AB2² | Alex's Blog

To my friends and family, if you’re all thinking about buying me a present for the holidays, which I know you are, check out the 2008 Holiday Do Want List here.

Bluetooth is a wireless protocol utilizing short-range communications technology facilitating data transmission over short distances from fixed and mobile devices, creating wireless personal area networks (PANs). The intent behind the development of Bluetooth was the creation of a single digital wireless protocol capable of connecting multiple devices and overcoming problems arising from synchronization of these devices. (Wikipedia)

I was sitting in a cafe just now and wanted to listen to some music. Well, I had forgotten to bring my ear buds. I remembered just then that I had my Bluetooth stereo headset I use for my cellphone around my neck. I fired up the Bluetooth adapter in my computer, and connected the headset. Excluding the tinkering that I had to do with Windows Vista, it worked remarkably. Just like regular headphones… only I don’t have that nasty wire to trip me and pull my laptop off the table!

Previously to Bluetooth, we had “wireless headsets” that used analogue frequencies, and some that used digital frequencies, and some that just didn’t make sense, and decided to use a combination of the two. Previously to Bluetooth, PDAs and cellphones used ‘IR’, Infared transmitters, to communicate with eachother wirelessly.

Now Bluetooth comes along, and has already gotten to its second version of itself, and no one really is mentioning it, except to say “yeah it works with my device”.

I just felt that this amazing protocol deserves some recognition for all the things its made better.

-Cellphone headsets. No more wires to give you away durring class while hiding that thing under your hair!
-Wireless headsets (Stereo). No more wires to tie you to your computer. Get up! Dance around! You don’t have to sit at your desk to listen to stuff when no one else wants to hear it anymore! You can go up to 30 feet away and still have it loud and clear.
-Wireless PDA / Cellphone tethering. Remember those sync cables/cradles you had to carry around? Well now you don’t have to! (You still gotta bring the charger, but hey, one less thing to remember to pack.)

And I’m sure that there are other uses… but you can think about them later.

Anyways, I thought  it was high time we appreciate this protocol we all take for granted today. To its designers: Thank you.

So recently, I decided to see if Google Maps had a street level view of my house.

They did, and not only that, but my van was in the drive way when the picture was taken! I think that’s awesome.

Have a look:

So anyways, yeah, my van is now on Google Maps.

To all of you who don’t think that’s awesome, I don’t care.

Gas prices are higher and higher every day it seems, and people are desperate to save gas, and thus, save money.

Some people have come up with what they think is a brilliant plan.

The Great (or not so great…) Idea:

We know that we can extract Hydrogen from Water through electrolysis, which can then be combined with Oxygen again to use as fuel for anything from computers to tanks to cars. This usually involves a somewhat delicate apparatus, and is pretty complex to get working right.

A simpler alternative is what people are calling “Brown’s Gas” or “HHO”. Like the first idea, it involves a form of electrolysis. You basically stick 2 pieces of metal in a container full of water, and then put an opposite charge on each piece of metal (one positive (+) and one negative (-)). You then wait a moment, and if all goes well, a gas known as “HHO” or “Brown’s Gas” will start to seemingly boil out of the water.

This gas is HIGHLY FLAMMABLE and burns hotter than gasoline vapors (supposedly), making it a great fuel for an internal combustion engine, right? Well… yes and no.

Yes, the fuel WOULD be a good idea, as it is highly combustible and thus releases a large amount of energy (in the form of expanding gas and heat) when it is ignited.

HOWEVER, the slightest spark near a leak (keep in mind, you are dealing with gas under pressure now, not liquid at 1 atmosphere) in your fuel supply system could would result in the detonation of all of it, almost instantaneously, causing massive damage to the vehicle, it’s occupants, and most likely any bystanders within about 20 feet. In addition, the fuel explodes much more easily than gasoline, and burns much hotter, and thus puts MUCH MORE STRESS on your engine’s cylinders. The piston rods would likely snap from the added stress, and the cylinder heads would likely get bent up and deformed, breaking the seal with the cylinder wall and resulting in A BROKEN, USELESS ENGINE.

For the sake of argument, let’s disregard all the stuff about the explosions and the engine breaking. Let’s approach it from the basic idea:
You have an engine in a car, it is powered by burning gasoline. In order to save fuel (gasoline) you supplement HHO gas but feeding it in through the air-intake manifold to the engine. The gas enters the cylinders, explodes, and gives you power. Sounds good right?

Well let me ask you this: Where on earth do you get this gas? In the opinion of these people, that’s simple. You make it while you’re driving from water! What a brilliant idea! Make a large portion of your fuel from water, WHILE YOU DRIVE! Isn’t that convenient?
Well, it WOULD be nice, if that didn’t violate basic physics principles.

This is what the advocates of this so called “Brown’s Gas” have in mind:

The device that separates the 2 Hydrogen from the Oxygen in the water is powered by electrical energy. Where do you get that while you’re driving? From the alternator of course! (For those of you who don’t know, that’s the thing that makes it possible to run your stereo and what not while driving, in addition to supplying electricity to the ECU and spark plugs, etc.)

So this device has water in it that you refill occasionally, and uses electricity from your alternator, to then create HHO gas, which is then fed into the air-intake manifold of the engine.

This sounds great right? You’re making part of your fuel from this cheap as all crap substance, water, WHILE YOU DRIVE. Sounds too good to be true, right?

It is. It’s WAY too good to be true. Cause it’s bullsh*t. Here’s why:

Water is, by nature, inert. That means it has no significant charge, no reactive capability with most substances, DOES NOT BURN, and is even an insulator in its pure form. It is even used to insulate, shield, and cool nuclear reactor cores.

So how do you use it as a fuel? Well you put energy into it first, and then take it back out.

So, from what everyone’s saying they want to do this:

1) Take energy from the alternator (Engine, essentially, which burns more gas the more energy you take from it, that’s how it works. Equivalent exchange of energy).

2) Use energy from engine to power device to produce HHO from water.

3) Put HHO gas back into engine, which burns, and then turns the engine, just like gasoline. So you’re using less gasoline now to turn the engine.

4) The engine turns the alternator, making more electricity for this device which makes MORE HHO and puts it into the engine.

See the circular logic?

The annoying excuses from the Brown’s Gas or HHO advocates:

“But that’s the point! It powers itself!”

No, it burns more gasoline. Here’s why:

Any time you change the medium or carrier of your energy, you lose some of it due to heat from friction, etc. EVERY TIME. There are no ifs, ands, or buts.

All that this “HHO Generator” does is change the form of some of the energy produced by the gasoline powered engine. It changes it into another combustible gas, ready to be used as a fuel. And what do we know about changing form of energy? That’s right. You LOOSE some of it. So you have just decreased your energy from the engine that can be used. You have burned MORE gas to supply this power-hungry device with electricity, which then HEATS UP (Energy loss anyone?) and basically makes what might as well be, for all intents and purposes, another form of steam power, which you’re funneling into your engine.

“But it runs on VOLTAGE not CURRENT! Your car only uses the current generated by the alternator, so you can use the voltage that’s left over!”

Uh… Okay, go back to modern high school science class. Voltage and Current are not 2 different things in electricity. They are MEASUREMENTS of 2 different things ABOUT electricity. Simply put:
Current – How much power you’re shoving through the hose (wire).
Voltage – How much pressure (so how fast) you’re shoving it through the hose (wire).

If you want to talk in retard terms further, devices use BOTH. Not one or the other. In fact, the gauges and other stuff in a car are actually quite low as far as the current they consume. Your radio, gauges, cell phone chargers, etc. consume VERY LITTLE energy, and thus draw very little current. They’re still “using” this voltage you’re talking about. Nice one, now you can go sit back down.

Here’s a convenient diagram of what this device does:

Summary:

So, basically, we can conclude, that “Brown’s Gas” or “HHO” modifications to your vehicle are NOT worth your time, money, and effort. It’s the retardation of the laws of physics and thermodynamics to the highest level. Don’t waste your money and time.

They WILL NOT increase your fuel economy, they WILL decrease the life of your engine, and they WILL waste your money. This device is the product of a very good imagination, one with a terrible understanding and complete disregard for the laws of physics.

They work on circular logic. It is the belief, once again, that you can take energy out of a box, do something to it, and then put it back into the box, and somehow have more energy in the box.

Sounds like bullsh*t, right? It is. You cannot do that without what I like to call a “Creation Engine”. This is what it sounds like, an engine or device that literally defies all logic and physics and CREATES mass and energy. I don’t know about you, but I have a firm belief that you’re not going to defy modern science in your garage.

Wow… these devices do the exact opposite of the claims… I wonder if I can sue someone for false advertising and get some money to invest in a REAL solution to a gas shortage… like… I don’t know… SOLAR POWER or ORGANIC GASOLINE. (Yes, it DOES exist, organic gasoline. Made from PLANTS, well, rather, it’s a byproduct of a specific type of plant and a chemical process, but it’s some damn good stuff apparently).

Well, the last LAN party was a moderate success, but we didn’t have that many people.

This Friday, there will be another LAN at my house.

Same as last time, Bring your computer(s), TVs, consoles, and games. All night party. ^_^

Again, the date is Friday, July 4th, 2008.

Like computer games or video games in general?

Are you a friend of mine living in Alabama?

If the answers to these questions are YES then you should head on over to my house at 4:00 pm on Sunday, June 8th, 2008 an all night LAN gaming party.

Directions to my place:

SOUTH on Memorial Parkway

Turn LEFT onto Green Cove Road

Turn RIGHT onto Ditto Marina Parkway

Turn LEFT onto Marina Park Drive

Arrive at 708 Marina Park Drive on your RIGHT about half ways up the street.

Ring the doorbell and we’ll help you move your stuff in.

What to bring:
Your computer(s).
Your console system(s) and controller(s), and TV(s) so that we may actually USE the console systems.
HEADPHONES!!! Please people, please. For the love of god, bring headphones or earphones or something. Please make sure you have these cause it saves so much time and trouble of the police getting called cause of noise complaints, okay?
$5.00 if possible to contribute to soda, pizza, other food and drink at the party, etc. Also, bringing a few 2 liters or bags of chips is also acceptable…

Well, as of May 23rd, I officially graduated from High School.
(See Adrick? I told you I could do it…)

Special thanks to:
Shari A. Bahder (mother) for supporting me and putting up with all my crap for all these years.
Thomas B. Bahder (father) for not quitting your job and not making me live under the bridge with the hobos.
Adrick Langsmith (friend) for giving me something to surpass. (As in I just surpassed him… him and his G.E.D.)
Mr. Stingel (Computer Electronics teacher) for making his class interesting, teaching us valuable information about electronics, and giving us valuable experience in the IT field.
Mr. Morse (Networking/Operating Systems/Programming teacher) for teaching us how to program in C++ and PHP, how to wire those RJ-45 cable ends, how to work with routers, other IT stuff, and how to make custom Unreal Tournament levels.

ja ne!

I recently ran into a problem on one of my computers running Windows XP Pro where I could not set my own custom wallpaper. It would only let me change the wallpaper to one of the default ones supplied by Microsoft Windows.

I went on a mad search for the answer, as I could not stand those darn default images, and here’s what I found:

1. Start Regedit.exe and navigate to the following keys:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \
Policies \ Explorer

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ Software \ Microsoft\ Windows  \ CurrentVersion \
Policies \ Explorer

In the right-pane, delete the NoActiveDesktop value if it exists.

2. Navigate to the following keys:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \
Policies \ ActiveDesktop

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \
Policies \ ActiveDesktop

In the right-pane, delete NoHTMLWallPaper if it exists.

So, if your wallpaper is stuck, try these steps, and hopefully you’ll be able to get away from those annoying default images… (or what ever it’s stuck on… family photo… picture of ex-girlfriend/spouse… that thing you accidentally clicked “set as wallpaper” on that certain site you don’t want anyone to know you go to… what ever it may be…)

Okay first of all, let me say this is one of the most offensive things I have ever heard been made aware of via the internet.

The Oklahoma State Rep. Sally Kern, has just told all the gay people of Oklahoma and the rest of the world how she really feels about gay people. She apparently didn’t think she was being recorded or something… cause what you’re about to hear is the most retarded thing ever said in political history.

Watch this little youtube video and hear her preach “God’s Word” about gays “indoctrinating our children.”:

http://www.youtube.com/v/tFxk7glmMbo

I’m sorry but this video contains no profanity at all, but it is the most offensive thing I’ve heard in a long time on the internet… or anywhere for that matter…

More info here:
http://www.pamshouseblend.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=4711
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/03/09/oklahoma-state-rep-goes-on-anti-gay-tirade/

Digg it here:
http://digg.com/politics/Despicable_Oklahoma_State_Rep_Goes_On_Anti_Gay_Tirade

For the past year, I have pretty much lived in my minivan. It occurred to me that I had managed to live in a very small space effectively, only coming out for the things I couldn’t put in a minivan because it cost too much money to do so. (Toilet and Kitchen… the reason there’s no kitchen in there is because I’ve been too lazy to install the electrical wiring… (<.<) (>.>)… the toilet one… that’s obviously not a good idea in a car w/o some sort of commercially marketed device… and it’d be dumb… and smell bad probably)

The point of this article though, is not toilets, or me living in my minivan. (But let me tell you those seats are really comfortable… the van seats… not the toilet seat…) The point of this article is to give tips, and insight about how it would be feasible to live in a limited amount of space for an extended period of time. (This also proves that it is feasible to use a small spacecraft to transport about 2 or three humans a long distance over a period of a few months, maybe longer… but I won’t get into that right now…)

Americans tend to have some of the largest homes in the world, because land is (relatively to other countries such as Japan or Britain) inexpensive, and we have enough room to spread out. (Except for New York City, which is just way too cluttered, because they obviously haven’t read this article yet?) So Americans can spread out almost as much as they want, especially the upper middle/upper classes. They find it impossible to travel light, even when going for only a day or so, and panic if forced to live in a tight space (Say a studio apartment, hotel room, etc.).

I have mastered the art of living in small spaces by putting myself to the ultimate test by pretty much living in my Dodge 1997 Grand Caravan (All-Wheel-Drive… not that that is relevant to this article’s point…). Here are my tips for living in a small space; I hope they help you in the future or possibly right now, whenever you need to live in a small space for a while.

1) DON’T KEEP TRASH!!!
Its trash, it’s not going to be useful, so get rid of it!

You know that bag of trash over there in your car? Get rid of it. You know that bunch of boxes from stuff you bought half a year ago? Get rid of those too.
“But the manufacturer warranty’s not up… I might NEED IT.” No, you won’t need it. Unless you’re going to return it to the store you bought it from within the 15 - 30 days or whatever they give you, you don’t need the box. Manufacturers will send you what’s called a prepaid shipping parcel; In other, more understandable terms, that means that they will send you a box with all the padding stuff you need in it with instructions on HOW TO PUT IT IN THERE to prevent further damage to it. You then peel off the original shipping label to reveal a new one. You then find the phone number it said for you to call in the instructions or on the labels or something, call it and schedule a pickup. You then give it to the nice man or woman that comes to your doorstep from the shipping company (FedEx, UPS, whatever…) and they take it and deal with the rest. You will get your item back fixed up with no trouble at all, assuming they cover whatever you broke under the warranty.

“But these packaging things are useful…” No, they’re annoying, messy, and take up space. They are indeed NOT useful, but a nuisance that you don’t need to deal with.

The only things that you need to keep from your packaging, are those plastic grocery bags that you end up with so many of if you go shopping at all. Why? To have something to collect the other packaging materials and trash that accumulates, and throw it out!

2) Don’t be a packrat.
You know that thing you haven’t used in 10 months? Those old college text books, that gigantic bin of Legos you have sitting there, those picture frames that you don’t ever really look at but take up desk space… we all have something that we don’t really need but are keeping for a reason you can’t remember?
“What if I need it later…” Throw it out, give it away, sell it, or put it in a storage area that is not in your living space. If it’s a part to something, like a small screw that you’ve been holding on to, plastic bits from something, whatever, just GET RID OF IT ALREADY YOU’RE NEVER GOING TO NEED IT!
“But I don’t wanna throw away my family photo albums…”
Okay, then SCAN THEM into digital pictures and store them on your hard disk drive. Data doesn’t take up half the physical space these days that the real thing does, so get with the program in the digital information age, and scan your pictures in, throw away or store the other ones OUTSIDE OF YOUR LIVING SPACE!

3) Organize your stuff.
I can’t stress this one enough. Organize your things, and you will find that living in a small space becomes so much easier. Purchase re-useable, plastic bins with lids from Wal-Mart or Target, Costco, some department store near you; use them to put your things in and STACK THEM. This way, when you need something on the bottom, just pull that bin out, and when putting it back, just put it on top. I personally keep the most used things on top, and periodically reorder my bins so they can’t get out of order for long. This goes a long way to prevent stuff from getting lost, broken, or thrown away.

4) Every space can be used.
You know that small hole in the wall, that drawer that you don’t know why it was put there? Find something that makes sense to put there and fits, and put it there. Use every small space you find for storage, as long as that small space, is not the middle of the room or the table, because that will get you right back where you started, and you don’t want to go back there, cause that wasn’t fun, remember?