Greg In The Desert

The local TV news station KOB has more on the iPhone balloon tracking application. The app is written by Anthony Cardinale and is a real time tracking application. It’s being tested by 5 ballon pilots and chase crews at this years Albuquerque Ballon Fiasco, I mean Balloon Fiesta.

“At some point, every pilot could be using this, and we are going to have a free version that allows people to come to the Balloon Fiesta and load it up to see where all the balloons are in real time,” Cardinale said.

Might make going to the Balloon Fiesta worthwhile.

• Percentages are the Way You Think | Bad Money Advice – Imagine that you have decided to buy the latest, totally cool and sexy, iPod. It retails for $200. You are about to pick it up at a shop near your home when you hear that all the way across town a store is running a one-day special promotion, selling this iPod for only $100. It is a 90 minute round-trip drive, but you gleefully head off to score your bargain iPod. Unfortunately, after a while you realize that the iPod is not attracting nearly the number of members of the opposite sex that you expected. So you hatch Plan B, an even more totally cool and sexy convertible. The dealership near your house will let you drive it off the lot for $50,000. But then you find out that another dealership, coincidentally next to the place where you got the bargain on the iPod, will sell it to you for only $49,900. Do you make the same trek across town to save $100 on the car? Most people would not, even though they would to save the same $100 on the iPod. Because people are idiots.
• "Dr. Brown" – USCIS conducted a special naturalization ceremony last week for a man we’re referring to as Dr. Brown. Why was the ceremony so special, and why aren’t we using his real name? Well, Dr. Brown is the first nonimmigrant to become a citizen of the United States under the pilot Military Accessions Vital to the National Interest (MAVNI) program. MAVNI allows nonimmigrants to enlist in the Army and apply for citizenship even though they do not hold permanent resident status. So, Dr. Brown was the first, and his story is pretty incredible.
• Heavy metal cure for constipation – Around the World – Austrian Times – Dr Cristina Bontescu, spokeswoman for the local hospital where he turned up at the emergency unit, said: "He was a bit drunk and said he had been eating cherries that had left him badly constipated. He said he had a few drinks to dull the pain and then came up with the idea of poking a hammerhead up his backside in the hope of sorting out the constipation. "But the hammerhead got stuck and then he came up with the idea of using a second hammerhead in order to try and get out the first – but then he lost the second one as well."
• WikiLeaks victorious over corruption report gag order – Wikileaks – According to statements made to the London Times earlier this month, the UK intends to suspend the Islands' constitution and take direct rule–with the support of British Navy–something that has the press of other British colonies in the Caribbean and Atlantic, such as Bermuda, aghast.
• Male cats are lefties – Like their human owners, cats also use a preferred hand to complete complex task. But unlike humans, who are mostly right-handed, felines are split right down the middle, with females preferring the right paw and males favoring the left.
• Bosch DareDevil Spade Bits – Review | Tool Snob – ToolSnob.com – The primary difference between the DareDevil Spade bits and your standard spades bits is this little threaded nub up at the centering point. Once these threads catch (which they can't not do), the bit is actually pulled into the wood. This happens with so much aggressiveness that we practically felt in danger of dislocating our shoulder while drilling holes. The body of the spade is also contoured so that the shaved wood doesn't clog up the hole and bog down the bit. The pointed spurs are additionally designed to minimize blow-out (which is better than most spade bits, but still considerable). There's a lot going on with these little bits.
• ABQJOURNAL NEWS/METRO: The High Price of Driving and Talking – In addition to a fine of at least $100, people cited for using the phone while driving get hit with the same fees and court costs as with every other traffic citation that involves the court — about $85. Last week, Albuquerque police wrote more than 300 cell phone citations during an eight-hour crackdown and have written thousands since the ordinance took effect.
• Strange! Humans Glow in Visible Light | LiveScience – The human body literally glows, emitting a visible light in extremely small quantities at levels that rise and fall with the day, scientists now reveal. Past research has shown that the body emits visible light, 1,000 times less intense than the levels to which our naked eyes are sensitive. In fact, virtually all living creatures emit very weak light, which is thought to be a byproduct of biochemical reactions involving free radicals.
• Review: Navigon MobileNavigator North America | iLounge – The good news: in tech industry parlance, MobileNavigator “doesn’t suck” as turn-by-turn driving direction software, at least when it’s used under the right conditions. First, you need to have your iPhone 3G or 3GS mounted or held continuously near a window in your car, or be lucky enough to have a vehicle with a roof that doesn’t impede the device’s access to GPS satellites. Second, you’ll probably want to connect the device up to a car charger of some sort, because running the app and the GPS will eat up your iPhone 3G or 3GS battery. And third, you’ll want to make sure you can locate the physical address of the place you’re planning to visit, just in case. More on that in a moment.
• FBI captures Top 10 fugitive in Wyoming – The Denver Post – One of the FBI's "Top 10" fugitives was captured in the southern portion of the Big Horn Mountains of Wyoming today, after nearly 15 years on the run, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation office in Denver. Edward Eugene Harper, also known as Ed Harmon, was wanted in the alleged sexual assaults of two girls, ages 3 and 8, in Hernando, Miss., in 1994.

• Federal Trade Commission’s plan to change rules on ad endorsements, testimonials worries marketers — chicagotribune.com – Updated guidelines on ad endorsements and testimonials under final review by the Federal Trade Commission—and widely expected to be adopted—would end marketers' ability to talk up the extreme benefits of products while carrying disclaimers like "results not typical" or "individual results may vary."
• News : Small store hanging in there with big boys – Rio Rancho Observer – Owner George Meyerson was asked the secret to staying in business for 20 years, especially in light of the large home-improvement stores moving into the area, not to mention a Kmart and several Wal-Marts?

  Observer '�” Gary Herron photos The silver hammer sign at True Value Hardward, at 2108 Southern Blvd SE, has been a steadying presence in Rio Rancho. The business is celebrating its 20th anniversary with a 20 percent off sale today and tomorrow.

  “The right products, reasonable prices and good service,” is his answer.

• An old engine learns new solar-power tricks – Mar. 24, 2009 – J.D. Sitton's mission was to find a new market for a 193-year-old engine that nobody wanted. His innovative answer: turn it into a solar power collector, then persuade top auto-parts suppliers – currently eager for work – to build it.
• Green By Design » Barefoot Dreams in the Dead of Winter – Perhaps the most appealing aspect of the radiant floor heating is that it creates not just a warm room, but an entire warm floor. The heat still rises, but it’s rising uniformly from ground zero instead of from a single fixture or a couple of vents. The result is often that rare anomaly, barefoot comfort in the dead of winter. Such systems are particularly good for homes with high ceilings, where forced-air heat often ends up where it is least needed unless the homeowner is endowed with the agility of a bat.
• Rear Engine Front Driver – Not all of Gregory’s front wheel drive experiments were racy. This particular 1947 Gregory sedan features front wheel drive and a rear mounted engine.
• Direct Stock Purchase Plans: A Better Way to Invest – Hundreds of companies that trade on the major stock exchanges allow you to buy shares directly from their transfer agents for very little or no money.
• Mexico’s health insurance success offers lessons for US reforms, Lancet study suggests | Science Blog – As America considers major healthcare reforms, it may have lessons to learn from Seguro Popular, Mexico's ambitious plan to improve healthcare for its estimated 50 million uninsured citizens, suggests Ryan Moore, co-author of a study published April 8 in The Lancet, a leading international medical journal.
• Why We Need the New York Times – When the Jayson Blair story erupted, I realized that if the Times couldn't even properly and effectively assess their own, how could they be relied upon to assess public officials and figures? It was then that I stopped buying the paper. A lot of people did. In Manhattan, copies of the New York Times often pile up everywhere.

  But lately, the alternatives seem wanting. In the Times recently was good reporting about the poor documentation of the deaths of deportation detainees by various state and federal agencies. Another article recently captured the abyss of disputed workmen's compensation cases and the endless troubles that greet those who fall into it. I don't see that on MSNBC. Frankly, I don't see that on TV at all.

• Road Tested: Voltaic Systems Generator laptop bag – I had a chance to road test one of these incredibly cool bags for a month and was very impressed. What makes it so special? Well, it could be the big photovoltaic panel on one side of the Generator that provides 15 watts of power to feed your electronic devices. Voltaic points out that the Generator is the "first solar bag powerful enough to recharge a laptop." That panel charges an internal 58Wh Lithium Ion battery pack that can run most laptops.
• The Road to Area 51 – Los Angeles Times – As for the guys who picked him up, they were tracked down and told to sign national security nondisclosures. As part of Collins' own debriefing, the CIA asked the decorated pilot to take truth serum. "They wanted to see if there was anything I'd for-gotten about the events leading up to the crash." The Sodium Pento-thal experience went without a hitch—except for the reaction of his wife, Jane.

  "Late Sunday, three CIA agents brought me home. One drove my car; the other two carried me inside and laid me down on the couch. I was loopy from the drugs. They handed Jane the car keys and left without saying a word." The only conclusion she could draw was that her husband had gone out and gotten drunk. "Boy, was she mad," says Collins with a chuckle.

Every year during the Balloon Fiesta there will no doubt be a balloon crashing into something, usually power-lines. This year there was a spectacular crash when the “Wings of Wind” basket caught fire after running into power lines. One of the two passengers died and the pilot was badly injured. The incident occurred about 3 miles from my house at the intersection of NM 528 and NM 550.

During 2007’s Balloon Fiesta, a woman fell out of a balloon and died later in the hospital.

It seems some years the Balloon Fiesta goes on without a hitch, other years it just kinda ugly. The balloons are always at the whim of the weather and in fall the only thing you can predict is it will be windy.

The Channel 13 news is reporting on channel 4’s news helicopter crash. Yes, yes, they called it a “hard landing” but I saw the video, it’s a crash.

The news helicopter from KOB-TV was in the Taos area today covering the story of the missing University of New Mexico police officer when something went wrong. Late this afternoon the chopper was carrying a news photographer and pilot when it made what the station is calling a hard landing. That was serious enough to break the skids on the bottom of the chopper. Video aired later showed the chopper on its left side with its main rotor blades snapped off and most of the cockpit window glass missing. We’re told by KOB that neither the photographer nor pilot suffered serious injuries. Neither was identified.

PalmInfoCenter is celebrating 10 years since the original Plam 1000 by giving away a Palm LifeDrive and a Palm 1000 (new in it’s box). To enter to win the LifeDrive simply make a comment in this article about your first Palm. Here’s my entry:

I bought my first Palm (a 1000) on ebay, which was the first thing I ever bought on ebay. In the excitement of things I ended up paying way too much for it. To add insult to injury I ended up dropping within a few weeks, forcing a upgrade to the next version of Pilot (the 2000? don’t recall). Since then I owned several versions of PalmOS computers including the IIIx, Prism and Sony CLIE. I “upgraded” to most of them after I broke the Palm that I had at the time, keeping each model for a year or two. Currently I have a T3 which I have managed to own longer than any other Palm (and did have to replace a broken screen). I’m looking to upgrade to a TX sometime in the future mainly for the WiFi capabilities, but a LifeDrive would do quite nice too!

Who knew we had a Los Angeles series attack submarine named after the city of Albuquerque? Powered by one nuclear reactor and one propeller, it was commissioned in 1983. A pretty old boat if you ask me.

At the ship’s commissioning on May 21, 1983, the Mayor of the City of Albuquerque presented a set of keys for a new Rolls Royce to the Commanding Officer. The first skipper to pilot the submarine up the Rio Grande to Albuquerque for a port visit will win this prize. At each Change of Command these keys are turned over to the new Commanding Officer by the Mayor or his representative.

The Bernalillo County (New Mexico) Sheriff’s Department Helicopter crashed this week on the west side of town, a few miles from where I live. It’s now being reported (with pics) that the helicopter was shot down

The sheriff’s helicopter was scouring Paradise Hills late Friday night and into Saturday morning when the pilot heard a loud pop and his chopper started to vibrate.

That’s pretty scary, what kind of gun could bring down a helicopter? I almost imagine that some punk kids or drunks were messing with some guns and shot it down by accident, not thinking that they would come close to it.

The HE-111 was a German bomber used during WWII. The plane in question was the last one flying in the US (and world?) and was part of the personal transportation of Gen. Francisco Franco of Spain. Apparently they had engine troubles. The plane was “stationed” in Arizona.

My condolences to the families.