Section 9 - Miscellaneous              Return to Home Page

 1.  Life's Priorities 
 2.  Miscellaneous MAC info
 3.  Teach Your Children Internet Safety  Links to: (PC World Mag, Aug 97, pg 288, "Rules for Online Safety")
 4.  Control your Post Office
 5.  Understanding TV Antennas
 6.  Wire Gauge Chart (Check those AMPs)



Subject: Life's Priorities (by Paul Schuh)

Priorities

    1. Urgent and Important (can't live without)
    2. Important but not Urgent (later on development)
    3. Urgent but not Important (appears hot, but really isn't)
    4. Busy Work (see number 5)
    5. A Waste of Time

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Subject: MAC Info x3


A. MAC Batteries

They come in different numbers, but seem to all be the same. Some are
soldered in. The one that can be easily pulled out and replaced are:

3.6 volt Lithium cells (size 1/2 AA)

Tadiran TL-2150
Maxell ER3S (these tend to die much faster than the other kind)
SAFT LSL3 (France)


B. Networking MACs

If you're connecting MACs running OS 8, File Sharing MUST be 
turned on to even see the computer. Older OSs can see the units,
but they can't see the older units either. It's as if there not
even connected.


C. MAC Default Configuration

To force a MAC to re-configure itself, hold down the following four
keys and turn the unit on. 

Hold down Apple (Command)-Option-P-R at startup. 

There's more info at:  http://user.icx.net/~bgiles/miscmac/trouble.html

Hold the four keys down until the unit chimes for the third time. 
Let go and it should reboot with a default configuration (re-sync 
itself to new monitor).

This is called "Zapping the P-RAM". In PC terms, re-configuring the CMOS.

There's more info at:  http://user.icx.net/~bgiles/miscmac/trouble.html
(correct keys and this link supplied by Scott Genevish)

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Subject: Mail Games 

Taken from a discussion of how the Post Office sells your address:

In the meantime, some people, prompted by Bob Bulmash of Private Citizen, are using a clever means to get around NCOA.Heck, you may want to do it, too. When you fill out a change of address card, you designate the move as permanent or temporary. Mail is forwarded for up to a year in both cases, but addresses are only sold if the move is permanent. 

The trick is to mark the temporary box and say the move is for 364 days. You will get your mail forwarded for a full year less one day, but your new address won't be added to the NCOA list. 

That groups like Private Citizen need to develop counter-responses to data-use programs such as NCOA should give pause to every federal manager who handles or disseminates data on citizens. 

Information from:

Robert Gellman, former chief counsel to the House Government Operations Subcommittee on Information, Justice, Transportation and Agriculture, is a Washington privacy and information policy consultant. His e-mail address is rgellman@cais.com

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Subject: Understanding TV Antennas

Lessons learned the hard way:

1. Signal strength doubles if you triple the height of the antenna. 
Better put; if your antenna is on a 10 foot mast, you can double
the signal you receive by raising the mast to 30 feet.

2. You are better off using a larger antenna than a smaller antenna
with an amplifier. Using an amplifier not only increases the TV 
signal, it also increases AC noise coming from the power poles
anywhere within a half mile of your house, and should there be an
FM radio station between you and the TV transmitter, you will 
amplify the harmonics of the radio transmitter, most likely wiping
out channel 7 or channel 8 (FM radio band transmitted between those
two channels). A non-amplified antenna will not pick up any of the
noise or off frequencies that an amplifier brings forth.

If you already have an antenna with an amplifier and you are picking
up a signal that is interfering with a channel, Winegard makes a 
tunable trap to remove the noise. It needs to be attached directly
to the amplifier on the antenna. Even better is a sealed tuned trap
usually available from the radio station that's causing the problem.

If you are getting AC noise, call the power company. By law they are
required to fix whatever it is that is causing the noise. Usually a
cracked insulator.

3. How to figure length of guy wire, or what you can't remember from
High School. Easily said, here it is: 

A-Squared + B-Squared = C-Squared

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Subject:  Wire Gauge Chart

AWG    Diameter    Amps    Ohms/1000'      Electrical Dry/Wet
------------------------------------------------------------- High Temp Insulation
0000   .460        312.           0.04906   Nat'l Elect Code  
000    .40964      262.           0.06186				260
00     .3648       220.           0.07801				225
0      .32486      185.           0.09831				195
1      .2893       156.           0.12404				165
2      .25763      131.           0.1563	115/95			140
3      .22942      110.           0.19723	100/80			120
4      .20431       92.3          0.24869	 85/70			105
5      .18194       77.6          0.31361
6      .16202       65.2          0.39546	 56/55			95
7      .14428       54.8          0.49871
8      .12849       46.1          0.6529	 45/40			60
9      .11443       38.7          0.7892
10     .10189       32.5          0.8441	 30/30 - Can handle more but 30 is code max
11     .090742      27.3          1.254
12     .080808      23.0          1.580		 20/20 - Can handle more but 20 is code max
13     .071961      19.3          1.995
14     .064084      16.2          2.504		 15/15 - Can handle more but 15 is code max
15     .057068      13.6          3.172
16     .05082       11.5          4.001					24
17     .045257       9.6          5.04
18     .040303       8.1          6.36					18
19     .03589                     8.25
20     .031961                   10.12
21     .028462                   12.76
22     .025347                   16.25
23     .022571                   20.30
24     .0201                     25.60
25     .0179                     32.2
26     .01594                    40.7
27     .014195                   51.3
28     .012641                   64.8
29     .011257                   81.6
30     .010025                  103.
31     .008928                  130.
32     .00795                   164.
33     .00708                   206.
34     .006304                  260.
35     .005614                  328.
36     .005                     414.
37     .004453                  523.
38     .003965                  660.
39     .003531                  832.
40     .003144                 1049.
Grounding Cables (Reference NEC Table 250-122 (National Electrical Code))

Main Breaker - Copper Wire Size
    60                10
   100                 8
   200                 6
   300                 4
   400                 2

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