POST: Tilting at T. Boone Picken’s windmills

Posted on 8/1/2008 by Jim Charanis.
Categories: Politics, Technology.

www.windaction.org | Tilting at T. Boone Picken’s windmills

I’m not sold on this windmill thing either.  T. Boone is a terrific capitalist but this post makes a really good point, you can’t strap a windmill on a car - and that’s where the oil is going. What’s one got to do with the other?

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Paris!

Posted on by Jim Charanis.
Categories: General.

 Oye!  Finding a place in Paris for the September timeframe that is reasonable price and clean comfortable!  Help!

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Reggie Middleton’s Boom Bust Blog

Posted on 7/12/2008 by Jim Charanis.
Categories: General.

Reggie Middleton’s Boom Bust Blog

is a weblog by a financial guy who has an interesting approach to information reporting.  Quoted from seekingalpha.com:

freethinking maverick—the penultimate nonconformist as it applies to macro strategies, investment, and analysis

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Building a New and Stupid World - Phone Line (Song)

Posted on 7/11/2008 by Jim Charanis.
Categories: Poems and stories.

Building a New and Stupid World - Phone Line  No access to instruments of any…

 A friend who is powerful. This is a terrific poem. Singing a capella; putting it all out there makes me smile.  

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Happymaker?

Posted on 7/3/2008 by Jim Charanis.
Categories: Family, General, Poems and stories.

Q: What the heck is Demetre in Greek?

A: The Happy Maker! 

Known as XAPANIS (ka-ran-nis) or " The Happy Maker" in Greece, my ancestors produced some of the finer spirits (okay, they had a traveling distillery) on the Island of Lemnos, located in the beautiful Aegean sea.

The stuff was so good that when my great-great-great-…(way back)…….grandfather would come to town, the villagers would say: "here comes the happy-maker!"

So he changed his name to XAPANIS (ka-ran-nis) meaning happy-maker.
When my Grandfather came over from Greece to the USA he changed his name from DEMETRIUS XAPANIS to James Charanis and I was named after him. Here is the house where he was born:

I have not forgotten that tradition of keeping my customers happy.
Years of experience working with corporate clients of all types has taught me how to help my customers find solutions to their information management problems.

Here is another article of someone who traced their roots back to this lovely island

Pictures and info on the town:  Lemnos Villages

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FOXNews.com - Recycling Nuclear Fuel: The French Do It, Why Can’t Oui? - Opinion

Posted on 6/29/2008 by Jim Charanis.
Categories: Politics, Technology.

FOXNews.com - Recycling Nuclear Fuel: The French Do It, Why Can’t Oui? - Opinion

Maybe when gas hits $5/ gallon and the other fossil fuels start to rise we will consider this.  We cannot get Yucca Mountain operational and why put it all there if we can recycle it.  Why store it when you can reuse it. I just makes sense.   If I have to live with a liberal president in Obama then I hope they do some progressive things like this in his administration.  Rather then hiding further in the fantasy that we can reduce our energy needs and save the environment.  I’m all for reducing the use of Coal and other fossil fuels, and we can see that France is using nuclear power in a positive way (Can you think of a more liberal country?) so lets just do it already!

 

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Father’s day at the Gardens

Posted on 6/23/2008 by Jim Charanis.
Categories: Family, Gardening.

We spent the day at the Botanical Gardens

Kids in the garden

Gotta love a warm summer afternoon and wonderful kids!

Charanis Kids

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2008 Hike

Posted on 6/15/2008 by Jim Charanis.
Categories: Hiking/Camping.

Update - to my post:    2008 Hike - in Google Maps @ i-rant

We did go out this week and it was fantastic!  

Here is the view from the top of Rocky Bald Mtn.  

This is the view from the top of Rocky Bald 

Rocky Bald

I have more pictures in my Web Gallery.  Movie to come…. yes - I lugged my HD Vid Cam.  

Shout out to Tim, our new friend from Wisconsin!  

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Web 2.0 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Posted on 6/4/2008 by Jim Charanis.
Categories: General.

As my company continues to change with the times we are embracing web 2.0 stuff.  I need to learn more about this.

2.0 websites typically include some of the following features/techniques:

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2008 Hike - in Google Maps

Posted on 6/2/2008 by Jim Charanis.
Categories: Hiking/Camping.

Google Maps - these are the waypoints on our hike in June, 2008:  


View Larger Map

This year we are hiking from Rock Gap to the NOC - Nantahala Outdoor Center - US 19 and the River in Wesser, NC. 

We will arrive Wednesday June 11 around 9:00AM and park our car at the Store and then get shuttled to Rock Gap.  From Rock Gap - here is the breakdown:

  1. Wednesday: Rock Gap to Siler Bald Shelter - 7.4 miles
  2. Thursday: Siler Bald Shelter to Campsite between Wayah Bald and Licklog Gap - 6.8 miles
  3. Friday: Campsite to Campsite between Cold SpringShelter and Tellico Gap - 7.5 miles
  4. Saturday: Campsite to NOC - 9.3 miles. 

OR - Alternate Route:

  1. Wednesday: Rock Gap to Siler Bald Shelter - 7.4 miles
  2. Thursday: Siler Bald Shelter to Cold Spring Shelter - 12.1 miles
  3. Friday: Cold Spring Shelter to A Rufus Morgan Shelter - 11.42 miles
  4. Saturday: A Rufus Morgan Shelter to NOC - .8 Miles & and we mess around at the center for the day.

NOCSince 1972, NOC has shared the outdoors with millions of guests on white water river rafting trips, with all varieties of kayak and canoe instruction, on mountain bikes and around the world with our adventure travel trips. Located in western North Carolina near the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, NOC is within easy driving distance of Atlanta, Charlotte and Knoxville. Our world-class staff leads whitewater (some say white water!) rafting trips on nine of the East’s best rivers, including the Chattooga, Cheoah, French Broad, Nantahala, Nolichucky, Ocoee, Gauley, New and Pigeon. Learn to whitewater paddle from the pros in our renowned canoe and kayak Paddling School. We also offer group programs, ropes courses, flat water kayaking, flyfishing and hiking.

 

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