Author Archives: Truman Boyes

I have an e-bike (Juiced Bikes Rip Current S) which is simply amazing. The range, the speed, the quality of the bike are all super impressive. With a 1000w peak power to the motor, this thing hauls!

The range around towns for decent distance is there. It supports 70+ mile range assuming not too steep climbs, and some pedal assist. But what if I wanted to ride even further, and have an adventure?

I started thinking of ways to do this, and initially it involved looking around for places with AC outlets (libraries, public parks or buildings, cafe’s). The trouble is that it’s not that easy to plug a big battery inside a Starbucks. And even if you do, it means leaving your bike.

What I have always wanted was a way to get access to public level 1 and 2 chargers around the country. I charge my Tesla Model S mostly at Super Chargers, but on occasion I use public or private chargers with either J1772 or CHAdeMO plugs.

I saw some DIY boxes to support J1772 plugs for an ebike, but those looked pretty messy. Finally I found this J1772 to NEMA 5-15 EV Plug.

The opportunity is that I should be able to carry my auto switching 110/220v charger with XLR 2amp output, and then plug that into this 1772 to NEMA 5-15, and that should give me decent AC power on the go. Later, it might be possible to explore higher amp charging, since the battery itself supports 8amp. But picture if you will, you are riding from town to town, you find a public EV spot, you hook your bike up to it, eat a meal, stretch out, and come back with some more energy in your bike’s battery.

Interesting that CME is now supporting trading of California Water Index futures.

Interesting to see different takes on what this means to the world. Some folks have pointed out the potential impact on scarcity in water or traded water would create a potential scenario that implies worldwide risk to a basic resource (ie. rising price of the index means that people can’t afford water …). However another take is that this is purely a method of market transparency that reveals the aggregated rates. Market conditions could then be addressed through competition, regulation, or through technology/innovation.

I was also interested in the measurement of NQH20 being valued in US dollars per acre foot. (43,560 square feet, filled to a depth of one foot, equivalent to 325,851 gallons). Apparently, this is a standardized measurement format in the United States in relation to large-scale water resources. Water reservoir capacities are measured in TAF (thousands of acre-feet). Seems like in other locations outside the US, the measurement is simply in cubic meters or cubic kilometers.

During Covid-19, friends are watching a lot of shows on netflix, prime, disney+, etc; and it has become commonplace to share recommendations on latest cool movie, documentary, or tv show.

Just based on viewing habits, I am so far behind everyone that I know. I still haven’t finished Game of Thrones, Ozark, etc. I really haven’t ever been able to focus on lengthy series of shows since HBO’s The Wire. That was my most favorite production of all time — although I haven’t watched it since it ended, and it may have been more temporal. Not sure what it would be like to watch it again.

I did notice that there is no easy way to share Amazon Prime Watchlists with friends. It would be cool if that was a native feature or if there was a good meta search site that allowed for shared content lists. I tweeted over to Prime and they assured me they would take this idea to their product team.

Last weekend I watched The Man Who Skied Down Everest.

Pretty wild to see how involved it was to get this skier up to the mountain and the sacrifices made by the sherpas. During the course of the climb, six sherpas were killed in a collapse of ice.

The shed is nearly complete. What started as a simple shed to store some tools, turned into a pool house.

If there was one specific thing that was accomplished during 2020; at least on the home front, it would be this shed. It’s a 10×12’ gabled roof wooden building that sits off the ground and on a frame.

At some point soon I will write up the details on construction and how I finish it.

I used to write thoughts on nearly everything. It really helped to better formulate complete thoughts on all different topics; what is fascinating is that I was able to somehow keep nearly all of the old journals that I had over the years. I have Marble notepads from highschool with random thoughts on what life was like at that time; Moleskin pads from nearly 20 years of working. For some years, I have lagged in writing because I simply forget to keep at it, or something takes me in a different direction.

I had webpages online in 1995 but the oldest page that I can find dates to 2001: https://web.archive.org/web/20010309024251/http://www.truman.net/

While I find twitter interesting to share and network with quick thoughts and commentary; complete thoughts are best positioned in longer form. I experimented with Medium, and in the past hosted my own WordPress installs. For simplicity and focus, I decided to get a paid account on WordPress and use the SaaS. So far, it’s been pretty awesome. The ease of use, and even the tech support is great. I had one issue that was resolved via a chat with support. [ Which reminds me — shouldn’t everything have instant online chat support to resolve issues? ]