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Tarheel

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4 hours ago, Islander said:

 

That would be true if the powerplants ran on fossil fuels, but in this province around 90% of the electric power is generated by hydro, which is pollution-free.  We have a lot of mountains and rivers.  About another 5% is generated by other renewables, like wind and solar power.  BC generates enough power this way to meet all our needs, and still have enough to sell some to California when they need it.  The target is to have the province run on 100% renewable energy sources, and that looks to be achievable in the fairly near future.

 

These facts may seem to be barely believable, but keep in mind that although the province has all kinds of renewable energy sources, the population of the whole province is only 5 million people, so the total energy needs of the province are about that of a large city, but still only about half that of a city the size of New York, with its population of 10 million.

 

https://www.bchydro.com/energy-in-bc/operations/generation.html

 

https://www.bchydro.com/energy-in-bc/operations/generation.html

 

 

Hydro may not expel pollutants however it's far from free. They disturb the natural flow of a river and kill untold numbers of fauna. There is no free lunch.

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3 hours ago, Islander said:

 

Thanks.  It is pretty nice.  The tourist ad slogan is Super Natural British Columbia.  When I lived in Toronto, I was driving so much that I had to fill up my van twice a week.  In Victoria, I live right downtown, and almost everything I need is within 5 or 6 blocks of my front door.  I mostly use the van to go to Costco once every month or two, which is only 15 minutes away, or to drive out-of-province visitors around during most summers.  As a result, now I only need to fill the tank about every 4 or 5 weeks.

 

Toronto can be really sticky hot in rte summer, so A/C is practically a necessity, while here, having the ocean on 3 sides of the South Island means that it rarely gets really hot or really cold.  The situation in the Interior of the province is quite different.  So, A/C is really rare here on the Island, even in classy hotels.  So my fuel usage is way down, my heating budget is down, my A/C budget is gone, and I'm even using super-efficient speakers, which I didn't have when I lived in TO.  We try not to tell everyone about this place, because the low population is a good part of the "secret".  The unofficial tourist slogan is Come.  Enjoy Yourself.  Then Go Home.

Looked Victoria up on google.  Seems like pleasant weather but rarely gets to 72 degrees.  May lose my tan.  Housing a bit pricey?

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1 hour ago, Tarheel said:

Looked Victoria up on google.  Seems like pleasant weather but rarely gets to 72 degrees.  May lose my tan.  Housing a bit pricey?

 

It’s sunny here for most of the summer, like from May until September.  The last recorded rainfall was something like 5 weeks ago, which is okay for us, but not so much for the people fleeing or battling the wildfires in the Interior.  100 firefighters from Mexico were welcomed to the province yesterday, in addition to the firefighters from Alberta and Ontario, here to help our already large number of BC firefighters.

 

One clue to the weather is an aerial view of Victoria and its surroundings, the Capital Regional District (the CRD).  When you fly over the Greater Toronto Area (the GTA), it’s easy to see the large numbers of backyard swimming pools, like in many US cities.  Not so much here.  Outdoor pools are pretty rare.  It gets warm,, but it rarely gets hot.  We see 80s temperatures for a few weeks at most, and 90s happen for a couple of days at most, if they happen,  apart from this hopefully anomalous year.  However, shorts are popular here. Some people, mostly guys, wear shorts year-round, every year.

 

The winters aren’t that cold, though.  I have a parka that I used to wear regularly in Toronto.  Here, I wore it for 3 days in 20 years.  A medium-weight jacket is usually all you need in the winter.  This city is the closest to a snow-free city in Canada, so in a way it’s Canada’s Florida.

 

Yes, housing can be pricey.  A 2-bedroom apartment in a mid-range downtown building sells for $500,000 CAD this year.  Actually, Vancouver has the most extreme real estate prices in the country, with entry-level houses costing over $1 million CAD.  Toronto comes next, with prices that are crazy high, but not completely crazy like Vancouver.  Victoria comes third, where prices are high, but not crazy high.  I moved here from Toronto, so that helps to explain my mindset about what’s normal and what’s crazy high.

 

In the same way, someone from New York or San Francisco would find home prices in nearly any other city in the country to be great bargains.  It’s all in what you’re used to.

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1 hour ago, geezin' said:

 

 

Hydro may not expel pollutants however it's far from free. They disturb the natural flow of a river and kill untold numbers of fauna. There is no free lunch.

 

You’re right, there is never a free lunch.  Every method of generating electric power has costs.  Since we’ve come to depend on electricity, meaning it doesn’t just keep us warm or cool, it keeps hospital patients alive, all we can do is choose our poison.  Geothermal may have the fewest trade-offs, or maybe tidal power, and we’re looking into those.  Meanwhile, hydro power sure beats coal-fired or nuclear power.

 

Accordingly, hydro-produced shore power beats power produced by idling Diesel ship engines, don’t you think?

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8 hours ago, RandyH said:

 

That's very true.  A Chinese real estate customer may arrive in Vancouver, see that the prices are much lower than in Hong Kong, and say something like. "That's all it costs?  I'll take two!"

 

Then the happy Vancouver house owner, who just got $2 million for the house that cost him $300,000 ten or fifteen years ago, looks at Vancouver Island and sees that he can get a luxury lakeside house up-Island (away from Victoria) for $1.5 million, and is jumping for joy.  That's how overseas investors can indirectly drive up prices on the Island.

 

Soon, the little house on the medium-sized lot in Vancouver is torn down, to be replaced by a McMansion that towers over all of the original houses on the street.  Over a decade or two, the process continues, the street and the neighbourhood gradually become unrecognizable to its original occupants, and the young Canadian couple who would have bought their first house on that street is completely out of luck.  As Cyndi Lauper sang, "Money changes everything".

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Speaking of Chinese? Wow there is a good take-out here! The absolute best pork fried rice I've had since the 90s in FL. I got beef teriyaki, fried dumplings and crab rangoon to go along with the quart of rice I got tonight. I'll get a dinner with one pepper on the picture next time and spareribs. I'll have had everything on the menu hopefully before the year is up!

 

Nice people and the expected regular humor when English speaking customers talk to the Chinese lady behind the wall to wall, floor to ceiling plexiglass. 

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13 hours ago, Islander said:

The winters aren’t that cold,

 

once you get used to it.... 25`F isn't cold after -25`F. Almost t-shirt weather

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still raining and cool here. Way cool for this time of year...75` for a high. The low is, maybe, 65`

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Bought an LED shop light around the beginning of the year.... bloody thing burned out already. So much for LED vs floros.  Wasn't expecting it to last an eternity... but 6 months is a lot less than that. To be fair, our electricity has been popping on and off. Maybe a power surge killed it. I dunno

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On 7/23/2021 at 8:57 PM, JohnJ said:

Found one of the holy grails of my lockdown to present search for good bourbon.

My ideas have been changed on that subject a little by the www and an old thread here last year.

 

So I set my monos for about 11:30 on their dials, set the pc's Realtek chip for 50% with better than dvd bitrate and hz : Put on YES- Fragile and got a second shot of my rare "medicinal" stuff. Haven't seen this small batch since 2019. Goes down smoothly.

 

Happy Weekend folks!

 

PXL-20210724-013743725.jpg

That's a good one.  I have 4 spares in my bourbon closet.

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Yessiree, this 100 doesn't bite.

Vanilla, Caramel easy to discern. BreakingBourbon says it's the best from 2020. Not sure if they're to be trusted but they don't go completely hallmark with their articles!

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4 hours ago, grasshopper said:

ought an LED shop light around the beginning of the year.... bloody thing burned out already. So much for LED vs floros.  Wasn't expecting it to last an eternity... but 6 months is a lot less than that. To be fair, our electricity has been popping on and off. Maybe a power surge killed it. I dunno

Might have been a power surge. I sure hope mine live longer than that, I thought these were much cheaper than I expected, they are doing good so far, but really not alot of hours on them yet.

Amazon prices seem to change off and on, I paid $125 for 10 but seen the exact webite as high s $170, I keep it bookmarked if I needed more. 

 

https://www.amazon.com/Shop-Light-Pack-White-Head/dp/B0828XVD8F/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&hvadid=77859278128036&hvbmt=be&hvdev=c&hvqmt=e&keywords=4’%2Bshop%2Blight%2Bled&qid=1612982812&sr=8-3&tag=mh0b-20&th=1

 

.

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5 hours ago, grasshopper said:

 

 

Bought an LED shop light around the beginning of the year.... bloody thing burned out already. So much for LED vs floros.  Wasn't expecting it to last an eternity... but 6 months is a lot less than that. To be fair, our electricity has been popping on and off. Maybe a power surge killed it. I dunno

-LED lighting is meant to last for several years  as the draw is  minimal   - call the manufacturer ,  check for a recall -

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