http://joshnekrep.com/home/index.php Copyright 2008, Josh Nekrep Josh Nekrep en-US SPHPBLOG 0.4.8 http://joshnekrep.com/home/index.php?entry=entry081113-203255 ]]> in a nutshell http://joshnekrep.com/home/index.php?entry=entry081113-203255 Josh Nekrep Fri, 14 Nov 2008 02:32:55 GMT http://joshnekrep.com/home/comments.php?y=08&m=11&entry=entry081113-203255 http://joshnekrep.com/home/index.php?entry=entry081105-172037 deep breath in
silly little fanciful thoughts and all that nonsense
deep breath out
relax
Excitement
deep breath in
a whirlwind of catching up and a flurry of moving forward
deep breath out
relax
Expectation
deep breath in
managing expectation, left brain and right brain fight it out
deep breath out
relax
Delight
deep breath in
the right brain wins
deep breath out
just relax]]> thoughtstream http://joshnekrep.com/home/index.php?entry=entry081105-172037 Josh Nekrep Wed, 05 Nov 2008 23:20:37 GMT http://joshnekrep.com/home/comments.php?y=08&m=11&entry=entry081105-172037 http://joshnekrep.com/home/index.php?entry=entry081031-010151 ]]> in a nutshell http://joshnekrep.com/home/index.php?entry=entry081031-010151 Josh Nekrep Fri, 31 Oct 2008 06:01:51 GMT http://joshnekrep.com/home/comments.php?y=08&m=10&entry=entry081031-010151 http://joshnekrep.com/home/index.php?entry=entry081026-220553
But I do have to work for what I get. Sometimes it feels hard. A different kind of hard, but hard nonetheless.

But every once in a while everything just seems to come together. Lately I've been getting the feeling that I'm coming into one of those times. Things just seem to be aligning themselves nicely. It doesn't even seem to matter if it's work or play, new opportunities seem to be just presenting themselves.

Can't wait to see where it all goes. :)

-j]]> in a nutshell http://joshnekrep.com/home/index.php?entry=entry081026-220553 Josh Nekrep Mon, 27 Oct 2008 03:05:53 GMT http://joshnekrep.com/home/comments.php?y=08&m=10&entry=entry081026-220553 http://joshnekrep.com/home/index.php?entry=entry081018-010708
Some nitwits (with credentials) in Australia have calculated how much greenhouse gas is produced by cattle and sheep (farmed for food) and have decided that their country could GREATLY reduce their greenhouse emissions if they were to eliminate virtually all of these animals.

Seriously?

Josh, where do you get this stuff? You must be making this up. Right? Right?

I wish. Their plan calls for a reduction of 97% of all cattle and sheep, to be replaced by kangaroos because - get this - kangaroos don't burp pollution. I honestly couldn't make this stuff up folks.

I guess they're tired of pinning all the environmental woes on man's obsession with motor vehicles. Now it's the cows' fault.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008 ... 381118.htm

-j]]> in a nutshell http://joshnekrep.com/home/index.php?entry=entry081018-010708 Josh Nekrep Sat, 18 Oct 2008 06:07:08 GMT http://joshnekrep.com/home/comments.php?y=08&m=10&entry=entry081018-010708 http://joshnekrep.com/home/index.php?entry=entry080805-020733 ]]> in a nutshell http://joshnekrep.com/home/index.php?entry=entry080805-020733 Josh Nekrep Tue, 05 Aug 2008 07:07:33 GMT http://joshnekrep.com/home/comments.php?y=08&m=08&entry=entry080805-020733 http://joshnekrep.com/home/index.php?entry=entry080724-195343 ]]> in a nutshell http://joshnekrep.com/home/index.php?entry=entry080724-195343 Josh Nekrep Fri, 25 Jul 2008 00:53:43 GMT http://joshnekrep.com/home/comments.php?y=08&m=07&entry=entry080724-195343 http://joshnekrep.com/home/index.php?entry=entry080723-194013 thoughtstream http://joshnekrep.com/home/index.php?entry=entry080723-194013 Josh Nekrep Thu, 24 Jul 2008 00:40:13 GMT http://joshnekrep.com/home/comments.php?y=08&m=07&entry=entry080723-194013 http://joshnekrep.com/home/index.php?entry=entry080722-030003
[02:41am] digitalblue: We have a "conservative" government here, but hey... I've been following this stuff for a while and I'm pretty sure I know what conservative is supposed to mean.. and... I don't think we really have conservative representation in Canada.
[02:41am] Xantha: its like that here too
[02:42am] digitalblue: You guys aren't nearly as socialist as Canada tho.
[02:42am] digitalblue: We really have left, and a little more to the left.
[02:42am] Xantha: lol
[02:42am] Xantha: i thought things sort of changed tho
[02:42am] digitalblue: I pay 43% income tax. Need I say more?
[02:42am] Xantha: ahh
[02:42am] Xantha: well its not far off here
[02:43am] Xantha: and then... all the other tax.. property, gas, sales, excise, death lol
[02:43am] Xantha: every fucking thing is taxed
[02:43am] Xantha: then
[02:43am] digitalblue: AND... 43% of all income tax collected goes to fund a failing health care system that is bloated and bursting at the seams (despite what you may have heard about Canada's wonderful "free" health care).
[02:44am] Xantha: try to get a permit to build something? it will cost you as much i permitting fees and building materials and labor if you let them get at you
[02:44am] Xantha: wow
[02:44am] Xantha: i alway s thought canada had such a good healthcare program
[02:44am] Xantha: haha
[02:44am] digitalblue: I figured it out... last year I paid nearly $20,000 in taxes just for my "free" health care.
[02:44am] Xantha: yea
[02:44am] Xantha: heh
[02:44am] digitalblue: I went to the doctor once.
[02:44am] digitalblue: It cost me $20,000.
[02:44am] digitalblue: Good deal!
[02:44am] digitalblue:
[02:45am] Xantha: mine costs me hmm.. 30 a momth for what would cost me individually 600 a month in insurance
[02:45am] Xantha: lol
[02:45am] Xantha: yes tho like here you are paying for htose that cannot afford it
[02:45am] Xantha: if i go to the hospital they bill my insurance co full price.. of which i pay a part
[02:46am] digitalblue: Well, I'm actually all for that. I have no problem with some amount of redistribution to support those who are in need. But if that's all it were it wouldn't be costing me $20K.
[02:46am] Xantha: but if some homeless person or low income person.. or hmmm... illegal alien goes to the hospital - my full fees cover their free treatment
[02:46am] Xantha: exactly digital
[02:47am] digitalblue: We have a system with a double-edged sword of pain. With absolutely no alternative to our socialized health care, we have an incentive to overconsume on the part of the population coupled with an incentive to overprovide on the part of the system. Bad news bears.
[02:48am] Xantha: heh
[02:49am] digitalblue: It goes totally against even the most basic laws of economics. As a result, the only way to remotely control spending is to ration health care. Thus, we have crazy long wait lists that are intentionally created by choking out resources as a way to prevent spending even more than we do.
[02:49am] Xantha: lol
[02:49am] Xantha: invertedly bassacwards and upside down eh?
[02:49am] Xantha: bassackwards*
[02:50am] digitalblue: I've used this analogy before, but imagine if McDonalds decided to give out free cheeseburgers. The lines would be endless. The only way to curb that would be to limit the number of burgers given out. At the end of the day, those who want to BUY a cheeseburger (and have the means to) would not be able to. They'd have to stand in a long line and wait and hope. Only difference with our system is that it's often a matter of life and death - or at least of quality of life.
[02:51am] Xantha: heh good analogy
[02:52am] digitalblue: A simple system would be to allow private insurance companies to sell insurance that would cover treatment in the US if a Canadian needed the treatment and could not obtain it in a reasonable time. However, currently it is illegal in Canada for an insurance company to offer such a plan.
[02:52am] digitalblue: Wow... you just opened Pandora's Box there... can you tell I'm a wee bit passionate about that topic?
[02:52am] Xantha: HAHAHAH
[02:52am] Xantha: yes
[02:52am] Xantha: and thats a GOOD THING
[02:52am] Xantha:
[02:54am] digitalblue: You know.. I absolutely love my country. I don't love the current political climate, and I detest that we don't even have a better political option from which to choose. But I love the country. It kills me to see the bad stuff when it can so easily be fixed (or could be, if Canadians would pull their socialist little heads out of their puckered rectums).
[02:55am] Xantha: lolol
[02:55am] Xantha: yes that asshat phenomena.. its prevalent here too

]]> in a nutshell http://joshnekrep.com/home/index.php?entry=entry080722-030003 Josh Nekrep Tue, 22 Jul 2008 08:00:03 GMT http://joshnekrep.com/home/comments.php?y=08&m=07&entry=entry080722-030003 http://joshnekrep.com/home/index.php?entry=entry080614-213516
I like to think of myself as one who doesn't just "go with the herd" when it comes to... well.. anything. Ask my old high school teachers, any boss I've ever had, or any friend of mine, and they'll agree that I question *everything*. I'm not quick to jump on board with the latest Group Think, nor am I easy to sway once I've set my mind on something.

It's this attitude of curiosity that has led me to question such things as manmade climate change, benefits of recycling programs, and the like. These ideas are widely accepted as fact and only a few brave souls, it seems, dare to question "conventional wisdom". In fact, I get a lot of flack for my skeptical views on supposed Global Warming. I am regarded by many as the irresponsible heathen for scoffing at paper recycling. But it's ok. I've put more time and thought into these subject than virtually anyone who ever challenges me and I feel fairly confident (as confident as anyone can ever feel, I suppose) about my position on both these topics.

But it turns out there's something that might have slipped past me (until recently). And this one has (possibly) hit my own pocketbook fairly dramatically over the last several years - with me, all the while, completely ignorant to it. For several years now I have been using (nearly exclusively) ethanol blended gasoline. Why? About the same price, higher octant, cleaner, and more efficient, right? Sure! That's what I've believed all along.

I mean, both Canadian and US governments are investing oodles of money toward propping up an emerging biofuel industry. It must be for good reason. Now, any of you who read this site (both of you?) know by now that I'm not concerned about my car exhaust changing our climate, melting our polar ice caps, killing polar bears, and sinking Vancouver and New York into the oceanic depths. However, I do believe that in major centers smog is a real concern. And even beyond the environmental impact of vehicle emissions, there's the economic realities of rising fuel prices. Few people know this reality more than me. I drive WAY more than the average person. Granted, that is down considerably since I've changed what I do for a living, but I still drive a lot - about double what is considered the average (Hey, it used to be nearly triple!). So, of course, I am always looking for increased efficiency.

I've done a few things to reduce my fuel consumption. For starters, I've slowed down. For as long as I've been driving I've always been the "weaving in and out of traffic" guy (not terribly, nor erratic, but quick). However, the combination of the unbearable cost of speeding tickets and the increase in fuel costs have absolutely slowed me down on the road. I know that's a good thing (and I hate it when those photo radar folk win! I really, really do...) but it did absolutely take a hit to the wallet to change my behavior. Not easy for a guy like me to admit fault.. but hey... facts is facts.

I also have become more aware of idling my vehicle - again, not as much because of the environmental impact but specifically because of the cost of fuel. It's really come to the point where I start measuring fuel consumption in terms of $/hr of driving - which is, by the way, somewhere between $12 and $15 per hour at present... ugh.

However, another thing that I did long ago to increase fuel economy was switch to ethanol blended fuel. Higher octane for the same price sounded like a no-brainer to me. I'm (clearly) not a mechanic, but it seemed pretty simple. Higher octane burns better and your engine requires less of it to do the same job.

And I was content believing this (even though I *should* have known better than to trust the herd) until a recent conversation with my friend Chris. Now, a little about Chris so you'll know where I was coming from. Chris is a great guy, and a good friend. He is, however, one who definitely falls into the "government is out to get us... big business is evil... humans are killing everything... the world is coming to an end" camp. In the world according to Chris 9/11 was a conspiracy to allow the US to steal oil from the middle east, global warming is killing us all, the government is allowing big business to control our food supplies (and this will, I'm sure, be the ultimate death of us all), and fluoride in the water is a poison put there to... um... heck, I don't even remember the evil intent of that one.

And I have to say this, before I get too pious here - often times there is *something* to what he has to say or to his view of the world. I just find myself not buying in to the conspiracy elements of his world view much of the time.

So, with this in mind, you can imagine my skepticism when he informed me the last time we had a marathon chat session that ethanol blended fuel was a big-oil conspiracy, and that it was actually *less* efficient, not more. Scoff! Come on Chris! You can't expect me to buy that!

He told me about an article he'd read that said as much and we debated the point briefly. In the end, I told him that I couldn't really debate the issue because I totally lack the mechanical understanding to be well equipped for the argument. However, I was clear that the claim seemed dubious at best. He challenged me to try my own test. Now we're talking... this is precisely the way I work. Forget articles.. forget pundits... forget hearsay. Let's just see what real experience has to say.

Turns out that it's harder to conduct such a test than I might have thought. Chris suggested that I record how much fuel I currently consume using ethanol blended fuel, then switch for one tank to traditional fuel. Turns out, this isn't really an effective test. The problem I immediately found was that my driving habits are not at all consistent. In my first tank of ethanol fuel, I used 40 liters to go 280 kilometers. For the next tank, I switched to traditional fuel. I used 42 liters of that tank and logged a whopping 420 kilometers. It would seem that I got *remarkably* better fuel economy on traditional gas. However, this wasn't necessarily a fair test because it occurred to me that I had done considerably more highway driving on the second tank, including a trip to East Selkirk, Manitoba and a trip to my cottage, both on that single tank. Clearly, this would have positively effected my fuel efficiency. However.. .the looming question is, would it increase my efficiency by THAT MUCH? I'd say that question is yet to be effectively answered. However, I the results did spur me to keep an ongoing log of my fuel efficiency. The third tank in my ongoing experiment included yet another trip to the cottage and back. I will log the milage once again.

So, up to this point, my results are by no means conclusive. However, my initial hunch is that I am, indeed, getting better fuel economy on traditional gasoline than I have been on the ethanol stuff. This finding led me to do a bit of research and, low and behold, what I'm finding is that there are tons of reports that ethanol blended fuel can effect fuel economy *negatively* by anywhere from 10% to 35% !!! I guess we'll see.

So, this leads me to question if maybe, just maybe, there's a little something to Chris's conspiracy theory. Why would the big oil companies be so eager to go along with the ethanol bandwagon? Could it be because this ethanol stuff insures that we will keep on guzzling? Even as the price rises, it is possible that (despite our best efforts) our actual consumption will rise at the same time?

Huh. I don't know just yet. But definitely something to watch.

I'd encourage anyone who drives to try their own ethanol challenge. See what works for you. As always (and I can't believe I'll finally be able to use this phrase in its correct context...), your milage may vary. :)

-j]]> thoughtstream http://joshnekrep.com/home/index.php?entry=entry080614-213516 Josh Nekrep Sun, 15 Jun 2008 02:35:16 GMT http://joshnekrep.com/home/comments.php?y=08&m=06&entry=entry080614-213516