Fisker Karma

I recently saw my first and last (?) Fisker Karma outside a local lunchtime eatery. At $100K this plug-in hybrid isn't within the budget of most tree huggers like me. It's $100,000 sticker doesn't seem to be catching on with too many auto enthusiasts either since there have been big layoffs followed by rumors of bankruptcy. Too bad, it is different, and the lines are pleasing to the eyes. Automotive history is littered with electric and near-electric vehicles that were little more than a blip on the horizon, but few had lines this nice.

Chevy Tornado

The Chevy Tornado is one of those global vehicles which is not available in the states. The vehicle is sold in Brazil as the Chevy Montana and is based on an old European Opel platform. Anyone who remembers the old Chevy pick-up/car hybrid called the El Camino will be familiar with this concept. The Tornado is equipped only with a 4-cylinder and a five-speed transmission. In this US day of re-awakened fuel economy, the four wouldn't be a problem, but not many of us in the stateside can handle a manual transmission. The bed is a little short, but it holds a half-ton payload.

Snack Smart

I don't have a great diet. I expect it is better than most, but not what one would call good. That said, I watch with amusement as people seem to distill their dietary knowledge on everyone these days. An understanding of the words moderation and exercise have been pitched out the window so we can collectively chase the next get healthy/stay in shape scheme which is promised to require no work or effort from us. I was visiting one of our sites when I noticed someone had taken it upon themselves to mark "good" junk food items in the machine.

Yep, frosted pop tarts are snack smarter in someone's world. At least they are in comparison to candy bars and chips.

I'm not sure how these stack up against the other offerings in the case, but at 400 calories and 340mg of sodium for the two-pack, I'm not sure I would spend the snack smarter sticker on these items.

I must admit to being prejudiced to the unfrosted variety. I was really suprised to see the unfrosted option checked in with just as many calories and even more sodium. Does that mean the frosted goop on top has no caloric value?

The other winner in the case with a snack smarter sticker was double salami.

While the calories are fairly low, I'm not certain too many doctors would be thrilled with a one-shot, couple-minute intake of 630mg sodium.

Oorang Indians

Many major sports leagues had franchises in small towns in their early years, but LaRue, Ohio may have been the smallest when it was home to the Oorang Indians between 1922 and 1923. The franchise existed to promote a dog kennels in LaRue which was famous for oorang airedales. The breed continues to this day as a larger than normal airedale.

As for the Oorang Indians, they had the star status of Jim Thorpe and not much else. Despite having him as an amazing athlete, the team won only two games during its existence. The tiny town of LaRue only hosted one of the team's games. Most were played in nearby county seat Marion, Ohio.

The town of LaRue is still a quiet small town today. Its main street has a pizza place, a bank, a post office, and a number of small shops. It probably is not much changed from that one day when the great Jim Thorpe took the field.

Uh Oh

the page editor missed something... or the page owner really doesn't like candles...

Either way, it makes for a fun read

Pink Cadillac

Last Christmas Tree Lights

I grew up with a Christmas tree decorated with lots of lights. Our family tree was loaded with opaque C7 lights. The tree would glow so warm it would heat the thermostat and make the rest of the house cold during the season. My parents were always worried about starting a fire and telling us to limit the time the tree lights were on. When they became available, we decorated the tree with cool bright lights. Once mini-lights were introduced, I started to add them to the tree.

Most of our Christmas trees were the same decorated with cool bright bulbs and mini-lights. Then in 2007 we bought our first sets of LED lights. They were super and replaced our C7 bulbs. We kept the midget lights until this year. This year I found a great looking set of midget LED's and replaced on of the two midget light sets.

C7 Clear Lights at a whopping 143 degrees

LED replacements near room temperature 76 degrees

Mini lights at 115 degrees

Mini LED's at 76 degrees

The energy savings is amazing and the tree still looks great. Lighting an entire tree with 45 watts is a wonderful energy savings, and the LED's look great.

2003 with lights

2012 with LED's