Disqus - Latest Comments for Martha

Re: Alternative medicine “works” - thanks to placebo effect

Martha — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 10:28:33 -0000

No one ever seems to look at it the opposite way... if you are sure something is useless chances are it is.

I know that aspirin and ibuprophn work to cure aches and pains overnight. My father knows that is all a bunch of hooey.

Unquestionably true that I brush off the aches and pains more easily when I think I have taken something, even if I find it on the counter the next day.

Unquestionably true too that no medicine has ever helped my father with any ache or pain.

Re: Will medical insurance prevent athletes from playing sports?

Martha — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 19:32:28 -0000

At least you have a plan that will at least allow you to... keep your house. No matter how large the co-pays and deductibles are... it beats the true cost of a disaster. Isn't it something like 80% of foreclosures can be traced back to some uninsured medical expense?

So no, you cannot afford... optional... injuries. No one can who still has assets can if they wish to keep those assets.

Re: Martha’s Vineyard oak die-off - a sign of things to come?

Martha — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 08:25:06 -0000

Lose the oaks, lose the heating bio-mass. More BTUs in oak than in a whole bunch of the fast growing poplar / birch pulpwood scrub.

Besides... the shade of rusty oak is soooo much better than the ubiquitious yellow of the generic decidious tree. (Do wish blogs had imbedded spell checkers!)

Re: L.A. sents it email into the Google cloud

Martha — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 10:53:06 -0000

Do you suppose cloud email servers will end the "accidental" deletion of public documents? If so... perhaps it should be mandatory. What a contract!

Re: L.A. sents it email into the Google cloud

Martha — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 10:53:05 -0000

Do you suppose cloud email servers will end the "accidental" deletion of public documents? If so... perhaps it should be mandatory. What a contract!

Re: Solar feed-ins - so popular they’re handed out by lottery

Martha — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 09:01:52 -0000

Yeah, I know. But I have not tried to do anything else this year....
Aug 08 - 18 kwh Aug 09 13kwh
Sept-08 - 20 kwh Sept 09 16 kwh
Oct 08 - 18 kwh Oct 09 15 kwh

And that is adding a laptop (in April)... but sending one off to college 1 Sept (but he never did much laundry so the effect on the clothesline was minimal)

I did wonder about the dryer because the Kill-a-Watt doesn't do 220

Re: Solar feed-ins - so popular they’re handed out by lottery

Martha — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 07:53:30 -0000

I am a year now into my tax-reducing solar power experiment. The clothes line. 12 months, using on average 4 kwh less per day per month. And that is the only consious power reduction scheme I have followed this past year. (Two children... one a clothes changing girl.) Very much an eyesore... reduces the value of my view, and the neighbor's view.

Re: Woman on hiking trail killed by coyotes

Martha — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 07:49:18 -0000

Great! I have seen two (or the same one twice) on my walks in the last week. Beautiful, big, healthy, and totally uninterested in either me, or my dog. (And my dog was uninterested in the coyote.)

Dave... it is time you started up your seasonl "don't feed the bears" articles, and now include coyotes in the story referencing this story as a warning. Before people think it is cute.

It annoys the heck out of me how people boast of having bears in their back yards in October eating from their bird feeders. Talk about asking for trouble! We had a bear destroy my bee hives once, came back three days running at the same time of day until I took all the... leftovers... and put them insealed bags in the celler after the second day. The bear came back the third, nothing, and we haven't seen another one. (The electric fence did get "twanged" one night the next year... but nothing was destroyed.)

All those missing cats? Don't forget the Fishers. Much more likely than coyotes.

Re: Life without a cell phone? Priceless (mostly)

Martha — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 08:03:48 -0000

I have a cell phone and use it often, but have never given anyone the number except family. At home we don't get cell service, but do get text service. I text family often. It is not (for us) a social instrument, but rather a marvelous convenience for leaving each other messages and reminders.

I see that kid A has received the message that he has to wait to pick kid B up. No arguments. Send kid A a grocery list to keep him busy while waiting.

Traveling? Hand held answering machine for those people who might need to reach you. Emergencies on the road. Used it twice.

The pain? Once a month I pay... for my phone, two kids phones, my 85 plus year old parents' phone, my 85 year old in-laws phone.

Oh, another gain... never having to pay for long distance calls!

Re: Nashuatelegraph.com: No winners in BG controversy Let’s talk mutiny.

Martha — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 14:18:09 -0000

This one says it all.

1) The Seniors decided to not play this spring because of the prior two years on the bench.

2) The lesson to be learned from their not trying out for the team is that they did not have any desire to play in that program. (Nor did other players of other years who have left baseball in prior years.)

3) They absolutely support the current players and hope they do well.

Lastly,
No communication from any coaches or administrators begs the question... Who bothers to search out online comments to articles read in the morning before work? Is the greater BG administration even aware of the furor over the disrespect shown their students?

Re: Nashuatelegraph.com: No winners in BG controversy Let’s talk mutiny.

Martha — Fri, 01 May 2009 06:28:43 -0000

Well said.

Re: Playing up in high school sports

Martha — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 12:56:06 -0000

"Playing up" does raise interesting questions. Playing both JV and Freshmen means some other freshman cannot play because the roster slot is gone. Playing JV before mentally or physically ready for the bigger game. Don't know about basketball, but it is certainly true in other sports. And anyone who picks up high school kids can tell a freshman boy... they are tiny! Playing a JV ready Freshman on both JV and the Freshman team might be seen as stacking the Freshman team in lieu of player development... which truely is the point of a Freshman team. And then, inevitably, the freshmen who are ready to play up tend, often, but not always, to be coaches' kids.

Re: Is that bacon I smell, or the neighbor’s pet

Martha — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 08:00:57 -0000

Funny, I never thought that enjoying, appreciating, and thinking animals were cute precluded me from enjoying dinner. Fact is, I think I appreciate my bacon more because I have known a few pigs and understand both their intelligence, humor, and their relentless appetite which included a pet lamb, decorative ducks, and the compost heap. And oh, piglets are so very cute.

Re: Maybe Manny really is a fool

Martha — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 08:05:37 -0000

Who ever does sign him should make his pay all contingent on his production. He can hit, but will he hit? The Red Sox know he only plays if he wants to. Joe Torres probably is smart enough to know he had the best of Manny playing for him, and had the luck of managing against the worst of Manny. Would you risk the bad Manny on your bench of young players who remember the good Manny.

Re: Solar panels by the Square Kilometer

Martha — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 16:47:35 -0000

Must read book... Hot, Flat and Crowded... by Thomas Friedman

The point is... do we have a choice? We need the policical changes that make the incentives for developing the efficiencies practical so indeed we don't need to pave the world with the current inefficient solar panels.

And on Sept 11 shouldn't we ponder the fact that we buy 15 million barrels of oil+ a day from people like the Saudies and the Iranians. We are subsidizing militant jihad and fueling it. with our actions. They win, and laugh all the way to the bank.

And no, drilling only extends and exacerbates the problem.

Re: De-icing planes, polluting rivers

Martha — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 10:32:57 -0000

It would seem simple to capture the run-off (surely the ramps where the planes are sprayed have organized drains) and to re-use it to a point. Wonder if some reverse osmosis system could re-concentrate the stuff?

Re: More Energy Hype

Martha — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 07:24:07 -0000

Does using a small space heater right next to the shower constitute turning on the heat for the year? So far it (with a wood stove in the p.m. and wearing a down vest all day) has kept the furnace thermostats at 50. Not sure what it costs to run the furnace from 6-7 in the a.m. but it feels right to run the old $30 heater for 10 minutes instead.

Re: More peregrines, but also more contamination fears

Martha — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 08:34:26 -0000

How do those PBDE chemicals enter the... food chain? Is someone discharging them recklessly so they can spread? I suppose they go up smokestacks as they are non-flamable and thus spread. Fixing that would call for more / better scrubbers, and that would raise the question for some of cost/benefit since it is only a bunch of rodent eaters being harmed.

Re: Using less energy is more efficient than creating new sources

Martha — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 07:45:53 -0000

I wonder if the thermal imaging cameras so many local fire departments have would provide any useful information looking at houses this winter. I would love to see where my house is leaking. That would be a great community service fire departments could perform. It could be managed on a local level, and organized as time and weather permitted. Then we taxpayers could also get some use out of the nice toy, and the firemen use their stuff, and we homeowners could have a place to start.

Re: Electric grid challenged, startup funding challenged, fish challenged

Martha — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 13:09:45 -0000

I love the mini/micro reactor story. Not a surprise, but very welcome.

Seed them around, put up a few wind turbines here and there, and get tthe solar film figured out so it can be effectively in shingles and siding. Feed all these dispersed generating sources into the current grid and it will free up the current transmission system to move power from the big plants to the big cities.

Minimizes the need for massive deal-breaking new transmission lines.

Re: “Mad cow disease” in Jaffrey woman?

Martha — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 08:04:39 -0000

It was only a matter of time.

(When I last checked) our meat industry was still feeding animal by-products to herbiverous animals to pack on the weight by upping the protien content. Those by-products included spinal matter from cows where prions are thought to be found. That isn't even counting the byproducts from goats and sheep who have high incidence of scrapie which is not dis-similar to Mad Cow.

The whole thing isn't that much different ethically than lacing milk with melamine to get the protien measure up.

Re: Why don’t women like computer science?

Martha — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 10:12:26 -0000

I would not be surprised if one found the turn-off to programming was because of the dominence of game programming.

I was a programmer, wrote business applications, loved it, was good at it, and there were many women in the departments where I worked. But that was back in the day when there was extensive application programming done in-house by companies. These days applications are largely purchased packages so fewer programmers are needed nation wide to write applications.

Note that appliation programming is not like writing... Windows, or like writing code to make a machine activate a servo when it receives a command. Think of Application programming as... collecting information from a myriad of sources, working it, and providing it in a useful format to people who need information to make decisions. It creates an immediate benefit by giving people the information they need to do their work. That ain't game programming.

I loved programming because it was useful and productive. The results were immediate and the contribution to productivity was measurable. The idea of spending hours/days/weeks/months writing code on some mindless game is not attractive. The idea of spending hours/days/weeks/months writing code that contributes to productivity and efficiency... sign me up!

Re: Why don’t women like computer science?

Martha — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 13:56:18 -0000

Couple of more thoughts...

1) If the definition of people working in programming is restricted to those who do only programming then that is a problem with the definition, not the field. At least 20 years ago only the very rawest new-hire did only coding. Everyone else was out and talking with users "designing" as well as developing. To some extent that must still be true.

2) Every engineer I ever worked with could code in... C... and often did their own programs for what they were working on. No programmer I ever knew who had no background in engineering was much use until they learned their engineering. (Non engineering programmers did business applications, an all but vanished career.)

3) You started by wondering about kids going in to Computer Science. Kids major in college in fields they either enjoy, or in fields where they can visualize working. Many kids have had programming classes in high school, and can understand how programs work. Knowing that they go on to college to major in other fields where they will use their computer expertise and continue to take computer courses to aid them in their other field. In truth anyone can learn to code, but not every coder can learn to make business decisions, or to integrate electrical systems with logic systems.

Re: Why don’t women like computer science?

Martha — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 07:43:07 -0000

Object oriented programming certainly does speed up development.

What I see different from now and 20 years ago though (which changes the number of people in the "Programmers in Computer Science") is that the job of developing software has been consolidated so dramatically.

The firm where I worked here in Merrimack 20 years ago had 15+/-dedicated software developers for the business side alone. Now, 0. And it isn't that they have moved up the ladder, the department no longer exists. The task has been taken over by pure development firms, which are the ones using the development tools to do it faster and more efficiently because the object code is getting used over a wide number oc companies.

Re: West Nile Virus, where have you gone?

Martha — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 09:31:49 -0000

I wonder if there is any way to coralate that to winters? Interesting to see if West Nile, incidence of Lyme Disease, EEE and other such "new" diseases and see if they recede when we get a good winter. (EEE isn't new, just new to people.)
Probably not enough data available for a long enough time, and probably more that summer weather changes people's exposure patterns.

Re: West Nile Virus, where have you gone?

Martha — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 12:44:58 -0000

Absolutely mosquitoes are summer, but there must be a die-off of mosquitoe larva wintering over under some circumstances. Ditto with ticks.

Ticks are certainly a new phenomonon in this area. (I saw one tick in my first... 35 years, now pull 20+ off the dog each summer.)

Re: Shareware Report: Writing helper

Martha — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 08:08:35 -0000

I am waiting for the program that catches the dreaded homonym. Too many times the two programs I use have missed errors in letters to my mother.

(Spelling well is nice, but for those of us that don't spell well I don't notice most errors, but the wrong word? It LEAPS off the page.)

Re: More than half of adults play video games

Martha — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 08:32:19 -0000

So define "Video Game." Does that include cards? Soduku? If they are intended to be counted as video games I am surprised the numbers aren't higher. Does playing games on your phone count as playing a video game? Bet the survey didn't consider that. I don't know anyone who doesn't or wouldn't play a phone based game while they are waiting.

If "video games" is narrowly defined more as the x-box or wii type... not surprising at all, especially with the college educated bit because they must be somewhat tied to money.

Re: More than half of adults play video games

Martha — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 10:30:47 -0000

Actually I did read the article before commenting and did know phones were included but am constantly amazed and curious about the ever expanding variety of games on phones now available for a price. It isn't just Snake anymore. Hard to know if that, or Pong, is even considered a video game!

I suppose the complexity and variety comes with the battery, screen, and that the cost gets buried in the monthly bill. (Me, I scrutinize the bill each month and bill my kids back for their over-runs and the games my son buys. Keeps him/them honest.)

Re: I have power! I have power!! I have power!!!

Martha — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 12:35:11 -0000

We are at 10 days without power and counting. Two wood stoves working 18 hours / day have kept the house at a balmy 45 in the mornings, 70 by evening. I am getting good at cooking on the wood stove. And since we live on a swamp, I can tell you it takes one 5 gallon bucket (not full) carried each day per person to manage the... niceties... of life.

After 8 days, when school no longer offered the prospect of showers, and work-place showers were no longer available, we bought a generator thinking it might prompt the gods to restore us power and make the purchase un-needed. It hasn't.

It isn't the inconvenience, it is the not knowing. Do we put the tree in the south, sunny, warm window? Or do we put it in the dark north corner and put tinsel on it for light?

While a generator is heavenly, it is loud, smelly, and cannot run 24/7 and power everything. If the device creates heat, the generator lugs. But it does make showers possible, laundry available to humidify the house, and the winter's wood supply now looks as if it will make it to January.

Bottom line... with everyone healthy, knock on wood, it has made for an adventure and so far, knock on wood, not a disaster.

Re: We have power, but that’s not enough

Martha — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 08:03:14 -0000

Learninig what is most important is perhaps the best lesson of the last two weeks.

3/4 of our family felt that hot, running water was the most important. Those were the 3/4 who went to work and school and used the showers there. (1/4 was adept at brushing teeth out of a glass, and was too tired from carrying water and wood to care.)

3/4 missed the tv and computer, but were okay with reading. 4/4 felt having the game of CLUE was critical to happy family evenings.

4/4 of the family felt that after 8 days a generator was worth it even though it was the entire Christmas budget (and more). 1/4 is especially delighted because there isn't time any longer to create Christmas anyway.

Were this Thanksgiving we would all be saying what we are thankful for. But it is all just simple. Without good health this would have been a disaster.

Re: We have power, but that’s not enough

Martha — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 12:29:45 -0000

I can easily say that it was managing the plumbing issues that took the time and thus affected productivity the most. Granted most of the time needed to generate the woodpile was done last summer, but day-to-day, carrying water, heating water, figuring out how much potable water to spend on what... time and energy.

Re: The oddity of ice storms

Martha — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 09:17:38 -0000

Another factor is wind. I don't remember wind in December. There was wind the other night.

On the roads around us it was much more whole trees tipping over, hitting the wires at an angle and knocking down/off the top, live wire. Plenty of branches fell, but they didn't seem to destroy the wires the way a tree put them on the ground for 50 yards..

Re: Melting ice from power lines by increasing resistance

Martha — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 08:48:45 -0000

Do many problems arise because of ice on the wires? Do things short out often because of ice build-up? Surely the weight of the ice on the wires is inconsequential relative to the ice on the nearby trees. Or is this more interesting as a way to do plane de-icing?

Re: Mercury and compact fluorescents - complicated in N.H.

Martha — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 12:50:25 -0000

Ten years ago I re-lighted my house in CFLs. Just now I am beginning to have burned out bulbs. It is EASY to find a place to recycle them. Easier than putting them in a trash bag, having them break, cut the bag, and re-bagging the trash. (Which is what seems to always happens with glass in the normal trash. Another reason to recycle glass.)

But remember... the real point is to reduce electricity use in the big picture so we will need fewer new power plants.

Re: Where should small wind towers be allowed?

Martha — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 14:56:50 -0000

It would be interesting to see some local hill-top towns, who have town land on the tops of hills, get a conversation started.

Still very intrigueing is the town in Mass. (Hull?) who has a wind turbine on town land and everyone in town gets a break on electricity in return for the varience. Apparently that changed the NIMBY opinion instantly.

Re: Timing your energy use - as good as making your own power

Martha — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 08:49:28 -0000

I think PSNH needs to start a pilot program in a small town where they can coherently monitor results. Where the town has a cross section of interested people... people of varied professions and working habits. Possibly a town where people in the pilot program would be willing to work with PSNH to defray the startup costs of the project in return for a payback over time.

PSNH told us (when we lost power) that we were on a circut of 700 customers. They could pick a circut (or two or three) and convert the one circut to see what happened. I'd love to be in on that test.

Re: Digital TV switch delayed

Martha — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 10:21:44 -0000

Great! I have to calm my parents for another 4-5 months telling them not to worry. And this stupid bill passed by a huge margin.

Re: It’s Sudoku - with arithmetic!

Martha — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 07:36:18 -0000

I did an Easy book of KenKen that I received for Christmas. It worked. Wierd, but it worked. Simple arithmatic, but because it needed to always be correct, and remembered, perhaps not for everyone.

There is another puzzle type... where you put numbers in sequence. Quite fun (more fun for the arithmatically challenged) but I cannot remember its' name.

Try the "Mensa Absolutely Nasty Sodoku" books by Frank Longo. And do start at level 1. It took me about a year to do 200 puzzles. And it freed me from the addiction.

Re: Bio-energy from my family’s - er, sludge

Martha — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 08:12:27 -0000

We see the same... green grass... in the midst of winter. Wouldn't it be a great site for a greenhouse?

Re: Would ’smart meters’ really make a difference?

Martha — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 14:25:24 -0000

So we cannot have time-of-day pricing until we go out and replace ALL our electrical devices? What will come first, the smart grid or the smart appliance?

Make time-of-day pricing an option and you would see a huge market for timing devices to go between old devices and the all, and a huge incentive to finally upgrade the old Energy Star refridg. that uses pennies a day right now.

To say $10-15/month is not important is crazy. That buys a lot of timers. And let us not forget the other reason to do it... to save energy consumption reduces the need for another power plant, and ultimately that reduces global warming. Remeber, that is the ultimate bottom line for those of us who intend to live more than another decade.

Re: Upgrading the power grid: A non-trivial exercise

Martha — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 08:01:53 -0000

Marginally related but... visiting my parents in Maine last weekend we got on the subject of smart meters and pricing by the hour of the day. It surprised me but they said they used to be billed that way, 30 years ago. They don't remember anything fancy, just that their bills reflected evening usage versus daytime usage. And no, I don't think they were remembering their phone bill. And yes, it did change their usage patterns. Mom said that is why she always ran the dryer at night (until the late 70 energy issues when she switched to the clothesline and never went back.)

Re: Upgrading the power grid: A non-trivial exercise

Martha — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 09:50:44 -0000

One twist on the electric meter... this was in upstate New York... and in a town. It certainly makes a difference in the electric company (Niagra-Mohawk's predecessor?) but it might too be simpler in a town to do it universally.

We are talking the '70s when things were more... stupid... so the concept of simple switches was more acceptable. Might have been how it worked.

And yes, phone calls still can be priced by the time depending on the plan you choose. It took me years to get my parents off such a plan in hopes they wouldn't hang up in mid-sentence to save a nickle.

Re: Solar in the Sunshine State

Martha — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 07:36:30 -0000

What about timing the series hot water heaters? Surely both don't need to be running at... 2pm... much less 2am.

Re: Solar in the Sunshine State

Martha — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 08:04:50 -0000

I am surprised timing hot water heaters doesn't matter. It must be very... climate dependant. In our cottage we went to turning on and off the heater for a while and felt it mattered, but that was in the colder north, with an uninsulated heater. (Amazing what insulation does! We insulated ours last winter... HUGE difference.)

Then when cottage replacement was needed we went to instant hot water, perfect for cottage demands, but probably too pricey.

Re: Fast-charge battery from MIT, for electric cars?

Martha — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 08:22:13 -0000

And then there is the Sonata battery which too has made great leaps in safety, recharge time, and life, and is, I think, on the market.

So many widgets worth investigating. So many gadgets which might actually make a difference. So little time.

Re: EarthHour - turn off your lights at 8:30

Martha — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 11:09:13 -0000

I planned to turn things off, but didn't set the alarm to remind me. Who pays attention at 8:30 on a Saturday night!

What would make more sense to me, because it would be more do-able, would be to declare an evening / night to turn off and unplug. Designate from... 6pm on as a time to go as electricity free as possible. Easier than waiting for 8:30 in my tiny mind.

Wonder how much electricity would be saved over the course of a night? The outside lights, the vampire lights, the random stuff. Particularly the outside lights. Interesting to know. And might take the measure of vampire lights.

Re: Must wind farms provide guided tours?

Martha — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 09:28:10 -0000

I thought the Lempster wind farm was going to have an "open house" sometime maybe this spring. But I haven't heard anything lately... maybe people who are interested just walk in anyway. Or maybe they are waiting until the winery about 1/2 mile away is open too!

Re: Sprinkling solar power plants throughout Maine

Martha — Fri, 01 May 2009 09:10:53 -0000

Distributed power generation. Like distributed processing that led to the rise of PCs. Seems to make sense. Why not one or two wind turbines in likely spots as well? How much is too much power to flow into the existing grid from one spot?

Re: Sprinkling solar power plants throughout Maine

Martha — Sat, 02 May 2009 07:18:14 -0000

The... micro... power generation of solar panels on houses in California makes perfect sense for southern California. The... mini... power generation idea makes perfect sense for a place like... Maine with many micro climates. The real point is we (here in the US) are becoming more open to a multi-pronged approach to generating power. Traditionally we seem to gravitate to a one-solution approach to a problem.

Last month I hit a goal of having my variable electrical costs go below my fixed costs. While that was good, it pointed out how cheap actual electricity is, and how expensive the infrastructure is. (Never end a sentence with "is" but, there it is.)

Re: Sprinkling solar power plants throughout Maine

Martha — Sat, 02 May 2009 09:39:59 -0000

I just pulled out a bill... and damm.... I am not so happy.

What I consider the fixed charges are the delivery services which consists of the fixed customer charge, and then random distribution charges like transmission, stranded costs, and system benefits and taxes. Those all show up in the Delivery Service Detail of the bill. $8.93 fixed charge, and about $0.05 KWH charges.

Then in the Suplier services is the pure energy charge.... at $0.09 / kwh

One slower inspection the Delivery Services were essentially $34 and the Energy is $43. Suffice it to say those numbers look the same to me at a quick glance. (Yes, I manage the money in the family.)

Perhaps if it rains later, or the black flies get too thick I will try to plot where the Services and energy do cross. It expect it willl be just downwards of 400 KWH / month. Shedding kids and their computers should make it simple.

Re: Sprinkling solar power plants throughout Maine

Martha — Sat, 02 May 2009 19:09:40 -0000

Never mind. Need to get to about 200 kwh/month the energy costs are about equal to the delivery costs. We go now from a high of about 600+ / month in the winter, to a current low of about 425. Gotta lose the kids and see what that does.

Re: The electric grid in New Hampshire

Martha — Thu, 07 May 2009 09:04:00 -0000

When the 765 kv line was built down through up-state NY (the big dark blue line in NY) there was a lot of griping about the acreage required. Farmers and farming was disrupted. One hardly notices that line today, but at the time it seemed big. Undeniably the footprint under them is big.

I wonder if there is any synergy in land requirements possible between rail lines and power lines. Both like direct routes, moderate terrain, and a big buffer zone. But I suppose probably no one wants to "live" under the lines, and no one wants to share, and no one wants a de-railment to topple a tower. But it sure would be nice to be able to get to Montreal on the train!

Re: File Making (The metal kind)

Martha — Wed, 13 May 2009 08:15:44 -0000

There are four reasons to pay for a TV satalite...
1) Red Sox
2) Dirty Jobs
3) Mythbusters
4) How It's Made
no... five reasons
5) Star Trek

Re: “Peanuts” and the Mercury capsule rescue

Martha — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 09:19:00 -0000

Wasn't it Gus Grissom's capsule that sank after the hatch blew prematurely? I thought his was the only one that sank... and that Carpenter's flight was just off course and it took time to locate him.

Not that it really matters.

Re: My electricity use went up! Argh!

Martha — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 13:24:16 -0000

The silly clothesline dropped our daily average by 2-3 kwh. It was amazing... and amazingly enough it was as effective in January / February as it was in June.

Interesting question about electric fence charger... we don't see it when we turn on our bee fence (fall and spring). Do report back after you measure yours. (And is it of bear / bull strength or just a garden variety horse type as mine is? ... token resistence to the inevitability of the periodic bear.)

Re: My electricity use went up! (Part II)

Martha — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 08:23:19 -0000

What about the dishwasher dry cycle? Normally we run without the dry. But with the kids home we have a) more dishes b) more random, unattended dishwasher use, both of which must cost.

Alas gettinig at the power for the dishwasher to plug in the kill-o-watt meter is... not going to happen.

At least we havent had to use fans often this summer to date!

Re: Is purple loosestrife retreating?

Martha — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 15:55:27 -0000

I am glad you said it out-loud. I hadn't dared.

You have recently been mentioning Zebra Mussels... scourge of the Great Lakes 10 years ago... now, at least at the east end of Lake Ontario... died off. The kids/everyone had to swim in sneakers 10-15 years ago. The last two years... bare feet.

Now if the Swallowwort would do a similar die back (before it eats southern New Hampshire) we will be doing well.

(Possible the Loostrife doesn't thrive with "normal" winters... the last two years have been snowy and cold?)

Re: North Carolina nixes ridge-top wind farms

Martha — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 09:44:02 -0000

It is a pity.

We were just in New York State and were struck not by the big wind farm on Tug Hill (Lowville NY... 300? towers?... old news for us) but by the 5 and 6 tower installations we saw south of Utica (Driving Clinton NY to Hamilton NYto Ithaca NY). And then another "farm" one just barely visible from the VT side of Champlain over north of... Plattsburg.... All done without fanfare, without huge power lines, just quietly generating power locally.

Equally nice this past weekend out sailing within view of the Lempster farm... check the towers and see them chunking away. Never in a hurry, never slow. Very elegant.

Re: Big rooftop solar arrays, slowly coming

Martha — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 13:01:02 -0000

Doesn't even take an inviting big flat space to inspire a solar panel. Are you the one who pointed out the New Jersey solar panels being put on top of power poles? How many zillion power poles... a square foot each... trickle charging the existing grid?

Re: Skype Review

Martha — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 09:42:06 -0000

Interesting that your kids let you see their Facebook page, and agree to Skype. Certainly Earle, your kid in Algeria is not a "kid" anymore, but interesting that college age kids permit parents Facebook access etc. (Mine don't, but then I haven't asked.)

Yeah, those days of "postcards" seem to be gone... on my world travels I had to call home once every 10 days to let someone know where I was, and that was it. I wonder what I would require of my kid if one took off for Europe with a Master Card, a Rail Pass, and a plane ticket dated intime to get them back at school? Those were the days.

Re: What’s cheaper: Renewable energy or nuclear power?

Martha — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 09:21:56 -0000

4% Farm does seem... high.... But then again Vt. has a lot of farms, and is not all that big a consumer of electricity so 4% of a small number is easier to reach than 4% of... say New York State or California.

If farms can create 4% of their current needs with on-site generation (not unthinkable) that then meets the goal. Farms returning 4% to the grid over and above their usage... that seems tougher.

Re: What’s cheaper: Renewable energy or nuclear power?

Martha — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 07:42:15 -0000

I am sure, Dave, that you are correct that the article reads that farms must generate 4% of the state's total energy usage.

What I wonder is whether something got lost translating... renewable energy / farms / 4% into farms generating 4% of the states needs.

Doesn't one always wonder when one reads any news article what got lost in the condensing and sifting and passing of the story. My first game of "telephone" in kindergarten remains a remarkable moment.

This shifting of fact is either "spinning" or truely inadvertent. It happens, and the farther from the source, the more 'fading" of fact there is. Blogs add just one more layer of opportunity to fade. Not that yours is ever anything but impeccable in managing the facts.

Re: Should schools teach touch typing?

Martha — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 08:07:16 -0000

My kids (high school and college) don't thank us for much, but the one thing they do thank us for is making them learn to type correctly. (They had to to "Mavis Bacon Teaches Typing" lessons at home before they could play computer games.) Both kids are very fast, and very accurate. Typing papers is stress free and fast.

One kid says friends are continually complaining because they cannot type, and because they unconciously mess up grammer and punctuation (and thus get a worse grade), all because of texting habits.

QWERTY keyboards (according to one kid) make all the abbreviations and cute shortcuts seem affected. The other kid says not to compare texting and typing because of context. And the Blackberry user says a badly typed email / text still reflects badly on the sender in a no-nonsense business environment.

Anyone using software that transcribes voice messages to text? THAT would/will be interesting... the need for spontaneous, coherent voice messages without dorky "ums" and "ahs"

Re: A mountain lion in New Hampshire! (Probably not a wild one, though)

Martha — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 10:17:17 -0000

Actually while this may be a "way-cool" predator, and it is, it is probably the one I least want to meet while in the woods. (Second only to a human.) This is the one that is not going to just walk away. Gorgeous, smart, athletic, definately way-cool, but probably the only justification for "packin'" in the western national parks.

Re: Have you read a book if you’ve listened to the audio version?

Martha — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 07:41:19 -0000

I haven't ever listened to a book... I like quiet on my long drives... but in theory will try it some day.

My question to book listeners who also read is... Do you think "wordier" books go better on tape than "page turners" because relative speed matters?

Re: Carbon prices fall in RGGI auction as electricity usage drops

Martha — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 14:49:58 -0000

Isn't this a bit of what happened in Europe? Price started high, then plummeted. There I think they fingered too many ... allowences... If RGGI started with bunches of ton-allowences to sell... supply is high, price is low. And now everyone has a better feel of how many... allowences... are needed for business as usual.

Re: “Open road tolling” on I-95

Martha — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 07:00:34 -0000

As a heavy ezpass user I can say... it is WONDERFUL.

Even now age of current technology matters... one can go faster through new NH tolls than through old Mass tolls. (Yeah, speed limit is 10, but one can get through at 25-30... 3rd gear... saves gas.)

Biggest problem now is they put EZPASS only lanes sandwiched between Exact Change and all money... so you get people from EC lanes going 90 degrees accross no-stop lanes because they don't have the e.c.

That lane-changing problem will be even bigger in the future if it is not better organized when legit speed lanes are created.

Big brother exists whether or not one stops for tolls. They still take your photo. Don't like it? Don't take the toll road.

Re: Take the science knowledge quiz

Martha — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 16:17:01 -0000

Kinda scary that I, an Art History major, got 12/12. We are in trouble.

Re: Are raptors responsible for missing birds?

Martha — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 09:20:29 -0000

Good example of how all environment is local. (also Mont Vernon)

Our squirrel population is booming. (Chipmunks too... are they squirrels?)

Our birds are... normal.... (We only feed 15 Dec- 1 March because of bears.)

But our snake population is down. (Hence the chipmunks?)

Re: America should be running on Starbucks

Martha — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 08:04:43 -0000

The only thing I aggree Starbucks does better than Dunks is that their coffee is stronger and more fresh tasting. I avoid them because of their corporate attitude, their food, and, I am sorry to say, the "attitude" I have always felt from their service staff.

Starbucks food, I think, is only average, and is served as if it is manna from heaven. No, I don't think Dunks food is good, but it is what it is, cheap and workmanlike.

The Starbucks attitude I have always encountered was that I was the one who was lucky to be getting their product, as opposed to them being honored by my custom. Dunks, except for the sullen teens at 6am or giggling ones at 4:30 pm, usually has friendly competent staff, nothing special, just good.

Ordinarily I would not condem a chain for what I take to be poor service, but I have only been to Starbucks 4-5 times, and never to the same one twice, yet have found the service too similar to discount. I blame the chain's training, not the staff.

And no, once "dissed" by a store I do not go back unless there are no alternatives, but for coffee, there are always alternatives.

Re: Extracting honey via a centrifuge

Martha — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 09:48:43 -0000

Good job!

Bee productivity is just as local as bird population and the weather. My two hives produced maybe three frames of excess honey between them... and then I had to feed 2 gallons of sugar syrup per hive....

Re: These wind-turbine opponents are fighting even a temporary tower

Martha — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 11:24:44 -0000

Wind power companies need to find a way to pay the residents of the town "rent" for their use of their view. That rent could be used to reduce residents property taxes, in the form of a personal check.

No one loved ever learned to love cell phone towers, but people who get $1000 / month rent to put a tower on their land sure change their tune quickly. I bet a contract obligating some payment to each resident of a town would soften opposition. Question is... How much?

Re: These wind-turbine opponents are fighting even a temporary tower

Martha — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 14:35:43 -0000

Yes all land pays taxes, but to get the public behind a project people need to see that they, personally, their wallet, will be positively affected. This is especially true when there is no immediate benefit.

Easy to say Lempster gets revenue from the wind farm... but I don't recall my father-in-law saying he loved his theoretically lower tax bill this summer... he would have loved a check, even a token check, from the power company that just happened to come at the same time.

My guess is that then he would have been cheering on the planning process (instead of remaining on the fence).

Re: These wind-turbine opponents are fighting even a temporary tower

Martha — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 12:08:55 -0000

Na, I am not thinking slippery slope, although I agree it is an issue.

I was thinking more about the local hurdles of getting things approved. I was thinking in terms of greasing the tiny little cogs in our brains to better permit seeing both sides of the argument... especially in cases where the "knee" is the driving force behind decisions. (Knee jerk, not knee to the body....)

Interesting (philosophical?) questions for a rainy day... what would it be worth to you to permit a wind tower that benefits you indirectly, but is probably the "right" thing to do? What would it be worth to you to permit a cell tower that benefits you more directly, but is a bit more gratuitously "right"? What would it be worth to you to permit a... Dunkin Donuts in or a 7-11, neither of which would do much to truely enhance your life... coffee and slurpees aside?