That is correct that their are no jobs without a demand, but the customers do not actually create anything. The business is what creates. If you want to see how this works do the island test. You are stuck an island by yourself and you demand a big pile of food, a bottle of rum, and a boat (so you can leave the damn island). Do any of those things spring into existence? How about if their are 2 people on the island demanding those things? No not yet? Ok how about 1 million people on that island demanding those things? And again your statement fails. You can demand anything all day long and it doesn't magically appear. Ok let's try this again on the same island but with a guy who just happens to know how to grow food, make rum, and build boats. He now wants a big pile of food, a bottle of rum, and a boat. So he begins growing the food, builds a still to make the rum, and chops down trees to make the boat. Let's try again with 2 people on the island. Yep food, rum, and boats are being made. How about with 1 million people. Yep food, rum, and boats are being made. Now you could argue that the guy wouldn't have made anything without the demand, so the demand came first, but I would counter with that the business came first because the guy knew how to build those things first. People dream all the time about things they want, but until someone actually figures out how to do it no jobs will ever be created to deliver such things

Average voltage on an AC line is 0 volts. RMS is probably what you intended. But yes, Watt-hours are all basically the same for a given RMS voltage/frequency. We will ignore power factor, that would take a lot longer to discuss...

Just to be pedantic:
The electrons going through your appliances are almost entirely the ones that were in the wire of the appliance to start with. Some electrons may actually drift enough to have come from your house's wires. But for any significant number of electrons to physically be the same ones that were in the power plant is very low probability.

This may not seem obvious at first, but the reason is that the drift velocity of electrons is actually very slow relative to the currents typically used. In other words, a piece of wire has so many damn electrons that you don't really need to move a very large portion of them to get a large current. If we were all using DC mains, then eventually you would see electrons making a round trip. But with AC, as mentioned above, the average voltage is 0, so the electrons move back and forth, but not typically getting very far in either direction.

Also, a more direct thing to consider is that most electrical systems use isolated transformers. So literally, the electrons are not passing from the utility across that barrier (unless auto-transformers are used.) It is an energy conversion to/from a magnetic field.

There is a clever and very practical solution I've heard of in Germany that utilities are using to dump excess renewable electrical energy: hydrolyze to H2 and inject into the natural gas system. Infrastructure already exists, technology already exists, very low cost to implement. So you aren't exactly storing for the purpose of the electrical grid, but overall energy management is pretty good.

Similar things can be done with stored thermal systems in northern climates (you can heat water when energy is in excess and draw from it later.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
I was just being paranoid. There are just a lot more low res copies so it made it harder to refind this one.

Right around 19 seconds you can see the wires tangled up in the officers hands, which means the taser was fired.

There is more going on than what this video shows.
Scott was puled over in a traffic stop. How far did he run from that? What did he do while fleeing? Why would he flee from the car, then again when the officer caught up with him, and then still keep going again after being Taser'd?

Watch the video again on 1080p. He picks up the Taser and drops it next to him because he fired it and hit him with it, which is probably why he was running away so weirdly. You can see the wires a few seconds before he starts shooting his handgun.

Now the part I find strange is now all the youtube videos of the incident are now all 720p which makes it a lot harder to see the wires. Yesterday there were plenty of versions that were 1080p.

Imagine that feedback you'd get when flying and not turning off your phone like you should.

"Sorry Mr. Anderson, but our records show you going over 300 mph for nearly 4 hours. We are going to have to cancel your policy."

Girls like to do girl things, but mine also likes a lot of the things I do as well. I've spent more on her for fishing, SCUBA, and trips to the gun range than spa days, dinner, and jewelry. She does demand flowers, so I murder a bunch for her every week.

There is a bit of truth to that. Some people never move much past just reading. The books are supposed to inform or inspire. But then again you need a garage full of junk & tools or a bike and free range to put that information and inspiration to good use.

Lot's of parent won't let their kid near a saw, supervised or not, nor allow them to ride more than 2 minutes way from the house, so they never make it out of the book.

I say "Man Stuff" but when his little sister hits 11 next year she'll be coming out for pretty much all the same. Though we'll have to add in getting the hair and toes done (the girlfriend can handle that business) in addition to the shark fishing (something the girlfriend also will be handling).

Don't have kids, but the nephew is coming out for a chunk of the Summer. Last year list included:
home repairs
truck oil change/chassis lube/tire rotation rope climbing courses
hot lunch meat w/melted, cheese sandwiches & scrambled eggs(how to make)
how to do a fresh OS software install
BF3
a day at Busch Garden doing a little height de-sensitivity training on all the roller coasters
shark fishing from a kayak.

This summer will be:
BF4
SCUBA diving
how to drive a stick shift truck(private roads for the win)
vehicle corrosion prevention, (pull all the plastic off and clean up any rust we find underneath)
how to apply do a plasti-dip and paint job
some bolt on off road vehicle upgrades
some electrical vehicle upgrades
more home maintenance
Busch Gardens again
how to operate and field strip various firearms, he already knows how, but he needs speed and some problem solving skills
how to grill
hit all the basic kitchen tricks such as Mac-N-Cheese/Ramon so he can feed himself
more ocean kayak fishing
If he is really lucky and I can get his mom on board and we can squeeze it in, maybe this year we'll include how to ride a motorcycle or a flying lesson

Actually to add to the douche-baggery they will still charge you sales tax if you buy the car and then try to immediately register it. Typically you have to own the car out of state for a year to avoid that.

Small business owners are just as big of crooks as the large business owners. Swap Senator with County Commissioner and you know who the checks are going to.

Who ever offers the best service at the best price is going to get my money. Buy American, buy local just because? I say Fuck No!

How hard is it to tell them, either end your nuclear program or we will?

47 minutes after Iran announces that they have a nuclear weapon a large mushroom cloud over Tehran will announce the cancelation of said nuclear program.

Send that message.

anything past that is a waste of time.

Exactly, I'm getting to be a codger with a 5-digit ID. But, I recognize that if you don't have some social media presence, then you just don't exist. And it isn't really an age thing. Plenty of people twice my age look forward to seeing what I'm doing through Facebook. I'm lucky that my wife does most of the posting for both of us because I just don't want to spend time on it.

But that is the real difference, do you text and check Facebook when stopped at every red light, or do you keep one foot planted in the Analog world?

True but then in 2004 I couldn't buy or build a desktop machine as powerful as my smart phone.

It still blows the mind that we walk around with more computing power than was available in the 60's to NASA, and probably most of the rest of the US, in our pockets. That reminds me time to watch some youTube videos of a cat riding on a Roomba.