We should rename Solar to Patriot Power to make it palatable to the right
Forgot to address the gov assist stuff, it's legit actually, but it's not exactly the boon normies think it is. So you buy & install solar, with evidence, you document everything & jump through all their little hoops. When you meet their requirements, you're given a 30% or whatever 'credit' on your federal income taxes. Which isn't exactly free money, but it's better than a kick in the head & it's rewarding you for going solar.
Now you wanna talk fucking sus??? All those third-party solar installers, namely, those that "will install for free" or "costs you nothing out of pocket 🤗". Those guys are sus as all hell. They're predatory, they're not trying to help you! Only enrich themselves. Again, IIRC, sometimes they take your gov't tax credit money somehow. And/or they charge you monthly, or they take money/power you generate via the solar panels...I don't trust any of it; you're inviting random-ass people onto your property & they're installing thousands of dollars in gear you don't technically own, and you're pressing your property into servitude until it's "paid off" in 10, 15, 20 years. Don't do it. Buy it, own it, get all the benefits for yourself.
So here's the deal, in a nutshell:
I'm afraid if I "go public" with my goddamn private solar energy setup, AKA I opt into a grid tie-in deal where I feed my excess electric back into the grid, I pay extra for setup. And IIRC my electric provider charges monthly for the "privilege" of tie-in. And these are just the devils we know about! I take the money, I subject my system & my property to scrutiny from third party companies & my state, who knows what stupid shit they might come up with & force onto me.
The best, simplest, cleanest solution I can think of is to privately install enough renewable energy to power my home. And a robust energy storage system that can power my needs when the sun isn't shining, wind isn't blowing, etc.
IIRC my electric provider charges $10 or $20, monthly, whether you use their electric or not. <=$240 annually? I call that a small price to pay for energy independence with the insurance of an established electric provider able to take over if system(s) fail.
Alternatively, if renewable energy production/STORAGE options become better & more reasonable in cost, just overbuild like hell & go fully off-grid. Discontinue electric service. ¯(ツ)_/¯ It's tempting...had a blackout just last night. 😂
That is correct, it stores heat only. A little bit about my situation: I have a drafty AF, 3200 sq ft farmhouse. Yes, I know I need to fix that....all things cost a lot of money, to do well.
A hot water tank tie-in would be excellent too, of course.
Additionally, I'd put the heated sand to work heating a large concrete driveway, a sidewalk in the winter months. While this can be classed as a "luxury", I view it as an investment in my health & well-being, as well as reducing risk & increasing my reliability. Eventually I'd like to throw up a polebarn style garage, with heated concrete pad, pull on the sand battery to heat that as well. Winter is a big problem where I live!! And a massive pain in my ass.
Please be kind, I've heard talk like this before, but tbh I don't know what it means: > "because otherwise square-cube law fucks you hard."
What does this mean? 🤔 ELI5? TIA, I like these convos. 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
See I've been skeptical about the gravity battery, too. I'm glad to see it developed, toyed with, but I like very simple ideas with very few, if any, moving parts. Gravity battery? Moving parts, cables. Would be a nightmare to work on if it broke down, possibly dangerous with the stored potential energy.
Much safer: sand battery. BTUs are expensive, you're probably heating your water, and depending on the winter climate where you live, you are using electricity to convert to BTUs so you can heat your home/not die. I say skip the middle man!! Convert the extra energy generated from solar/wind/whatever....store it in the fucking sand as heat.
I also look at the sand battery's simplicity, serviceability from a post-nuke/EMP/grid-down/post-apocalyptic standpoint. Should I be unfortunate enough to survive. It's so...practical. Solar panels should only get hit <15% damage from EMP. It gets the electricity. Sent to large copper rods, acting as heating elements. Heat the sand. 🙌🏻 Sand will cost a few thousand & never degrade. Rods, cheap enough, have some spares. Those shitty LiPO batteries play out during the apocalypse, as they literally always do? You're SOL.
Patriot Power is real, and it really sucks. It's the solar power offerings through 4Patriots, weak-ass off-brand Chinese batteries & weak, overpriced solar panels. The only good things 4Patriots offers is survival food & sun kettles.
There are plenty of people on the right who would love energy independence, but problems include cost, infrastructure, and implementation. I'm team solar panel/nuclear power, but every few years...the solar panel tech gets way better than it EVER was. So when is the right time to plunk down tens of thousands of dollars?? It's just now starting to get really good.
Wind turbines are also getting much better. And it's about damn time.
The biggest financial problem is energy storage solutions, spend $5-10K per battery, and have it lose 40% of its effectiveness after 5 years?? Yeah, no thanks, I'm not an idiot.
But we're coming up with (ACTUAL, WORKING, COST-EFFECTIVE) solutions for that problem, too. Sand, gravity, and waterfall batteries.
All this to say, the technology is just now starting to get serious traction & legs under it. ¯°_o)/¯ It's not ready...until it's ready. The 'greenest' things we can do, right now, involve reducing our usage & upping our efficiencies (via new windows/doors, insulation). That's the smart money.
I think Feather is definitely one of the best, from what I've heard; I've also heard...maybe it's too friggin sharp. I do not know from personal experience!!
I've been using Shark blades instead, they're very available & super cheap. You can get 100 Shark DE razor blades for $10, 11 & free shipping.
Do what you want, I do not care, it's all so cheap & available imho we can't really make a "wrong" choice. Feather, Shark, all good. 🤙🏻 Sometime soon I'll get on that wet shaving sub & talk about good safety razors...I, too, have vintage Gillette (Fatboy Slim) & German brand Merkur. Hell might cross-post the Merkur into BIFL.
It's the hottest Apple iPhone yet!!
It's about boots, it's about socks, it's about insoles.
The Redwing Burnside boots are MIGHTY comfortable just right out of the box. But the soles are on the soft side, they won't last much over 2 years of hard labor. They can be replaced with I think it's the Montana vibram sole for $100; it's compatible but also harder. So...bonus.
It's hard to beat the socks at Buffalo Wool Co! Buffalo wool socks breathe well, and they're tough, too. They wear very very slowly. Don't hold an odor. Have adequate cushion.
When the regular insoles of the boots wear too thin, it's time to switch over to SuperFeet insoles! I get the 'Orange' ones.
That combination should get you some very comfortable, high quality boots.
Food for thought, my military minded friends talk about jungle "Mickies". I think. They say you will hurt & blister breaking them in over a few months, but then it's a very comfortable pair of boots that last a long time. And they're pretty cheap, too. I'll talk to them again & update my post with relevant info.
Well it was super super hot, like you said. It was handed off to some grandma, the lid popped off, and the super hot coffee spilled all over this very old woman's inner thighs. There were pictures.
Old people have notoriously thin skin. Literally. So this hot-ass coffee burns this old woman's thin skin, and I think the resulting burns needed to be fixed via hospital visits & maybe surgery. So yeah it wasn't a frivolous lawsuit.
I can't believe you've never heard of Zoogle, Bokia, Pamsung, ACKOOO, ACKOOO2², Votorola...
Free haircut, like the haircut Zuck gets? 🤨 No. Thanks.
I go Yuengling. Best of ALL. It's not available in my home state, but they said a year or two ago that they were partnering with IIRC Miller-Coors, got a deal to brew their beer using M-C facilities. And they'd service almost every state. Still waiting for that day. 😔
Didn't know that, I was just commenting on what the unhomed Bud Light drinkers drink now. I don't drink any of that shit because it's not good beer. ¯(ツ)_/¯
Typically other beers that happen to be owned by AB-InBev. That or Coors.
Did she do it for money? 🤔 I was under the impression that Chaturbate was a site for exhibitionists that wanted to sex chat, show themselves, have sex just for jollies.
Your geographic location doesn't dictate your beliefs, opinions, etc. At all. I have a friend that grew up in America, he's Muslim, he's got family in Jordan IIRC. But I was like, you're pro-America. Right? No, turns out he much prefers Jordan & wants to move someday.
Maybe you espouse tankie beliefs. Or maybe not, idk your life.
Lagunitas Hoppy Refresher is fantastic, but it's not trying to be a beer or anything.
Lagunitas IPNA tastes fucking awful, DO NOT BUY.
Brew Dog NAs are great.
All Athletic Brewing offerings are great as well!
I have plenty of boots & shovels. 😂 Again, it's not a matter of "luxury"...I am concerned about both personal health & the snow being gone in a timely fashion after a snowfall.
Men who shovel snow are at an increased risk for heart attacks. And that's just heart trouble; let's not forget general sprains, strains, & aches. Possible slip-and-falls, I can't imagine having a bad fall when I'm in my 70s, 80s+.We often see a few significant snow events per year, and to have a surefire way to automatically melt it would be great.
To be fully transparent about my situation...I have a big-ass tractor, too. I can clear the snow without physical exertion. But it's over at another property, and after a fresh snowfall, I sometimes have to "schedule" time with the tractor jockeying against my parents & my sister, BIL. Annoying.
...but that's not all, with the tractor method. Extremely, dangerously cold situations can even become too cold for tractors to operate. The diesel will gel unless more questionable additives, methods are used. Operating a tractor is not free, either, and puts more hours on an expensive piece of machinery. There have also been maybe 4 times where I'm clearing the snow, and some kid is on the road in his $2K car, and gets way too close to my $90K tractor when we're all slogging in terrible, soggy/cold/poor visibility conditions. I'm always polite, of course, but then they leave & I audibly bellow to myself I don't fucking need this. I don't!! Why should I haggle with family, operate this good equipment, around the general public if I could avoid that entirely with a heated concrete driveway?
So the only real concern with the square-cube law is physical space occupied, and/or cost. Space isn't an issue on the farm. 🤠 And sand by the ton is cheap. I was personally thinking about digging a big-ass hole to hold the sand. Line it with junk bricks and/or more concrete, only put money into an insulated "cap".
The water left on the driveway is an interesting thought, but the driveway won't be perfectly flat. It'll have a downward slant, towards the road. If you think it's enough of an issue, I could maybe put some designs in the concrete that route snow melt run-off off the concrete & into some grass on either side. I know people that heat driveways & they're fine/dry; it can be done, I'll ask around. I know it's marketed as a luxury, but I want heated driveways normalized.
I DO need a lot of heat for this heated driveway, I know it's ambitious, but I have plenty of reasons for wanting it. Outlined above. Heart attacks/hospital visits? Expensive, waste of time. Tractors, "sharing" operation costs, risk of accidents...expensive. Waste of time. I'm going to pay any way you look at it. Why not pay for a recirculating heat pump, its operation & watch my problems literally melt away??