by Thomas Beutel
...CONTEMPLATING CODE AND LIFE
...CONTEMPLATING CODE AND LIFE

Archive for September, 2008

One among many reasons to get solar

Friday, September 26th, 2008 Posted in Uncategorized | Comments

This is just one reason to get solar sooner rather than later: Carbon Is Building Up in Atmosphere Faster Than Predicted (washingtonpost.com) "The new statistics also underscore the growing contribution to the world's "carbon budget" from rapidly industrializing countries such as ...

How much land area would $700B cover?

Tuesday, September 23rd, 2008 Posted in Uncategorized | Comments

OK, this is pretty trivial, but I was wondering how much area would be covered by 700 Billion dollar bills if they were all laid next to each other, say in a big rectangle. Let's play a game of powers-of-ten ...

Is BMW working on a PHEV Mini?

Monday, September 22nd, 2008 Posted in Energy, PHEV | Comments

Looks like the Volt will be getting some interesting competition. The Register is reporting that an electric Mini test vehicle has been spotted driving around Munich, based on reports in Car Magazine. Car says: "...the miserly mini that will help BMW ...

Solar roof update

Sunday, September 21st, 2008 Posted in Energy, PHEV, Solar | Comments

We've signed off on getting a 3.85KWh solar photovoltaic system. Return on investment will be 10-12 years, probably less if we get a plugin-hybrid electric car in 3 or 4 years. The roofers will be here tomorrow to mark the ...

Twitter: The ultimate presidential debate watch party

Sunday, September 21st, 2008 Posted in Politics | Comments

I know that many people will be gathering at watch parties this Friday, but I plan to watch it at home with Twitter. The 140 character format seems to be just right for getting a river of concise, first-blush commentary. ...

Obama: No Blank Check

Sunday, September 21st, 2008 Posted in Politics | Comments

I'm glad to see that Obama is saying No Blank Check!: "If we grant the Treasury broad authority to address the immediate crisis, we must insist on independent accountability and oversight. Given the breach of trust we have seen and the ...

Write the Damn Book!

Friday, September 12th, 2008 Posted in Blogging, Writing | Comments

My friend Mary Reynolds Thompson hosts teleclasses on writing at WriteTheDamnBook.com. Mary's coaching has helped many writers actually finish the book that they started. Coming up is a teleclass on blogging by expert blogger Britt Bravo, creator of the Changeblogger ...

New pics of the GM Volt

Monday, September 8th, 2008 Posted in Energy, PHEV | Comments

GM-volt.com has pictures of the production version of the Volt. I like it. Actually, I like it a lot better than the concept car. Meanwhile, it looks like GM and the EPA might argue about MPG. It all depends on the ...

Comics for Communication

Tuesday, September 2nd, 2008 Posted in Google, comics | Comments

It was interesting that Google used a comic strip to effectively communicate the reasons why they are introducing a new browser called Chrome. I was especially taken in by the discussion of processes and tabs, a topic that would normally ...