Jeremy Herndon » Environment and/or Green

Saw a Smart car on the road today

jeremy — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 21:57:18 +0000

I’ve seen pictures of the Smart car on the Internet, and on television, but not “for real” very often. I was waiting to pull out of a parking lot and a large tractor trailer passed me by, followed by a Smart car. What a huge difference in size that was! It was a cute little thing, a bright red, but it brought back memories of many years ago when I saw the results of a little car being in an accident with a tractor trailer and it made me shudder. I don’t know how safe I would feel in such a little car!

Remote locks

jeremy — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 16:14:38 +0000

In my campaign to save money I’ve been thinking about replacing our exterior back door’s deadbolt lock with a remote control keyless deadbolt. There are many times when one of the family members goes out at night and leaves lights on out by the door simply because it makes it easier for them to see the lock to insert their key to get into the house. There are plenty of other lights around that area to help them see their way to the door. (Those are motion sensor lights.)

I’m thinking that it would be really nice to have the remote because there are a lot of times folks have their arms full and can’t easily unlock the door with their keys. Pushing the remote button on their keychain would let them enter the house more easily. It would also let them into the house quicker if they felt threatened in some way. I’ve been looking around on the Internet for price ranges and styles and it seems that they will cost about $100. I was glad to see that some of the systems have additional remotes available so that all of our family members can have one. Naturally these locks will also work with a key if necessary.

School cafeterias are dumping trays

jeremy — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 01:40:57 +0000

I was reading an article on a news website that I found called livescience.com that states that many schools have decided to stop supplying trays to their students. They think that this will save energy, by not having to wash the trays. The article indicated that they students are not very happy with the decision, as it makes carrying their food to their tables a lot more difficult.

Parthenogenesis

jeremy — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 21:11:18 +0000

Do you know what parthenogenesis means? I didn’t until I read it in an article that was talking about how a second case of asexual reproduction in sharks was documented in Virginia Beach in October of 2008. It seems that a female blacktip shark, having been the only kind of her species in an aquarium, gave birth without benefit of having a mate. The article also mentions that last year a hammerhead shark in a zoo in Omaha also gave birth without benefit of mating.

I found this to be quite fascinating! I knew that there were some animals that could do that, but not sharks! Considering how many people are afraid of sharks, this could be very scary news to some people. I would not be surprised to see this story on the Colbert Report’s threat down!

Motion Sensor Light Switch

jeremy — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 15:53:36 +0000

There is absolutely nothing more annoying to me than to come home and find that all of the lights in the house are on, but no one is in most of the rooms! I can’t seem to educate certain folks that we need to save money by turning off lights when we leave the room. Well, I just found out that Black & Decker is releasing for sale motion detector light switches that will turn the lights off automatically after a few minutes of detecting no motion. The price sounds reasonable, about $30 per switch. They are supposedly going on sale in April. I’ve signed up to receive an email notice from them when they come out! I am DEFINITELY going to buy several!

All The Leaves

jeremy — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 19:18:43 +0000

Most people enjoy this time of the year with all the leaves turning such beautiful colors, in all their glory. But as the old saying goes “Nothing good lasts forever” all of those leaves seem to fall in my yard and property, what a pain in the rear this turns out to be each fall.

Counting Our Blessings and Moving On

jeremy — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 19:51:06 +0000

So far there hasn’t been any phone calls or emails from any family members or friends with horror stories from the massive hurricane that threatened to cause such havoc to the east coast. A few folks lost power, most had generators that kept them being totally in the dark. A few trees are down here and there, but no serious damage or injuries have been reported and I’m am so grateful for that. We can all now stop and count our blessings and hopefully get things back to normal and enjoy what is left of the summer season.

5.8

jeremy — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 23:12:58 +0000

I’m so glad that the recent 5.8 earthquake didn’t do more damage than it did yesterday. I am amazed that the injuries that have been reported aren’t as high as they certainly could have been with a 5.8 on the Richter Scale. Now we have to sit back and wait for the after shocks as well as the hurricane that is expected in a few days. Good grief, what has gotten Mother Nature so upset lately?

This will be a look at winter safety tips

jeremy — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 15:56:11 +0000

Thanks for the guest post by Donn Schroeder

Maine- The State Of Deep Freeze!

Depending on where you live, you will need to dress accordingly. If, for example, you live in the state of Maine, there are two things going for you. One is that even though Maine has a reputation for being way too cold, you will get acclimated to this. Take it from a thin-blooded New Jerseyite! That, and you exchange moesquitoes for black flies and no-see-ums. Don’t we all look forward to those days back! But, at any rate, although a extreme cold, it is a dry one, which is amazing because Maine is a sea-coastal state. New Jersey is colder because it is a damp cold. Whereas in Maine, layering does you some good. One of the rules of thumb in a colder state is buy yourself! a pair of longjohns immediately! Also, get decent socks, white ones, Hanes or whatever.

One note of caution for homeowners everywhere- set your HOME SECURITY systems before leaving the house. Winter is a more difficult time. The weather conspires against us and then there are the holidays, so it’s harder to remember basic safety even, at times.

Back to more winter safety tips, invest in a bag of rock salt, and a good solid snow shovel. You’ll be needing it. You don’t want to live out “Home Alone” and take a header on the front stairs!

Optical Illusions

jeremy — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 02:32:20 +0000

I have always enjoyed optical Illusions for as long as I can remember. I used to try and find as many as possible when I was a kid. I remember my parents had a rather large book on the book shelve in the den that had some really strange and unusual pictures that I would spend hours gazing at in that special book that my parents got rid of many moons ago to my dismay. But now that we had the Internet I can find as many optical illusion as I want, when I want, online and from time to time I stumble on a new one, such as this one.

See if you can find the hidden man in this pretty picture.