where Gates & Jobs got all their ideas from.

I've recently set up the following linux distros as guests under Win 7 in VirtualBox (all are 64-bit versions):

Mint 17
Ubuntu 14.04
OpenSuse*
Mageia*

* whatever the latest version was on Distrowatch or Livecdlist

NONE of them were able to successfully restart themselves after initial installation. They shut down to a black window, and stayed that way until I forced VirtualBox to power them off. After a manual start, they would all start up and ask for updates. Mint, Ubuntu and Magiea were OK (after installing hundreds of MB of updates), OpenSuse just sat there doing nothing.

I'm not going to install any Linux/GNU distros on a customer's machine until I can get one to:

1. install and work in a VM, and then
2. install and work on generic desktop hardware, and 1st-tier laptop hardware.

Whoops, forgot about Scandinavia (blame my newly-acquired homebrew kegging system). I'm expressing dismay about the size of the welfare budget here in Oz, and my experiences with people who game the system. I've known professional tertiary students who were smart enough to claim and collect 2 or even 3 student allowances by using fake identities. They liked student life so much, it was preferable to going out and actually getting a job.

I receive some welfare myself, mainly an income supplement for dependent children, but I wish we could work out a better system.

We've a lot of evolving to do before socialism can work on a national scale. At the point where it becomes a government function to weigh in and distribute the wealth (e.g. with over-generous welfare handouts) it becomes a disincentive to work, i.e. if I can get free money from the government, why should I work?

Not in western Sydney.

I can see a rapid increase in the customer base of synthetic voice software

My installer said that tracking systems aren't really worth it for domestic situations. They cost about the same as 2 extra panels, and provide roughly the same amount of energy - so why not buy 2 extra panels and not have to deal with maintenance of motors, etc.

I thought that a tracking system could be set up to forego motors and use bi-metallic strips to drive the panel movement throughout the day - have the panels point east when "cold", i.e. in the morning, then bimetallic strips would warm with the sun, do their "bendy" thing and push the panels to point west throughout the day as they get warmer. Then overnight, as they cool off, they'd revert to their "cold" state and the panels would move to point east again, ready for the next day. I asked an engineer about this once but he thought bimetallic strips wouldn't be powerful enough to do the job.

Ni-Fe batteries have a long life and more tolerance for discharge levels, but poor efficiency compared to lead-acid. Doesn't mean they wouldn't be useful, but you'll need LOTS more panels to replace what you take out.

My last set of lead-acid cells (12 x BPSolar 2-volt 1100ah) lasted 8 years of domestic use before the first one failed.

You're right about the controller - a good controller makes all the difference.

Read the post again - it's insOlation, which is correct, not insUlation, which was your assumption.

Solar PV capacity planning, at least in domestic situations, is based on the amount of energy captured/generated by a panel at its PEAK capacity, and is generally calculated at 5 hours/day in temperate zones, less in frigid, more in tropical, with modifiers for local conditions and climate. Panel output throughout, for example, a clear sunny day in the mid latitudes corresponds closely to a steep-ish bell curve (more like a sine wave, though). Low output at either end of the day because the incidence of the sun's rays to the panel are more oblique.

Panels are getting better at "catching" oblique insolation, but obviously they're much better between the hours of 9-10am and 2-3pm. There is a significant amount of energy captured outside these times, but it's not really useful when calculating the number of panels needed. It's better to state that you'll capture a minimum of x on sunny days, rather than a maximum.

Eh? "Fastest-revving cars"?

Perhaps you could explain why analogue tachos on pre-computerised motorcycles were able to cope with 2K powerbands and redlines in excess of 10K RPM. You know, the tacho driven by a cable from the engine.

People used to win races with those "slow" tachos.

In any case, if you're driving a high-performance vehicle anywhere approaching its peak performance, you won't really be watching the dials very much.

Tinfoil-lined phone cases will be a growth industry. Ditto spoofing software, data poisoning software, etc, etc.

"This is a silent number...how did you get it? I'm in witness protection and my calls are monitored by the {NSA/CIA/GCHQ/AFP}."

Or, when you get to the point where you've opened the windows event log and they ask you to read the warnings and errors (to prove their claim that your computer has errors), just say "there are no errors or warnings". This usually results in a short wait while they search their script for an appropriate reply, or a transfer to a "supervisor" to continue the fun.

My record was 16 minutes, the sucker on the other end got more and more frustrated and eventually swore at me and hung up.

I've told them I can't go to my computer because I had a broken leg and couldn't get out of bed.

I've told them I don't have a keyboard, I use a touchscreen.

Most recently, I let the operator get through to the stage where they wanted to connect, then I told her I knew it was a scam, she should be ashamed of herself for telling lies, and what would her mother think? That one got 3 seconds of silence, "shit", then she hung up.

Yup - found the formula for gunpowder in the family encyclopedia, managed to "acquire" the ingredients in quantity (a pound or two of each), and started with small batches. Ended up supplying home-made firecrackers to other people at school - never got caught, but I was lectured once or twice - I think they realised they couldn't prove I was the supplier.

I experimented with calcium, copper and strontium salts in home-made roman candles for pretty colours.

Then I moved on to nitroglycerine - I never got an explosion, as such, the best I managed was a vigorous reaction visually similar to a mentos-in-the-coke-bottle thing. I think, on reflection, that the sulphuric acid wasn't concentrated enough. I was only able to buy school-lab grade acids, so they probably weren't the best.

\ conc. H2SO4, evil stuff
\\ not as evil as fuming HNO3
\\\ yep, you could walk into a school supplies shop and buy them

You might find that Premiere Elements will do what you want. It's about AUD$120 here.

Although (as I mentioned above), Creative Suite/Creative Cloud is a bargain at academic pricing. Are you, or do you know anyone who is a student or teacher?

My children bought Creative Suite for me......