Tiny Home 160sq ft Shipping Container Home

Ultra-Tiny Low Cost All Electric Home 

Here I briefly explore my next home that never worked out. The objective was to make it truck portable (in a 20ft shipping container), with a totally functional kitchen, bathroom, shower, sink, toilet, washer dryer all in one, murphy bed, love seat, AV setup, and as much storage as possible. As fate had it, this never came to be, and I ended up moving to an urban apartment with underground parking ^^ which worked out perfectly :) At 375sq feet, the apartment is tiny, but more than 2x bigger than the container home I was planning ^^ Woot woot, still good practice in minimalist living. The following was the plan that never became reality, but it contains some solid ideas that I would like to share anyway if you care to take a look.

Desensitized to Everything : The Information Age of Enjoyment Burnout

Lost Citation or Reference : Thanks whoever Shot This :) 

Our modern lives are filled with instant digital gratification. Unfortunately this instant gratification is causing many of us to feel depressed, always trying to fill a void with a new thing or an upgrade of something, be that a home, a car, a phone, or you name it.

People are always looking for new movies, new music, new TV shows or something new to read. The difference between "needs" and "wants" have been blurred by material wealth, even poor Americans enjoying large flat screen TV's, a warm home, running hot water, etc.

Advertisements and commercials condition people to engage in unwise credit debt spending, needless consumption, and waste creating lifestyles that are good for "Sales" but perhaps not necessarily good for anything else. Happiness is not for sale, no matter what someone tries to tell or sell you. 

The 2013 Nissan Leaf

The 2013 Nissan Leaf 
Image via http://bit.ly/1acCpSx

Zero Tailpipe Emissions

The all electric 2013 Nissan Leaf represents a light revision of the original, with a few cool changes that extend range and let you lock the charging port ^^ More good things have come to the Leaf just as the CEO of Nissan promised. The Leaf is now so cool that I decided to lease one, the price was right too ^^
 

Android Kit-Kat 4.4 for Everyone

Project "Svelte" has Google's favorite mobile operating system, Android 4.4, on the way to older and less powerful devices. A lot of under the hood tuning to make the OS more resource efficient, along with loads of new awesome features that developers can exploit to bring android apps to a whole new level. 

Game Changing Energy Technology

From sunlight to nuclear energy and coal power, the real game changing problem we need to solve is energy storage. The liquid metal battery from Ambri has the potential to finally set renewable power free of its intermittent shackles. 

Mavericks 10.9 Macbook Battery Abnormalities

My Late 08 MacBook after a 256GB Samsung SSD Upgrade 

When apple announced that their latest OS update Marvericks 10.9 would improve battery life when it was installed, I got all hot and bothered thinking about the real time CPU coalescing technology and ram footprint compression and core os optimizations  that enables this energy saving operating system technology. It turns out that there is a flaw in the update that actually caused widespread damaged to peoples macbook batteries. 

Thousands of people are reporting on the Apple forums that installing 10.9 cut their battery life in half; people with the latest Macbook airs seeing a decreased runtime for 10+ hours with Mountain Lion 10.8 to less than 6 hours with Mavericks 10.9

"Forgiveness" the song by Matthew West | Lyrics

My Work :) A sunset through the trees 

My lovely wife and I both really like this song, and used Youtube to listen to it while posting this one :) 

Understanding Noise Pollution

Image via http://goo.gl/PH2orF

Understanding Noise Pollution

iPad Air, iPad Mini with Retina, New Macbook Pros, New Mac Pro, New OSX Free : Blown Away yet Disappointed Again

The 2013 iPad Air
Image Source http://www.apple.com/

Thinner, lighter, faster, more powerful, more beautiful, more robust, more of what matters. The new iPad Air allows you to focus on creating or enjoying content, apps, photos, music, movies, documents, and books. Apple's long string hardware hits continue to come with breathtaking innovation and beautiful designs that inspire. Almost all good news at their latest Oct 22nd 2013 Event, but a critical flaw remains. 

Project Glass : Smart Watch : Fitbit : Plugging into Wireless Mobile Technology

Mr. Brin, Founder of Google, Shows of Project Glass
Image via http://goo.gl/dylo2Q

Wearable Devices : You can now wear high performance technology that interact with your portable "smartphone supercomputer", which connects to computer cloud networks via wireless technologies like wifi and LTE. Keeping you plugged into information while you are unplugged wirelessly ^^ 

High Performance Computing or Not

Can a 1w smartphone computer give you all the computer you really need in day to day modern life? 

iPhone 5s & 5C

Sept 2013 iPhone 5S
Image (c) Apple 2013 via http://goo.gl/4CpGVO

Here is my scathing editorial on this half-baked, energy storage problem that found its way into more "new" revisions of the now iconic iPhone that got the whole "smart-phone" revolution started. 

Sealed Battery Again = Fail || Eco-friendly my A$$ 

Sleeping in Two Sessions

Due you find yourself waking up spontaneously in the middle of the night to a brief window of wakefulness where you are intellectually productive? If you sleep in two bulk sessions you are engaging in segmented sleep that is perfectly normal and healthy. 

Things to Think About

Guns, homosexuality, and abortion: three minor but significant issues that people get hung up on. What about the other things that matter? 

Efficient Driving Styles Save Money

You can actually get better than EPA rated fuel economy with some simple driving tricks. EPA window sticker fuel economy ratings might seem disingenuous or misleading, as many so called 40MPG vehicle rarely return such fuel economies for their drivers. It turns out that the "Driver" is the real key.

Losing Someone You Love

I photograph sunsets because they remind me of life, the cycle
of the sun rising and setting. The sun powers life on earth,
through plants that we eat directly, or indirectly through animals. 

Everyone dies, every living being dies, the star dust we are made of returns to the world to be recycled. The cycle of live continues and there are deeper questions to be raised about life when we consider death. Live more completely by temporarily looking at life through the lens of death and "thinking about it" 

Two Wheels or Four

Buzz the Gixxer : I traded him for Howard the Scooter :
Picture taken at the Wild Horse Wind and Solar Power Facility

The question to explore here: two wheels or four ?

Automotive HID vs LED

35W 4300K "OEM White" D2C HID Bulbs
Soon to Replace the 6K Bulbs in Astro

Brighter, longer life, less energy, HID is better than halogen in every way that matters! For now HID is even superior to LED for reasons discussed in this posting. 

Rugged Electronics and or Cases

My 2013 Galaxy Note 2 in its OtterBox Defender
"Protected on Both Sides"

"Tough" "Active" "Dust Resistant" "Waterproof" "Drop Tested"

Descriptive marking terms used to describe functional attributes of rugged consumer electronic designs (Pentax W90) that can stand up to challenging real world conditions.

Christian Consumerism Hypocrisy Conundrum

Gods Word should give us cause to stop and reconsider our position as "consumers". The bible warns us in Mathew 6:19 that Hording gold, money, diamonds, valuable things and resources is specifically a violation of Gods laws. || For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. 1 Timothy 6:6-7

Plastic Gears in Tools

DEWALT 20-Volt Li-Ion Cordless Brushless Compact Drill
Model # DCD790D2

Metal gearing has been used in gear systems like mechanical wrist watches, vehicle transmissions, and in power tools for a long time. Modern high strength plastics offer some advantages over metal that you might find surprising.

Siggis Yogurt

Click to Reference

Wow, to write a blog posting about yogurt might seem a bit odd for me, but Siggis yogurt is absolutely delicious, thick, creamy, with tons of protein and lightly sweetened to perfection. After trying it the first time I fell in love with yogurt again. 

Happy Life Choices

That is Me being "Goofy" having "Fun"

Are You Happy?

Here I explore the subject of happiness in the context of lifestyle choices, emotions, and social interactions. After watching the documentary film “Happy” I was inspired to dig deeper and pull together different ideas about life in this posting. 

Solar Power

The sunlight is starting to break through the clouds more frequently where I live and I am reminded of the suns power. The sun is a massive fusion powered heat and photon (light) emitting engine that fuses hydrogen into helium to produce mind boggling amounts of energy every second.

Nissan Leaf Battery Better By Design

Image Source : http://www.nissanusa.com/electric-cars/leaf/colors-photos/#_exterior

The all electric Nissan Leaf was the first affordable, mass produced, lithium battery electric vehicle. Key to the Leaf's success was a battery design that balances safety, performance, cycle life, calendar life, energy density, power density, charge rate, discharge rate, weight, structural integrity, and thermal management. 

Hybrids Go Multi-Platinum

Astro the Prius in Olympia Wa, parked in front of a "Performance" Truck

Toyota is the name that comes to the minds of many when they think of hybrid vehicles. The Prius family is now a range of vehicles that give excellent fuel economy and emissions reductions with lots of practical interior space and utility. The Prius are not "fast" but they have plenty of power for commuting in traffic, going over mountain passes and cruising along at 70+ MPH on the freeway.

BMW I3 and Efficient Dynamics

Image from : http://www.autoblog.com/photos/bmw-i3-0/#photo-5094887 

The i3 from BMW represents the commercialization of the Efficient Dynamics programs best offerings and technologies. 

Furtive eGT another amazing Electric Supercar

http://s1.cdn.autoevolution.com/images/news/gallery/exagon-motors-furtive-egt-production-version-revealed-photo-gallery_2.jpg

While I have long waxed and waned about the virtues of the Japanese Nissan Leaf and all American Tesla Model S, I have never spoken about the French Furtive eGF from Exagon Motors.

http://www.exagon-motors.com/

Cars Hog Energy: Drive Less = Lower Carbon Footprint

A lot of media attention has been given to the 40MPG claims of the major automakers latest 4cyl compact cars; mostly because it can be difficult for normal people to achieve the "optimistic" EPA sticker fuel economy ratings.

Distracted Drivers Deliver Death and Suffering

Here at PCC in Issaquah WA, we can see the excellent parking work performed
by the operator of this Acura MDX. "Limited" says it all ! 

Bad drivers create a safety problem for everyone! 

Toyota Hybrids, Tesla Electrics & The Nissan Leaf

Toyota has proved in over 4 million real world road going hybrid vehicles that $3000 worth of carefully computer controlled 6.5Ah 1.2v nickel metal hydride batteries can enhance the energy efficiency of the automobile in terms of minimizing tail pipe pollution and fuel consumption.

Apple Tax Avoided

In one of my recent postings about upgrading to a smartphone I noted that I did not go with the iPhone 5. After years of holding IOS enthusiasm and zeal for Apples latest hardware the magic feelings that Apple conveyed to me were muted and ultimately silenced by customer betrayal and environmental hypocrisy.

Focusing on Gods Amazing Love

Re-baked this Photo on my mobile phone using one of the Samsung art apps on the GN2, then posted it to blogger on the same device. ^^

Howard the Honda PCX150

2013 (C) Honda Powersports

I traded my GXSR600 in for a 2013 Honda PCX150 scooter as part of a long line of changes I have made to reduce my carbon footprint. 100+MPG's from the freeway capable scooter seemed too good to pass up.

Extending Lithium Ion Battery Life & Value Performance in your Mobile Devices

There are a few simple things to remember in order to maximize the value performance of your lithium ion batteries.

1. Format the battery on its first cycle with a deep cycle (to calibrate the battery computers)

2. Avoid charging the battery to full, do not leave it camped on the charger

3. Avoid discharging the battery to empty or to very low states of charge

4. Store the battery at 50deg F and half charged

5. Regularly use and cycle the battery, exercise it

6. Keep the battery cool, avoid direct sun

A Samsugn Galaxy Note 2 replaces my 5 year old ENV3 feature phone

(C) Samsung 2013 All Rights Reserved 

I have long waxed and waned about how "Smartphones Suck", with poor battery life, overpriced data and security issues that combine to what amounts to carrying a spy satellite in ones pocket with a battery that dies after 1 day.

Solar Energy, Mobile Energy, Moving Forward

Every facet of modern life is affected by energy technology. Vehicles use a lot of energy and their energy use affects food prices. The next 100 years is going to one of many energy technology innovations. Lets looks through the lens of a 20 year vehicle cycle to see how things are going to change in the future :) Enjoy

Storing Energy Wisely (Tesla)

The battery is what really set off the modern electronic world as we know it.

Movement is Life

Movement is Life

Your lifestyle choices have the largest impact on your health. Your body is made of about 100 trillion cells all living, working, dying and composting themselves constantly with one another in a way that enables your living existence. Genetics do play a role in many diseases, but do not in anyway underestimate the power you have to control your health with diet and exercise.

1 Year of Pseudo-Vegan Complete

My lovely partner Megan and I embarked on a semi-vegan mostly vegetarianism diet at the start of 2012. With a few notable exception, we abstained from eating meats and other animal proteins, while making certain occasional exceptions for dairy milk, cheese, ice cream and butter. After a year of trying a mostly vegan foods we are resuming semi-vegetarian diets.