Florida Alliance for Renewable Energy

About FARE

The Florida Alliance for Renewable Energy “FARE” is a coalition of concerned individuals, businesses, communities, associations, policy makers, non-profits, and renewable energy producers. FARE is dedicated to educating and engaging Floridians on Renewable Energy Dividends. RED's have proven to be the most wide-spread and effective legislation for the promotion of renewable energy. Support FARE today and help secure a future for Florida that includes job creation, energy independence and environmental stewardship.

Weather and NPR

Our weather has been unusually hot. High temps daily in the 90s. That is really unusual for us. Even so, our PV system has been cranking out 35 percent and up of our energy. With the AC running constantly that is not too bad. We still have a lot of work to do on conservation. When our major appliances get old enough we will replace them with Energy Star ones. We have two refrigerators and that alone should save us about 10+ KWH per day. It is more cost effective to replace inefficient appliances than it is to add more solar panels.

A couple of days ago while taking Barbara to the dentist I turned on the radio. It happened to be tuned to NPR and the Dian Rehm show. They were talking about solar energy. It was a good show with a great panel made up of:

Rob Lamkin, CEO, Cool Earth Solar

Rhone Resch, president and chief executive officer, Solar Energy Industries Association

Peter Fox-Penner, principal and chairman emeritus, The Brattle Group, an international economic consulting firm,former Department of Energy official, and author of the forthcoming Island Press book "Smart Power"

Alex Daue, Renewable Energy Coordinator with the Wilderness Society.

Something urged me to call in and boy was I shocked when they took my call. I was so surprised that my thoughts were not as organized as I would have liked them to be. I still managed to convey some of our experiences of living in a solar home and got a nice compliment from the panel. You can go to the Diane Rehm Show website and listen if you want. My call came in about two thirds of the way into the show. Click here to go to the website. The audio links are on the right.

Another Tiny PC

fit-PC2 Wiki

CompuLab introduces fit-PC2 – the smallest, most power-efficient Intel Atom PC to date. fit-PC2 architecture is what sets it apart from other nettop PCs - fit-PC2 is designed around the Intel Atom Z530 1.6GHz and the ultra low power Intel US15W system controller hub, rather than the Atom N270 and 945G used in other nettop-PCs, thereby reducing power consumption by more than two thirds.
US15W incorporates hardware video acceleration. This allows fit-PC2 to run Windows XP or Ubuntu Linux at just 6W and to play full HD 1080p H.264 video using less than 7W.
Unique Features
Size

The most striking feature of fit-PC2 is its size - 4" x 4.5" x 1.05" - smaller than a CD.
Fanless Operation

fit-PC2 is totally fanless - the all-aluminum case dissipates heat. This has two advantages -

*
o fit-PC2 is noiseless, or absolutely silent if used with a solid state disk.
o Increased reliability due to no moving parts.

Wall Wart Computer

Marvell SheevaPlug: $99 Linux PC hidden in a wall-wart - SlashGear

Marvell SheevaPlug: $99 Linux PC hidden in a wall-wart
By Chris Davies on Tuesday, Feb 24th 2009

Worth Reading?
NoYes

+92 [96 votes]

Marvell have been talking up their SheevaPlug reference design, a wall-wart power plug that actually hides an entire Linux PC. Priced at $99, inside the SheevaPlug there’s an ARM-based 1.2GHz Sheeva embedded processor, 512MB of DDR2 memory, 512MB of flash storage, gigabit ethernet and USB 2.0; in fact the development kit is available now.

Black-hooded Parakeet

Black-hooded Parakeet
Originally uploaded by ReinhardG

We had one of these on our bird feeder this morning. Since we use one of those weight balanced feeders, the parakeet was unable to perch without closing the cover over the seed. I heard the typical sounds of a parrot and I always try to see them even though they are fairly common in this area . To my surprise, a Nanday or Black-hooded parakeet was trying to land on the feeder. I understand that they are an invasive species but it sure was pretty.

Roar and Brake

This comment extracted from a CNET article on the Toyota Prius sure struck a nerve.  We have noticed the same thing as we drive.  People sit at a light.  The light turns green and the stomp the accelerator to get to the next light which turns red just as they arrive.  We cruise past in "old man mode" and they stomp it and brake hard at the next light as we cruise through.  It was amuzing to see someone else express this as well as this commentor on the web site did.

Chasing the Toyota Prius' 50-mpg nirvana | Green Tech - CNET News

@sausagebiscuit

What I do find amusing is that most traffic lights are timed for a specific road speed. I can't tell you how many times, I have been passed by a guy doing 5 over the limit. While I drive the limit. 90% of the time I find him stopped at the next light. As I roll up doing the speed limit the light turns green I don't need to brake or accelerate. I pass the guy who passed me, only to see him roar up past me again. And we repeat the process over and over, as he roars past brakes hard at the light sits, and grumbles then roars past again.

Solar Startups in the Sunshine State

Some of Central Florida's solar-power companies - OrlandoSentinel.com

Energy Alternatives, DeLand: A former airline pilot, Sandra Williams was waiting in a long line of planes in New York when she suddenly became aware of what she calls "my long history of bad fossil-fuel karma." She whipped out a calculator and determined that she had personally been responsible for using 1.5 million gallons of gas in her aviation career. She hung up her captain's uniform and started working on a book called The Queen of Green Tells All. In 2005, she started her company and got to work installing solar water heaters in homes and businesses. Williams is seeking grants to do solar education.

Great way to use rainwater.

Rain2o: Source for Rain Water Harvesting Equipment

HOW MUCH RAIN FALLS ON YOUR ROOF?

Would you be surprised to hear 50,000 gallons annually? That’s the answer when big and small homes are averaged together and different levels of rain fall are taken into account (see Table 1). A modest ½” of rain yields 700 gallons of rain water on a typical roof and all of that pours through your downspouts. Rain barrels are an excellent way to collect and store some of your rain water for use between rains, for example, to water your gardens using soaker hoses. The cost to set up a few rain barrels is modest and easily recouped through savings from reduced water and sewer bills.

Laser "cure" for blindness tested (BBC)

This is pretty exciting news for our older friends who may have macular degeneration.

BBC NEWS | Health | Laser 'cure' for blindness tested

Laser 'cure' for blindness tested
Elderly eye
AMD causes blurred or distorted central vision

A ground-breaking laser treatment could prevent millions of older people from going blind, experts believe.

The technique helps reverse the effects of age-related macular degeneration - the leading cause of blindness in over 60s in the western world.

Developed by pioneering eye expert Professor John Marshall of King's College London, the laser returns the back of the eye to its youthful state.

Five new apps for the Iphone

Five fab apps for iPhone OS 3.0 and the new 3GS

Here's a quick look at five applications iPhone and iPod Touch owners should consider. The easiest way to track them down is by accessing the App Store on the iPhone and searching for the app title. (You can do it in iTunes, too, if you want.)

Bob flies the BluBaby

Blu-Baby Flight Demo from Robert Brown on Vimeo.

Remarkable video footage from RC models.

Making of: FPV Air2Air Hydroplane from flip on Vimeo.

Florida lawmakers just can't get it right. Sunshine State? Not yet.

Solar disarray: Lawmakers bungle green push

As a blazing sun bore down this week, Southwest Florida got a sweltering reminder of true solar power.

With the intensity and frequency of its sunshine, Florida should be a world leader in harnessing this potent form of renewable energy.

Yet, the state has only a handful of commercial solar arrays, offers a paltry $5 million rebate program and serves merely as a conduit for federal stimulus funds targeted to renewable energy projects.

Despite good goals set by Gov. Charlie Crist, Florida has done too little to increase the use and generation of solar power or to encourage businesses or jobs in developing, supplying or installing the equipment.

Behind the scenes...how RC gear really works.

RC Gear from Crazy Builders on Vimeo.

This is a pretty interesting explanation of how RC, Radio Control, gear works. We take a lot of this for granted but when you see what goes on behind the scenes you understand just how remarkable the technology is today. Wait for the end. Pretty funny.

Aspire One Solar Logger

AspireOneSolarLogger
Originally uploaded by rbrown3rd

My new netbook, and Acer Aspire One. This one is running Windows XP and is functioning as the server that uploads data to http://bbbrown.mysolarlog.com/ . It takes the place of a headless Dell machine running Windows Vista. This change reduces energy consumption of the server by 1.22 kwh per day. This is a significant savings over the old machine and is just one little bit of energy that we are no longer consuming. It is amazing how many small things we have plugged in that are sucking small amounts of energy. It all adds up.

webkit

webkit
Originally uploaded by asadotzler

Talk about a steady decline. Internet Explorer has been gliding down from the altitude it got by being bundled with all new computers. Does this mean that the PC user community is getting more savvy with time? Firefox shows a steady growth. I just tested the new Safari 4 on my Mac and it has some very nice features. I believe that it is built on the Gecko engine like the new Firefox. I have also test Chrome by Google and it is really fast but as of yet has few addons or enhancements. For now, I will stick with Firefox as my web browser.

Dramatic gains in truck efficiency through aerodynamic testing.

AeroTruck E-38096: Air flow testing on aerodynamic truck

During a decade spanning the 1970s and 1980s, Dryden researchers conducted tests to determine the extent to which adjustments in the shape of trucks reduced aerodynamic drag and improved efficiency. During the tests, the vehicle's sides were fitted with tufts, or strings, that showed air flow. The investigators concluded that rounding the vertical corners front and rear reduced drag by 40 percent, yet decreased the vehicle's internal volume by only 1.3 percent. Rounding both the vertical and horizontal corners cut drag by 54 percent, resulting in a three percent loss of internal volume. A second group of tests added a faired underbody and a boat tail, the latter feature resulting in drag reduction of about 15 percent.

My Firefox Add Ons

Believe me when I say I have done a LOT of testing with Firefox addons.  After considerable experimentation this is my current stable of Firefox addons that provide such incredible functionality that I have yet to see a web browser that approaches this setup.  I'll publish a series of discussions about each of these in the future and what I find so useful about each of them but for now, here is my list:

Firefox and the "Awesomebar"

A Little Something Awesome about Firefox 3 :: The Mozilla Blog

A Little Something Awesome about Firefox 3
Posted by Mary Colvig

April 21st, 2008 · Mozilla News, Tips & Tricks

Deb Richardson, author of the about:mozilla newsletter, wrote one of the better explanations I’ve seen on the “AwesomeBar,” Firefox 3’s revamped URL bar. It’s not the most humble of names, but if you check out Deb’s post you’ll see why it’s earned it.

In Deb’s words, here’s a quick snapshot of what makes Firefox 3’s URL bar just so awesome:

Dubbed the “AwesomeBar”, it lets you use the URL field of your browser to do a keyword search of your history and bookmarks. No longer do you have to know the domain of the page you’re looking for — the AwesomeBar will match what you’re typing (even multiple words!) against the URLs, page titles, and tags in your bookmarks and history, returning results sorted by “frecency” (an algorithm combining frequency + recency).

Only in South Florida

Iguana problems tackled at Palm Beach County symposium -- South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com

Leapin' lizards. Literally.

More than 100 people showed up at the Palm Beach County Cooperative Extension Service building west of West Palm Beach on Tuesday to learn about everything iguana. There was information ranging from what plants are most vulnerable to an iguana palate to how to harass and euthanize them if they become a nuisance.

Cooliris for Firefox

I love this addition to Firefox.  It is a stunningly beautiful way to browse photos and videos by category or on any web page.  This is one of my recommended Firefox add ons.

Cooliris :: Firefox Add-ons

Full-Screen, 3D -- Cooliris is simply the fastest and most stunning way to browse photos and videos from the Web or your desktop. Effortlessly scroll a "3D Wall" of your content from Facebook, Google Images, YouTube, Flickr, and hundreds more.

The future of browsing, at least with Firefox our favorite browser.

From "ReadWriteWeb" a glimpse into the future of web browsers.  We currently use Firefox with several add ons that give our browser customized power.  One of these is called Ubiquity and another enhances tabbed browsing.  The add ons that we find useful to us seem to be useful to others too.  The future of Firefox seems to incorporate all of them into the browser itself.  We find this article innteresting and perhaps you will too.

The Future of Firefox: No Tabs, Built-In Ubiquity - ReadWriteWeb

Thanks to its extensibility, Firefox quickly became the favorite browser for most power users. But while extensions are a great way to make Firefox more functional, Mozilla's designers are also currently thinking about a complete redesign of the way the browser looks and feels, in order to keep up with changing usage patterns. The most radical proposal we have seen so far would do away with the standard browser tabs, and replace them with an interface that looks more like iTunes than Firefox.

Earth Trainer Tomato Growing

This is a great set of instructions for growing tomatoes  hydroponically in plastic storage containers.  The link is here.  Complete instructions including videos are available.  Just continue through the article to the bottom.  I've always had an interest in this and will probably give it a try this spring.  I used a hydroponically watered feed tray to start some Amaryllis seedlings.  They are all doing well.  One of our lilies produced big seed heads and just as an experiment we tried germinating them by using what is known as the "California Method.'  It involves floating the seeds in glass containers until they germinate.  I used some big glass casserole trays and it worked.  I would say we got about a fifty percent germination rate.  The method of growing described in this tomato article might also be a great way to continue growing those seedlings.  I am definitely going to give this a try. 

Nice Orchids For You..

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

Nice Orchids For You..

View more presentations from Dinisha .

Plug-in Vehicles for Clean transportation

This this technology is far off in the future?  Watch a video about a family who has driven for 7 years and 70,000 miles with no gas and using only the energy generated from their solar panels.  This could have been implemented almost a decade ago and was not.  Our own house generates excess energy during the day.  We could use it to charge up a plug in vehicle.

Watch this fascinating video right here.

New things in Gmail

Gmail has served us well as a web based email client.  The developers are always coming up with new things to make it even more appealing.  Here are some new features that I really like:

	YouTube previews in mail by Stanley C and Braden K Shows a video preview whenever you receive a YouTube link in an email. You can watch the video right inline!
	Picasa previews in mail by Dan, Stanley, Mark & Umesh Shows photos previews whenever you receive a Picasa link in an email.
	Flickr previews in mail by Dan P Shows photos previews whenever you receive a Flickr link in an email.

...and this one is especially nice.  It is still under development but works well.  The delay needs to be a bit longer or user configurable.  But, this is very nice.  We used to have an undo in our email at work and it saved me many times when I sent something and then had second thoughts about it.

Undo Send by Yuzo F Oops, hit "Send" too soon? Stop messages from being sent for a few seconds after hitting the send button.

First Ever Whale Sedation

A right whale was sedated in order to remove entangled fishing gear.  About 90 percent of the gear was removed.  Read more.

Federal Tax Credits for Energy Efficiency

Here is a list of all the new tax credits for energy efficiency.  There are a lot of them.

Solar systems thirty percent off. Buy now.

Solar stuff that Obama will help you buy.

The new tax credits amount to thirty percent off for photovoltaic and solar water heating systems.  If only we had the money.  Well in Florida you also get $4 a watt for photovoltaic systems and $500 for solar water heaters.  So, for photovoltaic systems that is almost another thirty percent off.  Wow.  Wish the tax credit cap had been removed when we installed ours.  We would have saved a LOT.

Mozy Backups

After years of using external hard drives and all sorts of other backup schemes for my computers I took the plunge and decided to give Mozy a try. This site is a good summary of the service. I gave up thinking I could be a reliable support service for my own computers. First I switched to using Google Mail when it first came out. I admit that much of the decision was based on the functionality I saw in their calendar and the way it integrated with email. So, we have used Gmail and Google Calendar for years now and have been extremely happy with it. I won't go into all of the reasons because this post is about Mozy. You can read the excellent review of the service at this site. I'll post more about my use of this service as time goes on. Our two computers, a Mac and a PC, are in the initial backup stage right now. That is a bit time consuming but once the first backup is completed all others are incremental so that they should take only a short time. I was satisfied with the security and privacy protections at Mozy. Thanks Nick Barardi for an excellent overview and review of Mozy.

Energy Panel Discussion

This is an insight into what the future holds for energy management and monitoring.

They sail on pink oil, the strangest sailing club in the world.

Sail World - Powerboat-world: Sail and sailing, cruising, boating news

I found this article to be fascinating from a sailing viewpoint and from a geographical viewpoint.  I might also add that anyone with an interest in water management would find the story about this transient lake in Australia intriguing as well.  Sailors are indeed some of the most interesting people in the world.

My Favorite Firefox Addons

These are the Firefox add on applications that I have installed.  Extensive testing and evaluation have demonstrated that these are most useful for every day web browsing and file manipulation. 

Greem Tax Credits In New Stimulus Bill

How You Can Green Your Home and Cash in on Stimulus Money | Environment | AlterNet

Hampton Falls, N.H. -- Energy-saving systems for the attic, basement, and in between have effectively gone on sale, courtesy of the United States Congress.

The Mothership Media Center

This is the media center in the Mothership, my Iphone in Ipod mode with a Belkin FM transmitter that sends the music to the FM radio. This puts our huge library of music into a very small package with a great graphical search interface. This makes owning the Iphone worthwhile if none of the other amazing functions and applications were available. The music quality is better than the speakers we have in the Mothership. We can listen to hours and hours of our favorite music this way. A real plus is that the power consumption is extremely low.

Google Maps or Mapquest? Vote here.

Reader Poll: Google Maps or MapQuest?

Here at Lifehacker, most of us made the switch to Google Maps in its early days—back before MapQuest had added any of the AJAX map scrolling and zooming that made Google Maps stand out. Still, when it comes to getting directions, I'm always surprised when I hear people use MapQuest as a verb the same way they use Google (i.e., "I'll just MapQuest it."). So we're curious to hear which you're using for your mapping and directions needs:

LED, CFL or Incandescent? Ask Pablo

LED lights | Salon Life

A 10W CFL, available online for $6.90, has an expected median lifetime of 10,000 hours. While this is about 10 times longer than the life expectancy of an incandescent bulb, it is only one-fifth the expected life of the LED. So LEDs have the potential of cutting down on ladder time by a factor of 50 over incandescent bulbs! At about 25 cents apiece, the incandescent has by far the lowest upfront cost, which is why many people still use them. If we normalize the cost of all the bulbs over a 50,000-hour period, the incandescent bulbs cost $12.50, while CFL bulbs cost $34.50, and the LED bulb costs $59.95. But, as you may already know, the upfront cost of a bulb is by far the cheapest part. It's the electricity required to operate the bulb that adds up.

Over a period of 50,000 hours, a 40W incandescent bulb will use 2,000 kilowatt-hours (kWh). At 15 cents per kWh, this will put $300 in the pocket of your local utility, bringing the total cost of the incandescent bulb, over 50,000 hours, up to $312.50. The CFL bulb only uses 500kWh over the same time period, or $75, totaling $109.50. Finally, the LED bulb will use 350kWh for $52.50, with a total cost of $112.45. So, in this example, the LED light does cost a few dollars more but the difference is negligible. Think of the time you will save by not running to the store to buy bulbs and climbing the ladder to change them.

Buy a Prius or a used car?

Prius Envy | Mother Jones

So how are we nonengineers supposed to know when to junk our old car without guilt? By Päster's numbers, building an average midsize car in 2007 emitted 18,000 pounds of CO2—about the same as burning 900 gallons of gas. He won't commit to exact numbers, but he does have a rule of thumb: If your jalopy is moderately efficient (i.e., gets better than 25 mpg) and you don't drive it much, keeping it is better than buying a new car. "But if you have an old car with pretty lousy fuel economy," he says, "then you're better off getting a new car because the emissions from making a new car are really not that big compared to the emissions from using the car."

Gainesville, Florida Passes First Feed-in Tarriff in US

Florida City Passes First Solar Feed-in Tariff in US : Red, Green, and Blue

Place Names

Tranquility Cove and Tranquility Cove (in Clarendon County, SC)

Found these references to Tranquility Cove on the Internet. Interesting that the name is referenced in many places that are part of the internet. It would have been impossible for my grandfather to have imagined this when he stood here before the lake was flooded and named it. The name "Tranquility Cove" appears in many places now including all of the US Geological Survey maps. Every place name has a history. The one that I remember most vividly is "Cape Canaveral." When I was stationed there in the Navy back in the 1960's, Congress tried to change the name of the town as well as the base to "Cape Kennedy." A great furor erupted in the town and the protest resulted in the name remaining the original "Cape Canaveral." How many fascinating place names based on a real story have been wiped clean by some well meaning city council, state government, or congress to honor some contemporary person or event. This is shameful in my opinion because original place names should be protected along with their history and meaning.

Mac Mini as Web Kiosk

I live 500 miles away from my mom and dad. My dad has been a Webtv/MSNTV user now for over a decade. It has served him well giving us communications that we would never had had without it. He knows it well and is quite comfortable using it. Over the last year I have become concerned about the device's limited ability to keep up as web site evolve rapidly to contain more and more features based on Flash and other programming that challenge the device's capabilities. Simply playing a YouTube video from beginning to end has become an impossibility.

Without being overly critical and detailing the limitations of Webtv/MSNTV I want to document the solution I came up with as a backup with the goal of migrating completely to in time. I decided that a Mac Mini was the best solution. It is very small in size, not much larger physically than a thick paperback book yet it has surprising capabilities.

I chose the display first and sense dad's tv was an old Sony CRT it was time to migrate to a more modern unit. Based on a combination of price, capability, and positive reviews on the internet we purchased a 48 inch Sharp Aquos LCD TV that had an HDMI input. The 1020 x 740 progressive display capability essentially gave us a 48 inch computer monitor combined with a beautiful TV display. This particular TV gave us enough signal input options that we could also incorporate the Webtv/MSNTV unit into the mix by simply using one of the RCA inputs. Of course we hooked up his DirecTivo satellite receiver to another of the inputs.

Next we added the Mac Mini to the mix by using a DVI to HDMI cable which we had ordered at the same time we ordered the Mac Mini. It is important to order this so that it is available when you hook up the Mac Mini as they can be a bit hard to find if you live in a rural area. There is quite a bit of debate on the net as to the relative merits of HDMI as opposed to composite input but we decided on the DVI to HDMI as a good compromise.

We ran into a bit of a challenge with the upscaling of the signal from the Mac Mini to the Aquos TV. It is not a show stopper but does require a bit of twiddling with the TV settings. The signal from the Mac is 1024 by 7??? and the TV is a 1080 P display. ???? There are settings on the TV that allow one to matchup the two.

Once the hardware is setup and configured properly you end up with a really nice 48 inch display for internet browsing and email. A bonus is that the Mac Mini also functions as a nice DVD player when properly configured thereby eliminating one unit in the home theatre setup. The system is functional at this point but when migrating a Webtv/MSNTV user to a PC/Mac windowed desktop environment there are a number of tweaks that are necessary to insure a seamless and easy to use system. There is nothing particularly difficult about this tweaking but it did require a lot of research to find everything to make it work with minimal user effort.

I chose to use the Firefox Browser because of its wealth of add ons and plugins that ease the fine tuning for ease of used and the new large display. Webtv uses Hotmail, now Windows Live Mail I think. It was necessary to migrate that into the Firefox Browser too.

Firefox has many options available as far as appearance goes by using various themes. After much trial and error we settled on the xxxxx theme which gives large icons which match up nicely with the display. We also changed the minimum font size to 18 to give good readability from a lounger chair distance from the TV.

Hotmail or Windows Live Mail is the same web based email used by the Webtv/MSNTV so choosing it saves all mail and addresses used on the MSNTV unit. This can be a hard concept for some Webtv users. It is difficult for them to understand that their email can be accessed and managed using any internet capable computer. It might require some effort to explain this so that the Webtv user has confidence that they do not have to return to the old unit to manage their email.

The default on the Mac is to go use the built in Mail client for any mailto links or for sending web page URLS through the file/send/link option in Firefox. After a lot of research we found that installing a small application called Webmailer solved the problem. Get webmailer here. The Firefox preferences might have to be changed to use Webmailer for all email links. Webmailer essentially adds an option pane in Mac OS X so that one can choose various webmail options such as Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail and many others.

The chat function was important for my dad and I and at first this seemed a difficult challenge. There seemed at first glance no easy way to adapt Ichat to use the old MS Instant Messenger that my dad was used to. I tried Meebo, a nice web based chat solution based on Ajax. I like it but my dad did not. Finally we settled on a free solution called Adium that can be dowloaded and installed easily. It is a nice chat solution that has many options and can handle all web chat systems including MS Instant Messenger, Yahoo, AOL, and a multitude of others.

I wanted to be able to manage the setup remotely so I investigated the remote desktop management solutions. The simplist seemed to be to turn on sharing with a password and the installation of the Vine Server to allow VNC access remotely. This works just fine but requires a bit of fiddling with the Cayman router/modem to send port 5900 to the internal IP of the Mac Mini. Once this is setup one can use any VNC client to remotely control the Mac Mini. With a good broadband connection this gives complete control over the unit allowing me to do maintenance and repairs from anywhere.

One of our goals was to add an audio/video chat capability which was impossible on the Webtv/MSNTV unit. We installed a Logitech 9000 Pro webcam on the system. This is simply a USB plugin. The Mac recognized it instantly and it required no configuration. Gotta love the Macs for their capability to recognize hardware with no twiddling or loading of software.

We then installed Skype, a free software package that gives video chat capability. On the Mac it also recognized the Logitech Webcam and we were able to video chat with our my son and his children 500 miles away. This works very well uses technology just as it should be used to bring people together over any geographic distance. The fact that it is all free is a wonderful thing for families.

Once the system hardware and software were setup for ease of use I created a home page on my server to provide a familiar and easy start page that I could edit and manage from my home office location. I added links for the sites that my mom and dad like to visit on a regular basis, the local weather, and the most common search sites such as Google, Wikipedia, and Snopes for checking out those wonderful Internet Myths that circulate by email

There are a lot of training issues in migrating from a Webt/MSNTV to a real computer system that allows multi tasking and windowing. I won't go into those at this time but they are real and require a LOT of patience and training. The benefits are great though and well worth the effort. I am impressed with the result, a nice computer/home theatre setup that is easy to use and powerful enough to handle almost any website.

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/apple/use-your-mac-mini-as-a-media-server-part-1/


VNC on the Mac
http://www.dssw.co.uk/blog/2007/05/14/a-vnc-server-is-included-in-mac-os-x-104/
http://www.freemacblog.com/mac-server-series-setting-up-vnc-on-your-mac/

Other nice addons:

http://www.malarkeysoftware.com/projects_PhotoGrabbr.html Photo Grabbr

Just want to share with you my experience with the Acer Aspire One in the solid state Linux configuration. The little netbook is a perfect Internet appliance. You are not going to be doing heavy duty image processing or video editing on it but I have found it can do it if you want to I loaded GIMP, the open source version of Photoshop on it and it works fine.

Mine, the Linux version, comes with a 16 gb solid state drive but has a slot for expansion via an SD card. I bought an 8 gb card for it for $12.95 from supermediastore. Today I see they have a 16 gb card for $24.95. This still leaves a slot for the SD card from your camera or other device free. I am 100 percent happy with the solid state version and would not buy a Windows XP version for this little machine.

It connects automatically to any available WiFi access point with no problem. It boots and runs very fast and gives me two hours of battery life with no special settings. I personally would not spend the extra $150 plus to get a Windows version with a rotating hard drive in it since that is pushing the little machine beyond the Internet appliance usage I intended it for. I just thought that this might be useful information for anyone considering buying one for this purpose. I paid $250 for mine and I love it.

Here is a great video review of the machine from the Tiger Direct Laptop Lounge. The one reviewed is the Windows XP one which is great if you are more comfortable with that OS but you are going to spend more and I don't really think that is necessary. Also, I just don't like the idea of a spinning drive in a machine like this. It is going to be with you all the time. In the car, on the bus, everywhere. I just think the solid state one is going to be more durable in the long run. Plus, you can bet that the kids are going to be playing with it when you are not using it.




Here are some news items about the Aspire One harvested by Google News:

Really, you’re going to buy it for me? ZDNet - USA He loves the Acer Aspire One and it has made it vastly easier for him to work, both in and out of class. This particular 9th-grader has Pervasive ... See all stories on this topic

The end of my love affair with Apple? ZDNet - USA As more teachers and students have a chance to play with the Acer Aspire One netbook that I’ve been floating around, most find, even if they don’t care for ... See all stories on this topic

Acer Aspire ONE now available at sub-Rs.15k VARIndia (press release) - New Delhi,India The icing on the cake being the fully loaded Windows XP Home version of the Aspire ONE now available for the very first time at an incredible price of under ... See all stories on this topic

The Mouse That Changed Computing

Closeup of mouse image - Photos: Engelbart's demo, 40 years later - CNET News

Fascinating article and photos of the first computer mouse.  It was indeed, "The Mouse that Changed Computing."

RechargeIT by Google

RechargeIT.org

This site shows the results of a controlled experiment by Google comparing a full range of vehicles from all internal combustion power to plug in hybrids.  The results are quite interesting.  As one would expect, the plug in hybrid did quite well but look at the Ford Escape plug in hybrid.  Pretty impressive for a small SUV.  I didn't  know a plug in version was available but I did know that the Ford Escape Hybrid won some awards for its innovative design. 

Congress moves on energy

There was big news in the solar industry as recent as last week. This, to me, is an example of how government can promote activity in an area without being heavy handed about it. For the last five years or so, I don't know the exact number, there has been a tax credit offered for anyone installing a solar electric system on their home or business. The tax credit is calculated as 30 percent of the cost of the installation. Remember, this is a tax credit not a deduction. But, the problem has been that the tax credit has been capped at $2,000. So, let's say I put in a $30,000 photovoltaic electrical generating system. I would get a 30 percent tax credit the year I put it in. The problem has been that the tax credit has been capped at $2,000. So, in my example, the $30,000 system would receive a tax credit of $2,000 instead of $10,000. This week the congress approved a new energy bill. It removed the cap on the tax credit for solar systems. That means that the example system costing $30,000 would net the owner a $10,000 tax credit. Now we have a real incentive in place. To carry our example farther, let's say the owner lives in Florida and has installed a 3,000 watt photovoltaic system on his house. Florida gives a $4 a watt rebate for installing a system. Now, the owner gets another $12,000 in cash for his system. The tax credit and the cash rebate total $22,000 leaving the owner with a net cost of $8,000 for a 3 kilowatt electrical generating system. The payoff assuming a benefit of $1,000 a year would be 8 years.



With the world having passed the peak of global oil production based on various calculations, it can be assumed that the price of energy obtained from petroleum is going to continue to climb over the coming years until oil becomes too expensive to extract from the earth. Various other sources of petroleum will enjoy some resurgence as the price of crude oil inexorably climbs due to reduced production all over the world. Sporadic forays into offshore drilling and exploitation of limited domestic sources will yield at best a few years reprieve. The industrialization of China and India will force demand higher in spite of any action the US takes to conserve. Americans are already feeling the pinch. The recent spike in gasoline prices has changed the automobile market at all levels affecting not only the manufacturers but also the dealers and most importantly the owners of gas consuming monsters that we have all been encouraged to buy over the last decade or so. If you own a large SUV and have gone in to trade for a new vehicle you have found that the value of your shiny Chevy Suburban that you cared for over the years has plummeted to near nothing. GM and Chrysler are in negotiations to form a single larger company in the throws of survival. Detroit has based its hopes on the Chevy Volt, an all electric vehicle that will cost over $30,000 and will not go into production until 2010. Meanwhile, Toyota dealers have up to a 10 month waiting list in some areas for the Prius, their much loved 50 mpg hybrid which has been in production for over 12 years. Detroit missed the boat completely.

With the present world wide economic crisis along with the future declining global oil supply, it is good that the USA has now elevated alternate energy production to a higher level of importance. Hydrogen is a very long way off in my opinion. T. Boone Pickens Plan which emphasises natural gas will require the installation of a nation wide refueling infrastructure. I spoke with a representative of our local public utility, the gas company, and asked him where the refueling stations were. He confirmed that there were none in Florida for private vehicles and that the only ones in place are for government vehicles. Florida under Governor Charlie Crist has put in place requirements that government agencies reduce their grid electrical consumption by a set amount by a certain date. One commonly sees Toyota Prius government vehicles in the area where I live.

In this perspective, the approval by congress and the president of the latest energy bill which reduces the cap on solar tax credits and contains a number of other beneficial requirements such as demanding an increase in overall automobile fuel efficiency will provide a boost to new alternate energy industries and has taken a baby step in reducing our bizarre dependency on oil as an energy source. Oil that we must buy from people who hate us but profit greatly from us. We are like drug addicts who pay money to the dealer because of our addiction. We hate the dealer but our addiction ties us to him in a strange pathological way.

I highly recommend James Howard Kunstler's book, "The Long Emergency," from which much of this information was obtained. I alse recommend going to Wikipedia and reading the entry for "Hubbert's Curve" or "Hubbert's Peak." The Kunstler book really puts the present day energy, economic, and political situation in perspective. We do face a "Long Emergency" in the coming years and the faster the US restructures itself to deal with it the better. It is important to understand this change in global politics to survive the coming years and to reposition our country militarily and energy-wise for us to survive as a nation. So, in my opinion and others, reducing our dependency on petroleum is a national defense emergency and the removal of the cap on tax credits for solar systems is on small step that will stimulate movement in the right direction. We are a nation unique in the world because of our creativity and resilience but we have become complacent in our sleepwalking through the last twenty years while under our oil addiction. We can wake up but we had better do it fast.

Free Office Suite

Screenshot Tour: A First Look at OpenOffice.org 3.0

Here is a free equivalent to the popular commercial office suite.  Why on earth would anyone pay hundreds of dollars for the unbelievably popular expensive one when one could use this one?   Why?  Because most people believe that they must buy the commercial product in order to be able to produce documents that are compatible with other sites.  Well, they do not.  I have used Open Office for years and it is totally compatible with all documents and spreadsheets and does not cost a penny.  Now version 3.0 will be available next week and it is certainly a mature product.  Get it and don't waste your money buying expensive commercial office suites.

WiseStamp an Email Signature that works for you!

Hey, this really works and works well.  If you use Firefox as your browser along with web based email such as Google mail this is a nice way to add a signature block to your mails.  I find it works effortlessly and can be configured to automatically add your signature to each email or you can use it as i do as an option at the end of typing an email.  So far I have no complaints and really like it.  The site even provides a few examples that you can capture and edit for your own use.  Mine looks like this:

Green Expo 08

I attended the Green Expo at the Palm Beach Community College
yesterday. It was a small but interesting collection of displays and
tables manned by representatives of various vendors and public
agencies. Some of the people there were former colleagues of mine at
the SFWMD and we had a nice visit with them. There was one solar
installer represented. They showed great interest in our home and in
the monitoring software. I now wish I had brought some of our
brochures for our monitoring software along to distribute to them.
They were really interested in our product so I gave them the website,
http://www.mysolarlog.com/ and am confident they will visit it.
Their website is http://www.abundantenergy.com/ .


One vendor had an interesting product that I may follow up on. It
is a clear acrylic addon for your windows that works like a storm
window. The product installs a clear acrylic pane in a magnetic frame
over the existing windows creating a double pane window at 70 percent
less cost than replacing the windows. I might look into it for certain
windows on my house that give the greatest heat load. Their website,
which I have not visited yet, is http://www.window-insulators.com/


We bought a couple of plants from the Native Plant Society table
where we also chatted for a bit with an old friend who is a member of
the society.

All in all it was a pleasant experience but I
was struck by the fact that it could have been much, much more than it
was. We did not attend the rain barrel workshop even though we have an
interest in that area. But there seemed to be little advertising of
the event in advance in the wider community. I had hoped that the
Florida electric car group could have exhibited there and that other
workshops and talks could have been available to the public. There was
great interest in our house and what our experience has been living
with PV. Perhaps we can have more participation in the next one. It
was a rainy day all day and that probably prevented more people from
coming.

Utility Trucks Head for Texas

My son travels a lot for his work.  Using his Iphone he sent me this photo this morning of Florida Power and Light trucks traveling west on I-10 west of Tallahassee headed for Texas for relief work.  As a resident of South Florida where we had four hurricanes in one year I can only say that it is amazing that we live in a country where the states can help each other out like this.  I know that they are reimbursed for the expenses incurred but even so the fact that a day or two after a major storm like Ike these trucks can be on the road and on their way to help is fantastic.

Timelapse

Here is a short timelapse I took this morning. It is fascinating to shoot these things by just leaving the camera running using a CHDK script that enables an intervalometer control. The atmosphere is fascinating and as you see here when speeded (sped?) up so that we are more aware of it, it is always in motion and beautifully so.

Update for our friends and family:

Solar Logging Software

We are nearing completion on our solar logging software. This is my test site.

http://bbbrown.mysolarlog.com/

...and this is the main site.

http://www.mysolarlog.com

Automated Camera Scripting and KAP Robots

I have been experimenting with loading CHDK scripts on my Canon point and shoot A700 camera. You can read more about CHDK at http://www.hackaday.com/2008/05/27/how-to-expand-your-camera-with-chdk/ . My first attempts at time lapse using the scripts can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FICIKSYeioA and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8p2V8bOGNM&feature=related . Needless to say this also involved an exploration of Mencoder in Linux to create the video clips. Video clip creation from series of stills is pretty easy in Linux but the editing is still maturing.

All of this CHDK stuff is in preparation for launching an automated KAP rig based on the old one but using a small circuit board that automates all of the pans and tilts. http://skyware.fam-engels.de/aurico/overview_en.htm This in combination with CHDK KAP scripting eliminates the need for radio transmitter and receiver. It also eliminates the need for a shutter servo. Removing those two components should lighten the rig quite a bit. Bench testing proved flawless operation of all components. Flight testing needed next. It will be fun to just fly the kite and get the photos as a side benefit.

Router Soup Ups

That spare Liniksys WRT-54G router has now been put to good use. I loaded the DD-WRT software on it thereby enhancing greatly the capabilies of the router. DD-WRT is open source router software that replaces the Linksys firmware. http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page My goal in doing this was to create a repeater that could be used in the motorhome to enhance weak signals in campgrounds. I got that working today and the repeater now resides in the motorhome providing an extra benefit of filling in the north side of the house with solid wifi signal. I will add a high gain antenna to the motorhome and we will create our own ad hoc networks on the fly with this setup. No more struggling to aim the laptop to acquire a signal blocked by trees or poorly located antennas. It works and it works great. Next time WRT-54Gs go on sale you might consider picking up one to use as a repeater.

Linux and Our PCs

Running Kubuntu Linux quite comfortably on all machines now. I have kept my desktop as dual boot to use for the Microsoft Flight Simulator. My laptop has KDE 4.1, under developmant, and KDE 3.5, rock solid.

Current Reading

"The Assault on Reason" by Al Gore. This book is taking me longer to read than any I have read recently. I read a few pages, get pissed off and put it down for a while. Then I go back to it. I feel like a "Pawn in Their Game" as made famous by Bob Dylan's song.

Movies

While watching some YouTube videos of places we have visited and one town in Colorado in particular I found a video that took scenes from "True Grit" and found the real life locations where scenes were filmed. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EUP9rOLf30 They all were in our favorite town in Colorado, Ouray. Now "True Grit" is at the top of our Netflix que followed by "The Kite Runner." Gotta get those Dalai Lama videos back in the mail so I can move on the John Wayne. The other one is old concerts of "The Grateful Dead."

Photos and Videos

I have been working on my project of getting all my old color print negatives digitized. Walgreens does such a good job at such a reasonable price. I have been taking them to the new store at Forest Hill and Congress. Finally getting a lot of my valuable travel photos and aviation pics on CD. I have also been pumping them up to Flickr to share with others. http://www.flickr.com/bbbrown Scanning the old photos myself is a long and tedious process that I have not given due diligence to.

Random Day Trips

About to ressurect our old one random trip a week thing. Not sure how we are going to do it but Ikea is on our list and I have a set of waypoints named "Mom and Pop Burger Joints" loaded in the GPS. There is also that barbecue place in Fort Peirce. Too bad we have to travel that far for reallly good barbecue.

Solar Cooker

So far I have just boiled water in my solar oven. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsWZ0sLubXU Hope to cook a meal in it when the sun comes back out.

Plug In Hybrid Conversion for Trucks and SUVs

Hybrid Electric Vehicle Technologies, Inc (HEVT) | An IIT (Illinois Institute of Technology) Startup in Chicago | News

This sounds like a great startup company. Watch the video, it is impressive. There are many who need pickups for their work, their farms, and other needs. This conversion makes them into high efficiency vehicles. This just proves that given the right incentives we can come up with solutions to the high price of fuel. Who knows? Maybe someday these power systems will exist even for motor homes.

Good summary of cause and effect for oil prices

ALTERNATIVE ENERGY BLOG - Solar-Energy-Wind-Power.com: Why are Oil Prices So High?

'.................................
Were per capita oil use in China and India to reach the same level as in the United States, this would fully deplete the world's remaining proven oil reserves in just 15 years and prospective resources, in 26 years.
.......................................

With a presidential
election this year in the United States and gas prices at record
levels, oil and energy in general is set to be a key issue. There is
the opportunity to have a serious debate about energy - a fundamental
part of our lives which has been taken for granted for far too long.
However the responses from the presidential candidates so far have not
been encouraging.

In 2002 McCain declared that ethanol is a
"giveaway to special interests in corn-growing states as the expense of
the rest of the country." In 2003 he put out a press release saying
"Ethanol does nothing to reduce fuel consumption, nothing to increase
our energy independence, nothing to improve air quality." He went on to
describe it as "highway robbery." Hillary Clinton signed a letter
saying that there is "no sound public policy reason for mandating the
use of ethanol".

McCain, Clinton and Obama all seem to have
drunk the ethanol Kool Aid and seen the bright white light that has
converted them to E85. In 2008 none of these presidential candidates seems to have anything negative to say about ethanol.

Solid State Laptops. The future of computers?

Samsung Q30 Solid State Laptop

Samsung
announced that next month it will begin shipping to the Korean market
its Q30, the first notebook PC with a solid-state hard disk. The
12.1-inch screen notebook will be equipped with a 32GB NAND flash based
solid-state disk (SSD).

The lack of moving parts will also allow it to go fanless, making it
absolutely silent, plus it'll be more efficient, boosting battery life.
Here comes the downside, though: it's going to cost $3700 for all this
solid-state goodness, and it's saddled with an old-fashioned Celeron M
753 (1.2GHz) chip. Bring on the Core Duos, and lower that price! Come
to think of it, it wasn't too long ago when all laptops cost that much
or more. Just think of this as a peek into the future.

From Gizmodo.com

Hybrid Future for Toyota

Toyota unveils plans for more fuel-efficient hybrids, revolutionary car battery - Forbes.com

Toyota also aims to develop a battery that significantly outperforms lithium-ion batteries,' Watanabe said.

Toyota, which has developed lithium-ion and nickel-metal hydride batteries jointly with Matsushita Electric Industrial Ltd., will be setting up a specialized research department later this month to develop its new-generation battery, he said.

Hypermilers

'Hypermilers': Squeezing Out Every Mile Per Gallon : NPR

It may seem odd that a motorhome driver would blog an article about hypermilers. The reality is that motorhome and RV drivers are among the most eco aware people I have met. They know they are driving gas hogs when they move their base of operations, the motorhome, to a new location. When they drive they are trying to squeeze out the best mileage when driving the RV because a fill up is so expensive. It is when they switch over to the "toad", the RV'ers term for the car that is towed, that their concern for mileage is really intense. Maybe I should just say that is when "we" are more concerned about mileage. Having said that, this is a good article on driving to save mileage. It is pretty simple really. Slow your top speed down to 60 mph max, accelerate and decelerate slowly, and some even coast down long hills. Hope this helps you all save a few miles without being extreme "hypermilers."

Trip to See Friends and Family

View Larger Map

Rough estimates for the trip show a total mileage of around 2,000 miles with a total fuel cost of $983.16, lodging $206, and food $227.70. That comes out to about $59 a day. We will refine the numbers and add them here. Travel is still pretty cheap using a motor home. Considering that a motel/hotel would cost a minimum of $75 a day and all meals would be eating out, it looks as though traveling this way is still economical in comparison. Just as important is the fact that we know who slept in our bed the previous night. We did.

We used the spreadsheet below for keeping track of all of our costs. We didn't include the little extras we got for ourselves and friends. A rough rule of thumb for our motor home fuel costs is 50 cents a mile. The exact number is 55 cents per mile.

Overnight Stop in Jacksonville

Our overnight stop on the way home. This is Pecan Park RV Resort north of Jacksonville, Florida. It is a nice clean park with WiFi. It is not free WiFi but we can live with it for one night. We decided to try this one instead of our usual Osprey Park primarily because of the WiFi. Overnight cost $36. Not bad for a nice place to park our home.

The photo above is more interesting than it appears at first glance. Only Geeks will appreciate this but let me explain. The photo is a panorama made from joining four images taken with my Iphone. I emailed the images to myself and used my Linux laptop to download them to my hard drive. The panorama itself was created using a Windows program called Autostitch. The Windows program runs beautifully in Linux with Wine. Wine is a Linux program that runs a lot of Windows programs without Windows having to be installed. Geekspeak off.

Can you believe this? Amazing but true.

A prisoner builds a fortune from behind bars. Something is wrong here.

A fortune built from a jail cell in Palm Beach County -- -- South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com

If the Koreans can do this why can't we?

Korean Village Runs On 100% Solar Power | MetaEfficient

Largest Wind Turbine Order by T. Boone Pickens, Texas Oilman

$2 Billion Wind Turbine Order Is Largest Ever | MetaEfficient

Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens has placed an the largest ever order for wind turbines: he ordered 667 wind turbines from GE, each costing $3 million dollars, making the total order $2 billion. Pickens plans to develop the world’s largest wind farm in the panhandle of Texas.

Scary Trend

Scary trend. All natural systems depend on biodiversity for survival. Reducing diversity primes the system for collapse. It is a helpless feeling to look at this index and see what is happening because it is the combined effect of humans reckless attack on all resources for our own survival. What is the answer? Is there a realistic one? Population control? Protection of natural systems? How do you implement these things? Very scary thinking of what future generations will have to deal with. It would be nice if we could start now but I am becoming pessimistic about humans and their direction of irresponsible consumption of resources and destruction of habitat. This is the expression of governmental and human action all over the globe.

WWF - Living Planet Index

Vacation Impact on Energy Consumption

We left for vacation on the 14th of May. Prior to our departure we configured the house for low energy consumption by unplugging all transformers, chargers, and other non-essential (to us), electronic equipment. In the office the only thing running is the modem, router, and the solar system logging machine. Our two Tivos are still busily recording our favorite shows. Our two refrigerators are running as well. TVs, VCRs, radios, and all other equipment that usually sits gobbling energy waiting for the chance for us to wake them up are unplugged. As a result, the first day away our house generated 117 percent of the energy it used. We sold 13 kwh back to the utility. You can clearly see the spike in the percent of energy generated in the chart below:

Florida Power and Light Orders Wind Turbines

Siemens Gets Large Wind Turbine Order From FPL

Our power company is moving in the right direction. As the article states they are already the biggest wind power utility in the US.

Phony drug trial studies

Did you think those so called "scientific" studies of drugs are good science? Think again. This article is a must read. I think there is an unholy alliance between the drug companies, crooked doctors, and worst of all the media. How many people are influence by those phony ads like the one starring Sally Fields claiming benefits and showing her bogus "family?" I have even seen lunches for the staff catered by the drug companies at my doctors office. If I did that while working it would have been called a conflict of interest and I would have been fired.

Invention Of the Year: The iPhone - The Best Inventions Of The Year - TIME

Invention Of the Year: The iPhone - The Best Inventions Of The Year - TIME

I have had this phone since the beginning of the year. I have hesitated to blog about it because there has been so much hype associated with the device. But, after using the thing for months it is time to let you know that the hype is not hype. Yes, it is expensive but it is much, much more than a phone. As the article states Apple took their proven computer operating system, OSX, and used it as the foundation of this device. I keep using the term device because phone is inadequate to describe it. Yes, it is a phone and probably the best I have ever used because of the simple easy to use interface. But, it is also a computer with a full fledged web browser, Safari. It is also a video player that, with the AV cable from Apple, plays beautiful video on your TV. Of course, it also plays them on the device itself which brings me to the display. Wow, it is the brightest, clearest display I have ever seen on a hand held device. Videos on this thing are breath taking in their clarity. And, of course, it is an Ipod. I currently have about 600 songs on my Iphone. Again, play them through your stereo and you can just forget ever having to fiddle with CDs again. The Iphone does much, much more including functioning as a very nice and easy to use camera with email capability. It will be hard for me to own any other phone/computer/camera/music player. I am convinced that Apple does it right. Some day I will probably switch my computers to Apple machines. They just do it right with elegance, ease of use, and style. I challenge you to try the Iphone in an ATT store near you and be less than impressed.

Psychology of the Prius

This is a rather interesting analysis of the success of the Prius. I found it interesting that this author attributes much of its success to the fact that it does not look like other cars. It is so distinctive that you would think it would put people off but it seems to do the opposite.

"Our respondents are lying through their teeth," Peterson said.


"The dramatically different look of the Prius is something that's
appealing," he said. "The Ford Escape and Toyota Camry hybrid have not
been as successful because they don't look as different."

FEATURE-U.S. car makers try to repeat green halo of Prius | Reuters

Most Expensive Zip Codes: 33404, Estate of the Day - Luxist

Most Expensive Zip Codes: 33404, Estate of the Day - Luxist

Oh my gosh. This is on an area north of us and on the ocean. Even though it is nearby it sure does not mean that we live in a neighborhood like this. Palm Beach County is very diverse with areas ranging from very poor to mega rich. Interestingly, the wealthiest neighborhoods are on the oceanfront properties. That is good because they can best afford the risk of damage from hurricanes. Historically, Palm Beach, the barrier island on the ocean was the home of the wealthy industrialists from the north who found the cool ocean breezes and exotic vegetation to their tastes. Henry Flagler developed the island in the early days and the West Palm Beach area where we live was the home of the people who worked on the island. When the area was first settled there were no bridges so the service personnel rode a ferry out to the island to work during the day. Now there are many automobile bridges to the island and a driving tour is a fun way to see the homes of the mega rich. Another great way is to take a narrated boat tour along the intracoastal waterway to see the homes of the rich and famous.

If that zip code is not ritzy enough for you then check out this one. This is on the island of Palm Beach where Mr. Rush Limbaugh lives. I guess the gift of gab is really a golden gift.

Prius Evaluation Last Day

This morning we returned our Prius to Hertz after driving 220 miles and getting an average of 45.6 mpg over that distance. Before turning it in we performed what we call the "glider test" which involves Bob testing the accessibility and usability of the cargo space by loading his radio controlled model gliders. As you can see above there was no problem and the cargo space was larger and easier to access than our PT Cruiser. With the two back seats folded down the cargo area is actually quite large.

Back in our PT Cruiser. The seats in the PT are not as comfortable as those in the Prius. It is much noisier than the Prius and of course only gets 20 mpg as compared to the mid 40s on the Prius. Since the PT is a manual transmission there is not the smoothness of the Prius which has a continuously variable drive system that has no shift points. If we had to make a choice on the spot between the PT and the Prius the Prius would win hands down on many points. Towing with the RV would be an area where the PT would win for ease of hook up. The PT is hooked to the tow bars and put in neutral. The Prius would require the purchase and use of a front wheel dolly system. It cannot be towed with all four tires on the ground. I think we would still choose the Prius due to its economy, ease of use, smoothness, and quiet ride in spite of the dolly requirement.

After a few days of hard city driving we are showiing 45.1 mpg. We have intentionally not been careful in our driving accelerating hard to get on the interstate and a lot of stop and go driving. This pattern is probably typical of about ninety percent of our driving. We like the car. It is functional and easy to drive. We still find the interior of this particular model plain. It is a rental car though and they usually have the most basic models. This particular car has about 23,000 miles on it and is solid and tight.

Today is our last full day with the car so we plan on putting some more highway miles on it. We will probably take a short day trip somewhere just for fun.

Finally, we find the controls on the center console and the radio cd player easy to use. Not fancy but functional. Actually using the display console to control the AC and fan is quite easy. Much easier than the more conventional mechanical controls found on other cars. Our biggest complaint so far is the lack of tinting on the windows, an easy fix.

Hybrid Mileage Database - GreenHybrid

Hybrid Mileage Database - GreenHybrid

Here is an interesting web site where users report the mileage they have gotten with their hybrid cars. This will make a believer out of you. 122,276,536 mi · 77,553 tanks · 6,108 cars · 1 database

Prius Evaluation Day 3

We have spent the week running our normal errands around town, taking our granddaughter to her pre school, and not really trying hard for good mileage. At this point we have covered about a hundred miles of every day stop and go driving and our cumlative mileage is 45.6 mpg. We have become totally comfortable with this car and would probably be happy with a Prius except for one thing. To tow it behind our RV requires a dolly to get the front wheels off the ground. It cannot be towed with all four wheels on the ground due to the regenerative process that happens when the front wheels are turning.

The car seats we used for transporting our granddaughters are easy to install in this car. My four year old granddaughter said that it is easier to see the road when riding in this car than when riding in her daddy's car. I guess that is an interesting viewpoint that I had not thought about and relates to the massive amount of glass in the Prius. One thing that we worried about was blind spots since our PT Cruiser has some bad ones. Probably the worst view out of the car in my opinion is the rear view as it is interupted by a spoiler bar across the back hatch. I think this may have been improved in the 2008 models.

We are still having fun driving this hybrid and have a couple of more days left to enjoy it so we will keep reporting on our impressions. I did notice that Consumer Reports says that this car has the highest owner satisfaction of any they tested.

Toyota Prius Evaluation Day 2

Our weather has been fairly cool but one thing we both noticed is that there is a lot of glass on this vehicle. The windshield has a long flat aerodynamic shape but that also makes it a perfect solar collector. If we got one of these we would definitely have to opt for some serious windshield and window tinting. Either that or I will have to up my visits to my dermatologist to once a month instead of once every six months.

It is pretty easy to get comfortable with the technology in the Prius. Basically, you just turn it on and go. Nothing more complicated than that to worry about. It is all starting to seem very natural and the quiet smoothness is addictive. It is interesting that my initial impression was of confusion because of the vehicle's simplicity. That is a comment about how accustomed we are to complexity in our vehicles.

Mileage has dropped to 42 mpg today. Never thought I would say my mileage had dropped to 42 mpg. More on Day 3 in another post.

Toyota Prius Evaluation Day 1

A few days ago Barbara called me into the living room and said, "Watch this," as she rewound the Tivo and played back a Hertz commercial advertising their new "Green" rental program. In it they talk about their new fleet of low carbon impact vehicles. Since we have long been curious about the Toyota Prius I picked up the phone and reserved one for us to evaluate. We picked it up today. On the way home from the rental agency I noticed that we averaged 52.6 mpg. Not bad.

About the biggest challenge was figuring out how to make the thing go. It has no transmission as such. It has no starter. I suppose we are used to complexity because it took me a while to figure out that the big round button on the dash labeled "Power" was the trick. So, first impressions can be summed up by Barbara who after driving it said, "That is about the strangest vehicle I have ever driven."

Why so strange? The eerie silence when it starts off in electric power for one thing. Another is the unnerving shutdown of the engine when you pull to a stop. If you happen to be running on engine power, it switches seemlessly from engine to electric, the engine will just shut down when you stop. It is unnerving because being used to conventional cars the first reaction is to reach for the ignition switch but of course there is not one.

The gauges are embedded at the base of the windshield almost like a heads up display on a jet fighter. They are bright, large, and easy to read. The central display unit in energy mode does remind one of the Starship Enterprise with all of its energy arrows showing flows to and from the battery and the engine. The radio and AC controls embedded in the steering wheel hub are nice and easy to use.

The interior would be disappointing to a luxury car enthusiast. At least in our rental version the furnishings of the cabin are quite Spartan. Not sure if that is for weight savings or if it is just the version purchased by Hertz.

This is a great way to evaluate cars and just plain fun too. Some people even get paid to do this kind of thing but we figure living with various cars in this way for a week at a time is far better than a round the block demo at the dealership. We are having fun and will continue to report on our experience over the next week. Oh, and so far that 52.6 mpg average is not bad.

� Top 10 sites to debunk urban legends | Tech of all Trades | TechRepublic.com

� Top 10 sites to debunk urban legends | Tech of all Trades | TechRepublic.com

Finally a complete list of the top ten sites to debunk urban legends. If more people would refer to these before forwarding unfounded urban myths we would save a massive amount of bandwidth on the internet. Please, everyone, if anyone, who reads this, use these sites before forwarding stuff and if it is not true don't forward it.

States Visited

create your own visited states map
or check out these Google Hacks.

http://douweosinga.com/projects/visitedstates

Here is a neat site that allows you to create a map of all the states you have visited. Looks like we have done pretty well except for the Pacific NW. Now we have a goal.

States Visited

create your own visited states map
or check out these Google Hacks.

http://douweosinga.com/projects/visitedstates

Here is a neat site that allows you to create a map of all the states you have visited. Looks like we have done pretty well except for the Pacific NW. Now we have a goal.

Visited Countries

create your own visited countries map

Here is a neat website that allows you to create a map of the countries you have visited. This is my map showing that in spite of my extensive travels in miles I have only visited a small percentage of the countries of the Earth.

Honey makes medical comeback - More health news- msnbc.com

Honey makes medical comeback - More health news- msnbc.com

New medical uses for honey. Honey as a wound treatment makes a comeback.

Solar Generation Data

IEEE Spectrum: Electric-Car Maker Touts 10-Minute Fill-up

IEEE Spectrum: Electric-Car Maker Touts 10-Minute Fill-up

In depth discussion about the ramifications of the Altair Nanotechnologies rapid charge batteries. Well worth a read. No doubt that changes are in the works but any new technology has its implications and side effects. To quote Gilda Radner, "It's always something."