Planes, cameras, and automobiles

If you are trying to find the perfect personal plane, this article may help you.   A bit of my flying background (all in 182):  I have >800 hrs in two Cessna 182 models over 15 years. I bought a 1966J before my first flight lesson and used it for training, then flew it for 10 years. My home field was at 7,200 MSL, with summer DAs at 9-10K. The 182 had no problem with those altitudes. It helped that it had a 260 hp Norland STC. I have now owned a 1976P for 5 years. I think this is the best year for 182, which I explain below. I am a VFR pilot and use the plane to sight see, shoot aerial photos, and visit places with friends and family. I have landed at some pretty big airports, like SLC, ABQ, TUS, HNL, ANC, and flown through some busy airspaces (Bay area, LA area, NYC, Seattle, Phoenix...). I have flown from New Mexico to Alaska and back in 18 days with my family.   With a Cessna 182, you can fly 3 people to Denali with camping and cooking gear. Once you get there, you...

Do you want to carry one camera that is excellent at almost every kind of photography, including portraits, landscapes, children running around, wildlife (including birds in flight), macro, etc? The Sony RX10 IV does it all The lens is sharp at all focal lengths and all f stops. Quite incredible. Summary (see below for more details): Has an incredible 24-600 mm equivalent lens The lens has a very bright aperture range of f2.4-4 The lens is very sharp throughout its zoom range The camera is super versatile: landscapes, portraits, wildlife, fast action... No changing lenses Has great 4K video Has a built-in flash Has very fast autofocus (with tracking) Is water resistant Shoots RAW files, which provide a much better image quality than jpegs No need to use the menu for anything (this is really an amazing, underappreciated, and misunderstood feature) Can shoot 24 frames per second, which is crazy No cleaning the sensor, ever   More details: This camera is great for all situations:...

This review was updated in February 2026       Intro to electric vehicles (EVs) This may be a good time to switch from internal combustion engine (ICE) to electric vehicles (EVs) for a lot of people. Good reasons to buy/own an EV: They can be super fun to drive. A Tesla can be as fast and handle as well as some super cars. The acceleration and cornering are a lot of fun. They are much cheaper to run, if you charge them at home and your electric rates are not very high. In Seattle, it costs 2.5-3 cents per mile to run our EVs (10 cents per kWh). Our gas SUVs used to cost us about 20 cents per mile, when you include the fuel and scheduled maintenance. Please check your rates to get accurate numbers. They are super easy to operate. In our busy lives, even going to a gas station can be a chore. With an EV, pull into your garage and plug it in. There is no scheduled maintenance, ever (for most of them). No oil changes, no tune-ups, no timing belts, etc. You will ...

  If you are curious about the cost savings provided by electric cars, below are some numbers I calculated for 100,000 miles driven.  Besides the cost savings, electric cars have other advantages that should not be overlooked. I outline some of them in this article .   Tesla Model Y and Lexus RX350     Nissan Leaf and Nissan Sentra Assumptions Electric car is charged at home Cost of electricity: 10 cents per Kwh. This is a flat rate in Seattle, but it ranges from 4-30, depending on the state and time of day. Average efficiency of Tesla Y (291 Wh/mile) and Nissan Leaf (275 Wh/mile) is 283 Wh/mile. No unscheduled maintenance Gas car is provided with regular maintenance (oil changes and tune-ups) Batteries and tires are not included, as they would be the same for both types of cars  Average gas price is $3.70 The gasoline car does not use premium or diesel fuel Oil changes are every 5,000 miles and cost $80 Tune-ups are every 30,000 miles and cost $1000 Bo...

 Updated in December 2025   I have a 2021 Model Y Long Range (here is my mini review of it) with 20" wheels. After 26,000 miles on my original Goodyear F1 tires, it was time to replace them.  Summary: The Pirelli P zero all season (AS) ELECT tires dramatically improved the ride quality and road noise, while improving efficiency. If I had spent several grand for a suspension upgrade, I would not expect to see this kind of a ride quality improvement. In summary, compared to the stock tires (Goodyear F1): Ride quality is much better (I no longer avoid bumps/holes I used to avoid) Road noise is reduced by 20% (measurements shown below) Efficiency is better (see below) Handling is not quite as good (the car leans a bit more in the corners) The traction is not as good, but still very good (some may call it playful)   Trade-offs you have to make when you buy tires: Tires have two main features: Traction/rolling resistance. On the one extreme, you have very grippy, ru...