Posted By RichC on October 12, 2010
The 33 miners trapped in the San Jose mine in Copiapo, Chile are expected to be pulled the 2000+ feet to the surface tonight. The rescue attempt uses a ‘capsule’ lower through a 24 inch pipe & shaft recently bored into the mine. This amazing story of human ingenuity and spirit reminds me of Apollo 13 returning from the moon when I was a young boy. (attempting to post with a photo from the Palm Pre)
Posted By RichC on October 12, 2010
While struggling to stay productive during my out of town trip last week, I found it necessary to tether my computer to my Palm Pre a couple of times. On previous trips I bragged about MyTether as a way to do this, but after a summer webOS update it no longer works … so I switched to option 2 a few months ago: Palm Mobile Hotspot used with the Verizon webOS phones. Although I don’t use the tethered connection enough to justify a dedicated 3/4G USB dongle or netbook computer with built-in connectivity, being able to tether when WiFi hotspot aren’t available is pretty convenient.
Unfortunately, I also made the mistake of updating my phone apps on my Palm Pre while I was killing time (yes, I know better). One of the apps that was updated was Palm Mobile Hotspot and doing it fouled up my connectivity to the Sprint network.
I gave up on connecting for the balance of the weekend, but knew I would eventually need the connection again. So after a quick review of the Palm Pre forums I found the fix to be as simple as deleting are reinstalling the old 1.0.14 patched Mobile Hotspot.
Step by step plus downloads:
Posted By RichC on October 12, 2010
What automotive enthusiast hasn’t chuckled at a few of Jeremy Clarkson remarks on the UK automotive program Top Gear … I’m guessing most of us? In a recent movie trailer for The Italian Job, Clarkson offers up a few more humorous moments; check out the YouTube trailer of at least the “spinnaker face” clip below.
Posted By RichC on October 11, 2010
I’ve always been impressed with the durable Subaru boxer engine and look forward to someday seeing the diesel version here in North America. For now, a new, more fuel efficient gasoline model is on it’s way in the 2011 Forester.
Subaru details all-new boxer engine family
The horizontally opposed engine has been a signature mainstay of Subaru vehicles since 1966. Last redone in 1989, the automaker completely remade its well-proven workhorse for 2011, incorporating a comprehensive series of changes that enhances overall performance, lowers emissions and generates roughly a 10-percent bump in fuel economy. Initially available in 2.0- and 2.5-liter four-cylinder incarnations, this all-new engine family is set to become the primary motivator for Subarus worldwide. Its first U.S. application will be in 2.5-liter form under the hood of the 2011 Subaru Forester that goes on sale later this fall.
A showcase for Subaru’s technical expertise in the boxer engine design arena, this new-gen flat-four is based around a more compact cylinder design that features a smaller bore and far longer stroke dimensions, a combo that fosters better combustion efficiency and improves mid-range torque. Other key technologies include a new Active Valve Control System (AVCS) on both intake and exhaust valves, special efficiency-optimizing partitions within the intake ports, individualized cooling circuits for the block and head plus a bump in compression ratio. Complementing those feature are a more extensive use of even lighter-weight internal components and a new oil pump that cuts friction loss by nearly 30 percent.
This new Subaru engine family is being manufactured at an equally new, state-of-the art facility outside of Tokyo. In making the announcement, Subaru’s parent company, Fuji Heavy Industries, stressed that the new boxer-four was created with both expandability and the potential to for future upgrades in mind, on both the environmental and performance fronts.
Posted By RichC on October 11, 2010
Every once in a while a typo can slip through the cracks, but usually not as a front page headline! (here’s one from the Jamestown Post-Journal while in western New York last week)
Posted By RichC on October 11, 2010
My “greatest generation” father-in-law (Brenda’s dad) has been struggling medically for the past month and a half suffering with pain from his back and a fractured hip. After a valiant attempt at rehab and without significant success using drug and therapy, he opted for back surgery in hope to eliminating pain and to regaining functional use of his legs. Back surgery isn’t someone anyone goes into lightly, but at 85 years old it is even more challenging. His daughters, all three live out of town, have 
been evaluating and traveling home to western NY to help care for him and they nervously helped schedule their dad for neurosurgery.
With work and family schedules as they are, I was the one able to schedule my work week and drive up to lend a hand. So, last Friday Brenda’s mom and I took my father-in-law to Buffalo (and hour and a half drive) at 6AM for his scheduled morning surgery. Unfortunately an emergency took the early surgical slot and his 3 hour surgery was moved back to 2PM. The neurosurgeon finished up at 5PM and gave a positive post op report to us. The doctor felt confident that he was able to open the spinal column and rebuilt the L4-L5 vertebrae. We were able to see Brenda’s dad to his recovery room although he was a bit spacey that Friday evening. We heading home for the night and headed back to visit on Saturday.
Saturday morning was semi-promising as the major pain was gone, but he was vomiting. We weighed the recommendation for a nose tube in order to decompress the stomach (he didn’t want) and remove any blood and bile, but gave him a little more time to settle his stomach. It worked out to be a good decision. After a long day at the hospital, we headed back home and a fish dinner at my favorite Jamestown restaurant.
Sunday morning was my ‘hand=off’ day … as my sister-in-law planned to head up and relieve me. I took Brenda’s mom back to the hospital and was happy to see a smile on my father-in-laws face when we arrived. He was sitting up in a chair with his brace on and looking forward to trying to eat something – liquids only were the doctor’s orders. We had a positive meeting with the doctor and I felt good when I left for home.
All in all it was a long and taxing few days … but the weather was nice and the autumn colors beautiful. I was surprised that it was 34 degrees as I swept out the barn on Sunday morning and then 8 hours later 89 degrees while driving through Ohio on my way to Cincinnati.
Posted By RichC on October 10, 2010
While driving home from New York I listened with frustration as the Bengals suffered another loss with a performance that was full of mistakes. Although they had the game wrapped up with a 7 point lead with only 2 minutes left in the game, their veteran players ‘bungled’ the lead and gave way for a Tampa Bay comeback. LINK
Unfortunately the mistakes by Cincinnati professional athletes aren’t only on the gridiron, our Reds continue to be plagued with errors giving the Philles the opportunity to wrap up the National League Division Series in 3 games tonight (yet to be over as of this posting but it is hard to be confident.) Errors, Errors, Errors!
Palm Pre photo of home theatre screen.
Posted By RichC on October 9, 2010
For September 2010, every clean diesel model, aside from the Mercedes E320, reported sales gains over the numbers released a year ago. In fact, sales of some clean diesel models, like the BMW X5 and 335d, shot up more than 800 percent versus numbers posted in September 2009. The entire segment of clean diesels, dominated by the Volkswagen Jetta TDI, rose 10.3 percent over the reported sales for August and a remarkable 124.1 versus last September. So, why are hybrids suffering while diesels continue to thrive? Check out our Honda CR-Z vs. VW Jetta TDI comparo; perhaps the answer lies within.
Posted By RichC on October 8, 2010
Just before the “flash crash” computerized enhanced market tumble in early May, the DOW had crossed 11,000 … which was the last high water mark until today. The psychological hurdle was crossed most likely due to optimistic news that the November elections could help reel in some of the out of control spending and growth in Washington DC. I’d like to think that some of the sidelined cash (business and personal) will be invested in American business, real estate and retail sales … all three are needed for job creation.
Posted By RichC on October 7, 2010
I don’t recall recall if the Apple iPhone advertisement appeared during the Philly’s no-hitter 4-0 win against the Reds or not, but the ad was intriguing in that the Twitter and Twitpic information had me checking the links. The marketing establish @gagebock account (currently 60-some friends) and Twitpic photo (700+ views) that was used in the ad was intended to have people do exactly what I did – do you occasionally do the same thing? By the way, if you are a Verizon customer, it looks as if you’ll finally have the opportunity to use the iPhone next year.
On another note, I was impress at photo quality above having captured the above photo with my Palm Pre off of my media room set-up … not bad if I say so myself!