Why do Republicans fear that the black man will take his job away when the official unemployment rate for blacks is at 16% right now? And why aren't we bemoaning how white men are taking jobs away from black people?
Why do Republicans with young children who are poor and can't afford to take their kids to private schools want to continue to vote for Republicans who want to abolish the Department of Education?
Why do Republican voters rail against President Obama and blame him for the Federal debt, when former President George W. Bush added $6.1 trillion to it himself while the "tea party" were cheering him on?
And come to think of it, why do Republicans who want the debt to get paid down keep voting Republican? The last three Republican presidents (Reagan, Bush I, & Bush II) account for just over $10 trillion of the $14+ trillion in our national debt!!!
Why do Republicans get upset about the "liberal bias" in our media and counter that by watching Fox News and listening to the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Michael Savage and Ann Coulter?
Why do Republicans who make less than $50,000 a year vote for Republicans who wanna lower taxes on the rich who own companies that send their jobs to China, India, and Mexico?
Why do Republicans support the Pro-Life stance when they support the Death Penalty?
TO BE CONTINUED...
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
A back-up energy plan for the home
Last weekend, Saturday to be exact, the power went out in my home. It was a good thunderstorm, too. Knocked a whole bunch of limbs off trees in and around New Albany, Indiana. But luckily, it was a quick storm and blew on pass before it could really do some harm. As a result the power went off at the house from 5:30 pm to well into the early Sunday morning.
Thankfully I wasn't worried. I had a back-up energy plan for my home.
Here's what this "back-up plan" entails:
Basically what I made is a Backup Power Station for the home. Now here's why. Seven years ago Saturday, I experienced with my family a Category 4 hurricane that slammed Port Charlotte, FL where my family and I were living at the time. We all survived. No one was even injured. But the damage to the house was extensive. The damage to the whole damn city was extensive!
Imagine going from living in a sunny Florida town to the backdrop to the film The Day After in a matter of a couple of hours. And when you add all those cops and National Guard soldiers with their loaded M-16s, you honestly begin to feel like you're truly living in a Third World country (of course should the economy continue to collapse, then we all will, but that's another point for another day). The thing though that made that nightmare worse though was not having electricity or phone or water service for THREE WEEKS! It's one thing to go without power in a city for a couple of days or so because of a storm or a blizzard. But 3 weeks with no power, no telephone (or cell phone), and no water? Could you handle it?
And what did I do to celebrate the 7th anniversary of Hurricane Charley? I spent it at home without electric power due to a severe thunderstorm! Maybe that blues singer was right when he said, "There's no such thing as the devil. It's God when he's drunk."
But it was a moment in time when I really, truly started to realize just how depended we all are with our electronic stuff: our TVs, radios, stereos, dvd players, alarm clocks, refrigerators, dish washer, etc. etc. etc. Take the power away for 3 weeks and you realize just how useless those items become. And those batteries will eventually need to be replaced.
Sometime last year, I decided that with the occasional blackouts that have started to happen even here in New Albany, Indiana (which is where I was born and raised), I needed to find a way to have electricity when the power went out. But I knew I couldn't afford to buy a bunch of solar panels or windmills.
Then I started to look around on YouTube and I found the answer. It was simple, clever, and didn't cost a bunch to build. I found out that a simple set-up of deep cycle batteries with an inverter and a battery charger to keep it charged while the grid is on will do the trick when the lights go out. The result is a back-up energy system that allows me to be able to plug in some lights, the telephone, the Internet and keep them running while the grid is down. I plug in two grounded power strips that let me plug those into the inverter as well as a laptop, my cell phone, my iPod and my box fan while waiting for the energy company to get the power back on.
Now the set-up I have right now would only have kept the power going to a handful of small items for about a little more than a day. It's more a back-up plan for short-term emergencies. But for power outages of more than a day or two will have to include an alternative form of power that could charge the batteries even with the grid out. Thankfully, Harbor Freight sells the 45-watt Solar Kit from Chicago Electric that contains three 15-watt solar panels, a regulator/charge controller, a flimsy stand to hold them, and a pair of 12-volt lights that will plug into the regulator.
Now it doesn't sound like a whole lot of power. But the 45 watt rating is just what they produce per hour. On a 12 hour day, the 3 panels will produce between 0.35 to 0.54 kilowatts of power per day. Two kits with 6 panels total can get you over 1 kilowatt per day. Not a bunch, but some. You can keep the lights on, watch TV, send and receive calls on the phone, and keep some sanity while your powerless neighbors lose theirs. I sure wish I had what I got now seven years ago Saturday. That's for sure.
I have one Harbor Freight kit I bought back in June, but I have yet to install it on my house. I will need a few things first and money's tight in the ol' Landrum household at the moment. But in the meantime, it's time for all of us to think about what is going on with the world's energy and realize that our world's grid is starting to break down. Infrastructure stinks and peak oil will only mean blackouts will be more common, not less. So while we still have a grid that runs 24/7, we all should have a back-up energy plan for the home.
Our lives (and our sanities) may depend on it.
Thankfully I wasn't worried. I had a back-up energy plan for my home.
Here's what this "back-up plan" entails:
- a pair of 12-volt Deep Cycle/Marine/RV batteries,
- a battery charger (that is rated for deep cycle batteries),
- a 1000-watt inverter.
Basically what I made is a Backup Power Station for the home. Now here's why. Seven years ago Saturday, I experienced with my family a Category 4 hurricane that slammed Port Charlotte, FL where my family and I were living at the time. We all survived. No one was even injured. But the damage to the house was extensive. The damage to the whole damn city was extensive!
Imagine going from living in a sunny Florida town to the backdrop to the film The Day After in a matter of a couple of hours. And when you add all those cops and National Guard soldiers with their loaded M-16s, you honestly begin to feel like you're truly living in a Third World country (of course should the economy continue to collapse, then we all will, but that's another point for another day). The thing though that made that nightmare worse though was not having electricity or phone or water service for THREE WEEKS! It's one thing to go without power in a city for a couple of days or so because of a storm or a blizzard. But 3 weeks with no power, no telephone (or cell phone), and no water? Could you handle it?
And what did I do to celebrate the 7th anniversary of Hurricane Charley? I spent it at home without electric power due to a severe thunderstorm! Maybe that blues singer was right when he said, "There's no such thing as the devil. It's God when he's drunk."
But it was a moment in time when I really, truly started to realize just how depended we all are with our electronic stuff: our TVs, radios, stereos, dvd players, alarm clocks, refrigerators, dish washer, etc. etc. etc. Take the power away for 3 weeks and you realize just how useless those items become. And those batteries will eventually need to be replaced.
Sometime last year, I decided that with the occasional blackouts that have started to happen even here in New Albany, Indiana (which is where I was born and raised), I needed to find a way to have electricity when the power went out. But I knew I couldn't afford to buy a bunch of solar panels or windmills.
Then I started to look around on YouTube and I found the answer. It was simple, clever, and didn't cost a bunch to build. I found out that a simple set-up of deep cycle batteries with an inverter and a battery charger to keep it charged while the grid is on will do the trick when the lights go out. The result is a back-up energy system that allows me to be able to plug in some lights, the telephone, the Internet and keep them running while the grid is down. I plug in two grounded power strips that let me plug those into the inverter as well as a laptop, my cell phone, my iPod and my box fan while waiting for the energy company to get the power back on.
Now the set-up I have right now would only have kept the power going to a handful of small items for about a little more than a day. It's more a back-up plan for short-term emergencies. But for power outages of more than a day or two will have to include an alternative form of power that could charge the batteries even with the grid out. Thankfully, Harbor Freight sells the 45-watt Solar Kit from Chicago Electric that contains three 15-watt solar panels, a regulator/charge controller, a flimsy stand to hold them, and a pair of 12-volt lights that will plug into the regulator.
Now it doesn't sound like a whole lot of power. But the 45 watt rating is just what they produce per hour. On a 12 hour day, the 3 panels will produce between 0.35 to 0.54 kilowatts of power per day. Two kits with 6 panels total can get you over 1 kilowatt per day. Not a bunch, but some. You can keep the lights on, watch TV, send and receive calls on the phone, and keep some sanity while your powerless neighbors lose theirs. I sure wish I had what I got now seven years ago Saturday. That's for sure.
I have one Harbor Freight kit I bought back in June, but I have yet to install it on my house. I will need a few things first and money's tight in the ol' Landrum household at the moment. But in the meantime, it's time for all of us to think about what is going on with the world's energy and realize that our world's grid is starting to break down. Infrastructure stinks and peak oil will only mean blackouts will be more common, not less. So while we still have a grid that runs 24/7, we all should have a back-up energy plan for the home.
Our lives (and our sanities) may depend on it.
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