Lord of the Memes

Well... Bye!

I think I'm in love.

Meet Johnny Manziel's Realtor

Johnny Manziel's house in Cleveland is up for sale. Let's take a quick tour...

Trucking: The Next Generation

Check out the nexgen hybrid Nikola One. 1,200 mi range, 2,000 HP, gas turbine, hybrid electric, all wheel drive. 

Be one of the first 5,000 to pre-order and get 100,000 gal of CNG thrown in for free. Of course running OTR purely on CNG would depend on getting the CNG station network completed. Nikola has 50 stations of their own planned in addition to the CNG stations already in place. 

Nikola owns their own gas wells and compressor stations and transportation fleet. That's how they can afford to give away fuel to the initial group and recoup that cost in fuel sales to the rest. There's also a 50¢ per gallon Federal credit for the CNG station owner. Win/Win. Nikola customers that aren't part of the free fuel group can purchase fuel for a guaranteed price of $1.50 per gallon.

The turbine only powers the generator, not the drive motors directly. This is basically the same technology that trains run on and could finally be a game changer. Like a locomotive it has an electric motor for each wheel which means you get an extra drive axle with the steering axle making it a true 6 x 6. 

There's all kinds of advantages to this. Traction, steering, braking, stability, lower center of gravity, larger driver cab, ect.

Bottom line, this is very cool and I think we may see this become widespread relatively quick. All it would take is one major carrier to commit to running them and having success with lower operating cost. The rest would jump on the bandwagon.

Read more info (including their very cool electric 4x4 UTV) at NikolaMotor.com

Maybe not the best place to make a U-turn

Made a quick run to the grocery store yesterday afternoon and came across this as soon as I pulled out of the driveway.

Looks like those truck driving schools are still holding up the high standards.

Quebec Jones?

A fifteen year old from Quebec has used satellite photos, Mayan astronomy and his own intuition to solve some questions about the placement of Mayan cities and to discover a new city. 

William Gadoury loves everything Mayan and was studying Mayan constellations when he overlayed a constellation map on a map of the Yucatan Peninsula. He discovered that the known cities, like Chichen Itza and Uxmal, were exactly lined up with the stars in major Mayan constellations. 

Using this same map and thought process, he noticed that the third star in the 23rd constellation he was studying was missing. He found satellite images from space agencies, including NASA, JAXA (from Japan) and Google Earth, and discovered a third city where the third star of the constellation said it would be. 

He has named this city, as yet unexplored on the ground, K'aak Chi, or Mouth of Fire. The lost city has a pyramid that is 86 meters high, as well as 30 other visible (from the photos) structures. It is on the border with Belize.

F'n Clown

A live shot went downhill fast on CBS 11 this morning. That reporter is going to have to develop tougher skin if he can't handle one measly photobomb.

Mise à jour de l'agriculture

Thought I'd give you a quick update on my recent agri-endeavors. Good news is the bermuda seems to be taking off. I wouldn't go so far as to call it a good stand, but it's a stand. There's some bare patches that I can only attest to my missing some spots with the spreader. It definitely could have been worse. It easily could have been better, too.

I used 3 lbs per acre of seed per the specs of my contract. The recommended amount from the seed dealer was 9lbs per acre. I should have gone with 9 but as the saying goes, po' boys got po' boy ways. The good news is it's Giant Bermuda and not a hybrid. It will head out and make it's own seed. That plus the normal root spread should quickly expand the coverage over a year or two.