Tag:Culver
Burger Wars
The Marshall County Visitors Bureau is promoting a contest to choose the best burger in Marshall County. Several Culver restaurants are on the ballot in round one, so now’s your chance to step up and vote for your local favorite.
Click on the graphic to the right or go to the Visitors Bureau site and follow the links to the bracket.
ECC Volunteers
Julie Heise and Bob Cooper at Culver’s Relay for LIfe event
I put a lot on the blog about the volunteer work I do… mainly because that’s at the forefront of my mind. But there’s no doubt that I’m not the only community minded employee at Easterday Construction Co., Inc. Pictured at the right are two other ECC employees, Julie Heise and Bob Cooper, at the Culver Relay for Life event. According to the website they were part of 432 participants raising nearly $42,000 in donations.
Julie is very involved in volunteer projects at the school with sports and cheerleading. Bob is a volunteer with Culver EMS and serves on their board of directors. We proud of all our employees that give back to the community. While they’re not doing this as representatives of Easterday Construction, they no doubt enhance our image with their efforts. Great Job!
Grandpa Murphy
My grandfather, William K. Murphy (Bill), is turning 100 on May 6th. While it’s becoming more common, it is still quite the accomplishment. If you’re around Culver on Sunday, we’ll be having a Open House/Party for him at the VFW from 2:00 to 4:00. My Grandma Murphy hit this milestone before passing a little over a year ago. I think this would have been their 79th anniversary too since they were married on Grandpa’s birthday. Grandpa jokes that was so he would never forget the date!
Grandpa is a World War II veteran, having served in the Navy servicing ships in Puerto Rico. He taught school for several years, owned and operated a Shell Service Station and was an accountant with the Indiana State Board of Accounts, which is where he was when he retired. He and grandma had a good life spending their summers in Culver and their winters in Lakeland, Florida until grandma turned 95 and began having health problems.
You don’t meet a lot of centenarians, so if you want to come out and wish MY centenarian a happy birthday, please do. I”m pretty proud of my grandfather and I’m happy to share him with you.
Lost Theaters, Lost Revenues…
Culver Uptown Cinema picture borrowed from www. maxinkuckee.history.pasttracker.com
There was a recent discussion on LinkedIn about the value of small town theaters. It linked to another article here. Both made some interesting points that apply to Culver and Marshall County. Culver’s theater, most recently the Uptown Cinema (Formerly the Lakeside Cinema and before that the El Rancho Theater in my lifetime.), shutdown several years ago citing costs for upgrading to digital projectors as a major factor. Around the county, the Princess (or Lido) theater in Argos closed years ago and the same for Bourbon’s Comet and Gem theaters. The Rees Theater (picture here) is no longer operational in downtown Plymouth. The Tri-Way Drive-in Theatre has cited the digital projector issue as a potential obstacle to their continued operation. (More on Tri-Way’s upgrade costs here.)
Interesting Streetlights
Image borrowed from webecoist.com
In doing the previous post on alternate WECS’s (Wind Energy Conversion Systems) I ran across some interesting options for street lights that are powered by wind, solar or a combination of the two. Some are more decorative than functional, but I thought they would be interesting to consider for the Sand Hill Farm project. I’ve collected a list of interesting links below showing some of the innovations that are out there. I’ve also included some pictures gleaned from the net.
E-Turbine image borrowed from alternativeenergyecogreen.blogspot.com
I also was impressed with the idea of the E-Turbine. This bollard size WECS is designed to be installed along roads and take advantage of the constant rush of air caused by passing vehicles. I would imagine these would be extremely efficient in underpasses and tunnels where that energy can be directed to the turbines and then employed to light the surrounding areas. Each Turbine has a built in battery to store the energy produced. This is similar to the idea previously posted here regarding paving tiles that steal the energy created by foot traffic.
With the currently proposed ordinance these may well be banned too. 0.5 Kilowatts (low end of proposed ordinance WECS definition) is 500 Watts. Street lights use bulbs averaging from 35 to 250 watts per hypertextbook.com That means for a fixture using bulbs at the upper end of this scale, each bulb would require its own turbine to stay under the mandated wattage.
The Flow fixture by Igen Design. Link: http://www.coroflot.com/vasquez/Flow-public-lighting-for-the-Third-World
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UGE Wind-Solar Hybrid Street Light
UGE’s whimsical Wind-Solar Hybrid Street Light. http://www.urbangreenenergy.com/solutions/wind-solar-hybrid-streetlights/how-it-works
Wind Tulip by Tuvia
Wind Tulip by Tuvie: http://www.tuvie.com/windtulip-wind-powered-street-light-that-looks-like-a-tulip-flower/
Beach Lamp by Zengzhu Deng
Beach Lamp by Zengzhu Deng. http://www.ecochunk.com/3777/2012/11/14/sea-and-land-breeze-power-the-eco-friendly-beach-lamp-concept/
Loopwing Korea’s WECS
Loopwing Korea powers clocks as well as street lights. http://www.greendiary.com/loopwing-korea-unveils-self-powered-streetlight-wind-power-generator.html
Of these, I think I like the UGE version with the banner option and wind/solar combination power. Some of the links above talk about 400 watt bulbs, but assuming there is a battery to charge too, the wattage may well exceed the 0.5 Kilowatt limitation being proposed. The wattage restriction would also limit the option of one turbine powering several lights.
The kind of creative thinking that creates these things won’t be stifled by Culver banning WECS’s. The ban just stops the use of the new technology that’s out there. This is what I tried to suggest at the Plan Commission with limited success.
