An inspiring story there. The reason I bring it up is that I want to get at something that may be a part of what's going wrong.
When things went wrong up there, the first thing they said was : "Houston, we have a problem." Yes, indeed, they had a problem. A very big, big problem. A life-threatening problem. If that problem doesn't get solved, they don't live through it. It was a survival situation in space.
What happens when you have a problem? Is the reaction like this: "Oh my God!, I've got a problem! What can I do? I think I'll just go crawl into a hole and die." No, of course not. More than likely, you decide real quick if you can handle it, and if you cannot, you seek someone to help you with it. Going into a corner, crawling into a fetal position, and beginning to suck your thumb is just not going to be sufficient. But that seems to be what a lot people do these days.
It may be what somebody does when nobody is around to help. The situation may be novel, like Apollo 13, and there's just nobody there to help you. All those guys had were their radios and what they had available in their crippled space ship, plus the people on the ground who can help them make the most of what they had. They had no other choice. There's no 9-1-1 to call out there. You suck it up and get it done yourself, or you just die.
The most inspiring part of that story to me, which was dramatized in the movie by Ron Howard, is when they improvised a solution of how to fit a square peg into a round hole. They had to make that work or they weren't going to make it. Basically, they made it work by creating something out of nothing and putting it all together to adapt two pieces that weren't designed to fit together. If the plan to make that device could not be communicated, or could not be improvised, they would have died. Everything they did to make this work is just amazing and inspirational at the same time. By all rights, these guys should be dead. But they made it back because they solved the problem instead of letting the problem beat them.
Too many of us are letting our problems get the best of us. We are like the Apollo 13 astronauts. We have to make do with what we have. We have to make what we have work. Sometimes there's just no other choice. The thing to do is to work the problem until you can't work it anymore. At the end of everything, you either make it or you don't. But you'll never make it if you give up. I think that's what's happening. People decide that a problem is just too big and they give up. When you do that, you might as well be committing suicide.
Is that what we all wish for ourselves? Just die and get it over with?
I'm going to hang with the problem until it beats me or I beat it. What about you? As far as I'm concerned, I'm on Apollo 13. Houston, we have a solution. ( dammit )
Al Fin: "Cowboy Commentary", aka "Eat your veggies" The Flag banner is posted in order to defy those who would make patriotic symbols illegal or disreputable.
Saturday, October 4, 2014
Recap of last weeks posts 10/4/14
As usual, been looking at how popular certain posts are so as to give a highlight of the week: Nothing much grabbed people this week, but this one made the biggest splash
tablets making machine powder granules herbal
By the way, I wasn't try to find ways to make pills, but to make small pieces that I could meter accurately for a gasifier. Making pills does sound more interesting for some of you, I'm sure, ya little rascals...
And in addition to that, I scout around previous post to see which ones made the "Best of" list
tablets making machine powder granules herbal
By the way, I wasn't try to find ways to make pills, but to make small pieces that I could meter accurately for a gasifier. Making pills does sound more interesting for some of you, I'm sure, ya little rascals...
And in addition to that, I scout around previous post to see which ones made the "Best of" list
Water filtration lab 10/4/14
The lab is part of a study in how to recycle grey water. The first few experiments dealt with filtration through sand. The results there were clear water, with a yellow tint from the charcoal filtering. Less than what I would have liked, but something.
I have now moved on to the other half of a proposed apparatus. This part involves using the humidifier/condenser apparatus that I've been experimenting with lately. Today, I've run 2 tests on the device, but with results hardly any different from the one test I ran last week. In other words, the experiment has not improved performance much at all.
The last run lost about 3 ounces of water. Slightly better than before, but the collection methods may have accounted for that. The breakdown is 13 ounces recovered in all, in which about 9 were unused and still in the humidifier, and about 4 were collected in that device.
The collection device is a plastic container, which is about 10 gallons in size. It has a somewhat loose fitting lid, in which a certain amount of mist came out of during the runs. A hose from the vacuum cleaner fit into a cut area on the top of the lid. The other end of the hose fit on top of an Ozarka water bottle combined with a Dr. Pepper 2 liter bottle which fit together snugly so as to prevent leakage. Further blocking of leakage was attempted with duct tape fitted all around areas that might seep vapors. These worked fairly well, as most of the condensation took place in the Ozarka bottle and the plastic collection container.
There were was some leakage which was captured by some aluminum foil.
This last run, I added several cold "bricks", which are normally used in order to keep lunches cold. This extra coldness inside of the plastic container made little difference in the performance. This was not expected.
It made no difference how many bricks were added nor what kind of materials used. It may be better to use the bricks inside of a metal container, however. A "coozie" does not seem work at all. The coozie that I used absorbed the moisture and left hardly nothing to be collected.
Perhaps one more run might be attempted. This time, liberally use the aluminum foil inside of the container. Put all cold objects inside of metal containers. I'm guessing that metal works better because it is a better conductor of heat. As the metal foil was hot last week, I'm guessing that the cold objects may help keep them cool and that will aid in condensation.
Update:
I did another run with the same results. I didn't use aluminum as mentioned above. I think the results are actually quite good, as far as condensation goes. The water is going into areas in which it can be collected. It only appears that I'm losing a lot because it is a large proportion of the water being used. A full run would use up all the water that the unit can handle before being refilled. I think it will hold nearly a half gallon of water, or about 2 liters. I'm using about a fourth and the machine is only using about half of that. It can run a lot longer than what I'm attempting on each trip. After running for about 8 hours, or until empty, then check it out for performance. I'm thinking that a larger proportion of the water can be collected.
I have now moved on to the other half of a proposed apparatus. This part involves using the humidifier/condenser apparatus that I've been experimenting with lately. Today, I've run 2 tests on the device, but with results hardly any different from the one test I ran last week. In other words, the experiment has not improved performance much at all.
The last run lost about 3 ounces of water. Slightly better than before, but the collection methods may have accounted for that. The breakdown is 13 ounces recovered in all, in which about 9 were unused and still in the humidifier, and about 4 were collected in that device.
The collection device is a plastic container, which is about 10 gallons in size. It has a somewhat loose fitting lid, in which a certain amount of mist came out of during the runs. A hose from the vacuum cleaner fit into a cut area on the top of the lid. The other end of the hose fit on top of an Ozarka water bottle combined with a Dr. Pepper 2 liter bottle which fit together snugly so as to prevent leakage. Further blocking of leakage was attempted with duct tape fitted all around areas that might seep vapors. These worked fairly well, as most of the condensation took place in the Ozarka bottle and the plastic collection container.
There were was some leakage which was captured by some aluminum foil.
This last run, I added several cold "bricks", which are normally used in order to keep lunches cold. This extra coldness inside of the plastic container made little difference in the performance. This was not expected.
It made no difference how many bricks were added nor what kind of materials used. It may be better to use the bricks inside of a metal container, however. A "coozie" does not seem work at all. The coozie that I used absorbed the moisture and left hardly nothing to be collected.
Perhaps one more run might be attempted. This time, liberally use the aluminum foil inside of the container. Put all cold objects inside of metal containers. I'm guessing that metal works better because it is a better conductor of heat. As the metal foil was hot last week, I'm guessing that the cold objects may help keep them cool and that will aid in condensation.
Update:
I did another run with the same results. I didn't use aluminum as mentioned above. I think the results are actually quite good, as far as condensation goes. The water is going into areas in which it can be collected. It only appears that I'm losing a lot because it is a large proportion of the water being used. A full run would use up all the water that the unit can handle before being refilled. I think it will hold nearly a half gallon of water, or about 2 liters. I'm using about a fourth and the machine is only using about half of that. It can run a lot longer than what I'm attempting on each trip. After running for about 8 hours, or until empty, then check it out for performance. I'm thinking that a larger proportion of the water can be collected.
Belated Thought on the Road: Moving out west soon?
This is a belated post because it got too busy yesterday to post anything on the road, so I'm doing it this morning.
Here's what I wrote initially:
I want to look at the possibility of moving out to my property in the spring. Until now, I've always assumed that it would be impossible. I'm willing to consider possibility that I am wrong.
Without a cash source, it would be impossible. But with a slow, slow cash burn, it may be possible. Besides, it may also be possible to earn an income from the property. I'm not counting on that though.
What would the cash burn consist of, and how much?
I would need to buy food in the beginning. For that matter, I would have to buy most everything. I'd be saving money on rent, which at present, is a complete waste of money. That alone will cut down considerably on the cash burn. Growing food will cut down a lot, too. Another big expense is energy, which I hope to cut down as well. If all this can be done, the case burn will get down to a number of items that must be purchased outside. If I can get this down to a few hundred dollars per month, I just might make it out there. For awhile, at least.
All this depends upon getting these things accomplished, and that is why the recycling of water is so important. With water, things become possible. Without it, it is impossible. But clean water depends on energy, so if you have energy, water becomes available. The amount of energy available to me could be vastly greater than what I need. I just have to be able to utilize a small portion of that, and I will succeed.
Finally, the time table. I've got to next spring to decide. My lease runs out then, so at that time, I will have to decide whether or not to renew, or to bug out.
Here's what I wrote initially:
I want to look at the possibility of moving out to my property in the spring. Until now, I've always assumed that it would be impossible. I'm willing to consider possibility that I am wrong.
Without a cash source, it would be impossible. But with a slow, slow cash burn, it may be possible. Besides, it may also be possible to earn an income from the property. I'm not counting on that though.
What would the cash burn consist of, and how much?
I would need to buy food in the beginning. For that matter, I would have to buy most everything. I'd be saving money on rent, which at present, is a complete waste of money. That alone will cut down considerably on the cash burn. Growing food will cut down a lot, too. Another big expense is energy, which I hope to cut down as well. If all this can be done, the case burn will get down to a number of items that must be purchased outside. If I can get this down to a few hundred dollars per month, I just might make it out there. For awhile, at least.
All this depends upon getting these things accomplished, and that is why the recycling of water is so important. With water, things become possible. Without it, it is impossible. But clean water depends on energy, so if you have energy, water becomes available. The amount of energy available to me could be vastly greater than what I need. I just have to be able to utilize a small portion of that, and I will succeed.
Finally, the time table. I've got to next spring to decide. My lease runs out then, so at that time, I will have to decide whether or not to renew, or to bug out.
Friday, October 3, 2014
New Humidifier/Condenser set up
I was really hot to trot to try this new setup for my water filtration experiment. Basically, I just wanted to see how it all worked. I ran it for one hour and collected 4 ounces. This was similar to what I got last weekend.
The difference this time is that I diverted the water collection away from the machine. It stayed mostly dry, while most of the condensation took place inside of the plastic container.
No attempt was made to test efficiency.
There's some room for improvement in the results, or at least I hope so.
Here are some videos describing the setup and results.
Humidifier condenses and collects water:
Humidifier experiment part 2:
Humidifier experiment part 3 results:
Update ( Saturday morning, first thing ):
Just completed the second run. The significant change was the addition of a frozen cooling thingie that I used for my lunch bucket. It went into the cooler. The idea was to get more condensation in the plastic container. The interesting thing is it didn't. Most of the condensation took place in the Ozarka bottle on top of the humidifier! It pushed the condensation backwards toward the source. A second thing I noticed was that it caused freezing on the cooling thingie. Water ice got on it. How much? Not much, but noticeable.
The amount of water collected was only slightly increased. I did note how much was used, and about 3 ounces of water was lost. Just under 25%, since I used exactly one pint of water.
I will try again later today.
The difference this time is that I diverted the water collection away from the machine. It stayed mostly dry, while most of the condensation took place inside of the plastic container.
No attempt was made to test efficiency.
There's some room for improvement in the results, or at least I hope so.
Here are some videos describing the setup and results.
Humidifier condenses and collects water:
Humidifier experiment part 2:
Humidifier experiment part 3 results:
Update ( Saturday morning, first thing ):
Just completed the second run. The significant change was the addition of a frozen cooling thingie that I used for my lunch bucket. It went into the cooler. The idea was to get more condensation in the plastic container. The interesting thing is it didn't. Most of the condensation took place in the Ozarka bottle on top of the humidifier! It pushed the condensation backwards toward the source. A second thing I noticed was that it caused freezing on the cooling thingie. Water ice got on it. How much? Not much, but noticeable.
The amount of water collected was only slightly increased. I did note how much was used, and about 3 ounces of water was lost. Just under 25%, since I used exactly one pint of water.
I will try again later today.
Quickie on Ebola
I haven't commented upon Ebola. Ebola as a topic is like a lot of things in this culture. It is fashionable to talk about, but not necessarily fashionable to actually do anything about.
It's also like terrorism in one respect, and that is in the way it can be avoided. How? Keep them out of the country. Nobody coming in from that region means nobody is likely to transmit the disease to anybody here. Problem solved. Next problem please.
Could it be that our country has become dumbed down? Why, hell yes. Barnhardt put up a link to the IQ's of various nations. It used to be policy that we favored the immigration of the highest IQ groups. Not anymore. It shouldn't be a surprise then, that we have an Ebola case now. The IQ has been been dumbed down, just like our population has been dumbed down. Just like our education has been dumbed down. Just like our information providers have been dumbed down.
Somebody in the upper echelons of government wants the country dumbed down and they are succeeding.
What do you do about this?
I'm scratching my head on that one. I've certainly offered my ideas on how to improve things, but it doesn't generate much interest.
It's also like terrorism in one respect, and that is in the way it can be avoided. How? Keep them out of the country. Nobody coming in from that region means nobody is likely to transmit the disease to anybody here. Problem solved. Next problem please.
Could it be that our country has become dumbed down? Why, hell yes. Barnhardt put up a link to the IQ's of various nations. It used to be policy that we favored the immigration of the highest IQ groups. Not anymore. It shouldn't be a surprise then, that we have an Ebola case now. The IQ has been been dumbed down, just like our population has been dumbed down. Just like our education has been dumbed down. Just like our information providers have been dumbed down.
Somebody in the upper echelons of government wants the country dumbed down and they are succeeding.
What do you do about this?
I'm scratching my head on that one. I've certainly offered my ideas on how to improve things, but it doesn't generate much interest.
Review of what I've done so far
Woke up early this morning. Early for me, that is. Okay, for some people, it is late in the evening, still. For me, it is early in the morning.
I started to think about my trips out to Sierra Blanca and how they have been disappointing in the sense of how little I got done. But that's being too hard on myself. After some thought about how many things could have gone wrong and did go wrong, I'd have to say that I got about as much done as I was going to get done. The need therefore is to have realistic expectations. It is a challenging environment and nothing much is going to get done beyond just getting there.
Considering everything that can go wrong, there could be a nightmare scenario on every trip I take out there. That it hasn't happened yet doesn't mean that it can't happen. As a matter of fact, it is probably going to happen on one of these trips one of these days. I haven't thought about that enough, and I don't want to think about it. It is not a pleasant thing to think about that I just might get myself into a survival situation on one of these trips.
Examples? First trip could have resulted in getting stuck in the soft dirt or mud that was in the road. If I had pushed just a little bit harder, it would have been a nightmare scenario. It would have been because I just wasn't prepared for the nightmare scenario. No communication, no food, no water. Miles away from help. That would have been big trouble.
Second trip? Too much dust. It is conceivable that this could cause a mechanical breakdown.
Third trip? Mesquite thorn went through my shoe, but did not stick into my foot. There's nothing but dumb luck there that I didn't have a medical situation. What then if that had happened? A story here about something similar that did happen: My brother "Worf" liked to go around barefoot. He stepped on something once and cut his foot. He arrived ( "home" because we were out of town) bleeding all over the place. Whatever he had stepped on had struck an artery and he was bleeding profusely. He was taken to a doctor and he was fixed up okay, but a doctor was nearby on that occasion. Compared to that real life scenario, mine could have been a whole lot worse if that thorn had gone into my foot and struck an artery.
It may seem like I'm trying to hype things a bit while discussing these risks. However, I am thinking at the moment that I'm not taking things seriously enough as it is.
This realization will have to go into my thinking in terms of making my plans. That's only one thing. The other is how to get more things done, which is what is concerning me now. These trips are expensive. I need a lot to show for them, because there are limited resources here to be devoted to this.
I understood this and made a detailed plan of what I wanted to do when I made that last trip. But so many things went wrong, that I abandoned the list and didn't refer to it at all once I got there. That's another warning right there. Detailed lists of activities probably won't work.
No. But there needs to be something. A short list of objectives to refer to and the list should be short.
That means whatever reason I have in going will have to be high on the priority list and it must be kept in mind at all times.
Of course the highest priority is safety. It just won't do to go out there and get hurt or worse. Beyond that, it will have be according to discretion. Anything high risk must be balanced off against safety concerns.
Reviewing what I did on these trips, I was probably following this because I probably am going to behave that way anyway without rehearsal. The thing I need to do better is what do I do when I do have the opportunity to do something. This is what I am trying to address.
But the situation is fluid. Anything can happen out there and this could affect what you can do.
On that last trip, I didn't have any way to rest up. I didn't pay attention enough to the fact that I could indeed have significant time out there and I could stay for quite awhile. I ended up staying only a few hours. An opportunity was missed because I got too tired and there was no way to rest up. I didn't take food along either. Nor did I provide for a toilet or cleaning up. The reason I didn't do this was that I figured I could get in and out of there okay. But there was that mudhole and that was unexpected. Then there were the other things that were unexpected and went wrong. The mesquite thorns and the scooter not working. The shoes bothering my feet. The tent that I couldn't get up. And so forth.
My decision was to drive my way on through all the way home. Once I got home, I was definitely wasted.
That decision was probably the big mistake. It may have been possible to just go back to town, get a room, and try again the next day. There may have been an opportunity to do more.
The problem here, therefore, is the tendency to make rash decisions on the fly. There may not be much I can do about that. It is a tendency of mine to rush things and I knew that going in, yet I did it anyway.
The biggest problem therefore, is to overcome being your own worst enemy. Hopefully, I'm not doing that with all of this criticism.
I started to think about my trips out to Sierra Blanca and how they have been disappointing in the sense of how little I got done. But that's being too hard on myself. After some thought about how many things could have gone wrong and did go wrong, I'd have to say that I got about as much done as I was going to get done. The need therefore is to have realistic expectations. It is a challenging environment and nothing much is going to get done beyond just getting there.
Considering everything that can go wrong, there could be a nightmare scenario on every trip I take out there. That it hasn't happened yet doesn't mean that it can't happen. As a matter of fact, it is probably going to happen on one of these trips one of these days. I haven't thought about that enough, and I don't want to think about it. It is not a pleasant thing to think about that I just might get myself into a survival situation on one of these trips.
Examples? First trip could have resulted in getting stuck in the soft dirt or mud that was in the road. If I had pushed just a little bit harder, it would have been a nightmare scenario. It would have been because I just wasn't prepared for the nightmare scenario. No communication, no food, no water. Miles away from help. That would have been big trouble.
Second trip? Too much dust. It is conceivable that this could cause a mechanical breakdown.
Third trip? Mesquite thorn went through my shoe, but did not stick into my foot. There's nothing but dumb luck there that I didn't have a medical situation. What then if that had happened? A story here about something similar that did happen: My brother "Worf" liked to go around barefoot. He stepped on something once and cut his foot. He arrived ( "home" because we were out of town) bleeding all over the place. Whatever he had stepped on had struck an artery and he was bleeding profusely. He was taken to a doctor and he was fixed up okay, but a doctor was nearby on that occasion. Compared to that real life scenario, mine could have been a whole lot worse if that thorn had gone into my foot and struck an artery.
It may seem like I'm trying to hype things a bit while discussing these risks. However, I am thinking at the moment that I'm not taking things seriously enough as it is.
This realization will have to go into my thinking in terms of making my plans. That's only one thing. The other is how to get more things done, which is what is concerning me now. These trips are expensive. I need a lot to show for them, because there are limited resources here to be devoted to this.
I understood this and made a detailed plan of what I wanted to do when I made that last trip. But so many things went wrong, that I abandoned the list and didn't refer to it at all once I got there. That's another warning right there. Detailed lists of activities probably won't work.
No. But there needs to be something. A short list of objectives to refer to and the list should be short.
That means whatever reason I have in going will have to be high on the priority list and it must be kept in mind at all times.
Of course the highest priority is safety. It just won't do to go out there and get hurt or worse. Beyond that, it will have be according to discretion. Anything high risk must be balanced off against safety concerns.
Reviewing what I did on these trips, I was probably following this because I probably am going to behave that way anyway without rehearsal. The thing I need to do better is what do I do when I do have the opportunity to do something. This is what I am trying to address.
But the situation is fluid. Anything can happen out there and this could affect what you can do.
On that last trip, I didn't have any way to rest up. I didn't pay attention enough to the fact that I could indeed have significant time out there and I could stay for quite awhile. I ended up staying only a few hours. An opportunity was missed because I got too tired and there was no way to rest up. I didn't take food along either. Nor did I provide for a toilet or cleaning up. The reason I didn't do this was that I figured I could get in and out of there okay. But there was that mudhole and that was unexpected. Then there were the other things that were unexpected and went wrong. The mesquite thorns and the scooter not working. The shoes bothering my feet. The tent that I couldn't get up. And so forth.
My decision was to drive my way on through all the way home. Once I got home, I was definitely wasted.
That decision was probably the big mistake. It may have been possible to just go back to town, get a room, and try again the next day. There may have been an opportunity to do more.
The problem here, therefore, is the tendency to make rash decisions on the fly. There may not be much I can do about that. It is a tendency of mine to rush things and I knew that going in, yet I did it anyway.
The biggest problem therefore, is to overcome being your own worst enemy. Hopefully, I'm not doing that with all of this criticism.
Thursday, October 2, 2014
Thought on the road 10/2/14
kiss method ( Keep it simple, stupid )
Want to remember to keep this off-the-grid thing as simple as possible.
It is tempting to dress it up into something it ain't. All it is is me trying to survive on a piece of desert land I purchased out in West Texas. That's all it should be. Sure, it can mean much more than this, but for the sake of simplicity, it should not be emphasized. It's just me and the desert.
Not much free time today, so I had to develop this idea when I got home. And I got home late, so it is only a brief post.
Want to remember to keep this off-the-grid thing as simple as possible.
It is tempting to dress it up into something it ain't. All it is is me trying to survive on a piece of desert land I purchased out in West Texas. That's all it should be. Sure, it can mean much more than this, but for the sake of simplicity, it should not be emphasized. It's just me and the desert.
Not much free time today, so I had to develop this idea when I got home. And I got home late, so it is only a brief post.
Auger Bit Extensions - Tools - IRWIN TOOLS
Auger Bit Extensions - Tools - IRWIN TOOLS
Want to use this to drill my post holes. Use a drill in order to make it easier :-) An old dude needs all the help he can get.
Update ( Saturday morning 10/4 ):
I misplaced my drill and now I've found it! It also has a 1/2 hole borer bit that I used back then. It's been 20 years since I've last used this drill. It still works. It draws 360 watts, according to the box it came in.
It may take a bit more than what I've got in order to make what I want to make. So, I'll have an extension and an auger bit to drill down a couple feet. Pour the concrete in and set the foundation. If things work out well enough for the carport, I'll use it to make a foundation for a cabin.
This one now goes into the off the grid series. Other posts this week also could go, but I'm trying to keep this manageable.
Prev Next
Want to use this to drill my post holes. Use a drill in order to make it easier :-) An old dude needs all the help he can get.
Update ( Saturday morning 10/4 ):
I misplaced my drill and now I've found it! It also has a 1/2 hole borer bit that I used back then. It's been 20 years since I've last used this drill. It still works. It draws 360 watts, according to the box it came in.
It may take a bit more than what I've got in order to make what I want to make. So, I'll have an extension and an auger bit to drill down a couple feet. Pour the concrete in and set the foundation. If things work out well enough for the carport, I'll use it to make a foundation for a cabin.
This one now goes into the off the grid series. Other posts this week also could go, but I'm trying to keep this manageable.
Prev Next
Time is running (out ) again, drat it ---corrected
So, only one post this morning, and I promised more.
I'm trying.
One other thing of note this am was that I was reading Ann Barnhardt's latest about money, and it struck me at how close it resembled what I wrote earlier. So, the question arose: Did I rip off her ideas? I try not to do things like that, as I give attributions to what I read or see. But I do get lazy a lot, and may have forgotten at some point.
But some things I write about I know are original. That bit about the Fed Funds rate dropping to zero as a part of a trend---that's original. I came up with one long before I heard of Ann Barnhardt. I came up with that one over 10 years ago. It was part of my successful analysis of the monetary situation as I saw it and led to one of my best ever trades in the market. I made plenty ( by my terms ) off gold. It would not have been possible without understanding this one key fact. The thing that is puzzling these days is the fact that gold is in a downturn. Why? Nothing has changed. They are still inflating the currency. The only thing that could be the case is that the market hasn't caught on to that yet. An opportunity, that.
By the way, I was thinking about my laziness as one of the Seven Deadly Sins. That sin would be Gluttony. Yeah, it might explain why I got so fat. They've got scales in a lot of these warehouses, and I got on one yesterday. Gained some more weight. Arg! Been eating too much and not getting enough exercise. Gluttony, I tell you. It must be one of the defining terms of my character, I'm sorry to say.
Er, I just reviewed the Wikipedia Entry for the Seven Deadly Sins. Maybe sloth would be the better description. It might well be because it is why I get sloppy, too. So much for gazing at my navel, time to get to work. I really hate that.
I'm trying.
One other thing of note this am was that I was reading Ann Barnhardt's latest about money, and it struck me at how close it resembled what I wrote earlier. So, the question arose: Did I rip off her ideas? I try not to do things like that, as I give attributions to what I read or see. But I do get lazy a lot, and may have forgotten at some point.
But some things I write about I know are original. That bit about the Fed Funds rate dropping to zero as a part of a trend---that's original. I came up with one long before I heard of Ann Barnhardt. I came up with that one over 10 years ago. It was part of my successful analysis of the monetary situation as I saw it and led to one of my best ever trades in the market. I made plenty ( by my terms ) off gold. It would not have been possible without understanding this one key fact. The thing that is puzzling these days is the fact that gold is in a downturn. Why? Nothing has changed. They are still inflating the currency. The only thing that could be the case is that the market hasn't caught on to that yet. An opportunity, that.
By the way, I was thinking about my laziness as one of the Seven Deadly Sins. That sin would be Gluttony. Yeah, it might explain why I got so fat. They've got scales in a lot of these warehouses, and I got on one yesterday. Gained some more weight. Arg! Been eating too much and not getting enough exercise. Gluttony, I tell you. It must be one of the defining terms of my character, I'm sorry to say.
Er, I just reviewed the Wikipedia Entry for the Seven Deadly Sins. Maybe sloth would be the better description. It might well be because it is why I get sloppy, too. So much for gazing at my navel, time to get to work. I really hate that.
About the light posting
Sure, there hasn't been a lot of posts recently. So, what's the excuse? I got to thinking about this yesterday while I was working.
Since I've purchased the land, I think my attitude has changed. Frankly, I'd like to go out there right now, but I can't. I've got to stay here until I am ready. Being ready means preparation. Preparation means time.
But time is no excuse. I've managed to find time to keep writing posts.
There are other explanations, so I'll try to fetch them out. Okay, a lot of what I think about gets lost during the day. So, I came up with an idea to do "thoughts on the road" type of posts. Sometimes, it gets too busy even to do those. I managed to get one in yesterday. If I didn't delay getting to a job, I wouldn't have finished even that one.
Now, in combination with the change in attitude, I haven't been making the effort to get in more posts. I think that explains a little.
A little more is explained by the attitude when I am not working. I'll look at stuff and then not report it. I am more interested in reading the stuff than in writing about it. But you have to write about this stuff or you don't have content. The attitude change means that I don't care enough to do it, so I don't.
So, I have to change my attitude back into one in which I will be more productive. Hence, I hope to increase the amount of posts in the future. The blog will continue.
So far, this is the only post I've done this morning. Yikes.
Okay, one more thing that I haven't written about:
I was thinking of the location of where I will put my carport. So, I spent a lot of time looking at the Google maps and then I realized that I didn't do enough of this while I was on the property. It's a matter of being prepared for doing something like that, but I don't think I was prepared. What I did prepare myself for, I didn't do, either.
Basically, I was too satisfied with what I did while I was out there. I needed to do a lot more. I need to find a way to be more productive out there and that seems to jibe with my lack of productivity on this blog.
I've got to do better.
Since I've purchased the land, I think my attitude has changed. Frankly, I'd like to go out there right now, but I can't. I've got to stay here until I am ready. Being ready means preparation. Preparation means time.
But time is no excuse. I've managed to find time to keep writing posts.
There are other explanations, so I'll try to fetch them out. Okay, a lot of what I think about gets lost during the day. So, I came up with an idea to do "thoughts on the road" type of posts. Sometimes, it gets too busy even to do those. I managed to get one in yesterday. If I didn't delay getting to a job, I wouldn't have finished even that one.
Now, in combination with the change in attitude, I haven't been making the effort to get in more posts. I think that explains a little.
A little more is explained by the attitude when I am not working. I'll look at stuff and then not report it. I am more interested in reading the stuff than in writing about it. But you have to write about this stuff or you don't have content. The attitude change means that I don't care enough to do it, so I don't.
So, I have to change my attitude back into one in which I will be more productive. Hence, I hope to increase the amount of posts in the future. The blog will continue.
So far, this is the only post I've done this morning. Yikes.
Okay, one more thing that I haven't written about:
I was thinking of the location of where I will put my carport. So, I spent a lot of time looking at the Google maps and then I realized that I didn't do enough of this while I was on the property. It's a matter of being prepared for doing something like that, but I don't think I was prepared. What I did prepare myself for, I didn't do, either.
Basically, I was too satisfied with what I did while I was out there. I needed to do a lot more. I need to find a way to be more productive out there and that seems to jibe with my lack of productivity on this blog.
I've got to do better.
Wednesday, October 1, 2014
How much area to devote to algae in order to make a gallon of fuel per day?
If this is any guide, it may 2k square feet.
A gallon of gas contains about the equivalent of 40 kilowatt-hours of energy. Half of that is 20 kwh, so 1k square feet would produce the half gallon. Only 500 square feet would be needed to get 10 kwh.
If you don't want to convert to liquid fuel nor electricity, you could probably get by with a lot less algae. Let's say 250 square feet could get you 10 kwh of heat if burned.
Now, if your demands for heating are even less than this, you can get it all the way down to a small number. That's what I'd like to do.
Now, LeMar Alexander gets by with only about 3 kwh a day of electricity. Looks to me that a small amount of algae produced each day and stockpiled over time would give you plenty of energy to fall back on when solar power isn't available and it's cold.
I was thinking that a simple thing like Stirling Engine using algal pellets as fuel would be able to produce about 2.4 kwh per day if it was capable of producing a 100 watts continuously. That's nearly enough to get to Alexander's level.
Perhaps the amount of land needed for this would be less than 100 square feet because the algae can be produced continually and then stockpiled when needed. You could supplement the algae with wood chips and waste paper.
The Stirling Engine would allow the burner to operate indoors, which means that it can recycle the water and carbon. The amount of water would be small, however.
By the way, the water problem may be more easily solved by using a Fresnel Lens. The Fresnel Lens would evaporate the grey water and then it would be recovered using a dehumidifier.
This will go into the off-the-grid series.
Prev Next
A gallon of gas contains about the equivalent of 40 kilowatt-hours of energy. Half of that is 20 kwh, so 1k square feet would produce the half gallon. Only 500 square feet would be needed to get 10 kwh.
If you don't want to convert to liquid fuel nor electricity, you could probably get by with a lot less algae. Let's say 250 square feet could get you 10 kwh of heat if burned.
Now, if your demands for heating are even less than this, you can get it all the way down to a small number. That's what I'd like to do.
Now, LeMar Alexander gets by with only about 3 kwh a day of electricity. Looks to me that a small amount of algae produced each day and stockpiled over time would give you plenty of energy to fall back on when solar power isn't available and it's cold.
I was thinking that a simple thing like Stirling Engine using algal pellets as fuel would be able to produce about 2.4 kwh per day if it was capable of producing a 100 watts continuously. That's nearly enough to get to Alexander's level.
Perhaps the amount of land needed for this would be less than 100 square feet because the algae can be produced continually and then stockpiled when needed. You could supplement the algae with wood chips and waste paper.
The Stirling Engine would allow the burner to operate indoors, which means that it can recycle the water and carbon. The amount of water would be small, however.
By the way, the water problem may be more easily solved by using a Fresnel Lens. The Fresnel Lens would evaporate the grey water and then it would be recovered using a dehumidifier.
This will go into the off-the-grid series.
Prev Next
Thoughts on the road
I'm not posting about everything. For example, I forgot to mention that uses of algae it's not a good idea for cleaning up grey water. The reason for that is that you have to add a lot of chemicals to the algae in order to make it grow well. If you are constantly taking that out, have to be constantly putting it back in. That may not be convenient. I think I failed to mention, struck upon idea to use a vacuum cleaner nozzle and tube for my water filtration experiment. That should fit into the humidifier and allow it to divert the vapors back away from the machine towards a location more convenient for collection.
home made fridge no power needed! "Evaprotive Fridge"
Same dude I featured a few posts back ( making gasoline out of wood chips )
He says something interesting that caught my attention. Condensation being the opposite of evaporation, it could possibly be used for heating! This was something I may have observed in my experiments during the last weekend. The water condensed in the box, but instead of making the aluminum feel "cool", it felt hot instead. That puzzled me until just now. The condensation must have added heat to the aluminum.
He says something interesting that caught my attention. Condensation being the opposite of evaporation, it could possibly be used for heating! This was something I may have observed in my experiments during the last weekend. The water condensed in the box, but instead of making the aluminum feel "cool", it felt hot instead. That puzzled me until just now. The condensation must have added heat to the aluminum.
Next Big Future: Integrated Molten Salt Reactor should demonstrate ...
Next Big Future: Integrated Molten Salt Reactor should demonstrate ...: Canada's Terrestrial Energy Corporation is a leader in molten salt reactors. Nextbigfuture believes they have a good chance at creating ...
comment:
Yeah, this must be the LeBlanc guy I saw on the Thorium Energy Alliance videos awhile back.
This struck me as good stuff. Too bad it can't be done in America because of stricter regulations. Stricter than Canada's? Yep.
comment:
Yeah, this must be the LeBlanc guy I saw on the Thorium Energy Alliance videos awhile back.
This struck me as good stuff. Too bad it can't be done in America because of stricter regulations. Stricter than Canada's? Yep.
Next Big Future: Asteroid Act could immediately unlock billion doll...
Next Big Future: Asteroid Act could immediately unlock billion doll...: Private companies want to mine asteroids for fuel, and build filling stations in space. A bill now in front of the US Congress would help b...
comment:
Against some Treaty? Then abrogate the friggin' treaty.
comment:
Against some Treaty? Then abrogate the friggin' treaty.
Wolf v. Lamb and Aesop's Fables
It's always one of my favorites and it sums up nicely the problem that conservatives have with liberals.
Here it is again in this excellent piece via Free Republic. You can see it in the comments section as well.
The fable says that force gets the better of the argument and presents the story of the Lamb v the Wolf to prove the point. The Wolf makes all kinds of accusations against the Lamb, which the Lamb refutes brilliantly. Finally, the Wolf gets tired of the argument and eats the Lamb anyway. So you see, the argument itself means nothing. Superior force mattered in the outcome.
All you need to know when a liberal starts talking like this is to ask their intentions. Just ask this in response to all the calumny: "Do you intend to use force upon me or others like me in order to change all of that in which you speak of, yes or no?"
If the answer is "yes", then end the discussion then and there. There's no point in arguing with someone who thinks they have the right to use force upon you. In fact, you might want to disclose that the use of force cannot be condoned, and if such be the case, that you intend to fight back with deadly force should that become necessary.
The problem with the right in so many cases, maybe including this well-written article, is that conservatives seem to believe that the argument matters. The leftist has already made up his mind and has already decided what he is going to do about you---he will run right over you. You can decide to let yourself be roadkill or become more forceful in your own response.
The tried and true method of cooling off an aggressor is the will to fight. That will deter an aggressor. The aggressor seeks easy prey, and will go elsewhere looking for a victim. Works every time.
Update:
Another example in the field of debate. The winner: Bentsen by TKO. Quayle threw in the towel.
Here it is again in this excellent piece via Free Republic. You can see it in the comments section as well.
The fable says that force gets the better of the argument and presents the story of the Lamb v the Wolf to prove the point. The Wolf makes all kinds of accusations against the Lamb, which the Lamb refutes brilliantly. Finally, the Wolf gets tired of the argument and eats the Lamb anyway. So you see, the argument itself means nothing. Superior force mattered in the outcome.
All you need to know when a liberal starts talking like this is to ask their intentions. Just ask this in response to all the calumny: "Do you intend to use force upon me or others like me in order to change all of that in which you speak of, yes or no?"
If the answer is "yes", then end the discussion then and there. There's no point in arguing with someone who thinks they have the right to use force upon you. In fact, you might want to disclose that the use of force cannot be condoned, and if such be the case, that you intend to fight back with deadly force should that become necessary.
The problem with the right in so many cases, maybe including this well-written article, is that conservatives seem to believe that the argument matters. The leftist has already made up his mind and has already decided what he is going to do about you---he will run right over you. You can decide to let yourself be roadkill or become more forceful in your own response.
The tried and true method of cooling off an aggressor is the will to fight. That will deter an aggressor. The aggressor seeks easy prey, and will go elsewhere looking for a victim. Works every time.
Update:
Another example in the field of debate. The winner: Bentsen by TKO. Quayle threw in the towel.
Tuesday, September 30, 2014
What separates this blog from the others
It bears repeating over and over again. Maybe the message will get through. Maybe it never will. Here's another attempt.
This blog is about solutions. It is not about getting advantages.
One thing I noticed while driving yesterday. How many people jumped directly in front of me and in one instance, contributing to a situation that could have resulted in an accident. Why? People are driving the same way they think. The object is not to get somewhere, but to get an advantage over someone else. We are all reduced to rats in the rat race. Getting somewhere faster means more than getting somewhere safer, or so it seemed to me. They were seeking the advantage of speed over safety.
It's a metaphor for our times. Politicians seek advantages, not solutions to our problems. People seek to be entertained, not informed. The advantage to themselves of being entertained makes them less capable of solving our common problems. If more people would only inform themselves instead of constantly seeking to be entertained. This blog does not entertain. It isn't going to be converted into that.
You are going to have to change the way you look at things. Einstein said that the mind that caused the problem cannot be the mind that solves it. Better to change you mind rather than have it be changed for you.
I'm writing this because my audience numbers are down. Just to let everyone know that cares to know that this changes nothing. I'm not going anywhere and I'm not going to change the blog. Popularity can take a hike as far as I'm concerned. If I lose audience, so be it. I'd rather be right than be popular. But popularity does have its advantages.
This blog is about solutions. It is not about getting advantages.
One thing I noticed while driving yesterday. How many people jumped directly in front of me and in one instance, contributing to a situation that could have resulted in an accident. Why? People are driving the same way they think. The object is not to get somewhere, but to get an advantage over someone else. We are all reduced to rats in the rat race. Getting somewhere faster means more than getting somewhere safer, or so it seemed to me. They were seeking the advantage of speed over safety.
It's a metaphor for our times. Politicians seek advantages, not solutions to our problems. People seek to be entertained, not informed. The advantage to themselves of being entertained makes them less capable of solving our common problems. If more people would only inform themselves instead of constantly seeking to be entertained. This blog does not entertain. It isn't going to be converted into that.
You are going to have to change the way you look at things. Einstein said that the mind that caused the problem cannot be the mind that solves it. Better to change you mind rather than have it be changed for you.
I'm writing this because my audience numbers are down. Just to let everyone know that cares to know that this changes nothing. I'm not going anywhere and I'm not going to change the blog. Popularity can take a hike as far as I'm concerned. If I lose audience, so be it. I'd rather be right than be popular. But popularity does have its advantages.
The Corporatist State
There was a term I coined recently. The term was "Unitroid". How much different is that term from the term "corporatist"?
Probably not that much. The left and the so-called "right" are really not that much different. People think they are going to get a big change if the GOP wins. By my estimation, they will be disappointed. The faces may change, but the policies may not differ by all that much.
Theory and practice of organizing the whole of society into corporate entities subordinate to the state.---Merriam-Webster
Probably not that much. The left and the so-called "right" are really not that much different. People think they are going to get a big change if the GOP wins. By my estimation, they will be disappointed. The faces may change, but the policies may not differ by all that much.
Mahablog: "Too Broke to Fix"
The left must sense defeat is in the air. So, they are casting about for villains and excuses for their most recent failure of a presidency.
One excuse is that their message just isn't getting out. The interesting thing to me is not whether or not this is true or not, but what their solution is. Their solutions tend to always be towards more government, more rules, more regulations. This time, they want to regulate political speech itself. It is based upon the proposition that if the truth were known, things would go more their way.
That little complaint is a "dog that won't hunt". The left is getting most everything they want. What real opposition has there been to Obama? If he can't get something through the Congress, he just goes around it with executive orders. If he oversteps his authority, what can be done about it? The GOP cannot impeach him and get it to stick. There's no accountability and he knows it. What is stopping him from doing whatever he wants?
So, their solutions tend to even more of what isn't working already. If you don't like it, you just might end up in jail for "lying" without a license. In other words, you are not a part of the main stream media, which is really run by and for Democrats. Are they really going to try to say that it is otherwise? Why, yes they will. For Fox is just a propaganda network, she says. As if Fox, even if it that were true, had the monopoly upon the news. It makes little difference if Fox were truly run by and for the GOP. It only balances off what the other networks are doing for the Democrats. But I suspect that this isn't even true. I don't watch Fox or any news on television at all, so I can't say for certain. The thing that got me to stop is that NONE of it is worth a damn. The premise is that private news networks are going to supply you with impartial news. Wrong. They will be biased towards whatever their political point of view actually is. That's how the world works.
What we've got here, I suspect, is that a lot of control freaks who want even more control. For they've got themselves believing that there is a lack of control, which is contributing to their failures. No. Their failures are caused by the fact that their policies are bad, not because of their lack of control. Giving them even more control just compounds the "problem". I think the "problem" lies with themselves. The world really doesn't need them and may well be better off without them. Their great fear is that the world might discover that and that may well be the end of their dominance over our lives.
Update:
I want to add further that Maha doesn't want more debate. I tried to debate on her blog, but she kicked me off. No, she doesn't want more debate. She wants more control.
That's her argument now: more control. Her argument back then was "checks and balances". Quite a different argument, I'd say. They weren't interested in checks and balances, and they aren't interested in more debate. "The debate is over" for global warming, for example. Nope, the debate is over period. The last things these people want is an honest debate.
One excuse is that their message just isn't getting out. The interesting thing to me is not whether or not this is true or not, but what their solution is. Their solutions tend to always be towards more government, more rules, more regulations. This time, they want to regulate political speech itself. It is based upon the proposition that if the truth were known, things would go more their way.
That little complaint is a "dog that won't hunt". The left is getting most everything they want. What real opposition has there been to Obama? If he can't get something through the Congress, he just goes around it with executive orders. If he oversteps his authority, what can be done about it? The GOP cannot impeach him and get it to stick. There's no accountability and he knows it. What is stopping him from doing whatever he wants?
So, their solutions tend to even more of what isn't working already. If you don't like it, you just might end up in jail for "lying" without a license. In other words, you are not a part of the main stream media, which is really run by and for Democrats. Are they really going to try to say that it is otherwise? Why, yes they will. For Fox is just a propaganda network, she says. As if Fox, even if it that were true, had the monopoly upon the news. It makes little difference if Fox were truly run by and for the GOP. It only balances off what the other networks are doing for the Democrats. But I suspect that this isn't even true. I don't watch Fox or any news on television at all, so I can't say for certain. The thing that got me to stop is that NONE of it is worth a damn. The premise is that private news networks are going to supply you with impartial news. Wrong. They will be biased towards whatever their political point of view actually is. That's how the world works.
What we've got here, I suspect, is that a lot of control freaks who want even more control. For they've got themselves believing that there is a lack of control, which is contributing to their failures. No. Their failures are caused by the fact that their policies are bad, not because of their lack of control. Giving them even more control just compounds the "problem". I think the "problem" lies with themselves. The world really doesn't need them and may well be better off without them. Their great fear is that the world might discover that and that may well be the end of their dominance over our lives.
Update:
I want to add further that Maha doesn't want more debate. I tried to debate on her blog, but she kicked me off. No, she doesn't want more debate. She wants more control.
That's her argument now: more control. Her argument back then was "checks and balances". Quite a different argument, I'd say. They weren't interested in checks and balances, and they aren't interested in more debate. "The debate is over" for global warming, for example. Nope, the debate is over period. The last things these people want is an honest debate.
Monday, September 29, 2014
tablets making machine powder granules herbal vitamin tablet pressing equipment single punch press
Make your own tablets. This might get you a visit from the Feds.
The Political Divorce That Changed History
open salon dotcom
If you don't know the significance of Sam Houston, then shame on you. That man made Abe Lincoln's presidency possible. It made the country. How many people know that?
Yet that wouldn't have happened if the divorce didn't happen. That's what the article is about.
...Eliza Allen, Houston’s new wife, was believed to be a prim and proper Southern Belle from a well established and wealthy family of Tennessee’s landed aristocracy....The couple married on January 22, 1829. It was one of the grandest social occasions ever to have taken place in Middle Tennessee....Their happiness would not last through the wedding night....One thing is almost certain, though. Eliza was probably shocked and disgusted at the sight of Houston’s naked, or near naked body which still showed the ravages of Creek Indian arrows and rifle balls. Houston’s shoulder was permanently discolored from the infection he suffered from lead shot. His thigh was severely damaged by a Creek arrow, and that wound continued to discharge fluid his entire life.
If you don't know the significance of Sam Houston, then shame on you. That man made Abe Lincoln's presidency possible. It made the country. How many people know that?
Yet that wouldn't have happened if the divorce didn't happen. That's what the article is about.
The alternative
This is in respect to the system mentioned in the previous post.
The alternative would be an internal combustion engine, as opposed to the Stirling engine. The problem with the internal combustion system, aside from the other problems, which are well known, is that cannot handle syngas without some major modifications.
To deal with that problem, you can convert the syngas into methanol, and then use that. It is one more level of complexity that I would just as soon avoid.
However, an internal combustion engine would not be hard to find and it would be cheap. On the other hand, making methanol may not be all that hard, however it is yet another skill that would have to be learned.
The alternative would be an internal combustion engine, as opposed to the Stirling engine. The problem with the internal combustion system, aside from the other problems, which are well known, is that cannot handle syngas without some major modifications.
To deal with that problem, you can convert the syngas into methanol, and then use that. It is one more level of complexity that I would just as soon avoid.
However, an internal combustion engine would not be hard to find and it would be cheap. On the other hand, making methanol may not be all that hard, however it is yet another skill that would have to be learned.
A possible system to produce water and energy
Uh, yeah. I'm still fooling around with the water problem. It turns out in my peregrinations on the web has uncovered something previously discovered. Wha? Well, I knew about the Stirling 6 kwh electric generator being promised for 2015, but what I didn't think about was that you don't need a gasifier for a Stirling engine. Duh.
What a happy revelation, as long as this promised device isn't too expensive. Six kilowatts is plenty energy to be sure and it may work like gangbusters for a system I am envisioning.
The system will boil water, which is what the promised system does already, and make electricity of course. The boiled water can be greywater that will be disinfected with the boiler. It will then be routed to the algae system that will further treat the water and finally be run through the humidifier/dehumidifier system in order to produce drinkable water ( maybe ).
Since the system runs on external combustion, it can be indoors. That means it can reuse the water and carbon dioxide that it produces. Closing the water and carbon loops simultaneously, while producing electricity, clean water, and food!
Too good to be true? Maybe. It all depends upon what the system will cost.
What a happy revelation, as long as this promised device isn't too expensive. Six kilowatts is plenty energy to be sure and it may work like gangbusters for a system I am envisioning.
The system will boil water, which is what the promised system does already, and make electricity of course. The boiled water can be greywater that will be disinfected with the boiler. It will then be routed to the algae system that will further treat the water and finally be run through the humidifier/dehumidifier system in order to produce drinkable water ( maybe ).
Since the system runs on external combustion, it can be indoors. That means it can reuse the water and carbon dioxide that it produces. Closing the water and carbon loops simultaneously, while producing electricity, clean water, and food!
Too good to be true? Maybe. It all depends upon what the system will cost.
Sunday, September 28, 2014
Humidifier experiment (corrected )
In order to determine what kind of output I could expect from this device, I conducted this latest experiment.
First the results: It looks like it will produce 1 ounce of water every 10 minutes. That means for a gallon it would take 1280 minutes, or over 21 hours per gallon! Not very fast, obviously.
I collected 4 ounces while running it for 40 minutes. The losses were about 1/3 of what was used. For example, I measured out 50 ounces for the container and collected 44 ounces. That leaves 6 ounces unaccounted for. Four of those were inside of the container, in which it could be collected and measured. The other two have to be considered as lost.
If the machine ran longer, the losses would go down. Since I only ran for 40 minutes, the losses appear to be greater because it is a larger proportion of what was used. Let's say you ran it for 80 minutes. The losses would be approximately the same, but you would probably collect something like 8 ounces of water. That means the losses would decrease to about 25 percent. And so on.
One concern I have is that the water gets all over the machine. It has to be raised up or it will be flooded if it were to be used longer. Also, it needs to be covered with something in order to keep the condensation off, but there may not be any good solution for this. Perhaps a plastic wrap that covers the machine ( except for the output vent ) would do the job.
Perhaps Saran Wrap and Aluminum Foil? But I want to keep this thing simple. Simple, simple, simple.
Update:
Drat it! I called it a dehumidifier. It is not a dehumidifier, but a humidifier. It takes water and makes mist out of it in order to humidify an area. Man, sometimes I can get a big brain fart going.
Update:
Another experiment with pretty much the same results. It looks like I will need a elbow joint that will fit on top of the outlet hole where the mist comes out. PVC may work here. If this will divert away from the device, it will be a big help in getting good results for this proposition.
Update:
After doing a bit of research on these devices, it has come to my attention that they may not clean up the water much at all. If this is true, it is quite disappointing. It does look like it cleans it up at least a little. Well, that's really not good enough. I have to verify this in future experiments.
Another thing is the slow rate of production means that it is using too much electricity. I figured that the little device I'm using will pull 600 watt-hours in order to produce one gallon of water. Since I want to recycle at least 4 gallons per day, that figures to 2.4 kwh per day in order to get a questionable result for 4 gallons of water. That won't do. The electricity isn't all that bad if you've got a lot, but in that environment, 2.4 kwh may be close to what your solar panels may produce in one day. Now that's bad.
That would mean that the gasifier has become a lot more important. It must work, or you don't have a guaranteed water source.
The gasifier has its issues as well. You are producing hydrogen gas, which is troublesome for metals like steel or iron. It will cause embrittlement, which means it will tear up an internal combustion engine.
Stainless steel will solve that problem, but try to get some of that stuff. Also, try to get that stuff inside of an internal combustion engine. You may switch over to a Stirling engine, but those fixtures will have to be converted to stainless steel too. It won't affect the engine, because it never gets into the engine, but the burner will be affected.
Prev Next
This is a belated edit in order to place this post in the off-the-grid series.
First the results: It looks like it will produce 1 ounce of water every 10 minutes. That means for a gallon it would take 1280 minutes, or over 21 hours per gallon! Not very fast, obviously.
I collected 4 ounces while running it for 40 minutes. The losses were about 1/3 of what was used. For example, I measured out 50 ounces for the container and collected 44 ounces. That leaves 6 ounces unaccounted for. Four of those were inside of the container, in which it could be collected and measured. The other two have to be considered as lost.
If the machine ran longer, the losses would go down. Since I only ran for 40 minutes, the losses appear to be greater because it is a larger proportion of what was used. Let's say you ran it for 80 minutes. The losses would be approximately the same, but you would probably collect something like 8 ounces of water. That means the losses would decrease to about 25 percent. And so on.
One concern I have is that the water gets all over the machine. It has to be raised up or it will be flooded if it were to be used longer. Also, it needs to be covered with something in order to keep the condensation off, but there may not be any good solution for this. Perhaps a plastic wrap that covers the machine ( except for the output vent ) would do the job.
Perhaps Saran Wrap and Aluminum Foil? But I want to keep this thing simple. Simple, simple, simple.
Update:
Drat it! I called it a dehumidifier. It is not a dehumidifier, but a humidifier. It takes water and makes mist out of it in order to humidify an area. Man, sometimes I can get a big brain fart going.
Update:
Another experiment with pretty much the same results. It looks like I will need a elbow joint that will fit on top of the outlet hole where the mist comes out. PVC may work here. If this will divert away from the device, it will be a big help in getting good results for this proposition.
Update:
After doing a bit of research on these devices, it has come to my attention that they may not clean up the water much at all. If this is true, it is quite disappointing. It does look like it cleans it up at least a little. Well, that's really not good enough. I have to verify this in future experiments.
Another thing is the slow rate of production means that it is using too much electricity. I figured that the little device I'm using will pull 600 watt-hours in order to produce one gallon of water. Since I want to recycle at least 4 gallons per day, that figures to 2.4 kwh per day in order to get a questionable result for 4 gallons of water. That won't do. The electricity isn't all that bad if you've got a lot, but in that environment, 2.4 kwh may be close to what your solar panels may produce in one day. Now that's bad.
That would mean that the gasifier has become a lot more important. It must work, or you don't have a guaranteed water source.
The gasifier has its issues as well. You are producing hydrogen gas, which is troublesome for metals like steel or iron. It will cause embrittlement, which means it will tear up an internal combustion engine.
Stainless steel will solve that problem, but try to get some of that stuff. Also, try to get that stuff inside of an internal combustion engine. You may switch over to a Stirling engine, but those fixtures will have to be converted to stainless steel too. It won't affect the engine, because it never gets into the engine, but the burner will be affected.
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This is a belated edit in order to place this post in the off-the-grid series.
Misty Mate Cool Camper
This isn't what I was looking for, but it did get my attention. It works on the same principle as the swamp cooler, which is that evaporation cools things down. If you don't believe this, you need to check it out sometime. Now, the interesting thing to me is not so much the cooling function, which is quite useful in its own right, but the possibility of using this to recycle water. That's because evaporation of water and the condensing of it should produce pure, distilled water.
But this is quite interesting in the cooling feature too, as there are models of this that will portable enough for you to carry along. If you need to cool down, this misty mate deluxe will cool down your head, which is where a lot of your heat will be. So, it can be very useful survival tool.
Now, the thing I was looking for was a styrofoam cooler. I didn't see any at the supermarket, and so I googled it online when I got home. That's what got me to Walgreens, which is where I found this gizmo.
I wanted something cheap to put the humidifier into so that it could condense the water faster and more efficiently than what I was working on yesterday. The styrofoam will keep the cooler air inside and tend to cool it even further, or so I speculate. This will make condensation proceed much quicker and more efficiently, I hope.
Maybe the local Walgreens will have the styrofoam coolers, or I will have to look elsewhere.
Update:
Reading through the customer reviews on Amazon, this thing seems to have issues. Might be best to avoid it.
But this is quite interesting in the cooling feature too, as there are models of this that will portable enough for you to carry along. If you need to cool down, this misty mate deluxe will cool down your head, which is where a lot of your heat will be. So, it can be very useful survival tool.
Now, the thing I was looking for was a styrofoam cooler. I didn't see any at the supermarket, and so I googled it online when I got home. That's what got me to Walgreens, which is where I found this gizmo.
I wanted something cheap to put the humidifier into so that it could condense the water faster and more efficiently than what I was working on yesterday. The styrofoam will keep the cooler air inside and tend to cool it even further, or so I speculate. This will make condensation proceed much quicker and more efficiently, I hope.
Maybe the local Walgreens will have the styrofoam coolers, or I will have to look elsewhere.
Update:
Reading through the customer reviews on Amazon, this thing seems to have issues. Might be best to avoid it.
A revelation?
Or is that the proper word? I know the word I want, but I am having trouble remembering it.
Anyway, the revelation is that I have discovered what has been holding me back all these years. For the longest time, I have wanted to "get ahead", but seem to keep in place, or even fall behind more and more it seems.
It came from reading the Ebook by LeMar Alexander. This dude has just illustrated many of the "success principles" that you can read about from "Success from a Positive Mental Attitude". There are so many ways to find things that will make you useful to other people that you will never lack work or an income.
So, why didn't I find these? Because I live in the city and I rent an apartment. I think it is as simple as that. This lifestyle almost guarantees continuing poverty. For instance, I cannot fix my own vehicles on this property I'm living on. So, I have to spend my money having someone else do even the simplest tasks.
If I had my own property, I could do many of these repairs myself. I've worked in repair shops before. I have installed shocks, tires, brakes, and various other parts that have worn out on my vehicles. Cars have become more complex, so you can't do tune ups. But on older vehicles, I have done tune ups. You see? There's a conspiracy to force people into dependency, which insures that they will be poor.
You may say that it was my own fault for recognizing this too late. Okay, but that doesn't mean that there has to be so many people out there who don't say anything or do anything to help people be more independent.
This really sucks, but it is the way things are. The only way out of poverty is to get your own piece of real estate, but that is getting harder and harder because of the property price bubble. Does that sound familiar? Is this message starting to connect out there?
The word is epiphany. I just remembered it.
Anyway, the revelation is that I have discovered what has been holding me back all these years. For the longest time, I have wanted to "get ahead", but seem to keep in place, or even fall behind more and more it seems.
It came from reading the Ebook by LeMar Alexander. This dude has just illustrated many of the "success principles" that you can read about from "Success from a Positive Mental Attitude". There are so many ways to find things that will make you useful to other people that you will never lack work or an income.
So, why didn't I find these? Because I live in the city and I rent an apartment. I think it is as simple as that. This lifestyle almost guarantees continuing poverty. For instance, I cannot fix my own vehicles on this property I'm living on. So, I have to spend my money having someone else do even the simplest tasks.
If I had my own property, I could do many of these repairs myself. I've worked in repair shops before. I have installed shocks, tires, brakes, and various other parts that have worn out on my vehicles. Cars have become more complex, so you can't do tune ups. But on older vehicles, I have done tune ups. You see? There's a conspiracy to force people into dependency, which insures that they will be poor.
You may say that it was my own fault for recognizing this too late. Okay, but that doesn't mean that there has to be so many people out there who don't say anything or do anything to help people be more independent.
This really sucks, but it is the way things are. The only way out of poverty is to get your own piece of real estate, but that is getting harder and harder because of the property price bubble. Does that sound familiar? Is this message starting to connect out there?
The word is epiphany. I just remembered it.
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