UPDATE: Latest Monitor story: Father of the halogen bulb

My latest story ran in yesterday's Christian Science Monitor, but I'm so out of whack without my laptop that I forgot to check and forgot to post. Readers of CI may recall I was disappointed by the PD's story on Elmer Fridrich a few weeks ago. After blogging about that, I heard from the inventor's daughter and a man working with him on marketing his latest inventions. They invited me to come meet Fridrich, so I fired off a pitch to the Monitor. Their reply: "a big yes!"

Check out my story, "The tinkerer's literal light bulb of discovery was halogen." There was so much more to this guy and there's a business opportunity waiting for some smart investor who realizes how far ahead of the curve Mr. Fridrich is working.

For those of you who hate the greenish-bluish light of compact flourescent bulbs, but keep them in your lamps because you want to be "green," his latest invention of a twin-bulb halogen that reduces the cost to manufacture halogen bulbs could be music to your ears.

Fridrich performed an experiment with me that demonstrates the different quality of light between compact flourescents and halogens. Take a CD, stand about 10 feet from the light source. Using the bottom side of the CD, angle it up to capture the light spectrum. When you do this using a halogen, you'll see a smooth rainbow of color that reflects the entire spectrum. When you do this with a compact flourescent, you'll see a broken line of color that is heavy on the greens and blues. Give it a try.

Heard in the library
The library has been a very busy place this week, which is totally cool as far as I'm concerned. Couldn't help but overhear a guy asking to post a notice on the vestibule bulletin board. He's starting a Westlake/Bay Village Observer site just like the Lakewood Observer and the Heights Observer. "The reason we're doing this is there's nothing in the paper that's important to citizens of this area," he said. "We all know things happen, but nothing gets reported." I'll be interested to see how this citizen venture develops.

Speaking of citizen ventures
Have you heard about the proposed Northeast Ohio Citizens League? Fellow Bay Village resident Mike Gesing is working hard to make this happen in Northeast Ohio. If you're interested in hearing more (and I hope you are), shoot me an e-mail and I'll send you a newsletter based on the initial meeting held last week.

Mac update
I had an appointment yesterday at 5:40 at The Apple Store at Legacy Village to talk with someone at the "Genius Bar" about my hard drive. I thought this would be a simple process. It took me 20 minutes to get from I-271 exit to Legacy Village, which is what, a mile! The parking lot was positively crammed with cars so I parked in the boonies, which is fine because I like to walk when I can. And then I walked into The Apple Store, which was positively crammed with people. I waited 45 minutes to have someone look at my laptop, only to be told that it may take 7-10 days to get the repairs done. ARRGGHHH! I was reassured that it was a "quick" fix, so hopefully I'll get it back sooner. I feel like a nomad right now.

My time is almost up on the computer. Gotta fly...

UPDATE/ADDITION
I know I've probably used this quote before, but it's a good one and always make me smile.

"It's none of their business that you have to learn how to write.
Let them think you were born that way." Ernest Hemingway