Politics and world news

[Guard Dog]

6 minutes ago, Gfted1 said:

I meant a home version.

Google tells me you would need a 15kW turbine to run a normal size home and theyre kinda pricy, but maybe a smaller one would do when combined with solar power.

Actually my dream is to take advantage of a source of steady and predictable kinetic power not far away: Cold Creek. If I could put a turbine in there and use the current to turn it we'd be getting somewhere. There are some practical hurdles though. The biggest being I don't and can't actually "own" a piece of a river It is by definition public property. Which means I can dredge or elevate the bed to create the current speed or kinetic force I need. I actually have been mulling this for a few years now. The way I figure it I'd need to narrow the banks to about 2-3 meters across for about 40-50 meters. Then I'd need to beginning of that gap to be approx. 1M deep and the end to be 6-7M deep. With the turbine at 1M depth 2/3 of the way through the gap it should produce 1kW of AC power.

Like I said, it would be nice and if the government ever collapses I am totally doing it. But not today.

 

[Raithe]

[Raithe]

 

[Hurlshort]

8 minutes ago, Raithe said:

I mean, it's not really true. They will treat you and then bankrupt you. Which is better, I guess?

[Gfted1]

1 hour ago, Guard Dog said:

Actually my dream is to take advantage of a source of steady and predictable kinetic power not far away: Cold Creek. If I could put a turbine in there and use the current to turn it we'd be getting somewhere. There are some practical hurdles though. The biggest being I don't and can't actually "own" a piece of a river It is by definition public property. Which means I can dredge or elevate the bed to create the current speed or kinetic force I need. I actually have been mulling this for a few years now. The way I figure it I'd need to narrow the banks to about 2-3 meters across for about 40-50 meters. Then I'd need to beginning of that gap to be approx. 1M deep and the end to be 6-7M deep. With the turbine at 1M depth 2/3 of the way through the gap it should produce 1kW of AC power.

Like I said, it would be nice and if the government ever collapses I am totally doing it. But not today.

 

Get a couple of these and youre on the way:

 

[Zoraptor]

5 hours ago, Malcador said:

Apparently their refusal to hand the black boxes over to Boeing is seen as suspicious, although I would assume that would be standard as manufacturers may have some interest in covering themselves.

Yeah, it's actually not in the slightest bit suspicious but just 'internet expert syndrome' at work. For a recent example Ethiopia didn't hand the black boxes over to 'Boeing' after the 2nd MAX crash and got France to read them; and there is literally no obligation to do so under the rules of aviation investigations (ICAO Annex 13, pdf). It is frequently done, because not all countries have the ability to decode black boxes but in the end Boeing is one of the largest suppliers to the US military so there's no way it's going there and anyone expecting it to is an idiot. Pretty sure it would be the NTSB they'd hand them over to anyway, and the NTSB does not necessarily hand them to Boeing for decoding but may go straight to the FDR manufacturer instead (if it's damaged and they cannot read it themselves).

And to run through some more internet expert theories, there is nothing suspicious about no mayday. Making a mayday call is one of the last things pilots do in an acute emergency because keeping the plane flying is the #1 consideration; someone yelling mayday into their mic first thing comes from TV and film dramas not reality. There is also nothing suspicious about a transponder cutting out, that happens pretty frequently in crashes if it loses power (same for black boxes, sometimes they track data all the way down sometimes they don't, depends on the crash). There is little suspicious about holes in fuselage, for example when QF32's turbine fan exploded it put dozens of holes in the wing and fuselage- and it's considered a bit of a miracle that it didn't bring the plane down. There is little suspicious about a plane being on fire before crashing- especially at night. A damaged or even stalled engine with poor airflow will produce a large blowtorch like flame similar in appearance to the only video available (from which you cannot tell any scale whatsoever).

It may well have been shot down and it's certainly one hell of a coincidence it happening yesterday, but there's no conclusive or even non equivocal evidence yet.

Edited January 8, 2020 by Zoraptor

[Gromnir]

1 hour ago, Gfted1 said:

I meant a home version.

Google tells me you would need a 15kW turbine to run a normal size home and theyre kinda pricy, but maybe a smaller one would do when combined with solar power.

so we aren't talking something which would be .5 miles or more away from gd's home like the big turbines. would need be much closer?

fumes. property value loss. cancer. 

east coast states have much different riparian rights laws than does the much drier west, so am honest uncertain what is gd's rights, but general rule is if you live on land with creek, river, stream, etc., you cannot reduce or disrupt downstream flow. therefore, any sorta dam needed to make a waterwheel or turbine functional is gonna be presumptive verboten. is why gd once mentioned a water turbine as his post apocalypse solution to energy independence. 

HA! Good Fun!

 

 

[Guard Dog]

Cold Creek is a navigable waterway so right there it is public property. Me doing anything to it is just a non starter. Plus even if I could the kind of earth moving I described would be extrememly difficult. Probably beyond the reach of one determined man with a Bobcat and backhoe. There is a small creek on my property. It's pretty brisk in the spring and summer but almost dries out during the fall and early winter. From a state law standpoint there is a little more I can do with that but as Gromnir pointed out I cannot (and would not) impede the flow. But I did use a shovel and hollow out a bowl depression to make a little pool about eight years ago It's 2-3 feet deep depending on rainfall. Tommy used to sit in it with just his head and neck out if the water. It's usually teeming with minnows and sometimes I'll catch a few and use them as fishing bait. 

[Raithe]

[Gromnir]

2 hours ago, Raithe said:

if you are $1 in the black, total, you own more than the economic bottom 50% o' the US population combined. half the adult US population is carrying more debt than assets. some o' this is understandable as home ownership, while decreasing, is still the most common way folks build capital. take out a mortgage on a house you and your wife cannot really afford, and then work for decades, likely buying increasing value homes as you age, in hopes that you will eventually be able to sell your finally unencumbered biggest asset after having reaped benefits o' all that accumulated equity. cross-fingers there ain't another 2008ish housing bubble burst at wrong time in your life. 

*shakes head sadly*

regardless, the income disparity problem and debt issues is not sustainable.  the ending is already known. how many future 60 year old americans is gonna have a "what have i done moment?"

is a matter o' when, and not if.

oh, and to make matters worse, being a simple "millionaire" ain't gonna be anywhere near enough by the time most o' the millenials retire. shooting for a goal far too low in spite o' fact it seems out of reach. madness indeed.

HA! Good Fun!

Edited January 9, 2020 by Gromnir
accidental used the 14:00 clip

[Malcador]

Leaks that US says Iran shot down the passenger jet

https://www.cbsnews.com/live-updates/plane-crash-us-officials-confident-iran-shot-down-passenger-jet-bound-for-ukraine-today-2020-01-09-live-stream-updates/

[Zoraptor]

There is footage of a missile strike now, but it's not exactly as unequivocal as made out (most of the objections are listed in the twitter chain).

Looks like Trudeau has just made the accusation official now.

[Malcador]

Sort of strange that there would be a film of it.  Then again, maybe plane watching is a thing in Tehran.

[Volourn]

Iranian army:  Goes out of way to not kill any Amerikans  even while attacking them.... yet blows up a civilian plane full of everyone BUT Amerikans. Like I said befoire, the biggest threat to Iranian civilians is Iran gov't. If this is true.   IF.

 

Edited January 9, 2020 by Volourn

[ComradeYellow]

Yes orchestrating false flags is what the U.S. government has been doing for decades.  The sad part is that some people still believe them.

EDIT:

Or maybe they just want to believe them because it fits into their narrative of an eternal hyper masculine U.S. corporate driven empire the same way the Soviets kept cleaving at their delusions of a fully functional Communist utopia, until it all fell apart.

Edited January 9, 2020 by ComradeMaster

[Zoraptor]

There are no indications it's a false flag. If it was shot down it was about as definitely as can be the Iranians who did it and no one else. The only blame that could be assigned to the US is around the circumstances and unnecessary escalation

OTOH there's clearly a social media campaign under way to assign blame prematurely and with a lack of evidence.

[ShadySands]

Volo, it's fake.

https://www.anselm.edu/new-hampshire-institute-politics/buttigieg-tops-2020-field-latest-new-hampshire-poll

[Hurlshort]

Hah, I was going to say the Buttigieg numbers were more suspect than the Soleimani numbers.

[ShadySands]

I don't really get the appeal of Mayor Pete but I'm on the Bernie train

[Volourn]

Dude, it's satire.

 

[Bartimaeus]

Poe's Law, man.

[Malcador]

Nazis.

[ShadySands]

1 hour ago, Volourn said:

Dude, it's satire.

 

Sorry, I literally had to explain it to someone at work today who thought it was real.

26 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

Poe's Law, man.

Yep

[Guard Dog]

Never mind

 

Edited January 10, 2020 by Guard Dog
Forget it

[Guard Dog]

Video of Epstein suicide attempt destroyed: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/surveillance-video-jeffrey-epstein-s-first-apparent-suicide-attempt-no-n1113166

There is just no f-----g WAY that man committed suicide.