short takes

[cellio]

Lately the humidifier in the basement has been pulling 2.5 to 3 gallons of water a day out of the air. (It would probably do more, but it doesn't do its thing when the tank is full and awaiting emptying.) I realize that's only about 1.5 toilet flushes or a quarter of a shower or something, but I still find myself wishing for an easy way to feed the collection back into our water system. (Not for drinking or cooking, though.)

The National Council of Churches is unwisely spamming people on a roughly-weekly basis. (I report 'em to SpamCop each time it happens, but it hasn't stopped the messages yet.) They should work harder on demonstrating values consistent with their presumed beliefs (like the golden rule).

Speaking of losing points by spamming, an anti-Bush group calling itself BushFIlter has been spamming me every few days. SpamCop reports have been more effective there; it's been a week or two since they've successfully gotten through. But I imagine that there are people out there who haven't thought about the election much, aren't going to, and are annoyed enough by spam to let it sway their vote; the spammers are making a mistake by discounting that effect. It's really only different in degree, not form, from sending out lots of spam advertising your competitor's URL. (Hmm... nah, I don't think the Kerry folks are that weasely.)

What is the derivation of the word "asshat", which I have been seeing increasingly in the last year or two? It seems to be a synonym for "asshole", but I'd always assumed that if you had to make that word more "gentle" or "polite", it'd be the first syllable you'd have to modify. What gives?

Comments

[tashabear.livejournal.com]

What is the derivation of the word "asshat", which I have been seeing increasingly in the last year or two?

I think it's a more succinct term for cranial-rectal inversion. Two syllables v. eight -- makes sense to me.

[dagonell.livejournal.com]

www.confusednation.com seems to give the complete history of the word's spread, while www.urbandictionary.com seems to give the best definition: "One who has their head up their ass. Thus wearing their ass as a hat." Interestingly enough, www.asshat.com is an anti-Dubya site. Gee I wonder why? :D

[cellio]

Thanks, not only for the definition but for the pointers to useful sites. dictionary.com just wasn't doing it for me on this one. :-)

[aliza250.livejournal.com]

I realize that's only about 1.5 toilet flushes or a quarter of a shower or something, but I still find myself wishing for an easy way to feed the collection back into our water system. (Not for drinking or cooking, though.)

Pour it into the washing machine while it's filling.
Use it to water plants.
Use it to wash the floor, the toilet, the sinks, etc.
Use it to rinse off dishes before hand-washing them, soak pots, etc.

Another idea

[sethcohen.livejournal.com]

If your basement has a sump pump, you can probably think of some useful way to position said dehumidifier to dump its excess into the sump drain.

I might have other ideas later. It is late and I am stupid.

Re: Another idea

[cellio]

No sump pump, but thanks anyway. (Hmm, I wonder if it could be piped to the hot-water tank. On reflection, this water's probably no dirtier than what comes through the plumbing, and most hot water goes toward showers, the dishwasher, and the washing machine anyway.)

Re: Another idea

[sethcohen.livejournal.com]

The water probably *is* dirtier. There's mold & stuff growing in your dehumidifier. You should probably water the lawn with it.

[cellio]

Thanks for the suggestions!

Pour it into the washing machine while it's filling.

Do washing machines determine intake via s sensor, or do they have some preset idea of how much water to draw in for a load? That is, will this save water? (I wonder if I can just empty the bucket into the washer each time in anticipation of the next load.)

Use it to water plants.

Plants are much happier when someone competent takes care of them. :-)

[mikekn]

Do washing machines determine intake via a sensor, or do they have some preset idea of how much water to draw in for a load?

They must use a sensor of some sort, since it has no idea how much clothing is in washer (otherwise, every time I overload it it would overflow :)

[miz-hatbox.livejournal.com]

Well, there are grey-water systems for watering the garden... presumably you could find some way to set one up, and then position the humidifier high enough so gravity feeds water through a hose from the water collection thingy to the grey-water barrel...something like that, maybe?

[cellio]

Hmm, interesting idea. We don't have a sprinkler system or anything like that, but maybe there's a way to use this to feed the outside spigot. We actually hire a service to keep the lawn from dying or overgrowing and taking over the neighborhood, so I don't know how much they water things versus letting nature do its thing. We turn on the spigot for them in the spring and turn it off in the fall. :-)

[jerusha.livejournal.com]

What my parents did is set it up so that it drains into the laundry tub. Older house, very sturdy laundry tubs, though.

(Put wide board across end of laundry tub. Put dehumidifier on plank, shim so that it will drain into tub. Remove catchbasin; jigger sensor so dehumidifier thinks catchbasin is still there. Water falls into tub and thence down drain.)

No ideas on how to reduce the emptying rate that a) conserves the water for other uses, if you find a suitable one, and b) doesn't run the risk of overflow. (My idea was to elevate the dehumidifier, poke a hole in the catchbasin, and run a hose down to a 5- or 10-gallon bucket. But you'd have to be good about checking it because you've just circumvented the overflow-safe in the dehumidifier proper. {Ooh! unless you set the bucket in the laundry tub, then overflow goes down the drain, not on the floor. But you've still captured n gallons of water for whatever use you find.})

[cellio]

Thanks for the suggestions! The documentation actually described a method of running the output directly into a floor drain, but it had two problems: (1) we couldn't get the hose hook-up to fit (at all, let alone snugly), and (2) this meant having either a dehumidifier or an exapanse of hose in an inconvenient place. Collecting by bucket-load for other uses sounds like a good approach.