Join the Grand Conspiracy for $450,000!

[Diego in Seattle]

Obviously we need to give more tax breaks to the wealthy, as they're very impoverished these days...

BTW, I noticed that the amount of time spent in space isn't mentioned. $450,000 is a lot of money for about ten minutes in space (about how long Space X spends in space).

[Softball Bat]

Thanks for the heads up, Jsc!

I'll save my pocket change and I should be able to scrape up the 450 G in no time at all.

This kooky shape of the earth debate will be put to rest forever.

Virgin

[Mikey]

Fly to space? Where does space begin relative to us wee earthlings. The Kármán line is one definition. These people have been just touching it.

"Broadly, most experts say that space starts at the point where orbital dynamic forces become more important than aerodynamic forces, or where the atmosphere alone is not enough to support a flying vessel at suborbital speeds."

To me, flying in space means being at least in orbit for a while, with no aerodynamics. Give the pax time to get comfortable. And it looks like we are ok to loop around that flat earth too, JSC. Good job.

What they did is awesome, but "flying in space" is a bit of exaggeration and knob polishing.





https://www.nationalgeographic.com/scie ... arman-line

Ever since our kids moved out we have lots of space. Probably worth more than $450,000 on the open market TBH but we’re here 24/7.

[Left Seater]

What happened to Santa Fe?

[Left Seater]

To me, space begins where weightlessness begins.

I’d do it in a second if I could afford it. Plus - anything to make my spam ass feel light would be a plus.

Well that doesn't really work, because you can be weightless in a plane at 5,000 feet. All it takes is for a plane to be climbing and then to push the nose over aggressively and you will feel weightless. See also a roller coaster at the top of a hill.

[Kierland]

That simulates weightlessness you stupid fuck. Learn some physics.

[Left Seater]

Why are you arguing with stupid? Weightless is weightless.

[smackaholic]

That simulates weightlessness you stupid fuck. Learn some physics.

What lefty is describing is the exact same phenomena as being in orbit, albeit for a much shorter time, dipshit.

In each case you are in a vessel that is experiencing a free fall. Gravity is still tugging on you, but you are in a vessel that is experiencing the same acceleration.

Or are you going to argue that being in orbit means you've escaped the earf's gravitational pull?

I thought this myself before I actually took physics.

[Softball Bat]

free fall

[Mikey]

What happened to Santa Fe?

Santa Fe was a pipe dream.

We're a lot better off here, but we'll be visiting again in the near future for sure.

[Kierland]

That simulates weightlessness you stupid fuck. Learn some physics.

Read my post, you inbred gobbler of Hitler’s cock.

I was talking to the other fatman, fatman. The one who’s post is directly above mine, like people have been doing since chat was invented.

[Kierland]

Why are you arguing with stupid? Weightless is weightless.

No it’s not, but again you are so fatt you are hardly a reliable source.

[Kierland]

That simulates weightlessness you stupid fuck. Learn some physics.

What lefty is describing is the exact same phenomena as being in orbit, albeit for a much shorter time, dipshit.

In each case you are in a vessel that is experiencing a free fall. Gravity is still tugging on you, but you are in a vessel that is experiencing the same acceleration.

Or are you going to argue that being in orbit means you've escaped the earf's gravitational pull?

I thought this myself before I actually took physics.

Did they teach you about mass, you massively stupid traytorr?

[Left Seater]

What happened to Santa Fe?

Santa Fe was a pipe dream.

We're a lot better off here, but we'll be visiting again in the near future for sure.

Cost of living has to be cheaper in SAF I would think. Property taxes and any income taxes certainly would be.

I get not moving and that hassle. Anywho, you gots a nice place as it is.

[Mikey]

What happened to Santa Fe?

Santa Fe was a pipe dream.

We're a lot better off here, but we'll be visiting again in the near future for sure.

Cost of living has to be cheaper in SAF I would think. Property taxes and any income taxes certainly would be.

I get not moving and that hassle. Anywho, you gots a nice place as it is.

Possibly a little cheaper than here, but property values there have skyrocketed in the past three or four years.
Income taxes are higher here for sure, but my taxable income is going to be a lot lower starting this year. I'll probably be paying either 6% or 8% here vs 4.9% in NM according to this website: https://taxfoundation.org/publications/ ... -brackets/
Not that big of a difference.

My property taxes are actually quite low, as a result of owning the same home for 21 years. Because of what we call Proposition 13 our taxes can only go up a maximum of 2% per year. As a result my taxes are only about 0.4% of the market value of our house (according to Zillow).

Also, I've made some major investments in our home to ensure that our utility costs will be close to zero for the foreseeable future. And all the yard work that's waiting for me will keep me healthy at least into my 80s.

[Left Seater]

Like I said you gots a nice spread.

Utility costs can’t be a major consideration though can they? In our SAT house our electric bill never goes above $200 and we have to run the A/C 9 months out of the year. Even if you have $0 electric bills, that doesn’t represent much in annual savings, does it? I mean compared to a .5% shift in income taxes or property taxes.

[Mikey]

Thanks…you’ve seen the homestead. It’s not plush, but comfortable with plenty of room to stumble around in the yard.

Check your electric bill and see what you pay in $ per kWh. Around here the average is between $0.35 and $0.40. Probably three or four times what you pay in SAT. Some people have been reporting $1,000 monthly bills since they raised the rates in January.

Plus I was paying around $4,000 per year for propane for heating, hot water and clothes drying. We don’t have natural gas service and the propane was about 4x the cost of gas. We replaced all of our propane appliances with electric heat pump versions that are about 4x as efficient.

Without PV and the battery I’d probably be paying $700 or $800 at least, not including the $4,000 per year for propane. Plus I don’t buy any gasoline. I fill up my car from the electric service. My annual true up on my electric service is in May and so far I’ve accumulated something like $50.00 over 8 1/2 months. I actually normally make a little $$ in the spring and early summer because we’re not heating or cooling, and producing more than we use.

It adds up.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cbs8.c ... 3059f1e0da

[Left Seater]

Your guess was spot on. We pay 9.96 cents per KWH.

We also have natural gas service for heat, stove and oven. I also misspoke in that our gas bill and electric bill are combined and so in August or combined electric and gas bill doesn’t get above $200.

We do pay for gas for our two vehicles but our total mileage combined is about 30K. We average about 23 mph so we are somewhere about $3500 in gas between SAT and Vail.

We have considered solar for the Vail house, but it would require cutting down a few trees to optimize the gain. We are considering it, but have concerns about “renting” the panels. Plus if we sell the house we have to find a buyer who is comfortable “buying” the contact as well.

[Mikey]

I'm not a big fan of leased PV systems, unless you really, really want solar and you can't afford to buy it. Why let somebody else make money on your roof?

When we installed our first system the whole lease thing was a new concept and, at the time, a way for SolarCity (which is now part of Tesla) to scam bigger incentives from the California Solar Initiative program, which ended a few years ago. The lease concept is more legit now but still, owning your system gives you a lot more flexibility. When we installed our first 5 kW we found a contractor that would engineer and build a patio shade structure and put the panels on top. The whole thing was something like $35 grand, and we financed it with a HELOC. It's a lot cheaper now and we just paid cash for an additional 2.5 kW a couple of years ago.

Also, I would think twice about putting them on a house that you only use part time. Makes your payback a whole lot longer. I would think that a solar lease would require an minimum annual usage to make it worthwhile for them as well.

[Left Seater]

The problem for us in both locations is the insurance on owned systems. Both homes are subject to frequent hail. (Our SA home has had 3 roofs in the 12 years we have owned it.) Further wind damage is an exclusion that requires separate coverage.

So the break even point keeps moving further away. Even if the system completely offset our entire electric bill, the payoff would still be more than a decade away. Leasing changes that, but as you say, they make the money.

At the end of the day we probably don’t do it, but it makes sense to see all of the possibilities.

[Mikey]

Damn...I hadn't thought about the hail and wind thing. We don't get a whole lot of either around here. On the rare occasion when we do get hail, the stones are generally pea sized or smaller.

I can remember in my previous job about seven years ago, the company HQ was in Dallas and I had to fly in there about once a month. One time I had to make a road trip with one of my co-workers to San Angelo and then Abilene and back to Dallas. We had to drive a rental because his car was in the shop with a windshield shattered by "baseball sized" hail. I saw a picture, and it was pretty well destroyed.

[Left Seater]

Yup. Hail isn’t something to mess with.

Here’s hoping that was a multi day road trip.

[FiatLux]

yeah. got hail here a couple of days ago. felt like texas, colorado, and kansas. Nice little flashback.