Questions you want answered.

*Legion* wrote:
BushPilot wrote:

NB: a George Foreman grill should not be used as toilet paper.

It knocks out the crap.

I mean, it's pretty easy to clean.

trichy wrote:
*Legion* wrote:
BushPilot wrote:

NB: a George Foreman grill should not be used as toilet paper.

It knocks out the crap.

I mean, it's pretty easy to clean.

OMG think of the smell.

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/hWppkPo.gif?noredirect)

Can any macOS users recommend a multiple display manager?

Specifically, I'm looking for a way to easily toggle between two different arrangement layouts.

Have you already looked at BetterTouchTool / BetterSnapTool to see if it does what you want? I know it has shortcuts for window layouts.

LeapingGnome wrote:

Have you already looked at BetterTouchTool / BetterSnapTool to see if it does what you want? I know it has shortcuts for window layouts.

I did. Sadly it doesn't do what I need. Not a biggie overall...

Any thoughts on a good cooler and freezer packs? Or is ice better than freezer packs. Are they all about the same? Looking for something that will keep stuff cold for a few hours to a week.

Baron Of Hell wrote:

Any thoughts on a good cooler and freezer packs? Or is ice better than freezer packs. Are they all about the same? Looking for something that will keep stuff cold for a few hours to a week.

For a week you are probably going to need dry ice unless you have multiple freezer packs that you can refreeze and swap.

PaladinTom wrote:

Can any macOS users recommend a multiple display manager?

Specifically, I'm looking for a way to easily toggle between two different arrangement layouts.

You might be able to use an Applescript to toggle between the two setups. I don't have time to look into it at the moment, but this thread on StackOverflow might get you where you want to be.

Baron Of Hell wrote:

Any thoughts on a good cooler and freezer packs? Or is ice better than freezer packs. Are they all about the same? Looking for something that will keep stuff cold for a few hours to a week.

For a few hours just get whatever assuming they are in a decently sealed container. Ice would be fine if what you are cooling is ok to get wet. In my experience the 'solid' freezer packs that are encased in hard plastic stay frozen longer than the gel ones that are in bags.

For a week I am not sure what you can do, that is a long time. You'll need a high performance cooler like a Yeti or something and well packed with the freezer packs on the top (so the cold sinks to the bottom) and don't open it at all.

In terms of cooling capacity, dry ice >>> ice >>>> freezer packs.

I've taken coolers to Burning Man (i.e. somewhere hot as f*ck for a week). Generic, Coleman-brand coolers bought from Fred Meyer, nothing fancy.

Dry ice bought us 2-3 days before we needed to start stocking with fresh ice daily. Keeping the coolers under shade will make a world of difference. Drain the melted water daily - the higher your ice/water ratio, the better the cooling. Open them as infrequently as possible (i.e. get everyone's stuff out at the same time), and get them closed up again ASAP. Some discipline will go a long way to keeping them operating -opening them every 20 minutes to get another beer will result in warm coolers. If you have multiple ones, stage the contents such that you're only operating out of one at a time, and the rest stay shut (for best practice, have separate food and beer coolers - if the beer one warms up, it matters less).

Ziploc bags are your friend - they keep the food and the cooler water (that gets pretty gross by the end of the week, even when drained off daily) separate.

Freezer packs are tidier than ice, but I wouldn't say they're any better. They are generally tougher to fit into the space than ice is, so can be less efficient by the time you're done fiddling. They can be a decent option to line the top and bottom of your cooler with, depending on what you're doing.

Ideally, you want to dig a small pit in a cool, moist, shady area, put your cooler in there, and cover it with something that won't make it a greenhouse.

Freeze whatever you can before it goes in. Frozen chili is a great, and delicious, freezer pack. Ditto to most meats. If you can keep your juicy stuff (especially meats) in vacuum packs (or ziplocs, but use the good ones to avoid punctures by when stuff is frozen and brittle) then everything will be a lot more appetizing after a few days.

Also, one large cooler is more efficient than the equivalent volume in two small coolers, provided you are keeping it closed as much as you can. Make sure the lid is closed tightly every time!

Thanks for the replies. I just bought a coleman cooler which is the only one the store had. Cost was $24 for a 48 quarts one. The didn't have any freezer packs. I'll just use ice to see how it handles for now.

Going to clean out the fridge tomorrow so wanted the cooler for that. Also wanted it for if I go camping for a few days or going to lake to watch the hydroplanes or something. No real reason for wanting one to last a week but we did just a get a earthquake and few months ago a bunch of transformers kept blowing up. Would have been nice to have then.

Jonman wrote:

In terms of cooling capacity, dry ice >>> ice >>>> freezer packs.

I've taken coolers to Burning Man (i.e. somewhere hot as f*ck for a week). Generic, Coleman-brand coolers bought from Fred Meyer, nothing fancy.

Dry ice bought us 2-3 days before we needed to start stocking with fresh ice daily. Keeping the coolers under shade will make a world of difference. Drain the melted water daily - the higher your ice/water ratio, the better the cooling. Open them as infrequently as possible (i.e. get everyone's stuff out at the same time), and get them closed up again ASAP. Some discipline will go a long way to keeping them operating -opening them every 20 minutes to get another beer will result in warm coolers. If you have multiple ones, stage the contents such that you're only operating out of one at a time, and the rest stay shut (for best practice, have separate food and beer coolers - if the beer one warms up, it matters less).

Ziploc bags are your friend - they keep the food and the cooler water (that gets pretty gross by the end of the week, even when drained off daily) separate.

An idea to add to this, maybe dry ice in your big one, and then something like a small igloo on the side with regular ice, if you plan to spend the next few hours drinking a number of beverages that you'd like to keep cool? That way you open the big one once, pull out everything you plan to use, and then keep it cool in the small one. Use salt water + ice in the small one to keep things even colder.

NSMike wrote:
Jonman wrote:

In terms of cooling capacity, dry ice >>> ice >>>> freezer packs.

I've taken coolers to Burning Man (i.e. somewhere hot as f*ck for a week). Generic, Coleman-brand coolers bought from Fred Meyer, nothing fancy.

Dry ice bought us 2-3 days before we needed to start stocking with fresh ice daily. Keeping the coolers under shade will make a world of difference. Drain the melted water daily - the higher your ice/water ratio, the better the cooling. Open them as infrequently as possible (i.e. get everyone's stuff out at the same time), and get them closed up again ASAP. Some discipline will go a long way to keeping them operating -opening them every 20 minutes to get another beer will result in warm coolers. If you have multiple ones, stage the contents such that you're only operating out of one at a time, and the rest stay shut (for best practice, have separate food and beer coolers - if the beer one warms up, it matters less).

Ziploc bags are your friend - they keep the food and the cooler water (that gets pretty gross by the end of the week, even when drained off daily) separate.

An idea to add to this, maybe dry ice in your big one, and then something like a small igloo on the side with regular ice, if you plan to spend the next few hours drinking a number of beverages that you'd like to keep cool? That way you open the big one once, pull out everything you plan to use, and then keep it cool in the small one. Use salt water + ice in the small one to keep things even colder.

Yeah I can see the logic in this so I got second smaller cooler and named it Frieza.

You could try using frozen water bottles. Toss a dozen in each cooler, I get a few days without having to add anything. Way less cleanup!

Doesn't freezing it make the water all mushy when it thaws? I know if I grill water after its been frozen, it just doesn't turn out right. All the flavor is gone, somehow.

....hmmmm.

That's true, and you get a bit of that plastic bottle taste... but we're talking about roughing it, right? I mean, beggars & choosers and stuff.

Ah... The Master has arrived...

Didn't mean to come across that way.
I defer to the infinitely more knowledgeable, and established crew of water-grillers!

No, I mean, thanks for running with it.

Lol, that's what I get for posting with half a brain at 3:30 in the morning!

Watching the latest season of Last Chance U and a former quarterback has came back but is going to be "the scout team quarterback" and won't be playing. What is a scout team and why would being on it mean you can't play?

DoveBrown wrote:

Watching the latest season of Last Chance U and a former quarterback has came back but is going to be "the scout team quarterback" and won't be playing. What is a scout team and why would being on it mean you can't play?

It's generally the practice squad. You are just good enough to keep around to help the playing QBs get better but not play yourself.

However, by the ancient laws of succession, if all the other QBs die, you're up. /s

Lunchbox mostly got it, but there's one additional element to the scout team: their job at practice is to emulate the team's next opponent.

Rather than practicing their own team's offense and defense, they play the opponent's offense and defense (as learned from watching tape) so that the rest of the team can get used to seeing the kind of plays and looks that they're going to get from their opponent on game day.

Having watched Chernobyl, I am now wondering how a nuclear reactor works, specifically. I've found a few videos online, but they seem to be missing parts I'm also curious about, like "how the hell do we cause the nuclear reaction to begin with?" and "what, specifically, is a nuclear meltdown?"

Anyone have any recommendations?

"Midnight In Chernobyl", by Adam Higginbotham, contains an excellent, methodical description of the reactor technologies used at the time. It includes the stuff you're looking for.

Basically, nuclear fuel is something that emits and also captures neutrons. U-235, U-238, P-239 and so forth make decent fuel, because they throw off neutrons naturally. These fly around the reactor (which is why you need shielding around it). Crucially, when they hit another atom of fuel, they can trigger the release of another neutron. Once you have enough fuel in a small space - ie, you've "enriched" the ore into fuel and then purified that - putting fuel into the reactor in sufficient quantities will start a "cascading" reaction. The neutron collisions will increase at a rate faster than one-for-one. You've achieved "criticality".

Astute readers will note that once you hit criticality, with more neutrons coming out of the reaction than are going in, overall, you have a situation where the fission reaction can "run away". So "moderators" that absorb neutrons are used, stuff like boron. By inserting these in the right quantities, they will intercept enough neutrons to keep the reaction stable at a desired level of neutron emission, so that it neither goes out of control from too many neutrons, or dies due to too few neutrons.

Now remember, neutrons have energy, and when they collide with stuff, that stuff does something. Often, it heats up. That heat can be used to heat a liquid in tubes, which can then exit the reactor hull and drive a turbine. Of course, that water can also serve as a moderator, so the loss of that water could be, uh, bad. Likewise, if the moderators can't get into the reactor (say, because it got so hot that their insertion devices warped or melted), then the reactor fuel will fission more and more, creating more heat, until it melts itself, the containment vessel, and the ground underneath. This is a "meltdown" event, which you can tell was named by physicists because it literally means the fuel melted down out of the containment vessel.

Often, the fuel is built into rods which can be put in or out in precise increments. When out, they are housed in neutron suppressing holders. When in, they are exposed in the reactor to release their neutrons. Pull the rods, slow the reaction. Push the rods, increase the reaction.

The problem in Chernobyl is that the circulating material was also a moderator. So there was a range of temperatures in which the liquid circulating through the reactor cooling system was slowing the reaction, but also a range where it flashed into steam and not only stopped cooling the reactor, but stopped slowing the reaction. So in the few seconds after it flashed over into uselessness, the extreme increase in heat could warp the rod removal devices, making them impossible to remove. (I hope I'm remembering this correctly.) At that point, putting more liquid in to try to cool the reactor was futile, but the reactor itself would still be increasing in power, because the fuel rods could not be removed to safety. So there was a real flaw in the design, in that the cooling system had no backup for situations where the reactor hit power levels that it could actually reach without much difficulty. Imagine having a high performance care where the engine could drive it at 150mph, but if you ever went over about 85, it would simply accelerate you to 150 in seconds. And the throttle is twitchy, to say the least, and your boss is constantly telling you you are going too slow...

This is from memory so hopefully the physicists will swoop in to clarify, but is that what you were looking for?

How does Robear consistently have the best answers for my random-ass questions?

Back in the 80s I played the game "SCRAM" on my Atari 800. It was a simulation of a pressurized-water reactor. The manual is available online and explains how that kind of reactor works pretty well along with the associated thermodynamics. PWRs were used at Chernobyl but that wasn't the one that broke down; Three Mile Island was that type though.

I also found this page from the OECD's nuclear agency interesting. I haven't watched the series yet but I'm ok with spoilers