[THoog]

After Hurricane Fran, my power was out for three days (although the other end of the street was out for a week). The stove and water heater are gas, so I thought life was pretty sweet - then I turned on the radio and heard all the people calling in, desperate to know where they could get ice, because they couldn't stand drinking room temperature beverages. (Now, some people really did need ice to keep their medications cold, but that wasn't most of the ones calling in.)

[Rupert]

Now, some people really did need ice to keep their medications cold, but that wasn't most of the ones calling in.)

Velveeta doesn't need cold storage.....and I'm pretty sure it has a shelf life of around 20 years?

[mee]

After Hurricane Fran, my power was out for three days (although the other end of the street was out for a week). The stove and water heater are gas, so I thought life was pretty sweet - then I turned on the radio and heard all the people calling in, desperate to know where they could get ice, because they couldn't stand drinking room temperature beverages. (Now, some people really did need ice to keep their medications cold, but that wasn't most of the ones calling in.)

Those will be the second wave to go during WWIII. First of course being those at ground zero(s).

Discovery Channel had a show on where they talked about survival.. some psychologist they interviewed said there is X percentage of the population that simply would refuse to eat things they consider out of the norm (such as cooked snake). And they would literally starve before eating them. This is the second wave.

About 20 years ago I was party to an Ice Storm that took out all power lines for weeks and left enough ice on the ground to make travel nearly impossible for around a week solid. Gas BBQ grill and some candles.. left the food outside in a cooler. Missed hot showers and heating but otherwise survived just well. But I would NOT want to go through that again. That said, it wisened the Power and Telephone companies to not having trees over and around their lines. Now they periodically inspect and cut any rogue branches.. or whole trees.. if they jeopardize the lines.

We haven't had a widespread issue like that since. It seems we are more reactive than proactive as a species.. usually takes a swift kick in the pants before we turn around and confront the threat.

[WPRESTO]

Truth is that preparations, like government regulations, are primarily reactive: something goes wrong, and after the horse is gone you bolt the barn door, or make a law that it must be done.

[Rupert]

Discovery Channel had a show on where they talked about survival.. some psychologist they interviewed said there is X percentage of the population that simply would refuse to eat things they consider out of the norm (such as cooked snake). And they would literally starve before eating them.

Those damn squirrels better not count on me to be one of the above!

[Racer X 69]

One of Racer's planes perhaps?

Airbus.

[Racer X 69]

That said, it wisened the Power and Telephone companies to not having trees over and around their lines. Now they periodically inspect and cut any rogue branches.. or whole trees.. if they jeopardize the lines.

The electric utility here has a line clearance program in place. They even have crews and trucks dedicated to the constant task of keeping the right of way clear.


But the right of way is only about 10 feet wide.


Some trees here reach 150 feet or more in height.


Aside from requesting the property owners keep the trees that pose a threat cut down there isn't anything else they can do. The trees that knock out power usually are the ones outside that right of way.


So it then becomes a game of reacting when the wind blows them across the utilities.


Like last year.


And the year before that.


And the year before that.


And the year before that.


And the year before that.


And the year before that.


And the year before that.


...........................................

[Parallax]

Airbus.

I don't think it's Airbus. There appears to be some space between the front of the seat cushions and the back of the seats ahead.

[Racer X 69]

But I never understood competition in the electricity retailing. The companies, about six of them, sell power delivered on exactly the same power lines, no quality of services issue with who I choose, and they were not proud enough of their prices to display the prices on their web page - you had to ring them up. And they only seemed to get a better deal when you were calling them to say you were changing to someone else because they had a better deal.

The electric utilities have been doing that here for some time now too. It escapes me how they can say that the electrons delivered to my home are the ones that I bought from "X" utility in some other part of the world.


The program hasn't really caught on though.


People don't care where it comes from, they just want the light to come on when they flip the switch.

At least all the (specialised) buyers of the stuff you make in that big shed know that no-one ever pays list price for a product from the big shed and that the whole process is a sport of wheeling and dealing.

With a $300,000,000 price tag one would think that small savings here or there wouldn't make much difference.


But.


Where I work there has been concern about the added cost of defects caused to the inside of the wing during the build process. The mechanics who work inside the wing were causing scratches and such while crawling around inside the tanks doing their jobs. Each defect was costing about $4,000 to repair (documentation is a large part of the cost to repair defects, no matter how small).


Much energy has been devoted to reducing these defects of late. At a meeting last week numbers (everything is quantified numerically there) were announced. Over a period where 20 wings were observed, 10 before and 10 after measures were implemented to reduce defects, a cost savings was realized at nearly $500,000.


A half million dollars in build cost may be small considering the cost of 10 finished and delivered planes, but that still is a chunk of change.


And I bet that the competition faces similar challenges at reducing build costs in an effort to maximize profits.

[Racer X 69]

I don't think it's Airbus. There appears to be some space between the front of the seat cushions and the back of the seats ahead.

Must be first class.

[Racer X 69]

I have my Biolite stove for backup cooking and cell phone recharging.

You sure know how to "rough it".


And the culinary treats you post here always leave me salivating.

[tim60]

My cable service is also superb......owing mostly to the local branch mgr being one of my Chocolate Girlfriends. I dumped AT&T a couple of years ago...poor service and ridiculous prices. My old phone bill averaged $60 a month...with cable it is $20 and there are no taxes or fees that take pages to list on your bill.

I don't know why US suppliers have this passion for displaying prices without tax and then adding tax later, since they never offer me the choice of buying the no tax version. They may as well display the price including tax and then the 16 year old check out kid does not need to do the addition. What matters to me as a customer is how much I need to pay to get the good or services, and if the supplier wants to make a point about how much the tax is they can give me a receipt with the tax amount printed sideways on the receipt in really big print.

Kind of reminds me of a university maths assignment where some of the students wrote it on that old computer print out paper with tractor feed holes on the side, only those with faded hair will remember that stuff, where they wrote their answers using crayon held in the fist like 3 year olds hold the crayons. Not what you expect for a proof of Green's or is that Ostrogradsky's Theorem.

[Racer X 69]

I have two back up generators. One big one, one small one. For fridges and freezers, you only need to run the big one a couple of hours a day. That does everything but hot water including cooking. The small one is just for a few lights, and the computers, and recharging the batteries we use for those things, when we aren't running any generators. It would cost me about 100 a month in fuel to live like that.A tank of gas costs 20 dollars, lasts 10 hours, and needs to be on at max. 3 hours a day. If it's winter and we can just put the frozen food out on the back deck, even less.

We have looked at stand by generation before, and now have committed to installing it. Generac has a 17kw propane powered genset with a transfer switch for about $3,300. Since we have a private 500 gallon propane tank the setup will be perfect.


I'm going to install one soon, so hopefully this won't be a problem anymore.

[Joel B]

Those damn squirrels better not count on me to be one of the above!

Squirrel is out of the norm for food?!? Nobody told me!

In a land where nature periodically tries to kill us with snow, ice, floods and tornadoes, we tend to take it all in stride. Yes I'm prepared for a doo doo against the fan scenario!

[tim60]

My generators run the pump on my well....and the river is a half Km from here. Water outages don't happen in my part of the world.

On Ash Wednesday (the liturgical date as well as the event name) 1983 there were big bushfires in the Adelaide hills. There were many people who had sprinkler systems for firefighting which would pump water from their own dams, and were rigged to come on easily when events required. BUT they were supplied by mains electricity, and those fires were so big the transmission lines were turned off. Houses burned down as a result.

---------- Post added 11-29-15 at 06:33 AM ----------

It is extremely rare to lose power in this area for more than 10~24 hours, but there are always exceptions. Following the great Halloween ice storm a few years back we were without electricity for a full seven days. Lost a recently filled freezer worth of food, but we have a wood-burner so we were reasonably comfortable. There was a lot of legislative "why weren't you prepared" nonsense. Along one stretch of road, not more than four miles, I counted more than 30 places where electrical wires were some how damaged - heavy branches dangling, wires snapped, at least three telephone poles snapped. What was it like in all the rest of my town, much less surrounding towns that have many more miles of roads? There is no way an electric company can keep on hand sufficient equipment and crew to deal such a very rare event, nor any way even with massive numbers of personnel that they could make all the repairs in 24 hours.

But they can install underground cables, which relieves problems with the environmentalists and also prevents trouble with powerlines causing fires and also makes power supply independent of people driving illegally on the footpath.

---------- Post added 11-29-15 at 06:36 AM ----------

After Hurricane Fran, my power was out for three days (although the other end of the street was out for a week). The stove and water heater are gas, so I thought life was pretty sweet - then I turned on the radio and heard all the people calling in, desperate to know where they could get ice, because they couldn't stand drinking room temperature beverages. (Now, some people really did need ice to keep their medications cold, but that wasn't most of the ones calling in.)

Many years ago a friend visited and I offered him English beer. He asked how I got it, I was not in England at the time. I said it was Coopers, but only kept in the cellar, not the fridge. Those people should just rename their beverage English beer and all will be well.

---------- Post added 11-29-15 at 06:40 AM ----------

Truth is that preparations, like government regulations, are primarily reactive: something goes wrong, and after the horse is gone you bolt the barn door, or make a law that it must be done.

Of cojrse. When it breaks we understand the need to pay to fix it. But paying to prevent a loss which has not happened. Weird!

---------- Post added 11-29-15 at 06:46 AM ----------

The

Much energy has been devoted to reducing these defects of late. At a meeting last week numbers (everything is quantified numerically there) were announced. Over a period where 20 wings were observed, 10 before and 10 after measures were implemented to reduce defects, a cost savings was realized at nearly $500,000.


A half million dollars in build cost may be small considering the cost of 10 finished and delivered planes, but that still is a chunk of change.


And I bet that the competition faces similar challenges at reducing build costs in an effort to maximize profits.

But look at it this way. What was the profit of the WHOLE B company? Saving the $500,000 is a significant proportion of that profit. And to the guys in Wall St they do not even need to make anything, they just need to deliver profits.

---------- Post added 11-29-15 at 06:49 AM ----------

Squirrel is out of the norm for food?!? Nobody told me!

In a land where nature periodically tries to kill us with snow, ice, floods and tornadoes, we tend to take it all in stride. Yes I'm prepared for a doo doo against the fan scenario!

Joel, you're back. Good to see you contribute again.