Greg In The Desert

• New Mexico Independent » Schott Solar banking on public investment in sunshine – That Schott Solar is barreling ahead with plans to become New Mexico’s flagship solar manufacturing company, despite the current recession, makes sense considering where the company is coming from.

  Dr. Gerald Fine, CEO of the North American branch of the German company, sees a dynamic in the U.S. now similar to what caused the solar energy industry to take off in Europe five years ago. Germany went on to become the largest consumer of solar energy products worldwide, and he predicts

• Confessions of an Introverted Traveler – Features – World Hum – But I don’t seek people out, I am terrible at striking up conversations with strangers and I am happy exploring a strange city alone. I don’t seek out political discourse with opinionated cab drivers or boozy bonding with locals over beers into the wee hours. By the time the hours get wee, I’m usually in bed in my hotel room, appreciating local color TV. (So sue me, but I contend that television is a valid reflection of a society.)
• Judge Orders Halt to Illegal Robocalls Selling Deceptive Warranties – Today Judge John F. Grady of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois issued a temporary restraining order stopping telemarketing company Voice Touch, Inc., its principals James and Maureen Dunne, its business partner Network Foundations LLC, and Network Foundations principal Damian Kohlfeld from making any further calls in violation of the Do Not Call Registry and other provisions of the Telemarketing Sales Rule and the FTC Act. The FTC filed the case yesterday, charging that the defendants were operating a massive telemarketing scheme that used random, pre-recorded phone calls to deceive consumers into thinking that their vehicle’s warranty is about to expire.
• Follow Ups: REI Says ATM Photographer Is Welcome In Their Store Any Time – REI's Director of Corporate Communications contacted us with an official statement about the recent showdown between two Loomis security guards and a customer with an iPhone at one of their Seattle stores. She says despite the document Shane says he was forced to sign at the police station, he is not banned from their stores. Below is REI's official statement.
• Steve Stucker Explains the Recent Night Winds in Albuquerque – We call these "back door fronts" because most fronts come from the west or northwest. When the cold air pushes up against the central mountains (Sandias/Manzanos) it is sort of like hitting a wall, or an air dam, thus the wind gets forced into and through the little passes, gaps and canyons in the mountains, causing breezy to wind conditions in ABQ. It wasn't windy everywhere this morning, ABQ had the strongest winds in the state. The pattern is just a combination of the placement of high pressure and low pressure, and until we get a big "kicker"—some big system that moves through and knocks these little systems out of our area—the same basic pattern will continue for the next week or so at least, not windy every night, but every few. Friday night is probably our next big blow. God bless…..ss
• Clearly not a craigslist fan – Meanwhile, the backpage.com (owned by Village Voice Media) “adult entertainment” section for Greenville, SC has about 60 ads for the last 3 days, many of which are quite explicit, quoting prices for specific sex acts, close-up photos of bare genitalia, etc , etc (Be careful, even the index page has photos that are not-safe-for-work).
• HOW TO – Make a cheap “pager scanner” « adafruit industries blog – In this video (m4v) we show you how to take a $10 pager and make “pager scanner” – it can see all the pages and pager data on the pager networks – surprisingly it’s still used for a lot of interesting things and for transmitting data to many devices. Breadboarding diagram here…
• LOOPRumors – E*Trade launching iPhone App? – LoopRumors sources confirm that E*Trade Financial is working on an App for Apple’s iPhone and iPod touch. The company is said to have a very secret beta circulating internally. E*Trade currently has a native application for Blackberry phones, but the iPhone counterpart promises to be more robust and add much more functionality that the current Blackberry version.
• Apartment Therapy The Kitchn | Restaurant Recipe: Buttermilk Fried Chicken from Ad Hoc – It's been quite the week for fried chicken. First we gave you Grandma's recipe, then we showed you oven-fried crispy chicken. And now we're giving you one more crispy, greasy, delicious recipe for fried chicken, and it's from Chef Cruz of Thomas Keller’s restaurant Ad Hoc. Apparently great chefs love fried chicken too!
• Chinese Forum Poster Describes Next Generation iPhone Details – Mac Rumors – We've been keeping an eye on some reports coming out of Chinese forum Weiphone over the past couple of weeks, and it appears the reports are starting to spread. In early May, a forum poster from the Chinese site posted specs and a screenshot from what is claimed to be the next generation iPhone.

• Apartment Therapy The Kitchn | Food Science: Explaining Reactive and Non-Reactive Cookware
  eramics and stainless steel are considered non-reactive. While these don't conduct heat very well and tend to have 'hot spots,' they won't interfere with the chemical structure of the food in such a way that changes the look or edibility of our food. Their other big advantage is that once they're hot, they stay hot for quite some time! Aluminum, copper, iron, and steel (not 'stainless') are all reactive. They conduct heat very efficiently, and therefore, do a great job of cooking our food evenly. However, these metals are reactive with acidic and alkaline foods. If you're cooking with ingredients like tomatoes or lemon juice, your food can take on a metallic flavor, especially if the cooking time is very long. Light colored foods, like eggs, can develop gray streaks.
  (tags: science cooking)

Listpic is a alternative to interface to Craigslist for viewing listings. It shows only the listings with photos and shows the photos first. I have used it nearly everyday since it came out to quickly see what people have for sale.

All the pages indicate that it’s been blocked and point to this forum to complain. According to comments in this Apartment Therapy Chicago post, the owners of the website have received a “Cease and Desist” order.

Hopefully Craig Newmark will make a comment that they plan their own such interface, or I see a user revolt on their hands.

Update 7/7/07 9:12 PM: Response from Craig

Here’s some honest info… < craig° > 06/07 18:15:20

I’m swamped, traveling, so here’s the short version regarding the listpic thing.

The listpic technology was taking a lot of bandwidth from our servers making it harder for the vast bulk of people who visit our site.

The listpic people are aware of this and other issues, which they do not disclose.

Perhaps they should disclose those reasons here, and also, maybe explain their attempt to monetize our site.

thanks!

Craig

Apartment Therapy LA had this interesting tidbit about Vanilla extract.

Vanilla extract packs a wallop of scent packed strength: easily deodorize that pungent microwave with just a little extract; heat a small amount on High for about a minute. Or rid yourself of the funky bouquet of a week’s worth of leftovers in your fridge with a soaked cotton ball using nature’s deodorizer. Mix a tablespoon into a can of interior paint, and the fumes will be dampened by vanilla’s charms. And because vanilla is a natural insect repellent, not only will your place smell deliciously welcoming, but it will be naturally free of mosquitoes, blackflies, and ticks.

Saw this comment at apartment therapy and just couldn’t help but think that I feel like this some days.

our contractor did such a sh*t-ass job that it our small, romanesque tiles actually look like they were, in fact, done in roman times. godamned train wreck in our godamned train wreck house and my godamned train wreck life

Since I started remodeling my house I’ve found many websites on the subject, here’s a few I read on a regular basis.

• Although Apartment Therapy isn’t about remodeling house, they have a lot of good info about small spaces and design.
• Charles and Hudson is a good place to read about remodeling, and they have at least one new post a day.
• inhabitat is a good site about design, and some useful info for the remodeler.

Have a site you think I should visit? Let me know in the comments.

Update 07/23/06: HouseBlogs.net is a nice site that has a webring function. They display the latest entry from various other houseblogs on the front page. I signed up, hopefully they will add me!

Fun stuff happening around these parts. Here are some choice bits from the article.

A loud party last month led to the citation of nine minors for underage drinking and possible charges for the “passed out” mother who allowed it. Marcus Riggs, 18, whose mother rented the apartment, let police in. Riggs told officer Chris French that “he and some of his friends got together and had a few beers”. It is unclear if Riggs’ mother Lynda, 36, would have objected to the party, as she was in no condition to break it up. “Lynda Riggs was found passed out in one of the back rooms”. Still, the officers suspected that Mrs. Riggs facilitated the party, leading to the possible charge of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. The district attorney’s office will decide whether or not to file that charge. This arrest was part of a Sandoval County DWI Task Force underage-drinking sweep run by the Sandoval County Sheriff’s Department.

I’m still without the super fancy high speed internet via cable. I will finally get them out tomorrow between 12 and 4 to fix it, hopefully. In the meantime check out Thomas Jefferson’s Blog.

Update 07/06/05 8:04PM: Comcast came out today and checked things out. The day my cable went out they came by the apartment complex and “audited” the connections. Disabling the cable for non paying customer… and apparently paying customers. Anyways it’s back on and working good now and they will be giving me a refund.

Thankfully these kinds of dumb-asses make law enforcements jobs easier.

Police arrest a man who threatened a Hooters manager and you won’t believe how police caught up with him. Police says 23-year old Gregory Lock, along with three other people, refused to pay their bill at the Hooters on San Mateo. Police say when the manager told Lock and his friends they couldn’t come back, Lock grabbed his gun and waved it at the manager, then took off. The very next call, APD responded to was a domestic disturbance at an apartment complex on Pan American Northeast. The same officer who was called to Hooters responded and ran into Lock. When Lock saw the officer, he ran up to him and said, “I didn’t have anything to do with that bill skip at hooters”. Lock is charged with aggravated assault.

I love the snow. Growing up in Arizona I didn’t get to live in snow let alone see much of it. Therefore I get really excited where there’s a chance for snow

My first day in Albuquerque it snowed. I woke up that morning for my first day of work. Outside there find probably 6-12″ of snow on the ground. I didn’t even know it snowed overnight and the day before there was no sign of snow. I remember that it was very quite. Not only because it was 5am but because there is something about the sound deadening quality of a think layer of snow, it’s very peaceful.

It was quite an adventure trying to drive a ‘72 Ford Maverick equipped to dissipate heat as quick as possible in the 100+ degree Arizona weather. It worked well in Arizona but with the cold weather of that morning I couldn’t keep it running. It wouldn’t warm up even when I covered the radiator. I had to ditch the car on a side street, walk back to my apartment and call my cousin to pick me up.

Today we just got a dusting of snow. It hasn’t snowed that good in a few years at least. I still enjoy it. Looks like there will be another chance on Monday for more snow and I look forward to it.