Oh geez that one, yeah I remember that, lol. Yeah that was a long one. Mythbusters got a hold of that one didn't they? Not sure I saw the result of it.
Yeah Don really got on my nerves but he actually got me to thinking sometimes, and thinking is good. He was just too much ego for me most times though.
I would actually believe this haha :-)
I think Ron Paul's *ideal* is mostly correct but I don't believe he is the person to carry it through. (it has nothing to do with him being crazy or an isolationist silliness) But then, none of the contenders are capable either. So we will just chug along figuring it out as we go, I guess, until it all falls down.
BTW: The new word that is looming on the horizon and will soon be common knowledge is the word *quadrillion*. It's been whispered a few times recently but before too long it will be shouted everywhere.
My personal take? They will kick the can down the road as far as they can, then repudiate all of it. That's sort of like bankruptcy but with a bigger hammer. Regardless, tough times are ahead and the smart people better provide for themselves for the future while they can.
Now, what about that round roofed house in the upstate woods? Do you need me to come up there and curve that plywood for you or what? LOL
Warm Worm wrote in news:9460b8b1-050b-4993-9a6e- snipped-for-privacy@gi10g2000vbb.googlegroups.com:
Thanks for the link! Interesting!
Well, there again, we've been brainwashed into the culture of waste. But at least *some* people are wising up, thank goodness, as is evidenced by some of the smaller cars I'm seeing around, even in the Houston area. Sometimes less really is more, which is the thought I have as I see so many poeple overextended on houses, with yards devoid of even one tree or shrub...
Warm Worm wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@k6g2000vbz.googlegroups.com:
I know, I totally suck, LOL!!! ((I also forget birthdays...)))
Seriously, though, it was more of a slow process than a break. OTOH, like a bad penny, I do tend to turn up again, Heh! =;-)
Thanks for asking - it's one of my favorite topics! ;)
It's been going slowly. THe largest reason is physical - arthritis, which makes standing (ergo, also cutting and grinding) difficult; and a slight tremor I get (due to meds :p) when trying to do things involving fine motor control, which screws up my soldering.
Re: the former, I'll take care of that by eventually buying a glass saw (not yet decided on ring-saw versus band-saw), especially once my parents' house sells (they died late last year, and my sister and I get what's left, which basically is the house). I'm also looking into a couple of other tools that will be useful, such as something called a "bench foiler", which basically is just a jig that centers the copper-foil tape on the edges of your glass shapes.
On the days when I'll be soldering, I take a muscle relaxant, which helps, but no driving or using machinery when I take that, Heh! =;-)
So, there will be a way around the main obstacle, because I'd be able to sit while using th eglass saw, plus, the blades are essentially diamond grit, so no grinding is required on a sawed piece, which is good :)
Re: designing, that's always my favorite part, but one more thing I'm going to get is a software program called "Glass Eye", which also calculates the area and cost of each piece of glass, and the other materials such as the came, in an overall work, and then adds it all up. The purpose is to allow one to calculate exactly what one's material costs are, so as to be better- able to calculate a fair sale-price for the completed piece. THat will be great, because right now, it's hard for me to figure out how I'd even price things.
So overall, I'm aiming to be actually selling things by Autumn 2012. ((And nope, I don't believe that catastrophe will occur on 12-21-12; I prefer to be totally contrarian ;) and look at it this way: the cycle repeats every
26,000 years, and as I see it, about 26,000 years ago is the high-point of cave art, meaning, a step up in overall Human Consciousness, ergo, although change is always unsettling, I prefer to be optimistic about the next step, Heh! =;-) ))ANYHOO!, talking about architecture, one of the things I've been looking into are the hand-made structures that use things like bottle-walls to bring in both light and color. If the bottles are sealed, I'd think they'd also be decent insulators, but I don't know how that'd work if part of the bottle is sticking out of the wall. I'm not sure whetehr they saw-off the neck and then seal the open end with another botton, or how it's done, but it'd have to be something that fit inside the open end (I would think...) so as to reinforce the structure... I've not seen any that use 2L or
4L/gallon bottles, though, so maybe thre is a law of diminishing structural returns there...?But what I think could be interesting would be if a larger bottle was set up so that the insert would be on the inside wall, and could be opened up to put things inside as displays or something visually interesting. At the very least, it'd be interesting to see the different sizes used, and maybe someone has done so, but I've not yet found a photo of it...
Meanwhile, one thing I'm going to try out is cutting into some 2L glass bottles (ah, the joys of cheap wine! LOL!!) so as to make a sort of "tongue drum". I have no clue whether it'll work, but I've got bottles, and I've got a Dremel tool and glass-cutting wheels, so what the heck! If it works, I might have to try some wine in a gallon jug... =:-o
I'm also thinking of trying to turn them into lamps (since they have that sort of a shape) by upening them up, sticking a modified (cut, and hit with either glass-paint, and/or glass-mosaic) 1L glass bottle inside - the mosaic/paint would hide the cord - then do up the bottom. There are brass rosette-type things that are made to be used in the tops of tiffany-style stained-glass lamps ((examples here:
Last idea is making hanging mini-terrariums. And/or some other sort of garden thing.
I still have not yet figured out how to make my dang solar light, though. I was able to pick up just enough understanding of electronics to get sort- of-close, tantalizingly so!, and to *know* ((despite the naysayers)) that I can indeed use a supercapacitor instead of batteries - but I don't have enough of an ability for it to actually figure out exactly *how* to do it. I did learn that I need a module/integrated circuit to control the charging of the capacitor, and I know the solar panels can be made to plug in or be unplugged (so the lamp/thingy could be set upon a table to use as lighting), but I've looked at app notes and circuit diagrams until my brain melts into a glob of green gel, and have not been able to put any of it together. At least not yet. And even if I do, then there is the problem of making the thing - and I need to find out what my liability would be if I actually wanted to make *and sell* the thing... So that's a whole different ball of wax. Or waxy can of worms. Or something like that.
Well, now that I've blithered on and on - what've you been up to?
- Kris K.
" snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@s7g2000vby.googlegroups.com:
Yup. I should set up a sig file - mainly, I've become increasingly spam- adverse re: header info...
Just to word "renovation" makes me shudder - you're more brave than I am!
At least you can learn - what's bad is that so many people don't, won't, or can't learn to re-evaluate...
Exactly. Even on the simplistic home remodel/repair TV shows, it happens time and time again where something that should have been relatively simple turns into a total nightmare because something was done wrong during the original process. It's made me completely suspicious of ever buying a "used" house - the first one we'd bought was "used", and that was quite enough of a bad experience because of all the shoddy and completely-half- assed things that had been done from the get-go.
That would make a huge amount of sense. It's one reason why military hardware is (or at least, sued to be...) modular: it's faster, and cheaper, to repair or reporpose something that's modular.
Cool! Not being an architect or architectural designer, I can't really picture it, other than the idea of mudularity. In part, that's one of the interesting things about the potential of "shipping-container architecture". Aside from recycling, and being sturdy as heck, they're already modular. The tricky part - or at least, the part I don't know how it's done - is adequately sealing attached units so that they're weatherproof. But I've seen some examples that I think look eminently livable.
Oh, to be sure! That's one of my big frustration with things in general: poorly-designed items that have to be replaces because they eitehr break, or can't do the job they're supposed to be able to do. ((Going through that now with my weed-whacker - I spend more time taking it apart and fixing it, than I spend using it...))
A building is no different - in a way, it is like a machine: parts have to perform certain functions, and they do wear out over time.
Exactly. The whole ethic of "quality products at a reasonable price, for a modest profit" fell by the wayside a loooooong time ago. It's a rip-off, essentially. And yes, the rest of the people in the society/nation do indeed end up bearing the costs, just as we bear th ecosts of *any* form of rip-off/theft. And in a way, it is a form of theft, because people are sold things (including homes) that they're told will perform in such-and-such a way - and by the time the purchaser realizes that it does NOT perform as described, the seller is long gone.
The disturbing part is thinking about what they've moved on *into*... But yes, it'd be nice if this was taken as an opportunity to change for the better. But that's an astronomically-large "if" nowadays...
I know what you mean. On a smaller scale, I'm trying to think of things similarly - as in, how can I change various aspects of my life, how can I root-out old ways/habits that are wasteful, and come up with something better, and be an example to others. I mean that in both the internal/mental sense, but more especially in the material/practical sense. There is too much waste in my life, and it really hit home so to speak during January and Feb., when my sister and I were going through my parents' house after they died. So much dang *waste*.
I don't have any sweeping ideas - but in general, I'm looking at pretty much everything now with that kernel of an idea, with a consideration as to efficiency versus waste.
It's tricky, because I also strongly believe that people need to live as
*both* members of a society *and* as individuals. But the wasteful system has led to just as much (or maybe even more!) conformity than would a philosophy of efficiency.I know I'm not expressing that well, but all of this is still "percolating". Part of it all isthe thought that, if the necessary things were more efficient, there would be more time, energy, materiel, and money left over for increased *creativity* - if that makes sense. I dunno, it's all still percolating...
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