David Phillipps

In my friend circle we will invite each other to stuff and ask “are you up or down?” Then schedule them regardless of response.

I tried AntennaPod but went back because of Android Auto. I just found this showing how to get AntennaPod on AndroidAuto!

https://antennapod.org/documentation/playback/android-auto

I used to work at a company that provided tech support for a few Canadian Tires. They don’t hire nearly enough staff. They try to make up for it with high amounts of automation. Frequently people will come and steal from them because there aren’t enough staff to stop that. This causes the inventory system to think there is more stock than there is. Because the reduced staff, they don’t frequently manually check their stock so it can be quite some time before it becomes aparent.

I tried that one time. I went over budget and sent a really nice gift. I didn’t receive a gift myself. Then my recipient reported that I didn’t send a gift. I got banned.

When I was in Grade 9 we discovered how to make a smoke bomb with Potassium Nitrate and sugar. You can buy Potassium Nitrate at drug stores under the name “saltpeter”. Potassium Nitrate is an oxidizing agent so releases oxygen as it burns. Sugar is naturally flammable but puts itself out. Together it burns hot and releases a lot of smoke. For Halloween we made 2.5 lbs of it and lit it in my back yard. It filled the yard with smoke.

In Grade 10 we tried to outdo ourselves. We found a much cheaper source for Potassium Nitrate at hydroponic stores. We made a 25 lb smoke bomb. We made a 4 minute timer from an alarm clock we got at a thrift store and it filled a park with smoke.

In Grade 11 we had a reputation to uphold. We took a collection from some of our classmates and got enough for a 250 LB smoke bomb. My friend’s parents were out of town and he offered his house for making the smoke bomb. A lot of people showed up. We didn’t plan for this but somehow alcohol showed up and there was a lot of underage drinking. The sugar has to be melted on the stove. We were making batch after batch of the smoke bomb and dumping it in a garbage bin in the middle of the kitchen on a dolly. We had only made about 20 LBs when some drunk girl came in and turned up the stove temperature. It lit prematurely which lit up the entire garbage can. We were instantly blind with the amount of smoke and had to leave the building. The fire department was called. The fire went up into the attic. We did about $18,000 worth of damage to the house.

My primary address is 127.0.0.1.

I briefly used it. It connects you to all of your neighbors. It’s good for knowing what’s going on in your community.

The first 4 HVAC companies I called told me the same thing. They said I had to have a back up natural gas or resistance based electric heater. They don’t know what they are talking about. My current heat pump can operate down to -30 C. The coldest it ever gets here is -16 C and that’s only for a few hours per year.

His videos and others like it inspired me to keep looking when when all the HVAC companies kept telling me it wasn’t possible.

Chilliwack BC.

You can see the Federal rebates here: https://natural-resources.canada.ca/energy-efficiency/homes/canada-greener-homes-grant/start-your-energy-efficient-retrofits/plan-document-and-complete-your-home-retrofits/eligible-grants-for-my-home-retrofit/23504

You can see the BC Provincial rebates here: https://www.betterhomesbc.ca/heatpumps/

It looks like the amounts have changed a bit since I did it. If you are in the lower mainland area I highly recommend Positive Solar Energy HVAC Plus. I’d link the site but it looks like its down. Joel is the owner and he is a lot better at installing heat pumps and solar panels then running a business.

I live in Canada. I paid $13,900 for a heat pump. That includes the installation, removal of my natural gas furnace, and the engineering inspections. I got a $6,300 rebate from the Federal government. I got a $6,300 rebate from the provincial government. So all in I only paid $1,300 out of pocket. In the summer especially I save about $250 per month using the heat pump instead of the multiple portable AC’s we had. Its paid for itself in under a year for sure.

It was a lot of work to get. Tons of HVAC companies I called told me heat pumps don’t work in our climate. That’s not true. The heat pump I have works till -30 c which never happens here. They insisted on installing a natural gas furnace and a Central AC. One of them quoted me $26,000 for a heat pump that was so inefficient it didn’t qualify for any rebates. Multiple other HVAC companies just didn’t respond when I insisted on a heat pump. NEEP’s heat pump list was very helpful in fact checking the stuff they told me. I finally found a small one man shop who was awesome but it took a lot of hard searching.

Getting the rebate was also a big ordeal. I had to pay for everything upfront. I researched the rebate process and made sure to have all the paperwork lined up. I had to get an engineering inspection of the house done before and after so I could compare the reports to prove my carbon footprint improved. If you accidentally get the heat pump installed without doing the before inspection you don’t qualify. Even with all my paperwork it took 7 months to get the final rebate. Multiple times they called me saying I hadn’t submitted a required report. I had everything on file and would just resubmit what they were looking for. I’ve spent many hours waiting on hold. Its pretty clear they are trying to save money through being inefficient.

It is worth it in the end. I’m very happy with the heat pump. The process is not easy. I imagine most people would just accept the HVAC companies recommendation and get not get a heat pump which is unfortunate.

You can use Lynx. Here is the google homepage: