Posts Tagged ‘economy’

28k will get you almost 13

Posted: May 6, 2009 by datechguy in oddities
Tags: ,

At least it does in Australia according to The Australian:

BRISBANE environmental lawyer Jo Bragg and her partner, Gary Kane, spent $28,000 on three roof panels to generate solar power for their home in the inner Brisbane suburb of Highgate Hill.

After receiving a federal government rebate of $8000, they hoped to recover their investment in a cleaner planet within a few years by selling excess power into the mains electricity grid.

In the three months to April, they used 1384 kilowatt hours and produced 388 kilowatt hours of excess power, for which they received the princely sum of $12.96 after taxes.

Via Tim Blair who has this measured reaction:

HA HA HA HA HA HAAAAAAAAAAAA! HA HA HA HA HA!

Subtly is all.

Update: You might say, but Techguy Blair is wrong it wouldn’t take 385 years to get the money back. After all lets say they were paying $150 a month for their electric bill. That means instead of $13 a quarter it would be $463 a quarter, so they will be showing a profit in just over 11 years.

Of course you should also add the interest they might have made on 28k over 10 years too. In a Cd getting just under 4% they would have made $1000 a year and the amount would have increased by compound interest. That turns things into 25-26 years.

You know I feel bad for the people who work there…

Posted: May 4, 2009 by datechguy in local stuff
Tags: ,

…but a lot of conservatives aren’t going to cry a lot of tears over this:

The New York Times Co. said last night that it is notifying federal authorities of its plans to shut down the Boston Globe, raising the possibility that New England’s most storied newspaper could cease to exist within weeks.

After down-to-the-wire negotiations did not produce millions of dollars in union concessions, the Times Co. said that it will file today a required 60-day notice of the planned shutdown under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification law.

Of course the Globe might survive and the 60 day closing period means they might still be able to cover the Bruin and Celtic championship runs but the Globe has done this to itself.

I’ll miss the sports page.

MSNBC worth paying for?

Posted: May 4, 2009 by datechguy in oddities, opinion/news
Tags: , ,

Newsbusters covers the Broohahhah concerning many cable networks making MSNBC a pay network.

With that all as pretext, readers should be aware that cable and satellite companies have not dropped MSNBC. Instead, in some cases, and for whatever the reason, its accessibility may have become more expensive and its position in the channel lineup may have changed.

Kos’ kids are blaming the ratings on the move:

In the past few weeks, it has come to my personal attention that one cable or satellite company after another has been quietly moving MSNBC away from the news channel section of their lineup and into the premium section, or into the stratosphere of three and four digit channels.

As a result, when the ratings came out this week, it was no surprise to see how MSNBC is now a distant third behind CNN and FOX.

I think it’s exactly backwards. I think MSNBC is like Turner Classic Network. It is a niche network and the cable companies have figured out that they don’t get any bang by giving it away. The Kos kids WILL pay for their MSNBC because they are the niche that MSNBC markets for (except for Morning Joe)

I like TCN but if I want it I have to pay for it because most people don’t care for the old stuff enough to pay for it. (Actually I watch the few movies they offer on demand free since I can’t afford it right now). This is MSNBC all over.

They are programming for the Choir and the Choir will pay.

It’s taxes taxes taxes

Posted: May 4, 2009 by datechguy in local stuff, opinion/news
Tags:

The Boston Herald reports on NH voting to allow gay marriage and comments on how the state seems to be turning blue:

New Hampshire is shedding its image as a reliably Republican-red state, reflecting New Hampshire’s changing demographics as younger and more liberal.

Lawmakers last week passed bills allowing gay marriage and medicinal marijuana.

The talk is about demographics but the real story is social liberals fleeing high taxes in Massachusetts.

If you drive from New Ipswich to Nashua you see so many business’ that weren’t there twenty years ago that you have trouble finding landmarks that you used to use.

The question on where NH will go in the presidential elections will depend solidly on fiscal conservatism. If you are fiscally conservative you can win in NH. That has to be the stress of any candidate.

Believe me by 2012 if anything turns NH red again for the general election it will be that and the president will be a big help along that line.

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