Tuesday, June 02, 2009

On value.

Our society places too much emphasis on the value of things.

Have you ever tried to give things to a stranger?

James

Labels: I think too much, Stuff and Things

Thursday, January 29, 2009

Funky.

Check this out:

superuse.org.

Very cool.

Labels: geekery, I need a tag for this sort of thing, Stuff and Things

Saturday, December 20, 2008

I am blogging from my new laptop.

That is all. More to follow when I stop squeeing.

James

Labels: geekery, Stuff and Things

Tuesday, December 02, 2008

"ZOMG, Teh markets r asplode"

Title citation.

So, there's a global financial meltdown and all kinds of jazz. The banks can't extend credit, and huge stuff-generating industries, like the Big Three are suddenly teetering on the brink, as people cut big purchases, and the house of cards collapses.

There are places, I'm quite certain, where this would get me lynched, but: I'm not entirely sure that's a bad thing. In the short term? Yes, horrible. I am deeply suspicious of the various government and corporate bailout plans and responses to the global financial crisis: My cynicism suspects they are not intended to mitigate the disaster at all, just to allow the priviledged few* to cut their losses before things really go south.

I think we're going to see another huge depression. And that's the "yes, horrible" from above - industries will collapse or violently restructure, and a lot of folks will get dumped ass-first below the poverty line. But I also think our lifestyle in north america is not sustainable without ongoing cultural and economic and literal violence committed against the rest of the world. And the rest of the world is getting fed up with our bullshit.

James

* For those keeping score at home, I'm in those ranks.

Labels: I think too much, Stuff and Things

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

If I get rid of two, it's OK to buy one, right?

So, it's been a long time since I've bought a new computer. Like, a long, long time. My last new computer was a laptop with a 300Ghz Pentium II processor, and that was damn sexy at the time. The computer I have right now is a third? fourth? gen hand-me-down that started it's life as someone else's hot-shit gaming box. I'm not honestly sure what the specs on it are, I'd have to look. And, well, I can't.

Because, you see, it's dying. It's been dying for a long time, but doing it slowly enough that I haven't quite been motivated to replace it. But certain things (like video, or java, or the properties dialogue, or the calendar, or starting Outlook) will lock up the box. And every time I need to reboot it, it takes longer, and more tries before it actually boots all the way. Every once in a while, I speculate that I'm the subject of a psychology experiment.

And we have a computer upstairs, that is a one-generation-younger gaming box than mine, which Raven originally got so she could play The Sims. (Yes, that means the newer of my computers is 8-ish years old. Why?) It's only real purpose these days is to run InDesign for publishing and printing BSP stuff.

But neither of those reasons are sufficient to themselves to overcome my laziness, or it would have happened at least a couple years ago.

However, I recently inherited (and, for a change, I mean that literally) a ancient record player and boxes of 78's from the 40's and 50's, and I've been wracking my head trying to figure out where the heck I can put it. And it occured to me, that if I got rid of the computer desk downstairs, it could easily go there.

But I can't just consolidate into the upstairs computer, because it sits on the same desk as Raven's computer, which means I'd be competing for screen time with both her and Kalen, and that's a fight I'm destined to lose.

So, laptop time. If I pick up a nice, high-end beastie with wireless, a big screen and lots of drive space, it can replace both of my aging, power-sucking desktops, and I'm not tied to any one place in the house any more. I can blog by the fire, or publish at the table, or write in the comfy chair. Or hey, I could even read my forums in the hobby room, listening to 78s on my vintage record player.

I like the sound of that. I think I'll buy me a shiny new laptop. After all, it's been 11 years since the last time I did that.

James

Labels: geekery, Stuff and Things

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Me and my Prius

[tap tap] Is this thing on? Yeah, I know, it's been forever in Internet Time.

Cross-posted from Facebook:

So, it's been a year-ish. I'm still deleriously happy with my Prius.

I've put ~42,000 km on it, in about 12 months, which is roughly 22,000 above "average" mileage.

I'm getting, on average around 5l/100km, better in summer, worse in winter, average gas prices for Alberta across the last 12 months have been ~$1.10/litre*

At 42,000 km, I've consumed roughly 2100 litres of gas this year, for about $2210 in cost.

When I was looking at vehicles, the EPA rating for the Prius was 4.1, and the best equivalent car (mid-sized, good storage) was about 7.3. Lets assume both EPA ratings were biased by the about the same, even throwing a bit of kindness to the other vehicle, and call it 8l/100km for my theoretical other car.

at 42,000km, I would have consumed roughly 3360 litres of gas, for about $3696 in cost. - a straight up savings of almost $1500 in fuel costs, to say nothing of the 1200 litres I didn't consume.

In addition to this, I've consumed less oil, as well, because the hybrid engine wants oil changes every 8K, instead of 5K as a regular vehicle would. Honestly, I'm not laser-accurate on this, and have done 4, or about every 10K. Assuming the same amount of lazy, a regular vehicle would get an oil change every 7K, or 7 by now. (probably 6, with a mental note to "gotta get that done ASAP!") So, 2 or 3 less oil changes. I suppose that's a couple hundred bucks a year save, as well. No, I don't change my own oil.

So, straight up dollar-wise, am I coming out ahead? Assuming I continue to drive this thing into the ground over 5 years, that's $7500 even if gas prices don't go up. Price checking against a mid-line Camry (Which is not quite as fancy as my top-model Prius, but the high-end Camry is much too fancy (heated leather seats and all that jazz bring up the price a lot.), the Camry costs about $2000 less - so before the end of winter, I'll be coming out ahead. Oh, and I totally forgot the $2000 gubmint rebate. So in fact, I broke even before putting a single K on the tires.

Hunh. I hadn't expected that. I was figuring that my win here was going to be in the lower gas consumption and corresponding emissions reduction and all that. I was expecting to end up with a net $$ loss for that, but it turns out to be a net gain. Crazy. Of course, if I had anything like a normal driving pattern, it would be taking a lot longer to make up that difference, but it would still happen. Sweet.

And even assuming that at the end of those 200,000 km I'll need to replace the battery for ~$4000, I'm still ahead of the game. And that assumption isn't a given, BTW; there's lots of folks on various forums and the like reporting that they're past 200,000 -->miles<-- with no noticable degredation in battery performance.

And, of course, this is all "what if I'd bought a non-hybrid new car?" and not "what if I'd kept driving the van?"...

Let's be charitable, and assume the (1997 Astro) van was getting 15l/100km. So, 6300 litres, or $6930 out of pocket. Yeouch.

I <3 my Prius.

James

*roughly calculated. Might be higher, might be lower, but probably not by more than a few cents.

Labels: geekery, Stuff and Things

Thursday, May 08, 2008

Stuff and Things, 17 and 18

El boring post, a few days late.

Stuff and Things for May 5:
-36.63l regular gas (Apr 24)
-32.0l regular gas (Apr 28)
-33.16; regular gas (May 1)

It really doesn't look like I drive a Prius, does it? But then I look through my call log and realize I put on nearly 2000 kilometers in a bit over a week. Oh. Oy.

James

Labels: Stuff and Things

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Stuff and things, Parts Ten Through Sixteen, Inclusive

Umm, yikes?

Ok. I should have all my receipts, but may have missed a thing or two.

For April 21:
-23.27l regular gas (Mar 11)
-33.48l regular gas (Mar 13)
-12.86l regular gas (Mar 17)
-25.49l regular gas (Mar 17)
-18.52l regular gas (Mar 18)
-4l 5w30 oil, oil filter, cabin filter and gasket (Mar 18)
-Command & Conquer 3 for Xbox360 (Mar 18)
-BSG Season 3 box set (Mar 18)
-Small Favor (new Dresden hardcover, insert fanboy squee here) (Mar 22)
-Epistle-inspring swim trunks, later abandoned (Mar 24)
-33.82l regular gas (Apr 14)
-Exchange program propane tank (Apr 17)
-35.82l regular gas (Apr 18)
-Temp/Pressure relief valve, plumbers tape and a CPVC drip tube for my hot water heater (Apr 21)

And I think that actually covers it...

James

Labels: Stuff and Things

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Rambling and things

Random, rambly thoughts follow. Coherency is not guaranteed.

This coming Friday is 3.14, sometimes known as Pi(e) day. I think we will feed gamers pie to celebrate. Any favorite pies to request? No, I'm not going to make a Grete Pye. Too much work for a Friday. I will do spinach and cheese pie.

Also, if we aren't doing Nine Worlds this Friday, Levi may come out and run some Red Box Hack, because I goaded him. Hee hee hee, oops?

Stuff and Things for Mar 10:
-22.2l of regular gas (Mar 4)
-27.82l of regular gas (Mar 7)

Yikes! I'm due for an oil change again. Curse this proper vehicle maintenance!

James

Labels: Friday gaming, Stuff and Things

Monday, March 03, 2008

Stuff and Things, Part The Ninth

... in which I get boring again.

For March 3rd:
-28.88l of regular gas (Feb 25)
-33.28l of regular gas (Mar 1)

James

Labels: Stuff and Things

Monday, February 25, 2008

Stuff and Things, Part Eight

This week's lesson is "check your receipts more rigorously". For, you see, my vehicle only takes 36 litres of fuel when bone dry, and it wasn't bone dry when I filled it. But I don't think I was ripped off, just a victim of weird accounting, because the total feels about right, and the receipt doesn't have any of the other things I bought at the same time as gas.

For February 25:
-30.22l of regular gas (Feb 20)
-38.2l of regular gas (Feb 21)

James

Labels: Stuff and Things

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Stuff and Things, Part Seven

In which we abandon the 'No Pants' plan, to great lamenting. While it is starting to get warm enough for No Pants to possibly be a viable option, I have, alas, found pants.

For February 19:
-29.18l of regular gas (Feb 13)
-4 pairs of pants and a double boiler (Feb 18)

The double boiler is me finally giving in to the fact that I've been wishing I had one for a decade or more, and Lagostina stuff was on sale at the Bay while I was buying pants.

In unrelated news, a playtest of Reality Cops is scheduled for this Friday. Tap me if you're interested.

James

Labels: Friday gaming, Stuff and Things

Monday, February 11, 2008

Stuff and Things, Part Six, and a pants update.

This week I get to look like a good little non-consumer. Only 1 tank of gas, and that's all, yay!

Nothing to do with the fact that I was a stay-at-home dad all week, with Raven being in Australia, no...

For February 11:
-31.46l of regular gas (Feb 8)

And in other news, the No Pants solution has been postponed indefinately, due to Holy Crap, it's Cold Out.

James

Labels: I need a tag for this sort of thing, Stuff and Things

Monday, February 04, 2008

I suck (gas, apparently) Stuff and Things parts 3,4 and 5

Somewhere in the last three weeks, I bought something. But I can't remember what it was, and I can't find the receipt. I suck! It wasn't a big thing; it was an under $20 kind of thing.

For February 4:
-21.86l regular gas (Jan 14)
-23.78l regular gas (Jan 17)
-23.38l regular gas (Jan 21)
-26.7l regular gas (Jan 28)
-29.45l regular gas (Jan 30)
-34.89l regular gas (Feb 04)

Wait! I remember. I bought a book on the way home from Dreamation. So:
-The Wizard of London (Jan 27-ish?)

Wow, I go through a lot of gas. I'm, uh, kinda glad I never did this sort of record-keeping when I was driving the van... eep!

James

Labels: Stuff and Things

Monday, January 14, 2008

Gas guzzler (Stuff and Things, part 2)

I get off pretty easy again this week; haven't bought anything that wasn't food or food-substitute, so it's just gas. Although this does do a lovely job of demonstrating why I bought a hybrid vehicle. It's a slightly atypical week because I had two out-of-town jobs for work, one of which was a 400+km round trip, but it's only slightly unusual. So far on the Prius, I'm averaging a bit under 4000k/month.

For January 14:
-33.56l regular gas (Jan 8)
-29.72l regular gas (Jan 10)

We'll see how long I can keep looking like a non-consumer. I'll 'fess up and note that one of the reasons I haven't bought much is because I can still distract myself with things like the huge Lego order we placed in December...

James

Labels: Stuff and Things

Monday, January 07, 2008

Stuff and Things, Part One

So in my vague mid-thirties flailings to be aware and responsible, I've been running up against one of my prime failings as a moral and upright person: I'm lazy.

Researching causes? Work.

Changing my lifestyle? Work.

Advocacy? Work. Also hypocritical if not backed up with research and lifestyle change.

But I found a solution that works! It combines being responsible and lazy, a win-win!

Take a swing by here and watch the 20 minute video; it's rather thought provoking. With a family at home and a lot of accumulated spending habits, I don't think I can quit Stuff cold turkey - that golden arrow is a nasty habit to kick.

But I can track it. So, in 2008, I'm presenting a 52-part series, posting on Mondays, tagged as Stuff and Things. Every week, I'll post the Stuff I bought in the last week, excluding straight-up consumables like food and gas. (Actually, I think I'll try to track gas as well, but won't commit to it.)

For January 7, 2008:
-oil filter, gasket and 4l of 5W30 engine oil (Jan 5)
-25.184l regular gas (Jan 7)

(I totally get off easy this first week.)

I'm not tracking the stuff Raven buys, and it feels kinda like cheating to leave out the consumables - because wow do we ever spend a lot on food and groceries - but it should still be pretty informative at the end of the year. And if I can't manage to keep it up... well, that's also informative.

James

Labels: Stuff and Things