RichC | December 6, 2011
I don’t watch the BBCLife or NatGeo all that regularly, I do appreciate their fantastic documentaries and brilliant filming. In the above video a Killer Whale passes her unique skills to her calf in hunting elephant seals. The “low volume” audio in this clip describes the danger and intelligence required by these animals to navigate [...]
RichC | November 3, 2011
I’m at traditionalist when it comes to cars and am attracted to the rumble of an internal combustion engine and tactile sensation of shifting gears, preferably manual. But the world is changing and new cars have sophisticated automatics or are going gearless (CVTs) … and expect more and more cars with tiny engines to include [...]
RichC | October 31, 2011
A reader knowing that I’ve posted pictures of kayakers and whales in the past forwarded me a link with a couple humpback whales off of California that looked to be uncomfortably close to this guy (click image for larger). Someday “we humans” are going to get a little too close … I personally will not [...]
RichC | October 21, 2011
A Redondo Beach California diver/kayaker posted some YouTube footage from his GoPro camera earlier in the week … and although I’m hesitant to see people get too close to an animal’s habitat, these close up images are pretty impressive.
RichC | August 27, 2011
Sort of reminds me of the of the 1875 St. Nicholas tale with the Gingerbread Man which ends like this: … He ran till he came to a river. And next to the river was a fox. The fox said, "Hello little gingerbread man." The gingerbread man said, "HELLO! I ran away from the little [...]
RichC | August 2, 2011
Although EV only vehicles are the best fit for many of us, some might be a bit more comfortable if they knew where they could get a 20 minute charge. Personally don’t think we’ll see wide acceptance until universal wireless charging system are adopted widely available AND re-charging is offered as an incentive (discount). Perhaps [...]
RichC | July 29, 2011
President Obama announces the new fuel efficiency standards with a few early jokes regarding his daughter and driving before stressing the prices of fuel and the demand “worldwide” for oil. His “fix” is to take steps to control prices through and energy strategy that 1) increase domestic production, 2) getting rid of tax subsidies to [...]
RichC | July 9, 2011
My neighbor send me a link and an email (below) since we spend a few minutes each week cleaning up the ditch and roadside. The first 25 feet along the back of our property is usually scattered with cans, bottles, litter, etc and needs to be picked up before mowing. Kids are putting Drain-o, tin [...]
RichC | June 25, 2011
On of the most interesting stories this week had little to do with politics, the economy or the wars and “not” wars involving US troops around the world – instead it has to do with a newly discovered and previously unknown indigenous tribe in the Western Amazon (Brazil). The group believed to be as many [...]
RichC | May 28, 2011
The new Chattanooga, Tennessee Volkswagen plant opened this past week (May 24, 2011) and is an example of how VW incorporates its trademarked ThinkBlue initiative. Here’s hoping the trend continues to the cars they build in America … the new 2012 Volkswagen Passat and Passat TDI clean diesel. Below is a chart from the ThinkBlue [...]
RichC | May 27, 2011
I’ve been watching (but not participating) in the initial public offering of Solazyme (SZYM), one of the first algae based biofuel companies to come to the market. Although they haven’t been trading for much more than an hour, the price well well above their $10 target and $19.70 open. As I post this over my [...]
RichC | April 18, 2011
If you live between Dayton and Cincinnati and drive a B99 biodiesel capable car (word of caution for some of the latest models), you can now fill up for substantially less than the current $4-plus/gallon price of petroleum diesel … and do your part to help the environment. Biodiesel is now available on a regular [...]
RichC | April 11, 2011
It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything about biodiesel … perhaps because I’m not driving a diesel vehicle at the moment. Nevertheless, the promise of “growing fuel” is better then ever considering the panic we find ourselves in over the high price of fuel. Currently I’m seeing regular unleaded gasoline at $3.80/gallon and a [...]
RichC | April 8, 2011
After arriving home late last night Brenda wanted me to see the flowering White Star Magnolia flowers … so I indulged her and walked out to look at them with her … and snapped a weak LED flash photo with my Palm Pre smartphone. Little did she know, I had already been looking at them [...]
RichC | March 30, 2011
Although this will probably show my age, today I’m highlighting one of my favorite TV programs and favorite actors — James Garner in The Rockford Files (imdb). I might have commented, "who doesn’t like the show," but since I live with that one person, I already know the answer. About a year ago I added [...]
RichC | March 28, 2011
A friend of mine sent a link to the Norfolk Botanical Garden’s Bald Eagle Cam … wow! Thanks Clyde. Click for live streaming site
RichC | March 26, 2011
Interesting fish … and the people that ‘greet’ them: Grunions. I’m surprised I didn’t know about them, although suspect if I lived in southern California I would? (see Grunion.org) What is a grunion? California grunion are a species of marine fish found only along the coast of southern California and northern Baja California. They are [...]
RichC | March 20, 2011
Although my ‘supermoon’ photo from Saturday night isn’t one of the better ones from across the country, I did head outside to admire the “brightest moon since 1993.” The moon appear in its full phase just 50 minutes shy of the orbit that brings it closest to the earth … perigee. According to what I’ve [...]
RichC | February 27, 2011
Duke Energy, our electricity utility, was kind enough to ship me a nice size box of compact florescent lamps at no charge to replace our existing bulbs. I can’t say that I was surprised to see that they are made in China, but I sure would rather they be manufactured in the United States – [...]
RichC | February 1, 2011
Should I show this to my wife (or hold back) before she heads out for her hours of long distance swimming off Florida’s Gold Coast? I’ve never seen that many sharks in one place and am surprised to see that many migrating in such tight schools along Florida’s east coast. Get the latest Flash Player [...]
RichC | January 23, 2011
For those who might be interested in what is happening in transportation here in Ohio (and the nation), Clean Fuels Ohio is hosting a lecture and a facilities tour at the Ohio State University Center for Automotive Research. The February 16th lunch will be a great opportunity to hear about the changes coming to the [...]
RichC | December 14, 2010
Congratulation Roz (previous posts) … you are National Geographic’s Adventurer of the Year for 2010. (and she’s working on another book about rowing the Pacific) The Rower Roz Savage solo rowed the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans—the first woman ever to do so. Before she rowed across two oceans, Roz Savage was a management consultant, working [...]
RichC | October 29, 2010
This is not the first time Al Gore has left fellow environmentalist wondering if the so called ‘Global Warming’ spokesman walks the talk. Hypocrite? Green-minded campaigner Al Gore has been left red-faced after being accused of leaving his car running for almost an hour while he gave a lecture on sustainable development. It is alleged [...]
RichC | October 27, 2010
Federal stimulus funds are political hot potato as the Novemeber 2010 election draws near, but it is still good to know where the money is being spent. According to Biodiesel Magazine, the Ohio Department of Development will be using "$8 million in funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, to help biodiesel and ethanol [...]
RichC | October 6, 2010
Get the latest Flash Player to see this player. [Javascript required to view Flash movie, please turn it on and refresh this page] document.getElementById(“player2″).style.display = “”; var s2 = new SWFObject(“http://mydesultoryblog.com/wp-content/plugins/flv-embed/flvplayer.swf”,”player2″,”490″,”290″,”7″); s2.addParam(“wmode”,”transparent”); s2.addParam(“allowscriptaccess”,”always”); s2.addParam(“allowfullscreen”,”true”); s2.addVariable(“height”,”290″); s2.addVariable(“width”,”490″); s2.addVariable(“file”,”http://www.myarchive.us/av/ap_sophie_tucker_cattledog.flv”); s2.addVariable(“image”,”http://www.myarchive.us/av/ap_sophie_tucker_cattledog.jpg”); s2.addVariable(“link”,”http://www.myarchive.us/av/ap_sophie_tucker_cattledog.flv”); s2.write(“player2″); While celebrating our dog Tootsie’s 13th birthday on Tuesday – she’s a teenager (born: 10/5/1997) – [...]
RichC | September 10, 2010
A couple sailing friends currently spending time cruising northwestern Madagascar are enjoying the area around Nosy Be. While doing a little map checking on the area, I ran across a couple interesting photos with someone doing some maintenance on a different kind of tourist oriented watercraft (click for larger image). Having just returned from Bermuda, [...]
RichC | August 12, 2010
For personal transportation miles-per-gallon watchers, like many VW TDI drivers I know, an article in Thursday’s WSJ that translated US based airlines fuel efficiency into automotive MPG standards, might be of interest. In the past, frugal flyers may have looked at the numbers in order to save a buck, but now more and more travelers [...]
RichC | June 29, 2010
As the gulf coast continues to clean up oil damaged shorelines, folks in Mississippi, Alabama and Florida resort businesses welcome home grown singer/songwriter Jimmy Buffett, who with some friends will be helping to promote tourism with a free beach concert Thursday night. While oil gushes and a more noticeable oil slick moves closer to the [...]
RichC | June 25, 2010
Cleveland Ohio is undergoing a skyline change … A fresh-water wind farm is taking shape at Lake Erie and when completed will provide 20 megawatts and get on to about one gigawatt power by 2020. Huge individual turbines 300 feet tall, to be built by GE will be erected off Ohio, Cleveland. Better designs: These [...]
RichC | June 22, 2010
The BP Oil Disaster is bound to be the story to remember 2010 by as historians archive this year. Like most Americans who’ve travelled and enjoy the gulf coasts of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida, I’m disgusted and saddened by the damage that is being done to the economy, coastline and ecosystem. As we [...]