PowerSwitch

My battery is the same style - a small rectangle with 3 contact points where it fits into the recharger. I haven't seen any solar chargers that can accommodate it, I didn't really expect that there would be any as it has its own dedicated charger, though maybe someone can let us know if there is a d...

Thanks for the comprehensive answer adam2 It looks like a bit of electronics would be required to fit it all together - panel & inverter but i'll look into it. Would it be ok to just connect an inverter to one of the 'Solar-Powered 12V 1.5W Battery Trickle Charger' or '12V/ 12W Solar Battery Cha...

I wanted to ask about the availability of a solar battery charger that you can plug a typical uk plug into. I've got a digital camera with a li-gon battery which can only be charged from its battery charger, which has a standard plug. So am I limited to only charging it from the wall socket or is th...

I doubt if its a common usage but I use my pressure cooker as a steriliser to kill off any contaminants (unwanted fungi, bacteria, etc) in material to be used as substrate for growing mushrooms on (only Shiitake & Oysters at the moment) so that the fungi can quickly colonise it before being spre...

Well done on getting rid of the idiot box. I wouldn't expect any visits from the TV licencing folk, I got rid of my TV almost 2 years ago & noone has been round yet. They sent a few letters the first few months saying you say you don't have a TV but we'll send someone round to check. They're alw...

A good book dealing with this is "How to Grow More Vegetables: Fruits, Nuts, Berries, Grains, and Other Crops Than You Ever Thought Possible on Less Land Than You Can Imagine " by John Jeavons. I haven't read through it all yet but it deals with companion planting as well as raised beds, d...

A large part of the recent increase in commodity prices is demand from China and the ongoing military action in Afghanistan & Iraq (all metal prices go up in wartime), and of course the increased oil cost (and uncertainty in the case of gold & silver). However for the price of copper, while ...

Is there only one Bank of England, in London? The Bank of England is the UK central bank & they issue all the English (though not Scottish) banknotes, a little like the U.S.A. Federal Reserve. They aren't a commercial high street bank & only carry out banking business for the government &am...

Ok, here's a thought can we come up with a rough way of timing when the major effects of peak oil start to be felt. It probably isn't possible to come up with a date but we could come up with an oil price at which serious economic shocks start to be felt. I've thought of one measure, though I don't ...

I see they also have seasonal charts for prices (& futures prices) for crude oil, gasoline, heating oil, gas oil & natural gas. Shame we can't get them to overlay on each other I'd like to see how the gasoline or crude oil prices correlates with the S&P 500 or Nasdaq.

Allan

You may want to check what plans the Australian government expects to implement in the event of a bird flu outbreak before you get your chickens. It'd be a shame if you got them then had to keep them inside or have them culled because there's a bit of flu going about.

Allan

Hi,

Can anyone advise on, or point me in the direction of a site giving some guidance on, preparing (plucking/gutting/etc) pheasant. I know you should leave it to hang for some time but do you gut it before this or what. Any advice or information will be greatfully received.

Allan

One example of a designed society that suceeded (for a time at least) was classical Sparta. They changed their society relatively quickly to a very hard, militarily structured society with none of the art & culture which they had before & which was going on in the rest of Greece. They lasted...

Just a quick question. Is it possible to directly charge the battery of a laptop computer via a solar panel, or even a dynamo rigged up to an excercise bike? If not what'd you need to make it so & what size of solar panel would be needed?

AllanH

I do buy fruit at a local fruit & veg seller but his stuff isn't organic or local, it's just the same as the Tesco stuff flown from South Africa, though I can get a bowl of about a dozen apples for ?1 which is good.

Allan