And why is the jet stream shifting? Apparently global warming.

That's a relief, in one sense.  I was, of course, looking at the CAPACITY of the PowerSupplies on so many PC's now, and had made the fatal assumption (!!) that it was what they would draw, regardless of the config of peripherals, drives, etc.

I'm hankering for a Kill-a-Watt meter myself.  Actually, I would like a 'Smart Service Box', to continue my own Technology Expansion Program, which regularly monitors your power usage throughout your electrical system, to catch phantoms and loads that are left on needlessly.. (like the watt-meter itself?)  It would just be a window on the Home AutomationPC that manages the Home, Solar, Furnace, etc..

Regardless, even that 75 watts is a draw that can be shut off, or set to smarter Power Management, if it's not being used.  There's a community NonProfit nearby that does Tutoring and PC classes, and they have something like 25 PC's with CRT's which are running all the time, not going to sleep, monitors just on..  This is the setup at countless Libraries, Offices.  There's just a TON of power that we use needlessly in all this.  If that was 25, 75-watt bulbs, that would be a pretty bright room..

Bob

I'm a city boy.

I grow my own food in raised beds and even have a fish tank for raising fish behind my garage. I grow sweet potatoes in the drainage ditches nearby and make ethanol in my own still, which can run my volkswagens just fine. Last year I squeaked out 35 gallons - not much, but then again, I was just getting started. This year I have about an acre to finish planting - will check the yield this fall. I have solar panels and solar water heater setup, and two 650 gal water tanks gathering runoff via copper gutters. There are lots of other things like ammonia refrigerators and other neat items as well here in my suburban home.

I hunt and fish regularly, and keep my freezer and pantry stocks rotated. Lately, we have been able to hunt without even driving due to population pressure on local game. We put up our own jellies, preserves and other staples using that old standby, the pressure cooker. I have swapped out most of my ornamental plants for fruit trees and shrubs. My kids know how to handle themselves, from firearms to tanning pelts to even making soap.

I live 30 miles from downtown Houston, quite efficiently, dead in the middle of a suburban city. All I really need to make things a lot better are the two lots adjacent to me...land is the issue, for growing things to eat, and for the county or state to give up on freeways and switch to rail for the commute.

You got under my skin when you assumed that "city folk" are a bunch of retards. I would posit that retards and idiots can be found in any area or population group. I also believe that with just a little thinning, suburbs can work just fine. My personal experiment has pretty much proven that the issue is more land per family and some type of mass transit to get to work. By simply thinning the population density and allowing each family a reasonable amount of land, you can ofset the food issue nicely. Solar panels here in the sunbelt work just fine - too bad the state is so weak in supporting them. Add in some local windfarms, and things can be fairly normal here in sunbelt cities.

Dude, we city folks do not have a lock on dumbass. And people will change when they are presented with alternatives, especially when the alternatives are cheaper, family oriented, rewarding and relaxing. I know, because my neighbors are changing already. When they stop in to ask why, I don't talk about Peak Oil, I talk about how much my electric bill is, offer them some freshly picked fruit or veggies, or maybe some venison, and let my experiment speak for itself.

My neighbor from Queens laughed at my fish tank last summer - an old hot tub. He gave me crap about it until this October, when I invited him over for our 3rd fish fry of the year from the "little fish tank". He ate, went out back, and then saw the hydroponic tomatoes growing from the fish waste....  Now he wants me to help find another old hot tub for his yard, and he and his wife have 4 raised beds in their back yard....

That's enough - just don't generalize about people. It will bite you in the ass every time.

I'm not arguing that firestorms can't overwhelm firefighters on a large scale, either. But if there is any agreeable continuum of fear on which to rank all these horrors, the summer firestorm doesn't make it into my top ten.

Perhaps I'm blasé. As an Australian I'm used to the regular threat of bushfires. I lived in San Diego during the 250,000 acre fire of '03; a dear friend called me from Scripps Ranch to say that she and her baby boy had missed the call to evacuate, and that the TV said they were now ringed with flames.

I told her what we do in Oz when we stick it out (not to say don't evacuate - see http://www.bushfireinfo.com/pr_evac5.html for criteria). We block the gutters and hose down the roof while there's still time, keep the windows closed, and stay well insulated from radiant heat as the firefront passes. Go out afterwards and piss on anything that's smoking.

Not saying this would help in case of fire tornado, but it at least in this case mother, child, and house came through fine. Her neighbours all evacuated - and almost all their houses burned to the ground.

In case of TSHTF in exurban US I'd be a lot more worried about all the armed and hungry petit-bourgeois than any ol' tornado.

Great firebreaks at every major street.  Some 140' wide, concrete walls on each side, sidewalks and concrete or asphalt covering and a few feet of turf.

The difference between 100 and 115 F is not at all significant for an ignition point.  Low humidity helps fires, yes. but tile roofs & stucco walls inhibit them.  I have trouble seeing how one square mile superblock could jump the firebreaks all around it.

Besdides, there is just not that much flammable material inihoenix.  Less than any other "urban" area I have seen.  Look at those gravel and concrete and asphalt firebreaks EVERYWHERE !

Just picture those photos of the advancing dust cloud in Phx as a 5 mile wide flame front with fujita 5 fire tornadoes included!  Those monsoon winds, many times without tornadoes, have sufficient speed and included downdrafts to blow down block walls, knock over truckers, rip a/c units and shingles off roofs, throw backyard tin sheds down the street, rip poorly designed and reinforced patios off houses, uproot trees, powerpoles snapped off, etc.  Happens every year here-- just add flames for Hell-On-Earth!

Bob Shaw in Phx,AZ  Are Humans Smarter than Yeast?

Also, the house is big enough to accommodate much of my multigenerational family in a pinch, and in case of need there are a couple of large cabin tents to accommodate refugee friends.

There isn't much point in having a big garden if one lacks storage space for home-frozen and home-canned goods, not to mention garden tools.

Because I wear long underwear and keep heat only in the room where I am, my heating bills are reasonable (and could be down to nil if I were to heat only with wood), and because I live somewhere between Canada and the Twin Cities I do not need air conditioning. Most important, I live near Lake Wobegon, where the women are strong, the men are good looking, and all the children are above average;-)

I happen to live in 103 year old farm house. The reason it is still around is that it was, for its time, a large nice house. By today's standards it is small, about 1400 square-feet plus a basement. For 15 years after the second world war, the house was not only lived in, but contained a dentists office as well.

For the last couple of years, my free time has been spent researching agriculture, and specifically why small farms have been failing. In my opinion, it's because many (but not all) small farmers have confused the word need with want. Tying this back to space utilization: Small farmers typically have a lot of machinery that is, IMHO, unnecessary and, without a doubt, quite costly to maintain and store. I feel that if small-acreage farmers would tally the cost of each piece of equipment, they would have a whole lot less of it, and therefore "need" a lot less space.

As an example of more efficient space utilization (and back-patting): The homestead that we're working towards (property purchase in just over a week), will have a modest house (1200 square-feet) intended for a family of four, some movable shelters, feeders, and waterers for the livestock, a couple of greenhouses (hoop-houses, one permanent passively solar heated and cooled, and another movable one, both will double as livestock housing when necessary/possible and extended living, homebrewing, canning, butchering, and shop space). Space efficiency ends up being very cost effective in our case. We'll have to go into debt for the property purchase, but that's it.

But I agree with the need for root cellars, canned food storage, greenhouse, firewood storage, and others. The thing is that most of these spaces are relatively cheap, mostly because they are unheated.

And I love the idea of community buildings. Run with that.

We are seeing people react the same way, they aren't buying the houses for the fun of the house so much as the value of the house, the ability to resale it later and make a profit.  One big house of cards, ready for a stift breeze to blow them over. Or as Bob says a firestorm to come and burn them all down. And I bet you that a big enough or even enough firestorms happen and every last bit of home owners insurance will go POOF up in smoke.  Just like what Warren Buffet is doing now with his re-insurance money.

Tulips and House the same mindset just differant items.

I think it's a voodoo argument.  Sure, in some sense, the energy you 'didn't' burn becomes available for someone else to burn. Even those Chinese people..  Couldn't the same argument be made for Chocolate Cake?  'If I don't gorge myself, If I eat reasonably, then I'm just leaving more Cake out there for the fat people to suck down.'  (Or, in an obvious extension, the Starving People, and then those hordes who worried Mme Antoinette so..)  There's just some 'unused' oil that's momentarily in the pot, that someone else will surely be taking out, where you did not.  Does that make 'Consumption' fungible, too?

You don't reduce energy consumption for the Chinese, or even to 'save the world', in my opinion  ( <Acronym Conspicuously Avoided, NEARA- New England Acronym Reduction Act of 2005 ), but the incentive lies in:<p> 1)Saving Money.  

2)Weaning ASAP off of a potentially Devastating Addiction,

3. and doing so, possibly finding some solutions we hadn't before..

4. and creating an example that others in our communities can see and follow, as the need becomes more evident to them.

Sorry, VeganBro..  Dunkin Donut's is one of my own ball-n-chain's.  Would seem likely it's not yours.  I did get my first panel with a Birthday check last December, in Honor of the theoretical PEAKing..  it's in the basement til after the Hurricane.

Thxs for the compliment.  I would love to go to Cuba to see how they have powered down.  I will happily accept huge cash donations from TODers to fund my trip!  Cuban women are beautiful: my girlfriend of twenty-two years will really be upset about my extensive in-depth research. :-)

Bob Shaw in Phx,AZ  Are Humans Smarter than Yeast?

I'd be curious about the economics of such, because it is never cheap or easy to build something on or near the sea floor, even in relatively shallow depths. Then of course we have the issue of access and maintenance.

I've been interested in ocean wave power for some time, which is a little different concept than underwater windmills, but subject to many of the same constraints. There are two big technical hurdles regarding ocean wave power: i) how to efficiently convert the highly variable oscillating motion of waves into useful mechanical energy that can in turn be converted into electrical energy, and ii) survivability in a very hostile environment.

Then of course we have the cost issue. While you might see statements that ocean wave energy is far more concentrated than either solar or wind energy, that only tells part of the story. Yes, it is true that ocean wave energy is relatively concentrated, but the physical embodiment of a system capable of collecting that energy can be quite capital-intensive. So, the horsepower per linear length of wavefront is of less importance that the installed cost in terms of dollars per kilowatt output.

Unfortunately, the locations around the world were wave energy is the strongest and steadiest, are those that are not very close to major population centers, such as the northwestern coast of Scotland, part of the Norwegian coast, the area around Cape Horn, and parts of the Alaskan coast. Other areas  are amenable to wave energy, but the available energy is less, and hence the cost-effectiveness decreases.  (Locations in hurricane zones are quite poor in this regard because about 95% of the time the ocean is relatively calm, but the other 5% of the time can be highly destructive to wave energy systems.

One company that appears to be making inroads in actually selling commercially viable systems is Ocean Power Delivery. It's a UK firm and has recently installed three units having a total rated power of over 1 megawatt off the Orkneys in Scotland.  They have also contracted to install three more units off the coast of Portugal (another decent place for wave power). Their system doesn't look cheap, but they have appeared to have dealt with the survivability problem in a very clever way.

I recently had an idea for a wave energy converter, made a simple 'dry land' model of it, and after fiddling with it for a while came to the conclusion that it wasn't any good and was too similar to an older patented idea that never got off the ground (or, more correctly, into the water) either.

From a strictly technical standpoint, I find ocean wave power very interesting because it is by no means a mature technology, and as such it is by no means clear at this time what the best type of system is. Thus, there is  still  room for innovation, sort of like the early days of aviation when there were all sorts of interesting and screwball ideas in the works.  

Another amusing aspect of this problem, is that despite the clear superiority of other technologies (like forum software versus blogs), they keep using the same hammer because they think everything looks like a nail. There's a lesson in here buried in this small detail about blogs relating to the behavior of our species in the large but alas, I am sure it will be ignored.

A small sporting-goods store in Minnesota will typically sell anywhere from ten to twenty TONS of ammo per year, mostly shot shells. They take deliveries often in three-ton lots.

Also, huge quantities of powder and shot are easily available for the home reloader.

But better prices can be found online, especially when buying in 1,000 round lots or larger.

By the way, what happened to the Iran Oil Burse?