4/26/07 - Sunday I discovered that Comcast uses the same digital cable
box as Cox Communications. Comcast is the largest cable provider in the
United States. I will be sending them a letter tomorrow similar to the
letter I sent to Cox and Motorola.

Today I received my newest solid state bulb. This one has 150 LEDs and
uses 3 watts of electricity. It is bulkier than the other solid state
lights I have, but it creates the equivalent of a 70 watt incandescent
bulb.

4/22/07 - Melissa Black of Motorola responded to my letter. The
response and original letter have been added to the Green Power section
of the site. To paraphrase; she apologized and recommended a review of
the user guide as well as the FAQ.

The letter to Cox Communications has not received a reply. I have
posted a copy here. Over the next few weeks I will investigate options.
I suspect satellite is the most likely choice to resolve this issue.

There are three poems I had never added to the poetry section. They
have now been posted.

I also posted a link to this video about our children's future:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5g8cmWZOX8Q

4/16/07 - I have written to Motorola about their DCT 2224 cable box.
Nothing has been received by me from Cox Communications yet.

This weekend I saw Antje Duvekot and Ellis Paul at the Joyful Noise
Coffeehouse. I went to see Antje, and she was great. Her live
performance was more evocative than I expected. I was unfamiliar with
Ellis Paul but I enjoyed his portion of the performance.

4/5/07 - The Motorola cable box Cox Communications provides their
customers creates an average of 8.35 pounds of carbon dioxide a month
or 100.2 pounds per year. The average car registered in the United
States creates 4 - 5 tons of carbon dioxide in a year. This means that
100 of these cable boxes combined creates more carbon dioxide than the
average car! As the fourth largest cable provider in the United States
they are dramatically hurting the environment through the use of
Motorola's digital cable box.

I have sent a message to Cox Communications asking them to work with
Motorola to more efficient cable boxes or to consider another vendor. I
will be writing a similar letter to Motorola. I will keep the site up-
to-date with news from both companies.

3/22/07 - The Current Electricity Use page has been updated. I
replaced the torchiere that was using 9 KWH a month with one that
will use 2.64 KWH. I also turned off WiiConnect 24 reducing the lower-
power mode from 9 watts (5.94 KWH) to 1 watt (.66 KWH). The remaining
incandescents in my house were isolated to the basement. I replaced
them with compact florescents (CFL). My original estimate of their
total use was three hours, but since I made that estimate I have
forgotten to turn them off twice causing them to be on for days! I
have kept my original time estimates the same. This caused the CFL
KWH to slightly increase but I have completely removed the
incandescents. I will also be replacing one of the 19 watt CFLs with
a 1 watt solid state light. In summary, this week I have reduced my
monthly KWH use by 11.74 which equates to $1.57 and 9.61 lbs of CO2.

Since my cable box is the second biggest electricity user in the
house making it a major target. While on, this marvel of Motorola's
uses 15 watts compared to the 14 watts it uses when powered off! I
called Cox Communications and technical support said the power was
being used to keep it on the network with an up-to-date channel
listing. I explained that was unacceptable and asked if there was a
secret power save option or a replacement. Technical support verified
that there was no power save option and warned me against unplugging
it! They transferred me to sales in search of a less power hogging
device but sales had no clue what I was talking about and suggested I
try technical support. I am probably going to write a letter to both
Cox Communications and Motorola. If they do not find a solution I'll
explore other methods of receiving television signals.

3/16/07 - To see how my electric use was prior to compact flourescents
I created a Electricity Use by Appliance:Before page. My lighting costs
went from $4.33 a month to $0.96! That is a yearly savings of $40.44,
and I barely use lights compared to many people I know. Not only that
but its an environmental yearly savings of 303.6 lbs of CO2 a year.

3/11/07 - I have posted a list of Electricity Use by Appliance. The
list was compiled with a Kill-a-Watt Electricity Usage Monitor. The
list shows how much each appliance costs me in a month and how much CO2
it creates without a green-power option.

2/22/07 - The green power cost calculator has been changed to make the
output more readable. Here is an example of what a bill looks like
using 100% green power.

2/15/07 - The green power cost calculator has been updated to display
the cost of solar panels. The amount of sun your roof gets will
increase or decrease the price. Also, the calculator does not factor in
government rebates that can cut the cost in half. There are also
programs you can join to allow you to pay monthly instead of paying the
flat up-front fee.

2/9/07 - Special Update: If you would like to see how you can support
Sean and Peter please visit http://www.toxicollective.org/ps/.

2/9/07 - The last two weeks have been very stressful for me and many
of my friends. Sean Stevens and Peter Berdovsky are both charged with
placing hoax devices to incite panic. It is a felony charge with a
five-year maximum sentence. They also face one count of disorderly
conduct, a misdemeanor.

I stand behind Sean and Peter. Peter and I spent some of the first 48-
hours of our acquaintance playing chess. We stale-mated twice, beat
another friend, and than Peter finally won a game against me.

Sean Stevens is one of the nicest and most caring people I know. He
has been a driving force for many of the great things that have
happened recently in this region's burning man community. He has been
an artistic inspiration for a project I am currently working on.

Let's review why my friends got in trouble. First, lets go back to
1952 when George Bush senior founded Zapata Oil Corporation. Oil has
been a major part of the Bush family's income.

In the 1970s George Bush senior was involved with the US Central
Intelligence Agency (CIA). George Bush senior became the director of
the CIA around the time his son, George W. Bush, entered the oil
industry.

George W. Bush was the CEO of several oil ventures including Arbusto
Energy, Spectrum 7, and Harken Energy. $50,000 was invested in
Arbusto Energy by Salem bin Laden, Ossama bin Laden's older brother.

In the 1980s the CIA funded Ossama Bin Laden and Al Quida to wage
jihad against the Russian occupation of Afghanistan. This was
directly after George Bush senior was director of the CIA. This was
also while George Bush senior was the vice president of the United
States.

January 1990 Arbusto Energy was awarded a contract to drill crude oil
off the coast of Bahrain in the Middle East. This came as a shock to
industry insiders for the company had no off-shore drilling
experience.

In August of 1990 Iraq invaded Kuwait. 75% of Kuwait's GDP is derived
from oil exports. George Bush senior sent US troops to end the Iraqi
occupation of Kuwait.

Reacting to the war in Iraq Ossama Bin Laden called a jihad against
the United States. In the years that followed Al Quida was
responsible for multiple attacks on the US. The greatest of these was
the September 11th attacks which occurred 9 months after George W.
Bush took office.

Iraq, which was unconnected to the September 11th attacks, was
attacked on the basis of weapons of mass destruction which were never
found. The original attack was called Operation Iraqi Liberation
(OIL).

The CIA and Bush family trained and armed Al Quida. Bush senior's war
with Iraq, which aided the family's personal interests in the oil
industry, prompted Ossama Bin Laden to retaliate. We armed them. We
declared war on people of their religion and they retaliated. Now
we're in Iraq working to open their oil fields to our businesses. US
interventionist policies have gone too far. The Bush family has led
us into two wars and armed terrorists in order to further their oil
interests.

Sean and Peter are not terrorists. They are artists who got hired to
place advertisements throughout the city. The overreaction is a
result of Bush policy. Fear feeds into Bush's hands allowing him to
stomp on the constitution so that he and his family can have more
power. This current war has lasted not only longer than the original
war but longer than our involvement in World War II. How many more
victims will we tolerate for the Bush agenda? How many more 9/11s are
headed our way because we've allowed the Bush family to kill for oil?

If you are upset with Sean and Peter please reconsider. Sean and
Peter are not terrorists. Sean and Peter have no interest in oil.
Sean and Peter did not supply arms to Ossama Bin Laden and train Al
Quida. Sean and Peter did not send our brave troops to fight in
Kuwait and Iraq.

1/25/07 - I got my new solid state light bulbs. They have as many
lumens as my previous bulbs but one of my rooms feels darker. All the
other rooms are fine though. I got my electric bill today and the extra
I paid for renewable energy was 6 cents, but that's because I signed up
late last month. Based on my KiloWatt hours it should be more like
$2.00 next month.

1/18/07 - I am currently looking into solid state lighting. It turns
out that solid state lighting (LEDs) allow for a huge energy savings
over incandescent and florescent lighting. Unfortunately the kind that
fit in regular 120 watt light fixtures are in short supply and high
demand at the moment. I was able to buy one, but it has not arrived yet.

Zelda and Splinter Cell Double Agent reviews for the Wii have been
posted on my LiveJournal.

1/11/07 - Chapter 65, The Return, of Time-Keepers is now available.
This is the final chapter.

Our society is becoming more aware of CO2's effect on global warming.
Unfortunately many of us have trouble realizing what we can do to help
reduce CO2 emissions and global warming. Green power is available to
most homes in the US, but very few of us are aware of how to get it and
how much it costs. I have compiled information from the EPA to create a
calculator that will tell you how much it will cost to switch to green
power. It will also give a link to your local green power provider so
you can sign up online. Finally, it will tell you how many pounds of
CO2 you will prevent from releasing into the atmosphere.

1/4/07 - Happy New Year! Chapter 64, Proposal, of Time-Keepers is now
available. Only one chapter remains.

This year my Child's Play Donation went to Children's Hospital Boston.
They sent me the following note:

"Thank you for your generous donation to Children's Hospital Boston
through Child's Play. This being our first year to participate in the
toy drive, we have been overwhelmed by the support and charitable
spirit of so many around the world. We have received an incredible
amount of wonderful movies, books, board games, video games and video
game systems. These donations will be distributed throughout our
hospital and will provide countless hours of distraction and
entertainment for so many of our patients during their
hospitalizations. Additionally, some of the donated items will be given
as gifts to our patients as they spend their holiday in the hospital.
We truly appreciate your support this holiday season."

12/28/06 - Chapter 63, The Hero, of Time-Keepers is now available.

12/21/06 - Chapter 62, Tong's Office, of Time-Keepers is now available.

Happy Holidays from East Coast Games!

12/14/06 - Chapter 61, Overload, of Time-Keepers is now available.

I posted a review of Ubisoft's Red Steel on LiveJournal.

12/7/06 - Chapter 60, Entry, of Time-Keepers is now available.

12/1/06 - Chapter 59, Battle of Words, of Time-Keepers is now available.

11/23/06 - Chapter 58, The Final Wait, of Time-Keepers is now available.

An event review about waiting in line for the Wii has been added to the
Event Reviews page.

Happy Thanksgiving! This year I'm thankful for my son's health and that
he's doing well in school. I'm also thankful for all the friends who
are part of my life.

Simon says he's thankful for, "the United States of America getting
along with people." He also said he was thankful for everything,
including plants, animals, and the games for his Wii.

11/16/06 - Chapter 57, Parenting, of Time-Keepers is now available.

Nintendo's Wii is hitting stores Sunday. The stores near me went
from, "We don't know what the Wii is," to, "We won't have pre-orders",
and finally to, "All our pre-orders are sold out and all the units we
expect to get have been pre-ordered." My son and I will be going to
stores as they open (and possibly as they close) in the hope that
they'll have more than they expected. If anybody has a connection in
the New England region please let me know!

11/10/06 - Chapter 56, Spying, of Time-Keepers is now available.

It's that time of year again and I have replaced the Red Cross banner
with the Child's Play banner. Please support Child's Play. It is a
great way for gamers to give back to the community.

11/2/06 - Chapter 55, Super Mario Brothers, of Time-Keepers is now
available.

10/26/06 - Chapter 54, Order, of Time-Keepers has now been posted.

10/20/06 - Chapter 53, Peng Shilie, of Time-Keepers has now been posted.

10/15/06 - Chapter 52, Lunch, of Time-Keepers has now been posted.

I moved some older posts to the What's Old Archive.

10/6/06 - Chapter 51, Little General, of Time-Keepers has now been
posted.

I have posted a video of myself with glow poi on Google Video.

9/29/06 - Chapter 50, Sniffing, of Time-Keepers has now been posted.

9/21/06 - Chapter 49, China, of Time-Keepers has now been posted.

I wrote a small piece from a historical point-of-view about the
destruction of Carthage.

Last weekend I attended Wildfire. It was a great event where I learned
a lot of fire arts.

9/14/06 - Chapter 48, The Smell, of Time-Keepers has now been posted.