Maxsons Import_User – Page 69

17/10/2011

Synthetic Fuel

I was reading this article on Fox News about alternative fuel. Towards the bottom, I saw this

Wood chips can be used to heat your home, but why not use them to propel your car? That’s the idea behind the Wood Powered SUV, developed by Beaver Energy. The company’s converted 1988 Isuzu Trooper turns wood chips into an organic fuel, and can drive about 20 miles on 25 pounds of chips. The truck uses a process called pyrolization, which converts any organic compound (including wood chips, grass clippings, and even garbage) into hydrogen and carbon molecules. The fuel, produced in a contraption on the back of the SUV, is then used in a modified internal combustion engine.

I then thought of the video below I had seen a couple of years ago.

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Direct Link

There are 2 more parts to the video linked above. Part 2 and Part 3.

Why not make the car just run on woodgas? Sound crazy? Read the whole article….there were about a million cars converted to run on the stuff during WW2. My guess is that woodgas isn’t popular because it burns the wood. And then you have the whole deforestation thing. But we can farm trees just like any other crop (corn, wheat, etc…). When you cut one down, plant a new one. Then, in 10 years you can cut that one down too. Burning wood is also carbon neutral (the carbon released when you burn it is the same carbon it absorbed when alive).

[Update 2012-12-26 15:33:45] The videos were taken down so I’ve removed the dead links to youtube

Image from moosicorn via flickr

15/10/2011

Language

English. The heart language (native language) of most people in the US. It is also the heart language of many people in the UK. But they aren’t the same. Oh no. I would say there is 70% (or more) overlap; however, there are differences. In fact, there is a whole page on wikipedia about AME and BE differences.

I’ve been reading it today and it has been so long since my English classes that I don’t understand lots of it. Verb tenses are hard. Sure, I understand past, present, and future; however, it gets harder when speaking about past-perfect, etc…. This section was especially difficult to understand.

I’m thinking about coming up with a quiz for kids at youth group….along the lines of: What are braces called in the US or something (btw, they are suspenders. Suspenders in the UK mean a garter belt). But that may take some time.

[Update 2011-10-15 15:54:51] I wonder if this might help?

Image from richard cawood via flickr

14/10/2011

Weight Loss and Eating Right

While I was in the US for the summer, I gained a TON of weight. The scales showed a gain from apx 97kgs to 118kgs (there are 2.2 lbs in a kg so that is about 213 to 260 pounds). I can’t believe it, but we spent more than 10,000 miles sitting in our car eating fast food….arg.

Anyway, since we are back, I’m working out (well, walking to work at least) and watching what I eat. I’m doing a combo of a caveman diet and body for life. What that means is I’m doing the caveman type diet as recommended in The Paleo Solution: The Original Human Diet (although I’m not cutting out bread like he says) and throwing in a free day like Bill Phillips recommended (here’s a link to the original Body for Life: 12 Weeks to Mental and Physical Strength and a new kindle edition Champions Body-for-LIFE )

I’ve changed my weight tracking website. I was using fitday; however, I’ve switched to fatsecret because they have an app for my nexus s. It has all the same functionality as fitday except this should make it easier to keep track of what I eat.

Here’s a link to my fatsecret.com profile

Anyway, here is a link to my past few days:

Mon, 10 Oct 2011
Tue, 11 Oct 2011
Wed, 12 Oct 2011
Thurs, 13 Oct 2011
Fri, 14 Oct 2011

Image from bark via flickr

13/10/2011

Living Abroad….

…one learns all sorts of new things. Like, for example, everyone knows who Queen Elizabeth II is (the current reigning monarch of the UK and the Commonwealth countries). However, until I moved to the UK, I didn’t know her husband was not the king. He isn’t the king because the king can only be the real king if he was the heir-apparent. Instead, he was given the title of Duke of Edinburgh (if I understand everything right). He is also called Prince because he was the (or a?) prince in Greece.

So who will be next? Well, the current line of succession has Prince Charles, then Prince William. But what happens if William and Kate have a girl as their first child? She is not the heir-apparent (again, if I understand everything). The heir-apparent would be their first male child (I don’t know who would be next if they only had girls).

But, David Cameron is pushing a bill through Parliament to change that. However, it also has to be passed by the other commonwealth countries. Supposedly, there will be a constitutional crisis if this doesn’t happen….I don’t claim to understand it all.

In the end, there are always new things to be learned when you are in new situations. Just ask questions and be patient.

[Update 2011-10-28 15:34:44] David Cameron and the other Commonwealth countries have agreed. The first child of William and Kate will be the ruler.

Image from Steve Punter via flickr

12/10/2011

I guess…

…one had better go before getting on a short distance sprinter train in the Netherlands. They were designed without toilets because of their short runs. But, the railways has begun positioning pee bags on the trains for emergency use. Is it wise? I’m sure. Is it bad to not have toilets? Perhaps. As a parent, it is a horrible idea. As an adult, I can go before I go and should be fine. But was it really that hard to find room for 1 toilet per train?

Image from katchoo via flickr

12/10/2011

Pass this Bill

Pres. Obama’s jobs bill didn’t pass the Senate. Actually, it didn’t even come up for a vote. But not because of Republicans. Nope…in the house of government controlled by the Democrats (53D and 47R, currently) the bill only got 51 votes. Looks like Pres. Obama needs to have the “pass this bill” speech with his own party.

Image from shay haas via flickr

11/10/2011

Sundog

Ever heard of a sundog before? I hadn’t until I saw this picture on a friends blog. Here’s a link to the wikipedia article about sundogs.

image from Varanos via flickr (note, this is not my friend’s image. You’ll have to follow the link to his blog to see it… sorry 🙁 )

08/10/2011

Windsor Castle

I had an opportunity to go to Windsor Castle yesterday. I had a great time, except for one thing….because it is so close to Heathrow, there were planes overhead all day long. If I were the monarch, I think I would either fix the problem or ask the government to fix the problem. I can’t imagine having a state dinner or a dine and sleep there and having it interrupted by the constant air traffic.

For those who don’t know, Windsor Castle is

Windsor Castle is a medieval castle and royal residence in Windsor in the English county of Berkshire, notable for its long association with the British royal family and its architecture. The original castle was built after the Norman invasion by William the Conqueror. Since the time of Henry I it has been used by a succession of monarchs and is the longest-occupied palace in Europe. The castle’s lavish, early 19th-century State Apartments are architecturally significant, described by art historian Hugh Roberts as “a superb and unrivalled sequence of rooms widely regarded as the finest and most complete expression of later Georgian taste”.he castle includes the 15th-century St George’s Chapel, considered by historian John Robinson to be “one of the supreme achievements of English Perpendicular Gothic” design.More than five hundred people live and work in Windsor, making it the largest inhabited castle in the world.

from Wikipedia

Image from david (ddpf) via flickr

04/10/201118/01/2019

First day

Tomorrow (Wednesday 5 Oct 2011) is Lydia’s first day at school. I’ll tell you how it went when she gets back and I get back from work.

[Update 2011-10-05 21:48:09] Lydia’s first day went very well. I think one could say that Lydia was chuffed. We’ve got some pictures we’ll post in the next few days.

[Update 2012-09-05 10:50:08] Even though it is a year late, here are the pictures

[Update 2012-09-05 10:51:05] Here’s Lydia’s first day of Year 1.

Image from Lester Public Library via flickr

30/09/2011

Geotagging

I geotag all of the pictures I can. Why? Well because I think it is cool to be able to go back and see exactly where I took the pictures. I don’t have to remember. Now, I’m careful about pictures I take at home, etc….

but, as an example of the usefulness of this, check out what this guy did. He made this map showing how many pictures are in each lat/long square in the earth. Pretty cool. The image above is what he made.

Image from Oxford Internet Institute via my flickr account;