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."

Crime Rate Comparison

We always think that the place we live is either worse or better than other places but is it really? Here is a comparison of the national average crime rate vs. Florida and my home state of South Carolina.

Crime Rate

What happened in 1996? Crime peaked then. We are now back to 1986 levels in the US. Interesting.

Ants have a sense of their own mortality - life - 10 October 2007 - New Scientist

Ants have a sense of their own mortality - life - 10 October 2007 - New Scientist

It appears that we humans are not the only living creatures that have a sense of their own mortality. What are the implications of this? We have always used the term "dumb animals" to describe all animals except for ourselves assuming that we had some awareness of our own mortality that was lacking in animals. Also interesting that the ants increase their risk taking the older they get which is in direct opposition to what humans usually do.