Why not leave the driving to the computer?

The saps are whining again.  Not surprisingly, "The Metro" has
experienced a drop in revenue, according to href="http://www.dmregister.com/news/stories/c4780932/22370829.html"
target="_blank">The Des Moines Register, apparently the fault of a lower
number of riders.  Until there's a real benefit from letting someone else
take the wheel, Desmoiniacs are sticking with the McVicker Speedway under their
own guidance and direction.

The bus will never take you where you want to go, when you want to go --
unless you seek a lifestyle that perfectly matches the bus routes &
schedules.  Nobody does that though.

There is still much to be said for mass transit.  Let's look at some
societal problems MTA could solve if it were used effectively.

• Drunk driving


• Reckless driving


• Unsafe driving


• Driving too fast


• Distracted driving


• Traffic congestion


• Car trouble


• Car accidents


• Rubber necking


• Financial responsibility

You can probably name a dozen more, but the common thread here will still be
the car.  Take it out of the picture and you have far fewer social issues.

The answer is faster, more efficient mass transportation.  If you could
really get to your job (or to the mall, or to the game, or to social gatherings)
affordably, faster and with less stress, you'd take that option.  I'm going
to briefly explain a model where we all get what we want.  A transportation
system that is favored over driving yourself to work (or where ever else you
want to go), while still having the freedom of recreational driving.  Under
this model, we'll cut the number of roads and all the associated expenses, while
making your commutes faster, more efficient and non-stop.

Light rail. Yes!  Light rail!  But, without the long trains and
waiting in line.  I'm talking about 1 to 5 passenger electric cars on light rail, with tracks servicing the
entire metro to within three blocks of your doorstep.  Freight and
deliveries use the same rail using slightly larger, aerodynamic, box-like
vehicles.  All computer navigation guides you through even the highest
congestion areas without ever stopping, because a network of guidance computers
negotiate the speed and direction of every vehicle at every point along the
route.  No stoplights means no stop & go inefficiency.

Driving is sold to the consumer as a fun thing to do, and it should be fun. 
So cars and motorcycles would always have a place in our society, but you would
never have to drive anywhere.

Small, electric, golf car-like vehicles can traverse the neighborhoods as a
convenience for people who have a hard time walking the (up to) three blocks to
the terminals.  These "local-only" vehicles would require only
slight, low-maintenance roads, similar to the unimposing sidewalks that connect
buildings of an apartment complex or college campus.  But most people would
walk to the station and ride to work in a relaxing and stress-free environment,
where they could read the newspaper or watch a morning newscast.

Who would own the rail cars?  Anyone who could afford it. 
Initially, companies would be expected to invest in fleets of these
ultra-efficient vehicles that meet the established criteria of this rigidly standardized
transportation system.  Of course, the general public would be free to buy
cars for the tracks and share them with other members of the public for a small
fee per trip.  So, ownership would be optional, and profits could be
made.  Cost of riding would be carefully calculated based on actual cost of
operating the cars, with a very small portion thereof going toward
infrastructure maintenance.

Presently, there are cars that go everywhere there are roads, providing
freedom, convenience and fun.  But this model is dangerous, expensive and
generally an unpleasant experience for most in metro areas.

In the future, we will have cars that go everywhere there are roads,
providing even more convenience and fun.  And, this model would be
inexpensive, nearly 100% safe and enjoyable to ride -- without all of the social
issues mentioned above.

Let's just hope the navigational computers don't all get a virus!

Staying virtually healthy

We occasionally talk about how important it is to protect your computer from
viruses, trojan horses and worms and subsequently get a lot of questions about
which applications are the best.  Here's our short list.

Norton Antivirus from
Symantec ($50)

My personal favorite.  I've always had good luck with this product; no
quirky problems associated with installing or using it.

McAfee Virusscan
from Network Associates ($35)

Some quirkiness.  It's cheaper though, and many use it without having the
issues I've had!

AVG
Anti-Virus from GriSOFT (Free)

This is the freebie Corey's mentioned several times.  I've never used it,
but Corey says it's a fine product.

Telemarketing, Shmelemarketing

Am I nuts? I thought the First Amendment predated telephones. Would someone please tell me what law here would abridge a person's right to speech? And tell me again about my right to peaceful enjoyment, please!

If you want to call me, establish a relationship with me through direct
marketing, traditional media advertising or by stumbling into me at Wellman's. 
For the most part, if I'm in the market for aluminum siding, I'll Google "aluminum siding"
-- or hang out at Wellman's if I want more drinking buddies.

What's probably
more troubling are all the deceptive practices I see day-to-day.  Masking or dressing up "caller ID" and "last call return" data
just so they can fool me into answering the phone, or preventing me from
identifying them.  How about the ones who say they work for your local
cable company?  Or advertising a new notebook computer for only $799, then
show in small print "After Rebate".  Don't get me started on the whole
"after rebate" scam.  Then there's the "free" scam.  Wake up people. 
It isn't free if you have to spend money to get it!

(steps down off his soap
box)

Saving Iowa's One-Room Schoolhouses

The Iowa Historic Preservation Alliance is presenting a two-day conference at the Spencer school admin offices (23 E 7th St) Oct. 3 & 4, where several speakers will be on hand for presentations, including a cartoonist/author and a university professor. A tour of museum schools in Clay, Dickinson and Buena Vista counties will be held Saturday.

For details, email Bill Sherman or call (800) 434-2039.

RIAA and Mediacom

Mediacom, Des Moines' cable Internet provider, has to date, received 6 subpoenas on behalf of the RIAA for identity information on its users' downloading of copyright protected music on peer-to-peer networks, such as Kazaa.

Whether Mediacom succumbs to the requests is really irrelevant.

In many cases, if you buy it, you own it lock, stock and barrel. You have the right to screw with it, tinker with it, destroy it, or improve it however you see fit -- provided you don't hurt anyone or cause damage to anyone else's property in the process. At least that's what we hope is the case.

If you buy a CD, you own the CD. It's a bona fide contract between you and the seller. It's the same with any product. But if you reproduce it and sell it and make money on the venture, you are stealing someone else's hard work for profit. I doubt any reasonable person diagrees with that.

But that's not what this is about, and I think most people grasp that.

If this was really about stealing something, then we would be given an opportunity to pay for it, right? well, they don't give us that opportunity. Companies hold out a perfect product (free entertainment) and the RIAA stands there sneering, waiting for you take the bait. If they really had the artists' best interest at heart, then they would recommend that the companies that provide this entertainment ensure that the artists get paid. But they don't. Instead, they seek control. Control of polititians, hence, control of the very customers who have paid the money for CDs in the first place -- the only people that care about the artists.

Process that and tell me what you think.

Update, August 21, 2004: Mediacom has released the personal information, so RIAA has won and technology has lost -- for now.

Home Energy Panel

Experts in the industry are predicting double and triple utility bills this
winter.  This is cause for great concern for all of us, but the expected
high energy prices will devastate people in the lowest income ranges.  As a
public service to our community, The Wise Guys would like to invite a panel of
experts to do a special show on improving the efficiency of homes, both for
existing structures and new construction.

The panel

We have invited Brian Leech of Alger-Leechman Heating & Cooling to be on
the panel, as well as the a PR spokesman for MidAmerican Energy.  We'll
also invite a builder to come on and join us.  We'll address several issues
in our forum:

• What can consumers do to improve efficiency?


• What can builders do to improve efficiency?


• What can heating and cooling professionals do to improve efficiency?


• Are there incentive programs to make it possible for home owners to spend
  money on improving the efficiency of their homes?

We'll let you know when we will hold our forum.  Please href="mailto:danny@radiowiseguys.com">send us your questions in advance so
we can answer them on the air.

Straw bail homes

What's the building cost of a straw bale home vs. a stick or brick home

Cement homes

How much do they cost?  Are they cheaper to build than stick
homes?  Is there an abundant supply of straw?

Berm or underground homes

How much do they cost?  Are they cheaper to build than stick homes?

Existing homes

What can be done to modify an existing stick or brick home to have a
dramatically higher energy efficiency?  How much would it cost?  Wind
breaks?  Trees?  Solar panels?  Solar reflectors?

"R" values

What are "R" values?  Are they an accurate means by which to
measure the level of insulation?  Can an "R" value change with
the outside temperature?  What materials are most/least affected by extreme
hot or cold temperatures?  How to fiberglass and recycled cellulose
materials hold up under extreme temperatures?

Assessing your home

Assess your current situation.  Ask your utility company or a heating
and cooling professional to give you a free energy audit of your home.  You
can also follow most of the audit steps yourself.  Most energy companies
provide steps for assessing your home's energy efficiency.  Check windows
and doors for leaks.  Inspect the entire outside of your home for holes and
cracks where air leaks might occur.  Check insulation for adequate
"R" values.  Check heating and cooling equipment for best
efficiency.

Assessing costs of improving efficiency

Will it be cost-effective or even viable to replace appliances, insulate
your home and repair cracks and holes?  Can
you spread costs our over a period of time?  These are important
questions.  Compare projected costs of not doing repairs with replacing or
repairing Estimate whether you can save money.  Are there financing options
available to home owners/

What can renters do to keep their utilities down?

Alternative energy

Is it possible to get cost benefits from solar, water and wind energy? 
Is it feasibly to buy your own solar panels and windmills to produce
electricity?  Is it feasible to buy solar water heaters and air
conditioners?  Will the utilities buy back unused energy?  Are there
any DIY (do-it-yourself) alternative energy solutions?

Tips for reducing your energy usage

Near-field lighting using low voltage DC lamps.

You usually don't actually need to light an entire room, and using light only where you need it is far more efficient than lighting whole rooms. Either use smaller florescent lights or miniature DC lamps to really cut down on usage. You can even use motion detectors to automatically turn on lights when you are in the area. The real benefit of using this technology is that the lights can be set to turn off after a period of no motion, thereby cutting
energy usage.

Weatherizing kits

You can buy a wide variety of weatherizing kits from discount stores. 
They include weather stripping for doors and windows, plastic coverings for
windows, wall plate insulators, foam tape and calk.

Close off outside doors

Do you really need to use the sliding door during cold months?  Even
hot months?  Particularly sliding doors let a lot of air pass through the
channels.  Perhaps you can seal the door to prevent it from being used.

Seal up pet doors

Pet doors might seem like a better alternative to opening the doors to let
them pass.  But many of these doors are very porous and allow a lot of air
leakage -- 24 hours a day.

Power use scheduling

Most homes are empty during the day and quiet during sleeping hours and you usually only use energy during the waking hours that you're home. so if it prudent to do so, you can use timers or simply unplug appliances and such that draw current even when not being used. 
Here are some things you might unplug while you're not using them:

• Computers and peripherals
  
  Turn off monitors, printers, scanners, etc. when not in use.


• clocks
  
  Many people have far too many older clocks that are powered by AC and that have lighted dials, etc. that draw more energy than new ones that have momentary backlights. Get rid of all the clocks you don't need to use, as even battery powered clocks cost money when the batteries die.


• Fridges and Freezers
  
  It costs money to store food. If you're on a tight energy budget, consider unplugging the ones you don't really need.


• close off rooms
  
  Make your living space more efficient. Don't use rooms just because you have them. You can greatly reduce your energy usage by closing off entire areas of your home. Use caution when restricting heating of water pipes. If you're going to cut the heat, get some heating tape for pipes that will be vulnerable to freezing.


• Unplug the TV, coffee pot, etc.
  
  Some coffee pots (Like most Bunns) keep the water warm even when not in use. This can not only be a fire hazard, but costs you money.


• Hot tubs and swimming pools
  
  If high energy usage is an issue for you, consider the benefits of discontinuing use of hot tubs and swimming pools. These are considered by most to be luxury items -- unless there is a genuine medical need for them.


• Heating and cooling
  
  It would be ideal if you didn't have to heat or cool your home while you're not there. But the fact is that it takes more energy to re-cool a house than to leave it on, perhaps at reduced load. An air conditioner's toughest job is removing the humidity from carpet and furniture. Once the humidity levels is down, re-cooling a room is not much of a problem. so consider leaving your air on all the time, increasing the temperature to 80 to 85 degrees higher during the day and during sleeping hours. the air is surprisingly comfortable at 80 degrees if the humidity is down and you have a
  ceiling fan running.


• Fans
  
  Except for the use of window or attic fans, there is no benefit to having a fan running when one is in the room to enjoy it. Turn them of when you leave the room for more than a few minutes.

Ten Commandments Judge Suspended

Alabama's Chief Justice Roy Moore has been suspended as a result of disobeying an order from a higher court. The order was to remove the Ten Commandments
monument he had placed his court house.

According to court documents, Moore was twice offered opportunities to stay the removal order and take the issue to the US Supreme Court, but the judge refused to follow established court
rules and failed in any hopes to do so. When Judge Moore finally made the appropriate request, it was
simply too late, and the higher court subsequently rejected such filings.

We hear heated discussions on the church-state separation issue, but this point comes down to following established guidelines. In two conference calls, members of the US District Court asked Moore if he wanted to have the order stayed; to take it to the US Supreme Court,
but Moore declined.

In arguing for keeping the monument in the court house, a few are suggesting that we look to the strongly held religious beliefs of the framers of our Constitution,
a concept that seems absurd to me.  I understand that most of our founding fathers were
deeply religious men and I'm glad for that.  But I believe they felt the first amendment protected us from religious persecution,
one of the very unpleasantries people fled other lands to escape.

I accept
that our laws are based on biblical laws such as the Ten Commandments.  I
also accept that all rights come first from God.  But I refuse to draw the
conclusion that, because the framers were religious, that they meant for our
government to exhibit any religious color.  On the contrary.  In order
to ensure freedom of religion, we need to keep the government out of our
churches, and the churches out of our government, or a bias can creep in that
will establish a certain religion.

The brick and mortar of our society was
laid by religious men and women.  Reading their writings, it becomes
obvious that the virtue of their labors was indeed borne out of religion. 
I thank God for their virtue, but I commend their restraint for the good of all
men and women.

I hope that all individuals would consider consulting religious clerics in
order for guidance, including congressmen, presidents and judges.  I hope
they recognize the importance of the virtues of religion -- in fact that the
very foundation of our society was established because of it.  I reject,
however, the notion that these people of government should sanction religion in
the name of the government in any way, including the adorning of court houses
and public schools of America with symbols which have the clear effect of
promoting religion.

Bullet-proof your email

So you're back online after another vicious attack on your computer. 
You're sick of all the troubles you've been having.  How are you going to
prevent this kind of this from happening again?  Consider using an email
program that is nearly virus proof, like Pine, a text-based program that
composes and displays text email, which is, after all, what email was intended
to be.

Microsoft Outlook and Outlook Express are huge targets for attackers because
they're hugely popular (Outlook express comes with every new Windows computer)
and because there are so many features to exploit.  Don't get me
wrong.  The features Microsoft build into their software help make using it
easy and pleasant -- for the most part.  But remember that the more bells
and whistles you build into a program, there more places there are for breakage
(and expoits) to occur.

Old-school computer users sit back and chuckle at all the troubles people
have with their fancy-schmancy, graphics laden, gadget-heavy computers. 
The old-schoolers not only remember the good old days of text-only email, but
many still use it exclusively.  Let's look at an email program called Pine. 
It was designed for use on Unix computers and is ported to many other operating
systems, like Linux and even Windows.  Later versions of Pine strip HTML
coding from messages and display them as plain text.  Attachments can be
easily detached and stored without executing them.

How can I do text-only email?  There are several possibilities. 
You might, for instance, have shell access to your email account.  If this
is the case, perhaps you can use pine in a telnet window on your computer. 
If you don't have shell access available to you from your ISP, then build your
own server machine out of an old computer you have laying around the house.

If you have or can come up with an old 486 or early Pentium-class machine
that has 32 or more megs of RAM, you can install a network card and a free
distribution of Linux; set it up to fetch mail from all your outside POP3 and
IMAP accounts (it won't work with free web-based mail like Hotmail and Yahoo!
without some external programming); then logon and type 'pine' at the command
prompt and start corresponding.  Chances are, you'll never have a virus
problem again.  You'll not only have a full-fledged email server, but the
added features of a file and print server too, and at no more cost than the old
computer you already own!

Gateways vs. Access Points

Some time ago, I had an occasion to set up a wireless network for some
friends.  They had a broadband connection to the Internet through a cable
modem provided by Mediacom and two desktop computers.  I suggested they buy
an 802.11b gateway and 802.11b cards for each computer they wanted connected.

After installing and connecting all the hardware they bought, each computer
seemed to be able to connect to the Internet fine, and we were able to do some
file and print sharing between them.  But it all wasn't fine.  I
quickly discovered that the computers could surf the net, but not at the same
time.  It is then that I discovered that they'd purchased an access point
and not a gateway.

A wireless access point does one thing.  It broadcasts a single RJ-45
jack to multiple wireless network cards.  It merely provides direct
connectivity to the public.  In this case, the public network sees all the
computers connected.  This is a problem because Mediacom (and many other
cable companies) will only assign you one IP address.  Not one for each
computer you have plugged into their network, just one period.  So when we
connected the AP and fired up the first computer, we were fine.  Mediacom
asked us to verify our new mac address, as expected.  Then we fired up the
second computer.  And again, we were asked to verify the mac address. 
Doing this, we got on the net with that machine too.  So all's well, right?

Wrong!  Being asked to verify a new mac address the second time was a
bad sign.  It meant Mediacom could see the mac addresses on each machine,
which told us that the wireless base was not fronting for us, but was exposing
each machine attached to it to the network, requiring each machine to obtain its
own IP address, which Mediacom will not do for more than one machine
simultaneously.

Ah hah!  It's an access point, not a router.

If my friends had purchased a wireless gateway instead of the simple wireless
access point, the gateway would have appeared to Mediacom as a single computer,
and only asking to update the mac address once, and that mac address would have
been for the gateway and not one for each of the computers.  With a
gateway, we not only insulate each of the internal computers from the Internet,
but we sort of fool Mediacom into thinking we only have one machine connected to
their network.  A gateway acts as the go-between for all Internet requests
coming from inside the network -- so instead of each computer requesting its own
IP address from Mediacom directly, each computer would ask the gateway (and not
Mediacom) for their IP address, which would in turn assign each machine a local
IP address from a bank of local subnet addresses.

Lesson learned.  Access points are fine if you're already behind a
firewall and are not limited to the number of IP addresses you can
request.  But if you're using a cable or DSL modem, make sure you use a
gateway to connect several computers to the network or you may have the same
problem we had.

Wireless home networking update:

Lots of people assume that you need
broadband (cable or DSL modem) to have wireless networking.  Not
so.  You can still use your single dialup connection and share it
with all users on your home or office network.  But there are a few
complications, including slower surfing and downloading.

In order to share dial up internet, you
need to have a modem doing the dialing.  There are a number of ways
to get dialup internet into your network, but none are all that common,
or even very easy:

• A dedicated server, such a
  Linux computer with a modem and a
  network card.  This machine will act as a gateway between the
  Internet and your local network.  Whenever someone tries to get
  on the net, the server will make a dialup connection.  You can
  also use it as a file and print server.  The advantages here
  are that can be very cheap to set up and use and it is extremely
  feature-packed -- but the downside is that it's very complicated to
  setup and maintain.


• A Windows computer that is
  turned on and available to dial up the ISP whenever someone on the
  network wants to get on the Internet.  More expensive, but
  easier to set up.


• A gateway device that has a
  built-in modem, designed specifically to provide dialup access to
  the Internet in this way, such as the base station one below.

Here's what I suggest for most home/small
office users on a shoestring budget:

The base station is a href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=ZoomAir+Wireless+IG-4150+Wireless+Gateway"
target="_blank">ZoomAir Wireless IG-4150 Wireless Gateway for under
$70, connected to either your phone line (56K dialup) or your Cable/DSL
modem (usually 256Kbps to 1,500 Kbps).  What makes this unit unique
is that it has a built-in 56K modem where most all Gateways/Routers do
not.  Those gateways and routers that do facilitate 56K dialup
connections to the Internet only do so through a serial port which you
must connect an additional external modem.  The ZoomAir Gateway is
configured to dial and logon to your ISP using a web browser.  I
assume this is a dial on demand situation, so that whenever a computer
needs an Internet connection, the modem will make that connection, and
hang up after a period of in-activity.

The downside of using this
particular gateway is that computers and the software running think
they're always connected to the net, so may make frequent connections
to update software such as weather bugs, chat clients, anti-virus
software definition updates and automatic Windows updates, and
therefore may never be inactive.  This can increase your ISP
service charges if you are billed on an hourly basis.  It would
be beneficial if you could configure the modem to ONLY dial up during
specific hours of the day, so that you could 'throttle' usage to stay
below a certain number of hours a month.  I have no idea if this
feature is built into this gateway.

802.11b Wireless network adaptors
for all computers on your network.

• A laptop should use a href="http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?product_code=279434&pfp=BROWSE"
  target="_blank">wireless PC Card, ( href="http://www.zoom.com/graphics/prod_shots/4150photo.JPG"
  target="_blank">Photo.) which is a PCMCIA card that slides into
  a PC Card (PCMCIA) slot on almost all laptop/notebook
  computers.  Any brand will do, but it must be 802.11b
  compliant.


• Desktops use an internal href="http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?product_code=292350&pfp=BROWSE"
  target="_blank">wireless PCI card.  Again, any brand will
  do the job, but make sure it's 802.11b compliant.

How it works:

The base station connects to the internet
through either the phone line or your cable or DSL modem.  It then
sets up a private local area network, isolated from the outside. 
It assigns local IP addresses to each computer that connects to it in
ranges that are not accessible from outside your LAN and Internet
connection.

NBC's West Wing hits DVD market

The premiere season of "The West Wing" is expected to be realeased late this year on four discs and will retail for $60. Gag reels to commentaries may also appear on the set. More...