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Mercutio

Fatwah on Western Digital
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Aw, crap. Later this week I must travel to the US central zone. Wind chill is expected to be -28°C. in the morning. :eek:

It's not that bad. You put on a coat and some gloves, and you're warm enough to scrape your car and have a harrowing drive to where ever you're going because no one in fucking Indiana has ever heard of, let alone seen or actually used a snow plow.
 

LunarMist

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Maybe, except I don't even have a decent long-sleeved shirt to wear or a long coat. It will be colder than the last time I was in Antarctica. :eek: I am hoping there are taxicabs available at the airport at midnight. Meanwhile it was in the mid-80°F range today with Santa Anas.
 

timwhit

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Maybe, except I don't even have a decent long-sleeved shirt to wear or a long coat. It will be colder than the last time I was in Antarctica. :eek: I am hoping there are taxicabs available at the airport at midnight. Meanwhile it was in the mid-80°F range today with Santa Anas.

What city are you going to?
 

mubs

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I will probably have to be in Connecticut at the end of the month for about 2 weeks. Lately the high there has been below freezing. I've never been exposed to that kind of cold before. I'll probably die of peeniemonia.
 

timwhit

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I will probably have to be in Connecticut at the end of the month for about 2 weeks. Lately the high there has been below freezing. I've never been exposed to that kind of cold before. I'll probably die of peeniemonia.

Just get a good coat and you'll be fine. Long underwear works wonders too.
 

jtr1962

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I will probably have to be in Connecticut at the end of the month for about 2 weeks. Lately the high there has been below freezing. I've never been exposed to that kind of cold before. I'll probably die of peeniemonia.
Trust me, you get used to the cold pretty fast. Funny how the first day when it's 50°F in the fall I'll be freezing but by January I can stay out all day in 10°F. One thing I can't get used to is heat. By the end of the summer I'm so worn out from the heat I think I'd die if cooler weather didn't come.
 

Handruin

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It's about 3 degrees F out right now (-16.1 C) and it's not that bad, but certainly not enjoyable. When it's this cold my heat pump can't keep up in my apartment very well and when driving my car I can tell the clutch peddle doesn't move as easy. :)
 

udaman

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Trust me, you get used to the cold pretty fast. Funny how the first day when it's 50°F in the fall I'll be freezing but by January I can stay out all day in 10°F. One thing I can't get used to is heat. By the end of the summer I'm so worn out from the heat I think I'd die if cooler weather didn't come.

*you* can stay out all day if you keep moving, keep body heat up; but others with poorer circulation can die quickly at those temps jtr. Those with poorer circulation include the elderly (ie. could be your mother, and you if you live another decade or two and don't maintain optimal health due to unforseen circumstances), those with diabetes, like those who have it from genetics or being overweight (Merc?).

-10F is *much* more dangerous than 10F, with wind chill you can freeze exposed skin and limbs quickly over a broad part of the Midwest (and tonight, I'm guessing along the east coast into the weekend). You can also die pretty quickly, after a dunk the water there, after the plane lands in the river after birds get into the engine around NYC...cold, deadly waters in winter.

Uggh, 4th day in a row with mid to upper 80F's (warmest place in the country, not unusual for So. Cal in winter :( ). Supposed to drop below 80F by the weekend (though that's what they said was going to happen on Wed). I might as well be in Hawaii with dd :p.

Though in Hawaii there's that damned humidity (been super dry here with the desert winds/Santa Ana), and no protection from the smog/haze ... ie. short post for dd... SPF70, or pasty white people get red fast!
 

udaman

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It's about 3 degrees F out right now (-16.1 C) and it's not that bad, but certainly not enjoyable. When it's this cold my heat pump can't keep up in my apartment very well and when driving my car I can tell the clutch peddle doesn't move as easy. :)

Coldest temp on record for NA was 1971 in Alaska -79F, but there have been other cold spells in the -60F range. At <-30F, even synthetic motor oil becomes so thick, you can't start an engine, -60F become a thick solid :).
 

jtr1962

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And I've actually come pretty close to -60°F in my test chamber (chamber temp is large number on top left, lower number is set temperature):

ChamberLowTemp.gif


For anyone who complains about the cold, be glad you don't live here.

In January, the most freezing month, average "highs" are around minus 40C; today the temperature is hovering around minus 43C, leaving the city engulfed in an oppressive blanket of freezing fog that restricts visibility to 10 metres.
 

Handruin

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I don't know how or why people are able to reproduce in climates with -40C.

What were you testing at those temps?
 

jtr1962

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What were you testing at those temps?
Electronics going into taxis. I needed to reach temps they might encounter in Alaska. Actually, -40°F probably would have been enough, but I figured why not overdesign the chamber for a little more fun? Yes, those kind of temps are a whole other degree of cold. Putting my hand in for a short time made the fingers start to get numb. I couldn't imagine people living daily in a climate like that (and this is coming from someone who loves cold weather).
 

Handruin

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That sounds like a fun project. What is needed to get a compartment of that size down to those temps? Can you do it with a compressor like those used in normal freezers/refrigerators?

I also can't imagine people living in those climates, I love wearing shorts and spending time out doors. To live in that environment takes a certain type of person, and it might just work for them.
 

jtr1962

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That sounds like a fun project. What is needed to get a compartment of that size down to those temps? Can you do it with a compressor like those used in normal freezers/refrigerators?
It would probably be easier to do with compressors, at least in terms of reaching temperatures like that, but it would also be much harder to control the temperature precisely. IIRC R12 and R134a should be good for around -50°F or so if you can get your low-side pressure low enough. R134a boils at -15.3°F at atmospheric pressure but at lower temperatures at lower pressures. So the idea is to get your low-side pressure as low as possible if low capacity but very low temperature cooling is your goal. BTW, I'm going from memory here from a thermodynamics class in college so forgive me if some things are rusty or incorrect. I don't remember all the details of designing a compressor-based refrigeration system although I still have the text somewhere.

For this chamber thermoelectric cooling represented the most practical solution. Besides precise temperature control, I can heat the chamber up to 200°F if needed. I wrote all about the project in this post on CPF.

I also can't imagine people living in those climates, I love wearing shorts and spending time out doors. To live in that environment takes a certain type of person, and it might just work for them.
I dislike summer intensely but I like the in between weather of spring or fall enough to not want to live in a place where it's really cold all the time. I like to cycle for example, but below about 30-35°F it's just too cold given the wind chill effect.
 

CougTek

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Tomorrow is the day where Obama becomes the 44th president of the USA. I heard he'll walk on the water of Lincoln Memorial reflection pool and that beems of light will be projected from his hands.
 

LunarMist

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Oh please, can't we keep politics in another thread? :(

BTW, it is beams.
 

Mercutio

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Last week the temperature outside my bedroom window read -33F at 7:30 in the morning. That's without the (substantial) wind chill.

I didn't even wear my heavy coat that day.

So, today is the end of the Bush Administration. Which means that it is the happiest day in the last eight years. The whole damned world is having a party today.

And on top of that a girl I have been talking to through the intertubes said she wants to meet me sometime in the near future. I am willing to attribute this as the first miracle for the canonization of St. Obama as well.
 

Handruin

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I'm very happy for you Mercutio! I hope this mystery woman has a positive way into your life.

See ya Bush! Time to fumigate your nastiness from the white house.
 

Stereodude

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We are now officially headed down the road to becoming the United Socialist States of America.

Watch your wallets everyone since we're the "rich" Obama and his liberal cronies are planning to soak.
 

Handruin

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We are now officially headed down the road to becoming the United Socialist States of America.

Watch your wallets everyone since we're the "rich" Obama and his liberal cronies are planning to soak.

Such optimism. I guess you voted for Palin.
 

Handruin

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Exciting times. Maybe his plan is what we need for a few years to fix what has been broken for so long. It's far to hard to tell what any president is capable (or not capable of), so all the arguing for one over the other really isn't worth the stress.
 

Striker

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I guess that's different from the economy destroying agenda that's been put into place before?
 

Stereodude

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I guess that's different from the economy destroying agenda that's been put into place before?
FWIW, Bush, Paulson, and the rest of Bush's administration threw free market capitalism to the wind with the whole bailout thing precipitated by a gov't started panic. Needless to say it was a bad idea and didn't work.

The problem here is that Obama and his administration are going to double down / go all in on the flawed bailout philosophy of the Bush administration with the argument that it didn't work because it just wasn't big enough.
 

ddrueding

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FWIW, Bush, Paulson, and the rest of Bush's administration threw free market capitalism to the wind with the whole bailout thing precipitated by a gov't started panic. Needless to say it was a bad idea and didn't work.

The problem here is that Obama and his administration are going to double down / go all in on the flawed bailout philosophy of the Bush administration with the argument that it didn't work because it just wasn't big enough.

I can agree with that.
 

Stereodude

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John Maynard Keynes would certainly be happy. Milton Friedman not so much.
We're all Keynesians now. :rolleyes:

The whole thing is a big fat farce. If the gov't could stimulate the economy we would never have a downturn. The gov't taking money out of the private sector for all this "stimulus" and public works projects will just make matters worse.
 
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