Understand the Amazon Kindle press conference in 12 pictures

Jeff Bezos gave a dynamite keynote presentation. It was nowhere near the level of Steve Jobs but still worthy of an explosive description. I’m rooting for him to improve and become the new Steve.

The presentation is over an hour and so here is the summary in 12 screenhots. The full video is at bottom.

Enjoy the new paperwhite e-reader Kindle and the HD tablet Kindle.

For analysis, I suggest Amazon’s Play by John Gruber and Kindle Fire is Better but It Isn’t the Best by Walt Mossberg.

 

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Residential water trends for the United States

Here is a report that studied water trends from the past 50 years (pdf) and found both good/bad news.

The good:

A household in the 2008 billing year used 11,678 gallons less water annually than an identical household did in 1978.

To investigate the causes of this decline, a local study of statistically representative households of the LWC was conducted in Louisville. Adjusting for weather, water use per LWC customer fell from 208 to 187 gpd between 1990 and 2007, a decline of 21 gallons.

 

The bad: declines are leveling off.

Most homes have installed low-flow appliances and that accounted for the biggest drop. There was a drop in family size, from 3.38 to 2.59, and that’s not going any lower.

There were no recommendations for next steps. Future declines may be up to us.

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Sharing my joy of visiting the farmers market

Through the crowds and into the market a world awaits me. Exotic fruits, luscious vegetables, and peculiar personalities. An uncharted world for one raised on the supermarkets of America. I learn simple things like knowing to smell a melon or mush a peach (but only on top). It is a food education and the market is the classroom.

I forget the real world and act like a kid. I squeeze and smell, question and query, fondle and forage. Nobody yells or gets angry, it’s what you’re supposed to do. The farmer smiles like a proud father just waiting to tell a story. All I have to do is ask the right question, or in most cases the dumb one. How do I eat this?

The answers are always unique and deep. How to pick, prepare, cook, cut, eat, and enjoy.

Every week is a surprise for what I will find. This time it was jalapeño peppers. I thought I knew about them, until I found the pepper farmer. He offers a colloquial description of each variety and I go with the ones that are semi-hot but not really.  At home I cautiously sample one and his description was precise.

This is my food life. A weekly adventure where I dive into the world of food. I become a curious kid encouraged to learn and ask questions. My teachers are the farmers and their friends and family who have devoted their lives to growing food. When I buy their wares I’m supporting that devotion. Something I never felt at the supermarket. This way of life fills my belly and my heart. I am a part of a community. I am connected to the land, to my neighbors, and eating like a king.

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Don’t reuse floss – it’s gross

I have something terribly gross for you. Something so detestable you certainly won’t think of it like reusing a toothbrush. A bathroom act that asks you to wash and reuse. This despicable act is to reuse your floss.

Floss is different from a toothbrush or comb because it goes in your mouth. It is now infected with disease and should be immediately be thrown out. Do not even think of rinsing it off and using again. Definitely do not be place it next to the toothbrush that you will rinse off and use again.

Remember, the Earth has infinite resources and we should not worry about little things like floss. There is enough landfill space for billions of strings. We have enough room for the daily floss of 8 billion people and the 2.9 trillion pieces they could use each year.

So the next time you floss avoid reusing it. Make sure to throw it away and buy more at the store. It’s cheap and you can always grab some money off your money tree.

 

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How many baths could I get from a rainstorm?

From the USGS Water Science School:

Let’s say your house sits on a one-half acre lot. And let’s say you get a storm that drops 1 inch of rain. You’ve just received 13,577 gallons of water on your yard. A big bath holds about 40 gallons of water, so if you could save that inch of water you could take a daily bath for 339 days!

 

A great reason to get a rain barrel and collect all that water. Place it underneath your gutters and you’ll have an endless supply of water for your garden. Be a water warrior!

 

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The joy of bodysurfing & doing it dangerously in Tahiti

It’s not everyday that ESPN covers bodysurfing, here is Keith Malloy:

When I was a kid, my friends and I would go down to the beach and kind of camp all day. When you’re a kid the experience of being at the beach is just as good as actually surfing. We would leave our boards on the beach, go out and just get slammed, pull into the barrel and look at each other. You know, just that typical grom stuff.

 

The joy of bodysurfing and I love it, but then they took it to another level on the dangerous waves of Tahiti. View the behind-the-scenes photos of their trip from the movie Come Hell or High Water.

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Peter Jackson releases an iPhone, iPad app for The Hobbit

Peter Jackson’s behind-the-scenes extras are legendary and this new iPhone, iPad app for The Hobbit should be fun:

View animated character portraits, travel through an interactive map of Middle-earth, watch Peter Jackson’s production videos, and explore the stunning narrative imagery of “The Scroll” artwork to immerse yourself in the world of Hobbits, Dwarves, Elves, Orcs, deadly Wargs, giant Spiders and fearsome Dragons.

 
I’m excited to get my geek on! Here is the link to download – http://bit.ly/HobbitMoviesApp

 

 

The ‘dirty’ middle class

I propose a new way to think about the Great Recession in America. Instead of the middle class is dying, how about the dirty middle class is dying. The way of life where overconsumption and gas guzzling is more American than recycling or biking. If our energy supply can be both dirty and clean, why not our lifestyles?

Consider the average family spends 20% of their budget on transportation. That’s 10 weeks/year just to pay for car and gas. But what about the big gas guzzlers, the kind that cost $80 to fill-up. No one wants to pay $100 for gas but that is where we are headed. And yet there are plenty of them on the street. As those gas prices tick up I think they will slowly disappear and be replaced by bikes and EV’s.

Food is another area in slow decline. You might’ve heard that 69% of Americans are overweight or obese. That’s a lot of extra money spent on food, especially when times are tight. A new report shows our consumption of candy and processed foods has doubled in the last 30 years. What if a family were to save money by committing to healthy portion sizes, cutting out processed foods, and putting that savings towards college.

Last, think about the basic rule of disposable goods. They only work once and you have to buy more every week. Not only is this horrible for the environment but it costs a lot of money. Families could go broke following the jingles in commercials. And those who are pushing hard on – reduce, reuse, recycle – are again finding themselves with extra money to spend on family vacations.

After all, isn’t that what being in the middle class is about, family vacations? Being able to work, have fun, and save a little money for college or retirement. I thought so, but somehow that dream became owning an SUV, overeating, and buying something to throw out. But take solace in knowing that this dirty way of life is moving towards extinction. To be replaced by green families who ride bikes and have vegetable gardens.

It gives new meaning to the saying, there goes the neighborhood.

 

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