Conserving oil no longer necessary for US, says Trump administration
"Conserving oil is no longer an economic imperative for the US, the Trump administration has declared in a major new policy statement that threatens to undermine decades of government campaigns for efficient cars and other conservation programs. One analyst critical of the move said it was “like saying, ‘I’m a big old fat guy, and food prices have dropped – it’s time to start eating again”. He added: “There’s a downside to living large.” The position was outlined in a memo released last month, without fanfare and in support of the administration’s proposal to relax fuel mileage standards."
To Get or Not To Get a Raspberry Pi
I have been chewing over whether or not to buy a Raspberry Pi 3 B+ single-board computer. They are generally priced at $35, as that is what the non-profit that designed them charges as a recommended price. As the firmware is partially closed source, there really aren’t exact Chinese copies, unlike many of the popular development boards like the 8-bit Arduino Nano or the many flavors of ESP 32 boards.
If I got a Raspberry Pi board, I would get a protective case, and I would most likely use it more like a computer then a microprocessor. While I have an SD card, I would need a case and a power supply. So I am probably looking at $50, which is more money then I really want to spend on a non-essential “toy” especially with my budget as tight as it is. I have a extra microSD cards, and a wireless USB keyboard with built-in track-pad that I could the Raspberry Pi with, along with my nice HDMI computer monitor, which only rarely really gets turned on. Most of my existing 5 volt supplies don’t really go beyond an 1.0 amp, with the except of the 4-plug unit I keep by my bed for charging my phone, radio, and headphones.
The Raspberry Pi is a bit different the Arduino and ESP 32 boards that use micro-controllers that I’ve worked with in the past. They are for one thing a fair bit more expensive. They aren’t microcontrollers, so they aren’t great at doing a single task repeatedly — but can do many tasks at once, but are not as well timed. The Raspberry Pi is essentially a mini low-powered computer, indeed the default software with it will boot a light version of Linux including a graphical interface and web browser.
The Pi uses upwards of 10 watts of power or 2,500 mA 5 VDC, which is quite a bit of power, although like my laptop, I would unplug it when not in use. My laptop obviously uses more — 43 watts when charging — although it’s certainly a lot more efficient then computers even a generation ago.
For home projects, I would much rather use the much lower power $2 8-bit Arduino Nano (20 mA) or the slightly higher power (50 mA) but much more powerful $6 ESP 32, compared to the $35 Raspberry Pi that pulls upwards of 2,500 mA. Microcontrollers, with their simple, more straightforward design, are much better for my hobbyist electronic projects, because usually the tasks I want to do at home are things like controlling a display module or making lights switch on and off automatically — not something that requires a full operating system to implement.
It’s true that many microcontroller-type projects can be implemented on the Raspberry Pi using a bash or python script, but it’s overly complicated and takes a while to boot up, and burns through a lot of electricity if constantly powered up — especially as I’m trying to minimize my energy consumption both for environmental reasons and because I need to maximize deficiency I’m hoping to eventually live in an off-grid house, with limited solar and batteries
I guess my question is in reality how much use would I get out of the Raspberry Pi? It might be nice to have a second computer, something small that I could plug into my monitor for displaying photos, light-web browsing when I’m out in the field for work, maybe even playing video. It’s Linux-based, so I could script things that I need to. It’s obviously too underpowered though to do GIS work for map making.
So while I kind of want to buy a Raspberry Pi to play with it but with my limited budget and unclear plans for using it, I am thinking of holding off. I think over-time, computers on a board will only become more powerful and cheaper. Spending $35 or even $50 might not seem like a big deal when I drive a truck that sucks $60 or $70 of gas down a time, but it’s still tough to fit in my budget.
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Tree on Bay
Saturday Evening at Finger Lakes NF
Just walking around camp on the Saturday before I took things down.
August 20, 2018 Morning
Good morning! Already Monday, August 20th. Second to the last of meteorological summer. Two weeks to Labor Day 👨🏭. Time goes by so quickly. Partly sunny and 65 degrees in Delmar. There is a north breeze at 5 mph. 🍃. The dew point is 58 degrees.
Kind of nice weather for a change, why couldn’t we have this for the weekend? This morning really is first hint that autumn is just around the corner. 🍂 It’s funny to think 2019 is just around the corner and then it will be 2020. That said, the “calendar lies when it says it’s the present time” in the words of Phil Ochs. I look forward to the change of pace that autumn represents and getting away from Albany for a bit.
Today will be mostly sunny 🌞 , with a high of 80 degrees at 3pm. Typical for today. Maximum dew point of 61 at 4pm. North wind 5 to 7 mph becoming east in the afternoon. A year ago, we had mostly cloudy skies, clearing in the afternoon. The high last year was 81 degrees. The record high of 97 was set in 1937.
The sun will set at 7:48 pm with dusk around 8:18 pm, which is one minute and 34 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌇 At sunset, look for partly clear skies and 75 degrees. The dew point will be 61 degrees. There will be a south-southeast breeze at 7 mph. Today will have 13 hours and 40 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 38 seconds over yesterday.
Tonight will be partly cloudy ☁, with a low of 60 degrees at 5am. One degree above normal. Maximum dew point of 61 at 6pm. Southeast wind around 7 mph. In 2017, we had mostly clear skies. It got down to 60 degrees. The record low of 42 occurred back in 1977.
In 2014, seventy-two people are killed in Japan’s Hiroshima Prefecture by a series of landslides caused by a month’s worth of rain that fell in one day. 💧It seems like places that are normally wet climates are only getting wetter while dry climates are getting drier. I wonder what could be causing that? Says the boy with the big jacked up truck.
The first order of business when I get into the office will be to see if I can get Friday off. I think it’s reasonably possible but I have to see what the schedule looks like. 😎 It still looks like a nice weekend and I’m leaning towards to going to Moose River Plains early Friday and if the weather is decent, maybe Pisceo Powley.
Even though the weather wasn’t outstanding, I was able to get a lot done this weekend. 🏡I sealed the rust on my truck with clear coat and sealed the crack in the truck cap window frame that leaks in heavy rain and can cause annoying drip in the truck cap when camping. I checked the fluids and cleaned off the solar panel. Made a bunch of maps, cleaned the bathtub and used drain solvent to help it flow better. Bought groceries for the week. 🚗 Silly but important stuff that needed to get done.
As previously noted, there are 2 weeks until Labor Day 👨🏭 when the sun will be setting at 7:25 pm with dusk at 7:54 pm. On that day in 2017, we had rain, drizzle, heavy fog, shallow fog, patches of fog, mist, cloudy skies and temperatures between 58 and 51 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 77 degrees. We hit a record high of 100 back in 1953.