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Djsnowboy267

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Posts posted by Djsnowboy267

  1. So I decided to play KSP for a bit on my new PC. I got in the VAB and started building when I noticed my framerate was around 20-30 fps. A while later I switched to the SPH to try out the new jet engines, and my game slowed to a crawl at 8fps when I looked out the door, and only 20 fps while looking towards sides. The only time I could maintain a steady 60 fps was when I looked towards the back of the hangar. While actually piloting craft, everything seems to be fine. I've tried reducing all the settings to minimum, but the problem still persists.

    I'm on version 1.05.1028, with Steam. Haven't even installed a single mod yet.

    My PC:

    Intel i7 5820k 3.3 GHz
    8 GB RAM
    Nvidia GTX 980
    Windows 10, 64-bit
  2. If you are interested in getting further into astronomy, join a local astronomy group. I joined one and I am very glad I did. I am sure the members would love to give you tips, and maybe let you try some of their equipment.

    Also, consider picking up a scope, you can get a good beginner scope for well under $200 if you look around. Try some astronomy forums, many have sections where members sell used scopes and accessories.

    If you don't want to shell out the cash for a scope, try upgrading your binoculars. Your current ones are 10x25, correct? I started my "adventure" with some 10x50s from Wal-Mart for around $30. They served me well and still do. Binoculars are very often underrated in astronomy, as you can't really grab a scope and be ready to view as soon as you are out the door.

    My last piece of advice comes from personal experience. When it comes to astronomy, you sometimes get too caught up in looking for dimmer and further objects, that you forget how awesome the view of Jupiter, or the Moon, or just a cool collection of stars is. No matter how hard you try, a galaxy will never really be more than a gray smudge through a scope. You need a camera to get those beautiful views you see in pictures.

    Good luck and clear skies!

  3. In a lab that should never happen. That is the whole point of a fume hood. If any substance is escaping the fume hood, your fume hood is not adequate for the purpose.

    In an airplane, your engine should never fail. But there are backup procedures in case it happens. Likewise, a fume hood shouldn't fail, but if it does, you should have a back up plan.

  4. Well as someone who worked with benzene in a laboratory, I can assure you that you don't use a gas mask for it. You use a fume hood unless the exposure is unimportant or very rare.

    Thanks for all the helpful info, that's something more along the lines of what I was looking for. At the time I asked the question I wasn't aware the gas mask was more of a precaution. As for the whole skin contact thing, I'm leaving that for the "higher ups" who know a bit more about what they are doing.

  5. Trust me, this isn't the only place I've asked. I have been looking around other forums as well as looking over safety sheets and manuals for the mask and chemicals. The reason I put this up on here is mainly for further input, I wouldn't trust the sole opinion of one person on here, or anywhere else, but I know most people on the KSP forums are above average intelligence and could at least give some additional input.

    Also, regarding the requirement for an air supply/positive pressure mask, that only applies for high or unknown concentrations of the chemical. At the moment I don't know how much and am trying to figure out, but respirators and full face masks with filters work for lower concentrations.

    Regarding the fume hood and facilities, I haven't gotten a chance to use the fume hood, all I said is that it was old. Could work great for all I know.

    Also, you are correct in saying I am definitely not trained for activities like this. I am working with a small group at the University of Iowa, and I mainly run the vacuum pump and do some testing with PMTs. I suppose it is my fault for wording my posts as if I am the only one using the masks. I don't think I would even be handling the benzene much, it would be older, more qualified people. I was told we might do some work with benzene but safety recommendations were to have a respirator, and I mentioned I have two at home. I want to know if those are sufficient, but unfortunately I can't say for certain unless I know the concentrations we are working with, which are most likely not that high but I am unsure. Trust me, I'm not going to run around a sealed room with benzene doing nothing but wearing a mask that may or may not be effective.

    Once again, I come to the KSP forums for a bit of additional advice, because I know most of you guys are smart, kind people. Not gonna take anybodies post as a 100% guarantee of being correct. I like being able to ask direct questions to a knowledgeable person and get at least an educated along with professional, standard info.

    I am not a terrorist (but that's totally what I would say if I were a terrorist!?!?!?!?!)

    Thanks for the advice.

  6. This site, at the very least, RECOMMENDS a gas mask.

    http://www.ccohs.ca/products/databases/samples/npg.html

    Regardless whether or not it is necessary, I would like to have one on hand just in case anyways. We are working in rooms with no windows, and a pretty old fume hood. Plus, I wouldn't mind actually getting some use out of the masks too.

    I just want to know whether the masks I have right now, MCU-2/P, would be sufficient. It would be cheaper for me to order new filters for the masks than to buy new masks altogether.

    Also, I am not entirely sure how much benzene we will be working with under what conditions at this point.

  7. I've wanted to post this thank you for a while, but I figured with the release of 1.0 I should finally get around to it as a way to celebrate KSP becoming a full game now! Congrats and thanks to all you guys at Squad!

    Anyways, this is a bit of a story about how KSP has influenced my life and my future. I've always been a pretty smart kid and was quite interested in space as a kid (as many young children are) but it wasn't really a big passion of mine. Either way, for a lot of my life so far I never knew what I wanted to do. Skip forward to 2012, and I'm just an average kid playing games on PC. However, I was going through some hard times. My dad and grandfather had just passed away in the fall of 2011, and I didn't know what to do with myself. I had some pretty disturbing thoughts about both myself and others. One day, I see Robbaz upload a video on YouTube about KSP. I thought it looked kind of cool, so I downloaded the demo, which was in .13 at the time, and played for a bit. I never really caught on and stopped playing after a while. Then, around December of that year, .18 is released. I soon start to see a few videos about it and I become pretty interested in KSP again. I figured that I enjoyed the demo enough, and the full version looks really fun (keep in mind this is before the demo version was updated to .18) so I decided to buy the game. At this time, I'm around 13 years old and in 8th grade, still not knowing what to do with my life.

    Here is where everything changes. I really start to enjoy KSP, even though I don't understand the real science behind any of it at the time. I play more, and more, and more, and I fall in love with the game. By early 2013, I am watching videos and actually learning about the general science about rockets, especially the physics. I even get a few friends to start playing the game. Anyways, I finally drag myself out of this deep pit and start doing something worthwhile. KSP re-ignited my love for science and space I had as a kid. By Summer, I've already decided I want to be something regarding physics, maybe a theoretical physicist or an astrophysicist. KSP is moving forward in development, and so am I. Soon, I start my freshman year in high school, and I find something hidden in my closet, and old telescope my father bought for me as a kid. I dust it off and bring it outside, but it doesn't work! I will later find out that I needed an eyepiece (duh) but at the time, I decide I want to try and look at the stars, which I very rarely got to do as a kid. So I go out to the store and buy a pair of 10x50mm binoculars, which might not seem like much but they were enough to get me started. I sat out on my front steps every night that fall, opened up my iPad, and tried to figure out what I would find tonight. Some more time passes on, and I buy a Celestron Nexstar 4se telescope in February 2014. Now, rather than being obsessed with rocketry and physics, I am obsessed with astronomy and space. Now my entire life I have had an interest in aviation as well, and always though being a pilot would be pretty cool. Soon, I realize I can actually started taking flying lessons within 1-2 years. I have a new direction to my life.

    Today, I am a member of my local astronomical society, a local aeroclub, and I am planning on joining an aviation chapter and Civil Air Patrol. I am working through my flight ground school and will be flying this summer. I've used my telescope to see galaxies I've never thought I would see. I have a plan set as a future air force pilot and astronomer. Would I have made it to this point without the influence of KSP? Maybe, but I very much doubt it.

    So I want to give a HUGE thank you to everybody who is or has worked at Squad. KSP is still one of my favorite games and no matter what anybody says, KSP is a great influence on lots of people, and I hope to see both content and community continue to expand. Speaking of which, you guys on the forum are all great, thank you. I also want to thank Robbaz for getting me started, and Scott Manley as well for his help in teaching me the ways of KSP. Finally, Danny2462 deserves a bit of recognition for helping me find more... fun ways to play KSP.

    P.S. Don't tell Jeb, but I still don't have any plans for that rescue mission either, but I'm sure he can figure it out.

  8. Cracked open the case and had another peek inside to see if I could find anything new... power supply is an AcBel HBA008-ZA1GT 350 Watt power supply. As for the motherboard, not sure.

    I took a picture with my iPad while I was at it... quality isn't great, but here is the link because its a pretty large image when I try to fit it on here. http://i.imgur.com/H6XBqAs.jpg

  9. I considered upgrading, but I have kind of a small case and not a very good power supply. Here is what I have right now:

    i7 3770 3.4 GHz

    Geforce GT 630 2GB

    16 GB RAM

    This is the most detailed info I can find on my PC, I bought it pre-built from Best Buy. This is the link to the PC on the ASUS website: http://www.asus.com/Desktops/Essentio_CM6730/specifications/

    I was considering just upgrading but the case is a little small, I would need to get a new power supply, and I thought the CPU could be a little better, although honestly I probably didn't think it over too much.

  10. I have Intel i7 3770 on my current PC. In the event that I can't quite shell out the cash to get a higher end Intel processor, I should be able to transfer it over to the new build, assuming I get the motherboard I need, correct? The lower CPU shouldn't be much of a problem should it?

  11. Before I start, yes I realize there is a dedicated thread for this. I would prefer to be able to keep the responses to my questions separate though, to avoid confusion with other people.

    Anyways, I've got a decent PC now and can run the majority of games I play. But I'm interested in a lot of new higher end games and would like to have a PC able to run them. Plus, I would like to get a little bit of PC building experience under my belt anyways. So anyways, the main thing the PC is going to be used for is gaming. I am not going to spend anywhere over $1000 at the very very max, and would like to stay below $800 if possible. Here are the parts I have chosen:

    https://pcpartpicker.com/user/djsnowboy267/saved/HvMXsY

    I don't have a hard drive chosen because I am going to use the two hard drives I have now and just transfer. For the most high end games I will be playing, I would have to say Arma 3, Planetside 2, possibly Elite: Dangerous or maybe Star Citizen.

    Any recommendations at all are welcomed, as I have never built a PC and only have basic knowledge. Thanks guys!

  12. My Logitech G930 headset is absolute garbage, and I am looking for a new one. Any suggestions? I would like one that I can use with both PC and PS3/PS4 but will settle with just PC if I need to. Wireless would also be nice, but after the problems with my G930, I am not enthusiastic about another wireless one that will keep disconnecting. Price isn't an issue as long as it is below around $130. It needs to be able to play sound through the headset, and have a mic.

  13. So out of boredom I decided to make a "prototype" of a giant space cannon. Basically, it fires a projectile at a significant fraction of the speed of light to get a huge amount of kinetic energy. I basically just spent the past two hours putting in different numbers into the equation and coming up with what I liked. Funny note, I started of with the Newtonian equation for kinetic energy (K=.5mv^2) not realizing it totally falls apart at high speeds. Anyways, I'm not too concerned about accuracy as long as it is somewhat close, but here is what I have.

    A cylindrical lithium shell 2.75m length x 1m radius with a total mass of 463kg is fired at 10% of the speed of light for a total kinetic energy of 2.092x10^17 joules, or 50,000 kilotons of TNT. This is the same amount of energy as the Tsar Bomb.

    Please point out if I missed anything obvious, I wouldn't be very surprised if I did. Also, when this thing hits, say, a space ship, how would that play out? Would it cause a massive explosion, or would it pass straight through, or some combination?

    Also, lets not let Jeb hear about this, shall we? :D

  14. I would recommend the NexStar telescope. Just a year ago I purchased a NexStar 4SE, which is smaller and a little different from the one you are looking at, and I like it a lot. From even the 4SE I get good views of Jupiter and Saturn, Mars is decent, and Uranus and Neptune can be seen but they appear as stars without higher magnification (eyepiece). In terms of deep sky objects, I've seen several galaxies and nebulae with not much problem. With yours, you should get even better results. Keep in mind you need a dark sky site. I could see more with my 4 inch scope out in a dedicated observing site than you could ever see with an 8 inch from a big city, light pollution is a big factor.

    I have to agree with what everybody else is saying about going big. If you have the money, start big. 8 inch is a good size middle ground telescope and seems to be pretty good middle ground in terms of power vs. portability. I actually wouldn't go much over that for a starter scope.

    My biggest piece of advice would be to get yourself some good eyepieces! I'm stuck with some old eyepieces I got from a cheap telescope years ago and they are the bane of my astronomical viewing. It looks like your scope might come with a 25mm eyepiece, mine did too, and that is a good starting point. I would try to grab something around 10-15mm for a good balance, and somewhere between 5mm-10mm for planetary viewing. For your power problem, I use a portable power pack sold by Celestron, it's rechargeable and you just need the right cord to plug it right into the scope for power. Lots of other good stuff too.

    http://www.celestron.com/browse-shop/astronomy/accessories/other-accessories/powertank,-12v-power-supply

    I would definitely recommend Orion Telescopes, it is a good site that I have bought just about everything from! The Celestron site isn't very clear about what comes with the scope, but Orion has a page about everything included.

    http://www.telescope.com/Celestron-NexStar-8SE-GoTo-Schmidt-Cassegrain-Telescope/p/9756.uts?keyword=nexstar

    My Final advice: Think about whether or not this is a hobby you want to get really serious about, or just want to get casual looks through the scope. I'm warning you: it's addictive! If you are interested, you could seek out an astronomical club in your area. I joined one near me, and I have gotten a lot of help from them and they are fun to talk with. If, however, you don't plan on being very active with the hobby, consider something lighter and cheaper. Obviously, a larger scope will require more dedication.

  15. Looove Saturn to death, rings are amazing, and it's my overall favorite! Jupiter is really close though, I really like the cloud belts as well as it's moons, but rings as brilliant as Saturn's are hard to beat.

    On the other hand, when it comes to actually observing the planets, I would have to say Jupiter because it ends up being a much better sight through the 'scope, and the moons are different every time! I have some good memories going out in -10 degree weather bundled up with a small scope and seeing that bright yellow dot overhead. To me Jupiter feels like a close friend :D

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