Brian I

If your house burns down, is it legal for the city to require you to rebuild on the same lot?

I am a big Dave Ramsey fan and I totally believe in what he does that allows people to help themselves. I know he makes fantastic money doing what he does, but how would I do that unless I get book deals, a radio show, etc? How do you make a living by helping people get out of debt? Seriously? It's entirely counter-intuitive in the purest sense, but yet there are obviously applications for it and people who do it everyday. Any help is SINCERELY appreciated!

You have a neodynium magnet, a bit of a gap, and then a copper coil. If you pass another magnet of similar polarity through the gap, will the fixed magnet push the magnetic field of the moving magnet off into the copper coil? I am looking for a way to displace a magnetic field into a copper coil for a project and I figured that would probably be the best way to do it, with a similar charged magnet. I know it's clear as mud, but does that sound right? I guess the closes thing I could compare it to is stringing a bunch of batteries together to increase voltage.

I know, I was dumb and didn't play the game well, so I didn't have a 529 plan. But, is there any way I can put money into a magical account that is tax sheltered specifically for the purposes of paying student loans? I was thinking about setting up a 529 and then pulling the money out right away, solely for the tax shelter, but I don't think it works that way. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I really don't see how it's fair that I can get a tax shelter before I go to college, but have that monkey on my back paying for it after I went.

Thanks again!

I have pretty much every weed under the sun in here and I really want to restart it so that my daughter doesn't think that creeping charlie is a desireable groundcover. The only suggestions I get are to Round Up it all, till it all up, put 3x as much seed as you need on it (stupid birds) and hope the rain washes it in. I would hope that there would be some better, less... failure prone... options than that. Can you just RoundUp it all, and then overseed it all with the grass still intact to give it a bit of cover? I know the whole yard needs some love and fertilizer, aeration, etc, but something's gotta change sometime. Any suggestions?

Thanks

So, I have been a life-long sufferer of FMS (Follicular Migration Syndrome (a.k.a. "27 and rockin the horseshoe"), and rather than attempt to save my migratory comerades, I have instead decided to embrace my new-found shampoo savings and just shave the rest and go bald. Any advice for a newbie? How do you keep it clean shaven? Moisturizers? Good shavers? How do you keep the glare down? Any suggestions would be GREATLY appreciated since I am the forefather of a whole family of FMS sufferers, with me being the first to embrace my follicular shortcomings head-on. Let it be known and any imput would vastly change a family tree! Thanks again!

I would like to set up a Roth IRA for my daughter, but everything I've seen says that I need to basically hire her, file all of the paperwork for an employer/employee relationship, etc crap in the way. All I want to do is give her some money to grow so she isn't scratching together a life like my wife and I are. She's only 14 months old, so I figure that would give it like, 70 years to compound, but I don't want to do all the crap to set up an employment deal. Any suggestions? I don't want to do a 529 plan (Unless you can roll those over if you don't use them) because I am not convinced that EVERYBODY needs to go to college. (I went, and I am doing gruntwork right next to HS dropouts. Tends to leave one bitter), but at the same time, I want the tax-free growth. Any suggestions would be GREATLY appreciated!

I have a flagpole that is quite a ways away from the nearest electrical source. I am a real stickler when it comes to keeping the flag lit up at night, so it's important to me that I get a great setup. I know there are all kinds of wired options, but that would involve trenching up half of the yard and rewiring stuff in the house. Not much fun. Solar sounds great, until it's dead by midnight. (We have trees in the area, so solar isn't always a good way to go). What else is there? Do they make battery packs for lights? Any input would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

My wife noticed that the address on her facebook page kept switching from https:/ to http:/ and the page kept refreshing all the time. The address would change all the time, but the page would never load. Finally, she hit stop and it quit, but she got to wondering and was wondering if maybe that was a sign of a hacker? We haven't ever seen it do that before, so it's kind of worrisome.

I am building a stirling engine for a project, and I am looking to fill a closed cylinder with this gas. It would be nice if it was non-reactive (at least not with hydraulic oil and aluminum), won't dissolve into hydraulic oil, rather inexpensive, transfers heat well, and is available. Also, with any suggestions, I need to know if there is a difference in the expansion rate at different temperatures. If it doubles it's volume once it hits x degrees, that would be a fabulous bit of information!

Thanks for your help!

I noticed tonight that when I hit the brakes on my 97 sunfire, the headlights dim a bit. It's been an ungodly long time since my last tune up, but that is the same type of thing it was doing back then before I had that done. I know my rear brakes have some issues of their own (when they get wet, they bang when you hit the brakes. If you eek up on a stop sign, it's ok, but any real pressure at all and it's almost like they lock up, and then release when you hit the gas. Any ideas there would be GREATLY appreciated.) Any ideas what else it could be? I know the battery in the car is probably 5 years old too, so I am sure that that is not helping any. If you do know what it would be (i.e."You need a tune-up ASAP") Please let me know what all I need to do. i.e. replace your plugs and wires...

I'm not a car guy, but just like everybody else, money's tight and I am really just trying to keep it together for another year and a half until we need to replace it for other reasons!

Thanks SO much in advance!

I am working on a project, and I am looking for a material that is very (and by very, I mean, the best of the best) good at transferring heat. I am looking at diamond-like carbon, but I don't know all that much about it (including cost). What other options are there for a coating or material that can be formed into thin-walled tubes that will transfer heat well? Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!!!

Thanks!

I have a bunch of movies on flash drives from my Canon FS200 camcorder. I want to get them to my computer and then burn DVD's off of threre. What format do I have to have them in so that a Joe-Schmoe DVD player would be able to play them, and how would I go about converting the annoying .mod files to that format? Thanks so much in advance!

My in-laws have Triple Crown decking at their home. My wife and I are looking for similar decking and want to get the same stuff that they have, but I am having a hard time finding Triple Crown. Everything leads me to Brock Decking Systems, but the pictures of the product don't look even remotely the same. Long question short, is there a website or a # I can call to get more information?

Thanks!

Brian

I am an employee at one of the Ball Plastics plants that just got bought by Amcor. Everybody is getting kind of apprehensive about what it's going to be like working for Amcor. We've heard everything from "pay in the $10/hr neighborhood" to "nothing is going to change but the name on the building". Any Amcor employees (preferably ones that work with PET) with input would be MUCH appreciated because we're not getting much for information via Ball.

Thanks in advance!

The power line to my house comes from a pole to the NW of our property, across 2 lots, wraps around the house (not in conduit! not my doing!), and down to the meter on the east side of the house. I am going to be residing in the spring and I don't want this autrocity of a line strung out like that when there is a power pole to the NE of the house (so it would go maybe 20 feet straight to the meter and down). The electricity service is provided by the city, and the city maintenance guy doesn't want to deal with it. I am pretty sure this is against some sort of code (Iowa electrical code), but I am no electrician. Is there some code in Iowa against stringing lines across neighboring lots? What about not having wire in conduits? The city would own the line to the meter wouldn't they? Any suggestions would be MUCH appreciated because otherwise it is MY responsibilty to move it (according to the city's maintenance guy). Sources of where you found code would be MUCH appreciated! Thanks in advance!!!

I am looking at this set: Westinghouse Solar Utopia High-Output Spot Light Set, 2-Piece at Walmart (I know, evil me). But they are $50 for two vs $20 for normal ones. I am really hoping these are totally worth the money because I will be using them to illuminate a flag pole (I am a stickler about flag lighting out of respect for those that deserve it). Is the difference noticeable? Do they stay lit for a long time? Would it do a great job of illuminating a 10 ft tall pole with a flag on top? ( I am really hoping that these work well. I really don't want to run wire to put in hard wired lights because the flagpole is a LONG way from the nearest electrical lines. It would be a MAJOR pain to get electrical power there. )Thanks in advance!

I know, I know, first of all, it's CoD original, and that I am playing via dial-up, but work with me here. I will have semi-decent ping when I start (Upper 100's) but then a couple of minutes later it's up to 999 and I get booted. My computer is newer (March 09), and I am running all the latest updates. I know ping is related to what is using your connection as well as distance, etc. I shut off everything that I *think* is using my connection, and it helped a little, but I am still getting really crappy performance. Any suggestions? I would appreciate it much! The reason I don't have high speed is because all we really ever do online is check email and bank accounts. MAYBE watch a video on youtube... maybe....

I was wondering if there was a way that I could seek help building a prototype that I thought up. I am no engineer, nor do I have a shop in my garage, but if this idea works, it could be huge. I was wondering what people in my situation do? I don't trust most people/organizations that offer help for inventors because I am afraid they would swipe it, so I am sort of at a loss..... Any help would be wonderful!

Has anybody ever heard of Ply Gem Windows or any of the subsidiary brands? I am looking at getting some Ply Gem/Great Lakes/ Grand view 4000 (see why it's confusing?) and I was wondering if anybody knew anything about them or liked them? They seem really heavy duty, but it's going to be a ton of money to replace them all, but if I am going to do it, I want to do it right. I worked for Pella for a couple of years, so I am admittedly a little biased toward them, but I want the best window for a reasonable cost. The contractor swears by them, they look like they're built well (I know a few things about windows, having made thousands), and the numbers (NFRC) look good, but when rubber hits the road, it's still a lot of money. Any suggestions?