Search results

  1. J

    So, um, where is everyone?

    Thanks Buck. I've had the pictures on my hard drive for a few months, so all that's needed is to make the text to go with them, and also to brush up on my html. I'll give you a PM when it's ready to email to you(hopefully in a few weeks or less-I have writer's block right now, but I know once...
  2. J

    Review of new Toyota Prius

    This has more to do with the quality of construction than with the lack of weight. For example, filling hollow spaces under body panels with some sort of energy-absorbing foam would give these cars a more solid feel and offer greater crash protection without adding much weight. The key to...
  3. J

    So, um, where is everyone?

    Does it have to be computer-related? A while back I was thinking of posting something about my thermoelectric temperature chamber project on SR, complete with lots of pictures. I never got around to it, mostly because I have nowhere to host the pictures. Assuming I write something, would it...
  4. J

    Sad...my dogs really sick

    I'm sorry to hear this, even though we all knew it was coming eventually. Your dog died in your arms, as I'm sure he would have wanted. You did all you could, you cherished every remaining moment with him. He couldn't have had a better friend.
  5. J

    Review of new Toyota Prius

    I mentioned somewhere above that a reasonable spread of weight for all types of vehicles, excluding heavy trucks and buses, would be a factor of 1.5 or less. If the lightest econobox is 2000 pounds, then the heaviest commonly used passenger vehicle should be 3000 pounds or under. Or you could...
  6. J

    Review of new Toyota Prius

    Sounds like something from one of the MadMax movies(i.e. the one with Tina Turner). A mental picture of Mel Gibson shoveling pig shit just popped into my mind. :mrgrn: Still, it seems like a good idea-the CO2 put into the air by burning methane is taken up by the grass the cows eat. There...
  7. J

    Red Sox's coach is a complete imbecile!

    Shame on all of you. :nono: Not a Yankees fan in sight. :( Seriously, if the Yankees lost today I would have had to listen to my father for the entire winter. :crucified: You wouldn't want to subject anybody to that, now would you? P.S. I can't afford to move out as much as I might...
  8. J

    Review of new Toyota Prius

    A couple of interesting links I came across: Hydrogen Fuel Cells May Hurt Ozone Just Learn To Stop Worrying About Oil And Love Hydrogen Compressed Air Fuels City Cars
  9. J

    Online IQ test

    Visual linguist, Bill? Now that doesn't surprise me a bit. The whole Giver charade you pulled off was sheer genius. I don't think anyone else here(except maybe Tannin) could have fooled so many people for so long. :mrgrn:
  10. J

    Online IQ test

    You certainly bring up an interesting point here. Some people are just good test takers and do better at these types of tests than their intelligence in everyday life would predict. For others, quite the opposite is true. And remember, an IQ test only tells about one facet of how your brain...
  11. J

    Online IQ test

    Here's my results on that Super IQ test SteveC linked to: I'm guessing SuperIQ and regular IQ are measured on different scales. I've pretty consistently scored in the upper 130s on almost every regular IQ test I've taken. It's also funny how everyone else who has taken this test so far has...
  12. J

    Review of new Toyota Prius

    I'll say this for it-about the only thing that can match the acceleration besides race cars would be fighter jets screaming down the runway. I'm not thrilled with the interior, either. A little dated for my tastes. I'm not a big fan of analog instruments because of their inherent inaccuracy...
  13. J

    Review of new Toyota Prius

    This should read: "And as I said earlier, an SUV or econobox will both fare very poorly against a bus or truck, so no point even worrying about that type of collision." CraigLC, Point taken if you only drive 2500 miles a year in your T/As(I cycle more than that some years). However, there are...
  14. J

    Review of new Toyota Prius

    It's only a factor in a crash because of the presence of monster SUVs on the road. If all cars were about the same weight there would be no advantage in a collision because of weight. And besides that, the restraint system is more important. The restraints on American cars stink, period...
  15. J

    Review of new Toyota Prius

    Fuel cells still require fuel to make power. Current fuel cells will probably use fossil fuels, and future ones likely LPG or hydrogen. Thus there is still the need to conserve fuel. While you can make hydrogen from water, you need lots of electricity to do so. In fact, you put more energy...
  16. J

    Online IQ test

    :mrgrn: I have little doubt the IQ test was invented by someone like me. We engineers need to quantize everything. Anyway, I started this thread for fun. I don't put too much stock in tests like these, but the results so far confirm my suspicions. We're all in the upper 1% or 2%...
  17. J

    Review of new Toyota Prius

    Without reading the article(because I'm too lazy right now to register) I'll say before what I've said again-I'm tired of hearing the words "we can't" from the US auto industry. You can build a 75 mpg vehicle today, and you can build a 150 mpg one by 2015(assuming we don't make the switch to...
  18. J

    Online IQ test

    Here's an interesting read I found: The Effect Of Urban Flight On IQ Distribution Merc, I see your point but consider that IQ is something you're born with, and isn't necessarily a predictor of success in any one endeavor. Sometimes perserverence makes up for a lack of IQ, which probably...
  19. J

    Online IQ test

    I was thinking the same thing. I'm also wondering about Tannin, cas, and Gary H., to name a few who I think would best the scores posted here so far. As IQ gets higher measuring it becomes more difficult for the simple reason few people are smart enough to think of hard enough questions...
  20. J

    [NEWS] - Maxtor validates 175GB platters.

    Nice idea but I doubt Maxtor or anyone else would be able to get six platters of that density to work well together. Two-stage sliders would be one way, but I don't see that happening any time soon. Besides, the cost per GB for a 6-platter drive would be way more than for a 2-platter one. I'd...
  21. J

    Online IQ test

    I think the test score is adjusted for age for the simple reason a person with more life experience will get more questions correct than he would have when he was younger. As timwhit said, though, past a certain point age doesn't make much difference. Seeing that our ages here range from...
  22. J

    Online IQ test

    Since some people here have already taken tests for AQ, EQ, and SQ, I figured we might as well throw IQ into the mix. The test results seem accurate compared to other IQ tests I've taken. I got 136. Last time I took one of these(about 20 years ago) I scored 138. Somehow I don't think we'll...
  23. J

    Advancement in cooling technology

    The pumps just move the water through the cooling towers. And yes, they are loud.
  24. J

    Advancement in cooling technology

    I think any microprocessor under about 100 watts can be passively cooled using a setup similar to the one in that article. Actually, anything can be passively cooled if you use a large enough heat sink. Look at nuclear power plant cooling towers, for example. Nothing but convection at work...
  25. J

    [NEWS] - Maxtor validates 175GB platters.

    I tend to think we're not too far from the death of the three-platter drive. Still, I would also like to see a three-platter version of this drive. Even a 2-platter version is great-350 GB. :D
  26. J

    New game in trouble...

    Funny, the link is dead now. I read about that in the newspaper. It's a shame that these so-called leaders have no sense of humor. It's no more insensitive than jokes about Italians, Asians, or Catholics, all of which seem to be in vogue at the moment. You should be able to laugh at...
  27. J

    Bush Lays off Congress

    How about that aspirin factory in Sudan that Clinton bombed, not coincidentally at around the time his affair with Monica was coming out? I'm sure that endeared us to some of the people in that region. And speaking of the environment, which Mercutio brought up in his reference to ANWR, why...
  28. J

    How do people meet people?

    That brought tears to my eyes. Not just because it sounded so special, but also thinking about your profound sense of loss recently. And in so many ways it was reminiscent of my time with my one true love so many years ago. Not in the details so much, but in the same way we were friends...
  29. J

    Screws

    Do what I do-cannibilize old systems, including those you find by the curb. Or look for 6-32x1/4" or 6-32x3/8" screws at your local hardware store. That's the size most case screws appear to be(except the ones for floppy and optical drives.
  30. J

    Telephone Recording Device - Easy To Build?

    I found this. Here is the schematic: A Google search turns up plenty of these things. The circuits look relatively simple to build. Just get a breadboard from Radio Shack and solder away. If you don't have an assortment of parts you may need to buy those, as well as a nice case. I doubt...
  31. J

    Advancement in cooling technology

    I read about that in Electronic Design this month. Very interesting. Using liquid cooling there is essentially no practical limit to the power the chip can dissipate, provided you're able to fit a large enough radiator to dissipate the heat from the liquid coolant. For a PC-sized case, you...
  32. J

    Recycling Computer components

    PCBs are generally made of epoxy. The traces are copper(for maximal conductivity). Solder is generally tin-lead although non-lead based solders are starting to be used. ICs themselves contain a host of toxic materials such as arsenic used as dopants. In short, they're far from benign.
  33. J

    w00t!

    I usually get download speeds in the 5.8 KB/sec range, which accounting for overhead means 48 Kb or better connection speeds. I guess Pradeep has the honors all to himself. :(
  34. J

    w00t!

    I think we share that title, Pradeep. I'm still on 56K. :( If we had Canadian prices on broadband here I'd switch in a New York minute.
  35. J

    Recycling Computer components

    Places exist that take your old computers and either refurbish them to give to those without machines, or recycle them properly if they're hopelessly outmoded. Two in NYC are Per Scholas and the Lower East Side Ecology Center(email: oreinc@earthlink.net). I'm sure similar organizations exist...
  36. J

    w00t!

    Somehow I don't think we'll be seeing much of Merc for a while. 10 years is a lot of porno to catch up on. :mrgrn:
  37. J

    How do people meet people?

    Sorry about the way I phrased that question. I suppose the way I asked it may have seemed a bit insensitive. What I really meant to ask was do your siblings have anything resembling a social life, and are they as isolated as you apparently are? BTW, you're far from the only one in that...
  38. J

    How do people meet people?

    I think part of the problem with the EQ test may be that some of the questions are culturally biased. In most Western cultures telling "little white lies" is common. People often ask a question like "How does my haircut look?" when they really don't want an honest answer. This may account for...
  39. J

    socket 7 motherboard

    It's probably made by Asus. The number of the board in my mom's machine(very similar specs to yours) is P55TP4XE. Try a search for P55TP4N on Asus' web site.
  40. J

    Moving (Sucks)

    I'm jealous. I can't get broadband for any less than $45 US per month(and that's Time Warner's "special rate" if you already get their cable TV, otherwise it's $60 per month). I would switch in a heartbeat for $19/month(10 GB bandwidth is enough for me and I don't care about a static IP)...
  41. J

    How do people meet people?

    lowest=lowish in the first sentence.
  42. J

    How do people meet people?

    EQ=31 SQ=56 I'm not surprised at all by the high SQ score, but I'm a little floored by the lowest EQ score. I've been told be many of my friends that I'm sensitive, and I've often been told I'm able to pick up on people's moods. Maybe I overanalyzed some of the questions.
  43. J

    How do people meet people?

    My mom took the test and got a 20. My dad didn't want to take it, but giving the answers I think he would the score came out to 40. Interesting, myself, my brother, and my sister all have some of the symptoms of Asperger's. My brother tends to jump from one thing to another, my sister can...
  44. J

    How do people meet people?

    35 out of 50. Scary. One tendency I have is that I tend to get absorbed in a project to the extent of all else for days, weeks, sometimes months. I'm personally a bit more socialable than you are, Mercutio, but I generally avoid small talk and social situations whenever I can. For example, I...
  45. J

    Do you have to wear shirt at work?

    As long as you don't have to wear a tie(or even worse a suit and tie) as well it can't be too bad. I could never work a job where I had to wear a tie. It feels like my neck is in a sling. I can't function like that, period.
  46. J

    Pradeep gets hitched

    I offer my sincerest condolences as well(just kidding!). Congratulations, and I wish to add this comes as quite a surprise. I never remember you ever mentioning a girlfriend. Seemingly everyone else around here has either talked about their wives, girlfriends, or complained that they don't...
  47. J

    Yet another reason to like Autralia

    Unless we develop fusion very soon there is no way the planet can support even the current 6 billion in a lifestyle resembling what we enjoy in the US. The only reason we haven't finished the job of poisoning the planet is because half the world's population lives with no electricity or...
  48. J

    Yet another reason to like Autralia

    I thought this quote from Mercutio's first link summed it up nicely: I couldn't have said it better myself. If anyone really feels the need to be a parent, adopt. Or one day soon we'll have robot children as in AI:Artificial Intelligence that can fulfill that role with consuming the...
  49. J

    Yet another reason to like Autralia

    There are plenty of good reasons to keep idiots from reproducing at all. Technology is rapidly causing the types of jobs that enabled a person of low IQ to support themselves(and their children) to disappear. Even high IQ and plenty of education are no guarantees of employment(as many on SF...
  50. J

    Yet another reason to like Autralia

    Doesn't anyone besides myself or Mercutio have an opinion on this? Certainly something like this is bound to evoke strong feelings in most people, either pro or con.
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