NOTE: this blog is no longer active as of 12/07. New one: http://blog.kirchhof.com
Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum viditur.
Tue, 11 Jan 2005
Charged
I was doing some research on modular synthesizers when I ran across
a wholly unrelated video. Here's the page, and here's the video link.
The video was taken at Eldorado Substation in Boulder City, NV. The file is called
Lugo because this switch and shunt reactor are on the line that goes to Lugo. This
one is clearly a 500KV (I can tell by the size) three-phase switch, probably rated at
about 2000 amps of normal current carrying capability. 500 KV refers to the phase-
to-phase voltage. Divide by 1.732 to get the phase-to-ground voltage (289 KV).
Wow. Big Wow.
Posted at 14:51 by Randy Kirchhof [Permalink]
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Ch-ch-ch-ch Changes
From NASA (via a Slashdot entry):
NASA scientists using data from the Indonesian earthquake calculated it affected Earth's rotation, decreased the length of day, slightly changed the planet's shape, and shifted the North Pole by centimeters. The earthquake that created the huge tsunami also changed the Earth's rotation.
Dr. Richard Gross of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., and Dr. Benjamin Fong Chao, of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md., said all earthquakes have some affect on Earth's rotation. It's just they are usually barely noticeable.
"Any worldly event that involves the movement of mass affects the Earth's rotation, from seasonal weather down to driving a car," Chao said.
Gross and Chao have been routinely calculating earthquakes' effects in changing the Earth's rotation in both length-of- day as well as changes in Earth's gravitational field. They also study changes in polar motion that is shifting the North Pole. The "mean North pole" was shifted by about 2.5 centimeters (1 inch) in the direction of 145 degrees East Longitude. This shift east is continuing a long-term seismic trend identified in previous studies.
They also found the earthquake decreased the length of day by 2.68 microseconds. Physically this is like a spinning skater drawing arms closer to the body resulting in a faster spin. The quake also affected the Earth's shape. They found Earth's oblateness (flattening on the top and bulging at the equator) decreased by a small amount. It decreased about one part in 10 billion, continuing the trend of earthquakes making Earth less oblate.
Posted at 14:31 by Randy Kirchhof [Permalink]
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Strange Times
IBM used to be the evil empire back in the Old Days™. How times have changed. Ars tells us today in an article:
In a bit of a turnabout from the usual "hands off my patents" stance of most companies, IBM will allow open-source developers to use 500 of their software patents with plans to open up more of their patent portfolio in the future (leaving another 9,500 IBM software patents off-limits). Other Linux vendors have made similar moves, with Red Hat allowing complete access to its patent portfolio for open-source developers and Novell planning to deploy its own portfolio against the possibility of legal attacks on open-source software.
As patent-related litigation becomes more widespread, the possibility of attacks on Linux and other open-source software by competitors is growing. An audit conducted last year by Open Source Risk Management turned up 283 potential patent infringements in the Linux 2.4 and 2.6 code base. Of those 283, 60 are from IBM, 27 come from Microsoft, and an additional 20 are owned by HP. Some analysts believe that it is only a matter of time before Linux is assaulted with patent infringement lawsuits by one of its competitors.
The patents IBM is releasing for open-source use are wide ranging, applicable to areas such as database and OS interoperability, language processing, linking OS processes dynamically, and user interfaces. There are also plans to release patents for use in developing open standards, which will make wide-spread adoption of new standards more likely. Such an approach will likely pay dividends if Microsoft's troubles with getting Sender ID ratified are any indication.
Very cool.
Posted at 14:26 by Randy Kirchhof [Permalink]
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