WOW! Now if that doesn't help me, nothing will. I won't even attempt to get the carb off. I have maintained this engine every season - new plugs, filter, oil and filter, etc. Actually, this year I decided not to change the plugs as it seemed like overkill. It's funny that the engine surges at high idle only. Low idle is perfect. I've replaced the fuel filter over the last few years with Home Depot/John Deere replacements. This year I splurged and bought a OEM Honda replacement. At the same time, I added a bottle of STP carb/fuel injector cleaner (I was unable to find Seafoam at Wal-Mart and Pep Boys) to a full tank of gas (5 gallons) and a quick run-through sounded 'better'. We'll see after I run it for an hour. But at least I now know that I won't even attempt to get to the jets as it sounds like it's not worth it. On another - related topic - I have two Tecumseh-powered Ariens snow blowers that were purchased within the last seven years. One is an 8hp and the other a 5hp that requires a mix. Both have required carburetor work - the 5hp only a year after purchase. I ended up bringing the 5hp one back as it was covered under warranty. (On the 8hp, I ended up replacing the carb with the 'pre-emissions' adjustable Tecumseh model I read about elsewhere in this forum. Works great.) The mechanic told me that many current engines have required early carb rebuilds due to 'crappy gas'. He even asked my what type of fuel stabilizer I use (Stabil) and suggested that he's also seen problems with anything other than the Briggs stabilzer. I guess I'll try that next season.

The latest is of the journal Science is devoted to hydrogen as a fuel and to other aspects of the energy equation. I've appended the titles; for access to full articles, you must be a subscriber. In the meantime, I'll post the series' editors introduction. ------------------------------------------------------------ Not So Simple Robert Coontz and Brooks Hanson Seen up close, hydrogen looks like a recipe for success. Small and simple--one proton and one electron in its most common atomic form--hydrogen was the first element to assemble as the universe cooled off after the big bang, and it is still the most widespread. It accounts for 90% of the atoms in the universe, two-thirds of the atoms in water, and a fair proportion of the atoms in living organisms and their geologic legacy, fossil fuels. To scientists and engineers, those atoms offer both promise and frustration. Highly electronegative, they are eager to bond, and they release energy generously when they do. That makes them potentially useful, if you can find them. On Earth, however, unattached hydrogen is vanishingly rare. It must be liberated by breaking chemical bonds, which requires energy. Once released, the atoms pair up into two-atom molecules, whose dumbbell-shaped electron clouds are so well balanced that fleeting charge differences can pull them into a liquid only at a frigid -252.89 Celsius, 20 kelvin above absolute zero. The result, at normal human-scale temperatures, is an invisible gas: light, jittery, and slippery; hard to store, transport, liquefy, and handle safely; and capable of releasing only as much energy as human beings first pump into it. All of which indicates that using hydrogen as a common currency for an energy economy will be far from simple. The papers and News stories in this special section explore some of its many facets. Consider hydrogen's green image. As a manufactured product, hydrogen is only as clean or dirty as the processes that produce it in the first place. Turner (p. 972) describes various options for large-scale hydrogen production in his Viewpoint. Furthermore, as News writer Service points out (p. 958), production is just one of many technologies that must mature and mesh for hydrogen power to become a reality, a fact that leads many experts to urge policymakers to cast as wide a net as possible. In some places, the transition to hydrogen may be relatively straightforward. For her News story (p. 966), Vogel visited Iceland, whose abundant natural energy resources have given it a clear head start. Elsewhere, though, various technological detours and bridges may lie ahead. The Viewpoint by Demirdöven and Deutch (p. 974) and Cho's News story (p. 964) describe different intermediate technologies that may shape the next generation of automobiles. Meanwhile, the fires of the fossil fuel-based "carbon economy" seem sure to burn intensely for at least another half-century or so [see the Editorial by Kennedy (p. 917)]. Service's News story on carbon sequestration (p. 962) and Pacala and Socolow's Review (p. 968) explore strategies--including using hydrogen--for mitigating their effects. Two generations down the line, the world may end up with a hydrogen economy completely different from the one it expected to develop. Perhaps the intermediate steps on the road to hydrogen will turn out to be the destination. The title we chose for this issue--Toward a Hydrogen Economy-- reflects that basic uncertainty and the complexity of what is sure to be a long, scientifically engaging journey. ============================================================ SPECIAL ISSUE: Toward a Hydrogen Economy --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Toward a Hydrogen Economy: Introduction to special issue -------------------- Not So Simple Robert Coontz and Brooks Hanson http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/305/5686/957?etoc p. 957 Toward a Hydrogen Economy: News -------------------- The Hydrogen Backlash Robert F. Service http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/305/5686/958?etoc p. 958 The Carbon Conundrum Robert F. Service http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/305/5686/962?etoc p. 962 Choosing a CO2 Separation Technology Robert F. Service http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/305/5686/963?etoc p. 963 Fire and ICE: Revving Up for H2 Adrian Cho http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/305/5686/964?etoc p. 964 Will the Future Dawn in the North? Gretchen Vogel http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/305/5686/966?etoc p. 966 Can the Developing World Skip Petroleum? Gretchen Vogel http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/305/5686/967?etoc p. 967 Toward a Hydrogen Economy: Viewpoint -------------------- Sustainable Hydrogen Production John A. Turner http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/305/5686/972?etoc p. 972 Hybrid Cars Now, Fuel Cell Cars Later Nurettin Demirdoven and John Deutch http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/305/5686/974?etoc p. 974 Toward a Hydrogen Economy: Review -------------------- Stabilization Wedges: Solving the Climate Problem for the Next 50 Years with Current Technologies S. Pacala and R. Socolow http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/305/5686/968?etoc p. 968 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hi Bethesdamanman, My apologies then, Dave. I thought that I had recalled you posting on the other board that mortgage rates would stay low for years and years, and that we would never return to the high rates of years past. My error. Eeeesschhh .... well.... actually... kinda sorta, YES.... your apologies in this case are NOT warranted. Herein lies a case of "text failing where a verbal conversation *may* have worked better." I've never said rates would stay low "well... forever".... I HAVE said rates (30 FRM rates to be precise) will unlikely climb over 7% in our lifetimes. I *STILL* stand by that.... albeit, I am now offering that we are entering a territory of government-induced inflation at levels I (perhaps naively) thought the United States political system was above. If we continue down the path of dollar-dilution that we've begun accelerating along, there are only two end-game results; A) we reverse course back out of it before we self-destruct in revolution, B) we self-destruct (and the devil we do not know is always a potential problem.) *IF* we successfully reverse and dig ourselves out of the hole of trouble our most recent past and our current government administrations are hell-bent on digging us into... there are only two ways of "sopping back & vacuuming up" the diluted unbacked funny-money that has been injected out into the system; A) The Treasury collects more taxes than it provides to the government to spend, and/or, B) The Fed increases interest rates higher than its blended payout on the treasury bonds (and then some... the greater the positive income spread to the Fed, the more painful to the "fixed-income retired crowd" which is our baby-boomer bubble... who will rally with AARP-sponsored pitchforks.) Both A & B will be met with *MASSIVE* resistance from the only crowd that the poloticos *KNOW* will consistently show up to vote, and have almost unlimited spare time to write, call, email, and generally pester the daylights out of the politicians; The Seniors. SO.... I've learned to never rely on "common sense" when it comes to anticipating "government logic" (an oxymoron if there ever was one.) Obama has enlisted the original architect of option B... Paul Volcker... as a "senior economic advisor." ("Senior" may (MAY) work somewhat to our advantage here... as Gramps Volcker *MIGHT* have some age-gained sensitivity to his classmate comrade's plight.) Volcker is the one who decided to fight inflation in the 1970's by driving short-term interest rates up to the 20%'s... The late '70's and early '80's result was that Volcker recaptured (in a VERY painful way) the excess liquidity (flooding of funny money) our country created by going off the gold standard and adopting a "weak dollar" policy through the 1960's. WHAT WILL WA DC DO??????????????? I dunno.... (I know what I pray/chant/meditate they will do...) *IF* the government (both the loonie left & jackthug right) get OUT of the way of the naturally balancing markets... then my expectations and predictions stand, with virtually my 100% confidence. My fears are that the United States idea of a market-based capitalist self-righting system has been a grand and wonderful social experiment... but that the human frailties (compounded in mob psychology) are sabotaging the underlying DNA strands that made it possible to stand. My COMFORTING REALIZATION... is that despite my egoistic pride for being part of a "successful system".... even if that system turns out to be a decaying failure, INDIDIVIDUALLY I and my family, and those I guide, can still retain their own personal success and quality of life. Cheers, Dave Donhoff Leverage Planner

I can only say that we have had the Rejuvenation latches for 12 years and I still love-love-love them. No split wood or any other issues, and two of the cabinets get daily use. Ours are on flush inset cabinetry (and we also have one on our bathroom cabinet, with no issues there either). I will say that lining up the latches is important and takes some precision, so I can imagine a GC not being super excited about that. But our cabinetmaker had no problem getting it right, and that's not specific to Rejuvenation's latch design. ETA: We have solid poplar frames with MDF panel inserts for painted cabinets. The material could make a difference?