Actually, in some states you can be refunded the majority of the cost of putting in solar panels on your home. IIRC, in Illinois you can get back something like 60-80% of the cost of the installation from the gov't and/or Com-Ed. I had to deal a little with this last year (I work at a power utility), it doesn't seem like such a bad idea when you get back $7000 for spending $10000 on 'alternitive' energy sources.
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Hands on approach, eh? This has been around for years at Purdue in the Technology department. Having been in the program for 2 years now, I would recommend it for anyone that wants a hands on approach in addition to the math side. We use Laplace transforms, Forier, diff. eq., and systems just like everyone else. But for most of the classes we also spend 3 hours a week in lab (per class) building what we learned (for example, a class H and class D amplifies, AM transmitter, H-bridge motor controllers, programing micro-controllers, etc.) I know people in EE that wouldn't know where to begin in practical circuit design. But thats because they havn't (and most likely won't) be taught it. And that is exactly the problem with most engineering programs these days.
Every once in awhile I will pay my phone bill for more than the amount due and wind up the next month with a bill for a couple of cents. They actually spend the 37 cents or whatever it is now to send me a bill for 2 cents. That's 35 cents that they are not getting back not to mention processing fees and whatnot. The overhead on something like that would kill you if you tried to send out a small bill to a lot of people (even if it is over the internet). I just can't see this system working right now unless the amount due is enough to cover the overhead and make a small profit.
Junkyard Wars is one of my favorite shows on TV, however it seems to me that they intentionally do not show the real engineering (calculations, technical and theoretical principals, etc.) without first lowering it to a third grade level. Is this due to the show having a wide range of age groups and technical backgrounds? I have always felt that there is a demand for showing what really goes into the planning and design of these projects. What is your opinion on this? Could we see a more geek oriented JYW type show in the future?
Not only does this format require a new drive to play, but the average joe consumer won't be able to hear the difference anyway. Right now I have a stereo and speakers that can't even take full advantage of a regular CD, let alone new "improved" formats. I'm willing to bet that most people don't have that kind of system. Unless you have an audiophile quality setup already there is absolutly no reason to upgrade other than to throw your money away.
Too bad Francium has a half life that is something on the order of a few milliseconds. Cesium on the other hand could explode if it was exposed to humid air. Sounds like Darwin at work to me.
I think that to an extent that you are also missing the point. It all boils down to this; If I go out and buy my entire collection of music on this new medium and get rid of my normal CDs, how in the hell am I able to use them in the same way as I used my old CDs? It's like saying that if I bought CD's to replace cassetts, the quality of the music on the CD is too good to reduce down to a lossy MP3 file. I have to agree with trying to reduce the number of music pirates out there but not at the cost of our free use and at the costs of my rights as a consumer. I for one will not go out and buy any Sony audio equipment and will avoid their music label at all costs.
I would think that the reactions would be based more off of observed behavior and experience than a "hard wired" instinct. It would be interesting to do the test on young children who have the motor skills but do not have the experience level of the adult participants.
Although it is good to see another country join the space community, this does have some serious side effects for us. This is how the cold war started between the US and the USSR. If they can launch something into orbit then they have ICBM capability. Maybe there is more behind Pres. Bush's missle defence program than we thought. At the risk of sounding paranoid, what does he know that we don't? Anyway... maybe now China can significantly contribute to the ISS in the ways of launch vehicles and re-supply missions.
Ok. We have three 100W (watt) lightbulbs, and a drain of 4500W durring a two hour run. This means that the lightbulbs used 600W of power durring that time leaving 3900W used by the machine its self. There was a ten minute "startup" time using four 12Volt car batteries. A decent car battery has a capacity of 50Ah (amp hours, which is "is the amount of energy charge in a battery that will allow one ampere of current to flow for one hour"). So unless I calculated wrong, the "free energy" machine was able to take in about 3600W per battery (assuming the battery fully discharged, provided all of its rated charge, maintained a voltage of 12V and ignoring any internal resistance in the battery. And yes I know this is kinda a bogus number). A more likely/realistic output would have been about 1500W per battery. Multiply that by four batteries and you have "!gasp!" 6000W. Subtract the 4500W the machine consumed and you are left with plenty of energy. I'm not entirely sure about my calculation method here so prove me wrong. If the machine ran for a longer period say, a few days, and without the startup batteries, I might be impressed.
Nevermind, I'm an idiot. The fact thats region free just means they can't legally put the DVD logo on the machine 'cause it dont meet the "DVD standard". I seem to remember a slashdot article on this before somewhere but cant find it.
So who is going to sue Microsoft for DMCA infringement? I could do the same thing on my PC but some people out there seem to think that's illegal. Anyway, its a nice feature but its still not going to get me to buy a MS product (IMHO).
As a customer I'm a bit concerned. I havn't heard a word from my ISP (Insight@Home) about a possible shutdown. I don't know if this is a good or a bad thing. If it goes down arn't they obligated to arrange a new service or are they just going to bail and run? Anyway, as a poor college student I dont have the cash or the time to be screwing around with a new service and put up some bucks for a DSL modem (the stupid cable modem cost me an arm and a leg). So far the service has been great (minus the crap software they want you to install) I'd really hate to loose it.
If anyone looks at the line of MIPS processors in SGI machines, the processors are arranged by model number instead of speed. Of course this led to a bit of confusion on which performed better when i was first learning about the machines. For example the R4600 processor came before the R4400 but wasnt as strong of a processor. The R4600 normally came in at 133MHz while the R4400 was clocked at 150, 200, and 250 Mhz. To somebody who didnt know this it could be quite confusing. AMD needs to avoid this pitfall. But that is only part of the battle. Consumers NEED to be educated on what a benchmark is and why MHz isnt important anymore. If consumers are exposed to the basic performance tests and see which processor truely performes better, they can make an informed decision.
Slashdot Mirror
Actually, in some states you can be refunded the majority of the cost of putting in solar panels on your home. IIRC, in Illinois you can get back something like 60-80% of the cost of the installation from the gov't and/or Com-Ed. I had to deal a little with this last year (I work at a power utility), it doesn't seem like such a bad idea when you get back $7000 for spending $10000 on 'alternitive' energy sources. -
You forgot: I use Vice-Grips for the knob, you insensitive clod!
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Hands on approach, eh? This has been around for years at Purdue in the Technology department. Having been in the program for 2 years now, I would recommend it for anyone that wants a hands on approach in addition to the math side. We use Laplace transforms, Forier, diff. eq., and systems just like everyone else. But for most of the classes we also spend 3 hours a week in lab (per class) building what we learned (for example, a class H and class D amplifies, AM transmitter, H-bridge motor controllers, programing micro-controllers, etc.) I know people in EE that wouldn't know where to begin in practical circuit design. But thats because they havn't (and most likely won't) be taught it. And that is exactly the problem with most engineering programs these days.
Every once in awhile I will pay my phone bill for more than the amount due and wind up the next month with a bill for a couple of cents. They actually spend the 37 cents or whatever it is now to send me a bill for 2 cents. That's 35 cents that they are not getting back not to mention processing fees and whatnot. The overhead on something like that would kill you if you tried to send out a small bill to a lot of people (even if it is over the internet). I just can't see this system working right now unless the amount due is enough to cover the overhead and make a small profit.
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I think that will replace the monsters in my nightmares.
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Junkyard Wars is one of my favorite shows on TV, however it seems to me that they intentionally do not show the real engineering (calculations, technical and theoretical principals, etc.) without first lowering it to a third grade level. Is this due to the show having a wide range of age groups and technical backgrounds? I have always felt that there is a demand for showing what really goes into the planning and design of these projects. What is your opinion on this? Could we see a more geek oriented JYW type show in the future?
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Not only does this format require a new drive to play, but the average joe consumer won't be able to hear the difference anyway. Right now I have a stereo and speakers that can't even take full advantage of a regular CD, let alone new "improved" formats. I'm willing to bet that most people don't have that kind of system. Unless you have an audiophile quality setup already there is absolutly no reason to upgrade other than to throw your money away.
Too bad Francium has a half life that is something on the order of a few milliseconds. Cesium on the other hand could explode if it was exposed to humid air. Sounds like Darwin at work to me.
I think that to an extent that you are also missing the point. It all boils down to this; If I go out and buy my entire collection of music on this new medium and get rid of my normal CDs, how in the hell am I able to use them in the same way as I used my old CDs? It's like saying that if I bought CD's to replace cassetts, the quality of the music on the CD is too good to reduce down to a lossy MP3 file. I have to agree with trying to reduce the number of music pirates out there but not at the cost of our free use and at the costs of my rights as a consumer. I for one will not go out and buy any Sony audio equipment and will avoid their music label at all costs.
I would think that the reactions would be based more off of observed behavior and experience than a "hard wired" instinct. It would be interesting to do the test on young children who have the motor skills but do not have the experience level of the adult participants.
Although it is good to see another country join the space community, this does have some serious side effects for us. This is how the cold war started between the US and the USSR. If they can launch something into orbit then they have ICBM capability. Maybe there is more behind Pres. Bush's missle defence program than we thought. At the risk of sounding paranoid, what does he know that we don't? Anyway... maybe now China can significantly contribute to the ISS in the ways of launch vehicles and re-supply missions.
Ok. We have three 100W (watt) lightbulbs, and a drain of 4500W durring a two hour run. This means that the lightbulbs used 600W of power durring that time leaving 3900W used by the machine its self. There was a ten minute "startup" time using four 12Volt car batteries. A decent car battery has a capacity of 50Ah (amp hours, which is "is the amount of energy charge in a battery that will allow one ampere of current to flow for one hour"). So unless I calculated wrong, the "free energy" machine was able to take in about 3600W per battery (assuming the battery fully discharged, provided all of its rated charge, maintained a voltage of 12V and ignoring any internal resistance in the battery. And yes I know this is kinda a bogus number). A more likely/realistic output would have been about 1500W per battery. Multiply that by four batteries and you have "!gasp!" 6000W. Subtract the 4500W the machine consumed and you are left with plenty of energy. I'm not entirely sure about my calculation method here so prove me wrong. If the machine ran for a longer period say, a few days, and without the startup batteries, I might be impressed.
Nevermind, I'm an idiot. The fact thats region free just means they can't legally put the DVD logo on the machine 'cause it dont meet the "DVD standard". I seem to remember a slashdot article on this before somewhere but cant find it.
So who is going to sue Microsoft for DMCA infringement? I could do the same thing on my PC but some people out there seem to think that's illegal. Anyway, its a nice feature but its still not going to get me to buy a MS product (IMHO).
As a customer I'm a bit concerned. I havn't heard a word from my ISP (Insight@Home) about a possible shutdown. I don't know if this is a good or a bad thing. If it goes down arn't they obligated to arrange a new service or are they just going to bail and run? Anyway, as a poor college student I dont have the cash or the time to be screwing around with a new service and put up some bucks for a DSL modem (the stupid cable modem cost me an arm and a leg). So far the service has been great (minus the crap software they want you to install) I'd really hate to loose it.
If anyone looks at the line of MIPS processors in SGI machines, the processors are arranged by model number instead of speed. Of course this led to a bit of confusion on which performed better when i was first learning about the machines. For example the R4600 processor came before the R4400 but wasnt as strong of a processor. The R4600 normally came in at 133MHz while the R4400 was clocked at 150, 200, and 250 Mhz. To somebody who didnt know this it could be quite confusing. AMD needs to avoid this pitfall. But that is only part of the battle. Consumers NEED to be educated on what a benchmark is and why MHz isnt important anymore. If consumers are exposed to the basic performance tests and see which processor truely performes better, they can make an informed decision.