What’s this, the minimum wagers are going on strike on the 30th? First I heard of it. Apparently the movement is on to draw attention to their plight but I think they are shooting themselves in the foot. Those jobs were once for high school kids, not immigrant families. It seems these “workers” whose job can be learned in a day, want $15 per hour. The think the strike will cause people to change their own sheets and wash their own cars. Fools they be, at some point people will simply do such things for themselves.
I worked on my solar electrics in the rain. Indoors, I mean, utilizing the inclement weather to check some of the options. I was not impressed by the findings. At least the rain did not put me out of business for the day. If I ever get asked to state what the most important factor in early retirement is, I would not say money. I’ve seen those projections and graphs and used them myself. The single thing that you can do most to have an enjoyable life past 40 is to learn how to live on a budget--before you have to.
And make it an interesting life. Don’t get a hobby that just passes the time, get something productive that keeps you in the loop, any loop. Never plan on working until you drop or you will regret thinking like that. There WILL come a day when you physically cannot work to support yourself and that’s what makes you drop—malnutrition. While work cannot be done in advance, thinking can, so devote some effort now. It doesn’t take that much.
Last post I pointed to a sample blog as representative of the mediocrity out there. I examined that blog closely, and the author regularly lifts her material from one source. Example, the Barbie doll. Her full name is Barbie Millicent Roberts. Here is where my variety of trivia differs. I would also mention that Barbie’s thin waist was because doll fashions at the time tended to bunch up due to the elastic, so she was trimmed to make the dresses look better. And her small feet were so that then-popular slacks would be easier to slide on.
Further, she originally had a brother named Ken but that was not her boyfriend as suggested by some. She also had 48 various sisters, cousins, friends, and boyfriends, all with the cutest names like Chelsea, Todd, and Skipper. Add Miko and Whitney. With nationalities that ranged from “Pacific Islander” to “African-American”. There, that’s the kind of research that separates this blog from the rank and file.
Are we on our way to become seat-of-the-pants experts on solar power? At least when it comes to small voltages, we are gaining rapidly. Today was overcast, a chance to test the panel output for that condition. Again we find important details not mentioned in the literature. Shown here are two meters, a digital and an analog. The analog is virtually useless but it is better for watching a changing voltage a.k.a “needle-waggle”. Rainy weather brought some unfortunate revelations. Solar panels are finicky and have a long way to go to replace regular power sources.
They’ll tell you the angle and brightness of the sun are important, but I swear the sellers would leave that out too if they could get away with it. Here again, I have a double meter setup, don’tbother to calibrate the cheap analog meters. I flip the settings to get a reading around 70% up the dial and put a scratch mark there for later reference. Here’s what I found.
Next, when a cloud passes, the solar panels can be sluggish to return to a higher voltage. If they drop 8 or 10 volts in the shade, they will stay at that lower voltage long after the sunlight returns, often fifteen minutes. I can confirm that the factory did make an obvious attempt to have the panels put out at least 12.5 volts on cloudy days and around a minimum of 14.5 volts with other indirect but bright sunlight.
;Time for words of caution. Always check your polarity, never rely on wire colors. You are working with DC and the manufacturers plainly are not talking to each other. And if you can afford it, always use store-bought automotive grade wire connectors. None of this equipment is waterproof. Other than the panels themselves and connecting wires, every scrap of this arrangement has to be in a permanently dry location.
Later, I attended an iPad class at the library nearby. It was conducted by an 8.999-month pregnant Israeli woman who had no concept [whatsoever] of personal, private Internet security. Why, if you want this 99-cent app, you give your name and credit card number to absolutely anyone who wants it and hope for the best. Strange behavior indeed, for a nationality that otherwise trusts nobody and invented Skype.
Yet, a minority of the room had, at some point, questioned the wisdom of handing out private information and her response was the predictable "you must have something to hide". (The first qualification of a you-know-what--we all know the type of person who even thinks like that.) Yes, Golda, we have plenty to hide and it even has a name: privacy. Only a naive idiot living in a cocoon tells a stranger everything he wants to know. Giving her [the instructor] the benefit of the doubt, she does break ground as the only west-bank inhabitant in history who believes you ought to tell an unidentified stranger everything he wants (or needs) to know. Apparently she is unaware of businesses on the Internet who sell cheap apps only to get your credit information.
ADDENDUM
My next study project is the Spanish Civil War. I consider Spain to be the worst of western Europe for corrupt government and bad policies. Everything I read suspects this is their real tradition. I can identify with the revolutionaries in one major context: land reform. I can understand the concept that owning land is as old as excluding others from good hunting ground that you discovered first. But when that is extended to farming, those who “own” the land generally did not discover it and forget they have a duty to ensure those who farm it are properly clothed, fed, educated, and in effect, provided with the basics. When the peasants attack with pitchforks, we know who is to blame.
In 1930 Spain, half the population was illiterate and the Church controlled the education system. This set Spain apart from Europe in general. I think it natural that any areas of the country that were more prosperous would want to break away. We’ve got the same movements in Western USA and Western Canada. Why should our taxes go to support the others who live in the past and won’t get off their backsides? Why should anyone be forced to feed non-workers who disagree with them?
Stop and think, I don’t side with just everyone on these issues, if only because 99% of separatists have the vested interest of having been born there. Not me. I was not born in Idaho yet I would agree with anyone there who does not like over-centralized Federal controls and advocates the State of Columbia. There can be no revolutions today because of computers, but I see parallels to the situation in Spain just prior to the civil war. Now that has my interest. How did they deal with many of the same issues? It started, I see, with the police refusing to arrest protesters.
Return Home
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
