These work using a Peltier junction. For those not "in-the-know", Peltier junctions are basically chunks of metal that push heat to one side when you run current through them one way, and the other side when you run current through them the other way.
Umm - not exactly. What you are describing is commonly known as a TEC, or "Thermoelectric Cooler" (and also known as a Peltier cooler). They are not composed of a single Peltier junction, but rather a large multitude of such junctions in what is basically a semiconductor package. A TEC is basically a semiconductor-based heat pump, which uses electricity to move heat from one side of the TEC to the other. In the process, the TEC also generates a fair amount of heat (no such thing as a "free lunch") from the hot side, while also consuming a fair amount of energy (which most of it is converted to heat, the rest moving heat from the cold side to the hot side). Finally, remember that you can't generate cold - coldness is the absence of heat.
Now, as I have noted, TECs work via the use of multiple Peltier junctions. Peltier junctions are fairly simple devices, consisting of a junction made between two dissimilar conductors. TECs are made in this manner, but in the same way as ICs are made (more or less). On a larger scale, though, a Peltier junction is easy to make - get a piece of alluminum wire, and a piece of copper wire, and twist them together: congratulations, you have just made a simple (though very inefficient) Peltier junction (however, this is not what can cause house fires in older homes with alluminum wiring - this problem is caused by a combination of alluminum and copper wire junctions heating up because of the resistance of the junction, thus starting a fire).
Peltier junctions work by using something known as the Peltier Effect, which was observed in 1834 by Jean Peltier 13 years after the Seebeck effect was first discovered. The Seeback effect is basically the inverse of the Peltier effect - in that two disimilar conductors, in the presence of a heat source, generate an electrical current. This effect has been used in industry to detect and measure extremely high temperatures, such as what is generated in various industrial furnaces. It has also been experimented with as a method to use the sun to generate electricity (ie, use a solar furnace to focus the sun on a bundle of the junctions) - there is actually an old Popular Mechanics article from the 1950's or 1960's showing how to build such a device.
As to whether you can use a TEC to exploit the Seebeck effect in a practical manner - probably not, as they aren't designed to work in this manner, and you might destroy the device. However, these devices are cheap enough, and if you supplied an appropriate cooling system for the device you might get a bit of electricity out of it - just don't expect much. It would make an interesting science fair project for the kids, though (grab a TEC, a fresnel lens, and a very large heat sink with a fan, bolt it all together and hook it up to a cheap voltmeter, then set it in the sun).
BTW - where did all the real geeks on this site go to, anyhow?
I think many of the problems and complexity of this task lies in the fact that many engineers and others tend to enjoy complexity, instead of just getting the job done. Furthermore, there is also this strange notion in many areas of robotics that in order for a robot to do a job that a human is currently doing, the robot must act and work like a human. Lastly, the thought that, at least at the harvest stage, that there must be "hygenic" conditions is laughable at best: how can you have hygenic conditions when you are growing stuff in DIRT? I think this one comes from ignorance and shortsightedness by consumers about where the food they eat comes from (many would be shocked if they truely had a clue).
Complexity can be dealt with in a variety of fashions - but the most obvious one is to simply change the process of picking. Instead of picking the proceeds from the plants, one at a time, then subsequently using a tractor after harvest to till the remaining plant matter under, harvest the entire plant. Not only will this keep the product fresher on its way to further processing, but the rest of the plant will help protect and cushion the parts you are after during transport, further resulting in a better product. We are already seeing this in a small manner with the various brands of "tomatoes on the vine" and some forms of lettuce (left with roots and all) at the supermarket. Grapes have long been harvested this way (and unfortunately you can't harvest the whole plant either - so here is one task among many that I can leave to engineers who like complex solutions to develop). I propose that this be extended to many other plants - harvest the whole thing with special tractors and/or robots (I say it this way because modern tractors are so computerized with GPS systems and such as to be nearly driverless and robotic by themselves) outfitted for this purpose for the crop at hand. Dump any dirt out the back to leave it in the field. The resulting waste stream of plant matter after further processing can then be used in a biofuel processing system, or simply transported and spread/tilled into the field from which it came from, or used for other products. We know that this can be done - we currently do something similar for potatoes, carrots, onions, and garlic (root and bulb plants) - I propose that it could be extended to other plants as well (although, as noted, probably not grapes, nor likely any other vine plants - but read on).
Another way to reduce complexity, while avoiding creating a robot that needs to perform and act like a human to harvest a crop - would be to change the way the crop is grown. Perhaps growing the plant in a "non-standard" manner could lead to more efficient and better automated harvesting solutions? Maybe a hydroponic system would make harvesting more easily automated? Maybe tomatoes grown upside down are more easily picked? Maybe strawberry plants could be forced to grow in a different manner that makes them easier to harvest via mechanical means without damaging them? Maybe designing or laying out a field in a different manner could lead to easier to harvest fields (imagine a field that is circular, with "rows" as rings around the field. All operations of the field, from tilling, to planting, to inspection, to watering, to pesticide/herbicide application, and even harvesting - could be handled by an "arm" on a pivot at the center of the field, with simple motorized wheels rolling it along. Automated guidance issues are eliminated. Inspection is handled easily via camera. Watering and fertilizer/herbicide/pesticide application are all handled via sprayer mechanisms)?
Finally, if hygenic conditions are truely what is wanted (and granted, some hygene - for the plants - may result in a better product), then perhaps an indoor or semi-indoor (or greenhouse) hydroponic or other solutions could help to create a better product by isolating the plants from a total outdoor environment (if we can build huge stadiums for sports entertainment, we can enclose food producing fields of simila
Frankly, as long as it doesn't scratch its ass by dragging it across my living room carpet, it's OK in my book.
If you have a dog, and it is constantly "dragging its ass" on the carpet or outside, your dog is SUFFERRING.
Dogs have special glands located in their anus which excrete a substance, which dogs uses to mark their territory (usually through excrement). These glands can become plugged, and normally, when the dog does number 2, the pressure of the excrement will unblock the glands in passing. Sometimes, however, they continue to be blocked, causing discomfort and irritation for the dog. Since the dog doesn't have hands, they have to do the next best thing - drag their ass. Something tells me that the discomfort is probably not unlike that of hemmoroids...
A dog owner can take care of this condition themselves, but it requires rubber gloves, a paper towel, and not being squeamish about "unplugging their dogs butt" (there are plenty of web pages out there detailing the procedure). Personally, I would never do this myself, even though I own a dog which I love. I believe this kind of thing should be left to professionals.
So, if you have a dog, and you notice it constantly dragging its butt on the ground (if it is on an occasional basis that does not happen often, don't worry about it - only if it is frequent or constant should you be concerned), take it to a veteranarian - they will be able to help your dog, and advise you on ways to help prevent it in the future through diet changes or other methods, specific for your breed of dog.
I only mention all of this because there are tons of owners out there who haven't got a clue that a dog dragging its ass is a dog needing help. I believe the issue is more one of ignorance on the whole by most dog owners on the physiology of dogs, and this ignorance is passed down through the generations (mainly because dogs have gone from pack animal roles to "cuddly companions" in suburban settings - and we have become divorced from knowledge of nature and animal husbandry which was common folk knowledge at one point, and still is in certain areas).
This ignorance, though, is leading to beloved pets sufferring with discomfort, and if left untreated, it can cause more serious issues in the future...
Yeah - I am certain the law probably says this, like all of the Federal illegal drug laws. Furthermore, I am certain they are only applied properly in all cases, so that only proper offenders are detained and convicted.
Just like all of those pot smokers imprisoned becaused they possessed on their person a single ounce of weed.
Every single time, they get hit first with the possession of an illicit substance, and then possession with intent to distribute - even though if you know any real stoners, they can tell you an ounce is a small amount for them to go through in a week...
Funny? Why is this post modded as "funny"? Do the mods think that the method of "forge welding" is something that I picked out of thin air after playing one too many sessions of WoW? Not that I have ever played that game; I actually have a life and I learn about and practice real-world skills, like welding!
Forge welding is the core technique involved in creating Damascus steels. It is a solid-phase bonding technique that uses heat and pressure to make the weld. To make Damascus steels the current method is to stack alternating pieces of steel, each with a contrasting composition, heat the billet in a fire and at the proper temperature apply pressure to make the weld.
and
You may vary the way you fold the billet. The Japanese method of making sword steel involves forging the billet wide and cutting down the middle and folding side to side. Any change will affect the look of the steel and may yield some interesting patterns.
I know in general the population is filled with masses of individuals ignorant in how the world came to be shaped by mankind over the centuries. I would expect responses of laughter and jeering "from the pit" on a site like Fark, for instance, where you have a more homogenous mix of the ignorant and the intelligent.
I expect more from the denizens Slashdot, though. I find it absurd that a site supposedly for geeks, by geeks, a site set up for intelligent people to express and judge each other's comments about posted articles and other comments about the world; is rapidly becoming a site which is attracting the unintelligent, the unimaginative, and the uninspired, while simultaneously slowing pushing out those who are 180 degrees opposite in nature.
This is a truely sad observation, one which I know others have noted and lamented on in the past...
Don't think it's possible? There's a case in Seattle where the FBI tried to get a library to hand over a list of everyone who checked out Osama Bin Laden's biography.
The story goes further than this, and also shows what stupid pig-fuckers make up our government (or at least the FBI)...
Basically, someone at some point checked one of the copies out, and wont like some library patrons are (or maybe just messed up book readers) - this particular reader decided to scribble a line in the margin of the book (OT rant - WTF is up with that - why do people feel like they must "annotate" a book, especially one they don't own? I hate it when I see personal copies like this, as a book lover, but hey, it is their property, and I don't want them to tell me what to do with my property, so I respect that - but when they don't own the property - or actually, we both own the property in some small manner via taxes - that ticks me off!). Someone at a later point must have read this line that was scribbled, thought it was made by a "terruhist", and got the FBI involved.
This led to them wanting to get records from the library via a subpena under the USA PATRIOT Act - which apparently woke up some sleeping librarians as to the possibility of this (like such speculation hasn't been all over the internet for the past four years!) - and the fact that it was illegal to even discuss the subpena (Catch-22? What's that? Catch-22. Duh). This got the librarians (or a librarian) riled up good - and some checking on that sentence that was scribbled was done:
It turns out that with a modicum of research, that those words that were scribbled were...ba-dumb-bing...merely something that Bin Laden had said during one of his speeches!!!
The FBI is made up of a bunch of incompetent fools who seemingly don't know how to do simple research. These are the people helping to protect us? Makes you wonder about the other pieces of government now, huh? The FBI can't do a simple search or research, our president (not like the other guy was much better, we now know - not that I voted for him, either) probably has no clue how to use a card catalog in a library, because anybody who does likely gets better than a 'C' average while going to school - AND HE IS PROUD OF THIS!!! AND PEOPLE CHEERED HIM!!!
I feel real safe, yes I do. I get poked and prodded and have my bag rifled thru, in front of tens of people in line at the airport, because I buy a one way ticket (complete with the four SSSS's for a "special" TSA search) to go see my parents - all the while knowing that a chimp is at the "top spot" in our country, and the FBI are seemingly a bunch of noobs.
[hanging my head in shame and disgust at what our country has become]
possession of things like drugs is illegal (in most states, anyway)
Currently, not just illegal drugs are illegal to possess - I believe under Federal law (not sure about State laws - but probably many of them as well) it is illegal to possess immediate pre-cursor chemicals/compounds to illegal drugs.
Most of this was done to (supposedly) stop production of LSD and other hallucenagenics - but I suspect it also allows LE to tack on extra charges for meth labs and such (because in the making of meth you are bound to have in the lab precursors to the meth).
Now - this is being taken into even further extremes - many states, in efforts to combat methamphetamine production, are passing laws where you can't buy certain amounts of main pre-cursors (like pseudoephedrine - cold pills) in a certain time frame, and others are instituting putting these compounds behind the counter, and selling them only if you provide ID and sign a log saying you bought them!
FOR COLD PILLS!!!!
How long will it be before it is illegal to have Sudafed in your home? It is a precursor, right? RIGHT?!
The stupid thing is that ultimately, all this legislation and law activity on "illegal" drugs is doing is causing new drugs to pop up. I am certain that if meth is outlawed, something new will be created, using other common chemicals and such (hell, I can't remember the name of the book, but there is a publication out there describing about a bajillion different drugs and how to make them - for a chemist, of course - based off the same idea as behind LSD - TCB is one of these drugs. Most haven't been scheduled, because they don't exist, yet).
Personally, I can't wait for the day that a form of "drug use" is created that does some kind of direct neural interface of some sort - jack in, bliss out. May be science fiction, but we all have seen the rat that presses the button to jolt the pleasure center. Furthermore, they have stimulated this area in ways when doing brain surgery (a necessary thing, actually - to determine what they are doing, while the patient is kept "awake"). I think it is only a matter of time...
BTW - on this subject - does anybody remember the device/toy that appeared at some concerts in the 1990s that you blew into a straw, aimed it at the sun, and it supposedly produced trippy visuals and stimulation that was supposedly like LSD? I never went to one of these concerts, but I had heard about the toy on the radio - but I never saw one - anybody know anything about it, or have a picture or something? Personally, I think it was probably something like a manually operated "brainwave" machine - but I want to know for sure...
Is why they are going over and over again about this "broadcast over the air" and "not letting it get on the internet" bullshit...?
Any idiot with two braincells to rub together can obviously see that broadcast is not where it is at, nor is cable. These two methods are simply the delivery mechanism.
In the future (and some would say, to a limited extent - TODAY), entertainment programming will be delivered primarily (likely entirely) via the internet. Look at how successful internet radio systems have been - can anyone truely say that internet video won't be as successful?
Now, true - mbone notwithstanding - you likely won't see a one to many streaming model like internet radio stations use. The bandwidth just isn't there to allow for that on a broad scale, with the exception, perhaps for the main players (ie, like ABC, NBC, CBS, etc). Actually - WTH am I saying...
The bandwidth is there - in a way: Do you have digital cable? That set top box is actually a computer that decodes MPEG streams. Yep, that same cable that gives you a paltry broadband upload and download is the same cable delivering untold amounts of bandwidth just for TV decoding. With a box on the backend to back it up for numerous customers, and all the frontends being the set top boxes.
The cable companies are hoarding this bandwidth - because they know that if it were allowed to be used for unfettered internet usage (like, if they were ever forced to open up the cable lines to other ISPs) - that internet TV would kill them.
It would be, could be - a P2P TV model, TIVO-like boxes everywhere, everyone a consumer, and everyone a potential broadcaster. Vlogs (what a crap word) are already becoming popular, and there are a few pieces of software which have recently come about that combine the power of bittorrent, RSS feeds, and to a lesser extent - TIVO-like functionality - to allow for a many-to-many P2P video sharing entertainment system.
It is crazy - cable companies could quite possibly continue making money (a ton of money) if they just wouldn't be so tight fisted about it. The writing is plainly on the wall - people don't want all these separate devices - they want devices that talk to each other, in a very easy to use manner - they want to keep the video, share it, some want to create it, others just want to view it. They want to time shift it, space shift it, and location shift it.
These companies, the MPAA, the RIAA, the cable companies, the broadcasters, and tons others - DO NOT WANT THIS TO HAPPEN. But it is happenning anyway. They kept talking about convergence, but really didn't want to see it happen, and played it off that consumers weren't wanting it. The fact is, that consumers don't want it in the form they are pushing - which is the bare minimum. Give it to the consumer, to the people - in an open and free form, that creative types and innovative types can really use - and WATCH OUT...
Let me go get that hammer to do the welding while we're at it.
Actually - this is possible - it is called (IIRC) "forge welding" - basically, you get both of your pieces of steel super red hot, place them one on top of the other on an anvil, and pound them as hard as you can with your blacksmith's hammer. This may require more than one person to accomplish, and you need some good strength, because you have to pound that shit HARD. Plus, you need to keep it red hot as you work it. In the end, though, with a bit of patience and skill you will end up with a single piece of steel which can then be worked further.
BTW - this was one of the steps in the making of the "folded steel" (can't remember its true name) samuri swords - basically, getting the steel red hot, folding it over, pounding it flat (and welding it together), pounding it out and stretching it, folding it again, pounding it (welding), etc - until you had the material ready, then continue shaping it into the sword (actually, these swords are much more complicated than this - but that is the basic process - the original method was lost, but they have recreated the method in modern times)...
Yeah - I know you can get the DC - but, from what I read and what I hear, the Criterion LD version is supposed to be "the best" of all (the numerous) versions. Actually, if a set of all the various versions were released, that would be perfect. But I don't have any hope for that. Still - you would think the Criterion version would be released, since a lot of the other Criterion movie versions have been...
Still waiting - perhaps there is a lobby of owners of the LD who don't want a DVD version out because then the value of the LD drops like a rock...?
Unless you are a hacker willing to take the time to do some work, or (possibly?) willing to fork out cash each month...
With a VCR, I can record as much as I want (for however many tapes I need), and *keep* those recordings - for as long as they will last. Case in point, my wife and I have *every* episode of X-Files recorded - plus every episode of Millenium. Sure, I could buy the DVDs, and the video would be better - but sometimes watching those old commercials can be entertaining by themselves. Plus, I didn't have to pay (again - because I already paid the cable company once).
I think that is why people aren't adopting "new recording media" - the new methods are locked down with DRM and such, or they aren't easy to share with friends, family, or even withing the same house (among sets in the house).
I think if a company came out and made a TIVO-like device (it wouldn't even need a program guide, but if it did, it would be great) that could record many hours of video, and easily network to any existing network or PC in your house, so that any PC (or any other of the same recording device) could "watch" the library of collected videos, and/or download them, etc - with NO DRM (ie, a straight MPEG2 or MPEG4 video) - to a fileserver (if you have one), etc - and make it all fairly easy to use (it wouldn't have to be dead simple - but making it very easy to use just for the machine and others on the network - maybe a built in wireless router or AP which would mesh network with other machines in the house?). Perhaps add USB2 or Firewire to make it easy to expand the hard drive size (or, make a "front load" hard drive bay for a hard drive upgrade option or something?).
Add on top of all that the ability to play MP3s from anywhere on the drive or on the network, audio/video inputs, ability to record audio to MP3, perhaps a DVD drive as well, plus web browsing, and give the MP3 player some nice visualizations for party use - you would have a killer box.
However, I don't expect to ever see such a thing, at least not in the near term, which I why I am planning on a custom box (right now centered on an old I-Cue PC Book PC box with a DVD drive, plus a small hard drive and networked to my Samba server - but maybe later if I like the setup, since it can't record, maybe building a Myth TV box).
Of course, as of late, for the past couple of weeks my wife and I have dropped even watching TV - we have started listening to books on CD from the library, so I think the TV is likely to become just "another monitor", mainly for movies and such...
Doubt you will read this, AC, but I agree with you - using old radiators is likely the best choice for any homebrew heat exchanger design, because they are engineered heat exchangers made for the task. I would actually go one step further: Go to an air conditioning repair company and see if they have any old "throwaway" leaky A/C radiators (ie, the heat exchangers on the outside of A/C units that use freon). These may be worthless for freon, but will probably be perfect for a water-based chiller system (unless there is an abnormally large hole in it)...
I got sick and tired of having to constantly spend close to $80.00 on cartridges for my ink jet printer (Epson Stylus PhotoSmart 700 or something like that). I had bought it because of a nifty (ooh - ahh) photo-quality picture insert in a magazine advertisement. I think I printed a single actual photo on that printer, and while yes, the quality was very good, the cost for consumables just wasn't worth it, and the damn thing kept clogging up (once I had to send it back while under warantee to get it fixed!). I finally got fed up...
I went to a local computer surplus reseller, and purchased a used a HP Laserjet 6P (25000 page count!) for about $100.00, and a refilled toner cartridge from a local supplier (Action Computers here in Phoenix, AZ - if you need ink products for anything made in the last 75 years, they probably have it or can get it!) - that was about 5 years ago, and I have yet to replace anything other than paper!
More recently, I have been doing a lot of looking around at local area Goodwill stores, and I have been noticing a seeming abundance of laser printers, many of them HP Laserjets (mainly 5x, 6x, and a few recent 1100's) - most of them going for under $25.00. I recently purchased a 5P for around $15.00 (IIRC), came with a toner cartridge and works perfectly, plus it too had a low page count (around 50,000).
I figure between cheap Goodwill laser printers and this site, I should have no more problems with printers in the future...
I find it amazing that a 50 year old technology is considered by some people to be "new". Yes, 50 (and probably more) years old. Dual use screens? A lenticular lens system isn't the best manner - I have an old Popular Mechanics from the 1950's that shows a similar system (to allow two people to watch different channels on TV on the same screen) - basically two TVs, mounted in a cabinet, one facing you and shining through a half-silvered mirror angled at a 45 degree angle, with the other TV in the bottom of the cabinet facing upward and reflecting off the TV. With polarized filters over the screens and special polarized glasses, each person could see their own show (with headphones, of course).
If there was a true market for this kind of a system, we would be using them *today*.
Of course, it shouldn't surprise me that old technology through the years is seen as "gee whiz new" and such. People here old enough will remember when the jump (in ordinary consumer vehicles) to disc brakes was the "big thing"? These were first introduced in the late 1940's on Preston Tucker's Torpedo (disc brakes were long used on aircraft, where Tucker got most of his inspiration from). Or, what about fuel injected engines? I could show you an original Popular Mechanics from the late 1950's detailing a revolutionary engine design to save fuel, with improved horsepower - they didn't call it a fuel injection engine, but the design is all there. Or - more recently - Lexus (or was it Infinity?) has introduced a new model in their line of cars with headlights that angle as you steer - so that the headlights follow your turn. This would be revolutionary, would it not be for the fact that, yep - once again, the Tucker Torpedo had that in 1949 as well (along with an airbag system - another Tucker innovation)...
Once again, this does nothing but show that on the whole, people are ignorant and forgetful puds who seemingly gloss over revolutionary ideas time and time again, typically screwing the orignial inventor or innovator out of rightful earnings, only to see the same thing pop up again and be "ultra popular" 10 to 50 years down the line. It is maddenning, and frustrating to watch (I am just waiting for the new and cool tech called Virtual Reality to pop up again - if it happens, it will likely happen this year, given all the other wierd crap happenning - Pink Floyd getting back together? MJ aquitted? JWZ going to OSX? What is this world coming to?)...
...and in the right climate for it (which he probably is) - he should set up a "waterfall" system.
Basically, set up a closed loop heat exchanger system by leaving the coil he already has set up on the fan, and set up a similar coil in a large diameter PVC pipe or box of some type (made from fiberglass, or resin coated wood, or something similar). This second box needs to have a fan that will draw air thru the coil and out the side of the box. The bottom of the box is a water resevoir (holding a couple of inches, like a swamp cooler). Water is then pumped and "misted" or "dripped" over the coil. As it "waterfalls" down the coils, some of it evaporates, picking up the heat in the coil. This evaporation is also helped by the fan in the box/tube (with a long tube, you could mist from the top and let it evaporate on the way down - some guy a few years back set up such a system to cool his CPU with - it was basically what I am describing here, but smaller for a CPU). Set this system outside, run the intake/output lines into the house to the coil fan.
What this system is, is essentially a low-cost (and probably fairly inefficient) "chiller" unit - larger versions of these are used in industrial settings, as well as "pre-coolers" for air-conditioning systems. They actually work pretty well, depending on humidity. Basically, you can figure you will get the same cooling as you would with a swamp cooler, but instead without all of the extra humidity a standard swamp cooler pumps into the house. The closed loop of the chiller water recirculation unit keeps the water usage inline (basically making it about as cheap to run as a swamp cooler).
Honestly, you could probably even repurpose a regular side or bottom-draft swamp cooler for this - just let the air vent to the outside, and mount the chiller coils in place of (or in addition to) the pads on the unit...
I am not sure this is unusual or not - my wife's little brother (who is 16) listens to and enjoys stuff that we liked, too - from the 70's and 80's - really weird when I saw his new AC/DC t-shirt...
wouldn't you want your children to benefit financially from it?
Actually, I would my children to become financially responsible and independent adults, and not have to sponge off of my hard work for the rest of their lives. Why should they get a free ride if I didn't have one? Sure, a trust fund or something for an inheritance, to be applied to some particular use (education, for example) - something to truely better theirselves with - that would OK. But to just "become" fabulously wealthy without doing a thing for it - not over my dead body!
First off, I wrote a little too much in haste - I don't believe that everything written in every work of religion is a myth - there are more than enough references in most of them which have historical backup. This isn't to say that every word written in these works should be taken as "The Truth" - these stories all need to be looked at in a critical and reasoning light, to sort the meaning behind them, metaphors, etc - from the mythic elements. Much like any good mythic tale, truth is mixed with fiction to such an extent that without careful reasoned reading, the reader can be left confused at best, or a "believer" at worst. Neither one of these states makes tales of Zeus, Yaweh, or Santa Clause any more true, though.
As far as wars are concerned, and as a child poster surmised - I personally think that wars and acts of violence are completely irrational. If you take a "simple" war, between two armies, and remove any one man from either of those armies - providing those men are acting rationally, and not emotionally - if you ask them, "Should you be fighting against each other?", they will probably look at you, at each other, and tell you "No - I don't want to kill him". How often have you heard in news stories, in interviews with "the common man" about an on-going war - and inevitably, such a common man from each side will say to the reporter "I just want to left alone and in peace to care for my family"? This is all each of us want, and only irrational madmen want anything different. Strangely enough, these very people for some whacked reason, sometimes rise to the "top" - and lead armies against other nations, causing destruction, strife, loss of life and limb, untold sufferring, and untold loss of massive resources of all kinds, all in the name of some ideal or dogma, which when you rationally look at it, most of the time it makes no sense at all, or was based on a pack of lies. As a group, many go along with it though, despite the irrationality, and it is maddenning to me and others why this is, because we see this, and we are called "unpatriotic" or worse. Simply because we see and attempt to understand the reasons behind the irrational, and we attempt to educate those around us, in a sometime futile attempt to stop the irrational actions we are caught up in. Currently, the greatest of this is being caused by the United States and the Middle East, with Iraq at the center. Elsewhere, it is among the Middle East itself, with Israel and Palestine, or India and Pakistan. How about the insanity with North Korea, Japan, and others? This is only a small sampling, it isn't limited to a few countries, a few races, a few beliefs/religions/dogmas - it is something that is ongoing, and seemingly intrinsically human. But why?
I, and every other human being, understand and struggle with agression and anger, small and large. I can't tell you the number of times during which I have felt angry over stupid and small things, sometimes to the point of breaking things over it! On reflection, after cooling down, I say to myself "That was stupid, and not productive", and I vow not to become so irrational again. Sometimes I don't - but sometimes I do - and I continually wonder why, and I realize that this strange human urge is probably at the base of many of our conflicts between one another.
That doesn't make it right. War and violence tend to be irrational actions or reactions to misperceived wrongs or misunderstandings, and we, as supposedly rational human beings should strive to break from our animalistic bindings and work to erradicate these irrational predispositions we have, or we will ultimately destroy ourselves.
If this doesn't make you think they will slap the winning code into such a 'bot, nothing will.
DARPA, and the DOD would *love* to have semi to full autonomous "kill bots" - in a way, today, they already have them for some tasks - they are called "cruise missles", which can be launched, told to stay on "hold" above possible targets, then commanded to strike on located targets. I would assume "located" likely means some form of lat/lon coordinates or painted with a laser (either by troops or from the air).
The exact same thing could be done with a kill bot: send it to a predetermined position, and tell it to "hold fire" unless acted upon agressively, or if non-friendly comes into position (at which point it could bark a series of commands in different languages to the offender - think of it as an active landmine with intelligence that can move on command), which if not heeded, shoots a warning, then if continued, shoots to kill. Friendlies are identified by RFID or similar tags. Equip them with the ability to identify each other, as well as to flock or coordinate efforts with one another. Other commands could be something like "fire on ident", where they could be set up, then when a target is painted with a laser (perhaps from a troop's rifle), it fires on that target.
You better bet that the DOD and DARPA would be all over such a system if it was proven field safe (to our troops) and easy/quick to use, and rugged. They are half way there with the TALON robots already, they just lack the rest of the package, which the Grand Challenge is dealing with...
Of course, one can also easily see the potential of scaled up versions - robotic Humvees and M1A tanks, as well as robotic quads, and perhaps legged versions...
BTW - this last was actually funded by DARPA back in the 1980's, which culminated in the Odetics, Inc. (now known as Iteris, Inc. - based in Anaheim, California - interesting the strange things going on at this company, whatwith name changes, etc - plus, they are developers of an "electronic highway" concept - I am sure there is no relation to the Grand Challenge - wink, wink) ODEX-1 legged walker - a very unique leg design that proved to be fairly robust and strong, while keeping outboard weight (on the legs) to an absolute minimum by moving all the electric motors inward toward the torso of the machine.
Think about it - if you could, in addition to GPS coordinates, vision systems, etc - also bury in the ground or nearby some form of active or passive "locator" beacons, such as what Odetics - oops, I mean Iteris - is developing - wouldn't the problem become just a little bit simpler...?
Nah - DARPA hasn't been thinking about this, not at all, not at all...
Exactly - another thing you tend to do when you drive a car is "feel" - so much about the road (and where it is coming from) can be felt through the steering wheel, the gas (and brake) pedals, the gearshift and clutch (if you aren't driving an automatic), and the seat of the vehicle - to let you know about various road conditions, etc - as you drive the vehicle.
So, maybe a series of microphones, strain gauges, and other similar force sensors (beyond the usual inclinometers and such) on various portions of the chassis and suspension might be a good idea on these vehicles.
Ultimately, what is being asked to be constructed is analogous to pack animal of sorts. While most teams have given their animals eyes and a sense of location and orientation, they have probably left out hearing and "touch", as well as proprioception - this last is something that you must do in a legged robot if you wish it to walk, but would it be shocking at all to find out you must do it in a wheeled robot to get it to correctly navigate rough and unfamiliar terrain?
Ask a person with a severe case of FMS (fibromyoalgia) whether proprioception matters or not (even in familiar tasks and conditions!)...
I am all for protecting and insuring against theft (or other damage) intellectual works and histories, products of the human mind. Which, ultimately, is what the Torah is. We, as rational human beings, should never destroy any work of the mind, whether valueless/depraved, or priceless and inspired - because in the end, it is who we ultimately are, and serves as a "roadmap" of sorts, for future generations.
The Torah, and other religious works, should be saved in some form.
However, with that said, if we are ever to advance beyond our current barbarisms, we must realize these works of religion for what they are...myths. Religion has inspired many people to do good. Within most of the worlds "great" religions, and most of the lesser ones, lie messages of peace, hope, and goodwill for our fellow man. However, some of the darkest periods in history were results of, or were instituted by, so-called "religious" people, acting upon supposedly "higher" orders, or so they thought.
Mod me down as "flamebait" if you wish, it doesn't change the facts of the matter...
You may have been a "natural born welder" - I started out using a 220V AC/DC stick rig filling holes and cracks on the frame of an old, dirty, rusty, oily leaking pig of a fourteen wheel dump truck behind a house in the hot summer afternoon Phoenix, Arizona sun - ie, typical welding conditions (heh). My rod stuck constantly, I probably had heat stroke, I thought I would die from the welding fumes - but learn to weld I did, eventually, because I knew in the end it would be worth it, and it was. I guess I should be thankful I wasn't learning to weld with oxy/acet...
Not all beginners are "naturals", in fact, most aren't. Consider yourself lucky and fortunate that you didn't have to go through the hell and frustration of learning to weld. My point stands that welding for (most) beginners is anything but simple...
He incessantly pursued such endeavors as wireless transmission of power (feasible, but awfully impractical) and his death ray (a bad idea to defend bad ideas!).
On these two points, a lot of people still don't understand what Tesla was trying to do. Whether he was right or wrong (and a lot points to that he was right), is up for debate.
On the notion of "wireless power", we know that it can work - and possibly, some of what Tesla was seeing and developing was along the same lines as what we know to work. For example, radio (Tesla, again), proved that power could be transmitted - plus we have numerous examples of microwave power transmission. We know from historical documents (patents, court filings, etc) that Tesla was thinking and experimenting with both of these things, but that they were merely side-effects of what he was really trying to do.
One thing to keep in mind, is that Tesla was always playing with occillation and resonant frequencies (as well as harmonics). One of his favorites was ideas on the resonant frequency of the earth. In his wireless power transmission ideas, the majority focused upon "pumping" the earth with resonant frequencies, so that the earth would "vibrate" and this could be drawn off by other means. In fact, I wouldn't be a bit surprised if what we know as a "Tesla Coil" isn't in fact a "power reciever" that we are simply playing with "backwards" to create pretty light shows, and that the scaled up versions (like the one in Colorado and Wardenclyff) were simply large transmitters for this (well, we KNOW that the one in Wardenclyff was supposed to be this). That, there wasn't supposed to be "lightning bolts" and other such frivolties from the system - likely, it would have been pretty sedate and quiet. Unfortunately, we will probably never know. So much has been kept hidden, and the rest has either been relegated to the occult and crackpot arena (despite the fact that every day so much of Tesla's work powers the world in so many ways - but for some reason we dismiss his "worldwide power" plan as crackpottery?) that it is unlikely to ever become a reality (if it would have worked, that is).
As far as the "death ray" - it has been speculated (but never proved) that Tesla's "death ray" could have been any number of devices, but there is a couple that seem more likely than others - either in conjunction with one another or separately: an electrical conduit via an ionized air stream, and/or a UV laser of some sort.
Most illustrations from the time (1930s-40s) about Tesla's "death ray", show "searchlight"-type beams emanating from buildings blowing up planes and dirigibles (or blimps). The idea is that these "beams" - formed of either a UV laser (developed by Tesla?) or via large searchlights with UV filters on them - ionizing the air, which would form a conduit down which electricity could be sent (say, generated by a Tesla coil) to disrupt the pilot and/or controls of the plane, or perhaps heat it up enough to cause the fuel tanks to rupture or explode.
All of that is speculation, but the ideas aren't too far fetched - a laser would be an area of study that I could see Tesla toying around with. Whether this is true or not, we may never know - much of Tesla's work (notebooks and such) disappeared almost immediately after his death. Some of it has been speculated to have been secreted away by various parties - most peg it on the KGB and/or members of the US Government, as it being classified information or something. It is known that some did go back to eastern Europe, as some of it has been put into a museum for Tesla in Czechoslovakia. Even so, a ton of it has survived for public scrutiny, most through various biographies and other public works, as well as patents and such. Whether there is really any secret Tesla stuff - it is in the same bin currently as other occult stuff, only time will tell...
Part of the original ATX spec (as you mentioned) was to have the fan on the PSU suck air from the outside, thru the PSU and onto (and thru) the CPU heatsink. Probably worked OK on the few custom DELL or Acer machines where part placement could be controlled (that, and heat from both parts wasn't a bad thing) - other than that, the design was horrible!
So, now we have dual fan PSUs and such, some working at odds with the case fans (with the PSU blowing in, and the case fan(s) blowing in as well) - working to move the heat completely wrong...
Heat rises! If you have a tower style case, you want to work with this fact, so mount a fan up front sucking in cool air (front bottom), and give it a good flow route (ie, bundle your cables, etc out of the way) up, over and around everything to the PSU. For the PSU fans, make sure they are sucking case air and blowing it out the back - follow an "S" curve of airflow in the case. If you have hot running PCI cards, you may need a case fan blowing on them, as well.
Now - if your system is really maxed out, then this advice won't work - because your PSU is going to be dumping some heat as well, and the advice above probably won't help, because you are running preheated air thru the case fan. Old ATX cases used to have a spot for a second fan just below the PSU, behind where the CPU normally was positioned. There are more than a few current cases that have a similar layout. So - for this, work with the airflow again: Have the S curve routed thru this fan, but for the PSU, do something completely different: isolate it from the rest of the system. In this case, route the air from the back of the PSU, in thru the PSU, then out thru the top of the PSU and out the top of the case. Isolate the PSU airflow from the case airflow, in other words, so that the PSU isn't heating the case airflow, and that flow is only moving heat from the case, cards, drives, cpu, etc. This may or may not require mods to the PSU. If your PSU exhausts air from two places, change the fan on the outside to suck air in, and route the internal exhaust fan air out through a custom duct or something, to the outside, and not into the case...
With all of that said, just remember you are trying to route hot air away from components and outside of the case, and bring in cool air from the outside (oh, and don't get the hot and cool air intakes close to each other, nor seal the computer in a cabinet or even a small room without an A/C unit). Ideally, the cases would be easily set up for this, but between the requirements of the ATX spec, the varying layout of PC motherboards, and the cooling requirements of the parts (and, BTW, who thought that mounting an AGP video card upside down was a good thing - grr!) - we have what we have, and the whole design sucks (and not in a good way), so until things change, you have to get very creative and think carefully about what you are trying to accomplish in order to move that hot air OUT...
Slashdot Mirror
Umm - not exactly. What you are describing is commonly known as a TEC, or "Thermoelectric Cooler" (and also known as a Peltier cooler). They are not composed of a single Peltier junction, but rather a large multitude of such junctions in what is basically a semiconductor package. A TEC is basically a semiconductor-based heat pump, which uses electricity to move heat from one side of the TEC to the other. In the process, the TEC also generates a fair amount of heat (no such thing as a "free lunch") from the hot side, while also consuming a fair amount of energy (which most of it is converted to heat, the rest moving heat from the cold side to the hot side). Finally, remember that you can't generate cold - coldness is the absence of heat.
Now, as I have noted, TECs work via the use of multiple Peltier junctions. Peltier junctions are fairly simple devices, consisting of a junction made between two dissimilar conductors. TECs are made in this manner, but in the same way as ICs are made (more or less). On a larger scale, though, a Peltier junction is easy to make - get a piece of alluminum wire, and a piece of copper wire, and twist them together: congratulations, you have just made a simple (though very inefficient) Peltier junction (however, this is not what can cause house fires in older homes with alluminum wiring - this problem is caused by a combination of alluminum and copper wire junctions heating up because of the resistance of the junction, thus starting a fire).
Peltier junctions work by using something known as the Peltier Effect, which was observed in 1834 by Jean Peltier 13 years after the Seebeck effect was first discovered. The Seeback effect is basically the inverse of the Peltier effect - in that two disimilar conductors, in the presence of a heat source, generate an electrical current. This effect has been used in industry to detect and measure extremely high temperatures, such as what is generated in various industrial furnaces. It has also been experimented with as a method to use the sun to generate electricity (ie, use a solar furnace to focus the sun on a bundle of the junctions) - there is actually an old Popular Mechanics article from the 1950's or 1960's showing how to build such a device.
As to whether you can use a TEC to exploit the Seebeck effect in a practical manner - probably not, as they aren't designed to work in this manner, and you might destroy the device. However, these devices are cheap enough, and if you supplied an appropriate cooling system for the device you might get a bit of electricity out of it - just don't expect much. It would make an interesting science fair project for the kids, though (grab a TEC, a fresnel lens, and a very large heat sink with a fan, bolt it all together and hook it up to a cheap voltmeter, then set it in the sun).
BTW - where did all the real geeks on this site go to, anyhow?
Complexity can be dealt with in a variety of fashions - but the most obvious one is to simply change the process of picking. Instead of picking the proceeds from the plants, one at a time, then subsequently using a tractor after harvest to till the remaining plant matter under, harvest the entire plant. Not only will this keep the product fresher on its way to further processing, but the rest of the plant will help protect and cushion the parts you are after during transport, further resulting in a better product. We are already seeing this in a small manner with the various brands of "tomatoes on the vine" and some forms of lettuce (left with roots and all) at the supermarket. Grapes have long been harvested this way (and unfortunately you can't harvest the whole plant either - so here is one task among many that I can leave to engineers who like complex solutions to develop). I propose that this be extended to many other plants - harvest the whole thing with special tractors and/or robots (I say it this way because modern tractors are so computerized with GPS systems and such as to be nearly driverless and robotic by themselves) outfitted for this purpose for the crop at hand. Dump any dirt out the back to leave it in the field. The resulting waste stream of plant matter after further processing can then be used in a biofuel processing system, or simply transported and spread/tilled into the field from which it came from, or used for other products. We know that this can be done - we currently do something similar for potatoes, carrots, onions, and garlic (root and bulb plants) - I propose that it could be extended to other plants as well (although, as noted, probably not grapes, nor likely any other vine plants - but read on).
Another way to reduce complexity, while avoiding creating a robot that needs to perform and act like a human to harvest a crop - would be to change the way the crop is grown. Perhaps growing the plant in a "non-standard" manner could lead to more efficient and better automated harvesting solutions? Maybe a hydroponic system would make harvesting more easily automated? Maybe tomatoes grown upside down are more easily picked? Maybe strawberry plants could be forced to grow in a different manner that makes them easier to harvest via mechanical means without damaging them? Maybe designing or laying out a field in a different manner could lead to easier to harvest fields (imagine a field that is circular, with "rows" as rings around the field. All operations of the field, from tilling, to planting, to inspection, to watering, to pesticide/herbicide application, and even harvesting - could be handled by an "arm" on a pivot at the center of the field, with simple motorized wheels rolling it along. Automated guidance issues are eliminated. Inspection is handled easily via camera. Watering and fertilizer/herbicide/pesticide application are all handled via sprayer mechanisms)?
Finally, if hygenic conditions are truely what is wanted (and granted, some hygene - for the plants - may result in a better product), then perhaps an indoor or semi-indoor (or greenhouse) hydroponic or other solutions could help to create a better product by isolating the plants from a total outdoor environment (if we can build huge stadiums for sports entertainment, we can enclose food producing fields of simila
Frankly, as long as it doesn't scratch its ass by dragging it across my living room carpet, it's OK in my book.
If you have a dog, and it is constantly "dragging its ass" on the carpet or outside, your dog is SUFFERRING.
Dogs have special glands located in their anus which excrete a substance, which dogs uses to mark their territory (usually through excrement). These glands can become plugged, and normally, when the dog does number 2, the pressure of the excrement will unblock the glands in passing. Sometimes, however, they continue to be blocked, causing discomfort and irritation for the dog. Since the dog doesn't have hands, they have to do the next best thing - drag their ass. Something tells me that the discomfort is probably not unlike that of hemmoroids...
A dog owner can take care of this condition themselves, but it requires rubber gloves, a paper towel, and not being squeamish about "unplugging their dogs butt" (there are plenty of web pages out there detailing the procedure). Personally, I would never do this myself, even though I own a dog which I love. I believe this kind of thing should be left to professionals.
So, if you have a dog, and you notice it constantly dragging its butt on the ground (if it is on an occasional basis that does not happen often, don't worry about it - only if it is frequent or constant should you be concerned), take it to a veteranarian - they will be able to help your dog, and advise you on ways to help prevent it in the future through diet changes or other methods, specific for your breed of dog.
I only mention all of this because there are tons of owners out there who haven't got a clue that a dog dragging its ass is a dog needing help. I believe the issue is more one of ignorance on the whole by most dog owners on the physiology of dogs, and this ignorance is passed down through the generations (mainly because dogs have gone from pack animal roles to "cuddly companions" in suburban settings - and we have become divorced from knowledge of nature and animal husbandry which was common folk knowledge at one point, and still is in certain areas).
This ignorance, though, is leading to beloved pets sufferring with discomfort, and if left untreated, it can cause more serious issues in the future...
Just like all of those pot smokers imprisoned becaused they possessed on their person a single ounce of weed.
Every single time, they get hit first with the possession of an illicit substance, and then possession with intent to distribute - even though if you know any real stoners, they can tell you an ounce is a small amount for them to go through in a week...
Need proof that this is a real form of welding? HERE IS YOUR PROOF
A couple of excerpts from the site:
Forge welding is the core technique involved in creating Damascus steels. It is a solid-phase bonding technique that uses heat and pressure to make the weld. To make Damascus steels the current method is to stack alternating pieces of steel, each with a contrasting composition, heat the billet in a fire and at the proper temperature apply pressure to make the weld.
and
You may vary the way you fold the billet. The Japanese method of making sword steel involves forging the billet wide and cutting down the middle and folding side to side. Any change will affect the look of the steel and may yield some interesting patterns.
I know in general the population is filled with masses of individuals ignorant in how the world came to be shaped by mankind over the centuries. I would expect responses of laughter and jeering "from the pit" on a site like Fark, for instance, where you have a more homogenous mix of the ignorant and the intelligent.
I expect more from the denizens Slashdot, though. I find it absurd that a site supposedly for geeks, by geeks, a site set up for intelligent people to express and judge each other's comments about posted articles and other comments about the world; is rapidly becoming a site which is attracting the unintelligent, the unimaginative, and the uninspired, while simultaneously slowing pushing out those who are 180 degrees opposite in nature.
This is a truely sad observation, one which I know others have noted and lamented on in the past...
The story goes further than this, and also shows what stupid pig-fuckers make up our government (or at least the FBI)...
Basically, someone at some point checked one of the copies out, and wont like some library patrons are (or maybe just messed up book readers) - this particular reader decided to scribble a line in the margin of the book (OT rant - WTF is up with that - why do people feel like they must "annotate" a book, especially one they don't own? I hate it when I see personal copies like this, as a book lover, but hey, it is their property, and I don't want them to tell me what to do with my property, so I respect that - but when they don't own the property - or actually, we both own the property in some small manner via taxes - that ticks me off!). Someone at a later point must have read this line that was scribbled, thought it was made by a "terruhist", and got the FBI involved.
This led to them wanting to get records from the library via a subpena under the USA PATRIOT Act - which apparently woke up some sleeping librarians as to the possibility of this (like such speculation hasn't been all over the internet for the past four years!) - and the fact that it was illegal to even discuss the subpena (Catch-22? What's that? Catch-22. Duh). This got the librarians (or a librarian) riled up good - and some checking on that sentence that was scribbled was done:
It turns out that with a modicum of research, that those words that were scribbled were...ba-dumb-bing...merely something that Bin Laden had said during one of his speeches!!!
The FBI is made up of a bunch of incompetent fools who seemingly don't know how to do simple research. These are the people helping to protect us? Makes you wonder about the other pieces of government now, huh? The FBI can't do a simple search or research, our president (not like the other guy was much better, we now know - not that I voted for him, either) probably has no clue how to use a card catalog in a library, because anybody who does likely gets better than a 'C' average while going to school - AND HE IS PROUD OF THIS!!! AND PEOPLE CHEERED HIM!!!
I feel real safe, yes I do. I get poked and prodded and have my bag rifled thru, in front of tens of people in line at the airport, because I buy a one way ticket (complete with the four SSSS's for a "special" TSA search) to go see my parents - all the while knowing that a chimp is at the "top spot" in our country, and the FBI are seemingly a bunch of noobs.
[hanging my head in shame and disgust at what our country has become]
Currently, not just illegal drugs are illegal to possess - I believe under Federal law (not sure about State laws - but probably many of them as well) it is illegal to possess immediate pre-cursor chemicals/compounds to illegal drugs.
Most of this was done to (supposedly) stop production of LSD and other hallucenagenics - but I suspect it also allows LE to tack on extra charges for meth labs and such (because in the making of meth you are bound to have in the lab precursors to the meth).
Now - this is being taken into even further extremes - many states, in efforts to combat methamphetamine production, are passing laws where you can't buy certain amounts of main pre-cursors (like pseudoephedrine - cold pills) in a certain time frame, and others are instituting putting these compounds behind the counter, and selling them only if you provide ID and sign a log saying you bought them!
FOR COLD PILLS!!!!
How long will it be before it is illegal to have Sudafed in your home? It is a precursor, right? RIGHT?!
The stupid thing is that ultimately, all this legislation and law activity on "illegal" drugs is doing is causing new drugs to pop up. I am certain that if meth is outlawed, something new will be created, using other common chemicals and such (hell, I can't remember the name of the book, but there is a publication out there describing about a bajillion different drugs and how to make them - for a chemist, of course - based off the same idea as behind LSD - TCB is one of these drugs. Most haven't been scheduled, because they don't exist, yet).
Personally, I can't wait for the day that a form of "drug use" is created that does some kind of direct neural interface of some sort - jack in, bliss out. May be science fiction, but we all have seen the rat that presses the button to jolt the pleasure center. Furthermore, they have stimulated this area in ways when doing brain surgery (a necessary thing, actually - to determine what they are doing, while the patient is kept "awake"). I think it is only a matter of time...
BTW - on this subject - does anybody remember the device/toy that appeared at some concerts in the 1990s that you blew into a straw, aimed it at the sun, and it supposedly produced trippy visuals and stimulation that was supposedly like LSD? I never went to one of these concerts, but I had heard about the toy on the radio - but I never saw one - anybody know anything about it, or have a picture or something? Personally, I think it was probably something like a manually operated "brainwave" machine - but I want to know for sure...
Any idiot with two braincells to rub together can obviously see that broadcast is not where it is at, nor is cable. These two methods are simply the delivery mechanism.
In the future (and some would say, to a limited extent - TODAY), entertainment programming will be delivered primarily (likely entirely) via the internet. Look at how successful internet radio systems have been - can anyone truely say that internet video won't be as successful?
Now, true - mbone notwithstanding - you likely won't see a one to many streaming model like internet radio stations use. The bandwidth just isn't there to allow for that on a broad scale, with the exception, perhaps for the main players (ie, like ABC, NBC, CBS, etc). Actually - WTH am I saying...
The bandwidth is there - in a way: Do you have digital cable? That set top box is actually a computer that decodes MPEG streams. Yep, that same cable that gives you a paltry broadband upload and download is the same cable delivering untold amounts of bandwidth just for TV decoding. With a box on the backend to back it up for numerous customers, and all the frontends being the set top boxes.
The cable companies are hoarding this bandwidth - because they know that if it were allowed to be used for unfettered internet usage (like, if they were ever forced to open up the cable lines to other ISPs) - that internet TV would kill them.
It would be, could be - a P2P TV model, TIVO-like boxes everywhere, everyone a consumer, and everyone a potential broadcaster. Vlogs (what a crap word) are already becoming popular, and there are a few pieces of software which have recently come about that combine the power of bittorrent, RSS feeds, and to a lesser extent - TIVO-like functionality - to allow for a many-to-many P2P video sharing entertainment system.
It is crazy - cable companies could quite possibly continue making money (a ton of money) if they just wouldn't be so tight fisted about it. The writing is plainly on the wall - people don't want all these separate devices - they want devices that talk to each other, in a very easy to use manner - they want to keep the video, share it, some want to create it, others just want to view it. They want to time shift it, space shift it, and location shift it.
These companies, the MPAA, the RIAA, the cable companies, the broadcasters, and tons others - DO NOT WANT THIS TO HAPPEN. But it is happenning anyway. They kept talking about convergence, but really didn't want to see it happen, and played it off that consumers weren't wanting it. The fact is, that consumers don't want it in the form they are pushing - which is the bare minimum. Give it to the consumer, to the people - in an open and free form, that creative types and innovative types can really use - and WATCH OUT...
Actually - this is possible - it is called (IIRC) "forge welding" - basically, you get both of your pieces of steel super red hot, place them one on top of the other on an anvil, and pound them as hard as you can with your blacksmith's hammer. This may require more than one person to accomplish, and you need some good strength, because you have to pound that shit HARD. Plus, you need to keep it red hot as you work it. In the end, though, with a bit of patience and skill you will end up with a single piece of steel which can then be worked further.
BTW - this was one of the steps in the making of the "folded steel" (can't remember its true name) samuri swords - basically, getting the steel red hot, folding it over, pounding it flat (and welding it together), pounding it out and stretching it, folding it again, pounding it (welding), etc - until you had the material ready, then continue shaping it into the sword (actually, these swords are much more complicated than this - but that is the basic process - the original method was lost, but they have recreated the method in modern times)...
Still waiting - perhaps there is a lobby of owners of the LD who don't want a DVD version out because then the value of the LD drops like a rock...?
With a VCR, I can record as much as I want (for however many tapes I need), and *keep* those recordings - for as long as they will last. Case in point, my wife and I have *every* episode of X-Files recorded - plus every episode of Millenium. Sure, I could buy the DVDs, and the video would be better - but sometimes watching those old commercials can be entertaining by themselves. Plus, I didn't have to pay (again - because I already paid the cable company once).
I think that is why people aren't adopting "new recording media" - the new methods are locked down with DRM and such, or they aren't easy to share with friends, family, or even withing the same house (among sets in the house).
I think if a company came out and made a TIVO-like device (it wouldn't even need a program guide, but if it did, it would be great) that could record many hours of video, and easily network to any existing network or PC in your house, so that any PC (or any other of the same recording device) could "watch" the library of collected videos, and/or download them, etc - with NO DRM (ie, a straight MPEG2 or MPEG4 video) - to a fileserver (if you have one), etc - and make it all fairly easy to use (it wouldn't have to be dead simple - but making it very easy to use just for the machine and others on the network - maybe a built in wireless router or AP which would mesh network with other machines in the house?). Perhaps add USB2 or Firewire to make it easy to expand the hard drive size (or, make a "front load" hard drive bay for a hard drive upgrade option or something?).
Add on top of all that the ability to play MP3s from anywhere on the drive or on the network, audio/video inputs, ability to record audio to MP3, perhaps a DVD drive as well, plus web browsing, and give the MP3 player some nice visualizations for party use - you would have a killer box.
However, I don't expect to ever see such a thing, at least not in the near term, which I why I am planning on a custom box (right now centered on an old I-Cue PC Book PC box with a DVD drive, plus a small hard drive and networked to my Samba server - but maybe later if I like the setup, since it can't record, maybe building a Myth TV box).
Of course, as of late, for the past couple of weeks my wife and I have dropped even watching TV - we have started listening to books on CD from the library, so I think the TV is likely to become just "another monitor", mainly for movies and such...
Doubt you will read this, AC, but I agree with you - using old radiators is likely the best choice for any homebrew heat exchanger design, because they are engineered heat exchangers made for the task. I would actually go one step further: Go to an air conditioning repair company and see if they have any old "throwaway" leaky A/C radiators (ie, the heat exchangers on the outside of A/C units that use freon). These may be worthless for freon, but will probably be perfect for a water-based chiller system (unless there is an abnormally large hole in it)...
I got sick and tired of having to constantly spend close to $80.00 on cartridges for my ink jet printer (Epson Stylus PhotoSmart 700 or something like that). I had bought it because of a nifty (ooh - ahh) photo-quality picture insert in a magazine advertisement. I think I printed a single actual photo on that printer, and while yes, the quality was very good, the cost for consumables just wasn't worth it, and the damn thing kept clogging up (once I had to send it back while under warantee to get it fixed!). I finally got fed up...
I went to a local computer surplus reseller, and purchased a used a HP Laserjet 6P (25000 page count!) for about $100.00, and a refilled toner cartridge from a local supplier (Action Computers here in Phoenix, AZ - if you need ink products for anything made in the last 75 years, they probably have it or can get it!) - that was about 5 years ago, and I have yet to replace anything other than paper!
More recently, I have been doing a lot of looking around at local area Goodwill stores, and I have been noticing a seeming abundance of laser printers, many of them HP Laserjets (mainly 5x, 6x, and a few recent 1100's) - most of them going for under $25.00. I recently purchased a 5P for around $15.00 (IIRC), came with a toner cartridge and works perfectly, plus it too had a low page count (around 50,000).
I figure between cheap Goodwill laser printers and this site, I should have no more problems with printers in the future...
If there was a true market for this kind of a system, we would be using them *today*.
Of course, it shouldn't surprise me that old technology through the years is seen as "gee whiz new" and such. People here old enough will remember when the jump (in ordinary consumer vehicles) to disc brakes was the "big thing"? These were first introduced in the late 1940's on Preston Tucker's Torpedo (disc brakes were long used on aircraft, where Tucker got most of his inspiration from). Or, what about fuel injected engines? I could show you an original Popular Mechanics from the late 1950's detailing a revolutionary engine design to save fuel, with improved horsepower - they didn't call it a fuel injection engine, but the design is all there. Or - more recently - Lexus (or was it Infinity?) has introduced a new model in their line of cars with headlights that angle as you steer - so that the headlights follow your turn. This would be revolutionary, would it not be for the fact that, yep - once again, the Tucker Torpedo had that in 1949 as well (along with an airbag system - another Tucker innovation)...
Once again, this does nothing but show that on the whole, people are ignorant and forgetful puds who seemingly gloss over revolutionary ideas time and time again, typically screwing the orignial inventor or innovator out of rightful earnings, only to see the same thing pop up again and be "ultra popular" 10 to 50 years down the line. It is maddenning, and frustrating to watch (I am just waiting for the new and cool tech called Virtual Reality to pop up again - if it happens, it will likely happen this year, given all the other wierd crap happenning - Pink Floyd getting back together? MJ aquitted? JWZ going to OSX? What is this world coming to?)...
Basically, set up a closed loop heat exchanger system by leaving the coil he already has set up on the fan, and set up a similar coil in a large diameter PVC pipe or box of some type (made from fiberglass, or resin coated wood, or something similar). This second box needs to have a fan that will draw air thru the coil and out the side of the box. The bottom of the box is a water resevoir (holding a couple of inches, like a swamp cooler). Water is then pumped and "misted" or "dripped" over the coil. As it "waterfalls" down the coils, some of it evaporates, picking up the heat in the coil. This evaporation is also helped by the fan in the box/tube (with a long tube, you could mist from the top and let it evaporate on the way down - some guy a few years back set up such a system to cool his CPU with - it was basically what I am describing here, but smaller for a CPU). Set this system outside, run the intake/output lines into the house to the coil fan.
What this system is, is essentially a low-cost (and probably fairly inefficient) "chiller" unit - larger versions of these are used in industrial settings, as well as "pre-coolers" for air-conditioning systems. They actually work pretty well, depending on humidity. Basically, you can figure you will get the same cooling as you would with a swamp cooler, but instead without all of the extra humidity a standard swamp cooler pumps into the house. The closed loop of the chiller water recirculation unit keeps the water usage inline (basically making it about as cheap to run as a swamp cooler).
Honestly, you could probably even repurpose a regular side or bottom-draft swamp cooler for this - just let the air vent to the outside, and mount the chiller coils in place of (or in addition to) the pads on the unit...
I am not sure this is unusual or not - my wife's little brother (who is 16) listens to and enjoys stuff that we liked, too - from the 70's and 80's - really weird when I saw his new AC/DC t-shirt...
Actually, I would my children to become financially responsible and independent adults, and not have to sponge off of my hard work for the rest of their lives. Why should they get a free ride if I didn't have one? Sure, a trust fund or something for an inheritance, to be applied to some particular use (education, for example) - something to truely better theirselves with - that would OK. But to just "become" fabulously wealthy without doing a thing for it - not over my dead body!
As far as wars are concerned, and as a child poster surmised - I personally think that wars and acts of violence are completely irrational. If you take a "simple" war, between two armies, and remove any one man from either of those armies - providing those men are acting rationally, and not emotionally - if you ask them, "Should you be fighting against each other?", they will probably look at you, at each other, and tell you "No - I don't want to kill him". How often have you heard in news stories, in interviews with "the common man" about an on-going war - and inevitably, such a common man from each side will say to the reporter "I just want to left alone and in peace to care for my family"? This is all each of us want, and only irrational madmen want anything different. Strangely enough, these very people for some whacked reason, sometimes rise to the "top" - and lead armies against other nations, causing destruction, strife, loss of life and limb, untold sufferring, and untold loss of massive resources of all kinds, all in the name of some ideal or dogma, which when you rationally look at it, most of the time it makes no sense at all, or was based on a pack of lies. As a group, many go along with it though, despite the irrationality, and it is maddenning to me and others why this is, because we see this, and we are called "unpatriotic" or worse. Simply because we see and attempt to understand the reasons behind the irrational, and we attempt to educate those around us, in a sometime futile attempt to stop the irrational actions we are caught up in. Currently, the greatest of this is being caused by the United States and the Middle East, with Iraq at the center. Elsewhere, it is among the Middle East itself, with Israel and Palestine, or India and Pakistan. How about the insanity with North Korea, Japan, and others? This is only a small sampling, it isn't limited to a few countries, a few races, a few beliefs/religions/dogmas - it is something that is ongoing, and seemingly intrinsically human. But why?
I, and every other human being, understand and struggle with agression and anger, small and large. I can't tell you the number of times during which I have felt angry over stupid and small things, sometimes to the point of breaking things over it! On reflection, after cooling down, I say to myself "That was stupid, and not productive", and I vow not to become so irrational again. Sometimes I don't - but sometimes I do - and I continually wonder why, and I realize that this strange human urge is probably at the base of many of our conflicts between one another.
That doesn't make it right. War and violence tend to be irrational actions or reactions to misperceived wrongs or misunderstandings, and we, as supposedly rational human beings should strive to break from our animalistic bindings and work to erradicate these irrational predispositions we have, or we will ultimately destroy ourselves.
DARPA, and the DOD would *love* to have semi to full autonomous "kill bots" - in a way, today, they already have them for some tasks - they are called "cruise missles", which can be launched, told to stay on "hold" above possible targets, then commanded to strike on located targets. I would assume "located" likely means some form of lat/lon coordinates or painted with a laser (either by troops or from the air).
The exact same thing could be done with a kill bot: send it to a predetermined position, and tell it to "hold fire" unless acted upon agressively, or if non-friendly comes into position (at which point it could bark a series of commands in different languages to the offender - think of it as an active landmine with intelligence that can move on command), which if not heeded, shoots a warning, then if continued, shoots to kill. Friendlies are identified by RFID or similar tags. Equip them with the ability to identify each other, as well as to flock or coordinate efforts with one another. Other commands could be something like "fire on ident", where they could be set up, then when a target is painted with a laser (perhaps from a troop's rifle), it fires on that target.
You better bet that the DOD and DARPA would be all over such a system if it was proven field safe (to our troops) and easy/quick to use, and rugged. They are half way there with the TALON robots already, they just lack the rest of the package, which the Grand Challenge is dealing with...
Of course, one can also easily see the potential of scaled up versions - robotic Humvees and M1A tanks, as well as robotic quads, and perhaps legged versions...
BTW - this last was actually funded by DARPA back in the 1980's, which culminated in the Odetics, Inc. (now known as Iteris, Inc. - based in Anaheim, California - interesting the strange things going on at this company, whatwith name changes, etc - plus, they are developers of an "electronic highway" concept - I am sure there is no relation to the Grand Challenge - wink, wink) ODEX-1 legged walker - a very unique leg design that proved to be fairly robust and strong, while keeping outboard weight (on the legs) to an absolute minimum by moving all the electric motors inward toward the torso of the machine.
Think about it - if you could, in addition to GPS coordinates, vision systems, etc - also bury in the ground or nearby some form of active or passive "locator" beacons, such as what Odetics - oops, I mean Iteris - is developing - wouldn't the problem become just a little bit simpler...?
Nah - DARPA hasn't been thinking about this, not at all, not at all...
So, maybe a series of microphones, strain gauges, and other similar force sensors (beyond the usual inclinometers and such) on various portions of the chassis and suspension might be a good idea on these vehicles.
Ultimately, what is being asked to be constructed is analogous to pack animal of sorts. While most teams have given their animals eyes and a sense of location and orientation, they have probably left out hearing and "touch", as well as proprioception - this last is something that you must do in a legged robot if you wish it to walk, but would it be shocking at all to find out you must do it in a wheeled robot to get it to correctly navigate rough and unfamiliar terrain?
Ask a person with a severe case of FMS (fibromyoalgia) whether proprioception matters or not (even in familiar tasks and conditions!)...
The Torah, and other religious works, should be saved in some form.
However, with that said, if we are ever to advance beyond our current barbarisms, we must realize these works of religion for what they are...myths. Religion has inspired many people to do good. Within most of the worlds "great" religions, and most of the lesser ones, lie messages of peace, hope, and goodwill for our fellow man. However, some of the darkest periods in history were results of, or were instituted by, so-called "religious" people, acting upon supposedly "higher" orders, or so they thought.
Mod me down as "flamebait" if you wish, it doesn't change the facts of the matter...
Not all beginners are "naturals", in fact, most aren't. Consider yourself lucky and fortunate that you didn't have to go through the hell and frustration of learning to weld. My point stands that welding for (most) beginners is anything but simple...
Right here...
On these two points, a lot of people still don't understand what Tesla was trying to do. Whether he was right or wrong (and a lot points to that he was right), is up for debate.
On the notion of "wireless power", we know that it can work - and possibly, some of what Tesla was seeing and developing was along the same lines as what we know to work. For example, radio (Tesla, again), proved that power could be transmitted - plus we have numerous examples of microwave power transmission. We know from historical documents (patents, court filings, etc) that Tesla was thinking and experimenting with both of these things, but that they were merely side-effects of what he was really trying to do.
One thing to keep in mind, is that Tesla was always playing with occillation and resonant frequencies (as well as harmonics). One of his favorites was ideas on the resonant frequency of the earth. In his wireless power transmission ideas, the majority focused upon "pumping" the earth with resonant frequencies, so that the earth would "vibrate" and this could be drawn off by other means. In fact, I wouldn't be a bit surprised if what we know as a "Tesla Coil" isn't in fact a "power reciever" that we are simply playing with "backwards" to create pretty light shows, and that the scaled up versions (like the one in Colorado and Wardenclyff) were simply large transmitters for this (well, we KNOW that the one in Wardenclyff was supposed to be this). That, there wasn't supposed to be "lightning bolts" and other such frivolties from the system - likely, it would have been pretty sedate and quiet. Unfortunately, we will probably never know. So much has been kept hidden, and the rest has either been relegated to the occult and crackpot arena (despite the fact that every day so much of Tesla's work powers the world in so many ways - but for some reason we dismiss his "worldwide power" plan as crackpottery?) that it is unlikely to ever become a reality (if it would have worked, that is).
As far as the "death ray" - it has been speculated (but never proved) that Tesla's "death ray" could have been any number of devices, but there is a couple that seem more likely than others - either in conjunction with one another or separately: an electrical conduit via an ionized air stream, and/or a UV laser of some sort.
Most illustrations from the time (1930s-40s) about Tesla's "death ray", show "searchlight"-type beams emanating from buildings blowing up planes and dirigibles (or blimps). The idea is that these "beams" - formed of either a UV laser (developed by Tesla?) or via large searchlights with UV filters on them - ionizing the air, which would form a conduit down which electricity could be sent (say, generated by a Tesla coil) to disrupt the pilot and/or controls of the plane, or perhaps heat it up enough to cause the fuel tanks to rupture or explode.
All of that is speculation, but the ideas aren't too far fetched - a laser would be an area of study that I could see Tesla toying around with. Whether this is true or not, we may never know - much of Tesla's work (notebooks and such) disappeared almost immediately after his death. Some of it has been speculated to have been secreted away by various parties - most peg it on the KGB and/or members of the US Government, as it being classified information or something. It is known that some did go back to eastern Europe, as some of it has been put into a museum for Tesla in Czechoslovakia. Even so, a ton of it has survived for public scrutiny, most through various biographies and other public works, as well as patents and such. Whether there is really any secret Tesla stuff - it is in the same bin currently as other occult stuff, only time will tell...
So, now we have dual fan PSUs and such, some working at odds with the case fans (with the PSU blowing in, and the case fan(s) blowing in as well) - working to move the heat completely wrong...
Heat rises! If you have a tower style case, you want to work with this fact, so mount a fan up front sucking in cool air (front bottom), and give it a good flow route (ie, bundle your cables, etc out of the way) up, over and around everything to the PSU. For the PSU fans, make sure they are sucking case air and blowing it out the back - follow an "S" curve of airflow in the case. If you have hot running PCI cards, you may need a case fan blowing on them, as well.
Now - if your system is really maxed out, then this advice won't work - because your PSU is going to be dumping some heat as well, and the advice above probably won't help, because you are running preheated air thru the case fan. Old ATX cases used to have a spot for a second fan just below the PSU, behind where the CPU normally was positioned. There are more than a few current cases that have a similar layout. So - for this, work with the airflow again: Have the S curve routed thru this fan, but for the PSU, do something completely different: isolate it from the rest of the system. In this case, route the air from the back of the PSU, in thru the PSU, then out thru the top of the PSU and out the top of the case. Isolate the PSU airflow from the case airflow, in other words, so that the PSU isn't heating the case airflow, and that flow is only moving heat from the case, cards, drives, cpu, etc. This may or may not require mods to the PSU. If your PSU exhausts air from two places, change the fan on the outside to suck air in, and route the internal exhaust fan air out through a custom duct or something, to the outside, and not into the case...
With all of that said, just remember you are trying to route hot air away from components and outside of the case, and bring in cool air from the outside (oh, and don't get the hot and cool air intakes close to each other, nor seal the computer in a cabinet or even a small room without an A/C unit). Ideally, the cases would be easily set up for this, but between the requirements of the ATX spec, the varying layout of PC motherboards, and the cooling requirements of the parts (and, BTW, who thought that mounting an AGP video card upside down was a good thing - grr!) - we have what we have, and the whole design sucks (and not in a good way), so until things change, you have to get very creative and think carefully about what you are trying to accomplish in order to move that hot air OUT...