Elon Musk’s announcement that Tesla will develop and sell solar energy storage for the home brings to my attention something that I did not know I needed.
A big honking battery in the house.
Musk said, “The obvious problem with solar power is the sun doesn’t shine at night. The issue with existing batteries is that they suck. They’re expensive, large, and unsightly. The 51-by-33.8-by-7-inch Powerwall, on the other hand, looks like a beautiful sculpture.”
There’s another thing that has not been a high priority when going over the family budget.
Buying a big honking sculpture for the house.
But now that I know I could get art AND reliable solar energy all night long from the same purchase, I’m re-thinking the possibilities.
And since these are all carrying loads of electricity, the sculptures could be outfitted with lights! The imagination reels with possibilities.
What famous sculpture would you install in your home?
Trail Baboon 
Devils Tower. Even now I’m working on it in the living room. You just never know about how alien abduction works and believe in being prepared.
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The gold Mask of Agammemnon discovered by Schlieman.
Smallish, could hang on the wall away from delinquent cats, and is both attractive and epic.
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I hate to dwell on the obvious, but a statue that is also a battery would need a plug to connect with the wiring in the house. The statue of Michelangelo’s David lacks . . . well, it lacks the plug-in part.
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It’s not the size of the dongle, it’s how the operating system gets uploaded.
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underground wiring replaces the grid. or just run a plug from the base to the house
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Good morning. I like sculpture. I don’t know a lot about it. Could I choose a Calder mobile? It probably wouldn’t work as a place to hold a battery. If it is large enough, and placed where it would blow in the wind, it might generate some wind power.
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i thought about calder. i love calder and have always wondered why there is nothing like it available for common folk. it shoudnt be tough. and the variations are endless. good choice.
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I like the Calder idea too. It could have a battery in a metal sculpture base with a rod coming off the base to hold the solar-panel mobile.
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i would go with henri moore. specific favorites exist but i think id take about anything he ever did. giocometti is wonderful, lipchitz is a fave and my favorite work by picasso may be his sculpture,.
http://tinyurl.com/pdfbema
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ive thought about both these topics batteries for the masses
the wind farms in north dakota and montana lack appeal becaiuse by the time the plug into the grid and get to humanity the there is 50%+ loss of energy dute to bad grid wiring efficiency
i thought about plugging in batteries at the base of the windmills and harvesting the juiced up batteries to be plugged into adapted vehicles like semi trucks and or passanger vehicles. a pain in the butt but compared to pumping refining and dsitributing oil how can anything be considered too much work. the battery is the key. i had fork lift batteries envisioned.
have evon musk give a holler. ill buy coffee. aw heck let him byuy coffee
and sculpture. as mentioned above. no on e address the beautifacation of the outdoor space to the masses with bigger than lawn gnome stuff. i have a buddy i have talked to about it . in my spare time id love to work on that one or more likely co work .
hey that gives me an idea
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Ideas are never in short supply with you, tim, but I’ll admit the concept of “spare time” in connection with you boggles my mind.
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Folks here are up in arms about a proposed wind farm that would basically surround two small towns 10-15 miles east of here. The noise and the constant flickering shadows are big concerns of the residents.
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yeah it would screw up the quiet peaceful enviorment you all have built your lives around.
i think north dakota ought to just be proclaimed a petrie dish for hte rest of the world. all you tenders of the goodies can have a cookie for your hard work. if you done like it well put it to a vote. youll lose . theres only 500,000 of you total. youre the size of a suburb. we can buy a corner of canada and stick you ion the nodak reservation
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For a brief time, my erstwife thought of herself as a collector of statues. She bought two before deciding she couldn’t afford to be a collector of them. The first one she bought is a special favorite of mine, although I have only seen it in photos.
“Beatrice” is a full-sized woman made of coiled metal, like coiled springs. And Beatrice is a woman who has–shall we say–not missed many meals. It might be more diplomatic to call her “Rubenesque.” Beatrice is a very jiggly, lively presence. As people walk about the flat my former wife owns, the slightest vibrations or disturbed air cause Beatrice to shake and wobble like a living thing.
That dynamic, chubby woman would be my choice of a statue wired for power.
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Rodin’s of Balzac is my current favorite piece of three-dimensional art, which was my gravatar on here until I changed my email address. I should get a gravatar up.
Daniel Chester French’s Lincoln is in another universe from most sculptures. It is monumental art, not a statue, if I may say as a compliment.
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i miss balzac
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Testing to see if my doily has been replaced.
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OT – I’m looking for books for a two year old girl. Any suggestions? Feel free to email me if you don’t want to share it on the trail.
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The classics are impossible to beat. My daughter’s first book was Pat the Bunny. Another favorite from about that time is Goodnight Moon. I just bought a book that is a great nighttime reading book (better for a three- or four-year old kid) is A Visitor for Bear, by Bonny Becker.
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Goodnight Gorilla, any of the Carl the rottweiler books; also try looking at the Chinaberry Books website. It has book recommendations by age.
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Children’s Librarian says
Jan Brett books
Books by Theodore LeSieg, which is Geisel backwards. Early reader books by Dr. Seuss.
Joseph Had a Little Overcoat by Simms Tabeck
Old Lady who Swallowed a Fly by Simms Tabeck.
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Eric Carle books like the Very Lonely Firefly
Out of Duluth Old Turtle by Douglas Wood and the amazing artist Cheg-Khee Chee
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A last one from me: out of Grand Marais this time North Country Spring. The illustrator Liz Siverston is my exstudent. Sweet Sweet Liz.
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I love her work, Clyde.
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OT–playing with artisan bread. Been making light whole wheat bread, the dough of which matures much faster. Today I used a baguette baking pan with 8-day-old dough. Very sourdoughy. Wonderful bite with smooth texture.
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Sometimes we see people selling statues in the parking lots around town. Some are of large elk or bison or rearing-up bears. I don’t think the neighbors would appreciate any of those in our yard. My brother-in- law, the ear now and throat specialist in Portland, OR bought a very large and expensive bronze statue of a sea nymph that is somehow important to the city of Portland. It stands in his foyer (he has a big house that used to belong to one of the Pendleton Mill people). Now, what are his family supposed to do with that when he dies?
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Ear, NOSE, and throat! Sheesh!
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take over the master bedroom
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i have the hula girl in my house which is a favorite by mara adamintz scrupe steel ceramic and wood circa 1980’s its been with me a while.
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