Monday, July 21st, 2008
Facebook Redesign To Go Live Tomorrow
Five months later and it looks like Facebook is ready to release their new profile redesign. Initially Facebook announced they were working on a redesign earlier this year. In May, a glimpse of the redesigned was released to developers in the developers sandbox. Tomorrow evening the redesign will be open to the public.
Google’s Android Losing It’s Mojo Fast
Android started off being a great idea, from a great company, with lots of support from carriers and manufacturers, and an awesome $10million contest to get developers drooling. With some stiff competition from Apple, and loss of developer morale, I’m afraid of what the future might hold for this platform.
First Commercial-Scale Tidal Power System Delivers
The world’s first commercial-scale tidal turbine developed by British tidal energy company, Marine Current Turbines, has delivered electricity onto the grid for the first time. In principle, SeaGen works much like an “underwater windmill”, driven by the power of the tidal currents.
Google Tests Search Interface That Looks More Like Digg
In the new Google Search Interface each comment has an up or down vote feature as well, and Google is using thumbs up and down icons that are exactly the same as those on Digg. The comments show the username of the person leaving it, and clicking on it shows their Google account profile.
Google Launches New Space Race To The Moon
When Neil Armstrong became the first man to set foot on the moon, he uttered unforgettable words. But the next visitor to roam the lunar landscape may send back e-mail instead. Welcome to a new kind of space race, where the earthly guest will be a machine and the goal is as much exploration as seeking out new business ventures.
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Monday, June 16th, 2008
Seven Ways to Save Energy by Saving Water
Though many states and localities are waking up to their water shortages and taking steps to plan for “peak water”, people generally continue to waste water and to ignore the energy-water link.
New Material Absorbs Light Completely And Generates Electric
A partnership between Duke University and Boston College turned out to be very beneficial for the science world, as they obtained a metamaterial that absorbs all the light it gets (yes, it becomes invisible) and that is supposed to generate energy more efficiently than the solar cells.
Civic Outsells F-150 for First Time Ever
Go little Civic, go!
How To Heat Up Solar
It seems incredible then that the U.S. Senate has again failed to pass a bill that would extend solar tax credits to build new power plants.
Prius is Now the Most Searched New Car on Cars.com
Cars.com has announced that for the first time ever, the Toyota Prius has become the most searched for new vehicle on the popular vehicle classifieds site — surpassing long time favorites such as the Accord and Camry. The Prius first appeared in the top 10 most searched vehicles list last summer.
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Monday, June 2nd, 2008
Secrets of Stonehenge unearthed
Now that’s a pretty impressive tombstone. New research suggests that Stonehenge was used as a cemetery for more than 500 years, much longer than previously thought. The new findings also show that people used the area as a burial site long before placement of its trademark stones (or sarsen stones) was complete.
How to harvest solar power? Beam it down from space!
The satellites would electromagnetically beam gigawatts of solar energy back to ground-based receivers, where it would then be converted to electricity and transferred to power grids. The floating power plants could provide round-the-clock clean, renewable electricity.
Scientists Invent Machine to Suck CO2 & Fight Global Warming
Scientists say they have invented a machine that can suck carbon dioxide out of the air – potentially creating a vital weapon in the war against global warming. The blueprint for the CO2 ’scrubber’ raises the prospect of a generation of machines which would help reduce the billions of tonnes of greenhouse gases being pumped into the atmosphere.
The Coming Energy Wars - A Bargain at $200
Oil prices could hit $200 a barrel in the next few months. How the spike changes everything. This spring, America hit a historic point. With average gas prices per gallon edging toward $4, America’s notoriously profligate ways started to change fast. Americans are driving less, using mass transit more, buying fewer gas guzzlers.
How Man-Made Noise May Be Altering Earth’s Ecology
The contamination of biophony may soon become a serious environmental issue — Scientist Bernie Krause says that man-made sounds are already wreaking havoc with animal communication. We worry about the carbon emissions from SUVs and airplanes; maybe we should be equally concerned about the racket they cause.
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Saturday, May 3rd, 2008
Yes, I know, this is probably one of my more boring posts. Actually, maybe not…I have a lot of boring posts.
Well, we had our new washer and dryer delivered today. We left our old ones back in NY. We were going to bring them, but I thought it would be a good selling point for the other house if we left them, especially since they are almost brand new. Also, I really wanted to get one of these new types of washers. They are Energy Star® and use much less water. Also, the spin cycle spins the drum at 1,100 RPM, so the clothes really get a lot of the water spun out of them before they hit the dryer. That equals less dryer time.
The washer is very quiet. I was sitting right next to it, while talking on the phone and could hardly hear it operating. I like the way I can watch the clothes flop around in there. We got the “LG Electronics 4.0 Cu. Ft. Energy Star® Front Load Washer in White” from Home Dept. I think the Energy Star®, along with the reduced usage of water was worth the few extra bucks.
The dryer is a regular old dryer. It is the “GE 7.0 Cu. Ft. Super Capacity Electric Dryer” also from Home Depot. When we went in to pick them out, I really wanted the stainless steel drum. The sales girl told us that she went to a class just the day before and was told that the stainless steel did virtually nothing for performance. I thought this was a little odd because the stainless costs more and she would probably want to make a bigger sale. Since we really don’t need any fancy features for a dryer, we got this one.
The first wash is going right now. I am going to get the dryer going and start finishing up the pile was already have down in the laundry room.
Peace out.
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Friday, December 21st, 2007
Well, the floor is done. Yesterday, the tile guy came back and did the grout. That went fairly quickly. He took about a half hour to finish up.
The grout is ivory color, but went on kind of dark. My sister and I were talking about grout the other day. She did her kitchen tile by herself, which is gutsy. She was saying how you can’t have grout darker than the tile, because when you first look at the floor, your eye will see a big grid and not the tile. That gave me a little concern when I saw the grout go on darker than ivory. Then, the grout started drying and I remembered that the grout gets lighter as it dries.
So there it is.
Today, I have a bunch of stuff to do. I have to seal the grout, cut the threshold mouldings, stain them, clear coat them and move an outlet. There is one that will be buried by a cabinet. I am going to move that up so we can use it. After that stuff is done, I have some plumbing work to do. Paul might need to help me with that.
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