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  1. J

    How popular is your comment?

    I personally think comment rating is one of the dumbest recent trends. I also consistently find on Yahoo news that the most intelligent comments get the most down votes. It's almost as if people don't want to think, and don't want to be shown that their opinions are wrong because they're based...
  2. J

    Something Random

    My sincerest condolences. Having gone through the loss of my father in 2006, I know how difficult times like this are, and also how unfair life seems when loved ones who led a good life are suddenly taken from us. If it's any consolation, eventually life will seem normal again, but it will take...
  3. J

    I want to buy a new car

    Get a few cans of spray paint, some masking tape, and do it yourself. The idea of paint is to keep the body from rusting. A DIY paint job will accomplish that just as well as an expensive one. It's true that eventually it's not worth putting money into a car any more, but if you do things...
  4. J

    Cycling

    The most I ever rode in one day was 70.2 miles (113.0 km). That was in two separate rides. The most I did in one ride was 60.2 miles (96.9 km). That was almost 31 years ago. It took 3 hours, 20 minutes but it didn't involve as much climbing as your 87 km ride. There was no GPS in those days but...
  5. J

    SSDs - State of the Product?

    Don't some SSDs deal with the leakage issue by "refreshing" charge levels when they're active? I'm guessing it works as follows: the entire drive is read maybe once daily during periods in between reads/writes. Any cells where the measured voltage is trending towards marginal levels are...
  6. J

    Cycling

    That's what I'm thinking as well. I read too much stuff saying you should aim for 90 to 100 RPM, but that might apply mostly to pros trying to develop their maximum power for extended periods. I'll try to aim for 70 or 75 from now on, and see if the numbness subsides. I couldn't tell on last...
  7. J

    Cycling

    I adjusted the bike myself after reading a number of guides online. It's adjusted to me about as well as it can be, although I realize there's nothing like getting a new bike properly fitted to you. Anyway, I'm 100% sure cadence is making the difference here. Towards the end of the ride, I...
  8. J

    Cycling

    I don't know if this will help anyone here but I've been experiencing numbness of my hands and feet starting about 15 minutes into a ride when it's hot and humid for a number of years. This is partially a result of dehydration from sweating, although the hand numbness is 90% carpal tunnel...
  9. J

    I want to buy a new car

    That looks like a car I might have designed. Turbine engines suck when directly connected to the wheels via a conventional transmission. The way the C-X75 uses them (to recharge a battery which in turn drives electric motors) is exactly the best way to use them. This is a case where modern motor...
  10. J

    Cycling

    Building myself a faired recumbent from scratch would be one of my dreams. I don't know if I could improve much on the aerodynamics, but I would certainly like to try. If you ever move beyond the planning stage, be sure to post pictures.
  11. J

    I want to buy a new car

    If those were the only two criteria all cars would be using turbine engines.
  12. J

    I want to buy a new car

    You're a car hobbyist. Nothing wrong with that. My brother falls into the same camp, just he's not flush enough to buy new cars as often as he might like. Actually, he says his Mark VIII has better fit and finish, and is nicer to drive, than many newer cars. Not surprising given that it was $42K...
  13. J

    I want to buy a new car

    It's pretty much the same with everything. I've even noticed it with cycling. An upgrade from a 105 to an Ultegra gruppo is usually worth the price in terms of added functionality. Even a 105 gruppo is just fine for many riders. To go from Ultegra to Dura-Ace is a huge price jump for minor...
  14. J

    Cycling

    That ride seems pretty respectable to me also. You averaged 14.9 mph in spite of the climbing and the wind. I hear you on the wind. Despite Chicago being called the windy city, the average wind speeds in NYC are higher. Yesterday towards the end of the ride there was easily steady winds of at...
  15. J

    Cycling

    I have a rear blinker (modded with a red power LED to be visible from at least 1/4 mile), and a fairly bright front headlight ( ~150 lumens). I have a ~1800 lumen headlight of my own design which I'll eventually be using as soon as I have time to finish it. Blinking lights are fine in the rear...
  16. J

    I want to buy a new car

    Yes, I think that's it. My sister is driving a 10+ year old Elantra with about 170K on it. My brother is using a 1993 Mark VIII with 240K. Neither could afford even a low-end new car at this point, never mind one of the cars in this thread.
  17. J

    Cycling

    Man, what I would give for 11°C temps right now. We're having a heat wave all week with highs in the 90s F. Rode at 3 AM last night. I was still warm ( ~23°C,73°F) and 100% humidity. I was plastered with sweat after 15 minutes. Surprisingly, I last nearly an hour and a half. It's going to be...
  18. J

    I want to buy a new car

    I think it's just a case of "boys and their toys" rather than practicality. For strict practicality and low operating costs nothing beats some kind of electric vehicle like a Leaf, or one of the low-end Teslas. If more people bought electrics, there wouldn't even be a price premium over gas...
  19. J

    I want to buy a new car

    Actually, sub 30 second 1/4 mile times under human power are possible: http://www.recumbents.com/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=2070 The record is 26.96 sec @ 46.7 mph
  20. J

    Something Random

    Those videos make my case that about 90% of the population has no business driving. Drivers are nearly this bad in NYC, except the commercial truck drivers are better. Cars plowing into pedestrians on sidewalks are a pretty regular occurrence, sadly. No crashes, but typical asshat NYC driver...
  21. J

    Cold

    He probably it just for the experience of saying he was out in such high temps. I did the same last year when Sandy was in full swing just to say I was out in the middle of a hurricane. I've never rode my bike during a blizzard but that's on my bucket list. Maybe this winter if a suitable storm...
  22. J

    Something Random

    Move to NYC. Fireworks are banned here. It doesn't mean you won't hear some this week, but it's certainly not constantly.
  23. J

    Cycling

    Doug, I suspect it's a combination of both the bike and your gearing. The fat tires and upright riding position of mountain bikes tend to make reaching high speeds problematic. And a lot of mountain bikes have something like a 44-12 gear as the maximum. That's only good for maybe 35 mph unless...
  24. J

    Cycling

    +1 I learned the hard way years ago that sometimes you just have to let some things slide. People will always make demands on your time. At some point you just need to say "sorry, I can't do it". Sleep deprivation sucks. I was on a schedule like Dave's through high school and much of college. 3...
  25. J

    Haswell Build: Thoughts?

    I have that feature also on my Asus F2A85-V PRO. Most of the time the CPU fan is on minimum speed. The fan on my power supply doesn't even start turning until CPU usage is fairly heavy. When I put the two mechanical hard drives in standby, the system is inaudible, even in a quiet room.
  26. J

    Cycling

    If I had to climb grades like 25%+ I think I would have a Rohloff Speedhub. 526% total range with 14 evenly-spaced gears. If you made the top gear equivalent to 53-11, your low gear would be the same as 39-42. Have you considered a chainring with a triple crank? Those are usually used in...
  27. J

    Cycling

    I've been trying for a long time to lose about 30 extra pounds (I used to be 160). The extra weight hurts on climbs for sure. It also hurts everywhere else because it seems the rolling resistance of my airless tires isn't linearly proportional to weight. I wouldn't doubt my average speeds would...
  28. J

    Intel vs AMD

    Totally agree. In fact, for most people who have a system which is less than about 7 or 8 years old, and still working well, I might recommend they buy an SSD before even thinking about upgrading. Often just doing that will give an old machine new life. If it doesn't, they can always use the SSD...
  29. J

    Cycling

    You guys are making me jealous here with your maximum speeds! Most days I'm lucky to get much over 30 mph, although I'm not really pushing much on account of the potholes. I did hit 61 mph descending the Queensboro Bridge in the 1980s when I rode to Manhattan one night. There was a fierce...
  30. J

    Intel vs AMD

    I assume you mean improvements due to architecture changes? To me it seems that way. Haswell is only marginally faster than SB or IB for most things. You have AVX2 which doubles floating point performance but I'll guess nothing except benchmark software is taking advantage of that right now...
  31. J

    Something Random

    Yep-we still have a landline. It's part of our combined internet/phone/TV package. So far I haven't had compelling need for a cell phone. I just never do anything where I've needed to make a phone call from anywhere other than home.
  32. J

    Something Random

    I don't have one, either. In fact, I don't have a cell phone at all. I like gadgets, but not ones you have to pay x dollars per month to use. Now if someone came out with a very basic cell phone with no monthly fee I would think about it.
  33. J

    Something Random

    I can find plenty of buildings but the steps at Lexington Avenue are the only ones I've used regularly. Next time I visit a apairofpcs I'll time myself going up all 21 flights in his building.
  34. J

    Something Random

    The closest I can come to that is taking the stairs at the Lexington Avenue and 53rd Street station (escalator in pic but stairs are next to it). I think it's equivalent to at least 4 flights. I'm sure I've done it in under 30 seconds going up (and <10 going down).
  35. J

    Something Random

    Sure, it's hilarious, especially the part about fire trucks no longer being able to get into the subway, but it's also amazing some people are making such a big fuss about this. When you talk to rank-and-file members of the general public, probably 95% either like the idea, or have no real...
  36. J

    Something Random

    Sadly, this is not parody.
  37. J

    4k TVs and Monitors

    My setup (A10-5800K and F2A85V-PRO) supports up to 4096x2160@60Hz through DisplayPort. DVI is limited to 2560x1600@60Hz, and HDMI is limited to standard 1920x1080@60Hz
  38. J

    4k TVs and Monitors

    That's both good and bad. Good news-they're making something which is actually designed as a 4K monitor, not a 4K TV, and thus acknowledging the need for such a thing. Bad news-the price, obviously, and for me the fact that it's not 21" to 24". Now if someone makes a monitor using the 230 ppi...
  39. J

    Something Random

    I'm glad I don't have a job like this.
  40. J

    Something Random

    I had something similar happen last year when the drain pipe in the kitchen sink leaked, and water was coming out of the basement ceiling right under it. You already cut a few holes to air things out which is good enough. Let it dry throughly for about a week, then patch it up. There shouldn't...
  41. J

    question Which SSD should I buy for a laptop?

    On the question of which laptop to put it in, the older, slower one would probably benefit more but if you really want to go all out put an SSD in both. :) I'm totally sold on SSDs after having one in my new build. 15 seconds from POST to Windows 7 desktop!
  42. J

    Cycling

    Probably a few hundred for train fare. You're right, there's no way I'm flying. Airports are totally inconvenient for someone who doesn't have a car or driver's license. And the fumes at airports make me physically ill (i.e. I have a severe allergy to aromatic hydrocarbons). I just need to find...
  43. J

    question Which SSD should I buy for a laptop?

    I concur with Merc-get either a Samsung or an Intel SSD. As for capacity, 200 to 250 GB seems to be the sweet spot in terms of cost per GB. Cloning the SSD to match your installed hard drive should be relatively easy. When you remove the Hitachi from your machine, connect both it and your SSD to...
  44. J

    Cats of Storageforum

    Not my cat but this is one of the cutest things I've seen.
  45. J

    Cycling

    20 years ago I would have been able to do a hard ride in hot weather and on little sleep. Now all bets are off. And I unfortunately gained some weight also the last few months due to not riding as much as normal. Hopefully I'll have the time and money to take a trip to the West coast one of...
  46. J

    Cycling

    That's pretty interesting. I wonder how far ahead the grid projects? It needs to be at least 50 or 75 feet ahead for ample warning at high speeds. In NYC, something like this would be invaluable. I can't say how many times I ran right into stuff which looked innocuous until I was nearly on top...
  47. J

    Internet very slow the last few days

    Things seem mostly back to normal for me now, but the last few days before were pretty awful.
  48. J

    Internet very slow the last few days

    Is it just me, or are other people experiencing very slow internet connections lately? A few sites are loading quickly, many are taking literally forever (i.e. like over a minute) to load a page. Is some kind of cyberattack going on?
  49. J

    random Progress of general purpose computing

    I don't think compilers these days even attempt to optimize things. I've been programming microcontrollers for the last few years. One thing I've noticed is often when I write a routine in assembly it will run MUCH faster than doing the same thing in a higher level language and letting the...
  50. J

    Cycling

    Man, that's brutal. Congratulations just for finishing. Last year I think the most climbing I did in one ride was about 1100 feet and it hurt. I'm not sure I even could have finished the route you did, at least not without being about 30 pounds lighter.
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