T&L Publications

the few times I've been in to Radio Shack lately, they want me to stand in line for 15 minutes to give them my money, because the sales dork is provisioning a cell phone.

my wife likes Spam.
The kind you eat.

what would Radio Shack be today had they had the foresight to "go for it" in becoming the nearby everything-you-need (sales/service/help) for PCs?

They were well established at the onset of the PC revolution but missed the boat. Or more correctly, they jumped overboard.

I very nearly killed myself as a youth while using a neon sign transformer to build a Jacob's ladder. Close call. It had a pull-string for on/off and I stepped on the string as I (stupidly) carried the transformer while it was plugged in.

is this inexpensive PLC a good candidate for training?

http://www.comfiletech.com/index.asp

CB220, CB280, etc.

says software for PLC and BASIC is free.

the greedy executives of these corporations are greedy because the shareholders demand dividends and equity growth NOW, like next quarter or two.

So the execs get 2-3 year employment contracts with absurd incentives. They're not employees.

Who are the shareholders?

We, us, you, me.

network cameras with WiFi built in are down below $100 (for a cheap-o CMOS cam)

I have a WiPort. You can write your own code and have it run inside the WiPort's OS. But the WiPort's integral I2C bus isn't wired to the WiPort's pins.

see also www.wibotics.com

yeah, I know the DVM isn't taking into account the power factor for an inductive load.

But it's close enough.

I have a cheap DVM with AC amps.
I wired it so I can measure PC current consumption.

AMD 1800, one hard disk. 250W power supply. 30 watts. Doesn't vary.

The CRT monitor was 70 watts (on).
I no longer use CRT; LCD. Lots less.

Chris is a Pentium 1.2GHz and some Turing Machine code.

Chris Smith wrote:Deja Vu, 8th grade Science class all over. Call us when you catch up.

Please don't be so argumentative. There's no need for this tone here.

how can you guys politicize this benign techno-nerd chat about power lines?
Geesh.

Chris is passionate about AC.

I'm AC/DC tolerant.