Just 'cos I e-mailed them to ask about UK availability, they sent me the 24-piece Acrobot set! I've played with it some, and it's really clever; all those degrees of freedom make Lego look dull.
Having only two pieces is like assembly language all over again. Guess I have the xmas presents for f&f sorted now...
One of Carter's previous efforts was Carter Wind Systems, whose noisy creations were not well thought of in the industry. There were legal problems.
A Programmer & Union Rep writes...
on
Dial U for Union
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· Score: 1
I'm father of the union chapel at my place of work (in publishing, hence the ecclesiastical union terms). I've carried through employee grievances (with some success) and advise members and non-members alike on their rights at work.
This is when I'm not working on multilingual typesetting and dictionary data development. The two aims are not incompatible; I gain great enjoyment from the tech side and the people side.
To those who have expressed rabid disdain of unions, I say that I'm glad you work in such a great place with great management, and that you and your dependents feel secure. To the rest of us, my cubicle door (if it had one) is always open...
Been there, done that.
on
Flywheel UPS
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· Score: 1
Flywheels are old news amongst the renewable energy community. The first mechanical inverters (DC->AC converters) were just a DC motor connected to an AC generator through a flywheel to smooth out the lumps. Not tremendously efficient, but robust.
A large flywheel was tried as a short term storage/smoothing system on Fair Isle (Shetlands), which gets its power from a clever wind/diesel system. The so-called "Kinetic Energy Storage System" [KESS] engineered by BP worked in testing, but was removed after liability worries if the bearings seized. Last I saw of the KESS's kevlar-composite case, it was being used as an attractive flowerpot by one of the islanders.
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Just 'cos I e-mailed them to ask about UK availability, they sent me the 24-piece Acrobot set! I've played with it some, and it's really clever; all those degrees of freedom make Lego look dull.
Having only two pieces is like assembly language all over again. Guess I have the xmas presents for f&f sorted now...
One of Carter's previous efforts was Carter Wind Systems, whose noisy creations were not well thought of in the industry. There were legal problems.
I'm father of the union chapel at my place of work (in publishing, hence the ecclesiastical union terms). I've carried through employee grievances (with some success) and advise members and non-members alike on their rights at work.
This is when I'm not working on multilingual typesetting and dictionary data development. The two aims are not incompatible; I gain great enjoyment from the tech side and the people side.
To those who have expressed rabid disdain of unions, I say that I'm glad you work in such a great place with great management, and that you and your dependents feel secure. To the rest of us, my cubicle door (if it had one) is always open...
Flywheels are old news amongst the renewable energy community. The first mechanical inverters (DC->AC converters) were just a DC motor connected to an AC generator through a flywheel to smooth out the lumps. Not tremendously efficient, but robust.
A large flywheel was tried as a short term storage/smoothing system on Fair Isle (Shetlands), which gets its power from a clever wind/diesel system. The so-called "Kinetic Energy Storage System" [KESS] engineered by BP worked in testing, but was removed after liability worries if the bearings seized. Last I saw of the KESS's kevlar-composite case, it was being used as an attractive flowerpot by one of the islanders.