It seems many are inflamed over the Scooter Libby, presidential sentence reduction--I seriously wonder about these newly "outraged" individuals who do not have a handle on this regime yet.---This is the way these guys behave---their believe structure is that the justice system does not apply to them--jail--is for the little people that get in their way...it should have been completely expected--i am actually happy they did step in and abort the justice system. Come November it means more republicans gone out congress because of this...so it is a good thing. With an approval rating of 29% before this incident--i can't wait to see where that figure winds up....Remember " a man with a briefcase can steal more than a man with a gun, anytime."

If there is anyone reading this i'm sure you know by now that we like to purchase complete boxed, dvd sets of past television series. I hate regular television--don't have it, won't have it...i find however that viewing a series on dvd is completely different. Originally i would have nothing off commerical television programming in the house...but after working through the X-files, Serenity, Milleninum, the Lone Gunmen & the Lost Room---my wife and i are now in the process of watching and enjoying "Harsh Realm"...again a Chris Carter production...an interesting premise, very matrix like---great photography & soundtrack-- so far excellent plot lines...i understand it was killed off after three shows on commerical television, but the dvd set contains 9 episodes....i recommend it ....Commerical programs are so much better when the viewer controls the subject matter, the sequence, and you are free of rabid commericalism.

Just a couple of little things----Out of "D"cell Batteries for an item? Here's an excellent hack that will allow you to use "C" cell batteries as a temporary substitute---not i'm not sure how long i would allow this to continue---my internal fire marshal would actually not let me personally do it execpt in an emergency--but this is a very cool field hack to make do...i like "collecting" this stuff off the net. Following the battery hack photo-- is a map displaying the countries of the world who are not on the metric system--let's see there's--- aah?-us--Burma(or whatever it's called now) and I think that's the Ivory Coast--again not really sure---interesting?

Here's a very cool idea--but probably hard to carry around with you---a wind powered recharger for your cell phone--this would probably be an excellent idea for recharging at the homestead---just set the charger up on an outside window ledge--run the line inside to your cell phone and free--charging---something like this would also be great for the third world--where they have booths for charging one's cell phone off of car batteries---since there's no power to speak of---a coolio concept. i need to make a note to myself to follow-up on this!!

A few photos of my daily work commute for the Prius section here. I'm sure my commute over a round trip of 68 miles-- of new mexico-- 5 days a week looks alittle different that a city dweller's commute--not alot of people here, we just this week passed the 2 million mark for the whole state--remember this is where the government detonated the first atomic bomb--and nobody noticed---in new mexico there is no road rage--but one needs to carry water, hat, wear shoes that you can walk in if necessary, make sure the cell phone is charged up, and in the winter extra warm clothes---my commute is text book perfect for the Prius--although the new mexico headwinds eat up alot of that perfection, and for safety I top off the tank when people in the city would'nt dream of putting gas in a car----All i did was point the digital camera i keep with me at the windows and press the shutter button---no selection process was involved--these are just random moments on the daily back and forth...... and a photo mileage proof at 48.9 mpg. Next step in the Prius evolution is the bonneville salt flat hubcap experiment....wait till you see that one.

this week's average mileage was 47.6 mpg for over 300 miles. There were considerable headwinds from storms this week--I thought i would include a photo of my libretto sub-mini-laptop in the prius..no special mounting stuff applies--just a strip of male velcro across the bottom which secures the libretto to the flat top of the transmission tunnel--plus the libretto gray casing matches the prius interior -- i have really enjoyed combining these two items i care for together in a system.

currently reading:Rule the web-- http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?z=y&EAN=9780312363338&itm=1 Not much explanation necessary on the subject matter of Mark Frauenfelder's book..a collection of how to's and tips to manage your web life---so far about half-way through reading it and my basic judgement is very cool--

Rainbows end--

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?z=y&EAN=9780812536362&itm=1

by vernor vinge--(cool name, beret's, coffee and cigarettes comes to mind this this moniker---) i'm about 20 pages in and simply hooked--great premise, wonderous technological projections--an excellent post-cyberpunk novel..i think this is going to be one of those i will not want to see end...these are the two books i'm reading this week.
Oppenheimer: American Prometheus i just completed and this is the best biography, story, report on both the man, the manhatten project, McCarthyism, all rolled into one. Simply excellent and a must read for anyone....J. Robert Oppenheimer was a man who comes along once in a century and of course we persecuted him...buy this book if you have any brain at all!

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?z=y&EAN=9780375726262&itm=1

things i have succeeded at and things i still have/want to do---wireless in motion i've got down pat--wireless at home still needs to be done..laptop dance is just about completed--lifebook's here an working great, the libretto's found a place in the prius--the zeos for linux- well the seller from ebay is displaying weirdness---still waiting on it so at the moment the linux concept is on hold---water barrels are in--they work but: and adjustment is need this weekend..no problem---new items to do include replacing my desktop with my dell XPS--prepping for square foot gardening next year--bonneville salt flat hubcaps for the prius--getting to know the gps system in the prius better--attaching a video cam to robosapien--working voice command in the prius--setting up a flickr account---more efficently--reading-computing-organizing and hopefully, continuing to evolve into a better human being...and with this i publish....

Time for

an update on my various

projects, experiments and personal evolvement. To prove to anyone out there and especially myself that I do not just exist in an electronic world.

I've received my rain barrels...two of course..the model's described as "english" with spouts-hoses and screen guards... the UPS man really, really hates me now having to tote these rascal's around for the day in the back of the truck, they are big....tomorrow I am going to set one of them up on the back portico...i have to standby on the one designated for the front portico until the new grass has taken root. These are perfect for my intention of having water on hand for emergency usage-- when the powers that be finally run us as a nation into a ditch. Of course once the barrels were delivered i fought the urge to immediately set one up--wanting to think the whole concept through properly. That night it rained for the first time in 2 months!! So much for being adult like and thinking--i missed a great chance to test the system--so when i do get around and set one up i actually have to put some water in it by hose to insure that it does not blow about with the high winds we have here in New Mexico---putting water in rain barrels is pure strangeness but it's a start on a water recovery system.

My new/old lifebook p-1032 i just purchased off ebay works perfectly! it is an excellent item--i tested the wireless card system at a coffee shop today(pulling up this blog)-- the mini-notebook is a little cosmetically rough but who cares? I need to complete the system with a battery pack for the portable printer and i am totally good to go with an eye on useful software. I believe now that my mobile system is complete. I can compute anywhere with my own solar power source if necessary.The next step is replacing my desktop with my dell xps laptop---

I am in bookvana with plenty of excellent books on hand. The toughest job at the moment is refraining from grabbing up each and reading small pieces of them in random moments...Here's just a small list of what i am reading or have recently finished:

American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer
by Kai Bird, Martin J. Sherwin

simply excellent--Oppenheimer the genius, the polymath who would not play by the conservative,paranoid government rules. An excellent bio even if you are not into physics--but if you are better still..a tragic personal tale of how the government and society wants you to fit in a box---that real genius and real scientists do not seem to understand.. Stalin's Ghost: An Arkady Renko Novel
by Martin Cruz Smith Arkady Renko the chain smoking, depressive, russian investigative prosecutor i have followed for years through all the books and through renko's banishment to siberia to cuba to enduring the change of his society to capitalism. Martin Cruz Smith's character renko's daily life makes me feel way better when i fall into a depressive state every renko book is perfect the newest stalin's ghost is no different--wonderous.

The Children of Men
by P. D. James currently reading the original children of men by pd james...from which the movie was based. Interestingly different from the movie the world they inhabit is somewhat different in the book. More depressed, less revolutionary. an interesting, intelligent read however, and very,very well written..tremendous usage of words to paint pictures of a world where women push dolls in carriages pretending they are alive.

Make Magazine: The First Year
by Mark Frauenfelder Outstanding bathroom reading--the collected first year of make magazine in 4 paperback books--very very neat projects by gearheads of all descriptions robots-electric cars, kite camera's,home physics labs, hacking your ipod---wonderous things you can make and do with items around the house or by hacking electronic personal items you already have on hand--love it and it is the type of book you return to again and again--a great way of putting this type of material out as well---combine a years worth of the best stuff in four books. plus it's easy to handle in the bathroom-----good job! I have a huge stack of other books next to the bed just waiting for me---calling me---i have much to learn.

i continue with these projects--along with others---i tremendously enjoy this lifehacking process. the concept that the projects i work on educate, inform, interest my brain and keep it firing in the right directions...as i get older. There was a 62 year old guy in the front of the line for the new iphone---more power to him, way to go. All of these items are pursued as best as possible on a random basis caused by the intruding demands of normal life....some can be combined--the pursuit for over 50 mpg during the daily commute--personal mobile computing at lunch, square foot gardening, water recovery, solar power at the house--science and weirdness with day to day life----einstein at the patent office...with this i publish

http://www.computerhistory.org/

A singular blog on one issue---

the japanese subnotebook, laptop computer...& me.

10% of the laptop computer marketplace is held by the

mini-tiny-small-ultra-sub-laptop, whatever you would like to call it. Since there is no real agreement on what this catagory actually is--let us set the boundries--a screen smaller than 12"--a full function key board--a real operating system as in some type of window's or Microsoft's Windows CE (Handheld PC Platform Release) not to slight linux--that as well and --usb capability.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sub_notebook Added to the small percentage niche for the sub laptop, is the fact that this 10%marketplace is primarily in japan with only the smallest of purchases in the European marketplace and the sub-notebook computer has held practically zero effect in the American mindset. Most Americans do not know subnotebooks exist or what this type of personal computer is capable of...if they have handled one briefly, the standard american consumer response is "the keyboard's too small", and they pass on the item--believing the sublaptop to be some kind of useless, expensive, gadget.

One of my favorite and most often unnoticed, movie instances of a "palmtop" computer in use is in terminator 2 where young john conner hacks an ATM machine for cash using an Atari Portfolio subnotebook-palm-top ( first produced in 1989) with a parallel interface and a magnetic insertion card. When i first saw that scene i wanted one of those things---compute on the move= wow(not to mention my thoughts of "how can i figure out that free money thing" he did)---! The Subnotebook computer in many respects may be completely replaced without a real shot at the big time by the do-all cell phone culture...a huge market that already exists and is in massive usage in many cultures creating so called "smart mobs" ( asia, europe). This 'thumbing" system is catching on in the US by both the computer literate and those who have never worked a desktop before. I personally find nothing appealing within the cellphone as a laptop replacement concept----it's a personality thing i am sure---to me small laptops, with working keyboards are the item that lets my brain express itself in this world..

My personal computing equipment plan is this: to eventually replace my desktop system ( when it wears out ) with my dell XPS 12" screened laptop and switch my mobile computing to a even smaller 8.9 inch screened lifebook P-1032. By purchasing a better keyboard and monitor and linking them to the XPS running Vista--i have all the desktop i need with the ability to pull the dell and take it with me on business if necessary. Wireless at the house means i can also roam freely throughout the homestead working where i feel like at that particular moment. By switiching my mobility requirements to the lifebook P-1032 i have reduced my carry load down as small as possible, actually functioning with a computer at the size of the smallest hardback book. At work i can carry the lifebook to short-call meetings with all the backup information i need at hand without overgeeking everyone by hauling a laptop.A big plus is the stylus touch screen write capability offered by the lifebook where i can make notes etc on documents and actually on the road do real-transferable work from a subnotebook on windows XP---. The easily transportable, battery powered printer is icing on the cake where i would not be held hostage to outside sources for printing off the lifebook if print copies in motion become necessary. All this being said there is the final requirement----I could not accept the concept of true mobile computing without being free from the demands of being plugged in either to work or to recharge --i can if necessary run all my mobile computing capability ( once these systems are up and running) operate fully by fold up solar panels of which i now have two.... i am now, after some fine tuning of the machinery and the operator, completely mobile, but independent of power requirements if necessary.....

why you may ask is this such a cause--issue--focus for me??
#1-I sincerely love the idea of anywhere,anytime,anything computing out of a messenger bag

#2-I really enjoy the concept of small things that work well

#3-all the tech in the world is no good if you can't have it with you when you need it....

#4-I'm not right

So these are my plans, my concepts my personal manifesto in computing---like you care right? The world needs tiny-self sufficent-personally transportable anywhere systems---it's the future.......with this i publish.....