Kilo Seven

A case for better recycling NOW

2008-07-18T07:23:00.000-07:00

This New Scientist article points to multiple looming shortages in strategic metals and minerals needed for devices now commonplace and important.

Similar tensions over supplies of other rare metals are not hard to imagine. The Chinese government is supplementing its natural deposits of rare metals by investing in mineral mines in Africa and buying up high-tech scrap to extract metals that are key to its developing industries. The US now imports over 90 per cent of its so-called "rare earth" metals from China, according to the US Geological Survey. If China decided to cut off the supply, that would create a big risk of conflict, says Reller.

Worthy Free Software

2008-07-03T08:49:00.000-07:00

A list of 20 great free programs for Windows all IT folk, and some home users, should consider.

Windows Hates You, and You're Not Alone

2008-06-25T12:16:00.000-07:00

Look at one e-mail send by Bill Gates. After you put your coffee down.

We're In the Dark Age of Software

2008-06-20T19:54:00.000-07:00

This Scientific American interview confirms what I have known for decades; software is no science.

PC Magazine fooled by University of Northern Oregon' hoax

2008-06-08T11:21:00.000-07:00

Got to wonder how long this embarassment to cyber journalism will last. For, there is no University of Northern Oregon, and therefore I do doubt there are any chimps posting on Facebook...
Here's the story, and the debunk, for your ROFL du jour.

Global Warming Analyzed with Science

2008-06-04T19:59:00.000-07:00

Here's this year's hockey-stick nullification, more bad science undone by facts.

Freeman Dyson's also actually done some science in dissecting two books on global 'warming'.

Both recommended.

Protecting Fast-Pass/Quick-Pay/Easy-Steal RFID credit cards

2008-05-31T13:56:00.000-07:00

After reading a NY Times article on easy smart card ID theft, I decided to go looking for a new wallet to hold my new WaMu-issued credit card with the Fast-Pass/Quick-Pay/Easy-Steal RFID 'feature'.

I found a five-pack of RFID sleeves for $25, a $23 wallet (in red, pink, tan, black leather and black vinyl), an any-color-you-want-so-long-as-it's-black wallet for $20, more wallets, and a $10 shield for one card (all prices FOB No Name City, Oregon). If I worked for Halliburton, I suppose I could afford the $95 stainless steel wallet found here.

Then, I found a DIY design... and will test it once I find myself the copper foil I got at the good ol' hardware store for slug protection, and some metal window screening. The more crafty among you will enjoy this source for metal cloth.

Web storage for free?

2008-05-22T07:41:00.000-07:00

5GB of off-line storage is available for free from Microsoft's Windows Live SkyDrive and 4Shared for off-site backup of your important data, if you need to make files available to other folks, or if you need access away from home and don't want to set up a remote acccess program.

It's easy to back up your Documents and Settings folder with the Open Source freeware program, 7-Zip. Uploading the data the first time may take a while, but if you do a differential (everything that's changed since the last complete backup), subsequent backups are much quicker to make, much quicker to upload.

$1.99 domain registration

2008-05-04T19:54:00.000-07:00

tinyurl.com/5s6x8l

What cell phone plan does a Mongolian monk have?

2008-04-15T05:20:00.000-07:00

Despite their red robes and shaved heads and the fact they were spending their days in a giant monastery at the top of a windy hill where they were meant to be in dialogue with God, some of the 15 monk disciples had cellphones — Nokia cellphones — and most were fancier models than the one Chipchase was carrying. One of the disciples asked to look at Chipchase’s phone. “So he’s got my phone and his phone,” Chipchase told me. “And as we’re talking, he’s switching on the Bluetooth. And he then data-mines my phone for all its content, all my photographs and so on, which is absolutely fine, but it’s kind of a scene where you think, I’m here, I’m so away from everything and yet they’re so technically literate. . . . ”

From an NY Times story on how Nokia studies who's buying cellphones for the first time, and why.

Services to extend cellphone capability

2008-04-05T08:26:00.000-07:00

Interesting list of services to help your cellphone do more in the NY Times technology pages.

Thinking about buying an HDTV

2008-03-21T08:34:00.000-07:00

Mrs. KiloSeven has advised the 15 y.o. Samsung guest room TV Has To Go, due to the high-pitched audible from the flyback transformer.

So, I am starting to mull over the updated list of what Sears has (as they owe us a kilobuck for reasons too esoteric to mention here) and starting to read HDTV Buying Guides.

What buying guides have you found useful? Any thoughts on choices?

Yet Another Challenge to Bad Science in Kyoto

2007-06-23T09:11:00.000-07:00

Canada's Financial Post has an excellent article with links to 27 (yes, twenty-seven) other articles on the same subject.

This artcle zeros in on mud-core samples off the lower mainland of British Columbia, and with that evidence in hand, then correlates known solar variance with their findings.

It goes on to recap the theory that

low solar output allows more cosmic rays

more cosmic rays become cloud-chamber-like nuclei for cloud formation

the kinds of clouds formed reflect heat

and the earth cools.

So, even though the amount of energy sent our way from the Sun decreases a little, there's a greater influence on Earth's climate as a result of that solar variance.

The author finds his skepticism to the very political science trumpeted by Algore and the Kyoto gang is not alone in the scientific community:

In a 2003 poll conducted by German environmental researchers Dennis Bray and Hans von Storch, two-thirds of more than 530 climate scientists from 27 countries surveyed did not believe that "the current state of scientific knowledge is developed well enough to allow for a reasonable assessment of the effects of greenhouse gases." About half of those polled stated that the science of climate change was not sufficiently settled to pass the issue over to policymakers at all.

And, as a Canadian professor and scientist, the author has some credibility, for this is very important to Our Northern Neighbors:

Solar scientists predict that, by 2020, the sun will be starting into its weakest Schwabe solar cycle of the past two centuries, likely leading to unusually cool conditions on Earth. Beginning to plan for adaptation to such a cool period, one which may continue well beyond one 11-year cycle, as did the Little Ice Age, should be a priority for governments. It is global cooling, not warming, that is the major climate threat to the world, especially Canada. As a country at the northern limit to agriculture in the world, it would take very little cooling to destroy much of our food crops, while a warming would only require that we adopt farming techniques practiced to the south of us.

Think about it.

Wit & Wisdom, to the Highest Bidder

2007-05-31T15:24:00.000-07:00

TechRepublic's adopted me as a digi-pundit, complete with ugly masthead pic.

ROFL away.

OMG IF U CN RD THS U R BSTD

Milan make me buy more, me like Microsoft’s Milan?

Does Palm see the Vision Thing? Let’s see with the Foleo.

$100 laptop debuts in Uruguay.

Can you hear me now (from 5.5 miles high)?

AdSense ad-heavy sites swept away in Google late spring cleaning.

Anti-spyware bill sent to Senate, passes House.

Diamonds: Girl’s best friend / Evidence of global cooling?

Information wants to be free, including air ticket prices.

Motorola mobiles send Linux handsets stateside

Quicker Quicken profits.

Another strike against DRM: Amazon weighs in for better digital downloads.

Conference Calls Made Easy and Free As In Beer

2007-05-07T23:16:00.000-07:00

For the cost of the long distance call (a portion of which, by agreement, custom and law goes to the terminating phone company), this itty bitty Iowa telco gives you free conference calling. Calls can be arranged either ad hoc, or pre-booked over the web, at no charge to you.

This turns cellular companies and long distance carriers, upset at losing their slide of a very lucrative market (profit margins of 29,000% are not unheard of among phone comanies for specific services) into psychopathically rapid wolverines, and the attack lawyers are circling, only their fins showing above water.

Of course, you know what to do if you calls are blocked; change long distance companies. This website gives you the information you need to make an informed choice about long distance resellers.

WOW VISA

2007-05-06T23:21:00.000-07:00

The virtual economy is growing apace. Now, there's a VISA card for World of Warcraft: Priceless.

0wning Windows Vista from the boot

2007-05-06T18:55:00.000-07:00

Here the Register interviews two smart lads who are ready to take over every Windows Vista machine their software touches. Hmm.

Silk Purses from Sow's Ears: Coal to Diesel and Jet Fuel

2007-05-05T09:25:00.000-07:00

Bake coal w/ waste heat from a nuke plant, get Carbon Monoxide AKA 'coal gas'. Sequester the radon, other radioactive nasties and heavy metals found in coal (which is why people die of cancer downwind of coal plants, and why coal kills many times more folks than nuclear power).

Add more Hydrogen, electrolized from water with nuclear power (the oxygen gets liquidized, and goes to hospitals or industrial processes).

Voila!
Low sulfur diesel fuel, and jet fuel, using a plant designed by a Vancouver WA company.

Can you say, "Energy Independence?" With a two hundred year worldwide coal reserve, we have some time to think about the next step in energy, which is what Japan is now planning to test.

A Blog Of Its Own for Operation Dice Drop

2007-05-05T06:39:00.000-07:00

It's over at Operation Dice Drop now.

Key Plus One

2007-05-02T22:14:00.001-07:00

10-fa-12-03-9e-75-e4-5c-d9-42-57-c6-64-57-89-c1

Slashdotted

2007-04-22T17:07:00.000-07:00

Operation Dice Drop was just Slashdotted.

Operation Dice Drop: Live, from Iraq, it's Ziggurat Con!

2007-04-19T00:42:00.000-07:00

Z iggurat Con, where R.P.G. isn't just a Rocket Propelled Grenade, needs your help.

UPDATED 4/21 & 4/22: A message from SPC Amberson, ZC's chair, suggests a deadline for shipment to Ziggurat Con by Military Mail (and the general restrictions on what can be sent):

Saturday 26 May for Express Mail
Monday 21 May for Priority Mail - (much cheaper than Express Mail)
9 May for Media Mail -
Parcel Post takes about 2 months, so if you ship via Parcel Post, there's little-to-no chance of arrival before the con.

Here's a postal rate calculator; use 09331 as the destination zip code.

He added:

We have been so long without books, dice and such that whatever you can send will be appreciated. I think it would be best to let you know what games are actually scheduled for the event. This way you can decide for yourself what you wish to send. The best way is to send by US Postal Service (we don't get any other deliveries here).

Sunday - 1200-1600
1. GURPS
2. Shadowrun
3. XCrawl
4. Magic Tournament (Sealed Deck, Sanctioned)
5. Rifts
6. Babylon 5 RPG
7. Munchkin Card Game Demo

Sunday - 1600-1700
1. Wind up games, prepare for next session.
2. Drawings for FREE STUFF

Sunday - 1700-1830
1. Dinner - To Conform To DFAC Hours

Sunday - 1830-Finish
1. White Wolf System-Vampire
2. White Wolf System-Werewolf
3. Starship Troopers
4. MechWarrior Miniatures Demo
5. Cyberpunk 2020
6. Historic Miniatures Battles
7. D&D Fantasy - RPGA Event

Who: Donors of non-electronic gaming material (Bring out your dice!)

What: Ziggurat Con, possibly the first gaming convention in a combat zone, also described here, here and at Toys4troops.org.

When: June 9, 2007

Where: Camp Adder/Tallil Airbase, Iraq

Why: Gamer-to-gamer direct support seems like a spiffy idea.

How: Send games (e.g., Babylon 5 RPG, Cyberpunk 2020, D&D, D&D RPGA, GURPS, Historic Miniatures Battles, Magic Tournament, MechWarrior Miniatures, Rifts, Shadowrun, Starship Troopers, White Wolf System-Vampire, White Wolf System-Werewolf, XCrawl), minis, and dice via the APO address found on the web links above.

Con chair: SPC David Amberson david.amberson (at) iraq.centcom.mil writes:

The Con's historical landmark "mascot" -- the Ziggurat that gives the Con its name -- can be found on the post, and hails from the ancient city of Ur. Nearby is the house where it is believed that Abraham (a large figure in the Bible, the Koran and the Torah) was born. Cool digs for a Con -- if not for the fact that there's a war going on. Amberson, however, emphasized the need for soldiers to relax and kick back with enjoyable activities from time to time.

"There is a deeper sense of camaraderie in a war zone than you see back home," said Amberson, who is a supply soldier with Alpha Company, 86th Signal Battalion. "You eat with these people, work with them on a daily basis, and can even share a tent with the same people. When work is over for the day, we can sit back, relax, drink our favorite sodas, eat our favorite snacks, and play a bit of D&D. This helps us relax in a very stressful environment. We found a place where we can go somewhere far away from the IED's, mortar attacks, and gunfire, without ever leaving the safety of our camp. The next step was only logical."

I've asked the board of my local SF-and-gaming con non-profit (OSFCI) to support the con, by paying freight for dice ( Bring out your dice, Bring out your dice) and minis (via Parcel Post) and for RPG manuals and supplements (via Media Mail), but as a Red Crosser, I've learned a long lead time is required to get parcels to troops, so if you like the idea, start preparing NOW. And, I'm not alone:

aethereal FORGE, Sovereign Press, Final Redoubt Press, Goodman Games, Paizo Publishing and Steve Jackson Games are among those that have thrown in their support for the convention. But Amberson indicated that the soldiers could definitely use more.

"This convention is currently in drastic need of prizes and giveaways for the troops," he said. "Everything donated will go directly to the troops, or to MWR (Ed. note: Morale Welfare & Recreation) to use as loaner books for the soldiers."

Practical Fusion Research Stifled

2007-03-24T09:16:00.000-07:00

Philo T. Farnsworth, the inventor of practical television, whose genius you've relied on to watch mind-numbing network TV, was a polymath and inventor of many other things; one was inertial electrostatic confinement, which he turned into an early (i.e., not generating more power than it takes to run) nuclear fusion reactor.

Starting in the middle of Tuesday's Mail, the esteemed First Blogger has started discussing Dr. Bussard's refinements of the Farnsworth Fusor.

Sadly, after Bussard blew up his lab (always a sign in physics you've done something interesting), he asked to rebuild, but DOD won't renew funding.

Here's the Executive Summary with links to more details, i.e., a NYT story (2MB PDF) discussing Bussand and others, a small (1.5MB PDF) paper, Should Google Go Nuclear?, a lengthy paper (4.6MB) presented at last year's International Astronautical Congress, a streaming video of a presentation at Google HQ, and a few pix of apparatus along with a link to a supporting 501(c)(3) to send donations to. Said 501(c)(3) has a track record and nine years of IRS Form 901s on line, so 'confidence is high' as they say in the intel. biz.

So, if you know any angels with big bucks, send them this article, and then ask what would happen to their investments if our economy had cheap power and cheaper space flight.

Free WiFi routers

2007-02-07T23:21:00.000-08:00

free WiFi router from http://www.fon.com/1yearold/

Kim Search Report Finds Fault with Southern Oregon Agencies

2007-01-19T12:24:00.000-08:00

C|Net reports:

The official search for James Kim and his family in the Oregon backwoods was plagued by squabbling among police agencies, confusion, indifference and mistakes, a government report released Thursday says.

The OSSA entire report is worth reading, as is this letter to the editor ('If it matters to Oregonians, it's in the Washington Post') from Kim's father about media interference in the search. Ask your state representatives what they will do to make sure existing, adequate and competent basics are followed when this happens again.