iamshack

I was trying to figure out if you were a male or female...because I agree with Rabbit...it seems like gay men are mean as all hell to one another. They cheat like crazy on one another! Let me ask you this...do you find the guy super attractive, or just sort of cute?

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Feb 8, 2016 -> 10:28 AM) There are a number of wind farms now in IL, not sure how much power output. A few solar projects. But I was more getting at civilian-distributed, where a person puts panels on their home and does net billing with the utility. Yeah, I was just sort of thinking out loud. Usually utilities are willing to pay a higher retail rate until a certain threshold is hit. That is what happened in Nevada. Then all the sudden the solar panel pricing came down enough to where all the solar companies came flooding in and the number of households with solar started increasing at a massive rate.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Feb 8, 2016 -> 09:41 AM) I've long felt it was odd that the people with solar get paid a higher rate than the wholesale rate. It never made sense to me (other than essentially just using it as another subsidy / incentive to push solar). The other question in Nevada is what is going to come of solar in a state where theoretically, solar would make a ton of sense. I had read a few articles which indicated all the national carriers essentially left the state (no idea if that is true) but clearly the solar argument becomes much more null and void if the pay back period is significant. With all the incentives, you can justify solar pretty easily in CA (If I wasn't planning on moving to a bigger house, I'd have already put it on my current place). It all comes down to the fact that the solar industry still hasn't hit the fine line between reducing the incentives and the cost of solar coming down (to where you don't hit an eqilibrium point that significantly jumps the cost of installing solar back up). Auto industry has some similar issues with how it rolled out electric and hybrids, etc. So many of the rooftop solar providers have laid off workers and claimed they are leaving the state. I'm sure they will be back. The issue is whether it makes sense to utilize distributed generation, i.e., rooftop solar or storage or wind, if it requires subsidization by the non distributed generation ratepayers. Utility scale solar and wind are already being heavily subsidized by the federal government (American taxpayers), so why should we subsidize distributed generation, unless of course, it provides some other benefit? Utility solar, because of those federal subsidies, as well as the declining prices of solar panels and other technologies, can be had for much, much closer to the wholesale rate of electricity now than the retail rate. Additionally, state legislation in the aggressive states, like California, is causing an oversupply state which states like Nevada and Oregon and others can capitalize on. Now, there are some studies that show that there may actually be something to using distributed generation instead of certain infrastructure improvements to the electric grid. If that is indeed the case, that changes the equation quite a bit.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Feb 8, 2016 -> 09:37 AM) I know ComEd allows for net billing in Illinois. The put-back rate is lower than the paid rate of course, but the spread isn't huge, like maybe 20%. Not many times over. It also depends on the supplier you connect with (you can elect a supplier other than ComEd here). People who have solar can, at times, push back more than they use to credit against when they actually use it. Yeah, I'm not sure how prevalent this is in the Chicago area yet. I know MidAmerican has a lot of wind development in Iowa, and I have seen many of the wind farms in the rural areas of Illinois. Is there still a lot of wind development happening in Illinois?

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Feb 8, 2016 -> 09:11 AM) I've been following it (as I plan on getting solar when we move to our next place (which could be in 3 months or could be in 3 years...market is so s***ty right now outside of interest rates...prices just seem so absurd). California just delayed things for another few years but it is really interesting how Nevada was able to get its push and it will be interesting to see if other states eventually make that push. At one point it looked more likely CA was going to and I still think they will eventually, but to me there has to be a fine balance. Of course when i say I follow this, it is more casually and I clearly am not understanding of all the inner details. Definitely seems your project was a successful one (when you view it from your perspective though). A real win for the utilities and probably the non-solar consumers (if those costs ultimately result in lower increases or even decreases in their costs). Well, so here is the issue...some of the aggressive renewable portfolio standards, particularly in California, have brought a lot of wind and solar onto the western electric grid. Additionally, the production tax credits being extended through 2021 has finally provided developers with some sense of stability. So what happens is that certain states that are in proximity to states with high renewable portfolio standards, or in areas where wind or solar are particularly feasible to develop, have tremendous opportunities, if they have flexibility with their fossil fuel generating resources, to purchase solar and wind energy for tremendously low prices, sometimes even getting paid to take the energy, on the wholesale market. Enter distributed generation customers who now wish for the utility to compensate them for their solar energy at a retail rate that is often 5-10 times the wholesale rate. Why would a utility want to be on the hook for that? It's basically the second coming of PURPA, which many utilities are finally unwinding now. California, I must say, bless their hearts, are going to be paying many other states to take their solar and passing those expenses onto their rate payers. And then when they need other states' fossil fuel generation, they tax their ratepayers additionally for that dirty energy as well.

Papa John!

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Feb 7, 2016 -> 12:57 PM) This said it perfectly. Apparently to the point where you don't even know you are saying it. It is like Obama to a rightwinger, or Bush to a leftwinger. Enough of the picking at one another. How about we discuss the issue on the merits? Thad clearly has a point. JR held the City/State hostage in order to get his way. Other teams have used this as a model. That was a bit dirty of him. Case closed. Move on.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Feb 6, 2016 -> 07:55 PM) Christie and Kasich won that debate and it wasn't close. Rubio took a lot of shots and didn't have any ability to shift on his feet and adjust his tone away from repeating the same attack on Obama over and over. Now the biggest question is how much of a surge do the governors get...? Can both Kasich and Christie make it to South Carolina? Donald Trump had a pretty good night and didn't do anything to lose his position in NH. As much as I dislike Cruz, I thought he was right up there as well. Cruz comes off, by far, the most "presidential" of any of these guys. Kasich the least douchebaggerish. Christie has his moments, but he comes off as a big bully to me and I just don't think we need that from a foreign policy standpoint again.

Nevada's Perplexing War on Solar Really surprised this isn't getting more attention here. Some key battles around the future of distributed energy, solar in particular, playing out in the west. The amount of disinformation in these articles drives me nuts, particularly, this notion that our current President, Barack Obama, doesn't know exactly what he is doing...no, I kid More seriously, this notion that the utilities want to pay distributed solar owners less than market rate for their electricity is simply not true. What the utilities want to pay distributed solar owners is closer to the wholesale rate for electricity, rather than the retail rate that customers want. Forcing utilities to pay retail for what they could get at a much cheaper wholesale rate elsewhere would simply raise everyone's rates and result in non-distributed generation owners subsidizing distributed generation owners even more than they currently do. It will be interesting to see how this continues to play out in Nevada and California and what the resulting rate impacts will be. Additionally, how this impacts not only the solar industry, but other forms of potential distributed generation.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Feb 4, 2016 -> 11:50 AM) How many people sit in the upper deck? You aren't saying there would be thousands upon thousands more up there so they could look at the buildings are you? And it would be a spectacular cost to move the openings of the upper deck higher about 20 feet. To make it make any sense, you would also have to move the entire concourse. White Sox baseball would be so much more enjoyable if you owned the team. Please do us all a favor and buy them and show everyone how a real team is run. Wow. What is with the vitriol lately?

So was talking to my banker this week and found out apparently they have a construction loan product that can be utilized to do an entire home renovation and/or addition. This is really outstanding news, as it would allow us to potentially consolidate many projects initially planned to be done over time into one or two much larger projects to be done concurrently. Thinking about adding about 1500 sq ft and reconfiguring the one side of the house. Need to start talking to some builders.

How do we know that Puig and Lawrie clashing would be a bad thing? I dunno about anyone else, but I am a fan of bringing in a bit more character and a bit more life to this roster. It seems like over the course of the last several years, we've really lacked some of that spunk and character and the result is some teams that seem to sleepwalk through weeks or months at a time, or fail to respond to challenges. Frankly, I'd rather see us error on the side of a bit too much chaos than the walking dead rosters we've had over the past several years.

Even better is taking an assessment on behalf of your semi-retired father only to have him ignore the attempts by the employer to reach out to him, unbeknownst to you.

QUOTE (LDF @ Jan 31, 2016 -> 07:39 AM) this is a great post. this idea of piling up on a poster is really getting old, the quality of this board comes from posters with a difference of opinion Couldn't agree more.

QUOTE (Dunt @ Jan 30, 2016 -> 11:11 PM) Lack of leadership =\= laid back. Keep pushing your dumbass narrative though. It isn't a "dumbass narrative." Have you watched White Sox baseball for the last several years? Do you get the impression that when things get tough, our club is able to stand up to that or turn things around when they start going sideways?

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Jan 30, 2016 -> 08:31 AM) Lol...he said Avi Garcia was the player he was most excited for in 2016, which is first off ridiculous and second just asking to piss off your fans. But yep, I'm suggesting Hawk should rip him. Basically the same thing. All I am saying is that it's not particularly easy for Hawk to be entirely objective in his position.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Jan 30, 2016 -> 08:08 AM) I'm here and wanted to boo Hawk's ass for saying that. What do you want him to say? He's around these guys every day. You guys were criticizing the fans for booing Avi. You don't think it's worse if Hawk gets up and rips him in front of all the fans?

That's the beauty of the Hawkeroo though.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jan 29, 2016 -> 10:25 AM) How much for one rib? Yeah. Just one rib.

QUOTE (ptatc @ Jan 25, 2016 -> 11:32 AM) Wow, maybe im just too conservative but how do you pass up that deal for 3/75? I realize its more AAVand there is the opt out but 110 guaranteed. He must have really liked the Mets or his agent convinced him he can do better with next year's FA class. From what I saw this morning the Nationals' offer penciled out to like $77 million in npv over the course of the 5 years.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Jan 27, 2016 -> 07:57 AM) Carmax makes a nice percentage on their cars being that they are used and they dont "negotiate". Yeah, I look at this from the opposite perspective. I WISH I could negotiate the price of everything.

Jesus Gage! I love negotiating as much as the next guy, but I want the dealer to be able to feed his kids too Anyways, good stuff. I'll keep that for reference.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Jan 24, 2016 -> 05:56 PM) Sure, but I feel like his inability to complete a single pass limits a lot of what they can do offensively and forces their defense to be less agressive and spend too much time on the field. It's not a Denver type D. Carolina is a great team and deserves to win it all uf they do, but this is not the same Arizona team I watched all year. Not playing well in big games is not a new thing for Carson Palmer.

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Jan 24, 2016 -> 03:40 PM) Two blatant holds on that 2 point play. If that had been successful that would have been ridiculous. Brady finally gets what's coming to him, and yeah, Denver probably loses but at least Manning gets to play in a Super Bowl for his final game. There were blatant holds on nearly every play of the last two Pats drives, honestly.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Jan 22, 2016 -> 12:21 PM) Not quite as visible as Flint, but Im sure the southside folk are familiar with what happened in Ceestwood: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_conta...twood,_Illinois Different set of circumstances but same corruption. Wow. This reminds me of A Civil Action. Seems like dry cleaners are a common culprit for polluting groundwater supplies. This same thing occurred in one of the older neighborhoods of Las Vegas...and it seems to be getting swept under the same rug.