Fancy Farm Kentucky Picnic

The Fancy Farm, Kentucky Picnic was held on August 4, 2007 and I was there. It is known in Kentucky as the unofficial start of campaign season and this year there is a governor's race. I did not attend the political speeches but reading about them in the paper, it appears the crowd was quite boisterous and confrontational. What I go for is the barbecue which is prepared in large pits. They told me 18,000 lbs were prepared this year.

This is picture of some of the pits they prepare barbecue in.

Here is the pavilion that the speeches are given in. Behind it is were a lot of the news crews set up to send their reports back to newscasts around the state. Off to the side, a large number of RVs and travel trailers are set up where VIPs and others can stay in the air conditioning and away from sometimes annoying crowds.

It was very hot this picnic and a lot of bottled water was being sold.

Sunday morning I got up and helped clean up the grounds. As a child I use to help clean after the picnic and it was quite a mess. The garbage seemed more concentrated on the paved areas where the booths and stands were. I ended up cleaning the ball field and the area around the school. Even though it was early morning, I got soaked from just working about 90 minutes.

Laser Printers... Are they harmful? Are they spies?

Well, I found these two different items of interest since I use to work a lot with laser printers.

The first is about toner that laser printers can emit as very fine particles. Unfortunately for me, some of the printers that put out these particles are ones I worked with. It seems that a researcher in Australia was working on a study to determine if laser printers emitted fine dust that might have bad effects on the lungs. Here is the link to the study and the table of printers they tested is near the bottom of the paper.

http://pubs.acs.org/cgi-bin/sample.cgi/esthag/asap/html/es063049z.html

Hewlett Packard responded saying the findings need more study. Here is a link to their response:

http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/newsroom/emissions.html

The second item is something I had seen in the past about color laser printer sometimes place color patterns on the pages they print so they can be traced back to the printer. I think this was to help catch counterfeiters. Here is a link to a page that has a list of printers that do that:

http://www.eff.org/Privacy/printers/list.php

First Grapes

I ate my first Concord grape yesterday and it reminded me of ones I ate as child growing up in a small farming town.

Here is a picture of another grape plant further back in the field.

Image Attributes a Digital Camera Can Detect

Here is a story about a place that is putting images on shirts that show up when seen through the digital camera view finders. It reminds me of using a digital video camera eyepiece to test infrared emitters. When viewed they would like white light through the display.

See this website for more info.

France Will Never Forget

I thought this was a neat event. Sometimes you hear bad things about France in this country but as the images show, the French did not about the D-Day invasion that American troops participated in during World War II. It was clever to assemble people on the beach at Normandy and from the message.

http://www.malaurie.com/frenchamericanfriendship/index1.php?id=60

As an American, I have not forgotten about France's help in establishing the independence of the United States in the 1700s.

Watermelon Truck

I was driving on the highway the other day and saw this.


This is not the best of pictures but it was a truck with the back door open and 6 containers of watermelon were in the truck. You can see a yellow bottom of a melon sticking out of the box on the left. I could not tell what type of watermelon it is though. There is no license plate visible so not sure where these are from. I am guessing it is open to keep the melons from getting too hot.

I also wonder what that load is worth. I am guessing that there might be 100 melons a box (I see boxes like this in Walmart sometimes so I will need to try and count them to get an idea of how many a box can hold). If they can sell melons to the retailer at $3 a melon then the load could be worth about $1800. Since I do not have a understanding of the produce retail market so I could be way off base on money values.

On a side note, the watermelons I am growing are quite small as plants. No blooms are showing so I am in trouble with fruit being produced this season. Hopefully, the pumpkin plant will produce a couple pumpkins for Halloween.

Castleberry's Hot Dog Chili Sauce

Wow, the day I was going to buy two cans of this sauce they announced a recall. We had some hot dogs bought for some guests that came to stay with us and they did not eat them so I was going to start eating them for lunch by making them into chili dogs. By the time I got ready to go buy some the news had stories about this. Going to Kroger's the whole shelf was emptied and a sign was posted that the product had been recalled. The Kroger brand was made at the same plant so it was removed as well. So it looks like in the future I should buy the cheaper Kroger brand since it is the same product.

http://www.fda.gov/oc/po/firmrecalls/photos/chilisauce10.html

This is too bad, I liked their sauce but I will need to buy some mustard now so I use that to eat hot dogs.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Well, I made a post about the last book in a 2005 entry and early Saturday morning I went to a 24 hour Krogers and bought the book. I waited for the initial line to go away and when I arrived there was no line at the table with the stack of books. A small group came over from the nearby Borders and asked where the line was. The Kroger associate said it had dissipated and the could get their book and check out. They seemed very happy implying that it might be 3 A.M before they could get a book at Borders. After getting home, I then proceeded to read it till about page 320 before going to bed.

I finished reading the book about 6 A.M. Sunday morning and found the book to be very good. While I enjoy reading about his adventures, I am glad it is over but she has room to write books about future adventures.

J.K. Rowling said she would wrap up the story in this book and she does. After reading it, I can see why she has earned so much money and fame as a writer. The story ends with a very tidy ending and adding the epilogue really seals the deal. She shows that she is not afraid of killing off characters but at the same time sticks to themes on the power of love, self-sacrifice and performing the good action. She also adds some misdirection to keep the story from becoming too predictable.

It ends basically how I thought it would go and she did not go to dark in ending the adventure. The ending I think will please the majority of readers. I thought the action sequences were well spaced out with sections of the book dealing with just character development/interaction. It should make a good movie.

One thing, I saw several references to the word veela which appeared in the other books but I forgot what it meant. I looked in Webster's dictionary when I came across it in the book but it did not have an entry. The web says it is a feminine spirit from Eastern European folklore that can appear a young woman with long silky hair that has the ability to mesmerize or enchant men.

Preserving a Section Newspaper

Reading The LaRue County Herald News, July 18, 2007 edition page 7A I found a small section about how to save newsprint. Paraphrased, it says:

1) Dissolve a Milk of Magnesia table in a quart of club soda and let sit overnight.
2) Aftering sitting the required time, pour the mixture into a pan the newsprint will fit in.
3) Soak the newsprint for 1 hour.
4) Remove and pat dry.
5) Place the newsprint section on a flat surface and wait till completely dry.

After this treatment, the life of the newsprint section is 200 years.

I wonder if this will keep it from turning yellow over time?

Lightning Effects on iPods and Notes on Speed Limits

Reading the Business section of the Courier-Journal page D3, there is an interesting AP article about how nearby lightning strikes can harm people wearing music players, cell phones, beeps, and computers while outside. The person they showed had burns on their ear, shoe and shirt from where the player made contact with their body. Another incident described in the article is of a jogger wearing an iPod and lightning struck a tree a couple feet away. The bolt jumped to his body and he suffered burns where the iPod was attached to him. His hearing was damaged where 50% was lost. Go to http://www.struckbylightning.org/index.htm for more information about this phenomenon.

After looking around some more, Nokia has filed a patent application where they run software on the cell phone that uses FM or GSM to detect lightning in the area and alert the wearer of the phone. See this link for more info: http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,132220-pg,1/article.html

The speed limit in Kentucky went up to 70 mph yesterday on some roads and there is a Courier Journal article on pages A1 and A5 about it. What caught my attention was a graph showing fuel efficiency from the Department of Energy. It shows a summary of different vehicles and their gas mileage in relation to speed traveled. It shows that efficiency is best at speeds of 40-55 mph showing 30 mpg, at 60 mph it is 28 mpg, 65 it is 28 mpg, 70 it is 25 mpg and 75 it is 23 mpg. Another interesting note it costs almost $11,000 to change the signs to the new speed limit.

The Balloon Flower Revealed

I looked at the package for the flower and its name is Platycodon grandiflorus.

The plant is also known as Chinese or Japanese Bellflower.

It emerges in late spring and need partial shade if grown in sunny/hot climates otherwise can be in full sun.

The Last Balloon Flower

This flower is known as Platycodon grandiflorus and has has some cultivars called 'Double Blue' colored double violet blue or 'Hime Murasaki' colored lavender-blue; or 'Hakone Blue' colored double violet-blue.

Here is a picture of the last of the balloon flowers. I am trying to grow four more plants but the seeds have yet to sprout after more than 7 days.

I was amazed by 11 PM last night I did not hear fireworks. I am not sure if people fired them off earlier this year or since it was a work night people needed to go to bed. Whatever the reason, it was a lot easier to go to sleep.

The rain today is keeping me from working outside. It is good though we are getting it though.

Fireworks!!!

Wow, the fireworks are going off in the neighborhood. I did not know we lived by the Zambellis.

Seriously, some people have mucho dinero for fireworks because there are series of large rockets going off which to me might be costing hundreds of dollars. They do seem to be coming from the more affluent subdivisions though.

Here are some blurry still pictures. I will try later to extract images from the .mov I took.

Always tricky trying to go to sleep on 4th of July night. This year seems a little quieter though.

Firework Accident Avoided

Today being the 4th of July, I have an appropriate post. Yesterday while cycling through the neighborhood, I heard a whoosh and then a thud in the grass about 8 feet from me. I looked down and there was a smoking shell of rocket that had just been fired about 4 houses from my location. I heard some little kid asking their parent where the rocket went to and I bent down and picked it up. I then held it up and put in my bicycle basket and cycled away.

I am not sure of what the trajectory was but I had my helmet and sunglasses on so I do not think it would have hurt me if I had been hit. Still it is not something I have happen everyday.

Lily in Bloom

Somebody tell this plant it not Easter!!! I guess that late freeze messed it up.

The Calla Lily is quite large now and has developed 4 blooms though they are covered by all the leaves.

More Flowers

The flowers continue to bloom.

Lillies Have Bloomed

Wow, these are gorgeous flowers!

The Calla Lily is getting larger and larger as well but the camera battery gave out before I could take more pictures. It should be recharged soon.

Flower for Mother's Day

This mother's day I am getting my mother a Camelot Rose Foxglove (Digitalis Purpurea). They are sold at Home Depot and take full exposure to the sun. According to the card they can survive winters to -20 to -30 degrees F.

It is a nice looking plant with a tall flowering stem with bell shaped flowers going all the way up the stem.

The Calla Lily we got her last year did not survive the winter though the one we got at the same time has.

Join the FREE Garden Club at www.homedepot.com/gardenclub for more information about plants.

Plants in the Yard

I took some pictures today of some plants in the yard.

Here is the Rhododren.

Here is the Calla Lily that survived the winter.

Laser Printer Cartridge

I took a HP Laserjet 6L printer cartridge to local store of Cartridge World (www.cartridgeworldusa.com) so they could refill it two days ago. I was told to come back the next day and retrieve it. Before going I looked up how much another cartridge would cost and it looked like it would be about $65 so they quoted me $45 but when I used Google Maps to find them, a coupon appeared that I could use for $10 off my first toner refill.

So returning to the store yesterday, the person behind the desk found my order and then said it will be $45 but I pointed out the coupon and it came to $35. So that was pretty good savings over buying another cartridge. After installing the cartridge and printing a test page, the print looked dark but there were toner splotches appearing every 4 cm in a column about the center of the page. I used Windows to print another test page and the toner places became just small spots so issue is going away.

I recommended Cartridge World to our purchasing person since she has a stack of cartridges in her office to take recycle. Also there is a large set of shelves full of cartridges for a variety of printers that need to be gotten rid of. So she was going to call them to see if they could process them.

Yikes, What happen to gas prices?

Driving home from work I saw some stations at $3.22 a gallon while two were at $2.83. The stations at $2.83 had cars 5 deep waiting for gas. The Wal-Mart near us was listed at $3.09 and had about every pump filled with cars taking on gas.

Why did it go up so fast? Iowa storage tank problems, Venezuela taking control of the last privately run oil field, a Chevron tanker attacked in Nigeria? Take you pick.

Solar Soda Can Air Heater

This is a pretty cool idea that uses old soda cans, 2x4s, and black paint.

I think adding a couple of solar panels and some used DC fans to move the air through the cans would be a cool idea.

Maybe use it the winter to heat air for an area and then in the summer place it on the roof to remove heat from that area to try and make the house a little cooler.

http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2007/04/26/almost-free-garage-heat-just-drink-a-lot-of-soda/

Wow, someone had commericalized this:

http://www.cansolair.com/

Someone in Hungary has built a large one of these:

http://napenergia.freeweb.hu/gyak/szp/sztgyi.htm

Another post left this website for determing what angle to place the panel:

http://www.macslab.com/optsolar.html

A beer can solar heater:

http://www.squidoo.com/beercansolarheater

Another solar heater design:

http://www.mobilehomerepair.com/article17solar.htm

Garage solar heater

http://www.instructables.com/id/EMU06ULZ1MEY95WRNU/

Painting a Gas Pipe

LG&E sent us a letter stating that our cast iron gas pipe bringing gas into the house was rusting and needed to be cleaned and painted. The letter went on to say it was our responsibility to maintain our pipes and by not doing so could lead to gas leaks.

So one of the generous residents of our neighborhood that works for a paint company gave us some gray paint even though they did not have to and we got to work. Once I had brushed and sanded the rust off the pipe, my wife painted it. I think it turned out very well.

Help Tools for Computer

Build a USB with PC tools

http://www.dailycupoftech.com/usb-drive-systems/3/

TrueEncrypt

http://www.truecrypt.org/

Life Hacker

http://lifehacker.com/software/lifehacker-top-10/lh-top-10-usb-thumb-drive-tricks-255738.php

The Gaslight Inn

Two friends and I had dinner at the Gaslight Inn located in Jeffersontown, KY. Very nice atmosphere with a small bar next to a room with several tables. It being late we all ordered cheeseburgers and either fries or onion rings.

A very filling meal which afterwards I felt like I had eaten too much.

Visit to P.F. Chang

My wife and I visited P.F. Chang's for the first time last weekend. I thought since we went during Thunder Over Louisville it would be less crowded since it always seems to be. It seemed logical since about 800,000 people were downtown, this restaurant in the suburbs would have less people. Well, maybe it was less crowded but it was still crowded. We had reservations and it we still waited about 20 minutes.

It was enjoyable experience with a friendly staff and excellent food. My sister insisted we get the lettuce wraps to start the meal even though I usually do not eat appitizers. They turned out to be very good though we needed more lettuce leafs to finish off the dish. It said they contained spicy chicken but the food was not hot tasting. Google showed the lettuce wraps as something that searched for and I did the search and found a number of sites had the recipe listed.

The other two dishes we had were the the sweet and sour chicken and vegetable dumplings. I found both to be good. At the beginning of the meal, the server brought out a plate with different sauces and I tried the mixture of soy sauce, chili sauce and hot mustard. It was good. I found the sweet and sour chicken to have a noticable ginger taste which is not what I usually expect from this dish.

All and all a very nice meal and we will go back some time to try their other dishes.

Building Projects

The sunroom that has taken months and months to complete is now pretty much done. A oak step needs to be installed that will connect the kitchen and the sunroom tile floors together. The trim needs be chaulked and some touch up paint applied.

Most people would not have spent the time and effort to put a room into place but I am glad I did because you appreciate things more if you do them yourself. The room was nice to use this weekend with a nice breeze blowing through as we ate lunch.

Now I am removing the floor covering in the kitchen so it can be replaced with tile. Also I am starting to get the outside area ready so a patio can be poured between the sidewalk and sunroom.

Projects, projects... they never seem to end.

Calla Lily

Last year we planted a Calla Lily in the plant bed because it is such a beautiful flower. The plant is not rated for our area so I was wondering if it would survive the winter. Earlier this month the Easter lillies started to come up along with some of the other flowers but no Calla Lily. Then a late freeze hit and kill off some of the flowers. Well, while working in the yard this morning I found the shots of the Calla Lilly starting to come up. Good for it that it missed the freeze.

Carl & Jerry

I found this website dedicated to preserve the stories of Carl and Jerry written by John T. Frye for Popular Electronics from 1954-1964.

http://www.copperwood.com/carlandjerry.htm


It sounds like a neat concept of teaching electronics through the adventures of these two youths. When I saw the story on Jeff Duntemann's blog, it reminded me of reading the Hardy Boys as a kid. Other stories are remember are Alfred Hitchcock's Three Investigators and The Mad Scientist Club.

Kentucky Craft Sites

Today's Courier Journal reported that Churchill Weavers in Berea Kentucky is closing after 85 years of operation. Globalization helped close it since it products imported from Asia cost about $20-30 and the Berea operation can cost over $100.

See the story here:
http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070218/BUSINESS/702180389

The website for the Churchill Weavers can be found here:

http://churchillweavers.com/index.html

It is unfortunate that those craftspeople will lose their jobs. The only way I can see an operation like that working in the United States is tie it to tourism and stress the hand crafted part of the product. I am looking into maybe buying one their handmade products. It is too bad that you do not realize local industries and what they make until they have disappeared. In that vein, I looked around and found a few local operations that should be patronized.

ByBee Pottery has a nice website and has quite an inventory of products. I like their flower pots and I wonder if they could make some of the African Violet pots that are in two pieces with the bottom part containing the water and the top part contains the plant where the water slowly transfers through the material containing the plant.

http://www.bybeepottery.com/welcome.htm

The other place would be Louisville Stoneware founded in 1815. We have a few of their pieces and they are quite nice.

http://www.louisvillestoneware.com/

Another pottery operation is Hadley Pottery which I think I pass by on my way to work in the morning. I will need to visit them some time for a tour. I like the piece that holds rings.

http://www.hadleypottery.com/

A great place to visit it the Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory where the famous baseball bats are made. I remember when the factory was over in Indiana for a while. We use to pass the building when we went to my aunt's house. They have now moved to Main St. in Louisville near other museums and the Center for the Arts. It is much more accessible to tourists here.

http://www.sluggermuseum.org/index.aspx

Grossan Hydro Pulse

After reading on a blog and reviews on amazon.com about a device that will irrigate the sinuses, I asked for one as a gift. When I received it, I was apprehensive about shooting a stream of water up my nose. So it was placed in the bathroom cabinet.

This weekend I started feeling pretty bad and seem to have to blow my nose constantly. So when getting ready for bed I decided now is the time to wash out my sinuses. I found the manufacturers website at http://www.hydromedonline.com/index.html

They now have a video of girl using the device so it did not seem so bad. I found the packet of powder which seems like salt (package contents: sodium chloride, sodium bicarbonate, xylitol, calcium chloride, potassium chloride). I got some distilled water, poured it in the container to the 500 cc mark and heated it in the microwave for about 45 seconds. I then mixed in the containers packet.

I got the pump going in the bathroom and tested that water would come out about an inch from the nozzle. I put it up to my left nostril and felt the water slowly move up my nose and then maybe somewhere into my forehead. Water then started to pour out my other nostril. It was a somewhat odd view but it seemed to work. After about 15 seconds, I switched to the other nostril. The water did not seem to flow as well, so I stopped the pump and weakly blew my nose. I then started the pump again and water eventual came out the opposite nostril.

The experience left me with cleaned out feeling and the nose did not feel like it needed to be blown out. So the reviews I had been reading seemed legitimate.

I now need to figure out the contents of the packets: the sodium chloride (NaCl)is table salt, sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3) is baking soda, potassium chloride (KCl) not sure if there is a household product for this, calcium chloride (CaCl) I think this is used a de-icer on the roads but it cannot be bought as a cooking ingredient and Xylitol is a sweetener used in gums but has been shown to help prevent infections in the ear.

Make Sure Things Are Wet Before Sterilizing in the Microwave

It looks like the earlier link I posted need to have some additional information. People are putting dry sponges and dish clothes in the microwave and they are burning. They should be wet when heated in the microwave.

See this story for more information:

http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=scienceNews&storyID=2007-01-25T000823Z_01_N24478934_RTRUKOC_0_US-GERMS-SPONGES.xml

Sterilizing Kitchen Objects With the Microwave

I just read a study about cleaning sponges and dish clothes using the microwave. Apparently, they need to be wetted and heated at full power from 2-4 minutes.

Read more about the study at:

http://www.livescience.com/humanbiology/070122_microwave.html

Virtual Painting

I am interested in learning how to paint or draw. So I started using Corel Painter Essentials and a Wacom tablet.

Here is an watercolor that we obtained in Galway, Ireland.

It was painted by Anne Osborne.

I used it as a model and tried to match it with my program. The colors and clarity are not quite there. Need to work on the greens.

Hooker Furniture Plant to Close

The other day I came across a story about Hooker Furniture closing its last wood furniture manufacturing plant by March 2007. We had bought a large multi-piece desk from them in 2005. One of the reason was it was large enough to be used in the office for two people and the other that it was made in the United States. You could find similar furniture (not sure about the quality of the wood) made in China for $1000+ less. Seeing the price difference, it can be seen how the competition on price would get to them.

http://investors.hookerfurniture.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=226208

Well, if you still want to see American furniture made, watch New Yankee Workshop on PBS.

Interesting Wi-Fi Problem

My notebook computer has trouble losing its wireless connection sometimes. Eventually, this problem was traced to when the 2.4 GHz phone was being used. So after running NetStumbler here is what the signal graph shows when the phone is used. Look at how the signal level disappears when the phone is on where the notches show up on the graph. If the phone turns on and dial tone will sound, that does not show up on the graph but when the phone starts to transmit when pressing a button the signal disappears from the graph.

Kentucky Vehicle Fatalities for 2006

Driving into Louisville this morning the TRIMARC signs were showing how many people died on the roads in 2005 and 2006.

They listed the number dead in 2005 at 976 while the deceased for 2006 was 899.

I wonder if increased safety laws, better road barriers, and safer vehicles contributed to this. We have stricter safety belt laws now, the transportation department has been installing cable barriers between roads that have opposite flowing traffic, and more vehicles have airbags and traction control systems.

Goodbye 2006, Hello 2007

Well today was a very rainy day so not much was done outside. I was out shopping and I saw the sun come out late in the day which means possible rainbow.

While driving about 10 minutes later I started seeing a vertical line in the eastern sky with a color spectrum. It was not much of an arc since the water in the atmosphere must have been raining in that small section of sky.

So long 2006 may things get better in 2007.

Christmas Gift

My nephew was given a Slinky as a gift. It is a great fun for being a toy that is over 60 years old. It is still made in Hollidaysburg, PA. MIT has highlighted the inventor at this website.

http://web.mit.edu/Invent/iow/slinky.html

The company has a website at :

http://www.poof-slinky.com/default.asp

We enjoyed trying to get it going down the stairs.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Ahhh, Christmas is here at last. The weather in Louisville is cold (30-40s F) with a chance of snow later today which might end up being rain.

A few things I try to do each Christmas besides spend a lot of time with family and attend religious services is read the story "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens. I have a book with 4 of his stories published by Gramercy Press in 1982. I keep the ribbon on page 531 to mark where the Christmas Carol begins. Surprisingly, it is a somewhat short story ending on page 585.

I also try to watch a version of Christmas Carol on DVD. There are three that I have: Scrooge from 1951 starring Alastair Sim, A Christmas Carol from 1984 starring George C. Scott, and A Christmas Carol from 1999 starring Patrick Stewart.

We also try to watch Bill Murray in Scrooged who has some great lines in the comedy adaptation.

I also try to watch It's A Wonderful Life.

I wish everyone a happy Christmas and a safe new year. As Tiny Tim says at the end, "God Bless Us, Every One!"

USB Gadgets

Reading the Pursuits section of the Wall Street Journal for December 23, page P2 showed some USB gadgets. Three items were profiled and of those I have a version of one: USB Microscope QX5. I have the one developed by Intel when they were making educational toys. It is a great product even if it is packaged like a toy. I have posted some microscope pictures taken with it on earlier blog posts.

The gadget that caught me eye though was the USB missile launcher from thinkgeek.com. It reminds me of a Hawk anti-aircraft missile battery used by the military. Apparently, you can use the computer to aim the battery and fire it. I guess if someone enters your work area, you can unleash a foam missile barrage to drive them off.

I went to the Think Geek website and they also have the USB rocket launcher which has larger range than the missle launcher and the laser guided missile launcher to help improve targeting accuracy. What an arms race they have going!

The Painting Journalist

Today's Courier Journal had an interesting article about an Louisville artist, Ashley Cecil. She goes to community events and takes pictures or a sketch pad. After recording the event, she paints it and then sells it. When she sells it, she donates part of money to an organization (e.g. paints a scene from Habitat for Humanity (HFH) event and then donates money to HFH).

Check our her website which explains this much better.

http://www.ashleycecil.com

Emergency Supplies for Car Revisited

Today's Louisville Courier-Journal showed an article about how to prepare your car for winter driving. They included an article about checking your car's anti-freeze levels and quality, the oil levels, keep the gasoline in the tank above 50% capacity to avoid freezing, air pressure and tread condtion, battery condition, and inspect the belts.

They recommend the following for storing in your vehicle:

• Blanket or sleeping bag
• Warm clothing
• Small can of waterproof matches
• high calorie food
• fully charged cell phone
• shovel
• container of sand or cat litter
• booster cables
• flashlight with extra batteries
• water container
• tow rope
• first aid kit
• tool kit
  

I like the idea of tow cable and the sleeping bag. I sometimes carry my sleeping bag. I would add an emergency radio. The radio I have seen in the past is from Grundig or Elan (might have those names spelled wrong). The radio has a dynamo that you crank to charge it up. It has an LED light which saves battery energy and a cell phone charger port which can be really handy.

I am wondering if there is a product that people in the car in Oregon could have used to help air searchers see their vehicle better. Maybe a flashing LED or strobe that can be powered from a solar charger. I looked on the web and there seems to be some products out there using electronics that stand out. Maybe cars should carry an emergency dynamo for charging cell phones and batteries.

Small airplanes carry some sort of beacon device that goes off when they crash or something like this. Maybe cars can have this too. Of course, cars can with the Onstar system and maybe this a reason to get such a system that goes off when the car is in an accident or stranded.

Web Links

I will use this post to archive some web links from a notebook computer I use.

This blog entry lists some interesting medical software sites:
http://www.freesoftwaremagazine.com/node/1709

This site has some computer security links:
http://www.wiretapped.net/

This site has a variety of different circuit designs:
http://www.uoguelph.ca/~antoon/circ/circuits.htm

This site is the ultimate boot CD
http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/

Links to explore about the NBC show Heroes
http://www.thetenthwonder.com/

http://www.thetenthwonder.com/

Supplies to Carry in Vehicle

After the unfortunate events that befell that family in the Oregon wilderness, I thought about items that should be carried in the vehicle to help with emergency situations.

I try to carry 1 or 2 flashlights in the car. Usually, a D cell or AA cell Maglite. Other things I have:

• poncho
• pen
• tire gauge
• manual air pump
• philips screwdriver
• expired cell phone with charger (still works with 911 calls)
• fire extinguisher
• first aid kit
• quarters and other change
• phone book
• sometimes a floor jack that can lift 2.25 tons
• small shovel if chance of snow
• 5 gallon bucket of sand in case of snow (more buckets for weight)
• blankets in case of snow
• bottled water (at least 3 bottles if snow)
• saline for contacts
• window reflector to keep sun out in summer when parked
• Powerbars
• canned tuna or fruit & can opener
• sometimes in the winter, a candle in a sealed jar
• thermometer to check vent air temperature

I think the things I use most are the air pump and tire gauge. I try to keep the tire pressure correct for better gas mileage and tire wear. I have helped a number of people with tire issues because of it.

The one thing I might add is an empty gasoline container. A couple of tools to add would be a cresent wrench and some adjustable pliers.

Interesting Website on Traffic Flow

I read some of the postings from this website and see some of the things he is talking about while driving in the traffic in the morning. The big thing is avoid traffic by leaving early to get away from all the rush at certain times.

http://amasci.com/amateur/traffic/traffic1.html

I sometimes try some things mentioned, like go the speed limit after coming out of congested area instead of pacing with cars around me who drive 70+ mph and then end up hitting their brakes 2 miles down the road where another congested area has formed. You have to fight the herd mentality and realize that you are just wasting energy trying to get to the end of the next line really fast.

Call to the Night Sky

I was getting in my car tonight and looked up and saw a very clear night sky with lots of stars. It is tempting to go out with the telescope and start viewing but last December I went out to take images of the moon and got really sick. Christmas time was not very festive at all with me being sick it seemed like the whole month of December.

So as the siren of the night sky calls... for now I will avoid that opportunity to get sick.

Long Absence

I have not been doing a good job at keeping the blog up to date. I have been working on a sunroom for the house and it takes up a lot of my time outside of work. Also several rooms in the house have now been tiled as we replace the linoleum.

Here are some pictures of some hot air balloons that came over the neighborhood at the end of October.

More Watermelons

I have picked all the watermelons left in the one patch. The largest I weighed was a Charleston Gray at 26 lbs. The next was a little more than 24 lbs and it was a Charleston Gray as well. They were the last ones picked along with a smaller Mountain Hoosier melon.

Watermelon Harvest

I began harvesting the watermelons last week. A picture shows the wheel barrel with some melons. The two striped melons are Crimson Sweet and weighed about 10 lbs each. The three solid green melons are Mountain Hoosier and they weighed about 8 lbs a piece. The smaller melons with the whitish haze on them weigh between 2.5-7 lbs a piece and those are Sugar Baby melons.

I also picked on the Charleston Gray Melons and it came in at 19.8 lbs.

Tasting the First Watermelon

The watermelon tasted great. This Sugar Baby melon had quite a lot of seeds. It weighed in at 5.1 lbs.

First Melon of the Season

It is a Sugar Baby that only weighs 3 lbs so it is pretty small. The vine was dead so I picked the melon. There are about 6 Sugar Babies left, 3 Mountain Hoosier, 6 Charleston Grey, 2 Crimson Sweet, and 4 Rattlesnake.

Vintage Indiana

We attended a great festival yesterday that highlights some of Indiana's wineries. The event is held in downtown Indianapolis at the Military Park. The fence off the park and then set up lots of tents to house the wineries, restaurants, information booths, and art dealers. The event runs from 11am-7pm.

More information can be found about it at: http://www.vintageindiana.com/

I visited about 11 different winery tables and probably sampled 14 different wines. When you enter the park and you have an adult tasting ticket ($17 if purchased early) you are given a wine glass. You present the wine glass at the winery table and tell them which wine you would like to taste. They pour a sample usually to the line at the bottom of the glass that might fill it 1/8 of the way up. After you taste that you can ask for more samples. If you find a wine you like you can purchase it at the tent. If you want to buy a lot, you can have them send it to a wine pick up tent and they will box it so you can get it to your vehicle easier.

My favorite wine was the Catawba from French Lick Winery. Usually the Red wines from wineries which I think are made from Concord grapes are what I like to sample. Fruity wines like blackberry and cherry are also some I like to sample.

The weather was nice with partly cloudy skies and a nice breeze. The park has a lot of old large trees that make it nice to sit under the shade and listen to the bands that play at the main stage while drinking wine and eating cheese/sausage/fruit.

Here are some pictures I took of the event:

Really Cool Lightning from May 25 Storm

I got caught out in an intense storm after work on Thursday May 25th. After taking cover in a Kroger parking lot to wait out the driving winds and heavy rain. The parking lot was like a small stream with sheets of water pouring over it. While I waited out the storm, two small trees blew over.

As I drove back I aimed my digital camera toward the sky and set it in movie mode. It captured a pretty neat video that maybe I will post on YouTube if I can find some editing software.

The drive back had quite a sky show. I just wish I could have caught more of it on video.

Here are a few frames from that movie:

Louisville Hike & Bike Part 2

I found that another blogger was also at this event and they had camera. Here are some pictures they took of the festivities.

http://www.stuartsbackpack.com/052906/Site/Photos.html

Also he has a neat story about his impressions of the ride:

http://www.stuartsbackpack.com/blog/?p=7

One last thing, next year I need to bring my camera!!!

Mayor's Healthy Hometown Hike & Bike

I spent part of Memorial Day cycling with over a thousand other people from downtown Louisville to several of the parks. The day was sunny and hot. The temperature may have gotten to 90. The ride route was excellent in that I ride a similar route a lot during cycling season. The hills in Cherokee park did not disappoint with a number of riders hauling up them. I did not maintain the pace with the group I climbed up wiht though if I would have left the seat to start pedaling I might have made it to the top of the hill with the fountain. Fun stuff!

A couple of things I need to remember for next year: 1) Put on sun block. My arms are reddish looking though they do not hurt. 2) Get a second water bottle for the bicycle. I had to stop and refill my bottle during the ride. 3) Fix my trip computer so I can tell my distance and speed. 4) Do not get their so early if they start the ride at 11 am or ride around some before starts.

When the Mayor Abramson open the event with some remarks, he said it is hard to please everyone. Last year people wanted a later start so they could get the kids ready to start and this year people are saying why are we not starting. I think a compromise would be to have a staggered start. Let the faster, more seasoned riders start first at an earlier time. Maybe 15-30 minutes later let a moderate paced group start. Last let a slower, more relaxed pace group start. This would let the police close the roads off at intervals so the traffic does not build on some roads for long periods of time.

I thought the traffic control people did an excellent job this year. Also the EMS and police were patrolling the route helping people who had wrecks or were suffering from heat issues. We did see something kind of interesting. A car stopped because a cyclist collided with it. Apparently, the driver stopped a stop sign and the cyclist behind him ram the car thinking he would go through the sign. Stop signs are the bane of cyclists since you lose that forward momentum.

All and all a nice day but being out in that sun was draining.

Voyager II at the Edge of the Solar System?

NASA JPL released a podcast today that talks about the Voyager spacecraft launched in the late 1970s. The link to this can be found below.

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/podcasting/voyager-20060523-transcript.html

The main discovery is that Voyager 2 while about 2 billion closer to Sun than Voyager 1 is encountering the edge of the solar system. Since the power generator will maybe last till 2020, the spacecraft will still be sending data when they might reach interstellar space. I find this intriguing because these craft along with some of the NASA Pioneer probes (and maybe some Russian spacecraft) could one day be the only remains of life on Earth.

According to the entry for Earth on Wikipedia, the Sun will become a red dwarf in 5 billion years. The increased radiation should wipe out most life on Earth at this time. As the sun cools that will be it for our solar system. More about this can be found at the link below:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth

Wild Violet

Here is a picture I took while at our annual family Easter egg hunt. It was growing in the yard with some others.

Birds in Bathroom Vents

I am amazed at how persist birds are at finding nesting areas. The birds near our house have figured out how to get through the flaps that cover vent pipes that lead to bathroom vent fans. The covers are maybe 4 inch by 4 inch in area and have 4 one inch slats that are hinged that open when the fan is blowing air out of the bathroom.

We would hear a bird moving in the pipe on Saturday mornings in the upstairs bathroom. So I went into the attic and found that the 3 foot flexible pipe contained dead grass and twine. I tried to block the pipe with mesh but the bird pushed through it. So we got a ladder and installed a bird/rodent cage over top the outer flaps. The cage can be obtained from Home Depot for about $10.

We were out this evening digging a sidewalk that will go around the side of the house and I heard a bird fluttering near the house next door. It looked like a starling with a plastic wrapper in its mouth. It was trying to get into the flap but could not after 3 attempts. The fourth attempt it took its talons and grabbed onto the bottom of the frame and swung up using its beak to pop open one of the flaps. It got the flap open and squeezed into the hole but lost the plastic wrapper. I wish I could have caught this with the camera.

Way to Improve Cleansing Power of Bleach

I read today that bleach can be enhanced as a disinfectant by adding white vinegar. The vinegar makes the bleach more acidic thus able to kill more microbes. Read more about from this release by the American Society for Microbiology.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-02/asfm-vik021306.php

Gas Mileage

My gas mileage has leveled out around 30-32 mpg where I was getting around 35 mpg. I am wondering if the cold weather has caused this loss.

Astronomy Audio Shows

I was reading an article on space.com and it mentioned a book called Moonrush by Dennis Wingo. I remember this name from when I was at University of Alabama Huntsville. He was involved with the student space society (SEDS) and their satellite (SEDSAT). I was involved in the IEEE so I was too busy to get involved in that group. The satellite was a neat idea but I think its optical system failed when it got up. Shortwave listeners might still be able to get data packets from it. See this page for more information about the SEDSAT http://www.seds.org/sedsat/tracking/

So I looked for the Moonrush book I found that there was show call The Space Show. You can download MP3s and listen to them later.

http://www.thespaceshow.com


I found this show from Starizona called Let's Talk Stars. The show is hosted by astronomers Dave and Wendee Levy.
http://www.letstalkstars.com

Vehicle Heater Temperature

I decided to measure the temperature of the heater in the car and truck. It has been in the teens to 30s F around Louisville so I am definitely using the heater more. The Ford Ranger truck always seemed to have a hot heater. I used a meat thermometer to measure vent temperature. The vent temperature came out to be 160 degrees F when the air flow was selected for front vents, lowest air flow rate and full heat.

The Nissan NX-1600 puts out 110 degree F air when the vent is selected for lowest air flow rate, front vents, and full heat. If the flow selector is set to front and floor vents the temperature on the front vent is 80 degrees F. If the defrost vent is selected, the front vent goes to 60 degrees F. The vent is also set to allow fresh air in so that makes the air cooler. The outside air was in the 30s when the measurements were made.

Moon Pictures

I was able to go out and get some pictures of the moon tonight. The temperature is much warmer than when I was out last collecting pictures. There was quite a bit more light and the camera seemed saturated at times.

More Websites

A site with news for the science world that seems geared toward life sciences.
http://www.livescience.com/

I found this site selling solar energy equipment.
http://wholesalesolar.com/index.html

This website is quite a gem. It talks about incentive programs in Kentucky encouraging the use of solar water heaters and power generation. Starting this year federal energy tax credits are in place. This site has quite a lot of information about solar water heating. After reading some of this information, I definitely will consider installing a system. It would be tricky to get plumbing from the roof to the hot water heater with the house already finished though.
http://www.kysolar.org

Airplane Sites

I think this site has the neatest software. It tracks flights across the United States. The animated map showing all the planes as red dots over a 24 hour period gives an eye opening view of the planes in the air.
http://flightaware.com/

This site has lots of airline plane pictures.
http://www.airliners.net

This site has lots of airplane news.
http://www.landings.com/

Big Storm

Today we had a thunderstorm move though the Louisville area during the Gator Bowl being played by University of Louisville & Virginia Tech. The storm brought tornadoes and representation of trouble to the area's football team. Things went down hill for UofL in that 4th quarter. They had a good season and next year should be even better.

Here is a picture of the storm heading in. Since temperatures were in the 70s F, the cold front created quite an energetic storm.


After the storm, the sun came out and with evening storms that means a possibility of a rainbow. A double rainbow appeared as rain was continuing to fall. Very neat.












Close up of a rainbow. If I had a wide angle lens, the entire rainbow would appear in the image. It made a complete arc from visible horizon to horizon.

Microscope Images of Print Characters

It is the new year! I spent the day upgrading the locks on the house after reading the October 2005 Consumer Reports article on home locks. Home Depot and Lowe's have quite a number of items you can buy to re-enforce your locks. I could not find the brand of strike box the article said to use but I did find a strike box at both stores.

I also thought what would different print look like under the computer microscope. So I cut out samples to view from the Louisville Courier Journal, Wall Street Journal, and a HP Photosmart 2610 inkjet. Here are the images I generated.

The image on the left is the Courier Journal (CJ) s character magnified 60 times.










The image on the right is the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) s character magnified 60 times

Comparing the two, the CJ s is darker and has more ink spots or smudges. The fonts are different and of different sizes so an exact comparison is difficult.



Image on left is CJ dot magnified x200. There looks to be a blue fiber in the paper, I wonder if this means it is recycled paper?










WSJ dot magnified x200 times. Their press looks to be using less ink than the CJ press.









Image on the left is dot made by HP Photosmart 2610 printer. Not sure dpi setting when page was printed. A few stray black dots also font seems to produce square dots instead of round ones. Paper quality was much better than that of the newspapers shown in earlier images.