Vanity vanity thy name is jaya

The web has changed the way people shop. The way we shop now is to daydream on the internet and imagine what it would be like. You can customize a new car and design the government issued automobile license plate. Here are the vanity plates that I am considering (all are currently available in California). Please comment with your opinions and recommendation for my new Honda Civic.

Please comment with your opinions and recommendations.

New car shopping

I test drove a Honda Civic Hybrid today. Nice ride, more quiet than our old Toyota and the power was about the same.

I've done research on the web an narrowed it down to three cars; Honda Fit, Smart fortwo, Toyota Prius and the Civic Hybrid.

Kam Mix took me on the drive. Smooth comfortable ride on the freeway. Unfortunately, just as I was getting ready to open her up I spotted a CHP through the sweeping cab forward windshield. Kam said that he hasn't heard of any Civic vs rock windshield issue (but the vertical design in other cars does attract rocks).

Next is to look into sound system. I think I'll do an after market upgrade and not order the Honda stereo upgrades. I must have iPod and booktape capabilities.

Solar Electricity on High Street

I'm looking into buying a new hybrid car and the web search has brought me in contact with "green" sites. Our accountant has a nice page, green tax planning, about the cost of getting a hybrid car that shows that it make economy sense for me to get a hybrid to commute in (this is OK according to Grammar Girl).

From there I found this solar power site. The calculator make it seem like putting solar voltaic on the roof also make economic sense. After the walk in completed and back is landscaped the next project my just be solar power.

The California Solar Initiative provides incentives for us to upgrade into the 21st century. Part of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's Million Solar Roofs Program, California has set a goal to create 3,000 megawatts of new, solar-produced electricity by 2017.

Floating-Point Computation Errors

In the exploritory testing email list this morning there was a link to Dr. Kahan's papers on floating-point computations. Below is an example of how Wintel platform and almost every other computer architecture leads to incorrect floating point computations. Click on the table to expand for reading. Read the paper yourself and draw your own conspiracy theory. How Futile ... Floating-Point Computation? (Extract presented to Householder Symposium XVI)(PDF file)

HTML Syntax Checker

Found another HTML syntax checker today, Dr. Watson.

Get the Blood Out

At the AJJF convention today Hillary told me that a good way to get blood stains out of clothes is to spit on the stain. A Hollywood costume professional told her the secret. It seems that your saliva had something (enzymes) that will breakdown your blood, not anyone else's just your blood.

Sounds like a small bit for Myth Busters.

Hellfire Steaks

I checked out Steven Raichlen's book How to Grill from the library this morning. Same information as ATK's grilling book but it doesn't feel as objective.

Nice information on checking a steak for how much it has cooked, the touch test.

The chapter on How To Grill T-Bone Steaks using the Hellfire Steak recipe.

Prepare the steak with salt and course ground black pepper. Then a lot of dry mustard powder and press into the meat with a fork. Finally, shake on some hot sauce. He uses Tabasco but anything will work. Grill on high heat (2 or 3 Mississippi).

A net search reveled that the rub will come off during cooking. People has used the technique on other meats besides beef. Raichlen recommends this recipe for tuna and salmon steaks as well.

Did I mention that it is spring time?