Lightning Motorcycles destroys old speed records - goes over 200mph!

Electric motorcycle tech has been moving along at a fairly rapid pace and I was very happy to see the top speed records falling as fast as they have been. Electric motorcycles have been competing with ICE (internal combustion engine) bikes since last year and have been very competitive, even winning some races.

I was thrilled when an electric motorcycle went over 176 mph last year. That record was thoroughly destroyed with a run on August 13 at over 205 mph. Later in the week they went on to push the speed up to over 217 mph. I don't think that 300 mph is going to be that far off.

http://www.asphaltandrubber.com/racing/lightning-motorcycles-electric-motorcycle-200-mph-bonneville/

http://www.asphaltandrubber.com/racing/lightning-motorcycles-land-speed-record-bonneville-215-mph/

I liked this video enough to post it here but a clever title is just not going to happen

Hayek has never really been on my radar. This video makes me want to learn more.

Tomato Tomatoe

My two Roma tomato plants are getting pretty heavy with fruit. The larger one keeps overwhelming its tomato cage. A few weeks ago I sat some rocks on the lowest wire of the larger one because the whole cage was starting to tip over. Yesterday I noticed that the wires in the middle of the cage were bending and the whole thing looked like it was getting ready to tip over. I needed to build some kind of trellis or support. This morning I looked in the rafters of the garage at the misc. lumber and found three 2x4's that were plenty long enough. I didn't have a saw, but made them work as two of them were nearly the same length and I just let the top one hang over on both sides. One was twisted pretty bad, but it worked. They all had some nails in them still and I was able to remove them and reuse all but one, which was just enough for the job. I used safety wire to support the cage itself and then used narrow ribbon material to hold up various branches that were now sitting on the ground.

There are a lot of tomatoes for such a small plant (about 3-1/2 to 4 feet tall). I have no idea when they will be ready. They are all still pretty green and lots of different sizes. These are supposed to be determinate, which means they should all ripen at the same time. So I need to be ready and should start looking for salsa and sauce recipes that I can freeze. This should be interesting.

Glasses

I finally bought some reading glasses last week and used them in public for the first time today. I'm not sure how I feel about that. I accept that I'm getting older and my eyes are also, but what do I look like? Do they make me look older? I feel older and I don't like it. Or do I look ridiculous with my $12 glasses? I know I'm worrying about this way more than I need to. Is college going to end up being my "mid-life crisis"? I guess that wouldn't be horrible. And I need a haircut.

Hello, Portland State University!

Today I went to the orientation for transfer students entering PSU. It wasn't too terribly long and I did learn a couple of things. Most importantly, I was able to register for classes for the fall term.

It took me a little longer to get there than I thought it would. I barely had time to get off the MAX, buy some Indian food from a food cart, and then get to Hoffman Hall to sign in and get my pile of stuff. I sat down at a table just inside the main door and wolfed down my lunch (which made me sweat profusely, much to my embarassment) and went into the small auditorium for the intro spiels. We are glad you are hear, blah, blah, blah, and so forth. Then we split into smaller groups and we to the Smith Memorial Student Union  (room 238 for me). Then we listened to more stuff about the course list, registration guide, bulletin, etc. that they gave us.

I found out that, yes I do have to take some additional classes, but only 3 since I have over 90 credits already, and one of the choices I have is a class that I wanted to take anyway, so that's not all that bad. It's a little complicated, but basically you are supposed to choose a cluster of classes associated with a broad area of study like community studies; knowledge, rationality and understanding (that one sounded interesting); pop culture; leadership; women's studies, etc. I chose the Environmental Sustainability cluster and have a fixed list of classes that I have to pick from.

After that we split up into even smaller groups depending on our major. There were only 6 economics majors, so that was quick and easy. We asked the adviser questions, figured out what classes we wanted, wrote them on a worksheet from one of the handouts, and then went to the building next door (I think it was Neuberger Hall. This campus is nothing like PCC. It's really big) and registered for classes online.

I want to get the cluster classes taken care of sooner rather than later (and because it was still available - lots of the classes I wanted to take are now full for the fall term) so I registered for PHL 310U, which is Environmental Ethics. I'm also taking EC 311 (Microeconomic Theory) and EC 437 (Public Utility Economics). Each class is 4 credits. I did manage to get them all on the same days with only a 2-1/2 hour gap in the middle. Perfect for lunch, studying, reading, etc.

Tuesday & Thursday
10:00-11:50     EC 437
12:00-1:50       PHL 310U
4:40-6:30         EC311

I would kind of like to go more days per week and spread it around a little more, but I like the idea of only commuting twice a week.

I already found a good source for cheap used textbooks, but I still don't know who the instructor is going to be or what textbook is going to be used for EC 311. I hope they don't suck.

I'm excited and nervous to start going to PSU. Classes start the last week of September and last for 10 weeks.

This may take a little longer

I think I made a mistake by taking the classes I did the last few semesters. I was trying to save money and go for the cheapest option for as long as possible. I'll find out next Thursday at a new student orientation at PSU. I think I should have already started taking classes there and completed a sophomore requirement that I was not fully aware of. But even if I screwed up I'm not going to let it bother me too much. I should have been on top of this better, but what's done is done.

No excuses

I keep feeling like I should be posting here a lot more, but it feels too much like an assignment. I want to be completely lazy this summer. So far I've been doing that really well. I do very little other than read, watch movies, surf the internet, ride my bike, or water the garden.

I've said it before, and the same things apply as they always have, but I will try to start posting more again.