MERRY CHRISTMAS from California

With most of our kids grown and married, with children of their own, it is difficult to get everyone together even at Christmas time. This year our oldest son will spend Christmas with his family at the US Navy submarine base in Connecticut. Our youngest son, also in the US Navy, will spend Christmas with in-laws in Nebraska. Our middle son and his family, along with our precious daughter will spend Christmas at home in California. We will miss everyone and wish all of you a very Merry Christmas with all of its importance and symbolism. We love our Savior and are grateful that we can celebrate his birth at this time of the year.

"Hide the Decline" - The Biggest Fraud of Our Time

Here are a couple great videos based upon "Climategate".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Hftsk4gWqI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEiLgbBGKVk

Enjoy!

Climategate Heats Up - ABC, CBS & NBC Ignoring the Story

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/ci.Climate-Gate+Heats+Up+But+Mainstream+Media+Ignore+Firestorm.opinionPrint

Author of Global Warming Emails Told to Leave University

Here are a couple more news articles on the email leak that occurred recently at the University of East Anglia, UK. Apparently the University has now identified a professor who wrote many of the embarrassing emails and are demanding that he leave the university. What is strange is that this professor is one of the true believers. He is on their side in the debate. The reason they want him to leave is because he was naive enough to send the emails which are now embarrassing the university. When you "cook the books" the last thing you want is for someone to write down the recipe!

printingpage="'true">http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1230635/Scientist-climate-change-cover-storm-told-quit.html?

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/nov/24/hiding-evidence-of-global-cooling//print/

Climategate - The Fraud Officially Exposed!!

Top level management at the University of East Anglia, UK, are scrambling today in response to the unauthorized release of thousands of internal emails and correspondance which indicate that the faculty's climate research books were cooked! Somehow, someone obtained access to this information within their computer system and posted it on the internet for all the world to see and read. Portions of some of the correspondance is presented in the UK press release link here.

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/jamesdelingpole/100017393/climategate-the-final-nail-in-the-coffin-of-anthropogenic-global-warming/

Senator Inhofe from the State of Oklahoma, who has always believed that the theory of man-made climate change was a scam, indicated that he will call for a full Congressional Investigation within the next week. Millions of dollars has been wasted and millions of people have been deceived by Al Gore and the likes of his friends at the University of East Anglia.

Of course the university's representatives claim that the corresponance has been taken out of context. However if you read the quotations it is easy to see that these professors and researchers...

1- Manipulated data to make the outcome agree with their views.

2- Destroyed data that did not agree with their views.

3- Conspired with others to discredit those with opposing views.

4- Betrayed the public trust by comitting fraud against the people of the Earth.

I will be following this story to see if the media is capable of stiffling yet another source of truth in the climate debate.

Drinking Birds Solve Energy Crisis?

I am sure that most of us have seen one of those cute drinking birds like the one pictured here. You fill a cup with water and get their foam head wet. Then they can run for hours. I discovered recently that few people, however, understand the principles upon which these adorable birds operate. It is not perpetual motion or free energy…these birds employ simple laws of physics and thermodynamics.

As soon as the foam head of the bird gets wet, the water begins to evaporate (provided the humidity is low enough). The evaporating water cools the bird’s head and as well as the sealed glass tube inside the foam head. As the pressure inside the head decreases with cooler temperatures, the colored liquid is drawn up from the body of the bird and into the head. This makes the head of the bird heavier than before, and the bird tips forward to maintain balance. Once the bird tips forward, the liquid is able to flow back out of the head into the body, whereupon the bird stands back up to maintain its balance. This cycle is repeated as long as there is water in the cup to keep the bird’s head wet and the humidity is low enough to evaporate the water. The energy which propels this little bird comes from the sun which maintains air temperature and humidity.

The other day at work, a co-worker suggested that we could attach an electric generator to one of these birds and have them produce electricity. “Pure genius!” I responded. We quickly ran through some rough calculations and figured that if we had 42,000 trillion (4.2 x 10^16) birds running, we could supply the electricity needs of the entire United States! The quantity of birds seemed larger than he had imagined, so he suggested that we build giant birds and position them around fresh water lakes in dry, arid regions of the United States. We envisioned thousands of these giant birds drinking from pristine lakes in Yosemite Valley, California, and other lakes in Colorado and Montana. And who would object to such a solution? Certainly not the environmentalists. What could be more natural than a giant bird drinking from a lake? No pollution. No noise. All natural!

More Great Harmonica Trio Music - Very Impressive!!!

Here are more great videos of harmonica trios playing some great music. This is a picture of a bass harmonica, one of the three basic instruments of the trio.

The Dave McKelvy Harmonicats

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFdMvS04R2c

The Jerry Murad Harmonicats playing "The 12th Street Rag"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bFbbvCRgGI

Jerry Murad Harmonicats playing "Peg O' My Heart"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sF0f1TFx-0Q

Jerry Murad Harmonicats playing "Orange Blossom Special"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwzV8_RygG4

Another group called the Harmonicats playing a Broadway Melody in Florida

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNEg4dpk_y4

The Harmonicats in 2008

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxugDrwJ68g

Jerry Murad's Harmonicats playing "Perfidia" in San Francisco

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rST4kvaXh4o

LA DWP Confirms Cause of Ruptured Water Mains

A while back I suggested that the cause of the recent number of broken water mains was old water pipe system in conjunction with increased water pressure through conservation orders by the local governments. This theory has been confirmed by the LA DWP which specifically mentioned old cast iron pipes, Franklin Canyon Reservoir and an increase of four pounds per square inch. Check out this article in the LA Times

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/11/la-water-main-breaks-may-be-tired-to-reservoir-dwp-says.html

More Harmonica Music for Harmonica Guru's

I have played the harmonica since I was 12 years old, and I thought I had quite a collection of instruments, until........I saw these three short videos. The first two videos show a bass harmonica and a chord harmonica (pictured above).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qveLvBHS-MA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUxVCHuHS9c

The next video shows the chord and bass harmonica along with a fairly large chromatic harmonica like the Hohner that I own.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmyAQAoj-OM

I think it would be so much fun to be a part of a harmonica band with instruments like these!

Take a look at these short videos and start saving your money. They are BIG bucks!

Distrust of Government Made America Great!

Here is another great message from Walter Williams. I wish every American would read it and that it would take root in their mind and heart.

http://townhall.com/columnists/WalterEWilliams/2009/10/21/american_idea

Great New Innovations for Laying Ceramic Tile

If you are a "Do It Yourself" person like me, you should look into two new products for laying ceramic tile. The first one has been around for a while but recently their price has dropped so much that it will pay for itself with a single project. It is the Ryobi Laser Level - Model Number ELL0006, shown here. I got mine at Home Depot for $49, and I wonder how I have been able to get along without it. It can be attached to a wall with a built-in suction cup with vacuum pump, or it can be mounted to a tripod, sitting on the floor, or attached to drywall with pins (provided). It is self leveling and provides vertical and horizontal adjustment. It projects red laser lines vertically, or horizontally, (or both), on walls, ceilings, floors, and any combination of the above. Prior to getting my Ryobi Laser Level I was snapping chalk lines on the floors and walls, even though they quickly got covered by Thin-Set. I use it to level tiles on opposite walls in a room and project lines on the floor up onto walls. The laser is powered by separate AA batteries than the vacuum pump since their power demands are vastly different. A friend of mine was laying tile around an island on the floor in his family room and he said that when the tiles met after passing around the island, it was a perfect match thanks to the laser level.

The second item I recently discovered is the lightweight Easyboard from CustomBuildingProducts.com. Use it instead of the heavy, and difficult to cut, cement backerboard. The stuff costs $1 - $2 more per sheet, but once you have discovered the benefits you may never go back, even if your poor assistant is the one who carries the backerboard up the stairs to the job site. I have found three main benefits from Easyboard; 1-It is very lightweight (I carry over 15 sheets myself), 2-It is extremely easy to cut (almost like bulsawood), and 3- It allows you to use pins or small nails to temporarily hold tiles in place when doing walls.

As a teenager I used to work for a stone mason and he taught me how to hold large stones in place on a wall until the cement set. He would attach a tiny wire to the wall and wrap it around the stone. Once the cement had set, we simply snipped the wire at both ends leaving no trace. I use that same principle when attaching heavy tiles to the wall. I simply push a small nail into the Easyboard and remove it after the Thin-Set has hardened. The nail holds the tile in place and is easy to install and remove by hand, leaving no trace.

These two new products along with my $200 Ryobi Diamond Saw (which paid for itself in two weekends) have greatly lightened my work load as I have spent the past month working to remodel our upstairs guest bathroom.

When I am finished the job, I will post a photo of the finished product.

F-22 Raptor

This is one beautiful and very impressive airplane!

Government Enforced Water Conservation Programs Cause Water Mains to Rupture!

What happens when the government imposes forced water conservation on a city with aging water pipes?

You guessed it!

The reduced water demand increases the amount of water in storage tanks and increases the pressure of the water in the water distribution system. And guess what happens then?

Right again!

Water pipes are breaking all over the place!!

This past month in Los Angeles alone, there were at least a half dozen water mains that ruptured causing giant sink holes and flooding. These large pipes deliver thousands of gallons of fresh water per minute. It often takes more than an hour to get the water turned off, as well. One such break recently released more than 90,000 gallons of fresh drinking water before authorities could get it turned off.

And the cost of wasted water is nothing when compared to the property damage and the cost of clean up and repair.

So what is the solution?

Should we stop conserving water so that the water pressure in the pipes goes down?

Can we afford to repair all the city's water pipes?

Stay tuned for the next chapter in the continuing saga as California conserves water to protect the Sacramento Delta Smelt fish.
.

Orson Wells - "The Greatest Song"

Here is one of Orson Wells' best. Enjoy!

Which Chili Pepper Is The Hottest?

There are many opinions on the subject of chili pepper strength, and which chili is the hottest. Many of these opinions are based on taste tests and some on actual test data. One of the most popular and accepted scales for measuring pepper strength is the Scoville Scale shown here in the Chile Heat Chart. The scale is named after its inventor, Wilbur Scoville, and measures the hotness of a chili pepper as defined by the amount of capsaicin it contains. On the Scoville Scale pure Capsaicin has a rating of 15 million. The hottest chili pepper is the Bhut or Naga Jolokia (a.k.a. Ghost Pepper) with a rating of 1 million. Law Enforcement Grade pepper spray has a rating to 5.3 million.

Here are several interesting facts about the chemical Capsaicin. First, the highest concentration of Capsaicin is found in the white pith around the seeds inside peppers. It is interesting to know that birds do not have the receptor in their bodies to which Capsaicin binds, so that they are not affected by the seeds they eat. In fact birds are the chief means of distributing pepper seeds as they pass harmlessly through their digestive tract.

Cold milk is the most effective solution against the burning caused by Capsaicin. A cold sugar solution is also effective. Capsaicin is used in many topical ointments used in the medical field to reduce pain in muscles and joints, and is available in large bandages that can be applied to the back. It is interesting to know that the American Association for Cancer Research has shown that Capsaicin can kill prostate cancer cells. Studies in Japan and China have shown that it also inhibits the growth of leukemic cells. A study at the University of Nottingham suggests that it can also be effective in the treatment of human lung cancer. Another interesting suggestion was made to use Capsaicin to prevent the abuse of drugs that are crushed and snorted. The idea is to add Capsaicin to those drugs so that if used properly there is no ill effect. However, if the drug is crushed and snorted, injected or chewed, the abuser would be in for a surprise. Clifford Woolf, a professor at Harvard Medical School joked, “Imagine snorting an extract of 50 jalapeño peppers and you get the idea”!

Everyone is familiar with the use of Capsaicin in Pepper Sprays used for riot control and personal defense. The chemical can also be used to control mammalian pests such as squirrels and rabbits.

Whatever your appetite for chili peppers with their numerous varieties and Scoville ratings, remember to use them safely, as you enjoy one of nature’s greatest products.

Montana Bears Joining Democrat Party

I was talking to a co-worker the other day about the water controversy in the state of California. You know the story. It's the problem that the environmentalists have created in their efforts to save a sardine size fish that lives in the Sacramento River Delta. They have cut off water to the farmlands of California and turned much of the state into a dust bowl like they had in Oklahoma in the 1930's. The environmentalists are hurting the people, the economy, and the state, and still they haven't figured out how to save this tiny fish. Meanwhile the price of vegetables is rising and we are forced to buy more of our food from foreign countries including China.

Soon our conversation wondered over to the subject of how Man is impacting the behaviour of wild animals such as dear, bears, and wolves, by feeding them in our National Parks. He mentioned that it is now legal to hunt wolves. I reminded him that most wolves are big and bad, like we remember from the story of The Three Little Pigs and Little Red Riding Hood. He rejected my claim that wolves are bad, and we went back to our separate cubicles to work.

When I got back to my desk, I had a new Email from a friend of mine. It was related to the discussion I had just finished and I was amazed at the timing. The Email described the problem created as people are feeding wild animals in our National Parks. The poor animals are becoming dependent on the food they receive from people in the parks, and they have forgotten how to forage for themselves. The Email included the photo below, which shows evidence of this disturbing trend.

Animals such as this black bear, that were previously self-sufficient are now showing signs of belonging to the Democrat Party. They have learned to just sit and wait for the government to step in and provide for their needs. In the Email it claimed that the Democrat black bear in Montana, in the above photo, had been nicknamed "Bearack Obearma". I am not sure I believe all of this, but he sure looks helpless sitting there at the table waiting for his dinner.

Why Use Turn Indicators?

The other day I was following a car onto the freeway and I noticed that the driver was not consistent in the use of their turn-indicators. For example when they turned right to enter the freeway “On Ramp” they failed to use their indicators. However, when they were merging into traffic on the freeway they used them. Since that day I have sampled numerous individuals to learn more about why individuals do and do not use their automobile turn-indicators. Here is what I heard:

1 – “I only use my turn-indicators when I know other people are watching.”

2 – “I do not use my turn-indicators until after I start my turn. That way I really know that I am going to turn.”

3 – “Turn-indicators are only for important turns, like when the police are watching.”

4 – “I never use turn-indicators. It is too hard to remember to turn them off.”

5 – “I stopped using them since nobody really pays attention to them when I do use them.”

6 – “Mine don’t work.”

7 – “A friend of mine told me that it is safer not to use them since they sometimes cause accidents.”

8 – “I was taught to drive using hand signals so I never learned to use the electric ones.”

9 – “I didn’t know that they were required.”

10 – “I don’t need them. People can see when I am turning.”

11 – “I have never been in an accident so why start now?”

12 – “The clicking sound annoys my wife.”

13 – “I never drive at night.”

14 – “I don’t need them since I always make sure the way is clear before I turn.”

City of Thousand Oaks Misplaces Highway Bridge

"How could the City of Thousand Oaks lose a million dollar bridge?" you might ask. Well they didn't actually lose it...they just built it in the wrong location. Anyone who has driven over the new bridge knows what I am talking about. For some reason the city built the new bridge about 20 feet north of its intended location. Maybe it was a surveying error. Maybe it was a math error. Maybe the engineer got his plans mixed up. Whatever the reason, after the bridge was completed, the entrance and exit roads had to be modified so that they crossed the bridge. This requires drivers to make a number of "S" turns on the bridge approach as well as when they leave the bridge. And if you cross over the bridge at the posted speed limit you better have driving gloves and a good set of radial tires.

The first photo below is taken as you approach the bridge from the East, heading West towards Lake Sherwood. You can see the bridge off to the right in the photo and in the center of the photo you can see the old road heading off in the distance. As you approach the bridge you must make a hard right turn to enter the bridge and a hard left turn as you exit. In addition, you must pass a right turn only lane which requires an additional left turn as you approach the bridge.

Driving from the West, heading East across the bridge is even more exciting, as shown below. Coming from the Lake Sherwood area you follow a gradual left curve down a hill. At the bottom of the hill you must immediately turn to the right to cross an old narrow bridge (foreground), and then jog to the left to cross the new bridge. Upon exiting the new bridge, you must turn right to get back to the original road and then left to straighten out and proceed down the highway.

In the photo below, the bicyclist is heading in the direction where the old bridge use to be located. If they had built the new bridge where the old bridge used to be, the biker would be able to travel in a straight line across the bridge and join the old road that you can see off in the distance on the other side of the bridge.

Being the civic minded person that I am, I recently contacted the City of Thousand Oaks to discuss the error. The city engineer to whom I spoke was totally unaware of the mistake, and in fact he treated me with great contempt for making such an accusation. I had him get on his computer and look up Google Maps where we zoomed in on the bridge. When he saw the degree of the error his jaw dropped. Together we estimated that the bridge is located about 20 feet to the North of the correct location. In the aerial photo referenced below you can see the white concrete bridge in the center of the photo. It is clear to see that for some reason, the City of Thousand Oaks misplaced their $1M bridge by about half of its width.

(http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=westlake+village+CA++91362&sll=41.450961,-81.922302&sspn=0.09058,0.15398&ie=UTF8&ll=34.143511,-118.857608&spn=0.003237,0.004812&t=k&z=18

Incentive Is A Key To Performance

I was at work the other day when a FedEx deliveryman sauntered in with a package. He casually had the receptionist sign for the package and then he sauntered out. I followed him out to his truck, and began a conversation that went like this:

"Why don't you run like the UPS delivery guys?" I asked.

His response was clear and to the point, "Because they get paid by how many pieces they deliver and FedEx pays me by the hour."

There is no incentive for the FedEx delivery guy to hurry since he doesn't get paid more when he does.

The simple moral to the story is: Incentive is a key to performance.

"The Trees Are Not Indigenous"

Several years ago as a Scoutmaster, I took a small group of young boys on a camping trip. We drove to a location that I had visited myself decades earlier, as a young Boy Scout. I remembered the mountains and the stream that wondered through the camp, surrounded by large towering pine trees. These were wonderful memories and I was excited to have the scouts form similar memories of their own.

When we arrived at the camp I barely recognized it. ALL the huge pine trees had been cut down and replaced with tiny scrub oaks protected from the hungry deer and rabbits by chicken wire cages. The campsite had changed from a cool, shady retreat with the sound of quiet breezes rustling through the pine trees, into a veritable desert, wasteland.

When the camp ranger came to collect our fees, I ask her what had happened to all the trees. Her calm, environmental response sent chills down my back...

"We cut them down because they were not indigenous," she stated.

"What do you mean, 'not indigenous'?" I responded.

"Pine Trees are not indigenous to this area," she replied, as she tried to straighten out the folded dollar bills I had handed her. "That is why we planted those Oak Trees. They ARE indigenous." She explained to me.

"Those trees must have been over a 100 years old!" I emphasized. "Some of these stumps around here are over two feet in diameter!"

She was obviously not impressed with my sincerity as she handed me a receipt and put the money into her pocket. Then she calmly responded, "Or even older," and then walked back to her truck.

Later the next day, after I had taken all the boys home, I made a special visit to the local US National Park office in town. I didn't bother to change out of my Boy Scout uniform, as I thought it would make me look more official. After explaining my complaint to the receptionist behind the counter, I was soon greeted by a 60 year old woman who had obviously survived Woodstock as a young hippie. Her long gray hair lay naturally down over her dark wrinkled neck and partially covered her sun-dried lips. She scanned my uniform with her make-up-less eyes and calmly asked me what I wanted.

I related my story to her about the missing trees and expressed my disbelief that the US National Park Service would cut down those old trees. She gave me the same party line that I had heard from the ranger...

"Pine Trees are not indigenous to that area," she repeated to me.

I started to get angry. "Who are YOU to decide what is or is not indigenous?" I asked her. I soon realized that no amount of logic or reason was going to change her mind. Besides, the trees were already gone and nothing I could say was going to change that sad fact. However, since I had lost the agrument, I figured that there was no harm in leaving my mark on her stubborn, environmental brain. As I prepared to leave, I changed the subject...

"I have hiked all over the Santa Monica mountains and they are so beautiful," I said.

She was touched by this comment and responded, "Oh yes, I certainly do agree with you. I have hiked them as well."

I continued, "Once I found sea-shell fossils near the top of those mountains!"

She sensed my enthusiasm and responded, "I know. I have seen them as well. Aren't they wonderful?"

"I would venture that the entire mountain range was once under water," I suggested.

"You are probably correct," she agreed, her dry lips and wrinkled skin trying to form a difficult smile.

"You know," I began, "Instead of planting those tiny scrub oaks, you should probably be planting seaweed or plankton."

Her dry, cracked smile transformed into an angry frown. "This conversation is OVER!" she growled as she walked off.

"Yes it is," I said quietly to myself. "Yes it is."

UPS v.s. USPS v.s. FedEx - Don't Ask Obama

The other day Barack Obama was quoted as saying,

"UPS and FedEx are doing just fine. It's the Post Office that's always having problems."

What I believe Obama was trying to say was that a government run health-care system would not hurt private medical insurance. The message that the poor man sent was just the opposite. What a stupid example! When I heard what he said all I could see was standing in long lines at the Post Office and the DMV.

Nobody wants a health-care system that works like the US Post Office.

A second point that Obama failed to make was that if the US Post Office is having such a hard time competing with private companies, why in all the world would he want to create a health-care system that will have the same disadvantage?

President Obama is not doing well right now as he struggles to promote a government run health-care system. He does not appear to know what he is talking about. First he claims that a government run agency has trouble competing with private interprise and then he claims that the governemt run agency will not need to be subsudized by the government. His teleprompters must have malfunctioned in the worst way!

This example shows that Obama simply does not understand how capitalism works. It also shows that he does not understand that all of governemt by definition is subsidized by the taxpayer.

I Can Hear Again!

Our physical bodies are wonderful things. As an engineer I appreciate the technical complexity of the various functions including our brain and thought process, muscles, digestion, vision, touch, smell, taste, growth and repair, disease control, and hearing. My first engineering boss admonished me to copy nature in my engineering designs, and I have found success as I have followed the example of the supreme designer of the universe.

One of our five senses is hearing. As a young boy I was blessed with an ear for music. I was able to tune my violin by listening to adjacent strings played together. I love to sing and to play numerous musical instruments. However, our ability to hear is based upon very delicate mechanical and electrical components inside our bodies. They can be damaged by loud noises as well as disease and normal aging.

Over my lifetime I have seen a gradual degradation in my ability to hear. Some of it may have been caused by playing loud music. It may have been caused by shooting guns without hearing protection. I am sure some damage was caused as I worked on servo motor design at Burroughs when loud noise from the motors caused physical pain. Then there is normal hearing loss due to age. My father and most of my grandparents had severe hearing loss as they got old. In addition I have ringing in my ears. That is more of an annoyance as it is a limitation.


I have had my hearing tested on numerous occasions during my life and the tests have confirmed what I suspected. My hearing is getting worse with age. Most of my hearing loss is at higher frequencies which means that everything I hear sounds muffled. I have a difficult time hearing consonants, which means I can't understand people with high voices, and most children.

I have compensated for my hearing loss by talking louder and asking people to repeat things when they talk. I sit close to the front in meetings and locate my seat closest to those with quiet voices. This helps a little but I can't sit close to everyone.

My hearing loss has become such a problem that I finally decided that I would get some type of hearing aid.

There are many types of hearing aids and numerous companies that manufacture and sell them. They are quite expensive as well! A good pair of hearing aids can easily cost over $5000. The prices can get much higher, especially if you add channels, and extras such as remote controls.

When I first put my new hearing aids in place I was amazed at the sounds that I could hear again. I had nearly forgotten them. It reminded me of the day I got my first pair of eye glasses. I realized that the green part of trees were made up of individual leaves and that there was cement between the bricks on the wall. There weren't two moons in the sky and I could read the words on traffic signs even at night.

That is how it was when I tried on my hearing aids. It was almost as though I could hear through the office walls. I could hear conversations across the room between people who weren't even facing my direction. I could hear consonants as well as vowels, which I had missed for so many years. It is a great blessing to be able to hear again and I am grateful for those who have made this miracle possible in my life, including engineers, doctors and audiologists, insurance companies and my employer who provides my job with health insurance so that I could afford to hear once more.

Are You A REAL Prius Owner?

The other day I was following behind a Prius on the Ventura Freeway. The highway was four lanes wide at that point and traffic was pretty light. For some reason the driver kept putting on their brakes. They weren't really trying to stop since they barely slowed down each time they tapped the brake pedal.

I have driven a Prius and I know what a thrill it is to watch the video screen which shows the driver which way the electricity is flowing and whether the engine is running or if it is just running off the battery. Then there is the average MPG numbers as well as the instantaneous MPG reading. Now that is the impressive number! The instantaneous miles per gallon! When you let off the gas you often exceed 100 MPG, much like you get when you drive down a hill. I also like the screen which shows you the battery charge. It is a bar graph which depicts how much power is stored inside the battery. The bar changes length when you draw current from the battery and when you generate electricity with the gasoline engine or with regenerative braking.

There is a term that you don't hear everyday...."Regenerative Braking". What it means is that when you apply your brakes you run the motor backwards and generate electricity that would normally be lost to heat from brake friction. It is perhaps the single most important aspect of an electric or hybrid car. Without regenerative braking, there is basically no benefit to an electric car and especially to a hybrid car. All the energy in a hybrid car comes from the gasoline engine with all the efficiency losses of the engine as well as the generator and the electric motor.

With my short driving experience in a Prius I finally figured out why the guy in front of me kept putting on his brakes. You guessed it!!!

USING REGENERATIVE BRAKING HE WAS PRODUCING ELECTRICITY TO KEEP HIS BATTERY TOPPED OFF!

Now is that a Prius driver or is that a REAL Prius driver?

Our Family Garden Is Finally Planted

With all the activities going on around at our house this summer, I haven't had the time to get our garden planted. We were fortunate that we had a volunteer giant pumpkin come up on its own from last year, which helps out, since they usually take 120 days to produce these giant Prizewinner Pumpkins.

But today I planted the following:

- Celebrity Tomato
- Cherry Tomato
- Cucumber
- Egg Plant
- Giant Bell Pepper
- Cantaloupe/Melon
- Zucchini
- Normal size Pumpkin
- Radishes

It is going to be exciting to see how they do after being planted so late in the season. However, this is Southern California so the growing season is long and I think we should have a bountiful harvest this year.

Along with our new vegetables, we have our existing fruit trees:

- Navel Orange
- Tangelo
- Fuji Apple
- Haas Avocado
- Bacon Avocado

- Apricot
- Lime
- Lemon
- Peach
- Pink Grapefruit
- Two Kumquat trees

And don't forget our berries:

- Boysenberry
- Blue Berry

We have always had a garden in our backyard and it is great to be able to eat fresh fruits and vegetables right from the garden. They taste so much better than the tastless stuff you buy in the stores.

City Violates Its Own Water Conservation Law

This afternoon I was driving down the main street in our town and I happened to notice two sets of sprinklers running. Apparently they had been operating for some time, as the area was soaked and excess water was running down the street into the storm drains.

Now don't get me wrong. It wasn't a river of water large enough to wash away children and pets. No homes were in danger, and nobody was filling sand bags nearby. But when a man floated by in his rowboat I knew we had a problem.

To make matters worse, the state of California is currently in a drought situation. The water supply to Southern California has been drastically reduced to maintain the habitat of the small Delta Smelt fish that live in the Sacramento River Delta. Our city has gone one step further. They have instituted a new city ordinance wherein a citizen can be fined hundreds of dollars for wasting water. It is now against the law to wash off your driveway or to run your lawn sprinklers for more than 15 minutes. It is against the law to water your lawns between the hours of 7am and 5 pm. Showers are limited to 5 minutes. Citizens are even encouraged to report violations in their neighborhoods and to call a special hot-line if they see one of their neighbors wasting water.

Being a good law abiding citizen I was alarmed to see the city watering at 3:45pm in violation of their own ordinance.

My first reaction was to do nothing. After all, it was possible that someone else had already complained to the city. In addition I didn't have the telephone number of the hot-line, anyway. Besides it's not my responsibility to enforce the city's ordinances. Right??

But as I continued down the hill next to the river of wasted water I started to get angry. They city wanted me to report on my neighbors, so why shouldn't I call them for violating their own law?

When I reached my destination I asked for a phone book and quickly looked up the telephone number of the city's 24 hour hot-line.

When I dialed the number on my cell phone, a man answered, "Can I help you?"

I told him about the two sprinkler systems and the water running down the hill into the storm drain. His response was typical of a government employee so it should not have surprised me.

"So what's the problem?" he snapped back at me arrogantly.

"Take a look at your watch, buddy!" I responded. "You guys would fine me a hundred dollars if they were my sprinklers!"

My angry voice and his corresponding vision of me standing there with a pitchfork in one hand and a baseball bat in the other, must have had a calming effect on him, and he answered, "I see what you mean."

He took down the location of the sprinklers and my telephone number, and told me that someone would be dispatched immediately to turn off the water.

About 3 hours later I just happened to drive up that same hill on my way home from Home Depot. To my surprise there was a city truck parked on the side of the road in the river of water. The city employee had just turned off the water and was wading through the river to get to his truck.

I felt good inside.

Not only had I done my civic duty and helped to enforce the law, but I had also saved the Delta Smelt from instinction.

A Big Investment For Only 70 Cents An Hour

The other day a friend of mine installed a series of solar collectors on the roof of his house. There must be about 35 of them up there. And they are on the front side of his house so that everyone can see how nice and dark blue they look. I estimated that he spent nearly $50,000.00 to have them installed.

We have a law in California called the Solar Rights Act which allows you to install solar collectors on your roof just about anywhere you want and nobody can stop you even if it looks bad and lowers the property values of nearby homes. Now, some people might argue that a red tiled roof covered with black or blue solar panels is very attractive and has a sort of high tech appeal. Others might disagree and contend that it looks ugly and detracts from the appearance of the neighborhood. I don't feel strongly one way or the other.

Well, the other day I approached my neighbor and inquired about the performance of his system. After all, it had been running long enough to provide some indication of how much money he was saving.

My neighbor proudly told me that he was "saving lots of money." In fact just the other day he said that he had reached the phenomenal output of 7000 Watts! He explained that while it was just for a moment, it had actually reached that incredible level.

"Hmmmmmmm," I said as I digested this new information. "Let's see now, electricity in our neighborhood in the first tier of our billing schedule is about 10 cents per kilowatt-hour. That means that at the moment you reached 7000 Watts you were producing about 70 cents of electricity per hour."

"Only 70 cents?" my neighbor gulped.

I didn't want to hurt his feelings so I backed off a bit. "Maybe I made a mistake," I suggested. "Let's do the math together. 7000 Watts is 7 kilowatts, right?"

"If you say so," he agreed.

"And 7 times 10 cents is 70 cents, right?" I continued.

"That sounds correct," he mumbled under his breath.

"So at that moment when you reached the peak of 7000 Watts you were making 70 cents per hour, right?"

"You must be right," he said, but then he began to complain, "How come it seems so low? I thought I was going to make much more than that. What is wrong?"

I could see that his vision of making millions of dollars from "free" sunlight was fading, so I figured I would finish him off completely.

"Did you say that 7000 was the peak?" I asked.

"Yes," he replied.

"So the average amount of money you are saving is somewhere between zero and 70 cents per hour. Let's assume it is 35 cents per hour. That's the average of zero and 70," I reasoned out loud.

I continued, "Lets assume that you can collect sunlight for about 6 hours per day. Does that seem reasonable, given the shade from your trees and the fact that you put your panels on the western slope of your roof?"

My neighbor nodded his head, "yes."

"So that figures to be about $2.10 per day," I calculated in my head, as I prepared to deliver the final blow.

"How much did you say you paid for the solar panels including installation?" I asked.

"About $45,000," he gulped again. "But I got a 30% tax rebate from the State of California," he beamed.

"That's good," I responded. "Let's see now, 30% discount means you paid about $30,000. right?"

By now my neighbor had removed his I-Phone from his pocket and was helping me with the calculations.

"More like $31,500," he corrected me.

"Good," I responded, "It is important to be accurate."

I continued, "If we use simple math, and divide $31,500 by our daily rate of $2.10, how many days will it take before you pay for your investment?"

His fingers raced over the chrome plated I-Phone as he performed his accurate calculations. "15,000 days," he responded.

"And how many years is that?" I continued to pressure him.

"A little over 41 years," he quietly responded. "Gee, that's a long time, isn't it?"

"It seems kind of long to me," I said as I watched him sink into deep depression. "But that's just my opinion. And look at it this way, at least you didn't have to wait 41 years to pay for it. You can pay for it right now."

"Yes," he gulped again, "Right now."