I've just noticed this unbelievable graph of Job searching in Google Trends:
Job seeking search volume index worldwide
In this graph you can clearly see that the tendency of people to seek the term "job" around the world is very high from January and slowly descends until December, then quickly climbs in January, that's quite a anthropological phenomenon. A new year could perhaps engage people in ideas of a new and better future, perhaps a new job :) while in Israel:
Job seeking search volume index / Israel
I guess in Israel people are looking for a better stature throughout the year. Even the term "New Year" is miscalled "Silvester" which is a very silly thing, they know how to take out the fun parts in life.
happy job hunting ! it's almost New year's !
also found that nice graph for the terms "winter" and "summer" over the years:
This saturday we worked real hard to construct our Ikea 'Brimnes' bed that is quite a time consuming assembly project... we took the Eee Transformer pad and switched it's camera to timelapse mode and shot the following sequence:
Since Google has released some info of their autonomous vehicle experiments I've been eager to hear more about it.
I Think that starting with the private sector will not 'solve really big problems' as the article states.
I think that if Google presents this technology it must be implemented on large scale commercial architectures and not private vehicles, unless they are shared among users via car/time sharing (but that's another idea still far from beta testing...)
Mass transit system: Buses and rail systems that drive autonomous, never get tired or angry of other vehicle drivers, Here also the face recognition technology could come in handy if one can enter an automated bus and be recognized by the bus and be automatically reminded where my stop is, automatic ticketing etc'
Trucks / Semi : that suffer the worst from blind spots and work hours, here is the greatest opportunity to basically save lives if these mammoths were driven by precise robotics instead of an angry mob
FedEx and Mail systems that usually route daily could benefit the most
a good replacement for any Israeli driver (perhaps also for any Israeli politician too...)
I fear, although this technology is great, that it will very quickly be cracked, hacked and misused to send pizzas to classmates.
Simple chart for Azimuth/Inclination and percent degraded yield from PV's used for sloped roofs:
based local in Israel (A Google login required)
be sure to check out My website site for more information
Timelapse animation of a system we've installed in Elad, Israel, which shows the preperations, modeling and the last part shows how we evade the shadow. we've used a Trimble D-GPS to obtain ~1 cm resolution of the building and high walls that we had to take into consideration.
Your comments are most welcome Do You wish to compare the yield of Your system to other systems?
I'm working on a daily kWh per kWp installed on systems around Israel, you can monitor hundreds of systems using the JavaScript I'm working, the graph charts are in this link
there is about 10,000 kWp monitored daily that You can view how systems in Jerusalem yield differently than systems in the Golan, in cities or outside of them etc'.
if you like to be part of this statistics please inform me and I'll log Your system as well.
Thank You for reading this, Your comments are most welcome !
I've been asked a lot about how much degradation one should expect from having the wrong azimuth on a certain roof. also the inclination has an effect. I'll try to bring here the basic types I see common.
A roofs facing south are rare, but until we develop a tracking system that can use a standard roof tile installation, this is pretty much the degradation expected from a 22° inclination / Azimuth :
This Chart is only effecting 22° inclination roofs local at Israel. additional charts of different inclinations are located here.
The following interactive chart also shows expected degradation due to two variables: azimuth and 0°-25° inclination (geographical location Tel Aviv):
(to view a Google interactive chart you must log in your Google account)
When designing flat roof arrays, the row distance must allow the sunlight to be available for all of the array from 08:00-15:00 in winter at least and 07:30-17:00 in summer to enjoy the peak power of the array.
if the area doesn't allow it use these tips:
1. The build of the panel has some faults. when partially shadowed it may produce no energy at all. it seems that if it is shadowed on it's short side (for instance, a panel is standing) it will not generate energy. while if it is similarly shadowed on it's long side (a panel is lying) it will produce up to 66% energy even while shadowed.
Flat Panel with shadows drawing
2. it is smart to use technological improvements such as Tigo maximizer units but they are not cheap. sadly a lot of consumers think cheap and not think profitable, which can generate a lot of untapped energy. a large scale facility that isn't shadowed will think "why do I need this?" and forget about partial clouding or bird droppings that when one panel is down, the whole array goes down.
3. for flat roof installations, the following chart provides distances based on inclination of the panels (local iseael) and should provide maximum peak power at minimum distances, larger will be more effective:
(again, one must be logged in a Google account in order to view the interactive chart)
Be sure to check out My website for more info
מאז ניוטון והתפוח סוף סוף הגיע הזמן לשידרוג השעון המעורר!
טלפונים, קטנים כגדולים, תמיד נפלו על הרצפה וימשיכו ליפול. אין לנו באמת מושג אם הנפילה הזו תהיה האחרונה עבורם (הסמארטפונים לאחרונה הם באמת נפילה אבל זה כבר סיפור אחר).
יקיצה היא לעתים לא דבר פשוט ובתחבולות תעשה לך השכמה (משלי כ"ד ו')
הפרויקט הנוכחי : שעון מעורר שמופעל על ידי ההשכמה של הטלפון הסלולרי ומעיף אותו לאוויר כמו טוסטר כך שצריך לתפוס את הטלפון מהר לפני שהוא נופל על הרצפה.
נכון, יהיו כמה בקרים שהטלפון ייפול על הרצפה ונקום בהרגשת החמצה וביאוס (שזו גם בעיטה חזקה מהמיטה) ויש כאלו שזה יעורר אצלם את העצבים ויקומו כמו נינג'ה ויצילו כל יום את הטלפון שלהם מאבדון!
בקרוב בחנות i קרובה אליכם.
Hurray ! Google has notified me that the models I've sent are adequate for the 3D layers in Google Earth !
if you search for "Capitola" In google earth you might just bump into them :) If you are in the neighbourhood I would really appriciate sending photos of the buildings so I may add additional texture information to them.
Wooopie ! another 3D model I've built has made it through to the 3D building layer in Google Earth !
I'ts one of the stores Perli and me visited during our honeymoon in Capitola.
כל 2 עד 5 שניות הופיעו אחד אחרי השני ברקים, תופעה מאד יפה אבל לא אופיינית למזג האוויר כאן.
אני חושב שזה מאפיין זריעת עננים, כי לאחרונה התחילו במסע זריעת עננים מאסיבי והאופי של העננים השתנה.
הנה קליפ קצר :
I found a dov'es nest on a tree right in front of my porch so I put the camera in timelapse mode (CHDK) and started shooting. I have no projector to have enogh light or nightvision and I'm using a 200mm zoom so I hope that the 2 eggs don't hatch during the night :)
shooting starts at about 8:00Am each day and finishes at about 5:30PM, a frame each 10 seconds.the camera is in Aperature mode in spot measureing to minimize the lighting difference. from the results I've noticed that the hole palm tree the dove resides on moves in a "breathing" motion, each day it rizes a bit and I guess each night it lowers. in day 2 i've noticed there's a branch that really doesn't help the view so I've cut it. in day 6 we had strong winds that shook the tripod a bit but it still runs! :)
started shooting: 03/03/2011, the first 6 days look like this (HD) :
1 day = 1 minute:
Google have just sent me a 200NIS voucher to use in Adwords as I see fit.
I'm not used to receiving printed mail other than bills and subpoenas, Since it's the first Email I've received from Google, I was quite shocked that they gave me such a nice gift, hope to use it wisely :)
After a longer than expected render I've come up with a preliminary draft which I'll keep abusing...
for more information about the study visit here
Sun view of the 2 trial array
An additional Idia rose while I was addressing this, that the dynamic panel could also be an additional reflector for the rest of the array, so for this experiment I've used only 2 panels, one stationary and one facing the sun.
Close up PV
and a parrallel video output you can view here:
a second version of 3 tracking panels here in this video:
After encountering technologies such as Tigo Maximizer units and having short conversations about some of the issues that rise when developing the photovoltic solar installations, It seems that such an array could have additional management and control for the following:
We visited the Tech museum in the morning, still one of the first drives in the US without any GPS, took a green stick-note from Eti's kitchen and drew a little map of the area, We found a distant place to park the car there, the places we've seen "public parking" cost about 10$ an hour so we had to walk a bit in the cold.
And Perli found a nice colored car
The museum is very playful, most of the artifacts are very interactive, when we have kids we should visit there (also next time we should also get to Epcot Center...)
We finished the visit in a diner named "Johnny rockets" there we had a meal we also put the camera in stop motion mode (CHDK) and it turned out like this:
Additional pictures from today can be seen in this link
We started the morning at Santana Row which is a very nice place to visit we wanted to see the "movies" but they were all so "Family" rated but we wanted a scary movie, There's a bakery there named "Cocola bakery" that has really good cakes.
Sadly, they have no place to wash hands so Perli used a cup with water to wash her hands...
but we soon found a bathroom that was camouflaged by a large ornament made of mirrors
After a short walk there we also went to a mall that has about 15 movie theaters but they all were PG rated (PlayGround?) at the toilet I've found you can buy a fake mustache for a quarter, stupid but had to test one...
we spent most of the day just traveling and wondering. Eti and Ron invited us to a dinner at a sushi restaurant (I believe it is Sushi Kuni) near their house and it was very tasty :)
it was a nice finish to that day and I ate some kind of sea porcupine that was too large to put in the mouth but went down well :)
I've made a 3D model of Sushi Kuni, Now Live in google earth:
Then we set our way (using our special GPS, shown in the picture) to "Fry's Electronics" to see if we can get that pink laptop we've seen in their site for perli. They didn't know what we were talking about at fry's... Something we must say about Fry's electronics, the store has a lot in stock for the hardware enthusiast but that doesn't justify their lack in human resource... the tellers/helpers are ignorant (probably weren't accepted as Kwik-E-mart greeters). when we've asked one guy that appears to work there about one of the computers he forwarded us to "the internet", perhaps "there" we will find it. when we asked someone that worked at the camera department if we can test one of their light products on my camera he forwarded me to "the internet", perhaps "there" i can find out if the product is compatible... freaks !
although fry's little helpers are little or no help at all, they have a lot of equipment there but make sure you carry "the internet" with you because these guys don't help at all... also heard that their return policy deprives you from a full work day so good luck :)
The coffee here watered, if they don't have "Latt'e" ask for a stronger or double dose of coffee, otherwise it'll taste like maple water. also, the smallest cup here is about twice the size of the largest cup in Israel...
Noticed a lot of cute vehicles in the area, like the lotus and a very strange lowered Chevrolet (in the picture). That lotus must weigh about 600Kg and one can see it has more carbon fibers than a F-16 jet... with the engine they have installed I doubt they bought this one for miles/gallon rate...
Perli started a new hobby (maybe I'm boring her with all my geek stuff) to snapshot each and every FedEx truck we see, that's actually more fun than I thought at first
we spent the rest of the day at Eti and Ron's house having fun, Noa was excited to try out my tablet but when she noticed that you have to learn a new software for drawing she was less excited...
We took Lior's car to Sunnyvale and from there took a train to San Francisco. It took about 40 minuts by train, perhaps we should have taken the car instead, probably quicker. We've drove by a sculpture named "Rrrun" by Marta Thoma, the cement sculpture is located in BodenPark, Palo Alto.after a long and beautiful walk through the Piers we've reached Pier 39 where they have Gulls the size of small dogs, had a glimps of "the rock" of Alkatraz. After that we went through the small streets to the city center where we had some hot coffee and took the red tram all the way down to through the city back to the train station. we were too exhausted to go up Lombard street...
Today was a traveling nightmare, what a way to start a year...
we Took a taxi to the bus station, a bus to the train station, a train to the airport and a plane to San Francisco... I woke at about 6 and drank some coffee at the lobby, had a few minutes to say hello to Eti and Ron and got back to the room to pack, Ron said he'd pick us up in the airport (they had a direct flight from Boston) but our flight was from New York.
We took the Bolt bus from Boston to New York, we were about 8 people in the whole bus. the service also includes free WiFi and electricity for the notebook so we could replenish our blog on the way :)
The bus landed in Penn station right were we used to reside in the New Yorker hotel, we missed it a bit. snow was still piled in the streets and it was brown and dirty, not as pretty as we've experienced it a few days back. we took the subway to the airport and had our McDonald's meal that looked from the movies
Finally we got to the airplane, we were sitting next to an elder that was a very interesting person, he said one of his 'bucket list' to-do's is to play golf in San Francisco, very funny guy for a divorce attorney...
Ron picked us up at the airport, we were exhausted when we arrived.
Eti and Ron made us dinner and we crashed into bed...
