Fantastic quilts

A lady who's connected to the Victoria Mac Users Group (VMUG) makes the most fantastic quilts. Here are a few samples:

To see more, visit her website:

http://bentpincreations.com

Who killed the electric car

I just saw the 2-hr documentary (on a Canadian TV network) called "Who Killed the Electric Car", specifically the GM EV1. Well, actually, its demise caused other EVs that were in the works to be killed, also. It was a great little car, quite fast, charge it up at home, drive 100 miles, everybody who had one loved it. They were only leased, though, not sold. GM took them all (several hundred) back and destroyed them all. Even though people begged to be able to buy them, GM insisted there was no demand. Etc., etc. Then they start touting the hydrogen car, which could never be viable, and even if it was, would be way less efficient than a straight electric. One knowledgeable person called the hydrogen car the mechanical rabbit at a dog race track. See the film summarized & reviewed in Wikipedia. It was only released on DVD.

This show would not be aired on US TV, unless things have changed a lot. And this is the company that people want to save from bankruptcy. Hmph.

Kids can cut power use

On Huff Post, Ariana had an article about how she's getting greener. This is a post I put on it:

Here's a chance to tell folks about a cool trick about saving electricity, for people who have young kids.

When our family of 4 lived in Malaysia, in the 70s, electricity was relatively expensive, and we had a 9-yr-old son who never turned off anything. So we told him that we were going to change his allowance. Instead of getting $3 per week (a normal allowance for his age), we would give him $100 per month. When he had gotten over some of the shock, we told him about "the catch" -- that he would have to pay the electric bill out of his allowance! And the last electric bill had been $118, so, if he couldn't cut down on power-usage, he would be in the hole.

The next month, the electric bill was $67, and never again went over $75.

How did he do it? He prowled the house, looking for things to turn off. He took cold showers. When my husband and I were both reading, he moved our chairs closer together so we could share the same lamp. He "helped" the cook wash the dishes, to make sure she didn't use too much hot water. He changed the light bulbs, even getting fluorescent lights for his room and the front porch. He studied power usage in a library book (no internet then). He stopped watching TV and, if his brother started watching TV, he would get him to play a game or do something else instead. There were probably other things that I have forgotten, but you get the idea. .

Helpful financial media

Here is the Jon Stewart (Daily Show) video showing how the TV financial newspeople reported in 2008: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTAk54c8tFQ

New Web Site

I have been working on a new web site to show the renovations we did to the house in Georgia. .I was gathering up photos to send to a friend and decided to put them on a wiki-blog instead of just on Face Book or My Space.

-- Please, go and have a look --

on the sidebar, click "House Renovation" on the "Links" list or under "Wiki Web Sites". If you click on "House Renovation" on the "My Blogs list" you will get the "What's new" page, click on "Home" to get to the first page.
Since it's a wiki, comments or questions are welcome. :-)

2009 -- still here

Another year has come & gone and we are still at the same address:
406-855 Ellery St.
Victoria BC V9A 6X6 Canada.

I put this in because there are still some things that must go by snail mail. The building has been painted since this photo, the balconies are light brown now, and the walls are light tan.

This is the 3rd day of the Obama Presidency. He's already done some very good things about foreign policy (order to close Gitmo, appointed special envoys, etc). I still don't like HRC.

His inaugural address was better than it sounded. It didn't contain the quotable gems that the press was looking for, but it spoke as much to foreign peoples and governments as to the American people, and was a clear repudiation of the Bush policies. I wonder if Bush understood it at all--he had his blank look throughout.

Michelle's inauguration outfit was great, but her ball gown was not. (I'm still very "into" costumes for public appearances--especially skating costumes).

Pictures from Port Renfrew

First, is what happened to the road that connects the two parts of Port Renfrew. It is now just 1 lane.

(Click photos to enlarge.)

Second, is the house we used to live in there, it was a dirty, ugly grey color, but now it's all new. I think I would have found a better green.

Third, is Ted & Loretta's house. Now those are great colors. Manfred says the two houses should be together -- apples & cinnamon. It's the house just above the landslide.

Ted sent us these photos. Thanks, Ted.

Merry Christmas

We are still in Victoria, not doing much of anything. Manfred is cooking a turkey.





This is the Parliament Building here, in Victoria. We are actually having a white Christmas this year, the first in Victoria since 1965! It almost never snows here, but this year it did.

Ask Geneva (about Mac)

The new wiki I have been working on, for Mac beginners. Have a look -- I need some feedback.

Can't let GM fail???

Can't let them fail? ... . Yes . we . can! . ... Giving them $25B is not saving them -- it is starting an ongoing, open-ended subsidy. It is rewarding the industry for doing wrong. Rewarding executives for bribing the government to allow them to continue to make gas-guzzlers. Rewarding the UAW for pricing their members out of the market. Rewarding auto workers for demanding exorbitant pay for producing unsellable old technology.

If you give them more money now, you will have to continue doing it forever, because they will NOT change. Never, as long as you keep them in business doing business as usual. Don't whine about the 3-4 years-- if they didn't see this coming 5 years ago, what makes you think they have even common sense, let alone the smarts to run a company? These are the people that dumped their electric car in the desert!

Use the $25 Billion to help tide over the workers and suppliers that are hardest hit. Even if 1 Million workers were out of jobs (which would not happen), $25,000 each would be a nice compensation. Or to assist startups of other businesses. Or put the out-of-work workers to work on fixing the infrastructure, or developing green technology, or making trains. Bankrupcy does not mean total disappearance. The worst thing would be to use it to "bail out" one company. Like giving a $50 bill to one beggar when there are others watching. And they all know where you live.

In Germany, "green technology" has surpassed their auto industry(!) in size and impact. They are the world's biggest producers of solar panels, Denmark is the world's biggest producer of wind turbines, Spain is reaching its goal of a high-speed train station within 2 km of every citizen. They don't do it for ecological reasons -- they do it for economic reasons. (It's the economy, stupid.) Come on, people, the US is being left in the dust. Get with the 21st century.

.

Of course, he won.

Why ever not?? But now what? It could be a chance for great things to happen. Or not.

Election Day !!!!

OMG!
-- I haven't said anything here for such a loong time. We have been trying to follow the election "news" but it's all so phony -- pundits quoting rumors quoting hate mail and passing as "news". And all the earnest predictions, based on polls that are not reliable in a situation like this.
The more I see of McCaine & Palin, the sadder I am that there are earnest and caring people so misguided as to believe them. I guess we shall see, after today, how many of those people are out there, in la la land. I hope McP turn out to be just a hoot.
What we may not see is how much voter fraud is going to be happening and what impact it will have. It's something we may never know.
As for the Messiah, I am still disappointed that he accepted that
. ridiculous bailout without question (questioned only the mechanics, not the principle),
. . . plus the pork that was added.


But the alternative candidate is, of course, unthinkable.

What gives me hope is:
(1) the fact that he has raised an enormous amount of money from regular people -- the first candidate bought & paid for by the people, instead of corporations?
(2) the organization that he was able to establish -- amazing. If he can do that as prez... ?

Notice, my color is blue
.

Neat quotations

I'm gonna put a few quotations here, when I see one I like, starting with:

If, at first, an idea is not absurd, then it has no hope at all. --Einstein

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Take heart -- truth and happiness will get you in the end. You can't lose in this game. Have fun. It goes on too long to be taken seriously all the time. -- John & Lyn St.Clair Thomas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Men are disturbed, not by things that happen, but by their opinion of the things that happen -- Epictetus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Be realistic: Plan for a miracle. -- Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Drinking water joke

Near Fredericksburg, Texas, where there is a large German speaking

population, a farmer walking down a country road notices a man drinking

from his pond with his hand.

The farmer shouted: 'Trink das wasser nicht. Die kuhen haben dahin

gesheissen.' (If you don't understand, find out what it means.)

The man shouted back: 'I'm from New York and just down here campaigning

for McCain & Palin, I can't understand you. Please speak in English.'

The farmer replied: 'Use two hands, you'll get more.'

More Politics + Bailout

It's not just MY Humble Opinion after all. There are many others, including Vermont Senator Bernie Saunders. He said:

"In our country today, we have the most unequal distribution of income and wealth of any major country on earth, with the top 1% receiving more income than the bottom 50% and the top 1% owning more wealth than the bottom 90%."

The bailout does not address ANY of the basic causes or effects of the "meltdown." The URL is http://www.truthout.org/100208J . Read it, and weep.

Politics & Bail-Out

We've been following the election, debates & economic "meltdown"/bail-out in the U.S.

What a circus! Or is it Soap Opera? What a country!

I'm very disappointed in Barak Obama. I was hoping he would not go along with the "Wall Street Bailout", but he did. Just tweaking it does not hack it, it needs to be scrapped and start over, IMHO.

Been busy

It's been awhile since I've put something here. I've been quite busy working on my new wiki about Mac computers. See the link on this page, Ask Geneva (about Macs). It's been fun working on something so new and different. It still has a long way to go, but I hope it is useful for people who have finally "made the plunge" and gotten a Mac. I'll be back, but, in the meantime, have a look at askgeneva.

Signs of the times

You might think the reason for this photo is the ad for storage -- it is rather weird that we need to pay $$ to keep our stuff out of our living area so we can buy more stuff. And if you look closely, the website is a .ca -- that's dot-CA, which means Canada (the Canadians have copied the Americans in their acquisitive habits). In Canada, billboards are illegal. The only place they can exist is on Indian Reserves, where not all White-guy laws apply. The Reserves make money by charging the White-guys plenty to put billboards there. This photo was taken just outside of Victoria, the capitol of British Columbia, Canada. The funny thing about that is the 2nd billboard... if you click on the picture, to enlarge it, you can read "United States of America" in the red strip at the bottom.

Cool new iPod

We have gotten this really great new toy -- an iPod "Touch". It is sooo coool. It syncs with our computer's email, address book, calendar, photos, movies and music. It goes anywhere on the internet and is especially good for viewing videos on YouTube. It does maps with directions and satellite views, and does lots of other cool things. You have to find a hot spot, just like with a computer. It really works so there's no need to take a computer with you for those things. It doesn't store documents or work with a wireless printer, yet, but I'm sure it will. Hundreds of people are working round the clock to make new software for it. And, it has that awesome iPod sound! Mozart never sounded so good!

"Fat Loss 4 Idiots"

That's the name of this diet. It's the one you always see advertised: "Lose 9 lbs in 11 days" Well, that didn't happen for Manfred, but he is not at all discouraged. He is learning a whole new way of eating: * eat 4 meals per day (he used to eat 2) * stop (eating) before you get full (he thought full was the purpose of eating) * combine food groups in unpredictable ways (scrambled eggs + grapes.) * drink lots of water (this is the only part that he didn't really try) Some meals are all meat. There is an all-veggie-&-fruit day. It's very low carb, and the carbs are mostly fruit. You choose the foods you like from 2 lists. A computer generates an 11-day meal plan schedule, with those foods You follow it exactly. You can cook the food any way you like, or get deli versions so no cooking at all.