KiloXray.Com

As a firm believer in conservation of resources, I embraced the introduction of compact fluorescent light bulbs.  After all, how can you go wrong with a bulb that consumes one forth the power of an equivalent incandescent light bulb and lasts ten years?

Here are the things that the proponents forget to tell you:

1) CFLs contain mercury, which is highly toxic and is not allowed in trash dumps.  As more and more CFLs displace incandescent light bulbs, how do we safely dispose of dead CFLs?  For now, the practice is to just avoid mentioning it.  Wait five more years, until CFLs are the dominant bulb and alternatives aren’t available anymore.  We all know what the solution will be – a new tax for dump site cleanup, or a hefty deposit for every bulb purchased, just like CRV.

2) CFLs are not 100% compatible with incandescent light bulbs.  If you want them to be dimable,  you need a special CFL.  A regular CFL connected to a dimmer circuit will kill the CFL.

3) CFLs take time to warm up, up to two minutes or so.  For rooms that require light just for a few minutes this could be very aggravating.

4) CFLs take a few seconds to turn on.  So if you have a fixture with two CFLs, and they aren’t the same type, you will notice an odd flicker when you turn the light on.  It’s cause by the lights turning on asynchronously.  If this bothers you, when one bulb dies, you will need to replace the other bulb too.

5) Manufacturers claim CFLs last ten years.  They are lying.  For the last several years, I have been tracking the lifetime of all our CFLs.  None has reached its specified lifetime.

6) CFLs are VERY sensitive to the type of fixture they are installed in, and the orientation of the bulb.  This is because most of the heat is dissipated from the ballast, which is at the base of the bulb.  This makes the bulb very sensitive to orientation due to convection cooling restrictions.  The bottom line, the hotter the bulb runs, the shorter its lifetime.

I just uploaded a pictorial autopsy of the failed Watts 25A PRV which instigated the upgrade to the water system.

This weekend I completed the water system repair.  I terminated the original expansion tank port with a ball valve, and added a tee after the whole house filter.  Since I switched to a horizontal mounting position for the expansion tank, I used a water heater flex line; I did not want the tank to apply a torque on the system.  At this point everything seems to be working ok.  I think I have about $400 into this in parts!  Here is a picture of the end result.  Click on the image for a full size image.

Recently, I redid our home’s water input system after the 35 year old Watts model 25A PRV (Pressure Regulating Valve) disintegrated.  I took the opportunity to rebuild the whole system and add a few new features:  city water pressure gauge, home water pressure gauge, and an expansion tank.  The system has a total of 4 ball valves.  One main shutoff valve (to the right of the city water pressure gauge).  One bypass valve + two isolation valves providing the ability to bypass the whole house filter + expansion tank.  The bypass valve also serves as a ground jumper across the whole house filter which does not provide a conduction path between the input and output ports.  In normal operation, the bypass valve is closed, and the rest are open.  The components are:  Wilkins 600XL pressure regulating valve, Watts DET-5-M1 expansion tank,  GE GWXH40L whole house filter, and two Watts IWTG pressure gauges.

Aside for the gauges, the main addition was the water expansion tank.  A water expansion tank is supposed to keep the water pressure at close to the setting of the pressure regulating valve (65 psi in our case) when there is no water flow (i.e.  static pressure, closed system) and the water heater is heating and expanding the water.

To my surprise, the expansion tank “wasn’t working” – i.e. when the heater was running, the pressure kept increasing.  After doing some head scratching, I realized that the GE whole house filter must have a built in check valve only allowing water flow in one direction.  To test my hypothesis, I switched the filter from “filter” to “bypass” and sure enough the pressure dropped.  Now, since the system also has a bypass valve allowing me to isolate and bypass the filter and expansion tank,  I returned the filter to “filter” mode, and opened the bypass valve ever so slightly.  This allowed the building pressure downstream from the filter to slip back into the expansion tank and let it do it’s job.  Now, this also means that it allows some unfiltered water into the house.  At this point, I prefer to keep the house water pressure steady, and take the hit on the minute amount of water that doesn’t get filtered.  I will probably re-plumb the system to put the expansion tank downstream from the whole house filter.

The interesting part is that the GE manual, makes no mention of the check valve that’s built into the filter.  Perhaps they should add a note about it to prevent folks from making the same mistake I did.

Lesson learned: always install the expansion tank downstream from the GE GXWH40L whole house filter.

Second lesson learned: don’t trust the manufacturer’s manuals, they can sometimes forget “trivial” information.

(Click on the image for full size)

Here are links to the relevant hardware:

1. Wilkins 600XL pressure regulating valve.
2. Watts DET-5-M1 water expansion tank.  Watts also has a neat expansion tank sizing calculator.
3. GE GXWH40L whole house filter.
4. Watts ES-276H300-IWTG pressure gauge.

When I got the iPhone, I configured WiFi to be on by default, and joined both my home and work networks.  After a few days,  I noticed that when I come home,  the password dialog pops up whenever it tries to connect to the WiFi network.  On some occasions, even after entering the correct password, it would fail to connect.

After scouring forums and reading endless posts, I believe I know what’s going on.  Apple’s WiFi adapter doesn’t seem to be fully compatible with modern WiFi hardware.  Shall I dare suggest it’s buggy?

Here are the things I did, which I believe fixed the problem:

1) Reset the iPhone’s network profiles: Settings > General > Reset > Reset Network Settings.
I don’t think that’s absolutely necessary, but it starts you off with a known fresh baseline and eliminate any other potential configuration issues.

2) Go into your WiFi access point, and disable 40MHz channel widths (not recommended on 2.4GHz anyway), and disable automatic wireless channel selection.  I am using a LinkSys WRT-320N with DD-WRT v24-sp2 firmware, so both these settings are under Wireless > Basic Settings. Here is the configuration screen of the wireless interface:

I believe this solved the issue for me.  While I have no issue with the 20MHz channel width setting (it was set to auto before), I am bummed about having to set it to a fixed channel.  In auto channel mode, it selects the quietest channel, which allows best performance for you and your neighbours.  Fixing it to a set channel means I have to periodically scan the WiFi networks around my home and choose the quietest channel manually.  Note that channel 14 is shown here for illustration purposes only.  I will update this post if I discover anything further.

Having grown in the dawn of the person computer age, I have never bought a single Apple product.  Yes, I am a PC guy.  As an electronics geek,  PCs always made sense, software and hardware were always plenty full.  The rule of thumb with PC based computers has always been: if you think of it, someone has already made it.  And that rule has been generally true.  With that, we all know of the hate culture that evolved around the “poor” PC platform and the “evil”, “unreliable” Microsoft Operating Systems and applications.  We are also well aware of the cult culture around Apple product.  Hear no evil, speak no evil has been the rule by Apple fanboys.

Well, last month, I purchased my first Apple product – the iPhone 4!  Having been told time and again by Apple fanboys about how great Apple products are I expected nothing but the perfect product.  Shortly after receiving my iPhone, I had it activated and started playing with it.  Here are my first impressions.

First the good:  the user interface and the screen are phenomenal.  The page layout is well done, very pleasing to the eye, and the resolution is above expectations.  The touch screen user interface is also pleasing, and rather easy to pick up on.  Swipe scrolling, and pinch zooming are both  nicely done features.   I would say that in general, I was very pleased.

Now to the bad:

iTunes sucks!!!  The is no polite way to say it.  Apple has made iTunes into the end all, be all application for interfacing to your iPhone, iPad, and iPod.  It is slow, clunky, and unresponsive.  The synchronization options are amateurish at best.  Apple should have definitely picked up a trick or two from Palm.  Application conduits is a concept Apple hasn’t heard of, but I suspect there is an anterior motive to that – control.  A synchronization utility should be simple and invisible.  Apple receives a big FAIL on this.

Then we get to the apps store.  Apple has made finding applications as difficult as possible.  You can only search by search terms and that’s it! Once you have the results, there are no further refinement or sorting options.  I suspect Apple did it for one reason only – to make sure you can’t do comparison shopping and just buy the something from the first few results.

Next, there is the whole jailbreaking thing.  Only applications approved by Apple are allowed to be listed on the apps store.  They tell us its done to ensure we get quality apps, but in reality it’s done to ensure they have a monopoly on the apps market.  Otherwise, why would they not allow jailbreaking? For those not in the know, jailbreaking is a term used to describe having the ability to load applications without iTunes, with 3rd party utilities.

WiFi: iPhones have WiFi, and if enabled, it tries to hop onto a WiFi network before using the Edge/3G data network.  Previously configured networks should connect automatically – or so they tell us.  A few days into iPhone ownership, my iPhone started to forget it’s WiFi settings.  So things aren’t working as well as they should (I’ll post a separate post about things I did to attempt to fix it).

The orientation sensor (accelerometers) control the screen mode (landscape or portrait).   It has the tendency to flip orientation during unexpected times.  It seems that just a minor non intentional tilt can cause it to change orientation when the intent isn’t so.   In phone mode, the cheek detector seems to have a tad of a delay.  Both seem to be algorithm related software issues.

Next up is the outgoing server mail setup.  Secondary server configuration is just hokey.  If you play around with email account configuration, you will discover that the only way to remove some secondary servers is by deleting all email accounts all together.

Last, the now world famous antenna problem.  All I can say about that is – what were they thinking?

So, what’s the point of all of this? Apple fanboys love to vilify Microsoft for being a monopoly, and producing buggy products.  Well, guess what – so does Apple.  They are just like any other hi-tech company.  Their products have their highlights, but they also suffer from bugs.  As a corporation, they are just as monopolistic as Microsoft, and Steve Jobs is as “evil” and Bill Gates.  but now, I  better understand why Apple owners are so cultish.  In reality, they are afraid to admit in public that they overpaid for a product that is just as good as any other product out there.  Furthermore, they are scare to admit that they have a product that will only do Steve Jobs allows it to do.

It’s May 1st, and Arizona just passed a law requiring state law enforcement to start doing the job that the Federal Government has been refusing to do.  Illegals all over the country at up in arms about it.  It’s a joke that citizens of the U.S. are nothing but indifferent about it.

First, Arizona is a sovereign state, and as such, it is their prerogative to enforce the law.  The US republic delineates the responsibilities shared by all states and executed by the Federal Government.  When the Federal Government fails to fulfill it’s responsibilities, it is the State’s prerogative to enforce the law.  The State of Arizona (and any state for that matter) has full right to make sure that people within their sovereign territory are indeed allowed to be there.

Second,  how could people even conceive granting full citizenship rights to someone that could not respect the basic laws of this country and enter only after being granted permission to enter?  If you want to enjoy all of what this country has to offer, get in line, follow the process, obey the law, and plan on being a productive member of society.

GM’s latest commercials talk about how their new cars are nothing like their old unreliable products, and to prove that, they are providing a 5 year, 100,000 miles limited powertrain warranty.  Is that a bad joke?  Do they think people will really fall for that?  The execs at GM must really be smoking crack.  If they really believe in the quality of their vehicles, they should offer a 10 year  100,000 miles bumper-to-bumper unconditional warranty.  When will GM learn?

On November 19 2009, Colin Goddard send the following note via the Brady Campaign: ”

Surviving near-death experiences often yields new perspectives in life. My eyes were opened after I was shot and almost killed at Virginia Tech on April 16, 2007.

No matter how hard it is to discuss that day, it is worth it if it brings greater awareness to some of the issues surrounding school shootings in this country.

With my story I try to convey the reality of the situation I faced in my classroom, as well as the reality that our nation’s gun laws are woefully inadequate.

Did you know, in most states, people can walk into gun shows and purchase firearms — from Glocks to AK-47s — from unlicensed sellers without a Brady criminal background check? This is legal and a currently glaring loophole within America’s background check system.

I’ve learned that the Columbine shooters obtained their guns through this same loophole in the law.”

Unfortunately, Colin is another misguided coward.  Colin, the guns did not shoot you, Cho did.  The root cause of the attack lays with Cho, and not with the tools his chose to execute his crimes.  How come you do not come out against evil people in our society? How come you fail to take responsiblity for your life? By your own account, when Cho started his vicious attack you and your class mates all called 911.  How did that work out for you? Were the police there in time to stop that heinous  crime?  What did you do when your friends were being butchered?  We all know the answers to those questions.

Colin, you are a coward and a liar!

You failed to take responsibility for your life, you failed to take action, you failed in every respect.  A free man takes action, a real man confronts the problem head on.  Free men proactively defend their lives and the lives of those they care about.  If just a few people were armed that day, if just a few people decided to take decisive action, Cho’s deadly rampage would have ended in seconds and most likely that many people would have not become victims.  Facts clearly support this.  In Israel, where a large number of the population carries concealed weapons, EVERY shooting and stabbing terror attack in the last decade ended in a tens of seconds with the terrorist being terminated by a law abiding citizen(s).  Don’t believe it – do your research, check the real facts.  Another interesting fact is that in the past decade, violent crime in the US has dropped by over 30%, all while gun ownership has gone up to an estimated 300 million firearms in the USA.  Based on the Brady’s (and apparently your) logic, how is it conceivable that we have more guns than ever but violent crimes keeps on declining?  BTW, many of those weapons are those evil “assault weapons”, some are even equipped with “barrel shrouds” and “pistol grips that allow one to shoot from the hip”…  Don’t believe the statistics, check them out for yourself; they are based on the annual FBI crime report.  Go ahead, make my day – but I warn you, you may not be able to handle the truth!

Now Colin, we already established you to being a coward, but you are also a liar.  There is no gun show loophole.  Private firearm sales done between people are called Person to Person Purchases (PPP).  Federal law clearly requires the seller to establish the buyer’s eligibility to purchase a firearm during such a transaction.  Don’t believe me, I dare you to read the law.  A PPP sale without that is a violation of Federal Law!  So, there is no loophole, and the vast majority of people follow the law, just like the vast majority of dealers perform legal firearm sales.

Now, I sympathize with your pain, and I admire your wish to do something for future people.  Instead of being a coward and a liar, study the facts and make smart decisions.  Obviously,  calling 911 did nothing for you.  The Brady Campaign will do nothing for you either.  They will continue to do everything in their power to further victimize  American citizens.  The Brady Campaign only focuses on creating new victims.  The Brady Campaign has never proposed a single piece of legislation to strengthen the ability of citizens to protect themselves, nor have they ever proposed legislation that reduced the ability of criminals to commit crime.

Wake up to reality Colin Goddard, take responsibility for your life as a real free man and stop being a coward.

When the current administration took office together with a democratically controlled Congress they promised “change”.  Let’s recap what kind of change they promised and just what we got:

1) They promised to end the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, they FAILED.

2) They promised to repeal the Patriot act, they FAILED.

3) They promised transparency in government, but new bills are secret AGAINST congressional rules. They FAILED to bring transparency.

4) The administration appointed czars (?!?) to circumvent congressional oversight, they FAILED to bring transparency.

5) They promised to fix the underlying issues with the housing market, but they FAILED to change the framework of laws that brought us here in the first place.  Not a single root cause was corrected.

6) They promised to keep unemployment below 8%, it is now closed to 10% – they FAILED.

Here is what the Administration and Congress did succeed in doing:

1) They increased the national debt by over a trillion dollar.

2) They increased the size of government.

3) They have single handedly crushed the fundamental principals of self correcting capital markets.

4) They now allow people with incurable infectious diseases into the United States.

So – got the change you wanted???

They are now ramming down our throats “health care reform”, which will cost the American people Billions of dollars we don’t have, and reduce our quality of health to that of a third world nation. Health care is NOT a constitutional right! Health care is NOT a god given right! Stealing from hard working Americans in the name of compassion is wrong! Do you want compassion? Get the entitled class off welfare and get them out to work so they carve their own destiny.

The proposed socialized-nationalized government ran health bill will not be budget natural. How can millions of people get coverage for without someone else paying for it? The only way that would happen, is if the Fed is instructed to print money – and we all know the effect that would have. Just a few weeks ago Obama you said in a speech to the Congress that the Health care reform would be “budget neutral”. Today, Representative Pelosi announced that it would be funded with new taxes. I guess this isn’t the first and last time Obama lied.

It’s time the Congress and the Administration start eliminating the national deficit!  They did not inherit the $1.4 Billion deficit – they created almost half of it. Blaming the previous Administration is childish and inappropriate of a public servant.