ForbesOnTech

It's Early Spring and the Halibut are Here on the So Cal Coast-- Time to Spool up And Get a Line Wet

An unusually early spring, plus a sale on good fishing line has left me thinking that it’s time to get my 2012 fishing license, buy new fishing  line, plus other tackle and keen the tips of my stainless steel fishing hooks.

Although San Diego is known for its inshore yellowtail and overnight trips to the tuna grounds, it also supports a decent California halibut sport fishery. And I love catching flatties.

Halibut fishing is one of the most enjoyable things I do out on the coast. It doesn’t take a graduate degree in marine biology to target and catch California halibut. But it helps if you take a little time to understand where, when and why halibut appear.

I begin my yearly quest for flatties by driving up and down the coast. What I’m looking for are sandy beaches with kelp close to shore. My idea of an ideal beach is one where I can cast to within 20 feet of the kelp and count on a sandy bottom.

It’s taken about seven years to assemble what I think is an ideal halibut outfit: the basis of which is a nine-foot, two-piece,  rod with a medium tip, and a medium and a decent size spinning reel loaded with good 8 to 12 pound test monofilament. I make sure that the guides of my rod are clean, which helps me cast farther. Trial and error on the San Diego coast has taught me to always use wire leaders and very sharp hooks.

I use one-ounce pyramid sinkers and tie my wire leaders about one foot above the weight. From sandy beaches, I try to fish at slack water following the morning hide tide, and I use a six-foot sand spike to keep my line out of the surf. One of the shortcomings of fishing here in San Diego is the near absence of live bait such a anchovies in tackle stores. So I’ve learned to be content with frozen ‘chovies. I change bait frequently.

Besides, I think it’s good karma to give my unused bait at the end of the day to the gulls.

There are a couple of under fished halibut spots on the Orange and San Diego County coasts. One of my favorites is sandy beach on the coast in Torrey Pines near the Hilton, and Las Pulgas Beach at Camp Pendleton. Further up the coast, the north end of Crystal Cove State Beach is another productive spot to try your luck.

If you’re Driving Southbound to San Diego on I-5, I have another suggestion; look for lagoons that open to the Pacific then figure out how to get to the sandy beaches near the rail road trestles that span the lagoon openings. There are four such places between San Diego and San Clemente and they are the only spots on the southern coast where I and other fishermen have consistently caught strings of flatties. The thing about inlet fishing is: you want to try to get your gear just beyond the outflow channels and keeping your rig in place may require a heavy sinker.

It’s spring the halibut are inshore, plus they’re hungry, so string up with good line, use wire leaders and keep your hooks sharp. The minimum overall size limit for California halibut is 22 inches and the daily bag limit is five fish (south of Monterey County). A valid CA sport fishing license is required. Tight lines—Jim Forbes on 02/25/2012.

 

 

A Boomer Looks at Medicare--I'm Thriving Thanks to My HMO, Kaiser

 

As I prepared my 2011 taxes I experienced a brief freak out. I couldn’t find medical receipts. But my “Aha” moment came very quickly.

“That’s right, I’m on Medicare!”

My transition to Medicare has been as simple as it’s been beneficial. Medical insurance is so important to me it’s a factor in choosing where I live.

I’m a Kaiser Permanente member and my home is within their coverage area. Everyone in my household —including my 93 year old mother-- is a Kaiser member and we share primary care physicians and cardiologists, which makes doctors’ appointments simple and helps our physicians understand family medical histories.

My medical history is complex. I’ve had a debilitating stroke and two heart attacks. But my prior conditions didn’t stop my HMO from welcoming me to its coverage.

Like everyone else I’ve heard the urban legends and half-truths about Medicare. But to put a point on this, I’ve never had better medical care in my life.

The biggest obstacle I’ve encountered is one of my own and of society’s making. Very damn few men see a doctor regularly. A regular doctor visit by men in our society just is abnormal. MY HMO changed this very quickly and I now have yearly checkups and regular exams by my cardiologist. And my co-pays are only $25. Let’s see $25 for a co-pay for a physical or a consult with a cardiologist?

I can afford that easily and I think it’s on hell of a bargain.

It hasn’t taken very long for my Medicare provider to make me a very informed patient that’s actively involved in my own health. My HMO is about prevention and its medical staff may have the best communications skills I’ve ever seen among doctors, nurses and technicians. All of this has combined to help me thrive and become a more balanced person whose life isn’t constrained by deadlines and erroneous misconceptions that taking time to see a doctor regularly could negatively impact my career.

One of the most important things I’ve learned about dealing with my docs is to answer their ”how do you feel” questions using the same observational powers I used in my reporting career. It was my answer to one such question from my cardiologist that resulted in my having a combination pacemaker/defibrillator in my chest in 2009. In other circumstances, I may have deferred the procedure because of its price. However under Medicare, the surgery, the device and the hospital stay cost me a whopping $350.

Yes, I like Medicare.

My HMO doesn’t like foreign metal in my body and it has removed several pieces of shrapnel I picked up as a young man while raveling on behalf of my Uncle Samuel in Southeast Asia.

But, the most important thing that’s happened to me under Medicare is that I’ve become an active participant in my healthcare and improved the quality of my life.

If I think I need to see a doc, I call and most often get an appointment that afternoon or the next morning— a whole lot faster than when I didn’t have Medicare coverage. Ive never had a better relationship with my doctors than I have today as a Medicare patient.

So don’t worry my fellow Boomers. If you become an informed patient, you can thrive under Medicare.—Jim Forbes ten years and two weeks post stroke on 02/21/2012.

 

Demo Rolls Out Scholarship Programs-- New Effort Aimed at Universities and Very Young Companies

A new program for the venerable technology launch show,Demo, adds an ocean of new entrepreneurial talent and could give long legs to the event.

Quietly unveiled by the show’s executive producer last year, Matt Marshall of VentureBeat, the new program includes three types of scholarships which can be used by any domestic and International technology company.

Universities are the target of Demo’s entry-level College Alpha Pitch Program which is underwritten by Microsoft Corp, according to Neal Silverman the IDG Senior Vice President who is Demo’s General Manager. The Student Alpha Pitch Program includes two full admissions to Demo and 90-second stage demonstrator slots as well as stations in Demo’s Demonstrator Pavilion. Ten College Pitch Scholarships will be available at Demo, Silverman says.

Demo is offering two other categories of scholarships; 20 full scholarships for young companies which launch their products at Demo but which have received less than $500,000 in funding and 10 partial scholarships for companies that have received limited angel funding but raised less than $1.5 million overall.

Funding for the new Demo Scholarship programs is coming from Demo’s Platinum Partners which includes AARP, Porter Novelli, Microsoft and other companies, according to Demo’s General Manager.

Demo Spring 2012 is April 17-19 and its location is the Hyatt Regency, Silicon Valley in Santa Clara, CA. the deadline to apply for College Alpha Pitch Scholarships is February 17.Additional information on Demo’s Scholarship program including applications is at http://demo.com/ehome/DEMO/launch/scholarships.

in the past, many startups operated on budgets that precluded their participation in the show, the new scholarships open up Demo to more new companies,” Silverman notes. Demo does not accept equity positions or warrants in any company that are part of its scholarship programs, Silverman reports.

In addition to Demo Spring and Demo Fall, Demo also has events in Asia, China and Brazil.—Jim Forbes on 02/14/2012.

Disclosure: I was the founding producer of Demo Mobile, now known as Demo Fall. I have no fiduciary relationships with Demo, IDG or any of its contract executive producers.

 

My Ardor for Passion Fruit-- Plumping up the Local Bunnies and Squirrels

My gardening hobby has been a significant factor in my stroke recovery. I spend a lot of time puttering in my garden, fighting the evil Vole Empire and trying to grow good looking, tasty produce. Gardening has helped me get outside of myself and synchronizes my internal clock with nature.

I’m not an adventurous gardener. I plant the basics (several varieties of tomatoes and potatoes, plus peppers, herbs, cruciferous vegetables and onions) every year. But sometime I do step outside my comfort zone.

For example; for the last two years I’ve grown Utah Tall Celery from seed. My experience with growing this seemingly simple vegetable reinforced my beliefs that home grown produce is much better tasting than store-bought produce and that If I don’t actively eliminate burrowing rodents, they will eat everything in my garden.

The latter is the reason I have a target grade pellet rifle and a hyper accurate .22 with a Nikon scope.

But I credit my celery experiences with forcing me to relearn soil science and to become more willing to try new crops.

Sometimes, when I go outside my comfort zone, I fail. Raspberries are a good case in point. I planted nine canes next to a cement block retaining wall five years ago and every damn one of them failed. But I’m undeterred and put in three canes last year that rooted and produced a staggering three cups of fruit. Thinking I might be on to something I made a leap of faith last year and started growing passion fruit—another vine based crop.

I wanted to grow passion fruit because I like its juice. By reputation, it’s a tropical plant, but I discovered a cultivar that was developed in Vista, CA—about ten miles away. I set my vine at the base of the elevated lot my home sits on but within the boundaries of my lower vegetable garden’s irrigation system. The plots ph levels are in the range of 5.5 to 5.9 and it’s a full sun location.

When a local gardener told me passion fruit can grow to have spans of 12-15 feet, I said “Sure.”

Well he understated its potential. My vine is seven-feet tall and about 21 feet long. It completely engulfed a bell shaped metal trellis before its vines took off laterally. My plant began flower production in Early February of 2011 and began setting fruit in March. I had fresh passion fruit for much of 2011.

Passion fruit is juicy, very sweet and loaded with seeds. And the local cotton tails and squirrels plumped the hell up last year, scarfing dropped and low hanging fruit.

I spoon out and strain the fruit pulp. I use the pulp to make yummy fresh fruit drinks (aqua frescas), jelly and marinades.

My porky little squirrels and bunnies hang out under the vine, where birds of prey can’t see them as they stuff their cheeks.

Sometimes, when you till the soil and try growing something new you end up laughing at tubby ground squirrels and rotund cottontails while you sip an aqua fresca shirtless under the Southern California sun—Jim Forbes on 2/5/2012.

 

 

What Conferences Really Need -- Producers Should Spend more Time With Panelists and Moderators

AS the count down to the technology conference season gets shorter, it MAKES me think what I expect from to take away from conferences.

The simple answer is “insight.” But three recent conferences I’ve attended in the last nine months left me disappointed because they didn’t deliver what I expected. I left one here in Southern Califonia stewing in discontent. The conference’s producers flat out failed, I believe in several specific areas. First, they assumed they didn’t need to prove their street cred and they threw out conclusions on emerging trends without any subordinate facts.

But really ticked me off was that the executive producer apparently didn’t communicate expectations to panel moderators or panelists. I began my slow simmer ten minutes into the panel when the moderator began serving softballs to a panel. I had hoped the panelists—most of whom was from the entertainment industry, would rise to the occasion with hard data. They didn’t and the moderator lacked the instinct to stop and pose drill-down questions that could have blown open the information flood gates—thus providing value to the paying attendees.

I was extremely disappointed. Frankly, I expected more from the veteran industry reporter who was the moderator. But what became immediately clear to me was the conference’s executive producer was too busy back stage to pay close attention to the information flowing to the audience from his stage. The idea that a conference producer would lose sight of what information their attendees were receiving, or not receiving is inconceivable to me.

During the break, I sought out the moderator and asked “did (the producer) outline their expectations over and above what was printed in the program or what they would say in their introductory remarks?” The moderator’s deer in the headlights response spoke volumes, although in fairness the moderator did have a small deck of index cards with her questions. What they didn’t have was the hard data the reporter had used in recently published stories.

There were two obvious failures: 1 the executive producer (or one of speaker coordinators) had not set expectations before the event; and secondly the moderator either had not done their homework or spent time with panelists beforehand.

Conferences need to be to go well beyond the “Lets Rent a barn, Sparky, and put on a show” premise. Producers need to introduce segments using critical market information.

Panels and sessions at many conferences need to increase the relevancy of the information they provide paid attendees and press assigned to cover such events. Without relevancy conferences become self- serving social networking events which companies can ill afford in tight economic times.

Conference panels can be mother lodes of information, if attendees take the time to engage panelists, moderators or producers. My interest in medical and health elated startups and willingness to engage a panelist produced one of my all-time “Aha” moments of Demo Spring 2011. I asked a physician presenter what national healthcare might or should look like if it’s implemented in the US. The answer I expected was “VA Healthcare.” The answer I got was the name of my HMO, Kaiser Permanente.

My 60-minute lunch with the physician founder CEO at Demo 2011 was my Demo 2011 high water mark. The doctor knew his business plan, and understood the critical importance of understanding his potential market. In exchange for his insight I passed along some ideas for his onstage and Demonstrator Pavilion pitches. If you listened to his six minute pitch on stage, you came away understanding that the flood of incoming Medicare recipients wasn’t a problem, it’s a multimillion dollar multi-level market opportunity.

Getting attendees to engage at conferences is something skilled producers need to understand, notes Chris Shipley founder of start-up consultancy GuideWire Group in Redwoo City, CA, and veteran Demo Conference executive producer.

Providing conference attendees with thought provoking panels is part of a producer’s job, which should involve setting expectations for panelists and moderators—Jim Forbes on February 2,2012.

 Mandatory disclosure: I was the founding producer of DemoMobile but am now retired.

 

The Allison Gold Mine-- a True East Fork Treasure.

As soon as I’m confident spring really here, I’m beating feet up the San Gabriel Canyon’s East Fork to a spot I haven’t visited for more almost ten years, the abandoned Allison mine perched on the side of Iron Mountain.

I’ve been to the Allison at least five times. It’s a challenging hike, but it’s easily accomplished if you prepare for an appx. 900 foot elevation rise from the canyon floor and are prepared to slog your way up washes and an unmaintained trail to the site of the Allison. http://www.everytrail.com/fullscreen.php?trip_id=115514

I’ve written about the Allison in previous posts. I’ve just never been specific about its name or location. With gold at more than $1,600 an ounce, the last thing I want to do is kick off a mini-rush on the East Fork. But Iron Mountain appears to be auriferous and the Allison was a working mine. Two of my San Gabriel Canyon history mentors—Bill Sele and his Masonic Lodge buddy Sedley Pe ck, repeatedly told me the story of the Allison when I was a teenager.  They also warned me that hiking up to the remains of the Allison was thirsty work and to be sure to bring adequate drinking water.

The easiest path to the mine is to take the Heaton Flats trail on the East Fork. The mine is at the top of of Allison Gulch on the East Fork. The trail leads directly to the mine and was hacked into the side of Iron Mountain by the mine’s original owners, the Allison Family. There are a lot of artifacts at the mine. Old ore cars, a small ball mill (for crushing ore) and the remains of a four cylinder engine that was used to power the mill and a mine building were still there the last time I hiked up to the Allison ( in 2000). Going up to the Allison is a fun hike.

If you’re a gold seeker pay attention to the geological detritus that has accumulated in the nooks and crannies on the trail up Allison Gulch. The gold bearing ore is mostly granite, although I’ve seen quartz samples reportedly pulled from Iron Mountain.

The entrance to the mine is easily found but I sincerely believe exploring abandoned mines is a sure path to disaster. But don’t be afraid to poke around Iron Mountain. If you do, you can’t help but notice where the Allison’s owners dug other places looking for “the color.”

Is there gold in Iron Mountain on the San Gabriel’s East Fork? Bet your butt there is. There is no doubt in my mind that the two nuggets I pulled out of the East Fork south of its confluence with the Iron Fork came from that mountain. But my interest in abandoned mines isn’t a quest for overlooked nuggets or fractional grams of flour gold. Since childhood I’ve been fascinated by California’s gold miners; how they lived, what they left behind and what caused them to stake a specific claim. Take time to explore the site of the Allison and you’ll come to understand how driven prospectors were. According to my grandfather and Sedley Peck, all of the Allison’s heavy equipment—including the power for its ball mill was hauled up by pack mules. Unfortunately the story of the Allison didn’t end well. Its mill and living quarters were washed off the side of Iron Mountain in a storm.

A final thought about hiking up to the Allison—if you hike in from the ranger station, you can count on fording the East Fork several times, before you make your ascent, change into dry socks—unless of course you really want nice blisters on your feet. The hike up to the Allison is one of my favorite East Fork Adventures.

The Allison is just one of several old mines in the San Gabriel Canyon. The Big Horn Mine is equally well known and is filled with rusting Southern California gold mining artifacts. An all but forgotten mine is located down canyon and is an easy 20 minute hike westward up a fire road near Morris Dam. The San Gabriel Canyon was a mining center beginning in about 1850 and again during the Great Depression.

There really is gold in the Angeles National Forest, but don’t look to me for GPS coordinates. Take the time and explore the treasure trove north of Azusa and try very hard to leave only soft foot prints as testament to your explorations .—Jim Forbes on 0128/2012

nb—a USFS day use pass is required in this section of the Angeles National Forest and if you fish, a valid California Fishing license is required. Two other suggestions; let someone know where you are going hiking and when you expect to return, and do not leave donuts or other treats in your car when you park. Mother Nature is regenerating the canyon and the (black) bears have returned—jmf.

 

Bees Abuzzing and Peach buds Popping-- Let the Planting Begin!

SPring is sproinging, bees are buzzing and peach buds are popping here in rural Northern San Diego County.The countdown to the opening day of 2012 Gardening begns now!

 

ACER's Aspire S3 951-6646-- Price+Performance+ Durability= A Recommended Ultrabook

Apple’s svelte MacBook Air has become the starter’s gun launching
an Olympic class sprint by portable computer makers dashing to capture medalists spots in the ultrabook notebook category.

The first Ultrabook I’ve tested is a fabulous portable. It’s low carry weight and extreme usability earned it a place in the backpack I take with me into town, or on weekend and day trips. It’s an Acer Aspire S3 ultrabook and I have nearly the same reaction to this sub- three pound machine
as I did to my lifetime favorite notebook HP’s original OmniBook family.

The Acer Aspire S3 was one of the first ultrabooks to ship and the unit supplied to me for this review(an Aspire S3 951-6646) included an Intel i5 processor ( capable of zipping along at up to
2.3GHZ), 4GB of SDRAM system memory, a 320 GB SATA hard disk drive with 20 GB of on board SSD memory, a 13.3 inch high definition (1366 by 788 pixels) LCD screen with a 16:9 aspect ratio, Intel’s HD Graphics 3000 video logic, two USB ports, an HDMI jack that also supports HDCP, a card reader, plus audio jacks. The Aspire S3 is a tough little machine. It measures 1.59 by 8.52by .51 inches (at
its thinnest point).

The price of the Windows 7-based review system is approximately $900, substantially less than Apple’s MacBook Air. It is also as much as $400 less (or almost 70 percent) than ultrabooks from other
manufacturers whose products are traditionally affiliated with corporate users.
The price of the Acer Aspire S3 gets it a huge check mark in the matrix I use
to recommend any notebook.

Acer’s entry level S# 951-6646 ultrabook portable exceeded virtually all of my expectations. At 2.9 pounds, it’s an unobtrusive addition to my backpack and notebook carrying case (actually a book bag) and its exceedingly rugged, there is no wiggle room in the hinge between the system and
burnished aluminum screen cases and I like how securely the screen snugs the
system case when this portable is closed. Sturdy construction is paramount in any ultrabook and the Aspire S3 sets a very high bar.

When I first realized mainstream portable makers would chase Apple’s MacBook Air with a new form factor I was afraid I’d end up seeing third generation netbooks with cramped keyboards and substandard cursor controllers.I’ve been very surprised y most of the ultrabooks now on retailers’ shelves. Intel’s reference design is spot on and most portable makers haven’t scrimped on
keyboards.

The Acer Aspire S3’ s key board, specifically, made me feel right at home—which in my 20-plus
years of reviewing thin and light or ultra-compact portables is almost unheard
of. In the eight weeks I’ve been banging on this machine’s keyboard, I haven’t inadvertently sent the cursor to the hinterlands once— quite unusual since I have a 9.75-inch pinky finger tip to
thumb tip hand span and wear a size 16 ring. Its integrated track pad uses a
single switch for left and right hand mouse clicks, a design feature I find intuitive.

The Acer Aspire S3’s performance was above average forcomputationally intensive Microsoft Word and Excel spreadsheet benchmarks. This notebook’s 13.3-inch LED screen produces bright saturated displays.I also like the thermodynamics of this system—the fan kicks on only when it’s needed and I never once suspected the system case was
too warm.

The one downside to the Acer Aspire S3 is its battery life.The absolute longest I’ve ever been able to run it without recharging is 4.8 ours, which for many users—particularly students dashing from class to classor business professionals who go from meetings back to a cubicle; this should
be enough. One Feature that cunter balances the S3’s limited five-hour battery life is its rapid wake
from sleep mode. The longest I’ve waited for the system to come out of its
closed lid alumber has been three seconds Color me impressed.The unit supplied to me by Acer takes less than one minute to boot up. both detures are greatly helped in
this system by the S3’s use of hybrid hard disk drive that incorporates SSD
storage.

I don’t have high expectations when it comes to ultrabooks and udio. This is a small notebook but it does have good voice, although purists might say its too "tinny.” Playing a concert version of Zeppelin’s “Kashmir” in my local library using earbuds didn’t disturb fellow cubicle prairie dogs,
but the experience was good enough to make me smile.

In summary, I highly recommend Acer’s Aspire S3 ultrabook.It’s a rugged, practical portable with enough computing horsepower and performance to accomplish business tasks and its form factor and light weight make it a great travel companion.

Let’s see, $900 for a compact sturdy notebook that has enough local storage to handle most computing tasks, or $1,299 for an Apple
Macbook Air, which limits me to SSD storage. It’s an easy choice and I think
Acer has a home run in its Aspire S3 951-6646.—Jim Forbes on 1/20/2012,

Good Gardens Begin with Great Soils-- TIme to Fire up My Mighty Mantis

The art of building a great home garden begins with building great soil. I start my garden the same way every year by pulling freakishly large weeds that have appeared in my two-month dormant season. Digging several 18 –inch deep holes in the ground, adding up to five cubic feet of organic compost that’s been decomposing in heaps for several months as a top dressing and then dropping my Mantis tiller in one of the wholes and frantically churning the earth.
Once I’ve tilled several 12sf sections, I check the ph. balance of the soil using a soil testing kit from the local Home Depot; restart my tiller and go back to wantonly macerating my dirt. This year the ph.level is right on target for growing San Marzano and big tasty heirloom tomatoes. If I need to revitalize my soil, I’ll add some organic nitrogen and calcium in the spring.
By experimenting with my garden in the nine years I’ lived here on my mountain, I’ve realized I don’t need to rotate my annual tomato crop I my garden. I’ve grown many tomato vines in the same spot on my garden for as long as I’ve lived here. What I’ve learned is:
I need to pay more attention to grow hours than I do mineral depletion.
My solution to depleted nitrogen—a $.99 bag of cheap manure tossed casually around the base of a plant or in my garden—works just fine.
Compost—lawn and other organic waste belongs in my soil, not in the green waste bin don on the street on trash collection day. When it comes down to organic soil, I am an unabashed compost pimp.
Consistent watering is as beneficial to my vegetable crops as boosting the mineral nutrients in my soil. Once I map out my Garden later this spring I intend to add drip irrigation. My complete failure to grow watermelon sis due to two things I will remedy this year; melons absolutely require consistent watering and here in San Diego they only thrive in loamy soil with sand.
The best solution to keep marauding gophers and burrowing meadow mice (aka voles) isn’t a fancy windmill with an eccentric cam beating a constantly thrumming metal stake in the ground, but a well-aimed .177 high velocity pellet delivered by my Beeman air rifle directly to the head of the furry vegetable destroying vandals. Moreover, their decomposing carcasses add nitrogen to the soil—a gentle nod to organic gardening.
Although News Years is still a fresh memory, I’ve already started my 2012 garden. My flourishing artichokes, strawberries and freakazoid Brussels sprouts make me hopeful of the crops to come and the joy I find in my restorative gardening hobby. Please, Mother nature no hail this year,OK?.—Jim “Farmer” Forbes on 01/15/2012.

My Quest for the Perfect Peach-- and an Ongoing Battle against Leaf Curl

My attention is now focused on the seven nude peach trees that march across my front lawn. The trees are now nine years old, have sturdy trunks spreading branches and in most years deliver far more peaches than I could ever use (assuming I don’t resort to moonshining).

My best year was 2009, when two of my trees went bonkers, each producing more than 125 pounds of fruit. I had so much fruit on my two big Avalon freestones I had to shore up perilously bent branches with PVC pipes or use metal fish stringers to transfer weight from overburdened limbs back to the tree’s trunks. It was a good year. It was also the first year I successfully fought peach leaf curl.

Anyone who’s ever grown peach or nectarine trees has most likely experienced peach leaf curl. Caused by a fungus, peach leaf curl turns a perfect long blade shaped peach leaf into an ugly red warty distorted mess. I’ve battled leaf curl infestation for most of the years I’ve grown peaches. Some seasons, I’ve been successful, other years I’ve had to sit back and watch peach curl defoliate my trees before I harvest fruit in mid-summer.

When I’ve won the epic battle, it’s been because I’ve sprayed three times; before bud bumps appear in late winter, at the end of year after leaves begin dropping and in the middle of the growing season when I can no longer stand to see ugly leaves on my beloved trees. My biggest win against Peach Curl was in 2008, when I thoroughly drenched my tree with a product from Grangettos Orchard Supply called “Dormant Spray.” The active fungicidal agents in this agricultural witches brew are copper-based chemical compounds. In general, the most effective versions of Dormant Spray are those with the highest copper compound concentrations. I also like to build deep compost barriers around the base of my trees after I spray in the belief that the nitrogen that leaks out of the decaying compost and into my trees root system will boost leaf production.

If you use Dormant spray or Bordeaux oils, you need to make sure and coat the entire tree since the fungus lives in the nooks and crannies of your trees’ bark. I also recommend using goggles and if you think you might be sensitive, a mask when spraying. Something else I’ve learned the hard way about using copper sulfate solutions in my stands of fruit trees is to avoid over spraying, accidentally spraying any apricot or apricot- related trees,, which are extremely sensitive to copper compounds.

Peach leaf curl interferes with the efficiency of a tree, and it can cut down on the amount of fruit a tree produces during the growing season. I really hate peach leaf curl!

I love my peach trees and have spent the last several years trying to grow the “perfect peach.” I’m not there yet but if I keep Peach Leaf curl under control, 2012 could be the year. Bon Appetit—Jim Farmer Forbes on 01/11/2012.

Fujitsu LIfeBook T 731 Convertible-- Rugged Construction and a SensitiveTouch Screen

 

Portable computers that marry touch screens to standard notebook technology have come a long way over the last eight years. Called “convertible” notebooks, these machines have become mainstays in  the design, engineering and other technical categories as well as others who use  forms-based documents.

Fujitsu is among the PC makers who have a long history in convertible notebooks and I wanted to review a specific new model – the Fujitsu Lifebook Model 730. Over the last several years, I’ve reviewed several convertible PCs and been somewhat disappointed by various machines. My problem has always been, PC makers have been slow to realize a fundamental fact about this category of portables; touch screens have to be responsive enough to respond equally well to stylus or fingertip input.

I was not disappointed by the Fujitsu Lifebook 731’s 12.1 inch screen.

The unit supplied to me for this review was a Model T731, which included a 320GB hard disk drive, an Intel i5 2.3GHZ processor, 4GB of system memory DVD drive in an option bay and a 2MPixel video camera built into the display case. The Lifebook 731 family has integrated 802.11 (a,b, g and n) capable wireless networking and an Gigabit Ethernet connector as well as HDMI, VGA , audio, plus three USB ports and one firewire connector. The operating system is Windows 7 Professional. The price of the unit supplied for this review is $1,549.

Like most convertible notebooks, the Lifebook T731 isn’t an ultrabook; it measures11.7 by 9.2 by 1.5 inches and the entry version of this family adds four pounds to your carry load. This notebook’s case is sturdy enough that you won’t worry about it being damaged in the field and its construction is rock solid. I was somewhat baffled by a single design element of this notebook. The system case slightly overlaps the display case, a very unimportant issue, since the Lifebook T731’s rock solid construction and well above average performance are what matters most in this class of notebook.

I like this system’s 84-key keyboard, which reminded me of those used in earlier Toshiba portables. There is enough tactile feedback on the keys to reinforce my comfort with keyboard data entry and its touchpad required almost no tweaking to accommodate my heavy handed, wandering fingers typing. The touchpad paddle keys were easy to use and the touchpad supports multi-directional scrolling— a “must” in any touch screen portable.

The 12.1--inch screen on the T731 is very responsive, which answers my biggest complaints about the two previous generations of convertibles. The screen’s performance is greatly enhanced by this system’s multicore processor and its integrated Intel HD 3000 graphics chip. A stylus is included with this system and I like that it fits securely in a socket on the front right hand side of the system case, thus reducing the possibility that I will lose it within the first month.

One of the things that sets the Lifebook T731 apart from other convertibles is the sensitivity of the screen. You absolutely do not need to punch this screen to get to any place on the display. A simple light touch with the stylus or your fingertip works just fine. And it supports multi touch control so you can twist and twirl images to you  hearts content, without waiting eons, parsecs or arduous minutes for screen redraws.

Battery life in my field testing of this unit averaged 6.5 hours.

I like the options for the Lifebook T731. It’s available with hard disk configurations with up to 500 GB, and it can be socketed with as much as 8GB of memory. My recommendation: if you’re using large digital files such as maps or GIS data, go with the optional large SATA  hard disk and max out the memory. If you need to work away from a power source, I’d also recommend the optional extra battery which increases the unplugged power  up to about nine hours.

Overall, the Fujitsu Lifebook T731 exceeded my expectations. It’s construction is tough enough to survive roughing it in true field settings and its touch screen is quite remarkable when compared to previous generations of convertible computers. Comparing a convertible notebook to current thin and lights isn’t appropriate. Convertibles are specialized machines that use specific components that most often aren’t power misers. The $1,549 price tag might seem very high to some users, but the functionality, solid construction and basic performance of the Fujitsu Lifebook T731 combine to make it the convertible notebook I recommend.—Jim Forbes on January 2, 2012.