The dirty air secret and other weird news

Dave Angelini

Here's the full top ten list of the most polluted U.S. cities by ozone, according to the report:

• Los Angeles-Long Beach, CA.
• Bakersfield, CA.
• Visalia-Porterville-Hanford, CA.
• Fresno-Madera, CA.
• Sacramento-Roseville, CA.
• San Diego-Carlsbad, CA.
• Modesto-Merced, CA.
• Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, AZ.

The combination of three main factors are the cause of notable unhealthy levels of air pollution in California: the activities of over 39 million people, a mountainous terrain that traps pollution, and a warm climate that helps form ozone and other pollutants.

It looks like the only way to clean the air is for more people to leave California. The electric car and carbon credits are not working for this state.
The good news is the state politicians are making decisions that make it very easy to leave this state.

Maybe High Speed Rail will help.....When we have burn days up in the Sierra to get rid of brush we always look at the wind pattern. If it is going east they let us burn. 

BB.

Get rid of the Freon 12 ban, and it will remove the ozone. 

-Bill

Dave Angelini

Nice !  Going deeper into the weeds,

Does anyone have a cell app that you can leave a cell phone on in the home and detect wifi? I have been searching and it is pretty daunting.

I would like the cell at home to text me if the wifi goes down and also when it comes back on. Kind of an alarm for a cut DSL or ISP problems. 

BB.

It has been way too long since I did any programming... One alternative could be getting a Pi-zero or other "cheap" single board computer and just have it setup to send a ping (or other status message and email the result to your email) to your home computer. And the home computer raise an alarm if there has not been a ping/message for over 5 minutes.

Here is one such much more sophisticated network monitoring suite... Way over my head:

https://www.networkworld.com/article/2225683/cisco-subnet-raspberry-pi-as-a-network-monitoring-node.html

Would save the monthly cost and need for a cell phone connection/plan...

-Bill

Dave Angelini

Thanks Bill but I really want to use the cell. I use Tracphone and it is only 5 bucks a month. There are 100's of apps to do wifi work and i am still searching.

Your method would not work if the ISP, wifi, or power went down, right?

Have you seen what Alexa can do in "Guard" mode?

Estragon

Maybe something like this...

https://www.manageengine.com/free-snmp-mibbrowser-android/free-snmp-mibbrowser-android-index.html

SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) is widely used for this sort of thing.  I don't know anything about this particular app though.

There are also routers that do wired broadband with wireless (cell) failover, SMS, etc., but they can be spendy.

littleharbor2

Besides clean air, Catalina Island was figured to be a safer place to live in the event of a nuclear detonation in the Los Angeles area due to the prevailing winds coming off the ocean which would push any fallout to the east. Isn't that comforting to know?

Dave Angelini

Thanks Estragon I am looking at it now. I keep finding apps like yours and they hint that they will do what I want but....
Before I was talking about our US/Canadian trade funnies...

The router method is not what I want. If DSL, which feeds my wireless goes down, or power goes down, I want the cell in the house to call another cell. It is what an alarm system with a cell would do but it costs 40+ a month.

Dave Angelini

Start by setting up Guard in the Alexa app. Then say, “Alexa, I’m leaving” to set Guard to Away mode.

Get Smart Alerts: Alexa can send you Smart Alerts, via phone notifications, if your Echo device detects the sound of smoke alarms, carbon monoxide alarms, or glass breaking. Play the detected sound from your Alexa app, or Drop In on your Echo remotely to investigate what’s happening. 
Use Away Lighting: Alexa can automatically turn compatible smart lights on and off to make it look like someone is home. 

She can't if wifi goes down......

Estragon

This gizmo will failover to cell if DSL is unavailable.  Would need battery backup for power failure.  Not sure about this particular one, but some can send SMS or email alerts.
https://shop.multitech.com/mte-lat6-b07-us.html

SNMP app would be cheaper though, assuming DSL router supports it.  Back in the day, we had an SNMP system send urgent fault alerts to pagers.

Hopefully, the Can/US trade funnies are mostly over for now.  We could do without being in the middle of the Hauwei thing though.

BB.

One of my concerns about both general Internet and Cell systems are that they require backup power--And many repeaters either don't have backup power, or only a few hours of backup.

A "positive" notification needs a complete end to end network connection (via DSL/Cell Phone/etc.). A negative (lack of heartbeat) at another location (remote vs your home/office many miles away), is that if the heartbeat fails, your local server can send out the notification (California/PG&E utility seem to be promising a lot more power cuts during windy/stormy weather after the last few years of firestorms).

It always comes down to how many belt/suspenders/superglue backups before enough is enough (or complexity simply becomes infeasible).

-Bill

Dave Angelini

I just need to know if the wifi is up or down. The failsafe is calling my neighbor or the sheriff.

We hardly leave here more than 3 hours but this summer I have family obligations and I just want to know if the wifi is reasonably ok.

The Schneider app Insight2 is extremely reliable and fast so I know that my cooling load in summer is good.

I appreciate your skill here. I think I have found the app and just need to test it.



Huawei are bad players. The gal you folks are holding is an issue for Canada for sure. 

Estragon

That looks like it should work.  As Bill notes, it's a "positive", depending on at least one of the networks to be alive.  A "negative" (heartbeat) sort of thing could probably be done cheap/free with something like AWS (eg their greengrass IOT), but might be more of a hassle than you want.

The extradition process could stretch out for years.  Pity there wasn't some creative incompetence at the Vancouver airport.  Wouldn't even have to be all that creative, considering it's taken us something like five years to figure out how to get back mislabelled recycling from the Phillipines

Dave Angelini

The heartbeat is too much work and it does have it's negatives also. I spent alot of time on heartbeat for LG Chem and their 48v batteries. What a stupid system they developed and it took me alot of time to figure how to defeat it. They still use it on their 400v Li ions.

The recycling thing has turned into an absolute boondoggle down here. I think alot of the plastics we sent to China are going to this Waste Management facility that is pretty well hidden in the middle of nowhere.

I guess the good news on your Phillipines recycling is if it is plastic, it will keep until you figure it out

m151

When my battery powered Blink camera losses the signal to their server, they send me a text after 30 minutes.

Dave Angelini

Nice! I assume you pay for the monitor service to have a cell dial you?

BB.

It sounds like the Blink Server is sending out the text message on loss of connection... Not the local Blink Camera.

-Bill

Dave Angelini

Ah ha! Thanks Bill that makes sense. Pretty neat. I looked at the Blink site and they do have a problem with dual band wifi. They said you have separate the networks as it does not like 5gig?

I saw Patty Labelle last night on the PBS memorial day concert. She was amazing!

softdown

Raleigh, NC had a lot of ozone for some particular reason. I'm not convinced we fully understand the health ramifications of ozone. It is O3 - triatomic oxygen. Sounds yummy. 

BB.

Ozone is definitely something to be avoided--In terms of inhalation. Ozone does help block UVB and UVC radiation (at something like 20-50kM in the upper atmosphere) from the sun (the short wave/highly energetic UV that damages organics).

And, even something like Hydrogen Peroxide, which has been used for cleaning wounds and other human uses (in diluted form, and as rocket fuel in nearly pure concentrations)--I have been reading that it may not be so benign as currently used.

-Bill

m151

no charge for blink at all. I have it pointed at my wood stove to see whats going on. check it by iphone a couple of times a day and so far the 4 AA lithium have lasted over 2 years. About a year ago Amazon bought them so they may have some money for updates. Indirectly it lets me know if the power is out or if a phone line is down. Have a flue temp dial on the stove pipe that the blink can read. I can make sure it's not too hot or if its going out. Housemates think kindling is the same as firewood!

Estragon

Seems to me high ozone on a city scale generally indicates lots of cars, relatively little wind, and a decent amount of sun.  This in turn indicates lots of other things (eg. particulates) best avoided at ground level.

softdown

BB. said:

Ozone is definitely something to be avoided--In terms of inhalation. Ozone does help block UVB and UVC radiation (at something like 20-50kM in the upper atmosphere) from the sun (the short wave/highly energetic UV that damages organics).

And, even something like Hydrogen Peroxide, which has been used for cleaning wounds and other human uses (in diluted form, and as rocket fuel in nearly pure concentrations)--I have been reading that it may not be so benign as currently used.

-Bill


Well...maybe. We don't know things, we just like to think we do. Dietary advice still changes like diapers. We still climb down from trees and kill one another. 

My dad was a WWII medic and worked in medical mtce. for four decades. He quit using peroxide on my biking wounds in '67 and moved to red merthiolate (sp) because it was "better". It didn't matter. They both hurt so bad that I didn't tell him about a wound and cleaned it myself. Just not very well. The result was a staph infection and a week in the hospital.

I've been treating wounds with synthetic seawater (Instant ocean) for a long time. Results - perfect. Reason? I can soak a wound for an hour with no pain. Never seen a bacterial infection in a saltwater fish.

Science would run me out of town for ignoring their medicine and using my own. My blood pressure is the same as 22 year old me. My good friend who followed his doctors advice? Dead. 

Long after you and I are dead they will still be changing their minds about cleaning wounds and dietary advice. Hopefully they will be soaking deep wounds in saltwater. 

.

Estragon

Isn't "synthetic seawater" (depending on concentration) essentially saline, AFAIK widely used for wound irrigation?

softdown

Estragon said:

Isn't "synthetic seawater" (depending on concentration) essentially saline, AFAIK widely used for wound irrigation?

I don't know the exact specifics of their "saline solution". It may just have some salt (sodium chloride) in it - I just don't know. 

I am not aware of health practitioners ever soaking deep wounds in actual synthetic seawater for prolonged periods - and I could easily be wrong. I kind of have to say "synthetic seawater" but it is designed to be ~99.99% accurate. 

I do not equate "irrigation" with prolonged soaking. I mean 15 minutes or more. A lot more if the wound is deep. Infections are not to be taken lightly.

Dave Angelini

Normal Saline 0.9% sodium chloride about the same that is in your blood from the nurse here.

Thanks for the Blink info m151. Do you have a dual band  wifi router? Or just 2.4G?

softdown

Dave Angelini said:

Normal Saline 0.9% sodium chloride about the same that is in your blood from the nurse here.

Thanks for the Blink info m151. Do you have a dual band  wifi router? Or just 2.4G?

If that is all it is that is a disappointment. Iodine is an important component of seawater and well know for anti-bacterial properties. Calcium helps with osmoregulation. Magnesium? 

Yet I'll bet that our hospitals charge at least $100 for an ~ quart/liter of water and salt. 

Estragon

AFAIK, the salt in the saline is just there to balance the osmotic pressure, hence the close approximation to normal blood concentration.  The irrigation is done to remove potential pathogens etc mechanically only.  I suspect if there's a specific pathogen identified, further treatment may include topical application of an agent specifically effective for that pathogen.

Actual seawater has all kinds of stuff growing in it.  Anyone using seawater to flush the head can attest to this.  Presumably "synthetic seawater" is sterilized.

BB.

Actually, from a 2013 NYT article, you are correct... ~$1xx for a bag of saline that costs around $1.

https://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/27/health/exploring-salines-secret-costs.html

-Bill

littleharbor2

Estragon said:

AFAIK, the salt in the saline is just there to balance the osmotic pressure, hence the close approximation to normal blood concentration.  The irrigation is done to remove potential pathogens etc mechanically only.  I suspect if there's a specific pathogen identified, further treatment may include topical application of an agent specifically effective for that pathogen.

Actual seawater has all kinds of stuff growing in it.  Anyone using seawater to flush the head can attest to this.  Presumably "synthetic seawater" is sterilized.

Living on Catalina Island, we have a salt water system for toilet flushing. Yes, many times when flushing the toilet in a dark bathroom you get a light show from the phosphorescence (bioluminescence) in the water. Also after a number of years you begin seeing some hard shell spiral structures in the tank.

softdown

BB. said:

Actually, from a 2013 NYT article, you are correct... ~$1xx for a bag of saline that costs around $1.

https://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/27/health/exploring-salines-secret-costs.html

-Bill

Obamacare kicked in around that time. I'd bet that the price of salt and water has doubled since. Cause government.