Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with consumption

Would an embedded internal wireless 3G modem draw significantly less power from a laptop battery than an external USB wireless 3G modem?

gttommy — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 16:05:27 -0800

Would an embedded internal wireless 3G modem draw significantly less power from a laptop battery than an external USB wireless 3G modem? Generally I would assume, an integrated device will draw less power, but these wireless modems just use up a lot of power regardless so the difference may be negligible.

However, some actual facts or links would be useful.

Thanks!

I forgot about the ticket because of all my drinking...

apetpsychic — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 21:53:50 -0800

So I probably have a warrant out for my arrest on a very old (3 years ) ticket for possible public consumption, in New York City. I want to take care of this, but what repercussions can I expect? Do I go to the courthouse and turn myself in? Will my fine be exorbitantly higher than the ticket? Additionally, I need to renew my license in Brooklyn before my upcoming birthday. Would I be able to do this if I do in fact have a bench warrant? This is my first "I screwed up" question, so please take it easy on me! Thanks!

Economic Information about Australia (GDP and its components)

AZNsupermarket — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 20:43:01 -0800

I'm taking a introductory level macroeconomics course in college. In it, you need to collect a whole bunch of data about a single country (I chose Australia). I got almost all the information I need, but I'm stumped on one small part of it. I need to find Australia's "real GDP" or "GNP" if "Real GDP" is not available. I also need to find the values of its main components: C, I, G, X, M

C = private consumption
I = private investment
G = government expenditure
X = exports of goods and services
M = imports of goods and services

Any help pointing me to the correct site with this information on it would be appreciated!

-Thanks!

Why can't I consume my coffee plant?

jclovebrew — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 13:51:44 -0800

Why does my coffee plant say "For decoration only. Not for consumption"? A friend just gave me the sweetest, most thoughtful gift - a baby coffee plant! Just noticed this morning that the tag says "For decoration only. Not for consumption", which is a little bit of a let down because it would be so novel to some day harvest the cherries, process them, roast the beans, and brew coffee from it. (I mean, how can I not do this? I have to!)

Does it have to do with pesticides or chemicals that may be in the soil it's currently planted in? Is there something I can do to grow a food-safe version -- like perhaps harvest cherries from this tree, and start a new plant with them in organic soil?

Johnny Walker Blue is not a common American whiskey

brandnew — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 11:41:24 -0800

Which notable products or brands do people in other countries love to buy and consume, even though they are not popular or common in their country of origin? A friend of mine travels around the world a lot. Recently he got back from a two week trip to Taiwan. He mentioned that the Taiwanese seemed to like to drink Johnny Walker Blue as if it was common a whiskey and (gross American beer X) as if it was a luxury.

It got me wondering about other brands where this happens. For instance, I consume a lot of European and Asian products, but I have no idea if they're authentic products, or whether they have been marketed to seem authentic. Another example: in college (pre-American craft breweries) we used to drink a lot of Foster's but later discovered that Foster's wasn't popular in Australia.

So, which popular products are used in other countries which are not commonly used in their country of origin?

Measuring my Electricity Consumption?

santaliqueur — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 23:44:12 -0800

How to accurately (and cheaply) measure my electricity consumption? I rent a room from a lady (fixed cost), and she informs me that her electrical bill has skyrocketed since I moved in. She says the bill is $76 more than the same period last year. Not sure what she was paying for a kWh last year, though we can determine that.

I would like to pay her for the extra electricity used. Utilities are included, but I'm getting a great rate for this place, and she's a family friend, and I'm looking to do the right thing.

I know a lot of the extra money on the bill comes from my computer, but a $76 increase seems excessive for what I use.

$76 would be about $2.55/day, which is about 25.5 kWh/day (assuming $0.10/kWh, can find out what she pays), which is 1063 Wh, every hour of the day.

My Equipment:
Mac Pro Quad 2.66
This is on 24/7, and is idle probably 18-20 hours a day.
171W idle, 250W max.
4 Hard drives, two of which are WD Green drives. Set to go to sleep when possible.

Dual Dell 2405fpw flat panels
Off when Mac Pro is idle, both on when Mac is being used.
120W when on, 2W idle, for both.

32" LCD TV, on an average of 30 minutes a night.
Apple TV and Stereo receiver, always plugged in, only on when the TV is being used.
Misc lights and alarm clock, nothing major.
Unless my math is wrong, at $0.10/kWh, these numbers should add up to about 1063, and they aren't coming close to that, even if everything was on 24/7 and the Mac was running at full load.

So, to my real question. How can I accurately and cheaply measure my electricity consumption? I would like to pay for what I use, but it seems like $76 is too much for what I use. There is also another tenant on this house, and everything is on the same meter, but I doubt he is using anything major.

What can I buy, preferably local, that will allow me to measure my consumption? Thanks much.

Is air shipping much more inefficient than truck shipping?

Caviar — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 18:51:31 -0800

How much jet fuel does it take to fly a 50lb box 100 miles vs. gasoline for driving the same box the same distance? Assume the vehicles are going there anyway - what I want to know is the difference between flying an empty plane and flying one carrying the box, and the same question for a car/truck. Presumably the answer depends heavily on the type and efficiency of the plane and car, but approximate answers are fine. Are we talking roughly equivalent amounts of fuel, or an order of magnitude difference?

How much fuel would a national 55mph limit save a year?

mikeyk — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 12:49:12 -0800

If we lowered the speed limit nationally to 55mph, how much fuel would we save? I've often heard about how much more efficient a 55 mph national speed limit would be. But would much fuel would it save nationally over a year? Percentage or number of gallons would both be useful.

How do I clear my media backlog?

b.an.dekker — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 07:21:48 -0800

I'm drowning in a sea of media I have no time to consume - someone please throw me a lifeline On my to-consume media list I currently have The Wire series 5, Lunar Park by Bret Easton Ellis, Siren: Blood Curse for PS3, Playback by Raymond Chandler, Flight of the Conchords series 1 and countless movies. And the list is growing all the time.

Regular long-haul flights are helping me make a dent in the movies backlog, but how do I tackle the rest, short of holing up in a monastery or container ship for a few months with my media library?

Any guidance on how you deal with this luxury problem gratefully received.

Swimming in oil?

punkfloyd — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 17:04:39 -0800

I'm trying to visualize the amount of oil the world has consumed since 1900 and, just for fun, how much there is left ...using bodies of water as a reference. What would billions and billions and billions of gallons of oil look like? Lake Michigan? Lake Okeechobee? Does the planet use an Olympic size pool of oil every second?

I'm trying.

DenOfSizer — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 08:05:31 -0800

I've tried making my own seltzer - and it just isn't happening. So which is the least bad environmental choice, drinking it from 1 L bottles or aluminum cans?

A dim question.

eschatfische — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 07:46:15 -0800

Let's say there are two identical light fixtures, on two identical dimmer switches. One fixture has two 15W dimmer-compatible compact fluorescent lights, the other has two standard 60W incandescent bulbs. The dimmer switches are turned just beyond the "off" position to the "dimmest" position (identical on both dimmers). What will the difference in power utilization be between the two fixtures?

How Much Energy?

clord — Sat, 20 Jan 2007 14:27:00 -0800

We hear a lot about global warming that is attributable to greenhouse effects, etc. Can anyone link-to/guestimate the actual thermal energy we are putting into the planet directly, as a result of burning, moving, etc.? After looking at this pretty picture illustrating oil consumption, I realized there would be a lot of raw heat unleashed by burning that much oil. I expect direct heating is causing nowhere near as much as the increased solar capture caused by CO2, but it must none-the-less be a real big number.

Maybe we could also colloquialise the inferno some-how? e.g., Burning our oil production would be equivalent to burning X library of congresses, or stuffing N stadiums with TNT.

(Americans, If you're calculating, please include SI units.)

How do I stop judging my significant other's spending habits?

onepapertiger — Fri, 01 Sep 2006 07:44:51 -0800

How do I stop judging my significant other's spending habits? (more inside) Yesterday, my boyfriend bought this god awful shirt. It's this drab olive, shiny button down shirt that looks like what those South American guys wear when they go clubbing. We got into an argument over it. It was my fault because I feel like he wastes money and it offends me to see him spend money on something so hideous. He defended the purchase saying that he was tired of the clothes he had and that it was only $30. He has more clothes than I do and I can't explain this entirely, but I felt offended that he said he was tired of his clothes. I love those clothes. I think he's gorgeous and that all the clothes he has make him look wonderful. I have specific memories of things he wore and I am fairly attached to the things he wears. Then he went and bought this horrible shirt.

He and I live together. I was scared about moving in together, but I love him and we've been together for a long time.

I know. It's just a shirt, but I cried about it. I hate that shirt! It looks horrible. It makes him look skeazy. I don't share the idea that $30 is a small sum of money. I think $30 could go for charitable purposes or into his savings account. I think $30 is a lot. That morning, he said he was going to take this class that cost $400. The same class is offered at the nearby state university for $300. He wasn't overly concerned about the difference in cost, until it turned out that the private university's tuition didn't cover the cost of materials and the state university covered materials.

I can't spend $10 on a shirt without really, really thinking it over and to me, there's no such thing as just $5.00. There is, however, just $2.00, but even then, it sort of depends on what I'm buying. Here's something else that irks me: He has a broken down car that we never use that he bought a parking space for, at $150 a month. He's a paralegal temp and averages about $40K-$50K a year. He ended up on a sixth month project that might be extended. His job steadily brings in money and there hasn't been one time in a year and a half that he hasn't been working. He works a lot. All the time. I regularly don't see him until 8-9 pm in the evening.

I know when couples move into the partnership phase where they share spaces and their lives, they do argue about money. All of the money I earn is my own. I have a savings account and an IRA. He's older than me, has no IRA and just got a savings account started. He's not saving aggressively enough, in my opinion. I try to keep my opinions to myself. It's his money, his life, his choices. I don't want to later be blamed for trying to influence him in ways that he resents later.

I hate myself for this, for judging him, because I adore him. He's a wonderful man, he holds up his share of the rent and it really isn't any of my business how he spends his money so long as he holds up his share of the rent. But I'm really worried about him and how he spends unnecessarily. He doesn't use or need the car at all (We haven't used it for more than eight months now), it's in need of repair and to me, $150 is a lot of money.

Here's my question: How do I let him just do whatever he does and not get annoyed or offended by how he spends money. We're not engaged or married, so I just don't feel like it's my business or my burden to bear. And I want to stay in this relationship, whether or not we ever get married or not. I just don't know how to not take his spending personally.

Why should philanthropy be inconspicuous?

I Foody — Wed, 17 May 2006 19:43:35 -0800

Generally it seems frowned upon to allow information about the extent to which someone supports charity enter the public sphere. What is the reason for this or if that is too obvious the origin of this belief? It seems to me that conspicuos philanthropy is treated as though it is less socially appropriate than conspicious consumption. People are more comfortable talking about how much they spend on various extravagant luxury items than how much money they give to charity. Both luxury goods and charitable gifts have the ability to serve as markers of social affluence, and both generally provide little utility to the purchaser/giver apart from the socio-psychological benefits. This modesty strikes me as ultimately harmful since more people would likely give to charity if it was not so taboo to discuss it. Why the stigma? Is this common across different cultures?

Advice for clearing literary clutter

matildaben — Fri, 10 Feb 2006 11:27:21 -0800

Suggest practical and creative systems for reducing the number of books I own (rather long exposition inside). Hopefully this is part 1 of an ongoing decluttering and stuff-organizing project. I am really feeling more motivated to get rid of more stuff nowadays. I've read a lot of the decluttering threads and my issue is very specific and practical, and hopefully does not require therapy.

The vast majority of my possessions by weight and volume consists of books. I would like to develop a system for getting rid of them that will have a very practical, behavioral, methodical approach to the emotions that compel me to keep them.

One category of books is the ones I haven't read yet. This is pretty large. One thought that I had for dealing with them in a mostly scientific way was to arrange them in piles according to a 1-5 assessment of how likely I would be to read them (forcing myself to answer honestly for each one), and keep only the 5's. If there's still too many 5's left, I might break it down further by asking myself what my reasoning is for why I might want to read it (e.g., would I learn something valuable, keep up with a favorite author, be entertained, etc.). For partially read books, the question would be similar, "how likely am I to finish this?" So, I pretty much have a system for this category, and mainly am interested in hearing about similar strategies that have worked for you, or refinements or gotchas to this system. For instance, how does one estimate likeliness to read? What sort of questions does one ask oneself about motivation to read a yet unread book?

Books that I have read break down into several categories. The first is books that I have kept just because I enjoyed them when I read them, will probably never read them again, but they gave me pleasure so I keep the book around to honor that. Again, here, I think reason and logic can prevail if I just put them in a pile and say "I honor how much I enjoyed you when I read you" and then let them go. But that will probably be more painful than it sounds. For this category, advice, strategies, tales of similar efforts, and gotchas are welcome.

Books that I have read and may read again are a much smaller category, and once I have determined which ones those are, I can probably use a similar system as with the unread books to weed them out.

Then there is the large, amorphous category of books I hold on to for some sentimental reason - I read them in a great college class, I know the author, etc. I don't want to be too brutal here and rule them out completely merely because they are sentimental tokens - I want some kind of clarity on what questions to ask myself to determine which ones have a meaningful enough sentiment to hold onto and which ones are just emotional baggage. This is probably the toughest category, and the one where I'd probably benefit the most from hearing about "hacks" that have worked successfully for other people who operate in a similar fashion.

Bandwidth

hodyoaten — Wed, 18 Jan 2006 13:40:11 -0800

What would be a good, small utility for tracking my inbound/outbound DSL bandwidth consumption (as an end user)? All the tools I'm Googling seem to be for system administrators... I'm not running a server.

Help me stop buying stuff!

dame — Wed, 15 Sep 2004 07:45:10 -0800

Un-Consumer Filter: Help me stop buying stuff! >> So round about May, I got a raise that made my rent to income ratio reasonable for the first time in my life. (I’m in my mid-twenties.) I know a lot of people here make way more, but I was thrilled to be able to finally buy a CD, a skirt, some books whenever I wanted and not end up eating ramen for a week. Now I want to save. The buy-everything time was fun, but responsibility calls. However, I’m ashamed to say, I seem to have developed a habit of “just getting it.”

How do you not buy stuff?