EdEarl

6 hours ago, StringJunky said:

I find myself lost now. Can someone fill me in? Regardless of the motivations of the fossil energy industries they have been essential to the functioning of the world up until some point in the foreseeable future. With the NY case, I see the hand that has fed them with the means to fuel society for 100-odd years now being bitten. It seems to me that people are losing sight of the wood for the trees.

People are fickle. I think people now see the oil and coal industry as having done a good job, but now they are causing as much or more harm than good. We have a more realistic vision of what's happening. It is now time to get rid of the smoke and smog in favor of greener energy.

When someone slams the till drawer, I'd expect to sever a few hundred fingers, and most will get away clean.

Before men established property laws, every being was allowed to gather or hunt food, and allowed to try to survive and thrive. Laws that cause people to suffer are unjust laws.

Heat transfers in three ways, conduction, convection, and radiation. Some temperature exists within and around the material of thickness (x). You are heating one side to heat water on the other (or on the inside). The amount of heat you are adding to the system is important, and the temperature on both sides of the material. The thermal conductivity is important, and the heat loss by conduction, convection and radiation. Convection is greater when air moves over a surface, so air velocity is over the material is important. Color and other things affect heat loss or gain by radiation; thus, you need the temperature of the walls and everything in the room, and their ability to radiate or absorb radiation. Calculating real world heat loss is not impossible, but is difficult to do accurately. Homework problems are usually simplified by considering "ideal" conditions.

There are several industries sucking 50+ year old tits; they are way past the age to wean.

3 minutes ago, StringJunky said:

 

Perhaps the long term solution is more towards decentralized power generation as large capacity storage becomes feasible and affordable.

As petroleum transportation declines, we will need more electricity. We will need both decentralized and centralized power to meet the demands for green power.

8 minutes ago, Phi for All said:

Actually, I think the solar issue needs to be addressed by the public, rather than allowing it to be privately manipulated as a cheaper option to oil. Building a solar and wind infrastructure will be expensive to begin with and will most certainly attract private contractors, but once it's in place, the electricity generated is too cheap to attract private investors. Solar and wind systems have no reclamation costs, and their maintenance is also much less than fossil fuel systems. If we want cheap electricity, I think we need to buy back our utilities and run them publicly moving forward. 

Here the electric utility is run by the city, and is about to fund another 5MW of solar. I agree Phi.

Solar panels are less expensive than coal or oil fired power plans in some locations. Anything that increases the price will make renewable power a better option for more locations. Moreover increased gasoline prices will drive auto purchase towards the EV market. Reduced demand for petrol vehicles will ensue. Several countries have already said they will begin to restrict sales of petrol vehicles by statute. The US is being left behind, unfortunately.

Culpability may vary from place to place. Iceland convicted several bankers for being complicit in causing an economic bubble to burst. So far the discussion has focused on whether the NY case has legs. Other cities such as SF think so. We will find out in time. What's the likelihood cities in other countries will pile on by also filing similar suits?

Quote

Reuters

NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York City announced on Wednesday that it filed a multibillion dollar lawsuit against five top oil companies, citing their “contributions to global warming,” as it said it would divest fossil fuel investments from its $189 billion public pension funds over the next five years.

The lawsuit, against BP Plc, Chevron Corp, ConocoPhillips, Exxon Mobil Corp and Royal Dutch Shell Plc, follows similar lawsuits filed last year by San Francisco and other California cities seeking billions of dollars in damages from rising sea levels due to climate impacts.

 

Can London, Paris and Hong Cong file similar suits?

Will these lawsuits smother the oil companies?

One could study a cross section of dry cloth as it moves from not touching spilled water until it touches the water and has time to absorb some. For a good view, the camera might run through frames faster than typical videos and looking at the fabric contacting water might be magnified. But a cell phone video might give some info.

Today I learned:

Quote

“For the first time in history, more people die today from eating too much than from eating too little; more people die from old age than from infectious diseases; and more people commit suicide than are killed by soldiers, terrorists and criminals combined.’” Yuval Noah Hariri

36 minutes ago, Ten oz said:

Yes, Republicans sell deregulation as limiting government overreach but reality the goal is to benefit large corporations that exploit resources. When it comes to what's going on in our bedrooms, law enforcements ability to shoot you dead in the street, the govt's ability to execute you, autonomous vehicles ability to kill, data collection, and on and on and on Republican have no problem with overreach. Things like the Patriot Act were written and signed into law by Republicans. It is currently Republicans attempting to crack down on states which have legalized marijuana. When Republicans talk about less govt it only applies a la carte to those things which they choose. 

You are ignoring the better in pursuit if the perfect. However you feel about Obama he was a better President Bush. Ensuring we select those whom are better is still important even if no one is perfect. The way the U.S. is set up Democracy is divided. Wyoming has 1/56th the population of Texas yet equal representation in the Senate. A candidate can win 3 million more votes yet still lose. The constitution established these things. Candidates for office do not need to speak for everyone. They just need to speak for the correct pockets of people. Money in politics didn't create that. Outlaw all lobbyists and campaign contributions tomorrow and Trump would still be able to gin up support demonizing immigrants. Trump won 70% of the popular vote in Wyoming and West VA. Those weren't states where massive amounts of money were used to influence voters. They are mining states and Trump's promise to increase mining jobs resonated. 

Clinton's campaign raised 1.2 billion dollars  and Trump's campaign only raise 650 million dollars yet Trump won. In 2012 Romney raised a billion dollars and lost. While money in politics is bad it isn't absolute. The below links breaks down where Clinton and Trump yet raise and spent money:

https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/graphics/2016-presidential-campaign-fundraising/

No comment.

7 minutes ago, John Cuthber said:

Are you sure?

So you need to look at what they actually do- rather than what they say they do.

Sure as hell unhappy about the US Federal Government. Politics are corrupting.

Follow the money.

13 minutes ago, DanTrentfield said:

Well I'm not exactly in a rush for a president from either party. I want one that wishes to remove power from government not give the government more.

The republicans are currently deregulating, which means removing power from the government. Is that what you want?

11 minutes ago, DanTrentfield said:

Riiiigth, No Republican or Democrat support, and that's all that gets elected these days. Sorry, I just don't see it happening. 

A party's support is illusion. The money is being spent by wealthy business owners whose business is bilking the public using the legal system.

I'd recommend starting no hotter than 50C for safety. Large surfaces like plates loos more heat per second than a smaller surfaces like bowls. Some dishes like porcelain conduct heat poorly; whereas, metal dishes conduct heat quickly. You want to conduct some heat to the food, but limit the heat going to the environment. For example, put your heater under a porcelain plate because the entire plate will heat up to keep the food warm, but it will slow heat loss better than a steel plate. Selecting the right dishes is probably important to success of this project, and a variety of dishes might be tested and data taken.

I think this is a bigger project than can be done on this forum. I have no estimate of the cost per meal. Style is important for food service. I suspect both cost and style requirements will be difficult to achieve. I am not the right person to attempt this project, perhaps someone else will speak up.

6 minutes ago, Ten oz said:

Donald Rumsfeld had been White House Chief of staff, Ambassador to NATO, and was a Congressman. Donald Rumsfeld was Sec of State under President Ford. When Bush tapped Rumsfeld to be his Sec of State few on earth were more qualified on paper. Donald Rumsfeld still did a terrible job with Iraq and Afghanistan. Dick Cheney was a formerly a White House Chief of Staff, Congressman for a decade, and Sec of State. Dick Cheney had a tremendous political resume. Dick Cheney was a terrible Vice President. 

No amount of prior political experience automatically makes someone a good fit for public office. Nixon was a Congressman, Senator, and Vice President before become President and still disgraced the himself POTUS. Intentions matter. Actually giving a damn about people matters. On paper Paul Ryan would make an excellent Presidential Candidate; one I would probably never vote for because he is an ideolog whom participates in grievance politics that divide the nation.  I am sure we ALL agree whomever the President is should be qualified to do the job. Where split is what exactly qualifies someone. Political experience alone doesn't qualify someone, at least not to earn my vote. I can name a lot of long tenured Politicians I think are absolutely terrible.

I agree with your sentiments. However, those people weren't trying to please you or me. I suspect they did please someone and were handsomely rewarded. 

I made a mistake. Heat is absorbed during melting and released during freezing.

Water is heavy. To reduce mass it is possible to get more stored heat with less mass by melting the mass used to store heat. The heat released while melting is "heat of fusion." The heat of fusion of water is almost 80 times its specific heat; thus, you can use 1/80th as much water if the temperature you need is about 0C. Other substances melt at various temperatures, so you might find a paraffin or salt that freezes and melts at your desired temperature.

You may need to use an insulator and another substance to store heat.

Heat of vaporization is higher than heat of fusion in some substances.

Because there are many engineering choices, designing your solution requires information about you project. If you are reluctant to provide the necessary information, you can study university level thermodynamics which requires a bit of calculus.

Of course it's OK. TY for the explanation.

Today I learned quotes are sometimes written „km/s” instead of "km/s." Is there a reason other than culture/language differences?

I barely remember anything about it, but my grandmother told me a few years later. So, I blame my parents and my stepfather, plus the next stepfather. Although, I also pity my parents and stepfathers. All of them struggled with life. I was merely in the wrong place at the wrong time.

I saw one store where you can buy the standard for $117, IEC. "International Standard 61169-2

Quote

Dictionary.com

Regret: to feel sorrow or remorse for (an act, fault, disappointment, etc.):

Your definition is not the first in the dictionary. The first one does not imply the regretful person is the actor and has remorse. My stepfather is the culprit who punched me in the stomach with his fist. For a long time I was not OK. Though I feel OK now, that act and other abuse affected my entire life. I have no idea what my life would have been otherwise, I'm sure I would feel differently and would have done many things differently.

If you think I stopped conversation in this thread, move my posts to to trash. 

Seems to me many restaurants have similar requirements for something to keep food hot. If it were easy, you could get it. You really didn't specify enough.

What temperatures, low and high, are acceptable, how much mass must be kept hot, what kind of mass, and how quickly does it cool now degrees/min. Can the mass be completely insulated, or will some of it be exposed to the environment. All that may not be enough, it is necessary to know how many calories/minute are lost to the environment, which you may not be able to measure.

I have a stainless steel thermos-cup that keeps my tea warm for about 12 hours, starting too hot to drink. It is closed on top, but opened enough to sip occasionally. If you can fully insulate, it will probably be your least expensive option. If insulating is not an option, a solution may be quite expensive.