RichC | August 31, 2007
Although our local football season had a few heads turned down after last week’s beating in Centerville, Ohio, the Lakota East players at least had their heads up before this weeks game. The Navy helped to start this weeks home game by bringing the game ball down in patriotic style. They brought it by skydiver […]
RichC | August 31, 2007
A few weeks ago, Google’s Gmail team asked their users to help them with a collaborative video project. They asked Google-ites to submit short videos of themselves passing a Gmail envelope from left to right in a creative way. Over 1000 video clips were received from 50 countries and after assembling here is what it […]
RichC | August 31, 2007
I’ve been participating in a discussion in our CinciTDI Yahoo group over the concern that food crops a being used for fuels … particularly as it relates to biodiesel. With the demand for soybeans (and corn for ethanol) rising, these two staple food and feed crops are returning higher prices per bushel. This is good […]
RichC | August 30, 2007
Another summer over … thankfully for mom and dad … and its back to the school grind for my kids. Katelyn in particular had an interesting summer helping open a new restaurant near our home; she enjoyed every minute working and playing with the family and fellow employees at the Greek Isles Restaurant. The unique […]
RichC | August 29, 2007
Speedway in Brimfield Ohio is still selling 500ppm LSD In a previous post I commented to the effect that maybe my 2003 VW Jetta TDI’s fuel economy might go down after purchasing new tires with a more aggressive all-weather tread. After two tanks of fuel, one B-20 (20% biodiesel and 80% Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel), […]
RichC | August 28, 2007
As Wi-Fi becomes a way of life for many Internet connected notebook computer, PDAs and Smartphones users, there is a tendency to become too comfortable in ‘making the connection.’ I find it almost a necessity in my travel, but nevertheless, I do rethink the places I connect. Coffee shops, restaurants and hotels are pretty regular […]
RichC | August 27, 2007
Have you changed your brake fluid lately? On most if not all TDIs, VW recommends that you change your brake fluid every 2 year regardless of mileage. So with that in mind, how about getting together on Saturday, September 22, 2007 with your fellow TDI owners and helping each other with a brake bleeding? (9AM […]
RichC | August 24, 2007
Raj Mosali of Jatrodiesel, headquartered in Mason Ohio announced that their Miamisburg biodiesel facility up and running. (see post from last year) The new facility has a current capacity of 10,000 gallons and will eventually be able to produce 15,000 gallons per day. The newly opened production facility is looking for buyers and is willing […]
RichC | August 23, 2007
Traveling around the state of Ohio this week, it is amazing the difference a few hundred miles can make. In my home of Cincinnati, its relatively dry with rainfall for the month almost 3 inches below normal. In Cleveland the recent heavy rains have put them 6+inches over the monthly averages. The recent heavy rains […]
RichC | August 22, 2007
I’m not sure how many reading this use the communication tool called Skype, but after an outage last week there has been question as to “just how secure” Skype services are from hackers, traffic problems or malicious attacks. (see Dark Reading PDF) At any rate, Skype has issued a weeks extension to existing customers and […]
RichC | August 21, 2007
The crew of STS-118 and Space Shuttle Endeavour (see launch post) are back on the ground after a 13 day mission to the International Space Station this Tuesday afternoon. The skies were clear and the landing was picture perfect executed by Commander Scott Kelly at 12:32 p.m. EDT. The mission was filled with work and […]
RichC | August 20, 2007
Although clean diesel technology is my primarily preference for our spread out interstate nation, I’m interested in seeing advancements in most other alternatives too. Ford Motor Company has produced a performance oriented Ford Fusion fuel cell speedster which brags ‘zero emissions’ at the tailpipe. (what does it take to produce the fuel cell?) In a […]
RichC | August 19, 2007
My wife is on a stair climbing mission in her desire to get in shape for a mini-triathlon so I tagged along and made a few trips gingerly up and down the ‘stairs of Hamilton’ in hopes my hip problem wouldn’t flair up. (it didn’t) The evening was balmy and we both worked up a […]
RichC | August 18, 2007
Last year I mentioned an enjoyable program ‘Living with Ed’ looking into the ‘green’ life of Ed Begley the environmentalist actor. The program featured his wife Rachelle Carlson struggling with Ed’s earth saving ways. I didn’t expect to enjoy it, but recorded or watched every episode … and hoped the program would go a second […]
RichC | August 17, 2007
Hurricane season in North American has had seen a slower start than expected for the 2007 season, but Hurricane Dean could become a real killer. Currently, as of 1:45 p.m. EDT, Dean is west of Martinique slightly south of Puerto Rico. It has been upgraded to a more powerful Category 3 storm and will cross […]
RichC | August 16, 2007
A new all electric motorcycle/scooter vehicle is available from Vectrix U.S.A. if you have a spare $11,000. It is the Tesla of electric scooters, but unfortunately only has a 40 to 60 mile range. (battery improvements perhaps?) Actually I do like the sexy looking scooter; it looks well designed and thoughtfully integrates many of the […]
RichC | August 15, 2007
As previously mentioned, 20 university teams using innovation, technology and creative design ideas will be competing to build energy efficient model homes in U.S. Department of Energy’s 2007 Solar Decathlon. Graduate and undergraduate students are working to build the most usable and energy-efficient solar-powered homes. They will be finishing up their models next month and […]
RichC | August 14, 2007
A couple weeks ago a train derailed in Hamilton Ohio and dumped some grain near downtown. While driving in that direction the other day I snapped a couple Palm Treo 700p photos (click photos for larger versions) and decided to archive them here. I was surprised to see that there hasn’t been any clean up […]
RichC | August 13, 2007
While visiting the service department at the VWFairfield dealership, I had a chance to see my first 2008 VW R32 … a hot little limited production Volkswagen I mentioned a few months ago. As my son would say … Sweet!
RichC | August 12, 2007
At the premium end of the new diesel vehicle spectrum is the 2007 Mercedes Benz GL320 CDI (MB Stock photos) … and with MSRP starting at $54,000 or a nicely equipped (as driven) vehicle of $65,000, the new U.S. built Mercedes is not for everybody. My first impression is that the GL320 CDI has Mercedes […]
RichC | August 10, 2007
After skating around on the wet pavement yesterday, I called a local Goodyear tire store where I’ve purchase several sets of tires over the years and worked a deal for 8 tires. My daughter heads back to Med school and the last thing I want is for her to slipping around in NE Ohio this […]
RichC | August 9, 2007
It has been hot in Ohio these past few days … even for August. The temperatures are in the 90s, but it sure has felt hotter with the high humidity. If you are living in the midwest, this tidbit isn’t a major news flash. With these hot and humid conditions can come some pretty intense […]
RichC | August 8, 2007
The space shuttle Endeavour lifts off this late afternoon at 6:36PM (Aug 8th) with a crew of 7 for mission STS-118 to continue work on the International Space Station. It’s was a clean launch with good visibility for those on the ground and from my television vantage point, a perfect launch. The lead flight director […]
RichC | August 7, 2007
The Good: DL.TV is on TiVo (through TiVoCast) The Bad: Patrick Norton is leaving. I’m by no means a ‘geek,’ but as the Holiday Inn Express commercial says, I did watch an episode of DL.TV last night. 🙂 For those who might have followed the online video trend, you might recognized the Ziff Davis backed […]
RichC | August 6, 2007
Let’s see, how does a best selling summer paperback start … “It was a humid August afternoon, one of those days when even the suede leather trim on the luxury SUV sticks to your back …” or something like that. 😉 Its been sweltry in southwestern Ohio these past few days and it certainly was […]
RichC | August 4, 2007
Its great to have eyes and ears willing to email me the occasional interesting news article. Here was a great find by a blog reader from Seattle. (Thanks Nora) Cruise line signs biodiesel contract Imperium Renewables said Friday it has a deal to provide Royal Caribbean Cruises with biodiesel. The Seattle-based biodiesel maker, which is […]
RichC | August 3, 2007
Picked up a great tech tip this past week from the CommandN.TV’s video blog: the Jing Project, which is currently free. (I suspect it will eventually be ‘pay for’ since it is from TechSmith) Basically its an advanced screen capture tool which offers the simple ability to share what is on your screen with others […]
RichC | August 2, 2007
I connected with a family member who is in his residency in Minneapolis, MN this evening to be sure that he and his family were safe. According to his wife Keity, Justin was already at the hospital working; I noticed the news reports mentioned that most doctors were called in to the hospitals. (Justin is […]
RichC | August 1, 2007
We enjoyed being out of touch on an extra long weekend these past few days with my family celebrating my parent’s 50th Wedding Anniversary. Its is wonderful mile-marker for mom and dad which provides both my brother and me with an excellent marriage example. Our families booked a semi-surprise long weekend at The Water’s Edge […]