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Locks of Love, River Liffey, Dublin

1/30/2017

1 Comment

 
No need for an uprising, I will get back to natural history photos in a sec.  I just like this shot of locks of love on a bridge over the River Liffey in Dublin, Ireland.  It always fascinates me that people would attach their "lock of love" to, well, someone else's lock!  Think about it...
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Locks of Love over the River Liffey in Dublin, Ireland
1 Comment

Three-striped Poison Frog (Ameerega trivittatus, formerly Epipedibates trivittatus) from Brownsberg Nature Park, Suriname

1/26/2017

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The three-striped poison frog has one pretty interesting trait.  The female does not lay eggs in water, but generally just under the leaf littler in the male's territory.  He then guards them and generally keeps an eye on things.  Until they hatch into tadpoles, that is.  Those tadpoles need water, so he piles all the kids on his back and hops off to a suitable water source for them to continue growing.  His work is done at this point, and they are on their own.
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Three-striped poison frog (Ameerega trivittatus) from the always awesome Brownsberg Nature Park in Suriname.
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Red Fox (vulpes vulpes) from Lake Accotink Park Virginia

1/16/2017

1 Comment

 
And now, back to our regularly scheduled programming. 
Picture
A beautiful red fox hunting along a pond at Accotink Lake Park.
1 Comment

TESLA Powerwall Conversion FAIL - bad specs

1/14/2017

2 Comments

 
I was at the local Tesla store recently looking at those very spiffy vehicles they make.  While there, I was encouraged to read about the Powerwall on one of the large touchscreen monitors they have on the wall.  Well, so I did.

Apparently the Powerwall is a battery designed to power something like about a whole home for a day.  Quite the accomplishment, and surely going to be useful to many folks.  Well done.

​But, while reading the screen, I noticed something odd.  They listed the weight as 264.5 lb/110 kg.  Um, without a calculator I could see that was wrong.  So, while I am not a tech blogger, I am always interested in products and marketing and the silly things that come out of it (most of these photos show up on my Instagram account for tropicalbats if you are interested.

​Anyway, here is a shot of the screen at the Tesla store:

​
Picture
Bad conversion numbers on the Tesla Powerwall specs
Now, after looking at the photo, it is apparent that while the temperature conversions are correct, the dimensions are also wrong.  Since the diagram on the left uses inches, I will use those and say that here are the correct conversions:

44" = 1117.6 mm
29" = 736.6 mm
​5.5" = 139.7 mm

​And of course:  264.5 lbs = 120 kg

​So what are the correct numbers?  I don't know.  I Googled "Tesla technical specs" and got a link to the Tesla site that looked like it had those numbers on it:

Powerwall | The Tesla Home Battery
https://www.tesla.com/powerwall
1.    Cached
Powerwall Technical Specs. 44" / 1150mm 29" / 755mm 5.5" / 155mm. Usable Capacity 13.5 kWh; Depth of Discharge 100%; Efficiency 90% round-trip; Power ...
 
​However, clicking to the Tesla site came up with just a webpage where you can purchase a Powerwall but without any specs at all.  No help going to the source.

​Again, not my thing but I was still curious so I clicked another link to Electrek:

https://electrek.co/2016/10/28/tesla-powerwall-2-game-changer-in-home-energy-storage-14-kwh-inverter-5500/

​Which provided this list of specs:



Nonetheless, the full specs of Powerwall 2 are impressive:
  • Mounting: Wall or Floor Mounted, Indoor/Outdoor
  • Inverter: Fully integrated Tesla inverter
  • Energy: 14 kWh
  • Power: 5 kW continuous, 7 kW peak
  • Round Trip Efficiency: 89% for AC Powerwall, 91.8% for DC Powerwall
  • Operating Temperature Range: –20°C to 50°C (–4°F to 122°F)
  • Warranty: Unlimited cycles for up to 10 years
  • Dimensions: 1150 mm x 755 mm x 155 mm (45.3 in x 29.7 in x 6.1 in)
  • Weight: 122 kg (269 lbs)





Which are, correct but, well, not the same as the Tesla numbers and the weight is completely different.

​So, there you have it.  My big adventure into Tesla conversion specs for the Powerwall ends with me still not knowing what is what.  Anyway, good luck installing one in a confined space as it seems like no one knows exactly how big it is.
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Bald eagles in the rain

1/7/2017

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Really should get out more when the lighting is better, but taking a walk in the rain along the Potomac River produced two different eagles.
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Bald eagle watching the world go by
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This eagle flew by, almost right over the one sitting in the tree.
And even the birds that like the water weren't too excited about the rain...
Picture
Canada geese and a few mallard ducks on the Potomac River
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Red-tailed hawk along the Potomac River

1/3/2017

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These are very beautiful hawks, but the weather this day was not so good.  Photo was taken in the rain on a day that only got up to 44 degrees.  Quite reasonable for winter, but not so good for photos.
Picture
Red-tailed hawk sitting along the Potomac River near the Dyke's Marsh trail
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