To PC Guru Paul !!!

"J. P. Gilliver (John)" wrote in message
...
In message , philo writes:
On 01/24/2014 01:47 PM, Paul wrote:
snip


Well, don't leave us hanging :-) Where *is* all that
dust coming from ?

Paul



I found this


http://www.forteantimes.com/stranged...1044/dust.html


and when you think about it, if a house or room is uninhabited, it still
gets dusty.

Though in my experience of a little-used apartment, though it still gets
dusty, there is _less_ dust. But that doesn't prove the skin thing: if a
room is less used, it is less disturbed, so is less likely to have plaster
dust shaken from the walls, less let in from outside when opening doors,
and so on. I think the skin thing is mainly put about by those keen on
selling us things like suction ("vacuum") cleaners, followed just by those
who enjoy making us feel guilty in general.
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

"The people here are more educated and intelligent. Even stupid people in
Britain are smarter than Americans." Madonna, in RT 30 June-6July 2001
(page
32)

1 human sheds 3lbs approx. of skin per year !! ...so the bulk of white
"dust" that ends up in the vaccum cleaner is skin, (discoloured by garden
dirt type dust).
A while ago, after years of buying / trying all sorts of dust filters, I
bought 5 ....or was it more ? ....Plextor air purifiers.
Ignoring the rubbish quality fans in them, (which are a nightmare to source
and replace), they're VERY good, and the electro-statically charged
"blade-cage" can be simply washed in warm soapy water, (AFTER discharging
the static by touching the base of it on e.g. a metal sink unit that's
grounded to earth), i.e. no cartridge filters to sorce and replace !

regards, Richard

"Paul" wrote in message
...
Gene E. Bloch wrote:
On 1/24/2014, Paul posted:
philo wrote:
On 01/24/2014 04:08 AM, B.Borbiro wrote:
XX

Yep, you're pretty good (and concise) with answers on IT topics Paul,
but just to bring you back to earth a bit, your English language
skills
may need a bit of honing. The 'brass monkey' is no animal; in the days
of the old man o' war sailing ships the cannon balls were stored on a
frame (made of brass) called a 'monkey', and in cold weather that
frame
would shrink, and some of the cannon ball would pop off.
hence, 'freeze the balls off a brass monkey'.



Good info which I am sure very people know!

Yeah, he got me on that one. I wasn't aware of the history.
Here, it's just a figure of speech, something from the school yard.

Paul

BTW, in my world it's always been "freeze the *nuts* off a brass monkey",
presumably a reference to how the parts of a brass monkey (i.e., a brass
statue of a simian) might be held together.

Either way, your temperatures are chilly :-)

I'm in Si Valley, where temperatures rarely get more that a degree or two
below 0 C. I've lived in colder climes, however...


Well, today it warmed up, but I can't say I was exactly
celebrating, because it brought the wind with it. I was
still suffering when I got home. And the car didn't exactly
put on a stellar performance in starting.

My current car, doesn't have a block heater. And at -26C,
I'd plug it in for an hour or two, to warm up the oil a bit.
On my old car, I had a total of four block heaters. With
the first three failing at the two year mark. (Leaking coolant
on the driveway.) For some reason, the last block heater
installed in that car, lasted until I got rid of the car.
I don't really want to go through all that again (block heater
roulette). But when it's really cold, it does make a
difference to starting. I suppose on the positive side,
the leaking block heater is giving you a coolant flush
every two years.

(Looks like a coffee warmer. You can tell it's working,
when you get "ticking" or "cracking" sounds coming from
the engine block. The mechanic claims to "knock out
a frost plug" to make room for it. Some of these are
threaded, as if there's a screw-in option on some cars.)

http://ts1.mm.bing.net/th?id=H.45891...90184&pid=15.1

When shopping for an apartment in a cold climate, if there
is outdoor parking, you want a power outlet in your
parking spot. You don't use it very often, but it's
good to have when the weather is right for it. If the apartment
has indoor parking, then you don't need it.

I've never bothered with battery blankets, but people
in even colder climates like those. The battery isn't
in much danger of freezing if it is healthy. But a
sick battery can freeze at the drop of a hat (the
electrolyte being pretty close to being distilled water).
My previous car, the voltage regulator didn't set the
voltage to the right level, so the battery never got
fully charged. I used to protect the battery in cold
weather, by charging it manually from house AC (to a voltage
higher than the car voltage regulator could manage).

(Entries near the bottom of the table, would be for a sick battery.
The lower the percentage charge, the easier it is to freeze one.)

http://www.solar-catalog.com/battery...s/image004.gif

Paul

.....I thought that was what Mobil fully synthetic 0w 30 was for ! i.e.
still fluid at extremes of cold !

regards, Richard

....anyhoo, after casting my eye through all the weather related comments on
this thread, here in Somerset UK we have problems with roads flooded on the
flood plains,
e.g. Muchelney village is cut off by the floods, because do-gooder
conservationists / UK government would rather spend countless millions of
pounds fiddling with the ecosystems on Steart Island to help certain species
of birds, rather than dredge the rivers Parrot, Tone and Brue, to reduce the
effects of local flooding, and to get the floodwater away faster !!

regards, Richard

RJK wrote:
"Paul" wrote in message
...
Gene E. Bloch wrote:
On 1/24/2014, Paul posted:
philo wrote:
On 01/24/2014 04:08 AM, B.Borbiro wrote:
XX

Yep, you're pretty good (and concise) with answers on IT topics Paul,
but just to bring you back to earth a bit, your English language
skills
may need a bit of honing. The 'brass monkey' is no animal; in the days
of the old man o' war sailing ships the cannon balls were stored on a
frame (made of brass) called a 'monkey', and in cold weather that
frame
would shrink, and some of the cannon ball would pop off.
hence, 'freeze the balls off a brass monkey'.


Good info which I am sure very people know!
Yeah, he got me on that one. I wasn't aware of the history.
Here, it's just a figure of speech, something from the school yard.
Paul
BTW, in my world it's always been "freeze the *nuts* off a brass monkey",
presumably a reference to how the parts of a brass monkey (i.e., a brass
statue of a simian) might be held together.

Either way, your temperatures are chilly :-)

I'm in Si Valley, where temperatures rarely get more that a degree or two
below 0 C. I've lived in colder climes, however...

Well, today it warmed up, but I can't say I was exactly
celebrating, because it brought the wind with it. I was
still suffering when I got home. And the car didn't exactly
put on a stellar performance in starting.

My current car, doesn't have a block heater. And at -26C,
I'd plug it in for an hour or two, to warm up the oil a bit.
On my old car, I had a total of four block heaters. With
the first three failing at the two year mark. (Leaking coolant
on the driveway.) For some reason, the last block heater
installed in that car, lasted until I got rid of the car.
I don't really want to go through all that again (block heater
roulette). But when it's really cold, it does make a
difference to starting. I suppose on the positive side,
the leaking block heater is giving you a coolant flush
every two years.

(Looks like a coffee warmer. You can tell it's working,
when you get "ticking" or "cracking" sounds coming from
the engine block. The mechanic claims to "knock out
a frost plug" to make room for it. Some of these are
threaded, as if there's a screw-in option on some cars.)

http://ts1.mm.bing.net/th?id=H.45891...90184&pid=15.1

When shopping for an apartment in a cold climate, if there
is outdoor parking, you want a power outlet in your
parking spot. You don't use it very often, but it's
good to have when the weather is right for it. If the apartment
has indoor parking, then you don't need it.

I've never bothered with battery blankets, but people
in even colder climates like those. The battery isn't
in much danger of freezing if it is healthy. But a
sick battery can freeze at the drop of a hat (the
electrolyte being pretty close to being distilled water).
My previous car, the voltage regulator didn't set the
voltage to the right level, so the battery never got
fully charged. I used to protect the battery in cold
weather, by charging it manually from house AC (to a voltage
higher than the car voltage regulator could manage).

(Entries near the bottom of the table, would be for a sick battery.
The lower the percentage charge, the easier it is to freeze one.)

http://www.solar-catalog.com/battery...s/image004.gif

Paul

....I thought that was what Mobil fully synthetic 0w 30 was for ! i.e.
still fluid at extremes of cold !

regards, Richard

...anyhoo, after casting my eye through all the weather related comments on
this thread, here in Somerset UK we have problems with roads flooded on the
flood plains,
e.g. Muchelney village is cut off by the floods, because do-gooder
conservationists / UK government would rather spend countless millions of
pounds fiddling with the ecosystems on Steart Island to help certain species
of birds, rather than dredge the rivers Parrot, Tone and Brue, to reduce the
effects of local flooding, and to get the floodwater away faster !!

regards, Richard

Does that really work ? The volumes they've quoted here under flood
conditions, I doubt you could dredge deep enough to handle the whole
flow.

Maybe you need a house like this ? And when I look up close at that house,
imagine being the air conditioner service man :-)

http://tjelser.files.wordpress.com/2...lts-w-ramp.jpg

I think that's the most elevation I've ever seen, for a house on stilts.
Imagine how that would move in an earthquake.

Paul

"Paul" wrote in message
...
RJK wrote:
"Paul" wrote in message
...
Gene E. Bloch wrote:
On 1/24/2014, Paul posted:
philo wrote:
On 01/24/2014 04:08 AM, B.Borbiro wrote:
XX

Yep, you're pretty good (and concise) with answers on IT topics
Paul,
but just to bring you back to earth a bit, your English language
skills
may need a bit of honing. The 'brass monkey' is no animal; in the
days
of the old man o' war sailing ships the cannon balls were stored on
a
frame (made of brass) called a 'monkey', and in cold weather that
frame
would shrink, and some of the cannon ball would pop off.
hence, 'freeze the balls off a brass monkey'.


Good info which I am sure very people know!
Yeah, he got me on that one. I wasn't aware of the history.
Here, it's just a figure of speech, something from the school yard.
Paul
BTW, in my world it's always been "freeze the *nuts* off a brass
monkey", presumably a reference to how the parts of a brass monkey
(i.e., a brass statue of a simian) might be held together.

Either way, your temperatures are chilly :-)

I'm in Si Valley, where temperatures rarely get more that a degree or
two below 0 C. I've lived in colder climes, however...

Well, today it warmed up, but I can't say I was exactly
celebrating, because it brought the wind with it. I was
still suffering when I got home. And the car didn't exactly
put on a stellar performance in starting.

My current car, doesn't have a block heater. And at -26C,
I'd plug it in for an hour or two, to warm up the oil a bit.
On my old car, I had a total of four block heaters. With
the first three failing at the two year mark. (Leaking coolant
on the driveway.) For some reason, the last block heater
installed in that car, lasted until I got rid of the car.
I don't really want to go through all that again (block heater
roulette). But when it's really cold, it does make a
difference to starting. I suppose on the positive side,
the leaking block heater is giving you a coolant flush
every two years.

(Looks like a coffee warmer. You can tell it's working,
when you get "ticking" or "cracking" sounds coming from
the engine block. The mechanic claims to "knock out
a frost plug" to make room for it. Some of these are
threaded, as if there's a screw-in option on some cars.)

http://ts1.mm.bing.net/th?id=H.45891...90184&pid=15.1

When shopping for an apartment in a cold climate, if there
is outdoor parking, you want a power outlet in your
parking spot. You don't use it very often, but it's
good to have when the weather is right for it. If the apartment
has indoor parking, then you don't need it.

I've never bothered with battery blankets, but people
in even colder climates like those. The battery isn't
in much danger of freezing if it is healthy. But a
sick battery can freeze at the drop of a hat (the
electrolyte being pretty close to being distilled water).
My previous car, the voltage regulator didn't set the
voltage to the right level, so the battery never got
fully charged. I used to protect the battery in cold
weather, by charging it manually from house AC (to a voltage
higher than the car voltage regulator could manage).

(Entries near the bottom of the table, would be for a sick battery.
The lower the percentage charge, the easier it is to freeze one.)

http://www.solar-catalog.com/battery...s/image004.gif

Paul

....I thought that was what Mobil fully synthetic 0w 30 was for ! i.e.
still fluid at extremes of cold !

regards, Richard

...anyhoo, after casting my eye through all the weather related comments
on this thread, here in Somerset UK we have problems with roads flooded
on the flood plains,
e.g. Muchelney village is cut off by the floods, because do-gooder
conservationists / UK government would rather spend countless millions
of pounds fiddling with the ecosystems on Steart Island to help certain
species of birds, rather than dredge the rivers Parrot, Tone and Brue, to
reduce the effects of local flooding, and to get the floodwater away
faster !!

regards, Richard

Does that really work ? The volumes they've quoted here under flood
conditions, I doubt you could dredge deep enough to handle the whole
flow.

Maybe you need a house like this ? And when I look up close at that house,
imagine being the air conditioner service man :-)

http://tjelser.files.wordpress.com/2...lts-w-ramp.jpg

I think that's the most elevation I've ever seen, for a house on stilts.
Imagine how that would move in an earthquake.

Paul


That's hilarious, (house on stilts), ...where's the lift ? !

regards, Richard

On Sun, 26 Jan 2014 12:47:31 -0000, "RJK" wrote:


"Paul" wrote in message
...

Maybe you need a house like this ? And when I look up close at that house,
imagine being the air conditioner service man :-)

http://tjelser.files.wordpress.com/2...lts-w-ramp.jpg

I think that's the most elevation I've ever seen, for a house on stilts.
Imagine how that would move in an earthquake.

Paul


That's hilarious, (house on stilts), ...where's the lift ? !

It's not meant to be funny, it's meant to be practical. In some areas, for
example along parts of the coast of North Carolina or Alabama, all of the
houses built close to the water are elevated that way. People want to live
close to the water, but they hate it when the house gets flooded.

--

Char Jackson

On 1/26/2014, Char Jackson posted:
On Sun, 26 Jan 2014 12:47:31 -0000, "RJK" wrote:


"Paul" wrote in message
...

Maybe you need a house like this ? And when I look up close at that
house, imagine being the air conditioner service man :-)

http://tjelser.files.wordpress.com/2...lts-w-ramp.jpg

I think that's the most elevation I've ever seen, for a house on
stilts. Imagine how that would move in an earthquake.

Paul


That's hilarious, (house on stilts), ...where's the lift ? !

It's not meant to be funny, it's meant to be practical. In some
areas, for example along parts of the coast of North Carolina or
Alabama, all of the houses built close to the water are elevated that
way. People want to live close to the water, but they hate it when
the house gets flooded.

There was a time when my brother lived in New Orleans a few dozen feet
from the Mississippi River. Many houses along the river road (but not
his) were on stilts, but I don't recall any quite as dramatic as that
photo!

Not far from here is another delta, the Sacramento River Delta. Stilts,
or at least second-floor living quarters, are also popular there,
although fire is a bigger danger than water right now.

--
Gene E. Bloch (Stumbling Bloch)

Gene E. Bloch wrote:


There was a time when my brother lived in New Orleans a few dozen feet
from the Mississippi River. Many houses along the river road (but not
his) were on stilts, but I don't recall any quite as dramatic as that
photo!

You see things like that photo on the barrier islands along the East
Coast. Tropical storms can bring *LOTS* of water over the beach! Much
better to have the waves pass under the house than crash into the side
of it.

--
Tim Slattery
tim at risingdove dot com

On Tue, 28 Jan 2014 11:12:36 -0500, Tim Slattery
wrote:

Gene E. Bloch wrote:


There was a time when my brother lived in New Orleans a few dozen feet
from the Mississippi River. Many houses along the river road (but not
his) were on stilts, but I don't recall any quite as dramatic as that
photo!

You see things like that photo on the barrier islands along the East
Coast. Tropical storms can bring *LOTS* of water over the beach! Much
better to have the waves pass under the house than crash into the side
of it.


Sure, but if I lived in such a house, I would still worry about the
waves crashing into, and breaking, the stilts.

On 1/28/2014, Ken Blake posted:
On Tue, 28 Jan 2014 11:12:36 -0500, Tim Slattery
wrote:

Gene E. Bloch wrote:


There was a time when my brother lived in New Orleans a few dozen
feet from the Mississippi River. Many houses along the river road
(but not his) were on stilts, but I don't recall any quite as
dramatic as that photo!

You see things like that photo on the barrier islands along the East
Coast. Tropical storms can bring *LOTS* of water over the beach!
Much better to have the waves pass under the house than crash into
the side of it.


Sure, but if I lived in such a house, I would still worry about the
waves crashing into, and breaking, the stilts.

Yeah. We should all just move to the central part of the country (I
mean the USA), where we have nothing to worry about, save for the
occasional tornado and New Madrid earthquake :-)

I mentioned the latter because I just noticed a headline a day or two
ago that said some geologists are starting to be concerned about
possible stress buildup in the New Madrid system. I didn't bother
reading further, so I have no idea how serious the threat might be.

I live in Silicon Valley, so I have my own worries, along with my five
meganeighbors.

--
Gene E. Bloch (Stumbling Bloch)

On Tue, 28 Jan 2014 11:26:01 -0800, Gene E. Bloch
wrote:

On 1/28/2014, Ken Blake posted:
On Tue, 28 Jan 2014 11:12:36 -0500, Tim Slattery
wrote:

Gene E. Bloch wrote:


There was a time when my brother lived in New Orleans a few dozen
feet from the Mississippi River. Many houses along the river road
(but not his) were on stilts, but I don't recall any quite as
dramatic as that photo!

You see things like that photo on the barrier islands along the East
Coast. Tropical storms can bring *LOTS* of water over the beach!
Much better to have the waves pass under the house than crash into
the side of it.


Sure, but if I lived in such a house, I would still worry about the
waves crashing into, and breaking, the stilts.

Yeah. We should all just move to the central part of the country (I
mean the USA), where we have nothing to worry about, save for the
occasional tornado and New Madrid earthquake :-)


There are risks everywhere. But they aren't equal everywhere.

Ken Blake wrote:

On Tue, 28 Jan 2014 11:12:36 -0500, Tim Slattery
wrote:

Gene E. Bloch wrote:


There was a time when my brother lived in New Orleans a few dozen feet
from the Mississippi River. Many houses along the river road (but not
his) were on stilts, but I don't recall any quite as dramatic as that
photo!

You see things like that photo on the barrier islands along the East
Coast. Tropical storms can bring *LOTS* of water over the beach! Much
better to have the waves pass under the house than crash into the side
of it.


Sure, but if I lived in such a house, I would still worry about the
waves crashing into, and breaking, the stilts.

It is still a *very* good idea to get the heck off the island before
the storm hits. The stilts will increase your house's odds, but there
are no guarantees.

--
Tim Slattery
tim at risingdove dot com

On Wed, 29 Jan 2014 11:58:52 -0500, Tim Slattery
wrote:

Ken Blake wrote:

On Tue, 28 Jan 2014 11:12:36 -0500, Tim Slattery
wrote:

Gene E. Bloch wrote:


There was a time when my brother lived in New Orleans a few dozen feet
from the Mississippi River. Many houses along the river road (but not
his) were on stilts, but I don't recall any quite as dramatic as that
photo!

You see things like that photo on the barrier islands along the East
Coast. Tropical storms can bring *LOTS* of water over the beach! Much
better to have the waves pass under the house than crash into the side
of it.


Sure, but if I lived in such a house, I would still worry about the
waves crashing into, and breaking, the stilts.

It is still a *very* good idea to get the heck off the island before
the storm hits. The stilts will increase your house's odds, but there
are no guarantees.



Yep! You're saying much the same thing I did, just in a different way.