5/13    Ronald Reagan is GOD.                           -Conservative
        \_ Blasphemy. Ronald Reagan was a Prophet.

5/13    Dear Nikon guys, I'm the D80 flash guy. I just ordered a SB-800 and
        hope to do lots of remote flash (with diffuser + bounce) photography
        soon. I'm tired of harsh tones I keep getting from the built in
        flash which is really useless, and I hope my new SB-800 (plus a book
        entirely on this topic) will make night time photography more pleasant
        again. I could have bought a SB-600 since my D80 has built in
        Commander, but I have extra $$$ to burn anyways so why the heck not.
        Besides, I'll probably buy multiple flash units in the future
        like 2 more SB-600, so it's all good. Will let you guys know how
        it goes.                                        -Nikon D80 guy
        \_ If you haven't ran across it yet, check out http://strobist.com
        \_ Oh my, what an expensive hobby you have!
           \_ cheaper than strip club
        \_ Bonus information for the OP.  If you use rear-sync (also known
           as second curtain sync), but do manual preflash step (known as
           FEL--Flash Exposure Lock in the Canon land), it won't do the
           double flash on the actual shutter release.  So, just telling the
           subjects to ignore the first manual flash should help keep them
           steady during the actual exposure.  I have no idea how Nikon's
           system works, but I hear Nikon's flash system is better designed
           overall than Canon's flash system.
           \_ Canon: great quality lens without the ridiculous price
                     of a genuine Nikkor
              Nikon: CLS system in 2003 has been one of the most
                     revolutionary flash/lighting systems since
                     the 70s.
              \_ A decade ago during my N70 days, the comparison was like this:
                 Canon: IS lenses, whereas Nikon didn't have VR lenses.
                 Nikon: The 3D Multi-Sensor Balanced Fill Flash was a
                        revolutionary flash system, whereas Canon's flash
                        system was no match.
                 Nikon: 3D Multi-Sensor Balanced Fill Flash (or whatever it
                        was called) was a revolutionary flash system, whereas
                        Canon's flash system was no match.

5/13    Why do nuclear power plants require so much fresh water?  Can't you
        just recycle the cooling water?  Certainly you could use salt water,
        right?  (For example, nuke subs)
        \_ Swedish hot bath. Free hot water. Free tea. Sauna. Etc.
        \_ They do use salt water if the plant is near the coast.
        \_ They create power via steam generators.  The vast majority of
           water in a nuke plant isn't cooling water.
        \_ "The plant, as they conceived it, would produce something like one
            to three gigawatts of power, which is enough to serve a medium-sized
            city. The reactor core would be no more than several metres wide and
            about ten metres long. It would be enclosed in a sealed, armored box.
            The box would work for thirty years, without need for refuelling.
            Wood's idea was that the box would run on thorium, which is a very
            common, mildly radioactive metal. (The world has roughly a
            hundred-thousand-year supply, he figures.) Myhrvol's idea was that
            it should run on spent fuel from existing power plants. 'Waste has
            negative cost,' Myhrvold said. 'This is how we make this idea
            politically and regulatorily attractive. Lowell and I had a monthlong
            no-holds-barred nuclear-physics battle. He didn't believe waste
            would work. It turns out it does.' Myhrvold grinned.  'He
            concedes it now.'"
            to three gigawatts of power, which is enough to serve a medium-
            sized city. The reactor core would be no more than several metres
            wide and about ten metres long. It would be enclosed in a sealed,
            armored box. The box would work for thirty years, without need for
            refuelling. Wood's idea was that the box would run on thorium,
            which is a very common, mildly radioactive metal. (The world has
            roughly a hundred-thousand-year supply, he figures.) Myhrvol's
            idea was that it should run on spent fuel from existing power
            plants. 'Waste has negative cost,' Myhrvold said. 'This is how we
            make this idea politically and regulatorily attractive. Lowell and
            I had a month-long no-holds-barred nuclear-physics battle. He
            didn't believe waste would work. It turns out it does.' Myhrvold
            grinned.  'He concedes it now.'"
        \_ What I don't understand is that, why don't they use the waste heat
           to do something useful, e.g. desalinate the sea water?  -- !OP
           to do something useful, e.g. cook poridge or miso soup?  -- !OP
           \_ oh yeah, what're you going to do with nuclear-desalinated water?
              I'm sure that'd be a real popular addition to the drinking or
              agricultural water supply.
              \_ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_power#Water says the
                 water remains uncontaminated by radioactivity.  No?  (Yeah I
                 know Wikipedia might not be reliable and so on, and I
                 wouldn't bet my health on one line in Wikipedia.)
                 \_ I'm pretty sure it would be a huge scandal if the water
                    became contaminated, so I think Wikipedia is right on
                    this one. -!pp
                    \_ I'm sure they can spare the waste heat to distill the
                       water to purity levels only used in clean rooms.  People
                       would still be afraid to drink it, or consume produce
                       where it was used for irrigation.
                       \_ You have no idea how a nuke plant works do you?
                          Let me give you a hint.  The steam is vented
                          INTO THE AIR.
                          \_ I know how it works.  they usually have several
                             cycles of cooling water, the last of which usually
                             involves evaporating water into the air.  Its the
                             most efficient way to get rid of a ton of waste
                             heat.  If they were to condense that somehow (
                             and would need another way to dump the waste heat
                             that releases), they still wouldn't get people to
                             drink it or eat crops grown with it.  Somehow its
                             easier to get the public to accept just breathing
                             the air said water dissipates into.

                             \_ I don't know, i think a good ad campaign might
                                fix the problem. Drink Atomic Water (TM)!
        \_ A lot of the waste heat from the plant goes to evaporating water,
           which goes up the cooling tower and out into the environment.
           Can't exactly 'reuse' that.  Sure, they could do more intelligent
           things with all that waste heat, but they're all more expensive
           and/or unpopular.
           \_ How about using that waste heat to run a Stirling engine?

5/13    I just found that if I make a donation to Red Cross by credit card,
        the credit card company still charges Red Cross for processing fees.
        http://american.redcross.org/site/PageServer?pagename=faq_faq#11
        \_ Why wouldn't they?  You think they aren't gonna take a cut just
           because Red Cross is a charity?
        \_ Free market at work. A consumer should shop around and decide
           what is the best for himself. Self help encouranges competition
           thus everyone will benefit.