My house is on a peak/off-peak schedule, with the peak rate being based on highest demand during the peak hours, which are at specific hours of the day, with a set summer and a set winter (rest of the year) schedule. We have a demand control computer that limits the peak demand during on-peak hours. It monitors the rate of consumption, and it has direct control of the water heater, and X-10 control of the heating and air-conditioning to limit the peak amount used, but only during on-peak periods. We do our own time-based control of the rest of the appliances, like we don't do laundry or run the dishwasher during peak hours, etc. It doesn't require smart appliances.
http://www.sensaphone.com/ makes a number of devices that do that, though most use a phone line. We use them at work to monitor the server rooms for temperature, power, and water (They sell add-on water and other sensors). You can also listen to the room noises through the SensaPhone. We connect them to regular analog phone lines (not connected through the company phone system), so even if the phone system goes down, the devices can contact us. The devices we have are AC powered, and are backed up by D-cell batteries.
If you do a web search for SensaPhone, you'll also find lots of places that sell the SensaPhones and other similar devices.
I have, sitting on the desk in front of me right now (because I went and got it out of my tool drawer), a Quali-Kraft Sliding Adjustable Wrench I bought more than 20 years ago. In fact, I just identified one for sale on eBay at this moment by doing a title and description search for Quali-Kraft (eBay Item # 200033640390). You can see the slide in the third photo.
I agree that the stands are very expensive at $250. That's probably because corporations are willing to pay that for them, and because the monitors that attached to them used to be very expensive. Once multi-monior stands become more mainstream for home use, there will be $50 multi-monitor stands. Maybe now that LCDs are hitting the $200 range, and since multi displays are becoming more mainstream, the stands will become more mainstream, and a lot more affordable.
Lots of people are getting rid of 15" and 17" CRT's, so many are free for the asking, and since many video cards already have dual outputs, and since used PCI video cards are pretty cheap or even free for those who don't already have dual outputs, you often don't have to spend any money to go to dual (or more) displays.
In any case, good new 19" LCD monitors are going for $250 these days, which isn't exactly expensive. I paid $230 for my new Dell Ultrasharp 1905FP a number of weeks ago, and have no dead pixels or other problems with it.
As a programmer/network administrator, I wouldn't want to work with less than 2 monitors, and even when I'm not working, having the extra desktop space is handy.
And with good 19" LCD's running $250 these days (I paid $230 for my new Dell Ultrasharp 1905FP - see it on my web site), if you spend another $250 on the vertical stand, you have a nice dual display for around $750. And most video cards these days already have dual video outputs, though one is often analog VGA, and LCD is best with DVI.
You might also consider putting both monitors next to each other in portrait mode, so they will take up less horizontal space, and you can use the included stands, so that would be $500 for a nice dual 19" setup.
I will agree with others that this particular slashvertisement is considerably overpriced.
...and the FIRST-sponsored Vex Robotics Challenge won't actually begin until next year.
The first FIRST Vex Robotics Challenge took place this year in Atlanta. Out FIRST team (team 116) also had a VEX team (team 18), and our VEX team was in the winning alliance (composed of 3 teams) this year. (Our FIRST team placed in the middle of the pack.)
The Vex playing field was right next to our FIRST team's playing field (we were in the Archimedes division).
Heidi and I took over 2,000 pictures at the Atlanta Robotics competitions this year. We'll pick out the good photos, and add them to our FIRST Robotics photo gallery on my web site soon.
It's an upgrade from Netscape 4.x, which my parents had been using for web and mail on their Win98 system until I recently upgraded them to Mozilla (a relatively painless upgrade).
I switched them to Netscape sometime last millennium, and recently took their computer to my house to use my high speed connection (They still have Dial-up that can't connect faster than 26.6k) to get all the latest patches and software updates installed.
I've been trying for years to get them to go broadband, and since they also have a decent XP laptop, I would like to get them setup with WiFi.
Recently, some virus infected computers, somewhere in the world, started sending out virus e-mail messages using [random-address]@mydomain.com, so I was receiving lots of bounces and virus notifications, so I disabled my catch-all.
I agree totally, and people shouldn't be running their Windows boxes on the Internet without at least a NAT router in front of them even if they are patched.
The patch CD's are good for people with slow connections, but they have to be updated often, and you need a fast connection, or a lot of time to gather the files for the CD in the first place.
I've gotten some good deals thanks to BensBargains: I usually check there first. If I want more in-depth information about the same deals, I go to the FatWallet forums, but there is so much info (or you might call it noise) there, that I find Ben's a better place to start. Unfortunately, there are also lots of immature posters to ignore at Ben's.
And if a car is completely self-parking, everyone could have curb-side service, and the car could go park itself, and it could show up at the curb when you are ready to go.
>A central traffic grid would be hard to setup but once created could be very efficient at selecting routes to destinations.
Imagine the add revenue they could generate by selling "drive by's", or for selling destination priorities (kind of like search result placement) to businesses, even for selecting which stores a particular car gets parked near in a parking lot. They could even sell priority parking "rights" to the "drivers" once everything is controlled by computer.
Yes, I read that part, but what tech has time to sit and watch the e-mail server all day, or what company can afford to pay someone to sit and watch the e-mail server all day? Most techs (that I know) are extremely busy at work.
Shortly after I started my current IT job (1.5 years ago), my manager told us all that they were implementing a no cell phone policy. I was quite angered by that, for similar reasons to yours, but didn't say anything, and just set my cell phone to vibrate, and kept it in my pocket.
It turned out that it was the ringing of cell phones that was the issue (since we take lots of customer calls, and they hear all the cell phones ringing in the background), and not the actual cell phones, so what I did turned out to be the correct solution.
Now (1.5 years later), everyone, including my manager has a cell phone, and I am probably the only one who still uses vibrate-only mode. Go figure.
Put in a tiny camera and have a portrait image with eyes that follow the viewer. That would be pretty creepy. Or add some speakers, and and have it "jump out and scream" at the viewer when they get close, like those trick images on the web.
Could this image in the trailer be a subliminal message? And if so, what is its purpose?
Re:Fdisk /mbr and other documented historical even
on
Real's Reality
·
· Score: 1
I don't remember FORMAT/MBR. I used to use FDISK/MBR a lot, especially to recover users workstations from certain viruses, though I don't think I've used it in the past 5 years.
Yes, it would still be 60 Hz, even though you chop off half of the sine wave, but it would be dark for half of the 60.hz cycle, since an LED only lights in one direction (unless you have bi-directional LED's, which contain two LED chips in one package, wired in opposite directions). As you said, a bridge rectifier would keep the sine wave voltage "humps" going in one direction, and would prevent the LED's from being dark for half of the cycle.
The only thing I disagree with is that LED's do not turn off more slowly than they turn on (at least not that a human would notice). LED's are solid-state devices, and turn on and off virtually instantaneously.
Slashdot Mirror
My house is on a peak/off-peak schedule, with the peak rate being based on highest demand during the peak hours, which are at specific hours of the day, with a set summer and a set winter (rest of the year) schedule. We have a demand control computer that limits the peak demand during on-peak hours. It monitors the rate of consumption, and it has direct control of the water heater, and X-10 control of the heating and air-conditioning to limit the peak amount used, but only during on-peak periods. We do our own time-based control of the rest of the appliances, like we don't do laundry or run the dishwasher during peak hours, etc. It doesn't require smart appliances.
http://www.sensaphone.com/ makes a number of devices that do that, though most use a phone line. We use them at work to monitor the server rooms for temperature, power, and water (They sell add-on water and other sensors). You can also listen to the room noises through the SensaPhone. We connect them to regular analog phone lines (not connected through the company phone system), so even if the phone system goes down, the devices can contact us. The devices we have are AC powered, and are backed up by D-cell batteries.
If you do a web search for SensaPhone, you'll also find lots of places that sell the SensaPhones and other similar devices.
PS: Here's a link to the sliding adjustable wrench on eBay that is like the one I have: http://search.ebay.com/200033640390
I have, sitting on the desk in front of me right now (because I went and got it out of my tool drawer), a Quali-Kraft Sliding Adjustable Wrench I bought more than 20 years ago. In fact, I just identified one for sale on eBay at this moment by doing a title and description search for Quali-Kraft (eBay Item # 200033640390). You can see the slide in the third photo.
I agree that the stands are very expensive at $250. That's probably because corporations are willing to pay that for them, and because the monitors that attached to them used to be very expensive. Once multi-monior stands become more mainstream for home use, there will be $50 multi-monitor stands. Maybe now that LCDs are hitting the $200 range, and since multi displays are becoming more mainstream, the stands will become more mainstream, and a lot more affordable.
Lots of people are getting rid of 15" and 17" CRT's, so many are free for the asking, and since many video cards already have dual outputs, and since used PCI video cards are pretty cheap or even free for those who don't already have dual outputs, you often don't have to spend any money to go to dual (or more) displays.
In any case, good new 19" LCD monitors are going for $250 these days, which isn't exactly expensive. I paid $230 for my new Dell Ultrasharp 1905FP a number of weeks ago, and have no dead pixels or other problems with it.
As a programmer/network administrator, I wouldn't want to work with less than 2 monitors, and even when I'm not working, having the extra desktop space is handy.
http://www.lcdarms.com/lcd_monitor_arms.php#pole
And with good 19" LCD's running $250 these days (I paid $230 for my new Dell Ultrasharp 1905FP - see it on my web site), if you spend another $250 on the vertical stand, you have a nice dual display for around $750. And most video cards these days already have dual video outputs, though one is often analog VGA, and LCD is best with DVI.
You might also consider putting both monitors next to each other in portrait mode, so they will take up less horizontal space, and you can use the included stands, so that would be $500 for a nice dual 19" setup.
I will agree with others that this particular slashvertisement is considerably overpriced.
The first FIRST Vex Robotics Challenge took place this year in Atlanta. Out FIRST team (team 116) also had a VEX team (team 18), and our VEX team was in the winning alliance (composed of 3 teams) this year. (Our FIRST team placed in the middle of the pack.)
The Vex playing field was right next to our FIRST team's playing field (we were in the Archimedes division).
Heidi and I took over 2,000 pictures at the Atlanta Robotics competitions this year. We'll pick out the good photos, and add them to our FIRST Robotics photo gallery on my web site soon.
It's an upgrade from Netscape 4.x, which my parents had been using for web and mail on their Win98 system until I recently upgraded them to Mozilla (a relatively painless upgrade).
I switched them to Netscape sometime last millennium, and recently took their computer to my house to use my high speed connection (They still have Dial-up that can't connect faster than 26.6k) to get all the latest patches and software updates installed.
I've been trying for years to get them to go broadband, and since they also have a decent XP laptop, I would like to get them setup with WiFi.
Recently, some virus infected computers, somewhere in the world, started sending out virus e-mail messages using [random-address]@mydomain.com, so I was receiving lots of bounces and virus notifications, so I disabled my catch-all.
I agree totally, and people shouldn't be running their Windows boxes on the Internet without at least a NAT router in front of them even if they are patched.
The patch CD's are good for people with slow connections, but they have to be updated often, and you need a fast connection, or a lot of time to gather the files for the CD in the first place.
I've gotten some good deals thanks to BensBargains: I usually check there first. If I want more in-depth information about the same deals, I go to the FatWallet forums, but there is so much info (or you might call it noise) there, that I find Ben's a better place to start. Unfortunately, there are also lots of immature posters to ignore at Ben's.
And if a car is completely self-parking, everyone could have curb-side service, and the car could go park itself, and it could show up at the curb when you are ready to go.
>A central traffic grid would be hard to setup but once created could be very efficient at selecting routes to destinations.
Imagine the add revenue they could generate by selling "drive by's", or for selling destination priorities (kind of like search result placement) to businesses, even for selecting which stores a particular car gets parked near in a parking lot. They could even sell priority parking "rights" to the "drivers" once everything is controlled by computer.
Perhaps.
Your reply doesn't seem to relate to what I posted, or perhaps you misread my post and the earlier posts in the thread.
Yes, I read that part, but what tech has time to sit and watch the e-mail server all day, or what company can afford to pay someone to sit and watch the e-mail server all day? Most techs (that I know) are extremely busy at work.
Excuse me, but if e-mail is down, how is the tech supposed to receive the e-mail that e-mail is down?
Shortly after I started my current IT job (1.5 years ago), my manager told us all that they were implementing a no cell phone policy. I was quite angered by that, for similar reasons to yours, but didn't say anything, and just set my cell phone to vibrate, and kept it in my pocket.
It turned out that it was the ringing of cell phones that was the issue (since we take lots of customer calls, and they hear all the cell phones ringing in the background), and not the actual cell phones, so what I did turned out to be the correct solution.
Now (1.5 years later), everyone, including my manager has a cell phone, and I am probably the only one who still uses vibrate-only mode. Go figure.
Put in a tiny camera and have a portrait image with eyes that follow the viewer. That would be pretty creepy. Or add some speakers, and and have it "jump out and scream" at the viewer when they get close, like those trick images on the web.
Could this image in the trailer be a subliminal message? And if so, what is its purpose?
I don't remember FORMAT /MBR. I used to use FDISK /MBR a lot, especially to recover users workstations from certain viruses, though I don't think I've used it in the past 5 years.
I used to do that too. I found a few other undocumented parameters that way. I think FDISK /STATUS was one of them, to view your partition info.
I've had that page bookmarked for a couple years now. Too bad they haven't updated it recently.
I have some items from the 70's and 80's on my web site, including scientific calculator watches, walkie-talkies, and food!
Yes, it would still be 60 Hz, even though you chop off half of the sine wave, but it would be dark for half of the 60.hz cycle, since an LED only lights in one direction (unless you have bi-directional LED's, which contain two LED chips in one package, wired in opposite directions). As you said, a bridge rectifier would keep the sine wave voltage "humps" going in one direction, and would prevent the LED's from being dark for half of the cycle.
The only thing I disagree with is that LED's do not turn off more slowly than they turn on (at least not that a human would notice). LED's are solid-state devices, and turn on and off virtually instantaneously.