Our Venerable California DMV

I own a 1996 Dodge.  A beat up piece of crap that I cannot get rid of, because I still have to drive it.  One good thing about it is that its registration fee is quite affordable, since it was born back in 1996.  It is only 15 years old.  DMV sent me via mail the registration renewal notice.

I usually pay way before the due date, because I would like to get it done with.  The lingering thought of having to pay the bill significantly reduces the enjoyment factor of daily life.

Then I noticed the due date.  The bill says the due date is on or before July 8th.  Hmmm.  What is going on here?  That is because the day the bill arrived was Saturday, July 9th.  That's right.  The bill arrived one day after the due date.  So I checked the stamp on the envelope.

Mr. Pitney and Mr. Bowes agree that the bill was sent on July 6th!  That means that California DMV sent the bill two days before the due date of July 8th.  Okay, no problem.  I will just pay it.  Then there was this schedule of late payment:

Whoa!  If my payment is postmarked after July 8th, I have to pay $22 more.  Wait, when the bill arrived, my bill was already overdue.  The gracious CA DMV allowed me only two days of grace period, and the US Post Office used it, and plus one more day to get the bill to me from Sacramento.  This got me thinking.

There are a few options: 1) I could go to the DMV office first thing on Monday, which is my day off.  2) I could call and make an appointment, in order to shrink the waiting time, but then it will take at least one week until the actual appointment date.  3) I can just pay $22 and forget about it.

I feel like going there first thing Monday. because this is one prime example of government bureaucracy's inefficiency and mess-up.  Small people have no choice but spending their precious time to redress this bureaucratic BS.  And the poor people will have to be there, because $22 is a big chuck of their money.  In this case, the poor is getting the screw in multiple ways: the time, the energy, and the expense of transportation.

What do you think I would do?  Do you think I would waste my day off to save $22 dollars, but waste my time and energy and gas money which will not be reimbursed?  Or just swallow the $22, and take a hit?

Lacking the phone number of an important bureaucrat, I think I will eat that $22, and enjoy my precious day off.  The time and the energy I would have to expend, in order to retrieve that $22 is worth far more than $22.

This is just the benefit of living under the bureaucratic system that is strapped for cash.  If I could, I would fire the whole chain of bureaucrats for this kind of FU, but DMV job is probably the safest job in the world.

SIGG Inoxal Alcohol Cookset and Trangia 25 Duossal

Have you ever tried to cook your meal in outdoors, and found out you could not, because the wind was too darn strong, and you did not have anything to prop up to block out the wind?

Well, let me tell ya.

I want you to take a look at these beauties: SIGG Inoxal and Trangia 25 Duossal.  Unfortunately, they are no longer made, but you can still buy Trangia 25 and 27 (smaller cousin) in various (plain aluminum, non-stick aluminum, anodized aluminum, and ultra-light version).  What these enigmatic designators, Inoxal, or Duossal, mean is that the pot is constructed with stainless steel inside and aluminum outside.  Aluminum spread the heat evenly, therefore reducing the chance to burn food, and stainless inside is durable, and you can use a metal spoon.  But I use only wooden or heat-resistance plastic utensil, anyway.  Why put scratches on the pot for no reason?  Check out the paint job.


What this type of alcohol cookset does well is to cook in all weather.  The cookset cooks with an alcohol burner that burns for about 30 minutes with one filling.  That is enough for any kind of cooking outdoors.  It takes a little longer to boil a quart than, say, when you are using gas or liquid fuel stove, because alcohol has one half of the energy of the above-mentioned fuel types.  But any stove will have a longer boil time without a proper windscreen, and these alcohol stoves will get there surely for you, rain or wind.

The SIGG product appears to have been better made than Trangia product.  The stainless material seems heavier, and it comes with the black paint coating that absorbs heat.  The stainless steel is well polished, and there is no blemish.  Only it discolored, when it was used for the first time.  So what, I never intended it to be a museum piece.  I would have to see it go to eBay unused, after I die.  SIGG is slightly bigger than Trangia product.  I switched its own alcohol burner with Trangia burner, because I thought Trangia burner was more convenient to simmer with its own simmer ring.  Also the pot holder is Primus brand, and I took it from another Primus cookset, because it is well made.

Now, take a look at Trangia 25 Duossal:

The Trangia 25 Duossal is very similar to SIGG, but the pots exhibit the faint evidence that they had gone under the massive pounds per square inch.  The final finish is not as neat or polished as that of SIGG, but you will know that this is a product with a serious quality, nevertheless.

The SIGG had been subjected to the backyard initial cooking test, but I think I will hold off on Trangia 25 Duossal.  I have other versions of 25 which I had fired off without a second thought.  So, I will just leave it in the box for now.

Here are some shots of SIGG doing what it is supposed to.  See the pot holder?  It is by MSR.  The noodle is a Korean version of Udon.  I added the chopped green onion for the enhanced flavor.  What?  You cannot have the spicy stuff?  It gives you a fiery run?  Wow, dude!  A man may go celibate, but not without the spicy food!  I forget its brand name, but it was delish!

Military Canteen Cup Boil Off

I decided to compare the boil times of the following four military canteen cups.

From the left: USGI "L" handle, USGI wire handle, NATO Crusader, and Dutch wire handle. The stoves which I used are, respectively: aluminum "Kidney" stove; aluminum Stove Stand, Type II, manufactured in 1991; NATO Crusader canteen cup stove; and Dutch Military stove.

The stoves were not protected with any kind of windscreen. There was a steady breeze from behind the stoves.

Please excuse the subsequent pictures that appear shaken. It was a little dark, and the exposure time was a little longer than I could hold still, and I did not want to use the flash.

I put 2 cups of cold water into each respective cup. I placed three, round Hexamine tablets sold by Stansport in the first two stoves, one ounce of denatured alcohol in the Crusader stove, and Coughlan brand Hexi tabs in the Dutch one. I know, the heat output may vary, but I ran out of Stansport brand tabs.

Here is the shot with no flash: it shows the strength of the flames.
One observation on Hexi tabs: Esbit brand is of the best quality. It leaves virtually no residue. But it is also most expensive, $6 for 12 tabs. The next in line is the Stansport, I can get a pack of 24 under $4. It leaves very little residue, and burns quite well. The last, according to my prejudice, is Coughlan's brand. Under $3 for a pack of 24 tabs, identical in size with Stansport brand. Coughlan's leaves black ash that envelopes the tab, and does not burn all the way. It just extinguishes itself, when it is down to the last 5-10% (approx.) of the original mass. I suspect that the black ash blanketing the tablet actually hinders the combustion to a degree. The ash is easily removed with a stick, however. Then again, who has the time and energy to monitor the ash buildup? Next time, I will pay a dollar more, and get the Stansport brand.

As far as heat output is concerned, I estimate that two round Hexi tabs of Stansport, and of Coughlan's, equal one 14g Esbit tab.

As you can see, I put a makeshift lids on the canteen cups, except the Crusader cup. It does not really matter what the lid looks like. As long as you have something over the cup, it will cut the boil time.

The Gold Medal goes to the Kidney stove, achieving a boil at about 6 minutes. USA! USA! See the steam?
The Silver goes to the USGI wire handled cup at 7.5 minutes. The picture does not show any steam, because the picture was taken before it actually boiled. Sorry.
Please note that I have modified the stove above. I added 4 larger holes, and drilled small holes to insert wire grill. One could use the stove by hanging the cup on the edge by the wire handle, but it sits too low for the fuel to burn efficiently. There is less smoke, if I raise the height of the canteen cup about 3/4 inch higher (that is where the wire grill is) than the normal height where the cup would be. In the unmodified state, the stove's holes did not supply enough air, and the canteen cup sat too low for efficient combustion. The fumes stung my eyes, when I first attempted to use it in the factory form.

The Bronze goes to the Crusader. It was fueled with 1 ounce of denatured alcohol, and it lasted about 10 minutes. The Crusader boiled 2 cups of water in about 8 minutes.
Although the Crusader kit looks cool, it is not really well-designed. Compared to the USGI cup, the Crusader cup's bottom acreage is far smaller than the opening of the stove. That wide space on both sides allows heat to escape. That is why it took the Bronze!

I think I wasted $100 on this kit. I wish I had not bought it. I am suffering from a buyer's remorse. Boo hoo.

The Crusader lid is made of plastic, and it becomes sticky, when heated. I intentionally put it on the cup slanted, so that it would not stick to the cup. It will melt, if exposed directly to the flame. It will melt, if the cup gets too hot. Mine did, after a few uses with alcohol whose flame tends to shoot up high.

The Crusader plastic bottle has the awful chemical smell that would not go away. It smells as if it will give you cancer way down the road. It is that bad. The only saving grace is that the smell does not seem to seep leach into the water. I tasted the water after one day, and I could not really detect the flavor. I also saw the poor workmanship in the bottle's interior finish. It appears as if the molding was not done in one smooth shot, but in two steps. I can see the internal crease which is not visible on the outside.

Compared to that, Nalgene brand plastic canteen fits USGI canteen cup perfectly (made in USA), and it is BPA free and does not smell at all. The water tastes like it should. Only the material is thinner than Nalgene's regular cylindrical water bottles, and you can push it in easily with finger pressure.

Finally, the Pity Medal goes to the Dutch combo. It did not even come close to a boil. It just stood naked in the wind which carried away from the cup most of the heat. It managed to make some bubbles at the bottom of the cup. The Dutch design absolutely requires a windscreen of some sort, in order to make it efficient. The Dutch combo works admirably in the garage, however (read: no wind!). The other three stove/cup combos at least have some sort of windscreen effect, so they boiled the water successfully.
So this is my verdict: if you want to carry a military canteen as one person cooking system, choose USGI Canteen cup and Kidney stove combo. It may lack the glory, but it is most efficient design. Actually, it is most efficient, because I modified it. This is what it looks like:
I bent the wire clothes hanger into a grill shape, and put it on top of the Kidney stove. The USGI canteen cup fits closely the stove's top opening, and that close tolerance focuses the heat onto the bottom of the cup.

To keep the Hexi tabs from contacting the damp ground directly, I used the lid that was cut out from a tin can, and folded the four corners to keep it off the damp ground. I also added holes, so that the Hexi tab would get plenty of air.

If you use the Kidney stove as is, then the cup sits too deep into the stove. And it is hard to get it out after use. This depth of seating does not allow the necessary distance between the fuel tab and the cup bottom, and the most heat will just escape through the five holes on the side. It is essential to place the cup on top of the stove! The mod is a must!
Three Hexi tabs (round ones) are more than enough to boil 2 cups of water. I used three, in order to make sure that the water would boil, in spite of the light breeze. Since there is a plenty of fuel left, you can continue to boil the water for a few more minutes, if you so desire.



[Update: USGI kidney stove with aforementioned mod and NATO Crusader went head-to-head one calm evening, outdoors, temperature in mid-60's.  I used 3 round Hexi tabs to boil measured .5L of cold water.  USGI achieved rolling boil in 6 minutes and 20 seconds.  The usable flame lasted up to 9 minutes.  Crusader slow-boiled in 9 minutes, but the usable flame lasted up to 15 minutes!  It appears that USGI one is very efficiently supplied with air, while Crusader was not.  It was apparent, because I could see a puff of smoke once every while on Crusader, while there was absolutely no smoke from USGI stove.  This insufficient air supply in the design, however, allowed Crusader to boil 3 minutes longer than the USGI kidney stove.  Just an observation that might be useful to someone.]

If you are using Esbit stove in the breeze, you will probably need one and a half tablets to achieve the boil. That is assuming that you have a windscreen.

Two cups of water is what you need to rehydrate most freeze-dried food. Mountain House is the brand I got acquainted recently, and if you choose the ones that has less than 800 mg of sodium, it is quite edible. Some are surprisingly yummy, too. I can imagine polishing it up, after a long, sweaty hike. The moderate sodium content of less than 800mg is adequate to replenish what you lost through sweat. Mountain House container holds heat surprisingly longer than I expected, and you need to be careful not to burn your tongue. You have been warned here. It is also tough, and could be used as a water container in a pinch.

I could have used the gel type fuel, but I am not a great fan, primarily because it is expensive. If you really want to use the Gel type, try hand sanitizer. It contains 62, 63% of ethyl alcohol, and it burns quite nicely. If you buy a large bottle, it will be a lot more economical than buying the dinky gel packs. My experience with the hand sanitizer is that it burns too quickly, flame is large, and most of the heat escapes.

Enjoy your outings!

Clikstand in Garrapata

It was a fine day at the Garrapata State Park, 10 minutes south of Carmel, next to the Pacific Ocean. The sun was bright, but the wind was cool.

On the way, I collected the images of pretty things. Thisels boasted of the new fashion. California Poppies were happy to greet me. An unknown, tiny white flower demanded my attention. Then I crashed the party pad for some bugs. They did not care. A lone Poppy was enjoying the commanding view. I hope I did not disturb the suntan session for this little guy.

Unfortunately, because CA government could not come up with $22M, 70 State Parks are going to close, come September. Garrapata is one of the parks. Too bad. Some people wanted to keep these parks from the closure, but the CA Proposition 21 was soundly defeated, and this is the result. The Prop. 21 called for $18 increase in the motor vehicle registration. Mere $18 per year. Yet it was defeated. You go to a movie, and you spend more than $18 nowadays. It is just a pitiful state of mentality that keeps the good things from the public. Of course, CA residents have more grand and worthy things to accomplish with the annual savings of $18. Silly me. Who wants to visit State Parks, when they can visit the malls and night clubs?

Well, I will just wash off these thoughts with something hot. This is the Clikstand, an alcohol stove that uses Trangia burner. This is manufactured in Truckee, CA. The cool wind was pretty steady and strong, climbing up the hill from the Pacific. The pot was Snow Peak 1400. I would say it is a good combo: everything fits inside the pot.

As it turned out, its performance on the wind-swept hillside that day made its owner proud. With the windscreen on, the stove boiled the quart in 12 minutes. This is a performance, comparable to Trangia 25 or 27. Yet this is compact and light. Can't go wrong with that. Gram Weenies, take a look at this setup, next time. I bet you will have a hard time duplicating its performance, not to mention the elegance of the setup.

On the way down, I snapped a few pictures. A cute bunny was having an early dinner. At the coast, I watched the waves caress the rocks. Hope this place stays open.

SolHuma Vital Bio Mass Stove

I have been waiting for the right moment to line up all the planets that will signal the perfect time to buy this Vital Stove by SolHuma, a Canadian company.

The right moment came, but there was some glitches in the seller's supply side, and the seller did not have the stove on hand. Guess it was not the right moment, after all. No, planets obviously did not align, either. After the unexpected delay, the stove finally arrived. I promptly put the stove to the test.

The design of the stove was superb in principle, and prior to buying it, I have been studying it for a while, reading reviews and stuff. The Vital Stove is a small forge, in a sense. The air is supplied from the bottom through small holes, and the fuel is burned quite cheerfully.

I fed it a variety of bio mass: wood pellets, twigs, tree barks, wood chips, branches, pine cones, mesquite charcoals, and BBQ charcoals. I was impressed by its calorie output and performance.

Here, the stove firebox is glowing, because I put large chunks of mesquite charcoal. I think this is burning a little too hot. I think I will use smaller pieces for a lower heat. Adding woodpellets raised the temperature, too. Wood pellets do not start well, but adding them by a small handful after the stove caught fire keeps things glowing.

It boiled 2 quarts of water in a pot with a thick aluminum bottom in less than 12 minutes (the picture above shows a different pot). I am sure the boil time will change, as the weather and the wind condition change. But i thought the time was pretty good.

Then, at about 2 hours of total run time, the motor developed a noise. As I subsequently used the stove, the noise became louder (something like a far-away wood chipper's whine). At the last use of the stove, the motor quit after about 10 minutes into use. Now the total run time so far was less than 5 hours.

I was disappointed to say the least.

So I emailed SolHuma. The second try got the attention of the owner, Martin, and we exchanged investigatory emails. I offered to buy one spare motor in addition to the motor on warranty. I was concerned that the new motor might suffer the similar fate. Both motors arrived. It took a month, since the initial contact. But once the communication was exchanged back and forth, the motors took about 2 weeks to get here. Thanks, Martin, if you are reading this.

Initially, I suspected the heat from the stove did something to the motor. The stove got pretty hot during the uses previously. I thought I would have to take the motor off the stove, in order to see if there were any damage from the intense heat the stove generated.

I visually inspected the old motor, and I could not find any sign of the heat damage. The fins on the turbine were intact, as sound as those of the new motor. I could hear a faint "click" as I turned the turbine. The new motor did not yield any sound. The turbine is made of hard plastic, very light, yet tough.

At this point, I am not sure, if it was heat or the mechanical failure. Maybe it was the heat. Or, maybe, the motor had a defect. The fins are intact on the turbine, because it is in constant contact with air. I could have taken apart the motor, but I did not want to bother with that. Instead, I decided to run the Stove hard at the max fan setting. It ran for one hour continuously without any problem. This time the firebox did not glow red, however.

When I opened the underbelly of the stove, held by 5 screws, one screw decided to break off. Arrgh! That one was frozen inside, and the screw chose to die, rather than yield. So now the new motor is held by a team of 4 obedient screws, instead of 5. There is no problem with the security of the motor. I decided to lubricate the screws with petroleum jelly, before I reinstall them.

This is how Vital Stove looks underside.

The electric connector, which connects the battery pack to the stove, is held by two tiny screws: they gave up without any trouble. I popped in the new motor, tightened the screws, and the stove was good to go. A really simple operation, it was.

This time, I used only mesquite charcoal and wood chips.

When I dumped the remaining hot coal, I noticed one thing: this time, the stove ran cooler than the last time! Before, the stove was too hot to touch, and I had to watch the grass grow, before the fan cooled it down enough to touch. I guess I will keep the stove from glowing from now on. The new motor will likely serve its master faithfully before it wears out.

Vital stove is compact, compared to the Wood Gas Stove. My Wood Gas Stove XL is about the size of a gallon paint can. It is a superb bio mass stove. The advantage of the Vital Stove is its compactness. With a spare set of 2 AA batteries, you can stay out in the wilderness for a week. I count about 5 hours' worth of use on a set of alkaline AA. After that, the battery power is not so great to enjoy the full power of the Vital Stove. I figure 10 hours of operation time is more than enough for a week's cooking for 1-2 persons, even up to 4 persons, in my opinion.

The Wood Gas Stove produces little smoke, but Vital stove will produce significant smoke, when using woody fuel. That is the only downside of the Vital Stove. But once the fire is going strong, the smoke is minimal.

Normally, a liquid fuel stove needs a windscreen to raise its efficiency and to cut the boil time. With Vital stove, the fire area is so big, about 12 square inches, that a windscreen is not needed. I used the stove in the breezy area, and I did not feel any delay in boil time.

I was going to take this to Point Reyes's backpacking camp, but, alas, open fire is not allowed. I will have to take it somewhere else to put it through the test.

One gripe that I hear from other users is that it is difficult to store the fire box under the stove where it belongs. The problem is that the fire box's stainless steel panels distort under the intense heat at the first firing, and this warpage interferes with the smooth movement in and out of the storage space. All you need to do is to press the panel flat with your thumbs, and gently push it in or out. That will keep it from hanging up on the structure of the underside of the stove. There is no need to force it. You will hardly ever get it in or out by forcing it.

I would also caution against getting the battery pack wet. It is not so sturdily manufactured. I took the small screw off that hold the panel together. I did not want to carry another item, a screwdriver, when I venture out, in case I need to replace the batteries. I will wrap a rubber band around the pack, so I won't lose the cover.

I am quite satisfied with Vital Stove.

Wood Gas Camp Stove

This is Wood Gas Camp Stove XL. This is the larger version of LE. The broshure says it holds 2.5 time of the fuel than LE.


This stove runs best with the use of wood pellets, but twigs, pin cone, etc can provide great, comforting fire. In order to start, I just used the BBQ starter fuel. A couple second long squirt on the top of the pellets got it going. I filled it with 5 handfuls of pellets (medium-sized hand), and it lasted about 30 minutes at various settings, until the pellets were reduced to ashes and charcoals. I tried with 10 handfuls of pellets, and it lasted more than one hour at Low setting.

At "high" setting of the fan, it can boil 2L of water under 9 minutes. There was a slight breeze, and the flame was not blown about by the wind. The pot in the picture has a 1/4 inch-thick bottom, so if a backpacking style pot with thinner bottom is used, I am sure it will cut the boiling time down. The firepower of the Wood Gas Stove at High setting matches the firepower of Optimus 111T, if not more. 111T can boil 1L of water in 4 minutes.



It appears that each handful of pellets adds the average of 5-6 minutes of burn time. For regular cooking duty, I would recommend wood pellets first, then twigs. Pine cone burns too ferociously, and it generates too large a flame. I would save pine cones for the camp fire. Besides, a single pine cone can take up the space inside the fire bowl, and leave not much room for other fuel. The pine cones I collect from nearby pine trees are rather large, and one pine cone completely fills the fire bowl.


Wood Gas Stove needs the battery power to operate properly. Without the battery connected to the socket (2 sockets: High and Low), it generates a lot of smoke. Once bettery power is supplied to the fan, the smoke is significantly reduced. At Low setting, you can smell the smoke, but it is not eye-stinging. You can hardly see the smoke rising. At High setting, you can hardly smell the smoke, and it is almost completely removed. Above picture shows the flame at Low setting.

The picture below is a screenshot of the Stove running with power off. The flames are long and smokey. It can be used this way, but the pot will become very sooty. By the way, the picture of the pot above shows the soot-covered bottom, but the Wood Gas Stove will never let that happen, unless you run it with the power off.


Once you let the fire go out by not adding the fuel at the proper interval, the new load of fuel will generate much smoke. Just blow a few times into the fire bowl, and the flame will catch easily. The pine cone tends to generate a lot of smoke, if the flame was not big enough to begin with. Just blow into the fire bowl, and it will catch fire easily. Sometimes, the fan does not help your fuel catch fire, if you just added a large piece of wood or pine cone on a weak flame. Again, blowing your breath into the fire bowl will get the fire going quickly.

The above video shows Wood Gas Stove running at High setting. The flame is generated by mere 5 handfuls of wood pellets. That amount of pellets barely covers the bottom four pellets thick.

The stove is rather large, similar to 1-gallon paint can. So it would not be ideal to pack, if you backpack--unless you have a sherpa. If you car camp, then this is one heck of a stove to carry along. If you have a canoe or kayak, then this stove should serve you very well.

I am quite impressed, and completely satisfied, with Wood Gas Stove. Its fuel efficiency is amazing, and you can have a hot fire going, after spending just 5 minutes gathering the twigs. I would not hesitate to recommend this one to anyone interested in wood burning stove.

Now, I have to make the excuse to take this stove to the woods.