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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...

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.

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...

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

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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.

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

Merc, Your situation is not uncommon. You were/are deeply in love with somebody who, through no fault of your own, is no longer in your life. Your hope of getting back together may or may not be rational. I only know you through your posts, and I don't know Amy at all, so I can't say whether...

Excellent post, e_dawg, with plenty of sound advice. As I'm sure we all know, the first and hardest part of changing an unhealthy habit or lifestyle is to admit you have a problem. Whether the problem is of your own making or not is irrelevant. It exists and must be dealt with somehow. I'm...

I have 2x256 MB and 2x128 MB modules running on my 440BX board(AOpen AX6B) right now. The key is that only the double-sided 256 MB modules will work. A few months ago I bought single-sided modules and they only recognized as 128 MB. I would imagine 512 MB double-sided modules would recognize...

I wish I could count how many posts or topics I thought for sure would provoke lots of conversation but ended up with almost nobody interested. My only conclusion on the lack of conversation about transfat/labeling is that nobody is interested because a)they already know about it and adjust...

Well, at least the window stays open reminding you that it still is open. Even worse are plug-ins or software that remains running in the background even after you have closed all open windows.

Update 1: Scanner was exchanged today for a new one since they wouldn't exchange only the adaptor. The new one at first just hung there without initializing. I called tech support which recommended to uninstall and reinstall the software. Normally this is a waste of time but seeing as nothing...

This gives new meaning to the words "loaded for bear". :mrgrn:

Monitors really wasn't what I had in mind since they have a regular small plug, not an AC adaptor, and they take a rather large amount of power. Ditto for laser printers. Rather, I was thinking of the small, fairly low power peripherals like scanners, ink-jet printers, speakers, tape drives...

After experiencing the problems that occur when the power supply of a product is an afterthought, as it apparently was with the Microtek 4850 scanner my mom bought, it occurred to me that all peripherals should just tap into the existing PC power supply. Physically, this will mean no more...

The few times I eat bread with butter or make cinnamon toast I always choose butter over margarine. Margarine tastes disgusting. Always has, always will. Ditto for 1% and 2% milk. I'm not going to sweat a little extra cholesterol when a ten mile bike ride more than compensates for it. It's...

When will people wake up and finally realize we can't legislate our way to a safe, healthy society nor should we try? In the end everything that the ruling class feels is unhealthy or inappropriate will be banned. Nobody will be able to make decisions for themselves. Kind of reminds me of...

:o I thought I had my work cut out for me. Digitally fixing those is what's going to be the real time killer. The negatives I did just required a bit of contrast and light level adjustment. It was cool seeing what some of them looked like for the first time since a few were pictures that the...

As I discovered already since I have scans of various important papers, tax forms, receipts, rebate forms, etc. Just giving images a sensible name rather than something like IMG_4013.JPG and keeping them in descriptive folders helps a great deal. As for the rest of your post, I like the...

I'm seriously entertaining that thought, especially if I can't get this scanner to work properly. I'd like Splash's input on this as well. Although the quality seems decent enough, scanning negatives with this thing is like watching paint dry. I'm currently debating whether to scan prints...

Merc, Between slides, negatives, and pictures(including many old B&W ones dating back up to 100+ years) I would estimate we have at least 10,000 pictures, if not more. I'm not sure Walgreen's would be a viable solution cost-wise. I'm also not sure if I can trust the typical employees in...

My mom recently purchased a Microtek 4850 scanner from WorstBuy(special sale $99.99). Her reason for choosing that particular model was that it came with a slide and negative adaptor, and also that it is capable of 2400 dpi native resolution. Unfortunately, since it's USB and her Pentium...

That wouldn't work at all. You would need a huge rheostat capable of dissipating a few hundred watts(which incidentally would counteract the effect of the AC unless you put it outside). Besides that, as you reduce voltage the compressor's torque goes down, and at some point it will just stall...

Spring means summer's not far behind, and I hate summer with a passion. Summer for me basically means being confined to an air-conditioned room for 3 months since I lost my ability to cope with heat(not that I had that great an ability before) after I helped my neighbor with his kiddie...

I have to agree with everyone here that some form of exercise will do wonders for your well-being. I attribute my recovery in large part to my avid cycling. When I was at the low point I somehow managed to ride 150 to 200 miles per week. This kept me from slipping deeper into a depression...

Merc, Regardless of how you currently feel, you should think about your health. You may be borderline suicidal now(and I've been there myself) but should things turn around in your life later on you will ending up suffering all kinds of obesity related illnesses, especially as you get older...

I think you just want to look more muscular rather than gain weight(there is a difference), although in the process of adding muscle mass you may end up gaining weight without looking any different. Case in point is myself. In early high school I was about 160 pounds and 5'9". Not skinny, but...

Most of the WTC foundation is below the water table(since it's on former landfill the water table begins only a few feet down). It's nothing that a little engineering genius can't solve if it makes economic sense to do so. Apparently it doesn't, or we would already have buildings fifty stories...

My neighbor's house was broken into last night. :o Luckily they didn't have anything of value, but it still sucks that people feel it's OK to just break in and take what they want. The police are still there now fingerprinting but I doubt they'll ever catch the perps.

I think the SUV craze is partly to blame on the automakers. Through their ads they can promote certain types of vehicles as more desirable. From what I understand, because SUVs are classified as trucks, and hence exempt from CAFE standards, there is more of a profit margin on them. Therefore...

This is one of the most disgusting things I've read in a long time, but it certainly comes as no surprise with vehicles getting more and more ridiculous in terms of size and horsepower. It seems the only way auto makers will ever improve fuel economy or go to zero emissions vehicles is if it's...

Interestingly, I'm getting similar temps(<40°C) with my Tualatin upgrade as well even though I have the 1.4 GHz version and it's overclocked to 1.568 GHz. I haven't bothered yet trying to turn down the fan speed, but based on my experience playing around with heat sinks, fans, and...