Recent content by Ken Fabian

I'd be interested to learn how productive the sheep grazing is under that Minnesota solar far compared to without the solar. One of the common complaints about solar and wind is land use and claims of agricultural land being under threat of being overwhelmed. That seemed unlikely to me so I...

I think Cox does okay, but what he does isn't for me. These kinds of presenters are primarily entertainers and I expect production costs and deadlines - and the final say being producer-not-scientist - makes compromises that mean they aren't as accurate or as well crafted as they could be or...

Warfare itself put emissions near the bottom of priorities. Prior war driven energy crises have tended to reinforce the extent of dependence - the primary response was bigger reserves, other supply and more exploration and opening of other fields to exploit. Certainly seeing calls like that - no...

Actually, meant to write 'even by the end of the 1800's'. (Foreseeable that the world would warm from adding CO2.)

@BillTre I intended the modern version - and the (playful) verb form is probably improper usage too. The original version and Cnut's intent may not be so appropriate; we are demonstrating quite convincingly that human actions can and DO have power over nature. Unintended consequences, yes, but...

Tipping points on costs have been crossed and nothing will be the same. No Canuting this tide, which at this point is largely driven by 'free' market choices, ie cost. With, I suspect, advantage of convenience; whilst waiting on some kind of overarching long range plan from policy makers that...

@Baluncore - pH is 7 - neutral - measured to the limits of pool test strip and garden pH meter, ie not very precise. I expected some acidity. The hot water system does have a sacrificial zinc element in it (which is probably due for checking); given the lack of staining from the hot taps that...

Thanks. Not used as an electrical Earth - there is a copper stake for that. Using both a garden pH tester and a pool test strip it looks very close to neutral but it hasn't rained lately and I suspect pH varies following rain; dissolved CO2 in rainfall? Nitrates after thunderstorms? Something...

I am a big fan of avoiding unnecessary expenses and extending the working life of the existing infrastructure, which still works fine, seems like a very reasonable approach. It seems likely to be a lot easier and cheaper. I think my question is whether the sacrificial cathode needs to be in...

We rely on collected rainwater for household water. We get some copper staining via the cold water taps but not the hot water. The hot water system has a sacrificial (cathodic?) inclusion - I think it is zinc. I was thinking of adding a piece of zinc into the rainwater tank to stop what is...

The good bits I come up with - I make stuff up... out of borrowed bits - are usually gone again without sticking. And when I do think it is kinda good I can't help but wonder if the reason is it sounds like something good I've heard before. Wasn't it a rule Lennon and McCartney used that if...

My earliest music was playing a soprano cornet in a brass band (until I reached an age when that was not groovy) - understanding music was not a big part of what I got taught and even the transposing of how it was written for brass bands - what was C on the clef was actually E flat for the part...

I always thought that was because C is in the middle. Which most voices could manage? In my inexpert, mostly self taught way, I tend to lump C major scale together with the (relative) A minor; even if not the same they seem to overlap, at least for chord and note options.

Is this scalable? Suitable for a moon base power supply? Enough of them with enough batteries seems possible but other options are possible. RTG - well, the radioactive decay part - seems best for simple heating uses and the thermoelectric for continuous power supply for low demand...

I'll give it a read. Not a good start with Kobo, created account, six attempts to sign in and a password reset finally got me that far. Entered my payment method, downloaded Kobo reader to phone, but tried to buy the book from the laptop where I started - got oops, try later over and over...