5/14/12 Not-so-Hot Water
"Add three seconds of water an stir." That's a strange recipe direction. "Fill a large pot with 20 seconds of water and bring to a boil." That's pretty odd, too. Would you ever calculate the amount of water to cook with by how long it takes to come out of the tap rather than volume?
It seems somebody thinks we do. Why else would the gas company send folks door-to-door offering to install a device that restricts water flow from the faucets promising it will save 20% on your hot water bill? Happened to me just the other day. I declined the offer.
I fill my pots with cold water. It's more efficient to heat the water on the burner than to heat it partly in the hot water tank first then the rest of the way on the burner. So the device wouldn't make a difference there. Just make filling pots take longer.
When washing dishes I fill the sink with enough hot water to do the job. I wouldn't fill it less if it took longer to fill. No savings there. I rinse the dishes in tepid water with that sprayer thingamabob. I don't run the water full blast anyway because it splashes too much. No savings there.
Maybe I'm crazy, but the idea that a flow-restricting device at the tap is going to save me 20% on hot water seems unlikely. Especially considering most of my hot water useage is laundry and showers. Anyway, my faucets already have a device which I use to reduce water flow. It's called a valve, and I know how to use it.
Unlike most houses mine has a device that saves water, though not hot water. I have a urinal. Easy to use and a lot less messy than a toilet. Of course I have a toilet, too, for number two.
Filed under Odds & Ends and Blab
4/28/12 Interesting to Me and No-one Else, Probably
Folks like to make statements with their clothing. Sometimes it's a fashion statement; sometimes a literal statement, as in a t-shirt sporting a slogan or gag. Sometimes it's sort-of both, as in a baseball cap festooned with a logo. The psychology behind this... who cares. Logos look cool. Well, many logos, not all.
Just about everything you buy now-a-days comes emblazoned with a logo. Not just apparel. Even fruit. I guess we're supposed to think it's a designer banana or something. At any rate logos are everywhere.
What makes a good logo? It should be simple, clear, not finicky. This falls under the oxymoron of less is more...
Read it all filed under Odds & Ends and Blab
4/24/12 Whatever Happened to Centigrade?
Infrequently Answered Question #66: I notice a lot of places use the Celsius scale for temperature while the US stays with Fahrenheit. Which do you like better?
A: The problem with both Celsius and Fahrenheit is negative numbers, readings below zero. But how can anything be less than zero, less than nothing at all? Temperature is a measure of kinetic energy, motion of matter. But there can't be less than no motion, negative motion...
Read it all filed under Infrequently Answered Questions and Blab
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Mind Reading Diagramed and Explained
For the first time anywhere I offer this complete illustrated guide to mind reading, or ESP. Though it is not so simple to explain, it is easily understood by the simple-minded. And the simpler the better. So, strap on your pyramid hats and prepare to be dazzled.
The process: An idea pops into the subject's head setting off vibrations, or "vibes", which bounce around in the skull by the process of mental reflection. As the subject concentrates the vibes are concentrated, building up until the thoughts penetrating the brain penetrate the skull and escape as psychic waves.
The psychic picks up the psychic waves through the third eye located in the sinus cavity. The idea sinks in, meaning it sinks to the abdomen creating the gut feeling associated with premonition. The gut feeling activates the soft spot creating a warm fuzzy which tickles the fancy sending a tingle up the spinal column. Atop the spinal column the virtual cortex vibrates the filaments of the imagination which stimulate the extra sensory perceptors attached to the psychic brain, known as the P brain, where the psychic "reads" the subject's thoughts...
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How I Almost Ran Myself Over With a Jerry-rigged Jalopy
Young and foolish. A phrase that springs to mind as I relate the tale of my first car. While they say you're only young once, you can be foolish over and over. Which is why nobody ever says you're only young and foolish once.
Lots of people have fond memories of their first car, a warm fuzzy nostalgia for that symbol of youthful independence. First cars are often used cars, often very used. Meaning they might have had more value as a cube of crushed scrap metal than as transportation. Still, the cash-strapped youth of America would buy these zombie-mobiles to squeeze out a few more miles before sending them to remeet their makers. Being a cash-strapped American youth, I participated in this sort-of cash for clunkers program.
Such vehicle leftovers would often as not have some rather unique non-standard aftermarket add-ons not found at any auto parts store. "Features" were added, a wire coat-hanger aerial, duck tape Bondo. And parts were missing, little things, radio knobs, the radio itself, a bumper or two. Many bits didn't work as well as they once had, in some cases not at all. Heaters became air-conditioning, but only in winter. Hand-cranked windows became hand-pulled windows...
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