Saturday, October 14, 2006

Second Life down

I am a resident of Second Life. I don't know if you have heard of Second Life or not, but it is this whole Virtual World, where people interact. This world has commerce, music, and "anything you can imagine, you can build" type of rules. It is kind of a trippy place.

Some people are totally into it and have invested lots and lots of time and energy into this virtual world. I have a little bit of time invested in it. I am still trying to figure everything out. I have like $40 "Linden Dollars" and a bunch of crazy crap I won at "The Matrix" club/casino.

Anyway, every time I want to get onto Second Life, I have to download an "update". Every single time I have to do this, because I only log onto Second Life every couple of weeks or so. (Your "Avatar" just hangs out somewhere while you are gone, it is creepy). The only time you don't have to download the new version is if you log on in the next few days after you downloaded the new version. It seems that each version of the software is only good for about a week or so.

So, I just downloaded the newest version the other day, so I thought I would jump in world and "hang out" for a bit...

But now the system is down for maintaining. That totally sucks.

I am glad I don't have anything invested there. Then I would be totally bummed.

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Thursday, October 12, 2006

YouTube + Star Wars = Cool!

I keep forgetting how cool YouTube is. I swear, a person could get lost in that site for hours and hours, just clicking on videos.

I just did that! Whew, I saw some weird stuff and caught up on all the videos I "should have seen" like the Ok Go video.

I saw a totally funny video series, Chad Vader Night Manager! You have to check it out! Even if you don't like Star Wars, it is very funny.Ep 1, Ep 2, Ep 3, and Ep 4

Then I ran across this totally killer Weird Al song where he talks about Star Wars episode 1, sung to the tune of American Pie. I love Weird Al. I remember when he was just a struggling artist pitching his wares on the Dr. Demento Show. I loved his song "Yoda", but this is just as great of a song. The video blows it away. You have to check this out!

And last but not least, in the totally amazing fan film category.. We have Star Wars Cops. This is cops, but they are stormtroopers. The costumes and location are amazing. You have to check this one out too.

I swear, YouTube is really the most amazing thing ever. I hope the Google deal does not wreck it.

Friday, October 06, 2006

Veggie Car: Post about my filtering process.

I am just about ready to send off an email to the vegoilfuel yahoo group and I thought it was interesting enough to put on my blog. Veggie cars are getting more news these days, so folks might be interested...

Here is the text of the email...

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Hi.

I have been bag filtering to 1 micron for about 15,000 miles now. It has seemed to work pretty well for me. I don't really know how accurate the bag filters are anyway. My filter bags hang down with the only support being at the top, and I am sure they stretch. I think there are some kind of cages that you can buy to support the filter or something, I have never taken the time to check.

Anyway, I have a large Racor "18 Wheeler" filter that is supposed to be changed every 10,000 miles. I can go about 8500 before it starts to get clogged. I have a vacuum gage installed to the veg line, so I can monitor it. You can watch a video of me changing my filter on my vlog at

http://gregsvideoblog.blogspot.com/2006/07/
video-blog-21-replaceing-my-veggie-car.html



The 1 micron Bags do get clogged, but my gathering/settling process is not optimal. I had been living "hand to mouth" with the veggie oil and had not had time to have it settle properly, so I think even 10 micron bags would have clogged in my case.

I have had no problems with the car since the conversion. I have been pretty diligent in my de-watering (Heating the oil and letting it sit and not taking from the bottom, etc).

While I have not monitored the wear of the engine by getting compression tests, the car still starts right up in the morning and runs like a champ. I know that is not scientific, but it is just what is going on with my car.

My Car.

I have a 84 Mercedes 300D non-turbo. It is a two tank system. I have a neoteric six port "switcher thing" (I forgot the proper name right now). I have a veggie therm. I have a large Racor filter for the veggie oil. I also have a small finned heat exchanger. The theory behind this is that is puts lets strain on the veggie therm. Have no idea if this is the case, but that is what I have.

Anyway, I really enjoy the discussions on this list, so I thought I would contribute.

Greg.
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Tuesday, October 03, 2006

Cover of Newsweek 6 years late.

I got the new issue of Newsweek in the mail today. It had a big headline, "The Price of Denial, How Bush & Rumsfeld deceived Themselves, and Us, about the war in Iraq".

Wow, it took much longer than I ever though, but the Main $tream Media have finally opened there eyes and reported what I have known for six long years... That Bush is not a good President. He got lucky. He was a poor manager and business leader and that has transferred straight across to his Presidency. The guy sucks. Always has and always will. He is still just that little boy that likes to blow up frogs with firecrackers.

Anyway, who really cares? Obviously, the American people don't really care. I know I stopped caring that the guy was a punk ass chump when he got re-elected. I went into "lock-down" mode, put my head down and just slogged along. Waiting, just waiting till that moron was termed out. I knew impeachment was way to much to ask for, so I am just waiting.

Looks like the new day is starting to dawn. We still have a way to go, but this Newsweek article reminds me that we are getting closer every day. Looks like the "Ra Ra Ra" attitude is fading.