And in case you don't care to hold a flashlight to your forehead, a Petzel headlamp works well too. I learned this as a frog-finding trick from a guide in the Amazon.

Tangentially related, WTF is the deal with "you can't use your passport if it'll expire within six months"? I've evidently been misusing the word "expires" for years to mean "the document is useful up until this date".

I've often wondered why we don't put the heat exchanger portion of refrigerators outdoors, like we do with air conditioners. It would seem to be a win regardless of season -- in the winter, heat exchange ought to be rather efficient (much greater delta-t) leading to running the compressor less. You do give up some of the waste heat but I bet it's still a net win. In the summer, at least you're not pumping more heat into your already hot house (if like me you don't have air conditioning) or into a house that you subsequently cool with a second cooling system (your air conditioner).

I suppose the simplest form of this idea would comprise a massive wall cut-out to allow the back of the fridge to be outdoors. Seems rather unappealing though.

I think the advantages over the "garage" system (which I also use, well actually I prefer the "screened-in porch" variety) are self-evident.

Dutch101 #18 -- Upper economic classes living in/near downtown, forcing lower economic classes out to the fringes already appears to be reality where I live (Ann Arbor, MI, which doesn't count as a "major urban area" though.) I thought this was already a widespread trend.

If Sequoia's basis for trying to shut Felten up is the alleged terms of their contract with the State of New Jersey, I wonder how they intend to deal with the presumed fact that Felten isn't party to their contract. I would think they might have recourse against New Jersey, but nothing on Felten.

In other words, another threatening letter, full of sound and fury, and signifying nothing.

#9, Really? When I worked for the University of Michigan back in the '90s, I did have to sign a loyalty oath to uphold the Michigan constitution. Under duress, as you say. I had thought all MI universities did it.

I found these two moderately amusing:

http://www.rottenneighbor.com/story.php?id=56867
http://www.rottenneighbor.com/story.php?id=62479