Good stuff

So, about a week ago, I decided to do a search for NAS boxes with DLNa, since the one I have was discontinued, and I wanted another one.

NAS stands for Network Attached Storage. Basically a box that holds one of more big hard drives and makes them available to the computers on your LAN. Very useful for sharing files and for backups as well.

DLNA is a sort of protocol for sharing media files over the LAN. My Bluray player can play files from the NAS box, for example.

Anyway, one popped up on sale at Fry's that looked like it'd do. So I sent a link to my "computer guy" and asked if he'd front me the mony for the NAS and a 4TB drive for it (basicallly, he buys it and I pay him back over the next few months).

He agreed. The NAS box is back-ordered (sigh) but the 4TB drive arrived the other day. So both to test it and (hopefully) to get a head start on setting up things for the new NAS box, I stuck it in the empty slot in the current NAS box. Since both the current box and the new one use EXT 4 file systems, there's good chance that I'll be able to pull the drive from the current NAS and plug it into the new one and have things just work.

If not, I'll at least have done an extensive burn in. :-)

BTW, do you have any *idea* how long it takes to copy 3.5 T B of files? Yeesh.

In other good news, I've been wanting to get a semi-decent bed to sleep on. What I'm using now is sort of kludged together from a broken futon couch.

I'd been thinking about a twin bed (much as I'd like one, there just isn't *room* for a double). and then a twin bunk bed showed up on freecycle. Clear across town though. So no way.

Then a couple days later another one showed up. This one was in my "quadrant" of town. I emailed to find out where they were exactly, and they turned out to be only about half a mile away!

Still couldn't figure out how to transport it. Then the person offering it said that since I was so close, they'd be willing to deliver it. Yay.

Finally got it a few days ago. I'm going to have to reassemble it, but that's doable. Shifting things around so I can put it together has been "interesting".

But with luck, I'll get it done tomorrow.

It's an all in one frame, not one that can be seperated into individual beds. Also, since it was intended for kids, it's a bit short. But if I use the holes for the rail for the mattress supports instead, I should be able to sit up without hitting my head. And I'll still be able to use the upper for storage.

bed update

Finally got it assembled and bedding etc transferred.

It's a royal pain trying to get screws thru the holes in the uprights and into the holes in the six foot long 2x4s that are the sides of the bunks. At least it is of you are doing it by yourself.

Worst thing was that once I got started I didn't have anyplace to lie down to rest. And since I get tired easily these days that just made things harder.

I definitely need to see about getting a decent twin mattress because the folded over double futon is *way* thick and will have me perching a lot higher off the ground than I expected.

Thunderbirds are go.

I know it's cheesy, but usually the stupid isn't *too* extreme.

But I finally got around to watching Season 3, episode 8: Crash Course.

They really mangled things this time. they have a pair of ground-to orbit space frieghters collide. One is going up, the other was heading down.

First off they start arguing with each other about who is supposed to change course. Oy. Other comments make it clear that the writers are using trucks on highways (or maybe ships at sea) as a model.

Sorry folks, when you've got that level of space traffic, there *will* be Space Traffic Control (STC) to prevent exactly this sort of thing (and a whole bunch of others as well). Even more than with Air Traffic Control, you *will* use the course they assign you. We'll get to why in a bit.

Now, these ships were going in essentially opposite directions. And they had to be at something approaching orbit velocity. That's 8km/sec. So collision velocity would be more than 15 km/sec (I went low because 15 is easier to work with than 16).

Rule of thumb. A mass impacting at 3 km/sec releases the energy you'd get by detonating an equal mass of TNT. The energy release goes up as the *square* of the velocity. So at 15 km/sec, they are moving 5 times as fast, so they'll release the energy of *25* times their combined masses in TNT.

And these freighters likely mass tens if not hundreds of tons. So there won't be much left after the collision (and what will be left will be spreading all over the place at high speed creating hazards for everybody else in or near earth orbit.

BTW, *this* is why you *need* STC. A ship impacting a station or a city on the ground will make 9/11 look like a campfire.

But no, the ships are mostly intact and stuck together. And there's a hazard from their cargoes if they get mixed. Which is also a major WTF as one of them is carrying *liquid* aluminum oxide. Aside from there being no sane reason to ship it as a liquid, given that it melts at something over 1000 degrees a leak would be a major hazard regardless of what the other ship was carrying.