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User: Ellis+D.+Tripp

Ellis+D.+Tripp's activity in the archive.

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Comments · 1,165

  1. Re:LD50? on Can the Hottest Peppers In the World Kill You? · · Score: 1

    First off, EVERYTHING that isn't a hard vacuum is a "chemical". This includes "common stuff needed to survive", like water, salt, and sugar. If it consists of atoms, it is a chemical. If you don't understand this, turn in your geek card immediately.

    And the 4 links I posted ARE Material Safety Data Sheets for Water, Salt, Sucrose, and Caffeine (in .pdf format), from which I extracted the LD-50s I included in the post.

  2. Re:LD50? on Can the Hottest Peppers In the World Kill You? · · Score: 1

    Obviously. But the poster made the explicit statement that anything having a published LD50 shouldn't be consumed.

  3. Re:Free Apps? That's an insult on RIM Offers Free Apps Following Outage · · Score: 1

    You want a job from RIM? Wouldn't that be a rimjob?

  4. Re:LD50? on Can the Hottest Peppers In the World Kill You? · · Score: 4, Insightful

    But seriously anything with an MSDS sheet that contains an LD50 should never be eaten.

    Seriously? How do you live without ingesting water (LD50 90 mL/kg):

    http://www.sciencelab.com/msds.php?msdsId=9927321

    Or table salt? (LD50 3000 mg/kg)

    http://www.sciencelab.com/msds.php?msdsId=9927593

    What about sugar? (LD50 29700 mg/kg)

    http://www.sciencelab.com/msds.php?msdsId=9927285

    Or caffeine? (LD50 192 mg/kg)

    http://www.sciencelab.com/msds.php?msdsId=9927475

    Enough of just about ANYTHING can cause serious problems if ingested. The presence of an LD50 on an MSDS sheet means nothing if you don't bother to understand exactly what it means in the real world.

  5. And model rocketry is next on the list.... on Man Charged in Model Airplane Plot To Bomb Pentagon · · Score: 3

    The government is starting a new process to restrict shipment and sales of model rocket engines, after getting their asses handed to them in a big court case against rocket hobbyists a couple years ago.

    Next hobby on the chopping block-- Punkin Chunkers? BattleBots? , DIY anything?

    That's right citizen...just sit on your couch and watch the tube...actually building things helps the terrorists!

  6. Place should be a ham's paradise, actually.... on "Wi-Fi Refugees" Shelter in West Virginia Mountains · · Score: 1

    Should make for a better S/N ratio when listening for weak signals, no?

  7. A TV set will emit a fair amount of EM radiation.. on "Wi-Fi Refugees" Shelter in West Virginia Mountains · · Score: 1

    Particularly an older CRT set. 60 Hz and 15.75 kHz sawtooth waves are used to deflect the electron beam in the tube, applied through electromagnetic coils around the tube neck. The larger the screen, the more deflection energy is needed. And most ham radio operators can tell you that older TV sets will radiate "birdies" all over the HF radio spectrum because of this.

    Even the newer flat panel sets can give off measurable amounts of EM fields. Almost everything uses a switchmode power supply nowadays. The RF front end is a superheterodyne system, so there is likely to be some local oscillator radiation. All the digital processing involves high frequency square waves, which radiate all kinds of harmonics up into the microwave bands. And the high voltage inverters used for plasma panels or LCD backlights can produce broadband RF noise, as well.

    None of this should be taken to indicate that "EHS" is anything other than hypochondriac bullshit, of course. But almost every electronic device will emit measurable amounts of EM fields at frequencies literally from DC to daylight.

  8. Re:Mail-order? on Swede Arrested For Building Nuclear Reactor · · Score: 1
  9. Re:Sad? on Suggesting Innovative Uses For Retired Space Shuttles · · Score: 1

    Hydrocarbons would need to get several orders of magnitude more expensive than OPEC's wettest dreams before bringing them in from other planets becomes economically viable.

    And if you are concerned about environmental damage, bringing even more of them to earth to contribute to the problem seems a strange way to fix things...

  10. Re:Pluto's Moons on NASA's Hubble Discovers Another Moon Around Pluto · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Hubble will eventually degrade in performance just as it has in the past. Gyros and batteries wear out, electronics get glitchy, etc.

    Unfortunately, when it starts to happen again, there won't be anything we can do about it. Without the shuttle, another service mission is impossible. And with Hubble's successor (JWST) hanging by a fraying budgetary thread, there likely will be no replacing it with an improved telescope, either.

    We as a country have given up on science, unless it makes immediate profits for megacorporations or helps the military kill people more efficiently in foreign lands.

  11. This is news? on Visual Hash Turns Text Or Data Into Abstract Art · · Score: 3, Funny

    A sufficient quantity of hash will turn ANYTHING into abstract art, no?

  12. Re:What happened at T-0:31? on Space Shuttle Atlantis Launches On Final Flight · · Score: 1

    Apparently the computer couldn't tell if the LOX tank vent arm had properly retracted (probably a bad switch or something like that), and stopped the count. They quickly swung a camera into place to verify that it was fully retracted, then resumed the count.

  13. Re:But the Best Buy guy said it does on Retailer Calls Rivals' Bluff On "HDMI Scam" · · Score: 1

    At the level of the electrical interface, even "digital" signals are actually analog. Propagating electrical pulses along transmission lines and all that....

  14. Re:But the Best Buy guy said it does on Retailer Calls Rivals' Bluff On "HDMI Scam" · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Agreed on the bulk conductivity, but the advantage of gold plating on contacts is the fact that gold doesn't tarnish or corrode, reducing conductivity over time.

    Gold plated connector contacts are widely used on industrial/military gear, particularly in low-level signal applications.

  15. Re:How about heating and airconditioning? on DVRs, Cable Boxes Top List of Home Energy Hogs · · Score: 1

    Which sounds completely plausible, considering that a refrigerator draws no power at all (or very little for electronic controls) once the interior volume is cooled down below the setpoint. Until someone opens the door or enough heat leaks into the insulated compartment, the compressor doesn't need to run at all.

    The STB, on the other hand, runs 24/7. The refrigerator likely draws more energy when it does run, but the run time differential makes the STB use more total watthours over the long term.

  16. Re:Digital clocks and living overseas on Power Grid Change May Disrupt Clocks · · Score: 1

    Most digital clock chips have a 50/60 Hz select pin, which is used to select the incoming line frequency. Usually tied high for one setting, low for the other. Many clocks have a jumper wire right on the PCB marked for this function.

  17. Re:Is timekeeping really that difficult to solve? on Power Grid Change May Disrupt Clocks · · Score: 1

    Or inexpensive digital clocks on microwaves/ranges/VCRs. Or most inexpensive digital clock radios.

  18. Have any further info on those? on Power Grid Change May Disrupt Clocks · · Score: 1

    Never heard about a line-frequency based alert system like that. Would be interested in reading more about it.

    At one time there was the CONELRAD system, in which AM broadcast stations on designated frequencies would temporarily drop their carrier to trigger alarm receivers. These alarms were most commonly used by ham radio operators, who were required to go off the air immediately in event of a civil defense alert.:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CONELRAD

  19. Re:What about old analog tvs on Power Grid Change May Disrupt Clocks · · Score: 2

    Older B/W tv sets used 60 Hz as the vertical sync frequency, But the receiver synchronizes itself to the incoming TV signal, not the local powerline. The master synch signal source at the transmitter was a high-stability quartz oscillator, which generated the synchronizing signals for all the cameras and other studio equipment, as well as the transmitted sync signals.

    When color came along, the vertical sync frequency shifted ever so slightly, to 59.97Hz (and the horizontal shifted from 15.75 kHz to 15.734 kHz). These frequencies prevented interference issues with the newly added color components of the transmitted signal, while still being within the working range of the existing B/W sets, allowing older sets to receive color programs in B/W.

    Under some conditions, it was possible for 60Hz powerline noise to somehow couple into a color TV signal, and it would appear as a horizontal "hum bar" across the screen, which would slowly "crawl" up the screen due to the slight difference between the vertical scan rate and the powerline frequency.

  20. Re:But only if... on Decoding the Inscrutable Logos On Your Electronics · · Score: 1

    I, personally, am waiting for China or someone to start putting out messed up pharmaceutical products.

    Your wait ended a few years ago:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Chinese_heparin_adulteration

  21. Re:But only if... on Decoding the Inscrutable Logos On Your Electronics · · Score: 2

    The devices didn't blow up because the UL stamp was fake. They blew up because they were cheaply built pieces of crap.

    The fake testing agency stamps were just the icing on the cake.

  22. Re:Whoa on Life As a Bug Hunter · · Score: 1

    I think you missed the OP's joke...

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bugchasing

  23. Radar Techs could be exposed to LOTS of stuff.... on Brain Cancer Worries? Look Up Your Phone's SAR · · Score: 1

    Besides high levels of RF radiation. Including many KNOWN carcinogens like PCBs in high voltage capacitors, transformers and insulating oils, Asbestos in old wire insulation. Chlorinated solvents used for cleaning and degreasing equipment. Radioactive isotopes used inside spark gaps and transmitting tubes. X-rays and ultraviolet emitted from high voltage vacuum tubes..

    And because we are talking about MILITARY radar techs, you need to add in all the other nice stuff that soldiers were potentially exposed to, like DU munitions, agent orange, etc.

  24. Re:Infrared on Apple Camera Patent Lets External Transmitters Disable Features · · Score: 1

    WiFi and Bluetooth can be completely disabled (in the interest of extending battery life). Their patent describes an IR system integrated into the camera that CANNOT be completely disabled by the user. You will have the ability to turn off the "useful" stuff like the ability to read exhibit data in a museum or whatever, but the remote camera disabling feature will not be subject to end-user control.

  25. Re:Electrical tape won't work here.... on Apple Camera Patent Lets External Transmitters Disable Features · · Score: 1

    Maybe that's why I wasn't replying to the OP, but a to poster who suggested electrical tape....