When someone mentions "solar power" I think the majority of people instantly think of standard solar (photovoltaic) panels, which convert light directly into usable electricity. But "solar power" and "solar energy" are much more broad than that, including any system that uses the sun as a source of energy.

So, if you're not converting the light to electricity, how is it usable? By converting the light to heat. Creating an efficient photovoltaic panel would be a do-it-yourselfer's nightmare, including the cost of materials as well as the hazardous materials needed and the labor involved. But harnessing the energy of the sun in heat form is as easy as putting something dark in the sunlight.

The basics are simple, something dark in direct sunlight will heat up and can be used as a solar collector in a solar energy system. After that, creativity, research, and trial and error are key.

To increase efficiency, reflective materials like mirrors or foil can be used to focus more light onto the solar collector. Tracking systems can also be used to aim the collector or reflector systems to more efficiently collect light as the position of the sun changes.

As an example, a basic solar energy system could consist of an enclosure with a black piece of metal collecting sunlight and a series of pipes behind it. These pipes could contain water or air, which would be heated as the metal in front of them heated up. Heated air could be pumped directly into a building (during cold weather), and heated water could be directed to the intake of a conventional water heater (saving electricity or gas by preheating the water and taking that workload off of the water heater itself).

Once again, imagination and creativity are important. You can find examples of homemade solar projects like this all over the internet, some even more basic – maybe just a wooden frame painted black inside, with a sheet of glass over the front to let light in and keep in the collected heat. It's something that almost anyone can experiment with.

The original Star Trek series had a lot of really neat sound effects, phasers, dematerializers, sliding doors, annoying alarms – all uniquely recognizable as "Star Trek Sound Effects".

I'll let you in on a secret – Amazon has the Star Trek: Original TV Series Sound Effects CD available as a downloadable MP3 album.

There are 69 tracks on the CD ranging from 6 seconds long to 5:54 including the following tracks:

1. Enterprise Bridge Sequence
2. Enterprise Doors Open Into Corridor
4. Transporter Energize
5. Dematerialization
6. Materialization
7. Alien Planet Surface
8. Communicator Beeps
13. Red Alert Klaxon
15. Spock's Viewer On The Bridge
31. Many Tribbles
32. Tribble Coos
46. Disruptor Hits On Hull
57. Warp Drive Malfunctioning
62. Hand Held Medical Scanner
67. Hand Phaser

Since most of these are short, they can be previewed in their entirety(!) straight from Amazon. This seems like a pretty good resource if you're looking for Star Trek sound effects.

I'm a big fan of Woodchuck Draft Cider. LOOOVE the stuff. Depending on my mood at the time, I'll either go for the Amber or the Raspberry flavor (it's good! I know some people don't like it… but… I do! So there!).

Last night when I went to the store I saw a NEW flavor. 802. I don't know how long this stuff has been around, but I've never run across it before, so I'll assume it's new-ish-er. I was curious about the name, err number rather, so I did a bit of googling. It turns out it's named after the 802 area code in Vermont (where it's made).

First impression: it's drier than the Amber variety, but not as dry as a good glass of Strongbow. In fact, since I'm really bad at explaining tastes, I'll just say that 802 is somewhere in between Woodchuck Amber Cider and Strongbow Cider.

Is it my favorite? I'm not sure, but it's definitely hitting the spot right now!

There are a few hundred google searches per day for the word "crocet" – and in probably 98% of those searches it's a mispelling.

Here are a few possible corrections for the misspelled "crocet":

• Crochet – creating fabric using a crochet needle. Similar to knitting.
• Croquet – a game where mallets are used to hit balls through wirey hoop thingies. (I'm sure spudart can find a link to one [or more] of his croquet posts to put in the comments)
• Davy Crocket – a celebrated 19th-century American folk hero, frontiersman, soldier and politician. Disliked the nickname "Davy" and referred to himself as David. I'm sure he would have dislike the nickname "Davy Crocet" or "Davie Crocet" even more though.

Hey, Science! You're seriously slacking here guy.

Where are the fleets of human spacecraft scouring the universe looking for conflict?

Where are the nifty transporters that rip you apart atom by atom and then reassemble you somewhere else?

Where are the hot green alien chicks? How come people that wear red shirts aren't the only ones that ever die?

But most importantly – Where are the Phasers?!

I know, the world isn't ready for a weapon whose dial changes its lethality from "stun" all the way to "vaporize that jerk!", but you know who IS ready for it? Me. I am. So, Science,  let's get crackin on this, because right now, the best you've done is given me this REPLICA Star Trek Phaser. It's cool and everything, but it won't defend me against Klingons… or Sylar.

This one caught me off guard too!

Apostrophic! It sounds neat… like a catastrophe mixed with punctuation.

It's totally something you can say when someone screws up and puts an apostrophe in words that don't need it. Like if someone turned "font" into "fon't" (it was me, i'll admit it) – that is APOSTROPHIC!

I thought it was possible, but unlikely, that I had coined a new phrase in response to a conversation about garage sales. Alas, the term "garage sailing" has already been coined.

Still, regardless of who first used it – I think it's a much cooler alternative to telling someone you're "going to a garage sale" or "having a garage sale" (it can be used in both capacities).

Q: What are you doing today?
A: Oh, just… GARAGE SAILING!

The nautical tie-in opens up a world of possibilities. Except I wouldn't recommend resorting to piracy – unless the garage sale happens to be on international waters.