the way diesel was meant to be

Stories about UT's apparent success with Biodiesel and solar research really fill me with pride. Originally, 'diesel' fuel was 100% renewable...yes, the inventor by the name of Diesel had an engine that ran on peanut oil. Later, it was actually found cheaper to use byproducts from the petroleum industry.

Marcy Kaptur has brought some great research money to Northwest Ohio in these areas (Lourdes Research Grant, Grant to Enhance Math, Science Teaching, Alternative Energy Partnership).

These are steps that truly work toward energy independence as a nation, but also the world over. What I mean by that, is by using finite/non-renewable resources, the whole world becomes dependent upon a finite resource. Conflict is bound to arise from this situation when resources become scarce. They are scarce now, which is why ANWR is being breached by the GOP energy plan, and prices are escalating. I think it is actually a good thing that prices are raising too, because economic impacts are the only thing that get good research, and innovation moving.

weekend log

Spent Saturday puttering about town with the kids. Sunday we took a road trip to COSI Columbus. That place is amazing!!

got books?

I took the kids over to the new South Branch Library today. It is absolutely gorgeous and uplifting. The photo on the site does not do it justice.



As you can see, the outside is modern, relatively, considering the rest of Toledo. It comes close to being deconstructionist because of the odd angles, overhangs, and crevices. Inside, you are greeted by a wide screen TV and some great seating. The central area has very high ceilings and lots of natural light. The children's section is nice, though not huge. The saltwater aquarium is beautiful, measuring 6 ft wide by 4 ft tall, it is alive with so many different creatures. A librarian stopped by to point out 'Bob the builder', a fish who scoops up rocks with his mouth and built himself a little cave. Then he peers outside in a constant state of paranoia. I've noticed a few people on my street with that same behavior...

Toledo Steam Plant

There has a been much 'spirited debate' all of a sudden on the old steam plant by the river. I've followed this story on and off over the years because I work downtown and like walking the downtown riverfront. Here is a partial timeline of some articles I queried from the blade. As you can see, many ideas have come and gone for this property, and the debate always seems to heat up in the summer time for some reason.

Personally, I still like the idea of an Aquarium...it would fit really nicely with Cosi and could coordinate with the Zoo. By stacking up these downtown venues (stadium, cosi, valentine, farmers market, night clubs, etc) you really create synergy and a destination.

Toledo Steam Plant Articles

June 13, 2003
June 28, 2003
July 17, 2003
August 20, 2004
August 21, 2004
April 13, 2005

A good day for artificial intelligence?

A randomly generated research paper was accepted for a scientific conference. Why is this story not surprising? I think I've read books composed with this program! Strangely enough, you probably would learn a thing or two by reading the paper; plenty of new definitions of words that you must look up in a technical dictionary.

I've felt a disturbance in the force...

Bye bye childhood friends, hello cash.

a very sad situation

Three Palestinian teens were shot to death by the Israeli border patrol today...this is going to hurt. Both sides have different accounts of the incident (what's new). The Palestinians say they were chasing a soccer ball and the Israelis say they were smugglers. My question is, why do you shoot to kill 3 individuals suspected of smuggling instead of trying to question or capture them? Especially when there is a very fragile cease fire in place.

I saw a documentary on Gaza Strip a while back and it broke my heart. Neither side is innocent and it is a very complex situation. However, to see generation after generation of children being raised in extreme violent, hostile conditions is a true tragedy. To see children conditioned and programmed throughout their childhood to hate the other side will ensure the continued conflict for many years to come.

Its amazing to me how soo much physical conflict can be rooted in opposing religions. Its an odd way to win new converts.

Orlando here I come

Seeing how I'm the closest thing to a MS fanboy at Pilkington, they are sending me to TechEd '05 down in Orlando. Oooh that should be NICE.

nlogger update

I'm working on a side project called nlogger (Windows logger). Its a capacity planning tool. I've learned a fair amount about perfmon logging behavior. Here are some shots of charts I'm generating with a free chart control I pulled off the code project. I'm trying to run this similar to MRTG, showing 24 hours, 28 days, and 24 months. Right now the statistics are rolling, but I may eventually make it so you can look at any period.



The gap between 6 and 21 is because I don't have a full 28 days of data yet. You might ask, what is wrong with the stock perfmon reports? My nlogger is making the info very digestible and practical.

Visual Studio Tweak

My Visual Studio .NET 2003 has been dog slow to load for the last few days. I've tried things like getting rid of the startup page, limiting the MRU list to 1, shutting off dynamic help, etc. After loading VSTweak 1.0 I was able to easily wipe out the entire MRU history. Even though it only had one listed in the File list, there were a bunch hidden in the registry. After completely wiping out the recently used solution/project lists, VS starts like a rocket, esp with all that other 'stuff' turned off! Obviously some old project path was timing out every time I launched VS.

Car washes double as lawn ornament prisons!

Erie PA is very conscious when it comes to crime. These small prisons peppered about the city, co-located with car washes, is an ingenious way to cut costs and also get the message out to garden gnome youths to shape up their act.





I took this pics a few weeks ago and finally got around to posting them. LMAO every time we visit Megan's folks.