Posts by jake

Re: Who the hell cares about transmission capability?

Except the infrastructure is not really all that bad.

Yes, there were a couple of wide-spread blackouts in the last half a century or so, but most of those problems have been fixed. PG&E shutting down vast areas of Northern California is another issue entirely ... And of course Texas, which has created its own self-contained mess, and as far as I'm concerned they can wallow in it.

But today, right now, things pretty much work. And will continue to work.

It's power that we need, not the means to distribute it.

Re: IT does not matter

But Florida, being mostly swamp, IS underwater, and never within living memory has Texas not been a living hell ... What does climate change have to do with that?

How long before Quebec Hydro is silted up?

Do not want. Need long term 'lecy. Nuclear, please.

Re: Socialism

Enron has been defunct for almost 21 years. Not even Musk is stupid enough to try to do anything with that.

Re: Stakeout

"There are practical limits on the number of stakeouts that the police can run at any one time. They have limited manpower."

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? —Decimus Junius Juvenalis, Roman Empire, 347(ish)

Re: Solution....

Not necessarily. For example, an inexpensive baby-monitor can overwhelm a very expensive so-called surveillance camera. I've seen it.

Re: The doorbell cams are fine. It is Amazon sharing the video with the cops that is disgusting.

I didn't do anything of the sort.

_{I take it you didn't bother to read the colophon ...}

"and 1.8 mm"

What do you do with 1.8mm timbers? Toothpick blanks?

Re: re: Quick question... What's a foot?

Except for the fact that most bars that will serve you a Pint in the US will generally serve you a 20oz pint.

Yes, really.

"If I wanted to be observed 24/7, I'd go on reality TV."

If you don't want to be observed 24/7, you probably shouldn't live where the neighbor's doorbell can see into your front door and windows.

The only thing that travels faster than light is gossip. Shakespeare knew this long before computers & clouds.

In other news ...

... the beatings will continue until morale improves.

"How easy is it to simply install that on a whim?"

Simple, if you have money. There even outfits that will rent them to you ... 12 foot hedge, by the foot, by the day/week/month. Comes in anything from a simple shade screen, like a few layers of bamboo, to a nice, dense privacy screen of boxwood, privet, yew or holly. Maintenance is done by the rental company, and typically they are about 18 inches deep.

Much loved by Brides for photography. Lookup "hedge wall rental" in the search engine of your choice. Not my cuppa (I prefer a more natural look), but some people like them :-)

I have also seen huge mazes made with these things. Personally, I'd grow corn (maize), but I guess some people don't have the lead-time or the ability to plan in advance.

"Quick disingenuous question..."

FTFY

"What's a foot?"

It is 1/5280th of one of your miles. Which you know full well, you pretentious idiot.

_{Alternately, it is the body part voted most likely to be inserted rectally in people like you.}

Re: One Nation ...

Yes, and no. Lots and lots of cameras. But very, very few that are actually taking pictures that are worth anything, being low-res and/or B&W, with lenses covered in dust and bird shit. Many/most of the government ones appear to be phony cameras that don't actually do anything at all ... I've found dozens (hundreds?) in scrap yards that were removed from city streets and public buildings, but are just empty shells, and have obviously never actually contained the necessary electronics. For one concrete example, BART was caught doing this a while back ...

And yet passers-by can stroll past your property, filming to their heart's content? Because I'm fairly certain I can dig up any number of street scenes in the country of your choice archived on TehIntraWebTubes, including full views of all the private properties along the way.

Some laws are just plain silly.

Re: Solution....

Just jam the frequency the camera is using. Accidentally, of course.

Seems to me the cops aren't even supposed to look over a 6 foot fence without a warrant, unless there is probable cause ... and that probable cause better be more than "I thought I heard something funny".

20 feet? OK ... Wanna mow my lawn for ten bucks?

The doorbell cams are fine. It is Amazon sharing the video with the cops that is disgusting.

What happens in my front yard is my issue, not Amazon's, and not the Police's. At least not until I choose to involve them.

_{I use dawgs, not cameras. No batteries or cloud required.}

Re: How long before she ...

The sprog?

Now that is just cold.

Re: Best of British

One is never short of feed for hogs. Everybody has a pasture that needs clearing and fertilizing. Goats and/or sheep might make it look prettier short-term, but the hogs will also turn the ground up and work the nutrients in for you, making it more useful in the long run.

Besides, who wants politician fed bacon? Wast of good food, that.

Re: What do they do?

Whenever I hear "service" used by management, I think "turn the rental-ram out to service the ewes".

Re: What do they do?

I think with DevOps you can get rid of quite a few of the other bits.

Which seems to be the very problem the stoner is facing as I type ...

Re: What do they do?

Gravel isn't hard. Its alluvial, and usually requires a different claim and permitting.

Re: run Twitter permanently on a full-time basis

"His cred is going down the drain"

The stoner had cred? With whom, pray tell.

Re: Best of British

I rather suspect that a certain rather elderly and probably somewhat senile currently out of work (and no real prospects) former US idiot-in-chief and bungling boob of an orange buffoon will have right of first refusal over those two.

Re: Not enough range.

The diesel engine runs at a steady state, and is tuned to be most efficient at that RPM/power output. Just like your power station, and almost as efficient. Most modern diesels in this line of work are actually more efficient than some older power plants that are still online.

Transmission losses are greater than you are making them out to be. Look it up for yourself. Here's a paper to get you started: http://large.stanford.edu/courses/2010/ph240/harting1/

Re: Not enough range.

"Don't drive stuff for 72 hours straight - it's not safe, or clever."

Don't be disingenuous, it's not flattering.

Typically I'll drive a semi taking harvest to storage for four hours, then eat and rest or an hour, then drive a tractor for four hours, then 8 hours off. With four drivers rotating, it is fairly easy to keep up the pace for a week or so without getting tired enough to start making mistakes. My operation has more than four drivers available. It also has more than one tractor and more than one semi.

"You could of course have a swappable pack to allow pretty much continuous operation, but that doesn't fit your "I refuse to consider change" attitude."

A spare battery pack would cost nearly the same as a spare tractor. And in reality, I would need six battery packs (+ charging infrastructure) per tractor (semi, etc.) to maintain a nearly non-stop harvest. Plus the transportable equipment to do the battery swap in the field. Them thangs is heavy, they is. All in all, quite spendy.

I have considered it. Electric power for farm equipment looks good on paper, until you look at real world TCO. Then it's shit.

One exception: In so-called "third world countries", where bleeding-heart yuppies install a free (to the locals) PV system, a free (to the locals) electric tractor that needs no expensive diesel to run can be a godsend. Hopefully that same god will send help when (not if) something breaks ... especially considering that none of the parts will have been manufactured locally, nor be available locally. And good luck finding, and then transporting, a new or spare battery pack ...

Also, please note that it's not just my land I'm working ... I rent my equipment/personnel out to other locals who can't/won't afford their own gear.

Re: Not enough range.

However, the diesel in a diesel-electric is tuned to run most efficiently at exactly the same speed as required to run the generators. It is actually just as efficient as a full-scale power plant (ignoring scale issues). However, it has virtually NONE of the power transmission losses. That's why almost all long-haul freight, world-wide, is powered by diesel-electric. Including shipping. It is quite simply the most cost efficient method of moving massive quantities of stuff from point A to point B.

Power line losses in any National Grid are a very, very large part of total operating expenses ... and the more electric cars you plug into said grid, the higher these losses become. Hybrid is the only logical answer.

Re: Not enough range.

No, thank you. I'm a farmer/rancher, not an entertainer of rednecks.

Re: Not enough range.

"Sod off and admit that you drive a lorry"

Yes, I own and operate a Peterbilt ... but we were talking about one of the pickup trucks. Do try to keep up.

"then get a Tesla semi when they come out."

No, thank you. Too much money, not enough range, can't make a business case for it.

_{Methinks you already have a Tesla semi ...}

Re: Not enough range.

I probably manage under 5 MPG (maybe under 4) in places when towing that backhoe.

Lots of uphill between here (175ish ft) and the Nevada property (over 6,000 ft). See the portion of Hwy 80 between Sacramento and Tahoe, with the high point being Donner Summit, at 7240 ft. From Sac to DS is an elevation change of about 7200 ft ... in about 90 miles. Takes about an hour and a half, it's all super-slab.

Re: Not enough range.

Most diesel trains are actually diesel-electric. The diesel engine runs a generator, which in turn powers the electric engines that move the train. Cuts out the middle-man, and attendant transmission losses.

Overhead wires (of any kind!) are a blight on the landscape.

Re: 0–100km/h in under two seconds

Nah. No whiplash. The unwary and uninitiated would probably lose control, though. Thus the valet key.

I suspect his Ford is made of alumin(i)um.

I, too, would prefer the Ford. Much prettier, and can go more than 100 miles of spirited driving without having to pause for a fillup.

_{Yes, I know, part of the chassis in made of modern superplastics ...}

Re: Not enough range.

Yes, the low-end torque is GREAT, if you're only going a few hundred yards. But once you're towing a few hundred miles, other factors come into play.

They are testing electric plug-in tractors. I was allowed to borrow one for a few weeks. I really like the low end torque and the relative quiet. I really hate that I can't use it non-stop for 72+ hours a couple of times during harvest season. This last is a complete deal-breaker. When crops need to come in, I can't have my tractor sitting on the charger for hours on end. This directly translates to towing over-the-road.

Re: Not enough range.

"There is no inherent issue with towing"

Yes, there is. You even included it in the bit of mine you quoted.

The fact is that when towing, an EVs range is severely limited. I can tow a backhoe on a flatbed from Sonoma to the Nevada property on a single fillup of diesel, no stopping[0]. Trying the same mission with one of those new-fangled Ford Etrucks would require at least 6, maybe 7 stops for an 80% "fill up". I don't know about you, but for me there aren't enough hours in the day ... No, make that there aren't enough hours in my life to put up with that kind of nonsense.

You can keep your EVs for getting groceries and SJW posing. I have work to do, and time is money.

[0] Ford F-350 dually, 30 gallon main tank, and two 25 gallon saddle tanks.

Re: Not enough range.

Out of curiosity, I grabbed my Wife's pedometer this morning as I set out to do my chores, and wore it all day. Just got in after the late-night barn check with a couple of the dogs, and finally took a look at it.

7.2 miles. Without trying, just a normal day. Means I walk a tick over 50 miles in an average week.

Surprised the hell out of me.

Re: Not enough range.

It's a low-boy trailer with a stake bed. No room down there.

No, I'm not smuggling firewood. Yet.

_{When firewood is outlawed, only outlaws will have firewood ...}