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.
Friday, November 18, 2016
The Bee Gees: I started a joke
Free wifi at this place, and by-golly-by-gosh it works.
The joke is in the comments, but the joke is on you if you read them. I read them, and now the joke is on me.
Can you take a joke? I may have to find out soon.
The joke is in the comments, but the joke is on you if you read them. I read them, and now the joke is on me.
Can you take a joke? I may have to find out soon.
America did the right thing in electing Trump
All you have to do is to read the quote of Mark Twain, which I have across the banner.
The world is shocked, shocked that Trump won. It only gratified a few of us, but astonished the rest.
These people are corrupt and they damn well know it. The reason they are astonished is that they think everybody is as corrupt as they are.
The world is shocked, shocked that Trump won. It only gratified a few of us, but astonished the rest.
These people are corrupt and they damn well know it. The reason they are astonished is that they think everybody is as corrupt as they are.
Thursday, November 17, 2016
Obligatory, 11.17.16
Once again, I am back in Houston to do the usual stuff.
Posting will be light in the interim.
Posting will be light in the interim.
Wednesday, November 16, 2016
Revisiting water filtration part three
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Another water subseries post in the main series of off-grid posts.
This is the third of three posts in which I attempted to get a satisfactory result from water filtration from water left over from washing dishes.
A method of washing dishes has been obtained. Here's the procedure. After cooking and eating the meal, clean the pan by using a paper towel. This will get off most of the food residues, but not all of the oil. To break down the oil, use an alcohol. I am using rubbing alcohol. I do not recommend anyone else doing this, as it requires care so as not to ingest any of it. Not good for you. One could substitute hard liquor for this purpose, as it is an alcohol as well. However, I decided that it is too expensive, and besides, I feel confident I can clean off the rubbing alcohol, so I am not worried about it myself. But you don't try this at home.
Anyway, the next step is to use a moist towels that are mostly used for cleaning hands It may also be alcohol based. This cleans off the rubbing alcohol. A moist paper towel and a quick rinse off with tap water finishes it off.
The process can be repeated with all the dishes. I used only about four ounces of water, which is only slightly clouded when I collected it. It is a good candidate for further cleaning.
Maybe I won't use filtration at all. Not sure if the results are good enough. If not, I will start to consider other methods.
Once I finish my methodology for the kitchen, I will move on to the bathroom. I need to process about five gallons a day, total. Kitchen water is just a small amount of that total.
Another water subseries post in the main series of off-grid posts.
This is the third of three posts in which I attempted to get a satisfactory result from water filtration from water left over from washing dishes.
A method of washing dishes has been obtained. Here's the procedure. After cooking and eating the meal, clean the pan by using a paper towel. This will get off most of the food residues, but not all of the oil. To break down the oil, use an alcohol. I am using rubbing alcohol. I do not recommend anyone else doing this, as it requires care so as not to ingest any of it. Not good for you. One could substitute hard liquor for this purpose, as it is an alcohol as well. However, I decided that it is too expensive, and besides, I feel confident I can clean off the rubbing alcohol, so I am not worried about it myself. But you don't try this at home.
Anyway, the next step is to use a moist towels that are mostly used for cleaning hands It may also be alcohol based. This cleans off the rubbing alcohol. A moist paper towel and a quick rinse off with tap water finishes it off.
The process can be repeated with all the dishes. I used only about four ounces of water, which is only slightly clouded when I collected it. It is a good candidate for further cleaning.
Maybe I won't use filtration at all. Not sure if the results are good enough. If not, I will start to consider other methods.
Once I finish my methodology for the kitchen, I will move on to the bathroom. I need to process about five gallons a day, total. Kitchen water is just a small amount of that total.
Tuesday, November 15, 2016
Who said that climate change was going to kill anyone?
Are these people serious? The only claim that I have ever seen was that this man made climate change was to supposed to raise temperatures a few degrees. It was supposed to happen over a long period of time, such as into the next century. If some folks seem to think that this is going to kill people, then I think the hysteria has gone a bit too far.
Maybe the sea level rises ( assuming that the theory is correct ), maybe temperature patterns change and crops fail. But that can be adjusted to.
Hurricanes kill people. Weather events can kill people. Climate doesn't because it is way too general a term.
For example, a frigid arctic type climate can kill you, but that is your choice to try to live in such a climate. You can avoid a climate, and seek more amicable climate elsewhere. It doesn't have to kill you unless you insist upon living in an unfavorable type climate.
Climate change is a topic that can be discussed, but how do you discuss it in an environment of hysteria?
Maybe the sea level rises ( assuming that the theory is correct ), maybe temperature patterns change and crops fail. But that can be adjusted to.
Hurricanes kill people. Weather events can kill people. Climate doesn't because it is way too general a term.
For example, a frigid arctic type climate can kill you, but that is your choice to try to live in such a climate. You can avoid a climate, and seek more amicable climate elsewhere. It doesn't have to kill you unless you insist upon living in an unfavorable type climate.
Climate change is a topic that can be discussed, but how do you discuss it in an environment of hysteria?
Sunday, November 13, 2016
Revisiting water filtration, continued
From the last time, I had worked a bit with coffee filters and my big sand filter.
Since the throughput is slow, and activated carbon is not cheap, I decided to try an experiment today. I used charcoal briquette, which I crushed into a powder. This was used as a filter in the same manner as the activated carbon. However, it left an orange tint to the water, which isn't good.
A run through with the activated carbon removed the tint. Now the idea is to use a lot of charcoal, and then clean up that result with a small amount of activated carbon.
The final pass will be through the sand filter, but I want to make that a slow pass. A dump of a gallon of water at a time goes through it too fast. I want it to seep through really slowly. How to do that?
Need to figure out a way to slow drip into the sand filter. An idea occurred to me. Why not use the activated carbon for a final cleanup? The sand filter treatment is not likely to be as clean as I would like.
Update:
Another idea occurred to me: since this water may have a lot of oil and fat in it, it may be a good idea to put it into the refrigerator, and let it solidify. Then the fat can be easily separated from the water. The fat may be clogging up the charcoal filters, too. These may work better if the experiment works.
Update:
Evidently, there's not that much after all, as it yielded hardly nothing at all. The next experiment is to see if the water that has no detergent will separate any better.
Update:
Yes it did. It was quite successful in separating out solids, which precipitated to the bottom. Some lighter density material floated on the top. I'm going to try to clean it up some more using the activated carbon.
So far, I have had success with cutting down on my use of water. It may be under ten gallons per day, but I haven't measured that closely yet. However, recovery of that water is not going as well as I would hope. The water won't filter back to a clean level, although I could still try other methods to get it cleaner.
The big question at this point is whether or not it is worth it.
Since the throughput is slow, and activated carbon is not cheap, I decided to try an experiment today. I used charcoal briquette, which I crushed into a powder. This was used as a filter in the same manner as the activated carbon. However, it left an orange tint to the water, which isn't good.
A run through with the activated carbon removed the tint. Now the idea is to use a lot of charcoal, and then clean up that result with a small amount of activated carbon.
The final pass will be through the sand filter, but I want to make that a slow pass. A dump of a gallon of water at a time goes through it too fast. I want it to seep through really slowly. How to do that?
Need to figure out a way to slow drip into the sand filter. An idea occurred to me. Why not use the activated carbon for a final cleanup? The sand filter treatment is not likely to be as clean as I would like.
Update:
Another idea occurred to me: since this water may have a lot of oil and fat in it, it may be a good idea to put it into the refrigerator, and let it solidify. Then the fat can be easily separated from the water. The fat may be clogging up the charcoal filters, too. These may work better if the experiment works.
Update:
Evidently, there's not that much after all, as it yielded hardly nothing at all. The next experiment is to see if the water that has no detergent will separate any better.
Update:
Yes it did. It was quite successful in separating out solids, which precipitated to the bottom. Some lighter density material floated on the top. I'm going to try to clean it up some more using the activated carbon.
So far, I have had success with cutting down on my use of water. It may be under ten gallons per day, but I haven't measured that closely yet. However, recovery of that water is not going as well as I would hope. The water won't filter back to a clean level, although I could still try other methods to get it cleaner.
The big question at this point is whether or not it is worth it.
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