I got too late a start today to continue with the scooter repairs. That’s not to say I didn’t repair any scooters. It turns out the scooter shop has Direct TV, I think, the one that you pay for and then they want more money to see the good shows. That one. I hung out for the afternoon watching archeology but keeping an eye on the electric wiring. It seems later year model dashboards are fit the same mounting brackets as my obsolete one. Here’s a 1966 Vespa in for a tuneup. See the continental spare tire? This scooter weighs almost 500 pounds (a guess).
Surprise, the library was closed again. Technically, there is a notice but most people don’t see it. It is too small and pasted up in a window nobody looks through. Just think how miffed I’d be if I’d driven a car over there instead of my scooter. I took the quiet day to download a ton of electronics information. This morning I had an experiment fail that should not have. If electricity is like water in a pipe, the pipe with the most resistance should pass the least water. I’m looking into it. I was seeking some electronics symbols compatible with MS Word. You’d think such things would be easy. The few that I found were in such strange formats, I eventually deleted them. Although they had gif suffixes, they could not be opened by standard gif applications. It is like a gentle reminder that the world is still full of educated idiots.
For a guy who likes anchovies, I sure don’t care for smoked herring. I got a free package and I have to soak it in water overnight. It is hard to believe people once lived on that for months on end. Shayne, that’s a new name here, is the guy from the scooter shop. He gave me a packet of herbal tea that requires 15 minutes steeping. It is for sore throats and contains all the traditional barks and leaves. It tastes like real licorice. I watched the shop for an hour while he did a tow and may have sold a 49cc.
Since I forgot to return it last weekend, I’m re-reading selected chapter of Bellamy’s “The Life-Giving Sea”. I can’t get over that Humbolt current fishery, where the sea is so productive they don’t used nets. They actually hang a big hose over the side and vacuum up fish by the ton.
Here’s a snap of your typical middle of nowhere Florida hotel. Most cities have a central hotel district, or clusters of hotels near transport hubs. Not Florida. Hotels can be situated far away from anything, like this one on 17th in Ft. Lauderdale, a noisy 24 hour intersection on Federal Hwy. You can’t really walk to the beach from there. Similar hotels exist out near nothing places like Sheridan and I-95. These places are empty miles apart.
The hotels are generally on bus routes, that part is okay. The bus routes here are no more convenient than anywhere else, but I will compliment that the busses are clean, new, well-maintained and have wonderful climate control. Good, if things keep flowing down the tubes, people will need lots of busses in the not so distant future. Here is a park of those kiddie cars that signal America’s fall from leadership. They are strictly two-person vehicles, and I’ve heard a rumor Fiat is putting something on the road again.
Myself, you can quote me on the main difference between a tiny car and a scooter is not purchase price or miles per gallon. It is the fact that a car costs money sitting there parked. You can’t register a car for six months even if you are only in town that long. Insurance, parking, plates, registration. The system is designed to bleed money off you all year long. Did I mention Florida is now issuing vehicle registrations based not on when you first register, but your birth month. Is it nothing or is it damn sinister?
I can’t find my folder of XP installation disks. I normally carried it in the car I sold. Yeah, that’s what I’m thinking. But I’m sure I took it out, so time to go on the big hunt and find fifty other things I won’t remember how they got there.Another cold spell let me to complete my calculations of propane versus electricity. Propane is making more sense all the time. It is readily available in town and has some real advantages at street level. You don’t pay a standby charge for service. There is no deposit for hookup. If you leave town it is still available when you return. No credit check and ID required. No telemarketing calls and taxes for things you never use. When you run out, you run out, no big deal. And you can buy $20 bucks worth if that is all you got on you.
I looked at a tankless water heater, basically some coils that fire up the propane on demand. (Those are the propane type, used on mobile homes, not the electric brand). I wish the propane fridges were not so frightfully expensive ($2,500), and if they made decent propane lights and a propane television, who knows? The local power company, FPL, while doing nothing wrong, has a pesky way about them. You know, I’ve never looked at the base electric bill. What is amount one pays if nothing is used that billing period?
To finish about the tankless heaters, it is interesting that most passive solar heaters use a tank. And it is frequently the tank out of an old electric heater. It is used to keep a store of water that slowly circulates through solar tubing during the day. Then, when hot water is needed, the regular heat system draws pre-heated water from the tank rather than stone cold water coming out of the ground pipe. Accounts from Arizona say they go years without paying for hot water and Florida is just as sunny. And annually, a lot hotter.
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