Sunday, October 23, 2005

trackback []

Whither Filmvalues.com?? For several years, I have relied on a site called filmvalues.com for parental guidance-oriented movie reviews. In fact, it is one of the few sites on my anemic blogroll. And it seems to have disappeared without a trace. (2006/03/31 Update...since I occasionally get emails on this one, I thought I would provide an update. I still have no idea what happened to the site. I have searched, briefly (including newsgroups) without success. The best replacement I have found so far is KidsInMind.com). 9:50:21 PM    comment []

trackback []

Other Energy Saving Ideas In addition to attic fans, here are some other energy-saving approaches. None is going to cure our problem, but they all seem helpful and pretty easy. Hybrid cars. Okay, zero points for originality here. 18 months ago, when gas was around $1.50, I thought hybrids were somewhat marginal. But with gas at $2.50, or more--project what it might be over the 10-15 year life of the car--and they start to look pretty good. Programmable Thermostats. This one is so easy. I installed them immediately upon moving into the first 3 houses we owned. The fourth house--in Minnesota--came with one. I personally like it cold when I sleep, so they are a double-bonus to me. Anyway, if you turn the house down to 60 (really not that cold) at night and when away, it adds up. Zoned heating. Houses are so big nowadays, and families so small. Many rooms go long periods without use. Wouldn't it be great to heat the rooms you are using to a nice toasty temp, and leave the other ones cool? Yet you never see zoned heating, outside of the odd electrically-heated house. I'm not sure what the practical technologies are for achieving this with forced hot-air, but it can't be that hard. 9:04:43 AM    comment []

trackback []

For over a year, Amazon has been providing free super-saver shipping: for orders over $25, no shipping charge for the slowest, UPS ground (seems like sometimes that is 5-9 days, other times 10-14). I have probably ordered from Amazon half a dozen times since they started this, and I have chosen super-saver every single time. What a deal. 9:04:11 AM    comment []