Power Company Controlled Thermostat or Blackout

I was reading this article about a UT professor's work to gather data about the power grid in order to better manage demand. It talked about rolling blackouts as a method to prevent the total collapse of the system when it is overwhelmed by demand.

I've read other stories about the power company wanting to have the ability to reach in and change the settings on my thermostat to reduce energy usage during peak times. I usually get my feathers ruffled by the idea of the power company controlling the temperature in my house.

Then it occurred to me that a house that is a little too warm is better than one that has no power, so no air conditioning either - and no lights, internet, etc. Of course, this also reminds me of the Ben Franklin quote about the choice between liberty and security.

Which poison would you choose? Rolling blackouts or a remote controlled thermostat?

Printer Hack

Hide ya kids. Hide ya wife. Hide ya printers.

Amateur Radio Quiz: As Seen on TV!

A quiz about ham radio on TV. Good thing this wasn't on the general class exam. I only got half of them right and I had no idea about the Tennessee Valley Indians.

This video will help you answer at least one correctly.

Reddit Ham Radio FAQ

The Reddit Ham Radio FAQ

Sometimes I post things so I can find them later. This is one of those posts.

Layout

Explains why I have been seeing new options for grid layout templates for blogger.

andrewchen OH: a recent A/B test showed that grid-layouts increase engagement/interaction by 10-30% over linear feeds. Visual density helps w scanningMon, Jan 16 12:50:19 from web

Happy Thought of the Day

My buddy, Slim, always likes to be the ray of sunshine on otherwise gray days...

The Keynesian School of Economics Leads to Violence:

The problem is that eventually the socialist/Keynesian school runs out of other people’s money to spend. They can’t raise taxes high enough, and the market forces them to pay ever higher interest rates to access public markets. When governments increase spending, businesses cut back. The net present value tables always catch up to them.

At this point in the cycle, they generally have created a situation where there are haves and have nots. Forced to cut spending on the people that receive a government check, those people riot.

2-Step Verification for Google

After reading this and confirming that Eric Schmidt is not in my friend list on Facebook, I have activated the two step authentication for my Google accounts. Now logging in requires two factors - something I know (the password) and something I have (my mobile phone). You can register a computer for 30 days, so you don't have to repeat the process all the time.

It is not too intrusive on the main Google pages, but not all of their apps are configured to require the code from your mobile phone. In those cases, Google creates a special, complex password that you must use.

I just cannot imaging losing all the work from the past year. I have been doing the poor man's backup, but I was sending to the Gmail account that is tied to the blog. I even commented then that might not be the best strategy. I'm off to change that now.

Hacking

I wish I was smarter... with all the inexpensive hardware available now (Kinect, Arduino, Rasberry Pi, etc.) you could build anything you could dream up.

Ham Radio Deluxe

As suspected, Ham Radio Deluxe may no longer be free. The new owners are conducting a survey to see what people might pay. You can vote here.

Interstates

Looks like the Tube map... Flickr set here.

Created by Cameron Booth