Community Sponsored Agriculture

I was on a flight back from New York today and decided to take a look at the in-flight magazine.  I read an intriguing article about Community Sponsored Agriculture (CSA).  CSA’s are an arrangement with a local farm in which several people pay for a “share” of the crop (distributed every week).  The farm gets the cash to support the farm and grow food organically (although I suppose that’s not technically a requirement) and the customers get a bunch of ultra fresh veggies, herbs, and maybe some fruit and fresh flowers.  By the time I heard about this, I was way too late… all shares were reserved.  Count me in for 2009!

VA Dept of Agriculture - CSAs

Some CSA farms near us…

Potomac Vegetable Farms

Bull Run Mountain Farm

Kiva - microloans

Pretty cool organization (it looks like) that helps out people in developing countries by helping collect money and then thru “partners” in those countries manages the loans for repayment.  The dollar amounts are not necessarily large - these are microloans.  However, what may seem like a small amount of money to you and me, might make all the difference to someone in another country.

Book of the future

Have you seen Amazon’s Kindle?  Sweet!!!  ‘Nuff said.

To me, it looks like a large PDA.  At $399, it ain’t cheap.  You can buy a laptop for that much, but it won’t be as light or slim as the Kindle.  If they could combine the Kindle functionality (read a book, buy online, download a book, etc.) along with an ad-hoc note taking capability (like a tablet PC) — I’d be willing to pay a premium for that.  If they take it one step further and allow for document sync between my Kindle and the Amazon servers — and then that syncs with my PC (Linux) so I have a local copy — I’d be sold and pay a premium!  I’m thinking something along the lines of Novell iFolder, but an embedded version that I don’t have to worry about.

10 Ways the World Could End.

From a TED talk in 2002… Stephen Petranek reviews 10 possible dooms-day scenarios and some possible solutions.  While some generate snickers and chuckles from the audience, there wasn’t one of these scenarios which is DEFINITELY not going to happen.  I think it’s interesting that these problems are just as relevant today as they were in 2002.

Solar Panels for the home?

It’s a great idea, but the upfront costs are too high…  I visited the Sun Power website and they have a calculator that can help you estimate the cost savings and approx cost of the project.  For me they seemed to estimate about $20,000 for the panels minus a $2000 Fed Tax credit.  Plus my electric bill would be about the same.

I wish more R&D would go towards funding technological advancements of this technology.

Maybe not my house in the near future, but we need…

Take a look at these futuristic designs and experimental “tree houses”.  While you may think those designs are pushing the limit, it’s that extreme push which helps us have progress.  It’s why we don’t live in straw huts anymore.

The major problem I would see with building a permanent residence in the trees is the irreplaceable nature of a living tree.  What happens if you get termites in one of those trees?  What if someone crashes a car into one of your supporting trees.  You can’t simply go buy a new tree in that particular shape with that particular strength that can thrive in that particular type of soil and climate… which makes replacing those trees extremely difficult.

It’s a good thought however…

Selling old geek gadgets

What to do with my growing number of “old gadgets”?

• iPod Mini, 4GB
• Treo 650
• Canon Elura 40MC
• Sony Cybershot P10
• Canon EOS 10s body
• Palm V
• Palm Personal (yes, I’ve been using them that long!)
• and probably others…

I could go the traditional eBay or Craigslist route… but I also found out about Second Rotation and Free Cycle as possible alternatives.  Now all I need to do is to find the time to “sell them”.

Microsoft Surface

Saw a “demo” of Microsoft Surface with Bill Gates on the Today show this morning…
http://video.msn.com/v/us/msnbc.htm?g=ed66be57-9a6b-4c96-85ae-fb263443de9c&f=05&fg=rss

Some very nifty stuff.

Imagine the things that could be brought to market if every company had pockets as deep as Microsoft’s… How many “mind blowing” or paradigm-shifting ideas there are out there which never see the light of day because of a lack of funding.

On the to-do list… Tile Backsplash

Add a tile backsplash to our kitchen. I like the “mini-tile sheets” they used in this example.  Would be good to do similar things in the bathrooms too…

HGTV article

I wish more companies would take this first step…

I’m not a total tree hugger.  I do care about our environment, but I also value today’s modern conveniences and having things at a reasonable cost.  It’s a balance…

Still, it’s nice to see some companies taking at least a first step towards environmental responsibility… such as Apple.  It’s also nice to see my company joining groups such as The Green Grid.

If you work in IT too, why not try and suggest that your company also join The Green Grid?

Every little bit helps.