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Wednesday, June 4, 2003
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It turns out one of the honchos in homeland security may be a fraud.
8:06:16 AM 
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Many good campus radio stations have shut down their Internet streams due to uncertainty about the fee structure. An agreement has just been reached with the RIAA that seems to make sense (assuming it doesn't grow) ... $250 for this year (future years aren't mentioned) seems very reasonable.
7:20:07 AM
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It isn't fashionable to conserve these days, but understanding your load is an important step to current your consumption and electric bills.
It turns out that you can't simply measure the apparent power measured by a (inexpensive) ammeter and voltmeter and the true power measured by a (more expensive) wattmeter. It turns out the difference between true and apparent power is a function of the phase angle between voltage and current - when voltage and current are in phase, the true power is equal to the apparent power (the power factor is 1). If the voltage and current are 90 degrees out of phase the true power is zero and the power factor is zero. Most electrical devices have a power factor different from 1.
I put together a power meter that measures the power factor to properly calculate true power. It cost about $125 to put together (three years ago), but has been incredibly useful in understanding and correcting our load. I've loaned to to many of our local friends, so it is getting used.
I just heard about a much less expensive true power meter - the Kill A Watt. It lists for $60, but you can pick one up for $38. I haven't used one, but there is no reason why one can't be built for this price.
5:55:33 AM
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Jonathan Ive has won a very impressive design award for his work at Apple.
Strong design is an interesting thing - you tend to love or hate a given design. The stuff you love tends to grow on you. I have a beautiful Picket N4-ES slide rule that still gets regular use. The car we currently have, an Audi TT, has any number of quirks and actually gets more interesting with age -- I keep finding delightful little design elements. I don't own a Questar telescope, but the design is wonderful. A really fine Hasseblad and its lenses. It goes on and on.
PCs, with the exception of Ive's work, tend away from real design. Play around with a Sony Vaio and then a new Powerbook and see what I mean. The Sony feels "cheap" in comparison. At some level design is important to me and it is part of the reason I like the current Macs. I love the Cube design (very few do as it never sold), the current generation iMac, iPods and Powerbooks. The level of thoughtful detail is amazing. This doesn't mean the current generations of Macs will suite everyone, but at least they make a statement/
5:55:05 AM
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