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Mon, 05 May 2008Whats better than a series of tubes under your floor keeping it warm? WiFi? Maybe...but...how about normal, electrically heated floors? (Girl not included).
I recently completed the installation of a SunTouch heated floor mat and programmable thermostat into the "master" bath. Its recommended application is under tile.
Installation was probably the easiest part of the entire tiling job. So much that it was the only part i finished (I had a contractor finish the rest of the tile cutting and placement). The idea is to take the mat, lay it on top of the cement backerboard, put your thinset over it, and put your tiles on top. Oh, and there is a little sensor you put into the thinset that measures the temperature. Wire up the GFCI themrostat, and you are good to go. An installation video (VHS) comes with the mat. The website touts specialized contractors for this type of installation. I do not think its required. All you need is A) a tile flooring guy who isn't afraid to smear thinset on a flat, plastic woven mat -- that ain't hard B) someone willing to hook up the magic thermostat box to electricity.
Out of morbid curiosity, I cranked this thing to 104F (maximum setting), but it becomes plenty toasty by 80F. 80F only took it 15-20 minutes. I am sure it will take a while to get to 104F though. Total current draw is about 2A with my mat, or about 200ish watts. As with any radiant heat technology, that heat generated will just reduce the time my furnace runs. Electric is great for small, directed applications (ie: walk areas, bathrooms, kitchens, etc) where you want heat, but I think a hydronic system is better suited for whole-house applications. Another benefit to electric is how cheaply it can be done. Just remember, if you decide to lay down this mat in your next flooring project, The cut-off between the mat and non-mat under the tile is a considerable drop off! Its down right chilling! I have another bathroom remodel coming up. You can bet I will be putting in some more of this. Tue, 15 Mar 2005
X10 is Out of Control
Well, now its not very fun anymore. Either someone hacked the BSD box which controls my lighting systems, or there is noise sitting on the line which is being mistaken for actual commands. All the lights in my house are turning on and off at random about every 5-10 minutes. Its not just one light, but all 20 of them. What is really cool is when you try to put the baby to sleep and her light comes on full blast. Not to mention other very annoying moments. Try to turn a light off, well, it just might come back on again! I am frantically looking for noise sources and system logs to see just what could be causing this issue. Replacing over twenty switches to correct the lighting issue is not something I really want to do at the moment. Has my house been 0wned?! Tue, 29 Jun 2004
Vacation Time
The first stop was Fairbanks, AK. This is located in the middle of the state, and is subject to some of the most extreme temperature ranges on the planet: -60F in the winter, 99F in the summer. Since it was summer, and the sun was up nearly the entire day, we saw temperatures of about 100F on the deck. The most notable incident in the world of wireless and communications was a nasty ACS fibercut that severed communications abroad. My Sprint roaming provider, Sparks/Digitel, went hard down (not even a signal) for about 4 days. I was roaming on ACS's network at the time, and even though Sprint claims to have a roaming agreement with these guys, my phone did not function. So much for Free & Clear "America". After meeting with family and doing touristy things in the area, our next stop was Barrow. This is located at the top of the state, on the Arctic Ocean coast. It is also the most northern city/point/anything in North America at 71 degrees latitude. We also took my mother-in-law. We were up here to show off the baby, meet family, and check out town. We also came up here for Nalukataq, or more commonly known as the Eskimo Blanket Toss. It was my first time to the North Slope, and it looks like I couldn't pick a better time to be up there. The weather was great. We were treated to blue skies and temperatures im used to back at home (40-50F). Not to mention the fact that the sun never set -- it just circled near the top of the sky. Barrow is several miles long, very similar to a typical 1-2 story urban area, and then thats it. It is very flat -- you can see to the horizon in all directions. There are no trees, only grass on the tundra. In the summer, the town is surrounded by breathtaking views of the Arctic coast, bird formations, grass and oval lakes. One of the most notible aspects of Barrow was the people. They were very friendly and community oriented. People were not in a hurry, selfish or materalistic. This was not certainly not Seattle. While English is spoken in Barrow, Inupiat make considerable usage of their native tounge: Inupiaq. Just like anywhere else in the United States, electrical, water, medical, telephone, cable TV, and internet are all available. Communications served via satellite. There is a neat satellite array outside of town with a series of dishes pointing downward. Some of the equator satellite paths are fragle, and all it takes is a passing vehicle or a stupid flock of birds to kill the link margin and cause breakup on the local cable system. Construction is a little tricky, as the land is a little marshy in the summer and permafrost underneath the dirt. Pre-manufactured housing on stilt frames are very commonplace, as shipping building materials is cost prohbitive for most people. And no, there are no igloos in Barrow. The only pavement was the airport runway. All I can say is that I loved driving there...nobody wears seatbelts, and dirt and gravel roads are fun to slide on. There are a lot of automobiles, but just as many fourwheelers running around....its too bad we did not end up borrowing one.. Since there are no roads into Barrow, shipping of goods is an expensive issue. Everything is sent airfreight, now even more difficult due to 9/11 policy, and this comes out to be about a $1/lb. This inflates local prices to comical amounts when compared to the inexpensive goods of the lower 48. A yearly barge service is available for perhaps $0.25/lb to ship items that are either too large or cost prohibitive to send via aircraft. Barrow is served twice a day, yearround by passenger aircraft, some of which have half the space allocated for cargo (737-300C). Cargo aircraft also routinely service Barrow.
There is really only one store in Barrow (Stuqpak) owned by UIC. This is more of a general store with produce, grocieries, food court, clothing, etc. They had espresso, and that's all I cared about. We also bought the baby a very cute outfit to wear. The radio station, KBRW, is a great example of how community radio is supposed to work. This station features localized content and fosters community involvement. Its amazing how simple it is to do this, and how many radio dials lack its content. The local cable system features several local content channels. After a few days of being shown around town, playing on the beach, and resting, it was time for Nalukataq on Monday, June 21st. Everyone spent days getting ready for the occasion. Cakes, eskimo ice cream, eskimo doughnuts, stew, and whale was prepared. Nalukataq took place in the center of town. This is a feast and consists of food distribution, dance, and play. It drizzled a few times, no different than back at home. My wife put the baby in her parka (Amaaq). People still do this and its a great way to keep babies warm (..and as an added benefit, they go to sleep instantly!)
It was Maggie's first time Amaaq-ing and one time we didn't quite tighten the belt enough. I was walking behind and suddenly saw two legs standing up, the rest of the body was up the parka. She fell all the way down!! I wish I would have taken a picture. As you already know, the Eskimos eat whale, raw almost like sushi. It is extremely fresh and tasty. They use every last bit of it to: skin, blubber, meat, blood, organs, baleen, even the gums. But maktak is a delicacy. This is a half and half cut of blubber and skin. Its a little chewy and tastes almost like walnuts to me. It goes good with salt. And while the Eskimos still hunt whale for sustenance, the government limits them to a certain amount. With these limitations, they cannot entirely live off it alone....they can at least suppliment part of it. After food distribution and cake, we went home for a little while, and came back for the blanket toss. And people get a little crazy on this blanket. Its amazing how much height you can get! It was lots of fun watching people fly into the air until there was an accident. Two people collided (forehead to jaw) and one landed on his head on the ground. He was quickly hauled out by an ambulance. There was concern he broke his back, but I was told later he ended up ok. After a couple days, we headed out and left for Seattle. We pretty much flew all day, with a significant layover in Fairbanks. Tue, 01 Jun 2004
Voom Network Invents Lame HD Content
If you just can't get enough of 24/7 of tenis in HIGH DEFINITION, you'll love the AuctionHD channel. Thats right! 24 hours a day of auctions -- in 1920x1080! Wow...how stunning. And if that isn't enough, i'm sure you'll get kicks out of GalleryHD -- a cycling of paintings in high resolution. What a bunch of crap ... why would I want to pay $80/mo for this garbage? It seems that HD content is extremely hard to come by, and these offerings make this very apparent. However, if you couldn't get enough of the hard core porn between showings of Shriek on HBO, you'll love Playboy Hot HD..another new offering....ugh. Wed, 05 May 2004
Hype Definition
Resolutions and Aspect Ratios Since NTSC is analog, various TVs will display different screen resolutions. NTSC overscan is actually 736x482, but your TV will likely crop the outer edges of this, depending on model year, technology, and quality. The aspect ratio is 4x3 or 1.33:1. This makes almost a square box, slightly rectangle. In broadcast NTSC, audio is typically FM stereo, with the option of lower quality, secondary audio carriers. Film is usually sported in two major formats, 1.85:1 or 2.35:1. Film does not have a particular resolution in pixels, but film grain generally limits this from being infinite. Current digital televisions (DTV's) use the aspect ratio of 16x9 or 1.78:1. The digital transmission actually has tons of different video modes, and is called ATSC. ATSC can contain mutiple video "streams", data payload, TV schedule information, and several different audio modes encoded in AC3. These audio modes can provide either surround sound (5.1-like experience), stereo, or mono. ATSC uses VSB for transmission. Originally, OFDM was to be used, but this was changed for some reason. OFDM would have given HDTV resistance to multipath, and actually make reception in most areas possible. The Europeans will be using OFDM. Instead, VSB cuts our broadcast tower range (compared to analog services) in half or perhaps by 2/3's, depending on the antenna technology employed. VSB comes in two flavors, "terrestrial rate" and "high rate". "terrestrial rate" is 19.36Mbps and uses 8 level VSB (8VSB). "high rate" transmits at 38.57Mbps using 16 levels (16VSB). Currently, no broadcast transmissions use the higher 16VSB rate.
While these resolutions and aspect ratios are quite impressive, our cool new digital televisions will still letterbox some movies shot in 2.35:1. But a lot of movies are shot in 1.85:1 -- thats close enough to 1.78:1 to where it is expanded to fill the entire screen (!) Digital Television vs. High Definition While Digital Television brings us a lot of different modes, some are considered "high definition" and others are just considered "digital television". 720p and 1080i are considered true, high definition. 480p and 480i are considered "digital television". 720p vs 1080i and your television While the mode 1920x1080i is my favorite mode, some claim (the inferior) mode 1280x720p is better. Either way, before you decide what side you are on, keep in mind that a vast majority of broadcasters have adopted 1080i. Make sure your TV supports at least 1080i. Your TV will still be able to view "720p", even if it has to scale it up to fit your television's 1080i native resolution. Some will do 720p and 1080i. Some televisions just display 720p. I would stay away from the 720p-only televisions, even at their discounted price. You are only robbing yourself of higher modes. Also be careful of some displays, including some plasmas and LCD's. Keep on eye on their native resolutions -- some will not display anywhere near the 720p and 1080i sizes and downscale. HDTV Content Delivery Content delivery is still a sticky issue, as service providers scramble for bandwidth. Even with better compression systems available (mpeg4) HDTV channels require the bandwidth of 5-10 regular television channels. Over the Air A lot of stations have brought digital 8VSB stations on the air already. Some operate at high power, others do not. Most of it is a digital version of the 640x480 interlaced content we see on TV today...with the exception of some prime time TV shows and movies. Sick of those black bars on your analog TV -- wait until you see most of your content with black pilars on the side! Some channels are providing "HDTV" content in 703x480, in "widescreen" or 16x9 ratio. To receive over the air broadcasts, you must purchase a special HD decoder box. Most HDTVs are monitors -- meaning they have no HDTV tuners and require a video input. Satellite Satellite providers provide 4-5 network-like programming. HDNet, DiscoveryHD, ESPNHD, HDNetMovies, HBOHD, and ShowtimeHD are only available. Some satellite providers offer 1-2 pay per view channels in HD, and some provide CBS HD for rural areas without CBS (most markets have a black out on this feed). No local channels provided. The rest of the channels are 480p or 480i. You must also have a special HD receiver and HD subscription in order to receive content. One thing to note is the satellite provider "Voom". They have several (obscure, completely no name) networks that are unique to their system. If these channels interest you, it is worth taking a look. Currently, they provide the most channelage available on any TV distribution system. Keep in mind that most of it is no-name content on no-name channels (aka, filler content). So if you really want 24 hours of clay animation in 1080i on the claymation channel, or are interested in their 24 hour tennis HD channel, go right ahead. Cable Cable offerings are similar to satellite, but usually offer something called InHD, which is similar to HDNet. Some cable companies are either offering a couple local HD channels (not all). The rest of the channels are 480p or 480i. You must have an HD receiver and HD subscription in order to receive content. DVD This is a content delivery system too, even though it is not broadcast. Although some widescreen DVDs will look nice on your new TV, keep in mind it is all 703x480 content. Make sure you purchase discs with 1.85:1 ratios so it fills your screen, 2.35:1 will still be letterboxed slightly. You may also want to invest in a progressive scan player (they output 480p to 530p progressive signals). While a lot of movies are captured in progressive these days, some are not and will be interlaced on a progressive screen! High definition DVD does not yet exist. Video Game Consoles The only video game system that provides high definition output is the XBox. The rest are either 480p or 480i. Most XBox titles do not support 720p or 1080i unless specifically stated. The HDTV box checked usually means the title is available in widescreen, 480p. DVR's There are a couple of DVR products out there that support HD recording. Dish network offers the PVR921. HDTV Content Delivery systems aside, there is simply a lack of actual content. A lot is upconverted garbage and is the television equivlent of going into photoshop, taking 640x480 image from a 1/2 megapixel camera, scaling it to 1920x1080, and calling it a "2.0 megapixel image". The major networks (ABC, NBC, etc) and the HDTV cable/sat channels mentioned above are the only content providers of HDTV programming. While the specialized cable/sat channels broadcast HDTV (1080i) all day, Networks typically only kick in on HD during the evenings. As demand grows, more and more shows will be shot in HD -- or film transfered to HD. While HD shows sometimes display in letterbox (black bars) on an analog TV, we get something worse: most of our content has two black pillars on each side! A lot of advertisements and shows that are in "wide screen" actually are letterboxed and black barred. Perhaps pretend HDTV/widescreen content helps brand image?
Hype Definition Offenders Not to pick on anyone in particular, but here are some upscaling offenders: ESPNHD This is typically 703x480i 4:3 interlaced video upscaled to 1920x1080i and squashed to 16:9. It ends up being a bunch of blury fat people running around -- not even in the right aspect ratio. This channel is outright embarrassing...but ESPN is gearing up for HD and may provide some better content in the next year. FOX FOX claims to be in high definition. Its actually 480p in widescreen. CBS CBS has done a pretty good job at keeping us entertained with 1080i TV shows. During prime time, CBS plays special sequences during advertisements on their HD channel. "You are watching CBS in HDTV" is repeated over and over. The one in particular that is funny is the "CBS HD Sports", where all the sequences featured are actually 4:3 video upscaled (and squashed) to 16:9. I am sure CBS plans to offer sporting content soon, but this is pathetic. Video shot in HD but shown on channels that do not have any HD distribution A lot of channels (typically cable or satellite) that do not have any means to distribute high definition are airing wide-screen, letterboxed content. What is the point of this? The HD viewer has two choices at this point: Zoom in to the 640x480i video to fill the screen with blury video or enjoy the show/advertisement in black picture frame mode (or black horizontal and vertical bars). Local News Casts in HD We have one station in particular (KING 5, Seattle) that brags about its HDTV news broadcast. They forget to inform their viewers that they couldn't actually afford more than one HDTV camera in the newsroom (out of 3-4), so be prepared to switch resolutions a million times during the news broadcast. Local TV Shows in HD While Evening Magazine (King 5 local "HD" content) does occasionally air some sequences in 1080i, a majority of their episodes are upscaled 480i. What is worse is that conventional, analog TV users are forced to watch this show in black bar widescreen format. HDTV sounds awful, should I even bother? Consumers should realize that there is only little content available in HDTV. Buying that $5000 plasma screen will not improve the clarity and resolution of all your cable and satellite channels. Some people may choose to wait, but if you are in the market for a new TV, I would definately give the lower end models (<$2000 or <$1500) a very close look. It will still be a very long time before one can purchase an HDTV set for the price range of traditional televisions, so it may not be for everyone. HDTV is a double edged sword.....while a good 1920x1080 television program will take your breath away, you will puke once you are forced to watch something in 640x480 afterwards.
XBox in HD
Available Games The labeling on XBox games are becoming a little more standardized, but they are little help. Some say "HDTV", but you have to be careful with this one. Most that don't display a specific mode like 720p or 1080i are just merely a 480p (480 lines, progressive scan) in "wide screen". I bought Enter The Matrix, since it did advertise a mode of 1080i. It turns out, yes, it is in 1080i, but the textures were drawn for standard resolution. GTA 3 and Vice City are in "HDTV", but in reality, its just 640x480p in 16:9 (widescreen) mode. This keeps my TV from burning in, but does not really provide me with any display enhancement. Wed, 28 Apr 2004
Stupid Wind Storm
After a brief stop at hack night, i noticed that I couldn't ping my house either. Ok, so no electrical power right? Thats fine, i'll just go home, and plug my home network into my car. Maybe the APC finally died, with all the stuff I have plugged in, it probably wouldn't last more than 2 hours. I got home around 7 pm, noting the lack of power, and plugged various items (DSL modem, AP, etc.) into my car. After everything powered up, my DSL light kept flashing -- yea, phone lines are down too. Running my home network off my car would be pretty cool to talk about the next day, but with no internet, what's the point? I finally plugged into my CDMA 1xRTT modem..er..telephone (Don't tell Sprint!) and was able to get on the Internet. Then I realized how cold and dark it was getting, so eventually we left the house and went some place that had power. So, the power was out all evening and all night, and it sucked. If I would have bought that generator for Field Day last year, I wouldn't have had any issues. Thu, 01 Apr 2004
La La La
I feel stupid blogging AIM conversations, but I thought this was too funny to pass up:
pdEo2X5o3bq: yesterday i sang a poem at open mic pdEo2X5o3bq: called "one million" pdEo2X5o3bq: this is how it goes pdEo2X5o3bq: 1 2 3 4.. pdEo2X5o3bq: 5 6 7.... pdEo2X5o3bq: 8 9 10 pdEo2X5o3bq: 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 pdEo2X5o3bq: 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 pdEo2X5o3bq: etc pdEo2X5o3bq: my friends placed bet on how far I could go pdEo2X5o3bq: they kicked me off stage at 300 I'm probably going out to the coast this weekend for hikinh/camping. The weather report looks pretty good. Wed, 31 Mar 2004
Cool Travel Map
Sun, 21 Mar 2004
R/C Plane Software
Being able to actually apply trig to something really makes me happy...I might even work in some calculus by the end of development. For past blog entries, check out the archive on the side or click here. |
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