My Desultory Blog

Posted By RichC on June 17, 2007

First let me wish all the dads a Happy Father’s Day. Let’s just hope that all dads get the special gift I did from their pets. My pooch, Tootsie, decided to bring me another unique specie. She has brought home and rolled in most of the normal dead animals: rabbits, dead cats, raccoons, skunks, squirrels, about every kind of bird and even a fox a couple months ago. Today’s “gift” looks more like a feret or a weasel of some type. Any guesses? (click for larger images)

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Posted By RichC on June 16, 2007

Volkswagen’s Driver Magazine published a listing of ‘authorized’ VW Club gatherings for the summer of 2007 for those interested in all things VW. More information on becoming an ‘authorized’ VW Club can be found on the VW website. (CinciTDI and the TDIClub are not ‘authorized club.’ The 2007 TDIFest will be in Montreal, Canada … August 31-Sept. 2)

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Posted By RichC on June 15, 2007

As a amateur photographer and someone who enjoys improving technology, a new development coming from Eastman Kodak could provide a huge leap forward for low light photography (article link). Imagine being able to take clear and sharp photos without having to resort to flash units? Although I’d love to have it on my ‘big lens’ digital SLR, they would make even more sense on a cell phone or PDA camera. One of these Kodak filters would have been great for these photos I took last night. They were around a bonfire my son and his Young Life group had in our backyard … I should have at least brought out my tripod!

Filter pledges crisp photos in low light
Digital technology boasts 2-to-4-times improvement in light sensitivity

ROCHESTER, N.Y. – A year from now, capturing a crisp, clear image of a candlelit birthday party could be a piece of cake — even with a camera phone.

Eastman Kodak Co. said Thursday it has developed a color-filter technology that at least doubles the sensitivity to light of the image sensor in every digital camera, enabling shutterbugs to take better pictures in poor light.

“Low light can mean trying to get a good image indoors of your kid blowing out the birthday candles. It can mean you want to take a photograph on a street corner in Paris at midnight,” said Chris McNiffe, general manager of the photography company’s image sensor business. “We’re talking about a 2-to-4-times improvement in (light) sensitivity.”

Continue article at MSNBC

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Posted By RichC on June 14, 2007

I took a quick couple cellphone photos of a damaged 2000 Volkswagen TDI 5 speed at Mason Auto Sales. (used car lot) It doesn’t look all that bad, has 145,000 miles and might make someone a good college car. Great for biodiesel and its hard to beat 45+ mpg! (full post over at CinciTDI’s classified section)

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Posted By RichC on June 13, 2007

Quick post to update renewable fuels pricing as high nationwide fuel prices inch back down from their highs. I paid $2.84/gallon for B-20 biodiesel; petroleum diesel at the truckstop across Interstate 71 was at $2.68. Unleaded regular was selling under $3.00/gallon at most stations from Cincinnati to Cleveland, Ohio this week.

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Posted By RichC on June 13, 2007

Imagine every cell phone in the United States with built in environmental threat detectors (radiation, chemical, etc) combined with GPS and the ability to send this data to the US Department of Homeland Security. According to the two companies (Gentag, Inc. and eV PRODUCTS) working on this technology, cell phone-detector system could save millions of lives by identifying major threats very quickly, even before they occur. Surprisingly, deployment of sensors is already taking place in many areas besides PDA and cell phones, and the plan to include individual cell phones will close the loop.

Dr. John Peeters, founder of Gentag, claims that his companies “patented technology provides the components to address the US Department of Homeland Security’s recently announced vision of creating a low- cost, nationwide, wireless, sensor-network blanket based on cell phones.”

Rick Smith at eV PRODUCTS states that “Our line of miniature, mobile sensors is enabling the mass deployment of ubiquitous, smart, radiation-sensor systems in devices like cell phones.”

Gentag, Inc. is a technology-development company focusing on innovative, low-cost, wireless sensor technologies. The company owns unique intellectual property relating to cell-phone sensor combinations and wireless sensor networks, including patent 7,109,859.

eV PRODUCTS, a division of II-VI Incorporated (NASDAQ: IIVI) , is a premier manufacturer and supplier of solid-state radiation sensor technologies used in security, industrial, and medical applications. eV PRODUCTS maintains the largest Cadmium Zinc Telluride (CZT) crystal growth facility in the world dedicated exclusively to enable next generation ionizing radiation sensing markets.

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Posted By RichC on June 12, 2007

Although the Palm OS Slingplayer on my Treo 700p has been near flawless, SlingMedia has dutifully fixed a couple things and offered users a new 30 day free trial called SlingPlayer Mobile for Palm OS BETA2. (available as of last night) I installed it directly to my PDA over the Sprint network on the Treo’s included Internet browser (Blazer); it took about 15 seconds to download and another 45 seconds to install and start. This is a great product for the Treo and impressive beta to boot. I’ve posted previously on this product.

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Tags: beta, palmos, palmtreo, sling, slingbox, slingplayer

Posted By RichC on June 11, 2007

In 2008 all new vehicle sold in the U.S. will get updated, but familiar, labels on their windows. The method finalized in December of 2006 updates testing procedures and is long overdue. For those comparing 2007 and 2008 models the changes will cause a bit of confusion since for many vehicles the window numbers will be lower reflecting more accurate estimates. The EPA offers information on this change and a site listing all vehicles will be available at FuelEconomy.gov. The television news magazine Motorweek has a short segment on this change. (see video below)

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Posted By RichC on June 10, 2007

Well that actual word to finish this lyric is “beautiful,” but I either ran out of room or didn’t want to offend anyone. Nevertheless it was too nice to be pecking at the computer and instead I spent the weekend outside. I did a little (in the ‘full meaning of the word’) work in the yard yesterday and also cleaned the front porch. I realized just how much maintenance I will need to do after I finally got the dirty off the furniture, rail, brick, front door and cement. It’s going to need more than some patching and paint … yikes. (I also removed the second bird’s nest of the season)
My son also arrived back home today from a week with his “Young Life” friends at Saranac Village and Lake. Christian camps have sure changed from my day … I don’t think he could have had a better time? It is great to hear the impact being made on ‘young lives’ by the efforts of all in involved in offering answers to our youth and sharing the relevance of Jesus Christ in modern life. I couldn’t be more impressed with the organization and encouragement they offer to my son; what a fun but impactful time. BTW … Happy Birthday Taylor.
🙂

“The Weather Is Here, Wish You Were Beautiful”
— Jimmy Buffett
He worked hard all year just wanted a few weeks alone
But his old lady’s into modeling,
She can’t stay away from the phone
Besides she bitches about the mosquitoes
She says “Down there there is nothing to do”
Her goddamn phone never stops ringing
He’ll try the service in a day maybe two

Well, he’s on his third drink before the
wheels of the plane leave the ground
Making points with the stewardess
climbing over Long Island Sound
She’s also spending some time on the island
Too much city madness gives her the blues
They make a date to go dancing and dining
Seems neither has that much to lose

The weather is here I wish you were beautiful
My thoughts aren’t too clear but don’t run away
My girlfriend’s a bore, my job is too dutiful
Hell, nobody’s perfect would you like to play
I feel together today

Well now that was just the start of
a well-deserved over due binge
Meanwhile back in the city certain
people are starting to cringe
His lawyers are calling his parents
His girlfriend doesn’t know what to think
His partners are studying their options
He’s just singing and ordering drinks

The weather is here I wish you were beautiful
The skies are too clear life’s easy today
The beer is too cold, the daiquiri’s too fruitful
There’s no place like home when it’s this far away
I don’t care what they say

He’s going back to New York pack it up
and let everyone know
It was something that he should have done
such a long time ago
Still time to start a new life in the palm trees
Billy Clyde wasn’t insane
And it doesn’t work out there’ll never be any doubt
That the pleasure was worth all the pain

The weather is here I wish you were beautiful
The skies are too clear, life is easy today
The beer is too cold, the daiquiri’s too fruitful
There’s no place like home when it’s this far away
I need time for to play
Time for to play

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Posted By RichC on June 9, 2007

For those of you dealing with email spam, you know what a challenge it is to keep it under control. Thankfully there are many excellent ‘add ons’ to email clients or web based email services to help keep this under control. (ie. Google’s web-based GMAIL does a pretty good job) If you have a blog, the problem of ‘spam comments’ is no less of an issue. I’m currently using a WordPress plug-in (installed in October of 2006) that has relieved me of a significant chore; I only hope Akismet hasn’t flagged many legitimate comments as spam? (I never look at what it catches) Nevertheless it interesting to see the ‘counter’ climb.

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