powered, spark-fired, internal combustion engines found in our airplanes (and also in tractors, lawn mowers, and cars)? For purposes of this article, I'll limit my discussion to normally-aspirated engines, leaving turbocharged ones for a future column.
In the engine that powers my Bonanza (a TCM IO-550), if I flip the boost pump to high with the mixture rich, I can literally "flood" the engine and kill it, even at takeoff or climb power settings. Any malfunction that pumps "too much" fuel into the combustion chamber (relative to the air) will do the same thing. The fuel is flowing, the spark is sparking, and the airspeed is still turning the prop, but there's just too much fuel and not enough air. Flip the boost to "Low" or "Off" or lean it out with the mixture control and the engine will run again. Given the correct fuel flow, air flow and spark, it must start and run.
An aside here. Two people report that when they have run a tank dry as I described in another column, they have had a minor problem re-starting. This may be a possible explanation if they shoved the mixture in and flipped the boost pump on at high altitude. The engine goes quickly from "no fuel" to "too rich to run" and can't start. If you run into this problem, don't change anything but the fuel selector, and maybe flip the boost on momentarily, just to get the fuel started again to the engine-driven pump, then turn it off again. That engine will start. After all, it is FAA-certified to do so!
At the other end of the spectrum, pulling the big red knob all the way back cuts off all fuel to the engine, making the mixture "too lean" and also causing the engine to quit. We do this to shut down the engine on most airplanes, so this is more familiar territory to most.
Somewhere in between those two extremes of "too rich to run" and "too lean to run," there is a small range of mixture settings that will allow the engine to run. At each end of that small range, the engine doesn't really run very well, but things get better in the middle of the range. It is this range of "burnable" mixture we need to understand. So, read on.
(This picture, and several others in this column comes from the superb Pratt & Whitney "The Aircraft Engine and its Operation", February 1955 edition. I have arranged to have this publication duplicated, copies available for $60. 150 B&W pages, 38 in color. If you want a copy, drop me an enote at email@example.com.)
The chart above depicts only the lower end of the mixture range, from "no fuel" to about 20% fuel, by weight. Obviously, any mixture greater than 20% fuel is also "too rich to burn."
Note also that only a very narrow part of this will actually support combustion at all, from roughly 5% to about 12.5%. Remember we're talking here about weight of both air and fuel. At 20:1 by weight, the mix is 20 pounds of air, and 1 pound of fuel. By volume, that's about 2,000 gallons of air for each gallon of fuel.
Let's do a little thought experiment here. Assume you are in cruise at 10,000 feet, with wide-open throttle and the prop control set to2,300 RPM. Now cut the mixture, shutting the engine down. The prop governor will attempt to maintain that 2,300 RPM, and for the purposes of this exercise, let's assume it can, and does. Thus, even with the fuel cut off, the engine is still turning, the pistons are still pumping air, and you'll still have the same manifold pressure (about 20 inches). All engine instruments will remain normal, except CHT and EGT which will drop pretty quickly. You establish a nice power-off descent with enough speed to keep the prop windmilling within the governing range. (This is a learning exercise, and not an engine-out drill, where you'd reduce to "best glide.")
For most normally-aspirated engines, as you get down around 8,000 or 9,000 msl, the resulting manifold pressure and RPM will be approximately correct for the classic 65% power setting. How much power are we getting? None, of course, or 0%. My point is that MP and RPM alone do not determine power output. Obviously, mixture plays a major part in the power equation, too!
Continuing our thought experiment, you're at the extreme left end of this chart, all air and no fuel ("too lean to burn"). Now, start easing the mixture control in (moving to the right on the chart). At some point, that will begin to allow fuel into the air, but still, nothing happens until that "mix" gets to the 5% point. At about that point, the engine will start rather abruptly. If you look closely at that chart, the power curve rises just about vertically to around 30% of power, and only a tiny bit more fuel will bring it to 50% power. After that, it takes larger and larger increases in fuel to get to 100% of available power. Note there's a fairly wide "flat spot" on top of that curve, where power stays pretty constant. Note also that if you enrich even further, power drops off again -- ultimately, to zero ("flooded out").
Adjusting the mixture level (by weight) to about 8% fuel will get the absolute maximum horsepower out of that fuel and air mixture, so we call that "Best Power Mixture." No matter how you play with the mixture, that's the best you can do for sheer, raw power. This setting is useful for maximum speed, maximum climb, and for converting gas into noise. This is "Maximum Power for the Fuel and Air available."
Most of the cruise performance charts in General Aviation aircraft POHs either don't mention it all, or there is a tiny note somewhere that the chart numbers are valid only with a mixture setting at "Best Power" (at the top of our power/mixture curve). This is often a marketing ploy, as faster airplanes sell better.
Now here's a slippery concept for many (well, at least I had trouble with it). If we re-lean the mixture a bit, say 10% (moving back to the left on the chart), the power doesn't drop very much, perhaps only 5%. Hmm, think about that. 10% less fuel, 5% less power. This seems more efficient -- and it is. We're not getting the maximum horsepower, we're getting a little less, but for a lot less fuel. (There are many things in aviation that work this way. Give a little here, get a lot there.) Tests have shown that at about 6.25% of fuel (by weight) we won't get as much power (it'll be roughly 80%), but we will get the most power per gallon, and we call this "Best Economy".
To look at it another way, by running at "Best Power," we are wasting a little fuel to increase the power.
In this context, when we speak of "power," we're speaking of the power available from a particular amount of air and fuel, and not some percentage of "rated power" from the engine. In other words, this mixture diagram applies whether we have half throttle and 1500 RPM, or any other setting. For any given setting of throttle and manifold pressure, this chart of combustible mixtures applies.
In fact, sitting on the ground, idling at 1,000 RPM, you can see this. The prop is well out of the governing range and at its flattest pitch. RPM is thus a direct indication of power. Full rich, flip the boost pump on, and you may flood the engine out completely. But quickly pull the mixture knob back to keep it running. With this setup, you can vary the mixture, and watch the results on the tachometer. Too rich, the RPM will be low, the exhaust will be sooty. Lean it, and you'll come to an RPM peak. Keep leaning further and the RPM will drop again -- eventually to zero. It gets very sensitive at the extremes, because of the steep slope of the curve on the combustion chart.
The mixture control is the most important "power control" we have! Using the mixture alone, we can vary the power from zero (lean) to "full," and back to zero (rich). We can't do that with the throttle (there's always some power at idle) or with RPM (unless we can feather the engine.) Of course, for practical purposes, the real range of power control through mixture adjustment is from about 30% on the lean side, to 100%, and back to 30% on the rich side.
For far too long, these engines have been run with no science at all. We simply haven't had any decent instrumentation to tell us what's going on in the combustion chamber. If you've read my previous columns on manifold pressure (MP) and props (RPM), you now realize that neither MP nor RPM is a very good indicator of power or what's happening inside the engine. The story they tell is incomplete, because it ignores the profound effects of mixture.
If your airplane has the old-style Cylinder Head Temperature (CHT) instrument, it probably has a green arc (or line) to denote normal operating range, with a redline at the upper end, and maybe even no numeric temperature markings at all. The CHT probe is often not even on the hottest cylinder, or in a location that will yield useful information. The early single-probe Exhaust Gas Temperature (EGT) systems were little more than a good thought, because some only measured the EGT in a single cylinder, or an average of half the cylinders, or maybe an average of all the cylinders (depending on the probe location). What few realized is that because of a severe mixture maldistribution, these engines are nothing more than a collection of four or six separate one-cylinder engines, flying along in loose formation. A single EGT indication from one of them -- or even an average of all of them -- is virtually meaningless, because the others are certainly doing something very different from the one you're watching.
In the big old radials, where we can often watch the exhaust at night, we can see directly what is happening. At full rich (takeoff and climb), the exhaust is a bright yellow, with visible flames licking (slowly, relatively speaking) back along the cowling. Lean it out, and the flame turns blue, becomes shorter, and burns more intensely (quicker). Keep on leaning, and it turns white with a noticeable loss in power. If you lean it far enough, the fire goes out and the engine quits. In the early days of the big radials, it was easy enough to learn how to lean the engine by sight at night, develop a "feel," and duplicate it closely enough in the daytime. The design of the big radials also allowed a direct measurement of actual power being delivered to the prop, and this led to some very scientific leaning methods indeed, based on actual power. This "art" had become a real science towards the end of the heyday of the big radials -- on DC-7s, Connies, and others -- both in the airline world and in the military. By any accounting, there were several hundred million hours of accumulated experience on large fleets, under highly controlled and monitored conditions, by professional crews who had to operate in a very consistent and standard way, using some pretty sophisticated tools for those times.
Another wonderful feature of the radial engine is that the intake pipes are all the same size and shape, and they radiate from a central point. This gives a wonderfully even air distribution to all cylinders. In many of the radials, there is also a gear-driven supercharger at that central point, which is just a centrifugal impeller. The fuel is often sprayed into the airflow just before it gets to that impeller, resulting in a nice, even mixture. As a result, not only is the air distribution very good, but so is the fuel distribution.
We lost all that with the "flat fours" and "flat sixes" that power most GA aircraft today. There is no practical way of measuring power directly, the exhaust cannot normally be observed from the cockpit, and the mixture distribution is often dreadful as the engine is delivered from the factory. Intake pipes of the "log runner" type are of dramatically different lengths for different cylinders. Despite this, the actual air distribution is pretty good in the big-bore TCM engines. Most Lycoming engines, however, have a "plenum" type induction system that provides somewhat unbalanced air distribution that changes with engine RPM.
Many of these engines have terrible fuel distribution. The carbureted engines are the worst, but many fuel injected engines are not a lot better. (Fuel injection does have other benefits, however.) Again, what we really have is six (or four) cylinders flying along in loose formation, each doing their own thing with regard to mixture, while the pilot has only one mixture control, a "master mixture" if you will, which simply controls total fuel flow to all of them.
Here's what that looks like in a typical TCM IO-520 or 550, with stock injectors, and all cylinders instrumented. Some engines are "better," others are "worse."
For simplicity, this chart shows only the six EGTs plotted against fuel flow. In this chart (unlike the previous one), "richer" is to the left, "leaner" to the right. If you start with "full rich" on the left side, and lean slowly, you will see all EGTs rise together at first. At about 14.5 GPH, the #1cylinder peaks, and then starts cooling off on the lean side of peak. Very shortly thereafter, #2 does the same. (#1 and #2 are the rearmost cylinders in the big-bore TCM engines.) We continue leaning, and soon #3 and #4 (the middle cylinders) hit peak EGT and start down, while #5 and #6 continue rising. Finally, at about 13.3 GPH, the last cylinder peaks. But what has happened to number 1, the first cylinder to peak? It is now 40 degrees lean of peak (LOP)!
That relationship between "Best Power" and "Best Economy" is but one aspect of this subject. What is happening to the EGT while we lean? What is happening to the CHT? What is happening to the fuel consumption, and the power? More importantly, what is their relationship to each other?
TCM, like Pratt & Whitney and Wright before them, publishes a neat little chart showing this. Some are surprised that the charts from these different engine manufacturers all look just like each other! When you think about it, this is not really that strange, because the principles are the same, the metallurgy is the same, the sparks occur at about the same time and the geometry of the pistons, rods, and crankshafts are the same, whether the engine is from a DC-7, a Bonanza, or a John Deere tractor. Here's one such "relationship chart" from TCM:
Now, please stop right here. DO NOT just skip over that chart, it's important. It looks a little complicated, because there are four parameters on one chart, and each needs to be understood. If you are not prepared to understand that chart, I don't think you can understand how to operate your engine properly, much less understand the rest of this column. Please take the time, right now, to follow me through on this chart!
The entire chart represents data while running at 25.0 inches of manifold pressure and 2,500 RPM. Those are held constant -- only the mixture changes.
Please read the preceding paragraph again, it's VERY important.
The only variable is the fuel flow, plotted across the bottom of the chart, and all four parameters are plotted against that fuel flow from 75 to 120 pounds per hour (PPH). This gives a lovely picture of the relationships. Note that "Richer" is again to the right on this chart (I could have swapped some of these charts left to right to make them all the same, but preferred to stick to "authentic.")
The right side of the chart is not necessarily "Full Rich". For whatever reasons, TCM chose to show just the range of fuel flows from 75 to 120 PPH on this IO-550, while "full rich" at sea level is about 162 PPH
The top curve shows EGT, aligned with the numbers on the right side, from a low of 1,350° at 75 PPH (lean), peaking at about 1,520° F at 95 PPH, and dropping again to 1,380° F at 120 PPH (rich). This is a classic EGT curve, and many of you will be familiar with it. There, now that's not so bad, is it? And you thought this chart was too complicated!
Below that is the CHT curve, with the scale at the left. About 310° F at 75 PPH (lean), peaking at about 425° F at 105 PPH, dropping again to about 405° F at 120 PPH (rich). Note the CHT peaks at a substantially richer mixture than EGT. (In fact, you'll see that the hottest CHT occurs at the point where EGT is about 50° F rich of peak (ROP). Hmmm, where have we heard that before?)
The third trace from the top is "brake horsepower" (BHP), which we can just call "Power" as delivered to the shaft. The numbers for this trace are on the right, and our trace shows 180 HP at 75 PPH (lean), peak at about 250 HP for fairly broad range of fuel flows, and drops only slightly to about 245 HP at 120 PPH (rich). Note that going all the way to "Full Rich" would produce a good deal more fuel flow and a good deal less power.
Finally, the bottom curve depicts "Brake Specific Fuel Consumption" (BSFC). This fancy-sounding engineering term is nothing more than the fuel required to produce one horsepower (HP) for one hour.
A useful trick to help you understand this chart is to lay a clear plastic ruler vertically on the chart. Keeping it vertically oriented, move it back and forth horizontally. As one end of the ruler moves over the fuel flow scale at the bottom of the page, the four curves will move up and down along the ruler's straightedge, just as those parameters move up and down in the real world.
Remember earlier, where I said we could lean a lot and only lose a little power? Well, this curve gives us a visual idea of how that works. At 75 PPH (lean), it takes about 0.425 pounds to produce one HP for one hour. In the range 85 to 95 PPH, less fuel is required: about 0.385 pounds of fuel. Enrich further to 120 PPH, and you'll be burning about 0.480 pounds of fuel to produce one HP for one hour. In this case, "less is better" if we're looking for economy. BSFC is a very useful term, as it is a direct indication of an engine's efficiency. Modern automobile engines, contrary to popular belief, are not very efficient, having BSFCs above 0.42 or so. They are designed to run very clean, however, and sacrifice some efficiency as a result. TCM engines can achieve BSFCs as low as 0.385 from the factory. With modifications, we're going to do better than that. Not too shabby for "World War II technology," as so many call it!
Now, here's the crucial concept behind this chart: All four curves are carefully plotted with reference to the fuel flow scale at the bottom, and this gives us a lovely opportunity to look at the relationships between them! If you'd like to know what is happening to CHT as you fiddle with EGT, the answer is here.
For example, let's say we've leveled off in cruise, allowed things to settle down and it's time to lean, at whatever MP and RPM you choose. Starting from full rich (perhaps well off the right side of this chart and due to the enrichment feature at full throttle), we start leaning. According to the chart, the EGT and CHT will rise, and we know this to be true from experience. The power rises only slightly. If you're going for absolute maximum altitude or speed, that very flat "peak" in the BHP curve that occurs around 105 to 110 PPH fuel flow will be helpful, and if you're making a high-altitude takeoff, it will be very helpful. The BSFC is dropping as you lean, of course, you're getting "more efficient."
So as the mixture is leaned, power peaks first, with CHT peaking at very close to the same point. In practical terms, if we lean to max CHT, we'll have max power for that MP/RPM setting. Doesn't that make sense, intuitively? Max power, max CHT? It's not precisely true, but it's close enough.
Ok, so power peaks first, stays pretty flat, and then CHT peaks shortly thereafter. With continued leaning, power and CHT drop together -- very gradually at first, then progressively more steeply -- while BSFC continues to improve and EGT continues to rise.
Continue leaning, and EGT peaks and begins to fall, while BSFC continues to improve. Sure, we're losing power, but fuel consumption is declining even faster, so our "economy" (as measured by BSFC) is still getting better.
Finally, BSFC bottoms out (at "best economy mixture"), and stays pretty flat between 85 and 90 PPH. If we disregard the small difference between 0.385 and 0.400, we could even stretch the point a little, and say the BFSC curve is "kinda flat" between 85 and 100 PPH. Look immediately above at the HP curve, and note that for a small loss of fuel efficiency, we can pick up 25 to 30 HP? Isn't that interesting? We'll see later how that affects airplane performance and efficiency, a very different subject. But to make a long story short, if the power setting that results from optimizing engine efficiency causes your airplane drop below the airspeed range that provides optimum aerodynamic efficiency, you're not gaining anything! That's a whole 'nother can o' worms. (I feel another column coming on.)
Let's say we have carefully set up a real 65% of rated power, using the required MP/RPM, with the mixture leaned to Best Power.
What would happen to this if we increased the MP and/or RPM, keeping the mixture constant at Best Power? More power to the shaft, right? Think about what this might do to that chart. Since the power moves up, all the curves must move up. Since the peak EGT will occur at a higher fuel flow, it must move to the right, and all the other traces will move right, too, to preserve the interrelationships.
Here's what that looks like:
Note the left-right relationships don't change on this chart, because we've fiddled the fuel flow scale at the bottom to keep them aligned.
Heads up, crucial concept coming! Assume that we increase MP to increase power output to something substantially above 65% power. Now suppose we lean the mixture a bit, until the actual power drops to exactly 65% power again?
Here's exactly what that looks like:
This is a real picture of a Cessna 414, previously trimmed up very carefully for straight and level flight at equal MP, RPM, and mixture settings. After that, the throttle is increased, and the mixture decreased, to produce what you see here, with no tendency to yaw/roll/turn. This situation is actually very sensitive to very small differences in power.
Remember,both engines are producing exactly the same power!
The left MP is 3" higher than the right, but the left fuel flow is 3.2 GPH lower! Note further, the EGT is only 10° F higher, but the CHT (as shown by the missing bars on the Graphic Engine Monitor display) are 1 to 3 bars lower, with each bar representing 25° F.
Ponder this: cooler CHTs, less fuel, same power. Sounds like magic, doesn't it? Why, if we could run that MP up high enough, and pull the mixture back far enough, we might invent perpetual motion! Unfortunately, this is another aviation case where a little is good, but "more" isn't. There are other forces at work.
Just as there is a right time to make your move on that blonde across the room, there is a right time to "light the fire" in the cylinder. (In my experience, the latter is far more easily determined than the former.) Intuitively, you would think it a simple matter, just light it off when the piston hits TDC (Top Dead Center). But the fact is, it takes quite a bit of time to light that fire, and for the flame front to propagate sufficiently to do anything useful. The fuel/air mixture nearest the spark plug must be in the combustible range, and the fuel molecules must be close enough together to continue the process. Even under the best of circumstances, combustion is still something of a random process, so there is a variation from cycle to cycle in the same cylinder. But for the most part, the molecules cooperate with great glee, flinging themselves into the fire in order to do useful work, even if that's only to transport us to the site of a $100 hamburger.
The best time to "light the fire" also changes with RPM and mixture. At a high RPM, it takes a short amount of time for the piston to rise and fall. At a slower RPM, it takes longer. But the flame doesn't know anything about pistons rising and falling (or crankshafts turning), it's still burning at the same speed. (Well, almost.) This can change the point at which useful work is done quite dramatically. When, then, should we "light the fire?"
The answer depends on all three engine parameters -- mixture, RPM and MP -- so ideally our ignition timing would be adjusted accordingly. Some of the big radials do in fact have variable spark settings, but the flat engines most of us fly behind are stuck with fixed timing. (But "Stand by for NEWS!") Since maximum power is the most critical case, ignition timing is typically set to be optimum at full takeoff power, and operation at lower power settings is something of a compromise.
At maximum power, long experience has shown that discharging the spark at 20° to 25° before top dead center (TDC) is about right. That much " lead time" gives the fuel/air charge time enough to develop a good fire, and the pressure will start to build just as the piston reaches the top-of-stroke. From that point, the fire gets really serious, and the pressure builds rapidly, just as the piston starts falling away.
Again, through long experience and actual measurement, it is clear that about 16° to 18° after TDC is the best place for that pressure peak to occur, in order to extract the maximum amount of useful work, as shown by the following picture from the Pratt & Whitney book:
As you can see in the first picture, when ignition occurs the crankshaft knuckle is reaching the top of its arc, which also puts the piston very close to the top of its stroke. At first glance, igniting the charge at 22° before TDC seems like it would be counterproductive, since the piston is still coming up. However, in reality, it takes some time for the fire to get going, and by the time that happens, the piston is already pretty much topped out, so the building pressure cannot really produce the "negative power" you might have expected at this point.
The second picture shows perfect TDC. No matter what the pressure in the combustion chamber is doing, there is no "mechanical advantage", no leverage, as the piston is just pushing straight down on the connecting rod, which is pushing straight down on the crankshaft throw. Combustion chamber pressure at this point produces no useful work at all (but it sure loads the bearings.)
The third picture shows the approximate position of the assembly at the peak pressure point (PPP). If the pressure peaked a little sooner the piston would be at the top of its travel, with less mechanical advantage on the crankshaft, and engine stresses would get very, very high. At about 16° after TDC, some decent mechanical advantage is just beginning to take place, and that allows time for the rest of the combustion event to "push" the piston down. If the peak of the pressure pulse occurs much later than 16° , the initial peak would have a greater mechanical advantage, but then much of the energy in the later stages of the combustion event would be lost. On balance, a PPP at 16° after TDC turns out to be about the best you can do. Another compromise.
At very high power settings (such as takeoff power), we've found that throwing extra fuel into the mixture (providing an enriched mixture at the rich side of the flat peak of the BHP curve) helps keep temperatures down and allows us to develop even more power without the risk of detonation. This is why many engines have a "power enrichment" feature at full throttle. We're willing to waste some fuel for a worthy cause during takeoff, especially since we usually don't run at that high power for long. What would happen if we got all the way up to this very high power, and then pulled the RPM back? (Don't try this at home, folks!) Well, with the spark occurring at 22° before TDC and PPP occurring at 16° after TDC at full RPM, there is a very precise time interval between spark and PPP. The crankshaft rotation is 38° (22° + 16° ). If we reduce the RPM by 20%, the crankshaft will turn only 30° (80% of 38° ) by the time PPP occurs, so now the peak pressure will occur at only 8° past TDC.
The preceding analysis is actually a bit of an oversimplification. In reality, there are other factors at work such as the rate of compression at the slower crank speed, so the relationship between RPM and PPP timing isn't really linear. In this case, the PPP would probably occur more like 12° after TDC.
In any case, at maximum MP and reduced RPM, the peak pressure will be much higher, because the combustion chamber will be much smaller when PPP occurs. Since the pressure will be much higher, the temperature will be much higher, and this increases the risk of detonation. More on this later, but here's the same picture, this time illustrating classic detonation:
This is the reason for the old rule of thumb, "Always reduce manifold pressure before reducing RPM, and increase RPM before increasing manifold pressure."
This is not a bad rule, and it never hurts to do it this way. But you should understand that it really only applies in the high-power case where the engine is operating at maximum combustion pressures and temperatures, and detonation is therefore a possibility! If you're cruising at 22" and 2,100, and want to increase to 24" and 2,400, it doesn't really matter which control you adjust first, you won't hurt a thing. Sure, as a matter of habit, run the RPM up, then do the MP. But the engine isn't going to blow up if you do it the "wrong" way.
What about mixture at very high power settings? Remember, the engine manufacturer has optimized everything to produce all that power, and many parameters will be running within very narrow tolerances. Remember also the opening of this column, where I mention how much difference mixture makes in the speed of combustion. At takeoff power, if we bring the mixture control back a bit from full rich, the rate of combustion speeds up, and puts that pressure pulse closer to TDC. Again, a very bad thing. (Combustion speed reaches maximum around 50° F to 75° F rich of peak EGT, and further leaning causes it to slow down again.)
Our POHs instruct us to use full-rich for takeoff. The extraordinarily rich mixture is required to assure that detonation does not occur. The conventional wisdom is that the purpose of the "excess" fuel is to cool the engine, but in fact its primary purpose is to slow the combustion rate and delay the PPP, which eliminates the risk of detonation by reducing the pressure peak. This does, in fact, result in cooler operation, but that's actually a second-order effect of the delayed PPP. (If we could just retard the ignition timing for takeoff, we wouldn't need to throw all that extra fuel at the problem.)
Here's what Pratt & Whitney thought a combustion event looked like, back in 1948:
Note how the pressure rises gradually to the point at which the spark occurs. It then rises very rapidly as the piston comes up to TDC, and continues to rise thereafter, mostly because the piston hasn't dropped very far, due to the geometry of the piston rod, and crankshaft throw. Wouldn't it be lovely if we could keep that same pressure on the piston, all the way down? We can wish, can't we?
I don't know how Pratt & Whitney got that picture, but it's certainly pretty good, because here's the real picture, as measured by the latest state-of-the-art digital instrumentation at General Aviation Modifications, Inc. (GAMI) in Ada, Oklahoma:
The lowermost (blue) line is the result of simply spinning the engine at 2,700 RPM with no combustion going on at all. As you might expect, the pressure rises and falls directly with the piston travel, reaching a maximum at TDC. It is perfectly symmetrical on both sides of TDC, and rises only to about 350 PSI at TDC.
The next line up (green) is a normal combustion event. Notice the pressure rises almost identically with the blue line, even after the spark, until the point at which the rise in the blue line starts to level off. It is at this point that the "fire" has truly lit off, and begins to increase the pressure on its own. This one peaks at about 18° after TDC (the "PPP" or "Peak Pressure Pulse") at about 800 PSI, after which the pressure drops off gradually, but still producing a lot of downwards force on the piston.
Finally, the yellow line shows what detonation looks like. This is an abnormal
condition. Note this is "mild detonation," not really "the real
thing" that can literally reduce an engine to an expensive pile of junk in a matter
of seconds. It was deliberately induced by redline CHT and excessive MP (from a
turbocharger). Note very carefully how early this builds and peaks, relative to a
normal event. The actual raw data shows it occurring at about 8° after TDC, and the test
engine did not sound like a happy camper! I've heard it, and it was ugly!
But let us get away from the unpleasantness of detonation, and look at a much more interesting plot of a power pulse, at a fairly high power setting (80%):
Rich of Peak vs. Lean of Peak
Those two individual charts are pretty self-explanatory, thanks to the efforts of George Braly of GAMI, who prepared them for me. The one on the left does NOT represent a "desirable" power setting. The RPM and the mixture are such that the peak pressure occurs only 10.8° after TDC, and this will produce very high CHTs.
The one on the right is far better, even though the MP is much higher! The peak pressure is out at 16.2° after TDC. Fuel consumption is way down, and so is the CHT.
The third plot simply overlays the previous two. Same day, same engine, same flight, measurements taken within moments of each other. Both are at 244 horsepower (81%!), both at 2500 RPM, both show the same cylinder, on a turbonormalized TCM IO-550.
How can we tell that the actual power developed is the same for the two traces? Well, as a rough check, the airspeed produced was identical. But using numerical integration, the area beneath each trace can be calculated, and since the area beneath the pink trace is the same as the area beneath the blue trace, we know the power is the same. Additionally, by knowing the pressure, the RPM, and other factors, the horsepower can be calculated quite accurately.
In effect, what happens is a longer, slower, more gentle, and later "push." This shifts the mechanical advantage to a slightly better position, where a small change in angles makes a huge difference in effect.
Which combination is "better" to produce 244 HP? Well, the blue trace has a much higher manifold pressure, but CHT is about 35° F cooler. With cooler CHTs and lower peak pressure in the cylinder, which do you think is better?
CHT can be measured by a thermocouple washer under a spark plug, or by a probe screwed into a threaded boss in the cylinder head casting. The latter is probably more accurate. But there are wide temperature variations at different points around the circumference of the cylinder barrel, with some poorly-baffled cylinders showing up to 150° F difference between the hottest and coolest points! Poor baffling will also show up in large variations between cylinders.
But we've got to start somewhere, and again, the old manuals reflect a great deal of experience:
This chart from the Pratt & Whitney "The Aircraft Engine" shows what happens to aluminum alloy used in the cylinder heads and pistons of our engines. This is a scary chart, because it's obvious that even at normal operating temperatures, we've already given up a substantial amount of strength. The redline CHT on my IO-550 is 460° F, well out in the "short period of time" area. I would prefer to stay out of that region entirely, and looking at the sharp gain in strength going from 450° F to 392° F (200° C), I think the conservative pilot ought to limit CHT to that 200° C value, as much as possible.
There is some support for this. The P&W book goes on to say:
|"The higher limiting temperature (500° F) is for a restricted
period of time, and is confined to take-off, to maximum performance in climb and level
flight, and emergencies. The temperature limit for restricted operations should,
therefore, be used for the shortest possible time only, and must never be exceeded.
"The lower limiting temperature (450° F) is the maximum for continuous operation. It should never be exceeded except under the restricted operating conditions mentioned in the previous paragraph. It is sound practice to hold the cylinder head temperature 50° F (30° C) below this limit to keep the cylinder head materials at high operating strength." [emphasis mine.]
That puts us squarely at 400° F, a nice, easy-to-remember number.
There is more. GAMI has cemented thermocouples down in between the fins of a cylinder, tight against the barrel at the bottom of the grooves. While flying this at various temperatures, it was obvious that there is a variation around the circumference, even on a properly baffled and cowled engine. Furthermore, upon getting up around 420°> F (at the probe), the CHT tends to become unstable, and tries to increase all out of proportion to whatever is going on. It seems pretty clear that at higher temperatures, the cylinder barrel goes significantly out-of-round, and since the piston can't change shape to fit, the piston starts scuffing the narrow part of the resulting oval, leading to the rapid rise in CHT. I have tried this on my engine, and the same "thermal runaway" seems to occur. I stopped it long before reaching much over 440° F, so I don't know how high it will go, nor do I wish to find out. By the way, the standard factory CHT instrument didn't show anything abnormal at all!
Personally, I have my JPI set to warn me if any cylinder goes over 400° F, and I try to maintain 380° F as a maximum to provide a margin. TCM suggests limiting normal cruise temperatures to 380° F in one publication, but then in another they suggest 420° F. Go figure. I'll take the lower value.
Let's re-visit that TCM chart of basic engine curves, this time with a red area to correspond to the above:
Remember that this is the chart of operating parameters at 25" and 2,500 RPM. Does that setting sound somehow familiar? Yes, it's the setting many have used for years right after takeoff, for climb power! The high temperatures are the direct result of pulling the MP back to 25", which cuts out the power enrichment feature of the fuel controller, leaning the engine dramatically!
This practice (pulling the throttle back after takeoff) may be the single most damaging thing many people do -- with the best of intentions, to "make it easier on the engine!" Forget it, folks. Leave that throttle fully in, unless you need to make a substantial reduction in MP, maybe to 22", or so. (Remember, we're talking about normally-aspirated engines here.)
Let's take a little different look at those TCM curves:
The top picture is the same one we just looked at. I've cut out a lot of extraneous detail to illustrate my point. If we consider that area of CHT "off limits" because it's over 400° F, then the same area of EGT is also "off limits" because they go together. In this illustration, note there is no possible combination that will give us what we want, except very lean of peak, which would cost us a lot of power.
In the second picture, I've fiddled the CHT numbers, and erased the EGT numbers, to give a simple picture of some "Less Power." It's probably up in the 70% range, but that's not what I'm trying to show. Look at the much-narrower red band covering the peak CHT (be very careful to read "CHT" and "EGT" correctly, here in this text, and keep them straight while looking at the picture.) Now run up to the equivalent range on the EGT, and note where it lies on the curve? At this still-high power setting, peak EGT produces a satisfactory CHT! From this we should realize that "The Danger Zone" on the EGT is mostly on the rich side of peak precisely where many factory documents would have us run. At higher power settings, we need to avoid peak CHT, which means avoiding some area rich of peak EGT.
Remember I talked about six (or four) cylinders, flying along in loose formation, all at different power settings? Now you may be getting the idea why I think that's important. No matter where you set your mixture on such a beast, most of the cylinders are not running where you think you set them! You have set one cylinder, and one only.
Now suppose you lean by the classic advice "lean 'till roughness occurs, then enrich just enough to restore smoothness." No one wants to run a rough engine, so this is good advice. A rough engine causes metal fatigue, pilot fatigue, sterility, baldness, imp , but, I digress. I think we can all agree that vibration is a bad thing, all around. What's causing that vibration? Aha, I see that hand in back there in the audience. What's that you say? "Lean misfire?"
Sorry Charlie, no tuna. There's essentially no such thing as "lean misfire." It's probably a term some tech rep made up because he didn't know the right answer. A properly set up engine will tolerate leaning and remain smooth right down to that 30% power range (see combustion chart), at which point it just quits cold. There's no reason to shake, at all. Now that said, the real world is not perfect, and even well-set-up engines will show a just a tiny bit of roughness when leaned to the extreme.
What does happen to cause that roughness is that the first cylinder to peak and start down on the lean side will produce less power than the others, and unequal power from one cylinder (or more) will cause enough vibration to be obvious. So you enrich until the vibration goes away, restoring that one cylinder (or more) to approximately the same actual power as the others. That gets them all up on the "sort of flat" part of the power curve (see chart). There's no way of telling just where all that occurred, or what cylinder it was, but the resulting chart might look something like this, with a new red area added.
This second and much more serious red area holds true through the entire spectrum of power settings, so it is much more serious. Virtually all factory big bore engines suffer from this uneven power distribution, which sets an artificial limit on just how lean we can run. Uneven mixture distribution causes the entire lean-of-peak-EGT region to become a red zone, not available for use!
From this comes a few pernicious OWTs, all with a modicum of truth.
"Never run lean of peak!" That's right, you can't in most flat engines, because their uneven mixture distribution causes them to run too rough.
"Leaner is hotter!" That's true only up to the point of maximum CHT, which occurs at around 35° F to 50° F ROP for most engines. Leaning beyond that point makes 'em run cooler. Naturally, if your engine gets the shakes at lean mixtures because of poor mixture distribution and the resulting uneven cylinder-to-cylinder power, then the only leaning range left to you is on the rich side, and if limited to that area, leaner is hotter!
"Leaning too much will burn your valves!" True (at higher powers), unless you continue leaning to the lean side of peak EGT (where leaning makes cylinder heads and valves run cooler), or you operate at sufficiently low power settings that valve temperatures remain acceptably cool even at peak EGT. (This works out to around 60% to 65% of rated power, on most of the flat "big bores".)
These are the kinds of things running through factory tech reps' minds when they scream (as a Lycoming rep did to me awhile back), "I wouldn't recommend lean-of-peak to my worst enemy!" Neither would I, in his stock engine with its lousy mixture distribution!
There are, however, some alternatives.
First, if you're going to operate one of these expensive big-bore engines properly, you must install an all-cylinder engine monitor, which at least tells you the CHT and EGT in each cylinder. If I had a four-banger, I'd put one in it, too, but that's more for troubleshooting. While I am disgusted at the stupid trademark infringement lawsuit that the owner of J. P. Instruments (JPI) has initiated recently, I am forced to concede that JPI makes a superior engine monitor, in my opinion. Insight also makes a good one that will do the job. I have not yet seen the new Electronics International monitor, shown at Sun 'n Fun this year, but it looks great on paper. Any of these probe-per-cylinder systems with bar-graph displays will do the job.
Once you have that all-cylinder monitor, limit the hottest CHT to 400° F at all times. If it goes over that, increase airspeed (VERY effective!), open the cowl flaps a bit (if you have cowl flaps), or enrich the mixture if it is on the rich side (lean it more, if on the lean side). But using extra fuel as a coolant should be your last-resort solution after the other things have been tried and fallen short.
So far, most of this column has been discussing The Ideal Engine. Unfortunately, that doesn't quite exist, yet, and those with carbureted engines are really left out in the cold, except for the above two tips (engine monitor and 400° F CHT limit.)
Here's another tip for carbureted engines, if you're operating high enough to use full throttle, or nearly so. From the full-throttle position, pull the throttle back until you observe the slightest drop in MP -- perhaps a quarter-inch or less. Leave it there. That will cock the throttle plate a little, just enough to set up a vortex that will cause better atomization and mixing of the fuel and air. (This is counterproductive in fuel injected engines.)
In principle, we should all operate at the lowest possible RPM allowable for the MP, and the following TCM chart shows why.
As you can see, the losses to friction are about 37 HP at 2,500 RPM, and about 27 HP at 2,100 RPM. That's 10 very useful HP, in my opinion.
However, this low RPM stuff must be tempered a little bit, by the fact that decreasing RPM moves the PPP closer to TDC. Anytime we move that PPP away from that ideal 16° to 18° after TDC, we're losing power, and increasing CHT. On the other hand, the leaner we run the engine, the more we delay the PPP, getting it further from TDC.
From this we can see that there must be a balance between slower/leaner, and faster/richer. For high power, maximum-performance operation, you should run richer mixtures and higher RPMs. For low power, maximum-efficiency operation, you should run leaner mixtures and lower RPMs. It would be really nice if we could develop some sort of "super linkage" that ties the prop control and mixture control together into sort of a single-lever power control, but that would be a formidable design task. It appears to me that running in accordance with the POH will provide good results in the worst possible cases, and TCM probably felt this was their best option.
With big-bore fuel-injected engines like TCM 520s/550s and Lyc 540s, we're getting some modern developments that can be of major benefit, and which will pay for themselves in short order. These improvements should also allow safe and efficient operation well outside the suggestions in the various POHs and manufacturers manuals, including much lower RPM, higher MP, and leaner mixtures. At low altitudes, I am routinely running my IO-550 at 2,100 RPM, full throttle, and very lean, perhaps 50° F LOP EGT. That produces about 75% of rated power. The engine appears to love it, runs very cool, makes much less noise, and runs very smooth. However, those settings would be a deadly combination if I enriched the mixture, or even worse, tried running ROP. I also cannot climb at that power setting, because the loss in airspeed causes too much increase in CHT.
Once you have the all-cylinder engine monitor installed, the next best thing you can do for your big-bore flat six is to install GAMIjectorsTM from General Aviation Modifications, Inc., in Ada, Oklahoma.
The usual disclaimer: I own no stock, directly or indirectly in GAMI. I wish I did. I do not work for them. I wish I did. I do not benefit in any way from the sales of their products, and I paid full-boat retail for my own GAMIjectorsTM. The owners have become personal friends, and are men that I admire greatly. I have been very distantly involved with them in some very minor testing and comment.
GAMIjectorsTM are custom injectors that match the fuel flows to the air flows in all cylinders. With these, you can quite easily lean your engine right down to starvation levels without roughness. This means you cannot use the old trick of "lean 'till rough, enrich 'till smooth" because the engine never gets rough at any mixture setting. Your engine will run cleaner, cooler, and smoother, and you will be able to use the full range of mixtures, just as the operators of the big old radials did for several hundred million hours in a bygone era. Oh, by the way, there is no evidence whatsoever to support the OWT that lean mixtures cause corrosion in exhaust stacks.
When you lean an engine with GAMIjectorsTM , you will see all EGTs rise at the same time. (The absolute temperatures may be different from one cylinder to the next, but that's unimportant.) All should peak at the same time, and all should fall at the same time. This will produce results as in the following chart:
By this simple, one-hour installation, we bring our current engines up to very nearly the standards of "The Ideal Engine" I have discussed at length above.
Going well beyond that, GAMI is currently deep in R&D running test engines. This effort promises to give us all a better ignition system. No, not the junky current "state of the art" automotive style electronic ignition systems for our aircraft, but a simple, safe, certified system that will leapfrog all existing technology. For the first time, there will be a system that fully controls what is happening inside the combustion chamber.
I haven't seen this experimental system run yet, but George and Tim at GAMI have invited me to come see it, and have a little Oklahoma BBQ, too. There are rumors that it may even cure/prevent baldness, loss of memory, cancer, and the common cold!
Be careful up there!
...John Deakin
John Deakin is a 33,000-hour pilot who worked his way up the
aviation food chain via charter, corporate, and cargo flying; spent five years in
Southeast Asia with Air America; and joined Japan Airlines 31 years ago, where he is a 747
captain. He also flies his own V35 Bonanza (N1BE) and is very active in the warbird and
vintage aircraft scene, serving as an instructor in several aircraft and as an FAA
Examiner on the Curtiss-Wright C-46, the DC-3 and on the Martin 404.


text:
In "The Quest for Power: Religion and Politics," Samuel Slipp sets out to show that it is not religion that is the cause of the world's ills, as some recent writers, who maintain that it is little more than a mass delusion, would have us believe. Rather, says Dr. Slipp, the problem is the combination of religion and politics to create seemingly absolute power.
Dr. Slipp is an emeritus clinical professor of psychiatry at the New York University School of Medicine and a supervising and training psychologist at the New York Medical College Psychoanalytic Institute. He is the author of more than 150 articles and six books, including "Curative Factors in Dynamic Psychotherapy" and "Healing the Gender Wars."
He uses an interdisciplinary approach in the book, and does so through a wide range of viewpoints, including anti-Semitism in its many forms throughout history, the Gnostic Gospels, Paul's "creation" of Christianity in the first century, Emperor Constantine's use of Christianity to claim absolute power, the 17th-century Enlightenment, and parallels between Jesus and Freud in trying to stop abuses of power in religion and politics.
He also talks about present-day terrorism and the rise of fundamentalist religions, but his emphasis is on the broader historical perspective.
Dr. Slipp takes on Richard Dawkins ("The God Delusion") and Christopher Hitchens ("God Is Not Great"). Both, he says, have diagnosed religion as evil and "responsible for slavery, wars, genocide, racism, and tyranny," and have said religious belief should be eliminated and replaced by "reason as a solution to the world's problems."
"However, blaming religion for the violence is like blaming gasoline for a car crash," writes Dr. Slipp. "Gasoline fuels the car to operate, but it is the driver and the car that cause the violent results. Religions can be used to inflame passions, but the ultimate goal is to gain power."
One way he counters those who claim that "by eliminating religion, terrorists will no longer kill in the name of God" is by pointing out how state-sponsored atheism has of course not stopped violence or misery, but has caused or increased it, as evidenced by the Communist regimes of North Korea, the Soviet Union, and China, or Nazi Germany or Fascist Italy. In fact, he says, in those regimes the leaders were worshipped as gods and atheism itself became a fundamentalist religion.
"The Quest for Power"
Samuel Slipp, M.D.
Pitchstone Publishing, $24.95
Dr. Slipp brings his own contribution to the discussion, using his knowledge of psychoanalysis and neuroscience and highlighting his own work and hypothesis on the synchrony between mother and child and the later synchronous actions of rituals in adults.
To explain this complex idea simply: The infant's early attachment to the mother becomes the template for adult group attachment, especially in religious rituals, such as prayer, singing, movement, gesture, and meals, which bond people together, provide social attachment, and lead to a system of morality.
Whereas, according to Dr. Slipp, Freud compared the repetitious nature of people performing religious rituals to "individuals suffering obsessional neurosis," Dr. Slipp says that since the rituals are voluntary and performed in a cultural setting as part of a group, they facilitate group cohesion and establish emotional attachment. Such positive benefits, the author says, are not recognized by Mr. Dawkins or Mr. Hitchens.
Some other interesting topics include how the use of pictorial or visual images (such as the crucifixion) and icons helped the spread of Christianity, how Paul's gospels led to Christianity's becoming a hierarchical institution, and how historical, cultural, personal, and biological contexts affect belief.
Indeed Dr. Slipp makes a notable contribution to the timely debate with his enthusiasm and abundance of ideas. But the book also has shortcomings that might make the careful reader wary.
Although Dr. Slipp criticizes others for making incorrect, broad generalizations about religion, and does so quite fairly, he unfortunately does the same himself. One example: "The advances in medicine may eventually eliminate faith healing, which believes that diseases are due to God's punishment for sins or from evil spirits entering the body."
In fact, there are numerous varieties of faith healing, many having more to do with the belief in the power of a divine or supernatural intervention for healing than with concerns about God's punishment, sins, or evil spirits.
Another example: He says that Jesus "substituted the communal meal for individual Baptismal immersion," but certainly many Christian denominations do not subscribe to such a doctrine.
The book has more than its share of editing problems: ". . . if you do not learn from the mistakes of history, we are doomed to repeat them." The expression "as mentioned" is used nine times in seven and a half pages.
There are unintended non sequitur sentences: "The Roman emperors could not stamp out the spread of Christianity despite centuries of their being brutally slaughtered in the arena."
And factual errors: ". . . Jefferson wrote the Bill of Rights and the American Congress signed it in 1776." Where does one begin?
Dr. Slipp includes a wide range of subjects related to the one overarching central theme; there are many more than highlighted here. It is a tall order for 175 pages. While that could be a strength, it is also a weakness. "The Quest for Power" has abundant supporting ideas and numerous details but is much less adequate on tying it all together neatly or forcefully.
One might have hoped for a stronger ending. Though he seems in the last chapter to be countering Mr. Hitchens and Mr. Dawkins by drawing from such towering, diverse figures as Buddha, Gandhi, the 20th-century American Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and Pope Paul II, two paragraphs from the end the narrative inexplicably lapses into "Our Constitution begins with 'We the people.' "
He makes a sweeping statement that in the U.S. religious and racial discrimination have been decreasing, but the "outside world still cannot accept a world that is pluralistic. . . ." The last sentence of the book is politically correct pablum about respecting diversity, addressing individual needs, and cooperating for peace.
Nevertheless, since Dr. Slipp brings such a broad academic knowledge to his writing, the book warrants the attention of those interested in an in-depth look at the interrelationships, for good or ill, of religion, politics, and power.
"Quest for Power" is a book that needs to be digested and revisited, and perhaps viewed more as a springboard for dialogue rather than as definitive.
Samuel Slipp has a house in Sag Harbor.

subset: commoncrawl


text: Scott Adams, shortly after introducing Tina the Technical Writer, got a lot of hate mail ragarding his stereotypical women characters, and made a few comics about Antina, the Nonstereotypical Woman, who looked just like my math teacher, and once said, "Who's up for some math?" I really want to get those 3 strips, and they were in short succession, so if anyone knows the date that one of them appeared, I'd love to know it. I have them in a book (Seven Years of Highly Defective People), but they don't scan nicely, and of course, I want to buy them on T-Shirts and give them to my ex-math class.


text:
The Parish Church of St Margaret. Rottingdean, Sussex [Another view]. [Click on image to enlarge it.]
Photograph and text Jacqueline Banerjee [You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the photographer and (2) link your document to this URL.]
Rhodes, Elvi. Rottingdean: A Short Guide to Saint Margaret's Church and the Village. Rottingdean, 2001. Available at the church.
Last modified 1 July 2001


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1up.com: Let's not get into a moral argument about piracy. You either think it's wrong or you don't, and this blog post won't change your opinion either way. But that argument aside, piracy does have a far less subjective impact as well: The business considerations. In that light, the advent of 3DS software piracy seems likely to be the worst possible thing that could happen to the system, especially in the U.S.
Gonna buy it now.
Edit---ah **** it, it's still not worth the price
I just want action replay for the 3DS... Yes, I admit to using cheats when I just want to mess around in a game, or to be able to eat a hard level/stage/boss. I still want to beat SMT:DSO, but I don't wanna grind!!
*note* I don't cheat when it comes to multiplayer though. I don't know how to hack lobbies and how to add cheats to my PS3, Xbox, or Wii. I admire the dedication some online gamers' works to get the best scores possible, and I definitely don't want to undermine their achievements. All of my console contents are legit, except for Pokémon. I hack the heck out of that game (I doubt a lot of people have the patience to complete the Pokédex)
lets face it the 3DS was going to be hack eventually every console does


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by Pete Mazzaccaro
As a kid in East Falls, Jack Yeakel's grandfather told him that his family had a cemetery named for them somewhere in the city. But the family really didn't know where it was.
In 1988, the 18-year-old Yeakel started searching for the plot and found it with the help of the Springfield Township Historical Society.
"At that time it was not easy to get to," Yeakel, now a Flourtown resident, said. "It was kind of a cool adventure to have, being in high school and finding this overgrown cemetery."
Yeakel had essentially "rediscovered" the Yeakel Cemetery, a 260-year-old burial ground for 53 of the earliest residents of Chestnut Hill and Springfield township. When he found it, the cemetery was choked with weeds and covered in fallen limbs. Many stones were leaning and some were broken. The earliest marble stones had faded to the point where the original inscriptions were no longer readable.
Yeakel began researching the cemetery and began to document the names of those buried there. The earliest interment was of Maria Yeakel in 1752, and the last was of Matilda Heydrick in 1902.
He discovered that a forefather some nine generations removed, Chris Yeakel of Chestnut Hill, had fought in the Revolution and was buried there with three other Revolutionary War veterans.
In addition to Yeakels and Heydricks, other surnames in the cemetery include Dowers, Heebner, Neff, Schubert, Schultz, and Schuman.
Those families were all tied together by their membership in the Schwenkfelder Church, a small Christian community that had traveled to Philadelphia from Germany to escape persecution. The community had no church building, meeting instead in the homes of its members. The church continues to own the small 80-foot-square parcel, which has a small easement for access from Stenton Avenue.
Over the years, Yeakel said he continued to visit the cemetery, taking notes and just keeping tabs on the plot. On one of those visits two years ago, he said that Chestnut Hill Historical Society archivist Liz Jarvis and Schwenkfelder Church member Jerry Heebner came down the path. Out of that meeting, a committee was formed to restore the cemetery.
On a brisk Monday morning in October, Springfield Township resident and prominent historical preservation expert T. Scott Kreilick was directing volunteers in the first phase of restoring the cemetery. The plan was to lay out a grid and document every stone and its condition. Each stone would be marked by GPS for exact coordinates.
The cemetery is small, surrounded by a nearly four-foot tall stone wall and is about a quarter mile north of Stenton Avenue and the Philadelphia city line. If you didn't know it was there, you'd never find it. To reach the cemetery, visitors need to park behind the Chestnut Hill Lodge at 8833 Germantown Ave. and, from there, walk along a narrow trail through a wooded area in which the cemetery is fairly well hidden.
Kreilick and his associates said they are several months away from finishing the first phase of information gathering in the restoration process.
"The intent is to document and assess now, and conserve when additional funds are raised," Kreilick said. "Every stone will get some level of attention. Every one that is broken will be pinned together. Every one that is leaning will be reset."
And it's clear that, although the grounds are weed free and fallen tree limbs and wall stones have been cleared, a lot of work remains. Kreilick pointed out many thin, fragile stones that are leaning.
"Those will fail eventually," he said.
He hopes that through research, some of the faded marble stones – many of the granite stones from the early 1800s on still look new – will be identified and plaques can be placed next to them with the information on who is buried below.
"I would never suggest that we re-carve a stone," he said. "In doing that you're removing original material and our goal is to conserver original material."
The committee steering the cemetery restoration efforts brought Kreilick aboard because of his expertise. Kreilick was a champion of the preservation of the Black Horse inn in Flourtown. He has also worked around the country in other larger cemetery efforts, including the Colonial Cemetery in Savannah, Ga., and the cemetery at the U.S Military Academy at West Point, where his company, Kreilick Conservation, cleaned 3,000 headstones.
Kreilick said it will take months to get an assessment prepared of what needs to happen at the cemetery. In addition to stone repair, a fallen section of a schist wall will need to be repaired, and seasonal runoff that has flowed through the cemetery will need to be managed with berms and other drainage solutions to prevent further wear and tear on the hillside cemetery.
The committee is hoping to raise $72,000 for the effort. Early fund-raising has already produced a gift of $8,500 from Bowman Properties and $1,000 from other private donors. The committee is hoping to also raise money from Springfield Township homeowners who live near the cemetery and from the broader community. The Schwenkfelder Church will oversee the fund.
In the meantime, Yeakel created a website where people can learn more about the cemetery and its history at yeakelcemetery.com. And a cemetery that has long been lost to all but a very few who knew about it, will once again be a well-known part of the neighborhood's early history.


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Congress declares that the National Forest System consists of units of federally owned forest, range, and related lands throughout the United States and its territories, united into a nationally significant system dedicated to the long-term benefit for present and future generations, and that it is the purpose of this section to include all such areas into one integral system. The "National Forest System" shall include all national forest lands reserved or withdrawn from the public domain of the United States, all national forest lands acquired through purchase, exchange, donation, or other means, the national grasslands and land utilization projects administered under title III of the Bankhead-Jones Farm Tenant Act [7 U.S.C. 1010 et seq.], and other lands, waters, or interests therein which are administered by the Forest Service or are designated for administration through the Forest Service as a part of the system. Notwithstanding the provisions of section 473 of this title, no land now or hereafter reserved or withdrawn from the public domain as national forests pursuant to section 471 1 of this title, or any act supplementary to and amendatory thereof, shall be returned to the public domain except by an act of Congress.
The on-the-ground field offices, field supervisory offices, and regional offices of the Forest Service shall be so situated as to provide the optimum level of convenient, useful services to the public, giving priority to the maintenance and location of facilities in rural areas and towns near the national forest and Forest Service program locations in accordance with the standards in section 2204b–1(b) of title 7.
(Pub. L. 93–378, §11, formerly §10, Aug. 17, 1974, 88 Stat. 480, renumbered §11 and amended Pub. L. 94–588, §§2, 9, Oct. 22, 1976, 90 Stat. 2949, 2957.)
The Bankhead-Jones Farm Tenant Act, referred to in subsec. (a), is act July 22, 1937, ch. 517, 50 Stat. 522, as amended. Title III of the Bankhead Jones Farm Tenant Act is classified generally to subchapter III (§1010 et seq.) of chapter 33 of Title 7, Agriculture. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see Short Title note set out under section 1000 of Title 7 and Tables.
Section 471 of this title, referred to in subsec. (a), was repealed by Pub. L. 94–579, title VII, §704(a), Oct. 21, 1976, 90 Stat. 2792.)
1976—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 94–588, §9, prohibited the return to the public domain of land reserved or withdrawn from the public domain as national forests pursuant to section 471 of this title except by an act of Congress.
For transfer of certain enforcement functions of Secretary or other official in Department of Agriculture under this subchapter to Federal Inspector, Office of Federal Inspector for Alaska Natural Gas Transportation System, and subsequent transfer to Secretary of Energy, then to Federal Coordinator for Alaska Natural Gas Transportation Projects, see note set out under section 1601 of this title.
Pub. L. 104–106, div. B, title XXIX, Feb. 10, 1996, 110 Stat. 594, as amended by Pub. L. 106–65, div. B, title XXVIII, §2842, Oct. 5, 1999, 113 Stat. 863; Pub. L. 113–291, div. B, title XXVIII, §2838, Dec. 19, 2014, 128 Stat. 3710, provided that title XXIX could be cited as the "Illinois Land Conservation Act of 1995" and provided for conversion of Joliet Army Ammunition Plant to Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie, Illinois, to be managed by the Secretary of Agriculture as part of National Forest System, and for conveyance of certain real property at the Arsenal for a national cemetery, a Will County, Illinois, landfill, and industrial parks to replace all or a part of lost economic activity, with provisions prohibiting construction of title XXIX to restrict or lessen degree of cleanup required to be carried out under environmental laws, and provisions authorizing retention of real property used for environmental cleanup by Secretary of the Army until transfer occurs.
1 See References in Text note below.


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The state Department of Environmental Conservation is taking public comment on a new policy that would encourage businesses to audit themselves to prevent pollution.
The proposed Environmental Incentive Policy would reward companies for making a long-term commitment to better protect the environment. It would waive penalties for violations that are discovered and disclosed voluntarily.
Companies with a history of failing to comply with environmental regulations aren't eligible. Certain violations are excluded from the policy, including recurring violations, criminal activity or actual harm to people or the environment.
Comments will be taken through April 22.


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In 1877, two years before he created the bulb that bathed the world in incandescent light, Thomas Alva Edison invented the phonograph.
Nobody can say for sure which of those two devices had more impact over the course of the ensuing century. But it's probably a safe guess that many Americans today would sooner spend their evenings in the dark again than live without their stereos.
Unfortunately, finding the varieties of music that you'd like to play on that stereo can sometimes be a frustrating task. And this can be particularly true if you happen to live a couple of dozen four-wheel-drive miles from the nearest music merchant. However, even if you live next door to a record store, you might have the same problem, since the average album emporium these days carries little more than a few bins of country-western, a smattering of classical, and an avalanche of major-label rock ... an assortment that no more represents the full breadth, depth, and texture of the world's music than the menu at McDonald's typifies all the flavors and aromas of international cuisine.
There's good news for the musically malnourished, though. While the big American record companies have spent their money and efforts producing mainstream music and mass-marketing it in chain record stores, a whole slew of small, independent recording companies have emerged to offer a smorgasbord of aural alternatives. And along with these new studios there has come a different breed of record retailer: mail-order companies (sometimes the recording firms themselves) that are just as delighted to send an order to Midnight, Mississippi, as to midtown Manhattan.
Result: No matter where you live, no matter what your musical tastes, your mailbox can be the very best record store of all.
Roundup Records
Roundup's master catalog features well over 6,000 album and tape titles on some 350 domestic and imported independent labels. Although the firm carries only a small amount of classical and no current pop or rock to speak of, it offers an outstanding selection in virtually any other category: folk (of almost every possible description) ... vintage rock 'n' roll ... ragtime, big band, and Dixieland jazz ... western swing ... reggae and zydeco ... gospel, bluegrass, and string band ... classic country-western ... and lots of other material, such as old-time radio shows. Best of all, many of Roundup's selections are discount-priced.
Roundup will mail you a copy of its massive master catalog and an issue of The Record Roundup (an enjoyable five-times-a-year publication for customers, with price updates, new-release listings, and helpful reviews).
Down Home also offers a staggering array of music of a wide variety of styles (except classical and contemporary rock and pop). The company's major emphasis, though, is on hard-to-find, vintage, and reissue recordings, on both independent and major labels, by all-time great performers of blues, rock 'n' roll, and country-western.
In fact, Down Home issues an impressive catalog for each of those categories, as well as one on folk music of the British Isles, Ireland, and Europe. All of the catalogs—which include some 1,500 to 2,000 records apiece—provide mini biographies of some of the artists featured, as well as brief reviews (or at least a list of songs) for every album offered.
Down Home's catalogs are excellent and informative. Furthermore, to receive samples of the company's every-six-weeks customer newsletter, you can simply send Down Home a request.
Folkways Records
Founded in 1947 and long considered the leading producer of recorded authentic folk music, Folkways is "dedicated to the documentation and communication of mankind's culture" and today includes more than 1,700 titles in its catalog. Apparently, the company's definition of folk music encompasses almost all music (except pop and rock): Folkways offers not only a vast variety of traditional music from this country and virtually every other nation in the world ... but also collections of jazz, blues, gospel, classical, ragtime, religious music, and more.
In addition, the company produces an extensive series of highly regarded recordings for children, as well as many albums featuring language and musical-instrument instruction and dramatic readings of literary classics.
Folkways will send you its catalog free, and you may also want to ask for its brochure on selected recordings for children.
Folk and Ethnic
The Library of Congress
Motion Picture, Broadcasting, and Recorded Sound Division
Not surprisingly, most of the recordings offered by the Library of Congress are of American folk music. The Library offers albums and cassettes of cowboy songs and cattle calls, American Indian music, sea chanteys, railroad songs, fiddle tunes, dances, humorous ditties, religious music, and labor and protest songs. One offering of particular interest is the LOC's 15-record set "Folk Music In America." In addition, the Library also sells an excellent series of spoken poetry and literature recordings, many of which feature readings by the authors themselves.
Indian House specializes in quality LP albums and cassette tapes of traditional American Indian music ranging from Ponca peyote songs to Navajo corn-grinding and shoe-dance songs. If you're new to the music of Native Americans, you may want to start with an album that features a number of different styles from various tribes, such as "Sounds of Indian America—Plains & Southwest" and "Pueblo Songs of the Southwest" (both of which were recorded at the 48th Inter-Tribal Indian Ceremonial in Gallup, New Mexico). Most of Indian House's titles, though, focus on one genre of song as performed by a specific tribe, to give you a more in-depth feel for the culture and aesthetics involved.
The Indian House catalog/brochure is free.
Canyon Records & Indian Arts
Canyon Records also specializes in the music of Native Americans (in fact, the outlet carries many Indian House titles), as well as that of Mexican and eastern Canadian tribes. In addition to an extensive selection of traditional music, however, Canyon offers recordings by Indian performers of contemporary works: gospel, modern-day powwow songs, rock, country-western, and "chicken scratch," a form of dance music popular among the desert tribes of southern Arizona.
Furthermore, Canyon offers recordings (on the Folkways label) of tribal music from around the world ... sells many fine books on Indian subjects ... and provides a full line of supplies for Indian crafts.
Contact Canyon Records for further information.
Folk music is alive and well at Andy's Front Hall, where Andy Spence and a few friends operate not only a mail-order record and musical-instrument business but also an up and coming recording studio. Andy's lists approximately 3,000 album titles on well over 100 independent labels. No matter what kind of folk your ears are hankering for, you'll likely find it at Andy's.
Then again, if you happen to like the idea of making your own music, Andy's Front Hall also offers a good number of instrument instruction records and books and an interesting assortment of instruments.
Andy's Front Hall catalog is free.
Now, if you're partial to the lilting strains of traditional Irish, Scottish, and British music—or if you enjoy listening to the folk music of virtually any other part of the world (Arabia, Bali, Chad, Chile, China, Ecuador, Ghana, Laos, Mexico, Norway, Portugal, Rumania, Thailand, the U.S.S.R., or Venezuela ... to name only a few!)—you'll find special delight in Lark in the Morning's 2,000-plus record selection. The company also offers a good assortment of contemporary American folk music and lots of excellent instrument-instruction recordings and books.
The vast bulk of Lark in the Morning's 102-page catalog, though, is devoted to fine instruments: not only guitars, dulcimers, mandolins, and banjos but also bagpipes, bouzoukis, cimbaloms, steel drums, fifes and flutes, harps, hurdy-gurdies, accordions, alpenhorns, and ... well, you get the idea. There are lots of instruments here.
"New Age"
Narada Distributing
Fortuna Records
An entirely different genre of music, generally known as "New Age" or "New Consciousness" music, has emerged over the past few years, to the delight of a growing audience. The music is difficult to define, simply because it's so varied: from Gregorian chants to meditative, electronically synthesized "journeys of the mind." But all New Age music is distinctly inner music, to be experienced rather than merely listened to.
Both Narada and Fortuna offer wide selections by many fine performers (including, for example, Paul Winter, Jean-Pierre Rampal, Steven Halpern, and Keith Jarrett).
Progressive and Experimental
New Music Distribution Service
Jazz Composer's Orchestra Association, Inc.
Founded in 1972 and already becoming something of a legend, NMDS is a nonprofit organization that promotes independently produced recordings of distinctly noncommercial "new music": modern jazz, contemporary classical, electronic, experimental rock, and otherwise avant-garde material by artists whom the major labels won't touch with a 10-foot contract. In its dozen years of life, New Music Distribution Service has provided thousands of creative, uncompromising musicians with a much-needed way to bring their work (music that is at least on, and often beyond, the cutting edge) to an audience. And NMDS has given the public an opportunity to explore a whole new—and wildly diverse—musical world, one that's far, far away from Top 40 ... and from anything else you've probably ever heard on the radio.
NMDS's handsome (and free) 12th Anniversary catalog, which includes more than 1,500 titles by over 300 independent producers, can be your ticket to this exciting new turf. Because the folks there recognize that many people are unfamiliar with the music and artists offered, NMDS briefly reviews all albums ... and, in addition, offers an introductory package deal that allows you to choose six albums from a list of exemplary "new music" recordings.
Chesterfield Music Shops, Inc.
If you're looking for low-priced LP's or cassette tapes of classical, folk, jazz, children's, or popular music, you may well want to put your name on Chesterfield's mailing list. Every few months the company publishes a sale bulletin that lists hundreds of titles (the selection changes with each promotion) at budget or substantially discounted prices. Not all of the productions, of course, are of top quality, but many are excellent values for the money. The company seems particularly adept at offering good import recordings at bargain prices.
Contact the folks at Chesterfield, and they'll start sending you their bulletins.
Goldmine is the world's largest magazine for record collectors. The folks who produce the twice-a-month tabloid don't sell records themselves, but the magazine is the best possible place to go to find amateur and professional dealers who do. The bulk of any given issue is made up of ads from across the country that list thousands of albums for auction (by mail) or set-price sale. If you collect records, especially rare or vintage rock (but you'll find plenty of blues, country-western, and jazz in the magazine too), you'll undoubtedly come to consider Goldmine the mother lode. This publication is also your best bet if you're not really a collector but would dearly love to find a mint-condition copy of some favorite old 45 or LP ("I Lost My Heart to the Junkman" by Patti La Belle & the Blue Belles, for instance, or maybe "Duane a Go Go" by Duane Eddy).
In addition to the many ad listings, each edition of Goldmine also includes in-depth articles, interviews, reviews, discographies, and other interesting features. The folks at Goldmine say they'll send a sample copy for free!


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Zagg Optimus L9 InvisibleSHIELD Dry
by Zagg
Give your LG Optimus L9 the ultimate in scratch protection with the Zagg LG Optimus L9 InvisibleSHIELD Dry. Incredibly thin and clear, the Zagg Invisible Shield Dry protects the front and back of your Optimus L9 from scratches and nicks, keeping it looking new all the time. Made from incredibly durable materials, the Zagg Optimus L9 Invisible Shield Dry will keep your LG Optimus L9 scratch free.
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Overview of the Zagg Optimus L9 invisibleSHIELD Dry:
Providing unrivaled abrasion resistance to keep your device, and skin, brilliant and new, the Zagg Skins invisibleSHIELD Dry provides its very own invisibleSHIELD toughness with personalized style for your LG Optimus L9. Rather than most companies that make a sticker and call it a skin, the Zagg Skins invisibleSHIELD Dry includes a protective layer of invisibleSHIELD. Originally used to protect U.S. military helicopter blades from high speed damage, the invisibleSHIELD has been engineered with Nano-Memory Technology.
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Chrsitian Bingham needed a new logo design and created a contest on 99designs.
A winner was selected from 118 designs submitted by 33 freelance designers.
We are looking for a new logo for the re-launch of our Web Hosting Services. It is important that the logo be appealing to the potential customer. The rest of the website design will be moulded around this logo. Some 3D effect would be nice if done tastfully.
Wappy Zappy Internet Services
We are looking for both a logo and business card design.
The logo once again must be appealing, tastful, powerful, and fun at the same time. It must be very brandable.
The business card should be clean cut, simple, and attractive with a bit of flare. Check out our previous design contest winner for an example of what I mean.
We would also like a slogan. Something creative and brandable but it must have to do with Web Hosting. Please do your homework.
Wappy Zappy has been a difficult name when it comes to ideas. We are hoping that the design community here is able to give us some cool ideas.
- Web 2.0 Design
- Fresh
- Clean
- Appealing
- Powerful
- Slogan
- Colors are open
- Tacky
- Cheesy
- Unprofessional
- Week
- Monotones
Find out how a design contest works or learn more about our logo design services.


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Mills College annual home tour offers ideas with contemporary appeal and respect for tradition
Susan Farrell likes to go on house tours, picking up design tidbits and generally seeing what home-decorating or remodeling ideas others have come up with.
So, while chatting at last year's Charming Cottages of Palo Alto tour, a docent asked her what her own home looks like. Her description drew the committee's curiosity -- and her 1914 home was chosen for this year's event.
Farrell's Downtown North home is one of four that is open to the public on April 1 and 2.
Farrell chose the home in 2004, winning a bidding war against others who were drawn to the home's Edwardian details, among other features. The coffered ceilings in living and dining rooms, fireplace and mantel are all original, as are the built-in, glass-fronted cabinets in the dining room.
But addition of living-room cabinets was clearly a 1970s misstep, Farrell said. When she remodeled the two bathrooms a year and a half ago, she also "fixed" that by having her contractor, Stan Roose of Los Altos, paint the cabinets white and add molding, as well as some dentil molding near the fireplace.
The daughter of an architect, Farrell said she "loved old houses" and "had the time of her life" fixing up her previous home just a few blocks away.
Farrell's additions added functionality while adhering closely to the original design sensibility. In the dining room, for example, her contractor built a curved bench with plenty of storage for art supplies. Farrell topped it with colorful throw pillows.
The kitchen had already been remodeled in 2002, adding stainless-steel appliances, granite countertops with tumbled-marble backsplashes. Earlier owners had also picked up on the white-painted cabinetry, blending well with the rest of the home.
A granite-topped peninsula serves both as the family eating area in the kitchen and an easily accessible desk. Farrell, who likes to haunt flea markets, found a brightly painted folkloric rack to hold invitations, bills or the latest movie rental.
Hidden behind closed cabinets are the washer and dryer, with ample space for folding laundry on top, as well as storage space in upper cabinets.
Each bedroom is distinct, from her daughter's deep-red walls with black trim (decorated with framed sheet music in black, white and red) to her son's Hawaiian-themed room in light blue and lime, to the pale-blue master bedroom with its eccentric curved corner.
Farrell's most recent renovations were to the two bathrooms, beginning with what she calls her "ode to orange" bathroom between the kids' rooms. Here she took "an ugly 1970s bathroom" down to the studs and brought in a modern pedestal tub by Victoria & Albert, made of volcanic limestone and resin -- much lighter than traditional cast iron. She designed the shower curtain, which was made by a company that actually designs privacy curtains for hospitals.
White subway tiles go halfway up the walls, and the floors are made of charcoal and white marble in a basket-weave pattern. A traditional large rectangular pedestal sink finishes the room.
In an attempt to save money, Farrell picked up a few medicine cabinets from Restoration Hardware's "seconds" outlet in Tracy. Only later did she realize it would cost much more to have the contractor reframe the walls to accommodate their depth.
For the master bathroom, Farrell had the tub replaced with a walk-in shower, trimmed in ceramic tile that resembles stone. Glittery glass tiles accent the walls, and are inset into the larger ceramic tiles on the floor.
When imagining her new bathroom, Farrell liked to wonder what she would have brought back from a summer jaunt to Venice, something that reflected sort of a faded European elegant aesthetic.
"I wanted colors that were like the inside of an abalone shell," Farrell said, pointing to the iridescent blues and greens in the glass tiles and the counter top.
And once more she opted for an Edwardian feel to the towel rods and light fixtures, all from Restoration Hardware.
Farrell's traditional home is filled with relics passed on through the generations: her grandmother's Czechoslovakian china, a portrait wall in a hallway, and artwork done by her mother and sister.
Three other homes are on this year's tour, including:
· a two-bedroom 1946 cottage that was expanded with a loft-like second story and a great room into a four-bedroom home with green features and room to display home-made quilts;
· a down-to-the-studs recent remodel of a 1942 small home that now includes a master-bedroom suite and great room;
· the former infirmary of Harker School, built in 1906, with a recently added second story and reconfiguration of space.
The Charming Cottages of Palo Alto home tour is the annual fundraiser for the Palo Alto Area Mills College Club, with proceeds going to an endowed scholarship.
What: Charming Cottages of Palo Alto home tour
When: Friday, April 1, and Saturday, April 2, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Where: Four homes in Palo Alto
Tickets:$30 in advance (send checks to PAAMCC, c/o R. Moritz, 1517 Cedarwood Drive, San Mateo, CA 94403); $35 at the door (3246 Bryant St., Palo Alto)


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A while ago we organized the Black and White Cat Hunt. Some of you may remember :) We had a poll for which hunt gift was the most popular and here it is "Crazy, Weirdo, Bipolar" by Cameron Vasiliov, owner and designer of ...:::Beautiful Dirty Rich:::...
This outfit comes with so much it really is crazy, weirdo and bipolar. Where do I begin? It has ears, a tail, shoes, socks, a collar and of course a dress ^^ It proved so popular, that several bloggers featured it, like here.
This item was exclusively designed for the Black and White Cat Hunt but it will also be available in different colors for sale soon.
But that's not all. Because you voted this gift as your favorite, ...:::Beautiful Dirty Rich:::... is now the starting location of our new Happily Ever After??? Hunt which begins NOW!
So be prepared for lots of princessy but also evil items. What are you searching for? A red or black apple, you decide, are you the villain or the good guy???
Congrats Cameron and Happy Hunting to everybody