It's funny how manufacturers are shooting for a $199 price point -- what many paid in the early 80's.
I think your recollections of the past are being colored by the present, or something...
First off, while there were home computers in the early 1980's which cost under $200.00 (VIC-20 and Timex Sinclair being really the only two in the USA), they rarely came with storage devices or a monitor. If you were lucky, you had a spare TV to hook them up to and an old cassette player. Most people had to fork out for the cassette player, and if you could get a disk drive, watch out! One cost as much or more than the computer you were buying it for, and floppies were $20.00 or more per pack of 10...
Furthermore, $200.00 was a lot of money back then - probably more comparable to $500.00 today (heck, IIRC, gasoline was still under a dollar a gallon).
Most cheaper home computers of the time which were better (as in cpu, memory, and upgradability) than the aforementioned two systems, such as a C=64 or TRS-80 Color Computer, cost between $200.00 to $400.00 - for about $500.00 total, you could get the computer and a floppy drive together. Printers cost a whole heck of a lot, and modems weren't cheap either...
Still, what you have to remember is that these home computers, in the mid-1980s, while cheap - were more than just "low-end" - they were "last generation" 8-bit machines, running at 1-2 MHz. For business (well, the businesses that could afford them), 16-bit machines running between 4-10 MHz, with 512K to 1MB RAM were where it was at (interestingly, the TRS-80 Color Computer 3 debuted at this stage too - with a 68B09E hybrid 8/16 bit processor - it was mainly 8 bit on the outside, but internally had some 16 bit features and instructions - and it came with 128K of memory - a true home computer stepping stone between 8 and 16 bit generations). These machines, however, cost between $1500-$3000.00 - 1985 dollars, that is. Most came with floppy drives, some came with hard drives (5-20 MB - woohoo!) as an accessory, monitors were still extra (an extra you HAD to buy - no plugging into the TV for you!).
The early to mid-1980's was a transition time, from 8-bit to 16 bit machines - where you had in the home market many funky 8 bit machines, some hybrids, and one or two true 16 bit home computers (that cost a fortune, like an Amiga 500 or a Mac). It was a time of 8086, 8088, 80186 (the few that were made), and 80286 machines (for the wealthy and businesses).
I would say that we are in such a transition phase right now - moving from 32 bit to 64 bit (also, moving from single to multiple core CPUs). Which is probably why the prices are dropping so low on so many things - 32 bit is becoming "last generation" (while Alpha users chuckle to themselves). In all honesty, things are the same today as they were then, if you adjust for inflation, and really look at what was happenning then and compare it to what is happenning now. It is tempting to think that the prices back then were cheap, but they honestly weren't, once you compare everything...
...but I'd rather have their faulty system of checks and balances than the outright corruption and byzantine system of governance that still controls much of the world today...
Were you speaking about China or the United States here?
Someone should send you the video of the fat boy in the college dorm room who forgot to lock his door. Meanwhile, a buddy cracked the door open, saw the kid masturbating, ran back to his room, grabbed his camcorder, and recorded the kid beating off. The kid turns around and there are 10 people who start laughing, and the one doing the recording.
Yeah - this kind of thing makes me wonder who really has problems:
The fat college kid unable to get any for whatever reason(s) enjoying the next best thing in what he thinks is "in private"?
The "buddy" who catches the guy and decides to get a camcorder to tape the whole thing?
The 10 other people who gather and watch this whole affair?
The person who uploads the video to the internet?
The ones who sit there and download it, watch it, laugh at it, then reccommend it to a bunch of strangers?
This much is clear: The kid masturbating has less of a problem than the rest. This isn't just catching someone in an embarassing moment, this kind of treatment of another human being is humiliating and degrading. At best it is harassment, at worst, exploitation.
We have several methods for getting hydrogen - electrolysis, hydrocarbon reforming, and natural gas wells are three common methods. We even have a potential method to generate hydrogen in an "ecologically" green fashion - from algae - common pond scum, actually. From this Wired article (found in the google results):
Melis launched a company, Melis Energy, in 2001 to try to commercialize a technique that harnesses algae's ability to turn sunlight into hydrogen. In the fall of 2001, the company built a bioreactor containing 500 liters of water and algae that can produce up to 1 liter of hydrogen per hour. A siphoning system extracts the hydrogen, which is stored in its gaseous state.
So, we have the means to make the hydrogen. We also have vehicles (mainly demonstration models) which can run on the hydrogen. Although at this point, I must interject that fuel cells are not the way to go - hydrogen fuel cells use platinum as a catalyst - do the math on how many people in the US have vehicles and how much platinum a fuel cell requires, and how much platinum is available worldwide, then ask yourself if such fuel cells are viable in the long run. Fuel cell vehicles are not the answer, but directly "burning" the hydrogen can be, we just need a way to store it in an easy form to get it in a car. You can't simply put it into a tank made of any material - hydrogen simply migrates through the material (it is one of the reasons why water is such a good solvent) - it turns steel brittle over time. Plus, in order to get a good volume/energy ratio, you have to store it as a liquid - and it is a very, very cold liquid. I can't ever imagine a homeowner having a car carrying liquid hydrogen parked in their garage. Most people aren't even intelligent enough to manage proper handling of gasoline, let alone liquid hydrogen.
So - you need a different storage mechanism. This one mentioned in the article proposes to use sodium, which we already know is an inefficient transfer medium. What else could be used? One company (whose website seems to be down, or they are not in business anymore) proposed to use hydrides to store the hydrogen - their name was Powerball Technologies, and they supposedly had a working product (IIRC, back when they first announced this several years back, GM had a demonstration vehicle running on the system). What wasn't clear was how much energy it took to convert the hydrogen into hydride - it might have been as ineffient as the methods mentioned in the article we're discussing.
Wait - don't we already have a method of storing hydrogen in a dense form, that we use everyday? Remember what gasoline is made out of - long hydrocarbons chains. Perhaps the answer is here? Maybe instead of trying to use hydrogen directly - we should look at methods to take pure hydrogen and carbon, and form hydrocarbons. A system in which you could put hydrogen and carbon in one end, and get hydrocarbon based fuels out the other - could be the ideal method. It would probably take a lot of energy input, but perhaps that energy could come from solar power (ie - a solar furnace or something similar). The hydrogen could come from huge algae bioreactors (if they can get them working better for industrial use). The carbon could come from the atmosphere (CO2). Vehicles could use this fuel (which would end up being something like gasoline - could even be identical to gasoline, maybe - this may help with the answer) - such a fuel might even burn cleaner than today's gasoline, it might even work in current engines. Perhaps we can sequester the carbon monoxide output for recycling back to the refineries making the stuff
Thanks for the info - as I noted before, I haven't started on this project, so I am still researching the lighting angle. This is definitely a "for fun and challenge" project (heck, look at my website - it is simply one of many). As far as saving money, unless I can somehow magically get a used DLP projector for under $500.00, I think I will save the money. Most of my parts are used parts - my LCD cost me $25.00 (I have a piece about it on my site - it is an old Sony LCD. I haven't updated my page to reflect it, but since the time of posting that page I have managed to get the parts swapped and everything but the backlight works. All I need to do is get the backlight running to know the quality of the LCD, whether there is anything else wrong with it - I know it works in some fashion because I can see a "ghost" of an image of my desktop on it w/o a backlight). The projector I got (I was going to repair it, but it needs a new power supply and that costs bucks - so I am just going to scavenge parts from it - come to think about it, I could use the light from it) was a busted thing I picked up for $80.00 - so - all I need is the wood to build the case and assorted other parts. I don't think the C/R ratio will bother me that much - a guy I know has an older projector that is LCD and it looks pretty good. Although it might bug me after a while - I do like good blacks and contrast in an image...
Spend the $3.00 already - as others have noted, you are getting this message because you have a pressurized fuel system, which isn't maintaining pressure. Furthermore, you are likely adding extra pollution to the air, since if there is a leak, then the fumes can leak out (the pressure has to go somewhere) - plus, your engine might also recirculate excess gas/fumes back from the fuel rail to the tank (evap system).
It is all part of the emmissions control system found in most vehicles today. Also - depending on the age of your car (and which OBD system it is using) - when that light comes on your computer might tweak engine settings such that you are in a "limp home" mode (putting out more pollution) - or into a mode to deal with the descreased fuel pressure.
Basically, the computer switches things to try to lessen the pollution (and still keep the engine running) until you can get it fixed. So - get it fixed! Tightening the cap at best is a temporary solution (you should always make sure your cap is tight, though - but you should never have to wrench it down) - the gasket/seal on the cap is probably shot (or the overpressure device in the cap is probably busted or close to it). Wrenching it down (if this is what you are doing when you say you tighten it more) will only make the seal/gasket fail faster. Quit being cheap, go down to AutoZone, and buy a new cap....
Probably sometime this coming winter. I have browsed various forums and such extensively on information about how to do this, most notably the Lumenlab site (btw - this is an excellent resource - some of the forums you need to be a customer to access, I like the site so much that when I do get around to building, I plan on getting the plans to get the better access).
Currently, I have most of the parts I need - mainly, I just need the proper fresnels and wood to make the case. I have the LCD, the projection lens I plan to use one off of a busted LP20 projector, but I am still stuck on a light source...
First off - I am cheap (can you tell?). I have looked into metal halide solutions, and I like them, but it seems impossible to get a low-cost 400W ballast and the mogul base. Once you bump past about 150W, the price gets large, quickly. The bulb price is reasonable, though.
I have thought about trying a halogen work lamp - cheap, easy to get - but they get VERY VERY hot. I have heard (but not experienced) that a metal halide lamp runs cooler - but if the price for the ballast is insane, it is only worth it if there is good reason.
Something I am worried about that I have heard about a halogen work lamp, is that since the lamp is bright along the length of it (not a "point" source), you get a bright line in the image (but I wonder why you don't get a bright point using other lamps?) - how true is this? Does the color temp difference between halogen and metal halide make a big difference? Is there other lamp configurations I should look at (automobile, or small reflector halogens)?
A lot of questions on my mind - and not a lot of answers out there in the forums I have visited. Most homebrewers of DIY projectors have seemed to settle on metal halide. I haven't seen any others. Looks like I will be experimenting...
No one will understand the past if they don't have history and journals to guide them.
First off, let me say I love the wayback machine - it has helped me numerous times find information that I thought was long gone. It is a resource that I think should be kept and preserved.
With that said, and at a risk of "Godwinizing" myself - I have to ask:
Does anyone today really seem to give a damn about learning from the past?
How many wars must humanity fight before it figures out that war does no one any good? How much suicidal destruction must occur before people understand that such acts do nothing to help their cause? How much longer will humanity suffer under the oft-perpetuated myths of religion before rationality is seen as the true path to peace?
Think I am wrong? Think about the world today, and the world of the past. What is happenning today - what continues to happen - is no different from what has happenned in the past. It continues over and over again, the same actions, the same reactions and more pain. Everybody feels it, both the aggressor and the defender - yet despite all of this, the rest of the world stands by, yawns, and switches the channel. Despite all that is happenning, neither side (and in reality, there are many more than two) can seem to think "gee, the other side might be feeling just as bad as my side - perhaps I should talk with them, instead of kicking them down".
For instance - one would think humanity would have learned the pain and lessons of genocide from World War 2 - the history is there, the truth is easy to see (sans attempts at revisionist history, of course) - the pain is real.
So - where the hell is the world in regards to Rwanda? Where the hell is the world in regards to Bosnia? Where the hell is the world in regards to Nigeria?
These are only three relatively recent examples of genocide and ongoing genocidal actions. They are well known, they are deplorable. Still, little to nothing is being done about them.
All the history of the past at our hands, all the information on the planet, all the technology, all of everything - yet we all turn blind eyes away from real problems which we should be seeking to solve and stop.
We have the ability, we just don't have the rationality and will. We are still nothing more than apes flinging our excrement at each other.
That emagin HMD isn't too bad for a consumer level HMD. The price is pretty steep, but considering the specs, it really isn't out of line. I don't really like the 40 degree FOV (I prefer a fully immersive experience, but you need to have a FOV of 60 *minimum* to start), but they probably had to do that for resolution reasons (as your FOV goes up, your resolution goes down - the pixels are spread out more - kinda akin to pixelation in an image, although that analogy isn't really accurate). The size, the resolution, plus the fact that you get a nice 3DOF head tracker (I have seen these as "bare boards" going for $300.00) - it really is a pretty good deal.
So - ask yourself what you will be needing such a device for: Are you going to watch videos? Play games? Develop immersive applications?
If simple private video watching is all you will be doing, then getting an HMD with these specs or something similar (don't go below around 30 degree FOV) is perfect. If, however, you want to do VR or gaming, look for something with a larger FOV to enhance the immersion aspects. Unfortunately, unless you are doing hardcore virtual environment research, you won't be able to justify higher resolution - a high resolution, large FOV HMD still runs into big $$$, unless you manage to find one second hand (and they are a rare treat to see on ebay!).
I would check on Ebay every now and then as well. I see every now and again older (ie, mid-late 1990's) pro and research level VR devices (mostly HMDs, but sometimes some Polhemus tracking products) - and sometimes, nobody bids on them! One year at Christmas I managed to snag a General Reality CyberEye CE-200M with a 3DOF tracker for around $200.00 - while everyone else was bidding up several Forte VFX-1 HMDs that other people were selling. I guarantee you I got the better deal!
So - look around. You might also investigate building your own HMD. It won't be easy, it may not be cheap (though likely cheaper than a retail device), and it will probably weigh more and look like *ss - but you will get a/. article out of it!
I have thought from time to time if I could create a fairly replicable way to build such an HMD, and set up a site like the LumenLab site (for homebrew video projectors), I could probably have something cool that people would like. Alas, I have waaaay too many projects to count to take on another - but the idea is there for someone else to try!
FL is not making this shit up - there was, a few years back, media coverage on this "shadow government". It is real, it is the truth, and no matter how much you say it doesn't exist and is a crazy conspiracy theory, will not make it go away. Whether or not this "secret cabal" has ties to any recent events is unknown. Whether or not a similar group prior to 9/11 was involved in that event is unknown as well.
Or, is that all part of the conspiracy, too? Open your eyes a little, and start questioning authority! Was a "shadow government"-like system manipulating the strings for 9/11 to occur? Who knows? One has to wonder though:
How (and better, WHY?) the USA PATRIOT Act was "just waiting in the wings" all prepared nicely to stomp on our freedoms?
Why Bush took so damn long to respond and act after knowing about the attacks on that day?
Why an investigation into the matter after the fact was whitewashed and swept under the carpet so fast?
Why was the wreckage was carted away so quickly and without investigation or accident reconstruction or forensic work?
How Bush managed to see video of the first plane hitting (which he noted at least 2 or 3 times in speeches on 9/11) when that video wasn't released to the news and public until the FOLLOWING day?
Why all the events that have happenned since Bush came to power have seemed to follow the plan set forth on this website?
What about the membership roster of the people of that website - why does it read like a list of who's who in our federal government?
There are so many unanswered questions, so many things being kept buried, and some days it seems the entire American populace (though I know that is a broad brush to paint with, and is most certainly untrue) are burying their heads in the sand, hiding and cowering in fear and uncertainty, shamelessly obeying their leaders.
FEAR! OBEY! FEAR! OBEY!
These are the seeming rallying crys of today's American society. It is sickening. It is reprehensible. IT IS A DAMN LIE.
This guy should have simply walked up to the vehicle and asked him what he was up to and if he needed help. If he truely suspected leeching of his bandwidth was going on, he could have asked the guy to move on, or told him that if he didn't he was going to cut the access. Then, do it, of course. If the guy still didn't move on, then the individual should then confront the guy again, telling him he has cut his access and that he should leave, and if he doesn't, that the cops will be called. If he still doesn't leave, then call the cops.
Several steps which could have likely resolved the situation without getting law enforcement involved at all. But this guy was afraid of simply talking to a stranger, of a little confrontation (not angry or violent confrontation - I am not advocating that unless necessary - and at the beginning of this, such confrontation is clearly not necessary).
The only way I would walk up to that vehicle myself would be with loaded shotgun in hand.
In most (but probably not all for some strange reason - check your local laws) jurisdictions, you can legally approach someone brandishing a loaded firearm, provided that said firearm is not being pointed at them. So, what do you do next time you see something like this?
Grab your loaded shotgun (or whatever), hold it so that it isn't pointing at the individual in question, walk up to the car and ask them if they need help or if they are in trouble. Depending on the situation, they will either leave very quickly, or respond nicely in some fashion.
Note that this course of action is not without its own risks - they could pull a weapon themselves and start firing (or I suppose attempt to stab you). Of course, at that point you would be legally justified to fire right back to protect yourself (just make sure you hit your target).
My first instinct is not to call the cops - many times, by the time the cops get there, you are probably dead or hurt anyhow. Besides, there is already case law that has determined that cops are not there to protect the individual or his property. So where does that leave the individual? That's right - protecting himself, in whatever manner possible. When I hear a funny noise outside my house at night, I check. Most of the time, carrying a weapon of some sort (generally a baseball bat I found in my bushes - what it was doing there I haven't a clue - most of the time the noise is a cat or dog, or sometimes a kid). Most of the time, it is nothing, either.
Yeah, there are mean and nasty people out there. I am not stupid enough to look for trouble in those places where those kind of people generally are. When I am in some of those places as well (old industrial sections of town where some of my favorite computer surplus places are), I keep to my own business and don't bother others about theirs, and I have never had a problem. There have been other times, though, when I have been in a situation where somebody was making a lot of noise and grief (this happenned while dining at a sonic one night) to the cashier, threatening her, and causing the other patrons in the place to cower. I was trying to enjoy my coney dog, and I got pissed. I stood up, walked to within a few paces of the man, and in a loud but controlled voice told him to "Leave now!". He tried to argue, but I continued to say "You will leave now!". In retrospect, it was probably stupid of me, but the man did leave, and didn't bother us for the rest of my meal. The rest of the diners cheered me.
Any one of those people could have done the same (and there were guys there larger than I), but none did. It is like we have become a nation of people fearful of confrontation. Worse, those elements of society that are "mean and nasty" know this, and count on it. Many of their lesser kin, who vastly outnumber the worst, count on it as well. They get away with so much, bullies in action. The majority of people cower in fear and turn to cops, but most of the time none are quickly and conveniently at hand (personally, I am glad for t
As long as they are also given the rights to vote, legally own property, and be party to contracts - in essence, if we as a society are willing to treat our kids as adults when it comes to crime, then we should be willing to treat our kids as adults when it comes to everything else in life.
Anything less is hypocrisy and posturing - "having our cake and eating it, too"...
Actually, expect to spend more for sewage in coming years (not just taxes) - furthermore, be glad for it. Finally - if you don't - be AFRAID (ok, maybe that is a little over the top).
Seriously, here in Phoenix the New Times reported about our dilapidated sewage system. About how in certain areas, civil engineers and city workers have seen large sections (50 feet or more in some cases) of large (54 inch diameter) non-PVC lined concrete pipes (with 5 inch thick walls) missing - generally the "top" of the pipe. You see, what happens in these non-lined pipes is that there are various bacteria that abound and form hydrogen sulfides, which combine with the water and form sulferic acids, and in the environment of the pipes, evaporation and condensation at the tops of the pipe lead to heavy duty corrosion and erosion of the pipes. Some of these pipes are buried two stories underground, and handle simply a mind-boggling amount of waste every day. Guess what could happen if one of those pipes (and the dirt above it) collapsed?
Well, "shitstorm" begins to describe it, especially if you happen to be an unluckly homeowner somewhere upstream of the sewage. The sewage, which is a huge torrent, will back up, and continue backing up, seeking a pressure relief. Up through the pipes, through smaller and smaller pipes, and in theory, if it isn't fixed or the pressure relieved soon, all the way up your four inch sewage pipe into your house and out all the toilets and sinks.
You won't be able to stop it, you won't be able to fix it, and your house will be UNLIVABLE, and UNSALEABLE - even if you can get it cleaned up (because you will have to disclose these facts to prospective buyers, of course).
According to the New Times, one lady and her son experienced this twice within a year's time in there Sunnyslope home (she noted that sewage was spewing out of her toilets like a fountain!) - and the city virtually did nothing (her insurance payed her $90,000 the first shot - and capped her at $10,000 for any repeat problems - and this amount doesn't cover her to pay off her mortgage - because she can't sell it - and get into another home).
Furthermore, this isn't just something in the Phoenix area (though we are sitting on a ticking time bomb here, and are used as an apparent example of what can go wrong in a city by sewage engineers) - any and every city and town can be affected by this problem. The answer to the problem is an easy, but hard to swallow one: more money. More money to repair and fix the problems, to put in better pipes, and to carefully inspect the pipes that exist. Some of the problems are huge - there are large (and not so large) pipes running right under major freeways - how do you dig up something like that and fix it?
Part of me, though, thinks that the answer isn't just throwing more money at the project. Part of the problem is growth and lack of restrictions on growth, part of the problem is NIMBY responses to building waste treatement plants (apparently, here in the Phoenix area, the majority of sewage all goes to one waste treatment facility - not just for Phoenix, but for Mesa, Tempe, Paradise Valley, Scottsdale, etc. too). These other far flung communities don't want a waste treatment facility near them (probably mainly because of the smell), so they just hook into the aging system, and continue to grow, and say "not my problem".
I don't know about you, but I don't want my house to turn into a large brown pool of brown spewing fountains of sludge from my toilets because a pipe collapsed downstream of my house, and everybody in Anthem, Scottsdale, North Phoenix, and everywhere else continues to flush their toilets and use their showers. I hope this never happens to me, and I hope it doesn't happen to you. But it might.
In a way, it has already happenned to me, but on a smaller scale. I lived in an apartment on the ground floor, and the drainage line to the main line behind the complex became clogged (tree roots or something) - and before we knew it, the upsta
Our best evidence, from what I understand, holds that the universe started out from a singularity. From that point, very rapidly (within a minute afterward), all the elemental building blocks of the universe were created. About 300,000 years afterward, the universe had cooled enough for atoms to form from these elements.
What is interesting is that the time it took to pass from condensed order into uncondensed and expanding chaos from which matter could form, on through today, has happenned along a seemingly reverse exponential curve. One could argue that we are at or slightly beyond the knee of this curve. This is the essense of the laws of thermodynamics, particularly the second law of increasing entropy in a closed system. Unless of course there is something feeding the universe from the outside of it, in which case all bets are off. We have no evidence of this case, though.
Assuming the universe is a closed system, and from order will ultimately come chaos - where does that leave us? Well - what about evolution and intelligence, particularly sentient consciousness? If we look at the system as a whole, we see the universe going from an "ordered" singularity to a chaos of atoms and such, while at the same time, at least in our neck of the woods, we see from this chaos arise life and intelligence. From the general chaos, local order and intelligence arises. This isn't in violation of the laws of thermodynamics. Life and intelligence seems to have arisen from the chaos of the general universe. We know of at least one case. Furthermore, given the immenseness of the universe, there is ample reason to believe that there are other intelligences "out there" as well.
What is further interesting is to look at the advancement of life on the one case we do have that we can look at, here on Earth. Particularly the development of intelligence and technology. Technology can be defined as "improvement of tools in a culture which utilizes tools, along with a record of those advancements". Some insects, birds, and other lesser primates utilise and build tools, but they do not have technology, because they do not keep a history or knowledge of what tools worked best in the past, and how to improve upon them. Only humans have done this (particularly homo sapiens neanderthalensis and homo sapiens sapiens - of which only the latter survived to become us - some have postulated that this may have occurred because of "violent conflicts" between the two groups, with our line winning the conflicts). In a very, very short span of time (compared to the age of the universe), our technology and intelligence has pushed us from hiding in caves to exploring other planets and beyond. Furthermore, our intelligence has enabled us to create machines which in theory, someday soon, could rival our intelligence, and beyond.
Indeed, if you follow the progression of intelligence, technology, and communications among humans (pick a point, say the approximate date of the development of the abacus, and move forward from there with other devices and technology to measure, calculate, and communicate - everything our brains can do) - you will find that if you graph "computing capacity/capability" against "date/time of advance" - that this curve follows on its own, an exponential curve. According to this curve, we are at (or once again, just beyond) the knee of this curve.
These two curves, that of the universe becoming more chaotic, and intelligence becoming more, well, "intelligent" (due to mainly convergence and synergy between technological advances, particularly those which utilize computational technology - a feedback loop of sorts) - have been coined "The Law of Time and Chaos" and "The Law of Accelerating Returns" by RayKurzweil, principally in his work The Age of Spiritual Machines. Interestingly, as the universe moves from order to chaos, life and intelligence seems to arise from this chaos, and from there, intelligence, and
If you have a spare serial port on a server not hooked up already to a UPS for monitoring, use it. Go down to Home Depot or Lowes and purchase a cheap Honeywell round thermostat, and hook it up to the serial port so that it connects CD & DTR or CTS & RTS together when the temperature rises to over whatever temperature you select. Mount the thermostat near wherever the main A/C thermostat is, and label it or cage it appropriately so that nobody touches it (or "fix" it so that it can't be easily mucked with). Write a cron job or equivalent to sense when this event occurs, and if so, send an email and/or begin the shutdown procedure.
Yeah - this may be all low-tech and homebrewish, but it is essentially the exact same thing that a UPS does (albeit with temperature sensing and not voltage level). Also, you can't sue a company if it fails, but considering nothing is being currently done, and you have already had a failure - this would be the easiest and cheapest way to go (a few hours worth of time and a few dollars for parts, tops)...
Interesting - I could have sworn I had read somewhere that the original spill channels were on the original Model M, then when it was sold to Lexmark the Model M lost buckling spring but kept the spill channels - which is why I look at mine as weird: it has the buckling spring switches? Hmm - I will have to research this further...
Personally, I wish they would make the speakers completely wireless, at least the rears. The rears rarely ever run at high sound levels, because most movies concentrate the sounds in the front (where the screen and action is). Give the speakers some nice batteries (I would be willing to bet smaller 12V gel-cells would suffice - no need for fancy small lightweight stuff), and some kind of smart electronics to manage when the speakers are being used (perhaps with "auto-shutoff"), and a charging rack. I could then easily hang these rears from screws or nails in the wall, and only use them for when I watch a movie or something (which isn't often for myself) that has 5.1 surround. All other times I could simply take them down and plug them into the charger (or maybe give them an LED to indicate when charging is needed soon).
Typing on a strange Model M right now (it is actually a Lexmark - but has buckling spring and the IBM logo - plus the part I think is best, too - supposedly, the Lexmark version isn't suppose to have all this) - and I love it. The thing I really like about it, besides the great tactile feel and the "heaviness" of the keyboard (makes a great bludgeon) - is the spill handlers!
The Model M was a design which I haven't seen repeated since - it has a channel system so that if you spill something on the keyboard, a gutter system under the keys channels the spill down and thru the keyboard to exit from four holes located under the bottom front edge. This is one feature that new keyboards should copy.
Of course, since new keyboards are so damn cheap today, such features will likely never see the light of day again...
I don't know about your viewpoints or political affiliations, nor do I care. I'll let you live in peace if you let me do the same, is that fair?
What I mean to say is - why is it always "either-or"? Why is it always assumed that if you are one way, you must be against the other?
Why is it impossible in many people's minds that a person could be pro-second amendment and pro-choice at the same time? Or any other seemingly "that ain't right" combination?
Furthermore, how many of such people are there? We never hear about this side (the "third" side?) of the debate, those who hold seemingly contradictory (at least according to polls, one assumes) viewpoints - so will we ever know how many there are? Perhaps that is the point?
First off, I never said you were completely wrong - I merely implied that your statement was off a bit, and that I wanted to expand upon it to provide readers with a deeper understanding of just what a Peltier junction was. Your original statement (first sentence, actually) was:
These work using a peltier junction.
Most explicitly the use of the word "a" - had you stated something akin to "These work using a multitude of peltier junctions", I would be more inclined to uphold your statement on the whole. I still would have expanded upon it, just dropping my first sentence in the process.
A Peltier junction is just that - a junction between two dissimilar electrical conductors - which for most purposes are metals, but doesn't necessarily have to be. They aren't a single chunk, nor two chunks, but instead a "bonded" junction - in a macro-size Seebeck junction (which, remember, is just a Peltier running in reverse), the bond is typically a brazed bond, or in some cases just the wire is twisted tightly together (a mechanical bond). I suppose even an epoxied bond could be used for a lower temperature probe...
Finally - my last sentence was mostly a plea for more in-depth comments to be made. Yes, what you described was technically mostly correct, but told nothing about how such a device actually works, nor does it give any history of it. I guess I expect on a site supposedly filled with geeks some comments which can educate. A simple link on the words "peltier junction" to a site similar (or the same) as what I linked would have been perfect. Please don't argue "just use google", because while one could, that is really a cop out to avoid doing the work of providing links in a medium and forum explicitly designed for them. We should strive, where we can (as needed by context, and to the commentor's knowledge), supply the links, not expect people to look it up on their own - because most won't, and many of the rest won't know how to search properly (thus possibly finding incorrect explanations)...
Slashdot Mirror
I think your recollections of the past are being colored by the present, or something...
First off, while there were home computers in the early 1980's which cost under $200.00 (VIC-20 and Timex Sinclair being really the only two in the USA), they rarely came with storage devices or a monitor. If you were lucky, you had a spare TV to hook them up to and an old cassette player. Most people had to fork out for the cassette player, and if you could get a disk drive, watch out! One cost as much or more than the computer you were buying it for, and floppies were $20.00 or more per pack of 10...
Furthermore, $200.00 was a lot of money back then - probably more comparable to $500.00 today (heck, IIRC, gasoline was still under a dollar a gallon).
Most cheaper home computers of the time which were better (as in cpu, memory, and upgradability) than the aforementioned two systems, such as a C=64 or TRS-80 Color Computer, cost between $200.00 to $400.00 - for about $500.00 total, you could get the computer and a floppy drive together. Printers cost a whole heck of a lot, and modems weren't cheap either...
Still, what you have to remember is that these home computers, in the mid-1980s, while cheap - were more than just "low-end" - they were "last generation" 8-bit machines, running at 1-2 MHz. For business (well, the businesses that could afford them), 16-bit machines running between 4-10 MHz, with 512K to 1MB RAM were where it was at (interestingly, the TRS-80 Color Computer 3 debuted at this stage too - with a 68B09E hybrid 8/16 bit processor - it was mainly 8 bit on the outside, but internally had some 16 bit features and instructions - and it came with 128K of memory - a true home computer stepping stone between 8 and 16 bit generations). These machines, however, cost between $1500-$3000.00 - 1985 dollars, that is. Most came with floppy drives, some came with hard drives (5-20 MB - woohoo!) as an accessory, monitors were still extra (an extra you HAD to buy - no plugging into the TV for you!).
The early to mid-1980's was a transition time, from 8-bit to 16 bit machines - where you had in the home market many funky 8 bit machines, some hybrids, and one or two true 16 bit home computers (that cost a fortune, like an Amiga 500 or a Mac). It was a time of 8086, 8088, 80186 (the few that were made), and 80286 machines (for the wealthy and businesses).
I would say that we are in such a transition phase right now - moving from 32 bit to 64 bit (also, moving from single to multiple core CPUs). Which is probably why the prices are dropping so low on so many things - 32 bit is becoming "last generation" (while Alpha users chuckle to themselves). In all honesty, things are the same today as they were then, if you adjust for inflation, and really look at what was happenning then and compare it to what is happenning now. It is tempting to think that the prices back then were cheap, but they honestly weren't, once you compare everything...
Were you speaking about China or the United States here?
Yeah - this kind of thing makes me wonder who really has problems:
This much is clear: The kid masturbating has less of a problem than the rest. This isn't just catching someone in an embarassing moment, this kind of treatment of another human being is humiliating and degrading. At best it is harassment, at worst, exploitation.
Ok here is a major hint to the leaders of Mexico...
Nuclear power plant, Gulf of Mexico == Hydrogen. Ship it to all the countries that don't want or have nuclear. Become new major energy provider...
Oh - this would be interesting to see happen in my lifetime...
So, we have the means to make the hydrogen. We also have vehicles (mainly demonstration models) which can run on the hydrogen. Although at this point, I must interject that fuel cells are not the way to go - hydrogen fuel cells use platinum as a catalyst - do the math on how many people in the US have vehicles and how much platinum a fuel cell requires, and how much platinum is available worldwide, then ask yourself if such fuel cells are viable in the long run. Fuel cell vehicles are not the answer, but directly "burning" the hydrogen can be, we just need a way to store it in an easy form to get it in a car. You can't simply put it into a tank made of any material - hydrogen simply migrates through the material (it is one of the reasons why water is such a good solvent) - it turns steel brittle over time. Plus, in order to get a good volume/energy ratio, you have to store it as a liquid - and it is a very, very cold liquid. I can't ever imagine a homeowner having a car carrying liquid hydrogen parked in their garage. Most people aren't even intelligent enough to manage proper handling of gasoline, let alone liquid hydrogen.
So - you need a different storage mechanism. This one mentioned in the article proposes to use sodium, which we already know is an inefficient transfer medium. What else could be used? One company (whose website seems to be down, or they are not in business anymore) proposed to use hydrides to store the hydrogen - their name was Powerball Technologies, and they supposedly had a working product (IIRC, back when they first announced this several years back, GM had a demonstration vehicle running on the system). What wasn't clear was how much energy it took to convert the hydrogen into hydride - it might have been as ineffient as the methods mentioned in the article we're discussing.
Wait - don't we already have a method of storing hydrogen in a dense form, that we use everyday? Remember what gasoline is made out of - long hydrocarbons chains. Perhaps the answer is here? Maybe instead of trying to use hydrogen directly - we should look at methods to take pure hydrogen and carbon, and form hydrocarbons. A system in which you could put hydrogen and carbon in one end, and get hydrocarbon based fuels out the other - could be the ideal method. It would probably take a lot of energy input, but perhaps that energy could come from solar power (ie - a solar furnace or something similar). The hydrogen could come from huge algae bioreactors (if they can get them working better for industrial use). The carbon could come from the atmosphere (CO2). Vehicles could use this fuel (which would end up being something like gasoline - could even be identical to gasoline, maybe - this may help with the answer) - such a fuel might even burn cleaner than today's gasoline, it might even work in current engines. Perhaps we can sequester the carbon monoxide output for recycling back to the refineries making the stuff
Thanks for the info - as I noted before, I haven't started on this project, so I am still researching the lighting angle. This is definitely a "for fun and challenge" project (heck, look at my website - it is simply one of many). As far as saving money, unless I can somehow magically get a used DLP projector for under $500.00, I think I will save the money. Most of my parts are used parts - my LCD cost me $25.00 (I have a piece about it on my site - it is an old Sony LCD. I haven't updated my page to reflect it, but since the time of posting that page I have managed to get the parts swapped and everything but the backlight works. All I need to do is get the backlight running to know the quality of the LCD, whether there is anything else wrong with it - I know it works in some fashion because I can see a "ghost" of an image of my desktop on it w/o a backlight). The projector I got (I was going to repair it, but it needs a new power supply and that costs bucks - so I am just going to scavenge parts from it - come to think about it, I could use the light from it) was a busted thing I picked up for $80.00 - so - all I need is the wood to build the case and assorted other parts. I don't think the C/R ratio will bother me that much - a guy I know has an older projector that is LCD and it looks pretty good. Although it might bug me after a while - I do like good blacks and contrast in an image...
It is all part of the emmissions control system found in most vehicles today. Also - depending on the age of your car (and which OBD system it is using) - when that light comes on your computer might tweak engine settings such that you are in a "limp home" mode (putting out more pollution) - or into a mode to deal with the descreased fuel pressure.
Basically, the computer switches things to try to lessen the pollution (and still keep the engine running) until you can get it fixed. So - get it fixed! Tightening the cap at best is a temporary solution (you should always make sure your cap is tight, though - but you should never have to wrench it down) - the gasket/seal on the cap is probably shot (or the overpressure device in the cap is probably busted or close to it). Wrenching it down (if this is what you are doing when you say you tighten it more) will only make the seal/gasket fail faster. Quit being cheap, go down to AutoZone, and buy a new cap....
Currently, I have most of the parts I need - mainly, I just need the proper fresnels and wood to make the case. I have the LCD, the projection lens I plan to use one off of a busted LP20 projector, but I am still stuck on a light source...
First off - I am cheap (can you tell?). I have looked into metal halide solutions, and I like them, but it seems impossible to get a low-cost 400W ballast and the mogul base. Once you bump past about 150W, the price gets large, quickly. The bulb price is reasonable, though.
I have thought about trying a halogen work lamp - cheap, easy to get - but they get VERY VERY hot. I have heard (but not experienced) that a metal halide lamp runs cooler - but if the price for the ballast is insane, it is only worth it if there is good reason.
Something I am worried about that I have heard about a halogen work lamp, is that since the lamp is bright along the length of it (not a "point" source), you get a bright line in the image (but I wonder why you don't get a bright point using other lamps?) - how true is this? Does the color temp difference between halogen and metal halide make a big difference? Is there other lamp configurations I should look at (automobile, or small reflector halogens)?
A lot of questions on my mind - and not a lot of answers out there in the forums I have visited. Most homebrewers of DIY projectors have seemed to settle on metal halide. I haven't seen any others. Looks like I will be experimenting...
First off, let me say I love the wayback machine - it has helped me numerous times find information that I thought was long gone. It is a resource that I think should be kept and preserved.
With that said, and at a risk of "Godwinizing" myself - I have to ask:
Does anyone today really seem to give a damn about learning from the past?
How many wars must humanity fight before it figures out that war does no one any good? How much suicidal destruction must occur before people understand that such acts do nothing to help their cause? How much longer will humanity suffer under the oft-perpetuated myths of religion before rationality is seen as the true path to peace?
Think I am wrong? Think about the world today, and the world of the past. What is happenning today - what continues to happen - is no different from what has happenned in the past. It continues over and over again, the same actions, the same reactions and more pain. Everybody feels it, both the aggressor and the defender - yet despite all of this, the rest of the world stands by, yawns, and switches the channel. Despite all that is happenning, neither side (and in reality, there are many more than two) can seem to think "gee, the other side might be feeling just as bad as my side - perhaps I should talk with them, instead of kicking them down".
For instance - one would think humanity would have learned the pain and lessons of genocide from World War 2 - the history is there, the truth is easy to see (sans attempts at revisionist history, of course) - the pain is real.
So - where the hell is the world in regards to Rwanda? Where the hell is the world in regards to Bosnia? Where the hell is the world in regards to Nigeria?
These are only three relatively recent examples of genocide and ongoing genocidal actions. They are well known, they are deplorable. Still, little to nothing is being done about them.
All the history of the past at our hands, all the information on the planet, all the technology, all of everything - yet we all turn blind eyes away from real problems which we should be seeking to solve and stop.
We have the ability, we just don't have the rationality and will. We are still nothing more than apes flinging our excrement at each other.
So - ask yourself what you will be needing such a device for: Are you going to watch videos? Play games? Develop immersive applications?
If simple private video watching is all you will be doing, then getting an HMD with these specs or something similar (don't go below around 30 degree FOV) is perfect. If, however, you want to do VR or gaming, look for something with a larger FOV to enhance the immersion aspects. Unfortunately, unless you are doing hardcore virtual environment research, you won't be able to justify higher resolution - a high resolution, large FOV HMD still runs into big $$$, unless you manage to find one second hand (and they are a rare treat to see on ebay!).
I would check on Ebay every now and then as well. I see every now and again older (ie, mid-late 1990's) pro and research level VR devices (mostly HMDs, but sometimes some Polhemus tracking products) - and sometimes, nobody bids on them! One year at Christmas I managed to snag a General Reality CyberEye CE-200M with a 3DOF tracker for around $200.00 - while everyone else was bidding up several Forte VFX-1 HMDs that other people were selling. I guarantee you I got the better deal!
So - look around. You might also investigate building your own HMD. It won't be easy, it may not be cheap (though likely cheaper than a retail device), and it will probably weigh more and look like *ss - but you will get a /. article out of it!
I have thought from time to time if I could create a fairly replicable way to build such an HMD, and set up a site like the LumenLab site (for homebrew video projectors), I could probably have something cool that people would like. Alas, I have waaaay too many projects to count to take on another - but the idea is there for someone else to try!
How about this story from the Washington Post (posted in February/March 2002)?
Or, is that all part of the conspiracy, too? Open your eyes a little, and start questioning authority! Was a "shadow government"-like system manipulating the strings for 9/11 to occur? Who knows? One has to wonder though:
There are so many unanswered questions, so many things being kept buried, and some days it seems the entire American populace (though I know that is a broad brush to paint with, and is most certainly untrue) are burying their heads in the sand, hiding and cowering in fear and uncertainty, shamelessly obeying their leaders.
FEAR! OBEY! FEAR! OBEY!
These are the seeming rallying crys of today's American society. It is sickening. It is reprehensible. IT IS A DAMN LIE.
Wow! In a Googlefight, Mindpixel wins over Mentifex! Whooda thunk it?
Several steps which could have likely resolved the situation without getting law enforcement involved at all. But this guy was afraid of simply talking to a stranger, of a little confrontation (not angry or violent confrontation - I am not advocating that unless necessary - and at the beginning of this, such confrontation is clearly not necessary).
The only way I would walk up to that vehicle myself would be with loaded shotgun in hand.
In most (but probably not all for some strange reason - check your local laws) jurisdictions, you can legally approach someone brandishing a loaded firearm, provided that said firearm is not being pointed at them. So, what do you do next time you see something like this?
Grab your loaded shotgun (or whatever), hold it so that it isn't pointing at the individual in question, walk up to the car and ask them if they need help or if they are in trouble. Depending on the situation, they will either leave very quickly, or respond nicely in some fashion.
Note that this course of action is not without its own risks - they could pull a weapon themselves and start firing (or I suppose attempt to stab you). Of course, at that point you would be legally justified to fire right back to protect yourself (just make sure you hit your target).
My first instinct is not to call the cops - many times, by the time the cops get there, you are probably dead or hurt anyhow. Besides, there is already case law that has determined that cops are not there to protect the individual or his property. So where does that leave the individual? That's right - protecting himself, in whatever manner possible. When I hear a funny noise outside my house at night, I check. Most of the time, carrying a weapon of some sort (generally a baseball bat I found in my bushes - what it was doing there I haven't a clue - most of the time the noise is a cat or dog, or sometimes a kid). Most of the time, it is nothing, either.
Yeah, there are mean and nasty people out there. I am not stupid enough to look for trouble in those places where those kind of people generally are. When I am in some of those places as well (old industrial sections of town where some of my favorite computer surplus places are), I keep to my own business and don't bother others about theirs, and I have never had a problem. There have been other times, though, when I have been in a situation where somebody was making a lot of noise and grief (this happenned while dining at a sonic one night) to the cashier, threatening her, and causing the other patrons in the place to cower. I was trying to enjoy my coney dog, and I got pissed. I stood up, walked to within a few paces of the man, and in a loud but controlled voice told him to "Leave now!". He tried to argue, but I continued to say "You will leave now!". In retrospect, it was probably stupid of me, but the man did leave, and didn't bother us for the rest of my meal. The rest of the diners cheered me.
Any one of those people could have done the same (and there were guys there larger than I), but none did. It is like we have become a nation of people fearful of confrontation. Worse, those elements of society that are "mean and nasty" know this, and count on it. Many of their lesser kin, who vastly outnumber the worst, count on it as well. They get away with so much, bullies in action. The majority of people cower in fear and turn to cops, but most of the time none are quickly and conveniently at hand (personally, I am glad for t
Anything less is hypocrisy and posturing - "having our cake and eating it, too"...
Damn cows!
???
Seriously, here in Phoenix the New Times reported about our dilapidated sewage system. About how in certain areas, civil engineers and city workers have seen large sections (50 feet or more in some cases) of large (54 inch diameter) non-PVC lined concrete pipes (with 5 inch thick walls) missing - generally the "top" of the pipe. You see, what happens in these non-lined pipes is that there are various bacteria that abound and form hydrogen sulfides, which combine with the water and form sulferic acids, and in the environment of the pipes, evaporation and condensation at the tops of the pipe lead to heavy duty corrosion and erosion of the pipes. Some of these pipes are buried two stories underground, and handle simply a mind-boggling amount of waste every day. Guess what could happen if one of those pipes (and the dirt above it) collapsed?
Well, "shitstorm" begins to describe it, especially if you happen to be an unluckly homeowner somewhere upstream of the sewage. The sewage, which is a huge torrent, will back up, and continue backing up, seeking a pressure relief. Up through the pipes, through smaller and smaller pipes, and in theory, if it isn't fixed or the pressure relieved soon, all the way up your four inch sewage pipe into your house and out all the toilets and sinks.
You won't be able to stop it, you won't be able to fix it, and your house will be UNLIVABLE, and UNSALEABLE - even if you can get it cleaned up (because you will have to disclose these facts to prospective buyers, of course).
According to the New Times, one lady and her son experienced this twice within a year's time in there Sunnyslope home (she noted that sewage was spewing out of her toilets like a fountain!) - and the city virtually did nothing (her insurance payed her $90,000 the first shot - and capped her at $10,000 for any repeat problems - and this amount doesn't cover her to pay off her mortgage - because she can't sell it - and get into another home).
Furthermore, this isn't just something in the Phoenix area (though we are sitting on a ticking time bomb here, and are used as an apparent example of what can go wrong in a city by sewage engineers) - any and every city and town can be affected by this problem. The answer to the problem is an easy, but hard to swallow one: more money. More money to repair and fix the problems, to put in better pipes, and to carefully inspect the pipes that exist. Some of the problems are huge - there are large (and not so large) pipes running right under major freeways - how do you dig up something like that and fix it?
Part of me, though, thinks that the answer isn't just throwing more money at the project. Part of the problem is growth and lack of restrictions on growth, part of the problem is NIMBY responses to building waste treatement plants (apparently, here in the Phoenix area, the majority of sewage all goes to one waste treatment facility - not just for Phoenix, but for Mesa, Tempe, Paradise Valley, Scottsdale, etc. too). These other far flung communities don't want a waste treatment facility near them (probably mainly because of the smell), so they just hook into the aging system, and continue to grow, and say "not my problem".
I don't know about you, but I don't want my house to turn into a large brown pool of brown spewing fountains of sludge from my toilets because a pipe collapsed downstream of my house, and everybody in Anthem, Scottsdale, North Phoenix, and everywhere else continues to flush their toilets and use their showers. I hope this never happens to me, and I hope it doesn't happen to you. But it might.
In a way, it has already happenned to me, but on a smaller scale. I lived in an apartment on the ground floor, and the drainage line to the main line behind the complex became clogged (tree roots or something) - and before we knew it, the upsta
What is interesting is that the time it took to pass from condensed order into uncondensed and expanding chaos from which matter could form, on through today, has happenned along a seemingly reverse exponential curve. One could argue that we are at or slightly beyond the knee of this curve. This is the essense of the laws of thermodynamics, particularly the second law of increasing entropy in a closed system. Unless of course there is something feeding the universe from the outside of it, in which case all bets are off. We have no evidence of this case, though.
Assuming the universe is a closed system, and from order will ultimately come chaos - where does that leave us? Well - what about evolution and intelligence, particularly sentient consciousness? If we look at the system as a whole, we see the universe going from an "ordered" singularity to a chaos of atoms and such, while at the same time, at least in our neck of the woods, we see from this chaos arise life and intelligence. From the general chaos, local order and intelligence arises. This isn't in violation of the laws of thermodynamics. Life and intelligence seems to have arisen from the chaos of the general universe. We know of at least one case. Furthermore, given the immenseness of the universe, there is ample reason to believe that there are other intelligences "out there" as well.
What is further interesting is to look at the advancement of life on the one case we do have that we can look at, here on Earth. Particularly the development of intelligence and technology. Technology can be defined as "improvement of tools in a culture which utilizes tools, along with a record of those advancements". Some insects, birds, and other lesser primates utilise and build tools, but they do not have technology, because they do not keep a history or knowledge of what tools worked best in the past, and how to improve upon them. Only humans have done this (particularly homo sapiens neanderthalensis and homo sapiens sapiens - of which only the latter survived to become us - some have postulated that this may have occurred because of "violent conflicts" between the two groups, with our line winning the conflicts). In a very, very short span of time (compared to the age of the universe), our technology and intelligence has pushed us from hiding in caves to exploring other planets and beyond. Furthermore, our intelligence has enabled us to create machines which in theory, someday soon, could rival our intelligence, and beyond.
Indeed, if you follow the progression of intelligence, technology, and communications among humans (pick a point, say the approximate date of the development of the abacus, and move forward from there with other devices and technology to measure, calculate, and communicate - everything our brains can do) - you will find that if you graph "computing capacity/capability" against "date/time of advance" - that this curve follows on its own, an exponential curve. According to this curve, we are at (or once again, just beyond) the knee of this curve.
These two curves, that of the universe becoming more chaotic, and intelligence becoming more, well, "intelligent" (due to mainly convergence and synergy between technological advances, particularly those which utilize computational technology - a feedback loop of sorts) - have been coined "The Law of Time and Chaos" and "The Law of Accelerating Returns" by RayKurzweil, principally in his work The Age of Spiritual Machines. Interestingly, as the universe moves from order to chaos, life and intelligence seems to arise from this chaos, and from there, intelligence, and
Yeah - this may be all low-tech and homebrewish, but it is essentially the exact same thing that a UPS does (albeit with temperature sensing and not voltage level). Also, you can't sue a company if it fails, but considering nothing is being currently done, and you have already had a failure - this would be the easiest and cheapest way to go (a few hours worth of time and a few dollars for parts, tops)...
Interesting - I could have sworn I had read somewhere that the original spill channels were on the original Model M, then when it was sold to Lexmark the Model M lost buckling spring but kept the spill channels - which is why I look at mine as weird: it has the buckling spring switches? Hmm - I will have to research this further...
Personally, I wish they would make the speakers completely wireless, at least the rears. The rears rarely ever run at high sound levels, because most movies concentrate the sounds in the front (where the screen and action is). Give the speakers some nice batteries (I would be willing to bet smaller 12V gel-cells would suffice - no need for fancy small lightweight stuff), and some kind of smart electronics to manage when the speakers are being used (perhaps with "auto-shutoff"), and a charging rack. I could then easily hang these rears from screws or nails in the wall, and only use them for when I watch a movie or something (which isn't often for myself) that has 5.1 surround. All other times I could simply take them down and plug them into the charger (or maybe give them an LED to indicate when charging is needed soon).
The Model M was a design which I haven't seen repeated since - it has a channel system so that if you spill something on the keyboard, a gutter system under the keys channels the spill down and thru the keyboard to exit from four holes located under the bottom front edge. This is one feature that new keyboards should copy.
Of course, since new keyboards are so damn cheap today, such features will likely never see the light of day again...
Kinda makes you wonder about all the hoopla surrounding the abortion debate, huh?
What I mean to say is - why is it always "either-or"? Why is it always assumed that if you are one way, you must be against the other?
Why is it impossible in many people's minds that a person could be pro-second amendment and pro-choice at the same time? Or any other seemingly "that ain't right" combination?
Furthermore, how many of such people are there? We never hear about this side (the "third" side?) of the debate, those who hold seemingly contradictory (at least according to polls, one assumes) viewpoints - so will we ever know how many there are? Perhaps that is the point?
These work using a peltier junction.
Most explicitly the use of the word "a" - had you stated something akin to "These work using a multitude of peltier junctions", I would be more inclined to uphold your statement on the whole. I still would have expanded upon it, just dropping my first sentence in the process.
A Peltier junction is just that - a junction between two dissimilar electrical conductors - which for most purposes are metals, but doesn't necessarily have to be. They aren't a single chunk, nor two chunks, but instead a "bonded" junction - in a macro-size Seebeck junction (which, remember, is just a Peltier running in reverse), the bond is typically a brazed bond, or in some cases just the wire is twisted tightly together (a mechanical bond). I suppose even an epoxied bond could be used for a lower temperature probe...
Finally - my last sentence was mostly a plea for more in-depth comments to be made. Yes, what you described was technically mostly correct, but told nothing about how such a device actually works, nor does it give any history of it. I guess I expect on a site supposedly filled with geeks some comments which can educate. A simple link on the words "peltier junction" to a site similar (or the same) as what I linked would have been perfect. Please don't argue "just use google", because while one could, that is really a cop out to avoid doing the work of providing links in a medium and forum explicitly designed for them. We should strive, where we can (as needed by context, and to the commentor's knowledge), supply the links, not expect people to look it up on their own - because most won't, and many of the rest won't know how to search properly (thus possibly finding incorrect explanations)...