The filters you speak of, outside of limited performance filtering power strips (ACAR) are quite hard to find around here (and likely quite expensive).
One's about $60 at the local home supply store where I'm at.
Transformers are quite well protected from copper thieves. Not easy to get a wrench in there. (usually a small, well-locked building).
Wasn't going to have you do it, I was going to have you have the power company do it.
Where do you live that sticking a bloody multimeter into your outlets would be illegal? Heck, relatively cheap devices like 'kill-a-watt' measure a number of factors. If the power company refuses to address the issue, take it up with their regulatory board. My point would be doing nothing is accepting the situation, and likely costing you money in other ways.
Even then, while it might cost you some additional money, but you can get whole house power filters and conditioners depending on just how bad your problem is. What your potential solution would be varies by the problem. MIni-brownouts wouldn't hurt incandescent bulbs, but might hurt CFLs, but CFLs probably handle overvoltage better than incandescents. Voltage of the improper frequency 'might' hurt the cfl more as well, or if there's too much noise that way. If you're getting spikes, a filter would be a cheap solution. They wire into the circuit breaker box(or fuse box if you're brave), and essentially short any overvoltages to ground, like a massive circuit breaker. They're built heavy duty to last longer. As a bonus, surge suppressors on things like your computer or TV system will also last longer.
Conditioners can fix more problems, even under or over voltage, but cost more. Then again, if you're getting one of these two situations, all it takes to fix is a wrench at the local power transformer.
Better quality of CFL might fix your problems too, but I'm not an expert on what brands/types are really 'better'. I tend to write the install date on all my bulbs, I've made a note to avoid the brand where one failed in a week, but other than that, all of mine are still good, including other other 3 in the pack. Heck, I could probably return that one, I just keep forgetting to.
I wonder if it does actually contain mercury, but it's one of the lower mercury or amalgamation bulbs, they're just boasting the lower amounts in an exaggerated fashion?
From my understanding, it's a technological limitation that REQUIRES some small amount of mercury in any fluorescent light for it to operate, so even the ones made in Hungary should have mercury in them. The mercury is what's excited to emit the light, looking at wikipedia. Thing is, the amount of mercury required can be quite small, it's just that including a larger amount is cheaper than doing the work necessary to make the smallest amounts function correctly.
So, basically, I have to ask for a source on this. I did some searching, found that there are companies producing bulbs with like 12% of the standard amount of mercury, but it's still present.
If they've completely eliminated the mercury, given that it's the mercury that's producing the ultraviolet light to be converted to 'white' light by the phosphors, I'd have to wonder what they're using to replace it - and whether that replacement is actually safer.
If your power isn't clean, shouldn't you address that? It's likely affecting the lifespan of all sorts of other equipment in your home, from your appliances like washing machines to your AC system to things as simple as your vacuum to complex like your TV.
I think fixing some of that was in the 'smart grid' proposals.
There's not actually enough mercury in CFL lamps, or even modern full tubes, to be a big deal in the rare cases they break.
Not saying that you should deliberately break them, but they're not the chemical disaster some organizations make it out to be.
For another, if you get your power from coal, the decrease in electricity generation needed saves more mercury from the air than what's in the bulb.
Personally, I always wonder where people who get the slow warming, flickering, quick dying CFL bulbs from. I'm working on 8 years with mine, and I've had to replace 2 - my bathroom one finally died after like 5 years, and I accidentally broke another.
The only ones with significant warmup times was the one in the bathroom(100w equivalent), which was actually kinda nice at night, and the ones in the garage door opener in my unheated garage. There the light they produced, even in their unwarmed state, was sufficient for the task.
10 months of the year or more have thermostat controlled electric heating.
Thing is, going by the incandescent ban, this points out a way to save a lot more electricity than getting rid of inefficient bulbs - force you to 'upgrade' to a heat pump system. If they're nice, merely subsidize your doing it.
It should drop your electricity costs for heating by about 2/3rds, and could easily save more electricity than switching the lighting around for even a hundred homes.
If you look at the actual legislation, 'special purpose' type bulbs aren't affected by the ban, only standard Edison socket ones. So you'll still be about to get the utility bulbs that not only go in your oven, but your fridge as well.
Not sure what your outdoor light is, but floods should still be available. Cold weather wise my CFLs worked in my unheated ND garage just fine, so it might be a matter of shopping around a bit.
Candelabra bulbs are a type of 'special', thus should still be available. Worst case, you might eventually find buying a new, updated fixture cheaper in the long run.
Well, the DoD still seem to prefer more 'aggressive' techniques, and apparently don't agree with NIST on this (I believe this is what you were referencing):
1. We're paranoid 2. We still have old discs laying around. 10GB? Hah! I've seen 40 MB units, still operational, within the last year. 3. We want to be *SURE*, and the human factor is taken into account - we're willing to overkill on modern drives(and modern is relative), in order to make sure the older ones get wiped properly.
A few years ago now, I predicted 3-5 years for SSDs to start killing the server market - starting with the 10k RPM drives used for high random outs.
I'm not sure if I can call it a failure or not - I also predicted 3-5 before 'major penetration' of SSDs into laptops happened. While most laptops are still using 2.5 inch drives, iPod is pretty much the driver for the smaller drives(1.8") right now. The iPad is run by flash though. Even 'netbooks' mostly have HD's in them.
Maybe this will finally kill the HD in the iPod classic, but looking at the price profiles ($249 for 80GB and $349 for 160), a $100 price difference for 80GB, I'd say that the Intel SSD needs to drop in price by 1/2.
Going by relative advances, I'd have to say another 2-4 years.
SSDs will bypass consumer/bulk data 3.5" drives last, of course. In situations where it's all about the price per GB, performance being a distant second, plain old 3.5" drives are going to dominate for a while.
The putting nails in webbing then covering with gravel to puncture tires made me laugh. Why? Because I'm picturing them trying to use 2" nails to puncture the tires of a bulldozer - either treads or tires with multi-inch layers of rubber.
Why do we flip out that The Anarchist's Cookbook is available to terrorists when the Army is releasing far more useful books to anybody and everybody?
Not sure. I think it's because it's attained a sort of cult legend status.
And arresting somebody for merely possessing it seems to be like asking for a lawsuit.
Personally, I think somebody robbing me with a gun is less likely to shoot than a guy with a knife is going to stab me. Why?
A gun is LOUD. A knife, not so much. In most areas I frequent, a gunshot is going to get a lot of attention, and a robber is most likely going to know that.
Plus, guns are just plain more valuable - if he fires, he has to worry about ballistic evidence, and especially today there's a fairly high probability of not getting enough money to replace it. With a knife? Simply discard after wiping prints(or wear gloves), they're not even $20.
No.. I'd allow them to duplicate the hard drive.. NOTHING MORE. And then validate it with a checksum on the drive (compared to your original).
Feel free to suggest this, however you should be aware that this is court ordered. That means that there is now 'allowing'. You refuse, the judge has the option to do things varying between holding you in contempt or having the police go and confiscate your stuff.
I'd have my lawyer explain how giving them certified copies of the contents of my HD would allow Sony to investigate while not unduly burdening myself by losing access to my own records and information.
Then again, I'd also have my lawyer argue that my HDs contain sensitive information that Sony has no need to see, and ask for any analysis of the HD to be done by an independent bonded authority. Remember, when one company sues another company, they don't automatically gain access to the other company's complete records. Only the ones that pertain to the case. Individuals can get the same discretion, but often have to ask for it.
Do you think criminals operate like actuaries, and produce a risk/benefit analysis for each job they do?
Indvidually, no. As a group? Kind-of. In the sense that the occasional ID thieve looks at his take on a theft and decides 'meh, not worth trying again'.
Easier to go steal the copper out of forclosed homes.
I think it's more than just for lookouts. That can be done with more 'traditional' methods. Personally, Ithink the greatest use would be communicating with an outside party to arrange pickup.
It's a lot easier to escape if you're picked up by some compatriots in a van within seconds after you've turned the corner around a building, while said van stops only long enough to pick you up, than if the van has to loiter, perhaps for hours.
I say van for easier, quicker loading, greater passanger capacity, and the potential for hidden back area giving the escapees time to change out of prison clothing.
Would it even be a technical 'femto cell'? Wouldn't 'most' prisons be large enough to get a full tower? Preferably one for each of the providers, of course.
Heck, with 3 towers and some extra logic, not only can you make sure the phones will connect to YOURS, you can restrict their logging to phones actually ON the prison grounds with a fair degree of accuracy.
I like this idea much more than jamming or trying to create farady cages.
Also, most teleconference equipment is more set up to have the lead(teacher) be the remote party, not one of the students. With the robot he has additional ability to participate.
Personally, I'm surprised that nobody brought up the guy who telecommutes to work via a robot he built himself. I know it's getting old, but it's still a precedent.
And, at least in my case, my purchasing rates have taken a nosedive. Why?
Well, I mostly buy paperbacks. Matter of fact, I normally buy paperbacks when deals come up that make them 20-25% cheaper than list price. Right now, most ebooks I've seen are hovering somewhere between 10% less than paperback list to full hardcover list.
Basically, ebooks would be a good deal if I was only looking at hardcovers or paperbacks selling for full retail. But walk into any bookstore and you'll have a massive selection of dead-tree books that are being sold for serious amounts below retail. Heck, B&N sends out coupons all the time for 20-25% off the book of my choice(not including ebooks).
As such, the paper versions are, on average, cheaper than the ebook versions. Plus, I can at least sell them to recover EVEN MORE of the cost.
Why should I be buying ebooks? Right now I'm back to buying from Baen. Why is it that the right-libertarian leaning publisher seems to be the only one getting it?
Take "Fires of Heaven" by Robert Jordan. Picked because it's fairly popular, but an older book in the series, available in reprint - $7.99 for the ebook from amazon or B&N. How much for the paperback? $7.99 from amazon, $7.83 from B&N. Figure I can get at least a 20% discount between membership and emailed specials - the paperback would end up costing me only $6.26, saving me $1.73 over the ebook.
Sorry guys, it's costing you LOTS of sales. Meanwhile Baen is selling "Worlds of Weber" for $6, an earlier anthology "Worlds of Honor" for $4. They're getting lots of my money.
Not only did the commanders refuse to stop the demonstrators, I was listening on NPR and they commented that the military is protecting the demonstrators as long as they don't get violent.
we put the cargo in boxes on some kind of wheeled support structure that rode on narrow elevated support beams?
Your idea is all well and good, but I see this system still having merit in locations where slopes would be too extreme for your proposal without drastic modification of the beams or landscape.
As for the 'box on wheels' concept, how about we make the carriage seperate from the box, so we can more easily load the boxes into different transport systems - such as ships. At which point, we could transit between steel beam transport, road, ship, and even wire with the relatively simple assistance of a crane.
What would be essentially an underground national subway would be though. I'd generally make it above ground in most areas to save the cost, but do think that a national electric rail grid would be great. While you're at it, make it dual tracked and high speed capable for passanger use.
Moving something by train doesn't need that many steps, especially today with standard intermodal containers.
Many factories have/had rail heads on site, so it's load the container, put the container on the train, ship to destination railyard, where it's then transfered to a truck via crane for final delivery.
As you mention, it can be human reasons for going away from trains.
If the answer is "never, except to clean it", then the standard itself is meaningless.
From my understanding, it is indeed hauled out (very)occasionally - but only to verify the weight of a secondary KG weight. IE this is the master, then you have a few dozen secondaries that are used to verify tertitary weights.
Personally, I think that averaging the two weights is just fine - we are talking about an arbitrary standard here.
Electric motors can be pretty small. Also, moving your entire ropeway doesn't exactly strike me as the most efficient.
If part of the innovation is a method to load and unload cargo or lifts on the fly, it's not actually that bad of a way to do things. Sure, the weight of the cable will add up, but as long as you're not starting/stopping it all the time you're spending that much energy on it. It's in a nice aerodynamic form, after all.
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The filters you speak of, outside of limited performance filtering power strips (ACAR) are quite hard to find around here (and likely quite expensive).
One's about $60 at the local home supply store where I'm at.
Transformers are quite well protected from copper thieves. Not easy to get a wrench in there. (usually a small, well-locked building).
Wasn't going to have you do it, I was going to have you have the power company do it.
Where do you live that sticking a bloody multimeter into your outlets would be illegal? Heck, relatively cheap devices like 'kill-a-watt' measure a number of factors. If the power company refuses to address the issue, take it up with their regulatory board. My point would be doing nothing is accepting the situation, and likely costing you money in other ways.
Even then, while it might cost you some additional money, but you can get whole house power filters and conditioners depending on just how bad your problem is. What your potential solution would be varies by the problem. MIni-brownouts wouldn't hurt incandescent bulbs, but might hurt CFLs, but CFLs probably handle overvoltage better than incandescents. Voltage of the improper frequency 'might' hurt the cfl more as well, or if there's too much noise that way. If you're getting spikes, a filter would be a cheap solution. They wire into the circuit breaker box(or fuse box if you're brave), and essentially short any overvoltages to ground, like a massive circuit breaker. They're built heavy duty to last longer. As a bonus, surge suppressors on things like your computer or TV system will also last longer.
Conditioners can fix more problems, even under or over voltage, but cost more. Then again, if you're getting one of these two situations, all it takes to fix is a wrench at the local power transformer.
Better quality of CFL might fix your problems too, but I'm not an expert on what brands/types are really 'better'. I tend to write the install date on all my bulbs, I've made a note to avoid the brand where one failed in a week, but other than that, all of mine are still good, including other other 3 in the pack. Heck, I could probably return that one, I just keep forgetting to.
I wonder if it does actually contain mercury, but it's one of the lower mercury or amalgamation bulbs, they're just boasting the lower amounts in an exaggerated fashion?
From my understanding, it's a technological limitation that REQUIRES some small amount of mercury in any fluorescent light for it to operate, so even the ones made in Hungary should have mercury in them. The mercury is what's excited to emit the light, looking at wikipedia. Thing is, the amount of mercury required can be quite small, it's just that including a larger amount is cheaper than doing the work necessary to make the smallest amounts function correctly.
So, basically, I have to ask for a source on this. I did some searching, found that there are companies producing bulbs with like 12% of the standard amount of mercury, but it's still present.
If they've completely eliminated the mercury, given that it's the mercury that's producing the ultraviolet light to be converted to 'white' light by the phosphors, I'd have to wonder what they're using to replace it - and whether that replacement is actually safer.
If your power isn't clean, shouldn't you address that? It's likely affecting the lifespan of all sorts of other equipment in your home, from your appliances like washing machines to your AC system to things as simple as your vacuum to complex like your TV.
I think fixing some of that was in the 'smart grid' proposals.
There's not actually enough mercury in CFL lamps, or even modern full tubes, to be a big deal in the rare cases they break.
Not saying that you should deliberately break them, but they're not the chemical disaster some organizations make it out to be.
For another, if you get your power from coal, the decrease in electricity generation needed saves more mercury from the air than what's in the bulb.
Personally, I always wonder where people who get the slow warming, flickering, quick dying CFL bulbs from. I'm working on 8 years with mine, and I've had to replace 2 - my bathroom one finally died after like 5 years, and I accidentally broke another.
The only ones with significant warmup times was the one in the bathroom(100w equivalent), which was actually kinda nice at night, and the ones in the garage door opener in my unheated garage. There the light they produced, even in their unwarmed state, was sufficient for the task.
10 months of the year or more have thermostat controlled electric heating.
Thing is, going by the incandescent ban, this points out a way to save a lot more electricity than getting rid of inefficient bulbs - force you to 'upgrade' to a heat pump system. If they're nice, merely subsidize your doing it.
It should drop your electricity costs for heating by about 2/3rds, and could easily save more electricity than switching the lighting around for even a hundred homes.
If you look at the actual legislation, 'special purpose' type bulbs aren't affected by the ban, only standard Edison socket ones. So you'll still be about to get the utility bulbs that not only go in your oven, but your fridge as well.
Not sure what your outdoor light is, but floods should still be available. Cold weather wise my CFLs worked in my unheated ND garage just fine, so it might be a matter of shopping around a bit.
Candelabra bulbs are a type of 'special', thus should still be available. Worst case, you might eventually find buying a new, updated fixture cheaper in the long run.
Well, the DoD still seem to prefer more 'aggressive' techniques, and apparently don't agree with NIST on this (I believe this is what you were referencing):
1. We're paranoid
2. We still have old discs laying around. 10GB? Hah! I've seen 40 MB units, still operational, within the last year.
3. We want to be *SURE*, and the human factor is taken into account - we're willing to overkill on modern drives(and modern is relative), in order to make sure the older ones get wiped properly.
A few years ago now, I predicted 3-5 years for SSDs to start killing the server market - starting with the 10k RPM drives used for high random outs.
I'm not sure if I can call it a failure or not - I also predicted 3-5 before 'major penetration' of SSDs into laptops happened. While most laptops are still using 2.5 inch drives, iPod is pretty much the driver for the smaller drives(1.8") right now. The iPad is run by flash though. Even 'netbooks' mostly have HD's in them.
Maybe this will finally kill the HD in the iPod classic, but looking at the price profiles ($249 for 80GB and $349 for 160), a $100 price difference for 80GB, I'd say that the Intel SSD needs to drop in price by 1/2.
Going by relative advances, I'd have to say another 2-4 years.
SSDs will bypass consumer/bulk data 3.5" drives last, of course. In situations where it's all about the price per GB, performance being a distant second, plain old 3.5" drives are going to dominate for a while.
The putting nails in webbing then covering with gravel to puncture tires made me laugh. Why? Because I'm picturing them trying to use 2" nails to puncture the tires of a bulldozer - either treads or tires with multi-inch layers of rubber.
Why do we flip out that The Anarchist's Cookbook is available to terrorists when the Army is releasing far more useful books to anybody and everybody?
Not sure. I think it's because it's attained a sort of cult legend status.
And arresting somebody for merely possessing it seems to be like asking for a lawsuit.
It depends, really.
Personally, I think somebody robbing me with a gun is less likely to shoot than a guy with a knife is going to stab me. Why?
A gun is LOUD. A knife, not so much. In most areas I frequent, a gunshot is going to get a lot of attention, and a robber is most likely going to know that.
Plus, guns are just plain more valuable - if he fires, he has to worry about ballistic evidence, and especially today there's a fairly high probability of not getting enough money to replace it. With a knife? Simply discard after wiping prints(or wear gloves), they're not even $20.
No.. I'd allow them to duplicate the hard drive.. NOTHING MORE. And then validate it with a checksum on the drive (compared to your original).
Feel free to suggest this, however you should be aware that this is court ordered. That means that there is now 'allowing'. You refuse, the judge has the option to do things varying between holding you in contempt or having the police go and confiscate your stuff.
I'd have my lawyer explain how giving them certified copies of the contents of my HD would allow Sony to investigate while not unduly burdening myself by losing access to my own records and information.
Then again, I'd also have my lawyer argue that my HDs contain sensitive information that Sony has no need to see, and ask for any analysis of the HD to be done by an independent bonded authority. Remember, when one company sues another company, they don't automatically gain access to the other company's complete records. Only the ones that pertain to the case. Individuals can get the same discretion, but often have to ask for it.
Do you think criminals operate like actuaries, and produce a risk/benefit analysis for each job they do?
Indvidually, no. As a group? Kind-of. In the sense that the occasional ID thieve looks at his take on a theft and decides 'meh, not worth trying again'.
Easier to go steal the copper out of forclosed homes.
I think it's more than just for lookouts. That can be done with more 'traditional' methods. Personally, Ithink the greatest use would be communicating with an outside party to arrange pickup.
It's a lot easier to escape if you're picked up by some compatriots in a van within seconds after you've turned the corner around a building, while said van stops only long enough to pick you up, than if the van has to loiter, perhaps for hours.
I say van for easier, quicker loading, greater passanger capacity, and the potential for hidden back area giving the escapees time to change out of prison clothing.
Would it even be a technical 'femto cell'? Wouldn't 'most' prisons be large enough to get a full tower? Preferably one for each of the providers, of course.
Heck, with 3 towers and some extra logic, not only can you make sure the phones will connect to YOURS, you can restrict their logging to phones actually ON the prison grounds with a fair degree of accuracy.
I like this idea much more than jamming or trying to create farady cages.
As Bernie, various stars/athletes, politicians, etc.. show, increasing pay isn't necessarily going to solve the problem.
Real prison oversight might help. Heck, getting most of the minor offenders OUT of prison might help.
For that matter, fixing the problem of prisoner communication with their families by providing authorized phones at reasonable rates might help.
Also, most teleconference equipment is more set up to have the lead(teacher) be the remote party, not one of the students. With the robot he has additional ability to participate.
Personally, I'm surprised that nobody brought up the guy who telecommutes to work via a robot he built himself. I know it's getting old, but it's still a precedent.
Prices have /already/ been raised in most cases. http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/2010/04/e-book-prices-to-rise-as-amazon-sony-adopt-agency-model.ars [arstechnica.com]
And, at least in my case, my purchasing rates have taken a nosedive. Why?
Well, I mostly buy paperbacks. Matter of fact, I normally buy paperbacks when deals come up that make them 20-25% cheaper than list price. Right now, most ebooks I've seen are hovering somewhere between 10% less than paperback list to full hardcover list.
Basically, ebooks would be a good deal if I was only looking at hardcovers or paperbacks selling for full retail. But walk into any bookstore and you'll have a massive selection of dead-tree books that are being sold for serious amounts below retail. Heck, B&N sends out coupons all the time for 20-25% off the book of my choice(not including ebooks).
As such, the paper versions are, on average, cheaper than the ebook versions. Plus, I can at least sell them to recover EVEN MORE of the cost.
Why should I be buying ebooks? Right now I'm back to buying from Baen. Why is it that the right-libertarian leaning publisher seems to be the only one getting it?
Take "Fires of Heaven" by Robert Jordan. Picked because it's fairly popular, but an older book in the series, available in reprint - $7.99 for the ebook from amazon or B&N. How much for the paperback? $7.99 from amazon, $7.83 from B&N. Figure I can get at least a 20% discount between membership and emailed specials - the paperback would end up costing me only $6.26, saving me $1.73 over the ebook.
Sorry guys, it's costing you LOTS of sales. Meanwhile Baen is selling "Worlds of Weber" for $6, an earlier anthology "Worlds of Honor" for $4. They're getting lots of my money.
Not only did the commanders refuse to stop the demonstrators, I was listening on NPR and they commented that the military is protecting the demonstrators as long as they don't get violent.
we put the cargo in boxes on some kind of wheeled support structure that rode on narrow elevated support beams?
Your idea is all well and good, but I see this system still having merit in locations where slopes would be too extreme for your proposal without drastic modification of the beams or landscape.
As for the 'box on wheels' concept, how about we make the carriage seperate from the box, so we can more easily load the boxes into different transport systems - such as ships. At which point, we could transit between steel beam transport, road, ship, and even wire with the relatively simple assistance of a crane.
What would be essentially an underground national subway would be though. I'd generally make it above ground in most areas to save the cost, but do think that a national electric rail grid would be great. While you're at it, make it dual tracked and high speed capable for passanger use.
Moving something by train doesn't need that many steps, especially today with standard intermodal containers.
Many factories have/had rail heads on site, so it's load the container, put the container on the train, ship to destination railyard, where it's then transfered to a truck via crane for final delivery.
As you mention, it can be human reasons for going away from trains.
If the answer is "never, except to clean it", then the standard itself is meaningless.
From my understanding, it is indeed hauled out (very)occasionally - but only to verify the weight of a secondary KG weight. IE this is the master, then you have a few dozen secondaries that are used to verify tertitary weights.
Personally, I think that averaging the two weights is just fine - we are talking about an arbitrary standard here.
Electric motors can be pretty small. Also, moving your entire ropeway doesn't exactly strike me as the most efficient.
If part of the innovation is a method to load and unload cargo or lifts on the fly, it's not actually that bad of a way to do things. Sure, the weight of the cable will add up, but as long as you're not starting/stopping it all the time you're spending that much energy on it. It's in a nice aerodynamic form, after all.