How to Keep Chickens in a City (aka The Urban Chicken Movement)

How to Keep Chickens in a City (aka The Urban Chicken Movement) - Join the "urban chicken movement" and raise your own backyard flock. Chickens are both entertaining and useful to keep. They cost very little to raise and they earn their rent by laying eggs for you. What follows is a brief introduction to keeping chickens within the constraint of an urban environment. [Wiki Howto]

Gas Mileage Rant

Ok, so why is it that in 1988 we can make cars that get 58mpg (1988 Chevrolet Sprint Metro) with a regular internal combustion engine and here we are almost 20 years later getting WORSE mileage with special Hybrid engines?

Check out the federal fuel economy page for proof.

I'll tell you why. People want performance, not gas mileage. And the automakers are certainly willing to give the selfish ME ME ME generation what they want. In 1984 Honda made a 1.3 liter Civic that pumped out 60 horsepower and a whooping 67mpg on the highway (Edmunds). Now in 2006 they squeeze only a mere 50mpg from the 1.3 liter hybrid at 110 horsepower (Edmunds). Just imagine what they could do if the focus was on MPG and not HP.

Of course one of the big selling factors with the new hybrid technology is the environment. If you do a side by side comparison using the federal fuel economy page you will see that the 1.5 liter 1985 Civic, while getting an overall better mileage rating than the 1.3 liter 2006 Civic hybrid, puts out LESS annual greenhouse gas emissions.

It's clear that the auto makers around the world will make what the public demands. It's time the public started demanding something better for the world and not just thinking of themselves. But I guess since global warming is just a myth and there is plenty of oil to go around we don't really need our vehicles to get better mileage. But if we can get better 0-60 times, now that is what is important.

Flickr Updated

Great Wolf Lodge 2008
Originally uploaded by loatswil

I uploaded a lot of shots to Flickr yesterday. I have been on a Warcraft kick so I had plenty to do. Here is one from the Great Wolf Lodge series.

The Meek And Mild One

The Meek And Mild One
Originally uploaded by shutter-bugg

I either have Spring fever or Winter Flu. The stiff neck and headache might be a clue.

To board or not to board...

P1010067_1
Originally uploaded by loatswil

We are going to the Great Wolf Lodge tonight and can't decide whether or not to board ole' Murph. He barks up a storm and annoys the neighbors if we leave him out. But if we lock him in he might tear up the basement. I say we just board him that way we don't have to hurry home either.

Blogger Hosting

I have moved hosting to Blogger. I have always been a fan and they are getting to the point where they can offer anything that I can do on Drupal. Only I don't have to update things and rebuild templates and worry about hackers. Plus they are a lot faster and more reliable than Dotster. Of course I still control the DNS so I can always switch back at any time.

--Bill

Tom's Eagle Pictures

Bald Eagle


Originally uploaded by mallets78

Tom has been at the old outlet mall in Lawrence taking some nice eagle pictures. The eagles sit here near the open water under the Bowersock dam.

Blogger Host

Moving from Drupal to Blogger.