Laser, DFB module: TEC reaction speed

Wood stove? My A/C has been on almost all month, except for a couple days when it dropped to 40 overnight.

Not in Northern California. Our stove runs all the time. None of this global warming out here. But no white Christmas either, it never really snows much around this time. That'll come in a month.

It has only snowed once here in Central Florida, in the last 19 years, and it surprised the daylights out of everyone. :)

It'[s been in the mid-40s pretty much every day [*]. No reason to think about lighting a fire. We're at least 30% behind normal heating-degree-days.

Hmm, mid-40s would mean quite a chill in the house. My wife would definitely want the wood stove going then.

Remember the discussion about health plans, HSA etc.? Well, long story short we took the plunge and I have just filed for a switch to the highest deductible plan at Kaiser. When that's approved I'll open the HSA and then we'll see.

Out here it was the other way around. After moving to this area people told us that it never gets really cold. Nah, don't need no salt and yada, yada, yada. Sure enough there came the day when we couldn't make it down the driveway. It was completely iced up one crisp morning.

As I said earlier, we heat with gas until it gets below zero (usually even then).

Did you pass this by your accountant? Let us know how it works out. For young and reasonably healthy people ISTM that this is the best plan. It also puts makes health insurance "insurance" again.

I don't use salt (sodium chloride) because it makes too much of a mess and often doesn't work. Sodium Chloride is much better and doesn't track into the house. It';s been so warm I've only used a couple of pounds so far. I've only had to start the snow blower once. This week I gotta dump the gas and buy new stuff. This weather can't hold forever. A few years ago it was so cold salt no longer worked. We were driving on a foot of packed snow for several weeks. What a mess when that started melting!

I'm having problems decoding your first paragraph, first you say you don't use salt (sodium chloride), then you say, Sodium Chloride is much better? I am sure, you meant something else but what?

Can't do that out where where they charge $3/gal or more for propane. But a wood stove works even with mild chills. Just fire a load in the morning and let it trundle out during the day. Unfortunately most folks around here bank the stoves way too much and that creates plumes of smoke. We try to never let off visible smoke from our chimney, to the point where some neighbors thought we'd never use our stove. When they came over they could not believe that it was cranking out heat.

I didn't ask my CPA, there just wasn't enough time to make the Jan-1 deadline. I am pretty good in tax matters and sometimes my CPA (who does the biz taxes) said he wished other clients of his would be that organized.

But when they jacked up the premium for full "insurance" another 20% it can only make sense to go HSA. Even with zero tax effect we'd most likely be ahead of the game in less than a year if our health remains as good as in the past years. A $2700 deductible per person drops the premium to around 60%. Not bad, considering that the "benefits" under the full plan had been eroded away to the point where a lengthy hospital stay would mean de-facto almost the same deductible. Via tricks such as $200 copay per day etc. A regular doctor visit isn't all that expensive. Kaiser lists most of that on their web site which helped in the decision making process. AFAIR it'll be $65 out of pocket now and before the switch we'd still pay a $25 fee.

The good thing is that from what I read we can pay the dentist from the HSA and that really helps. Dental insurance in the US is mostly a joke IMHO.

It's not salt either. Some kind of greenish granulate but it works.

I remember that from Europe. But drivers ed over there is mandatory and usually contains a module about how to drive on slick surfaces and what to do after loss of grip. After some winters you get used to it. The only not so good thing I had happen was when my old Citroen over there plowed up so much snow in front that it eventually floated onto the top of that pile. That meant 15 minutes of shoveling it out from underneath the car. Always had a foldable shovel in the trunk, mostly used to dig others out ;-)

We're just over a buck a therm got natural gas, so it's not too bad until it stays below zero for some time.

Organized pass the fed muster for an HSA

I wish others would see health *insurance* the same way we do.

Yes, even the previous HSA (expired every year) could be used for dental. This was a good use for it.

I've known that for 30 years. When we first got dental insurance the local dentists just "happened" to increase their rates exactly the same amount the same month, except for the uninsured. Nothing has changed since. I simply tell them I have no insurance.

Could be Potassium Chloride. A lot of greenies like it because it's a fertilizer so doesn't harm plants (can contribute to algae plumes though). I tried it but went back to Calcium Chloride after I used the bag. I haven't ought anything yet this year since I have 40-60lbs. (two 5gal buckets) left over from last year. I usually go through about 300-400 lbs per year.

Packed snow is a pretty good base to drive on. It's kinda strange the first time though because of the squeaks. The problem was with the eventual melt. Snow plugged access to the storm drains so water pooled (ice) is some places and didn't in others (major ruts). For a while it was like driving off-road, perhaps without so much mud. ;-)

Sorry, sitting in front of the teevee talking to the brat and his fiancee while typing...

Calcium Chloride is much better than...

Sodium Chloride is good to about 20F and tracks all over the house. Calcium Cloride is good down to at least 0F and doesn't track nearly as bad (particularly the granular stuff). CaCl2 is more expensive, though far more effective.

The plan is HSA eligible and spells out quite clearly how much it can be. Where it becomes hazy are details like whether I can contribute end of this month for 2007 etc. We need to see the doctor once more Jan-3 or so and it would be nice if the HSA could be used by then. Even if not or if the fed socks us with some unfair excise tax we'd be in the green because the difference between the delta in that one month's premium and the doctor fee is substantial, more than $200 in our favor. So I guess it's almost a no-brainer.

OTOH the more complicated they make the tax rules the least likely it becomes that even the fed employees have a clue. Had that once in Europe where I had educated myself really good about foreign stock handling. A gvt agent disagreed, I showed him the EU law, upon which he said "Aha! I see" and granted my request. And yes, that forced him to scramble together and use whatever school English he could remember. Because I also found a little law that in essence forbids discrimination against other main EU languages. I also had the first law in French but I didn't make him read that ;-)

I wouldn't have done it if they expired. I just hate having to do the agency thing, a.k.a. blowing out the budget at year end no matter what.

Most of the problem lies with drivers who lack the skill. I was sitting in front of a red light once and a VW Beetle came careening towards me. Sideways. All in total slow motion. So I backed up a little and it careened past me, the driver's eye wide open in fear. Looked like he was also screaming. KA-ploof, right into a snow bank from which we had to dig him out. Not much was bent though.

A big problem up here is black ice. Thin, and perfectly transparent so you can't see it's there. Perfectly flat and slippery as hell.

Every winter I slip on a patch just outside the door and crack a few ribs. I always tell myself to be careful where I step, but it always catches me off guard.

Terrible to drive on also. Especially on bridges that freeze a bit sooner than the regular road surface. You can be driving along with perfect traction, then come to a bridge with black ice. The results are unpredictable :)

Regards,

Mike Monett

Antiviral, Antibacterial Silver Solution:

Occasionally it rains here... and the streets get a little slippery ;-)

...Jim Thompson

We don't have black ice so much but there are occasions where the steps on our back deck ice up ever so lightly. Hard to see. No big deal for us but it is for the dogs. When we tell them to be careful they listen and walk slowly but the millisecond they smell something it's full bore. Then, wheeeee ... kapoof ... phsssst ... crash. So far they've never hurt themselves badly. Dogs must be more sturdy than man.

My e-mail address has been showing up here since 1997 (when spam wasn't a problem). Modern spam filters keep the level of spam getting into my in-box well below the regular traffic, so I'm not going to start munging now.

Once we turned off the self-tuing algorithm and tuned our PID controller using the Ziegler-Nichols procedure, we got remarkably fast settling.

Melbourne has just had its coldest Christmas on record, with a maximum temperature of 14.5C - about 10C cooler than usual. Various mountains around Victoria and Tasmania had snow cover during the day. My mother's gas-fired central heating turned itself on, and I had to find myself a sweater ...

snipped-for-privacy@ieee.org wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@i12g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:

Ashes to Australia, Dust to Dust. If McGragh doesn't get you then Warney must.

Translation please, for us ohioians.

Steve Roberts

GTO = Go To Ohio. ;-)