Water is scarce, here (desert southwest) -- i.e., you wouldn't "hose down" your driveway like was common in NE (when I was young -- haven't lived there in decades so no idea what water policies are there, now).
OTOH, if you opted to have a "large body of water" at your disposal i.e., O(10,000G) for "other purposes", it makes a great heat *sink* (as our problem for 9 mos / year is *cooling*). When contrasted with trying to cool the hot gases by exposure to "air" (at 100+F), even
90F pool water is a (big) win!
Of course, a smarter move (here) is earth-bermed/below-grade living structures to cut the cooling costs *and* effectively eliminate the heating costs (winters typically have day-time temps in the 70's).
Building an off-grid structure here would be a piece of cake!
Unfortunately, local builders tend to take the easy way out (why put in a basement if we don't have to worry about frost-line/heave? Just pour a slab and be done with it!)
Our problem here is often too much water. We have a couple of drainage systems around the house to keep the water *out* and to keep it from accumulating in the yard. We get about 1 GPM of drainage all year long.
I had a friend who bought a propane powered backup generator for the Y2K thing, but also just because she was in the boonies where they do lose power from time to time. I seem to recall it had the Generac name on it. I also remember seeing similar units for sale at Costco once. I think they were in the 5 kW range, I don't recall the prices. They might not have posted them handling it more like cars where you have to talk to the dealer.
Then on the treadmill front, I was at a show in the Patent office and one of the exhibitors had the idea of adding treadmill sort of devices to sidewalks. They didn't move horizontally but would move up and down a small amount. She was talking as if it would not be noticeable to a person walking on it, but I'm sure a quarter inch deflection would be
*very* noticeable and given that you were pushing off on it every time it would be a bit like walking in sand. They had some real winners of inventions there.
There is nothing you can post that will stop people from making forming uneducated opinions on topics. You might think that information would clear things up, but that assumes people are willing to listen and believe things that go against their opinions.
It is just a matter of time. Energy prices are headed up long term. Once we decide to deal with the carbon issue in a serious manner it will be an even bigger impact on prices. Like my dad used to say, it's ok for people to smoke as much as they want. They just shouldn't be allowed to exhale. Once we stop the extreme emissions of carbon most likely by removing it from the exhaust, energy prices will rise to the point that solar will be the primary source of energy in a lot of areas.
Not the same as home roof-top systems. Here in AZ we have a commercial solar power plant, APS...
...Jim Thompson
--
| James E.Thompson | mens |
| Analog Innovations | et |
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems | manus |
| San Tan Valley, AZ 85142 Skype: skypeanalog | |
| Voice:(480)460-2350 Fax: Available upon request | Brass Rat |
| E-mail Icon at http://www.analog-innovations.com | 1962 |
I love to cook with wine. Sometimes I even put it in the food.
Because you don't acknowledge the subsidies (and tax credits) that go into all of those!
[_Three Days of the Condor_ was amusingly prophetic]
Iraq cost each of us (US) $5,000+. Over the course of 10 years? An extra $40 per month ("lives lost" apparently don't factor into that cost -- esp if they aren't Americans!)
(Oh, no... wait. We didn't go there for OIL but, rather, because of Saddam's ties to bin laden? Or, maybe it was for all those WMD's! Or, maybe it was to "spread democracy"? Or, maybe... ah... EBOLA!!! That's it! A preemptive ebola strike!! :-/ )
I don't think it's all that "solar power" that makes China's air so hazy. And, if you think that haze doesn't have health costs to all those residents: "Santa will be here in a few weeks"!
[Obviously, the haze comes from the MOST EXPENSIVE source of power they could afford?]
What if The World decides all that carbon is bad (for whatever reason, misguided or not) and imposes a tax on goods related to their production energy "content"? Trees are relatively cheap to burn... OTOH, if the products made from the burning of those trees are made to reflect the cost of burning them....?
It's just silly to use something of which you *know* you have a limited amount (or, do you think there's another planet worth of oil, copper, gold, etc. "just waiting to be exploited"?).
[Ages ago, I saw an analysis of the nonrenewable (until the next big bang) resources on the planet. Copper was the only one that stuck in my mind: of the total present on the planet, 1/4 is "in use", 1/4 is "in landfills",
1/4 still in the ground but accessible, 1/4 in the ground but probably impractical to ever extract (too diffuse?). I'd love to see that analysis again and see if it also mentioned (various) fossil fuels! Granted, they
*aren't* "non-renewable" but, in human timescales, they *are*!]
Thankfully, *I* have no offspring that I have to worry about. So, it's the offspring of other folks who will pay the price for their folly.
Really? And Picasso's will always hold their relative value compared to sketches made by the neighbor's 5 year old. Let's burn half of them KNOWING that this relationship will hold true. I'm sure another cache of them will turn up -- we just need to SUBSIDIZE exploration to find them!
Prices of oil are going up. Prices of solar (even ignoring subsidies) are coming down. Rocket Science??
But, we (US) keep thinking energy will always be cheap. So, we don't encourage developers to take those things into account when designing communities (or neighborhoods). (there are a few communities here that were created with that as an expressed goal; their energy consumption is ~35% less than the homes in the area. Of course, the folks who live in those communities tend to have a bias towards *wanting* to conserve energy).
And, most "consumers" suffer from the typical human malady of not being able to evaluate long term costs, well (how could *anyone* "smoke" in light of the costs *and* "science" explaining its PROBABLY consequences?).
[And, Heaven forbid, we can't let The State make those sorts of decisions! After all, we know it is imperfect (WMD's come to mind)]
I grew up with heating oil so am well aware of it's costs and inconveniences. I can't recall the last time I saw a home built with an oil fired furnace. It's now ~$3/gallon. At 100+ gallons per month in the winter months, it gets pricey. (you still need oil the rest of the year to fire your hot water -- unless you also want to be dependent on another energy source for that)
Do you ignore the annual maintenance costs (filters and cleanings) for the oil burner in determining the cost to "heat with oil"?
**AND**, you have to hope WHEN YOU RUN LOW that the roads will be clear for the delivery truck to make it *to* your house. Cost and availability ("oil embargo", etc.) don't help if it can't be transported to you, the consumer.
Been there, done that. Ever see the mess an oil burner makes when it's been allowed to run the tank dry because the delivery got "stuck in the snow"??
Yeah, when I lived in NE, "damp" was synonymous with "basement" :-/ We had a corner where the cement foundation was always "moist" (but never "wet"). And, of course, snow melt was always a challenge as the soil just couldn't keep up with it (lots of clay).
Until the well runs dry :-/
We rely on wells, here (only about 11" of annual precip) but we don't have (direct) control over them -- municipal resources. Friends who live "farther out" and rely for wells exclusively (too costly to bring city water out to their properties) have had some problems in recent years having to redrill as the water table falls.
It's a very interesting adjustment to your mindset to go from a place where you don't think twice about water usage ("wastage") to one where you factor it into all of your considerations (I lament planting all the citrus, here -- but SWMBO considers it "her indulgence", offset by *my* rain water harvesting. Hmmm... and what am *I* getting out of this??)
OTOH, I have grown to truly enjoy *watching* it rain! Something I would never have imagined in any of the other places I've lived.
[My first year here, I thought everyone crazy to watch them "drop everything" to watch the rain: "Sheesh! It's JUST RAIN!" Now, I find myself equally enthralled...]
Another factor is depreciating the solar panels' output as they age.
I wrote and posted a BASIC program in s.e.d. years ago that adds in as many factors as you want, tallies the ROI month-by-month, including batteries (with wear), panels (with depreciated output), interest, cost-of-capital, inflation, etc.
Jeff's figures also assume zero failures, zero maintenance, no added cost for things like changing your roof when it needs it, somewhat more initial cost than I'd guess, etc. Jeff's also assuming an artificially low interest rate--an unnaturally low value of capital which either won't last, or will have us all scavenging for berries and nuts.
Another factor is seasonality of location. My location looks good on the NREL insolation maps[1], but half our winters we're cloud-locked.
[1]
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IIRC, my program's result was that no-battery systems start getting interesting around $1/watt. The cost, wear, and maintenance of batteries (not to mention environmental impact) made them uneconomic where grid power's available.
And another amusingly dead-on... "Primary Colors" ...Jim Thompson
-- | James E.Thompson | mens | | Analog Innovations | et | | Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems | manus | | San Tan Valley, AZ 85142 Skype: skypeanalog | | | Voice:(480)460-2350 Fax: Available upon request | Brass Rat | | E-mail Icon at
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| 1962 | I love to cook with wine. Sometimes I even put it in the food.
The most important "take away" from the movie was Higgins' comment re: The American People: (something to the effect of) "They'll just want you to GET IT FOR THEM" (Turner had naively suggested "why don't you ASK them?")
It's interesting to see how the Chinese are approaching the energy issue. Obviously a much more significant one when you have a few *billion* souls to consider (even if that is only "token consideration") than the paltry ~300M, here!
I have a few hundred title on DVD and a handful on Blu-ray.
When I see a movie I really like I buy a copy ;-)
"Atlas Shrugged Part III: Who is John Galt?" is supposed to come out on DVD and Blu-ray in January. ...Jim Thompson
--
| James E.Thompson | mens |
| Analog Innovations | et |
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems | manus |
| San Tan Valley, AZ 85142 Skype: skypeanalog | |
| Voice:(480)460-2350 Fax: Available upon request | Brass Rat |
| E-mail Icon at http://www.analog-innovations.com | 1962 |
I love to cook with wine. Sometimes I even put it in the food.
Ditto. I had an employer many years ago (when LVD's were popular -- 80's? -- and cheaper than video *tape*) who thought this was silly: "You could RENT the movie for a couple of dollars instead of buying it ($30 was a common LVD price)! You're only going to watch it *once*!"
"If I'm only going to watch it once, then, chances are, it was a waste of time for me to watch it AT ALL!"
There are probably a dozen movies that I watch once a *year* and scores more that I have watched "many times". The idea of having to drag my ass out to a store and hope to find the title ON THE SHELF, waiting for me, WHEN I WANT IT has some cost.
In recent years, I've "discovered" the library's stock of DVD's and use them to "test" titles. A *lot* of them are truly wastes of time (_Transformers: Age of Extinction_ last night. Cripes, felt like a FIVE HOUR film!!).
But, there are some real jewels that I would never find if I bought every title that I was GOING to watch -- or, had to "invest" in a trip to the video store, etc.
_Cashback_, _Rubber_, _The City of Lost Children_, _About Time_, _Buckaroo Banzai: Across the Eighth Dimension_, _MIB_, virtually every episode of _SOAP_, _Pinky & The Brain_ (but not when they got their own series), etc.
I'd enjoy having the old _Thunderbirds_ series -- but suspect I would grow tired of it before watching every episode. Ditto for the _Flash Gordon_ serials (talk about corny acting, props, effects, etc.).
Still debating whether or not to purchase the original episodes of _The Prisoner_. :-/
[The problem boils down to "hours in a day"... certain things you can "watch" while doing something else. Others really demand your full attention. _SOAP_ nights *nothing* gets done!]
On Wed, 10 Dec 2014 12:13:44 -0700, Don Y Gave us:
The term was Laser Disc. as in LD. They were not EVER referred to as "LVD". They were also NEVER "cheaper than video tape" There were a very few instances of video releases that were overtly high priced at the store, but the LD price point was always a stable line.
One example was "Platoon". There were a few other, but not many, and it was right as DVDs were about to be introduced before those effects were being seen.
I was never a renter of any video.
There was a point in time when I thought the monies from my purchases actually benefited the studios and actors, but one does not know who gets all the cash these days.
As an aside...
Juke boxes are horrendous filchers of cash that then goes somewhere it shouldn't.
You should read _The Sentinel_ (Clarke) -- if you can do so after isolating yourself from the day-to-day routine (focus). Ten minutes and it will leave you with a more intense feeling than 2001 (et al.) ever could!
A copy of _The Alternate Worlds of 2001_ (I may be misremembering that title) is also a worthwhile investment.
But, for the most part, considerably different tastes than mine :>
Last film I saw in the theater was _The Mask_ -- and only because a friend came to town and suggested it. I suspect that was 20 years ago?
[Never fond of going *to* some place to watch a show. No control over when it starts, what you can do, how others will behave, etc.]
My "short list" (i.e., the emphasis is on NOT putting titles on this list!) of recommendations (intended for a generic type of audience; i.e., if I had to stock a shelf with titles from which I was *sure* a house guest could find something "worth watching"):
12 Angry Men (for folks who can think)
9 (for kids AND folks who can think) Airplane! (no sequels) Alice in Wonderland (the original -- there have been too many BAD remakes) Animal House (brain rot) Back to the Future (not the sequels) Beetlejuice (solely for the shrimp cocktail scene) Big Trouble in Little China (just "fun") Buckaroo Banzai (I watch this so often that I fear "wearing it out") Buddy Hackett Live and Uncensored (not for "general audiences") Caddyshack (before the 2nd City folks lost their edge) Cashback (I'm always glad I watched it -- afterwards!) "Catch-a 22" (couldn't resist the homage to the old italian lady) City of Ember (I haven't figured out why I like this movie!) Dr Strangelove E.T. (fun -- lots of little hidden gotchas) Ferris Bueller's Day Off (mindless fun) Flushed Away (one of my many "multiple viewings" titles!) For a Few Dollars More (I *think*; but I get the spaghetti westerns confused) Forbidden Planet Ghostbusters (not sequel) HHGTTG (either version) High Plains Drifter Highlander (first) Jake Speed (sequels would have been welcomed!) most of the Bond flicks -- especially the early ones Jurassic Park (mainly for the scene where the dinosaurs are first seen) Kelly's Heroes (apt commentary on humanity: "Maybe he's a Republican!") Kill Bill 1&2 (have to have *something* with pure violence in the collection!) Little Shop of Horrors (second version is better) Mars Attacks (gotta wonder how they come up with this stuff!) MIB 1,2,3 (it's called "entertainment"!) Night at the Museum (first one) Oh, God! (*really* should be watched carefully) Parting Shots (anyone who *can't* relate is a liar!) Real Genius Red Dawn (original; something we never really think about!) Remo Williams (often watched right after viewing _Jake Speed_) Rubber (for the sorts of folks who can think at the level of a *film* class!) Silent Running (another "thinker") The Blues Brothers (story, *music* and locations) The Day the Earth Stood Still (original; and the short story blows both away!) The Fifth Element (silly but fun -- for the "characters") The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (though the music has much of the appeal) The Hunt for Red October (drama) The Neverending Story (not the "second chapter") The Omega Man (not the _I Am Legend_ remake) This Film is Noyt Yet Rated (inappropriate for many -- but insightful) Top Secret (the epitome of corn!) War of the Worlds (both versions but only immediately *after* reading the book) Who Framed Roger Rabbit (mainly to lust after Jessica!)
And, for TV series: Coupling (until jeff left) Les Revenants (hoping there are followup seasons)
*any* "Roadrunner" cartoon SOAP The Lost Room (would have welcomed a few more episodes)
I could easily doble or triple the list -- but, the intent here was to keep it *short* (ha!) I am always amazed at how impressed I am at the skill required to make a movie/tell a story in such an appealing way! It obviously requires some very specific skillsets!
What's telling about it (IMO) is the lack of any of the "big names" that folks would tend to think of in recent years! Esp all the "Marvel" derived properties, "Harry Potter", etc. It's not that I don't have those titles (and enjoy watching them), but, they just don't precipitate to the top of my list!
If you want to "pay per view"! How is that different than renting it each time you want to view it? (except you don't have to return the medium, afterwards)
I have a friend who has decided his retirement will consist solely of watching movies (netflix, hulu, etc.) and tinkering with his computers. [Hard to imagine that NOT rotting your brain!]
If I had to wait 30 years for streaming movies, think of how much fewer shows I would have been able to see! :> Or, how many extra trips to the rental store I would have had to make...
Unfortunately, the LVD's tend to suffer from "laser rot". So, I have no idea what condition my originals are in (I've transferred all of them onto DVD as many were not available in that format for a long time -- some, *still* not!)
On Wed, 10 Dec 2014 12:42:46 -0800 (PST), Lasse Langwadt Christensen Gave us:
Yeah... jittery, artifact ridden, truly sad downconversions of a downconversion. Cable and Sat TV is even badly diseased with it, and the operators are no longer even intelligent enough to spot it.
General Instrument spent years getting multiple channels into one carrier to maximize old satellite transponder utilization (MCPC) AND keep the resolution tight and clear. Then they stuffed 12 and who knows how many in there, if the starting data is already downres'd. It is really sad to see artifacts that you know were passed on to you, not generated by BER in the links.
My personal bd-dvd and hd-dvd rips are between 12 and 35 GB each, and you will not be finding them on the net. One would, however, find one on my laptop, ready to play on the flight without killing the laptop battery on the disc drive, or MY downconversion of my pristine starting rip file, for a ZERO artifact ridden android or iPad or tablet or phone playback capable file. *I* control when mushy crap video gets foisted upon me.
I mean WTF are all these cheap TB drives for, if I can't fill 'em up with my super clean rips? Maybe I should look into getting analog (to digital) rips of my LD collection too! Compare the quality changes over the years and such.
Hell, I could fit out the internet with proper, clean versions. Modern rippers are phenomenal! Still takes time though. And I was never that way as to handling my library collection.
Better than wasting it all away in here though, as it can all go on in the bkgd, and that means I am still sporting good productivity and multi-tasking with all these electrons I am spewing around in tightly controlled ways...
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