Reading.... In Defense of Food (by Michael Pollan)

Either you're shocked to find that most of what people in the first (Western ?) world eat isn't food, or you already avoid the interior aisles of the supermarket (and possibly the supermarket itself). We're eating "food-like substances".

Michael Pollan spells it all out for you, with a wonderful section filled with simple "rules" that make it easy to select only 'real' food if you agree with his points. My favorite is "don't eat anything that your great grandmother wouldn't recognize as food".

He has a web site, but you have to go to the bookstore, Amazon, etc. to buy the book. Well worth it !

Pollan's site: http://www.michaelpollan.com/indefense.php

OLPC - XO is Obsolete (Almost)

The OLPC project has taken a new path. Apparently, the 'laptop' idea will be replaced by an 'e-book' approach that will cost $75 (US) to build; however, it won't be ready until 2010.
The OLPC project made the announcement today -
http://www.olpcnews.com/laptops/xo2/olpc_announces_xoxo.html
There's a picture of it on the site.
So, I guess the bottom line is that people with the current XO should really work on developing their own software.
The funny thing is: I really want an e-book, but they just cost too much, especially since I don't travel a lot any more.

Posted on YouTube

I've finally gotten around to posting on YouTube.... I posted a video made from stills of the sunroom going up - Sort of "Building a Sunroom in 6 days". It's really a test for the graphics resolution on You Tube. As soon as they (the elusive "them") finish building our garage, I'll post a video about that, too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQrmZVFTE-k

I killed my laptop !

I killed my laptop - a Gateway with dual processors. It's been running very hot lately - even the top, near the keyboard was hot.
The fans didn't seem to be putting out much air, so I took out the fan unit, to take it to the store to see if I can get a replacement. No replacements available, so I got an external fan unit. Back home, put the fan back in, made sure all of the contacts were made, and started it up. Nothing. The disk light flshes then goes out. Took out the fans, re-inserted them - same results. Repeated 3 times. It's DEAD. Like the parrot. DEAD. DEAD. DEAD.

I am now using my back-up: a Mac Mini, which is nice, but not the same. The data from the Gateway is backed up, but I was working on a lot of projects using software on Windows.... I was also using the Microsoft Movie Maker for a video about our new garage and roof. iLife is nice, but the Microsoft Movie Maker has more options.

DEAD DEAD DEAD. I can't believe I killed it.....

Web 3.0 map - great graphics and useful info

InformationArchitectsJapan, which is a "strategic design agency" has put together a "guide to the web" - made to looks like a city subway map. Great graphics and great content - you might even pick up a new site or two.

Here's a close-up of a section:

Listening to.... Zen for Primates

I've been listening to Zen for Primates. I first heard them as the background on this YouTube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Ubx8eL_Iss

Then, I found their record label's web site (Bummer Tent), with additional videos, etc.

They are completely dead pan in their delivery, the music is great ! I think of them as a cross between the B52's (looks and the lounge lizard attitude), old Elvis Costello (delivery). Their version of Whole Lotta Love (yes - that one by Led Zeppelin !) is great. They call themselves a "caberet rock band", whatever that is. I guess it's them.

Start with the YouTube video - just to hear them, then check out their site - http://www.bummertent.com/main.htm

Red Fox in Back Yard

Even though we're about a mile and a half from the city limits of Philadelphia, we've seen several red fox in the back yard and around the neighborhood. Yesterday morning, I saw this fox in a neighbor's back yard. The neighbor had trapped a grey squirrel in a 'have-a-heart' cage (I have no idea why he did that), and the fox was trying to get it. At first, I thought it was two fox cubs playing together, then I thought it was one fox with prey, and finally we realized that the squirrel was in a cage.

I grabbed a camera, and was able to get this picture:
The fox is looking directly at the camera..... I'll try to get a better shot next time. I suspect there's a den somewhere in the neighborhood. This looked like a mature male. He is definitely big with a massively bushy tail (which doesn't show in the photo).

Bike Ride on DandR Canal path

Excellent ride this weekend on the D&R Canal Path, which is part of the New Jersey D&R Canal State Park. I took the SUN EZ Cruiser recumbent with fat tires (weighs about 35 lbs, but needed on the unpaved path), and rode from above Lambertville through Trenton. I calculed about 32 miles, round-trip. Since I rode at a stately 8-10 mph on the SUN, it took about 4 hours, but the ride is worth the trip.
I had ridden on the Pennsylvania side of the Delaware Canal path before - from New Hope to Easton, but the New Jersey side is much better. For one thing, the PA side deals with canal bridges by making you either dismount or ride down a step incline to go under the bridge. The New Jersey side just continues the path through the bridge surface. Even in places where the path is narrow, it's still wide enough for two bikes. The PA side is frequently just 6 inches of dirt.
I had intended to ride from the Canal Park through Trenton and up the main part of the path to the 5 miles lock (or as close as I could get to it), but it looked a little unwise to ride completely through Trenton alone, so I stopped at Montgomery street in Trenton, and turned around.
It's an excellent path - very flat, very clean, and not heavily used. I only ran into other bikes and foot traffic around Lambertville - probably because they had the Shad Festival that day.
Next time - I'll ride from the 5 mile lock down to Trenton and back.

5,000 miles on my bike !

On April 17, I logged 5,000 miles on my main bike. This will be it's 4th season, and I hope to add another 1,200 miles by end of bike season in October.  It's a Haluzak (which are no longer made, unfortunately).  The picture is from the Bicycle Man site (http://www.bicycleman.com). 

I wondered how far 5,000 miles is in real-world miles,  so I found a web site (http://www.GPSvisualizer.com), which lets you make your own overlays over Google Maps. So, I used it to draw a 5,000 mile circle on the Earth, with my home as the center point. Here's the map:

So, that was the highpoint of my week: hitting 5,000 miles on a bike.  I rode additional miles on other bikes, but this is the only one where I keep track of cumulative miles on the computer.

OPLC - and WPA Security

The automatic OPLC update function works great. I was able to get the command to work, downloaded the latest stable version of the OS (656), and I can now use the computer on my home network to access the internet.
I used the on-line update feature, which required activation of the T-Mobile account, and taking the OLPC for an outing to the closest Borders, but it was worth it. I also submitted a request for a developer key, which should be activated within 24 hours. This lets you boot and, in general, treat the computer like any other.
Next step: figuring out why the version of Fedora that the OLPC organization calls "Sugar" is missing (I think) some key commands in the CLI. More to come on that, as well as what I eventually use this computer for.