I didn't comment here to offend anyone, though I expected I would. I commented in the hope of making people think. I write from a male viewpoint, I confess, but I don't repent. You can look at this kind of thing from several emotional positions. I choose to take the cold biological "what's in it for me" position because there, I believe, lies the reason for the failure rate in modern relationships. Mooncake, I understand perfectly that women are not just calculating, cold-hearted witches; they don't consciously set out to change the terms of the contract after it's been signed, and they get extremely defensive about it. But at the lizard-brain instinct level, there is a relationship-destroying problem that they can't avoid and at the same time can't perceive. I offer the authority of the BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4790313.stm
It seems opinions here about the proper place of sex in a relationship divide along gender lines. Why am I not surprised? This is liable to get me into trouble, but it has to be done.
In fact, women like to be treated as sex toys just fine when it suits them, which can be defined as "as long as it takes to get a guy into a serious legal commitment". After that, some kind of switch throws in their heads. Their interest in sex falls at about 5% a month until there isn't any left, except for a measly amount doled out grudgingly as "reward" for exceptional acts of generosity or gallantry.
I have news for you, ladies. We don't need you for your cooking; most men can clean house themselves, when necessary; and there are laundries. Men really only want or need you for one thing, and there's a lot of it about, at prices very much more reasonable than you charge by the third year of marriage. A girlfriend won't wait for a proposal forever, but she'll typically last at least three years, delivering on a daily basis right up until the very end. A wife won't last that long.
So strictly speaking, for a man, a successful relationship is one where he gets laid often by one faithful woman but avoids commitment. In other words, happiness is being hunted. It won't last forever, but while it does, it literally does not get any better than that.
You don't have brakes on a windmill like this. You control it by feathering the blades - changing the pitch so that they don't catch so much wind. Most likely it was the pitch control system that failed and the tower raised its own alarm, bringing the owner on site with a camera to watch - as nothing else could be done.
This proves nothing. So the motor goes faster? Did anyone trouble to measure whether it drew more current as well?
About the third thing you learn on an electrical engineering course is that if you weaken the field of an electric motor, say by bring another magnet near it to interfere with the field, it will go faster. It has to, in order to generate enough back-EMF from the weaker field to get back into balance. The fourth thing you learn is that it draws more power from the supply when this happens, showing that you don't get anything for nothing.
How strange that the Professor wouldn't immediately think of this. He must have been teaching the "Electricity for Jocks" course to long.
Question for #5 Rosi: if you live nearby, do you know if the 19th century gun turret is still there on Admiralty Pier? That was an incredible relic. It didn't look like much, just a low circular building, but inside were a pair of 16 inch caliber muzzle loading cannons, with the steam rammers to load them and run them out. I have photos of that too, somewhere.
I went down this shaft when I was in Dover once, about 25 years ago. At the time it was completely derelict - the gates at the top were welded shut and the tunnel mouth was bricked up, and the bottom of the shaft was full of trash including the wreck of an old car! I have some photos somewhere. I'm so glad to see someone had the grace to restore it, instead of just filling it in.
More likely this only affects cars with an RFID key. I've got one. Even if a key turns in the ignition, the car won't start unless it recognizes the RFID chip, and a modest amount of RF field can jam this. The engine isn't affected if it's already running.
In fact, women like to be treated as sex toys just fine when it suits them, which can be defined as "as long as it takes to get a guy into a serious legal commitment". After that, some kind of switch throws in their heads. Their interest in sex falls at about 5% a month until there isn't any left, except for a measly amount doled out grudgingly as "reward" for exceptional acts of generosity or gallantry.
I have news for you, ladies. We don't need you for your cooking; most men can clean house themselves, when necessary; and there are laundries. Men really only want or need you for one thing, and there's a lot of it about, at prices very much more reasonable than you charge by the third year of marriage. A girlfriend won't wait for a proposal forever, but she'll typically last at least three years, delivering on a daily basis right up until the very end. A wife won't last that long.
So strictly speaking, for a man, a successful relationship is one where he gets laid often by one faithful woman but avoids commitment. In other words, happiness is being hunted. It won't last forever, but while it does, it literally does not get any better than that.
About the third thing you learn on an electrical engineering course is that if you weaken the field of an electric motor, say by bring another magnet near it to interfere with the field, it will go faster. It has to, in order to generate enough back-EMF from the weaker field to get back into balance. The fourth thing you learn is that it draws more power from the supply when this happens, showing that you don't get anything for nothing.
How strange that the Professor wouldn't immediately think of this. He must have been teaching the "Electricity for Jocks" course to long.