Old Hammer Vac
by Eric Fox on Monday, January 30, 2012So I found this image on Digg and wanted to share it here, but also wanted to give proper acknowledgement to it’s author, presumably on Flickr. The problem is, whoever posted it to Digg, posted a link to the actual image, not to the Flickr page where they found it.
I have wasted more than an hour trying to locate it on the Flickr site, but none of the expected search terms seem to have located it. If you know, or are, the author, let me know. I’d like to give you proper credit and send the link to the proper page.
Energy Efficient Window Damages Car with Sunlight
by Eric Fox on Saturday, January 28, 2012
A woman in Studio City, California, bought a Toyota Prius, but noticed within days that the plastic on her mirrors was melting.
“The side view mirrors were melting. Anything that was plastic on the car was melting.”
Toyota confirmed that nothing was wrong with the plastic, and after she replaced the mirrors, she noticed the same type of damage on the car parked in an adjacent space.
Apparently an energy efficient window in a neighboring building was concentrating reflected sunlight onto the parking spaces of both cars. Energy efficient windows allow visible light to pass through them, but reflect infrared light — CBS, Los Angeles, put a thermometer in the beam of reflected light and the temperature quickly rose to 120° (F), on an overcast day.
But, for me, the most troubling part of the story is that CBS says that they checked with the Los Angeles City Department of Building and Safety, “Even if the window is the culprit, there are no code violations here because it’s not against the law to own a window that reflects the sun” and insinuates that there is nothing that can be done about it.
I find this difficult to believe. Regardless of the legality of owning such a window, it is still against the law to cause damage to other people’s property. It might end up being a civil matter against the owners of the window, or perhaps a small claims issue, but I would think there are options available.
Link: CBS LOS ANGELES – Woman Claims Neighbor’s Energy Efficient Windows Are Melting Her Toyota Prius (w/video)
A Bit of Geekyness
I know this is all just a bunch of geeky fun, but I had to share. During my regular day-to-day duties, I provide technical support services for a number of folks. Sometimes when they call, it’s an issue that has to be handled immediately. Such as these, today. I was away from my desk and…Read More »
The Bark Side of the Force
If I have to explain it to you … well, you get the point.
SOPA/PIPA Strike Over?
The Jan 18th SOPA & PIPA strike is over and sites are coming back online. But, I found it to be an interesting experience. About half of the websites I use regularly, perhaps more, were blacked out for the bulk of the day. Of those that weren’t unavailable, they still had blacked out or censored…Read More »
On Strike against SOPA & PIPA
Not much of a post, tonight. Nobody can read it anyway, as I’ve temporarily shut down the site in protest against SOPA & PIPA legislation.
Young Blood as Cure for Aging?
Scientists at the University of Cambridge have recently discovered that blood from younger mice can help cure, or remove, the damage caused by multiple sclerosis and other diseases and age related issues. This is apparently accomplished, partially, because the younger blood cleans out pathogens and debris that builds up over time. I am probably way…Read More »
By any other name …
This is one of Angela’s mini-roses, in a planter on our back porch. Looks like I made it just barely over a week before crapping out on making daily posts. So in order to make amends to myself, I’m tacking these missing three days on to the end of my month — until February 4th. …Read More »
Non-posting
I was going to find something interesting or insightful to write about tonight, but I’m very tired. So rather torture myself, or you when you attempt to read the results, I’ll just drop this non-post here and work on something better in the morning. Does this mean I owe two postings for tomorrow?
Somebody That I Used to Know
For your enjoyment: Somebody That I Used to Know by Walk off the Earth
Virtual “Cloud Ceiling” Improves Performance of Office Workers
German researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering IAO in Stuttgart, claim that the human mind is geared to work best under an open sky, with passing clouds and varying illumination, that the constant glare of office lighting is sub-optimal. So they have come up with a “Virtual Sky” ceiling as a solution. The…Read More »
2012: Year of the Dragon
I just learned that 2012 is a Year of the Dragon. I find this personnally significant since I was born as a “Dragon.” Hmmm … does this mean I could acquire super-powers this year?
Exoskeletons!
This is pretty cool, the company Ekso Bionics, is preparing to begin releasing a new exoskeleton product in mid-2012 for people currently using wheel-chairs. http://m.spectrum.ieee.org/biomedical/bionics/goodbye-wheelchair-hello-exoskeleton
Both ends of the Candle
I stayed up way too late last night, then was up again at 4am this morning to watch the Quadrantid meteor shower. It wasn’t as much fun as I was hoping for. We stood outside watching the NNE sky for a bit more than a half-hour and saw less than a handfull of meteors. So…Read More »
Look for Meteors Early Tomorrow Morning
Early tomorrow morning, the northern sky should light up from the Quadrantid meteor shower. The best time to see this show will be between 3am (after the moon sets) until dawn. The meteors will probably appear low on the horizon, so you’ll want to find a vantage point without obstructions in the lower sky to…Read More »
Where will YOU be when the world ends?
The last day of the Mayan Long Count calendar is December 21, 2012. Some folks believe this marks the Mayan’s prediction of an apocalyptic end of the world and are preparing for the worst (who hasn’t seen the movie 2012, yet?), while others are planning travel, holidays, and vacations around this date in order to…Read More »
Posting Experiment
If you’ve looked over my blog, you’ve probably noted that the one thing that stands out, above everything else, is that I very rarely post anything. I’d like to change that and post more often. Experts say that if you follow through with something for 21-28 consecutive days, it will become a habit. So my…Read More »
Twitter Weekly Updates for 12/30/2011
From our gargoyle, to yours: http://t.co/kH6JdS7U ->
Twitter Weekly Updates for 09/23/2011
A Night View of the Earth from the ISS http://t.co/6bT6WuCW ->