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Pat

Retro SciFi Film of the Month...

Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe: Doom of the Dictator (1940)

This is the final episode of the film series in which Ming is defeated (no spoiler – it’s in the title!)

"Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe" was produced in the US shortly after the start of World War II, when the issue of whether the United States should enter the war was a hotly debated topic.

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Pat



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Energy saving tip number 13

Eat plants…

Calorie for calorie, a plant-based diet is much more energy efficient than feeding those plants to animals and then eating the animals. Beef requires about 53 times as much food energy than if you just ate those plant calories directly. (Source: ourworldindata.org/grapher/ene)

Eating “lower on the food chain” will also help to alleviate the global food shortages that are expected due to the war in Ukraine.

(Image: commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fil, United Soybean Board, CC-BY-2.0)

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Pat

Retro SciFi Movie of the Week...

I, Robot (2004)

This is the only movie so far in the “Retro SciFi Movie of the Week” series that has a black character in it. I had to come all the way up to the 21st century to find it. So this film is not very “retro”, although the original story is from the mid-20th century.

Black people are even more under-represented in science fiction films than they are generally in Hollywood.

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Energy saving tip number 8

Choose a zero-energy home…

Zero-energy or ultra-low energy buildings are designed so that, on average, they require little or no energy. It is much easier to design a zero-energy home from the beginning than it is to try to upgrade an existing home.

Using techniques such as earth sheltering, super-insulation, high-efficiency windows, seasonal thermal storage, and other techniques, a building can be designed that requires no additional energy for lighting, heating and cooling. Solar panels can provide the energy required to run appliances and other devices.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passive_

(Image: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ear, CC-BY-SA-4.0)

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Pat



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Energy saving tip number 10

Invent the next breakthrough in energy…

Changing our behaviors to conserve energy can help with the immediate needs of this particular energy crisis, but a major breakthrough in energy could end oil wars permanently.

Consider working in STEM fields that work to develop new energy sources. If you work for the petro-fuels industry, consider switching careers to new energy. The industry is dying and you don’t want to get stuck with an obsolete resume.

Be aware that the petro industry aggressively works to sabotage the new energy industry, including infiltration of research projects and setting up trojan companies that work to undermine development of new sources of energy by sucking resources from legitimate R&D. For example, companies that say they are developing hydrogen fuels for transportation are very often working on behalf of the oil industry.

But there are many areas of legimate research. Areas of active research and development include...

- Commercial fusion energy
- Low-temperature superconductors
- Improved solar cell efficiency
- Grid energy storage technologies
- Improved electric batteries
- New generation fission reactors that are safer and more sustainable
- Efficient heat engines, waste heat recovery, and other efficiency improvements
- Electric vehicles

(Image: commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fil, CC-BY-SA-4.0)

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Pat

warning: disturbing comment and picture about Ukraine and Putin 



There’s a new burger made from the bodies of mothers and babies killed in Ukraine.

It’s called the MacBeth burger.

(Image: commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fil, CC-BY-SA-3.0)

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Pat

A sneak peek at an upcoming Retro SciFi Film of the Week…

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Pat

Retro SciFi Movie of the Week...

War of the Satellites (1958)

This film was made to exploit the news frenzy surrounding the launch of Sputnik 1 in October 1957. Filming began while the satellite was still orbiting the Earth.

It was a low budget film, but they used real actors so the film is watchable and even entertaining at points.

It was released as a double feature by Allied Artists, along side “Attack of the 50-foot Woman”.

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Pat



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Energy saving tip number 7
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Install solar panels…

If you live somewhere that isn’t cloudy all the time and you get direct sunlight, it makes sense to install solar panels. The prices have dropped considerably compared to a decade or so ago, so they can pay for themselves quickly.

A grid-tied system hooks up to the utility company’s system through a special inverter and can send excess electricity back to the utility grid when you aren’t using all of the energy that the panels generate. Think of the grid as being a giant battery that can store all of your extra electricity. Some companies will help finance the purchase or installation of a solar system. Others will act as a utility company themselves and charge you a monthly fee. Sometime the utility company will pay you for the extra electricity that your panels generate for the grid.

You could also have an off-grid system that uses batteries to store extra electricity when the sun shines and then provide power when it doesn’t. Or you can have a combination system that is grid-tied with local battery backup. A system with battery backup is nice if your electricity supply is unreliable.

If solar is not practical for your location, consider helping to finance a system for someone else who is in a sunny location.

If you can’t afford a complete system for all of your energy needs, you can install just a few panels to help offset your energy usage. Every little bit helps.

(Image: commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fil, CC-BY-SA-4.0)

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Pat

Largest blue diamond to go under the hammer in Hong Kong...

hurriyetdailynews.com/sothebys

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Pat



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Energy saving tip number 5
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Insulate...

Make sure the exterior walls of your home and business are well insulated. A well-insulated home can stay at a comfortable temperature without using a furnace or heater even when it gets down to 0C-5C or lower outside. Just your body heat and the waste heat from appliances is enough to keep it cozy inside. If your home can’t do this, here’s what to do…

Use a hand-held infrared thermometer to check the temperature of all of areas on the exterior walls of your home, looking for excess heat. (It’s best to do this in the early morning, before the sun heats up the exterior.) Usually, upstairs and the attic/roof are where heat leaks most because those are the warmest parts inside the home. If you use a warm room, that will naturally show more heat, also. Once you find out where the trouble spots are, you can address those by adding insulation to those areas. If all of the walls are even and you still lose too much heat, then your home may not be properly insulated at all and you’ll need to add insulation throughout all of the walls and attic/roof.

Insulation is rated with an R-value, the higher the number the better the insulation is per cm thickness. It’s usually better to use better or more insulation in the attic and roof, because that’s usually where it is warmest.

You can get creative with insulation – it doesn’t have to be regular building material. You can use bails of straw stacked against the outside walls, or you can shovel or gently plow fluffy snow against the exterior in the winter. Here’s link to a list of various insulation material. Remember it’s not just the R-value, it’s the thickness, too. So it may make sense to use a lower R-value material if it is cheaper and you are able to use a lot of it.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R-value_

(Image commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fil, CC-BY-SA-3.0)

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Pat



In a gesture of good faith to facilitate negotiations, the US Congress is poised to begin using the Russian language in place of English on all future federal legislation. The exact vehicle they will use to implement the change has not yet been decided, but they will likely just replace English with Russian in pending bills.

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= A statement that is logically or literally true (or partly true), but seems to imply something that isn’t true or is just plain weird. (for rhetoric, logic or propaganda studies… or just for fun)
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(Video courtesy C-SPAN, fair use, from:
c-span.org/video/?518629-3/was timecode: 2:52)

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Pat



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Energy saving tip number 11
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Save on hot water heating…

- Use cold water for all clothes washing. It works just as well with modern laundry detergent.
- Wash your hands using cold water and soap instead of hot water.
- Use an electric shower head. It’s much more efficient than using a central water heating system that loses heat in the pipes.
- Replace a storage tank system with an instantaneous (on-demand) water heater.
- Set the water heater to the lowest temperature that you can tolerate for your applications. If you find yourself adding cold water at the tap to get the right temperature, then it’s set too high. You can usually set the temperature lower in the warmer months.
- Insulate the hot water pipes that run from the water heater. (This is often very inexpensive and easy to do.)

If you must use a storage tank water heater:
- Cover your hot water tank with an insulating blanket and mylar over the blanket to prevent heat loss. Make sure the blankets don’t get near any heat source, though, like the burners or the exhaust flue.
- Shut off the water heater when you are not going to use hot water for more than a day. This prevents it from wasting energy as it constantly tries to heat the tank. Most systems can get the water up to temperature in about 15-30 minutes when you are ready to use hot water again. (Note: The water will stay “warm” in the tank for a few days, so if you don’t need “hot” water, you can wait and just use “warm” water until you are ready to turn it back on again.)

(Image: commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fil, CC-BY-SA-4.0)

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Pat


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Energy saving tip number 2
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Replace your oil or gas-powered furnace with a heat pump…

A heat pump runs on electricity and works like an air-conditioner, but in reverse. An air-conditioner takes heat from inside and moves it outside so that it is cooler inside. A heat pump does the reverse, it takes heat from outside and moves it inside to make it warmer inside.

Even if it is below freezing outside, a heat pump can take energy from the outside air and move it inside to make it warmer. This is much more efficient than burning fuel to make heat and it doesn’t burn any oil or gas. It only uses electricity, which can be generated from just about any source.

A heat pump is relatively inexpensive, easy to install and usually pays for itself in about a year or two.

(image: commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fil, CC-BY-SA-4.0)

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Pat



The truth is...

"Youtube" is derived from CRT.

= A statement that is logically or literally true (or partly true), but seems to imply something that isn’t true or is just plain weird. (for rhetoric, logic or propaganda studies… or just for fun)

(image: commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fil, CC-BY-2.0)

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Pat

Retro SciFi Movie of the Week...

The Bicentennial Man (1999)

Starring Robin Williams, this is a great science fiction film that nobody under 30 has ever heard of.

tubitv.com/movies/650102/bicen

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Pat


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Energy saving tip number 6
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Use a clothesline...

Clothes dryers that run on gas or electricity waste a lot of energy, especially in the summer when the waste heat that they generate needs to be removed in order to cool the living space.

Clotheslines can be used year-round. When the weather is nice, clothes can dry outdoors faster than they do in a mechanical clothes dryer. When drying outdoors is not possible, a clothesline still works fine indoors, it just takes a little longer, but it saves a ton of energy.

(image commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fil, CC-BY-SA-3.0)

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Pat


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Energy saving tip number 4
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Avoid driving...

During the Syrian war, I dreaded having to drive my gas-guzzler. I knew that ever time I got into that old putt-putt car and turned that key, I was partially responsible for the deaths of all those Syrian babies who were poisoned during that oil war.

Every chance you get to avoid driving, you help save the life of someone who lives in the war zone of one these oil wars.

Instead of grocery shopping every week, go every two weeks or once a month and stock up. Car pool if you can do so safely during the pandemic. Work remotely. If your boss won't let you work remotely, find a new boss.

Hitchhike, ride a bike, walk... do whatever you can to avoid burning more fuel and contributing to all those deaths.

commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fil, CC-BY-3.0

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Pat

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Pat

When I die, I want a natural funeral. Take my body deep into the forest and lie me down in the cool grass surrounded by the majestic pines. The next day, as the night mist gives way to the morning sun, birds will flutter down to my side. Then they'll peck at my eyeballs as a raccoon continues to gnaw on my intestines.

image: (commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fil), „Dülmen, Rorup, NSG Roruper Holz -- 2021 -- 8187-91“, creativecommons.org/licenses/b

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