Solar panel farms

Green energy sources are popping up all over the landscape. Colorado mountains are planning on using water run-off from the Rockies during summer months for power. Giant wind turbines are off the coast of Europe in the sea generating power from the wind current.

There is even a gigantic farm of solar panels somewhere in Spain harnessing the suns rays (link: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15698812/). Which leads me to ask the question, "Why is it necessary to build unsightly farms of reflective panels when all we could do is reproduce the same experiment we used to perform as kids with a magnifying glass, the sun, and a poor little ant?"

Why not use a giant reflective lens either positioned on a high tower or up in the hills to concentrate the sun's rays into a single solar panel? If a magnifying glass can fry an ant, why can't it mutiply the effectiveness of a single panel? Perhaps the cost of a giant lens would be too costly.

And to go one step further, create a mirrored-surface parabolic dish (such as the Bell ExpressVu or DirecTv satellite dishes) with some sort of tennis-ball size "solar panel" to collect all that energy. Combine the satellite dish and solar panel into a single unit and distribute it across North America.

Good timewaster : Knuttz.net

Here's a site that will amuse you and can be considered a great site to lose your train of thought when you need a break : Knuttz.net.

There are lots of interesting galleries of pictures and you can spend hours, if not days just looking. One of my favourites is the Sumela Monastery. Most people wonder how the pyramids were built ... that seems simple compared to climbing an almost vertical mountain with building materials.

Free online file conversions

I was given the task of creating a DVD presentation for an organization. Most of the material I had was originally available on Youtube and a few files in .FLV format (Flash Video Player). My first task was retrieve these files.

That is where Zamzar comes in. After some googling for free utilities that ripped videos from YouTube, I found Zamzar. What a delight this website was to use. Open a browser window on Youtube, copy the URL, and paste it into the file box on the Zamzar homepage. Receive an email notification within an hour, and download a link. Easy enough.

I was using Ulead for my PC DVD production, and iLife on the Apple ... mainly to see which product had a more appropriate theme for me to use. After some experimenting with iLife I found the need to use Zamzar once again ... to convert my PC-based files in .mpg over to the Apple-based Quicktime .mov files. Again easy enough.

Next was finding a player to view my .flv files. Geez, was that a pain in the bazooka. Zamzar came in handy again. It was able to convert the .flv files effortlessly.

ATI Radeon 7500 and Dell 2405 LCD

Reformatting a Windows installation every 6-12 months should be commonplace among Windows users. From newbies to seasoned professionals, every Windows installation should be re-imaged, re-installed, or re-formatted.

I don't know what it is about Windows - and it's not isolated to any specific version - but, your system slows down the more you use it, the more you install on it. That's why I recommend reinstalling Windows on it every 6-12 months. It gets rid of all the crap you've built up on your machine.

Every piece of software writes something to your hard drive and there is always a chance that something gets left behind if you uninstall it. I kind of miss the days when all the necessary files were in a single directory - no registry, no SYSTEM32 folder. Just a directory in \Program Files and thats it. If you ever find the need to get rid of the program, just delete the directory and voila.

I spoke too soon. I had it working for a while, then uninstalled Powerstrip. Back to square 1. Ignore the following paragraphs.

So upon following my own advice I had wiped out my trusty Dell Inspiron 4150 P4 1.6ghz laptop. Copying important files was easy since I have accustomed myself to storing everything in the "C:\Active Backup" folder technique. Everything of importance goes in there - Outlook .PST file, camera .JPEGs, .WAV and .MP3 files - you name it.

The one thing I completely forgot about were my video card drivers for the integrated ATI Radeon 7500 in the laptop and/or the docking station (I used the trick of flashing the Inspiron BIOS to the Latitude BIOS to get the docking station to work).

You might be saying, "Just visit the Dell support site for the video card drivers". True in most cases that may work, but I have a fantastic Dell 2405FPW LCD 24" monitor. And, I am one of those few individuals who want to preserve their eyesight so I don't set the maxium resolution to 1900x1200. I find the most comfortable to be 1280x768. Very comfortable to view, and the aspect ratio of icons and text seems to be perfect.

But none of the Dell ATI drivers support this resolution. And to top things off, the readily available ATI Catalyst drivers are useless for integrated graphics cards. I managed to find another set of drivers for ATI cards called "Omega Drivers" . But alas, there were dozens of different versions. The most recent causes BSOD gpfs. The oldest caused the screen to display black bars on the top and bottom, or left and right. It was not until I found a specific version - 2.6.53 that did the trick.

So for all of you who have a similar setup to me (very unlikely, but nonetheless) this has made my day.

1. Uninstall your Dell ATI drivers
2. Get the Omega v2.6.53 drivers from : Driver Heaven .Net
3. Install them and reboot

As a special note, PowerStrip may have played a small part in producing this custom resolution but I have yet to figure out for sure.

I am no longer a concert virgin!

Music is a big part of my life. I simply love it. My collection of music varies greatly. If you look on my shelf you'll find Shania Twain next to Ludacris, Gretchen Wilson next to Andrea Bocelli, Sheryl Crow next to Frank Sinatra. I go through moods in music where I will listen to a different genre for months at a time. Some music doesn't get played for 1-2 yrs in some cases.

It comes as a surprise to other people who are fans of music that I have never been to a concert. Rolling Stones last gig in Toronto at Downsview Park? Nope. Frank Sinatra before he passed away? Nope. Duran Duran before punk hit the crapper? Nope.


The topic of concerts came up one day with a good friend of mine a couple of years ago. I thought for a moment and came to the conclusion that if I were to see a concert, there were only 2 groups/performers I would see (which she also agreed) - Gypsy Kings and Sheryl Crow. That says a lot. I don't want to get high at a rocker concert, and some of the classics like Sinatra are best listened to over a glass of red wine. But Sheryl Crow and The Gypsy Kings are different. I could imagine sitting at their concerts and truly enjoying the "live" experience.

So the opportunity came upon me - sort of like a freak accident meant to be. Sheryl Crow announced a concert date at Casino-Rama, Ontario, Canada in July of 2006. At the same time, the same friend I originally had the conversation about concerts with was having a 30th birthday. Lightbulbs went off in my head. What a perfect gift! For her and me! I was about to lose my concert virginity!

To those who have never seen a concert or event at Casino-Rama, let me tell you this ... it is big. I wouldn't say the acoustics there are fabulous, but good enough to make the experience worthwhile. All in all the concert was enjoyable. Sheryl was an act that I truly enjoyed watching and hearing. Although for some reason I expected it to be longer than it was. And I sure wish the light-show wasn't so annoyingly bright so that I could take a picture of Sheryl on stage with my cameraphone that I had sneaked in (it was in my pocket). Besides, the Maytags in front of us were difficult to focus with.

I hope Sheryl had a good time in Toronto.

Head Lube

I'm in Shoppers Drug Mart the other day for something that I just can't remember ... it always seems that I originally intend to purchase 3-4 items but end up leaving with only 1, not realizing until I'm home that I missed the other items.

I'm browsing through the the men's grooming section ... which by the way isn't with the rest of the guys stuff. Why is that? Intentional? I have to browse through the entire store trying to find the item I need. Ever notice how many different brands of women's hygiene products there are? And how many frikken variations of Tylenol are out there? One for the morning, one for night, one for colds, one for flu, etc.

So I'm over at the shaving cream section, and what catches my eye but a bright yellow bottle with the words "HEAD LUBE" on it. My mind starts to wander, "why isn't this in the section with the condoms and KY gelly?". Gee, catchy name. Upon further inspection I find out that it's for guys who shave their heads. Fancy that, a shaving cream for balding men.

Yes, that's right. I said it. I can't see anybody shaving their head for a reason other than the fact that they have little or no hair, and want to hide the receding hairline. I've been a little envious that I can't look like Vin Diesel or Howie Mandel, but I've been blessed with a full head of hair like a mop. Granted, that hair has it's price, I have the head the size of a watermelon.

The next time you're in a Shoppers Drug Mart, just peruse the aisles to find out what kind of products are out there. You'll find some strange items, and perhaps you'll notice the personal massager on the top shelf above the condoms.

The new Toyota Rav4

What the hell was Toyota smoking when they came up with this one? I've always hated the design of the tailgage and spare tire of the Toyota Rav4. They've just carried over the last generation Rav4 design over to the new generation. They insist on wrapping the spare tire in a fibreglass casing and warp the rear hatch at the same time.

Honestly, the new Rav4 has a very interesting new shape to it. The stance is wider, it seems a little less "gimpy" and has a overall appeal to it ... that is, until you see the rear hatch. They've decided to incorporate the spare tire into the body at the same time obstructing the rear view by as much as 1/3 the height of the rear window. Not to mention lowering the bumper to accomodate the tire.

I've never been a fan of externally visible spare tires on street-inspired SUVs. It looks natural on the Jeep Wrangler/TJ/YJ series, and somewhat acceptable on the Jeep Liberty line. On the Suzuki Sidekick it was necessary because there wasn't a whole lot of room elsewhere. And it just suited the old Ford Bronco original line of SUVs (why do I always associate Chuck Norris with a Bronco ?).

I think Toyota would have been much better off placing the spare tire inside the truck buried under the rear cargo space. Well, the typical Rav4 owner would have no clue what to do if it was buried under the truck externally visible like the Jeep Cherokee or Chevrolet trucks.

Maybe then the design team for the Rav4 could have carried over the design cues to the rear of the truck. And maybe if I was lucky, they'd change the hinge location while they're at it.