tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-234234212011-04-21T20:33:37.283-07:00Alternative energy and other grid-free technology and designs.W. G. Brookenoreply@blogger.comBlogger251100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23423421.post-62489931752763864492007-03-28T12:28:00.001-07:002007-03-28T12:28:39.780-07:00

Bolded (emboldened?) are the ones I have read:The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. TolkienThe Foundation Trilogy, Isaac AsimovDune, Frank HerbertStranger in a Strange Land, Robert A. HeinleinA Wizard of Earthsea, Ursula K. Le GuinNeuromancer, William GibsonChildhood’s End, Arthur C. ClarkeDo Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Philip K. DickThe Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer BradleyFahrenheit 451, Ray

W. G. Brookenoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23423421.post-69440333859391827792007-03-28T11:49:00.001-07:002007-03-28T11:57:01.346-07:00

I have been remiss in updating my blog, I know. This post is purely to satisfy my mother and Brad.The only noteworthy event of the past 3 months was the Times Colonist booksale, which was fabulous.Other than that, I have been ceaselessly staring at unending streams of VB code. Its enough to drive a person mad.Back to bug squashing!

W. G. Brookenoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23423421.post-66529204078038208062007-01-08T15:23:00.000-08:002007-01-08T15:31:10.299-08:00

So I grabbed a trial copy of my favourite CAD package (Cobalt by Ashlar) this weekend, and sat down to sketch out the primary assembly for the Heliostatic array.Lets just say that Windows is not an acceptable CAD environment and leave this post rated G, shall we?CAD sketches of Rev 1 will be coming SHORTLY.I also recovered 8 "reflectors" from a few dead hard drives i had lying around. I'm kicking

W. G. Brookenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23423421.post-60789559452686065682007-01-05T09:44:00.000-08:002007-01-07T12:49:54.255-08:00

Had some interesting thoughts this morning in the shower regarding this modular, low-tech Carnutt furnace project. I need to look into phase-change salts again.Also, I understand that the target heat exchanger needs to be insulated from the exterior so that it won't suffer heat loss due to the ambient and the wind. Especially given a hemispherical target like we want, I wonder if we want the

W. G. Brookenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23423421.post-13749198096660563012007-01-03T22:29:00.000-08:002007-01-07T12:52:14.054-08:00

http://www.pro-lite.uk.com/Light/Labsphere/lab_mats.htmlhttp://www.pfonline.com/articles/web110202.htmlhttp://yarchive.net/metal/anodizing.htmlhttp://www.pfonline.com/articles/090501.htmlhttp://www.edmundoptics.com/techSupport/DisplayArticle.cfm?articleid=259http://www.nd.gov/dcs/energy/pubs/renewable/heat.pdfhttp://www.lindsaybks.com/arch/turbine/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesla_turbinehttp://

W. G. Brookenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23423421.post-67549551362586271062007-01-03T14:08:00.000-08:002007-01-07T12:51:21.098-08:00

I have finished several iterations of a parabolic reflector array design now, and have settled on one that is cheap, simple and modular, and relatively lightweight.We will be testing out production of one section of the parabolic array in the coming weeks.On to reflector design. Because we want to capture heat energy, rather than just visible light, from the sun, the reflector material should '

W. G. Brookenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23423421.post-50377663183268207882007-01-01T21:23:00.000-08:002007-01-07T12:50:44.121-08:00

"the end is near"Maybe, maybe not. One thing is certain, many of us dislike the direction this over-sized hand basket is headed. Do we take the oft trodden path of the apathetic drone; shrug, proclaim there is nothing we can do, and vainly hope for the nirvana of ignorance?The obligation to pursue any available avenue off that beaten track is overwhelming. As part of this quest for minimalism

W. G. Brookenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23423421.post-1162403166389422362006-11-01T09:40:00.000-08:002006-11-01T09:46:06.443-08:00

(Thank's Jen for sending this around, it brightened my day immeasurably!)

W. G. Brookenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23423421.post-1154577436170244942006-08-02T20:52:00.000-07:002006-08-02T20:57:16.210-07:00

Rock song originally performed by U2 remixed Dubya-style. It first appeared as the lead track for U2's 1983 album War. http://onegoodmove.org http://thepartyparty.com/This is seriously hilarious. and catchy. disturbing really.

W. G. Brookenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23423421.post-1153524277133436712006-07-21T15:58:00.000-07:002006-07-21T16:24:37.146-07:00

ok, so the summer time has dragged me away from frivolous computer tasks...AND, my laptop died a most ignoble death hours after printing off my last paper of the spring semester.i mis my iBook.i would desperately love to get a new intel macBook. but... money is a deciding factor, and it decides that i dont get one!i would however, like to get a sandblaster. so i can more easily prep bikes.thats

W. G. Brookenoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23423421.post-1145303247193464222006-04-17T12:45:00.000-07:002006-04-17T12:47:27.260-07:00

omg i have no desire to write this damned, damned, dirty phil of mind paper!

W. G. Brookenoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23423421.post-1144525380016553102006-04-08T12:41:00.000-07:002006-04-08T12:43:02.116-07:00

today is going to kick serious ass. i had minor freak out the other day, but i was able to settle down and realize that it comes from a fear of being incapable of depending upon others. i try not to anyway, but at times, it is impossible and unreasonable to do it all oneself. it is in these specific cases that I need to be very clear in my communication to others that i am depending upon them,

W. G. Brookenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23423421.post-1144195557973781452006-04-04T17:04:00.000-07:002006-04-04T17:05:58.016-07:00

Well, I officially backed out of my crewing position in the Fireball world championships this coming May. This is a tremendously difficult decision for me to make. But I am quite certain that my wrist will not withstand two weeks of intense competition. My Doctor agrees with me. This does give me an opportunity to finish my degree requirements this summer, but that is minimal compensation to say

W. G. Brookenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23423421.post-1143509379964927802006-03-27T17:28:00.000-08:002006-03-27T17:29:40.020-08:00

sitting in phil of physics... talking about EPR and im bored out of my skull. its all bizarre, and in a very uninteresting way.

W. G. Brookenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23423421.post-1142800199321499672006-03-19T12:28:00.000-08:002006-03-19T12:29:59.330-08:00

Breakfast, and Aristotle. does it get any closer to The Good?At least qua form, no. (Met 9.9!)updates throughout the day, as the fancy hits me.

W. G. Brookenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23423421.post-1142449782111069142006-03-15T10:59:00.000-08:002006-03-15T11:09:42.133-08:00

Well, my presentation on Chalmers "Consciousness and its place in nature" didn't suck too hard. especialyl considering i was late, and slept from 7:30am until 8:37am today, and from 4:30am until 8:30am yesterday.The miracle of a coherent outline. Filling in the blanks on my pedantic traipse across chalmers paper netted me over 3500 words without breaking a sweat. I have yet to do a full account

W. G. Brookenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23423421.post-1141928646390906692006-03-09T10:23:00.000-08:002007-01-07T13:03:37.950-08:00

its snowing outside.some people think this is normal for march. but this is Victoria. it doesnt snow in victoria. much less in march.

W. G. Brookenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23423421.post-1141784105750748912006-03-07T18:14:00.000-08:002007-01-07T13:00:54.655-08:00

Semantics class with Fiona - davidsonian and neo-davidsonian, as well as thematic roles.interesting stuff.For my own part, two questions come to mind.1.) (last first) why doestn jackendoff (and or later authors who are working with thematic roles) enforce spatial locality strictly. it seems that the subtle ambiguity surrounding "recipient" might be consistently describable in terms of location,

W. G. Brookenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23423421.post-1141757035011646242006-03-07T10:43:00.000-08:002006-03-07T10:43:55.016-08:00

YEah, thats right. I missed class this morning. again.how worried am i? not at all. because people with mustaches make me miss class. thats right. i said it.and im not even rick james...

W. G. Brookenoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23423421.post-1141750406773653272006-03-07T08:52:00.000-08:002007-01-07T13:01:52.371-08:00

I am going to try mucking about with LaTex again. i used it back in 96 - at the time, i thought that html derivatives (xml anyone?) would take over the sgml layout system. it hasn't happened like that, maybe because academia is very insular. but having to produce very very large papers for school now, Word is showing off its suck.Pagemaker etc, are all well and good, but are overkill. I just want

W. G. Brookenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23423421.post-1141693191064037122006-03-06T16:59:00.000-08:002006-03-06T23:51:12.690-08:00

Had a thought whilst scanning through some other sites.i dont need to have all the blog functionality i want within the same framework. i just need a meta-framework that makes it SEEM seamless. (seamless seeming is what philosophy of perception is best at anyway.)I have done this bofre with a few other architectures i've setup. at the time i thought they were horrible kludges. but now that i

W. G. Brookenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23423421.post-1141686284024419692006-03-06T00:34:00.000-08:002006-03-06T15:18:01.153-08:00

These are two modern pieces that I like. I don't think that philosophy of aesthetics has much of a grip on reality, so I wont attempt to defend my choices. It should sufffice to say that they are related to pleasant memories.Saw this at the SFMOMA: Saw this in The Thomas Crown Affair: This posting was made with ecto. I have tried MarsEdit and Bleezer and a few others so far. No, none of them do

W. G. Brookenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23423421.post-1141591445711654732006-03-05T12:43:00.000-08:002006-03-05T12:44:05.716-08:00

Being a perfectionist is a bit of a struggle at times. When i find something that is intriguing, I typically dive in and want to mster it, underrstand it completely. Over the years i have become a "lazy Perfectionist" - i want things to work, bu they must work perfectly. I am constantly dissapointed, especially when it comes to technical things: "why did they do it that way?" is a common

W. G. Brookenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23423421.post-1141549000737480302006-03-05T00:56:00.000-08:002006-03-05T02:53:03.796-08:00

well, so far, I am rather satisfied with blogger. The dashboard widget is simple but effective. I am trying out Ecto. It is quite complete. Currently listening to:Hornblower During the Crisis (Disk 2 of 3) from the album "Hornblower During the Crisis" by C.S. Forester To do:automate link additions, a la interconnected.org maybe?modify the side bars.modify the template.

W. G. Brookenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23423421.post-1141506308060291352006-03-04T13:04:00.000-08:002006-03-04T13:05:08.066-08:00

This is just a test to see how freakin' cool Mac OS X makes my life. I have always bought in to functionality as necessary (Aristotle is, after all, The Man) but my lifelong exposure to The Apple Way has spoiled me in many ways. I prefer things to just work. Much like a pencil, I want my tools to be uncomplicated, suited to the purpose and aesthetically minimalist. For this reason, I am happy to

W. G. Brookenoreply@blogger.com0