The Electoral College Map One Week Out: Clinton Victory Likely But Not Assured

A couple of weeks ago, it was impossible to find a pundit or poll maven who saw a Trump victory as a possibility. I made the audacious claim at the time that this was incorrect, and I’ve been taking heat from it since then. Much of this widespread misunderstanding is ironically caused by the good…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2016/10/31/the-electoral-college-map-one-week-out-clinton-victory-likely-but-not-assured/

Tracking Polls Show Clinton Disaster Looms, But Electoral College Holds

The relationship between the popular vote, roughly reflected in national polls, and the Electoral College vote, is where the rubber meets the road. When you look at states that are very solid for each candidate, neither candidate has a lock on the race, but Clinton has way more electoral votes, currently. These numbers hover around…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2016/10/30/tracking-polls-show-clinton-disaster-looms-but-electoral-college-holds/

Secretary Clinton’s Likely First Violation of Her Oath of Office

When Secretary Clinton is elected President, barring more shenanigans on the part of Republicans like James Comey, she will take an oath of office, promising to protect and defend the Constituent of the United States of America. Then, within a few days, she’ll violate that oath by appointing one or more Republicans to important positions…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2016/10/30/secretary-clintons-likely-first-violation-of-her-oath-of-office/

Will 2016 see a landslide in the POTUS election?

No. Many many people, well intended, smart people, keep talking about the rout, the landslide, that will happen. They may be basing this on the new trend started by FiveThirtyEight and picked up by the New York Times and others of deriving a probability statement about the race. But when you see something like “87%”…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2016/10/29/will-2016-see-a-landslide-in-the-potus-election/

James Comey’s Last Day at the FBI: November 9th

You all know what James Comey did. He sent a letter to Congress that will undoubtedly serve to change the vote distribution among the leasing candidates for president enough to possibly change the outcome of the United States election of the President of the United States. Such an act is treasonous, and had a private…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2016/10/29/james-comeys-last-day-at-the-fbi-november-9th/

The Presidential Race Tightens Even As Many Assume It Is Over

A Trump-Kaine presidency is now on the table. It ain’t over ’till the lady in the pantsuits wins. Or looses. Imagine Debbie Downer and Chicken Little have an offspring. It would be me. Or at least, that’s how I’ve felt over the last few weeks as the only person in the Free World who seems…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2016/10/29/the-presidential-race-tightens-even-as-many-assume-it-is-over/

Trump Supporter Charged With Vote Fraud, Grammar Infraction

How can you tell what a megalomaniac is really up to? You find out what the megalomaniac is accusing everyone else of. That’s what they are up to. While the just barely brighter than dim press and pundits are focusing on Trump’s call for his followers to carry out voter suppression in African American and…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2016/10/29/trump-supporter-charged-with-vote-fraud-grammar-infraction/

Learn Scratch Programming (For Kids And Adults)

Scratch Programming Playground: Learn to Program by Making Cool Games is a brand new offering from No Starch Press. Never mind all the other programming books for kids, this is the best so far. It helps that the Scratch Programming environment is so easy to use and allows such creative development, and it also helps…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2016/10/28/learn-scratch-programming-for-kids-and-adults/

Electoral College Prediction: Trump 241 vs. Clinton 297

I’ve got a new set of electoral college predictions. I’m using the same method as before, but with these differences: a) I had to use less than ideal polls (c rating, a few that overlapped with days prior to POTUS debate III) on the last run, this time no such polls are used; and b)…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2016/10/27/electoral-college-prediction-trump-241-vs-clinton-297/

Clinton Vs. Trump: Latest Electoral Prediction

It is fun to look at polls, and using such data, decide which candidate will win which state, and ultimately, which candidate will win the electoral college. A lot of people and organizations do that, and for this reason, I don’t. I do not have access to polls that no one else sees. Were I…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2016/10/26/clinton-vs-trump-latest-electoral-prediction/

What printer should you get?

I had a good printer experience, and I thought I should pass it on to you. Printers are, of course, the spawn of Satan. Especially the ink jet kind. For a long time, I had a cheap black and white laser, which worked OK for non color stuff, and an inkjet all in one, which…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2016/10/25/what-printer-should-you-get/

A Phabulous Phablet from Lenovo

Lenovo makes two Phablets that are similar, the 4G and the 4G plus. The latter is not bigger (in fact, it is a little smaller) but rather, has higher specs all around, making it a fairly expensive device. But the Lenovo PHAB 4G Phablet (regular) is practically free and is actually rather Phabulous. OK, well,…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2016/10/25/a-phabulous-phablet-from-lenovo/

Are you a poll watcher or election judge? Watch out for this!

This is a fascinating story involving Crazy Eddie, Donald Trump, and this year’s election. Here’s what I want to know. Do Democrats across the country have a plan in place to collect usable data (usable in court) to document violation of the consent degree by the Republicans, should they do so? Also, I’d like to…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2016/10/25/are-you-a-poll-watcher-or-election-judge-watch-out-for-this/

Will the Democrats take the Senate?

At the moment, this is a nail biter. There is a theory that a strong showing by one party at the top of the ticket brings along those lower down. However, that theory does not apply this year for several reasons. I think it works better for Republicans than for Democrats, for many the top…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2016/10/24/will-the-democrats-take-the-senate/

Aging in men: An evolutionary perspective

Many years ago, Mel Konner, Marjorie shostak, and Boyd Eaton wrote “The Paleolithic Prescription: A program of diet and exercise and a design for living.” (It is hard to find these days. To find it and related titles on Amazon, look for this book first, and track the PP down via the author name Konner.)…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2016/10/24/aging-in-men-an-evolutionary-perspective/

An Evangelical’s Guide to Climate Change

My friend Paul Douglas calls himself an albino unicorn. He is a Republican (one of my few Republican friends!) and an evangelical Christian (one of my few evangelical Christian friends!) who is extremely well informed about climate change, and who acts on a day to day basis as a climate warrior, informing people of the…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2016/10/23/an-evangelicals-guide-to-climate-change/

The Day After: Trump’s Blackmail Threat Is Bogus

I’ve been thinking about Trump’s attempt to blackmail the voters. He intimates that he might not accept the election results unless he wins. The word goes around that his followers will go to the streets and carry out acts of violence if Trump does not win. It is a bully tactic by a bully’s bully.…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2016/10/22/the-day-after-trumps-blackmail-threat-is-bogus/

The real meaning of Trump’s Al Smith fiasco

A presidential election season involves a series of debates. After the last debate, a day or a few days after, the main candidates attend and speak at a charity dinner run by the Archdiocese of New York, to raise money for Catholic Charities. It is the last event at which the candidates will appear together,…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2016/10/21/the-real-meaning-of-trumps-al-smith-fiasco/

Who killed Osama: Trump or Clinton?

What really happened the night Osama Bin Laden was killed by Hillary Clinton and her SEAL Team? Or, was it like this? Check out this maximally LOL item at Slate for all the details.

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2016/10/20/who-killed-osama-trump-or-clinton/

Who lost the third presidential debate?

America. Democracy. Decency. Thoughtfulness. Everybody and every thing, it feels like. Everyone is upset this morning about Trump’s comment that he will wait and see about the results before he accepts them. His comments are deplorable and astonishing, but I think they are also a distraction. If he ignores the results, it may be a…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2016/10/20/who-lost-the-third-presidential-debate/

How have events shaped the Clinton-Trump race?

It is unfortunate that “all the pundits” are now saying that Clinton will now win no matter what, and that Trump will likely suffer more scandal before the end of the process. This is unfortunate because a weak get out the vote effort is probably worth a couple of points on election day. It is…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2016/10/19/how-have-events-shaped-the-clinton-trump-race/

How do insects walk on water?

A new study illuminates this shadowy question. First, the video: And now, a press note from the American Chemical Society: Water striders’ ability to walk and jump on the surfaces of ponds and lakes has long amazed curious observers — and inspired robot designers who want to mimic the bugs’ talent. Now, scientists have measured…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2016/10/19/how-do-insects-walk-on-water/

Enough Is Enough

Steve Schmidt, bless his pointy Republican head, makes a very important point here. And to underscore the point, let me ask you this: How do we go from having an “election” to having a “president elect”? The process is actually a bit subtle and somewhat more complicated than one might think. Election day happens, but…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2016/10/18/enough-is-enough/

A Tablet PC For $170

I have another tablet review for you. (See the bottom of the post for some followup on my last review.) This is a “tablet PC” meaning a tablet that runs a full on PC operating system, as opposed to a tablet-oriented operating system. The Jumper EZpad 5SE Tablet PC is a pretty high performance tablet…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2016/10/18/a-tablet-pc-for-170/

Dear Republican, time to make the change, because this is now you.

My current model (subject to change) puts Arizona in the Clinton Column. This is the prediction that has resulted in the most head scratching from those observing this, but it turns out that the Clinton Campaign seems to agree. Clinton surrogates, including Chelsea, Michele Obama, and Bernie Sanders will be in the state over the…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2016/10/18/dear-republican-time-to-make-the-change-because-this-is-now-you/

The Process of Replacing Metal Halide with the LED Equivalent

In the world of commercial and industrial lighting, metal halide seems to be one of the more popular lighting technologies that are found in facilities and buildings. Although this technology is old and slowly people are moving over to more efficient technologies like LED, for those who haven’t yet are faced with a difficult task; discovering what it takes and how they go about making the switch from metal halide over to a LED equivalent.

A proper lighting design for any facility or building is crucial for optimal savings, best light for the given environment, and overall a good lighting design. Making the switch to metal halide to LED can seem technical, confusing, and even scary; but this post should get you on the right path.

We are going to cover each thing you should consider about making the switch, and exactly why LED is the technology of the future and thus; the technology your building should be switching to over the others.

Replace on lumens, not watts. A common misconception about upgrading a lighting system is that they need to replace their existing fixtures based on wattage alone. Instead, this is totally something you should avoid at all costs because it will result in three things:

1. Paying more than you need to because you are buying more light than you need

2. Over lit building / areas (which is not good at ALL)

3. Paying extra in energy costs associated

As you can tell, when you buy solely based on watts, you end losing a lot more than you gain. Instead, you need to buy your fixtures based on lumens, not watts!

The higher the lumen output per watt you get equals the higher efficiency it runs at. Would you rather have a light that needs 100 watts to output 5,000 lumens (50 lumens / watt) or 33.3 watts to output that same 5,000 lumens (150 lumens / watts)? The answer is obvious, and LED is the more efficient technology that allows for more lumen per watt output. This is especially true when you go with a DLC qualified metal halide LED replacement. DesignLights Consortium is an organization that tests commercial lighting products based on their individual efficiency and quality and only those that pass are qualified by them, no exceptions.

This whole concept of buying on lumens rather than watts is basically the entire thing you need to know about replacing metal halide with LEDs. Without this, you will be “going in blindly” and not getting the proper illumination. Because again, watts are not everything in lighting, lumens are.

Not convinced that LED is a winner over metal halide? Here are some more benefits other than just higher efficiency that LED will bring to your facility when you replace metal halide lighting fixtures with it.

Longer lifespan. A replacement of metal halide with LED will allow you to realize the benefit of a much longer lifespan that LED technology offers. At a lifespan of 2-3 times longer than MH lights, you will be able to reduce maintenance costs associated with changing out burnt out lights. Along with that cost saving benefit, you get to reduce your purchases of new luminaires to replace the ones that burn out.

No flickering, ever. If you’ve ever ran into the issue of flickering lights with your metal halides, then a switch over to a proper LED equivalent will get rid of this issue, and the issue of buzzing, entirely. Even when an LED fixture nears the end of its lifespan, it will never flicker or buzz.

Conclusion

Although this post hasn’t gone step by step how to replace, it’s covered the general process of replacing metal halide with LED. The main points you need to know have been defined, such as buying by lumens, and never by watts alone. This fact by itself should allow you to get the most optimal LED lighting system installed in place of your metal halides (or any other technology like HPS).

source http://my-led-lighting-guide.blogspot.com/2016/10/the-process-of-replacing-metal-halide.html

The Current Trump-Clinton Electoral Prediction

There are some interesting, and in some cases, potentially disturbing, things going on with the state by state numbers in the current election. Most of this has to do with third party candidates, and most of it with Gary Johnson. First, I’ll note, that despite fears among liberals and progressives that a lot of Bernie…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2016/10/16/the-current-trump-clinton-electoral-prediction/

The Outdoor Science Lab for Kids

The Outdoor Science Lab for Kids: 52 Family-Friendly Experiments for the Yard, Garden, Playground, and Park is a good guide to home science experiments for kids, usually with adult involvement, ranging across a fairly wide range of age but mainly, I’d say, middle school for unsupervised work, or pretty much any age if supervised. All…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2016/10/15/the-outdoor-science-lab-for-kids/

Fundy Christians: Shut the Fuck Up

… until you have cleaned house and stopped embarrassing yourselves. And by clean house, I mean, take are of this deeply offensive bullshit your people are now spewing out. You have turned a very bad situation into something ten times worse. As background, this comes from a meeting of national level evangelical leaders who got…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2016/10/14/fundy-christians-shut-the-fuck-up/

Basic Standards of Human Decency vs. Donald Trump

First, Michele Obama’s full speech earlier today: You know two news outlets have produced confirming evidence of actual sexual assault by Donald Trump. So, naturally, Trump intends to sue. But, this from Media Matters: Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s threats to The New York Times for reporting allegations that he committed sexual assault are legally…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2016/10/13/basic-standards-of-human-decency-vs-donald-trump/

The Collapse Of Arctic Sea Ice

Andy Lee Robinson started the recent trend of making compelling graphics about climate change that move. He did a version of the Arctic Ice Death Spiral (a term coined by Joe Romm), which was highly acclaimed but that did not go as viral as it should have at the time. Then, a version with additive…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2016/10/13/the-collapse-of-arctic-sea-ice/

Trump Groped

Or so it is alleged. Rather credibly. Trump talked about sexual assault in 2005, that was recorded on tape, those tapes released Friday. Trump denied that he actually ever sexually assaulted/groped anyone during the Sunday debate, just a couple of days later. Meanwhile many Republicans running for Congress distanced themselves from Trump and condemned him.…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2016/10/13/trump-groped/

Hurricane Nicole Heading For Bermuda

Hurricane Nicole became a named storm right around the time that Matthew emerged, and seemed to spend several days observing from the deep Atlantic. Now, The story has cycled through various levels of strength, but is now a major hurricane, a Category 3. Nicole will probably directly affect Bermuda tomorrow. Bermuda gets a lot of…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2016/10/12/hurricane-nicole-heading-for-bermuda/

On The Google Pixel

First, for the record, I want one. But, since my current smart phone is a Nexus 6, I don’t need one yet. I’m fine for a while. Google essentially invented Android, and the Nexus phones were pretty close to being Google phones, but they were not. They were simply very well designed and powerful smart…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2016/10/12/on-the-google-pixel/

Royal Society Puts Matt Ridley And His Friends On Notice

The Royal Society is the world’s oldest extant scientific society. And, it is a place where scientific controversy has a home. Both Huxley and Wilberforce were members back in the 19th century, when young Darwin’s ideas were first being knocked around. More recently, just a few weeks ago, the Royal Society accidentally agreed to host…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2016/10/12/royal-society-puts-matt-ridley-and-his-friends-on-notice/

Great White Sharks in Captivity

There aren’t any. But, aquaria have many times tried to make it so, and it always goes bad for the shark. The basic problem is that great white sharks are pelagic, and it is very hard to keep pelagic creatures in a confined space, and the largest aquaria are very confined from the point of…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2016/10/12/great-white-sharks-in-captivity/

The Electoral Map: Clinton Vs. Trump

Above is my latest electoral college projection. This uses the technique previously described. However, instead of using RCP averages for all polled states and then using extreme (non-tossup) states to develop the regression model, this method uses only polling from states with one or more recent poll, and only with good polls. these poll numbers…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2016/10/11/the-electoral-map-clinton-vs-trump/

A way to match paint without cutting a chunk out of your wall?

… or furniture, or whatever. I really needed one of these a few months ago. And I feel the need coming again soon as I do things to the walls of our new house, now and then. The Color Muse is not a new technology or a new idea. It is a very expensive technology…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2016/10/11/a-way-to-match-paint-without-cutting-a-chunk-out-of-your-wall/

Is Trump Yet Another Russian Oligarch?

There has been a lot of talk about Trump and Russia and Putin. I think most people watching this see some sort of connections. Some go so far as to say that Trump is literally a Russian agent. Here is an interesting perspective from intelligence expert Malcolm Nance, author of The Plot to Hack America:…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2016/10/11/is-trump-yet-another-russian-oligarch/

Who will win the presidential race?

I’ve made my first stab at a prediction for the electoral college outcome for the US Presidential race, 2016. I use a roughly similar methodology as I did to accurately predict most of the Democratic primaries. However, since primaries are different from a general, the methodology had to be adapted. For the primaries, I eventually…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2016/10/10/who-will-win-the-presidential-race/

Who Won The Presidential Debate Weekend?

You can’t say who really won the debate, because on Friday, news broke, confirming other news from the prior Monday (and general suspicians) indicating that Donald Trump is not fit to be President in Yet Another Way, and his campaign essentially imploded. So, instead, we’ll ask, “who won the weekend?” As you know, I’m the…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2016/10/10/who-won-the-presidential-debate-weekend/

Mike Mann, The #HockeyStickGraph, #Matthew, #AGW

It turns out that there is an untold story behind the “discovery” of the famous Hockey Stick graph by Mike Mann and his colleagues. It is an excellent example of how science works, worthy of repeating, say, in a science classroom. Anthropogenic Climate Change is very serious business. And, therefore, there has been far too…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2016/10/10/mike-mann-the-hockeystickgraph-matthew-agw/

The Big Winner in the Second POTUS Debate: Climate Change!

Climate change is a settled issue. It is now widely and recognized as real, and as one of the top, if not THE top, existential problems the world faces today. Americans want climate change stopped, and they want the next version of the US Government, the one that starts in January, 2017, to work hard…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2016/10/10/the-big-winner-in-the-second-potus-debate-climate-change/

The Republican Path To Victory in 2016 is Assured

I have no idea why so many smart people are saying that anything that happened over the last few days changes this election, or destroys the Republican Party. Pay attention, people. that is not what is happening. The Republican Party has become the party that harbors racism, sexism, misogyny, xenophobia, hate, politically expedient willful ignorance…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2016/10/09/the-republican-path-to-victory-in-2016-is-assured/

You NEED a LED Prison Lighting System: Here is Why

We all know that prisons and correctional facilities prove to be highly stressful and even that much more dangerous environment for anyone; from visitors, to staff, to the inmates themselves. While lighting won’t solve all of your issues in your facility, it will surely solve some major and minor issues that will lead to cost savings and higher security of everyone in, on, and around the facility.

But why do we NEED LED technology in our prison systems? It’s not a question of do we need, but why we need. As an overlooker of a prison facility, you know that reducing costs, maintaining budgets, all while keeping things safe and secure can prove to be far beyond difficult.

When it comes to your lighting system, the only way you can go is with LED. There is no question about it. But enough about telling you that you need it, we are now going to discuss exactly the reasoning behind this logic, and hopefully will bring light to the situation, along with light to your facility.

Here is the first major reason you should install an LED correctional lighting system as soon as it allows:

Reduce energy usage caused by your lights. In a big facility like a prison, you can imagine the number of lights that it requires to light both inside and out of the entire area. This can make it be one of the most energy intensive things in your facility, and imagine if you could reduce this energy cost just for your lighting alone by 2-3 times.

LED technology is proven to be, on average, 2 to 3 and sometimes even 4 times more efficient than competing technologies like metal halide. Imagine being able to reduce costs associated with running your light fixtures by 2-4 times! This can prove to increase your prisons bottom line, remain within budgets, and realize a return on your investment with LED lighting.

LED products last longer. They last 2-3 times longer than metal halide and HPS luminaires do. This also allows you to reduce costs by less frequent purchasing of new bulbs to replace burnt out ones. Prison lighting in today's world burns out far too fast for an environment like a correctional facility. With LED, you will be able to realize a much longer lifespan by 2 to 3 times longer.

On top of that benefit you also have a huge security and cost benefit: less maintenance. Think about it; what do you typically do when it’s time to replace burnt out lights? You need to secure your facility, ensure people aren’t out where maintenance is, and so on. By reducing the amount of maintenance your lighting fixtures need, you will allow for less chance for things to go wrong. On top of this, since you will be changing out lights less often you will be able to reduce your maintenance costs by not having to pay someone to change the lights as often. Both of these benefits alone prove to be a major reasons why prisons especially make the switch, along with the cost savings LED fixtures will bring to your locked down facility.

No buzzing, no flickering. Unlike HID technologies like metal halide or HPS which are susceptible to buzzing and flickering during their life; LED will never flicker or buzz even at the end of their lifespan. As you probably know, these annoyances can increase stress, especially when you are around them 24/7. On top of all of the other stresses in such environment, any little way to help reduce it can prove to provide indirect benefits; such as less violence and “bad” activity in your compound. Also, since these noises are a major annoyance; they can prove to decrease focus which is especially bad for staff members that need to be alert at all times. Because as well all can figure, anything can go wrong at any time.

Conclusion

From reduced costs to less stress and higher focus; LED technology can and will solve many issues your facility may be facing. Whether you noticed all of things before or not, you now know what you need to work on, fix, and improve to create an overall safer and more efficient correctional facility.

Working on your prisons lighting design and upgrading it with LED will ensure all of these benefits are brought to your facility. Don’t be the one left out with old technology, upgrade and realize all of these benefits that LED products will bring to your facility.

source http://my-led-lighting-guide.blogspot.com/2016/10/you-need-led-prison-lighting-system.html

Bad Lighting Will Destroy Outdoor Security Efforts: Go With Quality

To any security operation for a building, piece of property / area, or a mix of both; we know that lighting can make or break security efforts. And when it comes down to it, we all know that having bad lighting can cost you big time if you get unlucky and slack in the lighting your facility or building has in and around it.

Specifically we are going to be talking about outdoor lighting in this post, and how outside security efforts can be compromised simply by bad lighting. If you are a head of the security team or a facility manager / building owner with security in place and know of this to be an issue to your building and it’s integrity, read onward. This post is going to bring light to why low quality lighting is bad in many areas, and what you can do to make it “good” again.

Why “Bad” Lighting Can Destroy Your Security Efforts:

It’s probably obvious on why bad lighting can literally compromise your security at your location. But to clarify, having bad lighting that is under lit or flickers can cause serious issues when it comes to identifying people through cameras or even face to face (depending on the severity). Not only will low quality outdoor lights lessen the chance of identified someone, it will lessen the chance of someone being seen at all in the first place. Flickering lights can affect the visibility because movement will be less noticed due to the lighting movement and flickers. By having steady light that does not flicker, your team will better be able to identify movement, if there is any.

What Qualifies “Good” Outdoor Security Lighting?

In short, quality security lighting is defined by being able to properly illuminate an area and not flicker or buzz; which will lessen your team's ability to notice movement through cameras or in person. The way we suggest to overcome these two issues alone is by switching to a good outdoor LED security lighting system that will allow you to illuminate at proper levels, cut out flickering lights, and on top of all that; reduce operating costs associated with your lighting fixtures.

Let’s cover what exactly outdoor LEDs made for security purposes can do for your building and property a little more in-depth:

Proper illumination. Often times when we first install a new light source, such as metal halide or Halogen, the illumination is adequate and proper. But over time, lumen depreciation kicks in and the light slowly becomes less and less. This causes underlit areas and proves to effect security efforts, especially outside. By switching your security lights to LED from metal halide or similar technologies, you will realize much slower and overall less lumen depreciation on your fixtures.

What is lumen depreciation? To clarify, it is the process of your fixture losing its overall light output. It does this at a much greater pace and overall more with metal halide and Halogen fixtures, while with LED it is much slower and overall less. It’s unavoidable with any lighting fixture, but with LED you won’t have under lit areas nearly as much as other lighting technologies.

No flickering. We’ve talked about how flickering can affect your ability to detect movement, and since LEDs will never flicker or buzz; you will never face this issue. Even near the end of a LEDs lifespan, you will never see flickers or annoying buzzing noises that far too often happen with Halogen and Metal Halide lights.

Lower energy used. LEDs will lower your energy consumption associated with your outside fixtures by 50% or more, depending on which products you go with and from whom. This will allow you to reduce costs at your facility and be able to make a return on your investment when making the choice to switch to LED over other outdated technologies. This is often one of the main reasons companies are making the switch to LED over others, but in the case of security at a building; it’s simply just an additional benefit to the security benefits that proper LED fixtures will bring to your building.

Conclusion

Don’t overlook your lighting in your security efforts. Protecting assets and employees is highly important, and overlooking the light in and outside of your facility can prove to lead to complications down the line. Security isn’t all about CCTV’s, alarms, and security teams, it’s about all of the little details that are often overlooked too. Don’t overlook this one, it could cost you!

source http://my-led-lighting-guide.blogspot.com/2016/10/bad-lighting-will-destroy-outdoor.html

Cthulhu Calling: A New Take On An Old Horror

National Novel Writing Month Project NaNoWriMo is an international project involving thousands of writers, or would be writers, who commit to writing an entire novel within the month of November. (I hear that you can finish a work already started, but you have to produce 50K words during the month for the novel to count).…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2016/10/08/cthulhu-calling-a-new-take-on-an-old-horror/

The Likely Outcome Of The Latest Trump Revelations

You know the problem. Not just the release of the “I’d grab her …” tape, but starting before that. Here, watch: A roughly written Facebook comment by me, reacting to much of the reaction I’m seeing: To everyone who is saying that Trump is out of the race because of his admitted preference for sexual…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2016/10/08/the-likely-outcome-of-the-latest-trump-revelations/

#Matthew, #Tweeted

A collection of tweets showing things #Matthew related Las inundaciones a causa de #Matthew…Video of flooding from 11th Ave S, Jacksonville Beach. Vía: @wjxt4 pic.twitter.com/J5AAzMPXiM — Webcams de México (@webcamsdemexico) October 7, 2016 Video of huge tree getting ripped out of the ground from #HurricaneMatthew in #Jacksonville FL.#Matthew #Hurricane pic.twitter.com/r6Wwd2aRS9 — DeeconX (@DeeconX) October 7,…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2016/10/07/matthew-tweeted/

Getting #Matthew Wrong

This morning I was forced to do the “get off my lawn” thing with the kids at the bus stop. They were systematically destroying the pavement around the common mailbox area down the street from my house, throwing chunks in the street. I lined them up and read them the riot act. They are children,…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2016/10/07/getting-matthew-wrong/

Creepy Clown Open Thread

I refer you to the book Bad Clowns, by Benjamin Radford. I remember my first bad clown. I was at a Home Bureau event with my mother, and I was probably not in kindergarten yet. Home Bureau was part of the “Ladies Auxiliary” arm of the war effort during WW II, that remained as an…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2016/10/06/creepy-clown-open-thread/

Florida and Georgia: Hurricane Matthew Is Aiming At You Now

Hurricane Matthew has been one of the most interesting hurricanes to ever form in the Atlantic. This storm has exhibited a number of features that are either rare or never before observed. There are two things you need to know about this storm. Hurricane Matthew Is Global Warming Enhanced. Hurricane Matthew is so bad —…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2016/10/06/florida-and-georgia-hurricane-matthew-is-aiming-at-you-now/

Tropical Storm Nicole

The 14th named storm has just appeared in the Atlantic. The average number of named storms in the Atlantic, based on a fairly long climatology, is about 10.1. An average of 5.9 become hurricanes. So, this year are more than average named storms. But is it more than predicted? On average, the expert forecasts suggested…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2016/10/04/tropical-storm-nicole/

Replacing Metal Halide With LED: Possible?

The majority of commercial fixtures, especially in warehouses and outdoor lights, consist of inefficient and lower quality metal halide lighting technology. The majority of building owners and / or facility managers are making the switch for multiple reasons, but the most common one being the energy reduction that LED brings along with it.

Before talking about if it’s possible and / or how to replace metal halide (or MH for short) lights with LED, let’s talk about the major benefits that LED will bring you over metal halide.

Up to 75% energy reduction. A conversion to LED luminares over metal halide can bring you a savings of up to 75% in energy costs related to your lighting fixtures. While it does depend on which LED products you buy and from whom as well as which fixtures you currently have now will depend on how much you actually save after the conversion. Any business that makes this switch will be able to collect a positive ROI fairly quickly and realize some amazing savings after a ROI has been reached. This will allow for your overall bottom line to increase tremendously, especially if your facility has a lot of lighting fixtures installed. Another factor to remember is this; the more you use your lights (e.g 6 hr vs 12 hours a day), the quicker and greater ROI you will realize. Taking that fact into account will help you better estimate the upside you have by making the switch.

Rebates will come. As long as you buy DesignLights Consortium qualified lighting products, typically only available to LED technology because they are efficient, you will be eligible for rebates through your utility company. This is great because it will offset your lighting investment costs associated with your lighting upgrade, making it even more worthwhile to upgrade to LED away from metal halide fixtures. Just remember, only buy lighting products that have been and are confirmed to be qualified by the DLC.

Longer life. The life of an LED vs a metal halide light can be 2 all the way up to 4 times longer. This will allow you to not buying replacements as often, which will actually prove to be a cost reduction. On top of this, the maintenance costs will decrease substantially due to the less frequent maintenance that LED lights require.

From higher efficiency, to rebates, to longer life and lower maintenance costs; LED is the surefire winner over metal halide by a long shot. But the bigger question is, can you switch to LED from metal halide? If so, is it easy and how can you do it as inexpensively as possible?

Basically, the answer is a big yes. You can convert from metal halide to LED actually easier than you may of thought. So there is such thing as a LED replacement for metal halide lights, and that can be either in the form of a retrofit kit or a full fixture replacement.

By retrofitting your existing fixtures instead of a full replacement, you don’t need to get rid of the external fixture shell but rather only the light source itself. This also allows for a cheaper conversion because retrofit kits tend to be cheaper than an entirely new fixture replacement.

The difference between an entirely new fixture vs a retrofit is simple: a retrofit is simply a replacement of a light source. While on the contrary, an entire fixture replacement consists of not only switching out the light source, but also switching out the entire fixture and shell that the light is held in. This option is typically chosen over retrofitting when an entire fixture replacement is deemed necessary. This can be because of old fixtures that are falling apart or simply don’t match with the environment that they are in and look “off.”

In Review

To answer the topics question in short, you can replace metal halide technology; and in a variety of ways at that.

By making the switch to LED, you open yourself to all of the benefits that have been listed here. From energy savings to rebates that will allow you to realize a greater and quicker return on investment. The switch is highly practical, and becoming more affordable for companies to make a switch that makes sense.

source http://my-led-lighting-guide.blogspot.com/2016/10/replacing-metal-halide-with-led-possible.html