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troph

Certifiably Surly
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Everything posted by troph

  1. I posted this in the other saban thread now locked … kinda crazy (1 day ago)… I had a dream I was part of the negotiation team for conference expansion and while I don’t know who was at the table there were about 12-16 or so and I was one off the head of the table next to Nick saban who was at the head. He didn’t say much, neither did I. Not sure if I was Texas’ lawyer or what, but there was this rock music playing and it was clearly annoying both of us. It was bad enough that both of us became completely disinterested in further expansion with whomever the knuckle heads were that were hosting the meeting. I turned to Nick and said something about it and he nodded his head. Then I leaned over and said look, with the amount of eyeballs we command together, we don’t need this nonsense, he agreed. I said then let’s stop it, he nodded yes and I woke up.
  2. I’m a lawyer there is odd math in electricity discussions so fuck me running don’t look to me to evaluate specific products. In this case I could not decipher the specs. The concerns to consider always matter - it’s possible the solutions presented solve for those concerns. In this case amps. But every battery system will have capacity and load concerns you have to address. And that’s nothing to say about the panels and their ability to harness an inconsistent sun.
  3. general rule yes you don't go below 20% for reserves also general longevity I was told. As I mentioned four factors - (1) sunlight (it's own reliability concerns), (2) capacity to collect from the solar panels, (3) capacity to store with the batteries, and (4) the load the batteries can handle. we are not living in a ranch casita or rustic ranch house lacking electrical amenities, but my limited experience is without grid power, solar is too expensive and unreliable to obtain reliable power, mostly due to the sun's reliability but also significantly limited by battery limitations - capacity and load. I mentioned our batteries are 30amps each, for 60 total. RVs are often 50amps, and most homes are 200amps. add a pool you often go to 300amps. add car chargers like ours (we have 3 set up and only use 1) and we are at 400amps per PEC. that's all silly, it's rare to draw on that at any level, but it gives you a comparison regarding how electric companies design power capacity for homes. you are talking low amperage with batteries compared to what the reliable electric grid would provide to your home. it can cause issues. as for the cool, stable temps in your hole - I can tell you this - our basement is insulated concrete on all sides, some but limited windows, and half of it backs into the earth 12+ feet below grade or backs up to the cistern (water is a cool 65 degrees nearly year round because the cistern is concrete and backs up to the earth 12+ feet below grade). We have mini-splits for HVAC and with no adjustments, in the summer it remains 72-75 and in the coldest winter snaps at 10-15 degrees with no heater running we maintain 55 or so. So yes, below grade is a major, major insulator against cold and heat. if you want to be off grid for real, building into a substantial hill is incredibly useful. highly recommend.
  4. my wife is a home builder - pretty high end one - and she bulit our house. that said it was her first time at trying "green luxury" so we did learn a lot. the goal was to make the home as self reliant as possible but with it all "hidden" and seamless to the user. We have a two floor home, upside down built into a hill. so street level (well 8 feet below street level) is the top and first floor. There is a dug out "basement" second floor with a den and kids rooms and another office but half of that floor has a two foot thick rebar enforced wall to create a cistern for rain water. consider it like its own rooms on that floor but without access from that floor. It functions as a huge tank. it's under the garage, kitchen, and a part of our dining room which are all top floor along with my office, living and our master bedroom and bath. Access is a hatch in the garage. Our roof line is a butterfly roof then a shed roof, so like this --> \/ \ Note \ / = butterfly and \ = shed. each of those roof lines forces water to the "V" of the butterfly roof and the outer side of the shed roof. There is a traditional gutter on the shed roof and 3 drains in the trough of the butterfly roof. The drains are 3-4 inch PVC pipe that run through the walls and carry the rain water to the garage cistern where the water flows in. The gutter on the shed drains water to the part of the home that is the subfloor between first and second floor and then runs the same 3-4 inch PVC pipe to the garage through the subfloor across the house. That shed roof gutter does not go all the way down to the ground to release water. Now all water is in the cistern which is coated with a potable water grade coating that is water proof. The gutter and drain system has a filter to collect large debris and dirt before dumping into the cistern. From there we have an aerator to keep the water fresh, no light so no algae, etc. the cistern is sealed so no critters, and we have a sensor for our home assistant smart home stuff to show amount of gallons remaining. When we use it, the pump pushes water to the pressurized tank, then pushes the pressurized water through two filters for particulates and then a UV light filter and out to the home. From that point forward it acts no different than "city" water - except - it tastes great, and it does not have any minerals/deposits including additives or calcium, lime, or anything else to cause scale or spotting issues. Our dishes are spotless with regular detergent, our shower glass doesn't spot, just really really happy with rain water. I do want to add RO to the drinking water, given the recent discovery that even rain water has PFAS, so that was a major downer because I thought we were avoiding all the crap in city water. we do avoid a lot, but probably not everything if those studies are accurate (which I assume they are). she did consult with a distributor of products, a one stop shop if I recall. we originally had a thick liner but decided that was a mess, so we painted on the water proof potable water grade coating instead. but special items are the tanks, the coating if you need one, the pump, sensor, the drain filters, the pressure tank and the filtration system. it's super cool.
  5. Depending on size of the house and usage that’s not a lot of battery power storage. Number of solar panels is an issue and then how much you can draw on the batteries. For example we have a 24 kWh system comprised of 2 batteries. In the summer it will be 100% full by 2pm, that's great but we probably don't have enough - both draw and total capacity. In our case each battery can handle 30amps of draw. That’s pretty damn limited for a home. RV set ups are 50 amps usually. We have 2 so 60amps draw is available and there are appliances and features we cannot use and those we can we have to be careful not to overload the system. Then assuming you aren’t overloading the draw at any one time you have total power available for cloudy days and evenings. We usually run dry by midnight in the summer and early morning in fall and spring. in the winter we often don't have enough overnight because of the weather. Solar and battery back up is awesome but it is also severely limited in many ways. You have to be prepared for real outages if you use solar and if you don’t plan correctly you can have routine outages with no back up power. with reliable backup power solar and batteries can be seamless.
  6. As long as you don’t build a concrete basement cistern like a couple of unsuspecting nitwits (looking in the mirror) the rain water system could be far cheaper than a well depending on depth. The filtration system which you would need anyway is only a few thousand bucks. You need a roof no matter what, gutters too, so it’s just the tanks and the pump really (you need the pump too for that matter). Average family is going to come in around 3000 or so gallons per month before any exterior use like irrigation or a pool. You can adjust and extrapolate for part time use. You do the math and figure out how much tank space you need and the roof space you need based on rain totals and expected use and you effectively build to that. For aesthetics I’d recommend a buried tank or one hidden by exterior fencing or walls. In the end rain water is far superior for taste and impact on your home, the issue is feasibility. If it’s feasible do it and don’t look back.
  7. Floor of 2+1. 2 out of UGA, Michigan and OU. This Texas team won’t lose all three. 2 tops thinking worst case. And then add a +1 of arky, A&M and shit the bed Sark silliness. That’s your floor 3 losses. Give me one or two more years of Sark not dropping a should win and I’ll take out the +1 for bed shitting. ceiling could be undefeated but I’ll call it 1 loss and win the whole thing. the floor is probably more likely than the ceiling but I would expect a top 7 finish with 1-2 losses and a decent playoff run and falling a tad short just because of odds.
  8. Given the big 12 and ACC each get a bye I think you want the 5 spot if you aren’t 1 or 2. Of course I’m making the assumption ACC is 3 and Big 12 is 4 so those are essentially locked up. 12 / 4 / 1 / 2 to the title.
  9. Back in the old days I think a sweep of those three rivals usually meant really, really good things and I don’t think that sweep happened that often. The good news is A&M and Arkansas are trash so hopefully this year it’s just the OU game to be concerned about.
  10. Without precip no, schools will not close.
  11. awesome write up @Hornbeliever the less screen time and the COVID shield is amazing. that's why you do it.
  12. I almost started a hemp farm in Coleman. There was at least one group that was trying to make downtown something. that pizza joint was great and that part of Texas is never thought of and oddly beautiful in a way. not Colorado Mountain beautiful or anything but beautiful to a Texan for sure.
  13. I like scipio’s takes, and even with some really astute game planning and risk taking by WA - if Texas players execute we are fine, probably more than fine. That’s youth. This team learned how to win reliably, after squandering leads leading to losses last year. Next year they learn how to be champions and then we keep rolling. Sark and Co could be asked to do more but if the players execute what was asked of them in a tight playoff game they win. I’m good. btw I imagine WA flipped the script second quarter on against Michigan and had players playing the run and ignoring pass. Michigan’s defense was just too stifling.
  14. But it’s flag football? I’d rather mastermind SEC expansion with Nick Saban in the off season if I’m being honest.
  15. in that case, without restating it, we're pretty sure we could make a small fortune, at least get lawyer rates for it.
  16. parenthetical added for clarity. and then the two super conferences were born.
  17. What can I say, I’ve been in some important negotiations and meetings and it is a bit like crack to me. I’ll admit I woke up ready to fuck.
  18. good shit. I think about the animals, they have to cope with all kinds of natural hells. their bodies and systems are often designed to do that. no one thinks they are crazy because they can cope with extreme cold or a lack of food. yet when we cope with extreme feelings or situations (real or imaginary) we get slapped with the label. done with that.
  19. One of my all time favorite plays. Eric metcalf on the sideline and then TJ on the slant. Come to think of it, from about the 10-12 if my memory is correct. Coulda used that play a week ago. I’ll never forget where I was nor that fist pump. Fuck arky.
  20. Much better morning, nothing changed other than it’s Tuesday not Monday, I posted here, and I confided in a colleague friend who said the exact same thing happens to them (same profession). to me there are three takeaways … (1) we are not the only ones with sensitivities and uncomfortable even excruciating moments, (2) it’s almost always transitory, and (3) sharing is beneficial to coping.
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