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Alternative Energy

Drought in California

Drought in CaliforniaWe are snow birds who have been visiting California for the past several years usually in the Jan to April time period. There is much to learn about the drought in California. We have also learned the steps that California is taking to curtail water use to ensure that there will be enough water to last through this drought. It is in its fourth year with no end in site at the present time. One measure is the depth of the snow pack in the mountains, which once again is lacking and will not provide enough water for the coming year. California already knows that the drought will go on for at least another year.

Drought in California – Desert

We are in southern California in a beautiful spot in the desert. We are continually amazed at how much water is used here for irrigation, fountains. Also all of the regular daily uses of water that seem to be in conflict with the drought and water restrictions. Even the condo property we are staying at is having lot’s of debate with regard to what they should do  with regards to their water use. There are over 100 golf courses in the valley and all are watered daily, many several times a day. There are many gated communities with lots of lawns and gardens, water falls at the entrances and so on. We do not perceive a  reduction in water usage as far as we can observe.

Some locations are gradually converting to a desert landscape which will use much less water. However this is a very small percentage of the overall total. We find it troubling that many communities and individuals do not appear to be doing much about curtailing water usage. In fact in the condo we are staying at the water usage has gone up by 22% over the previous year.

Drought in California – Steps to Reduce Water Usage

The following list has been suggested by California to reduce water usage. It is not complete since this list is being adjusted and added to as the drought continues to get worse.

  • Water lawns only at night to reduce evaporation
  • Wash cars with hoses that can be turned off
  • Convert to desert landscape
  • Convert all water devices to efficient water use devices – toilets, showers etc
  • Report any running water to authorities
  • Repair any sprinklers that are not working properly
  • Correct sprinklers that spray water on sidewalks and roads
  • Reduce water use where ever and whenever possible.

When heating with electricity makes sense

heating with electricityHeating with electricity when there is no furnace or perhaps when your basement is too cold is a perfectly viable alternative. Many homes with basements and forced air furnaces are usually very cold in the winter time. It can be almost impossible to keep them warm without spending a lot of money changing the duct work of the furnace. You may need to add hot air ducting and cold air ducts just to get the basement a little bit warmer in the winter time. There is an alternative and it can make sense heating with electricity. We purchased and electric heater like the one in the picture.

It can be moved around, it is on wheels and plugs into a wall outlet. Oil is heated inside to heat the vanes on the outside and simple air convection causes the air to move and heat the rest of the room. This heater is the one we choose, however any heater is good for heating with electricity as long as it has the capacity you need. They can be great for just taking the chill off the room without having to heat the rest of the home just to get the basement more comfortable. Heating with electricity can make sense in this situation.

Heating with Electricity

In fact if you keep the temperature of your home low and only heat the room that you are in with one of these heaters, it can result in a net savings in total cost. You are burning less fuel to heat your home since it is being kept at a lower temperature overall and you are only heating the room that you are in with the electric heater.

Buying a home and Heating with Electricity, does it make sense?

The real answer is that it depends. In most areas, heating with natural gas, propane or oil is cheaper than heating with electricity. However there are some locations where electricity is relatively cheap compared to the cost of other fuels.  If you are considering purchasing a home with electric heating, ask the homeowner for copies of their heating bill for a year.For more information on managing energy use, click here.

Next quiz them about the temperature setting they use in the winter so you have some idea about how warm they keep their house compared to the temperature you prefer.  You can compare the numbers to other homes in the area, your current home etc taking into account personal preferences regarding the temperature you prefer in your own home.

Remember not everyone uses electricity the same way. So take into account how much energy conservation you practice vs. the person your buying the home from. All of these factors will impact the cost of electricity in the home and your overall electric bill.

Top green upgrades to save energy

Top green upgrades to save energyThe bottom line for most consumers when it comes to saving money on energy and choosing the top green upgrades to save energy is what is the upfront cost of the upgrade. In other words, if you have a refrigerator which might not be the most energy efficient, are you going to spend a thousand dollars, plus or minus, to replace it because you may save a few dollars of electricity a year. The answer is probably not for the majority of people. On the other hand if you have to replace because it stopped working and the repair costs are too expensive to make it worth while to repair it. In this case you may decide to select the most efficient model when it comes to refrigerators as long as the price of the fridge is competitive. You might even have to comparison shop for awhile to make sure you get the best deal, but at least you save money on the purchase as well as on the operating costs.

What are the Top green upgrades to save energy

If you are going to spend money on reducing your energy usage the following list of steps to take will make sure that you gain the most from what you spend.

Insulation – adding insulation to your attic will increase your energy savings dramatically especially if there is old or no insulation at all in the attic.

Water use – decreasing water use is easy if the entire family gets involved. turn off those taps, upgrade toilets and use water efficient shower heads, etc

High efficiency furnace – will decrease the amount of fuel you use as well as the electricity you use to run the fan. Most high efficient furnaces use DC motors which are much more efficient.

Use energy Star appliances – always purchase energy star appliances when you buy replacements. examine the details and assumptions behind the numbers that they advertise.

Replace incandescent light bulbs with CFL’s or LEDs – This can be another large savings especially if you leave lights on all of the time such as a hall light at night or outside lights.

How to Manage Energy Use

Manage Energy UseIf you have not already done so, it is about time that you change all of your lights to something better such as fluorescent or LED bulbs. While you are thinking about reducing energy, widen your scope and consider how to manage energy use as part of your everyday lifestyle. It is amazing just how much energy you can save and by extension reduce the overall cost of your energy use as well. Anytime you can save money and use it for something else it is a good thing in our books. Energy use falls into several categories and we can cover each of these in a bit more details.

Manage Energy Use – Electricity

just about everything is running on electricity these days, so if you make a conscious effort to reduce your electricity use by turning off lights, turning off appliances when not in use, turning up the thermostat in the summer time and down in the winter will make a huge difference in your electrical bill.

Manage Energy Use – Heating Fuel

We called it fuel since some people heat their homes with natural gas, others by electricity and some by oil or even wood and coal. Anytime you lower the thermostat means you are going to use less fuel to heat your home, less energy and reduce your heating bill. For those homes that forced air furnaces, while you are using less fuel, you are also using less electricity as well since the fan is not running for as long or as often.

Manage Energy Use – Water

Believe it or not, it takes energy to deliver water to your home. But that is not the real cost as far as consumers are concerned. Most cities charge for water based on how much you use and as a result when you upgrade to more efficient showers, toilets and water your lawn less you will be using less water and paying lower monthly bills for water.

Manage Energy Use – Your Car

There are multiple ways to use less gasoline. Avoiding jack rabbit starts and stops, combining errands, taking the bus, walking or biking and driving a fuel efficient car are among the ways of reducing your gasoline use and paying much less in total at the pump.

Alternatives to Gasoline Powered Cars

Gasoline Powered CarsThere are lots of alternatives to pure gasoline powered cars. Fortunately there are more and more of them available on the market for consumers. Some are not priced well as of this writing. In other words it is still cheaper to buy a gasoline powered car than it is to purchase a hybrid or an all electric car. But once they are mass produced, the prices will cone down a great deal.

Aside from the extra cost of many of these different power trains, the savings are simply not enough to push consumers to purchases these cars on a mass basis. Over time confidence will grow as more and more people buy them and use them. There will become clear winners as well which will be based on maintenance free driving as well as strong support when there is a problem that must be fixed.

A new car power train that provides great mileage can fail as a product.  If support for repairs are less than consumer expectations. Right now we are still in the experimentation phase for “all electric vehicles”. Hybrids are well on the way into mass production. The Toyota Prius for example has been around for many years and continues to provide excellent operational characteristics. One of the major challenges is the battery. The cost, the longevity and the distance you can go on a single charge, not to mention how long it takes to recharge. Then there is the issue of where you will recharge the battery. More and more battery charging stations are appearing. Many more are planned over the next few years.

Gasoline Powered Cars – and the Alternatives

The next five years will show us many more new developments. It is an exciting time for car development.

Gasoline Hybrid Cars
Plugin Electrics

Electric cars
Ethanol and flex fuel

Liquified and Compressed Natural Gas

Fuel cells

Some of the above types of power trains are clearly too far in the future. They will not be developed any time soon. Some will just not be economic. They will be given up in favor of other types of power trains. The future is exciting and yesterday Google made a big announcement. They will have a driver less car on the road in 2015 that can be purchased by consumers.

Will UPS and FedEx follow Amazon with Drone delivery

Amazon recently announced that it will be using small drones that can fly within 15 miles of their distribution sites to deliver small packages to its customers by 2015. They are developing the technology, the processes, and working on developing many of the rules and regulations that will be required to allow them to deliver packages to customers using drones.

These drones are small flying vertical lift helicopters, that can lift up to three or 4 pounds and deliver it to a customers doorstep. Something that might have been considered science fiction a few years ago is close to reality if they are successful. Even if the are late you can be sure it is going to happen sometime in the near future.

Drone Delivery

The delivery service will be a premium service to be sure and probably expensive, but it can be a fast service. Order in the morning and receive your order in the afternoon by drone! There is a lot to work out and GPS coordinates better be correct, otherwise these packages will end up in the wrong locations.

What Will USP and Fedex Do?

Now that Amazon has made this announcement, you can be sure that major companies such as UPS and Fedex will be looking into the same technology to augment their delivery operations. It will be interesting to understand if the economics of this new delivery mechanism will support a mature drone delivery approach. Regulations, processes and the business model must all be developed in the next couple of years to make drone delivery a success.

We will be watching this energy saving trend as it matures in the future!

There Can Also be a Sinister Side to this Technology

As long as the good guys have the technology and use it for good things, we are all ok. But what if the bad guys gain access to the technology and use this same technology to deliver everything from drugs to cigarettes. There are many items that could be delivered across the border by drone and even into jails if needed. Fly a drone in under cover of darkness deposit an item in the corner of the exercise yard and fly out. Next day during the exercise period the person the package was intended for picks it up and hides it for later use.

There are so many potential uses for this kind of technology it is actually kind of scary! What do you think about this particular technology and it its potential?

Electric Cars – Consumer Ratings

Electric Cars Consumer ratings for electric cars are at their very early stages since they have really not been on the market that long and consumers have a skewed view of electric cars in general for two reasons. First the pure electric cars take a long time to charge and they do not go that far on a full battery charge to begin with. Secondly they are still very expensive compared to their counterparts in the gasoline side and the price of these cars eat up any money you might save on the consumption side.

However we expect that hybrid and all electric cars are here to stay and it is just a matter of time until the manufacturers figure out some of the kinks in these cars charging and longevity issues. Once they become mass produced, the price of electric cars will also come down a great deal as well. The range problem is a bit more difficult. If you place a larger battery in the car, the price goes up, but it also still takes a relatively long time to recharge the car’s battery.

Most Families Have Two Cars

A case can be made for a family with two cars to have one all electric car and the other a hybrid or a regular gasoline car. The gasoline car would be used for long trips, while the all electric car would be used for all of the short city trips which they are more than adequate for in terms of distance that can be supported by the batteries. Short trips around the city are notoriously bad for gas mileage with all of the stops and starts. A gasoline car that gets 30 miles to the gallon on the highway would be lucky to get 20 miles to the gallon in the city. This is a perfect situation for the all electric car and provides a maximum savings opportunity.

What are the Factors to Consider re Electric Cars

When it comes to rating cars, the consumer will consider the following items as part of their comparison of any car really. These factors are centered around practical issues which are important to their lifestyle and their personal economics.

  • Driving range on a charge,
  • Passenger carrying capacity,
  • Price, and
  • Availability

More Details

Driving range on a charge –  this has to be one of the most important factors. Will it take you where you want to go on a daily basis  without needing a recharge. It must last until the end of the day when you make it home. If it will not, what is the backup plan. Hybrids have gasoline engines to take over when the batteries run low. However all electrics must be recharged before they go further when the battery runs down.

Passenger carrying capacity – how many people will it carry and will you be able to handle the groceries, the kids and all of the sports equipment that many families have to deal with. This is a very personal life style item and one to be considered carefully.

Price – right now most hybrids and electric vehicles are carrying a hefty price tag. This is partly due to development cost recovery and partly due to the cost of the battery. These prices are sometimes subsidized by local governments in an effort to help this fledgling industry move along. However in most cases you are still going to pay a premiums for these cars. Will you save enough to provide you with a short of enough payback to cover the extra cost?

Availability – finally availability is improving. However they are not available in all markets. That means that mechanics etc are also not trained and available to support these cars. Check this issue out carefully before you make a purchase. You may even want to inquire how many mechanics they have trained. “How long they have been working on these types of cars before you make your purchase.

Tips for Saving Energy

Tips for Saving EnergyComputers and Office Equipment

Shut your computer down when not in use to save electricity and reduce wear on your system.

Electronic devices left plugged in, even when turned off, still draw power. That’s called phantom power or standby power, and it’s costing you money. Plug the following electronics into a power bar with a timer or auto-shut off and make sure they are off during periods of inactivity. For example: a television, home theater system, computer, monitor, printer, scanner, rechargeable devices (MP3 players, cell phones, battery chargers etc.), and game console al consume power when plugged in, even when they are turned off. By reducing this unnecessary power use, you could help save up to 15% of your electricity use and also prolong the life of your systems as well, since all electronics degrade over time if they are constantly in use.

When replacing your computer, look for an ENERGY STAR qualified model. Laptops typically will  use less energy than desktop models.

A screen-saver doesn’t save energy.
Make sure any computer you purchase has an automatic power-down function that will automatically switch the monitor into sleep mode (preferably a deep sleep mode) after a set period of inactivity. (A feature mandatory to bear the ENERGY STAR symbol). Applying a screen saver just turns the scree to black, however all functions are still turned on.

Tips for Saving Energy at the Office

Here are some more tips for saving energy at the office. Not surprisingly, the tips that apply at home also apply at the office as well.  As an owner you can reap the benefits by reducing your operating expenses. for employees it is about doing the right thing and helping your company stay profitable which means jobs are preserved. Something we all care very much about in these times of volatile economies.

  • Be sure to always turn the equipment and lights off after hours.
  • Unplug coffeemakers, toasters and microwaves before shutting the office down at the end of the day, weekends or holidays.
  • Take advantage of the sun. Open shades and blinds during daylight hours. Let the sun heat and light your space naturally; shade it when it’s hot. In the winter, close your blinds and drapes in the evening.
    Whenever possible, choose ENERGY STAR qualified products.
  • Take the time to set the energy-saving features on all of your office equipment to put them into sleep mode when not in use.
  • Dress comfortably for the weather. Adjust your layers before adjusting the thermostat.
  • Use revolving doors to access entrances. It keeps cool/hot air inside.
  • Keep entrance doors closed.
  • Take the stairs instead of the elevator.

Save Energy This Spring

Save Energy This SpringEvery day is a day to save energy, however on this post we will spend a little time discussing how to save energy this spring. The picture shows that a regular light bulb will consume more energy than a small computer monitor. It is so easy to change this situation by converting from incandescent light bulbs to fluorescent bulbs or the new LED bulbs. We have written articles on both of these on our website and calculated the cost savings for each. Take a look at these posts if you are interested.

Depending on how you program your thermostat, you could save up to 10% on your year-round heating and cooling costs. For consumers in the northern USA and in Canada, heating costs are the predominant energy expense. By setting your thermostat a few degrees lower in the winter will save heating fuel as well as electricity that is not being used to drive fans and keep the home warm. In the summer time, especially in the southern US, air conditioning is a huge cost to many people. Closing your window shades and setting the thermostat a few degrees warmer can also save a great deal of electricity.

Save Energy This Spring

Get Rid of your old Fridge and Freezer

At various times during the year, power companies will pay for a 3rd party company to pick up old freezers and fridges for free. They will recycle it and you further reduce you electricity further, especially if this fridge or freezer is not being replaced. New appliances are much more energy efficient and will have more features as well. Get rid of that 20 year old or older freezer and save energy. If you only use it during part of the year for example in the fall, then unplug it, clean it out and leave the lid open to air it out when you are not using the appliance. At least you can save some energy during part of the year.

Take advantage of Coupons

Coupons with values ranging from $1 to $10 are available for a limited time to replace existing incandescent bulbs with CFL bulbs, energy-efficient fixtures, timers, dimmer switches, indoor motion sensors, power bars and even clothesline. These coupons are available not only in the spring but pretty much all year round. They can save consumers a great deal of money not only in the purchase of these lights, but also in the daily use of electricity that will be reduced. These coupons are usually sponsored by the local government who is trying to encourage people to convert to reduced energy-consuming devices. These coupons can make a huge difference in the amount of money you pay for fluorescent or LED bulbs.

Clean all of Your Furnace Filters

Your furnace has worked all winter long and now will take a short rest until the time comes to start cooling the house. Replace the filter to maximize air flow through the furnace. Also clean any debris that may have collected around the outdoor unit if the AC unit. Sometimes leaves and twigs collect around these units which can lower the efficiency. You should have your furnace inspected at least once per year to make sure that it is operating at peak efficiency.

Time of Day Energy Use

In some locations across Canada and the USA, electricity companies have started charging for electricity based on the time of day the electricity is used. The higher rates are during the day time and the lower rates are in the evenings and at night usually after 7pm. Any time you can delay the use of electricity to the evening is going to save you money and energy use. For example running the dish washer after 7pm or drying clothes after 7pm will save a great deal of energy cost due to the lower rates that are charged in these time frames.

Check out you local utility to see what rates they charge during various times of the day to see if this is applied in your area and whether it would save you any money if you were to run these electrical devices after the 7pm time frame.

There are many more ways to reduce your energy use and we have only covered some of the major ones. Every home is different and consumer living standards and schedules are also different. If you take the time to evaluate all of your energy use and ask yourself if there are ways to reduce your electrical use, you may find many other ways to reduce your energy foot print and your cost much more. If you do let us know and leave a comment or two about the ways you have found to manage your energy use and reduce your overall cost.

Alternative Energy Businesses

This post is discussing the alternative energy businesses and follows our previous post about the renewable energy business  evolution. You might want to read that post first before reading this one since it is the 2nd post in a series we are doing about alternative energy businesses.

As we write this post, the big electrical companies are wondering if they are going to meet their targets of 30% power generation from renewable sources by 2020. The price of solar panels is coming down which makes home solar solutions more economical. Many government grants are either ending and not being renewed or they are being reduced which also impacts the solar panel demand. Finally the environmentalists are getting into the act and delaying or in some cases stopping the construction of solar farms and even wind farms.

Our last post discussed how the industry was in it’s infancy and had many more evolutionary steps to take before it became mature. But what is the average homeowner supposed to do? should they invest in a small solar panel farm on the roof of their house? Should the investor invest in one of these solar companies and hope to reap millions as the business and the industry matures? These are just some of the very difficult questions. One company we talked to indicated that in California, with the weather they get, they can pretty much guarantee a 4 year payback. In addition they establish a reserve fund that pays for any maintenance that is needed on the units installed on your roof.

Investing in Alternative Energy Businesses

There are also thousands of small businesses that have invested in training and materials in order to get into the business of installing and maintaining solar systems for consumers and also for small business people who want to generate their own power.

This is a tough business which is impacted by some of the issues we have just mentioned, but also the ongoing competitive oil industry. Generally speaking the higher the price of oil goes, the better it is for the solar and wind farm industry. If oil peaks and then falls again, this will take much of the steam out of the push to become independent of the Mideast oil as a country.

Watch Every Dollar

Having worked in an unrelated business start-up, the advice that can be provided is that you need to watch every dollar and only spend it when you are sure that there is going to be decent ROI associated with the investment.

This statement applies to everything including manpower, training, tools, vehicles and office space. With the industry in such turmoil, you need to make sure you have the cash flow to withstand any upticks and downturns in the business cycle and the mood of the consumer to get involved in the solar power generation opportunity.

With unemployment so high, this is not the time to pay high salaries, however you do want to have great staff. A combination of salary and bonus based on how well the company does is one way of tying the business results to keeping good people.

Consumers Beware of Long Term Alternative Energy Deals

Just the fact that this business is in its infancy should tell you that there will be lots of change over the next 10 years let alone 20 years. 20 years is the contract term of some agreements. The technology will change and improve immensely. the price of equipment will certainly fall as the technology is mass produced and the government subsidies will die out to be replaced with other potential market supporting systems.

The only way to protect yourself whether you are a consumer or a small business is to invest very carefully, look for solid ROI’s and short-term payback on your investment of 5 years or even less. Some people would suggest that even 5 years is too long in this volatile market.

We will be writing more on this subject, so please stay tuned for more posts on this subject and others. Comments are appreciated and your thoughts on this business as well.

The Green Trend : Not so New

We like to include humorous posts that are related to the initiatives of going green, alternative energy and reducing your energy foot print every once and awhile . It points out that our green trend that everyone talks about is something that is dealing with a recent trend that only started in the last 30 years were we tend to throw everything out and not reuse stuff. Read on, you will enjoy it.

This is one that we read not too long ago that we thought our readers might enjoy:

Green Trend

In the line at the store, the cashier told an older woman that she should bring her own grocery bags because plastic bags weren’t good for the environment.

The woman apologized to him and explained,“We didn’t have the green thing back in my day.”

The clerk responded, “That’s our problem today…….

Your generation did not care enough to save our environment.”

He was right — our generation didn’t have the green thing.

Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled.

But we didn’t have the green thing back in our day.

We walked up stairs, because we didn’t have an escalator in every store and office building.

We walked to the grocery store and didn’t climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks.

But he was right. We didn’t have the green thing in our day.

Back then, we washed the baby’s diapers because we didn’t have the throw-away kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling machine burning up 220 volts — wind and solar power really did dry the clothes. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing.

But that clerk is right; we didn’t have the green thing back in our day.

Back then, we had one TV, or radio, in the house — not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of the state of Montana .

In the kitchen, we blended and stirred by hand because we didn’t have electric machines to do everything for us.

When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used a wadded up old newspaper to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap.

Back then, we didn’t fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn’t need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity.

But he’s right; we didn’t have the green thing back then.

We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water.

We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull.

But we didn’t have the green thing back then.

Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service.

We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn’t need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest pizza joint.

But isn’t it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn’t have the green thing back then?

I grew up with patches on my knees and elbows so that we could continue wearing clothes instead of throwing them out. Now people tear the knees so that they can look cool. If there is a rip somewhere else, they throw them out. We have too much money and do not embrace the reuse approach to save our environment.

Flashlights Without Batteries

We could not resist this subject. Flashlights without batteries is one of those solutions that is gradually becoming more popular over time. While flashlight without batteriesmany people have flashlights in their homes for emergency use and working under the sink or other jobs, how many times have you gone to use your flashlight and found that the batteries were discharged. Maybe the kids stole them for use on one of their games! Perhaps you forgot to charge the battery after the last time it was used assuming they are rechargeable. Then there is the problem of disposing of batteries. Unfortunately many people just toss them in the garbage and they end up in landfill polluting our lakes and streams. Flashlights without batteries are the answer for those emergency situations that need a working flashlight 100% of the time.

Either way it can be quite frustrating to need a working flashlight when the power goes out and not be able to find one that works. This is why these new flashlights that come with a crank and can be charged at a moments notice are becoming more popular.

There have been so many times when I have tried to use our flashlight when it did not work that I just got fed up with it. Eventually I broke down, spent the $15 needed to buy one of these new battery less flashlights and have never looked back. We never buy batteries any longer.

The flashlight that I have has a small crank which I wind up when I need it, a switch to turn it on and three LED lights that shine quite a bright light on whatever I need illuminated. I keep one of these in the car all of the time and one in the house and never worry about batteries!

Advantages of Flashlights without Batteries

There is so much going for this solution that I wonder why more people do not consider making this purchase. First of all , no more batteries to buy, secondly no more batteries to throw out and pollute the planet, no more manufacturing of batteries which also pollutes the planet and finally, no more dead batteries when you really need a flashlight.

Some folks will make the comment that the manufacture of these new flashlights also pollute the planet and yes this is true, however at least you are reducing the amount of pollution by no longer relying on throw away batteries.

The convenience cannot really be measured until you face the situation flashlight without batterieswhen you need to have a flashlight and there is no working model to be had.

There are disadvantages of using this type of flashlight and we will list them next.

Disadvantage of Using Flashlights without Batteries

The particular model that I have has a crank which must be wound to charge the internal capacitor. As the capacitor discharges, the lights progressively get dimmer until I rewind the crank again. Typically I need to wind the crank about every minute of use which becomes an irritation after a while if I need the light for a long time. This can be a bit frustrating if you are trying to work at the same time and need both hands to perform whatever it is that you are doing.

Larger capacitors or flashlights with rechargeable batteries provide better results so this is something I would look for if I need to purchase another one. I have seen flashlights were winding for a minute charges the capacitor enough for it to last a full 20 minutes.

Another disadvantage is when you are charging the capacitor by winding the crank, there is a fair bit of noise generated which is fine in 99% of any situation I will ever find myself in, however for those people looking for silence, this could be an issue for some.

Lately I have found it harder to find these kind of flashlights. Not sure if people are not buying them or if the stores cannot make enough money from them. It is too bad. we used and throw out far too many batteries for the toys we buy.

Comments are welcome.  Always looking for ways to generate alternative energy without using the electrical grid or polluting the planet even more. for more posts about finding new energy sources, click here.

Alternative Energy for Consumers

Alternative Energy for ConsumersWe are starting a new blog specifically focused on alternative energy for consumers. Some people refer to this as renewable energy. Which ever term is used it really does not matter. Since what we are focused on is real ways that the consumer can embrace renewable or alternative energy. They may be able to reduce their overall cost of using energy around their homes and in their everyday life. We also will be discussing solutions for consumers that will help them save energy as well. This is commonly known as reducing your energy foot print. It helps them spend a lot less money paying for energy for heating, cooling, their car etc.

Why are We Developing an Alternative Energy for Consumers Blog

One of the reasons that I am writing this blog is that the cost of energy is going up significantly. Anything I can do to reduce my energy foot print means  I can save money and keep it in my pocket vs. placing my hard earned money in some corporation.  Some may view this is a particularly selfish view, however that is what drives the average consumer.

They sympathize with save the planet kinds of issues. But what really gets their attention is money in their pockets. Note, that by saving or reducing my energy foot print not only reduces my cost , but it also helps reduce the impact on the environment.

There is a lot of information out there about commercial systems. But not so much that is specifically directed at consumers so we thought we would do some research and see what we could come up with. The commercial systems such as wind farms, solar farms, wave action and even hydro electric plants are fantastic.

We encourage these new developments to lessen our impact on the environment long term ( coal, oil and nuclear generating plants ) and generate electricity from these alternate energy sources. For those readers who may not be aware, hydro electric plants are plants that generate electricity using water that drives turbines that in turn produce electricity. The Hoover Dam is a well known hydro electric generation facility.

What Energy Savings Will We Focus On

Our focus is going to be on things that the consumer can do that are real as well as economical. They will include some of the same things such as solar, wind and anything else that we come across. We invite anyone reading this blog to leave us a comment on the blog to point us to other energy sources or ideas that we should take a look at.

Personally, I have been frustrated by the lack of focus from a consumer perspective. There has been lots of information about conserving energy, but not nearly as much about renewable energy sources. Conserving energy is sometimes more expensive than it needs to be. Just look a the fluorescent lights that are replacing incandescent light bulbs as an example.

There is no need to price them as high as they are. If these new bulbs were priced lower and more people would turn to use them and reduce the energy used as well. In our opinion pricing needs to be adjusted to encourage consumers more to reduce their energy use.

Please don’t misinterpret this comment, it is an excellent idea to conserve energy and reduce your energy footprint, we just think that we should also be focusing on generating electricity as well!

Our 1st Post!

This is our first post about renewable energy and we are probably rambling a bit. Future posts will begin to discuss alternative energy sources for consumers, energy saving ideas,  and we will try to come up with one post every second week.

It is important to us that our readers provide comments, especially about products that may be available on the market. We are going to be doing lots of research, however you can help with the job by pointing us to various products that may be available on the market. Many stores are beginning to sell solar panels for use in RV’s and even in homes, however we think that there is much more that can be considered.

Send us your suggestions about alternate energy sources for consumers via the comment field at the end of the post. We read them all and will use the constructive comments. Spam comments are auto deleted. Thanks and here’s to fun blogging! For more alternative energy posts, click here.

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Community Development Block Grant (CDBG)

Federal Funds
The Town of Narragansett is eligible to apply to receive federal funds under the Small Cities Community Development Block Grant Program, which was established by the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974.

The Town of Narragansett has participated in this program since 1991. Its purpose is the development of viable urban communities through the provision of decent housing, suitable living environments, and expanded economic activities, principally for persons of low- and moderate-income.

An activity to be included within a Community Development Block Grant Program must be consistent with these purposes. In addition, each activity must address one of the following objectives:
    • Aid in the prevention or elimination of slums and blight
    • Benefit low- and moderate-income families and individuals
    • Local programs may also include activities designed to meet community development needs having a particular urgency

Community Components
The Town of Narragansett is a community that includes a combination of urbanized, suburban, seasonal, commercial, port, manufacturing, academic, and research components. The Town may be considered a relatively prosperous suburban and resort community. There are, however, groups of residents that are, or are considered under HUD guidelines to be, of low or moderate income. According to the 2000 Census, 194 families were below poverty level, including those with related children less than 18 years, or with children under five years.

Other income-related Census indicators of families below the poverty level that often suffered difficulties are those with female householder, no husband present, with related children under 18 years or related children younger than five years. In addition, according to 2000 Census data, there were 2,615 individuals of varying age groups below the poverty level. Other groups presumed to be of low and moderate income are the disabled (675 individuals) and the elderly (1,647), of which 100 live below the poverty level.

Service Visits
The number of service visits by Narragansett low and moderate income residents to social service agencies serving this area attests to the existence of the numerous social problems associated with low- and moderate-income populations.

Nearby service agencies include:
    • Galilee Mission to Fishermen
    • Health Center of South County
    • Jonnycake Center
    • South County Community Action
    • Women's Resource Center
Others as far away as Westerly have documented service to Narragansett residents. In addition to income, another concern is the age of Narragansett's housing stock, approximately 32% of which was constructed prior to 1960. This suggests that a significant number of dwellings may be substandard by today’s standards. Commonly encountered substandard conditions include lead-based paint, failed septic systems, and deteriorated structures.

Low and Moderate Income Population
In response to the needs of the low- and moderate-income population, the Town of Narragansett has established a series of community goals and objectives. They include assistance to persons and families who are or are presumed to be of low- and moderate-income through the provision of specially targeted service and facilities.

This general goal is intended to ensure that public facilities and services are accessible to all segments of the population. They include the physically handicapped, support of medical, and health care services to low- and moderate-income persons, support of programs and facilities offering prevention and treatment of substance abuse, programs for the benefit of abused spouses, children, and elderly. There is a continuing community need in this area, to which the Community Development Block Grant program greatly serves.

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Re: [OPE-L] perfect competition

From: glevy@PRATT.EDU
Date: Mon Apr 17 2006 - 19:49:14 EDT

> Before radical economist call "perfect competition" by its right
> name, that is "perfect stagnation" - this fight is not over. There is
> not an iota of competition in "perfect competition" - only utter
> stagnation. From a welfare maximizing point of view "perfect
> competition" is definitely not a place we want to be.

Hi Anders,

Yes, I agree with you about the pernicious effects of assuming
perfect competition (p.c.). You highlight the consequences of assuming
p.c. in macroeconomics. But, the consequences of assuming p.e. are
equally -- if not more -- mis-directing when we look at the dynamic
processes at work in individual branches of production.  For instance,
the marginal utility theory of consumer choice & the doctrine of
consumer sovereignty assume p.c.  So long as this market structure is
assumed, the dynamics at work in individual markets and the relation
between firms and consumers remains mystified.  For example, in p.c.
there is no advertising or marketing -- indeed, it is viewed as
'wasteful' and redundant because perfect information on the part of
consumers about the prices and qualities of commodities is assumed in a
p.c. market. These assumptions obscure the real relations at work in the
marketplace and lead to the fantasy that consumers control the
marketplace and issue firms their marching orders through their consumer
purchases! When these very restrictive assumptions are dropped, a very
different picture emerges about who controls whom and how in the
marketplace.  I think radical economists often underestimate the merit
of a critique based on the challenging of assumptions. Is p.c. an
'internally consistent' theory?  Who cares? -- it fails a larger, and
most significant, test since it precludes an adequate grasp of
the subject matter.

In solidarity, Jerry

This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Sun Apr 30 2006 - 00:00:06 EDT


text:
Re: [OPE-L] Truncating Marx's "Capital"

From: glevy@PRATT.EDU
Date: Sat Sep 01 2007 - 10:08:13 EDT

> I do not think the transformation problem is a "red herring", insofar as
> it aims to understand what the relationship between values and prices
> really is, and how this affects the process of competition.

Hi Jurriaan:

The neverending debate (which has been going on for well over a century)
has been very limited in its scope and has focused almost exclusively on
the logic of Marx's theory of PoP and its relation to his theory of value.
Enough historical time has passed that we should all be able to recognize
the following:

a) there is no reason to believe that the debate over the TP will be
resolved to the satisfaction of most scholars in our lifetimes. The debate
on the TP is not a "red herring" exactly, but it has become a road without
an end.

b) the debate on the TP has 'crowded-out' debates on many other topics
which Marxians should be exploring in greater depth, especially those
which directly concern the subject matter of capitalism rather than being
focused on the narrow field of hermeneutics.

c) regardless of its origin, the debate has been reproduced primarily by
Marxians because and has become The Marxian Obsession.

d) despite the intention of  many authors sympathetic to Marx to offer
"solutions" to the TP which will - they hope - descisively resolve the
debate, these authors are _themselves_ the ones who have caused the debate
to be reproduced.

e) there is absolutely no reason to believe that there will be consensus -
or even anything remotely approaching consensus - over any of the
alternative solutions which have been offered.

f) the debate on the TP has gone on so long that it has its own
_mythology_ concerning its own importance. This mythology was created and
reproduced by the isolation of scholars working in this field.  Quite
simply, scholars have lost touch with the realities concerning the
relative (in-) significance of this subject but have created a mythology
in which the subject takes on far greater importance than it in fact

In solidarity, Jerry

This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Sun Sep 30 2007 - 00:00:04 EDT


text:
Re: [OPE-L] Complex ... and the French edition of capital

From: Paul Cockshott (wpc@DCS.GLA.AC.UK)
Date: Wed Jun 06 2007 - 10:32:01 EDT

That solves it if you are looking at the matter empirically under
capitalism, and that indeed is the statistical approach I have used.

There is still the point though of how one calculates the input of
complex labour in a planned economy where all education costs are met by
the state. In those circumstances one can have an extended i/o table
that deals with production and consumption of different types of labour.

-----Original Message-----
From: OPE-L [mailto:OPE-L@SUS.CSUCHICO.EDU] On Behalf Of ajit sinha
Sent: 06 June 2007 13:37
Subject: Re: [OPE-L] Complex ... and the French edition of capital

I think this prolem is similar to the problem of fixed
capital. The usual way of adding some presumed
depreciation of fixed capital to the value of net or
gross output introduces a spiritual element in the
calculation. It is a ghostly figure, which does not
have any material form. That's why Sraffa follows the
joint-production method in the case of fixed
capital--it is not to provide a better measure of
calculating the 'depreciation', but rather making the
calculation completely materialist by removing this
spiritual element from the calculation. Similarly, the
reduction of skilled to unskilled labor problem must
completely do away with the spiritual element. The
best way to do it is to define the unit of labor on
the basis of differences in wages. We can observe the
minimum wage and all the wages as well as hours of
labor spent in the production process. Simply multiply
the hours of labor with the differential of wages from
the minimum wage and you have solved the problem.
Cheers, ajit sinha

--- Paul Cockshott <wpc@DCS.GLA.AC.UK> wrote:

>  Anders:
> In my opinion the French version seriously
> weakens the textual support for the
> Hilferding/Okishio/Rowthorn "whose production has
> cost more labour" - that is the "education cost"
> solution to the labour reduction problem.
> Paul:
> Why do you think that?
> There is no coherent argument in the French edition
> against Hilferdings
> solution?
> Whether Hilferding was right or wrong stands on the
> merits of
> Hilferding's argument not on what Marx said, unless
> Marx makes a
> specific rebutall of the idea that the labour cost
> of educating workers
> enters into the labour cost of what these workers
> themselves produce. As
> far as I can see Marx makes no such contrary
> argument.

We won't tell. Get more on shows you hate to love
(and love to hate): Yahoo! TV's Guilty Pleasures list.

This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Sat Jun 30 2007 - 00:00:04 EDT


text:
SV: [OPE] Power

From: Martin Kragh (
Date: Fri Feb 15 2008 - 10:56:24 EST

> I put nuclear first, because it is the only currently proven and viable alternative
> for large scale 24/7 electricity generation to coal and oil.
Jerry has pointed to some of the most obvious problems of nuclear technology, but there are vast amounts of "hidden costs" that need to be emphasized as well.
Firstly, nuclear power plants do not procure any CO2 in use per se, but the production, transport and refinement of uranium do. Secondly, the threat to our environment does not lie in the CO2 as such, it is the heating up of the biosphere which is the problem. And a nuclear power plant is in this sense less effective than even coal, since only about a third of its energy is put to use - the rest is wasted and absorbed in the nature. This represents an enormous waste. Further, uranium and plants need to be constantly cooled by water, this applies to depleted uranium in storage as well, thus a problem that will last for thousand of years even if we would stop nuclear energy right now. Huge amounts of water is thus being heated, and thrown back into the oceans 24/7. In the light of environmental changes, this can pose extreme threats in the future, if not already now.
In France, 37 plants are located near rivers and lakes. During the warm summers of 2003, 2004 and 2006 these got so heated up, that many reactors had to shut down or downgrade their production. At other plants, the shortage of water in the lakes also made the "petering out" of radioactive fuel insufficient, and the levels regulating this ratio had to be changed, thus leading to even higher heating up of the water temperature than what should be allowed in the first place. In Spain, they were made to shut down the reactor procuring 20 % of the country's supply when the water temperature became to high.
Considering that nuclear energy in fact supplies only a fraction of the global supply of energy, its costs are unproportianally large. The "Sustainable Development Commission" which reported to the British government last year showed that a doubling of the amount of nuclear plants would only lead to a decrease of 8 % in CO2.
Further, German medical reports have shown that families living within a distance of 5 kilometers from a plants faced a 60 % higher risk for their children to develop cancer. The risk for leukemia increased 117 %.
Considering the progress made in wind and solar energy, and the enormous over supply of energy in the West, what is all this nuclear capacity good for? The costs and risks (nuclear weapons threat not counted) are way too high. The threat posed by nuclear technology needs to be more discussed, scrutinized and critisized.
Kind regards
ope mailing list

This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Fri Feb 29 2008 - 00:00:03 EST


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text:
[OPE-L:5547] Re: Humbug Aggregate Price-Value Correlations

Tsoulfidis Lefteris (lefteris@macedonia.uom.gr)
Mon, 29 Sep 1997 05:36:18 -0700 (PDT)

[ show plain text ]

In a recent post I wrote that the different indexes of dispersion of
price value deviations (MAD, MAWD, Eucledian Norm, and R2) must be used
in conjuction in an effort to determine the magnitude of deviations of
values, prices of production, market prices etc. Clearly, no index by
itself gives an undisputed idea of the true magnitude of these
deviations. Efforts to devise new indexes such as Klimans suggestion of
shift share analysis are welcome, however it seems that do not improve
the situation in any substantial way. To my view there must be a
*subjective* element in determining whether the deviations are large or
small and this *subjective* element is based on experience. I will try
to explicate this position below:

Let us think for a moment the indexes of concentration or income
distribution, and ask if there is any single index which will tell us
whether an industry is concnentrated enough or not? Take for example the
concnetration ratio of the top four firms or the Herfindahl index (HI)
both appart from the values of zero and 1 are not of much help. Hence is
where the subjective judgment comes into play, the Courts for example in
the US (used to) decide on the basis of specific values of HI about the
possibility of a merger. Similarly, neoclassical economists claim that
if for example the CR>80 in a 3-digit industry we have oligopoly and if
CR< 40 we have competion etc. Also with respect to the equality of
income distribution on the basis of say the Gini coefficient alone
(except the values of 0 and 1) we cannot say much about intertemporal
and international comparisons.

The findings of the MAD and the other measures of
deviation should be judged in similar fashion. In my joint and
incomplete as of now research for the Greek economy I find the MAD to
be in the range of the 20 %. However, in the 33 sector input/output
table that I use I find that the 20% MAD is due to a large extent to
what can be called peculiar industries, such as the oil industry that
I find its value to be much lower to its market price, a result
so common with studies for other
countries, see for example the results of Alejandro Valle, Paul
Cockshott et al. and the associated exlpanations, and Ochoa. Also some
other sectors government owned or regulated enterprises give much larger
deviations. If for instance we restrict the analysis to the
manufacturing sector alone where clealy there is competition and
tendency for equalization of profit rates, better data etc. The results
are substantially improved (i.e., the deviations are smaller) and this
is reflected in the much lower MAD etc.

Returning now to Klimans suggestion for the shift share
analysis, I am not sure it differs qualitatively from the other indexes.
It seems to me, intuitively (I must admit though that I haven't done any
particular research) that appart from the extreme values of 0 and
1 suffers from the same limitations of the other indexes, and also
(at first sight) does not have any clear economic meaning.

From the discussion so far, which I find extremely good and
constructive, I especially liked the idea of running regressions of the
short that Kliman has suggested. That is to run regressions of the ratio
of prices of production to values as the dependent variable and an
expression of composition of capital as the independent variable in an
effort to determine the direction of price value deviation. I have some
comments on that

- there is some theoretical work on that published in CJE
(1989?) by Beilefield and also by Van Parys in AER (1983?).
Seton also claims that in a 3x3 sector economy one can verify
Marxs claims about the
direction of price-value deviations but not in n sectors and
also does Pasinetti (1977).

-The big trouble with Klimans regressions is (of course) that
he uses only 9 observations (sectors) as he says, and these are
considered (I would say by the majority of economists) too few
to accept their regression results.

- The other problem is that in his regressions does not really
test the value composition of capital for that he needs data on
capital stock, which presumeably are not available.

- My joint (with Th. Maniatis) paper that I mentioned
above, uses the vertically integrated value composition of capital
and gave the following results

a=0.824 (17,4) b=1,212 (9.94) and R2 =76,1%
# of observations 33.

which are robust to alternative definitions of the vertically
integrated composition of capital. The results, however, do not
hold in case where the plain capital labor ratio is used as the
index of the composition of capital, the R2 in this case is roughly

One final point has to do with (Kliman's) numerical examples,
which in my view must be representative or typical of the situation
investigation, one should not use extreme cases (no matter their number)
and then say well this conclusion does not hold, because of my

In solidarity

Lefteris Tsoulfidis


text:
[OPE-L:1228] Re: Re: Advertising and productive labour

From: Paul Cockshott (wpc@dcs.gla.ac.uk)
Date: Wed Sep 15 1999 - 06:04:11 EDT

At 14:12 14/09/99 +0200, you wrote:
>I confess I think it is a mighty silly thing that people who say the labour
>exchanged against capital producing services are productive, commodity
>producing labour, also want to argue that labour involved in advertising,
>though exchanged against capital, is never productive. This seems to be
>more a personal prejudice, taste or predilection than rational economic
>In solidarity
 From the standpoint of the capitalist class as a whole, then the labour
spent on advertising and product differentiation is a clear loss.
In the UK 90% of washing powder comes from a couple of companies.
They spend huge amounts on tv advertising for what is in practice a
fixed market - people only use a certain amount of powder per year.
They dont decide to do lots more washes after seeing a persil advert.

The net effect is that in the stuggle for market share the two firms give up
a large portion of their surplus value to the advertisers. If they merged
and there was only one supplier then they could stop advertising, sell
at the same price and their profits would be higher.

The unproductive nature of advertising is not a matter of taste, it is
Failure to see this comes from looking at the issue from the standpoint
of one firm rather than the industry or economy as a whole.

This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Sun Feb 27 2000 - 15:27:09 EST


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Bouchard Honors Twitter Date Bet

Tennis star Genie Bouchard bet against the Patriots in Super Bowl LI, but made good on her wager by flying out a lucky Twitter follower to New York City for a date at the Nets game Wednesday night at Barclays Center.

Bouchard is in the new SI Swimsuit Issue and is garnering a ton of good press fr going through with this.

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Thursday, March 28, 2013

Brand New Poe Portrait Digi

This is y brand new POE portrait digi and I am VERY proud of him-every once in awhile something just clicks and I really like the way he came out-I processed the original through CS5 so it would have a bitmap feel but still maintain the pen lines and a crisp graphic look-I like him with and without the lettering so I am selling BOTH versions as a set.

He's a great ATC or card graphic I think and with pop art colouring he could be really a smash

Here is MIRANDA's Andy Warhol Inspired version:

HOW COOL is that???

2 versions of poe for $5.00

Available here via PAYPAL or on ETSY

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Faux Finishes at SNS

It's time for the 2nd SMEARED INK DESIGN TEAM THROW DOWN : Congrads to HAUNTED DESIGN HOUSE for their win on the first go round...we are sending them all violets courtesy of the Adriana Lecouvreur Florist, "ECCO LA LUCE"...

The winner of the previous match gets to select the theme for this one and they have picked FAUX FINISHES...

My team and I have accordingly produced a collection of projects which all feature faux finishes as well as a collection of new digis which I did for this weeks throw down.

MIRANDA - the Netherlands

Faux distressed metals and rust offset by faux blood set the tone for our collection BONEYARD.

Miranda used two of my new skull digis CANDLESKULL and WHA' HAPPRENED and a couple of the supporting digis from the collection THIGH BONE and BONEYARD SIGN (which comes blank for your personalization).

I love the heavy texture MIRANDA achieved on her projects.

MONIQUE - the Netherlands

We all did at least one Tag project as well as additional projects-here is Monique's tag featuring distressed Metal and;

Monique's Fabulous poison bottle complete with handy serving spoon and 4 sides of details-truly a wonderful creation-It was a decorated bottle that won Monique a spot on my EDT-I think you can see why.

Another of our design requirements this week besides Faux Finishes and my new digi collection was to include one or more digi or stamp from SMEARED INK-I used the flying Raven from the Holy City Collection and one of the Death Cabs - I believe there are 4-mine are digis-my team mates used rubber and/or digis-be sure to check out SMEARED INKS vast collection of unique designs.

Miranda used this IMAGE and Monique this IMAGE, Falling Dead Dancer.

My Graveyard Tag on a Faux Marble background created with a sea sponge and DECO ART Americana Paints using a bit of gel medium to keep the paint open so I could use a large fluffy brush to dry brush and soften the marble effect-I finished with a brush on matte sealer.

My Raven Tag and finally;

Another tag using a different marble technique - this one mostly dry brushing and blending.

I also did a collection of Faux Verdegris (Oxidized Copper Patina) shadow boxes with peek-a-boo vignettes.

The copper patina is accomplished by basecoating the item with COPPER PENNY by DECOART a wonderful line of metallic acrylics that have a true metal look (not pearl) then wet into wet sponging I used several colours including Dark Patina, SEA BREEZE and PISTACHIO MINT--at the end you work drier in order to get the true oxidized metal look and feel.

The important thing is to always allow a bit of the coppery shine to show through.

I hope you have enjoyed seeing our projects-here is a gallery collection to close:

Monday, March 25, 2013

Haunted Design House has been having some fun challenges-well. fun for me since they appeal to my interests so this week its about Dante's Inferno---the wonderful allegorical epic poem encompassing Inferno as well as Purgatorio and Paradiso not the video game.

I decided to do something that was reminiscent of a book but only let you peek ay what was to come-I did a devil to greet you and used artwork from Dore' for the background inside the shadow box behind the devil.

The digis were coloured with promarkers and printed on Neenah White.

The box with its plastic window was a pain since its coated card stock and wants to NOT hold paint-I sponged on a metallic Patina using a fine sea sponge fro texture and Americana Metallics by DECO ART-a paint company I have a long history with from my decorative painting days.

Their liquid acrylics are top notch especially their metallic-they have a true metal look not pearl and come in a wide range of colour choices-I got mine at HOBBY LOBBY where they are less than 2.00 for a 2.5 oz bottle-great price-metallic a few cents more.

They clean up with water and when fully dry re waterproof like any acrylic but I do suggest a spray finisher sealer and DECO ART makes several.

I mounted the fussy cut devil and the background using foam tape-I made a hinge for the devil digi so he would stand quite a distance from the background and peek out the window.

I added some self adhesive rivets on the box top which I also painted in with the sponged patina and when dry I added lots of sparkly rhinestones in colours of fire and the patina-sadly very hard to photograph so you only get a vague hint o how spectacular the stones are.

OH I forgot to say the colours I used were NEW PENNY (Copper), DARK ESPRESSO (aged bronze) and DARK PATINA (dark green metallic).

Thanks to all the minions at HDH for this challenge-this particular image will NOT be available for sale since I accidentally coloured the original before scanning it but I will have some other interesting DANTE inspired images coming up soon.

Be sure to visit for their challenges every other Monday (with extra inspiration pieces on the Monday in between)>

I woul like to enter this project in the Haunted Design House Dante Challenge.

Saturday, March 23, 2013

Did you know?

You can use your digis and jpegs for more than just cards and other paper craft projects?

One of the hottest trends is edible, printable cake prints and toppers.

You need a scanned image-hi rez and good colour from there you can order one to 1,000 edible copies online-you can also buy a home set up for about the same price as a cricut or similar cutting device that comes with products and ink so you are ready to go into business.

An 8 x 10 that you make yourself costs less than 5.00usd while bakeries charge up to 30.00usd for a similar service (on top of the cake price).

Printable products can be found online and companies that sell printers, edible inks and edible print media are becoming common.

Custom topped mini cakes that serve about 4 people run about 35.00 up at boutique bakeries and custom topped cup and tea cakes about 7.50 each...home bakers trim about 33% off these prices-many also buy plain white cakes from wholesale warehouses (like Costco) and add simple decorating and printed toppers.

If home baking is prohibited for sale in your area check out renting a commercial kitchen or space in a restaurant kitchen-you can also make a deal to supply local bakeries who do not want to invest in the printing, colouring etc that it takes to do really custom toppers.

Another way to use your digis and pay for your crafting habit!

Friday, March 22, 2013

Alli the Fashion Diva

Here are some assorted new designs my EDT has been working on

Alison - USA // Alli the fashion Diva

Natalia - Canada

Mother of Dragons

Monique - Netherlands

Gloria - USA

Nataliya - Canada

The Barbarian

Nataliya - Canada

Lucretzia Borgia

Helen - Scotland

Watch for more coming soon - these images are now available in my ETSY shoppe!

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Il Pirata

or the pirate (feminine)...

My recent pirate couple has been a hit especially the lady privateer but I wanted something a bit more lush so I came up with this little lady...

Now there is more to the story-I had been kidding with Nataliya about her version of the first pirate lady which I found a big VEGASY.

I maintain that only at the Treasure Island Casino would someone find a pirate in pink boots and green leather...I don't think it's a BAD thing I just think it's a "costumey" thing (nothing wrong with that eh?).

So in Honor of Nataliya we now have the PIRATE NATJA and once again it was a fun event which I tried to keep secret...but alas...

The ladies didn't actually know what instructions were given to the other EDT members but the basic instruction for most of the team was NO GREEN.

Monique - Netherlands

Helen - Scotland

I guess when you take green away from people RED is the next choice?

Helen had so much fun she also did this version-which one do you like better? I think they're both great!

Here's a version from SUZI - Scotland also no green but this one in pastels...

Lady B - USA

another red skirt...

I let Gloria use green but asked for a "pulp Novel" colour scheme-she says she thinks it's more "Calypso"

And last but certainly NOT least poor Aletha Jane got the booby prize-she could do natural colours for the skin hair and eyes but the rest HAD to be green (I am sometimes a cruel IMP).

Aletha says she selected MOSS and OLIVE as her main greens and I actually like it a whole lot!
Certain sense of Irish Panache'.

She also did another version which is pretty swell:

You can get Pirate Natja HERE or use the buy it now button below:

Monday, March 18, 2013

Kismet - FATE

I often think that FATE is the most important part of our lives-it has often felt like FATE has dictated many major moves in my life including my career in Digital stamps-I was fated to meet my friend DEE so I could do digis since it was an offhanded suggestion from her that led me here...

I have designed the musical Kismet a couple times-its a beautiful show that is based on music by BORADIN including Stranger in Paradise, Baubles bangles and Beads and my favorite-AND THIS IS MY BELOVED you can hear the original cast sing it HERE.

I have of late been doing more lovely ladies in sumptuous costumes and here is Lahlume the favorite of the Wazir representing KISMET as done by several of my EDT ladies-I assigned the hair colour the rest was up to them...

SUZI McKenzie - Scotland

NATALIYA Simpson - Canada

ALISON Heikkilla - USA

HELEN Cullem - Scotland

In the coming Months this is how you will be seeing my new image rolled out with various versions by my Talented EDT spread over TWO blogs-the more upbeat, cute and pretty images on SPARKLE AND GLITTER and the darker edgier images on AIRLESS CHAMBERS-both blogs will be getting new looks and will also feature how to's, tutorials and product reviews and information as well as invitational GDT spots by talented fans, contests, quizzes and who knows what so don't miss a moment-our intention is to have something new every 3 days on one of our three blogs (including mine).

Remember there is a tab above where you can find out where I m sponsoring every month so you can get in on challenges where my images are prizes and there are hand links to the other blogs and my ETSY shop and Facebook pages so make this the start of your visit.

I hope you enjoy the changes we are making-its all KISMET!

Saturday, March 16, 2013

Easter Bucket by Monique

A fun and easy project , nice to make together with the kids. All digi's used are Rick St. Dennis MFA you can find them in his Etsy.

(NOTE: many of these designs are from the digi sheet LITTLE BITS O SPRING which is no longer published-also some of the designs were in the shop but may have been retired since this post was written)

I printed the digi's coloured them and cut them out, glued the bunnies to the bucket.

I used my Cricut to cut out paper flowers and a heart, but you can use any die cut machine, or punches for this (or even hand cut). I glued the flowers to wooden sticks (that I painted green first), and added some green ribbon for leaves.

Stick them into floral foam and cover with the yellow Easter decoration straw.


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Monday, January 17, 2011

Arizona Massacre: The New Reefer Madness

What is it with everyone’s obsession to try to find someone or something to blame for the Tucson shootout other than the evil nutcase himself, Jared Loughner?

Sure there are plenty of would have, could have, should have’s, but excuse the cliché, hindsight is always 20-20.

Now, in part due to Barack Obama’s wonderful address, the blame is sliding away from feeble attempts in the media to pin the murders on conservatives and talk radio. Now it’s time for the conservatives to play the blame game along with the believers in the “drug free America” crows to take their stab at it.

Marijuana caused Loughner to go nuts and kill. Common sense alone would tell a right minded person, this is preposterous. If Marijuana were capable of causing such an extreme degree of drug induced psychosis there would be many more episodes of pot smokers gone berzerko and blasting innocent citizens.

It’s probably not too surprising that folks who engage in dangerous anti-social behavior would smoke weed. The way they see the world laws have no meaning so if society admonishes against pot smoking, it must be pretty cool to puff.

Just as there is a rush to create new gun laws, now there’s some who want to create new drug/gun laws. Gun owners should have to take drug tests to own a firearm and if one is convicted of drug possession, that person would forfeit his right to own guns. Okay, we probably don’t want folks stoned out of their mind carrying guns – but ditto for those who had a bad day at the office, drank a few beers, or had a bad argument with the wife.

The issue is mental illness and our society is doing a terrible job dealing with such unfortunate people.

By the 21st century, it’s hard to believe that so many still seek to continue marijuana possession. There’s nothing Washington, DC or in statehouses around the country can do that will keep people from smoking pot. The consequences of illegal marijuana are obvious. The horrors along our southern border and below it have much to do with the value of the cash crop marijuana represents and the huge profits satisfying its high demand in US society.

Legalize marijuana, tax it, put the tax money toward bailing out the debt and perhaps also helping to finance medical reform. Doing so would dry up the black market. If the black market were eliminated, perhaps laws could be enacted that would make it illegal for the mentally ill with certain conditions to purchase marijuana – such could be recorded on their driver’s license or suitable ID required to buy marijuana and alcohol.

Marijuana reform requires a little bit of bold thinking out of the box and one hell of a lot of common sense. In the meantime, what went wrong with Jared Loughner will become clearer for all to see. The left will never let a good crisis go to waist. Everything that appears to threaten public safety becomes another excuse to enact more laws to micromanage everything, and we must always look for boogy men beside the real culprits.

The blame game is as insane.

No comments:


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Tuesday, November 14, 2006

What Do You Get For Your College Tuition?

Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings believes in "transparency". Universities would prefer to keep you in the dark--because you're just a member of the proletariet, anyway.

All she wants, Spellings says, is better information made available to families, taxpayers and policymakers so they can make better decisions about how they spend their money. And given how little is really known about how well students are served by higher education, she says, she doesn't see why anyone would find that unreasonable.

No one but the keepers of the medieval guilds, that is.

rightwingprof said...

Part of the problem is legal (Privacy Act of 1974, which severely ties the hands of the university), and related to that, institutional, in that the university has bought into this "student privacy trumps all" mindset. When we wanted to do a study on high school GPA, math SAT scores, and performance in our class, the university only okayed it after three years of endless meetings, forms, and bureaucratic nonsense. It took over a year just to do a study between our first and second semester courses in the sequence, with the same faculty and teachers.

That's not all or most of it, of course. Universities are PR machines. They don't want their dirty laundry getting out.

EllenK said...

I think that public schools of all types owe it to taxpayers to have line by line transparency as to all expenditures. This should be the standard for public universities as well. I have two kids in a state university. There "fees" almost equal their tuition. There's room use fees, technology fees, library fees, student activity fees, student health center fees (doubly ironic since they dont' take most common insurance) and that's just the tip of the iceberg. If these services were available or used for the general student population, there would be no problem, but quite often support for athletic programs or other specialty programs are hidden inside those fees. If a program can't stand alone economically, I would question whether or not that was a "successful" program. Case in point would be also at my children's university, where the School of Arts and Sciences is in the red. How can this be? They seem to hire a slew of adjunct part time professors, so tenure and retirement aren't the issue, every single student has to take at least twelve to twenty hours in the schools curricular courses and it's the largest section on campus. Yet it loses money. I think audits should be done annually and boards and university chancellors should be held accountable for how the money is spent before they get another dime. Plus I think there should be a cap on tuition and that students should be given the same tuition rate for four years and raises should grandfather in those students. Right now we have this big push for students to finish in four years, but they can't because every time they near graduation, the degree plans change or the requirement are amended. This has to stop at the administrative level. University classes should not be jobs programs for grad students. And that too is something that should be spelled out with clarity on annual reports.

Darren said...

EllenK, the same argument can be made for public support of the arts, though.

rightwingprof said...

"I think that public schools of all types owe it to taxpayers to have line by line transparency as to all expenditures. This should be the standard for public universities as well."

No argument from me, but what I was saying, that most people don't understand, is that any kind of tracking of students is *illegal* for the university, per the Privacy Act of 1974 (you can thank Carter and the McGovern Congress for that). The law makes it nearly impossible for universities to do any kind of meaningful study, whether they're willing to do so or not. Spellings should know that -- she's a government employee, after all. Apparently, she doesn't.

The only way we were allowed to do our studies -- after YEARS of endless meetings with university bureaucrats and attorneys -- was to have one person assign our own IDs to students, then another person delete the original IDs, and a separate person (me) do the analysis. After YEARS of meetings.

I have to defend the university PR machine, but the university cannot just release data -- because they're not allowed to collect or analyze it.

The only solution to this, as Spellings should know, is to repeal that idiotic Privacy Act. There are other reasons to do so, as well. Universities prefer to handle any legal problems, including rape, in house rather than reporting the charges. If this happens, a rapist goes free, because the law prohibits the university from reporting those in house charges on any document.


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Kenneth Rijock

Kenneth Rijock

Saturday, March 8, 2014

Consumer complaints, centered around what issuers refer to, albeit incorrectly, as prepaid debit cards, are giving the card industry a bad name. You don't know that term ? You are not alone, as the name itself is a contradiction in terms. Let's discuss:

(1) A debit card allows users to make purchases, by deducting funds directly from their checking accounts.

(2) A prepaid card, which is not tied to the user's bank account, has funds directly loaded, or reloaded onto it, and funds are deducted at point of purchase.

(3) A so-called"prepaid debit" card is neither; it requires the user to deposit money, not into either his designated bank account, or onto the card itself, as a credit, but into a "pre-funding account."

The user accesses his money through a PIN; he may also unwittingly give the PIN to an online merchant, who may then deduct the amount of the purchase, or more, or take funds illegally, and not deliver the merchandise, which is the principal consumer complaint. Apparently, unscrupulous merchants are asking their customers to purchase a prepaid debit card, knowing of its vulnerabilities, and then reneging on delivery of the goods or services.
Typical charges
The other problem is the unethical, immoral, but strictly legal,  repeated deduction of various and sundry clearly excessive fees by certain resellers, who give instructions to the issuers to make the deductions from the pre-funding account, which are obeyed. These extreme charges may be buried in ten pages of legal disclosures that consumers sign, but rarely actually read, or even taken from the account without any written disclosure whatsoever, many issuers are honest, but the industry is being pulled down by greedy clients, or resellers, of the issuing banks.

Listen, if you want protection from a bank, obtain a debit card; if you want to absolutely limit your exposure to a sum certain, purchase a prepaid card, but do not run for this hybrid, the prepaid debit card, which confers no protection, is susceptible to fraud and abuse by both resellers and vendors, and which offers you no avenue for relief, should there be a problem. One merely needs to go to the complaints appearing on the Internet to confirm this.

The money is reportedly kept in  a"pre-funding account"and co-mingled with that of other clients. Since these entities are corporations, there is no civil liability of the operators, should the company become insolvent, or file for bankruptcy. This is not an FDIC-insured bank account, nor is the money actually loaded or charged up on your physical card.

If you search the Internet, you will find horror stories, first-person accounts of individuals who woke up to find excess admin charges, and other nonsense, deducted from their cards. Please avoid this dangerous financial instrument, lest you also get burned.

  1. There are many of these frauds on the internet and I noticed that they all advertise the same group of numbers. Does this mean that it is a single group committing these frauds? This will give a bad name to Master Card and the Visa cards.

    Very informative article.

  2. Excellent post and wonderful blog. thanks for share.

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