Breaking Through, Travelling On

edinburgher

I can picture Nigel designing death rays in his garage after a tiring day at the intellectual property office. It was probably a mild mannered architect called Malcolm who drew up the plans for the Death Star, he had thought that the design could be used to grow bok choi in space until the Empire demanded efficiencies...

Karmacat

ZTD wrote: »

I lived in some places with pretty pathetic mains pressure, but it has always taken less than 2 hours for something to come out of the tap...

Remember, I work from home ... I'm *always* about to have a cup of tea. If I keep the thing filled up, I'm sorted :rotfl:

This is more my style: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItQ6hkJ8SGI

Ooh, I love that! I wandered onto the site of some guy in Australia cooking with the fresnel lens that was apparently in an outdated tech tv (not cathode ray, obvs, but I'm not sure what now) and for a while I was genuinely hunting about on freegle etc for a giveaway that had this thing. I don't think they ever took off in this country, I was heartbroken

However, this does show what "key words" are required to sell something to both of us:

Karmacat: solar kettle, eco, efficient
ZTD: Giant Death Ray

But there's my other persona too, of course. One of the few things on which I agree with Jack O'Neill is the need for giant death rays :j

Don't forget - it's 6 years and 1 month...

31 January?

edinburgher wrote: »

I can picture Nigel designing death rays in his garage after a tiring day at the intellectual property office. It was probably a mild mannered architect called Malcolm who drew up the plans for the Death Star, he had thought that the design could be used to grow bok choi in space until the Empire demanded efficiencies...

Loving it :T Have you ever read any of the books in CJ Cherryh's Merchanter universe? She needs lots of Nigels and Malcolms to make that one work

I, otoh, have done very little. Made my early lunch, been reading Firestarter, downsized the scans of the bank statements I did yesterday, so I can send more at once. I think I'd better have a constitutional, and walk around the block. Then tidying up the office, I reckon. I don't have the official notification of the rental income yet, so I won't send off the accounts.

edinburgher

I haven't read those KC.

I am not taking to Firestarter. He seems to be very spendy and makes a lot of excuses. I wonder when he's going to have his lightbulb moment

Lula-Hula

Hello :hello:

just popping in for another visit (whilst on a lunch break from budgetting) to make sure you and your crew are behaving yourselves

Waved at you last Sunday as I was visiting Nymans with a couple of friends. A lovely place to wander in my wellies ( quite pricey though ) and then we had a tasty pub lunch after.

Very impressed at all your decluttering too, keep up the good work
x

ZTD

Karmacat wrote: »

Remember, I work from home ... I'm *always* about to have a cup of tea. If I keep the thing filled up, I'm sorted :rotfl:

If you have a thermos, you can decant out and so long as you don't have more than 3 cups of tea every two hours (in bright sunshine - less if it's raining) you should be OK.

Personally, I'll be sticking with the kettle. Though I once did make a cuppa on top of a wood-burning stove using one of those enamelled mugs. Thick gloves are your friend...

Karmacat wrote: »

Ooh, I love that! I wandered onto the site of some guy in Australia cooking with the fresnel lens that was apparently in an outdated tech tv (not cathode ray, obvs, but I'm not sure what now)

It *was* cathode ray (usually, though some later ones were LCD) and they were Back Projection TVs. Essentially, you'd have a small TV hidden in the bottom of the cabinet, then use a Fresnel lens to magnify it up to the projection screen on the front of the cabinet. Lumpy to say the least. The display units in Terry Gilliam's Brazil are the same technique, just not housed in a cabinet.

Karmacat wrote: »

and for a while I was genuinely hunting about on freegle etc for a giveaway that had this thing. I don't think they ever took off in this country, I was heartbroken

They were £3K-5K a pop, which is why they didn't take off. I, on the other hand, have a technique for making *any* display seem much larger. Unfortunately, I can't seem to get a patent for it.

The technique is called: Sit Closer.

Goldiegirl

I never knew there was such a thing as a solar kettle.

My north facing kitchen barely gets a ray of sunlight even in high summer. I'd be waiting forever for it to boil.

I suppose I could put it on the south facing living room floor in front of the patio doors. I'd get loads of hot water then..... But it wouldn't be exactly practical!:rotfl:

ZTD

Goldiegirl wrote: »

I never knew there was such a thing as a solar kettle.

My north facing kitchen barely gets a ray of sunlight even in high summer. I'd be waiting forever for it to boil.

I suppose I could put it on the south facing living room floor in front of the patio doors. I'd get loads of hot water then..... But it wouldn't be exactly practical!:rotfl:

Electric kettles: Practical all over the house...

Karmacat

Lula-Hula wrote: »

just popping in for another visit (whilst on a lunch break from budgetting) to make sure you and your crew are behaving yourselves

Waved at you last Sunday as I was visiting Nymans with a couple of friends. A lovely place to wander in my wellies ( quite pricey though ) and then we had a tasty pub lunch after.

Very impressed at all your decluttering too, keep up the good work
x

:wave::wave::wave: Hi Lula! Visit to Nymans sounds good I have an annual ticket to Wakehurst Place, though I haven't been there since I got it cos of lurgification .... pub lunch sounds excellent :beer:

ZTD wrote: »

If you have a thermos, you can decant out and so long as you don't have more than 3 cups of tea every two hours (in bright sunshine - less if it's raining) you should be OK.

Personally, I'll be sticking with the kettle. Though I once did make a cuppa on top of a wood-burning stove using one of those enamelled mugs. Thick gloves are your friend...

I want a solar kettle now though, Z and realistically I want the independence from the leccy supply.

I also had an idea about my rocket stove, how to finish it off more easily - nicking the bottom off a big can, and using it as the top of the existing rocket stove. Still got to muck around with it, but much less (just for the inside bit ... I'll blog, eventually).

It *was* cathode ray (usually, though some later ones were LCD) and they were Back Projection TVs. Essentially, you'd have a small TV hidden in the bottom of the cabinet, then use a Fresnel lens to magnify it up to the projection screen on the front of the cabinet. Lumpy to say the least. The display units in Terry Gilliam's Brazil are the same technique, just not housed in a cabinet.

I should have known you'd know :rotfl:I knew at the time, to be fair, but once I realised I couldn't do it, it just sort of disappeared from my brain

They were £3K-5K a pop, which is why they didn't take off. I, on the other hand, have a technique for making *any* display seem much larger. Unfortunately, I can't seem to get a patent for it.

The technique is called: Sit Closer.

:T:T:T

Goldiegirl wrote: »

I never knew there was such a thing as a solar kettle.

My north facing kitchen barely gets a ray of sunlight even in high summer. I'd be waiting forever for it to boil.

I suppose I could put it on the south facing living room floor in front of the patio doors. I'd get loads of hot water then..... But it wouldn't be exactly practical!:rotfl:

If your patio doors are at the back of the house ... yes it would :j on calm days, anyway. I'll certainly experiment with putting it on a sunny windowledge, and I'll see what the instructions say about the dangers of putting it outside when there might be a shower as well as sunshine ... interesting times, we live in

ZTD

Karmacat wrote: »

I want a solar kettle now though, Z and realistically I want the independence from the leccy supply.

How much independence do you want? Hours? Days? I have a box for power cuts which has a camping gas stove and a torch so bright you can see it from space. That'll keep me going for some time.

Karmacat wrote: »

I also had an idea about my rocket stove, how to finish it off more easily - nicking the bottom off a big can, and using it as the top of the existing rocket stove.

Given that the idea behind the rocket stove is to present an insulated wall, would it not be better to put the whole can (and not just the bottom) on it and give it a third wall? (Obviously cutting a notch for the fuel feed funnel).

Karmacat wrote: »

I should have known you'd know :rotfl:I knew at the time, to be fair, but once I realised I couldn't do it, it just sort of disappeared from my brain

Well that's better than my way: Learn about new technology, realise it's complete rubbish and worse than I could have dreamed up in my back bedroom. Never forget about it again...

Karmacat wrote: »

If your patio doors are at the back of the house ... yes it would :j on calm days, anyway. I'll certainly experiment with putting it on a sunny windowledge, and I'll see what the instructions say about the dangers of putting it outside when there might be a shower as well as sunshine ... interesting times, we live in

If you're wanting some way to focus large amounts of sunlight, you could always just attach mirrors (needn't be "real" ones, foil over cardboard suffices) to the back of your house, and focus them down to a point. Maybe call it "Death Ray Corner" or something.

Just beware of Streamers.

Karmacat

Been sauntering about on the boards, lots of great stuff going on. I've talked with both my brother and my sister this morning, which is a wee bit unusual, gone over the family finance idea I had earlier in the week, and they both like it :j though it'll be a long time coming, so I'm adamant they tell me if they see any problems.

I'm just off to prepare lunch now - has to be a quiet day, there's sleet and rain out there, and I'm not going out in that after the bout I've had ...

Afternoon, possibly a little bit of cleaning (tho I doubt it ) and more importantly either/or decluttering/ working on the genealogical biography I was writing, there's more research been done that needs integrating