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Disaster
planning should be part of every single household across America, strike that,
the world. When disaster strikes, people die or lives are changed. In times of
plenty, forego the Playstations and buy extra food. You can explain a lack of
toys better than a lack of food to your children.
Three
years ago, our home caught fire. I spent time in intensive care and almost died,
thus I know from whence I speak.
As
we go into our third season of "This Old Shack", disaster planning and
survival episodes become more important. After all, that's what alternative
energy is - the ability for you to survive without an infrastructure. All of our
episodes of This Old Shack and our new show, "CSI:SALINE" will reflect
this in 2009. Oh, of course there's going to be laughs and beer drinking - this
survival crap is depressing to think about.
So,
practice your fire drills with the crumbcrunchers, practice evacuating
yourselves, your pets, your neighbors. Learn how to use a fire extinguisher. And
watch our videos!
NAVIGATION
Home Energy News Feeds DiaryDex Energy blog This Old Shack Cheap solar water heater A trip to the cabin! Xantrex Charge Controller Death of a battery About the system Photos of my system Battery bank setup My generator updated Generator article reprint Generator buying tips Battery wiring Installation Wiring the cabin Appliances for cabins Building your own panels Handy conversion formulas Gas mileage (Dodge Dakota) Privacy policy - please read! Sitemap 4-8-07 Links Earthquake/vocano activity
But why solar power?
There were several reasons for the
switch:
Benefits:
- Renewable power.
- Learning about solar power.
- Own stock in the solar panel company. :-)
- I like batteries.
- I can sit around smoking a cigar because I'm
an energy mogul!
Drawbacks:
-
Maintenance.
-
Installation.
-
Bunch of black glass panels sitting around.
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Learn more about alternative
energy |
National Weather Service Article
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This Old Shack
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Upcoming Episodes of This Old Shack |
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Episode 2 of 2008; Gasoline
additives and how to be a Hypermiler.
Watch
it here.
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Read the original show proposal here.
"This Old Shack" is a edumacational
series hosted by Bill Xam. You'll remember
Bill in his roll as Frank "FU"
Utley, star of "CSI SALINE" about a
disgraced detective who is forced to take a job in
a small town in southeastern Michigan. The
show is on the fictional television network "Saline
Entertainment Television".
"This Old Shack" is produced by NLA-Entertainment.
You can see the season 1 trailer
of CSI:Saline here.
This Old Shack is sponsored
by:
"The Small
Basement Moving Guide"; great for
parents of college age kids who are fed up.
"Billy-Bob's
Garage Parking for Idiots"; a great
little book for your "guests" (see above
sponsor) who can't figure out how to park in a
garage. A must have for families.
Acme Duct Tape;
from the makers of "Roadrunner Atomic Bird
Seed". It'll fix your crap.
Ambrose
Butterbutt talent agency; "If I can
get my dad a great gig like "This Old
Shack" imagine what I can do for you!
Nominated for
the prestigious "WTF" award! |
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Episode 1, 3-24-07
Download
Embedded |
Learn to make your own battery cables and hook up
a small battery bank. |
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Episode 1 update, 3-25-07
Download
Embedded |
Clarification of battery bank styles. Very
important viewing. Watch as Bill explodes
batteries. On purpose! |
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Episode 2, 4-5-07
Download
Embedded |
Follow Bill on a field trip to the cabin in
northern Michigan and watch him install a
generator! |
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Associated Content Episode 1,
4-29-07
Download
Embedded |
Here is the first Associated Content "This Old Shack" episode.
Includes the famous phone call from Al
Gore!
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Associated Content Episode 2,
5-11-07
Download
Embedded |
Is done being taped and is being edited.
Includes generator installations and grounding.
More explosions than a
Terminator movie!
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Associated Content Episode 3 (unreleased)
Embedded |
This is a very short episode that explains what aerodynamics is and how it
works. Aerodynamics and aerodynamic resistance is the single most important
aspect of your gas mileage at highway speeds.
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Survival Episode 2-17-08
Watch here Survival
episode mini episode NEW |
Update: The survival episode has turned into an ongoing project. There are as
of June 1, 2008 two parts completed of this episode. The editing
process is longer than normal because of the nature of the subject. The survival episode includes endless blather and as a bonus how to prepare
survival food! We add more parts as they are completed.
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2008, episode 1 5-20-08
Embedded
(now higher resolution) |
It's a brand new season of This Old Shack and we take up right where we left off
- on a pointless effort to induce the internet public to waste a few moments of
their lives watching a show about alternative energy.
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Thunderstorm 2008, video 1 6-21-08
Embedded
video |
One of our hobbies is chasing storms. Here is a video of the storm that knocked
out power to 250,000 people in the Detroit area. Two lightning strikes 20 feet
in front of the camera.
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Thunderstorm 2008, video 2 6-21-08
Embedded
video |
This is actually the 3rd thunderstorm video. This was taken at the shack and
features a lightning strike at the end of the dock that we're shooting the video
on.
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