Well, my old nemesis ComEd has reared its head again. Last night, I had another beep hunt. This was a steady, rapid beep, so it only took about 30 seconds to find the problem: The alarm was going off on the UPS protecting the television and TiVo. It's a fairly dumb UPS, so there's no way to tell what the problem is, but I figured it was just the battery. I shut it off and … [Read more...] about VAC – A New Beginning
Engineering
Fukushima: Waiting For the Magic Bullet
Here's something I'm wondering about. Maybe some of you can help me out, or point out where I'm going wrong... The situation at the Fukushima Daiichi plant is just continuing to deteriorate, with damage at all three fueled reactors, containment cracks at two of them, and overheating spent fuel pools at one of the shutdown reactors, with more spent fuel problems likely. The … [Read more...] about Fukushima: Waiting For the Magic Bullet
Fukushima Uncerntainty
A lot of people have been saying a lot of things about the nuclear emergency in Japan, much of it conflicting, and therefore much of it wrong. I see no reason why I shouldn't get involved. As with almost everything else I talk about here, I claim no expertise beyond an amateur interest in the subject. Make of that what you will. To start with, Dr Josef Oehmen, a research … [Read more...] about Fukushima Uncerntainty
Elevator of Death…Or Not
When it comes to elevators, our biggest fear is that the cable will snap and the elevator will fall to the bottom of the shaft. People debate whether there is anything you can do to save yourself---jumping just before you hit is the most popular suggestion. A few years ago, Mythbusters did a test, and the result was not pretty. Jumping doesn't help. Elevator engineers … [Read more...] about Elevator of Death…Or Not
The Mystery of the Self-Unscrewing Bulb
Libby asks: How do light bulbs unscrew themselves? This can't be only be happening to me. My lamps are really old and rickety for the most part but I don't think that's the reason that I have to retighten the bulbs every once in while. Sometimes I think the bulb is out and discover it's just not twisted in far enough. And today I changed a bulb that did burn out but it was … [Read more...] about The Mystery of the Self-Unscrewing Bulb