There’s a real trick to open a can that requires NO TOOLS other than a flat concrete surface. Or use a concrete block or a piece of flat river rock.
Just invert the can on the floor and move the can in a circular motion ( like you are sharpening an axe) for several minutes.
You only have to grind away just one layer of metal because when they make the can, they actually fold the metal of the can and the lid together and it now has a raised edge. Grind off this edge and voilà, the can is now open.
Yes, it’s still upside down but you can flip it back up without spilling it all out, can’t you?
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No, it’s uncommon.
Some forward thinking utilities (AZ has one) have introduced time-of-use rates to level out the “duck curve” and avoid needing to build more plants by shifting loads. But nothing like the spikes you’re seeing in TX right now, and not shifting in real time, that’s just crazy.
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Came here to say the same thing. All utilities I’ve ever paid for either had a flat rate, or time-of-use rates. Like you said, power companies really don’t want to build new plants (5 - 10 years and $500M for demand that may or may not be there when completed).
I even remember an NSP spokesperson talking about this on the news one particularly cold Minnesota winter when they were encouraging people to lower their thermostats and defer laundry and dish-washing to non-peak hours to lighten the power load.
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That’s a complete fallacy right there- demand will never go down unless something like an extinction level event happens, at which point no one is going to care anyway.
@ClutchLinkey : that particular utility is the same one that operates the nuclear power plant, which to my knowledge has never been run up to full power; I’m going to make an assumption that it can’t, for whatever reason. (I’ve lived in their service area, and currently live in the service area of it’s competitor, which is somewhat easier to deal with the few times I’ve had to deal with them…)
@ Many, regarding can openers: I ran into that when we moved into our new office at work; I made do with the ‘claw’ style ones built into my multi-tools and shortly bought a nice OXO opener that lives in my stash drawer in my cubicle afterwards; the one that did get purchased by the company was… kind of crap. And one of the few preppers that I follow had commented about the very same thing on their blog.
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I’d like to think that this would finally wake up Texas Republican voters to what a vile, sorry excuse for a “public servant” this booger-eater is. Unfortunately, this fits right in with their “I’ve got mine, Jack, so f*ck you” mentality that keeps them voting for the blobfish.
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Yes and no. Of course they’ll build as power demand increases, but they want guaranteed continuous use of the asset, rather than a stranded asset that only comes on-stream when there is an unusual peak in demand, such as an extreme weather event.
One of the reasons why rural electric co-ops are resisting renewables is the sunk-cost fallacy, as they fear their current assets becoming stranded. Power plants aren’t cheap to build or maintain, so there is a reluctance to scrap a fully functional one, even if a renewable source would be more cost effective for both utility and customer. Ironically, this is a great reason to convert to renewables like wind power: they are cheaper to build (standardized construction) and you can build them as your power needs incrementally increase.
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Oi! Don’t insult booger-eaters like that!
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I don’t live there. I’m going by what my friend and colleague (who lives there, has an article in a recent issue of Home Energy Magazine about their time of use plans and the reasoning behind them, and who works for the utility) has told me. I don’t recall if he got into the nuclear question in the article.
ETA: I’m sorry to hear you had less than satisfactory results when you had to contact APS when you were in their service territory. My friend isn’t on the customer service side, but I think he’d be bummed to hear people weren’t getting treated well. 
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imagine being a weird survivalist and not owning a swiss army knife
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What a delicious thread!
I have never been without one of these jobbies since I used my first one on a camping trip over 20 years ago. Any “prepper” who doesn’t have one of these on their keychain is a joke.
These things work better than some of the “traditional” hand crank can openers I’ve had.
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…or a can opener, propane stove, or portable heater. I have those items and I live in a condo. The thing RW rural survivalist types don’t realize is urban living may actually be better for handling disasters. But its dependent on helping one’s neighbors and having responsible political leaders.
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I was curious about this. I thought I’d find something for Detroit, with the whole exodus. It was a quick search, and I didn’t find that specifically, but I found this:
Recent electricity usage in the United States
I know this is temporary, but populations move, so I wouldn’t feel comfortable with the absolutist statement you made regarding any particular utility. Especially one in TX, where they’ve separated themselves from the broader grid they could be feeding into.
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I vaguely a remember a woman who seemed nice, although she only showed up long enough for the hero to have a one-night stand.
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I thought Friday (from “Friday”) was pretty cool. And John Thomas Stuart XI (from “Starbeast”) seemed okay. And Lazarus Long’s “ephemeral” wife from “Time Enough for Love,” seemed pretty cool.
Disclaimer: It’s been ages since I read any of these.
A Swiss Army knife is perhaps the best survival tool ever created, it is useful and compact and handy on a day to day basis. I can’t imagine not having a Swiss Army knife.
And yet, I have never seen a prepper use one or suggest one.
My guess is that they don’t look cool enough, they are too common, and you don’t look like Rambo when you take one out of your pocket.
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I rounded off the corners to make mine more pocket friendly, then ground the lower end to about 1/4" wide to make it a more usable screwdriver.
Tip: A safety pin will prevent the P-38 opening in your pocket. And you then have a safety pin.
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Going to go find mine tonight and try this out!
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My first thought was here’s an example of Ayn Randism taken to its logical extreme…
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If you have to go find it, that’s a C minus in prepper* school 
(Or it should be!)
- I am not a prepper. I will have to earn my way as a traveling snark provider in the post-apocalyptic society. Or a poet, not sure which is worse.
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