• How high can we go?

    Still catching up. From last year, no less!

    I found these photos on my Treo. They're from a creativity activity that we did in my middle daughter's gifted class. We were there for an orientation. The task was simple: using only one sheet of paper, and this little bit of tape, build something to hold a stack of books at least one inch above the ground. But the results were spectacular, especially from the viewpoint of an 8 year old girl!

    Continue reading "Old News: Book Stacking"

  • Hang on, bro!

    I'm making up for lost time, posting a bunch of older news in one big rush. I've been busy at work, of course.

    I picked up the kids' lawn mower from Sears, and on the way home I found a lizard on my hood. I decided to name him Rex, but I kept referring to him as 'bro' for some odd reason.

    Continue reading "Lizards Are Not Aerodynamic"

  • Honda Reliability

    Ao-kun just reached 200,000 miles!

    This is likely the last time I'll post anything about my Honda Civic Hatchback or his mileage. Not because he's having trouble or anything: even as an old-timer, he's in excellent shape. But I have to wait in line to drop off kids nowadays, and I can't really use pulse-and-glide so effectively in those cases. It's hard to tell when to shut off the engine.

    Nevertheless, I'm still getting consistently over 45MPG, sometimes as high as 50MPG.

    Congratulations, Ao-kun! 16 years old, 200K miles, and still getting better mileage than a Prius!

  • Yes, my wife actually said that. For geeky reasons: I fixed her screensaver.

    Continue reading "Alpha Geek: I Am A God"

  • I apologize in advance for writing this so long after the fact. Nathan came over last Sunday (2007-09-09), and we tried to figure out why I got such short range on my last trip.

    There are three main candidates: brush advance, rolling resistance, and battery charge.

    Continue reading "Judebert's EV Conversion Diary: Range Troubleshooting"