Your experience is not shared by others. I've ben to 2 grad schools (MS, Ph.D.). The first was union (SUNY). Here graduate assistants, whether on RA or TA, received health insurance, parking permits, and had an advocate to contact in case of (abnormal) abuse. The 2nd school was not unionized and gave no benefits at all. Another good example of the utility of union representation is part time UPS workers. As a part-timer at UPS while an undergrad, I sweated for 20 hrs. a week, but got full medical & dental thanks to Teamsters representation. An emplyer/employee win/win.
" government gives you minimum protections - by defination that's all you need." Right. By definition I can live on minimum wage. -and no health care. It's pretty clear the author has never been in a position of need or he wouldn't spout this FUD.
Even Teddy Kaczynski had a bicycle. You can build a bike powered generaor (don't laugh Gilligan, I actually did this... -Mine is better but my HD died and I didn't back up JPGs:)
(http://users.erols.com/mshaver/bikegen.htm)
More important than how to generate power is how to minimize consumption (so says 2nd law of thermodynamics) -but don't tell W I said so.
Go laptop for a merry Christmas!
Many electronic goodies are DC in their current-loving cores. If you have an LCD monitor around, I think you can find that the transformer on the power cord is converting 110AC->12VDC. I lived on photovoltaics for some time and chopped the AC adapters of gadgets to run them on 12V DC, (e.g., amplified computer speakers, NiCad charger). I was too much of a wuss to cut the cord on my new (warranteed) LCD even though the specs (and transformer) said it was 12V to the display. Merry Whatever!
Hmmm, try it sometime... The wattage rating on a PV panel is based upon max. voltage, and does not accurately reflect what you can put into a storage battery (e.g., 65W panel = 16.5V @ 4A, or 48 watts to charge your 12V batery -in full sun!) If you draw power >the PV's generation, (say in late afternoon with shade on panels) cut your PV capacity figure in half again for battery inefficiency. Then there's the pesky AC inverter and its collusion with the 2nd law... I lived for a few years on a small PV system with a desktop/LCD and a laptop; I used the desktop on occasion in full sun in the summer and the laptop the other 95% of the time. Bottom line is lower demand is a far more efficient way to get the job done. Someone ought to clue-in President Idiot re: his oil wars. Merry Christmas!
For the past couple of years I too lived like my hero Teddy K. and can confirm that the laptop is the way to go. Solar with inverters or generators are unreliable so the UPS action is as valuable as running on 100W.
If you really want to go Unabomber make your own bicylce powered generator out of an old tape drive motor for the cloudy days:(http://users.erols.com/mshaver/bikegen.htm)
The real limiting factor is the lack of the net to glean the bombmaking finery.
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Your experience is not shared by others. I've ben to 2 grad schools (MS, Ph.D.). The first was union (SUNY). Here graduate assistants, whether on RA or TA, received health insurance, parking permits, and had an advocate to contact in case of (abnormal) abuse. The 2nd school was not unionized and gave no benefits at all. Another good example of the utility of union representation is part time UPS workers. As a part-timer at UPS while an undergrad, I sweated for 20 hrs. a week, but got full medical & dental thanks to Teamsters representation. An emplyer/employee win/win.
" government gives you minimum protections - by defination that's all you need."
Right. By definition I can live on minimum wage. -and no health care. It's pretty clear the author has never been in a position of need or he wouldn't spout this FUD.
Even Teddy Kaczynski had a bicycle. You can build a bike powered generaor (don't laugh Gilligan, I actually did this... -Mine is better but my HD died and I didn't back up JPGs:) (http://users.erols.com/mshaver/bikegen.htm) More important than how to generate power is how to minimize consumption (so says 2nd law of thermodynamics) -but don't tell W I said so. Go laptop for a merry Christmas!
Many electronic goodies are DC in their current-loving cores. If you have an LCD monitor around, I think you can find that the transformer on the power cord is converting 110AC->12VDC. I lived on photovoltaics for some time and chopped the AC adapters of gadgets to run them on 12V DC, (e.g., amplified computer speakers, NiCad charger). I was too much of a wuss to cut the cord on my new (warranteed) LCD even though the specs (and transformer) said it was 12V to the display. Merry Whatever!
Hmmm, try it sometime... The wattage rating on a PV panel is based upon max. voltage, and does not accurately reflect what you can put into a storage battery (e.g., 65W panel = 16.5V @ 4A, or 48 watts to charge your 12V batery -in full sun!) If you draw power >the PV's generation, (say in late afternoon with shade on panels) cut your PV capacity figure in half again for battery inefficiency. Then there's the pesky AC inverter and its collusion with the 2nd law... I lived for a few years on a small PV system with a desktop/LCD and a laptop; I used the desktop on occasion in full sun in the summer and the laptop the other 95% of the time. Bottom line is lower demand is a far more efficient way to get the job done. Someone ought to clue-in President Idiot re: his oil wars. Merry Christmas!
For the past couple of years I too lived like my hero Teddy K. and can confirm that the laptop is the way to go. Solar with inverters or generators are unreliable so the UPS action is as valuable as running on 100W. If you really want to go Unabomber make your own bicylce powered generator out of an old tape drive motor for the cloudy days:(http://users.erols.com/mshaver/bikegen.htm) The real limiting factor is the lack of the net to glean the bombmaking finery.