Wednesday, August 4, 2010
drinky bird saves the world
Every time I watch our drinky bird I imagine a giant one operating gears that could power our house. It would solve the problem of renewable energy quite handily, don't you think?
The scientific explanation is they're heat engines that exploit the difference in temperature between the air and the water it dips into. But so far as I can tell, after hours of careful observation, they're real perpetual motion machines.
Besides, wouldn't it be fun to see giant ones in front of peoples houses everywhere? Imagining fields of enormous drinky birds providing power for our cities makes me smile.
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As long at the drinky birds look like Crow! If they did I would sign up for one right now.;-)
ReplyDeletei think this is perhaps the best idea i have ever heard and anything that brings a smile, shall heal the world, right? right.
ReplyDeletexx
First of all, I haven't seen one of those in years! And you have one, how cool is that!?!?
ReplyDeleteI thought they were hydraulic ram pumps. They work on the weight of the water. Maybe they are, and the reason the water is sucked into it is because of the heat differences. I don't know, I'm not an engineer. I do remember in the 1980's wehn we built that passive solar heated house on the river, I was always going to try a hydraulic ram pump to run river water to the gardens without the use of electricity.
You are right, there are so many ways mankind has found, but we don't employ any of them. Probably the same reason for this as solar and wind and other forms of energy, no money for the rich to make off the back of the poor(er).
Peace.
So long as the drinky birds s didn’t consume too much alchahol!
ReplyDeleteIn relation to your previous post I do agree it is a wise bird that concludes there no easy answers. In areas like Louisiana, from what I have read, they have become so reliant on the oil industry to be captive to continuance at all costs with the majority of residents against any abrupt cessation. (E.g. in Louisiana, 72 percent of people are against Obama’s six-month ban on offshore drilling, compared to only 39 percent among the U.S. population at-large.)
The USA, of course, can turn on a dime so to speak, that is if you were to impose the same taxes on gasoline as applies elsewhere in the world that would generate trillions in additional tax revenue.
But many of your regions don’t have the infrastructure because urbanization has spread without any public transport system to create motor vehicle dependency so that any substantial hike in gasoline prices would cause very severe hardships.
Best wishes
Every time I see one of these, my noodle immediately conjures Homer:
ReplyDelete"It's *drinking* the water!"
I'm a bit wary of giant drinking birds unless we get to choose our own color scheme.
long time no see a one of these ;~)
ReplyDeletegreat idea, I second that!
belette - I'm not sure he's amenable to franchising his appearance :-)
ReplyDeletelinda - You're right and besides the smiling part, it just might work.
spadoman - Yeah, we really do have one. It was just too neat to pass up.
I'm no engineer either but it certainly would be a good thing if we could just remove ourselves from the clutches of the corporate overlords and become self-sufficient. that would teach them.
lindsay - Thankfully, drinky birds seem to prefer water.
It really is sad to see the people on the Gulf coast suffering so much - never mind all the other animals. Too bad they don't get to vote because if they did I'm sure they'd prefer dealing with fishermen over oil men.
You're correct about the amount of sprawl in this country. Shockingly, there's very little access to public transport even in large areas connected to cities. It's not unusual even around here that people drive an hour or more to their jobs. Of course, a lot of them also prefer to drive rather than spend time close to other people.
randal - It would have to be part of the program that everyone gets to choose the colors of their personal drinky birds.
liberality - It is, isn't it?
I have had the same idea for decades. I see them in rows of hundreds dipping into Kootenay Lake and sending energy out their tails...
ReplyDeleteHmm... got's me a thinking about birdies a-drinking...
ReplyDeleteI hope you are well Susan! Off topic, but there's an excellent article in the current Time magazine about animal intelligence. I'm sure you'd appreciate it.
Speak soon! :)
they tell you it is water, but it's really booze.
ReplyDeletebirds get druk of fermented grapes just like we do.
ask crow.
gary - Great minds think alike :-)
ReplyDeletejoss - There's nothing like quenching a well-earned thirst.
As you can see from the most recent post, I went and read it straight away. Thanks for the inspiration :-)
sera - Ah yes, I know it's one of Crow's favorite pastimes :-)
i had one of these years ago.... but being the kind of kid i was, i had to take it apart to see what it was made of...... and poor drinky didn't survive. now i have to do some online shopping.... have always loved drinky... despite being his tormenter and murderer. pls don't tell Crow.
ReplyDeletegfid - haha. I took apart my father's alarm clock once and had the same result. I promise not to tell Crow about your misadventure :-)
ReplyDeleteYou made me smile, too. I would love to have one.
ReplyDeletepagan sphinx - I packed our drinky bird today. They're surprisingly hard to find.
ReplyDelete