Doesn't IDA know Hurricane season is Over?

Doesn't Hurricane IDA know that hurricane season is supposed to be over?

Apparently not. In a season when not a single hurricane entered the Gulf, there is a chance that IDA will stay alive after hitting Nicaragua -- and get into the Gulf of Mexico. Keep your eye on it just in case. The tracks are all over the place, so who knows where it will go.

This should be a reminder that we won't get another break next hurricane season like we did this one. We are as close to the coast as we were a year ago (actually about 10 feet closer) and that these killers are an annual event.

Prepare now...or pay a bigger price later. Tax credits for hurricane film installations end on December 31...

Found: Stimulus Money for the Little Guy (me)

 

This was one of the days it wasn't raining when we put hurricane film on a new Chase bank on Long Island, NY.

I am proof positive that the stimulus money is trickling down to us ordinary folks, since I am about as unconnected politically as they come. lol.

The Blackberry helped a lot also - just punch in a request and you can find the nearest food (something we did a lot) or the nearest Home Depot or UPS store, which we also needed.

When my Storm crashed after I loaded Windows 7 we were lucky and had a backup. My chief installer had just bought the same phone, so we were able to use it for navigation (to/from the airport), etc. even when mine had the "white screen of death" that they had never encountered at Verizon before.

It was stimulating weather and even the New Yorkers warmed up with the weather by the end of the job. They were really nice people and it was a pleasant week. I finally got to see the Atlantic on the last day before flying out. It was only 1/2 mile from the bank!

Long Island: Prescription Drugs from Mom and Dad Leading to Heroin Use by Teens

Got up at 4 am this morning at a Hyatt on Long Island for an early flight out of JFK to Houston –just in time to make the memorial for a friend who died of cancer recently. Millions in high tech treatment was not enough to save him. But my plane was held up two hours at JFK due to “maintenance issues.” When they say “maintenance”

When they say “Maintenance” I say “take all the time you need.” As a pilot I know the last thing I want is a airplane not working right when you are flying, especially with passengers in your care.

The flight delay put me in a crunch to make the memorial in Sugar Land. Bob was an avid sailor from Long Island to the Atlantic who settled here on the Gulf Coast. Not only did he enjoy our weather he also was a gifted literary teacher and insightful advisor to many.

The most amazing story was told by one of his children. They were in a sailboat race years ago in Long Island Sound when it became evident that a large tug, pulling a barge with a cable, was between them and winning the race.

Bob said to his son: “If we have to go behind the barge, we lose the race.”

Then an amazing thing happened. The tugboat Captain, seeing the situation, cut his engine just enough to let the cable pulling the barge slip below the waves -- just long enough for Bob and his boat to sail over -- and win the race! Then the tug powered up, the cable tightened, and the tug continued on its journey with its cargo.

Another son recalled a time when a large cruise ship hit their boat and they had to jump into the water.

And about another not-so-kind tug operator who powered up his boat to deliberately create the largest wake possible --knowing the wake force could capsize Bob’s tiny boat with him and his young son in it. Somehow Bob was “in tune” with the universe and it all worked out well.

FYI. I didn’t know this. NY C TV carried a fascinating, disturbing, story last night. Apparently there is an epidemic on Long Island of teens starting on mom’s and dad’s prescription drugs –and going on to heroin after getting addicted to things like Vicodin. One mom had only five pills, yet it was enough to get her son hooked, and seeking bigger highs from heroin, which is easily obtained there.

To stop it, one teen who was on the wrong side of addiction said it simply: “You lock up your guns. You should also lock up your prescription drugs.”

Or else they are readily available to be abused and possibly kill your kids, like it is doing in Long Island today, a suburb of white, middle class, economically safe people –not homeless people like some might like to think.

The NYC news also run some funny stories on the political races going on there. It was fun to watch that part. I like Long Island and its quaint little houses that reminded me of Iowa and suburbia combined.

On the national front, all remains the same.

Security and safety in the 21^st Century -- means that we need to pay attention to what is going on globally or get blindsided yet again.

Not paying attention to the technology development in Asia and Europe also puts the U.S. at a disadvantage to the other competing economic powerhouses of the world, from China to India to even Russia.

We need to be global tech leaders and, if necessary, interplanetary entrepreneurs to stay ahead – or risk being just another economy in a vast super global economic engine – that ends up driving the rest of this century – and the next.

Fall Colors in NY

Here is a shot of the tree colors on Long Island next to the job we were doing on a JP Morgan Chase bank - one of the first to get hurricane window film. The bank is only 1/2 mile from the Atlantic coast.

I had to get a new Blackberry Storm to replace the one toasted after I loaded Windows 7 - they had never seen anything like it. After I downloaded the newest BB software the system stablized.

I may go check out an old lighthouse on the tip of the island today - my first day off in eons. It poured cold rain for a couple days but the sun broke out yesterday and it is supposed to be good the next several days.

I put my crew on a Jet Blue flight yesterday - which was due to arrive last night in the middle of the heavy rains.

Despite their reputation for being short, I found the experience of working with New Yorkers pleasant. Yeah, there was another contractor on the job yesterday who sounded like a pit bull when I asked his crew not to put their fingers in still-drying sealant, but so what. LOL.

Flying back tomorrow. Today I am going to enjoy a rare day off...

in New York with a dead Blackberry and a crippled compute

I'm in New York with a dead Blackberry and a crippled computer, where it has been pouring a COLD rain for the last two days.

While working on a bank to secure it from hurricanes (only 1/2 mile from the ocean) I downloaded the new Windows 7 to go on a month-old new computer. All was fine until it started crashing last night - while I had my Blackberry Storm hooked up to it. Now my Storm has the "white screen of death" which says in tiny print "Reload software 507."

What software 507? It's toast, along with only files I had on it.

Good thing is that we finished the job. But now I have no phone and a computer that only works in "safe mode." Unless it crashes again.

Microsoft instructions are starting to look like NASA launch codes. "Go update your drivers"
Duh? Isn't that the new software's job?

So LOL, I'm on Long Island without a working comm device. I may have to resort to smoke signals, after seeing all the unpronounceable Indian street names like "ConnQuot" or something like that.

But it is beautiful when the sun is out. But today it is still blowing like a blue norther and it's time to head SOUTH when that happens.

I just hope to have a working phone and computer by then. My Blackberry is my email, phone, calendar, calculator - my office!

LOL. To Be continued. Must go ship tools back and get crew on a flight back to their families...

I'd post photos but not sure this computer would last long enough to do it. Later.

Balloon Fest to Amityville NY

Saturday the sky was full of balloons hovering over Clear Lake. Then it was on to NY, where the trees are yellow, red -- and drop dread beautiful. Here is a blurry photo passing Amityville...

Also included is a photo that I took with my Blackberry Storm of one balloon appearing to land on a building in Clear Lake (I was too tired from two trade shows in one week to take more photos of an excellent event on a perfectly still, beautiful day. lol):

More on our adventures on Long Island later. High is 60-something and the low is 40, and DRY. Found a deal on a golf resort on Priceline.com for about the cost of a Comfort Inn. It's like being in the country, not New York...

Houston Rocks - Despite Congress Hypocrites

Yesterday, I drove in the rain from Ft. Worth (where the Mayor of every town in Texas you never heard of were hanging out) to set up for the architect's meeting at the GRB. The difference in attitude was striking. Houston ROCKS.

I was at a trade show in Ft. Worth's Convention center where they made the vendors unload in the pouring rain instead of letting them pull into the loading dock on the day of the show. I saw a guy with a trailer loaded with heavy equipment they wouldn't let in. They told him he could unload in the rain and carry it in. Yikes!

In contrast, every show I have been at at the George R Brown, the staff have been helpful and cooperative. Ft. Worth has a pretty downtown but it was not friendly to the people who paid a lot of money to exhibit there.

The marathon continues today, then it's on to NY for another job.

I am amazed how Americans don't get it. The growth is in green jobs and green technology - (our sales are up over 500% from last year). If we don't lead it (and the space race), then China and India will. Wake up America. The old economy and old ways don't work anymore. Either we innovate or lose to those who are.

For example, Nick Lampson wrote in the Chronicle today about building a space-based solar collector. This is a pratical way to both advance our technology and get free sun power at the same time.

I think it's ironic the current Congressman from CD22 who voted against the stimulus money now wants part of it to fund NASA's $3 billion shortfall. NASA should get that money to keep us from being left behind. But we DON'T need are negative Congressional reps who spend all their time voting no against everything the President, but then demand $$$ for NASA. Not convincing or even helpful to NASA to have a hypocrite from the minority party as a rep....

Seabrook Sunrise on Fall

This is sunrise this morning in Seabrook, looking towards Kemah.

Yesterday, boats ranging in size from one-man dinghies to Yachts were on the move. Fall and fresh air. No heat and humidity for a day or so.

Awesome.

Today, I'm on the move. Covering three cities or more in the next week...

Jumping Fish

It's fall on the lake. Here is the view from the new Seabrook office overlooking Clear Lake. This is looking through my self-installed window film, which cuts the normal glare.

During morning coffee and evening wine, the lake puts on a show. There are jumping fish - some only jump once, but some will do 5 or 6 jumps. Some of them look a small as an inch long but jump a foot or two each time.

Then we have the bird show, especially during morning breakfast and evening dinner. The Pelicans fly over the lake in formation like fighters, then alternate between flapping and power glides. Amazing sight. Most of the Pelicans are brown but a group of white Pelicans hang out in a nearby Marsh. Finally saw one fly by a couple days ago.

This is the first "break" all year. We are preparing to do a New York job next week. This week I'm running from a trade show in Ft Worth to one in Houston.

The best thing about a water office is how much it relaxes you. We all need that these days. It's been a tremendous year. We are proof that the growth is in green technology and green jobs.

And we haven't even scratched the surface of what is possible...

No Balloon Boy Over Clear Lake

Apparently people have too much time on their hands, as do the media, when two hours of TV time is spent following a balloon over Colorado. I walked into a house we were doing in Friendswood and even my crew was watching the TV. It now appears to have been a TV PR stunt. Duh!

Al Qaida, you will have a problem getting Americans attention from watching balloon chases, car chases and more "reality" shows that have nothing to do with reality. America, we won't lead the 21st century if our heads are focused on French fries and balloon chases.

This is a calorie free photo of a nice sunset over Clear Lake on one of our first cool, blue October days - after days of heavy condensation hanging on the windows.

Speaking of windows, a Professor who had our film installed last year put it to the test. Either a rock from a mower -- or a person -- broke one of his windows.

The film worked perfectly - containing the glass and avoiding the breach, which means avoiding broken glass and water entry if it was raining.

A photo is attached, showing (with permission) Prof. Cunningham and his shattered window being held together with Armor Glass film.

He'll replace the window with the vendor of his choice -- and we'll put on a new piece of film and he's good to go again, with 100% protection...

I love this job!

The downside is today I heard that a good friend of mine had passed from cancer - the medical bills over over $500,000. According to the widow, the worst part was that the medical folks did little to stop the pain as part of the treatment. No one should have to die in pain...our system needs reforms.

Texas ranks last in both education and medical care for its citizens...How good is that?

Different Look to Solar Security Films - test

I used my new apartment for an experiment - hanging different hurricane/solar films on different panes (for awhile) to compare their look. On the far left is a clear pane. Next to it is the film for reducing 70% of the solar heat on single pane glass (our SS20). Next to it is the double pane film that cuts 50% of the solar heat. And on the far right is the Silver that rejects 79% of the solar heat (even off the glass) but is very reflective. At night the silver looks like a mirror, but during the day it cuts glare and heat like wild.

I prefer the SS20 (third from the right), which cuts the heat 70% without the mirror effect.

ALL provide hurricane security. When I installed the film, the frames were moving/wobbly. THANK God I've reinforced them, since the south windows are exposed and have zero protection from flying debris. I even covered the east windows, including the ladies bathroom, to cut the morning heat and provide a level of security that wasn't there before.

I love this job. Today, we did a house in Friendswood that had more glass sq. footage then Seabrook City Hall, which we did last week. Amazing. Fun. And it's protecting people at the same time. I LOVE this job!

Red Water

This morning I noticed that the lake water was RED if I looked to the west. The water is as smooth as glass.

I didn't know how much wild life Clear Lake had until now. During the day the pelicans and birds are landing and taking off to the point you wonder how they manage their air traffic control. Fish are jumping in the early morning.

On a calm smooth day like this morning, if you sit and watch awhile, you will notice something large comes up and stirs the surface, then its gone.

I will be attaching a photo/video I made of the windows facing South. I taped different tinted security films on each pane for comparison.

I was getting BTU (heat) readings of over 214 on the plain glass (far left). The second pane from the left cuts that 214 solar heat reading by 70%, the next one 50% and the reflective film with the notch in it on the far right cuts 79% of the solar heat, but has too much reflection at night, whereas the others don't. I just threw those up there with tape so its not a perfect test, but does give you a comparison.

(Houston) Mayoral Debate

This is the link to the photos I took at the Mayor's debate for the League of Women Voters (as a volunteer). Feel free to use any of them you wish, with attribution:

http://picasaweb.google.com/ArmorGlassIntl/MayorDebate2009#

One of them will be our next Mayor, so listen up. The debate will air on Local Channel 2 at 9 p.m. Saturday, October 10th.

There were no arm wrestling matches or verbal mud balls thrown, but it was informative.

City of Seabrook: Jail Population - 1

My crew is doing the Seabrook City Hall, which also happens to be the same location for the police department and jail.

When we did the initial inspection of windows, I was told that the jail had exactly one detainee. Yep. One person locked up in the slammer. Obviously, Seabrook is a community gone mad with crime.

City hall is a quaint two story building that was soaked with about 2 feet of water from Hurricane IKE. We are storm-hardening it by applying hurricane window film that also has solar control to cut the heat by 50% - and protect the occupants from everything from an explosion to hurricane-force winds.

We just finished hardening 10 buildings for Chambers County, which took the brunt of Hurricane IKE. As a result their power bills are also on the decline since our film cut 70% of the solar heat entering their windows while providing breach security.

I just moved into a new apartment facing Clear Lake -- and found that the sun really heats it up, especially some unprotected windows facing South. I held up my BTU meter and took the photo above showing a 212 reading! That is like a stove element. The window has eight panes so on a couple of them I hung up three different films that reject from 50 to 70% of that heat -- to see how they look side by side, both during the day and at night. The results were interesting - they cut the glare and dropped the BTU heat readings bigtime.

Later...

Serendipity

Serendipity is defined by wikipedia as "the effect by which one accidentally discovers something fortunate, especially while looking for something entirely unrelated." I was looking to finish a job and we ended up doing something else.

Today was the last day on our job at Double Bayou. Last week we discovered 4 abandoned cats, three young black cats and a little gray kitty. When we got back Monday we found that the gray kitty had died over the weekend. I wished I had taken him to the vet when we first found him and the others. So, I decided not to wait.

Today I went out with a cat carrier I bought at Petco and some cat food, not knowing if I would find the surviving small cats alive. Of the three surviving cats, one was missing on Monday.

When I pulled up today to the remote Double Bayou building, I saw nothing but my crew working. Then two hungry cats came up and they went for the food I put in the cage. Then my crew said that there was a third black cat, the missing one. I looked and around the corner he came. I wondered if he'd run off. But he let me pick him up and I put him in the carrier with a can of fish, to go with the can of chicken the other two had shared.

I expected to bring them to Houston for adoption, and that it would take a lot to find a good home for the. But we stopped for lunch at "Panther Tracks" in Anahuac, and told them about the cats. The waitress said "Don't tell the cook, she loves animals." Well, long story short, the cook needed cats to catch the mice eating the grain in her barn, so she took them. That was a good day. So if you get to Anahuac, I recommend you stop at "Panther Tracks" (two blocks from city hall and the dock).

Yeah, a lot of other good things happened today, but saving those three little black kitties was the best thing that happened to me on this St. Michael's Day.

Whirlwind continues

The whirlwind continues. Moved into a new apartment facing Clear Lake that has a set of windows facing South. I got a BTU reading of 219 - heat coming through the window. I will be my first customer for Armor Glass Solar Hurricane film!

I have to go to finish a job in Chambers County so remote their is no cell service. We found some abandoned cats and one died over the weekend. I will try to rescue the two little survivors today.

Got an appt at 8. Must go..

Government leaders Building Sand Castles on South Padre Island

Government leaders Building Sand Castles on South Padre Island
“Island Time” Just 3 Miles from Mexico

It’s called “Island time” here at South Padre Island, the last land before Mexico a couple miles away. At the convention center a sign reads: “No Tie Zone.” Sure enough. I saw no one in a tie, which is easy when its 95 degrees outside.
Few know that the last battle civil war was waged nearby, over a month after the Confederate surrender at Appomattox. Port Isabel had a lighthouse which was fought over and the only beacon for ships trying to find this valuable sheltered port. A storm sent several Spanish ships down off these waters with millions in gold and silver, some of it recovered and on display at the tiny but well done Port Isabel Museum.

Few know that the Mexico port of Matamoros is only three miles from the historic Port Isabel lighthouse. This area was a crossroads for international trade and territorial disputes since the Spanish first settled it and gave out huge land grants.

Yet today, I’m told, much of the land is owned by nationals from other countries, with the Israelis as one of the biggest. They bought a lot of the land in the 80’s and 90’s when it was sand. Now it is high rise condos and hotels.

This morning I saw dolphins in the water off the beach. It was an amazing sight.
This island paradise on the U.S./Mexico border has some of the most incredible sunrises I have ever seen.

There was a regional government group here for an educational retreat/trade show. One of the tasks near the end was for teams to build a sand castle in a competition of teams.

The idea of government leaders building sand castles did seem to me to be a bit ironic for awhile, but they were really nice people -- and the castles were pretty clever. I took photos at the link below.

Despite being wildly busy the past few days, the water, thick white sand, dolphins and peaceful air makes me realize how much everyone needs to step out of the emotional and spend some “island time.”

Just a year ago we were on the brink of the worst financial disaster since the 1930’s. We were a ship on the rocks, leaking oil badly. Many forget how expensive it is to fix that kind of damage. Now we are rebuilding and the markets are not frozen or in free fall. The problems that got us here still need to be fixed but at least the ship is not going to go under.

Yes, the situation has been costly. Wrecks are. And the fixes may not be perfect but we as a nation need to address the big issues like health care and climate change if future generations of Americans are going to have a system that works better than being No. 37 in the world. Ignoring them doesn’t work. Broken systems like broken cars don’t fix themselves. I don’t think our forefathers would sit back and do nothing when 45,000 Americans die each year from lack of health care – more than those who die from illegal drugs.

Being out of the daily noise can clear your head. Try it sometime. Our country needs some clear heads to start working on solutions instead of throwing around wild and false allegations. Future generations depend on what we do today to make tomorrow a more secure and healthy America.
And don’t forget to check out the photos of Sand Castle creativity on South Padre Island at

http://picasaweb.google.com/ArmorGlassIntl/SouthPadreIsland#5383249476385124178

South Padre Island Rocks

Photo: South Padre Island Sunrise

Today is the last day of a conference/trade show on South Padre Island for government types, so it will be a rush. It's my first time on the island and it's amazing. A skinny island lined with tall buildings, from which you can see water on each side of you. lol.

Got to run and will post a photo or two later when I have a chance. It's been clear and HOT, then turned cloudy today.

Breaking a Window on TV on 9/11

Yesterday, ironically the 8th year I was at the same studio all day as a terrorism analyst, I went to Fox 26 TV and broke a window - not theirs, mine.

Here is the video link:

http://www.myfoxhouston.com/dpp/weather/tropical/hurr_briefings/090911_hurricane_briefing

For just the demo part, you can go to the video page at: www.ArmorGlass.com

It was a first. Next time I'll whack it harder...

The video page also shows a demo done on Dallas TV...

Eight years After 9/11 - In the Eye of a Hurricane

Eight years ago today I spent the entire day at the Fox 26 studios -- as a terrorism analyst. I had been their Middle East expert during the first Gulf War of 1990-91.

The question now is: are we safer than we were before? Or just less naïve?
Why was I a “terrorism analyst”? Why could I see things that paid bureaucrats and politicians did not? Because I had been an international attorney with a Fortune 500 company who got laid off and wrote a fiction book on a flash war in the Middle East and an attack on the U.S. - when fiction turned to fact I found myself on TV, trying to analyze what had happened. Others had seen the signs; there was even the August memo to President Bush during his August vacation stating “an attack by Al Qaida is imminent.” Yet we were surprised. Eight years later have we learned anything?

Ironically, today I will be back at Fox 26 but not as a terrorism analyst - but as the founder of a company that is providing security technology that protects not just from human explosions, but also from mother nature's explosion of fury in the form of hurricanes and tornadoes. I’m going to break a window on live TV – but our technology will avoid a breach of it.

I have to say that it is more rewarding doing something about security than just talking about it. So I have no desire to go back on TV as a terrorism analyst.
We certainly are more aware and less naive than in the days before 9/11 but are we safer? Prisoner torture was a big recruiter for Osama bin laden - as was the perception that this was a war against all Muslims instead of just the Bin Laden extremists that gave it a black eye, just like the IRA extremists made the Catholic/Protestant divide a religious killing field in years past. Muslims still remember 1063, when Pope Alexander II gave his blessing to Iberian Christians in their wars against the Muslims (by the 13th century, religious fervor moderated and the public lost interest in crusades.)

Now we are faced with either supporting a corrupt leader in Afghanistan stealing an election (just like the conservative regime in Iran removed choice from its people) or leaving Afghanistan so the Taliban can take it back again. Both choices are unsatisfactory. We need to train Afghans to take our place and get out of there.

Eight years after 9/11 we are still recovering from the worst financial meltdown since the depression of the 30's - and here in Houston from the destruction of Hurricane IKE, which hit at the same time as the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy that started the meltdown.

Religious extremism is still with us and getting worse. BBC TV carried a report last night that the Israeli army, which has always been secular, is now being dominated by rabbi Captains who view war as a religious issue. We could face a time when long bearded rabbis in jets are fighting with long-bearded mullahs in jets. Extremism is even infiltrating the halls of Congress, when for the first time in American history a representative shouts down a President. Civility is on the decline and that is never a good sign.

If that trend continues, none of us are safe. We need a return to the center and away from the extremes on both the left and right. Otherwise, we really aren't out of the storm, but may only be in the eye of the hurricane.

How to Get Peace of Mind - Turn off Talk Radio

I figured out how to get peace of mind (aside from being really busy running a green company and not having time for nonsense) - I quit listening to talk radio!

A friend of mine called up and said that he was feeling pretty good about his business but every time he listened to a certain national TV channel, he said it made him depressed. I told him the solution was easy: quit tuning it in! Viola! No more stress or depression! lol.

I found talk radio to be like an "echo chamber" where people mirror each other’s ideas -- but no one looks beyond the rim for some "outside the box" thinking. Too much of the time it only presents one side - like being in a courtroom where only one side presents testimony then the judge/jury declares it isn't interested in hearing the other side's case and makes a ruling.

Somehow that doesn't seem truly balanced and American to me. I think it is time for a return of the "fairness doctrine" so that people get to hear both sides of an issue on these programs instead of only one.

For example, I had dinner with some conservative British friends last weekend, who just became American citizens. They would have voted for George Bush if they could have voted, yet they said the British health system "took the stress out" of wondering if you would get health care or not.

Maybe we should be listening to people like them instead of shouting at each other --and getting nowhere -- in the echo chamber. We might actually learn something and come up with a better system.

So I left talk radio and signed up for satellite radio, which has reduced my blood pressure considerably. Now I listen to CSPAN (for live testimony at hearings) and BBC radio to get a different reality of what is going on. CNN and Fox news are still available if I want it.

It's time for people to break out of their echo chambers and get information from more than the usual suspects. It's the only way to get the facts for an intelligent solution to the issues of the day. It's the American thing to do...

It's the Peak of Hurricane Season - Erika forming?

It's September - the month when most of the big hurricanes have hit the U.S. and Texas. IKE was just a year ago on the 11th, the day I will be on TV demonstrating our technology. More on that later.

Dallas TV just did a piece on Armor Glass. You can see the demo at:
http://cbs11tv.com/video/?id=45890@ktvt.dayport.com

The window came from Home Depot - a regular window with the same cheap glass everyone has in their homes --not some special thick, tempered glass. So it shows a real test with real windows.

Yesterday I got a call from a company in California that had suffered two break-ins in three months. They wanted the film to stop it, which it will.

We are so busy that the backlog is now over three weeks. And now we may have a potential "Erika" forming...and Hurricane Jimena in the Pacific is a CAT 5 and about to pound Cabos San Lucas in Mexico, just south of Los Angeles.

Working 8 Days a Week

The Beatles had a song about working "Eight Days a Week" -- and it has felt like it. It's been seven days to keep up with work and administrative stuff. Calls keep coming in from all over.

We are an example of a green company that is thriving in an economy when the "non-greens" aren't. It's also an example of doing the right thing at the right time.

I did take time to take this sunrise shot this morning...Got to run.

Taiwan Says Climate Change Bigger Threat Than China

Taiwan's President Ma Ying-jeou told a news conference that climate change was a bigger threat to its future than mainland China. Think about that statement for a second.

Taiwan's President spoke after Typhoon (which we call a Hurricane) Morakot killed as many as 500 people. Taiwan's military will now be focused on being a first responder instead of focused on China.

Think about it. Climate change and stronger hurricanes/Typhoons caused by planetary warming is a bigger threat to the leadership of place like Taiwan than than a war!

It was reported today that water temps were as high as 86 degrees near the U.S. Hot water like that is gasoline for hurricanes. The same applies to tornadoes. Today Colorado got huge hail stones -- which broke windows all over Austin during a hail storm a month or so ago. Weather is becoming a bigger threat than a potential nuclear exchange.

Even the U.S. military has raised the alarm on how climate change increases global INsecurity - making it more dangerous as it causes food and water shortages along with more violent weather, droughts, etc.

We need to take actions that will both defend from, and reduce, this threat, immediately. Unless you happen to have ready access to another planet you plan to move to when this one is no longer habitable due to climate heating on the scale of Venus?

One solution that would make a difference -- white roofs. Converting roofs to white would cut enough emissions which would be the same as cutting all human emissions for a full year -- just by changing the color of our roofs.

Imagine how we can advance by using smart methods to keep humans in charge of a sustainable, healthy planet -- the only one like it in light years around us.

Wild Sunrise - More Hurricanes to come

This was sunrise over Seabrook this morning. The light shaft from the sun on the right was dramatic.

It appears that we are getting a pass on the first tropical storms of the season. Hurricane Bill is probably no threat to the Gulf but could be a problem on the east coast.

We have at least another intense month to six weeks for more storms to pop up - even in the Gulf of Mexico like Claudette.

The first time people lose power they will realize that they don't have digital TV access, etc. Experience is always the best teacher.

From a Blackberry "Storm" to 3 of them coming our way...

As I was buying a Blackberry “Storm” Saturday, the Atlantic produced two Tropical Storms of its own: Ana and Bill –the first of the 09 season. Then today T.S. Claudette fired up – starting in the Gulf of Mexico just off the coast of Florida. From no storms in months to three developing in less than twenty four hours.

Our dormant time is over. Hurricane season peaks in September and doesn’t end until the end of November.

These “pop up” storms in the Gulf of Mexico like Claudette (and Humberto before it) don’t give people much time to evacuate or prepare. Our crews are working almost seven days a week now, trying to keep up.

The weather channel is doing a piece this afternoon on Hurricane Katrina. It was generating wind gusts up to 200 mph before landfall! Why? Because it passed over a couple of “warm cores” of circulating warm water near Florida. These warm cores gave it a power boost just before it hit. With global warming generating hotter waters to feed these beasts, we should expect more Katrina size storms in the future – and we need to prepare for them.

Do we need an “Ike Dike” on the Texas coast? Or should we leave more wetlands between us and the coast. We probably need both. Galveston needs an Ike Dike since people already live on the edge of the water. Bolivar Island has few people and could provide a “buffer zone” between the storm surges and people.

It’s going to be a wild week ahead. It will take more than buying a phone named “Storm” to be prepared (the Verizon Storm is similar to the AT&T Iphone: a big screen touch phone -- I like it).

Are you prepared?

Atlantic Hurricane Switch Just Turned ON -

I’m in Dallas at a conference and caught a program on the Weather channel show about “Complacency” – how people stop preparing for a hurricane after being hit, thinking “it won’t happen again.” Then they get hit again – and are surprised. It’s discussed in a book by a Wharton Professor called “War with the Weather.” They are talking about people in Florida but it applies to Texas and other coastal cities as well.

How can anyone in a hurricane zone think one hit is all you’ll get?

To counter the apathy the Professor said people need to put value on protecting their homes and buildings from these storms. He suggests taking protective measures to avoid future damages -- including getting long term insurance. Julie Rochman talked about the economic logic of “hardening” homes against damage from storms, like" having impact doors and windows that are storm resistant."

As if to underscore their words, satellites show that two new tropical depressions have formed off Africa’s coast. One is higher and in a dry air zone, but it is also acting as a running blocker for the second one --which is much bigger in size and low enough in latitude to be in the wet zone needed for it to build up -- and roll into “the slot” into the Gulf of Mexico. We'll see.

A Weather lady said it was as if someone had”flipped a switch” and the Atlantic tropical storm season started up, just now. She's right.

So, DON’T BE COMPLACENT. Hurricanes can and do strike the same place more than once. Our first one could be here in two weeks...
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Asian Typhoon (Hurricane) Season Evacuates over 500,000

In Asia, hurricanes are called Typhoons. Right now two of them are racking China and Japan - destroying over 2,000 homes and causing the evacuation of over 1 million people.

When I was a kid and read book like "Taipan" about Asian places like Hong Kong, the word Typhoon sounded more terrifying than a hurricane. But the result is the same.

Did you know that hurricane/typhoon winds begin to circle counterclockwise north of the equator or clockwise south of the equator? So a Typhoon hitting China (which is north of the equator) is turning the same direction as one hitting the U.S.

And Hurricanes/Typhoons don't cross the equator.

Our hurricanes usually start off the coast of Africa (although some have started in the Gulf of Mexico and hit within 24 hours) and the ones hitting China and Japan today started in the middle of the Pacific instead of their usual birthplace off the coast of South America.

Hurricanes and Typhoons are called "Cyclones" south of the equator in the Pacific. They are all mother nature's engine to dissipate heat from the hot tropics towards the cooler poles. They are annual events. And global warming can only make them bigger. The Typhoons were big enough to send over a half million people fleeing their homes.

So if Asia is being pummeled now in the Pacific, sooner or later the Atlantic will release one of its own. Be prepared.

September is when all the big storms have hit us - IKE, RITA, KATRINA were all September storms.

We are not out of the woods yet for this season.

Technology that Blew Off during IKE - Theirs Not Ours

Yesterday we installed our security/hurricane film on a house in Seabrook facing Galveston Bay. The owner told me that he has spent $4,500 on panels that were attached to the outside of the windows with Velcro - it blew away during IKE. Our film cost much less than that to cover his house. Since it is installed on the inside of the glass it is not going to blow off during a storm!

Another application that has come up is for obstructing views inside a building - to keep people on the outside from seeing who is on the inside. One potential customer was concerned about a sniper shooting someone inside the building. Our reflective film would provide visual security as well as bomb blast, earthquake and hurricane security.

This is an amazing business. I like the fact that we are providing security on several levels with it.

N Korea - Proof Diplomacy Works Where A False Step Could Kill 20 million

Congratulations to Pres. Clinton and those who helped bring these ladies back from North Korea. They, like the group that just got picked up in Iran, need to realize that they made a foolish illegal crossing that was stupid and could easily have turned deadly.

They got lucky. But having American hostages held by countries with no judicial standards, countries who choose to be isolated from the international community, isn't a bargaining chip we need.

However, on the plus side, this also shows that diplomacy works where invasions won't.

One false move and North Korea has the capability of raining 25,000 artillery shells an hour on South Korea's capital, Seoul, home to 20 million people. The South Korean people would pay the highest price if our leadership made the wrong move.

North Korea still remains a serious threat to security for more than the U.S. If they are a global nuke dealer to anybody willing to buy then the global insecurity threat increases.

Not talking to the North Koreans in the last eight years certainly didn't work anymore than not talking in a marriage makes it work. In fact, not talking to the Koreans gave them eight more years to go ahead and build thousands of new centrifuges to enrich uranium, and that made things more dangerous, not less.

Let's hope this incident will lead to renewed engagement with North Korea by the U.S. and our allies to steer North Korea away from threatening its neighbors.

The goal should be to engage until both North Korea and Iran select moderate, centrist leadership willing to a positive engagement with the world. Iran's electorate has signaled it wants that kind of leadership. Although it was stolen from them by the conservative Ayatollahs hanging on to power, the undercurrent for change is sweeping over Iran. Perhaps Kim Jung Il's son, the next leader, will also be the change agent needed to open that door his father could not.

If Germany and Japan can change from the threats they were in the 40's to the positive world leadership they are today, then North Korea and Iran can do the same. It took the Marshall Plan to make that happen - not punishing them.

Rotary's Books to Zimbabwe's Libarary - Updating 40 year old books

Did you know that the latest editions of books in the Zimbabwe library are dated 1968?

Saturday morning I helped fellow Rotarians and some Community Service volunteers pack 10 pallets of donated school books in Seabrook which will be shipped from Houston to southern Africa, including Zimbabwe. The Zimbabwe librarian told Rotarians at the international convention held recently in England that the latest books they have are dated 1968 – the book covers are held together by tape! Imagine that – 40 year old books!

So if you are tempted to feel sorry for yourself for any reason, remember how it is for others less fortunate in the world. Rotary’s “Books for the World” is a green project: Recycling textbooks from our schools that no longer need them to those who don’t have them. Check out the project at: www.RotaryBooksForTheWorld.org

Why not donate some books while you are at it? They even like reading our fiction. I found one we packed today entitled: “Jobs for the 21st Century.” That should come in handy. Everyone needs to read that one. LOL.

Dog Days & the $100,000 School Elevator -The Calm Before the Storm

People need relief when the dog days of summer are upon us. I just spent some time on the balcony overlooking Clear Lake -- watching the flag snapping in a stiff breeze. One of the great things about the coast is that you get a cooling breeze off the water. Further inland about all that is available is a hot breeze -- if you get any breeze at all.

Parts of Texas are in a two-year drought. The weather is producing some strange twists like yesterday’s 106 degrees in Portland, Oregon! The entire Northwest is in triple digit heat. How weird is that? Places keep getting hotter. Almost every sale we have made this year is of the solar version of security film that cuts solar heat 70%, so they can get heat relief along with the hurricane/explosion protection.

We seem to be in the calm before the storm. It’s in the dog days like these that people are lulled into doing nothing. The heat bakes the energy and ambition out of you. We haven’t had a big storm since Hurricane season started so it is easy for everyone to think we’ll not have another one this year. Denial is a human condition. Then a storm will spring up and everyone will panic and realize they aren’t prepared for it. Then they will all want to act at the same time and, like the line at the gas station, that never works well.

I went to a USGBC meeting listened to an architect presentation on a new school. It was impressive. They have the first geothermal heating/cooling system ever used for a school in Texas. They even have a special $100,000 elevator that will move an entire class from one floor to another.

However, I noticed something was missing. None of the glass so necessary for a proper learning environment has security film on it to protect students and staff from flying glass – and allow them to Shelter in Place should something like yesterday’s chemical plant explosion occur. What if a tornado from a storm hit the school during a session? For less than the cost of that special elevator, they could have had that protection from our Armor Glass film installed on their windows, and save energy too. It would also protect the school from breakins and vandals.

This week I have a crew working a project in California while I took a much needed break. I needed some offline time to catch up with accounting, the website, etc. -- and to spend some time on that balcony, catching the sea breezes. We’ve got a NY project coming up (for a bank), and more work pending right here. International inquiries keep coming in every week – many are entrepreneurs wanting to get into the business in their own country. Most want the blast protection.

We may be in the dog days of summer now, but you cannot repeal the law of nature. Hurricanes are an annual event. Tornadoes too. Nor can we repeal the law of geography; we are as close to the coast this year as we were last year, if not closer after IKE’s erosion.

The dog days won’t last forever. This is the calm before the (next) storm….

Today's Radio Air Times

Today's Radio air times for Armor Glass on KNTH-AM 1070 AM are:

10 seconds: 8:47am and 5:19 pm
60 seconds: 6:58am and 3:20pm

A copy of the 60 second ad is on our new audio page at:
www.ArmorGlass.com

Also check out the new video page...