bigbumble

Mostly clean house

2009-12-20T03:09:55Z

Cookie decorating is tomorrow. With herculean efforts, well not really because no rivers were involved, my brother Dan an I shoveled out my house. We cleaned it up to the standard of "Why didn't you clean your house since you knew people would be over today?" instead of the former state of "Run for your lives!". And so it goes, from the glorious to the mundane.

Solar panels and shots

2009-12-16T11:00:21Z

They finally release H1N1 shots to the world this past week and I got my shot last night. $18 at Walgreens.

My solar panel "off" switch finally got tested. Now to find the reporting form and the address where it needs to be sent.

Snow vs Solar Panels

2009-12-13T01:01:30Z

The last bit of wiring/inspection on my solar panels took place yesterday. Except for one thing, the test of the "off" switch. It seems there is enough snow on my panels to keep them from generating enough voltage to have an "on" for the switch to turn "off".

ACORN

2009-12-06T04:26:51Z

Just made it home after ACORN house filk in Ann Arbor. Dropped off Debbers safely on the way.

Solar Panel Installation (Pictures and Everything)

2009-11-27T14:19:46Z

The local power company, Consumers Energy, decided to try an experimental "Feed in Tariff". They are calling it "EARP" for Experimental Advanced Renewable Program. This should pay a high rate for a limited amount of solar energy to the power company by home owners. I signed up for the program and was accepted.

I contracted with my brother Dan's company, Four Elements Energy, to put in the solar power system. The installation took about 2 days.

Lots of pictures behind the cut.

Lloyd LeZotte (Four Elements Energy) is splicing together the rack that will hold the solar panels.

End view of the aluminum etrusions for the racks. The open side of the extrusion on the right will face up to hold the wiring.

Caulking the roof attachment points. No leaks in my garage please!

Bolting in the rack holders.

Art Toy (Four Elements Energy) bolting the racks to the roof. All bolts are torqued to 10 pounds.

Up goes a solar panel. Each panel weighs about 35 pounds.

Each solar panel has 72 cells in series. The cells are 5" (125mm) square. They were cut from 6" (150 mm) diameter single crystals. Each panel has a nameplate of 175 watts, totalling 2.45 kW for all 14 panels.

The last panel being placed on the rack.

Connecting the wires on the back of the panel. Both power and ground wire must be hooked up.

Two rows of seven panels nearly complete. Each panel is about 32 x 64 inches.

DC wire conduit comes from the solar panels through the ceiling into the garage.

The DC wire conduit goes across the garage to the inverter box.

Dan Alway (Four Elements Energy) checks the insides of the inverter. The Inverter converts the DC power from the solar panels to AC current compatible with grid electricity.

The inverter wiring nears completion. Below the inverter is the AC shut off, to the left is the DC shut off.

My house before solar panels.

The whole process costs about $18,000+ for a 2.45 kW installation that will produce about 1,900 kWH per year. I expect to recover the cost from a 30% tax credit and the $.65 per kilowatt hour feed in tariff over 12 years.

Special Wire

2009-11-26T13:26:03Z

My photovoltaic solar panels are up. The wiring from the panels to the inverter needs to be a specialty DC wire. The wire shipment from California is somewhere between here and there.

Other than that all I am waiting on is the magic dust from building inspectors and Consumers Power.

Solar Panels

2009-11-23T23:05:31Z

Bang, bang, bang! Drill, screw, bolt! Clang, clack, rattle! Today, seven solar cell panels went on my garage roof. Tomorrow the remaining seven will go in place. Then will come an indefinite wait as Consumers Power (the local electric utility) gets its act together to hook me up to the grid.

Con Dogs Anyone?

2009-11-21T23:58:35Z

And for a practical use of the hovering rocket. About a 2 minute video.

http://media.armadilloaerospace.com/2009_09_07/2009_09_07_Labor_Day_wiener_cam.wmv

I wonder if you can do something similar with a Zeusaphone.

bigbumble @ 2009-11-18T20:17:00

2009-11-19T01:17:44Z

I now have two and a half kilowatts worth of solar panels in my garage. The building permit is in hand. With luck, on Monday they will go on the roof.

2012 Movie

2009-11-13T22:37:59Z

Just got back from the Wreck of the Crash of the Worldwide Neutrino Disaster, that is 2012. I went to the local cheap $4 show. It is definitley a "turn off your brain and enjoy the special effects" kind of movie.

Gargoyle Reunion

2009-11-11T14:01:33Z

One late October weekend I went to a University of Michigan Gargoyle Magazine reunion.

This was the 100th anniversary of the founding of the humor magazine so there were a couple of events a little more special than usual.

After doing lunch Friday at a restaurant in downtown Ann Arbor, we bussed to the Bently historical library on North Campus. John Dobbertin, Gargoyle editor in the 1960's gave a talk on campus humor from Custer's last stand to the Viet Nam war. I took a picture of Phil Zaret next to his famous cartoon, KILL A COMMIE FOR CHRIST.

We did some more campus touring and ended the day with the usual banquet. The was a silent auction where I won this cartoon by one of the current students (Reproduced with permission):

Saturday was the day to make a current staff/alumni edition of the Gargoyle, the SATURDAY NIGHT SPECIAL. I had a great time meeting the students (and the alums) while we worked on a quickie one day Garg edition. I met Adrian Choy, the student artist of the HEY SAILOR cartoon, along with the other student staff members. I bought the pizza for lunch. (For some reason, college students seem to appreciate it when you buy them pizza.) All and all a good time.

Adrian Choy while working on the Saturday Night Special.

Kazoo section May-26-2008

2009-11-07T22:45:10Z

Kazoo section May-26-2008, originally uploaded by bigbumble.

I took a picture or two at MARCON in May 2008. This is Peter and Becca at the dead dog playing Kazoos. I believe they were playing that classic tune, Swan Lake. The little foggy spot to the right side is my finger print on the lens.

Suriviving World War Z

2009-11-01T14:23:22Z

The City businesses held their annual "Trail for Treaters" Friday afternoon. It was rainy and reports are that the turnout was light.

The weather cleared nicely for the real Halloween yesterday and the Zombies, et al. were out in force. My sister, who lives next door in David's old house estimated about 500. I can't dispute that. I bought vast quantities of candy, and while I had some small stuff left at the end of the night, I can't say I over purchased. Lots of Zombies, fairies, skeletons, grim reapers -all of the usual suspects. There were a lot of psychedelically dressed Hippies! Wee! And one boy with a giant horse shoe magnet around his neck with a Barbie Doll at each pole. He was a "Chick Magnet"!

I also gave out a half dozen Gerber Biter Biscuits to the wee ones.

And a good time was had by all.

Maple seed monocopter

2009-10-31T12:37:10Z

A remote control "Maple Seed" helicopter video. It is about 7 minutes long.

World War Z

2009-10-30T23:27:45Z

One million rounds of candy, check. Biter biscuits, check. Pumpkin, check. Bronze Dragon doorknocker, check. Weather forecast, rain stopping by nightfall, check.

Halloween can come now.

Applesauce

2009-10-23T02:16:42Z

I picked up some Northern Spy apples at the Otsego Farmer's market last weekend at $15 a bushel. Tonight my sister Martha came over and we made two apple pies and two big pots of apple sauce. My pie was spiced with cinnamon and freshly grated nutmeg. Martha's used cinnamon and ginger. We tested Martha's pie with some vanilla Plainwell Ice Cream (a superlative local brand). Nothing beats the right fruit in season!

One pot of applesauce was spiced with cinnamon and nutmeg, the other with cinnamon,ginger, and nutmeg. We make our applesauce a little lumpy and on the tart side. Martha likes hers with cottage cheese. I eat my applesauce straight.

I'm glad I don't live in Africa because I'd be dead by now

2009-10-17T11:24:27Z

At least South of the Sahara. The following list of 4 countries and their male life expectancies in years are the only countries on the continent of Africa South of the Sahara Desert where the male life expectancy is older than I am now.
Benin 57.4
Ghana 58.6
Eritrea 59.4
Equatorial Guinea 60.4

Calibrated Eyeballs

2009-10-14T23:28:35Z

I end the day victorious! I passed my 6 month EPA Method 9 Certification on the first try! Another hat to add to my collection of Smoke School triumphs.

Zombie video

2009-10-08T11:18:15Z

Another successful X prize attempt, which means a video of a hovering rocket.

About 4 minutes, oh, and the rocket is named "Zombie".

Mars as the Abode of Life

2009-10-07T23:32:57Z

I finally finished the book by Percival Lowell in 1908. I picked up my copy at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona on the way to a NARAM with Peter. Pluto was still a planet when we were there and we saw all kinds of cool telescopes and stuff. Of the three Percival Lowell titles available at the gift shop, this seemed the wackiest, so I got it. (At nearly $30 each copy, I was only buying one.)

I now know where the style of writing in the African spam letters comes from. Yikes! Talk about ponderous reading.

The synopsis:

Chapter I "The Genesis of a World" -Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune are baby planets. Just look at how bouncy and gassy they are! Mercury and Venus are aged planets. Earth and Mars are just right except Mars has aged more because it is little. Mars is flat with no mountains because it is little.

Chapter II "The Evolution of Life" - If there is water, life will evolve. Dry land makes intelligence evolve. Whales don't count.

Chapter III "The Sun Dominant" - The Sun supplies heat after the Earth cools and the clouds go away. We get seasons and smart land animals.

Chapter IV "Mars and the Future of Earth" - All of our water is evaporating into space! We're all going to die!

Chapter V "The Canals and Oases of Mars" - Canals, I seen 'em! They must be there, they must be! We got pictures! They're just not back from the drug store yet!

Chapter VI "Proof of Life on Mars" - When dry land happens, brains appears, and besides there are Canals I tell you!

In fairness to Percy, Plate Tectonics had not been invented yet, the film was all black and white and largely orthochromatic (not sensitive to red), and he wanted to see those Canals so hard. When he wrote the book he was a half century from space travel and plate tectonics. And he did blow up a couple of theories that were far worse than his own. (i.e. a giant early sun heating up both poles of the Earth.)

I'm glad I read it, but oh boy! what a slog!

Purple Heart of Childhood

2009-10-07T09:39:54Z

I got my flu shot yesterday, one of several I have had over the years. I remember grand discussions in my childhood about which shot hurt most. Was it tetanus? or that TRIPLE SHOT? I will never forget the first time I left the Doctor's office without getting a shot with amazed relief. Polio was the great scare of my childhood, I remember the great power I felt knowing I was immunized. Shots were the wounds of childhood from fighting the never ending war against early mortality. Keep stabbin' Brooke!

Here are some of my immunizations what are yours?
Typhoid
Polio – Salk and Sabin
Yellow fever
Triple Shot (Whooping Cough ? ?)
Tetanus
Hepatitis
Small pox

I came to late for measles and mumps shots. I also remember Booster shots. Since I have never had Boosterism, they must have worked. I expect cheerleaders never had their Booster shots. So sad.

Zombieland

2009-10-04T13:07:17Z

Went to the latest Zombie movie with next younger brother Dan. Definitely unencumbered by the thought process. Bring a Twinkie with you to the theater.

bigbumble @ 2009-10-03T00:55:00

2009-10-03T04:58:11Z

Home safe from a good time at the S J Tucker - Tom Smith concert in Ann Arbor.

Lunar Lander X prize attempt by Armadillo Aerospace

2009-09-15T01:13:36Z

The flight plan is lift off, hover, land on target, and reverse within 2 1/2 hours. Video of the flight (3-4 minutes long):

Rocket contest and emergency room

2009-09-13T22:20:41Z

My local NAR section held a rocket contest this weekend "Roctober Sky" I believe is its official name. I was flying for Peter and my team "Bumbling Brothers Flying Circus". Only one other team, our arch rivals "The Dark Side" was flying against us. There were four events, Space Systems (sport scale with gizmos getting a lot of credit), random altitude, 1/8A helicopter duration, and B Rocket Glide. We ended up winning 1/8 A helicopter with Peter's Tasmanian Devil Saturn V combined with disqualifications on the part of our competitors and winning B Rocket Glide. I felt pretty good about that since I approached the contest with a pretty mellow attitude.

Sunday morning at 8:30 am I got a call from my sister, Martha, she was in incredible abdominal pain and wanted me to drive her to the emergency room. She is Peter and my big sister, and clearly, since she heard Peter had had a 2 mm kidney stone she had to have a bigger one! A CAT scan and pain drug prescription later I drove her and her 3mm kidney stone home to be passed at a later date.