May. 7th, 2007
Slept in, but I can hardly count that as a bad thing these days, what with all the insomnia (which can go away any time now, k'thnx.) I got about ten hours sleep total, so that's good. My plans for the day are still fuzzy as I'm just now having my first coffee and haven't (until this exact moment) given any thought to breakfast.
I do know that I need to do some clean-up in the basement, so The Carpet People can work (relatively) unobstructed tomorrow. I also need to move the modem back into the basement. For the last month the ADSL modem has been in my 2nd floor office and connected to the ADSL jack in the basement via the miracle of 100' of phone cable. Said cable is not only unsightly, but it takes a route passing through a hole in the stairs that will be carpeted over tomorrow.
Before the contractors put up the basement ceiling I drilled holes in the joists and ran a network cable from my office through the holes, so there is an obvious way to have everything set up again. I've only been reluctant to move the modem back into the basement to date because I've been worried about what the paint (and other chemical) fumes and dust might do to my modem down there. My guess is "not much" but I've already blown one modem and right now having to suddenly cough up $150 bucks for a new one while being without the Intertubes in the meantime constitutes a worst-case scenario.
However, right now the painting, plastering and so on is done (well
taxlady wants to use a bit of the left-over stucco to fix a bit at the top of the stairs, but I won't count that.), and two days ago I managed to buy a backup modem, an exact duplicate of my current one, from
talyesin at his garage sale for $1. (But I'm kicking myself for not picking up the 4.5G SCSI drive for $1 as well, as it turns out I do have a spare SCSI card). This greatly adds to my peace of mind with respect to that modem as it has been, up to now, the single point of failure which would deprive all the computers in the house of Internet access.
So, all that's left to be done in the basement (other than the carpeting) is to buy some new light fixtures. The contractors smashed the glass on one (and
taxlady accidentally threw out the remains) and I managed to smash the other while removing the protective tape and plastic from it after painting. Its no big loss, as both fixtures were très ugly and we had planned to eventually replace them. Luckily, Reno Depot and other stores have been advertising acceptable light fixtures for around $20 a pair, and even on our tight budget, I think we can afford that. We just need to do some shopping for them sometime soon. Still, that's not critical, as we have some standing lamps for the basement we can use for light in the meantime.
So, once the carpeting is done, we can tell the storage folks to bring back all our stuff, and then we have to somehow find places to put it all. This will undoubtedly involve us moving all of my shelves and their contents again, as the current position was chosen as one that was compact enough to let the contractors work unfettered, but isn't very practical and actually blocks easy access to the finished part of the basement from the garage.
Looking at all that, it still seems like a lot of work, but we're nearing the end of the tunnel, and very little of that has to get done today. Which is good, because
taxlady and I have plans to visit
archdiva tonight to watch the latest episode of Heroes.
I do know that I need to do some clean-up in the basement, so The Carpet People can work (relatively) unobstructed tomorrow. I also need to move the modem back into the basement. For the last month the ADSL modem has been in my 2nd floor office and connected to the ADSL jack in the basement via the miracle of 100' of phone cable. Said cable is not only unsightly, but it takes a route passing through a hole in the stairs that will be carpeted over tomorrow.
Before the contractors put up the basement ceiling I drilled holes in the joists and ran a network cable from my office through the holes, so there is an obvious way to have everything set up again. I've only been reluctant to move the modem back into the basement to date because I've been worried about what the paint (and other chemical) fumes and dust might do to my modem down there. My guess is "not much" but I've already blown one modem and right now having to suddenly cough up $150 bucks for a new one while being without the Intertubes in the meantime constitutes a worst-case scenario.
However, right now the painting, plastering and so on is done (well
So, all that's left to be done in the basement (other than the carpeting) is to buy some new light fixtures. The contractors smashed the glass on one (and
So, once the carpeting is done, we can tell the storage folks to bring back all our stuff, and then we have to somehow find places to put it all. This will undoubtedly involve us moving all of my shelves and their contents again, as the current position was chosen as one that was compact enough to let the contractors work unfettered, but isn't very practical and actually blocks easy access to the finished part of the basement from the garage.
Looking at all that, it still seems like a lot of work, but we're nearing the end of the tunnel, and very little of that has to get done today. Which is good, because
Light Emitting Fibers.
May. 7th, 2007 05:12 pmIt seems that scientists have created an ultra-thin fiber that emits light from tiny spots on its surface. The spots are only 250 nm across, which makes them smaller than the wavelength of the light they emit, which is 600 nm. Personally, I had thought there was some sort of physics rule against that, but I guess I was wrong.
The article also says that, when fed 100 volts of electricity, the tiny spot glowed strongly enough to be visible to the naked eye. That, to my mind, indicates a very high efficiency of conversion of electricity to light. They also say the fibers could be woven into cloth, so that we could have electroluminescent clothing. Its about time.
The article also says that, when fed 100 volts of electricity, the tiny spot glowed strongly enough to be visible to the naked eye. That, to my mind, indicates a very high efficiency of conversion of electricity to light. They also say the fibers could be woven into cloth, so that we could have electroluminescent clothing. Its about time.
Cheap 3D Printing.
May. 7th, 2007 05:39 pmI remember once having a major techno-craving for a laser printer. At the time I was making do with a crappy dot-matrix tractor-feed printer and for most purposes it just wasn't very useful. At my first opportunity I plunked down several thousand dollars (I don't remember the exact price, but it sure wasn't cheap) and bought myself one. That printer is now getting rather long in the tooth, and you can buy far more advanced laser printers for prices that are smaller by an order of magnitude, but I don't regret for a moment plunking down all that cash.
These days, I'm finding I'm jonseing for a 3D stereolithography system. They've been rapidly falling in price for the last decade, and some models that have just been announced cost around what I paid for my laser printer. I'm not exactly sure what I would do with such a beast, but I can immediately think of a dozen pieces that I'd like to manufacture to fix some items around the house. I'm sure that if I owned one, I'd find far more uses. Heck, I might even get into playing Warhammer 40K if I was allowed to build my own figurines...
Of course, there is the question of what features you want in such a gadget. Way back when, I decided that a color laser printer simply wasn't worth the extra cost, and truly, I've seldom felt the lack. My choice might be different today though. Similarly, there are stereolithography systems in the works that can work in multiple materials simultaneously. Some are even working on systems that can lay down organic conductors and OLED displays so that a single machine can actually spit out a low-quality working laptop or cell phone. I've even heard that a friend of a friend of a friend is working on a commercial machine that will produce arbitrary 3D objects out of chocolate. That would be sweet!
These days, I'm finding I'm jonseing for a 3D stereolithography system. They've been rapidly falling in price for the last decade, and some models that have just been announced cost around what I paid for my laser printer. I'm not exactly sure what I would do with such a beast, but I can immediately think of a dozen pieces that I'd like to manufacture to fix some items around the house. I'm sure that if I owned one, I'd find far more uses. Heck, I might even get into playing Warhammer 40K if I was allowed to build my own figurines...
Of course, there is the question of what features you want in such a gadget. Way back when, I decided that a color laser printer simply wasn't worth the extra cost, and truly, I've seldom felt the lack. My choice might be different today though. Similarly, there are stereolithography systems in the works that can work in multiple materials simultaneously. Some are even working on systems that can lay down organic conductors and OLED displays so that a single machine can actually spit out a low-quality working laptop or cell phone. I've even heard that a friend of a friend of a friend is working on a commercial machine that will produce arbitrary 3D objects out of chocolate. That would be sweet!