I tell kids, pain is in their head. The sensory impulses tell the brain "this happened". Without the brain processing the input, it never happened.
Take a kid who just tripped and banged something. Distract them from the pain. Tickle them. Poke them in the arm. Some people just yell "Hey, stop crying!". It distracts them from the pain, and it's either meaningless or just doesn't hurt as bad.
I've sure you've heard of people who have walked on broken legs, because either they had to, or they were stupid. Sometimes you'll read stories of athletes and druggies doing that. They ignore the pain (mentally, or chemically), so it doesn't exist. Some people meditate. I just focus on ignoring the pain, by focusing on something else.
Years ago, I cut my leg pretty badly. I could have cried over it. Instead, I gathered supplies to clean and protect the wound. When I poured alcohol on it, the people around me flinched, but I didn't. A few said "Ouch! Doesn't that hurt?!" Sure it hurts, but I was focused on cleaning the wound, rather than thinking about it. It wasn't that bad. About 3" long, 3/8" deep, and had spread 3/8" wide. I had to ask for help pinching it shut, so I could bandage it properly. I've seen people with papercuts scream more, and they weren't bleeding. I prefer to focus on what has to be done, rather than what is wrong. Then I can observe what else is happening.
I'm not a warm fuzzy meditative holistic nut, that'll drink tea and fruit juice to make the world a better place. I do like to understand the human body, which is an amazing collection of parts, with a little something more that makes us alive. Well, alive if you're reading this.:)
It sounds like you had a serious condition that actually warranted surgery.
I'm not a doctor, but from what I know, these appeared to be the invasive surgeries where they do some light mystery work (lavage is a rinsing with fluids). Any invasive surgery opens the risk for infection. When they make a hole in a person where it doesn't belong, bad things can happen.
I have back problems, the worst stemming from a car accident, where I was twisted (turning the wheel, looking to where I wanted to make the car go to) when the impact occured. Picture putting your hands at 3 and 9 on the steering wheel. Turn the wheel 180 degrees to the right. Turn your head 45 degrees to the right. In that position, imagine an impact hard enough to bounce your head off the steering wheel and headrest, even with the seatbelt worn properly. I had a bruise on my face, the back of my head, and a concussion for over 12 hours.
My doctor was an "accident doctor". It was clear that he treated people with therapy that was good for his income, but not necessarily helpful to the patient. We did sit down and have some well informed discussions (hey, it was on the insurance company dime, why not).
I've spoken with several doctors about it since then. Some are well informed on the treatments, and work in the best interest of the patient. Some enjoy their paycheck, and look to get you under a knife as soon as possible.
The good, well informed ones have told me what the surgical options are. It boils down to "You could go in for surgery to repair the muscle damage. It is invasive. You will hurt for quite a while after from the surgery itself. It very likely won't improve anything.". Stretching, exercise, and some light "as needed" drug therapy (muscle relaxers and OTC pain killers) do work for me.
A lot of the surgery done causes a lot of pain. When that pain subsides (which can take a while depending on the surgery) the pain level may end up just as bad as it was. The placebo effect of it is, you know how bad the pain can get (just after surgery), so the resumed regular pain isn't quite so bad any more. Maybe the pain wasn't "that bad" to start with, so the much more severe abuse makes the patient realize that. Maybe the pain goes away with "I went through all that, it'd have better done something for me."
A friend of mine has serious back problems. He has gone through numerous surgical treatments. He sends out emails to his family and friends on a regular basis, and one of his most recent ones said something like, "It's been a year since my last surgery. The pain is almost down to the way it was when I started."
My lower back has problems too. All of the doctors who reviewed my information agree, when it gets worse, it will need surgery. Not now. The "needs surgery" area doesn't hurt as bad as the "doesn't need surgery" area. I should avoid lifting cars above my head for prolonged periods, and be careful when leaping over tall buildings.:) It's slowed down my superhero business, but I can still save kitties trapped in trees.:)
Another friend had a similar situation to my lower back, in which she did have the surgery. It is a quantifiable problem. The disk is seriously inflamed, has been inflamed for a long period, and won't go down without further treatment. Otherwise, it risks rupture. She was at the risk of rupture point, and she does feel better now.
So, if you had a spine problem, where a disk or vertebrae was actually damaged, sure it will likely help. If "it hurts", with no quantifiable problem, it may not.
The same with knees, or other joints. If they replaced your knees, I would assume they were badly damaged. I don't want to make any assumptions about it, because I don't have enough in
As Tesla proved, it's not the volts that kill you, it's the amps.:)
Ya, there are many caveats to that. (>50 volts to overcome the resistance of dry skin, tesla used very high frequencies, etc)
I've touched both terminals on a group 8D battery (12V 1200A) just to show that it's safe. It usually freaks kids out, especially when I've just spent several minutes explaining that electricity kills, etc, etc, etc.
A lot of it is the load though. In high school, a physics teacher told us the story of a kid who was jump starting his car. It was told as the student went to the school years ago. Ahh, the makings of an urban legend.
Anyways, he was a football player, and his class ring accidentally touched between the terminal and the final connection. He said the ring immediately welded to the terminal and the cable, and due to the resistance of the ring, it became very hot, and melted the skin where he wore the ring.
It may have been true. It may not have. But, it was a valid learning experience. It's the same reason that you're warned not to put wrenches near the battery. It can (and will) arc weld itself in place, and be difficult to remove.
I've never done either the class ring, nor the wrench, but I've touched wires to the terminals (on purpose, mind you), and they've stuck because the arc was hot enough to melt both ends, making a bond.
I have a very healthy respect for electricity. We have a long and sorted history together. Just talking about it makes my hands tingle (a few oops's over the years), none fatal, obviously.
So ya, shorting 5V 300A could be a very bad thing. At least enough to let magic smoke out, and upset some very expensive parts.:)
I wasn't quite as concerned with the screws of the machine, as I would be of say a rack screw. They may use pop-in or fixed tray. Since they have a fixed configuration, I can't imagine they move the rack configurations around much.
But, what about patch panels, or any metal accessories at the top of the rack. As far as that goes, someone may have a note in their pocket saying what to work on, and they pull it out, along with some loose change, which could go bouncing. See, unless it's a truly metal free environment, bad things could happen.
Hell, as far as that goes, someone like me who wears glasses, and doesn't have thick plastic frame glasses, could bump into something, the glasses fall off, and fall into a sea of open cases.
I do really like their velcro method though. It should provide the electrical grounding required of the components (they still touch), while ease of repair. I would suspect when they have a failure, it's failed over to another standby unit, they yank the bad unit and bring it to a workbench, and throw in a good unit. The workbench time would be cut down substantially.
Their design actually reminds me of my "test machine" from when I worked in a computer store. We had parts laid out on a wood board, where we could swap any suspect part into it, and run it in a real machine. Ours was spread out a little more, but it was a different environment.:)
Our test board was left powered off when we weren't using it, and safely put above everything else (up on a shelf). When we tested with it, we used it in a clean area of the shop, where people weren't passing by with stuff. (like screwdrivers, loose change, etc)
I always thought it was funny that they required several voltages. It would seem like it would be more ideal to make everything work to one specification (like 12VDC). I know the voltage regulators drop the voltages as needed for the CPU, but we've been using those for many years now. Not a big deal, but a waste of power. In a single PC, it's not a big deal, but when you're working in groups of 1000 machines, it becomes a bigger problem.
> A 12v battery. I never knew DC was more efficient than AC! WOW GOOGLE IS SO COOL!
Psst. Wanna know a secret?
It's a trade secret, and I really shouldn't be telling you.
Since you seem to be part of the uber cool club, I guess it's ok.
Your computer runs on DC.
Your power supply is really a transformer and rectifier. Most PC's take 120/240VAC and bring them down to 3.3, 5 and 12VDC.
Pop the cover off your PC, and have a look at the specs on the power supply.
I'll make it easy for you. Here's the specs on my 1 year old Compaq workstation.
AC INPUT: (47-63Hz)
100-127V/6A
200-240V/4A
DC OUTPUT +5V=/25A, +12V=/14A
+3.3V=17Am -12V=/0.8A
+5VSB=/2A
+5V & +3.3V Shall not exceed 165W +5V & +12V shall not exceed 218W Max Output Power: 250W
My sneaky suspicion on their wiring would be that the 12VDC battery is inline all the time (kinda like your car battery). If/when the outside power drops, it continues to run on the battery. Like in your car, that's why you can keep listening to the radio after you shut off your engine, unless you have some sort of wiring malfunction or a sad car.:)
Sorry for the car analogy, but it's applicable, and easy tech versus something like a laptop. Most cars don't have a "charging circuit" per say. The alternator (or generator, if it's old enough) just supplies 13.6VDC, and makes everything happy.:)
Laptop drives run slower than their PC counterparts.
Laptops run hotter under load than their PC counterparts.
If you look carefully at the picture, they've found a 12v motherboard, tied a 12v battery directly into it, and used otherwise commodity parts. That's been the mantra for Google for as long as I can remember. Oddly enough, that was my mantra when I built up a big network. Lots and lots (and lots and lots) of cheap servers are better than a handful of really expensive ones. That saved our cumulative posteriors on more than one occasion.
I've spoken with some people who have personal knowledge of Google's equipment. They were setting up with RAID 01 or 10. I suspect with the two drive configuration, they're only setting up with RAID 0 now, and the redundancy is across multiple servers. I can confirm that they are using this open tray system for it's superior cooling.
I had considered open trays like this, except there's one huge downfall. You would have to be amazingly careful of what happens near the rack. If you are screwing something in, and the screw or screwdriver falls, that can become very bad very quickly. Did you see any fuses or breakers from the battery to the power supply?
Short of making the area around the rack a metal-free zone (no screws, screwdrivers, rings, keys, watches, etc), you'd seriously run the risk of shorting something out. I know I've been working up in the higher areas of a rack, and dropped screws. You listen to it rattle it's way down across several machines until it finally hits the floor. Since I use closed servers cases, it's never a problem. Maybe they don't have a big problem with it at Google, but I'd be terrified of it. Anyone who says they've spent any substantial time working in and around racks, and haven't ever dropped anything, are lying. I do love the idea for free airflow and better cooling, but... well... I like to keep magic smoke in it's place.:)
The one-battery-per-server is a nice idea though. I may look into that for future builds. Most PC's have 5v and 12v output. That power supply only indicated a 12v output, and didn't have any wires that indicated anything different.
It would be an interesting project to try. All I need is a space suit with a air reserve, and two portal guns.
You gotta wonder what would happen to say Europa if you opened a portal to the surface of Jupiter.:) Projectile moons could be interesting.:)
I'm not a full believer that the moon can't hold an atmosphere. It has a gravity. Air rises here because it is in the denser part of our atmosphere, and is being pushed to the less dense area. It doesn't just blow off into space. The moon landings proved there is gravity (like, duh). Not great gravity, but it was enough to land on, and walk around on. It would probably need a much thicker atmosphere to gain the same pressure, but I would suspect it would be possible. The hard part would be to get that much atmosphere to it. If you could open a portal between say Jupiter and the moon, and start a fire in the atmosphere, it could recombine atmospheric components into something more useful. We'd likely have to introduce a lot of nitrogen for it to be usable by us though. Unless we find a really cold nitrogen rich asteroid, I'd think we'd be outta luck.:)
Still need a portal gun though. Ahh, always some problem.
It could be fun to open a portal on the surface of the ISS, and one on ground level, and toss a big rock through. Instant shooting stars.:)
The panda is unnecessary. You're working from the old instructions.:)
I know your pain though. I had an SGI Indy, and an SGI Origin 200. As I recall, the Indy wasn't so bad, but the Origin was almost like black magic to upgrade the OS on. I do recall a lot of chanting, and several virgin sacrifices to get it right.
The Indy wasn't amazing either. I compared various tasks run on both the Indy and a 133Mhz Intel Linux machine on the same desk. The Linux machine was blazing fast in comparison. It's pretty though. I have two in the garage still.:) I hope to build something better into the cases someday.
I was lazy, and calculated out the hole to be 18 sq ft (6'x3' square, rather than figuring out the oval). Based on the moon's extremely low pressure (but the existence of some pressure), and right about 15psi at sea level, assuming the earth side was close to sea level, it would create about 75mph wind through the portal. I didn't think too hard on the volume that would be passed through.
I assume you figured out the volume of air that would pass through the portal, correct? Did you take into account that it would slowly add pressure to the moons atmosphere, which would reduce the velocity of the air passing through the portal?
I didn't do the math, for volume and transfer rates, but I would have to guess that your number is probably close. Much better than the implied seconds.:)
One effect that we discussed in regards to the game was opening two portals, one high and one low. The pressure difference between the two holes should have caused a breeze at least. There are no indications in game play that there is any sort of air transfer. If you consider an office building, they usually use special doors at round level. The cool dense air inside the building in summer time, relative to the hot less dense air outside, causes a higher pressure which sits in the building, and attempts to flow downwards.
The office building I'm working in right now is 12 stories tall (approx 120 feet). If the air conditioning equipment shuts down (which has happened a few times), there is still a whistle as the downstairs doors are pushed out slightly from the air pressure, until it finally equalizes to the outside pressures. It's annoying that you always hear a whistle by the front doors, but the cold breeze is nice in the summer when you enter the building.:)
It wouldn't be that sudden. Well, opening the hole would be, but it would only be about 75mph winds. I wouldn't want to stand too close to the hole when I made it.:)
I'll let someone else stick their head through to look around. I'd prefer not to freeze and suffocate at the same time.
Consider how much volume could pass through the hole. A portal in relationship to the size of the earth would be insignificant. The surface of the earth is roughly 5,490,383,250,000,000 square feet. Such a hole would only be roughly 18 square feet.
Take a piece of tape, and put it on a balloon. Put a small pin into it. That's HUGE in comparison. You'll watch the balloon slowly deflate.
The earth has an standard air pressure at sea level of 1013.25 millibars, or 14.696 psi. The moon is approx.00000000001 millibar. Not a vacuum, but definitely lower than earth.
The air speed through the hole would be roughly 75mph. So, it's like the extreme low end of a weak hurricane. Being that I've been out walking around in some, while it can make walking interesting (watch your footing and keep your balance), it's not impossible.
They were never too clear on how a portal gun works. I suspect they didn't think too hard on it. Creative license allows for a lot of things in SciFi, including video games.:) There are a couple givens. It allows for instantaneous travel of an object from Point A to Point B. Velocity is maintained through the portal. It probably doesn't kill you ("The portals are perfectly safe. However, the portal gun isn't. You must never......")
Consider the SciFi of Stargate. The portals of the Stargate, while at fixed origin and destination (relative to the gate, not the universe), create a wormhole. These wormholes have an event horizon which block transmission of air pressure, but allow bidirectional RF communication and unidirectional object travel. If this applied to the Portal universe, there would be absolutely no air pressure change at the gate, but objects would be allowed to pass. We'll assume by the fact that the Portal allows bidirectional travel, they've overcome the ancient problem of unidirectional travel from the Stargate universe.:)
I think my biggest concern would be, does the camcorder freeze because of the cold temperature, or overheat from the lack of protection from solar radiation? One micro meteor into the camcorder could render it useless. But since it allows objects to travel through it, the same micro meteor that would have burnt up in the earths atmosphere would also zing through the gate very easily. Don't stand in front of the Portal.:)
From what I understand, the moon dust was a pretty bad problem with equipment up there. Your camera may get messed up fairly quickly, tossing it onto the moon's surface.
I just checked eBay. They don't have any used working portal guns to test these ideas with.:)
Toss a camcorder out, tied to a rope. Let it record for a little bit, and then pull it back.
How many people have video from the moon? And, do you know what your camera would be worth now, that it's been all the way to the moon?!
A comet could be more interesting, but dangerous if you accidentally remove the starting point gate. Imagine trying to hitch a ride a few billion miles back, especially when you didn't bring enough air.
Slashdot Mirror
You're amazingly correct.
I tell kids, pain is in their head. The sensory impulses tell the brain "this happened". Without the brain processing the input, it never happened.
Take a kid who just tripped and banged something. Distract them from the pain. Tickle them. Poke them in the arm. Some people just yell "Hey, stop crying!". It distracts them from the pain, and it's either meaningless or just doesn't hurt as bad.
I've sure you've heard of people who have walked on broken legs, because either they had to, or they were stupid. Sometimes you'll read stories of athletes and druggies doing that. They ignore the pain (mentally, or chemically), so it doesn't exist. Some people meditate. I just focus on ignoring the pain, by focusing on something else.
Years ago, I cut my leg pretty badly. I could have cried over it. Instead, I gathered supplies to clean and protect the wound. When I poured alcohol on it, the people around me flinched, but I didn't. A few said "Ouch! Doesn't that hurt?!" Sure it hurts, but I was focused on cleaning the wound, rather than thinking about it. It wasn't that bad. About 3" long, 3/8" deep, and had spread 3/8" wide. I had to ask for help pinching it shut, so I could bandage it properly. I've seen people with papercuts scream more, and they weren't bleeding. I prefer to focus on what has to be done, rather than what is wrong. Then I can observe what else is happening.
I'm not a warm fuzzy meditative holistic nut, that'll drink tea and fruit juice to make the world a better place. I do like to understand the human body, which is an amazing collection of parts, with a little something more that makes us alive. Well, alive if you're reading this. :)
It would depend on which you had.
It sounds like you had a serious condition that actually warranted surgery.
I'm not a doctor, but from what I know, these appeared to be the invasive surgeries where they do some light mystery work (lavage is a rinsing with fluids). Any invasive surgery opens the risk for infection. When they make a hole in a person where it doesn't belong, bad things can happen.
I have back problems, the worst stemming from a car accident, where I was twisted (turning the wheel, looking to where I wanted to make the car go to) when the impact occured. Picture putting your hands at 3 and 9 on the steering wheel. Turn the wheel 180 degrees to the right. Turn your head 45 degrees to the right. In that position, imagine an impact hard enough to bounce your head off the steering wheel and headrest, even with the seatbelt worn properly. I had a bruise on my face, the back of my head, and a concussion for over 12 hours.
My doctor was an "accident doctor". It was clear that he treated people with therapy that was good for his income, but not necessarily helpful to the patient. We did sit down and have some well informed discussions (hey, it was on the insurance company dime, why not).
I've spoken with several doctors about it since then. Some are well informed on the treatments, and work in the best interest of the patient. Some enjoy their paycheck, and look to get you under a knife as soon as possible.
The good, well informed ones have told me what the surgical options are. It boils down to "You could go in for surgery to repair the muscle damage. It is invasive. You will hurt for quite a while after from the surgery itself. It very likely won't improve anything.". Stretching, exercise, and some light "as needed" drug therapy (muscle relaxers and OTC pain killers) do work for me.
A lot of the surgery done causes a lot of pain. When that pain subsides (which can take a while depending on the surgery) the pain level may end up just as bad as it was. The placebo effect of it is, you know how bad the pain can get (just after surgery), so the resumed regular pain isn't quite so bad any more. Maybe the pain wasn't "that bad" to start with, so the much more severe abuse makes the patient realize that. Maybe the pain goes away with "I went through all that, it'd have better done something for me."
A friend of mine has serious back problems. He has gone through numerous surgical treatments. He sends out emails to his family and friends on a regular basis, and one of his most recent ones said something like, "It's been a year since my last surgery. The pain is almost down to the way it was when I started."
My lower back has problems too. All of the doctors who reviewed my information agree, when it gets worse, it will need surgery. Not now. The "needs surgery" area doesn't hurt as bad as the "doesn't need surgery" area. I should avoid lifting cars above my head for prolonged periods, and be careful when leaping over tall buildings. :) It's slowed down my superhero business, but I can still save kitties trapped in trees. :)
Another friend had a similar situation to my lower back, in which she did have the surgery. It is a quantifiable problem. The disk is seriously inflamed, has been inflamed for a long period, and won't go down without further treatment. Otherwise, it risks rupture. She was at the risk of rupture point, and she does feel better now.
So, if you had a spine problem, where a disk or vertebrae was actually damaged, sure it will likely help. If "it hurts", with no quantifiable problem, it may not.
The same with knees, or other joints. If they replaced your knees, I would assume they were badly damaged. I don't want to make any assumptions about it, because I don't have enough in
If I get your analogy right, you're indicating the IRS acts as bank robbers or mafia-style "protection" rackets do, correct?
I strongly suggest you pay us, or "bad things" may happen.
It'd be a terrible shame if we had to put you in jail, and take away everything you own. Your money is going to the government, so we can protect you.
It'd be a terrible shame if Mr. 357 were to go off. It's for your own protection.
It'd be a terrible shame if this nice shop of yours was to get messed up, but it's ok, you can pay us to protect you.
Ya, I can see it.
We've been dancing very nicely together for many years now. I've done some higher voltage playing, while paying extra special attention to safety. :)
I've made a few things heat up, but they've been kind enough to be melted wires/boards and popped circuit breakers. :)
As Tesla proved, it's not the volts that kill you, it's the amps. :)
Ya, there are many caveats to that. (>50 volts to overcome the resistance of dry skin, tesla used very high frequencies, etc)
I've touched both terminals on a group 8D battery (12V 1200A) just to show that it's safe. It usually freaks kids out, especially when I've just spent several minutes explaining that electricity kills, etc, etc, etc.
A lot of it is the load though. In high school, a physics teacher told us the story of a kid who was jump starting his car. It was told as the student went to the school years ago. Ahh, the makings of an urban legend.
Anyways, he was a football player, and his class ring accidentally touched between the terminal and the final connection. He said the ring immediately welded to the terminal and the cable, and due to the resistance of the ring, it became very hot, and melted the skin where he wore the ring.
It may have been true. It may not have. But, it was a valid learning experience. It's the same reason that you're warned not to put wrenches near the battery. It can (and will) arc weld itself in place, and be difficult to remove.
I've never done either the class ring, nor the wrench, but I've touched wires to the terminals (on purpose, mind you), and they've stuck because the arc was hot enough to melt both ends, making a bond.
I have a very healthy respect for electricity. We have a long and sorted history together. Just talking about it makes my hands tingle (a few oops's over the years), none fatal, obviously.
So ya, shorting 5V 300A could be a very bad thing. At least enough to let magic smoke out, and upset some very expensive parts. :)
I wasn't quite as concerned with the screws of the machine, as I would be of say a rack screw. They may use pop-in or fixed tray. Since they have a fixed configuration, I can't imagine they move the rack configurations around much.
But, what about patch panels, or any metal accessories at the top of the rack. As far as that goes, someone may have a note in their pocket saying what to work on, and they pull it out, along with some loose change, which could go bouncing. See, unless it's a truly metal free environment, bad things could happen.
Hell, as far as that goes, someone like me who wears glasses, and doesn't have thick plastic frame glasses, could bump into something, the glasses fall off, and fall into a sea of open cases.
I do really like their velcro method though. It should provide the electrical grounding required of the components (they still touch), while ease of repair. I would suspect when they have a failure, it's failed over to another standby unit, they yank the bad unit and bring it to a workbench, and throw in a good unit. The workbench time would be cut down substantially.
Their design actually reminds me of my "test machine" from when I worked in a computer store. We had parts laid out on a wood board, where we could swap any suspect part into it, and run it in a real machine. Ours was spread out a little more, but it was a different environment. :)
Our test board was left powered off when we weren't using it, and safely put above everything else (up on a shelf). When we tested with it, we used it in a clean area of the shop, where people weren't passing by with stuff. (like screwdrivers, loose change, etc)
That's still only 90% efficiency. If they didn't have to change the voltage to operate, that would be out of the equation entirely. :)
I always thought it was funny that they required several voltages. It would seem like it would be more ideal to make everything work to one specification (like 12VDC). I know the voltage regulators drop the voltages as needed for the CPU, but we've been using those for many years now. Not a big deal, but a waste of power. In a single PC, it's not a big deal, but when you're working in groups of 1000 machines, it becomes a bigger problem.
It's not how paranoid he is, it's how paranoid his bosses are.
Just because they're paranoid doesn't mean there isn't someone out to get them.
But more importantly, if they're paying for the hours, who cares how paranoid they are, as long as they have the cash. :)
> A 12v battery. I never knew DC was more efficient than AC! WOW GOOGLE IS SO COOL!
Psst. Wanna know a secret?
It's a trade secret, and I really shouldn't be telling you.
Since you seem to be part of the uber cool club, I guess it's ok.
Your computer runs on DC.
Your power supply is really a transformer and rectifier. Most PC's take 120/240VAC and bring them down to 3.3, 5 and 12VDC.
Pop the cover off your PC, and have a look at the specs on the power supply.
I'll make it easy for you. Here's the specs on my 1 year old Compaq workstation.
AC INPUT: (47-63Hz)
100-127V/6A
200-240V/4A
DC OUTPUT +5V=/25A, +12V=/14A
+3.3V=17Am -12V=/0.8A
+5VSB=/2A
+5V & +3.3V Shall not exceed 165W
+5V & +12V shall not exceed 218W
Max Output Power: 250W
My sneaky suspicion on their wiring would be that the 12VDC battery is inline all the time (kinda like your car battery). If/when the outside power drops, it continues to run on the battery. Like in your car, that's why you can keep listening to the radio after you shut off your engine, unless you have some sort of wiring malfunction or a sad car. :)
Sorry for the car analogy, but it's applicable, and easy tech versus something like a laptop. Most cars don't have a "charging circuit" per say. The alternator (or generator, if it's old enough) just supplies 13.6VDC, and makes everything happy. :)
Welcome to the club. Oh wait, you're already a longstanding member, right along with me. :)
Actually, they're not.
Laptops run slower than their PC counterparts.
Laptop drives run slower than their PC counterparts.
Laptops run hotter under load than their PC counterparts.
If you look carefully at the picture, they've found a 12v motherboard, tied a 12v battery directly into it, and used otherwise commodity parts. That's been the mantra for Google for as long as I can remember. Oddly enough, that was my mantra when I built up a big network. Lots and lots (and lots and lots) of cheap servers are better than a handful of really expensive ones. That saved our cumulative posteriors on more than one occasion.
I've spoken with some people who have personal knowledge of Google's equipment. They were setting up with RAID 01 or 10. I suspect with the two drive configuration, they're only setting up with RAID 0 now, and the redundancy is across multiple servers. I can confirm that they are using this open tray system for it's superior cooling.
I had considered open trays like this, except there's one huge downfall. You would have to be amazingly careful of what happens near the rack. If you are screwing something in, and the screw or screwdriver falls, that can become very bad very quickly. Did you see any fuses or breakers from the battery to the power supply?
Short of making the area around the rack a metal-free zone (no screws, screwdrivers, rings, keys, watches, etc), you'd seriously run the risk of shorting something out. I know I've been working up in the higher areas of a rack, and dropped screws. You listen to it rattle it's way down across several machines until it finally hits the floor. Since I use closed servers cases, it's never a problem. Maybe they don't have a big problem with it at Google, but I'd be terrified of it. Anyone who says they've spent any substantial time working in and around racks, and haven't ever dropped anything, are lying. I do love the idea for free airflow and better cooling, but ... well ... I like to keep magic smoke in it's place. :)
The one-battery-per-server is a nice idea though. I may look into that for future builds. Most PC's have 5v and 12v output. That power supply only indicated a 12v output, and didn't have any wires that indicated anything different.
Well, there are only two kinds of people in the world. Those with ADD and ......
It would be an interesting project to try. All I need is a space suit with a air reserve, and two portal guns.
You gotta wonder what would happen to say Europa if you opened a portal to the surface of Jupiter. :) Projectile moons could be interesting. :)
I'm not a full believer that the moon can't hold an atmosphere. It has a gravity. Air rises here because it is in the denser part of our atmosphere, and is being pushed to the less dense area. It doesn't just blow off into space. The moon landings proved there is gravity (like, duh). Not great gravity, but it was enough to land on, and walk around on. It would probably need a much thicker atmosphere to gain the same pressure, but I would suspect it would be possible. The hard part would be to get that much atmosphere to it. If you could open a portal between say Jupiter and the moon, and start a fire in the atmosphere, it could recombine atmospheric components into something more useful. We'd likely have to introduce a lot of nitrogen for it to be usable by us though. Unless we find a really cold nitrogen rich asteroid, I'd think we'd be outta luck. :)
Still need a portal gun though. Ahh, always some problem.
It could be fun to open a portal on the surface of the ISS, and one on ground level, and toss a big rock through. Instant shooting stars. :)
The panda is unnecessary. You're working from the old instructions. :)
I know your pain though. I had an SGI Indy, and an SGI Origin 200. As I recall, the Indy wasn't so bad, but the Origin was almost like black magic to upgrade the OS on. I do recall a lot of chanting, and several virgin sacrifices to get it right.
The Indy wasn't amazing either. I compared various tasks run on both the Indy and a 133Mhz Intel Linux machine on the same desk. The Linux machine was blazing fast in comparison. It's pretty though. I have two in the garage still. :) I hope to build something better into the cases someday.
I'm curious about your 9000 year number.
I was lazy, and calculated out the hole to be 18 sq ft (6'x3' square, rather than figuring out the oval). Based on the moon's extremely low pressure (but the existence of some pressure), and right about 15psi at sea level, assuming the earth side was close to sea level, it would create about 75mph wind through the portal. I didn't think too hard on the volume that would be passed through.
I assume you figured out the volume of air that would pass through the portal, correct? Did you take into account that it would slowly add pressure to the moons atmosphere, which would reduce the velocity of the air passing through the portal?
I didn't do the math, for volume and transfer rates, but I would have to guess that your number is probably close. Much better than the implied seconds. :)
One effect that we discussed in regards to the game was opening two portals, one high and one low. The pressure difference between the two holes should have caused a breeze at least. There are no indications in game play that there is any sort of air transfer. If you consider an office building, they usually use special doors at round level. The cool dense air inside the building in summer time, relative to the hot less dense air outside, causes a higher pressure which sits in the building, and attempts to flow downwards.
The office building I'm working in right now is 12 stories tall (approx 120 feet). If the air conditioning equipment shuts down (which has happened a few times), there is still a whistle as the downstairs doors are pushed out slightly from the air pressure, until it finally equalizes to the outside pressures. It's annoying that you always hear a whistle by the front doors, but the cold breeze is nice in the summer when you enter the building. :)
It wouldn't be that sudden. Well, opening the hole would be, but it would only be about 75mph winds. I wouldn't want to stand too close to the hole when I made it. :)
I'll let someone else stick their head through to look around. I'd prefer not to freeze and suffocate at the same time.
Nope. Good try though. See my other reply. :)
Not really.
Consider how much volume could pass through the hole. A portal in relationship to the size of the earth would be insignificant. The surface of the earth is roughly 5,490,383,250,000,000 square feet. Such a hole would only be roughly 18 square feet.
Take a piece of tape, and put it on a balloon. Put a small pin into it. That's HUGE in comparison. You'll watch the balloon slowly deflate.
The earth has an standard air pressure at sea level of 1013.25 millibars, or 14.696 psi. The moon is approx .00000000001 millibar. Not a vacuum, but definitely lower than earth.
The air speed through the hole would be roughly 75mph. So, it's like the extreme low end of a weak hurricane. Being that I've been out walking around in some, while it can make walking interesting (watch your footing and keep your balance), it's not impossible.
They were never too clear on how a portal gun works. I suspect they didn't think too hard on it. Creative license allows for a lot of things in SciFi, including video games. :) There are a couple givens. It allows for instantaneous travel of an object from Point A to Point B. Velocity is maintained through the portal. It probably doesn't kill you ("The portals are perfectly safe. However, the portal gun isn't. You must never ......")
Consider the SciFi of Stargate. The portals of the Stargate, while at fixed origin and destination (relative to the gate, not the universe), create a wormhole. These wormholes have an event horizon which block transmission of air pressure, but allow bidirectional RF communication and unidirectional object travel. If this applied to the Portal universe, there would be absolutely no air pressure change at the gate, but objects would be allowed to pass. We'll assume by the fact that the Portal allows bidirectional travel, they've overcome the ancient problem of unidirectional travel from the Stargate universe. :)
I think my biggest concern would be, does the camcorder freeze because of the cold temperature, or overheat from the lack of protection from solar radiation? One micro meteor into the camcorder could render it useless. But since it allows objects to travel through it, the same micro meteor that would have burnt up in the earths atmosphere would also zing through the gate very easily. Don't stand in front of the Portal. :)
From what I understand, the moon dust was a pretty bad problem with equipment up there. Your camera may get messed up fairly quickly, tossing it onto the moon's surface.
I just checked eBay. They don't have any used working portal guns to test these ideas with. :)
and the only significant part of they key is: ,.9m:Q9UCPK#hDUmr0z@XtC%!],$q_vc
Makes it look tougher though, doesn't it? :) Kinda like putting racing stripes on a Yugo. :)
Ya. :)
I was going to write that it was funny I used a longer key than the message, but I figured I'd save that for someone else. :)
No one has gotten my other jokes. Then again, I don't usually give out the key right behind it. :)
The cake is a lie!
{sigh}
Aim at the moon and fire the first.
Aim at your wall, and fire the second.
Toss a camcorder out, tied to a rope. Let it record for a little bit, and then pull it back.
How many people have video from the moon? And, do you know what your camera would be worth now, that it's been all the way to the moon?!
A comet could be more interesting, but dangerous if you accidentally remove the starting point gate. Imagine trying to hitch a ride a few billion miles back, especially when you didn't bring enough air.
Encryption Method: Base64 then Rijndael/AES-256 then Base64
Encryption Key: ,.9m:Q9UCPK#hDUmr0z@XtC%!],$q_vcrkWWz[xh;VAMLT]l9gFzMpm}zSh4ThaaXNU&IkdZwL@o36^?hIaa_qGEZ/F8*R7.]vb2^#$6ci@N%]d-5+&_p.-I>P:XDbahKx}7_i#VdJztATOE[01JVSW]9go.66FT^@@|-l86oG[RZibs,(
Thank god. The pinks almost burnt out my optical receptors...
Excuse me, I need to go play another game of chess with CADIE. She's getting better. She may be able to win against me one day, but I doubt it.
Encrypted Message: F9K2mi7RDje0xNAxJDAT96fWbGCOF1y+1/CKpZ66PUs=