BlackKobold

I don't care what numbers you use, but the problem I'm stuck on is this: If I'm standing looking at a tree from a distance of 70 feet, the height of the tree is unknown and we assume a right angle between the tree and the ground, the distance between myself and the top of the tree is three times the height of the tree plus 2 feet. So we have (I think) 8x^2 +12x -4892 = 0. I don't know where I'm going wrong, but I can't seem to find a solution that works! I've been successful with quadratic formula before, but for some reason the 3x+2 (three times the height of the tree plus 2 feet) is throwing me off somehow. Any help would be appreciated so I can see what I'm doing wrong!

I'm trying to select a combination of tires that would give me a good balance between fairly low rolling resistance on hardpack and traction in mud.

Would using a more narrow tire with closely spaced or low, ramped knobs on the center tread and high, widely spaced knobs on the outer edge be a good choice? And would using such a tire on the front or rear be a better idea in combination with a more aggressive tread pattern on the opposite?

I'm thinking that lower rolling resistance on the front tire (narrow tire, low closely-spaced knobs) would be beneficial for increasing speed but I'm worried that steering in muddy conditions will be greatly compromised?

I need some experienced opinions! Thanks!

I recently brought my car in for an oil change, fluid topoff, and replaced a few tires. Everything seemed fine, but when I reached highway speeds (65-80 MPH) I noticed my engine temperature gauge quickly increased to the red zone. It was too dark to properly see the fill line at the time, so I added coolant anyway (I checked today and the coolant level was above the max).

As soon as I got back up to speed the needle steadily moved toward the red zone again. So I turned the heat on maximum and that was enough to bring the temperature back to normal.

I noticed that at lower speeds (45-60 MPH) the temperature would still climb, but very slowly and with stops at lights, etc. it never hit the red zone.

Could this be a bad temp gauge? What else might be causing this problem?

There was no visible smoke or vapor under the hood at any time although I did hear what sounded like a quiet bubbling from the engine if that means anything.

Also, I currently have a knobby tire on the front wheel and a more hybrid style back tire (tall knobs on the edge but shorter bar-like knobs in the center). For traction in light-moderate mud would it be better to use the knobby tire on the back wheel or keep it as is?

Just trying to figure out whether I should buy new tires, swap these tires, or keep them as is. And waiting for rain to do a real world test? I'm just too impatient for that!

I built a cinder block wall around what will be a patio and I'd like to cover it with something that looks nice. I know there are stone veneers which look nice or I could go with stucco or something similar. I just don't really know what is out there and I'm looking for ideas. Low cost is a plus.

So what would you do if you had a cinder block wall you wanted to pretty up somehow?

In my neighborhood, the properties slope down away from the road. So my yard slopes slightly downward toward the rear fence, then back up across the neighbor's backyard. Naturally, water runs down to this depression between our yards and makes it very muddy at pretty much all times. The water just never drains properly.

So I hear there's something called a rain garden that can help with this situation. I live in the northern Virginia area.

So what I'm looking for are solutions to this problem.

If a rain garden is a good idea, then what plants would you recommend for my area? I'm not wild about planting trees and large shrubs there. Are there any wild flowers or other small, easy to manage plants which do well under these conditions and are known to soak up a particularly large amount of water?

Any other suggestions?

I've seen the information regarding pre-order pricing (in Euros) and the pre-release details. Callisto will be known as the Phenom II x2 500 series, starting with the 550 and 545 at 3.1 and 3.0GHz respectively. But I have yet to see any reviews where an engineering sample has been tested, which seems a little strange for a CPU which is already on pre-order and is supposedly scheduled to release within 2 weeks time.

I'd also be interested in any reviews regarding Regor, Propus, or Rana CPUs, known as Athlon II. Although I understand that the release date for these has supposedly been pushed back to the August/September timeframe.

So, can anyone link performance reviews for any of these CPUs? Or is this information being kept extremely hush-hush by AMD until release?

Phenom II x3 710 (stock)

790GX chipset

Radeon HD4770

It's easy enough to find reviews for these components individually, but I haven't been able to find any results using this platform. Anyone have any info on this?

I stripped the threads on the crank arm of my Huffy Revolution bike. I'm wondering if I need to replace it with the exact same part or if crank arms are a standard size and can be replaced with any old crank from a men's bike?

I broke a side mirror and Scion wanted hundreds of dollars to fix it. So I purchased aftermarket mirrors on the cheap from ebay. Unfortunately, the color coding of the wiring doesn't match so I'm having difficulty.

I have a wiring diagram for the original Scion TC side mirrors. If I can find a diagram for these aftermarket mirrors I should be able to hook them up no problem.

Anyone know where I can find this information? Or has anyone installed this same type of mirror before and know what each color wire in the bundle does?

I'm an agnostic. To sum up my position: The existence of God cannot be disproved, thus it's impossible to know either way. The difference between my position and that of an atheist is that the atheist believes that God does not exist.

So my question to the atheists out there: What empirical evidence supports your belief that God does not exist?

Please confine your answers to evidence that God does not exist. I'm not concerned with proof that the Bible or other aspects of Christianity are incorrect. I agree 100% with you if you feel that the bible is not proof that God exists!

I'm building a budget gaming rig, thus "bang for the buck" is the primary consideration here. I'm well aware of which is the superior product in each of the following comparisons. What I'm interested in determining is what sort of performance I can expect with each and, in your opinion, is it worth the additional cost?

CPU: Intel E8400 vs. E5200

E8400 - 3.0GHz, 1333 FSB, 6MB cache, 170$.

E5200 - 2.5GHz, 800 FSB, 2MB cache, 85$

The E8400 represents the best processor I would consider purchasing for this build. I would be more than happy with the stock performance of this CPU. So what I want to know is, if I were to overclock the E5200 to 3.0GHz or more, would there be any noticeable difference in performance in gaming?

9600GT vs. 9800/8800GT vs. HD4850

The HD4850 is easily the best card here. However, it costs a good 40$ more than the 9800GT, which costs about 30$ more than the 9600GT. I would be playing at low-mid level resolutions. From what I've seen so far, I believe that all of these cards are capable of handling any game currently on the market at lower resolutions using med-high settings. Is there any reason you can think of to spend the extra 30-70$ on the better performing cards?

RAM - 2GB vs. 4GB?

Assume I'm running a Vista 64-bit OS which can fully utilize 4GB of RAM. Obviously, more is better. But how much better? There are reviews which show negligible differences in gaming performance on 64-bit Vista systems using 2GB vs. 4GB. The basic idea being that there generally isn't enough paging going on at 2GB for the additional 2GB to become necessary. Do you agree or disagree with this assessment and why?

ASRock P43Twins1600 motherboard

This seems like a nice P43 mobo. It can run up to 1600MHz and should be good for overclocking the E5200 if I choose to go that route. Would you agree that this is a good purchase? Can you recommend cheaper alternatives which would suit my needs?

Your input is appreciated!

I am an agnostic. I am typically confused with atheists, but this represents a misunderstanding of the difference between knowledge and belief.

The atheist views a lack of empirical evidence as proof that God does not exist. As any theist will tell you, absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. Thus the atheist doesn't know that God does not exist, but he believes it.

By the same token, the theist believes in the existence of God. Although there is no evidence to support the claim that God does not exist, the absence of evidence against the existence of God is not evidence of God's existence.

As an agnostic, I acknowledge that there is no evidence to support a conclusion either way. God can neither be proven nor disproven, thus the answer to the question of God's existence is inherently unknowable. As an agnostic I don't attempt to prove or disprove the existence of God, and in fact view the question as completely irrelevant.

I'm just curious how this point of view is seen by Christians in light of the fact that atheists and theists are so often at odds with eachother. How do you feel about agnostics?

Alright, here's another build. Tell me what you think!

CPU: Intel E8400 3.0GHz Core 2 Duo

Motherboard: Asus P5Q Pro P45 motherboard w/ Crossfire

RAM: Corsair 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 800

Video Card: Palit Radeon HD4850 512MB

Hard Drive: WD 500GB SATA II 7200RPM

Optical Drive: Asus 20x DVDR

PSU: Corsair 520W Crossfire-ready (three 12v rails at 18A)

Case: Raidmax Smilodon

Total: $680

So the positives here are excellent performance and upgradability. I have two open RAM slots and the motherboard supports up to 8GB. When the price comes down on the HD4850, if I need more performance I can purchase a second card and go crossfire. The motherboard supports quad core 45nm CPUs as well. And the PSU should be more than capable of handling the upgrades. The case has 4 built in cooling fans and room for more, so it should be able to take the heat if I do go crossfire down the road.

Your thoughts and comments?

I'm looking into a low-cost, low-power build but I'm concerned that using the 4850e 2.5GHz CPU will bottleneck the HD4670. The card is so new that I haven't been able to find any reviews utilizing this combination in a comparison with faster processors.

Does anyone have first-hand experience? Or can you link a relevant comparison or review?

I'm planning to purchase an E7200 Core 2. At stock this CPU is clocked at 2.53GHz with a locked 9.5x multiplier and a core frequency of 266MHz. From what I've read it's possible to increase the core frequency to 333MHz x 9.5 = 3.16GHz without increasing the core voltage.

My questions are:

1) Assuming it isn't necessary to increase the vcore to achieve 3.16GHz, what sort of core temp increases should I expect to see?

2) Will a stock heatsink/fan be adequate for this overclock?

3) In your opinion, will this shorten the expected lifespan of the CPU, practically speaking?

I'm building a computer and I haven't decided on the parts yet. Any of these parts can be changed out for a different part if you have any suggestions.

CPU: E5200 Wolfdale 2.5Ghz

Motherboard: ECS P43T-A2 P43 ATX

Memory: Corsair 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 800

Graphics Card: PNY GeForce 8800GT 512MB

Hard Drive: Samsung 320GB 7200RPM SATA II

Optical Drive: Lite-On 20x DVDR

PSU: Rosewill 600W

Case: Rosewill R6252

Total Cost: $490

Any suggestions on better parts, better deals, or just in general are appreciated. I'm trying to keep the cost below $500!

Barack Obama has just released a statement saying that he's going to Washington to attempt to bring resolution to this economic crisis. Is he doing this for political reasons? Or is this merely a political stunt?

Also, I'm curious. Are you a Republican, Democrat, or other? And who would you vote for if today were election day?

CPU: AMD 4850e 2.5GHz

Motherboard: Asus M3A78-EM AM2+ 780G

Memory: G.SKILL 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 800

Video: eVGA 9800GT 512MB

Hard Drive: Samsung 320GB 7200RPM SATA II

Optical Drive: Lite-On 20x DVDR

PSU: Rosewill 600W

Case: Rosewill Conqueror

Total: $475

Alternatively, I could go for the E5200 Wolfdale processor, but I'd probably have to cut back the graphics card to a 9600GT or HD4670. I question whether that's a good tradeoff in a budget gaming rig, though. I have to keep costs down - I'm already well above my initial budget of 400$! The 4850e is a fairly low end processor, but the 9800GT is definitely the best card I can afford by far.