If humidity is really low in your area (which, if you live on the coast, is probably NOT the case!) A simple evaporative cooler can run with a supply of water and very little (or possibly no) electricity.
The idea is that water has to absorb heat form it's surroundings when it evaporates, like sweat absorbs heat from the body. But if there's no other source of heat, it will absorb it from the air. The water doesn't even need to be all that cold, though cold water will obviously absorb more heat.
All you need is some way to expose the water to air. One suggestion would be to build an "evaporator" out of brown corregated carboard, use a small pump to trickle water over it and a small fan to draw air through it.
If you can build a tall "stack" and place the evaporator at the top, you can take advantage of natural convection to eliminate the fan. (Cold, denser air drops down stack, pulling in more air through the evaporator)
If you can get the materials just right, and/or have a pressurized source of water (house main), you can take advantage of capillary action/mains pressure to eliminate the pump.
Silent and green. Too bad it doesn't work in humid regions! =Smidge=
The article said they were primerily looking for a crop that would extract salts from the soil to make it habitable for planting food and other money producing crops. It said they filed for a patent on the process for extracing the salt form the plants. Nowhere did it say they plant to make "salt farms" and try to make money selling the salt they could extract with their newly developed process.
It said they expect the total cost of the "vegitable salt" to be around 10-12 Rupees per Kilogram... which works out to about 10 cents (american) per pound, give or take a penny.
I don't know what the price of refined salt is in India, but I'm guessing that won't be very competative. The only way they're going to sell it at that price is by marketing it as a dietary supplement.
They DO mention, however, that the plants provide an edible oil from thier seeds, so I'm sure the intention here is more like: "Hey look, one more thing we can sell to make desalinating land more worthwhile!" (As if gaining usable farmland from wasted fields wasn't good enough, but I dunno what their situation is) =Smidge=
It's not so much new ways to get salt. (Not withstanding the fact that this isn't "table salt" to begin with...) It's a way to remove salt from the soil that would otherwise prevent more useful crops from growing there. Ever hear the expression "Salting the earth"? That's one thing waring tribes did to eachother's land... because you can't grow crops in salty dirt! (If you don't believe me, try watering your houseplants with seawater)
As for what you might actually use the potassium, calcium and magnesium salts for isn't really an issue. I have no idea where or if these chemicals are used for anything, and you're right: there's probably easier ways to get them if they are. =Smidge=
No, see, the funniest part is watching the people who will drive their SUV (Stupid Ugly Vehicles) 2 miles to the local gym club, spend 10 minutes driving around the parking lot looking for the parking space that is the absolute closest to the front doors as humanly possible, and take the elevator to the 2nd floor......so they can spend 20 minutes "working out" on a Stairmaster!
(Not as absurd as it sounds, you see it a lot if you pay attention...) =Smidge=
They do... typically deisel engines can last up to and over a million miles with typical (and scheduled) maintainance. Take care of your car's engine and you might get more than a lifetime's worth of use out of it, too.
I'm more interested in the bonding issue. If heat can effect the bonding (because steel and diamond have very different thermal expansion coefficients), then how useful would this really be for, say, cutting tools?
Also, I can't see armor plating as being all that impressive. diamond coated steel might have excellent wear characteristics, but since the layer is just atoms thick (I'm assuming, article didn't say... maye you could build it up with repeated coatings?) it wouldn't offer much to resist bending or puncture... thus not being a big improvement for armor. Diamond is also brittle, meaning it'll be easy to crack if you bend or chip it.
Heat transfer properties, however, are very interesting. If they can build up layers, you could start with a thin wire forms and make diamond heat sinks... and diamond is a very good heat conductor. (based on the process they describe to make it, doesn't sound too expensive either... heating up hydrogen and methane gas? Pfft!) =Smidge=
The "problems" are more excuses than problems. As I said, they do not effect the productivity of anyone else. 9 out of 10 times the other 4 employees in my office don't even know what I'm doing except that I'm "fixing" a "problem"
The "Problem" usually involves something like printing a page of garble and cancelling it halfway through to make the lights blink. Any real issue this may cause is actually fixed as soon as I go up and hit the "resume" button. (Takes all of 30 seconds to do).
Then I can spend a good 30 minutes exploring the printer configuration and generally avoid having anyone breathing on me (and I mean that literally, I have one of those bosses that will come right up behind you into your personal space and wait a minute or two before asking you to do something for him...)
Just going outside doesn't work, because "they" will still find me and drag me back in. I can do anything at my desk because I sit, literally, less than 10 feet away from my boss's desk... situated so he's facing me. (No doors or partitions)
Being the only one of two people in the office who is even remotely literate about the network, it's easy to come up with some half-baked reason to keep occupied while still being able to spin down for a bit, and nobody else gets effected (or even knows about it, typically).
And regarding ethics, I get paid by the hour, so needless to say these "problems" seldomly show up on my timecard... you can't even accuse me of stealing the company's time! As long as the project gets done on schedule everything is hunky-dory. =Smidge=
it seems like an awful lot of "work" to not actually do any work.
It really is. But sometimes (and I speak form personal experience) there's just either really nothing to do, or you really want to avoid doing something for whatever reason, or you just want to buy some time... depends on the situation.
Once or twice I've deliberately created "network problems" (Very small office, doesn't effect the productivity of anyone else) - typically with the printers or something... then spend a good hour or so "fixing" it, since it happens to require standing next to the server and occasionally fiddling with the keyboard. (Which is out of sight from my boss, whom normally I sit right in front of all day long).
Sometimes you just need to escape, and since I don't smoke, cigarette breaks aren't an option:) =Smidge=
Wouldn't it simply be better if people didn't encode stuff with the Sorensen codec to begin with? Then nobody would have to deal with it either.
I wouldn't mind Quicktime so much if it didn't take over my entire machine, though. Even RealPlayer can be kept contained if you pay attention to the settings. =Smidge=
Okay, correct me if I'm wrong, but even though they say it has potential for hold a terabit/sq.cm., I fail to see how it mandates that RAM modules made with this tech hold more than 128/256/512MB like current modules do. The point is that you would have faster, non-volitile RAM that would fit into existing hardware.
Or, if you prefer, new computers that can still use the older (and likely cheaper, at least initially) silicon memory.
I don't know about you, but I certaintly don't throw out my system every time they make something better. And let's not forget the people who are so anal/paranoid about performance would pay through the nose for a 10% increase in memory speed. I'd also imagine that this non-volitile RAM uses next to no power, making it a great potential drop-in replacement for laptops and other portable devices. A little bit of software tweaking and you could basically have an instant hibernating mode.
Useful for desktops, too... not everyone can afford/think they need a UPS system, but if the power goes out, smarter software would just bring the machine back to where it was with no data loss! Sounds like a perfect nitch for a compatable drop-in replacement to me. What's the total cost to install new RAM and flash the BIOS and/or apply a patch compared to buying all new systems?
<joke> Of course, Silicon RAM is to NanoRAM as a kumquat is to a watermelon, but that doesn't mean people are suddenly going to stop buying kumquats and switch to watermelons. I'm using this simple analogy an an insulting way of making a point because, from the way you phrased your comment, I can see your sense of humor and practicality is limited. Unfortunately, I've lost track of the point I was trying to make, but I'm sure you'll agree that both watermelons and kumquats have their season, and either or both make a fine addition to any table. </joke>
[credits to Dr. Science for that last bit:)] =Smidge=
"At the moment, Nantero has only a working prototype. But the firm aims to have memories on the market within a year."
A lot shorter than ten years, hopefully. Though I'm skeptical we'll see them commercially available within a year...
I hope it would be compatable with existing memory systems, though. It would be nice to just swap out existing RAM for a NanoRAM module and get an instant performance and capacity boost (Providing the controllers don't become an issue, but that's where AMD's 64-bit chip and it's built in memory conntroller come in!). =Smidge=
Yeah, it was called "Virus", it was a strategy type game with a Descent style engien (floating, 6-degrees of freedom). It made its levels out of the file structure of your computer's hard drive. Quite unique... too bad they totally screwed it up...
Still, the idea is interesting enough, since potentially the game will change every time you install a new program or clean up your temp directories... maybe someone can make a game based on it that doesn't suck. =Smidge=
How about 13 with no extra hardware at all? Standard parallel port (and by "standard" I mean the all the way down to ye olde 8086 machines) have 8 data, 5 control and 4 status (input) pins.
The only hitch is that four of the 5 control lines are inverted (output a 1 and it becomes a ground, 0 and it goes +5v high). But god forbid you should do any logic or anything:)
You really can't do much with +5v anyway... so you're likely to drive a set of power transistors / relays to switch lights or motors anyway... which requires extra power. =Smidge=
Since we seem to agree on everything else, I'll just cover this little tidbit:
Surely new neighborhoods are being built, and new schools are needed. Who pays for them? It should be the new neighborhood.
It is! Typically, there are several schools owned by a central district (Around here, par is about twelve elementary schools, two junior high schools and a high school... this vary of course). When a district decides to build a new school, or expand/renovate an existing one (more common because it's getting hard to find large hunks of suitable land around here), they typically float a bond to raise the cash. The bond is paid for by the people living in that district.
Depending on the nature of the work (good example: Energy-reducing upgrades, like more efficient lighting and heating equipment) the district may receive up to 15% of the estimated budget from the state... but I've only seem that happen twice and it's typically just lighting upgrades. *shrugs*
But anyway, we do agree that taxes themselves are not the problem - just how and where they're being spent.:) =Smidge=
I'll reply to this one, since it seems the most intelligent:) (Note that I'm not disagreeing in any real sense)
Paved transportation infrastructure should be paid for in gasoline and other transportation related taxes
It is. Much in the same way that bridge tolls go mainly towards their mainteinance (or at least it's supposed to). Last I heard, the Clinton administration raised the Gasoline tax here to an all-time high of 18.4 cents per gallon. (I am not sure if the current administration raised it since, but you can pretty much guess that it hasn't gone down!)
Now, whether or not that tax goes to maintaining roads and other traffic infastructures is a good point. It should, but probably doesn't.
Three decades of declining education proves that the more money you throw at it, the worse it gets
I wouldn't be so quick to make such a direct correlation, but the overall sentament is true. Personally, I feel the decline of the education system is due to the population growing faster than the supply of qualified teachers. Money is certaintly one thing that would be required to fix this, but not the only thing.
I could rant about stupid teachers for pages, but to sum it up in a single analogy: I work as an engineering consultant (designing plumbing and HVAC for the architects)... a very large portion of our work has been school expansions and renovations, which inevitably requiers visiting the schools to record existing conditions.
When declaring that we're from the engineer's office (when checking in at the administration desk, or when someone asks what we're doing), it's not uncommon to hear someone make comment about what trains have to do with the work that was going on. (Try not to think about that too hard, it hurts after awhile)
Basically, I feel the problem with the education system is more related to lack of qualified teachers than it is with misappropriation/lack/excess of funds. Bad teachers make for poorly educated students, and poorly educated students grow up to (sometimes) be bad teachers.
Public libraries? Same thing. In fact, libraries would be better off if they weren't free.
See, that's soemthing I don't necessarily agree with. The whole point is that information is supposed to be available to anyone, not just those who can afford it (Note that I didn't use the word "free", clearly not all information can really be free, nor should be). Although the internet has the potential to draw a lot of interest away from physical libraries, it's never going to replace them.
Plus, if a library "goes out of business" jsut because there's not enough interest, what about future generations? It's not like a video store or pizza shop, which are a dime a dozen (around here at least) and can come and go overnight. A library is a big invenstment, and once it's gone it's very likely to stay gone.
There are other things that simply deserve to die - like the National Endowment for the Arts.
Again, I'm not sure I'd agree with such a generalization. I think we agree that the arts are an important part of society, and that it's worth preserving. Although I admit I'm not comfortable with the wholesale subsidizing of our culture just because it won't stay afloat on it's own, I do support tax money going towards it.
I don't think many people would complain about their taxes if they really got the feeling that they were getting something for their money. (Clearly, tax money is not being handled wisely, and that's a big problem.)
To borrow a phrase from you: the more money you throw at it (more taxes), the worse it gets (poor handling of tax revenue). New taxes solve nothing in the long run. =Smidge=
I thought donations to the Church were tax deductable...:)
And you want to know why the government needs that money? You have paved roads to drive on? Free public education? Public libraries? The government pays for a lot of stuff, you know. (Granted, not as efficiently as it could be, but still)
We keep a catalog of our movie collection under AppleWorks, and about thirty 5.25" floppy disks:)
Run it on a Apple//e clone machine, too. "Laser 128 compatable" computer. Man, thet thing's a cheap hunk o junk, but it always works when you need it to! =Smidge=
I am not opposed to the idea that a computer be allowed to control basic energy/comfort systems aroudn the home. I can see great advantage in that.
Why buy a top of the line thermostat? A $10 (if that) bi-metallic strip + contact type is all you need. With the computer as a secondary controller, it makes sense. The thermostat would maintain the temperature in the room at a preset temp unless the computer tells it not to. (I believe these types of thermostats have both high and low temp contacts, after all...)
An occupancy sensor may not be able to turn your porch light on from your bedroom, but a photo cell will turn it on if it gets dark. The computer can override the sensor to either turn the light off at night or on during the day.
Both types of devices can be connected to a computer to make it aware of it's state, and thus monitorable from the internet (if you're that paranoid about it)
Same thing with the window shades. Default behavior with central control override if required. Since you've already gone through the trouble of motorizing them, it seems like an awfully small step to make a system that's just as flexable and much more reliable.
The barn is a perfect example. If something goes wrong with the wireless link, it's completely dead.
The point is to avoid single point-of-failure types of situations. Each part of the house can operate semi-independently while still having more complete control from a single point.
And regarding the "many cheap, redundant, separate lesser servers" comment... that seems to be Google's take on it, and they seem to be doing pretty well. On the flip side, even robust server setups are built with redundancy.
And you said it yourself, everyone has their own needs... but personally speaking I've never understood why people go out of their way to make a solution much more complicated than the problem really calls for. =Smidge=
I don't understand why making a computer the primary control for everything in the house has such appeal. Especially things like lighting and heating.
Most occupancy sensors have a built in set of contacts (optionally two sets sometimes) specifically for switching lights. If you want to monitor or override the sensor with a central computer, that's perfectly doable... but there's no sense in sending a signal half way across the house, prosessing it, and sending a signal all the way back when the sensor itself is perfectly capable of dealing with it directly.
Same thing with heating. If you're going to need a thermostat for each room/zone anyway, why not let it control the heating directly and have the central computer step in only as a secondary control? No lag, more robust (since otherwise the computer presents a single point of failure) and probably more modular.
A simple stand-alone controller to open and close window shades (for example) can be built for a few bucks each, and you'ld probably only need one per room, if that many. What would it take? Photo cell of some kind, relay, power supply, small PIC or other microcontroller package, and a motor. No big deal!
Running a dedicated wire is still a good idea regardless. *maybe* using one or two X10 devices for things that might not lend themselves to hardwiring, or something you might not have around long enough to warrent dedicated controls. (Holiday lights maybe? I dunno...) =Smidge=
I believe the quote goes... "Documentation is like sex. When it's good, it's really good. When it's not, it's better than nothing."
It's all fine and good to make a great looking and intuitive UI whenever possible, but there's a lot of times when no matter how good a UI you make, the type of program (or device) it is will simply NEVER be intuitive enough to survive without some kind of explaination for what various widgets are for or what various errors/messages/etc mean.
The problem is many people hear "documentation" and imagine 300+ pages of legalese descriptions. Good documentation can be as simple as a bullet list of functions with one-liner descriptions. If the UI can't be intuitive, at least you can make the documentation intuitive. =Smidge=
Slashdot Mirror
And don't forget: Paper plates are microwave safe!
You can cook damn near anything in the microwave and have it turn out perfect. Anything else goes into the toaster oven!
=Smidge=
pick one suitable for the size of the room it'll be installed in.
Quick rule of thumb: For residential spaces, 20-25 BTUs of cooling per square foot is generally sufficient to keep you comfortable.
=Smidge=
Okay, I'm an idiot... the article already mentioned "swamp coolers". Oh well, now you can build your own :)
=Smidge=
If humidity is really low in your area (which, if you live on the coast, is probably NOT the case!) A simple evaporative cooler can run with a supply of water and very little (or possibly no) electricity.
The idea is that water has to absorb heat form it's surroundings when it evaporates, like sweat absorbs heat from the body. But if there's no other source of heat, it will absorb it from the air. The water doesn't even need to be all that cold, though cold water will obviously absorb more heat.
All you need is some way to expose the water to air. One suggestion would be to build an "evaporator" out of brown corregated carboard, use a small pump to trickle water over it and a small fan to draw air through it.
If you can build a tall "stack" and place the evaporator at the top, you can take advantage of natural convection to eliminate the fan. (Cold, denser air drops down stack, pulling in more air through the evaporator)
If you can get the materials just right, and/or have a pressurized source of water (house main), you can take advantage of capillary action/mains pressure to eliminate the pump.
Silent and green. Too bad it doesn't work in humid regions!
=Smidge=
Do you suppose that could become a functional implementation of the "Evil Bit"?
*bum bum buummmmmmm*
=Smidge=
The article said they were primerily looking for a crop that would extract salts from the soil to make it habitable for planting food and other money producing crops. It said they filed for a patent on the process for extracing the salt form the plants. Nowhere did it say they plant to make "salt farms" and try to make money selling the salt they could extract with their newly developed process.
It said they expect the total cost of the "vegitable salt" to be around 10-12 Rupees per Kilogram... which works out to about 10 cents (american) per pound, give or take a penny.
I don't know what the price of refined salt is in India, but I'm guessing that won't be very competative. The only way they're going to sell it at that price is by marketing it as a dietary supplement.
They DO mention, however, that the plants provide an edible oil from thier seeds, so I'm sure the intention here is more like: "Hey look, one more thing we can sell to make desalinating land more worthwhile!" (As if gaining usable farmland from wasted fields wasn't good enough, but I dunno what their situation is)
=Smidge=
It's not so much new ways to get salt. (Not withstanding the fact that this isn't "table salt" to begin with...) It's a way to remove salt from the soil that would otherwise prevent more useful crops from growing there. Ever hear the expression "Salting the earth"? That's one thing waring tribes did to eachother's land... because you can't grow crops in salty dirt! (If you don't believe me, try watering your houseplants with seawater)
This reminds me a lot of the mineral absorbing plants talked about here a long while ago.
As for what you might actually use the potassium, calcium and magnesium salts for isn't really an issue. I have no idea where or if these chemicals are used for anything, and you're right: there's probably easier ways to get them if they are.
=Smidge=
No, see, the funniest part is watching the people who will drive their SUV (Stupid Ugly Vehicles) 2 miles to the local gym club, spend 10 minutes driving around the parking lot looking for the parking space that is the absolute closest to the front doors as humanly possible, and take the elevator to the 2nd floor... ...so they can spend 20 minutes "working out" on a Stairmaster!
(Not as absurd as it sounds, you see it a lot if you pay attention...)
=Smidge=
They do... typically deisel engines can last up to and over a million miles with typical (and scheduled) maintainance. Take care of your car's engine and you might get more than a lifetime's worth of use out of it, too.
I'm more interested in the bonding issue. If heat can effect the bonding (because steel and diamond have very different thermal expansion coefficients), then how useful would this really be for, say, cutting tools?
Also, I can't see armor plating as being all that impressive. diamond coated steel might have excellent wear characteristics, but since the layer is just atoms thick (I'm assuming, article didn't say... maye you could build it up with repeated coatings?) it wouldn't offer much to resist bending or puncture... thus not being a big improvement for armor. Diamond is also brittle, meaning it'll be easy to crack if you bend or chip it.
Heat transfer properties, however, are very interesting. If they can build up layers, you could start with a thin wire forms and make diamond heat sinks... and diamond is a very good heat conductor. (based on the process they describe to make it, doesn't sound too expensive either... heating up hydrogen and methane gas? Pfft!)
=Smidge=
Prehaps I should elaborate.
The "problems" are more excuses than problems. As I said, they do not effect the productivity of anyone else. 9 out of 10 times the other 4 employees in my office don't even know what I'm doing except that I'm "fixing" a "problem"
The "Problem" usually involves something like printing a page of garble and cancelling it halfway through to make the lights blink. Any real issue this may cause is actually fixed as soon as I go up and hit the "resume" button. (Takes all of 30 seconds to do).
Then I can spend a good 30 minutes exploring the printer configuration and generally avoid having anyone breathing on me (and I mean that literally, I have one of those bosses that will come right up behind you into your personal space and wait a minute or two before asking you to do something for him...)
Just going outside doesn't work, because "they" will still find me and drag me back in. I can do anything at my desk because I sit, literally, less than 10 feet away from my boss's desk... situated so he's facing me. (No doors or partitions)
Being the only one of two people in the office who is even remotely literate about the network, it's easy to come up with some half-baked reason to keep occupied while still being able to spin down for a bit, and nobody else gets effected (or even knows about it, typically).
And regarding ethics, I get paid by the hour, so needless to say these "problems" seldomly show up on my timecard... you can't even accuse me of stealing the company's time! As long as the project gets done on schedule everything is hunky-dory.
=Smidge=
it seems like an awful lot of "work" to not actually do any work.
:)
It really is. But sometimes (and I speak form personal experience) there's just either really nothing to do, or you really want to avoid doing something for whatever reason, or you just want to buy some time... depends on the situation.
Once or twice I've deliberately created "network problems" (Very small office, doesn't effect the productivity of anyone else) - typically with the printers or something... then spend a good hour or so "fixing" it, since it happens to require standing next to the server and occasionally fiddling with the keyboard. (Which is out of sight from my boss, whom normally I sit right in front of all day long).
Sometimes you just need to escape, and since I don't smoke, cigarette breaks aren't an option
=Smidge=
...is how the machines took control. :)
Think we may be seeing more of this kinda crap is it comes out?
=Smidge=
Inserting the yanked strips into the new bills might be a tripping point. Did you know that each denomination has the strip in a different location?
Plus, if someone actually bothered to hold it up to a light and look for the stip, they're going to look for the watermark, too.
=Smidge=
Wouldn't it simply be better if people didn't encode stuff with the Sorensen codec to begin with? Then nobody would have to deal with it either.
I wouldn't mind Quicktime so much if it didn't take over my entire machine, though. Even RealPlayer can be kept contained if you pay attention to the settings.
=Smidge=
Okay, correct me if I'm wrong, but even though they say it has potential for hold a terabit/sq.cm., I fail to see how it mandates that RAM modules made with this tech hold more than 128/256/512MB like current modules do. The point is that you would have faster, non-volitile RAM that would fit into existing hardware.
:)]
Or, if you prefer, new computers that can still use the older (and likely cheaper, at least initially) silicon memory.
I don't know about you, but I certaintly don't throw out my system every time they make something better. And let's not forget the people who are so anal/paranoid about performance would pay through the nose for a 10% increase in memory speed. I'd also imagine that this non-volitile RAM uses next to no power, making it a great potential drop-in replacement for laptops and other portable devices. A little bit of software tweaking and you could basically have an instant hibernating mode.
Useful for desktops, too... not everyone can afford/think they need a UPS system, but if the power goes out, smarter software would just bring the machine back to where it was with no data loss! Sounds like a perfect nitch for a compatable drop-in replacement to me. What's the total cost to install new RAM and flash the BIOS and/or apply a patch compared to buying all new systems?
<joke>
Of course, Silicon RAM is to NanoRAM as a kumquat is to a watermelon, but that doesn't mean people are suddenly going to stop buying kumquats and switch to watermelons. I'm using this simple analogy an an insulting way of making a point because, from the way you phrased your comment, I can see your sense of humor and practicality is limited. Unfortunately, I've lost track of the point I was trying to make, but I'm sure you'll agree that both watermelons and kumquats have their season, and either or both make a fine addition to any table.
</joke>
[credits to Dr. Science for that last bit
=Smidge=
"At the moment, Nantero has only a working prototype. But the firm aims to have memories on the market within a year."
A lot shorter than ten years, hopefully. Though I'm skeptical we'll see them commercially available within a year...
I hope it would be compatable with existing memory systems, though. It would be nice to just swap out existing RAM for a NanoRAM module and get an instant performance and capacity boost (Providing the controllers don't become an issue, but that's where AMD's 64-bit chip and it's built in memory conntroller come in!).
=Smidge=
Yeah, it was called "Virus", it was a strategy type game with a Descent style engien (floating, 6-degrees of freedom). It made its levels out of the file structure of your computer's hard drive. Quite unique... too bad they totally screwed it up...
Still, the idea is interesting enough, since potentially the game will change every time you install a new program or clean up your temp directories... maybe someone can make a game based on it that doesn't suck.
=Smidge=
How about 13 with no extra hardware at all? Standard parallel port (and by "standard" I mean the all the way down to ye olde 8086 machines) have 8 data, 5 control and 4 status (input) pins.
:)
The only hitch is that four of the 5 control lines are inverted (output a 1 and it becomes a ground, 0 and it goes +5v high). But god forbid you should do any logic or anything
You really can't do much with +5v anyway... so you're likely to drive a set of power transistors / relays to switch lights or motors anyway... which requires extra power.
=Smidge=
Since we seem to agree on everything else, I'll just cover this little tidbit:
:)
Surely new neighborhoods are being built, and new schools are needed. Who pays for them? It should be the new neighborhood.
It is! Typically, there are several schools owned by a central district (Around here, par is about twelve elementary schools, two junior high schools and a high school... this vary of course). When a district decides to build a new school, or expand/renovate an existing one (more common because it's getting hard to find large hunks of suitable land around here), they typically float a bond to raise the cash. The bond is paid for by the people living in that district.
Depending on the nature of the work (good example: Energy-reducing upgrades, like more efficient lighting and heating equipment) the district may receive up to 15% of the estimated budget from the state... but I've only seem that happen twice and it's typically just lighting upgrades. *shrugs*
But anyway, we do agree that taxes themselves are not the problem - just how and where they're being spent.
=Smidge=
I'll reply to this one, since it seems the most intelligent :) (Note that I'm not disagreeing in any real sense)
Paved transportation infrastructure should be paid for in gasoline and other transportation related taxes
It is. Much in the same way that bridge tolls go mainly towards their mainteinance (or at least it's supposed to). Last I heard, the Clinton administration raised the Gasoline tax here to an all-time high of 18.4 cents per gallon. (I am not sure if the current administration raised it since, but you can pretty much guess that it hasn't gone down!)
Now, whether or not that tax goes to maintaining roads and other traffic infastructures is a good point. It should, but probably doesn't.
Three decades of declining education proves that the more money you throw at it, the worse it gets
I wouldn't be so quick to make such a direct correlation, but the overall sentament is true. Personally, I feel the decline of the education system is due to the population growing faster than the supply of qualified teachers. Money is certaintly one thing that would be required to fix this, but not the only thing.
I could rant about stupid teachers for pages, but to sum it up in a single analogy: I work as an engineering consultant (designing plumbing and HVAC for the architects)... a very large portion of our work has been school expansions and renovations, which inevitably requiers visiting the schools to record existing conditions.
When declaring that we're from the engineer's office (when checking in at the administration desk, or when someone asks what we're doing), it's not uncommon to hear someone make comment about what trains have to do with the work that was going on. (Try not to think about that too hard, it hurts after awhile)
Basically, I feel the problem with the education system is more related to lack of qualified teachers than it is with misappropriation/lack/excess of funds. Bad teachers make for poorly educated students, and poorly educated students grow up to (sometimes) be bad teachers.
Public libraries? Same thing. In fact, libraries would be better off if they weren't free.
See, that's soemthing I don't necessarily agree with. The whole point is that information is supposed to be available to anyone, not just those who can afford it (Note that I didn't use the word "free", clearly not all information can really be free, nor should be). Although the internet has the potential to draw a lot of interest away from physical libraries, it's never going to replace them.
Plus, if a library "goes out of business" jsut because there's not enough interest, what about future generations? It's not like a video store or pizza shop, which are a dime a dozen (around here at least) and can come and go overnight. A library is a big invenstment, and once it's gone it's very likely to stay gone.
There are other things that simply deserve to die - like the National Endowment for the Arts.
Again, I'm not sure I'd agree with such a generalization. I think we agree that the arts are an important part of society, and that it's worth preserving. Although I admit I'm not comfortable with the wholesale subsidizing of our culture just because it won't stay afloat on it's own, I do support tax money going towards it.
I don't think many people would complain about their taxes if they really got the feeling that they were getting something for their money. (Clearly, tax money is not being handled wisely, and that's a big problem.)
To borrow a phrase from you: the more money you throw at it (more taxes), the worse it gets (poor handling of tax revenue). New taxes solve nothing in the long run.
=Smidge=
I thought donations to the Church were tax deductable... :)
And you want to know why the government needs that money? You have paved roads to drive on? Free public education? Public libraries? The government pays for a lot of stuff, you know. (Granted, not as efficiently as it could be, but still)
=Smidge=
We keep a catalog of our movie collection under AppleWorks, and about thirty 5.25" floppy disks :)
//e clone machine, too. "Laser 128 compatable" computer. Man, thet thing's a cheap hunk o junk, but it always works when you need it to!
Run it on a Apple
=Smidge=
Hence the term "Secondary controller"
I am not opposed to the idea that a computer be allowed to control basic energy/comfort systems aroudn the home. I can see great advantage in that.
Why buy a top of the line thermostat? A $10 (if that) bi-metallic strip + contact type is all you need. With the computer as a secondary controller, it makes sense. The thermostat would maintain the temperature in the room at a preset temp unless the computer tells it not to. (I believe these types of thermostats have both high and low temp contacts, after all...)
An occupancy sensor may not be able to turn your porch light on from your bedroom, but a photo cell will turn it on if it gets dark. The computer can override the sensor to either turn the light off at night or on during the day.
Both types of devices can be connected to a computer to make it aware of it's state, and thus monitorable from the internet (if you're that paranoid about it)
Same thing with the window shades. Default behavior with central control override if required. Since you've already gone through the trouble of motorizing them, it seems like an awfully small step to make a system that's just as flexable and much more reliable.
The barn is a perfect example. If something goes wrong with the wireless link, it's completely dead.
The point is to avoid single point-of-failure types of situations. Each part of the house can operate semi-independently while still having more complete control from a single point.
And regarding the "many cheap, redundant, separate lesser servers" comment... that seems to be Google's take on it, and they seem to be doing pretty well. On the flip side, even robust server setups are built with redundancy.
And you said it yourself, everyone has their own needs... but personally speaking I've never understood why people go out of their way to make a solution much more complicated than the problem really calls for.
=Smidge=
I don't understand why making a computer the primary control for everything in the house has such appeal. Especially things like lighting and heating.
Most occupancy sensors have a built in set of contacts (optionally two sets sometimes) specifically for switching lights. If you want to monitor or override the sensor with a central computer, that's perfectly doable... but there's no sense in sending a signal half way across the house, prosessing it, and sending a signal all the way back when the sensor itself is perfectly capable of dealing with it directly.
Same thing with heating. If you're going to need a thermostat for each room/zone anyway, why not let it control the heating directly and have the central computer step in only as a secondary control? No lag, more robust (since otherwise the computer presents a single point of failure) and probably more modular.
A simple stand-alone controller to open and close window shades (for example) can be built for a few bucks each, and you'ld probably only need one per room, if that many. What would it take? Photo cell of some kind, relay, power supply, small PIC or other microcontroller package, and a motor. No big deal!
Running a dedicated wire is still a good idea regardless. *maybe* using one or two X10 devices for things that might not lend themselves to hardwiring, or something you might not have around long enough to warrent dedicated controls. (Holiday lights maybe? I dunno...)
=Smidge=
I believe the quote goes... "Documentation is like sex. When it's good, it's really good. When it's not, it's better than nothing."
It's all fine and good to make a great looking and intuitive UI whenever possible, but there's a lot of times when no matter how good a UI you make, the type of program (or device) it is will simply NEVER be intuitive enough to survive without some kind of explaination for what various widgets are for or what various errors/messages/etc mean.
The problem is many people hear "documentation" and imagine 300+ pages of legalese descriptions. Good documentation can be as simple as a bullet list of functions with one-liner descriptions. If the UI can't be intuitive, at least you can make the documentation intuitive.
=Smidge=