The Low-Tech Times

Some close friends of ours gave us a personal weather station as a house warming present. The system involves an outdoor sensor unit which transmits to an indoor base station. While not a low-tech system, I admit it is very nice to be able to check the outside temperature when inside and also check the memory for the daily recorded high and low temperatures. The only inconvenient thing is having to change the batteries.

Low-Tech Times Headquarters got down to 4.6F last night. The cold weather is very hard on batteries and necessitates frequent battery changes. Lithium batteries last longer; however, they are also more expensive.

If you choose not to go the high-tech weather station route, I recommend a classic non-electric thermometer. In my area, you can be a weather watcher for the local TV station with minimal equipment: just a reliable thermometer and rain gauge.

Related Product Links:

Until the mid-1950s, many major cities in the U.S. utilized trolleys as a part of their transportation systems. Most cities tore up the tracks, but now some municipalities are building streetcar systems again to help solve traffic problems. The Washington Post reports that Arlington, Virginia is funding a 4.7 mile line to be installed along Columbia Pike [link may require registration].

On a recent trip to San Francisco, the cable car system was inundated with tourists wanting to ride the historic cable cars up and down the steep city streets, thus making it impractical to ride without a very long wait. However, based on this rendition, the Arlington streetcar system will look modern so I do not expect it would have a problem with hordes of tourists clogging the system.

Will trolleys make a comeback? What do you think?

There are some days when you definitely don’t want to oversleep. Since the power can go out and batteries can die, you might sleep better knowing you have a good, old-fashioned, reliable wind-up alarm clock as backup.

Here’s a link to purchase one from Amazon.com: