Meta Tags for Websites

A custom blog for my friend Rick Chace

Rick I believe that you will have to ask the person that set up your website to add some custom meta tags. Follow these links to preview some pdfs that I uploaded on meta tags. I didn’t want to send them to your email as they were fairly large 2MB or larger.

http://tinyurl.com/lxkp7m

http://tinyurl.com/mquwd4

http://tinyurl.com/kwpyd4

If it was your own web site we could easily modify the tags.

Carbon Offsets

My wife and I made a trip from Fairbanks Alaska to Tempe Arizona last week.

While in Tempe I went online and purchased 8,000#’s of carbon offsets from terrapass. This is considered one year’s flying carbon offsets (offsets for 4 short, 3 medium and 2 long-haul flights) and I paid $50.60.

I got the idea for purchasing carbon offsets after reading Ed Begley Jr’s book Living Like Ed.

Think of a carbon offset as a certificate that represents the reduction of one metric ton (2,205 lbs) of carbon dioxide emissions. If a project is developed that reduces carbon dioxide emissions, every ton of emissions reduced will result in one carbon offset. Developers can sell these reductions as carbon offsets. For a more detailed description access this link, How carbon offsets work.

Terrapass funds three different types of projects:

• Farm Power: by capturing and destroying the methane formed when managing animal waste.

• Landfill gas capture: once again removing the methane formed in landfills.

• Wind farm clean energy: funding wind energy

Electric Car?

I have been interested in buying an electric car for some time now. When I was in San Francisco in November 2008 I attended a new car show hoping to get some information on the Chevrolet Volt. I was disappointed, as they couldn’t tell me anything other than they expected the Volt to be out in 2010. See the Wikipedia article about the Volt. Now of course there is more information, but I’m not sure the Volt would be the best choice for me.

• For one thing it only has a range of 40 miles without a recharge or running  the 4-cylinder gas engine.

• Also I’m usually shy away from first year models, as they tend to have more bugs than established models.

• The 16kWh lithium-ion battery pack can be fully charged by plugging in to a 120-240VAC residential outlet.

• Assembled in: Hamtramck, United Kingdom and  Michigan, United States

• And of course there is the chance that GM won’t be around for long.

Now I am looking at the Phoenix Motorcars which will also be available in 2010. There are two models to choose from, an SUV and a SUT (sports utility truck). Some Phoenix Motorcar features:

• Unlike the Volt these are electric only cars, with a range of 100+ miles.

• On-board vehicle 6.6KW charger: 5 to 6 hours

• Off-board high-power 250KW charger: under 10 min. to 95% SOC

I added myself to their waiting list for a possible vehicle purchase. Of course I still need to work out some of the details with my wife.

Technology Funny

Fellow CIOS 246 classmates who don’t get the Fairbanks Sunday paper. I found this to be very funny! (Be patient it’s a large file)

Our Connected World

Salsa Class Description

Check out this audio for a short description of the Roots and Rhythm of Salsa:

Flexible Spending Account

I used Wikipedia to do some additional research on the medical flexible spending account or FSA.

• The last time the wiki was edited was on 28 March 2009.

• From the discussion page I found out that this wiki is considered to be within the scope of a collaborative effort (WikiProject Taxation) to improve the coverage of tax-related articles on Wikipedia. This could account for the articles accuracy, and relevancy to current tax laws.

I had used Wikipedia before, but at that time I didn’t realize that the information could be inaccurate.  I can see why some professors would prefer that Wikipedia not be used, but I haven’t run across any problems.

I would feel comfortable using Wikipedia, but I would be sure and verify any questionable data.

I wouldn’t make any changes to the flexible spending wiki.

Growler to Go

While in Anchorage I saw a nice idea for taking home fresh draft beer. At several Anchorage establishments they sell growlers or 64 ounce bottles that are filled with draft beer. I was surprised to see the volume of take out beer that was being sold. Also I was wondering about the “open vessel” law and how local police would look at a 64 ounce bottle that had a screw on seal.

BEER TO GO

We sell kegs and growlers of all flagship
and seasonal beers to go.
1/2 Gallon jugs (Growlers) – $6.95 + $4.00 glass charge.

click on logo for a menu of beer and sodas

Another interesting note about growlers is the shorter shelf life. For unopened beer the shelf life is around 48 hours, but if opened less than 24 hours.

Lost Scone Recipe

I found a good recipe for chocolate chip scones in the Fairbanks News Miner back in September of 1996. I clipped the article and made many delicious scones, even adding a few changes of my own. After many transfers of the original recipe from notebook to counter, I lost track of the original. However I did have the article with all the pertinent information minus the recipe.

I was able to track down the original article at the borough library, and scan it to my flashdrive. Now I am back to baking my favorite scones.

Playing Your Best Online Chess

Playing several online games at once can be challenging. The tendency is too move fast, getting on to the next game. This can lead to careless play, and more importantly you are not taking advantage of the extra time afforded. Think of this type of chess as you would the postal chess of yesteryear.

Now I should clarify that this pertains to Web Chess with a reasonable time limit per move. Currently I am playing on the Alaska WebChess Club and the time limit that I play with is 14 to 21 days per move. It seems that most online chess (FICS) is played as if you were playing the game from start to finish in one sitting.

I find it helpful having a system to copy the different chess games to a diagram that can be printed.  That way I can set up the different games on chess sets without having to be online. I find it much easier to see a position clearly on a larger chess set. I have been using the free program Diagtransfer to accomplish this.  Using DiagTransfer I have copied the positions from my current five chess games into this link: 5ChessGames

Good luck with your online chess!

Science Friday and Second Life

I was listening to Science Friday the other day and was surprised to find out that they have a Science Friday in Second Life. Follow this link to access SciFri in Second Life .