# Flaming birds?  Solar power?



## jks9199 (Aug 19, 2014)

Hey, elder999?

You find a new way to roast birds?   What?  Ants and magnifying glasses aren't cool enough?

Seems that some solar power plants in the Mojave are frying birds that fly over them...

More seriously?  Looks to me like the birds are flying through foci of the mirrors, and they're getting toasted in the highly focused beam.


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## Brian R. VanCise (Aug 19, 2014)

I saw that today as well.  Pretty wild and sad for the birds.


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## jks9199 (Aug 19, 2014)

Brian R. VanCise said:


> I saw that today as well.  Pretty wild and sad for the birds.



I don't know... Tweak it a little, maybe get 'em to fly through a seasoning mist...  And you have a new income stream!  Solar-roasted pheasant, anyone?  Sun-baked squab?


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## Buka (Aug 20, 2014)

That was fascinating. I never thought of the light attracting insects, and insects attracting birds.


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## Brian R. VanCise (Aug 20, 2014)

I actually think they will be able to find a solution ie. noise, etc. to scare them off and around it.  I regularly pass this place and it is interesting to look at!


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## AdamGrose (Aug 20, 2014)

That's fine until you start getting pigeons... rats with wings.  Bleah!!!     





jks9199 said:


> I don't know... Tweak it a little, maybe get 'em to fly through a seasoning mist...  And you have a new income stream!  Solar-roasted pheasant, anyone?  Sun-baked squab?


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## donald1 (Aug 20, 2014)

I wonder what would happen if someone brought a chicken out there...


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## Carol (Aug 20, 2014)

And I thought Angry Birds was just a game...


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## Badger1777 (Aug 20, 2014)

There surely has to be a way to mitigate against this. Proper focusing of the mirrors, combined with airport style bird deterrents? I would hate the fossil fuel companies to have the chance to use this to scare people off. All new ideas have their issues that need to be resolved.


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## Transk53 (Aug 24, 2014)

> for the smoke plume that comes from birds that ignite in midair.



[FONT=Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]I know it wrong of me, but that is the funniest thing I have read all year. Interesting use of technology though.[/FONT]


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## donnaTKD (Aug 24, 2014)

you wouldn't need a cooker in your kitchen and the takeaway down the street would go bankrupt unless of course they developed their own solar towers


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## Transk53 (Aug 24, 2014)

I like the idea of of having a Seagull equalizer where I work


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## donnaTKD (Aug 24, 2014)

Transk53 said:


> I like the idea of of having a Seagull equalizer where I work



love that idea 

i've been to your end of the country and it's littered with the flying mosquito's   no wonder you got so many down there though when you consider just how many old folks are feeding the flying vermin


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## Transk53 (Aug 24, 2014)

donnaTKD said:


> love that idea
> 
> i've been to your end of the country and it's littered with the flying mosquito's   no wonder you got so many down there though when you consider just how many old folks are feeding the flying vermin



Yeah it's mad. Sometimes when I am on patrol, I feel like I am walking past a clone army. Keeping on topic though, that sort of power plant could be built at Dungeness. Not sure the Gatwick flight path, but surely it would appease the Greenies. Natural light on waste ground would have minimal impact, what are you going to find aside from super sized Cockroaches. The current power plant is due to be de-commissioned in 2018.


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## donnaTKD (Aug 24, 2014)

the nuclear plant on anglesey just down the road from me is due to get decomissioned soon too   so at least it'll match the one next to it that got decomissioned a while back  

so now what we'll have is 2 monster concrete tower blocks   and they tried to appease the green lobby by creating 4 huge wind turbine farms about a mile off the north wales coast and they're planning on adding more to the ones that are already there...........

my electric comes from the hydro electric plant on the other side of mountain to my house   think that it's the most environmentally friendly option -- people like waterfalls and lakes and things so for me it adds to the scenery rather than detracting from it.  thinking that more could and should be put into wave and tidal technology cos that wouldn't be so much of a blot on the landscape plus it'd make power even when there's little or no wind --- forgot my grandad's had baked beans for his dinner 

if they want to try an experiment then try this :-

get a piece of 50lb fishing line -- about 3ft should be enough -- and tie a biggish hook on one end and a decent sized fishing weight -- 4ounces or more -- then get a fairly big piece of bread then push the hook through it and leave it where the gull will eat it   then watch as it takes the bread and flies off, once it starts turning in the air the lead weight will spin round it wrapping it up and making it crash into whatever   if it lands in the sea then it'll go straight to the bottom with a big splash   spent many hours doing this sort of stuff when i was younger 

misspent youth and all that


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## Transk53 (Aug 24, 2014)

donnaTKD said:
			
		

> get a piece of 50lb fishing line -- about 3ft should be enough -- and tie a biggish hook on one end and a decent sized fishing weight -- 4ounces or more -- then get a fairly big piece of bread then push the hook through it and leave it where the gull will eat it  then watch as it takes the bread and flies off, once it starts turning in the air the lead weight will spin round it wrapping it up and making it crash into whatever  if it lands in the sea then it'll go straight to the bottom with a big splash  spent many hours doing this sort of stuff when i was younger
> 
> misspent youth and all that



That is pretty ****ed up right there :idunno:


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## donnaTKD (Aug 24, 2014)

Transk53 said:


> That is pretty ****ed up right there :idunno:




no really !!!!! thought that's what every kid did -- O oh.......... 

the solar thing though that would be most useful in towns and cities with a massive pigeon population......... 

just saying............


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## Badger1777 (Aug 24, 2014)

donnaTKD said:


> no really !!!!! thought that's what every kid did -- O oh..........
> 
> the solar thing though that would be most useful in towns and cities with a massive pigeon population.........
> 
> just saying............



I've heard of such. I'm not sure its right though. Where I work ( a very popular seaside town) you have to know what you're doing to eat fish and chips outdoors without being mugged by a seagull. To be honest though, I love watching the tourists get robbed of their seaside delights. Their faces are a picture. First, the terror, or realising they have been surrounded by a gang of 300 birds that are each considerably larger than they looked on TV, then the shock when one of them takes something right from their paper. Sometimes I wish there were more seagulls, then there might be less zombies (people - tourists - who forget that the town is actually a real working town with working people) getting in my way on my lunch break.


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## donnaTKD (Aug 25, 2014)

like what they did here -- tehy reintroduced red kites into our valley and it's made a huge difference to the number of gulls that venture into our valley when it's rough out at sea 

yay for common sense in the reintroduction of the red kite


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## Transk53 (Aug 26, 2014)

Badger1777 said:


> I've heard of such. I'm not sure its right though. Where I work ( a very popular seaside town) you have to know what you're doing to eat fish and chips outdoors without being mugged by a seagull. To be honest though, I love watching the tourists get robbed of their seaside delights. Their faces are a picture. First, the terror, or realising they have been surrounded by a gang of 300 birds that are each considerably larger than they looked on TV, then the shock when one of them takes something right from their paper. Sometimes I wish there were more seagulls, then there might be less zombies (people - tourists - who forget that the town is actually a real working town with working people) getting in my way on my lunch break.



Man you need a chill pill. I also work in a big City that is Brighton and Hove. Seagulls, if we did not dump so much **** then there would be no issues. Tourists only go for advertisements, you don't want them, don't advertise. You want Common Gulls, cool!!


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## donnaTKD (Aug 26, 2014)

what we really need is to blow up the nesting gulls   that'll get shut of them for ya 

you want to get rid of the gulls then you gotta get shut of "nesting sites" and stop putting all the "s$%t" into landfill sites which just give em free foodstuffs and then put them all in one place and then fry them using solar technology -- it's green, it's eco friendly and it'll get shut of the vermin in one go 

just sayin


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## Badger1777 (Aug 26, 2014)

Transk53 said:


> Man you need a chill pill.



If the town was deserted, it would be a brisk 5 minute walk from my work to the nearest shop. If the town was full, but of people who actually watch where they are walking, it would probably be about 7 minutes walk to the shop. In reality, if the sun is out, it can take 20 minutes, and that's if you're prepared to spring sections down the centre of main roads.

If it takes 20 minutes to get to the shop, and 20 to get back, then if you're on your lunch break, that's your break pretty much gone just trying to get past the hoards of people that just sort of amble along and then suddenly stop for no apparent reason, or walking 5 abreast down the pavement with no  consideration whatsoever for someone who also wants to use the same pavement but in the opposite direction or at a pace slightly faster than that of a three legged arthritic tortoise. I think given that I take no more than mild amusement from seeing the odd tourist here and there getting harrassed for their chips when I'm losing my lunch break to them, I am already quite chilled.



> I also work in a big City that is Brighton and Hove. Seagulls, if we did not dump so much **** then there would be no issues.



I don't dump any ****.



> Tourists only go for advertisements, you don't want them, don't advertise.



I don't advertise.



> You want Common Gulls, cool!!



I already said, I like seagulls.


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## Transk53 (Aug 27, 2014)

Badger1777 said:


> If the town was deserted, it would be a brisk 5 minute walk from my work to the nearest shop. If the town was full, but of people who actually watch where they are walking, it would probably be about 7 minutes walk to the shop. In reality, if the sun is out, it can take 20 minutes, and that's if you're prepared to spring sections down the centre of main roads.
> 
> If it takes 20 minutes to get to the shop, and 20 to get back, then if you're on your lunch break, that's your break pretty much gone just trying to get past the hoards of people that just sort of amble along and then suddenly stop for no apparent reason, or walking 5 abreast down the pavement with no  consideration whatsoever for someone who also wants to use the same pavement but in the opposite direction or at a pace slightly faster than that of a three legged arthritic tortoise. I think given that I take no more than mild amusement from seeing the odd tourist here and there getting harrassed for their chips when I'm losing my lunch break to them, I am already quite chilled.
> 
> ...



Fair enough. I suppose being next door to a ASDA is being spoiled like I am at work.


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## donnaTKD (Aug 27, 2014)

thed nearest supermarket of any variety is a 30mile round trip LoL   so i go shoppping once a month   other than that there's the local sweet and smokes shop and a butchers  

i can walk down to the fishmongers and get totally fresh fish instead of the pre packaged nonsense that's on the shop shelves 

there was a petition not long back from our community asking whether the butcher could stock seagull as part of his bird meats - still haven't heard the outcome but it'll be a really bad day for gulls if we get our way 

i mean what more do you want ?????


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## Transk53 (Aug 27, 2014)

donnaTKD said:


> thed nearest supermarket of any variety is a 30mile round trip LoL   so i go shoppping once a month   other than that there's the local sweet and smokes shop and a butchers
> 
> i can walk down to the fishmongers and get totally fresh fish instead of the pre packaged nonsense that's on the shop shelves
> 
> ...



As long as they taste like Chicken lol


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## donnaTKD (Aug 27, 2014)

:lfao:


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## Badger1777 (Aug 27, 2014)

donnaTKD said:


> there was a petition not long back from our community asking whether the butcher could stock seagull as part of his bird meats - still haven't heard the outcome but it'll be a really bad day for gulls if we get our way



I hope you do get your way. It always amazes me that on one hand you get people whining about the inhumane way livestock is reared for slaughter, and then all the environmental implications of commercial meat production in terms of land use for animal feed etc, and people banging on about imminent food shortages etc.  Then on the other hand we have people whining about species of wild birds an animals that have become a problem due to their numbers.

The phrase "2 birds with one stone" springs mind (pun sort of half intended). Control the pest species, relieve the strain on food production/environment/conscience.


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