Archive for Ray

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The Economy. Where we are, why we’re here, and the future. (PART 2)

Continued from Part 1
Please explain your three possible futures.
In a deflationary crash, a portion of the money within an economy disappears. This means that money becomes scarce. This means that what money there is becomes very valuable. Because the money looks valuable, everything else looks cheap. That is, prices tend to go down, and people [...]

2Oct2008 | Ray | Comments Off | Continued
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The Economy. Where we are, why we’re here, and the future. (PART 1)

Where are we, why are we here, and what will happen? This post is my attempt to answers these questions as simply as I can. I have broken this post into three parts for ease of presentation.
This post will link to several other posts that will expand on a point. I will add links as [...]

2Oct2008 | Ray | Comments Off | Continued
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Making Things Simpler, Part Two: Constraining State

This post flows naturally from Making Things Simpler (1): Limitations. It’s probably best to read that first if you haven’t already.
In programming and electronic design, uncertainty results in excess internal state and unclear internal state. If you program according to a layered model, then each layer should be very thin, it should do something useful, [...]

5Sep2008 | Ray | Comments Off | Continued
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Making Things Simpler, Part One: Adding Limitations

For a while, I worked as a contractor/consultant/fireman for anyone who needed me. It worked out pretty well, and was a great way to network.
For part of that time I was involved in the interpretation and implementation of various standards, and later wrote some documents that ended up becoming de facto standards because they were [...]

3Sep2008 | Ray | Comments Off | Continued
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A Beginner’s Review of the Walkera 4#3B

I’ve been playing with my new Walkera 4#3B heli for around 6 days now, and I thought it would be useful to review it as a beginner. Later I will review it again when I have some experience.

23Aug2008 | Ray | Comments Off | Continued
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RC Helicopters, Part 2: Research

While deciding what to do, I found a lot of information on the net. I also read almost two thousand forum posts in order to glean information. Along the way I found some pretty good sources:
The Radd School of Rotary Flight : This is one man’s idea of how to learn how to fly an [...]

13Aug2008 | Ray | Comments Off | Continued
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RC Helicopters, Part 1: Choices

Last time, I told you a bit about my growing desire to get a remote-control helicopter. After doing my due diligence (more on that later), I decided to buy a Walkera 4#3B micro helicopter.
(Okay, the heli veterans around here can stop laughing now).
There are roughly two categories of helicopter out there: coaxial craft and single-rotor [...]

6Aug2008 | Ray | Comments Off | Continued
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Introduction to RC Helicopters

I’ve been contemplating buying a remote control helicopter for a few years now. I’ve always decided that it looked way too fiddly and expensive. I recently had a look around again, and have come to the conclusion that at last it might be time to get my feet wet.
Why? Well, R/C helicopters are cheaper, more [...]

4Aug2008 | Ray | Comments Off | Continued
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Introducing Ray: Hi Folks

Hello folks,
My name is Ray, and John has very graciously invited me to be a part of Geek Universalis. We are trying to provide a broad menu of geeky sustenance, and one way to do that is to have authors with different interests.
My day job is interesting, and I often jump fields. I hope to [...]

3Aug2008 | Ray | Comments Off | Continued
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