Category: Technology


Fog

Filed under: Environment by Kevin Griffiths — Leave a comment
October 24, 2013

DSC_0220

The whole valley is filled with for this morning . Vehicles were driving with headlights on  in the early morning hours.

Fog is a collection of liquid water droplets or ice crystals suspended in the air at or near the Earth’s surface.[1] While fog is a type of stratus cloud, the term “fog” is typically distinguished from the more generic term “cloud” in that fog is low-lying, and the moisture in the fog is often generated locally (such as from a nearby body of water, like a lake or the ocean, or from nearby moist ground or marshes).[2] Fog is distinguished from mist only by its density, as expressed in the resulting decrease in visibility: Fog reduces visibility to less than 1 km (5/8 statute mile), whereas mist reduces visibility to no less than 1 km.[3] For aviation purposes in the UK, a visibility of less than 5 km but greater than 999 m is considered to be mist if the relative humidity is 70% or greater – below 70% haze is reported.[4][citation needed].Wikipedia

Merritt remains foggy at mid morning and visibility is limited to the inner valley. Be SEEN

Today in History: October 24th 1229

The Stock market crashes in what comes to be called Black Thursday

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Charging station

Filed under: Technology by Kevin Griffiths — Leave a comment
October 3, 2013
English: Mode 4 EV

English: Mode 4 EV (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The first charging station that Merritt  has is in the parking lot of the local arena, by the shaded area, next to the Baillie house historical site and downtown tourist info center. The local farmers market made a barrier to it on Saturdays and October 1st saw a crew of three working on what the lead hand said is a new charging station it is a few yards to wards Voght street and it seems that it will give  curb side access to it from the street,this will is not possible with the one in the parking lot and access to it is from Merritt or Mamette Avenue. This may be a little less convenient for those that are not inclined to look for them.

There is a no parking here to the corner sign  accross from the new installation.

There are 5 240 volt charging stations in Merritt and are on the smart phone location indicators.

Some long-range EV’s take up to 3 days to charge at  home on a 120 volts however there are 240 volt chargers available to be installed at home that cut that time  to a couple of hours. If you are inclined to spend 2 thousand dollars this is a good option http://www.pge.com/includes/docs/pdfs/shared/environment/pge/cleanair/ev6pt4.pdf

A source says that you can also get an adapter and use an already installed 240 volt dryer connection. Getting rid of an electric clothes dryer for a EVs convenience would seem appealing to many in the environmental movement. govern your self so.

Today in history: October 3, 1873

Captain Jack is hanged.

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3D printing

Filed under: Technology by Kevin Griffiths — Leave a comment
September 26, 2013

There was a presentation by Sand back Technical,  Pentiction, at the public library Tuesday evening. The presenter had slides and two printers as well as a table full of 3D printed items. The items had been layered from scans or schematics  and included teeth, plastic wheels,gears and a range of reproduced items.

The presenter said that the items are built by layering 16 microns at a time. And that the medical part of 3d printing has made a human bladder from stem cells and saline. He also said that Ford is the largest corporate applied of the technology and have made whole car doors py 3d printing. Nick Gates a sales and marketing rep with Sand back used the term added and subtracted manufacturing. the technique has a forensics side where a bullet to dangerous to be removed can be scanned and made with striations and all .

3d printing has been in use for 20 years with the latest innovation being Objet coming in 1999.

Today in history: September 26th 1580

The sailing around the world  is finished by Sir Francis Drake

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E85

Filed under: Enterprize, Environment, Technology by Kevin Griffiths — Leave a comment
September 24, 2013
Middleton Petroluem Services tech reading shell station for the availability of e 85 fuel.

Middleton petroleum Services tech reading shell station for the availability of e 85 fuel.

The local shell station at the top of the hill on Voght street is purging the fuel tanks getting ready for an ethanol upgrade. The technician doing the purge says that ethanol is a cleaner so if they don’t purge the tank of bottom debris then the ethanol will do it and their filters will plug up.

E 85 fuel is up to 85 percent denatured ethanol fuel and 15 percent gasoline. it is often used by flex-fuel vehicles and is popular in corn-growing states in the US midwest.

Other alternatives to gasoline include diesel fuel making sure you have summer grade of winter (stove oil) grade fuel at the right times can be a problem and the cash out lay is greater for a diesel equipped ca;r but users say the economy is good over time.

There is a marked loss in gas mileage depending on the amount of ethanol in the gas, E85 may have less than half ethanol at times for a listing of ethanol free stations go to: http://pure-gas.org/index.jsp?stateprov=BC

Bio fuels are a good thing however the estimate that at 20 percent use of bio fuels would start to cut into the food supply still seem to ring true. Choices and odd man out are still attractive and are often tied to price and what  the person will pay for their preferences.

Update: Today October 1st saw fuel being delivered to the local shell, no e 85. A source says that there is 10 percent ethanol in the regular brand and none in the premium brand. There is a 9 cent price spread between them.

The 10 percent ethanol is said to be the same across the province for Shell stations.

Today in history: September 24 th 1948

The Honda Motor Company is founded.

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TGIF

Filed under: Environment, Vegtable soup by Kevin Griffiths — Leave a comment
September 20, 2013

Merit

Have a great weekend.


Today in history: September 20th 1977

The republic of Vietnam becomes a member of the United Nations.

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TGIF

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September 13, 2013
Merit of Merritt

It’s good that it is friday….

On September 24th the Merritt Public library is having a presentation on 3D printing. The presenter  Jeff Gates is said to be a pioneer in this technology.

rsvp at the library in Merritt 5:00 PM Appies presentation 5:30

Today in History: September 13th 1994

The Ulysses probe passes the sun’s south pole.

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Fish stocking

Filed under: Enterprize, Environment, Social Activism by Kevin Griffiths — Leave a comment
September 5, 2013

The non profit society that stocks the lakes with trout fry is about Merritt today. A worker said ” we are stocking Salmon Lake today”. Salmon lake is on the historic douglas lake Cattle company ranch and has a dock at its store and cabin facility there.

The Society is funded by a portion of all the fishing licences sold in British Columbia.

Today in history: September 5th 1969

United States Army LT William Calley charged with the murder of 109 Vietnamese civilians in My Lai.

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Butterflies and Moths of North America

Filed under: Environment by Kevin Griffiths — Leave a comment
August 29, 2013

There is a website that lets you submit photos of butterflies and moths for identification its: http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/ubmiting Photos and place serves a good purpose, as it logs the health and numbers of a bell weather, to environmental safety.

along with birds these creatures should also be observed for the plants they are eating and how they fare against predators.

Today in history: August 29th 1946

The USS Nevada is decommissioned.

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Today in history: August 29th 1907

The Quebec Bridge collapse kills 75  workers.

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Bang and shake: quake

Filed under: Environment, Public health, Workers Safety by Kevin Griffiths — Leave a comment
August 27, 2013

Sometime after 9PM on the 23rd of August we felt a bang and shake for about half a second in the apartment building that we live in . Fully expecting to see an amount of damage to the building by a car or trick that stuck it we didn’t get out of bed. The next day talk of an earthquake was about the town and news reporting said that Merritt had had a small earth quake, in the range of 2.6 on the energy released scale. Emergency vehicles were about on Friday after the shake and people said that they went to the Clay banks park over flow to a fire that  was not there and there were reports of Fire works at a local school. Lots of accounts of people hearing or feeling the brief shaking including retired fire chief Don Moyes who thought it may be like the experience of his child hood when he would hear and see explosions in the coal mines. Another person working at the Grand said that he spilled a bit of his drink he was preparing.

The United States Geological Survey does not list it on their records this may be that it was not on a plate boundary or an US threat. They do list an earthquake  on the 19th in Osoyoos, 2.5 in energy at 15.32 , UTC 7.00.

Talking to a young woman from Japan on Saturday at Starbucks she said 2.6 is a weekly occurrence for her and her companion said he doesn’t know if it’s a quake, sometimes ,or a passing truck.

The confusion is an enigma about fires and fireworks here is some advice from  a Canadian source on what to do in an event:

http://embc.gov.bc.ca/em/hazard_preparedness/earthquake_information.html

Today in History: August 27th 1928

The Kellogg-Briand pact is signed, it eventually leads to 61 countries signing on.

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The week in pictures 8/24/13

Gallery
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August 24, 2013
August still in bloom
Spirit square in bloom
Hydro people reading for a line burial on Voght File photo KDG
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Duct pack

Filed under: Environment, Public health, Technology, Workers Safety by Kevin Griffiths — Leave a comment
August 15, 2013

The hydro ( or a consultant) here in Merritt are checking old manholes for compatibility for water lines today. A source says the real work to is a duct pack in the Voght street  and the burial of the power lines  that now are on the west side of the road. He also says that the top like goes to a substation in the highland valley and is high voltage up to 63000 volts.

The single line sits atop some ageing power poles at this time.

Today in History: August 15th 1481

The Sistine Chapel is consecrated.

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Ball field parking lot paving

Filed under: Environment, Technology by Kevin Griffiths — Leave a comment
August 12, 2013

The city crews have blocked off the parking lot next to the RCMP station and the Ball fields. The parking lot is being paved over not with new asphalt but recycled asphalt from a highway repair area. The material has gone through a grinder and is laid out without new oil and rolled  untill it has a flat and usable appearance. The parking lot at the local kin park was done in this way a few years ago and has proven durable for the speeds and loads it was subjected to by the picnicking public.

Thats one for the Canadian Eco footprint.

Today in History: August 12th 1978

The treaty of peace and friendship is signed between the people of China and Japan.

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