My Mum Said...
a Eulogy to Den

If he was anybody, Den was a traveler
Circumnavigating the globe
at home, his sister, she waited for news
and for photos of travelers bold
Circumnavigating the globe

If he was anybody, Den was a boy
A boy with a passion for wheels
he loved, all machines, I have the same genes
for planes trains ‘n automobiles
A boy with a passion for wheels

If he was anybody, Den was a train spotter
I remember a trip to see steam
the power, the force, the smell and the noise
So recent, or was it a dream?
I remember a trip to see steam

If he was anybody, Den was a driver
His taste in cars, so complete
His Sovereign Daimlaar, Joan - no food in the car!
I’m surprised he let us kids on the seat.
His taste in cars, so complete

If he was anybody, Den was a photographer
Tin mines or snaps of Land’s End
the transparencies focus, the images transport us
we all witnessed the world thru his lens
Tin mines or snaps of Land’s End

If he was anybody, Den was a husband
a son, a brother and maybe to me
a bit of a dad, Something rubbed off - a tad
My mum said I remind her of he
My mum said I remind her of he

The bridge at Millau is a fantastic sight, rising abouve the clouds.

And as impressive is the construction where the two bridge pieces (built on land) were pushed into place using hydraulic rams. Almost like sliding doors on an elevator (UK: lift).

The analogy from one of the French engineers is similar to the way that a sewing machine moves the material in small steps. On the bridge, rams moved the bridge 60cm each cycle (taking 4 minutes) so it took over 3000 cycles to slide the deck into place.

God bless the French.

Solar Power 0, Electricy Meters 1

As if I need another project... but solar power is so compelling a mirage that I can not resist. Are solar panels viable in New England?

The Theroretical Approach

1. each panel is about $5 per watt
2. Exposure: 745 hours of output per year *
3. panel alignment efficiency: 80% (panel azi 235, and tilt 45) **
4. 1W panel output: 0.8 x 745 watthours per year (approx 10c)
5. payback period approx 50 years.

Now, if only I can get the panels to track the sun (a doubling of efficency) and if the government allows me a refund of 50% of my investment then the payback is closer to 12 years - but then I really have to buy a grid tied inverter to make sense and make my house look like a science project.

The Empiricle Approach

So, to get started, I bought 2 x 100W Kyocera panels and am inserting them into skylight frames so that they look the part (I haven't even told the wife). I have a 200W inverter and will use the juice to heat a secondary water tank that feeds the real hot water tank. I will meter the output and expect to get $20 of electrons per year. Costs are $1000 for the panels, $500 installation, $200 water tank... payback 85 years. If only I could improve the climate or move to Arizona?

Bottom Line

Saving the planet is a great pastime - makes you feel good and gives you lots to talk about at parties but solar panels are not viable when you live in New England (or Old). If you are looking for a planet saving project, I suggest that you buy a electricity monitoring device that allows you to see your realtime usage from your power company. Our whole family now sees the actual usage on a small wireless device (like a wireless thermometer) and we have reduced our consumption by almost 10% already. Based on our $200 per month electricity bill - it would take a roof-full of solar panels and a $20k investment to provide as much value. The meters are about $130 with a payback of about 6 months. And it gives you something to talk to the kids about at mealtimes. "No one is going anywhere until we get below 1kW!"

* Based on a big local solar project in the area (115kW panels yielded 85MW in 2006)
** recommended settings are 180 deg and 40 deg (see link above)

That we would have an Irishman helping Anglo-American relationships is news indeed. And for those of you less versed in the saga, Wiredgoose is correct that Caracalla* and David have indeed fallen out (* Caracalla is not his real name). I feel duty bound to point out that I did offer the "olive branch" but it was too little too late.

As to the airbrushing or damnatio memoriae for you more literate folk, Caracalla deleted his entries on this blog, which was such a shame. In my last email to Caracalla I wrote "That I managed to teach you some of the finer points of English humour is one of my better accomplishments - it is a real shame that you deleted the article on French cricket (grillon). The other articles will also be sorely missed - almost as much as you."

Caracalla's penmanship was becoming superb, surpassed only by his truculency. In the dusk of our friendship, I asked Caracalla if he ever watched House (since it seems to include a fair rendition of our two characters) - he replied that he did not find curmudgeons that appealing !

I will miss Kevin (ooops - I meant to say Caracalla)

Hey, it's suddenly a lot less crowded here. Reminds me of that famous pic of Lenin and Trotsky, pre and post the crude Soviet airbrush.

I know you guys have fallen out, and I know not and care less why, but does that justify airbrushing (or self-airbrushing?) the entire contributions of a regular poster?

Whoever (s)he was, the airbrusher missed his comments, which haunt this now-quiet blog like the ghost of Banquo.

I'm off to wiredgoose, where the population remains steady (one!).

Secondhand Chemotherapy results.

So, there was I thinking that chemotherapy was some kind of nuclear therapy where they inject your body with isotopes that irradiate the body. Green phosphorescent liquid administered intravenously - gamma emitting elements coursing thru the veins amid cries of Kryponite!

Snuggling up to Ronnie at night was doubly fun - marital bliss and some secondary radiation exposure as a prophylactic.

As it happens, the drugs are just poisons, usually with Platinum or some other precious metal: Cl2H6N2Pt is one example (cisplatin). So the results of my secondhand chemotherapy trial are unlikely to make the British Medical Journal unless this is merely a symptom of a new disease called GSD (Generalized Stupidity Disorder). I live in hope that they do not name it Traynor's Syndrome or maybe I have been eating too many catalytic converters.

And for you regular readers, Ronnie is now off the drugs and life is returning to abnormal. There is nothing like a crisis to focus the mind on the people you love.

God love us!

Mortality Rate, Confidence Interval, Control Groups... it is more like a statistics course than a visit to the doctors. I guess that is why the walls of the North Shore Cancer Center are painted with "hope, compassion, love, spirit...".

So, we are agonizing over the chemo decision – the stats say no, the friends say yes and the docs say don’t know. The biggest issue seems to be the natural reaction of people that you must do chemo "how can you be so selfish... think of the children... you have to fight this thing..." maybe it is the American way and that you must always fight, even if the risks outweigh the benefits. 'Tis better to have tried and died, rather than never to have tried at all (apols to Alfred).

I have said that there are better ways to reduce the mortality rate: snow tires, more sushi, get a dog! Hey – I am a pragmatist at heart (at least I am now). Maybe it is that this cancer is staged as a 'borderline' that amplifies the quandry, or maybe cancer does that to you, makes you question your decisions, undermines your confidence. So when all said and done, I am starting to feel that these decisions are not as much 'medical' as 'emotional'... more about making the decision right rather than making the right descision.

It also seems that I may be just coursing my way thru the stages of grief... or at least that is the traditional view - grieving for the death of the still living. I know I am overreacting but my math says 76% mortality at 5 years - that puts D-day as 8th Sept 2010... tick tock. Maybe if I use more significant digits we can wring an extra day or two. I know I am overreacting. Maybe some blind faith is what I need, a trip to the church, put my head in the religious sand, share some hollow trite happy statements. Looks like I am thru the stages in just one posting!

And in an attempt to drag this entry back from the brink of morbidity - here are the stages:
- the old tires will be fine. (denial)
- why are they so bloody expensive ? (anger)
- I promise to drive slower! (bargaining)
- we can't afford snow tires. (depression)
- we need snow tires. (acceptance)

God save 245 65 R 17 Pirelli Scopions