Extremely Local News for Sunday, 4/27

Here is the Sunday 4/27/08 edition of Extremely Local News.

* Our southern neighbor burned a leaf pile.
* Georgie (our orange cat) left his "cave" to set what everyone was up to.
* I used a computer.
* Blackie slept, ate some food, and slept.
* Tim ate some hot dogs.
* Chubbie (our grey cat) drank some water.
* I poisoned some dandelions.
* A duck chased another duck.
* Sarah (with an "h") dealt with customers and co-workers (or as Scott Adams says, "cow-workers").
* We had a fire drill at church during Sunday School, but it wasn't a drill.
* Doug picked up his mail.
* I had some pizza.
* Bennett had some pizza.
* Some neighborhood kids walked past our house.

Gentle reader, I hoped that you enjoyed this installment of Extremely Local News. Tune in next time to learn what happened to the plant. Same bat time. Same bat channel.

Googly Eyes Gardener video

Indoor gardening tips from a man (played by Christopher Walken) who's very scared of plants.

How Duct Tape Saved Apollo 17

What follows is a true story from NASA.

During the Apollo 17 mission to the moon, an astronaut accidentally broke off one of the fenders on their Lunar Roving Vehicle (aka "moonbuggy"). This was a serious situation, as the four fenders kept moondust kicked up by the tires from covering the moonbuggy and the astronauts.

When a rover rolls across the lunar surface, it kicks up a plume of moondust in its wake. (Astronauts called them "rooster tails.") Without a fender, the rover would be showered by a spray of dark, abrasive grit. White spacesuits blackened by dust could turn into dangerous absorbers of the fierce lunar sun with astronauts overheating inside. Sharp-edged dust wiped off visors would scratch the glass, making helmets difficult to see out of. Moondust also had an uncanny way of working itself into hinges, latches and joints, rendering them useless.¹

Fortunately, the astronauts had a roll of duct tape. They temporarily reattached the fender using some duct tape they'd brought along on the moonbuggy.

After returning to the lunar lander, the astronauts informed Houston of the problem. NASA's engineers came up with a more permanent solution: duct tape together four laminated maps, and then duct tape those to the moonbuggy in place of the broken fender. The new map-and-duct tape fender worked for the remainder of the lunar mission.

So remember, gentle reader, always have duct tape available. You never know when it will help you out, even on the moon!

¹ quoted from the article "Moondust and Duct Tape" found at http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2008/21apr_ducttape.htm?list709814

My Vehicle Hates Me

Well, gentle reader, it finally happened. My vehicle's exhaust pipe completely detached itself from the undecarriage, dragging itself along the ground. The exhaust pipe, not the undercarriage, as that would be silly. The best part is that it is the front end of the exhaust pipe that is dragging on the ground.

Remembering that an RV owner had once been fined for starting a forest fire due to a dragging exhaust pipe, I decided to call for a tow truck. Whereupon I discovered that a cell phone doesn't work very well when you are standing directly underneath 5 - 7 power lines.

By the way... Yes, that's a picture of me driving my SUV, pre-problems, off-road in some desert. It was a lot of fun! (Editor's note: No, that is not David.)

On the plus side, I got a lot of great exercise walking to where I could get a good enough cell phone signal to call for a tow truck. But, as I'd already mentioned, that was also when I discovered the deal with cell phones and power lines.

So remember, kids... if you ever need to use your cell phone, don't bother if you're standing directly underneath a bunch of power lines. Just walk across the street to where there aren't power lines, rather than half a mile down that road but still under the power lines. Staying under the power lines does not help, no matter how far you walk.

And knowing is half the battle. G.I. Joe!

Earth Hour

How did you celebrate Earth Hour?

What's "Earth Hour", you ask?

Well, gentle reader, according to Google Earth Hour is an effort to encourage people around the world to turn off their lights for one hour, 8 PM to 9 PM, on March 29th, 2008, and to think about ways to protect the environment, do something about global warming, conserve energy, remember how to light a candle, and save puppies. Or something like that. It began in 2007 in Sydney, Australia. But this year, it's global.

It again began in Sydney, with some residents carrying black balloons. When the clock struck 9 PM there and residents again turned on their lights and could again see where they were walking, the city celebrated by setting off fireworks. Lots of fireworks. Good thing that fireworks don't release any pollutants into the atmosphere, or residue on the ground.

In all seriousness, here at Spike the Wave we do believe that conserving energy is a good thing to do. Always have. We just don't like feeling coerced into doing something just because all the sheep are doing it. Especially when the "conservation" activity seems rather pointless. Kind of like protesting high gasoline prices by not buying any fuel. For one day.

We celebrated Earth Hour by turning on every light in the house, including the flood lamps out back. Our power meter spun so fast it nearly came out of its casing.

Later on the evening news, there was a report about the International Space Station seeing a really bright light near the eastern shore of Lake Michigan around 8 PM EDT. I'm sure it was just a coincident.

By the way, Google itself celebrated Earth Hour by turning its main search web page black (from it's usual white). Though, ironically, doing so may actually cause some people's computer monitors to use more power. Ah, sweet irony. Click the image to see the larger version, and watch your power usage soar. Yee hah!