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  1. Re:Still fit for purpose on B-52 Gets First Full IT Upgrade Since 1961 · · Score: 1

    re-engining is completely doable, you can do a google search and you'll find some examples of B52s being used as testbeds for alternate engines. Because a B52 is a high wing design, ground clearance is not an issue.

    Jet engines have come along way in the last 60 years. If the AF spent the time and money to actually do this (and yes, it would lots of both), they'd have a plane that's safer (even going down to 4 engines, the MTBF is so much greater in a modern engine it more than makes up for it), much more efficient (the B52s immense range would be that much longer, or alternatively leave more weight for bombs), and cleaner if you are a touch-feely environmental type.

    Still, all these benefits aside, a combination of the serious up-front costs, and an Air Force who would rather spend their money elsewhere means it will probably not happen.

  2. Re:Still fit for purpose on B-52 Gets First Full IT Upgrade Since 1961 · · Score: 1

    There actually has been talk of replacing the 8 50's era engines of the B52 with 4 modern engines (the same that Boeing puts on the 767)
    Such an upgrade would give the B52 more thrust, better range, and a much more robust supply chain for spares.

    As far as I know it has never gotten out of the proposal stage.

  3. Re:Camera gun on A Look at Smart Gun Technology · · Score: 2

    The only place that I know "disabling" shots are taught as a practice is in the prison system.
    The system just isn't that concerned if the convict being "disabled" ends up dying. If the correctional officer "misses" and the disabling shot goes center mass, the only thing that is going to happen to him is some more range time

    Its a really bad idea on the street though

  4. Re:The West is pretty much fucked. on California City Considers Restarting Desalination Plant To Fight Drought · · Score: 1

    The problem is that's where everybody lives. The great lakes states, which have plenty of water, nobody wants to live there.
    As the rust belt continues to empty out, and loses political clout, I expect more proposals to get water from there.

  5. Re: Efficiency on DARPA Develops Stealth Motorcycle For US Special Forces · · Score: 1

    Actually, over the years, automotive mechanical transmissions have gotten very very good. No, you are not going to match the efficient of a modern 6 or 7 speed transmission with a generator, a run of cable, and an electric motor.

    electric motors are very very good at variable speeds and acceleration, but at a constant highway speed it makes no sense to turn mechanical energy into electrical energy, just to turn it right back into mechanical energy.

    yes! that's how they do it in trains, but the automotive application is much simpler to manage in a purely mechanical! or mechanical/electrical hybrid setup.

  6. Re:Anything built before 2001 on Ask Slashdot: What Tech Products Were Built To Last? · · Score: 1

    It's especially bad with cars because of the emotional attachment. The reality is that across the scope of brands cars are better, much better, than they have ever been.

    Getting a car to 100,000 miles without major drivetrain work used to be nothing short of a miracle, now the consumer gets pissed if it doesn't happen.

    One thing is to look at stock photos of traffic from the 60's and 70's and earlier. The vast majority of the vehicles would be within a few model years of the photograph date. Go into a parking lot in a middle class area now, and you'll see no shortage of cars from the late 90s and early 00's.

  7. TAX on Australia May 'Pause' Trades To Tackle High-Frequency Trading · · Score: 1

    I'm an active trader, on the order of about a dozen trades a month, not a "day trader" or a high frequency trader. I'd gladly pay a nickle a trade in tax, with the proceeds to go to better regulation. It would also have the effect of seriously hampering the high frequency traders business model, which is a great side effect IMHO.

  8. Re:Public service announcement on An Engineer's Eureka Moment With a GM Flaw · · Score: 1

    In an automatic, wouldn't normal engine braking allow the wheels to convert vehicle kinetic energy into engine movement?

    Yes it does

    The problem is in automatics because in drive the wheels can't turn the engine

    That is simply not true, automatics will engine brake, but it might require locking out the higher gears as your speed decreases.

    I had an "engine quits at high speed" scenario on a very busy interstate in Atlanta a few years back. The fuel filter on my Toyota Corrola (auto trans) plugged, it was completely fine one moment, and then it was like the hand of god reached down and killed the ignition. It was a white knuckle experience, but I was able to get over to the shoulder.

  9. Re: Do electric cars actually produce CO2? on Mazda Says Its Upcoming Gas-Powered Cars Will Emit Less CO2 Than Electric Cars · · Score: 1

    Coal is actually a little less an 50 at this time, and it's going down, not up, mostly due to nat gas, but also to renewables. Iowa is closing in on 30% from wind alone.

  10. Re:Do electric cars actually produce CO2? on Mazda Says Its Upcoming Gas-Powered Cars Will Emit Less CO2 Than Electric Cars · · Score: 1

    The number I've seen quoted is that requires the burning of 0.7 barrel equivalent of Natural Gas just to get 1 barrel of gasoline from Canadian tar/sludge.

    Begs the question, why don't we just run our cars off the natural gas and leave the tar in the ground.

  11. Re:My 88 Honda CRX on Paris Bans Half of All Cars On the Road · · Score: 1

    Your CRX is a dangerous deathtrap, the Prius is not, the NIHS wouldn't even let a company bring it to market.

    It is also far worse in every single pollutant save CO2.
    Also the way MPG is calculated is different now, more strict.
    Also the new Prius is, if you go by the specifications a "midsize". I don't know about that, but I know my 6'2" self can sit in the backseat of one in reasonable comfort. You could not say that for a CRX. Don't get me wrong CO2 is bad, I'm not a climate change denialist, but the other stuff coming out of the tailpipe of 25 year old (and greater) cars is far worse.

    Yes this is a peeve of mine, "why don't we just build cars like we did in the (fill in decade here)?"... No, actually don't want that, even if you think you do...

  12. Re:Mexico City tried this... on Paris Bans Half of All Cars On the Road · · Score: 1

    I've always been surprised that as progressive as Europe is about most things, their vehicle emissions standards are not up to American vehicles built to a 50 state (i.e. "california emission") which most are these days.

  13. Re:What are these shiny discs you speak of? on Sony & Panasonic Next-Gen Optical Discs Moving Forward · · Score: 1

    There is some usage of disks (be they CD, DVD, or Blu-Ray) in WORM archives.

    A previous place I worked at provided an online service for medical data that was supported by a huge, custom built DVD "jukebox"
    At some point in the last decade the economics of large hard disk arrays rendered this technology effectively obsolete.

    If the dollar per GB economics of these disks were attractive enough, they could, potentially, make a comeback in applications that are willing to put up with the latency of mechanical part of the solution.

  14. ripping off Bill Mher on First LSD Test In 40 Years Reveal Drug Helps Terminal Patients Prepare For Death · · Score: 1

    "their friends, family member and colleagues also reported that the psilocybin experience had made the participants calmer, happier and kinder."

    In pharmaceutical parlance, Psilocybin appears to be a potent Assholeimase inhibitor

  15. not even that far on Sulfur Polymers Could Enable Long-Lasting, High-Capacity Batteries · · Score: 1

    It doesn't even need to be that revolutionary in its deliverable form to be a game changer. Even a doubling would be huge. Ive looked at the nissan leaf (roughly 100 miles on a charge) and the chevy volt (35 on electric, then gas) but haven't bought (yet).

    If I could get a leaf that went 200 miles on a charge, or a volt that went 80 miles on a charge and gasoline after that, I would be in the showroom tomorrow.

  16. Re:Give me a petrofuel range extender on Tesla Touts Cross-Country Trip, Aims For World Record · · Score: 1

    Very good analysis

    FWIW, there's more than enough heat to mine. a water cooled 850cc engine with a good sized heater core would produce enough heat to keep the cabin of a small/midsize car toasty.
    Gas engines produce a lot of waste heat, but that was what I was thinking, in the winter its not all wasted. You'd also get some charge back into your batter whilst you are heating.

    Of course you are no longer zero emissions at this point, but the gasoline consumed would be small.

  17. Re:Exactly how much fossil fuel was burned... on Tesla Touts Cross-Country Trip, Aims For World Record · · Score: 1

    You do realize that you have to burn a significant amount of diesel/coal/natural gas just to get crude oil out of the ground, ship it to a refiner, refine it (HIGHLY resource intensive), ship it to the gas station, and get it into your car, don't you?

    And I'm sure you realize that we don't have to stage a significant portion of our navy halfway across the world, at enormous expense (in terms of energy and money), to keep COAL flowing through the strait of Hormuz...

    That's a lot of energy/effort that occurs before you burn the first drop of fuel in your ICE...

    But surely you realized this... Or did you think the magic petrochemical fairies did that all of that for you?

  18. Re:Give me a petrofuel range extender on Tesla Touts Cross-Country Trip, Aims For World Record · · Score: 1

    Why air cooled?
    You are omitting a potential benefit, HEAT. Electric resistance heating his horribly inefficient. If you had a small, liquid cooled, (lets say for argument 850cc) LP or gasoline generator on-board, you could have it come on immediately, at a low idle, when its cold. The trickle of charge it provided at low idle would provide a little extra range, but the heat provided would eliminate the need for resistive heating and help range even more
    You could spin the generator up for more juice in an out of power situation, not enough to provide top performance, but enough to get you moving along to the next charging station

  19. Electric cars on Tesla's Having Issues Charging In the Cold · · Score: -1, Troll

    Electric cars, LOL
    Dumb idea, they'll never work

  20. Re:Pointless on How Quickly Will the Latest Arms Race Accelerate? · · Score: 2

    Peaceful science is for fagz

  21. Electric Cars on Tesla Sending New Wall-Charger Adapters After Garage Fire · · Score: -1, Flamebait

    Electric Cars, LOL

    They'll never work

  22. Re:Citation Needed on Google Co-Opts Whale-Watching Boat To Ferry Employees · · Score: 1

    Really?

    Wow, as much as I would like to work in the "big leagues" of the tech world, I guess I'm happy to be in flyover country where the mortgage on my 3 bedroom 2.5 bath house is just over 1000 a month.

  23. Re:Always made me wonder... on Swarms of Small Satellites Set To Deliver Close To Real-Time Imagery of Earth · · Score: 2

    I think above 100KM their is no legal claim of sovereign "airspace" per current international law.

  24. It makes you wonder if Satellites that small can achieve 1 meter resolution, what can the latest KH spy sats with their high focal length precision optics do

  25. Pissed on International Space Station Mission Extended To 2024 · · Score: 1

    Disappointed
    I was looking forward to the Taco Bell promotions when this thing crashed back to earth