The Big Think

Very long, but worth it.
We must face the hard and bitter truth that good people can walk away from a fight, but when they do, bad people will have the field and we have seen the horrors they can inflict.

Had another OS X kernel panic today. I was playing a quicktime movie and hit the spacebar to stop. The only other open app was Mail. Last crash was 4 days ago.

YES! Congratulations to STMicroelectronics, Europe’s largest semiconductor maker. They have announced a solar cell that can convert sunlight to electricity at a rate that is TWENTY TIMES cheaper than today’s solar cells. The cell is in prototype right now and they expect to have them in production by the end of next year.
Right now, solar cells are useful for getting a house off the electrical grid, or for reducing reliance on the grid, but they’re still expensive versus “normal” electricity. I think the break-even point is 12-14 years. If STMicro could get these cells into mass production at their stated price, even more people would make the switch. “Currently” (sorry) solar costs about $4/watt over 20 years. The new cells come in at about 0.20/watt! Their trick is to make the cells less efficient, but construct them out of super-cheap materials. They’ll start at 10% efficiency and gradually move up to 20% as the market expands. Excellent!
One day I’d love to be able to go totally solar.

Ah, the Friday Five. Okay, I’ll bite.

1. A 1992 Chevy S-10 Tahoe extended cab pickup truck.

2. I’ve had it since February of 1993. I bought it with 5000 miles on it from a dealer. The previous owner had bought it new, tried to use it on his farm and discovered it was too small, and returned it. Had a slight dent in the bed but otherwise perfect. I got it for $9750 and it has lasted me almost 11 years. Has only 137,000 miles on it and still looks pretty good in spite of a broken windshield and a couple of minor parking lot dents.

3. The coolest feature? Come on, an S10 is about as ubiquitous as it could be. Very little is “cool” about it, except for the fact that it’s paid off and only costs me about 25$/month to insure. THAT’S pretty cool. Oh, it has a shell and carpet kit in the back.

4. The most annoying feature: the A/C fan doesn’t blow when you first turn it on. You have to wait about a minute for air to start flowing. And the A/C smells sometimes. Oh, and the A/C fan won’t blow in the medium high position because the switch is corroded. I guess the most annoying thing is probably the A/C. Viva cool weather!

5. If money were no object I’d like a this. It’s funny, I wouldn’t go for some exotic million dollar rocket. I’m a pickup truck guy. Gee I guess if I think about it, my “dream car” is relatively reasonable. I think they start around 21K.