Fuel cells, as discussed in the article, are not at all a method of energy storage. They are a method of power generation.
You got it exactly backwards.
Only some kinds of fuel cells can be run backwards (such as platinum catalyst hydrogen fuel cells) to do things like split water into hydrogen and oxygen using an external source of electricity (solar cell, power line, etc) - which can then later be recombined into water to generate electricity.
It depends on the fuel cell and the fuel. Platinum is used in lightweight, low-temperature fuel cells meant for rapid load changes (as in cars and such). If you are running from natural gas or other fuel sources, and are running with a high-temperature fuel cell, you don't need platinum.
But people are forgetting about the distribution costs with electricity. A significant portion of the energy is lost as heat in the distribution system - both as I2R losses in the wires and inefficiencies in the transformers. Unless you have a big leak in the piping, shipping natural gas around is basically loss-less aside from pumping costs.
Fuel cells running more or less at steady state at the point of use are very economical.
Actually, large scale deployment of hydrogen fuel cells will lead to significant leaks of hydrogen gas. Hydrogen gas also leaks as it diffuses through metal. Hydrogen gas depletes ozone. Not catalytically like chlorofluorocarbons do, but if you have massive and continual emissions of hydrogen, it can really do harm.
And... You get to ride up in an enclosed pressure vessel... for hours... with whatever other "space" tourists pony up the cash. Hope they don't smell bad!
If it is a private ride that could be a bit better, but I don't think you get to ride up in an open gondola with an oxygen mask on. You get to ride up in an aluminum can with little portholes.
Makes one wonder what would happen to crime rates and bad executive behavior is drawing and quartering was to be returned as a valid form of punishment for the most heinous crimes.
I was listening to an interview this morning where the interviewer asked a republican congressman from Arizona how they would feel if a democratic house pulled the same tactic with a republican president but instead of repealing the ACA, they wanted to implement gun control.
He said that was totally different and of course wrong.
What you see here is that the copiers have achieved the singularity and are now posting defensively. Guytoronto is a network-connected WorkCentre copier that is using JBIG in everything including its thought processes and is thus misinterpreting everything.
If you look at the vertical speed as reported on flightaware.com, and map out his positions on something like Google Maps, you can see the pilot in command was hunting the glide slope and landing configuration all the way down. His vertical speed is all over the place. My brother is an airline pilot and he nailed it right out of the chute - Korean pilot and the issue of "face". There were three other pilots on that plane and none spoke up even as warnings were popping up on instrument after instrument as the PIC kept missing the numbers and going slower and slower.
There is also an instrument that can give a virtual ILS approach to the pilot had he bothered to use it. Regardless, there were VASI lights showing him all red as he flew his approach. The guy had warning after warning and let the plane get ahead of him and too slow to do anything but try to make it over the sea wall before slamming into the pavement. He didn't even manage that.
And for all the face-saving the other pilots up at the front of the plane were doing, they are now responsible for the loss of the plane, scores of debilitating injuries, and two deaths.
This is why I tell people about live CDs to do their banking with. Even if their computer is 100% pwned, unless it's in the BIOS, a live CD gives them a clean system.
I don't know a lot about blackhole but it wouldn't surprise me if it only infects Windows boxes. But lots of things are getting more universal now with the usual suspects of cross-platform compromise enablers, er, I mean helper applications...
The Raspberry Pi thing is a great idea for computer clubs. The entry cost is cheap and the kids can do everything from robotics to cluster computing with them.
They can learn about networking, linux, programming languages, vnc, interfacing and electronics, etc.
I've been exploring one for the last few weeks and the possibilities are really wide open. One thing the Pi has that regular computers don't without buying accessory boards is a GPIO interface that gives you I2C, SPI, PWM, and bit flipping capability. All on the board.
Plus, with an SD card for a hard drive, once one system is built for something like a contest to see who can debug some problem the fastest, it's easy to clone that image to all the other cards so all instances are identical.
And it is a pretty much regular debian distribution if you go with the stock image - but you aren't confined to that. There are plenty of other images out there with other features and reasons one might use them. Pile on something like Adafruit's IDE and you have a real powerhouse for learning (which is exactly what the Pi was designed for in the first place).
There are also tons of Pi-based projects on the web that can be explored, extended, modified, etc, that teach all sorts of things. They can learn about PID control loops and all sorts of command and control strategies.
The Pi is extremely powerful and amazingly expandable. All anyone needs do is look at learn.adafruit.com and see all the RPi lessons that they have to start seeing the potential.
In small concentrations it is necessary for plants - but it isn't what is typically considered a "nutrient". But CO2 has a strong effect on global heating and the low concentrations confuse people who don't understand just how powerful an infrared absorber it is, or what happens when you disturb an equilibrium.
eldavojohn is totally correct when he mentions "water wars, refugees, failing economies, destruction of the food chain, droughts and general destabilization of the planet". These are all consequences of a warming planet.
Some areas will have far too much water at times - like the midwestern US that is flooding now. But then it can go into drought and crops wither like they did last year. Other areas simply suffer prolonged drought. Right now the Rio Grand has slowed to nothing but stagnant water in the southern part of New Mexico and the pecan and chile farmers are looking at big crop failures. People are already fighting over water rights in a number of areas as what is becoming a scarce resource is now the difference between a farm surviving or failing.
Scoff and deny all you want, but those of us old enough to remember the weather in the 60's and 70's know that the weather has changed and that what we are seeing now simply is not normal.
Slashdot Mirror
Fuel cells, as discussed in the article, are not at all a method of energy storage. They are a method of power generation.
You got it exactly backwards.
Only some kinds of fuel cells can be run backwards (such as platinum catalyst hydrogen fuel cells) to do things like split water into hydrogen and oxygen using an external source of electricity (solar cell, power line, etc) - which can then later be recombined into water to generate electricity.
It depends on the fuel cell and the fuel. Platinum is used in lightweight, low-temperature fuel cells meant for rapid load changes (as in cars and such). If you are running from natural gas or other fuel sources, and are running with a high-temperature fuel cell, you don't need platinum.
But people are forgetting about the distribution costs with electricity. A significant portion of the energy is lost as heat in the distribution system - both as I2R losses in the wires and inefficiencies in the transformers. Unless you have a big leak in the piping, shipping natural gas around is basically loss-less aside from pumping costs.
Fuel cells running more or less at steady state at the point of use are very economical.
http://www1.eere.energy.gov/hydrogenandfuelcells/pdfs/fccs_omaha10.pdf
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1139680
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/story/2012-06-21/ebay-fuel-cells/55732562/1
Actually, large scale deployment of hydrogen fuel cells will lead to significant leaks of hydrogen gas. Hydrogen gas also leaks as it diffuses through metal. Hydrogen gas depletes ozone. Not catalytically like chlorofluorocarbons do, but if you have massive and continual emissions of hydrogen, it can really do harm.
I saw that segment and it was hugely depressing. This is what our country has come to. Is it a good thing... or a bad thing...?
But it makes that cool Star Trek noise when it opens...
What do you bet the source was riding behind Hayden on a train?
And... You get to ride up in an enclosed pressure vessel... for hours... with whatever other "space" tourists pony up the cash. Hope they don't smell bad!
If it is a private ride that could be a bit better, but I don't think you get to ride up in an open gondola with an oxygen mask on. You get to ride up in an aluminum can with little portholes.
Oh the fun!
But they will stay up a long - possibly sufficient - time with that perpetual hot air supply known as demagoguery.
It's just east of the country of New Mexico...
Makes one wonder what would happen to crime rates and bad executive behavior is drawing and quartering was to be returned as a valid form of punishment for the most heinous crimes.
Bet it would go down...
Pretty bright for a few minutes is my guess....
I was listening to an interview this morning where the interviewer asked a republican congressman from Arizona how they would feel if a democratic house pulled the same tactic with a republican president but instead of repealing the ACA, they wanted to implement gun control.
He said that was totally different and of course wrong.
http://www.techradar.com/news/portable-devices/ps4-oculus-rift-rival-in-the-works-as-sony-announces-head-mounted-display-1177670?src=rss&attr=all
I would so mod this insightful if I had mod points.
What you see here is that the copiers have achieved the singularity and are now posting defensively. Guytoronto is a network-connected WorkCentre copier that is using JBIG in everything including its thought processes and is thus misinterpreting everything.
And being "canceled" has a literal meaning as well as figurative...
If you look at the vertical speed as reported on flightaware.com, and map out his positions on something like Google Maps, you can see the pilot in command was hunting the glide slope and landing configuration all the way down. His vertical speed is all over the place. My brother is an airline pilot and he nailed it right out of the chute - Korean pilot and the issue of "face". There were three other pilots on that plane and none spoke up even as warnings were popping up on instrument after instrument as the PIC kept missing the numbers and going slower and slower.
There is also an instrument that can give a virtual ILS approach to the pilot had he bothered to use it. Regardless, there were VASI lights showing him all red as he flew his approach. The guy had warning after warning and let the plane get ahead of him and too slow to do anything but try to make it over the sea wall before slamming into the pavement. He didn't even manage that.
And for all the face-saving the other pilots up at the front of the plane were doing, they are now responsible for the loss of the plane, scores of debilitating injuries, and two deaths.
You would really agree to fly to Mars for 6-7 months in the cold vacuum of space in a spaceship with a big "Made in China" sticker on it?
This is why I tell people about live CDs to do their banking with. Even if their computer is 100% pwned, unless it's in the BIOS, a live CD gives them a clean system.
I don't know a lot about blackhole but it wouldn't surprise me if it only infects Windows boxes. But lots of things are getting more universal now with the usual suspects of cross-platform compromise enablers, er, I mean helper applications...
So in some circles short and fat is a good thing?
The Raspberry Pi thing is a great idea for computer clubs. The entry cost is cheap and the kids can do everything from robotics to cluster computing with them.
They can learn about networking, linux, programming languages, vnc, interfacing and electronics, etc.
I've been exploring one for the last few weeks and the possibilities are really wide open. One thing the Pi has that regular computers don't without buying accessory boards is a GPIO interface that gives you I2C, SPI, PWM, and bit flipping capability. All on the board.
Plus, with an SD card for a hard drive, once one system is built for something like a contest to see who can debug some problem the fastest, it's easy to clone that image to all the other cards so all instances are identical.
And it is a pretty much regular debian distribution if you go with the stock image - but you aren't confined to that. There are plenty of other images out there with other features and reasons one might use them. Pile on something like Adafruit's IDE and you have a real powerhouse for learning (which is exactly what the Pi was designed for in the first place).
There are also tons of Pi-based projects on the web that can be explored, extended, modified, etc, that teach all sorts of things. They can learn about PID control loops and all sorts of command and control strategies.
The Pi is extremely powerful and amazingly expandable. All anyone needs do is look at learn.adafruit.com and see all the RPi lessons that they have to start seeing the potential.
In small concentrations it is necessary for plants - but it isn't what is typically considered a "nutrient". But CO2 has a strong effect on global heating and the low concentrations confuse people who don't understand just how powerful an infrared absorber it is, or what happens when you disturb an equilibrium.
eldavojohn is totally correct when he mentions "water wars, refugees, failing economies, destruction of the food chain, droughts and general destabilization of the planet". These are all consequences of a warming planet.
Some areas will have far too much water at times - like the midwestern US that is flooding now. But then it can go into drought and crops wither like they did last year. Other areas simply suffer prolonged drought. Right now the Rio Grand has slowed to nothing but stagnant water in the southern part of New Mexico and the pecan and chile farmers are looking at big crop failures. People are already fighting over water rights in a number of areas as what is becoming a scarce resource is now the difference between a farm surviving or failing.
Scoff and deny all you want, but those of us old enough to remember the weather in the 60's and 70's know that the weather has changed and that what we are seeing now simply is not normal.
And you forgot "Bob"...
;-)
It's an easy thing to do, btw...
"If they won't, then Windows is a dead-end for professional users and I'll upgrade to Linux."
;-) The water's fine.
Welcome to Linux.
Consider a live CD for the system connected to the net, and another PC (if necessary) that is isolated.