http://roderickmann.org/log/ Plus: occasional raves, and hopefully, some useful info]]> en-us rmann@latencyzero.com Wed, 06 Aug 2008 11:48:37 -0800 http://roderickmann.org/log/archives/2008/08/economy_gauges.html In typical fashion, republicans attack good ideas, even ones they have no legitimate basis for discrediting. Just to make the other guy look bad. In this case, I'm referring to the McCain camp's response to Barack Obama's suggestion that Americans... http://roderickmann.org/log/archives/2008/08/finished_sortof.html Here are some photos of the newly-assembled and installed workbench. I've temporarily placed a plastic drop cloth over the top, so that I can work on the messy carbs without damaging the surface. I'll probably add trim and a top... http://roderickmann.org/log/archives/2008/08/new_garage_work.html Not sure if I'm just procrastinating, but as I was working on the eBike's carbs this week, I realized I really needed a workbench in the garage. I'd been planning to put one in, something that went along part of... http://roderickmann.org/log/archives/2008/07/pge_claims_nucl.html In my most recent PG&E energy bill, there’s a little insert labeled “Power Content Label.” It breaks down PG&E’s power mix by type, with 22% of the power coming from nuclear sources. On the pie chart, that wedge is green,... http://roderickmann.org/log/archives/2008/07/comcast_block_p.html I moved into a new house, got a new Comcast account for my internet & cable, and not four weeks later, they had blocked port 25, for exactly the same reasons they did it before. I called the number again,... http://roderickmann.org/log/archives/2008/07/grocery_store_p.html I went grocery shopping today at the Safeway in Milpitas, CA. I noticed a disturbing trend: product packages are getting smaller. My first thought was that they’re trying to keep the sticker shock down in this era of rising prices... http://roderickmann.org/log/archives/2008/07/jupiter.html I managed to take this photo of Jupiter by holding my Sony DSC-T1 digicam up to the eyepiece of my Telescope. Not bad, if I do say so myself (and in comparison to my past attempts!). If you look very... http://roderickmann.org/log/archives/2008/07/california_high.html I got spam from California High Speed Trains identifying me as a business leader (clearly I’m on a mailing list somewhere). The information on the website is sketchy. It’s really just trying to convince visitors that high-speed rail is a... http://roderickmann.org/log/archives/2008/07/mostly_success.html Earlier I discovered a post on Gizmodo telling me how to download the 2.0 release and manually install it. After a harrowing 30 minutes while I feared I was going to lose my photos and notes, and another 15 minutes... http://roderickmann.org/log/archives/2008/07/electric_motorc.html I’ve decided to convert my old motorcycle to electric. This involves ripping out all the gas-related parts, and putting in an electric motor, batteries, and associated control electronics to make it all work. I’ve started a new blog for the... http://roderickmann.org/log/archives/2008/06/the_cure_for_me.html Follow these steps (even if you seen some of this before): Watch the wonderful Discovery TV Commercial. Read XKCD (and read its whole archive). Watch this: Watch this: Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo. Not... http://roderickmann.org/log/archives/2008/06/will_smith_is_a.html I can't believe it. Another actor I enjoy watching has stepped off the deep end of some nutjob crackpot religion. Will Smith joins Tom Cruise and Mel Gibson in this sad trend. I was going to go see Hancock, now... http://roderickmann.org/log/archives/2008/05/im_a_homeowner.html Where "homeowner" is synonymous with "massive debtor." Oh well. I got my keys today. Get a dryer tomorrow, and a fridge on Monday (as well as moving in on Monday!). Busy weekend this will be…... http://roderickmann.org/log/archives/2008/05/congratulations_1.html A couple hours ago, the Mars lander "Phoenix" landed successfully in the arctic region of Mars. They just got back the first images, and it looks like the solar panels deployed successfully, and that everything is in great shape. See... http://roderickmann.org/log/archives/2008/04/comcast_is_arbi.html I woke up this morning to find that Comcast had blocked outgoing connections on port 25 (SMTP). Their online information suggests changing to port 587, but this assumes one is using Comcast's SMTP server, which I am not (I run...