Not far from my home is a place that sells used lumber. On any given day they will have several neat stacks of old 2×4′s, 1×6′s, hand-hewn beams, and other odd sizes of boards and such outside the building ready and waiting for someone to purchase and take home with them. These folks apparently get their lumber from people who “tear down” old houses, barns, and other structures in the quest for progress, and rather than burn the wood or take it to the landfill they haul it to the “used lumber place” and sell it for scrap.
I grew up in rural Widener Valley, Virginia, and when my dad decided to build an outbuilding, chicken coop, or other farm structure, he would build it using boards that he would hand-pick from the stack of used lumber that always occupied one corner of our barn. That stack never seemed to run out because friends and neighbors were always bringing their used lumber to dad whenever they remodeled or “tore down” a building. Over the years he made all sorts of creations out of that used lumber. Whirligigs and windmills were his specialty, but dad could make just about anything.
I spent several years watching him pull board after board from that stack of used lumber, and whatever he ended up using it for always seemed to turn out quite well. I guess his love for recycling old boards into something useful and unique rubbed off on me, and I now have a stack of used lumber of my own that I use to make rustic picture frames, shelves, and other “whimmydiddles” from time to time.
As a young boy I couldn’t understand why dad would rather use an old board that had been salvaged from a neighbor’s dilapidated barn than buy a nice, smooth new one to use in his latest project. I eventually came to realize that it was partly because he couldn’t really afford to buy new lumber, but more than that, he simply hated to see “good” things go to waste. In his opinion used lumber was a very good thing – and it is in mine as well.
The charm of used lumber
Why we need to start drilling for more oil NOW
Now that the prices of crude oil and gasoline have sunk to reasonable levels, many in Congress are calling for the recently lifted ban on offshore drilling to be reinstated after the new administration takes office in January. In my opinion, this would be a huge mistake.
Sure, gas prices are relatively low at the moment, especially when compared with the $4 per gallon we were paying back in July. But don’t look for that to be the case forever. OPEC and Russia are conspiring as we speak to make drastic cuts in crude oil production in the hopes of raising prices back to their previously inflated levels. The only thing that brought about these lower oil prices in the first place was the current glut of world oil supplies caused by reduced demand and a faltering world economy. Both of these factors will eventually change. Prices WILL go back up, probably in the not-so-distant future.
Right now is the perfect time to begin building new oil drilling platforms in the Gulf of Mexico as well as several new refineries to go along with them. We also need to immediately begin laying the groundwork for new wells in Alaska, most notably inside the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). Utilizing our own domestic supplies of oil and natural gas will go a long way towards helping ensure that energy costs are reasonable and affordable for the entire world, not just the United States. And reducing our nation’s dependence on foreign oil will make us stronger and more secure as well.
Many Americans want to explore and develop alternative sources of energy, and I do as well. I truly believe that the future of our nation and the world depends heavily on our eventual “weaning” from fossil fuels altogether. But we must work hard towards that goal while simultaneously exploiting the fuels that we have an abundance of today: Oil, natural gas, and coal. Like the swing of a pendulum, our goal must be a steady, but gradual shift from using mostly fossil fuels to using mostly renewable, environmentally friendly forms of energy such as solar and wind. But regardless of what we do in regards to oil, developing a large enough supply of affordable alternative energy sources to keep our economy growing and our defense capabilities strong will take years, if not decades.
Now is not the time to go backwards in regards to our energy policy. While the world market for oil is flush with supply and weak in price is the best possible time to begin our push towards energy independence. If we make some bold moves now, they will help keep our energy prices low and boost our flagging economy. Sure, it will take a few years to really see the benefits from our new oil infrastructure investments, but we have to start some time – and there is no better time than today.
Odd names: “Ima Hogg”
My brother Glen sent me a link to a Wikipedia page about a former Texas governor named Jim Hogg. What made Governor Hogg famous wasn’t anything he did in office, but rather the unusual name he gave his daughter: Ima. Can you imagine going through life signing your name Ima Hogg? What a cruel trick to play on one’s child!
This sort of reminds me of the Johnny Cash hit song “A boy named Sue”. I just wonder if Ima ever had a notion to take revenge on her dad for giving her such a terrible name? As with “Sue” in that old Country classic, it would be hard to find fault with her if she did.
The computer mouse turns 40
On December 9, 1968, computer history was made when Douglas Engelbart, a scientist with the Stanford Research Institute, demonstrated a very unique invention in public for the very first time: the computer mouse. That first rudimentary mouse didn’t catch on right away – in fact, it took a decade and a half for it to make its way into routine use.
Back in the early days of computing, virtually everyone used a keyboard to accomplish their computer tasks, but when Apple finally began selling computers with the feisty digital rodents attached people really began to take notice. Soon afterwards, PC manufacturers and Microsoft jumped on the bandwagon, and the rest is history. Nowadays it’s hard to even imagine using a computer without a mouse (or one of its derivatives).
The photo above shows Mr. Engelbart’s prototype of the device that ended up changing the way millions of people around the world use their computers. That very first mouse wouldn’t have won any awards for style or beauty, but its introduction was a monumental event in the history of computer technology.
More on the printer ink rip-off
In a recent post I ranted about the way the printer manufacturers have “instructed” their printers to stop working and demand that a new ink cartridge be installed before the old one even runs out of ink. Well, the new issue of PC World Magazine details the results of an independent test that indicates that the scandal is even worse than I had imagined.
The study found that as much as 60% – well over half – of the ink in a cartridge is wasted when some printers lie and tell you the ink well has run dry when it really hasn’t. That amount of wasted ink is outrageous, especially given the exorbitant prices consumers are charged for them in the first place. Here is the link to the page detailing the results of the study.
Printers that force you to change an ink cartridge before it’s empty
Several months ago I wrote a post about the exorbitant cost of inkjet printer cartridges, and now I’m here to rant about a related issue: Printers that force you to change a cartridge before it actually runs out of ink.
Cheria has been working on a cookbook featuring the favorite recipes of all the members of her large family, and every few pages her printer simply stops working and tells her that she will have to change one of the ink cartridges before she can resume printing. In the old days, you simply kept printing until the colors began to fade or the printing stopped altogether. But the printer manufacturers have now designed their printers to tell you a cartridge is empty before it actually runs dry. What an ingenious way to separate their customers from even more of their hard-earned money!
A friendly warning that the ink level is running low would be much appreciated, but what really gets my goat is the fact that the printer simply stops working when IT decides that it’s time to replace an ink cartridge! Just imagine driving down the road in your car when all of a sudden the engine stops running and a light comes on telling you you’re out of gas when you know you have at least a gallon or two left…and before you can continue on your journey you have to fill up the tank. You would never be able to use up that last gallon or two of gas!
Memo to printer manufacturers: I appreciate receiving a heads-up that I’m about to run out of ink, but I’m perfectly capable of determining when the ink actually runs out without your assistance. When a photo of green grass waving in a gentle breeze prints out in yellow, I’ll replace the cartridge. Rant over.