FUEL $$$ WTF

[Ed/KB1HYS]

Black holes do not exist. They are merely artifacts of our very primitive methods of observing the universe.

Is that tongue in cheek or??? 

As far as harvesting energy from space, all well and good, but how do you get it down from there in a form that is usable as electricity?   I remember a popular Mech (?) article that had an orbiting power station that pumped energy to the surface in the form of microwaves which were supposed t be collected and converted to good ole hz AC.   

Talk about weapons potental!!   

I think the geothermal idea is pretty good, but instead of allowing magma to float up to the surface (with all the difficulties that would entail)  you'd pump water down to the hot zone where it would be converted to steam and used just like any other heat source.  They are actually doing this in iceland where volcanic/geothermal energy is close to the surface.  Around here you'd need a pipe many miles long to reach a more or less permanent hot zone that would be able to provide enough heat to keep the power running, difficult, but still possible, given the money for R&D and construction.

[Opcom]

Dr. John K1DEU   Water fusion will be allowed to work early 2013.

Can you please expand on what means by 'allowed to work'? Either it works or not?

[Steve - K4HX]

It was tongue in cheek but pointing to a larger point. The reality is every time the scientific world claims something about outer space, not long after, new observations show it to be false. I think we're fooling ourselves with all this pontification about deep space and black holes. Many physicists completely disagree with Hawking on what happens in black holes. Further, the field of physics is rather messed up with dogma and black listing. We aren't getting nearly as broad a view of the world and the associated research as we should be. Therefore, I claim that what we know about the world is just that much more limited (and it's severely limited to begin with).

Black holes do not exist. They are merely artifacts of our very primitive methods of observing the universe.

Is that tongue in cheek or??? 

As far as harvesting energy from space, all well and good, but how do you get it down from there in a form that is usable as electricity?   I remember a popular Mech (?) article that had an orbiting power station that pumped energy to the surface in the form of microwaves which were supposed t be collected and converted to good ole hz AC.   

Talk about weapons potental!!   

I think the geothermal idea is pretty good, but instead of allowing magma to float up to the surface (with all the difficulties that would entail)  you'd pump water down to the hot zone where it would be converted to steam and used just like any other heat source.  They are actually doing this in iceland where volcanic/geothermal energy is close to the surface.  Around here you'd need a pipe many miles long to reach a more or less permanent hot zone that would be able to provide enough heat to keep the power running, difficult, but still possible, given the money for R&D and construction.

[KL7OF]

Just outside of Naknek Alaska there is a geothermal project going on....It is being done by the local electric cooperative....A small outfit that has put it all on the line financially to develop a geothermal source and eventually build an electric generating plant to supply power to SW Alaska.  It has been slow going, They have been working with their own funds and grant monies and so far have one well drilled that produces the required hotwater ...They are now officially broke and filing for bankruptcy.  The state government and the federal government have been very slow to get behind this project...Oil is king in Alaska and that no doubt has something to do with the lack of governmental interest....I pay over $6 a gal for heating oil there and the electric is generated with diesel at those same costs...I pay .46 a KWH!......I don't know what will happen with this project but it is in limbo right now......So ....some people are trying on a small scale but progress is difficult with the system we have in place....If you are interested, there is some info on the web....Google Naknek Electric  coop...

[Art]

It is unfortunate that any concentrated source of energy has inherent risks. We need to manage but not regulate to death these resources.
Solar is a wonderful concept as is wind but not sufficiently concentrated sources of energy to be practical. That's a sobering statement but we all know it is true. Aside from that fact the US grid is in no way capable of decentralized power distribution. Regional is about as "distributed" as we get.
Concentrated sources of energy are primarily hydrocarbons and nukes. If we want to become energy independent (I don't think the current or past agenda has been in this direction) we must drill our own oil and convert to CNG (instead of burning it off or wasting it), and convert our coal electrical generators to clean coal or natural gas.
If we want America back in control of its own destiny we must change our focus to that concept. Sorry to all the tree huggers who want to defend an idea that isn't real. Currently our national focus is to feed the world government/market. I'd rather feed the 1 in 4 on food stamps in our own country. Our own energy production would do that and more. We would become the oil source to the world instead of an unstable area of the world. Yes, I would like to see Detroit (for example) with roads and public facilities like Abu Dhabi and Kuwait City and by generating and employing our own we can do that, while creating the most prosperous and successful country and citizens on earth.

Art
w0ba

[Steve - K4HX]

Since water is H2O, the year must be an even number. So it won't happen until 2014.

[WA1GFZ]

I think big bang is bogus. It is based on a short term oscillation of expanding universe who knows if the trend reverses into compression.

[K1DEU]

&3 to All on this BBS.  Will catch you on 75 AM in the next several weeks where our individual opinions are not edited to much. Love & 73 John, K1DEU

[Ralph W3GL]

   Geez John, don't let the EXIT door slam you in the butt on the way out...
             

   Art, W0BA, long time since I've seen any comments from you.  Nice new
   call-sign.  How are things going out there in CO?
   

[K5UJ]

saw $4.19/ gal. here driving around tonight.

[W7TFO]

I had to go look up 'Essene', thought it was some sort of synthetic gas.

I once knew a girl named 'Ambrosene', she was pretty hot but not something I'd put in my tank, either.

73DG

[k4kyv]

Essence is the French word for gasoline or petrol.  I remember the old Standard Oil brand name "Esso". They still had it in Canada as late as the 1990s. In some parts of the world they call it "benzene".

[Art]

Hi Ralph,
Good to see you again. Yes, there has been a good deal of family activity for some time. . . .
CO is a wonderful place but I need to move to a house without HOA constraints. Imagine! Folks upset by a simple wire antenna. . .  grrrr. Anyway, aside from that life is good.
Hope all is good with you and I definitely miss the gang on AM.
Art
0ba

[W2VW]

   Art, W0BA, long time since I've seen any comments from you.  Nice new
   call-sign.  How are things going out there in CO?
   

Art's voice was never that high.

[W2VW]

Essence is the French word for gasoline or petrol.  I remember the old Standard Oil brand name "Esso". They still had it in Canada as late as the 1990s. In some parts of the world they call it "benzene".

ESSO

Every
Sucker
Stops
Once

[K1DEU]

Ralph are you referring to the in and out swinging door on the OK Corral AM Bar room door/

Well the springs are pretty strong but you gotta be fast coming in and especially going out.

BTW I'm so old I don't drink anything stronger than black weak coffie or straight Ginger Ale but they still make money whenever I visit.  

Ralph are you gonna come down to what the elite call the AM Ghetto around 3885 KHz and say hi to we lower class hams ?

Sure hope so.

 John, K1DEU

[K2PG]

There is no such thing as clean coal! Ask 'El Presidente'.'

Well, I switched from fuel oil to good, old Pennsylvania anthracite for heating my house because I can't afford oil anymore. No smoke and a very faint odor in the exhaust from the coal stove. On the other hand, if I fire up the oil burner and go outside, I get a nice aroma like a bus idling at the Port Authority Bus Terminal in NYC, minus that famous NYC urine smell. Although, being from New Jersey originally, that oil smell kinda makes me feel at home! Nothing like the aromas near Exit 13 of the famous NJ Turnpike to bring back the feel of the "Garden State"!

If I could pipe some of the hot air coming from Washington, D.C. up to my house, I wouldn't need to burn that "dirty" coal.

Now around here the Marcellus Shale is suppposed to have a HUGE gas supply.

If I eat a plate of halushki, a food I never heard of before I moved to NE PA, I probably produce more gas then the Marcellus Shale. Greenhouse gases? Anyone who believes in "global warming" has never spent a winter in Luzerne County, PA!

I was talking with one of the water drivers and he said they have now hit oil and anticipate a larger oil supply than what the Saudis could ever dream of.

Not surprising, since the world's first oil well was drilled in Pennsylvania. It was the Drake well, drilled in Titusville in 1859.

[flintstone mop]

Pres Oblama says that asthma is caused by burning coal .................the smoke and the ash is too much.
He is saying a lot of strange things lately
We're heading for $6/gal..........$5 is not enough.

[W1AEX]

saw $4.19/ gal. here driving around tonight.

Rob, the prices seem to be moving faster than the video games I play. I paid $3.89/gal last week, then $4.21/gal on Tuesday of this week. Today, as I drove by the same pumps, it had dropped to $4.11/gal for reasons that escape me. The explanations that I have heard and read go on about speculators and the declining value of the dollar, but I think someone in a penthouse office suite somewhere hired Vanna White to spin the wheel to come up with the daily price changes. The only thing I can be sure of is that the state of CT is tagging an additional 3 cents per gallon onto the rising and falling price of gasoline at the pump. How nice for them...

Rob W1AEX

[K5UJ]

When it gets over $4 / gal. I go into conservation mode.   That means 1.  Holding the RPM to 1400 which in 5th gear is around 38 mph, and 2.  Consolidating trips.  I also do as  much out of gear coasting as possible.    RPM drops to 600 out of gear when the engine is warm.  The terrain here is flat mostly so it is possible to cruse at low RPM/high gear.

Of course this pi$$es off the pinheads so I keep to four lane roads and let them go around me.  I can make an 18 gal. tank last about three weeks this way. 

Most people here have not changed their habits.   The way people drive you'd think gas was $2 / gallon.   What's amazing is they blow by me spewing money out their tailpipes but at the next light I pull up right behind them.   It actually takes me just about the same amount of time to get to and from work every day as it did when I was zooming.

thiis has been enough of a revelation that I may just keep driving like this even if gas goes down in price. 

[K2PG]

I also do as  much out of gear coasting as possible.    RPM drops to 600 out of gear when the engine is warm. 

In both Pennsylvania and New Jersey, it is illegal to coast with the gears in neutral.

[Ralph W3GL]

   Otherwise known as "freewheeling".  

   I remember my granddads old Chebby Coupe had a lever under the dash,
   on the right side of the steering colum marked with that tag.  

   My guess it was to disengage the drive train when being towed  out of the
   ever present mud  puddles in that time frame of automotive history.

   Was a real hoot going down a straight away hill though...
  

I also do as  much out of gear coasting as possible.    RPM drops to 600 out of gear when the engine is warm. 

In both Pennsylvania and New Jersey, it is illegal to coast with the gears in neutral.

[Ed/KB1HYS]

I have to admit I do the Freewheeling thing too.  The truck gets about 18 mpg on a good day.  Between freewheeling and carefull driving I can bring that up to 22 mpg.  A short stint in city traffic drops that to under 10 though.

[K5UJ]

i wasn't clear; sorry about that.  when I said I take the car out of gear I wasn't exactly correct--I leave it in gear but push in on the clutch pedal so it isn't engaged.  I don't put it in neutral except when sitting at a red light on level ground.

[Ed/KB1HYS]

I have noticed that simply putting the vehicle in neutral at a light makes a difference.  The RPM drops about 400 or so.  I don't know what damage if any that coasting along will do, but the On Board compuker says that the "instant fuel economy" runs > 99mpg when I'm doing anything over 35 in 'coast' mode.   Seems one should be able to build a engine/tranny combination that would allow it to disengage when the vehicle wasn't using the engine to maintain speed or accelerate.  It could re-engage upon brake pedal actuation to help with engine braking etc.   Makes sense since the average engine uses 30% or more of it's possible HP to overcome internal friction.