Now you have to make sure your car has a radio (at least AM)?

[JSH]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

I've only had a long commute 7 months out of my life when I was doing Salem to downtown portland. I was too poor to afford sat radio at that time, and I don't even know if it was a thing in the early 2000s.

I would often make trips between Vancouver and my parents place in Salem on the weekends though. Would have been nice to have audio books back then.

I somewhat recently "read" 1984 while traveling for work. I could be happy long haul truck driving.

I had a commute greater than 1 hour each way for all 7 years I lived in Alabama. (Traffic meant that the 90 mile, 65 mile, and 25 mile commute were all over an hour each way) That was 2008 - 2014 and back then Satellite radio was $15 a month but you could get it down to about $7 a month if you let the subscription cancel for about a week. Then they would email a cheap renewal deal good for another 6 months.

For pretty much our entire married life either my wife or I have had an hour long commute and one a short commute. Today we are both 25 miles from work in different directions.

XM launched in 2001 and Sirius in 2002.

[redpoint5]

I read that XM launched in Sept 2001. They were just barely too late to cover 9/11.

Fresh out of prison, I didn't have $7/mo to spare. I'd also have to buy and install a head unit capable of sat radio, as my $2,000 1996 Subaru Legacy didn't come equipped.

Never was short of money after that period of time once I worked a permanent full time job, and that is because I resisted most of the "only" $7 luxuries. No coffee habits, no subscriptions... the big thing I treated myself to was an $8/mo all club membership to 24hr fitness.

[Isaac Zachary]

Originally Posted by JSH

I have no idea where you got that stat but the Consumer Product Safety Commision says only 15 of the 526 carbon monoxide deaths caused by portable generators in homes between 2004 and 2013 are from generators being used outside. In the overwhelming majority of fatalities the generators were being used in the basement, garage or inside the home.

https://www.cpsc.gov/safety-educatio...onoxide-deaths

It was a tool safety class focussing on emergency preparredness and disaster releif that I went to years ago. I remember the deaths were 50/50 from inside and outside caused from generators according to the class instructors and their charts. I don't remember which year or years they were referring to or where they got their numbers from, but their point was that your average Joe isn't going to know enough about how to operate a generator to really protect himself and others from it's dangers.

[freebeard]

only 15 of the 526

50/50 from inside and outside

There's a cautionary tale in there somewhere. Are they crushed under falling genrators?

[Isaac Zachary]

Originally Posted by freebeard

There's a cautionary tale in there somewhere. Are they crushed under falling genrators?

I distinctly remember it reffering to deaths caused by carbonmonoxide poisoning. But I could be wrong.

[JSH]

Originally Posted by Isaac Zachary

It was a tool safety class focussing on emergency preparredness and disaster releif that I went to years ago. I remember the deaths were 50/50 from inside and outside caused from generators according to the class instructors and their charts. I don't remember which year or years they were referring to or where they got their numbers from, but their point was that your average Joe isn't going to know enough about how to operate a generator to really protect himself and others from it's dangers.

If you add up the deaths from generators outside, in the garage, and in the basement you get 50% of deaths


Generator safety isn't hard. Just follow the directions and put it outside at least 20 feet from the house.

[Isaac Zachary]

Originally Posted by JSH

Just follow the directions and put it outside at least 20 feet from the house.

Not to pick a nit, but how many people are going to do that? Most are probably going to put it outside a window right next to their bedroom. A lot of people don't even have 20 feet of yard space, and even if they do it might be out on a sidewalk by that time.

The point is that if I were to recommend to someone what to get, I'd recommend a sealed 12V battery, solar panel and inverter. The only downside is that a lot of batteries don't do well when frozen, nor when too hot, and keeping one in the house takes up a space.

I have had friends who have died from carbonmonoxide poisoning. I have known others who have nearly died from it too. And I know a lot of people who keep their CO/smoke detector without a battery so it won't work. Usually people who cook more and have less education, so everytime they burn something on the stove the smoke detector goes off, so they figure out a way to keep it off.

[freebeard]

I used to call that the dinner bell.

[redpoint5]

Google says about 430 people die in the US from CO poisoning. That's not very many. Wonder what percent of that is intentional?

I run my generator just outside the garage door, and that's good enough.

My CO detector plugs into an outlet and has a battery that should last the life of the detector (10 years).

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Most gensets I see have a chimney.