20080615
Dreams in Digital - Click!
June is the one year anniversary of the thrid greatest project I have ever completed. (The first greatest was obtaining my Eagle Scout. The second greatest was graduating college.)I still have plans for this machine. I am personally holding off any Linux upgrade until Fedora 10 comes around. (It would be so much easier if instead of every 6 months, the people at Red Hat released a new distro every year instead. On the other hand, I should really consider installing software from source code rather than waiting for binaries.)
One plan that sounds affordable for right now is a fan too cool down the hard drive. If the nuclear energy supporters want to make environmentalists happy, they would us a really fast graphics card to generate steam for electricity. Then again, what would they need to use to generate the electricity for the really hot graphics card? Reguardless, the part of the computer that I forsee will be the cause of its downfall is the graphics card. Remember, if your GPU is spiking around 65 degrees Celcius, your main fan is probably broken, or your graphics card is too hot! The print on the wires generally states that their is a heat limit of about 70 degrees C. The normal for the GPU should be around 60 degrees C or less, otherwise everything is going to get hot, slow, or worse break down. I believe that is what happened to the main fan a few months ago. The GPU literally cooked the wires. While their was no puddle of plastic goop in my machine, the insulation that kept the wires from burning up could not protect the wire from the relatively intense heat.
Until I can afford a really nice graphics card, I will try my best to keep the rest of the computer as cool as possible. The fan and raidator on the CPU keep the CPU coool. The main fan aswell as a couple other case fans keep the MoBo and the memory in good order. And I have a new fan that will keep the hard drive cool which was remarkably affordable.
Also on my honey-do list for the computer: replacing the DVD-R/W. This like the GPU is currently a short-term long-term goal. As I have previously stated, I am hoping that a Linux standard for Blu-Ray R/W comes out in the near future and that prices for Blu-Ray drop within the next year. I went to Office Max the other day and saw that a single Blu-Ray disc for Blu-Ray R/W was $20.00. You want to know how much that disc is really worth? About a nickel. That's SONY for you.
Another short-term long-term goal would be to add an infrared controller to the computer. I don't care much for Bluetooth. And secondly, why does SONY use Bluetooth for their controllers and remotes in the first place? Bluetooth has many security concerns, and since it is pretty logical to use the wireless peripheral that interfaces with the computer in the same room, Infrared makes more sense.
Now if you really want to use Bluetooth for something, how about this next project that is definletely long-term long-term. Because Bluetooth can be used in say the next room over, why not create a Bluetooth device for your apartment that aquires free-to-air satilite television to be piped in to your house.
Now I hear some of you say "But Bushido, we can get this from DirecTV or Dish Network." True, but what they are as well as the cable companies are are middlemen between the satilite from space to your house. And if you noticed in your house if you have cable, the signal from your TV that is directly hooked up to your TV rather than a cable box does not have a delay. Likewise, this is the problems with the satilite TV companies. Because they get their feeds from various satilites then bounce the signals back up into space and into your backyard, this delay is much longer. The critism with such a project is that the dish used would be about 3 feet to 6 feet large, or maybe larger. The fact is we have come a long way from the 1980s when my grandpa had this piece of what was then considered high tech equipment in his house. We now have DVB which allows for us to watch TV on cellphones. The truth is, we could probably watch that for free if the big telecom companies didn't charge to do what the satilite TV companies do. And if you think about it, why do you think the Cable company is like "don't swith to satilite" and the satilite TV companies are like "switch to us from cable". It is because both the cable and satilite companies use the same signal equipment to fetch TV signal using thier 30 year old 12 footh satilite dishes. Cable does not go out in a rain storm because they use the satilite dishes that are tuned to the frequencies that can penetrate the toughest rain cloud. This technology is portable to Linux under ITU DVB-S standards.
But why stop at just TV? Shortwave and Amatuer radio could also be combined. This is a little more compilcated as many people know about the size of the amatuer radio and CB radio antennas. What I don't understand is why satilite radio has a small antenna. There is some information about amatuer radio at this link. And don't forget the Internet!
Next question is how do we power this device? In this age with gas price through the roof and people starting to wise up to solar and wind power I was thinking about something that would power the device, but at the same time be grounded from lightening strikes. The grounding mechanism would also be required for the dish as well as the amatuer radio, assuming that there is no way to talke that out of the equation. A Big-Ugly-Dish (BUD) with solar pannels built into it would be perfect, but physics doesn't work that way. I saw on 60 minutes one time BUDs are still used in Iran as a way to override their government's TV broadcasting.
The idea is really good and very smart. It may be the satilite/cable/ISP-company-in-a-box, but first I would condiser the cost and make certain that the telcoms and the satillite/cable compaies don't foil my idea. I do like the idea. It is the most straightforward plan. But their would be some programming involved like telling where to point the dish and the solar-pannels (if any). Generally they point south, but for the first time use, or the poor soul who nevery used a compass in the Boy Scouts (or Girls Scouts). The prototype will necessarily be boatanchor size even though technology can get smaller and maller...but then again you don't want it to get lost or have some ignorant jerk steal it.
But I would like to see something like that be fore the end of the next decade. Maybe the end of this decade if feasable. Two and a half years is a long way to go and a lot of time to learn things.
Labels: blu-ray, bluetooth, diy, environment, freetoair, infrared, linux, radio, tech
posted by Bushido Hacks 6/15/2008 09:02:00 PM (0) comments top
20080610
It is time for citizens to commandeer oil prices! - Click!
Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO) worked valiantly today to send a message to the oil industry that we have had it with the oil companies high prices with no merit. But when the bill that she proposed that would charge the oil companies a windfall sales tax failed, then another bill that gave tax breaks to alternative energy died, both at the hands of the Establishment, it has become clear that no amount of legislative action, or judicial action, and certainly not any executive action, would stop the oil companies from overcharging Americans.The oil industry makes enough money, that they are above the law. They could commit murder (which they have) and simply write a check for bail if they were in a trial. The oil industry has no respect for the laws of man or the natural rights of humans. Their crimes have hindered the wellbeing of citizens, as police and fire departments must cut back on their crime and safety training for gasoline. The oil industry has obstructed the school year of children that school years must be truncated, shortening the educations of some students, and rerouting buses to standing room only for mass-transit systems.
Today, the estabishment stated that they are in full support of the oil industries crippling America, its infrastructure, and its government.
We are now at war with The Estabishment. The Estabishment that declared war but sent its troops into battle without armour. The Establishment that promised "Gas Tax Holidays" to bribe people into gaining their consent and compliance to continue to raise the price of fuel and lower environmental standards. The Establishment that has damaged the environment to the point that their are no bees to polinate crops, which in turn endangers our food supply. The Establishment that bailed out mortgage lenders and savings and loan groups just as they did nearly 20 years ago. The Establishment that put energy companies in charge of environmental and energy standards which made the air we breathe unhealthy and the people who could not afford heating or air conditioning freeze or swelter. The Establishment that mistreated hospitalized war veterans, exported jobs overseas, and held back students who proved that they could succeed.
The Establishment is afraid of change. It is afraid to lose the power it has been inebriated itself with the freedom of its citizens. It has taken this country and the world for a ride and it was incahoots with alot of bad people who also fear change. Many of these changes were maid possible online, reguardless of the attempts of disinformation which tried to drown out or lie about what is going on. Television and radio only tell us what the Establishment wants us to see and hear. The Internet has changed the playing field. Not like in 2000 or 2004, but for real this time in 2008.
We frighten the Establishment, and that is a good thing. We aren't sending them terriorist threats or manufactured lies to keep people in control. We are spreading the honest truth that life stinks right now, but at they same time we are telling people that we are not going to take it lying down.
We are ready to take on the changes that the Establishment will fight us tooth an nail over. We are not going to let them continue to keep the status quo because we know what has happened--that IS HAPPENING--because we gave up freedom for quiet conscent.
It is time we commandeer the gas stations and put the price of oil back under $2 per gallon. The oil industry makes more than enough money that they deserve to be victums of their own crimes.
But by no means does not paying for gas mean that we can drive around in the big gas-guzzling vehicles.
The automobile industry is still an accessory to the crimes of the oil industry. They broke the laws too, raking in profits while their workers took a pay cut so that the guys upstairs got a pay raise.
It is time that the citizens of the United States of America took control of this situation, as the Establishment, the oil industry, and the automobile industry won't.
Labels: diy, energy, environment, freedom, fud, government, news, politics
posted by Bushido Hacks 6/10/2008 09:39:00 PM (0) comments top
20080609
America is desperate but not stupid, Mr. Akin - Click!
Senator Todd Akin (R-MO) proposed this morning the $150 Barrel Energy Extortion Act of 2008, a bill that will continue to keep the status quo as far as energy standards go.Pretty much it calls for what every Republican-based energy bill proposes.
- Open Antarctic National Wilderness Refuge (ANWR) to oil and gas exploration. (Something we should not be doing.)
- Open the Continental shelf to Oil and Gas exploration. (If you are a beach-goer, this potentially means oil dericks in view of the beach.)
- Expand the refinery capacity of the U.S.- no refinery has been built in 30 years. (There is a new refinery being built in Omaha, Nebraska. Living down stream, especially after a tugboat accident spilled 30,000 of oil into the Missouri river just a few miles from where I a writing this post, I'm not very keen about the idea.)
- Promote the creation of fuel from shale reserves. (Strip mining)
- Promote the safe construction of new nuclear power plants. (Again, a step backwards.)
If this bill sounds familar, like it has been done before, it has.
Akin's bill continues to ignore alternative energy and only continues to support the oil industry.
Does he really think that we are going to buy into this? It's about as foolish as that "gas tax holiday idea". Do we really believe that the oil indsutry is going to lower the price for oil if we cut out the tax for oil? HELL NO! They're going to jack up the price and make money off of what the federal, state, and local governemnts charge for oil.
And that is what this bill is. It says "When oil hits $150 per barrel, GIVE THEM MORE MONEY!"
Akin says he saw this coming since 2001. If that is so, why didn't he stop the oil barons when oil hit $50 per barrel? Or $75? Or $90? Or $100? Or $125?!
We are already being extorted and forced into coercive complaciency! It's like tossing a lobster into tepid water then slowly turning up the heat. Eventually the lobster boils to death.
This bill's only purpose is to stear people away from alternative energy--which is gaining momentum--and put keep the oil, coal, and nuclear industries in control. Just because they are losing customers (like a very small fraction) they make a big stink about it with the government but tell everyone that it means nothing. Well if it means nothing, why the hell are they so afraid that that small fraction is breaking away? "Oh no! We lost 0.001% of our customers! Quick call the government! We might not make $40.8 billion dollars this year! We'll only make slightly less than that! Save us, Senator Akin!"
This bill does not stop the oil industry from extorting customers. IT PROMOTES EXTORTION!
Labels: America, energy, environment, fud, government
posted by Bushido Hacks 6/09/2008 08:13:00 AM (0) comments top
20080605
Follow up: Honeybees sighted in St. Louis!
It is with cautious elation that I report that honeybees have been sighted in my neighborhood for the second day in a row in North St. Louis County, Missouri. Though their numbers are not as numerious at they should be, it is a postive sign that Colony Collapse Disorder has not stopped the honeybee from doing her work!I would like to find out where her (surprizingly, all the worker bees are female) hive is so that I can check--from a safe distance obviously--that her hive is healthy and in good spirits.
Maybe her sudden appearance is the result of something that the local beekeeping group did. But their group picnic isn't until this weekend.
Maybe this is a small group of wildbees. About two weeks ago, a swarm of wild honeybees invaded an elementary school. No one was hurt, and the school turned turned their unexpected strife into an educational learning experience. If only my highschool did that every year in biology class when part of our school was infested with ladybugs!
The honeybees that I saw were docile enough (though it is probably never a good idea to pick them up, especially when they are working) that I could examine them for Varroa. Though the mites are very small, their brown bodies would stand out from the bees black and gold. The few bees that I observed had no varroa on them. Despite the varroa's devistating effects on bee colonies, locally they could have an alibi, at least from my limited observations.
Labels: environment, gardening, honeybees, manbearpig, stlouis
posted by Bushido Hacks 6/05/2008 09:54:00 AM (0) comments top
20080517
CCD killing the bees, but cellphones are not the cause, oil is!
Cellphones seem to be the lupus of diagnosis, and as Dr. Gregory House would tell you "It's never lupus."Unless you are a beekeeper who is beekeeping directly next to a cellphone tower, it is not cellphones. But if it concerns you that much, feel free to contact your local congressman or senator and persuade him or her to pass some sort of legislation that will change the frequencies of telephone communication towers or file a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission or the National Telecommunications & Information Adminstration.
On the other hand, consider the other factors that are going on. The Environmental factors. Between Global Warming, the increase of poisonous Carbon Dioxide emissions due to vehicles with poor gas mileage (the CO2 argument should be a no brainer given that smoke is used commonly in beekeeping), unstable weather patterns (i.e. droughts and floods), the short-sighted "genius" experts at the major chemical companies (who obviously aren't geniuses), the environmental policies in nations such as the United States, China, Russia, and Saudi Arabia, the invasion of forgein species, diseases, and viruses, and the MSM (mainstream media) and their advertizers selling us this "Going Green" campaign by telling us to buy things that are not very environmentally friendly or that you won't find at the local hardware store or that are not in your budget (clearly you are not going to find an affordable solar panel to prop up on your roof without it being avaiable in only a few locations (like two states over), costing you an arm and a leg, while living in an apartment or rental property that has a no "home improvement" policy), we are living a a "perfect storm" of problems right now.
It's not fair, really. You can't "go green" and save the bees if you use cellphones as a straw man while at the same time you don't have the supplies, income, or availabity (especially if you live in a "fly-over state") to make the changes you want to make but can't make because of a few people who live on the coast and think that they can solve environmental problems with their bachlors degree in liberal arts or marketing.
A serious problem demands serious solutions not just for the short term but for the long term as well.
Cellphones are off the hook as far as we know, and most beekeeping organizations and websites will agree. If radio devices were at fault, we would ban the use of Shortwave, HAM radio, or CB radios for police and fire departments. But not just radio with those frequencies. AM, FM, Weather Radio, satilite, and low-power stations would also be banned. Why not blame television--not just for the bogus content to get you to buy stuff you don't need--but for the use of electronic components that use radio for broadcast? Lets not forget WIFI, Bluetooth, Infrared TV remotes, UV black lightbulbs, even THE SUN which emits all sorts of rays at various frequencies.
We need to consider that if electromagnetic fields (though vital to speicies such as bees, birds, and other migratory life forms) are at fault, they would have all died when Guglielmo Marconi created the radio sometime around 1900, the EM fields are not at fault. In fact, the magnetic poles are moving, but we have no control over that as this is a natural process that occurs about every few thousand years. Man and bees both survived the last magnetic pole reversal the last time and their is a good chance we will survive it the next time it happens.
I still wake up in the morning to the sound of songbirds, and the birds aren't dying. In fact many species are on the rise again.
Bees on the other hand are in trouble, and the problem for that is simply in the air we breathe. Pollution, chemicals, diseases, viruses, greenhouse gasses like Carbon Dioxide.
I have a friend who was telling me about this problem the other day about how the atmosphere's oxygen supply is depleating due to the reduction of plants and trees and the increase of poorly efficent vehicles. It is like that scene from the movie Apollo 13 when the astronauts need to build an air scrubber to create more oxygen or they will die from the CO2 in the ship. Plants are the air scrubbers. They create oxygen and they also act as windbreakers. Too much wind can strip away top soil that smaller plants need to grow and that bees need to pollenate.
If you live in an urban area, you know doubt have seen the "stellar" tree trimming that power companies like Ameren (in Missouri and Illionois) for example have done to preserve the power grid. IT SUCKS! The trees look lopsided, the trees get sick because the man in the cherry picker is not Edward Scissorhands, and eventually the tree dies and has to be cut down. This is what should be known as Urban Deforestation. As much as the rainforest is a big deal with environmentalists, for the rest of us who are more concerned about the trees in our own backyard, this is a disaster equivalent to those loggers in Brazil who are chopping away at the Amazon.
But when your carbon dioxide output is greater than your oxygen production, you end out with more severe thunderstorms than knock out the power grid. I don't see the electric company putting down another tree somewhere to replace the one that was cut down, and we still get brownouts and blackouts due to weather and poor energy conservation. And the temperatures are still rising in the summer so more fans need to be used to keep people cool or worse from dying.
The root of this problem has one traceable source. Oil Consumption.
With the MSM telling people to go buy Hummers and Jeeps to go on that offroading excursion that they will never do at $4 per gallon and 16 MPG City, it should be pretty obvious what causes the most problems. Now I'm not saying that factories and chemical companies are off the hook, not by a long shot. But not everyone owns a large factory or a greenhouse full of genentically engineered mutants. But everyone who needs to go to work and get food and supplies uses a car and a car needs gas to go places and gas is made of light sweet crude oil.
At $120+ per barrel, and since no one in Saudi Arabi owns a Toyota Prius since gas is under a dollar there, the #1 cause must be is certainly and with no contest of argument has to be OIL!
But big companies such as Exxon-Mobile are not doing anything, even though they have NO environmental policy and after nearly 20 years have not cleaned up so much as a drop of oil from the 1989 Exxon-Vadez Oil Spill. The government has leaveyed bill fines against the oil conglomorate to this day, but Exxon, despite making $400 BILLION in profits last year has not paid it off as they have continued to weasil their way out of paying for this disaster. They've paid only about $5 million in damages, when they own more than $250 million plus interest not just to the State of Alaska, but to all the fishermen, environmental organizations, and other people who where effected by this disaster.
If you had a friend that broke something that was of great value who never paid back the damages ever, would you still want to be friends with them? Then why buy gas from Exxon-Mobile or any other major company that makes promises about environmental stewardship but does not keep it?
The automobile industry can also take some blame for this. America could have had cars as efficent as Toyota or Honda ten years ago, but the upper management at Ford, GM, Chrystler still look at making effecent cars as exciting as getting teeth pulled. SUVs are popular because the trucking industry has big trucks that can crush little car. This intimidated people. The auto execs, who have stock in the oil industry, and their shareholders (mostly people from the oil industry in a quid pro quo relationship) took advantage of our fears, and sold us these big-ass SUVs and encouraged others to do so with marketing towards celebrities and advertisements. And we bought it hook, line, and sinker. And now it is the little things, in this case bees, that are suffering.
Now we are talking about switching to ethanol, of which is TOXIC to bees and can drive up the cost of food for human consumption.
So what do we do? Everyone who is living in confort who does not have to worry about losing their jobs, the price of gas and food increasing, who can afford the efficent cars but buy the gas guzzlers instead, who pretty much run the goverment, the big corporations, and have a silver spoon in their mouth while offering alot of bad advice or advice that we can't implement because the resources that should be available are not available in our domestic marketing area continues to be indifferent of the environment. They're in their safehaven bubble blind to the life outside of the coastal cities. The only reason they care about Global Warming is that their favorite golf course will be underwater.
But what about the rest of us? The government has about as much knowledge about farming as they do technology. NONE. And since the people at Monsanto, Dow, DuPont, Shell, BP, Citgo, and ExxonMobile are not Jerry Baker and sure as hell are not Mr. Wizard, we're in deep trouble.
Sure you have people like Al Gore telling us that we are in trouble. It's like having your next door neighbor telling you that your house being on fire is a bad thing. No sh*t, Sherlock!
Why don't we spend less time telling people they are in trouble and spend more time FIXING THE DAMN PROBLEM!
The government, the big companies, and especially Al Gore are not going to fix this problem. WE HAVE TO! No more of this "Can't someone else do it?" mindset. We're in serious trouble all those big shots are giving us is a small water gun to put out a six alarm fire.
We need to get back to basics. We need to kick the oil habit completely. The bees are suffercating, soon the humans will too, unless we can find a solution.
Labels: Cars, diy, energy, environment, gardening, manbearpig, scary, science
posted by Bushido Hacks 5/17/2008 03:32:00 PM (0) comments top
20080218
GM Vice Chairman Calls Global Warming "a crock of sh*t". - Click!
Popular Science writes that GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz called Global warming "a crock of sh*t".ORLY?
Considering GM touts "energy alternatives" but doesn't really live up to the environmental standards that some people have, they should really think about what they are saying. The same goes for Ford and Chrystler.
Labels: Cars, energy, environment, fud, manbearpig
posted by Bushido Hacks 2/18/2008 12:28:00 AM (0) comments top
20071208
Whoa! Don't get that PS3 yet! - Click!
Someone at Sony must think that everyone take the short bus to work as they once again tried to fool consumers into buying the REALLY expensive model! Where backwards compatibility was available for all PS2 models, the PS3 has NO backwards compatibity for there 20 and 40 GB models and limited backwards compatibility for the 60 and 80 GB models.This was SO much easier back when there was ONE model per each competing company. They may as well be selling computers instead of videogame systems, cause now you have to buy fans, memory, AN EXTRA CONTROLLER (Remember when gaming systems came with TWO controllers? I wouldn't be surprised if NO controller came with the next generation of gaming systems.)
It is no longer a gaming system, it is a COMPUTER. All of them are like that. PS3, XBOX 360, and the Wii.
Perhaps there should be something to change the way we develop electronics, especially with all the e-waste that shouldn't or can't be tossed out with the rest of the trash.
Even after the PS3 was released on the market over a year ago, many game publishers are still putting out PS2 games.
Games are suppost to be fun. And they are relatively inexpensive since outdoor activities are becoming financially impossible for many people due to outragous gas prices. But if the brown goods market is clueless and whines about why they didn't sell X number of videogame systems, they should talk to the guy who let a barrel of Light Sweet Crude bubble over $100 like it was some joke.
They'll figure it out when the holdays are over.
Labels: environment, games, PS3
posted by Bushido Hacks 12/08/2007 12:04:00 AM (0) comments top
20071115
Solar Panel Burn
Why is it that every time I buy solar panels, they are always duds?Several years ago, I bought solar panels from Radio Shack. The reason why those didn't work was because the amount of current (measured in amperes) was too low despite their size. Upon further inspection, the panels high voltage and low current meant that the resistance would not allow electricity to pass through the wire to the device.
Today I created my own adapter for a different solar panel, this one has a rechargable batter to store the charge and the current and voltage rates were much better. But for some reason, history repeated itself.
This charger even had a USB port to directly power the device. My hard work and ingenuity have been in vain efforts. Was the product defective, or did a careless postal worker abuse this package? Whoever or whatever is to blame, I will get to the bottom of what caused this device to fail again.
Failure is not an acceptable option.
Labels: diy, ebay, energy, environment
posted by Bushido Hacks 11/15/2007 10:29:00 PM (0) comments top
20071114
Graphic Processor Warming
My computer has worked hard since its launch in eariler this year, but now comes a new challenge: Keeping things cool and quiet. There is no argument that AMD's processors live up to their "Cool'n'quiet" standards, my problem is with the computer case, the power supply, and the graphics card.The case has poorly done it's job of keeping things cool. As I experimented with the cooling fans, I turned one of them the other direction. The sound was like having a vacuum cleaner sitting next to you. Secondly, if heat rises, why is there not a vent on top of the computer? In order to improve air flow, I need to replace the case. Preferibly one with a door in the side for quick access and a window to see inside. One of the flaws with the case was the punchout slots for peripherals. Once they came out, you could not put them back in. This is an open invite for dust.
The power supply as it turns out should have a fan on the bottom for what I'm needing. Just as a ceiling fan in a room recirculates cool air in the summer, so too must the power supply keep that 2'x8" cabnet well ventilated.
The biggest concern is the Graphics Card or GPU. I don't know why the people who make GPU's with fans that block all the other PCI ports. I mean, its not like I wanted to put something there. But seriously, GPUs are a joke right now. The high-end gaming GPUs look like they have a jet engine strapped to them. Is this thing suppost to cool down the GPU or heat it up? The GPU is nearly twice of not three times as hot as all the other components on the montherboard. A GPUs cooling system is so terrible, it's heat output is effecting the other devices, including the CPU. Currently, as I am writing this GKrellM reports that the GPU is at 168.8 degrees F. The heat is so bad, that one of the two cores on the CPU sometimes exceeds its thermal limit of 104 degrees, and I'm not running ANY high powered programs. The temperatures of the other core which is farter away from the GPU, is at about 78 degrees. It should be slightly cooler than that.
Therefore, I need to find a different GPU to reduce energy consuption so that it doesn't melt down the rest of the systems that were designed to stay cool.
Labels: diy, energy, environment, hardware
posted by Bushido Hacks 11/14/2007 03:59:00 PM (0) comments top
