Wednesday, June 08, 2016

Words of Wisdom Wednesday

God doesn't require us to succeed; he only requires that you try.

Mother Teresa




With how things have been energy wise.... this seems appropriate.

Hope you are having a great week!!

Keep trying.  Keep moving.  Keep going.

Tuesday, June 07, 2016

Timeout Tuesday - Douglas Adams and the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - the game

Be prepared to waste some time....I just spend an hour and didn't make it past stage one! lol, it may be time to re-read the book. Speaking of which...have you? What was your favourite part?

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Game - 30th Anniversary Edition

It's probably bad form but, I'm just going to let you fumble your way through it like I did. It's more fun that way. Don't panic! ;-)

Here are 42 of his best quotes too...I'd like to tell you my favourite ones but, I can't decide.

42 Douglas Adams quotes to live by

The book on Amazon.ca:  Douglas Adams: 5 book set

The entire radio series on cd at Amazon.ca:  A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - entire radio series on CD

Sunday, June 05, 2016

Sunday Message - Enjoy


Quickly tonight because I'm busy enjoying The Great Outdoors and posting from my phone.

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Enjoy

Enjoy life. Enjoy all the lessons it brings. The hard ones and the easy.

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Well, quick and to the point. The Creator must want me to get on with my enjoyment. I hope you do too.

Thursday, June 02, 2016

Earth Thursday - Free Energy

This is a fairly controversial topic and for some it gets dangerous....depending on how far and where you take it.  Free/Green/Cheap Energy is a topic that I started following at a distance quite some time ago and have been slowly creeping closer and closer over the years to see what's really going on.  My biggest finding is that there are so many different options.  I've done a bit of research and will post some of the more interesting and revolutionary things that I've found myself.  I'd love to hear of any that you know about.  Most of the ones I mention are giving away a lot of what they do and know and are therefore not earning a whole lot of money for what they do.  Most of them are accepting donations and if you decide that you want to contribute please do some research yourself and make sure that you are putting your money in the right place for you.  I will likely come back to this subject in the future because there are a few of these organizations/foundations that I'd like to talk about a little more.

The first one I'll mention is something that Instructables.com sent me in an email recently.  It's a seemingly simple little device but, the great thing about this "ible" is that the person who contributed it does a great job in explaining what has been done so that if you want to take the project further you can.  (That is my favourite type of information; kind of a "teach me so that I/it man grow" frame of mind.)  Something else in this is that there are some good arguments for and against its use in the comments section...as in all of these type of things one side gets a little touchy and rude but, there are some good arguments put forth and from what I read (I'll be honest, I didn't read them all) they seem to stay fairly intelligent but, I urge you to make your own mind up about what side you're on.

Free Energy from Thin Air by DrewPaulDesigns

**On a side note, if you are a DIY type of person and you've not ever visited Instructables.com I urgently urge to get on over there right now.  Go with caution though...it's a big place.  Kind of like Pinterest with useful information on how to do what's in the picture.  I should really have done this note as a "Timeout Tuesday" for the time it can consume.**



Other options are Solar and Wind energy.  There are been so many posts on these things that if you just whisper that it what you're looking for then GoOgle (or whatever search engine you use) will start spouting pages and pages of how to build and where to get them.  There are sources on Instructables.com but, I'll let you sort through them.  Some other things I've read about are here:

Verticle Axis Wind Turbine - The videos on this (there are three that I've seen so far) are fantastic and full of instruction.  The couple is entertaining too.  The website where you can get the plans for this and so much more is Green Power Science.  The YouTube video is below.  I've noticed that they've got all kinds of other things going on besides this VAWT so, I'll be checking out more of their stuff for sure!



Next up: Gravity.  I would never (didn't actually) think of gravity as an energy source.  When you start to think about it though it's a pretty powerful force right?  I mean it's all that's keeping us from flying off the planet....lol  Now this light is far from the only one out there but, it's the first one I heard about many years ago and it is now part of a pretty amazing charitable organization called The GravityLight Foundation.  Basically, their goal is to provide these lights to the more than 1.5 billion people in impoverished places like Africa and India in order to replace kerosene lamps that can be among many other things a fire hazard....not something you want to have to worry about on top of all your other troubles right?  The home page of that website has a short 1:15 minute video on what it's all about.

Solar power.  Everyone knows about solar power and how expensive it can be and how cumbersome and heavy the panels can be and then  when you've conquered all of those hurdles where do you put them...?  Well, the Department of Physics and Astronomy and Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at The University of Sheffield has potentially found a solution.  I'm really looking forward to it developing into a financially viable option available at a consumer level.  It is essentially spray on solar panels.  This isn't the article that I first read but, I'm pretty sure it's the same product with some advances since I first heard about it.  The one I read said that it was only being applied to windows in new builds but they were working on a spray on version for things like office towers that had lots of windows.  However, in this article they are talking about putting it on corrugated metal too and only talking about its spray on method of application.

I'll only mention one more because I could go on and on but, I'm sure I've planted the bug and you can take it from here...I have faith in you!

The QEG - Quantum Energy Generator.  It was invented by Tesla and it is a self powering energy generator.  Amazing right?  Yes, it really is.  I can't remember how I stumbled upon this but, I found this foundation that is developing and building this idea that Tesla had come up with but, wasn't able to take to it's completion. (Insert conspiracy theories here! lol)  This company; Fix The World S.A.R.L. is open sourcing (I think that's the right term) all of what they find.  You can download the plans on their website and go at it.  They've also got quite a bit of information, supply resources and you can purchase one of their kits and sign up for their courses.  From what I see on their blogs (which are sometimes epically long!) they are having quite a struggle with it and....well, I'll let you look into all of that yourself.  HopeGirl seems to be the face of the organization and she's pretty well educated.  They are however right on the verge of making this happen.  It's pretty exciting really.  Their YouTube channel is: HopeGirl YouTube and again, there is so much useful information here.

That's it for me for now.  I hope I've inspired you in some way.  Let me know if you have any other information or projects.  I'd love to hear about them.  Please feel free to post related links in the comments below.

Wednesday, June 01, 2016

Wednesday Words of Wisdom - Life's Lemons

one can hope!


So recently, I saw this quote below and told my my oldest about it;

my apologies for the language


Sounded pretty darn good to me at the time! Then he turned to me and said "yeah, but life has a habit of accepting the challenge and upping the ante"

....~....~....  (that's the silence of me in shock, lol)

He amazes me!  I've always envied the way he can say the right thing at the right time.  I've never had that super power, I'm kind of jealous.  I always seem to have some trouble putting into words the thoughts that are in my head.  No doubt that's why I've spent the better part of the last three or four hours looking for an inspirational quote on raising kids and how important it is and just couldn't find what I wanted to say....then I found the one at the top of the page and laughed and decided that was what I was going to use...then I remembered the conversation about lemons and life with Mr. Monkey.

You see, I've been stressed out recently about how things are going with the Little Dragon and if our environment is having a negative effect on him and wondering what I can or should do about it....and the world of child rearing advice online is a big and intense place....  I guess I've been looking for inspiration...or something...I seem to have found it where I totally wasn't expecting to.  Right when "they" say you will...when I gave up looking so hard.

Me.  I am my inspiration.  I don't mean that to be cocky.

I have a 24 year old so, I've been through all of this already and if I do say so (and many, mostly relatives, wouldn't) he's a darn good kid in all the important ways...and let me tell you.....his teens were nearly the end of me.  So, I'm going to stop trying so hard with the Little Dragon and let him "just be" a little more (...that ought to irritate my family to no end!  Not my goal but, that's what will happen.  Apparently I'm ruining him).

Here's how I see it; how better to learn than to go happily about living life, conquering obstacles and making mistakes.  All the while knowing you have someone who cares about you ready to help celebrate your successes and understand Life's lessons.  Then, if by chance you stumble (or worse) you'll know that you have someone who will pick you up, give you a hug, explain what might have gone wrong and help you find another way through.  Sounds fantastic....right?  It does to me.


that's the Monkey on a bus in England in 2009

The next ling of this quote says "We treat them as such."  Personally, I think that is makes better sense like this "We should treat them as such."  I don't mean to say that R. W. E. was wrong in what he said, I'm not even entirely certain what he was talking about but, for right now, in the way things are if we teach our children as if they are people who are new to our country and culture (in a kind, loving and supportive way) then they will thrive that much more.

This next one though by far is the best advice I've seen in some time and I think I will keep it in the forefront of my thoughts for the next while as a reminder that as long as you always do your best with what you've got then there is nothing more that you can do....and keep it simple!

the Dragon on Canada Day in 2014

Well, that's enough from me I think.  I hope you have a great day and remember.....


When Life accepts your challenge step up and challenge it right back!!