UFO Museum, Energy, Computer, Thermochromic Paint, Elin's Island, Movies, e-Books, Funny
UFO Museum on TV Show Bones (Sort of)
As of this writing, the latest episode of Bones (Season 5, Episode 11), entitled "The X in the File", makes a couple of references to the Roswell UFO Museum. One is that the male lead character picks up one of the museum brochures and says, "UFO Museum Research Center", and the other is that there's a picture of a UFO Museum coffee mug on an office desk.
This all came about because the show contacted the museum and Julie, the Director, sent them some brochures, mugs and some alien gifty items. So that was nice publicity for the museum.
If you watch the show, however, be prepared for the typical Hollywood small-town treatment of the Sheriff and locals. They all have hick-from-the-Ozarks accents and the lot of them don't combine to have three brain cells to rub together.
The Sheriff here is played by actor Ben Giroux because they couldn't get Peter Jacobsen (Dr. Taub on House).
Energy
Thermochromic Paint has Energy Applications
Thermochromic paint is a paint that changes from some specific color to clear when it reaches 86°F / 30°C. Here's something you can do with that: Paint a coat of black thermochromic paint over your white aluminum siding. Your home will be black in the winter and white in the summer. Thus saving on heating AND air conditioning. Here's a black-to-white video done with a motorcycle helmet:
Click to viewEcoloCap Delivers Carbon NanoTube Battery for Testing
Think of a normal lead-acid battery like the Die-Hard in your car. Now, modify the anode and cathode with a carbon nanotube coating to increase surface area, and you have a very inexpensive battery that out-performs all other energy storage technologies the universe has ever known.
Many battery companies have announced promising new technologies and failed to deliver. THIS company, at least has a working prototype -- E.J.
For those of us who have suffered through all the hype, delays and vaporware known as the EEStor Ultracap, that is a bold statement. Is it too much to ask for a working prototype?
This company has one. EcoloCap, as of January 14th, 2010, announces they have delivered such a battery from their Korean production facility for testing at their U.S.A. headquarters.
Their product description of this battery is nothing short of incredible, and I quote: The CNT-Battery’s advanced technology demonstrates eight times the reserve capacity of traditional lead acid batteries, two and a half times the energy density of lithium-ion batteries, and a recharge time of just five minutes; all at a fraction of the cost of lithium-ion batteries. Its diverse applications range from electric cars to cell towers and feature numerous economical and environmental benefits.
For a much more detailed article about this battery, see the OTC Investor news article at http://theotcinvestor.com/a-closer-look-at-ecolocaps-ecos-cnt-battery-technology-469/
Computer Stuff
My Locking and Freezing Adventure
Starting in mid-December, my computer froze during normal operation. The mouse pointer was still visible, yet immobile, and nothing else responded. I tried a cold restart, but it would not even TRY. It didn't provide a video signal, much less run the memory test or offer CMOS setup. DEAD like a Mafia informant.
I solved ALL the problems by reseating the memory modules and running a registry repair utility by Advanced Uninstaller. Now I'm DONE with IDE and just in the market for an external (USB) DVD burner.
The best deals I've seen locally are about $80 for anything decent (8x or better). Can you recommend a good external that won't break me. Forget the Blu-Ray and fancy ones costing $250 and up. I need to stay under $80.
Watch Movies For Free On Line
I don't know how these folks get away with it, but if you go to this site, you can stream even current movies for free. My guess is they are based in some country where the laws are not so strict about copyright infringement.
When you go, don't sign up or sign in or anything. All that stuff is optional. Simply browse or search for your desired movie and then select any of a number of streams being offered.
The site is ad-supported, but the streams don't have commercial breaks like Hulu does. If you want to see Avatar, The Road, or The Book of Eli, they are just one of hundreds of movies available for viewing.
By the way, the best movie I've seen this year is Schindler's List (1993). It is moving to see there were good people even on the wrong side, trying to do the right thing.
Free e-books
This is a great site for an avid reader. I downloaded Moby Dick myself, because I have always wanted to read it, but never did. They have thousands of classics by all the great authors; Steinbeck, Mellvill, Dostoevsky, Verne... Really, all the classic tomes you can imagine, as PDFs, recipe-ready. You could immerse yourself in these great oldies for a lifetime. Not bad for free.
Use Peer Block Instead of Peer Guardian 2
Peer Guardian 2 (PG2) is a utility that monitors your P2P transfers and protects your transfers from spying by undesireable parties. It worked great for a while, but then it had trouble getting an updated list of unwanted IPs.
I discovered PG2 is no longer supported, but a bunch of programmers in the Open Source community have rewritten it and upgraded it, and the new product is called Peer Block.It works and updates very well. So if you liked PG2, and the protection it offered, switch to Peer Block.
See Elin Woods' Island
Tiger Woods is an idiot. He was unfaithful to this lady:
HELLO! Earth to Tiger, come in. Here's a clue:
If your wife is a SWEDISH BIKINI MODEL, being faithful should be not be too big a challenge.
Begging your indulgence. Normally I keep the sexy babes to a minimum, but this one is important to the news item. Reports are that she expects $400 Million in the divorce settlement, and I think she should get it. Elin has bought some land on Faglaro Island off the coast of Stockholm. It is accessible only by a 45-minute boat ride.
Using the name of the island, I was able to bring it up on Google maps, and then, with the aid of ground-level photos for reference, was able to find the spot on Google Maps. Annotations are mine. A is a dock house, B is a smaller house up the hill a little, and C is where Elin lives (Blue roof, like a Howard Johnson's, but nicer).
Former New York Giant Michael Strahan Doing Ads for Vaseline
[OK, insert joke here.] Seriously, is there a need to market Vaseline to men? I don't even want to KNOW what that 15-minute workout is. That's all I'm saying.
Best Wishes,
