Supposedly in a few months our Golden State will ban handheld phones while driving vehicles. I wonder, does this mean farmers can’t field calls while tractoring? What about in your driveway? Today you can’t have the keys in the ignition if your drunk and parked, because conditions are such that you might drive. I wonder if an active cell phone on the passenger seat without blue tooth technology is the same. Conditions are such that the driver could make an illegal call, so therefore this is illegal too. All too confusing if you ask me.
The classic bike-car crash case of an unattractive, distracted woman on a cell phone in a beat-up station wagon making a right on red turn that didn’t see the law-obeying, alert bicyclist -- this nearly occurred this morning on Franklin Blvd. What a bitch. I have mixed feelings about this new law, because I will be the first one to violate it. I make about two to three phone calls a year while driving and I’ll be damned if I’m gonna buy the stuff needed for hands free chatting and then gear-it-up every time I get in the car for the eventuality that I have to talk on the phone.
Just like more and more people are pretending to drive with a license and insurance, they will also likely only pretend to be using a hands-free phone. It seems to be an unenforceable law that only matters if it can be shown, after the fact, that an accident was partly attributed to the illegal use of a cell phone.
I think it’s just that I’ve got this terrible bias against cell phones. I find the ringing of one in a meeting or gathering horrifyingly distracting, and then more so when the offender has to field the call. And with a personal ringtone to boot! I would want mine, in the blackest rap voice you can imagine, say "You got a call comin' in on your cell phone, bitch, you got a call, bitch, a call, bitch."
And the day they’re allowed on airplanes, holy shit! I see it now...I’m in the middle seat on a Delta flight to Atlanta. The guy to the left of me is returning home, calling his wife to tell her she’s gonna get the shit beat out of her when he gets home because she served him a cold breakfast that morning and he lost the account because of it. The guy on the right has just left his new girlfriend in the terminal and they’re going back and forth saying “ You hang up...no, you hang up...no, you hang up first...”
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Pee-On
I've been hesitant to check on the price of solar panels. Understandably so...if they drop in price I'll have been an idiot to install them, so ignorance is bliss.
The reason power plants weren't built in California between 1997 and 2001 was because there wasn't the all powerful market signal coming from the California ISO and Power Exchange telling power providers to do so. Too much uncertainty. Unknown future regulations/rules/tariffs/restrictions/covenants/market rules/fees/excise charges/surcharges. We had to create a crisis of supply, and then the classic overshoot of engaging in many high valued, excessive long term contracts were made to secure energy suppliers a future revenue stream for providing energy from future plants. And man, these were some of the most ridiculous financial arrangements ever dealt on behalf of the electric consumer, and I got to witness the whole fucking thing. I was telling everyone I knew how dumb it was to be signing these when energy prices were ten times their historical average, but I was just a Peon.
Fundamentally, no one will build a power plant if there isn't some degree of certainty going forward. However, that's exactly what I couldn't get, any future expectation, and it was the only way for me to have gonesolar. Again, I'm just a Peon.
I am a fan of subsidies, because without them, no one would even try solar. Manufacturers wouldn't build them, wouldn't refine their manufacturing processes or take risks in new developments, and the economics of scale would never apply. They are critical for all the emerging technologies. After they are somewhat self-delivering, they go on their own.
In my case I did get a big buydown, on the backs of both myself as a ratepayer and every other ratepayer. But if any argument is made that my own solar energy is produced on other people's capital, well, I am also the only one taking all the risk. If PV prices fall, or future energy doesn't grow as expensively as I project, well, I'm the one taking it for the team. And if I consume less, I get paid less for my energy. So I'm still the Peon. And the social benefit of clean local production is shared by all.
I decided yesterday to look up what Sharp NE165U1 panels cost. They are on average $52 more expensive than when I bought them in March of 2007. Times 12 is about six hundred bucks, or another $0.31 per DC watt. My guess is that freight is also quite a bit more due to diesel. For the time being, I'm not a Peon.
The reason power plants weren't built in California between 1997 and 2001 was because there wasn't the all powerful market signal coming from the California ISO and Power Exchange telling power providers to do so. Too much uncertainty. Unknown future regulations/rules/tariffs/restrictions/covenants/market rules/fees/excise charges/surcharges. We had to create a crisis of supply, and then the classic overshoot of engaging in many high valued, excessive long term contracts were made to secure energy suppliers a future revenue stream for providing energy from future plants. And man, these were some of the most ridiculous financial arrangements ever dealt on behalf of the electric consumer, and I got to witness the whole fucking thing. I was telling everyone I knew how dumb it was to be signing these when energy prices were ten times their historical average, but I was just a Peon.
Fundamentally, no one will build a power plant if there isn't some degree of certainty going forward. However, that's exactly what I couldn't get, any future expectation, and it was the only way for me to have gonesolar. Again, I'm just a Peon.
I am a fan of subsidies, because without them, no one would even try solar. Manufacturers wouldn't build them, wouldn't refine their manufacturing processes or take risks in new developments, and the economics of scale would never apply. They are critical for all the emerging technologies. After they are somewhat self-delivering, they go on their own.
In my case I did get a big buydown, on the backs of both myself as a ratepayer and every other ratepayer. But if any argument is made that my own solar energy is produced on other people's capital, well, I am also the only one taking all the risk. If PV prices fall, or future energy doesn't grow as expensively as I project, well, I'm the one taking it for the team. And if I consume less, I get paid less for my energy. So I'm still the Peon. And the social benefit of clean local production is shared by all.
I decided yesterday to look up what Sharp NE165U1 panels cost. They are on average $52 more expensive than when I bought them in March of 2007. Times 12 is about six hundred bucks, or another $0.31 per DC watt. My guess is that freight is also quite a bit more due to diesel. For the time being, I'm not a Peon.
Powerman 50,000
Across the street at my first house I remember the old couple had this huge front yard tree. The Zimmerman's were a fine, upstanding Christian couple, he a minister in his early years. I suppose I will be rude about it...there aren't any Christian environmentalists...he had the tree chopped down one day, out of the blue -- it had to have been there for at least 25 years, based on its size, and I probably think more like 30 years.
I came home one day to see this tree being mulched, and stunned I asked the old man why. He was tired of the bugs that the tree 'produced'; not getting in the house, but getting on him between the house and his truck. That was it...not roots tearing up the sidewalk or lawn, or it was rotten and threatened the house, or that he needed fuel for the hearth, or that there was sap or aphid shit on his truck...but some bugs that dangled from the branches and he couldn't take it.
Dale and Jeannie, next door to him, also couldn't believe it. Worse for them, the full power of the afternoon sun now beamed on their southern exposure that for years was shaded.
I'm going to guess that if he lived on 41st street and Folsom, among the huge formal sycamores, it'd be illegal to chop it down. The couple died a few years back. That tree would have still been there if not for this insane act, still shading the houses, still providing some sort of cover for mockingbirds, squirrels, and yes, bugs.
I lament the loss of that tree more than the passing of that couple. A perfect example of man's domination over earth's natural resources run amok. We are still doing it today...let's raze the equivalent of two Belgiums to grow algae in the tropics to produce fuel. It's interesting today, today! the debate over bio-fuels, and how there are some decrying the conversion of food to fuel in the current economic environment. Not 500 days ago the economic environment was 'favorable.' Now it's not? Just five hundred days later? What about 5,000 days from now? 50,000?
We are going to reverse course a thousand times between now and some ambiguous future date when we live sustainably. One way of the other, the end result is the same, but for now, we've somehow collectively made the decision that the raping of Mother Earth is inevitable, so she should just relax and enjoy it.
My guess is, that 50,000 days from now, a couple living in Sacramento will learn to live with bugs, like people who lived in Sacramento 50,000 days ago.
I came home one day to see this tree being mulched, and stunned I asked the old man why. He was tired of the bugs that the tree 'produced'; not getting in the house, but getting on him between the house and his truck. That was it...not roots tearing up the sidewalk or lawn, or it was rotten and threatened the house, or that he needed fuel for the hearth, or that there was sap or aphid shit on his truck...but some bugs that dangled from the branches and he couldn't take it.
Dale and Jeannie, next door to him, also couldn't believe it. Worse for them, the full power of the afternoon sun now beamed on their southern exposure that for years was shaded.
I'm going to guess that if he lived on 41st street and Folsom, among the huge formal sycamores, it'd be illegal to chop it down. The couple died a few years back. That tree would have still been there if not for this insane act, still shading the houses, still providing some sort of cover for mockingbirds, squirrels, and yes, bugs.
I lament the loss of that tree more than the passing of that couple. A perfect example of man's domination over earth's natural resources run amok. We are still doing it today...let's raze the equivalent of two Belgiums to grow algae in the tropics to produce fuel. It's interesting today, today! the debate over bio-fuels, and how there are some decrying the conversion of food to fuel in the current economic environment. Not 500 days ago the economic environment was 'favorable.' Now it's not? Just five hundred days later? What about 5,000 days from now? 50,000?
We are going to reverse course a thousand times between now and some ambiguous future date when we live sustainably. One way of the other, the end result is the same, but for now, we've somehow collectively made the decision that the raping of Mother Earth is inevitable, so she should just relax and enjoy it.
My guess is, that 50,000 days from now, a couple living in Sacramento will learn to live with bugs, like people who lived in Sacramento 50,000 days ago.
Monday, May 5, 2008
Blackjack
Mowed the lawn today. Until I cannot move around anymore, I will probably continue to do my own yardwork. I recall my friend Kevin Graves, before his death in 2006, said paying $70/month for lawn care was the best thing he ever did. They'd come around 4 times a month, edge, fertilize, and fix sprinklers on occasion.
So ever since then, every time I'm out there sweating my ass off in the Sacramento heat, I think, man, twenty one bucks for someone else to do this today. The whole time I'm pushing that mower, I think of that twenty one bucks. 21 dollars...My yard is more complicated than his was, so I estimate twenty one bucks a week, for someone to edge, blow, mow, and trim the trees.
I earn what, $45 an hour? And it takes me two to three hours to do a complete job. Clearly, my time is more valuable spending it elsewhere. But, I'm still out there. This is a sign of the times. I mentioned a neighbor not acknowledging her lawn workers. And most neighbors these days farm out their landscape work, perhaps two thirds of all my neighbors. And I can see their point.
But my point is that while I don't necessarily enjoy it, I do find it somewhat aerobic, I need all the exercise I can get, and I mentally calculate what that 21 bucks would buy me...maybe two extra lunches out per week. And consider the social cost of having someone or someones drive to my house and do the work. It seems appropriate to do it myself, doesn't cost a thing, and I limit the amount of net energy needed to perform the function.
Sure, I could use a pushmower, hand trim the edges and weed by hand, compost all trimmings and leaves, and use a broom and really make this an exercise in 'green' living. But, at least I have made some efforts here. It is cumulative. This is one small part in an overall system of trying to do better.
So ever since then, every time I'm out there sweating my ass off in the Sacramento heat, I think, man, twenty one bucks for someone else to do this today. The whole time I'm pushing that mower, I think of that twenty one bucks. 21 dollars...My yard is more complicated than his was, so I estimate twenty one bucks a week, for someone to edge, blow, mow, and trim the trees.
I earn what, $45 an hour? And it takes me two to three hours to do a complete job. Clearly, my time is more valuable spending it elsewhere. But, I'm still out there. This is a sign of the times. I mentioned a neighbor not acknowledging her lawn workers. And most neighbors these days farm out their landscape work, perhaps two thirds of all my neighbors. And I can see their point.
But my point is that while I don't necessarily enjoy it, I do find it somewhat aerobic, I need all the exercise I can get, and I mentally calculate what that 21 bucks would buy me...maybe two extra lunches out per week. And consider the social cost of having someone or someones drive to my house and do the work. It seems appropriate to do it myself, doesn't cost a thing, and I limit the amount of net energy needed to perform the function.
Sure, I could use a pushmower, hand trim the edges and weed by hand, compost all trimmings and leaves, and use a broom and really make this an exercise in 'green' living. But, at least I have made some efforts here. It is cumulative. This is one small part in an overall system of trying to do better.
Sunday, May 4, 2008
My Great Paradox
In general, I still think most of the really good durable shit is still produced here in the U.S. -- furnaces, railroad axles, manhole covers, mining equipment, hardcover books, carpet, microprocessors, power transformers, dentist drills, etc.
But as I look around my room here, I can rattle off all the items not produced in my own country: scotch tape, computer speakers and printer, ball point pens, lampshade, light bulb, iPod speakers, CD rack, television, electric pencil sharpener, glass chess set, power strips, paperclip holder, Easter basket, massage chair...and the shirt on my back.
But the stapler...man, this thing was built well, by Arrow in Brooklyn. And it looks old, like maybe 1988. That is old in household equipment terms. As I look around -- what else might also have been produced 20 years ago? The answer is nothing. Not even my room is 20 years old.
What in this room will still be in service in 2028? Outside of my picture frames, some books, and a small shelving unit I built a few years back, I suspect nothing will survive. Except maybe the stapler. Tastes change, the lamp will get tossed, the window shades will be changed, the particle board furniture will dissolve, the phones will break -- all these and all my son's toys will end up in the landfill.
So it is that consumer spending drives most of our economy. What I have to do, which will be impossible, is to learn to live without a clock in the room. Or a game console, or two cordless phones. Or a glass chess set that has never once been played. It will be impossible, because I live in a family that does not choose to stop consuming. The drive to change simply isn't there, and I won't make any effort to try because I also value my relationships.
So I make personal decisions, and that's the best I can do. Just like I can't change a sheet metal worker's commuting habits, I can't change my own families' habits either. Reducing consumption is something they and the majority of Americans don't value. And I can see why, what with all the advertising, the Jones' next door, and the ability to buy a shitload of cheap merchandise from cheap overseas labor.
So this is My Great Paradox -- I'll claim I live a life of personal virtue, commuting by bike and bus and the like, and all the while owing three vehicles, a boat, two computers, five televisions and three refrigerators in the distant suburbs in a big house filled to the rafters with foreign merchandise with no hope of ever being able to live without all this stuff.
But as I look around my room here, I can rattle off all the items not produced in my own country: scotch tape, computer speakers and printer, ball point pens, lampshade, light bulb, iPod speakers, CD rack, television, electric pencil sharpener, glass chess set, power strips, paperclip holder, Easter basket, massage chair...and the shirt on my back.
But the stapler...man, this thing was built well, by Arrow in Brooklyn. And it looks old, like maybe 1988. That is old in household equipment terms. As I look around -- what else might also have been produced 20 years ago? The answer is nothing. Not even my room is 20 years old.
What in this room will still be in service in 2028? Outside of my picture frames, some books, and a small shelving unit I built a few years back, I suspect nothing will survive. Except maybe the stapler. Tastes change, the lamp will get tossed, the window shades will be changed, the particle board furniture will dissolve, the phones will break -- all these and all my son's toys will end up in the landfill.
So it is that consumer spending drives most of our economy. What I have to do, which will be impossible, is to learn to live without a clock in the room. Or a game console, or two cordless phones. Or a glass chess set that has never once been played. It will be impossible, because I live in a family that does not choose to stop consuming. The drive to change simply isn't there, and I won't make any effort to try because I also value my relationships.
So I make personal decisions, and that's the best I can do. Just like I can't change a sheet metal worker's commuting habits, I can't change my own families' habits either. Reducing consumption is something they and the majority of Americans don't value. And I can see why, what with all the advertising, the Jones' next door, and the ability to buy a shitload of cheap merchandise from cheap overseas labor.
So this is My Great Paradox -- I'll claim I live a life of personal virtue, commuting by bike and bus and the like, and all the while owing three vehicles, a boat, two computers, five televisions and three refrigerators in the distant suburbs in a big house filled to the rafters with foreign merchandise with no hope of ever being able to live without all this stuff.
The Sacrifices of Conservation
Today I took the time to fix the dryer -- Yoli & Tyler mentioned the other day that the laundry room felt like the Amazon. I cleaned out the exhaust vent and fixed the leak.
I also, finally, discovered and fixed the problem with the stereo. Now we get sound, and, just as important, I put the entire system on one of the powerstrips that I already had behind the cabinet and put it in an accessible spot. Now, the subwoofer and the standby receiver, which for 6 straight years had been constantly on, can now be turned off when not in use. It is off as I write...
This is a classic case of a phantom load. I'm going to guess that I'll save about $10 a year in energy not to be powering this stuff. I am never home alone, so I rarely get to use the stereo (as the resident metalhead). At least now it's not also drawing energy while I'm not listening to it.
$10 bucks, that equates to say 90 kWh per year. My solar panels would take 10-11 days to produce that much energy. What this is telling me, is that I should have done this first. I should have spent the effort to find and eliminate these phantom loads well before I bought solar panels.
Without a tool to help me identify what each load in the house draws, I am only guessing. I guess 90 kWh. If I could know ahead of time how much each item drew, I would likely have discovered this earlier and acted earlier. Ten dollars a year, what, eighty cents a month? Who gives a shit about eighty cents? I'd lose that much in 3 seconds with a single pull of a slot machine in Reno.
The thing is, I knew about that subwoofer ever since I bough it. It is out of sight. Every so often I'd have to get behind the TV, and then I'd see it and think 'damn!, that thing is on all the time'...but I still didn't do anything about it. The subwoofer is a perfect example of what a fucking waste of money I've spent on things earlier in my life. How many times have I used it? Fifty? Seventy Five? And what did I spend...$189? $249? I don't even know.
Granted, when I do use it, I enjoy it...but I have finally learned that the acquisition of such shit doesn't make me any happier. I spent more time thinking about it being on than listening to it! When it woofs for the last time, I will not buy another. I will accept that I may not get to hear the bass lines of Exodus or Death Angel as they were meant to be heard. Such are the sacrifices of consumptive conservation.
So I will spend the time, in the near future, to hire professionals to analyze my house and list out the changes I can make to 1) be more comfortable in the summer/winter and 2) reduce energy usage. These things will likely be as obvious as the subwoofer load, but because I choose not to 'see' them, they are eating away at my paycheck and comfort.
This will change.
I also, finally, discovered and fixed the problem with the stereo. Now we get sound, and, just as important, I put the entire system on one of the powerstrips that I already had behind the cabinet and put it in an accessible spot. Now, the subwoofer and the standby receiver, which for 6 straight years had been constantly on, can now be turned off when not in use. It is off as I write...
This is a classic case of a phantom load. I'm going to guess that I'll save about $10 a year in energy not to be powering this stuff. I am never home alone, so I rarely get to use the stereo (as the resident metalhead). At least now it's not also drawing energy while I'm not listening to it.
$10 bucks, that equates to say 90 kWh per year. My solar panels would take 10-11 days to produce that much energy. What this is telling me, is that I should have done this first. I should have spent the effort to find and eliminate these phantom loads well before I bought solar panels.
Without a tool to help me identify what each load in the house draws, I am only guessing. I guess 90 kWh. If I could know ahead of time how much each item drew, I would likely have discovered this earlier and acted earlier. Ten dollars a year, what, eighty cents a month? Who gives a shit about eighty cents? I'd lose that much in 3 seconds with a single pull of a slot machine in Reno.
The thing is, I knew about that subwoofer ever since I bough it. It is out of sight. Every so often I'd have to get behind the TV, and then I'd see it and think 'damn!, that thing is on all the time'...but I still didn't do anything about it. The subwoofer is a perfect example of what a fucking waste of money I've spent on things earlier in my life. How many times have I used it? Fifty? Seventy Five? And what did I spend...$189? $249? I don't even know.
Granted, when I do use it, I enjoy it...but I have finally learned that the acquisition of such shit doesn't make me any happier. I spent more time thinking about it being on than listening to it! When it woofs for the last time, I will not buy another. I will accept that I may not get to hear the bass lines of Exodus or Death Angel as they were meant to be heard. Such are the sacrifices of consumptive conservation.
So I will spend the time, in the near future, to hire professionals to analyze my house and list out the changes I can make to 1) be more comfortable in the summer/winter and 2) reduce energy usage. These things will likely be as obvious as the subwoofer load, but because I choose not to 'see' them, they are eating away at my paycheck and comfort.
This will change.
Saturday, May 3, 2008
Schutzstaffel
I broke two rear wheel spokes this afternoon on my ride home, right during acceleration out of a stoplight on 65th street. Bummer. I was able to loosen two on the other side and fixed the wobble, unbelievably so, it worked perfectly. I gingerly rode the remaining 8 miles home.
Compare this to Hillary's commute in a much finer chariot the other day, in a sheet metal worker's borrowed F250 truck. Trailing her were six Suburbans, two squad cars, and a green SUV which carried the press to document said commute.
I realize I bike so that I do not compete for gas with sheet metal workers in Indiana. Oddly, the more I bike and the less fuel I use, the lower the price of fuel becomes so that sheet metal workers can buy more. There doesn't appear to be any net reduction due to my actions. If gas drops in price, both through my lack of use and/or her proposal to suspend the use tax, then sheet metal workers can drive to holiday this summer, instead of just barbequing in the backyard.
Although the F250 was borrowed to accommodate Hillary's Schutzstaffel, this sheet metal worker normally drives a F150 and his wife a Suburban, both of which are necessary to navigate their 1,200-foot dirt driveway in the southern city of Plymouth, IN - and assuming he lives on the north side of town and works in south South Bend, he faces a smart 22-mile one-way commute. Hillary picked up his $60 gas tab. Half a tank. I dunno, a F150 these days might get 18mpg on the freeway. So 2.5 gallons per day, or a total gas cost of nine bucks. What does he make, say $28/hour? I really don't know, he's a unionized worker, wages are usually pretty fair. He only needs to work less than a half hour each day to cover gas. The truck and suburban payments, registration, maintenance and insurance are likely 5 times that.
There is almost nothing more that needs to be said. Such a stark example of why things are so fuckered up. Consider this playing out every day, in every state, in every region, in every city, in every neighborhood. And the future holds that the Hangzhou resident who also can't take the city life will be soon commuting from the future Hangzhou suburb of Shaoxing...
I lament that I won't be around in the future to see the changes we will have to make regarding oil-based commuting. I will likely die of lung cancer breathing in all the fumes during my rides well before we make any serious attempt to change our domestic behavior. But I'm in the 5th stage now, so I accept it. I do well and that's all I can do, and in the meantime, I will will enjoy hearing about sheet metal workers' pain at the gas station.
Their pain is constant and sharp, and they do not hope for a better world for anyone. In fact, they want their pain to be inflicted on others...
Compare this to Hillary's commute in a much finer chariot the other day, in a sheet metal worker's borrowed F250 truck. Trailing her were six Suburbans, two squad cars, and a green SUV which carried the press to document said commute.
I realize I bike so that I do not compete for gas with sheet metal workers in Indiana. Oddly, the more I bike and the less fuel I use, the lower the price of fuel becomes so that sheet metal workers can buy more. There doesn't appear to be any net reduction due to my actions. If gas drops in price, both through my lack of use and/or her proposal to suspend the use tax, then sheet metal workers can drive to holiday this summer, instead of just barbequing in the backyard.
Although the F250 was borrowed to accommodate Hillary's Schutzstaffel, this sheet metal worker normally drives a F150 and his wife a Suburban, both of which are necessary to navigate their 1,200-foot dirt driveway in the southern city of Plymouth, IN - and assuming he lives on the north side of town and works in south South Bend, he faces a smart 22-mile one-way commute. Hillary picked up his $60 gas tab. Half a tank. I dunno, a F150 these days might get 18mpg on the freeway. So 2.5 gallons per day, or a total gas cost of nine bucks. What does he make, say $28/hour? I really don't know, he's a unionized worker, wages are usually pretty fair. He only needs to work less than a half hour each day to cover gas. The truck and suburban payments, registration, maintenance and insurance are likely 5 times that.
There is almost nothing more that needs to be said. Such a stark example of why things are so fuckered up. Consider this playing out every day, in every state, in every region, in every city, in every neighborhood. And the future holds that the Hangzhou resident who also can't take the city life will be soon commuting from the future Hangzhou suburb of Shaoxing...
I lament that I won't be around in the future to see the changes we will have to make regarding oil-based commuting. I will likely die of lung cancer breathing in all the fumes during my rides well before we make any serious attempt to change our domestic behavior. But I'm in the 5th stage now, so I accept it. I do well and that's all I can do, and in the meantime, I will will enjoy hearing about sheet metal workers' pain at the gas station.
Their pain is constant and sharp, and they do not hope for a better world for anyone. In fact, they want their pain to be inflicted on others...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
