How are you going to mine, refine, clean-up then store/recycle your fuel without emitting CO2?
Well, a lot of the processes can be powered using electricity *from nuclear power.* You get much more energy out of a quantity of uranium than it takes to mine and refine it. Also, we already have huge stockpiles of weapons-grade plutonium that can be mixed with natural uranium and used in reactors. All we have to do is get the "fuel may be stooooooolen" whiners to be quiet for once.
but then I can't use my Passport to get a Driver's license
In NJ, I showed my passport, an electric bill, and my social security card to get my license (they need 2 or 3 forms of ID according to a wierd system where points are assigned to each type of ID and you need over 5 points). A passport is certainly considered valid government ID.
They're quoting statewide and DMV information technology officials. Those officials want to keep their jobs, so, of course they'll come up with new uses for databases and ID cards. More custom software and applications == more job security and possibly money for them. Follow the money. There are *not* the official opinions of state legislatures or courts...
There is, as of yet, no laws prohibiting thinking about commiting a crime.
... in the US and most Western countries, anyway. Soviet (and I'm sure current Chinese) law punished "counter-revolutionary thought" by prison sentences up to 25 years or even death in some cases. You *don't* want that kind of stuff in the hands of a totalitarian state. Then again, a totalitarian government probably won't care that much about "guilt" - they'll arrest and shoot whoever's convenient for them with little or no factual basis.
and is considered by many engineers to be one of the best designed and safest domestic plugs in the world.
Agreed (unless you step on an unplugged one at night, in which case your foot would lose the battle:) US plugs are tinny little things by comparison and are remarkably easy to bend or break since they have sheetmetal prongs. The only things that come close to the British plugs are the 240V heavy-duty sockets used in the US for stoves, washers and the like.
I know my house was built a long long time ago (1951) and the upstairs, while someone put in grounded outlets, it doesn't physically have the ground hooked up - due to the wiring used at the time of it being built.
Either, as suggested by another, replace the outlets with GFCI, or better yet use the old cable to fish new Romex or bonded BX cable (some codes require BX in all buildings unfortunately). If you have no ground path, your house is probably wired with non-metallic cable from the 1950s. It's almost certain that the insulation is crappy and brittle by this point.
It's true that we don't always have the three-pronged grounded plugs, but I've never seen a computer power supply that didn't have a grounding pin... strange.
OEM Thinkpad supplies from sometime after 2000? I know a T41 has a 2-prong supply from the factory though older 3-prong supplies will work fine with it.
Wierd question: what if there's a break in the ring of a ring main? All outlets would still be powered by one side of the ring, but current capacity would drop by 1/2 (unless you're using wire rated for the full 30A, in which case, what's the point of having a ring main?!)
I haven't seem any '3 round pins' sockets for about 10-15 years now. I'm sure some 'old-lady houses' still have them, but I'd rate them as very uncommon now.,
Certainly in the mid to early 1990s. I was last there in 2002, I don't know if I saw any THEN...
Inicentally, I love the UK power setup - it may be clunky and use lethal voltages but you can power some serious equipment off perfectly ordinary domestic 30A circuits (ring mains), and the total load can be up to about 100A
You could say that 230VAC is actually safer than the 120V that's in common use in the US. Currents are lower for a given power, so the risk of fire is actually lower than with higher currents. True, a shock is more dangerous, but that's why you have the plug design. Also, does the UK use GFI outlets, which shut off when there's an imbalance in current between hot and neutral (due to, say, current leaking through a human to ground) in wet areas?
As far as total load being ~100A, the fuse panel and the wiring TO the fuse panel need to be able to handle 100A. Just replacing the fuse isn't always a good idea - you could end up with something *else* acting as a fuse and melting. BTW - most new residential panel installations in the USA are at least 200A at 120V so around 100A at 230.
I'm sorry to contradict you but most laptop power supplies are not doubly insulated because the laptop itself is not doubly insulated and you really need to have it grounded in case a fault in the power supply transformer leads mains voltage to the laptop's ground.
Plenty of laptop bricks (newer pre-Chinese Thinkpad supplies) only have two input pins and no place to connect a ground wire even if you *wanted* to. I'm aware of the risk of transformer failure - maybe the 2-pin supplies have some way of mitigating it like maybe a GFI-type circuit that shuts things down if it sees a current flow imbalance between hot and neutral.
Several times between 1986 and 2002. Maybe central London is also different from the rest of the country since you have more unrenovated old buildings. I know my friend's apartment still had quite a few of the round-pin sockets, among other places that I saw them.
The fact that he's measuring AC (which is very surprising since the laptops don't have any ready access to AC outside of the power brick AFAIK) make it less likely though.
Screen backlights run on 400Hz AC somewhere between 100 and 200V. Also, if the adapter isn't isolating the laptop from the mains power well, you can get the correct voltage between + and -, but the whole system can be at some AC voltage in relation to earth ground (as opposed to laptop - input).
The big question why didn't it come with one by default?
If the adapter is double insulated and isolates the laptop from the mains via a transformer, a ground isn't legally necessary. And a lot of US outlets in homes (especially in the Northeast) still don't have ground pins. So people tend just to break the ground pins off of plugs rather than replacing the outlet and running a ground wire if necessary.
What bit of the hardware inside would be upping the voltage to that sort of level? I can't think of anything offhand. Anyone know?
It's needed to run the electroluminescent panel which lights the screen. ALSO, there can be 19VDC or whatever *between* the adapter + and - VDC pins. But, the whole system could be floating at some high AC voltage in relation to earth ground (as opposed to in relation to one another) if the AC adapter doesn't do a good job at isolation.
You can't get a non-earthed plug in the UK, the earth pin is physically required to open the plug socket. This can be a dummy pin, but you're only able to do that if the unit itself is double-insulated.
Aren't there around 3 types of socket in common use? The tank-like giant socket with three rectangular pins. The socket with three round pins (possibly in two different sizes!). Also an "electric razor socket" putting out 115V in a bathroom. I know the first type is the official standard *now*, but I saw a lot of the other types whilst in England.
It doesn't mean that they need to be always *used*. Think about this this way - the US government has nuclear bomb technology. They *could* nuke San Francisco tomorrow if they really wanted to. But they don't. Ability to use != automatic use. The same as the EZ-pass system having the ability to track cars even outside of toll roads and even issue speed tickets automatically. But do they set up transponders to use that ability? The worst ideas are generally moderated by risk of a public outcry as well as morality. People in government are human too.
The first time I see photos of my house which I know had to have been taken from my private property, can I have their asses thrown in jail for trespassing?
"Judge, I thought his camera was actually a portable Stinger missile launcher. And he was AIMING IT AT MY HOUSE! That's why I shot his ass full of rock salt."
Not really personal, but there seem to be many people who criticize Americans for being narrow-minded and ignorant while showing *themselves* to be ignorant and parochial.
Few Americans would tolerate foreign military personnel setting up bases in the United States. Why do you think other countries should?
I don't think that they should. In fact, I'd have a hard time getting outraged at all if American troops are attacked abroad in a country where the citizenry doesn't want them to stay. Government policy != the thoughts of the average citizen.
I still want to see weapons inspectors in the USA.
It's not as if we hide the fact that we posses WMD (at least not with nuclear -- we're *supposedly* destroying our chemical stocks). But it's not a secret that we're able to glassify the Earth several times over. And, no, I don't think that's a terribly useful or good ability to have...
Even the cleanest fuels like hydrogen + oxygen liquid engine generate a shedload of nitric oxides (and russians do not use that, their fuels are much more horrid).
Well, there are solutions to that problem, namely taking a spaceplane to 40-50k ft (above most of the atmosphere) before igniting the rocket engines. Less air == less nitrogen oxides generated. Drop it from a large conventional jet plane, basically. And I'd suspect that the "more horrid" Russian fuels would be simply illegal to use in the USA anyway. Basically this would be under US environmental regulations which are somewhat (much) stricter and better enforced than Russia's.
Depending on what propellants you use. Hydrogen + Oxygen as used in the main engines of the Shuttle are very clean, though the fuels used in the solid boosters leave something to be desired.
Even discarding environmental damage (and all the children with missing limbs and other birth defects in Kazahstan)
Are the birth defects from exhaust from space launches, or are they more to do with the fact that the Russians used Kazakhstan as a nuclear playground - plutonium processing and nuclear testing at the Semey polygon? If you thought the Americans were bad with Hanford, Rocky Flats, etc, the Russians were.... yeesh.
hen you already own the hardware, paid for the software, and have huge support contracts, consider expansion with Linux.
Or expand with UNIX -- BSD and Solaris both do fine on commodity hardware. And are cleaner setups than either Windows or any Linux distro that isn't stripped down.
"But increasingly, the appeal of Windows- and Linux-based systems running on cheaper, commodity hardware is becoming more and more compelling.""
Last time I checked, both BSD and Solaris (which are UNIX not Linux) run just fine on commodity x86/64 hardware. Sounds like somebody missed everything from 1999 on.
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Well, a lot of the processes can be powered using electricity *from nuclear power.* You get much more energy out of a quantity of uranium than it takes to mine and refine it. Also, we already have huge stockpiles of weapons-grade plutonium that can be mixed with natural uranium and used in reactors. All we have to do is get the "fuel may be stooooooolen" whiners to be quiet for once.
-b.
In NJ, I showed my passport, an electric bill, and my social security card to get my license (they need 2 or 3 forms of ID according to a wierd system where points are assigned to each type of ID and you need over 5 points). A passport is certainly considered valid government ID.
-b.
-b.
-b.
Not all do - just most with new service. We had a house down the shore in NJ that came with a 30 amp service originally with only one phase of 120VAC.
-b.
Agreed (unless you step on an unplugged one at night, in which case your foot would lose the battle :) US plugs are tinny little things by comparison and are remarkably easy to bend or break since they have sheetmetal prongs. The only things that come close to the British plugs are the 240V heavy-duty sockets used in the US for stoves, washers and the like.
-b.
Either, as suggested by another, replace the outlets with GFCI, or better yet use the old cable to fish new Romex or bonded BX cable (some codes require BX in all buildings unfortunately). If you have no ground path, your house is probably wired with non-metallic cable from the 1950s. It's almost certain that the insulation is crappy and brittle by this point.
-b.
OEM Thinkpad supplies from sometime after 2000? I know a T41 has a 2-prong supply from the factory though older 3-prong supplies will work fine with it.
-b.
Wierd question: what if there's a break in the ring of a ring main? All outlets would still be powered by one side of the ring, but current capacity would drop by 1/2 (unless you're using wire rated for the full 30A, in which case, what's the point of having a ring main?!)
-b.
Certainly in the mid to early 1990s. I was last there in 2002, I don't know if I saw any THEN...
Inicentally, I love the UK power setup - it may be clunky and use lethal voltages but you can power some serious equipment off perfectly ordinary domestic 30A circuits (ring mains), and the total load can be up to about 100A
You could say that 230VAC is actually safer than the 120V that's in common use in the US. Currents are lower for a given power, so the risk of fire is actually lower than with higher currents. True, a shock is more dangerous, but that's why you have the plug design. Also, does the UK use GFI outlets, which shut off when there's an imbalance in current between hot and neutral (due to, say, current leaking through a human to ground) in wet areas?
As far as total load being ~100A, the fuse panel and the wiring TO the fuse panel need to be able to handle 100A. Just replacing the fuse isn't always a good idea - you could end up with something *else* acting as a fuse and melting. BTW - most new residential panel installations in the USA are at least 200A at 120V so around 100A at 230.
-b.
Plenty of laptop bricks (newer pre-Chinese Thinkpad supplies) only have two input pins and no place to connect a ground wire even if you *wanted* to. I'm aware of the risk of transformer failure - maybe the 2-pin supplies have some way of mitigating it like maybe a GFI-type circuit that shuts things down if it sees a current flow imbalance between hot and neutral.
-b.
Several times between 1986 and 2002. Maybe central London is also different from the rest of the country since you have more unrenovated old buildings. I know my friend's apartment still had quite a few of the round-pin sockets, among other places that I saw them.
-b.
Screen backlights run on 400Hz AC somewhere between 100 and 200V. Also, if the adapter isn't isolating the laptop from the mains power well, you can get the correct voltage between + and -, but the whole system can be at some AC voltage in relation to earth ground (as opposed to laptop - input).
-b.
If the adapter is double insulated and isolates the laptop from the mains via a transformer, a ground isn't legally necessary. And a lot of US outlets in homes (especially in the Northeast) still don't have ground pins. So people tend just to break the ground pins off of plugs rather than replacing the outlet and running a ground wire if necessary.
-b.
It's needed to run the electroluminescent panel which lights the screen. ALSO, there can be 19VDC or whatever *between* the adapter + and - VDC pins. But, the whole system could be floating at some high AC voltage in relation to earth ground (as opposed to in relation to one another) if the AC adapter doesn't do a good job at isolation.
-b.
Aren't there around 3 types of socket in common use? The tank-like giant socket with three rectangular pins. The socket with three round pins (possibly in two different sizes!). Also an "electric razor socket" putting out 115V in a bathroom. I know the first type is the official standard *now*, but I saw a lot of the other types whilst in England.
-b.
-b.
"Judge, I thought his camera was actually a portable Stinger missile launcher. And he was AIMING IT AT MY HOUSE! That's why I shot his ass full of rock salt."
-b.
-b.
Not really personal, but there seem to be many people who criticize Americans for being narrow-minded and ignorant while showing *themselves* to be ignorant and parochial.
Few Americans would tolerate foreign military personnel setting up bases in the United States. Why do you think other countries should?
I don't think that they should. In fact, I'd have a hard time getting outraged at all if American troops are attacked abroad in a country where the citizenry doesn't want them to stay. Government policy != the thoughts of the average citizen.
-b.
It's not as if we hide the fact that we posses WMD (at least not with nuclear -- we're *supposedly* destroying our chemical stocks). But it's not a secret that we're able to glassify the Earth several times over. And, no, I don't think that's a terribly useful or good ability to have...
-b.
Well, there are solutions to that problem, namely taking a spaceplane to 40-50k ft (above most of the atmosphere) before igniting the rocket engines. Less air == less nitrogen oxides generated. Drop it from a large conventional jet plane, basically. And I'd suspect that the "more horrid" Russian fuels would be simply illegal to use in the USA anyway. Basically this would be under US environmental regulations which are somewhat (much) stricter and better enforced than Russia's.
-b.
Depending on what propellants you use. Hydrogen + Oxygen as used in the main engines of the Shuttle are very clean, though the fuels used in the solid boosters leave something to be desired.
Even discarding environmental damage (and all the children with missing limbs and other birth defects in Kazahstan)
Are the birth defects from exhaust from space launches, or are they more to do with the fact that the Russians used Kazakhstan as a nuclear playground - plutonium processing and nuclear testing at the Semey polygon? If you thought the Americans were bad with Hanford, Rocky Flats, etc, the Russians were .... yeesh.
-b.
Or expand with UNIX -- BSD and Solaris both do fine on commodity hardware. And are cleaner setups than either Windows or any Linux distro that isn't stripped down.
-b.
Last time I checked, both BSD and Solaris (which are UNIX not Linux) run just fine on commodity x86/64 hardware. Sounds like somebody missed everything from 1999 on.
Cheers, -b.