Search Results for: blog high tech night driving

Family Road Trip Highlights And Low Points

Tonight is our last night in the beach house here in Palm Coast, Florida. Tomorrow we will be embarking on our journey back to Vermont. So far, the trip has been fun. It has been tons of fun at times, and loads of stress at others. Of course, these things are par for the course when you take a family road trip. There have been some wonderful moments during this vacation. Yesterday was very special, as it was my sister’s wedding day. The boys both had a good day behavior – wise and things went smoothly. From spending time with … Continue reading →

Night Blindness

How’s your night vision? I don’t think mine is the worst out there, but I don’t think it’s great, either. It does take your retina a moment or two to adjust to differences in light when going from bright to dark or vice versa. Some people do tend to have more trouble with night vision than others. People who are nearsighted, for example, can be slower to adapt to seeing in the dark. So what can you do if you’re worried about your night vision? Check your own night vision first — you don’t need the doctor for this one. … Continue reading →

Pop Culture Goes High Tech

I have blogged about the power of YouTube in previous entries, but this latest incident truly proves how powerful the medium has become. Police in New Zealand say they were able to catch a thief thanks to a video posted on the popular Internet video sharing site, YouTube. According to officers, the man was taped circling the store, stealing a laptop computer, slipping it into his overcoat, then stepping out of the store unnoticed. Or so he thought. Shortly after the thief took off, his performance in the store was posted on YouTube – set to “The Pink Panther” music … Continue reading →

High Tech Night Driving

A high tech tool once reserved for the military and law enforcement is now a feature on ordinary cars. So what’s the story behind infrared night-vision? I recently learned that the pricey technology, which aids elderly drivers such as my aunt took years to mass market. About seven years ago Cadillac announced it planned to be the first automaker to install infrared night-vision scopes on its vehicles. But, the desire to incorporate the technology began long before that. In fact, Raytheon, a leading military high-tech supplier, had been working with General Motors since the mid-1980s. In the 1990s Cadillac took … Continue reading →

Winter Driving: I’m Stranded—What Do I Do Now?

When I moved to Wisconsin from Hawaii to attend college (almost two decades ago) I didn’t know how to dress for snow, let alone know how to drive in it. I didn’t have a car while I was in school so I didn’t do much driving at at any time of the year. However, six weeks after I graduated from school I bought my first car, and got a crash course in winter driving. (Lucky for me I didn’t literally receive a crash course in winter driving.) I managed to stay accident-free for the first few years despite having to … Continue reading →

Save Money On Car Insurance With a Snapshot

Are you a responsible driver? If you can prove it, and if your car insurance comes from the Progressive insurance company, you might be able to save a little money on your car insurance premiums. All it takes is a “Snapshot”. Your car insurance premium is determined based on how much risk the insurance company thinks you are going to be for them to insure. They take a look at how old you are, if you are married, what kind of vehicle you drive, and how many vehicles you have. They want to know if you park your car safely … Continue reading →

Warmth and Security of Home

Do you remember that old television prompt: “It’s 10 p.m. Do you know where your children are?” It was a public service announcement before we even ever heard of public service announcements. It was a way of reminding parents that it was late and their children should be home. I have been thinking about this lately, how home is a place of security and family and warmth. But I wonder if we are traveling away from that with our current homes. There is a reason that there is something magical about a seeing the warm glow of lights through a … Continue reading →

The Word of the Year

If you have a teen who is obsessed with computer games then Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Year is one you are probably very familiar with… especially if they do a lot of winning. Three cheers for “W00t.” The hybrid of letters and numbers used by online game enthusiasts as a way to express happiness or victory, topped all other terms in the Springfield-based dictionary publisher’s online poll for the word that best sums up 2007. Must have been quite a year for gamers. Merriam-Webster’s president says he is pleased with the choice because it reflects the growing role technology plays … Continue reading →

All About LASIK

Tired of wearing glasses? Whether you’re nearsighted, farsighted, or suffer from astigmatism, you have an option for vision without glasses or contact lenses. You may have heard of LASIK; officially, the procedure is called laser in-situ keratomileusis. The cornea is the clear part in the front of your eye. Laser vision correction surgery reshapes the cornea so that the light that passes through it is properly focused onto the retina — the layer of nerves at the back of the eye that transmit light into the brain. The advantages of LASIK include: Success rate. Approximately eighty percent of patients will … Continue reading →

Sunday Travel Funnies—-So Weird You Have To Laugh

Some obnoxious guy I met at a rest area in Omaha once told me that traffic laws were made for other people. I thought about him when I heard about the man in Utah who insists: “Traffic laws are God’s laws” and takes it upon himself to enforce them. According to Utah police, a local Church of Christ minister has been on their radar screen for a while ever since officers received numerous complaints that he made a practice of jumping in front of fast cars in his neighborhood, sticking brooms in their way and backing his own car in … Continue reading →