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in every war they kill you a new way by johnrpenner · 2004-05-14 02:18 · Score: 3, Interesting · on Future Weapons of War in the Works

You can't say civilization doesn't advance,
for in every war they kill you a new way.
(Will Rogers)

j

Re:Better than nothing by William+Tanksley · 2004-05-12 08:26 · Score: 1 · on Hybrid Cars Don't Live Up to Mileage Claims

What you really need is an engine that is connected only to a generator and always runs at a single speed and always the same loading.

That's a clever idea, but you'll pay more for it than you gain. Yes, your engine will be more efficient; but the overall system will generate more losses (or simply not be usable) because it can't get the output it needs from the engine. Remember, gas is still the most efficient source of power, even in a hybrid with regenerative braking. Storing energy in batteries, or converting from mechanical to electrical, wastes a LOT of energy (although it's better than throwing the energy away).

The Toyota has an interesting twist on this, though. Its engine obviously doesn't always run at the same speed and loading -- but it does always run at its optimal speed and loading. It does this by modifying its cylinder geometry on the fly. Essentially, if you only need half the power it only uses half of each cylinder. (Not to be confused with disabling cylinders -- all the cyclinders keep working; each one changes its power curve. Read more.

-Billy

Transmissions & highway speeds by Gigabit+Switchman · 2004-05-12 07:22 · Score: 1 · on Hybrid Cars Don't Live Up to Mileage Claims

I own a 2003 Toyota Prius, so I thought I'd correct a misconception and make a comment. In the Prius, the electric motor *is* frequently used at highway speeds... the better-than-a-manual transmission design practically requires it, and it allows the car to trade unneeded engine torque for speed. For stop-and-go traffic, provided you're not driving binary (two speeds, stop and go), the ICE hardly ever starts (unless you've got the AC on.)

If you're an engineer, or can handle some gear ratios/math, do a google search for "prius transmission" - it's a damned nice design. Less than half the complexity of a typical automatic transmission, and more efficient than a manual transmission (though not by much.) Why? No clutch...indeed, no shifting! It varies the speed by varying the speed of the ICE between 1000 and 4500 RPM, and by varying the speed and sometimes the direction of the two electric motors. It's basically a standard planetary gear arrangement, with the small electric motor as the sun, the larger one driving the ring, and the ICE attached to the planetary carrier. The ring is also driving the wheels (through some gearing etc. as in regular gas vehicles.)

The Prius ECVT transmission is VERY different from previous CVT's. See discussion:
Prius ECVT discussion

Re:Interesting theory, but the dates don't figure by HBI · 2004-05-09 13:55 · Score: 1 · on ElectriClerk Computer Of The Future

You are wrong.

Somehow I trust that guy more than some Apple fanboy spouting off about this. I was there, I worked in Mac support at that time and I remember what happened. You, obviously, do not.

Re:bikes - cheaper - faster - reliable by johnrpenner · 2004-05-09 08:36 · Score: 1 · on Megway - New Competition For The Segway

bikes will ALWAYS be cheaper, faster, and more reliable than a segway.

some day they're going to build whole village based around those things (bikes!)

best regards,
john
toronto commuter - winter and summer - three years.

Mirror by Anonymous Coward · 2004-05-09 06:42 · Score: 5, Informative · on ElectriClerk Computer Of The Future

There seems to be a mirror (with pictures that load) here.

Port Townsend KSR by steveha · 2004-05-05 09:07 · Score: 4, Interesting · on Kinetic Sculpture Race 2004

In Washington state, there is a town on the Olympic Peninsula called Port Townsend. Every year in the fall they have a Kinetic Sculpture Race.

One year I helped my friend Mike build a kinetic sculpture. His plan was to make a vehicle that could carry four people. He has welding equipment in his garage, to help with all his hobby welding, so he put together a large vehicle. The plan was for it to use car wheels and a car seat, side pontoons, and a water drive with some sort of propeller.

This vehicle looked sort of like a shuttlecraft from the original Star Trek, so Mike wound up naming it the Shuttle Distress. (This is a sort of pun on Shuttle Express, a company that takes you to the airport in minivans for less money than a taxi.)

At a costume shop, I bought a Star Trek: The Next Generation uniform shirt. This is basically a very cheaply made bicycle jersey; bike jerseys are made from polypro, but don't have annoying seams or rough raspy fabric. (I was in red; that's command and navigation, right? I was in the copilot seat so it sort of works! Fortunately it wasn't an original series red shirt. "Dressed in red, soon be dead...")

We had no idea how heavy the vehicle actually was. As it turned out, just the vehicle was over 800 pounds; with Mike, me, one of his kids, and all our gear, we figured it was 1200 pounds or more easy. Well, "easy" isn't the word for pedaling that thing uphill! Fortunately Mike designed it with a really low gear ratio. We didn't set any speed records, but we got up the hill.

If you look at the pictures, you can see the swing-down pontoons on the sides. (These really look a lot like shuttlecraft engine nacelles...) That part works fine. But we ran out of time and never got any sort of propeller. The Shuttle Distress floated okay, but our fallback plan of paddling with oars just plain sucked. One of the volunteers standing by in a boat offered us a tow, which we gratefully accepted, and then of course we had to bribe the Kinetic Kops to look the other way.

It's actually normal at these events to have vehicles that can't quite perform well enough to do everything. You don't get disqualified if you can't do everything; on the contrary, there is a special award you can get if your vehicle can do everything. The "ACE" award goes to vehicles that can do the whole course without the driver having to get out. (For example, on the Shuttle Distress, you have to get out to lock the pontoons down. On ACE vehicles like Lutefisk, you can stay inside even during the land-to-water conversion.)

These events are really fun. You see some beautiful, well-built machines with clever engineering; you also see some weird things that were hacked together in a weekend with dead bicycles, random bits of foam, Barbie doll heads, and what-have-you.

If you live near one of these, go and check it out.

steveha

Re:Some pretty complex ones are there too... by Emnar · 2004-05-03 13:56 · Score: 1 · on Passwords That Should Never Be Used

Interesting. Those passwords are mostly made up from the home row on a qwerty keyboard. Obviously somebody just banged them in (literally) instead of using any kind of random character generator.

I wonder if anybody has written a password cracker that focuses on the "asdfghjkl;" row. That's certainly a much, much more limited set of combinations than the full keyboard, especially without capitals!

Re:Developer-friendliness by HeghmoH · 2004-05-02 00:43 · Score: 4, Insightful · on Apple and Independent Developers

And not nearly as much care about compatibility. e.g. how many OSX programs broke with the OSX 1.2 and 1.3 updates?

Roughly zero. Apple is very good about not breaking apps, and they basically never break apps that don't rely on undocumented behavior.

If you go to http://home.earthlink.net/~mrob/pub/missile20.html , you'll find a Mac clone of Missile Command that was written for the original 1984 Macintosh. I just downloaded it and tried it out for kicks; it works perfectly in Classic on OS X 10.3.

how'd you like to be a Mac-only calendar/email application developer the day after iCal and Mail came out? or MetroWerks' Mac team after Xcode?

Mail shipped with the OS since the beginning, so that one doesn't make a lot of sense. (And what is Outlook Express, chopped liver?) I'm totally unfamiliar with Mac calendar apps, so I can't comment on that. But the CodeWarrior thing I can comment on, namely that CodeWarrior's Mac version is still being sold and still going strong. I haven't heard of any sackings, plans to cancel the product, or any other lamentations from them.

Of course, Microsoft's tactics of using legal and illegal bundling to kill all competition in various application spaces e.g. browsers is no problem at all.

Re:News just in: by Anonymous Coward · 2004-04-29 06:14 · Score: 0 · on DaimlerChrysler Looks for Dismissal of SCO Suit

SCO Digging from Humor

Why not... by FreeLinux · 2004-04-26 06:52 · Score: 1 · on Cameras for Dark and Wet Locations?

Why not ask a professional? You linked to Brian Klimowski's site where he has several fantastic pictures of his trip to Zion National Park. The photos look very nice. Some are even time lapse jewels.

Instead of asking a bunch of inexperienced amateurs on Slashdot, why not ask Brian what he used and what he recommends? He left his email for all to see. Ask him.

OT: file extensions, ClearTweak by Compact+Dick · 2004-04-24 14:01 · Score: 0, Offtopic · on The Venus Transit 2004

Your screenshot is a PNG image, not JPEG.
If you use Windows XP, tune your ClearType settings using ClearTweak and enjoy crisper text.

Cheers,
CD

Re:A small black spot on the Sun by boarder8925 · 2004-04-24 13:43 · Score: 3, Insightful · on The Venus Transit 2004

Okay, everybody stare directly at the Sun.

Who the crap would mod that "Informative"?

Darl McBride by Anonymous Coward · 2004-04-22 13:26 · Score: -1, Offtopic · on NetStumbler v0.4 Released

Compare the AMD ad (esp. the text in the cmd.exe-window to the right...) and this picture of Darl McBride.

Re:Teh 14m35t ov teh 14M3 by Anonymous Coward · 2004-04-22 12:59 · Score: 0 · on Slashback: Documentary, Directory, FUD

He's right: compare the AMD ad (esp. the text in the cmd.exe-window...) and this picture of Darl McBride.

Re:I AM THE KING OF THE PARTY PEOPLE by Anonymous Coward · 2004-04-22 12:35 · Score: -1, Offtopic · on Slashback: Documentary, Directory, FUD

funay

Realay funay AMD.

Re:Capitalism & Population Growth by Saeger · 2004-04-22 08:41 · Score: 1 · on UK Releases Global Warming Report

In other words: Utopia or Oblivion

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What about Lawn Chair Baloon Guy? by bitusmeus · 2004-04-22 06:01 · Score: 1 · on Highest Human Elevation Using a Rocketbelt

46 meters a record for human elevation? What about lawn chair balloon guy, who (allegedly) made 16,000 feet?