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  1. J

    Browser Innovation

    Built-in html editing. Something along the lines where you can see how a page looks in the browser, maybe add a picture or a line of text somewhere directly in the preview, and then the editor adds the appropriate code to the web page. Alternatively, you can edit the pages in text only, and...
  2. J

    What are your thoughts on automated cars?

    True but hasn't technology has obsoleted many jobs in the past. Eventually society will adjust. Besides this won't happen overnight. It likely won't be fully phased in for at least two decades as you mentioned. Plenty of time for people to find another job. Look what's happening now as the...
  3. J

    What are your thoughts on automated cars?

    Don't they use flat bed trucks for that even nowadays? In the scheme of things that's a very minor problem. How so? My point in bringing this up is that most of the pieces are already in place. There is no massive government investment here. Many cars are already drive by wire. Outfitting...
  4. J

    What are your thoughts on automated cars?

    This idea came up in another thread but I thought it deserved a thread of it's own. What are your thoughts on automating driving? I say it's long past due and should be done as soon as possible. Since many cars are already drive by wire, so to speak, it should be fairly easy to implement via...
  5. J

    National Do-Not-Call List Open for Registration

    I'll buy into your approach Fushigi since it's better than what we have today, which are standards from maybe about 1990. Had that been done from about the time CAFE standards stabilized in 1990 or thereabouts we would be up to around 50 mpg for autos and maybe 35 mpg for SUVs. Ultimately, it...
  6. J

    National Do-Not-Call List Open for Registration

    To continue this article basically seems to sum up the current administration's attitude towards fuel economy although we wouldn't be in this position if Gore the environmentalist had pushed for CAFE standards such as I described.
  7. J

    Time for Heresey!

    One thing never mentioneed in the IDE vs SCSI debates are that 15K drives are quite a bit noisier and hotter than IDE. I know I wouldn't want a 15K or even 10K drive in any machine I'm using unless it was in another room. Then of course there are the usual cost and capacity issues. SCSI has...
  8. J

    National Do-Not-Call List Open for Registration

    This is a good way to deal with the problems I alluded to as well which I neglected to mention. As long as people who lead unhealthy lifestyles are somehow made to pay the cost of their care through "sin taxes" it's fine with me if society treats them. As for hard drugs, I'm all for legalizing...
  9. J

    National Do-Not-Call List Open for Registration

    Moynihan was a true statesman well liked by both parties. He's hardly the type of Democrat I was referring too. I was all too happy to vote for him. Rather, I was thinking of most of the local and state legislators, including one idiot City Councilman whose name I forgot who said white people...
  10. J

    National Do-Not-Call List Open for Registration

    I guess you're not too familiar with the kinds of Democrats who usually seem to get elected to office here in NYC and NYS. They are even more dogmatic than right-to-life conservatives if that's at all possible. They seem to revel in passing all kinds of silly laws designed to protect idiots...
  11. J

    National Do-Not-Call List Open for Registration

    Me as well! :wink: Since I couldn't in all good conscience vote for a Democrat either based on what the party has come to stand for I may very well end up either not voting next election or voting for a third party. BTW, this legislation appears to be a bipartisan effort. I don't call...
  12. J

    It Professional's role in preventing piracy

    Although I'm not an IT professional I would probably let a business know it was in violation of the EULA. However, I wouldn't bother with a home user since they likely wouldn't get caught. Businesses should be held to a higher standard than the casual home user. Nobody here has actually said...
  13. J

    National Do-Not-Call List Open for Registration

    The only thing that bothers me about this list are the exceptions for political calls, charities, surveys, and places you've done business with in the last 18 months. Do not call should mean exactly that, and there shouldn't be an five year expiration once you register either. Just to show how...
  14. J

    WARNING: False eBay message

    I can't believe it. I just checked my inbox and the bastards sent me another message: Dear eBay User, During our regular update and verification of the accounts, we couldn't verify your current information. Either your information has changed or it is incomplete. Please update and verify your...
  15. J

    WARNING: False eBay message

    Now that you brought it up I do remember that thread so sorry about posting again for the same topic. Two warnings can't hurt, though. It's a shame there's so many scam artists out there that you need to keep on your toes all the time.
  16. J

    IN retrospect, doesn't IDE, and the computer HD makers suck?

    I don't know that it means anything Mercutio, but your last post was the 11111th in the B&G.
  17. J

    WARNING: False eBay message

    I'm posting this to serve notice to everyone here that if you receive a message similar to the following that appears to be from eBay it is false. A sign on page asks you for personal information or they threaten that your account will be closed. DO NOT fill out any information. This is a way...
  18. J

    Time for Heresey!

    That pretty much sums it up. I seem to go in spurts where I'll post a lot on SR and then disappear for a while. I'm a bit more consistent on SF because I can usually find one or two topics of interest. A year ago I think my SR post count was about 200 ahead of my SF one. It was only about 60...
  19. J

    Time for Heresey!

    I still post at SR occasionally. The problem is that there just aren't too many topics that hold my interest there any more, and too low a signal to noise ratio. Also, it seems that trolls pop up a bit too often for my tastes. Eugene really needs some industrial strength troll spray.
  20. J

    Use for fast computers

    I've been getting those in my Yahoo inbox occasionally. Also, I've gotten a few things with attachments that the Yahoo virus scan says have virii. Needless to say those are consigned to the bit bucket. I don't get it either. Span and telemarketing are two things which I just can't fathom...
  21. J

    Visio : No maps for China or Taiwan for "diplomatic rea

    Funny you mentioned that because former Mayor Guiliani adopted "Our city can kick your city's ass" as New York's unofficial motto.
  22. J

    Use for fast computers

    Isn't most of the filtering done on the server side? I know Yahoo seems to block quite a bit of junk mail on it's own. With the dozen or fewer spams I get a month in my Yahoo inbox I generally add the domain name(rather than the complete address) to my personal block list(also taken care of by...
  23. J

    Report by the E.P.A. Leaves Out Data on Climate Change

    It seems that since evidence on global warming is becoming irrefutable the powers that be are simply choosing to ignore it. This article tells the disturbing truth.
  24. J

    Visio : No maps for China or Taiwan for "diplomatic rea

    Ahem. I beg your pardon. New York City is spotlessy clean. So clean in fact that we have an abundance of all sorts of unique, native wildlife. Where else can you find rats the size of small dogs and cockroaches as big as your hand? Do you honestly think all these fine creatures would choose...
  25. J

    SMP in the modern age

    Thinking about this topic my opinion here is the same as it is regarding extreme overclocking(not to be confused with regular overclocking which is really just running your processor at the best speed it can do without any fancy cooling)-why bother? In six months a single processor system will...
  26. J

    More new solar cells.

    Very interesting analysis Clocker, and thanks for sharing it. I wish PCs were common when I was in school. It would be nice to share some of my projects with everyone here. I still have most of them. Maybe one of these days I'll scan them and use OCR software to digitize them.
  27. J

    Putting a peltier to good use

    Not a bad idea. It must kill the batteries pretty quick though. A 118W, 127 couple cooler running at 9.6 volts draws around 7 amps. Even with the highest capacity NIMH batteries that's only about 12 minutes run time. Peltiers have a way to go before they're practical in battery powered...
  28. J

    More new solar cells.

    20% efficiency in a production cell isn't bad. No mention of cost though. Until these things approach the cost of conventional roofing they probably won't appeal to the average home owner, although I plan to do a cost analysis eventually and see what the payback period would be.
  29. J

    YaTF

    When I used to work repairing taximeters the part of my job that I hated the most was talking to customers on the phone. Besides the fact that most of them had an IQ lower than the room temperature they just weren't pleasant people to talk to(who is when something breaks?). Sometimes I would...
  30. J

    OMG...this poor cat

    Another thing also. The fan would slow down once the cat got caught by it. It doesn't.
  31. J

    OMG...this poor cat

    You're right. I remember when I put up two ceiling fans at my sister's place and then had to adjust the balancing weights. These were small masses, less than an ounce each, and not too far from the center. Even so, until they were correctly positioned they still exerted enough torque to make...
  32. J

    Blew up television, need suggestions for new one

    We're getting Time Warner which includes the local channels. We also have a roof antenna so reception shouldn't be a problem, although the 5" B&W in my workroom can no longer pull in any channels expect WPIX with it's own antenna thanks to 9/11. My reasons for thinking about HDTV are twofold...
  33. J

    Snap, crackle, & pop.

    I could imagine that changing a keyboard port would be a PITA. One of my "tricks of the trade" is to use a good quality solder sucker(also called a solder pump). You heat the solder at the joint to be removed(sometimes you need to add a little fresh solder for good heat conduction) until it...
  34. J

    Blew up television, need suggestions for new one

    Thanks for the suggestions everyone. I'll dig up Mercutio's thread and research some of the links provided here and there. No big hurry since I borrowed my mom's 13" spare TV in the meantime. I'll go to a few stores, compare pictures, choose the set I want, and then wait for a good price on...
  35. J

    Nichia Develops 60 Lumen Per Watt White LED

    No offense taken. My sister's views are close to yours on this subject, although I'm starting to think that her fairly regular depressed moods are in part caused by the incandescent lighting in her house. ;) Ditto for my brother. My guess is there are two reasons you're not happy with the...
  36. J

    Blew up television, need suggestions for new one

    Thanks to an improbable set of circumstances I'm in the market for a new television. Last night I was cleaning my room, and rearranging things to accomodate a large used file cabinet which I just finished painting. I had three very small cabinets which were going to be replaced by the large...
  37. J

    Snap, crackle, & pop.

    I'm guessing by all the goop splattered everywhere one of the electrolytic or even ceramic caps got an internal short, heated up, and exploded. That probably caused R6(the big metal oxide power resistor) to overheat and burst into flames. Very common failure mode. The power supply is probably...
  38. J

    interesting people you've met

    As far as those interesting and/or famous that I've met personally, I can't say I've had any conversations. I saw Nicholas Cage in person once. I was riding my bike around 10 one night and noticed a bunch of bright lights around a private house. I asked what they were doing, and they said...
  39. J

    Nichia Develops 60 Lumen Per Watt White LED

    The reasons the light is not exactly the same are fourfold, possibly fivefold. First of all, the CRI of 90 means that the light is still deficient in some wavelengths. Second, the sun is a point source as opposed to a diffuse one. Third, ambient sunlight can be as intense as 130,000 lux, or...
  40. J

    Nichia Develops 60 Lumen Per Watt White LED

    The older fluorescents ran on magnetic ballasts and flickered twice every line cycle, or 120 times per second. Besides that, the color reproduction was awful, with far too much green. Newer tubes, whether T-12(1.5 inch) or the newer T-8(1 inch), have much better color rendering properties...
  41. J

    Nichia Develops 60 Lumen Per Watt White LED

    Amen to that. One of the first things I did when my sister moved out and I got her room was to change the fixture to a fluorescent one. I hate incandescent light, and besides that, I like any area where I live to be brightly lit. Prior to removing the bulb fixture I had 2 200W bulbs which...
  42. J

    Nichia Develops 60 Lumen Per Watt White LED

    I thought this article might be of some interest since I've noticed some others besides myself have an interest in white LEDs. This is a fascinating development since it puts the efficiency of white LEDs at about the same point as compact fluorescent bulbs and T-12 linear fluorescent tubes...
  43. J

    Fun guessing game website

    I thought of a white LED, and it gave up after 29 questions. At least LED was on the list of choices when it finally asked me what I was thinking of.
  44. J

    OMG...this poor cat

    I'm sadistic but not that sadistic. Besides, cats are well known for their aversion to water. It would be almost impossible for a child of my age at the time to force a 10 pound male cat into a tub full of water. It's hard enough giving the ones we have now the occasional bath, although...
  45. J

    OMG...this poor cat

    Since I'm sure the usual "no animals were harmed during the making of this commercial" applies here this doesn't bother me. In fact, it's downright hilarious. :lol: As much as I love most cats, I was very tempted to do something like this when we were catsitting for my sister's cat a few...
  46. J

    How fast is your Internet connection?

    To the best of my knowledge no new standards are in the works. It is certainly possible, though, to go much faster as the current standard is based on an analog signal under the worst possible conditions. Once a digital signal exists, noise and line quality are almost a non-issues at the...
  47. J

    How fast is your Internet connection?

    Actually, I'm paying $9.99 a month for Bluelight. I'd gladly pay up to double that for cable, but not more. I realize I might be getting 30x to 50x the bandwidth, but 90% of what I do on the Internet isn't that limited by 56K. The main thing is downloads, which average about 20 MB per day...
  48. J

    Frickin' techie miracle

    Actually, the peak voltage is the square root of 2 times the RMS voltage, and the average voltage is pi/2 times the peak voltage. So for the good old USA(60 Hz, 120 V nominal) we have peaks of +- 169.7V and an average voltage of 108.0 volts. The RMS voltage is derived from the DC voltage that...
  49. J

    How fast is your Internet connection?

    Another 56Ker here. When cable starts to charge reasonable prices($20 or less per month) I'll think about it. The going rate of $50 and up is ridiculous. Some people just plain can't afford that. As I've already mentioned, Time Warner should give a special discount on Road Runner to whoever...
  50. J

    Frickin' techie miracle

    I'm guessing the card had some sort of delayed start feature where all of the bus is in a high impedance state for a set time after it gets power. When you first installed it, it took a fraction of a second after it detected power to start sending and receiving signals on the PCI bus. Luckily...
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