31 Oct 2013

Yay, Sox!

posted in: public affairs, sports | 0

Congratulations, Red Sox, for a great World Series! Even this generally-doesn’t-watch-baseball fan got pretty enthused about the series this year. We stumbled into the playoffs by accidentally tuning in about ten minutes before Ortiz hit his grand slam home run a couple of weeks ago. And from there on, we were all in. Way to go, Bosox!

I found myself wondering, though, why the two teams don’t come together and shake hands at the end, the way sporting athletes used to do. For all of the excitement, I feel as if we’ve lost something in our obsession with the win. I think acknowledging each other as worthy opponents makes the sport larger, not smaller–and I wish we could have a movement back in that direction. Imagine a game like tonight’s, but with both teams out on the field at the end: the losers congratulating the winners on their win, and the winners sharing just a bit of the spotlight to acknowledge that the other team put up a hell of a fight.

Well, why can’t I do my bit right now? Cardinals, you put up a hell of a fight, you played some great baseball, and you managed to grow beards without looking like mountain men! Congratulations to you, too, on a great series.

What the hell, while we’re at it–congratulations to the fans! And to the new owner* of the Boston Globe! Beers all around!

Boston Globe photo by Barry Chin

*John Henry, who also owns the Red Sox.

 

12 Oct 2013

Surplus Energy!

posted in: personal news, solar power, technology | 0

Yesterday was our first full day of generating power from our solar panels. It was a pleasant, mostly sunny day. I just checked our energy output for the day, and we seem to have generated a cool 30 kilowatt hours of current total. Here’s the graph, peaking between noon and 3 p.m.:

According to a recent electric bill, last fall we used on average around 20 kilowatt hours per day. I have no way of checking directly, but if that pattern still holds, we generated half again as much electricity yesterday as we used. We sold power to the grid!

Power too cheap to meter! Power from the people!

10 Oct 2013

IT’S ALIVE!!! Bzzzz-t-t-t!

posted in: personal news, solar power, technology | 0

Our solar panels went live today, shooting electricity to to the grid! And to us! Time to celebrate!

Besides saving the Earth, we have a new way to waste time: logging in to see exactly how much power we’re generating (12 kwh for the afternoon, the last time I checked). It’s a cloudy day, and we were already past peak sun when the switch was thrown. I hope we get a sunny day this weekend, so we can stand around and look at the meter.

The switch is ON!

Fun fact: While the technician was showing me the website, a graphic informed me that we had, in effect, charged 4400 AA batteries since he’d switched it on. Or charged 2500 cell phones. Or burned a gallon of gas, but without the carbon emissions.

Solar rocks.

 
So does this movie.

4 Oct 2013

Space Beer!

posted in: beer, quirky | 0

The indomitable Dogfish Head Brewing Company has done something I’m pretty sure no other brewer has yet attempted: cooked up a special brewsky with real, pulverized moondust in it—Celest-jewel-ale! How’s that for rocket juice, Tom Corbett? I’m sure it has special medicinal qualities! Unfortunately, you can only get it at one location, Dogfish Head’s Rehoboth Beach brewpub. Well, blast my rocket wash!

Here’s my very own Dogfish Head keg tap handle, which I won at a raffle at my favorite beer and wine store. 

3 Oct 2013

A Bird in the Kitchen…

posted in: animal friends, personal news, quirky | 0

…is worth how many in the claw? 

I got up this morning to the sound of Captain Jack howling and scrabbling frantically around the living and dining rooms. What I found when I arrived was a terrified bird flying back and forth in the room, arousing great interest from Jack and Moonlight (the cat). Finally it flew into the kitchen, and I managed to get a few pictures.

Who can tell me what kind of bird this is?  Gray, with a spotted underside, and (though you can’t really see it in these shots) a longish, narrow beak. You can biggify by clicking on the images.

I opened the kitchen window screen, and after a few minutes the bird found the opening and shot out of the house like a rocket. I’m still not sure how it got in—maybe through a torn screen in my office, up on the third floor. If so, that meant it found its way down the hall, and down the narrow stairs, before meeting up with the local guards.

All’s well that ends well.

25 Sep 2013

Solar Panel Installation – Pt. 2

posted in: personal news, solar power, technology | 0

If a picture is worth a thousand words, I’ve just done my day’s writing, and tomorrow’s and the next day’s, as well…

It’s all done, except for the final inspections—first by the town inspector, and then by Nstar. After that, we throw the big red switch, and electricity starts flowing from the rooftop!

Update Oct. 3 — The inspection is done, and now we’re just waiting for Nstar to sign off on the paperwork. I’m told that can take anywhere from ten minutes to two months, but averages a week or two.

20 Sep 2013

New Audiobooks!

posted in: audiobook, personal news, science fiction | 0

Audible.com works fast. My two short story collections are now on sale as audiobooks! I’ve only listened to the samples so far, but I like the sound of both of the narrators. If you enjoy audiobooks for your commute or your dog walks or whatever, why not give them a try? (You could also ask your library to consider ordering them.)

On my own dog walks, I’m currently listening to War and Remembrance, by Herman Wouk. Gets a little long in places, but it’s an engrossing listen, continuing the story begun in The Winds of War.

19 Sep 2013

Solar Panel Installation – Pt. 1

posted in: personal news, solar power, technology | 0

For the past three days, a crew of two men from Solar Flair Energy has been working on our house, preparing the installation of rooftop solar panels. So far, they’ve got the framework up on the roof, and part of the wiring in the attic. They should finish off the job by Monday, after which the town inspector and the Nstar inspector have to sign off on the installation. And then, we go live with power from the sun!

Here’s what we’ve got so far.

What makes this feasible is a combination of tax credits and a mind-twisting system of utility rebates (called SRECs) for renewal energy. It’s a substantial upfront investment from us, with a projected payback period of 7-10 years, after which it should start earning us money as we feed electricity into the grid (whatever we generate beyond our own needs). It should lower our energy bills, while reducing our carbon footprint, dependence on fracking and foreign oil, contribution to nuclear waste, and so on.

It’s all part of a program called Solarize Arlington, in which residents and business owners in town joined together with one provider to gain quantity discounts on the solar panels and other equipment. Other towns in Massachusetts are following suit. Our installer told me today that they’ve got jobs ahead of them as far as the eye can see.

Stay tuned!

16 Sep 2013

I Wish I Were a Painter!

posted in: nature, personal news, solar power, wishful dreams | 0

Home now from the writing retreat, but I thought I’d leave a last few images from Cape Cod. After leaving my motel, I went further out on the Cape to the National Seashore  and biked part of the Rail Trail out there. At one stop, I sat on the beach for a little while, watching the surfers.

I suddenly wanted a painting of this scene, but different. I wanted a night sky, and the ocean sloping out to the horizon and merging seamlessly into a liquid ocean of stars, with perhaps the spark of a distant starship or two streaking out toward the Galactic center. That thin white hump on the righthand side of the horizon would be undersea cities, perhaps the jumping-off point for intelligent sea beings setting out for the stars. I wish I could paint it myself, but that’s not my skill, alas. Just a dream…

Here are a few more parting images from the Cape:

Tomorrow, the crew comes to start installing solar electric panels on our roof!

16 Sep 2013

Fusion Power from Skunk Works?

posted in: science, technology | 0

Ever since the 1950s, the promise of unlimited power from controlled nuclear fusion has been just around the corner—or, to be more precise, about fifty years in the future. It’s still fifty years in the future, according to most experts.

Well, the people at Lockheed Martin Skunk Works (creators of the famed SR-71 Blackbird spy plane), say they’re going to do it a lot faster. Here’s a talk by Charles Chase, of the Skunk Works. You can skip the first half of it, if you know more or less what fusion research is all about.

A lot was left unsaid, obviously, such as how close they have come to break-even—i.e., more energy coming out of the system from fusion reactions than is being put in. I’m skeptical of the claim, myself, but I would love to be proven wrong. For one thing, the application to space travel could be fantastic.

I guess we’ll wait and see. Usually the Skunk Works doesn’t advertise what they’re up to. Why is this different?

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