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  1. Re:Depressing stuff on Home Chemistry An Endangered Hobby in U.S. · · Score: 1

    The common name for HCL is muriatic acid. I had a bottle of the stuff in our garage. It ate right into concrete it was so concenrated and caustic. See if you can find it by that name instead.

  2. Re:Hardware for 8-10 drives? on A Look at FreeNAS Server · · Score: 1

    I spent a lot of time getting a FreeNAS setup going. The ultimate "nail in the coffin" was that FreeBSD just never could play nice with my drives and controllers. I received DMA read and write error messages all the time. These would bring the RAID down in short order as two dropped out. That's really not what you want in a NAS.... And FreeNAS has some quirks to software RAID that scare me a little.

    I searched all over the internet for a drive fix but it seemed like the devs blame weak IDE controllers (SATA and PATA) for all these problems. Basically you are SOL on these errors. Somehow I never have these problems with Windows or Linux. It seems like such a core function of an OS to handle disk IO well and FreeBSD isn't getting it done.

    Anyway I was using an ASUS A7n8x deluxe flashed to latest BIOS. Onboard PATA and SATA was flaky. I bought a new SI3114 4 port SATA controller (on board 3112 was supposedly trash). That didn't work either.

    I have since switched to Openfiler which is based on CentOS. I can't get public shares to work because it wants directory service and per user permissioning. I need a stable, but unsecured box to serve up a software RAID. Perhaps if I wasn't a Linux noob I'd know how to fix that. I'm thinking about just manually editing the samba .conf since the GUI doesn't seem to offer public shares.

    ClarkConnect is starting to look good too. It takes a lot of time to test these packages out and so far it has all been a waste.

  3. Re:Taxation is for the birds. on Telecommute Tax Relief Gathers Steam · · Score: 1

    A few comments...

    Federal expenditures are actually much more efficient than you suggest. The major components of our national budget are social security, medicare/medicade, interest on debt and military. The bureacracies that manage these programs are large but because the dollar amounts are so huge that even a bloated administration doesn't take away a large percentage. The majority of the spending either reaches the end "user" such as seniors in the form of checks or salary and jets for the military. Certainly we could administer the programs more efficiently but not enough to reduce spending 20%, let's say. Sadly you just can't reach that friction much below a certain lazy baseline.

    That said, you CAN argue the utility or effectiveness of those expenditures. Perhaps some of the seniors getting checks don't really need the money. Maybe some of the soldiers drawing salary are redundant or unnecessary to our goals. The medical care offered for 95% off to seniors and the poor might create lousy incentives for healthy living.

    The problem with the political machine is that decision making isn't designed to maximize the effectiveness of policies for US citizens (in a utilitarian sense). Instead it is designed to get politicians reelected, which is not the same thing. Getting reelected means playing party politics, getting $s from industry or special interests for publicity campaigns, and pandering to "swing" groups.

    So what to we do to fix this?

    Firstly we need transparency. Politicians are privy to our personal lives and wield power over our rights and possessions. In turn they should live their political lives in a glass house. Every meeting, phone call and conversionation should be recorded and made public. Their GPS coordinates should be logged every five minutes. Where is everyone sleeping at night? Near a golf course in Scotland... hmmm what's going on there!

    If a conversation needs protection for national security, it should be held in escrow for five years and then released. If it turns out that national security wasn't at risk - censur or expulsion. It seems the government has almost all these rights to intrude on our lives, they should reciprocate by sharing this same information about themselves. They work for us, don't they? Don't most employers have surveillance of their employees? I know mine does, including all of my investments. I'm required to carry a mobile device that can also track my location. There is definitely precident.

    Thus ends the secrecy needed for two faced, special intest pandering non-sense and outright bribery from the lobbyists. Anything a politician does and says will be available for public critisism.

    So how do they fund election campaigns? There are only ~550 odd senators and representatives, a pres, VP and 50 governors. Giving each candidate an average of $2 million should be plenty in the age a cheap publishing and internet media. Publicly funding this amount would be cheap compared to the compromised decisions of industry BOUGHT pols. Spending from any other source would be prohibited and networks would be required to carry a few key debates during prime time. They do get OUR spectrum for free.

    We can also fix swing vote pandering with preferential voting. Allow a general election of up to ten qualified, nominated individuals. Voters then rank them one through ten. The winner is the one with the highest MEDIAN ranking, rather than the highest percentage of #1 votes. For the house of represenatives we can eliminate districting by picking the top n candidates from a state-wide election where n = the number of representatives alloted the state. This eliminates so much voting manipulation it's silly. It allows for third parties or mavericks to compete on an even playing field with the powerful incumbants. This means responsive government, not business as usual.

    Once we have politicians working for us instead of industry or special interest, we actually trust them to make good decisio

  4. Re:Simple - Incorporate on Telecommute Tax Relief Gathers Steam · · Score: 1

    Leona Helmsley said that by the way, not Ivana. That statement helped send her to prison for tax evasion.

  5. Re:Cost of fusion fuel on Japan's JT-60 Tokamak Sets New Plasma Record · · Score: 1

    From Wiki:

    Fusion power's long-term sustainability depends on the amount of lithium that is available to be mined (for deuterium-tritium fusion), or the amount of deuterium available in seawater (for deuterium-deuterium fusion). Lithium is a reasonably common component of Earth's crust, being about 10 times as common as thorium (65 ppm). Deuterium (a hydrogen isotope) occurs wherever hydrogen is found (principally in water), at about 150 ppm. As it can be extracted easily from seawater, economically viable reserves of deuterium are for practical purposes unlimited.

  6. Re:so what? on How Long Till Virtual Currency Taxation? · · Score: 1

    The assumption is that you are selling all those items below your original cost. Technically that means you are generating losses, not profits, when you sell your old stuff. Since there is no profit, there is no tax. If your garage sale includes certain qualified collectables like art, stamps, antiques, etc... you might be entitled to a tax deduction.

    The virtual real estate baron on second life DOES declare her rental income in second life. It's more clear there though, because she cashes it out of the virtual currency and into dollars.

  7. Re:Oh my gosh on Sci-Fi Weapons to Join US Arsenal? · · Score: 1

    Density is key, yes, but it's not strength per se that makes it better than lead. DU has this wierd "self sharpening" quality that causes it to focus pressure into a smaller and smaller area as it penetrates armor. Apparently the second choice after DU is tungsten. Tungsten is also much heavier than lead.

  8. Re:Let them die......not in this case on Life or Death for Tivo · · Score: 1

    #2 Is true mostly because set-top boxes can directly store the digital feed. They do not need to capture and they don't do an extra compression cycle. This makes them simpler, cheaper and generally better.

  9. Re:I've said it before and I'll say it again on US Plans Lunar Motel · · Score: 1

    We don't even have the physics for FTL. From a technology perspective we are closer to immortality or hibernation as a means of getting humans to distant planets. We should concentrate on climate stability research, bio-tech and global "tranquility". That will give us the time needed to develop the tech necessary to sponsor self-sustaining colonies.

    Any missions right now will not be self sustaining. They will all rely on supply from Earth. Because of that we should start by make sure earth is safe for the next 100 years or so and use the time to develop the techonolgies needed to fight entropy in different environments. We can't even life self sustained in the ocean, let alone the moon.

  10. Re:All aboard. on CATO Institute Releases Paper Criticizing DMCA · · Score: 1

    I'm a libertarian as well and I could definitely see a lawsuit like this one being consistant with our philosophy. The person received third degree burns even through their clothes causing permanent disfigurement to the "lap" area. Ouch!

  11. Re:All aboard. on CATO Institute Releases Paper Criticizing DMCA · · Score: 1

    Conservatives and Libertarians tend to agree on the money side of things - hands off!

    They disagree on social regulation. Incidently conservative and liberal used to mean how a politician viewed the federal government's power versus the states. Conservative meant a conservative interpretation of the powers granted to the federal government by the Constitution. Like all labels it has changed. It wasn't meant to imply a social/moral outlook.

    If today's "conservatives" seem to want to control money it is from the corruptive power of a decade in control.

  12. Re:One respectfully must disagree on 'No Quick Fix' From Nuclear Power · · Score: 1

    In nature dead plant matter rots next to where it used to grow and returns to the soil. If instead you harvest that plant matter and turn it into ethanol you do not return it to the soil.

    While lots of the plant matter comes for C02 in the air it also contains minerals which it draws from the soil. Unless those minerals are returned the soil becomes depleted.

  13. Re:Wall wart removal on Was Thomas Edison Right about DC Power? · · Score: 1

    Check to see if all the devices run at 12V. If so then you can roll your own UPS by connecting your devices directly to a 12V battery and programmable battery charger. Be sure to get the polarity right and be careful with batteries - they can really crank out the current.

  14. Re:She's a gusher on The Financial Future of Space Travel · · Score: 1

    If you can get to Titan than you shouldn't be too excited about Methane, certainly not as a energy source. Getting to Titan means that you are probably using at least nuclear if not fusion energy production techniques. I guess organics are tough to come by in space so it might be a useful source of C and H.

    Anyway if you want to burnt he methane... you'll need to bring a lot of oxygen anyhow and it will have almost the same mass as the methane.

  15. Re:So what? on Continued Success for Space Elevator Tests · · Score: 1

    The climber's power needs are pure physics unless the efficiency is truely terrible. If no one has thought of it yet: Power = efficiency*Mass*Gravity Coef*d(Height)/dt

    Several technologies already exist to power the climber without wires. They will need some refinement to work well. Lasers and RF are pretty well understood at this point.

    We don't have the cable yet so we can't begin to guess what the best climber will look like.

    Five years to a carbon nanotube ribbon that is tens of thousands of MILES long? Nope... Even if we can make strands that are a few feet in length the weaving and splicing technology will take another five years, then we need to do the initial manufacturing on the ground at some insane rate like a hundred miles a day, then we need to figure out how to put the factory on its own climber to broaden the ribbon iteratively.

    SERIOUSLY we aren't even CLOSE. Most business models I have seen have you concentrating on the key technological break-through, then engineering up the rest. How can we even guess what avenues the cable development process will go?

    This whole mindset revolves around wanting to feel like the elevator is just around the corner. It isn't and wishing it won't make it so. Sorry to pour on the cold water.

  16. Re:So what? on Continued Success for Space Elevator Tests · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The point is that the cable is by far the hardest part. We aren't even close. When we are 75% of the way to producing an adequate cable we can start the other parts. I bet we would still finish those other components before the cable is ready.

    It's just a bit silly really... like building the lunar lander for Apollo but having boosters no larger than a bottle rocket.

    Get closer to the Saturn V THEN build the lander!

  17. Re:Archtypes are stupid.... or at least redundant. on The Whys of MMOG Archetypes · · Score: 1

    Nethack has all those things. Unfortunately it's single player only with graphics that fail to thrill modern gamers.

    It is an interesting model for game companies to look at. I was never into Diablo but I'm told that it used some on the fly content creation.

  18. Re:Efficiency issues. on Harnessing Vertical Sea Temperature Gradient · · Score: 1

    You hit the nail on the head when you brought up Carnot efficiency. Small temperature gradients are not good power sources.... period.

    Why not use a big wind turbine on that same platform? That is proven technology with fewer moving parts. Granted you are going to need 35 of the biggest Vestas to make 100MW but these guys haven't made 100MW yet either.

    This dog don't hunt.

  19. Re:Bumbling Theories ??? on A Unified Theory of Animal Locomotion · · Score: 1

    The bubble bee recycles the vortex generated from each wing beat. That improvement in efficiency is enough to allow flight. I think I rememeber that they have several different wing cycles for different flight regimes. The topic was covered a few years ago in Nova.

  20. Re:perhaps it would be better on Milestones and Trends in Renewable Energy · · Score: 1

    This generally doesn't work well for wind power because the power output is so variable. Most industrial customers need to run their factories at a peak production rate to justify the capital cost of the plant and machinery and give consistent employment to its workers.

    The cost of electricity is typically a relatively small fraction of the overall costs of production though it is probably important to profitability. While the cheap peak power is great, idling the plant during still days is terrible.

    That brings you back on the grid and the power company will know that you won't be buying their cheap wind energy when the wind is blowing and will therefore charge extra.

  21. Re:Turbo Chargers on Milestones and Trends in Renewable Energy · · Score: 1

    BTW I think that MPG figure for the 'vette implies that it is dropping cylinders from the cycle. That makes basically makes it a 4-6 cycle engine for those purposes.

  22. Re:Lightbulb socket on The End Of The Light Bulb? · · Score: 1

    Handsets are RJ-11. The wall socket for a phone is RJ-22.

  23. Re:Most power plants waste heat on Honda Fuel Cell Concept with Home H2 Refueling · · Score: 1

    I referenced Carnot efficiency because it describes the mechanical efficiency limit of heat engines. Note that it doesn't reach 100%.

    The heat energy that cannot be converted to mechanical is transfered to the surrounding environment. It is useful for that "lost" energy to heat your home rather than the outside air.

    The point is that the steam is always as "cold" as they can get it - but that is still plenty hot enough to diffuse through a home as the final "sink".

  24. Re:Most power plants waste heat on Honda Fuel Cell Concept with Home H2 Refueling · · Score: 1

    Google Carnot efficiency. Basically you can't avoid "waste" heat with heat engines so you might as well use it.

  25. Re:Geeks need protection on Gaiman and Whedon Discuss the Rise of the Geek · · Score: 1

    Pedro offers you his protection.