Eric Hittinger

Better living through chemistry

Just PR help

Was enlisted as the roadie for a Girl Scout cookie booth, but I guess there are worse ways to spend a Friday night.

RI has a lot of DDs and I was in high school, so we (obviously) spent the day driving from shop to shop, racking up an unreasonable amount of free coffee/donuts. That was the first (and last) day I drank coffee.

(This is all true and why I drink tea now)

The one day I ever drank coffee was the day that the Dunkin Donuts Guy retired and, at least in RI, all of the DDs in the state gave away a free coffee and donut to everyone.

Lol, just heard from a German friend who is calling the backup in the Straight of Hormuz right now the "fossil fuel dunkelflaute."

Niche humor.

All I need is two big batteries on either side of the transmission line and I can get the capacity factor way up. Pay me enough and I'll do it.

Extremely correct

The diversity of designs here is so much fun.

Page from a catalog featuring various triporteur-type cargo trikes.

Page from a catalog featuring various triporteur-type cargo trikes, and a hand-cart.

Some of the 1949 Doniselli offerings

@marcellograz.bsky.social

Fully remote climate job, 60-120 $/hr, 15-40 hr/wk at one of the coolest climate organizations around! 📢👇

Hi all, open invitation for a webinar this Wednesday that I'm moderating for USAEE, speaking with EIA Deputy Administrator Angelina LaRose. Free and open, but you need to register. Join us and feed me some good questions to ask her.

Here is the link: www.usaee.org/aws/USAEE/ct...

Yeah, today is shaping up nicely...

But, yes, when we got the 2nd EV we had a proper L2 charger installed. It is a Wallbox brand, and seems pretty good so far.

6 kW, but mostly east or west facing (5kW inverter). It was the maximum they would put on our roof and will probably cover only our EV usage plus a little more (over the year).

And it is the same month when the solar struggled to do much of anything.

Having 2 cars running on electricity during the cold winter months does soak up a noticeable amount of electricity (this is just the EV charger's kWh).

I think it depends on the scale of the change (a 1% increase in prices won't have a huge effect), but my answer would be: given the "natural" variability of the two factors, energy prices are more important.

I got the chance to say this on the local news recently. "Why are our energy bills suddenly so high?" "Short answer: our reliance on natural gas"

I know we are all dunking on this, but it is a rare case where the person doing the analysis does not overstate how certain they are about the future. I'm not an expert on the effects of AI, but this might be an accurate view of our certainty today!

Just purchased Minecraft for the 5th time. They should have a punch card system - "buy 8 and your 9th is free" or whatever...

I'd say that it is "fine" but not worth jumping back in for.

[Don Draper voice] ...yes, the Thin Mint reminds us of a simpler time, but the modern consumer doesn't want to be body shamed by their cookies. Thus, gentlemen, I present to you...

It certainly makes regular dryers seem poorly designed: "Wait - you are intentionally pumping hot air out of your house? During the winter!?"

But seriously, induction does sound like magic when you have to explain it. I was telling kid1 how it actually produces the heat directly in the pot itself, and she was pretty confident that I was joking.

a man in a suit and tie with glasses on ALT: a man in a suit and tie with glasses on

Oh, your stove produces heat? How.... quaint.

*I* don't need to heat my stove - I'd rather have heat produced directly in the pots and pans...

We got a fancy induction stove and a ventless heat pump dryer on the same day, and now I live in the future

The dog wandered into the living room with a $50 bill in his mouth, and no one in my family knows where the money came from.

Good dog, I guess...

douglas adams was our most accurate futurist

Found an additional graphic that gets even more of these quotes together.

I've kept "I hate myself, I hate clover, and I hate bees" pinned above my desk since I first started studying evolutionary biology as an undergraduate. So relatable to get extremely frustrated with your study system.