News and Views

I have a quadricopter (4 bladed helicopter) that I thought was pretty big. Here’s a video of a really big one: It won a prize for the first human powered helicopter to stay aloft for at least 30 seconds.

[Read more →]

The US Department of Energy has published an app that will calculate how much it costs to fuel an electric car vs. a gas car. They created a concept called an eGallon which shows how much it would cost to drive an electric car the same distance as a similar gas car would go on […]

[Read more →]

Driving in France has one big advantage over driving in England,at least for an American: they drive on the right side of the road here. It’s really not bad driving here, and the French drivers are competent and disciplined. Road signs can be confusing. For example, what would you make of “Interdict sauf” followed by […]

[Read more →]

I had my phone stolen out of my pocket on a crowded subway in Paris today. In one moment I lost my: – Phone – GPS – Kindle library – Flashlight – Camera – Video camera – Translator – Encyclopedia – Trip advisor – Calendar – Contact list – Email and more that I can’t […]

[Read more →]

We made it to Tours. Gisele stayed here so many times over the years that she formed a friendship with an elderly couple who used to rent rooms to students. They are too old now to deal with students, but they welcomed Gisele, and by extension the rest of us, as old friends. The lady […]

[Read more →]

We took a day trip up into the French Alps today to the lovely little town of Chamonix (sha mo nee). From there we took an aerial tram in two stages to the top of a nearby peak, at almost 13,000 feet elevation. It was very cold, with deep snow on the ground. Unfortunately it […]

[Read more →]

Annecy is a nice little city (~52,000) on the edge of the French Alps,  about 20 miles from Geneva,  Switzerland.  The area has been settled since around 100-200 AD, but the earliest architecture dates from the 1100’s. Dating from the 1100’s above is the “Island Palace”, in the middle of a canal. Today happened to […]

[Read more →]

Today is our third day in Paris, and tomorrow we take the high speed train to Annecy, near Geneva. Yesterday was a whirlwind series of visits to the Eiffel Tower, Arch De Triumph, and Notre Dame Cathedral. Today we went to the Louvre. Except for the Louvre today, admission lines were too long, so everything […]

[Read more →]

Gisele and I (and 4 other Chinese women) are going to France, leaving this Thursday and coming back on Friday, June 7. (In case any burglars are reading this, Derek and Apollo will be staying at the house, so keep away!) We land in Paris where we spend about 3 days, then go to Annecy, […]

[Read more →]

I went up on the roof today and hosed off my solar panels. They haven’t been cleaned since the last rain a few weeks ago. There was an immediate 5% increase in power generated. So those of you with solar panels (Richard, Dale, …?) keep ’em clean!

[Read more →]