Study the basic mechanics!

No doubt you watched your retirement fund lose a lot of prudent investments as the Government literally stole your position by offering people dirt cheap loans (printed money). Your bonds (retirement and pension funds) were paid off with those loans, and the new bond holder was effectively your own government (your competition).

Now we see a new wave of Home loans, the Government is now geared up to destroy your Private, Union, or  Company pension fund by effectively stealing the loans from them. Here’s how it works. Only the government is in a position to steal your funds through the act of printing money, as they offer home loans for insanely low rates of interest, the earnings of Pension funds evaporate, this causes pension fund managers to invest in even riskier investments, and/or burn through their capital to pay out in pensions and benefits. 

Of course, those who support this activity won’t worry about this, as they think the printing press is the source of all money anyway.

My advice, spend that dollar now before folks figure out it’s worth next to nothing. We all need take a look at what this new round of insanity will do to the market as well, who is depending on these loans and modest earnings, and what will default when the Government takes these earnings away from them? 

The Mechanics are pretty basic, but not basic enough for the entitlement crowd to understand.  

Of course you need know that your Government has also made you responsible to help fund pension funds that default, so on top of all the other burdens you already have, you’ll be paying for the pension plans that the Government forced into failure.

It makes you ask.. it’s all so basic, so are these people this dumb, or is it the plan to make us all totally dependent on a corrupt government?

Electric Truck

http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/What-Options-Would-You-Like-With-Your-Tesla-EV/

http://canterburyheritage.blogspot.com/2009/04/early-christchurch-electric-vehicles.html

The first significant advancement in Electric Vehicles was likely battery technology that allowed you to recharge numerous times, and even allow the cells to set discharged for years without  damage. I think it was a Nickle-Iron cell made by Edison, and the disadvantage was a high self discharge rate, but if it were charged each night, was that a problem?  There were even Bell Electric Trucks used to deliver milk, Ice and more in the inter city and small towns alike.  Due to the lack of customers, the vehicle went out of production.

Today, we see a lot of bloggers cry out that Big Oil, and other powerful entities are killing the evolution of Electric vehicles, who is killing what?

We are at the moment of truth, it’s time to brand the pro EV lobby, perhaps a mark on their foreheads for all to see? Companies like Tesla, General Motors, have spent a mind-boggling amount of life’s energy (money) creating the Cars the people like Danny Devitio and Tom Hanks lobbied for.

Did you place your order? That nut in the cafeteria that told you it was big oil killing it all, does he have his order in for the Chevy?, For the Tesla? for another EV?

At the end of the day, it becomes obvious that you need a customer in order to sell an EV. California is in the process of forcing folks to buy EVs, no doubt, they know what’s best for people there.

Where’s the orders? Isn’t California full of Very Wealthy people who are Pro EV? What’s Al gore Driving these days? Did big Oil pay him off too?

Don’t spoil the dream! Order now, invest now, why not consider rolling your entire 401K into EV investments? Want to be more diversified than that? Then at least move it all to Green energy investments!

At the end of the day, it’s all about building what people want to buy, and it’s always been part of marketing’s job to identify folks that really are interested in the product from those who can”t afford to buy their own comic books.

The PROJECT IS  ONE  OF  THE FIRST UTILITY SCALE, HIGH CONCENTRATION PHOTOVOLTAIC ENERGY GENERATION  FACILITIES IN THE  U.S. AND THE LARGEST OF ITS KIND IN  THE WORLD.

Amonix Trackers in Alamosa, these things are huge and expensive!

As I think of other ‘FIRST and ONLY’ in the news, there’s often a reason it’s the first and only, and some of them carry the title ‘only’ for hundreds of years.

Want to be the First?  The Largest? The Only?  How about Marketing the first ‘Song Bird Flavored Cat Food’ sold in 100 pound bags?

Now read some of the terms set by the DOE for this project, see that 80% made in the USA clause?

WASHINGTON, D.C.—May 10, 2011—U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu today announced the offer of a conditional   commitment for a $90.6 million loan guarantee to Cogentrix of Alamosa, LLC. The   loan guarantee will support the construction of the Alamosa Solar Generating   Project, a 30 megawatt (MW) net capacity High Concentration Solar Photovoltaic   (HCPV) generation project located in south-central Colorado near the city of   Alamosa. Cogentrix estimates the project will create about 75 construction jobs   and 10 operations jobs. The project will source over 80 percent of its   components from the U.S.

“Colorado has long been a leader in the development and deployment of   renewable energy, and this project builds on that record,” said Secretary Chu. “By deploying an innovative, commercially-ready technology at utility scale, the   Alamosa Solar Generating Project is increasing the generation of clean,   renewable power, creating jobs and strengthening the U.S. economy.”

“Today’s announcement from the Department of Energy is exciting news for   Colorado,” said U.S. Senator Mark Udall. “With this significant financial   commitment, Cogentrix will have the tools to finish construction on one of the   largest and most innovative photovoltaic solar power plants in the country — as   well as create a significant number of jobs in the San Luis Valley. I have long   been a supporter of smart renewable energy projects, and I look forward to   watching Cogentrix’ plans unfold.”

“This is great news for the San Luis Valley and for the entire state’s new   energy economy,” said U.S. Senator Michael Bennet. “This new solar facility will   further solidify Colorado’s lead in clean energy, create good-paying jobs, and   provide a much-needed economic boost for the San Luis Valley and all of   Colorado.”

The proposed facility will use innovative HCPV systems consisting of   concentrating optics and multi-junction solar cell panels that are controlled by   a dual-axis tracking system. The tracking system rotates and tilts the cells   throughout the day so the surface of the solar panel maintains an optimal angle   with respect to the sun. According to the project sponsor, the multi-junction   solar cells are nearly 40 percent efficient or about double that of more   traditional PV panels used in areas with high amounts of direct sunlight, such   as Alamosa County. The Alamosa Solar Generating Project will sell all of its   electricity output to Public Service Company of Colorado. The facility will   produce approximately 75,000 megawatt hours of clean renewable energy per year,   enough to power over 6,500 homes, and will avoid the emissions of over 43,000   tons of carbon dioxide per year. 

The Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office administers loan guarantee   programs that support the deployment of innovative technologies that avoid,   reduce, or sequester greenhouse gas emissions, in addition to the Advanced   Technology Vehicle Manufacturing (ATVM) Loan Program, which supports the   development of advanced vehicle technologies. Including both programs, DOE has   issued loans, loan guarantees or offered conditional commitments for loan   guarantees totaling over $30 billion to support 28 clean energy projects across   the United States. The program’s 12 generation projects produce nearly 25   million megawatt-hours annually, enough to power over two million homes. Including the Alamosa Solar Generating Project, the program has committed over   $7.5 billion in loan guarantees to solar generation projects. DOE has also   issued conditional commitments or loan guarantees to support numerous other   projects, such as four of the world’s largest solar projects, two geothermal   projects, the world’s largest wind farm and the nation’s first new nuclear power   plant in three decades. 

Did you see anything in there about installed cost per KWH of production capacity, any caps on projected monthly maintenance?

Who does the DOE report to? Should we expect that the DOE might be used to meet political ambitions or political goals?

So lets look at those Giant Trackers supporting those HCPV panels. The story we hear from insiders is that the trackers cost $250,000 each! That the installed cost per KWH of production is VERY expensive in comparison to a conventional PV plant, and has a lot of added maintenance expense over the typical PV power plant. I think there’s an analogy here that’s fairly accurate, let’s say we are short on American Made effort, how about we pour several million yards of concrete to set the other stuff on top of? Looks like it meets the DOE conditions to me.  

If we look at this for what it is, the DOE is acting to help fulfill a political promise, US jobs, and US innovation, but those with just a little experience of watching how the world really works know that this power plant does little more than squander the public treasury, and help install a very unnecessary and costly power plant.

If all goes well, no one will ever follow up on this PV facility, there will be no public disclosure of the cost of a KWH of production, no review of whether it was a help or hinderance to humanity. 

Now if only the DOE can hide the news of layoffs, the disappointment of all those Amonix folks who were told they had permanent jobs. Perhaps they bought homes based on their permanent employee status and will now default on those loans? What about all the travel and moving expenses of Amonix families,  the likelihood that a lot of these expenses we placed on credit cards? The impacts on schools anticipating the permanence of more kids in their schools, the leases for housing signed. 

The overall effect of the DOE meddling in power production has done nothing other than help place power plants that under perform, and they have created a stimulus that will do far more damage than good.  In the case of the Amonix HCPV placements, it’s likely three times as costly of a typical PV power plant that could have been built over the same period of time. Read about the Mayor of Alamosa, she was a Cheer Leader of this project, what will you call her? Is she naive, perhaps a victim, maybe she was on the Amonix payroll? were there new levies passed for the Alamosa Schools? Did Contractors build houses expecting new demand? Was land purchased as part of some retirement fund anticipating even more development, and will it now under perform and make the retirees more dependent on the rest of us?        

The cost of energy has everything to do with our ability to grow the US GNP, if we carefully examine the 28 projects the DOE has forced you (the American tax payer) to invest in, what they’ve really done is add another millstone to the pile that Americans are already attempting to carry.

If you want a decent decision made in energy, leave it to private investors, they’ll build something worth while, or pay the consequences. If government is involved, expect it to reflect political ambitions. A lot fo people forget what government is..  it’s nothing more than the people in political office at the moment, and most would sell their very souls (and yours) to get elected one more term.

http://www.utterpower.com/1262012-the-next-solyndra-amonix/

At the end of the day, some will ask.. does anyone really care about those Amonix employees and how their lives were turned upside down by political ambitions? 

Kiss another $118 Million of your Social Security payments Good bye!

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/01/27/parent-obama-backed-battery-maker-goes-bankrupt/

Amonix Trackers in Alamosa, these things are huge and expensive!

 As you read this, keep in mind, this was the Crown Jewel, the top pick of a Top Green Investment Fund Manager, can you imagine how bad the other investments are?

504 Huge trackers on 255 acres at Alamosa.  If you haven’t been following this company, it seems Amonix has a unique and different approach. Instead of taking advantage of the plummeting prices of Solar Panels, and using them in a fixed and trouble free (KISS) rack mount, they chose to mount 65KW of panels on Huge, and I mean REALLY huge trackers! The trackers cost a fortune and look like they came off a ‘Star Wars Movie Set’!  Each tracker cost about $250,000, and they need maintenance people on site to look after them sources say.

As the prices of panels plummet, Solar Voltaic Engineers generally see better economics in adding additional panels, and optomizing the installed angle for fixed mounting. I’ve read that many engineers see superior economics over tracking systems by spending part of the tracker budget on the addition of 20 percent more fixed rack mount, and additional panels. What we need to digest here, is the cost of the tracker, and math that suggests we can add another 180KW of panels and fixed mounts to each 65KW of installed panels and dump the Maintenance hassle of the monster trackers. I don’t suggest I’m a Solar Engineer, so I’ll leave the question up to you.. what gain in efficiency must this tracker deliver (trouble free) for about 30 years to compete with fix mount panels on a cost per KwH delivered basis? Is there a good reason the Amonix approach is unique?

http://www.investorideas.com/news/renewable-energy/4211.asp

Notice the mention of Ben Kortland in this article above.

“Amonix CPV systems have emerged as the lowest cost solar technology for sunny and dry environments,” said Ben Kortlang, Partner of Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers. “Developers and utilities are choosing Amonix systems because of their 15-year track record in the field, high reliability, ease of deployment and industry-leading efficiency.”

Here’s the question, does Ben Kortland have any Engineering experience? Does he have any hands on experience in Solar Power production and maintenance? Could he find a cross in the Vatican?

It’s a very sad thing that the CEO of Amonix died in a plane crash in December 2011 leaving a Wife and three Children behind. A very sad event for his  Family and Company.  I hear that the loss of the CEO has left the Company pretty much without a rudder, and the enthusiasm seems to have died with him.

There’s some things that insiders say isn’t adding up, at least that’s the rumors, the folks who do know how to count beans are thinking that the current customer is being charged around $200,000 for an installed tracker, and the current cost is around $250,000 each. So… we’re talking acres of these things, and we need multiply this 50K loss by 504 trackers alone, that’s a pretty big number, and some say this is not the only thing that doesn’t add up.

Rumors suggest that Amonix projects have been postponed, and it’s likely that there will be no more installation work for Amonix employees unless the company can be profitable in making the installation, imagine that. Next, we might hear Investors expect a profit too.

It was not that long ago, I was visiting with one of my favorite technical minds…. Brian W and I were sitting at his dining room table discussing Solar Voltaic Panels when his Sister, a Grade School Teacher joined in, she said ”I don’t really care what solar panels cost, my Husband and I want to install them just to set a good example, we don’t care if they ever pay us a dime.”  I looked over at Brian and saw the corners of his mouth turn up ever so slightly, I stared directly at him, he couldn’t take the pressure and stared up at the ceiling trying to shake me off. I knew better than take another sip of coffee, as I might have started laughing and spewed coffee all over Brian.  His Sister soon decided we were bores and left to join a conversation in the other room… little did she know that she had spawned a great idea, and Brian and I discussed a potential money-making idea!

Maybe you haven’t followed Evergreen, Solyndra, Solon, or others, but in my mind and in the mind of many others, there was no chance these companies could compete in the market place, they didn’t have business plans that produced any kind of profitability.

Do these Companies exist only because there are fools lined up for a block to invest in anything that looks green? OR is it the generous incentives that are more or less transferred directly from your Social Security contributions into the hands of others?

Back to the plan Brian and I hatched.. you’ve seen those vinyl signs they apply to van bodies and more? Highly UV resistant, and you can print anything onto them! So why don’t we print a matrix that looks like the face of a solar panel, and we build a roofing system that looks like solar panels for people who want other people to think they are doing the right thing?  Think about it, as long as they look good, we have no service calls, and the customer is happy, install it, collect your money, and move on. At the end of the day, the systems delivered by some of the real solar companies will disappoint their customers and investors, our idea will likely leave everyone involved happy, and their incentives will be the admiration and respect their neighbors pay them.

More links about Amonix:

http://amonix.com/content/careers

Htttp://www.therepublic.com/view/story/99aa19ba55e04b21aabd0b2dae3ba801/NV–Solar-Project-Layoffs/

How bout you invest in the Utterpower/Ward (Solar-Like Panels), now I hope you don’t try copyrighting the name “Solar-Like Panels”, because we got our guys working on it right now. There will be no disappointments when we tell folks up front it doesn’t provide a return on your investment, but the incentives paid for ownership, that’s what it’s all about.

At the end of the day, someone might ask.. just how much of the American Dream was squandered on providing Government incentives? It’s just recently that most in Government will admit that Ethanol subsidies might have done more to hurt us than help us, but not long ago, some would have bet their lives on it being the only thing to do.

In closing, there’s always good in any story.. If you have a Company that needs a few good installers, you might attempt to recruit those who were laid off by Amonix or soon will be. It appears the work force put up a mountain of product in record time.

No doubt, there is a pay off in solar when >you< do it yourself, call in the clowns, and it’s likely a far less attractive deal..

make sure you read the comments, also google Amonix, stores are breaking now…

All the best,

George B.

P.S.  Wait a minute… I’ve got another thought.. the movie rights! did you think of buying the movie rights? Now watch Amonix, it will likely be in the news in the weeks ahead, and this Ben guy, anybody know him? Is he one of those long haired medical marijuana users? Does he drive a VW Bus? No doubt he must live in San Francisco? This could be a novel in the Making, will Warren Buffet dump his Amonix Stock, or use it to offset other gains? Who will play Warren Buffet’s part?  Was the CEO’s plane brought down by a missile fired by Big Oil? Maybe it was those damned Arabs, were they afraid this technology was going to put a dent in their oil sales? Greenies will want to know.

Ohh, just one more thing, if these trackers ever get scrapped, can you imagine what kind of desert shade tree this would make for your patio? Adjustable too..  Perhaps there’s a play to be made on buying the salvage rights?

G

Grandson Zach and his first real experience to play in snow.

It seems a lot of folks from the flat land never seem to learn much about gravity. Many are convinced they have talents for driving in the snow, and they attempt that near 6% grade here on snow and ice  Others stop at the base of a hill  to do a quick survey, “should I go up this or not? Of course, as soon as they step on the pedal again, they find themselves making a bobsled run down the hill and hitting other cars who didn’t anticipate the near insane move made ahead of them.

Snow in Seattle is top entertainment, and we can thank a lot of transplants for the fun.  I’m sure there’s body shops in the area that were close to going out of business, by tomorrow morning they’ll be looking for places to park pending work

Watch the following presentation, it is brilliantly tuned to appeal to their intended victim, and they understand that most all who would visit utterpower (DIYers) have been inoculated and would never fall for such a thing.  But those who are cocksure that Big Oil, and Big Energy are their enemies are fodder for their scheme.

The difference of course, is their victims volunteer, in all too many cases, we are forced to pay into government schemes just as nuts as the HoJo, and possibly more dishonest. Solyndra is only the tip of the iceberg, incredible wealth transferred directly from your social security fund into the hands of corporations with zero chance of making a profit.

http://www.hojomotor.com/

But.. if you think it over, modern day Politicians employ near identical tactics, they >BUY< your vote by promising you the impossible.

As a side note, I’ll be watching those Lister CS Air Compressor Sales on Ebay, as you know, compressing air makes a lot of heat, if you build the Hojo, maybe you run that compressor for free, and heat your shop?

Have a great Sunday

George B.

http://www.utterpower.com/combined-heat-and-power-lovson-air-compressor/

If you are a visitor to utterpower, you might remember an article about the Import of Lister CS type clones and why they are still in demand and have a large following. Many of us have come to understand that the EPA is driven by politics and their discussions of banning model airplane engines less they be equipped with emission systems is a testament to their insanity, we know that many of these engines run only a few minutes during their life times on average, and over our lifetimes, we’ve seen many that have never made their way out of the box they were sold in!  And now we see that Lisa Jackson has little time for anything other than her Activist agenda.

If you study Prohibition, you might be amazed by all the loop holes and provisions put in place to allow the elected officials to get their supply of alcohol. It will be no surprise if we see the same types of things happen in our community as we attempt to be our self reliant selves.

As a service to our DIYer community, and to those who risk considerable money to provide services and needed parts to our community, I issue this warning!

Indian crates made in the traditional way can and do harbor pests, and I have seen piles of saw dust under crates  in the ware house from crates that were fumigated! These recent arrivals (as seen above on eBay) WERE shipped in old style crating, and one day soon, an Agriculture inspector will take a flashlight and look under these types of crates and see the tell tale signs the wood is full of larva, or wood-boring insects, and condemn your shipment at great cost to you!

China got the message so long ago, most of their goods arrive here in composites, and pallet bottoms that need the strength, are often sheet metal re-enforced. IF you buy anything from Canada like you see in the above picture on eBay, don’t believe this wood is pest free, and for goodness sake, burn the shipping material as soon as humanely possible, North American Farmers need our help and support!

And a mention of Ultra Capacitors. There are a few ebay sales going on that offer used ultra capacitors out of city transit Vehicles, they are between 2600 and 3000 farad, a mind numbing capacity to store energy, and according to researchers, there is reason to expect that the power density of these capacitors could increase to the point where they might compete with batteries for storage capacity, they already live thousands of times longer than batteries. This may be your chance to snag some of these caps to play with.

One viable project could be to set up two or three solar panels in series and feed the output to charge a bank or banks of capacitors and literally run a wire feed welder directly off the capacitors!

I always ask myself, what would Mad Max do? And I think he’d be ‘all for this idea’.  I’m  sure I have all too little understanding of these caps, but I think it is important that we don’t exceed their voltage rating, and I ask myself what happens if we have capacitors in series, and one does short out, won’t that put a higher voltage across the rest if there’s not some protection? Perhaps the answer is to have protection across each cap, like a zener and resistor? Maybe some feed back to the power supply when a trouble is detected?

Since I am only curious about the potential (not informed), I mention that these caps are likely coming out of service because there’s new advancements and better ones going in.. far more expensive I’d imagine.

George B.

Utterpower.com KISS engine Lift

I thought I’d share one KISS idea here after visiting a WEBsite where I saw a far more complicated lift being advertised. In my mind, KISS engineered means you make every effort to use the most readily available, and least expensive parts to do the complete job. We need be curious, and in this case, there may be all too few that know that the common nuts and connectors down at the local hardware store fit those studs on Lister CS, and Lister Clones

As I always say, you need do the math first, and in this case, it was an inventory of the facts, just how many threads per inch do we have, and what did the Brits use? While we’re at it, we might check out the other fasteners and see if there’s a common equivalent in our North American parts supply, you may be surprised :-)

Another part of KISS is understanding how loads are carried, and if we can carry the load from directly above that massive stud, it might be best.  In one version of this lift, I set up a composite cut off saw to cut chain links in half and welded in the chain link or even a piece of chain. There are variations you will consider based on the materials in your junk box, and your skills and equipment available to you.

One bit of advice, slot your holes in that lifting bar just a bit, so you can compensate for the slight differences you will see from engine to engine.

About 95% of making something is in the thinking of how to make it simple.

All the best,

George B

To my knowledge, ‘you the importer’ are held responsible for all costs in destroying the imported materials, or for all costs and fees associated with the emergency export of same IF others are not held accountable. There are situations where if you don’t pay the fees, you will be black listed, and you will no longer be able to import.   

As a public Service, I post here a comment made in a forum recently, and then a link to one of my previous posts.

 Gentlemen,Be sure to check the rules. It can be very expensive.My latest shipment of GM90 Listeroids got stopped at the port in Canada and was deemed to be lacking adequate fumigation.By import law the whole container had to be immediately fumigated and returned to the most recent port. In this case Shanghai China.(It went from India to China to Canada)After an inspection in China it was shipped back to Canada where passed customs, but got seized by the freight company until “somebody” pays the additional $8000 for special fumigation, storage, re-crating, shipping twice more across the pond, inspections fees, and on…and on….and on…After 5 months I got it resolved and the faulty party is now being chased for the money.So, unless you want a whole bunch of paperwork, additional fees, and an extra 5 month wait, make sure about the fumigation requirements.Second item is the wood crating itself.By US law all incoming wood crates must now be made from specially treated wood with proper numbered markings showing that it is insect resistant.Check with an import authority and make sure you comply. One option is to not crate at all and leave the engines open for inspection.Of course this creates additional problems of stability and safety.

Let’s  discuss the reality of this situation:  In China, it’s very difficult for a company to ship anything out of the Main Land; including the port of Hong Kong with natural wood. The Chinese Government has encouraged all exporters there to use composites, and this started many years ago. As an interesting side note, if you attempt to burn some of these materials in your wood stove, they often smell like old cigars, and the smell can linger in your mind for months

However! IF you are receiving goods that were stuffed inside a mixed container, AND even one crate is found to be infested with bugs, the whole container might be shipped out of your country even though your shipper followed all the rules. In my case, I got the stuff months later, and I think my stuff got marked for additional inspections at additional cost >to me< when it returned.

This situation should lead you to consider the cost of your own container, and of course the assurance that illegal materials are not used to pack the container.    

Here’s another tip:  If you have a WEBsite, and you are selling Brand X, don’t show examples of >your< product with another companies’ name on it sitting on a standard Indian crate bottom, it may confuse people, take a moment to use a simple program like paint to remove the logo of another brand if it’s all you have to display at the time.       

Here’s a recent post below:

http://www.utterpower.com/the-joys-of-importing/

I’ll always remember the Public Forum Posts ‘Commie Doug’ made about the Blood Sucking Dealers of slow speed engines in North America, and his thought that a 10 percent mark up was all a person should have to pay   If only he had the courage to risk some of his own treasure and start a small business, he might have raised his import IQ to at least a first rung of the ladder.

My hat is off to all those who attempt to serve our DIYer, AE, and Slow Speed Engine communities. We know the weakness of our Dollar, and if you have surprise expenses, it can be impossible to find a profit in your efforts period!

I do know that Lovson has worked very hard to assure you don’t experience a problem like the one mentioned above, and they do market an engine nearly identical to the GM90 under the lovson LG 6 and 8 name.  There’s a Canadian Dealer who recently received a load of Lovson engines,   Mr. Peter LeGross – Kent Farms, he’s in Ontario, and easy to google up. Lovson has developed a shipping system and a composite and steel crate for less than container shipments.

Lovson’s LG8s are one of the most popular work engines in Fiji with the best reputation for doing hard work with no break downs. 

Here’s a link to my story about Lovson and how you can order an Air Compressor, and why you might do so.. http://www.utterpower.com/personal-import-up-to-2000-a-year-its-now-a-simple-process/

In other news, there’s now a person dealing with Powerline in Canada who has taken up the Lovson Air Compressor Idea, the more the merrier   

In closing, our Inspectors don’t always catch the fact there are pests in crating. One time I had a warehouseman call me and let me know that there was saw dust coming out from under crated engines, and since both of us know the importance of protecting our Agra business, and the fact we don’t need new pests here, we kept the crates tented and wet with pesticides for about 5 months before the crates were moved.

Hats off to Customs and Agra Inspectors for protecting our Farmers, don’t we know they already face enough challenges in making a profit large enough to stay in business. And no thanks to Lisa Jackson, the Partison Activist Currently Running the EPA. Remember, if you rebuild that old antique, it must meet new emission standards.. even if you only run it during a blue moon   This does place a burden on our Farmers (and others) who (for example)  have standby power for irrigation in case their electric pumps fail during the height of growing season and similiar. So many Stationary Engines are seldom if ever run, and it’s a shame that the US Government can’t quit printing money long enough to reduce enough red tape so the Farmer can make a profit.  I see the EPA is in the news today.. Check this out..  http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/nationnow/2012/01/supreme-court-critical-of-epa-wetland-order-against-idaho-couple.html  And you thought Mother Russia was hard on Her people during the cold years.     

All the best, George B.                

Accordingto my friend Phil