About Land Borders & Covid

 Further to my last post: We are an island nation; although you wouldn't think so sometimes when you hear our pompouse politicians sounding off. But believe it, we are.

But we have a land border! With another island nation! The Republic of Ireland, because we pretend to own a northern corner of their island. Enough politics. We'll leave that for another day.

I have lived on & off in Ireland for the last 40 odd years, & I can tell you that the border is an open one: both during the troubles & during the peace.

Open to the passage of goods, people, & Covid!

And so we should ensure that Ireland gets vacccinated alongside ourselves. After all, their total population is smaller than some of our cities!

Just a suggestion for our pompeous politicians to ponder?

And so Brexit rears its ugly Head

 Whiist people over the world are dyingwe argue about whose vaccine is it, and who gets it first!

Who signed first & He said, She said small print contractual niceties. And a hundred or a thousand more die.No matter: the argument is far more important than the dying.

Just an idea, but why not join together for a post-brexit hands across the channel assault on Covid? The real enemy of our time/ Or was the organist right? And were the brexiteers wrong? And is any of that important in the face of this imminent destruction of, if not mankind , then our civilisation as we know it?

So by mid February 15 millions of Brits survive, but not quite so many other europeans?

No! I didn't vote for that! Did you?

Is this the beginning of the end for mankind?

Or is it just a new virus that we have to deal with, like those of the past? 

But can we deal with it? Control it? Tuck it under our belts,so to speak,and carry on with our inexorable rise to the Future! Mankind, the dominant species. Rulers of the Universe?

Or is this the moment when we have to deal with the consequences of our arrogance? That we are just merely a step on the road to the future. 

Maybe rats are the next dominant species?

Q. Are rats susceptible to the virus?

A new beginning?

What's happening? Does anyone know? Is it a new beginning of a war? Or is it just a new virus that an overcrowded world has produced in order to survive? Are we to fight back, meekly succumb to it, or try to understand its import and its meaning in order to weave it into our worldview whilst secretly praying for personal avoidance of any impending doom?
Those are just a few of the questions.And as we explore the answers, more will arise.
What is happening?
This is a new plague? Surely the very word and its meaning is from the past!
This is the 21at century! We live in modern times! This is not history. This is now!
Surely we,us humans,mankind control the world! We are no longer at the mercy of our environment,like some small crawling insect? We are mankind! Masters our destiny!

A Viking Camp

How about building one of these this summer?
I've got the land and the timber
You bring the tarps and the muscle, OK?
Email me to arrange if you're into doing it

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An inconvenient truth

https://stopthesethings.com/2017/03/07/inconvenient-truth-wind-turbines-are-the-largest-cause-of-bat-mortality/comment-page-1/

Not all is sweetness and light in the world of renewable energy
Especially in regard to onshore wind turbines
Please let's have your comments on this serious matter
After all, we have killed enough in our mastery of the planet

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Windy old Scotland has some benefits

https://cleantechnica.com/2017/03/06/scotlands-wind-power-output-takes-massive-jump/
Interesting read for all of us renewable energy guys

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A pic of interest to Wild Campers

I can supply the timbers if you bring the cover!

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The famous Foers Nomad and the boat

More on Wild Camping

So you've cleared your campsite & found the toilet & shower. What to do next?
Well there's a fire dish in the yard to cook a meal on; and this year I'm building a pizza oven!
Also, I have a 12ft dinghy with a small outboard and towing/launching trailer if you fancy a run around one of the many nearby lakes. Or buy a licence and do a spot of fishing. I can tow it there and back for you.
Also, if your vehicle insurance covers you, I have an interesting old pickup, a Foers Nomad (google it, you'll see a pic of mine there). You can do your shopping in it or drive to a walk. It's your choice.
So, it may be a wild camp, but it ain't that wild! Just diff'rent!
Pics of the boat and the Nomad to be put on YouTube

In answer to the govt. of the day!

Investment in either of the 2 main sources of “renewables”‘ wind or solar, whilst definitely the future in electricity production in the long term, is only half of the equation. The other half, the storage of the eletricity produced, is still in the research stage.
Panic not, chaps! All will be revealed in the fulness of time! But please keep away from the naughty nuclear! Mummy & daddy know best!

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A guy named trump for president? You're 'avin' a larf!

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/08/07/us/politics/rivals-jab-at-donald-trump-as-gop-debate-becomes-testy.html?referrer=

Any english speaking country which is prepared to elect as it's leader someone who has a name usually associated with a colloquialism for "fart" must be entirely unmindful of it's standing in the world, cocooned in it's own arrogance. Surely? & this, aside from the man's congenital idiocy & ignorance in the world's affairs.
Imagine the scenario of him negotiating with Putin! Two arrogant fools in charge of Armageddon!

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Remember! There's nowhere to run!

http://m.dailykos.com/story/2014/07/28/1317252/--Vast-methane-plumes-escaping-from-the-seafloor-discovered-in-Siberian-Arctic-Sea#

READ THIS PLEASE THIS WEEKEND!
We can no longer pretend that"things" aren't as bad as the climate scientists are making them out to be! If we don't do something serious to STOP! global warming, it will STOP! us!
Two things to start now: 1) reduce fossil fuel dependency drastically: ie. down to 0% within the next 10 years. & 2) reduce the world population by 50% within the next generation. Although by not doing the first, the second will be done for us without any effort whatsoever upon our part!

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Some more to the wind power argument

http://stopthesethings.com/2015/04/18/uk-election-brits-insane-wind-power-policy-the-elephant-in-the-room/
Electricity generation is probably the most important part of modern life. And much nonsense is talked about it, mainly by people who have not generated 1 watt themselves.
Well I have, & so I'd like to add my half pennoth of electricity generation knowledge to the argument.
I've been experimenting with producing my own electricity off-grid for the last 10 years, & I do so quite successfully; & I can tell you that it can't be done on a regular, everyday basis from wind power. I learnt that about 6 months into my project! Secondly, the pre-requisite to any off-grid project is to reduce your need for electricity. Then you're in with a chance of success.
I generate my power from solar panels, 6 one hundred watt panels, 4 heavy duty lead-acid storage batteries, a 75amp wind generator, feeding through a 1400watt converter system to produce my 240 volt supply, & direct 12 volt DC for lighting & some electronic equipment charging; & all backed up by a 4.5 kilowatt LPG fired generator. This latter comes on at either low battery voltage or high 240v circuit demand.
As for percentage of power from each source: it depends on the weather & the time of year, but a good majority comes from the solar panels. As for wind, anything from nil to 50% I would guess. And the genny comes online for the washing machine.
But remember the prerequisite! Cut your usage down before ever you start to go down the off-grid road! Otherwise you'll be pissing in the wind---when it blows, that is!

Energy storage

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/04/150402101417.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily%2Fmatter_energy%2Fsolar_energy+%28Solar+Energy+News+--+ScienceDaily%29

An interesting article, well worth a read if you found my last blog re UK energy policy useful.

A problem with the UK energy policy

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/11501235/No-one-is-talking-about-our-utterly-mad-energy-policy.html
I am in some agreement with the conclusions  arrived at in this article. My understanding of electricity production is such that wind generation is totally unreliable, but can be useful if it can be stored; which it can't be in any sort of meaningful quantity at present. Although one of the easiest & low tech ways to store energy is by way of water. Pump it uphill to absorb any surplus, & let it flow back downhill to drive hydro generators when needed.
However, solar power, which hardly gets a mention in most of the blurb on this subject, & none at all in this article is more reliable insofar as the sun shines every day, & solar panels produce some power in all light conditions, but they don't at night! So once more a storage method is needed.
The third, & most important thing , that is almost never mentioned is this: individual electricity production rather than relying on large, centralised, & horrendously expensive power plants. I'm not suggesting that a modern economy could be powered entirely by a few solar panels on your roof & a wind generator at the bottom of your garden. But certainly if every house & small business premises produced some proportion of their electricity needs on a regular, daily basis, & stored some of it via a simple battery system this would help to solve the coming electricity generation crisis; & maybe without the need for too many inherently dangerous nuclear plants.
Rather than the latter, maybe wait for technological advances in wind, wave, & solar methods, plus more efficient storage methods? And don't let's forget hydrogen as a clean fuel!

About blogging & twittering

Check out this blog "The constant search for blogging & twitter apps" http://dougdevos.blogspot.com/2015/03/the-constant-search-for-blogging.html

Another Mexican Standoff at the EU Corral!

http://uk.mobile.reuters.com/article/idUKKBN0MC0N220150317?irpc=932
Once more, the Greeks are taking the Germans to the wire.
Wait til the elections are over in the UK though!
The wrong party gets in & its up your UKIP!

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New blogging app

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A big ! wind power project!

Check out @DougGreenertech's Tweet: https://twitter.com/DougGreenertech/status/571731865654202368?s=09