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Comment Re:Thhe idea isn't new (Score 1) 234

A synchronous condenser isn't going to store much power, but it does have inertia, which will keep it from slowing down immediately.
The power factor control in a synchronous condenser comes from the voltage regulator. It varies the field current to vary the output voltage. Maybe they don't need that so they are using a cheaper excitation system which isn't capable of voltage control, which is why they call it a flywheel rather than a synchronous condenser.
The other benefit of synchronous condensers is that they contribute fault current. It's hard to protect systems with low fault current because faults can look like loads; this device is probably doing that as well.

Comment Re:Agate Fossil Beds National Monument in Nebraska (Score 1) 211

I was at Agate too, came from northern Minnesota and spent the weekend in Rapid City. We got there at sunrise and left quickly after totality to get ahead of the crowd. I'm wondering where you got the number 11,000. That number seems about right, I just hadn't seen any official count.

Comment Re:Calculator (Score 1) 328

Redundancy is good. I brought my passport to the PE exam so I'd have identification in case I lost my wallet. I got my calculator at Goodwill for 50 cents. It had some broken LCD segments. I had a backup, but I never bothered to take it out of the packaging. The redundancy comes from doing the math on paper, and doing the math with a calculator and comparing. And it comes from doing the problems more than once. Don't spend too much time on a hard problem. And don't spend too little time on a problem that looks easy. And be sure to check that your answers in the test book get transfer correctly to the answer sheet.

Comment Was is a BSOD or was it "smurfed"? (Score 2, Insightful) 383

“It would just turn blue,” he said. “You’d have no data coming through.”

This doesn't sound like a Windows BSOD at all. I'm not sure what DCS (distributed control system) they were using, but in my experience with Foxboro I/A is that when things turn blue it mean's there's no data coming in. The term I usually hear is "Smurfed" because somebody thought the color (cyan) looked like a Smurf.

This would possibly be due to an analog input signal that fell out of the 4-20mA range, or a loss of communications within the DCS or from an outside controller.

Comment Re:Burning wood is not zero emission (Score 4, Insightful) 278

It releases the carbon that the tree had already taken out of the atmosphere, and the tree that grows in its place will recapture. So the net is zero emission.

As said in great grandparent post, compressed air and hydrogen are energy storage mediums. Wood is the same thing. Trees use solar energy to convert CO2 into carbon. When you burn the wood, you put the CO2 back into the air and get the energy back as heat.

It doesn't matter if we burn the wood for something useful, the trees dies and rots, or the tree is burned in a forest fire: at some point the carbon is coming back out of that tree.

Comment Re:Russian Roulette Anyone? (Score 1) 61

Actually it's "Do no evil." So you can be as evil as you want, as long as you don't act on it. Even Dick Cheney could work for Google if he stopped... um, well... breathing.

My theory is that Dick Cheney died of a heart attack in 2002. He stopped breathing, but his replacement robot kept right on being evil.

Comment Re:Give it time (Score 1) 869

I had this happen already. I was at home, my wife was at her mother's and called me and said to bring some booze over. I hop in the car, drive to the liquor store and get another call - wife says we had some leftover from the wedding. I go back home and start raiding the cabinet above the fridge.

Meanwhile, there's a domestic dispute across the street. The city cop was parked at that house. He calls the Sheriff to look for the husband, who left in a red Chevy Blazer. The genius Sheriff deputy sees my white Ford Explorer parked in my yard. Headlights on, but not running (needed the lights to see in the snow storm, but needed the keys to unlock my house).

Sheriff deputy knocks on my door. I put down the booze. I expect the officer at my door to be the city cop, telling me my lights are on. No, it's the Sheriff deputy and he thinks I was beating my wife across the street and wants to see ID. I've got nothing to hide, so I give him my driver's license and tell him the address isn't current. Now he thinks I'm a burgler and wants me to prove it's my home. He works for the county, he could call the courthouse and they would tell him I own the house.

So I start searching my basement. In plain sight there's a note from the electrical inspector (a state employee) with my name and address and the word "Owner". I walk over to get it for him and he comes into my house and handcuffs me. Never looked at the note, even though it was about 1 ft from him when he handcuffed me.

He brings me outside and searches me. Finds a beer in my pocket and now he tells me I broke my probation (I've had two speeding tickets, and a few parking tickets, but I've never been convicted of breaking any law that would require probabtion).

After about 10 minutes on the radio and computer he realizes I have no record and own the house, so he lets me go.

I wrote a letter to the Sheriff because I wanted to see the report the deputy filed saying he went into somebody's home, handcuffed them, put them in a squad car, and accused them of burglary and violating probation. The Sheriff sent back the report about the domestic dispute across the street, but there was no record he came into my house. I gave up trying to get answers from the Sheriff, and now I just plan to campaign against him when it comes time for reelection.

Social Networks

Submission + - Facebook photos land Eden Prairie kids in trouble

slim-t writes: The Star Tribune is reporting that students have been disciplined for photos of them on Facebook. "Eden Prairie High School administrators have reprimanded more than 100 students and suspended some from sports and other extracurricular activities after obtaining Facebook photos of students partying, several students said Tuesday." Is the school right to do this? My opinion is that the students should know not to post pictures of yourself breaking the law.
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Journal Journal: I'm a man 15

It's time to tell the truth. I am a 55 year-old man. My name is Andy Kaufman, and I live in New York City.

I am sincerely sorry to everyone for all my lies.

--Andy

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