Computer basics
Most people know that to protect your computer you should use a power bar, designed to protect your electronics from dangerous voltage spikes.
What many people find handy is to use the power bar as a convenient way to turn on and shut down your system.
First, put your power bar in a convenient spot. Plug in your computer, your monitor, your speaker and everything else connected to the computer, such as your speakers.
Note: If you have wireless and a laptop, you will want to plug the routers into a different source so you can be on the Internet without having your computer turned on.
Next, turn the power bar on, and turn everything on except the computer - the monitor, the printer, the speakers, and anything else connected to your computer. Then shut the power bar off and you are ready to use.
When you want to use the computer, turn the power bar on. You just turn on your computer and when it is booted up you are all set.
When you want to end, shut the computer down, then when it shuts off, turn the power bar off.
The advantages of this are you do not have to worry about leaving devices turned on, such as the monitor or speakers, when the computer is turned off.
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
'Powerless'?
Last week, a great winter storm left "about 1.3 million homes and businesses from Pennsylvania to Maine were plunged into the dark — and cold — by a storm that coated trees and wires with ice Thursday night into Friday. Most of the outages were in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Maine and New York. About 880,000 remained without power Saturday afternoon."
This is according to the AP report.
As usual, utilities rush into great danger attempting to repair power lines as they deal with downed trees.
What nobody is reporting is that there is currently available a vehicle that would help with power outages. A hydrid electric vehicle, capable of producing tens of kwatts of power for several hours, could power a home for several days.
Let's start at the beginning. A hybrid vehicle has an electric motor that moves the vehicle, and either a battery or an engine, or both, to power the motor. The hybrid vehicle must be able to accelerate at regular rates to keep up with traffic. This means that the motor has be able to produce at least 50 kwatt of energy.
If the hybrid vehicle has batteries, then the batteries have to be able to provide electrical power for at least several hours to be practical.
What does this have to do with the power outage? If an owner of a hybrid electric vehicle that has batteries has wired the vehicle up to the home, then in the event of a power outage, the vehicle's batteries can be used to power the home.
If the homeowner conserves energy, the vehicle might be able to run the home for at least two days, and probably a lot longer.
In the years ahead as hybrid vehicles become common place more and more people are going to be self-sufficient, at least for several days, in the event of an outage.
This is according to the AP report.
As usual, utilities rush into great danger attempting to repair power lines as they deal with downed trees.
What nobody is reporting is that there is currently available a vehicle that would help with power outages. A hydrid electric vehicle, capable of producing tens of kwatts of power for several hours, could power a home for several days.
Let's start at the beginning. A hybrid vehicle has an electric motor that moves the vehicle, and either a battery or an engine, or both, to power the motor. The hybrid vehicle must be able to accelerate at regular rates to keep up with traffic. This means that the motor has be able to produce at least 50 kwatt of energy.
If the hybrid vehicle has batteries, then the batteries have to be able to provide electrical power for at least several hours to be practical.
What does this have to do with the power outage? If an owner of a hybrid electric vehicle that has batteries has wired the vehicle up to the home, then in the event of a power outage, the vehicle's batteries can be used to power the home.
If the homeowner conserves energy, the vehicle might be able to run the home for at least two days, and probably a lot longer.
In the years ahead as hybrid vehicles become common place more and more people are going to be self-sufficient, at least for several days, in the event of an outage.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
The real racist
Dear concerned citizen,
In recent days several incidents of racism have occurred, aimed at presidential candidate Barack Hussein Obama.
There is a certain irony that white supremacists groups are not the only side of the political spectrum preaching racism and violence against blacks.
Recently African-Americans have become the third biggest demographic group due to massive immigration of Hispanics, but they represent by far the largest group of abortions.
Five times as many abortions are performed on black women as on white women. And Barack Obama has stated as president his first bill he signs will remove all restrictions on abortions.
If white supremacists really wanted to eliminate blacks, they would openly support Obama. Obama as president means more abortions on black babies, resulting in less black people.
Daniel Barker
In recent days several incidents of racism have occurred, aimed at presidential candidate Barack Hussein Obama.
There is a certain irony that white supremacists groups are not the only side of the political spectrum preaching racism and violence against blacks.
Recently African-Americans have become the third biggest demographic group due to massive immigration of Hispanics, but they represent by far the largest group of abortions.
Five times as many abortions are performed on black women as on white women. And Barack Obama has stated as president his first bill he signs will remove all restrictions on abortions.
If white supremacists really wanted to eliminate blacks, they would openly support Obama. Obama as president means more abortions on black babies, resulting in less black people.
Daniel Barker
out of this world
Dear concerned citizen of the world,
We all know the implications of a world dependent on petroleum and fission for energy; everything from the military to international relations, and climate change to the financial world and the environment.
Sometimes you have to look outside the box to put it all in perspective. According to many people, there is a source of energy that will provide all our needs.
According to scientist and engineer Sid Deutsch, the entire energy output of the United States could accelerate a 200 metric ton spacecraft at one tenth the speed of light in three years. This means that we currently have no ability to travel to another star - even with all our energy combined.
Therefore one spacecraft visiting the Earth from another star would have more than the capability to provide all the energy for the whole world.
That's right. The existence of one E.T. means no more oil, no more coal and no more nuclear power. So the next time you hear about a UFO, your first thought should be, what is the first thing I would change when we stop using oil, coal and nuclear.
Daniel Barker
We all know the implications of a world dependent on petroleum and fission for energy; everything from the military to international relations, and climate change to the financial world and the environment.
Sometimes you have to look outside the box to put it all in perspective. According to many people, there is a source of energy that will provide all our needs.
According to scientist and engineer Sid Deutsch, the entire energy output of the United States could accelerate a 200 metric ton spacecraft at one tenth the speed of light in three years. This means that we currently have no ability to travel to another star - even with all our energy combined.
Therefore one spacecraft visiting the Earth from another star would have more than the capability to provide all the energy for the whole world.
That's right. The existence of one E.T. means no more oil, no more coal and no more nuclear power. So the next time you hear about a UFO, your first thought should be, what is the first thing I would change when we stop using oil, coal and nuclear.
Daniel Barker
wilderness: a paradigm shift
Today, Frances Beinecke, President of NRDC Action Fund, wrote about saving the last 375 beluga whales of Alaska's Cook Inlet.
In the report was the usual suspect: "whose population has plummeted due to the industrialization of Alaska's most populated and fastest-growing waterway."
There it is again, growth and development. We destroy wilderness and habitat, then we are supposed to spend massive amounts of reources to preserve nature.
I am beginning to see a paradigm shift in how we perceive ourselves and nature. For example, people initally saw hybrid vehicles as an alternative to the interanal combustion engine due to higher mileage in city driving. Now we are now seeing that a hybrid vehicle is an alternative to a power outage; a hybrid vehicle has energy to power a typical home for several days in the event of a power outage due to the batteries.
We are also beginning to realize wilderness begins at home. Rather than go away from home to nature and wilderness, we are beginning to turn our yards into wilderness by removing lawns and putting in native plants.
I ask you - are your children going to live in a world with less wilderness? What legacy are we leaving?
Daniel Barker
In the report was the usual suspect: "whose population has plummeted due to the industrialization of Alaska's most populated and fastest-growing waterway."
There it is again, growth and development. We destroy wilderness and habitat, then we are supposed to spend massive amounts of reources to preserve nature.
I am beginning to see a paradigm shift in how we perceive ourselves and nature. For example, people initally saw hybrid vehicles as an alternative to the interanal combustion engine due to higher mileage in city driving. Now we are now seeing that a hybrid vehicle is an alternative to a power outage; a hybrid vehicle has energy to power a typical home for several days in the event of a power outage due to the batteries.
We are also beginning to realize wilderness begins at home. Rather than go away from home to nature and wilderness, we are beginning to turn our yards into wilderness by removing lawns and putting in native plants.
I ask you - are your children going to live in a world with less wilderness? What legacy are we leaving?
Daniel Barker
Friday, May 9, 2008
The new Age of astronautics
Astronautics
The minimum orbital velocity of the Earth is about 25,000 feet a second, rocket fuel exhausts at about 20,000 feet per second.
Because adding fuel increases velocity logarithmically, it is obvious that there is a very finite amount of fuel and response time that can be added. Doubling the amount of rocket fuel only adds ln(2) times the time, or about .69 times, tripling the amount of fuel. adds ln3 or about 1.098 times the amount of time the fuel lasts, and in order to have ten times the response time you would need about 22,000 times the rocket fuel.
There is a finite limit of the velocity of a rocket. If the entire universe were converted to rocket fuel, the mass would be the mass of the sun, about 2.0*10^30kg, an average sized star, times 100,000,000,000 stars in a galaxy times an estimated 100,000,000,000 galaxies, plus an estimated ten times the mass in dark matter, yielding 2.0*10^30kg*100*10^9*100*10^9*10, or 2.0*10^53kg. Taking the ratio of the Saturn V rocket, about 6*10^6lbs or 2.718*10^6kg, yields a ratio of about 7.36*10^46. The logarithm is about 107.9, meaning that if the whole universe were converted to rocket fuel, the Saturn V could only go about 108 times faster. This is incredible! (When I began doing these calculations, the space shuttle was not in existence.)
Yet current technology easily allows us to fly spacecraft more than a hundred times the velocity of the Saturn V, if we use fission.
In the current space age, the chemical age, the life of a rocket motor is measured in seconds, and missions are calculated in milliseconds. Fission allows engines to last for many hours. This opens the door for space travel beyond our imagination.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Flying a manned spacecraft using fission in the solar system
I propose a manned mission flown by mission and payload specialists. Where would they fly?
The Earth is a double planet, so we would have to be beyond the pull of both the Earth and the moon, perhaps a million miles away. Realistically an average mission specialist cannot orbit the Earth closer than the moon.
Our first main consideration is the gravitational pull of the sun. At an average distance of about 93*10^6 miles, the gravity of the sun is about 1/800th of the Earth's gravity, or about .00125g or about 1.25cm/second/second.
To realistically travel in space we would need a safety factor of about ten, or about ten times 1/800th of a g or 1/80th of a g, or about 12.5cm/second/second.
Our next priority is debris. There are meteor showers; places where the Earth has collided with a comet and debris is left. We cannot travel near the Earth when the planet is near one of these clouds of debris.
Where would the mission go? The main criteria are radiation and debris. For example, a comet may have an irregular orbit due to ice vaporizing and perturbing the orbit, an unstable surface as ice melts and vaporizes, and of course a tail that might equal the size of Earth. Therefore a comet is out of the question.
We need to change our way of thinking. The reason space travel is measured in seconds and milliseconds is because a chemical rocket has a very limited lifespan. The nuclear age opens up the door. With fission as energy source life of an engine is measured in days and weeks.
It is obvious the Earth is a double planet, has measurable but insignificant hyperspace, debris, and atmosphere. This means it is impossible for a mission specialist to fly a manned spacecraft in an Earth orbit. Because it requires thousands of times the amount of rocket fuel to realistically extend the response time, it will never be feasible for a mission specialist to orbit the Earth.
When better nuclear engines become available we will fly further away from the sun.
While 1/800 g, or about .00125g does not seem much, if an object were to accelerate at this rate in two days it would be traveling at over a mile a second.
I would like to be the first mission specialist to fly a spacecraft. If I can do it, anybody can.
The minimum orbital velocity of the Earth is about 25,000 feet a second, rocket fuel exhausts at about 20,000 feet per second.
Because adding fuel increases velocity logarithmically, it is obvious that there is a very finite amount of fuel and response time that can be added. Doubling the amount of rocket fuel only adds ln(2) times the time, or about .69 times, tripling the amount of fuel. adds ln3 or about 1.098 times the amount of time the fuel lasts, and in order to have ten times the response time you would need about 22,000 times the rocket fuel.
There is a finite limit of the velocity of a rocket. If the entire universe were converted to rocket fuel, the mass would be the mass of the sun, about 2.0*10^30kg, an average sized star, times 100,000,000,000 stars in a galaxy times an estimated 100,000,000,000 galaxies, plus an estimated ten times the mass in dark matter, yielding 2.0*10^30kg*100*10^9*100*10^9*10, or 2.0*10^53kg. Taking the ratio of the Saturn V rocket, about 6*10^6lbs or 2.718*10^6kg, yields a ratio of about 7.36*10^46. The logarithm is about 107.9, meaning that if the whole universe were converted to rocket fuel, the Saturn V could only go about 108 times faster. This is incredible! (When I began doing these calculations, the space shuttle was not in existence.)
Yet current technology easily allows us to fly spacecraft more than a hundred times the velocity of the Saturn V, if we use fission.
In the current space age, the chemical age, the life of a rocket motor is measured in seconds, and missions are calculated in milliseconds. Fission allows engines to last for many hours. This opens the door for space travel beyond our imagination.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Flying a manned spacecraft using fission in the solar system
I propose a manned mission flown by mission and payload specialists. Where would they fly?
The Earth is a double planet, so we would have to be beyond the pull of both the Earth and the moon, perhaps a million miles away. Realistically an average mission specialist cannot orbit the Earth closer than the moon.
Our first main consideration is the gravitational pull of the sun. At an average distance of about 93*10^6 miles, the gravity of the sun is about 1/800th of the Earth's gravity, or about .00125g or about 1.25cm/second/second.
To realistically travel in space we would need a safety factor of about ten, or about ten times 1/800th of a g or 1/80th of a g, or about 12.5cm/second/second.
Our next priority is debris. There are meteor showers; places where the Earth has collided with a comet and debris is left. We cannot travel near the Earth when the planet is near one of these clouds of debris.
Where would the mission go? The main criteria are radiation and debris. For example, a comet may have an irregular orbit due to ice vaporizing and perturbing the orbit, an unstable surface as ice melts and vaporizes, and of course a tail that might equal the size of Earth. Therefore a comet is out of the question.
We need to change our way of thinking. The reason space travel is measured in seconds and milliseconds is because a chemical rocket has a very limited lifespan. The nuclear age opens up the door. With fission as energy source life of an engine is measured in days and weeks.
It is obvious the Earth is a double planet, has measurable but insignificant hyperspace, debris, and atmosphere. This means it is impossible for a mission specialist to fly a manned spacecraft in an Earth orbit. Because it requires thousands of times the amount of rocket fuel to realistically extend the response time, it will never be feasible for a mission specialist to orbit the Earth.
When better nuclear engines become available we will fly further away from the sun.
While 1/800 g, or about .00125g does not seem much, if an object were to accelerate at this rate in two days it would be traveling at over a mile a second.
I would like to be the first mission specialist to fly a spacecraft. If I can do it, anybody can.
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