Thought for the day...

WBahn

Joined Mar 31, 2012
32,883
I know they said it takes 20 hours to cool down, but I wonder how long it takes from the time they start the fire. I don't think enough info was given to work that out.

The end showed the decrease in the number of active retorts by more than a factor of ten over period of about a decade. I wonder if that was because drop in demand or because the retorts became unusable or perhaps because it's become impossible to find enough people to run them.

I wonder where they get the wood. Do they have to cut it down and log it, or is it brought in by someone else? I'd sure love to have a stack of wood like that out behind the house here!

I wonder, in comparison, how charcoal is made in the west. I ran across this, which is an interesting read on a few fronts:

https://amazingribs.com/more-techni...firing/science-charcoal-how-charcoal-made-and

It says that one of Kingsford's five plants produces 550 tons of charcoal a day. For comparison, each of the retorts in that video produces about 1 ton of charcoal per run, which I'm guessing takes the better part of a week.
 

nsaspook

Joined Aug 27, 2009
16,330
When a bet is a sure thing.
http://www.espn.com/chalk/story/_/i...ino-already-paying-golden-state-warriors-bets
The sportsbook then removed the Rockets from the list of teams available to bet and reposted odds on the team to "finish best" in the Western Conference and the NBA Finals.

With Houston not offered, the Warriors have already finished best in the Western Conference at the Nugget, and anyone who bet Golden State may proceed to the cashier's window, even though the series hasn't started.

"We've already graded [the Warriors] a winner," Golden Nugget sportsbook manager Aaron Kessler said. "Bring your ticket and you'll get paid."
Warriors can go on to lose the series but anyone who bet on them still wins (or at least gets their money back).
 

BR-549

Joined Sep 22, 2013
4,931
One of my cousins had that model. I helped him do a brake job on it. The car was quite impressive, but the maintenance manual was un-believable. Step by step procedure for any maintenance imaginable. Even door adjustments.
 

nsaspook

Joined Aug 27, 2009
16,330
Kicked but not started.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...othing-to-show-for-it/?utm_term=.7b9f69b64fae
The latest hardware venture to amass buckets of crowdfunding money has left more than 10,200 backers $2,708,472 short and without their own pair of 3-D audio headphones.

In a letter to backers on its Kickstarter page, the tech company Ossic wrote that it was shutting down and would not deliver any remaining orders for Ossic X headphones. The company said it had explored other financing options over the past 18 months but would still need more than $2 million more to complete mass production.

Ossic's flameout also highlighted the challenges faced by tech companies in mass-producing innovative products -- such as robots, smartwatches and 3-D printers -- through crowdfunding sources, even as experts say platforms such as Kickstarter can be effective tools for getting a company off the ground.
 

wayneh

Joined Sep 9, 2010
18,111
I have mixed feelings. I’m libertarian when it comes to drugs generally, so I think sick patients have the right to try anything they want.

But on the other hand I’ve been learning just how much damage pharmaceuticals do. They’re a leading cause of death in the U.S. and many people would be better off with the lifestyle changes that the drugs help them avoid.

And then there’s the problem of asymmetric information. People should be free to make informed choices for themselves. But will they be told all they need to know?

I support the change but there are always unintended consequences.
 

BR-549

Joined Sep 22, 2013
4,931
And after one gets all the information together.....there's yanny vs laurel.

Maybe we live within multiple realities. Maybe reality can only be personal.
 
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