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They used neutral white to mean like halogen track lighting, so it's really warm white. And there's a huge market for neutral white (3500K to 5000K). 3500K and 5000K CFLs at the local Home Depot are always nearly sold out. Despite the fixation of trying to imitate incandescent with both CFLs and...

The extra caps made it worse. I'm not wasting any more time playing around with this video card. Since it seems the card may be causing some or all of my problems, I'll get a new one. Truth is even when this card was brand new it would sometimes crash when playing 3D games for a few hours. Any...

Well, looks like you may be right. I just took out the graphics card and noticed 3 bulging caps (6.3V, 1000uF). I didn't have this value handy, so I replaced them each with a pair of 16V, 470 uF solid caps. System posted fine, did a memory test, and attemped to boot into XP. No luck. I booted...

For what it's worth, a few weeks before I noticed that sometimes I would get jumbled screen displays when doing things like photo editing. When I jumped to other apps and back to the photo editing software, all was well. I do have another graphics cards in my mom's machine to test, but I'm...

Well, the machine wouldn't even post today. I guess it's definitive that it's not an HDD issue. On the potential replacement machine, I do in fact want something with some graphics grunt because there are several new train simulators out which I'm planning to purchase eventually. MSTS, like my...

I removed and reseated the graphics card just in case there might have been a contact issue. No, I didn't disconnect the HDDs in Ubuntu, but there shouldn't have been HDD access given that I booted from CD. Like I said, I'm nearly certain this is a bad cap issue. I'll know for sure when the caps...

I checked all the obvious stuff like the CMOS backup battery. I'm nearly 100% certain this is a bad capacitor problem. I've read that failing hard disks can give similar symptoms (and my boot disk is a vintage 2005 200GB Maxtor) but I don't think that's the case here. I managed to boot to Ubuntu...

My A7N8X-E may finally have given up the ghost. It was periodicly experiencing total freezes, and they were getting more and more frequent. Last night I figured I would open the computer up, dust it off inside, reseat the RAM, and replace the thermal compound on the processor heat sink. That...

Not really. There is a payback period for electrification for sure, but in the long haul it's cheaper to run an electrified RR than a diesel one, except in cases of low traffic volume. This is why most of the world has electrified their main lines other than the US. Here is a special case...

Those prices are why I'm going the DIY route (and just for the joy of making it myself). Also, I have total flexibility programming the number of light levels via a microcontroller. Runtime on full should be around 90 minutes but I plan to have multiple levels spaced 20% apart, down to maybe...

I'm aiming for not much over a pound. Right now I'm at 5.6 oz for the LEDs/heatsink/optics, and 10.2 oz for the cells. I've yet to make an enclosure for the cells or a mounting system, but hopefully that won't add more than a few ounces. I always have the option of going 4 18650 cells to cut...

6 Cree XPGs running at up to one amp, powered by 4 26650 DeWalt cells, for a headlight. I'll likely use a red Rebel for a tail flasher. I'll probably start a thread over at CPF once I'm done building the headlight. My existing bike light (~150 lumens) really isn't cutting it, either. I...

I put in about $500 in parts a few years back (mostly upgrading to a 10-speed drive train plus new wheels/airless tires). These parts still have plenty of life left in them. Because of that, I'm going to strip all the rust off the frame this winter, see if I can get the broken chainstay...

Yeah, that happened to me once. At least you can still ride when the crank breaks, albeit not very comfortably. A broken chain is what really sucks. I broke a front fork also one time, thankfully not at speed. I guess this is as good a place as any to mention it-I snagged this beauty on eBay...

Lack of catenary. Most of the world's busier railways electrify to avoid the inefficiencies/extra complexity associated with using diesel locomotives. A diesel locomotive on average might last 15 years in service. It's not uncommon for electrics to run 40 or 50 years.

No news to me-I've already gone faster than light on my bike. ;-)

Yeah, that would work. In fact, you probably wouldn't even need fins on the inside. Just forcing air at a few m/sec would increase heat dissipation by a factor of 4 to 5, meaning the candle would be good for ~10 watts of LED power, ~7 watts of waste heat, and 900-1000 lumens (those are roughly...

Yes, it's on a dimmer. In fact, the reason I chose that particular ballast is so it could work with a standard triac dimmer. And yes, the yellow covers really do look that bad in person. The original incandescent lights were nearly that bad-dim and very yellow. I could have matched the...

According to the ballast data sheet, there is protection with auto recovery against over voltage, over current, over temperature, and short-circuit. It looks like failure due to overheating shouldn't be an issue at all.

It's marked 90°C maximum case temperature on the ballast label. You're getting about 21-22°C rise above ambient, so you should probably be OK up to attic temperatures of around 65°C. The hottest I've ever measured our attic was around 60°C. Our attic is uninsulated, we have a dark colored...

I completed the chandelier in my mom's bedroom. This chandelier formerly used 25 watt candelabra bulbs and was a consistent source of complaint about both light quality and quantity. Also, despite not being used often, light bulbs frequently blew out. There was room to put the ballast under...

To dissipate the heat from the LEDs. The copper tube provides enough surface area to dissipate ~2.5 watts of heat without becoming overly warm. I'm even thinking of putting vertical fins on the copper tubes for the chandelier in my dining room because of the required light output. The plain...

The spectra of LEDs are continuous, not spiky like fluorescent spectra. To me anyway if you have an LED and CFL with a similar CRI, the LED generally makes colors look better. CRI isn't a particularly good predictor of which light source people will prefer. There's an ongoing discussion about...

To update this thread I've completed the project. We decided to simplify it, doing away with the flickering LED idea. I made 10 "candles" from 1.125" copper pipe as follows: Here are all the parts needed for one candle: This ring is a spacer needed because the copper cap is a little to...

Mine is also. Looking at me though, a lot of people take me for 170 instead of 190 to 195. Muscle weighs more than fat, and I have a lot of it in my legs from 33 years of riding. I fit in 34" pants just fine.

Happy Birthday, Dave! :b-day: :beer: Congrats on the weight loss! Maybe I need to get the flu for a few weeks.

Getting back to the subways, here's why the system was shut down.

Will and Doug, sorry to hear about what happened to you. I've been there as far as basement flooding goes. In 2006 we had about 2 inches of water when the sewer pipe clogged. This time we only had minor flooding in a few rooms. Over the years I've fixed any foundation cracks from outside...

The reason is basically that the tunnels will flood and stall trains mid-station. In short, the system will shut down, whether voluntarily or through mother nature. A controlled shutdown makes it easier to restart the system after the storm. The equipment is being stored in locations where it...

Heavy downpours now, not much wind yet. The worst of it is going to hit tomorrow afternoon. We might get another foot of rain on top of an existing near record amount of rain for August. No flooding yet downstairs. Only minor flooding when we had about 8 inches in 24 hours 2 weeks ago. The...

Funniest prank ever

Keyboards aren't too bad. It's pressing and/or pushing motions which kill me. That being said, I couldn't deal with keyboards or mice on an occupational basis (i.e. 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year). Notice also that I occasionally take breaks from this place. Guess why? Copy and paste...

Don't feel bad. I remember the one in 1976.

The buildings here would mostly fare better in a hurricane than the "matchstick" houses I see in places like Florida. The problem is a lot of infrastructure here is underground, so a major hurricane would be an unprecedented disaster. If the subways get flooded, we're talking about rebuilding...

It's often not an unwillingness but an inability. Back when I finished college relocation wasn't an option. I had no money to move, no money to buy the auto I would have needed just about anywhere I did move, and to top it off I couldn't deal emotionally with being thousands of miles from...

NYC and other urban areas have high costs of living simply because nationally there is a shortage of urban housing (and a glut of suburban/exurban housing). More people want to live in cities than there is housing, so that drives the cost up. Every person who might leave NYC of out disgust has...

I agree with both of you. A lot of times when I've known poor people and talked about money, their idea to help their future was "play the lottery" or "pray". In short, they resorted to superstitious, magical thinking, instead of doing things more likely to actually work. And yes, we really...

A big reason why some of the population aren't worth enough to society to be self-sufficient is lack of decent education, plus growing up in a culture where education isn't valued. Fix that and you've solved 90% of the problem on the people side. The other 10% are mostly people who, through no...

Not 100% true. Like you, I'm definitely cool to government programs which redistribute wealth directly, but I realize that certain types of government spending can have huge impacts on the economy. Mainly, I'm referring here to infrastructure spending. Many types of infrastructure which are...

Well, you would absolutely hate NYC weather. You never really get used to it, either. The few rare dry days here only serve to remind me how miserable it is the rest of the time. I guess on positive side, higher humdity is beneficial during the colder months.

76°F was the highest in August so far, and 85°F in July? Probably low humidity also. Much better than the typical mid 80s to 90s, high humidity NYC summers. Last night I was soaking wet after riding in 76° temps. :( The humidity here is just relentless.

Here's an interesting article: Crumbling Infrastructure Symbolizes U.S. Economy I agree with the basic premise of the article-namely that economic recovery is impossible if our infrastructure continues to crumble. Sure, it's absolutely a good idea to cut the kinds of government spending which...

For what it's worth my brother is looking at dual suspension mountain bikes. Yes, I did mention to him he'll be sacrificing a few mph in return for comfort. He didn't really care all that much. Even back when he rode a lot, he used to leave the tires on his road bike at a lower pressure for a...

Efficiency also equals more speed for any given level of effort. In my neck of the woods I feel safer the closer I match my speed to prevailing auto traffic. If money were no object I would be riding a Quest velomobile which would let me more or less keep up with local auto traffic, except on...

That looks like a nice bike. I'm personally on the fence about carbon bikes, but that's mostly because of the third-world condition of the streets here. If you have smooth roads by you, a carbon bike should be just fine.

Wood looks interesting. Those frames are way out of my price range, unfortunately. A wood frame would be different though, that's for sure. I wonder what the maintenance requirements are? Also, how would they fare in humid places like NYC?

My thoughts as well. He mentions that "Job one for the 12 is to pare down some future promises that even a rich America can’t fulfill. Big money must be saved here." He probably doesn't wish to give any more money to government until he can be sure it will be spent responsibly. If you just...

I started a thread at CPF about it. In a nutshell, my ~25 year old Raleigh is starting to have rust issues, has had a broken rear chainstay for the last 12 years, and I'm just looking for a "lifetime" bike. Of the four common frame materials, here's my thoughts on each (cut and paste from the...

I noticed that myself. It seems the prices of all bike tires have doubled or more in the last year, including the airless tires I'm using. In 2008 I bought a pair for $60 shipped. Last I checked, I think the lowest price for the same tires was $108 per pair. Still a bargain though given that...

Yes indeed, that's the problem in a nutshell-RAID 0 which hits alternate sectors of the economy but has no inherent backup against catastrophy, and sometimes causes the entire economy to hang.