World Solar Rally and Borealis III follow-up


September 21, 2006

Heads must have turned as the World Solar Rally made it way through the cities and countrysides of Taiwan this past week. As regular readers know, I’ve been following the Rally through the eyes of Team UNM University of Minnesota and their vehicle Borealis III. The team managed to perform well the final few days […]

World Solar Rally: First race day results


September 17, 2006

The first day of racing for the World Solar Rally has the eleven university teams competing in an airport circuit race. The race included tight turns which posed a problem for the University of Minnesota team and their car, Borealis III. (see standings) The tight fast cornering gave the team tire trouble as they experienced […]

Borealis III readies for World Solar Rally


September 15, 2006

I commented back in July and updated in August, on a solar racing team from the University of Minnesota that was heading to Taiwan for a World Solar Rally. I been monitoring and receiving updates from them regularly as they unpack their equipment and Borealis III entry. (vehicle and team in Taiwan above) The group […]

Windows that generate solar electric power with “buckyballs”


November 9, 2010

Where would you install photovoltaic solar panels if they were clear? Perhaps they will be in the not so distant future as contemplated by Alyssa Danigelis in her Discovery News article. And here’s a new word of the day: buckyballs – spherical or ellipsoidal cages made up of covalently bonded carbon atoms discovered in 1985 […]

Update: Taiwan & UNM Solar Vehicle Project


August 28, 2006

Adem Ruden, from the University of Minnesota, updated a previous post from July in regard to the UMN Solar Vehicle Project competing in Tawain. I’ll post directly from his email. Keep us posted … we’re pulling for the team! (Interesting fact: GeekSquad founder ‘attended’ UMN, but dropped out as a Junior because of cost … […]

U of Minnesota Solar Car heading to Taiwan


July 8, 2006

I’m cheering for a group of students from University of Minnesota who will be racing their entry, Borealis III on September 17th in the World Solar Rally. Last year they took 2nd place in a 2005 race from Austin Texas to Calgary, Canada and have rebuilt and modified their vehicle in order to compete in […]

Latest WordPress upgrade to 3.6 and plug in changes


August 4, 2013

It has been a few years since the automatic update from WordPress.org failed on my server … and only after the fact did I regret not doing a full backup prior to attempting the update (really, I’m posting just to see that all is working after the upgrade). After downloading the new install files and […]

From not being diversified to owning too many tickers?


October 12, 2021

For most investors, the normal criticism is that they are not diversified enough … or at least they often own too much of one sector or one stock (happened in the old days when companies often matched or did a partial match in company stock). I’ve tried to keep “diversity” in mind over my lifetime […]

Renewables and EV charging at home vs charging station issue


July 3, 2021

As we transition to renewable energy and electric vehicles, the discussion I had with a German tourist on our cruise to Alaska continues to replay in my head. I am an advocate of free-market capitalism and smaller, less intrusive government … but have been known to stumble a bit and have supported government using incentives […]

Prediction: An advancement in superconductivity is coming


March 25, 2020

It may not come from space in the form of meteorites as mentioned in the story below, but I think the biggest advancement in this decade will be in superconductivity. Physicists have made fantastic advancements in reducing electrical resistance ever since Dutch physicist Heike Kamerlingh Onnes experimented with ferromagnetism in 1911, but getting superconductivity state […]

A 1989 family glacier photo and thoughts on climate change #TBT


February 6, 2020

It has been a shockingly mild winter, at least in Cincinnati this year. Generally I don’t put the snow blower on the John Deere 330 tractor until it is needed, yet this year I prepared early … and may have frightened the snow away? Having a winter without much snow is not totally unheard of, […]

Electrical grid shortcomings in a cyber war or EMP event


January 16, 2019

Although we hear (or at least I read) about cyber attacks to the U.S. electrical grid and utilities on a regular basis … but I’m not sure we take these events seriously enough? I’ve blogged on this ever since reading One Second After, a detailed factual-fiction story about just how devastating, vulnerable and dependent we […]

Prepping for an Electromagnetic Pulse — EMP strike


January 25, 2014

No … not what you think. I have not gone down the Doomsday rabbit hole … just yet, but for years I’ve been interesting in self-sufficient living and do my share of reading. I enjoy reading both fictional thrillers about EMPs (ie. One Second After) and books oriented towards self-sufficiency. I’ve spent a few hours […]

Archive: Worth reading as a way to reset your political compass


October 30, 2011

Every once in awhile a writer captures with clarity what I’m politically thinking — I wish I could communicate this clearly. Peggy Noonan. She is a very talented speech writer and opinion columnist and wrote a superb column for Saturday’s WSJ worth sharing and saving to my archive. The content referenced current politicians, but is […]

Energy Bill Politics


June 6, 2005

With crude oil once again closing above $55.00/barrel and the potential for gasoline to rise closers to $3.00/ gallon, the pressure is being felt by congress to actually get an energy bill passed and sent to President Bush. An article in today’s WSJ (subscription required) details some fo the components that have derailed the the […]

Desultory - des-uhl-tawr-ee, -tohr-ee

  1. lacking in consistency, constancy, or visible order, disconnected; fitful: desultory conversation.
  2. digressing from or unconnected with the main subject; random: a desultory remark.
My Desultory Blog