This is great...

I know I've been a massive delinquent in posting, but two internships keeps you kind of busy.

Anyway, something interesting for you science buffs out there. This comes from an email chain I had with my sister's boyfriend about the merits of shutting off your computer when it's not in use:

"I just did a quick calculation (hey I'm an engineer!)

Pretend I leave my comp on for an entire month without shutting if off:
24 hours/day x 30 days = 720 hours/month

Now pretend I keep my comp on every weeknight for 5 hours (7pm-12am) and 10 hours every weekend day which is probably way more than I would actually do in real life:
(5 hours/day x 22 days) + (10 hours/day x 8 days) = 190 hours/month

Well my beastly computer probably uses about 250 Watts of power on standby, more when in use, so we'll use a conservative estimate of 0.250 KiloWatts.

Always on: 0.250 KW x 720 hours = 180 kilowatt hours/month (2160 KW/year)
On/Off: 0.250 KW x 190 hours = 47.5 kilowatt hours/month (570 KW/year)

Now lets assume all Americans are just like me (~300,000,000) and that 1 in 8 own a computer (37,500,000).

Nationwide Always on: 81,000,000,000 KWH or 81 Gigawatt hours
Nationwide On/off: 21,375,000,000 KWH or 21.375 Gigawatt hours

Just think what we could do with all the excess power! We could send Marty back 2 the future 65 more times (@ 1.21 Gigawatts)!

Well that was a fun little break."

A fun break, indeed. My co-workers must think I'm a psycho with how much I was smiling when I read that!