__________________________________________________________________________________________

Check out my new ride

2010-10-29T14:31:00.000-07:00

It features a weatherproof battery box in the frame for superior handling. The box is forced air cooled via pvc pipes angled to make them rainproof. Inside the main box is a charger for on the go charging.

On top is lock box that has all the switches and controls. It even has a cigarette lighter for charging my phone!

Finally I got a cycle analyst; the de facto dashboard for light electric vehicles. It's a fuel gauge, speedometer, odometer, with advanced speed and power limting functions, and much much more.

The light is a automotive fog light I painted. With a 50watt spot bulb in it I always look like a motorcycle.

22" aluminum moutain frame from performance bike
140mm travel Marzochi 44 RLO suspension fork
Avid bb7 disc brakes
Ebikekit.com rear 9c 2806 hub motor
Cycle analyst from ebike.ca

33 mph at 48v and 41mph at 72v with SLA booster pack.
30 mile range at top speed. 50 mile range at 20 mph.

For more info check out some of the threads involving this build http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=22530

The EV revolution has blown past America, and left us in a dust of patent warfare.

2010-08-22T13:12:00.000-07:00

The electric motor is in the vibrator of your cell phone, the compressor of your refrigerator, automatic doors, and the fans of disk drives of the computer you're reading this from. To say it's reliable and proven is an understatement. For years we have been told that electric vehicles were unfeasible. We were told that battery technology hasn't reached the level needed to power such vehicles. But since 2008 Chinese battery and automaker BYD has been selling their F3DM plugin hybrid. And with over 5.5 million electric bikes being produced every year by some 1,400 Chinese manufacturers, I think it's time we need to reevaluate the feasibility of EVs.

The BYD F3DM and a British patrolman on his ebike.

Who held back the electric car?

The Stonecutters, duh.

On the eve of it's 2003 cancellation date General motors executives, citing low consumer demand and high production costs, would call the EV-1 a billion dollar failure. However only 3 years later then GM Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner stated that his worst decision during his tenure at GM was "axing the EV-1 electric-car program and not putting the right resources into hybrids." 'If we could turn back the hands of time we could have had the Chevy Volt 10 years earlier." GMs short sighted cancellation of their electric vehicle program is the subject of a documentary titled "who killed the electric car?"

The EV-1 grazing in a meadow.

It may be a conspiracy but it is no theory that Ovionics, the company that controlled the NIMH technology that would power the EV-1, was sold to Texaco in 2001. Texaco was then acquired by Chevron. That same year they filed suit against battery makers Panasonic that succeeded in restricting the sale of NIMH batteries used in hybrids and electric vehicles. Not content at just stopping other companies from selling the batteries needed to power the electric vehicle revolution, Chevron simply stopped selling the batteries. In October 2007 Innovative Transportation Systems filed suit against Chevron for refusing to fill a large, previously agreed-upon order for large-format NiMH batteries to be used in the Innovan electric vehicle. In August 2008, Mercedes-Benz sued Chevron for again refusing to fill a large, previously agreed-upon order for NiMH batteries. One company with vested interests effectively held off electric cars for a decade.

GM ominously had every EV-1 crushed.

Cheap cells fuel Chinese change.

"A blend of necessity and opportunity kick-started China's first electric-bike" said Zhang Min Wei of Shanghai Cranes Electric Vehicle Co. "We released 100 beta bikes in 1995. They were of very poor quality and broke down often, but people thought they were a great joy to ride and very handy for carrying packages." When Shanghai banned sales of gas scooters (and their polluting two-stroke engines) in 1996, Cranes was spun out of an R&D incubator to fill the market void. Within two years they were selling 50,000 bikes a year. But because of China's weak protection of intellectual property, the innovations made by companies like Cranes spread quickly, and copycat competitors started popping up all over China. It's success is easy to understand; At 1500 to 3000 yuan (US $180 to $360), an electric bike is buyable at a small fraction of the cost of an automobile. Their is no need for gas, expensive parking, license, or government registration. Nowadays these bikes are all powered by the latest generation of battery technology called lifepo4.

Lithium iron phosphate is like all next generation batteries: superior in every way. Lighter, longer lasting, safer, and most importantly cheaper than nickle based batteries. These batteries have been mass produced in China for over five years, but are just now trickling on to our shores. DIYers are forced to order 'duct tape' batteries of dubious quality and legality off the Asian gray market or take apart Dewalt drill battery packs to make EV batteries. If, like in china, small American manufacturers could mass produce the lifepo4 cells, a home brew EV industry could pop up over night. However small companies cannot afford to tangle with expensive patent lawsuits. Companies like A123, Panasonic, Toshiba, and NNT are engaged in a patent war over lifepo4, and the dust has yet to settle. One thing is certain though; the inventor of lifepo4, University of Texas Austin professor John Bannister Goodenough, lost the exclusive rights to the batteries chemistry. A far departure from Chevrons gorilla like grip on NIMH.

Who ever has the gold makes the rules. Who ever spends the most on lawyers can bend the law to their will. But golds value is artificial. It is an idea we applied to it based on its natural rarity. In the modern world another type of gold moves the world. Black gold. Texas tea. With out oil all of our wealth, technology, and military might is meaningless and motionless. Whoever controls the oil controls the world. This was the unstated theme we hummed under our breaths as we marched in imperial boots through Iraq and Afghanistan. But even as it is still the best and irreplaceable for the foreseeable future, it is not the only and will growningly be less the means of transport. The time will come when it will no longer be the measure of wealth. China laughs as it tears apart our intellectual property laws and throws the scraps in the wind. Pollinating it's people with the technology to make their own gold. To make batteries. To grow their own means of transportation.

What is the future of transportation?

Duct tape batteries and Dewalt drill packs

The Chevy Volt

While we wait for GM to create the future of the American transportation system; I'd like to take a minute and reflect on Americas entrepreneurial history. The Wright brothers invented the airplane in a barn, Steve Jobs created the personal computer in his garage, Larry Page and Sergey Brin built Google as college students living off of credit cards . Some of the greatest inventions we as Americans can put our name on were created by hobbyists and tinkerers, but now it seems the power of creation has been taken from us. The very laws that are supposed to promote innovation are instead stifling it. Patent laws meant to protect inventors are instead being used to protect investors. Companies with vested interests in stalling progress are controlling the means of transportation.

The searing of irony this is that our free market system has us waiting on corporations to develop the next big thing, while small businessmen in the communist state of China already have.

Bike trailer for lawn care business.

2010-07-30T17:49:00.000-07:00

Hello my name is Shelby Jenkins and I live in a college town north of Dallas Texas called Denton. This summer instead of fighting my peers for the elusive "decent" job I decided to go into business for myself. Lawn care makes sense because I enjoy gardening, taking care of my own lawn, and most of all building cool stuff for my e-bike.

I have to admit I had quite a bit of help building it. Mostly from the thread I started on the endless-sphere forum, and also from the simulator on the ebike.ca website. The resources and help provided by the ev community were indispensable, and I couldn't have done it with out them.

I settled on the wike DIY trailer kit. It only comes with the plastic corner pieces, axles, wheels, tow bar, and hitch. I sourced the aluminum bars from onlinemetals.com and picked up some light weight cedar from the local hardware store.

The biggest problem I had were the lack of directions with the kit. But I found some help, and was soon on my way to trailer heaven.

A snag I ran into was a severe trailer wobble above 15 mph. It was strong enough to throw my back tire around, and scary enough to make me want my mommy.
The problem turned out to be improper weight balance on the hitch, and flexing and springiness in the tow bar. Approximately %15 of the total weight of the trailer should be resting on the trailer hitch. This simple guideline will keep your rear wheel firmly on the ground. Another fix is to reinforce the tow bar against flexing by bolting some wood planks to it.

Even though the trailer is rated at 150lbs I now regularly carry a 90 pound lawn mower, 4 gallons or gas, a 15 pound weed eater, and a box full of gear. Honestly I wish my mower was lighter, but professional grade work requires professional grade tools.

I've got the load and unloading time down to about a minute now, and things are pretty running pretty well. With a 48v 20ah lifepo4 battery I can travel at about 25 miles per hour for around 20 miles with no problem. If I plan on going farther than that I bring my charger, and most customers will, with curiosity, let me "fill er' up." Not bad for $220 worth of parts, and a little bit of fun engineering.

Some interesting facts:

This rig burns up brake pads, so make sure you get a Regen enabled controller!
Having a trailer is great for hauling cat litter.
The Deja Blue 1 liter water bottles with "sport tops" are the best poor bikers water bottle. Cheap and reusable!

Me and my electro bike.

2010-04-29T14:44:00.000-07:00

Why electric?
Because you've always been fascinated by electric vehicles; the mystery of electricity, clean quiet power, and being free from oil.

My front wheel hub motor kit cost $250.

How much?
Short answer: If you already have a bike, you can start at $500. $350 for the conversion kit, $100 for the battery and charger, and $50 for a battery mounting system.
Long answer: As much as you can spend. If you are a biker, than you understand how the hobby consumes you and your wallet. $450 is just dipping your feet in the kiddy pool. Real power and speed cost money, but for slightly less than a grand you can have a bike that cruises at 30mph for 30 miles and recharges in 3 hours.

The motor.
E-bike motors come in two flavors. Hub motors, and RC motors. RC motor builds are for knowledge hobbyist, and therefore out of the scope of this article.

Hub motors are mounted inside the hub of the wheel and are simple, reliable, and cheap. They come in two varieties; geared and direct. Gearing allows the bike more power at almost half the weight. They are also freewheeling. Direct drive hubs are by their nature not freewheeling, and can make running out of batteries a great opportunity to really work out your quads. The downside to geared hubs is that they are more expensive, more prone to wear, and don't do regen braking. For this reason direct drive hubs are a good choice.

The e-bikekit.com hub motor and wheel is made by the Chinese company Nine Continents. You can order it from ebike.ca in different models which are tuned for the torque(acceleration) and speed that you want.

Batteries.
EV batteries are not the disposable and cheap AA that you threw away after your cd player had used them up. They are the heart of the vehicle, and the majority of the cost in a build.

Speed is determined by the voltage of the battery pack. Voltage is the height of the water tower and the pressure that potential creates. Most kits are 36v, but these are rather tame and only do about 20mph. I would suggest a 48v battery pack for speeds around 26mph.

Range is determined by the AH or amp hours of the battery pack. AH is the size of the water tower and the amount of water in it. A good choice is a 20ah battery because many controllers draw 20 amps, and this allows for about an hour of full throttle ride time.

Sealed Lead Acid batteries are heavy, short lived (~300 cycles), take 6 hours to recharge, and at higher draw rates only give half the advertised AH. If you get them, please understand that you will regret it.

Ten pounds of lithium(on the left) is the same as thirty pounds of lead(on the right).

Throttle uses power. Brake makes power.
The controller is the....controller of the ebike. All roads lead to it. The throttle, the battery, the motor, and even the brake.

E-brake on the left. Thumb throttle on the right. ODO reads 436 miles in the months since I've had the kit!

My ebikekit.com Infineon 22 amp controller.

I've made a rain proof box out of Tupperware, pvc, and spray paint. The wires go into the PVC pipe which bends up. The bends keep rain out, but allows air to flow over and cool the controller. It has a on/off switch for lights, a plug for the batteries.

There is another pvc pipe coming out the back side for airflow reasons.

Torque arms.
Bicycle dropouts were not made for the extreme torque of a hub motor. To distribute the power of the motor requires special hardware called torque arms.

My finger is on the bigger "universal" style torque arm. All reputable dealers include them with their kits.

Bright lights for dangerous pot holes and dark nights.
Riding at night is great fun. The stars and sky. The quiet punctuated by a coyotes cry. To see obsticales in the road in time to avoid them calls for a bright light. Instead of spending big $$$ for a suitable bike light I bought a 12v fog light set and a red LED at wal-mart for $25. Using a DC-DC step down converter I can run them off my main battery pack. I can also charge a cellphone, power a laptop, or run a a speaker system off of the converter.

In the future:

A full suspension frame with disc brakes and room in the frame for batteries to be mounted. These are custom made in Czechoslovakia by a brilliant man who goes by HAL9000.

This bike was made by a man who sells a how to guide called "how to build a 50mph ebike." It has a waterproof battery box, enough power to do wheelies, brake lights, and turn signals.

The stealth bomber made by stealth electric bikes in Australia.

The cycle analyst from bike.ca has all the functions of a cars dashboard. Mileage, speed, fuel used, fuel remaining, and a few neat extras. Ebike.ca bills themselves as the "home of the revolution", and they just may be.

Ebikekit.com is cheaper, but they present you with much less in the way of options and toys. Their kits tend to stay legal and under 20mphs, but they are a great company to do business with. I bought my kit from them.

The EV grin =)

The endless sphere forum is a great place to get your feet wet.

Why you should start a garden.

2010-03-22T13:42:00.000-07:00

Everyone knows they need to eat more vegetables. But increasingly less and less people want to eat vegetables. Why?
We have forgotten how delicious a sliced bright red and plump tomato can be with cheese and crackers. Or how sweet a neon orange carrot can be.
The decline in quality of produce and the apparent rise of prices for produce is a fact. I'm not here to blame subsidies, growers, groceries, or meat and dairy lobbyist.

I'm here to state the undeniable:

If roma tomatos from wal-mart didn't have the texture of cardboard, people would eat more of them.
If bell peppers with flavor weren't $2 each, people would eat more of them.
Eating healthy makes you healthy!

So how can we eat better without spending tons of money at the farmers market? By starting a garden!

What you need:

A patch of ground that gets 8 hours of direct sun light a day.
$25
2 hours of your time.
Someone who can loan or rent you a hoe, turning fork, or machine to till the soil.

Go out and buy this:

2 bags of mulch $5
2 tomato cages $5
2 tomatos $6
2 peppers $3
2 herbs $3

Total: $25

It might be helpful to add:

Soil additives to make your ground more suitable. (My area of Texas has thick clay soil. Not hard to grow in, but some miracle grow, peat moss, or compost really helps.) $10
A soaker hose or sprinkler, and a hose timer. Because watering by hand gets tedious. $20

This garden should be easy, cheap, and supply two people with more than enough produce. It's easier than you think. Believe me.

The hardest part is turning, or tilling, the soil. This is the process of removing the grass and weeds, and loosening the soil up. It's fairly back breaking, but once your done the rest is cake. It should take you about an hour to make a big enough garden for your plants.
My neighbor is nice enough to let me borrow his turning fork. If you don't have a friend that can loan you one, perhaps you can take advantage of wal-marts return policy.

(Seed tray, trowel, and measuring stick not needed.)

After your done tilling the soil you plant, and then you wait and water. Depending on how mature the plants you bought are you will have food in a 1-2 months. Yay!

I've simplified this a bit, but the great thing about this hobby is that nature is forgiving. Even if you mess something up you'll still get some food.

Anyone need help starting a garden?

2010-03-22T13:41:00.000-07:00

The third day of spring, and I'm finished for the year. I would of liked to have started earlier, but who could have guessed it would of snowed on the first day of spring?

That's six different type of peppers. From ja-lap-a-nos to bells. Lettuce. Basil. Four differant types of tomatoes.Twenty onions. Not pictured is a black berry bush in it's second year, so hopefully I'll have berries! The planter is unrelated and holding down the soaker hose.

This year was more ambitious than last year. Not because I planted more or spent more money, indeed I planted less, but because I planned ahead and managed to do everything in two afternoons. One I spent back breathtakingly turning the soil and removing the grass. The next I spent planting and mulching.

Last year I made three mistakes:

I planted right against the fence. I hoped that the plants would be supported by the fence. They sort of were, but I couldn't get rid of all the weeds because of the fence. I also couldn't pick fruit on the fence side of the plants
I planted to many, to close together. Six tomatoes, 4 squash, and half a dozen other plants were fighting for the same space as I have now. Everything was intertwined. Mold and fungus became a big problem. It ruined most of the squash and tomatoes.
I didn't use enough mulch. I got sick of weeding out the grass every week, and let it overgrow. This contributed to the fungus and mold problems.

Notice how this year Everything is evenly spaced out with plenty of room? I used a measuring stick.

Ingredients for this year:

5 bags of mulch $15
4 tomato cages $10
Plants $25

Total: $50

Keep in mind this enough to feed all my friends and neighbors.
Anyways if anyone needs help let me know! I've got all the tools, and I'm willing to help!

Read my post on the cost of starting a garden.

Also I'm doing lawn mowing again this year. Same price as last year. Half off what the last guys charged.

Firefox add-ons: powerups for your browser

2010-01-02T10:57:00.000-08:00

An add-on is an open source extension for the firefox browser which typically adds functionality. The extensions being open source and hosted on Mozillas captivating website means they are secure, free, and generally lightweight in the memory department. With just a little time invested you can be sure to find one out of the thousands that meets a need that you may or may not have even known you had! Simply browse to the add-on page, click install, and firefox does the rest!

1. FastestFox

My first foray into add-ons started with fastest fox. I was blown away the first time it auto-paged the next page while I was googling. Once you get used to features like having a pop up bubble with the option to search google, wikipedia, or even ebay for selected text, you'll realize how much time you save by not having to copy and past the text into the search bar. Seconds. Literally seconds. FastestFox also linkifys text urls, so while your antiquated old browser sees google.com mine see google.com. It has other features, but generally I disable them in tools>add-ons>FastestFox>options.

2. Forecast fox

Forecast fox is like that old bloated all quasi-malware program weather bug. Except minus the spyware and popups. Totally unobtrusive forecast fox sits in the bottom of your status bar down near the system clock, and streams information from accuweather.com Highly customizable; it can show the temperature, an hourly forecast, a 5 day forecast, and real time radar. My favorite feature are the sever weather alerts, but that might just be because I live in a trailer.

3. Speed dial

Google chrome comes default with this bitching feature, and fasterfox has the very similar Qlauncher. However this is the quickest, and most customizable. When I ctrl+T to open a new tab, I'm greeted with 9 screenshots of my favorite websites. You can add as many sites as you want per page, and as have has as many pages as you want!

4. Thumbnail expander

"With Thumbnail Expander, you no longer have to constantly use the back button when viewing a thumbnailed gallery. Instead, simply hover your mouse over a thumbnail to see the full image, and move your mouse away to have the full image disappear. Check out the other preview images for an example of this."

5. Flux

Over-illumination can create significant reduction in melatonin production. Since it is principally blue light that suppresses melatonin, wearing glasses that block blue light in the hours before bedtime may avoid melatonin loss. Use of blue-blocking goggles the last hours before bedtime has also been advised for people who need to adjust to an earlier bedtime, as melatonin promotes sleepiness.

Flux isn't actually a firefox Plugin. It's a simple program with a light weight memory footprint (8meg). It works on the principle that blue light the primary inhibitor of melatonin, and thus sleepiness. If you've ever looked in on someones window at night you'll know that a TV or computer monitor bathes the otherwise dark room with blue light.

Flux simply adjust the monitor, so that it has less blue in it at night. Does it work? Absofuckinlutley. I used to stay up all night, because I never got sleepy. In fact I relied on melatonin tabs to feel sleepy, when I wanted to go to sleep. It's free and easy to use!

6. Greasemonkey

Greasemonkey is a advanced add-on with 22 million downloads. It allows small javascripts to change the way you view webpages. With over 15,000 scripts available your sure to find one that suits you, whether you'd like to add Netflix links on IMDB, or automate your FarmVille wall(shudder). Facebook fixer allows for: "bigger profile pictures and photos, easier viewing of albums, showing people's age and sign, keyboard shortcuts & more." Yousabletubefix is a script for youtube that: " allows downloading and resizing videos, can prevent autoplay, adds a HD select, etc." Reddit comment boxes changes the way comments are displayed on the social news side Reddit.com, allowing them to be read easier. Reddit commentroversy shows how many upvotes or downvotes a comment has received(likes or dislikes for you facebookers). It should be noted that you need to have Greasemonkey installed for these scripts to work.

Reddit comment box lines. Reddit commenterversoy.

Top 5 list of 2009

2009-12-31T15:41:00.000-08:00

1. Organic milk

The decline of quality in milk and American food stuff in general is out of the scope of a top five list. In short: economies of scale, corn and dairy subsides, groceries stores selling milk at a loss to get you in to shop. So i'll be brief; Organic taste like milk and $2 store brand gallons taste like milk flavored water. Fuck the health concerns! ORGANIC MILK TASTE AMAZING!

2. Biking

I know after reading this your not going to sell your car and ride your bike everywhere. In fact it might seem crazy to even suggest that! However you should never under estimate how crazy some one who is addicted to the endorphin rush of silently coasting down an exhausting but conquered hill the world still except for you and this magnificent piece machinery that has become an extension of your body. I never rode the bike I had until my car broke down, so I understand. I just want to let you know that as my friend Brittany from New York drunkenly said, "biking changed my life.

3. Disco ball!

I don't read social news sites for news. I read for the large and varied community of commentators. The article might be incomplete and biased, but it doesn't matter. In no time people who actually know whats up will cut through the incompetency, lies, and slant. Think of it as bullshit filter with ascorbic wit. So when someone asked social media news site reddit what the official name for a disco balls was, the internet proved it self to be a very hilarious place.

4. Battle Star Galactica

After having their world nuked and completely destroyed, the straggled remnants of humankind are struggling through the stars. Hunted like prey, and with no place of refuge they decide to find the mythical "earth" from once they were said to have come. If they weren't in a space ship you wouldn't know this was sci-fi. People don't die from breast cancer in star trek. People don't have to deal with cheating wives, childhood abuse, or the loss of a son in star wars. People don't hallucinate incredibly sexy blond models that talk to you about the "one true god", while simultaneously grinding on your leg in sci-fi. And they find earth. Yes our earth. And no he wasn't hallucinating. She's an angel.

I'll let this video of matt stone and trey parker excepting their Peabody award take it from here:

"We'd like to thank the peabody awards for introducing us to battle star galactica last year. I'm sure a lot of the honorees wanted to say congratulations to them, so in an effort to save time I'll do it for you all. Good job guys. I love you Starbuck!"

5. The Album Manners by Passion Pit

I've always been met with looks of disapproval when I talk about dance music being spiritual. To most the emotions of dance music are superficial. Robots telling you to have a good time or misogynist men talking girls out of their panties. Perhaps they have never known just how fully euphoria can make one at peace with at the world. A clear sober minded love for life and the people in it. I'm not talking about drugs or alcohol although those can help. What I'm talking about is something the western world has lost. The joy of singing in church. The joy of dancing till the fucking sun comes up with your best friends. The joy of being spiritual. That being said I'd love to nominate The Antlers album "hospice" because it is breathtakingly beautiful in a way fans of sigur ros can dig, but at the same time heartbreaking in a way that only someone who has gone through a true loss can write. However I can't. Because Manners is what good dance music should be. Full of joy, love, and occasionally tragedy.

I think this lyric is the appropriate way to send us into the new decade:

So I try and I scream and I beg and I sigh

Just to prove I'm alive
And it's alright
Cause tonight there's a way I'll make light

Honorary: Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix - Phoenix

How to ethereal shift

2009-11-23T19:12:00.001-08:00

This a short scrip you need to ethereal shift in natural selection combat. With out it's almost impossible to use as alien flashlight will keep turning on and off.

alias +flashlight "impulse 100"
alias -flashlight "impulse 100"
bind f +flashlight
bind p impulse 100

The command impulse 100 starts the shift and activates your flashlight (or deactivates it if flashlight is already on). When you press f it sends the command impulse 100, and when you release f it sends again. The result is your alien flashlight blinks on and off and you shift.

I like to be a silent focus skulk with this. Bite once, shift, strafe around the marine as he turns, and then bite again.

The same can be done with a fade.

Another fun trick is to attack the comm chair as a onos. When you start getting hit, shift and stop attacking. The marines will think you redeemed.

It's also great to have if your egging and marines are in the hive.

Enjoy and don't bitch about ES being lame. Static is lame. GL's are lame. UA is lame.

No. This is how you play starcraft.

2009-07-01T10:50:00.000-07:00

Boxers marine medic micro is famous. Check his immortal marine video as well.

In 15 intense seconds a thirty minute match is thrown upside down. You can watch the whole match with English commentary here.

Wow. I can has rock star status?

God this is creepy.

"The ToSsGirL is a goddess or an angel
and I could wish you and me to come her inside... "

John Adams

2008-03-25T13:20:00.000-07:00

I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. My sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history, naval architecture, navigation, commerce, and agriculture, in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry, and porcelain.

It's easy to forget. What came before was a struggle.

They fought and died for us.

Now why must we, who have the liberty to wallow in our own excess, be granted reprieve from building for our children?

We have it so easy, but we our content to find our own way to suffer.

When hookers used to have class

2008-03-20T13:40:00.000-07:00

Every town has its celebrated madams, eternal women to sentimentalized down the years. There is something very attractive to men about a madam. She combines the brains of a businessman, the toughness of a prize fighter, the warmth of a companion, the humor of a tragedian. Myths collect around her, and, oddly enough, not voluptuous myths. The stories remembered and repeated about a madam cover every field but the bedroom. Remembering, her customers picture her as philanthropist, medical authority, bouncer, and poetess of the bodily emotions without being involved with them.

For a number of years Salinas had sheltered two of these treasures: Jenny, sometimes called Fartin' Jenny and the Nigger, who owned and operated the Long Green. Jenny was a good companion, a keeper of secrets, a giver of secret loans. There is a whole literature of stories about Jenny in Salinas.

The Nigger was a handsome, austere woman with snow-white hair and a dark and awful dignity. Her brown eyes, brooding deep in her skull, looked out on an ugly world with philosophic sorrow. She conducted her house like a cathedral dedicated to a sad but erect Pirapus. If you wanted a good laugh and poke in the ribs, you went Jenny's and got you money's worth; but if the sweet world-sadness close to tears crept out of your immutable loneliness, the Long Green was your place. When you came out of there you felt something pretty stern and important had happened. It was no jump in the hay. The dark beautiful eyes of the Nigger stayed with you for days.

When Faye came down from Sacramento and opened her house there was a flurry of animosity from the two incumbents. They got together to drive Faye out, but they discovered she was not in competition.

Faye was the motherly type, big-breasted, big-hipped, and warm. She was a bosom to cry on, a soother and a stroker. The iron sex of the nigger and the tavern bacchanalianism of Jenny had their devotees, and they were not lost to Faye. Her house became the refuge of young men puling in puberty, mourning over lost virtue, and aching to lost some more. Faye was the reassurer of misbegotten husbands. Her house took up the slack for frigid wives. It was the cinnamon-scented kitchen of one's grandmother. If any sexual thing happened to you at Faye's you felt it was an accident but forgivable. Her house led the youths of Salinas into the thorny path of sex in the pinkest, smoothest way. Faye was a nice woman, not very bright, highly moral, and easily shocked. People trusted her and she trusted everyone. No one could want to hurt Faye once he knew her. She was no competition to the others. She was a third phase.

Just as in a store or on a ranch the employees are images of the boss, so in a whorehouse the girls are very like the madam, partly because she hires that kind and partly because a good madam imprints her personality on the business. You could stay a very long time at Faye's before you would hear an ugly or suggestive word spoken. The wandering to the rooms, the payment, were so soft and casual they seemed incidental. All in all, she ran a hell of a fine house, as the constable and the sherrif knew. Faye contributed heavily to every charity. Having a revulsion against disease, she paid for regular inspection of her girls. You had less chance of contracting a difficulty at Faye's then with you Sunday School teacher. Faye soon became a sold and desirable citizen of the grown town of Salinas.

The 5 best albums EVER!

2008-03-19T12:40:00.000-07:00

5
Johhny Cash
greatest hits

This man is country. And also depending on who you ask the first punk rocker.

Favorite line:
I Shot her down 'cause she made me slow. I thought I was her daddy but she had five more.

Proof:

4
Jay-Z
The black Album

When Jay-z declares "I am the greatest rapper alive" you are inclined to believe him. Not for fear of being smacked down, but because he is.

Favorite Line:
I will kill you commit suicide and kill you again.

Proof:

3
The Hives
Tyrannosaurus Hives

Did you know a live performance of this band inspired Andree 3000 of Outcast to write Hey Ya? What song? None. The climax of a show, and they stood completely still for three minutes while a packed house went nuts.

Favorite Line:
Notably none.

The Proof:

2
The Counting Crows
August and everything after

The originators of emo. This album is beautiful in every way should be. Oh yeah and I swear I'm not a pussy, I just like good music.

Favorite Line:
"I miss you. I guess that I should. 3500 miles away, but what would you change if you could?"

1
The Weakerthans
Left and Leaving

Voted by a music magazine from their homeland of Canada as the best album ever beating out The Arcade fire's Neon Bible. No one so effortlessly blends rock, punk, and country. Oh and you know there is that whole timeless lyrics thing.

Favorite Line:
"A soft breeze with the slippery concrete black and full of muddy slush,
contrasting with the hoarfrost,
clean and hung on a tunnel of silent shivering trees
(the ones you said you'd like to be),
and the birds that screamed at the sun
now buried deep down below the ground,
beneath the snow, I press my shoulder to this wall between us.
I know you are behind me and I press my shoulder to this wall,
determined not to turn around.
I do and see you standing,
still that statue that I molded in my mind to kiss,
so beautiful you'll never move again.
Someplace far away, at some sad table littered with chipped plates,
with bad light,
in 48 frames from a movie on the cutting room floor,
you said "True meaning would be dying with you",
and though I wanted to, I did not smile.
But now I will give up on this wall that I have fought with,
never uncover meaning behind our rich words.
If I could I would make you a raging river,
with angry rapids, supplied with rain,
so you could always meander
and forever be able to run away
without contending with myths wrongly interpreted, with pain.
A harsh wind."

Sic Semper Tyranis

2008-03-18T19:02:00.001-07:00

5 supplements for fun and mental health!

2008-03-12T19:42:00.000-07:00

no shit

While over %16 of Americans are prescribed anti-depressants by the health industry, the use of herbal, food, and chemical supplements is almost never recommended by doctors. It is true that a large part of the supplement industry is snake oil, and unless they're Flintstones most people write off taking Pills. However it seems that coupled with exercise and a good diet the pills following can not only give you more energy through out the day but also help bring you out of a minor depression.

1. Omega-3 oilsOil from this fish cure cancer, fight impotence, but will not help with grammar.

Ah, the hunter gather human: Evolving quickly to a creature with a larger brain and the ability to speak. Along with whatever else we could get our muddy ape hands on it is thought that we ate a great deal of seafood at that time. Fast forward to the modern day, and our diet has drastically changed. Hardly anyone eats seafood, a great source of Omega-3 oils (Which might be a good thing considering Tunas Revenge). Not to mention factory farming, which by feeding cows dry grain instead of grass lowers the amount of Omega-3 in milk and beef by half. Why does Omega-3 matter so much?

Because "fatty acids comprise approximately eight percent of the average human brain".
With out it the brain can not make new cells. While that might be an interesting idea for a replacement to water boarding as the CIAs favorite method of torture, I personally like neurogensis. Also there is evidence that links lack of it to depression, schizophrenia, Alzheimer's, and a bunch of other bad stuff.

Dosage

Fairly cheap at most places. Just make sure you get the type that doesn't taste like fish. You don't want to smell like Zoidberg. Play around with the dose. I find two a day works well, and keeps my mind feeling agile.

2. Multi-vitamins
Tastes like candy, kills like cyanide.

This should be obvious, but you can't live off of Ramen and bean burritos. Even if you think you eat healthy you probably don't. How many times in your life have you actually ate everything on the food pyramid in one day? Right.

Dosage
One.
On an interesting side note: "The lethal dose of iron for a 2 year old child is 3 g, and 1 g leads to severe poisoning. Accidental iron poisoning occurs in children consuming 10-50 iron tablets in the form of ferrous sulfate, over a period of a few hours." Makes you wonder how much indie cred suicide by flintstones would've got you in day care.

3. Coenzyme Q10
USA USA USA?

This vitamin -like substance is, by nature, present in most human cells except red blood cells and eye lens cells (no mitochondria) and are responsible for the production of the body's own energy. In each human cell, food energy is converted into energy in the mitochondria with the aid of CoQ₁₀. Ninety-five percent of all the human body's energy requirements (ATP ) is converted with the aid of CoQ₁₀.Therefore, those organs with the highest energy requirements such as he heart, the lungs, and the liver have the highest CoQ₁₀ concentrations.
If that doesn't make you feel like putting on some tights, popping a few of these, and throwing down in a four sided box with an equal pumped and sweaty member of the same sex, then your just not human.
Fucking robots.

Dosage

The affect of taking one of these a day is similar to the feeling of running a mile or two the day before. A subtle but definite boost in energy. Unfortunately these pills are much more expensive than anything else on this list.

4. Saint Johnson's wart
My magic, let me show it to you.

I really don't know what to think about something thats named after a Saints STD. I mean sure it's holy but take that wrinkled wart missile out of my face preacher. I mean. Saint.... Johnson.... Penis.
Some studies conclude that it only slightly better than a placebo for treating depression, others say it is very affective, and a few studies say it does nothing.

Dosage

I take one a day. It tastes like some type of herbal tea mashed potatoes.

5. Melatonin
Risks include overdose and cat cliches

This is a re-enactment of what happened in the Tylenol board room when a doctor brought up Melationin:

Doctor: This is superior to Tylenol P.M. In every way!
CEO: How so?
Doctor: It is cheap to manufacture, makes you sleep like a baby, and doesn't make you feel like you spent all last night at the bar, drowning your meaningless life in bourbon!
CEO: Can we patent it?
Doctor: Well no......It's a naturally occurring neurotransmitter.
CEO: Ok
The CEO pulls out his gun. Kills doctor. Thus securing Tylenol's future.

Dosage

Take one 30 minutes before bed time. Only if you have trouble sleeping. Or be dumb, take it in the middle of the day. Go outside and enjoy the daydream.

Honorable mention: B12
Great for dancing all night a rave. Or for taking sexual frustrations out a place that looks like a rave.

Have you ever read the nutritional information of a energy drink and wonder why it has %2000 of your daily requirements of B12? Of course you have because shortly after you drink it your mind starts twitching like granny after she drank too much coffee at bingo night. Then 6 hours later you crash and feel like shit. Much like granny how feels like shit because she spent all her money for Christmas presents on bingo cards.

Dosage

I don't take these. The crash from caffeine is bad enough, but the crash from %20,000 or whatever ungodly amount is in most B12 supplements makes me my brain feel like a laptop left on carpet for about 36 hours.
If I do take these, I usually break them into quarters and snort them. Just kidding. Really, just kidding.

My daily dose
Warning: Will not make you a better camera person.

In response to 'Brr' and 'Hurting Us for Nothing' in the March 10, 2008 issue of forbes

2008-03-10T21:28:00.000-07:00

"Bill Clinton recently brought up the idea that we might have to slow down the U.S. economy to cut back on greenhouse emissions in order to save the planet from global warming. Less prosperity will be our salvation! Putting aside the former President's preposterous proposition and despite all the concern over rising temperatures, even Bill Clinton's heated rhetoric won't spare us from a more likely threat: abnormally cold weather."

"A growing body of research has found that changes in sunspot activity directly correlate with temperature changes on Earth."

"There are no proved correlation between temperature changes and carbon dioxide is almost nonexistent. Turns out that the sun has been quite active in the last half-century or so, hence the slight rise in global temperatures."

"All of which should make congress pause before doing real economic damage in the name of saving us from Al Gore's hallucinations. One of the most damaging proposals is a cap-and-trade system to limit greenhouse gas emissions"

"Apart from the fact there's no proof carbon dioxide has any impact on global temperatures, a cap-and-trade system will create an economic disaster."

Let them know how you feel e-mail Forbes at
readers@forbes.com

Here is mine:

When you assert in 'Hurting Us for Nothing' that, "there's no proof carbon dioxide has any impact on global temperature" are you basing this claim on your knowledge of economics or on science? When you say in 'Brrr!' that, "changes in sunspot activity directly correlate with temperature change" are you trying to soothe our consciouses or have you really convinced yourself that it is the major cause of warming? I find your comments disgusting in their lack of responsibility and am appalled that such a respected magazine as Forbes could print such blatant lies. In the years to come global warming denialist will be remembered as poorly as Big Tobacco, and I will have nothing to do with it. Please cancel my subscription.

I am Welsh?

2008-03-01T12:16:00.000-08:00

John Jenkins

Diebold Accidentally Leaks Results Of 2008 Election Early

2008-02-26T18:40:00.000-08:00

Diebold Accidentally Leaks Results Of 2008 Election Early

Missing: My old notebook with a years worth of songs

2008-02-25T18:39:00.000-08:00

This is the approximate face the gods are making right now

"You lost a year of your best works?!!"

I feel tarded ....
anyways please return
it's blue and half sized
It wouldn't be an issue but I forgot all the lyrics after a year hiatus.....

If you know where it is and your not telling me I will sick my swanasouras rex on you

Thx for yo eyes - spiders - meridiths crashed car - Kharma

2008-01-30T11:55:00.001-08:00

glumbert - THX for the Eyes

I was gonna photoshop a big ole FAIL
but thought that'd be mean

You'd think with all this money I could afford an AC...
I did something naughty but damn I am feeling good.
Scary spider outside my house.
Before the tore the wall down and the other three that made that opium den of kharma.

Cloverfield

2008-01-30T11:40:00.000-08:00

In movie studio offices all across the world big wigs are making phone calls. Planing on making money off the youtube generation. Calling producers asking when they can make a horror movie based with first person cameras.

See even though Cloverfield has basically no plot, and the character you care most for is the doofus holding the camera it is still terrible good fun.

I think seeing through the eyes of the camera is more tense and scary. It puts you there. When you and three of your best buddies are getting chased in the dark you don't see a perfectly framed shot with slobber dripping down a monsters jaw and perfect makeup on the actresses. You see what You see. In essence this movie is more realistic to the fight and flight senses.

It makes you wonder if they will ever make movies where the audience plays a person. As in you only see protagonist when the camera looks in the mirror.

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

2008-01-30T11:22:00.000-08:00

Gonna get to the point: this movie is achingly close to a masterpiece.

A two and a half hours of 19th century mystique and tense western themed psycho drama.

Like a long game of cards that doesn't get interesting until it's late and the beer and whiskey is almost gone this movie requires concentration.

Maybe too much for some. Maybe I was sleep deprived but I only caught the main characters names and that made miss out on key plot points.

I am glad Brad Pitt is finally becoming the actor and producer he is. Even though Casey Affleck was nominated as best supporting actor he is clearly the one under psychology scrutiny here. I think It really is almot an East of Eden type story. Brad Pitt knew this and even though he is the famous and renowned Jesse James, took a back seat. Much applause. He even put it in his contract to keep the name of the moive:

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

Oh shit he is Ben Afflecks little brother. No wonder he plays this part so well. He must have been the little guy all his life.

My international late night music blog (hey it's 4pm somewhere)

2008-01-24T01:17:00.000-08:00

His name is Miyavi and his sense of fashion exceeds mine by a millennium.
Can't say the same for his English....
lol engrish

This made me want to cry...but then slighty took a fancy...then started feeling bad for the kids in the background

2008-01-17T22:59:00.001-08:00

hypnotoad?

2008-01-17T21:39:00.001-08:00

don't and no

"I have, everybody has, they love it"

Nicole asked me "when are you making new songs"

2008-01-17T17:03:00.000-08:00

Also known as Merry Christmas to myself.

Yes that is my old squire strat. The red one that had all that tacky spray paint and was half way sanded. And yes I did repaint the and rewire the whole guitar myself.

I will post videos on youtube of how the pickups and the new amp sounds. Once I get it all setup and freakin re learn to play.
doh

also

jumpstart

ipod vs. zune

2008-01-14T00:10:00.000-08:00

so I traded in my ipod classic for a 2nd gen zune

I told best buy that it would lock up and would skip songs....which it did...once

lol

but really i got pissed off because i found out that i couldn't use a standard RCA AV cable into the headphone jack to play videos on the classic. You could on the the older ipods. but nooooooooooo you have to buy a 50 dollar APPLE PROPRIETARY cable.
fuck that

plus the zune has a bigger screen and i think it should have cheaper accessories for the time being because it is the underdog.

2008-01-04T12:14:00.001-08:00

“A prince must imitate the fox and the lion, for the lion cannot protect himself from traps, and the fox cannot defend himself from wolves. One must therefore be a fox to recognize traps, and a lion to frighten wolves. Those that wish to be only lions do not understand this. Therefore, a prudent ruler ought not to keep faith when by so doing it would be against his interest, and when the reasons which made him bind himself no longer exist. If men were all good, this precept would not be a good one; but as they are bad, and would not observe their faith with you, so you are not bound to keep faith with them.”

italian spider man

2008-01-02T17:42:00.000-08:00

i don't know whats real any more....

Bob Dylan - Bear McCreary - Space Opera

2007-12-28T23:45:00.000-08:00

All along the watchtower is 40 years old.

All along the watchtower redone by Bear Mccreary

I ain't to hot about the singer. Apparently it is the composers brother. He sounds like Howie Day.

But THIS video is the real reason I made this post

The music is what got me. Stellar.
Then watching some of the clips I realized, "Damn Battle star Galatica Looks Badass!".

My 3 favoritve obsessions: drug music, classical music, and the movie Balto.

2007-12-28T20:33:00.000-08:00

Italian opera or american rock?

2007-12-20T02:16:00.000-08:00

Blind opera singer Andrea Bocelli with rock singer Zucchero

Zucchero rocking out

Mika (freddie mercury)

2007-12-19T22:55:00.000-08:00

I love this

also

and

I love his new album
proof that i don't question my sexuality
or maybe that i should?

60's music (from cambodia)

2007-12-19T22:50:00.000-08:00

I love this stuff! It's like American 60's pop, rock and, psychedelic meets Asia!

Very sad though because once the communist khmer-rouge took over cambodia most of these artist died in the following starvation and killing sprees.

yes i know i just ripped off that metafilter post

John Shelby Jenkins

2007-12-19T20:33:00.000-08:00

Hi,

This is the first Blog post ever made.

I hope you will remember and enjoy all that is to come....