Advanced Chargers, Inverters, and Grid-Tie In today’s chapter, we’ll turn you into a prepper who “knows their stuff” about power inverters (that make AC from DC sources) as well as be inducted into the nearly occult world of computer controlled solar chargers using something called MPPT. By the time we’re done, you’ll be ready to … Read More
It’s getting on toward that time of the year when things begin to sprout and when we face the sometimes-daunting task of keeping ahead of our 28.82 acres, more-or less. As I recently reported, I became hell-bent on fixing two Poulan PP126 Weedeaters that have failed over the years. Looking back, I think there two … Read More
A short, but useful thought-experiment after we roll through the personal income figures out today. Let’s start with those: Real DPI increased 1.0 percent in December and real PCE decreased 0.6 percent. The PCE price index increased 0.1 percent. Excluding food and energy, the PCE price index increased 0.2 percent. The increase in personal income … Read More
We will, of course, jump into this morning’s GDP report, but first, we need to have a little “come to Jesus” about nuclear war because there are relatively high odds of one this summer. Tensions between India and Pakistan (Indo-Pak) have perhaps never been higher. Because both sides have nuclear weapons, as our military affairs … Read More
How Much is Enough? No, I am not “George_the_Uber-Driver.” That’s my son, FB page here. (sheesh). After a short discussion of his experience with how “cream always rises to the top” and “nut doesn’t fall far from tree” plus new Trade figures and our highly unorthodox look at the financial markets, we will drill into … Read More
Most people are dreadfully confused when it comes to work, money, play, and prepping. In fact, there’s a dirty-little secret among the rich you may not be aware of. What separates them from the peons is that they have more choices than the underclass. Makes sense because they can buy more and different than an … Read More
That’s my son, sky-diving instructor, EMT’ing George II who has been written-up by Forbes and you can see the article over here for handing our a “ride menu” when he’s delivering people in the Seattle area. Talked to G II this morning and he’s finding the whole uproar of going viral both wonderful but also … Read More
While the Census Bureau can’t seem to nail down their housing data release dates any closer than TBD lately, thankfully Case-Shiller/S&P/CoreLogic is more dependable. Private enterprise, you say? Here’s their latest: ANNUAL GAINS FALL TO 4.7% TO END 2018 ACCORDING TO S&P CORELOGIC CASE-SHILLER INDEX YEAR-OVER-YEAR The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price NSA … Read More
Dow futures were down 85, or so, earlier this morning. And because this is the last Tuesday of the month, we will be posting this morning’s diatribe in two parts, with the second coming at 8:15 Central when we’ll put up the detail on the Case-Shiller housing report. Breaking Data Just out is a delayed … Read More
Although people use the term pejoratively, the word Paranoid is not a bad thing. If it’s fed with actual life-experiences, it’s a great example of how the human species learned to avoid injury (and death) in our formative millennia. I mean, you stick your hand into a bee hive – resulting in a massive bee-stinging … Read More
Discrete Chargers and Inverters In today’s chapter, we explore some of the key “discrete” components of an alternative energy system. They’re “discrete” in that they are somewhat “system agnostic” and don’t look at a data bus for other manufacturer “family” products in order to operate. To make this as painless and possible, we’ve broken this … Read More
We don’t talk about the role of fishing much in terms of prepping and it’s an oversight we are about to set right with some personal history. As I’ve told you many times, pappy was a Seattle firefighter (captain and acting chief in the 5th battalion now and again) so his days on, and off, … Read More
Although the market today looks to open up more than 100 Dow points, we have to wonder – with such a data intensive week to come – whether there is any point to being long over the weekend. For if we are in a massive “buy the rumors” cycle, perhaps the other view should be … Read More