Whimsy Speaks Again

I was reading a 2-plus year old SciAm and ran across this mini-article on micro-turbines.  An MIT prof named Alan Epstein has been working for a decade on building tiny gas-burning turbine engines.  I mean really tiny, like one millimeter in length.  The design involved building the micro-engine out of stacked silicon wafers, just like semiconductor parts are made.  The design includes a combustion chamber where fuel and air burn and turbine blades that spin at 20,000 RPM.  The design goal is a mini-generator produces 10 watts of power, with the capability to a laptop for 15 years on a single "charge", and costing no more than the battery it replaces.  Amazing.

I googled and found that project development has been coming along and that proposed applications have ballooned to include other industrial and military applications.  I can't find any recent news on this, however, so maybe the recession slowed down the funding.

~~~

I don't follow much baseball, but I can't help but notice that the Rockies have been on a roll.  The the past weeks, they've been winning 7 out of 10 of their games and currently have the 6th best record in baseball.  That's the good news.  The bad news is that the team with the best record in baseball, the LA Dodgers are in our division.  Still, we could get in as a wild card.

~~~

I opened a Wells Fargo account today.  Because it's the only bank in town with a coin counter.  The nice young man who opened my account asked me what motivated me and I told him.  Rather quietly, he told me that that's not the first time he's heard that.  For the record, I had $471 in my change jar.  Well, it used to be a change jar, but it overflowed into a 5-quart change Mason canning glass, then overflowed into my big cast aluminum Dutch oven.  More dough for the Paris Fund.

~~~

As much as Terri Gross tends to annoy me (well, some of the time, I think it's the affected stuttering), I was seething by the end of this bullying by O'Reilly.  It's not the first time that I've had the crazy urge to find him, yank his 6'5" frame outside, and beat the crap out of him.  He's also ignorant.

~~~

I forgot how funny The Onion is.  Like "Area Couple Not Sure If Sex Was Tantric" and "Abstinence-Only Lunch Programs Ineffective At Combating Teen Obesity".

~~~

It's official:  59 is the new 30.  Halleluiah.

~~~

Among all the never-ending hubbub about the Gates incident, I found this authentic and convincing.

~~~



That's what I want!  A cremation urn that looks like me.

~~~

When Junie's not here, I tend to read a lot of books.  All at once.  Last night, it was short stories by Simenon, which put me right in the mood for our trip to France.



~~~

What do you do with a 15-year old cactus that seems to have died?  Derek decided on either stone-colored or gold metallic paint.  The stone didn't seem right, so the gold went on right after.  Turned out pretty cool.  The amazing thing is that weeks later, when I accidentally cut into one of the arms, it still bled white cactus blood.

~~~

OK, I think that's enough anecdotal trivia for one day.  And now, my children know I'm still alive and blogging.

Posted by jbahr at 05:14 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

OK, I know, it's been three weeks, but that's better than Jim Jubak, who went offline in May and only just showed up.   Apparently, he was the last paid contributor to MSN Money, and they decided to drop him, too.  You know, the most widely-read and respected investment analyst on the Internet.  Makes you wonder what will happen when there are no actual analyst and reporters, just Sarah on Fox News.

~~~

Paris is, of course, still on.  Sweet Junie is tidying up the wee bits of outstanding necessaries, such as museum tickets (and don't forget Disney, yeeeeessssss, we're going to Disney).  I've confirmed that my T1 Mobile G1 will work just fine in France and Junie is convinced that our various credit cards will access ATMs and be accepted.  Having been to busy to even blog, you will understand that I'm WAY behind in my French lessons.

~~~

Boulder news includes:  A young man died after drinking poppy tea.  The housing market is dismal in Longmont, but apparently recovered in Boulder.  The Camera classified lists "Turd Herders" as a valuable service, with the catchy marketing slogan "We pick up where your dog left off".

~~~

I received my member's copy of the latest Walt Whitman Award, The Waker's Corridor, by Jonathan Thirkield.  It's the first Whitman in a long time that I actually quite liked.  The judge was Linda Bierds and the back page notes reference contributions to New American Writing, Colorado Review, and ALC, so I wasn't sure what to think going in.  I like it for a dozen reasons, none of which are the same as my admiration for GC or Dean Young, for example.  I also am only just into it, so I don't really yet ken the architecture of the book.  I liked "Abend (10:101)", for example, for the language and for the fact that my children ran around the Köln cathedral chasing pigeons and gawking at the chalk drawings in a former life.  There are pieces that are rather matter-of-fact and pieces that are either deranged or playful, and I don't care which.  Such as "Your Journey (4:111)":  "Boat toy boat law boat low in Melodie's arms.  She blows green water / ripples, she squeezes humming blots from bows, her lungs."  I don't think I love any single poem so far.  It's more that I admire the way that this is really somehow a book of poetry with a hidden structure that intrigues me.

~~~

Derek comes over every couple of days and does something useful to make money for next year.  He did a bang-up job of painting the new lattice, an idea of Junie's to keep our deck space somewhat more private.  He also has figured out how to add CHARM and the Erie Landfill to Goodwill as a repository of my excess stuff.  He's coming again tomorrow, so I need to get cracking with a new list of chores I don't want to do.  My HoneyDon't List, if you will.

~~~

Junie and her kids have been scouring their huge garage for things to drag out for their Saturday garage sale.  This includes apparently all manner of domestic excess, such as a sofa and freezer and CD's and God Know What Else.  My homeowner's association, which I actually don't recognize as a ruling body on my architectural modifications or how long I keep my trash can on the street or how loud I play my music, but I digress, is having a mega-garage sale, in which they pick a day and put an ad in the paper and everybody is supposed to lockstep and throw their priced items out on their driveway.  My plan is to take everything that Derek hasn't carted off somewhere, put a price of one cent on it, and surreptitiously insinuate them into the stuff of other garage-salers. 

~~~

More when I think of it. 

Posted by jbahr at 06:11 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)