[ucodegen]

[quote=spdrun]I’m aware. I’m also aware that typical pressure tanks only have 50-100 gal capacity, some of which can’t be used once the pump stops due to pressure drop in the tank as water is used.[/quote]
True, but there is also the main storage tank which is often as large as 500gal or more. Add a gas powered pump and you have a reasonable ability to deal with some of the brush fires. Fire trucks carry around 250 to 500 gal of water on board. Water trucks from the fire department carry more.

https://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200418131_200418131

On a related note: I have been watching the growth of the Thomas Fire. I have relatives in the middle of it. I am really surprised at its spread. The fire even doubled back on itself, which makes me wonder what is going on. Fire does not like to burn or ‘re-burn’ over area that it has already burned. Fire started at Santa Paula and headed west.. then about 5 days into it, reversed direction going back through Santa Paula… here is the fire map for the still burning Thomas Fire.
https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1CePU2TdEh86nmBDBfPOAXf8Hp7NlpVpA&ll=34.53306454088723%2C-119.29924313999027&z=10

[ucodegen]

[quote=spdrun]Hopefully the lawsuits from people left without water to fight fires will make them think twice next time.[/quote]
The problem is sparking power lines have caused some very serious forest fires. Shutting down the power is a safety measure to prevent powerline sparking from starting another fire. Many people in the back-country do have backup generators, backup batteries and even their own small gas powered fire pumps. They will not fight fire directly from wells because wells do not flow the rate of water needed to fight a fire. They will use stored water. They will also use their own tractors/dozers to create layers of protection.

There is a significant amount of time that occurs before firefighting equipment can make it to the scene in the back-country. Not all the access is on paved roads.

NOTE: Water supply in the back country does not operate directly from a well. The well recharges a water storage tank as well as a diaphram based ‘pressurizer’. The pressurizer is used so that a pump does not have to run 24/7 to have line pressure within the house. City water also works on the same principle. Water is pumped to large tanks located higher than the residents (in the hills). Pumps only need to be run to recharge/refill these tanks. You can see them on Google maps. Here is one of them: Mostly inground for Carmel Valley Where it is flat, you get these water towers. There are a few of these in San Diego.
http://sohosandiego.org/main/event_uhwatertower031013b.htm
tin man

another one:

Brown mushroom water tower is cloudy but seen for miles

brown mushroom

The relationship between height and pressure for water is about 0.4psi per foot of altitude.

[ucodegen]

[quote=gzz]Ucodegen, funny you mention an infested fridge.

Twice in the past ten years I discovered hundreds of frozen dead or nearly dead ants in my freezer. Not a single one in the fridge side which was full of meat and sweet fruit. But hundreds of dead ones in the freezer.

Both times I never figured out how they got in, and the problem solved itself in one day. Everything in the freezer was bagged or wrapped in plastic, and they did not even appear to be going for anything in particular. Just hanging out and freezing to death on the bottom half of a side by size freezer.[/quote]
I had the exact same thing. More than once. I looked and saw a trail of black ants heading to the freezer.. looked inside and a significant pile of dead at the bottom (like a pile of black sand). A few were wandering around, but not very far in the freezer, but they seemed to never leave. In our freezer, everything was always bagged or wrapped as well. The only thing I could think of was that the freezer did not close all the way and the cool air had a higher ‘perceived’ moisture to the ants who considered going to that location for a water source. I wonder if none survived the excursion to the freezer to give the cancel scent (as in no food found at end of path) on the trail. That kind of makes it a one way trap. They sense the moisture on approach, reinforce the trail message but never report back once they get there.

Of course there is always that group suicide possibility.

[ucodegen]

[quote=livinincali]The current state of battery technology makes the reality of such a scenario much less likely than being illustrated here. The energy density required to fly a small device other a fairly large range just isn’t there. A tiny throw away drone with a small explosive, targeting and maneuvering hardware probably has a range of a mile or 2 unless it’s designed as a glider that’s being dropped from attitude. In order to execute an attack of this type you have to be in close proximity of the target. I.e. you’d have to fly a plane and drop a bomb of these over the target. Or find some other way of getting them close to the target before activating them. A Nuke would still be far more effective at just pure large scale damage unless of course you’re looking to kill the people while preserving the infrastructure.[/quote]
A nuke is not selective. If you noticed what was covered in the created scenario – the drones were selecting their targets, taking out some and leaving others. The drones were doing selective ‘culling’ based upon some unmentioned criteria.

They did cover the distance issue. Note on the video, smaller drone being carried by larger. The larger drones were also shown as being ‘breaching’ drones after they released the smaller drones. Range is an issue with both fueled planes as well as battery powered. Just compare the range of the following; RC gas powered plane, small personal plane, luxury twin engine, Boeing 737, Boeing 747. Scaling fuel capacity is by 3rd order – double the size give 8 times the fuel. Batteries will always have less energy capacity than fuel, that is due to the nature of how the energy is stored. Batteries are simple electron exchanges, fuel is complete chemical rearrangement.

NOTE: The scenario shown was not a nation state vs nation state. It was factions within a nation state or the nation state against various other groups within the nation state.

It could also be seen as a terrorist deployment within a nation state.

[ucodegen]

I found Boric Acid to be awesome.. I had used normal baits and was seriously disappointed. I heard about using Boric Acid in baits and was curious so I used it on an Ant problem I had. I don’t like having to re-apply poison, and prefer not to use it at all. There is a Boric Acid Gel if you want the easy to apply, no mix etc method. I don’t know much about Fipronil.

I think that the ultrasonic devices sort of work. I think they work kind of like a very loud noise to a human. The human would normally avoid the area unless they know that something they desired is within the noisy area. It not absolute in its behavior, and doesn’t work if the insect has created something like a scent trail.

I understand what you mean by having to rely on neighbors to be clean with respect to roaches (and ants) and condos. It can even apply to free-standing houses w/ hoarders(super pack rats). I have also seen how ants get ‘moved’ by someone hiring an exterminator for their place and all of their ants end up trying to invade nearby houses looking for water (many of the poisons used by professional exterminators seem to make the ants thirsty) and food.

NOTE: I was in a roommate situation going through college and someone brought an old cockroach infested refrigerator into the house. What a nightmare. It would have been nice to know then, what I know now. – FYI: If you have an infested fridge or furniture – toss it. They get into everything.

[ucodegen]

[quote=spdrun]Borax. (Assuming no pets or kids who lick the floor.)[/quote]
I have heard of using Boric Acid baits. While I haven’t used them on roaches, I have used them on ants and they were very effective where other things failed. Boric Acid is relatively harmless to humans and animals, however it is toxic to insects and can bio-accumulate in insects. Because roaches are cannibalistic, they will consume their own dead which may have been killed by Boric Acid – which then continues its effect. It is not an instant insecticide, it takes time but tends to wipe out large populations. Some people have even recommended using the sonic devices to drive the roaches away from most rooms and towards a ‘killing room’ that has the Boric Acid bait.

NOTES:

[ucodegen]

[quote=CA renter]Personally, I’m concerned about ALL state actors as well as independent groups and individuals who could use this type of technology in a nefarious way. I’ve been following these issues for a number of years as a non-tech, but politically active, observer. IMO, we should outright ban this type of technology and spend our resources on defending against it.[/quote] How are we going to prevent it. Sounds like a good idea until you look at what is needed for compliance. You don’t need a large infrastructure to develop or build it. We can’t control illicit drug manufacture and importation of illicit drugs into the United States. What makes you think an outright ban would prevent development. I do think we need to concentrate on how to defend against them.

[quote=CA renter]
Many of our greatest “tech geniuses” have been warning against AI for a long time. While there are some benefits to AI, we need to balance those against the risks. IMHO, the risks are too great. There are plenty of people in the world who would like to use this technology in order to gain power and control over the world’s resources and human populations.
[/quote]
I wonder if these people trying to create AI really think that AI would continue to work for them – Part of the acronym is ‘Intelligence’. Anyone who had dealt with kids growing up realizes that they go through a prolonged rebellious stage as they find and define their own identity. Imagine that in an AI with weapons. How do we put a conscience in an AI?
[quote=CA renter]
AI isn’t the only problem, though. Drone, surveillance, and weaponized technology (and miniaturization) is a problem in itself. People can be every bit as evil as a machine, so I think we need to work toward the defense against, and the elimination of, most intrusive or destructive technology because there’s no way to ensure that it will be used for benevolent purposes.

What do you think, ucodegen? You’re probably better informed than most people regarding this issue. I’ve always appreciated your input on a variety of topics. It’s long been obvious that you know very well what you’re talking about when you post; you’re not tooting your own horn. Thank you for your contributions to this site.[/quote]
I don’t think we can prevent, but we do need to look at defense. The ability to create this so called ‘tool’ is too easy. I also think it is a manner of time, and not much time. That is why I brought up our problems with illicit drugs and the lack of our ability to control it despite the lives it takes (both in use, manufacture and transporting). That is also why I brought up North Korea who has managed to get Nukes despite bans and attempts at bribing or cajoling them to do otherwise.

A thought on defense:

EMPs (Electromagnetic Pulse weapons), while they can take out the drone, they may also take out a lot of other infrastructure. One of the issues with sensitivity to EMP has to deal with the length of wire within the targeted device. The shorter the wire, the more power you would need to use to generate a damaging ‘over-voltage’ in the target device. There are also ways to shield a device from EMP (to some extent). EMPs can be directed like an RF signal, however like any RF signal, they can have ‘side lobes’ which could create unintended damage. Because an EMP is a pulse, it comprises many frequencies – which could cause multiple side lobes from the emitter – each at a different frequency. Phased array technique might work, timing multiple smaller pulses to arrive in the target area simultaneously – protecting areas near the pulse emitters because each pulse emitter would be producing a weaker signal. At this point I may be getting close to ‘sensitive’ areas – so I stop.

Lasers – useful for single, and resistant to anti-sniper movements noted shown video. Time of arrival at target is near instantaneous. Will need to be careful because lasers continue in a straight line… and continue.. and continue. If you miss – where does the beam stop? If you burn through – where does it stop?

Thanks for your appreciation. I do try to keep things relevant. I put out my background because there are some posters on the board that seem to prefer to troll, and I wanted to keep things on the thoughtful level. My background also might demonstrate why I feel this is a disturbing issue – giving some credence to my words.

[ucodegen]

[quote=phaster]
interesting video presentation,… was waiting for the punch line “making the world a better place!”

perhaps adding that bit of gallows humor might have been just a bit over the top,… anyway given Moore’s law, asymmetric “autonomous-information” warfare is inevitable
[/quote]
Maybe that was the mission statement for the pseudo company in the video?? I don’t know if it would be a bit over the top. Maybe gallows humor is appropriate.
[quote=phaster]
[quote]
ON HYPERWAR
…
https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/2017-07/hyperwar
[/quote]

whats the old proverb, may you live in interesting times

the pragmatic goal for anyone w/ or w/out a tinfoil hat being,… “may you live thru interesting times”[/quote]
Can’t agree more. This is one of the things that I think banning won’t prevent. The knowledge is already out there. It might be better to think of how to defend against it. I like the link you provided. Did a read on your quote, and bookmarked the link to get back to it for a more thorough read. Here are two more links – one to the effect that putting a ban in place really won’t stop development.

https://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/military-robots/lethal-microdrones-dystopian-futures-and-the-autonomous-weapons-debate

https://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/artificial-intelligence/we-should-not-ban-killer-robots

[ucodegen]

[quote=The-Shoveler]Soo you think NK will not have the ability to develop this on their own?

(or buy talent?)

Having the ability to take out “one” Individual in a crowd (reliably) may take a long time but to take out anything that looks human in a given city probably not so long.[/quote]
I don’t think NK has the ability to develop significant new tech on their own, but they have shown the ability to buy or hire talent – possibly from China, maybe Russia through their respective black markets. I alluded to that in my comments. To pick out one individual in a crowd is already there. The British police cams can do that and Apple has face recognition for their phones (allows ones face to unlock phone). Picking out human forms is already there – Google’s driving algorithms can detect and differentiate/id between cars, buses, people riding bikes, bikes on the side, animals, people walking in sidewalks.

Watch this: emphasis on time index 0:34. Yellow boxes are people walking, red box is person on bike, purple boxes are cars, series of red boxes on ground represent a ‘control zone’. It is also identifying stoplights and ‘reading’ them as well as stop signs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqUbdd7ae54

So on both counts we are already there. My argument goes along the lines of – lets take the required form ‘size’ for something with that capability takes up the space of a Predator drone. I feel that I am within reasonable range of that considering that Googles unit runs in a box smaller than a suitcase in a car, Apple’s face id is a phone app, the Predator already has propulsion, weapons, comm etc. Apply Moore’s law of increasing density to approx required size in implementation. A Predator drone is 55′ wide by 27′ long – approx 1,485 total horizontal area which can be represented by about 38′ on a side. In two years, Moore’s law would indicate that it would be 19′ on a side, four years 9.5′ on a side, 6 years would be 4.75′ on a side, 8 years would be 2.375′ on a side, 10 years would be 1.8′ on a side.

Now there is one big problem with what I mentioned above. That is that the Predator’s guidance, surveillance and weapons control package is about 1.5′ by 1.5′ by 3′, not 27′ by 55′. All the rest is the plane including fuel for long range operations. That means we may already be close the the 8 year mark that I mentioned above. As for smaller drones that spy, this is 2011 (reminder it is currently 2017 now)

http://content.time.com/time/video/player/0,32068,1281633027001_2099853,00.html

actual applied device:

And this was done 2013.

[ucodegen]

[quote=moneymaker]Right now looks like fake news, but I can see it in the near future.[/quote]
The video ‘demonstration’ is not real, as well as the contrived scenario – but a warning of what may come. The estimate for having such devices is now being estimated in the timespan of years not decades. Remember Moore’s Law. The video was designed to look like it was a real promotion – watch to the very end.

[ucodegen]

Sounds like the TV series called “Scandal”. Quite possible for it to occur. Part of the problem is that law has not caught up with computer tech. Many people think that a date on a file is non-malleable. Far from it. It is quite easy to move the date. Believe it or not, some people still believe that the “From” on an Email is always the actual sender.

There is another way to ‘cert’ an article or pub other than copyright. It is possible to get it electronically signed which also contains an non modifiable date – since the date will be date of signature. I used to remember the name of a service that created signed tokens (CRC32) of files with date of signature also encrypted in the token. It also contains an encrypted reference to the previous signed token in the current token. It functioned almost like an encrypted block chain.

One way to approach it, pending other solutions, is to ask for the reference to the Wayback machine and its date of capture. The Wayback machine timestamps its internet captures.

http://archive.org/web/

example:
https://web.archive.org/web/*/finance.yahoo.com

Here is a possible approach, though probably not legally binding – better than nothing:
http://www.mit.edu/~jis/timestamp.html

Similar:
https://www.digistamp.com/technical/how-a-digital-time-stamp-works/?q=1

More Info:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trusted_timestamping

NOTE: pissedconsumer.com is on the Wayback Machine, and has been captured quite often. frankfortherald.com has just a few captures, palastinetimes.com doesn’t have any, palastinetoday.com has all of 3 captures over 20 years.. etc.

[ucodegen]

From the point of view of someone who had to replace their fence. Got bids:

56 linear feet, 2 gates, height of fence is 64″. Everything is cedar except posts, which are pressure treated 4x4s.

The item that is getting you are the gates. You should have a breakdown showing the prices of the ‘parts’.

Two bids from diff companies:
#1: 56 linear feet came close to $3000, about $480 per gate.
#2: 56 linear feet came close to $2000, about $300 per gate.

Included removal and haul away of old fence and gates.

NOTE: be careful on gates. The problem with pressure treat is that it ‘moves’ a bit as it ages – making tolerances a possible problem, though pressure treat is necessary when putting posts into the ground.

[ucodegen]

Here is a link to the actual bill.. and you will be able to download it for local copy.

https://waysandmeansforms.house.gov/uploadedfiles/bill_text.pdf

Don’t know how long it will be there – odd naming, does not even refer to which session of congress. I couldn’t pull it directly from house bill records.

[ucodegen]

[quote=poorgradstudent][quote=kev374]I am reading in a lot of places that Atlanta has the top shot at this now just because of it’s geographic location, Amazon wants to have a HQ closer to the East coast, it’s the biggest airline hub in the country, serves as a terminus for a lot of road traffic, has a huge amount of tech talent, strong economy, good universities and schools, relatively affordable housing (at least for now), relatively good weather, in addition Georgia is giving $1 billion in incentives etc.[/quote]

Atlanta minimally is a finalist.[/quote]
The problem with Atlanta is that there is too much traffic. It might look good at first blush, but I you try flying though Atlanta, you find the problem with too much traffic. Per 2015 Census, the following are cities with more than 1 million; New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Antonio, San Diego, Dallas, San Jose. Looking at being located more central to US (and Mexico), that brings it down to Houston, San Antonio, Dallas. Dallas is #4 of top busiest airports. If you factor busiest by cargo, it is Memphis International, followed by Anchorage – Dallas is #9 and Atlanta does not even appear.

Atlanta has 5 runways (1 longer than 12,000ft, 4 at 9,000ft +), Dallas Ft Worth has 7 runways (4 at 13,000ft +, 2 at 9000ft+ and 1 at 8000ft+). Cargo planes tend to need longer runways. Atlanta’s runways all go east-west, Dallas Ft Worth has 5 east-west runs and 2 diagonal. Winds don’t always blow east/west.

I would hazard by looking at the specs that Dallas, Ft Worth is a likely choice.

When I add in freight rail lines – Atlanta even looks worse. Atlanta is served by 2 major class 1 railroads (CSX, Norfolk Southern – both east coast rails), Dallas, Ft Worth is served by 3 major class 1 railroads (Union Pacific, BNSF, Kansas City Southern – mostly central to west coast, Kansas City runs into Central Mexico) – some of what you get from Amazon has to be shipped ground.

[ucodegen]

[quote=FlyerInHi]You only need to issue 1099s if you own a business.
Even real estate investing is not business if it’s a hobby.[/quote]
You also may need to issue 1099s if you are part of an LLC, or if you are part of an investment club.

[Author]

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