Nick Bilton in the New York Times writes on my pet peeve. My favorite part so far:

The government might be causing more unnecessary interference on planes by asking people to shut their devices down for take-off and landing and then giving them permission to restart all at the same time. According to electrical engineers, when the electronic device starts, electric current passes through every part of the gadget, including GPS, Wi-Fi, cellular radio and microprocessor.

It’s the equivalent of waking someone up with a dozen people yelling into bullhorns.

Dave K and I are working on converting Datsun 240Z into an electric vehicle. We’re keeping the clutch and transmission, but pulling out practically everything else: the engine, fuel tank, radiator and exhaust system.  Then we put in an electric motor and batteries. Of course, we needed to start a website for the project (first things first) which you can find here: ev240z.blogspot.com

I’m really excited about this project. As a kid I was fascinated with vehicles that didn’t use internal combustion engines. In particular I remember reading a Boy’s Life magazine that had drawings of what cars of the future might look like, and how they might run on hydrogen, solar power or batteries. I also loved reading about cars like the sunraycer that could drive from one end of Australia to the other without using any gasoline. Dave was going to retrofit his 90′s(?) convertible cavalier at first, but I convinced him if he was going to spend a bunch of time and money on a car, he may as well like the way it looks when he’s done with it. Enter the Z.

The plan is to post car-related items there, instead of here, as the project continues, but I may not be able to resist mentioning progress here too.

I just watched Vanishing of the Bees, and I’d strongly recommend it. It’s strengthened my resolve to eat more organic food (vote with your fork!) even more than reading Omnivore’s Dilemma. It’s not a pleasant thought to think of all the as-yet unknown sub-lethal effects of pesticides are having, not just on bees and smaller animals, but on us.