Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
One sunny day in February 2009
One sunny day in February 2009 an old man approached the White House from across 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., where he'd been sitting on a park bench.
He spoke to the U.S. Marine standing guard and said, "I would like to go In and meet with President Bush."
The Marine looked at the man and said, "Sir, Mr. Bush is no longer President and no longer resides here."
The old man said, "Okay" and walked away.
The following day, the same man approached the White House and said to The same Marine, "I would like to go in and meet with President Bush."
The Marine again told the man, "Sir, as I said yesterday, Mr. Bush is no Longer president and no longer resides here."
The man thanked him and, again, just walked away.
The third day, the same man approached the White House and spoke to the Very same U. S. Marine, saying "I would like to go in and meet with President Bush."
The Marine, understandably agitated at this point, looked at the man and Said, "Sir, this is the third day in a row you have been here asking to Speak to Mr. Bush. I've told you already that Mr. Bush is no longer the President and no longer resides here. Don't you understand?"
The old man looked at the Marine and said, "Oh, I understand. I just Love hearing it."
The Marine snapped to attention, saluted, and said, "See you tomorrow."
-copied from an anonymous email
He spoke to the U.S. Marine standing guard and said, "I would like to go In and meet with President Bush."
The Marine looked at the man and said, "Sir, Mr. Bush is no longer President and no longer resides here."
The old man said, "Okay" and walked away.
The following day, the same man approached the White House and said to The same Marine, "I would like to go in and meet with President Bush."
The Marine again told the man, "Sir, as I said yesterday, Mr. Bush is no Longer president and no longer resides here."
The man thanked him and, again, just walked away.
The third day, the same man approached the White House and spoke to the Very same U. S. Marine, saying "I would like to go in and meet with President Bush."
The Marine, understandably agitated at this point, looked at the man and Said, "Sir, this is the third day in a row you have been here asking to Speak to Mr. Bush. I've told you already that Mr. Bush is no longer the President and no longer resides here. Don't you understand?"
The old man looked at the Marine and said, "Oh, I understand. I just Love hearing it."
The Marine snapped to attention, saluted, and said, "See you tomorrow."
-copied from an anonymous email
Wednesday, November 05, 2008
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Solar space heat and domestic hot water
The natural gas furnace that was in my house when I bought it was ANCIENT. It may have been installed in the 50's. So I knew that I would need to replace it. When my natural gas company wanted to change the formulation for our gas mix, they needed to get my furnace inspected. Rather than pay to get that dinosaur inspected, I decided to upgrade to a solar system for space heat. I looked at ripping up my floors to put a great product - Warm Board - in, but wow. I just didn't want a whole house remodel project that large. Then I found that an Air Handler which has an aluminum finned radiator to exchange hydronic heat to ducted air can be retrofit to my existing ductwork. Neat.
My system comprises of:
- 5 Stiebel Eltron flat plate solar collectors
Navien tankless heater which I hope I rarely ever use
Stiebel Eltron SBB600S 160 gallon Thermal Storage tank
Life Breath air handler
Axiom Pressure Pal to keep glycol levels topped off
Controls and pumps and pipe - Lots of pipe
My stystem overheated today. But no biggie. The axiom will top it off next time the pump engages.
Why this system? I had heard about evacuated tubes. They are way more efficient than flat plate collectors. They work on cloudy days. They work better at colder temperatures. If I lived in - cough - Hudson Wisconsin - cough - I would definitely use evacuated tubes. But the flat plates have another advantage. In September the sun is getting pretty close to full gain on my syetem, yet the heating season has not yet begun. My system dumps heat. Evacuated tubes don't do that. They are too efficient to dump heat. If I were to buy an evacuated tube system, I would include at least one flat plate in the system so that I could radiate heat at the moon in late summer when I am taking in too much heat.
Natural gas in Utah is WAY cheap. The economics of this system, however, will still make sense. With the incentives and tax rebates, I will have payback in 5-10 years. If gas prices go up payback will be quicker. If we care about energy independence, natural gas prices will go up as we transition from imported oil to domestic natural gas for use as a transportation fuel. If I need to buy a car before EREV cars are available I can buy a CNG car which I will be able to fuel with the natural gas I have saved. Money will stay here in Utah rather than go to the middle east, and both Al Gore and T Boone Pickens will be happy with me.
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Monday, September 01, 2008
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Moving a Bridge
This Bridge was built about a mile from the place where it will be dropped into place. The old bridge is being torn down, and the new one will go into the gap by tomorrow.
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Tuesday, July 08, 2008
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Thursday, May 08, 2008
Monday, April 28, 2008
Saturday, April 05, 2008
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Monday, February 04, 2008
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Saturday, January 26, 2008
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