<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<rss version="2.0" 
    xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
    xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/"
    xmlns:admin="http://webns.net/mvcb/"
    xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#"
    xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/"
	xmlns:itunes="http://www.itunes.com/dtds/podcast-1.0.dtd">
	<channel>
<title>Use Half</title><link>http://www.usehalf.com/index.html</link><description>Conservation Without Compromise</description><dc:language>en</dc:language><dc:creator>Tim Dick</dc:creator><dc:rights>Copyright 2006-8 usehalf</dc:rights><dc:date>2011-03-19T09:54:10-07:00</dc:date><admin:generatorAgent rdf:resource="http://www.realmacsoftware.com/" />
<sy:updatePeriod>hourly</sy:updatePeriod>
<sy:updateFrequency>1</sy:updateFrequency>
<sy:updateBase>2000-01-01T12:00+00:00</sy:updateBase>
<lastBuildDate>Thu, 29 May 2008 12:02:52 -0700</lastBuildDate><item><title>They Didn&#x27;t Have The Green Thing Back Then...</title><dc:creator>Tim Dick</dc:creator><dc:subject>UseHalf Blog</dc:subject><dc:date>2011-03-19T09:54:10-07:00</dc:date><link>http://www.usehalf.com/blog/files/backinmyday.php#unique-entry-id-87</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.usehalf.com/blog/files/backinmyday.php#unique-entry-id-87</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[In her day, they walked up stairs, because they didn&rsquo;t have an escalator in every store and office building.   They walked to the grocery store and didn&rsquo;t climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time they had to go two blocks.


...They dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling machine burning up 220 volts &ndash; wind and solar power really did dry the clothes.   Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing. 


But that old lady is right, they didn&rsquo;t have the green thing back in her day.


Back then, they had one TV, or radio, in the house &ndash; not a TV in every room.   And the TV had a small screen the size of a pizza dish, not a screen the size of the state of Montana.   In the kitchen, they blended and stirred by hand because they didn&rsquo;t have electric machines to do everything for you.   When they packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, they used wadded up newspaper to cushion it, not styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap.


...They exercised by working so they didn&rsquo;t need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity. 


But she&rsquo;s right, they didn&rsquo;t have the green thing back then.


They drank from a fountain when they were thirsty, instead of using a plastic bottle every time they had a drink of water.   They refilled pens with ink, instead of buying a new pen, and they replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull.


...Back then, people took the streetcar and kids rode their bikes to school or rode the school bus, instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service.   They had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances.   And they didn&rsquo;t need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest pizza joint.
]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>The Price Of Non-Nuclear Energy:  3&#x2c;000 Lives Per Day</title><dc:creator>Tim Dick</dc:creator><dc:subject>UseHalf Blog</dc:subject><dc:date>2011-03-22T07:29:55-07:00</dc:date><link>http://www.usehalf.com/blog/files/PriceOfEnergy.php#unique-entry-id-86</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.usehalf.com/blog/files/PriceOfEnergy.php#unique-entry-id-86</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Some of these petrodictatorships such as Saudi Arabia are actively supported by the United States who arm their militaries and help build their prisons in exchange for stable supplies of oil.  

...For those who say these effects do not factor in a &ldquo;worst case&rdquo; nuclear event such as Chernobyl, we should recognize conventional energy&rsquo;s environmental catastrophes ranging from global climate change, to major pollution incidents such as the Deepwater Horizon blowout to everyday Mountaintop Removal coalmining that destroys large areas of ecosystem.


...Current (inefficient) generations of renewable fuels such as ethanol from inefficient sources like corn require subsidies and can drive up the price of food by replacing food crops.  

...This is a foolish kneejerk reaction because rare nuclear incidents suffer the &ldquo;Titanic Syndrome&rdquo; that fixate the news industry like airliner crashes vs. the 3,000 silent deaths per day caused by conventional energy, 


To this failed logic, we must reply that conventional energy is more dangerous and not let oil and coal industries dangerously profit from this moment such as their current lobbying to overturn pollution legislation that would save an estimated 17,000 lives per year in the U.S.  


Like reducing deadly pollution from conventional energy is wise, nuclear safety can and should be improved  Here are some places to start.


	&bull;	First, close all plutonium fueled reactors because this fuel is simply too dangerous (radioactivity lasts millions of years), and close reactors are in risky locations such as those prone to severe earthquakes.


...Reactors such as Fukushima that store spent fuel ON TOP of the reactor should be closed unless / until they can be re-engineered with offsite storage.    The US (Japan similarly) must rectify its failure to complete its long-term nuclear fuel storage facility at Yucca Mountain thus leaving 30+ years of spent fuel rods lying dangerously onsite in open pools (zoom out to see these are at Diablo Canyon powerplant) at over 100 nuclear powerplants across the U.S.    While Yucca Mountain is being completed, remove spent fuel from storage pools when cool enough (about a year) and store in dry-casks far away from reactors at sites such as the DOE Waste Isolation Pilot Plant .


	&bull;	Third, move coastal reactor infrastructure (e.g. backup generators, pumps) along with backup coolant storage tanks (gravity feed) to higher ground such as at California&rsquo;s Diablo Canyon.    Ensure at least one month of backup fuel is available for backup generators to allow extended fully independent cooling operations should electrical grids fail.


...In a passive-safety design, if systems fail (or a shutdown is triggered by an earthquake or other sensor), gravity drops control rods into place that shut the reactor down and cooling occurs naturally without need for human intervention, backup power or cooling pumps.    If (and only if) long-term nuclear waste storage facilities are built, this kind of nuclear power may be one of the safest long-term energy sources.


Taking away nuclear power means adding to the hundreds of thousands of deaths per year already caused by fossil fuels and putting more dollars in the hands of petrodictators that destabilize the world.  ...  If we embrace that, we can decommission old powerplants, cut conventional pollution, drive down the price of oil and put less money in the pockets of petrodictators.   ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Windows R.I.P. Or Can It Rise Again To Save Microsoft &#x26; The World?</title><dc:creator>Tim Dick</dc:creator><dc:subject>UseHalf Blog</dc:subject><dc:date>2011-01-06T16:40:16-08:00</dc:date><link>http://www.usehalf.com/blog/files/windowsrip.php#unique-entry-id-85</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.usehalf.com/blog/files/windowsrip.php#unique-entry-id-85</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[The explosion of cheap Linux-powered netbooks, tablets & pads, plus Android & iPhones all using web apps. shows that today all you need is a browser and who cares what the OS is, right?  

...Worse, Microsoft&rsquo;s stock price suggests that Windows decline is expected to accelerate:  Its trailing P/E (stock Price to Earnings value) is 12 but its forward P/E is 11, both well below the Dow Jones average.  


...The business world remains standardized on Microsoft Office (although that too is threatened) and many technical applications (including those that run nuclear power plants apparently) run only on Windows.    And most people still want to store their own music and photos in applications on their own PC using applications like iTunes.


...So how can Microsoft restore growth and share price and help the world (all at the same time?)    Ironically, it could tear a page from Bill Gates&rsquo;s philanthropic efforts by working to eliminate viruses by making vaccines (as in antivirus) ubiquitous.


...Step 2  the simple part:   Lower the price of Windows from $300 ($100 for the lowest price upgrade) to $50 or $25 for an upgrade or $10 if purchased in a 5 pack.     Competitors Linux ranges from free to $25 and Apple&rsquo;s OSX ranges from $10 (multipack) to $29 for a single pack.  


Step 3:  Make Windows Security Essentials (antivirus / anti spyware) free regardless of whether Windows is genuine or not.


...Windows reverses share losses as it becomes an economical competitor to Linux for cheap new PCs and Netbooks.  


...The $50B+ counterfeit software industry (mostly at Microsoft&rsquo;s expense) collapses because there is no profit in counterfeiting a $10 product.  

...Low price Windows creates a potential multi-billion $ OS business in China, the world&rsquo;s largest software market, where over 80% (over 90% of Microsoft because of its high price) is counterfeit according to the Business Software Alliance.  

...Viruses and malware decline because users are running a current & genuine OS with up-to-date protection.  

...More predictable revenues vs. revenues that spike a year or so post new-OS and decline post afterwards.


As OS value erodes, Microsoft must lower the price at some time - the question is whether MSFT takes charge now, or wait until Windows can no longer develop enough thrust to escape gravity and explode on the pad.  

...Steve - it&rsquo;s time to recall that moment of greatness and make it your own.]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Mr. Obama:  It&#x27;s Time To Secure The Internet</title><dc:creator>Tim Dick</dc:creator><dc:subject>UseHalf Blog</dc:subject><dc:date>2010-01-16T11:35:55-08:00</dc:date><link>http://www.usehalf.com/blog/files/fixourinternet.php#unique-entry-id-84</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.usehalf.com/blog/files/fixourinternet.php#unique-entry-id-84</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Or every street address in the world could be mixed up so mail & packages would not know where to go?    These things are illegal in every country in the world - but you can do it all on the internet without breaking a single law.


Welcome to today&rsquo;s internet where the pipes and switches we depend on to send email or use the web have little security - enabling attacks that send people somewhere else when they try to go to www.whitehouse.gov or block web sites and steal data.  


Today&rsquo;s internet is running out of addresses so most computers attached to the internet (almost certainly including the one you are reading this on) must use a &ldquo;fake&rdquo; (aka translated) address making it easy for bad guys to hide right under our noses.     This makes spam and &ldquo;botnet&rdquo; attacks easy to perpetrate because no one knows where the spammers and &ldquo;zombie computers&rdquo; really are in order to cut them off.  ...  These attacks may have originated in tiny North Korea - no one is really sure - just as Google &ldquo;cannot be sure&rdquo; the recent attacks came from China.


The technologies to fix these gaping security holes are already built into almost all internet servers, routers and PCs, including the one you are reading this on.  

...The first fix is to secure the Domain Name System - that&rsquo;s the system that routes your browser (or email) to the piggybank.com (or whatever) server.  ...  The good news is that ICANN (the body that authorizes &ldquo;Top Level Domains&rdquo; like .com, .net., .cn) and VeriSign are rolling out DNSSEC for .com, .net and .edu  and numerous other countries are doing so as well.  ...  These domains are expected to be secure by 2011 but there is no guarantee, and not all elements of DNSSEC (such as reverse DNSSEC) will be implemented.


...To patch this shortage, we now depend on workarounds like Network Address Translation (NAT) to allow multiple computers (or bad guys) to use (or hide behind) one address.  

...An indication of how crucial IPv6 is to security was China running the 2008 Olympics on IPv6 to mitigate potential for denial of service and other kinds of attacks.  

...These technologies are here - we just don&rsquo;t use them because, well... because if it ain&rsquo;t broken don&rsquo;t fix it right?  

...How vulnerable would we feel if China upgraded its internet infrastructure this way while the US, which is far more dependent upon the internet, remained a soft target?  

...Standards bodies have made attempts - and leaders such as Google, Microsoft, banks and eCommerce companies are eager for improvement but systemically can have little impact.


...As it once did when pushing Y2K upgrades, the federal government should act to mandate that every US internet carrier and ISP must operate solely on DNSSEC and IPv6 by 2012, and that internet traffic passing through US networks must be compliant, or be forced to route around the US.  ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Fixing China&#x27;s Flawed New Mileage Standard</title><dc:creator>Tim Dick</dc:creator><dc:subject>UseHalf Blog</dc:subject><dc:date>2009-05-30T08:50:29-07:00</dc:date><link>http://www.usehalf.com/blog/files/ChinaMPG1.php#unique-entry-id-82</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.usehalf.com/blog/files/ChinaMPG1.php#unique-entry-id-82</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[For a start, China&rsquo;s standards apply only to domestically produced vehicles - imports are exempt.    China&rsquo;s import tariff on cars is 25%, in line with WTO standards.    As the article points out, imports made up only 1.9% of volume in recent recessionary months, however this percentage will go up as manufacturers trade off subsidizing tariffs vs. not meeting their quota of high mpg vehicles.    In addition, as China&rsquo;s population grows wealthier, it will tilt towards paying more for imported vehicles.    Double jeopardy.


Second, the standards apply to 16 different classes of automobiles, not manufacturer &ldquo;fleet&rdquo; averages (as in the U.S.) which incents car companies to produce only larger vehicles.    Unless China somehow forces companies to make small cars, this alone could make China&rsquo;s rule fail entirely.


Lumping auto makers output into &ldquo;fleets&rdquo; as is done in the U.S.   CAFE standards and including imports in the standard could make the new standard easier to enforce and make China&rsquo;s industry stronger.
]]></content:encoded></item></channel>
</rss>
