Grow Lights

Recently I was thinking about Grow Lights again. My mother raises most of her summer flowers from seedlings. Her friends and neighbors in the Garden Society do the same. In the past we string banks of cheap 2-lamp shop lamps in the basement 3-6 inches over the flats of plants. At one time Home Depot had a very nice fixture that would drive either T-12 lamps or T-8 lamps. (T-12 lamps are 12 eighths of an inch or 1.5 inches in diameter. A T-8 is one inch in diameter and requires an modern electronic ballast to drive it.) As a Sylvania distributor I have easy access to high quality T-8 lamps and specialized T-12 Gro-Lux lamps. On one hand the T-8 seem to give the most bang for your buck, but the T-12 Gro-Lux lamps give the plants the kind of light they want. Here is a short list of resources I ran across on the web (note some of these are PDF files) :

• Another Opinion on Home Depot Shop Lamps ($9 each). I’ve looked at them recently and the boxes state: rated only for T12 lamps only. This is a shame and would limit their usefulness. The fixtures I purchased (2002) were very well built. They weren’t flimsy and had nice rounded edges. I didn’t feel like I had to wear gloves to handle them. I haven’t tried them recently but the line drawing the box looks suspiciously like an inferior shop lamp I ran across from another source.
• Overdriving Fluorescent Lights by Jim Haworth. This post went into detail about overdriving lamps by using a 4-lamp ballast for two T8 lamps or a 2-lamp ballast for one T8 lamp. I was aware of this- it isn’t at all unusual, in fact it’s in the Sylvania ballast spec sheet. However it is also unnecessary. Sylvania sells high output T-8 ballasts. Every ballast manufacturer has a line of high output ballasts. Known as High Ballast Factor (HBF)- there is no reason you have to jam a bunch of ballast into a fixture to get extra output.
• mySylvania.com has a good collection of PDF files about all aspects of lighting. This also includes “Lights and Plants“, which explains why Gro-lux lamps work well when they don’t look very bright. And “Photosynthetically Active Radiation Units“, which delves into the science of light and photosynthesis.
• Indoor Lighting For Plants by Dr. Leonard Perry, Extension Professor of the University of Vermont. A nice quick overview of the subject.
• Indoor Growing FAQs by RVF Garden Supply. This FAQ went into more detail than most posts on the Internet. There was less conjecture and more science. Their thoughts on using 6500K T-5 lamps sparked my imagination.

RVF Garden Supply had some interesting notes on using a T-5 lamps with a good reflector finished…

T5 lamps provide the ideal spectrum for plant growth. Photosynthesis rates peak at 435 nm and 680 nm. A 6500K T5 lamp has a spectral distribution with relative intensity peaks at 435 nm and 615 nm. This equates to very little wasted light energy in terms of plant growth. T5 lamps promote incredible health and vigor of seedlings and cuttings. Root development is superior relative to other lighting sources.

The problem as I see it is one of cost. Everything about a T-5 system is dramatically more money than a comparable T-8 system. The lamps, ballasts, fixtures are all three times as much money and yet the jump in efficiency between a T-5 system and a T-8 system is minor.  With this in mind I set out to make a decent T-8 grow light fixture.

1. I looked at loading up a troffer fixture with extra lamps. It had a nice spectral aluminized reflector built in. That means it is almost mirror like. The problem was the reflector made adding more lamps unlikely. I wanted to get 4-6 lamps in the fixtures, but I had no easy way to make room for the sockets.
2. I also had some reflector kits. Once I set one up I released it was almost a fixture in itself. There is a metal bar, which supports the sockets and mounts to the reflector. All I need is a ballast and some lamps. I showed Ray and he suggested it really needed a channel for support and as a place to mount the ballast(s). My thought was to string a couple of these reflector kits together on a sheet of thin wood. The ballasts could be mounted on the other side of the sheet. This sheet of two reflector kits (8-lamps total) would replace each row of three shop lamps (6-lamps total).
3. I had some 1-lamp strip fixtures. I was about to take one apart for the channel, when I realized I had some 4′ blank channels laying around. No point in ruining a perfectly good strip fixture.
4. I also have a box of 2-Lamp HBF Electronic Ballasts. I wired two Sylvania Quicktronic QT2×32/120/PLUS to drive four lamps.
5. RVF Garden Supply made a good point about using 6500K lamps. This isn’t a lamp I stock. I have 2700K (Incandescent), 3000K (Warm), 3500K (Warm White), 4100K (Cool White), 5000K (Daylight), but no 6500K (Blue). I have only done one job with 6500K lamps. I found them to be very bluish, although the customer loved them. In the future I plan to get some. It seems 6500K may be the new grow lamp as its output spikes at the same frequencies: 435nm and 615nm. In the meantime I used four 5000K lamps (Extended 80 series), which give longer life and higher Color Rendition Index (CRI), which yields better light. I found a cord (The only item I don’t have in abundant supply.) The fixture was very bright.
6. The sockets weren’t stable enough so I replaced them with four that are screwed into the socket plate. I also ran some zip screws in so it wouldn’t fall apart. It’s a nice looking fixture. The reflector is sharp, but it is also flexible and easy to cut, so I can mount it almost anywhere. The wires running to the sockets aren’t covered, so it would never pass inspection. But for a grow light it’s very good.

Prince’s Resume

I was reading the February 4th issue of Fortune Magazine. This article caught my attention, “How To Get Hired By A ‘Best’ Company” By Anne Fisher. Rather than write up how it might apply to me, I thought it would be fun if Prince were applying for a new job.

It helps to know someone.
In addition to my former Masters at Time Warner, I know (biblical sense) lots of fine ladies  such as: Vanity (Denise Matthews), Madonna, Sheila E, Anna Fantastic, Carmen Electra, Jill Jones, Apollonia Kotero, Kim Basinger, Sheena Easton, Robin Arcuri, Troy Beyer, Susanna Hoffs and Nona Gaye.

Play up volunteer work on your résumé.
I like to help out anyway I can, as long as it’s on my terms. I once donated a song for a little project called “We Are The World.” I was also instrumental in the formation of the Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC), just ask Tipper Gore.

Get ready to interview and interview… and interview.
Although I have a reputation for refusing all interviews I have occasionally granted an interviews- as long as I get to write the questions and you don’t mind absurd answers.

Unleash your inner storyteller.
“I knew a girl named Nikki/I guess you could say she was a sex fiend/I met her in a hotel lobby/Masturbating with a magazine” Yes, I have all kinds of stories to tell, but if you’re asking how I’ve handled troublesome situations in the past, I usually just have my bodyguards beat them up, or just wait until they go away. Often just getting a new girlfriend makes the old one go away. This also applies to band members.

Do creative research.
I know a lot about Best Company Records… I’m looking for a label that will let me do whatever I want, whenever I want, will market whatever I release, wherever I tell them too, without any guff, and without taking any of my money. My lawyers and accountants tell me BCR is desperate enough to be that label.

No lone rangers need apply.
Of course I’m a team player. Just ask The Revolution or the New Power Generation. On second thought maybe you should just take my word on this.

If you’ve moved around a lot, be ready to explain why.
I’m not sure I understand this question. I’ve stayed in the Minneapolis area all my life. I have a home in the LA, but that’s for business. I also tour extensively- I have to keep in touch my my customers you understand.

Be open to learning new things.
Are you kidding me- I play every instrument on my records. I write, record and produce songs. I write, star, direct and produce my own movies. I run a complex of companies. I even sell perfume. I was one of the first artists to take full advantage of the Internet. Even now I’m one of the first to use the Internet to sue my customers. This is something I learned from the record labels.

If at first you don’t succeed, don’t give up.
Listen, I want you to give me serious consideration. If you decide to pass, I’m still going to write you a song so you don’t forget about me. Maybe we can do business with one of my many side projects.

Don’t coast on their reputation.
Hey, I gotta run. I’m playing the half-time show at the Superbowl, but I want to thank you for your time. I hope I can do business with Best Company Records in the near future. I have a bunch or records in my vaults that I want to release.

When A Date Goes Bad

This post isn’t about dating. I’m the last one to give advice on that topic. Instead this about what to do if you have a bunch of digital photos with the wrong date. This can be caused by forgetting to reset the clock when changing the batteries, or vacationing in a different time zone, or even scanning film photos.

Social Sites

I can’t help but think Social Sites are a solution in search of a problem. They tend to reproduce a sub set of the Internet in a locked off area of the Internet. This might be okay if you have a serious email problem and only want to talk to fellow members. There is an interesting overview in the July 23, 2007 issue of Fortune Magazine.

Posting Content: Summary

I hope I’ve illustrated a number of easy and not so easy ways to post content on the web. Most of these web technologies are either free or have a low cost. There are some areas I’ve overlooked such as Content Management Systems (complex), Photo and Video sharing (specialized), and Social Sites (sub-optimal for content, but I will review a them later). I wanted to focus on simple technologies for posting mostly text content.

Posting Content: Google Applications

A quick way to post your musings online is to use Google Apps. Google has a free online word processor (Docs) and free online Spreadsheets. Your documents can remain private or you can make them public.

Posting Content: Google Pages

One of Google’s many services is Google Page Creator. In order to sign up for your free account it helps to have a free Gmail account, but I think you can sign up even if you don’t. Google Pages Creator presents you with a paging showing all the web pages you have designed either as a list or thumbnail view (grid view).

Last weekend I created a mini-site on Google pages. It follows my personal history of buying stereo gear along with my comments about each piece. This mini site was sort of an addendum to an ongoing personal history project. I thought this would be perfect to test Google Pages.  Sound Of Music

Once you have your account set up, Click the green + page icon to start a new page. Title your page. Although you can change your page title later, the URL for the page is based on your first title and can’t be changed, so take come care.
I knew I would have a couple pages and I wanted to call this project “Sound Of Music.” A blank page will come up with the default Look and Layout. It is easy and fun to look at the other Themes (Look). Click the ‘Change Look’ link in the upper right corner. There are 60 colored themes. They all look pretty good. Once you choose one you like just click it to update your page. (Later, you can change your mind without having to start over.) Click the ‘Change Layout’ link in the upper right corner. There you have four different layouts; hopefully one of those will fit your needs. I wanted a right sidebar where I could show photos of the stereo equipment.

At this point it is pretty straight forward. Simply click in the dotted boxes and type in your content. To format the content, use the tool bar. I wrote my web site in Word, and pasted the content in. Warning:  if you paste content into the dotted boxes it will override all the formatting- this is bad. What I did was paste my content into a text editor (notepad) first, then copy it from notepad and paste it into my Google Page. This strips Word’s formatting out, allowing me to use Google’s toolbar; keeping the Style Theme consistent.

You can add links with the chain link icon. Select the text, click the icon and add the URL. This is how I linked the five pages together using the footer area as a navigation bar. Images are handled in a similar way. Google throws in some nice tools which let you crop, resize and adjust your image. They also throw in 100mb of storage. This makes adding photos and images much easier than other web sites.

When you’re done click the ‘Publish’ button. The web page is now ready to be viewed. Use the Site Manager Link to edit other pages, add pages, add and edit images and files. Google will even allow you to create a total of 5 web sites. Each with their own URLs. (Click the ‘Create a new site’ link in the upper right corner.)

Google Pages are perfect for someone new to creating web sites or anyone in a hurry. It is certainly much easier than learning HTML, Frontpage, Dreamweaver, Photoshop, FTP (File Transfer), or coding a site a by hand. (It is possible to access some of the HTML to fine tune your Google Pages, but it’s not necessary.)
There is a dramatic time savings because you will spent 90% of your time with the content and only 10% putting the site together. Although other sites have some of these features (pbWiki also has a word processor like tool bar) no other site seems to have the storage, easy of use, flexibility, and low cost (free) that Google Pages has.

Technorati tags: Goggle Pages, Page Creator, Web Site Creation

This post is part seven of a series on posting content to the Internet.

Posting Content: The Wiki

I first heard about the Wiki when I found Wikipedia the online Encyclopedia. By December of 2005 I learned there was more to Wiki’s than Wikipedia. The technology behind a Wiki is pretty straight forward- it allows you to place content on a web site without learning HTML or using FTP to update your page…

Wiki pages look and act like normal web pages, except they have an “Edit” link that makes it easy to modify existing pages and add new pages into the web site, using basic editing rules. You do not need to know or use any HTML or CSS. Page editing can be left open to the public or restricted to small groups of authors. -PMwiki

All the magic takes place in your browser. Like blogging software there are two approaches: Free Wiki hosting and Wiki software for your server.

A Wiki uses a simple mark up language. Some Wiki’s have a toolbar so even the markup language isn’t needed, and you edit your entries much the way you’d edit a page in Word. Wiki’s are blurring the line between products like Google Docs and themselves. Because the markup language is so simple, I find it easy to generate formatted wiki pages from my databases.

I looked at various free Wiki hosting sites. The best of the bunch was PBwiki.com. I’ve been using them for almost 20 months. I really like the simple interface. The free hosting lets you pick from three template designs. It hosts my collection of notes, lists, and information I may need when I’m not at my computer.
PBwiki’s motto is “It’s as easy to make as a peanut butter sandwich.” It is little harder than that but not by much. They have been slowly adding features and guides to make setting up your first wiki as easy as that sandwich.

Another interesting concept is TiddlyWiki. This a portable single file Wiki. I haven’t found a use for it, but the concept is so interesting I keep thinking there has to be something I need it for. I could see putting a mini site on TiddlyWiki on a flash drive being able to have your own personal intranet in your pocket.

The final Wiki I looked at was PMwiki, which is a PHP package. I found it easy to install this package on my web server. It is a full featured Wiki with lots of themes and the ability to customize the package to your heart’s content. I have this running on my personal site hosting MaasMusicWiki a wiki dealing with my love of Pop and Rock Music.

Once you get a Wiki set up it can be used just like a web site- but one that doesn’t require HTML coding or FTP to post the pages.

Technorati tags: Wiki, PMwiki, TiddyWiki, PBwiki

This post is part six of a series on posting content to the Internet.

Posting Content: Blogs

I have discovered many of the best sites on the Internet through Leo Laporte. This started with TechTV on satellite television. Leo hosted a show called Screen Savers. Back in the spring of 2001, they ran a segment on Blogs. This appealed to me. I already wrote a journal, and I was excited about the Internet. I might not be comfortable posting all my journal but there were parts I wanted to share. The concept seemed like a winner.
At the time there weren’t many Blogs hosting sites. I checked out all the free Blog hosting sites Leo mentioned. I decided to test two of them after narrowing the list.
The first was Manila a content management system that was part of the Frontier/Userland family. After setting up a free account and played with it for a while I found I didn’t need the power and didn’t enjoy the complexity. A couple years later Userland dropped all the free hosting accounts.

The other hosted Blog was Pitas.com. This had many of the features of Manila without all the complexity. I was able to start posting right away. It was easy to edit the posts and it was easy to edit the theme (provided you knew HTML.) I decided to post interesting items I ran across on the Internet. In late 2004 I decided to posting my journal online. As an experiment it was successful and I continued through 2005.

In addition to free blog hosting, Leo mentioned there were free blog software packages that could be added to your web host. I looked at a couple free packages. Installing these packages seemed to involve a lot of work. I rarely was able to get them to work. I was new at CGI and PERL scripts. By October of 2001 I had install one: NewsPro - not so much a blog but a content management system. I ran this on my web site until the end of 2002. I was posting a some journal entries and some interesting Internet links. The NewsPro hasn’t been updated since July 15, 2001.

Starting in 2003 I decided it was just as easy to manually post material to my web sites. I had Dreamweaver and I wasn’t posting as much material. During these years the number of free blog hosting sites exploded, as did the number of script packages. It was confusing and I felt, “Been there, done that!”

In 2006 Blogs were making a big come back. They were more powerful and easier to use. Three big names were left standing in the field: WordPress on WordPress.com, Blogger on Blogspot.com, and Movable Type on Typepad.com. In 2006 I gained a customer who wanted to start a blog. We looked at various packages, but WordPress suited his needs the best. Letting WordPress.com host the blog kept the complexity down and support problems to a minimum. In August of 2006 I set up a Blogspot blog using my Google account: Decoherence. I wanted to test bed for a potential blog. Google has slowly adding features to their Blogger software. By now it has caught up with WordPress. I would say that WordPress is slightly better for business blogs and Blogger is slightly better for personal blogs, but it depend on how you’re using them. I would suggest trying both. I wouldn’t rule out Movable Type either- they have a number of interesting blogging sites including: Vox, LiveJournal, TypePad, and the Movable Type software. [I intend to test Vox for a personal blog next year.]

Last month I installed the WordPress software on my customers web site and transferred his posts from wordpress.com to the goldencompass.com web site. I was impressed by how well it went. By hosting the software ourselves it allows more flexibility with the design and plug-ins.

Another place to find a blog would be on the social networking sites. There are many, but Facebook.com and Myspace.com are the two most common. I haven’t used them myself- Myspace.com in particular has a horrible design. I would rather use a program or a service that does one thing well rather than a service that does a bunch of things half way. To that end I find myself using Thumblr.com, which is a mini-blog. I find it perfect for posting odds and ends that I run across on the Internet: Teh Ferret.

Technorati tags: Blogs, Pitas, WordPress, Blogger, Movable Type, Vox, Blogspot, Decoherence, GoldenCompass, Myspace, Facebook, Thumblr, Teh Ferret

This post is part five of a series on posting content to the Internet.

Posting Content: Paid Hosting

In 2000, I started getting assignments to help other people with their web sites. My sister was president of The League of Women Voters of North Dakota; she asked if I could help them put up a web site. I was happy to help but I knew neither AOl, nor a free hosting site were not going to cut it.

At the local Mac User group I asked a guy who was doing a bunch of web sites. I wanted a good host and one that was inexpensive.  He recommended astrohosting.com. Shortly after they changed their name to Omnis Network. Later that year I added my company web site.

After a year I started to notice more and more hosting companies; many with much better deals. I set up a couple web sites on Dellz.com including my personal web site. Dellz was purchased by ATL Networks. This fit my needs and I slowly moved all my web sites to ATL. The service was pretty good and seemed to be getting better right up until recently. Drops in service, email in particularly, have caused me too look elsewhere. I have done some research on the subject and I have a page on this blog that I try to keep updated with my notes: Web Hosting Companies.

When looking at Web Hosting Companies,  it appears they are all in a race to see who can offer the most space, domains per account, bandwidth, web applications, email accounts, and the lowest cost. These are quantify services, but what is not easy to compare is levels of service. You need to be careful when comparing hosting companies.

1. Don’t fall for claims of space, unless you are hosting thousands of pages, hundreds of sound files or dozens of videos, you may not need it much more than 50mb.
2. Offering multiple domains or unlimited domains under one account sure is nice. It’s makes the billing and upkeep simpler and also can be less expensive. But it can be more expensive if you only have one domain. It also makes it harder to leave if you have dozens of domains.
3. Bandwidth is usually very generous, but you should be prepared if your site becomes an instantly high traffic site- i.e. if it makes the front page of Digg.com. Ask your host what happens if your traffic runs over your bandwidth allotment.
4. See if they have one button installation of the application(s) you want: like a WordPress blog, shopping cart, a Wiki, etc.
5. Most web hosts offer a large number (100 or 1000) of email accounts. I bet most hosting companies wish they never had to offer email. I’m sure spam causes most of their headaches.
6. The most important factor is service. You are not going to be happy if your web site is always down or you can’t get your email. Price is important but these companies are looking at each other’s prices all the time. The price range for similar hosting isn’t as wide as it use to be. So, take some time to call each company. Ask a billing question. Ask a technical question. Email the support department. Note how quickly and complete the answers are. Check to see if they have a users forum. Check the FAQs. Are they complete and easy to understand?

In a nutshell I think most web host companies are pretty good. They all have problems both with the hosting servers and the email servers, so what the potential customer needs to look at is how well they take care of those problems and how well they communicate with you.

Technorati tags: Shared Hosting, Omnis, ATLnetworks, Checklist, Paid Hosting, Support

This post deals with shared hosting where your site shares the server with other sites. Most if not all hosting companies also offer dedicated hosting, where the server is yours alone. This is part four of a series.