New Zealand: Kaitaia College Sets Solar Power Record
March 6th, 2019I tried to crack this nut several years ago. The math on system viability was simple. The news here is that they got the thing financed somehow.
In the Far North, it’s not a question of the system saving money. That’s easy. In almost all situations, the customer is going to save money. A lot of money.
The problem up here is that practically nobody is able to afford the systems.
Is it a coincidence that the poorest area in the country has the highest power prices?
No.
All industry excuses as to why the prices are so high up here are lies.
The real reason is that people can’t afford to fight back with solar due to the upfront system costs. When I was selling systems up here, I wasn’t able to get a single system done on finance, even when people owned their homes and had no debt.
I’m not allowed to give details, but there is a large government building up here that pays an astonishing amount of public money each month for electricity. Economic viability for solar was a no brainer.
It’s UNBELIEVABLE that a large portion of the loads in that building are not running on solar during business hours…
Anyway, they didn’t do it. Couldn’t afford it. They just keep paying tons of public money to ******* (electricity retailer name redacted).
It just does your f*ckin head in, man, the stupidity of it all.
Anyway, I’m glad that Kaitaia College finally figured it out.
Via: New Zealand Herald:
A solar PV system, the biggest at any school in New Zealand, was officially unveiled at Kaitaia College last week.
Te Tai Tokerau MP Kelvin Davis unveiled a plaque at a function also attended by guests including Dwayne Crocker, from the Sustainable Electricity Association.
The project, a partnership between the college and SuperPower Technologies, was billed as offering significant financial benefits for the school and serving as a springboard for students and the community towards building understanding and solving local energy problems.
The system is 101kWp, comprising some 367 panels, which will produce around 60 per cent of the school’s electricity requirements during the school day in summer. The system was purchased on finance, to be paid off over 10 years, but the school was expecting a nett saving on its power bill from day one.
After 10 years it will own the system outright.
U.S. Budget Deficit Widens 77 Percent
March 6th, 2019Via: Bloomberg:
The U.S. budget deficit widened to $310 billion in the first four months of the fiscal year, underscoring the revenue hit from Republican tax cuts and an increase in government spending.
The budget gap widened 77 percent compared with the same October-January period a year earlier, according to the Treasury monthly budget report released on Tuesday, which was delayed by the government shutdown. Receipts fell by 2 percent to $1.1 trillion, while spending rose 9 percent to $1.4 trillion.
Survival Lilly: Hashimoto’s Autoimmune Disorder
March 6th, 2019My children and I like to watch Survival Lilly’s videos. I was surprised to find out how ill she was. Her story about how she has dealt with this is pretty remarkable; definitely worth sharing in case it can help anyone out there.
Via: Survival Lilly:
Chatty Gargoyle at Denver International Airport
March 5th, 2019It’s all a silly joke. Those conspiracy theorists are a zany bunch. Laugh it up.
Via: Denver International Airport:
He’s 243 years old, and is here to clear the air on all the conspiracies at DEN. Turns out this gargoyle is wiser than we thought, and is sharing more than we planned. Along with giving travelers his two cents, he’s surprising them with smiles and plenty of laughs. We believe interactions at DEN should not only be helpful, but fun too. That’s the art of airporting.
Backflipping MIT Mini Cheetah
March 5th, 2019Via: Massachusetts Institute of Technology:
MIT’S new mini cheetah robot is the first four-legged robot to do a backflip. At only 20 pounds the limber quadruped can bend and swing its legs wide, enabling it to walk either right side up or upside down. The robot can also trot over uneven terrain about twice as fast as an average person’s walking speed.
Tim Berners-Lee: “The Web Has Been Hijacked by Crooks and Trolls”
March 4th, 2019Via: AFP:
Thirty years ago this month, a young British software engineer working at a lab near Geneva invented a system for scientists to share information that would ultimately change humanity.
But three decades after he invented the World Wide Web, Tim Berners-Lee has warned that his creation has been “hijacked by crooks” that may spell its destruction.
Defiant U.S. Sheriffs Push Gun Sanctuaries, Imitating Liberals on Immigration
March 4th, 2019Via: Reuters:
A rapidly growing number of counties in at least four states are declaring themselves Second Amendment sanctuaries, refusing to enforce gun-control laws that they consider to be infringements on the U.S. constitutional right to keep and bear arms.
Organizers of the pro-gun sanctuaries admit they took the idea from liberals who have created immigration sanctuaries across the United States where local officials defy the Trump administration’s efforts to enforce tougher immigration laws.
Trump Vows Executive Order Requiring ‘Free Speech’ at Colleges
March 2nd, 2019Via: Reuters:
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Saturday he would soon sign an executive order requiring American universities and colleges to maintain “free speech” on campuses and threatened that schools not complying could lose federal research funds.
…
If universities do not comply “it will be very costly,” he said. The U.S. government awards universities more than $30 billion annually in research funds.
Whooping Cough Outbreak at Exclusive Harvard-Westlake School: 30 Out of 30 Students Were Vaccinated
March 2nd, 2019I am Jack’s complete lack of surprise.
Via: CBS:
An exclusive private school has been hit with dozens cases of whooping cough, which has sickened a large number of teenagers across Los Angeles County.
Health officials say they are monitoring three large clusters of highly contagious whooping cough among 11- to 18-year-olds. The county Department of Health issued a health alert to pediatricians and other health care providers about the uptick in whooping cough last week.
Harvard-Westlake, which has campuses in Studio City and Beverly Crest, was hit particularly hard, with 30 students coming down with whooping cough since November, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
Of about 1,600 students attend Harvard-Westlake, where tuition is close to $40,000 a year, only 18 opted out of vaccinations for medical reasons. None of the 30 students who contracted whooping cough were not vaccinated.
U.S. Marine Veteran Built Cocaine Pipeline as Mexican Drug Kingpin
March 1st, 2019Via: MSN:
A U.S. Marine veteran who rose to power as a reputed Mexican drug kingpin has been named in a massive cocaine-trafficking indictment in San Diego.
The investigation into Angel Dominguez Ramirez Jr.’s organization revealed “an unprecedented level of corruption within the Mexican government, local police departments, federal police agencies and military,” the U.S. attorney’s office said in a recent court filing.
More than 41 people have been charged in the case, which has yielded 5,000 kilograms, or about 11,000 pounds, of seized cocaine and more than $9 million in drug proceeds.
Dominguez’s organization sourced cocaine from Peru, Venezuela, Ecuador, up through Central America and into Chiapas, Mexico, according to prosecutors. Transportation cells would move the cocaine into Mexico using boats, aircraft and commercial vehicles, then over the California and Texas borders for distribution into the United States, the court filing says.
The organization also used a reverse pipeline to move drug proceeds from the U.S. back south, according to the indictment, which was partially unsealed this week.
Dominguez, arrested in Mexico in 2016, is awaiting extradition to San Diego.
