Wind what?

What do you call that giant tower with spinning blades that produces electricity from wind?  Windmill?  Well, kinda, but not really.  The word "mill" that forms the latter portion of the word "windmill" is just that, a mill.  In this context, a mill is a machine that grinds and crushes something, such as grain.^MD There isn't a whole lot of grinding and crushing of anything when using a rotor to produce electricity.  It's really the opposite of a mill.

The definition of "turbine" is a bit more broad.  A turbine is a machine that converts the movement of a fluid into rotary motion.^TD  With that definition, a mill is a type of turbine.  However, a turbine is not necessarily a mill.

There is no specific word that provides a special name for an electricity producing turbine, so the word turbine itself is used.  Turbine is also used to name machines that make electricity from flowing water, such as those found at Hoover Dam.^HD   So, that giant tower with spinning blades that produces electricity is more correctly called a wind turbine.  A collection of wind turbines at one location are frequently referred to as "wind farms".

Another wind powered machine is the windpump, which is used to pump water.  Windpumps and windmills have been in use for about 1500 years, being first developed in the Persian region between A.D. 500 and 900.^WP  Wind turbines owe their existence to our long history of windmills and windpumps.  It's somewhat understandable that there is some confusion of terms.

Interesting modern examples of wind power in use

There's even a wind-powered record player!  Well, that's mostly art, but apparently it works well.  Then, there's this guy, William Kamkwamba, who built wind turbines and pumps for his village in Malawi at a time of famine and when such luxaries were only experienced by 2% of their population.

#Target store #pokemongo red ball #cosplay

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We've been wasting #WineBottle #corks for years. Who knew we can turn them into a tasty treat!

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Skeleton looking excited about something @ #LaSandia

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Live (or at least it was earlier today) Maine #Lobster

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Sometimes Toebzilla is just a blur.

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A day among trees of the world in Jamica Plain.

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Forming #thunderhead

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Getting lost on the elevator

Near the end of Toebzilla's walk this evening, I approached the ground level of the elevator to go back to my apartment.  This particular elevator is particularly slow.  While I'm waiting for the car to reach the bottom floor, a lady and her teenage son approached with their dog.  Toebzilla was well-behaved.  The other dog was a little excited.

As the elevator doors open, two tween girls exit and run off.  I walk into the car with Towbzilla.  The lady, her son and dog follow.  We both choose the same floor near the top.  As the elevator doors began to close, the two tweens re-enter the elevator.  They announce they got off on the wrong floor, for some obnoxious reason.  The lady and I don't say anything as the elevator doors are finally allowed to shut.  Now, for some reason, this elevator is rigged so that if the doors are held open for too long, when the doors are finally allowed to shut, they give off one long buzz while the doors shut at an extra slow speed.  So, let me just buzz to simulate that annoyance: "buzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz"  OK, the doors finally shut and the elevator starts to move upward.

The elevator stops at the 2nd floor.  The doors open.  No one enters and no one exits.  The tweens giggle while one of them explains how they keep getting out on the wrong floor.  As the doors shut again, I lean over and point to the buttons, saying "Ya'no, you generally use these buttons to choose floors on which you actually wish to exit."  The lady, who was bent over tending to her excited dog looks up at me with a big grin and chuckling.  As funny as that was, this comment unfortunately triggers the girls to go into several excuses about why they kept picking the wrong floors, including something about them just moving-in to the apartment complex, then something about some other girl that was apparently lost on the elevator just minutes before, and a story about them going to the wrong apartment earlier in the day.  

The lady cordially responds with a reconciliatory comment about how her son (the same in the elevator with us) once entered the wrong apartment on the wrong floor by walking in an older Chinese gentlemen.  I'm sure her son was thinking to himself "Thanks Mom!".

The tweens finally find their floor.  This allows the elevator to move upward unencumbered by any further wrong floor choices.  The lady, her son and dog exit on the same floor as I.  Toebzilla keeps his composure the whole ride up, despite the giggly tweens, multiple stops and the excited dog.  The lady and I cordially excuse ourselves with a couple of "take-cares".  

I reward Toebzilla for behaving, and our remaining walk back to the apartment was uneventful.

Q: Why did the optimist dislike the horse?

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A: The horse is a neigh-sayer!

Evening Sun just about to peak below the clouds to finally set for the day

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Late afternoon bunny chilling out in the grass thinking that it isn't being seen

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Trouble with Wikileaks emails from DNC: as far as I can tell, no "election manipulation" is actually in the emails

Anyone can go to the Wikileaks page and peruse through the DNC leaked emails.

You know what I've seen no one do? Look through the emails and talk about any actual evidence of election manipulation.  I've seen journalist use rather dicey innuendo regarding email content, but not much else.

Most of emails are just reports.  What conversations I've seen are just people expressing their opinions and/or making strategies in support of those opinions and desires (like how best to get certain points across to their constituents).  I've not seen anyone showing anything from the emails about rigging the primaries.

The party insiders are supposed to be neutral by their own party rules, but I don't really care about DNC or any party's rules.  I'm not a Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Greenie, etc.  Even if I were, I still wouldn't care because I understand that people are people.  We Americans all have the rights to our own opinions, and the rights to pursue our own interests.  What would've suprized me?  Seeing every person in the DNC expressing complete neutrality regarding who is going to represent their party in the General Election.

The DNC rules aren't laws of the land. The only person that needs to be upset, maybe, is Sanders since he was working under one set of rules, and others where not.  In the end, it still just people expressing their opinions and trying to work towards goals they feel are best for their interests.  None of this has anything to do with me, and none of this is in anyway a "manipulation" of elections.

If someone can dig up something that shows election rigging, then we have a story, as well as an actual crime.  Maybe it is buried somewhere deep in the emails.   I've not see it.  I'd be interested to see if something like that pops up.   The fact that no journalist have dug it up suggests that it's just not there.

At this point, after looking through the emails myself, I'm forming the opinion that anyone that uses the terms "manipulate" or "rigged" in reference to the primary elections based on these emails is being dishonest or honestly doesn't know what they are talking about (which is still a form of dishonesty).

I'm also now of the opinion that Julian Assange, who has made several incendiary statements regarding the content of these emails, is full of nonsense.  What little good he did in the distant past is now been cancelled out by his modern behavior.

Update on places I've been - still mostly North America

Canada

America

Mexico

My world map is still a bit scant.

Awesome Mussamun and Khua

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