Archive for the ‘General’ Category.

How to sell items on Amazon.com

7/25/2008, 9:35 am, General

If you have lots of books to get rid of, Amazon.com can be a good way to sell them. Here are some tips. I’m making this list because I just went through another round of selling stuff and want to remember it for next time.

  • Find the book on Amazon via the ISBN number. It’s easy to find on the back right next to the bar code.
  • Say something nice in the listing like “ships from San Francisco”. If the book is under 13 oz, you can ship it USPS first class inexpensively and legitimately mention “fast shipping”.
  • Always make sure yours is the lowest price listing.
  • Offering “expedited” or “international” shipping is a bother and usually not worth the money.
  • Stamps.com is a bargain if you have a lot of items to ship in a month. They charge $15/month but you get to print the return address, address and postage all in one go, saving time. And you just have to copy and paste the address. Most importantly, the envelopes are then not “stamped” but “metered” and you can drop them in any USPS drop box no matter how heavy they are. USPS.com has/had a similar option on their website but it’s a pain to navigate (it’s the government, who’d have guessed!)
  • Use UPS labels, 2 labels per 8.5×11″ sheet. They are free (for shipping UPS items only of course) from ups.com. I usually use the second label on the page to seal the envelope.
  • Use 9×12″ manila envelopes. They are inexpensive and most books fit in them. Note that a padded mailer might cost $2.00 each while these cost $0.20 each. They also qualify as “envelopes” and not “packages” so they ship cheaper
  • Use USPS “Bound Printed Matter” or “Media Mail” rate.
  • Use a postal scale.
  • Amazon should have a “I shipped this item” checkbox next to your sold items but they don’t. I use the change in color of a visited-link to note when I ship.
Category: General  |  Comment

Bush or Batman

7/24/2008, 5:04 pm, General

Bush or Batman is the hottest new game in town. You have to guess whether the quote you are about to hear was said by George W. Bush or Batman as played by Adam West. Sounds easy enough, doesn’t it?

“Right here I have a series of 30 quotes that were either by set by George Bush as president of the United States or Batman in the 1960s TV show.

I’m going to ask you as many as I can in one minute. your job is to attribute them properly

Bush or Batman.

And if you can get half of them right, you win…”

Bush or Batman?

local version:

Category: General  |  Comment

Historical Electric Rates

7/23/2008, 11:05 pm, General

Solar proponents claim that electric rates in California have been going up significantly faster than inflation, making solar a good deal. Here’s the data to prove it.

http://www.energy.ca.gov/electricity/weighted_avg_retail_prices.html

Utility-Wide Weighted Average Retail Electricity Prices 1980-2005

(nominal $) (cents/kWh)

Year 	PG&E 	SCE 	SDG&E 	LADWP 	SMUD 	BGP 	ESPs 	Other Municipal Utilities
Historical
1980 	4.76 	6.09 	8.43 	5.61 	2.53 	6.72
1981 	6.05 	6.45 	9.36 	6.16 	2.82 	6.48
1982 	6.24 	7.37 	11.26 	6.11 	3.03 	7.60
1983 	6.42 	7.42 	11.66 	5.85 	3.75 	7.48
1984 	7.86 	7.64 	11.80 	6.08 	3.92 	7.79
1985 	8.73 	7.94 	12.84 	6.54 	4.56 	7.81
1986 	8.72 	8.20 	11.66 	6.74 	5.45 	7.65
1987 	7.56 	8.19 	10.42 	7.09 	6.64 	8.22
1988 	7.85 	8.51 	9.82 	7.57 	7.35 	9.05
1989 	8.79 	9.17 	9.51 	8.06 	7.41 	9.50
1990 	9.24 	9.45 	9.22 	8.39 	8.27 	9.82
1991 	9.87 	10.07 	9.36 	8.23 	8.30 	9.91
1992 	10.42 	10.36 	9.47 	8.62 	8.21 	10.34
1993 	10.59 	10.06 	9.89 	9.13 	7.69 	10.96
1994 	10.71 	10.28 	9.69 	9.53 	7.96 	11.49
1995 	9.89 	10.46 	9.67 	9.14 	8.18 	11.43
1996 	10.20 	10.22 	10.36 	9.12 	8.14 	11.36
1997 	10.30 	10.22 	10.70 	9.36 	7.92 	10.51
1998 	9.74 	10.10 	10.16 	9.76 	7.63 	10.95
1999 	9.81 	10.05 	10.16 	9.75 	7.60 	10.96
2000 	9.82 	10.12 	13.72 	9.79 	7.61 	10.97
2001 	11.74 	12.87 	13.66 	9.79 	9.26 	13.57
2002 	12.72 	12.82 	14.45 	9.80 	9.27 	12.72
2003 	13.18 	13.16 	14.26 	9.80 	9.81 	12.43
2004 	12.72 	12.18 	14.55 	9.66 	8.60 	11.88 	6.19 	9.34
2005 	13.07 	12.93 	14.72 	9.31 	10.10 	11.97 	6.44 	9.51

Note: Energy Commission staff estimated these prices using data from EIA, utility websites and submittals during the IEPR cycles.

Utility-Wide Prices – These include prices for residential, commercial, industrial and agricultural customer classes.

BGP – This category includes electricity rates for customers of the cities of Burbank, Glendale and Pasadena.

Other Municipal Utilities – This category includes rates for Redding Electric Utility, Silicon Valley Power, City of Anaheim, Riverside, Roseville, Modesto Irrigation District, Turlock Irrigation District, and Imperial Irrigation District.

ESPs – These rates only reflect the generation portion of the total rate. Other charges such as T&D must be added. ESPs – Energy Service Providers include Arizona Power Service (APS), Constellation New Energy (CNE), Pilot Power Group, Strategic Energy LLC, and Sempra Energy Solutions.

http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/electricity/epm/table5_6_a.html

Table 5.6.A. Average Retail Price of Electricity to Ultimate Customers by End-Use Sector, by State, November 2007 and 2006 (Cents per kilowatthour)

                Residential	Commercial	Industrial1	Transportation	All Sectors
California  	Nov-07 	Nov-06 	Nov-07	Nov-06  Nov-07 	Nov-06  Nov-07  Nov-06 	Nov-07 	Nov-06
California  	14.26  	14.47  	11.94  	12.23  	9.75  	9.66  	7.8  	7.27  	12.23  	12.38

http://www.neo.ne.gov/statshtml/115.htm

 Average Revenue per Kilowatthour by State
(Lowest to Highest Rate as of November 2007)
Rank 	State 	Average Electricity Rate for
All Sectors
(Cents per Kilowatthour)

39  	Maryland 	11.58
40 	District of Columbia 	11.99
41 	Vermont 	12.11
42 	California 	12.23
43 	New Jersey 	12.84
44 	Alaska 	13.12
45 	Rhode Island 	13.55
46 	Maine 	13.66
47 	New Hampshire 	13.68
48 	Massachusetts 	14.71
49 	New York 	14.90
50 	Connecticut 	15.77
51 	Hawaii 	23.67

More info http://www.energy.ca.gov/electricity/index.html#rates

Category: General  |  19 Comments

Solar Power Information Resource

7/23/2008, 10:58 pm, General

I gathered this information when I was trying to make a living selling residential solar systems. The job didn’t agree with me but this information is still valid. Check it out

Internal Rate of Return tutorial http://hspm.sph.sc.edu/COURSES/ECON/irr/irr.html

Solar time of Use (local copy) A paper about Electricity Rate Structures and the Economics of Solar PV: Could Mandatory Time-of-Use Rates Undermine California’s Solar Photovoltaic Subsidies? – shown to Lee by his neighbor Oren Ahoobim

Federal Information Sources

  • SEIA Solar Roadmap(local) – Notably on page 7 it shows that they think solar prices will decrease slowly. No great breakthrough on the horizon.
  • http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/solar.renewables/rea_issues/contents.html http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/solar.renewables/rea_issues/incent.html#intro I think this talks about long term net metering contracts. IE:

    Under PURPA, utilities are required to purchase electricity from QFs at the utilities’ “avoided cost.” (11) The Federal government, in formulating regulations, often delegates implementation to the States. This occurred with PURPA, as the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) delegated the authority for the determination of avoided cost to the States. In several States including California, avoided cost purchase contracts were very favorable to non-utility generators. For example, between 1982 and 1988, Standard Offer 4 (SO4) contracts written in California allowed QFs to sell renewable energy under 15-to-30 year terms.

Source

Additionally, the new law makes a credit available to those who add qualified solar panels, solar water heating equipment, or a fuel cell power plant to their homes in the United States. In general, a qualified fuel cell power plant converts a fuel into electricity using electrochemical means, has an electricity—only generation efficiency of more than 30 percent and generates at least 0.5 kilowatts of electricity. Taxpayers are allowed one credit equal to 30 percent of the qualified investment in a solar panel up to a maximum credit of $2,000, and another equivalent credit for investing in a solar water heating system. No part of either system can be used to heat a pool or hot tub. … These items must be placed in service after Dec. 31, 2005 and before Jan. 1, 2008.

30% tax credit… $2,000 for a PV system and $2,000 for solar water heating

[edit] IRS Form 3468

  • IRS form 3468 for 2005 Taxes Use Form 3468 to claim the investment credit. The investment credit consists of the rehabilitation, energy, qualifying advanced coal project, and qualifying gasification project credits.

A very important tax form. Print the whole thing out and read.

There is mention of a credit for using solar illumination

? Increased the energy percentage from 10 to 30% for solar property placed in service after December 31, 2005.

There is mention of a credit for property that generates solar or geothermal power

For purposes of line 2, solar energy property is equipment that uses solar energy to: ? Generate electricity,? Heat or cool (or provide hot water for use in) a structure, or ? Provide solar process heat (but not to heat a swimming pool).

solar energy property includes solar energy property as defined in the line 2 instructions and equipment which uses solar energy to illuminate the inside of a structure using fiber-optic distributed sunlight.

California State Information Sources

Calculators

Other (and unsorted) Information Sources

  • Good Book: “Got Sun? Go Solar” by Rex A Ewing and Doug Pratt. Excellent book. Practical. Covers the generalities very well.

Stuff from Charlotte

Media/publications

Rating systems

Economics

Campus initiatives

  • (book) Procurement Guide for Renewable Energy Systems IREC & U.S. EPA, 1997, 104 p. $15.00 The Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC), in cooperation with the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and Sandia National Laboratories, has developed this handbook to guide state and local government procurement officials in the specification and purchase of commercially available renewable energy systems. Includes basic information about renewable energy, product specifications, schematic designs and photos, installation details, and a directory of a wide variety of photovoltaics, solar water heating systems, and small wind generating systems.
  • (the local chapter of The American Solar Energy Society) Northern California Solar Energy Association (NorCal Solar) P.O. Box 3008 Berkeley, CA 94703 P: (510) 869-2759 e-mail: info@norcalsolar.org web site: http://www.norcalsolar.org Executive Director: Liz Merry
  • http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p505.pdf
  • Agricultural Biomass to Energy Program
  • Alameda County – Million Solar Roofs Partnership
  • Anaheim Public Utilities – Green Power for the Grid
  • Anaheim Public Utilities – PV Buydown Program
  • Bay Area Solar Consortium – Million Solar Roofs Partnership
  • California Clean Energy Partnership (CCEP) – Million Solar Roofs Partnership
  • California Property Tax Exemption for Solar Systems
  • City of Palo Alto Utilities – Palo Alto Green
  • City of Santa Monica – Green Power Purchasing
  • City of Santa Monica – PV Ferris Wheel & SolarPort
  • Emerging Renewables (Rebate) Program
  • LADWP – Green Power for a Green LA
  • Los Angeles – Green Power Purchasing
  • Marin Solar Program – Million Solar Roofs Partnership
  • Net Metering
  • Renewable Resources Trust Fund
  • Renewables Portfolio Standard
  • Retail Electricity Disclosure Program and Green Labeling
  • Roseville Electric – Green Energy
  • SMUD – Community Solar(SM)
  • SMUD – GreenergySM
  • San Diego – Million Solar Roofs Partnership
  • San Francisco – Million Solar Roofs Partnership
  • San Francisco Public Utilities Commission – Million Solar Roofs Partnership
  • Solar or Wind Energy System Credit – Corporate
  • Solar or Wind Energy System Credit – Personal

Source

  • US Department of Energy: Department of Efficiency and Renewable Energy
  • http://Millionsolarroofs.org
  • Seattle Regional Office Heather Mulligan, 800 5th Ave, Suite 3950, Seattle, WA 98104, ph: 206-553-7693
  • Alameda County Solar Partnership
  • City of Humboldt
  • Marin Coounty MSR
  • City of Sacramento
  • Bay Area Solar Consortium
  • Whatcom 1000 Solar Rooftop Project

And if all that fails, try getting Energy Film low e film. You could save 15% on your energy bills. Lasts 10 years. DIY. Costs $40 for a 4’x7′ sheet, maybe $500 for a whole house instead of $12,000 to install low-e windows. Energy Film blocks out 70% of solar heat in summer, retains 38% of escaping heat in winter and blocks 97% of UV rays while still allowing 77% of natural light into a room.

Category: General  |  Comment

Handgun Guide for Men and Women

7/23/2008, 4:37 pm, General

A while back I was considering getting a handgun. I wanted it to be easy to handle for both myself and my girlfriend. I decided on the Beretta 92FS. Actually, the box tells me that it’s a Beretta M9, the same thing with different markings.

I was a little disappointed because although the Springfield XD9 is very sexy, the grip is too large for my dainty woman’s hands. No matter, the Beretta is a fine handgun.

For your pleasure, here’s some links and research I did in buying the gun…

*   Charlotte talked with a very nice female cop, she recommended Glock47, Glock 27, Glock 26. And to check the website for Kahr arms …..LC action drop down menus on weapons….. Weapons for women…..

* Beretta 92FS. $575 The official handgun of the US Armed Forces

* Beretta 92FS Vertec site reads “good for small handed shooters”(?)

* Springfield XD9 4″ $500 grip safety but no thumb safety. Inexpensive, comes with case, 2 magazines. Green bi-tone is pretty.

* Springfield 1911-A1 9 MM. Model PI9134L   Thumb safety, grip safety, more expensive, single stack

* Smith & Wesson 3913 recommended by http://www.womenandguns.com/wfn/somany.html

* Browning HiPower recommended by http://www.womenandguns.com/wfn/somany.html

Other info

At Jackson Arms, Monday night is Ladies Night (1/2 price for Ladies). They have Berretta 92 and Springfield XD9 but they’re both broken :-(. Call back in a few weeks.

Use http://gunbroker.com to figure street price

Maybe buy a gun from On Target Guns & Accessories in Ukiah CA 707-462-8513

Maybe buy a gun bag from http://Tommysgunpack.com. They are often at local gun shows

Maybe call these ranges looking to rent handguns or to shoot at

http://www.corneredcat.com – A great site with info like how to rack a pistol if you aren’t strong and how to dry fire and such. And it’s pink!

http://www.pistolprowess.com/Choosing_a_Pistol.htm Double-action / Single-Action (like on the Beretta 92FS) is bad: “With a DA/SA gun not one but two different trigger pulls must be learned. Novice shooters often pull their first shot low as a result of the heavy DA trigger”

“Typically “single stack”, designs such as the 1911 models work well for shooters with small hands”

http://www.womenandguns.com A good site, check out the forums too.

http://www.sightm1911.com The M9, Beretta 92 F, has the smoothest slide and the lightest recoil spring of any major caliber pistol I know

Good for small hands ParaOrdnance 18-9 (according to: http://womenandguns.servertalk.in/womenandguns-ftopic850-0-asc-15.html)

http://womenandguns.servertalk.in/womenandguns-ftopic850.html

To reduce recoil, don’t get porting; it’s louder and has more flash, which could temporarily blind you consider getting Shok-Buff (http://www.wilsoncombat.com/a_shokbuff.asp) instead

Category: General  |  6 Comments

Funny Buttons by CTP

7/17/2008, 12:49 pm, General

Look and laugh.

And dispair a little for getting the joke

Category: General  |  Comment

How to enjoy the Burning Man experience from the comfort of your own home

7/14/2008, 1:46 pm, General

This reprint is worthwhile

Category: General  |  Comment

DriveSavers $500 Discount Coupon and 10% Discount

7/14/2008, 9:21 am, General

If your hard drive has crashed hard, IE your computer burned up in a house fire, then DriveSavers are the people to call. They are crazy expensive but they are the only company I know of that can recover a hard drive that was burned in a fire, drowned in a flood or run over by a truck. They might charge $2,500 to recover the contents of a hard drive. But they work very fast and they are very good. They have saved many businesses from disaster.

I have a $500 discount coupon off a hard-drive recovery. I will happily split the coupon with you. You send me $250 and I will mail you the coupon. If they can’t recover your hard drive, they don’t charge you. I will do the same, refunding the $250.

Sorry, this coupon expired on 12-31-08. But you can still save some money just by mentioning my reseller number, see below.

drivesavers1

drivesavers2

In addition, I am an authorized Drivesavers reseller, when you call them, tell them about the $500 coupon AND give them my reseller number, DS14221. That will give you a 10% discount on your order!

You can reach DriveSavers at 800-440-1904. You can reach me at .

Category: General  |  1 Comment

The Right To Keep and Bear Arms: DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA ET AL. v. HELLER

7/13/2008, 11:39 am, General

The Washington DC handgun ban was repealed by the US Supreme Court on June 26, 2008. Here is the ruling: (local) Supreme Court Ruling on the Washington DC handgun ban

Short Form: DC made laws making it impossible for anyone to keep or bear (own or carry…) a handgun in the city. And everyone knows how effective that has been (IE “murder capital of the United States”). A police officer wanted to keep a gun in his home so he sued for the right. He won in a 5-4 split decision in the Supreme Court.

For all you Second Amendment nay-sayers, the very first statement made on page 1 is this:

Held:
1. The Second Amendment protects an individual right to possess a
firearm unconnected with service in a militia, and to use that arm for
traditionally lawful purposes, such as self-defense within the home.

There is a good bit of discussion and clarification about the wording of the Second Amendment starting at the end of page 2. If there are any questions about it, I recomend you read it.

Some excerpts (this is non-inclusive, I recommend you read the whole thing)

Some have made the argument, bordering on the frivolous,
that only those arms in existence in the 18th century
are protected by the Second Amendment. We do not interpret
constitutional rights that way.

.

In numerous instances,
“bear arms” was unambiguously used to refer to
the carrying of weapons outside of an organized militia.

.

The phrase “bear Arms” also had at the time of the
founding an idiomatic meaning that was significantly
different from its natural meaning: “to serve as a soldier,

After this decision, there have been a flurry of lawsuits. One of which is in San Francisco. Take a look.

Category: General  |  Comment

The Pink Pistols and Guns in Public Housing in San Francisco

7/13/2008, 10:25 am, General

Travis wrote about the Pink Pistols last week. The news story that he quoted and my comment bears repeating here:

SAN FRANCISCO – The National Rifle Association sued the city of San Francisco on Friday to overturn its ban on handguns in public housing, a day after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a handgun ban in the nation’s capital.

The legal action follows a similar lawsuit against the city of Chicago over its handgun ban, filed within hours of Thursday’s high court ruling.

In San Francisco, the NRA was joined by the Washington state-based Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms and a gun owner who lives in the city’s Valencia Gardens housing project.

The gun owner, who is gay, says he keeps the weapon to defend himself from “sexual orientation hate crimes.” He was not identified in the complaint because he said he fears retaliation.

Mayor Gavin Newsom said the city will “vigorously fight the NRA” and defended the ban as good for public safety.

“Is there anyone out there who really believes that we need more guns in public housing?” Newsom said.

Mu.

I really believe that there should be no such thing as “public housing”.

The very phrase is a perversion – an abomination in two words like “poisoned icecream” or “abandoned dog”.

(my comment)

#   Lee Says: June 28th, 2008 at 6:08 pm Quote

Putting aside the “public housing” question, I think that the best argument to eliminate the public housing ban are Newsom’s words, “Is there anyone out there who really believes that we need more guns in public housing?”

To reword, “I know that illegal handgun possession is rampant in public housing. We don’t regularly enforce the public housing handgun ban. We would rather there -only- be illegal handguns in public housing.”

On 3 of the last 3 nights I’ve been in Hunters Point (at The Box Shop art space), I’ve heard gun shots coming from the projects. While firing a weapon in San Francisco without cause is illegal, no police ever showed up.

I’ll look into getting behind this Pink Pistols initiative.

Category: General  |  2 Comments
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