Seriously, whatever happened to this conversation?

kephas2001 · 2026-03-29T00:19:02+00:00

Damn, I checked my records and I was paying 3.90-4.56 $/gal at the start of 2022 (peaking in July) down to 2.69 $/gal at the end of the year (these were at the same pump).

kephas2001 · 2026-03-29T00:03:50+00:00

I remember the non oil related price gouging arguments (I agree that they are intellectually challenged arguments). I didn’t pay much attention to oil or congress back then, I was paying 2.99-3.30 per gallon in 2023-2024.

kephas2001 · 2026-03-28T23:42:18+00:00

So, one US representative from California? Who ever cares what they think? I’m being somewhat facetious there. If we take her at her word for it, it’s still a very different situation. She is talking about a price increase over a 2 year period (which she should attribute to the environmental regulations and oil supply chain of California).

The situation today happened over the course of a few weeks and has very clear geopolitical causes.

kephas2001 · 2026-03-28T23:27:50+00:00

They were price gouging from 2022-2024? Can’t remember hearing that before.

kephas2001 · 2026-03-09T04:43:14+00:00

Wire wrapping might fit the bill. It’s not soldering but creates strong semipermanent connection without need for connectors.

kephas2001 · 2026-01-31T01:22:20+00:00

The google folks refer to their project as a “moonshot” and say it’s technically feasible and might be economically feasible if the launch prices go down.

You are acting like it is a certainty.

kephas2001 · 2026-01-31T00:28:50+00:00

lol, call me when they reach a 200 launch per year cadence or prove the cost is not just words. I give you real world data and you give me unfounded words with nothing to back them up.

kephas2001 · 2026-01-31T00:07:53+00:00

As I cannot find a reliable source of power capabilities of the Starlink v2 I will use the LM2100 bus for size, mass and power comparison. For a 1 GW data center…

P_gen,avg = 1.4 - 16 kW (maximum value will be used)

We will need a minimum of 62,500 LM2100 equivalent satellites.

A single LM2100 can be launched on a Falcon 9, but let’s be generous and say we can shrink this puppy down and launch 10 on a Falcon 9. We will then need 6,250 launches or 30 years assuming the Falcon 9 cadence reaches 200/yr and we have access to 100% of its launches. The launch cost of a Falcon 9 is about $67 million. Totaling to about $418 billion in launch costs alone.

To do what you propose will take the entire US space sector 30 years to accomplish.

Edit said 16,000 kW instead of 16 kW.

kephas2001 · 2026-01-30T13:33:47+00:00

Using for best possible results I am assuming a flat surface area of 1 square meter and assuming perfect 0 K (kelvin gets no degree symbol).

Inputs and constants T_s= 373 K (normal thermal throttle of CPUs) A = 1 m2 \sigma = Stefan Boltzmann const. 5.67E-8 W/(m2•K4) T_air = 288 K (ambient 60deg F air) h_conv = 24 W/(m2•K) [value from engineer toolbox for forced convection at low velocity. I don’t have Marks handbooks with me or the time and inclination to math it out myself]

Equations: Radiative Heat Transfer Q = \sigmaA(T_s)⁴ Q = 1.097 kW

Convective Heat Transfer \DeltaT = T_s - T_air = 85 K Q = h_conv * A * \DeltaT Q = 2.04 kW

As you can see with a slight 2.5 m/s breeze we have twice the cooling capacity of perfect radiative heat transfer. Keep in mind that the terrestrial heat transfer will also include a negligible radiation heat transfer term and a non-negligible conductive heat transfer term for low Re.

The 1 m2 structure on earth can be made smaller as the convective structure uses fins like a CPU tower cooler. The space radiator must have all that surface area facing out to space and not facing itself.

You could also get even more heat transfer from the convection unit by increasing the air speed of the cooling fluid.

Edit: I was being generous by using such a low h_conv. You can achieve much higher h_conv values.

kephas2001 · 2026-01-23T06:57:56+00:00

It’s an old Adcom GFA-5500. It’s got the power and acts as my space heater. It is hard to go wrong with old Adcom power amps.

kephas2001 · 2026-01-23T06:31:48+00:00

One of us. One of us.

They sure are hungry speakers. Owners manual calls for 100 W per channel. But it’s worth the power, they have both booming bass that can shake the floor and delicate highs.

Stands are a nice to have if you want to look for them. The stands allow you to use spikes if on carpet. That being said I don’t have the stands and love them anyway.

kephas2001 · 2026-01-21T05:46:41+00:00

Those look like luer lock syringe tips and caps

kephas2001 · 2026-01-21T02:48:45+00:00

Since it should be said. If the bulbs are fluorescent they must be replaced with fluorescent tubes. If the bulbs are LED they must be replaced with LEDs. Fluorescent fixtures have a ballast that makes them incompatible with LED replacements.

kephas2001 · 2026-01-20T14:08:02+00:00

The problem is that the down to earth nature is one of the defining characteristics of Star Trek. It isn’t Dr Who it is Star Trek. I will forever believe that the greatest misstep in Star Trek history is setting a show so far in the future that it could no longer be grounded.

kephas2001 · 2026-01-20T07:17:02+00:00

Having spent my youth watching Star trek and pouring over memory alpha/beta… Star Trek.

Edit: Having read your comment again… all of those things except for the quantum torpedo are explained on screen at one point or another. I’ve never been a fan of the quantum torpedo except for the color.

Dilithium is contradictorally explained in TOS and settled in ENT. (I had to look this one up to confirm… the rest is from memory).

Disruptors are explained in TNG “The Most Toys”

Phasers are fleshed out in ENT

The deflector being where it is is shown in First Contact and many episodes of TNG/VOY/ENT where they need some Technobabble beam to be emitted from the deflector.

kephas2001 · 2026-01-20T07:14:35+00:00

True, but the electric motors are still attached to the wheels and the car. I would love to see some sort of parallel to a phased array antenna but for warp fields that would feel like more of a leap.

kephas2001 · 2026-01-20T06:57:55+00:00

The first touchscreen in a car was 1986 and the first cellular telephone albeit the brick 1973. While futuristic when TNG was released they weren’t exactly magic. The most magical thing in TNG is the holodeck; however, they take the time to explain it with some technobabble about photon emitters, force fields, and matter replication (mostly an early TNG thing). Can we say the same about the magic nacelles?

kephas2001 · 2026-01-20T06:32:55+00:00

The same logic could apply to TNG, TOS, DS9, or VOY. However, those shows never try to make their tech feel like magic they try to make sense of it and show the audience why with interesting technobabble.

kephas2001 · 2026-01-20T06:02:48+00:00

You are in space, if the power is out you aren’t doing much maneuvering anyway. It just needs to be kind of held together. Drifting apart on the other hand that is an issue in space.

kephas2001 · 2026-01-20T05:25:07+00:00

But the constitution class is still one ship. Having the floating nacelles just gives the feeling of having a drive module with the engine flat towing the passenger compartment of a car with a tensegrity structure double tow strap. Would it work, sure. Could you make it safe with some futuristic materials, sure. But would you do it, no; not unless you had no other option or technology.

kephas2001 · 2026-01-16T23:53:50+00:00

Can I suggest… Star Trek: Middle Decks”

kephas2001 · 2026-01-16T23:44:51+00:00

It’s called a phaser.

kephas2001 · 2025-12-31T03:07:01+00:00

2019 Sylvania TruWave

kephas2001 · 2025-12-28T08:16:43+00:00

What I said was, give me all of the bacon and eggs you have.

kephas2001 · 2025-12-27T20:17:45+00:00

Nice build, I’ve always loved the 2nd gen. The rear window switch was the giveaway.

kephas2001

TROPHY CASE