Managing perceptions ( repost )

Originally posted on Feb 28, 2013.  A lot has been written since then that is in support of the following proposition:


The current level of the Dow is just slightly over 14, 000.  This compares with what it was in 2007, just prior to the onset of the Great Recession.  What was the unemployment rate back then?  This from the BLS:

One of the most widely recognized indicators of a recession is higher unemployment rates. In December 2007, the national unemployment rate was 5.0 percent, and it had been at or below that rate for the previous 30 months. At the end of the recession, in June 2009, it was 9.5 percent. In the months after the recession, the unemployment rate peaked at 10.0 percent (in October 2009). Before this, the most recent months with unemployment rates over 10.0 percent were September 1982 through June 1983, during which time the unemployment rate peaked at 10.8 percent.

Compared with previous recessions, the higher proportion of long-term unemployed (those unemployed for 27 weeks or longer) in the recent recession and its post-recession period is notable.

Given the continual economic distress and unemployment (7.8%  & particularly, the aforementioned long-term unemployment), how does one regard the Dow Jones industrial average as a source of economic strength?  Only if you want it publicized as such and believed.  But these facts don't fit with that perception.  Hence, the management of perception through the use of highly visible indicators such as the Dow.

To what end?  It is a bit of speculation here, but I'd say that policy makers are hoping that the perception will make the reality. [emphasis added] That is to say, if the perception is of a robust economy, then a robust economy will follow.

I suppose it takes a bit of credulity to fall for this, but that is what this government is depending upon.  I wouldn't be a buyer of stocks, but that's been true for the last 4 years.  You learn new things all the time, though.  The thing that I think I'm learning here is the length to which some people will go in order to try to fool others.  The surprising thing is how little it takes.

Bundy case

Do you remember Bundy, the guy who resisted the BLM, who were trying to run him off his land?  That was brought up by the Mahablog herself recently, in connection to those who were defending the woman who refuses to give licenses for homosexuals who want to marry.  I think the group is called the Oath Keepers.

According to the link at the link above, Bundy seemed to have won.  I wonder if that held up, or did the BLM get what they were after after all?

The point is that you don't have to break the law in order to defend the law.  Bundy was in the right, and the BLM knew it.  They didn't have to break the law in order to enforce their rights.  They had their rights, it was the government who was in the wrong.

The left fears this, as the leftist blogger indicated, probably unintentionally.

An explanation for the inexplicable

Limbaugh says that what happened in the Senate is inexplicable.  This post is an attempt to explain what has happened with the Iran treaty amongst other things.  The "other things" are linked in because it is all interrelated, in my opinion.

What I think is happening is that Western Civilization is in deep crisis, but isn't even aware of it.  There is a substantial proportion of its inhabitants that appear to be in some type of a deep, delusional state that everything will proceed just as it has before--- but change is upon us, and is going to take most of us by surprise, just like 9-11 did.

An example is Elon Musk, who while being interviewed by Jimmy Fallon, says something like Spacex is going to Mars amongst other silly things.  Why is it silly?  If there's a crash in the markets, and there is every appearance that there will be, Elon Musk could easily go broke.  He almost did in 2008, or so he said.  If 2008 almost broke him, another, even worse crash will certainly break him.  No doubt that it could if a market meltdown does occur.  All of his wealth, like so many others, is on paper.  If trillions of dollars of paper wealth disappears, so does Spacex, my friends.  Elon Musk is at the moment, the best that the West has to offer.  If he goes down, it's game, set, and match for the West.

The West has had it so good for so long that it doesn't know very well how to deal with adversity.  Its' actions are self-destructing to the extreme.  That's part of what has the West in crisis.  The other part is the inability to recognize realities, as the truth is so carefully concealed so much of the time.  If the truth is concealed, how are you to deal with the unpleasant realities?  If you don't understand what is going on around you, what hope do you have to survive in this world?  For example, if a doctor tells you that you are a terminal illness with only a 50-50 chance of survival, the will to survive becomes paramount.  The patient does not go into denial that he has a problem.  If he wishes to live, he goes on a medical regime that may give him a chance to survive.  We are like that patient that has been getting warned, but refuses to heed the warning signs.  We may not have much time left.

Time to go ape shit

According to the leftists, that is.  Time go ape shit because somebody is defying them.  Yes, homosexual marriage is the "law of the land" now, but the "rule of law" doesn't always get respect from the left, either.  Actually, there are those on the so-called right who disapprove of this.  They are called "conservatives".  To characterize this defiance as a "right wing" phenomenon is just another one of the lies that the left tends to propagate with success throughout our society.  Now it is going to propagated throughout our society that the so-called right are lawless hooligans and the left wing is saintly and above it all.

As for me, I'm glad that someone is defying them.  If more people did defy them, they would possibly be a bit more circumspect in the kind of ridiculous things that they try to impose on the rest of us.  The political left expects absolute obedience to their idiocies, but they do not absolutely always obey the law themselves.  Now maybe that can be taken into consideration the next time one of these supposedly aggrieved ones complain loudly and shriek about the rule of law being violated.  As if they cared about the law.  Harrumph.  Harrumph, I say.

While my guitar gently weeps...

so does my wallet.  I have had a worsening mechanical problem with the van.  It may take some big bucks to fix it, or replace it.  Yikes.

Actually, my finances would die if I had to buy another vehicle.  That's a bit out of the question.

The van is in the shop now.  I'll be getting a call about it in about an hour.

It isn't necessary to do anything right now, but it is definitely getting worse.  Perhaps it will last another month, give or take a few weeks.

Update:

I just got the call.  It will take 300 bucks in an attempt to improve upon the situation.  Maybe this works, maybe it doesn't.  Based upon what the guy said, it should work.  We'll see.  I can't work in it on Monday, because he can't get to it today.

3D Printing Idea

Printed clothes.  Funded on kickstarter.

An idea I had was to print paper clothes that could be durable enough to wear.

How to play "Who'll stop the rain", by CCR [Tutorial]

During the rain yesterday, and on the drive home from Galveston, this was on the radio.  It would be interesting to learn this song.  But like everything else, I don't have the time.  If only I had the Youtube when I was in high school.  lol

What a crazy hat and wig.  Ignore the "singing".  Well, it ain't that bad, but ignore cuz it ain't that good, either.



Update:

I shouldn't criticize.  I couldn't even begin to play that now, nor sing it.  Sometimes it is better to not say too much.

Obligatory, 9/12/15

Well, it's Saturday.  It has occurred to me that I haven't spent enough time on my education for the trip out west.

With that in mind, I reviewed one of the most recent posts on the subject, and updated it.

A short review of the table of contents reveals that the food subseries gets the most pageviews.  Yet, in terms of what I need to do, I spend most of my time on the construction subseries, which doesn't get as much interest.  You know, you have to build the doggone thing before you can use it in order to grow food.

Update:

No working today.  Will stay around the joint and do some other stuff that needs doing.  By the way, some thought on the aquaponics set up--- no way to do this.  It's too elaborate to be worthwhile.  However, it may be useful to keep a spirulina set up onboard the van, as well as an earthworm set up.

Another idea I had was to use shipping wrap instead of the greenhouse plastic sheeting.  The shipping wrap is really easy to use and can be disposed of every season without too much cost ( I hope).  The question is its durability, but it can be wrapped with more material if need be.

Update:

Is it worthwhile to raise catfish on "da ranch"?  This is the point of the earthworm and/or crickets.  These could feed the catfish ( or chickens).  What I worry about is leaving them for a week or more.  A week is a long time and a lot can go wrong.  By the time you get back to them, they could be dead.  That wouldn't be good.  It may be better to do that as a later project when I am more established out there.

The earthworm castings can be sold for profit ( hopefully).

Home again, 9/11/15

Long, rainy day.  On a day like this, it may be pretty easy to forget something I thought about early in the day.

Like more AGW discussion, yay!

The ratio of carbon dioxide gas to the other gases in the atmosphere is 2500 to 1.  ( 400 into 1 million goes 2500 times)  Take that one pound of water that I heated up in an experiment.  As a comparison, the 2500 lbs of water takes 2500 BTU to heat up 1 degree Farenheit.  That would take 0.73 kwh of energy, or 2,637,500 joules.  The one pound of water to boiling point took 140 BTU or 147,700 joules.  Thus, the ratio of joules between that 1 pound of water and that 2500 pounds of water is 147,700/2,637,500.  Or 5.6%.  That could mean that if you pour in the boiling 1 pound of water into the 2500 lbs of water, you will get maybe 5.6% of 1 degree Farenheit of heating.

Now, back to some of the numbers discussed in that experiment linked in the above paragraph.  If the sun heated the surface at the rate of 100 watts, then at most it would generate 1.2 kwh of energy per day.  This will heat up the 2500 of water only 2 degrees Farenheit at most.  All of that energy must be captured by the 1 lb of water and transferred to the 2500 lbs of water.  Most unlikely.  Even if it did get transferred, just 2 degrees won't be held for 12 hours.

What I'm getting at is that you can't put that much energy in a small amount of matter, and even if you could, it couldn't be held during the night time hours anyway.

Water used as an example here.  We're really talking about gases, which makes it even more implausible, due to the gas laws I mentioned in prior posts.  Besides, water retains heat better than carbon dioxide.

Obligatory, 9/11/15

Pardon the sparse blogging.  I got something of a jolt yesterday when my tablet told me that I had a computer virus.  Frankly, I didn't know whether to take it seriously or not.  I decided to take it seriously, but not to BUY anything, which is what I suspected was being done.

I shut down all operations, and slept on it.  First thing this am, I went to the play store and got a security app. After installing it, it reported no problems.  Now I don't know if something is there or not, but a security app says it is clean.  Okay, maybe it is or maybe it isn't.  I have to assume it is clean.

It bugs me to even have such a problem.   Do you depend a lot on the internet?  Chances are, you do.  The loss of it may be devastating.  Both on personal level and at the national level.  What makes it all work is INTEGRITY.  If there's no integrity, it can't work.  Funny how something like that can be taken for granted because it should be obvious to everyone, but apparently these days, you can't take integrity for granted.

As for taking things for granted, today is September 11th.  A day that should live in infamy, but has been flushed down the memory hole.  I remember a caller on a local talk show was talking about never taking things for granted again after that day.  Seems like that lesson has been forgotten.  It too has been flushed down the memory hole.

The main point here is that integrity has been lost.  The flushing down the memory hole of lessons that must not be forgotten is but one example of how the integrity in our system has been lost.

My high school physics teacher said something to the class on the first day of classes of that year--- it has remained with me since.  He said: "never lose your integrity, because you may never get it back."

Rather chilling to think that this is a national problem, isn't it?

Rigged markets?

Message:

Seen this somewhere else, don't remember where.

May be better to assume that all markets are screwed up and malfunctioning.

Published on Zero Hedge (http://www.zerohedge.com)

Home > Anyone Who Believes The COMEX Numbers Is Very Naive (They Are Much Worse!)

---

Anyone Who Believes The COMEX Numbers Is Very Naive (They Are Much Worse!)

By Tyler Durden

Created 09/10/2015 - 21:00

Following our detailing the Comex gold futures to deliverable physical gold ratio that is now north of 200:1 [1], several correspondents noted that "they are probably bluffing...based on JPMorgan's previous lies, the real number is likely significantly higher than 200:1." History tells us that all Ponzi schemes and market interventions fail, and it appears we are on the cusp of a massive failure in the scheme to cover up the truth about the precious metals market.

---

Source URL: http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-09-10/anyone-who-believes-comex-numbers-very-naive-they-are-much-worse

Links:
[1] http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-09-09/something-just-snapped-comex

Walter J. "John" Williams ( Shadow Stats) : US in a recession

The government is trying to hide it with phonied up stats.

Key facts that support that view:

industrial production, which showed a contraction in Q1/15 and Q2/15. We never get consecutive quarter to quarter contractions in production without a recession. Retail sales adjusted for inflation also contracted in Q1/15. It showed some growth in Q2/15, but it was flat for H1/15. Again, we never see patterns like that except in a recession

and

Sales of the companies in the S&P 500 were down year-over-year in the first two quarters of 2015. Again, that doesn't happen outside of a recession. We're in a recession 

Who does it benefit when there's a recession, but isn't being recognized "officially"?

Gov. Brown, Legislative Democrats Scale Back Climate Package

Free Republic

The way this is written, it is aimed at stopping fossil fuel use, not carbon dioxide release.  To me, that is a shift in goals, from merely regulating carbon dioxide, and now regulating the use of fossil fuels altogether.  Are these people completely unaware that you don't have to burn fossil fuels in order to obtain the energy content from them?  Fossil fuels are used to make ammonia, why not find a way not to release carbon dioxide while doing it?  There is a way.  But the goal shifting may obviate that possibility and move on to eliminating fossil fuels in toto, which isn't necessary if you are only interested in "climate change".

Here's a quote:

Brown and Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon, a Los Angeles Democrat, had pushed a far-reaching proposal to cut petroleum use by half, boost renewable-electricity use to 50 percent and double energy efficiency in existing buildings. [emphasis added]

So, have the goal posts been moved?

Update:

I think this post is so important, at least in terms of understanding this blog, than just about any post that I've written.  If you "get it", then you get the blog.  If not, you may never get it.

I won't explain why, there are over 9000 posts that already explain why.

The 10th Amendment and the Supreme Court

Article claims that the states can nullify a Court decision



comment:



It would be a new precedent, unless you count the Civil War.



Nevertheless, to defy the Supreme Court would be a good exercise in this case, because they have gone too far.

ParaPundit: Uber Class Action Suit Great News For Autonomous Vehicle Development

ParaPundit: Uber Class Action Suit Great News For Autonomous Vehicle Development



comment:



Little doubt that this is coming.  What are working people going to do?  I think a return to the land as farmers is going to be the only solution that will allow people to retain their independence and dignity.  Otherwise, you will become a ward of the state.

More AGW discussion

Aren't you just loving it?  Bwah, hah, hah!

Let's start off with some basic chemistry.  There are approximately 22.4 liters of any gas in a mole.  A mole is defined as roughly as 6.02x10 to the 23rd power of molecules or atoms.  Every gas has that many molecules in one mole of it at standard temperature and pressure.  ( Let's say room temperature and sea level atmospheric pressure).  Therefore, you could measure off 22.4 liters of the Earth's atmosphere and get one mole of atmospheric gas containing the said number of molecules.  The molecules would be of different gases, but the total number would add up to 1 mole of gas.

Carbon dioxide is said to be 400 parts per million roughly speaking.  To render that into a proportional volume, take 4e-4 and multiply it times the 22.4 liter number.  You get about 9 milliliters of carbon dioxide gas out of a container about as big as a 5 gallon fuel tank.  A milliliter is 1/1000th of a liter.  Therefore, the amount in a container would be a cube a little over 2 millimeters centimeters in size.  Pretty doggone small!  A centimeter, which is about a half inch, has 10 millimeters.  I'm guessing the thing is about as big as a pencil eraser.  Probably a well worn pencil eraser!

It is claimed that that little bitty amount of carbon dioxide is going to warm up that big container full of gas so much that it will be hazardous.  It is claimed that all the energy from the sun will go to that little cube and stay there long enough to heat up the big container overnight when the sun isn't shining.  It would have to be pretty hot, wouldn't you say?  How is that possible?  Also, whenever any gas gets really hot, it will expand greatly and give off its heat.  But, somehow, carbon dioxide won't do that.  Carbon dioxide must be some kind of magical substance.

Another thing.  It is claimed that the carbon dioxide is going into the oceans.  How is that possible if the Earth is warming up?  Higher temperatures makes the absorption of carbon dioxide less likely in water, not the other way around.  Like soda pop, the carbon dioxide needs to stay cool in order to remain in the water. Seems like a discrepancy, doesn't it?

If you are a believer in AGW, aren't you getting a little uneasy about now?

At the risk of seeming ridiculous

The US Constitution doesn't require a President's signature on a Declaration of War.  If you want to stop the Iran deal, declare war on Iran.

I know that Hussein won't honor it.  But what could he do to legally implement a deal with a country that we are at war with?  Indeed, grounds for impeachment could occur, even though the Dems will stop that in the Senate.

The basic idea is to gum up the works.  The deal cannot be allowed to have any appearance of legitimacy.  Nor any attempt to implement it.

When members of Congress claim that they cannot stop this deal, what about this?  Hmmmmmmmmmm???

Brave New World again

Can't help it, but the parallels are striking.

I noted briefly before, that in the story, Linda Lysenko was executed.  Linda was John's mother, as you may know.  Her crime was her appearance, as 20 years or so on the Savage Reservation destroyed her looks.  In the Brave New World, one's appearance was critical.  Old age wasn't to be tolerated.  Therefore, there was no place for Linda in the society that she wanted so much to rejoin.  Her wish to rejoin was nothing but a death wish, but death held no dread amongst the "civilized".  She may have preferred to be dead than to continue living on the Savage Reservation.  The only thing is that she couldn't bring herself to end it all while there.  It was too unpleasant, another reality that the "civilized" couldn't handle.

The point is that the "civilized world" could not say that they were executing Linda.  The "civilized world" continually dealt in deceit, in which the execution of Linda was only one among many such deceits.  The "civilized world" was an artificial one, and proud to be so.  Nature was to be hated, as something that made people nauseous.

The parallel with our society is on that point--- our current society is like the Brave New World in that it cannot deal with truth and is forever mired in deceit.  But without the truth, there is no real chance to correct what needs to be corrected.  If you don't know what the problem is, how can you ever solve it?

Bulls Set To Be Tasered Again By Imminent Severe Downleg...Kitco News

Bulls Set To Be Tasered Again By Imminent Severe Downleg...Kitco News



comment:



Plenty of technical analysis, but this bunch are like vampires.  You can only kill them with a wooden stake to the heart.

My IDW Tells Me the Global Economy Is Going Down Hard!

Kitco News

The Fed exists only for the rich and powerful interests that own the Fed, even though they have done a masterful job of conning the masses into believing they have our best interests at heart. But in effect the middle class is being destroyed and with it so is our economy. The parasites from both major parties in Washington along with Wall Street can continue to rob and pillage the middle class, but when the middle class has been wiped out, what will the rich folks do then?--- Jay Taylor

People sense something wrong, but can they rally and change the direction?

Iran deal discussion

Something that may have been forgotten is that there was a report put out while Bush was in office that claimed that Iran wasn't pursuing nuclear weapons.  Obviously, this was meant to restrain Bush.  But even more obvious now is that the report was false.  In other words, the opposition lied, and this invariably led to the debacle that is now unfolding.

Yes, this agreement is a debacle.  Long standing US goals and policies have now been thrown under the bus in order to avoid actually confronting Iran about its intentions.  Consequently, Iran will get the bomb, and not only that, but will be rewarded for it.  There is little wonder then that their rhetoric hasn't changed.  There most likely will be war in the future and it will be more on Iran's terms than if there were one now, or even more so in the Bush Administration.  You can't talk yourselves out of this one, and the Iranians know this because this is their strategy.  They are making us fight them or surrender.  So, which shall it be?

Quick post before I go, 9/8/15

Do you consider yourself to be a rational person?

Then, what is rational, considering the following two scenarios?  To wit:

1. A man claims to have seen something which only be considered as impossible, to which is labeled thenceforth amongst others as being supernatural.  This man is threatened with death if he does not recant his story, but he refuses, and is put to death.  Is it rational to believe him or his executioners?
2. There are those who claim a scientific theory, but will not allow debate on it, will punish those who disagree, and cannot prove their claims beyond all reasonable doubt.  Indeed, the very substance of their claim is highly questionable.  Almost as questionable as is the example above.  Do you find that to be a reasonable position to take, or the opposition to that position?

The point?  That is left as an exercise.  A pop quiz will be held later.

Update:

The point is that people aren't rational even if they think they are.  Especially those who are especially proud of their notion of rationalism.

Supernatural v. Science

It's a restatement of the much often used phrase "science v. religion".  Interesting thought, there, as the Pope is now mixing religion with science.

I may be mistaken, but the supernatural is the defining characteristic of religion.  If it isn't supernatural, it isn't religious.  Or maybe some religions.  Don't know if supernaturalism takes any part of Buddhism.  Probably not, come to think of it.  But if supernaturalism is the defining characteristic of a religion, then Buddhism isn't isn't a religion.

For sake of this discussion, let's say that it is because the Abrahamic religions have the supernaturalist component.

For those who don't believe in the supernatural then, these people are agnostics or atheists.

Here could be a stunner.  There can be no conflict between supernatural and science.  Science cannot prove nor disprove the supernatural.  If it could, it would no longer be supernatural.  How then can there be a conflict?  They do not enter the same space.  There can only be a conflict between those who believe that there could be or is definitely a supernatural, or those who do not.  It is not a conflict about ideas, but it is a conflict between people who hold those ideas.

Brave New World equals New World Order

The New World Order is what those on the so-called far right seem to be so afraid of.  Or it is just a catch phrase that is meant to scare people.

Brave New World is a paradigm from a book.  It has come to my attention that there seem to be some parallels, provided that the New World Order is the way I understand it to be.  It is:

• The breakdown of the nation state--- no borders anymore
• The replacement of religion with the secular religion of the megastate
• It is all being done in the name of peace and happiness
• Truth is suppressed, dissent is punished
• Full scale disarmament, meaning nobody owns weapons, only the megastate can use force
• The super wealthy run everything, but enforce equality upon everyone else and call that utopia

The Brave New World is just another Roman Empire.  We are to have a Pax Romana once again.

Brave New World discussion

It must be getting a bit repetitive for me to bring this up.  However, I was watching this video again, and I noted something that struck me.

John heard a commotion, and some women were beating up his mother, Linda.  She was having intercourse with their husbands and they were punishing her for her promiscuity.  Linda did not understand because she was raised to be promiscuous in the "civilized world".   John reprimands her too, but she interrupts him and asks him to say "something nice" to her.

Two things, there.  One is the amorality of the "civilized world", with its preoccupation with sex.  Second, was her inability and unwillingness to accept the unpleasant.  This has its counterpart in our own society with the "sexual revolution" and the demand that everyone be nice all the time.

Nobody is interested in the truth today.  We are living in some ways, the Brave New World paradigm.  Nobody wants to face the unpleasant facts and, instead, insists on dwelling upon the "nice" even though the nice hasn't got anything to do with the truth of a situation.

You haven't seen anything yet

Message:

The real selloff is in the future.  That is, if history is any guide.  This article explains that.

Published on Zero Hedge (http://www.zerohedge.com)

Home > If You Think That Was A Crash...

---

If You Think That Was A Crash...

By Tyler Durden

Created 09/07/2015 - 11:10

Last week's volatility to the downside was entirely predictable, as the first leg down during this ongoing market crash reached the correction stage of 11%. The technical bounce was a given, as the 30 year old HFT MBAs on Wall Street have been trained like rats to BTFD. In their lemming like minds, it has worked for the last six years of this Federal Reserve created "bull market", so why wouldn't it work now. Last week was their first lesson in why it doesn't work during bear markets, and we've entered a bear market. John Hussman seems amused at the shallowness of the arguments by Wall Street shills and CNBC cheerleaders about the future of the stock market in his weekly letter. After this modest pullback from all-time highs, the S&P 500 is still overvalued by 92%...

"You call that a knife?  This is a knife!"

---

Source URL: http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-09-07/if-you-think-was-crash

Obligatory, 9/7/15

Today is Labor Day.  In order to honor the holiday, I will work like any other day.  Ha, ha.

I guess the joke is on me.

Anyway, one thing about today's conditions:  money is getting tighter and tighter.  I don't need to consult government stats, I only need to look at MY stats.  These past 6 years have been tough from the financial point of view.  Things may not be getting any better, either.

This computer I'm using is over 6 years old.  That's longer than what I usually keep one as my primary machine.  It's showing its age, too.  It's getting harder and harder to use it.  Slow.

I replaced it two years ago with a tablet, but I rarely use it.  The tablet was to use a bluetooth wireless keyboard, but it doesn't work worth a flip.

The thought I had this morning, which got slowed down by the computer, is that Europe is like a dead man walking.  I even had a post like that.  If you had any doubts, then that business with the refugees should clinch it.  Europe cannot survive the way it is going.  Neither can we here in the US.

What's killing Western Civ?  If you peel away all the BS, you probably get down to the root of it all, which is self hatred.  The culture that has advanced the world to its current point does not even respect itself anymore.  If it did, it would defend itself against the invasion.  It would defend its history and its identity.  Indeed, it would be proud of its accomplishments and would be determined to carry on with its culture forever more.  But that's not happening because Europe has lost respect for itself.

Across the pond, over here, the Democrats fall all over themselves in admiring the Death Cult in Europe, and has adopted it as its own.  That's how we got Hussein.

Where does it all lead to?  Not a very good place unless the course is changed and very soon.

Emission free car

Maybe it could pass the California rules so it can be called a Zero Emission vehicle.  The ammonia would be stored in a very strong, thick steel tank.  Even if it were hit by a big truck, it would survive.  You wouldn't need a whole lot of ammonia in order to get it to extend the range of a hybridized Stirling electric vehicle.

The Stirling Engine needs only to be about 25 kw or so.  This would enable it to supply the vehicle with enough power to cruise down the highway.  Otherwise, the battery will power it.  The concept is a lot like the Chevy Volt concept, but it wouldn't use an internal combustion engine.

The system to produce the ammonia would be a closed loop system except for the hydrogen, which would be obtained from heating fossil fuels up so that it would release it.  The system could use any hydrocarbon source, including coal.

Update:

Such a system can be built with existing technology.  The fact that it isn't means that those who claim to want zero emissions don't really mean what they say.  Their motivation isn't to improve the ecology, but to accomplish something else.

Obligatory, 9/6/15

Well, it is Sunday, and now I am considering the pros and cons of working today, or staying home yet another day.

I'm not especially keen on working, obviously.

One thing I had in mind is to keep planning for the move out west.  There was an idea to use stucco for the outside of my RV van conversion project.  It could also go on the outside of the shack on the property.  One can get carried away.  I haven't priced the stuff.  One downside is the cost.  It's not as cheap as other alternatives.  Haven't priced the concrete cloth either, so there's still some work to do on that.

A new idea for building a wall on the north side of the "quadrangle" came to mind.  But the north side is where I intend to put the greenhouse.  The idea is to use the wall as shade from the sun during the summer.  It would be a windbreak in the winter.  I like the idea of a wall, so I thought up yet another idea.  Use the wall as one side of the greenhouse.  Use the idea for extending the floor space offered by the cattle panels ( which was to not make them into quonsets, but something a little different.)  Thus, the wall wouldn't be another side which was to be covered with transparent material, but the wall material itself.  The roof and the other wall would be open to the sun.  So, in the summer, the greenhouse would get the full sun, and in the winter, it would be mostly dark ( and cold ) during the day.

Yet another idea was to use the van as a place where I will grow my spirulina and another thing--- fish.  The fish and the spirulina would require two things--- light and water.  That means they would take up valuable space.  Could I afford to do this?  There are aquaponics setups that grow stuff in small areas, but this would require a lot of light and a lot of water.  I'm wondering about this.  However, the thing would close by and I could keep an eye on it continually.  If you leave any animal life out there on the ranch, it would be vulnerable.  Thus, the meat would come from the aquaponics setup, and the veggies from the greenhouses.

One more idea that might be a mind blower:  I could carry along a couple hens to supply me with eggs!  Feed the fish and the birds with crickets and earthworms.  All of this grown downstairs in the RV van conversion.

Update:

Note:  Home Depot has a brand of stucco mix that is one step only, which makes it simple and easy to analyze.  To apply a 3/4 inch thick coat would cover 7 square feet per 50 lb bag.  For 128 square feet of concrete cloth covering, that would cost 250 bucks.  It would also weigh a bit too much, probably over 1000 lbs.  You would have to use a thinner coat and it might still be too heavy.  This doesn't look like a good option for the van, but it might work on the shack.

Update:

Stucco is too expensive, although it may be useful in combination with concrete cloth.  Another note is that some aquaponics setups are on trailers.  It seems like it's too complex to put inside the van.  Besides, a trailer set up may go nicely with the trailer I already have.

Heck, let's put this in the construction subseries of the off-the-grid main series of posts.


Prev   Next