Gas Mileage

I am tracking my gas mileage in Zoom via an iPhone App. So far I have managed to increase my around-town mileage from 14.1 mpg to 15.25 mpg by going really easy on the accelerator. REALLY easy. I'm not sure what kind of a percent increase that is. However, it is an increase of 1.15 mpg. If I divide 15.25 by 14.1, I get 1.0816 ... I think I am correct in saying that this is an 8.16% increase in gas mileage. Small but noticeable. Honestly, I should be able to do better. Driving at 60 on the highway, in overdrive on autopilot, I averaged 17.97 mpg. Again, I should be able to do better.

My Nose

Tired of having a low-level, long-term sinus infection? Sick of having blocked nasal passages? Try using a neti pot. I did. It's quite the sensation. Like getting salt water up your nose. Which is precisely what it does. You fill the neti pot with warm salt water, stick the spout of the neti pot in one nostril, tilt your head, and feel the saline water run thru your nasal passage and out the other nostril. It's like drowning, but no water enters your windpipe. That's all. Now that I did it twice, I can breathe thru my nose again. Just wanted the world to know.

Wild West Redux

Midnight, 02.04.2017. Saddled up Shadz & crossed the asphalt plain to Broadway. Bought 13 kilos of dried beans & a steak. Shadz threw a shoe in the Piggly Wiggly parking lot. We limped back to the 'stead in the 580 bike lane, dodgin' beer cans all the way. Well now, she's been rode hard & put up wet, but I swear Shadz is the most gallant Wild West floofer I ever did saw!

Zoom

Zoom is my truck, and I love him dearly. He's a 2003 Nissan Frontier SC 4x4, with a 3.4 liter 6-cylinder supercharged engine that has been upgraded with a high-end K&N air filter and a cat-back exhaust system. The only drawback to Zoom is his gas mileage. Currently I am getting 14.5 mpg city and 18 highway. I am going to increase that however, by laying off the gas. Slower acceleration is the key.

I have spent a lot of time researching additional upgrades for Zoom, including a flatbed, run-flat tires, a front winch-mount bumper, safety film for the windows, and a canvas shell for the bed. In the end though, I figure that the current configuration is the lightest, cheapest, and thus will deliver the best mpg. And unless I win the lottery, I can spend the money on better things. The important thing is to keep him in fine running condition by having his fluids changed regularly.

Food for thought: A pickup with a Cummins turbo-diesel would have gotten MUCH better gas mileage...

Advice from the Future

I just read about this dude who started posting on the web in 2000, claiming to be from the future. His moniker was John Titor. Titor's story was a lot like that of John Connor's (in Terminator): He was a soldier from the future who survived a nuclear war and returned to the past to pick up an archaic piece of technology that was needed in his world. It's great theater, check him out on the web. Titor left this list of things to do to prepare for the future:

1. Do not eat or use products from any animal that is fed and eats parts of its own dead.

2. Do not kiss or have intimate relations with anyone you do not know.

3. Learn basic sanitation and water purification.

4. Be comfortable around firearms. Learn to shoot and clean a gun.

5. Get a good first aid kit and learn to use it.

6. Find 5 people within 100 miles that you trust with your life and stay in contact with them.

7. Get a copy of the US Constitution and read it.

8. Eat less.

9. Get a bicycle and two sets of spare tires. Ride it 10 miles a week.

10. Consider what you would bring with you if you had to leave your home in 10 min. and never return.

Pragmatism and Apocalypse

Am reading Apocalypse 2012: An Investigation Into Civilization's End by Lawrence E Joseph (ISBN: 978-0-7679-2448-1). It's an impressive book: Funny, inciteful, intelligent and well-researched. The best thing about it, though, is that Lawrence Joseph presents both the scientific AND the philosophical/spiritual arguments for cataclysm in 2012. In a word, his writing is pragmatic. Only six months ago I pooh-poohed the 2012 scare as just that - another scare. But now the fever grips me and I am...concerned. Fear is growing inside me.

We have three years til 12/21/12. That gives me three years to get my house in order. A goodly amount of time! Time to get in sound physical shape, to perfect my diet, to become a capable gardener, to get LittleFoot up and running, to gain additional rural/urban homesteading skills, to get my financial house in order, and to learn a skill that will allow me to make a living in the post-industrial world.

I'm already addressing several of these aspects, with more plans on the drawing board.

The iPhone

I bought my first cell phone (ever!) 3 weeks ago, and it has revolutionized my life. It is capable of doing so many things that it is best described as providing "All information at all times." It functions as a phone, camera, movie camera, scanner, GPS, video game console, level, flashlight, ruler, TV/movie monitor, Kindle ebook reader, MP3 player, internet browser, email interface, fuel economy gauge, currency converter, calculator, compass...the list goes on and on. It has voice recognition for Google internet searches. It turns spoken word into text. It scans barcodes and does automatic price comparisons. It provides directions and maps at the touch of a button. It tracks me live on maps as I drive around. I can send and receive text messages and voice messages with it. It is now one of my most prized survivalist tools. I predict that in a few more years, tiny cell phone-based notebook computers will replace laptop computers. I can't wait!