E = 1/2 m v^2

A railgun has a limited length, to shoot faster, the railgun needs to be longer.

If a 1 kg projectile is shot at 1,000 m/s, it will change the speed of a 1000 kg object by 1 m/s due to conservation of momentum.

Betta (Betta splendens)

• Keep males apart, because they will fight
• Keep one or three females to establish hierarchy
• Males will nip at long-tailed similar fish
• Fast moving fish nips will abuse betta
• Stays near surface
• Can breath on surface
• Eats flake food, blood worms, brine shrimp
• Builds bubble nest
• Frys eat brine shrimp and hard boiled egg yolks

Cardinal Tetra (Paracheirodon axelrodi)

• South America, slow moving, well-planted aquarium best
• Schools, keep 6 or more
• Eats flake food, tubifex, bloodworms, brine shrimp, daphina

Neon Blue Dwarf Gourami (Colisa lalia)

• Looks like large cardinal
• Dark substrate
• Similar to Betta
• Eats algae-based flake food, tubifex, bloodworms, brine shrimp

Panda Cory Cat (Corydoras panda)

• Schools, keep 6 or more
• Eats flake and pellet food, brine shrimp, worms, algae tablets
• Avoid rough substrate to protect barbels
• Feed before turning off lights

Red Cherry Shrimp (Neocaridina denticulata sinensis)

• Copper kills invertebrates
• Avoid crossbreeding
• Breeds easily
• Eats algae and left over food, supplement with algae tablets

Food

• Meaty flake food
• Algae flake food
• Sinking algae tablets
• Brine shrimp
• Bloodworms

Feed twice a day for 2-3 minutes, don’t feed one day a week to clear out intestinal tract. Special treat day for brine shrimp or bloodworms. Feed catfish before lights out.

References

• http://www.liveaquaria.com

Avoid caffeinated drinks (diuretic just like chocolate).

Add Gatorade or lemonade to your water to decrease freezing point.

diuretics – drug that increases rate of urination

References

• http://ezinearticles.com/?What-You-Should-Know-About-Hot-Weather-Camping&id=261186
• http://www.backpacking.net/wintertips.html
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diuretic

Handy soda can stove.

Construction

1. Cut bottom piece 1 1/8″ from bottom of can.
2. Cut center wall 1 1/2″ x 7″ from center of can.
3. Stretch bottom piece on full can.
4. Cut notches on bottom of middle wall to allow alcohol to flow.
5. Cut top piece 7/8″ from bottom of can.
6. Pierce fill holes in middle of top piece.
7. Place center wall inside of top piece.
8. Stuff cotton balls inside center wall.
9. Sand edges of bottom piece.
10. Push bottom piece on outside of top piece to connect.

Usage

Fill top, place penny to block fill port. Preheat. Then light jets.

Principle

Alcohol evaporates, but it only can go through the vents on the rim since the fill port is covered with a penny. If too much pressure builds up, the penny is pushed up relieving pressure. If the alcohol evaporates fast enough, it can be lit on fire, which heats up the alcohol in the cotton ball reservoir maintaining the cycle. The middle wall helps build up the pressure and force the alcohol through the vents. The holes in the bottom of the wall let the alcohol escape from the central reservoir. This is similar to lighter, but without a wick.

References

• http://www.instructables.com/id/Can-Stove/
• http://www.instructables.com/id/Cool-Little-Miniature-Stove!/
• http://zenstoves.net/Stoves.htm
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beverage-can_stove

Here’s some MATLAB code to calculate the order of pages to print when doing a booklet with signatures of a certain size. Assuming you take a sheet of 8.5″ x 11″ and fold it over to make 4 pages. I should be able to combine this with pdftk to turn reorder any pdf to make it print into a booklet for those printers that don’t have booklet functions.

Npages = 310; % total pages
signature_size = 8; % sheets of paper  in a signature
N = signature_size*4;
Nsignature = floor(Npages/4/signature_size);
% do complete signatures
p = [];
for nj = 0:Nsignature-1
  c= N/2 + nj*N
  for ni = 0:N/4 -1
    p = [p c - 2*ni c + 1 + 2*ni c + 2*(ni+1) c - 1 - 2*ni];
  end
end
% do left over signature
Npagesleft = Npages - Nsignature*N;
Npagesleft = ceil(Npagesleft/4)*4
c = Npagesleft/2 + Nsignature*N
for ni = 0:Npagesleft/4 -1
  p = [p c - 2*ni c + 1 + 2*ni c + 2*(ni+1) c - 1 - 2*ni];
end
p % order of pages to print

In light of Haiti and recent power outages, it is prudent to reaccess emergency preparedness. There are many categories of survival kits. I’m still trying figure out what I need.

Pocketable Kit

Along the lines of the Combat Survival Tin and Survival Kit in a Sardine Can.

• Altoids Tin, attach aluminum foil to top lip to use as signaling device
• Plastic bag, to keep things in Altoid Tin water proof
• Pain killer
• Bandaids
• Neosporin
• Condom
• Compass
• Whistle
• Fishing Line
• Matches
• Fresnel Lens Credit Card
• Pocket Knife, Leatherman Micra?
• Safety Pinx3, can be used as hook for fishing
• cotton balls
• Wire Saw
• candle
• Salt
• Alcohol pad
• pencil
• paper
• tea bag
• water purification tablet
• hard candy

Hiking and Camping Kit

• Clean Drinking Water in Kleen Kanteen
• FM 3-05.70 SURVIVAL MANUAL
• Flashlight
• Nonperishable food
• Medication
• First Aid Kit
• Zippo Lighter
• Poncho
• Firesteel
• Knife – SOG Seal Pup Elite?
• Multitool – Leatherman Wave
• Compass – Suunto
• Signaling Mirror
• Whistle
• Radio
• Shovel
• Topographical Map
• Paracord
• Survival Paracord Bracelet
• Needle
• Tarp
• Aluminum Foil
• Condoms
• Duct Tape
• Fishing kit
• Shovel

Winter Kit

• Blanket

Car Kit

• First Aid Kit
• Tire pressure gauge
• Leatherman Multitool
• Flashlight
• Paracord
• Blanket

Emergency Home 3 Day Kit

• Water
• Nonperishable Foods (jerky, nuts, dried fruit)

3 of anything signals distress

A quick change of gears. Maybe space melee would be better than space pirates. I think it would be much easier for me to think of this in some type of phone format, either iPhone or Android. I’m going to start off by cloning Star Control’s Melee mode, but then add a story/rpg on top of that.

There’s nothing better than free books. Now with ebook readers getting popular, it’s time to get back into reading.

Project Gutenberg

So I left some bananas out for a while and I’m pretty sure they fermented a bit. Usually one thinks of alcohol as something bottled and made in a mysterious process, but it’s just something that occurs naturally.

I started watching videos at 1.5x speed. This means I can save 33% of my time so I can watch more videos or do more things. This is especially useful for getting through the dramatic scenes in movies and long lecture.