Category Archives: Science/Engineering

Grrreat video

Posted on February 12, 2010 | Comments Off on Grrreat video

Dell’s sales techs in India are unfailingly polite but also unfailingly persistent. And they talk a mile-a-minute with a vaguely British accent. The Dell guy who called me the other day to try and fix a credit card problem with my order of a new computer also tried to sell me a video card.

He said the video the computer has is on the motherboard but if I want really grrreat video, I would need a video card. Is this grrreat video card free, I asked? Oh, no, he said, it is sixty dollars extra. In that case, I said, I will have to skip the grrreat video. He sounded crushed but we parted amicably.

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Posted in Rancho Roly Poly, Science/Engineering

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Behind the climate hoax

Posted on February 9, 2010 | Comments Off on Behind the climate hoax

climate_moneyVia the Science and Public Policy Institute.

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Posted in Obamalot, Science/Engineering, Weather/Climate

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Computer shopping

Posted on February 8, 2010 | Comments Off on Computer shopping

I’ve finally had it with my dying audio card, which is unfortunately integrated into the mother board and so can’t be simply replaced. It’s keeping me from using Skype to talk intelligibly to my 90-year-old cousin in Dallas, and also from watching PJTV without annoying stutters.

So I’m shopping for a replacement for my 5-year-old Dell Dimension 3000. So far I like the HP p6300z at about $360 delivered vs the Dell Studio Desktop at about $478. Main difference is the Dell has an Intel chip and the HP has an AMD.

But I’m also addicted to Dells, having never owned anything else. The cheaper HP is a lure, however. I was worried about whether my Outlook Express would make the transition to Windows 7 but that now seems likely with a Belkin Easy Transfer cable. I also have a copy of Word 2002, my old standby, so I’m not worried about accessing my files and continuing to write the books few people ever read. Simply must think it over and decide.

UPDATE:  I bought a Dell, but an Inspiron 546 MT with Win XP on it and a Win 7 upgrade disk for $521 delivered. Also has a low-end AMD chip. Just could not bear to start over again with browser/email and etcetera. Figuring out how to transfer it all should will be hard enough.

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Posted in Library, Rancho Roly Poly, Science/Engineering, Scribbles

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Goodbye cleaning industry

Posted on February 2, 2010 | Comments Off on Goodbye cleaning industry

This is cool, the first major nanotechnology product:

“In the home, spray-on glass would eliminate the need for scrubbing and make most cleaning products obsolete. Since it is available in both water-based and alcohol-based solutions, it can be used in the oven, in bathrooms, tiles, sinks, and almost every other surface in the home, and one spray is said to last a year.”

First, though, I guess we can expect a big frantic effort to stop its sale.

Via Instapundit.

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Posted in Blogosphere, Science/Engineering

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Saving NASA. Pity, that.

Posted on February 2, 2010 | Comments Off on Saving NASA. Pity, that.

Ugh: the pols aren’t going to let the bloated NASA bureaucracy’s deeply unimaginative return-to-the-moon program die.  I have to give Barry credit for trying to cancel  Constellation in favor of private enterprise. Even former Apollo astronaut Buzz Aldrin likes the idea.

Which is not to say I expect the anti-business president to do much for commercial space. But just killing the space agency’s behemoth would be a good start. The pols, of course, see only pork they cannot afford to lose lest the voters force them out and they have to find real jobs.

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Posted in Obamalot, Science/Engineering, Space

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Bye, bye Moon

Posted on January 27, 2010 | Comments Off on Bye, bye Moon

moonset_sts35

Moon set over the Earth’s limb. An appropriate view for the news that Obamalot will cancel plans to return to Luna. We’re going to, uh, cure poverty first. Probably mostly among Barry’s cronies in Chicago. And oh, yeah, global warming. It’s hard to sympathize with NASA, however, the behemoth that wasn’t even planning on an airlock for its return ships.

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Posted in Obamalot, Science/Engineering, Space

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Cauldron

Posted on January 25, 2010 | Comments Off on Cauldron

I enjoyed this apparent finale to the Hutch Hutchins series of space operas Jack McDevitt began years ago with Engines of God. As usual, I don’t quite understand the put downs of a good number of the Amazon reviewers. The book may, indeed, have filched a Star Trek plot device. I wouldn’t know. I couldn’t remember all the ST shows if I tried. They’re too boring.

McDevitt repeats his themes, of course, but he is rarely boring and he certainly isn’t here. There was one glaring error which amazed me. In the first paragraph of the epilogue the Preston superluminal returns to Earth space. Two pages previous it was destroyed near the galactic core. Fortunately its lovable AI Phyllis was saved. Pitiful editing that. Nevertheless, it was a fun read and a good place to end the series. Hutch deserves her porch rocker even if she wouldn’t want the rest of the human race to lollygag on its porch without having first gone forth as boldly as she did.

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Posted in Library, Science/Engineering, Space