News and Views

In many ways, the North Rim of the Grand Canyon is nicer than the South Rim. There are fewer people, and it’s at a higher elevation which results in cooler temperatures, more rainfall and consequently lusher vegetation. On the downside, it takes a lot longer to get there from here. And though there are fewer […]

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How exciting! Just a brief followup on the bulb life experiment I started in 2000 (Here and here . My kitchen has 7 PAR30 bulbs in the ceiling. Back when I was using incandescent bulbs, average life was less than a year, so on average I was changing every bulb more often than every year, […]

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What an exciting topic! 😉 I had to replace the tires on my Volt so I went to Costco to see what they recommended. They put me in a set of Michelin Premier tires. I know these are excellent tires, but they fail badly at one criteria that is very important to a Volt owner: […]

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I hate it when I load a web page on my phone, and just as I start reading, more ads or images load and the text gets bumped up or down on the page. Sometimes this happens multiple times until the article finally completely loads. Ad blocking programs help this on my PC, but it’s […]

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I just put down a deposit on a Tesla Model 3. Sounds more exciting than it is. The Model 3 won’t be out for about 2 years, and details won’t be released until tonight. If I change my mind, I can get a full refund. My plan is to wait and see what develops. If […]

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We drove from Tempe to San Dimas in southern California today in the new Honda Accord. The automatic features were very helpful. ACC (Adaptive Cruise Control) is great. You can set your cruising speed, and as you approach cars from behind it will adjust your speed to keep a safe distance. This is getting to […]

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Doesn’t that make you feel good? I’ve called you “loyal”, and that word has all sorts of good connotations. You are trustworthy, you won’t desert your friends, you are honorable. Frequently in bills from a cable, insurance or other company, they thank me for being a “loyal customer”. Look how honorable I am! I’m loyal, […]

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In another month and a half, I become a full-fledged senior citizen, or non-euphemistically: an old man. I’ll be 65 in March. Perhaps the best part of hitting this milestone is that I will become eligible to receive Medicare. The following is a little detailed, but could be useful to someone else who is approaching […]

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We just bought a new car for Gisele, a 2016 Honda Accord. You’ve all seen Accords before, so not much to talk about design-wise, but there are some interesting high tech features. 1) Engine and Road Noise Cancelling — There are microphones that detect the noise in the cabin and use the sound system speakers […]

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I’ve had my 65″ Sharp for 9 years now (blogged about here). I finally have an upgrade. I got an 85″ Samsung LCD/LED, at a big Black Friday week discount from Amazon. Like most modern TVs, it is a 4K TV (or UHD – Ultra High Definition – twice the linear resolution of HDTV). There’s […]

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