"Heating with Icecubes" update

Sometime last month I'd posted that I was heating my house with icecubes, so now's time for an update.


Finally got the heat pump replaced ten days ago, and maaaan it's been great.  We had a few temperature dips down into the mid-40's, and the new 3 ton unit just puts the house at the desired temperature.  After years of living with an old, cheap, worn out 2 1/2 ton unit, it was like moving into the 21st century.  Which in a way it was, considering that the old unit dated to 1997.  The best part is having the compressor (the outside unit) relocated somewhere other than under my bedroom window.  Specifically, out in back of the bathroom, where it's not under the roof's drip-edge, and where the extra noise can be considered a feature-not-a-bug.


Now about costs.  Pretty big bucks.  But there's a 30% tax credit, capped at $1500) for high-efficiency heat pumps installed this year (details here), so I'll be getting about $1500 of the initial outlay back in about a year.  And, based on past performance, it looks like my electric bill will be about $100 lower during each of the six $hard months of the year (where $hard = sorta cold or really hot).  So even if the old pump had kept going (which it didn't), this new unit should completely pay for itself in about five years.


But really, the whole idea of heating with ice (well, pumping heat out of cold rain water and making ice as a by-product) worked pretty well, up until the fan motor died.

Way Back in The Day

As seen in a web board post from Charlie Kelly on the Dirt Rag site, here are two 7 1/2 minute video clips of the 1980 Crested Butte to Aspen Klunker Tour.  Soooo much cooler than any roadietude-on-dirt stuff could ever be.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDUe9BFPrzg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enX4Ad1Zb5A


So go ride your bike just to have fun.  Like those folks were doing in 1980.

Yet another great day in the woods!

The monthly tato-nut no-drop mountain bike ride happened today -- just like the third Saturday of every month at the Bethel Trails in Desoto National Forest.  Pictures can be found here.  Man, but the weather was nice.

What's up with this?

Tuition, evidently.  That's what's up.

Credit to PhD Comics.  I mean, sure, the dorms are pretty nice these days, but really, where is all the money going?  And oh by the way, this is for in-state tuition.  You can double things for out-of-state.

Niven's Laws

Not 100% sure I completely agree with Niven's Laws, but they are food for though.

[note: Link removed due to scum-dog url theft of a deceased sci-fi writer's domain.  Rule 0: Do not steal from the dead!]

happy pi day

In case you're needing anything past 3.14159, here are the first 10,000 digits.  And Slashdot has it usual pi day article here.

I love XKCD

... and I don't care if it's in still frame or video form.  
I just wish this 7-yo 933 MHz G3 could play that 360p video smoothly...