Randall's Blog

After waiting a LONG time for NYSERDA to approve our grid-tied solar photovoltaic (PV) project with GroSolar we finally got the "go ahead" last week. I guess we shouldn't complain because New York state IS providing a big chunk of the money for the project and with budgets so tight these days we are happy that they came through for us. On Tuesday the crew started work on our 4KW project. I took shots of the process and merged them into one animation:

The installation took 3 days - the crew were professional and did neat work. The power cables come down the side of the house and into the basement:

Here is the inverter panel:

There is an AC cut-off switch on the outside as well:

Here is the new view of the South side of our house:

We are waiting on a final electrical inspection and the power company has to change out the meter.

Debbie & I are in Denver for the week and so far we are having a great time. We drove down to NJ to fly out of Newark. The Newark airport is close to Debbie's parents home and we stayed with them before our flight on Friday. Our flight was fine, a bit bumpy on landing but not too bad. We rented a car and drove off to Ryan & Jenny's house. On the way we stopped to see some buffalo and at Red Rocks.

When Debbie lived in Denver she went to this beautiful venue to see some great concerts including the Indigo Girls and Neil Young. We went out for some Italian food Friday evening and on Saturday we went to Roxborough State Park, another of Debbie's favorites.

After the park we had some Mexican food and went to a little festival nearby. On Sunday we went to the aquarium and then to Boulder to walk around and get some late lunch. It was a beautiful day!

This lucky fellow is getting a sonic massage with gongs "tuned to the frequency of the earth" or some such drivel. A fun place...

Lowell is up to take care of Muriel while Debbie & I take a trip to Denver - he rode his motorcycle up last week. Juliet also came up to drive the little moving truck to FL. Lowell was going to transport the motorcycle back in the truck but there is a more complicated arrangement now. Last night we went to Debbie's end of semester party for ALS. I posted some photos on my Facebook page - here's the link.

I built a wooden box for the utility trailer so I could get soil & mulch more easily. It worked out well as the trailer can "dump" and this makes the whole process easier.

I have been working to improve the workshop as well. I added some speakers in the ceiling and mounted the small speakers there as well. I used the rafters as part of the speaker box to save space & materials.

I also moved the chop saw to a new location which made room on the workbench:

Lastly, I posted up some photos from the Albany Tulip Festival on my Zenfolio site:

I was scanning old photos (yes, I do a lot of that) and came across a Polaroid of the workshop in Patchogue. I have enjoyed making things for a long time and have put together small workshops in various places I have lived. In Patchogue it was in an area I made by extending the "barn" past the kitchen. I can't remember if I made the space for a workshop or decided later to put my tools there. I had a radial arm saw and that was the major shop tool. Here's what the shop looked like:

There were other places that didn't lend themselves to creating a shop. The house in Amsterdam had a space but the ceiling was really low. I remember setting up the same radial arm saw but it wasn't really that elaborate a shop.

In Epping I had another "barn" to work with but it had a lot of stuff in it and it took a while to really set things up as a shop. Here's the bench from the Epping barn just after I built it:

The radial arm saw was gone and I used this chop saw for cutting. The Epping barn did work out to be a fairly useful shop. I got a small table saw on sale at some point and this has worked out well. It's just a portable saw but I put a good blade on it and this helps. I also have a small jointer I acquired along the way.

Here in Delmar we have a really nice barn to work with. I've been moving things around to make some space and I have set up a fairly nice workshop area.

The table saw fits next to the rolling bench I built and I have some new machines. My latest minor project was to hook up a long tube to connect the machines to the dust collector:

Now, to to put it all to good use....

Lastly, my plants are looking good in the greenhouse - almost ready to transplant to the garden:

The steadfast determination of the Obama administration to protect individuals that sanctioned, enabled and practiced torture on prisoners in US custody makes me feel sick. There is NO justification for the use of torture - it's a war crime, plain and simple. Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, anyone who authored legal memos justifying torture, people in the chain of command that sanctioned torture and individual interrogators that used these techniques are war criminals. There should be no debate or discussion, those involved must be prosecuted - this is a legal REQUIREMENT not an option if and when it's politically convenient. This shouldn't be a partisan battle - it's not about politics. Torture is wrong and it's a war crime. We are a party to the UN Convention Against Torture which spells out these legal requirements and also makes it clear that "An order from a superior officer or a public authority may not be invoked as a justification of torture." Just having this "debate" is a disgusting episode of moral cowardice.

Don't they teach interrogators that waterboarding has been considered torture for HUNDREDS of years? That the US prosecuted Japanese soldiers after WWII for waterboarding Americans? That "just following orders" is not a valid defense?

Didn't the authors of legal memos that gave torture the OK learn anything in law school? How about the ability to read US and international law? Past cases involving torture? One is now a federal judge - Jay Bybee - he should be impeached!

Bush & Cheney should be in prison, not on Fox "News" defending their war crimes. No, I don't care if torture "works" or "makes us safer" (it doesn't and it hasn't) and that's not the point. It has served as a great recruiting tool for our enemies which keeps us spending money on the "war on terror" - how convenient for you Mr. Cheney. How selective right wing "morals" are. Using stem cells from a ball of cells that can't feel pain and will be discarded anyway is wrong in all cases no matter how many lives can be saved from horrible diseases but it's OK to waterboard an individual 183 times, keep people awake for weeks at a time and more to "keep us safe." What else is it OK to do to keep us safe - invade other countries, prop up dictators, kill untold thousands of people around the world, is there any price that is too high?

It's good that president Obama released the "torture memos" (making right wing pundits and politicians' heads spin around) but that's not enough. Obama's stance on the issue of prosecution is shameful and repugnant (and ignores the law). We should look forward not backward? I expect this kind of garbage from Bush & Cheney but Obama should be better - what kind of "change" is this? Do a FULL investigation and prosecute all those involved - do it now!

As usual Keith Olbermann says it best.