Posts by Dan Paul

Sometimes, you get exactly what you didn't pay for.......

Just another in a long line of IT companies that believe their own marketing bullshit, racing towards the lowest possible labor costs so that in the end the outsourced IT specialists, outsource themselves and their company right out of business.

Somewhere along the line, governments need to establish laws and regulations that protect their own citizens against outsourcing, if only they could learn to take their craniums out of their rectums.

The short term capital expenditure that is saved by outsourcing is immediately overcome by the loss of tax revenue, cost of unemployement insurance and other "benefits" that are paid to the victims of outsourcing.

Any company that can only get out of their financial hole by outsourcing is already insolvent.

These are very simple facts and can no longer be allowed to be ignored by government.

Pressure is one of the MOST confusing units of measurement

Zero on Vacuum Gauges is considered to be atmospheric pressure or 14.7 PSIA, 0 inches of Hg, One Bar, 760 Torr, etc, etc, etc. This the same for Gauge Pressure (PSIG) but those don't usually go below zero. There are bidirectional gauges as well that show both positive and negative pressure on the same device.

PSIA is absolute pressure which is always referenced from Zero.

It seems every time some physicist made a pressure measurement, they had to create a new unit of pressure. Then someone had to come up with metric and the notion of vacuum gauges and "Gauge pressure" became very hard to grasp.

Inches of Mercury became a popular pressure unit because mercury is very dense and the primary pressure measurment device was a "U" shaped glass tube filled with liquid (Manometer). Mercury allowed measurement of very high and low pressures in a compact device that was only 3 foot long.

Multiple Moonshots flew on different trajectories

They have likley examined the specifics of the trajectory for that particular Apollo 11 moon shot to follow the debris path.

No rocket trajectory is exactly the same as they all change due to time of day, year, weather etc.

Radar tracking data would have helped them narrow down the search.

Cell phones and "social networking" will be the death of Humanity as we know it

My career is designing and selling DDC Control systems, most often to schools and colleges.

I regularly see tables of students sitting together texting each other (and the rest of the world).

They are not speaking although they are within inches of each other and not even looking at one another (or anything but the damn phone).

Don't they understand that they cannot have decent sex while texting? That you're digits have other uses than tapping on a keyboard? That you have to see the sparkle in her eyes to know for sure if she is "The One" so you have to look at the opposite sex on occaision (at least).

If this crap does not stop, humanity will become hunched over, half blind, flipper handed, deaf, & dumb troglodytes. Oh wait, it already has.

Those who build by the Sea.........

Speaking only for the USA, I am sick and tired of multi-billion dollar insurance settlements for "Hurricane or Flood Victims" who build million dollar "Straw Houses" on beachfront or flood plain property and then rebuild in the same location after every hurricane or flood with money that comes from my ever increasing insurance premiums.

Those who live in island countries deserve respect and consideration since they have no where else to go but we should not be allowing repeated building in flood plains or beachfront properties unless the design for the home considers the natural forces that will inevitably occur.

Islanders build homes on stilts for a reason and the bottom of those homes is above the flood zone.

Building a two story colonial with a basement on low lying coastline is a disaster waiting to happen. Relying on pumps and dikes to save New Orleans is a losing proposition given that hurricanes take out the electricity EVERY TIME.

Those replacement homes need to be designed for 250 MPH Winds and be built at least 20 Feet above the highest flood line.

The same thing applies for Tornado Alley residents. Either move somewhere safe or build to suit the weather. 12" thick concrete walls, plate steel roofs, and bulletproof glass would seem to be a requirement at least for ALL PUBLIC BUILDINGS.

Otherwise you could make the case that your elected officials knew of the danger and potential solutions but neglected to do anything to mitigate it either by changing the building codes or by making public buildings safer.

Obviously, common sense would say the use of trailer homes should not be allowed in most of these areas.

Perhaps those in low lying or island areas ought to consider Houseboats as the best solution short of growing gills.

All of the above is far more reliable than believing the predictions of any "climatologist".

Gartner, Manure and BullShite = Cloud Computing & Predictions about same

Not gonna happen until you pry my cold deal hands from my personal property/computer.

Yeah sure I want to put my data and info out on a "public Cloud" where it's not protected by the laws of home and hearth, where anyone can just hack the cloud to get at it, where anyone with a take down order can kill the server it's on. Sure, that's reliable and safe.... NOT!

Here's my biggest issue with the idea of "Cloud Computing".

Clouds evaporate, easily. Just like Cloud Computing there is nothing physical to rely on, only smoke and vapor just like marketing speak from Gartner, Microsoft, Google, et al. All the promises about uptime and backup are just hot air when all of your info blows away in the night.

At least if it was on your PC and it disappears, there is no one to blame but your self.

In this case, the worlds greatest liars and prevaricators are blowing even more smoke than usual up our collective shorts, trying to make us rely on "THE CLOUD" so we have to "subscribe" to a service so we have storage that is "always accessible". I have hard drives in a computer at home for that.

Anyone remember when you had a photo album to show the grandparents? Now you gotta have "Facebook" 'cuz not even your phone holds enough pictures any longer?

Tech Titans Should Come to Western New York State Instead!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Far warmer than eastern Canada despite what you may believe, low cost Hydro Power, plenty of fresh water, lots of potential employees that have a good work ethics, sound educations and low wage expectations (for the US), State and Local Industrial Development Agencies that will pay for everything just to get the jobs here, no Tornados, no Major Earthquakes, Low cost of living, great food, plenty of entertainment, centrally located, all forms of transportation available, new airports, decent highways, with drive times that are less than 1/3 of most commutes in large cities.

Oh, and plenty of stable bedrock....

All that and 6 major universities within 100 miles of Buffalo. Only downside, the occaisional snow storm which has been less than 30" total for this year.

SCADA system code is entirely proprietary

In order to lock in customers for programmable logic controllers (PLC) used in SCADA systems, the operating code for the PLC is usually very proprietary and frequently very compactly compiled to make use of the minimal memory.

Back in the earliest days of PLC's, there was negligible memory to use, perhaps up to 16kb. One Meg would have been a luxury.

This type of programmer knew how to write code to run on ancient processors that was reliable enough to launch missles and run nuclear plants and yet way more efficiently written than most anything today.

Who is to say that one of these guys did not come out of retirement to write this mystery section of the code?

What they did back then could be completely unrecognizable today.

Limbaugh is a permanent liability

Rush Limbaugh is a permanent liability to all who advertise with him. I cannot figure how anyone could ever agree with his twisted, sick, perspective outside of the Klan.

There simply is NO REDEEMING value to this man or anything he says and thus (IMHO) no value with those who advertise with him.

Limbaugh is the 2012 poster child for hate speech and there is little that can be done about it because it's (unfortunately) illegal to put a bounty on his head.

The freedom of speech is a double edged sword since everyone in the US gets their say as long as they do not cross the line into "Inciting a Riot" (and have enough money to pay the lawyers).

It takes a crazy Billionaire (like Branson) to make this happen

Folks, This is the stuff of legend. Self made Billionaire (yes crazy, narcisistic, etc) dreams big and comes through with practical, private space travel (eventually, don't believe ALL the hype yet).

The type of personality required to make these kinds of projects happen; requires a substantial amount of what "normal" people would call insanity.

IP57 is not really a waterpoof rating, IP68 would be

I hate to be petty, but technically IP57 is incorrectly described in the specs. The first number, 5 stands for Dust Protected and the second number, 7 stands for 1 Meter for 30 minutes Immersion. A truly Water Proof, Submersible rating is IP68 (fully submersible to 30 meters, usually rated for 24 hours, See Rolex) while the stated IP57 would be considered "highly water resistant" See Timex).

IP68 also applies when the enclosure has been opened and closed numerous times. IP57 does not include the enclosure ever being opened,

Oh, And I'm willing to bet they are "Self certifying" the IP rating with no 3rd party testing.

Again, the perfect moment to move Apple manufacturing to the USA

As I said in previous comments, this is a perfect time for Apple to grow a pair and move production to the USA. I guarantee Apple will get some state Industrial Development agency to pay for everything, all they have to do is make a firm committment.

Show that you have a social conscience, Apple and rid yourselves of China once and for all.

The FCC Always Misses The Point

We have a huge deficit and the FCC wants to give away the spectrum (obviously worth more than 300 Million). This is the problem with the entire system. The entire Satellite/cable/fiber/cellular/POTS/IT/Backbone infrastructure should be the permanent property of the USA and we should charge telecoms to use and maintain it. This way all telecoms would have to share cell sites & maintenance costs but they could all have the benefit of the technology at the same time. None of them could be monopolies because all costs would be the same and they don't own the backbone. Then the cost of service could actually be lower and competition would be greater.

Many of these remote areas would be better served by satellites sending and receiving 4G Signals. Distance is really not an issue if phones & spectrum were better designed. Seems to work well for Sirius/Xm Radio (for transmission to customer) Remind me how did we get locked into the same thieving telecoms for cell service as we did for plain old telephone service?

You see, we could have nice things in this country if we weren't subsidizing the costs of iPhones and lobbyists.

Why just Celebrities?

Each and every individual should be allowed to register their "Personality Rights".

Especially those who were raised with "Too much Self Esteem".

That way, everyone will have their god given chance to be self important.

Sorry for the spelling error & reply

Oops, I missed an S in disreputable. I do not believe that the US legal system would acknowledge this chinese holding company if there were any opportunity to have Apple products made in the USA. Note that few if any of the Galaxy Tab vs iPad design arguements held much water here in the US.

No, there would be too many political photo opportunities for any politician (same as Lawyer) to be on the side of a Chinese manufacturer.

This is what happens when you hire Ex-HP employees to be your CEO

For the last 20 years, I sold instrumentation and controls to Kodak. The bottom dropped out in 2006 when they sold film manufacturing technology to the Chinese. Then they spent million knocking down buildings at Kodak Park so they could pay less taxes, laid off most of their "brain trust", all in the name of "keeping the shareholders happy." Familiar words from Perez who emulated the work practices of Carly "Slash & Burn" Fiorina at HP whom he worked with.

The Engineering Department at Kodak was second to none, Their R&D Department was truly amazing and what they ought to do now is fire all upper level management and use the collective intelligence of their current and former technical employees and remaining patent portfolio to reform as a think tank/engineering firm just to keep the company from turning into another "Polaroid" shadow of it's former self.

Did you know that Kodak was deeply involved in the early engineering of the miniature thin film chromatography that became the diabetes glucose test strip? That technology should have brought billions but "it wasn't related to the core film manufacturing business" so they sold it off.

Did you know that Kodak was the collective mind behind the surveillance cameras and optics during WWII, Korean War, Cold War and made the cameras that went into the U2 Spyplane? That "Hawkeye" plant unit was also sold off to keep the shareholders happy.

This is a lesson to employees AND shareholders. Slash and burn CEO's are the death knell of any company that hires them. There SHOULD have been mass revolt when they hired this creep. But noooo... Greedy shareholders and CEO's come before employees, common sense, company heritage, history, American ingenuity, etc.

Now Rochester, New York is a ghost town when it used to have the highest paid, most educated workers in Upstate NY. With Kodak gone, there are hundreds of Technology vendors and support companies that will also be gone.

Antonio Perez should be forever forced to drink the containment well water from the volatile organic chemicals and heavy metals that have seeped into the ground on it's property for the last hundred years. Yeah, those chemicals that the now bankrupt Kodak will make the duty of the US EPA Superfund and NYS DEC to clean up and foist the cost off on the taxpayer.

Where is the Drag issue coming from?

Please help me understand why everyone is so concerned about "Drag"? Since the rocket will be balloon assisted up to 98,000 feet, drag should be next to negligible as the air density is very low.

The complicated controls required for a liquid fuel rocket will just reduce probability of success.

Staged, solid fuel rockets are MUCH more reliable and safer and the profile should not need to change drastically.

Lots of weather and lightning research rockets make 100,000 foot on staged solid fuel engines WITHOUT a balloon.

I think the real reason is that the Lohan crew just wants a license for unlimited supplies of Nitrous. Party Hearty boys!

@richard12 - Look at the thumbnails on the left side of picture

There are 14 "thumbnails" on the right side of the panoramic combined view. Figure they are 1.3 MP per thumbnail and then combined into one panoramic view for 18 Gigapixel overall.

I would figure they have onboard buffering for each of 14) 1.3 MP CCD and ability to see each view individually in much higher resolution and framerates. The distortion of the main view probably means the CCD's are ganged together under one lens like the retina of your eye. Select the appropriate "view" and optically zoom in, do lens error correction and digital zoom and you get a great picture. From that height, the camera view angle at the ground is pretty wide and this helps them get better resolution without higher bandwidth

Several commercial surveillance camera companies use this multi CCD sensor tech to avoid having pan and tilt mechanisms.

Of course you know they have better sensors than available commercially. Probably have great FLIR capability too!

Man with two, three, four worldwide GPS systems does not know where he (or his Drone) is.

It's hard enough to keep various systems synchconized as it is, let alone 3-4 "worldwide' GPS sattellite systems, each having various accuracies, software, firmware, manufacturer etc etc.

Let alone the comment that the Chinese would want "compatability" between the US and Chinese system and I have a concern as to "how compatable" these systems would (or should) be.

It seems to me that the Chinese know alltogether too much about how our military GPS system works and that they have shared that info with some of their friends in the Middle East.

I would prefer that there would be no comingling of GPS systems between Chinese and American systems since GPS obviously has so much military useage. Not to mention Iran's recent spoofing of GPS timing signals and resultant Drone capture.

Looks to me that it's time to brush up on our map and compass skills. Because you never know what "backdoor" is in that Chinese made GPS chip.

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

I for one want to be the first to welcome our new electronic Ovine Overlords.

May I suggest using a modified electric hedge clipper? Might be safer than whirling blades.

Also, tons of images and info on "Electric Sheep" on the web including life size Japanese robots with real wool.

FWIW, Arduino, Arduino, Arduino.... you won't have to reinvent the sheep!

Similar to flight 3407???????? Airlines just don't learn from their mistakes

Living in the Buffalo, NY USA area, we are regularly reminded of the crash of Colgan Air (Continental) Flight 3407 Dash-8 Q400.

Same issues, both pilots inexperienced in flying planes under manual control, bad user interface, pilot fatigue, adverse flying conditions (icing conditions in Buffalo during the winter, who'd have thought?) and resultant stalling and terrible crash and loss of life.

Here are my suggestions:

Icing - Automatic temperature sensing of icing conditions to operate all wing, flap, instrument heaters. Redundant fail over heaters. NO MANUAL OVERRIDE to turn them off, only one to turn them on. Icing Problem (mostly) Solved.

Training - Pilots who will fly in icing conditions should be required to train in ACTUAL ICING CONDITIONS UNDER MANUAL CONTROL and be CERTIFIED to fly in regions that have inclement weather. I would rather trust a flight out of Buffalo with a local pilot than one INTO Buffalo with a warm weather pilot from somewhere else.

Regulation - All new aircraft flown commercially shall be manufactured with automatic de-icing systems (as above) and all existing commercial aircraft shall be retrofitted with same or the ENTIRE Airline will be decertified. Same goes for the pilot training.

NOW if something goes wrong, pilot error will more obviously be the fault instead of the equipment.

Right now, many Pilots are nothing more than glorified Taxi Drivers who rarely if ever fly planes in manual.

What happened to Reason and Common Sense?

Correct me if i am wrong, but aren't "Professors" supposed to have a better education than those who are not "Professors"?

It appears to me that Thomas Sterner is well educated in everything but Reason and Common Sense. Apparently those living in the cloistered abbeys of "Education" seem to have lost sight of what "real" people have to deal with. I will bet that he lives in University provided housing, on campus, rides a bicycle everywhere because nothing is less than one kilometer from his office and since he is a professor, lives quite comfortably and probably always has.

The so called "poor " (in his area) are not affected by increased fuel taxes because they don't have or need motor vehicles.

That is NOT the case in all countries, particularly here in the US where I live. Urban Sprawl sent the middle class to the suburbs and now that they are the "Nouveau Poor" they need a car to get to work or even to obtain employment. Go figure but those who get Public Assistance are not allowed to own a car even though that prevents them from getting jobs that could pull them out of poverty (even if the car is 20 years old and is free to begin with) This shortsightedness keeps these people in the Welfare system. Though there are those welfare clients who register vehicles with others that are not on welfare, these are relatively uncommon.

Increased Fuel taxes are passed on to any and all consumers of food or other neccessities of life due to fuel use in food production, processing and transport. Sure the Farmer does not pay tax on diesel for his tractor and harvesters but he does pay tax on all other fuels. The trucker who bring the food to the processing plant pays tax, the processing plant pays tax, the trucker who brings the food to the distribution warehouse pays tax as does the trucker who carries the food to the grocery store and the consumer who drives to the store to buy the finished product.

What is so hard to understand about that?

Brit Boffin BONUS!!!!! - You can make Mead from Honey

Beehives - Hollow Logs or Woven Grass, Minor labor, otherwise Free!

Reliable Pollination for crops, provides higher yields, all Free!

Highly Deterrent, Intelligent Elephant Defense Perimeter - Cost of labor and some bee stings, otherwise Free!

All the Honey you need to make Mead - Nearly Priceless, you can drink it or sell it, your choice.

Dr. Lucy King saving Elephants from themselves (and Angry Villagers) - Cannot put words to how priceless that brilliant gal is, ought to get some kind of Nobel prize for that one.

The Christmas Special in "Scrooged"?

Maybe it's just me but doesn't this sound like the Christmas Special in the Bill Murray movie "Scrooged"? Breaking news...life emulates fiction.

Any fictitious TV Executive who makes a Vegas Revue version of Dickens "A Christmas Carol" is obviously inherently evil. At least Murrays character realizes the error of his ways and is redeemed.

Any real life TV Executive's who make a "Very Gaga Thanksgiving" special need to have open brain surgery live on TV so we can figure out what made them so fucked up and avoid it in the future. These exec's will suffer the eternal fires of Hell for even giving this idea consideration, let alone bringing it to reality.

What's in the "Glitter" these executives (and Gaga) have been snorting?

Bing Crosby rolls over in his grave (causing a 5.9 earthquake) as Lady Gaga sings "I'm dreaming of a Meat Christmas" while wearing a see through number with strategically placed rhinestones interspersed with raw meat.

All I can say is I sincerely hope she does not have complete creative control. That would make me want to proactively gouge my eyes out with a dull spoon.

Try an "Eductor"

Folks,

You need one of these http://www.1877eductors.com/pdf/Pumping_Liquids_V2010.pdf

This will pull 27 Feet of water on the suction side. Use a garden hose to provide the force required along with a hand operated control valve. Use a small needle valve to control the suction "air side".

Or you could just use an old refrigerator compressor and reverse the piping. Recycling the compressor is easy if you don't tell anyone you are dumping refrigerant to atmosphere.

I for one, am waiting for the "Confessional" app from the iPOPE! (Sarcasm)

Though it probably won't make it past the App Nazi's at Apple...

Just think of the benefits of being forgiven for your sins almost immediately after (or even before) committing them. (Though it really smacks of the electronic confessionals in the godaweful movie "Priest")

Isn't this exactly what the dual cameras were intended for? Just subscribe to the new Vatican iConfess service for only $19.95 per month, (airtime and roaming charges may apply) and reach salvation. Remember, to question the Church is to question God, confess now.

The only reason why the good Rabbi is ticked off is that he realizes that Judaeism screwed up when it did not take up the "Confessional" preferring to leave "The Inquisition" to the Jewish Grandmothers (who are second to none when instilling guilt). The Rabbi realizes they are missing a potential revenue stream here.

Which one's Pink?

Ah, if only poor Syd could have seen this image.......

But does it play Crysis at 1080P 60 FPS and all setting on High?

I just wanted to be the first to welcome our 240 frames per second Overlords.

Move along here, nothing to see (except for killing the messenger)

Really Apple,

If you could fix these various bugs in less than 48 hours, why did you not do it before? Did you use code provided by Charlie Miller to fix the problem? Maybe Charlie should sue the teats off you for theft of intellectual property.

At the very least, he deserves reinstatement for the public service he provided by pointing out your flaws, whether you like being told your software is unsafe or not. What a bunch of childish twerps you are! You have a longstanding history of blowing people off when they try to help you so he created an app to prove his point and got it in your "app store". Just shows you don't check applications for security very well now do you?

Question: What kind of fools do you think we consumers are?

Answer: Big ones. Apple, Etc; don't give a rat's ass about anything but bottom line profit. Oh, and "design".

All Software/Operating System manufacturers need to be held legally accountable for the shortcomings of their product(s). If any product has a bug in it that allows the theft or loss of personal or financial data by unknown entities, and the manufacturer was warned about the problem and di nothing to fix it, then the manufacturer should be required to compensate the consumer to the extent they were injured by the shoddy code.

This means each and everyone of you malingering douchebags, Microsoft, Norton, Trend Micro, Apple, SONY, etc etc etc.

Ultrasonic Cleaning - not for the average person (Pedantic Topic Alert)

If anyone has ever had any experience with commercial ultrasonic cleaners they would know that the sound is beamed in from the side or bottom of the tank and aimed at the parts that need to be cleaned. The cleaning fluid can be water, solvents etc. The sound waves cause cavitation when they reach the surface of the part that needs cleaning and the cavitation (tiny but very powerful implosions) scour the dirt away.

We have a local manufacturer of such machines in Jamestown, NY USA and they not only warn customers they could suffer skin damage if they put their hands in the solution, they go to great lengths to prevent it happening with electrically locked tank covers and interlocks with the control PLC to shut off the transducers if the tank cover is opened.

Apparently the cavitation will cause flesh to be macerated as the sound waves hit your bones.

This technology is nothing like ultrasound imaging which operates at different frequencies and low amplitudes.

Ultrasonic cleaning uses much higher amplitudes (greater power) in the kilowatt ranges that literally causes what looks like boiling in the cleaning solution, but peels paint and rust off metal parts. They dip a complete nasty, crusty engine block in and it comes out looking like it's brand new in a few minutes.

One reason why these could "sanitize" better is that anything organic in the cleaning solution will be reduced to almost nothing.

In other news, "Boffins" develop ceramic armor hand cream so you can use one of these new taps safely.

Just wait for the lawsuits when "Mom" decides to try to wash one of the children in the kitchen sink with the newfangled kitchen "tap". It certainly won't be suitable for handwashing (unless you enjoy your flesh macerated).

http://www.ctgclean.com/blackstone-ney-ultrasonics.php

More Stolen than Lost?!

Just an observation from a Yank, but given the proclivity of politicians (worldwide) for lying (and many who are associated with them), seems more likely that this stuff is getting stolen rather than "lost". Just easier to report it lost as the police don't get involved. They "might" find something incriminating otherwise.

Too bad politicians don't get "stolen"...... although lots of us regular folk tell them to get lost on a frequent basis.

Washington State Good Samaritan Law

The State of Washington has the following "Good Samaritan Law" on it's books:

RCW 9.01.055

Citizen immunity if aiding officer, scope — When, Private citizens aiding a police officer, or other officers of the law in the performance of their duties as police officers or officers of the law, shall have the same civil and criminal immunity as such officer, as a result of any act or commission for aiding or attempting to aid a police officer or other officer of the law, when such officer is in imminent danger of loss of life or grave bodily injury or when such officer requests such assistance and when such action was taken under emergency conditions and in good faith.

As far as I am concerned, he is just helping the police do their job. For example, the police were not at the scene of the fight that Fodor broke up, therefore Fodor was acting as a "Good Samaritan" in breaking up the incident, in effect exercizing his civil right to prevent a criminal act when no other authorized agent of the government was available. All US Citizens possess the right to make a "Civil Arrest". No police are required. Few if any ever have the balls to do it.

By the way, would his employer have precluded a police officer from working part time for them because of the same reasoning as used to fire Ben Fodor? If they did not, then that's precedent against the employer.

It seems a civil suit will have to be filed against his employer for violation of Fodor's civil rights (and responsibilities).

Usually, all "Good Samaritan" laws/regulations also include provisions stating that you must intervene or you could be charged with a crime because you did not do your civic duty. These mostly apply to helping sick or injured people but could be construed that if he did not intervene, someone would surely be sick or injured. Better to be proactive than reactive!!!!!!!!!!!!

Seems he had a pretty shitty lawyer representing him.

I am not a lawyer, just a fan of people who have the stones to do things like this in order to help others even though they get no compensation.

Also, where is the "Masked Avenger" Icon? I guess the angel will have to do for now.

My name is Vincent Mugabe and.......

I have an excellent proposition for you; my trusted friend and confidant. I have come into the possession of many solar powered IPads and miniature projectors which are being surplussed from a recent education project here in Zimbabwe.

All I need from you is provide your bank account number and password so we can transfer the funds required to pay the customs duty upon arrival in the United States of America.

For that inconvenience I offer you a 51 percent share of the proceeds of the sale of these fine devices.

Please be so kind as to remit these details as soon as possible.

Yours very sincerely,

Mr. Vincent Mugabe

Minister of Education

@Jeff 10 Never forget how much load your roof is designed for!

Consider the latest fashion for solar power involves several solar panels on top of a motorized sun tracking mount on a pedestal. The existing roof structural design certainly did not consider the point load and the wind load from this type of solar panel. They'd need to build a whole new roof.

The tracking panels are more efficient as they follow the sun and change the angle and elevation of the panel to get the most sunlight. California, Nevada etc can have roof monted fixed solar panels but it would not work in the Eastern USA.

Given that North Carolina is drowning in Pig Dung and that makes great Methane, maybe they should consider Fuel Cells instead of Solar. They produce electricity as long as there is "Gas" feeding them. Now you're "Green" and doing a public service as well.

On the other hand, Yahoo built a new data center near Niagara Falls NY USA that relies on our cool weather, using outside air during the late fall, winter and early spring to cool their equipment. No energy cost except the fans (No Chillers required).