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WBraun
climber
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DMT
I specifically wrote my smart meter analysis to draw you into posting your mind .....
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Patrick Sawyer
climber
Originally California now Ireland
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Topic Author's Reply - Dec 2, 2015 - 07:49am PT
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Werner, you are a trouble maker, I knew that the first minute I met you in 1973. You probably never recall doing Lunatic Fringe with the Bird, somebody else (?) and me, I was forth up the rope as you were rapping down.
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Patrick Sawyer
climber
Originally California now Ireland
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Topic Author's Reply - Dec 2, 2015 - 07:53am PT
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Sharing a right wing conspiracy video demonizing an electric meter must be part and parcel to your MO.
Wrong Andy. Just plain wrong, it is not part of my MO. Get a clue and I will also try to as well.
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WBraun
climber
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You probably never recall doing Lunatic Fringe with the Bird
No wonder we've become lunatics .....
:-)
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TREED
Trad climber
Gunks
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The modern world DEMANDS reliable electric service.
As the revenue is taken away by alternative energy they will make cuts where ever they can to stay profitable.
Simple answer. Unplug.
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WBraun
climber
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Simple answer. Unplug .
Impossible to do.
It's never ever been done nor will it ever be done .....
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dirtbag
climber
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Holy sheet--how did this thread get so hostile?
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pyro
Big Wall climber
Calabasas
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Let's face it folks, we are at the mercy of the corporates, whether it be in California, Oregon or Ireland.
Corporate world is still run by HUMANS they are not perfect..
Smart Meters are here to stay along with the SMART Thermostats.. USE ur Smart phone time..
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Patrick Sawyer
climber
Originally California now Ireland
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Topic Author's Reply - Dec 2, 2015 - 08:02am PT
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This is the kind of bullshhitt crap I have to listen to every day working filed tech representing PG&E.
So Andy, you have no "affiliations" as such? Again, if you are abused in your course of work, I find that reprehensible, but if you care to take the company "line", I understand. Don't bite the hand that feeds you.
Werner, are we not all lunatics in some manner? Well, let me speak for myself…
Dirtbag, I do not know, I did not intend on such vehemence, and any I have shown is meant to be tongue in cheek. I guess I failed.
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Patrick Sawyer
climber
Originally California now Ireland
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Topic Author's Reply - Dec 2, 2015 - 10:30am PT
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Welcome to the new world. The folks in ISIS and Donald Trump want a new world. As for me, just as long as I can pay the bills and keep a roof over my head, and feed the puppy and kitten… lead me by the noise, I mean, nose.
Except, I have (fact, or is that facet?) always gotten in trouble by not conforming. Kicked out of schools, arrested for taking a stand (it was not the grandstand by the way, Animal House took care of that), asked to leave a country (not the good ole' USA, I have too much history there).
Maybe there is a molehill under the mountain of smart meters, who knows?
I try to raise an issue, of admittedly I know little of, and I get lambasted as a right-wing conspiracy nut. Good gosh, what about my left wing, does that mean I fly in circles with only one wing?
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Lorenzo
Trad climber
Portland Oregon
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It seemed to me you were advocating the citizen ownership of equity, so I was going to call you a socialist.
Does that help?
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Patrick Sawyer
climber
Originally California now Ireland
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Topic Author's Reply - Dec 2, 2015 - 01:22pm PT
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I am just home from hospital.
See I joke about whacking and karma catches up with me.
I try to be a good person, I am in the neighbourhood watch scheme.
I live in the sticks, with the one house next door to me, a derelict, being rebuilt, and the holiday home. Jamie Ryan, the farmer who owns most around, he is over 300 yards away.
I thought something was amiss in the holiday home which has been broken into several times.
I went to investigate. Well, a 2x4 (4x2, they are called Ireland) across my face welcomed me.
I am just home from Wexford General. A broken right arm (ulna), a broken right wrist (scaphoid), a broken right cheekbone, a broken nose. And aches and bruises aplenty. I was kicked in the buttocks and the left arm. It happened in a flash. My tae kwon do and tai chi training did not help me
Did I mention the broken shoulder joint capsule? (Second time, the first was July 1997, I was a barman in a pub in Enniskerry, refused the village headcase a drink, he jumped me, he was already on a suspended sentence for assault with a deadly weapon).
I limped back up to the house. They/he got away in a white van, I did not get the registration (licence) number.
I called the guards (Garda, police). They came quite fast, even in the rural area, as the Europort is five miles away and a ship/ferry was coming in from France.
Peter, who I know from the Garda National Immigration Bureau (GNIB, where I register as an "immigrant"), he and Robbie (I have met once before) they showed up and took my statement.
They sort of know who was responsible. But the perp will never be prosecuted. No proof, just my word and my wounds.
I am hurting. I hate casts. The pain killer (I think vicodan) is wearing off. I have OTC vimovo.
I was taken to Wexford General in an ambulance. To add insult to injury, I just paid €29 to get home (taxi). At least it was a slow night in ER, I was seen quite fast.
The Garda (Peter and Rob) said, "next time, call us first".
You bet.
EDIT
"I have OTC vimovo." No, Vimovo is actually a script drug, not OTC.
And it is a cracked ulna, not "broken", still it effing hurts.
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Patrick Sawyer
climber
Originally California now Ireland
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Topic Author's Reply - Dec 2, 2015 - 01:51pm PT
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The doctor at Wexford General just called me back, they want to take another x-ray of my right arm.
I said in the morning, I am not driving up and it is not life threatening. I just want some peace. I am shooken up.
Why do people have to be violent, or am I just naive?
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Lorenzo
Trad climber
Portland Oregon
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Sorry to read about your injuries. I hope it goes well.
Be careful out there, people!
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pyro
Big Wall climber
Calabasas
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Patrick besides the smart meter have you checked out the electronic financial system that is being used in Africa?
I was very impressed...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M-Pesa
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Patrick Sawyer
climber
Originally California now Ireland
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Topic Author's Reply - Dec 2, 2015 - 05:47pm PT
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Lorenzo, thank you. I did not need this assault.
Pyro and others, as for me, at this moment in time, my right had id huitiong I can hardly type,, and I am brusied and battered,and at this oment U -id od not car abot smart devices,
My whole riught side nd arm.are numbn and painful.
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Yury
Mountain climber
T.O.
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Smart meters make sense when you pay market rate for your electricity to balance supply and demand.
However right now wholesale price of electricity is market driven, but retail electricity pricing is truly byzantine e.g. http://www.pge.com/en/myhome/saveenergymoney/plans/tou/index.page with a complete disconnect from wholesale market.
To better understand pricing approach you need to know how natural monopolies are regulated by the government.
In case of PG&E electricity price is controlled by the government of California. De-facto they have specific profitability target in mind e.g. 5% to 6% (I do not remember exact numbers, however you can find them on their web site). If profit goes above 6%, government mandates price decrease. When profit goes below 5%, government allows price increase.
In this model, the more you spend the more you earn. It may be counter-intuitive, but in such companies unions, managers and shareholders are interested in cost increase. Unions and management have rather cozy relationship, because both are interested in steady growth of salaries of the union members.
When last time have you heard about PG&E strike?
Smart meters perfectly fit into this model. They are not paid by the government. The cost of the whole Smart meters program is paid by consumers through electricity price increase (for the benefits of unions, managers and shareholders).
To help conserve energy, retail electricity price should be directly linked to wholesale electricity price and all “tiers” should be eliminated e.g.:
Retail price at a particular time = 150% of the wholesale price at the same time
Based on the above PG&E page it’s easy to conclude that Californians do not remember that they live in supposedly market driven capitalist America, but live in socialist North Korea v. 2.0.
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Yury
Mountain climber
T.O.
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$32.50 monthly surcharge ??????????????????
Why do they need to check meters every month?
Why not to implement monthly self-reporting by the owner with periodic e.g. once in two to four month check by utility employees?
Extrapolation based on the past use should also work.
Both options should be cheaper than the current Smart meters program.
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Jan
Mountain climber
Colorado, Nepal & Okinawa
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Patrick, sorry to hear of your injuries. With thugs like that running around, smart meters seems like a minor issue?
As for the meters themselves, I voluntarily paid $50 extra for a smart gas meter and $50 for a smart electric meter because both of my old meters were inside my fence and I wanted to be able to have my dogs in the yard without any trouble for the meter men or any liability for myself.
I am delighted that I can heat and cool a whole house for the cost of heating or cooling only one room in Japan. They send my bill by email and it is paid automatically from my credit card. It would never have occurred to me that this was some kind of conspiracy???
I'm not entirely sold on technology. I fought with my smart thermostat which kept reverting to the previous owner's schedule which is different from mine since I'm retired, so I had a simple hand adjusted one installed with my new furnace. I've still got enough marbles left to remember to turn it down when I go away from home or to sleep at night.
Our town is slowly converting to smart meters to save on labor costs (and dog bites), but they're also installing high speed fiber optic cable for internet at $50 a month. It will be the same service I had in Japan (finally !) but at half the cost. It is financed by a bond issue that we passed. Whatever else is wrong with our society, it is comfortable and energy is cheap. So why is everyone so full of anger and conspiracy theories about meters when people are getting gunned down in the streets? It beats me.
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Patrick Sawyer
climber
Originally California now Ireland
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Topic Author's Reply - Dec 3, 2015 - 12:45pm PT
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Okay Timid you asked here are the photos, but first.
Dingus, you ask what is going on here in Ireland where I am attacked. Could happen anywhere. I was mugged in London 1989 (headed home after work).
And WTF happened in San Bernardino? I just heard of it, 14 dead?
Mass shootings, in Britain are few. Dunblane, Scotland 1996, Hungerford, England 1987. If one excludes The Troubles, no mass shootings in Ireland. I hope by writing that, it is not “tempting fate”.
Jan,
So why is everyone so full of anger and conspiracy theories about meters when people are getting gunned down in the streets?
Too true. I started this thread out of what I was hope an awareness raising exercise, but I have learned from some of the posts.
Now, I may have made my injuries from the attack sound worse than they are. The broken nose is damaged cartilage, the cheekbone just cracked, the forearm a hairline fracture that does not need a cast [thankfully, I have worn too many casts. When I was ten I was hit by a car, two weeks in Kaiser (Walnut Creek) and SIX MONTHS in a wheelchair. Imagine a very hyper ten-year-old – ADHD probably – stuck in a wheelchair that long. It was “murder”.]
The sort of forearm injury is common as one fends off an attack from blows overhead.
The arm hurts, I have a headache since the incident and when I was lying on the ground I received a very hard kick to the left buttock. Some bruising, but heck does it hurt to sit or even stoop.
My condolences and empathy to all victims of violence.
I am part of the Neighbourhood Watch Scheme. The Garda (cops) Rob and Peter said: “You are suppose to report any suspicious activity, not go investigate it yourself.”
Yeah, never again, unless I feel that somebody’s life may be in danger.
My cousin Jini in Seattle, she just turned 84 and still has all of her marbles and is very intelligent, she said:” You learned a lesson.”
Two selfies taken with my Mamiya-Sekor 1000DTL (I had since I was 14, stolen in a burglary in my flat in Dun Laoghaire, 2001)
And not a selfie (I am not sure who took it, but the same trip) but heck, it's a climbing forum, not a smart meter one (oops, that was my doing)
EDIT
And now I have a good excuse for never leading 5.11 again (I did once), my fingers, shoulders and arms are a hurting from the assault.
I'll never be the same again, sigh… ;-)
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