They're putting in more Supercharger stations constantly, but obviously they've got a lot of ground to cover. Musk has stated many times that he wants to build-out the charging network as quickly as possible, but at a steady pace. I think they're doing a couple per week or something like that, so you might not have to wait 5 years after all.
Tactile feedback could be implemented with electrotactile arrays as discussed here a few years ago. That would combine the flexibility of a touchscreen with the tactile feedback of physical controls.
It would be especially cool if the surface were also pressure sensitive. That way you could feel your way to the right control, then "grasp" it to change the setting.
That only works at the local level. If your local merchant behaves badly wrt (NI)MBY, he'll get a bad reputation that will hurt his business. But when we're dealing with multinational corporations, this "local" connection is lost. Even if the locals boycott the bad actor, the rest of the world might continue buying their products, unaware of the "local" damage they do in a few isolated places.
Here in Taiwan, it's as close to a Libertarian Paradise as I've ever encountered. Small, local businesses (like mine) are left to do what they want, as long as they aren't bothering the neighbors, but the big players are held to a higher standard. It's not perfect, of course, but the system works.
Johnson wrote to Smith on Wednesday expressing serious concern about the chairman's plans to send research data to third parties, noting that credible scientists already had access to the information and that those researchers could be in legal trouble if they hand over the data requested by Congress.
Good point, especially about storage. That has always been the bugbear of renewables. OTOH, there are new storage technologies coming available in the next couple of years, such as liquid metal batteries, sodium ion batteries, water-moderated compressed air, and probably some others I haven't heard about. But of course there's no mention of any kind of storage in TFA, so who knows if/when/how it will ever be implemented.
Frankly, this project sounds like one of those feel-good boondoggles dreamed up by big gubmint and big biznuss collaboration. I tend to agree with the "environmentalist" quoted in TFA: solar PV is far better suited to decentralized/distributed small-scale installations.
In a nutshell: He advocates worker-owned and -controlled enterprises as a way to achieve the same goals without relying on gov't regulations or labor unions. Such a transition would take time of course, but it's a way to realize those "libertarian" ideals as well.
Not sure how "serious" you intended this... but I'm curious, if you know, how massive would a nanotube "cable" have to be in this kind of situation.
Let's say you've got a 50-ton capsule/habitat at one end and a 50-ton counterweight (spent upper stage), and you want to have a 1g environment in the habitat. (Thus, the total force on the tether would be 100 tons.) How would you "spec" the carbon nanotube cable for this job? How much would 500m of such cable weigh?
Doesn't have to be a big wheel, just use a counterweight (such as a spent upper-stage) at the end of a long tether. I'm too lazy to do the calculations, but even just a few hundred meters ought to be plenty to provide a significant fraction of 1g with a rotation time longer than 30s, at which point the motion would be practically imperceptible.
Of course, a few hundred meters of cable would weigh a couple of tons at least, but for a spacecraft that weighs 20 times that much, it could still be a worthwhile tradeoff.
I've been wondering why they don't at least do some animal studies on this centrifugal "gravity" idea. I mean how tough would it be to rig a rat cage and counterweight to rotate at some fraction of 1g? Put some critters in there for a few months, and take a control group along for the same duration, and see what happens. It probably wouldn't even cost very much, but could yield some key insights.
Since this is their first lunar rover, there's no precedent either way. However it is normal for Chinese to speak of themselves in 3rd-pers in some situations. This is due to their emphasis on titles instead of names. For example, a parent might say, "Daddy wants you to brush your teeth," instead of "I want you to..." This general pattern is used whenever there is a title of some sort, such as boss, uncle, doctor, mayor, etc..
That said, I have no idea whether the GP's translation is authentic. I haven't been following this news in the Chinese press. It's a bit over the top, but I wouldn't put it past them, especially as a tactic to engage children with STEM education. It strikes me as the sort of thing Western broadcasters do at Christmas, showing "Santa's sleigh" on the weather radar.
Rich people (and their families) also tend to have expensive law firms on retainer. In the event of a mishap leading to injury or death, they might try to sue VG anyway, despite whatever sort of "waiver" they make you sign. Large estates sometimes get tied up in courts for years by heirs and creditors. It's not hard to imagine a scenario where VG could get caught up in such a dispute.
OTOH, Richard Branson also has expensive law firms on retainer, and I'm sure they've evaluated the risks and prepared as well as possible.
Anyway, I agree with you. If I had that much "disposable" cash, I'd definitely take that ride.
I'm just amazed to discover that the name "Terwilliger" actually exists in the real world. I had always assumed it was invented by Dr. Seuss for his classic song, "My Uncle Terwilliger Waltzes With Bears."
Slashdot Mirror
If they cannot communicate how it is feasible in an elevator speech
Depends on the elevator... a space elevator speech could last hours, if not days. ;-)
Every day, hot and sunny... ;-)
They're putting in more Supercharger stations constantly, but obviously they've got a lot of ground to cover. Musk has stated many times that he wants to build-out the charging network as quickly as possible, but at a steady pace. I think they're doing a couple per week or something like that, so you might not have to wait 5 years after all.
>most users HATE having their UI changed on them.
Where on earth did you ever get that idea? ;-)
tactile feedback is a big deal.
Tactile feedback could be implemented with electrotactile arrays as discussed here a few years ago. That would combine the flexibility of a touchscreen with the tactile feedback of physical controls.
It would be especially cool if the surface were also pressure sensitive. That way you could feel your way to the right control, then "grasp" it to change the setting.
That only works at the local level. If your local merchant behaves badly wrt (NI)MBY, he'll get a bad reputation that will hurt his business. But when we're dealing with multinational corporations, this "local" connection is lost. Even if the locals boycott the bad actor, the rest of the world might continue buying their products, unaware of the "local" damage they do in a few isolated places.
Here in Taiwan, it's as close to a Libertarian Paradise as I've ever encountered. Small, local businesses (like mine) are left to do what they want, as long as they aren't bothering the neighbors, but the big players are held to a higher standard. It's not perfect, of course, but the system works.
Republicans want access to individual medical records that can't be ethically shared
+1 Informative.
Here's a link to support you:
Johnson wrote to Smith on Wednesday expressing serious concern about the chairman's plans to send research data to third parties, noting that credible scientists already had access to the information and that those researchers could be in legal trouble if they hand over the data requested by Congress.
Not an existing site, but I did register the URL "slashrot.org" a while back, and would be happy to donate it to the cause.
Interesting idea you have there. I don't have a lot of cash to spare, but I'd pitch in a few bucks.
Ditto.
Change for the sake of change
Exactly. A UI is not a ladies' fashion trend, it is a tool. How much as the "UI" for hammers and chisels changed in the last few thousand years?
Good point, especially about storage. That has always been the bugbear of renewables. OTOH, there are new storage technologies coming available in the next couple of years, such as liquid metal batteries, sodium ion batteries, water-moderated compressed air, and probably some others I haven't heard about. But of course there's no mention of any kind of storage in TFA, so who knows if/when/how it will ever be implemented.
Frankly, this project sounds like one of those feel-good boondoggles dreamed up by big gubmint and big biznuss collaboration. I tend to agree with the "environmentalist" quoted in TFA: solar PV is far better suited to decentralized/distributed small-scale installations.
Check out Democracy At Work by Richard Wolff, or watch his lecture on the same topic.
In a nutshell: He advocates worker-owned and -controlled enterprises as a way to achieve the same goals without relying on gov't regulations or labor unions. Such a transition would take time of course, but it's a way to realize those "libertarian" ideals as well.
Not sure how "serious" you intended this... but I'm curious, if you know, how massive would a nanotube "cable" have to be in this kind of situation.
Let's say you've got a 50-ton capsule/habitat at one end and a 50-ton counterweight (spent upper stage), and you want to have a 1g environment in the habitat. (Thus, the total force on the tether would be 100 tons.) How would you "spec" the carbon nanotube cable for this job? How much would 500m of such cable weigh?
Good point.
Doesn't have to be a big wheel, just use a counterweight (such as a spent upper-stage) at the end of a long tether. I'm too lazy to do the calculations, but even just a few hundred meters ought to be plenty to provide a significant fraction of 1g with a rotation time longer than 30s, at which point the motion would be practically imperceptible.
Of course, a few hundred meters of cable would weigh a couple of tons at least, but for a spacecraft that weighs 20 times that much, it could still be a worthwhile tradeoff.
I've been wondering why they don't at least do some animal studies on this centrifugal "gravity" idea. I mean how tough would it be to rig a rat cage and counterweight to rotate at some fraction of 1g? Put some critters in there for a few months, and take a control group along for the same duration, and see what happens. It probably wouldn't even cost very much, but could yield some key insights.
Silly Rabbit should have clicked on TFA... ;-)
Yes, the GP's translation is authentic.
Since this is their first lunar rover, there's no precedent either way. However it is normal for Chinese to speak of themselves in 3rd-pers in some situations. This is due to their emphasis on titles instead of names. For example, a parent might say, "Daddy wants you to brush your teeth," instead of "I want you to..." This general pattern is used whenever there is a title of some sort, such as boss, uncle, doctor, mayor, etc..
That said, I have no idea whether the GP's translation is authentic. I haven't been following this news in the Chinese press. It's a bit over the top, but I wouldn't put it past them, especially as a tactic to engage children with STEM education. It strikes me as the sort of thing Western broadcasters do at Christmas, showing "Santa's sleigh" on the weather radar.
I've noticed that "everybody" says it this way nowadays. Why don't people just say "tenth anniversary" anymore?
Unless you're using a zero-based array, in which case it would be "#2" instead.
The word "third" specifically is an ordinal. The cardinal form in English would be "#3" instead.
Rich people (and their families) also tend to have expensive law firms on retainer. In the event of a mishap leading to injury or death, they might try to sue VG anyway, despite whatever sort of "waiver" they make you sign. Large estates sometimes get tied up in courts for years by heirs and creditors. It's not hard to imagine a scenario where VG could get caught up in such a dispute.
OTOH, Richard Branson also has expensive law firms on retainer, and I'm sure they've evaluated the risks and prepared as well as possible.
Anyway, I agree with you. If I had that much "disposable" cash, I'd definitely take that ride.
I'm just amazed to discover that the name "Terwilliger" actually exists in the real world. I had always assumed it was invented by Dr. Seuss for his classic song, "My Uncle Terwilliger Waltzes With Bears."
You do realize that's an argument for Socialism, right?