Five X August

aint no rock and roll

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A tri-fecta of recent common sense from three energy experts... and a humorous bonus video.

Take a good look at the mineral requirements needed to meet the green being legislated... money does not equal success.  Quiz question 1: How many tons of ore need to be processed per 1000lb battery pack?  Quiz question 2: If we never put a battery in a car, but rather put an appropriate sized battery in a house, how many tons of carbon could be saved?  (Trick question: 4 tons per house, 4 houses per EV car.  If you left the battery in the car, about 1 ton/yr/car.  ) Cars after all are responsible for 8% of the worlds carbon emissions.  That's right EIGHT percent.  If you really care about the theory of climate change (sketchy as to if humans could ever control it) you should be putting your efforts into off-gridding as many households as possible.  OOPS, what about all those meters on the side of all those houses?  Hmmmm, stupid is as stupid does - I'm afraid.  8X the reduction in carbon emissions if you off grid homes and NEVER build EV's. So why aren't we doing that?  Where's the energy policy that truly looks out for this reality?  

More common sense, important to grasp that green = profits for your solution which may not be anywhere near correct.  Monetized, tidy spreadsheets that make you feel good.  But don't work and will leave billions in search of a real solution in just one generation.

So in my little corner of the net,  here are some (in my opinion) clear doses of reality that hopefully will help all understand what changes are coming.  Why they are impacting us, and what reality is which is VERY different than the mass media narrative.  

Humor, with facts delivered with some rough language.  

Physics will win regardless of what the politicians and bankers decide to legislate and the talking heads blather on about.  Physics, much like a honey badger, doesn't care about profits.  

A footnote to consider...

None of this technology seems to pass an elementary feasibility test (if you are honest about it) however, as a scheme to shuffle investments about it has merit.  If you do manage to see that big battery factory on the hill, the dangerous nature of the run away thermal characteristics don't just make spectacular fires. Indeed, the off gasses contain enough poison to wipe out a major city.  That with declining ore quality makes energy in / energy out approach infinity - lol.  If you are here to enjoy my pics, maybe read my wandering prose on energy or torsional vibes or whatever... have a look at the footnote too.  

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Saudi Arabian proverb: “My grandfather rode a camel, my father drove a car, I fly a jet plane, my son will ride a camel.”

 A bit dated, but still a wonderful set of writings on THE subject of our times...

Human Future

Mineral Depletion

Roper, and so many others have looked at the obvious and tried to awaken the casual observer and the able influencer.  The problem in my opinion is more political abetted by faulty economic theory.  If you consider the non-linearities of discovery, use and depletion, economic growth is absolutely incompatible with how the world works.  

Zero growth and sustainable processes are the only natural schemas in nature that provide anything that looks like stasis.  Making money out of managing money, underwriting development with the promise to provide interest payments to investors are examples of how economics is incompatible with the world.

I've said "physics always wins" and it will.  If you model the system equations by various modifications used in the "Limits to Growth" you can observe for yourself how non-linear results are achieved by business as usual thinking.  

Roper brings an interesting treatment of re-cycling.  The notion that minerals and metals with poorer and poorer concentrations can be refined and used or can never be exhausted because of recycling is obviously incorrect although one can acquire and extend resources that you don't have by adopting re-cycling.  For example if you import a lot of Lithium Ion batteries ostensibly to use and then capture the materials in your own re-cycling effort you can achieve aggregation of those materials.  But an energy analysis of all of the system inputs is not very encouraging.  That is if you also contain pollution.  If you don't consider that in your calculation things look more profitable. But that's based on our flawed economic growth based theories.  

A locally produced and consumed hydrogen energy based economy seems much closer to a stasis maintaining approach, but there are few opportunities to monetize this energy strategy.  IE if you want a real re-set, hydrogen is the obvious way to go in my humble opinion.  Economists and bankers wouldn'i warm up to this - at least until it got cold and dark...  LOL, but I digress.  

There are more important things than making money when it comes to heading off a crises.  Perhaps economic evolution in thought can be merged with sustainable regional models to create a better way.  We need thought leaders to show up pretty soon on this matter!

Anyhow, please treat yourself to a perusal through Dr Roper's work.  He has some wisdom to share even if it's a bit dated.  His view on depletion extends to minerals and metals and his recycling models are fascinating learnings.  These problems won't go away.

Don't forget this oldy either...

Rickover (1957)

Nothing new about any of this, except how solutions are currently being described, what top down change is attributed to and how contemporary schemes are put into action without ever mentioning the word - depletion.  

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Late summer visitors

Several times each week we get visited by a doe and a fawn.

Hazel chased this little guy around the yard a few months ago... not so much anymore!

On a nice slow late evening cruise around the lake we came upon a flock of sleeping geese.  It's that time of year when all of the animals get ready for fall and our long winters.

I've a few roadside oddities to post, maybe I'll get to that this weekend.  We have had an amazing summer, I hope all my visitors have too!

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August already!

Another wonderful summer.  I've always thought summer was the best time of the year!

I am determined to finish my pizza oven this summer!

The loons haunting call is a common occurrence on our little lake

On this little cruise I got to experiment with my B-Day gift, a depth / fish finder! I was looking for deep topography on the lake and floated by these two.

Of course Hazel always wants to drive...

That is until a loon starts calling...

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The Beautiful Keweenaw

 What a pleasure it is to wander through the forest and old mining company diggins in the Keewenaw.  I've explored many of these sites over the years and when someone says they go to a place and feel recharged - well this is one of those places for me.  

The huge expanses of forest, the silence and the lack of a cell phone connection all conspire to creating a beautiful escape from today's crazy world.

A map of the Keweenaw.  Surrounded by Lake Superior and further North than where most Canadians live!

View from the Brockway Escarpment on a beautiful summer morning.  In early mornings fog will roll through this valley.  This feature provides an excellent climate for pine trees and all of the fauna that live in such places.

LOL, I enjoyed a few days in this remodeled chicken coop from the 1860's...

What a view.  The plaque tells the visitor of the history of copper mining in this part of the world.  Float copper was extracted here for over 100 years. Very pure and was a key enabling factor in the electrification of the world.  Often ignored as a historical reality, this find allowed electrification to grow at an exponential rate.  Today the copper is gone, the miners have left and nature has reclaimed this land.

The major North - South Highway known as US-41 starts in this remote place and ends in Florida a world away.

Surrounded by the giant Lake Superior, this land sees an incredible amount of snowfall.  Something called "Lake Effect" makes this a winter wonderland or nightmare depending on how you look at it! This is the famous snow thermometer, the seasons total accumulation is marked by the arrow.  The record accumulation of snow occurred in the 1978-79 winter.  I remember that winter very well.  In one storm I experienced 12 foot high snow drifts.  

An example of the size and therefore age of pine trees is shown here.  This example of a cross section is of a rather young tree in this area.  It is surmised that this example was germinated at as a seed in the year 1500 and cut down for a mining company in 1900.  The mines used this timber to support the overhead rock in tunneling.  Today this forest is protected.

Have you ever seen a war memorial of a boat made out of rock and pipe?  This memorial of the USS Kersarge is part of a memorial.

Hope you liked the pics!  It's been a beautiful summer...

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The 2023 Iola Car Show!

 The 2023 show was huge!

It was a beautiful day to take a wander through all of this automotive history.  Thousands of cars, something for every gear head.  

One of my favorites - Pierce Arrow.  What a superb restoration.

I really like the old trucks.  In the day this '29 Chevy truck moved a lot of stuff.

This is a showroom quality 1934 Packard

Count'em... yup that's a V12. These engines make an unmistakeable sound.  Smooth power and elegance in design.  Engineered to last a lifetime.  Planned obsolescence had not yet slinked out of the business schools yet because this was the pre-business school era.

The American car designs from the 1930's were (in my opinion) the most beautiful cars in the world even to this day.  Deco influences, streamlined - they are rolling sculptures.  This is a 1937 Chevrolet Coupe.  Bella.

More Deco, more streamlined, this 1937 Cord Phaeton looks brand new. Imagine hidden headlights and a tuned exhaust gently rumbling as you roll down the highway.  Cord had a short lifespan - only seven or eight years depending on how you count it. Gordon Miller Buehrig was the designer and fellow alumni of where I went to grad school.

This 1954 Packard was HUGE. A lot of sheetmetal and swoopy lines make this iconic.

Can you spot the subtle differences? This is the '55

This 1955 Nash was the high mileage car of its day. The reasoning behind this counter culture design is really an interesting story in itself. 

Lots of chrome on the 1956 Pontiac Chief, this hood always reminds me of a 1950's bowling team jersey...

This is the '57

A little red T-Bird.  This is a '57.

and the little red corvette - a 1960.

I remember walking past a yellow AMX parked in the neighbors driveway as a 9 year old on my way to the bus stop.  I thought it was so cool back in '69.

My favorite year for the Mustang is 1970.  I think the front design is awesome.

There is something to be said for the later year size and fast back design.  This one is a '73 kind of at the end of the muscle car era.  Smog pumps and lower compression engines were part of the evolving landscape.

I forgot that AMC actually offered this back in the day... a camper package for the Hornet.

This show is huge... there's even a control tower to broadcast from and scan the grounds for emergencies.

A working 1967 Amphicar.  This was a car and a motor boat. In the rear are two propellers. 

Check out the doors on this Kaiser Darrin...

A very nice 1930 Ford AA truck. 

A '59 Edsel wagon

The inventor of the "snow machine" is really lost to history as kits like this one on a Model A existed for the Model T as well.  Before that light coal fired steam locomotives were tracked as well.  This is the "Snowbird Kit". 

I remember ogling my brother's friend Victor's maroon GTO back in the 60's. I had similar tail lights on my first car!

Just past the gate... welcome to Iola!

This years theme was cars from the 50's and Leave it to Beaver actor Jerry Mathers was in the house...

Another vehicle I owned along the way.  My truck was black and had an enormous 360 cu in V-8,  I remember watching the gas gauge go down as I drove it around...

A nice '55 Studebaker Champion. Loewy magic.

A B-Body Super Bee from '71.  I remember these cars as fast and fashionable as a kid.  I think it was a lot more car than many could handle. Consequently, a lot of these ended up in accidents.  This motor could wind up faster than most and the big engine varients made 425HP.  Put that in a rear wheel drive 2 door coupe with a young male at the wheel and you get a bump in insurance prices! My high school buddy actually spun the drive shaft off of his.  LOL, those were the days!

Last but not least, a venerable ute from 1957.  A cab-over 4x4 Willys pick up.

Hope you all liked the picks.  I loved the show.

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