Backlit Cows

I'm appalled at CNN.com's new "feature", wher e you can buy a t-shirt with an associated headline and dateline.   I was already quite appalled by the number of "Toddler harmed by ...." stories, but this is pretty much it for me. 

Look at this one: CNN Shirt: Crying 4-year-old found along highway
Here's a capture of the other headlines, I notice you can't buy "Incest dad vacationed while kids locked up":

Latest News

• Five killed in Sydney Harbor boat collision 18 min
• State Dept. details global terror threats
• CNNMoney: Wall Street wilts after rate cut
• Agency: Sect boys may have been abused
• WCVB: Amber Alert baby thought to be in danger
• Ticker: Obama loses ground, polls say
• Amanpour: Standing where blood once flowed
• Israel kills an Islamic Jihad chief, sources say
• Incest dad vacationed while kids locked up
• Baby found in house riddled with filth
• SI: NFL cheerleaders too sexy for cricket
• Crying 4-year-old found along highway
• Teen too young for 'come hither' pose?
• Colossal squid has soccer-ball eyes
• iReport.com: Share memories of a fallen soldier
• CNN Wire: Latest updates on top stories

Click, unsubscribed, CNN.  buh-bye.

The Anti-Definmation League issued a statement on Expelled's lie of placing blame for the Holocaust on the Theory of Evolution:

"Using the Holocaust in order to tarnish those who promote the theory of evolution is outrageous and trivializes the complex factors that led to the mass extermination of European Jewry."
from Anti-Evolution Film Misappropriates the Holocaust

It was a beautiful day for just about anything, sunny, mid to high 60's.  A shakedown run in the Sparrow was no exception.   I tried to get the 3.1 miles from our place up on Wedgwood, to the GreenMyRide show, up on Phinney Ridge.  (Midwestern readers take note, that means 2 hills).  This should have been well within my range.   There was to be great charging options at the show, so I grabbed my 50' 110v and my 20' 220v charging cables and took off.    She ran great.  Wow what fun to drive.  I made it down to Greenlake, and the E-Meter started screaming, then my speed was limited.  The Sparrow has a built-in limiter that prevents the nut behind the wheel from damaging the batteries by limiting the speed. She got slower and slower.  I pullled over and the E-Meter read 112v.  Yikes.  I sat for about 15 minutes and watched the E-Meter come back to 132v.  There was no way I would make it up Phinney hill, and it was highly unlikely that I would make it back up to Wedgwood.

I needed juice.  Not wanting to go knocking on doors begging for an outlet, I decided to run around the corner to the Greenlake PCC.   Certainly, they would have some outside outlets and would be sympathetic to the cause.

Long story short, I pulled into the PCC, ran in, bought a drink for myself and asked for the Manager.  Of course she let me charge, (I knew they would).  So I plugged in outside and hung around for a couple of hours, talking to passersby (you attrach a lot of those in a Sparrow).   

After 2 and a half hours, the E-Meter read 157, I figured that would get me home, so I left.  Big mistake.  I made it as far as Wallingford and 80th *about 5 blocks, before the speed limiter set in and I pulled over.   It was about 3:30 at this point, and I needed to get home to get ready to go to the JOCO show, so I called for a tow.

$125 later I was home.  Sparrow 1, Kevin 0.

After talking with another Sparrow owner, I'm pretty convinced that there is a bad battery in the pack.  #7 is consistently reading lowest voltage, so I'm going to take it out of the series and see if I can get a better charge.