Whilst I have heard of the Apple battery charger, it has recently come to my attention due to a staff request for one at work.
I have heard on the TWIT podcasts that the batteries included with the Apple battery charger are actually the same chemical make-up as the Sanyo Eneloop batteries. These batteries can retain 80 percent of their charged capacity and potentially last for up to 10 years of service life.
Whilst people could just go out and buy any rechargeable batteries I think it is good there is now an option for those who will only buy products branded with a fruity label.
I’d really like to get my car finished then spend some time outside in the sunshine, taking photos at waterfalls and enjoying fresh air.
I think it would be nice to remember being alive. 
I haven’t done it for a while.
It doesn’t seem to matter whether it’s summer or winter nor day or night. Mosquitoes seem to be always swarming to drink my blood.
Many years ago I would eagerly await the weekend to go for a dirtbike ride in the State forests around Coffs Harbour with my brother and friends. Thinking back we would often discuss the future and what we would be riding when petrol became scarce and new technologies had become available.
We had decided that electric motorcycles would be the future but thought it would be odd being propelled through the forest on a quietly humming steed.
That was going on ten years ago now, I haven’t had my TT600R for going on eight years now and I don’t even live in Coffs Harbour anymore. I happened across a youtube video of an Electric motorcross bike in use (ignore the hooliganism) and looking carefully at the video I saw a website address across the bike Quantya.com. Apparently our dream of the future is a reality and you can buy electric motorcross (and road registerable) motorbikes across the world – just not in Australia.
It seems like such an excellent idea to me and I can’t wait to see what electric vehicles the world has to offer in the near future.
I’ll finish up with a promotional video for the Quantya.
I’ve just discovered another reason to visit Scotland. Apparently they have excellent Forestry Commision supported mountain biking over there. They have a site which lists trails available and from the description it sounds like it would be definately worth a visit.
520km to 32L = 6.15L/100km.
My 1990 NA6 MX5 -> NB6 conversion is finally coming along.
The intake, alternator, starter motor and coil pack from my old engine has been attached to the new engine. The intake cam is having the sensor pressed into it any day now. The LSD diff and NB rear subframe has been bolted to the body. NA8 brakes have been fitted as is the 4-2-1 exhaust headers.
Last night I filled the gearbox with oil and replaced the rubber seal around the gear lever where it exits the gearbox. The previous owner had rigged up some dodgy seal out of old seat foam.
Didn’t get around to attaching the new clutch, flywheel and gearbox to the engine last night but someone else will hopefully get that done and the modified intake cam installed today.
I’ve had the idea of converting an MX5 to electric for a while and had been tossing this around with a few friends. Having recently bought an old MX5 I’m actually loathing the idea of taking out the beautiful petrol engine and I was dismayed to discover that other people have already attempted the conversion that I was considering!
I guess I can attempt the project at at later stage. It all looks very expensive, I might look into it later when the cost of parts comes down.
460km and it took 40L (kept clicking until it reached 40L) = 8.69L/100km.
Since the motorbike died I’ve been stuck commuting in the car every day. It’s take a hard hit on my fuel economy. 
On another note I recently purchased an old NA6 Mazda MX5. It requires a fair bit of work to get it up to a decent state of repair but luckily parts are surprisingly cheap, it was extremely cheap to buy and I’m finding the car easy to work on so it’s become a hobby.
Interestingly enough some of the MX5 parts will fit on the Yaris so I might do a mix and match sometime in the future.
I fell asleep on the lounge again last night which is starting to become a habit for me. I was awoken around 4am by my UPS beeping at me from the other side of the room.
At this time I noticed that the front curtains on the house were flashing like someone was flicking their headlights on and off at the front of my house so I peeked through the curtains and was suprised to see a HUGE shower of sparks coming from the powerpole out the front! It was making a crackle boom bang crackle kind of noise with an impressive shower of white/blue sparks about once per second.
Fearing a fallen power line and the fact it was 4am and raining I didn’t end up going outside but I switched off all my appliances at the wall and then watched it out the window for a few minutes until it stopped and I went to bed. I’m about to leave for work and I guess I’ll have a look up at the powerline and see if I can work out was making the lines short out. My verandah has an overhang that prevented me from seeing directly what was happening, I could just see the power wires leading up to it and a shower of sparks falling.
I haven’t seriously ridden my mountain bike since I got back from Asia last year. This is a tremendous shame because I really enjoy riding and my health was really improving as the weight dropped. I hope to get back into it soon.
This photo is from 2007 where I had let my friend Daniel ride my bike down a tricky bit of hill to try it out and when he stopped the bike stood perfectly balanced for around 5 minutes. I managed to take a few photos before it fell over.
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