Saturday 14th, 2007.

What a blast this day has been.  Started out slow, had to get a bolt out of the bike that I broke and it was miraculously quite loose.  After that I went to Qualcomm Stadium where there was a motorcycle event, and 1/8 mile drag racing!  Woot!  Drag Racing!  I had to do that of course.  As Shane said, yes I was disapointed that I couldn't participate in the burnout competition, but I wouldn't had won anyway.  I think Shane's was much better than the Harley.  The only thing cool about the harley was it made a huge smoke cloud.  Shane actually did something. 

Thanks to Vaughn I got another F2 rear rim and tire.  It was an older tire that was too big for the rim for comfortable cornering so I decided, what better than to destroy it at the drag strip?!  So I did.

I became Eric "hates his tire" Drescher - that's what the announcer said.  Shane and Rowdy also were called upon a few times to come and race.  It was a good time, I enjoyed it.  There's something exhilarating about straight line acceleration head to head competition that's just plain old fun.

After doing multiple, excessively long burnouts I decided to call it a night.

Keep it legal, race legal!

I've returned from Marana and had a blast.  The wedding reception was awesome and I loved the area/landscape/stars.  On Sunday I began my day by waking up at 0600 and hunting for coyotes with Mike, then had breakfast with his family family at 0900, then went to tucson, got some biodiesel for cheep, only 2.99 (that's cheep since regular D2 costs 2.89 in SD) and then went to hooters, they carded mike and it took three dumbasses to figure out that he was four months short of 21.  Left that dump, went to a mexican restaurant and had frozen margaritas then to another place where we had two rounds bought for us and then left for the Ranch.  Later on Mike and Ashley renewed thier vows and we proceded to have a fun time at thier reception.  I think of all the times I've drank, that was the most over the course of one day.  I enjoyed it there a lot, and would visit again. 

Dear friends,
lately I have been distant, quiet and in my own little world.  I have meant to talk to many people, but have been caught up doing countless other distracting things.  The computer is seriously breaking me down.  It has a lot to do with my rearded male self-pride that I am trying to protect.  I built my desktop, and now I can't fix it.  Kinda like when I wasn't strong enough to hold (due to the surgery) the bike when leaning the first day I took it out and Kristin helped me pick it up.  I didn't ask her, and as much as I needed the help, deep down inside I didn't want the help.

Anyone is welcome to stop in, don't take my quietness as lack of caring.

COMPUTER STUFF
I don't expect many to know what to do, but never hurts to ask.  My computer I build Fall 2004 suddenly last week wouldn't boot.  A boot procedure file was missing.  So my plan was to wipe clean my hard disk and then reinstall windows.  Easier said than done.  I put my SATA (serial ATA) in kristin's dell, and backed up documents and formated my primary partition.  Replaced the hd in my tower and my computer doesn't load cd's from the bios instruction, so I had to go out and buy a floppy drive from fry's.  Okay, download and make the windows xp install 6 floppy disk set.  That works, and I get all the way through the preliminary XP install when it comes to the point where it CANNOT locate my fucking hard drive!!!  WHAT THE FUCK!!!  I swear my blood pressure has risen and i've never been this irritated before in my life.  Mainly because I built this computer myself and installed windows once before, and now I am completely stuck.  I dont know what else to do!  Anyone else out there know or have an idea?

My setup:

MOBO:  SOYO VIA KT600 Dragon Plus 2.0 (233/300/400mhz)
AMD Athlon 3000+ Barton Core (400mhz fsb)
RAM: 1GB DDR 3200 (400mhz)
HD: Seagate 300GB SATA I onboard header
AGP x8 ATI Radeon 9800+XT
ThermalTake Volcano 11 processor cooler
Zalman passive North Bridge Heat Sink

when the beast is running it's awesome, nothing amazing but it defintily can hold it's weight with the newest of computers.

Only thing is right now im considering dynamite versus windows.

HELP PLEASE, im willing to pay im so damn desperate but I really dont want to take it in because that would insult my ability and I would damage my own self-pride.

Here's Kristin and my first attempt to truely become more energy wise and reduce the amount of carbon dioxide released into the environment.

If you live out here in San Diego, and haven't been to Pearson Ford Fuels directly off the 15 and El Cajon Blvd going east on the south side of the road.  They sell
Gasoline
Diesel #2
Biodiesel
Natural Gas
Propane and even
E85 Ethanol

You might call me crazy for bying diesel at 3.46/gal when I can buy #2 at 2.94 a gallon.  Well okay I loose a hundred dollars a year.  At least I can say that I am doing my part to increase the use of biodiesel and I actually practice what I preach.  If you know me I am a big time advocate of conserving energy.  Fluorescent lights, fuel efficient vehicles and other stuff.  I've read books on alternative energy and I always talk about it.  Now, I can say that I am an active solution to the problem.

I hope that someday our vehicles will either run on one of three:
1.) B100
2.) E85
3.) Electricity

For my friends that don't know what's so great about these three energy sources here it is.

1.) B100 is a "natural" diesel fuel, hence the "bio."  It is produced by the oils of crops such as rapeseed, which is comonly used for canola oil.  Many sources of oil can be transesterized, or converted into Biodiesel by means of a few nasty chemicals such as LYE.  It takes about 2.7 acres to take the place of a barrel.  This would help our many struggling farmers to reclaim thier place in our economy and they could actually produce "cash crops."  Biodiesel can also be made from waste vegetable oil, such as all the deep fryers found in our greasy USA.

2.)  E85 is a process of turning sugars and various other stuff into alcohols, or ethanol.  Adding 15 percent gasoline you make E85.

3.)  Electricity - yes our friend electricity is actually quite efficient, when you put it in the large scheme of energy.  A high quantity of energy is produced in a central location and "piped" to you in the form of electrons.  Due to the high central production the level of efficiency is very high, in comparison to taking the energy created by a hundred cars.  The internal combustion engine is relatively inefficient, the diesel is more efficient but still nothing that of a 200 megawatt powerplant.  When you plug in your electric car and charge it at night, and drive away the next day, you still use fossil fuels (coal) but it is with much greater effiency.

If anyone ever wants to discuss this stuff, or has questions I would love to talk about it.  If I dont know an answer, I will find out for you.

Here's some awesome links:

Tesla Automobile - first true electric sports car!
http://www.teslamotors.com/index.php?js_enabled=0

Biodiesel from wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biodiesel

E85 from wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E85

I meant more diesel stories...  hahahahaha

When Buick released the 350 c.i. motor that ran on diesel, it was so hooooribly designed.  The motors failed after 60,000 miles, and that was if you were lucky.  They were so horrible that it pretty much plauged the diesel market and caused most americans to believe that diesels were unreliable and downright useless. 

Many people have regarded that motor to have caused a 20 year setback of american diesel progress.  Diesels are actually built extreemly durable, as they need to be to withstand the high compression (twice on average of a regular gasser) and they are much more efficient.  You know those older looking semi's on the road? Yeah, i bet if you aksed a trucker how many miles they have on thier rig, they'd say over a million, if not two or three or even ten.  AND, i bet that they're on thier original engine, probably a minor, or even a major overhaul, but still, original engine?!  Damn.  Even trucks just ten yearas old. 

They are simpler too.  Yes, they have an extreemly high pressure fuel pump that is touch to poor quality diesel, but they have (few) very simplistic electronics, most are solid state(no moving parts and made of semi-conductors such as silicon or germanium), magnetic-field sensors.  Ignition?  What's that.  The fuel is injected into the combustion chamber and the high pressure heats the fuel to an un-godly temperature that results in an explosion.  No spark plugs, coil, rotor or CDI, and all that shit. 

The only downside is you have a slightly louder motor at idle, and others...  The newest motors are even quieter than previous.  The possibilities are endless, and finally there is a drive for the market.  Fuel efficiency being number one, house-hauling-off-the-foundation power is cool to have too!!

Don't confuse horsepower and torque for being the same.  If you don't know, i would suggest learning the difference because it's big.

HP makes you win the drag race.
TQ makes you win the drag race with a camper in tow, uphill. 

What other motor besides an electric has such an amazing torque/horsepower graph?  The torque comes at super-low RPM's and usually stays nearly constant until redline, and horsepower is much higher in low cruising rpm's versus gasoline.

That causes much easier crusing, and hills become a simple chore of, well... doing nothing actually.  Most diesel motors scoff at hills, as the motor is pushing such a high torque it doesn't affect the motor, barely.

If you have the ability to get a fuel effient diesel, i'd say weigh the options.  You may be pleasantly suprised to find which vehicle is cheaper to own, and that you may enjoy driving the other much more too.

Just make sure the previous owner wasn't a dipshitt and didn't properly maintain the vehicle.  That's key.

My comments:

Americans will never understand what conserving energy is or reducing waste. It is impossible because americans are lazy and have it instilled in them. Most believe those who actually care are tree hugging losers. Well, soon we're gonna realize how shitty our earth has become since we've damaged it so severely.

The fuel of tomorrow is:

1.) BIODIESEL
2.) ETHANOL - or E85 - Burned in any Flex-fuel vehicle

Biodiesel requires aproximately 2.7 acres of rapeseed to equate to one barrel of oil. It is burned in any diesel, fuel oil furnace and soon will possibly be burned in converted jets and any other engine of that nature besides the weaker gasoline engine.

E85 is derived from many sorts, mainly sugars but new technologies will allow ethanol to be derived from waste products of corn like the husks, cobb and such sort. It has a lower BTU output and is still required to have 15 percent gasoline. BUT BETTER THAN NOTHING!!!

on to the main topic:


By Marty Bernstein

AIADA Contributing Editor

 

American's look to Europe for many things – wine, food, fashion and, of course, automobiles – to name just a few. But one European automotive tradition has not made the journey to our shores: diesel engines for passenger vehicles.

 

Big, smoke belching 18 wheelers and heavy duty trucks? Yes. Cars? No! At least not yet, but wait … there's more, much more automotive retailers need to know about what their showrooms will sell and their service areas will repair and service in the near future. 

 

Diesel cars have not sold especially well in the U.S., except to the very, very environmentally concerned. R.L. Polk, a leading data compiler has noted sales of diesel vehicles are up some 40 percent to 543,777 units, but that only amounts to 3.4 percent of all cars sold in America. J.D. Powers and Associates is predicting diesel sales may triple to 10 percent by 2015.

 

There is a persistent disease in the U.S., known to the automotive psychological experts as "diesel knowledge deficiency." It is a disease, which I hope to argue has severely disenfranchised the American consumer of high quality and ultra performance automobiles.

 

So, what's the big deal about diesels? 

 

Perhaps surprisingly to some, diesel engines, while invented and patented in 1892 by Rudolf Diesel, were not used in passenger vehicles until 1936 when Mercedes-Benz introduced the 260D, the world's first production diesel car. Until then, diesel engines – which were big, bulky and difficult to start in cold weather – were used in heavy trucks, steamships, freighters and similar equipment.

 

After the war, technological improvements and innovations were added to the diesel by Mercedes and in the 1970's large volume production of diesel-powered passenger cars commenced. Today, more than 50 percent of all vehicles sold in Europe are diesel-powered. Over half! In the U.S, just 3.4 percent.

 

Basic question: what makes a diesel different from the engine under the hood of most cars and light trucks in the America today?

 

Without resorting to a lot of tech-talk or a lengthy and possibly boring statement, it will suffice to say the diesel gets power faster without an electric sparkplug – it uses compression to ignite the fuel – and, thus, does not require a fuel with a high ignite or combustion factor. Admittedly, that is over-simplification, but when reviewed by a Mercedes-Benz person I was reassured, "That is accurate." In fact, diesel engines are so flexible they can run on vegetable oil. If you don't believe me, check out this video featuring movie diva Daryl Hannah who only drives biodiesel. For those who want a more comprehensive and understandable explanation and demonstration visit www.howthingswork.com or click here for a complete demonstration of how diesel engines work.

 

Generally, diesel engines are more effective, efficient, economical and, eventually, environmentally acceptable than the more familiar internal combustion engine. They get 20 to 30 percent better fuel economy, which results in roughly a 20 to 30 percent reduction in the emissions of carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (C02) and hydrocarbon gases.

 

Why all the news, information and conversation about diesels now?

 

Many factors, facts and fallacies have contributed to diesel news: among them –the global warming phenomenon; state emissions controls and regulations; the soaring cost of oil per barrel and, subsequently, gas per gallon; lingering perceptions of diesel engines; more vehicles on the road; the depletion of natural resources; governmental action or inaction; court cases, including the U.S. Supreme Court case that opened this week, and Al Gore's notwithstanding environmental concern.

 

In the U.S., stringent new regulations concerning the sulfur emissions – cleaner burning – from diesels in heavy trucks (when you're behind an 18 wheeler with a heavy load at a stop light, a gas mask is a welcome accessory) resulted in a drastically lower sulfur composition in the formulization. These big trucks may be a reason why many equate the technology with older cars and light trucks powered by diesel engines – noisy, smelly, etc. Another factor has been the limited availability of diesel fuel at service stations. But this is also about to change.



Last month, 45,000 service stations in 45 states began selling the "new and improved, ultra low sulfur" diesel fuel in response to the government's request for lower exhaust gas emissions. Not all stations have the new fuel and it will be "sometime" before the new fuel replaces the old, according to one source I spoke with.

 

The national average price of the new diesel fuel as this article is being written, according to the Energy Information Administration, stands at $2.567 per gallon compared to regular gasoline, which averages $2.246 per gallon. In 2009 – just three short years away – an even tougher, tighter fuel composition regulation will be instituted.

 

Additionally and significantly, this new diesel fuel formula has resulted in significant re-engineering for "cleaner" diesel engine-equipped cars destined to be sold in this country. Brands including VW and Volvo that sold diesel-equipped cars have stopped selling in the U.S., but perhaps not for long.

 

According to various sources on both sides of the Atlantic, every car manufacturer in the U.S. and Europe has been upgrading, improving and literally re-inventing cleaner diesel engines to comply with new government regulations on emissions and diesel fuel composition. They are considering the technology a viable alternative to traditional gas engines.

 

While Pacific Rim nations are not yet as stringent in national emission controls, car manufactures in Asia are also hard at work on new diesel-equipped vehicles since many produce for the U.S. market or eventually hope to do so. In nations with economies – namely, Brazil, Russia, India and China – a few steps have already been taken regarding emissions, but nothing is yet significant and auto production has not become a growing economic-industry factor... yet.

 

Who is leading the industry in diesel innovations and technology?

 

Mercedes-Benz, the first car manufacturer to produce a diesel-equipped passenger car over 70 years ago, is still the highly motivated leader in diesel inventions, innovations, and improvements.

 

The result of the company's significant investments in time, people and resources appeared earlier this year at the North American International Automobile Show with the introduction of the BLUETEC diesel line. To borrow a phrase, "these are not your father's diesels!"

 

A media release stated, "Mercedes-Benz is the pioneer of a new generation of clean and powerful high-tech vehicle s with highly effective exhaust gas treatment systems that give them the potential to fulfill the most stringent emission limits in the future." And they are turbo powered too. 

 

A few weeks ago Mercedes-Benz revealed the new passenger it was bring to America that are equipped with the new Bluetec diesel engines. The company has sold millions trucks in Europe equipped with the new engines, so they are tried and true.



Last month, Mercedes-Benz unveiled its new E320 Bluetec sedan. It accelerates from 0 to 60 in just 6.6 seconds thanks to 400 pounds of torque and earns a significant 37 mpg highway/26mpg city. The E series will be joined by four other new-Bluetech diesel-powered vehicles next year as well.

 

The new 2007 models are not just fully compliant with new regulations, they set the benchmark for diesel engine technology that others will most definitely strive to emulate.

 

On the eve of the Los Angeles Motor Show DaimlerChrysler, Audi and Volkswagen announced that they intend to establish the BLUETEC brand name as the designation for particularly clean, highly fuel-efficient passenger cars and SUVs with diesel engines. Under the shared concept of BLUETEC, each of the manufacturers involved will be working on their own technical systems for meeting the world's most stringent emission regulations.

 

Audi's Winning ways

 

NASCAR rules in the U.S., but elsewhere in the world open-wheel racing is the favorite and is gaining fans in America too. This year, Audi shook the motorsports world to its high-tech-core with a record shattering 650 horsepower V12 TDI diesel-powered race car.

 

The diesel-powered R10 TDI race car won every major race it entered – the legendary 24 hours at Le Mans, 12 Hours of Sebring and the American endurance called Petit Le Mans Series – for a total of seven victories in a debut season. Along the way it was named Race Engine of the Year 2006, Alternative Race Engine of the Year, clinched the Manufacturers' Championship and also won the Drivers' and Teams' titles.

 

At an exclusive event at the LA Auto Show, Audi revealed plans to introduce its diesel-powered vehicles in America. An Audi spokesperson informed me, "We will import diesel cars to the U.S. in 2008, but exactly when is to be determined." Currently, Audi sells roughly 50 percent of its cars in Europe with diesel engines.



Recently, Audi premiered a world first twelve-cylinder diesel engine in a passenger car, the Q7. It is a six-liter, V12 generating, 500 horsepower and 738 ft-lbs of torque beast that is reminiscent of the engine featured in the winning Audi race car. Fast? 0 to 62 in 5.5 seconds with an electronically governed top end of 155 mph. Wow! Too bad it won't be sold here … yet.

 

Honda's on the Diesel-powered Bandwagon

 

John Mendel, senior vice president for American Honda Motor, noted confidence this summer when he said, "Our diesel technology will achieve our goal of crating new value in the market. Some have suggested this will be as important a breakthrough as the Civic CVCC was in being the first to meet the U.S. Clean Air Act in the early 1970's."

 

Mendel's comments were followed late September by a release from Honda headquarters in Tochigi, Japan announcing the development of a "next-generation" diesel engine that reduces exhaust gas emissions to a level equal to a gasoline engine. The new engine uses a catalytic converter that enables a reduction in emissions sufficient to meet EPA requirements. The new diesel will be introduced within three years. 

          

Toyota Is Not Resting On Its Laurels

 

As it turns out, Toyota is not merely focusing on hybrids. The company's acquisition of 5.6 percent of Isuzu earlier this month for $375 million will give the auto giant access to more than 800 experienced diesel engineers at Isuzu and Toyota President Katsuaki Watanabe has said he anticipates "the growth of diesel engines going forward."

 

According to the auto blogosphere, Toyota has another ace up its sleeve. A Land Cruiser model with a powerful diesel V8 that has been seen testing in Europe, reportedly with a 4.5 liter engine, generates with twin turbo-chargers 268 hg and 470 ft-lbs of torque. Could this be a power plant for the new Tundra trucks coming out of the new San Antonio, Texas plant?

 

That's a question I intend to ask next week at the reveal of the new Tundra. Stay tuned.

 

BMW Tells All About Their Diesel Plans

 

BMW too announced plans to bring diesels to the U.S. in late 2008. The German automaker has developed an enhanced concept for minimum exhaust gas emissions for this engine, which will meet the strict emissions standards in effect in California and other states. As a result, BMW will be able to simultaneously introduce these new cleaner Advanced Diesels as so-called 50 States (Bin5) models.

 

What's Up In Detroit?

 

GM has been quiet about plans for its diesel engines, but announcements should be made soon. You can bet the Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep brands will be among the first to establish a foothold with technology from its European divisions. And Ford has recently announced the development of a new regulation-compliant diesel engine.

 

Diesels bottom line?

 

Like the old movie title, The Diesels Are Coming. So, get ready. After years of literally ignoring diesel-powered vehicles, Americans will soon see more and more diesel cars and subsequently have the opportunity of benefiting from them.

 

The investment of countless millions of dollars, euros and yen from auto manufacturers throughout the world has resulted in a new generation of improved diesel engines … they're stealth-like silent, efficient, environmentally equitable, and, of course, meet all the new government regulations.

 

America meets and greets Europe. 

---->>An Inconvenient Truth - If you do one thing this year, click on this!!!<---

It seems these days all people do is bitch and try to make it out that thier life is worse than someone else's.  Well im not here to do that.  But before I get to the nitty gritty, my leg is broken, my wife is back in wisconsin and it'll be a total of two months before I see her again.  It's like bootcamp again.  Don't get me started on the lack of sex.  And walking?  Fuck i've spent more time not walking than walking this year.  I want my good health, good fortune and my fucking wife by my side!!!  So for all you out there that bitch, it could be worse.  Right?  Now fucking smile!

Now that I have that out of my system...  please proceed!

So here I am blogging.  What the hell is this?  Does anyone read it?  Does it have any place in this stupid existence we call life?  If you read this, leave me a comment so I know that you were here and actually read my gibberish, and if you agree or think i'm off my rocker.

So here it goes:

Incase you dont know me enough, I am a proud suporter of environmentally sound descisions, such as conserving, reusing, reducing and such sort.  I've been doing this since I was young, instilled by my mother and father, and always have faced opposition from those who do not grasp the importance or pride in not being a typical wasteful, loathing human, with no concern for the earth in which he/she is a guest upon.

"Great spirits have often encountered violent opposition from weak minds." (Albert Einstein)

Yes I said guest.  As Chief Seattle once said, "This we know - the Earth does not belong to man - man belongs to the Earth." as said in 1854 during a speech about the sanctity of the land and the need for careful stewardship of it.

Taking care of the land was discused a century and a half ago, yet nobody ever took hold of what was said, or else nobody cared.  I think what happened is money happened.  Corruption was a result of money greedy businessmen that capitalized by exploiting whatever was in demand at the time.  Oil is a joke, along with every other fuel we consume today.

Decades ago we had the technology to reduce our dependence on oil, especially foreign oil, but that would reduce oil companies profit.  You know multi-billion profits is not enough.  We're talking a billions a quarter, when we're others are unable to fill thier gas tanks, the suits are making sure thier vacation homes pool water is 80 degrees with money that could be used to keep a family's child warm and clothed.

So what have I done to help?  Not that much, but it's a start, and if everyone I knew also made a conscious effort to participate that would make a difference.  AND word of mouth is the best way to convince anyone to do something.  Peer pressure?  We've learned about it since we were kids...  If you are going to compare products and someone say's they love product B, and you're unsure, you'll probably pick product B just knowing that random person said it's nice.

So that makes sense right?

What can you do that I do? 
1.)  TURN OFF LIGHTS!!!!
       -There are so many people i've met in my travels on the road called life that have no concern if they leave a light on all day and night.  Wow!  I just am amazed, my father always told me to turn of a light unless i'd be back in a minute.  Yes, it was more for saving energy which equates to money.  When you leave the house in the morning, do you leave a light on?  If so, why?  Furthermore, if you said no, can it be changed to a compact fluorescent to conserve money?  Once again, why does it need to stay on?

2.)  Use mother nature to her advantage.  Use the weather to cool you, not the AC.  If it's cold out, be sure to have the blinds open on a south facing window to allow sunlight to passivly heat your room.  At night be sure to close the blinds once the sun has went down, as that heat will go straight out.  If it's heat you're trying to battle, use cross-winds and thermal convection to your advantage.  With two story houses, open a window upstairs and a window on the other side of the first floor or even better the basement.  That will create a draft within the house entering fresh cool air and exhausting hot stale air.

3.) Combine trips.  I cant stress that enough.  If you don't need to go all the way to town right this moment wait. (can you tell i'm from a rural home town?  I said "go to town" where as san diego's far from town.)  See if someone like a friend needs to go with you.  Or just wait till later in the week when you know you'll need to go for something else anyway.  Just plan things out better.  It will save you money.

4.)  Purchase energy efficient appliances.  Energy star is a good thing, but usually the cheep appliances aren't very energy efficient.  When you're at the store looking at a refridgerator, don't just look at if it crushes and pulverizes the ice, look to see where it rates with the other units on energy efficiency.  A $100 more expensive refridgerator may pay itself off in less than a year, since your refridgerator is usually 10% or more of your electric bill.  Go figure.  It never stops.

5.)  Use fluorescent or compact fluorescent (CF) lights whenever possible.  If you're good at math, or have a sick number crunching mind like mine, you can figure out in a few seconds how long it would take to pay off a 4 dollar bulb over the course of it's life.  Most people dont realize that they will end up having the bulb paid off by the money savings on thier electric bill, plus they last 10 times longer than an incandescent, and reduce the amount of heat transmitted into the room.  That is very nice when you have a cooling load.  Less than 10% of the electricity going through a incandescent light is used for visible light, the rest is all waste - heat.

Example:  I insisted my parents replace the two 40watt bulbs in the living room table lamp with fluorescent bulbs in probably 2001.  They complied with my demands (i swear getting people to purchase a fluorescent sometimes is like hostage negotiation) and we came home with two CF 11w bulbs.  To this day they still work and after warming up for 30 - 60 seconds they are at full brightness and illuminating at a nice soft glow.  After a week or two you begin to say, "hey, you can't even tell that it's a CF or an incandescent."  There are so many different styles these day's of CF from candleabra, spot, flood, compact spot, low light i.e. 3w ranging up to 65w, which is equivalent to a 250w incandescent.  That's a lot of light!  Replace old T12 4' Fluorescent lights with newer, more efficient, electronic ballast, low-mercury bulb, T-8 fluorescent bulbs.

6.)  Make sure you have a programable thermostat, and that it's set properly.  No need to keep the house at 70 degrees in the winter during the day.  In Wisconsin, the house was 69 degrees from 3PM - 10pm, 64 deg 10pm - 4:30am, 68 deg 4:30am - 6am, 62 deg 6am - 3pm.  Not bad.  Saved a lot more money than an old school honeywell mercury vial round dial thermostat.  Have a professional come, get rid of that thing, and make sure they dispose of the mercury properly.  While they're there have them check the furnace for proper combustion and ensure there's proper flame on the burner raceway and that there's no indication of a cracked heat exchanger.  Then have the A/C unit checked prior to cooling season.  Most people don't realize it but you should have your HVAC system inspected yearly.  If you don't have the money, then at least get it done every other year.  Your flames should be blueish, indicating a hot, efficient burning of the propane/natural gas, if not get your unit serviced.  If you own a boiler unit and don't know how to do any maintenance, you better get a reputable, knowledgable, and good HVAC service person out to inspect your unit every year.  Boilers are not nearly as forgiving as forced air units.  But if you think about it, they both burn gas.  They both can release carbon monoxide into your home.  Do you want to let your death be caused by lack of maintenance?

I realize many of my friends are yet to have the joys owning a home, just remember this for when you actually do own your own place.

7.)  Make wise purchases again.  LCD uses less watts than a CRT monitor for example.  Conserve water too.  ha.  random thoughts im having at 4 am.
8.)  RECYCLE
       - In highschool, it was me that pushed constantly to get recycling.  I was in ecology club and was astounded that we had no recycling.  Well we finally got recycling, but nobody cared.  You can lead a horse to water, but you cant make them drink, if they dont realize that drinking the water is what they're suposed to do.  Fucking mindless drones, damn teenage brainwashed assholes.  Why should I care about that?  It's just a plastic bottle...  Oh i've heard that a million times...  FUCKin bitch, listen here.  That plastic takes a lot of energy to produce, it's made out of petroleum byproducts, and it has to be refined, melted, purified, then shiped, then it's handled again, and melted to 350 -400 degrees in a plastic injection mold and takes the shape of a bottle. 

Seaquist Closures LLC. - Mukwonago, WI
    - Company Info: Produces Heinz, Loreal, Garnier, Lubriderm, Alberto VO5, Soft Scrub and dozens upon dozens more name brand companies use SC.  Look under the cap next time you buy a butterfly closure.  50 50 says it has a SC or a squigly SC symbol under the lid.  You're supporting an excellent american company that I am proud to say I worked for, I am serious, great place.

The average plastic injection mold for your Heinz (it runs 24/7 and never shuts down unless broken or they have to do a color change) ketchup (the lid that you can put the bottle upside down on) mold has 32 cavities and the start time to next batch is 14 seconds.  Plastic is injected into a hot runner mold at very high pressures and then sets and cools, mold opens and ejects and it starts over again every 14 seconds.  To do this there's an 85 amp, 440 volt hydraulic pump motor to open and close the 12 ton steel mold and the mold has 32 individual tips to inject plastic, and each one has a heating element wraped around it.  If it's a double stack mold you're talking almost 200 amps of elecricity used for heating the plastic prior to injection.  Then the various electronics and the pump motor.  Hell that's almost 300 amps just per press.  They have 57!  The electric bill is a few million a year.  They're running 24/7 365 pulling around 3.1mW daily. 

So there's your plastic drivin nation shining!  Plastic is great but it doesn't biodegrade for a million plus years.  Yeah, there's biodegradable plastic in existence, but it costs more than the current plastic we use, so why the hell does anyone care?  Too many fucking people care about making a fuck load of money.  Does it matter if you make 3 billion or 5 billion?  NO.  If some fucktard said yes to me...  I'd slap the shit out of them.

I bet if you visited a coal fired power plant you would think twice about leaving a light on for a couple hours while gone.

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If you're intrested my cousin works at a 222mW coal fired power plant near Colorado Springs, CO.  He is a heavy equipment operator and enjoys his job a lot.  He gave me a two hour tour of the entire operation on Friday, 29th September 2006.  It has been one of my desires in life (yeah most kids dream of visiting a chocolate factory, I want to see a coal power plant and the hoover dam and see a huge solar array system or a commercial 250 foot tall wind generator)  and it was incredible.

It begins by coming in coal cars via railroad.  By the average length of 120 coal cars bringing tons of coal per.  To be exact, his measurement was "shitloads fall into the hopper."  The train engineer is then relieved and relaxes while the train unloading operation is underway at a speed of 0.34mph and driven by the plant staff.  Six hoppers lay beneath the railroad ties and the chutes open dumping black coal.  The coal is aggitated, vibrated and ran up a conveyer where it is dumped onto a huge mound a couple hundred feet away.  That is where my cousin shines, he operates a diesel powered pusher.  Try to imagine a typical bulldozer, and then modify it with 800 horse, 3000 ft lb of torque from a diesel motor, 11 foot tall tires, and a 26 foot wide blade on the front pushing 60cu yards of coal in one sweep. It is a modern, powerful earth moving beast made by Caterpiller.  Uses tons of diesel a day, just to keep the coal pile looking pretty.  Well, actually he has too keep it uniform and properly sloped on the sides and compacted or else a fire my ignite without warning due to coal dust and air pockets.  So then from there right below where it falls out of a chute, way beneath is another hopper where coal falls down and is sent up conveyer where it makes it's way into the power plant itself.  It goes up quite a myriad of conveyers, and prior to entering the power plant's building itself there's a huge electric magnet that ensures that only coal is passing through.  It is stored inside in a few silo's where there is enough reserve to last at least a day.  It then falls thanks to our friend gravity to the huge crusher/pulverizer where a 300hp electric motor destroys the coal into fine chunks/powder.  It then continues to a final machine of destruction where it is completely powderized to the size of dust particles.  Why?  To allow for complete combustion, it reduces waste (fly ash), cleaner and the firey inferno is hotter which equates to better efficiency.

While walking around outside on the metal gridwork of steel steps and walkways, we decided we had to look inside where the fire takes place.  The heat near the access door was so intense, and after getting gloves Matt opened the door.  The raging inferno inside was nearly orange and radiating like no other.  I could see the large steam pipes against the adjacent wall that is the heart and soul of it all, and they were absolutly cherry red, and coated with layers of carbon deposit from the coal.

Talk about a wicked experience.

There are three final products of the combustion process.  Fly ash, bottom ash and the gases that get expelled into our sky, our earth.  The fly ash is the resulting particulate produced from the burning coal, which is reclaimed by a very elaborate filtration and "scrubber" system used to ensure what goes into the sky is 99.99% clean.  Then bottom ash is what settles to the bottom due to combustion, and from what I recall he said it's sealed by a water barrier or something inside the chamber.  I don't recall exactly.  These two products must be trucked to a site which is down the road, and getting fairly large in size.  That too must be bulldozed, kept in check with epa regulation and moved around, the slopes must be compacted for erosion and all kinds of crap.

The process in just the coal aspect is nuts.  But final product is the power produced by steam spinning a very large network of steam turbines.

Total output is 222mW, and the plant itself consumes around 2mW.  Then you factor in the hundreds of gallons of diesel used for the train, hundreds for the trucks and earthmovers and you've got a lot of energy required to produce energy.  It's a crazy cycle.

This is the modern society we've created.  Imagine if everyone did something to reduce the power we use at home?  Just a little makes a lot.

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Great websites you should definitly look at:  (come back another time and visit another, it's not going anywhere!  dont tell me you never get bored.  just take a peek see!)

---->>An Inconvenient Truth - If you do one thing this year, click on this!!!<---

Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs: Energy Star

Chief Seattle's speech

Fast Food Nation - soon to release!

The pros and cons of building a Coal Power Plant in Colorado Springs, CO

Coal power plants make a huge impact on this land

This website has 10 short but informative facts about energy <-- the have some information in the rest of thier website I do not agree with though and they say environmentalists are cult people.  Right....  Just stick to the ten items alright!

Print one of these posters and hang it up around your dorm or home

FOSSIL FUEL: A BURNING ISSUE

This is England's Drax Power Plant.  Produces's 7% of all electricity for england and produces nearly the same amount of CO2 as all the cars.

Unloading of coal on a dock at Green Bay, WI


This is a picture of Mohave Generating Station, a 1,580 MW coal power plant near Laughlin, Nevada.


A chinese power plant with a hyperbolic cooling tower.

Renewable:



..ot;>
If you dont know what this is, and you're american, you need to be taken out and shot.  Not in the head, but numerous times to inflict a slow and painful death.

Solar:
A concentrating tower, hundreds of mirrors concentrate light and heat water which then is like a conventional system, with sun power.

    So yeah, this is a convo I had with a certain girl I know.  Nothing against her, this is more directed at any gender too ignorant to change the NUMBER ONE IMPORTANT thing you can do for a vehicle!

her: i need an oil change...
her: badly...
PoLariS9569: how badly?
her: i havent had time
her: im gonna do it on saturday
her: ok not badly
her: i exaggerate
her: a lot
PoLariS9569: do you want me to yell cuz you know i have plenty to say in response to the typical (female) saying of "i havent had the time"  when was the last time you went out to see a movie, went to the mall or just went out to do anything?  an oil change takes 10 - 15 minutes and 15 - 20 dollars.  When you choose to ignore that nice little sticker in the corner, or the color, texture and smell of the oil that you SHOULD be checking ever or every other time you fill up at the station, you're just saying then "hell, i dont care about this motor!  i hope it stops working tommorrow cuz i just dont give a fuck."

I hope you read that and never forget it for the rest of your internal combustion vehicle driving life!  

lol  but dont take it lightly, take it serious cuz i mean that!

CHANGE THE MOTHERFUCKING OIL DUMBASS!!

you can do it yourself cheep if you're livin at home and have folks that work on thier stuff like a lawn mower or something.  Waste oil can be put in containers and taken to collection sites around the area.  The nearest one to Mukwonago is in Genesee on 83 before 59 when heading north.  It's on the right at that auto repair shop on the very southern corner of the parking lot, a big metal unit.

on to doing your oil yourself if you've never done it.  You need to get your car off the ground unless it's a truck.  Get a 20 floor jack or if you're lame use the jack you got with your spare but use a jack stand for safety, never rely on that scissors jack.  Then, get some 10W-30 oil from walmart, if your car is old and nothing special buy the "walmart special" aka supertech and a oil filter, shouldnt be more than $8-10.  You'll need an oil drain pan im guessing $5 - 10 - has a drain hole in the middle and a spout to pour the waste oil into an empty container => your new oil container once emptied - save that cap!

So...

$20 - Jack - look for a jack/jackstand kit for like $30
$7   - Oil Drain Pan
$6   - 5 quarts of oil
$3   - Oil Filter
dont forget the oil filter wrench either unless yours is easily accessible and you've got a big wrench or channel locks :)

Sweep the floor prior, pull the car into your garage and jack up the drivers or passenger side and put the jack stand under a strong structural point such as a beam, if you put it on the side rails you'll probably crush the steel.  I've done it.  If you don't know, get someone to show you cuz if you dont you can potentially fuck it up, i've seen people put it on thier floor boards, and forever permanently thier passenger floor infront of the seat is for some reason two inches higher than normal...  hmmm wierd eh?

So after you've raised your car and secured it so you dont kill yourself (not cool) get under there with the oil drain pan and an adjustable wrench or even better a socket wrench or wrench with the right size.  Loosen the drain plug and then remove it with your hand.  Be prepared to have some oil get on your hand and it SHOULD be hot.  Don't drain your engine cold because all of the metal particles in your oil become suspended when hot, if cold you leave what you want to remove in your engine.  If you never have, i'd also suggest buying a bottle of engine motor flush.  Depending on the condition of the engine it can really do wonders.  My 86 celica's oil was coming out like sludge, no kidding.  That shit was thick like grease coming out.

After you've gotten out from under your car and cleaned your hand off, remove the oil cap off the valve cover, unless it's a ford 5.4L V8 and a few others it's not on the valve cover, its some gay extending tube coming from the rear right side of the motor.  That will allow as much oil to flow out of your motor so you have the cleanest possible oil change.  After however long you want to wait for that shit to drain, cuz trust me an hour later there will still be a drip, crawl under and replace the drain plug.  Before doing so ensure you still have a good condition nylon washer that isnt cracked or completly crushed.  There are some vehicles that do not have the nylon washer, but those are made by idiots and if you own that car i'd suggest getting one on there.  Maybe it had one previously and no longer does.  NAPA carries the exact part for probably $0.25  Make sure they give you a washer for oil drain plug for obvious reasons, oil and heat resistance properties.  That's a harsh environment down there.  Oil, heat, road salt, plus there's no lovin goin on down there...

So now that you've replaced the drain plug with adequate torque, if you're that nit-picky where you want the exact manufactures spec on torque, you probably are neurotic or already know everything im telling you, begin to remove the oil filter.  Put the wrench on and take the damn leaky son-a-bitch off.  If you cant figure it out, then you're really stupid.  Im sorry but it's quite a simple concept...

Once again, after draining, wipe the surface clean and get your new oil filter out.  Take some fresh oil and place a light coat onto the rubber gasket on the filter.  Screw onto the motor, it should spin freely then contact the motor surface.  Once it stops spinning freely, turn 1/2 full turn.  You are done.  Get out from under the car, and if you're like me, get the stuff out and grab the kittie litter.  Well now for the top, add four quarts of oil unless you're rollin under a 1.8 liter motor, then check how much your motor takes.  My celica and talon took about 4 - 4 1/4 qts.  My intrepid takes 5 full quarts.  V8's even more.  Diesel trucks oh shit.  Just buy a barrel, fuck those convienient carrying containers.  You'll need like 8 - 12 quarts I believe.

After adding your oil, let it sit a second and check the oil.  Make sure it's in the range.  Start it up.  If you've got a turbo vehicle, dont just start it.  If it's a distributor motor, remove the main wire or if it's CDI or electronic ignition, remove at least two if not all four spark plug boots.  This will allow the motor to circulate oil through the system before placed under load.  Whether this is required still, it's something I was told and makes complete sense to me.  So, turn it over no more than 10 seconds unless you want to continue working under your car and replace the starter (expect $50 - 200 just for the part and if so, be sure to remove the battery cables first... trust me...)  After turning it over once or twice or more if  you feel so inclined cuz its so much fun trying to start a vehicle and never having it fire...  hahaha  replace the wires and fire it up.  After allowing it to run at idle for 30 seconds, shut it off and check the oil level.  Add if necessary.  ALWAYS DOUBLE CHECK!!!  c'mon, makes sense right?

So here's my little lesson in oil changing provided at no cost.  Now you can change the oil for $10 on your own time and be sure it's done right for the rest of your life.  Accidents happen at dealerships and quick lube places all the time.  My mom's '02 Eclipse undercarriage was showered with oil one time.  She went to Scrub-a-dub every 3500 miles on Burleigh Ave & 41.  They said fire it up, and she did.  Proceded by screaming mexican swears trying to say shut it off.  (no racial pun intended)  The fucking idiot put the wrong oil filter size on.  Aparently he was gone on oil filter day(probably lug nut day too"ron white").  So the fucking idiot didnt knotice the lack of positive threading on the filter and managed to get it tight and had her start it up.  OMG idiot.  do you have no nerves in your hand rendering it impossible to judge whether it's tight or not?  So yeah shit happens like that.  

No you're the $10 oil change guy, or girl.  After 4 oil changes you could have it paid off completly if you had to go out and buy everything.  Plus the good thing, these items should last you for YEARS.  If you really dont want to drive somewhere to get rid of the oil, you could use it here and there to light fires in your back yard, assuming you have a fire pit and not just a weekend lawn destroyer.  Oil isnt the best thing to burn for the environment but hey, if you need a fire to burn, there's your solution.  Pour some on and let it soak into the wood.  A few minutes later light it and shazam you've got a black smoke, smelly fire.  Yay for stinky fires eh?

SO DONT FUCKING SAY YOU DONT HAVE TIME.
Some cars are a bitch to change the oil on, i'll give you that.  The 95 cavalier/sunfire with the 2.2L motor is a complete bitch to get at the oil filter.  I cant remember how i did it but I swore off ever fucking changing the oil on that motor in that chassis.  Now my 94 Eagle Talon on the other hand, if i had to change the oil, I could do it in probably 5 minutes.  No joke.  I would just drive the drivers side wheel up a normal automotive ramp and crawl under.  The intrepid isnt bad, but the oil filter isnt the easiest, but not bad.  At least it isnt hidden behind an exhaust manifold.  I seem to remember the 4.3L S10 blazer 95 having some access door (which conveniently had a tab that broke off comonly, you'll notice people with the door hanging down) for something, maybe the oil filter.


So if you're smart and you thought the oil change was the smartest thing you've done all week, and you're ready to move onto bigger and better things, do it.

You can improve mileage by replacing:
Change your tranny fluid
New or performance air filter
Spark Plugs
Plug Wires
Distributor cap, rotor (if you have one, but probably not since most new vehicles use electronic ignition systems aka CDI, capacitive discharge ignition)
Oxygen SensorsRun a 88 cent bottle of fuel injector cleaner through
Ensure all four tires are at the exact same pressure as specified by the manufactures info plate on the drivers side door
Making sure all of your vacuume hoses are in decent condition, immediatly replace with automotive grade hose.  those hoses can be the difference between a great motor and a fucked up, horrible running motor.


Spark Plugs: (high quality such as bosch platinum or NKG Irridium IX <--  i swear by these, they're like $8 a plug but wow they're amazing.  If you're looking for more power and you have a clean burning motor, opt for these.  They dont like old oil burning motors though because they have extreemly small electrodes, but they do stay fairly clean.

Oxygen Sensors:  are big time helpers, but aren't cheep, go on ebay to find super cheep oxysensors.  instalation can be tricky and may require a torch to expand the metal surrounding the sensor.  

Transmission:  if you have an older vehicle, especially a Chrysler/Dodge from the 90's, even worse, with the A606 / 42LE 4 speed automatic, change the damn transmission fluid and filter.  It's a small price to pay instead of being stranded and paying to be towed and get your transmission replaced for $1200

Always research anything before doing it if you're unsure.  Ask someone, and dont always trust the guy that works at walmart and didnt realize that there's a difference between  Chrysler and GM transmission fluid.  THERE IS!!! BIG TIME!


Im done, time to study.

So those of you that might recall, on Sunday, July 09, one of the worst rainstorms I've seen hit southeastern wisconsin occured.  It was pretty damn nasty, especially since I was at Summerfest with my buddie Dan and our transportation was my bike.  Well, it started raining, and when it stoped we decided we should go, since it was 1800 and its better to be early than late.  I wanted to show Dan a little bit of downtown Milwaukee before we left since he's never been to chicagos little brother.  haha  nice analogy eh?

so as we were started heading south it began to rain like a motherfucker and didnt stop.  we waited under an overpass for an hour and decided that it was pointless to wait anymore.  we went all the fuckin way to racine at 20 and 94 and stoped at the gas station where we tried to get warm and wait for the storm.  it died down and we left again around 10pm.  We proceded down 94 doing again 25mph.  It started raining heavy again.  I stoped below the border when it got intense again and waited 15 minutes.  We got to base finally at 2315 where we walked back to our barracks in the rain.  My shoes are still wet and my shit is still drying.  Fuck mother nature.

So FUCK RAIN!

Anyone want to go to the dragstrip this friday?