respublica

Stand in line to reserve an electric car

Now this just blows my mind. All over the world today, even in St. Louis, people have been staking out places in line at Tesla dealerships in order to get the new Tesla Model 3.  The Model 3 will normally cost 35,000 dollars but be competing with the luxury car market which includes BMW etc. It will be electric with a 200 mile range before a charge and the idea is Americans are ready for an all electric car.

What's bizare is all these people in line who will only be able to reserve this car. They haven't been put in production yet, maybe late next year or even 2018! And, no one really knows what the car will even look like!

Here's a picture put up by KMOX's Mark Reardon at the Tesla dealership at Olive and 170. Seriously. This is for a car which hasn't been made yet, not playoff tickets. And there are lines like this at every Tesla dealership.

Merge like a zipper?

Suddenly new traffic advice comes from MoDOT about how to drive in a construction zone...of which there will be many this summer. The Missouri Department of Transportation is urging us to rethink how we merge into work zone traffic and "merge like a zipper."

My first thought was "what the heck does that mean?" I pictured how an actual zipper works and could not work that into merging onto an interstate. Basically it means taking turns, both the merging car and the car in the driving lane. I think.

"The theory is, instead of trying to get in the lane you want to be in ‘early,’ wait – merge at the last opportunity and each lane takes a turn. That way it doesn’t matter which lane you’re in. Both of them move at the same pace.”

I still can't picture this, but it is what it is. I do know it's tough to merge on many St. Louis interstates, there's isn't much room. 64-40 at Hampton, 170 at Forest Park Parkway, and many more.

You're about to pay a lot more for ice cream

If you like ice cream, especially in the summer, you're in for a big price rise. This is due to a shortage of vanilla beans, a main ingredient in most ice creams. Most of our vanilla comes from Madagascar which has seen a poor harvest this year. And not just ice cream costs will be affected. Vanilla is also in most cakes and pastries, as well as perfumes! Perfumes! Who knew.

 

About those last forever lightbulbs

This is lightbulb day around here. One of the ways LED bulbs are promoted is that they will last forever. Well, if not forever, then up to 15 years or more. Now this may be true for an isolated bulb or two, but this really isn't the case in reality. But they do last much longer than the older more traditional bulbs. LED's have gotten better since their arrival on the scene ten years ago. Back then when you put them in a lamp, it took a while for the light to brighten enough to really see and often the light which was shed was an uncomfortable white-ish blue and mainly pooled around itself rather than spreading out. Now at least we have a choice of warm light or cool.

But last 15 years? That may be pushing the advertising. We use led's pretty exclusively here on the campus and they are a good value for not having to be changed as often as well as burning cool to the touch so not as much energy is expended. The one issue I have with these lights is that they still do not spread the light around much further than where they sit. I'm looking out at the street lights and the lights are bright on top of the poles but not much light hits the ground.

And having them as car headlights means not having as much light ahead and to the side as you drive. There's a way to go in light technology.

 

About those headlights

Car headlights aren't all they should be according to a new study.

There may be a reason why people have trouble seeing while driving at night, and it's not their eyesight. A new rating of the headlights of more than 30 midsized car models gave only one model a grade of "good."

Of the rest, about a third were rated "acceptable," a third "marginal" and a third "poor." The difference between the top- and bottom-rated models for a driver's ability to see down a dark road was substantial, according to the study released Wednesday by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, an industry-funded organization that evaluates automotive safety.

Interesting, especially if you drive at night.

Someone finally said it!! Algebra is not necessary

An educator expert has finally said it! At long last someone has admitted that in the real world there is no great need for algebra!

"Andrew Hacker, a professor emeritus at Queens College, argues that, at most, only 5 percent of jobs make use of algebra and other advanced math courses. He favors a curriculum that focuses more on statistics and basic numbers sense and less on (y - 3)2 = 4y - 12.

Hurray!

 

Third time in a week

A traffic report on Twitter from KMOV's Alexis Zotos this morning.

"Another semi truck flipped over on Interstate 64 ramp to 55S in downtown. Third in a week."  This was followed by a comment which said, "ummm,maybe they should....slow down!??

Right? Yes, maybe these trucks should slow down. I cross the bridge several times a week and watched as MoDOT changed a tight exit ramp curve from the Poplar to 44/55 south into a slightly wider, longer sweeping exit curve. But what's happened is many big rigs just fly across the bridge now and take that exit much too fast to control. You can be driving along, crossing the bridge when...whooosh...a big truck zooms past on the right. So that commenter is correct. Maybe they should...slow down!!!

 

 

Easter 2016

This year like many other years, Easter meant church followed or preceded by, Easter egg hunts. Beautiful services and huge numbers of kids hunting eggs in various places. 

First Saturday's seminary egg hunt

Then Sunday's between services egg hunt in the Holy Cross gym which was filled with eggs

Our new pastor gave the "go" command and then hurried out of the way.

Then Lizzie and Darren and their boys came over

Christian and Connor

Nick and Darren.

Now more blue blazers from the other side of the country, Katie and Charlie, Jake and Drew

It was quite the weekend.

 

 

mmmm Shake

It's been a while since I put up a picture of Jake so here he is today, Good Friday, having a fast food lunch out with his parents and brother. It seems by this picture he doesn't get fast food milk shakes that often since his face is pure ecstasy. 

Thanks Kansas!

This morning our entire area smelled like smoke. It was so strong and so continuous that a few of our students were sent out to see if something on campus was on fire. They checked everywhere and everything but found nothing. Dog walkers coming through the campus said they smelled it from their homes. So what was going on?

Well, it's all due to the goings on in Kansas. "The Missouri Department of Conservation has advised that the smell is stemming from smoke from natural cover and brush fires in Kansas and southern Missouri, which is being pushed through our area by a cold front."

Some years back I was driving through Kansas and saw field after field on fire and was told that this is a normal practice in the spring. This is called a prescribed burn. It is said that fire is a natural process that is essential to the health of forests and prairies alike, and has long been used by property owners and land managers to prevent unwanted stands of brush and cedar trees. 

We did have some really strong winds the past couple of days, but it's still amazing how far the smell of smoke will travel.