Build a better Fridge

Chest freezers and refrigerators (modified freezers) are much more efficient than the vertical kind because when you open the door, the cold air stays put, instead of falling out of the vertical kind.

To help alleviate this, you can add a cold curtain to the unit. Basically get a clear plastic shower liner and cut strips most of the way up (like the cold curtains you see at butchers shops and cold warehouses). Attach the curtain to the top shelf either with magnets or static cling (the material sticks easily) so that the curtain covers the rest of the shelves.

Done in this way, you can still quickly get a glass of juice without having to touch the curtain, but when you want some pickles, just move a couple strips over and get them.

The curtain will keep most of the air in the fridge when you open the door and it should have to run much less. This works with freezer sections too.

cheap tires

good place to get tires.


http://www.discounttiredirect.com

Solar is getting cheaper

This may not sound like a huge deal, but I found where you can buy a 230 Watt solar panel AND a micro tie-grid inverter for Under $800 SHIPPED. You still need to mount it, but you can use a flush rack system or come up with one yourself.

I have a discount code too: Customer5

My total cost shipped to my house before the discount would be: $789.64
that's $3.43/watt

I think you have to call them to use the discount.

the site is www.solartown.com
the items in my cart were 1 230watt Trina solar Panel, 1 Enphase 200W Micro Inverter

now these qualify for the 30% Tax Credit. So Cost drops to $552.75 which brings cost per watt to $2.40

if the power company charges $0.12/KWH, assuming 5 hours avg direct sunlight/day, this purchase pays off in 552.75/(.230*5*.12)/365 = 10.8 years.

if your power company buys back from you at a $.20/KWH premium, its 552.75/(.230*5*.20)/365 = 6.58 years.

Solar Panels generally have a lifetime of 25-30 years. So they are always a good investment if you can spare the initial cost. But its not just about money, you are contributing to the world AS WELL as your wallet.

industrial and commercial ice makers

You know those ice machine / soda fountains that are in every fast food place you've ever been in? Whats always in the catch tray? a pile of ice right?
Here's my idea.

Run the condensing coils of the ice maker's compressor into that runoff tray and reclaim some lost (cold) energy.

Cool-Home.org

cool-home.org is a web site with good common sense ways to cool/warm your home efficiently and reasonably.
check it out

http://www.cool-home.org

The Fuel Film

Check it out.
Watch it on Netflix, Buy the DVD somewhere. Make a difference.

Sstorm Windows

I read something very helpful in Popular Mechanics the other day. In an article about energy myths, the article stated that adding storm windows to a house with single pane windows is an alternative to replacing those windows with more expensive 2-3 pane models. Storm windows run $40 - $50 at the local hardware giant and Installing them is a breeze. I'm off to L*w3s.

attic foil radiant barrier

attic foil radiant barrier. it works! it works really well!
standard insulation works against cold or hot air, radiant barrier works against radiant heat/cold. YOU NEED BOTH!!
made a huge difference in my house.
plus its easy to install and it won't make you itch, its also cheap.

My Windows 7 Media Center

So I have a Windows 7 Media Center PC in my Living room, I just thought I would post what I use to make it work for me.

I use the following FREE apps:

Media Browser (Slick interface with good plugins)
MyChannelLogos for MCE (puts station logos into the listings guide)
MCEBuddy (converts the large wtv files into H.264 MP4 files)
MediaCenterMaster (trys to organize the files and get metadata)
MCEZSort (Sorts and renames the wtv files for me using online DBs)
a powershell script that I wrote, it can be found in the MCEBUDDY forums. (renames wtv files)
Transcoder360 (I also have an extender in another room)
PlayOn (not free but cheap, used with the extender to get streaming content)
VMCPlayit (for the extender, MCE interface for PlayOn)
Remote Potato (remote web interface for MCE recording guide, used to schedule recordings from work, etc..)
Klite Codec Pack (so mkv and other non standard files play)


When I watch Blu-ray, I use Powerdvd, its not free, but reasonable and it plugs into Media Center.
one word, NETFLIX

residential food composting fuel cell

So here's my newest idea. Combine a household food composter and a fuel cell. Its no Mr.Fusion, but it would both deal with landfill issues and power issues that are affecting this country.

Now, if you're thinking, fuel cells use hydrogen, whats that got to do with rotting food? the answer is everything, rotting food gives off methane which is just hydrogen tied to carbon. There are actually large scale methane and natural gas fuel cells in operation in California and other states.

Also, the two small scale technologies already exist. you can currently buy both a household food composter AND a science lab fuel cell for under $600 total.

I think someone like Cuisinart or GE or Whirlpool should pick this up and run with it.
I hope someone does.

Fuel

solar->power grid
wind->power grid
hydro->power grid
geothermal->power grid
tidal->power grid
Biomass powered steam turbines->power grid
Methane powered steam turbines from reclaimed land fills->power grid
(both gov't and private tie-in)

power grid->electric commuter car (for around town)
power grid->synthetic gas (forget hydrogen cars, synthetic gas is easier)(only use until all diesel)

power grid, biomass and algae -> bio/diesel (really, we should use diesel, not gas)
diesel->Mass transit and travel

new car - almost

Had to break down and get a new (used) car. the MB has decided to shred its gears.
I found a 2005 Toyota Matrix for $7000. Cool car, plenty of head room. I still have a few inches to spare :) get about 30MPG!!! AND its a 5 speed!!! fun car.

Energy Crisis, again

Oil bad.
Electric-Hydrogen Good.

Biofuels OK. Just can't be produced in large quantities to power everything.
I would save them for 18 wheelers and utitlity equipment. In other words, things that can't run off of electricity.

We are going to need a dual hydrogen/electric car to solve our problems. Charge it at home overnight for your daily needs, then on long trips, fill up at a hydrogen station.

If we can spend TRILLIONS of $$$ and lives on a war that was started on lies, we can surely afford to give every home owner a solar array big enough to power their home and charge their car! - Give me a rational argument why this would NOT have been a better choice!!

The more homes (and businesses) that can power themselves, the less coal we have to burn for electricity. The remaining electricity needs can be provided with clean(er) coal burning plants and large solar, wind, geothermal and tidal arrays in each city.

cost too much still?? All the money in the world can't make oil out of thin air!!!!!!
the oil WILL run out. Oil companies know this, why do you think they are charging so much right now! WAKE UP RETARDS!! WE HAVE TO GET OFF OF OIL!!!

The Power companies are completely STUPID for not being in the forefront of hydrogen/electric cars. They are the ones who will be the winners in this. Aside from hydrogen made from methane captured from land fills, the hydrogen will have to be produced through electrolysis.

quick note

well ,I was wrong on both sides of the political game.

however, anyone is better than bush.

PHP explorer file manager thingy in one file

If you hate your host's file manager, check out my php file explorer.

Its a nice explorer file manager clone in ONE file, just a single file to upload. Has right click menus, just like windows. also has unzip if it is supported by your server.
check it out here:
http://www.blamkicker.com/david/explorer.html

Politix

Just watched the debate. I have to say, I fully enjoyed watching the candidates from BOTH parties.

Here are my picks.

R> Romny
D> Clinton

I like Romny because he seemed to have the best answers most often, Especially on affordable health insurance.

I like Clinton because I KNOW the economy would be fixed.

I think most of the D candidates are electable.
I also think some of the R candidates are scary and could only govern one aspect of the presidency.

Reagan was great at foreign policy, but the economy suffered. The economy is already BAD! we need a democrat to fix it.War mongering can resume after we have money again ;)

energy crisis part 2 - and global wawa

by 2020, we need to have 30 - 40 new nuclear energy plants running. Take coal energy plants OFFLINE!!

All cars need to be fully electric or deisel hybrid, not hydrogen because its an energy hog.
If we still use a liquid energy source, deisel gets the best milage of the 3, and actually if we have cars that can use vege oil, thats even better because there is very little energy used in its creation. Tractors used to farm it can burn it.

Home solar - need I say more?

W Bush's Energy bill

OMG!!!!!
Domestic car companies have to have cars that get 36MPG by no LATER than 2020!?!?!?!!?

uhhhhhhhhh............................................................................................................................................
hmm, gee next you are going to tell me that I can't fill my car with Leaded Gasoline anymore!!
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Can this bill be anymore USELESS!!!!!!?!?!?!?!??!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

by 2020, most cars should be diesel hybrids getting 60-70 MPG or running on hydrogen.

hey, I voted for the other guy (the first time around)

Merry Christmas / winter solstice HAHAHAHA!!

Its my favorite time of the yearo. Time to eat massive amounts of food, get presents, and spend time with my family. Actually, I like giving more than receiving. Watching other people enjoying themselves brings me the most happiness.

Hope all my friends are in good spirits. I'd enjoy hearing from them(G,J,M,J,D & T). I have vonage, I can call you right back and it won't cost me a penny extra :)

Finally got all the presents wrapped as of last night, but I might get a few more stocking stuffers for the wife and kids. 4 more days. This christmas I am recording on video so the kids will have something when they are olderer ;) (one of them is already married!)

Bye!

Vista Blows

at its best it only as fast as XP, at its worst, its 34% slower. Not to mention it takes TWICE the hardware for vista to run as fast as it predecessor. What a load!!!!!!

I really despise that they are limiting DX on 2000, 2000 is still the fastest windows OS for the PC!

BTW, I have Crisis(the game) working on 2000 and it FLYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
so there!

Biodiesel

Biodiesel is crap, all automobile companies need to do is equip their vehicles with a heated fuel system and readily available filters and water seperators. Many Large trucks already have water seperators and heated fuel systems. Simple changes to the injector oriface can optimize burn rate of pure vege oil.

I think ethenol is a waste, its gets no better MPG than gas, oil burners already get twice the gas milage per ftlb of torque. my old 300D gets close to 30MPG and it weighs 2x as much as a corola or camry.

I look forward to Hondas diesel civic. hopefull they will read this and make the car pure oil compatible from the factory.

solar panel efficiency improvement

my idea is to add TEC(Peltier) devices to the backside of solar panels with some kind of passive heat sink on the other side of the TEC. Since solar panels are black, they absorb heat that they don't convert to energy. Use that heat and pass it through the TECs to the passive heatsinks.
Probably imrove efficiency by 30%.

there you go, free patent free advice. This is MY idea, you may NOT patent it or prevent ANYONE from using it.

Update

Vonage is working fine, took about 4 days for the number to switch, and I took it off DMZ with no problems. I like it, this is the first time I've had all the features like caller-id etc.... My favorite feature is anonymous caller blocking!!!

also, I snagged a Wii at the local gamestop and bought an extra controller. Been playing some mucho team tennis.

Gas prices suck.

got Vonage today

here's some advice, DO NOT under any circumstances call the 800 number. I ended up hanging up in frustration because the idiot on the other end could only read from a script and not answer the SIMPLEST of questions.

I bought a dlink box that sits BEHIND my regular router at walmart and activited everything online. Took about 10 minutes. My phone call on the other hand took 30 minutes and I got NOWHERE!!!!! When are companies going to learn that hiring stupid script readers is NOT the way to handle customer support!?!?!??!?!!???

anyway, once I had the dlink box installed, I still had to disable the DOS(denial of service) and POD(ping of death) protection on my router get get a steady conversation. I also made the vonage-dlink box a dmz, but I don't think it was necessary.

I am waiting on the ph# to transfer, but while I wait, I have been assigned a temporary number so I can still use the service (since they already charged my credit card)

will let you know how it all works out.

New post

well, I hope all is well. Hope my buds down in gator-land are doing well, probably too busy watching Jack Black movies and eating popcorn to keep in touch at the moment, thats alright though, you needed a break ;)
Enjoying those roms?

hmm, whats new?
Got my wife a pink Sony Cybershot camera as an early xMas gift, she loved it.

Thanksgiving will be here before we know it, and then Christmas. WOO HOO!!!!
If I could pause any single day of the year, I think it would have to be christmas morning, with thinksgiving dinner being a close second.

well, thats it for now.

This is why I HATE little dogs

Poor bear was minding its own business eating from a picinic basket, when all of a sudden, this rabid furry rat runs up and bites him in the taters!!!

When asked why he did it, the chuwawa bit the reporter's ankle.

ok

My email and website is back up now.

ah crap

My email and website have been down since this weekend. My web host is suppose to be in the proccess of restoring my files.

you guys can always call if ya want to chat.

Happier thoughts

My wife is home from the Hospital and recovering well. She is my life.

thought

The worst thing that happened to Man was when God gave Man a heart.

My 1986 Camaro Hotrod - not a Z, but close

Click on the post title to go to see more pics.

Its for sale $6000

Good Interior.
Gauges full cockpit.

Tremec 5Spd

Centerforce 11" Clutch

Dual 3" exhaust - Flowmaster 40s
Koni Adj shocks
Panhard, torque rod, hotchki springs, airbags in rear
16" rims 255-40-r16 viper tires
Internally balanced 383 cid chevy 4bolt splayed Forged All the goodies by comp cams, barry grant, holley, eldebrock, Air Flow Research, Hooker, pete jackson, MSD, wieand, be-cool.





I need to pay off some credit cards. PLEASE BUY MY CAR!!!

If my Wife owned an AR-15, this would be it.

Light-the-US.ORG

Please follow the link and vote for Light-the-US.org to receive funding from american express to give out CF lightbulbs to every family in the US for FREE!

Click on the post title.

the website is http://light-the-us.org

A few sketches by patrick

These were taken with a digital camera, so they don't look as good as they could. They're a little blurry and the color is off.

More Vermont Photos from our 2005 trip

Vertigo

This one reminds me of a Robert Frost poem

The Brook

Covered Bridge in Vermont

Plans for my future house

It's 100' x 50'. The right HALF of the house has a full vaulted 25' ceiling. The Left HALF of the house is divided into 2 floors. Main floor is master bedroom, upper floor is guest bedrooms and bath. Full basement is in the plans with the right half of the basement being a 2 car garage/workshop. The left half of the basement will be 4 rooms (art, computer, workout, laundry).

There is a half bath under the stairs that lead to the second floor. That giant thing between the dining room table and the living room is an electric island fireplace.

The kitchen walls are half-walls(8') to keep the area open. Breakfast nook looks to back yard beyond the full deck.

In Living room there is a 10' by 22' bookcase against the wall with built in entertainment center.

Some windows will be fully enclosed plexy-dual pane.

Two skylights will light the right half of the house.

Cooling will include Geo-thermal cooling as well as conventional. Solar will be incorporated as budget allows.

Metal Frame. Walls will be spray on insulate with drywall interior and hard paintable shell exterior. May paint exterior wall like an english tudor house

The Transformers Movie

Actually looks kinda cool.

Tip

Don't plant your crops in the winter.

Today is photo day

Where's the food Ma?!

Digital camera. Playing with the shutter.

and more photos

I had an old photo of the house mom grew up in enlarged and framed.

One Winter in Vermont.

More photos

(left)Now this is just silly.









(left) I took this from the porch of Outback Steak House one evening.

some photos

Both taken in Vermont. top with a digital camera, bottom with my cell phone

best way to remove spyware or virus

aside from just formatting your HD.
Get a boot cd like ERD2003 or PE boot CD. Those who know, know how to get it.

use the cd to boot and access your registry, services,drivers and files.
look for recently added or modified files especially in your windows and system32 directories.
look for services that start automatically and have names that don't make any sense.
look for drivers that are obiously fake, like "POOF" or *^#^@*$
look for things in your registry in the "run" keys.
disable task scheduler.
delete any tasks folder in your windows folder.

even if you think you have found everything, rename Iexplore.exe to something else.
this file is found in your program files directory.

boot off HD into safemode. run spybotSD, AdAware, and then use HiJack This to verify everything is legit. run winsock fix and reboot into safemode.
see if anything has been added with HiJack this.

reboot into normal mode. If everything looks good, restore your IExplore file to its original name.

Make sure your AV software starts up, if not, re-install it. I like SAV corp and trendnet officescan client.

Might as well do a error check and then a defrag on your HD while you're at it.

Thats all folks.

Just a quick note

I may be a little on the Authoritarian side with this, but.....

Welfare should be a temporary situation. It is not a state of being, like disability. Disability is a permanent state of being, welfare should NOT be.

The Energy Crisis

If everyone powered their own house with solar/wind/hydro the country could save millions in oil imports.

The average house has enough surface area on its roof for enough solar panels to power most of the house. Add wind turbines and hydro where you can and at least %50 of the country could power itself. If you have a small roof, put some panels in your back yard.

YES, they are expensive, almost prohibatively expensive, and thats a problem. Most people who can afford them don't care about saving 200-300 a month in power. \ :-(
Maybe in another 10 Years when the average temperature is 110, solar panels will be cheaper than the price of a new BMW.

Cities are a different story if they are built vertically. However, cities like NYC can make use of tidal turbines to make up for the lack of surface area for solar panels.

There are also TEC devices, also known as peltiers. If heat is applied to one side and cold the other, the device will generate a current. These might have a use in places where you have a cold water source and hot ambient temps.

Everyone needs to replace thier normal lighting with compact flourecent or better yet LED bulbs. I just bought some LED bulbs that screw into a normal light socket and look like a fancy facetted light bulb. It puts out the equivalent of a 50W bulb and uses 2W!!! PLUS it doesn't put out HEAT. Now I can understand how incandescent lighting can still be usefull in cold climates where the heat is welcome, but that is a small exception.

What else.... ah deisel. They get 2 times the MPG, require less refining, meaning less power is used to make it usefull, and can be mixed with vege oil to extend supplies.
Gas vehicles suck. I am tired of paying over $50 to fill my car twice a month.

Dark Energy and Matter and the Universe

Dark energy and Dark matter make up about %85 of the universe.
Is matter as we know it the exception instead of the rule? Is our universe(as we know it) a cosmic mutation? are we the Duck-Billed-Platipuses of existence?

how does dark energy and matter re-write the Big-Bang theory?

I tend to think the big bang is more like this iteration of a cosmic bouncy ball that expands and spins out, then after it loses momentum, it falls in on itself and the whole thing starts over.

Black Holes

Why did it take so long for black holes to become accepted as fact? It is a simple function of mass/volume to gravity?!?
Take the mass of a large star, or billions of stars, compress that mass to the size of an atom, and you have an object with enough gravity to capture light.

I am looking forward to research on how dark matter and dark energy affect and influence black holes. What is the interaction?

Thats all I have to say about that. - F. Gump

My oil cooker!

yes, I hot-rodded a deisel MB. It runs on mostly used Vege Oil, and gets the same MPG as a honda of the same vintage, yet easily weighs twice as much and could tow a large boat.

First blog post

hmmm.
Not much to say right now.
wish I had more money.

I will be posting my thoughts on the universe, humanity, and life in general, with a little geek tech thrown in for good measure.

I'll also post some photos I've taken along this experience we call life.

Perhaps some useful links as well.

Peace.

hey google!! resago blog resago blog resago blog!!