A Curious Statistical Anomaly

It snowed today. The picture is from our deck looking out towards the road that leads down to the paved road. I know it’s only about a 1/2 inch at its deepest and nothing compared to New England. My mother, who lives in Maine, says the snow is almost up to the porch rails and is banking the house on all sides. But it snowed here in Southern Maryland in January and we got half an inch.

Earlier in the winter we got about a quarter inch that didn’t last long enough to take pictures, so I had to go out and take these. It’s now rained and almost all the snow is gone — of course it’s darn cold out and the rain was more sleety, but even that’s stopped now too.

I’m not sure if I should be happy or sad that it snowed. Being originally from Maine, this is snow that wouldn’t even be noticed as an inconvenience — down here it’s a big deal. That is, it’s a big deal unless you live in Northwestern Maryland where they actually have snow storms. But here in Southern Maryland a half inch is a big deal and this is the most we’ve had all year and probably the last. What makes it so weird is just last week we had two days in the high 60’s to low 70’s for temperature — now it snowed.

Doesn’t take much to make me happy or intrigued and today it was snow.

On one of the lists I read the talk has been about how to read while knitting. The topic is important for me because I read a lot of books because I review them. Reading sort of means that I can’t really do anything else but if I could figure out how to hold the pages open and get them turned when needed, well I could do some mindless stocking knit stitches which is a big part of socks and sweaters and other projects. So far I have a weighted holder and one of those fold-up book holders. The weighted one works best with all types of books. The folding holder only works with hardcovers or trade paperbacks (paperbacks cause it to fold up and fall over).

The other problem is finding good seating. I’ve got a great chair, it’s a chair and a half really, but I feel like a kid cozying up for a good time of reading when I sit there with a cup of tea or coffee and a book. It’s my nest really, with books, knitting, side table, and really good lighting. But I got to wondering today what kind of options there were to reading chairs and found the photos you see with this post.

It seems that there are as many places to sit and read books as there are people to read them. I have fond memories of reading under the covers with a flashlight when I was young. Yes, I know that’s sort of a cliché but then there is a reason some things become clichés. I was read to as a child, so I read to my son. I have many memories of us snuggled up on the couch with a warm blanket, and a wonderful book. He also turned out to be a reader with his own collection of books and reading memories. Guess I wonder if there are better ways to enjoy reading — ways to make it more pleasurable but the more I think about it the more I think that as long as you’re comfortable and the journey in your mind is exciting, then reading itself is a pleasure because you almost don’t notice the surroundings because you’re in that other world — the one within the covers of the book.

I doubt there is anything worse for a knitter than finding a moth in the house. Well, finding a moth has eaten a hole in a beloved project or two or three. It’s been on my TO DO list for a while to go through all my stash and get it organized and figure out what I have and where it is. If you remember one of my New Year’s resolutions was to finish some of my WIPS (works in progress) and UFOs (Unfinished Objects). So, finally this past weekend I started. Imagine my delight when I found this sock — I still like the yarn. I started to wonder why I never finished it and remembered it was my first ever toe up sock and I didn’t have a pattern for doing that and was winging it and having some problems with the heel… turned it over and started looking at what I’d done…. Horror struck — it had been eaten by something.

Now, a while back I’d heard that Zip-Lock bags were a gift to crafts people protecting fiber from moths, dust, dirt, and other damaging whatevers that could cause fiber disasters. So, I’d bought boxes of various size bags and had been putting yarn into bags by project as it arrived at the house. However, I hadn’t yet started on the stash. So, tonight I started going through my living room stash: checking for damage, sorting by yarn and color. Now I feel better since I, so far, haven’t found any other evidence of moth damage or any other damage — so my delusion is that only this one sock/yarn/project has a problem. I’ll live with this delusion as I move on to my next stash area and more organization.

Okay, I was reading one of those technology sites today — I’m a geek, so tech news rocks, what can I say? Anyway, there was this article on the Tata Nano. It’s made by Tata Motors and will be sold in India. It seats 5 and is expected to get 54 US miles per gallon.

Sounds great and the price is under $3,000. Why don’t we have a car like that in the United States? If you go to the article there’s a link to a video of the unveiling (watch with sound OFF — it’s horrible and the video is shaky) — the car is really cute — but that’s beside the point.

My point is that I’ve been reading about these new cars in Europe that are coming to the US. They all get tremendous mileage compared to American made cars (here I’m talking American brand of cars not foreign cars made in America (Honda)). So, why can’t America make a car that gets 54 miles per gallon and doesn’t cost the same as 4 years tuition for a college education? We’re supposed to be the best and yet we continue to put out cars as if there isn’t an oil crisis. We built bigger and with more bells and whistles that we don’t need, as if the environment isn’t also having a crisis. What’s wrong with us?

I’m talking not just about the industry, but you and me. They’re never going to change if we don’t stand up and say “this has got to stop, make me an ecologically sound car that gets 80 miles per gallon, that can take me and my family to school, work, and on errands.” The government recently changed the rules and now US cars have to have meet 35 miles per gallon (currently 27.5 mpg) averaged over their fleet of cars by the year 2020. What that means is that car manufacturers only have to drop their most gas guzzling model or two and hey we meet the standard, business as usual. Whoopee for the company and the heck with the consumer and the environment. And they don’t even have to do it for another 18 years.

Someone once told me that American’s don’t want hybrids or fuel efficient cars. I said, “But I know that Honda has waiting lists for their hybrids.” The response: “See, no one wants one.” “How can that be, if there’s a waiting list to get one. Obviously people are willing to wait their turn to get one.” But says he, “American’s don’t want them or there’d be more on the road.” I hope you understand that logic because I surely didn’t and still don’t. I’ve known people who waited for almost a year for their shot at a hybrid and they love the ones they have. I’d certainly get one if I could afford one, but my old Honda (over 10 years old) is still running strong and most of the time gives me better mileage than that new ruling from Congress.

It seems to me that as long as we as taxpayers, consumers, and citizens are willing to sit back and let corporations rule us, we’re never going to get out from under. I believe that if Tata’s Nano could be sold in the US — it would sell like hotcakes. Who wouldn’t want a car for under 3K that got 54 mpg. Oh, I forgot — it might not make it in an accident with those big behemoth gas guzzlers. Because, I also know that people are afraid that if they get a smaller, lighter car that gets good mileage, they might not be as safe as in the big behemoth that would probably hit them since they couldn’t see them since they’d be so much smaller in comparison. But, maybe, if we all drove the smaller more ecological and economical cars that safety factor would cancel out. [NOTE: Found a site with some safety information on the Nano — Jan 10.]

So, I ask why can’t America come up with a decent low prices, high mileage car? Is there any other reason other than they don’t want to — because the rest of the world seems to be able to do it.

Today in reading slashdot, I followed the link to an article on solar trees. I got to thinking after reading this quote:

“The solar cells on the tree were able to store enough electricity in spite of receiving no direct solar light for days at a time because of the clouds. They showed that solar trees really are a practical form of street lighting,” Christina Werner from Cultural Project Management (Kulturelles Projektmanagement, Vienna) told RenewableEnergyAccess.com.

that it would a great idea if cities in the United States followed up on this method of lighting the streets. The solar trees at least from this picture are graceful and actually more pleasing to look at then the usual light posts. In the long run it could reduce the cost of having the night streets lit for safety. Electricity costs a lot. It uses fuel that is rapidly getting difficult to find and it seems to me that while most of Europe and Asia are looking for alternative energy sources, we’re lagging behind. It seems that we often spend more time trying to be minimally more efficient using the same technology rather than lifting our heads and thinking outside the box.

Besides, I like the idea of solar trees — though I have to admit that my first thought was not quite a match for the actual structure shown. Guess I read too much science fiction.

It started raining last night — in fits and starts. All day today there’d be misty rain followed by overcast skies and then maybe more rain. Maryland was in a drought — 34 days without rain, with temperatures most days in the mid-70s to high 80s. I’m enjoying the sound and the smell of rain. It’s very pleasant to have not just rain, but the slow drippy kind that soaks into the soil and down through to wherever the wetness goes to help wells and water tables.

On the other hand, Southern California is having another day of fires sweeping through the canyons and destroying homes as well as trees, brush, and the creatures that live hidden from view. The winds are driving the fires — the news today said hundreds of thousands of people have been evacuated from the burning areas. I feel almost guilty enjoying the rainy end to our drought  when these people are losing their homes. Especially since people I know live very near those areas. None have had to suffer from anything more that soot and smoke, but they’re still living with the threat, while I sit back drinking coffee and enjoying the rain.

To make matter worse, I heard that some of the more recent fires are arson. You really have to wonder about the thought processes that someone has to have gone through to decide that it’s a good idea setting fires in an area that’s already in flames, with firefighters stretched thin and exhausted. Maybe they don’t think at all. Shouldn’t arsonists all just line up to see the beautiful display of fire that nature is displaying rather than setting fires of their own? I can’t come up with a motivation for this behavior — nope, can’t think why a sentient being would do such a thing — maybe they aren’t sentient — they just look the part.

We recycle. We separate out the cans, plastic and glass to one bucket, newspapers in a stack, then cardboard and other paper in a third container. Since we live in the country we don’t have town/city trash pick up. So, we pay a local man to come and pick up the trash once a week. However, he doesn’t do recycling so that we take to the recycle center ourselves.  It’s only a little out of our way, so it’s a very minor inconvenience.

Now, I don’t have a problem with recycling — although I threw my back out last night helping to load the car so my husband could stop after work and drop everything off at the center. What bothers me is the people who take their stuff to the recycle center but then can’t be bothered to put the newspaper in the newspaper bin, the cardboard/mixed paper in that bin, etc. I mean why bother to do it and truck it all the way there and then just throw it in the first bin you get to?  They’ve already committed 99% of the effort just being there, but can’t be bothered to take that one final step.

The other thing is there’s an actual household trash area so those people who don’t have pick up of household trash can drop off their bagged garbage.   You know this is coming don’t you…why do people dump their garbage either in with the recycle stuff or into the proper bin, but not bagged.  Again, what’s the thinking on this.

We recycle because of our belief that we’re using up our resources too quickly and it’s bad for the environment.  We feel that helping to recycle is a very minor thing that we can do that might just actually help.  We follow up the recycling by buying products that use recycled materials as part of their product whether that be the container, packaging, or actually the recycled material itself (some yarn is made of recycled plastic bottles). So, I’m totally at a loss to understand the people who go through all the effort to bring their trash there, and then just dump their garbage at the recycle center for others to clean up.

Today after my dentist appointment, we decided a treat was in order and set out to check out the 2007 Solar Decathalon being held on the National Mall in Washington, DC. The Solar Decathalon has been held several times since we’ve lived in Maryland but this is the first time we’ve actually made it. Solar houses are built by teams of students and they compete in ten contests: architecture, engineering, market viability, communications, comfort zone, appliances, hot water, lighting, energy balance, and getting around (usually electric cars).

It was a beautiful day and sunny. All the houses have to use solar for everything. We didn’t get to look in every house but we did see a few. Of the houses that we got to tour we liked the Team Montreal house and the UMR house.

None of the houses were actually liveable but these two came the closest to being a house that actual people could live in. All of the other houses that we saw seemed to believe that no storage was required for clothing, books, or the other clutter of life (even pared down to House Beautiful levels of nearly empty rooms). One house had a closet about 7 feet high and 2 1/2 wide, most of the others had none at all.

Kitchens were horrible except in the two we liked. Most had kitchens that could reheat frozen dinners or take-out but not to actually cook meals for a couple for a week. Part of the contest is they need to cook a large meal and for one meal you could do it. The appliances were there but if you had a set of dishes (plates, bowls, dessert plate…), silverware, glassware, coffee pot and cups — well you’d fill up 90% of the kitchen cabinets and have no where to store staples like flour, sugar, spices, boxes of this and that, cans of whatever (just think of what you pick up for a month of meals that doesn’t go in the fridge). There was a nice bottom freezer fridge in all the homes we visited.

It has to be remembered that all the houses were designed to meet the contest rules and criteria and thus some design considerations were made that might not have been made if people had to live in it rather than the house being on display. Even as display houses they do show that you don’t have to give up anything to live solar — most homes had a place for an office, full bath, all the usual kitchen appliances and felt open and spacious. For many visiting the houses that may be enough but when I look at a house — I start to think of it as a home and wonder where would you put bookcases, my spinning wheel, my craft supplies, etc. None of the houses seemed like they could actually be homes except for the Montreal and UMR houses. There was another house by the University of Colorado that we liked the appearance of but the line to tour was so long that we couldn’t get near it. But here’s a photo of the outside:

All in all, it was well worth taking the time to visit the mall to see these solar homes. Keep your eyes out for tours of solar homes near you area — we should all be trying to reduce our carbon footprints and these homes do show that you don’t have to rough it to use solar energy, energy efficient appliances, and live comfortably — once the designs switch from winning a contest to using solar and being a home people can live in.