Thursday, January 14, 2010

OLD Post - Premises

SUNDAY, AUGUST 03, 2008

THE WORD "PREMISES"

Today in Ridiculous Word Origins

Thanks to Wikipedia, I now know how the word "premises", meaning a tract of land with its buildings and other facilities, has a silly root. Wiki says:
"Premises are land and
buildings together considered as a property. This usage arose from property owners finding the word in their title deeds, where it originally correctly meant "the aforementioned; what this document is about", from Latin prae-missus = "placed before".
Some people suppose that since "premises" looks like a
plural, a single house or other piece of property must be a "premise"; but the word "premise" is reserved for use as a term in logic meaning something assumed or taken as given in making an argument."

Silly, no?

OLD Post - Beliefs

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 02, 2008

MY BELIEFS

These are the results from my most recent
Belief-O-Matic test.


Your Results:

The top score on the list below represents the faith that Belief-O-Matic, in its less than infinite wisdom, thinks most closely matches your beliefs. However, even a score of 100% does not mean that your views are all shared by this faith, or vice versa.

Belief-O-Matic then lists another 26 faiths in order of how much they have in common with your professed beliefs. The higher a faith appears on this list, the more closely it aligns with your thinking.

How did the Belief-O-Matic do? Discuss your results on our message boards.

1. Secular Humanism (100%)
2. Unitarian Universalism (93%)
3. Liberal Quakers (90%)
4. Theravada Buddhism (82%)
5. Jainism (75%)
6. Neo-Pagan (75%)
7. Nontheist (72%)
8. Orthodox Quaker (70%)
9. Mahayana Buddhism (66%)
10. Taoism (63%)
11. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (62%)
12. Bahá'í Faith (56%)
13. Seventh Day Adventist (55%)
14. New Age (53%)
15. Hinduism (46%)
16. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (44%)
17. Reform Judaism (44%)
18. Eastern Orthodox (38%)
19. Islam (38%)
20. Orthodox Judaism (38%)
21. Roman Catholic (38%)
22. Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (36%)
23. Sikhism (34%)
24. Jehovah's Witness (24%)
25. Scientology (20%)
26. New Thought (14%)
27. Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (9%)

OLD Post - Green Companies

GREEN COMPANIES

Here is a sample of companies that are standing up and making a difference for our environment and our future. For the complete list, please follow the link below.
http://www.plentymag.com/magazine/the_plenty_20_1.php?page=5

A123 Systems
The dawn of the hybrid car—not to mention $4-per-gallon gasoline—shows the importance of fuel-saving batteries. At the head of the class is A123. This Watertown, Massachusetts, start-up has a $148 million venture capital war chest that fueled a nanotech breakthrough: a battery that charges faster, holds more power, and is safer than anything out now. A123 is already taking orders for lithium batteries that turn a Toyota Prius into a plug-in machine clocking 100 miles per gallon; and by 2010, they will power GM’s Chevy Volt.

Applied Materials
Even as big-money entrants crowd the solar field, Applied stands out as a likely winner. Already a Fortune 500 company producing computer chip–making equipment, Applied has repurposed its nanomanufacturing technology to create the largest thin-film solar cells in the world. Thin-film, which involves layering sunlight-reactive material to mold around a variety of bases, has sky-high potential because of its low cost and flexibility. As Applied works on increasing solar-film efficiency, this technology will likely play a starring role in the clean energy picture.

IBM
Big Blue has said it will spend $1 billion in its “Big Green” initiative to make its products more energy efficient (primarily in carbon-chomping corporate data centers). But IBM is also one of the key players in a movement that includes Fortune 500 companies, nimble start-ups, and electric utilities exploring ways to make the entire energy grid smarter. This means putting computer processors into every node so that companies can more accurately meter and charge for energy usage—creating incentives for efficiency unimaginable in the past.

Arup
Arup brings to life the cutting-edge eco-dreams of architecture’s stars. This international design and construction consultancy has worked on more than 1,000 green projects in the last ten years, with a portfolio spanning from the new California Academy of Sciences and its living roof, by Renzo Piano, to the eco-city planned for Dongtan, China. Arup also advises clients about marine ecology, human health impacts, and noise pollution, as it brings the latest ideas in sustainability to the built environment.

Bon Appétit Management Company
You don’t need a neighborhood vegan café to boost your low-carbon diet....
more

OLD BLOGS

I just closed an old blog that I retiring, and am going to repost some of the interesting blogs here so that they will still be available. Enjoy.

Sunday, December 6, 2009

Day Log: 06-12-09

Aside: Just in case you are confused, I have always found it more useful to right the date from smallest to largest: DD-MM-YY, as is common outside the US. So, if you find it confusing, don't be alarmed. It's me, not you.

Today was in many ways an ordinary Sunday. Nothing incredibly special happened. I woke up late around 7am, and stayed in bed reading until around 9:30. I stayed home for a while and cleaned up until around 10:30 am when Jenni and I tried to go to use free breakfast coupons at Chick-fila. We had to stop by the Green House to pick up the coupons, and on the way, remembered that we would unfortunately have to dine in some other manner this lovely Sunday morning since Chick-fila is run by devout Mormons who take Sunday as a Holy Day. Instead, we went to Target, where we were already planning to go to buy Jenni some face cleanser that she needed. While there, we shopped in their food aisle, which we had previously found stocked with tasty food at below average prices. As yet, the only food item that I have seen there that is above average is milk, which I only noticed because I bought some today for about $0.50 more than anywhere else. On our way out of the store, we also stopped by the jewelry kiosk, where I looked at a replacement watch for my current paint speckled, dented, and stained wrist watch. I purchased a new one by TIMEX that is part of an Iron Man Triathlon series, allowing me to efficiently time any running, biking, or swimming. These features will also come in handy in many other training applications, and my only regret at this point was not looking into one that also had a pedometer. Besides that, and the need to read the whole instructions manual before being able to program the thing (which now seems intuitive), I have no regrets. I was also able to sneak it a cheap purchase for Jenni, as she saw a fashionable but cheap wrist watch that I was able to sneak into our bag and purchase without her noticing. As much as I might have enjoyed the thought of saving it as a secret gift until Christmas, I gave in to my impatience, and gave her the watch in the car. She was happily surprised.

We returned to the house in the early afternoon, and after a lazy late breakfast, I put Jenni back to bed for a short time while I continued to read. Early this year, or late last year, I introduced Jenni to the old Tarzan series by Edgar Rice Burroughs. We quickly read through the first book, and after a few month respite, we read through the second. They are not incredibly deep books, and can be wildly, and unbelievably fantastic at parts (fairly frequently). However, besides being wholly unbelievable, they are incredibly entertaining, and, as any good novel should, strings the reader along with teasers, and well placed commercial interruptions. We recently (2 days ago) began the 3rd of the book series, and are together about halfway finished. My mother was interested in the Tarzan series when I was younger, and tracked down and bought several old editions. While in middle school, I got my hands on a few of them, and read the first 12 or 13. As it turns out, there are 24 books, of which I believe not all were written by Burroughs. With the new technology available to us today, I was able to buy all 24 books in digital format from Amazon for $5, which I read through a 'kindle' application on my iTouch.

At 2:15, Jenni showered and prepared to leave for a church band rehearsal. On her way out the door, she found out that the music was going to be changed at the last minute because the drummer was going to be unavailable, and, not feeling well herself, she bowed out and came back to the house. After a quick run to the store where she picked up a few missing ingredients, Jenni and Daniela made us Power House sandwiches for a late lunch around 3:30. While they prepared the food, I cleaned around the kitchen and prepared a fire in the basement. After lunch, we all made our way to the basement, where Bill was finishing a movie. Around 5:30, I convinced them to begin watching the 2nd season of Alias, the DVDs for which we had just purchased yesterday. After beginning the show, I made my way upstairs to begin catching up on the Sunday scheduled activities that I hadn't accomplished yet this week - including this blog. However, as I have just been summoned to return to the TV show down stairs, and to rekindle the fire, I will have to try to continue this again later.