Torque vs. Horsepower: what these terms mean for cars
I have often been confused by the stats about torque versus horsepower when talking about car performance. Here’s a site that gives a fairly clear explanation of the differences [Vette Net]. To summarize…
- torque: corresponds to the force that the driver feels as the car accelerates
- horsepower: loosely defines overall ability to accelerate since, through gearing, a higher horsepower corresponds to torque over a longer period of time
All else being equal, horsepower is more important to performance, but torque is what you feel.
Windows XP keyboard shortcuts
I very helpful list of Windows XP keyboard shortcuts [FixMyXP.com]. Putting these into practice can have a dramatic effect on you productivity if you work on a computer a lot.
How powerful is a 747’s engine?
Visual demonstration of just how powerful a 747’s engines are [Google Video].
Cool stuff in the mail!
I guess today is a good day… Both my Cingular 2125 phone and my Alienware m5500 shipped today. I should see them early next week at the latest. I guess that means that next week will be a good week too!
Ramtha: Creating a cult of personality
One of the most intriguing people in What the #$*! Do We Know!? [imdb] was J.Z. Knight, aka “Ramtha”. She has a few things going for her 1) she is attractive, 2) she has this accent that is hard to place; it sounds American, British and Russian all mixed together, and 3) she has a poetry and a zeal when she talks about physics and physiology (probably everything else too, for that matter).
Ramtha runs a school called Ramtha’s School of Enlightenment [site]. She charges lots of money to instruct people on how to become enlightened. I’ve always thought that I could run one of those schools if I wanted to… Anyway, there is a thorough skeptic’s site about her if you need the other side’s opinion [the Skeptic's Dictionary].
Controversial claims in the movie: What the #$*! Do We Know!?
Like I said in an earlier post, I watched the movie, What the #$*! Do We Know!? [imdb] yesterday. It was a very interesting movie, and presented a number of scientific theories that I was already familiar with. It also discussed some areas that I was less aware of and found intriguing. However, the biggest backlash to the movie is coming from the leaps that the authors have made going from scientific theories to their own agenda of how these theories apply to other perceived phenomena. The Wikipedia page is very informative on the topic [Wikipedia].
I find their ideas interesting and certainly the best attempt I have seen yet to bring an air of validity to New Age concepts. Overall, an interesting movie, but viewer beware; you might be assimilated!
Online dictionary of algorithms
An online dictionary of computer algorithms [Dictionary of Algorithms and Data Structures]. May come in handy on the project I will be working on in Mexico.
Cingular 2125 to be released on December 12th
The latest news on the Cingular 2125 is that it will be officially released on December 12th [Smartphone Thoughts]. The phone even showed up on the Cingular website today [Cingular]. Now, the funny thing is, I’ve been thinking more and more that I really don’t need a cell phone while I’m in Mexico. The primary reason I want a new phone is because my SMT 5600 has a busted LCD. Secondly, I want to start a photo blog and a camera phone would be ideal. But, I have to ask myself; do I really want to pay that much money now? I’m on the fence…
Another best-of-free-software site
I’ve posted a number of these lately, but they each have some little gems. So, here is yet another [Tech Support Alert][via Digg].
