For full sized pictures of gardens and plants see:
http://electricphotoalbum.googlepages.com/springgarden2008
http://electricphotoalbum.googlepages.com/gardensandplants
For Culture information see:
Recent project completed 2007.04.18
My next project. Seven stairs to existing deck with side monuments. Materials 14T and estimated time 3 weeks.
Project completed 2008.05.14
For stonework pictures see:
http://electricphotoalbum.googlepages.com/stonework
http://electricphotoalbum.googlepages.com/lositosevenstepstoheaven
http://electricphotoalbum.googlepages.com/patioinvirginia
and
I have begun preparing a new web site that is a picture album of my activities. It is still a work in progress but feel free to check in and see what I am doing.
electricphotoalbum.googlepages.com
Nation in crisis: food, transportation, heating costs out of control:
For those of you that have been on my site before my lead text always outlined my technology concerns. Well I have not updated that text in two years and I believe its time to say I was right and now the the problem is much worse. Taking ¾ of a gal. of gasoline to manufacture 1 gal. of ethanol is a joke that is doubling our pollution load. Without tax incentives corn ethanol would not even be pursued. If we are going to use food to run our automobiles what is that going to do to grocery prices.
I hear no technological solution to our present dilemma coming from any of our presidential candidates. Oh yes lip service to wind power, biofuel, solar panels, and so on. Let me tell you if you want to make energy in New York, Hillary, WATER POWER should be the primary consideration.
If you want to run a clean transportation system without making the air unbreathable, Barack, vehicles should run on ELECTRIC or HYDROGEN.
We have abundant resources, coal, nuclear, oil, agricultural, solar etc. and with new priorities and technologies a pollution free transportation system is possible.
We must look for products that demand our abilities in high tech and initiate production of such products as HYDROGEN. The US has many more nuclear power plants than most people realize. I do not know how many land based Nuclear Plants there are but I am sure that number is dwarfed by the number of non land based reactors. Battleships, submarines, aircraft carriers, are all nuclear powered and I don't hear a word of complaint about siting that I do with land based reactors. Ships such as these could be redesigned for hydrogen production from sea water and produce a product which is the fuel of the future. We are one of the few countries with the technology and resources to implement this new industry.
I hear people complain about the price of gas but I never hear anyone address the root problem. Gas prices have not doubled as you hear people complain. The problem lies in the fact that the dollar is only worth 50% of what it's value was only two years ago. The world does not have a lot of confidence in investments in the future of the US. Unless we make a major changes like reducing our dept this confidence will continue to deteriorate with an ensuing effect on the dollar.
I never thought I would see the Air Force outsourcing the manufacturing of aircraft to a foreign country.
Imagine the US hosting a HYDROGEN based industry with everything from lawnmowers to automobiles run on HYDROGEN with the US being the largest HYDROGEN producer. What would that do for our balance sheet and world wide confidence in the American economy.
Lets be innovative and address the problems of our technology without rewarding the International corporations that have brought us to this morass. We have to get back to the idea of selling American product as a nation because being a buyer without selling is a formula for disaster. "Put a man on the moon" type initiative prioritized with a "Made In America" and "Buy American" effort is what we need to redefine our mission. Outsourcing our dollars to satisfy our needs will deplete our national recourses and further devalue the dollar. We are mired in dept. If my personal finances had a balance sheet like our nation, I would have to consider a major realignment of my income/expenses.
Solutions to these problems are only made impossible by, the greedy corporate idiots with no regard for the future. Why should they be paid millions of dollars for their efforts which have been proven ineffectual or flawed is a mystery to me.
Activities of: George Steeves
April has been hot and dry in the Catskills. We usually are able to transplant perennials up to the first of May but the window of opportunity is closing rapidly this year. Today 2008.04.19 the thermometer hit 90 degrees.
Update: 2007.04.24 – Web Page Layout
Requested from many of my page viewers as they come back repeatedly. I will now post all additions to the top of each page. Therefore if you only want to see additions you can read from the top of the page and not reread old entries. Often I remove links from the Home page and repost them to the "Other Links" page in order to reduce clutter on the home page.
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I no longer buy products that have outsourced their tech help to people that can't even speak understandable english.
Hewlett Packard Products
HomePC
NetZero
Sprint
2006.12.01
Recently my thoughts about technology have been related to the realities we deal with day by day. The price of gasoline and an American economy with virtually every aspect of the economy linked to gas prices is not something that gives me confidence. Why in NY state we are contemplating exotic power manufacturing while a known and proven source of energy is ignored. I speak of water power of which NY is blessed. Prior to 1900 water power was the primary source of energy and why it is not even considered today seems ridiculous. Why can’t we at least have DSL in my town! Is having 2/3rds of our national dept bloated by the Iraq war financed by the Chinese a good idea. I wonder what all those bombs on Iraq did for global warming. Will the Polar Bears survive? Will I get tomatoes out of my garden this year? Sure am glad I don’t need health care because that’s a mess that I wouldn’t be good at. Will the caterpillars repeat their devastation of the trees. Will Windows Vista ever become a viable operating system. Remember “Me”. When the dust settles whats going to survive HD 0r Bluray. Hard drives soon will have no moving parts they will just be array of flash chips. What would I do for heat failing propane delivery? What if we have a failed seed industry? For survivors this is an important consideration as without seed all is lost. What am I going to do when our ageing municipal water supply fails. And this is not a complete list.
This site is to a great extent a vanity page documenting my various activities. Be that as it may, my intention is to document my relationship with agriculture, art, craft and technology. In the 1970’s there was an emphasis on “Appropriate Technology”. I believe that a re-examination of our relationship to technology must be an on going process and as technology advances our lives are changed. Whether this is a change for the better or not is largely a personal choice. I have tried in my life to walk a little lighter on the earth and use agriculture, technology, craft, and art to enhance the quality of life for myself and those I influence. This web site is a cross section of my various interests and how these relate to the state of constantly changing technology.