What you need to know
Am I the only person who is irritated by the statement “What you need to know” in online stories?
Where has this phrase come from? Has it been audience tested, or have people just copied other publications?
I find it patronising and I don’t know how a copy writer in a website can know what I already know about something and what I might want to know about it.
My normal reaction is “I’ll decide what I want or need to know about something, not you.” Harrumph.
Solar power obsession
Trying — and failing — to not be obsessed about how much electricity we are producing off our roof solar panels, how self-sufficient we are, and how much we are giving away to the power company for free. On a cloudy day like today, we are producing only 22% of what we are using. Whereas yesterday, a brilliant sunny day, we used only 34% of what we produced.
(See what I mean about being obsessed?)
PM shows he doesn't understand local government
Kate’s off on her second run in as many days, after a very long time not doing much exercise. Very proud of her getting back into it. She enjoys it and feels much better being fit.
Good for her!
🎵I’ve just been listening to a couple of old Jeff Beck albums, ‘Blow By Blow’ and ‘Wired’. I’d forgotten how jazz rock they were. Wired, in particular, has a real Mahavishnu Orchestra influence with Jan Hammer and Narada Micheal Walden playing on it.
Max Romeo - War Ina Babylon
Another day in the hospital day ward
Another day in the Kenepuru day ward for a blood top up. Keeps me out of mischief, I suppose.
CW: Adverse reaction to medicine
Solar update with operational system - day 1
Solar update with operational system.
Yesterday, we had clear, sunny skies with good solar production for a brief period. That is, until a hail storm arrived. But this screen grab shows what is possible.
At about 3:10pm yesterday, we were producing 3404W from the panels and using 236W for the house. That’s about 7% of our power going towards the house’s running. The rest was ‘wasted’ by going into the grid. Even though we aren’t being paid for it, it is power we don’t have to pay Contact Energy for. We’re obsessively watching the app and will have to learn to balance production under certain conditions and use appliances in the morning. We tend to put an electric heater on for an hour or so to warm the house if it’s been cold overnight. And we do laundry in the morning so we can line dry it. Fortunately, we don’t have to do laundry daily, so we have some flexibility.
So much for a bright sunny day producing all the power we need. Now we have a hail storm!
Solar power update
Good news. The electrical inspector has just been around, tested the new solar system, turned it on and pronounced it safe to use. We are now running off the solar power produced on the roof panels on a bright sunny day.
We still don’t have the import/export meter installed so we don’t know how much power we are giving away, but we can wait for that, I reckon.
But it will be good to get the smartphone app to monitor the smart meter in the switchboard to get a clear idea of what we are producing and using.
Very exciting!
Linton Kwesi Johnson
🐕The dog has now returned from a walk with Kate and has assumed another of her favourite positions; tucked in behind my knees.
🐕The dog emerged from her bed, barking at an unknown sound, only to quickly make herself comfortable in another of her favourite spots; my legs!
A misty moisty morning.
This is the view out our upstairs windows this morning. Somewhere out there is the Tasman Sea and Kāpiti Island.
I had my first experience of Southland cheese rolls with dinner last night. I can’t say I’m an instant fan. The tomato soup was on another level, however. Delicious.
Pop-up parlour in our village
What becomes possible when we open up a space for community, where locals can connect, collaborate, share and meet?
The Pop-up Parlour in Pukerua Bay is a month-long experiment in community connection.
Porn movie character name
A former boss was diagnosed with prostate cancer a few months ago and had surgery early this year. On a couple of occasions he has mentioned that one of the risks with this surgery is a reduction in sexual function (this appears to bother him).
Today he told me he is recovering OK and is encouraged by the fact that his surgeon’s name is Rod Stud!
I thought he was joking. He wasn’t. (Although the surgeon’s surname is actually Studd, which isn’t quite as funny.)
Blurred vision giving me a new appreciation of web accessibility
We’ve just heard from our power company that it will be another month before they can install a new import/export meter in our switchboard so we can use our new solar power setup and panels. Winter will be just about over by then. Rats.