In case anyone missed the PBS special The Botany of Desire which premiered Wednesday, October 28, 2009, you can still watch the entire program online. It's incredible. Book turned documentary. BOTANY OF DESIRE is a documentary which tells the utterly original story of everyday plants and the way they have domesticated humankind. An interpretation of the relationship between plants and people. This two-hour documentary explores plant evolution and takes viewers from the potato fields of Peru and Idaho, the apple forests of Kazakhstan, and the tulip markets of Amsterdam. View online in it's entirety: here This is another related program by the same presenter on LINK TV (a cable access channel) which is timely: Deep Agriculture Traditional methods of agriculture in most developed nations have long ignored environmental concerns. Factors such as soil erosion, water shortage and the impact of chemicals on bio-systems have been overlooked in favour of massive crop yields and cheaper food. But what impact does this have on our health and our environment? View online in it's entirety: here __________________________ Sit down with a cup of tea or coffee and witness the evolution of an Organic Kitchen Garden.

You've got a 180,000 mile truck that is begining to need front end parts, which is not unusual. If the left side is bad, can the right side be far behind? My vehicles from the 1980's through 1990's often needed ball joints every 100,000 miles or so. Major points to consider are motor, transmission, steering, and fuel mileage. If you have an automatic transmission, 180,000 mile is lot of use unless it was all highway. I've owned only one automatic tranny that went this far; It was in a Jeep Cherokee (190,000 miles and still ok) Commuting requires a lot of shifting and wear on the clutches. If you have a manual, the clutch and throwout bearings must be considered. Of course, don't forget the brakes. Is the body holing out, or is it still servicable? If $800 of work on the front suspension will get you one more year, that's pretty good and you'll get some use out of those new tires. However, I'd sure take a hard look at the joints and pins on the other side as well. I don't know your needs, but surely you can find a people hauler that gets better mileage. Car lots are full of new and 3 year old SUVs that are not selling. Sales are down on SUVs making it easier to bargain on a new one. A number of 3 year old SUVs are coming off lease and are being replaced with vehicles with better fuel mileage. Bargains may be found in these 3 yr olds. Dealers want to move these expired leasers off their lots.

In fact, I just finished talking to him. I mainly just asked him about the Hybrid pump with just a couple of questions about the VF versus X2. John stated that there is no pump on the market that can move close to the same amount of water for the same energy consumed. For 2 inch pipe with a Sta-rite system3 DE filter, he estimates that at their default 1500 rpm filtering speed, the Hybrid pump would move 60 to 80 GPM using 1.8 amps. This equates to 230V X 1.8 amps = 414 watts. I searched TFP and found chemgeek listed a slew of speeds and wattage readings from his VF (60 GPM, 2710 rpm = 1305 watts). That's a little below what John estimated the VF would consume with my setup. If I drop the rpm to 1000 on the Hybrid, the amps would drop to 0.5 = 115 watts. Unfortunately, I forgot to ask him the GPM estimate. But it's obvious that he believes the hybrid to be the most efficient variable on the market. Using the 1.8 amps for 1500 rpm moving 60 GPM (low end of his estimate for GPM), to turnover 32K gallons 1 time would consume 3.68kwh in 8.9 hours. According to your spreadsheet using Curve A, the VF at 1000 rpm would take 3.15 kwh running for 24.24 hours. Getting the VF to turnover in 8.98 hours requires 10.4kwh (using chem geek's numbers, it would be 11.6 kwh). Unfortunately, no CEC data to perform apples to apples comparison via the spreadsheet. But given that another X2 user on the forum reports using 2.2 amps using solar and running his waterfall, the efficiency could be close to what John states. Replacement cost is another consideration I asked John about. Since the drive is the most expensive aspect of the VF with its custom application, the availability of an off the shelf driver for the Hybrid that they customize the programming on makes the cost much more reasonable - in the $300 range. The pump motor is custom made to their specs and they have not had a single failure in 3 years. John stated that the drive's job is to keep the motor safe so it won't allow it to run outside of pre-set parameters or it will shut it down. I also found out that I won't need an automation system to run the X2. The drive has an internal timer which will allow me to run X time at vacuum speed and the rest at filter speed. My intermatic clock would control on/off like it currently does for the single speed. Hybrid also has a 2 year warranty on everything. The only question left is longevity of the company itself. Can they sell enough and get PBs to start using their product to stay in business? I'm really impressed after running the numbers.

My son & DIL bought a house recently with pinky beige bathroom fixtures. My DIL painted her bath a muddy greige color with subtle green undertones (sometimes looks grayish, depends on the lighting). I'm surprised how great the fixtures look with with the wall color. She added chocolate brown towels & brown shower curtain, and they work well too. We were both leery of the color when the sample went up, thinking it might be muddy & blah, but for lack of alternative, she used it anyway. It's turned out to be a great neutral: calm, contemporary, and very clean looking. Greige with green undertone sure rejuvenated those old pinky beige fixtures. (The next time my DIL speaks about color, I'm listening -- this gal is GOOD!)