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Apples, Oranges, AND Pears, Please
For some years now a variety of news sources have presented consumers with those lovely little charts that show why compact fluorescent bulbs are better than incandescent, and these days, why LED bulbs are even better-er. And this is all true, or at least, is mostly true now that LED bulbs can be had for less than $10, instead of the $50 that they ( Read more... ) -
Phoney Baloney
Act One: I Say Good-bye To My Land Line and Most of My Cell Phone BillA few years ago, I had to do a lot of cost cutting. Most of you know why; those that don't, I'll just say there was a divorce. One of the things that got cut was my phone bill. I switched from a T-Mobile plan that was running me about $40/month to one from PureTalkUSA that's $10/ ( Read more... ) -
Foolishness in the Bathroom
For literally decades, I have been fuming over the myriad design errors of the so-called “modern” bathroom. Whether through historical habit, inappropriate penny-pinching, or just a chronic lack of design intelligence, there are all kinds of ways that a bathroom could serve its customers better. These missed opportunities range from “what it does ( Read more... ) -
Typing In Stereo
My friend Margaret sent me a link to some kick-ass violin music. "Black Violin-StereotypesIt's a wonderful composition, in part because it takes the violin into more percussive, energetic, aggressive musical territory where it doesn't usually hang out. Near the end, somebody (presumably the performer) adds voice-over dialog. One of the things he ( Read more... ) -
Was That What I Think It Was?
WorldCon (a truly historic one in quite a few ways!) wrapped up about a week ago. Monday morning after the con, Margaret, Hank, and I checked out of the hotel and prepared to go our separate ways. But first, we wanted to take a couple of spins on the Riverfront Park Carousel, so we did ( Read more... ) -
It's Not Easy Being Lean
Somebody on Quora asked "What's it like to be skinny?" Many answers were provided. Here's mine.
It's pretty clear that what it feels like to be skinny is hugely affected by two things ( Read more... ) -
Ask Not For Whom The (Bronze) Bell Tolls...
I’ve enjoyed playing/reading text adventures for many years, as my re-creation of the “Double Fanucci” deck from Infocom’s Zork series clearly attests. For a while I was attending meetings of the Seattle Interactive Fiction group as well, and just a few weeks ago, while telling a friend about how it was possible, and in fact easy, to still play ( Read more... ) -
For the Record: The Endpoint of the Electric Car
In the long run, the ideal powerplant for a primary-use car (one that can be used for short and long trips) will be an electric car with a turbine range extender ( Read more... )