Yes I know that most of the rest of the world runs 220V (well 210V to about 250V), but the largest readership of/. is American so think of it more as a FYI for them.
My understanding is that you can't charge one of these from regular wall current but need at least 220V (It might be more) so if you were going to get the backup generator option you get the disconnect device kit as part of it as you will probably be installing new wiring any way to have one circuit with 220V on it this could be installed at the same time. Now if you were like my father who has several 220V circuits in his garage (one is rated to 50 amps) then the lineman may be in for a surprise but most people aren't like my father and don't need to run big hydraulic presses, lifts, compressors, or welders
A decent backup generator fairly efficient (still not as good as a combined cycle gas turbine) the cost factor is actually the fuel costs. If you really wanted you could go get a big stationary 2 stroke diesel similar to what they put in cargo ships or in 400 ton trucks which are close to 50% efficient. Backup generators that use natural gas are cheaper than diesel ones but coal power for the grid is still lower cost. Also costs increase because the fuel isn't purchased on an industrial scale.
It doesn't surprise me much as I have heard industry rumors of doing similar things with the smart grid and basically using EVs as a storage medium. Yes I work in this industry so/. here say seems to be correct on this.
As a side note I have also used a car to heat up the garage in the winter to work on it or just change oil. Basically you go and attach a vent hose (aluminum dryer vent works great) to your exhaust and route it out the door. Then start your vehicle and let it run for half an hour. In my uninsulated garage I can get the temp up near freezing from below zero (Fahrenheit). Once warm shut off the car and change your oil. If there is one thing a car engine is good at it is producing heat.
My understanding is that you can get some very low level radioactive material through mail order. I worked at a company that had some for testing semiconductors against to ensure that they were properly hardened against radiation. I have also seen Geiger counter calibration kits sold as well so it doesn't seem unreasonable since he was probably buying stuff slightly more radio active than a granite counter top.
Personally I would be a bit leery of an old junk yard turbo since most people who have a turbo car don't bother to take care of it, like let the car idle so the turbo cools off so you don't scorch the oil in it before shutting the car off, or doing regular oil changes. Now if it was off a relatively new car that was just totaled then I wouldn't be anywhere near a leery. But it is easily doable.
True, but if it were a free market then the price signal should indicate that additional capacity should be brought online which I don't believe is happening. I always hear that OPEC wants to increase productions but doesn't have the capacity, but the moment prices start to drop they announce that they will be cutting production.
It might not be the oil companies fault as is some states there is a minimum markup that must exist on gasoline. Here in Minnesota it is $0.08 a gallon. Also the states and federal government ($0.184 per gallon) make far more money from gasoline taxes than the oil companies make in profit from the sale of gasoline. Also keep in mind how many billions of gallons of fuel we burn each year (about 378 million gallons a day). What you have is a low margin very high volume product.
I would hardly call the collusion of the governments Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, and Russia and the rest of OPEC to control the price of hydrocarbons a triumph of libertarian free market ideology.
Not all Earl Grey is vile. My favorite tea is a nice loose leaf Darjeeling tea. I am lucky that I have a whole bunch (several pounds) at home that I get my Indian co workers to bring back when they go for a visit and then vacuum pack and toss in the deep freeze so it stays fresh.
I wish it were more like gambling as they don't loose as they basically get to see future information (they get to see the buy and see prices) and act on it (add buy or sell orders in front of the new batch of orders) before the rest of the market gets to see the same info.
It also isn't "real" capitalism as HFTs get to preview orders before to the rest of the market. Real capitalism requires that all actors have the same access to the market and access to information. HFTs have a benefit as they get to preview orders and thus can make trades before the rest of the market even sees the orders. Also HFTs get the benefit from seeing orders in advance of know more info before the rest of the market since they get to look at orders (and see buying and selling prices) before the rest of the market. Here is an analogy for you: it is like getting to know the next set of winning numbers in the lottery and then getting to buy up all the winning tickets before anyone else can even buy a random ticket.
Well we could "harmonize" our trade policies with theirs. We could also "harmonize" our southern border policy with Mexico's southern border policy but we get condemned when there is even the thought of building a fence, or putting some troops there.
I've been told that one of the justifications for the rise in subprime mortgage lending involved mandates from the U.S. government to make home ownership easier for lower-income people, especially those in groups that were traditionally targets of racist discrimination. See Community Reinvestment Act.
That is a strawman argument. I would think that the more likely cause was that banks could dump loans onto to Freddie Mac and Fanny Mae and not assume any of the risk, but that was only for traditional loans. Now since most people who could get a traditional home loan already had them and there were very few new people who could get them we saw banks come up with more creative solutions since they undervalued risk since they thought housing prices could only go up. I qualified for a $750,000 loan (would have taken about 80% of my income to make monthly payments) 8 years ago and was being told that I buy as much house as I can. I didn't and I bought a $220,000 house with 20% down on a 30 year fixed @ 4.75% (so I am not underwater on my loan but pretty damn close as a few houses in my neighborhood were foreclosed on) which was well within what I could afford at the time. I decided that I would be responsible and did the right thing so my sympathy for those who who took out exotic loans or giant ones that they could barely afford is non existent. I do feel for those who were responsible got a reasonable loan but then lost their job but there are far fewer of those people than you think.
What we really need is for the market to clear, let those home go into foreclosure, I don't really feel sorry for you real estate investors and your loss. Yes this will depress housing prices but you shouldn't be viewing your house as an investment, it is an asset and even if its taxable value drops to $0 (which it won't unless it is really blighted) it still has intrinsic value as you live there. The problem we have now is everyone is trying to keep the market from finding the bottom, but it needs to so it can clear the current inventory. Have banks done some dodgy things, yes especially foreclosing on home that were current on payments, and those the companies should be strung out.
Well how about we do the following to correct:
Everyone has the same access to markets (Sorry HFTs no more previewing orders)
If you make a mistake you own it (sorry you don't get to roll back that order you placed to sell at 10% of market price or buy at 10x market price)
Companies listed on exchanges must have open books
No we won't bail you out (sorry Detroit, Sorry investment banks, maybe you shouldn't have piss poor decisions)
This will probably never happen because it would do a lot to level the playing field and would limit the amount of gaming going on so of course the big companies would be against it.
No in real capitalism all actors would have the exact same access to markets and information as everyone else does. Why do HFTs get to preview orders before everyone else? Why is it that when they make a mistake do their transactions get rolled back? Why is it when the invisible hand of the market attempts to bitch slap a bad actor back to the stone age the bad actor is made whole at the expense of the tax payer. This is much closer to what those on the political left call crony capitalism and I do have to agree.
My understanding is that it is basically they are doing arbitrage since they are playing the spread between what the buyer is asking and seller is willing to sell for.
If only they had let the market correct then more of the HFTs would have lost their shorts. Some times the invisible hand is trying to bitch slap some actors.
There will always be a need for vehicles like the Hummer, but you won't seem them pounding pavement like most of them do. I could make use of one, but I would go for a mil surplus HMMWV with a fording kit. It would replace my Bronco II as the hunting, camping, hauling vehicle that only gets driven about 3,000 miles a year. There are places I don't go but want to because you need to ford the river and my Bronco isn't setup to go through that much water. But you are correct the era of the small penis truck is probably over.
Well there are already kit cars where you provide the engine and these have been around for years. You are correct that they tend to cater to fun cars with power as there are an awful lot of Shelby Cobra kit cars (AC Ace with a ford 427 in it). These usually have to conform to much less stringent standards as you mentioned typically similar to a motor cycle and have working flashers and lights. Another option is collector cars. Even in places where there are environmental regulations you only have to comply with those in effect when the vehicle was made not what ever the current standard is, provided you have the correct engine. This usually excludes vehicles that were made before 1975, I think 68 was the first year were there were some laws but those were easy as they were mostly regulations dealing with crankcase emissions and unburned hydrocarbons. This is why I am restoring a 68 MG midget, I plan on having it be a supercharged alcohol burner (plus a ton of other stuff) as I want a car that out corners, breaks, and accelerates a Lotus Elise which are fun as hell to drive (rented one when if vegas). Now granted neither of these has the top speed of modern super cars, but for handling Lotus has been the gold standard and the damn cars are so light the really take off. Most of what I plan on doing are fairly common, but some of it looks like I would be the first.
Slashdot Mirror
Yes I know that most of the rest of the world runs 220V (well 210V to about 250V), but the largest readership of /. is American so think of it more as a FYI for them.
My understanding is that you can't charge one of these from regular wall current but need at least 220V (It might be more) so if you were going to get the backup generator option you get the disconnect device kit as part of it as you will probably be installing new wiring any way to have one circuit with 220V on it this could be installed at the same time. Now if you were like my father who has several 220V circuits in his garage (one is rated to 50 amps) then the lineman may be in for a surprise but most people aren't like my father and don't need to run big hydraulic presses, lifts, compressors, or welders
A decent backup generator fairly efficient (still not as good as a combined cycle gas turbine) the cost factor is actually the fuel costs. If you really wanted you could go get a big stationary 2 stroke diesel similar to what they put in cargo ships or in 400 ton trucks which are close to 50% efficient. Backup generators that use natural gas are cheaper than diesel ones but coal power for the grid is still lower cost. Also costs increase because the fuel isn't purchased on an industrial scale.
It doesn't surprise me much as I have heard industry rumors of doing similar things with the smart grid and basically using EVs as a storage medium. Yes I work in this industry so /. here say seems to be correct on this.
As a side note I have also used a car to heat up the garage in the winter to work on it or just change oil. Basically you go and attach a vent hose (aluminum dryer vent works great) to your exhaust and route it out the door. Then start your vehicle and let it run for half an hour. In my uninsulated garage I can get the temp up near freezing from below zero (Fahrenheit). Once warm shut off the car and change your oil. If there is one thing a car engine is good at it is producing heat.
My understanding is that you can get some very low level radioactive material through mail order. I worked at a company that had some for testing semiconductors against to ensure that they were properly hardened against radiation. I have also seen Geiger counter calibration kits sold as well so it doesn't seem unreasonable since he was probably buying stuff slightly more radio active than a granite counter top.
personally more worried, a dirty bomb could have affects lasting for decades
Only in a small area. As for the decades part I believe there are still 2 giant holes in the ground in New York that were created almost 10 years ago.
Personally I would be a bit leery of an old junk yard turbo since most people who have a turbo car don't bother to take care of it, like let the car idle so the turbo cools off so you don't scorch the oil in it before shutting the car off, or doing regular oil changes. Now if it was off a relatively new car that was just totaled then I wouldn't be anywhere near a leery. But it is easily doable.
True, but if it were a free market then the price signal should indicate that additional capacity should be brought online which I don't believe is happening. I always hear that OPEC wants to increase productions but doesn't have the capacity, but the moment prices start to drop they announce that they will be cutting production.
It might not be the oil companies fault as is some states there is a minimum markup that must exist on gasoline. Here in Minnesota it is $0.08 a gallon. Also the states and federal government ($0.184 per gallon) make far more money from gasoline taxes than the oil companies make in profit from the sale of gasoline. Also keep in mind how many billions of gallons of fuel we burn each year (about 378 million gallons a day). What you have is a low margin very high volume product.
Also for the exact Minnesota the defines that cost of gasoline and states that is can't be sold for below cost. Below is the section defining cost:
(3) for purposes of gasoline offered for sale by way of posted price or indicating meter by a retailer, at a retail location where gasoline is dispensed into passenger automobiles and trucks by the consumer, "cost" means the average terminal price on the day, at the terminal from which the most recent supply of gasoline delivered to the retail location was acquired, plus all applicable state and federal excise taxes and fees, plus the lesser of six percent or eight cents.
I would hardly call the collusion of the governments Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, and Russia and the rest of OPEC to control the price of hydrocarbons a triumph of libertarian free market ideology.
That sounds like a problem that will solve its self.
Actually, Earl Grey is vile and pussified.
Not all Earl Grey is vile. My favorite tea is a nice loose leaf Darjeeling tea. I am lucky that I have a whole bunch (several pounds) at home that I get my Indian co workers to bring back when they go for a visit and then vacuum pack and toss in the deep freeze so it stays fresh.
True, but conceptually it is similar.
No this isn't a black or gray market it is completely above the board so people could use real dollars.
Yet it we were told it was a failure of the market. To me it looked like the market was trying to get rid of some bad actors.
I wish it were more like gambling as they don't loose as they basically get to see future information (they get to see the buy and see prices) and act on it (add buy or sell orders in front of the new batch of orders) before the rest of the market gets to see the same info.
It also isn't "real" capitalism as HFTs get to preview orders before to the rest of the market. Real capitalism requires that all actors have the same access to the market and access to information. HFTs have a benefit as they get to preview orders and thus can make trades before the rest of the market even sees the orders. Also HFTs get the benefit from seeing orders in advance of know more info before the rest of the market since they get to look at orders (and see buying and selling prices) before the rest of the market. Here is an analogy for you: it is like getting to know the next set of winning numbers in the lottery and then getting to buy up all the winning tickets before anyone else can even buy a random ticket.
Well we could "harmonize" our trade policies with theirs. We could also "harmonize" our southern border policy with Mexico's southern border policy but we get condemned when there is even the thought of building a fence, or putting some troops there.
I've been told that one of the justifications for the rise in subprime mortgage lending involved mandates from the U.S. government to make home ownership easier for lower-income people, especially those in groups that were traditionally targets of racist discrimination. See Community Reinvestment Act.
That is a strawman argument. I would think that the more likely cause was that banks could dump loans onto to Freddie Mac and Fanny Mae and not assume any of the risk, but that was only for traditional loans. Now since most people who could get a traditional home loan already had them and there were very few new people who could get them we saw banks come up with more creative solutions since they undervalued risk since they thought housing prices could only go up. I qualified for a $750,000 loan (would have taken about 80% of my income to make monthly payments) 8 years ago and was being told that I buy as much house as I can. I didn't and I bought a $220,000 house with 20% down on a 30 year fixed @ 4.75% (so I am not underwater on my loan but pretty damn close as a few houses in my neighborhood were foreclosed on) which was well within what I could afford at the time. I decided that I would be responsible and did the right thing so my sympathy for those who who took out exotic loans or giant ones that they could barely afford is non existent. I do feel for those who were responsible got a reasonable loan but then lost their job but there are far fewer of those people than you think.
What we really need is for the market to clear, let those home go into foreclosure, I don't really feel sorry for you real estate investors and your loss. Yes this will depress housing prices but you shouldn't be viewing your house as an investment, it is an asset and even if its taxable value drops to $0 (which it won't unless it is really blighted) it still has intrinsic value as you live there. The problem we have now is everyone is trying to keep the market from finding the bottom, but it needs to so it can clear the current inventory. Have banks done some dodgy things, yes especially foreclosing on home that were current on payments, and those the companies should be strung out.
Well how about we do the following to correct:
Everyone has the same access to markets (Sorry HFTs no more previewing orders)
If you make a mistake you own it (sorry you don't get to roll back that order you placed to sell at 10% of market price or buy at 10x market price)
Companies listed on exchanges must have open books
No we won't bail you out (sorry Detroit, Sorry investment banks, maybe you shouldn't have piss poor decisions) This will probably never happen because it would do a lot to level the playing field and would limit the amount of gaming going on so of course the big companies would be against it.
No in real capitalism all actors would have the exact same access to markets and information as everyone else does. Why do HFTs get to preview orders before everyone else? Why is it that when they make a mistake do their transactions get rolled back? Why is it when the invisible hand of the market attempts to bitch slap a bad actor back to the stone age the bad actor is made whole at the expense of the tax payer. This is much closer to what those on the political left call crony capitalism and I do have to agree.
My understanding is that it is basically they are doing arbitrage since they are playing the spread between what the buyer is asking and seller is willing to sell for.
If only they had let the market correct then more of the HFTs would have lost their shorts. Some times the invisible hand is trying to bitch slap some actors.
which means the days of the Hummer are numbered
There will always be a need for vehicles like the Hummer, but you won't seem them pounding pavement like most of them do. I could make use of one, but I would go for a mil surplus HMMWV with a fording kit. It would replace my Bronco II as the hunting, camping, hauling vehicle that only gets driven about 3,000 miles a year. There are places I don't go but want to because you need to ford the river and my Bronco isn't setup to go through that much water. But you are correct the era of the small penis truck is probably over.
Well there are already kit cars where you provide the engine and these have been around for years. You are correct that they tend to cater to fun cars with power as there are an awful lot of Shelby Cobra kit cars (AC Ace with a ford 427 in it). These usually have to conform to much less stringent standards as you mentioned typically similar to a motor cycle and have working flashers and lights. Another option is collector cars. Even in places where there are environmental regulations you only have to comply with those in effect when the vehicle was made not what ever the current standard is, provided you have the correct engine. This usually excludes vehicles that were made before 1975, I think 68 was the first year were there were some laws but those were easy as they were mostly regulations dealing with crankcase emissions and unburned hydrocarbons. This is why I am restoring a 68 MG midget, I plan on having it be a supercharged alcohol burner (plus a ton of other stuff) as I want a car that out corners, breaks, and accelerates a Lotus Elise which are fun as hell to drive (rented one when if vegas). Now granted neither of these has the top speed of modern super cars, but for handling Lotus has been the gold standard and the damn cars are so light the really take off. Most of what I plan on doing are fairly common, but some of it looks like I would be the first.