On Tue, 15 Sep 2009 04:21:51 -0700 (PDT), "Man at B&Q"
wrote:

By your logic, if I leave a Sky+ box on standby, then the 20 watts it
spends on spinning the hard disc is converted into 20 watts of heat.

It is.

No. It's converted into quite a lot of 'work', quite a lot of 'motion'
(or what your earthling mind may know as "force"), and a small amount
- much less than 20 watts net worth - of heat.

If that were true, it would turn Sky+ into a free energy machine -

It's taken 20W from the mains supply. How is that "free"?

You can't take 20 watts, then get 20 watts worth of use (e.g. CPUs,
processors, spinning discs, etc) out of it, then still have 20 watts
left which is magically converted into heat. That's not how it works.
There are losses at every stage of energy conversion.

which is impossible - breaking every scientific law there is.

I think a few laws were broken when they let you loose on society.

Oh, my mistake, I thought this might be a sensible discussion.
I'll leave you to it...
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