I am an inventor of a mechanical mixer used in the semiconductor industry. Lately I have been working on a few projects that involve developing patents for other fluids. The focus of my work now is to produce machines that cut energy requirements in half.
As an inventor, I try to survive.
The Enevor website is up and running. Enevor is my new venture that will provide new technology to the mining, oil and energy sectors. The technology is based on my own work in small scale nano-particle suspensions. The new generation of this design is the V3 and use a highly evolved blade element system to suspend larger slurry solids used in mining and flu gas desulphurization systems (FGD). FGD systems use lime based slurries to catalyze the emissions from coal fired electrical generating stations. Cleaning flu gas is a very expensive operation and can also have throughput problems. My design accomplishes the gas transfer and slurry suspension in a unique one step process that will use less than half the power of conventional equipment. I have also developed the gas transfer system into a froth flotation device that will again cut the costs in half related to mineral recovery in mining operations. It will increase the mixing efficiency to over 90 percent and stabilize the surface flow to allow for higher froth generation. The system can also be used in oilsand separation and wastewater treatment. The processes involved are not new to industry, they have been inefficient for decades; the high cost of energy required to run 100 horsepower-plus drives is however making production costs rise abnormally. Cutting power requirements in half will produce significant financial benefits and make a sizable dent in carbon footprints globally.
The design will also cut process times, so in the end, energy savings can approach 70 percent. This was a feature of my older, smaller designs, but industry has never shown any interest in cutting energy costs on systems consuming less than 5 horsepower. It just isn't on the radar. Save 50 percent on a 500 horsepower drive, and the difference has much more impact.
What is it with hard drive makers and the Mac? Western Digital has the same poor software implementation, but at least you can format a WD drive using the OS X Disk Utility. With the Maxtor One Touch III, when you try to format it to a Macintosh Extended Journaled (GUID so its bootable) format, you get an error.
OK, let's fix this one as well. First off, don't install any of that crappy Maxtor software. If you did, then go to your System folder/Library/Extensions and remove these two, MaxtorPowSecDriver.kext and IOFirewireMxBt.kext. Find your startup items folder and remove the MxBtDaemon and any other file that has Mx or Maxtor associated with it. You will also find NotificationExec next to MXBtDaemon, dump that too. That is the important stuff.
Now, how to format. First, go to the Maxtor support site and find the software package for Mac for the OneTouch4. It's called OneTouch 4 Lite. Here (UPDATE) Here is the link for the Plus version.
Now unzip this folder of about 200MB, and you will see a bunch of Windows stuff and a Mac application called Mac OneTouch 4 and a disk image called OneTouch 4.dmg.
If you have messed up your OneTouch, you can use disk utility to format it as MS-DOS for now and mount it. Once it is mounted, drag the Mac OneTouch 4 app and the OneTouch 4 DMG to your attached OneTouch III drive. Now launch the Mac OneTouch 4 application from your new drive.
It will run an applescript, mount the disk image and format your drive you as a Macintosh Extended Journaled one. Now, when you launch disk utility, you can reformat any way you want, including MS-DOS or Macintosh.
Now throw out all that Maxtor software. If you want to clone a drive, I recommend Carbon Copy Cloner. You can also use Apples new Time Machine software. Leave the one button stuff alone.
When I purchased my Early 2007 24 inch iMac, I also bought an external Western Digital MyBook Firewire 800 drive to keep a full backup on hand. Little did I know that this drive would cause me problems. A random freeze, usually while browsing in Safari, brought my whole system down. It began with the spinning beachball, and was sometimes associated with a hard drive click from inside my iMac.
This resulted in a force restart, and many times caused directory damage. I did not think crash reporter put logs in my root directory HD/library/logs/crashreporter, but it does. Upon checking them, I found each and every file was named WDBMService_date-of-crash. Every single one.
It had never dawned on me that some tiny little piece of software supplied by Western Digital would do so much damage. It was random, and about once a month.
The piece of software is called WD Button Manager. It controls the blue LED light on the front of the hard drive. Removing it has not made any difference that I can see. Apparently it showed the disk space left, but I never figured that out. It still powers down when I want it to.
So remove this buggy software if you have a Western Digital MyBook. Go into terminal and type
sudo /usr/bin/uninstall-WDButtonManager
Done.
UPDATE February 2008
Western Digital have come out with a firmware update and have also come out with a new Button Manager dated February 2008. I have installed these and so far, no problems. Support from Western Digital is pretty bad, but maybe they read the blogs and address the issues. Whatever works, as long as it gets fixed. NOTE: The links I have given here are for MyBook Pro Edition. You can go to the general page of downloads here.
Addenda: Apple has also released Hard Drive 1.0 for you can read the release notes and get the patch here.
This is for iMac Core 2 Duo systems and may solve a hard drive shutdown problem with the original 24 inch iMacs. The drive would click off, resulting in a spinning beachball for a few seconds until the hard drive spun up again.
Installing Leopard OS X on the G4 1 Ghz eMac (1 Gig of RAM) went a little slower than the 24 inch iMac. Before installing, I repaired permissions, rebooted into single user mode (Apple S), and ran fsck -fy. Some people actually think that running the disk utility from the CD (while booted from the CD) is better than fsck. I have read, that some belive if you run from an external disk, the disk first aid can fix "the whole disk", whereas, they believe, fsck, cannot. Wrong.
Sometimes, your machine may not boot from the CD. Fsck should be standard operating procedure.
The eMac rebooted into the Leopard install, and told me it would take 2 hours and 53 minutes. After checking at the one hour mark, it said that it had 18 minutes left. When it said that there was one minute remaining, it took about 15 minutes more. You can open an active log window during the installation and see that there is activity.
Only one major annoyance. Gmail status, although updated to 1.08, does not work on any of my Macs. It is there in the menu, but is invisible. Quickbooks Pro 5 still works fine, which is another older application I use. CNN flash video is still jittery on the eMac for some reason, but works fine on every other site.
Leopard also installed without a hitch on the G4 1.42 Ghz iBook which currently has 512 MB of RAM, and my 24 inch 2.16 Ghz iMac with 2 GB of RAM. Leopard on the iMac now launches Safari and Textedit in one bounce. This is 3 or 4 times faster than before.
Flock, my preferred Web 2.0 browser is also faster. It gives me instant access to my Flickr, YouTube and Blogger accounts and allows drag and drop between any two. Probably the best browser that no one knows about. Also the most Mac like. Even Safari 3 now looks like its Windows counterpart.
Overall, Leopard is a winner. Very fast. The only disappointment is Time Machine. I thought it would make a bootable backup and it does not. I will stick with Carbon Copy Cloner and maintain a full, bootable backup. Everyone should do this. No sympathy if you do not back up.
Microsoft sold about 60 million copies of Vista this year, which is more than the entire installed base of Apple. There will be more than 1 billion Windows users by the end of Microsoft's fiscal year, this includes the 40 million copies sold in the first 100 days of Vistas release.
Steve Ballmer has stated that this means there will be more copies of WIndows running worldwide, than there are automobiles. Source.
The thing I love about PC's are the games. The thing I love about my iMac is that I can play those games using a Cider port, or in Bootcamp, at full speed. Thing is, most people use PC's because they have become a mainstay in the business world. There are a few key applications that just don't make it to the Mac platform. Solidworks, AutoCAD as well as several other highly sophisticated 3D programs. Many accounting, tax, and property management programs are also unsupported on the Mac.
My sister-in-law loves the Mac for internet browsing, Mail and multimedia, but won't buy into it because she has invested in the PC accounting and property management software. She isn't looking for Mac alternatives, or "make do" solutions, she needs what she needs in order to maintain file compatibility with her clients. It's about making money.
Aha. This is why I am sure Apple is seriously contemplating bringing Leopard to the PC world. It's about making money. Ten years ago, this would have destroyed Apple. Today, Apple is in the top five of the biggest technology companies. Bigger than IBM, and closing on Google.
OS X Leopard is an IT departments dream come true. Imagine a real version of Leopard running on business PC's, with the ability to run Windows programs at full speed. All Apple requires is the acquisition of a suitable software conduit between the OS's. Perhaps build in virus checking and firewall capabilities.
Cider, Parallels and VMware may be Apples little market research experiment. I mean, all Apple has to do is pull the plug on their EFI firmware architecture (Intel's new answer to BIOS), and OS X will install natively on a PC.
Let's see. Do people like running Windows on their Macs? Hmmm, I wonder if people would enjoy using OS X on their PC's without giving up Windows functions? This could be the next iPod for Apple. They could make OS X cool. Even die hard PC users would have to drool just a teency bit over the command line options available under single user boot and real live UNIX. Oooh, UNIX, now you have my attention.
Cool sells. Nobody is trying to take your Windows away AND you get this brand new computer in your computer! Mac enthusiasts will rejoice (except for the doorknobs that think Apple uses extra special, cinnamon coated components in their computers, and not the bland, untoasted, generic components of PC's) in the ability to build their own computers, and, and, and, upgrade graphics cards! Yeah!
Apple would probably still maintain an 8 to 10 percent market share by releasing the OS X to the wild, and after a few years, they would enjoy the fruits of such an investment. Three to five years from now, Apple would have a whole new customer base of people willing to pay a premium price for well designed computers. After all, most people don't tinker. They don't build, and they don't really care about how it works. They just want to know it does, and that looks good on their desk.
Apple could sell ten to twenty million copies of Leopard (with Windowsability) in the first 18 months, then sit back and watch the world do the marketing for them.
One billion PC's out there. Apple could be planning to close in on Microsoft and I think it will be soon. After all, it's all about the money.
Oprah Winfrey had Nate Berkus on today discussing updating your home decor. Home Advantage Interiors offers the latest styles and fabrics. Maxwell, Robert Allen, Kravit and Joanne are among the many designer fabrics that Home Advantage offers.
If you still have dusty,dried flower arrangements, wallpaper borders and pink frilly curtains, chances are you need to update your home. Let Home Advantage Interiors decorate your home from top to bottom. Re-upholster your furniture, update your paint colours and change your flooring. You'll be very happy with the end result and be proud to invite guests in.
Home Advantage Interiors is located in Carlisle Ontario Canada and serves surrounding areas, such as , Oakville, Waterdown, Campbellville, Burlington and Milton.
Sometimes Snap Shots bring you the information you need, without your having to leave the site, while other times it lets you "look ahead," before deciding if you want to follow a link or not.
Should you decide this is not for you, just click the Options icon in the upper right corner of the Snap Shot and opt-out.
After watching Sicko, I finally understood what it must be like to be cared for by private health insurance. Then, I saw the Mitt Romney video on YouTube and couldn't imagine what it would be like to pay over $1000 a month for health insurance and still pay deductibles (copays). Here ya go,
Waitresses are some of the hardest working people in the world, and here is someone that feels the way most of us do about politicians. They are rich, get everything for free, and at the end of the day get a government pay check. Sort of a Universal Employment plan they have going.
Here in Canada, if you serve for 6 years as a politician, you get a full pension. The councilors in my city just voted to give themselves a raise. I mean, seriously, politicians have no idea what the real world is. Imagine telling your boss that you and the guys got together and decided that you needed a raise. Not 10 percent or 20 percent, but 30 percent. You had hired a consultant and he told you that other people were making more, so it just seems reasonable. How about, when you have put 6 years in, you get a full pension?
Then of course, the Steve Skvara video shows up
This guy is my new hero.
Why can't Steve and his wife have health care? Why does he have to pay for something that the U.N. gives away for free, everyday, around the world? Why does he have to pay anything? No one asks him to chip in on the trillion dollar war in Iraq. No one makes him pay to have his house put out if it catches fire. If he breaks the law, the police will show up free of charge, give him a free ride to the police station, provide free room and board and, wait for it, give him free health care.
If Steve were labeled an enemy combatant, he would get free health care. If he joined the military, he would get free health care. If he ran for President and won, he would get free health care. If he moved to any other Western industrialized nation he would get free health care. So why can't Steve get free health care?
It isn't because the government can't fund universal health care. The government has money for weapons and war. They build roads in Afghanistan and ironically, hospitals and clinics. The government has money for terrorism in Iowa. It has money for bridges in Alaska that go nowhere. It doesn't just say, sorry, education costs too much, we have decided that if you want to learn to read now, you will have to pay.
Why do politicians refuse universal free health care? Money? Why would the cost even come up? Why does Giulliani even mention money when it comes to American lives? Money shouldn't even be mentioned because it is a lame, immoral excuse. Just give people health care.
My Dad has had 7 or 8 heart attacks over the years and last November he decided, along with his cardiologist, that the shortness of breath was making life difficult. Dad wasn't in the best of health, but he went through with it. Complications arose during the triple bypass and valve replacement, and he remained in cardiac ICU unit for almost 6 months. That's right. Probably the most expensive room in the hospital, 24/7 for 6 months.
Dad is much better now. Off the feeding tube, breathing better, even in the swimming pool. He still has to take some meds, but since he is over 65, each prescription costs $2. The cost of the almost 8 month hospital stay? Zero. No charge.
Do we pay more in taxes than Americans? Well, I thought we did until the saw the Mitt Romney video. The woman working behind the counter says she is paying $1000 a month for health care insurance. Well, I don't pay $12,000 more in income tax than my American counterpart, neither did my Dad.
If you add on her $30 copays per prescription for her diabetic daughter, and probably other added expenses the insurance doesn't pay for, I really don't see how Americans pay less tax. I am pretty sure I pay less tax.
That aside, I get free health care even if I have a pre-existing condition. If I chopped off my fingers on purpose and went to the hospital, they would sew all of them back on. I would probably have to stay and explain why I did that, but it would be free and I would get free food as well. O.K., hospital food, but it's not that bad.
So the only reason I can think of that Americans don't have free universal health care is because someone is paying politicians to say otherwise. They call them lobbyists, but in my books, if you give a politician money to prevent something from happening, then it's called something. What is that word?
Hey, you know what I think of politicians. If the government wants you to fend for yourself and tell you that if you don't then you are building a "nanny state", then tell them that if they don't want to take care of you, then why have government in the first place? Tell them that they get their health care paid for by the government. If the government pays a congressman $100 to work, and asks for $20 back in taxes, then they are still taking $80 from the government. Doesn't matter how you look at it. Politicians get free stuff. Which is cool, as long as they take care of the people that they represent.
How about a national referendum? Nothing like some good ol' democracy to fix a problem. Everyone in favour of free universal healthcare, raise your hand.
They could use the slogan, "cut off all the fingers you want, we'll sew 'em back on---for free!" Who wouldn't raise their hand? Assuming of course, you could, after having cut all your fingers off.
I keep seeing this combined image of the Last Supper.
Well, not this exact one, but the same idea. I remember doing this years ago when Photoshop could first do layers. In the early days of image editing, it was fun to take old pictures and play with them. Remember the stereogram pictures? For awhile it was popular to create artificial stereograms or 3D interpretations of art. I'm guessing this was the early to mid nineties for me. I always thought it was interesting to look for "clues" in old pictures by manipulating them in this way. I do remember others doing the same thing, so I don't know what the big deal is over this Slavisa Pesci, a computer analyst. His method of scanning the image of the Last Supper, printing it on transparent paper and then laying it over the original in reverse seems more like something from the 70's, than the--- whatever you call it now. Oh, early 21st century.
A computer analyst? Why would a computer analyst print it on transparent paper and then place it over the original? Doesn't seem very computer-like.
I can't remember the exact, original way I did it ten years or so ago, but here is how you can do it.
First, you need an image of the last supper. I Googled, "Last Supper" and checked "images". I looked for a JPEG of at least 100K, hoping that I could get a decent image in Photoshop. I download the image and open it in Photoshop. For those of you that are scared of layers, I'll make it real simple. In Photoshop you should see a decent size image of the Last Supper. Select All. Open a new Window. Paste. In the Image menu , select Rotate Canvas, Flip Canvas Horizontal. Now you have a flipped version. Select All, Copy.
Go back to your original open window with the normal version and create a new layer. Paste.
Now you have two layers. The original, and the pasted,inverted one. Now just slide the transparency selector on the new layer to 50 percent. Your base layer is always locked, and sometimes, in order to get the most freedom, I will copy the base image, make a new layer, paste it, and then delete the original locked layer. This lets you play with the transparency on two, unlocked layers.
As for what you see when you combine the two images, I would first suggest that it would be wise to explore the ability to do such a thing 500 years ago. The Last Supper is a wall mural 15 feet by 29 feet. It was started in 1495 and completed in 1498. As for the image of Jesus in the centre, it is a common effect to have the centre of a mirrored image take on some sort of a full image. This is the fold and centre point of reflection. Do this to any picture, and you will produce a recognizable image.
The Last Supper has been extensively restored over the years. Less than 60 years after it was finished, it was considered to be extremely deteriorated. In 1652, a door had already been cut through it, since the painting was not recognizable. It's final restoration, finished in 1999, took 21 years, and some believe it was too dramatic, that it changed colours and even face shapes. It should be noted that there are preliminary drawings and sketches of some of the characters.
I believe that the image showing a reverse image on Wikipedia is incorrect.
About 10 years ago, I developed an small impeller that could be formed out of one piece of steel and used in 55 gallon drum mixers. It was well received as a slurry mixer in the semiconductor industry and rated as the most effective particle distribution impeller in the world. 99.995 percent solids suspension in 0.125 micron CMP slurry.
Around the same time, I had also been working on gas dispersion ideas to solve the problem of pumping vast amounts of gas into a liquid without stalling out the pumping ability of the device. Aeration and gas dispersion devices are a delicate balance between pumping and bubbling. Too much gas, and you just stall the whole system.
Of course, 10 years ago, it was difficult to sell technology that used significantly less power. It was also a time, when oilsand oil was still an expensive commodity. Not until $75 a barrel oil, did it become a profitable operation to get oil out of the oilsands. Some new breakthroughs in understanding the fluid flow,an update to my computer model and a new prototype have produced an effective froth flotation device that should cut the costs of oilsand processing by many times.
This hybrid impeller design can also be used in flu gas desulphurization systems, which can be used to clean the emissions from fossil fuel generation plants.
I think the environmental movement is forgetting that technology is also capable of cleaning up the resources we have now, as well as bringing us solar, wind and alternative fuel technologies. Fossil fuels aren't going away anytime soon, so it is important not to forget that we can lower carbon emissions and other pollutants using new technology that also reduces costs.
I invented a few things, and learned lessons along the way. I freelance design and develop machines for a few industries, usually under non-disclosure. I write about the ups and downs of inventing. I am currently developing next generation systems for fluids. It will cut the power needed by many times.
