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Actually, I do get annoyed, but not to the extent I get annoyed with no talent, no brain CEOs taking multi million dollar bonuses for doing nothing more than gutting a company to temporarily increase profits. I'm all for rewarding a CEO who actually grows their company as that takes real...

I agree. Every time I hear someone talk about the waste and fraud in government projects, I counter with the huge bonuses paid to executives in large corporations. In a manner of speaking, this is just another form of inefficiency. Money is spent on exorbitant salaries going to people who...

Yes, that's basically everything in a nutshell. Low taxes then imply small government, higher taxes bigger government. The argument then basically devolves to what functions should government do, and can those functions be performed more efficiently or cheaper by private industry. My take on...

Consumer debt is what helped create a false bubble of prosperity which couldn't be sustained. Like governments, people should learn to live within their means. Don't charge more than you can afford to pay off in full at the end of the month. Easy access to credit, especially home equity...

Remember the tax rate under Reagan was 50% for the majority of his term. It was cut under Bush I, raised slightly under Clinton, then cut again under Bush II. The theory that cutting taxes generates more government revenue is correct-to a point. It should be obvious that a marginal rate of zero...

I think in the long run the wealthy and megacorporations will start to see that it's in their own interests to pay higher taxes despite the present, nearly religious opposition to any type of tax increase. I fear though this won't happen until the system completely collapses. The present...

The simple fact is certain types of infrastructure needed for a modern economy to function are too expensive, with too long a payback period (or perhaps there is no payback period, ever) for private industry to even consider investing in. The list includes railroads, roads, airports, seaports...

At this point, it probably makes a lot more sense to break the US into three parts, consisting roughly of the East Coast, West Coast, and everything in the middle. Ideologically, the states in each group would be closer together, and better able to get more done. Why this isn't being...

I did read your post. All I said was it was theoretically possible, in that no laws of physics are being violated by the claimed output of 200 MW, nor do working efficiencies need to be some totally unrealistically high value such as 75% or 95%. If the efficiency is only a few percent, as the...

Well, that still makes it theoretically possible. I think the average amount of sunlight in Arizona over a 24 hour span is in the 300 to 400 W/m² range. If this plant can harvest sunlight with a 25% to 33% efficiency, it will work as advertised. The best solar cells (in the lab) could...

The only purpose of prison should be to reform criminals so they can be let back into society once they are no longer deemed a danger (i.e. that means indeterminant, not fixed, sentences). I regard a criminal more like a bad part which needs to be fixed. You don't hit your car with a hammer to...

Not bad. I just did 20.7 miles today at a 14.6 mph average. The crosswinds, and mostly poor pavement conditions didn't help. It's really amazing how when I go from typical NYC bumpy roads to smooth pavement my speed jumps about 3-4 mph for the same effort. Honestly, it sounds like you're...

Once in a blue moon I might do that, generally towards the end of the summer when I'm getting sick of the heat. Usually I use the excuse that I'm testing the A/C's cooling ability. :diablo:

My comfort zone is similar to Lunar's. Anything much over 75 I hate, especially with the high humidity typical of NYC summers. I generally let the thermostat keep the room at around 70, although I've been known to go as low as 55 when I'm in the mood for cold. Can't wait for fall.

I'm surprised nobody has found a hardware solution to this, something like putting a jumper on the HDD which disables writing to the boot sector. Once you partition a hard drive, there's no reason for anything to be written to the boot sector unless you're repartitioning it.

Regarding your experience with Esenda, it never ceases to amaze me how companies do totally stupid things virtually guaranteed to piss off customers to save what probably amounts to pennies in the short term (and in all likelihood costs them more than they save in the long term). This includes...

It's not just air flow which matters but also static pressure. A great example might be comparing a bladed fan to a squirrel cage blower. The fan might move more air under no back pressure for any given power consumption. However, if you stick it in a long duct, it may move next to nothing...

Excellent! That's pretty much around where I am on rides of that length (when I'm riding regularly anyway). Lately my averages have mostly wallowed in the mid to high 14s, entirely a result of not riding all that much. 5 rides in March, 4 in April, 5 in May, barely over 200 miles total. Last...

On the cadence, there's really no set number to aim for, although in all honestly pushing a high gear at much under 60 RPM in never a good idea. Consider 60 RPM as sort of the rock bottom of what you should be aiming for. At this point, the first order of business is to just get your legs used...

Now I have my own uphill battle to fight. Sick all these week, including bedridden sick with a high fever for 3 days. Tonight was the first ride since last Saturday. Surprisingly, the speed wasn't bad (14.8 mph average actually), but no endurance. I went 7.6 miles, then the congestion flared...

Ugh. I know that feeling all too well. It happened on a ride this March. Getting out of the city seemed kind of easy, too easy actually, given that it was only the 3rd time since December that I was on the bike. Coming back, I knew why. :arge: 15-20 mph headwind nearly the entire 10 miles...

Maximum emergency braking rate depends upon track adhesion. Adhesion varies with speed (it's way less at high speeds). On good track, figure you can obtain an average deceleration of around 0.1g (2.2 mph/sec). At that rate, it'll take you about 4 km to stop from 320 km/hr. A more typical...

Just make sure you still have enough fluid left in the system so that you still have brakes. I'm really surprised there isn't an expansion chamber or some other means of temperature compensation in these hydraulic brake systems.

Found these on YouTube, both of TGVs accelerating to 320 km/hr: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbKEeHzuBwc http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jy_BWdNFCkA&NR=1 Love the sound of the traction motors as the speed picks up. And the driver in the second video, shown right around 3:35, bears a...

Not a good idea to go hard at the start of a ride. In fact, it's an awful idea. In addition to road riding, I've been using the Schwinn 240 recumbent downstairs. I go for an hour at a time. My goal is to go at a hard enough pace so I have nothing left after the hour. However, the first few...

My Raleigh dates from the mid 1980s. It could probably use a repainting at this point given the appearance of rust on the bottom bracket. Otherwise, it's still pretty serviceable. I did upgrade it around 2 years ago with Shimano brifters, a 10-speed cluster, new rims, and airless tires. The...

I ride in the same clothes I wear the rest of the time. I'm big on pants also as I want something between my skin and the road if I crash. If your butt starts hurting after a while then you need to get a seat with more padding, or clothing with more padding. The second issue is the crotch...

Congratulations, Chewy! :drunk: :tgif:

That's an awful lot of conservation, even by European standards. Ideally, just using less power is always the best way to go, if that's possible. The question is how much can you cut while still maintaining a lifestyle that people will accept. I know going LED for lighting is projected to cut...

That's probably the dumbest, most hysteria-driven, most short-sighted decision I've ever seen in my life. Fusion isn't going to online by 2022 even by the most optimistic projections (even 2050 seems optimistic). Exactly what are they going to use to generate power? They better hope for super...

Television could be vastly improved by just getting rid of the commercials. If people see at the end of their program a quick announcement "This program sponsored by company A, makers of widget B", they might actually be inclined to buy the product. Most commercials have exactly the opposite...

Harold Camping He "predicted" the end of the world in 1994 also.

Now that this guy is 0 for 2 predicting the end of the world, I suggest a new holy book. This one sounds good.

6:01 PM and I'm still here. Not that I was expecting any different. ;)

Will you at least let him bath/go to the bathroom? What are you using to keep him immobile? Man, I hope I never get on your bad side. :-o

You know something, time, your mention of LNG buses just reminded me of a whole sequence of events which actually more or less proves what I just wrote. As you're undoubtedly aware, back in the late 1800s/early 1900s, trolleys served essentially the same function buses do today. And they...

Putting aside the huge risk of contaminating drinking water supplies from hydrofracking natural gas, I'm not sure the supplies are abundant enough to make much of a dent in oil supplies. Assuming they are, and assuming we can find a better way to extract the natural gas which doesn't put water...

Sorry you feel that way. And the position you described actually is closer to that of what you might describe as the tree-hugger crowd, of which I'm most definitely not. These people want to keep our modern standard of living, but say no to every single thing which fails to meet their...

Chewy, mass transit is certainly expensive, but it doesn't cost much money or take much time to build separated cycle tracks. I realize those probably wouldn't be of much use to you personally given your commute distance, but for a lot of people who currently drive a few miles, suddenly biking...

Yes, because that's the only thing which will get people off oil for good. Funny how I remember you bitching like crazy about the subsidies the government gives for solar, wind, etc. I guess subsidies are fine in your book if they're for something you personally use, but not for something...

Bozo, The real solution is just to lessen the need to travel. Live closer to work, telecommute, buy locally grown food, etc. And electrics are more than ready for prime time. Much of the charging would be do overnight, when power plants actually have energy to spare. You don't need to...

Chewy, My last post is more an idea of what we could do if we built the right infrastructure, not what is. The present reality is that lots of people have few alternatives to driving, unfortunately. My question is why isn't the government doing everything in their power to change that in the...

Wasn't Congress just talking about eliminating the $2 billion in tax breaks it gives to the oil industry? A special tax break equals a subsidy, which in turn equals lower prices at the pump than would otherwise be. Given all the negatives associated with fossil fuel use, subsidizing it is...

Never mind just teenagers. For distances of about 5 miles or less, if you're not carrying much cargo, a bike isn't a bad way to get around. That's doubly true in large cities. I make as good or better time on most of my bike trips than you would by car. And I have at times gone 20 miles each...

There actually are some technical reasons to back up Merc's disdain for WD: "Western Digital's construction makes drives particularly vulnerable to shocks and pressure. Unlike other manufacturers, WD does not secure the hard drive axle with a separate screw to the drive cover. Because of this...

You discovered that also. I've been lusting after the Rohloff from the day I saw it. Stick that on a velomobile, along with the Schlumpf high-speed crankset with planetary gears, and you have a nice, super-wide range drivetrain with no derailleurs. Doing some math, I figured use the 2.5X...

Yeah, but then I wouldn't know exactly how much further or faster I'm going. :-D Speaking of further and faster, if money were no object, I would be riding one of these.

Yeah, you both noticed that big drop in elevation also. :-D Kind of funny when you think about it. I should show it to the NYCDOT. I think the real reason it occurred might have to do with the sudden change in antenna orientation and possibly the shock from hitting the ground. That might...

Actually, the GPS is pretty sucky as a speedometer which is why I also have a bike computer. The speed readings bounce around by about 1 mph even if you maintain a steady speed. I'm mainly using the GPS to record my rides. I'm interested, for example, in my average speeds over the same roads...

I literally don't even remember the last time I puked, that's how long it's been. And I don't remember the exact date that I last fell off my bike for any reason at all except that it was before 9/11. Yep, going on at least 10 years with no "hit the ground" bike accidents whatsoever. Two...