Due process/Second Amendment

Revisiting due process and firearms

Posted on by Kenneth Ballard / 0 Comment

Perhaps my expectations are too high. I don’t think they are. Just as I would expect a programmer to understand the fundamental concepts of the languages they use, I would expect a lawyer to understand the fundamentals of law.

To this end, I would expect a practicing attorney to be knowledgeable of procedural due process. After all, due process applies both to civil and criminal litigation. So to encounter an attorney that gets the concept wrong just leaves me wondering.

Recently the governor of Connecticut, Dan Malloy, attempted to defend the use of the Federal government’s “no-fly list” as a “no-gun list”. I’ve been against this for the simple reason that no person is included on the “no-fly list” as a result of any kind of due process:

The biggest problem with excluding those on watch lists from being able to purchase firearms is the ability of the government to create lists indiscriminately, and add people to these lists with virtually no oversight.

If you actually value due process — which I’m convinced most people DON’T — then you’ll oppose this in its entirety.

I don’t say this lightly. I’ve written here before (here, here, here, here, and here) how many are willing to throw someone else’s due process rights under the bus. In the comments section to a Huffington Post article mentioning Malloy’s support, I said this:

The Fourteenth Amendment requires that before a person can be “deprived of… liberty”, they first must be subject to “due process of law”. “Due process” requires that the person being subjected to that due process be able to exercise their rights under the Fifth and Sixth Amendments, such as the right to convene a jury, call witnesses in his defense, cross-examine witnesses against him, and have an attorney to assist in that defense, and have all evidence against him examined by the jury to determine if the charges are proven beyond reasonable doubt.

Without the ability to exercise the Fifth and Sixth Amendment rights, the due process requirement is not met. So adding someone to an arbitrary government list, then using their inclusion to that list to deny that person their Second Amendment rights is also a violation of their Fourteenth Amendment rights and unconstitutional on its face. Period.

What I’ve outlined above is the essence of procedural due process. In short, before the government can enact any kind of deprivation of liberty against you, they must give you a chance to defend yourself. You have no such chance when it comes to these “no-fly” lists and other watch lists the Federal government has.

An attorney from Vermont replied:

Your legal analysis is not correct. Due process likely requires some process to challenge inclusion in the no-fly list, but not the determination that a person is, in fact, on the list. To be constitutional, the due process does not necessarily have to include all of the provisions you cite, which are those afforded people charged with crimes. There are existing provisions that allow people to challenge being placed on the no fly list. A challenge to that process is being litigated, but there is no final outcome to that case.

This isn’t accurate, but it’s not too far off. Instead the attorney has his words crossed. And unfortunately in my reply, I wasn’t entirely correct either, as I used the wrong term when describing a legitimate protection from the government. See if you can spot where I want wrong:

You have to be informed before you are added to the list that you may be added to the list. And you have to be given the opportunity to challenge that inclusion. In that challenge, the government must justify why you are to be included, and you must be given the opportunity to challenge that justification and appeal the result if it is not in your favor.

This is why we don’t put “alleged” child molesters on the sex offender registry. Conviction in a criminal court is required first.

What requires the “determination that a person is on the list” is the writ of habeas corpus. A person always has the right to challenge any action against them by the government — habeas corpus plus the First Amendment right to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

So if a person is on the “no-fly” list, they have the right to demand the government say why they are on the list — either directly or by way of the Court. And they have right to challenge being on the list, and the right to challenge before they are added to the list.

But…. that only comes into play if the list is being used to deprive liberties. And given we’re talking about this list being used to deprive Second Amendment rights, Due Process and habeas corpus *absolutely* come into play.

Habeas corpus. It’s all too easy to misuse legal terms. Instead what I was describing wasn’t the privilege of habeas corpus, but actually the protection against attainder.

From Article I, Section 9 of the Constitution: “No bill of attainder… shall be passed”. While this prohibition was directly on Congress, it by proxy limits the executive as well. A no-fly list cannot exist without congressional approval anyway. And for the Federal government to use them to deprive liberty is an attainder, a punishment without trial. And the right of due process first mentioned in the Fifth Amendment reinforces the ban mentioned in Article I, Section 9, while directly extending the prohibition to the Executive Branch.

No denial or deprivation of liberty may occur without due process of law. The Constitution is quite clear on that. Meaning the use of these lists of attainder, since they are already being used to limit someone’s liberties absent due process, to limit someone’s access to their Second Amendment rights clearly violates the Constitution.

Desert Sapphire

Desert Sapphire – Part II

Posted on by Kenneth Ballard / 0 Comment
Build Log:

I mentioned in the previous segment that water cooling parts were on their way. The first order from Performance-PCs arrived the day after Thanksgiving — thank you FedEx for not screwing up this time.

The Performance-PCs order contained two radiators, two bulkhead fittings, and a collection of Koolance quick disconnects:

One of the items listed is the Koolance L-Bracket with two G¼ pass-through fittings. Provided the quick disconnects could fit, I intended to use this for the pass-through to avoid modding the case. I know I’ve said previously that fittings shouldn’t be ordered early in a build. This was a necessary exception as it would affect planning if this didn’t fit. Plus I knew I’d be using these specific quick disconnects, so there wasn’t any risk ordering these up front.

quickdisconnects

Thankfully it did fit, but really only just. The female side of the quick disconnects have 3/8″x1/2″ compression fittings. Would it have worked if the quick disconnects were the larger 1/2″x3/4″ compression fittings? That’s difficult to say. It certainly would’ve been a tighter fit.

I really wish that Koolance had a second version of this pass-through that didn’t have the DB-15 slot on it and had the G¼” fittings spread out a little more. I’d also like to see a low-profile version of this bracket similar to the one they make for the since-discontinued VL2 line of quick disconnects.

Note as well that I’m using off-colored fittings. And as you can see from the picture above, I’m using one chrome and one black quick disconnect. This is simply to ensure that everything stays coordinated for flow. The flow must go in a particular direction through the CPU block, so this helps ensure that the flow stays coordinated between the cooling box and the blocks.

Second order

The next payday saw another order to Performance PCs, again ordering what I knew I’d need.

Everything in the 750D will use soft tubing, while the water box will use PETG. I have quite a few PrimoChill revolver fittings, so this gives me an opportunity to use those up. Plus it’ll make the water box a little easier to maintain. If there’s any part of this build I want to be able to last a long time, it’s that. I’m considering ordering the ratcheting cutting tool that MNPCTech sells, but I hear that you can use a standard tubing cutter on PETG, so I’ll see how well that works first, and I have a hacksaw if need be.

The AlphaCool 90-degree fittings are new. I typically go with Swiftech or Koolance, but these were 2.50 USD less expensive than the Swiftech fittings, 3 USD less expensive than Koolance, so I decided to try them.

But as you can see, I opted for the PMP-420 from Koolance as the pump. Again I wanted something better than the D5 Vario. The question is noise. I’ll be using this to flush pumps and blocks, so I’ll be able to test it out. If the noise is a bit much, I can see about dampening it. And the Add2PSU is to synchronize the power supplies. The exact cabling I’ll be using to plug everything up is still up in the air, but given how some LP4 to P4 converter cables are wired, I’m heavily leaning toward using a P4 cable.

Otherwise the rest of that inventory is pretty self-explanatory. Really about all that’s left to order is the fans for the radiators — likely going with Cougar CF-V12HPB since I’ve had good luck with them already — and the FlexATX power supply for powering the water box. I have another FlexATX power supply I might re-use for this. I’ll just need to first test it to see how noisy it was, so I’ll likely use it as part of testing the pump for flushing components.

Thankfully the Aquacomputer block and backplate didn’t take too long getting over to the US. Still could’ve been faster, but it would’ve required paying double the shipping rate for UPS. I basically had about everything I’d need when I’d need it.

The beauty of all of this? I can install blocks and tube up the loop in a smaller case before moving it to the 750D, and I won’t have to change a thing when moving it. Whereas with a loop where everything is inside the chassis, you may need to cut new tubing, and you’d certainly need to consider compatibility with your radiators before buying.

The cabinet

The next step really is figuring out what I’m going to do for the cabinet and radiator configuration. I’ve been browsing around for cabinets to see what is available, what might be easily adapted. And more and more I’m leaning more toward building a custom cabinet for this instead of using something off the shelf. I’m having a little difficulty finding cabinets that will fit what I’m wanting to do.

So instead I’m going to buy oak or pine boards and build one. It’ll be 30″ long by 15″ deep, and about 24″ tall. The inside of the cabinet will be only 18″ tall, providing for 6″ beneath the cabinet. This will be good since the radiator side of the cabinet will actually be bottomless, well almost. The radiators will be all but completely exposed, allowing for the most airflow through the fans.

The doors to the cabinet will also be solid, hence why the radiator side needs to be bottomless. If the door is closed, there won’t be any airflow if the cabinet was a typical cabinet. However with a bottomless cabinet, the radiators will still be able to pull air through. And the cabinet door can always be opened to allow for even more airflow if necessary.

The fans will have a controller as well. The Phobya fan controller I previously used in Absinthe will be used here to allow the client to control the fan speeds when desirable. It’ll also serve as an immediate tachometer readout on the fans and pump as well. I forget whether it has an audible alarm, though.

Now in talking about “sides” to the cabinet, there will obviously be a dividing wall in the middle. Currently I’m planning to set it up so the left side of the cabinet has the fan controller and temperature readout for the coolant while the right side has the radiators, pump, and reservoir. The pump has a heatsink and being passively cooled by the fans moving air through to the radiators should suffice.

Otherwise, this is how the build currently looks in its temporary chassis:

testbuild

Ethics/Logic

“I don’t believe you” vs “You’re lying”

Posted on by Kenneth Ballard / 0 Comment

If there’s one aspect of misinterpretation that really gets my goat, it’s this: “I don’t believe you” = “You’re lying!”

And it’s quite easy to see why this misinterpretation is made. Someone makes a statement and the person listening expresses skepticism, and the person making the statement interprets the skepticism as being accused of manufacturing details. I’ve come across this numerous, numerous times.

A little over a month ago, I had an exchange on Facebook regarding Martin Shkreli — yes, him. Shkreli had stated that he jacked the price on the toxoplasmosis medication Daraprim with the intent of spurring research into a new toxoplasmosis drug. He also acknowledged the price increase would cause another company to produce a generic. A click-bait headline stated that Shkreli was “fuming” when a San Diego pharmaceutical manufacturer did just that.

Going off Shkreli’s public statements, I said that Shkreli likely was not “fuming” with that development and that everyone “focused only on the new price” and basically ignored everything else he said. In response, a friend said, “He has no real intention of using profits to fund research, nor does he sincerely hope that his actions will motivate the development of safer treatments.”

My response was quite direct:

And when did you become a mind reader? Absent any other indications of his intentions, we can only go on his statements, which is also called giving him the benefit of the doubt. So if you have anything else you can point to that indicates his true intentions, then let’s have it. Otherwise, give him the benefit of the doubt and take his statements as his intentions, unless you’re not wanting others to give you the benefit of the doubt. And if you’re not willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, why should anyone else give it to you?

In response, a friend of that friend responded with “Sorry, know the guy, [friend] has it”. I challenged that statement:

You know [Shkreli] personally and have spoken with him about this particular move and his motivations behind it such that you can speak to his motivations? Sorry but I don’t believe you. But even if you did, you’d still be engaging in hearsay which makes any such statements untrustworthy. And saying you “know the guy” doesn’t mean what you say about his motivations on anything is correct, as a person you know can still surprise you.

When the friend of friend replied saying “Believe what you want – clearly you will”, I challenged further:

It’s not a matter of what I believe, [friend of friend], or what I want to believe. What I believe is immaterial. What you believe is immaterial. It’s a matter of what can be demonstrated to be true. And in some cases, we have little choice but to take a person’s statements prima facie — that is, assume them as true unless or until they can be shown to not be true. Why is this a concept so difficult for others to understand?

So unless you or someone else can *demonstrate* or has demonstrated his statements as false, then he is to be afforded the benefit of the doubt, regardless of whether you feel he deserves it or not.

Be skeptical all you want. There is nothing wrong with questioning someone’s motives or whether someone’s motives are genuine. But before you call someone a liar — which both you and [friend] are implying herein — you’d better be ready to demonstrate that they lied or otherwise hold your tongue. Otherwise, why should I hold mine?

If I still have you at this point, I’ll give you a quick demonstration of what I mean.

You’ll notice that above I did not call you a liar, implicitly or explicitly. I did not say or imply you knowingly and deliberately made a false statement in claiming you “know the guy”. For all I know, you just might. Or you may not. I have know way of proving the statement false, so I must assume it to be true — not accept it as true, only assume it is true.

That’s why I focused on whether you spoke to him specifically about his move regarding Daraprim.

The friend of friend’s responded saying they interpreted my statements as calling them a liar. My assumption is the friend of friend thought I should have just taken as fact unless I could disprove it their statement that they “know the guy” and, therefore, could speak to Shkreli’s intentions.

That’s not how things work. That isn’t just a shift in the burden of proof. It’s declaring that one should be able to manufacture statements and that no person can challenge them.

Expressing skepticism with regard to someone’s claim is quite different from stating the claim is false. If I say “I don’t believe you”, I mean just that: you haven’t convinced me your statement is true. If I say “You’re lying”, it means I can demonstrate your statement is false and I can demonstrate that you know your statement is false. Obviously, then, there’s an in-between.

To this extent, I have defended Anita Sarkeesian against accusations that she is a liar with regard to the content she has produced for her non-profit, Feminist Frequency:

Evidence shows Anita misrepresented herself and gained tremendous financial benefit from that misrepresentation, and I believe the evidence demonstrates beyond reasonable doubt that she committed fraud. She professed to be a gamer, but the level to which she played video games, or once played video games, is likely on the same level that someone who has built a computer could call themselves an “expert” at building computers.

But with regard to the content she has created, I think it’s a little bit of a stretch to say that Sarkeesian was lying, as that means she was being knowingly and intentionally dishonest with what she was presenting. The entire project stems from a fallacious starting point, though, in that she entered her research with a preconceived notion and bias, and she was looking for any evidence that could support her point. But a fallacious premise does not mean she was being knowingly and intentionally false with her statements. To say she was is a tough statement to prove.

Even with regard to Hitman and the video that Thunderf00t made on the scene in question, we can’t really know if Sarkeesian (or as proxy of her researchers or John McIntosh) is lying about the game. In all cases, however, Anita was certainly misrepresenting the games portrayed in her videos, with plenty taken out of context. Many have pointed this out. But it is not correct to call her a liar with her misrepresentations without also proving she knowingly misrepresented the games in question.

And I’ve gone further, in that one should not call someone a liar without maintaining context. Again, defending Anita Sarkeesian:

Context is what matters. We’ve all lied at some point, so would it be fair to hold the banner of “liar” over everyone’s head? No. Anita certainly misrepresented herself and gained financially from that misrepresentation. But with regard to her content, to say she was being knowingly and deliberately false in what she presented is a bit of a stretch. As such to call her a liar without limiting the statement to the context in which it can be proved she was knowingly and deliberately dishonest is not fair to Anita, just as it would not be fair to anyone else.

And again, this time responding to a video by Liana Kerzner:

You and I share the same definition on “liar” and “lying”. As I said in a couple comments in threads on your previous video, to me lying is being knowingly and intentionally false on statements being made. And I keep to that definition in part because I believe in always giving someone the benefit of doubt. Someone could be saying something that is demonstrably false only because they didn’t know.

But even then, I also feel that if you want to say someone is lying or is a liar, the context needs to be maintained. Everyone has lied at some point in their lives, I feel it is safe to say. But it is not fair to hold the banner of “liar” over everyone without also mentioning the context in which they lied, while also being able to demonstrate that they were being knowingly false in their statements. The latter is a tough standard to reach, and intentionally so. It isn’t fair to call someone a liar in any context unless you can show they were intentionally conveying information they know is false.

I believe whole-heartedly in giving everyone the benefit of doubt. It is why I’m a very staunch defender of due process. Sadly, I’m often a part of a very, very tiny minority when it comes to that.

Expressing skepticism toward a statement is not calling a person a liar. And generally when you make a statement with regard to someone else’s intentions — as opposed to your own intentions — you are making a material statement. Whenever you make a material statement, expect to be challenged, especially if you are making a statement with regard to someone else’s intentions.

Again, lying is a deliberate act. A person lies when they knowingly make a statement that is false. Along with lying comes fraud and perjury, both of which are treated as deliberate actions. You cannot “accidentally” commit fraud or perjury, just as you cannot “accidentally” lie. You can be mistaken with regard to a certain statement, due to being misinformed or making incorrect assumptions, but that is quite different from making statements you know to be false.

And unless you can demonstrate that statements someone made are false, and you can demonstrate that they knew or should have known those statements are false, you should not call someone a “liar”.

But again saying “I don’t believe you” is not and should not be interpreted as saying “You’re lying”. Lying means you know your statements are false and I can show it. “I don’t believe you” just means you need to try a little harder to convince me.

And if someone says to you “I don’t believe you” and you interpret that as “You’re lying”, then you believe whatever you say should be accepted as true regardless of whether it is true.

Desert Sapphire

Desert Sapphire

Posted on by Kenneth Ballard / 0 Comment

Build Log:

The time has come to introduce another build project, this one being a client build. All of the primary hardware has been purchased and I’m just waiting on water cooling parts to arrive. This one is called Desert Sapphire. It’ll have a mostly blue theme and will be water cooled.

Mainboard: ASRock X99 Extreme4
CPU: Intel i7-5820k
RAM: 16GB EVGA DDR4-2800 SuperSC (4x4GB)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO M.2 SSD
Graphics: EVGA GTX 980 SC ACX 2.0
OS: Windows 10 Home
Chassis: Corsair 750D

This is going to be a very high-end build, and it’ll be the first truly high-end system the client has ever owned, and he’s very excited about getting this system. Currently he’s running a second-generation Intel i3 with a Zotac GT620, so the difference here is like night and day. There’s also an interesting story behind this build.

The client had actually been out of work for a while but wasn’t really actively looking for work — he’s a younger man in his early 20s still living at home. So I proposed to him that I’d build him a system if he found a job and put up some of the cost. So he’s put up about half the cost of the system, and I’m absorbing the rest. The chassis is actually the 750D from β Ori. that will be available once I move that system into a 19″ rack.

And as I said, the system is going to be water cooled as well. Many of the parts have already been settled and/or ordered, at least on brands.

CPU block: EK Supremacy EVO
GPU block: Aquacomputer kryographics with passive backplate
Radiators: AlphaCool ST30, size to be determined
Pump: Koolance PMP-420 or PMP-500

This system will actually be externally water-cooled. There will be an inlet and outlet to the chassis that will be connected via Koolance quick disconnects, very similar to what I did for Colony West. The question that’s up in the air still is what to use to house the external water cooling setup.

And I’ve had a few ideas, all of which so far involve modifying something from off the shelf. The idea on that mark is I want it to look like a piece of furniture with the tubing and cabling going from the back of the computer to the box. I’ve looked at night stands and small cabinets mostly.

I’m doing this for a couple reasons. First, the client lives in Nevada — i.e. desert, hence the name. This means that there will be what some would consider over-kill radiator capacity. I’m currently planning on 6x120mm. The pump is also a little up in the air as I’m considering going with something more powerful than a D5 to ensure there won’t be any flow problems. On that I’m considering two pumps from Koolance: PMP-420 and PMP-500. I may end up going with a D5 in the end, simply but again flow is the primary concern.

The other reason I’m doing this is simply because I can. The client has voiced no objection to going that direction with the loop and trusts my judgment on this. But at the same time I’m wanting to demonstrate what I talked about in a segment of the β Ori. build log and that AntVenom demonstrated with his setup:

The box will contain the pump, reservoir, and radiators. Coolant will pass from the pump up to the system, through the blocks, then back out to the box where it will pass through the radiators and go back to the reservoir. The quick disconnects will be color coordinated to ensure that the flow goes in the right direction. There will be a small ATX power supply controlling the fans and pump that will be synchronized to the main power supply. More on that when I get there.

And here’s the best part: the cooling system is independent of the chassis. This means that the client could later add a second GTX 980 without affecting the radiator box. It’d affect only the main chassis, and not really all that much. Plus with all of the radiators external to the system, the radiators will have completely open airflow, meaning maximum cooling potential. The chassis could even be changed out later without having to worry about the radiators, and the radiators could be upgraded or additional ones added without worrying about the chassis.

Doing this provides for so much flexibility I’m surprised so few people are doing this. While there are some complications with going this route, they are relatively easy to overcome, provided you actually put some thinking into it.

The only part of owning a water cooled system that the setup would complicate is maintenance, but even then not really by much. It is something I’ll have to keep in mind when building the box, though, as the client will likely be the one maintaining this system unless I agree to go back out there about once a year. Aside from that, all he’d have to do is keep the fans and radiators cleared of dust.

That’s it for this part of the build log. Some of the water cooling parts have been ordered, but with Thanksgiving around the corner, it’ll be interesting to see when they arrive. The Aquacomputer block was also ordered direct from Aquacomputer in Germany, so hopefully it won’t take over a month to receive it. But if that happens, there will still be plenty to work on in the mean time.

Colony West

Follow-up on Colony West

Posted on by Kenneth Ballard / 0 Comment

Build Log:

So the system has been up and running for about a week now, so it’s time for a follow-up on how the system is performing.

Temperatures

First I couldn’t be happier with the water cooling loop. The radiators have no problem keeping the GPUs cool. MilkyWay@Home tasks tended to produce the highest temperatures on the cards while air cooled, so seeing the temperatures in the low 30s C on water is just phenomenal. But that was with the fans running at full voltage.

So to quiet the system, I used the voltage step-down I already have (read about it here) to take the fans down to around 8 volts. When I plugged it in, I didn’t realize the voltage was set that low. But the temperatures only went up a few degrees, hovering around the mid 30s C. The fans are inaudible compared to the fans in the graphics host and graphics enclosure, which is odd considering the fans in both chassis are undervolted as well.

Either way, that is phenomenal performance. I’ll see what I can do about the other fan noise later. If it’s the power supplies in either instance, then there’s nothing I can do about it.

Stability

Along with temperatures, I also need to talk about stability. And that is where so far I’ve had some concerns. In short I think I need to revisit the water blocks. Not for cleaning, but to remount them, at least with regard to one of the GTX 660s.

For some reason one of the GTX 660s does not want to remain stable. The Xid error code thrown by the NVIDIA driver is 62, which is labeled as an “Internal micro-controller halt”. Three possible causes: hardware error/failure (unlikely), driver error (also unlikely), or thermal issues. This is what makes me think the block needs to be remounted.

Now if the temperatures on the GPUs are in the mid 30s, how can this be a thermal concern? Simple. It’s either the memory or VRMs that is the issue. I just hope I have enough thermal pad material to do that.

What’s odd is the driver crash would happen consistently after about 36 hours of continuous load. So I reconfigured BOINC to take a 15 minute “break” at midnight every day. This alleviated the driver concern, but it didn’t keep the issues completely at bay. So re-seating the water block is a necessity, meaning I get to test how well I could drain the system.

BOINC

Now for the real meat of the project: distributed computing performance.

Recall that there are four graphics cards: two GTX 680s and two GTX 660s. When the system remains stable, it’s able to clear over 100,000 points in a day.

Folding@Home

After clearing the 5000 ranking for MilkyWay@Home, I decided to turn the system over toward Folding@Home to see what kind of performance I could expect. Since this is a headless system, I needed to manually configure the client through the config.xml file. First, I used the –configure command-line option to set up a few basic options, then I manually edited the file to provide four slots, one for each graphics card.

<config>
  <user value='Colony_West'/>
  <team value='0'/>
  <passkey value='********************************'/>
  <smp value='true'/>
  <gpu value='true'/>

  <slot id='0' type='GPU'><gpus v='0' /></slot>
  <slot id='1' type='GPU'><gpus v='1' /></slot>
  <slot id='2' type='GPU'><gpus v='2' /></slot>
  <slot id='3' type='GPU'><gpus v='3' /></slot>
</config>

So how well does this perform? As of the time I wrote this, the client estimates it can clear 260k points per day, sometimes estimating over 270k points per day. Given published numbers I’ve seen for the GTX 680 and GTX 660, this likely means the GPUs are being held back a little by either the CPU or memory. The 660s should be able to pull between 100k and 115k PPD combined, while the GTX 680s should be able to net 210k to 225k PPD combined, meaning this setup should be able to pull almost 335k PPD, but 300k at minimum.

So the GPUs are being held back, likely by the fact this is a 10 year-old dual-core CPU that is being used. As the Folding@Home FAQ says, the GPU tasks are still heavily CPU dependent, though that’s something they aim to try to change later. But that means that even one of the GPUs is going to be held back by the current client.

So for now, Folding@Home is out. Perhaps when the AMD mainboard in either Absinthe or Beta Orionis are freed up will I try doing Folding@Home again. For now, Colony West will be doing just BOINC.

Colony West

Rack water cooling, cont.

Posted on by Kenneth Ballard / 0 Comment

Build Log:

EK got back to me pretty quickly on my inquiry. The screws in question that I’d need are M3x10 DIN 7991. They even offered to mail me a set if I couldn’t find them locally. Grainger says they carry M3x10 DIN 7991, but the screws they sell are actually longer than 10mm, so they wouldn’t work for this. Thankfully McMaster-Carr also carries them, so I was able to have them shipped in. Unfortunately I had to order 100 of them when I only need 16. At least the excess dowel pins I ordered can be put to use. Not sure what I’m going to do with these.

On cleaning the blocks, after a lot of research, and posting a thread to the Linus Tech Tips forum, I opted toward Mother’s California Gold Metal Polish. The difference is night and day, and the blocks look almost brand new.

cleanblock

Getting into the channel over the VRMs and in the fins over the GPU was interesting. And to get around the edge of the channels, I used a blue shop paper towel as it was easier to push into the corner than the microfiber towels I bought with the polish. For the fins over the GPU, just used a toothbrush.

But like I said, like night and day.

After seeing the EK blocks, though, I decided to also take apart and polish the Koolance blocks. Definitely glad I did, too, even though it meant having to re-flush the blocks. The liquid shown in the picture is distilled water, not old coolant.

koolance

Then came assembling everything. The GTX 660s went without a hitch. The GTX 680s, however, had a couple minor hiccups. On the Zotac card, there was a small foam block that was used to keep the massive cooler suspended over the card. It interfered with the Koolance block, but once I removed it, it wasn’t a problem.

foam

For the EVGA card, I needed to pick up some M3 nuts from Home Depot along with finding spare PVC washers or a substitute for them. The reason is the Koolance VID-NX680 doesn’t come with a separate screw and nut for the back panel, while the EK-FC680 does. That extra screw wasn’t needed for the Zotac card since it didn’t use a reference cooler, but since the EVGA GTX 680 does use a reference blower, it needs the extra screw for the back panel.

A quick glance at the instruction manual for EK’s block showed what I needed to buy. I already had ¼” M3 screws — plenty of them — but I just needed a nut for securing it.

Unfortunately I would come to that realization well beyond Home Depot’s closing time. Oh well. As Gosalyn Mallard says in Darkwing Duck, don’t let a minor setback stop you. Unfortunately there was a more major setback.

all_cards

For the graphics cards I intend to run them in a split parallel configuration. The GTX 660s will be in parallel, and the GTX 680s will be in parallel with a single line coming from the outlet on the GTX 660s going to the GTX 680s. And I want the GTX 680s to be right up against each other, and same for the GTX 660s.

I have the SLI fittings for the GTX 680s. I’m using Swiftech fittings for that. For the GTX 660s, I have an EK SLI bridge, but it’s a dual serial 3-slot bridge. So I decided to try to buy one from Micro Center, but it was an SLI Terminal I purchased, not the SLI Bridge. I should’ve paid a little more attention as now that means I have something I need to order in and more delays on this project.

But again, don’t let a setback stop you where you can. This isn’t a show stopper. There is still other progress to make in the mean time, and a receipt to find. Before closing out the night I attached fittings to the bulkheads: the male quick disconnects to the outside and compression fittings to the inside.

qdc

bulkhead3

* * * * *

Sunday started off with a trip to Home Depot to obtain some more small parts. I needed #6-32 screws, ½” length, some 00 rubber washers, and M3 nuts (mentioned previously). The 00 washers and screws were for mounting the pump to the radiator — the 00 washers act as vibration isolation and work quite well.

At home, I turned my attention first to the EVGA GTX 680 to get the bracket screwed to the card, then turned to doing test fits. Unfortunately having the GTX 660s all the way at the back corner of the case would not be feasible. The mainboard standoffs stick up too far and aren’t removable from what I can tell. So I had to have them one slot over.

testfit

testfit2

I turned my attention then to trying to get some of the cable management out of the way. The USB 3.0 panel mount cables, however, I should never have purchased. At least not the ones I did buy. So I placed an order for the 12″ cables as I think those will be much, much easier to cable manage. I ordered the 3′ cables as I didn’t think the 12″ cables would be long enough, and there wasn’t anything in between.

So basically until orders arrive later in the week, there isn’t much farther I can go on this, at least with the chassis. The radiators on the other hand…

* * * * *

The pump and reservoir were the easy part. Getting everything back onto the rack was a little interesting. But once I had everything on the rack, I started to tube up where I could. Which wasn’t much initially. I used EK 90-degree fittings plus Swiftech 3/8″x1/2″ fittings to run tubing between the radiators. And I ran a tube from the top radiator back to the top reservoir. That was about all I could accomplish initially.

The order arrived a few days later with the EK SLI bridge and the extra fittings. With these, I finished tubing up the graphics cards, mostly. After getting the SLI bridge mounted to the GTX 660s, I saw how close the fittings for the GTX 660s and GTX 680s would be.

tubing_cards

I measured this gap at 2-3/16″, with about a 2½” offset. But I didn’t want to order more fittings, so I looked at what I still had. Leftover from moving β Ori.’s pump and reservoir external, I had a Koolance 4-way fitting and a male-to-male rotary fitting. This served as a make-shift 90-degree fitting and I just looped tubing around to reach the SLI Bridge. Sometimes you need to improvise. With that tubed up, I turned to the leak test.

tubing_cards2

leak_test

I leak tested the graphics chassis in isolation simply because it was going to be much easier. Initially there was a pretty significant leak: I forgot to tighten down one of the stop fittings on a Koolance block. Thankfully that was the only leak.

Back to the rack and the radiators, or rather the pump and reservoir mounted to them. Between the pump and reservoir I opted to use 1/2″x3/4″ tubing just to avoid having to buy still more fittings to finish this. I already have such fittings with some tubing left over, so it was trivial, or nearly so.

The Swiftech 1/2″x3/4″ fitting wouldn’t sit flush and I didn’t want to go out and buy another extension fitting, so I used a T-fitting plus a male-to-male fitting to get things run. The tubing then curves down to meet another fitting on the pump. The outlet on the pump feeds to the quick disconnects. The outlet on the graphics chassis also goes through quick disconnects to get to the lower radiator. The top-most fitting on the top radiator goes back to the reservoir.

rack_loop

This actually made bleeding the system a little interesting. The reservoir is entirely bottom-fed, meaning the water blocking the inlet to the reservoir was going to also make it difficult to get air out of the system. It took a few tries to actually get fluid moving. But once I did, it didn’t take much to bleed it. With that bleeding, I turned my attention to getting the graphics host and my wife’s gaming server back onto the rack and getting the cabling managed.

rear_graphicschassis

rear_graphicshost

And that was basically it. Unfortunately I’m having some stability issues, but I think I’ll just need to rebuild the operating system to get that figured out. But with Fedora 23 due out in a few days as of when I write this, I’ll just put up with the stability concerns until then.

I’ve got a couple other minor enhancements to make to this after doing some experimentation, primarily involved around getting the tachometer for the pump plugged into the graphics host and synchronizing the power supplies between the host and the GPU chassis.

Stay tuned…

But before I go for now, let’s talk about temperatures. To show that these are temperatures under a full load from the Berkeley client and not idle temperatures, I made sure to show both in the same image. These are two GTX 680s with Koolance VID-NX680 blocks and two GTX 660s with EK-FC680 blocks and two XS-PC EX360 radiators with Cougar Vortex HDB fans.

temperatures

Right-click on the image and select “View image” to see it full-size. Given these temperatures I think I’ll see what they look like with the fans turned down. Stay tuned…

Debt

Debt settlements – Reply to Star Fresh Northwest

Posted on by Kenneth Ballard / 0 Comment

Recently I received an e-mail from Ron Burg of Star Fresh Northwest, which is a subsidiary of Lauber Dancey, PLLC, in Washington State:

Hi there,

My name is Ron, and I write primarily for startfreshnorthwest.com. I was looking for some information on debt settlement and negotiating a debt this morning when I came across your excellent page. While reading through it, I especially loved your “Correcting the Motley Fool regarding debt collectors” post!

I actually just published something on negotiating a debt:

http://startfreshnorthwest.com/everything-you-need-to-know-about-negotiating-debt/

I’d love to hear any feedback you have!
Cheers
– Ron

As I said in the article Ron had read, I don’t like it when misinformation is published about debts and debt collections. And for misinformation to be published by a person writing for a subsidiary of a law firm is actually worse than if someone at Credit.com publishes misinformation (and I’ve gotten on their case quite a bit as well).

So let’s get into this.

* * * * *

First what is a settlement? In general a settlement is an offer to satisfy a tort privately as opposed to via a lawsuit or arbitration. The defendant and plaintiff agree in writing that

  1. A specific tort occurred by the action or inaction of the defendant
  2. A specific remedy is sought
  3. Plaintiff forever abdicates any claim against defendant for the specific tort
  4. Defendant agrees specific tort occurred, whether or not the defendant accepts or disclaims liability for the tort
  5. Defendant ascents to the remedy outlined in the agreement and will satisfy the remedy in a manner considered “reasonable” or within specific terms outlined

Fairly simple. But how does this apply to debt settlements?

The tort in question is typically breach of contract, in that you are not paying on a liability in accordance to the terms of your agreement with the creditor. Whenever a tort can be demonstrated to have occurred — which is quite easy when we’re talking about debt accounts — one party is said to have been injured and is entitled under the law to damages. With debts the damages to which the injured party is entitled is quite obvious: the outstanding balance plus any additional fees or interest provided by the contract.

Either party can offer to settle the tort claim. The plaintiff, however, always has the option to file a lawsuit or take the matter to arbitration. With debt collections there are additional duties the creditor must satisfy first before filing a lawsuit or seeking arbitration, and that typically involves exhausting all other reasonable options to collect the debt.

Settlements are offered to make a claim go away. And whenever there is a tort claim, the plaintiff actually has a duty to attempt to settle the claim outside Court, with the lawsuit being filed only if those attempts fail. In other words, if a defendant first learns of the tort by being served, the defendant can request a continuance on the lawsuit and use that time to attempt to settle. If, however, there have been attempts to settle outside Court, then the continuance will likely be denied.

Tort settlements tend to specify damages and remedies significantly lower than what the law entitles the injured party. This occurs for many reasons that can basically be boiled down to this: it’s better to get something than nothing. And it should be pretty obvious as to how that ties into debt settlements.

I’ll use myself as an example. Back in 2010 my wife and I received a settlement offer from Wells Fargo on a credit card account my wife had in her name that had been charged off. The settlement offer was for a reduced total balance with payments spread across 6 months. We agreed to the terms of the settlement and paid as agreed. If we failed to pay as agreed, they likely would’ve taken us to Court.

Now the one thing that needs to be kept in mind with regard to negotiating settlements is that the injured party typically has the upper-hand in the negotiations. They always have the option to take their claim to Court or arbitration, which can be used as leverage in the negotiations. And with debt claims for which dollar amounts and payment histories can be conclusively demonstrated, that’s a significant amount of leverage. And a judgment also opens up other avenues for collection, giving the creditor still more leverage in negotiating.

But don’t think the defendant has nothing they can leverage. The question that plaintiffs to claims will always need to consider isn’t the likelihood of prevailing should the claim go to Court or arbitration, but the likelihood of receiving what the Court orders the defendant to pay. This works in the defendant’s favor a lot of the time, and can be quite useful in negotiating a settlement. However in negotiating a settlement, the defendant should always use language giving the impression they are trying to act as best as possible in the plaintiff’s best interests. A couple years ago I said this in the comments to Credit.com’s article “Can I Pay a Creditor Less Than I Owe?“:

It is in the creditor’s best interest to accept whatever payments the person can afford, but few actually mention that when talking to a creditor — probably because it sounds like you’re being patronizing. But demonstrating to the creditor that what they are demanding is unreasonable in light of your current income/expense outlook may work in your favor.

Or it might not.

…

They may still talk about Court or pursuing other collection options, so telling the creditor that doing so — up to and including Court — may or will not increase the rate of payment (as the debtor will show to the Court evidence of their current income, or lack thereof, their current expenses and obligations, etc.), and may only delay payment.

What you are capable of paying can be used as leverage in trying to negotiate a settlement. However, bear in mind that the plantiff will likely push back against your capability claims and demand you prove that is really what you’re capable of paying instead of being able to pay more.

Which brings me to Ron’s article.

* * * * *

Much of what I’ve written above is from the standpoint of a debt that has been charged off to collections. But if you read Ron’s article, that is not the context from which he’s writing. Instead he’s writing from the context of debts that are either still current or have only fallen one or two payments past due.

What surprises most people is finding that, yes, you can cut the debt on your credit cards bills in half, if not more! That’s right. Under the right circumstances, and equipping yourself with the right knowledge, you can finally see a light at the end of the tunnel. If you are ready to say goodbye to financial burdens and finally start to gain control over your finances, follow our guidelines and tips for debt settlement and give yourself a fresh start today!

This isn’t “debt settlement”, but contract negotiation.

The premise of Ron’s article I have actually already addressed on this blog. Six (6) years ago. As such, I really hate the fact that much of what I’m likely going to be saying herein responding to Ron’s article is going to be a lot of repetition. But then, I’ve likely repeated myself a lot in most of the articles I’ve written on debt. Because those who write about debts and collections and settlements have likely never been through the situations they are writing about. I have.

So as I said, Ron is writing from the standpoint wherein a debtor has gotten a bit in over his or her head and is looking to unload some of that debt. As such they may look at their credit card statements and wonder what they can do to get out from under the totality of their balances.

While Ron is correct in saying that you can offer to settle your debt for a fraction of what you owe — even correctly stating you have a “right to ask for a settlement” — what if the creditor declines the offer? As I said in the above-linked article from six years ago, a creditor has no obligation to accept what you’re offering. So what do you do then? Since, as I said, all of these articles speak from the standpoint of “you can settle your debt for a fraction of what you owe”. No, you can offer to do so, but whether you will actually succeed comes down to a lot of variables.

When you take on a credit card or loan, you are signing a contract. Now you are free to attempt to renegotiate that contract at any time. On loans you can try to refinance the outstanding balance under new terms, such as a lower monthly payment and/or lower interest rate. With credit cards, you can ask for a higher credit limit and/or lower interest rate. You also have the option to try to renegotiate the outstanding balance under different terms.

For example if you have a credit card with an outstanding balance of $2,500 and you’re trying to pay off a lot of outstanding liabilities, you can contact the credit card issuer about this balance. In contacting them, you can explain your circumstances. If the account is still current within the contract and not over the limit, the credit card issuer is not going to have a lot of incentive to work with you. Hence Ron’s statement that “lenders will usually accept a partial payment if it looks like they might never receive a payment in the future.”

Now if you’re wanting to do this, the first thing you need to do is close the account before you start negotiating. And if you try to renegotiate the outstanding balance, the first thing the issuer is going to force on you is closing the account. Closing the account, though, doesn’t avoid additional interest charges on the outstanding balance in accordance with the original agreement, and the original contract will stipulate such.

This is where negotiations come into play. As the original account has been closed, you can attempt to negotiate different terms on the balance based on your ability to pay. Negotiating is about give and take. If you’re going to ask they do something that isn’t in their best interest — such as reducing interest rates or lowering the balance — then you need to be willing to give them something in return.

This means the more you request, the more you’d better be willing to give in return. This is likely why Ron focuses so much on the “lump sum”, as the quickest way for a creditor to agree to a reduced balance is if you’re able to pay that reduced balance all at once. However the ability to offer a lump sum payment of a reduced amount could also cause the creditor to push back: “If you can pay all of that in one lump sum, why can’t you make payments on the remainder?”

These are some notions that Ron attempts to address in a later section in his article. For now, he moves into determining whether you need an attorney. Recall from above that his article is being written for subsidiary of a law firm.

* * * * *

While you do need an attorney when filing for bankruptcy, most people don’t think they would need one for debt consolidation. By no means is it absolutely mandatory. However, using an attorney to help negotiate a settlement can take a lot of pressure off of you. An attorney already knows your rights and legal grounds. Attorneys will help to exhaust all options to see the outcome you desire.

In actuality I would suggest against employing an attorney to assist with renegotiating debts. Outstanding debts are not so complicated a situation that an attorney is necessary to ensure you understand everything. Plus what an attorney might help you save in renegotiating your outstanding liabilities could be overtaken or severely reduced by attorney’s fees, leaving you not as far ahead as you thought you’d get or worse off.

But let’s humor Ron’s idea to hire an attorney. He provides three ways in which “an attorney can help you with debt settlements”.

1. They recognize scams

Companies that claim to specialize in debt relief or consolidation, but ask for money upfront for their services, are usually scammers. They will take your money without a guarantee of results.

If you’re talking to an attorney about debt consolidation, you likely aren’t talking to other debt relief or consolidation firms. Instead you would have the attorney instead of going to a debt relief or credit counseling firm to represent your interests with your creditors.

2. They offer cease of harassment

When you work with an attorney, you can redirect all your harassing calls from creditors to them. Once you have an attorney to represent you and your case, creditors can ONLY talk to them and cannot call you again.

This is demonstrably false.

The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act at 15 USC § 1692c(a)(2) declares, with regard to debt collectors, that a debt collector cannot directly contact a debtor known to be represented by an attorney, provided they have the attorney’s information. So if the former is true, but the latter is not, they can contact the debtor directly to obtain or verify the attorney’s information.

However if the debt collector exhausts all reasonable effort to contact the attorney but is unable to actually communicate with the attorney, then the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act allows the debt collector to contact the debtor directly. It also allows the attorney to consent to direct contact with the debtor.

The same holds true with regard to attorneys retained to represent your interests to original creditors. If you tell your creditor that you’ve hired an attorney to represent your interests in negotiating your debt account, a couple things will come to light. First, they’ll wonder how you can afford an attorney but not afford to pay your balance in full. And second, if they exhaust all reasonable effort to contact your attorney but are unable to do so, the creditor can and will contact you directly.

Your attorney cannot stonewall negotiations on your debts by refusing to talk with them. And if they attempt such, you will be contacted directly by your creditor, or your creditor will file a lawsuit.

3. Negotiation is in their job’s nature

An attorney’s job is to convincingly argue for his or her client’s desired outcome. Attorneys will take on the creditors and be able to successfully negotiate until the credit card companies agree to settle for the partial payment.

An attorney’s job is to represent your interests to an opposing party, whether that is a private party or the government. Part of representing your interests is getting the best outcome possible given the facts of the situation. Their job is not to get your desired outcome, and being represented by an attorney does not mean you will get what you want.

Before approaching your creditors, your attorney will discuss with you the totality of your circumstances. In doing this, your attorney will get an idea of what you want and why, make sure your desires are reasonable, and then present your desires to your creditors. There will be push-back, which is why in discussing your situation with you, the attorney will figure out how far you’re willing to allow them to push back.

So if you say you want to negotiate a $3,000 balance to $1,500, the attorney will ask how you feel about paying $2,000 or even $2,500. He or she will present $1,500 to the creditor, expecting push back, will offer steadily higher amounts.

Often the credit card company will settle for the attorney’s proposed percentage because they know that if they don’t agree with the partial payment, then the borrower is likely headed toward bankruptcy, meaning the lender would end up with nothing.

Chances are if a debtor has taken on representation, the creditor may have in the back of their mind that the debtor is steps away from bankruptcy. However bankruptcy doesn’t mean necessarily that the creditors get nothing, but it could mean they walk away with a far reduced amount.

But at the same time, they’re not going to just jump at whatever percentage the attorney offers and will likely push back.

Next, Ron goes into some cons of settling your debts for less than what you owe.

* * * * *

First, remember that you are offering a large sum of money at once. If this is not laying around in a bank account, you need to consider the ways in which it will affect you and your family. Paying off a huge lump sum may cause some huge changes in the standard of living you are used to.

And again, Ron is focusing on the lump sum.

Here’s one thing that needs to be said: settling your debts does not have to involve lump sum payments, and your inability to make a lump sum payment does not detract from your ability to renegotiate your debts. While creditors would certainly prefer lump sum payments, it is not absolutely necessary.

If you are consolidating debts through a loan, then obviously you will be offering a lump sum. But if you are merely trying to get rid of the debt faster, you can negotiate for a reduced balance in exchange for a higher monthly payment, or an eliminated interest rate in exchange for a higher monthly payment. But the common token in negotiating your debts is you need to be willing to put more money to them each month in exchange for the creditor giving up its rights under the contract.

His second point about settlements being a ding on your credit report is accurate, but its difficult to measure the impact it’ll have on your future ability to get credit.

But it’s under his next section, “Negotiating 101”, that he finally gets factually accurate with his statements, in part because it finally addresses the caveats that you will face trying to do this.

* * * * *

Now a lot of what Ron says in his “Negotiating 101” section is on the money. I have only a few concerns with what he’s said.

To start off, I don’t think credit card companies have a “settlement” department. Typically you’ll likely be talking with their collections department on this, but the person to whom you will be speaking will vary from issuer to issuer. It’s probably best to initiate contact on settling your balance in writing, as that will ensure it gets to the right person who can then contact you.

But along with this is what Ron never says that I did above: negotiating to settle your balances will result in the account being closed. They’re not going to keep the account open if you’re wanting to do this. They will close the account if you haven’t closed it in advance. So along with cutting spending to the card, as Ron rightly suggests, you need to close the account as well.

Also, remember that your lender wants to hear a dollar amount for your offer. Propose a lump sum payment of around 30 percent of your balance. They will likely try to negotiate for a higher payment; however, if they ask for more than 50 percent of your balance, consider how that will affect your finances. If you can’t do that, consider offering a settlement to another company or saving up for that payment in the future.

The biggest problem with attempting to propose a lump sum payment is the credit card issuer will want to know where that money came from. If you had the money sitting in the bank, the creditor is going to be less likely to work with you.

You see your creditor is going to be working from the standpoint of what is going to be best for them. And what is best for them is keeping the account open and current within the contract while collecting the balance you owe in full plus any additional interest assessed in the interim. So if you’re going to lump sum pay off a balance for less than what you owe out of money you have sitting in the bank, the creditor is going to push back, especially if you’re saying you’re in “dire straights” but have enough savings sitting in a bank account to offer a several thousand dollar lump sum.

Instead the creditor is going to offer that the account be suspended to avoid new charges, and may offer to suspend assessing interest in that time as well to keep the balance from growing still more, and that you continue to make at least the minimum monthly payment as calculated by your contract. In the mean time they will want you to use your savings to keep your head above water while keeping them in the loop on your standing.

Now if you’re borrowing to consolidate your credit card balances and have been approved for a loan, then that will work in your favor, but still expect the creditor to push back on your offer since they are out to get as much back of what they’re owed as possible.

And certainly get any settlement offers in writing before you remit a single payment.

The rest of his article from that point talks about budgeting and saving, which have nothing to do with debt settlement or contract negotiation, so I’ll call it here. This rebuttal is getting long enough.

Colony West

Rack water cooling

Posted on by Kenneth Ballard / 0 Comment

Build Log:

First order of business after getting the rack completed was moving everything into it. Three chassis (4U and 2x2U), two radiator panels (3U each), and a surge suppressor (1U). Plus I ordered a keystone panel and RJ45 coupler keystones, and an 8-port rack mountable switch. Total is 19U of space including 2U between the radiator panels which will be occupied by a blanking panel that’ll have a couple holes drilled through it for the fan cables with an NZXT Grid on the back of it for distributing power.

fullrack

I based the spacing for the rails off the EIA-310 standard. If you don’t want to take measurements and figure the math on this, you’ll want to space the beams onto which you mount the rails at about 19 3/16″ or 19 1/4″, if you order the same rails I used. If you intend to recess the rails, that gap will be narrowed.

So with that out of the way, it was time to order parts:

  • 2xAlphaCool chrome bulkhead fittings
  • 10xSwiftech ⅜”x½” compression fittings
  • 3xKoolance QD3-FS10X13 female with ⅜”x½” compression
  • 3xKoolance QD3-MSG4 male G¼” threaded
  • D5 Vario pump (Watercool branded)

Two of the male QD3 fittings will be connected to the bulkhead fittings, which will go on the graphics chassis. I ordered a bare D5 pump as well since I do have a spare pump housing I will use for that. Two actually, if I remember correctly, an AlphaCool and Bitspower housing. As my local Micro Center has a decent stock of fittings, I waited till I started building everything out to determine if I needed any additional 90-degree fittings.

Parts arrive

fittings

Now this is a Halloween treat for a computer builder. A bag full of water cooling fittings. After accounting for the inventory (listed above), the first thing I assembled was the pump and pump housing. After moving the pump and reservoir on β Ori. external, the pump housing was freed up for another project. This would be used for flushing the radiators and water blocks. All 4 of the blocks.

To that end, I bought 12 gallons of distilled water from my local HyVee. If you have a Harbor Freight in your area, their 8″ jumbo aluminum hooks make carrying all of that water a hell of a lot easier. I was able to hook 4 jugs to it. Still heavy, but it wasn’t awkward.

Thankfully buying a lot of distilled water at once doesn’t get you added to the DEA’s watch lists. Or does it? Well if anyone from the Federal government happens upon this, know that the distilled water will be used for entirely peaceful purposes.

One other acquisition was needed: two blank panels. Specifically I acquired a 1U and 2U panel from my local Guitar Center. The 1U was going to be just a blanking panel. The 2U, on the other hand, was going to be going between the radiators. More on that later.

Tearing down the graphics chassis

Now for the fun to start. Before flushing the radiators and blocks, I wanted to get everything torn down first as it’d save a lot of time. And the graphics chassis was really the only thing that needed to be taken apart. And I don’t mean the cards just pulled out. I literally mean taken apart.

The front and back panels both had to come off the chassis. The front panel was needed as I’d be redoing the cable management, while the back panel was getting a couple modifications. The graphics cards were set aside — they’d be handled later — and the first order of business was drilling the holes for the bulkhead fittings and attaching the male quick disconnects. At first I thought I was using my carbide bits to drill starter holes, but I’m not sure what bit I was using. Whatever it was, it was able to punch through the steel, though it took a lot of force to do it. The carbide bit would likely have cut through it without issue — I bought it originally for drilling holes into copper.

bulkhead

bulkhead2

Then my attention turned to flushing the blocks and radiators. I put two gallons of water through each of the water blocks. I wanted to make sure they were going to be clean and free of any possible obstructions. The radiators each got a gallon straight flush before being connected to the filter together.

The GTX 660 blocks, though, needed a bit more cleaning. The Koolance coolant that had been run through the blocks left some staining behind. There was also some green coloration left behind in the acrylic — no doubt from the copper tubing. So I had to disassemble the blocks and scrub the acrylic and nickel plating. Only disassembling the blocks turned out to be a nice set of challenges. I’d never had a hex screw strip on me. … … Okay I really need to get my mind out of the gutter. Anyway…

In the above picture you can see eight (8) small hex-head countersunk machine screws surrounding the coolant channel for the VRMs. Several of them stripped while I was trying to remove them. Since I’m going to destroy the screws getting them out, I wrote into EK to find out what I need as replacements:

I have two EK-FC660 GTX water blocks that I am attempting to disassemble for cleaning. On the blocks in the lower-right around the channel for the VRMs are 8 small hex-head screws. The hex heads on a few of the screws stripped while trying to remove them, meaning the screws will need to be replaced.

What screws are those so I know to what I need to buy to replace these screws?

As I didn’t yet have a kit for removing stripped screws and I didn’t want to stop progress for another night, I turned to the radiators and getting those flushed using a technique I’ve already detailed on this blog (here and here), with the only difference being that I had both radiators connected together when hooked up to the filter and I let that run overnight. Then I drilled out the holes in the blank panel for the fans to pass through.

The next day, the focus turned to finishing the radiators and getting that remounted onto the panels with their fittings. With the stripped screw kit I bought from Home Depot, I managed to get the last screw out of one of the blocks to take apart. The #1 and #2 extractors both more drilled out the head than engaged it, but the #3 was able to grip into the head and get the screw out.

It was bad.

gtx660block

gtx660block2

The picture doesn’t quite pick it up entirely, but there was green tinting on the acrylic. That came off with a wet paper towel and not a lot of elbow grease — I had to do the same to the acrylic AlphaCool HF D5 pump top that houses the pump. If necessary I could’ve used dish soap as well, but nothing beyond that. The nickel, on the other hand, had some aggressive deposits. For that EK recommends using a non-abrasive automotive polish, so I left that for later and just decided to not make a lot more progress on the build.

While waiting for EK’s support team to return my e-mail, I decided to look at the screws in question and see if I can figure out what they are. They’re 10mm M3 countersunk machine screws, but I wanted the DIN for them so I could match exactly what EK used. So basically until I can get ahold of a non-abrasive metal or automotive polish and some new screws, I’m about as far as I can get on this, aside from putting the blocks on the GTX 680s, provided what I’m seeing with the GTX 660 blocks doesn’t prompt me to try to disassemble those blocks as well.

Technology

Revisiting still and video cameras

Posted on by Kenneth Ballard / 0 Comment

I’ve said numerous times on this blog that digital cameras and video cameras aren’t going anywhere because of the quality they have over smart phones. It’s been over five years since the first article I wrote that addressed this topic with regard to the then-new iPhone 4:

But there’s a major downside to higher megapixel camera phones: they’re camera phones. I avoid the camera on my iPhone 3Gs for that very reason. It’s great for quick pictures here and there, but a 12 megapixel camera on a cellular phone? That’s overkill.

And with regard to video, I said this over four years ago:

The DSLR cameras that are actually worth it that also shoot good HD video have 4 digits to their price tag before the decimal, yet you can get a good quality HD camcorder for around $300 to $400, possibly less, depending on where you go. Add on top the fact that a good quality point and shoot camera can be had for less than $200. Explore your options, of which your cell phone isn’t one of them.

So what’s the verdict after all this time? Let’s first turn to Briley Kenney of Gear & Style Cheat Sheet and his list of “5 Devices in Your Home That May Become Obsolete Soon“:

8-12 megapixel cameras are now standard in most smartphones. In just a few years, those cameras will have expanded in quality even more. For the folks who carry their phones everywhere, there’s absolutely no reason to carry a compact digital camera, as well.

In fact, most families and consumers have ditched personal cameras altogether. It doesn’t hurt that those phones can even record HD quality video.

The only exception to this rule would be the professional point-and-shoot cameras that people carry for better shots. Let’s be honest, smartphone cameras are convenient but they don’t always deliver the best quality photos – neither do low-end digital cameras for that matter.

Still, you can expect to see sub-par cameras, about $300 or less, fade away.

Actually, I wouldn’t expect them to go away, and the reason is a market that few people seem to consider anymore: those who cannot afford better cameras and the smart phones with higher quality camera capability. It’s as if these people don’t exist to these tech writers.

Here’s the thing: unless you get a very, very good deal on a good smart phone from one of the major carriers, you’re going to be left with something with a sub-par camera. To cut the cost of a phone, the camera is going to be one of the bells and whistles to see cuts in quality. Point and shoot digital cameras can be had for a decent price, and good deals can be found online and in pawn shops, so the point and shoot camera will always have a place in our increasingly digital environment to those with lesser-impressive budgets.

This is especially the case given that storage options for digital cameras are continually getting better in price. Lower priced smart phones, even ones with a half-decent camera, aren’t going to have expandable storage, meaning to get the pictures off the phone, you’ll either have to send them across your phone’s data traffic (unless you connect to a hotspot) to an online storage option, or connect it to a computer.

A few weeks ago I was able to buy two 16GB SDHC cards from Micro Center for just 16 USD plus tax. That’s .50 USD per gigabyte. That can store a lot of pictures. And with better newer DSLR cameras coming onto the market at lesser and lesser price tags, the bodies for older model DSLR cameras can be had for dirt cheap. The lenses have always been the bulk of a camera’s price tag, but you can probably still find good deals on used lenses.

But that’s still photos. What about video? That depends highly on what you want to do and the quality you want to get.

I’ve seen a number of tutorials online about how to get the best quality video from a smartphone, so the possibilities are there. But it takes a lot more effort and consideration than would be needed for a DSLR or dedicated video camera, many of which you can probably find for a good price used either online or through a local retailer. Just make sure to do your research to know whether you’re getting a good deal.

Today we are more in the age of the DSLR. A good DSLR that can also shoot HD video can be had for under 500 USD. If you can’t afford that, but don’t care about shooting video, then point and shoot digital cameras can be had for a good price that will outlast your smartphone.

That’s something the “smartphones will replace digital cameras” crowd doesn’t take into account. If you sink 700 USD+ on a digital camera, you’re going to take really good care of that camera and try to get as much longevity on it as possible. In the case of my old D40, the lens that originally came with it is being problematic while the body is still perfectly fine — kind of brings to mind an analogy of a gorgeous young woman with bad eyesight…

But let’s get back to the original question: will point and shoot cameras become obsolete? Not any time soon. DSLRs are still too expensive, and smart phones with good cameras are also too expensive. Technology is continually becoming less expensive, though, as we continually see more value added to our the tech we carry around.

But one quote I encountered years ago still applies today: smart phones are about taking snapshots, while DSLRs and point and shoots are for photographs.

And on the video front, those who care about video quality, such as home movies and the like, will get a DSLR or dedicated video camera. Indeed with action cameras coming down in price continuously, and used GoPro cameras available for a steal, dedicated video cameras will always have their place as well since that means you don’t have to risk your phone to get a good video.

So I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: digital cameras aren’t going anywhere, at least not anytime soon.

Debt

Correcting the Motley Fool regarding debt collectors

Posted on by Kenneth Ballard / 0 Comment

Time and again I read articles that make me wonder either 1. whether the editors were just not paying attention and 2. the authors actually have experience with the topic at hand. This is especially true with debt and collections. Today’s attention is turned toward the Motley Fool and the article “Dealing with Debt Collectors the Right Way“.

I really wish these places would stop spreading misinformation. I’ve gotten on Credit.com’s case in their comments sections quite a bit over stuff like this.

The FDCPA also protects consumers from deceptive practices, as well as harassment from debt collectors.

The former is true, but the latter is not. The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act isn’t what provides protection from harassment. That would be all of the other tort and criminal laws that have been on the books longer than the FDCPA. By the way, your State laws generally control in such matters, not Federal law.

There is some grey area here, but generally speaking, if a debt collector calls you more than once a day, it’s too much.

Wrong!

There is no “generally speaking” when it comes to harassment. Whether their actions rise to the level of harassment, and rise far enough to be actionable through the Court, depends significantly on the facts of your interactions with the debt collector and you should ignore any attempt at a hard definition such as the one above.

Debt collectors are not allowed to use profanity when speaking with you, nor are they allowed to call you at work if you’ve asked them not to. They can only call between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m. and are prohibited from making calls intended to “annoy, abuse, or harass you.

Let’s clarify this. They cannot call you at work only if you have told them in writing to not call you at work.

The same with the 8am to 9pm time limitation. You can state in a letter that they are to not call you at all. But again, it must be in writing to be enforceable. You can’t just tell the over the phone.

See my article on debt validation for a letter template providing details.

Similarly, the statute of limitations on debt limits collection efforts after seven years.

The statute of limitations actually varies from State to State. It’s not 7 years universally. In some States, it is as long as 10.

The clock starts from the date the original account (not the collection account) first became delinquent.

Unless State law says otherwise, the clock actually starts from the last payment, and a promise to make a payment may count as actually making a payment under the laws of your State. This is why debt that is beyond the statute of limitations can be “re-aged“, with the clock completely reset back to the start and the ability to enforce the debt through the Courts renewed.

When negotiating with debt collectors, it’s important to realize that you have most of the bargaining power — and you may be surprised how much of a “discount” you can get.

Don’t read too far into this statement. You do have a good amount of leeway in bargaining with the debt collector since they are concerned with getting the money so they can get paid. However, their ability to accept an offer is going to vary.

Many seem to forget that there are actually two types of accounts that debt collectors control: assigned and purchased accounts. There is a difference between the two and it is significant in terms of your ability to bargain.

If the debt newly crossed over into collections, chances are the debt wasn’t sold to the collector, but assigned to them, with the debt collector having full power of attorney over the debt in exchange for a fee. The collector doesn’t own the debt, however, but is merely collecting it on behalf of the original creditor. Don’t expect to have much leeway  here. Your bargaining ability is going to be limited to negotiating payments on the balance in full unless you are ready to write a check for a significant portion of the charged-off balance.

If the balance is lower — say, under $1,000 — then the collector will likely offer a settlement up front with the initial communication. Take it if you can afford it, or try to negotiate. But don’t anything until after you have exercised your right of debt validation.

And bear in mind that if you try to stonewall them, they will turn around and sue you.

Now a debt buyer — i.e. purchased accounts — is going to be easier to negotiate. They likely purchased the debt for a significant discount, so anything over the purchase price is profit. As such you’ll have a bit more leeway for negotiating payments and settlements.