Yes, a holographic universe is one possibility, but as drinkypoo suggests, "a computer simulation which operates at a fixed clock rate," is also a possibility. The book, "The Universe Solved," mentions the possible non-continuous, quantized nature of time and space as evidence that the universe we are all living in may just be a computer simulation. That book was written by an Jim Elvidge, who is an electrical engineer.
Among other things, his book mentions some evidence that our world is not continuous, but rather quantized, or granular. He goes on to suggest that it would "take an infinite amount of resources to create a continuous reality, but a finite amount to create a quantized reality." For a computer generated virtual reality universe, it would be necessary that the universe could be described with a finite amount of resources.
If that is actually true, then it raises the question of who exactly God is? Is he (or she) the head programmer, or is he the owner of the computer, or perhaps he is an important computer generated part of the program itself. Perhaps his having God like powers are written into the program itself. Or perhaps the universe is not exactly computer generated, but just happens to have characteristics that are similar to what one might expect to find in a virtual reality simulation.
There have also been several science fiction movies such as "The Thirteenth Floor" and "Dark City" which suggested that we might actually all be living in a computer generated virtual reality simulation.
I still use the NMB "Right Touch" mechanical keyboard which was manufactured back in the mid-to-late 1990's. It is by far my favorite keyboard. I have never tried the model M keyboard, So I don't know how it compares to that.
It is a click type keyboard. The tactile and auditory feedback confirms that my slight light pressing of the key had been sufficient to register. It is not something that I need to consciously think about, but I always notice a missing click long before I have looked up to read what I have just typed.
That keyboard has a slightly lighter touch than most other keyboards. But even so, when typing for long periods of time, I prefer to minimize the tiring work for my hands by pressing the keys as lightly as possible. Without really thinking about it, I rely on the steady clicking noises to confirm that my light touch was not too light. My theory is that being able to type more lightly might reduce the chances of repetitive motion injury, but I have not read anything which has actually suggested that possibility.
I use the keyboard at home, not at work, so I don't need to worry about what co-workers might think of the clicking noises. To me the clicking while typing, is much less annoying than the slight steady fan and and hard drive noises coming from my relatively quiet computer, hour after hour, every day.
Every few years, the keys would start to work less reliably. Then, I would then have to remove some or all of the key caps and clean out the several years accumulation of hair, lint and bits of shredded wheat from under each key. While I was at it I would carefully wash all of my grimy greasy fingerprints off of each of the plastic caps in the kitchen sink and then after they were dry put them back on the keyboard. Afterwards, the keyboard has always worked like new and look almost like new, again.
The keyboard uses one of those larger older style AT type connectors, instead of a more modern PS/2 connector or a USB connector which computers now use. I use an adapter to connect it to the PS/2 connector on my computer.
On several occasions have run across aggressive annoying advertisements which popped-up claiming to have detected viruses and spyware on my computer. On each occasion, I was using Linux and browsing the Internet with Firefox. I normally do not get pop-ups when using Firefox, but some scareware advertisers do still know how to make pop-ups appear.
Earlier this year, I had just installed a brand new copy of Kubuntu Linux on a brand new hard disk in my computer. It did not (and still does not) have Windows or any Microsoft products installed on it. I had also installed a firewall and had it behind a router which also had a firewall with all ports closed to the outside world. I had even installed all the latest security updates.
If I remember correctly, this is roughly what happened next. A day or two later, as I was browsing the Internet with Firefox, an ad popped up saying that they had detected several types of viruses and spyware running on my computer. It then asked if I want to have my hard disk scanned for viruses. I closed the advertisement without giving permission. Then another pop-up, with a progress bar, appeared, which claimed that it as scanning drive C: for viruses. I thought, that was odd, since Linux computers do not have a drive C. Before long, a pop-up appeared which said that Microsoft had detected references to viruses and spyware in my registry. That also seemed odd, since Linux does not even have a registry. Furthermore, I thought, what was a Microsoft pop-up doing on my Linux computer. Besides, at least last that I have heard, there still have not yet been any Linux viruses successfully circulating in the wild.
Finally, they asked me to click on a link and purchase their product, so that my computer could be disinfected. At no point in the process of supposedly scanning my hard disk without permission, did they seem to notice or comment on the fact that I was using Linux.
In the early 1960s, as I recall, everyone had black and white, but I should add that by the late 1960s many or possibly even most families had color TVs. However, a few families such as ours chose to keep using the less expensive black and white TVs. For us black and white was good enough.
Yes, I watched black and white television when I was growing up in the 1960s. I would pull the knob to turn on the TV and after a few seconds or so, the tubes would warm up and a picture would appear. If I remember correctly, for a split second, the image would grow from a dot to full size. I think we had about 3 or 4 channels, such as probably ABC, CBS, NBC and probably one independent station.
To change channels we had to manually turn the knob with a klunk, klunk noise each time we turned the knob. after changing channels, occasionally we would have to adjust the fine-tunning knob or adjust the rabbit ears slightly for a better picture. When the TV got older, it accumulated more dust in the channel changing knob, and we would have to wiggle the knob a few times or click it back and forth a few times before getting a clear black and white picture. There were no digital type buttons and there was no remote.
As a child, I remember turning on the TV early in the morning before anything was on and just getting the test pattern that the station used, such as the one with the Indian and some other patterns. If I remember correctly, I would eventually hear a few test tones that were a clue that broadcasting was about to begin. It was followed by the brief announcement that mbstone mentioned and then the first show would begin.
When I would peek into ventilation holes in the back of the TV, I could see a few tubes glowing. One of the grocery stores we shopped at had a tube tester machine. It was not far from the 1 cent gumball machines and also the toy car which would rock back and forth for a couple minutes after mommy inserted the appropriate coin.
I remember watching shows such as "Leave it to Beaver," "The Lucy Show," "Dobie Gillis," "Gidget," "Captain Kangaroo," and "The Lone Ranger." My favorites included show such as "One Step Beyond," "The Outer Limits," "The Twilight Zone," "Alfred Hitchcock Presents," "Perry Mason," and "The Mod Squad." The dumbest shows which I actually watched were "My Mother the Car" which was about a guy who's mother was a car, and also "Mr Ed," which was about guy with a talking horse. We also watched the evening news with Walter Cronkite every evening.
This was back in the days when the milk man would deliver milk to our door, girls wore dresses, most mothers stayed at home and some families still had just one car.
We would dial phone numbers by rotating the dial on a rotary phones and where we could dial "0" to get the operator.
I am in my mid-50s, and usually dream in black and white. The only exception is after I have just spent all day hiking or backpacking among the bright colors outdoors. Then that evening and on the next night my dreams and other mental imagery usually become much more colorful. After hiking all day, my memories become saturated with the bright vivid colors of blue sky, white clouds, green and yellow leaves, and also yellow, red and purple flowers and red rock formations. Then afterwards, for about the next two days my various types of mental imagery and dreams becomes much more colorful, before gradually fading back to black and white.
After having been hiking or backpacking all day, if I close my eyes while I am still awake, I can usually see a faint but steady steam of slight traces of brightly colored flickering faint mental images that I am not consciously creating. Then, after about 2 days the color fades away to mostly black and white for dreams and most other types of conscious or unconscious mental imagery.
I am now in my mid-50s and unlike most other television views of that time period, I did not upgrade to using a more expensive color TV until I was in my mid-30s somewhere during the 1980s. Ever since then, I have have owned 13" color TVs with rabbit ears antennas.
When I am starting to fall asleep I sometimes see traces of dream like images start to appear just before I fall asleep. That sometimes gives me a preview of of whether my dreams are going to be in black and white or color. Normally they are in black and white.
About 5 or 10 years ago, I once ran across a guy in an electric car, who had driven about 100 miles or so up into the mountains. He was looking for a place to recharge his electric car, so he could get back home. He stopped at an RV park and asked if they had 50 Amp electrical outlets on their spaces. They said they did, so he asked how much they would charge for him to recharge his electric car. He worked out some kind of agreement with the RV park owner and then sat there recharging his batteries for a while and then eventually left.
I am not sure what type of electrical plugs and adapters most electric cars have (or would prefer for the fastest possible recharge). In this case he got by with using the standard 50 Amp outlet which most of the newer RV parks have. The older RV parks usually just have the 30 Amp outlets which he said would not have been adequate. In most cases they also have an electric meter on each space. The newest, largest motor homes and trailers usually have 2 or 3 air conditioners on the roof and need a 50 Amp outlet to run all their air conditioners.
I don't know if that type of outlet would be adequate for something like the Tesla electric car or not. If so, then perhaps they could rent electric car owners a space for an hour or so (or whatever it takes). They might even let the car owner use the campgrounds WiFi system or showers and restrooms while they are recharging. They could still rent those same spaces out later for overnight use by RV owners.
I accidentally hit "Submit" instead of "Preview" before I had a chance to finish checking for errors. I meant to say that I do not do that very often, even when driving in light traffic. I should also add that I am in my mid-50s and have never had an accident.
I do not like how many of the newer cars have complicated electronics which encourage me to take my eyes off the road when driving. Back in the 1970s, my cars few controls were all large easy to find knobs, buttons and levers. Of course, I could easily find them without looking and hardly even thinking.
I was once ridding with my 2nd cousin, as she circled a major airport in rush hour traffic while talking on her cell phone to her boss and also trying to send him a fax from her laptop, all at once. That was way too much multitasking, especially for rush hour traffic.
The only time that I occasionally do any minimal multitasking is when I am driving on rural highways or roads with light traffic and few stoplights. Whether I am multitasking or not, I nearly always leave plenty of room between me and the next car so that I have an extra second or two to react to things. In light traffic, I tend to leave even more distance between me and the next car, giving me even more time to react.
In such circumstances, I might occasionally eat an apple or sip some coffee, but never something distractingly messy such as a hamburger. On rare occasions, while cruising along country highways in light traffic, I have picked up the microphone on my 2-meter radio and briefly chatted with other ham radio operators. Occasionally, I have suddenly paused or ended the conversation by saying something like "just a minute, I got some heavy traffic." Even without saying that, the other ham usually seems to guess why there was a 30-second delay in getting an answer from the other driver. I should emphasize that I do do that type of thing very often, even under such circumstances.
There don't seem to be any digital stations available yet where I live. I receive most of my television stations through a privately owned translator which is on a mountain top between here and Phoenix, which is the nearest large city. It is only broadcasting in analog. According to the dtv2009.gov website, "currently there is no requirement for translators and low-power stations to convert to digital." It sounds like they may be allowed to continue broadcasting in NTSC analog for a while longer.
I have gone to the antennaweb.org website and asked for the predicted list of analog and digital stations for my address. It says that there are "no digital stations predicted to serve this location." But, it does say that I should be getting six analog stations.
I am still waiting for my $40 coupon to arrive so that I can get a converter box and see if I can actually get any of the new digital stations.
I went to the dtv2009.gov website, just now, and clicked on the large graphic that says "where is your coupon." I did not have my original coupon number, so I tried to look it up by the combination of my last name and address. Unfortunately, it could not find my coupon status.
I called their 1-888-388-2009 telephone number to check on the status of my coupon and they could not find it either. So, they had me apply for another coupon. I decided to apply for just one instead of two this time.
I would not be surprised if they still send me the 2 coupons from the original request that I had done online. If so, I will just send the third coupon back.
I applied for 2 coupons from the dtv2009.gov website in January. If I remember correctly, their website said they would start start sending the coupons out in February. February has come and gone and I am still waiting for my coupons.
If they do not have enough confidence in their system's security or accuracy to allow it to be tested, then it is not good enough to be used for e-voting. They have just demonstrated that their system can not be trusted.
When I first started using Linux, I did soon discover that it was fun, but my desire for freedom was an equally important reason for using Linux. Yes, it is fun to tinker with my Linux box. Back in the late 1980s and early 1990s, I had lots of fun learning new DOS commands, writing batch files and trying out the unending supply of free shareware utilities and software. For me, moving to Windows and its GUI interface somehow killed much of the fun of my computer hobby partially because of the deemphasis of the command line and batch files. Back in 2000, the fun began again when I first installed Linux, because I could choose to do things either by command line or GUI. There was also, once again, an endless supply of free software to try out, which was far better than the old shareware stuff I had once played with.
The freedom to do whatever I want with my several computers is equally important for me. On several occasions in the past, I have had to ask Microsoft for permission reinstall software which I had already paid for. After sternly interrogating me about if and why this was really being installed again on the same computer they reluctantly gave me the code I needed. But, first they sternly warning me not to write it down or repeat it to anyone in the background. I do not need to put up with that BS with Linux.
Sometimes, I have heard arguments about whether Windows or Linux is better. For me it is not a question of which is better, because either operating system actually works very well. I would choose the freedom of open source GPL licensed software, even if I did not thing it was the best. The lack of problems with viruses and spyware is just a nice bonus for using Linux, but is not really why I use Linux. Microsoft will never win me back, even if they do eventually manage to build a better operating system. I have tasted freedom and would never be willing to give it up by going back to Microsoft, no matter what.
Peoples views do not always fit neatly into either the "conservative," "liberal" or "moderate" categories. For example, back in the mid-1960s, I vaguely remember when the ultra-conservative Barry Goldwater was the Republican presidential candidate running against Lyndon B. Johnson. Many of Barry Goldwater's key ideas, back then, were almost exactly the opposite of what Republican George W. Bush now stands for. If I remember correctly, Barry Goldwater strongly believed in respecting the constitutional limits of government power. He also wanted to strengthen States rights and limit Federal power. He wanted smaller government and less government spending. Even in his later years, he did not seem to be part of the religious right. The polices of George W. Bush have been almost exactly the opposite. About the only thing they seemed to agree on is the need for a strong military, yet they are both supposedly conservative Republicans.
Ron Paul is also a conservative Republican, yet his views also do not match the views of most other politicians in either the "conservative" or "liberal" or "moderate" categories. Among other things, he is opposed to the Federal Reserve banking system and opposed to fiat currency. He is also strongly opposed the Trillions of dollars in reckless deficit spending by the U.S. government, much of which is money that we have borrowed from Asian countries such as China. He is opposed to the War in Iraq. He is strongly opposed to anything that appears to be Globalist New World order type stuff. Ron and his supporters do not fit neatly into either the liberal or conservative category. Their views are also totally opposite to those of G. W. Bush and most other mainstream Republicans or Democrats.
I have sometimes referred to myself as a fiscal conservative / social liberal. For decades, I have always been strongly opposed to the government living beyond it means on borrowed money. That makes me an ultra conservative, I guess. But, I do not care if gay people get married, am an environmentalist and believe that abortions should remain legal, so I guess I am a liberal. My distrust of Diebold voting machines is neither a "liberal" or "conservative" issue. I am a Republican, yet I strongly dislike George Bush and Dick Chenney's polices of having "big brother" watch everything we do on the Internet and elsewhere, supposedly in the name of fighting terrorism. For similar privacy reasons, I am opposed to the plans of retailers and the government to eventually add RFID tags to our shoes, clothing, tires, credit cards, passports and everything that we buy. I am also opposed to the Federal Reserve banking system and our expanding supply of fiat currency, which is not clearly a "liberal" or "conservative" issue. You might think of me as a liberal because I am concerned enough about animal rights, that the only eggs I will eat are the locally raised, free range, hormone free eggs that I can buy in the local health food store. I am registered as a Republican, but am always annoyed when simple minded media people try to classify people such as myself as just a "conservative," "moderate," or "liberal."
I would take a two or three axis categorization system to even begin to adequately categorize peoples political views, not just the overly simplistic one axis, "conservative" or "liberal" descriptions that we currently use.
I dislike the complex electronic stuff on new cars. My early-1990's pickup truck lacks such technology. I once had to borrow someone's new tuck and soon once found myself stuck inside unable to open the doors or windows and unable to get the vehicle out of park. I could not shift out of park because it never occurred to me that I might need to press on the brakes first to be allowed to shift out of park. I tried to open the doors, but could not figure out how to get them unlocked and open. On vehicles I had owned or driven, you just lift up the lock button to unlock a door. I then tried various buttons in a desperate attempt to open a window so that I could crawl out of the vehicle, but nothing seemed to work. On every vehicle I have owned, windows were rolled up or down manually with the hand crank.
In desperation, I tried to use my cellphone to call for help, but unfortunately, I had forgotten to bring my reading glasses. I could not operate my complex new cellphone without being able to read the buttons, cellphone was totally useless. Finally, I decided that I would need to break the window and crawl out through the broken glass. Perhaps, I could hit the window with my cellphone or some other object to break the glass. Before doing that I tried once more to get the window open and finally succeeded and managed to climb out though the window and walk home.
When I rented a car in Hawaii, I was annoyed at having to hear the horn every time I locked or unlocked the car doors. I could easily distinguish between the sound of the locks locking or unlocking from up to 50 feet away, so what was the purpose of the beeping horn? Someone at the condo complained about having to hear my horn been when I came or went late at night. I soon realized that I could lock or unlock the door the old fashioned way with the key, without having the horn beep.
I should add that I am not totally incompetent with technology. Over the years, I have built several of my own computers and installed operating systems such as Linux, Windows and DOS on them. Several decades ago, I once overhauled a car's engine. I once helped build a solar house. I also know Morse code. I have driven old non-electronic vehicles with manual locks, windows and sick shift transmissions for decades without ever having had an accident. But, I prefer simple old vehicles that lack modern electronics and would prefer a simpler cellphone that I could use without having to put my reading glasses on first.
Correcting my above post, I should say, that I have only been driving for about 38 years (instead of 50 years) I did not start driving when I was in diapers (unless you count my tricycle).
By not following too close, I tend to look further down the road at all of the vehicles ahead of me, not just at the car directly in front of me. It is easy to see an oncoming wave of decelerating cars that is obviously out-of-sync with the traffic flow. At the wave approaches, its probable magnitude and duration as it passes me is obvious. If I happen to have a little room to play with at that moment, I always try to dampen the wave as best I can by using the space ahead of me as a buffer which I can shrink or expand to smooth out the flow. After the wave passes, I can look in my mirror and see much smoother flow behind me.
Here is another variation of what I am talking about. When in somewhat of a traffic jam, I frequently see a building wave of cars immediately ahead of me over-accelerating, followed by a wave of them suddenly having to hit their brakes and slow to a stop. Of course I use my small buffer of space to avoid joining them in over accelerating and just proceed at a speed that will use of the last of my buffer as they are starting to move again. When I look in my mirror, I can usually see a much smoother flow behind me and that the wave has dissipated.
For some reason, I rarely see any other drivers doing that. In fact most drivers movements suggest that they have no clue of what is happening just a few cars ahead of them. Perhaps, they just need to direct the focus of their eyes slightly further down the read and back off slightly from the car just ahead of them.
It does help that I sit up high enough in my pick-up truck to see what is going up ahead. Driving that way also means that I rarely ever use my brakes, in fact, the pads on my front disk brakes have never been replaced in 142,000 miles of driving. Of course, the fact that I have a manual transmission means that I get somewhat more of a braking action, just by letting up on my gas peddle. I do not think what I am doing is dangerous, since I have been driving for over 50 years without ever having had an accident.
I have always had several telephone service failures per year, every year, for the last several decades, where I live here in Northern Arizona. First of all, when it rains, the telephone lines sometimes become wet and I loose my dial-tone for a day or so. Then, when I call the telephone company, they usually say, if your telephone lines have not dried out and started working within 48 hours, we will send someone out then then. Can't they figure out how to water proof the phone lines and boxes and other stuff?
Nearby lightning strikes during thunderstorms also cause several brief power and telephone service failures every summer. The power and telephone service failures usually last anywhere from several minutes to an hour or so. In two instances, my telephone was destroyed and in one instance the twisted pair telephone line itself in the building was damaged. Fortunately, I had already unplugged my computer, in those instances.
Then of course, about once every other year or so, a backhoe causes a several hour loss of telephone service. Then about a year or two ago, several nearby telephone poles snapped during a wind storm. Then about once a year, telephone and/or power briefly fails for reasons that are not obvious.
I always keep several LED flashlights and a battery powered radio handy just in case, especially during the summer. My backup methods of communication are my cell phone and the 2-meter ham radio in my truck. By the way, we do not have tornadoes, hurricanes or ice storms here.
There were two occasions in the last year or so when I was getting ready to post a comment on Slashdot when power failures suddenly occurred. In the first case, I was about to click Submit, when suddenly my lights went out and my UPS stated making beeping noises and my phone and DSL line all went dead. I looked out the window and saw fallen power lines, which had been knocked down by the wind, lying on top of a car. Before long I heard sirens and sew fire trucks and power company trucks arriving. Didn't they realize that I had to post my comment on Slashdot? I reluctantly powered down my computer and pulled out a LED flashlight and my battery powered radio. My only remaining means of communication with the outside world were my cell phone and the 2-meter ham radio in my truck. The people in the car were OK, by the way.
Then again more recently, I was about to post a comment, when the lights flickered briefly. I clicked Submit and nothing happened and soon realized that I did not have a dial tone on my telephone. I decided to drive into town to make a deposit at the bank instead, but when I got there was told that their computers were still being brought up and that I should try a different branch.
I expect that kind of thing during summer thunderstorms when nearby power lines were being struck by lightening, but those two instances were a surprise. My only actual gripe is when it rains and my telephone goes dead and the telephone company says to call them back in 48 hours if my dial tone has not come back by then.
Back in the 1970s and 1980s, I had trouble getting my first credit card. They always turned me down saying that I had not yet established a credit history. The fact that I had worked steadily for the same company for many years did not seem be sufficient. I was well into my 30's before I was able to get my first credit card.
Even the bank where I had both my savings and checking account, would not give me a charge card. I had banked with them for many years without any problems on my account. Finally they did give me a Visa debit card with my checking account. Debit cards were a new thing back then.
I had taken classes at several junior colleges and they always gladly accepted my personal checks. But, I wanted to be able to rent a car when traveling. It is not possible to rent a car without a credit card. I was not sure if a debit card would have worked. Other than that, I did not have much reason for wanting a credit card. I was absolutely dead set against going into debt, carrying a balance from month to month or living beyond my means.
Finally, someone who turned me down, told me that the problem was that I did not have a home telephone number and that made me look less substantial. My telephone number at work was not good enough. So I immediately had a telephone installed at home and soon soon had my first charge card. Having a home telephone also turned out to be handy when dating.
Soon, I was having to constantly shred all those annoying pre-approved charge card applications that were constantly arriving in the mail. Bank tellers also frequently try to talk me into getting one of their charge cards. I always tell them, no thank you, I already have a credit card. Why would anyone want more than one charge card?
Over the years, I have occasionally typed my address into MapQuest to see where it thinks I live. Until recently, it was wrong by about 1 mile. It incorrectly showed my address as being between one end of a lake and the city sewage treatment plant in a marshy area where no road exists. Now, MapQuest data has been revised to show me living at a different location about 1/2 a mile from where I actually live.
Several people have also had problems trying to find me when using the GPS units in their cars. Eventually, they finally give up in frustration and called me on their cell phones I looked out my window and see them parked about 1/4 mile away where their GPS claims that I live. I get a laugh out of those gadget happy young people not being able to find me with their fancy GPS units.
If technology loving people use either a printed out map from MapQuest or a GPS to find me, they end up in the wrong place. The MapQuest users end up about 1/2 mile to far in one direction and the GPS users end up about 1/4 mile too far in the opposite direction. Old fogies who use old fashioned maps can find me with no problem.
Perhaps I should have given them the exact latitude and longitude coordinates or my UTM coordinates instead of my address. Can automotive type GPS units handle either latitude and longitude coordinates or UTM coordinates?
My power consumption figures, just for comparison
on
Building a Green PC
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· Score: 1
I have two computers and a couple of Kill-A-Watt meters, so here are the power consumption figures for my two home computers just for comparison:
My most power efficient computer at home is 1 year old and has a 1.83 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 2 GB of RAM, Windows XP and is hooked to a 20-inch LCD flat screen monitor. Not counting the monitor it uses 24 Watts. The 20-inch flat screen. monitor uses 40 Watts (or only 1 Watt when in the sleep mode). This is not a laptop computer, it is a very small desktop computer, but it does happen to have a very small motherboard which is normally used in laptop computers.
My other computer is hooked to the same keyboard, monitor and mouse through a KVM switch. I had room for more than one computer but not more than one monitor.
A 2-year old AMD-64 computer running Kubuntu Linux is my main computer, which I am using at the moment. It is a dual-core AMD-64 4200+ and is hooked to the same 20-inch LCD flat screen monitor. It is using 82 Watts at the moment, plus an additional 40 Watts for the monitor. It can use more power under heavy load. When the monitor goes into the sleep mode it's power consumption drops to only 1 Watt. The computer has 2GB of RAM and 2 large hard drives. It has a 380-Watt 80+ power supply that is over 80% efficient. I use Kubuntu 7.10 Linux and by default it has the AMD-64's Cool n' Quiet feature enabled which saves power by dropping the CPU's clock speed from 2.4 GHz down to 1 GHz when the computer is idle or not doing anything difficult.
By the way, it does use 7-Watts even when it is turned off.
I have one of those $5 PayPal security keys on my keychain. To pay by PayPal or access my account, I am asked first for my password and then asked for the current six-digit code from the security key. The six-digit code changes every 30 seconds.
As for on-line banking, I have never signed up for that because of my concerns about security. If a local bank ever started using two-factor authentication with a security key, I would gladly give on-line banking a try. Until then, I am not interested.
I frequently receive fake email messages claiming to be from PayPal, Amazon.com or various banks. They typically say someone has been added to my account and ask me to click on the link and log-in and check on the details. When I hold the cursor over the link without clicking, it shows me a complicated looking URL from a foreign country at the bottom of the screen. I have never actually clicked on the link to go to to their fake websites.
As for on-line banking, personally, I would prefer to not do it from a heavily used family Windows computer which is used by children and teenagers. It is likely to have already been compromised from lots of heavy careless use. I prefer the idea of using a separate lightly used, but well maintained, Linux or Mac OS X computer just for that purpose. I am a middle aged Linux user myself, by the way.
Slashdot Mirror
Yes, a holographic universe is one possibility, but as drinkypoo suggests, "a computer simulation which operates at a fixed clock rate," is also a possibility. The book, "The Universe Solved," mentions the possible non-continuous, quantized nature of time and space as evidence that the universe we are all living in may just be a computer simulation. That book was written by an Jim Elvidge, who is an electrical engineer.
Among other things, his book mentions some evidence that our world is not continuous, but rather quantized, or granular. He goes on to suggest that it would "take an infinite amount of resources to create a continuous reality, but a finite amount to create a quantized reality." For a computer generated virtual reality universe, it would be necessary that the universe could be described with a finite amount of resources.
If that is actually true, then it raises the question of who exactly God is? Is he (or she) the head programmer, or is he the owner of the computer, or perhaps he is an important computer generated part of the program itself. Perhaps his having God like powers are written into the program itself. Or perhaps the universe is not exactly computer generated, but just happens to have characteristics that are similar to what one might expect to find in a virtual reality simulation.
The Universe - Solved http://www.theuniversesolved.com/book.htm
There have also been several science fiction movies such as "The Thirteenth Floor" and "Dark City" which suggested that we might actually all be living in a computer generated virtual reality simulation.
I still use the NMB "Right Touch" mechanical keyboard which was manufactured back in the mid-to-late 1990's. It is by far my favorite keyboard. I have never tried the model M keyboard, So I don't know how it compares to that.
It is a click type keyboard. The tactile and auditory feedback confirms that my slight light pressing of the key had been sufficient to register. It is not something that I need to consciously think about, but I always notice a missing click long before I have looked up to read what I have just typed.
That keyboard has a slightly lighter touch than most other keyboards. But even so, when typing for long periods of time, I prefer to minimize the tiring work for my hands by pressing the keys as lightly as possible. Without really thinking about it, I rely on the steady clicking noises to confirm that my light touch was not too light. My theory is that being able to type more lightly might reduce the chances of repetitive motion injury, but I have not read anything which has actually suggested that possibility.
I use the keyboard at home, not at work, so I don't need to worry about what co-workers might think of the clicking noises. To me the clicking while typing, is much less annoying than the slight steady fan and and hard drive noises coming from my relatively quiet computer, hour after hour, every day.
Every few years, the keys would start to work less reliably. Then, I would then have to remove some or all of the key caps and clean out the several years accumulation of hair, lint and bits of shredded wheat from under each key. While I was at it I would carefully wash all of my grimy greasy fingerprints off of each of the plastic caps in the kitchen sink and then after they were dry put them back on the keyboard. Afterwards, the keyboard has always worked like new and look almost like new, again.
The keyboard uses one of those larger older style AT type connectors, instead of a more modern PS/2 connector or a USB connector which computers now use. I use an adapter to connect it to the PS/2 connector on my computer.
On several occasions have run across aggressive annoying advertisements which popped-up claiming to have detected viruses and spyware on my computer. On each occasion, I was using Linux and browsing the Internet with Firefox. I normally do not get pop-ups when using Firefox, but some scareware advertisers do still know how to make pop-ups appear.
Earlier this year, I had just installed a brand new copy of Kubuntu Linux on a brand new hard disk in my computer. It did not (and still does not) have Windows or any Microsoft products installed on it. I had also installed a firewall and had it behind a router which also had a firewall with all ports closed to the outside world. I had even installed all the latest security updates.
If I remember correctly, this is roughly what happened next. A day or two later, as I was browsing the Internet with Firefox, an ad popped up saying that they had detected several types of viruses and spyware running on my computer. It then asked if I want to have my hard disk scanned for viruses. I closed the advertisement without giving permission. Then another pop-up, with a progress bar, appeared, which claimed that it as scanning drive C: for viruses. I thought, that was odd, since Linux computers do not have a drive C. Before long, a pop-up appeared which said that Microsoft had detected references to viruses and spyware in my registry. That also seemed odd, since Linux does not even have a registry. Furthermore, I thought, what was a Microsoft pop-up doing on my Linux computer. Besides, at least last that I have heard, there still have not yet been any Linux viruses successfully circulating in the wild.
Finally, they asked me to click on a link and purchase their product, so that my computer could be disinfected. At no point in the process of supposedly scanning my hard disk without permission, did they seem to notice or comment on the fact that I was using Linux.
I add a few frozen blueberries to my oatmeal every morning. Several studies have found that blueberries help the memories of older rats.
In the early 1960s, as I recall, everyone had black and white, but I should add that by the late 1960s many or possibly even most families had color TVs. However, a few families such as ours chose to keep using the less expensive black and white TVs. For us black and white was good enough.
Yes, I watched black and white television when I was growing up in the 1960s. I would pull the knob to turn on the TV and after a few seconds or so, the tubes would warm up and a picture would appear. If I remember correctly, for a split second, the image would grow from a dot to full size. I think we had about 3 or 4 channels, such as probably ABC, CBS, NBC and probably one independent station.
To change channels we had to manually turn the knob with a klunk, klunk noise each time we turned the knob. after changing channels, occasionally we would have to adjust the fine-tunning knob or adjust the rabbit ears slightly for a better picture. When the TV got older, it accumulated more dust in the channel changing knob, and we would have to wiggle the knob a few times or click it back and forth a few times before getting a clear black and white picture. There were no digital type buttons and there was no remote.
As a child, I remember turning on the TV early in the morning before anything was on and just getting the test pattern that the station used, such as the one with the Indian and some other patterns. If I remember correctly, I would eventually hear a few test tones that were a clue that broadcasting was about to begin. It was followed by the brief announcement that mbstone mentioned and then the first show would begin.
When I would peek into ventilation holes in the back of the TV, I could see a few tubes glowing. One of the grocery stores we shopped at had a tube tester machine. It was not far from the 1 cent gumball machines and also the toy car which would rock back and forth for a couple minutes after mommy inserted the appropriate coin.
I remember watching shows such as "Leave it to Beaver," "The Lucy Show," "Dobie Gillis," "Gidget," "Captain Kangaroo," and "The Lone Ranger." My favorites included show such as "One Step Beyond," "The Outer Limits," "The Twilight Zone," "Alfred Hitchcock Presents," "Perry Mason," and "The Mod Squad." The dumbest shows which I actually watched were "My Mother the Car" which was about a guy who's mother was a car, and also "Mr Ed," which was about guy with a talking horse. We also watched the evening news with Walter Cronkite every evening.
This was back in the days when the milk man would deliver milk to our door, girls wore dresses, most mothers stayed at home and some families still had just one car. We would dial phone numbers by rotating the dial on a rotary phones and where we could dial "0" to get the operator.
I am in my mid-50s, and usually dream in black and white. The only exception is after I have just spent all day hiking or backpacking among the bright colors outdoors. Then that evening and on the next night my dreams and other mental imagery usually become much more colorful. After hiking all day, my memories become saturated with the bright vivid colors of blue sky, white clouds, green and yellow leaves, and also yellow, red and purple flowers and red rock formations. Then afterwards, for about the next two days my various types of mental imagery and dreams becomes much more colorful, before gradually fading back to black and white.
After having been hiking or backpacking all day, if I close my eyes while I am still awake, I can usually see a faint but steady steam of slight traces of brightly colored flickering faint mental images that I am not consciously creating. Then, after about 2 days the color fades away to mostly black and white for dreams and most other types of conscious or unconscious mental imagery.
I am now in my mid-50s and unlike most other television views of that time period, I did not upgrade to using a more expensive color TV until I was in my mid-30s somewhere during the 1980s. Ever since then, I have have owned 13" color TVs with rabbit ears antennas.
When I am starting to fall asleep I sometimes see traces of dream like images start to appear just before I fall asleep. That sometimes gives me a preview of of whether my dreams are going to be in black and white or color. Normally they are in black and white.
About 5 or 10 years ago, I once ran across a guy in an electric car, who had driven about 100 miles or so up into the mountains. He was looking for a place to recharge his electric car, so he could get back home. He stopped at an RV park and asked if they had 50 Amp electrical outlets on their spaces. They said they did, so he asked how much they would charge for him to recharge his electric car. He worked out some kind of agreement with the RV park owner and then sat there recharging his batteries for a while and then eventually left.
I am not sure what type of electrical plugs and adapters most electric cars have (or would prefer for the fastest possible recharge). In this case he got by with using the standard 50 Amp outlet which most of the newer RV parks have. The older RV parks usually just have the 30 Amp outlets which he said would not have been adequate. In most cases they also have an electric meter on each space. The newest, largest motor homes and trailers usually have 2 or 3 air conditioners on the roof and need a 50 Amp outlet to run all their air conditioners.
I don't know if that type of outlet would be adequate for something like the Tesla electric car or not. If so, then perhaps they could rent electric car owners a space for an hour or so (or whatever it takes). They might even let the car owner use the campgrounds WiFi system or showers and restrooms while they are recharging. They could still rent those same spaces out later for overnight use by RV owners.
I accidentally hit "Submit" instead of "Preview" before I had a chance to finish checking for errors. I meant to say that I do not do that very often, even when driving in light traffic. I should also add that I am in my mid-50s and have never had an accident.
I do not like how many of the newer cars have complicated electronics which encourage me to take my eyes off the road when driving. Back in the 1970s, my cars few controls were all large easy to find knobs, buttons and levers. Of course, I could easily find them without looking and hardly even thinking.
I was once ridding with my 2nd cousin, as she circled a major airport in rush hour traffic while talking on her cell phone to her boss and also trying to send him a fax from her laptop, all at once. That was way too much multitasking, especially for rush hour traffic.
The only time that I occasionally do any minimal multitasking is when I am driving on rural highways or roads with light traffic and few stoplights. Whether I am multitasking or not, I nearly always leave plenty of room between me and the next car so that I have an extra second or two to react to things. In light traffic, I tend to leave even more distance between me and the next car, giving me even more time to react.
In such circumstances, I might occasionally eat an apple or sip some coffee, but never something distractingly messy such as a hamburger. On rare occasions, while cruising along country highways in light traffic, I have picked up the microphone on my 2-meter radio and briefly chatted with other ham radio operators. Occasionally, I have suddenly paused or ended the conversation by saying something like "just a minute, I got some heavy traffic." Even without saying that, the other ham usually seems to guess why there was a 30-second delay in getting an answer from the other driver. I should emphasize that I do do that type of thing very often, even under such circumstances.
There don't seem to be any digital stations available yet where I live. I receive most of my television stations through a privately owned translator which is on a mountain top between here and Phoenix, which is the nearest large city. It is only broadcasting in analog. According to the dtv2009.gov website, "currently there is no requirement for translators and low-power stations to convert to digital." It sounds like they may be allowed to continue broadcasting in NTSC analog for a while longer.
I have gone to the antennaweb.org website and asked for the predicted list of analog and digital stations for my address. It says that there are "no digital stations predicted to serve this location." But, it does say that I should be getting six analog stations.
I am still waiting for my $40 coupon to arrive so that I can get a converter box and see if I can actually get any of the new digital stations.
I went to the dtv2009.gov website, just now, and clicked on the large graphic that says "where is your coupon." I did not have my original coupon number, so I tried to look it up by the combination of my last name and address. Unfortunately, it could not find my coupon status.
I called their 1-888-388-2009 telephone number to check on the status of my coupon and they could not find it either. So, they had me apply for another coupon. I decided to apply for just one instead of two this time.
I would not be surprised if they still send me the 2 coupons from the original request that I had done online. If so, I will just send the third coupon back.
I applied for 2 coupons from the dtv2009.gov website in January. If I remember correctly, their website said they would start start sending the coupons out in February. February has come and gone and I am still waiting for my coupons.
I wonder if I should try applying again?
If they do not have enough confidence in their system's security or accuracy to allow it to be tested, then it is not good enough to be used for e-voting. They have just demonstrated that their system can not be trusted.
When I first started using Linux, I did soon discover that it was fun, but my desire for freedom was an equally important reason for using Linux. Yes, it is fun to tinker with my Linux box. Back in the late 1980s and early 1990s, I had lots of fun learning new DOS commands, writing batch files and trying out the unending supply of free shareware utilities and software. For me, moving to Windows and its GUI interface somehow killed much of the fun of my computer hobby partially because of the deemphasis of the command line and batch files. Back in 2000, the fun began again when I first installed Linux, because I could choose to do things either by command line or GUI. There was also, once again, an endless supply of free software to try out, which was far better than the old shareware stuff I had once played with.
The freedom to do whatever I want with my several computers is equally important for me. On several occasions in the past, I have had to ask Microsoft for permission reinstall software which I had already paid for. After sternly interrogating me about if and why this was really being installed again on the same computer they reluctantly gave me the code I needed. But, first they sternly warning me not to write it down or repeat it to anyone in the background. I do not need to put up with that BS with Linux.
Sometimes, I have heard arguments about whether Windows or Linux is better. For me it is not a question of which is better, because either operating system actually works very well. I would choose the freedom of open source GPL licensed software, even if I did not thing it was the best. The lack of problems with viruses and spyware is just a nice bonus for using Linux, but is not really why I use Linux. Microsoft will never win me back, even if they do eventually manage to build a better operating system. I have tasted freedom and would never be willing to give it up by going back to Microsoft, no matter what.
Peoples views do not always fit neatly into either the "conservative," "liberal" or "moderate" categories. For example, back in the mid-1960s, I vaguely remember when the ultra-conservative Barry Goldwater was the Republican presidential candidate running against Lyndon B. Johnson. Many of Barry Goldwater's key ideas, back then, were almost exactly the opposite of what Republican George W. Bush now stands for. If I remember correctly, Barry Goldwater strongly believed in respecting the constitutional limits of government power. He also wanted to strengthen States rights and limit Federal power. He wanted smaller government and less government spending. Even in his later years, he did not seem to be part of the religious right. The polices of George W. Bush have been almost exactly the opposite. About the only thing they seemed to agree on is the need for a strong military, yet they are both supposedly conservative Republicans.
Ron Paul is also a conservative Republican, yet his views also do not match the views of most other politicians in either the "conservative" or "liberal" or "moderate" categories. Among other things, he is opposed to the Federal Reserve banking system and opposed to fiat currency. He is also strongly opposed the Trillions of dollars in reckless deficit spending by the U.S. government, much of which is money that we have borrowed from Asian countries such as China. He is opposed to the War in Iraq. He is strongly opposed to anything that appears to be Globalist New World order type stuff. Ron and his supporters do not fit neatly into either the liberal or conservative category. Their views are also totally opposite to those of G. W. Bush and most other mainstream Republicans or Democrats.
I have sometimes referred to myself as a fiscal conservative / social liberal. For decades, I have always been strongly opposed to the government living beyond it means on borrowed money. That makes me an ultra conservative, I guess. But, I do not care if gay people get married, am an environmentalist and believe that abortions should remain legal, so I guess I am a liberal. My distrust of Diebold voting machines is neither a "liberal" or "conservative" issue. I am a Republican, yet I strongly dislike George Bush and Dick Chenney's polices of having "big brother" watch everything we do on the Internet and elsewhere, supposedly in the name of fighting terrorism. For similar privacy reasons, I am opposed to the plans of retailers and the government to eventually add RFID tags to our shoes, clothing, tires, credit cards, passports and everything that we buy. I am also opposed to the Federal Reserve banking system and our expanding supply of fiat currency, which is not clearly a "liberal" or "conservative" issue. You might think of me as a liberal because I am concerned enough about animal rights, that the only eggs I will eat are the locally raised, free range, hormone free eggs that I can buy in the local health food store. I am registered as a Republican, but am always annoyed when simple minded media people try to classify people such as myself as just a "conservative," "moderate," or "liberal."
I would take a two or three axis categorization system to even begin to adequately categorize peoples political views, not just the overly simplistic one axis, "conservative" or "liberal" descriptions that we currently use.
I dislike the complex electronic stuff on new cars. My early-1990's pickup truck lacks such technology. I once had to borrow someone's new tuck and soon once found myself stuck inside unable to open the doors or windows and unable to get the vehicle out of park. I could not shift out of park because it never occurred to me that I might need to press on the brakes first to be allowed to shift out of park. I tried to open the doors, but could not figure out how to get them unlocked and open. On vehicles I had owned or driven, you just lift up the lock button to unlock a door. I then tried various buttons in a desperate attempt to open a window so that I could crawl out of the vehicle, but nothing seemed to work. On every vehicle I have owned, windows were rolled up or down manually with the hand crank.
In desperation, I tried to use my cellphone to call for help, but unfortunately, I had forgotten to bring my reading glasses. I could not operate my complex new cellphone without being able to read the buttons, cellphone was totally useless. Finally, I decided that I would need to break the window and crawl out through the broken glass. Perhaps, I could hit the window with my cellphone or some other object to break the glass. Before doing that I tried once more to get the window open and finally succeeded and managed to climb out though the window and walk home.
When I rented a car in Hawaii, I was annoyed at having to hear the horn every time I locked or unlocked the car doors. I could easily distinguish between the sound of the locks locking or unlocking from up to 50 feet away, so what was the purpose of the beeping horn? Someone at the condo complained about having to hear my horn been when I came or went late at night. I soon realized that I could lock or unlock the door the old fashioned way with the key, without having the horn beep.
I should add that I am not totally incompetent with technology. Over the years, I have built several of my own computers and installed operating systems such as Linux, Windows and DOS on them. Several decades ago, I once overhauled a car's engine. I once helped build a solar house. I also know Morse code. I have driven old non-electronic vehicles with manual locks, windows and sick shift transmissions for decades without ever having had an accident. But, I prefer simple old vehicles that lack modern electronics and would prefer a simpler cellphone that I could use without having to put my reading glasses on first.
Correcting my above post, I should say, that I have only been driving for about 38 years (instead of 50 years) I did not start driving when I was in diapers (unless you count my tricycle).
By not following too close, I tend to look further down the road at all of the vehicles ahead of me, not just at the car directly in front of me. It is easy to see an oncoming wave of decelerating cars that is obviously out-of-sync with the traffic flow. At the wave approaches, its probable magnitude and duration as it passes me is obvious. If I happen to have a little room to play with at that moment, I always try to dampen the wave as best I can by using the space ahead of me as a buffer which I can shrink or expand to smooth out the flow. After the wave passes, I can look in my mirror and see much smoother flow behind me.
Here is another variation of what I am talking about. When in somewhat of a traffic jam, I frequently see a building wave of cars immediately ahead of me over-accelerating, followed by a wave of them suddenly having to hit their brakes and slow to a stop. Of course I use my small buffer of space to avoid joining them in over accelerating and just proceed at a speed that will use of the last of my buffer as they are starting to move again. When I look in my mirror, I can usually see a much smoother flow behind me and that the wave has dissipated.
For some reason, I rarely see any other drivers doing that. In fact most drivers movements suggest that they have no clue of what is happening just a few cars ahead of them. Perhaps, they just need to direct the focus of their eyes slightly further down the read and back off slightly from the car just ahead of them.
It does help that I sit up high enough in my pick-up truck to see what is going up ahead. Driving that way also means that I rarely ever use my brakes, in fact, the pads on my front disk brakes have never been replaced in 142,000 miles of driving. Of course, the fact that I have a manual transmission means that I get somewhat more of a braking action, just by letting up on my gas peddle. I do not think what I am doing is dangerous, since I have been driving for over 50 years without ever having had an accident.
I have always had several telephone service failures per year, every year, for the last several decades, where I live here in Northern Arizona. First of all, when it rains, the telephone lines sometimes become wet and I loose my dial-tone for a day or so. Then, when I call the telephone company, they usually say, if your telephone lines have not dried out and started working within 48 hours, we will send someone out then then. Can't they figure out how to water proof the phone lines and boxes and other stuff?
Nearby lightning strikes during thunderstorms also cause several brief power and telephone service failures every summer. The power and telephone service failures usually last anywhere from several minutes to an hour or so. In two instances, my telephone was destroyed and in one instance the twisted pair telephone line itself in the building was damaged. Fortunately, I had already unplugged my computer, in those instances.
Then of course, about once every other year or so, a backhoe causes a several hour loss of telephone service. Then about a year or two ago, several nearby telephone poles snapped during a wind storm. Then about once a year, telephone and/or power briefly fails for reasons that are not obvious.
I always keep several LED flashlights and a battery powered radio handy just in case, especially during the summer. My backup methods of communication are my cell phone and the 2-meter ham radio in my truck. By the way, we do not have tornadoes, hurricanes or ice storms here.
There were two occasions in the last year or so when I was getting ready to post a comment on Slashdot when power failures suddenly occurred. In the first case, I was about to click Submit, when suddenly my lights went out and my UPS stated making beeping noises and my phone and DSL line all went dead. I looked out the window and saw fallen power lines, which had been knocked down by the wind, lying on top of a car. Before long I heard sirens and sew fire trucks and power company trucks arriving. Didn't they realize that I had to post my comment on Slashdot? I reluctantly powered down my computer and pulled out a LED flashlight and my battery powered radio. My only remaining means of communication with the outside world were my cell phone and the 2-meter ham radio in my truck. The people in the car were OK, by the way.
Then again more recently, I was about to post a comment, when the lights flickered briefly. I clicked Submit and nothing happened and soon realized that I did not have a dial tone on my telephone. I decided to drive into town to make a deposit at the bank instead, but when I got there was told that their computers were still being brought up and that I should try a different branch.
I expect that kind of thing during summer thunderstorms when nearby power lines were being struck by lightening, but those two instances were a surprise. My only actual gripe is when it rains and my telephone goes dead and the telephone company says to call them back in 48 hours if my dial tone has not come back by then.
Back in the 1970s and 1980s, I had trouble getting my first credit card. They always turned me down saying that I had not yet established a credit history. The fact that I had worked steadily for the same company for many years did not seem be sufficient. I was well into my 30's before I was able to get my first credit card.
Even the bank where I had both my savings and checking account, would not give me a charge card. I had banked with them for many years without any problems on my account. Finally they did give me a Visa debit card with my checking account. Debit cards were a new thing back then.
I had taken classes at several junior colleges and they always gladly accepted my personal checks. But, I wanted to be able to rent a car when traveling. It is not possible to rent a car without a credit card. I was not sure if a debit card would have worked. Other than that, I did not have much reason for wanting a credit card. I was absolutely dead set against going into debt, carrying a balance from month to month or living beyond my means.
Finally, someone who turned me down, told me that the problem was that I did not have a home telephone number and that made me look less substantial. My telephone number at work was not good enough. So I immediately had a telephone installed at home and soon soon had my first charge card. Having a home telephone also turned out to be handy when dating.
Soon, I was having to constantly shred all those annoying pre-approved charge card applications that were constantly arriving in the mail. Bank tellers also frequently try to talk me into getting one of their charge cards. I always tell them, no thank you, I already have a credit card. Why would anyone want more than one charge card?
Over the years, I have occasionally typed my address into MapQuest to see where it thinks I live. Until recently, it was wrong by about 1 mile. It incorrectly showed my address as being between one end of a lake and the city sewage treatment plant in a marshy area where no road exists. Now, MapQuest data has been revised to show me living at a different location about 1/2 a mile from where I actually live.
Several people have also had problems trying to find me when using the GPS units in their cars. Eventually, they finally give up in frustration and called me on their cell phones I looked out my window and see them parked about 1/4 mile away where their GPS claims that I live. I get a laugh out of those gadget happy young people not being able to find me with their fancy GPS units.
If technology loving people use either a printed out map from MapQuest or a GPS to find me, they end up in the wrong place. The MapQuest users end up about 1/2 mile to far in one direction and the GPS users end up about 1/4 mile too far in the opposite direction. Old fogies who use old fashioned maps can find me with no problem.
Perhaps I should have given them the exact latitude and longitude coordinates or my UTM coordinates instead of my address. Can automotive type GPS units handle either latitude and longitude coordinates or UTM coordinates?
I have two computers and a couple of Kill-A-Watt meters, so here are the power consumption figures for my two home computers just for comparison:
My most power efficient computer at home is 1 year old and has a 1.83 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 2 GB of RAM, Windows XP and is hooked to a 20-inch LCD flat screen monitor. Not counting the monitor it uses 24 Watts. The 20-inch flat screen. monitor uses 40 Watts (or only 1 Watt when in the sleep mode). This is not a laptop computer, it is a very small desktop computer, but it does happen to have a very small motherboard which is normally used in laptop computers.
My other computer is hooked to the same keyboard, monitor and mouse through a KVM switch. I had room for more than one computer but not more than one monitor.
A 2-year old AMD-64 computer running Kubuntu Linux is my main computer, which I am using at the moment. It is a dual-core AMD-64 4200+ and is hooked to the same 20-inch LCD flat screen monitor. It is using 82 Watts at the moment, plus an additional 40 Watts for the monitor. It can use more power under heavy load. When the monitor goes into the sleep mode it's power consumption drops to only 1 Watt. The computer has 2GB of RAM and 2 large hard drives. It has a 380-Watt 80+ power supply that is over 80% efficient. I use Kubuntu 7.10 Linux and by default it has the AMD-64's Cool n' Quiet feature enabled which saves power by dropping the CPU's clock speed from 2.4 GHz down to 1 GHz when the computer is idle or not doing anything difficult.
By the way, it does use 7-Watts even when it is turned off.
I have one of those $5 PayPal security keys on my keychain. To pay by PayPal or access my account, I am asked first for my password and then asked for the current six-digit code from the security key. The six-digit code changes every 30 seconds.
As for on-line banking, I have never signed up for that because of my concerns about security. If a local bank ever started using two-factor authentication with a security key, I would gladly give on-line banking a try. Until then, I am not interested.
I frequently receive fake email messages claiming to be from PayPal, Amazon.com or various banks. They typically say someone has been added to my account and ask me to click on the link and log-in and check on the details. When I hold the cursor over the link without clicking, it shows me a complicated looking URL from a foreign country at the bottom of the screen. I have never actually clicked on the link to go to to their fake websites.
As for on-line banking, personally, I would prefer to not do it from a heavily used family Windows computer which is used by children and teenagers. It is likely to have already been compromised from lots of heavy careless use. I prefer the idea of using a separate lightly used, but well maintained, Linux or Mac OS X computer just for that purpose. I am a middle aged Linux user myself, by the way.
PayPal Security Key