Yeah, and maybe I broke into someone's house to give them a new TV set as an act of random generosity. Why did the Courts put me in jail for burglary? How do they know I wasn't going to give back the TV or that I wasn't just moving it around?
I was a teenager, and was thinking "MAINS ISOLATION??? Only wusses need mains isolation. I'm tough, bring on the mains, I can take it." I used a high power wound 100 watt aluminium-on-ceramic-cased resistors with 5Celsius/Watt heatsink.
My calculations were correct but wrong (smoothing capacitor but no voltage regulator). Many components e.g. fans, hard disk motors have slow-start so they consume less current at start. V=IR so less current through the resistor means lower voltage differential across the resistor which means overvoltage on the motherboard. My voltmeter told me I put +45V on the 5V power rail before I heard popping and sizzling. Hmmmmmmm.
My Uncle made the same mistake as me except he's a mechanical engineer. He was fixing a mower and it had a 13 amp fuse, it was live and he dropped a screwdriver which unluckily landed on the live and neutral wires simultaneously. The fuse blew in about 0.5 seconds, after the 13-amp certified wires had boiled away. ER said if he wasn't wearing his safety glasses he'd be blind. They had to pick the solder balls out of his face one by one, it took 3 hours. The Doc said the last time he saw an injury like that was when a dog tried to attack a porcupine..
So now you know what you need to fix before you try it again, and this time, please, get the solder rain on videotape
No way, I'm a "professional engineer" now so I know it was stupid. Mains isolation is cool, you don't know who's going to be tinkering inside the case.
Exactly. I used to design AC soft starters so the rotor spinning at anything other than 1450rpm for significant time was rare. (We did some 7 and 14% jogging but we time-limited the operation.) Now that we're into variable frequency drives the norm is to have a much smaller blower motor driving the fan instead of having the fan hang of the rear shaft of the drive motor.
Wow, now that's efficiency. I can imagine in 50 years some maintainer driving a 50-year old cadillac complaining about the "good old days" when everything was on the rotor, and all you had to do was periodically change the commutator brushes. This is why the Empire State building uses the original generators from the 1920s. It's possible that there will be a backlash against the planned obsolescence used nowadays. Eliminating rotor-based fans completely should be impossible. There weould need to be some sort of guide vanes for directing the cooling air to places that would otherwise become hotspots, especially on the opposite side of the cooling fan. Sounds liek a perfect candidate for aerodynamics computer-modelling to find the best tradeoff.
Ahhh, that's good design, many motors are fan cooled (the fan being driven by the rotor). In computer fans I assumed a proportion of the airflow from was used to cool the motor. Hmmmm putting that much resistance in the windings sounds like it introduces significant inefficiency (in heat I*I*R) but then again in small fans where I << 1 power loss due to windings resistance should be very low despite resistance-protection. Hmmmmm.
In industrial motors e.g. 5kW corporate AirCon units a big fan is attached to the rotor to cool the motor itself. It's assumed that the fan won't fail (same as ships assume propellers won't fail causing overspeed if it does) and that the motor will run with a minimum RPM (otherwise the rotor fan will lose CFM whilst increasing heat is generated by the current through the windings to handle the torque). High resistance windings in 5kW motors to withstand stalling strikes me as very inefficient. I scaled it down to small fans, hmmmmmmm, can still cause a burnt commutator.
Americans also constantly whine also about the ridiculously low 15% federal tax. Everybody whines, if you don't have three ferraris, a cadillac and a chevy then you're a failure (by Hollywood and American culture). Everybody except CEOs need some sort of excuse so you blame the tax system or the economy, despite the fact that GDP hasn't halved, it's only decreased by like 0.5% or something. Capitalism assumes a redistribution of wealth to some extent, either trickle effect via services, or by redistribution via welfare.
If wealth distribution is stopped then you'll have to shoot starving women and children for stealing bread. I'm happy to pay my high European taxes, so then when I get mugged I can whine about the guy being an asshole. My friend had his fries stolen by a 8-year old starving Kosovan illegal immigrant, he can't legally work and he's not entitled to welfare, he's just doing what is necessary to survive so I can't complain about that.
Given the choice and ability to afford them most of you jump after big cars or big exotic cars - BMW Mercedes ETC ... Emulating America? No! Just human nature kicking in. The little people will always whine about being little until they are not.
The Japanese in Tokyo have far more money than the Europeans, and yet they buy small Nissan cars, not Mercedes. It depends on the culture, and of course a Mercedes is nice and comfotable, even a starving Ethiopean would appreciate the air conditioned cabin, but a Japanese guy driving through Tokyo would experience great inconvenience at having such a big car, he would say, "Take your S-600 and shove it up your big fat American ass, I'm sticking with my Nissan". Assuming that everybody wants to be like you is a mistake many Americans make.
People don't mind American stuff, it's the arrogant attitude they can't take. For instance in Japan the rule is bow deeply and be silent, dosile and respectful unless you know someone well. Mentioning the Yakuza is a joke in US chinatown, but NOT in Tokyo, same as shouting "binLaden kicked your ass HA HA HAAAA!" when you're in the Empire State building isn't funny. When America has to backtrack after saying "We're the best" everyone thinks you Americans are stupid, arrogant little children. After years of Americans boasting about having the best corporate governance structure and corporate integrity and productivity, US officials are now in Europe with their heads held low asking us how we audit companies so they can incorporate new accountancy rules into SEC. America tells us they're the best, America gets shafted, then turns to Europe for help. And still you're arrogant and believe you're better than us. Man oh man. OK America, session's over, get off my psychiatrist's couch and ask the secretary for a return appointment, you're going to be coming here a *long* time;-)... then again I have no right to tell you how to be, but you don't know how you look till you look in the mirror so I have provided a mirror for you (see above)
Yeah, modern PCs run real hot compared to before. I use one of those small battery hoovers (after grounding the nozzle) to suck up the dirt. If dust catches fire, it can come off its anchors in the PC and blow out through the fan like a molotov cocktail. It's possible to change PC design so that the fans periodically reverse rotation direction, dust is very sensitive to changes in airflow direction.
Mechanics isn't as predictable as you'd like to believe. If the fan is old, the buildup of dust would soak up the lubricant and increase friction, causing the electromagnets to overheat (stuck fan overcurrent), the temporary air burst would dislodge this dust and allow the bearings to run smoothly in their raceways again, relieving the motor.
Moral of this story - mechanical engineer thinks about the bearings, electrical engineer thinks about the motor and stator, software engineer thinks about RAID-5.
Caught fire - BORING. When I was young I replaced a PSU with 4 step-down high-power resistors (no mains isolation) with a bridge rectifier and capacitor. It burned bright red, started to pop, then exploded into a fireball spurting burning (ceramic?) fireballs everywhere. Needless to say MOBO+HD+VID were blown and the power rails on the MOBO sizzled spattering the inside of the case with solder rain.
computer cases run hot because NONE of them I have ever seen vent out the top of the case like they should!
Even small extractor fans completely outperform convection cooling. Heat rises because hot air is just slightly less dense. This is why hot air balloons rise at a maximum of 10m/s and F-15 fighters rise at 600m/s. A heat pipe over the CPU heatsink with a strong PSU fan is better than a CPU cooling fan, that's why water-cooling is hot now (pun intended), water-cooling pulls the water all the way from one end of the case to the other, bit still it's far superior to convection cooling.
ARGH!! Another problem that can be solved with a component costing 10 cents - a thermal fuse. All you software engineers trying to read hardware interrupts from fan speeds and temperature sensors. What if the FAN_SENSE wire shorts with the PSU's AC output - even if the fan stops working it'll still look like it's giving 60rpm. Leave this to the electrical engineers now go back to Java or VB software peopl.
I suggest you take a look at ALL the crap on timecop's site. His use of the term "jap" is the least offensive of all this guy's rants.
Personally if I ever meet the guy in Shibuya or somewhere, I'll probably end up taking a swing at the fucker
You claim to understand the Japanese, and yet in the same breath you threaten physical harm against a man you don't know. A Japanese-style slap may be acceptable if he was your subordinate, but straight assault on somebody that may be your elder will not be tolerated. If that's your attitude you won't be in Japan for long, especially if an old school Japanese Judge presides over your case. I will now read the rest of his site as you suggest, I'll be critical of him if it's warranted (because I'm pissed off at a runtime error in my code due to Microsoft's incomplete libraries/API docs)
After all it's also a good opportunity to get rid of some atomic waste, ie depleted uranium
Yup, and so what if a few soldiers breathe in powder from used ammo and get lung cancer? They're fighting for the American way after all, big gas guzzlers being part of the American way.
AAAAARGHHHH!!! I've had enough of you Americans moaning about lack of service. Just use Iridium and shut up. Use anywhere worldwide, excellent reception, although I can't remember if they burnt up a couple of satellites when the parent company (or whatever) went bust.
Then why don't you get the fuck out, timecop? I looked at your what's wrong with Japan [idge.net] page (as well as the rest of the trash on your site [idge.net], and quite frankly, the rest of us gaijin engineers do NOT appreciate redneck racist morons like you sullying our reputations.
After reading the gravity of your accusations I went to his site to see. You are incorrect, he is not racist and many of his comments are spot on, they only seem racist because he uses the provocative WW2 term "Jap" instead of "Japanese guy". American kids do have lots of fun compared to other kids worldwide. As a matter of fact he has made some key undertstatements:
Japanese children go home at sunset - this is not true, the majority of children stay behind at after-school clubs e.g. hockey and Tai Chi, then do civic duties such as sweeping the floor of the school (Japanese schools don't have janitors). They go home at 8pm or later and have 5 hours of homework (I am not joking).
The truth hurts sometimes like Russians saying, "Look at those fat Americans complaining about being fat and then they go to McDonalds, how stupid is that???" It sounds insulting, but it's true.
before you read the article......dont even bother to read it......its just more mindless guesses like "the japanese seem to be good with technology" nonesense
The article isn't about the entire Japanese economy, it's only about some American who visited Japan for a couple of days (not the 5 year minimum required to understand a culture but many Americans are guilty of this) trying to explain in a politically correct way how different products are available in differet countries within the template of the Hollywood stereotype of "Japanese culture". Here's my alternative explanation:
Japan - high-powered economy where you're married to your job. Everybody is rich by American standards, and so money is no object when buying a laptop or anything. A tie costs minimum $300.
America - a nation of trailer-trash, the society is so uncohesive and individualistic that only megacorporations with standardised employment and IP contracts can cooperate effectively. Small and medium size businesses just rip each other off, no sense of trust nor honour, resulting in a "grab what you can from those assholes" culture. It's so bad that if some guy in the street walk up to you and offers you a laptop for $200 cash you'll immediately assume it's stolen or there's something wrong with it. Despite this Americans expect good service. The only way to get money is to dazzle people with something they don't understand to get their money (e.g. dot-coms and Enron) to play on the American fear of looking incompetent at your job (you are what you do). I've never heard an American say, "I'm incompetent at my job, I'm useless, sorry." I think just saying so will cause confusion in Americans
Japanese companies are better at giving Japanese what they want than American companies are at giving Americans what they want.
The Japanese aren't too hot on privacy either. As soon as they see the cookie report on IE6 they set Privacy to "None". The Japanese don't mind ad.doubleclick.net cookies tracking them wherever they go, they trust the corporations as (especially the older generation) believe that a dishonest CEO will commit suicide, making doubelick.net's tactics unthinkable in Japan. It's different there.
The issue with Afganistan is more wanting to put an oil pipline through the country, also Iraq has lots of oil.
Oil for food. Sounds similar to the code for food deal that H-1Bs get. <Krusty the Clown>Bwa ha ha haaaaa, ha ha, ha, huhhhhh</Krusty the Clown>
But seriously for their own good Bush should have 200% import tarriff on crude oil and petrolum (gas). Chicken and egg - don't need fuel efficient cars until gas is expensive, gas is cheap because everybody has gas guzzlers (and forces the politians to let them keep them - drilling in Alaska, etc.).
The US is more likely to attack countries which have some resource US corporations want, currently oil tops the list. (In the past sugar and fruit have been the issue).
I'm not convinced that the US Govt proper knew about WTC in advance. It's pretty obvious that a trashed economy leads to disillusionment and a Government change, and since the Government controls the military, why not use it if it makes the voters happy - what they hay!
However I believe binLaden has outsmarted everybody, historically the only way to collapse a democracy is by spreading fear, causing a counter-effect of inducing blind patriotism, which in turn leads to a totalitarian Government, and in the following consolidation of power voila - a dictatorship. Remember Germany was a democracy until late in WW2. BinLaden is a very very clever man.
I am somewhat offended by the continual arrogant attitude of Americans toward the rest of the world. It's strange that a country with a higher infant mortality rate than Thailand has such an attitude.
First of all, American arrogance is what caused the 9/11 attacks.
Shrek-class troll. You Germans and your damn efficiency. In WW2 Germany was like, "We can drop bombs very efficiently"... So they did.
I find it impossible to rebutt "Human beings are a virus, you don't live in symbiosis with your surroundings, you use up all resources then move on." that the agent said in Matrix. Us Europeans know that if you truly want to make America energy efficient, you must put sub-surface nukes in the oilfields of Saudi, Russia and Alaska to collapse the oil pockets. Then the "markets" will increase the price of gas to European levels, and all SUVs will become abandoned overnight. Don't try to change American culture - binLaden tried and failed. Work *with* their system, same as decreasing the food supply in a bacterial Petri dish. This is all that Joe sixpack KFC-suckin' American will understand.
We also produce more per capita than any other nation.
Because your Government keeps bombing countries that say "NO! We don't want imported American trash, and we're not impressed with your aggressive and libellous sales pitch". GDP calculations also assume that accountants and auditors don't lie. So I question America's Enron-like inflated GDP figures.
A wireless call from New York to Seattle must go from the phone to the relay tower, to a satellite, to another relay tower, then to the recipients phone.
All telcos use point to point microwaves and buried cables (copper or fibre) to span large distances. SONET and SDH are used as the central "backbone". The telcos decide whether it goes over a satellite or not. Are you saying all calls from LA to NY go over satellite? Only if the telco is too lazy to lay cable or decides satellite would be cheaper.
Satellite has advantages over cable - cable is a big investment, and when you eventually finish laying the cable the city might have moved or become a ghost town like Atlantic City. The telcos use actuaries to make these risk assessments.
Scienific proof: When the Americans blew up Afghanistan, this is regarded as "kick Afghanistan's ass" therefore the land mass of a country is regarded as an ass. To also comply with the expression "Kick Taliban butt" implies that the land mass is an ass, plus the people in the land mass are kicked whilst in the ass. The only thing in an ass is 1) Shit and 2) Flesh&Blood. Additionally to comply with the phrase, "God damn Taliban" implies a taboo around the object, there is no taboo regarding flesh & blood, however shit is taboo in many cultures, e.g. eating shit is abhorrent to many cultures.
Conclusion: Therefore Afghanistanis are shit inside an ass called Afghanistan.
Conversely, the Taliban say the same things about the United States, so therefore all people everywhere are shit living in their country (which is an ass).
Limitation of Liability: To contradict this conclusion, you must prove that Rupert Murdoch sometimes lies.
I read it in a newspaper a few days after the Columbine shootings, the media had hyped the shootings and paranoia was at its peak. I don't remember which newspaper. I'm sure Google will reveal it, or maybe this one'll need Altavista Advanced search.
I like almost all movies because it's a good excuse to sit on my ass for a few hours without reading 2000 comments on/. about constitutional intricacies regarding the pledge of allegiance despite the fact the constitution is ignored by the current Govt's handling of unlawful combatants.
My friends also find it easier to digest "I was at the movies for a few hours" than "I was doing stuff on the computer". "What kind of stuff?" they ask, me not wanting to mention/. reply "just uhhhh computer stuff"
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Yeah, and maybe I broke into someone's house to give them a new TV set as an act of random generosity. Why did the Courts put me in jail for burglary? How do they know I wasn't going to give back the TV or that I wasn't just moving it around?
My calculations were correct but wrong (smoothing capacitor but no voltage regulator). Many components e.g. fans, hard disk motors have slow-start so they consume less current at start. V=IR so less current through the resistor means lower voltage differential across the resistor which means overvoltage on the motherboard. My voltmeter told me I put +45V on the 5V power rail before I heard popping and sizzling. Hmmmmmmm.
My Uncle made the same mistake as me except he's a mechanical engineer. He was fixing a mower and it had a 13 amp fuse, it was live and he dropped a screwdriver which unluckily landed on the live and neutral wires simultaneously. The fuse blew in about 0.5 seconds, after the 13-amp certified wires had boiled away. ER said if he wasn't wearing his safety glasses he'd be blind. They had to pick the solder balls out of his face one by one, it took 3 hours. The Doc said the last time he saw an injury like that was when a dog tried to attack a porcupine..
No way, I'm a "professional engineer" now so I know it was stupid. Mains isolation is cool, you don't know who's going to be tinkering inside the case.In industrial motors e.g. 5kW corporate AirCon units a big fan is attached to the rotor to cool the motor itself. It's assumed that the fan won't fail (same as ships assume propellers won't fail causing overspeed if it does) and that the motor will run with a minimum RPM (otherwise the rotor fan will lose CFM whilst increasing heat is generated by the current through the windings to handle the torque). High resistance windings in 5kW motors to withstand stalling strikes me as very inefficient. I scaled it down to small fans, hmmmmmmm, can still cause a burnt commutator.
If wealth distribution is stopped then you'll have to shoot starving women and children for stealing bread. I'm happy to pay my high European taxes, so then when I get mugged I can whine about the guy being an asshole. My friend had his fries stolen by a 8-year old starving Kosovan illegal immigrant, he can't legally work and he's not entitled to welfare, he's just doing what is necessary to survive so I can't complain about that.
The Japanese in Tokyo have far more money than the Europeans, and yet they buy small Nissan cars, not Mercedes. It depends on the culture, and of course a Mercedes is nice and comfotable, even a starving Ethiopean would appreciate the air conditioned cabin, but a Japanese guy driving through Tokyo would experience great inconvenience at having such a big car, he would say, "Take your S-600 and shove it up your big fat American ass, I'm sticking with my Nissan". Assuming that everybody wants to be like you is a mistake many Americans make.People don't mind American stuff, it's the arrogant attitude they can't take. For instance in Japan the rule is bow deeply and be silent, dosile and respectful unless you know someone well. Mentioning the Yakuza is a joke in US chinatown, but NOT in Tokyo, same as shouting "binLaden kicked your ass HA HA HAAAA!" when you're in the Empire State building isn't funny. When America has to backtrack after saying "We're the best" everyone thinks you Americans are stupid, arrogant little children. After years of Americans boasting about having the best corporate governance structure and corporate integrity and productivity, US officials are now in Europe with their heads held low asking us how we audit companies so they can incorporate new accountancy rules into SEC. America tells us they're the best, America gets shafted, then turns to Europe for help. And still you're arrogant and believe you're better than us. Man oh man. OK America, session's over, get off my psychiatrist's couch and ask the secretary for a return appointment, you're going to be coming here a *long* time ;-) ... then again I have no right to tell you how to be, but you don't know how you look till you look in the mirror so I have provided a mirror for you (see above)
Yeah, modern PCs run real hot compared to before. I use one of those small battery hoovers (after grounding the nozzle) to suck up the dirt. If dust catches fire, it can come off its anchors in the PC and blow out through the fan like a molotov cocktail. It's possible to change PC design so that the fans periodically reverse rotation direction, dust is very sensitive to changes in airflow direction.
Moral of this story - mechanical engineer thinks about the bearings, electrical engineer thinks about the motor and stator, software engineer thinks about RAID-5.
Caught fire - BORING. When I was young I replaced a PSU with 4 step-down high-power resistors (no mains isolation) with a bridge rectifier and capacitor. It burned bright red, started to pop, then exploded into a fireball spurting burning (ceramic?) fireballs everywhere. Needless to say MOBO+HD+VID were blown and the power rails on the MOBO sizzled spattering the inside of the case with solder rain.
ARGH!! Another problem that can be solved with a component costing 10 cents - a thermal fuse. All you software engineers trying to read hardware interrupts from fan speeds and temperature sensors. What if the FAN_SENSE wire shorts with the PSU's AC output - even if the fan stops working it'll still look like it's giving 60rpm. Leave this to the electrical engineers now go back to Java or VB software peopl.
<Daffy Duck> 10100101000101000111010111010010 </Daffy Duck>
AAAAARGHHHH!!! I've had enough of you Americans moaning about lack of service. Just use Iridium and shut up. Use anywhere worldwide, excellent reception, although I can't remember if they burnt up a couple of satellites when the parent company (or whatever) went bust.
Japanese children go home at sunset - this is not true, the majority of children stay behind at after-school clubs e.g. hockey and Tai Chi, then do civic duties such as sweeping the floor of the school (Japanese schools don't have janitors). They go home at 8pm or later and have 5 hours of homework (I am not joking).
The truth hurts sometimes like Russians saying, "Look at those fat Americans complaining about being fat and then they go to McDonalds, how stupid is that???" It sounds insulting, but it's true.
Japan - high-powered economy where you're married to your job. Everybody is rich by American standards, and so money is no object when buying a laptop or anything. A tie costs minimum $300.
America - a nation of trailer-trash, the society is so uncohesive and individualistic that only megacorporations with standardised employment and IP contracts can cooperate effectively. Small and medium size businesses just rip each other off, no sense of trust nor honour, resulting in a "grab what you can from those assholes" culture. It's so bad that if some guy in the street walk up to you and offers you a laptop for $200 cash you'll immediately assume it's stolen or there's something wrong with it. Despite this Americans expect good service. The only way to get money is to dazzle people with something they don't understand to get their money (e.g. dot-coms and Enron) to play on the American fear of looking incompetent at your job (you are what you do). I've never heard an American say, "I'm incompetent at my job, I'm useless, sorry." I think just saying so will cause confusion in Americans
<Krusty the Clown>Bwa ha ha haaaaa, ha ha, ha, huhhhhh</Krusty the Clown>
But seriously for their own good Bush should have 200% import tarriff on crude oil and petrolum (gas). Chicken and egg - don't need fuel efficient cars until gas is expensive, gas is cheap because everybody has gas guzzlers (and forces the politians to let them keep them - drilling in Alaska, etc.).
I'm not convinced that the US Govt proper knew about WTC in advance. It's pretty obvious that a trashed economy leads to disillusionment and a Government change, and since the Government controls the military, why not use it if it makes the voters happy - what they hay!However I believe binLaden has outsmarted everybody, historically the only way to collapse a democracy is by spreading fear, causing a counter-effect of inducing blind patriotism, which in turn leads to a totalitarian Government, and in the following consolidation of power voila - a dictatorship. Remember Germany was a democracy until late in WW2. BinLaden is a very very clever man.
I find it impossible to rebutt "Human beings are a virus, you don't live in symbiosis with your surroundings, you use up all resources then move on." that the agent said in Matrix. Us Europeans know that if you truly want to make America energy efficient, you must put sub-surface nukes in the oilfields of Saudi, Russia and Alaska to collapse the oil pockets. Then the "markets" will increase the price of gas to European levels, and all SUVs will become abandoned overnight. Don't try to change American culture - binLaden tried and failed. Work *with* their system, same as decreasing the food supply in a bacterial Petri dish. This is all that Joe sixpack KFC-suckin' American will understand.
Satellite has advantages over cable - cable is a big investment, and when you eventually finish laying the cable the city might have moved or become a ghost town like Atlantic City. The telcos use actuaries to make these risk assessments.
Scienific proof:
When the Americans blew up Afghanistan, this is regarded as "kick Afghanistan's ass" therefore the land mass of a country is regarded as an ass. To also comply with the expression "Kick Taliban butt" implies that the land mass is an ass, plus the people in the land mass are kicked whilst in the ass. The only thing in an ass is 1) Shit and 2) Flesh&Blood. Additionally to comply with the phrase, "God damn Taliban" implies a taboo around the object, there is no taboo regarding flesh & blood, however shit is taboo in many cultures, e.g. eating shit is abhorrent to many cultures.
Conclusion:
Therefore Afghanistanis are shit inside an ass called Afghanistan.
Conversely, the Taliban say the same things about the United States, so therefore all people everywhere are shit living in their country (which is an ass).
Limitation of Liability:
To contradict this conclusion, you must prove that Rupert Murdoch sometimes lies.
My friends also find it easier to digest "I was at the movies for a few hours" than "I was doing stuff on the computer". "What kind of stuff?" they ask, me not wanting to mention /. reply "just uhhhh computer stuff"