Three-Letter Acronyms & Four-Letter Words

So as I stated in my earlier post, Jon Stewart of the Daily Show had a segment that touched on the use of Steam Power.

This struck a chord with me.

Over the last few years my buddy Jeremy and I have become more and more interested in hybrids, solar, wind and other alternative energy sources. So much so that I often times talk my wife, Gina's ear off about my own personal theories on energy related stuff.

So here is the base premise to my personal theory on what is messed up with energy production.

"Coal, Oil, and Nuclear are nothing more than steam engines."

All of them create heat using various forms of fuel to create steam and drive turbines that in turn create power.

So when Jon Stewart started making fun of the fact that the Oil is running out and that we need to start using steam power, it made me chuckle. Because, most of the energy that is produced these days is actually steam based.

Power generation for the last thirty years has been the continual refinement of big steam based turbine energy plants.

Now, I realize that I don't have any sort of engineering degree, but I do have a love for applied physics. I realize that calling them "Steam Based Electricity Generation" is probably a little too well naive, and I should probably call it something more like "Turbine Based Electricity Generation".

Of course once you classify electricty generation like that, it means lumping in Wind Turbines and HydroElectric Dams. I mean those are forms of power generation that involve the spinning of turbines to create electricity.

Other forms of electricity generation of course are Chemical (being like Fuel Cells) or photovoltaic (ie Solar Panels).

I think I might be missing the point of my overall theory, so let's try to pull it back.

The majority of electricity production in America comes from Coal fueled energy plants. While as our President is fond of pointing out the majority of electricity production in France comes from Nuclear fueled energy plants. (Mind you France is smaller than TX, so not like it wouldn't be hard to build a bunch of nuclear plants to power TX, just means no one wants one in their backyard.)

It still comes down to the fact that whether it is Coal or Nuclear, it is still a form of a steam based turbine.

This seams very freaking weird to me. Why is it in 30 years that we haven't made greater advances in electricity generation?

The simple answer is that fossil fuels have been more the most economical fuel, in terms of $$$. Not necessarily in terms of energy efficiency or the environment. Now, don't get me wrong. I'm all for clean power generation.

I learned today while doing a little research for this post that coal fueled energy plants actually expell (on average) more radiation than a properly running nuclear energy plant. (article)

That was very suprising, yet very understandable. Coal is dug up out of the ground, so is uranium. Therefore burning stuff you dug up out of the ground is likely to contain other shit from out of the ground. And burning stuff almost always releases other stuff into the environment.

Ok, so back to my point. Why is it that our energy generation technologies still focus mainly around a steam based turbine?

Is it because we know how to build them?

Is it because the turbines are easy to build?

Why?

I have read about photovoltaic stuff over the years and the production of those cells utilizes toxic chemicals which means they aren't very enviromentally friendly. Not to mention the cost of their production has kept them from being deployed on a massive scale. There has been some good news recently that some research groups have devised new methods to produce solar panels. (Article)

I guess I am just suprised really that as a world we are just now begining to make the necessary refinements to alternative/renewable fuel technologies that will get us away from trying to figure out new ways to heat up water and make steam to run a turbine.

Solar panels/cells are a great idea, free power from the sun. Then everyone throws out, "What happens at night?"

Two schools of thought, both of which I think are needed to achieve success.

1. Store excess power that is generated for use at night.
I read some articles recently that talked about using the excess electric to pump water upwards, thus storing it as "kinetic" energy, so that when night falls the water can be run through a turbine as it is allowed to release that stored kinetic energy downstream. I can't say that I am in favor of this idea too much, it seems like this would be highly inefficient.

Another article I read a while back about a device you could buy allowing you to buy electricity at night, during the off-peak, when demand is lower and presumably cheaper. However, the way I see it is, you now have a "Whole House UPS" why not fill it with power from solar panels on the roof. Store that power generated during the day for use at night. Since the unites are intended for homes anyway, why not use it at that distributed level to store power generated at the home level.

2. Use another form of energy generation at night.
By using Solar during the day you can offload the need to generate energy by a fossil or nuclear energy plant, and use those energy plants at night. Since the sun has gone down that means that it should be cooler out. And thus the need for power sucking air conditioners to be going full blast will go down at night, leveling out and providing us with a balance of night and day power generation.

Recent stuff I have read about wind generation has brought up similar question. "So what do we do when there isn't enough wind?"

Ok, same deal in my opinion. Store it for later.

I have rambled on a bit here, so again I want to bring back the main point.

Why does the majority of our electricity generation center around steam based turbines?

Simple answer, cost of doing business.

A related debate is on the lips of all Americans now that the price of regular unleaded at the pumps is hovering around $3.00 a gallon.

"Why are we still using gasoline?"

I am a huge fan of the hybrid cars, but those are still just a stop-gap. This gives us the segway to Fuel Cells.

For those that don't know, Fuel Cells produce electricity through a chemical reaction.

The simplistic view is that when you combine hydrogen and oxygen together you get a release of energy (electricity) and water.

NASA has been using fuel cells (and solar cells) for quite some time to power space craft (and stations). There isn't an Exxon nearby so filling up the space shuttle because the needle is almost on 'E' isn't an option.

So why don't we generate electricity on an industrial scale this same way?

Again, cost of doing business. Fuel Cell technology these days still utilizes lots of precious metals (platinum being one of main metals).

However, there was a good article I read in I believe Business 2.0 (hardcopy, sorry) it was discussing the problems that the production of Hydrogen for use in Fuel Cell cars and industrial energy generation faces. It brought up the very good point that you can create hydrogen from water (remember, H20) by applying an electrical current.

But of course you are about to ask "Aren't we trying to make electricity? Why would I use electricty, to make hydrogen, to just make electricity again? That can't be efficient?"

Well, of course it isn't. However, we go back to that issue of "storing" energy. The article proposed this scenario.

Use Solar and Wind energy to convert water into hydrogen. Store the hydrogen for later. This would allow us to fill-up our Fuel-Cell based cars and at night we could use the hydrogen to produce electricity (and water).

That concept seems like the best one to me. You get very clean energy, that is pretty darn renewable. Sure you lose a energy in the transfer from water to hydrogen and back. But you started that process using Solar and Wind, completley renewable energy.

As a closing note, what I am kind of curious about is. If you can apply pressure to a quartz crystal and get a small electrical charge, can that effect be exploited on an industrial scale? Will we one day be mining and searching for Dilithium Crystals?

Note: I did not mention a few other methods, like wave energy, or a recently Business 2.0 article mention that was name like the "Tower of Power" in which air is heated using the sun and drives a turbine. One of the wave energy ones I read about actually uses the wave energy to compress a 'bladder' of air that in turn drives a turbine.

Unfortunately I passed out pretty much right after dinner. So blog post last night.

I did however have the idea of what I wanted to write about. I was watching the Daily Show and Jon did a bit about something I have had a running personal theory about for a while...

Steam Power!

Yes, Steam Power.

I will try to write the post during lunch, but it might have to wait until after I get home. We will see. Also, Gina is coming home tonight, I can't wait I have missed her since she has been out of town, so have the dogs.

Laterz.

Where to start.

I was introduced to Mod_Rewrite by a pair of gentlemen who run a badass web development firm out of the Dallas Metroplex area, DeverGoodwin .

I sort of understood what was used for. But quite honestly, my initial understanding was about the same as what someone (non-developer/geek) would get from looking at the following picture from the Apache documentation website.



Yeah, that is what I am talking about. Looks powerful right? But what does it do exactly?

It is hard to explain in just one word or even one sentance. At least without first describing what I call a "Page Server".

Unfortunately I might be one of a few that use that name to describe it, if anyone out there knows a more common name for the following description, please post a comment about it.

But a "Page Server" is the idea that you write your web page application in a manner that you basically maintain a small number pages that people can access from the web. But these pages (or in some cases, you only have the index.php/asp/jsp) dynamically build their content based upon a "page code" or some other type of parameter.

This might leave you "non-propeller head" folks wondering what I am talking about.

Have you ever visted a website where the URL ends up looking like the following?

http://www.somedomain.com/index.php?pg=profile

This is what I typically a "Page Server". So the concept is that rather than have to write a page that is...
http://www.somedomain.com/profile.php
... you instead ....
http://www.somedomain.com/index.php?pg=profile

Of course the obvious question is. How exactly does that make things easier?

Well when one has to code web pages that look pretty and have a consistent feel you have to deal with making each page look exactly a like.

Say for instance in the header. Each page should have the same graphics across the top (or only slightly different) and they should have the same links (again or slightly different). When you are programming straight HTML, this means you have to copy and paste the code into each page.

When your coding in a scripting language like PHP or ASP you get the luxury of doing an include() type of function and just doing...
include(header.php);

In either the Copy&Paste or include(header.php) arena you will encounter a critical mass when it comes to the number of pages you are maintaining. This can be extremely evident when one needs to update a Copyright in the footer or change up the name of one of the links.

Well if you only have a few pages like 2 or 3, no big deal. Copy&Paste your heart out. But when you start having 10,20,30 pages in HTML you REALLY, REALLY should using a scripting language.

Of course once your using a scripting language the benefits to using a "Page Server" design are not entirely seen in the begining, it could even be more of a philosophical debate on why to build a Page Server rather than just make individual pages using the include(header.php) methodology.

I prefer the Page Server method. As it allows you to centralize your functionality, rather than having to update all sorts of pages with new path names or what not you can just update one file. If you work your switch() statement appropriately you can build new functionality into your web app quick and easily.

Of course a Page Server methodology means that you are bringing folks back to the index.php through links within your app. This means that if you are pushing folks to the central index.php. But someone decides to look for...

http://www.somedomain.com/about.php

They will likely get a 404 error. You could build a custom 404 to try to get around some of that. This is one of the first things that I saw about mod_rewrite, it allows you control someone's visit of your site completely.

If they search for a page you don't actually use it to simply force them back to your index page. Of course I am jumping a head a little bit.

As we now have a basic understanding of what I am calling a Page Server, let's start looking at how Mod_Rewrite can aid the functionality of a Page Server designed app.

Mod_Rewrite allows you to take the URL that is requested and break it up into variables that can be passed to the index.php page.

This means that to achieve the same thing you get with...

http://www.somedomain.com/index.php?pg=profile&user=fajita

using a URL like this...

http://www.somedomain.com/profile/fajita/

Yes, that is right. The "/profile/fajita/" is translated behind the scenes to the index.php as pg=profile&user=fajita.

This means that Mod_Rewrite allows for the creation of clean URLs rather than index.php?var=blah&var2=blah2. This means that your application will look better to users as well as search engines.

Now another thing that I love about mod_rewrite is that when I have done apps before using the include(module.php) I was always concerned about someone finding and browsing my module pages directly. Which meant I had to do security checks within the module to determine whether or not the person was logged in and then give a response like "unauthorized access" if they weren't and so on.

This meant that I was spending time writing or Copy&Pasting that logic into a module page that was really about the module but rather trying to prevent someone from accessing the page directly.

With Mod_Rewrite you have the capability to simply force everything back to the index.php page. You don't have to worry about the security checks. This overall makes it easier to code a modular web application without fear of someone browsing your module pages directly.

Here is an example of a few mod_rewrite rules...

Rule that allows for a one directory variable:
RewriteRule ^([A-Za-z0-9-]+)/?$ index.php?pg=$1 [NE,QSA]

The "^" opens the part of the rule that looks for what is in the URL. In this case I am looking for letters (upper or lowercase) and numbers. Whatever is found is submitted to the index.php page. The QSA appends the query string useful more so when dealing with a URL like...

http://www.subdomain.com/profile/fajita.php?view=pic1

However, I usually leave it on there.

Yes, the fajita.php, you can write a Mod_Rewrite rule that allows you to use non-existance file names, rather than just non-existant directories as variables as well.

Rule for 2 directories:
RewriteRule ^([A-Za-z0-9-]+)/([A-Za-z0-9-]+)/?$ index.php?pg=$1&search=$2 [NE,QSA]

Rule for 3 directories:
RewriteRule ^([A-Za-z0-9-]+)/([A-Za-z0-9-]+)/([A-Za-z0-9-]+)/?$ index.php?pg=$1&search=$2&type=$3 [NE,QSA]

Rule for one directory and a file name:
RewriteRule ^([A-Za-z0-9-]+)/([A-Za-z0-9-]+)\.php index.php?pg=$1&id=$2 [NE,QSA]

Rule for just a file name:
RewriteRule ^([A-Za-z0-9-]+).php$ index.php?pg=$1 [QSA]

To me Mod_Rewrite changes the way I think about web programming, I think of it more as programming an cohesive application that has different modules that are called using a centralized Page Server. Rather than just building individual HTML pages or scripted pages using the include() methodology.

It seems more like real programming.

I have read over the Apache tutorials and there are a TON of different things you can do with Mod_Rewrite. I will post some more on it later.

While seeing what DeverGoodwin could accomplish using Mod_Rewrite set me down this path. I would not have been able to finish my first project without the assistance from an interestingly named website. www.ilovejackdaniels.com, I found the mod_rewrite cheat sheet they provide to be very helpful.

Laterz

So today was pretty brain draining, first day back into the Austin office. So many folks to talk to so many things on my todo list to get sidetracked from.

Got a meeting in the morning so I should call it a night. Gina is on her way to Longview, she had a headlight out and the other apparently was barely attached. Funny thing is, she had her safety inspection done today.

Guess they didn't really do much inspecting.

Well before the last of my braincells nod off, I thought I would put up a link to the guy I stole line from for the title of this entry. Brent is making a website for his dad.

This is Brent's very first attempt at doing a website, so please don't be too critical. Anyone who did a website back in the day did something that looked pretty close to this...

Safari Dave

laterz time to go all narcoleptic and stuff

Could Lois Lane have Superman's baby?

Back in 1995 there was a debate between Brodie and T.S. that stuck with me through the years. I am not saying I lost any sleep over it, but when I saw Superman Returns I remembered it and realized that we finally had a cinematic answer to the question.

In Superman Returns, Lois has a kid. The young boy, Jason White is believed to be the offspring of Lois and Richard White (Perry White's nephew).

However, when his mother is in dire need of assistance Jason finds the strength to uproot throw a full-size grand piano across a room and thus flattening her attacker.

So now we know that the Lois and Superman did have a kid. However, the debate from one my favorite Kevin Smith flicks, Mallrats is funny enough for me to risk a lawsuit and do a minor excerpt. (Not that I think you would, but Mr. Smith please don't sue.)

---------------------------------------------------------------
But they're engaged.
It doesn't matter,
it can't happen.

Why not?
It's bound to come up.

It's impossible.
Lois could never have
Superman's baby.

Do you think
her fallopian tubes
can handle his sperm?

I guarantee he blows a load
like a shotgun,
right through her back.

What about her womb?

Do you think
it's strong enough
to carry his child?

Sure. Why not?

He's an alien,
for Christ's sake!

His Kryptonian
biological makeup is enhanced
by Earth's yellow sun.

If Lois gets a tan,
the kid could kick
right through her stomach.

Only someone like Wonder Woman
has a strong enough uterus
to carry his kid.

The only way
he could bang regular chicks
is with a Kryptonite condom.

But that would kill him.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I can only hope that if there is a sequal to Superman Returns that it answers the question about Jason White's biological makeup when it comes to the sun.

I had meant to make this post while we were back in Michigan but I kept forgetting. That is until I saw Clerks II yesterday it reminded me that I needed to do a Mallrats/Superman returns post.

I also want to note that during a discussion with Jeremy today I posted a story up on Digg. I had posted it with the notion that no one would every read it, let alone vote on it. However, before he and I were done talking a couple of folks had "Dugg" it. I checked the page views and it appears that about 80 some folks have viewed it.

Laterz.

We got our bags from Timbuk2. (Entry about the bags)

I am loving my bag, except for one thing. Which leads us to the title of my post.

My HP Pavilion dv4000 doesn't fit, it doesn't fit. Mind you I should have really measured the laptop or looked up the specs.

The timbuk2 internal laptop compartment fits a 13.5" laptop, my wonderful machine is 14.1. Well crap.

So until I end up with a smaller laptop (not for a long time mind you, especially since laptops are getting larger and larger. ) I will just use the internal laptop compartment to hold notebooks and such. Again this bag is more for daily travel of the laptop vs travel of my office.

The shoulder strap is excellent and well padded.

Here are some pictures.




I am thinking that I need to order a sleeve for the laptop, to try to make it a bit more safe in the bag than letting it get banged up in the there. Must try to keep the equipment safe.



All for now.