My Desultory Blog

Posted By RichC on November 11, 2010

While contemplating how to best comment on Veterans Day this year, I’ve decided that I would detour my trip home tonight and stop in to thank my dad in person for his service in Korea. Although in the past he generally avoided even acknowledging it, in recent years he and his fellow veterans have become more open (a lot to do with the current generation appreciative attitude toward all veterans). When we took the “Honor Trip to Washington DC” last spring his military service became a more positive experience. I think he appreciates the recognition for his service from the community and enjoys connecting with other vets. Thankfully the wounds our country grappled with after the Vietnam War have somewhat healed and Americans as a whole have made an effort as a whole to give all veterans the respect they have always deserved. My heartfelt thank you to all who have served the call of their country … especially my dad.

I also listened to a radio program on XM’s WHYY’s feed this morning which feature a couple of surgeons who worked on the battlefield. One, Dr. James Finnegan, wrote a book titled In the Company of Marines: A Surgeon Remembers Vietnam. where he reflects on the heroic service of a fellow doctor – Dr. Ed Feldman.

A couple of statistics shared by Dr. Finnegan that I found interesting about Vietnam Vets:

• 97% of the 2.7 million were discharged ‘honorably’
• As a whole, Vietnam vets have higher incomes and lower drug use than the nation as a whole
• 80% say that knowing what they know now, they would go back again

Category: Books, Holiday, Millitary | No Comments »
Tags: veterans

Posted By RichC on November 11, 2010

Although including politically oriented subject matter on my blog is divisive, it is still something that “we” talk about in our daily grind so I’ll still continue to include a few pointed posts. I’d like to think that with November 2nd is behind us we’ll see a year or so of productive governing in Washington DC … but who am I kidding … we are a divided country when it comes to how much government we want overseeing our lives.

On a lighter political note, Experian Simmons research looked at the television viewing habits of Republicans and Democrats. Some of the numbers were of no surprise … Glenn Beck on FoxNews was popular with Republicans and Countdown with Keith Obermann on MSNBC was popular with Democrats. On the other hand, Modern Family, featuring a gay couple with their adopted daughter, came is as a number 3 show for Republicans, yet was relatively popular with Democrats too. Number 3 for the Democrats was the premium channel Showtime’s Dexter, a program that received far less attention in Republican homes. What was interesting is that most ‘reality’ shows were popular across the political spectrum.

Where do your viewing habits tell you about your political leanings?

For the record, my wife were disappointed not to see a few of our favorite programs on the list, but ranked the ones that we have watched this order:

1. NCIS
2. Glenn Beck
3. The Big Bang Theory
4. V
5. Modern Family
6. Parks and Recreation
7. Dexter (although DVD only)
   *** many of the programs we aren’t even familiar with

Category: Entertainment, Politics | 5 Comments »
Tags: television

Posted By RichC on November 10, 2010

My son sent me a video clip to reminded me that 35 years ago today was the day the iron ore freighter SS Edmund Fitzgerald sank with all 29 ‘souls onboard’ in Lake Superior. Thanks Taylor. (Hmm, what’s the origin of ‘souls onboard?’).

Having spent my childhood growing up on the Great Lakes in a commercial fishing and shipping oriented community not too far from Toledo Ohio, our area was perhaps more deeply impacted by the tragedy than much of the country. Still, I suspect most my age have heard the eery Gordon Lightfoot song, “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald,” and remember the 1975 tragedy while watching the tribute video (below). For me, the most resonating part of the video is the list of names and the familiar Ohio towns that scroll at the end of the video.

On November 10, 1975, while traveling on Lake Superior during a gale, the Fitzgerald sank suddenly in Canadian waters approximately 17 miles (15 nmi; 27 km) from the entrance of Whitefish Bay at a depth of 530 feet (160 m). Although it had reported having some difficulties before the accident, the Fitzgerald sank without sending any distress signals. Its crew of 29 perished in the sinking with no bodies being recovered. When the wreck was found, it was discovered that the Fitzgerald had broken in two.

Category: Archive, History, Personal, Video | No Comments »
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Posted By RichC on November 10, 2010

I wouldn’t be throwing rocks if I lived in your “house” Ms. Maddow … MSNBC TV cable news network is far from innocent when it comes to having political bias.

We’re not a political operation, Fox is. We are a news operation.
  ~ Rachel Maddow

Category: Politics, Video-TV | 1 Comment »
Tags: cable, foxnews, maddow, msnbc

Posted By RichC on 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 and named after engineer, inventor, architect Buckminster Fuller. (see photo and you’ll understand why)

Material Could Collect Sunlight from Roof and Windows

Analysis by Alyssa Danigelis

You’ve probably heard of thin-film solar power, but scientists from Los Alamos and Brookhaven National Laboratories made new light-harvesting material that’s actually transparent. Solar electricity from the whole house, anyone?

A team led by physical chemist Mircea Cotlet created a transparent thin film using a relatively simple process. As James Rickman of Los Alamos National Laboratory explained to me, it involved taking a standard polymer –  plastic — and spiking it with soccer-ball shaped 60-carbon-atom spheres called fullerenes, better known as "buckyballs" after Buckminster Fuller. Their research was just published in the journal Chemistry of Materials.

While the material design isn’t Earth-shattering, Rickman says the novelty is in the transparency. "The way that these things line up, you get this honeycomb-shaped pattern that’s like a screen from a screen door," he says. The transparent effect is caused when micron-sized water droplets are sprayed across a thin layer of the buckyball-plastic solution. The water and solution naturally create a concentration of semiconducting material in the pattern as the water evaporates.

The material could either be used as a solar collector, or as a light-emitting diode, depending on the application. Transparency is crucial because it would allow for flexible and transparent light displays, and solar collection from windows that still allow the light in.

Imagine a house that has solar collectors on the roof, and the windows. That could potentially generate far more electricity than a traditional solar array. Getting the material to that stage will take more years of research and testing, though, since the scientists are currently making droplet-sized quantities of it in the lab. Plus it would be great to use a renewable feedstock to make the plastic solution.

Still, Rickman points out that the process to make the material is fairly easy to develop and that should make it scalable. Scaling up solar simply and affordably — the advantages are clear to me.

Category: Technology | No Comments »
Tags: energy, science, solar

Posted By RichC on November 8, 2010

For many trying to recover from a difficult and seemingly never ending recession, the thought of their dollars getting weaker and weaker is demonstrated most clearly by the price of gold continuing to rise. For people living on a fixed income, the fear of their purchasing power falling is unsettling. Not only has gold continued to rise, but basic commodities are rising as well … something that may soon to be reflected in the products we buy. Hold on to your hats as we could be dealing with inflationary pressures in 2011.

Gold futures topped $1,400 for the first time amid uncertainty on the outcome of Group of 20 currency talks and worries about sovereign debt in Europe.

Further highlighting gold’s role as an alternative currency, the World Bank president advocated the inclusion of the metal in a revamped global monetary system.

The most actively traded contract, for December delivery, rose $5.50, or 0.4%, to settle at $1,403.20 a troy ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.

More at online.wsj.com

Posted via email from RichC’s posterous

Category: Misc | No Comments »
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Posted By RichC on November 8, 2010

The US military continues to move forward with renewable alternatives to petroleum. The latest being the a 49-foot naval gunboat testing a algae-based biodiesel in Norfolk, Virginia. (See Green Investing article from Green Chip Stocks)

Algae Biodiesel Filling U.S. Naval Tanks

Last week, a 49-foot naval gunboat was the first to test-drive algae-based fuel as part of the United States military’s initiative for a new improved, energy efficient strike force.

The experimental vessel was tested at the Norfolk, Virginia naval base and operated successfully on a tank filled with equal parts algae-based and diesel fuels.

The navy hopes to eventually have 50% of its fleet run on a combination of renewable and nuclear energy by 2020 — a lofty goal, considering less than 20% of the naval fleet currently runs on energy from unconventional sources…

In the short term, the navy has ambitions to roll out a strike force comprised of less than a dozen ships, subs, and plans that run on a mix of biofuels and nuclear power by 2012, and they could find themselves deployed in the field as soon as 2016.

A move in a greener direction is necessary in a world in which conventional fuels are only getting more expensive — and harder to come by…

The U.S. military is currently the single largest buyer of oil in the world. Estimates have pegged daily oil use at 400,000 barrels — during peacetime; that number can double during active wartime.

The Pentagon has made no secret of the dangers and cost burden of importing oil for the war efforts in Afghanistan. According to one report, the true cost of a gallon of petrol is well over $400.

So the efforts of the Army, Navy, and Coast Guard to rethink and redesign the way equipment is used is not just about the environment; more oft than not, it comes down to the bottom line and combat efficiency.

"Our program to go green is about combat capability, first and foremost… We no longer want to be held hostage by one form of energy such as petroleum," Rear Admiral Philly Cullom, director of the navy’s sustainability division, said at the test run at Norfolk last week.

Biofuels do win out over oil in terms of production materials, since they can be produced wherever the raw materials going into them (algae, corn).

The setback with organic ingredients, however, is that their shelf life is not as long as oil’s.

And the cost to produce, package, and ship biofuels (especially given that shelf life) is not cheap.

But then again, the technology is still relatively new. And the benefits for the overall bottom line, the environment, and combat efficiency might one day outweigh the dollar amount on a barrel of algae-based fuel.

Just last month, the navy bought 150,000 gallons of algae-based fuel from a company in California. It looks as though they are willing to try it, in spite of the current price drawback.

And what about the little test-driving 49-foot gunboat from Virginia?

The experimental vessel will be used in rivers and marshes, and has a future in the Middle East for oil installations.

Source: Green Chip Stocks

Category: Biodiesel, Millitary | No Comments »
Tags: algae, alternative fuel, biodiesel

Posted By RichC on November 8, 2010

This past weekend was part chore part automotive fun. My daughter was home and it was time for a little light Volkswagen TDI tinkering … and routine oil and filter changes. All is well with her little 2001 VW Jetta TDI diesel which is now at 135,000 miles. Katelyn does love her little economical car which is averaging 47.8 mpg. Wish I were getting that.

I also stopped over to my friend Tim’s to help reset a couple codes with the Vag-com after he replaced his glow plug harness. His VW Golf TDI’s fuel economy is not to shabby either — 46.7 mpg. BUT … I was really over to see his new project, a 1979 Volkswagen van. Thank for the ride Tim.

Category: Automotive, Cellphone, Video | No Comments »
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Posted By RichC on November 8, 2010

Maybe I’m still in shock and still need to slap myself in order to believe the Cleveland Browns gave the New England Patriots a “shellacking” on Sunday afternoon – CLE 34, NE 14. It was a great game to have enjoyed watching with my daughter, a Browns fan now that she has spent 17 of her 24 years in northeastern Ohio. Of course our support is far from the truly dedicated fans …

CLEVELAND (AP) — An Ohio man won over the woman he loves at Cleveland Browns Stadium before the team won a big victory over New England.

Browns fan Phil Hogan of Cuyahoga Falls dropped to one knee Sunday and proposed to his girlfriend while they were tailgating in a parking lot with friends.

WEWS-TV reports the two met four years ago while tailgating at a Browns game.

Hogan presented not only a ring as he popped the question but also a Browns jersey with his last name on the back. She said yes and immediately suited up in the "Hogan" jersey.

The Browns beat the Patriots 34-14.

Category: Sports | No Comments »
Tags: browns, cleveland, football, nfl

Posted By RichC on November 7, 2010

While behind on my autumn chores, I was shocked to see my gutters iced over when cleaning them out on Saturday. I didn’t realized that the temperature dropped so much and was actually shocked to see 21 degrees this morning. No wonder the furnace is running so much already!

Palm Pre smartphone video posted to Facebook

Category: Cellphone, Video, Weather | No Comments »
Tags: cincinnati, home, weather