This post is straying a bit off topic for a tech blog, but I’ve had the need for some time now to vent about the economy here in America. Let’s see, how do I begin? How about this:
STOP COMPLAINING!
Chicken Little apparently is controlling the media, because all a person hears recently is that the sky is falling. In fact, the media has been down-in-the-mouth about the economy for several years. The reality is that things could be a lot worse. Here’s what Gregg Easterbrook of the Brookings Institution recently had to say about the economy:
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As I previously mentioned, my Ubuntu web server seems to have a clock problem, presumably because it is running within VMWare. I found a simple way to keep the clock relatively accurate. This is probably not the best solution, but it works for me.
I created the following script within the directory /etc/cron.daily
#!/bin/bash
ntpdate pool.ntp.org > /dev/null
exit 0
Then I made it executable by issuing this command:
chmod +x filename.sh (change filename.sh to the name you gave to the script)
This syncronizes the system clock with an Internet time server every day. By the end of the day the time is off a minute or two, but accurate enough for my use.
For those of you who have just tuned in, my last several blog posts have been journaling my solar cooking project in which I lived for nearly two weeks without the use of a conventional oven or microwave. Instead, I cooked my food using the sun.
In order to make it easier to read the solar cooking-related blog entries I have listed them in order below. Enjoy!
- Gentlemen, start your solar ovens!
- Solar Challenge Day #1
- Solar Challenge Day #2
- Solar Challenge Day #3
- Meet the Ovens
- Solar Challenge Day #4
- Solar Challenge Day #5
- Solar Challenge Day #6
- Day 7: One week of solar cooking
- Solar Challenge Day #8
- Solar Challenge Day #9
- Solar Challenge Day #10
- Solar Challenge Day #11
- Solar Challenge Day #12
- Solar Challenge Day #13 (the end)
Today is the 13th and final day of my solar cooking challenge. My original plan was to live off the solar oven for two weeks, but I had forgotten about the wedding Crystal and I are attending tomorrow. I’m afraid taking a lunch box of solar-cooked food to the reception would be hard to explain. As a result, I’m calling it quits on day 13.
Here’s what I cooked today:
- Lasagna (Crystal was actually responsible for this)
- Fish (the four rock bass I caught last Saturday)
Meals:
- Breakfast: chicken sandwich
- Lunch: lasagna and dinner rolls
- Dinner: fish/egg salad sandwiches
For the skeptics out there that still don’t believe my solar cooking can sustain me, here is a list of solar-cooked food that is left over:
- Two servings of potato casserole
- Two servings of lasagna
- Seven dinner rolls
- Enough chicken for two sandwiches
- Enough fish/egg salad for three sandwiches
Today is day #12 of my solar cooking challenge. The day started without a cloud in the sky but was overcast by lunch time. The sun peeked through the clouds a few times in the afternoon to allow me to heat up some previously cooked casserole.
- Breakfast: cinnamon roll & chicken sandwich
- Lunch: chicken sandwich
- Dinner: potato casserole & dinner rolls
Today is day #11 of my solar cooking challenge.
Meals:
- Breakfast: pizza
- Lunch: fruit, cookies
- Dinner: chicken sandwich, cinnamon roll
Today is day #10 of my solar cooking challenge.
Meals:
- Breakfast: cinnamon roll, pizza
- Lunch: fruit, ice cream
- Dinner: bratwurst, pizza
Today is day #9 of my solar cooking challenge.
Meals:
- Breakfast: Pizza
- Lunch: Pizza, fruit
- Dinner: Pizza, cinnamon rolls, and fruit
Today is day #8 of my solar cooking challenge. A few passing clouds in the sky were not enough to derail my plans to stockpile food for the week ahead.
What I cooked today:
- Ground beef
- Bratwursts
- Dinner rolls (pictured at right)
- Cinnamon rolls
- Several small pizzas
Meals:
- Breakfast: Egg salad sandwiches and a banana
- Lunch: Potatoes
- Dinner: Bratwurst, dinner rolls, cinnamon roll, and a pizza
Today is day #7 of my solar cooking challenge, and it marks the completion of a week of living on solar-cooked food. There was cloud cover most of the day and no chance to cook anything. The sun did peek through now and then, and did so long enough for me to heat up some previously solar-cooked lasagna for lunch.
Speaking of lasagna, here is something you have probably not heard of before: You can cook lasagna in your dishwasher! Really. Click here to read the article on www.wikihow.com.
Today I went fishing with a Elijah Yoder, a friend of mine, and brought home four rock bass. They are waiting in the freezer for an opportunity to be cooked in my solar oven.
Meals today
- Breakfast: Chicken sandwich
- Lunch: Lasagna
- Dinner: An apple and banana
The weather forecast for the week ahead does not look as desirable as this one has been. Several days are expected to be “partly sunny” but one never knows how those will turn out until the time comes. “Abundant sunshine” is the more favorable term I like to hear in a forecast. I also will be attending a conference two days next week; therefore, I’ll have to pack some food cooked last week and resist the temptation to eat anything else.
